𝟐 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟖
"the chamber of secrets?" chenle's voice reverberated, bouncing on the walls.
the four: yunhee, chenle, jeno and jaemin, stood in front of the large entrance to the chamber of secrets that had been opened back in their second year and now they had returned to open it once more, only this time the basilisk was dead. jeno spoke in parseltongue to the large circular door and it clicked open.
"jeno, you're a parslemouth?" jaemin asked as they walked down the path with snakehead statues along the sides of it.
"no. mark talks in his sleep."
"why are we here?" chenle asked. he caught sight of a large skeleton on the floor. "is that... is that the basilisk?"
"the one mark killed, it sure is." jeno replied, proud of his friend. he approached the skeleton on the floor and tugged at a fang, snapping it off.
yunhee took out the hufflepuff cup from her pocket and placed it on the cold floor. jeno handed her the fang, but she passed it back to him, shaking her head.
"i can't do it."
"yes, you can." he assured her, opening her fingers and placing it back in her hand.
she looked around at her three friends and jaemin nodded, encouraging her to do it. she raised her hand and with a harsh swing, she thrust the fang into the cup. a gust of wind filled the chamber and water began pouring out from all sides of the walls.
yunhee took chenle's hand, drawing him back with her, trying to escape the water that somehow had the face of voldemort in it. they came to a stop just in front of the exit and the water dropped onto them like a waterfall. for a moment they all just stared at each other, soaking wet, and then they burst out into laughter from having destroyed the horcrux and being drenched in water.
"that was crazy." jaemin laughed, brushing his wet hair back and off his face.
"and scary. i really thought we were about to die." yunhee said, squeezing the water out of her hair.
"let's go find mark." jeno said taking the marauders map from jaemin's pocket.
they hastily left the chamber, following the map to find mark and the others. they walked through corridors leading towards where they were when suddenly their friend's names vanished.
"why are they gone?" chenle asked, pointing to where the names had previously been.
"he might have gone into the room of requirements. it doesn't show up on the map." yunhee replied, recalling that renjun had told her that last year.
"brilliant. let's go." jeno said.
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when they arrived at the room of requirements they found mark, renjun, jisung and donghyuck facing off against draco, seonghyun and blaise. donghyuck was clenching his fists about to lurch at his brother who was spewing nonsense at them.
"expelliarmus!" yunhee yelled at draco and his wand flew back. he promptly ran away, taking blaise with him, but seonghyun lifted his wand.
"avada kedarva!" he shouted, aiming for yunhee.
"stupefy!" she shot back, dodging his spell.
"your brother just tried to kill yunhee." chenle exclaimed, turning to donghyuck who was in shock himself.
"get back here, you bastard!" jisung hollered, he and chenle chasing after seonghyun who had taken off running.
mark didn't waste any time in climbing up the stack of furniture that the diadem had landed on when seonghyun fired spells at them. yunhee and jeno copied him, throwing away some furniture to make it easier to reach the diadem.
"got it!" mark said, holding the item up.
they jumped back down the pile. the sound of jisung and chenle howling in fear could be heard. they glimpsed over at where they had chased seonghyun and his friends off to and saw a glowing orange illuminating against a bookshelf. jisung and chenle then appeared from around the corner, hand in hand, racing towards them with roaring flames pursuing close behind.
"they've set the bloody place on fire!" chenle cried, latching onto yunhee's hand, dragging her with him. the others swiftly followed, trying to block off the fire, but the flames were relentless.
"where's the exit?!" renjun yelled as they were forced to come to a stop, the fire surrounding them. he created a shield, protecting them and jisung fell to the floor beside some broomsticks.
"we can use these!" he said. he handed them out and yunhee climbed onto the back of chenle's because she wasn't experienced at flying.
they took off flying above the fire as renjun and jeno led them towards the exit, but yunhee looked over her shoulder at seonghyun and the others who were cowering on top of a pile. as much as she hated them, she didn't have it in her heart to let them die.
"we can't leave them!" she said.
"you're kidding, right?!" chenle exclaimed, but the others had already turned back around to help the three cruel boys.
mark, jaemin and jeno held their arms out and helped them onto the back of their broomsticks. they then headed towards the exit and tumbled to the floor. the three that they helped ran off.
"mark!" yunhee tossed the basilisks fang and he caught it, immediately going to stab the diadem.
black mist circled it and donghyuck quickly kicked it into the fire that was heading their way. the door slammed shut before the fire could reach them and they all fell back from the sheer force.
"mark?" renjun bent beside the boy who was leaning against the wall, gasping for air.
"it's the snake... she's the last one. the last horcrux." he said.
"look inside him. find out where he is, if you find him, we can find the snake. and we can end this!" jeno told him.
mark's head shook and snapped to the side as he pressed his eyes shut and his breathing got quicker. the group watched him, anxiously, waiting for him to come back to reality.
"i know where he is." he exhaled, getting up with the help of yunhee and jaemin.
he led them down the stairs where students and death eaters were battling. donghyuck stunned one of the men heading their way as they made it to the bottom. they were about to enter the courtyard full of all types of people and creatures fighting to the death. a spell was shot towards them and jeno pushed back his friends so they wouldn't get hit.
then they continued running. a large giant swinging an even larger weapon took notice of them. mark pushed yunhee's back, leading his friends to an upright shield to hide behind as the giant swung at them.
"go, go, go!" jisung repeated, shoving them all to get up when he saw the descendants of aragog scattering their way.
they ran under the giant, in between its legs, and past death eaters that were attacking their classmates. they only had time to throw a few spells to help them and then made it to an emptier hallway where they found greyback opposed to aerin who was sobbing over a girl on the floor. yunhee swiftly shot a spell at the werewolf, sending him flying off the edge of the cliff, hopefully to his death.
"aerin!" she yelled, rushing to her friend who was still clutching onto the other girl on the floor while the others held back the death eaters and creatures.
"she — she's — she's gone!" she cried. yunhee recognised the girl to be one of aerin's close friends. the poor girl died at the hands of the werewolf who had torn her throat open.
"aerin! aerin, listen to me alright!" she shook her shoulders. "you have to get to safety. you have to get to your family, jia and hyejin too. stay with them! you hear me?"
"b-but—"
"aerin, do as she says!" jeno yelled, stunning a death eater. "now!"
yunhee quickly helped place the dead girl into a nook away from the battle so that they could come back to retrieve her body then pushed aerin to run back into the building. once she was gone, the group stopped casting spells and resumed running.
they made it to the front of the school where hundreds of dementors were flying towards. aberforth cast a patronus, sending them back as the group clambered down the stairs to the left that led to the docks. they crouched by the building's windows and could hear voices: voldemort's and snape's.
"you have performed extraordinary magic with this wand, my lord," snape said. "in the last few hours alone."
"no! no! i'm extraordinary. but the wand resists me." voldemort replied.
"there is no wand more powerful. ollivander himself has said it. tonight, when the boy comes. it will not fail you, i am sure of it. it answers to you, and you only."
"does it?" he asked and yunhee glanced at her friends, an eyebrow raised. renjun shrugged in response.
"my lord?"
"the wand, does it truly answer to me?" he circled him. "you're a clever man, severus. surely you must know... where does its true loyalty lie?"
"with you... of course, my lord."
"the elder wand cannot serve me properly because i am not its true master. the elder wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. you killed dumbledore, severus. while you live, the elder wand cannot truly be mine."
jisung's eyes widened, knowing exactly what was about to happen. he shifted, wanting to go inside and help, but was restrained by jaemin and yunhee. the three slytherins liked snape. they could tell he was on their side in his own way. he helped them, protected them from voldemort.
"you've been a good and faithful servant, severus. but only i can live forever."
"my lord—"
there was a slashing sound and then snape's body slumped against the window the group were on the other side of. they flinched back as nagini struck snape over and over, trying to kill him. then a crack sounded, alerting them that voldemort had apparated out.
yunhee was first to rush inside the building and find snape on the floor, bleeding out from the neck. mark brushed past her and kneeled, his hands on snape's neck to put pressure on his wound in hopes of saving him.
yunhee slipped her hand into jaemin's when she noticed tears trickling down his face. she squeezed his hand.
"give me something! quick! a flask. anything." mark said, startling her. donghyuck handed him a flask he found on one of the shelves and he brought it up to snape's cheek, capturing his tears in it.
"take them to the pensieve." he whispered, placing his hand on top of mark's that was on his neck. "look at me."
mark stared at him, his eyes meeting his. he saw something in them, but then it vanished and he was only staring back at lifeless eyes. snape's hand dropped to the floor, creating a loud thud.
he was dead.
the group could do nothing but stare down at the dead man until a cold voice spoke, ringing in their ears and echoing on the walls. mark jumped onto his feet and fell against the window.
"you've fought valiantly, but in vain." the voice spoke.
yunhee fell to her knees, her hand sliding out of jaemin's to cover her ears. he fell beside her, his body shaking as he wrapped an arm around her. renjun and donghyuck did the same, squeezing their eyes shut to try to block out the voice. they were scared — beyond scared.
"i do not wish this. every drop of magical blood spilt is a terrible waste. i, therefore command my forces to retreat. in their absence, dispose of your dead with dignity. mark lee, i now speak directly to you. on this night, you have allowed your friends to die for you, rather than face me yourself. there is no greater dishonour. join me in the forbidden forest and confront your fate. if you do not do this, i shall kill every last man, woman and child who tries to conceal you from me."
⚯͛
they entered the great hall where the injured were being treated by madam pomfrey and her helpers. there were also the dead, on the floor, covered in sheets. it was a gruesome sight.
"jia!" renjun yelled, rushing over to his sister. she cried out in relief, bringing him into her arms as they fell onto their knees.
hyejin pulled her brother into her arms. she then glanced up, seeing donghyuck and jisung, the boys who she saw as her brothers as well. she held one arm out to them and they stepped into the hug.
on the other side of the room, yunhee held onto aerin, consoling her about the friend she had lost. thankfully, none of the group of friends families had lost their lives, but there was a married couple they were all close to. tonks and lupin.
they were laid on the floor, their hands placed as if they were reaching out to each other. mark stared down at them and then all the injured and dead in the room. he turned around, walking towards the doors.
and then he was gone.