Saturday, December 3rd. 12:45AM. Hogwarts, Slytherin Dorms. Choi San.
Wide awake, San stared up into the darkness above him as he listened to his dormmates' slow breaths and quiet snores. He'd been waiting for Mingi to fall asleep so he could finally steal back the time turner. It was almost one in the morning when San decided to push aside his sheets and climbed out of bed.
Mingi's bed was right next to his, so it only took him a few steps to get there. He soundlessly peeked at his best friend's peaceful face. He was fast asleep, just as expected.
San grinned to himself mischievously as he crouched down, careful not to make a sound. He inspected the nightstand beside Mingi's bed, looking for the golden device. San's grin widened in triumph when he found it in the very first drawer he opened.
He was just about to tiptoe back to his own bed when a hand around his wrist pulled him back. San yelped in surprise at the sudden attack and turned around. Mingi's arm had shot forward to stop him from escaping and San had gotten so startled that Mingi was able to the time turner from his hands with ease.
"I knew you were going to do this!" Mingi scolded in a whisper-yell as he sat up on his bed.
San scowled and pulled his wrist out of Mingi's grip before crossing his arms over his chest. "I wouldn't have had to do it if you hadn't taken it from me in the first place! Just, please give it back!" he whisper-yelled back.
Mingi rose to his feet. "No! I told you, it's not good for you!"
After another minute of squabbling, they decided to move their discussion downstairs in order not to wake the others.
"I just need to see him..." San said as they stepped into the dimly lit common room.
The golden light coming from the fireplace bathed the whole room in a warm glow.
He turned around to face Mingi who had followed close behind him, a tired but serious expression on his face. There was no trace of his usual goofy and playful self.
"I know, man. I really do get it. But I don't want you to get hurt," he said, "I can tell how much it messes with you."
San looked away. "I don't know what you mean..." he lied.
Mingi sighed and stepped closer to him, taking his hand. "The guilt. I'm talking about the guilt. You think it's your fault that they took him," he replied knowingly. "But that's just not true. It's not any of our faults. And even if it was, that's not what important right now. What's important right now is that we get him out of there. Which we will."
San avoided his eyes.
His best friend knew him too damn well.
Tears threatened to form in San's eyes. "I need to see him," he repeated stubbornly.
Mingi seemed to contemplate his next words for a moment. He glanced at the time turner in his hands and bit his lip in thought before sighing, "Alright, alright."
San's head perked up in surprise.
"But only under two conditions," Mingi added.
"Yeah?"
"One, I'm coming with you. I don't wanna leave you alone with this."
"Fine. What else?"
"Two, we're going back to something very recent. We can't be roaming around a bunch of jolly memories. If we observe the people who took him, maybe we can even get some useful information."
San felt uneasy about the idea of seeing Wooyoung captured again. Of course he knew that Mingi was right, but that didn't ease his fear one bit. "Fine. You're right. Let's be smart about this," he decided.
Mingi showed a sympathetic smile before putting the time turners' golden necklace around the two of them. He then checked the time on the old clock next to the fireplace. It was five past one in the morning. He nodded to himself, probably deciding on a good time to travel back to.
"Okay," he said and looked at the time turner. "Take us to the Ministry of Magic, Department of Mysteries, Office B. December 2nd, 2016, 11:30PM."
The familiar feeling of falling took over San as time reversed, and the surroundings around them changed. He closed his eyes and waited for it to end. He couldn't help but notice how used his body had gotten to the process of traveling through time. His insides still felt like they were being squeezed together every time, but it didn't affect him as much as it had the first few times.
When time finally returned to normal and Office B had come to be around them however, things went south very quickly.
San couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the empty cell.
"Hold on, where is he?" he asked uneasily.
"Maybe... Maybe they took him somewhere else?" Mingi suggested, looking just as dumbstruck and concerned as San felt. "But why would they – "
His sentence was cut short when the door behind them sprang open. San's jaw dropped as he watched the scene unfold in front of him.
Two men were dragging a kicking and screaming Wooyoung into the room, closely followed by a third man. A very angry and bloody man. Something told San that he'd seen him before somewhere, but he couldn't make out his face well enough to recognize him.
The man swung his wand and let the bars that split the room in two halves disappear.
"What the fuck is happening?" asked San, bewildered to say the least as he watched those men tie Wooyoung to a chair with magically summoned strings.
"Let me go, you – " Wooyoung yelled at the familiar man, who then put a hand around his throat and started to choke him.
San reacted immediately and wanted to leap forward to stop him, but Mingi held him back. He tried to free himself from his best friend's grip, but Mingi was once again stronger than him.
Mingi then half dragged half carried San out the door just as the man started to threaten Wooyoung who was struggling to breathe. San tried to fight Mingi off, yelling and kicking.
"What the hell are you doing?! Let me go! We...We need to do something!" San exclaimed as Mingi kept him pressed against the wall outside to prevent him from running back inside.
"Somebody needs to show you that you have no choice but to cooperate. I'll make sure your pathetic little escape attempt for the rest of the few days you have left to live," San heard the man growl over Wooyoung's strangled gasps and coughs.
Judging by the coughing that followed those words, the man had finally let go of Wooyoung's throat, but those soon turned into screams of pain and protest.
"San, stop it! We can't help him right now!" Mingi yelled and struggled to hold him back but San couldn't care less. He could barely even hear him. All he heard were the sounds of Wooyoung's pained yelps and cries along with the man's insults. He was coughing, crying, screaming, begging for him to stop.
"But he... they... we have to do something..." San mumbled desperately. His imagination was doing the worst things to his mind. He didn't know how exactly the man was hurting Wooyoung, but it sounded like he was beating and kicking him countless times. Every kick made San wince, his senses overflowing with fear and worry. How far was that man going to go? How was any of this happening? How was any of this real?
He wanted to push Mingi away, told him to fuck off, yelled at him to let the fuck go of him... but it was no use.
He stopped struggling against Mingi and let his body slide downwards until he sad there, leaned against the wall, shaking and covering his ears. Wooyoung's screams had died down and all that was left was an eerie silence. San felt warm tears run down his cheeks. Had Wooyoung passed out? Was he dead? Had that man beaten him to death? More tears.
San had never wished for the time turner to get him back to the present as much as this. This wasn't real. It couldn't be real. When would he finally wake up from this never-ending nightmare?
San was so out of it that he barely noticed another tall and slender man walk by them to enter Office B. San didn't need to know who he was to tell that he was the leader. Judging by the way everyone bowed down to him as he entered the room, he must have been that infamous New Lord Stephan had told Wooyoung about.
The horror was still fresh and pulsing through San's veins but seeing the man who had initiated this whole situation caused something deep inside of him to wake up. It was a feeling of burning hatred and anger stronger than anything San had ever felt before.
He leaned to the side to peek further into that room, glaring holes into both the violent man and the New Lord's backs.
San had never felt the need to murder anyone, but the feeling cooking up inside of him right now came dangerously close to it.
The man had pulled out his wand and was now pointing it at Wooyoung, ready to hurt him even more.
"Enough. We will have plenty of time for torture when it is needed," the New Lord said. The casual amusement and sarcasm in his voice made San even more furious.
The violent man didn't lower his wand. His cruel eyes were still fixed on Wooyoung's unconscious body. "He tried to escape, Vas. He needs to learn his lesson," he bit out.
The New Lord put a gentle hand on his arm. "Look at him. I am sure he has learned it."
Silence settled over them as both as they looked at Wooyoung. San's heart clenched up when he looked at him. He was on the ground, still tied to his chair, his hair all over the place and his beautiful face full of bruises and scratches. There was a cut in his lip and his nose was bleeding as well. His once clean and soft looking purple shirt was full of dirty footprints.
There was nothing San could do. All he could do was look at him from afar, his insides scrunching up at the sight.
He didn't know what that man said in response. He and Mingi had been dragged back to the present, back to the safety of the Slytherin Common Room in what felt like the blink of an eye.
They were still on the floor, in the middle of the room, shocked and disturbed by whatever that had just been. A few tears were still silently running down San's face and he allowed Mingi to pull him into his arms.
San didn't know how much time passed before Mingi managed to calm him down a little. He was still in a slight daze when they went back up the stairs leading to their dorm room. Neither of them said a word as Mingi followed San into his bed to lie down next to him.
Of course neither of them fell asleep. They simply lay there, their arms wrapped around each other in silence.
The image of Wooyoung curling up in pain and begging that man to stop just wouldn't disappear.
Mingi had been right. While San had been re-witnessing cheerful memories with Wooyoung and trying to distract himself from the reality of Wooyoung being captured, Wooyoung had tried to escape and failed. He was beaten and tortured and probably living in constant fear of getting killed.
The feeling of guilt was threatening to consume San. The fact that he was just lying there in the safety of his bed, doing nothing to help Wooyoung suffocated him.
San was going to make those people pay. Even if it was the last thing he was ever going to do.
Saturday, December 3rd. 04:42AM. Hogwarts, Hufflepuff Dorms. Jeong Yunho.
Yunho lay awake. Once again, his head just wouldn't allow him to catch any sleep that lasted for longer than four hours. It had been like this almost every night for a long time now, but it had gotten so much worse over the last few days.
It didn't even help that Hongjoong was by his side tonight, sleeping comfortably with one arm wrapped around Yunho's torso and his head resting on Yunho's chest. He was adorable as ever, and the sight of his tiny figure pressed against him brought a smile to Yunho's lips.
Yunho sighed quietly. Why couldn't he just be in love with Hongjoong? That would make his life a whole lot easier.
Not only was Hongjoong a great kisser, he was charming, funny, cute, provocative, and despite his habit of keeping secrets and never talking about personal things, he was fun to be around, easy to talk to. He was always on the same page as Yunho. He didn't start arguments with him. He didn't make things complicated.
But he also didn't make Yunho's heart flutter, at least not the way Mingi did.
Mingi's kisses felt so entirely different from Hongjoong's. Hongjoong's kisses were fun and felt nice, especially when Yunho just needed some affection, but Mingi's kisses caused so much more in him. His kisses were hot and passionate, full of emotion. Sure, Yunho had been either angry or drunk or both whenever they had kissed so far, but it had been more than just his anger that had fueled those heated kisses.
All the butterflies Yunho had worked so hard to ignore after he'd gotten rejected by him, came forth every time Mingi kissed him. It left Yunho questioning everything. It gave him the feeling that he could forget about all the bad things that had happened between them, that they could be more, that they still had a chance of making things work.
Mingi confused him like this every time he was in the middle of trying to move on. Every single time, Mingi pulled him right back in with his stupid full lips and his stupid big and warm hands and his stupid adorable smile. Yunho had no idea whether it was intentional or whether it had all just been a mix of fateful timing and coincidence.
Or maybe everything between them was just Yunho's mind playing tricks on him and showing him what he wanted to see. A mere illusion that Yunho only wished to be reality.
Yunho knew by now that it was partly his fault. He'd overreacted after Mingi had rejected him last year. Yunho had been beyond embarrassed back then but now that he thought about it, he probably shouldn't have shut Mingi out the way he had. He shouldn't have yelled at him for telling the truth, even if that truth was that he didn't like Yunho the same way. And he shouldn't have stormed off into some other guy's arms either...
Well, to be fair, it wasn't like Yunho had thrown himself at anyone and he never really was interested in anyone other than Mingi after that incident. But when Kim Gunhak had asked him out on a date the day after the confession, Yunho had been in such an insecure state that he'd spontaneously decided to say yes and dating around had soon become his way of regaining his confidence. It had been the only way he was able to feel wanted again.
Mingi had made an effort to become friends with Yunho again after a while, but Yunho had still been too embarrassed and upset to talk to him.
Even now, Yunho still kept up his disinterested persona around Mingi and it was one of Yunho's biggest regrets. Whenever they got even remotely close to at least being friends again, Yunho ended up ruining it by teasing him and making comments about him being a virgin.
Of course he didn't actually care about Mingi being a virgin. Hell, he even found it kind of cute that Mingi was so unexperienced in that field. It was just fun to get a rise out of him and have his attention, even if it was negative attention. It was ridiculous and Yunho knew it, but he also couldn't help it.
Mingi was such an idiot.
Yunho huffed to himself in frustration. His eyes wandered around the dimly lit room that was only illuminated by the warm copper lamps hanging on the wall. He then looked down at Hongjoong who was breathing calmly, a content expression on his face even in his sleep. Yunho put an arm around him and stared back up at the ceiling. He remembered the conversation he'd had with San the yesterday.
Both of you are idiots. You both like each other so much and yet, you can't seem to make it work... He's just extremely jealous.
Yunho's face heated up involuntarily. San thought that their feelings were mutual.
Had that been true at all? Was Mingi truly jealous of Hongjoong? Yunho still had no idea how to feel about that and a weird feeling arose in him at the thought.
When Hongjoong had first suggested the idea of pretending to date in order to make Mingi jealous, Yunho had only agreed to it because it had sounded exciting and he'd believed that it wasn't going to work anyway. After that, he and Hongjoong had simply gotten used to having a lot of skinship and being comfortable touching and kissing each other without any consequences.
Still, it was a strange situation that Yunho had no idea how to get out of.
Lazy movement from Hongjoong pulled Yunho out of his thoughts. Hongjoong was stretching his arms like a cat before relaxing again, letting out a tired groan. His eyes were still closed, and he seemed to go right back to sleep, cutely nuzzling his face into Yunho's chest.
Yunho gently patted his friend's hair. Hongjoong perked up at the touch and moved his head to look up at Yunho in the darkness.
"You're awake again?" Hongjoong asked in a tired whisper.
Yunho hummed affirmatively. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," he whispered back.
"What time is it?"
"Around five."
Hongjoong groaned. "Mingi should be jailed for keeping you up this late."
"I know, right? Mingi's such an idiot."
"And yet, you love him," Hongjoong chuckled.
Yunho pouted. "Shut up. You should go back to sleep."
"Whatever you say, handsome."
Saturday, December 3rd. 07:12AM. Hogwarts, Great Hall. Choi Jongho.
Despite his fallout with Yeosang yesterday, Jongho's day had started out pretty well. He woke up early, washed up and headed down to the Great Hall to have breakfast.
His hands reached for the eggs and bacon almost automatically and he'd already gotten invested in the Daily Prophet's headline about some intense Gobstone tournament leading to five casualties, when somebody took a seat across from him.
Jongho moved his newspaper aside and almost spilled his drink when he saw that it was Yeosang.
He instantly felt a wave of regret and guilt wash over him. He had spent a lot of time thinking about their conversation from yesterday evening, even hours after Yeosang had left his dorm. Sure, Yeosang had been the one to kiss him first, but Jongho now felt like he should've made his intentions clearer. He should've just told Yeosang that he liked him, that he'd been falling for him more and more every day since the night of the party. He should've said something instead of just kissing him back.
And he especially shouldn't have tried to take Yeosang's clothes off when they'd been kissing in the dorms. They weren't even dating! It was no wonder Yeosang had reacted the way he did. The memory of that alone made Jongho want to slap himself for thinking with his dick.
Yeosang looked guilty as well, nervously fidgeting around in his seat. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he reached for some food to fill his plate with. His choice was apple pie and cinnamon rolls.
Jongho desperately tried to think of something to say to break this awkward silence between them but his mind was blank.
Yeosang seemed to feel the same way, judging by the way he looked like he was heavily contemplating his next words.
"How much do you know about cats?" he asked eventually.
Jongho blinked, taken aback by the sheer randomness of this question. "Well, I've been taking care of Wooyoung's cat for almost a week now, so ask me anything, I guess."
"Imagine this," Yeosang started, "So there's this one cat who's really stressed and worried because he lost... something... and because he's so worked up and confused about the whole situation he's in that he really appreciated this other cat who... was there for him. Everything was all fine and dandy until at some point, the first cat started to feel some type of way around the other cat and things started to get even more confusing and complicated, so the first cat said some stupid things to the other cat even though the other cat didn't do anything wrong but the first was so overwhelmed with everything that was happening that he panicked and... and..."
Jongho couldn't suppress a chuckle at his rambling. "Yeosang. What are you trying to say?"
Yeosang's cheeks once again took on a light shade of pink as he sighed in defeat. "Look, I'm sorry I just left like that yesterday," he said, looking down at his hands playing around with his fork. "I just..."
Jongho gave him a smile. "It's okay. I'm not mad at you or anything if that's what you're worried about."
Yeosang blinked in surprise. "You're not? If I'd known that it was going to be this easy, I wouldn't have stayed up all night thinking of what to say..."
"You stayed up all night and the best thing you came up with was a cat analogy?" asked Jongho, laughing.
This time Yeosang had to laugh as well. "Don't make fun of me! I worked really hard on that, okay?"
Jongho reached across the table and took one of Yeosang's hands in his. "Okay, why don't we try this again?" he suggested. "Without cats this time."
Yeosang's expression turned a little sad when he looked at Jongho's hand holding his. "Listen... you're amazing and I really love spending time with you, but..."
'But'? Jongho's heart dropped. He had the odd feeling that he was about to be friend-zoned out of existence.
"I just can't do this. Not right now at least," Yeosang said, still looking down at their hands. "I need to make sure Wooyoung is safe before I can allow myself to think about anything – or anyone – else... I'm sorry..."
Jongho hesitated for a second before squeezing Yeosang's hand. "No, you don't have to apologize. I get it. It's me who should be sorry. I didn't mean to make you rush into something you don't want."
Yeosang's eyes widened and he shook his head. "That's not – "
"Mr. Choi? I will have to ask you to follow me."
The voice that had just interrupted Yeosang mid-sentence belonged to Professor Robinson, the Quidditch teacher. She regarded Jongho with such disappointment that he furrowed his eyebrows, trying to remember whether he'd done anything illegal lately and forgotten about it.
"What is it, professor?" asked Jongho. There was no Quidditch practice today, so he really had no idea what she could want from him this early in the morning.
But what confused him even more was the fact that she had Yunho with her as well.
Yunho gave him an uneasy look, and it suddenly started to dawn on him.
"It has been brought to my attention that you and Mr. Jeong here have stolen five of the school's broomsticks. The leader of the Gobstone club has seen you smuggle them into the castle. That is absolutely unacceptable!" she said, sounding genuinely disappointed. "I have no choice but to give you detention. You will clean all the cauldrons in the Potions classrooms right this instant. Without using any magic, that is."
"Yes, professor," Jongho replied in defeat. There was no way he could convince her that they hadn't done it, so there was no point in denying it now.
He let go of Yeosang's hand and got to his feet, giving him a reassuring smile.
"Make sure to tell the others, alright?" he told Yeosang, earning a worried nod from him before he had to follow Professor Robinson out of the Great Hall. On their way out, he exchanged glances with Yunho and sighed to himself. This wasn't how he had pictured his Saturday morning at all.
Saturday, December 3rd. 09:00AM. Hogwarts, Former Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom. Choi San.
Mingi hadn't left San's side once today. He'd been the one to pull San out of bed with him before dragging him down to the Great Hall to coax some food into him. The whole time he kept a worried eye on San as if scared that he could break down at any given moment.
San appreciated his concern but assured him that he was okay. Of course, he wasn't okay. He was exhausted and he was so tired that his eyes threatened to fall shut multiple times, even while he was walking. It was a strange feeling, but San tried his best to shake that feeling out of his head by the time they entered the former Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for practice with the others.
It was early for practice, they'd usually started around noon, but since they were planning to infiltrate the ministry tomorrow, everyone had agreed to use their class-free Saturday morning to rehearse as many spells as they possibly could.
Seonghwa and Hongjoong had been the first ones to be there, soon followed by San and Mingi. Yeosang showed up last.
"Where's your Prince Charming?" Hongjoong teased Yeosang as soon as he came through the door, "I thought you two were a buy-one-get-one-for-free deal."
Mingi chuckled at that, which earned him a glare from Yeosang. San felt the laughter vibrate in Mingi's chest as he was leaning back against him comfortably, Mingi's chin resting on his shoulder.
"Very funny," said Yeosang as he took a seat on the wooden floor with them, "but he and Yunho aren't coming."
San furrowed his brows at him. "What do you mean they aren't coming?"
Yeosang gave him an apologetic look. "Detention. Apparently, some members of the Gobstone Club saw the two of them smuggle the stolen broomsticks into the castle last Thursday and told Professor Robinson about it this morning. She was furious. They'll be busy cleaning all the Cauldrons in the Potions classrooms without magic until late in the afternoon at best."
"Man, seriously? I thought she was cool," Mingi pouted, sounding exasperated.
"I'm assuming she has the brooms back by now as well..." said Seonghwa. "How are we going to get to London tomorrow then?"
A silence followed his words and San's head was spinning.
Everything was going wrong. The plan they had been working on so hard over the last few days was falling apart in front of his eyes. The image of Wooyoung getting tortured came back to him full force and so did the guilt.
"We should've just gone there right away."
Everyone turned to San at those words. He'd said it absent-mindedly, not really intending for anyone to hear him. It hadn't even sounded like his own voice, so cold and distant.
He met their surprised eyes with irritation. "What? Am I wrong? We've spent all this time preparing for a fight but how does that help Wooyoung at all? Those people are out there right now doing Merlin-knows-what to him and we're sitting here practicing spells. What good are those spells going to do when we're too late?" San asked bitterly.
"And what good would it have done if we'd just ran in there as soon as we found out and gotten ourselves killed?" Mingi pointed out. He sounded calmer than he usually would have, and San suspected that he was still holding back because of what had happened last night.
"He's right," agreed Seonghwa. "We're the only ones who are actually aware of what is happening. We're the only ones who can help him. If we die in there it's not just over for us, it's also over for Wooyoung."
San gave him a glare. Did they seriously not realize that time was running out? While they sat here on the classroom floor having a chit chat, Wooyoung might be getting beaten by that guy again. Or worse. Was San really the only one who truly realized the seriousness of the situation?
He was about to retort something when Yeosang cut him off. "Anyway, until we find another way to get there, we can't do anything anyway. Why don't we just think about that first before we get into a useless fight. There has to be another way for us to get to London."
"Brooms were the fastest option, but we don't have enough now," said Mingi.
Mingi and Jongho were the only ones who were allowed to keep their own brooms as they were part of their houses' Quidditch teams.
"Technically we could also get ahold of Wooyoung's broom. I think he keeps it under his bed, but that still only makes three brooms for seven people," Yeosang thought out loud.
Seonghwa hummed in thought. "Can't two of us just use one broom together?"
"That's too dangerous. And it would still leave one of us out," Yeosang replied.
Another moment of silence passed before Seonghwa made the next suggestion. "Harry Potter and his friends got there on Testrals in 1996 but I don't think there are any left in the Forbidden Forest..."
"Is there really no way to find any?" asked Mingi.
"There's one more option," Hongjoong spoke up for the first time over the last twenty minutes. He'd been examining the floor plan San and Seonghwa had drawn of the Department of Mysteries, most likely contemplating his next words while the others had been discussing. "I didn't think we'd have to resort to this, but it seems like we don't have much of a choice..."
"What is it?" Yeosang questioned. "Any idea where we can find Testrals?"
"No, we don't need to find Testrals," Hongjoong said, turning to Yeosang. "We can use me. I'm... an Animagus."
Their jaws dropped. As far as San knew, the process of becoming an Animagus was beyond complicated. Being an unregistered one had been illegal for decades, and something told San that Hongjoong wasn't the type to follow rules and register with the ministry.
None of them had expected anything like that, but Seonghwa seemed by far the most surprised. He furrowed his brows and gave him a bewildered look. "You're a what?"
Hongjoong shrugged, showing his confident grin. "You heard correctly."
"For real?" asked Yeosang, sounding impressed.
Mingi narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "But what kind of Animagus are you? A horseback ride to London might take us a little too long, you know."
Hongjoong only showed his cocky grin. "Do you really think I'd suggest something that inefficient? No, I'm a dragon."
"A dragon?" asked San.
"Yes, a dragon," Hongjoong confirmed, as if it was the most normal thing ever.
"That's actually perfect," Yeosang grinned excitedly. "Three of us can use brooms, Hongjoong can fly and the other three can hold onto him or something!"
"Sounds like a plan," Hongjoong replied with his signature smirk.
Even Mingi seemed impressed. "That is actually pretty fucking cool."
"Then how about we go today?" San suggested.
Seonghwa regarded him skeptically. "I don't think that's a good idea. It's just too risky. We're still too unprepared and Jongho and Yunho aren't even here. I think we should just stick to the plan and go tomorrow night."
San looked around, hoping that any of the others would be on his page, but he was disappointed. They all seemed to agree with Seonghwa.
San pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "Fine. Let's stick to the plan, then."
It was better to just pretend to agree with them for now to avoid further conflict. He could already feel their pity for him radiating from them. San looked away, not wanting to see their sympathetic faces right now.
"Alright. Let's get started then. We have a lot to do today," Hongjoong smiled and pulled out his wand as he got to his feet. He surprised everyone when he asked them to pair up and duel each other in front of the others.
They did as they were told however, and a quick game of rock-paper-scissors appointed Mingi and Yeosang as the pair to go first.
The two of them got into position about twenty feet away from each other and pointed their wands at each other, ready for Hongjoong's next instructions.
"The rules are simple. You can use whatever spell comes to mind, just try not to injure each other. Whoever is responsible for the finishing strike wins," he explained.
Mingi and Yeosang nodded and waited for Hongjoong to give them the signal.
When he did, San could barely tell what exactly was going on with the different jets of light coming from both of their wands simultaneously. Judging by the way Yeosang's wand slipped out of his hand and flung across the room, Mingi had managed to wordlessly disarm him while dodging whatever spell Yeosang had sent after him.
After that, it was easy for Mingi to cast a Petrificus Totalus spell on him to mark his win. Yeosang's arms and legs snapped together, causing him to fall flat on his back.
San grinned proudly as he and Seonghwa applauded. He knew that Mingi had spent a lot of time practicing by himself and was glad to see his efforts pay off.
Mingi immediately went to lift the curse and helped Yeosang back to his feet. He apologized for causing him to fall, but Yeosang only chuckled and waved off.
"Not bad, not bad. That's what I call improvement," Hongjoong smiled and patted Mingi's shoulder. "Next."
San and Seonghwa rose from their seats on the floor and got into the same position as Mingi and Yeosang had only two minutes before.
Seonghwa was the first to fire a Stunning Spell at San, who managed to deflect it with a flick of his wand just in time. He went for another attack, but San deflected it again before firing back an attack of his own. Seonghwa barely dodged it and lost his balance in the process, which allowed San to follow up with a Knockback Jinx that caused Seonghwa to fly back a few feet before landing on his back.
The others clapped in acknowledgement as San jogged over to help Seonghwa back to his feet.
"Nice match," said Hongjoong with a smirk. "All of you used the spells we've learned so far really well."
He spent the next hour giving each one of them tips on how to do even better, before moving on to teaching them how to use regular spells that they've already learned in class in battle. He mentioned how a spell as simple as Wingardium Leviosa would allow them to lift something up just to drop it on an opponent and how Incendio could bring a wall of fire between them and the attacker, giving them an opportunity to escape.
He let them practice using the repertoire of spells they knew on each other for another hour before challenging each one of them all to fight none other than himself.
"I'll let whoever wins know the password to the prefects' bathroom," Hongjoong grinned.
"What about me? I already know the password!" Seonghwa protested. "And we're not supposed to leak it anyway."
Hongjoong put an arm around him. "It'll be fine, pretty boy" he laughed, "We're a team after all and I'll only tell one person. And if you win, I'll get you a pass to the restricted section of the library."
Seonghwa showed him a content smirk. "That's more like it."
"Great," Hongjoong smirked back before turning to the others. "Now that that's settled, who wants to go first?"
To everyone's surprise, Yeosang was the first to raise his hand. Hongjoong looked pleased and gestured for Yeosang to get into position. They didn't waste any time getting started as soon as the others gave them the signal.
Hongjoong was first to attack, but Yeosang successfully blocked his spell with Protego. Yeosang was doing pretty well as he casted most of his spells wordlessly and in a fast pace. He knocked Hongjoong back and almost won the battle until he hesitated with his finishing strike, probably worried about actually hurting him. Hongjoong took this opportunity to catch Yeosang off guard and disarmed him.
"Don't hesitate," Hongjoong advised. "You don't have to kill your opponent, but you do have to do something to make sure to at least knock them out so they can't overpower you."
Yeosang nodded and sat back down on the floor between San and Seonghwa.
Mingi was next. He went right into the offensive, but Hongjoong skillfully blocked all of his spells. He then surprised Mingi with a Disarming Charm, but Mingi managed to catch his own wand before it could fly from his hands.
He was doing so well that Hongjoong had to actually try hard to fight him.
They then both fired their spells at the same time – Mingi using Stupefy and Hongjoong using Flipendo. They both fell backwards and had to get back to their feet first. Hongjoong was a little bit faster and managed to disarm Mingi first, marking his win. Nevertheless, Mingi smiled confidently when Hongjoong praised him for putting up such a good fight.
Seonghwa also did quite well with his spells, except for the fact that Hongjoong blocked all of them with ease. When Seonghwa finally managed to hit him with Flipendo, Hongjoong fired a Petrificus Totalus as he stumbled backwards, causing Seonghwa to lose.
And with that, San was the last one to challenge Hongjoong. Just like with Yeosang, Hongjoong attacked him first with Stupefy, but San easily blocked that before firing back with Flipendo which Hongjoong blocked as well.
They went back and forth like this for several minutes, but San was to eager to find out the password to the prefects' bathroom to lose now. He had to think of something else, something that Hongjoong didn't expect. He remembered the things Hongjoong had taught them about finding a way to use regular spells to their advantage in battle.
San smirked to himself as one particular spell came to mind. He'd just deflected Hongjoong's Petrificus Totalus by using Protego, before wordlessly casting the Aguamenti Spell they had learned in Charms yesterday.
A huge jet of water shot from San's wand, effectively surprising Hongjoong as he got hit by a wall of water. He was distracted enough for San to cast another Stupefy, earning him his creative win.
San was just about to celebrate his win when he noticed that the door had been opened. The head of Yoon Sanha, a Gryffindor prefect from the fifth year peeked inside. He was a tall, brown haired guy with a neat haircut and the obedient attitude that so many prefects were expected to have around this castle. San didn't know him too well, but he'd seen him around from time to time. His expression filled with reverence when his eyes fell on Hongjoong.
"I heard noises, so I decided to check who was in here. What are you doing in here?" Sanha asked.
"Studying," said Yeosang with a shrug as San helped Hongjoong in his soaked robes get back to his feet.
Sanha raised his eyebrows. "Doesn't really look like studying to me," he said suspiciously.
Hongjoong shrugged as he and San wrung out his robes.
"What's it to you?" Mingi chimed in. "What we do in here is none of your business."
Sanha narrowed his eyes at him before he saw San. His eyes widened for a moment when he recognized him.
"Can you leave? We don't have time to play with you," San said drily. He couldn't be bothered to care if it was rude. Not today.
"Whatever," said Sanha before leaving the room and closing the door behind himself.
Mingi scoffed. "What the hell was that about?"
"No idea," replied Yeosang.
They then returned to practicing again after Hongjoong had told San the password to the prefects' bathroom as promised. Everything went well as they all practiced with more vigor and determination than ever. They had almost forgotten about the incident with Sanha when the door suddenly burst open once more as he stormed in, accompanied by none other than Professor Snippet.
"There they are, professor!" said Sanha, unnecessarily pointing at them.
Professor Snippet gave an exasperated gasp as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "It is prohibited to practice offensive magic without a teacher present!" he exclaimed. "I should have known you were involved, Choi San. You've always been one of those troublemakers."
San rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "And I should have known that you'd be Headmistress Park's number one watch dog."
"Impulsive as always," Snippet scoffed in disbelief. "How did you even manage to gather so many promising students to go along with your foolish little spiel?" he asked him as he looked from Hongjoong to Yeosang, who were both popular among teachers and for their model student-like reputation. He looked even more confused when he turned to Seonghwa. "Especially you, Mr. Park, should know better than to join his primitive causes. Don't you have a reputation to uphold as the headmistress' son?"
Seonghwa's eyes widened at those last words and threw a panicked look at the others. Mingi and Yeosang stared back at him with surprise, but Hongjoong only raised an eyebrow in amusement. He didn't seem too shocked about this news.
Mingi gasped. "What? Is he saying the headmistress is your mom?"
"Is that true?" Yeosang asked. "Why didn't you tell us?"
San couldn't help but feel bad for Seonghwa as he knew how much he'd wanted this to remain a secret from the others until he'd tell them himself.
Seonghwa didn't even get to explain himself to them as Snippet already told Sanha to lead him outside.
"You should head to her office right away, Mr. Park. I have already informed her about this incident," Snippet said as Seonghwa and Sanha left the room together. He then turned to Yeosang, Mingi, Hongjoong, and San. "You will face serious consequences for this. Detention for all of you. I will see you in my office tomorrow."
And with that he left the classroom, slamming the door behind him.
Hongjoong was still wringing out his robes when Yeosang and Mingi let themselves sink down to the floor.
"Bro, aren't you surprised at all?" Mingi finally asked San.
"No. He already told me while we were mapping out the Department of Mysteries together," San admitted. There was no point in denying it now that they knew.
Mingi turned the slightest bit sulky. "You knew all along and yet you didn't tell us?"
"I promised him not to! Plus, he was going to tell you guys eventually. He was just scared that you wouldn't trust him anymore if you knew that she's his mother," San explained.
Mingi sighed. "I guess that makes sense..."
"He's probably in big trouble with her now though," Yeosang pointed out. "She wanted him to spy on us after all, not join us."
"He'll be fine. What is she going to do, expel her own son?" Hongjoong chimed in. "He's probably just going to get scolded."
"I suppose you're right... But then again, what are we going to do about Snippet?" Yeosang asked in a worried tone. "What if he keeps us in detention when we're supposed to head to London tomorrow?"
San couldn't care less about detention. They really didn't have time for any of this. In fact, time was running out and nothing seemed to be going right today.
He threw a look at the others, who were still discussing. He sure as hell wasn't going to leave Wooyoung in there any longer just because some geezer of a professor had given him detention. He was going to save Wooyoung as soon as possible and if it was the last thing he was going to do.
If they weren't going to do anything, he'd just have to take care of things himself.
Saturday, December 3rd. 06:17PM. Hogwarts, Headmistress' Office. Park Seonghwa.
"I hope for your sake that the reason Professor Snippet caught you in the company of Choi San because you were spying on them," the headmistress said as soon as Seonghwa had closed the heavy door behind him and stepped into her office. "But next time you do that, do not engage in their antics. The practice of offensive magic is prohibited and, as you know, those kinds of discrepancies would not look good on your record. I have convinced Professor Snippet to calm down for now, so there's no need to worry. Just don't let it happen again."
Seonghwa bit his lip. "That's... not why I was there."
"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Why else would you have been there?"
"Because..." Seonghwa paused and took a deep breath. "Because I've decided to help them find Wooyoung."
The headmistress' jaw dropped, and she gave a nervous chuckle. "What do you mean, you're helping them? Mr. Jung transferred schools, there's nothing to help them with," she said stubbornly, as if rehearsed.
Seonghwa felt himself grow more and more frustrated by the second. How could she care so little about her very own students? How could she sit here and pretend that everything was fine? How could she lie to his face about Wooyoung's whereabouts?
"Are you even aware of what you're doing?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"I am very aware."
"Then what about Wooyoung? If you know that his life is at stake, why aren't you doing anything to help him? Why are you covering up the disappearance of one of your students? Doesn't any of this mean anything to you?"
Seonghwa was shouting by now, and his mother had risen from her seat behind her desk.
"I have no other choice! It's for the better and you are just too young to understand that!"
"Too young? In case you haven't noticed, I'm an adult now, mother." He realized how childish that sounded, but he didn't care.
Strangely, her features softened the slightest bit as she regarded him. "Seonghwa. I'm trying to protect you."
"How is any of this protecting me?"
"I can't tell you that." Her cold façade had returned, and she sat back down. "Just do what I tell you. It's for your own good."
Seonghwa scoffed. Of course she'd want him to go back to doing whatever she told him to do. Of course she'd still see him as the puppet she'd raised him to be. But he wasn't going to be that anymore. It was time for him to make his own decisions, no matter what the consequences were going to be.
"I don't want your protection," he decided. "Not if it involves putting my friends in lethal danger."
She looked at him for a few seconds and sighed before speaking. "I'm disappointed in you, Seonghwa."
"And I'm disappointed in you, mother."
He saw her open her mouth in exasperation, but she didn't get to say anything else. Seonghwa had already turned on his heel and stormed out the door. His way down the stone staircase was like a haze to him.
It was the first time he'd ever talked back to his mother. For some reason it felt a lot less freeing than he'd expected it to. Instead, he felt anxious about the consequences, even though he told himself that he didn't want to care about that. Making his own decisions was supposed to be a good thing.
But then again, what if she took it out on his friends? She'd already had it out for San as soon as he'd stormed into her office to ask about Wooyoung. What if Seonghwa had just made it all worse? What if... what if she got the others expelled because of this?
No, she wouldn't do that. Or would she? Seonghwa didn't know anymore.
He was so shaken up that he almost walked right into Hongjoong, who stood right at the foot of the stairs outside the headmistress' office.
Seonghwa looked at him with wide eyes as he mumbled an apology. He then stood there awkwardly, looking down at his hands. What if his mother was going to ruin Hongjoong's perfect record just for being friends with Seonghwa? What if she made sure he didn't get the bright future he deserved and worked so hard for just because Seonghwa disobeyed?
Hongjoong simply pulled Seonghwa into a hug. "You okay?" he asked. His tone was unusually careful and sweet.
Seonghwa awkwardly returned his hug. Hongjoong was so much smaller than him that he could easily rest his head against Seonghwa's chest. "Yeah, I think so."
Hongjoong pulled away again and gave him an apologetic smile. "She probably got really mad, huh? Sorry. I should've decided on a better practice location where we wouldn't have gotten caught."
Seonghwa raised an eyebrow, surprised by this sudden apology. "It's not your fault. We all could have come up with a safer option but what's done is done. I told her that I wasn't going to be her puppet anymore."
Hongjoong chuckled. "Damn. That was brave of you."
"Hey. You're making it sound like I never do anything brave," Seonghwa complained with a chuckle.
"You got me there."
"Unbelievable."
They started to head back to the castle together, just aimlessly wandering through the hallways in comfortable silence.
At some point, Seonghwa turned to Hongjoong. "I can't believe you never told me you were a part-time dragon, by the way."
Hongjoong laughed. "If the situation wasn't so critical, I probably never would've told anyone. Actually, well, maybe I would've told you eventually."
Seonghwa blinked in surprise. "Me? Why?"
"Because you're... one of the few people I trust," Hongjoong admitted, looking down at the half-eaten Cauldron Cake in his hand. It was strange to see his everlasting confidence fade, even if it was just for a moment.
Seonghwa smiled. "Thanks. I appreciate that. And I trust you too."
Hongjoong lifted his head to smirk up at him. "I hope you realize that I will not hesitate to turn into my dragon form and eat you if you ever break that trust."
Seonghwa laughed and lifted his hands in defense. "Got it."
Saturday, December 3rd. 10:12PM. Hogwarts, Transfiguration Courtyard. Song Mingi.
After everything that had happened today, Mingi wanted nothing more but to take an after-dark walk with his pet toad Silas. He really needed some time to himself to clear his head from all the chaos that had unfolded since last Saturday.
He climbed the stairs that led out of the dungeons and crossed the Entrance Hall until he reached the foot of the Great Stairs.
"Silas, do you prefer the Transfiguration Courtyard or the Boathouse?" Mingi asked the toad sitting in his cupped hands.
Silas croaked loudly.
"Transfiguration Courtyard it is then."
It was already way past curfew, so Mingi was glad that he didn't run into any prefects or teachers on his way there. He pushed open the door that would lead him out of the ground floor hallway and into the Transfiguration Courtyard area. He was happily whistling to himself when he realized that somebody was already there.
Mingi stopped in his tracks and looked through one of the arches to see who it was.
It was Yunho, lounging on one of the benches placed around the massive iron Armillary Sphere that stood in the center of the courtyard and looking up at the moon.
How come he always ended up ran into Yunho whenever he went out at night?
Not up for a fight, Mingi was about to turn to leave already – he'd just show Silas some other place of the castle – when Yunho heaved a sigh.
Now that Mingi looked at him, Yunho seemed very occupied and concerned as he stared straight up at the starry night sky above him.
Mingi hesitated for a second before carefully approaching him.
"You okay?"
His voice seemed to have ripped Yunho out of his thoughts as his head snapped in Mingi's direction. Instead of his usual glare, he even gave Mingi a small smile as soon as he recognized him.
"Oh, hey. You startled me," he said and sat up. "I'm just... thinking."
"I figured as much," Mingi chuckled and took a seat next to him on the bench. "Is it about tomorrow?"
"You know me too well," Yunho smiled and looked back up at the crescent moon. Mingi noticed how little he had seen Yunho smile lately and then realized that he was partly a reason for that. "Yeah... I guess I'm just so nervous about it in a way. I have no idea what to expect."
Mingi nodded to himself. "I know what you mean. I'm scared too."
Yunho raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "I didn't think I'd see the day you admit that you're scared of something."
Mingi raised his hands in mock-defense. "I get soft sometimes, okay?"
Yunho laughed. The kind of laugh that made his eyes turn into little crescents as his voice sounded into the night.
Mingi had no choice but to chuckle along.
Yunho then looked at Silas sitting in Mingi's hands. "Do you always take him with you when you go for a past-curfew walk?" he asked with a chuckle.
"Sometimes I do. She's a lovely companion," Mingi replied.
Yunho nodded to himself with a chuckle. "I'm sure she's lovely."
"Anyway. I don't think you have much to worry about. You've mastered all the spells Hongjoong has taught us," Mingi said and nudged Yunho's side.
"I suppose that's true, but what if I forget about it all as soon as push comes to shove?"
"You won't. You're smart and you're good at magic."
"How can you be so sure? I'm by far not as good as San or Jongho..."
"Listen, I just know it. Those cult guys won't stand a chance. Plus, you won't be alone," Mingi reassured him and put a hand on Yunho's shoulder, "so don't worry."
Yunho turned to Mingi again. He didn't say anything in response and just smiled at him.
A silence settled between them for a few seconds in which the two of them just looked at each other. Then Silas, who was still sitting in Mingi's free hand, croaked into that silence, which made both of them laugh.
Not long after, Mingi got up and extended a hand for Yunho to follow him. Yunho blushed the slightest bit and hesitated before taking his hand and letting Mingi pull him to his feet.
Mingi then pulled Yunho into a hug. He partly did it to reassure him, but also because he'd wanted to pull him close for longer than he was willing to admit.
Despite tensing up in surprise at first, Yunho didn't resist and gratefully hugged him back.
"I..." Mingi cleared his throat before correcting himself, "I mean we won't let anything happen to you," Mingi said quietly and buried one of his hands in Yunho's hair.
Yunho was the first to pull away to smile at him. "Thanks, Mingi. I think I really needed to hear that."
Mingi smiled at him in response and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I try."
"Shall we head back? It's getting kind of cold..." Yunho admitted.
"Sure," Mingi replied. He cursed himself for not bringing a jacket to give to Yunho all romantically like they always did in the movies. He did however manage to smoothly take Yunho's hand and didn't let go of it for the rest of the way.
Saturday, December 3rd. 10:54PM. Hogwarts, Slytherin Common Room. Choi San.
Sparkling light, endless ticking, a dark cell.
All of that was flashing through San's mind after he had once again been pulled into this strange trance again, just like he had in Muggle Studies class a few days ago. It was the second time it had happened today.
Desperation, frustration, hopelessness, and pain. Horrible pain. Time was running out. San could feel it.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, San could practically hear it. That voice that had lured him into this sleep-like state in the first place.
Help... Please... I can't take it anymore.
San opened his eyes. This was it. This sense of urgency had been sitting in his mind all day and he was almost certain that it was Wooyoung. He didn't know how he was doing it, but he was pretty sure that he was calling for immediate help.
San rose to his feet. He couldn't sit around any longer. He couldn't wait until tomorrow. Wooyoung needed him. San couldn't explain how he knew, but he was sure of it. If he didn't go now, it would be too late.
He grabbed his wand, his hand shaking the slightest bit as he pulled out his luggage from underneath his bed. He rustled through his belongings, leaving them splattered all over the floor until he found his backpack. He hastily packed everything he thought he could possibly need. The floor plan of the Department of Mysteries, the time turner, a handful of healing and strengthening potions Yeosang and Hongjoong had prepared, Mingi's Firebolt Supreme, and lastly, the wand in his hand.
If the others wanted to stick to the original plan and wait until tomorrow so bad, he'd just have to go by himself.
The common room was empty once again, and San only allowed himself a few more seconds of calming his racing heart before heading toward the portrait hole that would lead to the dungeons. He was only a few footsteps away from it when it opened for somebody standing outside in the hallway.
San stopped in his tracks and much to his dismay, Mingi climbed through the portrait hole and came to a halt in front of him.
Fuck. So much for his secret plan.
Mingi gave him a surprised look. "Bro, where are you going? Isn't it super late?"
"I, um..." San stammered. He didn't get to come up with a plausible lie in time as Mingi's eyes fell on the broom in his hands.
"Is that my broom? Why would you..." he trailed off as realization washed over him. His confused expression was replaced by an angry one. "Don't tell me you're on your way to London by yourself right now."
San didn't reply and averted his eyes.
Mingi angrily crossed his arms over his chest. "First the time turner thing and now this! You really need to stop playing the hero and trying to get through tough situations by yourself!"
San's anxiousness only fueled the anger that perked up inside of him once again. "What else am I supposed to do? Who else is going to save him if I don't? I'm not going to let them get away with this! I'm not going to let him die!"
"You're just gonna get yourself killed if you go by yourself!" Mingi exclaimed in frustration. "We've been over this so many times, we have to do this together!"
"Don't you get it?! Time is running out! You saw what they did to him! We have to do something, and we have to do it now!"
Mingi bit his lip, visibly conflicted.
"Mingi, please. It will be too late if we go tomorrow. I just know it. I can feel it. Wooyoung needs us. I can't just go to sleep and pretend that nothing's wrong."
Mingi still didn't say anything as he considered San's words.
San only raised his eyebrows at him expectantly. His patience had been running thin all day and he couldn't stand uselessly hanging around any longer.
He had already pushed past him to leave the common room by himself when Mingi held him back by the arm.
"Alright, alright! We're going. But let's at least get the others."
Saturday, December 3rd. 11:27PM. Ministry of Magic, Hall of Prophecies. Jung Wooyoung.
"It's finally time," Stephan muttered to himself excitedly as he led Wooyoung - and the group of guards surrounding him - through the endlessly tall shelves stocked with what must have been more than a million prophecy records.
It looked pretty almost; the light blue glow coming from the abundance of small, spun-glass orbs. Each of them had a label tied to them that read a series of numbers as well as the name of the person they'd been made about. They were filled with some mysterious smoke, and Wooyoung could've sworn that he saw images flash inside of them from time to time. Images of faces, locations, or things that Wooyoung couldn't recognize from afar. Something about the thought that they contained logs of prophecies made hundreds and thousands of years ago fascinated Wooyoung.
It would have fascinated him even more if he wasn't possibly nearing the end of his life after being forced to tell these cult people what kind of future awaited their precious New Lord. Cold fear crawled up Wooyoung's spine at the thought and he couldn't hold back occasional pained hisses as the guards roughly urged him forward.
His entire body felt weak and sluggish, and his legs felt like they would give out underneath him if it wasn't for the two guards holding him up. His sides were aching horribly, and he suspected that – thanks to Donovan - at least one of his ribs was either sprained or fractured. It was like somebody stabbed him in the side whenever he breathed in too deep.
It was hopeless. Game over. Fin.
"I'm so proud of you," Wooyoung heard Stephan say excitedly. He only registered his words distantly in the back of his mind somewhere as he let the guards drag him along. Fighting back had become horribly pointless. "The New Lord will rise and it's all thanks to you. It is a great honor."
Wooyoung only huffed at him as he glanced around himself. His chances of escape were slim. Beside the two guards holding onto his arms in a tight grip, there were three more guards trailing behind him, effectively blocking the way to the Time Room. Even if he did manage to somehow break free from the two guys beside him, there was no way he'd be able to get past him in his current condition and without a wand.
The reality of what this meant hit Wooyoung like a truck.
He would never see his friends again. He would never see San again. He would never get to tell him that he loved him, that he was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He would never get to thank him for making his life so much sweeter.
Wooyoung tried not to show any signs of weakness, no matter how much his spirits were suffering. He didn't want to give those people the satisfaction of seeing him break.
They eventually arrived in the far end of the hall. It was a far more spacious area than the long narrow rows of shelves had been, and about thirty people in hooded robes had formed a circle around an empty chair and some sort of podium. They really made it look like some kind of cult ritual that would end in human sacrifice. The now all too familiar feeling of fear and anxiety spiked in his chest.
The guards made Wooyoung sit down in that chair and didn't leave his side, making sure that he wouldn't run. Not that there would've been any point in trying anyway.
At first, there was nothing but an eerie silence filling the room. Wooyoung figured that they were waiting for the New Lord.
While waiting, Wooyoung's eyes fell back on the podium in the middle of the circle. There was a black pillow on it that balanced a single prophecy record. It was safe to assume that it was the one they needed Wooyoung to read, the one were all obsessing over.
In fact, there was a little tag attached to its base that had a series of numbers and the name Vassily Politovsky scribbled onto it in spider-like handwriting. For some reason, Wooyoung felt strangely drawn to it, as if something inside of him was urging him to reach out to it and touch it.
Another five minutes later, the New Lord finally made his appearance. He too was wearing hooded robes, just like the four men trailing after him. Wooyoung recognized them to be Ilya, Donovan, and two other guys that had regularly guarded Wooyoung's cell. He had never learned their names. Not that it mattered.
A mixture of hatred, betrayal and horror shot through Wooyoung at the sight of Donovan. It was like all of the pain he had caused Wooyoung intensified at the sight of him. He didn't want to fully admit it, but he was scared of the man.
The circle of hooded people greeted the New Lord with some weird chant about how the Cleanse will come and free their race of filth, and as time went by, this whole thing started to feel more and more like an execution. Maybe Wooyoung would've rolled his eyes if he wasn't so terrified.
When their creepy chant finally came to an end, the New Lord gave everyone his usual amused smirk. "Thank you, thank you. The first night of the Cleanse has finally come. We will finally achieve what our glorious predecessor has failed to achieve. We will finally finish what he has started, and we will follow the guidance of the prophecy and take over the wizarding world."
His followers nodded eagerly at those words. Wooyoung had to wonder once again how he had gotten himself into this circle of delusional people. Just about a week ago, Wooyoung's life had been happy and normal. He had gotten drunk at his birthday party, danced with his friends, shared that amazing first kiss with San... All of that now felt like a lifetime ago.
Wooyoung's eyes started to water with tears, but he didn't allow himself to cry.
The New Lord continued his delusional speech for a while longer. Once he finished, he put on a thick pair of gloves and took the prophecy record from its podium before carefully carrying it over to Wooyoung.
For a moment, Wooyoung feared that they had made some kind of mistake, and that the instant madness that kept Non-Legilimens people from directly touching the prophecy records would affect him as well.
Luckily, it didn't. Wooyoung still felt the same when the guy let the glass ball roll into his hands. Wooyoung had expected it to be cold but it actually felt oddly warm against his skin. It felt as if it was a living thing with something like body heat.
But that wasn't the weirdest thing about it.
He could clearly see faces floating around in it. It was hard to recognize them through all the mist at first, but the longer he stared into the prophecy record, the clearer the faces became. He wasn't surprised to see the New Lord in there - the prophecy was about him after all – there was somebody else. Somebody he had probably expected to see the least. Somebody Wooyoung knew all too well.
"San..." Wooyoung breathed out in disbelief.
Wooyoung couldn't tell if his exhausted brain was just letting him see things. No, it really was him. His dark, foxlike eyes, his soft lips – there was no doubt about it.
San's face was inside of this stupid prophecy record about the New Lord.
But how was that possible? How could San, his San ever be related to the New Lord? It just didn't make any sense.
"What are you waiting for?" Donovan asked harshly, ripping Wooyoung out of his thoughts. He pointed his wand right at Wooyoung's heart. "Do it! Read the prophecy!"
Wooyoung glared up at his former professor before looking back at the prophecy. If he wanted to avoid getting tortured again, he had no choice but to do what they said for now. He then shook the confusion about San being a part of the New Lord's prophecy out of his head and cleared his mind.
He closed his eyes and tried to forget about everything around him to focus solely on the prophecy record in his hands. After a few seconds of nothing but concentration, he felt the magic run through his veins and into the glass orb in his hand as he reached out to it with his spirit, just like he had with San when he had tried to send him messages.
Eventually, he felt some sort of energy take over him as a voice read out the prophecy in his head.
Light can bend the future
and light controls the time.
But darkness has the power
and darkness will decide.
When the first comes to die
and the second one is born
both will find each other
and form the vital bond.
Light and dark go far beyond
to fail or succeed together.
As soon as the voice had finished saying what it had to say, the strange energy left him again as he opened his eyes. He had no idea what any of that was supposed to mean.
Light? Darkness? Vital bond? Which part of it was related to San?
Wooyoung didn't get to figure out an answer to that as one of the guys whose name he didn't know shook him out of his trance.
"What? Did it work? What does it say?" he asked frantically.
Wooyoung blinked up at him. "I... I don't know," he lied. They saw right through him of course.
"Lies," another one said, "He heard it! He heard the prophecy!"
The New Lord didn't say anything and just looked right at Wooyoung with an amused and attentive expression on his pale face.
"Tell them, Wooyoung," said Stephan softly, "Tell them what it says."
Wooyoung bit down on his lip. All his hopeless thought from earlier had disappeared. Now that he'd found out that San was somehow involved in this, he couldn't risk telling them. What if they went after him next?
Wooyoung couldn't let that happen. He already knew he wasn't going to make it out of there alive. The only option he had left was to do anything that would ruin those people's plans. He was going to die anyway. But he would die trying his best to stop them, or at least slow down their stupid cause. No matter how much they were going to torture him, the last thing he wasn't going to do was cooperate. The last thing he was going to in his life was going to be for San.
"No. Not over my dead body," Wooyoung bit out.
The New Lord sighed dramatically. "I had hoped that we would not have to resort to this," he said, his cold eyes piercing right through Wooyoung's. "David. Do what you need to do. But try not to kill him."
Saturday, December 3rd. 11:39PM. Hogwarts, Viaduct. Choi San.
It was cold and windy up on the viaduct. The night air felt chilly against their skin as it pulled at their robes and ruffled up their hair. San's grip tightened around the Firebolt Supreme in his hand as he and Mingi waited for the others to show up.
San had charmed a handful of hastily scribbled notes, telling the others to come to the viaduct in order to head to London right away. He'd told them to bring their wands and the potions and made sure to mention that they needed both Jongho's and Wooyoung's brooms. He'd also told them to hurry up. He still felt like they had no time to waste with this.
San wasn't sure whether it was his intuition or another one of Wooyoung's mental broadcasts to him. All he knew was that they should get to the ministry as soon as possible.
He impatiently shifted from one foot to another as he stared at the castle entrance, holding out for any of the team members to arrive.
Mingi took his hand. "Don't worry, we'll make it in time. They'll be here any minute. Jongho probably just has trouble bringing both his own and Wooyoung's broom," he said calmly.
San nodded, but he didn't feel reassured in the slightest. At least not until Hongjoong and Yunho came running toward them from the castle.
"We came here as soon as we got your note. What happened? Why aren't we following the plan?" Yunho asked, slightly out of breath from running.
"Yeah, I thought we were going tomorrow," said Hongjoong, looking just as disheveled.
"I'll explain once everyone is here," San assured them impatiently and continued to keep an eye out for the others.
Seonghwa and Yeosang arrived around three minutes later, closely followed by Jongho, who ran with two broomsticks in his hands.
"Why the sudden change of plan?" asked Yeosang, a worried frown occupying his usually bright features. "Did something happen?"
"San was about to head to London by himself because he thinks that we'll be too late if we don't leave right now. I barely stopped him. This is his compromise for not going alone," Mingi explained.
Yeosang gasped and turned to look at San. "You wanted to go alone? Are you insane? That would've been suicide!"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, alright?" San replied with a roll of his eyes. "We don't have time for any of that right now! Let's please just go now. If any of you have changed your mind about this, now is your last chance to back out."
He scanned their faces for any signs of hesitation or remorse. He was met by nothing but determination mixed with a healthy hint of fear. None of them questioned his decision to leave for London right this instant.
"Thanks," San managed a weak smile. "In that case we should get ready. Hongjoong?"
Hongjoong showed his signature smirk, immediately catching onto what he was supposed to do. He took a few steps back before starting to transform into his Animagus form.
It happened a lot faster than San had expected. His limbs grew longer, his head grew bigger, and his complexion switched colors, and he after a few seconds, he had fully taken on the full form of a cerulean blue dragon. His long snake-like body carried large wings that had a wingspan wider than the viaduct as well as two legs that ended in sharp claws. His head was decorated with two white horns, and his eyes still had the same intelligent and mysterious look in them as they had in his human form.
San felt his own jaw drop at the sight.
"Oh my god," Yeosang breathed and instinctively grabbed onto the person closest to him, which happened to be San.
"Wicked, dude," whispered Mingi in awe as he stared at the creature in front of him.
Seonghwa was the only one who furrowed his brows. "Didn't you say you were a dragon? You only have two legs. That makes you a wyvern."
Dragon Hongjoong turned to him and glared, lifting his giant wings.
"Your wings don't count," said Seonghwa, shaking his head. "Trust me, by definition, you are a wyvern."
Hongjoong let his wings sink back to the ground and shot Seonghwa a glare. Oddly enough, even in his dragon – sorry, wyvern – form, San recognized Hongjoong's sulk on the creatures face. Seonghwa only chuckled.
"Let's have that discussion another time, guys. Let's get going," suggested Jongho.
Everyone got into position as discussed earlier today. San handed Mingi his broom and instead received Wooyoung's broom from Jongho, who gave his own broom to Seonghwa. Hongjoong then lowered himself to the ground to let the rest of them – Yunho, Jongho, and Yeosang – climb onto his slender back.
Yunho sat in the front just behind the base of Wyvern Hongjoong's wings, wrapping his arms around his long neck for stability, Jongho was right behind him, grabbing onto Yunho's robes, and Yeosang was in the far back, his arms wrapped around Jongho's torso and holding onto him for dear life.
Looking at the three of them now, San was glad to be riding a broom tonight.
"Hold on, shouldn't we disguise ourselves somehow? What if somebody sees us? Especially Hongjoong..." Yunho questioned.
"Good point. What do we do?" asked Jongho.
Seonghwa pulled out his wand. "Let's use a Disillusionment Charm. That way we should be safe," he suggested.
San nodded. "Okay, sounds good."
And with that, Seonghwa went from person to person, making them seemingly disappear one by one. They weren't exactly invisible, they had simply taken on the color of their surroundings, as if they'd all become human chameleons. When he got to San and cast the charm on him, San looked down at his body only to see it gone. All he saw was Wooyoung's broom beneath him. San didn't allow himself too much time to think about how weird this was and gave the others instructions about staying close together until they'd land in London.
Not long after, Wyvern Hongjoong spread his large wings, took a huge leap down the viaduct before bringing himself and his three passengers far up towards the clouds with a series of big flaps of his wings. Mingi, San, and Seonghwa also pushed themselves off the ground and followed him on their brooms. They gladly let Wyvern Hongjoong take the lead as he seemed to know which way they had to go.
San made sure not to stray too far from the others as they tore through the freezing air just below the few clouds that decorated the night sky.
His heart was racing. He couldn't help but worry about whatever was waiting for them beyond the doors of the Department of Mysteries. It was a dangerous place, probably far more so than any of them could fathom, but San was ready to face anything that came between him and Wooyoung.
It was going to be a long night, and San was ready for it.