The very first thing Ivy noticed as soon as she had exited the bathroom was the faint smell of freshly made polyjuice potion. It is a potion which lets the drinker to change their appearance. Whoever made it was a very powerful wizard or a witch because it's highly complicated to make. One tiny detail is mistaken, the whole potion has to be thrown out.
"Why is his hair..." Ivy's voice drained out slowly as she heard Jaemin's shakingly deep voice from the store's main room.
"Tell me, Jisung. Tell me that I'm not the only one who's seeing my brother Jaehyun standing alive in front of us right now."
Ivy shook her head. There was no way Jaehyun came back from the dead, let alone being alive at the moment. The only logical explanation was that...
Someone was impersonating Jaehyun. Ivy panicked, looking around and grabbing a strange, heavy object. She tip toed slowly, careful enough to make less sounds as she quietly approached the tall brunet, who was supposedly Jaemin's dead brother.
There were no warnings when Ivy lunged forward. With a rageful scream which paralysed the victim's thinking, she smashed the object to his head, sending him off to dreamland without trying again.
"What are you doing!?" Chenle questioned his sister. Jisung and Jaemin joined, circling the girl for an explanation.
"This man isn't Jaehyun." She whispered and began to explain what she had spotted. She connected the dots and figured that this man, indeed, must be someone else.
"I thought- I was happy- I have to go." Jaemin broke down, staring down at the appearance of his brother while his stomach churned and his fists clenched, holding back himself from punching the unconscious impersonator.
"Jisung, take him with you. Me and Chenle will wait here until he gains back his consciousness." Ivy ordered, forcing the pair to leave. She watched as Jaemin's eyes failed to hold back his tears. There was an attempt to hug him right then an there, but she didn't want to upset him any further.
Upon waking, Liang expected his warm and soft sheets, but what he had not anticipated was being tied to his chair by two fifth years from Hogwarts. A moment ago he could've sworn that he transformed into Jaehyun, to test and see if his potion had worked and just before he could welcome his uninvited guests, he was ambushed by a girl.
"You have a lot of explanation to do." Ivy exclaimed, holding her wand close to her body in case the wizard in front of her intended to attack.
"Leave." Was the only word he could whisper out at that moment.
Chenle shook his head and leaned closer to his victim with his newly found encouragement. "Why are you pretending to be someone who you've killed? And what business do you have with Jaemin's father?"
No answer.
"Leave before he comes back and kills you both too." Zhong Liang barked, grabbing his wand from his pocket and freeing himself in a matter of seconds. The Zhong siblings stepped back in horror, not sure of what to do next.
"My last warning. Don't come back here. Ever again."
Waiting for Ivy was the last thing anyone would expect Jaemin to do but there he was, sitting beside the empty fireplace in the cold, shivering as he hugged his blanket closer to him. After that strange yet heartbreaking incident, he craved for her attention and words. She had a way of calming him down and he didn't want to admit it in front of himself in the mirror.
Slowly, she became someone he desired to take care of. Not just her, he wanted to protect Donghyuck and Chenle as well. In this cruel world, they seemed like the only innocent ones to roam. He was glad that his toxic personality his father had gifted started to fade away as time passes by. Hogwarts was changing him little by little and he went along with it.
"Were you waiting for me?" Her soft voice entered his ears. He snapped his head towards the girl, who had her eyes almost closed from the tiredness. It was almost six am and none of them had gotten any sleep.
"Of course not." The Slytherin mumbled. "Renjun is taking up all the space. He sleeps like a starfish."
Ivy chuckled at the excuse and didn't tease him any further. She suppressed a yawn and sat next to the boy, forcefully grabbing the left side of his blanket and covering herself as well.
"Was it..."
"Yeah. Zhong Liang pretended to be your brother." Ivy sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "I'm very sorry, Jaemin."
His name rolled out her tongue softly. It was probably the first time he had heard his name being spoken so nicely by her.
"It's alright. But Ivy, we need to talk." He began. "I have to apologise to you about the things I've done to you in the past and the plans I had in my mind. I also want to tell you that I like-"
He stopped talking once he noticed that the girl had fallen asleep on his shoulder, sleeping like an angel while looking so vulnerable. Her consciousness ebbed and her mind went into free wall, no longer listening to the guy. She swirled into the beautiful chaos of what she had called a 'dream'. An innocent version of a nightmare and an escape from the reality.
"Pfft, you should be lucky that tomorrow's the weekend, Zhong and also that I'm letting you take over my shoulder." He whispered ever so softly, being careful enough to not wake her up from her deep sleep.
"Goodnight, Ivy."
His thoughts started become nonsense and it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was falling asleep too. With a small yawn, he snuggled closer to Ivy, making sure that the blanket covered them both. His head subconsciously fell on hers and his eyes shut down once his brain demanded him to sleep.
Even though he wasn't laying on his bed, he strangely felt comfortable and at peace. At this point his house mates might find them sleeping next to each other next to an empty fireplace, but Jaemin didn't give a single damn.
He was finally able to get the rest he deserved.
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Sike y'all rlly thought Jaehyun was alive🤪