Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Jeno’s first day of his seventh year was a bleak one. The weather wasn’t kind to him, meager grey clouds dotting the sky and blocking the early fall sun’s rays, snatching away any chance of lingering warmth to beam down on London.

With a sigh, he hoisted his bag strap higher up on his shoulder so it wouldn’t slip, his trunk dragging behind him because he hadn’t yet been able to nab a cart to carry his leftover luggage. Doyoung had brought the bulk of his things when he traveled up to the school a week ago, so Jeno couldn’t really complain too much about the added weight.

The train platform was much more crowded than usual when Jeno ascended upon it, and he cursed as a string of people bumped into him left and right, delaying his walk and threatening his balance. He could barely find an optimal moment of time to run forward and slip into the wall opposite of him — the one that stood inconspicuously between the platform numbers 9 and 10.

“You were always so slow at running through the platform.”

Jeno scoffed at the familiar voice, spinning on his heels to lock eyes with them. “I wouldn’t be if half of London hadn’t decided to show up to this exact platform at this exact time, Hyuck.”

Donghyuck grinned back at him, wide and bright, as though he had stolen all the sunlight hidden from behind the clouds and stored it in his smile.

“Step aside and watch, birthday boy.”

Jeno scoffed at the nickname; it was something that had caught on a few years back when Mark kept calling him that around his birthday. His birthday wasn’t even until April, and it was barely September, but Donghyuck insisted on continuing to call him that at any moment’s notice. As per directions, he took a few steps to his side and watched, an amused smile dancing on his lips, as Donghyuck nonchalantly walked towards the wall that would no doubt take him to platform 9¾. The Slytherin advanced with confidence oozing from every pore in his body, as though the platform were entirely empty and not overpacked with bustling London muggles in a rush to catch their trains.

And just as though he was taking a lazy stroll through the park, Donghyuck rolled his cart right into the wall, disappearing entirely within half a second. Nobody around him even spared a glance, too preoccupied with their phones or frantically trying to read the signs above them.

Jeno huffed, pout starting to form as he could already hear the smug tone of Donghyuck’s words when Jeno inevitably crossed through the wall and met him on the other side. He half debated turning around and going home, missing the train altogether so he wouldn’t have to endure Donghyuck’s rather exasperating smirk. Unfortunately, that would mean he would miss the back-to-school banquet and subsequently have to explain to Doyoung why he was late to school (and frankly, he was more afraid of his brother than Donghyuck).

Another sigh left his lips and, shaking off any nerves stuck to his muscles, he hoisted his bag up once more and walked towards the wall, quickening his pace until finally he pushed through the brick and emerged on the other side. The rusted 9¾ sign smiled down at him; the bustle on this platform was no different from the other side, but here the people were much more lively, parents cheery as they came to see their children off for the train.

The Hogwarts Express was as beautifully vintage as ever, puffs of grey smoke lifting from the spout at the front of the train. She was the last steam engine of her kind, the outside world having long moved on to diesel or electric. Jeno rather appreciated the familiarity of the Hogwarts Express, though the long ride from London to Hogwarts one he wouldn’t change for anything in the world.

“Keep it moving, birthday boy!”

Jeno was broken out of his stupor by Donghyuck’s voice, loud over the chaos of the platform as parents were trying to usher their children onto the train and conductors were trying to log in everyone boarding. He walked further away from the wall as a stream of people was starting to pop through, and frankly, he didn’t want to be trampled(his day was going as bad as it was already).

“Why do you insist on calling me that?” Jeno all but whined, catching up to Donghyuck so they could board the train together. “It’s been at least two years.”

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Well, I would have started calling you Head Boy if you didn’t turn it down, like a lunatic.”

Jeno sighed, knowing this topic of discussion would come up sooner rather than later. He had received the letter informing him that he’d been chosen as Head Boy almost two weeks ago, along with his list of required textbooks. Everyone in his family had been thrilled, excited to have another Head Boy in the family after Doyoung. Jeno couldn’t have been more thankful either, but he had never felt himself Head Boy material. He had wanted to spend his final year focusing on his academics and Quidditch and knew trying to balance both of those on top of Head Boy duties would run him extremely thin. His parents had been disappointed but understood that he had chosen what was more important to him. (He had the inkling that Doyoung was still a bit upset, though).

The moment his friends found out, they went borderline ballistic. Renjun had lectured him about how this was a wasted opportunity of a lifetime and that he could have easily juggled everything, while Donghyuck and Yangyang had mostly just complained how they didn’t have anybody to bail them out of detention when one of their pranks would no doubt blow up back in their faces.

“Listen, you know the reason why I turned it down, Donghyuck,” Jeno said, hoping they could move on from the topic before they reached their usual compartment where Renjun and Yangyang were no doubt already waiting so he wouldn’t be subjected to all three of their complaints. “Besides, none of you could be as upset as Doyoung is.”

“And rightfully so!” Donghyuck defended, stepping up the small boarding staircase and into the narrow train hallway. He half spoke over his shoulder as they moved farther down in a single file, dodging tiny first years that had no idea where to go. “You could have had not one but two Head Boys in the family, and what do you do? Turn it down! Nobody in the history of Hogwarts has turned down being Head Boy. You have made history, and not the good kind.”

Jeno resisted the urge to let out his probably fifth sigh of the day. He ignored the rest of Donghyuck’s rambling and instead focused on trying to find the number of their compartment. He found it easily after a few more seconds of walking, the smile spreading wide on his face when he saw Renjun and Yangyang were already inside just as he expected.

“There they are!” Yangyang called, shining teeth on full display as he jumped up from his seat to hug both Donghyuck and Jeno in turn. He spent an extra long amount of time hugging Donghyuck — if one could count spinning him into a chokehold and then sending sparks out of his wand at the other so the ends of his hair burnt as hugging.

“We were starting to think you two would never show up,” Renjun said from behind Yangyang, an easygoing smile on his lips as he smoothly maneuvered around Donghyuck and Yangyang — who had fallen into a makeshift wrestling match — to hug Jeno.

Jeno chuckled at Renjun’s words, using the time to quickly pick his trunk up and set it on top the shelf above the seats. “Platform was extra crowded today.”

Renjun nodded, believing Jeno’s words easily, though Jeno had the fleeting thought that Renjun knew just why they had been a little late, if his lopsided smirk was anything to go by. The two of them took their seats next to the window across from each other, letting out matching huffs of relief at finally settling onto the train. Donghyuck finally pried himself away from Yangyang long enough to hoist up his luggage next to Jeno before plopping down next to Renjun with a heavy sigh.

Yangyang took his seat next to Jeno, and the four of them fell into easy conversation, catching up on their summer spent away from each other. Two months was nothing to a whole school year spent together, but they still missed each other greatly and were glad to be all together again.

The train had taken off sometime after they started talking, the sound of the whistle high and quiet in the distance. They quickly gained speed, the tall buildings of London fading to the rolling hills of the countryside as they headed north for the school.

“I’m kind of sad Mark isn’t with us this year, though,” Yangyang voiced after a while, when their conversation had died down and they were content with just absorbing each other’s presence.

The mood shifted to bittersweet for a few moments, the four of them reminiscing about their time at school with their other best friend. Mark had been a year above them, and graduated last year, moving on to “bigger and better things”, as they say.

“You act as though he’s dead,” Renjun said with a laugh, chin leaning against his hand as his elbow rested on the windowsill.

Donghyuck let out a small huff next to him, wrapping his arm around Renjun’s waist and pulling him close into a side hug. “That’s because we didn’t spend the entire summer sucking face with him in his brand new London apartment.”

The three of them giggled while Renjun just sputtered and tried to defend himself, cheeks growing impossibly pink from Donghyuck’s words that they all knew were true.

“Well, he’ll be back soon anyways!” Renjun said indignantly, exhaling hotly as he fixed his bangs in embarrassment.

Jeno tilted his head to the side, looking at Renjun quizzically. “What do you mean?”

Renjun seemed to realize what he said and quickly covered his mouth with his hand, shaking his head violently. Donghyuck and Yangyang latched onto him not even a second later, poking him in the sides and tickling him so he burst into a fit of laughter and giggles, begging them to stop. Jeno watched on in amusement, just thinking about how happy he was to be around his friends once more.

“Alright alright I’ll tell you, just let go!” Renjun wailed, breathless as his stomach contracted with another round of giggles from all the tickling. Taking pity on him, Donghyuck and Yangyang relented their attack, leaning back into their respective seats, awaiting his response.

Renjun took a few deep breaths, calming himself down before speaking again. “Now don’t quote me on this,” He sent a pointed look to Donghyuck, who threw his hands up in an innocent gesture, “but Mark said there’s going to be some huge event held at Hogwarts this year and the Ministry is sending him to help with planning, so he’ll be on campus.”

“Major event?” Jeno asked, curiosity piqued as he stood up straight in his seat, listening intently to Renjun’s words.

But Renjun only shrugged. “That’s all I know about it. As bad as Mark is at keeping secrets, that was all he would tell me.”

They all sat back in their seats, disappointed at the vagueness of Mark’s words. The prospect of their seventh and final year at Hogwarts had just been supercharged with the news that there would be a major event held at the school.

“What do you think it could be?” Yangyang asked eagerly. “Maybe they’ll host a professional Quidditch game!”

Jeno shook his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t think that’s it. We barely have the room to fit that big of a crowd in our stands. Could it be something related to the Ministry?"

Donghyuck shook his head in response to that, rubbing his chin in thought. "Whatever it is, let's hope it means we can skip our classes. God knows I can't last another year in Doyoung's Potions class."

Jeno snorted. "Don't let him catch you saying that. You're lucky you even got an E on your O.W.L. for that class.”

"Details," Donghyuck dismissed with a wave of his hand.

The topic of whatever the major event could be followed them all the way until the train ceased to a halt in Hogsmeade station. The shrill noise of the train's whistle halted their conversation, and they gathered all their luggage from overhead as quickly as they could, wanting to exit the train before the huge rush of underclassmen.

The sun was barely peeking out from the horizon when they stepped off the train, the last of its light dissipating in a slow wave as it fully set and made way for the twinkling stars and bright moon. The clouds from earlier had all but gone, deciding to let the stars illuminate the road leading up to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade with their silver shine.

The four of them easily found an empty carriage awaiting all the second through seventh years, and climbed inside without so much as another word, the bustle of the student body a mere afterthought once the doors closed behind them.

Jeno sat by the window once more, and decided to gaze up at the stars as they waited for the long line of carriages to set off up the road and towards the school. The other three had fallen into a quiet conversation about Divination, a class Jeno had decided not to take past 5th year.

He was content with not chiming in, instead losing himself in the vast array of stars that splattered the sky above him, as though tiny inkblots on an endless black canvas. He absentmindedly thought about how excited he was to get back to Astronomy class with Renjun. They were to learn about Dark Cloud Constellations this year, something he had heard Renjun gush about countless times before, which added to his own excitement about the lesson.

It was about twenty minutes later when the rest of the students found an empty carriage to fit into, and they could all be on their way. It had only been two months, but Jeno was happy to be back at Hogwarts, the school like a second home to him. He had only one year left, and he was intent on doing the most he could, not wanting to miss out on his final chance to truly be with his best friends and all his other classmates.

The rhythmic padding of the Thestral hooves as they galloped up the gravel road was hypnotic, lulling Jeno close to sleep as he leaned his head against the glass window of the carriage. Vague images of people whizzing past him on broomsticks flashed on the backs of his eyelids. He didn't even realize he had closed his eyes until Donghyuck was fervently shaking him awake.

"Come on, sleepy head. We're here."

Jeno blinked wearily, eyelids feeling droopy suddenly as he tried to find his bearings. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of any residual slumber that might’ve tried to cling to his eyelashes as he followed his friends out of the carriage and up the grand steps to the school.

The castle was the same as ever, her tall towers standing proud to greet all the returning and new students. Almost all the lights were on, the brightest coming from the front doors being wide open to let in the string of people. Jeno saw Doyoung at the top welcoming everyone and taking count of everyone to make sure nobody was missing.

His face instantly brightened when he spotted Jeno and the rest of them. "Boys!" He greeted with his signature gummy smile, something he would never show inside his classroom, which Jeno believed was part of the reason why he became one of the most feared teachers in the school. His demeanor inside and outside the classroom gave every person who had the pleasure of knowing him whiplash; he was as strict as strict could be when it came to teaching, but if anyone encountered him in the hallways or the Great Hall, he was kind and bright and more than willing to help any student in need. "I take it you had a safe trip up here?" He asked them, leaning forward to ruffle Jeno's hair, which had Jeno whining.

"Yep!" They all said in unison, each giving Doyoung their own smiles before they were ushered further inside so Doyoung could continue taking count of all the other students.

Jeno patted down the top of his head where Doyoung had messed up his hair, following his friends as they skipped into the Great Hall eagerly, the scent of food wafting into their nostrils and leaving their stomachs gurgling loudly. The floating candles above welcomed them and enveloped them in a comforting orange hue, lighting their way through the room.

The four of them easily found their seats at the Gryffindor table where they always sat together ever since becoming friends in their first year. Separating the Houses by table in the Great Hall had long since been forgotten, and everyone just sat where they wanted to, as friendships were almost never exclusive to one House.

The smell of food was even stronger at the table, and the four of them sat down, buzzing with excitement for the feast to come. They were some of the first few students to enter the Hall, however, so it would be quite a bit before they would be able to eat.

"Can they hurry up?" Donghyuck whined, leaning his head forward into his arms. "I'm so hungry I could eat a whole horse right now."

"We all are Donghyuck. Just a little longer and we'll be able to eat," Renjun comforted, one hand coming up to the play with the hairs at Donghyuck's nape. The action instantly soothed the Slytherin, who let out a content sigh and melted under Renjun's hand, a pleased smile on his lips.

Jeno and Yangyang chuckled at how easily the Slytherin could be calmed down by Renjun. Soulmate behavior, as Donghyuck himself liked to put it.

It wasn't too long before the Great Hall finally filled up and Doyoung was closing the entrance doors behind him, walking up to the faculty table and taking his spot. Once he was there, the Headmaster, Taeyong, stood up from his chair and sent everyone a comforting smile.

"Good evening everyone, and welcome back to Hogwarts. It is so nice to see all these familiar faces, as well as the new ones," He smiled down at the hoard of children that were standing off to the side of the room with Professor Kun, looks of fear and anticipation gracing their features. "We'll commence with the Sorting Ceremony now, but afterwards I have a very special announcement."

Jeno and the other three of them glanced amongst each other, all sharing the same thought that the special announcement no doubt had some sort of correlation to whatever the major event Mark spoke of was.

The Sorting Ceremony went by in a blur. Jeno had seen it several times after having gone through with it himself. He wasn't particularly all that interested in the first years, only clapping loudly for any of them that happened to be sorted into Gryffindor.

Once the first years had found their seats at their respective House's table, Taeyong stood back up, and a hush fell over the room, curiosity latching on to every single student and leaving them breathless as they hung on to Taeyong's every word.

"Another welcome to all the first years, who have now been sorted. The next order of business is my very special announcement," Taeyong spoke, eyes scanning the room slowly, mostly to build suspense and have everyone's nerves spiking. His eyes caught Jeno's for a brief moment and he winked, something that made Jeno smile.

"As you all know, Hogwarts has a long, extensive history. We try to uphold our founder's traditions as best we can. Unfortunately, not all things withstand the test of time, and we have had to let go of some traditions that were deemed too dangerous." These words caused a rush of whispers to ascend through the crowd, everyone frantic in their desire to know just what the Headmaster could be talking about, and if it involved something dangerous.

"So," Taeyong continued, "due to the nature of what this special announcement is, I have to regretfully inform you all that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year, in favor of directing all our energy into this event."

The news came with outrage, an uproar of yelling erupting from every single table and starting as a wave that swayed back and forth and growing with each movement.

"What?!" Donghyuck shrieked, practically jumping out of his seat in his shock at hearing those words.

"They can't do that!" Another student from a nearby table mourned loudly, Jeno recognizing her voice as Shin Ryujin, Slytherin's star Beater.

Jeno couldn't believe his ears. No Quidditch? In his last year? He wasn't an easily angered person, but he could feel himself start to hold a grudge against Taeyong for those words.

Taeyong brought his hand up in front of him, and all at once the chatter started to cease, knowing they needed to listen to their Headmaster. His smile didn't waver, even in all the chaos, and he slowly lowered his hand once he knew he had all their attention once more.

"Now I know this is upsetting for you all, but please trust me when I say it is indeed necessary.”

More grumbling came from the crowd, but it had mostly died down as their intrigue for the special announcement outweighed their disappointment at not being able to play Quidditch.

“It is with great pleasure that I announce that Hogwarts will be hosting—”

A loud bang sounded from the back of the room, startling everyone as their heads whipped around toward the noise. The front doors of the Great Hall had swung open once more, revealing two tall figures wearing matching black robes. The taller of the two had ink black hair shaped into a wolf cut with an easygoing smile that Jeno thought held tales of something more — something only he was privy to. The shorter had fluffy brown hair that reached past his ears, with two symmetrical dimples peeking out of his cheeks on either side of his mouth.

They strolled into the Hall without so much as a word, their smiles unwavering as they nodded their heads in greeting. All the students blinked, completely unaware of what was transpiring. Jeno thought blandly to himself that this definitely was at least the most interesting back to school Banquet he’d had.

The Great Hall doors didn’t close behind the two men, and the soft sound of footsteps could be beyond the doors and in the hallway. They looked towards the open doors once more, and in a second a third figure came barreling in, an immense stack of scrolls in his arms, threatening to topple over and spill all out on the floor at the first sign of a small breeze.

The familiar face brought smiles to everyone, though, especially Jeno and the other three as they were greeted with the endearingly awkward face that was Mark Lee.

“Sorry for being late!” Mark said loudly, desperate in his attempt to catch up to the other two men now standing in front of the faculty table, their aura of haughtiness apparently lost on Mark.

The Great Hall doors finally closed with a resounding click, and everyone was shrouded in silence once more, save for the pitter-patter of Mark’s steps as he rushed up to the faculty table.

“There’s your boy,” Donghyuck leaned over to whisper in Renjun’s ear, who only let out a small scoff and pushed Donghyuck away, but Jeno could see the blush dusting his cheeks and smile threatening to split his face in half.

Jeno could also feel his smile turning painful as he turned back to catch sight of Mark. It had been over two months since he last saw his best friend, the two of them unable to find ample time to get together after Mark had graduated from Hogwarts. He knew Mark had gotten a job at the Ministry almost immediately after leaving school, having been recruited to the Auror department before even graduating.

That led Jeno to believe the other two men had to be involved with the Ministry somehow. He looked at the two of them, trying to discern what department they could come from. Were they also Aurors, like Mark? Or did they have different, but equally dangerous jobs?

“Do not fret about being late, Mark,” Taeyong addressed him, voice turning impossibly fonder as he looked down at the recent Hogwarts graduate and ex-Gryffindor. “You are actually right on time.”

The two men moved up to the faculty table and stood next to Taeyong, Mark following close behind.

“As I was saying,” the Headmaster looked out to the students once more, “We have the immense privilege to be hosting the Triwizard Tournament this year at Hogwarts!”

All the students said nothing for a few moments, taking in Taeyong’s words. A long pause passed over everyone, before another uproar started, similar to before but now fueled by barely contained excitement. Electricity crackled throughout the room as incessant chatter started and grew in volume, unable to be contained.

Everyone knew what the Triwizard Tournament was. It had been a famous tournament held every five years in the past, when the world wasn’t so evolved and wizards were still hung up about practicing puppet diplomacy even they didn’t believe in. It was held between the three wizarding schools in Europe — Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang — each taking a turn to host the tournament. It had long been discontinued due to too many student deaths, but they had brought it back for one year during Potter’s time, and its legacy held on years after. Nobody thought it would ever be brought back again after what happened at the last one.

“Students please,” Taeyong tried to soothe, bringing his hands up once more, “Let me finish explaining everything, so we can proceed to dinner and you can chat to your heart’s content about the tournament.”

The reminder of dinner did the trick to calm everyone down long enough to hear the end of Taeyong’s speech, but now they were electrically charged, lightning bolts crackling underneath their seats, waiting to be released.

“The tournament will start in October, as that is when the other two schools will make their arrival. They will be here on October 30th, and we will have a feast to welcome them and explain the rules of the tournament, as well as present the Goblet of Fire. Then the next day, on Halloween, we will pick our champions and the tournament will commence.”

“Are you signing up?” Yangyang whispered to them.

“Are you kidding?” Donghyuck breathed. “The cash prize is close to 1,000 galleons. We’d be crazy not to at least try!”

Renjun shook his head. “I don’t know. As much as I trust they’ll keep the tournament as safe as possible, I don’t think I’m capable of such feats.”

“Okay Renjun’s out,” Donghyuck dismissed, “What about you Jeno? The title of champion is basically made for you.”

Jeno blinked, not knowing what to say. Did he sign up for the tournament, now that his Quidditch season was nonexistent? Would he even get chosen as a champion? How safe could the tournament really be, with all its bad luck in the past?

He was shaken out of his thoughts by Taeyong, who was still speaking.

“More information will come next month, so do not worry for now. My last order of business is to introduce these two men who have joined me up here.” He gestured toward the taller of the two, black hair and mischievous lilt of a smile. “This is Seo Johnny, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and this,” He gestured to the shorter man with the perfect dimples, “is Jung Jaehyun, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. They have come to oversee the tournament as well as be acting judges for the tasks.”

A polite wave of claps sounded from the student body as they welcomed the men, Seo Johnny and Jung Jaehyun.

“And I’m sure almost all of you know our dear recent graduate Mark Lee,” Taeyong gestured to Mark standing on the other side of Jaehyun, looking as though it was his first time in the spotlight and he didn’t think he would be addressed so publicly. “He will be another judge as well as an overall helper to the tournament. Please wish them all well and treat them with the same respect you would any one of your professors.”

Another round of applause came for Mark, this time louder and more joyous as most of everyone cheered for last year’s Head Boy. It was no secret Mark left a lasting impact everywhere he went, the Gryffindor spreading the spirit of kindness and determination to all his underclassmen, all Houses alike.

“And with that, enjoy your dinner!”

In an instant food appeared in the middle of the table, piping hot and waiting to be devoured. Jeno felt his stomach growling, and just like his friends, wasted no time in helping himself to the delicious feast.

They chatted for hours, seemingly forgetting that their classes started bright and early tomorrow morning. It didn’t matter to any of them though, as they fantasized about the mysterious tournament that was approaching their school, as though a dark storm cloud full of surprises moving in on an unsuspecting crop field.

It was later that night, when everyone retreated to their dorm rooms and unpacked all their luggage, sluggish with slumber from just how much they ate at the Banquet, that Jeno thought about the tournament once more.

Donghyuck had said the title champion had been made for him. He appreciated the flattery, but an inkling of doubt dug itself into the depths of his stomach and sprouted like a flower in bloom.

He had some type of feeling about the tournament, but it was still too early to properly discern if the feeling was a good or bad one. Not trying to dwell on it, he turned over in his bed and stared at the wall, the entire room shrouded in darkness as the soft snores of his roommates carried from corner to corner. Sleep creeped up on him faster than he expected, the events of the day having exhaustion settling comfortably over his bones.

Whatever came about from the tournament, Jeno knew it was at least definitely going to be an eventful year.

Chapter Text

Shifting back to daily school came naturally to Jeno, as it had for the past six years. The classes were familiar, his schedule the same as his sixth year to prepare him for the N.E.W.T.s at the end of the year. The change in the air from September to October was the same as ever, the wind turning crisper and biting harder at his ears when he stepped outside.

The only rift in his otherwise normal school year was the lack of Quidditch. He had expected to be head first in practicing right about now, preparing for the start of the season in November. Three practices a week, maybe four if he could find time for himself after studying. But with the Triwizard Tournament preparations fully underway, Jeno’s afternoons were, simply put, empty.

Not even the electric charged excitement of everyone around him as they did all they could to get ready for the arrival of the other wizarding schools could fill the hole in his heart he hadn’t realized had been so large. He ached to get on his broom, at least to just fly around the pitch by himself and feel the familiar breeze against his face as he raced past the goalpost, but he was told that the pitch was promptly closed for tournament reasons.

He couldn’t help but start to feel agitated as he went about his schedule everyday without the three hour practice he had so looked forward to. Nobody else seemed to have a problem without Quidditch, all going along easily with the lure of the tournament. Jeno was starting to regret not taking up the offer of Head Boy — at least that way he would’ve had something to fill up his free afternoons.

To be honest, the days were starting to bleed together that Jeno really couldn’t wait for the start of the tournament to shake himself of whatever agitation had grown on his bones. It was sometime in late October when he finally got an inkling of hope.

He was sitting in Potions, the class dragging on for far longer than Jeno would have liked it to. Doyoung was droning on about the different levels of potency and how it could drastically affect the side effects of a potion, but Jeno could barely keep his eyes open long enough to pay attention to any word coming out of Doyoung's mouth. He had already heard the same speech before over the summer when his older brother was reviewing his course notes with him, so he knew his grade wouldn’t take too drastic of a hit if he fell asleep this one class.

"Hey!" An elbow harshly jabbed into his ribs, and Jeno let out a rather unflattering half snort half cough as he spluttered from the pain. Doyoung sent a glare in his direction, but quickly moved on when Jeno sent an apologetic smile in return. Once Doyoung wasn't looking, Jeno whipped his head to the side and glared at Donghyuck sitting next to him, who was desperately trying to contain his giggles so Doyoung didn't come over and take House points away from him for disrupting class (even though Donghyuck was part of Doyoung’s own House — remember what Jeno said about strict as strict could be?).

"What the hell was that for?" Jeno asked in a hushed voice, eyebrows furrowed in thinly veiled annoyance as he rubbed the spot in his side where Donghyuck had hurt him.

Donghyuck let out another quiet huff of laughter before taking in a deep breath and leaning forward so his face was merely inches away from Jeno's. "You looked half ready to pass out, and I knew you would get sulky later if you missed the assignment directions."

Jeno wanted to make a quick witted remark, something along the lines of "well that doesn't mean you had to so rudely hit me", but he only sighed and turned to face the front of the classroom once more. As much as Donghyuck got on his nerves, he knew Jeno like the back of his hand, and Jeno couldn't help but be grateful for the Slytherin's caring nature (despite his unusual methods).

He tried his best to pay attention to the rest of the lesson, diligently taking down notes when he felt Doyoung's words were extra important. Knowing his brother, there would no doubt be a pop quiz later in the week along the lines of explaining the correlation between potency and severity of side effects.

A distant bell rang, and everyone in the classroom rushed to fit all their books into their bags so they could hurry to lunch — apparently they were serving shepherd's pie and nobody wanted to be late lest the food turned cold. That had never fancied Jeno's taste buds, so he was much more languid in packing away his things. Donghyuck had left the room without so much as another word to him — shepherd's pie was far more his deal — and that left only Jeno and Doyoung in the room.

"Care to explain why you're so close to falling asleep that Donghyuck had to quite literally jostle you awake?" Doyoung called from the front of the room, not even sparing Jeno a glance as he stacked his scrolls and, with a flick of his wrist, sent them flying to the other side of the room where they landed neatly in an open drawer of his cabinet before the drawer closed on itself.

Jeno cringed, flinching slightly at the tone of Doyoung's voice. He knew his brother loved him, but he still had yet to fully accept that Jeno wasn't a Head Boy like he was, so the tone of his voice sometimes came out too sharp. "I don't know?" He tried, though his voice sounded unconvincing even to his own ears.

Doyoung looked up from his scrolls, one eyebrow raising as his eyes met Jeno's. That look alone elicited a defeated sigh out of Jeno's mouth as he sullenly walked over to Doyoung's desk and plopped himself down on the short stool next to Doyoung's seat.

Immediately Doyoung's hand found purchase in Jeno's hair, patting down the stray strands of hair that Jeno couldn't properly tame that morning. "What's wrong, Jen?" He asked gently, all sharpness in his voice gone as he immediately reacted to Jeno’s off mood and did what he could to best help his brother.

"I really don't know," Jeno started, his voice small and slurred as he buried his head in his arms, breathing in the faint scent of ash — Doyoung was probably introducing the Erumpent Potion to his fifth years. "I've just been feeling stressed, like my skin is itching to be doing something else."

Doyoung let out a soft hum above him, his hand's movements on his hair rhythmic and soothing to Jeno, lulling him close to subconsciousness. "I think it's because you're so used to playing Quidditch 15 hours a week that now that you don't have that, you're antsy."

Jeno let out the bare makings of a whine, not strong enough to reach past his tongue but enough to lodge itself on his uvula. He already knew not being able to play Quidditch had put him in a weird sort of mood the past few weeks, but he didn't think it could turn so bad he couldn't even pay attention to his classes?

"What should I do?" He asked, voice muffled against the desk.

Doyoung hummed again, melodic as it transformed into a light tune sung by the air leaving his nose. "Well I can't give you back Quidditch, but..."

Jeno picked his head up, wondering what the upward lilt of Doyoung's voice at the end of his statement meant. His brother was sporting a mischievous smile, one side of his mouth lifting up higher than the other side and causing a small dimple to pop out in his cheek.

"But?" Jeno tried, already feeling his heart starting to beat faster with a thin haze of hope, almost transparent in how flimsy and unsure it was.

Doyoung leaned closer, as though anybody could possibly eavesdrop on their conversation. "I could open the pitch for you, just for one hour."

Jeno all but shot up out of his seat, not believing his ears as he stared at his brother in disbelief, eyes the shape of saucers. "You can do that?" He breathed, heart now thumping wildly in his chest and even doing somersaults around his ribcage.

"Shh," Doyoung quickly grabbed his hand, a light giggle spilling out of him. "Yeah, Jen, for you I'll do it. You just have to promise me nobody will find out. Both of us could get into serious trouble if anyone did."

A shiver ran down Jeno's spine at the implications, but the anticipation thrumming under his skin was far too addicting for him to worry about consequences. He quickly nodded his head, agreeing to Doyoung's words easily. "Of course, I promise."

Doyoung patted his head once more, smile turning fond as he gazed down at his younger brother. "Just the mention of Quidditch and you are happier than you have been since you arrived at school. This really is that important to you, isn't it?"

Something in Doyoung's voice, the way he worded his question, had Jeno pausing, eyes flickering all around Doyoung's features. He realized what Doyoung meant without his brother needing to explicitly say the words — You would choose this over Head Boy any day wouldn't you? — and Jeno only nodded, appreciating the way Doyoung said nothing else as his hand came down to rub at the skin of Jeno's cheek once before retreating.

"Okay," Doyoung said softly, "Tonight after dinner, come to the pitch and I'll be there. You'll be able to fly to your heart's content."

Jeno couldn't stop the smile from overtaking his face, eyes losing themselves in perfect crescents as he excitedly jumped out of his seat and threw his bag over his head and onto his opposite shoulder. "Thank you, Doyoung."

Doyoung waved his hand dismissively. "Anything for my little brother."

Jeno flashed him another smile, before turning to head out the door. Before he could round the corner Doyoung called out to him once more.

"Jen!"

Jeno turned around, blinking owlishly back at his brother.

"Tell Donghyuck and Yangyang they can come, but if Donghyuck so much as utters a word of it, he will be failing my class with no hope for redemption."

There it was — the intensity that was Professor Kim. Jeno nodded his head quickly before making his way out the room, walking down the halls with a newfound vigor in his steps. The grin on his face stayed glued on for the rest of the day, unable to pry itself off.

***

Jeno’s hands were sweaty, and he hastily loosened his vice like grip on his broom to wipe them against the side of his robes. He gripped the body of his broom once more, knuckles almost turning white, as though he was afraid to lose his possibly last chance to fly ever again.

The sun had set long ago, and an array of stars were sprinkled across the sky, twinkling down at Jeno and his friends as they quickly walked down the path to the Quidditch pitch where Doyoung was supposedly waiting.

“Are you sure we won’t be caught?” Renjun whispered, huddling close to the collar of his robe when a particularly cold breeze swept by. He was the only non Quidditch player of the four of them, but he still insisted on joining them on their secret rendezvous with Doyoung, his explanation being he missed watching them play Quidditch as much as they missed playing.

“With Doyoung there? Not a chance!” Yangyang whispered back, throwing a loose arm around Renjun’s arms to placate him. Renjun seemed unconvinced in the way his eyebrows still furrowed, but he said nothing else as they made their way down the hill.

The lights of the pitch were almost all extinguished, except for one tower near the front. Jeno could make out the faint shadow of a person standing near the entrance, knowing it was Doyoung. As they got closer though, he realized that Doyoung wasn’t alone, and there was someone standing just a step behind him.

“Mark!” Renjun breathed out, running past the rest of them and straight into his boyfriend’s arms, who returned his hug with a bright smile on his face.

“Hey Junnie, long time no see,” Mark teased, burying his face in Renjun’s hair, breathing in his cedarwood and oil paint scent for a few moments before picking his head back up and looking at them. “Hey guys, it’s been a while.”

Donghyuck scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You can say that again. Why didn’t you tell us you were coming back to the school?”

Mark laughed sheepishly, one arm still around Renjun's waist while the other extended outward, an invitation for Jeno, Donghyuck, and Yangyang to come in and make themselves comfortable. An unspoken gesture of sorry and can you forgive me?

The three of them didn't need to be told twice, practically tackling Mark in their attempt to hug him all at the same time, with Renjun getting squashed in the middle.

Jeno could already feel his spirit’s lifting so early in the night by just having the five of them all together again; the tension in his chest eased away the longer they stayed like that in a large hug.

Doyoung cleared his throat from behind them, and they suddenly remembered where they were and why they were there.

"Are you flying with us Mark?" Yangyang asked, excitement laced in his voice as he looked up at Mark with anticipation.

Mark's smile grew as he nodded, ruffling the hair on each of their heads in turn. "Can't miss an opportunity to fly now, can I? Plus I'm here as collateral damage if anyone happens to catch us, since I'm with the Ministry now and all."

They all laughed, and eagerness thrummed pleasantly within their veins as they walked past the tower and onto the field, the space pitch black without the lights illuminated.

Doyoung and Renjun had climbed up the tower staircase and emerged in the stands at the top, waving their hands at the four of them on the ground. Doyoung waved his wand and all at once the lights came to life, blaring as the darkness was banished and gave way for bright light to guide them as they flew.

"Since there are four of us," Donghyuck started, turning to them with the beginnings of a smirk. "How about a little 2v2? Just like old times."

"What about a Quaffle?" Jeno asked. They all had their own brooms, but the Quaffle was stored in a chest in the storage tent just outside of the pitch. Jeno would've been told the incantation to open the chest, if they had had actual Quidditch practices.

"Doyoung!" Donghyuck called loudly to the stands.

"What?" Doyoung asked.

"Can you get us a Quaffle?"

Though he could barely make out his brother's features from this far away, Jeno knew he was rolling his eyes at Donghyuck's brash request. Still, he waved his wand once more and a Quaffle quite literally materialized underneath Donghyuck's arm.

"Thanks!" Donghyuck called out before mounting his broom, the rest of them following suit.

Just sitting on the broomstick, feeling it carry his weight underneath him as he hovered an inch above the ground, had Jeno's head spinning with barely containable joy. Together, they shot up into the sky, rising 50 feet until they were level with the hoops standing tall on either end of the pitch.

"Usual teams?" Jeno asked, hands gripped tight around his broom, ready to take off and feel the wind against his face.

"Yep," Donghyuck replied. They shifted so that Donghyuck and Yangyang were hovering next to each other with Jeno and Mark facing them.

"Whenever you're ready," Mark said, grin stretching wide as Donghyuck tched.

"Don't get so cocky," Donghyuck laughed, and then, without warning, he threw the Quaffle into the air and started the game.

Muscle memory took over for Jeno, and he soared high to catch the Quaffle in his arm, dipping back into a looping spin that took him underneath the other three before he righted himself and sped down the pitch towards the hoops.

Donghyuck and Yangyang were immediately on his tail, racing to try and stop him before he had a chance to throw the Quaffle into a hoop and score a point. He couldn't see him, but Jeno knew Mark was right below them, out of sight from Donghyuck and Yangyang but in the perfect position to quickly reach up to grab the Quaffle when Jeno dropped it from his arms.

He doubled back quickly, leaving Donghyuck and Yangyang in a frenzy as they shifted their focus to Mark, who was now right in line with the hoops. He had always been the best flyer out of them, and he easily dropped the Quaffle through the shortest hoop, flying past it with a loud whoop leaving his mouth.

Jeno cheered in turn, his smile threatening to overtake his face as he saw Mark do a short victory lap around the hoops. Donghyuck grumbled as he went to retrieve the Quaffle. He threw it to Yangyang, and the game commenced once more.

Jeno was so immersed in flying from hoop to hoop, fighting for possession of the Quaffle in the hopes to score a goal, he couldn't properly appreciate how good it felt to be this high on his broom again. Flying was as natural as breathing to him, the seat of his broom almost more comfortable than any large sitting chair propped up near the Gryffindor common room fireplace. He never felt out of balance, knowing every way the wind curved around his body as he flew. He was in his element, and couldn’t be happier for this small pocket of normalcy before everything became a whirlwind of special events.

They continued on with their game for 55 minutes, before Doyoung called out, albeit reluctantly, that they had to turn off the pitch lights and return inside.

With solemn faces, the four of them steadied their brooms and slowly lowered themselves to the ground, dismounting their brooms.

Doyoung and Renjun had climbed down the staircase to meet them out on the field before they all headed back together.

"Oh," Doyoung started, seeing the sullen look that overtook Jeno's face. He tried hard to hide it, not wanting to seem ungrateful when his brother had already done this much so he could fly once more, but Doyoung had always had a sixth sense in determining Jeno's mood. "I'm sorry I couldn't give you all longer, Jen," He said softly, rubbing Jeno's shoulder affectionately.

Jeno nodded, sending his brother a minute smile. "It's okay, thank you hyung."

Doyoung sighed regretfully. "I would try to get you out here again, but they're taking down the hoops tomorrow."

"Wait what?" Yangyang asked.

"Why?" Donghyuck tilted his head to the side.

"They're starting the preparations for the tournament, which includes revamping the entire pitch," Doyoung explained.

They all nodded, though the realization that this really was their last time on the pitch together for who knew how long started to sink into their bones and bring the mood down even more.

"Does this mean one of the tasks has to do with the pitch?" Renjun voiced from his spot next to Mark.

Mark, whose arm was around Renjun's shoulders, suddenly tensed up and he looked at the ground, away from the stares of everyone else.

Donghyuck immediately noticed the change in Mark's behavior and pointed his finger. "Oh my god it must be! Renjun, you're a genius."

Renjun rolled his eyes, a soft smile on his lips.

Mark sputtered, waving his hand profusely. "Donghyuck please, if anyone found out I was giving you all hints for the tournament, unintentional or not, it might ruin our school's reputation."

The words made Donghyuck pout, but he lowered his hand either way and promised not to bring it up again.

"Alright," Doyoung clapped his hands, "let's head back before I have to deduct points from all your houses for staying out past curfew."

A chorus of grumbles followed Doyoung as he led them out of the field and back up the path to the school, their only light being the stars.

Jeno stole a chance to look behind him as they walked, back at the pitch, now shrouded in darkness once again. His time up on his broomstick was short lived, but the singing of his heart as he tore the air in two while flying rang loudly in his ears. His fingers still felt the phantom grip of his broomstick, thighs still tense from when he had to flex them in order not to fall off while doing all kinds of flips and tricks. His hair was windswept, an untimely mane that would only be tousled further when he lay in bed and recalled the short time with his friends instead of resting up for his classes the next day.

He wanted to blame the tournament for taking away what was most precious to him, but couldn't find it in him to. Even now, with the unpleasant twist in his gut of knowing he couldn't properly play Quidditch, he had fallen face first into the school-wide bubbling thrill of the tournament, and would let it carry him through the rest of the school year.

Chapter Text

The rest of October passed by in a blur, and soon enough it was the morning of the 30th, when the other wizarding schools were scheduled to make their arrival.

The castle had changed completely overnight. The previous excitement for the tournament was now pouring out tenfold, vibrant chatter bouncing off the halls of the corridors as students walked to their classes, taking far too many stops at the newly polished windows in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the other schools.

The professors probably would've been more annoyed at the fact that no student was arriving to class on time, let alone even properly paying attention, if they weren't fully immersed in the universal excitement as well.

"Alright, alright! Clear the halls! Quickly!"

All except for one.

Jeno watched as Donghyuck and Yangyang practically shoved their faces against the glass of the fourth floor corridor, eyes frantically scanning over every inch of the school grounds that was visible from their vantage point. Renjun was a step behind the two of them, an amused smile on his lips as he cast a quick charm over the glass they touched once they left so the smudges disappeared.

Before Renjun could chastise the two of them for making the four of them late to History of Magic, Professor Yoon came barreling down the corridor, no trace of sympathy anywhere in his downturned eyebrows. His eyes were as black as the Great Lake during the dead of night — not even the reflection of candles showed up in those unkind depths.

"Lee! Liu! Get off those windows right this instant before I throw you in detention for the second time this month!"

Immediately the two Slytherins jumped back from the window, Renjun quickly casting the cleaning charm behind his back so there were no visible fingerprints on it.

Professor Yoon approached them with a scowl deeper than the Atlantic Ocean. "Those windows have been meticulously cleaned in preparation for our guests soon to arrive. Do you two have no ounce of respect in your bodies, or are you just that inept?"

The two Slytherins sported their own matching scowls, but said nothing in response to Professor Yoon, not wanting to land themselves in detention before perhaps the biggest event of the fall. They merely hung their heads and listened to Professor Yoon trail on about the failed youth for the better half of a minute.

Once he finally let the four of them go, they raced to slip into their History of Magic classroom before the bell rang and they would no doubt be locked out of the classroom by Professor Kang.

"How nice of you boys to join us." Professor Kang's voice was worn with old age, but still as sharp as a wit to crack down on any innocently napping students or late stragglers. "Please promptly take your seats."

They rushed into a table towards the front of the classroom, the only one left available (and for good reason too — Professor Kang had a tendency to spit). They had no time to even grumble over the horrible choice of seating before Professor Kang was banging his ruler atop his desk, startling everyone and straightening their backs in fear.

"Listen here," Professor Kang said, voice scratchy, "I've been told there will be guest speakers today to give you a special lesson. That is, when they decided to show their faces."

A wave of relief passed over the class in a second, the knowledge that they wouldn't be enduring one of Professor Kang's lessons on that day relieving their spines of all previous tension.

As if on cue, the door to the classroom opened and in walked the two Ministry men they were introduced to at the beginning of the year — Seo Johnny and Jung Jaehyun. Trailing behind, as always, was Mark, who closed the door a little too loudly behind him, which prompted a pointed glare from Professor Kang, but Mark seemed unaffected.

"Good Morning class!" The taller of the two — Johnny, if Jeno remembered correctly — addressed the class. "This is the seventh year History of Magic course, am I correct?"

A chorus of "yes" came from the class, and Johnny clapped his hands together with a wide smile on his face.

"Perfect! I'll start right away then, if that's alright with you all. My colleague Jaehyun and I," he gestured to the man next to him, who waved politely, "are here to give you all a crash history course on the Triwizard Tournament. Seeing as you are all seventh years, you should all be old enough to enter your names into the Goblet of Fire tonight, so we felt this little lesson would be good knowledge to have ahead of the tournament."

Johnny gestured his hand behind him, and Mark quickly rushed to the front with a furled up scroll in his hands. Jeno quickly glanced to his left and found Renjun with his chin in his hands, eyes unable to peel themselves off Mark.

"Thank you, Mark," Johnny whispered, sending Mark a subtle wink that had him blushing and hiding his smile behind his hand. "This," Johnny unfurled the scroll and flipped it so it was facing the entire class, "is the original emblem of the Triwizard Tournament."

Printed on the scroll was a faded emblem in the shape of a shield divided into three sections.

One of the sections was clearly a drawing of the Hogwarts coat of arms, a bold H in the middle surrounded on each side by the colors of the Houses and sketches of their mascots - Gryffindor's lion, Slytherin's snake, Hufflepuff's badger, and Ravenclaw's eagle. The section just right of it had a cursive B surrounded by swirls of golden vines and flowers, and behind it were two wands crossing over each other. If Jeno had to take a guess, that had to be the coat of arms for Beauxbatons. The last and final section depicted the skull of a goat in red, its horns extending to the top, where it was overlapped by the wings of a yellow, two-headed eagle with its heads looking in opposite directions. All the colors of the emblem had bled together and were now only muted versions of their former selves.

"As I'm sure you can all guess," Johnny continued, "This depicts the coat of arms of all three schools that originally participated in the tournament. You recognize the Hogwarts coat of arms of course, but the one next to it is the one of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. The one just below is for Durmstrang Institute."

Jeno stared at the vines curling around the Beauxbatons B, gold almost completely blending into the color of the parchment it was printed on. If he looked a bit closer he could make out the faint shade of turquoise that was painted behind the B. He faintly thought to himself what a pretty color turquoise was.

Jaehyun then spoke up. “Can anyone tell me where Beauxbatons Academy of Magic is located?”

A few hands rose up, including Renjun’s. Jaehyun’s gaze shifted to Renjun and he nodded at him to speak.

“In the French Pyrenees,” Renjun replied, voice silky and mouth in a small satisfied smile. He silently preened under the approving smile Jaehyun sent his way, and blushed when Mark sent him what he must’ve thought was a discreet thumbs up.

“That is correct,” Jaehyun said, addressing the class again. “Beauxbatons is hidden in the French Pyrenees mountains. Due to its location, it doesn’t need as strong a hiding spell like Hogwarts has, but the school still has certain defenses up so no curious muggle folk go and stumble upon it.”

A low rumble of giggles broke out from Jaehyun’s comment about the utter simplicity of Muggles. He continued on.“Beauxbatons was founded around 1292, and accepts students from most of Western Europe. Their education starts earlier than here at Hogwarts, but their classes become more focused for their career paths earlier than Hogwarts. They are known for their order and class, as well as their student’s beauty.”

Immediately a group of girls near the door turned to themselves and started whispering, laughing breathlessly amongst themselves. Jaehyun paid them no mind.

“I only say this because the Veela are often associated with the academy, and they are not creatures to be taken lightly. Luckily, there is no current record of any Veela blood or descent to be attending Beauxbatons.”

His tone changed at the end of his sentence, a little lilt to it that Jeno couldn’t quite discern. He doubted there would be any concern over Veela - women-like creatures akin to sirens with beauty seen nowhere else in the world that could coax those attracted to females to do their every bidding.

“Next is Durmstrang Institute,” Johnny took over for Jaehyun, flashing a bright smile. “Anyone know anything about their school’s whereabouts?”

Less hands raised this time, hesitation prickling their elbows as they all did a sort of half raise that barely put their hands in the air. All except for Renjun, who lifted his hand high in the air once more.

Johnny seemed to love Renjun’s enthusiasm and nodded at him.

“Nobody knows the exact location,” Renjun answered easily. “It is only known that the school is located somewhere in the far north of the continent.”

Johnny’s smile widened. “Once again, you’re correct.” He subtly slid his gaze to Mark, and Jeno noticed the silent exchange between them that had Mark blushing while ducking his head and Johnny smirking lopsidedly.

“Durmstrang Institute takes a different approach to keeping their school hidden from the outside world. Not only do they not let Muggles know its location, but nobody outside those in the school themselves are privy to the information.”

“Durmstrang is an all boys school, and mostly accepts students from the Nordic and Slavic countries of Europe. They were founded around the same time as Beauxbatons by a woman named Nerida Vulchanova. Don’t ask me why the school only accepts boys when their founder is female, because I couldn’t tell you.”

The room giggled again, and Johnny seemed to shine under the impression that his jokes were well received.

“The school is notorious for its focus on the Dark Arts, but its education has rounded out in recent years, thanks to their current Headmaster. Recently they are quite renowned for their dueling skills, so that is definitely something to look out for all you potential champions.” He sent a wink over to Jeno’s table, and Jeno didn’t know if the gesture was meant for him and his friends specifically, or if it was minuscule enough that it held no significance.

Jaehyun's voice rose once more as he and Johnny switched once more.

"The tournament was first established sometime in the late 13th century, shortly after all three schools were founded. It was created as a friendly competition between them, but due to an accident in 1792, the tournament was promptly discontinued."

Someone in the back of the room raised their hand. "Yes?" Jaehyun asked kindly, dimples peeking out.

"What was the accident?" Jeno recognized her voice as Giselle from Hufflepuff.

Jaehyun gave her another kind smile. "Part of one of the tasks was to catch a Cockatrice, but one of them caught loose and as a result the Headmasters of all the schools were injured. After accounting for that and the abnormally high death total, the tournament stopped."

Giselle nodded and brought her hand back down. The rest of the lesson passed by in a blur, Johnny and Jaehyun each grabbing scroll after scroll from Mark's arms and showing them to the class. They explained the mysterious origins of the Goblet of Fire, some notable tasks in the tournament's history, and the rules and regulations.

"I know it was a bit boring," Johnny said at the end, but every student in the classroom was still fully engaged, hanging onto every one of Johnny's words like grapes to a vine. "We just want you to be as prepared for the tournament as you can be, specifically whoever ends up being our champion!"

The class erupted in excited whispers, all giggling amongst themselves at the prospect of being the Hogwarts champion.

Johnny and Jaehyun left as quickly as they had come, as though they were leaves caught in the breeze, destined to flow wherever the wind took them. Mark staggered a bit behind as the class bell rang and everyone filed out of the classroom.

"Cool, right?" Mark asked them as they met up by the door, his own excitement for the tournament oozing out of him.

Donghyuck and Yangyang nodded eagerly, and the three of them fell into animated conversation about possible tasks for this year's tournament as they walked down the corridor. Jeno and Renjun followed them only a few steps behind, content with watching their friends get excited about the outlandish possibilities they could come up with together.

The sun passed by overhead lazily, tracing the sky with its light as its lingering warmth beamed down on the school.

Everyone's afternoon classes had been cancelled for the arrival of the other schools, and Jeno couldn't even keep up with Donghyuck and Yangyang as they raced down the staircase facing the entrance of the school. The rest of the student body were gathered in front of the doors, Professor Kun desperately trying to rally them.

“I will not be opening these doors until you are all standing in line ready to receive instruction.”

The students grumbled but complied with Professor Kun’s words and assembled into neat rows, though it was impossible to completely cease the gossip and chatter.

Jeno and his friends quickly took their spots somewhere near the front of the group, close enough to be one of the first few out of the doors.

He wondered why they hadn't opened up the doors yet after a few minutes, but then he noticed Taeyong walking through the rows of students, accompanied by a few professors, one of them being Doyoung. They walked to the front where Taeyong sent Professor Kun a nod, who returned it with his own before promptly waving his hand at the double doors. Immediately they creaked on their hinges and slowly opened, the later afternoon sun pouring in through the enlarging crack.

Following the herd of professors led by the Headmaster, everyone walked outside to stand on the steps, everybody divided into two groups so the middle was free for the wizarding schools to walk through once they arrived.

A rush of water sounded in the distance, and all at once everyone's heads turned towards the Great Lake that was settled at the bottom of the tall hill leading up to the school.

"If I'm not mistaken," Taeyong’s voice came loudly over the chilly October air, "the delegates from Durmstrang are arriving."

They all looked to the lake, eyes peeled. One ripple, and then another, and then the surface was quite literally ripped in half as a long wooden rod emerged from the water's depth. The water further waded out in large ripples as the long rod extended into the sky and the hull of a ship appeared, before it finally settled back on top of the water. The ship looked just like a pirate ship, its sails a muddled white and frayed at the edges, all attached to three long masts. It sailed slowly along the surface of the lake until a large anchor was thrown into the water to dock the ship, nearest to the small dirt trail that led right up to the front of the school, where all the students and faculty were waiting.

A wooden plank was placed down from the deck onto the sand, and off walked a small group of people Jeno assumed were students led by a tall lanky man with a stoic expression, but his facial features were absolutely beautiful. His eyes were slanted and lips plump, brunette hair pushed back to reveal the smooth skin of his forehead. His eyebrows and nose were straight, and the corners of his ears stuck out just the tiniest bit.

They all walked slowly but in unison, steps making matching crunching noises in the dirt beneath them as they ascended the hill and walked up to where Taeyong and the rest of the faculty were standing.

"Mister Sicheng, how nice it is to see you again," Taeyong outstretched his hand with a warm smile that the man - Sicheng - returned with a smaller but still gracious smile.

"Always lovely to see you, Mister Taeyong." His voice was deep, silky, as though he was born to be a royal and have people hang on to his every word.

"Please, you flatter me," Taeyong replied, waving his hand, "Feel free to head inside to warm yourselves up in the Great Hall. Unless you prefer to wait for the Beauxbatons delegates with us."

Sicheng shook his head politely. "As much as my boys do not mind the cold, I think we shall make our way inside. Thank you."

Taeyong nodded, and after exchanging pleasantries and handshakes with the rest of the faculty, Sicheng finished walking up the stairs with his students and disappeared into the school. As they walked by, Jeno made note of their long woolen coats, matching black boots, and fur hats fit snugly atop their heads. It made sense considering where exactly Durmstrang was located and the type of weather they experienced regularly.

So this is Durmstrang, he thought to himself.

He didn't have another moment to make note of the Durmstrang students as Taeyong's voice rang out once more.

"And right on time, here come the delegates from Beauxbatons!"

Almost immediately, everyone looked to the Lake once more, thinking Beauxbatons would arrive the same way Durmstrang did, but the water was calm once more, not one wave misplaced.

Jeno furrowed his eyebrows, wondering where else the Beauxbatons delegation could come from, when Renjun suddenly pulled on his sleeve.

"Look!" He breathed, pointing his finger up to the sky.

Jeno tried to follow his line of vision, but he wasn't wearing his glasses and could barely see anything out of the ordinary besides the bleak grey clouds scattered against the equally grey sky.

"I can't see anything Renjun, I think you're just blind."

A howl came from Donghyuck as Renjun grabbed his arms and started wrestling him, the two of them falling into a fit that everyone knew would just end up in them hugging.

Jeno focused his attention to the sky, and sure enough, a black dot appeared where Renjun was pointing, until it grew larger and larger. Soon, Jeno could confidently make out what seemed to be horses flying through the air, pulling a large carriage towards the school.

"See!" Renjun said defiantly, turning his chin up at Donghyuck, who only rolled his eyes and snaked his hands around Renjun's waist to placate him.

All attention turned to the nearing carriage, its size only growing as it drew closer to the school before it finally landed in the clearing near the greenhouses, near the path that descended down to the hut teetering on the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

The carriage was almost as tall as the greenhouses themselves, towering in the short distance. The half dozen horses that were tied to the front were just as big, almost three times the size of regular horses. They had large wings that they fluttered as they settled their hooves against the ground, huffing out through their nostrils.

The door to the carriage opened with a bang, and out stepped a man with a white shirt and high waisted slacks underneath a rich blue tailcoat that was fitted at the waist and flared out behind him. His smile was wide and bright as he practically strutted down the grass towards the steps and Taeyong.

"Taeyong, old sport!" His voice had the poise of a French accent with a quality of rigidness that wasn't off-putting, but rather inviting.

“Yuta, I see you’re the same as ever,” Taeyong responded, and although Jeno couldn’t see his face, he had the feeling Taeyong’s smile was just as wide as the man’s.

Yuta laughed at Taeyong’s remark. He went around and greeted all of the faculty, but his smile faltered ever so slightly when he approached Doyoung.

Jeno tilted his head, wondering what was happening between the two of them when he saw Doyoung finally raise his hand and take Yuta’s. Even from his spot, Jeno noticed the tension in his brother’s shoulders, and wondered just what it could be about Yuta that would have him react that way.

He had no time to think about it as the students from Beauxbatons finally stepped out of the carriage themselves, wearing matching blue coats similar to Yuta’s. The girls' coats were more flared and they wore skirts opposed to the boys’ well fitted slacks; they all wore matching gloves as well that reached halfway down their forearms.

They all walked in a matching rhythm much like the Durmstrang delegation, but they were more… graceful in their movements, at least in Jeno’s eyes.

They neared where Yuta was waiting for them, and once they were close enough for Jeno to make out their faces, his entire world stopped.

Right at the front of the group, was probably the most beautiful boy Jeno had ever seen in his entire life. The little bit of sun left in the day peaked through the clouds and fell on his face, illuminating the natural blush on his cheekbones. His dark brown eyes glistened with secrets Jeno found himself wanting to know. His hair was black and well kept, neatly trimmed bangs falling over his forehead and parted in the middle so his forehead was still shown. His eyebrows were full and slightly pointed at the top, long eyelashes fanning over his cheeks when he blinked. His nose was long and straight, just the right size for his face. His lips glistened with gloss, upper lip shaped in a subtle cupid’s bow, and the line of his jaw was sharp.

The only word that Jeno could register in his mind was beautiful.

Somebody was shaking his shoulder, saying something in his ear, but he could barely hear. He was staring, he knew, but he couldn't pry his eyes away. The boy was so mesmerizing, captivating, in a way Jeno didn't even know possible.

The boy's gaze flickered upwards and their eyes met for the briefest of moments. Jeno's heart stopped under the horror of being caught, blood draining from his face in embarrassment. He wanted to sputter out an apology, but the boy was too far away. The boy quickly tore his gaze away from Jeno, and Jeno could make out the faintest of blushes resting high on his cheeks.

All at once his heart sprang to life, its beats a rampage of horse hooves loud in his ear, rattling his skull and leaving his knees wobbling.

The Beauxbatons delegation moved past, leaving behind them a trail of whispered wonders, icicles of secrets that dripped into every crevice of their faces, chilling them with desire.

Jeno breathed in a gulp of fresh air, blinking away whatever magic spell he found himself under. Ironic, for someone who practiced magic.

He turned his head to the left, and found three matching gazes of disbelief staring back at him. He blinked, not knowing what to say. "What?"

Donghyuck was the first to break out of his trance, eyes immediately narrowing as one side of his mouth lifted up into a knowing smirk.

“Does our birthday boy have a crush?”

Jeno rolled his eyes, letting out a scoff as he punched Donghyuck in the shoulder. "Come on hyuck."

"You were totally ogling that dude," Yangyang added oh so helpfully.

Jeno decided to ignore the teasing of his best friends and instead turned around to follow the rest of the students walking inside. His stomach was starting to grumble, and he could feel a headache coming on if he didn't get ample amounts of food in him soon.

They shuffled back into the school and towards the Great Hall where the other two wizarding schools were already waiting to take their seats.

Donghyuck and Yangyang went ahead, but Renjun strayed a little behind to bump Jeno's shoulders with his.

"Hey."

"Hey," Jeno replied, giving Renjun a kind smile.

"Don't listen to anything they say, they just love to tease. Let’s just hope it doesn’t stick for as long as birthday boy did"

Jeno lowered his head with a little chuckle. "You’re right," he said.

He picked his head up just in time to lock eyes with the beautiful boy again, from all the way across the room. This time, the boy didn't look away, and Jeno found himself under the magic spell once more, like a boat being swayed by the tide. He was so transfixed that he walked headfirst into Yangyang, who had waited by the door of the Great Hall with Donghyuck for Jeno and Renjun to catch up.

Immediately Yangyang and Donghyuck fell into a fit of laughter, snickering as they took turns poking Jeno's cheek. "Oh you're down bad," Yangyang teased.

"Shut up," Jeno all but groaned, pushing past a still laughing Donghyuck to make a beeline for his usual spot at the Gryffindor table. He plopped down into his seat and promptly ignored the matching smirks on his best friends' faces as they joined him at the table.

The delegation from Durmstrang all sat at the Slytherin table, while the delegation from Beauxbaton all sat at the Ravenclaw table.

Luckily — or unluckily, depending on how he thought about it — the Ravenclaw table was on the opposite side of the Great Hall from the Gryffindor table, so Jeno could easily try to forget about the beautiful boy he saw and hopefully escape from more teasing from his friends.

The chatter died down as the faculty walked in and closed the doors behind them. Led by Taeyong, they walked up to the faculty table, but Jeno noticed Doyoung and Mark were missing from the group. He wondered where they could have gone.

Once all the faculty were at their seats, Taeyong raised his arms in greeting to the room. “Good evening students. Before we begin, let’s all welcome the delegation from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to our school.”

A polite round of applause sounded through the room, before Taeyong spoke again. “Standing on either side of me are the Headmasters from each school; Dong Sicheng of Durmstrang, and Nakamoto Yuta of Beauxbatons. Both are old friends of mine, and I hope you can all treat them with the utmost respect.”

Sicheng and Yuta, who were standing on either side of Taeyong, bowed their heads in greeting.

“It is a pleasure to meet you all and participate in this tournament,” Sicheng spoke up, offering a small smile to the crowd. His students immediately clapped loudly and hollered for him, and he ducked his head in embarrassment. Everyone else joined in clapping lightly to greet him.

Yuta spoke up next. “My students and I are very excited to be here and to have the opportunity to participate in such a legendary tournament. Please take care of us well!” Now the Beauxbatons students clapped the loudest among everyone else, though their cheers were much more poised and classy.

“They will serve on the panel of judges for the tournament,” Taeyong continued, “And although my students have already met them, I would like to introduce the other judges.” He gestured to Johnny and Jaehyun, who were sitting at the end of the table with Professor Kun. They stood up when Taeyong gave them a small nod of his head. “This is Seo Johnny and Jung Jaehyun, members of the British Ministry of Magic. They have worked tirelessly over the last few months to arrange everything for the Triwizard Tournament, and have already examined all instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year.”

At the mention of the word champion, the room buzzed to life, and their attentiveness to Taeyong’s words sharpened like a knife.

“Our other judge isn’t here right this moment, but he’ll join us shortly,” Taeyong said with a smile. Jeno looked over to his left and shared a look with Renjun, who seemed equally as confused on where Mark could be.

“There will be three tasks, spaced out across the school year. They will challenge the champions in different ways, their magical expertise, their deduction skills, and most of all, their ability to cope with danger.”

It seemed like not a soul was breathing. Taeyong continued on calmly.

“As you know there will be three champions, one from each school. They will earn points based on how well they perform each task, and the points will serve importance later on in the final trial so that we may determine the winner of the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selecter: the Goblet of Fire.”

Right on time, one of the side doors of the Hall opened and entered Doyoung and Mark, carrying between them a large casket made of aging wood.

They brought the casket to the front of the Hall and set it down right before the head table. Doyoung took his spot at the table, which was coincidentally right next to Yuta. Jeno noticed his brother hesitate before ducking his head and quickly sitting down, all while Yuta had a bright smile on his face.

Before Mark could take his seat, however, Taeyong stopped him. “Before you sit down Mark.” Mark blinked up at the Headmaster owlishly. Taeyong only sent him a reassuring smile before addressing the room again. “This is our final judge for the Triwizard Tournament, Mark Lee. He’s a recent Hogwarts graduate and also works at the Ministry. I have personally asked him to help judge the tournament, and he has graciously accepted.”

Another short round of applause was given for Mark, who took it with crimson cheeks and a jerky bow of his head, before he also sat down at the table.

Now, all attention diverted to the wooden casket standing in front of the crowd, looking no different from any other wooden casket one would find full of dust in their parent’s attic.

Taeyong tapped the edge of the casket three times with his wand, and with a creek, the casket opened up. He reached inside and produced a carved wooden cup, the polish fading. It would have been completely inconspicuous if not for the fact it was filled to the brim with blue white flames.

He closed the casket and carefully placed the cup on top of the lid. “This is the Goblet of Fire. Prospective champions will have 24 hours to put their names in to be considered. Please clearly write your name and school on a slip of parchment before dropping it in the cup. It will stay in the entrance hall all day tomorrow, and then during dinner tomorrow, the Goblet will choose one champion from each school it believes to be that school’s best representative. However, a reminder,” Taeyong’s face turned serious, and Jeno felt a prick in his spine, “Once the Goblet chooses someone, that student must follow through with the tournament until the end; they are binded by a magical contract. That is why I implore you only to join if you are absolutely serious, as well as the proper age. An age line will be cast around the Goblet once it is placed in the entrance hall to ensure only valid candidates can enter their names.”

A few dejected whispers came from the students, mostly underclassmen that were too young to enter their names into the Goblet, or sixth years that would turn seventeen in only a few short months and had just missed the deadline. Jeno was glad he was already the proper age, but hearing the cutting edge of Taeyong’s voice talking about a magical contract, was he really up for this tournament?

“Now,” Taeyong’s voice softened, “Let’s enjoy our dinner with our new guests!”

Everyone clapped and on cue their dinner magically appeared before them, an assortment of foreign delicacies. Jeno barely recognized any of the dishes, but their scent was rather inviting, to say the least.

Renjun hummed next to him, leaning forward to get a whiff of the food. “There’s both French and Slavic dishes all around here. Look, that red soup?” He pointed to a basin of deep red liquid topped with a dollop of white creme and green garnishes. “That’s borscht, a soup made of beetroot.”

Jeno licked his lips, stomach growling since he had a small lunch. He quickly grabbed the ladle next to the basin and poured himself a cup of the borscht to start with.

“And that,” Renjun said, pointing to a long row of golden dough peeking out of small ramekins, “is souffle. It’s an egg dish that you can stuff basically anything in. My guess is that they have spinach in them.”

“Who cares?” Yangyang said from opposite Renjun, face stuffed with a large piece of baguette. “It’s all jus’ good food!”

They all laughed as small bits of bread came flying out of Yangyang’s mouth in his attempt to talk and eat at the same time. Jeno paid him no mind and instead wasted no time in carefully plucking one of the ramekins out of its line and placing it on his plate next to his cup of borscht.

They all dug in as best they could, filling their bellies with delicious food and the burning hot flames of the Goblet of Fire as it sat atop the wooden casket, flickering in all its glory as a symbol of what’s to come.

Chapter Text

Jeno awoke with a pensive sort of feeling swirling in his stomach. Where he was usually the first one to rise out of his bed and go about his morning routine, today his roommates were all already out of bed and hurriedly tugging on their shirts and robes.

“Come on, hurry up Jeno!” Eric said, his red and gold tie askew and not wrapped properly around his neck. One side of his collar was sticking up as he reached down to lace his shoes, one of his pant legs haphazardly stuffed into his sock.

“What’s going on?” Jeno asked, throwing the covers off his lap and swinging his legs over the side of his bed. Stifling a yawn, he reached over and grabbed his wand sitting atop his bedside table and flicked it in the direction of his trunk, the top opening instantly and his clothes flying out to neatly lay themselves on the bed sheets next to him.

Junkyu, who was attempting (i.e. failing) at tying his tie, whipped his head up to stare madly at Jeno as though he had just grown three heads. “What do you mean what’s going on? We’re all going down to the Goblet to put our names in before everyone else wakes up for breakfast!”

“Oh,” Jeno replied, voice small. He was still a little frazzled from the sudden bustle of his room, something that had never happened before, and couldn’t form proper thoughts just yet. His stomach was a melting pot of different emotions that left him more than slightly disoriented. “That’s nice.”

“Nice?” Eric scoffed, foregoing trying to lace his shoes and just fixing them with a quick flick of his wand. “Please don’t tell me you aren’t putting your name in — you are literally a shoo in to get it.”

Jeno only shrugged, not knowing what to say to such a statement. He’d been hearing the same for weeks, from his best friends (mainly Donghyuck), and from anyone who had stopped to make conversation with him in class or the corridors. They raved about how he was the perfect champion or something else along those lines, but what was Jeno supposed to say in response to all that?

The foggy feeling that tickled the back of his mind the first night he found out about the tournament returned, and crawled down to his chest. His lungs felt tight, and his breathing was uneven. Even if he was somehow chosen as Hogwarts’ champion, that wasn’t a guarantee that he would win the Triwizard Cup, let alone even make it that far. Was this something he wanted? Brave the tasks of the tournament while being watched by not only everybody in his own school, but by the students of two other schools as well? Or was it just something he found himself feeling expected to do?

“Whatever.” Eric’s voice cut through Jeno’s thoughts and forced him to look up at his roommates once more, his heartbeat a distant thudding in his ears. “If you don’t want to put your name in right now, that’s fine. We’ll see you at breakfast.”

Eric and Junkyu wasted no time in rushing out of the room, not even bothering to close the door behind them, a sliver of light shining through the space left ajar.

Jeno sighed, deciding he might as well get dressed since he was already awake. He slowly put on his clothes, making sure there were no visible wrinkles or buttons out of place. He didn’t know why, but he had the itching need to look his very best, as though he was setting himself up for an exam or an important meeting.

He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs to the brim with fresh air, before exhaling slowly. He adjusted his tie once more before walking out of his room and facing the day ahead of him.

Despite Jeno’s inner turmoil that morning, the rest of the day was, surprisingly, extremely boring.

The professors seemed uninterested in the incessant whispers and gossip of the students, no trace of leniency in their lessons even with the special occasion. Jeno had already suffered through two pop quizzes that morning, and his mind was almost completely void of the Goblet of Fire… until he walked into his Potions classroom.

Donghyuck was ushering him over to their shared table with a mad look on his face (which could really only mean one thing, and it wasn’t pleasant for Jeno).

Jeno nodded his head at Doyoung in greeting, and then walked down the aisle of tables until he reached his. Once in range, Donghyuck leaned over and yanked Jeno into his seat by his sleeve, Jeno falling down with a small oof.

“Ow, Donghyuck. What was that for?” Jeno smoothed down the fabric of his sleeve once Donghyuck let go, careful not to leave any wrinkles.

“I heard from some passing first years who heard from some 5th year Ravenclaw who heard from the Gryffindor ghost who heard from Eric that you haven’t put your name in the Goblet yet,” Donghyuck explained, words coming out in a rush as he didn’t stop to take a breath until he finished his sentence.

Jeno only blinked, wordlessly staring at his best friend. “You are so odd,” is all that came out of his mouth.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “As if you’re one to talk. Now don’t dodge the question!”

“What question?” Jeno huffed.

“Why haven’t you put your name in the Goblet yet? I would think you would be the very first one to put your name in. After all, you might not even get chosen, so what’s the harm in entering, though I doubt the Goblet would choose anyone over you,” Donghyuck said it like it was the simplest thing in the world, and it made Jeno pause, if just for a moment. Was it really as simple as Donghyuck said it was? As everyone was saying it was?

His silence seemed to quell Donghyuck, who tilted his head to the side, eyeing Jeno up and down before turning to face the front of the classroom. “Nevermind. Forget I said anything.”

“No, Donghyuck,” Jeno immediately countered. Donghyuck slid his gaze over and looked at him expectantly, but Jeno’s mouth suddenly filled with cotton, unable to let any words through — though Jeno’s mind wasn’t supplying any he could say in the first place.

Donghyuck shook his head, flicking his gaze back to the front of the room. “I won’t push it anymore, but I see that doubt in your eyes, Jen. All I’m going to say is, if you want to, even just a little bit, then go for it. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and you’re going to regret not taking the chance more than you would taking it.”

Jeno couldn’t even begin to form a response to Donghyuck’s words, if only because Doyoung was calling out to the whole classroom to start their lesson for the day.

Yet, Jeno realized with a soft smile and a disbelieving shake of his head, his heart started to feel lighter than it had since the very first day of school.

***

The corridors were empty as Jeno walked, his steps slow and echoing against the high walls. Chandeliers hung from the high ceilings, their crystals dusted because anybody with half a mind wouldn’t go up there to clean them with how often Peeves frequented that space. At one point the janitors did try to clean the chandeliers, but not even ten minutes had passed before Peeves flew through them all and left a weird mix of ghost slime and dust in his wake. Nobody had bothered with them since then.

Jeno was just grateful Peeves wasn’t there now — the poltergeist had taken a liking to tormenting the seventh years about the tournament, asking them if they would put their names in the Goblet and regaling stories of previous tournaments (but making them far more gruesome and unsettling).

Ever since what Donghyuck had told him in Potions, Jeno realized there really wasn’t much that could go wrong if he did put his name in the Goblet. After all, there was no guarantee he would be chosen, and if he was, it would be a nice distraction during his days without Quidditch.

He had made up his mind, and was currently on his way to the entrance hall, a slip of parchment safely tucked away in the folds of his robe’s inner pocket. Dinner was scheduled to start soon, so Jeno had to hurry if he didn’t want to be trampled by a herd of hungry students on their way to the Great Hall.

He turned the corner that opened up into the entrance hall and stopped in his tracks when he noticed someone standing a few feet away from the Goblet of Fire, seemingly pondering if they should inch closer to it.

Taking a few tentative steps forward, Jeno realized with a horrible skip in his heartbeat that it was the beautiful boy from Beauxbatons that he had seen yesterday.

The boy had yet to notice him, so Jeno stopped where he was and simply watched him as he fiddled with something in his hands. Jeno was too far away to tell exactly what it was, but he could only assume it was the same little thing Jeno had been so apprehensive to write earlier — the slip of parchment with his name and school printed onto it.

The clock that hung overhead one of the corridor doorways ticked loudly against the silence of the hall, its rhythmic beat a reminder that Jeno didn't have a lot of time to put his name inside the Goblet before the dinner rush.

He didn't want to disturb the boy, but told himself it was now or never and kept walking closer to the Goblet. Once he was close enough to be caught in the boy's peripheral, the boy immediately noticed him and whipped his head to stare at him, eyes wide.

Jeno felt as though he was caught red handed stealing something, and quickly put his arms up in defense. "I'm sorry," He stuttered out, "I just came to put my name in the Goblet, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

"Excusez-moi?" The boy’s voice came out gentle and low, and god Jeno had never described anybody’s voice as honey-like but the boy’s was pretty damn close. His lips carved around the foreign syllables perfectly, that Jeno almost didn’t realize he was speaking another language and might not have even known what Jeno had said.

“Oh!” He quickly tried to remember the few French phrases Renjun had taught him a few years back when Renjun had studied a bit of the language in order to translate French transfiguration books for the library. Unfortunately he had barely been paying attention to Renjun’s words in favor of beating Mark at a game of wizard’s chess. “Uhh sorry, I don’t speak good French.” His words came out awkward and choppy compared to the boy, tongue chewing harshly on the syllables.

A beat of silence passed between the two, before a bubbling sort of feeling sparked in Jeno’s stomach as he watched the boy’s facial features crinkle up into soft laughter. It had Jeno’s heart quite literally doing somersaults around his ribcage, banging into every organ possible and leaving him light headed in a dizzying frenzy. He knew he had to get a grip of himself but all he could think was how melodic and soothing the boy’s laughter was, as though flowers could instantly bloom just from hearing it.

“Vous êtes mignon,” The boy’s deep voice shook Jeno out of his thoughts, but the perfect tone threatened to have him spiraling again. He couldn’t understand the foreign words, and had to try and remember to ask Renjun later what they meant lest he forget. “It’s alright,” The boy’s voice suddenly shaped into something that Jeno could understand perfectly, his English a bit accented but perfect nonetheless, “I speak English.”

“I’m sorry,” Jeno said again, now feeling utterly idiotic for embarrassing himself in front of the boy so horrendously. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you earlier.”

The boy shook his head with a kind smile. “No troubles. You are also putting your name in the Goblet?” He tilted his head to the side, sneaking a quick glance at the Goblet of Fire standing not even five feet away from them both.

Jeno nodded his head, hand subconsciously coming up to pat the spot on his robe where the parchment was safely tucked away inside. “Yeah. I’ve just been trying to find a chance to come alone.”

“I understand,” the boy replied, looking down at his hands, and Jeno could see that he was indeed correct earlier — the boy had a piece of parchment clutched in his hands.

“Are you,” Jeno tried, palms sweaty against the fabric of his robes when the boy blinked back up at him with his wide brown eyes, “Did you want me to leave you alone, maybe? I could come back.” He inwardly cursed himself for the meager tone in his voice, as though he was a child asking his parents for permission in riding a broomstick for the first time.

The boy shook his head, the barest hints of a smile ghosted on his face from his previous laughter, the sound still echoing in Jeno’s ears despite it being a long moment since it passed. “It’s alright. I think if I don’t put it in now, I won’t ever.” His tone took a sharper edge, and Jeno thought, just maybe, there was someone else who was experiencing the same sinking feeling he was the past two months.

He didn’t know what possessed him to say what he said next, but then again Donghyuck had always told Jeno that he made spur of the moment decisions, and that it was very Gryffindor of him, but what would Donghyuck know anyway? “Do you maybe want to put our names in together?” He asked. The boy tilted his head to the side in question, and Jeno had to steel himself to finish his sentence before he chickened out and ran away (which would only further embarrass him). “Just kind of, for good luck.”

The boy studied him for a few moments, and Jeno could feel his heart jumping up and down, hitting the pits of his stomach and the crown of his skull in quick succession. He gulped, trying not to look too scared of his own suggestion, but what could he do, when the most beautiful boy he had ever laid eyes on was looking at him so intently?

“Intéressant,” One side of the boy’s mouth curled up, his smile growing gently. “I think I’d like that.”

“Really?” Jeno couldn’t help but blurt out, eyes widening comically and shoulders tensing up as a surprised nose got caught high in the back of his throat.

The sweet melody of the boy’s laughter graced Jeno’s ears once more, and his face heated up watching the boy’s eyes crinkle and teeth shine as he tried hard to suppress his breathless chuckles. “Really,” The boy repeated, eyes shining deep as he met Jeno’s gaze. Jeno could have sworn it was a trick of the light, a faint reflection from the sun beaming through the high windows and catching on the boy’s Beauxbatons uniform, but he almost noticed the faintest traces of turquoise peeking out against the different shades of the boy’s brown irises. The color was gone as quick as it came, and Jeno had to shake his head to clear his mind of whatever lovesick haze was trying to cling to the outskirts of his brain.

“Right,” He breathed out, slipping his hand into the folds of his robe and retrieving the piece of parchment, its edges still sharp and the crease neat where he folded it in half. He opened it up, looked at the Lee Jeno - Hogwarts scribbled messily in his handwriting, and took another deep breath to calm himself. His heart started up another irregular rhythm, but for an entirely different reason this time. He glanced at the Goblet, the electric blue flames jumping off the rim of the wooden cup as though performing an intricate pagan dance. If he stared hard enough, Jeno was sure he could make out figures etched out of the blue and white flames as they flickered brightly, their depths infinite in the Goblet.

Steeling his nerves, he took a step forward, towards the Goblet. One glance to his side told him the boy had followed in his footsteps, and they were inching towards the Goblet together.

Jeno extended his arm out, until his palm clutching the slip of parchment was hovering just above the rim of the Goblet. “On 3?” He knew it sounded cheesy, but his bones were already so jittery from the enticing pull of the Goblet and the radiant beauty of the boy next to him, that he couldn’t really find it in himself to care.

The boy nodded, and sent Jeno another smile that threatened to send him into orbit. He extended his own arm, so now their hands were right next to each other, the dancing flames only a hair's breadth away from their fingers.

Jeno resisted the urge to shake his shoulders with how nervous he was, wanting to display some kind of nonchalant, cool aura in front of the boy. “Okay,” He said, voice low and full of anticipation, “1, 2, 3.”

Together, they opened their palms, and two matching slips of parchments fell through the air and landed in the Goblet, where they were engulfed and swallowed by the blue flames. The entries made the fires of the Goblet suddenly flare up high, and they both quickly moved their hands back to not be scorched by the fire.

Jeno clutched his hand to his chest, examining the skin to make sure there wasn’t any wound, but he doubted there could be.

“Calisse.”

He turned his head to the side, seeing the boy cradling his own hand to his chest. “Are you hurt?” He asked him. The boy’s eyebrows were furrowed deeply and Jeno felt a sickening feeling in his gut.

“I’m alright,” The boy quickly assured, sending Jeno a quick smile, but it looked painful to Jeno. He didn’t want to push the boy, but he couldn’t help but feel worried.

He didn’t know what else to do — now that their names were entered into the Goblet, there was no reason for Jeno or the boy to stick around. (He so desperately wished to stay though).

“I should probably return to my classmates,” The boy suddenly spoke up, breaking the borderline awkward silence that had started to settle over their heads.

Jeno nodded his head, not knowing why disappointment started crawling up his throat and scratching at its sides. “Right, right, of course,” He forced out a laugh, shaking his head, but the words felt dry on his tongue. He swayed back and forth on his heels, scratching the hairs at the back of his nape.

The boy didn’t seem to be making any sort of move to leave either, and Jeno wondered if he should say anything else. What else could he say? Hey, I think you’re extremely beautiful that I don’t even know what to do with myself. Real smooth that would be.

Jeno wasn’t able to finish his thoughts because the boy suddenly spoke up and interrupted him. “I never got your name.” His voice was quiet, shy, and Jeno wanted to melt, before he realized just exactly what the boy had said.

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline as his eyes widened — had he already been so far gone he hadn’t even thought to give his name to the boy? “I’m so sorry,” He quickly stuttered out, mentally slapping himself in the face for being so rude. “My name is Jeno. Lee Jeno.”

The boy nodded, that gentle smile still hanging off his lips, and Jeno really couldn’t stand there for another minute lest he actually make a fool of himself from how beautiful the boy was. He was three seconds away from rushing out of there faster than third years on their first Hogsmeade weekend.

“I’ve heard a lot of you, Lee Jeno.” The way the boy’s lips curved around the syllables of Jeno’s name was almost as pretty as the way he spoke in his native tongue. Jeno could listen to the boy say his name for ages and never become bored of it.

“You have?” Jeno squeaked out, feeling his neck grow hot with the knowledge that the boy had heard of him, knows of him.

The body nodded, his smile growing into something almost mischievous, but not quite there. “They say you are the one to look out for in the tournament. I didn’t quite know how truthful their words were, but I haven’t been disappointed so far.”

Jeno’s heart skipped several beats before quite literally tumbling out of his chest and landing on the floor in a heap of pulsing red blood. What did the boy mean, he wasn’t disappointed? Jeno’s head was spinning, his world turning hazy at the edges with barely contained giddiness rising in his chest.

The boy opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a loud chatter coming from the corridor behind them. Jeno turned around at the noise, only to be met with the sight of a large crowd of students merrily chatting as they walked down the corridor, on their way to the Great Hall for dinner. Crap, Jeno thought to himself. He hadn’t even realized how much time had passed.

“Jeno!” Jeno recognized the voice as Lee Felix, a Hufflepuff who had taken the role of Head Boy after Jeno had declined. He was walking at the front of the group, a bright smile on his face as shorter underclassmen followed behind him like baby ducklings following in the footsteps of their mother.

“Hey Felix,” Jeno said, sending Felix a kind smile, who returned it with his own dimpled one.

“Did you put your name in the Goblet? You know all of Hogwarts is rooting for you.”

Jeno chuckled lightly, feeling shy under the praise. “Thanks, Felix. I just did, actually.”

More people were starting to gather around them, wanting to peer at the Goblet as they passed by. Some students even reached over to drop their names inside, which received hefty applause from the crowd.

Jeno started being bombarded by underclassmen asking him questions, wanting to know if he had put his name in the Goblet yet.

Jeno looked over his shoulder, locking eyes with the Beauxbatons boy, who sent him a reassuring smile and a small nod of his head, before turning around and walking away. Jeno wanted to call out to him, ask him his name, ask him anything, but another group of students were coming down the marble staircase opposite the entrance doors, and Jeno was lost in the crowd, the boy no longer in sight.

The vibrant noise of the crowd carried all the way into the Great Hall, filling it up from ceiling to floor with jubilant smiles and jittery limbs.

Jeno scanned the room the best he could, but it was like the Beauxbatons boy had slipped on an invisibility cloak; Jeno couldn't find him anywhere. The crowd ushered Jeno all the way to the Gryffindor table, where he found all three of his friends already seated, looking at him with smug looks on their faces.

"There's our future champion."

Jeno sighed, stepping away from all the students, grateful for the breath of fresh air as everyone else all rushed to their own respective tables for dinner. "Please, Donghyuck. We don't even know if I'll be chosen. Don't you want it too? You were one of the first few to put their names in the Goblet."

Donghyuck waved his hand dismissively, rolling his eyes, before pointing a finger right at Jeno's face. "Of course I want to be chosen, the cash prize is crazy, but should it not turn out to be me, I would want it to be you."

"Hey! What about me?" Yangyang pouted from next to Donghyuck, lower lip jutting out.

Donghyuck cooed, turning to pat Yangyang on the top of his head, ruffling his hair and having Yangyang letting out a whine from the resulting mess. "Sorry, Yang, but you couldn't hurt a fly even if your life depended on it. You wouldn't last very long in the tournament."

Yangyang huffed, cheeks puffing out, but he said nothing else as he instead turned his focus to try and fix his hair. After a few seconds of no satisfactory results, he quickly whipped his wand out of his robe and cast a quick spell that had his hair in a perfect swoop, just as he liked it.

"Well if it's any indication," Renjun piped up, sending Jeno a soft smile, "I'm also rooting for you, Jeno."

Jeno returned the Ravenclaw's smile, grateful for the support of his friends, despite the actual gravity and danger of the tournament. "We'll just have to wait and see for the results," He said softly. Their conversation ended there as the chatter in the Great Hall died down to heated whispers when they noticed Doyoung carrying the Goblet of Fire into the hall, placing it on top of its casket that stayed in the same place it was the previous day.

The rest of the faculty, including the headmasters from the other schools and the special guests from the Ministry, walked in after Doyoung, and quietly walked to their spots at the front table, leaving a trail of barely contained desire in their wake that latched onto the smiles of all the students — the desire to find out who their champions were going to be.

The Goblet was back in its spot, the blue flames dancing as they floated up into white wisps in the air. It wasn't long before it would spit out the three names of the champions from each wizarding school. A shudder ran down Jeno's spine at the thought.

"My dear students." Taeyong's voice carried through the entire room and sent a wave of silence over everyone, gluing them to their seats and grasping their undivided attention. "Tonight is the night you have all been waiting for."

He took his wand out, and everyone stared intensely, their eyes peeled so as to not miss a second of the action. The world seemed to move in slow motion, as though time itself was being churned through a screen of molasses as Taeyong slowly raised his wand into the air until finally he flicked his wrist.

Everyone was expecting the Goblet of Fire to undergo some change, spit out the first champion's name, but nothing happened. Instead, the tables filled with foods similar to yesterday's feast, although with a greater variety this time and traditional autumn dishes thrown into the mix.

Taeyong chuckled from the head of the table as everyone’s faces fell with disappointment. "As excited as I know you all are, we first must eat dinner before attending to tournament activities. Enjoy your meals, and eat slowly!"

All the students groaned at being lured in by Taeyong only for him to trick them with his warm, innocent smile. Still, they dug in as fast as they could, savoring the delicious food and going right back to their gossip from before.

Usually Jeno would be ecstatic about having a feast two nights in a row, but he didn't think he could eat right now, not with the pressure of the champion choosing looming over him and having his stomach in knots.

"Nervous?" Renjun whispered to him, quiet enough so Donghyuck and Yangyang couldn't hear him across the table. Though Jeno doubted they would even if Renjun spoke at a normal volume, with how vigorously they were eating away.

Jeno only managed a small shrug of his shoulders, ladling himself a cup of pumpkin soup and placing it next to his plate. "I don't know? Everyone hasn't stopped telling me I'm going to be champion. At this point I'm more nervous to disappoint everybody if I don't get chosen."

Renjun hummed, reaching up to pat Jeno's shoulder a few times, smoothing down the fabric of his robe as he went. "I understand; they've put this huge amount of pressure on your shoulders before we even know the results. It can be a lot to not want to let anybody down."

"Exactly," Jeno said, grateful for Renjun's words. His friend always seemed to know the right words that would thaw the icicles that liked to dig themselves deep into his heart whenever he felt apprehensive or scared. "Thank you, Renjun."

"No need to thank me," Renjun reassured. He took out his wand and with a quick motion, retrieved two pieces of fresh cornbread from a platter all the way on the other side of the table. They both flew across the air before one placed itself neatly on Jeno's plate, ready and waiting to be eaten.

Jeno smiled to himself, picking up the piece of bread and taking a bite. It was perfect on his taste buds, and Jeno quickly chewed it all and swallowed it.

"No fair, I want one too, Renjun!" Donghyuck sputtered with his mouth full of turkey.

"Me too!" Yangyang quickly added.

Renjun rolled his eyes, giving the Slytherin pair a pointed look. "Maybe if you both learned to say please."

"Please," They both pleaded in unison, cheeks stuffed, making them resemble chipmunks. Jeno couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

Renjun rolled his eyes once more, but with a soft sigh he waved his wand again and two more pieces of cornbread came flying down from the other side of the table, gently landing on Donghyuck and Yangyang's plates.

"Than' you!" They both sang in unison, not even waiting two seconds before grabbing the corn bread and devouring it, despite not swallowing the food already in their mouth.

"Slow down before you both choke," Renjun chastised.

As if right on cue, Yangyang fell into a coughing fit, Donghyuck rushing to clap him on the back. Jeno and Renjun watched on, barely able to contain their laughter as Donghyuck fretted over Yangyang, who was more than fine but loved to over-dramatize the situation.

Renjung had fallen into a fit of laughter, hanging onto Jeno as Yangyang resorted to insanely confusing hand gestures to try and communicate with Donghyuck, who looked completely oblivious but repeated the gestures back. Donghyuck then slid his gaze over to Renjun.

“I think you jinxed him Renjun,” He breathed in a voice of horror, eyes widening comically as he clutched his hands to his throat. “Did you do the same to me?”

The look on Donghyuck’s face sent Jeno over the edge, and he and Renjun clutched onto each other in a desperate attempt not to fall over, stomachs contracting with how hard they were laughing.

“This isn’t a laughing matter!” Donghyuck squealed, already having forgotten about Yangyang who was scrambling for a drink of water, needing to be helped by a poor fourth year sitting next to him who was extremely scared by his physical state. Jeno felt worse for the fourth year than for Yangyang.

“I think it is,” Renjun said between giggles. “Did you even pay attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts when we first learned of jinxes?”

Jeno’s cheeks hurt with the force of his smile watching Donghyuck pause, rack his brain for the memory of the lesson, then pouting when he realized what Renjun meant. “You can never be too sure,” He grumbled.

Renjun rolled his eyes, but they finally moved on from the topic when he reached over the table and ruffled Donghyuck’s hair, as well as Yangyang’s once he finally calmed down and could breathe properly again.

Jeno only watched his friends talk animatedly about nothing and everything, from the changing of the seasons to what they learned in Transfiguration to their predictions for the tournament. He was content in not fully engaging in the conversation, only offering his remarks here and there when prompted.

Before he knew it, the food disappeared from the table and was replaced with small plates holding clootie dumplings right in front of where everybody was seated.

Despite filling their stomachs to the brim with the dishes from before, they all made some room to properly savour their dessert, sighing happily as they took their last few bites.

“I hope everyone has had their fill,” Taeyong’s voice came warm and loud a few minutes later, adding to the cozy atmosphere that had blanketed the Great Hall during their feast, as though they were all seated in front of a fireplace wrapped tightly in a wool blanket with a warm mug of hot chocolate between their palms.

Taeyong waved his hands and the empty plates also disappeared, leaving the tables bare. The cozy atmosphere just as quickly evaporated, revealing the underlying edge-of-their-seat anticipation overflowing at the seams.

“The time has finally come, my dear students,” Taeyong’s voice was calm, but even he couldn’t hide his excitement, “for us to choose our champions for the Triwizard Tournament.”

A round of applause came from all the students, their eagerness evident in the way they clapped loudly but very shortly, allowing Taeyong to continue speaking as fast as possible.

“As you all know, the Goblet of Fire has been situated in the entrance hall since last night, free for anybody old enough to participate in the Triwizard Tournament to put their names in to be considered for champion. Now, the Goblet is going to make its decision and tell us who our three champions are.”

Jeno felt a nudge on his shoulder, and looked behind him to see Renjun giving him a wink, but his smile was kind and did wonders to soothe the nervous beating of Jeno’s heart.

Taeyong moved away from the faculty table and walked up to the Goblet of Fire sitting atop its casket. He pulled his wand out of his robes and tapped the lid of the casket three times.

A few seconds of silence followed, and then the flames of the Goblet roared and shot up two feet into the air, their electric blue color morphing into a blazing red, before it spit out a slip of parchment and fell back to its usual contained blue flickering. The slip of parchment hung suspended in the air before Taeyong reached forward and took it, unfolding it to read its contents.

Not a soul breathed, the silence deafening and clawing at Jeno’s throat.

“The champion from Durmstrang Institute,” Taeyong’s voice rang loud, and he took a slight pause, if only to feel the suspense oozing from every crack and pore of the room, filling it up like a tide pool and succumbing everyone to its clutches.

“Jung Sungchan!”

All the Durmstrang students, who were sitting together at the Slytherin table once more, all stood up in their joy, cheering and shaking the shoulders of a tall boy with golden brown hair and a shy but wide smile on his face.

Jeno didn’t recognize the name, not knowing anyone from Durmstrang, but the response to his name being called had Jeno thinking he was definitely someone to be known.

Taeyong smiled kindly at the boy, who was still trying to pry his friends off him with breathless laughter. "Congratulations, Sungchan. If you would please, enter the room over here," he gestured his arm to a door on the wall just behind the faculty table, "and wait for further instructions."

Sungchan nodded, lips still stretched in a smile as he walked down his table, being greeted by all the other Durmstrang students with high fives and shakes of his arm. He gave Taeyong a slight bow before proceeding up the steps to the faculty table, and through the door that had been opened for him by Professor Kun.

Once the door shut behind him, silence fell over the hall once more. Their attention ripped from the door back to the Goblet, awaiting the flames to reveal the next champion. Taeyong lowered his arm and placed the slip of parchment down onto the casket. Another few achingly long seconds passed before the Goblet sprang to life once more, its flames gushing up and changing into the deep red color before procuring another small slip of parchment for Taeyong to grab.

He took it into his hands and unfolded it. Jeno could feel his palms start to sweat and hair stick to the back of his neck. His knee popped up and down underneath the table, shaking.

Oddly, he felt the sudden urge to look for the Beauxbatons boy he had spoken to, casting his gaze across all the Beauxbatons students sitting at the Ravenclaw table until he found him. The boy was sitting at the far end of the table, eyes transfixed on Taeyong as the Headmaster looked down at the parchment. Jeno could only imagine that the boy was feeling something similar to him at that very moment.

"The champion from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic." The drop of a pin, loud and echoing against the bare silence of the room, still in the way not even wind dared to move through it.

"Na Jaemin!"

Right at that moment, the Beauxbatons boy turned his head and locked his eyes with Jeno, and Jeno understood.

Na Jaemin. He rolled over the name in his head, loving the way it curved and flowed.

The Beauxbatons students reacted in a much similar way to Durmstrang, standing up and cheering for their fellow student being chosen as champion. The boy — Jaemin — seemed shy under the sudden spotlight, ducking his head and swatting away the hands of his classmates as they congratulated him. He quickly stood up, walking down the expanse of the table and towards Taeyong at the front of the hall.

Jeno watched as he walked, elegance and poise in every step he took. Jaemin looked behind his shoulder, and their eyes met once more. This time, Jaemin sent him a small smile, barely there, but enough to have Jeno’s heart in a rampage.

“Congratulations Jaemin,” Taeyong said once Jaemin approached him. Jaemin bowed in response. “You can step into the room to the side just as Sungchan did.” Jaemin nodded, and kept walking to where Professor Kun was waiting for him by the door.

Jeno’s eyes stayed transfixed to Jaemin’s back, all the way until he disappeared behind the door and it was closed once more, the click of its lock loud and deafening against the familiar silence forming in its wake.

Jeno’s mind was so muddled with thoughts of Jaemin (just saying the name aloud in his head had his skin buzzing with a fervent want to know everything about the boy), he hadn’t even noticed the room fall deathly quiet as their eyes laser focused back on the Goblet.

It was time for the last champion to be picked.

The Goblet of Fire seemed to have a sense of humor, wanting to prolong the suffering of the students as they held their breaths anxiously waiting for its flames to change. It wasn’t for another few achingly long seconds that the Goblet’s flames finally roared up high into the sky and changed into the now familiar red, before disappearing just as quickly, only leaving behind the slip of parchment suspended in the air.

As the last two times, Taeyong reached forward to grab the parchment, though his movements were more slowed this time around. He was careful in unfolding it to read its contents and announce the name.

Jeno’s body was in overdrive, all of his systems deciding to put in overtime despite him sitting completely still in his seat. His knee had threatened to bang into the underside of the table nearly a dozen times at this point, his palms producing enough sweat to fill a glass of water and every inch of his exposed skin erupting in mountains for goosebumps.

“The champion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” Jeno felt Renjun’s hand find his on the wooden bench, interlacing their fingers together and squeezing in earnest — a sign of support that Jeno could never begin to describe how grateful he was for. He glanced across the table, only to see Donghyuck and Yangyang sending him their own means of support in the form of worried gazes and bitten lips.

“Lee Jeno!”

Time ticked to a sudden stop, the air that already stood so still freezing where the molecules hung amongst each other in the matter. Jeno sat unblinking as he stared straight at Taeyong, half convinced his ears were deceiving him and that this was all some weirdly immersive dream that he would wake up from in about five seconds.

But no, it wasn’t a dream, it was real. It was real in the way Jeno’s eardrums came close to bursting with how loud his three friends started screaming, leaping out of their seats and clapping like madmen. They weren’t the only ones, Jeno noticed, as he finally craned his neck around the room and saw almost every single Hogwarts student out of their seat and rushing to try and reach the Gryffindor table.

“Oh my god,” He breathed. Suddenly the last two months, from not being able to control his bitterness about losing Quidditch, to almost every single person he came across gushing in one way shape or other how perfect he’d be as a champion, it all came to a halt and smacked Jeno right in the face.

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck scoffed, leaning over the table to shove Jeno’s shoulder playfully. “Go up there!”

Jeno stood up from the bench, knees not quite following their proper function and nearly creaking under the weight of his body. All his muscles felt sluggish, not having caught up to the reality of the situation and thus not wanting to agree with Jeno’s brain (which, to be fair, was in a similar state of radio static).

Renjun gave him a rather harsh butt tap, and he finally started cranking the old, rusted cogs in his joints to slowly move towards the front of the Great Hall, where Taeyong was waiting with a wide smile on his face.

“Congratulations Jeno,” Taeyong told him softly, pride laced into every syllable he spoke. Jeno blushed under the praise, ducking his head into a quick bow. He felt a hand rest atop his head, and flicked his gaze up to see Taeyong giving him a small smile, petting his hair twice before retreating his hand.

“You know where to go?”

Jeno nodded, bowing to Taeyong once more before moving past him towards Professor Kun by the doorway. He stole a quick glance to the faculty table, and saw Doyoung already looking at him with a bright smile. Doyoung gave him a little nod of his head, and Jeno felt his heartstrings tug for an entirely different reason. Despite their distance, he could see the pride swirling in Doyoung’s eyes as he looked at Jeno, and Jeno knew that despite anything else, he wanted to make his brother proud.

He quickly ducked through the doorway after a quick exchange with Professor Kun, and entered the room. It was larger than he expected, decked out like a lounge room with several couches and settees angled towards a fireplace on the back wall.

He hadn’t even realized how stifling the air in the Great Hall was until the door closed behind him and he could finally take in a deep breath of fresh air. He exhaled slowly, walking further into the room, being drawn by the warmth of the fireplace.

Two of the seats, he noticed as he drew closer, were occupied by the other two champions. All at once he was reminded of the glances he shared with Jaemin not even a few minutes prior, and felt his shoulders tense up.

“Hello,” He called into the air, alerting the other two of his presence. They turned around and looked at him, the wood of the fireplace crackling under the heat behind them. Sungchan, as Jeno remembered, seemed to size him up in the way his eyes raked all across Jeno’s body, but not in a condescending way. Jeno believed it was only natural for him to try and gauge what Jeno was like; they were competitors now after all.

“Privyet,” Sungchan stood up from his seat, and Jeno tried not to be intimidated by his height as he walked closer to Jeno. His voice had a rough edge to it, the accent heavy and throaty, but still understandable. “I don’t believe we’ve properly met. I’m Jung Sungchan,” He extended his hand out, which Jeno took with a slight nod of his head. Sungchan’s palm was rough against his, years of calluses that hadn’t had the proper time to heal before new ones formed marked into his skin.

“Lee Jeno,” Jeno responded. Sungchan hummed, seemingly satisfied with his analysis of Jeno as he turned around and sat right back down into the large lounge chair closest to the fireplace.

Jeno shook off the rather odd greeting and instead turned to face Jaemin, who had also risen from his seat. Their eyes met, and oh Jeno’s heart really needed to stop convulsing so harshly every time he stared into Jaemin’s brown eyes.

Jaemin extended his hand out, and Jeno only stared at it for a painfully long second before he realized wizards shake hands and that it was a completely normal thing to do and that he had to stop acting like a twelve year old experiencing hormones for the first time.

“We’ve already met, but I don’t think I ever got to tell you my name,” Jaemin voiced, chuckling lightly at the shared memory of a few hours ago when they were together by the Goblet of Fire out in the entrance hall. “I’m Na Jaemin.”

Jeno joined in on his laughter, shaking his bangs with a quick jerk of his head before grabbing Jaemin’s hand and shaking it. Where Sungchan’s hand was all sharp edges and years of physical labor, Jaemin’s hand was the exact opposite, all smooth lines and palms that haven’t been tainted by gruesome physical labor. The faint scent of woody aster flowers entered Jeno’s nostrils, and he could almost feel himself start to become lulled into a drunken state from the pleasant scent.

“Lee Jeno, though you already knew that,” Jeno said, his smile lopsided and shy as Jaemin’s smile widened and he looked to the ground.

"How funny."

Jeno cocked his head to the side. "What is?"

Jaemin hummed softly, "How funny it is that we both became champions after our little meeting earlier, no?" His voice lilted in an amused tone, as though he was speaking of a well kept secret and not an awkward first meeting.

"I guess so," Jeno said, not knowing how to respond, especially when Jaemin was still so close to him and their hands were still connected. "Congratulations, by the way," He added meekly.

Jaemin's soft smile from earlier returned, and Jeno was so close to melting into a puddle right where he stood. "Congratulations to you as well. Though I had no doubts you'd be the one chosen, with all those praises floating around the entire day.”

Jeno could feel his neck flame up and hoped Jaemin wouldn't notice. “You flatter me,” He tried.

“Quite the contrary, I think,” Jaemin insisted, giving Jeno a challenging look, eyes glinting in the shadows of the fireplace behind him. “I am merely making observations, and this only gives me a better chance at knowing my competition before the tournament.”

His words took Jeno by surprise, and Jeno almost couldn’t help the little noise that stuck itself in the back of his throat. All at once Jeno saw Jaemin in a whole new night; he wasn’t this mysterious, faraway boy from a foreign land, but a cunning wizard who knew how to take advantage of a situation he was in. Jeno couldn’t help but feel in awe of him, and it did horrible things for his heart.

Too bad he wasn’t close enough to the fireplace to account that for his pink dusted cheeks and warm neck.

Their conversation ceased as the door to the room opened again, and a small group walked in. Taeyong and Doyoung were at the front, with Johnny and Jaehyun behind them, followed closely by the two headmasters from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, Yuta and Sicheng, and right at the end of the line was Mark.

“Another congratulations to you three,” Taeyong said kindly, stepping forward into the room. “I just sent the rest of the students to bed, so we now have a chance to speak. Please, take a seat.”

Jeno looked around, and settled on one of the plush couches angled towards the fireplace. Doyoung joined him a few seconds later, and Jeno was grateful for his brother’s presence next to him.

Jaemin took a seat on the couch facing parallel to his, with Yuta joining him there. Jeno noticed him make eye contact with and smile at Doyoung, to which Doyoung ducked his head with a small smile. Jeno nudged his brother subtly with his elbow, and when Doyoung looked his way, he raised his eyebrows and quickly glanced Yuta’s way. Doyoung only shook his head and mouthed later, but Jeno wasn’t entirely satisfied with his answer.

“Firstly, congratulations on being chosen as the three champions of the Triwizard Tournament!” Johnny chirped. “Now, let's get into the juicy stuff! There are a few procedures we must follow before the start of the tournament in two weeks, but they’re simple things.”

Jeno wondered just how much would go into the tournament, besides the obvious tasks. He hadn’t really grasped how big the tournament actually was, and could feel his fingers thrumming nervously against his thigh at the thought.

“As Headmaster Taeyong mentioned yesterday, putting your names in the Goblet signifies a magical contract should you get chosen. Now that the Goblet has chosen you three, you must see the tournament through the end for it to all proceed as smoothly as possible. This of course does not apply to serious problems, should they arise, but we are hoping nothing of that sort will happen anyways.”

“Secondly, the Wand Weighing ceremony must take place before the tournament begins. London’s wandmaker will come to Hogwarts in a few days' time, and will check to make sure all of the champions wands are proper and function well without anything that could be used to their advantage in the tournament.”

Jeno almost felt dizzy with all the information being thrown at him, but he tried his best to pay attention and absorb it all the best he could. He had already made the choice he would commit to the Triwizard Tournament, and there was no backing out now.

Taeyong piped up from near the fireplace. “These are all standard rules for the proceedings of the tournament. We wish to keep it as safe as possible while still including as many of the traditions as we can. More information will be provided to you by your professors as the days come. Now, I think we’ve kept you three long enough. Go join your friends, and make sure to get as much rest as you can.”

Sicheng and Sungchan were the first to leave, bowing to everyone and shaking their hands. Johnny and Jaehyun left soon after.

“Looks like we’ll be seeing more of each other from now on, chouchou,” Jaemin said as he stood up, sending Jeno another one of his signature smiles that quite literally left Jeno’s head spinning.

Jeno paused at the foreign word, tilting his head to the side. “Choochoo?”

Jaemin shook his head with a little laugh, Yuta joining in next to him. “Don’t worry, garçon,” Yuta spoke, voice lower than Jaemin’s but having a more mirthy quality to it, “it’s nothing ill meaning.”

Jeno only blinked, not knowing what to say. He sat in his seat, slightly dazed, only sending Jaemin and Yuta a small nod as they left the room.

Once they were gone, Doyoung immediately turned to him and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, nearly billowing him into the couch cushions behind him. “Oh my god Jeno you did it.”

Jeno felt another body on top of him, and peeked over Doyoung’s shoulder to find Mark half wedged on top of both of them in his attempts to also hug him.

“Dude, I’m so proud of you!” Mark cheered into his ear, and Jeno couldn’t help the breathless laughter that left him, letting himself be hugged by his brother and bestfriend as they praised him.

The warmth of the fireplace left a soft, comfortable buzzing atop his skin, and he felt like he could lose himself in the flames, ready to face any challenge in the Triwizard Tournament.

Chapter Text

Jeno really needed to go see Madam Sooyoung, the Hogwarts matron. There was no natural explanation for why his hands were so sweaty and clammy all the time.

He hastily wiped them against the side of his robes, hurrying down the steps from the Gryffindor dormitories to the common room.

“Hey Jeno!” Junkyu said as he emerged from the staircase, but Jeno had no time to stay and chat. He was late.

“Sorry Junkyu but I’m in a really big rush. I’ll see you later though!” He ran through the common room and opened up the portrait, stepping over the ledge and racing down the hallway, not even bothering to see if the portrait closed behind him.

Of course today of all days he would sleep in. The day of the Wand Weighing ceremony, where all the Triwizard Tournament coordinators and helpers would be, as well as a highly esteemed wandmaker, reporters from the Daily Prophet, and worst of all, Jaemin.

Jeno repressed the whine that built up in his throat, instead focusing on running faster towards the classroom where the Wand Weighing ceremony was taking place. He knew the way there like the back of his hand, the classroom they were using coincidentally being Doyoung’s Potions room. He had travelled the short walk from his dormitory to Doyoung’s office, conveniently attached to his classroom, more times than he could remember. It was an eight minute walk on any other day, but four minutes if he really booked it.

When he finally arrived outside the room, breath heaving and clothes in utter disarray, Jeno had to admit he was pretty proud of himself for achieving the run in only three minutes. It seemed losing Quidditch hadn’t taken away his athleticism.

With one final deep breath to calm his racing heart down, Jeno opened the door and stepped inside.

Right away he was met with the shutter of a camera flash, bright and blinding in his face. He blinked rapidly and squeezed his eyes shut, seeing patterns behind his eyelids that would move everywhere he twitched his pupils.

“Ten please don’t blind my brother with your camera.” Jeno recognized Doyoung’s voice, and tried to open his eyes fully, but the patterns followed him and his field of vision blurred out into white around the edges, so it was hard to make anything out clearly.

“Sorry Doyoung. Anything for the paper,” An unfamiliar voice from a few feet away spoke, and Jeno quickly shook his head back and forth, squeezing his eyelids shut a few more times to rid himself of the temporary blindness so he could properly meet whoever it was that blinded him in the first place.

Once Jeno’s vision mostly returned to him, he saw a wizard shorter than he was with a cheshire like smile and gleaming eyes. His hair was a vibrant shade of grey that definitely wasn’t due to old age, with how young and vital the man looked.

The hand not holding his camera extended out in front of him for Jeno to take. “Lee Ten. I work for the Daily Prophet, in charge of covering the Wand Weighing ceremony today.”

Jeno nodded, taking Ten’s hand and shaking it. “Nice to meet you, I’m Lee Jeno.”

Ten waved his hand around, laughing loudly. “I already knew that silly. Do you think you could stand over there so I could get some solo shots of you? You’re kind of late so I’ve already done everyone else’s.”

Jeno’s skin prickled with the embarrassment of being called out for being late out loud like that, but shook it off best he could to follow Ten to the back of the room so he could take as many photographs as he wished.

After what seemed like an eternity of Ten moving him into every position possible and taking a million photos (but was really only five minutes) Ten let him go to join the rest of the group at the front of the room.

The other two champions were standing in front of the headmasters from their schools, and Jeno assumed he would be standing with Taeyong, but to his pleasant surprise, Doyoung was standing right next to Yuta waiting for him. Jeno noticed the way Doyoung was pointedly ignoring Yuta’s lingering gaze on his brother.

Jeno tried to ignore the way Jaemin’s eyes followed his every movement. If he straightened his back and rolled his shoulders to appear taller, then nobody had to know, least of all Jaemin. He quickly found his place in front of Doyoung and next to Jaemin to wait for further instruction.

“Okay, all six of you, just stand right like that,” Ten called, bringing his camera up to his face to take a few shots. They continued on like that for a few more minutes, some photos having just the three champions, others having just a champion and their professor.

“Alright Ten I think that’s enough,” Jaehyun said with a laugh from the side of the room, stepping in to stop Ten. Jeno was half convinced Ten would have had them pose on broomsticks while flying if he had kept going.

Ten pouted but walked to stand next to Jaehyun.

“Alright,” Taeyong said, addressing the room. “The Wand Weighing ceremony is simple. Each of your wands will be examined by a professional wandmaker, but there’s no cause for worry if your wands have been working just fine for you these past few years. Now, may I introduce London’s finest wandmaker, Shim Changmin.”

An older man, who Jeno hadn’t even noticed until now, stepped out from the line on the side of the room, a kind smile on his face. Despite him clearly being older, he still looked so young that Jeno couldn’t believe he was an expert on wands.

“Hello boys. I think congratulations are in order before we get started,” Changmin spoke softly, as though his voice was the sound of pages turning in an aged book, whimsical and consistent. “Now, who wants to go first?”

Jeno glanced to his right, and saw Jaemin and Sungchan take turns looking at each other then at him. They all shrugged their shoulders and chuckled nervously, none of them wanting to be the first to have their wand examined.

“I’ll go first,” Sungchan suddenly spoke up, stepping forward and approaching Changmin.

“Brave, a nice quality,” Changmin noted offhandedly, stretching an open palm outwards. Sungchan leaned down and retrieved his wand from where it had been stuck in a sheath in his boot, placing it in Changmin’s hand.

The moment Changmin gripped the wand in his hand, it emitted dark blue sparkles. Changmin nodded his head and hummed softly. He then examined the wand without a word for a few more moments, the only sounds in the room the shutter of Ten’s camera as he took pictures.

“Interesting,” Changmin mused. “Vine wood, 10 and ¾ inches, Dragonheart core. Do you know what type of dragon it came from?”

“Ukrainian Ironbelly,” Sungchan responded, voice emitting something proud. “My father slayed it himself.”

Changmin nodded again, giving the wand back to Sungchan. “Those types of connections to a wand’s core can make for a great bond between you and your wand. Vine wood wands are always attracted to owners with a greater purpose in life, with something they desperately wish to prove, either to themselves or the world. I predict seeing big actions from you, Jung Sungchan.”

“Spasibo,” Sungchan bowed his head in thanks and stepped back into the short line with Jeno and Jaemin.

Jeno felt his heart stutter at Changmin’s words. He could really sense that much just by looking at Sungchan’s wand? What would he say when he looked at Jeno’s?

“Jaemin?” Taeyong offered kindly.

Jaemin nodded and stepped forward next, retrieving his wand from the inside of his tailcoat. He gently placed it into Changmin’s waiting hand.

Changmin closed his palm around the wand, and this time thin sprouts of vines emerged from the tip of the wand, growing out and then falling to the floor where they disappeared. Changmin seemed satisfied with this outcome, nodding his head and bringing the wand closer to his face for a better look.

“Another very interesting wand. Hazel wood, 9 and ¾ inches, and is this?” He felt along the length of the wand, squinting his eyes. “Veela hair for a core?”

Veela?, Jeno thought to himself. The word rang a bell, but he forgot where he had heard it from - all he knew was that Veela were creatures of extreme beauty as well as extreme danger.

Jaemin chuckled, almost nervously. “I received my wand from a wandmaker who had a liking for all things rare. None of his wands had any of the three standard cores.”

Changmin hummed, seemingly satisfied with the answer and not thinking much of it. “Another great wizard, Fleur Delacour, had a wand core made of Veela hair. Of course, hers was a gift from her grandmother, as her grandmother was Veela herself.”

The way Changmin said his words as his gaze flickered up to Jaemin’s face, made Jeno wonder what kind of exchange was happening between them at that moment. He couldn’t see Jaemin’s face, his back turned to Jeno, but Jeno couldn’t accurately imagine what he thought Jaemin’s expression would look like.

“Nevermind that,” Changmin said, brushing the topic away. “Hazel wood is one of my favorite woods; why, my very first wand was made of Hazel. Hazel wood wands work well with owners who are attuned to their own mental and emotional wellbeing. They are even known to absorb and emit unpredictable magic if their owner ever loses their temper. Definitely a wand that I wish to see more of its power, especially from a wizard like you Jaemin.”

Jaemin ducked his head in a bow, taking his wand back from Changmin and joining Jeno and Sungchan in their line. Jeno glanced at him, but didn’t have enough time to really decipher what look was overtaking Jaemin’s face before he was being called up to present his own wand.

“Ah,” Changmin said quietly as he took Jeno’s wand. It vibrated in his hand before shooting a swirl of red magic out of the tip that dispersed in the air. “A wand of my own creation.”

Jeno made a noise of surprise, not even knowing he was standing in the presence of the maker of his wand. “Really?” He asked.

Changmin chuckled. “Why of course. I remember every single wand I have created.”

He took less time with Jeno’s wand compared to the others, but Jeno credited it to his familiarity with it.

“A truly fine wand. Willow wood, 10 inches, Phoenix core. Although the length and core are basic, this wand is like no other, something I feel that can be explained by its owner.” He looked up at Jeno and sent him a wink, which had Jeno smiling bashfully, looking down at his feet. “Willow wood wands are not common, and only take a special person to be chosen. These owners more often than not shoulder some type of insecurity, whether they admit it to themselves or not. Yet, these wands always choose those with the greatest potential, rather than those who feel they have little to learn.”

Jeno almost couldn’t stop the rush of heat that shot up to his neck and cheeks. On one end Changmin had just revealed he had great potential as a wizard, but at the same time said he might be hiding some kind of insecurity he himself didn’t even know about. He didn’t know if he should feel flattered or embarrassed.

“I can expect great things from you, Jeno,” Changmin finished, giving Jeno his wand back with a smile.

“Thank you,” Jeno mumbled, clutching his wand close to his chest and scuttering back in line next to Jaemin.

Changmin moved to take his spot next to Taeyong near the windows, and Johnny walked in front of the champions. He clapped his hands loudly and smiled brightly at the three of them. “See how easy that was! Now that we have that out of the way, you three can start preparing for the first task. It will start in about one week’s time, on November 16th. We cannot reveal any instructions about the actual task itself for secrecy and fairness reasons, but all we want to tell you is to keep yourselves healthy and don’t go getting yourselves injured before the first task, you hear?” He took a second to match gazes with all three of them, most likely trying to convey a sense of warning, but his smile was too bright and joyous for Jeno to feel any ounce of intimidation.

They all dispersed out of the room slowly. Jeno’s stomach grumbled loudly as he walked into the corridor, and he huffed sadly as he realized he had also missed breakfast with how long he slept. Now he would have to wait another few hours until lunch to get optimal amounts of food in his stomach.

“Chouchou.”

Jeno spinned on his heels, coming face to face with Jaemin, who was sending him a soft smile and waving him over with his hand. Despite the foreign word on his tongue, Jeno still followed, feeling himself magnetically pulled toward wherever Jaemin was.

“Yes?” He asked.

“You missed breakfast, no?” It was a question, but the way the melody of Jaemin’s voice moved up and down made it sound more like a statement than anything. It was almost as if he noticed Jeno’s absence in the Great Hall that morning.

Jeno nodded, unsure of what Jaemin might’ve been getting at.

Jaemin quickly reached into his tailcoat and retrieved his wand. With a small flick of his wrist, a plastic bag of candy appeared in his hands. Jeno didn’t recognize the brand nor the type of candy, peering down at the bag confused.

“A snack for you, until lunch,” Jaemin explained, offering the bag to Jeno.

Jeno was, to say the least, stunned. He was really standing in front of probably the most beautiful boy he had ever come across in his lifetime (and he was best friends with Renjun), and said boy was offering him candy because he knew Jeno missed breakfast.

“What are they?” Jeno couldn’t help but ask, gingerly taking the bag from Jaemin’s palm and holding it in his hand. The plastic was a bright pink, with Dragibus written in a dark blue ink across the front.

“They’re dragibus, jellybeans in English. They’re my absolute favorite snack; I don’t think I could go one day without them,” Jaemin laughed.

Jeno felt himself smile before he even realized what he was doing, lips stretched wide. The fact that Jaemin was giving him a gift because he thought of Jeno (and not just any gift, but something that was personal to him) hadn’t quite hit him yet, but he knew it would soon.

“Thank you,” He said softly, picking his head up to meet Jaemin’s gaze once more.

Jaemin laughed again, light and airy as he waved his hand back and forth in a nonsensical manner, as if to say it isn’t a big deal. “I hope you like them.”

Jeno nodded, and just like that, Jaemin turned around and walked away, down the corridor and around the corner, disappearing from sight. Jeno watched him go all the way, heart thumping and hand warm with the weight of the candy bag.

Chapter Text

The weather the few days before the first task was, simply put, horrendous. Mother Nature had decided to evaporate the entire English Channel and dump it all on top of Hogwarts. The rain didn’t cease for almost four days straight, and storm clouds brewed and swirled in the sky, never allowing for any ray of sunlight to peek through and provide some sort of beacon of hope for the students down below.

It definitely didn’t help Jeno’s nerves before the task; the bad weather only helped to bring his mood down and confine him inside the castle 24 hours of the day.

Nature only seemed to feel generous on the day before the first task, with the downpour finally letting up and a sliver of sunlight shining through the otherwise deep and dark clouds. Jeno could have cried right then and there while staring out of his window, feeling as though he was receiving a message from God himself that good days were coming soon.

That looked to be the truth when Jeno awoke the next day, all jittery nerves and sweaty palms with the sinking realization the first task was today, and that the Triwizard Tournament wasn’t just a distant what-if, but an actual, tangible thing that had seeped into the bones of every single student at Hogwarts - and Jeno was a part of it.

The storm clouds had all but completely dissipated, the only thing remaining their close, much more enjoyable cousins, fluffy spoofs of white that lazily moved across the sky and didn’t linger around for longer than they should. The sun’s warmth was stronger than average for a mid-November morning, but it did wonders to lift Jeno’s spirits and get him in the proper mood to take on whatever they would throw at him in the first task.

“Rise and shine birthday boy!”

Jeno flinched against the sudden noise, turning to look towards the door to his room where Donghyuck was standing with a bright smile on his face (Jeno was almost convinced Donghyuck had lassoed the sun back into their corner of the world himself, with how prominent its light was in his smile). Renjun and Yangyang stood just behind Donghyuck, peeking over his shoulders and sending Jeno small waves.

“What time is it?” Jeno grumbled, squeezing his eyes shut to rid himself of any residual sleep that tried to stick to his eyelashes and crawl back into his head.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” Donghyuck answered, fully stepping into the room, quite literally walking around like he owned the space and not like he was a Slytherin intruding on the Gryffindor dormitory. “We’re here to help you get ready.”

Jeno groaned. As much as the nice weather was helping to make him feel better about the day ahead of him, he wasn’t quite ready to get out of bed and actually do it all.

“Don’t give us that look,” Renjun teased, taking his wand out of his robes and easily opening Jeno’s trunk for him, maneuvering Jeno’s robes so they flew out of their neatly folded spots and landed on the bed right next to Jeno’s feet. “Get changed quickly so we can head down to breakfast.”

“I can’t really change with you three standing right here though, can I?” Jeno poked, smiling lazily as he watched them all huff and roll their eyes. “I’ll be down in five, don’t worry.”

They all grumbled but accepted his compromise, shuffling out of the room and leaving Jeno alone to get dressed in peace.

“Dude, why is Donghyuck so loud in the morning?” Junkyu groaned from his bed, face pressed into his pillow.

Jeno laughed, shaking his head fondly. He didn’t respond to Junkyu and instead focused on changing his clothing, fingers trembling with a mixture of nervousness and excitement.

Just like he promised, he met his friends in the Gryffindor common room five minutes later, all changed and without any more sleep hanging off his cheeks.

“We’re going to give you the royal treatment today,” Yangyang said with a wiggle of his eyebrows as they took their turns stepping out of the portrait entrance to the common room and started making their way down the corridor towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

“Royal treatment? Why?” Jeno couldn’t help but ask.

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Because, you’re the Hogwarts champion! We want you to be in your best condition for the first task later today, not only as your best friends, but as Hogwarts students who want to see you absolutely crush Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.” He made a gesture of slamming his fist into his palm, and Jeno laughed out in a breathless manner, pushing Donghyuck’s shoulder lightly.

“This is a friendly competition, Donghyuck, remember?” He gave Donghyuck a pointed look, but Donghyuck only waved his hand and wrapped his arm around Jeno’s shoulder.

“Of course, of course, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to show those boys who’s the best wizarding school in all of Europe!” Donghyuck pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.

The three of them shook their heads at Donghyuck, finding his enthusiasm amusing. “Funny, coming from someone who finds a way to complain about Hogwarts in one way or another almost every single day,” Renjun said simply, and they all fell into a fit of laughter as Donghyuck froze up, having been caught.

Jeno sighed. “I appreciate your school spirit, Donghyuck, though I don’t think a royal treatment is the way to go to get me prepared for the task.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Donghyuck urged, already having recovered from Renjun’s stab to his character (it was all in good fun anyway). “If you’re representing all of Hogwarts, then you deserve it.”

Jeno tried to argue more, but Donghyuck wasn’t having any of it. Once he set his mind on something, there was absolutely no way to convince him otherwise, so Jeno just had to resign to being given the “royal treatment” to appease him.

The “royal treatment”, as it seemed, was less of a “treatment”, and more an excuse to parade Jeno around the entire school and have him be ogled by every Hogwarts student that wanted to get close to him.

He had already declined a few offers for help with the task, and a few dozen more that offered him luck charms or magic enhancing charms. By the time lunch rolled around Jeno was exhausted from it all.

“Is this how celebrities feel when their fans won’t leave them alone?” Jeno groaned, dropping his head onto the table with a dull thud. “The task hasn’t even happened yet and I already want the day to be over.”

“No no no that won’t do,” Donghyuck insisted. “The task starts in only two hours! You can’t be tired now.”

Jeno exhaled slowly through his nostrils. “Donghyuck, I really appreciate what you’ve been doing to try and motivate me, but right now I just want to nap.”

Donghyuck didn’t say anything, and when Jeno rolled his head to the side to look at his friend’s face, Donghyuck had fallen silent and nodded his head with a small purse of his lips.

“Okay,” Donghyuck said softly. “Okay, I’ll stop. Just rest up these last couple hours, yeah?”

Jeno smiled, nodding his head the best he could in his position, and went right back to nearly dozing off against the hard wood of the Gryffindor table.

Lunch passed by quickly, the entire student body buzzed and alive with talks of the tournament. Their classes had been cancelled for that day, which only gave the students more time to get themselves all worked up for the first task. They all theorized aloud what the task could consist of, but Jeno tried not to pay attention to those types of conversations. He didn’t want to create a false expectation for the first task, and then be disappointed with the truth later. He’d rather go in completely blind as he and the rest of the champions were supposed to.

Thinking about it, Jeno realized he hadn’t seen Jaemin all morning. They hadn’t gotten a chance to have a real conversation since the Wand Weighing ceremony a week ago, and Jeno was already missing the beautiful boy with sweet eyes and an even sweeter smile.

The jelly candies that Jaemin gave him had been absolutely delicious, and Jeno had been craving more ever since he finished the small bag. He would have to remember to ask Jaemin where he could get them next time they had a chance to properly speak.

Just thinking about the Beauxbatons boy had Jeno’s heart racing, and he picked his head up to look around the Great Hall in search of him. He easily spotted Jaemin amongst the crowd, his beauty making him a lighthouse against a sea of dark robes and foreign uniforms. Jaemin was seated amongst his classmates from Beauxbatons at the Ravenclaw table, a small crowd forming around him as he spoke about something.

Jeno looked on from a distance, content on watching the way Jaemin’s lips moved as he spoke, despite him not being able to hear a word Jaemin was saying.

As though Jaemin could sense his presence, the Beauxbatons boy picked his head up and their eyes locked across the room. Jeno’s heart skipped a beat and almost tumbled out of his chest. He blinked, eyes wide as Jaemin’s smile widened and he dipped his head the slightest of degrees forward in greeting, the gesture so minuscule the students around him couldn’t notice.

In a dazed state, Jeno tipped his head forward as well, feeling the back of his neck heat up in embarrassment. Had Jaemin really been able to sense his gaze all the way from three tables over, or was he maybe, just maybe, seeking Jeno out as well? Jeno quickly shook his head at the possibility of the latter, not wanting to feed into the delusional acting of his heart.

“He’s cute.”

Jeno whipped his head to the side, meeting Renjun’s gaze, who was looking at him with a smug sort of expression that could not mean anything good.

Jeno made a confused noise, feigning innocence. “Who?”

Renjun blinked once, eyes sharpening and not taking any of Jeno’s bullshit. “You’re not as subtle as you think. The Beauxbatons champion, Na Jaemin is it?”

Jeno didn’t know what else he could say, knowing he'd been caught. He nodded and Renjun gave him a soft little hum, resting his chin in his hands and looking over in the direction of the Ravenclaw table.

“Should I go talk to him?” He teased, eyes flickering up at Jeno.

“I mean,” Jeno mumbled, looking down at his lap, “if you want.”

“He seems nice enough, why not?” Renjun concluded, and without warning stood up from the table and started walking over to the Ravenclaw table.

Jeno desperately tried to get him to stop, reaching out to grab his wrist, but promptly missed when Renjun waved his hand in a bout of wandless magic that diverted Jeno’s hand. Jeno huffed, crossing his arms across his chest and gnawing at his bottom lip as he watched Renjun draw nearer to Jaemin.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but watched as Renjun easily slipped his way through the small crowd of students surrounding Jaemin to sit on the bench right next to him. Jaemin looked surprised by the newcomer, but if the bright smiles on his and Renjun’s face were any indication, they were getting along quite well. Within a matter of seconds Jaemin was throwing his head back in laughter, Renjun chuckling softly next to him.

Jeno tried to stop the raging monster of envy that sprouted deep in his stomach, growing like vines and coiling around his heart and throat. The vines wilted as fast as they had come when Jeno took a few deep breaths and reminded himself not to be affected so easily. Renjun was as happy as he could be with Mark, and Jeno wasn’t close with Jaemin, there was absolutely no reason to be jealous.

Still, seeing Renjun befriend Jaemin so easily, that the corners of Jaemin’s eyes were crinkling with the stretch of his smile, had something not quite jealousy, but close, sparking deep within him and refusing to leave.

Renjun walked back over to where Jeno was seated a few minutes later, an amused smile on his face. “He’s smarter than he lets on. Though his best friend is a rather interesting boy.”

“Best friend?” Jeno asked, looking back over to where Jaemin was.

Renjun hummed with a nod of his head. “The boy sitting next to him on the left. His name is Chenle and he had one or two things to say that caught me off guard, one of them involving you.”

“Me?” Jeno sputtered.

“He had heard some insane rumor about you bribing your way into the tournament, since Doyoung is your brother and he and Taeyong are close.”

Jeno reeled back. “What? I would never do such a thing.”

“Of course I know that Jen, but to someone who’s never met you before, crazy rumors are always easy to believe. Jaemin was extremely quick to shut his friend down though, saying you would never do that and that he personally saw you put your name in the Goblet.” Renjun slid his gaze to Jeno at the last sentence, tilting his head to the side. “Something you’re not telling me, Jen?” It was less of a question and more of a statement, with Renjun's gaze piercing into his telling Jeno the Ravenclaw already knew everything he needed to know.

“I might have run into him when I went to put my name in the Goblet,” Jeno trailed off, looking everywhere but at Renjun.

“And?”

Jeno huffed out a whine. He dropped his head back onto the table and mumbled into the wood, “And he’s kind of cute.”

“Kind of?”

“Okay, really cute,” Jeno groaned, hating but not really hating the way Renjun coaxed the answer out of him. “You won’t tell Donghyuck will you?” He asked.

Renjun scoffed. “What kind of friend do you take me for? Donghyuck would already be halfway to planning your wedding if you told him. It’s best that he not know right now.”

Jeno breathed out a quiet laugh. “Thanks Renjun.”

“No need to thank me,” Renjun said quietly, hand finding purchase in the strands of Jeno’s hair and carding through them lazily. “It’s really cute seeing you all shy over a boy. God knows I was the same with Mark our first few years.”

Jeno snorted. “You were way worse. You literally shoved yourself into a locker one time when he walked by.”

Jeno couldn’t see him, but he knew Renjun’s cheeks were flushing a deep crimson. “I really wish we could forget about that already.”

“If birthday boy hasn’t died yet, then you still have a few years of teasing left for that. At least Mark thought it was cute.”

It was Renjun’s turn to groan, but it easily dissolved into soft laughter at the fond memory. They fell into a comfortable silence afterwards as they waited for lunch to end.

Donghyuck and Yangyang returned a little while later, having spent most of their lunch with their Divination professor to try and predict the future of the first task and make sure it was favorable for Jeno.

“That old croon gave us nothing valuable, as I suspected,” Donghyuck huffed, dropping into his seat with furrowed eyebrows. “Wouldn’t even tell us what the first task is.”

Jeno laughed at Donghyuck’s obvious annoyance at being left in the dark about the tournament, even though that was half of the appeal to the whole thing. “It’s alright, Hyuck. We’ll find out soon enough.”

Soon came rather sooner than Jeno realized as the doors to the Great Hall opened wide and Doyoung stood at the entrance with a wide smile on his face.

“May I please ask for the three Triwizard Tournament champions to come with me to prepare for the first task?”

Jeno blinked, looking at his three friends who all gave him encouraging nudges and pushes, ushering him up off the bench and towards Doyoung. He noticed Jaemin stand up from his seat across the room and walk towards Doyoung, Sungchan doing the same from his usual spot at the Slytherin table.

The three of them all reached Doyoung at the same time. “Follow me,” Doyoung said, turning around and walking out of the Great Hall towards the entrance hall. The three of them followed him as he took them out of the school and down the front steps. Jeno wondered where they could be going, maybe towards the Forbidden Forest, but that prospect was quickly shut down when Doyoung made a sharp right turn at the end of the staircase, leading them towards the back of the school and away from the forest. They walked down a dirt path all the way around the castle towards the North end, until Jeno realized where they were heading.

“The Quidditch pitch?” He asked aloud, looking at the distant stadium.

Doyoung didn’t respond, probably as to not give away any revealing information ahead of time. He only led them further down the path and down the hill that took them to the Quidditch pitch.

Once they got close enough, Jeno realized just how the Quidditch pitch had been changed and altered for the tournament. Gone were the group of three hoops standing at varying heights on opposing sides of the pitch. Replacing them were a series of floating hoops that were placed at different locations and heights around the entire pitch. Jeno wondered just what they could be doing.

Doyoung took them inside one of the tents on the ground near the entrance of the field that was used by the teams to change their robes for Quidditch. All the tournament coordinators and headmasters were already in there waiting for them.

“Welcome champions!” Johnny chirped, “Are you excited for your first task?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

They all nodded, not saying much; Jeno guessed the bug of nerves had bit Jaemin and Sungchan as well and they were too focused to give Johnny a proper response.

Johnny seemed undisturbed by their silence, bright smile still on his face and energy radiating off him. “I know we’re excited to finally tell you what you’ll be doing for your first task. Mark, if you will.” He looked behind him at Mark, who was standing next to a large trunk.

Mark nodded his head and quickly opened the trunk. He reached inside and grabbed three identical broomsticks, passing them over to Johnny. Johnny took them with a gracious smile before looking back at the champions.

“The first task will consist of an open air obstacle course. You each will receive identical brooms to combat any unfair advantages any of you might have.”

An open air obstacle course? Jeno was already liking his odds. The prospect of being able to fly again, even if it wasn’t for Quidditch, brought a newfound vigor to his blood, toes wiggling excitedly in his shoes. Johnny passed each of them their broomsticks, and Jeno took it with a barely contained smile. Everything about it was standard, from the wood to its thickness and length, but Jeno was still excited to get on it and in the air.

“You each will take turns attempting the course,” Jaehyun explained, “while the ones who wait will stay in here so they don’t have a chance to strategize before their turn. You will be scored on how fast you complete the course, and also on how well you handle the obstacles.”

“What will the obstacles be?” Sungchan asked.

Johnny smirked. “That’s for us to know and for you to find out.”

Sungchan furrowed his eyebrows, but didn’t open his mouth again. All the adults left the tent afterwards, saying they would call them when it was time for the task to start. Jeno thrummed his fingers against his broomstick, trying to get a feel for it before they inevitably called his name and he had to fly.

“Nervous?”

He turned around and found Jaemin sitting down next to him on the bench he had decided to rest on. Jeno chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. “Who wouldn’t be?”

Jaemin hummed softly, looking down at his own broomstick. “Can I tell you a secret?”

Jeno blinked. “Yes, of course.”

Jaemin looked sheepish, his eyes downturned at the ground despite the light smile still on his lips. “I’ve never flown before.”

“Wait, really?” Jeno asked in disbelief.

Jaemin sighed, and Jeno almost hit himself for how condescending he sounded, but Jaemin didn’t seem to take it harshly. He gave Jeno a small shrug of his shoulders and a guilty smile. “Quidditch is more of a leisure activity at Beauxbatons than a competitive sport, and I’ve never needed to fly anywhere.”

Jeno nodded, understanding Jaemin’s situation. “But that means…”

“My first time flying will be through an obstacle course with hundreds of people watching, yeah,” Jaemin finished for him, lips downturned and face scrunched up. Jeno had to stop himself from wincing at the sarcastic tone in Jaemin’s voice.

Jeno pondered his next few words for a second or two. He could already hear Donghyuck in his head berating him for helping the “enemy” or whatever other excuse he would make, but Jeno didn’t care. “Well,” He started, looking around to quickly make sure Sungchan couldn’t hear him, “I can’t really teach you how to fly in this small tent, but the trick is to not think about it.”

“Don't think about it?” Jaemin asked with a smile, as though he couldn’t believe Jeno’s words.

“I know it’s easier said than done, but you’ll have to trust me,” Jeno explained. The distant sound of a crowd forming in the stands of the stadium reached their ears and Jeno knew they didn’t have much time. “Sit on the broomstick like you would any other chair. Don’t be too harsh when you kick off the ground, let yourself float up naturally. The wind is your best friend, she’ll guide you everywhere you want to go, so try to fly with her.”

Jaemin nodded slowly, absorbing Jeno’s words the best he could with how little time they had. Jeno knew he probably wasn’t doing anything worthwhile to actually help Jaemin, but he hoped his words might be enough to quell Jaemin’s worries and get him in the air as smoothly as possible.

“You use your bodyweight to control which direction you want to go and how fast you want to go. Be careful not to lean too much, or else you might tip over and start spiraling. Trust me, falling off is less embarrassing than being stuck in a tumble spin.”

Jaemin giggled, and one side of Jeno’s lips lifted up under the praise of Jaemin liking his little joke. He faintly thought just how pretty Jaemin looked when he laughed.

“This is all really useful information, chouchou,” Jaemin said, tipping his head forward slightly. “Merci.”

Jeno waved his hand in front of his face, feeling embarrassed, the recurring nickname bringing heat to his cheeks. “It’s nothing at all. I just don’t think it would be fair to you to have to face such a task without at least some knowledge on how to fly.”

Jaemin hummed, but Jeno could notice his shoulders lifting off their previous tension and the creases on his face smoothing as he relaxed. “That is kind of you Jeno.”

Jeno’s heart beated an erratic rhythm at seeing the way Jaemin’s eyes sparkled as he looked at Jeno with a grateful smile. He didn’t get to respond to Jaemin’s words, the flap to the tent opening up as Mark poked his head in interrupting him.

“Na Jaemin?” Mark looked at Jaemin. “You’re up first.”

Jaemin sent Jeno a quick look behind his shoulder with a small, playful roll of his eyes that said of course I’m first.

Jeno sent him a small thumbs up, and watched as Jaemin exited the tent with Mark. A few long seconds passed before Jeno could hear the roar of the crowd as they clapped and cheered. His heart thumped loudly between his ears, threatening to beat his eardrums out of commission. His hands gripped the handle of his broomstick until his palms and fingers turned white. What would he find once he stepped out of the tent and officially became a champion?

A few minutes passed of ups and downs in the crowd’s cheers, like a tidal wave crashing against a shore back and forth. He didn’t know how much time had passed until the noise ceased and Mark peeked his head through the tent once more.

“Jung Sungchan?”

Sungchan stood up from his spot all the way on the other side of the tent, following Mark wordlessly. Now alone, Jeno could let his shoulders relax and release the breath that had been mingling in his lungs. He hung his head and listened as the crowd rose in volume once more for Sungchan, their cheers barely audible against his own heart beating.

Another unspecified amount of time passed, the cheers inconsistent but never lacking in energy. It seemed the students were really into whatever was happening outside, and Jeno could only hope he didn’t disappoint whatever expectations they had for him as a champion.

He could almost feel himself start to become dizzy when Mark finally emerged into the tent once more.

“Ready?” He asked. Jeno took in one more deep breath, standing up from his bench and walking over to Mark.

“As I’ll ever be.”

Mark gave him a smile, patting him on the shoulder and leading him out of the tent. They walked the small path to the entrance of the field. The small hallway that they took under the stands was dark, the door at the end bright with sunlight. Jeno almost felt like he was stepping into a gladiator’s arena, but instead of the gladiator, he was whatever poor animal they were tasked with killing.

Once he stepped out of the hallway and onto the plush grass of the field, the roar of the crowd multiplied tenfold, their cheers knowing no end as the majority of them were Hogwarts students rooting for their Hogwarts champion. Jeno squinted against the sunlight falling right into his eyes, trying his best to navigate himself to the center of the field where he saw Doyoung waiting for him.

“Last, but certainly not least,” A voice came crackling over the noise of the crowd’s cheers, and Jeno just barely recognized it as Felix’s voice. “We have Hogwarts’ very own Lee Jeno!”

If Jeno’s ears weren’t hurting before, they definitely were now. He could only feel grateful for how enthusiastic his classmates were to see him participate in the Triwizard Tournament. He’d hate to let them down in any way.

“The task is simple,” Doyoung explained when Jeno was close enough. “You’ll rise up here, and have to fly through the hoops in a circular, upwards motion. They’re positioned in a way that it shouldn’t be too hard for you to mix up where you’re going.” Jeno glanced up to the sky, and sure enough, there was one hoop, much similar to the goal hoop for Quidditch, hovering about forty feet in the air. There was another one a little ways away from it at a higher elevation, and the pattern went like that all around the pitch, the hoops creating a giant spiral that led up into the sky.

Just from his quick glance Jeno could make out a dozen hoops, each of varying shape and size, but other than that, they looked completely normal.

“What about all the obstacles?” He wondered aloud.

Doyoung said nothing, only giving him a small nod before walking off to the side of the field, leaving Jeno alone.

His heart picked up pace and he quickly mounted his broomstick, already feeling more comfortable just having the wood underneath him and hands gripping the handle.

“On my mark Jeno, and you can rise up to start,” Felix said loudly, a voice amplifier charm no doubt pressed to his throat so Jeno could easily make him out amongst the crowd.

He took a deep breath in. This was it, this was the start. He just had to let go of any and all thoughts and just fly.

“Three!

Two!

One!”

He kicked off the ground and shot up forty feet in the air in a matter of two seconds. The yelling of the crowd followed him as he raced through the first and second hoop as easy as can be, the wind rushing into his face and leaving him breathless with the forgotten glee of flying.

He made the sharp turn to fly through the third hoop angled at an extremely awkward position easily, making a great display of his expert flying skills. The crowd grew even more excited as Jeno noticed the fourth hoop start to vibrate and move around in different directions.

He adjusted his grip on his broomstick and flew straight on at the hoop, eyes analyzing its movements. In a split second the hoop adjusted its direction, but Jeno was anticipating its move and followed it, easily slipping through before it changed direction once more and racing on to the next hoop.

This hoop seemed completely inconspicuous at first, and Jeno adjusted his grip on the broomstick to zip through the opening as quick as he could, but right before he accelerated the entire circumference of the hoop lit aflame, blazing hot and completely engulfing the opening in its fire.

Jeno halted on his broomstick, racking his brain for something he could do to get through the hoop and move on. An idea came to him and he retrieved his wand from the inner pocket of his robe.

“Aguamenti!” He called loudly, pointing his wand straight at the flaming hoop, and a powerful jet of water shot out of the tip of his wand, extinguishing the bulk of the flames clinging to the hoop. It wasn’t one hundred percent effective, but it was just enough for Jeno to squeeze through almost completely unscathed. Both sides of his arms felt hot as he flew through, but a quick glance told him his robes thankfully hadn’t caught on fire.

He wasted no time in angling his broom in a curve towards the next hoop, the cheering crowd fueling him.

The next few hoops weren’t anything he couldn’t handle, their obstacles more nuisances than bothersome. He was a little pissed at missing his disarming charm against the pygmy puffs at the ninth hoop - it severely delayed his time and they even nabbed at the ends of his brand new pants, biting off the fabric like moths.

The tenth hoop was probably eighty feet in the air, and Jeno could make out about five more hoops after it until the end at the top. He focused on the hoop ahead of him, wary of whatever obstacle might pop out at the last second.

Before he even realized what was happening, a bludger appeared from mid air and came soaring straight at him. He just barely dodged it, skimming his ear as it flew past. His heart raced at the sudden spike of exhilaration, and he whipped his head around in all directions to look for the bludger again, but it seemed to disappear.

He flew closer to the hoop and another bludger appeared from thin air, this time checking him in the shoulder and sending him teetering off the balance of his broom. With a huff, Jeno righted himself easily, growing agitated at the disappearing bludgers.

He gripped his wand once more, and seeing a flash of black in his peripheral vision, quickly shouted “Protego!”, and sure enough, the bludger that started to race towards him suddenly bounced back in mid air, as though it hit a wall.

More bludgers came, but Jeno didn’t have to worry about it as he crossed through the tenth hoop and spinned to fly higher to the next one.

He got through the next few hoops with little disturbance as well, but when he flew to the spot where the thirteenth hoop should have been, he couldn’t see anything. He squinted his eyes, cursing himself for not putting his contacts in that morning, the world starting to blur around the edges the more adrenaline pumped through him and the higher he rose in the sky.

For a moment Jeno almost thought there wasn’t a thirteenth hoop, but straining his eyes further he noticed the thirteenth hoop was right in front of him, but was the size of a mere bracelet.

How was Jeno to fly through such a small opening? Tilting his head to the side, he thought for a few seconds. He pointed his wand at the hoop, and called an almost unsure “Engorgio!” and the hoop started to morph in front of his eyes. It enlarged, but only to the size of a car tire. It still wasn’t large enough for Jeno to fit through on his broomstick.

“Engorgio!” He tried again, but the hoop’s circumference barely budged an inch. He racked his brain for a solution that might get the hoop better, before a crazy idea hit him.

“If I can’t make it bigger,” He whispered, looking down at his wand, before pointing it straight at his chest. “Reducio!”

The world seemed to grow bigger around him, and a fuzzy sort of feeling swirled through all of Jeno before bursting like a bubble out of him. When he looked down at himself and his broomstick he looked the same, but suddenly the hoop before him seemed more than big enough for him to fit through.

Feeling proud of himself, Jeno wasted no time in racing through the hoop and coming out on the other side, just barely scraping the sides of it. The crowd below him screamed and yelled, some even with horror at Jeno’s sudden change in size. He laughed at their shock, making sure to utter out a clear “Engorgio!” with his wand pointing at his chest so he returned to his normal size.

There was only one hoop left before the final hoop, and Jeno sped up, almost able to taste the sweet saccharine of the finishing line on the tip of his tongue.

The fourteenth hoop was a tricky one; it seemed to have a mind of its own with only one mission: not let Jeno through. Beams of magic of every different color came shooting out of the metal towards Jeno, and the hoop itself even started flying around every which way every time Jeno got close to it. It almost seemed to be an accumulation of every other hoop Jeno has faced flying up here, but by this point Jeno wasn’t afraid or easy to hesitate.

He cast the shielding charm around him once more to protect from the strange magic beams. He yelled “Arresto Momentum” while pointing his wand at the hoop to hopefully get it to slow down long enough for him to fly through, but the beam of magic from his own wand wasn’t quick enough to hit the hoop head on.

Jeno decided to slow down for a few moments and just watch the hoop move around, but it ceased to stop moving when Jeno halted. Jeno realized with a growing smile that the hoop only reacted to his movements, like a sensor. He thought to make two of himself so the hoop could follow the clone, but there wasn’t any cloning spell safely usable on humans. He glanced down at his broom, and bit his lip. Worth a try, he thought.

“Geminio!” He touched his wand to his broomstick, and a bright light came from the end before another broomstick formed right next to Jeno’s floating in the air next to him. He cast the locomotion charm on the broomstick, and moved it closer to the hoop, and almost like a miracle, the hoop followed the duplicate broomstick’s movements even though Jeno himself was still sitting still.

Jeno guided the duplicate broomstick around, in a way that would lead the hoop to a position that, at the right moment five seconds later, let him race through it with ease. He looked behind him at the now disappearing hoop and couldn’t help the triumphant whoop that came out of his mouth.

Jeno tried not to celebrate early, and quickly looked back forward to search for the fifteenth and final hoop, now almost over one hundred feet in the air. All the students in the stands below him were just ants in a sea of colors, from the Beauxbatons turquoise to the Durmstrang leather brown to the Hogwarts black.

He focused back on the sky above him, ready to fly through the final hoop and finish the first task, but as he kept flying he realized the hoop wasn’t there.

At first Jeno thought it would be a similar situation to the thirteenth hoop, and that the final hoop was just too small for him to notice at first, but no matter how hard he looked or what enlargement spells he cast, no hoop appeared.

He looked all around him, wondering where the final hoop could be. He swore he had seen it out of the corner of his eye as he was flying up and facing all the other hoops. It was horizontal compared to all the other hoops standing vertically, set in a position for him to fly straight up or straight down into.

Wait, Jeno thought, quickly looking down at the distant ground below him. Straight down…

He cast a quick supersensory charm to enhance his vision, and peered closely at the spot on the field where he started the obstacle course. His suspicions were correct as he noticed a grand hoop floating around forty feet in the air horizontally, almost directly below where he was hovering.

Jeno was over sixty feet higher in the air than the hoop, but he thought to himself that he had done crazier shit before. Bracing himself, he tipped his broomstick forward until he was heading straight for the ground in a nosedive. He accelerated, the wind rushing and cutting against his body like a funnel. The distant roar of the crowd grew louder and louder as he neared the ground until it was all he could hear and then suddenly the giant hoop was in his sight and he was flying straight through it. As quick as he could he yanked his broomstick back so he wouldn’t go flying headfirst into the dirt and slowly coasted to a stop, hearing a loud horn blare all around.

“Lee Jeno! Five minutes and seven seconds!” Felix called through his voice enhancement charm, and the crowd started up once more, clapping loudly for Jeno and jumping up and down in their seats.

Heart beating loudly in his ears, Jeno dismounted his broom and stood onto the ground, feeling a sense of comfort that came with being on solid ground once more. He looked all around him at the stadium, and sure enough almost everyone was on their feet, even most of the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

Jeno noticed Doyoung walking towards him and felt pride surge through him at Doyoung’s excited smile. “Did I do that well?” He joked once Doyoung was within earshot.

“Well? Jeno you did amazing,” Doyoung gushed, grabbing Jeno’s shoulders and squeezing them.

Jeno blushed under the praise from his brother, feeling suddenly embarrassed. “Thanks,” He mumbled, and Doyoung squeezed his shoulders once more before letting go.

Out of the hallway where Jeno entered onto the field came the five judges and Taeyong, followed by Jaemin and Sungchan.

Jeno couldn’t help the way his eyes traveled to Jaemin immediately. He wondered how well Jaemin fared against all the obstacles and hoops as a first time flyer.

As they all walked closer, Jeno noticed that Jaemin was without his signature Beauxbatons tailcoat, and that the arms of his blouse were almost completely soaked through.

He took a step forward to try and rush towards Jaemin, worry suddenly gnawing at the entrails of his throat and leaving his previous adrenaline washing away like a bucket of cold water being dumped on top of him. Gone was the thrill of flying and avoiding obstacles, concern for Jaemin replacing it and reaching every corner and crevice of his mind and heart.

Jaemin picked his head up to meet Jeno’s gaze, and he seemed to sense everything that was brewing behind Jeno’s eyes. He gave a small nod of his head, smiling softly. Jeno would think it was merely a placating smile, but the edges of Jaemin’s eyes crinkled as he looked at Jeno, and Jeno knew he was being genuine, reassuring Jeno he wasn’t hurt.

Jeno didn’t get a chance to truly ask him because Taeyong was ushering all three champions to stand in the center of the field. He waved his wand and the tip lit up like a small lightbulb. He then placed the tip against the base of his throat and addressed all the students in the stands.

“My dear students, what a wonderful outcome for the first task in the Triwizard Tournament!”

Clapping and cheering followed Taeyong’s words, clinging to the syllables like strings to a balloon.

“It is my honor to announce the results of the task. May I remind you the champions were scored on their speed, agility, and wit during this task. The scores are out of 50 points. In third place, with a time of six minutes and fifty eight seconds and a score of 35 out of 50, Beauxbatons champion Na Jaemin!”

The Beauxbatons section of the stands stood up in their glee, clapping loudly in their support of their champion. Jeno glanced to his side and saw Jaemin duck his head, almost shy amongst the cheers.

Taeyong continued. “In second place, with a time of six minutes and eleven seconds and a score of 40 out of 50, Durmstrang champion Jung Sungchan!”

Now the Durmstrang students took their turn in clapping for their champion, Sungchan holding his head high and proud as he looked up at his fellow classmates.

Jeno was so preoccupied stealing glances to his left at Jaemin that he hadn’t even realized the weight of Taeyong’s words and just what exactly that meant.

A silence fell over the entire stadium, and Jeno could only hear the soft whisper of the wind as it blew past and ruffled his hair.

“And in first place,” Taeyong called, the smile clear in his voice, “With a time of five minutes and seven seconds and a score of 48 out of 50, Hogwarts’ very own Lee Jeno!”

The screams were deafening. Jeno stood, shell shocked at the sound of the results. He looked all around above him, and almost every single Hogwarts student was out of their seat, yelling nonsensical things that Jeno could barely make out.

He looked to his side and saw Jaemin sending him another smile, this time with his teeth prettily shining in the sunlight. “Congratulations,” He whispered, so nobody else could hear, but Jeno doubted anybody could with how loud the students were being.

Jeno laughed breathlessly, not even believing the results. “Thank you,” He managed to reply. “What happened to your coat?”

Jaemin gave him a one shoulder shrug. “It caught on fire so I had to discard it.” Jeno opened his mouth to ask if Jaemin was hurt but Jaemin cut him off before he could speak. “I’m fine, chouchou. I didn’t get hurt; just ruined a perfectly could tailcoat,” Jaemin huffed, jutting his lower lip out in a pout, but it was so cute Jeno couldn’t help but laugh again, and Jaemin joined him soon thereafter, the two of them in their own little bubble with the ringing cheers of all of Hogwarts surrounding them.

“Congratulations to all three champions for their performance today!” Taeyong spoke. “They will receive a clue in regards to the second task, which will take place after the new year!”

“New year?” Jaemin asked, tilting his head to the side.

Jeno nodded. “They usually spread the tasks out throughout the school year.”

“Intéressant,” Jaemin mused, “It makes sense. Though I wish we didn’t have to wait so long.”

“Me too,” Jeno smiled. Now that he had finished the first task, his previous nervousness surrounding the tournament had slowly left him and was replaced with the spiking thrill of wondering what the next task might be.

Taeyong dismissed them all and Jeno walked back towards the tent to put away his broom and meet up with his friends.

Renjun, Donghyuck, and Yangyang were already waiting for him outside of it, matching grins of pride on their faces.

“I would say you did amazing,” Donghyuck spoke up first, faking nonchalance, “but I already knew from the very beginning that you would blow everyone out of the water.”

Jeno chuckled with a shake of his head. “I don’t know about that Donghyuck.”

“Oh stop being so modest,” Renjun quipped, grabbing Jeno by the shoulder and all but dragging him into a hug that quickly turned into a group hug as Donghyuck and Yangyang threw their arms around Jeno as well.

Jeno wanted to say something more, something along the lines of I was just flying like I always do, but for a few moments he let himself not think about anything and instead let himself be embraced by his friends. They squeezed him tightly, the shaking thrill of winning first place buzzing under his skin having endless laughter bubbling out of him.

It was hours later, with the sun now kissing the edge of the horizon and casting the last of its reddish light onto the curves of every tower of the castle, that Jeno received his clue for the second task.

It arrived in a small parcel carried by a Great Gray Owl that fluttered outside his window and pecked at the glass, asking to be let in. The note on top of the small package read For Lee Jeno, best of luck in the second task.

Curiously, he untied the string all around the parcel and peeled back at brown paper. Jeno had no idea what to make of the clue, and he started to realize that maybe the Triwizard Tournament wasn’t as straightforward as he previously thought.

Sitting pristinely on top of the brown paper, staring back at him, was a pair of earmuffs.

Chapter Text

The Triwizard Tournament might have flipped Jeno’s seventh year upside down, but he was extremely relieved to find out not every one of his favorite things had been taken away from him.

Sometime in late November, two weeks after the first task, a paper was posted on the announcements board in the Gryffindor common room.

Hogsmeade Visit Weekend

Saturday, November 29th

All 3rd years and up allowed with signed permission slips from parents

See Professor Kim for other inquiries

It was only Monday, but Jeno felt himself grow excited for the weekend where he would be able to go into Hogsmeade with his friends and walk around town, maybe even stop for butterbeer in The Three Broomsticks.

It had been at least eight months since the last time Jeno had a chance to visit Hogsmeade. It was a quaint little town a few steps outside the Hogwarts castle grounds, but it was almost like a haven for all the Hogwarts students. Instead of staring at the same castle walls everyday they had a chance to go into town and hang around the little shops that littered High Street or stop into The Three Broomsticks for a cup of butterbeer and other delicious treats.

Jeno all but raced to the Ravenclaw dormitories in the tower opposite the Gryffindor dormitories to see Renjun. The spiraling staircase that led up to the small bridge that would take him across to the Ravenclaw dormitory entrance was steep and tiring, but Jeno didn’t mind being out of breath if it meant seeing his friend and asking him about their plans for the weekend.

He crossed the bridge quickly once he made it up the staircase and was immediately met with the stiff eagle that overlooked the large rounded oak door guarding Ravenclaw tower. The eagle craned its neck and peered down at Jeno, eyes sharpening at the red and gold evident on Jeno’s tie.

“What is your purpose here?” It cawed, voice echoing into the chilly November air.

“I came to see Huang Renjun,” Jeno responded, keeping his voice steady. No matter how many times he came to the tower to visit Renjun, each time the eagle seemed less and less pleased with letting him pass through.

“If you wish to proceed, first answer me this,” The eagle said, and Jeno braced himself for whatever riddle would be thrown his way as a test of entrance.

“When you need me, you throw me away,” The eagle squawked, “But when you are done with me, you bring me back. What am I?”

Jeno thought about the riddle for a few seconds, subconsciously puffing his cheeks out. A long moment passed but he still couldn’t quite figure out what the eagle might be referring to. He didn't want to make a guess without being certain, because should he be incorrect the eagle would absolutely refuse to let him through and he wouldn’t even be able to try again with a different riddle.

“The answer is an anchor.”

Jeno spinned on his heels, shocked by the sudden presence of a voice, and even more shocked to see who was standing behind him.

“Jaemin!” He breathed, stunned.

Jaemin laughed at Jeno’s surprise, shaking his head fondly. “Try anchor, chouchou.”

Jeno blinked, eyes wide. Still, he turned back around slowly and looked up at the eagle standing stiff against the stone of the tower.

“Anchor,” He spoke loud and clear, without hesitation.

The eagle said nothing but spread its wings and in a beat, the oak door creaked open to reveal the Ravenclaw common room inside, ready for Jeno to walk through the threshold.

“See?” Jaemin giggled, coming up to bump shoulders with Jeno.

Jeno giggled in return, shoulder warm from the contact of their skin despite the several layers of clothing between them. He made sure to send Jaemin a grateful smile and a nod of his head. “Thank you.”

Jaemin waved him off easily, walking through the door into the common room before him, Jeno following quickly behind. “Do not worry about it. I have already answered the riddle earlier today. Plus, you can take it as repaying you for your kindness during the first task.”

Jeno blushed at the mention of the first task; he didn’t think he was of much help to Jaemin, but the compliment sat warmly in his chest either way. He heard the oak door shut behind him with a click, and in a blink the chilly air from outside was replaced with a warm blanket.

The Ravenclaw common room was more open than the Gryffindor common room; it was one of the many reasons Jeno liked to come by so often (that, and so he could bother Renjun). Where the Gryffindor common room was cozy and snuggled together, like the corner of a library unseen by the public where one could sink into the plush of a leather chair and read in front of the giant fireplace, the Ravenclaw common room was thin high windows and a breathtaking view, where one almost felt weightless underneath the limitless stars that painted the ceiling and endless rows of bookshelves curving around the floor like a spiral meeting in the center underneath the North Star.

“Are you here to see Renjun?” Jaemin asked, moving further into the room and making himself comfortable at one of the wooden tables near the windows used for studying.

“Yeah I came to ask if he wanted to go to Hogsmeade together this weekend,” Jeno responded, already walking towards Jaemin as though he was a puppy diligently following his owner. He couldn’t seem to keep away from Jaemin, like a magnet attracted to metal, sticking and never prying itself off.

Jaemin looked up at Jeno with pinched eyebrows. “Hogsmeade?”

“It’s the town at the end of the road outside of Hogwarts,” Jeno answered, leaning his hip against the edge of the table. “Every few weeks a year we are allowed to go and hang out in town. There’s shops and even a tavern where you can buy butterbeer.” Jeno gasped, suddenly thinking of something very very important. “Please tell me you’ve had butterbeer before.”

Jaemin shook his head with a small laugh at Jeno’s fearful face. “I can’t say I have.”

Jeno gasped again. “You have to taste it. It is quite literally one of the best drinks there are. I think Donghyuck would be addicted to it if he had access to it everyday.”

“Intéressant,” Jaemin mused. “I would love to try it.”

“Trust me, you won’t regret it,” Jeno rambled on. “I’ll even take you and buy one for you.” Jeno realized what he just said and quickly closed his mouth shut, mentally hitting himself on the head. He really needed to start thinking before speaking. Jaemin definitely thought he was asking him on a date, and he would not be able to live down that embarrassment(Donghyuck would make sure of it).

But Jaemin seemed completely ignorant to Jeno’s inner turmoil, only smiling wider. “I think I’d like that.”

“Really?” Jeno couldn’t help but blurt out, before cringing at the disbelieving tone in his voice.

Jaemin clapped his hands together, eyes glowing. “Oui, please take me to get butterbeer, chouchou.”

Jeno’s heart thumped, skipping a beat entirely at the suggestion of Jaemin’s words. No, no, he quickly thought to himself, he didn’t mean it like that. Jaemin merely wanted to try the drink Jeno had offered to buy for him. He willed his heart to stop singing songs of fondness and anticipation.

“Okay,” He mumbled, not trusting his voice enough to speak any bit louder should it betray the frantic beating of his heart that traveled all the way up his throat.

A silence fell over them, not quite awkward but still teetering on the edge of uncomfortable. Jeno looked down at the table, drumming his fingers absentmindedly on the surface.

“Jeno?”

Jeno turned around and was almost relieved to see Renjun emerging from the staircase that led up to all the Ravenclaw dormitories.

“Renjun, hey!” He quickly pushed himself off the table. “I was just waiting for you to come down.”

Renjun’s lips curved up in a small smile. “Is that so? What for?”

Jeno beckoned his head towards the announcements board that was set up near one of the bookshelves on the opposite side of the common room. “They just announced a Hogsmeade visit this weekend. Do you want to go together?”

“Really?” Renjun asked, turning around to quickly walk over to the announcements board and reading the paper identical to the one in the Gryffindor common room. “That’s so exciting! Yes, let’s go!” He called over his shoulder.

Jeno smiled; he had no doubt Renjun would say yes to hanging out with him at Hogsmeade, but it still brought a fond sort of flurry to his heart hearing his friend being excited about spending the day together.

“Jaemin?” Renjun walked back towards them, and Jeno’s shoulders tensed up at the sound of Jaemin’s name on Renjun’s tongue. “Would you like to join us?”

Jeno had to stop himself from spinning on his heels immediately and risk looking like an absolute lunatic, but he wanted to hear what Jaemin’s response would be, and also maybe wanted an excuse to keep looking at his beautiful face. He was silently grateful for Renjun taking the initiative to invite Jaemin since it saved him the trouble of trying to bring up the idea of Jaemin joining them and Renjun teasing him endlessly.

When Jeno caught sight of Jaemin’s face, the Beauxbatons boy was looking at Renjun with a kind smile. He quickly glanced in Jeno’s direction, but Jeno was too busy trying to calm the frantic beating of his heart to properly notice.

“I would love to, Renjun,” Jaemin said.

Jeno huffed out a silent sigh of relief, the tension in his shoulders loosening like an invisible weight had been lifted off them.

“Actually,” Jaemin continued, “Jeno already offered to buy me this so-called butterbeer.”

All at once the tension in Jeno’s shoulders returned and he scrunched his nose as he watched Renjun’s gaze flicker from Jaemin to him, smile turning devilish.

“Did he now?” Renjun mused, tongue poking out his cheek as he leveled Jeno with an amused stare. “Jeno never offers to pay for our butterbeer. I’m glad to see he still has a sense of courtesy in him.”

Jaemin giggled lightly at the confession, and Jeno looked everywhere but at Jaemin, embarrassment crawling up the hairs of his arms and swirling around his neck and ears like a crimson colored dragon.

“Thank you in advance for the butterbeer Jen,” Renjun crooned, bringing his hand up to rub Jeno’s shoulder. “We truly appreciate your generosity.”

Jeno all but groaned loudly, burying his face in his hands as he realized what we Renjun was talking about.

***

Saturday morning was crisp, the beginnings of frost clinging to every blade of grass on the ground. The bitterness that came with December had yet to settle over Hogwarts, but the students still adorned scarfs and gloves to protect themselves from any harsh winds and dropping temperatures.

Jeno awoke before his roommates, muscles all jittery and not working properly as he got dressed. He was only slightly nervous about the day ahead of him, wanting to give Jaemin the best Hogsmeade experience he could.

They had agreed to meet at the entrance hall where Doyoung would be checking off everyone’s names as they left the castle. Jaemin had asked if his friend, Chenle, could tag along, and who was Jeno to say no?

Donghyuck and Yangyang were already waiting outside of the Gryffindor common room when Jeno exited through the portrait.

“Where’s Renjun?” Jeno asked, slipping his gloves on so they sat snug around his fingers.

“He’s going to meet us later. He and Mark are spending the morning alone,” Donghyuck explained, wiggling his eyebrows as he emphasized the two syllables in alone.

Jeno laughed, walking with his two friends down the hallway toward the staircase that would take them right down to the entrance hall. “Let them have their date, they haven’t gotten much alone time with Mark being busy because of the tournament.”

“On that note,” Yangyang piped up, leaning close to Jeno’s ear and whispering, “Did you get your first clue yet?”

Jeno nodded. “It came the night after the first task.”

“Well?” Donghyuck poked, “What is it?”

Jeno was about to respond, but they had finally descended the staircase into the entrance hall and someone called out, “Chouchou!” effectively stopping any chances of Jeno revealing tournament secrets.

Jeno looked down and spotted Jaemin waving at him with a bright smile, Chenle standing next to him. Jeno ignored the sudden loud beating of his heart in his ears and shyly raised his hand up to wave back.

“Oh? What is this?” Donghyuck elbowed Jeno’s side, and Jeno let out a sharp wince before sending Donghyuck a glare.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

Donghyuck scoffed. “Of course you say that. Need I remind you that he’s your competition?”

Jeno rolled his eyes. “He’s only my competition during the tournament. The whole point of the tournament is to promote friendship between the wizarding schools, so I see nothing wrong with being friends.”

“Friends, yeah okay,” Donghyuck didn’t seem convinced, but Jeno ignored him as they finally finished walking over to where Jaemin and Chenle were waiting.

“Trois? Where is Renjun?” Jaemin asked once they were close enough.

“He’s with his boyfriend,” Donghyuck answered, cutting Jeno off before he could even get a word out. Jeno let out a silent huff at the way Donghyuck was being borderline snappy with Jaemin, his words clipped. “He’ll join us later.”

“Oh, okay!” Jaemin agreed easily, completely unaware of the subtle glare Donghyuck was sending his way and his less than friendly body language. “This is my best friend, Chenle.”

Chenle nodded his head and introduced himself to the group. They started small conversation, and as they learned more about him Chenle turned out to be better than Jeno originally thought, all bright smiles and loud laughter that was almost annoying but in that endearing sort of way. He and Donghyuck hit it off immediately, and by the time they started walking towards the entrance doors the two of them were laughing together as though they were old friends. Jeno was almost scared of the power those two could hold together. Their eyes held the swirl of something deeper, secrets only the pair of them were privy to that could might as well be the downfall of anybody they deemed inferior.

Doyoung was checking off every student as they passed by, and his smile turned wide as his eyes caught sight of their group approaching the entrance.

“I presume Renjun is with Mark?” Doyoung asked, easily ticking their names off the long list printed on the scroll in his hands.

Jeno nodded. “Are you going into Hogsmeade too?”

“I might,” Doyoung responded, “I have a few errands to run once I’m finished going through the list of students.”

Jeno nodded once more, and the group of them left the castle, starting their walk down the dirt path towards the town. They had left pretty early compared to most other students, so the path was clear, the few early birds flitting around here and there, looking for any worm brave enough to still be crawling around the quickly freezing dirt beneath their shoes. They weren't in any rush to get into town, and took their time enjoying the morning frost that still hung suspended in the air around them.

Somewhere down the path they bumped into Sungchan, the champion from Durmstrang. He was walking with his friend who was almost as tall as him, who shyly introduced himself as Park Jisung.

“What are you two planning on doing in Hogsmeade?” Yangyang asked them, all friendly smiles and inviting nature.

“Ah well,” Sungchan chuckled, scrunching his nose and scratching the back of his neck. “We actually do not know. We’ve never been to such a town.”

“You’re more than welcome to join us!” Donghyuck chirped brightly, pointedly ignoring the offended glare Jeno sent his way. What happened to not being friendly with the competition?

“You are sure it’s okay?” Sungchan asked, meeting Donghyuck’s gaze for a moment before tearing it away and looking down at the ground.

Donghyuck waved his hand dismissively. “Of course! Right, guys?” He looked at everyone else, and they all nodded eagerly. Their group was already a large one, so what was two more people?

Despite the time still being early, Hogsmeade was already awake and bustling once they crossed the old bridge by the train station and walked onto High Street. It was the weekend, and so many wizards were spending their off day in the town, either stacking up on quills and parchment from Scrivenshaft’s Quill shops, or stopping in for a quick drink from the Three Broomsticks tavern. The owner, a seasoned wizard by the name of Byun Baekhyun, made the best butterbeer this side of the Swiss Alps, and wizards from far and wide would stop in just for one of his drinks.

“Where should we go first?” Donghyuck mused out loud, looking down High Street, where most of the businesses were located in Hogsmeade.

“Why don’t we go to Zonko’s?” Yangyang suggested, and Donghyuck turned around in a great flourish to point his finger at Yangyang.

“That is an excellent idea, Yang. Let’s go!” He didn’t wait for anyone’s response to start walking down the stone paved path, leading the group through the crowd and towards Zonko’s joke shop.

Zonko’s was a favorite place of Hogwarts students to visit during their Hogsmeade trips, as it was filled with tricks and little gadgets that brightened up the sometimes dull days spent at Hogwarts.

Donghyuck and Yangyang frequented the shop so much that the owner, Park Chanyeol, knew them both by first name and started giving them discounts for their purchases.

The bell atop the door rang as they entered the shop, though it couldn’t really be considered a bell; it was actually a small bird that was charmed to squawk extremely loudly whenever someone entered the store.

The shop could only be described as organized chaos, the tricks and jokes lining the walls sometimes having minds of their own and never staying on the shelf they were supposed to, flying around the store and disorganizing themselves purposefully. The shelves themselves barely cooperated either, all slanted and at different heights. It was either someone’s worst nightmare or their biggest paradise.

A tall lanky man came barreling out of the backdoor and greeted them with a quirky half-sort of smile that Jeno recognized easily as Chanyeol.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite customers!” Chanyeol boasted, clapping his hands together, before his eyes found the rest of their group. “And some newcomers!” He pointed to Jaemin and Chenle. “The pristine posture and light blue outfits tell me you two are Beauxbatons, and,” He shifted his gaze to Sungchan and Jisung, “the long limbs and leather coats tell me you two are Durmstrang. Having fun watching the tournament, are you?”

Donghyuck snickered. “You could say that. You’re staring at all three champions here, Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol’s eyes blew wide as he glanced between Jaemin, Chenle, Sungchan, and Jisung relentlessly, trying to figure out which two of them were their school’s champion. “Really?” He breathed. “I had heard the champions names, but I hadn’t ever seen their faces. Of course I know you though, Jeno. Congratulations on that stellar performance in the first task by the way.” He sent Jeno a cheeky smile and a wink, to which Jeno ducked his head and mumbled out a small thanks.

“This is Sungchan, the Durmstrang champion,” Donghyuck explained, patting Sungchan on the back, the Durmstrang boy flinching at the sudden contact and coughing into his hand as he glanced down at the ground, cheeks flaming. “And Jaemin’s the Beauxbatons champion,” Donghyuck gestured his chin over to where Jaemin was standing next to Jeno, who bowed his head forward in greeting.

“Well I’ll be damned!” Chanyeol laughed. “You know what? As a special treat, I’ll let you three champions choose one thing for yourselves from the shop, free of charge.”

“You don’t have to do that Chanyeol,” Jeno urged, but Chanyeol was already turning around.

“Take it as my gift to you three for being chosen! Take your time looking around; you won’t find any of this stuff anywhere else in the world.” With that, he disappeared back into the backroom, leaving the seven of them alone in the shop.

“Jeno,” Donghyuck immediately sing-songed, latching onto Jeno’s arm, “You’ll pick something out for me won’t you?”

Jeno let out a disbelieving chuckle at how quickly Donghyuck was sucking up to him after Chanyeol left. He pried Donghyuck’s hands off his arm. “In your dreams, Hyuck.”

Donghyuck pouted, and with a huff turned around to show Sungchan around the shop with Yangyang and Jisung, Chenle tagging along, which left Jeno and Jaemin alone.

Jeno tried not to think it was done on purpose, and instead looked at Jaemin with a small smile. “Want to take a look around?”

Jaemin nodded, and they fell into a comfortable silence as they squeezed their way through the tiny aisles of the shop, Jeno explaining the functions of every little gadget and trick that Jaemin picked up.

“This teacup is so pretty!” Jaemin exclaimed as he picked a small white porcelain teacup off one of the shelves. Jeno glanced over his shoulder to see Jaemin admiring the teacup, before seeing Jaemin bring the teacup closer to his face and up to his nose.

“Woah woah woah!” He quickly reached over and grabbed Jaemin’s wrist to stop him from bringing the teacup any closer to his face, and sure enough the rim of the teacup folded and morphed into porcelain teeth, biting down on the air where Jaemin’s nose was not even a second ago.

“Nose-biting teacups,” Jeno explained with a little laugh. Jaemin joined him, his laughter a little breathless and winded as he squinted his eyes examining the teacup that had returned to its normal shape.

“Merci,” He said, placing the teacup back onto the shelf once Jeno let go of his wrist.

They looked around the whole shop, spending almost near an hour in there because Donghyuck refused to leave every time someone suggested they move to a different store, and then Jisung accidentally ate a Hiccough Sweet and they had to call Chanyeol from the back to give him a hard caramel that would reverse the effects.

By the time they finally left, the little sapling of awkwardness that had stuck to them had fallen off, and they were all starting to converse together easily, as though they’d been friends for longer than just one morning. The sun was now high in the sky and provided them with some semblance of warmth, and the rest of the students from Hogwarts that signed up for the visit arrived in town, the street even more packed than before.

“Where to next?” Chenle asked, looking to Donghyuck for guidance.

“Let’s go to Honeydukes,” Jeno said, chuckling at the way Yangyang’s eyes lit up at the prospect of sweets.

Donghyuck on the other hand, slumped his shoulders. “I already spent most of my money in Zonko’s.”

Yangyang cackled at Donghyuck’s dismay, but none of them were sympathetic, especially when they looked at the overflowing bag of jokes and tricks in Donghyuck’s hands.

They easily made their way over to Honeyduke’s, the shop already full of other Hogwarts students looking to buy themselves sweets and other treats.

A much nicer bell greeted them this time when they stepped inside, the seven of them barely squeezing through the entrance with how crowded the shop was.

“One at a time please!” The shop’s owner, Kim Jongin, yelled over the entire sea of students that were piling together at the counter trying to complete their purchases.

Jeno spotted a head of half bleached hair peeking out over the shelves, and immediately recognized him. “Renjun!” He called, and sure enough, Renjun turned around at the sound of his name, smile stretching wide on his face as his eyes focused on their group.

“We were just about to go look for you all,” Renjun said, grabbing Mark’s wrist, who was standing a few feet away from him, and dragging him to where Jeno and the rest of the group stood. “Oh!” His eyes caught on Sungchan and Jisung. “Did I miss the party or something?”

“We met these two on the path down to Hogsmeade, and they just kinda stuck to us ever since,” Jeno explained. Sungchan and Jisung bowed their heads in greeting, Renjun and Mark doing the same in return. “Have you two bought anything yet?” Jeno asked.

Renjun shook his head. “We only just arrived too, and even then we wouldn’t be able to buy anything with how long the line is.” He glanced behind him at the front counter, where Jongin had barely put a dent into the amount of students trying to throw their Galleons at him to buy their sweets.

“Do you guys want anything though?” Mark asked, addressing the whole group with a warm smile.

Jeno knew exactly what was going to happen next before it even happened. Not even a second later did Donghyuck appear at Mark’s side, latching onto him and putting on his best puppy dog face. “Mark, amazing, wonderful, talented Mark, do you think you could buy me some sweets?”

Jeno, Yangyang, and Mark all laughed at how quick Donghyuck was to suck up to anyone to get something he wanted. His unabashedness was definitely something to admire, and even fear, in some cases.

“Stop feeling up my boyfriend asshat,” Renjun said with a laugh, to which Donghyuck huffed hotly through his nostrils.

“I’ll treat you Hyuck, don't worry,” Mark reassured, and that was enough to get Donghyuck to detach himself with a satisfied smile way too smug for his face.

“Actually,” Mark continued, glancing at everyone else in the group, “Let me treat you all to sweets. Feel free to pick out as much as you want.”

“Woah Mark,” Renjun quickly interjected, “Don’t say that in front of Donghyuck.”

But it was too late; Donghyuck had already grabbed Yangyang’s hand and ran to the other side of the store, his laugh loud and boisterous as he ran away.

Mark only chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry, he won’t get much.”

“You seriously underestimate Donghyuck,” Jeno poked. He sent a silent prayer to Mark’s wallet before slowly shifting away from the group to look through the shop himself.

Jaemin followed him almost naturally, and the fact had heat rising to the back of Jeno’s neck. He willed it away the best he could, not wanting to create fantasies when they weren’t there.

“So this boyfriend Donghyuck spoke of was Mark Lee?” Jaemin asked him once they were far away enough from the couple.

Jeno hummed in response, looking at the rows and rows of chocolate that lined the wall, not even knowing where to begin in choosing which one to grab. “Yeah, they’ve been dating for a little over a year now. We all joke about how they both liked each other for so long before Mark finally worked up the courage to ask Renjun out.”

Jaemin chuckled lightly. “They look extremely close.” They both looked behind them to where Renjun and Mark were huddled together around the Every Flavour Beans, so close together that Mark’s chest was pressed against Renjun’s back. They looked molded together, like they were made to be sculpted into one singular statue, instead of two separate ones, the lines where they met each other seamless and fused with stardust.

“They haven’t had a chance to truly spend time together in months,” Jeno said softly, voice laced with delicate strings of fondness as his eyes watched Renjun and Mark move down the row of jelly beans together, giggling quietly to themselves. They were in their own little bubble, completely separate from the outside world, the only thing in their eyes each other.

“So,” Jeno continued, moving the conversation along as they progressed further into the shop, “is there anything specific you like? Besides jelly beans.”

Jaemin smiled at the comment. “I doubt they would have Dragibus here. You can only find them in France, and I’ve already run out of the few bags I brought here. I actually gave you my last one.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Jeno quickly apologized, feeling sorry for taking Jaemin’s snack like that even though Jaemin had been the one to offer them to Jeno.

“Don’t fret, chouchou. I wanted to give them to you, plus I think it’s for the best that I don’t eat them everyday,” Jaemin giggled, and Jeno joined him, their laughter soft against the bustling atmosphere of the shop.

Jeno led Jaemin over to another shelf filled to the brim with sugary delights. “If you like chewy candy, there’s an entire variety over here.” They spent the rest of their time in the shop piling up on all the chewy candy they could find without going so overboard they would quite literally sweep Mark’s pockets clean.

They all came back together as a group at the back of the store, everyone with their choice of sweets as they waited in line to pay. Jeno almost felt sorry for the way Mark seemed to be sweating by the sheer amount of sweets Donghyuck was holding in his arms; almost.

Once Jongin spotted them, he waved a hand. “Mark! So good to see you, are you all together?” He gestured to the entire group.

Mark nodded. “I’m paying for them all, Jongin.”

Jongin cooed. “How kind of you Markie. Since you’re my favorite I’ll give you a discount.”

The way Mark’s shoulders visibly dropped as he let out a giant sigh of relief had everyone in their group laughing, endeared by Mark’s cute nature.

“Thanks Jongin,” Mark smiled, handing over the proper amount of Galleons.

Their sweets all paid for, they quickly squeezed past everyone else in the shop to file out of the front door and into the fresh November air on the street.

“I think it’s about time for a drink, don’t you all think?” Donghyuck said loudly, turning around to face the rest of the group with a shit eating grin on his face as his eyes locked directly with Jeno’s.

Jeno groaned, knowing exactly what was going to come next as the other seven in their group all cheered out a chorus of yes!

“To the Three Broomsticks we go!” Donghyuck called, pointing to the sky as he led the group down towards the end of High Street where the Three Broomsticks tavern stood tall and welcoming, an aged building that gave off a welcoming aura to anyone who passed by.

As they walked, Jeno felt someone poke the side of his arm and looked over to see Yangyang poking him while pointing somewhere in the distance. “Hey Jeno, isn’t that Doyoung?”

Jeno followed Yangyang’s line of sight, and sure enough he spotted Doyoung exiting Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop. He was about to call out to his brother when he realized Doyoung wasn’t alone.

The door opened again and Doyoung was joined by none other than Nakamoto Yuta, the headmaster of Beauxbatons. He watched as the two of them walked side by side, Doyoung throwing his head back in laughter presumably at something Yuta had said.

“Oh my god,” Jeno breathed, eyes wide.

“What is it?” Jaemin asked next to him. Jeno merely pointed, and Jaemin followed his finger easily, mouth going slack when he recognized his headmaster with Doyoung. “Oh mon dieu,” He whispered.

“Are they like, on a date?” Yangyang asked.

“I have no idea,” Jeno responded, completely dumbfounded by the sight before him. He knew he recognized some sort of tension between the two of them, but he hadn’t thought about the possibility of that tension being romantic. He had to remember to talk to Doyoung immediately.

Doyoung and Yuta disappeared around the corner a few seconds later, and Jeno and the group continued their walk to the Three Broomsticks without another word.

“Feel free to order as much butterbeer as you want, Jaemin,” Donghyuck called loudly as they all shuffled into a large round table at the The Three Broomsticks, having finally entered the tavern, “since our dear Jeno is paying.”

Jeno resisted the urge to bang his head on the table, already feeling the hollowing empty feeling of his pockets before they got emptied by Donghyuck’s greedy fingers.

It was safe to say Baekhyun, the owner of the tavern, was not pleased when their rowdy group entered the Three Broomsticks and requested a table for nine. They had to drag chairs from empty tables just to create enough space for them all, and that in itself was a challenge when it seemed as if half of the entire wizarding world was at the Three Broomsticks in that moment.

After finally being seated, Donghyuck wasted no time to unabashedly call for nine butterbeers from Baekhyun under Jeno’s name.

“Not so loud, will you Donghyuck?” Jeno frantically whispered, all but dragging Donghyuck down by the sleeve of his robe so he fell into his seat.

Donghyuck pouted, but Jeno knew there was still a mischievous smile dancing behind it. “I just don’t want to pass up on the chance of being offered a butterbeer by the Hogwarts champion.”

Jeno rolled his eyes but dropped the subject, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get through to Donghyuck. He just started the slow process of coming to terms with knowing he wouldn’t be able to buy anything nice for himself for at least a few months.

A little while later Baekhyun came out of the kitchen with nine butterbeers in his arms. Jeno would blink in awe and try to rack his brain for how the older wizard could hold all nine mugs without any of them falling or spilling over, but he had learned the secret to it a long time ago. A certain charm casted to the mugs that only made it seem like Baekhyun was carrying them, but they were actually moving through the air by themselves towards their table.

“Nine butterbeers, as ordered,” Baekhyun called, loud and boasting. His displeasure for them taking up so much space in his tavern had long dissipated as they gave him great business and he also got a chance to see some of his favorite kids. “These three,” He continued, waving his wrist so that three of the mugs gingerly placed themselves on the table right before where Jeno, Jaemin, and Sungchan were seated, “are specially crafted for our three champions!”

The three of them blushed under Baekhyun’s words, his voice carrying through the entire tavern and gathering the attention of many of the other patrons that had stopped in that afternoon. Many of them looked over and when they caught sight of any of the three champions they started clapping or cheering, or even trying to come over and ask for autographs. Baekhyun had to shoo them all away, with the help of Mark.

“Enjoy!” Baekhyun called one last time before disappearing back again into the kitchen, leaving the group by themselves.

Several conversations picked up then as they all enjoyed their butterbeers and mingled with each other. Nearly all of them were barely acquainted with one another, four of them coming from different schools. New friendships were formed as they learned more about each other, and their speaking volume only grew as they became closer and more familiar with each other over the course of the next few hours.

It wasn’t long before the sun was starting to hide behind the branches of trees in the distance, its beam of light flickering apart and spreading out into thinner shoots of yellow and orange.

They had raced through two more rounds of butterbeers, and in turn running Jeno’s pockets completely dry. It was almost time to head back to Hogwarts so they didn’t miss curfew, but none of them seemed to want to move from their seats just yet.

Jeno was so caught up in the commotion of introducing himself to new people and being dragged into three conversations at once during their time in the tavern that he completely forgot to catch Jaemin’s face when he first tried butterbeer. The thought left his heart deflating a tad bit, but he made a mental note to ask Jaemin what he thought of it as they walked back up to Hogwarts together.

He looked across to the table to try and talk to Jaemin before they left, but the seat where he was previously sitting was empty. Jeno quickly looked around the tavern, but he didn’t catch sight of Jaemin anywhere.

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around to see Chenle looking at him with a pensive sort of look, like he was studying Jeno as though he was a specimen under a magnifying glass. His smile still held something close to mischief in it, like he had found exactly what he was looking for.

“If you’re looking for Jaemin, he went to the bathroom.”

Jeno nodded, opening his mouth to respond but then closing it again a moment later, not a sound coming out.

He was saved the trouble of responding when all the chairs around the table creaked and groaned as they were dragged across the wooden floor of the tavern, everyone standing up.

“Time to head back!” Donghyuck cheered, everyone clapping and laughing with him. A momentary pause in his thoughts about Jaemin, Jeno smiled softly as he looked at the large group of people standing around him; he would have never believed they would all become something close to friends in the few short hours they had spent together.

They all started making their way out of the tavern, not even bothering to do a headcount to make sure everyone was present and with them. Well, Jeno thought, they probably weren’t at that stage of friendship yet.

He saw Chenle send him one more look before turning around and latching himself onto Jisung’s arms and saying something loudly that had the tall boy duck his head and mumble something back.

Jeno watched them for a few seconds, finding the pair one of the most unusual to come about from the afternoon. Even though he had only just met the two, it was clear they were almost the complete opposite of one another, where Chenle was loud and brash, Jisung was quiet and curious. Yet, Jeno thought, he had really only seen Jisung smile wide once that day, and it was because of something Chenle said.

As the rest of them left, Jeno switched directions and walked in the direction of the bathrooms in the back of the tavern, intent on catching Jaemin on his way out to let him know everyone had already left.

He pushed the wooden door to the bathroom open, hearing a sink rushing inside and assuming it was Jaemin.

“Hey Jaemin? Everyone else already-”

His words caught in his throat, sticking like sap to a tree, but the taste was bitter and wildly unpleasant. His lips chapped and his mouth dropped open in the middle of his word despite no sound coming out.

Jaemin was drinking something out of a small vial, and when he finished his eyes looked into the mirror in front of him until he noticed Jeno. Their eyes locked, and Jeno felt a freezing sort of cold rush through his blood from head to toe. Jeno blinked rapidly, seeing a mix of horror and fear flashing vividly in Jaemin’s turquoise eyes.

Turquoise. Jaemin’s eyes were turquoise, and his hair was blonde, borderline platinum.

He looked completely different from the boy Jeno had met in front of the Goblet of Fire not even a month ago with black hair and brown eyes, but those eyes, despite their vibrant turquoise color, were unmistakably Jaemin’s.

“Jae-” His voice cracked, a small sort of crack that came with walking on scattered eggshells or the edge of a cliff overlooking an unforgiving sea.

Jaemin ripped his gaze away from the mirror, looking down at the sink instead. A long, aching beat of silence passed between them until Jeno noticed the strands of Jaemin’s hair started to change color, starting from his roots and reaching all the way to the end, ink black overtaking the pristine platinum.

Nothing was said between them from a painstaking moment. Jeno wanted to say something, anything, but his mouth had turned to cotton and his stomach rolled uncomfortably.

Jaemin seemed to not wait for Jeno to try and decide if he wanted to break the silence, all but running past Jeno and out of the bathroom, bumping shoulders with Jeno harshly as he went.

The last thing Jeno noticed before Jaemin disappeared was that his eyes had returned to their previous, almost dull brown.

Chapter Text

Jeno didn’t see Jaemin the rest of that weekend, or the entirety of the following two weeks.

A bitter cold washed over Hogwarts as December descended upon the castle, the mornings ripe with frozen crystals sticking to the windowpanes and the bare branches of the trees breaking off into little sticks against the harsh winds.

Jeno felt much like those sticks that fell to the ground and were forgotten as the unforgiving frost washed over them and hid them against the barren grass and permafrost.

“Are you sure he’s avoiding you?” Yangyang asked, not so sneakily reaching over to steal a soup dumpling off of Jeno’s plate, but Jeno was too distracted to be properly annoyed over his food being stolen.

“Yes,” He emphasized, sighing for the umpteenth time.

Renjun hummed from his spot next to Jeno, biting into a piece of broccoli. “Remind us what happened again?”

Jeno dropped his shoulders, feeling his muscles ache unpleasantly. They were sitting on the floor of Jeno’s dorm room sharing Chinese take out because Renjun insisted and somehow found a way to smuggle it in. His back hated him for his horrible posture, but the dull aching of his spine was the least of his worries as he thought back to the scene in the bathroom from two weeks ago.

“I don’t know,” Jeno mumbled, eyes focusing in and out on the take out tray of soup dumplings sitting in the middle of their circle. “I just went in there to tell him everyone had left The Three Broomsticks to head back to the school, but he just completely walked past me without a word.”

“That doesn’t seem like something Jaemin would do,” Donghyuck chimed in, mouth full of fried rice. “Is that really all that happened?”

Jeno bit his tongue. As much as he loved and trusted his best friends, this was something he thought best not to tell them. He had no idea what the truth was in regards to Jaemin’s hair and eye color, and why they were such different shades before morphing back. He had so many questions, so many things he wanted to ask Jaemin, but the Beauxbatons boy had quite literally disappeared without a trace. Jeno couldn’t explain himself and say sorry even if he wanted to.

“Yeah,” He said minutely, voice resigned and laced with a heavy exhaustion. “That’s all that happened.”

Renjun gave him a curious look, but Jeno ignored it. He picked up a pork fried dumpling and munched on it, if just to have something to occupy his mouth.

He had been so preoccupied with the whole Jaemin thing he hadn’t even gotten a chance to look into the clue he received for the second task.

The small package was safely stowed away in his trunk by the foot of his bed, where he had put it after it first arrived in his room. Truth be told he hadn’t even taken it out of the trunk since he put it in there.

“What about the clue?” Donghyuck asked, already moving the conversation along. “Have you figured out what it could mean yet?”

Jeno shook his head, glancing back at his trunk. “I’ve… done some looking, but haven’t come up with anything yet.” His voice sounded unconvincing even to his own ears, but he didn’t want to admit to his best friends just how much his mind was not on the Triwizard Tournament.

Donghyuck scoffed with a small laugh. “That’s Jeno code for you haven’t done shit.”

Jeno snorted at Donghyuck’s brashness, but he couldn’t argue with him there. “You got me.”

“Can we see the clue?” Yangyang asked eagerly, leaning forward with a curious smile.

Jeno glanced at the three of his friends, thinking of the pair of earmuffs in his trunk. He technically wasn’t supposed to receive help from anybody for the tournament, but he trusted his friends enough not to tell anybody.

Biting his lip, he stood up and walked over to his trunk, opening it up to retrieve the small package haphazardly folded back together.

He sat back down in his spot on the floor and placed the package in the middle next to their takeout. Carefully, he unwrapped the paper and revealed the pair of earmuffs for his friends to look at.

Nothing was said for a few moments before Yangyang spoke up. “Is this it?” He asked incredulously.

Jeno shrugged. “Yeah.”

Donghyuck peered closely at the earmuffs, even picking them up to inspect every inch of them. “There’s nothing abnormal about them, as far as I can tell. Maybe they’re enchanted with something?”

“I doubt it,” Renjun piped up, taking the earmuffs from Donghyuck’s hands and giving them a once over himself. “Did they come with a note?”

“The only thing on the note was my name,” Jeno said. A small sense of relief washed over him to see his friends were just as stumped as he was staring at the earmuffs.

They brainstormed what the earmuffs could be related to for the better part of half an hour, but none of their ideas seemed plausible enough for something tournament task-worthy.

“Have you done the Herbology homework?” Yangyang asked a little while later as they strayed away from the topic of the clue and instead fell into a comfortable silence of enjoying each other’s presence.

Donghyuck groaned, hanging his head. “I completely forgot. Renjun, did you do it?”

“Of course I did,” Renjun quipped, “but I’m not giving it to you.”

Donghyuck immediately fell into a fit of whines, latching onto Renjun and pleading as cutely as he could for Renjun to give him the homework answers. To anybody who didn’t know Renjun it would look like Renjun was five seconds away from murdering Donghyuck (and honestly he was), but all his friends knew he secretly loved the attention Donghyuck gave him. He always caved in the end anyway.

“Fine fine fine!” Renjun huffed, prying Donghyuck’s arm off him. “Just get off me!”

Donghyuck laughed triumphantly, placing a kiss to Renjun’s cheek before pulling away from him completely, giggling in a high pitch as Renjun groaned and wiped his cheek.

Renjun rummaged through his book bag for his homework, before he paused and suddenly whipped his head up to stare at Jeno with wide eyes.

Jeno blinked, caught off guard by Renjun’s sudden behavior. “What?”

“What if you’re intended to use the earmuffs?”

Jeno cocked his head to the side, eyebrows furrowing as he looked at Renjun, who still had that crazed look in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Renjun only laughed disbelievingly. “It couldn’t be that obvious. Jeno, remember when we first learned about Mandrakes in second year Herbology?”

“Vaguely,” Jeno admitted, trying to rack his brain for information about a topic he learned about nearly five years ago. “They’re a restorative plant, and their cries are fatal to anyone who hears them.”

“Exactly,” Renjun emphasized, waving his hands in front of him as though the answer was so clearly written in mid air between them all. Jeno’s brain was still slow on the uptake, cogs turning at a snail’s pace trying to connect the dots Renjun was giving him. “Their cries are fatal, Jeno.”

“So,” Jeno thought out loud, until the answer started to form right in front of his eyes, like storm clouds evaporating and making way for the bright light of the sun. “So we would use earmuffs to protect ourselves when working with them.”

Renjun smiled so wide it looked like his cheeks were hurting from the sheer force of it. Jeno’s own smile mirrored it, feeling the most euphoric he had since the ending of the first task.

“So mandrakes are going to be somehow related to the second task?” Donghyuck asked.

Renjun nodded. “It’s very possible. My guess is they’re going to make the champions counteract some sort of curse or poison.”

“You’re like a genius, Renjun,” Yangyang breathed, staring at Renjun in awe.

Renjun scoffed quietly, shaking his head, but his cheeks still dusted a light shade of pink at the compliment.

“He’s right,” Jeno said, “This is really good Renjun, really good.”

“Well,” Renjun rolled his eyes. “Maybe now you can relax for a little bit before you start preparing for the second task. You deserve it.”

Jeno smiled, looking down at the earmuffs that were lying on top of the packaging paper. He almost forgot about everything with Jaemin as his heart beat excitedly with predictions and guesses for the second task.

Almost.

***

“Thank you for coming here in the middle of your classes. I’m terribly sorry for calling you all at this time.”

A few days had passed, and Jeno, as well as Jaemin and Sungchan had been called to the Headmaster’s office for “official tournament business”. They were all in the middle of a shared Defence against the Dark Arts class, and everybody else in the classroom couldn’t even wait until they were out the door to start their whispering and gossip.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Jeno how Jaemin had deliberately avoided him all during the class, sitting as far away from him as possible when they would usually sit together with Renjun. Even now, with the three of them standing together facing Taeyong’s desk, Jaemin had made sure to stay on the other side of Sungchan as much as possible. Jeno was starting to feel irritated at the blatant cold shoulder, but a mellower, sadder feeling washed away the anger. He mostly just wished to know what he had done to make Jaemin act in such a way, and if he could apologize.

Ever since that day in Hogsmeade in the bathroom, Jeno had weird foggy dreams with repeated hazy images of turquoise eyes and delicate fingers caressing every part of his skin. Plump lips would brush against the shell of his ear and leave a million spiders crawling up and down his spine, a voice of pure honey and silk singing a song in a language Jeno didn’t recognize. Every time he would wake up in a cold sweat, heart racing and head pulsing with the faint leftover images of the dream.

He didn’t know what kind of secret Jaemin held, but he was desperate for a chance to speak to Jaemin, if only just to emphasize how apologetic he was.

He was ripped out of his thoughts by Taeyong standing up from behind his desk, walking forward to face the three champions.

“I’m sure you three are aware of most of the traditions that come with the Triwizard Tournament, yes?”

They all nodded their heads, waiting patiently as Taeyong spoke.

“As the holidays approach us, so does one of the most important traditions regarding the tournament: the Yule Ball.”

Jeno remembered the Yule Ball from Johnny and Jaehyun’s lessons earlier on in the year before the start of the tournament. It was a formal dance held on Christmas Eve to signify the Winter solstice. It was tradition for the Triwizard Tournament champions to open the party with a dance performed with partners.

“I hope you know what I’m about to say next,” Taeyong continued, voice soft. “As per tradition, the three of you will open the Yule Ball with a traditional waltz. I doubt any of you are well versed in ballroom dancing, so I have set up private lessons for each of you with one of my professors. Believe it or not, he danced professionally for quite some time.”

Jeno knew immediately who Taeyong was speaking of. Professor Jungwoo was the Care of Magical Creatures professor, but had always boasted about his days as a professional ballroom dancer in Austria.

“You should also start looking for someone to accompany you to the dance. I won’t say they must be someone you are romantically interested in, but I advise you to pick someone you trust to perform this dance with.”

Jeno couldn’t help but glance to his right, at the sliver of Jaemin’s body that he could see behind Sungchan standing next to him. Jaemin wasn’t looking at him, jaw set and face the complete picture of poise, as though he were a prince addressing his council. Polite, but distanced.

Taeyong sent them all a warm smile. “That is all I wanted to tell you three. More information will be given to you in the upcoming days. Now go back to your classes, I’ve kept you long enough.”

They all turned to exit the office. Jeno hoped this could be his opportunity to catch Jaemin, with them being almost completely alone, but Jaemin had bolted out of the office and down the staircase before Jeno could even fully turn around.

“Jeno.”

Taeyong called Jeno’s name, and Jeno knew that tone in his voice. He lingered behind and watched as Sungchan also left, the door closing behind him, until it was only Jeno and Taeyong in the office once more.

With a sigh, he fell into one of the chairs facing Taeyong’s desk.

Taeyong didn’t wait for him to speak. “Is something bothering you?”

Jeno could only offer him a mere shrug of his shoulders, his mind an endless hurricane of thoughts and emotions that couldn’t be tamed even if he tried. He was desperately waiting for that momentary calm that would come with the eye of the storm, but he was starting to doubt it would ever arrive.

Taeyong sat on the chair next to his so they were eye level, and Jeno finally picked his head up to meet Taeyong’s gaze. It was brimming with understanding, even if Jeno knew Taeyong had no way of knowing just exactly what was plaguing his mind.

“Is it related to the tournament?” Taeyong tried, gentle.

“Sort of,” Jeno eventually relented, voice sticky against the roof of his mouth.

Taeyong nodded his head. “Anything you wish to talk about? Or would you rather I let you go back to class?”

Jeno thought about it for a few moments, wondering if he could really bear walking back into that classroom and having to see the cold view of Jaemin’s back.

“I just,” He started, quiet, unsure as his thoughts whizzed past the back of his eyelids every time he blinked, doused in a thin film of turquoise. “What do you do when you’ve upset someone somehow, but you aren’t even sure what you’ve done, and you can’t even apologize because they’re avoiding you as if you were an actual Dementor.” His words tumbled out before he could stop them, falling into the air between them and spreading around like alphabet soup.

A few beats of silence passed, and Jeno almost felt ashamed because of his rambling, but Taeyong only hummed as he processed Jeno’s words, unscrambling them from the air and making a perfectly crafted sentence out of them.

“Am I wrong to say this someone is Jaemin?” He looked at Jeno head on, and there was nothing Jeno could do but deflate a few degrees and nod his head solemnly.

“Is it that obvious?” He mumbled.

Taeyong chuckled next to him. “No not really, I just have a keen sort of sense for these things. You two had grown close in the past few weeks; all three of you actually, Sungchan too. It was amazing to see all three champions have a sense of genuine friendship between them outside of the tournament.”

Jeno smiled, remembering all the fun they had that day at Hogsmeade, before…

“But,” Taeyong said, grabbing Jeno’s attention. “That also meant it was a little bit easier to notice the way you two grew apart in such a short time.”

A long, suffering sigh escaped Jeno’s lips and he gripped the edge of the chair, looking down at his lap resolutely. “I just don’t know what to do.”

Taeyong reached over and placed his hand atop Jeno's, squeezing lightly. “I know it may seem like bad advice, but I suggest waiting for Jaemin to come to you when he’s ready. Whatever it is that’s making him avoid you, I’m sure he will eventually want to talk as well.”

As much as Jeno knew Taeyong was right, the thought of just waiting patiently for Jaemin to finally stop avoiding him wasn’t a necessarily pleasant prospect. The gnawing doubt that Jaemin would never stop avoiding hung at the back of his mind, itching at his skull.

Still, he gave Taeyong a small nod and said, “Thank you.”

Taeyong smiled. “I want you both to have the most enjoyable year you can. I promise it will all work out as you wish.”

Jeno nodded once more, before rising from his seat. He gave Taeyong one last goodbye before finally leaving the office, descending the winding staircase that led down to the small doorway that would take him out in the fourth floor corridor on the west side of the castle. The sound of stone slowly grating against the floor was the only sound in the otherwise empty corridor, the gargoyle that marked the entrance to the Headmaster’s office moving to close the open doorway.

He wasn’t quite keen on returning to class at that point. A quick glance down at his wrist watch told him there was only about five minutes left in the class, so Jeno decided there would be no point in returning now anyway.

Instead of heading toward the main part of the castle where the class was, he switched directions and headed towards Gryffindor Tower, intent on sleeping the rest of the day off.

Chapter Text

Jeno had never remembered December being so cold before.

Despite the sun rising later and setting earlier each day, the days seemed to drag on tirelessly, Jeno’s bones liquifying into limping exhaustion by the time he hauled his feet back up to his dormitory and into his bed each night.

He almost had no time to even start thinking about how he could apologize to Jaemin with the Yule Ball so closely approaching. The event had taken up all the attention of Hogwarts much like the tournament, and the students were even more excited about the ball than they were for actual Christmas. Nobody was permitted to leave for winter break this year because of it, but Taeyong had promised a Christmas feast for everyone to make up for it, despite the holiday being only one day after the Yule Ball.

Apparently the champions weren’t the only ones who would be having dates for the ball – a wistful cloud of romance had settled over the castle as people mustered up the courage to ask their crushes to be their dates for the dance. Interest in love potions had also spiked, and Jeno had already heard one too many of Doyoung’s rants about the fickleness of love potions and how they weren’t proper ways to build romance.

That was where he found himself during one of the colder days, sitting across from Doyoung in his office as they ate lunch together.

“You seem very passionate about romance being genuine,” He commented offhandedly, glancing up at Doyoung through the tips of his eyelashes.

Doyoung blushed from the comment and quieted down from his rambling for a bit. “I just believe in romance the old fashion way,” He mumbled, and then his eyes glossed over in the way someone’s did when they were recounting a fond memory.

Jeno decided to ignore it, but knew if he spent a little bit more time analyzing his brother and connecting the dots, his conclusion might end up somewhere along the lines of a certain Beauxbatons professor.

Soon it was Thursday, with less than three weeks until the Yule Ball. Tomorrow was Jeno’s first dancing lesson with professor Jungwoo, but he didn’t even have a date to complete the dance with yet.

The flash of a white toothy smile and kind brown eyes blinked on the back of his eyelids at the thought of a possible date, and Jeno had to physically shake his head to try and rid himself of the images. Foregoing the fact Jaemin wasn’t even speaking to him at the moment, he was a champion as well and couldn’t possibly be Jeno’s partner for the dance, much less his date to the ball.

But who else could he ask?

“Jeno, you know I can’t go with you,” Renjun said calmly, not even looking up from the book he was reading.

They were all in the library studying – Jeno, Renjun, Donghyuck, and Yangyang – but Jeno could barely focus, too busy thinking about his first dance lesson later on in the evening. Professor Jungwoo had pulled him aside in the hallway earlier that day and told him he should bring his date to their lesson so they could practice together, and not wanting to sound embarrassingly lonely, Jeno had responded with , of course, I will!

The problem was Jeno didn’t have a date yet, and was running out of options on who to ask.

“Why not, Renjun?” Jeno asked. His book was open to a random page in front of him, but Jeno had reread the same paragraph close to four times and decided he didn’t even want to try looking at the words anymore.

Renjun sighed and glanced up at Jeno. “Because I’m going with Mark.”

“Oh,” Jeno said almost dumbly, shoulders slumping forward. Now he felt like a complete idiot asking his taken friend to be his date when his boyfriend was literally at Hogwarts and able to be his date. “Right, sorry.”

“I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Renjun said soothingly, reaching over to pat Jeno’s hand atop the table lightly.

A rather harsh coughing sound came from next to Jeno, and he looked over to see Donghyuck clearing his throat with a pinch in his eyebrows.

“I find it rather demeaning that you have three friends sitting right next to you Jeno, but you have only thought to ask one of them to be your date.”

Jeno looked at Donghyuck almost like he couldn’t believe the words that left Donghyuck’s mouth.

“Sorry Donghyuck I didn’t think you would be up for the dancing part of it all,” Jeno said apologetically.

Donghyuck huffed, high pitched, and crossed his arms over his chest, chin up, turned away from Jeno and eyes closed shut. “It still would’ve been nice to be asked.”

A small smile crossed Jeno’s lips, and he turned his shoulders to face Donghyuck directly. “Okay. Donghyuck, would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me?”

Donghyuck lifted one eyelid open just the slightest to observe Jeno, before closing it once more and huffing again through his nostrils. “Sorry, but no, I’m already going with someone else.”

“What?” Jeno asked, now completely confused. “Then why’d you ask me to ask you?”

Donghyuck scoffed like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world. “Sometimes it’s the thought that counts, asshole.”

Jeno furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait but who are you going with?”

“None of your business,” Donghyuck quipped, not even sparing Jeno another glance.

Jeno rolled his eyes, not wanting to deal with Donghyuck’s antics for the day when he already had way too many other things to worry about.

“I’ll go with you,” Yangyang suddenly piped up from the other side of Renjun, silent up until that point.

Jeno looked over at him and thought about it for a few moments, but going with a friend was better than nothing wasn’t it? “Really?”

Yangyang shrugged like it was nothing. “Of course, anything to help a friend out.” He flashed a toothy smile and Jeno’s heart was already starting to ease itself of all the pressure weighing down on it.

The rest of the day passed on lazily until finally, it was time for Jeno and Yangyang to head down to the first floor for their dance lesson with Professor Jungwoo. He had told Jeno to meet him at the entrance hall, so that’s where they headed.

“Thanks again for being my partner,” Jeno spoke into the silence, glancing at Yangyang next to him.

Yangyang shook his head quickly. “Dude, seriously don’t worry about it. It’ll kind of be fun to do this. I mean I get to dance with one of the Triwizard Tournament champions,” He said the last few words with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a small lilt to his voice that had Jeno laughing and lightly pushing his shoulder.

“You’re starting to sound like Donghyuck.”

Yangyang gasped and brought his hand to his chest. “That’s the best compliment you could’ve ever given me.”

Jeno smiled and they finally descended the final staircase together into the entrance hall, where Professor Jungwoo was already waiting.

“You boys are early, I like that,” Professor Jungwoo said, smiling down at them. He led them down the main hallway that led in the opposite direction of the Great Hall.

Jeno thought they were about to turn and enter the back courtyard from the way they were heading but Jungwoo suddenly stopped and directed their attention towards a classroom.

“We’ll be practicing here,” He opened the door with a quick flick of his wrist and walked inside, Jeno and Yangyang following suit. “It’s an empty classroom that isn’t used, so we’ll have plenty of space to move around.”

Jeno thought nothing of it; Hogwarts was way too big to not have at least one unused room. The door closed behind them and they stood in the center of the room, awaiting instructions from their professor.

“Do either of you have any dance experience?” Professor Jungwoo asked, glancing at them before looking around the room for a few moments, seemingly observing the walls.

“No,” Jeno and Yangyang said in unison.

Professor Jungwoo nodded with a soft hum, still looking all around the room, turning his body a few degrees to the left and right every few seconds to get a better view.

“Uhm,” Yangyang started, “What are you looking at Professor?”

Professor Jungwoo finally directed his gaze back to the two of them and only sent them a close-lipped smile that whispered so many secrets Jeno couldn’t understand, too faint for his ears. Jeno didn’t know if the smile was more comforting or frightening.

“I’m merely making a mental note of how large the room is, so I know how much I need to expand it.”

“Expand?” Jeno asked.

Professor Jungwoo didn’t grace him with a verbal answer, and instead retrieved his wand from the inner pockets of his robes.

With a long swipe of his wand, he said in a loud, clear voice, “Capacious Extremis!”

Nothing seemed to happen for a few moments, but then Jeno felt as though his body weight extracted away from him through every single pore in his skin, leaking out and seeping into the air. He felt lighter than normal, then noticed the walls surrounding him start to morph and almost shrink.

No, they weren’t shrinking, they were moving farther away, until the room was suddenly half the size of the Great Hall itself.

With a satisfied smile, Jungwoo pocketed his wand and looked back at Jeno and Yangyang. “That should be enough space, don’t you think?”

Jeno and Yangyang only nodded, lips sticking together at the impressive display of magic. The expanding charm was only for use by the Ministry of Magic, and private use wasn’t allowed because it went against their laws of secrecy or something similar to that. On top of that, the charm was only made for small objects, the most common being all the school-issued trunks for all the students. It expanded the inner dimensions of an object, but kept the outside appearance exactly the same; hence the concern of secrecy by the Ministry.

Jeno had never seen the charm be performed on anything bigger than a car, but Professor Jungwoo had easily executed it on an entire classroom.

Professor Jungwoo clapped his hands together once, shaking Jeno and Yangyang out of their stupors and allowing them to refocus once more. “Now, let’s start with the basics. I won’t have you two dance together just yet. You’ll need to nail the footwork by yourselves before you even attempt to do it together.”

They nodded, and with another movement of his hand, Professor Jungwoo procured a small radio out of thin air. He walked over to the front of the classroom where the only piece of furniture – an old desk – stood.

There was easily fifty feet of space between Jeno and all corners of the room, and he didn’t know what to do with all this open floor.

The radio suddenly crackled to life, playing a faint old waltz. Another flick of Professor Jungwoo’s wrist and the volume of the radio drastically increased until the music filled up the entire room to the brim, a pleasant buzz settling deep in Jeno’s ears.

“Okay,” Professor Jungwoo said over the music, his voice clear despite the volume of the radio, “You’re going to do a waltz box. Start with your feet together.”

Jeno and Yangyang followed Professor Jungwoo’s instructions diligently.

“Now take a step forward with your left foot, but instead of bringing your feet together, you’re going to move your right foot over in a boomerang-like curve until your feet are shoulder-width apart on the ground.”

Jeno and Yangyang attempted the move, but it was increasingly more difficult with the way Professor Jungwoo was explaining it.

“Seems like you boys don’t even have rhythm,” Professor Jungwoo sighed, and both Jeno and Yangyang’s cheeks flamed red hot with embarrassment at the comment.

Professor Jungwoo took out his wand once more and did a little circular motion with his hand. Little sparks shot out of the tip of his wand, and then suddenly yellow footprints were on the floor right in front of Jeno and Yangyang.

They started together, then the left one stepped forward and the right one executed the move Jungwoo was trying to explain. Then they did the same two steps once more, but backward, so they ended up in the exact same spot they started in. They went through the box steps on repeat, slowly and with a small trail of sparks behind them to show the direction of motion.

“Try again.”

Now with the help of a visual, Jeno and Yangyang attempted the waltz box steps once more, and were infinitely more successful, even if their feet didn’t look as fluid as the magic footprints.

“Better,” Professor Jungwoo smiled. “Now try to do it to the beat of the song. It goes 1, 2, 3. Watch the footprints do it, then follow. We’ll go slow.”

The footprints sprang to life once more, but now instead of their slow motions, they matched the rhythm of the waltz playing from the old radio. It wasn’t much faster than before, but suddenly adding in the consistency of rhythm had Jeno and Yangyang’s feet stumbling for a bit longer than before until they finally got the hang of it.

They continued on with their small boxes until the song ended and they were bathed in a temporary silence.

Professor Jungwoo approached them. “Good, very good. Do you want to attempt the big box, or do you want one more song to practice the small box?”

Jeno and Yangyang glanced at each other and shared a look of pained sympathy. They looked back at Professor Jungwoo and smiled nervously.

“Small box please.”

***

The dance lessons actually ended up not being as bad as Jeno had initially thought; they at least gave him something to do in the evenings to distract himself from all his inner turmoil.

Quidditch used to be his favorite stress reliever, and although Jeno had long accepted the loss of the sport in his final year, all of the recent events had him missing the sport insanely more than before.

He was currently laying face down in his bed as the rest of Hogwarts enjoyed their dinner in the Great Hall. It was only a few days before the Yule Ball, and he and Yangyang just finished one of their last practices with Professor Jungwoo.

Jeno was convinced Professor Jungwoo really did work magic, because in just ten short days he was able to whip Jeno and Yangyang into shape, their dance routine almost ready to be performed at the Yule Ball with the other champions and their partners.

The only problem was, as the Yule Ball neared, Jeno’s confused feelings about Jaemin only festered and grew at an extremely alarming rate, until it was all he could breathe and taste. It seeped into every part of his daily life, disrupting his routine and affecting those around him.

He had nearly knocked Yangyang over in practice while they were doing a run-through of their routine. Professor Jungwoo had pinched his eyebrows in disappointment, but Jeno only mumbled out a quick apology and went right back to the routine. He ignored Yangyang’s gaze of worry and whatever was hidden in Professor Jungwoo’s eyes.

He knew the weird feeling would only grow infinitely worse if he had to go to dinner in the Great Hall and be faced with the image of Jaemin laughing with his friends at the Ravenclaw table as though he had never known Jeno at all.

So there Jeno was, stomach growling every five minutes with hunger as his lungs burned with the effort of breathing through the fabric of his pillow. He knew his friends would ask about his disappearance sooner or later, Yangyang no doubts informing them about his barely-there mind during practice. He couldn’t find it in himself to particularly care at the moment, though. His mind was too preoccupied with the more obvious.

Again, the flashing images of turquoise and pale fingertips caressing his cheeks clouded his mind and left him dizzy.

A soft knock at his door. Jeno didn’t want to move to open it. He let out a small barely discernible sound, but it was muffled against his pillow and too quiet to be heard outside his door.

Another knock, a little more earnest this time. Jeno still didn’t move.

Again, another knock, loud and demanding. With a sigh mixed in with a groan, Jeno peeled himself off his sheets, muscles feeling like jelly and bones turned to liquid as he all but heaved himself up and walked towards the door.

“Who is it?” He grumbled as he swung the door open, only to be met with the sight of Renjun and Mark standing in front of him, matching grins on their faces.

As much as he loved his two closest friends, he really couldn’t stand to see the couple right now. Something about their so obvious silent understanding of each other only pissed Jeno off as his mind conjured up insane images of him in Mark’s shoes, but instead of Renjun at his side, his arms were around someone a little taller with a deeper, smoother voice and the most beautiful color of turquoise in his eyes.

“We brought you dinner,” Renjun said, gesturing down at the plate in his hands that were filled to the brim with a little bit of every dish that was no doubt served at dinner. He didn’t wait for Jeno to respond, let alone let them in, before pushing himself past Jeno with a force that shouldn’t be possible by somebody his size who didn’t even regularly workout.

Or maybe Jeno was just too tired to protest at that point. Eyelids drooping, he moved aside to let Mark through as well, and then closed the door behind them all once they were in the room.

“I’m not hungry,” He slurred, but the sudden jarring grumbling of his stomach that filled the silence immediately contradicted his words.

Renjun looked at him with a stern look, before placing the plate he was holding down on Jeno’s bedside table. “Eat.”

Jeno looked at Mark for silent support, but Mark only shrugged his shoulders with a half apologetic smile. “You gotta eat, Jen.”

With a defeated sigh, Jeno walked over and plopped himself onto the edge of his bed nearest to the bedside table, and slowly picked up the plate. He mostly picked at the food, eating but not really eating everything that was on it. His stomach still churned uncomfortably at every possible turn, his mind fogged with so many thoughts that he could barely hear himself think. It ruined any possible appetite he could have.

Renjun took a seat next to him, his hand coming down to rest on Jeno’s knee. The warmth was more comforting than Jeno thought it would be, and he could already feel the tension in his thigh muscles start to ease just from the support of his friend.

“Yangyang told us you weren’t really focused during your dance practice like your mind was somewhere else. Do you want to talk about it?”

Another sigh left Jeno’s lips, and he placed down the fork in his hands, what little appetite he had left escaping him. He didn’t say anything for a few moments, only staring down at the cold half-eaten mashed potatoes sitting on his forgotten plate. Even the color of the damned mashed potatoes reminded him of the shade of Jaemin’s hair in the Three Broomsticks bathroom, and he almost laughed out loud at how stupid it was; how stupid he was being right now.

“Is this about Jaemin?” Renjun asked, voice small and almost unsure like he didn’t know how to approach Jeno.

“Yes,” Jeno admitted, voice almost afraid. He wanted to confide in his friends, spill to them everything that had gone down and ask just what the hell he should do to make it up to Jaemin, but he couldn’t. He had this strange feeling that if he told anyone the extent of what happened in the bathroom, his chances of earning Jaemin’s forgiveness would drastically drop to below zero.

Mark finally walked over and took his own seat on the floor in front of Jeno’s legs, his hand reaching up to pat Jeno’s other knee on the same spot Renjun had put his hand.

“You can talk to us, Jen. We’ve never seen you look so… lost before.”

Jeno almost smiled. Lost didn’t even begin to cover it. He was in a constant free-fall in a bottomless pit where he couldn’t even see where he fell through. It was just an entire realm of black, infinite and yet nonexistent all at once, with no end in sight.

He was trying to wrap his head around everything he saw in the bathroom all those weeks ago, everything that happened after, and the newfound feelings in his heart that he dared not even put a name to yet.

“I don’t even know where to start,” He said honestly, not trusting himself to look up and meet either of Renjun or Mark’s gazes; he knew he would just feel even more guilty for not telling them the whole truth if he saw the clear concern woven into every feature of their faces and pooling in their irises.

Both Renjun and Mark offered their silent encouragement, a mirrored squeeze on both of Jeno’s knees. The shared gesture calmed Jeno’s heart down, even by just a degree, before a soft chuckle escaped him; the couple was so in sync that even the squeeze of their hands on his knees was perfectly timed together.

His mouth felt dry, and his stomach was no longer cooperating with any of the small bits of food he tried to scarf down. “I’m just so confused,” He started, whispering. “I want to apologize but he won’t even let me within ten feet. I never thought I’d lose a friend so soon after gaining one. and that it would hurt this much.” His voice broke on the last few syllables, and he had to quickly take in a shaky breath so he could stop the sudden wetness in the corners of his eyes.

“Hey, hey,” Renjun said quickly, leaning down so he could properly look at Jeno’s face. “You did not lose Jaemin as a friend. I’m sure whatever this all is can be easily resolved. Don’t lose hope yet, Jeno.”

Jeno only nodded, but oh how much he wished to laugh bitterly and tell Renjun just how wrong he was; nothing about this was or would be easy, and his hope had already started to seep out of him days ago as Jaemin’s gaze turned colder and colder whenever he and Jeno were so much as in the same room.

They didn’t say anything else, falling into silence; something Jeno appreciated greatly. He didn’t have the strength to continue the conversation but didn’t have the courage to tell his friends to leave him alone. Despite his every nerve screaming at him to go to sleep and never wake up, he was thankful for the company of his friends. It gave him a small distraction from everything else in his mind, his brain definitely needing a break.

They finally let Jeno be once Junkyu and Eric returned back to the room after dinner was over, leaving with promises of checking in on him tomorrow afternoon.

Jeno sent them off with a small smile and a nod, before moving his rusted joints and laying back down in bed. He stared up at the ceiling, a darkish shade of orange-tinted from the bedside lamp Junkyu had on so he could change out of his robes.

It was Friday, and the Yule Ball was on Tuesday. Only four more days. Jeno was determined to catch Jaemin sometime during the night and explain everything to him and apologize.

He went to bed with a mix of emotions blazing in his stomach and a multitude of plans stored away safely in his mind.

Chapter Text

All the bitter cold of December kept accumulating until the students were finally given an escape from the harsh weather and sluggish days in the form of a crystal clear moon, full and glistening, its light accentuating the glitter of each individual snowflake as they fell gracefully from the sky.

The first snowfall of the season; plunging their world into an even immenser cold, yet the giddy electric current of first-time romances bit Hogwarts in its side, giving everyone a certain warmth that made them immune to such colds raging outside.

The entire Great Hall was decked out for the Yule Ball - three large christmas trees stood as tall as they possibly could without bumping into the hovering candles that adorned the neverending ceiling, which had actually been replaced by grand chandeliers comprised of a million tiny crystals that caught onto the light of every shiny ornament on the trees.

The four long tables that usually took up the entire floor had been cleared out in favor of smaller round tables scattered against each side of the room. The middle had been turned into a makeshift dance floor, the wood glistening with a polish that had Jeno half afraid he would slip and fall flat on his ass.

“You’re not going to fall on your ass Jeno,” Yangyang whispered into his ear, and Jeno visibly flinched, so on edge that he almost banged his head straight into the wooden doors of the Great Hall.

He whipped his head behind him and stared wide eyed at Yangyang, who was giving him an amused sort of half smirk. “Did I say that out loud?” He asked.

Yagyang chuckled softly, nodded his head slowly. “Trust me, I thought we were a lost cause when we went to Professor Jungwoo’s first lesson, but I’m feeling pretty confident now. We totally got this dude.” He sent Jeno a small thumbs up that Jeno couldn’t help but return.

“Thanks,” Jeno said softly, feeling his heartbeat slow down just a notch at Yangyang’s comforting words.

All of the champions had been told to meet in the entrance hall half an hour before the start of the ball, and Jeno, having almost bitten all his nails off in worry, had insisted on arriving early. They had indeed arrived way earlier than expected, making them the only ones in the otherwise deserted entrance hall.

The doors to the Great Hall had been left slightly ajar, and Jeno couldn’t resist stealing a peek inside. As he had walked down from the Gryffindor common room to the entrance hall, the beginnings of snow had started to emerge from high in the sky, tiny snowflakes sticking themselves to the glass outside the windows until they melted and dripped down in a race against their snowflake brothers to see who could pool at the bottom of the windowsill the fastest.

The ceiling of the Great Hall always reflected the sky outside, so when Jeno had stolen a look inside, he could make out the barest hints of snowflakes descending from the infinite darkness above him, until they flurried and dispersed out into the air on their own, never making it past down the glittering chandeliers.

It was a nice distraction from the thunderstorm currently raging inside his ribcage, rattling his bones and displacing all his organs. His racing heart was at the center of it all, pumping blood at an insanely fast rate and causing bouts of nausea to rise up in Jeno’s throat every few minutes.

Jeno had decided tonight was going to be the night he confronted Jaemin and apologized for Hogsmeade. The stabbing pain that came with every tense cold shoulder Jaemin gave him had done nothing but throw him into despair. He had only just started being friends with the Beauxbatons boy, and didn’t want what could easily have been a misunderstanding to ruin all of that.

Even if Jaemin didn’t want to speak to him, Jeno would get out his apology–he had to; after that, if Jaemin still didn’t want to speak with him, Jeno would try his best to just accept it and move on.

But as much as he had tried convincing himself he would go through with it the past few days leading up to the Yule Ball, actually clinging to his already weak resolve became impossibly difficult when Jeno’s eyes caught on the new people walking down the marble staircase at the opposite end of the entrance hall.

Jaemin and Chenle walked arm and arm down the stairs, not even sparing Jeno or Yangyang a glance, but Jeno’s eyes immediately locked in on Jaemin, as though they were made to only follow Jaemin’s every move like a moth to a flame.

Jaemin was already one of the most beautiful boys Jeno had ever met in his life, but tonight he looked… ethereal. Jeno had to make the voluntary effort to close his jaw so it didn’t hang limply in his pure shock at Jaemin’s outfit.

The usual blue tailcoat he wore as his Beauxbatons uniform had been switched out for one similar, but this one had silver lining and lapels, the end of the tailcoat billowing out behind him, its edges fraying out into magical icicles that disappeared into the air as he walked. He wore long slacks of a matching color, a thick silver satin sash tied tightly around his waist, accentuating his beautiful figure. The blouse he wore was plain white, but it was steamed to the point of no wrinkles, sitting snugly against his chest, the first two buttons undone just enough for his pale collar bones to peek out from underneath the fabric.

The click of his boots against the marble floor ricocheted off the entrance hall walls, bathing them in his presence and grabbing their attention with no shame.

Jaemin and Chenle finally finished descending the staircase and slowly walked towards where Jeno and Yangyang stood. Despite Jeno also adorning his best outfit, he felt incredibly underdressed compared to the sheer beauty that was Na Jaemin. Looking at him closer, something he hadn’t gotten to do in almost one month, he saw half of Jaemin’s brunette hair had been slicked back on the side of his head, the other half in perfectly styled bangs that fell over his forehead.

“You two clean up nice,” Chenle finally broke the silence that started to hang over them, thick and palpable, so much so that one could slice right through it with a knife.

Yangyang, seemingly unaware of the entire tense atmosphere that pressed in on them from all sides, smiled wide and fixed the collar of his coat. “You think so?”

Chenle nodded, his features relaxed. Jeno almost thought he was the only one imagining such an awkwardness surrounding them, but he knew none of it was imagination, and that this was the reality; Jaemin, gaze sharp and directed at his boots, acting as though Jeno didn’t even exist despite standing not even five feet away from him.

“You look good Jaemin,” Jeno tried, his voice sounding like nails to a chalkboard to his own ears. His throat felt like a worn out block of cheese tormented by a grater, but it was nothing compared to the way Jaemin’s shoulders tensed up, as if he was repulsed by the mere fact of acknowledging Jeno’s existence.

“Merci,” Jaemin snipped out quickly, still avoiding looking anywhere in Jeno’s general direction, but even just a verbal response was progress enough for Jeno.

Jeno pushed his lips together, lest he say something else, knowing when not to push. The silence creeped up on them once more, and Jeno could feel the beginnings of sweat start to bead along his hairline, dripping down the sides of his forehead and dipping into the crevice where his neck met his jawline.

They were thankfully saved of having to try and maneuver around how to dissipate the awkwardness when Sungchan and his date appeared at the top of the staircase, their presence announced by the clicking of heels against the marble.

Jeno was so absorbed in his thoughts about Jaemin he didn’t even realize who was hanging onto the arm of Sungchan as they approached the group.

“Donghyuck?” Jeno and Yangyang both squawked at the same time, watching the way Donghyuck’s lips split into a devilish grin as he locked eyes with them both. Instead of wearing the traditional Hogwarts formal robes, he had on a long leather overcoat with a black belt around his waist, that perfectly matched the one Sungchan was wearing.

“Fancy seeing you boys here,” Donghyuck grinned, eyes gleaming something bright at the slack jawed looks of disbelief painted across Jeno and Yangyang’s faces.

“Аhlо,” Sungchan greeted, nodding his head in acknowledgement to everyone.

“Since when were you and Durmstrang over here so close?” Yangyang asked, challenging Donghyuck’s gaze and staring him down.

Donghyuck only let out a small chuckle, squeezing Sungchan’s bicep, who had turned a dusty shade of pink from Yangyang’s words. “Get that head out of those mystery novels and maybe you’ll notice a thing or two.”

Yangyang only scoffed and the conversation passed right along, Donghyuck’s entrance now done and over with, but that only meant there was room for the lingering awkwardness to seep back through the cracks around them. Jeno glanced at Jaemin still standing across from him, eyes transfixed on one strand of his hair that was sticking up at an odd angle. He had the urge to reach his hand over and quickly fix the strand, but knew if he so much as made any sort of move in Jaemin’s general direction that a bomb would explode so big and harsh Jeno was afraid everybody else would be sacrificed as collateral damage.

Once again saved from complete desperation, the sound of footsteps from the hallway that led parallel to the Great Hall interrupted them until Headmaster Taeyong appeared with his usual kind and warm smile.

They all bowed their heads in greeting. “I see you’ve all arrived already. How lovely,” He said, stepping closer to them. “We’ll be able to start soon, so you won’t have to stand around any longer.”

Jeno was grateful, because he was sure he would run himself into the ground out of anxiety if he didn’t do something soon.

“For now we’re going to relocate outside,” Taeyong spoke, already walking towards the entrance. “Sorry we’ll have to wait in the cold, but it’s part of the tradition that the champions and their partners walk through the entrance doors into the Great Hall while the school watches.”

Taeyong opened the doors with a quick wave of his hand, and at once a rush of wind hit Jeno in the face, biting at his nose and reddening his ears. Even though he could feel his muscles tensing with the need to shiver, he was glad for the distraction from running himself into a mill thinking about Jaemin.

The snowfall wasn’t heavy as they stepped out into the dark of the night, the snowflakes falling vertically at a leisurely place, in no hurry to meet the barren ground and join their brothers to create a blanket of white all around them.

“The snow is going to ruin my hair,” Donghyuck whined, bringing both his hands up to shield the top of his head, but it wasn’t efficient enough to block away all the snowflakes falling into the perfectly styled strands of his hair.

Taeyong chuckled at Donghyuck, and with a flick of his wrist cast a nonverbal spell that immediately ceased the snow above the area where they all stood. Instead the snowflakes shifted their course and moved around their bodies, as though there was an invisible shield surrounding them all.

“Better?” Taeyong teased, and Donghyuck at least had the decency to duck his head with a sheepish smile.

“Thank you Headmaster,” Donghyuck responded, but Taeyong shook his head lightly.

“It’s nothing at all, Donghyuck.”

Time seemed to pass by quicker in the cold, their muscles turning rigid and lips quivering against the dropping temperatures.

Soon the slowly building bustle of a crowd could be heard from inside the castle, and Taeyong turned around to face them all.

“Only a few more minutes before we’ll go inside. The champions will walk in with their partners one at a time. We’ll start with you Sungchan, then Jaemin, and finally Jeno. You’ll just walk right through the doors and the crowd, then step inside the Great Hall and make your way to the floor. Once all three pairs arrive on the floor, the music will start and you will perform the dance. After that the party will officially start and you’re all free to enjoy yourselves.”

They all nodded, following Taeyong’s words easily. The crowd only grew louder as Jeno presumed more and more students were arriving at the entrance hall for the ball. Electricity thrummed pleasantly under his skin as the big moment grew nearer and nearer.

After another minute or two, Taeyong sent them all a smile and titled his head to the side. “Are we ready?”

They didn’t respond, but quickly shuffled into a line, Sungchan and Donghyuck at the front, Jaemin and Chenle behind them, with Jeno and Yangyang taking up the rear.

In a big whirl, the entrance doors swung wide open, revealing the entire student population waiting, breaths bated as all their gazes shifted to the champions. A pathway was cleared in the middle, as though they were the Red Sea being parted, allowing the champions to walk past.

Taeyong sent Sungchan a silent nod, and he and Donghyuck started walking up the stairs and back into the school, Jaemin and Chenle just a step behind, Jeno and Yangyang following them.

There was a light tune being played from inside the Great Hall, but Jeno wasn’t really focusing on it. All his energy instead was focused on keeping his gaze forward, resisting the urge to look around at all the students staring at them transfixed as they walked by. Of course that meant his gaze would be stuck on the back of Jaemin’s head, which really wasn’t any better, but Jeno was never good at making the best decisions.

He gnawed his lower lip between his teeth, the few minutes spent out in the cold December night drying out the skin immensely and leaving small cracks that only grew worse as he bit at it.

Sungchan set a slow pace for them all, whether it was to drink in all the attention of the school or because it would make them look more poised and proper, Jeno would never know (but something about the Durmstrang boy had him leaning more towards the latter).

The glittering silver magic of the Great Hall greeted them as they walked inside. Seeing the entire array of decorations and actually being inside the hall were two completely different things. Being surrounded by it all had Jeno feeling like he stepped into a whole new world; a world where silver particles hovered suspended in the air, gleaming against the sliver of light that would catch on them, blinding Jeno in a way that wanted him to stare at the crystals longer despite the danger.

They finally met their destination, forming a triangle on the dance floor as all the other students piled into the Great Hall after them and surrounded the entire dance floor. Jeno almost felt caged in by their strong gazes, but he tried his best to ignore it. They practiced for this, it would be okay.

In a slow fade in, their performance music started playing, a slow traditional waltz that had been played at the last Yule Ball held at Hogwarts.

Jeno turned to face Yangyang and held up his hand, Yangyang taking it easily. His other arm came around to rest right underneath Yangyang’s shoulder blade, his thumb stick rigid in Yangyang’s armpit. Yangyang’s arm curved and laid on top of his, thumb and pointer finger sticking into the edged muscle of Jeno’s bicep; the position allowed them a bigger range of motion and made maneuvering around the floor much easier without letting go of each other.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jeno saw the other two pairs do the same thing as them. His eyes couldn’t help but gravitate towards Jaemin, and he almost missed the first cue to glide his right foot forward on the floor.

The three pairs started dancing across the floor in a giant whirl, moving past one another in synchronized movements, coming extremely close but never grazing one another. To the unknowing onlooker it looked as though the six of them had practiced and performed this dance several times all together, but it was actually the first time Jeno even danced with the other two pairs also on the floor.

He simply followed the movements Professor Jungwoo had drilled into both his and Yangyang’s legs, trying his best not to bump knees with Yangyang and send them both stumbling. He figured the routine that the other two pairs had learned had been slightly different, or else they all would have bumped into each other at one point.

Jeno had to hand it to Professor Jungwoo as he and Yangyang danced across the floor in time with the music, its melody lively and entrancing in the way it made the six of them spin and move their feet. Creating such an elaborate and intricate routine like this with three separate pairs, never once all coming together before the actual performance, was an impressive feat of its own.

The song crescendoed as Jeno spun Yangyang into a grand underturn before they faced each once more and moved from one end of the dance floor to the other, Jaemin and Chenle doing the same steps in a mirrored motion.

Jeno could feel the muscles in his calves burning with the effort of waltzing, but he ignored it in favor of putting his all into the dance, wanting to do Professor Jungwoo proud. The violins in the song roared up once more, and the three pairs glided impossibly close to one another before spinning around each other in an almost never ending circle.

The song came to a grand close, the champions spinning their partners once more before ending in the same position they started in, moves clean and crisp as the Great Hall was once again bathed in silence.

All at once the students clapped and cheered, amazed by the beautifully intricate performance. The six of them all turned to face the crowd and bowed their heads. Jeno’s heart was racing, the adrenaline and exercise leaving a loud pounding in his ears that had him breathless.

The crowd started to disperse as more mellower music started playing, signifying the beginning of the ball.

“Not too bad eh?” Yangyang said as they walked off the dance floor together, making their way to one of the round tables standing near the wall.

Jeno laughed, shaking his head minutely. “Not too bad at all.”

Not even a few seconds after they reached the table did Renjun come running up to them, Mark trailing behind him.

“Oh my god that was gorgeous! Who knew you two had that in you?” He teased, hugging both Jeno and Yangyang in turn. “Also did you guys know Donghyuck was coming with Sungchan?”

Jeno and Yangyang both shook their heads. “I’m just as surprised as you are,” Jeno responded.

Mark finally caught up to his boyfriend, linking their arms together naturally as he smiled at both Jeno and Yangyang. “That was some great dancing you two.”

“Thanks,” Jeno and Yangyang both said in unison, beaming at Mark.

They all turned their heads to look at Donghyuck, who they found on the other side of the Great Hall still attached to Sungchan’s arm, talking with Jisung and another student from Durmstrang.

“Those two definitely hit it off at Hogsmeade, but I never would have guessed Sungchan would ask him to be his date,” Renjun mused aloud. “Seems he fell for Donghyuck’s charms, not that I blame him.”

Jeno couldn’t help but snort. “What charms?” He joked.

Almost as if Donghyuck could sense Jeno teasing him, he whipped his head around and made direct eye contact with Jeno, narrowing his eyes.

“What the fuck,” Jeno whispered.

“It’s that sixth sense dude,” Mark answered, nodding his head solemnly. “He will always know when you’re talking about him. It’s extremely terrifying.”

Jeno shuddered, feeling as though Donghyuck was breathing ice cold air down his neck.

“Oh hush you’re both being overdramatic,” Renjun chastised, rolling his eyes fondly.

Their conversation was interrupted as they noticed Donghyuck whisper something to Sungchan before the pair of them turned around and started walking towards where they were all standing.

They all put on their best teasing smiles as Donghyuck and Sungchan drew near. Jeno had to admit though, they looked really good together, both in striking clothing with soft and mellowed out face features to complement each other.

“That was some great dancing out there Jeno. Almost didn’t think you had it in you,” was the first thing Donghyuck said once they were close enough.

“Hey!” Yangyang whined.

Donghyuck pursed his lips then smiled. “Don’t worry Yangyang, I already knew you would do great. You don’t have two left feet like our champion over here.”

Jeno scoffed, but knew despite Donghyuck’s less than flattering words, there was some sincerity behind what he said. “I appreciate the compliment, Donghyuck, if you could call it that.”

Donghyuck only sent him a grin, not saying anymore.

Taeyong cleared his throat from where he was standing at the back of the Great Hall, diverting everyone’s attention to him. “Good evening students, and welcome to the Yule Ball. That was a wonderful performance by our champions and their partners.” A light round of applause passed through the hall as they all looked towards the champions scattered around and acknowledged their performance. “Now I invite you all to take a seat at one of the several tables so that we may enjoy dinner before the real festivities begin. If the champions and their partners can join me up here at the head table, please.”

“Guess we’ll see you once dinner is over, Renjun,” Jeno told Renjun almost sullenly, but Renjun waved his hand with a small smile.

“We don’t all have to stick together the entire time, Jen. But you’re promising me one dance before the ball ends, okay?” He gave Jeno a stern sort of look, though it only made Jeno giggle with the way he overdramatically puffed his cheeks out.

“I promise.”

They parted ways, Renjun and Mark walking towards one of the several round tables while Jeno and Yangyang along with Sungchan and Donghyuck made their way to the end of the hall where Taeyong and the other faculty were sitting. Jaemin and Chenle were already with them, sitting towards the end of the table with a few empty seats next to them, no doubt saved for the other champions.

Jeno momentarily got distracted as he spotted his brother sitting on the other side of Taeyong, in deep conversation with Yuta sitting next to him. They seemed completely undisturbed by the outside world, Doyoung giggling quietly at something Yuta said and hitting his arm while covering his smile. Jeno only ever saw Doyoung cover his laugh with someone he was extremely nervous around, and the knowledge had a lopsided smirk settling onto his face. He definitely wasn’t letting Doyoung live this down.

He and Yangyang were the last to take their seats, and it was only after Jeno’s butt made contact with the chair did he realize just where he ended up. All at once the smirk was wiped clean off his face and his shoulders tensed uncomfortably, spine rigid. He resisted the urge to completely turn his head to the left, only sending small glances in that direction as discreetly as he could.

Jaemin hadn’t moved an inch since he sat down, entire torso twisted away from him and facing Chenle. They were conversing quietly about something Jeno couldn’t hear, but the way Jaemin was acting the most aloof he ever had since Jeno met him didn’t go unnoticed.

A pristine piece of parchment was placed on top of the table in front of where he sat, the word Menu written at the top in bold cursive, with a short list of dishes underneath. Jeno glanced around the hall, wondering if there were servers ready to take his order that he just hadn’t noticed before, but there was nobody around.

He looked down at the menu in his hands, stomach starting to grumble as he ran through all the choices in his head and thought about what he would like the best. He glanced to his left and right, wondering what everyone else was doing, before he saw Taeyong down the table look down at his empty plate and say in a loud clear voice, “Pork Chops!”

In a second, Pork Chops magically appeared on his plate, along with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.

Realizing what they had to do, everyone else in the Great Hall slowly started placing their orders for dinner, their food miraculously appearing before them on their plates.

“Stuffed Salmon!” Jeno said loudly, the food appearing hot and ready to be eaten on his plate. The citrus aroma of the sliced lemon atop the fish wafted up, tickling Jeno’s nostrils and leaving his mouth salivating.

Not wasting another second, he grabbed his utensils and dug into the food, the salmon coming undone underneath his fork easily, the stuffing oozing out from the sides in another packed explosion of scent and flavor.

Dinner passed by in a blur, everyone so addicted to the food they were eating that they cleared their plates in a matter of minutes. Thoroughly stuffed, they slowly started migrating from the tables around the room and to the edges of the dance floor as lively dance music started playing.

Jeno’s now empty plate was cleared away in a flash, and he too had the urge to head down to the floor and have fun dancing, but something else, something deeper, churned in his stomach.

“Want to dance?” Yangyang leaned close to him to ask.

Jeno nodded. “Yeah, just give me a second.”

Yangyang went on without him, standing up from his seat at the table and walking down to meet up with Renjun and Mark, wherever they were. Jeno saw Chenle stand up as well, and took it as his chance.

Wringing his hands together in his lap, he turned to his side and finally looked head on at Jaemin, who was still picking slowly at his plate. “Jaemin?” He tried, voice small and almost barely discernible above the music and chatter of the ball.

Jaemin paused his actions of scooping up food with his spoon, and Jeno took it as a sign to continue. “Can we talk? Alone?” He asked, hating the way his voice was so close to breaking. He had to act confident, unwavering, or else he was sure Jaemin would chew him up and spit him back out with a disgusted look on his face.

He waited with bated breath, unblinking as Jaemin turned his head the slightest of degrees so he could gaze at Jeno through his peripheral for a second before looking back down at his plate as though he hadn’t noticed Jeno at all. “I’d rather not.”

Jeno’s heart stung, but he told himself he was expecting this reaction. “I understand that, but I really feel like we should talk about what happened,” He lowered his voice a notch, even though he knew they were the only ones left sitting at the table and the music was too loud for anybody to overhear what they were saying. “At Hogsmeade.”

He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment it left his lips and he saw Jaemin’s reactions. Immediately the wall was back up, and Jeno was pushed far back, farther than he ever was before. Jaemin’s spine bristled at the words, as though the mere mention of them scared him to his core. He finally turned his neck to meet Jeno’s eyes, but his gaze was cold, intimidating, detached.

“I have no idea what you are talking about Jeno. Nothing happened at Hogsmeade, and I would appreciate it if you could let me finish my dinner alone, Merci.” The last word spit out of his mouth, venom dripping from his teeth and sinking into the pores of Jeno’s skin. Jeno could already feel his heartbeat become erratic as the poison took form in his bloodstream, draining all sense of hope from his brain and leaving his skin pale with sickness.

“Alright,” He mumbled, eyelashes fluttering as he broke his gaze away from Jaemin, unable to bear the unfamiliar cold look anymore.

He stood up without another word, leaving Jaemin alone and walking down towards the center of the Great Hall where all of his friends were waiting for him, the buzz of the party long gone and the only thing left a gaping, aching hole in his heart.

His friends noticed immediately, Renjun being the first to come up to him. “Is everything okay?” He whispered. “I saw you talking to Jaemin.”

Jeno let out a bitter laugh, the noise tasting like bile against his tongue, making him want to claw at his throat until his skin was red and raw and the only thing that remained was the burning pain. “He doesn’t want to talk to me.” He couldn’t help the way the last syllable of his sentence cracked against his teeth, coming out broken and helpless.

His tear ducts strained, desperately wanting to break and let out a dam of pent up frustrations, but he couldn’t break, not here, not in front of all these people, with Jaemin still watching — though Jeno doubted he would even notice.

“Oh Jen,” was the only thing Renjun said before he pulled Jeno into a tight hug, smoothing the back of his hair down with small, soft hands. The action only brought more ache to Jeno’s heart, and he squeezed his eyes shut to will the wetness away.

When they pulled away from each other, Renjun offered him a small smile. “Let’s forget about him tonight and just try and enjoy the ball, yeah?” Jeno knew that Renjun knew it was a futile attempt, but Jeno appreciated the effort nonetheless.

With a quivering smile of his own, Jeno nodded his head. He breathed in deeply, trying to steady himself. Mark gave him a comforting pat on his shoulder and one of his signature lopsided smiles, with Yangyang on his right sending him looks of concern. Jeno could feel the warmth from their friendship slowly seeping through him and battling off the poison inside.

“Who wants to dance?” He asked, his smile turning more genuine as their eyes flashed with relief. It was okay, he could make it through the night.

With matching nods, they all made their way to the dance floor, the reverberating bass shooting up through their bodies from the floor, leaving them buzzing and the slightest bit disoriented as they lost themselves to the beat.

It was easy to let himself get swept away as Jeno was surrounded by his friends and his ears were pounding with the rhythmic beating of whatever new wave song that was popular in the Wizarding World.

At some point Donghyuck joined them once more, Sungchan joining with a less than enthusiastic but still willing Jisung trailing behind him.

Jisung, as it turned out, was actually an incredible dancer. Renjun was somehow able to loosen him up enough to let go of his inhibitions and actually dance with the music. Before they knew it there was an entire circle of people surrounding Jisung as he danced in the center of the floor to some old school hip hop song.

Everyone cheered and hollered as Jisung popped and locked, moving his body in ways Jeno didn’t even know were possible. Jeno laughed breathlessly as he and Mark shared matching looks of disbelief, never knowing the tall and timid Durmstrang boy had such talent stored within him.

The music changed and the party kept flowing, the crowd dispersing and Jisung joining their group once more. His cheeks were tinted a fiery pink as he scratched the back of his neck with all the praise they gave him. Donghyuck and Renjun both latching onto him and calling him every rendition of cute did nothing to soothe the blush on his cheeks.

Jeno almost completely forgot the Jaemin-induced poison still flowing through his bloodstream and draining the life out of him–almost. His eyes did nothing to listen to his brain, searching around the room for a certain tailcoat that left an icy trail of crystals behind it, and the shining white teeth that glittered with a bright smile.

He only saw Jaemin a handful of times the rest of the night; it seemed as though whatever cold shoulder act Jaemin was giving him before had been turned up to the max. Jaemin practically disappeared from the entire party, despite everyone there determined to put all the champions into the spotlight.

It was towards the end of the ball several hours later – when the music switched from lively to more long drawn out tunes and all the students were just swaying with their friends instead of jumping up and down – that Jeno clearly spotted Jaemin one more time.

His eyes caught on the light blue slacks and long billowing tailcoat across the room, seeing Jaemin exit the Great Hall through one of the side doors. He also noticed that Jaemin was alone, and before he could even begin any sort of rational thought in his brain, his feet were moving faster than they ever have across the entire hall and towards the doors.

He slipped through the door as quietly as he could, and the sudden silence disoriented him for a few moments. Gone was the familiar thrum of bass atop his skin and the sweaty body heat of being surrounded by everyone else. He felt almost weightless, unsure of what to do with his body, but he pushed through the feeling as he noticed Jaemin at the end of the hallway, walking towards the bathrooms.

Something in Jeno stirred, telling him this was a bad idea and nothing good could come out of it, but the drunken feeling of being full of cider and the jelly state of his muscles only spurred him on. He walked with purpose in each of his steps, closing the distance between him and Jaemin with ease until he reached out and grabbed onto Jaemin’s forearm over the fabric of his coat.

Jaemin blanched, surprised by the sudden contact. He whipped his head around to stare at Jeno with wide eyes, his pupils only growing larger as they shined with the recognition of just who stopped him.

“Jeno,” He breathed, completely off guard, but Jeno was determined.

“Jaemin please,” He pleaded, hand tightening around Jaemin’s arm. Jaemin let out a small wince, but Jeno didn’t let up on the pressure. “Please let me apologize. I can’t stand not knowing what I did to upset you and I can’t stand not being able to see your smile, so please, I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Jaemin shook his head, blinking rapidly, the strands of hair resting over his forehead shaking with the action. “Sorry? What? Jeno-” He quickly glanced behind him at the door to the bathroom only a few feet away, but Jeno mistook the look as one of wanting to escape, and it made his hairs bristle with urgency.

“I’m sorry if I saw something I shouldn’t have, but I swear I haven’t told anyone. I’ll keep whatever it is a secret, I don’t care, I just want to be friends again Jaemin.” He was desperate, voice becoming high pitched and winded as he forced all of his words out in one breath, so afraid Jaemin would run away once more and he would never get the chance to tell him his true feelings again.

His chest heaved, his eyes burned, his muscles tensed. The silence surrounded them, closing in and stealing the breath right from their lungs. Jeno felt like he was choking, and the only oxygen he could get was from Jaemin finally looking at him with those warm eyes once more.

But when Jaemin locked eyes with him, a third, entirely new look was swirling in his irises: fear. Jeno almost did a full stop, not knowing what could have sparked such an expression to pass over Jaemin’s face, until he heard it: another voice, far behind him.

“Jeno? Are you around here?”

Jeno glanced over his shoulder, seeing the silhouette of who could only be Yangyang in the distance. When he turned back around to look at Jaemin’s face, he immediately understood. He had been so deep in his own self, so determined to get his apology out, he hadn’t noticed the roots of Jaemin’s hair start to lighten and turn blonde, and the flecks of turquoise start to peek out against the brown of his irises.

Jeno felt the skin of Jaemin’s forearm underneath his palm prickle as the hairs stood on end, the slightest of tremors raking through him. Jeno could feel the heat of Jaemin’s thundering pulse in his grip.

The sound of footsteps echoing against the narrow hallway walls grew louder as Yangyang drew nearer. He hadn’t yet noticed Jeno and Jaemin, the two of them half hidden by a pillar, but Jeno knew he would catch sight of them soon.

Not even thinking about it, he let go of Jaemin’s forearm and used all of his force to place both hands on Jaemin’s chest and push him hard in the direction of the bathroom door. Jaemin stumbled from the sudden push, nearly tripping and falling, but Jeno didn’t get to see if he actually fell because he was turning around and walking away as fast as he could.

As soon as Jeno emerged from behind the pillar, Yangyang noticed him and his face lit up. “Oh Jeno, there you are! We all saw you run off and we got kind of worried.” He jogged up to where Jeno was standing, but Jeno kept moving forward, trying to get them as far away from the bathroom as possible.

Jeno chuckled nervously, glancing at the floor. “I just really needed to use the bathroom, that's all.” His excuse sounded so half assed to his ears, but with their proximity to the bathrooms, Yangyang believed it easily with a nod of his head.

“Okay, because they’re playing your favorite song, and I really didn’t want you to miss it.”

Jeno nodded, and let himself be pulled by Yangyang back into the Great Hall, the entire exchange with Jaemin leaving his heart aching with even more questions than before.

Chapter Text

There was really only one solution when it came to Jeno overthinking a problem, and that was consulting his brother about it.

Even though Doyoung would usually nag at him for twenty minutes about keeping his emotions bottled up and getting himself into stupid situations in the first place, he would always offer Jeno the best advice that would leave him feeling more content and secure.

A few days had passed since the Yule Ball, the thrill of the holiday season and Christmas rolling over so much that Jeno could barely catch a break with so many people coming up to him asking for autographs or his friends wanting to go to different spots around the castle to hang out.

He only got a true moment of peace and quiet that Saturday; it had snowed again overnight so everyone was taking the chance to go outside and play in the snow, no matter how red their noses would turn.

Donghyuck had asked if he wanted to join them all–them all being the usual friend group, but now with Sungchan and Jisung in the mix–but Jeno had politely declined. “I’m going to go have lunch with Doyoung,” He had said in response.

Donghyuck didn’t question him any further, knowing Jeno and Doyoung had lunch together frequently. “You're welcome to come find us whenever,” was the last thing Donghyuck said before ducking out of the doors into the white wonderland of the back courtyard where Sungchan was waiting for him with a shy smile.

Now Jeno was walking down the first floor corridor in the main tower of the castle; it was usually full of students running, either to the entrance hall or to their classes, but it was currently empty. Jeno took his time walking to Doyoung’s office, not in any rush. His office was connected to his classroom, which was on the second floor. He quickly hopped up the steps in the hidden staircase that was situated behind the large knight armor stand that could only be accessed with a password (“Pygmy Puffs''), and emerged onto the second floor.

It was a short walk from there - Jeno knew the path well enough and wasn’t in any rush. The empty hallways allowed him to drift towards the high windows that let in the bright light of the sun, where he could see the blinding white blanket of snow down below on the ground, all the students a litter of dark spots.

Once Jeno finally arrived at Doyoung’s classroom, he let himself in easily, the door unlocked. He weaved his way through the rows of empty desks swiftly, walking towards the back of the classroom where there was a raised staircase that led to Doyoung’s office.

He skipped every other stair until he reached the top. He forewent knocking on the door, knowing Doyoung was inside, probably just going through papers that he needed to grade.

“Doyoung? I wanted to-”

Jeno stopped dead in his tracks, hand still on the doorknob as he looked at the scene before him, jaw slack and eyes wide.

Doyoung was at his desk, well, on his desk, legs spread with another person standing in between them. They were very clearly making out, Doyoung’s hands entangled in the man’s blonde hair while the man was leaning one of his hands on the desk behind Doyoung’s back, the other hand gripping Doyoung’s thigh way too tightly for Jeno to ever be able to rid himself of the image again.

“Uh,” He coughed out awkwardly, feeling every inch of his skin alight with fires of embarrassment.

Doyoung finally broke away from the kiss he was sharing with the man, Jeno too shocked by the sudden situation to initially realize that the man was actually Nakamoto Yuta, the headmaster from Beauxbatons. Doyoung’s gaze slid over to the door, and Jeno could see the moment Doyoung recognized him.

“Jeno!” Doyoung immediately sputtered when he realized that Jeno was actually standing in front of them. His face blazed red as he cleared his throat and pushed Yuta away from him so he could step off the desk. His tie was all askew and that was definitely a hickey blooming on his neck, but Jeno just averted his gaze and pretended none of this was happening. “How long have you been there?”

“Long enough,” Jeno wheezed out, also pointedly ignoring the several undone buttons of Yuta’s blouse that he was buttoning back up in the wrong order. “Is this a bad time?”

Doyoung patted down his hair, frantically pacing around the room(a habit of his when he was embarrassed). “Of course not! Did you need something? Why aren’t you out with your friends right now? It’s a beautiful day to be enjoying the snow.” (Rambling - another habit).

Usually Jeno would jump at the chance to bolt out of the room as quickly as wizardly possible; he’d already seen way too many things he didn’t want to know about his brother, but his inner turmoil won out over his desire to escape the situation. “I actually needed some advice,” He mumbled out, voice barely above a whisper, but Doyoung heard him clear enough.

“Oh Jen,” Doyoung sighed, walking over to where Jeno was in the doorway, not even a full foot into the room. “I’m sorry, we can definitely talk right now. What’s up?”

“Well,” Jeno started, wringing his hands together. “It’s about…” He glanced at Yuta, who was just standing awkwardly near Doyoung’s desk, probably feeling as bit out of place as Jeno was feeling. He didn’t know how much he could or should reveal with Jaemin’s headmaster not even ten feet away, but decided he might have been the next best person to help him with something Jaemin related. “It’s actually about Jaemin.”

He almost regretted his words when he saw Yuta perk up and glance at him. “Jaemin? Mon garçon?”

Jeno nodded his head, looking down at the floor and avoiding whatever look Yuta was giving him.

“Yuta, why don’t you leave so Jeno and I can talk alone,” Doyoung piped up, sensing Jeno’s discomfort easily and knowing exactly how to fix it.

“No,” Jeno quickly butt in when he noticed Yuta start to leave the room. “No, he can stay. I won’t be long, and then you two can get back to what you were doing before.”

Both Doyoung and Yuta blushed at Jeno’s words, at least having the decency to look sheepish about their previous actions. “So what advice did you need, Jen?” Doyoung asked him, gently grabbing his wrist and leading him to sit into one of the chairs in front of his desk.

Jeno racked his brain for the best response to that question, because even if he knew exactly what he was troubled with, actually putting it into words without revealing the whole truth was nearly impossible. “What do you do,” He started slowly, palms sweaty against his slacks, “when you’ve done something to upset your friend, and you can’t apologize because they’re ignoring you and you don’t get a chance to talk to them?” His words were extremely vague, he knew, but so many thoughts and questions were running through his brain at once that he didn’t even know where to begin. He already mentioned that he was talking about Jaemin, but a weird feeling of not wanting to say it out loud explicitly crawled in his belly.

“Jaemin is ignoring you?” Doyoung asked, tilting his head to the side with a furrow in his eyebrows. “How come?”

“That’s just the thing, I don’t know,” Jeno stressed, exasperated with the pile up of almost a month’s worth of doubt and confusion. “I think I did something that upset him, but I don’t know how to make him stop ignoring me so I can just apologize.”

Doyoung hummed, hand instinctively reaching up to card through Jeno’s hair like he always knew would calm Jeno down. It instantly did the trick, Jeno’s shoulder slightly releasing their built up tension, allowing him to take a few deep breaths and sort out the entanglement of vines prickling within him.

“Have you tried approaching him yet? Or is he completely shutting you out?” Doyoung asked softly, voice soothing.

“Completely shutting me out,” Jeno murmured, already feeling his voice on the verge of cracking. He felt like such an idiot for catching Jaemin not once, but twice in whatever the hell it all was. “I want to make things right.”

“I know Jen, I know,” Doyoung said, “but I think you can’t force these types of situations. Whatever it is, you can only hope the chance to talk to Jaemin and sincerely apologize arises on its own. You can’t go chasing it, or else Jaemin might not feel your sincerity.”

Jeno sighed, feeling like he’d been swimming deep underwater for who knew how long without any glimpse of sunlight or the surface. His lungs burned, desperate for a relieving breath of fresh air that he didn’t know how to get. He knew Doyoung was right, but he didn’t know how much longer he could stand experiencing such torment.

“Garçon.”

Jeno picked his head up, meeting Yuta’s gaze who had been standing silently by the desk for the duration of the conversation. Yuta was giving him a soft smile, his eyes shining with the knowledge of something Jeno wasn’t privy to.

“I don’t think you need to think so hard about it my dear garçon,” Yuta said, taking a few steps to sit down on the chair opposite Jeno, cocking his head to the side. “This,” He waved his hand in the air, “apology you wish to give Jaemin, you cannot mess it up. C’est impossible.”

Jeno furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m not following.”

Yuta let out a small chuckle. “I cannot say much so you must trust me on this one. I see the confusion and distress in your eyes, and I know that you are sincere. Therefore your apology cannot go wrong. You must only allow Jaemin time.”

Everything he said was essentially all that Jeno had already heard from everyone he had confided in the past month, but something about Yuta’s words, the expression on his face, the knowledge of his relationship with Jaemin, had Jeno’s heart stilling. He took in a deep breath through his nose, felt every muscle in his body unclench a tad, and he nodded. “Okay.”

“Bon garçon,” Yuta smiled. “It will be okay, je promets.”

Jeno nodded again, glancing to his right at Doyoung, who was also giving him a soft smile. He noticed the way Doyoung and Yuta glanced at each other, their lips twitching upwards even more, and a deep sort of longing lodged itself in Jeno’s chest. Despite it all, he felt almost better than before; lighter, calmer, determined.

“Thank you.”

Yuta shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. “I should be the one thanking you.”

Jeno blinked, confused. Yuta saw his question clear in his eyes and smiled. “My Jaemin hasn’t had any friends besides Chenle for quite a long time. I was almost afraid to bring him here for the tournament, afraid he wouldn’t like it and therefore not put his all into the tournament should he get chosen. And yet, after meeting you, he’s gained not one, but several new friends. I know it doesn’t seem that way right now, but I know my Jaemin. So thank you for bringing out the bright boy I knew was inside him all along.”

The words stopped Jeno, his fingers twitching and eyelashes sticking together. To hear that he brought out Jaemin’s personality, the one he thought was only natural for the beautiful Beauxbatons boy? It did horrible things to Jeno’s heart, the rhythm of its beat erratic and fast.

And yet…

Jeno’s shoulders slumped. He was also the one to strip Jaemin of all that, take away his pleasant experience at Hogwarts, and leave him cold and lifeless in the face of it all. What forgiveness was he even worthy of if he had done such a thing?

“I see something brewing in that head of yours, garçon,” Yuta continued, and Doyoung let out a quiet snort. “Don’t overthink it.”

“He always has the same face on when he starts digging himself into a hole,” Doyoung cooed, the hand in Jeno’s hair ruffling the strands and messing it all up.

Jeno whined and quickly shot his hands up to his hair to fix the mess Doyoung created. He sent his brother a weak glare that Doyoung only smiled widely at. “I do not,” He defended meekly.

Both Doyoung and Yuta laughed at that, their laughter almost harmonious with each other’s.

“Listen to Yuta,” Doyoung told Jeno after a few seconds of silence. “What he says is good advice.” Jeno looked at his brother, searched his eyes, and let himself give him a small nod. For the time being he would believe Yuta and Doyoung and their words.

Another few beats of silence passed between them, and Jeno took it as the best time to take his leave. “I’ll leave you two to…” He trailed off, glancing around the room. Doyoung and Yuta understood him easily enough, their faces doused in pink-hued embarrassment.

“Actually,” Yuta interjected, standing up from his seat. “I have to go attend to certain matters. I hope to see you sometime soon, mon chéri?” He asked Doyoung, to which Doyoung nodded, chin tilted towards the floor and neck an impossibly deep shade of red.

Yuta grinned once more and left the room, closing the door behind him. Once he was truly gone, Jeno opened his mouth, but Doyoung beat him to it.

“Not a word.”

Jeno snickered. “You’re lucky I don’t tell Donghyuck. Just how the hell did that happen?”

Doyoung groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I don’t want to talk about it. It’s too embarrassing.”

“What did he just call you?” Jeno asked, unable to resist being nosy and poking in his brother’s business if it meant teasing him.

Doyoung’s skin only flushed deeper and he let out another groan. “It means my darling,” He mumbled into his hands.

Jeno’s cheeks hurt from how wide he was smiling. He could already feel the challenge of having to keep this from Donghyuck. “When? I saw you two at Hogsmeade and at the Yule Ball, but I didn’t think you’d go this fast. I’m almost proud of you.”

Doyoung scoffed and released his face from his hands to shove at Jeno’s shoulder lightly. “I do not want to hear relationship advice from my younger brother. For your information, we got really close as we were preparing for the first task. Then as Yule Ball preparations rolled around, Yuta insisted on helping me since I had said I would do it all myself. I was reluctant to let him help at first, but it turned out… much better than I thought.”

“I can definitely see that,” Jeno butt in, which earned him a glare from Doyoung, but he only smiled innocently and gestured for Doyoung to continue.

“Anyway,” Doyoung huffed, “The whole ball went much more smoothly with his help, which I almost didn’t expect. All that alone time allowed us to talk and get to know each other and,” He trailed off, lips curling upwards as he stared at a spot on the wall. “Well let’s just say Yuta is much more charismatic than he seems.” He said the last part almost solely to himself, too embarrassed to say it fully out loud.

Jeno only snickered again. “That’s actually really cute.” His smile couldn’t help but soften as he saw the embarrassed but nevertheless fond look on Doyoung’s face as he talked about Yuta. His brother hadn’t truly gotten to be happy with someone in a long time because he focused so much on his job, so Jeno was glad he could experience that with Yuta. “I’m happy for you, Doyoung.”

“Shut up, it’s just a little fling,” Doyoung breathed out, rolling his eyes, but Jeno knew his brother better than that.

“You’re on the cusp of thirty. You don’t do flings.”

That earned Jeno another slap to his shoulder, but he took it with a breathless laugh, reveling in the sputtering mess his brother broke down into. “Thanks for calling me old, Jen.”

Jeno merely shrugged his shoulders. “But seriously, next time lock your door. I think I’m scarred for the rest of my life.”

“You’re a little brat, you know that?” Doyoung teased, poking at and tickling Jeno until he was a wheezing mess on the floor, desperately crying out for a truce in between his laughter.

By the time he left Doyoung’s office, his stomach was hurting with how hard it contracted and his heart had settled into a comfortable, steady rhythm, Yuta’s words stored safely away under lock and key for him to revisit later.

Jeno sighed with a shake of his head as he stepped out into the blinding light of the sun reflecting off the snow and the loud cheers of students as they threw snowballs back and forth at each other.

He was going to look for his friends and see if he could spend the rest of his afternoon with them, but he didn’t even need to look because two of them landed right in front of his feet in the snow.

Donghyuck and Sungchan were too absorbed in themselves to even notice Jeno standing above them. Their giggles mingled together before they gradually faded and their faces inched closer and closer together until they were kissing in literal broad daylight.

Seriously? Two times in one day?

Jeno cleared his throat loudly, effectively startling them out of whatever soon to be makeout session that Jeno already had seen enough of that day.

“Have you two seen Renjun or Mark?” He asked them, not even indulging them in a greeting.

Sungchan at least had the decency to look embarrassed from his spot underneath Donghyuck, eyes averted from Jeno’s as he shook his head no. Donghyuck on the other hand, had the most smug look on his face that Jeno had ever seen. His cheeks were flushed and the tip of his nose along with his ears were bright red (whether from the weather or from the kissing, Jeno didn’t want to know). “I think they’re at the bottom of the hill. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” He didn’t even wait for Jeno to say anything or leave before dipping down and kissing Sungchan again, the Durmstrang boy letting out a squeak of surprise but responding back in fervor.

Jeno grimaced and stepped over them without a care, changing his direction to walk down the hill in search of Renjun and Mark.

The snow was soft enough to play around in easily, but still cold enough so the majority of it didn’t melt away and left the ground wet and mushy for hours. Jeno had to dodge three snowballs that came flying out of nowhere straight at him, jinxed to run a specific course towards somebody else a few dozen feet away.

He also somehow shook hands with a snowman that had been charmed to life and could shuffle around the snow and shake its twig for an arm with bypassers. Jeno laughed as it shuffled straight into a tree and fell to pieces almost immediately, its twig arms falling to the ground.

Renjun and Mark were easy enough to spot out of the crowd, the two of them in an intense snowball fight with Jisung and… was that Chenle?

Jeno stopped in his tracks. If Chenle was there, then that would mean Jaemin couldn’t be far away. Instantly his eyes darted around the area where his friends were, hoping to spot out the familiar light blue tailcoat. But his eyes came out with nothing, Jaemin nowhere in sight.

Only slightly dejected, he continued down the hill path, drawing closer to where Renjun and Mark were. Their screams and shouts grew louder as Jeno approached them.

He saw Renjun completely drop to the ground with a high pitched shriek, and then shooting back up almost instantly with a scowl on his face. “Chenle! We said no speed jinxes on the snowballs!”

Chenle only cackled from where he was standing with Jisung, dodging a snowball Mark sent flying towards him with a wave of his wand. “It’s more fun this way mon ami!”

Renjun grumbled, flicking his wrist with his wand in his hand to pick a large amount of snow and form it into five snowballs in the air. Then, without warning, he sent them flying straight towards Chenle with a loud cry.

Chenle squeaked and ran to hide behind Jisung, who ended up being hit with all five snowballs in a row because he had been otherwise distracted.

They all fell into fits of laughter at the shell shocked look on Jisung’s face as he looked down at the snow covering the entire front of his body, dripping off his leather overcoat slowly.

“I’m sorry Jisung,” Renjun called in between his giggles, clutching his stomach desperately.

Jeno only watched in amusement, a smile on his face as he finally came close enough for them to notice his presence.

It was Mark who noticed him first. “Oh Jeno! I didn’t think you’d join us, Donghyuck said you were going to Doyoung’s room.”

“It was super quick,” Jeno explained. “Where’s Yangyang?”

“A rogue snowball hit him right in the side of the head and he had to go to Madam Sooyoung,” Renjun explained.

Jeno nodded his head, letting out a half sort of chuckle at the situation. Of course Yangyang would be the unfortunate soul to be hit with a rogue snowball like that. “He wasn’t hurt too badly right?”

Renjun shook his head. “Only a little frazzled. Madam Sooyoung probably won’t let him return outside again though. He’ll probably be back in his dormitory, if you want to go later.”

Jeno shook his head. “It’s cool, we’ll probably see him at dinner. What are you all doing though?”

“What does it look like?” Mark laughed, gesturing his arm out to his side. “Snowball fight! Want to join?”

“I’m afraid that’d be a little unfair to Jisung and Chenle,” Jeno inclined his head toward Jisung and Chenle, who had somehow fallen into some sort of argument that Jeno couldn’t hear from his distance. He doubted it was anything serious though, with the way Chenle was throwing his head back in laughter and Jisung was only looking on with a pout on his face. “Three versus two isn’t the fairest of fights.”

“Well then good thing Jaemin’s here,” Renjun said, smiling and looking at something far behind Jeno’s shoulder.

“What?” Jeno sputtered, spinning on his heels as fast as he could to look behind him. His eyes searched the sea of students desperately, but Renjun turned out to be right as his eyes caught on Jaemin’s familiar Beauxbatons uniform as he walked down the hill towards their group.

He stood, frozen still as Jaemin walked up to where Jisung and Chenle were standing, stealing short glances towards Jeno, Renjun, and Mark, but otherwise not acknowledging them.

Jeno knew he was supposed to be giving Jaemin his space as Yuta had advised him to, but now with Jaemin this close, his heart just betrayed him all over again and he felt like a fish out of water, squabbling desperately for any anchor to take him back underwater.

“You all up for a three v. three?” Mark called towards Jaemin, Jisung, and Chenle.

Jeno’s heart was in overdrive at this point, caught between wanting to stay and hopefully get a chance to talk to Jaemin and wanting to dash away as fast as he could without looking back.

“You’re on!” Chenle called back with a toothy smile, already starting to form snowballs with a wave of his wand.

Renjun seemed to notice Jeno’s inner turmoil and patted his arm comfortably. “Come on, it’ll be fun. You won’t have to get near him, and it looks like he isn’t running away either, so it’s a good sign, right?”

Jeno, still dazed and barely present in his body, nodded. He gulped and followed Renjun to stand next to Mark near their giant lump of snow that was a sorry excuse for a fort.

“Ready?” Mark sent him a smirk, waving his hand and gathering a few snowballs to hover in the air in front of him.

Jeno didn’t get to respond because a snowball whizzed out of the corner of his eye and before he could even react, it was making contact with the side of his head. He stumbled backward, a cold patch forming rapidly on his head as his hair dripped, the residual snow from the snowball traveling down past his ear and onto his neck, causing a shiver to rippled down his spine.

When he turned his head to look at who sent the snowball flying at him, he was met with Jaemin’s face, just as slack in shock as his own face was. Not even a moment later Jaemin was covering his mouth with his hand and trying to stop the giggles from pouring out of him, shoulders shaking as he stole several glances at Jeno, who probably looked ridiculous standing stock still with snow clinging to his hair and ear.

A hot pant left his lips and before he could stop it, Jeno was also falling into uncontrollable giggles at the absurdity of the situation. His stomach contracted painfully from before in Doyoung’s office, but he ignored it in favor of quickly weaving together a few perfectly round snowballs from the snow next to him.

Without warning, he shot them straight for Jaemin, who shrieked and ducked to avoid them, desperately covering his face with his hands.

“Seems like we’re starting then,” Mark said with a laugh, sending his own barrage of snowballs to the other side of the field. The rest of them followed suit, and the rest was history.

Chapter Text

January, usually one of the abstractedly longest months of the year with its lack of holidays and freezing cold temperatures, passed in the blink of an eye.

Jeno only realized once the snow started to stick to the ground for less and less time, and the romantic flurries in the air returned to signal the beginning of February, that he had yet to do any actual research on his clue for the second task.

All that they had established was that the earmuffs could have some kind of connection to Mandrakes, which could be an indicator for potions having a significant role in the second task.

“I’m not even supposed to be hearing this right now,” Doyoung said with a slight whine, jutting his lower lip out and picking at his lunch.

“There was nobody better to go to!” Jeno justified, sitting on top of Doyoung’s desk with his legs dangling off the side. This was how their lunches together always went; Doyoung trying to enjoy a regular meal at his desk while Jeno took to sitting on top of the desk itself, much to Doyoung’s complaints about his ass being too close to his food, but Jeno only ever sent him innocent smiles in return.

“Jeno,” Doyoung sighed, glaring up at him. “I am literally one of the organizers for the entire Triwizard Tournament, and you are asking me for help with your clue. How is this fair to the other champions?”

Jeno huffed, knowing everything Doyoung said was true but it didn’t hurt to ask, did it? “Maybe I just wanted an expert’s opinion.”

“Well I’m sorry but I can’t tell you anything. Now can we please move on to a different topic before my conscience creeps up on me and jinxes me.”

Jeno rolled his eyes with a little laugh. “We can talk about you and Yuta, if you’d like. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, you know.”

Doyoung dropped his head to the desk with a bang, groaning. “Don’t remind me. My mind is already filled over the brim with tournament preparations. The second task is right around the corner.”

“When is it by the way?” Jeno asked, cocking his head to the side.

Doyoung lifted his head up from his desk to send Jeno a weak glare, but Jeno quickly shot his hands up in front of his chest. “It’s an innocent question! Absolutely no ulterior motive involved, I swear.”

With a sigh, Doyoung rolled his head onto his arms. “It’s on February 20th. The notice will be sent out to the whole school tomorrow.”

Jeno nodded his head, taking in the information. February 20th, that was only two weeks away. He had to figure out what else he could do with the earmuffs before then. It seemed easy enough (if only).

***

“Still no luck?”

Jeno sighed, closing the book he wasn’t really reading, looking up at Renjun. “There are just too many potion combinations involving Mandrakes to make any sort of accurate prediction at what the second task could be.” With a huff, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned back in his chair, the two front legs tilting up off the ground as he balanced himself on the back legs.

Renjun chuckled, taking the seat across from Jeno. He had a handful of books in his arms, which Jeno recognized as N.E.W.T. practice books. Jeno wasn’t even going to think about his N.E.W.T.s until the last possible minute, not with other, more urgent things occupying the forefront of his mind, like the tournament, or his Astronomy test next week, or Jaemin.

“I heard from Donghyuck that Sungchan hasn’t made any connections with his earmuffs yet, so I think you have the chance to relax, if just for a bit right now.”

“I still can’t help but feel like I’m not as prepared as I could be,” Jeno mumbled, shaking his head to rustle his bangs up. “I don’t want to let anybody down after the first task.”

Renjun reached over and patted down part of Jeno’s robes that had crinkled up and wrinkled. “You’re putting too much pressure on yourself to be the perfect champion everybody wants you to be. News flash, Jen, both Sungchan and Jaemin are just as lost as you are, and that’s okay. The Triwizard Tournament isn’t supposed to be easy, and it’s just as much as you figuring your way through in real time as it is being prepared, so don’t worry. Whatever the task is, I’m sure you’ll ace it just like you did the first one. The Goblet of Fire didn’t choose you for nothing.” He sent Jeno a wink, and sat back down in his seat without another word.

Jeno sat, absorbing Renjun’s words quietly and smiling softly. “You always know just what to say, don’t you?”

Renjun snorted, not even looking up from the book he had started to read. “You got that right. Now shush, I want to study.”

Jeno shook his head with quiet laughter, not saying another word as he diverted his attention to his own Potions textbook. He had been mindlessly flipping through all the pages before Renjun arrived that he had somehow ended up on the page about Bezoars. He quickly flipped back to the section all about Mandrakes and the potions related to them and started reading.

***

Valentine’s Day.

Jeno thought the spike in love potion incidents around the Yule Ball was bad, but it was nothing compared to when he woke up Friday morning with an entire pile of perfectly wrapped treats waiting for him at the foot of his bed.

He could make out the faintest of pink dust rising up from some of the packages, and decided it would be best to just discard them all without a second glance. He didn’t want to take any chances, and definitely didn’t want to hear the lecture Doyoung would no doubt give him if he accidentally consumed a piece of chocolate with a love potion cooked inside of it.

Junkyu and Eric had their own fair share of gifted sweets left at the foot of their beds, but Jeno’s pile was clearly much larger.

“Someone’s popular,” Eric joked as he stepped out of bed, peeling off his pajamas and slipping on his robes. “Going to spend the day with anyone special?”

Jeno shook his head with a small laugh. He couldn’t stop the flash of turquoise and blonde hair that crossed the back of his eyelids when Eric mentioned someone special, but he ignored it the best he could. Despite the snowball fight six weeks ago that left Jeno with an inkling of hope of his and Jaemin’s situation taking a turn for the better, nothing had progressed since then.

In all honesty, Jeno had barely even seen Jaemin in the past six weeks since then, and it wasn’t the usual cold shoulder treatment; Jaemin had just been showing up to class and the Great Hall less and less.

He tried not thinking too much of it, everything circling Jaemin already leaving smoke coming out of Jeno’s ears whenever he tried to process any of it. He had to keep his focus on the second task, which was less than a week away.

Walking into the Great Hall for breakfast, Jeno almost stopped feeling bad for trashing the huge pile of chocolates and other treats gifted to him in his room. He had thought those were a lot, but it was barely anything compared to how many students were running around from table to table with neatly wrapped packages in their hands, shyly presenting them to others in hopes of being accepted.

The entire Great Hall itself looked as though it had been bathed in fairy dust, the twinkling of the candles above giving everything a faint pinkish hue that almost made Jeno dizzy with the way it wafted up into his nostrils.

Streamers of different shades of pink were strung all along the floating candles, and the flames of the candle themselves were flickering in the shape of hearts.

Jeno was the last of his friends to arrive at their usual table. Their little corner of the Gryffindor table had quickly expanded after the new year, with Sungchan occupying a permanent spot next to Donghyuck, Mark frequently coming down to sit with Renjun, and Jisung and Chenle arguing over one thing or another across from each other at the very edge of the benches.

Jaemin was, unsurprisingly, nowhere to be seen.

“Good morning,” Jeno plopped down onto the bench next to Yangyang. His greeting fell on mostly deaf ears, everyone else at the table too deep in the romantic spirit to pay attention to anyone else but the object of their affection.

Yangyang was the only one to hum and sent Jeno a nod, mouth stuffed with french toast and prohibiting a verbal reply. Jeno glanced at the large plates set down in the middle of the table for breakfast and resisted the urge to snort. Taeyong definitely had an interesting sense of humor.

Everything, from the french toast to the pancakes, was heart shaped. They had been given a blown out American style breakfast, and Jeno could already feel his blood sugar spike tremendously as he started picking at all the different assortments offered to him.

“Oh, Jeno! I didn’t see you there.” Jeno lifted his gaze to Donghyuck, who was sitting straight across from him. Jeno rolled his eyes, chewing on his pancakes. Donghyuck was practically half sprawled over Sungchan’s lap, spending the last few minutes that Jeno had been at the table whispering low in Sungchan’s ear and causing the Durmstrang boy to blush crimson and sputter out breathlessly. Jeno didn’t want to know. “Are you coming with us all to Hogsmeade?”

“Hogsmeade?” Jeno asked around a bite of his pancakes.

It was Renjun who spoke up from the other side of Donghyuck. “Baekhyun is offering a couple’s special the whole day at the Three Broomsticks, and Headmaster Taeyong has made a special exception to give permission to anyone who wants to go.”

Jeno nodded, taking in the words. It would be nice to get out of the castle and visit Hogsmeade again, but the memory of what happened last time still blared bright and clear in the forefront of his mind. Not to mention, “But it’s a couple special. Who would I go with?”

The table fell silent for a few beats before Donghyuck piped up. “You can go with Yangyang! That way we all get in, even if you’re not a couple.”

Jeno glanced to his left at Yangyang, about to open his mouth and ask if Yangyang was alright with it, but Yangyang beat him to it. “Actually, I already got asked by someone else to go with them.”

“Who?” They all asked in unison. Jeno blinked rapidly, not knowing of anyone that Yangyang was talking to in that sense.

Yangyang looked shy, crouching in on himself and rubbing the back of his nape with a sheepish smile. “Giselle from Hufflepuff.”

Nothing was said for a few moments, but then they were all clamoring to try and pat Yangyang on the back, their voices mingling and getting lost in the noise from their elated surprise.

“Dude, that’s so nice! She’s awesome, so your type,” Mark grinned, and Yangyang only blushed with a nervous laugh, nodding minutely.

“I can’t believe she had to ask you first, what happened to chivalry?” Donghyuck huffed, clearly only acting overdramatic to tease his best friend. It worked, in the way Yangyang was rolling his eyes and throwing a piece of his french toast straight at Donghyuck’s face, who waved it away easily with his wand that he had been holding.

Feeling the beginnings of a food fight, Jeno and Renjun quickly butted in and grabbed both Yangyang and Donghyuck’s wands from their hands. The two Slytherins both sulked, but agreed not to start a mess and were promptly returned their wands.

The rest of breakfast passed by uneventfully, everyone except Jeno conversing excitedly about what they would do in Hogsmeade together before walking down to the Three Broomsticks.

“Are you sure you don’t want to at least tag along?” Renjun asked Jeno, as they were walking out of the Great Hall together, their stomachs full and sated.

Jeno shook his head, sending Renjun a reassuring smile. “It’d be pointless if I was the only one not paired up for a couple’s special. I think I’ll just spend the day in the library reading up on Mandrakes.”

Renjun nodded, but Jeno could tell he wasn’t entirely convinced. He gnawed his lower lip between his teeth for a few moments, which told Jeno he had something else to say but was debating if he wanted to say it or not.

It looked like he made his decision after another few seconds. “You know, I heard from Chenle that Jaemin wasn’t at breakfast because he’s spending the entire day in the library.” He gave Jeno a steady look. Jeno knew what he meant, but didn’t say anything. He only nodded and watched as Renjun jogged to catch up to Mark and the rest of their friends as they walked towards the entrance doors and out of the castle.

Jeno turned and walked in the other direction, slipping past the wide marble staircase and down one of the narrow corridors that led to the vast library situated neatly on the north side of the castle.

The atmosphere was lively as Jeno walked, almost everyone he came across paired up with someone and giggling together as they didn’t even look where they were walking, too occupied with whatever conversation they were having with each other. Jeno would find it amusing on any other day, but something twisted in his gut after the seventh or eighth couple he saw.

He made the right choice to spend the day preparing for the second task instead of uselessly tagging along with his friends. Being a third wheel, well in this case a ninth wheel, wasn’t exactly on his bucket list.

The library was silent when he entered, as it usually was, but Jeno had the small thought that hidden crannies between infinitely tall shelves of books was hardly the most romantic of places to spend Valentine’s Day with someone.

The librarian greeted him with a nod from behind her desk. Jeno nodded in return before easily maneuvering himself through the scattered chairs and aisles of books. The section that held the most information about potions and their ingredients was near the east corner, where the tall windows looked out to where the Great Lake was at the bottom of the cliff. It was still early in the morning, so the sun was shining bright through the glass, its light angled and pouring into the library with warmth, illuminating the old wood of the tables and benches that were tucked away hidden in the corner.

As Jeno walked the familiar route, his eyes caught on someone sitting by themselves at one of the smaller tables in the History section. A second glance confirmed that it was, in fact, Jaemin, deep into whatever piece of literature that sat open before him.

Jeno picked up his pace, deliberately not looking at Jaemin and hoping to slip away and escape as fast as he could, but the universe seemed to have other plans for him.

He started walking away so fast he hadn’t noticed where he was going and bumped his shoulder into the corner of one of the book shelves. He immediately recoiled with a loud wince, clutching his shoulder that started to pulse underneath his hand. A few books fell off one of the shelves from the force of his impact, causing a ruckus in the otherwise untouched silence of the library air.

With a shaky breath and tense muscles, Jeno slowly turned around to see if Jaemin had heard him, or even worse, saw exactly what transpired. To his dismay, Jaemin was staring straight at him, eyes wide as their gazes met. Nothing moved for an intensely long second, the air outside even seeming to still from the tension.

Then, as though hot glass cracked underneath cold water, Jaemin’s lips twitched, and then his shoulders flinched, and he was bringing his hand up to his mouth to stop himself from giggling too loudly.

Jeno didn’t move at all, too shocked and horrified by the entire situation to even comprehend where he was in his body and perceive reality.

“Uhm, I was just… walking past…” Jeno cursed himself for the way his voice sounded, but every alarm was blaring loudly in his head, telling him to evacuate and not engage, afraid that he would upset Jaemin further in some way.

But Jaemin wasn’t tense or gearing up to leave. His posture was relaxed and he actually met Jeno’s gaze. “Are you also here to research for the second task?”

Jeno blinked, throat closing up. That was the first sentence not laced with anger that Jaemin had spoken to him in over two months. “Uhm, yes.”

Jaemin nodded, glancing away from Jeno and down at his book. He didn’t say anything else, but it didn’t seem like he was exactly disturbed by Jeno’s presence so close to him. Jeno would take anything he could get, but reminded himself not to get too eager, the situation still too delicate to prod at.

He wanted to say so much, bring up Hogsmeade or the Yule Ball, or both, but he stopped himself. Instead he made himself busy with crouching down to pick up the few books that had fallen off the shelves from his earlier bumping into it.

As he was putting all of the books back onto the shelf one by one, he noticed the last book was an old, used copy of the standard Herbology textbook, where he had gotten most of his information about Mandrakes and the like.

Staring down at the book, then quickly glancing in Jaemin’s direction, seeing him already diverting his full attention back to his own book, Jeno made a choice he hoped he wouldn’t regret.

He ruffled through the pages of the textbook with his thumb before he found the chapter about Mandrakes and how to care for them. He folded the top corner of the page down so that it could easily be found once the book closed again.

With a thundering heartbeat loud in his ears, Jeno walked over and placed the book on the table next to Jaemin’s hand. When Jaemin looked at the book then up at him, the question obvious in his eyes, Jeno averted his gaze. “This book has some really interesting stuff,” He said lamely. “You might like it.”

Not waiting for Jaemin’s reaction or a response, Jeno turned on his heel and walked away, back towards his original destination, deliberately not looking over his shoulder.

By the time Jeno closed his final book (he had lost count of how many he flipped through), the sun was well into setting on the other side of the castle, the sky already darkening to a rich navy outside the windows behind him.

With a heavy sigh, he stood up from his seat, his bones groaning and joints cracking at awkward intervals as his body stretched itself out. His back ached as he went about putting all the books away on their proper shelves - Renjun was always telling him he slouched too much, but he couldn’t help it.

The library was more silent than usual, the cozy atmosphere that came with several people quietly using the facilities gone and replaced with a deserted air. The overhead lights had been dimmed and the only source of light was from the moonlight through the windows and the scattered floating candles in some of the aisles.

When he passed by the table Jaemin had been sitting at, he saw the table was cleared and the chair was pushed in. Jeno figured he was the last one left in the library as he kept walking, trying to force himself not to think too much about the exchange with Jaemin earlier.

It had felt like he was seeing Jaemin for the first time in a long time, and even though that was technically true, it still felt off. He thought about their conversation the night they met at the Goblet of Fire, when Jaemin gave him jellybeans after the Weighing of the Wands, the tent near the Quidditch pitch when Jaemin admitted to never flying before, how much fun they had at Hogsmeade after Thanksgiving, before…

Jeno shook his head, ridding himself of those thoughts. Yuta said to give Jaemin time, and that was exactly what he was going to do. It already seemed to work, if Jeno let himself a sliver of hope, with the way Jaemin had spoken to him first just a few hours ago.

He sent the librarian a quick goodbye and slipped out the library as quietly as he could, the dark and empty hallways of the castle meeting him. He took his time weaving his way through the hallways back towards Gryffindor Tower, not in any rush to return to his dormitory.

The only sound that followed him was the echo of his own footsteps on the floors, everything else still and silent, the paintings having already gone to sleep for the night since the sun set earlier on in the winter and the sky lost its light faster.

Jeno only felt partially guilty for waking the portrait that led into the Gryffindor common room, but it was thankfully kind enough to let Jeno in without the password (though Jeno knew it was only because the portrait was too tired to care).

There was nobody in the common room, although the fire was still burning brightly in the fireplace, blanketing the room in a soft warmth. It was still early in the evening and curfew wasn’t for another three hours; Jeno was probably right in guessing that out of the students not already in their rooms, the rest were still out partying at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

Eric and Junkyu weren’t in their beds when he opened the door, the room quiet and shrouded in darkness. Jeno took his wand out of his robes and with a quick wave lit a few of the candles on the nightstand near his bed. It was just enough light for him to navigate to his trunk without tripping on something and change out of his robes and into his pyjamas.

He was about to throw back the covers of his bed and get settled in, but he noticed a small parcel sitting neatly atop his pillow.

Tilting his head to the side and furrowing his eyebrows, Jeno picked up the parcel and held it up to the light from the candles. Undoing the wrapping easily, he saw that it was a book and a small plastic bag. Straining his eyes further, he could faintly make out the word Dragibus on the plastic, and when he turned his attention to the book, he noticed it was the Herbology textbook that he had picked up from the library floor.

The textbook that he had given to Jaemin to read.

The little dog ear bookmark was still indented into the pages, and Jeno traced his finger along the side of the book. Slowly, he dipped his finger into the divet where the bookmark was, and the book opened up to the page about Mandrakes.

Looking closer, he saw there was a small piece of parchment stuck to the page, and in curt, cursive handwriting:

Merci.

Chapter Text

Jeno didn’t sleep well the previous night, a curling sort of apprehension wrapping around the edges of each of his organs, rearranging them and leaving him with a dizzying sense of nausea and disassociation.

It was February 19th, and the second task was tomorrow. Jeno knew he wouldn’t receive any actual information about the task until just before it started, but the gnawing worry in his stomach only increased tenfold compared to before the first task.

“You’re worrying for nothing,” Donghyuck said, chewing around a piece of his sandwich. “I mean, just look at how well you did during the first task. The outcome this time is bound to be the same.”

Jeno’s stomach churned as he stared at his untouched plate, not trusting himself to keep his food down should he try to eat it. “I don’t know Donghyuck, I just have a bad feeling about something.”

“Well we’re all here for you man,” Yangyang comforted, sending Jeno one of his signature bright smiles. “We’ll be cheering from the sidelines just like last time.”

“That is if Donghyuck doesn’t move to the Durmstrang section to cheer for his new boyfriend,” Renjun teased, giggling as he poked Donghyuck’s arm, who scoffed and started play-wrestling with him.

Jeno and Yangyang only watched on with amusement as the two of them fought (if wrapping each other in a tight hug could even be considered fighting). They were laughing and crying out gleefully as they started tickling each other, and didn’t even notice someone approaching behind them.

“Ahem.”

They both immediately froze on their actions, Renjun’s arm wrapped around Donghyuck’s neck in a loose chokehold and Donghyuck’s arm around Renjun’s mid section.

It was almost comical the way both of them turned their heads in the direction of the voice at the same time, looking up to see Doyoung standing over the both of them with one raised eyebrow.

“I’ve learned not to ask,” Doyoung said with a sigh, rolling his eyes. “Are you two finished?”

Slowly, the two of them unpeeled themselves off each other and straightened their askew robes, patting down the fabric, though it was futile to rid it of its wrinkles. “Yes,” Renjun answered.

“Good,” Doyoung said, one edge of his lips quirking up the slightest of degrees, enough for the small dimple to peek out of his skin. “You both are needed in my office.”

“Did we do something wrong?” Donghyuck asked, immediately turning on the defensive.

Doyoung quickly shook his head. “Nothing of the sort, unless you’ve actually done something,” He narrowed his eyes at Donghyuck, but Donghyuck quickly shook his head as well with a slightly too nervous laugh. Doyoung chose to ignore it and continued. “I just need to speak to you both in private.”

They both turned their heads around to meet Jeno and Yangyang’s eyes, all of their gazes mirroring collective confusion. Without any other protests, Donghyuck and Renjun gathered their bookbags and stood up from the bench, ready to follow Doyoung.

Doyoung sent Jeno and Yangyang a reassuring smile. “We’ll be done in a bit.”

Jeno watched as they went, Donghyuck and Renjun easily falling back into their previous quarrel as they followed Doyoung, who was pointedly ignoring their rising volume.

“What do you think it’s about?” Yangyang wondered aloud.

Jeno could only shrug, not being able to come up with any conclusion that could plausibly explain why Doyoung would only need to speak with Donghyuck and Renjun.

“Guess we’ll find out when they come back.”

Donghyuck and Renjun didn’t return to the Great Hall for lunch, nor did they return for the rest of the day.

By the time curfew rolled around and Jeno had to reluctantly return to the Gryffindor tower, he was hounded not only with the pulsing uncertainty of the second task, but also with the slowly blossoming concern for Donghyuck and Renjun’s whereabouts.

He told himself he trusted Doyoung not to deliberately lie to him, and that there was no reason for concern. Donghyuck and Renjun could have easily returned to their separate dormitories without meeting up with Jeno and Yangyang again. Jeno shouldn’t jump to conclusions just yet.

Sleep didn’t come easily to him for a second night in a row. He tossed and turned, faded flashing images of his friends, Mandrakes and other herbs, and even the now familiar spiral of turquoise irises flooding his mind.

By the time he finally gave up and kicked the rumpled covers off himself, the sky was already starting to lighten as the sun edged closer and closer to peeking over the horizon. With a resigned sigh, Jeno lifted himself off the bed and padded towards the high window, looking out of the glass and down at the lower parts of the castle.

Harsh shadows cut into the stone, mellowing out the lines of the towers and hallway roofs so they all blended together. Jeno stood there for a long time, long enough for the sun to fully ascend over the line of the horizon and ease away the shadows that now only clung to the most hidden crevices of the castle stone.

His eyes remained unfocused, mind floating to the small corner in the library, to the small moment shared between him and Jaemin, and how things could have played out differently, in another world. Maybe there Jaemin hadn’t avoided Jeno, and instead they spent the whole day with their chairs pushed close enough that their thighs were touching as they read out of the same book. Maybe Jeno would somehow gain the courage to inch his hand closer to Jaemin’s on the table and interlock their pinkies, if only to gauge Jaemin’s reaction.

However this wasn’t that world, and there was still a huge rift between Jeno and Jaemin that Jeno didn’t know how to cross without falling down an infinite hole, never to return. Though, Jeno’s heart whispered, that small moment in the library, when Jaemin spoke to him first, could have been a sign of the rift shifting, the two sides moving closer together towards a jumpable distance. Jeno knew he would jump in a heartbeat at the first sign of possibility.

The sun was settled comfortably low in the sky now, letting enough light into the room to stir Jeno’s roommates and have them slowly rise from their sleep.

Soon, it would be time to head down to breakfast, and after that, the long awaited second task would begin.

***

Doyoung approached him once breakfast was finished.

“Are you two ready to go?”

Jeno nodded and stood up from the bench, looking behind him at Yangyang, who sent him a reassuring thumbs up. Sungchan followed in Jeno’s footsteps, standing up from where he was sitting across Yangyang, Jisung sending him his own sign of encouragement.

Donghyuck and Renjun weren’t at breakfast either, and suspiciously, neither was Chenle. Jaemin was nowhere to be seen, but that was expected at this point. Jeno momentarily wondered if he would meet up with them somewhere along the way towards the location of the second task, or if he was already waiting for them there.

The walk was silent, the hallways clear due to all the students being congregated in the Great Hall. Doyoung didn’t look behind him at them, and kept a brisk pace as they walked through the corridors until he led them through a door right next to a staircase.

When Jeno entered, he noticed it was just an empty, unused classroom, with nothing special inside.

Though, that wasn’t entirely true, as Jeno’s eyes zeroed in on Jaemin sitting at one of the desks, fingers absentmindedly tapping away at the surface. He turned at the sound of the door opening and new arrivals, and instead of his usual cold shoulder, he actually looked straight at Jeno.

Jeno almost froze in place, not knowing what to do with having all of Jaemin’s undivided attention for the first time in months. He gulped, feeling his heart rate pick up. He flickered his gaze away, looking elsewhere, like a coward.

The room was quiet, the prolonged silence stifling and too hot for midday in February.

“The three of you will stay in here until it’s time to call you in for the second task,” Doyoung spoke, voice steady against the stuttering awkwardness. “Unlike last time, you will all be entering together and completing the task simultaneously.”

Jeno nodded in response, Jaemin and Sungchan doing the same. With that, Doyoung left the room, taking with him the one pillar that was barely holding up the fragile atmosphere of the room.

Jeno slowly sunk down into the desk chair nearest to him, almost being able to hear his bones creak and muscles groan with the slowness in which he moved. He felt eyes searing hot into his back, but refused to look behind him, not knowing how to face the gaze he had longed to be directed at him for months.

He should take this as a good sign, he knew that, but now that he was finally presented with at least the smallest sliver of hope, he didn’t know how to react. If he approached Jaemin now, would he finally be able to properly apologize without interruptions, or would Jaemin blow it all back in his face in a way he would be unable to recover from?

His thoughts were leaving his head pounding, distracting him from the second task. He mentally reviewed all of his knowledge about Mandrakes and their properties, hoping they could somehow be of use to him with whatever it was they made them do.

Seemingly no time passed at all before the wooden door was creaking open once more and Doyoung was peeking his head inside, looking at the three of them. “Ready?” He asked them.

They all stood up together, filing out of the room one by one and following Doyoung down the hallway. Jeno noticed that they were going in the same direction they came from, approaching the Great Hall. He furrowed his eyebrows, wondering if the second task could somehow take place inside.

It seemed he was correct, because the noise of the crowd became extremely apparent as they neared the large doors. With a simple wave of his hand, Doyoung commanded the doors open, the hinges moaning as the heavy doors pulled themselves back to reveal the hall.

The four house tables were gone, and on all three walls were makeshift stands, raised all the way to the ceiling to accommodate for every student. The middle of the floor was occupied by three long work desks, and a few tall item shelves scattered around the area.

What really caught Jeno’s eye, however, were the three people tied to chairs with ropes all around every part of their bodies. Their heads were hung forward so Jeno couldn’t make out their faces, but even so, the color of their skin had his eyes widening. It was a garish shade of pink, so rich it looked as if they were covered in paint. Not only that, but all along their exposed arms and necks were tiny white bumps that looked like horrible rashes.

Doyoung ushered the three of them forward, and Jeno felt the moment all of them recognized the people in the chairs. He was sure the drop of his heart and the cold rush of his blood was felt by both Jaemin and Sungchan as well.

“Renjun,” Jeno breathed, right as Jaemin gasped out, “Chenle!” and Sungchan called loudly, “Donghyuck!”

His throat choked up and he almost tripped in his attempts to run over to Renjun, but an invisible force tugged him back before he got too close.

He whipped his head around and was met with the sight of Doyoung, his arm out signaling him as the spell caster that stopped Jeno. His face was all hard lines, features turning tight and pained.

“Back away from the students, Jeno, or risk being disqualified from the tournament.”

Jeno breathed in a shallow breath, his muscles shaking with the overwhelming urge to just turn around and save Renjun and Donghyuck.

“Doyoung,” He croaked.

Doyoung pressed his lips together, tearing his gaze forcefully away from Jeno.

Renjun made a strangled sort of noise behind him, and Jeno quickly spun back around to look at Renjun.

“Renjun?” He asked, trying to step forward again but the force pulled him back.

“Jeno?” A meek sort of rasp escaped Renjun’s lips, and Jeno felt his heart shatter at the raw confusion and pain laced into Renjun’s tone. He fought against the force, but it was too strong for him; he remained where he stood, unable to move. Renjun tried to speak again, but the only thing that came out was the broken half of a syllable, and then his chest constricted and he hiccuped, a small series of bubbles floating out of his mouth and up into the air before popping.

Jeno felt his blood reach a feverish temperature. “Don’t try and stop me Doyoung,” He called, once again trying to physically force his way against the magic Doyoung was casting. He didn’t prevail, and was only left with a sweaty brow and a heaving chest.

“Jeno, please,” Doyoung whispered, and even though he was far behind Jeno, Jeno could hear him loud and clear. Jeno opened his mouth once more to protest, to scream, to cry, to do anything, but he was interrupted by a loud voice.

“It’s alright, my dear champions, there is no cause for worry.”

Jeno, along with Jaemin and Sungchan, turned their heads back to the front doors of the Great Hall, where Taeyong and the rest of the judges were walking in alongside him, the haughtiness in their auras rolling off them in waves. It made Jeno sick to his stomach.

Taeyong’s features were calm, no signs of distress visible anywhere on his face. Jeno couldn’t tell if that was exactly comforting or enraging. “All will be explained, but you must do as Professor Kim says and step away from the students.”

Despite everything in him screaming no, Jeno knew he couldn’t resist the magic without it resulting in consequences. He took a deep breath and forced himself to take one, two, then three steps back toward Doyoung and everyone else, away from the students in the chairs.

“Good boy,” Taeyong soothed, gesturing his hand over to the three tables that were set up next to each other a couple dozen feet away from the chairs. Jeno scowled. “You three can take your positions at one of the three tables before we announce the task.”

Jaemin was the first to move, slowly walking over to the table in the middle, directly across from the chair Chenle was in.

Sungchan was quick to follow, making his way over to the table nearest Donghyuck.

With another shaky breath and one last fleeting look towards his brother, Jeno ducked his head and found his spot at the last table, opposite Renjun.

They all stood stark still, Jeno couldn’t even be sure if they were breathing. He couldn’t take his eyes off Renjun and Donghyuck, his worry growing larger and larger in his stomach as he heard small, almost indiscernible groans leaving their lips, the occasional hiccup racking through their chests and producing bubbles that floated into the air and popped. They were so clearly in pain, the white rash all over their skin only spreading as Jeno kept looking at them.

All at once he felt himself be punched in the gut, and he remembered Mark. Mark, one of the judges, who no doubt was on the planning committee for this task. He ripped his gaze away from Renjun and searched for Mark’s face, but he wasn’t facing Jeno. He was walking with the other judges to the center of the floor, to the long judge’s table that was erected a few ways behind the three chairs.

It was only when all the judges turned back around to face the crowd that Jeno could catch a clear glimpse of Mark’s face. Whatever pain Jeno was feeling seeing his friends in such a state, was portrayed almost tenfold in Mark’s eyes. There was anguish, regret, and most of all, guilt.

“Students,” Taeyong’s voice rang loud throughout the entire Hall, addressing the crowd cramped up in the steep stands all around them. Jeno looked all around him, and felt as though he was a lion waiting to be thrown into the ring and be hand-fed to a bloodthirsty gladiator.

“Welcome to the second task of the Triwizard Tournament! The second task will consist of a Potions test to see how well the champions perform under pressure, and when the fate of one of their loved ones is on the line.”

Jeno’s heart fell to the ground. Taeyong kept speaking.

“These three students were given a poison that was the homemade concoction of one of our professors many years ago. He never named the poison, but vials of it were given to sixth years as part of their curriculum to properly understand Golpalott’s Third Law. We will now see how well our champions fare well against it. They will also be given small samples of the poison, and from there will have exactly 90 minutes to create an anecdote and give it to their loved one.”

Jeno looked over to his right, where Jaemin and Sungchan were standing at their tables, watching Taeyong with unblinking eyes. The real weight of the tournament was finally being brought down on them, and they could do nothing but bare their teeth and push through it.

“However, we as judges would never do something to purposefully hurt any one of our students.” He gestured to a small wooden box that rested atop the judge’s table. “There are previously prepared anecdotes safely stored inside this box, should the champions end with less than satisfactory results. The poison isn’t fatal, and can easily be reversed, even if the process is a little complicated.”

The crowd cheered, and Jeno’s stomach churned, not feeling the least bit settled from Taeyong’s words. Renjun, Donghyuck, and Chenle were still poisoned. What would happen if one of the champion’s potions failed, and only worsened the condition of the students? Would the anecdote still work then?

Taeyong continued, completely unaffected, or if he was, he didn’t show it. “One final thing before the task finally commences. After the first task, the champions were sent a clue that could have possibly given them some aid in preparing for this task. I will now share that clue with you all.”

He reached into the folds of his robes and pulled out a pair of earmuffs identical to the ones given to Jeno and the other champions. “Each champion was given a pair of earmuffs,” Taeyong explained, and the crowd let out a series of low oohs and ahhs. “As some of you clever students have probably already figured out, the earmuffs are of course a node to Mandrakes, a plant that is a crucial part to most potions and anecdotes.” He turned his neck to the front doors of the Hall, and as if on cue, the doors opened by themselves and long tables were rolled in by the Herbology professor. Upon closer inspection, Jeno noticed that the tables were actually long pots filled with soil, with little sprouts peeking out from the top.

“Mandrakes,” He whispered, watching as the professor wheeled the pots to stand next to the shelves filled with other potion supplies near where Sungchan stood.

“Thank you Hyungmin,” Taeyong commented, before the professor walked off to someplace in the stands. Taeyong turned back to the ground. “We have provided the champions with everything they would find in any standard Potions classroom, as well as Mandrakes ready to be picked and trimmed.”

Jeno gulped, his throat dry. He looked at the shelves, as well as the rows of Mandrakes, and, just because he was in the line of his sight (absolutely no other reason), Jeno looked at Jaemin at the table next to him. Jaemin wasn’t looking at the pots of Mandrakes, or even the shelves of potion supplies. He was looking straight at Chenle, his facial features filled with anguish for his best friend.

Jeno’s heart squeezed painfully. He wished he could help Jaemin in some way, but he knew interfering with the other champions during the task was forbidden. As much as he yearned to cure all the students immediately, if only so Jaemin didn’t look so heartbroken, he didn’t want to risk getting himself or Jaemin disqualified from the tournament.

He bit his tongue hard and forcefully focused his gaze back on Taeyong, who was about to start the task.

“If you’re clever you’ll also know why the earmuffs are a clue related to Mandrakes; their cries when picked are fatal to those not wearing a pair. To counter that,” Taeyong picked his hand up and snapped his fingers in the direction of the middle of the room.

At once, an energy field sprang up from the ground and extended up into the air until it combined together, creating a dome with the champions, poisoned students, and all the supplies inside.

“This is an energy field that will trap all sound inside, so that should the champions decide to use the Mandrakes in their potion, they can do so without risking everyone else’s safety.”

Jeno glanced up at the energy field, almost completely invisible if not for the faint rush of energy that passed along the edges every few seconds.

“What about the poisoned students?” Jaemin called suddenly. Jeno looked at him, then at the students, who were also inside the field.

He didn’t understand what Jaemin was getting at, before all at once he understood. The students didn’t have earmuffs, and were too immobilized to cover their own ears.

Nobody responded to Jaemin, and Jeno realized it was because they couldn’t hear him. The energy field was already in effect, so any and all sound was trapped inside.

“Now!” Taeyong said, with more vigor than before, and Jeno almost felt the urge to cast a jinx on him seeing how easily he could smile seeing two of his own students reduced to such a state by his own doing. “It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! Let’s begin the task!”

“Hey!” Jaemin called again, to no avail.

Jeno quickly looked back and forth between Taeyong and Jaemin, feeling himself fall into limbo. Taeyong said something to Doyoung too quiet for Jeno to hear, and Doyoung slipped his wand out of his robes. He cast a silent spell, creating a giant makeshift timer that floated in the air above the floor. It showcased the numbers “90:00” on all four sides of it.

The sinking realization that the judges either hadn’t accounted for the poisoned students, or just didn’t care, settled uncomfortably into Jeno’s bones, and had his throat closing up and sweat breaking out on his forehead.

He glanced to his right and saw Jaemin straight at him, all the conflicted emotions Jeno was holding within him reflecting in the shine of Jaemin’s eyes.

The crowd started to cheer, louder and louder as Taeyong started counting down from 5. Jeno could barely even hear himself think, the pressure of what was about to happen weighing down on him and stealing whatever breath was sitting in his lungs.

“It’ll be okay,” He heard himself say, still looking at Jaemin. He didn’t think Jaemin heard him, his voice coming out breathless and mumbled, but Jaemin visibly gulped and nodded his head.

“1!” A loud horn blared, and when Jeno looked up, the timer had started counting down.

The task had begun.