Chapter Text
1. amortentia
Charlie always asks Jae where he manages to keep all his illegal items, but Jae never gets around to telling him. Charlie’s a prefect, anyhow, and it would be cool to corrupt him, but Jae doesn’t want to bother.
Chiara knows, however, because whenever Jae isn’t around to give her the wolfsbane she needs, she can get it herself. She never had explained why she needed it so urgently and so frequently, but Jae suspects. He’s not stupid, although sometimes other people act like he’s not very bright. He knows Chiara will trust him on her own time, and he doesn’t want to push her into anything.
He’s organizing his things, preparing for another order from a customer. They needed amortentia this time around, and as much as Jae hates potions, he hates losing money even more. Besides, he’s built up a rapport with his customers of being efficient and always delivering. He doesn’t want to ruin it now.
Amortentia is a difficult potion to brew, so he calls Penny to help him out. They’re not particularly close, but they are comfortable around each other. Sometimes Jae helps her get ingredients she can’t get from Snape.
She’d scrunched her nose when he’d told her about making amortentia, seemingly disapproving.
Are you giving it to anyone? She’d asked.
Jae had shrugged and hadn’t thought much about the abject horror in her eyes. No, it’s for a client .
He doesn’t like telling other people about his clients or the orders they make, but he should’ve known Penny would tell Chiara, because she comes to find him not too soon after, looking upset.
“What’re you making amortentia for?” She asks.
Jae is bewildered by her interest—she usually doesn’t meddle with his business—before going back to bottling the liquid into heart shaped bottles. “Figured I could make a profit off of them. One of the students wanted some.”
He expects Chiara to nod and leave, but she stands there and stares at him. “Don’t you think there’s anything wrong with that?” She demands, voice clipped with anger.
Jae looks up at her, taken aback by her indignance. She disapproves of his more dangerous clients, but she’s never been angry with him. “I’m just doing what they asked.” He attempts at an explanation. “If you haven’t noticed, most of the stuff I do breaks the rules.”
She lets out an angry sigh. “Not that , Jae. I mean making someone fall in love outside of their will.”
“Oh.” He shrugs. “It’s not really out of their will, is it? If they’re in love with someone it isn’t a problem.”
“Yes, but—” Chiara starts again, but Jae grows impatient and sticks a bottle of the potion under a nose.
She jerks back, sucking in a breath.
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Besides, doesn’t it smell nice?”
She gives him a resigned look, backing away.
He prattles on, ignoring the pained look she gives him. “It’s supposed to smell like whoever you’re in love with.” He brings it to his nose and sniffs, scrunching it when an earthy smell fills his lungs. It smells vaguely like the Forbidden Forest in a familiar way, exactly what he thought it’d be like.
He glances at Chiara, suddenly seeing her point. He doesn’t know what’d it be like if someone forced her to fall in love with someone else.
Frankly, he doesn’t know who she likes, and he’s not very keen on finding out. He doesn’t like being disappointed.
Chiara’s still looking at him, worrying her lip. “I’m late for class.” She says, all the anger suddenly gone. She turns around without a goodbye and Jae watches her go, wondering why things became awkward.
He sits down and goes back to bottling. Maybe she was just tired.
2. trouble
A faint boom comes from the Gryffindor common room when Chiara approaches. She gives the portrait an inquisitive look, and the fat lady just shrugs.
She doesn’t need to stay curious for long because Ben comes rushing out, hair sticking up in four different directions.
He doesn’t see her and hurries for the staircase, but Chiara stops him. “Ben! What’s going on?”
Ben jerks back and looks toward the portrait hole nervously. “I hate first years.” He says quickly, a jumble of words, and rushes off without further explanation.
Chiara turns to see a disheveled Jae climbing through the portrait hole, hair wildly unkempt, shaking with laughter.
“Ben!” He calls after the running figure, “come back!” He grins when he catches sight of Chiara. “Hey.”
“What were you doing?” She asks, confused.
Jae opens his mouth to say something, but then two identical heads are pushing their way out of the portrait hole next him. They’re first years, from the look of it, and Chiara vaguely remembers seeing them during the sorting.
“Hello,” they chorus in a slightly creepy way, “we’re Fred and George.”
They step out.
“I’m Fred,” says Fred.
“I’m George,” says George.
“Er, hello.” Chiara greets. Jae comes to stand next to her. “I’m Chiara.” She’s about to shake Fred’s hand before Jae pulls her back
“Sorry,” Jae throws his arm over Chiara’s shoulders and pulls her up against him, “no pranks for this one,” he winks at her, “she’s off limits.”
Chiara feels a chill go down her spine when the wicked gleam in George’s eyes fades.
“Oh.” Fred sounds disappointed, which is not very comforting.
“But hey, you guys are going to love Tulip.” Jae tells them, and the mischievous look in their eyes return. “Come on, she’s probably in the courtyard.”
Chiara has no idea what they’re up to, but she knows Jae well enough not to ask. “Tonks is there too,” she adds helpfully, and the twins rush down the stairs, hollering.
Jae steers them both after them, his arm still around her. It’s uncharacteristically affectionate of him (he’s never been keen on physical contact). She smiles to herself and doesn’t comment on it.
3. absence
The forest is hushed, quiet, as if waiting for something that Jae can’t pinpoint. He’s not fond of visiting the Forbidden Forest. However, it needs to be done to acquire objects for his more difficult clients.
He’s gotten stuck in some tight spaces before, come out injured, and once, had thought he wasn’t going to make it out alive. He’s lucky that he has quick reflexes and a quicker tongue. Once or twice, he doesn’t think he’d have made it out without his wand.
An acromantula had come after him on multiple occasions because he’d tread too far. He’s more experienced now, and knows not to cross certain borders.
The acromantula don’t travel very far from their den, and Jae is far from their base. Still, he’s wary as he pulls out his wand and glances around. He never knows what other things are hiding. A twig snaps to his right, and his gaze flits towards an innocent looking bush.
It’s not dark yet but it will be soon. Still, Jae doesn’t want to use Lumos in case it draws too much attention to himself. He stops moving to assess the area before continuing. The sleeve of his hoodie snags on a protruding branch and he wrestles himself out of it, scowling. He’ll have it repair before the professors think he’s up to anything suspicious. He doesn’t need more detention.
The client had wanted to remain unnamed, so Jae hadn’t pried. They needed moly, a distinct looking kind of flower which unfortunately for him, only grew in the Forbidden Forest. Jae prides himself on being efficient and effective. He gets paid generously for the trouble he goes through, but it doesn’t mean he has to like all of the jobs he’s offered.
Finally, he finds the patch of flowers the client had described and stoops over to get a good look at them. The sky is dark now, and Jae can hardly see anything.
He’d slipped out of school after flying. He’s sure people won’t notice his absence; he plans on being back before curfew.
Discreetly, he starts unearthing the flowers, stilling when he hears another twig snap. He wraps his hand around his wand and slowly looks over his shoulder.
There’s nothing there.
Letting out a soft exhale he resumes digging until he has a good amount. The client hadn’t specified how much, but Jae still wanted to be careful.
He should leave now. The woods are dark and he’ll need light to find his way. It’ll undoubtedly catch any wandering creature’s attention, and Jae doesn’t want to risk the danger. He catches himself thinking about Chiara, and wonders if he should get some for her.
She’d definitely appreciate the healing characteristics of the moly, considering how she wants to be a healer.
Two more minutes can’t hurt, he tells himself, before he kneels down and starts digging again. He gets the rest of the moly easily enough and he’s stuffing them in his robes before starting back. The woods are eerily quiet.
Jae pulls out his wand and whispers ‘ lumos ’. He starts walking before his eyes can adjust, and he’s almost to the edge of the forest when he hears something much louder sound to his left.
He whips around fast enough to see a red-cloaked figure standing a few feet away. He points his wand at them, shouting “ petrificus total—” but is cut off by a flash of light and an unfamiliar voice going “ sectumsempra!”
Jae has enough time to think shit as he flies back into a tree and goes unconscious.
4. secrets
Chiara bursts through the Hospital Wing doors, nearly knocking over a stunned Ravenclaw student who didn’t see her coming.
“Miss Lobosca! You’re disturbing the students—” Madam Pomfrey exclaims, but Chiara hardly hears her.
“Is Jae alright?” She asks frantically, looking around for him. “Is he here?”
Madam Pomfrey purses her lips and stands in front of her, blocking her view. “He needs rest, miss Lobosca. It would do you better to come another time—”
Chiara catches sight of his familiar yellow hoodie and she pushes past Madam Pomfrey, manners completely forgotten. “ Jae! ” She cries.
He raises a hand in greeting as she rushes over to him and barrels into his arms.
She’s hugging him, face buried in the fabric of his hoodie, he’s alright, repeating over and over in her head.
“Chiara,” comes a muffled voice, “’r crshing mr.”
Chiara loosens her grip and backs away to see a frazzled Jae and an angry Madam Pomfrey.
“Mr. Kim needs his rest, you can return when he’s feeling better—”
“I’m feeling better already,” Jae interjects, “now that Chiara’s here.” He looks imploringly at Madam Pomfrey who seems increasingly frustrated at being continuously cut off.
Chiara takes Jae’s hand in hers, warm and comforting. She knows how important rest is, but right now she can’t stand the thought of leaving. She’d gone cold with fear when Penny had told her Jae had been injured and was in the Hospital Wing.
Apparently, he’d gotten hurt in the Forbidden forest. Ben had told McGonagall he hadn’t returned to their dorm that night and had been missing for a good portion of his classes. The professors had found him unconscious, lying in a pool of blood, two days ago, but Chiara hadn’t been present because of the changing.
Madam Pomfrey’s resolve seems to crumble when she sees their intertwined hands.
“Please,” Chiara pleads, “just five minutes.”
She thinks she’ll be forced to leave when Madam Pomfrey’s eyes go hard, but she just sighs and acquiesces. “You have two.” She says firmly, then turns to watch the other patients.
Jae is still holding her hand, grinning at their small victory, and Chiara makes no move to separate them. “You can sit down.” He tells her, making space so they can share the cot.
Chiara does so, and just stares at him for a minute, taking it in that he’s alive. “What happened?” She asks.
Jae rolls his eyes dramatically. “Please, Chiara, I’ve had enough of being interrogated these past few days.”
She bites her lip, frustrated, but doesn’t question him anything further. “I was so scared.” She whispers, and Jae stops smiling.
Before she can stop it, her throat closes up and her eyesight starts to blur. Chiara digs her nails into her palm because she refuses to cry, she’s not even the one who got hurt.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Jae says. Chiara forces a shaky breath, focusing on squeezing Jae’s hand to keep herself from crying. “Besides,” he lifts up his shirt, “I got this wicked scar.”
She blinks back her tears to look at the red gash running from his hip to the middle of his ribcage. She’s holding his hand so tight she’s sure it must hurt. “What were you thinking?”
She doesn’t let him answer because there’s something else she needs to do. Jae’s her best friend, and her heart stutters at the thought of him dying before she can tell him her biggest secret. She wants to tell him, but she’s also scared how he’ll react.
“Jae,” she starts, voice wavering. “I have to tell you something.”
He goes quiet, waiting.
Chiara’s heart is beating sporadically in her chest, shoulders heavy from a burden she’s carried for years. Jae is accepting and kind, she knows he won’t judge her, but that doesn’t mean their relationship will change.
She looks him in the eyes—breathes—and tells him. “I’m a werewolf.” Her voice breaks halfway, and she feels Jae’s hand go slack in hers. His eyes go wide with surprise and Chiara’s vision clouds.
Chiara is going to cry if she talks, but she does anyways because she needs to know . “Will you—” the first tear falls, “will you still be my friend?” She can’t look him in the eye, and at his silence, starts to retract her hand—
—but Jae tightens his grip and she looks up at him again.
“Chiara,” his voice is warm, accepting, “I never planned on stopping.”
She sucks in a breath, registering the words, before she’s crying openly: fat, ugly tears streaming down her face. Jae wraps his arm around her and she grips him back, sobbing into his hoodie.
Madam Pomfrey lets them stay that way long past two minutes, and even longer past curfew.