Chapter Text
'This is all Taehyung’s fault,’ thought Jungkook as he was firmly propped and held against the left shoulder of Hogwarts’ most terrifying student and quietly taken away to the Slytherin Dungeons in the middle of the night. A helpless and desperate ‘meow’ escaped his animal form’s small mouth only to be shushed by his intimidating carrier; that made Jungkook shut up for good.
He was honestly scared. He wasn’t a coward, but to be found out roaming the hallways at midnight by the strictest Head Boy in Hogwarts’ recent history, in his (still) unregistered animagus form and without his wand was bad enough to set his nerves on edge. He had no idea what the Slytherin seventh-year would do to him, but he knew it would not be pretty.
‘Queen Hermione, give me strength!’ was Jungkook’s desperate mental plea as the young man holding him went down and down the stairs to the Slytherin dorms, where an uncertain fate awaited.
3 days earlier
“No way!!!” Taehyung shouted in the middle of library, receiving angry looks from all sides. Even if they were seated at the section where conversation was allowed, the volume was way above what was normally tolerated. But neither Jungkook nor Taehyung cared at that moment.
“You just don’t want to admit it!” Jungkook proclaimed, with passion.
They were, once again, discussing the adventures of the famed Hogwarts heroes: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Their story, which had already passed into legend by then, was an endless source of interest and delight for the two boys. They were often seen having loud arguments about the trio, to the dismay of their friends Hoseok and Seokjin, who weren’t so keen on the subject.
The main problem was that Taehyung, a fifth-year Gryffindor, was a hardcore Ron Weasley fanboy. Every time the two friends started talking about the group’s amazing tales, he insisted that Weasley’s sharp and intuitive wit had been the key to all their successes.
Jungkook, on the other hand, was a die-hard Hermione stan, like most of his fellow Ravenclaws. He would never deny that Ron’s intuition had saved the group more than once, but he couldn’t help but argue that without Hermione’s legendary brain power and logical skills, the group would not have survived even their first year at Hogwarts.
Deep down they knew their arguments were meaningless, but they were both young and passionate and couldn’t help boosting their favorite’s achievements every time. They were currently disagreeing about who'd been responsible for the discovery of the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets:
“Of course it must’ve been Ron!” Taehyung argued, like it was obvious. “Since Tom Riddle’s time, no one had ever managed to do so, even with the hordes of smart students who must have tried to find it. I bet it was one of Weasley’s famous ‘a-ha!’ moments, when he figured it out without even trying…”
“You must be kidding! You talk like it’s the most common thing in the world to have a genius like Hermione Granger trying to find something out. Someone with her intellect and drive could easily do it…” Jungkook replied, full of confidence.
“Oh, yeah? How?” Taehyung looked skeptical as he asked.
“Well…” Jungkook had never thought about it, but now it seemed like an interesting challenge to take on. “First, you’d have to map out the location of the main incidents, like the students who were turned to stone and the creepy messages on the walls. Then, you’d have to consider the size and accessibility of a passage big enough for a whole basilisk to sneak through. Finally, it would have to be a place fairly isolated and undisturbed, where the evidence of the beast’s comings and goings wouldn’t be so easy to detect. I bet Hermione found it just before she was petrified!”
Seokjin, a Gryffindor seventh-year who liked nothing better than causing mayhem and teasing his cute house-mate as much as he could, finally became interested in the discussion and decided to take Jungkook’s side:
“I think Jungkookie is right, Tae. You talk about Ron Weasley like he is a walking-talking Felix Felicis potion, but I’m sure that logic and research are the main skills you’d need to find the Chamber…” he said, knowing his opinion would provoke his adorable junior even more.
“Betrayal!!!" Taehyung screamed in an overly-dramatic fashion, earning more disgusted looks from the other students. Seokjin laughed delightedly, while Jungkook looked smug as he could be.
“Hoseok-hyung!” Taehyung turned to their Hufflepuff friend, who usually stayed away from these discussions, “they’re wrong, aren’t they? Hogwarts is a magical school, there are secret passages in the most ridiculous places and Salazar Slytherin wouldn’t put the entrance to the Chamber somewhere anyone could find by simply researching into it!!! What do you think?”
“Well…” Hoseok stalled as he looked at his three friends, who were anxiously waiting for his thoughts on the matter. “I think the only way of knowing for sure would be to ask one of them, right?”, he replied diplomatically, “I mean, it could’ve been any of them, Harry Potter was also pretty smart when he needed to? Maybe the three of them figured it out together?” he tried answering in such a way that would calm the other boys and lead to the end of the discussion.
Unfortunately, his words only seemed to disappoint them. Jungkook and Taehyung didn’t want sensible answers, they wanted to be right. And Seokjin just wanted to see a flustered Taehyung. So the discussion continued, to Hoseok’s disappointment:
“Look,” Jungkook said, “I know we usually disagree about these things, but even you have to admit that Queen Hermione, Minister of Magic, the greatest mind of several generations, would be the most well-equipped member of the trio to find the Chamber. And she was only twelve years old at the time! If you have the brains, it shouldn’t be so hard. Maybe even our best Ravenclaw students could do it today, if they put their minds to it”, he concluded.
“Ha! you think brains are everything, but Hermione was a Gryffindor! Even she knew that you can’t solve everything by sitting inside a library surrounded by books! But she was smart enough to snatch the great Ron Weasley, that I’ll give you…” Taehyung argued, knowing this was a sore point to the other boy. “And I would go around wearing blue robes for a whole month if a Ravenclaw student found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets!” he said with finality.
Jungkook was annoyed at being reminded of Hermione’s two weak points, which were: 1) being a Gryffindor; and 2) choosing to marry one. He was convinced that the Sorting Hat had made a terrible mistake by placing Hermione on Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw. And about marrying a Gryffindor, you couldn’t help it when you fell in love, right? She could’ve fallen for anyone… even a Slytherin!
He was so angry that he decided right then to teach Taehyung a lesson. After secretly training for several years during school breaks, Jungkook had finally managed to turn into his animagus form, which turned out to be a cute calico kitten. He had done it during the previous summer, after spending a whole month with a Mandrake leaf in his mouth and doing the whole magical nine-yards after that. He had not yet told a single soul because he wanted to get used to the transformation and make it as natural as possible, even without a wand, before registering himself with the Ministry of Magic. Even if his animagus wasn’t as imposing as he would’ve wished for, it was good for hiding in plain sight, for a kitten was both normal and small enough not to attract a lot of attention. In his animagus form, he would be able to roam Hogwarts freely during the night and try to discover the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Then, he would not only prove to Taehyung that he had been right all long, but also have the pleasure of seeing his friend wearing Ravenclaw colors for a whole month.
-
It had sounded like a great plan in his head. It had been a great plan, even while Jungkook spent all of his free time researching everything he could about the last times the Chamber had been opened. Three days later, he decided he had enough leads to start his investigation. After waiting inside a small nook close to the Ravenclaw dorms until everyone had gone to sleep, he had turned into his animagus form, leaving his wand safely tucked behind a curtain, and decided to check out one or two places he had identified as possible locations.
Unfortunately, all that planning had been for nothing. Not even 30 minutes into his quest, bad luck had struck in the form of a sudden encounter with the Head Boy, Park Jimin.
He was a bit of a legend all by himself. Captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team? Check. Prefect since fifth year? Check. So pretty as to spark speculations of him being half-Veela? Check. He was admired by all for his skills, beauty and intellect, and feared by all for his reserved, cold demeanor. He could’ve easily been the most popular student at Hogwarts if not for the fact that he barely spoke to anyone aside from two Slytherin friends and that he never, ever, smiled.
Jungkook himself hadn’t been immune to him at the beginning. He remembered one day during his first year, he’d been crossing a small patio when he saw Seokjin, who was a family friend and one of the few upperclassmen from Korea Jungkook knew before he entered Hogwarts. He found him talking to a pretty silver-haired boy wearing Slytherin colors who, despite looking young, had such a mature and ethereal air about him that Jungkook became entranced by his sight. He stopped a few paces away from the duo, silently admiring the boy’s otherworldly air, which contrasted starkly to Seokjin’s carefree ways. Finally, the silver-haired beauty bowed to Seokjin, turned away and left, releasing Jungkook from his mesmerized state.
“Hyung…” he had asked Seokjin as he approached his friend, with a touch of wonder in his voice, “who was that boy you were talking to? He was so… beautiful.”
Seokjin laughed out loud at the young boy’s fascinated state and answered promptly:
“His name is Park Jimin and he’s also Korean. He’s just been selected to join his quidditch team, like me and two other third-years. He just came to tell me about a meeting with the coaches.”
“Oh, congratulations, hyung! That’s amazing. Are you friends then?” Jungkook asked, hoping he’d have the opportunity to meet the impressive upperclassman in the future.
“Not really. I don’t know if that guy has any friends, actually. I’ve seen him hanging out with two Slytherins, Namjoon, who is also a third-year, and Yoongi, a second-year… but even with them, I’ve never seen him smile or laugh or have fun at all. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy or anything like that… but he’s a bit of a wet blanket. He’s a teacher’s pet for sure, does everything by the rules. In short, he’s a bore.”
Jungkook was disappointed. He thought maybe Seokjin was being too harsh on Jimin, that maybe the Slytherin boy was like Hermione - too mature and responsible for his age - but later observation proved it was not so. Jimin made a lot of effort to drive people away; he kept them at a certain distance and showed no openness or softness while in company. Jungkook hadn’t wanted to be one of the people who tried to befriend him only to be rejected, so by the end of first year he decided to keep his distance from the Slytherin third-year, no matter how alluring he was.
As the years went by, Jungkook witnessed Jimin’s journey to the top of the student pack from afar. He became more and more beautiful as he grew up, gracious like a swan; his marks were exceptional and he was every teacher’s favorite. His abilities as a keeper (and later, captain) had secured three Quidditch House Cups for Slytherin out of his five years on the team. But his personality had never improved - he kept on being stern, aloof and unapproachable. There was even something melancholy about him, like it was his toll in life to be beyond everyone else. But he was always polite, always respectful and always patient, even while training his team with an iron fist or deducting house points from problematic pupils.
Jungkook had always believed there was no way someone could be that emotionless. So, as he was being carried away in his cat form to the depths of the Slytherin dorms, he wondered if he’d finally have a glimpse of something else. Because it was actually weird that Jimin would take him to the dungeons and not simply leave him outside the Castle. And it was actually really weird that Jimin had captured him at all, because what was the problem with a little kitty roaming the castle?
Maybe Jimin was a sadist who tortured animals?
Maybe he was a heartless cat-hater???
Maybe he’d kill the kitten and harvest its organs for some dark magic ingredients?????!!!!!
Jungkook was quick to cut off that bizarre and highly unlikely train of thought before it made him have a panic attack. Instead, he decided to appeal to his life motto:
WWHD - What Would Hermione Do?
First of all, he thought, she would stay calm and analyze the situation; so that’s what he did. The Head Boy was known for being cold and rule-abiding, so getting out of animagus form and pleading for mercy would not work. He was also determined and unswerving in his actions: it had been only a split-second between the moment he saw the cat and the next where he cast a paralysis spell over it and quietly picked it up, after casting a few detection spells Jungkook didn’t recognize. So, if Jungkook tried to bite and scratch his way to freedom, it would probably only piss the older off. Jungkook concluded that his only chance of surviving the situation unscathed would be to pretend to be a harmless kitty until he could escape. He settled quietly against the man’s shoulder and decided to wait until a well-timed opportunity presented itself.
Jimin eventually stopped in front of a stone wall and whispered, in his soft tenor, “Bloody Baron”. The wall turned into a passage and Jungkook suddenly found himself in the famous Slytherin Common Room, which looked like something out of dreams, with its floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of the depths of the Black Lake. Its decor was gothic and a bit spooky, but actually very rich and beautiful. It was empty, as expected for that time of night. Jungkook made sure to notice where they had come from so he could, Merlin willing, make his escape once Jimin went to sleep.
There were some stairs to one side of the room which looked like the passage to the bedrooms, but Jimin turned the opposite way, towards what looked like a narrow hallway. There was a heavy curtain halfway down that hallway, which lifted itself after Jimin whispered another password, allowing them to pass. Jungkook did a double take because the password Jimin had whispered was “puffy puffskeins”; it would’ve made Jungkook laugh to hear the serious Head Boy say it, if he hadn’t been so scared of what would happen next.
They entered a medium-sized room that looked somewhere between a lounge and a study. There was a large desk at one side, next to a few low cabinets and a bookcase; on the other side there was a settee and a fancy armchair placed around an antique rug. Like the Common Room, the whole place was finely decorated with tapestries and pictures, but there was also a homely touch to it: there were knick-knacks of all sorts spread throughout the room, a cute mug collection in the shape of animals on top of the desk, cozy comforters draped around the furniture and lots of little weird plants placed on the windowsills that looked out on the Black Lake.
‘Well,’ Jungkook thought,‘this is it.’ Whatever destiny awaited him, it was the moment of truth. He was ready for fight, he was ready for flight, and also ready to just keep on pretending to be a cute calico until he could escape.
He was ready for anything.
He thought he was ready.
He was not.
Because the next thing that happened was that Jimin, after placing the kitty on the settee and sitting down on the rug in front of it, looked straight into its eyes and smiled.
Years later, Jungkook would retell this scene to whomever was available to listen, in great detail. How it all happened in slow motion: the eyes closed more and more until only a small sparkle of light would be trapped between Jimin’s eyelids and his ‘aegyo sal’, taking the shape of two crescent moons; the button nose spread out to the sides as his pillowy lips stretched so much that a little snagged tooth in front was perfectly visible. His face came alive and he looked like a perfect angel right from above. And if that wasn’t enough, he looked at kitty-Jungkook like he was the most precious creature in the whole world and spoke in the gentlest, softest voice:
“Oh my, aren’t you a beauty, little lady?” he gently moved his hand and held it close to Jungkook’s head, waiting to see if the animal would allow him to touch. “What were you doing all by yourself in this spooky castle? It is dangerous, miss!” he scolded in a very cute way and touched the cat’s head, softly caressing the space between the ears.
It was safe to say that the human, conscious part of Jungkook had clocked out for a little bit, too shocked and marveled to do anything but stand there and try to process the revolutionary shift of his world as he knew it. Meanwhile, the cat part was still very present and alert, and immediately started rubbing its head against Jimin’s hand and purring in a seriously impressive volume. The fact was, even earlier, while Jungkook had been freaking himself out, his animagus ‘soul’ had already known that Jimin’s intentions and energy towards it were perfectly peaceful. And so it wasted no time in trying to get all the rubs and scratches it could before human Jungkook came back online.
“Oh my God, you are so precious!!! Here, have all the scratches you want, milady…” the Slytherin boy said as he put in some effort and scratched hard along the kitty’s cheeks, underneath its chin and close to its ears. And Jungkook was once again shocked because it felt so good. Since he hadn’t told anyone about his animagus form, he hadn’t had the opportunity to interact with a human yet. But now he was seriously regretting it, because he could’ve been having these amazing scratches since summer, and they felt too good to be true. And then, when he looked at Jimin, he saw once again that sweet smile and gentle looks completely focused on him, something so new and so amazing, and that also felt too good to be true.
Some minutes drifted by, just like that. Jungkook had not once thought about what Hermione would do because one would have to be completely daft not to bask in the angelic caresses and attention as much as they could. Unfortunately, their session was suddenly interrupted by a loud whisper coming from outside the room’s entrance:
“Jiminie! Are you there?” came the not-so discreet call from outside. Jimin looked in that direction and answered “Just a second!” He turned his attention back to Jungkook, then came closer and closer until his face was an inch away from the kitty:
“Wait here for a bit, ok?” he whispered, then laid a soft kiss to the cat’s cheek and stood up quickly to cross the room and open the passage to whomever was waiting on the other side.
By Queen Hermione’s grace, Jungkook managed not to completely lose focus after being kissed by the most beautiful boy in the world and noticed that Jimin had whispered the words 'fluffy kneazles' before the curtain slid to the side. Somewhere in the functioning part of his brain, he realized that the Head Boy’s private space was very well-secured.
“Hey Jiminie, were you at the Headmistress’ office until now?” a tall boy in grey pajamas asked as he stepped in first and hugged the Head Boy tightly until he whimpered a little. After him, a shorter boy entered, dressed in what looked like the deluxe version of a Slytherin nightgown, all in green silk and silver embroidery. He also hugged Jimin and let himself in.
Before Jimin could answer his question though, the tall boy spotted the cat on the settee and screeched: “What’s that???!!!!”
The loud noise spooked the kitten and it jumped off, hiding itself under the armchair.
“Joon, what are you doing?! It’s a kitty, obviously. Why are you scaring my princess like that?” Jimin reproached as he quietly sat on the floor next to the armchair and tried to coax the animal out. His two friends sat on the settee and ‘Joon’ was quick to apologize:
“Sorry, sorry. You know how it is, when it comes to you I can’t help but always be on high alert. Where did you find it?” he asked.
“On the stairs to the second floor, close to the prefect’s bathrooms. No collar, so I brought her here because Merlin knows what Peeves would do to her if he found her. She’s so precious, the sweetest kitty I’ve ever seen! I wish I could keep her…” his voice took a sad tone and his friends looked at him with pitying looks.
“It’s too bad that both me and Namjoon-hyung already have pets here, otherwise I would keep her for you, Jimin-hyung” - the shorter boy said in a soft and understanding voice. “How unfair is it that you, the person who loves animals the most in this whole world, can’t even keep a pet at Hogwarts? It breaks my heart…” he lamented.
“Yeah… thanks for the offer though, Yoongi-yah” Jimin said, sounding regretful. Jungkook, or maybe his cat soul, decided to get out from his hiding spot and rub himself all over Jimin’s legs, as if trying to console him. It worked perfectly as Jimin caressed his back and smiled once again.
“Look at her, isn’t she perfect? And so pretty… if she was scary and menacing it might’ve been okay. But a perfect lady like this would out me as a softie, I’m sure. I wouldn’t be able to resist her charms…”
Hearing that, Jungkook felt sorry for Jimin… what could possibly be the reason for him having to pretend that he was cold and unfeeling when it looked like he was the exact opposite? He felt unreasonably bad about not being able to keep Jimin company and get chin scratches from him all the time. However, he could at least do so at that moment, so he climbed on Jimin’s lap and spread himself down on top of the boy’s legs, rubbing his cheek on the Slytherin’s thigh and purring loudly.
“Wow, she really is sociable! It’s like she knows you want to spoil her. Are you sure that’s not an animagus?” Namjoon asked, now a bit concerned.
“Nah…” Jimin said confidently, as he petted a very relieved-at-his-answer Jungkook. “There’s not a drop of malice in this kitty, I checked it from the start. Not someone trying to get me. I receive all updates about the Ministry’s animagus registry log and there’s no mention of a calico cat. And what ordinary student would dare to walk around Hogwarts in an unregistered form?”
‘A crazy one blinded by his devotion to Hermione Granger…’ Jungkook thought to himself. ‘Nice to meet you, Jeon Jungkook.’
“I guess you’re right” Namjoon conceded.
“She’s a princess, so pleasant and sweet. Should I call you Gongju?” Jimin asked as he lowered his head and rubbed his face against Jungkook’s neck. The younger boy thought he had died and gone to Heaven, so if Jimin wanted to call him a glittery gargoyle, he wouldn’t care less.
“What will you do with her then?” asked Namjoon. “Will you take her to the Estate?”
“Well, I’ll keep her here for a few days to see if maybe she belongs to any of the students or teachers. If not, I’ll ask Hyejin to come and take her” Jimin decided. He turned his attention back to Jungkook and said:
“Do you want to come to my house, milady? It’s nice and big and there are so many animal friends there you won’t even miss me while I’m here at school. Then, when this nightmare is finally over, I’ll be with you all the time and we can all be happy together.”
“Don’t promise her that, hyung! Once it is over and you can finally drop your ‘Ice Prince’ disguise, you have to socialize properly with people, for once in your life!!! Don’t you wanna be friends with that redhead girl from your Care of Magical Creatures class? That adorable Hufflepuff prefect who always smiles at everyone? Your own mates from the quidditch team???!!!” Yoongi argued passionately.
A short silence followed and then Namjoon said: “Maybe not that one guy who kept trying to kill you with a bludger on our fourth year…”
And they all started to laugh out loud, like that was the most hilarious thing in the world.
Instead of sacrificing braincells trying to understand why Jimin found the memory of an assassination attempt so hilarious, Jungkook chose to concentrate on the magical sound of his laugh ringing throughout the room.
“Well…” Jimin finally said when he calmed down. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to become friends with these people, since my eighteenth birthday will only happen after my graduation. I’ll be back in Korea by then. Maybe I’ll meet Hannah - the redhead - again one day, since she also has plans to study magical creatures’ care in the future. And about that adorable prefect… I think you should be the one trying to become friends, Yoongi-yah…” he said and smiled, full of mirth, when he saw his friend’s reddened cheeks.
“Maybe in my seventh year…” Yoongi admitted softly. “By then, the school will know the truth about how Park Jimin was actually Yi Jimin, heir of Korea’s most powerful occult family, and that his and his friends’ cold and hard-ass attitudes were just a ruse to keep him away from danger. They’ll know that we’re not unfeeling or stuck-up. Maybe then we’ll be able to be nice to people, let them come close, gossip and laugh and have fun like normal teenagers…”
Jimin’s hand had stopped caressing Jungkook’s back at some point and the cat looked up to see that his eyes were glistening with unshed tears. He gently picked Jungkook and put him on the floor, then stood up and hugged Yoongi tightly. “I’m so sorry, Yoongichi. And you too, Joonie,” he turned and pulled Namjoon into their embrace. “But at the same time, I’m so, so grateful. I’d have gone crazy without you both by my side.”
“We don’t regret anything, Jiminie,” Namjoon said, fiercely. “Never. We do it because we love you. You are enough for us.”
“I love you too… “ Jimin said, with feeling, “you’re the best friends in the whole world.”
This touching scene was the final straw for Jungkook. He already felt like he was completely bewitched by Jimin since he saw his smile for the first time, but now, seeing how sweet and kind and loving he was, and how sad it was that he had to keep all that to himself for some mysterious reason that might involve people trying to kill him, made Jungkook want to hug the Head Boy as tightly as he could and never let him go.
“Alright…” Namjoon said, after a few moments. “We need to get some sleep, so we should head back to our room. Jiminie, you’ll leave the cat here?”
“Yeah, let me just…” Jimin took out his wand and easily transfigured some objects into a litter box, a bowl with some cooked meat and another with fresh water. Then he picked Jungkook up and kissed his cheek, holding him gently against his shoulder.
“Gongju, make yourself at home here” he spoke very naturally to the kitty, as if he was sure it could understand him. “I’ll try to find your owner, if you have one; and if you don’t, my aunt will come and take you to beautiful Korea. I wish I could keep you here with me, so much… but I can’t” he sighed and put Jungkook on the armchair’s seat, which was nice and soft. “I hope you like your temporary home, princess. I’ll come here before class to check on you and give you more scratches.” And then, with a final caress to Jungkook’s head, he turned away and left the room with his two friends.
A strange silence followed the friends’ departure from the room, during which Jungkook tried to process everything that had happened. To say he was surprised by the wild turn of events was, of course, an understatement - he had never, ever, doubted Jimin’s fake persona during all their years at Hogwarts. That could only mean, of course, that his situation was dangerous enough to ensure that he never dropped his mask. It confused and scared Jungkook, but it also made him feel like he’d been right all along when he’d felt so compelled to approach Jimin during his first year. And now he felt it even stronger, because he could imagine how lonely and misunderstood the Slytherin felt every day.
He could’ve spent the whole night thinking about it, but he had to get the hell out of the Slytherin dorms. He waited patiently for about 15 minutes to be sure Jimin wouldn’t be back, then started to concentrate and visualize his human form until he shifted back, thankfully with all his clothes back. A small part of him wanted to explore Jimin’s space and know him a little better, but he couldn’t risk being there anymore.
“Fluffy kneazles” he whispered as he reached the passage, and it thankfully opened up for him. He still couldn’t shift to animal form without his wand, so he would have to make his way back to the place where he’d left it as a human. Fortunately, it seemed like Lady Luck had finally decided to grace him on that night, for he successfully made his way back to the Ravenclaw dorms without meeting anyone. He thought he would have trouble getting to sleep after so many emotions and revelations, but when his head finally touched his pillow, the stress and fatigue of the night took over his body and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.