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I. BONDS
Taeyong was strolling across the grounds one day, not far from the Forbidden Forest, when he stumbled upon a strange looking dark stone. Something possessed him to take it and he quickly slipped it into his pocket when he heard the others following after him.
Of course Doyoung had already been close enough to see. Besides, Taeyong would confide in him later regardless of whether he noticed.
Ten was clueless though, too preoccupied with talking to his cats to pay any attention to the world around him, apart from the bare minimum to keep from falling flat on his face.
Since then Taeyong kept the stone close. It became an object of comfort that Taeyong held onto like his life depended on it. Doyoung didn’t comment on it, and simply held onto Taeyong's other hand.
Doyoung’s place was in the corner of the room, in the back where he could vanish into the dark. The Slytherin was silent and sharp-eyed, ever following Taeyong as his shadow and servant. Doyoung never sulked, never smiled. Sometimes even Taeyong forgot he was near.
At least that was the role he was under orders to follow. For most part, Doyoung stuck to it.
It didn’t bother him when people barely noticed him at times. He had grown accustomed to it, besides, it was what he desired. Being in the spotlight made people curious, they’d try to find out who he was.
Doyoung had no intention of interacting with his fellow students. It would distract him from his duty.
Doyoung's duty was to stand between Taeyong and anything that might harm him. A role passed down his family through generations.
Taeyong was Wizarding royalty and Doyoung's spot was at his side until the end.
Taeyong had grown up knowing no pain except the emotions he felt when Doyoung writhed in his place, taking the pain meant for Taeyong. Their lives were tied and it was Doyoung on whom pain was inflicted when someone dared to harm Taeyong.
When Taeyong failed to meet the standards or stick to the rules of the Lee family they'd both suffer. As the years passed, they learnt how to please the head of the Lee family enough to avoid punishment.
But they'd failed again today. No matter if Taeyong was a favorite, he'd have to be disciplined. Taeyong's brother had arrived at Hogwarts to ensure it, locking himself in a room with the two boys.
Taemin wasn't eager to hurt them, yet if he failed to do it, he'd pay for it along with them in an even worse way. Mark might be brought into it, and the last thing Taeyong wanted was any of his younger cousins to fall into this madness.
"Sectumsempra."
With a flick of Taemin's wand, slashes appeared on Taeyong's chest, the scarlet seeping into the white of his shirt.
Doyoung barely made a sound. Taeyong knew he was suffering however silent he stayed.
When it ended, Taemin left them with one last apologetic look. The orders dictated that he wasn't to help them and had to report to the head of the Lee family at once.
Doyoung traced the scars on Taeyong’s skin. His fingers hovered over the marks, afraid to brush against them.
Ten had said that Taeyong didn’t need to bother hiding his flaws anymore, since everyone who loved him knew and the rest didn’t care, but Taeyong still did it anyway. If anything, he had become even more apprehensive than before.
Life as the heir of the Lee family meant having no weaknesses and hiding the ones you couldn’t get rid of.
Taeyong shifted in Doyoung's lap. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, out of fear that the omen he’d foreseen in Divination would soon come for him. Doyoung could feel the trepidation flowing from Taeyong, like a stream trickling through jagged rocks.
Hiding behind a mask of perfection was one of the many things Taeyong excelled at. Even now the mask remained, albeit cracked permanently, yet present.
Taeyong’s face was wet, his eyes red. He had stopped crying a while back but the sound rang in Doyoung’s ears. Doyoung had never seen Taeyong so sad, so small, so insecure. All these years he had led everyone, including Doyoung, to believe he was perfect…
He was perfect. He would always be perfect to Doyoung. He had always been perfect, Doyoung thought as he stroked the boy’s hair away from his brow.
“Doyoung?” Taeyong looked up at Doyoung with his wide, amber eyes. Dreams and sleep clouded his expression. He smiled drowsily. “Will you stay with me? Will you never leave my side?”
“Yes.” Doyoung would kill to protect Taeyong. His home had been with Taeyong since he could remember. It was the curse that kept them tied together. Yet Doyoung would choose a life at Taeyong's side regardless. Nowhere else did he wish to be. “I promise.”
It was a promise he'd keep to his last breath.
Nuncio flew towards them, dropping a battered package and a red envelope in front of him.
Yuta snatched the envelope the owl had brought and looked at it like it might explode, which honestly wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, especially since it was emitting wisps of smoke. He yelped and let go of it, blowing at his fingers to cool them down. “Shit! Fucking Howler. Who’d you piss off, Kim Doyoung?”
Doyoung made no effort to respond and stared at it like he hoped it would vanish. Nuncio nudged Doyoung’s cheek with his beak in an attempt to either comfort him or more likely to tell him to hurry up.
“Well fucking open it already. We’re screwed if you don’t.”
“We’re screwed if you do,” Taeyong hissed as he grabbed Doyoung and tugged him out of the hall to a secluded corner of the castle. The Howler hovered behind them menacingly and was starting to singe. “Muffliato. Now open it before it bursts.”
“KIM DOYOUNG. HOW DARE YOU LET YOUNG MASTER LEE GET INTO A MESS. DO YOU WANT TO LOSE YOUR JOB? DO YOU WANT ME TO LOSE MY JOB? DO YOU WANT OUR FAMILY TO END UP HOMELESS AND PENNILESS AND LIFELESS? YOU MIGHT AS WELL USE THE KILLING CURSE ON US, YOU UTTER WASTE OF SPACE. YOU-”
Doyoung tuned out the rest of it. He focused on Taeyong’s arms that were now wrapped around him. Warmth. Comfort. Safety. Taeyong.
II. FANTASIES
Doyoung didn't see anyone besides Taeyong, while there were times when Taeyong didn't see anyone, not even Doyoung. As long as he could stay at Taeyong's side though, nothing else mattered to Doyoung.
Except Taeyong was staring at Doyoung as though he could see past his skin into the depths of his soul.
There were lines they weren't supposed to cross. They'd never gone that far, however Taeyong seemed determined to change that.
Doyoung should have broken free from the spell as soon as Taeyong touched his cheek yet the contact only dragged him deeper. He should have pulled away when Taeyong's lips hovered over his yet he leaned in to meet them. He should have remembered the reality waiting when Taeyong's tongue slipped past his lips. Instead he lost his inhibition and went further than he ever thought he would with Taeyong.
"If you die," Doyoung whispered in between kisses. "I die. That's the way it is. "
It was a reminder of the curse tying them together. A danger to Taeyong was a danger to Doyoung, and the curse made it literal.
"My life has been tied to yours for as long as I can remember. Without you, what am I? There's nothing left for me to exist for," said Doyoung. His cold fingers slipped in between Taeyong's. "I might as well be cursed since I'm dead anyway."
"Did you think you were different, Kim Doyoung?" Taeyong's bloody smile widened, cruelty seeping past his lips. "Did you think you're special? You're just another pretty face that follows my every word. Ten could take your place and it would make no difference. It's a pity if I have to let you go after all this time. You were doing well, so why did you have to do this? I don't have a choice, Doyoung."
Doyoung fell to his knees, voice failing as he tried to say something, anything to stop Taeyong from abandoning him. His vision was blurred by tears yet he didn't need his sight with Taeyong's smiling face etched in his mind.
For all the years he'd taken Taeyong's pain, the most Taeyong felt for him was pity. Doyoung looked at Taeyong with feelings that would never be returned.
Taeyong was so used to seeing Doyoung in pain because of him that he eventually started inflicting it himself. At one point, he realized he didn't like seeing Doyoung hurting. It was the relief when the torment ended that Taeyong craved to see.
Eyes wide and biting his lip, Taeyong looked less like the evil son of a diabolical family than a student struggling to get through the day. His usual fierceness and cunning was replaced with vulnerability and innocence.
He knew what he was doing, he knew what it was doing to Doyoung, Doyoung knew what he was doing. It wasn't hard to control Doyoung when he handed the reins over to Taeyong and let him lead.
Taeyong slowly unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off, staring into Doyoung's eyes until they strayed down to the exposed skin.
Taeyong’s blue and bronze tie floated from the floor and wrapped around Doyoung's wrist, tugging him towards Taeyong. It was gentle enough that he could break free from its grip if he so wished, which he didn't. The other end found itself in Taeyong's fingers.
Doyoung was at Taeyong's mercy, as always. He would fall apart for Taeyong's pleasure. Pleasure and pain was the bond between them.
"I've put up with everything you do all this time, and perhaps you think it's because I'm following orders," Doyoung sneered. "But it's been my own choice to stand by you. I'm reconsidering it now."
Doyoung twisted his wrist out of Taeyong's hold.
"You can't walk away from me." Taeyong wasn't supposed to beg, wasn't supposed to show desperation- but how could he not. "You can’t leave me. You can’t-"
"You've gone too far, Taeyong."
"Doyoung, please-"
"Goodbye, Taeyong."
The green light hit Doyoung.
The last thing Doyoung heard was someone screaming his name. Before the light left his eyes, Doyoung smiled with the realization that Taeyong cared more than he let on.
Taeyong jolted awake.
III. REVELATIONS
Blood. Blood. Blood.
That was all they talked about. All that mattered in this world.
And now he was drenched in it.
Did it matter how pure his blood was now that his life was leaving him?
Taeyong turned the stone over in his hand. Once, twice, thrice.
“Taeyong,” Doyoung appeared at his side.
Of course, Doyoung would come back as soon as he knew Taeyong was in trouble. They weren't bound by the curse anymore, so Doyoung wasn't protecting Taeyong to preserve his own life. He had no reason to be here, not unless he wanted.
“Taeyong!” “This is bad.” Voices called out, footsteps thundering on the cold, stone floor. It took Taeyong a moment to recognize Donghyuck and the girl he always hung around with.
“Time.” The girl mumbled spells, waving her wand over the wounds. “He can be saved, but only if we get him to St. Mungo’s immediately. I’m no healer. There’s only so much I can do.”
He was losing less blood now that some of his wounds had been closed but there was still bone sticking out of the gaping skin of the leg that she was hesitant to use a spell since she wasn’t confident in her skill.
“He’ll bleed to death if you don’t do anything," Donghyuck frantically said. "Do you want him with a badly fixed leg or without a heartbeat?”
“Fine. Find us a way out. I’ll do what I can.”
Then they spoke about watches and towers and Taeyong and Doyoung.
Taeyong couldn't hold onto his consciousness any longer than that.
The stone dropped from Taeyong’s grip and Doyoung vanished from view.
“No, that can’t be true. I see Doyoung every day. I feel him. He’s not a ghost.”
“He’s not a ghost," Ten agreed. "I found Doyoung's notes and that stone you always keep with you, well, that’s the Resurrection Stone."
The Resurrection Stone. That sounded familiar. "From the tale of the three brothers? The one from The Tales of Beedle The Bard?"
"Right. What you see is the shade of Doyoung. And he'll grow to resent you for taking him away from the afterlife or whatever lies beyond death.”
Taeyong made an inhumane noise and pulled his knees close to his chest.
“You can’t keep using it, Taeyong. The things I’ve read- you can’t put yourself through that," insisted Ten. "Allow Doyoung’s spirit to rest and let this suffering come to an end. Doyoung doesn't-”
Taeyong growled, "Get out!"
Ten meant well and wanted to help Taeyong move on, except that wasn't what Taeyong wanted.
"I always told you I'd replace you with Ten, huh?" Taeyong flipped the stone he'd retrieved from the ground thrice. As Doyoung's form came into view, he continued to speak. "Will you come back and take me away with you if you see someone else taking your place?"
Taeyong brought the tip of his wand to his forehead and pulled out this memory, dropping it into a vial. He'd have to ask Mark to help Obliviate him again. For now, he tossed aside the memories that brought him pain, and submerged in the bliss that came with ignorance.
"I'll stay by your side until your last breath, Taeyong."
They didn't think about how Taeyong hadn't felt the warmth of Doyoung's hands when he held them.
The curse had been broken- at a cost.
Taeyong had rewritten his memories so that the price wasn't Doyoung's life.
Taeyong had gone to extreme lengths to bring back Doyoung.
In the end, he discovered the stone helped him meet Doyoung. It was none other than the fabled Resurrection Stone.
Everyone could let Taeyong live with his delusions and fantasies, as long as he didn't unleash his pain and wrath on them all.
But a boy with a broken mind was in no position to lead the Lee family.
However, that's another story.
"Doyoung is dead. Doyoung's been dead for months."
"No, no, no." Taeyong's legs gave away. He fell to the ground. He crawled to Doyoung's portrait. "You're here. You're talking to me. You said you'll stay with me until the end. You-"
Taeyong's wails filled the room. "I love him. I never got to tell him. He said he'd die when I did but then he left me behind. I tried so hard to go to him yet it never works."
"You need to get ready for the ceremony tonight," Taemin said softly but sternly. "I'm sorry. But you can't go on like this." Then Taemin walked away the way he always did, leaving Taeyong alone with his thoughts and tears.
That night the torment came to a horrific end with flames that devoured indiscriminately.
They tried to put it out with water as they attempted to escape to no avail. It just wouldn't work for Fiendfyre, everyone knew it, but at this point they were hoping for a miracle, anything to save them.
The doors were bolted shut and no Alohomora would open them. All these powerful witches and wizards helplessly trapped in a burning mansion, it shouldn't be possible yet here it was happening. It was advanced dark magic, and despite practitioners of the Dark Arts being present, it was a curse they didn’t know to reverse, a fiery beast set out to consume them all.
Taeyong had no intention of trying to find a way out or panicking over the situation. He sat down on the floor in a corner as far away from the chaos as he could. It wouldn’t be long now.
He'd be with Doyoung soon. The screams got louder then quieted down. When the flames came close, Taeyong stepped into them and embraced death like an old friend.
All that was left was the ashes of what once was.