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“Hey.”
Yoongi twitched his eyebrows but didn’t cease his reading. History Of Protective Spells had captivated him from the very first page, one he had finally found some peace and quiet to get started, and he had barely covered the first two hundred years out of the seven centuries that were detailed in the book. Within the introduction the author had explained the fact that this book did not have all the answers. There was a lot of undocumented history out there, a lot of undocumented magic.
Magic hadn’t developed in a singular strand. Yoongi had only dipped his toes into different cultures and their spell casting but it was fascinating. Their own spell casting already had such a rich history even with all the missing pieces.
“Can I have your wand?”
The pieces they did have showed clearly that magic developed and changed over time. Just fifty years ago spells had been cast differently. One could see the difference occasionally when comparing their older teachers to their younger teachers. Everyone had their own styles but there were key differences one could spot.
Just the way language lived and developed with every generation, magic did the same. There was no singular correct way. Their teachers would argue differently but Yoongi hadn’t exactly followed the “correct way” from his very first spell. He preferred being open to new innovations or even the old traditions most disregarded.
“Hello?”
Apparently, seven hundred years ago, people hadn’t even used wands exclusively. They had performed some spells with rituals, similar to brewing potions. Some had used other items such as a staff or talisman to cast magic. There were even a few fairy tales of people who had just picked up stones to cast spells. Folklore had the tendency to get twisted over time, however. The author admitted there were no reliable sources for this period and only word of mouth. How much of it was true, no one could say.
“Yoongi?”
However, there were very clear indicators that people all those centuries ago had used magic as well. Who knew how much old wisdom they had lost before they had started writing things down consistently? What kind of spells had people invented back then?
The book focused on protective spells, only a small category, but even then there was so much Yoongi hadn’t known before. Everyone only ever thought of Protego when defensive spells came up. He knew there was much more to explore there, had explored already. Protego was a solution for everything, like an all-purpose cleaner. It did the job most of the time but there were also the experts in every field.
There were ways to let spells bounce off or to absorb them completely. There were spells to stop objects, not just magic, ways to block water or fire. Protego might be successful, but there was no guarantee it would protect you from everything. If you knew the right defensive spells you might be able to win a duel without casting a single offense.
The possibilities were endless.
Something flicked against his forehead and Yoongi jumped, more out of surprise than pain. His eyes snapped up towards Seokjin who stood above him, his Gryffindor tie loosened and lopsided with the top buttons of his once crisp white shirt undone. He had rolled up the sleeves and Yoongi could not complain.
“Chagiya,” Seokjin said sweetly and for a second Yoongi had a very vivid image of his dad saying the same thing to Misha. All mushy and romantic, or sometimes in that certain tone where both Yoongi and his dad knew someone was in trouble. “Your wand.”
Yoongi blinked, not having caught the rest of the sentence. ‘What?’
Hoseok snorted next to them. “He’s gone deaf.”
“He’s gone down Seokjin’s cleavage,” Taehyung muttered.
Yoongi contemplated throwing his book at his friends but the knowledge would be wasted on them.
“I have stellar cleavage, thank you,” Seokjin said coolly.
“Namjoon’s is bigger,” Taehyung argued.
“Leave me out of this,” Namjoon said with a long-suffering expression. Ever since he had discovered he actually liked working out, his friends hadn’t stopped commenting on the way he easily bulked up.
Seokjin scoffed but decided not to further discuss whose cleavage had higher quality. He turned back to Yoongi whose eyes quickly flickered upwards from his chest again. His expression remained somewhat neutral besides having been caught staring. Seokjin smiled and wagged his eyebrows, receiving a scowl from his boyfriend.
“I want your wand.”
“EW!” Jimin said immediately which caused Yoongi to scowl harder and Seokjin to mimic smacking his head.
“Not that wand.”
“Ew,” Jungkook now said as well, looking overly disgusted.
“You’ve corrupted the child!” Seokjin yelled and gestured at Jungkook who shared a smirk with Taehyung and Jimin. All three of them wiggled their eyebrows in a cursed display of secrecy.
This time Seokjin himself made a face of disgust and disbelief before turning back to Yoongi who still wasn’t sure what exactly the other wanted. Seokjin made a gimme motion and then gestured somewhat wildly. It took Yoongi a few seconds to understand it was supposed to look like spell casting. Very unimpressive. His form was atrocious.
His face must have said as much because Seokjin looked sheepish. “Mine is being a bitch again.”
“Like father like son,” Hoseok teased.
Seokjin pouted at Yoongi. “Do you see how they treat me?” he whined, his eyes wide with unshed tears.
‘I’m so sorry.’ Yoongi made a grand gesture of signing the words, putting on an overly emotional face. Being sarcastic in sign language was an art form he had mastered long ago.
However, he finally knew what his boyfriend wanted from him. Seokjin’s wand was ‘a moody teenager’ in his words. It wasn’t exactly unheard of that wands could act up a bit, especially for younger wizards, but Seokjin’s was especially difficult sometimes. So much so he could barely practice or do his assignments because his wand would refuse to perform spells properly.
The first time it had happened he had actually cried at some point, not knowing why suddenly nothing worked anymore when he hasn’t had a problem before. Wands couldn’t talk, so it took a while to figure out it was the wand and not actually Seokjin’s skills. It didn’t really help at first though. Wands weren’t cheap and his wand wasn’t broken per se, it was just being moody. It could happen in a wizard’s younger years, when “the vibes were off” so to speak.
Wands also weren’t toys. They couldn’t exactly be shared and switched without anyone noticing. It’s why wandmakers took their time picking out the right one for every new wizard. Not everything worked, just in the same way not everyone could wear every pair of shoes comfortably. Even people who shared the same size would prefer different models and materials.
Seokjin had asked mostly out of despair and necessity. Yoongi hadn’t even thought about offering his own wand. He hadn’t known people could switch. Well, no, he did in the sense that he had never heard anything about it being forbidden, but he hadn’t thought about it.
To say it had been a success would be a lie. Yoongi had been told upon getting this wand that it was ‘strong’. He hadn’t known what exactly that meant until Seokjin had cheerfully cast his first spell. Which wouldn’t have been a problem. He just wanted to break an empty pot to reassemble it into something else. His assignment was due the next day so he wanted to get through it post-haste. Unfortunately, Yoongi’s wand was not used to spells being spoken out loud and had thus blown up a giant chunk of cobblestone wall, walkway and vegetation within a five-meter radius. Students had screamed and dove for cover from flying chunks of grass. Yoongi had just stood there, unsure whether to be dumbfounded or impressed.
It wasn’t the only time though. Other people could use Yoongi’s wand, it wasn’t too picky and quite agreeable, if you could call a magical piece of wood that. It was just that the calibration was tuned to Yoongi and everyone else struggled to get it right. Jungkook had swiped it once to call over a book in the library, feeling too lazy to get up and retrieve it. They had been bombarded with just about every book from the nearest shelves. Before they could have been buried alive, Yoongi had snatched his wand out of Jungkook’s hand and sent them all back.
Namjoon had picked it up once on accident, not quite looking, and had tried to summon some water. Outdoor activities had to be cut short because the fountain in the courtyard wouldn’t stop spewing water in every single direction like an overenthusiastic fire hydrant.
While Taehyung had deliberately picked up Yoongi’s wand, he had also very deliberately put it down again after all of his clothes had turned bright orange, not just his hair like originally planned. He always made sure to perform color-changing spells with his own wand after that fiasco.
Needless to say, Yoongi’s wand was not the one you should pick if you found yourself in need of a substitute. Unless your name was Seokjin. Not that he had perfect control over Yoongi’s wand either, but he didn’t give up trying.
Quite reluctantly, Yoongi pulled his wand out of his sleeve. Since he had learned how to enchant an object as storage, he had chosen not to carry around his wand in a holster or in his combat boots like Jungkook did. It was just a waiting game until it snapped in half. It was much easier to wear an enchanted bracelet.
‘Careful,’ Yoongi said with a stern look as he handed his black and sliver wand over.
Seokjin received it with two hands and bowed. “When am I not?”
‘Never.’
He scoffed and stalked away from the group, thank Merlin. Yoongi watched with mostly apprehension, History Of Protective Spells clutched tight in his grasp in case he needed to evacuate.
“Actually, watch the kid.” Seokjin called and pulled out his own wand only to throw it towards Yoongi who scrambled to catch it. “Don’t let him get jealous.”
‘Be fucking careful-’
Seokjin turned around, cutting off Yoongi who glared at his back and then stared down at the wand in his hands as if it would start speaking. It did not. It also didn’t look any different from usual. Slightly crooked, warm brown wood and an imperfection in the lines one third of the way up.
‘This is your fault,’ he wanted to say but didn’t. Lest get the wand even more moody. Instead, he just held onto it.
While he wasn’t convinced wands had a personality like humans did, Seokjin was adamant they did. Apparently his wand was kinda okay with Yoongi. The results were not as razor sharp and quick as they were with his own wand, but Yoongi could still use his boyfriend’s without issues. Yes, even with his non-verbal spells.
They had switched before. Once Seokjin tuned to Yoongi’s wand, he could get by for homework or a test. Yoongi would babysit Seokjin’s wand until they switched back and if he needed to, he could use it. This wasn’t a given, some wands would refuse to work with other people or perform the spells incorrectly. Namjoon’s flat out turned into a piece of wood in almost every other hand. Like a dog that refused to obey commands from anyone but their owner.
“And I’m supposed to be more careful,” Jungkook muttered, sending an offended look in Seokjin’s direction.
“I still don’t understand how yours hasn’t snapped yet,” Jimin said and eyed Jungkook’s boots suspiciously. “Isn’t it uncomfortable?”
He shrugged. “You get used to it.”
“Your leg probably has a dent in it,” Hoseok said. Jungkook didn’t deny it.
They continued bickering about the practicality of wand storage. Namjoon, who sat between all of them, sent Yoongi another one of his long-suffering looks. He had planned on studying. A bad call, as no one else actually needed to study, at least they thought so, and thus it would be impossible to concentrate on anything. Taehyung proclaimed loudly that chest holsters were back in style this year, especially sheep leather. Jimin said leg holsters looked way cooler. Jungkook said boots were the only correct way to go. Namjoon tried to block out the noise with a piece of parchment against each ear.
The discussion was interrupted by a yelp and a blinding light coming from none other than Seokjin. Yoongi whipped his head around which was a stupid decision because he could barely keep his eyes open due to the light. It felt like looking straight into the sun. He hurried to cover his eyes and preserve at least some of his sight. Thankfully, Seokjin’s rushed counter spell did not go haywire. Yoongi still needed several moments before he could see again. His pupils had shrunk so much, they were barely catching any light. When they finally did and he was able to distinguish colors, he moved History Of Defensive Spells off his lap onto the dry grass and wobbled his way over to Seokjin who stood there with his eyes squeezed shut.
Yoongi took his free hand and made him uncurl his tightly clenched fist. He gently brushed up against his side in an attempt to ask if he was okay. Not unlike Mario did when no one was paying attention to him.
“Just blinded myself,” Seokjin said, voice strained. He knew it was Yoongi without having to see him. He would have liked to say he could distinguish his presence from anyone else’s, but it was mostly due to the fact that anyone else would have asked if he was okay. If there was a presence around him but it remained silent, it was always Yoongi.
Yoongi huffed out a breath through his nose in lieu of saying something, his eyebrows pulling together in concern. He tucked Seokjin’s wand under his armpit and raised his hands to cradle his boyfriend’s cheeks. His thumbs swiped over soft skin to encourage him to open his eyes. It took a bit but then they fluttered open. Seokjin squinted and blinked heavily until his pupils settled. Yoongi watched with unmasked concern but he couldn’t see any obvious sign of pain or, Merlin forbid, injury. His nerves settled when he finally got a sheepish smile from the other.
He removed his hands from his face. ‘I said careful.’
The smile just got wider and more sheepish. “Sorry, I thought I was.”
Yoongi pursed his lips, clearly not impressed. ‘Hospital?’
“Nah.” Seokjin shook his head. “It’s fine.”
Yoongi itched to take his wand back but Seokjin turned it away from him. “I’ll try something else. No more lumos so-”
Yoongi gestured him to be quiet, anxious about his wand misinterpreting simply talking about a spell as trying to cast it. He never knew when other people held his wand.
Seokjin understood, still snickering at Yoongi’s panicked look. “That spell. I have a few others I should practice.”
He wasn’t convinced this was a good idea but Yoongi decided Seokjin was old enough to make his own decision. Besides, he really did need to practice so with one last meaningful look, he made his way back to their group.
“Did he get a sunburn?” Hoseok asked.
‘He’s fine.’
“If I ever need the sun in my living room, I know who to call,” Taehyung joked. “Free tan.”
‘Is that shirt still orange?’ Yoongi asked innocently and Taehyung cleared his throat.
“No comment.”
The corner of Yoongi’s mouth twitched into a smug smile.
───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────
“What happened to your wand?” Jordan asked as he peered down at the unfamiliar wand next to Yoongi’s parchment.
‘Boyfriend has it.’
“Ah, shared custody,” he said with a teasing grin and Yoongi sent him a look. He didn’t deny it though. His child was currently still with Seokjin because the older had a test today.
Yoongi seriously hoped he wouldn’t blow anything up with his wand.