Chapter Text
I: What Was Left Behind (Nothing Ever Happens at Hogwarts)
Chapter 1 - Final Competition
“Five baneberries.”
“….”
“Three spoons of Neem oil.”
“Ugh.”
“And some Alihotsy-“
“Shut the fuck up, Seokjin!”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha!” fake evil laughter sounded from across the table – loud and exaggerated. Namjoon flashed his eyes up from his parchment to the brown-haired Slytherin sitting opposite from him, on the other side of the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall. His black and green robes were hanging sloppily off his shoulders, and he was sitting cross legged on the wooden bench, his elbows on the table and chin resting on his hand.
“I can’t believe you’ve already started studying for your N.E.W.Ts. You’re such a nerd,” Jin sighed, a mocking smirk across his face while raising an eyebrow at Namjoon, who had been carefully scribbling old notes over onto a fresh piece of parchment.
“Just following your lead, highness,” the younger retorted, returning to his writing.
Jin snickered. “I imagine you’re starting Potions early because of that Exceeds Expectations you got on your exam last year – on which, if I recall correctly, I got an Outstanding.”
Namjoon sighed and put down his quill, biting on his bottom lip. Jin continued while eyeing his friend with a cheeky smile on his lips. “I may not be a Ravenclaw, but it’s clear I’m the smarter one out of the two of u-“
“The only reason you got an Outstanding,” Namjoon interrupted him, the smile on Jin’s face widening. “Is because you borrowed my notes without letting me know, giving me less time to study.”
Jin shrugged. “What can I say?” he stared at the younger with an eyebrow raised, and the smirk still on his face. “Besides, you know, thanks a lot, Joonie.”
The seventh and final year at Hogwarts of Witchcraft and Wizardry had begun for Namjoon and Jin, who were both at the top of their class – together ranking far above anyone else in their entire year. During their six years in the castle, they had competed for the perfect score, both intelligent, clever, and hardworking in their own way. After Namjoon had gotten better scores in their first year, Jin had been determined to prove himself, and had made an impressive comeback in their second and third year. Naturally, this had resulted in a disgruntled Namjoon, who had dedicated most of his free time to studying in the two years after, ranking on top in their fourth and fifth year.
“You know last year’s score doesn’t count, right?” Namjoon told Jin, who winked playfully at him.
“Three-Three.”
“Shut up.”
Jin loved to work on Namjoon’s nerves, knowing things concerning his grades really got to him. He himself did not have anyone at home to prove himself to like his friend in black and blue did – Namjoon’s parents both worked at the Ministry of Magic, and had high expectations of him. The Minister himself had even complimented Namjoon, impressed after hearing about his top-ranking results, him being a Prefect and now also Head Boy of Ravenclaw, which, naturally, Jin had teased him with.
Ultimately, Jin did not care as much about his grades as much as he did about making Namjoon’s life miserable. The young Slytherin loved a challenge, and he loved to win. In their whole year, Namjoon was the only one who he considered equal to him on an intellectual level – he found the rest of the students… simple, but had developed a curious fascination for the Ravenclaw sitting in front of him, and had utmost respect for him.
“Are you done? Everyone’s already left,” Jin sighed, peeking around at the three other House tables, which were abandoned. “I’m bored, and I think I’m starting to get hungry again too.”
Namjoon made a clicking sound with his tongue and cocked his head sideways. “Tough life,” to which Jin pursed his lips. “You didn’t have to sit with me all this time, you know.”
“And then what would I do? Everyone else is an utter bore.”
The younger looked up at and gifted his friend with a broad smile, his dimples making an appearance. “You know,” he started. “I think I still have some cinnamon pastries in my dormitory.”
“Really?!” Jin cheered, immediately jumping up, pulling his robes straight – ever so excited to eat. “Let’s go!”
Namjoon chuckled while collecting his things from the table, knowing well he would regret not finishing his work when he would lie in bed later that night.
The entire school was gathered at the Quidditch pitch for the first match of the year. Despite the fact that relations had improved over the years, ever since the defeat of the dark wizard Voldemort, every Gryffindor versus Slytherin match brought out the worst in both Houses – both having a reputation for being incredibly hard-headed and competitive.
Namjoon was sat, high up in the Slytherin booth, next to Jin – green and silver paint smeared all over his face, a dark green cloak wrapped around his body, and holding a banner with a large snake on it, which he had enchanted to slither over the cloth and flash its fangs at by-passers.
“At this point I feel like you just do it to embarrass me,” Jin sighed, glancing at the Ravenclaw, who was waving his snake-banner excitedly.
“I won’t deny that. You should have some more House pride, my friend,” Namjoon told him, while making the snake hiss at a pair of giggling first-year girls who passed them.
Jin rolled his eyes while lazily leaning backward in his seat, his hands in his neck and eyes flashing past the students that were securing a spot in the audience. “House pride is so outdated. It categorises people and gives them an excuse to dislike each other solely based on what colours they’re wearing, and I don’t think that’s right.”
He observed Namjoon from head to toe, his brow furrowing. “See, I dislike everyone regardless of what House they’re in.”
The Ravenclaw laughed, knowing Jin was joking. It was his wit and somewhat dark sense of humour that, in fact, made him one of the most popular students in their year. Although it was true the young Slytherin was not particularly drawn to his classmates on a deeper level, he often helped his peers with schoolwork regardless of how he felt about them, and always offered friendly advice to those who came to him for it – Namjoon figured that being the one that people always came to for help flattered and energised Jin.
Thee quarter of an hour into the match, Slytherin was 120 points ahead of Gryffindor, and Jin, despite always solemnly declaring he did not care for Quidditch at all, was cheering loudly with the rest of his House and Namjoon every time the green team scored.
“Okay, so hear this,” Namjoon started, leaning closer to Jin so his words would be heard over the sound of the roaring Slytherin students. “Before the match I spoke to Dahlia about the techniques they should be using against you guys-“
“Wait, you lectured the Gryffindor team captain about Quidditch techniques right before the match?” Jin laughed. “Ha, that’s hilarious!”
“Well laugh all you want, but the thing is, right, – and I’ve told her this before – that Slytherin tends to use the same set of techniques, but in different order. It’s not very creative, and quite easy to figure out if you pay attention to it, really. Naturally, she wouldn’t listen to me-“
“Naturally,” Jin chimed in, amused by his friend’s well-intended efforts being dismissed so rudely.
“-but now they’re losing, aren’t they? So to be completely honest I don’t even mind that they’re being destroyed right now.”
Jin glanced at his friend, somewhat puzzled. “Meaning you never wanted Slytherin to win in the first place?”
“Well,” Namjoon chuckled. “I never really enjoy a Slytherin winning at anything, do I?”
As expected, it was Slytherin House that came out as the victor of the match, which was celebrated in the dungeon common room – Namjoon being one of the few guests from another House. Jin and him had claimed their usual seats near the fireplace, feeling entitled to them considering they belonged to the oldest group of students in the castle. They were both observing the people around them – who were chanting loudly – when Namjoon overheard a whisper in the seats next to theirs.
“-honestly don’t know where she is. I haven’t seen her in three days, and she never misses a Quidditch match. Do you think I should report it?”
Namjoon subtly glanced over to his side and noticed two girls – a Slytherin and Hufflepuff, about a year younger than himself – leaned in close to each other.
“Of course!” the Hufflepuff exclaimed, most likely louder than she had intended. She caught herself and continued more quietly. “It isn’t like her to miss out on a chance to see Taehyung in action, she’s too obsessed with him. I can’t believe you haven’t told a Professor yet!”
Namjoon frowned, his mind racing.
A missing student?
He turned away from the girls, wanting to share what he just heard with Jin, but upon doing so, he noticed a black-haired student descending the stairs of the boys’ 6th-year dormitory. Dressed in a set of silken, pink pyjamas, he dragged his feet over the floor of the common room, pushing some people out of his way, and approached the two other boys at the fireplace – clearly not amused. With a deep sigh he halted in front of them, staring at Jin with sleepy eyes, his expression grim.
“I take it we won, then?”
Jin laughed at the sight of his fellow-Slytherin. “Yeah. It’s a real shame you weren’t there, Yoongi.”
Yoongi rolled his eyes, plumping down on the floor in front of the other two and stared at the both of them with his eyelids hanging heavily. “I had better things to do.”
“Sleeping?”
“Exactly.”
Much to Yoongi’s dismay, the celebration went on until much later. Around 1AM the room started to clear out, and he, too, took his leave, wishing Jin and Namjoon good night with a grunt – at least, they assumed that is what he meant. They watched him ascend the stairs, almost tripping upward as he did, and the Ravenclaw turned sideways in his dark green armchair, the leather squeaking softly.
“Apparently there’s a girl missing.”
“Yeah, I heard it too.”
“Of course you did,” Namjoon sighed, thinking to himself he could have known better than to expect anything would get past his friend. “So what’s your take on that?”
A moment passed - Jin’s eyes flashing from side to side and the muscle in his jaw tensing as he was collecting his thoughts.
“Well,” he slowly began, his brown eyes meeting the others’ in an intense gaze. “The last time a student went missing inside of Hogwarts, it was in the time Harry Potter went to school. I recall Voldemort himself was behind it, or at least a shard of his soul.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Namjoon nodded in agreement to Jin’s statement. “So that means-“
“I agree,” Jin abruptly stated, not letting the other finish, his mouth still open in mid-sentence.
“We descend in to the Chamber of Secrets.”
The two’s eyes were locked, Jin’s burning with a deep passion – Namjoon’s widened in disbelief.
“What?! No that was-“
“You’re so fucking gullible, Joonie. It’s adorable, really.” the older snorted, bending over the armrest of his chair. “In all seriousness, though, I don’t think it could be the work of another dark wizard. She probably just took a wrong exit; this castle is ridiculous. She’ll turn up eventually.”
Not entirely sure on whether he agreed with his friend, Namjoon led it slide – up until the morning came, the third day after, that a state of emergency was officially declared by the Headmaster at breakfast, which meant all students had to be in bed at a strict curfew, and no one was to wander around on their own anymore - especially outside.
“Are we sure she didn’t just sneak back home?”
“I heard she fell into the lake, and the Giant Squid ate her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If anything, she just apparated out of the castle.”
Both Namjoon and Jin rolled their eyes in perfect synchronisation, annoyed at the conversation which was taking place at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. After the Headmaster had announced a student gone missing, hushed whispers – some in shock, some in a strange excitement – had sounded from all four tables, with restless movement on the benches.
“Don’t quit your day job,” Namjoon quipped at the guy who had last spoken, who was sitting two spots away from him, and Jin spat half of his pumpkin juice back into his goblet in laughter, coughing heavily after only barely managing to swallow the rest. The second-year Slytherin stared at Namjoon, affronted, but quickly turned his head upon spotting the shiny Head Boy badge pinned onto his robes.
Jin picked at a rather large sausage with his fork while shoving away the rest of his juice, and Namjoon stared intently at his friend until he, after a full minute, finally returned the gaze.
“What?” Jin mumbled at the other, opening wide and the sausage disappearing in one go.
“Can we now agree that something grave is going on here?” he told the older before him, who was struggling to chew the amount of meat he shoved into his mouth, his cheeks full and flushed.
“Mhm.”
“I mean, she’s been missing for nearly a week now, yet the Headmaster only decided to officially announce it today. I mean, the Professors must have done everything they could to find her – failing, of course – which ultimately resulted in them believing that we all might be in grave danger. If there’s anything Hogwarts has learned from the time that Potter went to school here, is that hardly anything is ever as it seems.” Namjoon eagerly stared at his friend, hoping he’d agree.
“Mhmmmm,” was the only sound Jin managed to make with his mouth full, his forehead now gleaming with drops of sweat, and wrinkled with a deep frown. It took a few minutes before he was finally able to swallow his food.
“Honestly,” he panted, gulping away some water. “Nothing exciting ever happens at Hogwarts – the school is way past those times. However, this does seem very odd.”
Namjoon leaned in over the table, shoving away several plates and bowls of food with his elbows as he did. He came so close to Jin that the older pulled his head back.
“Eh-“
“I want to be the one to find her,” the younger confessed, his tone determined and eyes gleaming fiercely. Jin seemed baffled for a swift moment, but started laughing when he saw how serious Namjoon was – passionate like he had never seen him before.
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Solving a mystery? I’ll make you a deal.”
Namjoon pulled back and sat back on the wooden bench with a thud, squinting his eyes and crossing his arms. “Go on.”
“Lately I’ve been thinking just getting good grades is such a bore, do you know what I mean?”
“Not entirely, but proceed.”
“You’re the most intelligent person I know, Joonie – besides myself, obviously.” Jin threw his bangs out of his face with a swift head movement to the side. “But being book-smart is easy. How about…“ he paused dramatically. “We make this our final competition?”
Namjoon’s eyes were locked with Jin’s – he didn’t speak. The older instead continued. “Whoever finds her first becomes the ultimate champion.”
A smile curved around the Ravenclaw’s lips, satisfied at his friend’s offer – knowing this might just have been exactly what they needed to conclude their last year at Hogwarts, more excited in the moment about competing with his best friend one final time, than actually caring for the safety of their fellow student.
“Alright,” he said. “It’s on.”