news of a death eater.

another month had passed in hogwarts and exams were getting closer. the leaves on all the trees of hogwarts had fallen down and the whomping willow was left bare, shivering in the cold winter air.

hogsmeade trips had been a sweet break from school as yujin could enjoy herself with karina and hyunjin. of course, the thought of midterm exams never left her mind—even in honeydukes, where there was sweets galore.

jeno and yujin slowly become closer friends day by day, whether it was collecting homework together or studying in the library together. jeno's bright smile that greeted yujin everyday never failed to give her a rush of energy and she could feel her cheeks always turn pink just seeing him wave to her.

on the contrary, jaemin and yujin seemed to stay put. ever since jaemin gave yujin her bookbag back, she could only feel awkward with the slytherin boy, unlike her relationship with jeno. his cold demeanor always made her uncomfortable and she was always wary of his family's blood purity beliefs.

yujin clutched her bookbag tightly as she walked to the great hall for study. classes just ended and she, yet again, got praise for her charms work in class.

as she entered the great hall, she sat at the ravenclaw table where renjun, per usual, already was at, studying while chewing on a licorice wand.

"hi," yujin greeted. renjun simply waved, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and continued flipping through his transfiguration textbook, occasionally scribbling down notes.

yujin pulled out her dada textbook and continued the homework she started at the end of class about ghouls. the last dada project they had was the one about snakes, which yujin's group narrowly passed with an exceeds expectations.

"ghoul task force..." yujin mumbled to herself with her hand rapidly writing with her quill. "...regulation and control...of magical...creatures..."

as yujin was busy note-taking, she didn't notice jeno slip next to her, slowly pulling out his textbook.

"boo!" jeno screamed, hitting yujin with his potions textbook simultaneously.

yujin yelped and sat frozen for a second, then grabbed her dada textbook and proceeded to smack jeno fearlessly.

"ow, i get it!" jeno whined as he shields himself with his arms. yujin narrowed his eyes at him and calmly sat back down.

"what is the ruckus here, mister lee and miss jung?" headmistress mcgonagall's shrill voice rang as she towered over the pair.

"professor, i would just like to say," yujin began. she paused and sent a sneaky smile to jeno. then, she turned back to the headmistress and said, "jeno hit me first in the middle of study."

headmistress mcgonagall hit the back of jeno's head with her scroll. "no more interruptions, mister lee! and i expect that transfiguration homework with your name on it this time!"

"of course, professor," jeno replied. once headmistress mcgonagall had left, jeno shot yujin a glare. "what was that for? tattletale much?"

"i speak nothing but the truth," yujin stated, putting a hand on her chest.

"i'm already in hot water because i always forget to put my name, okay? don't make it worse."

"please, how could you forget your name?"

"it's not that i forget it, i forget to put it on my papers."

"dummy."

"idiot."

"git."

"arse."

"rat."

"snake."

"shit-"

"will you two just get married yet?" renjun complained in irritation, snapping his textbook closed. "merlin's beard, i can't concentrate!"

"sorry," the two replied in unison.

renjun rolled his eyes before pulling out yet another textbook and skimming through the pages.

jeno leaned against his palm and faced yujin. "hey, can you help me with potions?"

"hm, why?" yujin hummed. "i thought you were good at them."

"yeah, but i forgot about erumpent potions," jeno explained with a cheeky grin. "care to help?"

yujin rolled her eyes and scooted closer to jeno. "so, erumpent potions are made from..."

in fact, jeno did not need help with potions. rather, he wanted to get closer to the ravenclaw. he slyly wrapped an arm around yujin's shoulders and leaned in closer.

yujin didn't mind, since she liked to believe that she was good friends with jeno. after all, friends are comfortable with personal contact, right?

but the pair did not know that a slytherin was burning holes into them, his heart filled with envy as he watched jeno's arm rest comfortably on yujin.

✧ ✧ ✧

yujin stood in front of the bulletin board outside of the great hall after potions. she had a free period and skimmed her eyes over the board looking for announcements. just as she was about to walk away, a poster caught her eye.

"tutoring?" she mumbled to herself. then she remembered hyunjin mentioned signing up for a tutoring program the other day.

"you will be tutoring younger years," she read. "in charms, transfiguration, history of magic, potions, and defense against the dark arts."

"are you signing up?" a voice asked. yujin turned around only to be greeted by a grinning jeno.

"have you?" the girl questioned, leaning against the wall.

"already done, i signed up yesterday," jeno responded. he moved to lean next to her, stretching at the same time. "you should join, you'll get house points."

"hm, okay, so all i need to do is notify professor flitwick?" yujin asked.

"yup, you should do it now, since he's in there," jeno recommended, pointing at the great hall. "and tutoring starts next period during study."

yujin jumped up. "i'll go do that now, then," she said. as she turned around, jeno ruffled her hair.

"hopefully we'll tutor a small group together," jeno grinned, his eyes curling up like always. yujin felt heat rush to her cheeks and could hear her heart beating faster, but she payed no attention to it and simply nodded in response.

as she walked down the aisles of tables in the great hall, she noticed very few people had a free period the same time as her. miraculously, jeno was there to save her from boredom multiple times; since karina, hyunjin, and renjun all had classes during this period.

yujin waved to professor flitwick, who nodded at her. "miss jung," he smiled. "what is it that you need of me?"

"i would like to sign up for the 5th year and 7th year tutoring program," yujin responded, folding her hands together.

"ah yes! a great way to practice for your O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s and also earn house points!" professor flitwick exclaimed. "why of course, you're now signed up!" the charms professor flicked his wand and added, " you do know tutoring starts during today's study?"

"yes and thank you, professor!" yujin grinned.

"of course, miss jung."

yujin turned around and continued on her way out of the great hall. as she passed through the slytherin-ravenclaw aisle, she caught onto a conversation two slytherins were whispering about.

"no, they said his parents were death eaters!" one cried in a hushed voice. "i'm sure of what i heard!"

"well, he was always suspicious," the other added. "not to mention the glares he gives the poor hufflepuffs, i swear, he scared a few 2nd years to death!"

who are they even talking about? yujin thought. death eaters? but no one here is a pure-blood supremacist...

"of course he did, it's na jaemin we're talking about."

jaemin? no way...so the conversation in professor slughorn's office wasn't a mistake...

yujin stood in shock. she knew after what yeji told her that jaemin's family believed in blood purity and karina and hyunjin informed her about the cold na family, but death eaters? out of everything?

yujin gulped. her own aunt and uncle had been murdered by death eaters while lord voldemort was on a killing rampage, which left her with a hatred for death eaters and anyone related to them. she could never express that anger, though, because the fear of death eaters overwhelmed her emotions more than anything.

suddenly, the bell rang, breaking yujin's train of thoughts. jeno had come into the great hall, searching for her so they could walk together. he found yujin with an unreadable expression and approached her.

"hey, you okay?" jeno asked, concerned. "you look like you just saw the bloody baron pass through you."

"y-yeah, i'm fine," yujin affirmed. "let's go to that tutoring session."

yujin walked ahead of jeno, who shrugged off her strange tone and followed the ravenclaw.

the pair arrived at the hogwarts library and lined up with the 5th years and 7th years. yujin pulled jeno with her to stand next to hyunjin.

"welcome to our first tutoring session!" professor flitwick announced. behind him were younger years with nervous expressions on their faces. "to find your tutor or tutee, please look at the lists over there," the charms professor pointed at a bookshelf with three rolls of parchment stuck on it.

the crowd of students swarmed over, standing on tippy-toes to catch who they were assigned to. yujin raised her head to get a peek but found her effort fruitless.

"ugh, why are these kids so tall!" yujin whined. "hyunjin, do you see anything?"

"i have yeojin!" hyunjin exclaimed. "okay, let me see... you have a park jisung?"

"jisung? like professor park's jisung?"

"i guess?" hyunjin shrugged.

yujin grinned and turned around, immediately spotting the tall gryffindor she was looking for. "jisung! we're paired together!"

"hi yujin!" jisung shyly greeted.

"let's go over there," yujin said and jisung nodded. they sat down at the large table yujin pointed at previously and yujin pulled out her school supplies.

"so, what do you have trouble with?" yujin asked.

"um... dada," jisung mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

yujin blinked, slightly surprised. "couldn't you ask your brother for tutoring?"

"uh, well, he's pretty busy..." jisung looked down. "i don't know, he aced dada but for some reason i just... yeah."

"hey, it's okay!" yujin reassured. "i'll try to help you out as much as i can, but i think your brother would be much better than me since he's an auror."

"yeah, i get that, thanks though!" jisung smiled.

"now, let's get started, show me what you're learning."

as jisung flipped through his dada textbook, jeno sat down with his tutee beside him. "hi jisung and yujin," jeno waved.

"hi jeno and... sungchan?"

sungchan sheepishly grinned. "what can i say, i suck at potions..."

jisung nudged yujin. "i found the page."

as jeno instructed sungchan about undetectable potions, yujin skimmed over jisung's book. "boggarts?"

jisung nodded. "i know the incantation, but i... i freeze up whenever i get to the actual thing."

"yeah, boggarts are scary," yujin agreed. "since they are your biggets fear but sorta like an illusion, they just seem so real. just try to block it out of your head and remember something that makes you laugh."

jisung hummed. "by the way, what is your boggart?" yujin asked.

"um, well, you sort of know him but it's chenle... dead."

yujin felt her heart go soft for a moment. "oh my merlin, you guys are really two peas in a pod," she cooed. "that's so sad and sweet at the same time..."

"how is it sweet?" jisung questioned, slightly confused.

"it shows how much you care for him to the point that your boggart-- your greatest fear-- is him dead," yujin explained, a look of awe in her eyes. "gosh, if his boggart is similar you two were meant to be!"

"hm, i don't know what his boggart is since he's a year above- merlin's beard, there he is!"

jisung shot up from his seat and frantically waved his hand at the familiar hufflepuff, who ran over to jisung, earning a sharp warning from the librarian.

"hi jisungie!" chenle babbled. "i'm getting tutored in transfiguration, have you found your dada tutor? where is- oh, it's you, late ravenclaw!"

yujin frowned at the way chenle remembered her, but brushed it off. "nice to see you again, chenle. where's your tutor?"

"oh, he's there," chenle replied, jesturing to a slytherin behind him. "it's just jaemin."

yujin's eyes widened and she gulped. "hi jaemin!" jisung smiled.

jaemin nodded in response and scanned the table, his eyes landing on jeno. rage bubbled inside of him and he shoved the gryffindor, who barely budged. jeno rolled his eyes, already knowing who interrupted him, and slowly looked at jaemin.

"what," he grumbled.

"you told them, didn't you?" jaemin scoffed, cracking his neck. "now the whole school knows, thanks to you!"

"told them what?" jeno questioned, slightly offended. "i didn't do anything!"

"that my parents were death eaters," jaemin sneered. "the only person who knew was you, stop trying to cover up."

"i swear, i didn't say anything!" the gryffindor defended himself.

"i told you, stop trying to cover it up!"

"look, there's a lot of people here who's parents work in the ministry," jeno argued. "why are you only accusing me?"

"because who else would it be?" jaemin snapped. "ever since 4th year you've hated my parents, of course it was you!"

"your parents are the reason why i'm miserable now," jeno growled. "your parents are the reason why i hate my parents. your parents are the reason why my biological mother is dead."

yujin stiffened. the table was dead silent as jaemin let out a deep breath, jeno glaring at the slytherin.

"chenle, let's go," jaemin ordered, already leaving.

chenle frowned. jisung sent him an pitiful look as the two were separated, disappointed that they couldn't be together for tutoring.

as yujin, jisung, and sungchan watched chenle look back every two seconds to see jisung, jeno looked down at his hands, fidgeting with a gold ring on his right hand. the last belonging he had from his biological mother.

✧ ✧ ✧