The Secrets We Keep From Friends (Irene x Male Reader Fanfic)

Chapter 8

“I’m so glad you’re ok,” said Joohyun as she hugged him.

“I’m glad you’re safe too,” said Y/n as he hugged her back.

Y/n opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling as he recovered from his dream, a recollection really, of him finding Joohyun in the Forbidden Forest.

The sweet happiness of that moment he saw her exhausted smile and when she hugged him started to fade, replaced by pain.

Slowly, he sat up, staring the foot of his bed. A new day, and that meant things had to go back to normal.

With a sigh, Y/n got out of bed and prepared for another school day.

Great Hall
The group of friends gathered for breakfast, none of them uttering a word about the ordeal the previous day.

Headmistress Kwon Boa had already given her speech announcing the indefinite ban on travelling to Hogsmeade and assuring students that all precautions were being taken, so the group did not have to do too much to assure the younger ones.

They talked of other things in short bursts of conversation, hoping to not remind others around them of the Death Eater attack. Some laughter passed between them, but it was considerably muted compared to normal. Their battle and subsequent flight to Hogwarts had drained them, and it would take a while for them to recover both emotionally and physically.

Joohyun watched the rest, hoping that things would return to normal soon. She felt fingers brush her long hair back across her shoulder, and she turned to find Taehyung smiling to her.

“Your hair was going to get in your food,” explained Taehyung.

She smiled at the sweet gesture and thanked him, butterflies forming again in her stomach, but as was the previous night, they had dimmed considerably. On the surface, nothing had changed between them. But they both knew something had changed between them since last night or possibly before that.

Joohyun still could not figure out what it was. She glanced at Y/n, who partook in conversations once in a while, but like the rest, was more focused on eating. Nothing had changed between them outwardly either, but internally things had changed for her. Even now as she looked at him, her heart swelled with happiness. It was the same one she always had with him, but it was far stronger since the Death Eater attack.

The happiness she felt when she was with him was markedly different from that she felt with others, given how special a friend he was. However, that didn’t explain the sudden change.

Frustrated at not being able to answer these questions, Joohyun shook her head and rejoined the ongoing conversation with the others.

Duelling classroom
If Hogwarts had been rattled by the attack on Hogsmeade, it showed little evidence as classes continued as scheduled. Perhaps Headmistress Seo thought that Defence against the Dark Arts (DADA) was needed now more than ever that the lesson continued as planned.

Today’s lesson was split into two, for Professor Taeyeon thought that her students, bright sixth years that they were, would be ready to take on a future lesson earlier than expected. They would practice non-verbal duelling in the first half, and then…..resisting the Cruciatus curse. In light of the recent attack, Professor Kim Taeyeon had reorganised her lessons, prioritizing defensive lessons.

Y/n deflected an incoming spell from his sparring partner, Kim Seolhyun, who in turn blocked a spell of his own. The drop-dead gorgeous Slytherin could give Sooyoung a run for her money and it was known the two had a friendly rivalry for being the most popular bombshell, or most lusted after depending on your point of view. Seolhyun was quiet yet friendly, in contrast to the raucous and loud Sooyoung. Y/n was thankful she was his sparring partner, not being in the mood to deal with troublemakers today.