Magic Within Us - An Ateez Hogwarts AU

The Library

"Again." Wooyoung said as he paced behind San. They both stared at the large dueling dummy in the center of the room. Every once and a while, Wooyoung would reach out to tweak San's form or grip on his wand.

San reached out once more and shouted. "Stupify." But the dummy only fell backwards before righting itself.

"Good. You're getting better." Wooyoung grinned as he came to stand on the other side of San. "Again."

He had discovered after their first lessons that San had been taught and was actually fairly good at shields and protections spells. So they had been able to quickly move on to offensive work.

The first couple spells they had tried to cover had been hard for San but Wooyoung really was an exceptional teacher and San quickly progressed. By the second week, San had been able to master several defensive and offensive spells.

And over the past weeks since they had seen the Gytrash, Wooyoung watched San wilter yet flourish in front of him. Dark circles appeared under his eyes and continued to get darker and darker. Wooyoung knew he wasn't sleeping but San would hardly let him help. He would jump or whip out his wand when startled, and although he tried to hide it, a lot of things startled him now. It was like he was expecting danger to leap out at him from any corner.

"Take a deep breath," Wooyoung whispered. He reached up to press down on San's rising shoulders. "Relax."

San started at his touch and then with a quick glance back at Wooyoung, he willed his shoulders down, his wand still pointed at the dummy. "Stupify." This time his aim was true and his spell struck the dummy right in the center of it's chest and pushed it back into the wall.

"Yes, good job." Wooyoung reached out to touch San's forearm. His hand lingered there for a moment before he let it drop to his side.

And the flourish, he continued to do better and better at defense against the dark arts as well as the rest of his classes. During their private lessons, electricity danced between them as their friendship grew stronger and stronger. Maybe into something more. They were almost inseparable out of classes and quidditch practice, much to the disdain of the other slytherins.

San lowered his wand and stared out the window over the grounds, leaves floated down from the trees, making soft piles of orange and red. In the distance the whomping willow shook its branches occasionally as it tried to release its remaining leaves. Several third year gryffindors seemed to be playing a game of chicken and were seeing which one could touch the base of the whomping willow without getting hurt. His eyes glazed over the playing students and looked closer at the forbidden forest, constantly looking for signs of Mortem.

"You're doing well, why don't we take a break?"

"Something's wrong. The wisps and banshees should have arrived by now." San muttered. He moved closer to the window as if the better view could make the mysterious creatures appear.

"Maybe the extra enchantments that Mcgonagall put into place are working. You did tell her which creatures Mortem would send." Wooyoung knew that San wasn't speaking to him but he couldn't resist trying to reassure him. He never wanted to pressure San into talking about his past but he could see the toll everything was taking on his friend. "San?"

San turned as if he had only heard his name. "Yes?"

"Do you want to take a break?"

"Yeah, sure." He whispered, still slightly in a daze. His brain was still turning. It had been weeks since they had seen the gytrash and if it had just been him he might have thought it had just been one of the many nightmares that plagued his sleep. But Wooyoung had been with him. They had both seen the gytrash.