ㄖㄩㄒ匚卂丂ㄒ- ㄒ乂ㄒ

X

Warning! This chapter contains description of injury and violence. Please proceed with caution.

K. HK POV

It had been an eventful day yesterday. With the confirmation of his house senior's crush on Yeonjun and then the seemingly random infestation of Doxies in the school. After the group of friends had separated to take shelter in their respective house dorms, Soobin had more or less dragged Hueningkai back to his dorm, before Kai himself reasoned that because it was only himself and Felix in his own dorm, he could easily just stay with them for the night. So, the newly formed Hufflepuff trio had an unplanned sleepover the previous night. Huening assumed that his friends hadn't been terrorised by Doxies on their way there, since no one had messaged him.

The young Hufflepuff was not so kindly woken up by Soobin shining a light in his face. He jumped back, stuffing his face into a pillow to try and get his eyes to stop stinging.
"Really? Was that necessary, Bin?" Huening groaned, voice stiff muffled by the pillow covering his face. The older chuckled, patting him on the back.
"Maybe, maybe not. I figured you wouldn't want to miss breakfast, especially since it's Monday." He slid his wand back into the inside of his robe, waiting for his words to sink in. Suddenly, Hueningkai shot up, eyes wide.
"Why didn't you tell me that from the start, you bloody idiot?!" He snapped at Soobin, who only laughed again.
"I figured it would be process of elimination, since it was kind of obviously Sunday yesterday. Clearly, I overestimated how much common sense you have on a Monday morning."
The younger Hufflepuff muttered under his breath before getting out of bed and grabbing his uniform. Soobin raised an eyebrow.
"Repeat that, young man."
"I said piss off, mum." Huening turned back and smirked, whilst the older was in mock offence.
"Seriously though, I need to change. Go ahead, I'll meet you where there's food." The smirk turned into a sheepish smile, as the student raised his uniform to prove his point. Soobin nodded, waving to his junior as he left the room, the door closing with a click behind him.
As soon as the elder had left, Kai let out a sigh of relief. He changed into his uniform, ensuring that his tie was straight and his shirt was tucked in. The pendant Taehyun had given them all twinkled in the rays of morning sun streaking through the window. With a smile, he tucked that under his tie.
Once he was satisfied with his appearance, Hueningkai left his dorm, striding through the common room and halls, food the only thing that mattered. As well as seeing his friends, but in that moment, food was first. He entered the great hall, and in their usual place, were his friends. Kai strolled over and sat next to Yeonjun, opposite to Beomgyu.
"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in. Morning sleepyhead!" Beomgyu giggled at his own joke, while the youngest could only sigh. "Blame Soobin for keeping me up. I would have been here earlier if he hadn't decided to keep Felix and I up till one in the morning." He explained, glaring at the older. The younger Slytherin seemed to think of something, and struggled to contain his laughter.
"Wouldn't have pinned Soobin to go for younger years. I guess I was wrong?" The comment hung in the air for a moment, before the two Hufflepuffs began to protest to this. The remaining three laughed at their plight, and Taehyun, once he'd stopped wheezing for air, decided to comment on this mess.
"First, pretty sure Soobin doesn't go for straights, no offence Kai. Second, I'm surprised you walked into that. It was pretty obvious what was going to happen with the snake of the sewers over there." The Ravenclaw rested his head on his right hand, while he pushed up his glasses with the other.
"Oi, don't call me that. Come up with something that doesn't make me sound like I crawl around in the sewers with a creepy smile." Beomgyu complained, leaning into Taehyun's shoulder and giving the red-head puppy eyes with his dual coloured irises. Beomgyu himself didn't notice, but Hueningkai did. As soon as pressure got put on that shoulder, the Ravenclaw had tensed up and one of his hands had curled itself into a fist.
"That's an image now. What would you prefer, Gyu? Just 'the snake'?" The spectacled student asked, looking down at the Slytherin who was still trying to give him puppy eyes, trying to keep a straight face.
"Hmm, no...maybe darling? Honey, love..." Beomgyu pondered with a cat-like smile, making direct eye contact with Taehyun, whom was now turning as crimson as his hair.
"Damn, when did he get so confident?" Yeonjun commented, with a wide toothy smile, before taking another bite of the bacon on his fork. He went to look at the youngest, who was completely zoned out, a piece of pancake poking out of his mouth. Slightly concerned, he lightly kicked Hueningkai under the table.
This made him snap out of his trance. Once Beomgyu had started to more or less flirt with the Ravenclaw, Huening had zoned out, finding the exchange adorable, but almost feeling left out. Of course, after that thought got processed, the young wizard had spent the last couple of minutes convincing himself that he just felt like he was third-wheeling and he loved both boys in only the way of friendship or almost in familial way.
"You okay Kai?" Yeonjun asked, and immediately, three more concerned pairs of eyes landed on the student in question. Hueningkai laughed it off, waving his hands around.
"Huh? Haha, yeah I'm fine. I guess I'm just a bit tired." He smiled brightly, attempting to alleviate any concerns his friends might have. Judging from the sighs of relief, it seemed to of worked.
The conversation seemed to draw to a close for a moment, the sound of the surrounding students' bustling conversations closing in. Trying to defeat the awkward silence, Soobin decided to ask Yeonjun about the whole Doxie incident yesterday.
"Hey Jun,  you said you saw the Doxies when you were going to hand in your project right?"
The prefect turned back to him, an eyebrow raised, confused on what else could be asked about the prior situation.
"Yeah, I went to turn in my assignment and when I was leaving to head here, the potions' cupboard was open and they were coming out in numbers. So, I ran to the library to warn you guys, and telling Rocky was the second thought." He explained in more detail as his juniors listened with serious faces, taking in the details.
"That means there's a time frame for someone to open the cupboard, and it's not a very big one.  Did you see or hear anyone in the hallway when you left?" Taehyun deduced, adding yet another question to the mix. Hueningkai thought he sounded like a detective, but wasn't sure exactly why he was low-key interrogating the eldest.
"Yeah, but I didn't see anyone. Why do you ask anyways? I know I may have played a few pranks, but I'd never do something as dumbass as putting Doxies in the potions' cupboard. Those things are buggers to get rid of." Yeonjun replied, immediately calling the Ravenclaw out on his bizarre suspicions.
The red-head looked taken aback, probably not expecting such a blunt statement.
"I wasn't! Merlin, just how back-stabby is it in Slytherin?" He shook his head, and the prefect visibly relaxed at the answer and following question, chuckling under his breath.
"As another Slytherin, the answer is yes. Anyway, what's your point, Detective Kang?" Beomgyu quipped, now leaning on the table in a sly manner.
"That's a new name. Huh." Taehyun muttered, before realising that he was off topic. "From what I heard in the common room, someone stole the jar of acromantula venom yesterday. I'd say that whoever it was, they went in during the time Yeonjun was in the classroom handing in his assignment. Pretty sure they weren't expecting Doxies, so they just ran out and left the door open for someone else to possibly find." He explained in simple terms, so all of the other boys understood his theory.
Hueningkai was impressed. Taehyun was a Ravenclaw,  and a highly intelligent one at that, but the Hufflepuff hadn't realised just how much that applied everywhere else logical too.
"It makes sense! Hyun, which potion is it used in again...?" Kai asked sheepishly, only for his classmate to sigh in exasperation.
"We spent weeks going over potions! How can you not remember?" Taehyun sighed, resting his head in his hands for a brief moment before continuing and answering the Hufflepuff's question, while the others listened keenly. From what the youngest could tell, they didn't know where it was used either.
"It's used in Armadillo Bile Mixture. Seeing as it's highly corrosive, whoever stole it probably doesn't have good intentions. Hell, someone might of told them to steal it, since it's probably not a good idea to get caught stealing it if you want it for shady purposes." The cherry-head answered, facing Kai. Out of nowhere, Taehyun stood up and grabbed his bag, and started to speed-walk out of the hall.
"Uh, I've just remembered I left something in my dorm. See you in class Kai!" He yelled back, before he was completely out of sight.
Just in the corner of his eye, Hueningkai swore he saw three boys speeding across the hall, none of them looking happy. Whilst there was a terrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, the Hufflepuff tried to think positively. They were probably just classmates that wanted to ask the red-head for advice on homework, since he was known for being smart. Still, that gut feeling didn't fade.
"Is it really nearly that time already?" Yeonjun asks, looking down at his watch.
"Nooo, I don't want to go to Transfiguration!" Beomgyu whined, sadly looking at the final croissant on his plate. Soobin smiled at him sympathetically.
"Hey, at least it's not potions. Slughorn would probably grill your entire class about the incident yesterday." He tried to better the younger  Slytherin's mood, only to hear a groan from his house junior.
"Oh." The realisation of Kai's situation in a couple of minutes sunk in.
"Yeah, and Taehyun isn't even going to walk with me to lesson so I can complain." He added, earning a head pat from Yeonjun who also was attempting to reassure the younger pair.
"At least you have him in lesson, yeah? If all goes wrong, sleep and copy his notes!" The prefect chimed in with a smile.
On cue, the bell rang. The boys collected their bags half heartedly and tried to drag the time to get to lesson out as much as they could. Beomgyu attempted to say something, but the croissant he was holding in his mouth prevented him from being understandable.
"Since when have you been a parselmouth, Beomgyu?" Soobin asked, only to receive a pastry-obscured scowl. The Slytherin removed his food, and repeated himself.
"First, bugger off, I'm not, and second, shut up Mum, at least you're with Dad in lesson." It was obvious the first half was added on due to the older Hufflepuff's prior sarcastic question.
"Why am I Mum?!" Soobin protested. The heterochromic boy snickered. Just as he was about to answer, Yeonjun interrupted.
"Haven't we have this conversation before? Pretty sure we already know why." He slung his arm over Soobin's shoulders, who just remembered the reason and was a little red due to it.
"Oh, shut up! Come on, we've got to get to lesson." The flustered boy huffed, and pulled the prefect along with him. The older yelled back at the remaining pair from around the corner.
"See you at break!"
And so, the boys separated to go to their relative lessons. Almost instantly when he entered the Potions' classroom, Hueningkai noticed Taehyun's absence. It had already been over five minutes since the Ravenclaw had scurried off to fetch something from his dorm. Admittingly, the Potions' classroom was in the dungeons, and the dorms for Ravenclaw were in the tower designated for them, much like Gryffindor and Gryffindor tower, so it would probably take a while to get there and back. However, he walked fast. Plus, Kai knew that Taehyun knew the school like the back of his hand at this point, including the shortcuts. The feeling in his gut spiked once again. Taehyun came to class even when he was ill, and those were the only times he was late. He wasn't ill that morning.