Next to you

Chapter 21

Yetao woke up startled. He heard Oscar's voice in his sleep, calling insistently for him. He wasn't sure it was a dream or not, but now anxiety started to fill his mind. Silently, he got up from his bed, careful not to wake his roommates up. It was so late at night. Surely he wasn't supposed to wander in the castle at this hour, but he needed to see Oscar and make sure he was alright.

When he arrived at the Hospital Wing, he found Oscar's bed empty. Yetao was about to go to look for him in the bathroom, but then he noticed a piece of paper, that seemed to be enchanted since the text was glowing in the dark, on the nightstand next to the bed. When he noticed the symbol of spades at the bottom of the paper, he panicked. He took it and read it.

"Your sweetheart is with us. Come alone to the Shrieking Shack and use the Portkey you'll find there to reach us. You should hurry if you want to find your boyfriend still in one piece. ♠"

Yetao was full of rage. In fact he incinerated the paper he was holding in his hands. So the sect was actually after Yetao after all. And they kidnapped Oscar to lure him into a trap. But how did they manage to enter the school and take Oscar away? Professor Zhennan said the castle was strictly protected. Could it be that someone from the sect was inside Hogwarts? This would also explain the problem of Professor Zhou Shen's list. And maybe also Oscar's incident today.

Yetao collected his thoughts to think about what to do next, even though panic was eating him up. He was feeling guilty too, because Oscar was targeted because of him. However he tried to put this thought out of his mind. There was no time for guilt, he needed to act now. Yetao was sure that this was a trap, but Oscar was in danger. There was no choice or time to hesitate.

He knew that there was a secret passage through the roots of the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack. His friends told him about it when he was sad because he couldn't go with them to Hogsmeade. At that time he had refused to use it since he didn't want to break rules, but now he was thankful for this information.

Yetao sneaked out of the castle, careful not to be discovered by the Caretaker. He arrived at the Willow and poked the knot in the trunk, which paralysed the tree, as his friends told him. He immediately found the tunnel to the Shack and followed it. He got into a large room, in which at the center he found a table with a calyx on it. The Portkey. Yetao drew his wand and took a deep breath to calm down his nervousness. This was for Oscar's sake. He closed his eyes and touched the Portkey.

The first thing Yetao saw was a door in front of him. He was in the dusty hallway of what looked like an old house. Before opening the door in front of him, he used his wand to send Professor Zhennan a short message with his current position and a few words. Of course he knew that he couldn't deal with a lot of people on his own, that's why Yetao had decided to contact him once he reached the place the Portkey sent him to. The paper from the sect said to come alone and that's what he did, but he wasn't so stupid to not take precautions. Now he just hoped that the Professor would be fast enough to reach him.

Ready with his wand in his right hand, he opened the door. What welcomed him was a round room with a large fireplace in which Oscar was chained. His arms and legs were wrapped in chains, his head lowered. So that's how his vision had come true. Yetao was filled with so many emotions in that moment that the floor under his feet went on fire and all the objects in the room fell on the floor.

"Oscar!" Yetao screamed and ran towards him.

Oscar lifted up his head and looked at Yetao with wide eyes. "Taotao... why are you here? It's a trap!" His voice was hoarse. His face was red and swollen. It had a few cuts here and there. Yetao's blood was boiling.

Yetao gently cupped Oscar's cheeks and brought their foreheads together, closing his eyes. He knew that this wasn't the right timing, but he needed to feel Oscar close to him, to make sure that he was there in front of his eyes. "I know, but I couldn't leave you here, especially if you were taken because of me. Look at what they have done to you."

Oscar sighed contently leaning into Yetao's touch, but retracted after a few seconds. "Taotao, listen. I need to tell you-" Oscar began, but he was interrupted by the sound of the door closing.

"What a nice picture we have here!"

Yetao had his back facing the door, but he froze when he heard that voice. Because he knew it pretty well. He turned to face the person, or rather the people who entered the room. There were at least four of them, five counting AK. All of them wore a hood, except for AK.

"You must be confused." AK said with a smile on his face. That damn smile.

Yetao smirked. "To be honest, I'm not. It actually makes sense."

"Oh, as expected from a genius." AK answered.

"You're part of the Spades sect. It was you who led me into the Forbidden Forest that time." Yetao stated.

"Of course. It was also me who gave the potion to the seniors and spread rumors. And I injured Oscar during the Quidditch match. Of course I also woke you up tonight using Oscar's voice in your sleep." AK continued.

"I can understand the attack towards me, but why Oscar?" Yetao said, angrier than ever. He tried to calm down, because he needed to buy time and to have more answers from AK. He couldn't lose control now, not with Oscar behind him still chained up.

"I needed to lure you out alone. I know about your bond with Oscar, that's why I used him. It was interesting attacking him again during a match. Like traveling back in time." He looked at Oscar in delight. "I injured him to make him unable to fight back. Actually he's useless to us. He's just a tool. But maybe we can use him for some experiments, who knows."

Yetao felt the urge to use one of the Unforgivable Curses on AK right away. But he bit his lower lip to refrain himself. "What does your sect want from me?"

AK's smile grew bigger. "We know who you are."

Yetao's eyes widened in surprise. "How?"

"I guess I can tell you the truth now. Your bloodline is special, you know, so special that it could be a perfect lab rat for our dark magic experiments. The sect has been after you and your family since forever, but we never found survivors after other wizards decided to wipe you all out. You have no idea how much we wanted to get our hands on even just one of you." AK explained. "Until one day we heard some rumors about this family of three people who seemed to have escaped from the extermination. Of course it was you and your parents."

Yetao felt his heart stopping beating.

"But when we reached you, you were nowhere to be found. Your parents fought against us with everything they had got, but when they realized they couldn't escape from us, they decided to commit suicide in order not to fall into our hands." Yetao was having trouble breathing properly. "Probably your parents sent you away in advance, because they felt that danger was approaching. Anyway we decided to look for you. We followed different leads, but all led to nowhere. Eventually we found you, but the school reached you first. We couldn't touch you, since you were under Professor Zhennan's protection. That's why I approached you and waited until the perfect chance came to me."

Yetao collapsed on his knees on the floor. He wanted to make them pay for what they did to his parents, to him, to Oscar. He had so many feelings inside of him that he thought he was going to explode. But he couldn't, since Oscar was behind him.

AK laughed. "What an amusing show, don't you think, guys?" He said, addressing his comrades beside him, who just laughed together with him. "Now it's time to end this."

Yetao couldn't move, couldn't think. He didn't know what to do. His mind was racing making him confused and dizzy, his heart was beating painfully into his chest. He was holding tightly his wand, but he didn't know what spell he could use to escape from this situation. It was different from last time. Now he had someone to protect.

"Taotao." He heard Oscar's voice calling for him.

Yetao turned to look at him, but he was welcomed by Oscar's lips which landed on his. Yetao widened his eyes in surprise. The kiss lasted for a few seconds, then Oscar separated from him and looked at his eyes. "Taotao, don't worry about me. Don't hold back. I trust you." Oscar said with his intense gaze.

If it was another timing, Yetao would have blushed and made a mess out of himself, but now Oscar's gesture made him clear up his mind. He nodded to Oscar, then he turned to AK and his comrades. Now he knew what he had to do.