hogwarts°nct dream [editing]

sixty two | knockturn alley

Clink!

The other Hufflepuffs sitting surrounding Amaryllis turn to her at the sudden, loud drop of her spoon against the ice-cream bowl.

"Sorry" she apologizes and the Hufflepuffs nod sympathetically.

None of them were bothered by it in the first place. They are just concerned about her.

They know how she has to suffer detention every day. The red lines on her hands are proof of it and if only they could do something about it, they would.

But, that nasty, heartless of a teacher will only hang up more and more rules on the wall.

Due to her being the current headmaster after Dumbledore's sudden disappearance when threatened to be captured by Umbridge and the minister's men with reason that he's been spreading 'false allegations,' Umbridge thinks she can do whatever she wants.

"I'll scoop it for you," Jeno kindly says and takes the spoon from Ama before she can- filling up her bowl with the cold dessert.

She smiles at him. "Thank you."

Jeno watches as she feeds herself slowly because of the throbbing pain that comes from the flesh of her hands.

Everytime it heals, it gets hurt once again then, it heals, then gets worse and the cycle goes on.

"We have to do something about this, Ama. That woman is torturing you," Jeno sighs out, frustrated but tries to stay calm for her sake.

Ama doesn't bother looking and hisses faintly at the sharp pain.
"If only we could. She's headmaster now, Jeno. I've thought about telling it to Professor McGonagall but, what if she gets fired? No one will be there to protect her.
"And then, what? Umbridge's torment on me might get doubled due to me snitching on her and Iㅡ"

She doesn't continue and instead, falls into a deep silence before taking another bite of ice-cream.

Chenle comes jogging to them and takes the reserved seat for him beside Amaryllis.

"Here you go," he passes her the notes from their classes shared together. "You didn't manage to write much of them so I thought I should make a copy for you. I had to ask other students for it, though. Because, I didn't do my notes, either."

His honest confession makes his two other friends laugh and she takes the sheets.

"Thanks, Chenle."

He grins and steals bites of her cold sweet.
"I'll take this as payment."

"Whatever you say, Lele."

-

That weekend, the five boys decide to go out to Diagon Alley together to take Ama's mind off things.

Her injuries are getting better. Her being part of the medic contributes to the healing matter as well as having the weekend where there's no school.

Another good news is that due to Umbridge being distracted by Amaryllis' locket, the horcruxes are still left untouched and are now at Renjun's dorm after he's had his inspection.

"They're going to Sugarplum's Sweet Shop and said they'll meet with us later at Leaky Cauldron," Mark informs Jeno and Renjun of what their three youngest have said.

With that, they begin their way to the said bar- brushing and squeezing through the many people.

Yet, even with so many moving figures, Mark's quick instincts and keen senses manages to catch a certain Slytherin.

"Hey, isn't that Jaemin?" He nudges his two friends and they turn to where he looks- confirming Jaemin's identity.

Renjun furrows as he watches the younger swiftly stride away, oblivious to their stares.
"Why is he going to Knockturn Alley?"

"Knockturn Alley? The... dark area?" Jeno slowly makes sure.

The older nods.

"That place has a bad reputation for many things," Mark adds and they tail the lone Slytherin- going down the stairs to the infamous alley.

Unlike Diagon Alley, those who wander in Knockturn Alley are only few and dressed in nothing but dark colours.

Some even look wicked but they're not always harmless- just have a knack for creeping the bones out of you.

"Get back!" Mark whisper-shouts and pushes his friends against the wall with his arm as he peeks from the edge. "He's at a... store? Is he seriously going shopping hereㅡ Oh, wait! He's not alone."

"Ah, Jaemin! Finally, you're here!" A scratchy yet, high-pitched woman's voice sounds and Mark catches a glimpse of her.

His eyes widen.
"He's meeting his aunt, Bellatrix LeStrange."

And that one statement is enough to tell them that something great- terrible but, great things will happen.