𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝟔

𝐳𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠

mark had gone. he'd gone to his death and his friends were devastated. they sat in the great hall with the rest of the injured, staying close to each other. they were about to lose mark so they wanted to spend the next few minutes in each other's presence.

"i don't want him to die..." jeno whispered, his eyes evidently red from crying too much.

"is there really nothing we can do?" yunhee asked, her head resting on chenle's shoulder.

"apparently nothing." jisung replied.

"i need to go to the library..." renjun mumbled, standing up, but was tugged back onto the bench by donghyuck.

"renjun, i'm sorry, but books aren't going to tell you how to save mark from dying. it's too late."

they all knew he was right, that it was too late. they went back to sitting in silence until the hall began to get colder and colder.

"it's freezing..." yunhee said, rubbing her arms.

chenle carefully lifted her head off his shoulder. she sent him a questioning look because she had just gotten comfortable but when she saw that he was slipping his hoodie off, she paused, not saying anything. he placed it around her shoulders and her ears turned red at his caring action. he noticed her gaze and grinned at her.

"you look cute in my hoodie."

"chenle..." she mumbled, wanting to speak to him about something she wanted to talk about for a long time. she hesitated, averting her eyes.

"what's wrong?"

"nothing." she replied, placing her head back on his shoulder. she snuggled closer, wrapping an arm around his and he prayed that she couldn't hear his fast-beating heart.

"i'm going to go outside." donghyuck said. he sighed and left the great hall and they fell into silence again. but it was short-lived because he appeared at the door a second later. "guys! get out here now!"

yunhee glanced at chenle with a skeptical look and he shrugged. he took her hand and they started making their way outside where donghyuck was. on the other side of the courtyard were all the death eaters being led by voldemort.

"why are they here? where's mark?" jeno asked, his eyes scanning the crowds of death eaters. he froze when his eyes landed on hagrid who was among them. "who's that hagrid's carrying?"

"mark lee... is dead!" voldemort yelled.

"NO!" renjun and jeno screamed, running forwards, but were quickly held back by jaemin and jisung.

"mark lee is dead." voldemort repeated and chenle pulled yunhee into his arms when she began sobbing. he rubbed the back of her head, holding her close as he stared at mark's body that hagrid was holding.

"from this day forth, you put your faith in me." voldemort continued and then turned to his followers. "mark lee is dead! and now it is time to declare yourself. come forward and join us... or die."

jisung, donghyuck and jaemin's parents tried calling out to them, to join them, but they ignored it, staying close to their friends which voldemort didn't like at all.

"such a disappointment... isn't it?" he hissed as jeno limped forward, confronting him.

chenle held yunhee closer and listening to jeno's words about friendship, family and love, she glanced up at him, realisation settling in. her eyebrows furrowed as her mind started playing back all the times she had spent with chenle. how had it taken her this long to realise? how did she not see it before? a sad smile made its way onto her lips. she didn't want to lose chenle too, not just because he was her best friend, but because... she was in love with him.