the amor files: lumos || jaemin na

year two - have you ever considered...shutting up?

the summer before second year features deliberate avoiding, awkward family picnics, and downright hostile interactions between jaemin and jinah. the unfortunate tag-along addition to the lee family served jinah nothing but living hell for the entirety of the time that he spent at the lees - which was pretty much all of the time.

"have you ever considered shutting your mouth? oh wait, perhaps you're finding difficulty with such an impossible task because your mouth is as big as your ego!" jinah yells, storming downstairs as jaemin cackles behind her.

"at least i'm not the snake who got sorted into the dark wizard house!" jaemin taunts from the top of the stairs. for a moment, jinah sees red and she's about ready to whip out her wand and fix jaemin with a nice, big, very slytherin, jinx when she feels a cool hand on her shoulder, soothing her anger in an instant.

"jaemin! that is no way to treat anyone, much less a young girl that you've literally grown up with!" jinah's mother says, wrapping her arms around her daughter's shoulders. jaemin visibly deflates, hating to get into trouble with the very soft-spoken and gentle lady. 

"sorry mrs. lee," he mumbles out quickly, retreating into jeno's room, undoubtedly to curse jinah out and sulk about being scolded by jeno's mother. if there was anything that jaemin hated more than jinah, it was having mrs. lee scold him. the kindness that the lees had shown jaemin (bar jinah, of course) were far beyond anything that he could ever hope for and he hated the feeling that he was returning the kindness with bad behavior.

"you shouldn't have stopped me, mother. this isn't the first time he's done this and i highly doubt it'll be the last," jinah grumbles, only to be met with a sharp flick against the back of her head. she groans, rubbing her head but unsurprised that she had been reprimanded. it tended to always end this way, whether she liked it or not. the boys could make as much trouble as they wanted but if she ever retaliated, zip! the end of the line for her.

jinah's mother turns jinah around to face her, bending so that she was looking straight into her eyes.

"jinah, i want you to listen to me when i say this, alright? i'm not excusing jaemin's words or his actions, but i'm not surprised that he thinks that way. a lot of people have some misconceptions about slytherins and i don't want you to add on to the misunderstandings, okay? especially when you and i both know that you're nothing like those rumors." the words are soft, comforting, but jinah can't help but feel guilty regardless. it wasn't as though she actually wanted to hurt jaemin; it was just that he tended to bring the worst out in her and it made her feel utterly terrible.

so all she says is, "alright mother."

and that's the end of that - or at least she hopes. but of course, the rest of the summer isn't much different.

jeno's new friends, donghyuck and renjun as she comes to learn their names are, make appearances every so often, making jaemin even more emboldened in front of them. they never did anything, of course, but they certainly never tried to stop jaemin. 

sometimes, donghyuck would offer her a chocolate bar, when no one was looking, on days that jaemin was particularly motivated to make her break the law and eventually curse him. he'd find her sitting underneath the willow tree that overlooked the steady brook behind their home, her eyes closed and her head resting against the bark of the tree, trying to reign in her temper. they never spoke. he would just give her a chocolate bar and leave.

jaemin makes fun of jinah, jinah threatens to hex him, jeno watches on, unsure whether he should laugh or be concerned, but conflicted nonetheless, and donghyuck gives her a chocolate bar. renjun is the only truly neutral one out of all of them, but jinah supposes that it's only fair, given that he really didn't know the situation well enough to offer support either way.

after the scolding from mrs. lee, thankfully the situation never escalated much further than an exchange of strongly worded threats, but mrs. lee worries nonetheless. now they were at least being civil for the sake of the respect they had for the lees and jeno, but there was no telling what would happen in the future. especially when they hit their teenage years.

mrs. lee voices as much to mr. lee one day, three weeks before the children were to head back to hogwarts.

"what will happen when they grow older, hyunwoo?" mrs. lee says, her head tucked under her husband's chin. mr. lee sighs, letting out a low chuckle and pressing a soft kiss to his wife's forehead, smoothing out the wrinkles that were etched into it.

"euigene, things aren't always as they seem. you and i both know why jaemin's so upset about jinah being in slytherin. and you know better than i do that they've been going at it since they were kids. i mean, that's how we fell in love, isn't it?" mr. lee says cheekily, laughing when mrs. lee slaps him lightly on the chest.

"mr. hyunwoo lee! how could you say that about your own child! she's only twelve, you know," mrs. lee exclaims, falling back into her husband's embrace nevertheless.

"i'm just putting it out into the universe, euigene! i'm not swearing it into existence or something. the universe works in funny ways. who knows? maybe jinah will come to discover just how much of a stronghold she has on jaemin," mr. lee laughs, and that's the end of that.

a/n: again, another short chapter but i promise that all of this build-up is worth it. how was y'alls day today?