the amor files: lumos || jaemin na

year four - the fat lady falls in love with nearly headless nick

it doesn't take a very long time for them to grow up, as kannika finds out sooner rather than later. the childish trials that they had put each other through had been traded for a tentative peace - or, as it was more obviously, even more childish pranks that came with equal amounts of argument and fun.

after the incident with the whomping willow, kannika didn't see very much of the boys when jinah wasn't with her. they (jeno and renjun) had simply snuck into the castle with her the moment they reunited with the other three and that was pretty much the end of the interactions that she had with them that didn't involve jinah in some way. that wasn't to say that they wouldn't go out of their way to trouble the pair of them; it just usually involved more aimed attacks on jinah than her - not that she was complaining about it, of course.

and so, their second year passed through with relatively little struggle. jaemin was still standoffish when it was just him and jinah, to the extent where either kannika or jeno would have to be babysitting them at all times, but for the most part, it was mostly donghyuck who came to inflict torture upon them.

things were the way they had always been but at least the tension between jinah and the boys was no longer charged with negative tension. only jaemin and jinah's interactions were even somewhat hostile. the rest of them were just young boys and acted as much, although kannika hated dismissing their misdeeds just for the sake of their gender and she voiced as much to them, making them swear that they wouldn't do anything demeaning or dumb to others, which was stupid of her because that was like telling a tiger to lose its stripes, they at least concealed their pranks so that if they weren't for jinah, kannika didn't find out about them.

not that they really cared about what she thought (as donghyuck had so kindly stated), but they always ended up listening to her anyway.

third year passed through much in the same manner. the only difference was that the dumb boys who haunted their train compartment had adopted the moniker of the 'marauders'. kannika and jinah refused to address them as such, and they never really put up a fight about that, but soon the reputation of the bright and daring boys grew and they quickly solidified themselves as memorable wizards.

there was renjun huang, a quiet and reserved boy who was very rarely seen without his friends, serving to be the voice of reason when the girls weren't around them. he was studious, never failing to submit his assignments on time, excelling in potions especially. he was a mysterious boy whose thoughts were hard to decipher but he was kind nonetheless. always keeping a level head, he was the sole reason sometimes that the marauders were able to charm (no pun intended) their way out of the trouble that was sure to be inflicted on them with his good merit and soft demeanor, always managing to win the professors over. to kannika and jinah, they knew him as the calm and somewhat cold member of the quartet who always had a million thoughts running through his head at any given moment, even if he never cared to let on any of them.

and then there was donghyuck lee. a bright and bubbly boy who was much more astute than he let on. as of late, his friends were strangely protective of him, which was almost awkward to see given that he was previously the one who was protecting everyone. but nonetheless, the easy smile on his face never left it, even though he was beginning to look increasingly tired. often times, he would disappear for days on end and return with unexplainable scars. jinah had tried to talk to him about it once but donghyuck had merely brushed it off, a dark look flashing in his eyes when he examines the scars that she points out. none of the others boys talked about them either and soon enough, kannika and jinah learned to avoid the topic as well. donghyuck was sweet, a natural prankster (especially so when it came to teasing jinah - with whom she had grown close to over the years), and very empathetic. he was socially intelligent, which came in handy with his insane affinity for transfiguration, as he would often transfigure the evidence for the marauders' latest conquest whenever a professor got especially curious about who had been able to charm the fat lady into a diet. rude, but somewhat funny when the fat lady started making lovey eyes at nearly headless nick. none of them had seen that one coming.

and of course, jeno lee wasn't to be forgotten. he was mature, loyal to a fault, a born leader, and incredibly gifted at flying. he made the gryffindor quidditch team soon into his second year and never once looked back, his role as seeker consuming his entire life besides his loved ones and his classes. he did relatively well in his classes but not to the level of superb accomplishment - although defense against the dark arts was a strict counter to this. out of the six of them, only jinah was his competitor and kannika often liked to joke that being a warrior and fighting against evil was something that was in their very blood. jinah had rolled her eyes but jeno puffed out his chest and said, "of course it is, kannika. what do you expect from us lees?" he really was a good guy, as kannika liked to attest, except for the fact that he was stuck mediating between his sister and jaemin at any given point. whenever jaemin and jinah fought (which was every other day), jeno would always play peacemaker, even though he would end up taking jaemin's side anyway. to which kannika got upset, taking her best friend's side. but other than that, he was practically spotless and all of them - including jinah and kannika - knew that he had a heart of gold.

and last but certainly not least (largely because jaemin could never accept being "least"), there was jaemin na. to kannika, jaemin was a seriously confusing person. on one hand, he was a total flirt, spreading his words of silver-tongued nonsense like a wildfire through half of the female student body before finally growing bored and then fixating on jinah again, quibbling with her until she felt as though her hair was going to go gray. he was frustratingly intelligent, being a whiz at charms and herbology (although the latter certainly wasn't something he was too keen on broadcasting to the world) while also making the gryffindor quidditch team alongside his best friend, grinning cockily at jinah when a girl shyly hands him an enchanted scarf that reads "JAEMIN NA, GRYFFINDOR CHASER" on it in obnoxiously bright gold letters against a red background, burning brighter and brighter the closer they got to a match. the day jinah charmed it so that it was in a much more toned down green and silver had been hell on earth. jaemin and jinah were fighting back and forth and the sparks flying were so bright that renjun's sketchbook had caught on fire. a very angry renjun had forced them to make up to each other but the rift between them that had been put in place the moment jinah became a slytherin began to slowly tear them apart.

which was strange. even as the other marauders were growing closer to her and kannika, jaemin stayed no further than an arm lengths away but never any closer either.

they danced in a strange gray area of contempt and respect, with jinah outright ignoring jaemin whenever he got too...enthusiastic about his pride for his house and jaemin waltzing around with the word 'gryffindor' practically tattooed to his forehead. for them, it was never one or the other - it was always just both of them mixed together in a tantalizing yet frustrating cocktail of emotions. and they were fine with that gray area. it suited them well.

but that gray area couldn't hold them for long. no, the minute kannika had discovered the marauders' most closely guarded secret, the scales were suddenly tipped and neither jinah nor jaemin knew where they fell anymore.

a/n: tee-hee here's a long chapter to make up for all of the short ones that have been coming your way so far <33 any guesses on what the marauders are hiding?