Stigma | Jikook + Harry Potter AU

Chapter 11: Desolate

The sky was unusually grey for a late summer afternoon, the smell of the soil before a storm pleasingly intoxicating.

Jungkook ran down the hill without caring, short legs struggling to keep up with the wide steps he was taking as he nearly rolled down the slippery grass.

"Hyung!" he shouted, stopping abruptly as he finally approached the lean figure of his brother. "Hyung wait– I wanna–" he crouched down to regain his breath. "Can I come with you?"

Junghyun looked at him with curious light brown eyes, eyebrows darting up with unconcealed amusement. "Jungkookie! Did you inform someone that you were going out?"

The little kid's gaze fell on the ground as a light shade of pink spread across his puffed cheeks. "I... forgot."

"Very bad, young man," his brother said sternly, fixing his hands on the hips and shooting him a disapproving look. Jungkook averted his eyes once again, abashed. He hated that look the most.

"I'm sorr–" he was interrupted by Junghyun's chuckles, a grin on the latter's face when he finally mustered the courage to look up again.

"Don't worry silly, I was just kidding," he ruffled Jungkook's raven hair with his free hand as the other picked up the broom from the grass. "Let's go?"

At those words, his eyes lit up with excitement, a wide smile spreading across his features. "Yeah!"

Jungkook was just about to grab his brother's hand as the image before his eyes blurred, disappearing in a vortex, and it was immediately replaced by something else.

"There you are!" the voice of his brother reached him from behind, making him snap his head around.

"Hyung!" he rushed towards him, immediately wrapping his arms around his neck as the other crouched down for him.

"Hey buddy," he laughed stumbling backwards, taking his face in one of his hand as he flickered his forehead lightly. "Did you miss me?"

"A lot," Jungkook pouted back. Junghyun had left for his first year of Hogwarts months ago, and he had finally came back for the Christmas holidays. To say that the younger had missed him, would have been an understatement. He was used to have his brother around all the time, and waving him off at the train station had been like something had been abruptly snatched from him.

"Sorry, I should have contacted you more often,"Junghyun smiled apologetically, but then something mischievous glinted in his gaze as he revealed the packet he had been hiding behind his back. "I brought you something to make up for that."

Jungkook almost yelled in his ear, forcing his brother to cover it as he chuckled incredulously. "Thanks! What is it, what is it?!" he blurted out enthusiastically, taking the gift in his little hands.

"Well, why don't you open it first?" the teenager offered, amusement lacing his tone as he watched his antics.

Jungkook nodded vigorously, reaching out to rip the paper off, but just as he started doing it, everything wavered once again, shattering to the ground and then reassembly itself in another image that was completely new.

"Didn't I tell you to be careful?"Junghyun stared down at him aggravatedly, lips pressed in a thin line as he pointed his wand towards his scraped knee. He muttered something that sounded like 'Episkey' and Jungkook blinked at him in confusion. Then, the skin around the injury felt impossibly hot and cold all together, and the boy watched in awe as the bright red scratches were quickly replaced by soft and smothered skin.

"Close your mouth or you'll catch flies," his brother smacked the back of his head with a grin as he put back his wand.

"That's so cool! Can you teach me?" he jumped up excitedly, already extending his arm to try get a hold of the stick.