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btshogwartsfics · 5 years

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Detention Song | 02

Summary: Everyone is always so quick to judge you, but after five years you’ve long since gotten used to it. Cue an angelic Gryffindor who’s way too cute for his own good and maybe things will start to change. So long as you don’t get in over your head, what’s the harm in making a new friend?

Pairing: Jimin x Hufflepuff!Reader

Word Count: 8.2k

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3

Tag: @namjoonxorg for putting up with my shit oml thank you so much🤧❣️

Warnings: just some language and boring relationship building that might put you to sleep

A/N: okay so I know it took forever but I was super busy and Ik that’s a piss poor excuse, but it’s really all I got. hopefully the next one won’t take as long, sorry for the wait guys :((

Excitement was buzzing in the air when you woke up Sunday morning. The anticipation for the first Quidditch game was palpable and everyone seemed to be in a happier mood. Despite the impending doom of going back to classes tomorrow, there was not a single person who looked down today and you grin to yourself, thinking that it should be like this more often.

Walking into the Great Hall was like walking into a circus. The Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch players were as tense as to be expected. The two teams ignored each other for the most part, exchanging a few challenging glances now and then. Everyone else, though, they were practically overflowing with enthusiasm. Even the Ravenclaws, who are mostly either too lost in their own world or too focused on something different, are brimming anticipation.

As you make your way to your table, you pass by a group of Slytherins forming a betting pool and a few Hufflepuffs who were pulled into it. The students in green look smug and confident as they look onward at the lions across the Hall. You shrug it off, never one to participate in the rival between the two.

Sitting down though, you can hear better the whispers of excitement from your classmates. It seems that the stakes for this game are exceptionally high, even more than usual, because of two players in particular.

“Hey Park!” Bellows a Slytherin from the entrance of the Great Hall. He saunters over to Jimin, who is sitting peacefully at the Gryffindor table, his sleek black hair catching the sun filtering in softly through the window. The girls gawk and giggle as he passes by, the boys whispering and admiring, but he pays them no mind.

His large doe eyes are trained solely on the beater, who has now stood and is walking to meet him. The boy’s robes flow behind him like a train, the emerald back shining in the morning glow, the scarlet of Jimin’s offering the same shimmer. People hush as they take big strides to meet each other, the rest of their respective teams even pausing to watch them.

“So, you ready to get your ass kicked today, Park?” The raven haired boy smirks, his tone laced with snark and confidence, small, barely there dimples pressing into the side of his cheeks as his teammates laugh.

Jimin grins, a slight nod pushing his head up and down. His eyebrow quirks. “I should be asking you that, Jeon.” He quipps, challengingly. “Let’s not forget who won the cup last year.”

Jungkook bristles as the Gryffindors hoot and holler at Jimin’s remark. You watch the exchange between them with thinly veiled interest.

“You know that’s only because I was ineligible to play on our last game, Park,” He sneers at the shorter boy, though Jimin seems thoroughly unimpressed.

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have gotten caught sneaking into our common room,” The Gryffindors sasses back, a twinkle in his eyes that has you smiling to yourself. His fellow housemates are preening, shooting praise at their star player in front of the Slytherin.

“And whose fault was that exactly?” Jungkook argues, his eyes knowing and undeterred.

The tension thickens at they stare at one another for several seconds. Your eyes slide over to a slightly trembling first year, their hands coming up for him to nervously bite at his nails in anticipation. A chuckle escapes you as you allow your stare to wander back over to the mini standoff still happening between the two fifth year boys.

Jimin and Jungkook share a glare, their eyes piercing each other’s with barely sustained emotion. The Great Hall is mostly silent now as everyone waits for one of them to do something, anything. They step closer to one another, invading the other’s personal space as Jungkook looks down at the shorter boy, Jimin craning his neck to return Jungkook’s steady glare.

You can practically feel the way people hold their breath, guessing and betting on who will take the first strike. However, these thoughts are interrupted by the laughter that suddenly bursts from the boys’ throats. There’s a chorus of complaints and questions as the confused underclassmen try to make sense of the sudden shift in demeanor while you just laugh at their dramatics. Those boys were always two to draw a crowd. Jungkook and Jimin share one of those chest bump things that boys do, their grins replacing their scowls from just seconds ago.

“Good luck today on the pitch, Jimin hyung,” Jungkook smirks as his teammates call for him to come and eat his still untouched breakfast, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “You’re gonna need it.”

Jimin rolls his eyes, not taking the younger’s bait. “Yeah, okay, Kook. Go eat your breakfast and we’ll see on the pitch who really needs that good luck.”

They exchange a few more teasing remarks before the Slytherin boy returns to his own table, flanked on both sides by his teammates. Jimin lingers, his eyes zipping around the crowd of people. He doesn’t seem to find what he’s looking for and for a moment you think he’s also going to go back to his own house, but his eyes find yours and he smiles.

The Gryffindor walks over to you with a graceful smirk, the corners up his mouth lifting up and the stars in his eyes shining in a dangerous way.

You love it.

“Hey, Y/N,” The blonde greets you cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just been throwing faux insults at his best friend for the entire castle to see. “You coming to my game today?”

“Your game?” You jest, haughtily flipping your hair over your shoulder with a dramatic flair. “That’s funny. I thought it was Jungkook’s game.”

You shrug and he clicks his tongue, willing himself not to prove you wrong right then and there. He knows exactly what game you’re playing and he’s wondering if he has a chance at winning.

“Definitely not.” He corrects with confidence, dismissing your arched eyebrow as poor judgement and an attempt at his pride. “Kook doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Oh really?” You tease, his energy contagious and seeping into your bones, his crooked grin the prime influence. “I’m not so sure I believe you.”

Jimin laughs, airy and melodic. It makes you smile. “Come to my game. I’ll prove it.”

“We’ll see,” With a nod and your bottom lip pressed between your teeth in an effort to bite back another smile, he stands. He bows mockingly, playful and cocky, but it forces you to finally let go of the laugh you were trying to swallow.

The wind, which continues to run its fingers through your hair, picks up speed as the several Quidditch players zoom around the pitch. Their Quidditch robes fly around them haphazardly, thrashing and whipping them as the leaves fall gently to the ground. The whole of Hufflepuff house that surround you now are screaming, their yellow hats and scarfs justy slightly out of place among the green and red banners that are being waved around by the rest of the students.

Next to you, Laya saves some seats for Hoseok and his friend Seokjin, who have yet to make their way through the hoard after venturing out for some snacks- per Seokjin’s request. Your cheeks and fingers feel like ice, even with the protection of your scarf and gloves. Shivering, you turn your attention back to the Slytherin keeper, watching as he successfully deflects the speeding quaffle heading his way.

It doesn’t make much of a difference, though. Jungkook is good, but the Gryffindors were obviously prepared for this. Their seeker and one chaser haven’t left him alone since the match started, following him around more closely than his own shadow, successfully preventing him from searching for the snitch. The Slytherin is clearly unamused as he takes them left and right, trying hard to drop them from his tail. The Gryffindors stay, albeit not without some trouble.

Even with one less player, Gryffindor seems to have thought out how to proceed with the rest of their plays. They’ve done so well, in fact, that they are pretty far ahead in points- almost two hundred and fifty points ahead. The Slytherins are kicking themselves and you’ve heard some not so polite things filter over to your ears from the sea of green posters across the pitch.

“Hey Y/N,” Hoseok calls once he finds his seat, raising his voice in order to be heard over the screaming students. “I think someone is looking for you.”

You open your mouth to ask what he’s talking about, ignoring the way Laya giggles beside you, when you’re cut short at the point of Hoseok’s finger. You crane your head to see where he was pointing and meet Jimin’s eyes.

They’re bright and you can see from your spot in the crowd the impishness that swim in his brown irises. A proud smirk tugs the corners of his lips upward, not quite arrogant but definitely knowing. The boy seems to bask in the praise and cheers from the wave of students as he sends another bludger Slytherin’s way. Jimin grins when a Chaser is denied another shot, seeking your eyes and offering up a wink.

You resist the urge to laugh, but you don’t entirely succeed. Instead, you arch your eyebrow and blow a kiss in his direction, all too teasing and all too playful. You mock his cockiness as he chuckles and flies off again, not wanting to get distracted for too long. This time, your eyes can’t seem to stray from his form, flying up and around all over the pitch.

Laya and Hoseok- and even Seokjin?- seem to notice this and the former nudges your side. She grins at you, not so subtle in the way she gestures back over to Jimin on his broom. She doesn’t even need to speak for you to hear what she’s saying.

“Just watch the game,” You yell, even though she’s right beside you. “You’re missing it.”

Laya shrugs, turning back to the match with the grin still plastered on her lips. “Not as much as you are.” The girl jabs, probing your reaction. “Maybe you’d know that Jungkook’s about to catch the snitch right now if you weren’t so focused on Park Jimin.”

Your head whips around, eyes darting around in search for the Slytherin Seeker. When you finally find him, both the Gryffindors who were shadowing him are gone, nowhere in sight, most likely unable to keep up with him. He is speeding over to the far left of the field so quickly that he looks more blur than human to you. That’s when you notice that the snitch is, in fact, right within his reach.

There’s indistinct yells as the Gryffindors try to stop him from wrapping his extended hand around it. A few bludgers fly towards him, courtesy of Jimin and the other Beater. Jungkook dodges with with ease, hardly even paying them any attention as he reaches out his hand even further. You swear your ears are bleeding with the screaming of the crowd, everyone waiting for Jungkook to finally catch the small golden ball.

You blink and the next thing you know, the wave of green and silver across the pitch is going wild. Cheers and chants erupting from their side of the stands. However, even with Jungkook pumping his fist in the air, a giant grin adorning his handsome features, one look at the score has a different house dancing in victory.

The Gryffindors shamelessly celebrate their win. The students in the stands jump up and down and high five each other, throwing various remarks over to their opponents. Everything’s a mess of red and gold and even the players still on the pitch fly around to high five their housemates.

Jimin’s laughing, hugging his teammate and flashing the biggest smile to the crowd. He’s barely hanging onto his broom as he takes turns congratulating each player on the field. Jungkook seems less than pleased when Jimin approaches him but the younger takes his defeat in stride. It’s only after the Slytherin flies away that he looks back to you.

He flies around as he knows you’re watching, adding in that extra flourish simply for your sake. Yet he’s glowing in that way that only he can and you smile, ready to pretend this wasn’t the best Quidditch match you’ve ever been to.

“No Jimin, I’m not going to tell you how practice went, because it’s none of your business.” You accuse, hands on your hips as the Gryffindor in front of you pouts.

“What?” Jimin scoffs, as if the very thing that you’re insinuating is insulting. “Can’t I be interested in how well my friend is doing in practice?”

Rolling your eyes, you set the last box in the closet, grinning and admiring your organization. Detention today had consisted of helping organize the artifact room. The space was cramped and the lighting a bit dark, but you and Jimin were able to get the job done. Not to mention the way Jimin kept talking about his win yesterday, which you still adamantly deny was amazing.

Halfway through you pretending not to know what he was talking about, he switched tactics and tried to trick you into giving away your plays. It was poorly disguised and you made sure he knew that, but now he was the one acting like he didn’t understand.

“No,” You laugh, sticking your tongue out at him, causing him to chuckle at your childishness. “Not when said friend is the captain of the Gryffindor team and already too arrogant for his own good.”

A hand flies to his chest, his eyes widening. “What? How dare you accuse my kindness as being anything other than what it is.”

A faux noise of indignance leaves his throat and he turns away from you, nose stuck up righteously in the air. But upon further inspection, you can see the corners of his lips trying hard not to lift into a smile.

You hum, not entirely convinced, though he knows this already. “I’m going to go see how McGonagall likes this layout. I’ll be right back.”

He nods and you make your way up the stairs and down to your professors office. Once you’re standing behind her door, you knock twice.

“Come in,” You hear from the other side.

You push the wood open, peeking out from the crack you’ve made. “Jimin and I are done now, professor. We just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to come inspect it.”

The Transfiguration professor nods, stealing a glance down to her watch, peering over her spectacles. “Okay, very good. Detention appears to be done now. You and Mister Park may go and I will check it later this evening.”

“Thank you, professor.”

You let out a chorus of sighs on your way back over to Jimin, knowing you don’t have a lot to do except your homework. Truth be told, you’d much rather spend that time blowing dust into Jimin’s face and wiggling out of the reach of his feather duster– his retribution.

Kicking at imaginary pebbles by your feet, you reach the artifact room with low hopes for your evening. Your mind whirls, brainstorming things to do besides your potions essay, but your train of thought is interrupted by a familiar voice from down the hall. Though, it sounds very different from how you’ve ever heard it before.

“What are you doing?” Jimin sneers, his voice low and angry but not quite malicious.

Down the hall, away from prying eyes, Jimin stands with two younger boys. One adorns a bright red tie, similar to Jimin’s own, but it is not him who Jimin seems to be defending. Instead, a boy even younger than the one in front of Jimin peers over his shoulder, cautious and hesitant.

The younger Gryffindor opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. His eyes fly from Jimin’s scowl and back to his feet. “Look, it’s no big deal. I was just–”

“Really?” Jimin accuses, crossing his arms as he stares down at the younger boy. “Because it sure didn’t seem like nothing when you were about to hex your classmate.”

The Gryffindor sighs, but doesn’t look back up. “Okay, you’re right. I won’t do it again. Can I leave now? I should be going back to–”

“You bet your ass you won’t,” Turning to face the boy behind him, Jimin offers a friendly smile and pats him on the shoulder. Even from your place down the hall you can see the relieved sag of the boy’s shoulders. Patting him on the back, he’s dismissed by Jimin and he turns back to face his housemate.

“That’ll be twenty points from Gryffindor.” He declares, to which the younger boy cries out in complaint.

“What? But that’s your house, too! You’re really going to take points from your own house?”

Scoffing, Jimin shakes his head at the boy, unamused. “Listen, it’s my job as a Prefect to make sure Hogwarts and their students are happy and safe and learning like they’re supposed to.” The boy looks up at Jimin with wide eyes and you can’t help but stare at Jimin, entrances with the way he speaks. “And if my house continues to house people who can’t seem to understand the difference between right and wrong, then I guess we’ve still got a few things to learn.”

The conversation seems to end there as Jimin sends the younger Gryffindor back to his common room, the latter grumbling under his breath as he departs. It’s only then that Jimin turns around and spots you, now leaning against the cobblestone wall with a small smile on your face.

The Gryffindor blushes, the image completely contradicting the one from mere seconds ago. He shuffles to to you, rubbing the back of his neck as he tries for a smile.

“So I take it you heard all of that, huh?”

You shrug, your head tilting slightly. “Enough of it.” Jimin blows hair out of his face as he nods. Air pushes past his lips and he makes to speak but you cut him off before he can. “And I think it was great.”

“What?” He asks, his face scrunched in confusion.

You laugh at that, the adorable way in which his nose wrinkles all too endearing. “I think it was great.” You reiterate, stressing every syllable. “I think it was very noble of you to defend that younger boy, even if you had to take points from yourself to do it.”

If it’s possible, his cheeks seem to pink even more at that. “I don’t know. I’m just doing the right thing, I’d expect everyone to do the same.”

This causes your smile to falter, your teeth digging into your bottom lip. “You know, I’ve come to learn that not everyone will hold your same ideals as highly as you do.” You sigh, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Just be careful with that, okay?”

Jimin nods, gifting you an appreciative grin. He hand comes to cup yours on his shoulder. “I will.”

“Good,” You pat him easily on the back, but it quickly turns to a playful push as you realize what you came back to do. “Well now that we’re off the hook for today… race you to the Great Hall!”

You don’t wait for a reply and start off, but Jimin doesn’t let you go as easily as Laya would. Instead he comes up behind you to grasp your wrist, tugging you until you’re directly facing his back. Then he shoots you a wicked grin and dashes down the hall.

“How rude!” You cry, even as a laugh pushes past your throat.

Another sigh makes it way past your lips as you roll your sleeves up even higher on your forearms. The lake water is warm as it wrinkles your fingers and you take your time to spread your fingers out across the water. The sun beams down at you, it’s warm rays reflecting against the water ripples in tiny sparkles.

From his place beside you, Jimin chuckles, flicking his hands in an attempt to dry them. “Have you ever been in the Black Lake before?”

You shake your head, basking in the afternoon sunshine. “Nope. I’ve always wanted to, I've just never really gotten around to it.”

“Taehyung and I swam in it our first year.”

Your head whipped over to him, your eyes wide and filled with a recognizable excitement. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” He grins, the soft light shining and if it were night you could’ve sworn there were stars in his eyes. “It was pretty fun. We didn’t go to far in, not much farther than here actually, no it wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Nothing came and attacked you?” You hum, glancing at him through your peripheral vision as you try to collect the last of the ingredients Sprout had requested. “No merpeople wanting to keep you for themselves?”

Jimin laughed but rolled his eyes. “Ha ha, you’re funny.”

“I try.”

He nods to himself as he carries the handful of ingredients out of the water and putting them into vials. “But to answer your question; no. It was actually quite peaceful.”

“Have you done it again since?”

“No.” He replies easily, helping you seal the last of the vials and stand back to admire your work. “Why are you so interested?”

You spare a glance over to the grand clocktower, grinning when you notice the time. “Well, we technically don’t have to be back to Sprout’s for another hour, right?” He nods, brows scrunched in confusion and you’re more than happy to elaborate. “There’s no one around, so why don’t we go for a swim?”

“What?” Jimin is looking around now, eyes searching for people who aren’t there and excuses that won’t work. “Right now?”

You shrug, already starting to peel your robe off your body. You toss it aside, allowing it to land next to the tree that casts a small shadow over part of the lake, your tie soon joining it. Jimin’s eyes widened as he watches you, quickly turning around so as not to accidently peek at something he shouldn’t.

Your eyebrow raises, your lips quirk. “What? You scared, Park?”

He scoffs as if the very idea of such a thing is insulting. “Of course not!”

“Then prove it,” You snicker when he hesitates to turn back around and tap him on the shoulder. “You can turn around you know. I only got rid of my stockings.”

Jimin turns around with one hand barely covering his eyes. Spreading his fingers, he cautiously peeks through and lets out a sigh of relief when he sees that you’re right.

Huffing, you grab at his wrist, tugging him over to the edge of the lake where the saturated grass meets the glistening lake. You welcome the unusually hot air upon your skin as Jimin’s feet shuffle over to where you want him, allowing himself to be dragged. The smile on your face seems to be infectious as his lips pull into a matching expression, sighing fondly at your antics.

“Come on, be bold!” You encourage, pulling at his arm. “Take advantage of the weirdly warm weather, I know you can!”

Jimin looks out as you look up at him, trying his hardest not to show you just how amusing this is to him. The way you cling to his arm and pout like a child is far too endearing and he refuses to tune you into these thoughts.

So focused on his task, he doesn’t notice you turning the both of you around until it’s too late. You pull at his arm one last time and he finally looks down only to find a sinister smirk painted on your lips. His mouth opens to ask about it, but suddenly he loses his balance, air sweeps beneath him and the next thing he knows, a splash is sounding and his uniform is soaked.

Giggles spill uncontrollably from your lips as he resurfaces above the water, shaking his head and flinging drops of water over to where you stand. Your hand comes up to clasp your mouth but it doesn’t do much to hide your cackles. Jimin stares at you from his place in the lake, his initial surprise gone and his scowl is replaced by a smug tilt of his lips.

He swims carefully over to the edge, pushing his hair back out of his eyes. “Hey!” He calls, splashing you as retribution. “How about you get in?”

“Maybe I will,” You challenge and he grins.

You can’t help but do the same and you take a few big steps back. He seems to understand what you’re about to do and swims back, giving you room. Once you think you’ve gained enough distance, you run out towards him, the wind weaving it’s fingers through your hair. You reach the end and jump out, laughing as your body falls into the water.

You resurface with a gasp, taking oxygen back into your lungs. When you open your eyes, Jimin is staring at you with a smirk on his face.

“What?” You probe, splashing him again.

He scoffs at this and splashes you back. “Nothing.” He shrugs, trying again to fix his wet hair. “This is fun.”

“Yeah,” You agree, unable to hide the way your chest swells at his words. “It is.”

Your feet are heavy as you drag your body out of the lake. Thankfully, you and Jimin had left your wands with McGonagall again, so you didn’t have to worry about it getting lost. You walk over to where you’d deposited your clothes and slump down, laying yourself across the grass. You’re soaked but you use a quick drying spell and close your eyes, feeling the blades flow and tickle your fingertips in the breeze.

Jimin isn’t far behind you, laying himself directly to your right. His hand comes up to shield his eyes, his clothes having already been dried by him. Your shoulders touch each other and your hands mere inches apart. If you wanted to you could easily hover your pinky over just slightly…

“I wish we could stay here,” Jimin spoke softly after a minute, like he were afraid speaking too loud would ruin and rupture the delicate serenity that surrounded you. Your head turned to look at him, his jawline was sharp, but his eyes were far away as another smile settled on his face.

“It’ll get cold eventually,” You add, nudged his shoulder gently with your elbow. “Then you’ll freeze.”

“I know that,” He griped, though his tone was not malicious, but warm. “I mean- I wish we could stay now.”

“Now?”

“Yeah,” The boy concludes, completely sure of his answer, even if it made no sense to you. “You know, right now. I want to stay now; where the lake is calm and the wind is blowing, the grass is ticklish and the sun is warm-”

“-and where no one can reach us.”

Brown irises snap to yours, soft and sweet and warmer than the out-of-place October sunshine that bathes you both in golden light. His skin is glowing from the rays of the sun and his hair looks like woven strands of light, which is a soft contrast from the slowly fading green of the surrounding grass. His eyes search yours, looking for any semblance of dishonesty or insincerity, but he doesn’t find it. And maybe that’s because the opposite is true, maybe you mean it more than you should, but right now you can’t find it in yourself to care.

Not when he’s staring at you like that and not when the gentle breeze is whistling in your ears like a lullaby made just for this moment right here.

Jimin pulls his bottom lip between his teeth, drawing your attention to the mindless action. He looks like he’s thinking too much- that’s all you can gather from the way he remains quiet, allowing his eyes to roam your face until he’s sure he’s memorized every detail. You want to call him out on it, too, ask him something to fill the void of uncertainty that began to stir in your head the second you spoke those heavy words that were all too true. But you’re afraid to speak, afraid to poke a hole in the delicate moment that the two of you carefully hand-stitched and pieced together.

The boy blinks the haze from his brain and chances a glance down to your balled fists. “Are you cold?”

The moment’s shattered, your feelings flee.

You open your mouth to reply but words escape you, your mind having been… elsewhere. Though Jimin doesn’t wait for your answer as his fingers dare to dance across your knuckles for observation. A gasp leaves him upon the contact and you fight to keep a blush from blooming across your cheeks.

Immediately his hand goes to engulf yours, his thumb sliding instinctually under your palm to rub soothing circles on the skin. “You’re freezing, Y/N!”

“I’m fine, Jimin, it’s nothing,” You insist, too endeared by his concern to remove your hand from his. “It’s just the breeze-”

“We’re probably going to catch colds now,” He frowns, the thought causing his eyebrows to draw together in obvious displeasure.

You laugh on instinct, all too eager to escape the suffocating thoughts that had started to plague your mind. “Yeah, probably. It was fun, though.”

Jimin nods, a picturesque smile adorning his pink lips, your hand still clasped in his. “Definitely worth it.”

A loud ring from the gigantic clock tower finally severs the scene, the two of you quickly standing back on your feet and collecting your vials. Your robe and tie find their way back into place, while you settle for folding your stockings into your pocket.

“We should get going,” You suggest, earning a hum of approval from your companion. “Sprout is probably wondering where we are.”

“You’re right, let’s head out.”

Your walk back to the greenhouse is silent, neither of you opting for words. But the silence is comfortable, made up of stolen glances and poorly hidden smiles.

The dust in the air looms over you like a signal of what’s to come. It floats in particles all around the trophy room- which somehow needs to be cleaned again -collecting in pools and piles in the corners and on the cups of gold and silver. It even sits elegantly on the pages of your textbook, mocking you almost as you huff for the thousandth time that afternoon, frustrated with your lack of correct answers in the subject.

A whine reverberates in your throat again and you refrain from tossing your textbook out the window. “This is dumb,” You pout, crossing your arms in indignance as Jimin sighs from across you, his own textbook open. “I’m not going into a career in Potions, so why do I need an Outstanding on my OWLs and why do I need an Exceeds on my next exam? Hmm?”

Jimin shrugs, not quite wanting to argue with you, but knowing that some words of caution should probably be offered. “I don’t want to become a Divination professor, but that doesn’t mean I should stop studying for it.” He reasons with a knowing tilt of his head.

You attempt a glare at him, not appreciating his reasonable argument, but it doesn’t work and your eyes fall lamely back to your open page. “I’m never going to get this right.”

“Sure you will,” Jimin encourages, a bright smile meeting with the comforting crescents of his eyes. “You probably just need a break.”

“Yeah, that sounds great right about now,” You groan, pushing away your Potions textbook and allowing your body to fall backwards, your head landing safely on your backpack. Jimin chuckles, but packs away his own textbook to lean back against one of the many trophy cases, his eyes falling closed in relaxation.

“You know,” He ventures after a minute or so, not bothering to hide the dash of amusement in his tone. “McGonagall’s going to have our heads for slacking off.”

You laugh, the image of a raging McGonagall storming the castle looking for her two missing students, her ears red from screaming so much coming to mind elicits a smile from you. “Yeah, you’re probably right about that.”

“When am I ever wrong?” He teases and you shake your head at him, deciding to count the number of cracks in the ceiling, finding it at least much more interesting than Potions.

It’s quiet for a minute, the two of you drinking the silence in after studying for more than an hour and listening to your thoughts scream multiple different answers at itself. You’re content to lay here all evening, just admiring the sunlight wafting in through the window and the songs the birds are chirping. Though it seems your companion is not as fond of the silence as you are, as he cuts off your drowsy train of thought.

“What’s your favorite class?”

An eye cracks open and you use it to stare at him in bemusement. Your hand goes across your eyes to shield them from the sun, and your head lifts to see him better. “What?”

The Gryffindor shuffles in his spot, suddenly all too aware of his random bout of interest. “It’s just, we’ve been friends for two weeks now, we see each other multiple times a day every day, but I still don’t know too much about you.” He explains, his ears tinting slightly pink at the tips. “So I was just wondering…”

He looks away, back out the window to distract himself from your lack of response and you grin. How is it possible for one boy to be so endearing?

You clear your throat and he looks to you curiously. You gesture over to your forgotten and very much resented Potions textbook laying on the ground. “Well, it’s definitely not Potions, that’s for sure.” Jimin barks out a short laugh at the statement and you happily listen as it seems to echo off the empty walls. “But I’ve never really thought about it. If I had to choose, maybe… Charms?”

“Charms is nice,” Jimin agrees, shaking his head as he begins to mull over the question himself. “I’ve always liked it, too.”

“Is it your favorite?”

“Not sure,” He concludes, his lower lip pulling thoughtfully over his top one. “I like a lot of my classes. Magical Creatures is fun and Tae has got me into Divination a bit more lately, but I enjoy Defense a lot, too.” He muses, almost to himself.

“All of those classes are completely different, Jimin,” You exclaim and he hurries to his conclusion. “For the sake of the question, it would either be Charms or Defense,” He amends and you lay back down, satisfied with his answer. “But the Professor definitely has an impact.”

“What do you mean?” You’ve forgone napping for the sake of conversation, but you’d much rather talk to Jimin anyway.

“Well,” He nods pensively, scanning his mind for the words to clearly articulate his meaning. “Believe it or not, I quite like History.”

“...You like History of Magic?” You drawl, not entirely believing him. Nobody likes History of Magic, not even most of the muggle-borns. People usually just resort to rotation homework and assignments in an attempt to do as little as they can.

“Yeah, I think the subject alone isn’t as bad as what everyone says,” Jimin continues, watching carefully as you analyze his words, trying to discern if he was messing with you or not. “But when our teacher falls asleep in the middle of lecture and then gives us exams on the things he hadn’t got to… then I start to lose interest.”

Your eyes narrow as you turn over his words. Truth be told, you had been pretty excited for that specific class as a first year. The idea of learning about how the magical world you’d only just discovered you were apart of came to be certainly sounded better in theory. When you’d shown up to the class for the first time and found out that your teacher was a ghost who somehow needs more sleep than you do, needless to say, you’d been disappointed.

Jimin grins as you zone out, all smug and boyish. “You know I’m right.”

Your gaze snaps over to him, and when he grins at you with those crescent eyes and pearly whites between pretty pink lips, a sigh escapes. You concede.

“Don’t get used to it, Park,” You jest, sticking your tongue out at him as he beams, reveling in his own ego. You’re tempted to toss your book at him, wipe that smile off his face but if you’re being honest, it looks good on him.

His eyebrow arches challengingly, daring you to say it again. “What are you gonna do about it?”

A smirk creeps onto your face and you shrug, nonchalant. “Oh I don’t know. Maybe I’ll sneak into the Ravenclaw common room and tell Taehyung what you said about his owl the other day-”

“You wouldn’t dare!” He gasps, eyes wide like saucers, glimmering brilliantly in the afternoon light. His mouth falls open as he stares at you incredulously.

“You willing to bet your broom on that?” You wink at him for extra measure and he clutches his hand tightly to his chest, right above his heart. He looks equally offended and intrigued and you’re unable to prevent the giggle that falls from your lips.

His shakes his head with a playful gleam in his eyes, the smirk permanently settled on his face. He doesn’t wait a beat before he murmurs in the midst of your dwindling laughter, “You wanna hear a secret?”

He’s still smirking when you look to him, as if spilling such things were a common occurrence. Jimin is not at all fazed with the way you’re eyeing him, curiosity prickling incessantly at your mind.

Still, you’re hesitant. “It’s not gossip or rumors or drama is it? Because if it is, I couldn’t care less about it.” Jimin doesn’t seem the type to spread those things, even if he probably does hear more than most, but you wanted to make sure.

With a shake of his head and a slight blush to his cheeks, he continues. “No, it’s actually, uh- it’s about me.”

Now you’re really curious and your eyebrow inches closer up to your hairline. “A secret about you, huh?” You sit up slightly to prop your chin on your hand. “Then I guess I’ll be willing to hear you out.” You sigh dramatically, as if doing so was quite the nuisance.

Jimin snickers momentarily before leaning in closer to you. You can feel the heat radiating off of his body in waves, much warmer than the hint of sunlight coming from the window. His hand goes up to cup over his lips to hide his mouth, stealthy, as if they were someone there to hear him.

“I lied.”

You peer up at him, unamused. He chuckles, knowing that he’s being too vague, but waiting for you to prompt him to continue. With a roll of your eyes, you wave your hand and gesture for him to keep going.

“I didn’t get detention for sneaking into the Ravenclaw common room,” He admits, not quite shy, but he doesn’t seem too bashful either. “I didn’t even go in their common room. I made it up.”

“Y-You,” You stuttered, wondering both why he had done such a thing and why he has decided to tell you about it now. “Why?”

“I didn’t sneak into the Ravenclaw common room, but Jungkook did,” His words are stressed, emphasized to correctly display what he’s trying to imply. The gears in your head begin to turn and it clicks, your mouth falling open in shocking realization.

“S-So you-”

“I took the blame.”

“Why?” You asked, trying desperately to see where is head is at. “You knew you would get his punishment and you’ve never gotten detention before.”

Jimin only smiles at you, cryptic in form but sending off a much kinder, warmer feeling down your spine. “Why did you use magic on Kane when you knew you’d get trouble for that?”

Your mouth falls shut, the answer on the tip of your tongue, but unwilling to slip. You know why, and so does he. Apparently, his friends mean more to him than you’d originally thought.

So, instead of probing or denying the truth, which you both know would be futile, you tell him, “Touché,” Allowing yourself a measly grin before going on. “You guys must be really close, huh?”

He shrugs, processing your question. “Yeah, we are.”

“I think that’s sweet,” You coo at him, causing him to pull a face of mock sarcasm. “Really though, it’s nice what you did for him. Sacrificing a month’s worth of your free time for him, more people should be like that.”

Jimin laughs to himself, a small breath of giggles pushing through his teeth like a whistle. “Well, if I’m being honest, I don’t see the point in having free time if I can’t spend it with my friends.” He stops, contemplating a thought before he points an accusatory finger in your direction. “But don’t tell them that.”

Your hands come up in mock surrender. “My lips are sealed.”

“Good,” He goads, somehow both smug and humble if that was possible. He goes to poke at your cheek, catching your attention back to him. “But, if we’re still being honest… I don’t mind spending my free time with you, either.”

A grin spreads your lips apart, all rosy cheeks and toothy smile. “Good,” You mimic, trying not to give away how many butterflies suddenly– strangely –erupted in your stomach. “Because I don’t mind it, either.”

Jimin opens his mouth, probably to reply with another sentiment that you can see unspoken in his eyes before they even meet his lips. So, you cut him off with, “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to get back to dusting now before McGonagall starts asking for my head.”

He smirks at this, a thoughtful hand coming to stroke his chin like a comical super-villain. “Now do you think she’d want it on a silver or a gold platter?”

You huff, biting back a chuckle as you throw your duster at him. It does no good as he catches it easily with one hand, but it’s the thought that counts. “Shut up.”

“You know,” He teases further, pretending to admire a golden house cup that sits forgotten on one of the many shelves. “Upon further conversation, I think she’d want it on a golden platter. Gryffindors don’t mess with second place stuff.”

Scoffing, you run quickly around the shelf to grab your sister back from him– and maybe ignite a feather attack –but he maneuvers quickly out of the way. He holds the feather duster up above him, well out of your reach with an eyebrow raised. Seeing no other way out of it, you reach onto your toes for the duster, but he simply dangles it mockingly. You pout up at him, a final plea for mercy, but he doesn’t give in, nodding proudly to himself as he beams down at you. Trying hard not to let it distract you, in a last ditch effort, you poke at his side in the hopes of garnering a reaction.

Your wish is granted in the form of the small string of giggles that leave his mouth, his body convulsing sideways to avoid your savage fingers. In doing so, his hand lowers just enough for you to pluck the duster out from between his fingers. Now you’re the one smirking and he finally surrenders, bending not so elegantly to your will with the promise of no more surprise tickles.

You agree, albeit reluctantly seeing as his laugh is by far one of the prettiest things you’ve ever heard. Though he seems to appreciate the deal you’ve made and even offers to help you study while you work.

Somehow, you leave the Trophy Room with half the book memorized, the anecdotes and pictures lodged right there in your brain next to the image of his smile shining in the late afternoon sun coming gently through the curtains.

Your fingers tap a pattern into your desk as you wait for your test back. All around the room there are gasps and a few cheers as your fellow students either celebrate their success or mourn for their grade point average. Trewlaney seems to take her sweet time walking over to you and it makes even more nerves fester and flutter around inside you. You studied your ass off for this exam and if you failed, you’d be utterly distraught.

With the incessant click of her heels boots, she finally nears you. Her round glasses fall slightly down her nose and she pushes them back up. She offers you a toothy, subtly loopy grin. “Good work, Miss Y/L/N.”

Once in reach, your eyes shift frantically across your exam until they finally land on the big Exceeds at the top of your parchment.

You blink a few times, half expecting it to be gone when you open your eyes, but it’s not. It stays there at the top, doing its job just as well a gold star in kindergarten. For extra measure, you even double check all your answers to make sure she hadn’t marked one right by mistake. She didn’t, each of the answers are straight from the textbook and you feel like doing a happy dance in your seat.

“Alright now, if you didn’t do too well on this exam, come see me and we can figure something out,” Trelawney booms from the front of the classroom, but you can hardly hear her, still mesmerized by the score on your parchment. “Otherwise, class is dismissed.”

You’re out of your seat and packing your things away before she even finishes her sentence. A sense of pride pulses through your veins and suddenly, you only have one destination in mind.

There’s an extra skip in your step as you take the now familiar path down to the kitchens. Seeing as classes are now over and you don’t have practice today, detention will be starting soon and you know that the elves will try and put you to work the second it does. So, with your exam held tightly in your hands, you race to your destination as fast as you can without knocking into the mingling students.

When you get there, you immediately look around for a familiar head of blonde hair. The scent of butter and spices fill your nose, sharp and savory and you try to ignore it as best you can. Unfortunately, they are nowhere in sight and your smile drops slightly. That is until the door burst open behind you and a disheveled looking Gryffindor beams at you, a tiny blush creeping up his neck.

“Hey, Y/N,” Jimin greets, politely nodding towards the paper that’s still clutched in your hand. “You had your Divination exam today, right?”

You stutter, surprised he’d actually remembered. You nod. “Yeah, I did.” Now it’s your turn to blush as you remember why you had rushed all the way here. “I actually wanted to- uh, show it to you.”

“Really?” When you nod again, his grin widens. “That’s good, right. That must mean you did well! No one wants to show someone an exam if they failed.”

You smirked and held it out for him to see. “See for yourself.”

His eyes raked up the parchment from the bottom. As they make their way up, they stop directly at the top where you knew the mark was. “You did it!” He laughs, the sound pushing pleasantly past his lips as he looks back at you. “You did it, you got an Exceeds!”

“It’s thanks to you, Jimin.” You reply to which he shakes his head in protest, but you won’t let him do that. “It was thanks to all your notes and all the times you helped me study. I couldn’t have even worked up the motivation to do that without you.”

“I don’t think so,” He denies again and you go to argue, but he holds up a hand to stop you. “You wouldn’t have been able to get an Exceeds if you didn’t have it in you.” He says determined, certain. “I might have given you the push, but in the end it was all you.”

With a sigh, you tilt your head thoughtfully at him. “You’re not going to take this credit, are you?” He shakes his head with a knowing smile and it’s the most contagious thing you’ve ever seen you can’t help but do the same. “Fine, but… thanks for the push, I guess.”

“Anytime,”

“Hey!” The shrill voice of a house elf cuts through your reverie and both your heads turn to the interruption. “If you two are done chit-chatting, detention was supposed to start a minute ago! Get to work!”

You and Jimin share a laugh, but concede, turn to head over to your respective stations. He tries to catch your attention from time to time, throwing baby carrots and spinach leaves in your direction to which the elves chastise him with their wooden spoons. You take your revenge in the form of salad croutons and pieces of celery. The elves are forced to separate you two after only half an hour, but your laughs carry across the whole room, bringing smiles to even the grumpiest of elves, even if they try their best to hide it.

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sarah-bae-maas · 6 years

Text

A Court of Hearts and Darkness Chapter Thirty Four - the penultimate chapter

It’s been over a century since the epic and bloody war against Hybern, but a new, unprecedented horror lies in wait to threaten everything the Inner Circle holds dear.

At a mere 17, it seems that the only one who can save them is the Heir to the Night Court, Feyre and Rhysand’s daughter Eleana, but as a creature so vile promises to kill everyone she loves, she must combat the urge to succumb to the darkness herself. The key to success lies hidden within her mate, the bastard born Kaden, who is as oblivious to the bond as her Court is oblivious to the war on the horizon.

With the help of her cousin and warrior Felix, the son of the famed Nesta and Cassian, they will try to save everything they hold dear, hopefully before the darkness takes them all.

(This fic was written pre-acowar, so please bear in mind there are some small differences but it can still hopefully be enjoyed!)

Link on Ao3 Masterlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

***

-Chapter 34-

Sometimes, when he looked at her, he thought that maybe it wasn’t a fae he was mated to. Not a fae, nor an Illyrian, nor the combination of both that was common only in her family.

Sometimes when Kaden looked at Eleana, he thought maybe he was mated to a God.

There was no other explanation for how a fae just shy of eighteen could wield a power that would make High Lords and Ladies cower before her.

At some point, Kaden had passed out after his journey into Eleana’s mind. When he woke, he was lying next to Felix, so close that the two males were touching from shoulder to foot. His heart had started to race with fear, especially at the ghastly sight of Felix’s eyes, but the slow but steady rise and fall of Felix’s chest put him at ease.

Well, it would have, if Eleana hadn’t been missing.

He’d awoken Felix, using whatever meagre healing magic he had to bring him to consciousness. Then, he’d dragged the two of the out of the crumbling pantheon to find Eleana. He didn’t dare ask Felix what the fuck had happened, and his friend was as silent as he. He’d readied his weapons when they’d neared the door, creating a shield of unknown power around him and Felix.

They soon realised there would be no more fighting for them today.

“What’s happening?” Felix had gasped.

Kaden didn’t know how to describe it.

Eleana was flying above them all, her dress billowing around her. Her arms were raised, and all around them every creature was being floated to her eye level by a hard wall of wind while soldiers were being forced to ground by the same force. The creatures flailed, their abnormal limbs contorting in an effort to escape from the inescapable, and all their screams turned silent when Eleana misted them into a bloodrain. For as far as the eye could see, the sky above them turned into a black ocean as she decimated every single creature in that town.

The whispers of the soldiers around them were worrisome – some prayed to the Cauldron, some prayed to Eleana, thinking she was the Mother reborn.

When all the creatures were destroyed, she lifted the ebbing, lapping blood even higher until it was a spinning whirlpool blocking all the stars from sight. And then, with a giant flash of light, it was all gone.

Eleana, a hard yet compassionate look on her face, had landed next to Kaden and Felix when she had finished.

“It’s time to go home,” she’d said solemnly.

A God given flesh. She was a God given flesh.

Kaden thought he might be the only one to have come to that conclusion as he looked around the room.

The House of Wind was full of the Inner Circle and their families. Right now, Kaden was in a room with Eleana, Felix, and the healer that was attending to his friend’s eyes.

Eleana would not let anyone else into the room.

“You must keep these patches on until we meet again. There is only so much I can do, and we must remain hopeful, but you must do exactly as I say if we’re to save them.”

Felix grinned at the healer. “Can do. Personally, I love the rugged, human pirate look.”

The healer laughed lightly and patted his hand as she left, saying she would update the General of the condition of his son but say nothing else.

Kaden looked at Eleana. She had yet to say a word to him beyond demanding that he summon the best healer still alive and telling him to keep her family far away. She hadn’t spoken to Felix at all, but he could tell she was beyond relieved at his presence.

He had already tried to poke at the bond, but it was fried. There was a tiny inkling of its existence, a bridge that one day would rebuild itself, but who knew how long that would take. It’s not like he could ask someone – he doubted anyone else had near severed a mating bond in an effort to separate a demonic soul from their loved one.

Felix sighed dramatically. “So much tension in such a small room. I guess I’ll speak first.” He turned toward the wall. “Eleana, I missed you. What you did was very stupid, and incredibly reckless, but I love you anyway.”

“I’m over here.” Her voice was gruff.

“I know, I’m working on some new joke material. May as well have all the blind jokes banked up if I’m never to see again.”

“Don’t say that, you’ll be fine.”

“Always the optimist.” Felix reached his hand out until he felt her knee. “I don’t blame you for anything that happened. You were taken advantage of, manipulated in the most horrific way until you gave her what she wanted. You’re a victim of her as much as I am, and I’m certain you don’t blame my death on me, so don’t blame yourself for this.”

She stood, her figure towering over him as he sat.

Eleana carried herself differently. Her back was straighter, harder, and her eyes were like ice. It was as if she had the woes of a century weighing on her back. She was colder than the mountains in Illyria, her eyes as hollow as the flames that lit the room.

Goosebumps covered Kaden at the sight of her. This, undeniably, was the women he loved. But she was not the same.

“We can discuss this later, when you’re better.”

“Eleana,” Kaden interjected.

She levelled her gaze to his.

“This was an inevitability. Whether then, now or in a hundred years, that queen would have come for you.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about. A lot. We found out while you were – gone – that the creatures are incapacitated by opal and other various precious rocks and gems.”

“What has that got to do with anything?” She was exasperated. He could smell her frustration, laced with the ash of the fire in the merchant town. The ash was imbedded into all their clothes, especially Felix, who was also smeared with the black powder.

“I agree, what are you talking about?” Felix questioned.

Kaden took a deep breath. “The lives of the forest have been leaving you gifts of opal since you were a babe. A knife, a sword, a crown. All for you, all intended to help you when the inevitable happened. The forest knew, Eleana. They knew and they loved you and wanted to help you.”

“Shit,” Felix spat. “Can someone please summon my father? I’m about to have an existential crisis and would like his company in doing so.”

“He’s outside the door,” Eleana said bluntly. “They all are. My parents are trying to get through my shield, but they can’t, not until I let them.”

“What are you waiting for?” Felix asked.

She moved over to her cousin, kneeling in front of him and placing her head on his knees. “I need you to tell me all that I’ve missed. What lives our family led in my absence.”

“Why?”

“I want to know how much can change in the better part of a century. Quathryn is grown, Thea definitely no longer a babe. Did my parents have more children? Do I have siblings that only know me through anecdotes and a monster’s mask? How many of our kin did I kill while entrapped by the Queen?”

Felix turned his head toward her voice. He frowned, his hands moving to stroke the tips of her hair.

“Eleana… I’m confused.”

“It is imperative I know the full extent of the damage I caused.”

“But, Eleana, it’s only been a fortnight. You were gone for-” Felix did the math, “-less than two weeks, actually. Your eighteenth birthday has yet to even pass.”

She flinched back, her face scrunching as she shot looks at them both. “I was – no. That can’t be. I felt how long I was gone, and it was at least a hundred years.”

“No, Laya, you weren’t. Do you think I would lose track of time? You can see for yourself, Quathryn is still the tottering toddler, Thea the exact same, maybe a little chubbier. I swear that girl packs it on. Lovely fat baby she is.”

Eleana backed away, her hands trembling. “I don’t understand.”

“My love.” Kaden approached her fleeing figure, stopping a healthy distance from her. He didn’t touch her, he could tell that was the last thing she wanted, so he used his words rather than his hands to soothe her. “When I went in to destroy the Queen, it felt like I had been there far longer. The only reason I didn’t succumb to the loss of time is because I knew that there was no way I could have been with you that long. You didn’t have the same reassurance I did. You did not know that we were here every second of every damn day trying to get you home.”

She sighed unevenly. “I didn’t expect you to come. I was ready to go, after all that time. The things I saw, what she had done… There was so much more than just Prythian.” She looked like she was haunted. The sheer terror in her voice as she recounted nothing but a general statement made Kaden’s chest seize. What had she seen?

Felix stood, and started stripping his leathers. Kaden looked at him aghast. Felix only stopped once his torso was bare.

Felix ran his hands over his chest. It was heavily scarred now, the wounds from his death leaving raised red and purple slashes over his body. “See how new these still are? I feel them pulling when I move. I haven’t shown anyone other than Kaden and Azriel, and now you, I’m worried that it will scare them.”

He reached a hand out. She immediately stepped forward and took it, anchoring herself to him.

“When it all ended, I was petrified about all the things it meant I would miss. I wouldn’t see my sisters grow up, I let myself believe my parents didn’t care for me, I would never experience true love, even if I had been in love. The fear, that I would miss so very much of our families, has yet to go away. There was a large part of me that did not think I would survive this war. But I did. Youdid. We can recover from this.”

She nodded at him, and then cleared her throat and voiced her agreement. Yes, they could do this.

“We have so much to look forward to,” Felix continued. “But we can’t start living our lives again until you take down those wards and let our family in.”

The air in the room was fraught as she took in his words. She bit her lip, a crease appearing between her brows.

“You’re right,” she breathed. She let go of him and walked towards the door, the same gown the Queen had dressed her in flowing behind her.

“Kaden,” Felix hissed. Kaden’s gaze had been following his mate, but at Felix’s summon he went over to him. Felix was scrounging around for his shirt and shucked it over his head when he found it.

“What?” Kaden whispered.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Is right now the best time?”

“No, but there probably won’t be a good time.”

Before Felix could elaborate, Eleana was opening the door and her family poured in. They were all loud and shouting over one another. Notably was Cassian’s “Felix what have you done?!” as he looked at the condition of his son.

Kaden was watching them when Morrigan came to his side and hugged him. Azriel joined them, putting his arms around both of them. Azriel murmured that he was glad Kaden was safe.

Kaden watched as Lady Nesta coddled Felix, kissing his head over and over again. Quathryn was pulling at her brother’s pants, demanding he pick her up. Thea was in Cassian’s arms, peering curiously at the hubbub around her.

Amren came in and perched herself on the arm of a chair in the corner, a lioness’ scowl on her face.

Then, surprisingly, High Lord Lucien and Lady Elain walked in, joining Nesta and Cassian. Lucien took Thea, and Elain pulled her sister in for a hug. Lucien was bruised, his lips bloody and one eye swollen. He grinned at Felix. “Nice look you’ve got going.”

“I pull it off better than you ever could,” Felix snickered.

The interaction brought a smile to Kaden’s face, and then High Lord Rhysand and High Lady Feyre entered.

Those before them had parted around Eleana as if she were poison Ivy. She bowed her head, and crossed her hands in front of her body, shame radiating from her like light from the flickering candles above them.

The High Lord of the Night Court looked sick. His face was pale, and a line of sweat soaked his forehead. High Lady Feyre was still in her fighting gear, her clothes torn and soaked in blood that thankfully didn’t seem to be her own. Her skin was washed out with worry, making her freckles stand out starkly. The freckles that matched those of her daughter, who met her gaze but didn’t move.

“Butterfly,” Rhysand croaked.

He ran to her. She was only a few feet away away, but he got to her as quickly as he could. He threw his arms around her, tucking her into him. The High Lord’s sobs were broken – matched by the High Lady’s as she came up behind them and wrapped her arms around Eleana’s back. She rested her cheek on the back of her neck, clasping both her husband and her daughter.

Eleana relaxed into them. Her stiff back slumped, and the gruff frown on her face smoothed. She closed her eyes and leant into her father.

Kaden sighed in relief. He pulled himself from Morrigan and Azriel, kissing the former on the cheek before moving to Felix. Quathryn was crawling all over him, and he had to playfully swat away her hands as she tried to see what was under his eye patches. Kaden put his hands under her arms and lifted her up, smiling grimly when he heard her little giggles.

“You shouldn’t do that Lady Quathryn. Felix is healing.”

Her response was to start poking at his face while giggling madly.

“You’ll be a fearsome warrior one day with hands like that,” Kaden told her.

“She’ll be able to kick your ass soon enough you bastard.” Felix rose and stepped forward. Cassian braced his hands on Felix’s shoulders, guiding his son.

“Home for all three of you. It’s far past everyone’s bed time,” Cassian said, nodding at Nesta.

“Yes, let’s all return to the house.”

Felix swallowed hard. “No thank you, I’ll meet you there in the morning.”

The dark. Felix was still afraid of the night. Kaden’s brows furrowed at the conundrum. His friend was dead on his feet from exhaustion, you could tell from the way he was swaying on his feet, but he wouldn’t sleep if he thought it was night – even if he couldn’t see the day.

The General must have been thinking the same thing, as he said, “I was thinking tonight we could set our mattresses in the lounge room. It can be Thea’s first sleepover.”

“She’s had plenty of sleepovers, that makes zero sense.”

Cassian and Felix bickered over the issue as Cassian led him away, but Kaden could see exactly what Cassian was doing. He was surrounding Felix with distraction, with those he loved, in a place he felt safe. And that was exactly what he needed.

Next, Morrigan linked her fingers with Azriel. They left quickly. Morrigan whispering that she wanted to give Rhys and Feyre time alone with Eleana. They would speak to her in the morning. Kaden agreed. He just wanted to say goodbye first. He told them he’d meet them at the house, and they left. Azriel looked like he might approach Eleana after all; the two had yet to reconcile about the stupid fight they’d had over him months ago, and Azriel looked as though he was ready to beg on his knees for forgiveness if that’s what it took. Elain and Lucien followed them promptly, Kaden hearing something about Elain wanting to use their guest room.

He stood back from the rulers of the Night Court. The High Lady and Lord were murmuring to Eleana, and if he listened intently enough he could’ve heard them, but he had no intention of breaching their privacy like that.

Eventually, they pulled apart. Rhysand kept a hand on her the whole time, and Kaden could feel his and Feyre’s fear.

It was the same fear Kaden felt. The fear that this wasn’t real, and that any moment her eyes would turn gold and that the creatures that plagued them would swarm.

Rhysand had a hand on her elbow as they walked. Feyre was close behind them, monitoring every one of her daughter’s movements.

“Wait,” Eleana pulled back.

They stopped, and she turned to Kaden.

“Are you coming?” she asked him.

He swallowed. “If you want me to.”

She paused for a moment.

Two.

“Bring an extra set of nightclothes,” she answered.

She let herself be taken from the House of Wind. Feyre subtly nodded at him – yes, he was welcome in their home tonight.

He went to follow them but was stopped by Amren slinking her way in front of him.

He had expected a confrontation between them at some point, he knew she had a distaste for him, but now? He was not in the mood. Since Eleana’s possession, she had made her feelings on him very clear. She did not like him. She thought he’d played a part in Felix’s death and Eleana’s breakdown. There were no words he could say that would convince her otherwise, so he hadn’t tried.

“You did it,” she said.

“Indeed.”

“She’s broken.”

“She won’t be forever.”

“You could have caused irreversible damage in her, doing what you did, Veilsinger.”

“Anything is better than her death. Do you have something other than the obvious to say?” He was tired – of the night, of worrying, of false accusations. He just wanted to go to bed, and he wanted his mate at his side when he did.

“I’m still watching you. We both know this isn’t over. Those creatures have scattered across the earth without a leader. More death is to come.”

He walked around her like she was nothing but an ornamental statue. “I’ll deal with it when the time comes. But right now, I have more important things to do.”

____

The extra pyjamas were for her to wear, not him. Before, she had loved stealing his clothes to sleep in. She’d always said she liked the smell, and she’d wear them even if he wasn’t there. Especiallyif he wasn’t there.

Kaden didn’t know why he was surprised that hadn’t changed.

It was High Lady Feyre who opened the door when he’d knocked. Rhysand was in the lounge, face grave, and barely managed to wave at him as he passed. Feyre walked him to the steps, warning him that Eleana was exhausted and not herself tonight before he could continue to her room.

When he entered, she was facing her window, resting her forehead on the cool glass as she watched the city.

She murmured something quietly, and he asked her to repeat herself while he closed the doors behind himself.

“I can’t get this damn dress off,” she said again. She turned to him, her face covered in red streaks from her tears. “I can’t get this damndress off.” She reached behind her and started yanking but to no avail. She started hyperventilating, her teeth exposed in a snarl as she continued viciously pulling at the material.

“It’s okay, I’ll help you.” He waited until she said yes before he approached her. He had no idea what kind of gown this was, but not even he could undo the ties. He went to her ensuite, digging around in her drawers until he found scissors. He returned to her, hacking off the dress until it was in taters on the ground.

She stood bare before him, like she had in her mind, but she was not scarless here. Every mark on her body was clear. The scars left from the Colloden – thin lines across her stomach that were a shade lighter than her natural skin. Knicks along her curtesy of her training.

She was quivering, so he led her into the bathroom and ran the bath as hot as he could without burning her. Without a word between either of them, he helped her in. She was completely still. Not moving. Not talking. Just silently weeping.

Kaden took off his shoes and leathers, leaving the rest of his clothes on as he climbed in behind her. With her back to his chest, he helped her wash her body, and massaged her scalp as he cleaned and conditioned her hair.

They soaked for at least an hour before she talked.

“My body feels foreign to me. Like it’s not actually mine.” She was on her side, his arms keeping her from sliding under the cooling water. “The Queen had done things that I never could have imagined. I think, at some point, I started living them again as if I washer. There’s more of her type. Some lands eradicated by her species and the demons they bred, but not all. Whole lands conquered and ravished. In all the worlds I saw, there was only one that survived. One. There’s so much I want to tell you, but I don’t know where to start.”

It was the first time she had really spoken to him since her return.

He tightened his grip on her. “Perhaps a good first step is to get out of this water and into bed.”

She stilled at that, upturning her face. “That’s another thing,” she said quietly, slowly, shamefully. “I don’t – I can’t…” She took a deep breath. “The thought of having sex right now…” She scrunched her face and shook her head. “I need to learn who I am, and what my body is in relation to me before I feel – I’m just not comfortable right now.” Her next words were jumbled, barely intelligible, but Kaden understood her perfectly.

“Eleana, my dark rose, I have no intention of bedding you tonight. Or ever, until you are ready and wanting.”

She shuddered in relief, turning to fully face him, her body curving down his. “It’s not that I don’t want you, just right now-”

“You don’t have to justify it to me.” He smoothed the wet hair from her face, then stroking her jaw with his thumb as he looked deeply into her violet eyes. “I understand. I’m here for whatever you need. For as long as you need. You are my mate after all.”

The word mate made her chew her lip nervously. “Just because you’re my mate doesn’t mean you can’t leave at any time. You are under no obligation to me Kaden, I never wanted you to feel like you were.”

He pushed her off him gently, standing from the tub and pulling off his soaked clothes. He wrapped a towel around himself before leaving the room and coming back with their night clothes. She was up and drying herself and welcomed his shirt as he lifted it over her head. In a matching set, he led her to her bed, letting her get in before he sat next to her atop the covers.

“You being my mate,” he said into the darkness, looking out her windows at the city near decimated, “is a gift beyond comprehension. But, in saying that, if you had told me that first day, I would have been with you for obligation. Even if I loved you, there would have always been a set of shackles that bound us. I needed to learn to care for myself before I could properly care for you. I likely would have harboured resentment for my life here, and you for making the choice for me. But now – now I love you without restraint. I choose Velaris because this is the city of my family and where I will be accepted as more than a Lord’s bastard. I am here because I love you, and I want to be with you, mate bond or not. Eleana, you could drag me across continents, sail me over vast oceans, fly me to the deepest corners of the sky, and I would be grateful for every moment.”

She scooted up the bed and sat up, resting her head on his shoulder.

“That is my truth – my promise to you.”

She pressed her lips to his cheek. “I have loved you for one hundred years, and I will love you for uncountable centuries more.” She cupped his jaw with her hands. “The Suriel warned me once of what was to come. I was too preoccupied with my own drama that I didn’t properly heed his warning. But he did tell me one thing I abided by.”

“What is that?”

“He said that if I stayed with my mate, then I, everyone, would fare fine.”

They stayed in silence for a while. Gazing at the night, gazing at each other, wondering if this could possibly be their life.

Together. Somehow, they had come through this together.

And as Eleana finally spoke of the horrors she had witnessed, her words a lilt, the first snow of winter fell.

#acohad #a court of hearts and darkness #feysand #nessian #moriel #elucien #fanfic #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas

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