Querencia

The first thing Namjoon sees when his vision clears is that his broom is on fire.

It takes a moment to realize that he’s on the top of the Astronomy tower. Unlike what Namjoon saw just a few nights ago with Jimin, half of the tower’s ceiling is already gone, and the remaining half is close to falling. Bricks are falling off the walls and once in a while there will be explosions blowing up entire walls. It’s not the Hogwarts he knows.

They were right. The Time-Turners just took Namjoon straight to May 2nd, 1998, where the Battle of Hogwarts took place. The Second Wizarding War.

Namjoon takes a risky glance down the Astronomy tower, and doesn’t see any fight or battles. He sees bodies of students, Aurors, faculties of Hogwarts, and members of the Order of the Phoenix, lying uniformly on the ground, their faces hollow and eyes blank. Students are either crouching in the corners, crying because of the death of some loved ones or pain from their injuries. Families and friends are hugging each other, either mourning for the dead or just glad that they’re alive. Some more unfortunate ones are running around, shouting names of a family member or a friend, desperate to find out if they survived.

The One-Hour Armistice, his mind supplies helpfully (thank god he paid attention during History of Magic). Half of the battle is over, and now everyone has one hour to mourn and bury the dead, and treat the wounded.

Namjoon sees a group of red-heads gathering around a body, and knows immediately that it’s the Weasley family. Namjoon recalls reading about the Weasleys’ youngest daughter, Ginevra Weasley, being a star Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies, and Ronald Weasley, who’s famous for being a successful Auror. Namjoon silently pays one second of respect for whoever just died in their family before his eyes catch another person.

A black-headed boy whose face is covered with ashes is walking alone around the deceased, squinting at every face as if trying to remember them. The signature lightning-shaped scar is a dead giveaway that this is the one and only Harry Potter, who now is probably debating himself whether he should turn himself in to Voldemort so that no other will die, or stay and fight.

Pain in his forearm makes Namjoon draw in a breath. He pulls up his sleeve almost brutally and sees the Dark Mark tattoo blackening. His fingers close into fists and he does his absolute best not to yell. But before he can lose his cool, the pain dies again.

What the hell? Namjoon knows it’s been hurting lately, but it was never that intense like this. Fortunately, though, the pain never lasts long, just some random bursts of pain that dies down as quickly as it comes. He has other more important things to worry about at the moment.

Namjoon bites his lower lip as his eyes catch Harry Potter tilting his head, as if trying to remember something, and silently walks deeper into the castle. Should he follow him?

No. He has other people to look for.

“Yoongi hyung?” Namjoon shouts down, ignoring the confused glances thrown from down there and hoping that someone would look up from the mention of the name. Seokjin wasn’t far ahead of them when they entered the past, but he’s nowhere in sight. Jungkook was just in front of him but now he’s gone as well. How long can Jungkook last with an injured arm? “Jungkookie? Jin hyung?”

Namjoon’s jumps when someone just a few feet from him suddenly turns at his voice. He was so focused on the people down there, he doesn’t see a person right in front of him.

She gazes at Namjoon, with judging eyes scanning every inch of his body, examining him with a look of disbelief. She’s just a little shorter than Namjoon, and her glasses are still the same as he remembers, but this time they’re specked with ashes. The woman’s pale skin looks even paler with the ashy sky as background. “Hyunjoon Kim?” She whispers.

“Namjoon Kim,” Namjoon corrects immediately. He knows he’s making a mistake telling McGonagall that he’s from the future, but he has to make it clear that he’s not his father. “Hyunjoon Kim is my father, Professor McGonagall.”

McGonagall, who doesn’t look too different from how Namjoon remembers, eyes Namjoon’s Slytherin tie, still around his neck, and his family robe. She studies his face, and Namjoon suddenly wonders if he looks like his father. Are they really that alike?

“From how you’re not killing me yet I’m assuming you’re not working for You-Know-Who.” McGonagall says carefully, maintaining full eye contact with Namjoon. She squints suspiciously. “Why exactly are you here, then? What are you looking for?”

“I’m not telling . . .” Namjoon stops when his gaze catches something below the dangerously shaking floor of the tower. In the corner of his eyes, Namjoon can see something that looks suspiciously like a lone cat lying on its side, curling beside a shadowed pillar down at ground level.

Cat?

Jimin?

“Cat,” Namjoon blurts out.

“I beg your pardon?” McGonagall narrows her eyes.

“Excuse me Professor, but . . .” Namjoon doesn’t even wait for himself to finish, neither does he wait for a response from McGonagall. He jumps.

Last time he jumped, Jimin had jumped with him and protected him by growing angel wings. This time he jumped, he’s jumping for Jimin and unlike last time, he’s prepared. He lets gravity take him and right before he lands, he casts a softening charm on the ground so that it absorbs the impact of his fall and before it bounces Namjoon back into the air, it hardens again.

He really doesn’t mean to make a big appearance when he lands, but it’s not his fault he’s born with this main character aura.

The calico cat is lying on his side, eyes blown wide. Namjoon’s trembling hands scoop the cat up, and one of his ears twitches cutely. “You have to turn back,” Namjoon whispers, and even his voice is trembling. Fortunately people stop paying attention after they realize he jumped off a tower just for a little cat.

The cat gazes at him, and the next second Jimin is in Namjoon’s arms, breathing heavily but weakly against Namjoon’s chest. His hair is dark red with random streaks of purple, like the colors of bruises. That must be the colors of pain. “Hyung,” Jimin whimpers in pain and hugs at his abdomen.

That’s when Namjoon sees the blood drenching Jimin’s shirt and dripping from his hands and how tense Jimin’s muscles are. By just one glance Namjoon knows that it’s Sectumsempra, a notorious curse invented by Severus Snape, who is probably dead by now, if he remembers correctly. “Shit, Jimin, hold on . . .”

Jimin’s small hand finds Namjoon’s sleeve and fists it hard. His breath is quickening and weakening, and his eyes are squeezed tightly shut. Namjoon doesn’t have much time. He’s not the best at healing, but he has to give it a shot. For Jimin.

Namjoon suddenly remembers what Seokjin said just a few moments ago, when they were playing chess. We may all have terrible pasts, but Jimin’s the only one who has to endure everything alone. And seeing Jimin’s pained face, Namjoon feels so sad for Jimin. If only he could take his pain away.

“Vulnera Sanentur, ” Namjoon whispers and thankfully, Jimin’s blood is slowly returning to the wound on his stomach. Too slow, but it’s progress. “Vulnera Sanentur. I got you, Jiminie. You’re not alone.”

Jimin lets out a small breath, and some of the wrinkles on his face smooth out. His purple-and-red hair fades a bit. Namjoon sighs too.

Someone grabs his shoulders, and Namjoon almost knocks the person’s teeth off before he stops himself with his brilliant self-discipline. He turns to see Hoseok, and suddenly feels so relieved that so far he hasn’t found a dead friend yet.

“What the fuck was that for, you unruly . . . oh shit, hey, hey,” Hoseok shouts, then switches to a much gentler voice when he sees Jimin in Namjoon’s arms. “It’s okay, it’s . . . fuck, it’s not okay, Jimin how did you . . .”

“Mph,” Jimin whimpers, and the sad sound brings Namjoon out of his daze.

“I was going to ask why the fuck you jumped off a building, Namjoon, but never mind.” Hoseok waves dismissively before Namjoon can even say anything. “We get out of this shitty place as soon as we gather everyone, okay? Jimin, just hold on, you’re safe.”

“I know,” Jimin says weakly with his eyes closed. “‘cause Hobi hyung and Joonie hyung are the most powerful wizards in the world.”

“You charming, dumb brat,” Hoseok scolds, but Namjoon isn’t missing how the tiniest hint of tears is swimming in Hoseok’s eyes. “You’re wasting your breath just to talk shit at me? We’re gonna have to sort through your priorities after we get out of this shitty place.”

“Why are you yelling mean things with a sweet voice,” Namjoon whispers.

“Because if I say sweet things I’d sound very out of character,” Hoseok whispers back.

“I can hear you both,” Jimin giggles, then grimaces at the pain.

“We should split up,” Namjoon proposes. “I think I know where some of the others might be and it’ll be faster this way. You’re faster and gentler, so you take Jiminie.” Namjoon boops Jimin’s nose. “I’ll be with you in a moment, kitty.”

“Absolutely not,” Hoseok immediately disagrees. “Do you know what happens when people split up? They get picked on because they don’t have their buddies watching their backs and bad guys always pick on the lone wolves.”

“I’m pretty sure that only ever happens in horror movies.” Namjoon tries to keep himself level-headed, but somehow talking to Hoseok isn’t helping him do that. The Dark Mark on his forearm feels like lightning is striking it repeatedly, but he tries his best to make his wince as unnoticeable as possible.

“Doesn’t this whole thing seem like a horror movie to you?” Hoseok squawks, gesturing wildly with his arms and ignoring people’s glances. “A psychopath is massacring high school students and fucking with the entire school building!”

“Kinky,” Namjoon notes. From the corners of his eyes, he sees Harry Potter talking to a taller boy, who nods gravely at whatever Potter is saying. He turns away from the scene and directs his gaze back to Hoseok.

“Are you fucking serious right now? Are you joking? I’m not even joking! Why are you joking?” Hoseok screeches and flaps his arms like an angry bird. “Is this a joke to you?”

“Of course not,” Namjoon holds out his hands in surrender. “But Voldemort seems pretty predictable to me. Like a spoiled baby who throws a tantrum when he doesn’t have his favorite toy.”

“A spoiled baby who wants to kill his favorite toy and threatens to kill other babies if they don’t bring him his toy!” Hoseok huffs, then sighs and stares at Namjoon with a sympathetic look. “I know what you’re trying to do there, Joon. I saw you watching Harry Potter. You sure following him will be a good idea?”

“I wish I’m sure of anything at this point.” Namjoon admits.

Hoseok nods, as if that’s actually a good reason for Namjoon to run straight into danger. For one second, Hoseok looks like a father who, despite knowing nothing about what his son is up to, trusts him to make the right decision. Hoseok’s trying so hard to believe Namjoon. Namjoon’s heart aches of gratitude. “I’ll be fine with Jimin, Joon. You have to promise you won’t do anything stupid or reckless.”

“Promise.” Namjoon gently hands Jimin to Hoseok and pats Hoseok on the shoulder gratefully. “Thank you, hyung.”

Hoseok nods and cradles Jimin closer, whispering something in his ear and closing his eyes. Namjoon turns without looking back, knowing well that it won’t be the last time he sees them.

Namjoon owes each and every one of them his life, and this time he’s going to return the debt.

He knows that with Harry Potter dead, Voldemort will rule the Wizarding World as a tyrant, and his Muggle-blood friends will be the first ones to perish. Namjoon can’t imagine life without Taehyung and Jimin. And he knows the others enough that they will fight to their deaths if that ever happens. Voldemort will kill them all, Pureblood or not.

So instead of going to any other corner of Hogwarts, Namjoon follows Harry Potter.

He runs past the tall kid Potter spoke to just a few moments ago and follows the slightly visible shift of air that can only be made by a person who does not wish to be followed. In this case, a person with an Invisibility Cloak.

Namjoon keeps his distance, far enough so Potter can’t see him but not too far for Namjoon to lose sight of him. Namjoon’s not the best at being stealthy, but looks like he’s doing a great job because Potter hasn’t blown his cover yet.

He stops when Potter stops just at the border of the Forbidden Forest. Potter has flipped off his Invisibility Cloak and is just standing there, mumbling to a Golden Snitch in his hand. Namjoon watches in amazement as Potter stares out into the woods almost dreamily, as if he’s seeing something only he can see. Which might be the case, given that he’s not blinking at all.

Namjoon shuffles closer, and watches as Potter reaches out, as if trying to hold an invisible person’s hand, but judging from how his hand falls to his side almost lifelessly and how a slight look of disappointment flashes through his face, the things he’s reaching for isn’t as solid as he thinks.

Then Potter starts walking, almost confidently, as he heads into the dense woods. Namjoon follows, and watches in amazement as all the surrounding Dementors are warded off by an invisible force that seems to protect Potter. Namjoon quickens his steps to stick closer.

Namjoon tries not to trip on anything as the woods become darker as they go further in, with Potter’s footsteps almost inaudible. It doesn’t take long for them to arrive at a clearing in the middle of the woods, devoid of grass and flowers, with a campfire that eerily lights up some part of the woods right in the middle.

Fight in front of Potter stands an army of Death Eaters with Voldemort in front. Namjoon gasps quietly and barely finds the willpower to hold himself still and prevent himself from running away at that instant.

Potter stops when he steps out of the clearing. All the murmurs from the Death Eaters quiet down simultaneously, and all eyes are on Potter now. Including the Dark Lord’s himself.

Potter looks up at Voldemort calmly. Namjoon can feel the power that had repelled the Dementors disappearing just as he sees a rock falling from Potter’s hands. Namjoon doesn’t need a second glance to identify the rock, since there is only one recording of a stone in the Second Wizarding War.

It’s a diamond-shaped black rock. Its angles are perfectly carved and the surfaces are really smooth with some golden markings on them. It probably weighs more than a rock its size should weigh, judging from how heavily it drops to the ground, and has a slightly creepy glow to it when the fire’s light reflects from its surfaces.

It’s the Resurrection Stone, the Deathly Hollow that can bring back the dead temporarily. Many properties of this stone are still unknown, and personally Namjoon would love to throw it into a potion to see what it does but now’s really not the time.

Namjoon gasps a little when his Dark Mark starts hurting again. He falls to his knees and presses his forearm to his chest, trying to silent his voice in case there are ambushing Death Eaters around.

The pain goes away quickly, just as expected, and Namjoon’s eyes come to fix at the Stone again. He wants that stone for a good reason.

This moment, when Harry Potter travels to the Forbidden Forest to face the entire army of Voldemort, is not recorded in history. The living witnesses of this event refused to talk about it. Harry Potter never discussed this even with all the reporters begging him to talk. This is a historical moment forgotten by history, a moment that goes unknown. Namjoon has no idea what’s going to happen, and he has a bad feeling that if Harry Potter doesn’t talk about it, it must’ve been horrible.

In conclusion, he needs the damned stone.

“The boy was right,” Voldemort’s soft murmuring can be heard all the way to where Namjoon is. Namjoon shifts to the side to look clearer, and sees Voldemort, with his black robe and incredibly pale, nose-less face. His red eyes are reflecting the fire’s light and Namjoon immediately feels a chill. He motions to someone beside him. “that I would find you here.”

A woman with very messy black hair kicks at someone, who falls forward almost lifelessly. The woman has her wand directed to the person, with white light that Namjoon knows is the Cruciatus Curse blasting the person nonstop. Namjoon’s eyes widen at how the person is writhing with magical ropes tying him up.

The platinum blond hair. The pale skin. The black family robe. Namjoon can’t believe his eyes.

Yoongi hyung?

Yoongi’s eyes are squeezed shut, and his mouth completely gone because of some curse, screaming silently. Yoongi, one of the strongest and most stubborn people Namjoon’s known, writhing in agony and dying and completely at the mercy of someone. Namjoon’s hand shoots to his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

Then Yoongi’s eyes open a little just for them to roll completely back into his head. Namjoon doesn’t recall ever seeing people fainting as vividly as this.

“Harry Potter,” Voldemort singsongs, at the same time Namjoon reaches out his hand in a silent Accio and the stone is summoned to hand. “The boy who lived.”

Namjoon sees an explosion of green light and squeezes the Resurrection Stone as hard as he can, hoping that it’d work its magic, before his vision blackens out with only one thought in mind.

They can’t die.

Namjoon hears noises before he even opens his eyes. Voices of people whispering, too quiet and too muffled for him to make out any word but different enough for him to tell that they’re in many different languages. The sounds quickly fade into background, though, since they’re so quiet. That’s the first sign that things aren’t as simple as it seems.

He blinks and immediately hops to his feet, remembering what just happened not a few seconds ago, and discovers the second sign.

His clothes are different. He remembers wearing that thick black coat, but now it’s completely gone for some reason. He’s now wearing a pure white suit, white button-up shirt, white pants, and even white dress shoes. It all looks so expensive Namjoon doesn’t dare to move for a second. Why is he even wearing this kind of thing?

Namjoon looks up in confusion, and that the third sign something is definitely wrong. In front of him is an incredibly enormous stadium with three floors of empty seats for the audience. Above him is a clear blue sky with no sign of any clouds. The stadium looks like it can fit ten thousand people with no problem. Namjoon’s jaw hangs open as he slowly walks forward, his dress shoes making a clear sound every time he steps on the floor, as he tries to take in the entire picture.

This isn’t a stadium. It’s a concert, and he is, for whatever reason, standing on the stage.

“MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, America.” Someone says behind him, and Namjoon whips around to see Yoongi, in the exact same outfit as Namjoon is wearing right now–all white. Namjoon notices some faint makeup on Yoongi’s face, and decides against asking him about it since Namjoon probably has makeup on his face as well. Yoongi looks perfectly fine; his mouth is there, and he doesn’t look like he’s under the torturing spell. He only looks slightly tired.

“What?” Namjoon asks, dazed. Is this even real? There’s no way Yoongi can recover that quickly. And where is Potter? Voldemort? The Death Eaters? They’re not even in Hogwarts.

“We’re at the MetLife Stadium,” Yoongi says patiently. “Me and the boys came here for a world tour concert a few years ago. May 18th, 2019. Love Yourself: Speak Yourself.”

“You had a concert . . . here?” Namjoon asks, his voice trailing off at the end. “In front of that many people?”

“Eighty-two thousand people,” Yoongi specifies, with a little smile tugging at his lips. His eyes are half-closed lazily. Namjoon can’t help but stare at him for a while. “Amazing, right? What we’re wearing right now were our costumes when performing Not Today. I definitely recommend that song.”

“Why are we here? How did we get here? Where is Potter? Voldemort? Why was that woman torturing you?” Namjoon turns to Yoongi. This place is definitely great and Namjoon definitely wants to stay here a little longer, but he can’t shake away the feeling that something’s really wrong.

“Harry Potter is right there,” Yoongi points towards the second floor of the audience seats. Sure enough, Potter is alive and talking to an old man with long white robes and beard. “I don’t know why we’re here, but I might have an idea where ‘here’ is.”

“Didn’t you say it’s MetLife stadium?” Namjoon asks quizzically.

Yoongi shakes his head slowly. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been here, Joon-ah. We’re at the border of life and death. In some cultures, people call it Limbo. ”

Okay, at least those little noises make sense. Must be the voices of dead people. Brilliant.

Honestly, Namjoon doesn’t know which is more terrifying: the fact that Yoongi has been this close to death before, the fact that they’re just a few steps from being dead, and the fact that Namjoon wasn’t even hit by the killing curse. Yoongi was being tortured, and Potter was killed by Voldemort, but how did Namjoon get this close to death? “Why am I here? I wasn’t even close to dying! How do we get out of here?” Namjoon asks, panic rising up.

“That might explain why.” Yoongi points at Namjoon’s fist. Namjoon is confused for a while, but when he opens his fingers, he sees the Resurrection Stone sitting on his palm. “No one really knows how that thing works, but apparently if you do it right you can stop people from being completely dead. Good job for not letting Potter die.”

“We have to get out of here,” Namjoon says, not wanting to change the subject anymore. “And we’re taking Potter with us. He’s too important to die.”

“We still have time.” Yoongi seems too chill to be worried. Hell, he was the one being tortured! How is he okay with that? His body is still suffering somewhere!

“Limbo takes shape differently for each person.” Yoongi continues. “It shows us a lot about our character and who we are.”

“For once, you’re being the philosophical one between us,” Namjoon says dryly.

Yoongi spreads his arms with a slightly smug smirk painted on his face. Namjoon tries not to stare. “Shut up. You’re going to love this. You’re standing on our concert stage and wearing our concert suit, and you weren’t with us yet when we came here. Guess what that means?”

Namjoon actually thinks hard on this. “That I’ll be here, singing and dancing?”

Yoongi shrugs and drops his arms. “Maybe. To us, the stage is what brings us together. It’s our common passion and our common struggles that let us find our home in each other. It’s where we pour our hearts and souls to. Maybe it just means you’ll find your home in us too. And the Not Today costume? Maybe it means this is not the end. We’re not just gonna come here and die. Not today. ”

Namjoon raises both eyebrows at those deep words. He can’t imagine himself dancing and singing with the six boys, not yet, but he can imagine finding home in them. That, he can. And just like his costume, he’s not going to just lie down and die.

“Not today.” Namjoon repeats blissfully.

Yoongi grins, and this is the first time Namjoon ever thinks a gummy smile is cute. “Excellent. Now take us back with your stone.”

Alarm replaces the bliss. “What? I don’t even know how I brought us here, and you expect me to bring us back already?” Namjoon squawks.

Yoongi folds his arms on his chest and raises an eyebrow. “No? Fine. I’ve always wanted to nap in the border of hell. And since this is obviously going to take a while . . .”

“No, no, no!” Namjoon waves his hands frantically. He unconsciously squeezes the stone, aka the culprit. “Okay, okay! I’ll get us . . .”

“Back!” Namjoon shouts, finishing the sentence, but this time he’s not in an empty concert anymore. He’s back in the woods, with all the Death Eaters plus Voldemort. But they’re not even looking at him. They seem to be busy with something.

It takes a few seconds for Namjoon to regain his sense of hearing. He hears explosions all around him and people screaming. There are Death Eaters running past him, completely ignoring his presence and firing a hundred different colored spells all around him. There’s a magical smoke surrounding them that blurs everything outside of a two feet radius like a magical equivalent of a smoke grenade. Namjoon sits up. Even in his confused state, he knows he needs to hide. The smoke will only provide him basic protection.

Rubeus Hagrid walks past him, with confusion, fear, and sorrow all written on his furry face. Beside him are two Death Eaters, looking alarmed as they escort Hagrid, probably to Voldemort. In his arms are Harry Potter, who Namjoon just saved from dying completely. Potter looks pretty much dead, but Namjoon swears he just sees Potters pinky finger twitch.

Oh, good. As long as Potter lives, he’ll defeat Voldemort. Good.

“YAHH!!” Someone shouts with a voice that sounds suspiciously like Seokjin. Namjoon whips around to see a python’s opened mouth dangerously close to his face, its bone-white fangs glistening in the eerie fire light.

A black, enormous wolf jumps out of nowhere and wrestles the snake to the ground, batting the snake’s head with its giant fluffy paw and teeth bared threateningly. The snake immediately changes target and hisses at the wolf, who barks back. The wolf . . . Hoseok . . . turns to look at Namjoon for a brief moment before disappearing into the smoke again.

Namjoon can see a blurry shade of a Bengal Tiger . . . Taehyung . . . is pinning the Death Eater named Yaxley to the ground, whipping his tail playfully and snapping the wand in half with its paw. From the corner of his eyes, Namjoon can see a whirl of black mist slamming itself into the ground, cracking the ground like it’s made of ice and sending a big vibration that almost makes Namjoon lose his balance again. The black mist reappears, this time taking the form of a white bunny that limps in an incredible speed. The bunny . . . Jungkook . . . sinks its teeth into the foot of a woman. The bunny easily disappears into the smoke.

Voldemort is nowhere to be seen. What’s he doing?

Suddenly someone pulls Namjoon up by his collar with one arm. Namjoon yelps as he is pulled up to his feet almost rudely, but Namjoon blinks and his mouth almost falls open.

A woman and a man stand before him. The man is around 25 and around Namjoon’s height, with sharp brown eyes, monolids, and sharp features that make him look serious and unapproachable. He’s lean but strong, and he’s radiating power. He gives Namjoon a faint lopsided smile that looks like a smirk. The man has a face Namjoon only remembers seeing in the mirror.

The woman is shorter and a lot smaller, but the way she looks at Namjoon tells him that she’s not a person to be messed with. Her long black hair is braided into a messy but somewhat elegant braid, and her dark eyeshadow plus crimson red lipstick makes her look more like a Death Eater than the man. She smiles a little, and dimples poke out of her cheeks.

They’re wearing the same black coat as Namjoon is wearing right now.

“Namjoon?” The woman whispers, not moving but Namjoon can see the way her hands move a little that she wants to close the distance between them.

“Mom,” Namjoon says lowly, trying to memorize every detail of their faces. “Dad.”

“Great to see you too, son.” The man is the first to move. He grabs Namjoon’s shoulders, hard. His eyes stare into Namjoon’s and he speaks with a low rumbling voice. “The smoke won’t last long. You have to get your friends out of here now. It’ll only be a matter of time before they know what’s going on.”

“You saved me,” Namjoon says dumbly.

“We won’t be able to save you again if you don’t move now.” His mother says, her voice also pretty low.

“What about you? He’s going to kill you if he finds out,” Namjoon says desperately, his knees threatening to give up. They all know he’s talking about Voldemort, who’s known for never showing mercy at the tiniest hint of defiance. He had to see his parents die in Azkaban years ago. He doesn’t want to see them die again.

“Don’t worry about us,” Mom reassures with another smile. It’s forced, but at least it’s a smile. “We’re already happy with what we have. Nothing they do will change that.”

“That’s exactly what you said in Azkaban,” Namjoon says quietly, his tears threatening to spill. Can history be that cruel, repeating the most miserable moments in Namjoon’s life, reminding him that his past never leaves him every time he thinks he’s moved on? Apparently it can.

Mom and Dad exchange glances. “So we’ll end up in Azkaban, huh,” Dad shrugs. How can he fucking shrug at the mention of Azkaban?

“I told you so. You owe me ten Galleons for that,” Mom smirks playfully, and ducks a random curse fired at her direction easily. “We had a bet. Your father thought we would end up in the Hogwarts Kitchen, working with House Elves.”

“That’s a pretty reasonable punishment,” Dad argues.

“Anyway,” Mom says, looking back at Namjoon. This time, she looks serious. “Nice seeing you, Namjoon. Remember we love you.” They turn to walk away, but Namjoon reaches out to grab his mother’s wrist.

“Come with me,” Namjoon blurts out, and swallows. Tears are trickling down his cheeks. “I’ll take you to the present time. We can live peacefully as a . . . as a family.”

“We all know time doesn’t work that way.” Dad says matter-of-factly and spreads his arms. He waves off a curse lazily with a flick of his wand while not even looking at the curse. “And I thought you already found your new family. Those kids were the ones initiating this rescue-mission-slash-surprise-attack, and they did this knowing full well they would very possibly end up all dead. Trust me, you’ll be happier with them.”

Mom runs her thumb gently over Namjoon’s cheek to wipe off the tear. With that, Namjoon’s parents transform into those signature Death Eater black mist and disappears out of Namjoon’s grasp. Namjoon just stands there, eyes wide, unaware of all the chaos going around him, with his hand on his face where his mother touched him seconds ago.

He just met his parents, whom he hadn’t seen in seven years. He never thought he would see them again, let alone see them not screaming in agony in the most terrifying place on earth, but smiling and joking around. He never thought he would see them happy.

But there they were, covering his escape and betraying the deadliest person in the world just so their son, who they don’t have time to get to know about, can run to safety. People call his parents murderers, traitors, criminals. But they’re his parents so of course they don’t get it. They’re not bloodthirsty, or cruel, or insane. They’re selfless, brave, and loving.

“Joonie!” Namjoon hears someone shouting, and Namjoon blinks to see Seokjin waving frantically before his eyes, with Jimin in his arms looking alarmed. Seokjin kicks Namjoon’s shin lightly to catch his attention. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Namjoon blinks out of his daze and his vision focuses back to Seokjin. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Um, where’s Yoongi hyung?”

“I’m here,” Yoongi’s slightly quieter voice appears, and the platinum-haired boy is disarming a Death Eater. His entire figure is trembling from the after-effect of the torturing curse. He glances at Namjoon weirdly, as if knowing something just went on. “Let’s get out of here.”

The smoke hasn’t cleared, and the Death Eaters are still scurrying around looking for the mysterious attackers. Seems like they still have some time before the smoke completely clears and the Death Eaters find them. He sees Taehyung narrowly dodging a killing curse and looking smug about it.

Jungkook is already back, breathing heavily as he leans against a nearby tree. Taehyung is finishing his battle and leaving a few Death Eaters confused and blank (he must’ve messed with their memories or something). Hoseok is still wrestling the snake. It’s taking too long.

“Hyung, we have to go!” Namjoon shouts, but it’s not Hoseok who turns to look at him. It’s the snake.

Their eyes meet. Namjoon’s wide and terrified ones with the snake’s red and cold ones. “Let him go,” Namjoon says, his voice trembling hard but still, thankfully, has some power to it. If he’s speaking Parseltongue, then he might as well make himself useful and stop the snake. He takes a deep shuddering breath.

The snake stops moving, allowing Hoseok to jump off of it and snarl at it one last time before joining Namjoon and the guys.

“What the fuck was that?” Jungkook whispers to Namjoon as they run.

“Language!” Hoseok hisses from behind. He easily catches up, though. “Who the fuck taught the baby to swear?”

Taehyung snickers in the background.

“They won’t follow us,” Seokjin says, looking over his shoulder to check for the Death Eaters. “The smoke hasn’t cleared yet. Whoever did that was genius.”

“Yeah, they were.” Namjoon says nonchalantly, but his heart is close to bursting again at the thought of his parents.

“You’re a Parseltongue,” Seokjin pipes up from beside Namjoon, changing the subject successfully. He gives Namjoon a sweaty grin. “It’s so cool. And you should’ve seen Hobi’s face. Snakes are about one of the many things he’s scared of the most.”

“Joon-ah, do me a favor, will you?” Hoseok grumbles. “Next time you see a snake, you tell it to fuck off. I don’t want to see one again for the rest of my life.”

Taehyung snickers again.

“Yeah, thanks for saving our lives.” Jungkook says. He gives Namjoon a quick bunny smile. “Never thought I’d say this, but I’d be sad if I didn’t live to graduate Hogwarts.”

“Mm.” Jimin shifts in Seokjin’s arms.

“Just hang on for a bit, Jiminie.” Namjoon trips on a root and catches himself at the last second. All the boys around him, including Jimin, laugh out loud at how Yoongi complains loudly at how clumsy Namjoon is. “We’ll be home soon.”

“What an adventure we had today,” Yoongi says for the first time in their run. He playfully swats at a branch, making it hit Seokjin upside the head. He seems to recover from the Cruciatus Curse incredibly quickly, and Namjoon can’t help but think back to the time when they were in limbo and Yoongi told him that it wasn’t the first time he was this close to death. “We’re going to talk about this day when we’re old and dying.”

“I doubt we’d be able to grow old, hyung, judging how fast-paced our lives are going right now.” Jungkook says, grinning despite the blood tickling down his arm. “We’re currently running from Voldemort and his army. And you're already old.”

"Do you wanna die?" Yoongi threatens.

“You gotta admit Voldemort’s a pretty genius guy, though. Just look at those Horcruxes!” Seokjin exclaims. “I mean, he put his soul into it!”

There’s a solid ten second of silence except for their rapid footsteps. Then Jimin starts laughing this cute high-pitched laugh, but everyone else remains silent.

“No one likes your pun, Jin hyung.” Jungkook deadpans.

Namjoon doesn’t know why, but then all the boys burst out into sincere laughter, Namjoon included. There’s Taehyung’s deep laugh, Seokjin’s windshield wiper laugh, Jimin’s giggly, squeaking laugh, Jungkook’s cackling laugh that somehow sounds like a chicken, Hoseok’s full-on screaming laugh, and Yoongi’s quiet, raspy chuckle.

It’s not even funny, but Namjoon is laughing too. He doesn’t hold back, because there will be plenty of opportunities to laugh with his new family in the future.

“So, Namjoon hyung, what do you think?” Taehyung pipes up. “You gonna join our little family or what?”

“You make it sound like you’re robbing him, Tae.” Seokjin sighs. “But I agree. You gonna join?”

Namjoon takes a very deep breath.

“Oh no,” Jungkook is the first one to sense the upcoming speech. “You’re not gonna . . .”

“I, Namjoon Kim, take you six people, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health . . .”

“Oh no indeed.” Hoseok agrees.

“. . . to love and to cherish, until death does us apart. This is my solemn vow.” Namjoon finishes.

He means every word he says, and although these are just the classiest and most old-fashioned ways of confessing his gratitude and love for his newfound family, it’s actually the best and most straightforward way.

No more hiding. No more being alone. It’s a new start.

“That’s a serious vow right there, hyung,” Jungkook says, smirking a little.

“I mean every word I say,” Namjoon argues.

“Ugh, the romance.” Yoongi makes a disgusted face, and Taehyung starts snickering again at that. “The Time-Turners are that way. Let’s go home.”

Namjoon unsheathes his wand and summons his Patronus. The silvery phoenix that’s bigger than he intended it to be appears, with wide wings and long tail feathers burning that are in silver flames and fiery, intelligent eyes that gaze at Namjoon only for a moment before taking off and making a melodious whistling sound. The phoenix lights up the dark woods.

“Woah,” Taehyung exclaims. “This is awesome. Didn’t know you had such a cool Patronus, hyung.”

“I didn’t, either.” Namjoon says quietly, and can feel Yoongi’s intense gaze moving to him. From the corner of his eyes, he can see Yoongi smiling to himself and looking away.

“Look, the Time-Turners. We’re here.” Yoongi says, catching everyone’s attention instead of talking more about Namjoon’s Patronus. “Let’s get out of this place.”

It might sound stupid, but Namjoon goes through the Time-Turners with his eyes closed. He can hear the excited whoops and screams of the younger boys and the fond chuckles of the older boys around him, and he lets out what’s probably the loudest cheer he’s ever made in his life.

He’s home.