An Ateez x Harry Potter Fanfiction
This fanfiction also appears on my wattpad
House Guide:
Gryffindor: Jongho, Wooyoung
Hufflepuff: Yunho, Seonghwa
Slytherin: Mingi, San
Ravenclaw: Yeosang, Hongjoong
More chapters here:
Chapter 2 - The Attack
Jongho looked at Mingi with concern. “What is it? What’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you.” Not a bluff; not a lie; not silence. But “can’t.” Jongho recognized the difference right away, and something felt wrong about it. He pursed his lips and observed the prefects, again. Yeosang was still staring at Mingi with an unreadable but cold expression.
“Did something happen with...” Jongho whispered back at Mingi.
“No,” Mingi said softly. “Please don’t.”
Jongho bunched his eyebrows together and frowned, but there was nothing else he could do at that moment. Maybe once the banquet was over, they could all get together and talk about whatever was going on.
Hagrid called out again. “Alrigh, firs’ year university students, this way! Excitin times, this!”
As Jongho looked back in that direction, he saw that the prefects had already started getting into their boats. And instead of the usual two per house, there were now four. Each of those four got a boat to themselves that was painted and decorated in their house colors. It looked like they were purposely identifiable – strange.
Jongho wondered, too, if the number of them per house had been increased because of how many people had wanted to register for the university. Anyone who had left Hogwarts within the last 5 years was eligible. How much had the castle grown and changed if it was going to accommodate so many students?
For a little while, butterflies played in Jongho’s stomach as he thought about exploring the new spaces and finding all of its secrets. No doubt Seonghwa would have it mapped out within a few days, and Yunho would help because he was a prefect and had access to all of the secret areas. However they managed it, Jongho would tag along and enjoy every second of it.
Oh, right – Seonghwa and his contraband, Jongho remembered. He looked over towards where he had last seen his friends, but the crowd of students was too thick to spot them, now. Confiscating whatever Seonghwa had picked up would have to wait until they got to the other side of the lake.
Mingi hadn’t let go of Jongho’s shoulder the entire time that they shuffled closer to the boats. And while it was starting to feel painful, Jongho knew that his friend needed this. The contact must be helping him somehow. He didn’t know why or how, but he knew it was. And he wouldn’t take that away from Mingi no matter what happened.
As they got to their own boat, which wasn’t as cushy as the prefect boats - they had to share with 10 other students - they stepped in together and sat down beside each other. Only then did Mingi remove his hand.
“Alrigh,” Hagrid said once everyone was in a boat. “The young firs’ years have had a good head start, so it’s our turn, now!” Something about the way he said it sounded off to Jongho, though. And sure enough, Hagrid bit his lip and quickly turned away from everyone. He was notoriously bad at hiding things, but this...had anyone been fooled by what he had said, just now? Jongho scanned the boats for reactions, but no one else seemed to care.
Mingi noticed when Jongho tensed up, and shook his head discretely as if to say, “don’t ask – don’t worry,” but that just brought up more questions. Was there something about this boat trip that was a secret? Was that what Yunho had been talking about earlier? Too late, now - the boats took off towards the castle. Jongho kept himself ready for anything, just in case. Mingi sighed.
About halfway across the lake, Hagrid said, “Look! The other firs’ years have made it across!” Everyone strained to watch. None of them noticed that their own boats had been slowing down. But once the last of the young first years had filed into the castle, and the giant doors shut, the university students finally realised that they were at a complete standstill. Whispers broke out. Jongho waited for whatever surprise was about to happen.
Hagrid turned to face them with a sheepish grin. “Now, err. Well, I hope yeh’ve done yer homework that was to be read before classes start tomorrow. Jus’ like real life, you’ll face lots o’ situations that are unexpected, here. More an’ usual, I mean.”
People were looking at the others next to them with eyebrows raised, and the whispers turned into chatter.
“So,” Hagrid raised his voice to be heard. “For yer first assignment, yer gotta get to the castle from here. Work as a team, or alone. Use only what your textbook readings covered. No disapparating or it’ll cost yer house some points, and house points are linked between the regular and university years,” he said and everyone groaned.
Hagrid shuffled his feet and then blinked. “Oh! And, uh, if yer read yer Care of Magical Creatures textbook close enough, you’ll remember that little bit about hooves. If yer know what I mean,” and he winked at everyone before disapparating.
At once everyone started talking at a regular volume, but Wooyoung was the loudest. “What about the levitation charm in one of the readings? Is anyone--?”
“Wait a minute!” The same young woman from the platform interrupted. “You read the assigned readings?” The students all went quiet as her remark sliced through the night air.
Wooyoung smirked, ran his hand through his hair, and tilted his head back to emphasize his jawline. “Of course I did. Studying is my love language,” he said carefully and then looked at the young woman. “Didn’t you know?”
“No,” she scoffed and rolled her eyes. “I thought that all you did was set toilets on fire, blame it on us Slytherins, and play quidditch.”
Yunho started coughing from the prefect boats that weren’t far ahead. Wooyoung looked like he was fighting the urge to laugh and instead put his hand over his heart. “I solemnly swear that I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said as Hongjoong patted Yunho’s back.
Snickering came from a few boats in front of Wooyoung’s. “Sounds like it’s going to be a fun year,” Ron said and looked over to Harry and Hermione for backup. A few people gasped – none of them had paid much attention to who was around them back on the platform, but everyone saw them now.
The other students didn’t have any time to comment on it, though. “If that’s your idea of fun, Ronald Weasley,” Hermione said with venom, “then I agree with what you said on the train. We should take a break.”
The smile faded from Ron’s face as whispers broke out again. “Fine!” He shouted and crossed his arms, “Life should be full of fun and adventure, anyways.”
“Fine!” she huffed. “And by the way,” she addressed Wooyoung. “The readings did talk about a few levitation charms. But with the size of these boats, and the amount of students per boat, it has to be--”
The young woman from before interrupted her, though. “I swear to god, Wooyoung, if you blow up these boats and soak us all, I’m going to sabotage your quidditch tryouts.”
Most of the students burst out laughing at that, and even Mingi had to stifle a snicker. Jongho had a weird feeling, though, and looked at the young woman a little closer. She seemed...angry, and was looking straight at Hermione.
Something about that wasn’t right.
The longer he watched, the more he felt uneasy. Hermione was looking down at something in her lap, furious, but unwilling to say anything else. Did these two know each other? And if so: why the hostility? It had sounded like Hermione was about to give them a valid idea for how to get across the lake.
Jongho had a sinking feeling that all of them were about to be drawn into something that none of them wanted to be involved in.
It was San who spoke next. “I think that’s the last thing any of us has to worry about, Darcy.”
“And why is that?” the young woman from Slytherin – Darcy – made a show out of moving her eyes away from Hermione and over to San.
“Because of that,” he calmly pointed to something large that was rising out of the lake and speeding towards them. It was too dark to make out what it was, but two facts remained clear: it didn’t seem to care that there were boats and people in its path, and it was big enough that the boats wouldn’t survive an impact with it.
The prefects started yelling instructions in panicked voices after San pointed it out. If they had known about this setup, then it seemed like this wasn’t part of it. Many of the students listened, and worked together to cast the spells. But the thing got closer and closer, bigger and bigger. Nothing they did was fast enough. The boats had hardly moved at all, as if something had put a damper on their magic.
From somewhere off to the right of Wooyoung and San, a shrill whistle pierced the air and yellow sparks trampled up into the sky. Everyone stopped to look, which proved to be disastrous. Some of the spells stopped working entirely, and a few even rebounded. Boats began to tip over. Shrieks filled the night, along with frantic splashes.
“SOMETHING TOUCHED MY LEG,” someone screamed, and then everyone was scrambling to try anything they could think of to get back into boats and get moving.
But only a few feet away, the thing that had been heading towards them slowed down and abruptly descended beneath the waves. The ripples reached and passed their boats as the seconds ticked on. It didn’t take long for the lake to return to a flat-as-glass appearance. Everyone went silent, and only heavy breathing filled the air for a while.
Until...CRACK. Something strong grabbed and ripped pieces off one of the boats just to the right of Wooyoung’s. Students screamed. Mingi started to tense up as if it would help him avoid whatever it was, but everyone else’s terrified eyes were glued onto the boat that was being attacked.
That boat, Jongho realized with horror, was Seonghwa’s. And Seonghwa was already putting up a fight. In no time at all, he was standing and casting stunning spells with remarkable speed, all while holding his robes close to him. As if he was protecting something within them - something other than himself. But...what was it?
Jongho’s eyes went wide as he realised this. Everyone else in that boat had already hopped into neighbouring boats...except for Seonghwa. Why wasn’t he moving, too? Why was he staying there alone? Clawed hands reached up from the lake and started to tear chunks out of the side of the boat.
Or – wait. Were they reaching for Seonghwa and just missing? Jongho held his breath as the sound of ripping fabric filled the air. They were reaching for Seonghwa. What had he got himself into, this time?
These things – they didn’t look like anything Jongho had seen before - released ear-splitting shrieks into the night every time one of Seonghwa’s spells made an impact. Their skin was thick, and must have had some anti-magic properties, so this wasn’t often. It was looking like a losing battle.
Wooyoung shook off the shock, stood up, and started casting his own stunning spells at everything that tried to surface from the water. Losing patience, he screamed at his friend, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT OF THE DAMN BOAT.” Hermione and some of the other Gryffindor’s clued in to the situation and started to take action, too.
But that just made things worse. Other boats started to fall under attack, with more and more students turning to any defensive spells they could remember since there was nowhere else to run. The prefects stood up as one and sent a colossal display of sparks in the different house colors. A distress signal. Would anyone come to their rescue, though?
He had to do something.
Jongho looked at Mingi to make sure he was holding up, but caught something out of the corner of his eye. Wings in the sky – many of them - and getting bigger. The whistle and yellow sparks - that must have been Hagrid’s hint. He remembered something about it in the reading. But…Seonghwa didn’t see it. He was too busy fighting for his life.
Without another thought, Jongho turned and jumped from boat to boat to get closer to his friend, casting as many stunning spells along the way as he could. But he wasn’t going to make it in time. Whatever magic had been holding Seonghwa’s boat together was quickly being undone.
“JUMP TOWARDS ME,” Jongho screamed from a few boats away as he heard the flap of wings behind him.
Seonghwa snapped his gaze onto Jongho, and then over his shoulder. Eyes going wide in recognition, he leapt as high as he could.