The hair looked so blonde Y/n for a moment believed it to have been bleached. She was about to ask Seungmin what he thought about it, but then remembered that he was a Pureblood – and had most likely never gone to a hairdresser before.

"So is this some Malfoy man?", asked Changbin, kneeling beside the man Minho's mother had kept calling 'the Master'.

"He is indeed" replied the woman, getting up and nearing him. "Everyone, meet my foster father – Lucius Malfoy".

"Lucius..?" Chan stopped to think for a moment, his eyes slightly raised like they always did when he was concentrating. "But hadn't he been put in Azkaban like all the other Death Eaters?"

"It didn't exactly go like that" cut in Seungmin. Y/n turned to face him: having grown up with both of his parents working at the Ministry of Magic, he was always very knowledgeable about a lot of things and she loved to hear him talk about them. "After the Battle of Hogwarts, all the Death Eaters were indeed brought to Azkaban, but some after a short period of time were allowed to go back home. Father says that the Minister at the time was trying to keep the population calm; and allowing some Death Eaters a bit of freedom would've been helpful because it would've kept them calmer and less angered. But the Ministry did have teams of Aurors checking on them, obviously – though I don't know if they knew that".

"They didn't" confirmed the woman, "or at least, it never looked like they did. Suspected it, surely. But they never got an actual proof".

"Even if they did suspect it though, it doesn't look like they cared about it that much" Minho's voice was almost a whisper, as he positioned himself next to his mother. "I mean – why would he be here?"

"Oh – it was very unanticipated, trust me" said his mother, smiling at him almost shyly: that (as Y/n had to remember) was the first time they were talking after she'd finished explaining the whole story. "I believe that he simply grew bolder as he got older? He wanted to do something, rebel against a life he had not chosen and that had ended up dissatisfying him. Like dear old Salazar did a lot of years back" and she opened her arms as if to embrace the Chamber into a big hug, "he wanted to make something permanent – a statement. Something that would've allowed him to not get forgotten".

"And the statement was...?" Hyunjin was looking through the man's coat and had seemed to be in his own world, so Y/n was taken aback when she heard his voice.

The woman broke into giggles. "You see – now I'm laughing, because it was honestly the dumbest idea possible. But until a few hours ago – oh, was I scared! He took it so seriously!" she stopped for a moment as if a shiver had suddenly ran down her back. Y/n watched (both surprised and moved), as her son gently placed his arm around her shoulder, after caressing her back softly. The Gryffindor looked at Seungmin – he smiled: that was an improvement! She then looked at Jisung: her best friend seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"His only aim when setting this whole mess up, was to get hold of my son" Minho's hand flinched, but didn't leave its position on the woman's shoulder. "I had failed him, so he had assumed that to continue what had once been his boss' projects, he had to try with someone else. After the fiasco that had happened here many years back, – when Harry Potter was still at Hogwarts – the presence of the Chamber had been made basically public, so he figured people wouldn't suspect anything – it is not a place you'd be suspected to hide. He in fact thought about hiding here and lead his research from here; but he couldn't do it himself! So he bought a (still) little Horned Serpent, – probably illegally, because he never told me how he had got it – and he took me, both because he needed a maid and because he wanted to check on me personally. We 'moved' here at the beginning of last summer. It was your last day of school, everywhere was very loud and chaotic; I'm not surprised that nobody noticed us. Then we spent the holiday months testing the Serpent, allowing it to grow and to settle himself – not nicely, because it could've used a lot more water, poor thing, – and then, when you all came back, he started to set it free at night, monitoring its every move. He had everything under control, but sometimes the Serpent would escape – just like tonight. I got really lucky" and she looked around, her eyes only expressing a gratitude words would've not been able to convey. "But tell me – how did you find out?"

"Well" Y/n looked around, checking upon everybody's expression, "that is another, very long and complicated story!"

***

Sunshine beckoned her as her still sleepy eyes were forced to flinch due to the high intensity of the light hitting them gently. "Oh, she's awake!" she heard a voice say, and before she knew a hot towel had been placed on her forehead, and a faster tone had started talking:

"Good, that makes for five of you up already. Where the first three have gone though... 'Just a few words', as if! I have told Minerva that they needed to rest, tsk".

Curiosity won over the wish to keep sleeping, and the girl slowly sat herself, opening her eyes – that (once they had adapted to the morning light) showed her the rather familiar environment of the school's Hospital Wing. The woman who had been talking just a moment earlier, she identified as Mme Pomfrey, the Nurse, and turning left she was able to make out Seungmin's features, who was sitting on his own bed and was smiling widely at her.

"Finally you woke up" he told her. "I was starting to get very bored. Would you believe it? I've been the first one to wake up, but when the Headmistress came she only took Chan, Woojin and Minho's mother!"

The girl rubbed her hand on her puffy eyes. "How long have we been in here?" she asked, because she remembered well how sleepy she had been when they had all come there – at almost five in the morning! – to make sure that Jisung and the woman would be healed promptly, and how Mme Pomfrey at the sight of the nine exhausted faces had insisted on them staying there for what was left of the night, and part of the morning; and how she had thought, before falling asleep, that she would surely sleep for hours and hours!

"Now it's about three" answered the Slytherin. "So it's been almost ten hours. The other three I think left an hour ago? I don't know, I feel like I've lost the perception of time at this point".

"Seungmin" Y/n said after awhile, "what do you think is going to happen now?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "Our Houses will all get fifty points each. A bummer because you and Ravenclaws have three people; so unfair!, but other than that I don't think anything's gonna be much different. I mean – when she first came in Mme McGonagall was fuming mad, but it took little for her to calm down. As for the Malfoy dude, he has been sent to St. Mungo, and the family has been charged a fine. No" he paused for a second, "now what I should be worrying about is Minho. Man, the boy found out everything about our plan! He's gonna crush my bones until they become ashes!"

"Don't say that" argued Y/n, "down in the Chamber it seems like he and Jisung have bonded, right? He should thank you, if anything".

The Slytherin peeked at the room to see where the two boys were sleeping: peaceful looks plastered on their faces, they looked like they couldn't have been able to hurt a fly. "Do you really think Minsung has a chance?"

The girl fell back on her bed and closed her eyes. "Might be it has".

~🤍~
my 2 Go Live albums have (finally T_T) arrived !!

i am so happy and these are by far their best albums packaging-wise, but I got three Hyunjin photocards total and I'd like to trade? because I also want other members and minho especially😭

so if any of you is down to tradinng, please leave a comment? so that i can then text you🥺

Vic🌙.