lost kid

“You always say you remember almost nothing, but then.. details start popping up and most of them seem fake as shit, like decoys…” Junjie shrugged before getting up to his feet, looking down at Vincent. 

“I trust you to some extent, I really do. You never lie to me but that doesn’t mean you won’t lie to others, I just want to know what do you really remember.”

Vincent scrunches his nose before a small chuckle bubbles from the back of his throat, he couldn’t help it, the whole irony of Junjie bringing up lies was simply hilarious to him.

“Funny you’d say that,” he says with a hint of humour to his voice as he looks up at Junjie. “Because that kinda brings me to my third question....” Vincent lets his words hang momentarily just so he can search something inside the pocket of his robe, then fishing it out with a small ‘a-ha!’  

One Junjie’s tarot cards, ironically enough, the one with the image of a hanged man on it. Vincent has no clue what it means, no matter how hard he tried in the past, Divination and odd magic such as Tarot really didn’t work for him.

“With a face like that you might as well be a troll’s uncle,” Junjie mumbled under his breath. It hadn’t been the most gracious of comebacks, but it would have to work.

He was aware he had maybe reacted too childishly, but Vincent had stroke a nerve, nobody liked being called cold. He was fine with being called a snake, he knew some called him that behind his back, and it wasn’t just due to his patronus. It was just hard to admit he had fallen into such a description only due to an apathy he had put up as a shield.

“There was no traumatic event,” he admitted after a brief silence. “Acting uninterested was just the best way to keep people from meddling in my life, it’s the best strategy to survive in the Slytherin house… try as they might, they’re still an elitist bunch and it’s not like i can do anything about my half-blood status.”

It was still a thing in Slytherin. Whenever the elite of the house failed to knock you down by finding flaws in your achievements, they’d just pick on the fact you still weren’t a pureblooded wizard.

You’d think the house would’ve evolved from the past stereotype, but really, you’d be wrong.

Junjie shrugged. “As for my apathy towards death… I really don’t know what to tell you. People die. Living things die, circle of life and whatnot. I’m sure you can understand that, Simba.” Puns and jabs were really on an all time low that day, he could mentally hear Pollux scolding him for their lack of quality.

“And finally, because this is reaching some level of awkward, my final question: to how many people have you lied to about how much you really remember of the last day of September.”

For a split second Vincent wishes he had the time turner to keep himself from asking that question, he really had meant the question as a joke and now, knowing the truth, he felt like an asshole for bringing it up. Sometimes he really was the dumbest Ravenclaw in the tower.

Nevertheless, Junjie’s question quickly makes him bounce back from whatever regret or remorse that had washed over him.

In retrospect that had been a pretty stupid question to ask. He’d gladly take full blame for that. 

Junjie already knew about the whole dramatic upbringing of Vincent, why did he ever wonder if there could be something else beyond the typical daddy and mommy issues. 

What Junjie really wasn’t going to take was the sudden jab at his … emotional range, to say the least. He shook his head subtly and sucked on his teeth. 

“Listen dude, you don’t know me well enough to blatantly assume i’m that cold. And while we’re at it, Ekans can give pretty warm cuddles if you let him… In fact, you totally should,” he tipped his head towards the door. “Just go down to the Slytherin dungeons and knock on Elio’s door to find my pet… Ekans is the snake that can’t talk, just in case you get confused.”

Vincent barely attempts hiding the grin that spreads on his lips upon seeing Junjie so affected by his question. 

“Well I’ll be a troll’s uncle, never did I expect to see Huang Junjie so affected by a simple question.”

He’s being honest about it, the Slytherin boy hardly ever bothered to retort that intensely at anything, to see him do something as sucking on his teeth and spewing out cheap insults to people who weren’t even there... Vincent can’t even begin to describe the level of amusement of the whole situation.

Maybe it was pushing his luck, but Vincent feels the need to see how far he can press the Slytherin to react this way.

Junjie had sat quietly through most of the ramble, only allowing his face to change from a neutral expression into a shocked one - his eyebrows raising to a point they’d got hidden by his bangs, not that it was that hard of a task, considering how his hair needed a trim - at the conclusion of Vincent’s tale.

“Your brain malfunctioned and you just said yes?!” he heard his own voice echo in the bathroom before it being replaced by his own laughter. “You really are something else, dude.” 

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there had to be a better reason. His instinct was telling him it was a harmless one, Vincent seemed to be the type of person to actually join things out of sheer boredom or for the most ludicrous reason like the person who proposes the activity being good looking. It was just the vibe he got from the Ravenclaw.

Junjie cleared his throat before answering the question, taking the brief moment to cease the stirring motion on the cauldron. 

He couldn’t keep himself from smiling at being called ‘not the easiest ride at the funfair’ however, he was proud of that.

“Ah, you know how Elio and I are roommates, I think that about covers that relationship.” The Slytherin shrugged. “I think he wasn’t always as nosy or deceitful, and I know this may seem hard to believe, but he can be nice when he wants.. I guess everything depends on what mood he’s in or interests he has.”

“As for Pollux…” he let his words hang for a moment. It hadn’t been the first time he’d heard he seemed the least likely to be friends with Pollux, but as far as Junjie cared, not everything in life had to make perfect sense. “Our wands are twins, we found that out in a Runes class and bonded over the potential of the wands. Later we bonded over mutual interests and… we became close friends, I guess.”

Junjie took the opportunity to pull out his wand and inspected it in the dim light. “Turns out these sticks have an affinity with dark magic.” He opted to not say anything after that, leaving it to Vincent to do with that piece of information what he damn pleased.

He pointed his want towards Vincent and casted a lumos charm, “next question: why is it so important for you to figure stuff out about your parents? The way I see it, the future is more important than the past.”

Vincent hums in acknowledgement of the other’s words, then frowning when the light flashes on his face, being forced to gently move the wand away from his face just so he could keep his eyes open. 

“Thanks for that,” he mumbles sarcastically.

The future is more important that then past. He lets the words echo in his head as he muses about them. Vincent can totally see why, of all people, Junjie would say something like this. 

“Looking ahead rather than over your shoulder would make more sense, huh? Well, I don’t think you’re wrong, but personally I just think tracing a future without anything to ground you to your origins is a bit too vague.” He is just that type of person, that type of (at a lack of a better term) orphan, there is nothing people can do about it.

“I want to know who they were because maybe that can answer questions I have about myself, also so maybe I can piece a reason as to why was I ever left at the doorstep of an orphanage... It was pretty cruel growing up knowing that I had been discarded.”

It’s a topic he knows the Slytherin won’t fully understand, reason why it’s something he’d only discussed with Jihyuck, it had been their common ground. Both growing up orphans and dealing with all that comes from poor conditions of orphanages in general, it made Vincent empathize with Jihyuck right away.

Junjie couldn’t help but to smirk when Vincent declined his proposal of an unbreakable vow, he was part glad to see the Ravenclaw wasn’t that foolish but also part curious as to why he’d feel the need to defend a possible lie. 

“How chivalrous of you,” he commented upon Vincent giving him the first question. He retracted his hand from Vincent’s hold, using it to move the cauldron to the side instead and continue to stir it absentmindedly. He had a vague idea of what he intended to ask, however, he needed a decoy question not to scare him off completely.

Junjie had been known for a while that Vincent would occasionally meet with someone outside of Hogwarts, someone he ran errands to, someone with whom he kept a relationship grounded in mutual benefit, kind of similar to how their had started. 

He also knew from having listened to Elio ramble about the daily gossip that Vincent had met with said someone.

“How did you meet the guy you give the stolen stuff to?”

For some unknown reason that Vincent can’t quite pinpoint, Junjie’s smirk comes off equal parts scary and attractive, he opts to ignore it altogether, letting his eyes lower and focus on the cauldron instead.

It’s not like the question surprises him in the slightest, he had guessed long ago that after Elio had spotted him with the guy at the Three Broomsticks, it was only a matter of time until Junjie would know too. Besides, Junjie had been the only one to know Vincent ran errands in the first place, he had even seen the other, the question was really quite a reasonable one.

“First of all,” Vincent starts matter-of-factly, his pointer finger raised and everything. “I don’t steal, I borrow. I know all thieves say this, but it’s true.”

Except he had never, not once, given back what he ‘borrowed’.

Vincent lets his hand drop and leans back onto his palms as he thinks back to the day he met Lucas. “Remember a few years back we had the triwizard tournament at Hogwarts again? Well, Durmstrang had brought some groupies alongside the challengers, he was one of them.”

During his sixth year at Hogwarts, Vincent had been part of the Hogwarts News Club, a small extracurricular activity that gathered mostly Ravenclaws that would piece together the latest news in the school that would then be delivered every morning to students. 

He had taken the role of “pesky little shit that goes around fetching fresh news” since most of his peers didn’t like the way he’d write news articles.

“I had been entrusted with the task of stalking our champion for first-hand news, sometimes i’d even try to get some info on the other school’s victors and just everyone involved in the event.” Vincent puffs his cheeks for a brief moment, exhaling just at the memory of the amount of work he’d gone through. “I guess he caught my eye when I spotted him escaping his group of morons to sneak into our library.”

“I chased after him and asked him what he was doing since they weren’t allowed there. Dude had the nerve to grin and say rules didn’t apply to him and that he needed to find some specific artifacts he knew to be hidden in Hogwarts... It all went to shit when he asked if I wanted to join because my brain sort of... malfunctioned?” Vincent frowns. “I said yes right away, and since then I’ve been helping him out gathering all the artifacts.”

He can’t really admit to Junjie that the fact the guy was good looking had helped luring him in, and also that what motivated him to join were the mention of a Time-Turner and a fragment of the Mirror of the Erised. Sure, those were only rumoured to still be hidden in Hogwarts, but that’s what made trying to find them all the more fun.

What a game! 

It’s been nail-biting tense in the Hogwarts field today but alas Gryffindor caught the Snitch, making their points round up to 550! Congratulations Gryffindor! Lions of Godric make some noise!

But what is worth to be praised, praised shall be. Slytherin had one hell of an MVP out here tonight, can i get the biggest round of applause for Mark Lee everyone?! Put those palms together, this young beater singlehandedly earned Slytherin 300 points! What a beast.

Well this concludes this Saturday’s match, don’t forget your homeworks for monday and I suppose Gryffindor will later head down to the Three Broomsticks for a joined celebration.

“We each get to ask the other three questions that have to be answered truthfully. No lies allowed, no omission of details. All with the promise that the information won’t leave this bathroom.” 

It wasn’t the most inventive method, sure, Junjie could admit to it, but it was his only way to get Vincent to spill the beans since the Ravenclaw really lived by the law of ‘an eye for an eye’.

He put down his book, already having memorised the final two steps to completing his potion: stir for five more minutes, wait thirty for it to cool down. 

“I can even raise the dare of this and make an unbreakable vow if you’d like.” A cheap shot to try and coerce Vincent into playing along. Not that he was planning to lie, so he really wouldn’t be putting his life at risk, but an unbreakable vow always meant real deal among wizards and Junjie thought it’d suffice. He extended his hand over the cauldron. “What do you say? Wanna play?”

Vincent lets silent settle around the two as he stares at Junjie’s extended hand. Just what in the actual fuck?! 

Almost immediately Vincent’s brain begins rushing over which could be the best approach. If he denied the offer, he’d leave explicit his defensive intentions, Junjie would assume he was going to lie, for sure. 

But all at once there was the slightest chance the questions would end up being harmless.

Except... Nothing harmless ever come from the guy who would sneak into the restricted section to learn potions that were banned for obvious reasons.

Vincent isn’t that stupid. He might not be the best at preserving his own life and integrity, especially when one considers the people he hangs out with and the things he does for what has to be the silliest of motives, but he really knows better than to risk his own life over a deal with the devil.

“I don’t think we need to risk an unbreakable vow over something so little, I trust you. Besides, this is just a game, right?” 

Junjie couldn’t believe his ears, and perhaps Vincent shooting so many questions all at once didn’t help one bit, but still. “Do I look like a convenience store to you?” 

He shook his head with a sigh, knowing well enough he’d do it anyway, it counted as practice if anything. “Are you trying to run away from Hogwarts” he asks in a conversational tone, as if the sudden request didn’t raise any flags considering the still lingering circumstance.

Once again Junjie was left doubting his level of trust in Vincent. It’s not like it would be a terrible loss to cut Vincent from his life - drastically speaking, that is - but there was still something in their bipolar relationship that pleased the Slytherin. It really was the best way to describe their relationship at this point, bipolar, since some days they’d settle for a bully/bullied stance, but others they really would give off the vibe of old pals.

Junjie raised his eyes from his book to glance at Vincent. The guy really was the closest to a human version of Simba from lion king, sometimes even to a personality level, just a clueless and lost little shit. And yet, Junjie knew there was a lot more to him considering all those requests.

“Hey, this will seem weird but wanna play a quick game?” 

“Running away from Hogwarts? Imagine the amount of fake gossip your roommate would spread if i did” Vincent scoffs at the end of his words. “To answer your question, I’m not. There’s too much to do around here still, including sneaking into a few rooms to get what I need, and this is where your potion would come in handy.”

Vincent spots Myrtle finally hovering away. Hopefully she wouldn’t go around babbling, but he’s almost certain she won’t, if she were the type to do so, Junjie would’ve been caught long ago. Right?

Regardless, Junjie’s final question spikes his interest, what kind of game could they end up playing in an abandoned bathroom at the wee hours of the night. It kept giving him flashbacks to the days in the orphanage when the older kids would stalk him and some others, telling the tale of Bloody Mary and addidng that if you repeated her name in front of the mirror three times she’d appear.

Vincent had always found it stupid because ghosts couldn’t possibly be real.

Needless to say, he’d coloured himself as boo boo the fool with that one.

He opts to hold a small staring competition with the Slytherin boy, something easier said than done. Out of many reasons why Vincent calls Junjie a snake, his set stare has to be the main one. It’s almost freakishly lifeless, mostly due to how dark his eyes are and how expressionless he can make his face be. 

Taking all things into account, it’s almost odd to compare this boy with the cheery, snaggle-toothed boy he’d seen in their earlier years (not that he was keeping tabs, but there’s so much one can do to forget a kid who’d stumble into the hospital wing more often than Vincent could keep count).