the storm:

he changes the topic again. that was seokjin for you, there when he wanted to be, gone when he didn’t. “ yeah. sure. ” sage comments curtly, deciding that if he wanted to be a stubborn asshole so would she. she did in all reality like the broom, but now wasn’t the time to admit that so easily. 

“ i mean merlin, if i was as half as good as you at blocking out emotions i would be saving myself a lot of problems, and i mean a lot! ” she comments sarcastically kicking off the wall. “ you wouldn’t believe it but i have all these bloomin’ boy issues, and it’s such a hassle, you know? i guess you wouldn’t since.. i don’t think you’ve ever had an emotion in your entire life. ”

“ must be weird. being a stone like that. ”

he can’t change the opinion sage has on him. it’ll be a useless effort, and he won’t entertain childish tantrums like the one that sage is throwing right now. instead, he makes a point to ignore her, and apologises quietly to the shop owner who looks extremely uncomfortable with a small bow of his head.

“perhaps not, but you’re seventeen, and i expect better from you than throwing tantrums in public like this.” he sighs -- wonders where he went wrong. maybe he should’ve been stricter, like his wife had been to her own brother. he’ll talk about it with qian later. she’ll definitely know what to do. 

as soon as the door open, jonghyun was greeted by the warmth from inside the house and his best friend as well as hyojin. he smiled brightly upon seeing the young girl. he did as she asked, lifted her up, propping her on his arm. “it’s getting tough to lift you up. you’re not so little anymore are you!” he gave her a kiss on the cheek before setting her back now.

“fifteen?” he took his coat off, placing it on the hanger, lazily conjuring it away into the coat closet. “what have you been doing to have fifteen left over!” he was never much of a knitter, only got into because that’s what seokjin liked doing. and he wasn’t so sure if it was the comfort and the tradition around the holiday season, but he enjoyed it. “yet you don’t find anything more joyful than the look on their faces when they receive a sweater from you.” he grinned. 

seokjin laughed, then, out of fondness, and a memory of a conversation a few nights prior. hyojin loved her uncle because he was nice -- she told him -- and gave nice gifts. years ago, he wouldn’t have imagined to be this unbearably content, seeing a child run back to her table and draw whatever creative thing she was working on. 

@profksj

once class had concluded, jonghyun quickly rushed the rest of his students out of the classroom. with a flick of his wand, his once messy desk now clean as ever and all the chairs neatly in their rightful place. after smiling in satisfaction he made his way out of the castle. whenever someone would greet him down the hall he would merely nod (but if it was one of those students who asked way too many questions he’d act as if he hadn’t seen them).

upon reaching the gate out of the castle and into hogsmeade he took a deep breath. he could finally breathe – freedom at last. his idea of freedom was away from as many of his students as possible and spending an evening at his best friend’s house. he made his way up to the front of the house, knocking on the door a few times awaiting to be greeted in.

if it weren’t for his wife’s muggle mother and grandmother, the house would be an utter mess. with seokjin and qian both busy with work, and their siblings in hogwarts, hyojin would also be bored out of her mind if it weren’t for the muggle side of the family. but with the holidays looming over their heads, cleaning seems to be a bigger chore than ever. two or three pairs of knitting needles, for example, have been knitting away for the past few minutes; hyojin had been sitting on his lap and demanding to know how to knit --

and the knock on the door was almost a gift from heaven; the person that seokjin opened the door to being just that.

she wishes he would see, but jin never bothers to look. 

putting aside the bubbling resentment about this trip, sage begins to scan the available broomsticks, only mildly interested. her eyes flicker to jin when he mentions silas, fingers reaching to run along the handle of a perfectly brand new and shining broom from nimbus. 

“ of course he is. silas is just as talented when it comes to quidditch. all those years training weren’t for nothing. ”

“ speaking of silas.. you know it wouldn’t hurt you to lay off of him. it feels like.. ” sage pauses, choosing her words carefully. “ you have taken care of us. you’ve given us more than we could ask for but- sometimes i think you forget you’re our brother and not our parent. ”

“ we just want you to appreciate us as who we are, not who you want us to be. ”

seokjin wants to tell her that of course he knows -- of course he knows that silas has been training and trying his best, and that he’ll always cheer for the both of them in every game regardless. but he wants a progress report, something he doesn’t already know, and sage disappoints yet again. 

instead, she talks like she’s about to complain again, and seokjin keeps himself from rolling his eyes and instead lays eyes on the newest nimbus model that had just come out a month ago. the perfect present for both the twins; with both of them in the quidditch team, it makes this whole gift-giving gig much easier.

silas pouts when seokjin mentions hyojin’s increasing ability to go around on her own and he feels like it was just yesterday that she was crying her lungs out for more milk and rocking to sleep and - time just flew by. “let me live, hyung, she’s going to grow up to be like sage, just as terrifying and i just want her to stay this way forever. right, hyojinnie?” the last part is directed at the toddler as silas sets her down on a chair, making sure she’s seated properly before reaching to grab a plate for her. 

“five is still way too young, she’s just a little baby…” and there it is again, silas’s inability and denial to accept the passing of time. growing up terrified him and he would love to just stay here forever, never growing up and having everyone he loved around him. change scared him, just a little. 

training is the last thing on his mind when he watches hyojin stuff a slice os apple into her mouth, chubby fingers sticky but the smile on her face was really… identical to seokjin’s. it was a pretty smile, to be honest. 

“of course i’d choose hyojin, hyung, c’mon, you know i’m her favouritest oppa, right, kid?” and he regrets wearing a decent shirt today because it was going to be ruined by flour in no time. “hyung, you’re gonna help right? please don’t let her wreck havoc.” 

grow up just like sage -- now there's another nightmare for tonight. seokjin tries to smile at that, but it only comes out as a grimace. he doesn’t comment about that, and instead takes out his wand, flicking it at the cupboard to summon the ingredients needed, all neatly placed in their own containers. at this point, qian’s mother and grandmother don’t even seem to mind all the magic going on; their muggle lives must be more interesting because of it, and they’ve never scolded seokjin for using magic so liberally around the house.

he doesn’t mind hyojin’s protest ( i wanna grow up too uncle silas! ), and instead crosses his arms over his chest, tapping the tip of his wand on his chin as he watches the ingredients settle on the bench before him, and wondering if he needs any more.

“hmm...well, since you’re sticking around to bake with us,” seokjin replies, giving a little ah when he remembers that stubborn container of chocolate chips placed on the upper shelf, walking there himself to coax the poor thing down into falling into his hands, “go get everything else we need, why don’t you?”

@profksj

he thinks she doesn’t notice, perhaps, but- she does. there was always something there, that wall that she couldn’t scale. was she wrong for wanting some sort of affection from the only sort of parental figure she’d ever had in her life? it was a weird situation, sure. granted he was her brother, but with the many years between them and time spent in his care, sometimes it was hard to differentiate. it makes her think- does he not want me? 

her mood is quick to suffer a drop, but she hides it with a small nod of her head of thanks when jin opens the store door. she steps inside, lets her hands intertwine with each other and settle against her skirt. 

“ no i suppose not. ” the mention of her niece makes sage’s smile return for a moment, giving a stiff chuckle. “ yeah. she sure is a wonderful little girl. ”

quidditch has never been a sport that seokjin endorsed for any of the youth under his and his wife’s care. it was qian who started them on it; seokjin has always been the cautious one about it: what if they fall off their brooms, and break bones, or worse? ( and, maybe, it’s the idea that they’ll one day leave his care to set out on their own that frightens him, and get hurt in ways that he cannot protect them from. )

but maybe it’s also because seokjin himself has a fear of heights.

“oh-” he fixes his gaze on the quill thrust in front of him, his eyes crossing a little to focus on its long feather. where’d you come from, he thinks, and it shows on his face for a moment before he realizes it’s not being held up by magic, but by his professor’s hand. he smiles sheepishly, carefully taking the offered quill and tucking it into one of his cleaner textbooks, “thank you, professor.”

his smile stays intact as he replaces his second arm under the stack of his belongings, looking down to adjust everything until it’s all snug in his hold. then professor kim speaks again, blunt, sudden, and cody’s expression starts to fall. but when he looks back up, the smile is back, albeit somewhat more subdued.

“it’s alright. they’re just having a laugh.” i don’t mind it being at my expense, he adds in his head, for himself.

he hates to take up his professor’s time like this, hates the thought of missing his next class, but knows better than to talk back to professor kim. he stumbles after the man, tripping dangerously in his haste to keep up but miraculously regaining his footing before he can throw all his carefully stacked school supplies to the floor again.

“um, defense against the dark arts,” he answers, reaching up to rub his nose with the back of his hand and unwittingly smearing a small splotch of black ink across the tip, “and astronomy after that.” there’s an upward lilt in his voice at that. astronomy’s always been his favorite.

cody kwon is pitiful at best. seokjin has met hufflepuffs with more backbone than this, and it’s almost shameful for the kid not to stand up to people for the sake of his own wellbeing. but this is an issue that seokjin may not have any business sticking his nose in, and though it might make it harder at present for the boy if he’s seen favoured by a professor, seokjin won’t stand by while this kind of behaviour persists within this castle.

so he doesn’t ask, and doesn’t press for details. as a teacher it’s his duty to be professional so long as he’s wearing these robes and he walks around the hallways with purpose and influence. a shame, though, that mcgonagall still didn’t allow the transfiguration of students as righteous punishment; it would’ve been fitting ( and satisfying ) to turn those bullies into ferrets.

“hm.” comes his non-committal answer. “this won’t take long. i don’t think your professor for defense against the dark arts will mind if i make you late if it means you look presentable.”

he looks over his shoulder, and almost cringes; when did ink get on this boy’s nose? 

 silas looks down at hyojin and he smiles, cooing a little but don’t tell anyone that. the toddler was the cutest, with peaches for cheeks and she smiles the brightest, almost as bright as - yeah. her. he rocks her a little, holding her tighter and she’s a little chubby now but it makes her all the cuter.

letting seokjin wipe hyojin’s hands, silas stares at the top of the older male’s head and he smiles. “i know. i love you too, hyung,” and he leans down to kiss hyojin’s cheek, blowing a raspberry against the apples of her cheeks. 

she reaches for the table with a whine and silas freezes, he can’t feed babies for nuts and with a slight shudder, he tries to pass her to seokjin, “hyung, i think she’s hungry? and i’m - going to be late for training..?” 

hyojin seems to have gotten seokjin’s appetite, and the doting father is proud of it ( and hopes that his less admirable habits can’t be passed down genetically ). he waves a hand dismissively, smiling at his daughter, and only once more looking at silas. “oh, put my little hyojin down, silas. she’s five -- she can walk.”

hyojin smiles, then, and laughs, and grins widely, yeah, uncle silas! i’m f-i-v-e! seokjin wonders if he had been this happy too, at that age; he barely remembers, now, and is far too old to retain such memories, and can only be proud and amazed that hyojin can smile every day without having to worry about her parents being taken away, or worry about much else for that matter. to give his daughter these luxuries is rewarding in its own right.

let it be known that choi jinri was in no way a slacker.

not that she didn’t have her moments, that when life comes crashing down jinri opts to sacrifice academic productivity in favor of keeping herself afloat. but in the general vicinity of things, jinri had never liked to slack in anything ( no, she expected the best out of everything—herself including ). so when it does happen, when the occasional slip up surfaces and its beyond her hands, she opts to run like a coward ( more applicable in this case: skip out on transfiguration till she had something to actually turn in ).

of course, it never really works out. at least, with some professors there would be leniency — but she figures kim seokjin hated the word as much as she hated the initial transfer from the english taught class to his.

which brings them both here, saturday afternoon, boxful of muggle lights ( christ, she’s never even touched these things before ), and patiences wearing thin.

“oh, i’m sure you do, professor.” she readily agrees, unabashed in the lilt her voice takes while displeasure colors soft features. what was he going to do, bring out another box? oh, there was nothing beyond this menial task that would make her hate this detention session any more. 

literally. nothing.

“you know, i hear there’s a spell or two for this kind of thing, professor…” jinri adds, expression sour while her fingers pick at the tiny bulbs uselessly, back facing the older male she knows is staring. spells—because they’re not heathens waving a stick around for fun. if mother saw her now she’d be furious. 

“there shouldn’t be any reason why we can’t use one, is there?”

kim seokjin doesn’t take any pointers from ms. rosalind claverdon on how to run his classes. his records, both in his time in hogwarts as a student and in the ministry of magic as one of their best and brightest and youngest, speak for themselves: it’s not that he doesn’t respect the advice of his senior; he just doesn’t need it.

case in point; attendance in his classes are an absolute necessity in order to pass it. the remaining 50 percent that did not count towards attendance simply won’t be enough, as the course work done in-class is as important to the homework and written research that he requires of his students throughout the years. a little handiwork can’t hurt every now again,

says the professor who has a few dozen charmed needles knitting away in the air. to be fair, the number of sweaters he has to make this year has increased, and a little magic makes time-related stress seem inconsequential -- but never to be ignored.