EXO || HOWL BOY (OT4)
HOWL BOY
OT4 (hints of Chanyeol/D.O, Baekhyun/Chen)
PG-13, 6.2k.
Kyungsoo is a werewolf, which means he can't afford to be picky about a lot of things, including roommates. post-Hogwarts Harry Potter AU.
(written for chinguline exchange; originally posted here)
Kyungsoo wakes up standing. He doesn't realize it at first, staring at the side of his mattress and thinking he's rolled off the bed, until he tries to get up and jerks forward to almost fall on his face. It's outrageously hot in the room. He extends an arm to steady himself, but a sleek, flat wing reaches the bed first.
Kyungsoo looks at the dense black feathers poised against his crumpled blankets and lets out a loud squawk.
"Oh, come on!" someone yells from the other end of the flat.
Thirty minutes later at breakfast, Chanyeol is still shouting, his work robes slipping off his shoulders and his undershirt half-buttoned. He gesticulates wildly with a plate of fish. "I can't believe you guys did this again!"
"I can't believe you did this after I said the permanency component wasn't stabilized," Jongdae shoots over the kitchen table at Baekhyun, who merely purses his lips.
"Look, it's fine," says Baekhyun. He takes the plate from Chanyeol, its contents precariously balanced, and puts it down in front of Kyungsoo. A piece of fish flops off the edge of the plate and lands on the table. "It can't last more than two hours, three tops. You used the baobab root? That's like six months expired."
"You said it was fresh," Jongdae accuses.
"You must've misheard," Baekhyun says loftily.
"This isn't funny!" Chanyeol interrupts their exaggerated sneering contest. Jongdae stops curling his mouth like a pureblood matriarch and assumes a solemn expression. "You should apologize to Kyungsoo. He has to go to work today. How"-he jabs downwards at Kyungsoo-"can he go like this?"
Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol's pointed finger. He wants to interject with a cutting agreement, but he's light-headed from passing out shortly after waking up, and he still feels overheated. He shifts his weight, feeling the pan of conjured ice crackling under his bare feet. The back of his head throbs from when Chanyeol had levitated his prone body out of his bedroom and accidentally banged him against the wall. He needs to be at work within the hour. Why haven't any of them thought to cast a cooling charm on him yet? Kyungsoo grows increasingly baleful, but he doesn't want to expend the energy to verbalize his thoughts.
Not to mention, penguins can't speak. He settles for blinking slowly and clacking his beak.
"It's a little funny," Jongdae says to Chanyeol. The corners of Chanyeol's mouth twitch unwillingly.
"Not as funny as if you'd waited until the weekend," Chanyeol says, giving in with a snort of laughter. Baekhyun lifts his hand in a high-five, his other hand going for a piece of the fish on Kyungsoo's plate, taken from yesterday's leftover fish and chips and magicked free of batter.
Kyungsoo later blames it on animal instinct, but in a second he's lunging to give Baekhyun a hard peck, knocking the plate of fish off the table and upending his chair and pan of ice cubes with a resounding crash. Baekhyun yelps and collides with Chanyeol in his attempt to get away, and Chanyeol's elbow hits the pot bubbling on the stove. Soybean paste soup spills over Jongdae's knees.
The doorbell rings.
All of their screams cut off at once, and after a beat of silence, Baekhyun extricates himself and ventures to the front hallway. Jongdae waves his wand over his drenched lap and the kitchen floor. Kyungsoo leaves Chanyeol to clean up the rest of the mess, waddling out of his concerned reach and after Baekhyun.
"-called about a disturbance." Two stern-faced wizards stand at the door. Both are clad in the marked robes of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Sorry, officer." Baekhyun says, looking a perfect mix of puzzled and apologetic. Chanyeol joins him a minute later, straightening his now-clean robes and putting on his best Ministry smile.
The officers spend an unamused fifteen minutes in the apartment filling out an incident report. One of them gives Kyungsoo a furrowed stare before Jongdae says something about practicing transfiguration on pet owls and quickly whisks him into the bathroom.
"I wonder who reported us," Chanyeol says once they've gone. "Do you think it was that shady Unspeakable upstairs?"
Baekhyun rolls his eyes, throwing a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. "Zitao's not shady. And just because he doesn't talk to you doesn't make him an Unspeakable." Jongdae goes next, headed for the same office. Chanyeol calls in absent to work and sits next to Kyungsoo, keeping him company as Kyungsoo bobs in an ice bath.
"Sorry I laughed," Chanyeol says at some point after the three-hour mark. "This is the last thing you need, huh?" What, Kyungsoo thinks, more time confined to an inhuman form? But all he does is dive to the bottom of the tub and slosh water all over Chanyeol's shoes.
When he finally makes it to work, Kyungsoo is four hours late.
He plots how to exact revenge on Baekhyun all week. In the four months since Kyungsoo moved into the apartment, Baekhyun and Jongdae have seen fit to use him as a test subject for their experiments more times than he can count. Being turned into a penguin is the worst stunt so far, even worse than the first week, when he spent an hour and fifteen minutes as a hamster. Originally, he had hoped that it was an isolated freak incident, convincing himself that encountering these clashes early on meant smoother living in the long term. He should've stuck by the cardinal rule of living with roommates: it never gets easier, or cleaner.
Kyungsoo would move out, but the same reasons preventing him are the reasons why he signed the lease in the first place. Werewolves take what they can get. He can't afford another place; he's not even sure he can find another place willing to rent to him; and, in a stroke of bizarre luck, between Chanyeol's Ministry connections and Baekhyun and Jongdae's side dabblings with a shop just outside Knockturn Alley, the arrangement gives him access to all the ingredients he needs to brew Wolfsbane Potion every month.
He still considers it, scanning through the classified section of The Daily Prophet every morning as he drinks his tea.
"Looking for a good deal?" Heechul asks, the day after the penguin ordeal, ducking into the backroom with several floating bolts of cloth on his heel.
Kyungsoo puts down the newspaper and reaches for his wand, but Heechul gestures for him to stay put. "Let me know if you have trouble finding whatever it is you're looking for. I might know someone, or have a better price." Heechul flicks his wand with a mutter and the bolts organize themselves into the stock shelves. One stiff roll of olive-green fabric trips to the table and unravels in front of Kyungsoo.
"Okay." Kyungsoo picks up the accompanying order sheet containing a list of requested protective and weather spells. Heechul knows everyone in London's wizarding Chinatown, and most of the magical community outside it. That's how Kyungsoo got here, spelling robes in the backroom of a dress shop-Ryeowook, a supervisor from one of his summer apprenticeships pre-infection, had gone to school with Heechul. It's the first magical job Kyungsoo has held since graduation. Less than half a year ago he was working at a Muggle gas station, forced, like most werewolves, to seek employment outside of the wizarding community. There was reform after the Second Wizarding War, of course, but werewolves aren't as championable as house-elves. At Heechul's shop, Kyungsoo arrives and leaves by the back door and doesn't see customers, but he can work with magic and be paid in Galleons. Kyungsoo counts himself especially lucky for the latter. The exchange rate from Muggle currency isn't kind.
"That wizard is coming in about five minutes to pick up his robes." The skinny bone-white tip of Heechul's wand taps the order sheet in Kyungsoo's hand. "He put in the order yesterday morning." When you skipped your morning shift, goes unsaid.
Kyungsoo's ears heat up. "I'll get it done right now," he stutters, bowing his head in apology. He hadn't told Heechul the reason for his tardiness. He's still more than a little intimidated by his boss, not to mention distrustful. Kyungsoo doesn't know how illegal Jongdae's potions are, but he thinks Heechul would.
Kyungsoo is through the sixth spell on the list when the shop bell rings. Heechul goes out to greet the customer, and Kyungsoo hears a murmured exchange of greetings before Heechul returns, leading a wizard behind him. Kyungsoo keeps his head down until he recognizes Minseok Kim's polite laughter.
"Oh, it's you," he says, lips parting in relief. Minseok is one of the few favourite regulars Heechul allows behind the counter, and one of the even fewer who know about Kyungsoo's condition. Kyungsoo first met him through Chanyeol; the two worked together until Chanyeol traded in dragonology for an office in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
"Just me," Minseok says, quirking an eyebrow. "Good morning, Kyungsoo."
"Good morning," Kyungsoo amends. "Sorry, I'll have these done in a moment for you."
"There's no hurry. I heard from Chanyeol. Your roommate accidentally cursed you yesterday morning, right?" Minseok glances at Heechul, who looks intrigued but says nothing.
"Yes," Kyungsoo says. "It, uh, was a bit tricky to reverse."
Heechul flips over Kyungsoo's abandoned Daily Prophet. "Is that what you're looking for? A new place to live?"
"Not really," Kyungsoo lies. "They're good roommates, mostly." That part is true. Baekhyun and Jongdae's experiments backfire on themselves and Chanyeol as often as they do on Kyungsoo. Not to mention, they're remarkably accommodating about his affliction. In any other situation, the four of them probably could have been best friends.
Kyungsoo draws his wand in a tiny figure-eight, sealing a final flame-retardant incantation on the fabric. Minseok comes in every few months to restock his wardrobe; Kyungsoo's charms are strong, executed with textbook form, but dragonfire has formidable properties of its own. "I'm done. Are you going on another trip soon?"
"This weekend, actually. China this time. Thank you, by the way." Minseok steps onto a measuring stool, spreading his arms to let Heechul's rulers recheck his measurements.
"I'm sure Chanyeol will be sorry to miss out on this one."
"Yeah, Chinese Fireballs are his favourites. Make sure to rub it in his bureaucratic face, will you?" Minseok laughs. "On the topic of favours, Kyungsoo, do you think you could house-sit for me again? I'll be gone for about a month."
Kyungsoo summons the rest of the cloth bolts waiting to be spelled, piling them into a pyramid that almost hides him from view. "It'd be my pleasure," he says fervently.
The fireplace roars, followed by the jingle of the Muggle Korean girl group song Baekhyun had set as their incoming Floo alert. Kyungsoo doesn't look up, focused on hexing the collars of all of Baekhyun's shirts to give him uncontrollable burps. He knows it must be Chanyeol, because he has the radio tuned into the Wizarding Wireless Network, and Baekhyun and Jongdae are only halfway through their co-hosted program.
"What're you doing to him?" Chanyeol's weight bounces and sinks the couch seat next to Kyungsoo.
"Public humiliation," Kyungsoo says evenly. "It won't take effect until after a certain period of prolonged skin contact, so he should start burping hideously approximately thirty minutes before the end of his broadcast."
"I'd say remind me never to get on your bad side," Chanyeol says, "but I never need reminding in the first place."
"And yet."
Chanyeol yawns and flings an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders. "I can't help it." He sounds sleepy, knocking their heads together so that his bangs fluff against Kyungsoo's temple. "I'm naturally friendly, but destructive, like a Niffler. And you're a very stern centaur."
Kyungsoo scoffs but doesn't shrug him off. Chanyeol is frequently tired after work these days, ever since he took the Ministry job his parents have been preparing for him since before he rode his first toy broomstick. Chanyeol quit working as a dragonologist shortly after Kyungsoo moved in, but Kyungsoo thinks even wrestling with dragons never drained Chanyeol this much. "Supper is on the table if you're hungry."
"Bless you," Chanyeol says. He reaches for Kyungsoo's hair, fumbling a grey-streaked section between his blunt fingertips. Kyungsoo nudges him away with a scowl, patting his hair back in place.
"It's just leftover takeout. Go eat. I need to finish this, and do some of Jongdae's shirts for good measure."
Chanyeol agreeably goes, pausing just long enough to drop a soft pouch into Kyungsoo's lap with an offhand, "Today, right?"
After Kyungsoo finishes and cleans up the evidence of his vengeance, he stops by the kitchen, pouch in hand. Chanyeol is cupping a mug of tea, squinting through horn-rimmed glasses at a long roll of parchment. Kyungsoo almost smiles, but then he notices the tower of dirty dishes heaped in the sink and the stained potions beakers littered across the counter, and he sighs. "I'm house-sitting for Minseok starting this weekend."
"Hm? Oh, he's off again? Where-no, don't tell me. I'll get jealous." Chanyeol rakes a hand through his hair. "Are you gonna stay at his place? How long?"
"A month. I won't stay there all the time," Kyungsoo replies. "I'll be there for the end of the cycle, so you guys don't have to worry about it." It's nearly imperceptible, but Chanyeol's shoulders loosen just a bit. Kyungsoo doesn't take it to heart. He has carefully casted protective wards around his bedroom in this flat, but the full moon is usually sleepless for his roommates.
"No, I mean, it's fine," Chanyeol starts. Kyungsoo appreciates the effort, so he changes the topic.
"What are you reading?"
"Oh, uh, anti-just some magical creature legislation." Chanyeol rolls the parchment in his hands. "Yura's director was interested in something and he found out that I worked in the department."
The hair on the back of Kyungsoo's neck prickles out of instinct, like every time Chanyeol mentions his department-Kyungsoo classifies as a magical creature, after all-but he nods. "How's your sister doing?" He's only met Yura once, but he likes her. When he first moved in, she'd declared him her favourite out of Chanyeol's roommates.
"Great," Chanyeol flashes a smile. "Going to be Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic any day now. Or within the next year, at least."
"I hope you can keep up," Kyungsoo says, and Chanyeol laughs.
Kyungsoo bids him good night and carries the pouch to his bedroom, where he sets it on his worktable. He unlocks the bottom drawer with his wand and takes out his potions equipment. Kyungsoo spent two years trying to master the Wolfsbane Potion, after thirteen monthly transformations had left him scarred and determined. He removes the wolfsbane plant from the pouch, careful not to touch the poisonous leaves. Aside from a delicate steeping period, the process takes no longer than a few hours, but being off by a couple of seconds or a millilitre means disastrous side-effects, a few of which Kyungsoo has experienced firsthand.
Baekhyun and Jongdae come home halfway through the brewing, uncharacteristically quiet. They speak with Chanyeol, the rumble of their voices reverberating through the walls. Kyungsoo listens to their indistinct conversation for a while, his hands weighing and mincing ingredients with automatic precision, before his attention drifts back to his work. Once faint blue fumes begin to smoke from the cauldron, he ladles himself a full goblet. He pinches his nose and downs it in several long gulps, making a face after each swallow. One dose every night for a week until the full moon. Outside, the low gravel of Chanyeol's voice sounds like a growl gathering in a wolf's belly.
Kyungsoo opens his eyes the next morning to strobing lights. They flash against his ceiling and walls in jagged slices from nowhere, leaving afterimages in purple and green behind his eyelids.
The hallway is lit up in red and yellow. The kitchen, at least, is a lovely fluctuating shade of lavender. "I hope I'm either hallucinating or in a waking nightmare," Kyungsoo says, waving a cup from the pantry shelf into his hand. He taps the rim with his wand and coffee bubbles to the top-Baekhyun, distracted, doesn't notice his own cup draining empty. Kyungsoo takes a sip and puts it down with a grimace. Baekhyun always likes it too sweet.
"Chanyeol smashed my Incessant Light." Baekhyun announces, doing up the top of his robe. The undershirt he's wearing belongs to Jongdae, but Kyungsoo congratulates himself because it's one that he had hexed, just in case. It is unfortunate that he knows Baekhyun's taste so well by now, but one assimilates to survive. "Now the pieces inside are everywhere."
As if on cue, a shard of pink light scatters across the table and reflects off Baekhyun's metal chopsticks to hit the ceiling fan.
"Chanyeol, clean this up," Kyungsoo commands.
"How am I supposed to clean up light?" Chanyeol sounds aggrieved. "Baekhyun, you made this thing, don't you know how to fix it?"
"Of course not, it's Incessant for a reason," Baekhyun sniffs. "Are you doubting the quality of my spellcasting?"
"You're incessant for a reason," Chanyeol mutters under his breath. "Jongdae?"
Jongdae holds up his hands. "Pleading ignorance." He flicks his wand, and a plastic bucket tumbles out of the supply closet. He puts it in Chanyeol's lap. "Good luck."
The look on Chanyeol's face is so pitiful, Kyungsoo smiles all the way to work. Minseok had owled him the house keys last night. This morning's disturbance was harmless, at least compared to the time Kyungsoo woke up in a submerged apartment with Jongdae desperately trying to shove Gillyweed down his throat, or the time Chanyeol caused him to shrink two inches in height, but Kyungsoo thinks he will go to Minseok's place early.
He spends the day in a pleasant mood, and Floos home an hour earlier than usual after Heechul closes the shop in preparation for some social event. When Kyungsoo steps out of the fireplace, dusting himself off, he expects the flat to be empty. Light fractures from the corners of the living room, though less vividly than in the morning.
Something rustles in the kitchen.
Kyungsoo tiptoes to the hallway and peers down the corridor, holding his wand against his thigh. Nothing looks like it has been disturbed. He advances a little further, and the rustling starts up again, followed by the unmistakable scuff of a shoe on floorboard. The palms of Kyungsoo’s hands heat up. None of the others should be home right now. Raising his wand, he rounds the doorway to the kitchen and accidentally bangs his elbow against the wall. He hisses. "Shit!"
"Chanyeol? Is that you?" Jongdae calls out, turning around, and freezes. He has a box of tea in one hand and an unmarked canister in the other. Kyungsoo notices immediately that it's his tea. No one else drinks that brand.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo steps forward, lowering his wand. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Jongdae says, trying to put down Kyungsoo's tea and stuff the other container into his robes at the same time. "Why are you home already?"
"Heechul closed the shop early. What are you doing with my tea?" Kyungsoo's tone is calm and flat, and Jongdae visibly panics.
"Nothing! I just wanted to try it-is it good? You drink it all the time so-whoa!" The box flies out of Jongdae's hands with a twitch of Kyungsoo's wand, doing a somersault in the air and spilling its contents across the floor. A few of the tea satchels split upon hitting the floor. The room is dark, but a white splinter of enchanted light leaps between them, and Kyungsoo sees, very clearly, a powdered dark blue substance mixed into his tea.
"Is that," he says, "the penguin potion?"
Kyungsoo already knows the answer, so he doesn't wait for Jongdae's excuses. Petty revenge forgotten, he collects his things before either Baekhyun or Chanyeol can return, and Disapparates from the apartment with a crack so loud the photographs on the fireplace wince and cover their ears.
At Minseok's house, he eats a dinner of rice porridge and a hardboiled egg, drinks a goblet of Wolfsbane Potion, and makes a bed for himself on the sofa. An owl knocks on the window, later joined by another, but he ignores both. The house is peaceful and quiet, with still walls and clean surfaces, and already Kyungsoo feels better.
He has no work the next day, so when he wakes up the house is already steeped in warm sunlight. The Flitterblooms by the window sway in imitation of the trees outside, their vines twisting almost within tickling reach of Kyungsoo's toes. Kyungsoo puts on his robe and opens the window, retrieving the letters left on the sill last night. Three in total, one from each of his roommates. Kyungsoo leaves them unopened and hands them to a Flitterbloom vine creeping curiously over his wrist. "Hold onto these for me, will you?" he says, and closes the window.
Minseok's house is impossibly clean, decorated with a staggering variety of magical plants and equipped with reinforced rooms in case Minseok ever needs to bring his work home. Kyungsoo reads the list of instructions Minseok left him over breakfast. It's the same watering and feeding instructions from the last time Kyungsoo house-sat, with a few detailed notes for new additions. Kyungsoo always did well in Herbology at school. He makes the first round, feed bag tucked under his arm for the finicky plants, water from the tip of his wand for the rest. He has a crick in his neck from sleeping, but his mood is lifted and his mind is clear.
It was the powdered penguin potion; Kyungsoo had seen Baekhyun and Jongdae with a bag of it after the first incident. Jongdae was slipping the potion into his tea; Kyungsoo had seen this too. It would be only irritating if it was any other prank, since repeating jokes is nothing new. But like Chanyeol said, Kyungsoo has enough of being forced into an animal form against his will. Despite his frequently expressed disdain, Kyungsoo doesn't think Baekhyun and Jongdae would be so thoughtless or malicious. It would be like driving a thumb into a black eye.
So there's a reason for it, Kyungsoo knows. A reason that he doesn't care to find out, right now. He considers for a moment whether ignoring his roommates makes him childish, but the proximity of the full moon is wearing on him; already his joints are aching, his gums feeling tender. He can let his roommates suffer a little bit while he enjoys Minseok's clean, quiet house, and mulls over the voice in his head that says, even if there is a reason, they should have told you, working the thought you need to move out like sucking on a sore tooth.
More letters are delivered throughout the week. Kyungsoo reads them all, in case they contain something urgent, but they're all iterations of, We're sorry, please come back. Then, Wait, don't come back, hastily followed by, Yet. Don't come back yet. Sorry.
Kyungsoo uses them as compost. He goes to work, returns to Minseok's house and takes care of the plants, and drinks his potion, feeling the swelling moon drag his body like a wave. On the seventh night he scrapes the bottom of his cauldron and comes up with only three-quarters of a cup. He must have boiled it a little too long, distracted by his roommates' conversation, or with the flame too high-either way, Kyungsoo hopes it's enough.
He always asks for the day of the full moon off work, so on the afternoon of the transformation Kyungsoo takes a blanket and a book with him into one of Minseok's secure rooms and makes himself comfortable, cracking the door open so he can hear if any of Minseok's Chinese Chomping Cabbages start sneezing again. He reads five chapters of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, his shoulders and spine radiating sour pain and his temples throbbing with a headache.
Kyungsoo doesn't remember falling asleep, but the next time he opens his eyes, the moonlight is molten on the floor and his hands are curled into fists, fur bristling between his knuckles.
Fuck, the door, is his first thought, accompanied by a growl prying out of his throat, his newly elongated canines digging into and breaking the skin of his lower lip. He licks the blood from his mouth with a long tongue and suppresses a howl as his spine crunches into its new shape and his back legs kick out, launching him from the room. He hits the opposite wall and yelps, knocking over a potted Flutterby bush, but he doesn't stop moving. His wolf brain, alarmed from waking up in a strange place, with the half-closed door like a jail, desperately seeks familiar territory. It's fine, he won't hurt anyone, he's fine, Kyungsoo chants in his head as he sprints out of the house, driven by blind instinct, his nose pointed towards some distant shelter. The incomplete dose of Wolfsbane Potion has taken his impulse control, but Kyungsoo is still brightly, mercifully lucid.
The streets are a dark oil-paint blur, and Kyungsoo doesn't know how many horrified pedestrians he races past, or if there are any, but somehow he makes it to his apartment building without raising any alarms. He lifts his head, sniffing his surroundings, and barely has time to feel crushing regret when he hears a horrified gasp from above.
"Kyungsoo?"
Baekhyun grabs him by the scruff of his neck, and something cold trickles through the fur between his ears. Kyungsoo puts up a struggle, but before he knows it, he's been bundled upstairs and through their apartment door into the living room, Baekhyun breaking the Disillusionment Charm to shouts of alarm from Jongdae and Chanyeol.
"Is he okay? Is he hurt?"
Chanyeol yanks his department-issued pocket watch from his robes, checking for any reported sightings of a werewolf on the loose. Jongdae crouches, closer than advisable, examining Kyungsoo's fur for signs of blood or injury. Instinctively, Kyungsoo's lip curls, his hackles rising, but Jongdae just sticks his face an inch from Kyungsoo's snout, peering at Kyungsoo's pupils.
"This isn't like you," Baekhyun says. "Did something go wrong with the Wolfsbane Potion? Bark twice if you understand me."
"I'm going to strangle Minseok," Chanyeol mutters.
If Kyungsoo could roll his eyes, he would. Minseok isn't even in the country. The situation is squarely his own fault. He barks twice, trying to sound as unimpressed as a wolf can, and lowers his head, snuffling around their ankles-Chanyeol really needs to wash his feet, though Kyungsoo's canine nose kind of likes it. When none of them back down, he snorts and rolls onto his back, baring the soft fur of his belly. It's embarrassing, but he needs to let them know he's not a threat, no matter how tempting their human scent. Kyungsoo closes his eyes. The frantic adrenaline from minutes ago has evaporated, leaving in its place the unguarded disinterest of an animal that knows it has survived another day. The house smells like human sweat and strange, faintly acidic herbs. Cautiously, after several long moments, Chanyeol's hand finds its way behind his ears. After all that, this is where I end up, Kyungsoo thinks disgruntledly, resisting the urge to bite. There are no reins on a beast's desire, but his has only led him here.
"I feel so humiliated," Kyungsoo says the next morning.
Wearing a clean set of robes fetched from his bedroom, he hunches over the kitchen table under a cheerful sun, nursing his post-transformation hangover with a mug of tea.
"Personally, I thought you were really touching."
"I agree, Jongdae," Chanyeol interjects before Kyungsoo can make a retort. "I especially liked the part where Kyungsoo realized, you know, we're like his pack-" Kyungsoo lifts his wand and Chanyeol's mouth snaps shut with a flinch.
"Isn't using 'pack' against your sensitivity training, Mr. Ministry of Magical Creatures?" Baekhyun surreptitiously doubles the amount of chocolate chips in the bowl of pancake batter that Chanyeol has clutched to his chest. "Anyway, you guys didn't even see the way he looked when he showed up at my feet, out of the blue. I thought I was going to cry."
"Goodbye," Kyungsoo says firmly. "I'm going back to Minseok's house." He pauses, waiting for the playful clamour to quiet down, and continues, "After you tell me what you guys were thinking with that penguin potion."
The pancake Chanyeol was spinning above his head falls to the table with a loud slap. Jongdae's mouth opens and curls into the beginnings of a nervous, apologetic smile, but nothing comes out. In the silence, the fat drip of batter oozing off the edge of the table becomes absurdly loud.
So there is a reason. Kyungsoo's fingers tighten around his mug.
Baekhyun is the first to break the ice, leaning forward to look Kyungsoo in the eye. "We're-I'm sorry. It was the first thing I had on hand, but I shouldn't have done that. To you, I mean."
"Yeah." Jongdae clears his throat and licks his lips, his brows slanted in worry. "I'm sorry, Kyungsoo. It was really insensitive of us."
"I'm sorry too," Chanyeol ventures.
"Thank you." Kyungsoo glances down at his tea, at the broken nail of his thumb pressing a faint groove into the surface of the table. "But that's not an explanation."
The other three exchange glances, and Kyungsoo is surprised to see Baekhyun looking genuinely reluctant to speak.
"We, uh." Chanyeol pulls out his chair and sits down, clasping his hands in his lap. He jiggles his right foot and expels a long breath. "Never told the landlord you were living here. We never told him. Lycanthropes aren't allowed by building regulations."
"The first time Baekhyun turned you into a penguin, when those officers from Magical Law Enforcement came by," Jongdae bursts out. "It wasn't a disturbance check, we knew they were coming. Someone heard something or saw something and called them. The report accidentally went through Chanyeol's desk. So we knew about it."
"And the second time, when I caught Jongdae…" Kyungsoo says slowly.
"I guess they thought we were suspicious because they came around again. You need special insurance and infrastructure to house a werewolf." Chanyeol sounds faintly miserable, like he's rattling off an office memo.
"But you can come home now," says Baekhyun. "They came by when you were at Minseok's, and we made sure everything looked perfect. Chanyeol says the report was marked resolved."
Chanyeol nods immediately, but to Kyungsoo the decision has already been made, decided as soon as Chanyeol began this conversation. They're telling him the threat is gone, but what Kyungsoo understands is that this won't be the last time. Chanyeol's sister's director, he knows, has a relative who was maimed by Fenrir Greyback in the Second Wizarding War. It won't do Yura any favours to have a brother who is illegally housing a werewolf. He's found the conviction he needs for the choice he's been considering for the past few months, the one he came close to discarding last night. If he stays here, Kyungsoo will never be able to let his guard down, against the Ministry or against his friends' best attempts to save him.
"I'm going to move out." As the words leave him, Kyungsoo realizes they hold none of the twisted frustration or annoyance that he felt so keenly when they were just a thought. Stripped down, the decision becomes inarguable, another type of logistics.
Chanyeol opens his mouth to argue anyway, but Kyungsoo heads him off. "In the best case scenario, we keep evading Magical Law Enforcement with you guys springing cover-ups on me until I die twenty years early from the stress. Worst case scenario, all of us get caught and your careers go down the drain while I get put in processing."
"We won't spring anything on you," Chanyeol promises. "Not anymore."
"That doesn't make turning into a penguin or hiding out in someone else's home any less stressful." Kyungsoo points out.
"Where are you going to live?" asks Baekhyun.
"I'll stay at Minseok's until I figure things out, but you guys aren't the only real estate in town, even for werewolves." Kyungsoo's lips quirk. "Actually, you guys aren't any real estate at all, since I'm not allowed here." Baekhyun has the grace to look a little ashamed.
They lapse into silence. Chanyeol opens and closes his mouth a few times, face scrunched in frustration, like he's defeating his own arguments before he can make them.
"We want you to stay," Jongdae finally says, though his face reflects a vague, regretful acceptance. It didn't have to be said; Kyungsoo can feel the sincerity in their actions, however misguided, but it's unexpectedly heartwarming to hear. They've tried hard to keep him, and he likes that.
"I know," Kyungsoo says, and lets himself admit, "Me too." He's surprised by how much he means it. Maybe in this situation, the four of them are closer to best friends than he thought.
Kyungsoo spends another peaceful week and a half at Minseok's house, searching for a new place to live, before he sits down midway through wrestling with a Snargaluff and pulls out a sheet of parchment. He bandages the thorn-inflicted cuts on his arms, then takes one of the harvested pods in hand, working to break it open as he thinks about how to begin. Minseok's house isn't big, but it's large enough for two. Kyungsoo enjoys taking care of the plants, and there are the reinforced rooms. It's ideal to the point where he feels his heart quicken whenever he lets himself imagine living here for real. He has no idea if Minseok has ever considered having a housemate, and it's probably an imposition to inquire without being invited, but Kyungsoo dumps the extracted Snargaluff tubers into a bowl, wipes his hands, and puts his quill to the parchment. For once, it can't hurt to ask for what he wants.
"You said we could visit today. It's been a month," Chanyeol's head in the fireplace huffs. "We're supposed to bring you potions ingredients. What are you gonna do without them? Run over to our place again?"
Kyungsoo sighs. "Fine, you can come." He touches the bruise on his cheek. "If a Bouncing Bulb smacks you in the face, don't say I didn't warn you. They're rowdy today."
He almost regrets it when all three of them tumble out of the fireplace and straight into the Flitterbloom vines. After a minor scuffle, during which Kyungsoo has to yell for them not to blast the plants, it's not Devil's Snare you idiots, it's daytime, they manage to untangle themselves with minimal damage.
"Wow, it's like a greenhouse in here," Jongdae says brightly, dusting himself off.
"Don't touch anything." Kyungsoo finishes inspecting the Flitterbloom plants, which are thankfully only slightly wilted. "That's poisonous"-directed at Baekhyun, who's about to pinch a leaf of Sneezewort, and Baekhyun yanks his hand back like it's on fire-"to livestock."
"Ugh. You're like a live-in gardener," Baekhyun groans. "Are you sure Minseok didn't get the better end of the deal? You pay him rent, and you babysit his plants."
"I like it. Besides, he'll take care of them himself when he comes back." Minseok had replied to Kyungsoo a week after Kyungsoo wrote to him, to say that his stay in China had been extended until the end of the year, and that having Kyungsoo move in would be perfect, actually. Kyungsoo casts a restorative spell over the Flitterbloom plants to sooth their frazzled nerves, then rises from his crouch. "I'll show you the rest of the house."
Leading them through the living room, Kyungsoo suddenly stops and sniffs the air. His sense of smell heightens the closer it gets to the full moon, and there's an intrusive musk setting him on edge. "What is that? Were you guys with a dog?"
"Chanyeol dragged us to a Muggle pet shop to look at puppies," Baekhyun says. "Because you were so cute last time."
"Hey," Chanyeol defends. "You thought he was cute too."
"I keep telling him, why get a dog when we can just rub Kyungsoo's belly every month," Jongdae cracks.
Kyungsoo snatches the bag of potions ingredients out of Chanyeol's hand and ushers all three back in the direction of the fireplace. "All right, I moved out for a reason." He tosses in a handful of Floo powder and shoves a protesting Chanyeol through headfirst. "Get out of my sight."
Don't get a dog, he owls them later. Territory issues, he doesn't say. That would be giving away too much, and Kyungsoo figures after last month, they already have enough ammunition on his affections.
A/N:
- i'm not well-versed in HP au, so apologies for all and any nonsensical extrapolations/assumptions i may have made about the universe /___\
- an enormous thank you to EC&C for saving both my life and my dialogue tags T____________T
OT4 (hints of Chanyeol/D.O, Baekhyun/Chen)
PG-13, 6.2k.
Kyungsoo is a werewolf, which means he can't afford to be picky about a lot of things, including roommates. post-Hogwarts Harry Potter AU.
(written for chinguline exchange; originally posted here)
Kyungsoo wakes up standing. He doesn't realize it at first, staring at the side of his mattress and thinking he's rolled off the bed, until he tries to get up and jerks forward to almost fall on his face. It's outrageously hot in the room. He extends an arm to steady himself, but a sleek, flat wing reaches the bed first.
Kyungsoo looks at the dense black feathers poised against his crumpled blankets and lets out a loud squawk.
"Oh, come on!" someone yells from the other end of the flat.
Thirty minutes later at breakfast, Chanyeol is still shouting, his work robes slipping off his shoulders and his undershirt half-buttoned. He gesticulates wildly with a plate of fish. "I can't believe you guys did this again!"
"I can't believe you did this after I said the permanency component wasn't stabilized," Jongdae shoots over the kitchen table at Baekhyun, who merely purses his lips.
"Look, it's fine," says Baekhyun. He takes the plate from Chanyeol, its contents precariously balanced, and puts it down in front of Kyungsoo. A piece of fish flops off the edge of the plate and lands on the table. "It can't last more than two hours, three tops. You used the baobab root? That's like six months expired."
"You said it was fresh," Jongdae accuses.
"You must've misheard," Baekhyun says loftily.
"This isn't funny!" Chanyeol interrupts their exaggerated sneering contest. Jongdae stops curling his mouth like a pureblood matriarch and assumes a solemn expression. "You should apologize to Kyungsoo. He has to go to work today. How"-he jabs downwards at Kyungsoo-"can he go like this?"
Kyungsoo looks at Chanyeol's pointed finger. He wants to interject with a cutting agreement, but he's light-headed from passing out shortly after waking up, and he still feels overheated. He shifts his weight, feeling the pan of conjured ice crackling under his bare feet. The back of his head throbs from when Chanyeol had levitated his prone body out of his bedroom and accidentally banged him against the wall. He needs to be at work within the hour. Why haven't any of them thought to cast a cooling charm on him yet? Kyungsoo grows increasingly baleful, but he doesn't want to expend the energy to verbalize his thoughts.
Not to mention, penguins can't speak. He settles for blinking slowly and clacking his beak.
"It's a little funny," Jongdae says to Chanyeol. The corners of Chanyeol's mouth twitch unwillingly.
"Not as funny as if you'd waited until the weekend," Chanyeol says, giving in with a snort of laughter. Baekhyun lifts his hand in a high-five, his other hand going for a piece of the fish on Kyungsoo's plate, taken from yesterday's leftover fish and chips and magicked free of batter.
Kyungsoo later blames it on animal instinct, but in a second he's lunging to give Baekhyun a hard peck, knocking the plate of fish off the table and upending his chair and pan of ice cubes with a resounding crash. Baekhyun yelps and collides with Chanyeol in his attempt to get away, and Chanyeol's elbow hits the pot bubbling on the stove. Soybean paste soup spills over Jongdae's knees.
The doorbell rings.
All of their screams cut off at once, and after a beat of silence, Baekhyun extricates himself and ventures to the front hallway. Jongdae waves his wand over his drenched lap and the kitchen floor. Kyungsoo leaves Chanyeol to clean up the rest of the mess, waddling out of his concerned reach and after Baekhyun.
"-called about a disturbance." Two stern-faced wizards stand at the door. Both are clad in the marked robes of Magical Law Enforcement.
"Sorry, officer." Baekhyun says, looking a perfect mix of puzzled and apologetic. Chanyeol joins him a minute later, straightening his now-clean robes and putting on his best Ministry smile.
The officers spend an unamused fifteen minutes in the apartment filling out an incident report. One of them gives Kyungsoo a furrowed stare before Jongdae says something about practicing transfiguration on pet owls and quickly whisks him into the bathroom.
"I wonder who reported us," Chanyeol says once they've gone. "Do you think it was that shady Unspeakable upstairs?"
Baekhyun rolls his eyes, throwing a handful of Floo powder into the fireplace. "Zitao's not shady. And just because he doesn't talk to you doesn't make him an Unspeakable." Jongdae goes next, headed for the same office. Chanyeol calls in absent to work and sits next to Kyungsoo, keeping him company as Kyungsoo bobs in an ice bath.
"Sorry I laughed," Chanyeol says at some point after the three-hour mark. "This is the last thing you need, huh?" What, Kyungsoo thinks, more time confined to an inhuman form? But all he does is dive to the bottom of the tub and slosh water all over Chanyeol's shoes.
When he finally makes it to work, Kyungsoo is four hours late.
He plots how to exact revenge on Baekhyun all week. In the four months since Kyungsoo moved into the apartment, Baekhyun and Jongdae have seen fit to use him as a test subject for their experiments more times than he can count. Being turned into a penguin is the worst stunt so far, even worse than the first week, when he spent an hour and fifteen minutes as a hamster. Originally, he had hoped that it was an isolated freak incident, convincing himself that encountering these clashes early on meant smoother living in the long term. He should've stuck by the cardinal rule of living with roommates: it never gets easier, or cleaner.
Kyungsoo would move out, but the same reasons preventing him are the reasons why he signed the lease in the first place. Werewolves take what they can get. He can't afford another place; he's not even sure he can find another place willing to rent to him; and, in a stroke of bizarre luck, between Chanyeol's Ministry connections and Baekhyun and Jongdae's side dabblings with a shop just outside Knockturn Alley, the arrangement gives him access to all the ingredients he needs to brew Wolfsbane Potion every month.
He still considers it, scanning through the classified section of The Daily Prophet every morning as he drinks his tea.
"Looking for a good deal?" Heechul asks, the day after the penguin ordeal, ducking into the backroom with several floating bolts of cloth on his heel.
Kyungsoo puts down the newspaper and reaches for his wand, but Heechul gestures for him to stay put. "Let me know if you have trouble finding whatever it is you're looking for. I might know someone, or have a better price." Heechul flicks his wand with a mutter and the bolts organize themselves into the stock shelves. One stiff roll of olive-green fabric trips to the table and unravels in front of Kyungsoo.
"Okay." Kyungsoo picks up the accompanying order sheet containing a list of requested protective and weather spells. Heechul knows everyone in London's wizarding Chinatown, and most of the magical community outside it. That's how Kyungsoo got here, spelling robes in the backroom of a dress shop-Ryeowook, a supervisor from one of his summer apprenticeships pre-infection, had gone to school with Heechul. It's the first magical job Kyungsoo has held since graduation. Less than half a year ago he was working at a Muggle gas station, forced, like most werewolves, to seek employment outside of the wizarding community. There was reform after the Second Wizarding War, of course, but werewolves aren't as championable as house-elves. At Heechul's shop, Kyungsoo arrives and leaves by the back door and doesn't see customers, but he can work with magic and be paid in Galleons. Kyungsoo counts himself especially lucky for the latter. The exchange rate from Muggle currency isn't kind.
"That wizard is coming in about five minutes to pick up his robes." The skinny bone-white tip of Heechul's wand taps the order sheet in Kyungsoo's hand. "He put in the order yesterday morning." When you skipped your morning shift, goes unsaid.
Kyungsoo's ears heat up. "I'll get it done right now," he stutters, bowing his head in apology. He hadn't told Heechul the reason for his tardiness. He's still more than a little intimidated by his boss, not to mention distrustful. Kyungsoo doesn't know how illegal Jongdae's potions are, but he thinks Heechul would.
Kyungsoo is through the sixth spell on the list when the shop bell rings. Heechul goes out to greet the customer, and Kyungsoo hears a murmured exchange of greetings before Heechul returns, leading a wizard behind him. Kyungsoo keeps his head down until he recognizes Minseok Kim's polite laughter.
"Oh, it's you," he says, lips parting in relief. Minseok is one of the few favourite regulars Heechul allows behind the counter, and one of the even fewer who know about Kyungsoo's condition. Kyungsoo first met him through Chanyeol; the two worked together until Chanyeol traded in dragonology for an office in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.
"Just me," Minseok says, quirking an eyebrow. "Good morning, Kyungsoo."
"Good morning," Kyungsoo amends. "Sorry, I'll have these done in a moment for you."
"There's no hurry. I heard from Chanyeol. Your roommate accidentally cursed you yesterday morning, right?" Minseok glances at Heechul, who looks intrigued but says nothing.
"Yes," Kyungsoo says. "It, uh, was a bit tricky to reverse."
Heechul flips over Kyungsoo's abandoned Daily Prophet. "Is that what you're looking for? A new place to live?"
"Not really," Kyungsoo lies. "They're good roommates, mostly." That part is true. Baekhyun and Jongdae's experiments backfire on themselves and Chanyeol as often as they do on Kyungsoo. Not to mention, they're remarkably accommodating about his affliction. In any other situation, the four of them probably could have been best friends.
Kyungsoo draws his wand in a tiny figure-eight, sealing a final flame-retardant incantation on the fabric. Minseok comes in every few months to restock his wardrobe; Kyungsoo's charms are strong, executed with textbook form, but dragonfire has formidable properties of its own. "I'm done. Are you going on another trip soon?"
"This weekend, actually. China this time. Thank you, by the way." Minseok steps onto a measuring stool, spreading his arms to let Heechul's rulers recheck his measurements.
"I'm sure Chanyeol will be sorry to miss out on this one."
"Yeah, Chinese Fireballs are his favourites. Make sure to rub it in his bureaucratic face, will you?" Minseok laughs. "On the topic of favours, Kyungsoo, do you think you could house-sit for me again? I'll be gone for about a month."
Kyungsoo summons the rest of the cloth bolts waiting to be spelled, piling them into a pyramid that almost hides him from view. "It'd be my pleasure," he says fervently.
The fireplace roars, followed by the jingle of the Muggle Korean girl group song Baekhyun had set as their incoming Floo alert. Kyungsoo doesn't look up, focused on hexing the collars of all of Baekhyun's shirts to give him uncontrollable burps. He knows it must be Chanyeol, because he has the radio tuned into the Wizarding Wireless Network, and Baekhyun and Jongdae are only halfway through their co-hosted program.
"What're you doing to him?" Chanyeol's weight bounces and sinks the couch seat next to Kyungsoo.
"Public humiliation," Kyungsoo says evenly. "It won't take effect until after a certain period of prolonged skin contact, so he should start burping hideously approximately thirty minutes before the end of his broadcast."
"I'd say remind me never to get on your bad side," Chanyeol says, "but I never need reminding in the first place."
"And yet."
Chanyeol yawns and flings an arm around Kyungsoo's shoulders. "I can't help it." He sounds sleepy, knocking their heads together so that his bangs fluff against Kyungsoo's temple. "I'm naturally friendly, but destructive, like a Niffler. And you're a very stern centaur."
Kyungsoo scoffs but doesn't shrug him off. Chanyeol is frequently tired after work these days, ever since he took the Ministry job his parents have been preparing for him since before he rode his first toy broomstick. Chanyeol quit working as a dragonologist shortly after Kyungsoo moved in, but Kyungsoo thinks even wrestling with dragons never drained Chanyeol this much. "Supper is on the table if you're hungry."
"Bless you," Chanyeol says. He reaches for Kyungsoo's hair, fumbling a grey-streaked section between his blunt fingertips. Kyungsoo nudges him away with a scowl, patting his hair back in place.
"It's just leftover takeout. Go eat. I need to finish this, and do some of Jongdae's shirts for good measure."
Chanyeol agreeably goes, pausing just long enough to drop a soft pouch into Kyungsoo's lap with an offhand, "Today, right?"
After Kyungsoo finishes and cleans up the evidence of his vengeance, he stops by the kitchen, pouch in hand. Chanyeol is cupping a mug of tea, squinting through horn-rimmed glasses at a long roll of parchment. Kyungsoo almost smiles, but then he notices the tower of dirty dishes heaped in the sink and the stained potions beakers littered across the counter, and he sighs. "I'm house-sitting for Minseok starting this weekend."
"Hm? Oh, he's off again? Where-no, don't tell me. I'll get jealous." Chanyeol rakes a hand through his hair. "Are you gonna stay at his place? How long?"
"A month. I won't stay there all the time," Kyungsoo replies. "I'll be there for the end of the cycle, so you guys don't have to worry about it." It's nearly imperceptible, but Chanyeol's shoulders loosen just a bit. Kyungsoo doesn't take it to heart. He has carefully casted protective wards around his bedroom in this flat, but the full moon is usually sleepless for his roommates.
"No, I mean, it's fine," Chanyeol starts. Kyungsoo appreciates the effort, so he changes the topic.
"What are you reading?"
"Oh, uh, anti-just some magical creature legislation." Chanyeol rolls the parchment in his hands. "Yura's director was interested in something and he found out that I worked in the department."
The hair on the back of Kyungsoo's neck prickles out of instinct, like every time Chanyeol mentions his department-Kyungsoo classifies as a magical creature, after all-but he nods. "How's your sister doing?" He's only met Yura once, but he likes her. When he first moved in, she'd declared him her favourite out of Chanyeol's roommates.
"Great," Chanyeol flashes a smile. "Going to be Junior Assistant to the Minister of Magic any day now. Or within the next year, at least."
"I hope you can keep up," Kyungsoo says, and Chanyeol laughs.
Kyungsoo bids him good night and carries the pouch to his bedroom, where he sets it on his worktable. He unlocks the bottom drawer with his wand and takes out his potions equipment. Kyungsoo spent two years trying to master the Wolfsbane Potion, after thirteen monthly transformations had left him scarred and determined. He removes the wolfsbane plant from the pouch, careful not to touch the poisonous leaves. Aside from a delicate steeping period, the process takes no longer than a few hours, but being off by a couple of seconds or a millilitre means disastrous side-effects, a few of which Kyungsoo has experienced firsthand.
Baekhyun and Jongdae come home halfway through the brewing, uncharacteristically quiet. They speak with Chanyeol, the rumble of their voices reverberating through the walls. Kyungsoo listens to their indistinct conversation for a while, his hands weighing and mincing ingredients with automatic precision, before his attention drifts back to his work. Once faint blue fumes begin to smoke from the cauldron, he ladles himself a full goblet. He pinches his nose and downs it in several long gulps, making a face after each swallow. One dose every night for a week until the full moon. Outside, the low gravel of Chanyeol's voice sounds like a growl gathering in a wolf's belly.
Kyungsoo opens his eyes the next morning to strobing lights. They flash against his ceiling and walls in jagged slices from nowhere, leaving afterimages in purple and green behind his eyelids.
The hallway is lit up in red and yellow. The kitchen, at least, is a lovely fluctuating shade of lavender. "I hope I'm either hallucinating or in a waking nightmare," Kyungsoo says, waving a cup from the pantry shelf into his hand. He taps the rim with his wand and coffee bubbles to the top-Baekhyun, distracted, doesn't notice his own cup draining empty. Kyungsoo takes a sip and puts it down with a grimace. Baekhyun always likes it too sweet.
"Chanyeol smashed my Incessant Light." Baekhyun announces, doing up the top of his robe. The undershirt he's wearing belongs to Jongdae, but Kyungsoo congratulates himself because it's one that he had hexed, just in case. It is unfortunate that he knows Baekhyun's taste so well by now, but one assimilates to survive. "Now the pieces inside are everywhere."
As if on cue, a shard of pink light scatters across the table and reflects off Baekhyun's metal chopsticks to hit the ceiling fan.
"Chanyeol, clean this up," Kyungsoo commands.
"How am I supposed to clean up light?" Chanyeol sounds aggrieved. "Baekhyun, you made this thing, don't you know how to fix it?"
"Of course not, it's Incessant for a reason," Baekhyun sniffs. "Are you doubting the quality of my spellcasting?"
"You're incessant for a reason," Chanyeol mutters under his breath. "Jongdae?"
Jongdae holds up his hands. "Pleading ignorance." He flicks his wand, and a plastic bucket tumbles out of the supply closet. He puts it in Chanyeol's lap. "Good luck."
The look on Chanyeol's face is so pitiful, Kyungsoo smiles all the way to work. Minseok had owled him the house keys last night. This morning's disturbance was harmless, at least compared to the time Kyungsoo woke up in a submerged apartment with Jongdae desperately trying to shove Gillyweed down his throat, or the time Chanyeol caused him to shrink two inches in height, but Kyungsoo thinks he will go to Minseok's place early.
He spends the day in a pleasant mood, and Floos home an hour earlier than usual after Heechul closes the shop in preparation for some social event. When Kyungsoo steps out of the fireplace, dusting himself off, he expects the flat to be empty. Light fractures from the corners of the living room, though less vividly than in the morning.
Something rustles in the kitchen.
Kyungsoo tiptoes to the hallway and peers down the corridor, holding his wand against his thigh. Nothing looks like it has been disturbed. He advances a little further, and the rustling starts up again, followed by the unmistakable scuff of a shoe on floorboard. The palms of Kyungsoo’s hands heat up. None of the others should be home right now. Raising his wand, he rounds the doorway to the kitchen and accidentally bangs his elbow against the wall. He hisses. "Shit!"
"Chanyeol? Is that you?" Jongdae calls out, turning around, and freezes. He has a box of tea in one hand and an unmarked canister in the other. Kyungsoo notices immediately that it's his tea. No one else drinks that brand.
"Jongdae?" Kyungsoo steps forward, lowering his wand. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," Jongdae says, trying to put down Kyungsoo's tea and stuff the other container into his robes at the same time. "Why are you home already?"
"Heechul closed the shop early. What are you doing with my tea?" Kyungsoo's tone is calm and flat, and Jongdae visibly panics.
"Nothing! I just wanted to try it-is it good? You drink it all the time so-whoa!" The box flies out of Jongdae's hands with a twitch of Kyungsoo's wand, doing a somersault in the air and spilling its contents across the floor. A few of the tea satchels split upon hitting the floor. The room is dark, but a white splinter of enchanted light leaps between them, and Kyungsoo sees, very clearly, a powdered dark blue substance mixed into his tea.
"Is that," he says, "the penguin potion?"
Kyungsoo already knows the answer, so he doesn't wait for Jongdae's excuses. Petty revenge forgotten, he collects his things before either Baekhyun or Chanyeol can return, and Disapparates from the apartment with a crack so loud the photographs on the fireplace wince and cover their ears.
At Minseok's house, he eats a dinner of rice porridge and a hardboiled egg, drinks a goblet of Wolfsbane Potion, and makes a bed for himself on the sofa. An owl knocks on the window, later joined by another, but he ignores both. The house is peaceful and quiet, with still walls and clean surfaces, and already Kyungsoo feels better.
He has no work the next day, so when he wakes up the house is already steeped in warm sunlight. The Flitterblooms by the window sway in imitation of the trees outside, their vines twisting almost within tickling reach of Kyungsoo's toes. Kyungsoo puts on his robe and opens the window, retrieving the letters left on the sill last night. Three in total, one from each of his roommates. Kyungsoo leaves them unopened and hands them to a Flitterbloom vine creeping curiously over his wrist. "Hold onto these for me, will you?" he says, and closes the window.
Minseok's house is impossibly clean, decorated with a staggering variety of magical plants and equipped with reinforced rooms in case Minseok ever needs to bring his work home. Kyungsoo reads the list of instructions Minseok left him over breakfast. It's the same watering and feeding instructions from the last time Kyungsoo house-sat, with a few detailed notes for new additions. Kyungsoo always did well in Herbology at school. He makes the first round, feed bag tucked under his arm for the finicky plants, water from the tip of his wand for the rest. He has a crick in his neck from sleeping, but his mood is lifted and his mind is clear.
It was the powdered penguin potion; Kyungsoo had seen Baekhyun and Jongdae with a bag of it after the first incident. Jongdae was slipping the potion into his tea; Kyungsoo had seen this too. It would be only irritating if it was any other prank, since repeating jokes is nothing new. But like Chanyeol said, Kyungsoo has enough of being forced into an animal form against his will. Despite his frequently expressed disdain, Kyungsoo doesn't think Baekhyun and Jongdae would be so thoughtless or malicious. It would be like driving a thumb into a black eye.
So there's a reason for it, Kyungsoo knows. A reason that he doesn't care to find out, right now. He considers for a moment whether ignoring his roommates makes him childish, but the proximity of the full moon is wearing on him; already his joints are aching, his gums feeling tender. He can let his roommates suffer a little bit while he enjoys Minseok's clean, quiet house, and mulls over the voice in his head that says, even if there is a reason, they should have told you, working the thought you need to move out like sucking on a sore tooth.
More letters are delivered throughout the week. Kyungsoo reads them all, in case they contain something urgent, but they're all iterations of, We're sorry, please come back. Then, Wait, don't come back, hastily followed by, Yet. Don't come back yet. Sorry.
Kyungsoo uses them as compost. He goes to work, returns to Minseok's house and takes care of the plants, and drinks his potion, feeling the swelling moon drag his body like a wave. On the seventh night he scrapes the bottom of his cauldron and comes up with only three-quarters of a cup. He must have boiled it a little too long, distracted by his roommates' conversation, or with the flame too high-either way, Kyungsoo hopes it's enough.
He always asks for the day of the full moon off work, so on the afternoon of the transformation Kyungsoo takes a blanket and a book with him into one of Minseok's secure rooms and makes himself comfortable, cracking the door open so he can hear if any of Minseok's Chinese Chomping Cabbages start sneezing again. He reads five chapters of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, his shoulders and spine radiating sour pain and his temples throbbing with a headache.
Kyungsoo doesn't remember falling asleep, but the next time he opens his eyes, the moonlight is molten on the floor and his hands are curled into fists, fur bristling between his knuckles.
Fuck, the door, is his first thought, accompanied by a growl prying out of his throat, his newly elongated canines digging into and breaking the skin of his lower lip. He licks the blood from his mouth with a long tongue and suppresses a howl as his spine crunches into its new shape and his back legs kick out, launching him from the room. He hits the opposite wall and yelps, knocking over a potted Flutterby bush, but he doesn't stop moving. His wolf brain, alarmed from waking up in a strange place, with the half-closed door like a jail, desperately seeks familiar territory. It's fine, he won't hurt anyone, he's fine, Kyungsoo chants in his head as he sprints out of the house, driven by blind instinct, his nose pointed towards some distant shelter. The incomplete dose of Wolfsbane Potion has taken his impulse control, but Kyungsoo is still brightly, mercifully lucid.
The streets are a dark oil-paint blur, and Kyungsoo doesn't know how many horrified pedestrians he races past, or if there are any, but somehow he makes it to his apartment building without raising any alarms. He lifts his head, sniffing his surroundings, and barely has time to feel crushing regret when he hears a horrified gasp from above.
"Kyungsoo?"
Baekhyun grabs him by the scruff of his neck, and something cold trickles through the fur between his ears. Kyungsoo puts up a struggle, but before he knows it, he's been bundled upstairs and through their apartment door into the living room, Baekhyun breaking the Disillusionment Charm to shouts of alarm from Jongdae and Chanyeol.
"Is he okay? Is he hurt?"
Chanyeol yanks his department-issued pocket watch from his robes, checking for any reported sightings of a werewolf on the loose. Jongdae crouches, closer than advisable, examining Kyungsoo's fur for signs of blood or injury. Instinctively, Kyungsoo's lip curls, his hackles rising, but Jongdae just sticks his face an inch from Kyungsoo's snout, peering at Kyungsoo's pupils.
"This isn't like you," Baekhyun says. "Did something go wrong with the Wolfsbane Potion? Bark twice if you understand me."
"I'm going to strangle Minseok," Chanyeol mutters.
If Kyungsoo could roll his eyes, he would. Minseok isn't even in the country. The situation is squarely his own fault. He barks twice, trying to sound as unimpressed as a wolf can, and lowers his head, snuffling around their ankles-Chanyeol really needs to wash his feet, though Kyungsoo's canine nose kind of likes it. When none of them back down, he snorts and rolls onto his back, baring the soft fur of his belly. It's embarrassing, but he needs to let them know he's not a threat, no matter how tempting their human scent. Kyungsoo closes his eyes. The frantic adrenaline from minutes ago has evaporated, leaving in its place the unguarded disinterest of an animal that knows it has survived another day. The house smells like human sweat and strange, faintly acidic herbs. Cautiously, after several long moments, Chanyeol's hand finds its way behind his ears. After all that, this is where I end up, Kyungsoo thinks disgruntledly, resisting the urge to bite. There are no reins on a beast's desire, but his has only led him here.
"I feel so humiliated," Kyungsoo says the next morning.
Wearing a clean set of robes fetched from his bedroom, he hunches over the kitchen table under a cheerful sun, nursing his post-transformation hangover with a mug of tea.
"Personally, I thought you were really touching."
"I agree, Jongdae," Chanyeol interjects before Kyungsoo can make a retort. "I especially liked the part where Kyungsoo realized, you know, we're like his pack-" Kyungsoo lifts his wand and Chanyeol's mouth snaps shut with a flinch.
"Isn't using 'pack' against your sensitivity training, Mr. Ministry of Magical Creatures?" Baekhyun surreptitiously doubles the amount of chocolate chips in the bowl of pancake batter that Chanyeol has clutched to his chest. "Anyway, you guys didn't even see the way he looked when he showed up at my feet, out of the blue. I thought I was going to cry."
"Goodbye," Kyungsoo says firmly. "I'm going back to Minseok's house." He pauses, waiting for the playful clamour to quiet down, and continues, "After you tell me what you guys were thinking with that penguin potion."
The pancake Chanyeol was spinning above his head falls to the table with a loud slap. Jongdae's mouth opens and curls into the beginnings of a nervous, apologetic smile, but nothing comes out. In the silence, the fat drip of batter oozing off the edge of the table becomes absurdly loud.
So there is a reason. Kyungsoo's fingers tighten around his mug.
Baekhyun is the first to break the ice, leaning forward to look Kyungsoo in the eye. "We're-I'm sorry. It was the first thing I had on hand, but I shouldn't have done that. To you, I mean."
"Yeah." Jongdae clears his throat and licks his lips, his brows slanted in worry. "I'm sorry, Kyungsoo. It was really insensitive of us."
"I'm sorry too," Chanyeol ventures.
"Thank you." Kyungsoo glances down at his tea, at the broken nail of his thumb pressing a faint groove into the surface of the table. "But that's not an explanation."
The other three exchange glances, and Kyungsoo is surprised to see Baekhyun looking genuinely reluctant to speak.
"We, uh." Chanyeol pulls out his chair and sits down, clasping his hands in his lap. He jiggles his right foot and expels a long breath. "Never told the landlord you were living here. We never told him. Lycanthropes aren't allowed by building regulations."
"The first time Baekhyun turned you into a penguin, when those officers from Magical Law Enforcement came by," Jongdae bursts out. "It wasn't a disturbance check, we knew they were coming. Someone heard something or saw something and called them. The report accidentally went through Chanyeol's desk. So we knew about it."
"And the second time, when I caught Jongdae…" Kyungsoo says slowly.
"I guess they thought we were suspicious because they came around again. You need special insurance and infrastructure to house a werewolf." Chanyeol sounds faintly miserable, like he's rattling off an office memo.
"But you can come home now," says Baekhyun. "They came by when you were at Minseok's, and we made sure everything looked perfect. Chanyeol says the report was marked resolved."
Chanyeol nods immediately, but to Kyungsoo the decision has already been made, decided as soon as Chanyeol began this conversation. They're telling him the threat is gone, but what Kyungsoo understands is that this won't be the last time. Chanyeol's sister's director, he knows, has a relative who was maimed by Fenrir Greyback in the Second Wizarding War. It won't do Yura any favours to have a brother who is illegally housing a werewolf. He's found the conviction he needs for the choice he's been considering for the past few months, the one he came close to discarding last night. If he stays here, Kyungsoo will never be able to let his guard down, against the Ministry or against his friends' best attempts to save him.
"I'm going to move out." As the words leave him, Kyungsoo realizes they hold none of the twisted frustration or annoyance that he felt so keenly when they were just a thought. Stripped down, the decision becomes inarguable, another type of logistics.
Chanyeol opens his mouth to argue anyway, but Kyungsoo heads him off. "In the best case scenario, we keep evading Magical Law Enforcement with you guys springing cover-ups on me until I die twenty years early from the stress. Worst case scenario, all of us get caught and your careers go down the drain while I get put in processing."
"We won't spring anything on you," Chanyeol promises. "Not anymore."
"That doesn't make turning into a penguin or hiding out in someone else's home any less stressful." Kyungsoo points out.
"Where are you going to live?" asks Baekhyun.
"I'll stay at Minseok's until I figure things out, but you guys aren't the only real estate in town, even for werewolves." Kyungsoo's lips quirk. "Actually, you guys aren't any real estate at all, since I'm not allowed here." Baekhyun has the grace to look a little ashamed.
They lapse into silence. Chanyeol opens and closes his mouth a few times, face scrunched in frustration, like he's defeating his own arguments before he can make them.
"We want you to stay," Jongdae finally says, though his face reflects a vague, regretful acceptance. It didn't have to be said; Kyungsoo can feel the sincerity in their actions, however misguided, but it's unexpectedly heartwarming to hear. They've tried hard to keep him, and he likes that.
"I know," Kyungsoo says, and lets himself admit, "Me too." He's surprised by how much he means it. Maybe in this situation, the four of them are closer to best friends than he thought.
Kyungsoo spends another peaceful week and a half at Minseok's house, searching for a new place to live, before he sits down midway through wrestling with a Snargaluff and pulls out a sheet of parchment. He bandages the thorn-inflicted cuts on his arms, then takes one of the harvested pods in hand, working to break it open as he thinks about how to begin. Minseok's house isn't big, but it's large enough for two. Kyungsoo enjoys taking care of the plants, and there are the reinforced rooms. It's ideal to the point where he feels his heart quicken whenever he lets himself imagine living here for real. He has no idea if Minseok has ever considered having a housemate, and it's probably an imposition to inquire without being invited, but Kyungsoo dumps the extracted Snargaluff tubers into a bowl, wipes his hands, and puts his quill to the parchment. For once, it can't hurt to ask for what he wants.
"You said we could visit today. It's been a month," Chanyeol's head in the fireplace huffs. "We're supposed to bring you potions ingredients. What are you gonna do without them? Run over to our place again?"
Kyungsoo sighs. "Fine, you can come." He touches the bruise on his cheek. "If a Bouncing Bulb smacks you in the face, don't say I didn't warn you. They're rowdy today."
He almost regrets it when all three of them tumble out of the fireplace and straight into the Flitterbloom vines. After a minor scuffle, during which Kyungsoo has to yell for them not to blast the plants, it's not Devil's Snare you idiots, it's daytime, they manage to untangle themselves with minimal damage.
"Wow, it's like a greenhouse in here," Jongdae says brightly, dusting himself off.
"Don't touch anything." Kyungsoo finishes inspecting the Flitterbloom plants, which are thankfully only slightly wilted. "That's poisonous"-directed at Baekhyun, who's about to pinch a leaf of Sneezewort, and Baekhyun yanks his hand back like it's on fire-"to livestock."
"Ugh. You're like a live-in gardener," Baekhyun groans. "Are you sure Minseok didn't get the better end of the deal? You pay him rent, and you babysit his plants."
"I like it. Besides, he'll take care of them himself when he comes back." Minseok had replied to Kyungsoo a week after Kyungsoo wrote to him, to say that his stay in China had been extended until the end of the year, and that having Kyungsoo move in would be perfect, actually. Kyungsoo casts a restorative spell over the Flitterbloom plants to sooth their frazzled nerves, then rises from his crouch. "I'll show you the rest of the house."
Leading them through the living room, Kyungsoo suddenly stops and sniffs the air. His sense of smell heightens the closer it gets to the full moon, and there's an intrusive musk setting him on edge. "What is that? Were you guys with a dog?"
"Chanyeol dragged us to a Muggle pet shop to look at puppies," Baekhyun says. "Because you were so cute last time."
"Hey," Chanyeol defends. "You thought he was cute too."
"I keep telling him, why get a dog when we can just rub Kyungsoo's belly every month," Jongdae cracks.
Kyungsoo snatches the bag of potions ingredients out of Chanyeol's hand and ushers all three back in the direction of the fireplace. "All right, I moved out for a reason." He tosses in a handful of Floo powder and shoves a protesting Chanyeol through headfirst. "Get out of my sight."
Don't get a dog, he owls them later. Territory issues, he doesn't say. That would be giving away too much, and Kyungsoo figures after last month, they already have enough ammunition on his affections.
A/N:
- i'm not well-versed in HP au, so apologies for all and any nonsensical extrapolations/assumptions i may have made about the universe /___\
- an enormous thank you to EC&C for saving both my life and my dialogue tags T____________T