[team two] horrors of the heart
some HP!AU for halloween, yay.
Taiga + Jesse mostly | PG-ish | 1,460 words
He is growing more and more concerned by the second. Juri should be back already, he’s only gone to the bathroom? Taiga glances over his shoulder along the dungeon corridor but sees no sight of Juri. He sighs and takes a couple of steps as the queue in front of him moves again.
Hallowe’en is a bit different at Hogwarts this year. The teachers have prepared numerous scary and Hallowe’en themed attractions around the castle and the students have time to explore them before the huge feast in the evening. From what Taiga has heard, there are the scariest ghost stories in the library, some rare and intimidating magical creatures out in the yard, a unique opportunity to learn funny (yet harmless) hexes or jinxes in the Charms classroom and then this one they’re currently queuing to: an enchanted haunted house that’s been created in one of the larger dungeons.
The haunted house is only for students fifth-year or older and apparently many different teachers have added charms and obstacles there; Taiga’s heard talk about a boggart or a real vampire, but he doubts at least the latter. He and Juri are not super excited about the horror element in general, but they don’t want to be the only seventh-year Slytherins not trying it, so here they are.
Or, at least Taiga is.
The queue moves forward again and Taiga glances around him. They only let people enter in pairs for safety reasons, so if Juri doesn’t return soon, he’d have to give up the spot. He suspects none of the giggling Hufflepuff girls behind him would want to accompany him.
When there are only a couple of pairs before Taiga, (where the hell is Juri?) something unfathomable happens. Juri doesn’t return; instead, a couple of seventh-year Gryffindors appear by the queue. One of them is none other than Jesse Lewis.
Taiga automatically lowers his head and feels his cheeks heat up - his uncomfortable reaction to the annoying Gryffindor captain ever since the incident at the Quidditch changing room. Taiga’s tried his best to forget about it all but seems unable to. Jesse in turn probably doesn’t even recognize or remember Taiga.
That luckily seems to be the case now, as the Gryffindors loiter by the queue near the entrance, seeming to negotiate about something.
There’s only one pair before Taiga now, and he’s just thinking of leaving the queue since Juri’s not back, when the Gryffindors suddenly push Jesse forward.
“Now Jesse, that dude seems to be alone!”
“What-?” Taiga doesn’t have time to process what’s happening before he’s already ushered forward by their Potions teacher at the entrance.
“Next pair, please!”
“I’m... I’m not with him!” Taiga stutters, gesturing to Jesse who’s been pushed beside him.
“You cannot enter alone,” the teacher says. “Either you go together or don’t go at all.”
“No, no, we’ll go!” Jesse pipes in and lightly pushes Taiga through the black curtain and into the haunted house before he has time to protest at all.
It’s pitch black inside.
Lumos, Taiga thinks and lights his wand, seeing a narrow and uneven passage forward. There’s a greenish glow coming from somewhere and he can hear muffled shouts and screams ahead, probably from the students that entered before them.
Something bumps into him in the darkness, and he has to take a step or two to steady himself. It takes him a moment to realize it was Jesse. When Taiga moves to the side, he feels Jesse following him, pressing against his back.
“What the hell?” Taiga demands, raising his wand and the light. “I was waiting for my friend to go with him.”
“Ah yeah, sorry,” Jesse says and lets out a laugh that sounds almost nervous. “I had a dare I had to do.”
Taiga rolls his eyes. Of course. Dumb Gryffindors and their annoying need to constantly prove how oh, so brave and fearless they are. Only Jesse doesn’t seem very brave or fearless right now.
When Taiga takes a couple of steps, Jesse follows closely behind him like a weird, giant shadow. Taiga feels him even grabbing at the back of his robe.
“What are you doing?” he blurts.
“Uh, well...”
Then it hits him.
“Are you scared?”
“No!” Jesse denies immediately.
Right at that moment, Taiga hears a faint flapping noise and two small, dark spots (most likely, hopefully, bats) suddenly fly over them. Taiga startles a bit by them but Jesse full on shrieks, covering his head and again pressing against Taiga like he could protect the helpless Gryffindor against any danger.
“Um, you were saying?”
“Okay, yes, I’m scared!” Jesse admits grudgingly. “Just… get us out of here quickly and I’ll owe you.”
Huh. That’s interesting, Taiga thinks. It could be useful to have Jesse Lewis being in debt to him. How exactly, that remains to be seen. Also, Taiga has to admit it’s pretty hilarious seeing the popular Quidditch captain crouching and squealing because of a haunted house.
”Alright,” Taiga finally says. ”Follow me then. BUT if we actually run into a boggart or something, you better help me.”
-
Luckily, they don’t see boggarts or vampires but the route is full of other jumpscares and booby traps, like thick old curtains full of Cornish Pixies and enormous, sticky spider webs in one passage. After they’ve fought their way through them, they see (and this scares Taiga as well) a huge black spider reaching its front legs towards them. It’s only after they’ve both shouted and clung to each other in fright that they notice the spider only being a moving tapestry on the wall.
Taiga quickly lets go of Jesse and busies himself with fixing his robes, being grateful of the darkness as his face is probably flushed again.
The way through the haunted house is a weird ordeal altogether. On one hand, Taiga’s annoyed by the burdensome Gryffindor that keeps clinging to him and wails constantly; on the other, he’s annoyed because Jesse’s proximity and his hands on Taiga’s shoulders raise his heart rate more than the actual horror attraction.
And the farther they make it the more Taiga is used to his noisy and clingy shadow. At times, fleetingly, Taiga even finds himself thinking that Jesse’s low wails and distressed mumbling are kind of cute.
“Aah, ah, shit. I hate this. Aah! Aah. Let’s hurry, Kyomoto! Aah! What was that?”
“I don’t know...”
They round another corner and suddenly hear weird rustling and growling somewhere behind them. Jesse curses and hurries his steps, bumping into Taiga and forcing him to quicken the pace, too. Taiga feels like they must be near the end, since they’ve been inside the haunted house for several minutes already.
“There’s something coming from behind!” Jesse squeals.
“Okay, shall we just... make a dash for it?” Taiga asks on a whim.
“W-what?”
“Let’s run and hope there won’t be a boggart or anything in our way.”
“Okay!”
Taiga grabs Jesse’s hand (only out of necessity, he tells himself) and they run.
They see floating pumpkin lanterns with an eerie, greenish glow; bony, dark arms reaching from the shadows, clawing at their robes as they sprint past; and just before the exit that looms ahead, something crunches awfully and breaks under their steps. Taiga doesn’t dare to look what it could be.
They run towards the exit and hear weird shouts and banging from behind them, but don’t waste time looking over their shoulders. Taiga reaches for the dark curtains and they rush through them, out of the haunted house and into a torch-lit dungeon corridor. The curtains behind them fall back, blocking all the noises from the haunted house.
For a few moments both of them catch their breaths, Jesse muttering “oh shit, thank god, that was the worst ever...”
“Well, we made it,” Taiga then states. “So you owe me.”
Jesse glances at him and smiles that stupid smile that makes his stupid handsome face even more attractive. Damn it.
“I do,” Jesse confirms. “Thanks. And sorry? I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t tell everyone at school that...”
“That you’re a big wuss?” Taiga offers with a grin. Jesse shoves him with his shoulder.
“HEY!”
The shout down the corridor makes both Taiga and Jesse twitch and they automatically jump apart, and only then let go of each other’s hands. Taiga feels his face heating up again.
Juri is stomping towards them, the couple of Gryffindor students who had shoved Jesse in the queue following closely behind him.
“Here you are, what the hell happened?” Juri demands.
Taiga quickly glances between Juri and Jesse (his heart is still hammering) and decides that attack is the best form of defense.
“That’s my line.”
tokyoskater, your turn!
Taiga + Jesse mostly | PG-ish | 1,460 words
He is growing more and more concerned by the second. Juri should be back already, he’s only gone to the bathroom? Taiga glances over his shoulder along the dungeon corridor but sees no sight of Juri. He sighs and takes a couple of steps as the queue in front of him moves again.
Hallowe’en is a bit different at Hogwarts this year. The teachers have prepared numerous scary and Hallowe’en themed attractions around the castle and the students have time to explore them before the huge feast in the evening. From what Taiga has heard, there are the scariest ghost stories in the library, some rare and intimidating magical creatures out in the yard, a unique opportunity to learn funny (yet harmless) hexes or jinxes in the Charms classroom and then this one they’re currently queuing to: an enchanted haunted house that’s been created in one of the larger dungeons.
The haunted house is only for students fifth-year or older and apparently many different teachers have added charms and obstacles there; Taiga’s heard talk about a boggart or a real vampire, but he doubts at least the latter. He and Juri are not super excited about the horror element in general, but they don’t want to be the only seventh-year Slytherins not trying it, so here they are.
Or, at least Taiga is.
The queue moves forward again and Taiga glances around him. They only let people enter in pairs for safety reasons, so if Juri doesn’t return soon, he’d have to give up the spot. He suspects none of the giggling Hufflepuff girls behind him would want to accompany him.
When there are only a couple of pairs before Taiga, (where the hell is Juri?) something unfathomable happens. Juri doesn’t return; instead, a couple of seventh-year Gryffindors appear by the queue. One of them is none other than Jesse Lewis.
Taiga automatically lowers his head and feels his cheeks heat up - his uncomfortable reaction to the annoying Gryffindor captain ever since the incident at the Quidditch changing room. Taiga’s tried his best to forget about it all but seems unable to. Jesse in turn probably doesn’t even recognize or remember Taiga.
That luckily seems to be the case now, as the Gryffindors loiter by the queue near the entrance, seeming to negotiate about something.
There’s only one pair before Taiga now, and he’s just thinking of leaving the queue since Juri’s not back, when the Gryffindors suddenly push Jesse forward.
“Now Jesse, that dude seems to be alone!”
“What-?” Taiga doesn’t have time to process what’s happening before he’s already ushered forward by their Potions teacher at the entrance.
“Next pair, please!”
“I’m... I’m not with him!” Taiga stutters, gesturing to Jesse who’s been pushed beside him.
“You cannot enter alone,” the teacher says. “Either you go together or don’t go at all.”
“No, no, we’ll go!” Jesse pipes in and lightly pushes Taiga through the black curtain and into the haunted house before he has time to protest at all.
It’s pitch black inside.
Lumos, Taiga thinks and lights his wand, seeing a narrow and uneven passage forward. There’s a greenish glow coming from somewhere and he can hear muffled shouts and screams ahead, probably from the students that entered before them.
Something bumps into him in the darkness, and he has to take a step or two to steady himself. It takes him a moment to realize it was Jesse. When Taiga moves to the side, he feels Jesse following him, pressing against his back.
“What the hell?” Taiga demands, raising his wand and the light. “I was waiting for my friend to go with him.”
“Ah yeah, sorry,” Jesse says and lets out a laugh that sounds almost nervous. “I had a dare I had to do.”
Taiga rolls his eyes. Of course. Dumb Gryffindors and their annoying need to constantly prove how oh, so brave and fearless they are. Only Jesse doesn’t seem very brave or fearless right now.
When Taiga takes a couple of steps, Jesse follows closely behind him like a weird, giant shadow. Taiga feels him even grabbing at the back of his robe.
“What are you doing?” he blurts.
“Uh, well...”
Then it hits him.
“Are you scared?”
“No!” Jesse denies immediately.
Right at that moment, Taiga hears a faint flapping noise and two small, dark spots (most likely, hopefully, bats) suddenly fly over them. Taiga startles a bit by them but Jesse full on shrieks, covering his head and again pressing against Taiga like he could protect the helpless Gryffindor against any danger.
“Um, you were saying?”
“Okay, yes, I’m scared!” Jesse admits grudgingly. “Just… get us out of here quickly and I’ll owe you.”
Huh. That’s interesting, Taiga thinks. It could be useful to have Jesse Lewis being in debt to him. How exactly, that remains to be seen. Also, Taiga has to admit it’s pretty hilarious seeing the popular Quidditch captain crouching and squealing because of a haunted house.
”Alright,” Taiga finally says. ”Follow me then. BUT if we actually run into a boggart or something, you better help me.”
-
Luckily, they don’t see boggarts or vampires but the route is full of other jumpscares and booby traps, like thick old curtains full of Cornish Pixies and enormous, sticky spider webs in one passage. After they’ve fought their way through them, they see (and this scares Taiga as well) a huge black spider reaching its front legs towards them. It’s only after they’ve both shouted and clung to each other in fright that they notice the spider only being a moving tapestry on the wall.
Taiga quickly lets go of Jesse and busies himself with fixing his robes, being grateful of the darkness as his face is probably flushed again.
The way through the haunted house is a weird ordeal altogether. On one hand, Taiga’s annoyed by the burdensome Gryffindor that keeps clinging to him and wails constantly; on the other, he’s annoyed because Jesse’s proximity and his hands on Taiga’s shoulders raise his heart rate more than the actual horror attraction.
And the farther they make it the more Taiga is used to his noisy and clingy shadow. At times, fleetingly, Taiga even finds himself thinking that Jesse’s low wails and distressed mumbling are kind of cute.
“Aah, ah, shit. I hate this. Aah! Aah. Let’s hurry, Kyomoto! Aah! What was that?”
“I don’t know...”
They round another corner and suddenly hear weird rustling and growling somewhere behind them. Jesse curses and hurries his steps, bumping into Taiga and forcing him to quicken the pace, too. Taiga feels like they must be near the end, since they’ve been inside the haunted house for several minutes already.
“There’s something coming from behind!” Jesse squeals.
“Okay, shall we just... make a dash for it?” Taiga asks on a whim.
“W-what?”
“Let’s run and hope there won’t be a boggart or anything in our way.”
“Okay!”
Taiga grabs Jesse’s hand (only out of necessity, he tells himself) and they run.
They see floating pumpkin lanterns with an eerie, greenish glow; bony, dark arms reaching from the shadows, clawing at their robes as they sprint past; and just before the exit that looms ahead, something crunches awfully and breaks under their steps. Taiga doesn’t dare to look what it could be.
They run towards the exit and hear weird shouts and banging from behind them, but don’t waste time looking over their shoulders. Taiga reaches for the dark curtains and they rush through them, out of the haunted house and into a torch-lit dungeon corridor. The curtains behind them fall back, blocking all the noises from the haunted house.
For a few moments both of them catch their breaths, Jesse muttering “oh shit, thank god, that was the worst ever...”
“Well, we made it,” Taiga then states. “So you owe me.”
Jesse glances at him and smiles that stupid smile that makes his stupid handsome face even more attractive. Damn it.
“I do,” Jesse confirms. “Thanks. And sorry? I’d also appreciate it if you didn’t tell everyone at school that...”
“That you’re a big wuss?” Taiga offers with a grin. Jesse shoves him with his shoulder.
“HEY!”
The shout down the corridor makes both Taiga and Jesse twitch and they automatically jump apart, and only then let go of each other’s hands. Taiga feels his face heating up again.
Juri is stomping towards them, the couple of Gryffindor students who had shoved Jesse in the queue following closely behind him.
“Here you are, what the hell happened?” Juri demands.
Taiga quickly glances between Juri and Jesse (his heart is still hammering) and decides that attack is the best form of defense.
“That’s my line.”
tokyoskater, your turn!