Chapter Text
Ah, the first time that Joonghyuk had met Dokja Malfoy…
- - - {Flashback} - - -
Joonghyuk Potter was sitting in the Hogwarts Express, admiring the scenery from out of his window, as Jihye Weasley and Sangah Granger chatted about the history of Hogwarts and some bits of Greek Mythology.
The door to the train carriage they were in opened swiftly.
“Ah, the rumor that Joonghyuk Potter was right in this train, embarking on his journey to Hogwarts had made its way to my ears… Say, you must be him?”
“...”
It was that pale boy from Madam Malkin’s shop. Pale hair, pale skin, pale gray eyes. Pale everything, basically.
“Well, I’m Dokja, Dokja Malfoy – I don’t think I introduced myself properly last time – and I’d like to ask if you’d want to be friends. You know, you don’t really want to hang out with the wrong sort , so you could hang out with me and my cool Slytherin friends.”
“...”
A snicker escaped from Jihye’s lips.
“Hey you, are you laughing at me? Haa… Red hair and a hand-me-down robe… You’re another one of those pesky Weasleys.”
Joonghyuk Potter was thinking. Based off Jihye’s rant about how awful Slytherins were, and how awful the Malfoys were, and how the awful Malfoys were awful Slytherins, and the fact that he just insulted Jihye ( awfully ), who was the first friend he had made, Joonghyuk decided to reply with a curt, “I think I can choose who’s the wrong sort myself.”
Visibly taken aback, Dokja’s face scrunched into a frown.
“All right then, you can go and stay with the lame-ass Weasley and mudblood Granger. But just so you know, from this day forward, you’ll be suffering with the insufferable, low-class, impure group. I hope you’ll enjoy that.”
“I will.”
And then he left, with an obvious scowl on his beautiful face.
***
Joonghyuk Potter had, once again, entered the familiar Hogwarts grounds. There was a musky scent in the air, followed by tall, grand, dark walls that seemed to extend forever and ever and ever and a foot.
Ah, sixth year. How lovely.
It was weird. Everything was weird. Heewon Bell had gotten tortured by a cursed opal necklace, Sangah had come crying to Jihye and himself about a letter she received from her parents – urging her to wed some rich conglomerate pureblood or whatnot, and Hyunsung Longbottom and Heewon Bell got together. (Joonghyuk didn’t really understand all this “romance”, rather it seemed like a sort of waste of time and effort, considering Voldemort and all.)
Joonghyuk’s little sister, Mia, had just entered Hogwarts (previously staying with the cat-loving auntie right down Privet Drive), and was doing well in her academics, but had been selected to go to Slytherin, which kept Joonghyuk worrying that she'd get influenced by bad kids.
And then there was Dokja Malfoy, who was oddly suspicious. The necklace was obviously his doing, yet there was simply no evidence! Why else did he show up less and less frequently, looking even more malnourished, with dead eyes, and panda-like dark circles, and thinner cheeks if he wasn’t working for Voldemort’s Death Eaters? Heck, he had even bragged about it to his lackeys on the Hogwarts Express!
- - -
Dokja Malfoy was in the sixth-floor boy’s bathroom, at the basin, staring at the mirror, with the signature smug look of his wiped off his face. Joonghyuk Potter was about to go in and confront him about it all, and bring the truth to light-
Until he saw the tears rolling down that ruined face, from whose chapped lips seeped out a whispery sound,
"Myrtle, I really don't know what to do anymore… If I don't successfully complete this mission, by my own hands, he'll send me back to that place…"
Squeak. Joonghyuk half-slipped on the floor just outside the bathroom.
Shit.
"W-Who's there?" His voice somehow turned even more shaky, followed by short breaths.
Joonghyuk stepped into his field of view.
"Potter! How much… How much did you hear?"
"..."
"Cruci-" The tears continued streaming down his face.
"Sercumseptra!"
At the time, Joonghyuk had believed that this spell was a relatively harmless one, a joke of sorts…
Slashes and cuts and lacerations formed, splitting apart the thin layer of skin on Dokja. A pool of blood collected under the fallen, almost lifeless body.
No, no, no matter how much Joonghyuk had detested, no, hated, no, loathed the very being of Dokja Malfoy, he would never, never want to hurt him in such a fatal way!
- - -
It was a blur, somehow, in a flash, that Kygrios Snape came and brought Dokja to the Hospital Wing, but it all happened.
And then, while waiting, near the nurses, near Dokja’s bed, which was curtained up, he heard a snippet of conversation.
“It seems there were… old scars and bruises, indications of…” Madam Pomfrey – Seolhwa unnie – people called her, muttered to Snape. Joonghyuk couldn’t hear the last bit clearly.
“I see,” Snape said, before hastily leaving to teach the remainder of his classes.
Then,
“Um, Madam – no, Seolhwa unnie, did you, uh, see…” Dokja muttered as he finally woke up.
“Oh, my dear, don’t worry about that.”
“...Please don’t tell my father.”
But before Joonghyuk could catch anything important, the shrill voice of Jihye and Sangah reached his ears.
“Hey, Joonghyuk! You alright?”
“Joonghyuk-ssi, are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m fine,” He replied, half-heartedly, still pondering about Dokja whilst having the feeling of guilt weigh like a thousand elephants were dancing on his stomach.
***
At the end of that dreadful year, Joonghyuk’s suspicions were proven right.
“I… I can’t do this, but he’ll send me back, my father, he’ll send me back to that god-forsaken place… I… I’m so utterly sorry Dumbledore, but I couldn’t just give up everything without trying…” Dokja trailed off, as they stood on one of the school’s towers, whilst he broke down, “It was my mission to let the Death Eaters in… and then… to… well, kill you, but I know now that it was a failure since the beginning, due to my cowardice,”
“Child, do not worry about an old one such as me. You have a bright future ahead of you, do not spoil it by murdering, lest you become a monster such as Voldemort… I know you have a good heart, so keep it that way. Endure what you must endure, good things come to those who pull through,”
Dokja’s face showed a pained expression, as if Dumbledore had shoved a chunk of lemon in his mouth,
“I see,” he said, understanding that the headmaster didn’t understand.
‘Of course, of course you’d tell me to go back to that wretched place, you’re just like everyone else…’
Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, Snape appeared, once again.
“Bihyung,”
“Kyrgios, please,” Dumbledore was at the edge of the tower, near the balcony..
And with a flick of his wand, and an “Avada kedavra!” Bihyung Dumbledore lay dead, fallen from the tower.
Rage filled Joonghyuk Potter’s very soul. Dumbledore was the closest parental figure that he had besides that cat lady, since his own father and mother had died, leaving him and Mia all alone.
It had been when he was seven, Mia a mere one-year-old baby… All he could remember were his mother’s striking green eyes and warm gaze, which he sometimes met in his dreams… Everything else had been washed away from the depths of his memory.
As Hogwarts burned in the flames of chaos and evil, Joonghyuk spent his time pursuing Snape, that-
“It was preposterous of you, truly. For I am that ‘Half-Blood Prince’ , and it was ridiculous, utterly and absolutely ridiculous, for you to attempt the very spell I had crafted…”
Joonghyuk Potter did not win. He had lost a part of his family. He had lost to Snape. He had lost to Dokja, having not found it out and stopping him earlier. But he hadn't lost to Voldemort, not yet.
***
Joonghyuk returned to his empty house on Privet Drive. It was only a few blocks away from the cat lady’s house, yet it exuded such a different aura, just blank, devoid of anything other than him and Mia. He planned on finding the last of Voldemort’s horcruxes with Jihye and Sangah, but had to pack some stuff up from here, which would take a few days.
As he strolled across the street, collecting his thoughts, having left Mia in the care of the cat lady, again, he noticed a stick-like figure pass by, with an assortment of bandages stuck on his face, jet-black hair and vacant eyes that resembled black holes that wandered across the splendid universe… He had seen this face before, somewhere, somehow, but where?