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Seo Manor became visible as soon as he stepped out of the forest. The weathered, grey brick of its walls was imposing against the backdrop of the moors. Despite its size, the manor fit in perfectly with the landscape, the miles and miles of plane, untamed land that made Yuta’s fingers itch to take his broom for a ride. He supposed that Johnny would have let him too if Yuta would have asked, but that was not what he had come here for.
You’re overdramatic, Yuta could hear Sicheng’s voice scold him gently in his head.
Yuta shook off the reason his better half provided him with. While Yuta had no problem admitting that Sicheng was usually right when it came to, well, everything, this time Yuta was undeterred. Throughout the years, he had come to tolerate—you love him, dear, this pretend dislike that you both keep up is both painfully obvious to see through and tiring to witness—Johnny and the rest of the former Slytherin that came along with him and by now, Yuta could admit that Johnny was a good man, if rarely for the right reasons, but that didn’t mean that Yuta felt any hesitation towards ending his life. Because that’s what he had come here for.
He had come to seek revenge. He had come to possibly find the body of his best friend. He had come to kill Johnny Seo.
Yuta had been preparing himself for the day he would kill Johnny since he had been fifteen. Admittedly, Yuta hadn’t expected the day to come so soon after Johnny had exhibited nothing but his best boyfriend behaviour towards Taeyong since they had gotten together, but hat didn’t mean Yuta wasn’t ready. He was. It was Sicheng’s voice inside his head, mostly, that kept Yuta from blowing up Seo Manor on first sight.
Dropping the portkey in his hand—a brassen circlet that was precisely the kind of artfully crafted heirloom that made Yuta despise Johnny for discarding it as unimportant enough to function as a portkey—Yuta made his way across the damp lands with steady strides.
The front doors of Seo Manor were just as sumptuous as the rest of the building, black-varnished wood endowed with silver adornments and a golden door knocker, and if Yuta hadn’t spent the better part of his childhood in a castle that yet outdid the mansion in front of him in size and grandeur, then he might have been intimdated. But he had grown up at Hogwarts and so he pulled his shoulders back and held his head high as he knocked. A short glance at the fire-resistant pocket watch Doyoung had gotten him for his last birthday made Yuta frown. Two weeks, three days and fourteen hours.
The door opened.
Besides being a good partner to the man Yuta considered his brother, the other consistent thing that Johnny had kept up during the past four years was to grow out his hair. It had gotten long, long enough to be bound up in a small knot at the top of Johnny’s head and Yuta cursed that it suited him. In the beginning, it been a bet between Doyoung and Johnny during seventh year about which one of the two could grow out their hair longer until graduation and while Doyoung had eventually given in to his annoyance at constantly having to flick his fringe out of his eyes, Johnny had persisted. Yuta suspected that the joyful look in Taeyong’s eyes whenever he got to braid little flowers into Johnny’s hair might have played a part in that.
“Yuta,” Johnny smiled at him. “What a pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect you.”
“Cut the bullshit, Seo!” Yuta didn’t hesitate to push past Johnny into the house. A quick glance around the entry hall told him that there was no one else in the house who had been attracted by his knocking. It made Yuta’s stomach tie itself into knots. “Where is he?”
“Where is who?” When Yuta looked back at him, he found Johnny looking at him with confusion written all over his face. “Are you talking about Taeyong?”
His name was enough to make Yuta blow up. “Of course, I’m talking about Taeyong!”
His voice echoed in the high expanse of the entry hall, but Johnny didn’t back away from him. Instead, he took a step closer, his hands raised as if to be placating and it was only then that Yuta realised Johnny was wearing pajamas. They were made from silk, the fabric moving like water across his skin and undoubtedly more expensive than a month’s worth of Yuta’s salary, but pajamas nonetheless.
“Are you in your sleep clothes still?”
The smile returned to Johnny’s features, slow and curling like the snake that he was, still was and forever would be. Yuta wanted to step on his toes. It would hurt, too, because Johnny’s feet were bare pressing into the carpet and Yuta hadn’t bothered changing out of his dragon-leather boots. “Yuta, why are you here? What’s up with Taeyong?”
“He’s missing.”
“Missing?” Johnny’s eyebrows quirked upwards in surprise before he laughed. “I doubt that.”
Yuta crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Don’t make fun of me, I’ll hex your nose off.”
“I’m not making fun of you, Yuta, you know I’d be the first person to roam the earth if Taeyong ever went missing. But I know for a fact that he is not because I had breakfast with him just this morning. I can assure you Taeyong’s fine and well.”
Yuta hated the way he felt the tension in his shoulders leave at the soothing tone in Johnny’s voice. He didn’t want to be consoled. He wanted his brother. Johnny took a step closer to him and this time Yuta felt like a cornered animal, circled by its predator. Johnny’s hands came to rest on his shoulders. “What’s this really about? Aren’t you supposed to be in Bulgaria for another week? Taking care of your dragons?”
“The dragons will be fine without me.” Yuta exhaled through his nose. “What’s not fine is that Taeyong hasn’t contacted me in two weeks, three days and fourteen hours. He’s written me a letter every day since I’ve been deployed up until seventeen days ago. He’s missing, Johnny. That’s the only explanation.”
Yuta had expected to laugh at him (or run to hide the body before Yuta could find it), but Johnny did neither of these things. Instead, his expression softened. He searched Yuta’s eyes before he let go of his shoulders and grabbed onto Yuta’s wrist instead. On Johnny’s own hand, Yuta could see the thick, paled scar he had put there.
“Come with me.”
“Where are we going?”
“The salon,” Johnny’s smile turned devious. “Let’s have a drink.”
Yuta hesitated. “It’s three in the afternoon.”
“It’s one drink, and if you take to it that badly you’re always welcome to crash in one of the guest bedrooms.”
One of the guest bedrooms, Yuta thought and rolled his eyes. Rich people were a pest.
Nonetheless, he followed Johnny across the hall and into the salon he was familiar with from the past four Christmas’ Eves he had spent here. Murder was still on the top of his list, but he could also feel the warmth of the house and Yuta was only human. After months surrounded by fire-breathing monsters with warm bellies, he wasn’t used to the drizzly cold of his home climate anymore and he wanted to get to the bottom of this.
“Stay here,” Johnny told him after he had pushed him down on the plush sofa closest to the fire place. “I’ll be right back.”
Yuta spent the time Johnny left the room studying the swords on the walls, wondering whether they were made from real iron and how much they were worth. The walls were hung full with ornamental pieces of all sizes and shapes, some pulsing with magic and some silent as the earth. The display of old money left a disdainful taste in Yuta’s mouth as he wondered into how many meals any of the heirlooms hanging from the walls would have translated. It was a reflex, a link in his brain that the real hunger he had experienced through his childhood had forged, but Yuta quickly forced himself to abandon the thought.
Truthfully, Yuta didn’t hate Johnny for being born rich. Johnny was spoiled, sure, but, gazing out of the large windows at the monolith that stood in the manor’s garden, towering and untouched by the nature surrounding it, Yuta knew that Johnny was poorer than him in aspects that Yuta didn’t even want to think about. Johnny had a mansion full of expensive trinkets to call his home and Yuta had his mother’s arms. He knew that he would have chosen his mother’s arms over being rich any time of the day, and that Johnny would have chosen the same.
“Blishen’s firewhisky.” Yuta jumped when Johnny returned to the salon, two glasses in his hands a loaf of something wedged under his arm. “And some banana bread Taeyong made. I was too lazy to carry proper plates over, but if you don’t tell, I won’t either.”
Yuta squinted as Johnny set down the drinks and food on the coffee table in front of him before he let himself fall onto the sofa next to Yuta. Yuta reached for the banana bread first, breaking off a piece before popping it into his mouth. The rich flavour of Taeyong’s baking exploded on his tongue and he let out a delighted sigh. It was proof that Taeyong hadn’t disappeared. No one else could bake like him.
He found Johnny smiling at him when he looked up. Yuta scowled, taking in Johnny’s relaxed appearance. “You still haven’t told me why you’re still in pajamas.”
Johnny snorted into his glass. “My job is to be an artistic soul for the time being, Yuta, aren’t I supposed to have my proclivities?”
“No, though I did receive your latest release in the mail. Unfortunately, Winwin wouldn’t let me burn the book before he got a chance to read it.”
“Really? Sicheng read it? Did he like it?” The smile that took over Johnny’s face was entirely too pleased for Yuta’s liking.
There had been a time when Yuta had felt fire in his veins at the pure thought of Johnny looking at Sicheng with any kind of affection, but by now he had long realised that the fondness in Johnny’s eyes whenever he looked at Sicheng was much closer to the expression he wore whenever he looked at his demon of a cousin than the unaltered expression of romantic love Johnny held for Taeyong.
“He uses it against me, Johnny. He knows I can’t stomach any of the spicy parts without throwing up so he reads it out loud when he wants me to fold laundry.”
Johnny gave a full-bellied laugh at that and Yuta found himself grinning along reflexively.
“The spicy parts, huh?” Johnny took a sip of his liquor. “Interesting.”
“Stop looking so smug, I know where you get the inspiration and I don’t ever want to think about Taeyong like that. You know I consider him my brother.”
“I know. He’s at the hospital, by the way, has been for the past two weeks. That’s why you haven’t heard from him. He’s got a big case at the moment.”
Yuta frowned, picking up his own glass. “What case could be that important that he forgets to write me over it?”
“It’s a kid, a sixteen year-old boy. He’s seeking asylum from the Ministry of Magic so that they don’t ship him back to his home country.”
Yuta frowned. He’d never heard of such a thing before. “He’s seeking asylum? For what? And why would he be in the hospital then?”
“Because he was bitten by a werewolf.” Yuta felt his heart still. “They quarantined him upon arrival. None of the other Healers want to treat him, so Taeyong has been with him day and night.”
Yuta felt anger stir in his chest. The word werewolf did not provoke in him the same reaction that other people felt. He didn’t think of mauled bodies and howls in the night. He thought of riding on his father’s back as a child, of laughter and sleeping in his mother’s arms during the nights when the moon stood fullest and his father was not with them.
“That’s discrimination.”
“It is, but there’s little we can do when the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is as unhelpful as ever and it’s not looking good on the legal side of things, either. I’m sure Sicheng will tell you all about it if you ask him tonight. He took on the boy’s case.”
“Winwinnie’s on it, too? Does everybody know except for me?” Yuta ignored the sharp pain in his chest. “Why did nobody tell me?”
Johnny’s expression softened. “Because Sichengie wouldn’t let us. He knew it would upset you and he didn’t want you distracted while you were busy taming dragons.”
Yuta didn’t bother explaining to Johnny that dragons could not be tamed, merely respected and befriended. Instead, he took another sip of his firewhisky and kicked the other man in the leg. “Right, that I understand. So that only leaves the question as to why you’re still not dressed.”
Johnny grinned at him. “I’ve been sad. Taeyong doesn’t have time for me at the moment and the tikes are back at Hogwarts, which means Seo Manor is empty during the day. Jaehyun is busy helping Sicheng build a case in front of the Wizengamot so that they don’t send his client back to where he will be killed off for his lycanthropy, meanwhile Tennie is somewhere in the Amazonian rainforest haggling with a tribe of local witches on behalf of his parents. Even Doyoung doesn’t have time for me, because apparently drilling the national Qudditich team into top form is more important than meeting up with me for lunch.” Johnny sighed. “Alas, I’m all alone.”
“You big baby,” Yuta snorted. “Go visit Taeil, then. Set the date at Kun’s café and you’ll see him, too.”
“I will.” Johnny grinned. “But that’s tomorrow, so today I don’t have to get dressed.”
With that, Johnny sprawled himself out on the sofa, all limbs outstretched. Yuta gave a defeated sigh before he rearranged Johnny’s arm on the backrest behind him so he could bed his head on his biceps. He was pleased when Johnny bent his arm to pet his hair.
They sat in comfortable silence for a while, listening to the rain hit the windows of the salon, watching the fire crackle in its chimney.
“I’m actually quite glad that you came by. I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
“Talk to me? About what?”
“About Taeyong.”
Yuta sat upright at that and Johnny followed suit. “What about Taeyong?”
There was a nervous flicker to his smile that Yuta wasn’t used to, wouldn’t have been able to picture on Johnny’s face if he hadn’t just seen it in the flesh.
“I’m going to ask him to marry me.”
For a moment, Yuta tasted bitter resentment. Not towards Johnny, but towards himself for feeling so envious that it seized his throat, his guts and his heart. Johnny was talking about the one thing he couldn’t have and Yuta hated him for it, hated himself as soon as he realised what he was thinking. He refused to feel like this. He refused to have such a negative reaction to something that would give his brother endless happiness. But there was also a rational side of him that needed to ask, “Why?”
Johnny’s smile was eternally calm, blissful in the knowledge that Taeyong would say yes. “Because I love him and he loves me?”
“That is fair.” Yuta nodded and forced himself to smile, because that was what his friends deserved. “Then maybe I should ask why now?”
At that, Johnny’s smile dimmed. “It’s not for my sake. It’s about Taeyoung.”
Yuta felt his heart still. “Is she—”
“No.” Johnny hastily shook his head. “No, she’s fine, stable for the moment.”
“For the moment,” Yuta echoed and Johnny nodded.
“Exactly. Taeyong’s been making progress on trying to find a cure for her, but I’m not taking that risk. If Taeyong and I are getting married then I want his mother to be there. I want Taeyong to be able to have her walk him down the aisle and dance with her, to cry in her arms and then leave them for me. He deserves those memories and I promised him once to give him everything, so I’m going to ask him now before it’s too late.”
Yuta thought, once again, of the monolith in the garden of Seo Manor and how unfair the world was. But that was not what he should be focussing on, so he didn’t.
“He’s going to say yes.” Yuta found that the smile came easy to his lips. “He loves you so much.”
“As I love him.” Johnny smiled into his drink before he looked up at Yuta. “Will you give me your blessing? Taeyongie doesn’t have a dad and I have permission from Taeyoung already, but I want your blessing too. You are his brother.”
Yuta considered that for a moment, trying to hold on his laughter at the way Johnny’s expression turned from earnest to panicked with every second that passed in silence.
“Of course, Johnny.” Absolution. He took another sip of firewhisky to wash away the remnants of envy on his tongue. “You have my blessing.”
He scrunched up his nose when Johnny searched forward to force a kiss onto his cheek, the expression in his eyes as warm as the buzz in Yuta’s belly from all the firewhisky. “Thank you, Yuta.”
“I suppose I don’t have to tell you what I will do to you if you make him unhappy?”
Johnny nodded. “Taeil already told me.”
“Taeil knows?” Yuta realised how stupid of a question that was when Johnny raised an eyebrow at him. “Right. He saw it?”
Johnny nodded. “He congratulated me the last time I saw him. I nearly threw a tea cup at him because Taeyong was in the room next over and I was scared he might have overheard. Taeil assured me he didn’t though and then he helped me pick out a ring.”
“You have the ring already?” Yuta leaned forward in curiosity. “Do you have it here?”
Johnny nodded and pulled out his wand. A quick Accio spell later and Yuta watched as Johnny caught the small wooden box that had come flying into the salon. Yuta didn’t bother raising an eyebrow when Johnny parselled at the box to get it to open. He accepted it gratefully when Johnny handed it to him and his mouth fell open when he looked at the ring laid out on the rich velvet lining.
It was a beautiful ring, made from gold and molded into the shape of two snakes much like the bracelets Taeyong and Johnny were wearing. Two jewels were embedded in the tops of their heads, one ruby and one diamond, catching in the light of the fire.
“It’s beautiful.” Yuta felt his throat dry as he gently traced the finer detailing of the snakes.
“It’s an heirloom.” Yuta nodded at Johnny’s words, he had expected as much. “It was my grandmother’s wedding band, but I think simple silver bands will do better for that. This makes for a good engagement ring though, don’t you think?”
“Yes.” Carefully, Yuta handed the box back to Johnny who closed it with another bout of parsel tongue. Even once it was closed, Yuta couldn’t take his eyes off the box and before he could think about it too much, he blurted out, “Winwin wants to get married, too.”
Johnny looked up at him in surprise before he broke into a blinding smile. “Really?”
“Yes, he does. Of course he didn’t outright ask, but I can tell whenever the topic comes up. He’s not very subtle in that aspect.” Yuta felt his heart hurt at the thought. “I told him no.”
Johnny spit some of the firewhisky he had been sipping back into his glass. “What? Why?”
“Because I can’t marry him.”
"Why not?” Johnny frowned at him, setting down his glass to lean closer. “Don't you love him?"
Yuta scoffed. "Of course, I love him. I love Winwin more than I love anyone else, including myself, which is why I can't marry him. I just—” Yuta granted himself a brief reprieve from Johnny’s boring gaze by glancing out the window. “I can't do that to him, Johnny. Myself, that is."
"Yuta." The edges of Johnny's gaze had softened.
"No." Yuta shook his head. "Don't look at me like that, Seo, with pity in your eyes as if you have any idea what I'm talking about."
"Then tell me.” Johnny’s expression turned solemn. “It will never leave this room if that's what you wish, you have my word."
“It’s too risky.” Yuta shrugged, as if it was that easy. As if it wasn’t tearing him apart on the inside. “You know what job I have. I love my work, I’m good at being a dragonologist and I truly wouldn’t want to do anything else, but it's certainly more dangerous than sitting in court rooms all day like Winwinnie and Jaehyun or even surrounding myself with the sick like Taeyong. The risk of me getting swallowed whole on accident is higher than that of most other people, Johnny. I'm not going to make Winwin my husband to make him a widower right after. That's something I refuse to take responsibility for.”
Johnny was silent for a long moment after Yuta had stopped speaking, his eyebrows furrowed deep in thought before he eventually looked up. “No.”
Yuta frowned. “What do you mean no?”
“I mean no, Yuta. No, that’s not good enough of a reason to deny Sicheng and you the happiness you both deserve. Who’s to say what will happen tomorrow? No one knows for sure, not even Taeil, and you, my friend, are way too stubborn to die and way too good at your job to be eaten by one of your fire-breathing charges. What happened, Nakamoto, that you’re letting something be taken away from you because of fear?”
There was doubt in Yuta’s mind, doubt that maybe Johnny was right, that maybe he should just give in, but that was not all that held him back.
“That’s not all that’s holding me back,” he admitted. “Apart from my work being dangerous, it’s also his family.”
"His family." Johnny hummed. "Are you afraid they'll disapprove?”
“I know they approve of me, but—” Yuta let out a frustrated sigh. “You see, I never cared about the disparity between our families because Winwin never did, but who's to say his parents still feel the same about me if I ask Winwinnie's father for his hand? They’re people like you, Seo, with too much power and too much money to play by the rules. If you could hurt me when we were both children, what do you think a couple like the Dongs could do to me if they think I’m not good enough? How long do you it would take them to dispose of me?"
"You're thinking too badly of them. I know for a fact that Mingxia has a solid set of morals that would prohibit her from doing you any harm. Besides, Renjun would never let them. He worships you."
Yuta's lips quirked up involuntarily at the mention of the younger Dong. He loved Renjun dearly, whether the boy had turned out to be a Slytherin or not, and no matter the trouble Yuta heard he got into these days, he knew that Renjun’s heart was in the right place. And a small piece of it belonged to Yuta, as he had helped raise him.
“I couldn’t bear losing him, Johnny. If asking Taeyong to marry you meant risking never seeing him again, would you still do it?”
“Yes.” Yuta was surprised at the earnestness in Johnny’s voice, the simplicity with which he had spoken. “Yes, I would, because I don’t lose. And neither will you.”
Yuta wanted to believe him. He wanted to believe Johnny so badly it hurt. “How do you know that?”
Johnny’s mouth quirked into a smile. “Because I know Sicheng. Did you know that every second sentence of his starts with your name? I think it was the first word he learned in this language and it’s definitely his favourite one. He loves you just as much as you love him and he would never, ever let anyone take you away from him. So I say that if you want to marry him, ask him and find the happiness you deserve. Don’t have your wedding within the next couple of months, though, those belong to me.”
Yuta couldn’t help but laugh and he knew that Johnny could see the tears in his eyes. “Damn, Seo, when did you grow up?”
Johnny grinned, shrugging before he downed the rest of his firewhiskey. “My wisdom knows no bounds.”
“At least you’re as humble as ever.”
“I’m not gonna argue with that.”
“Thank you, Johnny.”
“You’re welcome, Yuta.”
Yuta made sure to kick Johnny in the leg as he allowed himself to flop to the side. The firewhisky had left a pleasant buzz in his belly and Yuta felt nothing but content as he rested his head on Johnny’s shoulder. Johnny welcomed him like Yuta knew he would. Maybe, a small part of him reasoned, maybe that was one of the reasons why Yuta had come here in the first place.
They sat together until the sun vanished behind the lake the lay behind Seo Manor and Yuta forced himself to wake from the comfortable doze he had fallen into. He sat up with heavy limbs but a clear head, casting another glance outside before he stood up.
“I should get going.”
Johnny looked displeased at having to move but pulled himself to his feet nonetheless.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until Taeyong comes home for dinner?” Johnny asked him as he brought him to the door.
“No,” Yuta took the scarf Johnny offered him and wrapped it around his neck, “I’ll drop by the hospital tomorrow to see him. For now, I should get going. I came here even before I went home and I’m eager to see Winwin. He doesn’t know I’m back yet.”
Johnny nodded, accepting that before he patted Yuta on the shoulders. “Safe travels, brother.”
“Wear some proper clothes tomorrow,” Yuta bit, but fell into the hug Johnny offered him.
“We meet at twelve at Kun’s café, you should join us.”
Yuta nodded. He was eager to see the rest of his friends again.
“I’ll be there.” He turned to leave. Before he passed the threshold, however, he turned around once more. “One more thing, I was thinking about. The werewolf boy, does he have a name?”
Johnny seemed surprised by the change of topic, but adjusted quickly, nodding. “A new one, yes. It will protect him from his old life. Given that he’s granted asylum and survives, of course, but we should be hopeful.”
“Yes, we should be.” Yuta hummed. “What is his name?”
“Lucas.” The shine of the torches illuminating the entry hall reflected in Johnny’s eyes as he smiled, danced along his teeth. “Taeyong gave it to him. If everything goes well, we’ll be sending him off to Hogwarts by the end of the week.”
Yuta smiled at that. “If the boy’s going to find a home anywhere, it’s going to be at Hogwarts.”
“I thought the same.”
Johnny gave him one last smile before he closed the door. Yuta found himself walking away from the house with a light heart, despite the light drizzle raining from the sky.
It was the first week of October. The leaves on the trees had begun to turn orange and soon they would fall. Yuta looked forward to it. He didn’t mind the cold, especially now, with the pleasant buzz of firewhisky in his belly warming him up. The thought of what was waiting for him at home made his feet move that much faster. It felt good to be back.