𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐧𝐜𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 - 𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐮

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟑𝟒

"you look amazing, yunhee." renjun complimented.

"so awesome..." mark said.

"thanks, guys." she mumbled, averting her eyes to the floor. she spun around, dizzily, feeling everyone's eyes following her. "i'll go change."

she ran back into the bathroom, nearly tripping around the corner then accidentally slammed the door shut. she rested her back against the door placed her hands on her warm cheeks.

"why am i burning?" she whispered.

after a few moments of thinking and cooling down, yunhee took off the dress, folded it and put it back into the box. she then returned to the living room and picked up some presents from under the tree. she passed one each to all her friends then took a seat, waiting for them to open the presents.

renjun was first to open his which was a set of quite expensive coloured pens that he had wanted for years.

"no way!"

"i know how much you love drawing so i got those."

"i love it. thank you. this is yours." he handed her a box that had two romance books that he loved and he knew how much she loved romance as well as books.

mark opened his next which was a pair of shoes she thought he would need after taking note that he was always wearing the same pair. clearly, his aunt and uncle wouldn't do the shopping for him and he didn't want to spend so much of the money he had gotten from first year.

for yunhee, he had gifted her some headphones. she loved to listen to music but hated when there was loud noises, so he thought it would be nice for her to be able to listen to music without disruptions.

jeno's present was a watch because at the beginning of the school year, yunhee's and chenle's cat had snatched his old one from him and destroyed it completely. his present to her was a marshmallow plushie with a cute face. he also had one.

aerin's present was a copy of the cinderella book that yunhee had promised to tell her about in fourth year but forgot to.

and finally, jia's was different types of jewellery that yunhee had noticed she had taken a liking to when they went shopping in a muggle shopping centre once.

everyone was happy with their presents. everything was going so well, but it was getting late and yunhee couldn't stop yawning. her lack of sleep and poor health due to it was evident to everyone.

"you should go sleep." jeno told her. "we'll be quiet so we won't wake you."

"no. i'm fine. i can stay up for a little longer." she said, covering her mouth to yawn again. "and chenle isn't even here yet."

"you're exhausted. we'll all still be here in the morning and i doubt chenle is coming now. so go on."

"okay... good night." she waved goodbye then went up to bed in aerin's room.

for once, yunhee slept with no dreams. it was a peaceful sleep, but while her sleep may have been peaceful, the reality around her was not. around an hour later, she was awoken by scorching flames and fumes surrounding her.

she fell out of the bed and ran out the door. just as she was about to run down the stairs, black smoke flew past her, breaking the stairs.

"death eaters." she gasped, taking a step back. but the flames behind her were drawing closer and the only thing she could do was go forwards. the broken parts of the stairs made her hesitate.

"YUNHEE!" she heard renjun's voice.

"renjun! i'm here!" she yelled back and he appeared by the stairs.

"yunhee! the death eaters found us!"

"i know. what do i do? the stairs are broken." she said, blocking her nose with her sleeve.

"you have to jump."

"i can't!"

"trust me! you can do it." he told her, nodding his head at her. she nodded back and with quick steps she jumped to where he was, stumbling into him as he held his hands out to steady her.

"i got you." he said, holding her as the place she was just at erupted into flames. "let's go."

they rushed down the stairs, trying their best to avoid the flames and holding their sleeves against their noses to block out the fumes. they could see the front door not too far from them but as they advanced towards it, wood from the floor above crashed in front of them.

"watch out!" renjun yelled, dragging yunhee back by the arms but the wood skimmed her leg, burning it slightly. not enough to do much harm but it was painful.

she fell to the floor and renjun dropped next to her, wrapping his arms around her. they backed into a corner, trying to escape the flames that were beginning to surround them.

"jun, i'm scared." yunhee whispered, burrowing herself like a badger in his arms and chest.

"i'm going to get us out of here." he said, glancing around the house. he set eye on a gap towards the back door through the kitchen and urged her to stand up. "block your nose, yun. let's go."

she followed him, running towards the back door and just as she reached out to open it, he latched onto her hand. he rolled down his sleeve to cover his hand to protect it from the heat then twisted the door knob. they hurried outside, coughing harshly as they could finally breathe in the fresh air.

"are you okay?" renjun asked, placing his hands on her neck as she squinted her eyes and scrunched her nose that were irritated by the fumes.

"i am." she nodded.

"let me go!" they could hear mark yelling from the front of the house. "she's still in there! yunhee is still in there!"

"renjun is too!" jeno cried, fighting against the adults who were holding them back. aerin and jia watched in horror as the house was destroyed in the fire. anyone else in there would not survive at all.

"please! they're in there!" mark cried as remus held onto him. it reminded him even more of the day sirius died. how he was crying out for him while he was being held back by remus. he didn't want to lose anyone else to those death eaters. he couldn't stand it.

"mark! jeno!" renjun yelled as he and yunhee hurried over to them to stop the two from doing something stupid.

"we're here!" yunhee exclaimed. she held onto mark as tears streamed down his face. "i'm here."

he stared back at her covered in black soot and the small scratches littering her face before crying again. she pulled him into her arms, rubbing the back of his head then reached out to jeno and renjun, pulling them into the hug too.

"we're alright, we're alright." renjun repeated, sobbing as well.

there was a sudden crack sound from behind them and everyone dispersed, pulling out their wands.

"it's me!" chenle's voice followed the crack. he was with his mother and they were both a mess just like everyone else. he glanced over at jeno's house and squeezed his eyes shut. "i'm too late."

"chenle." yunhee rushed over to him, taking in his torn clothes and bloody eye. "what happened?!"

"same as you. the death eaters... they attacked us. our house is gone too and — and they... took dad."

he could barely speak and yunhee took him into his arms, rubbing circles on his back. at this point, everyone was crying and traumatised from what had just taken place. their joyful christmas had quickly taken a turn for the worst.

"we'll get him back. i promise."