Sᴛʀᴀʏ Kɪᴅs | Wᴀɢᴇʀs ᴀɴᴅ Wᴇʀᴇᴡᴏʟᴠᴇs

Chapter 2: A Quiet House

Chapter 2: A Quiet House

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The house without Sungjin was unnervingly quiet. Usually, Sungjin would entertain Jeongin with whatever song he was writing or muggle game he was playing. Without his uplifting presence, Jeongin was incredibly lonely. Without Sungjin, he basically had nobody.

He had vague memories of his house being full of life and joy when he was younger, but that all changed after the werewolf attacked. Why the werewolf attacked was unknown. The most plausible reasons were that a political enemy sent them or that the Yang family had angered the werewolf. Whatever the reasoning was, the attack tore apart Jeongin's family. He didn't remember much from that night, but instead learned what happened through Sungjin's gentle retelling and the loud muttering of the house elves. Jeongin never dared ask his father about what happened.

The attack was the night before his younger brother San's birthday. He was turning five and Mrs. Yang had taken time off work to prepare a party. Mr. Yang had stayed at the office that night and couldn't come. Sungjin was at Hogwarts, but was planning to come over the next morning. Mrs. Yang and Jeongin were blowing up balloons and singing together. San had gone to bed already. They had just finished blowing up the last couple balloons when they heard a rapping sound at the door. Believing it to be Mr. Yang, Mrs. Yang swiftly opened the door with a smile on her face. He had promised to try to come early that night after all.

It was not Jeongin's father. Instead, a stranger stood in the doorway, his face obscured by shadows. He was wearing a tattered brown cloak, which he kept on as he stepped inside. Jeongin couldn't remember what the man said to his mother, only that he was angry. Very angry.

Jeongin remembered the yelling and the sight of his mother's fear. Much of that night had faded from his memory, but the fear in his mother's eyes would never be forgotten. He remembered as her expression morphed into one of pure horror as she realized who, or what, the strange man was. Jeongin never found out who the man was, but that didn't stop him from haunting Jeongin's dreams for years to come. Every night he was forced to relive the worst day of his life. Being tucked in, nice and cozy, Jeongin would drift into sleep and see his mother's face as the man attacked them, full of fear, and watch as she attempted to defend her family against the werewolf's might, only to end up as a bloody, twitching heap on the ground. Then it was his turn. He remembered little else of that night, just the memories of San's screams as oblivion pulled Jeongin into darkness.

His dreams, no nightmares, would twist the blanks and unknowns in his memories and fill them with terrifying images of blood splattered about the walls and San's neck ripped open. He would hear as his brother gurgled and choked, eventually drowning in his own blood, surrounded by family but having no one there to help him or provide comfort as he passed on from one world to the next. Sometimes it was Sungjin who died. Sometimes it was Jeongin who died himself and he would watch as his family went on with their lives not caring. The nightmares made Jeongin hate going to sleep.

Jeongin only knew what happened after because of recountings from Sungjin. Later that evening, Mr. Yang came home after a long day at work, expecting a warm dinner waiting for him and a happy wife and children to greet him. Instead, Mr. Yang came home to find his family fatally injured and dying. He quickly contacted St. Mungos, but by the time they arrived, Mrs. Yang had already died in a pool of her own flesh and blood, her last words known only to Mr. Yang. All he could do for the love of his life was hold her hand and make empty promises that she would be okay. Jeongin and San did not die in their home like their mother, but were rushed to the hospital, where they stayed until the next full moon. It was only then that it was discovered that the two boys had been bitten.

The first full moon was the night that San died. He was so little that his body could not even survive the transformation. San transformed before Jeongin. It came as a surprise to all and no one, neither the doctors of St. Mungo's or Mr. Yang was prepared.

Jeongin remembered as San's skin grotesquely stretched and ripped, blood splattering across the walls, all while San screamed for a mother who was not there. The rest of what was left of the family watched on in horror, not knowing how to help—maybe being too afraid to—and stood back as the medical professionals futilely tried to save the young boy's life. They failed. Jeongin was the next to transform.

Jeongin didn't remember his transformation– he never did. He did remember the pain from the silver bars of the cage he was in, the metal melting what flesh was not already torn apart. But even with the pain, Jeongin was lucky. He survived. And that was something his father could never forgive him for.

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