Marked || ONEUS Leedo

16

It was still dark outside as Enya awoke because of Geonhak's cry. Without thinking about it, she opened her eyes and went to his bed, still in a daze. Her sleep hadn't been recovering at all, she had been plagued by nightmares. Only as she sat down next to him, she realised that Dongju had been awake already and was crouching next to Geonhak.

"What is happening?" her voice was still raspy.

"He's trying to get into my head. I've refused to communicate with him and now he's trying to abuse my memories."

"How long has this been going on?"

"Around ten minutes," Dongju informed her.

All Enya could do was watch the boy trying to resist the dark wizard within his mind. His eyes were closed and he was sweating. He looked like he was in immense distress. After some more minutes, she saw that Geonhak was slowly calming down again. Voldemort must be letting go, not interested in wasting his time.

"He saw the dead death eaters in our manor. Voldemort is on the way to Hogwarts." Geonhak stated as he calmed down.

With that, they immediately got ready to leave. As they were ready to do so, the sun was slowly rising.

"Are you ready?" Geonhak asked.

"Yes."

"Ready as I'll ever be."

The oldest held out his hand for both of them. Enya took it while Dongju was still staring at him in hesitation. He didn't want to let his guard down that easily. However, after a short moment of silence, he grabbed his old friend's hand as well. After all, he knew that this was necessary to teleport with him.

Geonhak mumbled something and in the next moment, they were standing in front of Hogwarts' gates. They sighed at the same time. All three of them were scared to go back for various reasons. Still, there was no time to lose. Voldemort was coming and they had to warn teachers and students. Before them was perhaps the cruellest battle this school had ever witnessed.

As they walked towards the castle, the Ravenclaw noticed that Geonhak was falling behind and eventually stopped.

"Are you okay?" Enya asked turning around.

"Yeah, just nervous, I guess..."

"I get it, really. I know our cases aren't comparable but we're up for detention for running off as well, I believe."

The male gave her a small smile and took a deep breath. Dongju, who had been watching them, continued to approach the castle door as the other two came closer.

As they entered the castle, busy students were everywhere. Some Hufflepuffs were hurrying to their next class while some Gryffindor students were on their way to the Great Hall for lunch. After Dumbledore's death, several students had shown that they were followers of Voldemort as well. All houses had lost students, the halls seemed emptier than usual. Just as Enya encountered her housemate Ryujin, who greeted her slightly perplexed, people started to notice the three were back. What had McGonagall told them?

Geonhak was walking behind them with a lowered head. He didn't want to look any of them in the eye. When they passed a group of students, their muttering could be distantly heard as insults directed at Geonhak. Others just stared while some Hufflepuff students asked where Keonhee was. Enya couldn't even glance at them. The three just continued walking straight to the headmistress's office.

The unveiled the staircase leading to the said office. Before they entered the main room, they knocked to announce themselves.

"It's Enya, Dongju and... Geonhak."

"Come on in." the headmistress's voice rang out from the corner of the room.

There were already three chairs ready for them. Had they been placed for them or were they still there from the last time? Had she expected Keonhee to come back with them instead? Or had she been aware of both his death and Geonhak's return? As the witch appeared from the shadows, the three had already sat down.

"I bet you have plenty to tell me, no?" McGonagall demanded as she sat down. How could she be so peaceful?

"We are deeply sorry for running off like that." Enya's voice hurried "We have no time for great stories, headmistress. The Dark Lord is coming. He will attack the school."

"I am aware that time is little. We will discuss things such as your punishments after all of this. I will alert everyone immediately in the Great Hall after our conversation. Do you have valuable information for us?"

"The Horcrux has been destroyed. Bellatrix Lestrange is dead. And we've..." Enya quickly exchanged looks with Dongju as her voice dared to crack "We've lost Keonhee. He has been killed."

McGonagall's eyes darkened at once. They were full of sorrow and pity. She had expected it since he hadn't been with them, but the passing of a young student like him still tormented her.

"I'm sorry to hear that. We will honour him after... we make it through this."

"Geonhak came back to us shortly afterwards. He has yet to prove whether we can fully trust him, but... he has been supplying us with information. And he saved the Elder Wand from being taken by the death eaters. Geonhak has the mark, so he can catch the communication between the death eaters. Voldemort is aware, as Geonhak has told us."

"It's good to see you're back, Geonhak." the headmistress put on a tiny encouraging smile. He nodded. The Slytherin was glad she didn't evaluate it any further. McGonagall questioned,

"We know that his plan to get the Elder Wand, which is still in Enya's hands. Do you know how he plans to attack the school?"

"He will probably bring every single death eater with him, no matter young or old. Hogwarts will be outnumbered by far. But the death eaters can easily be outsmarted. If we can block every entrance except for one, we can control the outbreak of the battle better because he will be forced to invade from that gate."

"Very well." the old witch thought out aloud "I will make sure that all entries to the castle are blocked except for the main entrance to the courtyard. Now, let's go. We have to alarm your fellow students and the teachers."