Timeless: Hours of Anguish [ATEEZ Hogwarts AU]

Wednesday, November 30th

Wednesday, November 30th. 7:45 AM. Hogwarts, Great Hall. Park Seonghwa.

Seonghwa visited the headmistress' office more often than any other student in the castle. It was not unusual for her to order him there before morning classes. Today was no exception. He had just finished the last piece of his toast when the familiar tawny owl delivered the note to him.

'Mr. Park. I expect you in my office in ten minutes.'

Seonghwa offered the owl a handful of the treats he kept in his pocket and let her nibble affectionately on his finger before she took flight without a sound. Then he shouldered his bag and made his way to the third floor.

"Freedom and security," he told the large and ugly gargoyle that guarded the Headmistress' Tower, waited for it to step aside in response to the password, and climbed the moving stone staircase.

After a polite knock on the heavy wooden door, Seonghwa stepped inside without waiting for a response. The office itself was a large circular room with many windows, tall bookcases, and portraits of old headmasters and headmistresses. In the center of the room was a platform with the desk at which the headmistress worked day and night. Seonghwa remembered the time when he was barely tall enough to peek over it. He stifled a smile.

As always, Headmistress Park was working on something, her brows furrowed in concentration. She was scribbling so vigorously onto a roll of parchment that she had not yet taken notice of Seonghwa's presence.

Seonghwa cleared his throat. She glanced up.

"Oh, Mr. Park. Finally." With a flick of her wand, she let the roll of parchment and a little stack of documents disappear into one of her many drawers. "Come in."

Seonghwa stepped closer. Upon further inspection, he noticed how tired she looked; her eyes were underlined by dark circles and a few loose strands had fallen out of her bun.

Something was bothering her. Something serious enough to disrupt her order.

"May I ask the reason you called me here today?"

"I want you to continue monitoring Choi San," began Headmistress Park. "He and his friends are acting troublesome. I cannot have them harass the professors with misguided questions."

"Yes, Headmistress."

"Report to me every little thing he does, no matter how trivial."

"Of course, Headmistress."

Seonghwa got a strange feeling. Why was she so obsessed with Choi San all of a sudden? Sure, he and his Slytherin friends had never been up to any good, pranking younger students and cutting class from time to time, but they were harmless as far as Seonghwa could tell.

It was not uncommon for Headmistress Park to use Seonghwa to spy on troublesome students, but she had never targeted anybody like this before. And if Seonghwa was being honest, he was burning to know what caused her so much concern.

While your beloved headmistress was twiddling her thumbs in her fine office, Wooyoung was kidnapped three days ago! And the professors are acting like he went on a damn vacation or something because for some reason they believe the lies Park is feeding them!

Seonghwa tensed. How much truth was to these words? San did seem extremely upset. Would he lie about a topic as severe as a possible disappearance?

He hesitated, contemplating whether or not to ask. "But...he - Choi San, I mean - seems seriously worried about his friend. I can't help but wonder if something truly - "

Headmistress Park lifted a hand to interrupt him. "Jung Wooyoung has left this school. He moved," she said strongly. Her hands were trembling slightly, possibly from anger. "I have impressed this on Mr. Choi when he barged into my office like a maniac. He has no valid reason to worry."