ㄖㄩㄒ匚卂丂ㄒ- ㄒ乂ㄒ

II

Warning! This chapter contains homophobia, violence and injury. Please proceed with caution.

K.TH. POV

Taehyun walks down the filled corridors, chocolate brown eyes flicking to the faces staring at the boy, noticing looks of disgust, looks of surprise, and looks of pity. Not seeing those faces, the cherry-haired Ravenclaw takes a brief sigh of relief. He takes the next turning, walking down an empty, winding corridor. There had always been rumours about this stretch of the school and not many dared to walk it, not even in groups. The boy had heard all sorts of things, from rumours of ghosts of Death Eaters that died in the war, from roaming magical creatures (this was rubbish, as Hagrid had to confirm in class). Not once had Taehyun seen anything down here, and only a few times in the four years he'd been at the school, had he seen people down this specific corridor.

He stops for a moment, muttering a "Thank Merlin" underneath his breath. Then, he feels something harshly grab the back of his collar, and throw him against the wall, scraping his back down the rough stone of the castle. Wincing at his back, which he could now feel blood soaking into his shirt, Taehyun looked up for the culprit, only to find the very three faces he was hoping to avoid. Towering over the injured boy, stood Andre Owenger, a Gryffindor with reddish brown hair, the damaged ends transitioning abruptly to a dark dyed black, and wide set hazelnut eyes, completed with a scar on his thin, unequal lips and an upturned nose. Behind him were Shayne Drottvez, a lanky Hufflepuff with lank chestnut hair and sunken dull grey eyes, and Byano Viserbates, an American Ravenclaw with straggly, greasy black hair tied back in a ponytail and drooping blue green eyes, who was strong despite his scrawny frame. With a frustrated exhale, Taehyun makes stern eye contact with the Gryffindor. "What the hell do you want this time?! Because I would like to be able to go back to my dorm." He half-yelled at the other boys, causing Andre to clench his jaw.

Next thing the scarlet haired wizard knew, there was a solid fist in his cheek, knocking him onto his side and sending pain through the left side of his face. "Shut the fuck up. For Merlin's sake, when will a faggot like you learn to shut up?!" The darker brunette gripped Taehyun's jumper, pulling him upwards to eye level, spitting in his face with every overemphasised word. He smirked, before answering the question. "I want nothing from someone ill like you. All I want is to remind a freak like you just how worthless you are." With that, he dropped the other back to the floor and kicked him in the stomach, hard. At this, Taehyun winced and uses his arms and legs to defend himself. Ten minutes later, Byano grips a battered Ravenclaw by his thick crimson hair. With cold eyes and a flat tone, he told Taehyun "Tell your little pansy friends and you'll be more fucked up then you already are." And with that, he punched the boy one final time before stepping away and walking off uncaring with the other two boys.

For a minute, Taehyun sits there, catching his escaping breath. He brings a shaking hand up to the corner of his mouth, and pulls it away, only to find that his lip was bleeding. The Ravenclaw thought for a minute. He never listened to the bullies usually, seeing as he constantly talked back. Why should he listen to them now? What's stopping him from telling the others about the constant beatings?

But then it struck him. If he said something, they would find out. And if they found out, Taehyun would hate to imagine what would happen to the people he holds dearest. Merlin, he would hate to imagine how bad of a state he himself would end up in. So then and there, he told himself to stay quiet, as he had been for the last three and a half years. With a pained groan, he pulls himself up off of the floor. Looking back at the floor where he was laid, he discovers there's a patch of blood, likely from his back. So, he attempts to touch his back, only to wince on contact and pull his fingers away red. Cursing under his breath, Taehyun speed walked in pain back to his common room, answering the riddle with ease. Not caring for the questioning looks that the few people in the common room gave him, he shut the door to his dorm. After a brief survey of the room, he concluded, that as per usual, his roommates were either in lesson, or staying with their significant others. Knowing this, he stripped off his uniform, and stared at his injured body in the mirror. His lip had scabbed over, and a bruise was forming on his upper cheek, same with his stomach. His right arm and leg were covered in grazes all the way down the side, more so than the left as he'd been laid on the floor, and with every hit, his body scraped  slightly more against the floor. All of his limbs were covered in cuts and bruises of varying size. He turns to look at the state of his back and grimaces at the sight. The skin was grated like cheese, blood still oozing out of most of the open wounds, and trailing all the to the bottom of his back.

He showered, and when he got out, he could only look at the red tinted water spiralling down the drain. Opening up the toiletry bag he brought with him, and using Wingardium Leviosa to make an anti septic wipe float, he cleaned all of the open cuts, before wrapping a bandage around his torso, and placing pastel-coloured plasters (a gift from Soobin, who noticed how often he 'fell over' or 'walked into walls') over the cuts. Throwing an oversized burgundy jumper and a pair of checkered shorts, Taehyun climbed onto his bunk, grabbing the blankets and throwing them over him. Closing his eyes, the Ravenclaw waited for the comforting embrace of sleep sent him to dreamland, a place where he could be himself with his friends without having everyone's judging eyes staring at his every move.

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Chapter two done! Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you in the next one.
Stay safe my little moons!
Star