Destined Dirges

“Seems like a new batch has come in. Let’s take a look and see who we have here …”

There’s a soft chuckle, then an acknowledging nod. “How unfortunate.”

A dull thrumming signals the emergence of a door made of pure light right before the figure’s very eyes as he holds up his handheld device up to his mask with a lazy grip. 

“Let’s begin.”

Shatter.

Aurors don’t date. Especially not each other.

This is something you never understood.

Hand still draped over you, Nayeon groans into your side as she senses the loss of her share of the blanket from above her bare back. “Ngh … babe? Why are you already awake?”

Your lips are tense, hand already reaching out for your wand by the bedside table. “Just … just some late night insomnia. I’ll be fine.”

But she knows this is a lie, which is why she’s already climbing on top of you, pulling away the blanket for good and taking its place above your torso. Nayeon’s warmth smothers you as she leans in with a half-awake grin. “Still on edge? The Ministry sent a team to clean out the rest of that rebel camp, babe. I’m pretty sure there’s no one left.”

You glance down at Nayeon’s upturned face, part her messy hair, and sink your lips against hers, taking in her scent—a mix of faded musk, cheap inn fabric conditioning, and black licorice. “It’s just … it’s too good to be true, baby. The reports said the rebels had enough firepower among themselves to stand up to half a dozen aurors—.”

“—And that’s why I’m here.”

“But Nayeon, think about it: between the two of us, they were easy pickings,” you raise, licking the front of your teeth as you glance away for a moment to not be distracted by her disheveled beauty. “It doesn’t add up … it really doesn’t.”

Groaning, Nayeon drops her chin in the dip across your collarbone and huffs. “You’re just worried the Ministry will find out about us, aren’t you?”

You roll your eyes, hand combing through her hair. “No amount of jinxes and charms could hide half the shit we do in your office.”

“You say that like you have any regrets,” she jests in reply, drumming her own fingers against the side of your torso. “Even when Jihyo walked in on us, you didn’t—.”

There’s a knock on the door. Three raps.

“Are you expecting someone?” Nayeon asks, sitting up in a heartbeat. It’s all practiced—the way she smoothens out her appearance to avoid arousing any suspicions. “Babe?”

Your fingers are curling around your wand now. 

“Babe, what’s wrong?”

“Remember the illusion we casted over this place when we got here?” you remind her, shifting out of bed and onto your own two bare feet now. Wand at the ready, you point it at the door.

“Yeah, and?”

“Baby, that was to keep muggles out. So …”

Before Nayeon can even put two and two together, sparks fly from the doorknob as the door bursts open. Right in the doorway is a hooded man donning a reinforced skull-patterned mask on him, wand pointing at the both of you.

“GET DOWN!”

Nayeon leaps over the bed and squats behind in time to avoid the dark green burst of spells that quickly came flying her way. You thrust and flick your wand to slam the Death Eater against the inn’s wall before reaching for Nayeon’s own wand and tossing it back to her.

With both of you now equipped, you release your hold on the dark wizard before rejoining Nayeon behind the bed, who’s now dressed in some of her auror robes. “I don’t know who the bloody hell you are … or how you found us … but you’re not getting away from here alive.”

A sharp and shrill cackle bursts from beneath the Death Eater’s mask as he shakes his head. “Oh, neither will you—.”

All it takes is a simple disarming spell from Nayeon to leave the arrogant Death Eater unarmed. As his wand clatters and rolls out of your room, he feigns a pout with a slump of his body before reaching for something in one of his pouches.

It’s a compass. 

“What—?”

You tackle Nayeon away from the Death Eater’s line of sight as he chucks the spinning compass your way. You take one last glance at the woman’s scared face before mustering a smile.

“Leave this to me.”

But Nayeon isn’t an auror for nothing. When she senses you’re about to reach for the compass mid-air, she launches off the hardwood floor and reaches for it too.

Blip.

Like being hooked by your belly-button and yanked across the folds of space, nausea overwhelms your mind and body as your entire world spins. But you don’t let go. You don’t dare let go as Nayeon herself is holding on for dear life right beside you too.

Once the compass has brought you to its undisclosed assigned destination, you quickly right yourself on your knees and immediately hear the soft crunch of dried leaves and twigs. But in this moment, you notice something rather alarming.

It’s cold. It’s immensely and eerily cold.

Spitting on the ground, Nayeon fans herself as she stands up. “Bloody portkey. The Ministry’s been slacking tracing down all these unapproved—.”

You pull a hand over her mouth before she can say another word. Eyes widened, she’s about to fight you until she hears it too.

Wispy. Breathy. Hollow.

Descending from the dead of night all around you and obscuring what little moonlight filtered through the canopy of trees, tens upon hundreds of wraith-like creatures begin swarming your current position, darting about in the air, orbiting your position.

Your thumb presses so hard into the wood of your wand that it nearly chips it. But it’s Nayeon who acknowledges these dastardly beings. “Dementors … All of them …”

This was all a setup. To lower your guard. Before they pull off this final trap.

When you move to raise your wand and cast a simple spell for light, Nayeon pushes you aside and faces the swarm of Dementors with her head held high. “Go. See if the portkey’s reversible. I’ll hold them off.”

“Nayeon, you’re fucking insane. We could barely handle ten of these things back at the Azkaban outbreak. How do you expect to—?”

She glances at you from over her shoulder and forces a smile. “We’re not both going to be  making it out of this one—you know it—.”

“Nayeon—.”

“And I was the one who suggested we take the inn for the night instead of heading back to the Ministry right away—.”

“Nayeon, please …”