double, double, toil and trouble

Chapter 3

Upon his late arrival, the professor doesn't do much apart from acknowledge Donghyuck with a nod of his head, before gesturing for the boy to take his seat.

However just as he lowers himself to his chair, Jaemin shoves him lightly, hissing something under his breath as he quickly reaches over to Donghyuck's seat and picks up a familiar ball of fluff.

"Really?" Donghyuck scoffs, watching as Jaemin cradles his pygmy puff in his hands, "What is she doing here?"

"She looked ill" Jaemin defends, whispering sweet words to the pink creature as she takes her place on his lap. But before Donghyuck could steal his potions book, Jaemin traps it between the desk with his elbow, looking up at his friend with big eyes.

"And you?" He asks, putting on a disappointed expression as he tuts, "Late on the first day of classes-"

"You could've woken me up" Donghyuck huffs, his gaze subtly scanning the room as they land upon some red robes and dark hair. Mark catches his eye and even in the dim lights, Donghyuck can see the ends of his lips twitch upwards.

"You were out cold" Jaemin points out with a shrug, "I figured you'd resurface after breakfast"

"Now that we have everyone..." Professor Suh starts, "Please look to your books, we're going to start with reviewing one of the advanced potions from last year so you should all be familiar with it"

Their professor swishes his wand delicately which in turn causes everyone's books to open with a start, the pages moving upon their own accord before landing upon the chosen potion for their first day back.

"Just something easy..." He declares to which Jaemin allows his head to fall onto his desk, already feeling defeated.

The Draught of Living Death.

It was a very powerful sleeping potion, one that should be used with the utmost caution, and it was rather advanced. But Donghyuck had been one of the only students to successfully brew it last year, and he was determined to replicate such success this year.

"When you're ready..." As soon as the professor trails off, Donghyuck leaves his seat for the ingredients- he wanted to get a nice and healthy Valerian root and hopefully some Moondew that wasn't already squashed. It wouldn't make a lot of difference, but Donghyuck was nothing if not pedantic about his potions- he wanted the best of the best, and if he had to hex a someone, like he did in his fifth year, to get the ingredients he wants, then he shall.

As soon as Donghyuck gets back to his desk, arms full of ingredients, Jaemin obediently takes them from him and lays them upon their table, his eyes locking on the sloth brain which causes him to pull a face.

"Hey, what did you even do last night?" He asks, just as Donghyuck begins handling the Wormwood and powdered Asphodel Root, "You must've been gone a while, I woke up to Nova's tail in my face"

Often when Donghyuck snuck out at night and Nova needed someone to cuddle with, she would seek out Jaemin- Donghyuck thinks she fancies him, but Nova meows in defence whenever he brings this up.

After Donghyuck adds them to the cauldron, he's already reaching for the next component, "Stir twice clockwise", he advises, to which Jaemin nods wordlessly, "I just went for a walk"

After stirring, Jaemin watches as Donghyuck places a Sopophorous bean in front of him, placing a silver dagger by its side.

"Well, maybe next time you should charm yourself an alarm, or a watch-"

"I'll turn you into one in a minute" He threatens, however Jaemin can hear his smile as he does so, "Besides, since when do you care about my attendance to classes?"