double, double, toil and trouble

Chapter 31

He wasn't sure who would willingly apparate into such a miserable, dark place, but he'll be damned if he didn't find out.

So many names flashed through his mind, every single one more hopeful than the next.

He didn't need saving. He was going to get out himself- he was going to walk out on his own terms... but some help would be nice.

He quickly finds what he was looking for- Extendable Ears- something he had gotten from his last trip to Diagon Alley. They allowed the user to eavesdrop on a conversation, so long as they were close enough.

Without a second thought, he held tightly onto one end and threw the other out of his window. His room was directly above the study- a room used to greet and converse with visitors, a room that was the closest to the front door.

He lowered the 'ear' out of the window, careful to stop just before the window below so that if one was to look out, they wouldn't suspect anything.

It took a few seconds before the ear picked anything up, and Donghyuck was beginning to doubt his investment. But then, just then... there was a voice, and Donghyuck could've cried out in relief and the voice he recognised.

~

"Where is he?" Doyoung demands, the doors to the study where Mr and Mrs Lee were gathered flinging open. His parents reacted like they had seen a ghost- he might as well have been in this house.

"How dare you show your face-!" Mr Lee raged. However, his outward aggression was silenced by Doyoung's calm and collected tone. It was still sharp. It was still challenging.

"Where is he?"

At the demand, Mrs Lee sucked in a deep breath through her nose, doing her best to look as unbothered as she could, "Donghyuck is none of your concern."

"He is my brother", Doyoung spits, but his mother only raises her hand.

"You have no part in this family", She speaks sternly, looking down her nose at Doyoung, acting like he was nothing, "We are not family anymore."

However, that response only caused Doyoung to scoff, "That's something we can agree on."

Mr and Mrs Lee fell silent for a moment, studying the stranger in front of them. The last time they had seen Doyoung, he had been just a boy. A scared boy draped in blue robes, his expression crumpled up and conflicted with emotion. There was no trace of that boy in the man that they saw before them now.

He stood tall, he stood proud, and he had a coldness in his eye that dared opposition. He was here for a reason, and he wasn't leaving until he had achieved what he had to.

Mr Lee took a moment longer to respond.

"I don't care for whatever business you think you have here-"

"I am here for Donghyuck", Doyoung speaks, his tone as sharp as a knife, "I am here to do something I should have done years ago."

"You will not even set your eyes on him!" His father roars, however no nervousness or doubt flickered across Doyoung's face.

"We'll see about that", He murmurs, his eyes finally leaving his parents to glance around the dark room- all black wood and heavy curtains. It was suffocating. "How could you take him from Hogwarts? How could you keep him locked up in here like some animal-?"

"We owe no explanation to you", His mother cuts in coolly, "He is our son and we are his parents, we-"

"Biologically, yes", Doyoung speaks up, his gaze returning to the two sat in front of him, "But you have never once acted like how a parent should"