"Mmm...Jungkook." Jungkook's eyes widened and then narrowed as he glared at Hoseok, who had singled him out. "Jungkook Jeon is one of the best our sixth year has to offer." Hoseok explained, circling the room that was filled with students from the three schools that were attending this year.

The schedules had been changed quite drastically, but Jungkook supposed that it was understandable, seeing as they were planning the year and classes around the competition.

They would all have classes, they would be mixed up and this year, the seventh and sixth years would share some classes together. Different students from the two other schools would also be randomly added to classes.

A week before a challenge was to come, there would be no classes, the same for three days after. The champions got special privileges, of course. Shortened classes and fewer classes as well so that they could focus on the games. Jungkook had already started to help Taehyung try and figure out what he would need to know for any challenge that was thrown his way.

Not that the older really needed much help. He was far more advanced than any of them had really thought, but a lot of the things he knew were either spells that were super illegal to use, or too complicated to use in the spur of the moment.

But Taehyung caught on rather quickly to the things that he could use, and that helped quite a bit. Jin spent a lot of time teaching him things that he might need to assist him in challenges, and Hoseok helped him with a lot of spells that would protect him against other competitors (mainly Albus).

Namjoon would've been a great help as well, if he was talking to them. After their argument the other day, they hadn't seen too much of the Ravenclaw. They hadn't thought that the conversation would upset him so much, but they could now see that it had, and Jungkook felt a bit bad, but at the same time, he knew that Namjoon had a lot of things to figure out, and he didn't want it to come to him choosing sides, but Namjoon couldn't play for both teams forever.

One of these days he would either abandon them altogether or he would realize that a lot of the people in the school were wrong, no matter how blind they were. They didn't like Taehyung because they didn't want to like him, it wasn't because they didn't know anything about him, it was because they didn't want to know anything about him, other than who had raised him.

Namjoon had always tried to be the good guy in all situations, and for how smart he was, sometimes he could truly be the stupidest of all of them.

"Jungkook." Jungkook snapped back to the lesson that Hoseok was holding, the older giving him a look. Jungkook sighed and stood from his seat, walking up to the raised platform that Hoseok had set up for the lesson today.

"Seeing as we have some new guests in Hogwarts, I thought that it would be nice to change things up a little. So we're going to start dueling as of today, and learning more spells. I know that you all started with these lessons in your second year, but I want to go a little deeper. But first, let's go over the basics again, just in case some of you forgot."

Hoseok turned to Jungkook, drawing his wand. Jungkook groaned. "Why must I be the one to demonstrate with you?"

"Because you're the best your year has to offer." Hoseok grinned. "Plus I want to put you flat on your ass."

"The last time you tried that, you were the one to land flat on your ass." Jungkook snorted, taking out his own wand. He never liked learning how to duel, because he couldn't ever see himself in a situation that would require him to duel anyone, but he supposed that he had no choice this time.

Not with the way that Hoseok was grinning at him, promising a world of magic caused pain.

Plus it might be fun to land Hoseok on his ass in front of the class that he was teaching.

He looked around and saw the other students watching him with rapt attention. The girl, Mercia, one of the champions, eyeing him with a critical eye. He could see her sister, the one that looked down on his group of friends for choosing Hogwarts instead of Mahoutokoro. She looked smug, like she was ready to see Jungkook fail, even if it was against another person that she had looked down on.

Jungkook turned, lifting his wand so that it was parallel to his face, standing directly in front of Hoseok. They bowed to one another, before turning and taking several steps away, before turning to each other once more.

"Expelliarmus!"

"Protego!" Jungkook quickly cast, just as soon as Hoseok threw his spell. The older smirked, turning to the class.

"Yes, please take notice of how fast his reaction was. When someone tries to disarm you, always have a plan on what to do, and do it before you even have time to think. Because if you don't, then you will quickly find yourself without a wand and at the mercy of our opponent." Hoseok turned to address the other side of the room. "Of course, you all know that already, that was a lesson taught to you very early on in your schooling."

Jungkook watched and waited as Hoseok taught. He really was a phenomenal teacher, who could make even the most boring of lessons interesting. That was one of the things that Jungkook really admired about the older.

"Petrificus totalus!" Jungkook quickly brought his wand up and blocked the spell, eyes widening as Hoseok grinned, not giving him even a second to think about what he was going to do next before he was shouting his next spell, a reducto.

Jungkook stopped thinking, waving his wand and making one of the books that Jimin was carrying whip right in front of him, not a second too late as it burst into millions of pieces as soon as it got there.

"Non verbal duels are most common. Your opponent will most likely not give you the courtesy of knowing what spell they're throwing at you. So you need to know every attack they can do, every way to block, and every way to throw a counter attack." Hoseok continued, as if he didn't just try to make Jungkook explode mere seconds ago.

Someone raised their hand, someone from Koldovstoretz. Hoseok tilted his head, signaling for them to talk. "We've all learned these things. Why is this important?" 

"It's always important to go over the basics. I don't know how things are taught at your school, or what your level is at with magic, but what I do know is that I have seen and dueled many of my peers, and their downfall is almost always because they don't remember their basics. You can get caught up in larger and more powerful spells, but if someone disarms you and you don't have the skills to use magic without a wand, then you're shit out of luck."

Jungkook looked at the boy that had spoken, who now looked a bit peeved at what Hoseok said. So the older gestured him forward. Hoseok stepped down from the platform, leaving Jungkook to face this new opponent. "Jungkook is a year younger than you, so you should be able to beat him easily, right?" The boy nodded, a jerky movement, before turning his gaze onto Jungkook. "I want you to knock him down." Hoseok announced.

The boy took out his wand and didn't wait for another second before he was flicking his wand quickly.

Jungkook block the spell easily, shooting his own hand to the side. The boy didn't even seem to register it, smirking. "You missed." He said.

"Did I?" Jungkook tilted his head, blocking the next spell to come his way.

But suddenly the boy's magic flew out of his wand, bright blue in color. Jungkook rolled his eyes, knowing that that was typical of someone who wanted to reach endgame as soon as possible because they knew no other spells.

He didn't even have to throw a projectile of his own magic out to meet the boy's, because several books flew into the air and right into him, knocking him to the ground. Hoseok clapped, hopping back up to the platform to help the other boy to his feet, who looked confused and angry at the same time.

"Always use your surrounding area to your benefit." Hoseok called out. "It isn't always just the magic that can guarantee you a victory. And throwing your magic around carelessly is a sure way to get you killed." And just as the Slytherin he was, Hoseok pushed the boy to the ground, just as soon as he'd helped him to his feet. "Alright, anymore stupid questions about why basics are important? Because I can tell you right now if you're too stupid to realize, but Jungkook beat him only using spells you learn in your first year at schooling."

No one said anything, which seemed to satisfy Hoseok. "Great. Now, let's all move on to something more fun perhaps? Let's have a real duel. I think that Jungkook would be an excellent candidate, for one of the volunteers, any takers?"

Jungkook sighed. " Hyung, you're being mean. Why must you make me do this all of the time? You know that I hate fighting with other people."

"Because I know that you're an amazing wizard, Jungkookie, and I want them all to know that so they'll back to the fuck off."

"Who?" But Hoseok merely winked.

"No one wants to volunteer? Alright, I pick....you." Jungkook groaned once more when Hoseok pointed straight at Akhira. She was probably the last person that he wanted to duel.

But apparently she didn't share the same sentiment. Jungkook was displeased to find that she was smiling wickedly. He sighed and shot a glance to Hoseok, who still had his signature smile on his face. "Alright." He clapped his hands together. "We'll all head out to the courtyard now, seeing as we might need a little more space for this."

Jungkook didn't wait before hopping off of the platform and turning to Jimin. "Why is he doing this?"

"I don't know. All I know is that this is going to be amazing, watching you put that bitch on her ass."

"I don't want to put anyone on their ass!" Jungkook whined. "It was bad enough that Hoseok's making me demonstrate all of this for the class! You already know all of this, too, and I don't understand why I have to be the one to do it."

"Because I doubt any of the other Hufflepuffs in this particular class would be able to manage it, and I know for a fact that he wouldn't pick me since last time I somehow managed to turn my opponent into a bug."

"How did you manage that again? I don't think that there's ever been such a bad mistake in spells. I mean, even McGonagall couldn't figure it out for the life of her."

"I don't know. It just happened." Jimin shrugged. "But I got a new wand after that, and it seemed to fix some of the issues that I was having."

"Yeah, sure." Jungkook snorted, rolling his eyes. "You're still one of the worst wizards, Jimin."

"I am not!" He huffed, vehemently denying it. "So what if I mess up some spells and can't ever seem to brew a potion correctly? I'm a great wizard!"

"The only thing that you can do is get lost and fall over from tripping on your own feet." Jungkook shot back. Jimin punched his arm, muttering curses at him underneath his breath.

"Not my fault that I'll probably just be the next ambassador between the muggles and the wizards." 

"That'll happen when the current one finally likes you. The last time you two met, you managed to spill your tea all over him."

"He sat down on my chair while I was about to sit down, too! That was his fault. And besides, he can't penalize me because he doesn't like me. We all know that I'm the only one good enough for that position."

"Yeah, you tell that to the hundreds of other wizards that want that position." Taehyung snorted quietly from beside them. Jimin turned to him, a gasp coming from his lips as he slapped his chest.

"Not you too! You can't betray me like this, Taetae! You're supposed to be my best friend!" The other snorted and rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"I think that your best friend is yourself, Jimin." He shot back. "Seeing as you think so highly of yourself and love yourself so much."

"There's nothing wrong with loving myself!"

"If you guys are done squabbling about useless shit, the rest of us are all waiting for you!" Hoseok called, interrupting the little argument that they were having. If you could even call it that. Jungkook knew that Jimin knew it was all in good fun.

Jimin really was qualified to take the position. The ambassador was retiring in two years, Jimin had been keeping up with him for years now. It was his dream job, and he'd been working towards that goal for forever. It was rare that someone straight out of school would land a position so high, but Jimin was on the right track to get there.

He was amazing at talking and meeting new people. Charming and smart, and just enough cunning in him to understand and manipulate others if need be. Jimin really would be excellent for the job.

Plus it required little to no magic usage. Jimin wasn't a bad wizard, but sometimes he fell a little short. He hadn't scored well on his O.W.L.S. and he had never really been the best in his classes, but he made up for it in his charm and wit.

Jungkook was rooting for him.

Jimin pushed Jungkook forward, hurrying him up and pushing him into the ring that the other students had formed for the duel. "I hope she kicks your ass." He whispered, before smirking and taking a place next to Taehyung.

Jungkook took it back. He hated Jimin. Jimin was the worst.

He adjusted his robes, turning to Akhira, who was standing in front of him, a smirk on her face. "I've been waiting for this for far too long. I've heard great things about your abilities, but I've also heard that you never raise a wand to everyone. Even back in the classroom you had to have some books do your dirty work for you. Well, there aren't any books now, so I hope you know what you're doing."

Jungkook didn't like her. He already knew that the moment she'd confronted them and belittled them simply for choosing a school they had all deemed would give them better opportunities than Mahoutokoro would.

And Jungkook didn't like her aura, either. It radiated something nasty. He nervously adjusted his tie, bringing out his wand as she took out hers as well.

"When I'm done with you, you're going to look like a lost little wizard, who hasn't even learned how to properly hold their wand yet." She sneered.

"Usually there's more magic and less talking in a duel!" Hoseok called out. "We don't have all day to listen to you two trash talk one another!"

You mean her just insult me. Jungkook scoffed to himself as he faced Akhira and bowed to her, before turning and walking away.

When the two turned back to one another, Jungkook wasn't surprised when she threw out a spell immediately.

He had no trouble blocking it, making sure that when he did, the trajectile of magic didn't hit one of the spectators. "Move back!" Hoseok called. "Unless some of you wish to be caught in the crossfires and hit with their magic!"

The circle suddenly tripled in size, and Jungkook was left out in the open with Akhira, who was smirking.

She waved her wand once, twice, three times, and Jungkook barely had time to deflect all three of them before he was rolling away from a fourth, thrown so readily at him, that he didn't even have time to figure out what spells she was using.

But he was getting a good feel for the type of person she was. Brash and confident, arrogant more so. She liked to be the one to throw the first spell, and she threw strong ones to start out with, to assert her dominance and try to make her opponents scared and nervous.

He could tell by the way that she was acting that it usually worked, too. That it usually made someone so nervous that they had trouble focusing and fighting back properly.

She was nothing more than a bully.

And Jungkook had dealt with more than enough bullies in his lifetime to know what their weaknesses were.

"Come on!" Akhira jabbed, holding her arms out as if to say you have an open shot, but I know you won't take it because you're too scared to. "Are you just going to run around like an idiot all day and dodge my spells?"

"Well, maybe once you start throwing real spells around, I'll entertain you." Jungkook shot back. "Until then, you're just a sad little girl that's throwing a temper tantrum. Bet you thought that your little three-four method would work, but that's only because you usually go for those that are weaker than you and can't stand up to you, right?"

Akhira's face went red. Jungkook knew that he had her angry. That was something that he wanted. Jungkook didn't like fighting back, he didn't like raising his wand, but one thing that the boy had never been shy with were his words.

Ask his hyungs, they could tell you any day how much of a pain in the ass and a brat he could be when he wanted.

"Think you're so much better than me, huh?" She sneered, shaking her head. "You're nothing more than a scared little boy that couldn't even go to Mahoutokoro."

"Says the one who didn't even get a letter to attend Hogwarts. Is that what this is about? You're jealous that all of us got letters to attend here, even all the way over in South Korea, when you didn't get one? Are you just jealous?"

Akhira let out a war cry and threw several more spells Jungkook's way, but he easily blocked them. Because one thing he knew about bullies was that they got sloppy. They were led by their own arrogance and their emotions, and when they got mad, they got sloppy and lashed out.

"You know nothing." She hissed, holding her wand up, ready to attack at any given point.

"You're right. But by the way that you're reacting right now, I must be hitting some sort of nerve." He smirked, tilting his head to the side and bracing his knees to jump to the side. Some spells just couldn't be blocked as quickly.

Most of the spells could be blocked by a simple protego, but others weren't so easy. Especially now, when Akhira was so much angrier and more likely to use her bigger and more powerful spells to take Jungkook out more quickly in her anger.

Jungkook could feel the eyes around them, watching the duel. The others were all interested, he could tell.

He briefly met glances with Taehyung, whose arms were crossed. He looked like he was calculating something, no doubt planning out each of their moves from here on out and trying to see who would be the winner.

Jungkook decided that this time, he might throw something out of his own. Nothing too big or damaging, but enough to get this really going. He didn't care if he lost, and honestly, he didn't even want to be dueling like this in the first place, so he flicked his wrist, sending out a simple flipendo, and Akhira must not have been expecting him to send out a spell at all, as she didn't have time to block or dodge the magic, before it was coursing through her and sending her flying backwards.

She landed roughly onto her back, and Jungkook nearly winced at the sound that escaped through her lips as she slowly got back up. Jungkook probably could've taken that chance to knock her down again or to throw a different spell out and assure his victory, but he didn't want to hurt the girl more than he had to.

Oh, she was angry. Jungkook widened his eyes as he saw her stalking forward, raising her wand above her head and sending it crashing down.

The ground cracked and Jungkook tripped, falling down, rolling out of the way quickly before she could send another spell at him that would keep him down.

These spells were more dangerous, and he had to play his cards carefully so that she didn't actually kill him, which at this point, Jungkook could tell she might not mind in the slightest.

He sent a spell of his own, distracting her while he got to his feet and rushed towards her. Perhaps a simple petrificus totalus would do the trick and get him out of here finally.

But Akhira had finally seemed to get the picture and blocked the spell easily. Jungkook was close enough to her that she just charged forward, ignoring magic as she knocked him to the ground and got on top of him.

Jungkook grunted, shoving her off, rolling to the side minutes before flames erupted into the space that he had just been occupying.

"Fuck, she's trying to kill me." He muttered, turning to face her once more. He sent a spell out quickly, one to distract her and another that would actually hit her, playing her own game. The second successfully landed and shoved her back, sending her sprawling on the ground, and that must have been the last straw for her.

Three things happened all at once in that instance.

She screamed a spell out loud, one that Jungkook wasn't familiar with, and it was so shocking that he didn't have time to think of doing anything. Not blocking it, not dodging it, nothing.

Hoseok shouted, his own wand shooting forward as he rushed towards Jungkook.

And Taehyung.

Taehyung was suddenly standing in front of Jungkook and Akhira was flying backwards, backwards until her back hit the side of the castle with a sickening crunch.

Jungkook gasped as the spell, whatever it was, dissipated at Taehyung mutterings, lights and smoke flying everywhere. Some of the other students shouted in surprise, stepping away.

Jungkook was staring up at Taehyung, who was just standing there then, but the anger that was swirling around him was sending shivers down Jungkook's spine.

"How dare you." He spit out. Hoseok had changed course, running to Akhira to see if she was okay, obviously seeing that she was the more hurt of everyone. "How dare you try and use that spell? Do you have any idea what spells like that do to people?"

The sky was turning grey and the wind was picking up. Jungkook didn't like this. He didn't like any of it. He slowly got to his feet, standing behind Taehyung as the other moved forward, towards Hoseok and Akhira. It seemed as if he was lost in his own rage.

"Taehyung--"

"I ought to kill you, just for searching for that spell and learning it. Let alone daring to use it." He seethed, finally coming to stand right in front of the girl, who was trembling, staring up at Taehyung.

"Taehyung please!" Jungkook cried out, grabbing onto his arm. "Please, you're scaring me." He whispered, forcing the older to finally look at him. "Please." He whispered once more, before his vision started to go black. Something was dripping down his face, he didn't know what it was. His vision was failing him, why? He didn't know.

All that he knew was that Taehyung was suddenly carrying him, his eyes wide and his voice panicked. This wasn't a panic attack, he knew what those felt like, so what was going on? He had felt fine just moments ago. He didn't understand why Taehyung looked so panicked. It was like...no, he couldn't be right?

Why did Taehyung look so scared?

That was the last thing that Jungkook processed, before everything went dark.