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Chapter Text

Jeon Jungkook was the sort of witch to whom unfortunate things just seemed to happen. 

He had a talent for being in the wrong place during the wrong phase of the moon, for zoning out on his broomstick and ending up twelve landmarks away from his destination, and for leaving just about any object he might need during his day at school safely on the kitchen table whenever he left the apartment.

His potions always seemed to result in unexpected side effects. His mother's cat familiar hated him because he was always stepping on her tail, and he hadn't opened his sock drawer in weeks because he was pretty sure a goblin had moved in.

Once, he'd been haunted by a yuurei for a month. (They'd been very lost, and after straightening things out, very apologetic.)

Once, he'd stumbled his way into a circle of standing stones on the way to the shops, and had had to call the fire brigade to pull him out.

Once, he'd gone on a week-long exchange to a coven in Thailand, only to find that they were part of the local mafia. Whose quarters were raided on his last day there. He'd called his mother from the police station, and she'd been more exasperated than worried at that stage.

The point was, he shouldn't have been surprised when one sunny summer's afternoon, he ended up zipped inside the sports bag of the school's most popular basketball player, Min Yoongi.

It happened so easily that Jungkook was actually quite impressed that with his track record, he hadn't managed to do it before.

~❀~❀~❀~

It was in Modern Interpretation of the Near and Possibly Near Future that it happened.

It was his last class of the day, and Jungkook was looking forward to a quiet evening of watching anime, starting his maths homework and helping his mother clean their newt pond. He had just finished placing his crystal ball back in the store cupboard when the earthquake warning alarm went off. 

And yes, Jungkook had heard this particular alarm at least ten times every school year. For over a decade.

Yes, he recognised it, and knew exactly what to do in case of a real earthquake (though in living memory the warlocks had always taken care of any quakes they detected).

Yes, he had been daydreaming, and got such a big fright that when the alarm sounded, he fwipped into an animal shift so fast that he actually fell the three feet from his human centre of mass to the ground, instead of pulling off his normal (albeit wobbly) crouch. In his defence, the class before this had been Transformations of the Appearance and Species, so the response was at the forefront of his mind.

It was even less fun being a small creature than a human during an earthquake warning, and somehow Jungkook seemed to be the only one miles from his desk. The other students were hurrying to get under the tables quickly, and it was only natural that he should hop into an invitingly-open duffel bag under the nearest desk rather than risk getting trampled on the way to his own.

Unfortunately, Jungkook had forgotten to factor in his bad luck. The bag was quickly zipped, and if the swooping in his stomach told him anything, was held over someone's head. Since covering your head was part of the standard earthquake procedure. Which he had known about since preschool. Oops.

Jungkook allowed himself a minute to calm his racing heart, after which he realised that in all likelihood, he was probably in a safe enough position anyway.

After all, he was under a table, protecting his head with a bag. 

The fact that he was in the bag was just a technicality, he decided, and felt better.

So, it was to the sound of the alarm and the grumbling of students who had had their after-school plans delayed that he took stock of what had actually happened.

It was dark in the bag, but Jungkook could tell that he was small, though not tiny, and had four legs and soft fur. He lifted a paw to prod at his face, finding chubby cheeks, whiskers and... yep. Floppy ears. Why was he not surprised?

He, out of all the creatures he could have turned himself into, had decided that the best thing he could do in an emergency situation was to give himself buck teeth and a cottontail.

He was a bunny rabbit.

He huffed, and settled down into the soft fabric at the bottom of the bag. Typical. He'd spent all of the last period getting the stink eye for not being able to manage a transformation, and the minute he'd really love to be human, off it went.

Jungkook couldn't say he really minded being a rabbit, though. His nose was maybe a little too sensitive for him to appreciate being in someone's sports bag, but as animals went, it was quite a comfy form to have. It felt nice to just chatter his teeth and wiggle his nose, and he loved the feeling of the muscles of his ears working. He could flip them up. He could flop them down. Could he make one ear go up and one go down?

Jungkook was so distracted by his experimentation that he forgot to pay attention to his surroundings. He let out a shocked squeak as the bag was dropped to the floor, and the muted chatter turned into full-blown chaos as the students prepared to leave. Their teacher was shouting instructions for their homework over the noise, and Jungkook strained to listen. The siren appeared to have stopped - the warlocks must have successfully tackled the quake once more - but it was still too noisy to hear. Dammit, he needed to know what their assignment was.

He was snapped out of his sulking by the nauseating feeling of the bag swinging through the air and crashing into position, presumably on someone's back.

This unfortunately resulted in Jungkook being upside down, and to make matters worse, a huge, solid object then fell on him, pushing him into the bottom of the bag. He took a moment to feel sorry for himself, then tried to push the object away from himself, hind legs paddling in circles in the dark, but the angle was too difficult.

He was now mostly on his side, something vaguely cotton-y cushioning him on one side, and the rough, rubbery object pressing into him from the other. It almost felt like...

Oh, pants.

That was a basketball. He was stuck in a kit bag with a basketball, and there was only one student in his class who was on the team.

Min Yoongi.

Terrifyingly good on the basketball court, and a terrifyingly powerful witch off of it. The whole school was in awe of him, and Min Yoongi never seemed to regard them with anything less than an aloof sort of suspicion. He preferred to spend all of his free time on the court, working (he allegedly was part of the special forces, but Jungkook doubted that) or with his coven.

This left Min Yoongi with very little time to humour his adoring fans - and it left his adoring fans plenty of time to obsess over him.

The only reason Jungkook knew this is that he preferred to hide in the library - the introvert's paradise - at lunch, and one of the several warring fan-groups had made a home for themselves at the table next to his. Jungkook did his best to avoid eye contact with them, though sometimes they would offer him one of their basketball-themed cookies if they needed to borrow a chair from his table. They were terrifying.

The main point of interest for them was his coven - the fact that he had one at all. It shouldn't have been necessary at his age, with the remainder of the student body waiting until either graduating highschool (if they intended to stay in the area) or starting university before beginning to think about covens.

Min Yoongi, though... apparently he was so powerful, he had had to enter into a coven before his first year of highschool was up in order to stabilise his magic. He was actually pretty sure the other coven members also attended the Busan Highschool for Wixen and Wandfolk, but he'd never bothered to work out their names. The government had gotten involved in order to locate suitable matches across the country for Yoongi, holding them all back for a year to allow the group to relocate and bond properly before restarting highschool together.

Hence Jungkook, who had skipped a year in primary school, was in the same divination class as Min Yoongi.

And now, he mused bitterly, he was in the same bag as Min Yoongi's sweaty socks.

Why? Why was it always him?

Jungkook quickly gave up trying to free himself. He couldn't reach the bag's zipper in this position – couldn't even kick out to make himself felt – and he didn't really feel like being upended into the busy school corridor once Yoongi realised that he had a passenger. 

No, he would wait until Yoongi had left the school building, and squeak for his freedom once the noise outside the bag had calmed down.

At least, that had been his plan.

Jungkook yelped in shock as suddenly, his surroundings began to dissolve into swirling colour, reassembling just as fast a moment later.

What in Norway?

Several loud voices welcomed Min Yoongi home, and his scrambled brain only managed to note that they had somehow travelled to a different location, before the bag he was in was dropped roughly to the floor. On its end.

Jungkook's brain, which had still been recovering from whatever it was that had somehow teleported him to Min Yoongi's house, decided to take a little time-out.

~❀~❀~❀~

When Jungkook awoke, he was disappointed to find himself still stuck in the bag. He felt winded and thoroughly battered, but not actually injured. 

He reached out with his paws, grimacing as the rough rubber of the basketball rubbed his fur up the wrong way. Where was the zip? He tried wriggling to get his feet under him, then, when that failed, did his best to squirm enough to get the bag to tip over.

Those efforts also failed (curse his fluffy, weak little body), but he had clearly attracted some attention.

"Hyung?" Called a voice from outside his pathetic prison. "Is that your kit bag?"

"Yeah?"

"Why's it moving?"

"I don't see anything."

Jungkook had paused to listen, but he put in one final burst of effort when he heard that.

"Oh. Shit. It didn't set the wards off."

"Maybe we should put it outside and wait until Jin and Joon come home."

"No, I want to wash my kit now. If it were dangerous, it would've ripped through the bag already. Just– give me that box."

Jungkook's stomach protested as the bag was tipped over, unzipped and quickly shaken. The basketball went bouncing out first, and he desperately latched on to the nearest piece of fabric with his teeth to prevent himself from flying out.

Unfortunately, the nearest piece of fabric was still only a used, sweaty sock, and so Jungkook took a messy tumble out of the bag and onto the floor.

It wasn't far to fall, but he was still disoriented enough to simply lie there, stunned, as a clear plastic box was slammed over him.

Four distorted shadows surrounded him as he lay on his side, dizzy and unimpressed. They seemed to be having an intense conversation, judging by the hand-waving going on, but the plastic box was a lot more sound-proof than the bag had been.

Jungkook spat the sock out and dragged himself into a more respectable looking crouch, dragging a paw over his mussed-up fur in a pitiful attempt to make himself look smarter. He got a bit distracted by how nice that felt, and brought both paws up to give his face a proper rub. Oooooh, that was good. He should do this more often.

The box was slowly lifted, and he was able to see the people around him more clearly.

There was Min Yoongi, right in front of him. Then on his left, two boys who looked about Jungkook's age - he thought he might actually recognise the shorter one from his Basics in Aerial Transport class - and, to his right, an older boy with soft brown hair who he didn't know. He must have been an upperclassman.

They were all still in their school uniforms (like he would really like to be, he grouched), and maybe he was biased because of his current size, but they all looked quite scary.

Jungkook twitched one ear, and sat up, determined to hold his own. Then he sprang into the air in shock as something poked his– his tail. He twisted as he landed, coming face to face with... a finger. He glared at the witch attached to it. It was the younger one who he hadn't recognised, and they gave him an unrepentant shrug.

"Always wanted to do that," they grinned. "You gonna stay like that forever? We know you're a witch."

Jungkook straightened up once more, and squeaked as contritely as he could manage.

Then he shut his eyes, focussed hard, and chanted the counter-spell. 

He managed to get back to his human form on the first try – and with all his clothes still intact, that was new – and was welcomed by a splitting headache.

Something poked his arm. He forced an eye open.

"You alright there, hubae?" Min Yoongi was staring at him. Oh no. Min Yoongi was staring at him. This was... ok, this was nowhere near the worst day of his life. But still. Not ideal.

Jungkook nodded, squinting and doing his best not to groan as his headache pulsed once before beginning to fade. That was something at least. It would be so embarrassing if he gave himself a concussion from something as basic as changing shape.

"Good. Looks like you learned a lesson today, huh? Never do that again. Our wards could have fried you if you had intentions past just stupid curiosity, alright?"

Jungkook wilted as he realised that Min Yoongi thought he'd hitched a lift on purpose. Better not to correct him, and just leave as quickly as possible.

"Ok then, you've had your fun. Get out. Take the 5a bus back to school and make your way home from there."

Jungkook nodded. He scrambled to his feet, and tottered towards the front door he was directed to.

He paused by the entrance, suddenly unwilling to leave without apologising.

"I'm really sorry, Yoongi-seonbaenim. I didn't mean to-"

"Out."

"Yep!" 

Jungkook darted out the door, tripping on the doorstep but happily able to pick himself up again quickly, and jogged to the end of the garden. He was pretty sure he recognised this street, actually. One of the flight landmarks he used on his way to school was right across the road. He might even be able to walk straight back to his apartment from here–

He'd barely made it to the garden gate before the sky darkened threateningly, and clouds that had seemingly just blinked into existence burst open and drenched him where he stood.

Jungkook yelped, and hurried to wrap his school robes more tightly around himself. His cone hat had disappeared off to somewhere - his mother was going to be so mad that he'd lost another one - and his dark hair was quickly being plastered to his forehead with the sheer amount of water that was falling.

He did his best to unlatch the gate - it actually felt like the water beating down onto his hand was trying to stop him from lifting it - but it was some sort of complicated lock. He stood, getting more and more drenched and frantic by the second, until a hand caught his wrist.

Jungkook turned, and met the eyes of one of Yoongi's coven mates through the downpour. The one with the brown hair, which even now was neat and fluffy. Jungkook always forgot that rain repellent charms existed, oops. They were shouting something, but he couldn't make it out.

He gave up trying to lipread through the blustery rain when he caught sight of his own forearm. He'd outgrown his school robes a little recently, and a good portion of his wrist, now dry thanks to the other's charm radius, was visible.

The fine hairs were standing on end. Jungkook's fingers began to tingle. He tasted metal, and his eyes widened at the horrifying familiarity, his back throbbing in phantom pain... And like he was being mocked by the heavens, some of the older witch's words made it to his ears.

"–be lightning, come–"

Jungkook let himself be tugged back up the front path and back inside.

They had no sooner closed the door than did the world whiten, and a surge of blue lightning struck the gate, leaving the metal torn, twisted and glowing so brightly that Jungkook could see it through the rippled stained glass set into the door.

A peal of thunder split the sky moments later. Jungkook turned wide eyes away from the outside to meet the other witch's raised eyebrow.

The other grinned at him like he saw freak lightning strikes every half moon, and proffered him a towel.

"Hey, I'm Hoseok. Would you like to stay for dinner?" He asked Jungkook.

Jungkook could only stare.

~❀~🦅~❀~

And that was how Jungkook found himself eating kimchi fried rice with Korea's youngest coven, Bangtan Sonyeondan, on a Thursday evening in the summer term, as a thunderstorm raged outside.

Their eldest member, Seokjin, was in his first year at the local sixth form college. He and another member, Namjoon, had joined them via what turned out to be a warlock teleportal shortly after Hoseok had announced that Jungkook should probably stay the night, too.

"Best not to mess with magical storms," he'd said, nudging Jungkook's shoulder like they were sharing an inside joke, before tsking and wrapping him more firmly into the spelled towel.

Hoseok had let him call his mother using his mobile phone to let her know he was safe, given that his own was still stuck in his bag at school.

The conversation had been intensely awkward. Jungkook's mother was in no way surprised at the mess he'd managed to get himself into. She'd teased Jungkook mercilessly for his accidental shape-shifting, told his hosts all about the time that he was taken hostage by the local merfolk during an incident he had mentally filed under reasons not to go to the beach wearing sunglasses, and told him in no uncertain terms that she still expected him to do his homework at the Bangtan residence, and be on time to school the next day.

She'd hung up after painfully extracting a love you too, Eomma from him, and then promptly texted Hoseok with a picture of a very grumpy-looking goblin peeking out from the chest of drawers in his room, captioned Tell Kookie that we'll talk about this later.

Jungkook had been about ready to crumble into the floorboards.

"Kookie?" Said the witch he'd recognised from class, Jimin. "Didn't peg you for a momma's boy."

"I did," snickered the other who was in Jungkook's year - Taehyung, he was pretty sure he'd been introduced as.

(Jungkook had sat on the floor, put his head in his hands, and stayed there until he'd been called to dinner. The others had been nice enough to leave him be.)

Jungkook had to admit that the Bangtan coven were being kinder to him than he deserved. Only Yoongi kept his distance, eyeing him warily - the others had coaxed the rest of the story out of Jungkook before the food was even properly on the table, and were finding it hilarious.

"You managed to turn yourself into a rabbit with no spoken spell, no equipment, because you got a little surprised? Like - you heard the earthquake warning and just decided you needed to be fluffier for it?"

Jungkook wondered if it was possible for him to sink down any lower into his chair.

"The question I have," started Seokjin, "is why you chose Yoongi's kitbag of all places. Could you not smell his socks?"

Jungkook pressed his lips together and desperately sipped his glass of water.

"And then what a finale! Don't worry, Jungkook, we've never let a guest get struck by lightning before."

Jungkook smiled tightly, and in an attempt to avoid eye contact, looked around the room.

Their kitchen was a lovely space with large windows, though all that was currently visible outside was the greyish blur of the rain. One side of the room was decorated in the latest Scandinavian fashion, bordered with pale yellow fitted cupboards and counters, and even had an electric oven. The other end was more like what Jungkook's kitchen at home looked like - a row of cauldrons over permanently-lit wixenflames, herbs, onions and garlic drying from the ceiling and shelves upon shelves of glass bottles and jars. The walls were tiled in green and orange, with little paintings of animals and plants creating a sort of nature-themed mosaic. 

The kitchen table he was sat at dominated the centre of the room, below a fancy light fitting. The government - or whoever had arranged for the coven to live here - clearly hadn't spared any expense.

"Jungkook?" Asked Hoseok.

"Mmmm?"

"You alright?"

Jungkook blanked for a moment, before realising that he'd fallen silent. He gave the warmest smile he could muster. "Yeah. Sorry, I was just daydreaming,"

Hoseok made an understanding noise, and the conversation drifted towards the coven's weekend plans instead.

Jungkook... Well, Jungkook would define himself as an introvert. He wasn't ashamed of the fact, but the only person he really held conversations with was his mother. 

He answered questions in class when picked on - occasionally even loud enough to be heard - and said hello to the griffin that guarded the broom shed every morning and afternoon. He distinctly recalled also saying 'thank you' and 'excuse me' at least once each this week, and it was only Thursday.

Any friends he had made in primary school had always been a little distant due to his awkwardness - his tendency to trip, to drop things, to break their possessions. Children only had so much patience, and he had quickly realised that he greatly reduced the risk of exposing himself to embarrassment if he hid in secluded corners of the playground and read.

High school so far hadn't been much different - although now he was allowed to stay inside during break times if he so chose. Which he did. The only real exercise he got was weekly yoga with his mother (a secret he was taking to the grave) and his morning flight to school. 

He skulked from class to class like he wasn't enrolled, stood just confidently enough that the bullies didn't often bother him, and if the chance of a social interaction was ever too high for comfort, he had a very high-quality map of secluded corners and bathrooms across the school in his brain ready for use.

So, it was safe to say that Jungkook was a little overwhelmed by the amount of energy in the Bangtan household during dinner. The coven was effectively a group of teenagers who'd been uprooted from their family circles, given a house and a government stipend and told to stop making things explode for the sake of the country's infrastructure, please and thank you.

It was impressive, then, that despite the lack of adult supervision, the group still managed to act like a family.

Food was shared (and stolen), stories were exchanged, and the number of spells shooting across the table was quite frightening.

Jin had caught him looking, and explained that it was good for them to release any pent-up magic they had before they had to knuckle down and concentrate on their homework. Jungkook didn't even consider joining them. That was just tempting fate.

Instead, he watched as Taehyung made a game of turning his hyung's bowls different colours, Jimin sketched with a fairylight charm on the wood of the table and the others sent repeated noise-cancelling hexes up at the skylights, so that the sound of the pounding rain didn't make talking impossible.

It was only a matter of time, though, before interest turned back to Jungkook.

"Hey. Jungkook-ah," Namjoon started, flinching a little as his chopsticks turned from wood into steel right as he had been about to take a bite.

Jungkook didn't remember when they had apparently started to talk informally, but he raised his head politely.

"What year are you in at school?"

Jungkook stared at Namjoon like he'd asked him what colour his socks were.

"He's a second year, hyung," interrupted Jimin. "He's in my flying class. We used to have a bet going as to whether or not he'd make it to the end of the year - you should have seen him in first year. Fell twenty feet from a magic carpet at least three times."

"Jimin!" Scolded Jin, though he seemed more intrigued than anything else. "You're not too old for me to take away your TV privileges."

Jungkook was fairly certain that his face was glowing bright red, and he tried to focus back onto his rice.

"So, Jungkook, you're what? Fifteen? Almost sixteen?" Namjoon persisted.

Jungkook was tempted to just nod and stay silent, but he knew he was being rude. 

"Fourteen. I skipped third grade." There. A whole two sentences.

"That explains the baby face. We're all your hyungs," crowed Taehyung, and Jungkook began to seriously contemplate jumping out of the window, regardless of the ongoing storm.

"And how was it that you managed to fall from a flying carpet?" Asked Jimin. "The school models are warded to the forests of Norway and back."

Jungkook hesitated, but he didn't sense that the other witches were trying to tease him. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "Stuff like that happens a lot."

"I can believe that," sighed Taehyung dreamily. "I've always wanted to be kidnapped by the merfolk."

"He really has," confirmed Jimin.

Jungkook flushed, and stayed quiet.

The others tried a new tack.

"It's odd, really, that we haven't spoken before. Isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"You keep to yourself?"

"Yep."

"You must have some friends."

"I don't think so..."

"Seriously?"

"Yes." Jungkook couldn't help snarking a little. "You were right. I'm a momma's boy."

Jin surprised him by letting out a loud squeak. Then, he realised that it was a laugh, and he couldn't help smiling too.

"I'm sorry, Jimin shouldn't have said that." Namjoon said.

"It's fine. It's true. My mother's a great witch."

"But there's really nobody else?"

Jungkook frowned. "I'm an introvert."

"We know that," smiled Jin, not unkindly. "Doesn't mean you can't have friends."

"True. But my luck sees to that."

The light-hearted banter paused.

"Your luck?"

"Yep."

"What about your luck? Are you cursed?"

Jungkook shrugged. "Not as far as we know. Just- a lot of strange things happen to me. Normally with impeccable timing."

To prove his point, an almighty clatter came from somewhere else in the house. The others laughed and ignored it as if this was a frequent occurrence, the conversation moved on again and Tae began listing Namjoon's many clumsy accidents to Jungkook, but he noticed that Seokjin was suddenly sitting very still. One hand was holding his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, loaded with rice. As Jungkook watched, Jin blinked, scrunched his nose, and stood abruptly, chopsticks still in hand.

"Be right back," he said.

The others hardly bat an eye, though Jungkook realised that Yoongi had registered the oddness of the situation too. He was staring after Seokjin with a frown on his face, and then his eyes flickered to meet Jungkook's so fiercely that he ducked his head and blushed into his rice bowl.

Seokjin was true to his word. Less than a minute later he was back, and reclaimed his seat. The table fell silent.

"Hyung," asked Hoseok, in a strangled tone. "What is that?"

Seokjin raised his chopsticks to his shoulder, and the hulking bird that perched there enthusiastically accepted a clump of bean sprouts.

"This," he said, "is Dionysus."

The bird flapped its wings a little to adjust its balance, and Jungkook gaped at the length of its wingspan.

Its plumage was a mass of fluffy black feathers that extended all the way up its long neck and over the crown of its head. A sleek black face with glistening eyes and a hooked beak poked curiously out of the feathers, making the bird look sillier than a raptor with wings almost as long as he was tall probably ought to be.

"And Dionysus is..?"

"My familiar, yes." said Seokjin, with a hint of pride.

The table exploded with congratulations. Dionysus didn't seem to appreciate the sudden noise, and tucked his neck around the back of Jin's, wings half open and forming a protective mantle over Jin's shoulders while his head flicked from side to side like he was watching a tennis match.

Jungkook was in awe. Most witches had to wait years to find their familiars, and not everyone ever did. If a coven wasn't perfectly matched, a familiar would turn up their nose. And it wasn't a coincidence that all public servants and law enforcement officers were required to have a bonded familiar. They were well-known to scorn the dishonest and the spiteful.

It seemed like the others were more interested in poking fun at Seokjin, rather than marvelling at his impressive familiar.

"Only you, hyung. A bird with a wingspan to match your shoulders," quipped Hoseok.

Taehyung chimed in with "you realise you're going to have to carry a massive bird around for the rest of your life? He's a vulture, right? You'll never eat again."

Jungkook felt that he should add something positive to the conversation. "He's beautiful, Seokjin-ssi."

A croaky voice resonated inside Jungkook's skull.

Thank you, youngest. Finally, some manners.

"Um," said Jungkook, nonplussed. Apparently Dionysus was telepathic. He didn't think they normally communicated with anyone apart from their bonded. "You're welcome?"

Seokjin snapped round to Jungkook. "You heard that, Kookie?"

Jungkook froze. What had he done wrong? This was why he didn't say things, Merlin dammit.

"...Yes?" He tried.

Chaos broke loose.

Seokjin was rising out of his chair, Namjoon was loudly proclaiming how he'd known since the beginning, Yoongi was staring in shock, Hoseok was for some reason on the table and Jimin and Taehyung, who hadn't quite been paying attention, were begging for someone to explain to them what was going on.

Jungkook managed to rise partway out of his seat before Seokjin crashed into him. Warm arms encircled his chest, and Seokjin actually lifted him off his feet and spun him in a little half-circle before letting him go, only to grasp his face in both hands and stare into his eyes a moment later.

"You're my baby now, Kookie, I hope your mother doesn't mind sharing. And those bunny teeth, ahhhh. I couldn't have asked for anyone more precious."

"Um," repeated Jungkook eloquently, as Seokjin pressed Jungkook's head to his heart and patted his hair frantically, reminding Jungkook strongly of how his great-aunt used to hug him at family reunions. "What?"

Hoseok joined their hug a moment later, squishing Jungkook between the two of them. 

"This is fate," wailed Seokjin. Jungkook thought the elder might actually be crying. "This is good karma from all the times I haven't throttled Namjoon for breaking my dishes. You're the future of this coven, Jungkook. You'll still be young and sprightly when we're all two hundred and shooting sparks in the care home. You can drive us to bingo. I can teach you to drive a car, Kookie! Will you visit me at my bedside? Will you–"

"Hyung," interrupted Hoseok. "Jungkook's only five years younger than you. He'll be in the care home with us."

It's nice to dream, croaked Dionysus solemnly, looking put out on Seokjin's behalf. The large vulture was fussing with Jungkook's hair too, but Jungkook was fixated on Seokjin.

"What did you just say, Seokjin-sunbaenim?" He whispered.

"Call me hyung. The bit about the bingo? Please don't tell me you're one of those anarchists that don't like bingo, please, I wouldn't be able to live with myself–"

"Um," said Jungkook. "What?"

"Or is it the car that's the issue? I promise you, it's fully electric, and I signed an advance recycling deal as soon as I bought it. This baby is so green, you could put it in a salad. Everyone should learn to drive. Brooms and carpets aren't always the answer, you should know. Why, once at my sister's second wedding–"

"Best just to let him finish," whispered Hoseok in Jungkook's ear, giving him a little squeeze around the waist. "But really, we all couldn't be happier. Seven is the perfect number for a coven, we've been hoping ever since they first put us together that we'd find one last member."

"–all the way from Mongolia. Straight into the side of the marquee, I'm telling you. He'd set up a luggage shrinking charm, and a weather charm, and about a dozen charms to keep the wind from ruining his hair. He was so tired when he arrived that it was just a disaster waiting to happen–

"What?" Hissed Jungkook, letting Dionysus place one taloned foot gently on his shoulder, straddling the gap between him and Seokjin to nibble at his ear.

"What what?" Whispered Hoseok right back.

Jungkook was starting to get overwhelmed when he was rescued by a calloused pair of hands gripping his upper arms and yanking him back to his seat at the table. Seokjin shuffled after him, still talking nine to the dozen about his uncle Daejeong and the merits of motor vehicles, but at least Jungkook could breathe now.

He twisted in his seat to see who'd intervened, and was surprised to see Yoongi also in the process of sitting back down, studiously avoiding eye contact. He rubbed one arm, wondering why he felt disappointed when Yoongi wouldn't look at him.

"Seokjin-hyung?" He tried. "What's this about covens?"

That caught Seokjin's attention. The elder looked surprised, then understanding, then somewhat embarrassed.

"Ah. It's possible that I've gotten a bit ahead of myself. How much do you know about coven bonding?"

"...Not much," admitted Jungkook. "We haven't covered it in school."

Seokjin nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. You only learn about it in your last year, when everyone gets ready to match up. And with you being so young, you probably can't feel any bond yet. But we can," Seokjin gestured around the table. Jungkook cast his gaze around, meeting the others' gazes one at a time. Hoseok gave him an encouraging smile, and Taehyung stuck out his tongue at him. He was so caught off-guard that he couldn't help but smile in return.

"And the fact that Dionysus only showed up once we'd met you, and that you can hear him, makes it a certainty," continued Seokjin. 

"Welcome to the Bangtan coven, Jeon Jungkook."

~❀~❀~❀~

Chapter Text

The unfortunate reality of being a highschool student was that after that dramatic announcement, the cuckoo clock had sounded eight o'clock, telling them to get a move on, and they had all realised how much homework they had to do. 

Still slightly reeling from the revelation, Jungkook had watched helplessly as the coven had worked together to banish dirty plates to the sink, heat the washing-up water and coax the dish rag over to wipe the kitchen table. Then, Seokjin had walked round with a Tibetan fanged basket, and wrangled each member's mobile phone to feed to it.

The group had settled around the kitchen table with a variety of projects, essays and worksheets. Luckily, Taehyung also had the same algebra review worksheets to do as Jungkook (he hadn't even realised they were in the same maths class), and he let Jungkook copy down the questions before tackling them himself.

The coven worked in near-silence for about forty minutes before they started to get restless. Taehyung and Jungkook had been stuck on the same problem for about five minutes, and Namjoon, who was surrounded by starcharts and deep in thought, was utterly oblivious to Taehyung trying to make eye contact.

Dionysus had taken it upon himself to make disparaging comments about everyone's handwriting, and Seokjin was struggling to keep a straight face.

"Hyuuunnng," begged Taehyung, "we can't factorise this."

That's because your 'x's look like roadkill, said Dionysus.

Jungkook frowned at his paper, wondering if Dionysus might be onto something.

It's like a pigeon stepped in tar and wandered all over your page–

"Namjoon-hyung, pleeaase."

"There's a ninety-six point three percent chance that South Korea will slide into the sea this weekend," muttered Namjoon. "That can't be right..."

–and then was hit by a truck continued the vulture. I think it gasped its last breath around about question 24, he finished smugly. Delicious.

It was Jimin that rescued them in the end.

"Taehyung, really? Difference of two squares. We learnt this last year."

"Oh," said Jungkook, "I forgot about that too."

"But you're too cute to scold," said Jimin, patting his hand. "Come on, hyung will show you an example and then you can try that one again."

~❀~❀~❀~

By the time the Tibetan basket had burped up the last phone, it had been half past ten, and Jungkook could hardly keep his eyes open.

Seokjin had pressed a set of sleep clothes, a fresh towel and a toothbrush into his hands and directed him to the bathroom, telling him to use anything he found on the shelves.

Namjoon stopped him in the corridor after his shower.

"How're you holding up, Kook-ah?"

Jungkook blinked up at him, and Namjoon grinned awkwardly, scratching his nose.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to jump you. It's just– you seem quiet? I know today has been a bit of a shock for you."

Jungkook nodded, and then realised that Namjoon was waiting for him to say something.

"I'm good. I'm... happy, I think? It's just– It's always just been me and my mother, you know? I dunno."

Namjoon nodded seriously, and Jungkook wondered what had happened to turn the gangly teenager into such a responsible character.

"That's alright. I know it's a lot of pressure, being part of Bangtan. There's been a lot of eyes on us these past few years. But we can take it slow, ok? We'll only sign the papers when you're ready. You don't have to move in immediately."

Jungkook froze. "...Move in?"

Namjoon coughed. "Ahh... maybe this isn't the best time to talk about it. It's late, and it's a school day tomorrow. But please give it some thought over the next few days. I think your magic will be a lot happier as part of a coven's network. Seems like it's been giving you a lot of grief, right?"

Jungkook nodded slowly. He wasn't sure he liked what Namjoon was implying– that his lifelong bad luck wasn't the work of some curse or blessing gone wrong, but his own magic, curdling and rotting inside of himself and lashing out at him whenever it got the chance. It made him feel dirty, and a little sad.

He was too tired for this. He always got philosophical when he was tired.

Namjoon seemed to sense that Jungkook was reaching the limit of his ability to deal with new information.

"Just think about it, ok? That's all we're asking right now. And– here. This is Ryan."

Namjoon summoned a large plushie, and pressed it into his hands. It was an orange bear, with rather expressive eyebrows. Jungkook clutched it to his chest, unsure. He wasn't the type to sleep with stuffed animals.

He thought that Namjoon might be blushing more than he was. "I know it's tradition for gifts to be exchanged when a new member is preparing to join an already-bonded coven. But this isn't new or expensive or anything. Well, actually, it was– anyway. The guest room gets pretty cold, and Jimin charmed this one to always be as warm as you want it to be."

"Thanks, hyung," Jungkook smiled.

"I feel a bit stupid now."

"No! It's thoughtful. Thank you, really."

Namjoon gave him an awkward little wave, and left him to settle into the guest room.

Jungkook placed Ryan on top of the bedspread - it might still be pouring with rain outside, but the summer evening was warm and muggy enough for him not to be cold. That Namjoon had thought of him though, made him press his lips together to hide a private, pleased little smile.

He wriggled under the covers himself, and then lay awkwardly on his back, staring up at the ceiling. The lights in the room dimmed by themselves, cloaking the room in shadows, but Jungkook stayed awake for a long time.

For better or for worse, his life was about to be uprooted. He wasn't sure he had what it took to weather the change.

~❀~❀~❀~

Friday was a surreal experience. Jungkook was used to his alarm clock failing to go off, oversleeping, rushing through the breakfast his Eomma would have left out for him before she headed for her early shift at the hotel, and shooting off on his broom... often arriving at school just after the second bell went.

Today, though, he was dragged into consciousness by something tickling under his chin. Repeatedly.

It seemed that Seokjin had employed Dionysus to wake him up, and as soon as he blearily opened his eyes, the huge vulture croaked loudly in his face and dropped a clean folded school shirt and underwear on his stomach.

The vulture's dark eyes met his own, but it was Seokjin's voice that rang in his mind.

Tell Kookie to come to the kitchen after he's dressed, could you? There's soup for breakfast, and I've made him a packed lunch. Hey, if he won't wake up, you should tickle him. He looks ticklish–

The message cut off as Dionysus broke eye contact, flapping his huge wings and sailing across the room. Jungkook flinched as he swept towards the door, but the vulture simply passed through it as if it didn't exist.

He almost fell out of bed in his haste to get up, unsure what the time was and not wanting to make the others late – but when he'd washed up, gotten dressed and skidded into the kitchen in his socks, he found only Seokjin in the room, ladling soup into bowls and singing along to the wireless radio. The cuckoo in the clock took the opportunity to poke its head out.

"On time for breakfast! On time! Thirteen minutes past seven!"

Seokjin twisted round, already grinning, and beckoned Jungkook closer. 

"Morning, Kookie! Can you give me a hand with this?"

Jungkook nodded, and pretended not to notice as he felt a thin tendril of Seokjin's aura reach out and twine its way through his fingers like it was holding his hand.

"And eight seconds," muttered the clock grumpily, not happy to be ignored. Jungkook brushed a finger over its little, feathery head as he walked past, and the cuckoo gave a suddenly-bashful chirp before disappearing back into its house.

Together, Jungkook and Seokjin dished up the rest of the food just in time for the others to file in.

Breakfast was a more relaxed affair than dinner had been, everyone too sleepy to do much more than eat. But Jungkook, looking around their kitchen in curiosity as he ate, found that all he had to do was catch someone's eye, and he would be rewarded with a warm smile. It made a shy, fuzzy feeling grow in his stomach.

Seokjin left earlier than the rest of them, as Dionysus wanted to stretch his wings before his college started, and leadership defaulted to Namjoon. He hustled the coven members into their outer robes, then their shoes, and finally, Jungkook got to see the warlock teleportal properly.

At first, it just looked like someone had scribbled all over the back of the linen cupboard door. Namjoon pulled out a cheap marker pen to cross a few words out, and Jungkook's expectations sank even further. But when Namjoon pressed a hand to it, the colourful writing started to drip down the surface. It coalesced and began to pulse, spinning faster and faster until the only visible movement was a persistent flickering.

"You've not used one of these before, right, Kookie?" Asked Jimin.

He shook his head.

"Well, the portal is keyed to take only certain people to certain places," Jimin explained. "It can take the six of us to school or college, to our parent's homes, and to a saferoom. We can set it up to transport you as well, but the ritual needs a half moon."

"So for now," added Namjoon, "I'll carry you."

Jungkook nodded, and then froze. What had Namjoon just–

He squeaked as large hands swept his legs out from under him, and he was hoisted up into the air. One arm was hooked under his knees, the other supporting his back, and Jungkook clutched at the lapels of Namjoon's robes. 

He felt his magic give a happy little frisson at the contact, and his traitorous body automatically relaxed.

"Everyone ready?"

There was a chorus of agreement, and before Jungkook had properly collected himself, they stepped through the portal.

Jungkook still wasn't a fan of the feeling and shut his eyes firmly as soon as he saw the hem of his robes start to fragment. But he had to admit that it wasn't so bad with Namjoon a solid line of warmth down his side, guarding him closely to his chest. 

The noise of hundreds of students arriving at school made him quickly open his eyes again. His heart beat in panic for a second – how awful would it be if everyone saw him arrive like this?

Luckily, not a single person had their head turned towards them as Namjoon let him down, and they stepped out from by the caretaker's shed.

"It's somewhere different every day," Namjoon had explained, hands on his knees as he caught his breath back.

Jungkook had expected them to go their separate ways at that point, but all five of them closed ranks around him, and they set off towards the lost property office together to reclaim his school bag.

Or at least try to.

~❀~❀~❀~

Jungkook had been a regular face at lost property during his time at highschool. It seemed he only had to put something down for it to vanish into thin air. The brownies that ran security at the school were supposed to bring any misplaced items they found to the office. But for some reason, this never seemed to apply to Jungkook's belongings. The witch at the office scolded him each time, but he just kept coming, trailing his way helplessly to the office at least once a week.

He spotted the witch as he and the coven trooped into reception together. He was wearing the same colourful knitted shawl over his robes that he had been wearing last month when he'd scolded Jungkook so much that he'd hidden in the toilets for the entirety of the next period.

If you'd lost your homework at school, it would be here, young man. Stop using this office as an excuse, and do your own homework for once! Shameful behaviour.

Jungkook tried to slip behind Yoongi, but the other gave him an unreadable look, and stepped aside to leave Jungkook exposed.

He realised that the others were waiting for him to take the lead.

"Um... good morning, sir. Have you had a rucksack left here since yesterday? It's blue–"

"Brought your friends for luck this time, Jungkook?" The witch smiled wryly. "Well, I think it worked."

He snapped his fingers, and Jungkook's rucksack slid out onto the reception desk... Followed by another box, full to the brim.

Jungkook was dumbstruck.

"I was hoping you'd visit again this week. We had a cleansing over the weekend, and it turns out that we had a bit of a poltergeist problem. These all have your spell tag on them," the witch gestured to the box, and Jungkook peeked in.

That was his sports bag! And his old pencil case. And his older pencil case. His eyes widened when he saw his Iron Man socks – he'd thought the goblin in his sock drawer had eaten those – but he did his best not to react in front of the others.

...There was also no less than six cone hats. His mother was going to be so mad.

He realised that the witch was still talking. "–lucky for you, young man, most of your teachers have already agreed to either accept it late, or give you extra credit this year."

Jungkook didn't think his eyes could get any wider. "Sorry?"

The witch clicked his tongue, but didn't seem angry. "Ahhh, yes. It looks like I owe you an apology after all, Jungkook. We found, quite frankly, an astounding amount of your homework stashed in the poltergeist's lair. Seems she was a collector. I'll personally do my best to get some of those detentions struck from your record, ok? You can come collect this box at the end of the day."

Namjoon seemed to realise that Jungkook wasn't capable of speech. He thanked the office witch, snagging one of the cone hats (saving Jungkook from yet another uniform referral) and plopping it onto Jungkook's head.

He picked up his backpack and recovered enough to bow at the office witch as they all tramped out of reception.

What were the odds of that?

Maybe his luck finally was about to change.

~❀~❀~❀~

The rest of the day passed in a similar, dream-like, fashion. They'd split up after leaving reception, and Jimin had walked arm in arm with him to Basics in Aerial Transport, drawing surprised and curious stares from classmates he could hardly put a name to. There, he'd amazed both himself and the teacher by not falling out of the air even once. His umbrella had been shockingly well-behaved, and he'd sailed smoothly across the gym hall every time his turn came around.

By the end of the class, he'd been smiling. He'd never enjoyed a lesson like that before.

He had been confused when Jimin had walked him to his mammal biology class, since he was pretty sure that they didn't share it. And he was right – Jimin dropped him at the door, and then hared off to Advanced Arithmancy.

He'd walked Jungkook halfway across the school just to see him to the door, and Jungkook was pretty sure that the entire class shared his perplexion.

He'd caught the 'popular' crowd of students staring over at him more than once as their teacher droned on about speciation, but thankfully they didn't bother him. Jungkook was certain he wouldn't survive such an encounter.

And it only continued. When Jungkook left the classroom, he walked straight into a panting Taehyung, who promptly looped an arm around his neck and dragged him to morning break, which it turned out that he and Taehyung had at the same time. They quizzed each other in preparation for the Botanics test they had next (which he'd completely forgotten about), and afterwards, for the first time, Jungkook thought maybe he hadn't completely bombed it.

He thought he would be able to escape at lunchtime, but the coven seemed to have a sixth sense for knowing where he would be, and all five of them were waiting outside the brewing room for him after his fourth period, Inedible Potions.

"Kook-ah!" Hoseok crowed, dropping his sports bag to throw his arms around him. "I haven't seen you allll day." Jungkook patted Hoseok's back awkwardly, and then stood with his arms held stiffly out from his sides as Hoseok squeezed and let go, ruffling his hair.

"Wanna come eat in the stands with us?" Jimin asked. "Hobi has track practice during lunch today. The sun's out."

Jungkook barely had time to agree (who in misty Norway was Hobi?) before he was being dragged along by the hands by Taehyung and Hoseok. He flushed as his classmates watched them go by – hand-holding was reserved for family and coven members only, given that a witch's magic would happily shock anyone holding their hands if their magic wasn't compatible. Lightning theory, they were taught in science classes, though most people preferred to call it the zap. The coven were sending a blatant message, flocking around him, and he was nervous at how much he liked it. He wouldn't be surprised if he was the talk of the school by the end of the day.

But as luck would have it, he needn't have worried.

By the end of Friday afternoon, there was only one thing that anyone at the Busan Highschool for Wixen and Wandfolk could talk about.

Jung Hoseok had found his familiar. 

Well. His familiar had found him.

~❀~🐆~❀~

Part of Jungkook had been terrified to eat lunch with other people for the first time since starting highschool, but he had to admit that a bigger part of him was revelling in it.

The Bangtan coven claimed the best seats in the bleachers – in the shade right under the scoreboard, where the seats weren't hexed even a little bit thanks to the strong warding protecting the board. Nobody tried to crowd into their space. Nobody even looked at them funny. Jungkook could feel the coven's magic, soaking confidently through the air around them. In the absence of any instruction, it was acting as air conditioning against the stifling summer heat. That was just how deep their coven bond was – their magic didn't need to be told what to do. Jungkook kept a tight lid on his, and scowled through the pins and needles it gave him. It was definitely sulking.

He barely noticed when Hoseok and the rest of the athletics team emerged from the changing rooms. He was too busy munching on the gimbap that Namjoon had handed him while following along a complicated story that Taehyung was recounting to Jimin involving three cans of holy water, a trampoline, and the unfairness of being grounded.

He didn't register when the group had started running laps around the track, Hoseok setting the pace and comfortably eating up the distance with his long legs.

He did notice when screams broke out on the track, and the track team began diving dramatically over the fence into the seating area. The coach was blowing her whistle repeatedly, waving her arms around and looking thoroughly panicked.

Only Hoseok was unbothered. Which was odd, given that an honest-to-Merlin cheetah was chasing him around the race track.

Jungkook got to his feet along with the rest of the coven, who didn't seem nearly as stressed as he was. What was a cheetah doing here? How had it got here? The school was completely fenced off.

He turned to Jimin, who was grinning as if this wasn't a problem in the slightest.

"Jimin... hyung?" He tried. "Um..."

Jimin responded by grabbing his hand, and the next thing he knew, he was sandwiched between Taehyung and Jimin, having his breath squeezed away. 

"Isn't this great, Kookie?" Mumbled Jimin into his ear.

"That Hoseok's about to be eaten?" Jungkook squawked.

"Hobi's fine, he'll introduce us once they've had a chance to chat a bit,"

"Hobi is Hoseok? And... not being eaten?" He tried.

Jimin patted his shoulder, and tucked his head under his chin.

"Yup, and yup. Hey, Kookie, what do you want your familiar to be?"

"What," said Jungkook, still transfixed by the site of Hoseok and the cheetah, now sprinting side by side. Hoseok's familiar.

"You must have thought about it," wheedled Taehyung.

"I'd be happy just to get one..."

"So modest. You'll get one," said Taehyung from behind him. "Mine's going to be an amphibian. I can feel it,"

"You can't possibly know that," sniffed Yoongi, eyes calmly tracking Hoseok and the cheetah as they slowed back down to a run, and then a jog, the cheetah turning its head to find Hoseok whenever the track curved, sticking to his side like glue.

"Yeah?" Sniffed Taehyung, miffed. "What about you, then?"

"What's to say I haven't already found mine?" Yoongi grumbled, and the others laughed, letting him off the hook just as Hoseok came to a halt in front of them, breathing heavily through a massive smile.

The big cat at Hoseok's side was practically vibrating with energy. Jungkook couldn't take his eyes off of their golden eyes, or the sharp white teeth poking out from their mouth.

It was rare to have such a large familiar. Such an endangered species was almost unheard of, too. The only other one of this size Jungkook had seen was... Well, Jin's.

"Hi," said Hoseok breathlessly. "This is Ego,"

"Hello," said Namjoon, reaching a hand out. The cheetah flinched away, then pranced round and lurched forward to allow Namjoon to stroke their ears. They couldn't seem to keep still, dancing back to Hoseok's side a moment later. 

"You're Hoseok's familiar? I don't think I've ever heard of a familiar being the one to approach their witch..." said Yoongi doubtfully. Hoseok smacked him lightly on the nose. Yoongi didn't even try to duck, as if this was a common retribution tactic.

Well, I was worried you might not see me, broadcast the cheetah, nuzzling Hoseok's stomach. I have really good camouflage, and you might not have seen me at all. That would have been awful. I couldn't have coped with that. That you might not have seen me. Don't tell the others.

Jungkook wondered if the cat knew they could all hear him. Although... none of the others were reacting. It was probably an etiquette thing.

Jungkook watched the long-limbed cat shuffle closer and closer to Hoseok, until he was pressed fully into his witch's side. Hoseok sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around Ego's chest, talking to him gently. Ego responded by collapsing forwards onto Hoseok, and the pair went down in a fluffy, purring pile.

Jungkook twisted in Taehyung's arms – when had the other started back-hugging him? – and met Namjoon's eyes, questioningly.

Namjoon blinked back, and offered him a shrug. "Hey, Ego," the elder tried, "do you like tuna gimbap?"

Jungkook supposed there were worse questions he could have asked.

~❀~❀~❀~

So, all in all, Jungkook thought that maybe this had been the best school day of his life. He really did. 

He loved being with the others - loved the way their magic thoughtlessly twined with his, the way they sought him out, but gave him space to sort through his thoughts when he needed it. It would be so easy to never be apart from them again.

But, yes. 

It was possible that he was hiding in the toilets until they went home. 

Jungkook waited until the person in the cubicle next to him had flushed and left the bathroom before skulking down the Potions corridor to the office to collect his things... Only to duck right back round the corner when he spotted Namjoon in the lobby. One hand was twisted to check his watch. He was holding Jungkook's box of missing items, shrunken, in the other.

Oh, mouldy mushrooms.

Namjoon smiled when Jungkook sheepishly approached. He opened his arms wide, and Jungkook had swayed into them before he had even registered what he was doing. 

"You alright, Kook-ah?"

Jungkook hummed, soaking in the feeling of being enveloped in Namjoon's arms. Before he remembered that he was literally at school, no no no, abort–

Jungkook wriggled, and the other gave him a firm squeeze before letting him go, and passing him his belongings.

"Not a fan of cuddles?" Namjoon chuckled. "We're going to have to hold Tae and Hobi back from you."

Jungkook fixed his gaze on the floor. "No," he mumbled.

"No?"

"No. Taehyung and Hobi can do whatever..."

Namjoon grinned knowingly. Jungkook was pretty sure that Namjoon could see right through him. He missed being in his strong embrace already.

"Come on, then. Have you had a text from your mother? Hobi messaged her to ask if you could stay over again, and she said yes."

"What?" Jungkook yelped. It was Friday. He and his mother always made banchan together on Fridays. Well, he would pass her things, and do the washing up. His Eomma was territorial in the kitchen.

He yanked open his rucksack, and stuck his hand in. Phone, phone, phone... It had been turned off all day. His fingers met smooth glass and he tugged it out, pressing the power button frantically.

He and his mother had an understanding. She would always decline invitations for him, ever since 4th grade and and the Great Eel Slime Mishap. She would never...

It was there, on his screen. 

Hi, Kookie. Your covenmate texted to say you should stay over tonight as well. All good with me, I'll drop off some clothes for you after dinner? DO NOT FORGET TO REPLY xxx

For some reason, this was the last straw. Jungkook's eyes filled and he held his breath to try and prevent a sob from breaking through.

"Oh, shit. Shit, don't cry," yelped Namjoon, steering him away from the main office, waving his hands awkwardly. He sat Jungkook on one of the soft blue sofas hidden out of the way near the first aid room, and Jungkook curled up on the cushion, refusing to look at him.

He was being childish. He was being stupid and awful and childish, he knew, he was stupid, stupid, why couldn't he stop crying? He could sense Namjoon hovering awkwardly next to him, and felt bad for worrying him. He just... Wanted to go home. Home to his mother, and her familiar Magenta, even though she hated him with all her little feline heart, to his room and his solitude.

The cushions dipped as someone sat next to him.

A finger gently tapped his knee, and he gripped it automatically. No electric shock at the contact. Jungkook blinked his eyes clear. This must be one of the coven, but it didn't feel like Namjoon...

Yoongi's rough voice broke through his thoughts. "Yah. Jungkook-ah. Being miserable is my job. Leave some work for me to do, yeah?"

Jungkook met Yoongi's eyes with eyelashes weighted down with teardrops, and flinched away at the strength of his gaze. Yoongi looked– not so scary, like this?

A gentle hand flicked away a tear from the bridge of his nose, and he heard Namjoon make a strangled noise on his other side. All of a sudden, he realised that he was all but holding hands with Min Yoongi, Min Yoongi of all people. What if someone saw? But he couldn't be bothered checking...

And he didn't let go of Yoongi's finger. It was nice, and it didn't feel like someone else's aura interacting with his own. It just felt like his own magic was by itself, comfy and ordinary.

"Wanna explain what's wrong?" Yoongi was gruff and unsympathetic, and it was just what Jungkook needed.

"Just... Been a long day." He sniffed, frustratedly. "Want to go home."

"You'll go home, then." Yoongi said. 

Namjoon made a noise of protest. "But hyung, remember what happened when we first–" 

"I remember, Joon-ah. I'm getting to that." Yoongi fiddled with Jungkook's fingers. "Would it be ok if we came to your house instead, Jungkook-ah? I know it's tough for you to understand, not being able to feel the coven bond, but the rest of us are having a hard time being apart from you. We're tied together, now."

Jungkook watched as Yoongi's callused fingers played with his own, absent-mindedly healing the irritated skin where he'd picked at his nails as if by force of habit.

A thought occurred to him. "But we haven't done a bonding ceremony..."

Yoongi sighed. "I'm sorry, Kook-ah. You haven't, true. But we did. The bond's already been activated, and we can all feel it pulling us towards you."

"Huh," Jungkook said. He didn't know what to do.

"How about you call your mother now?" Said Yoongi, as if he'd read his mind. "Ask her if she wouldn't mind having us for dinner."

"We'll bring banchan and dessert," said Namjoon, picking up on Jungkook's hesitation.

And so it was decided. Jungkook was going to have friends round for dinner, for the first time ever.

Oh, sweet Merlin. The Bangtan coven – the coolest, strongest, kindest people he knew – were going to meet his mother.

This was going to be awful.

~❀~🐈‍⬛~❀~

Jungkook's apartment was in a bit of a run-down area. The tall blocks of flats shimmered with the amount of glamours that had been thrown up to hide the dirt and decay. The few stores in the neighbourhood were of the shady sort, and Jungkook and his mother never really walked around on the ground. They preferred to dive off the rickety balcony on their brooms, and fly high to escape the pollution until they reached the nicer districts.

The furniture inside their flat was all second hand (or third hand), and while both of them did their best to keep it shipshape, mess multiplied faster than they could charm it away.

All this, Jungkook wasn't too worried about.

No, the issue was that Jungkook's apartment was baby-proofed. Foam was glued over table corners. There were child-locks on the stove, and the cauldron lids. The fireplaces and indoor pond were blocked off by baby gates.

And Jungkook was an only child. 

This, the coven was about to find out.

Jungkook had never felt so much pressure as he did fumbling his keys with the entirety of the Bangtan coven waiting behind him. And a massive vulture. And a cheetah. Eight pairs of eyes watched as he got the wrong key once, twice, wrestled with the lock, and finally got the door open with a forceful kick. Today, luckily, was not a day where the door decided to jam.

He was thankful that his mother had worked so hard to make the inside of their apartment so homely, because the coven made polite oohing and aahing noises when the door opened to reveal the walls covered from floor to ceiling with drawings and paintings in handmade frames, with glass and metal trinkets and charms dangling down from the ceiling.

"This is nice, Kookie," smiled Jin gently, as they shuffled into the cramped entrance way. They didn't have nearly enough pairs of slippers for everyone to get one, but his Eomma had scrounged up pairs of fluffy socks for the rest. Jin immediately claimed the pink ones covered in hearts, looking incredibly pleased. 

Ego whined sadly, and Jungkook gave the cheetah a glance. The nervous cat was looking from Hoseok's socks to back at his own paws, eyes wide and plaintive. Hoseok knelt down in front of him, planted a kiss on Ego's forehead, and fiddled with his paws. When he stood, Ego was purring tentatively, and sported matching fluffy socks.

Jungkook felt something in his ribcage melt, just a little.

"Who did all the artwork, Kook-ah?" Asked Namjoon. "These are incredible."

Jungkook blinked, stuck for words. Always the stupid words, never there when he wanted them to be. "We did," he settled for. It was true – he and his mother used to do arts and crafts together. She'd loved to make amulets and keepsakes, hanging them anywhere they would fit. Now, she was always too tired to do much more than cook and watch TV when she got back from work, and Jungkook had been left to fill the walls with ink, charcoal and oil pastels by himself.

Jungkook's mother was waiting for them in the main room. She was still in her hotel uniform robes, but he could smell spices in the air and meat cooking in the cauldrons behind her, and knew she must have begged off early to be able to cook dinner for them all.

He tipped forwards to give her a hug.

"Hey, peanut," his mother grinned, and Jungkook could hear the nickname being tested out in whispers behind him. "Introduce me to your new covenmates."

"Eommmaaa..." he whined, and her smile turned sharp. 

"You're not getting out of a proper introduction, Kookie. I spent all of last evening bargaining for your socks from your goblin in your chest of drawers. You owe me several explanations, young man."

Jungkook wilted.

"Well, um," he started, grabbing the sleeve nearest to him and tugging. "This is Yoongi. He's my–" he paused. There was something on the tip of his tongue, some claim he instinctively wanted to make, but the words remained just out of reach. "He's who I met first."

Yoongi snorted, and his mother was too sharp to miss a trick.

"When you say met, sweetie, you mean that it was Yoongi's bag that you got stuck in?"

Jungkook sensed a trap. "Yes..."

"And what do I always tell you about animal transformations?" She prompted.

Oh, shit. Now he remembered. "Never go into something you don't fit in as a human."

"That's the one," his mother crowed. "Your turn to do dishes tonight, pumpkin. One dish for every grey hair you gave me."

(Jungkook was pretty sure that it was Jin and Jimin who he could hear behind him, debating in loud whispers the various pros and cons of each nickname his Eomma let loose.)

"In fairness," Yoongi said, surprising Jungkook by not tugging his sleeve out of his grasp, "the bag was unzipped."

Jungkook's mother harrumphed, turning around to stir a cauldron. "Covering for him already, I see."

Jungkook blushed. "Yoongi plays basketball, Eomma. He's in my year–"

"You don't look fifteen," his mother interrupted dubiously.

"I'm eighteen, Eomeoni," said Yoongi, and Jungkook watched his mother melt in real time. "I had to resit my first year, and then I took a year out before starting second year."

"Call me Eomma, dear, all of you. You're going to be so good for my Jungkook, I can just tell. But what's this about staying back a year?"

"Eomma," started Jungkook. "This is the Bangtan coven."

Jungkook's mother froze in the middle of adding more garlic to the bubbling stew. "From the television? On the news?"

"Eomma..." Jungkook pleaded.

"The famous ones?"

"Eomma! Stop..." he squirmed, embarrassed.

Jungkook's mother only laughed. She loved to make him squirm.

Thankfully, the others didn't seem offended. "Yes, Eomma," said Yoongi. "There was a few, uh. Incidents? With my magic being unstable. We had to bond early, and we took some time out to make sure that there wouldn't be any more... Incidents."

"He means explosions," added Taehyung helpfully.

"It looks like my primary affinity is going to be to fire," Yoongi admitted. 

Jungkook's mother nodded sagely. "A good, traditional affinity," she said. "But I wouldn't let yourself fixate on that. I thought I was going to be a green witch all my teenage years, and then suddenly... boom. A flight witch. Spend all my days levitating suitcases from one place to another, now."

Jungkook could pinpoint that as the exact moment the Bangtan coven decided to make themselves at home.

Jin swept forward to help with the dishing up, and the conversation continued as they settled around the coffee table on a mixture of the sofa and some cushions that looked distinctly transfigured.

"So this is all of you? You'll be a coven of seven?"

"Eomma, I'm still thinking about it..."

His mother looked to where Jimin's arm curled round his shoulders, and arched an eyebrow pointedly.

"Yes, Eomma," answered Namjoon. "We've been bonded for over a year, now, but we always felt there was someone missing. Jimin and Taehyung are also in second year–"

The duo waved from on either side of Jungkook, on the sofa.

"–and I'm in third!" Chirped Hoseok. "Namjoon's in final year, because he can't stop skipping grades, and Jin's just started college."

"I'm studying Trade and Teleportation," added Jin. He stroked Dionysus, who had found the perch that Jungkook's mother must have found and brought out specially. It had used to be his father's, who would tell anyone who asked that his trained pet hawk was his familiar. 

Jungkook enjoyed watching Dionysus' talons sink into the soft pinewood.

"And these two are your familiars? You're awfully young to have them," asked his mother.

"Yup," said Hoseok. "They're a recent development. We think Jungkook's arrival kickstarted it. Jin actually met Dionysus during dinner yesterday–"

"He flew into the window," snickered Jin, and Dionysus whacked him over the head with one massive wing, using the distraction to steal some cabbage from his plate.

"–And I only met Ego today." 

The jumpy cheetah was wandering round the apartment, sticking his nose into various corners. He pranced back over when he heard his name, plopping down on the floor and kicking his socked feet in the air until Hoseok moved onto the floor with him and scratched his stomach.

Could you please tell Jungkook's Eomma that her home feels happy? asked Ego, and Hoseok relayed the praise. Jungkook wondered why his mother acted like she hadn't heard until Hoseok had repeated the words. He bet the others had had extra coaching on coven etiquette and how to live with a familiar – so much of this stuff didn't make sense to him...

"They both suit you," said his mother warmly, and Jungkook watched, amused, as both familiar pairs preened.

"What about Jungkookie, then?" Asked Taehyung. "He's a tough nut to crack. Does he have younger siblings?"

Jungkook flushed.

"Nope," said Jungkook's mother cheerfully. "Are you asking because you've seen all my Jungkook-proofing?"

"Jungkook-proofing?"

Suddenly, nothing was more important to Jungkook than silencing his mother. He started up from the sofa, intending to distract from the conversation by fetching some tea, but both Taehyung and Jimin wrapped an arm closer around him and pressed him back down into his seat.

"Sit quiet, Kook-ah," whispered Taehyung, directly into his ear. "Knowledge of how to embarrass you is our rightful possession. Do tell, Eomma," Taehyung said, eyes gleaming with mischief.

Oh, well. He'd tried his best. Jungkook flopped dramatically sideways, squirming to hide behind Jimin's back. Though he didn't truly mind being the subject of the conversation, neither did he feel the urge to participate. Jimin patted his head, and Jungkook let out a despondent meep as his mother gleefully began listing his many household accidents.

He heaved himself up back onto his seat around the time that they were humorously dissecting the third time he'd fallen into the newt pond–

Only for Taehyung to wrap his arms around his back and drag him down to lie on the sofa. Jimin grabbed his feet, massaging the muscles and tendons expertly. Jungkook went boneless, and allowed himself to be pulled around.

He floated for a bit, letting Tae's warmth soak into him, enjoying the firm pressure of Jimin's fingers digging into his feet. Someone's fingers were teasing through his hair, gently tugging it into order, but Jungkook couldn't be bothered seeing who it was.

He only tuned back in when he sensed the conversation turning serious again.

"–And after I almost lost him, well. I got a bit overprotective," his mother was admitting.

Jungkook flushed, and ducked his head back down, but the others had already latched on to the tidbit.

"Lost him, you say? Do you mean the time he was kidnapped by merpeople?"

"Oh, no. They were quite nice to him in the end. We kept in touch for a bit afterwards, actually. No, Kookie was struck by lightning when he was... oh, about ten years old. I've never seen Magenta so worried, before. It was on his way back from school, and she went tearing out of the house to get him. Got there before the ambulance did. Clear skies, that day. Nobody could explain it."

"Positive lightning makes up less than five percent of lightning strikes," murmured Namjoon. "But it can occur over 25 miles from a..." Jin elbowed him in the side, and Namjoon clamped his mouth shut, blushing.

"That's awful. Magenta is your familiar?" Jin asked.

"Yes, she's over in the basket there." Jungkook's mother jerked her head in the direction of the corner. "Tends to keep away from Kookie's clumsy feet while he's at home," she grinned mercilessly, and reached over the coffee table to ruffle his hair.

Hoseok was frowning. "Which one?" 

"Hmmm?"

"There are two cats in the basket."

The whole party twisted round in their seats, Jungkook's story happily forgotten about. Jungkook blinked in surprise. Sure enough, his mother's tortoiseshell was tucked away in her basket, curled around a second blob of pitch black fur. She was roughly licking the top of its head, one paw holding the other cat still. A sleepy pair of pale green eyes met his own, and Jungkook sat up. He felt himself stretch out a hand.

Magenta yowled in disapproval as the black cat slipped away from her attentions and loped across the floor to Jungkook. They sized up Jungkook quickly, wiggled their haunches, and then vanished, reappearing in Jungkook's lap a moment later. 

Jungkook yelped as the cat's sharp claws pricked his thighs, before they clearly decided that they needed to be higher, and clawed their way up his shirt to drape themselves around his neck, purring soundly.

I'm Bam. You're mine. What's your name?

"I'm Jungkook. This is my mother, and, um. My coven, nearly."

They smell nice.

"Thank you,"

You're warm, Bam purred. You can claim me now.

"Claim you?"

Finalise our bond. Hurry up, I want to go back to sleep. You made me sleepy.

Jungkook blinked. His familiar was pushy, but he could sense something brushing against the edges of his mind - a presence. Something uncertain, nervous. Eager and shy in equal quantities. 

He was suddenly certain that this little cat understood him more than anyone else here - more than his mother, more than the others, although he knew that covens only ever grew closer with time.

"You're my familiar," he breathed, and with the recognition came a rush of emotion. 

It felt like he was five years old, trailing his primary school teacher around the playground to show her the bugs he'd found. 

It felt like he was curling into his mother's empty bedsheets after another nightmare, knowing that she had the nightshift and that eleven was too old to get nightmares about thunder, that he was safe and unharmed, but finding comfort in her scent anyway. 

It felt like the taste of Jin's cooking and the smell of Jimin's stupid bodyspray and Yoongi's too-strong coffee and he suddenly realised why witches called their companions familiars.

He knew this creature. They were formed from his own soul.

~❀~❀~❀~

Chapter Text

Lying in bed that evening, Jungkook could feel that his life was changing.

His room – the room he'd lived in for years – no longer felt like it was own. Maybe this was partly due to the goblin he now shared it with. The creature had accepted his mother's offer of one prawn cracker per pair of socks it released, and would now be their honoured guest. He could hear it singing happily to itself about catching caterpillars from inside the chest of drawers.

But he thought it was probably more than that. He curled his fingers into Bam's fur, soft as smoke, and the little cat raised their head sleepily.

What? They grumbled.

Jungkook said nothing, but he could feel Bam gently sorting through his thoughts until they found the one that was keeping him awake.

Did you think everything was going to stay the same? They asked him, voice weaving through the upper levels of his consciousness.

I thought that the other things in my life would be what changed. Not me.

Everyone has to grow up sometime.

Not overnight.

Bam dug their tiny claws into his chest, and Jungkook yelped in pain. The goblin stopped singing, and growled questioningly.

"All good. Sorry," he called out, and the surprisingly tuneful singing resumed.

What was that for?

Did it hurt?

Obviously.

Reckon you'll get over it?

Well, yeah? But why did you do it?

To prove a point. Bam stood up on his chest, so light he could hardly feel their weight, curled up, and went back to sleep.

Jungkook sank into uneasy dreams not long after, the gentle crooning of the sock goblin following him into unconsciousness.

~❀~❀~❀~

Jungkook didn't remember much of the night that followed. In fairness, he slept right through most of it. But he learned later that the ceiling had buckled, the floorboards had sprouted branches, and every dish in the apartment had danced over the countertops, resisting his mother's counter-hexes, and thrown themselves down to smash onto the floor.

His home had rejected his magic. Noisily.

The first he knew about it was when his mother dropped him on the Bangtan coven's doorstep. Literally dropped him on the ground, still wrapped in his duvet.

Jungkook blinked his eyes open to see her surprised face, arms held out, curved like she still thought she was holding him. The night sky was dark behind her.

"Eomma?" 

"Hey, Kookie. Sorry for waking you." She rang the doorbell, then knelt down by him.

"You dropped me," he said stupidly, still half-asleep. There were twigs in his mother's hair.

"You fell right through my arms," she said softly, hands hovering by his face as if she wanted to touch. Why wasn't she, then?

His mother was distracted then by the front door being pulled open. Jungkook wriggled, trying to get out of his duvet, and his cheek brushed against his mother's outstretched hand.

zzzzapp.

A light, tingling pain flashed through his body. He heard Bam yowl from somewhere by his feet, but his eyes were all for his mother. Her long hair had formed a staticky halo around her head, and even as she winced, it struck him just how beautiful she was. In the light of the porch and with the stars gleaming in the sky behind her, she looked like a wild creature.

Then Seokjin was picking him up, and he gasped like he'd been holding his breath. Maybe he had been. He felt dizzy. The coven's magic was sinking into his skin like water into parched earth.

But for now, there was a warm hand cradling his head, and safe magic surrounding him, and the hushed whispers over his head sent him back to sleep.

~❀~❀~❀~

When Jungkook woke the next morning, he was cosy. His hand automatically rose, searching for Bam, and found them curled in a tiny circle directly over his heart. He let out a slow sigh of relief, which he choked on seconds later when he blinked open his eyes.

He was back in the Bangtan coven's spare room. 

He sat up so fast that his head spun, and barely managed to catch Bam, who crouched in his hands and puffed their fur up into a hissing ball, very unimpressed at the rude awakening.

Why was he back here?

He contemplated just going back to sleep, leaving all his questions until later. His head felt fuzzy, and he didn't feel all that great in general. But he needed to know why he was here. Why he had a hazy memory of his magic zapping away his own mother.

He swung his legs out of bed, and his feet slipped smoothly into the house slippers that someone had left on the floor for him. He blinked. The old Jungkook would have tripped on those, pulled the blankets and half the objects on the bedside table with him, and ended up on the floor with at least one sprained limb. 

He shuffled across the wooden floor, squinting against the morning light, noticing for the first time how well-appointed the guest room was. On the sideboard, there was a gleaming silver basin by a charmed hot water pitcher leaking steam into the air, and he washed his hands and face, patting himself dry with the fluffy towel provided. Bam pressed themselves up against the warm side of the pitcher, and purred.

The windows in the room faced the street, and he peeked out as he made his way to the door. It was bright outside, the summer sun having been up for ages despite the early hour, and it was promising to be a beautiful day. The street was busy with bikes and low-flying brooms. He could see one family with their toddlers on brooms so small that they would probably wouldn't reach his knee when upright, circling round and round as the children wobbled and giggled.

He padded along the corridor, Bam flicking their tail lazily on his shoulder, and met Jimin just as he got to the top of the stairs.

"Morning, Kookie!" Jungkook's magic swelled happily, and it took off towards Jimin so forcefully that it pulled him along a few steps in the same direction.

He collapsed gratefully into Jimin's waiting arms, and felt his strength leave him.

Jimin just laughed as he slumped against him. He tapped Jungkook on the head, whispering a featherlight charm, before scooping him up and carting him down the stairs. Bam clawed their way up Jimin's house robe, and crouched on his shoulder – Jungkook had noticed that his familiar always liked to be up high. 

Probably because they were so tiny, Jungkook smiled to himself.

"What are you grinning at?" A finger softly prodded his cheek, the charm easily allowing Jimin to keep holding him with one arm. Jungkook just hummed. He didn't remember.

"Aisssh, you're so out of it." Jimin laughed. "We'll get some breakfast in you, that'll wake you up."

Jungkook just snuggled further into Jimin's arms. 

When they got to the kitchen, Jungkook was surprised to find it empty. Jimin noticed him peering around, looking for the rest of the coven.

"The others are just out at the shops. They'll be back soon," he explained. Jimin let him down, cancelling the featherlight charm. Jungkook stood by himself for a minute, before deciding to lean back against Jimin's side. Bam cracked open one eye, clearly decided that moving wasn't worth the hassle, and curled up more tightly on Jimin's shoulder.

Jungkook stuck to Jimin's side as the other trekked over to the fridge, collecting the leftover rice that Jungkook's mother had sent the coven home with last night. He dumped it out into the wok, and, while it heated, played with Bam's tail until the little cat got annoyed enough that they phased out, sending Jimin's fingers passing right through them.

"How d'you do that?" he asked Bam out loud.

I dunno, sulked his familiar, licking their tail viciously to get the fur to lie just so again. Ask Jimin.

Jungkook waited for Jimin to answer, but the other was focused on stirring the rice, and seemed to be pretending he hadn't heard. There was that odd etiquette thing again. He supposed it was sort of rude to listen in on others' thoughts? Maybe? 

"Jimin?"

A non-committal hum. Jimin had pushed all the rice to one side of the wok, and was concentrating on cracking eggs into the pan.

"How do familiars do that? Phase out?"

"Oh," Jimin replied. "I forget how much you don't know. It's sorta complicated, but basically, it's the spirit realm. Soul realm. Whatever you want to call it."

"And why has literally nobody mentioned this to me before?"

Jimin shrugged, snipping a spring onion leaf from the pot on the windowsill and cutting it into pieces over the mixture in the wok. Bam, still phased out, sank a little into his shoulder at all the movement. This was crossing the line for the black cat, and they uncurled with a huff and stalked off Jimin's shoulder. Their tiny paws landed on the thin air as if it were no different than the ground, and Jungkook could feel the exact moment that Bam solidified back on his shoulder, a purring ball of warmth.

"There's no need, I guess," mused Jimin. "The people who need to know will work it out for themselves. You do start covering it in final year, but it's a pretty contentious subject. Lotta groups of people have different views on what the soul even is, and they'd all like to be the ones to mould our young minds. Keeping the school curriculum to the bare basics is sort of a necessary evil to stop them all from fighting."

"Huh," said Jungkook, but Jimin wasn't done.

"They gave us some private tutoring in the year we all took out, though. They even gave Namjoon access to the university's database, and it turns out most of the reputable studies agree that–"

"–Familiars are part of our souls?"

Jimin grinned at him, surprised.

"Yeah. It just feels right, doesn't it?" said Jimin. "They're our souls in physical form, because we have physical form, and they're us. But they're also not physical, because they're our souls. They exist alongside us, but also in a sort of reciprocal space. It's a riddle, but one that everyone knows the answer to."

"And this rectangle space–"

"–Reciprocal space–"

"–Reciprocal space, sure. That's the spirit realm?"

Jimin nodded, serving up the fried rice with a flourish.

"Sounds catchier, right?"

"Right." Jungkook trailed behind Jimin as they sat at the table. He could hear the jangling of keys in the front door, and knew that the others would file in any moment, but he had to know–

"And that's how familiars do it? How Dionysus flies through walls? He goes into the spirit realm."

 "I think so, yeah."

"Can witches go there too?"

Jimin burst out laughing, eyes crinkling and shaking so hard he almost fell off his chair.

"In your dreams, Kookie. I know we live in a world of magic, but some things just aren't possible."

Jungkook nodded. There must be another explanation, then. Another reason, a good reason, why last night he had passed through the flesh and blood of his mother's arms as if they simply didn't exist. There had to be.

He was so distracted by his thoughts, and the others bursting into the kitchen waving bags of veg and more snacks than was probably advisable, that he almost missed Jimin's next, quiet, words. Almost, but not quite.

"...I really hope I find my familiar, someday."

He wasn't sure where he found the boldness to reach over the table and clasp Jimin's hand in his own. But he did. Bam bounded down his arm and walked straight into Jimin's chest, pressing their head determinedly into his ribs until Jimin petted them.

He will, said Bam.

"You will," repeated Jungkook.

Jimin smiled brightly, and squeezed his hand, seeming to take his words to heart. Jungkook listened to the coven – his coven – jump around the kitchen. 

He let Bam steal pieces of onion from his bowl, purring madly as if this was some great theft.

He concentrated hard, held onto a simple marking charm, and traced a single, drooping flower onto the skin between Jimin's thumb and first finger. It was supposed to be a snowdrop - a wish, a promise - but he reckoned it ended up looking more like a wonky swan. No matter, it would fade soon anyway.

He giggled as Tae hid pieces of fruit from Namjoon, and soaked up the praise when Hobi sat with them at the table and gushed over Jimin's flower. He drew Hobi a marigold, and then Jin a poppy. And then Yoongi a bunny, because he could sense the older witch wanted to be involved, and the joke was too hard to resist.

He laughed harder and louder than he ever had in his life.

And he wondered why he still felt like he was missing something.

~❀~❀~❀~

Later that morning, when the previous night had been recounted and they'd settled down with yet more homework, Namjoon came up with a suggestion.

"You know what would really do us some good?"

He was met with silence. Hobi and Yoongi were sharing headphones and hadn't heard, while Jin's assignment ominously needed to be done outside for 'safety reasons'. Jungkook, Jimin and Taehyung had all recently started a unit on magical malware, and the assignments were already making them want to tear out their hair. 

"We should go on a day trip!"

Jungkook was engrossed in his textbook, trying to figure out the difference between a trojan horse and a trojan unicorn, and between a worm and a wyrm. Why were there so many ways to break a computer? Why did he have to learn about them all?

He was broken out of his focus by a nudge in the ribs from Taehyung.

"It's been a while since we've had a day out. A little flight in formation down the coast would do wonders for our synchrony." Namjoon was continuing on, warming up to his theme.

Jungkook looked around the table. Namjoon had Jimin and Tae's rapt attention, and Ego was doing his best to climb onto Hobi's lap to get his attention, making excited little chirps at the idea of a trip.

Yoongi and Hoseok finally looked up, and Yoongi reached a hand over to flip Namjoon's textbook towards him.

"This is about crabs again, isn't it?"

Namjoon blushed, making an attempt to drag his book back. Jungkook caught a flash of a page on crustaceans.

"No..?"

"You want to go rockpooling, don't you?" smirked Hobi.

Namjoon sagged. "Yeah," he admitted. "But I do think it would be fun. Get some air miles in before the semester really gets going. The weather's good this afternoon."

"...And?"

"...And it's the annual migration of the crystal crab. Ok? They spend the whole autumn travelling and then they winter in Western Australia. This is the only week they'll be passing through near Busan. Please?"

"Hmmm," said Jimin, pulling out his homework diary (which was rapidly becoming Tae and Jungkook's diary, too, as Jimin had the neatest handwriting). 

"We do have botanics homework. Find, scan and write a paragraph each on five plants with magical uses which aren't in the Sacred Seventy. That's gonna be a lot easier if we get out of the city. We might get extra credit if we find some rare saltwater species."

And just like that, it was settled. They were spending the afternoon at the beach.

~❀~🦢~❀~

Jungkook's mother was delighted that he was going out with his coven, and had given him permission before he'd even finished telling her where they were going. She sent his broomstick out to meet him at the coven's house, a bundle of home-made honey cookies tied to the handle.

With the trip in their minds and cookies in front of them, Jungkook, Tae and Jimin powered through the rest of their malware homework. Jungkook realised happily that if they got the botanics homework done today too, he'd have nothing left to do but learn but his Norwegian vocab. Sunday would be almost homework-free, a novelty compared to the results of his normal procrastination.

He was so excited, he'd forgotten to be nervous about flying with his coven for the first time. Too late, he remembered that flying as a group came with actual rules. And etiquette.

"What position do you normally fly, Kook-ah?" Namjoon's voice interrupted his thoughts. 

Jungkook clutched his broom tightly, and glanced around at the others where they stood forming a loose circle in the centre of the lawn.

"Umm. I've only ever flown long distances in a pair..."

"That's alright," Namjoon assured him. "You remember the formations from class?" Jungkook nodded. "You can fly kaunaz, and Yoongi can be gebo.  Since we're only seven, we can leave wunjo free, so there'll be nobody behind you, but Yoongi will be on your right to keep an eye on you. Sound ok?"

Jungkook nodded again in relief. He knew from his mother that it was politer to have guests at the front of a V-formation, and his head had briefly been filled with visions of him causing a seven-way collision by hesitating too long. The back was the easiest position, and he was grateful that only Yoongi would be able to see his inevitable wobbling.

"Who'm I following?"

"Shotgun ansuz!" Came a boisterous shout from his left, and Taehyung wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Bam batted at Tae's hands, claws sheathed, more startled than annoyed at having their territory encroached upon. Tae snapped his fingers, and Bam instantly diverted their attack to the multi-coloured sparks that sprang from his fingertips. Jungkook wasn’t too sure what his familiar’s short attention span said about himself.

Namjoon gave a wry grin. "Looks like you'll be behind Tae, then."

Jin handed out the runestones, and they pushed off in order, one by one, from the back garden. Jungkook was lucky enough to catch a gentle updraft. His broom happily found the slipstream behind Taehyung, and he stared at it in amazement. He'd never had such a clean take-off. 

Dionysus flew high above them, making lazy spirals in the air. Both Bam and Ego had opted to sit with them on the brooms, even though the cheetah could have easily kept pace running in the air beside them in the 30 miles per hour zones that stretched to the boundaries of the city airspace. Bam dug their little claws into Jungkook's shoulder, eyes wide and looking ferally pleased to be up in the air, while Ego had opted to sit in front of Hobi, tilting his head up regularly to lick at his chin anxiously.

He caught sight of Yoongi rising into position on his right, coat being buffeted by the stiff breeze, and shot a shy smile at him.

To his surprise, Yoongi returned it even wider, showing all his teeth and even scrunching his nose. He must really like flying, mused Jungkook.

At first, the scenes below them were familiar – tidy streets and clear, colour-coded flight markers. Back gardens that rippled under privacy wards and bright copper roofs that glowed in the afternoon sun. But as they got closer to the outskirts, the view of the ocean opened up before them. It sparkled on the horizon within minutes of them setting off, and as the buildings below turned to trees and the flight markers got harder to spot, the scent of salt and seaweed rose to meet them.

Jungkook couldn't remember the last time he'd been out of the city. He soaked up the feeling of the sun on his back (grateful for Jin grabbing him earlier to smother him in suncream, though he'd protested at the time).

Jungkook had quickly zoned out, and didn’t know when the flock of swans had first entered into view. He heard their honking soon enough, though. The coven held onto their formation as the large white birds fell into place around and above them, and Jungkook sent a nervous glance at Yoongi. Why were the swans flying so low down?

All good, the other signalled to him, and Jungkook relaxed. This must be normal, and the swans didn’t seem upset - in fact, Jungkook realised, they were probably enjoying the magically-warmed air bubble generated by their runic flight formation. He let himself admire them, watching in awe as they flapped in time with each other, navigating updrafts and pockets of low pressure with a careless ease. Something wild and fierce ached in his chest at being part of their flock, however briefly.

The swans didn’t stay with them long. They curved back inland, climbing higher in the sky, after a few minutes, and Jungkook was sad to see them go.

Then, he noticed that one of the swans had stayed behind. A baby swan, really. It was still flapping bravely alongside Jimin, and his heart sank as he realised the flock had left it behind. Its stubby little wings were almost too small to lift it. Why were they not chasing the swans to reunite the baby with its parents? 

He knew better than to break the flight formation - never a good idea to mess with runic formations, they learned that in primary school - but Jimin was well within shouting distance of Namjoon and Hoseok in the front, and he hadn’t said anything.

The baby swan seemed to get tired of flying, and landed on the birch twigs of Jimin’s broom. Jungkook hit a pocket of low pressure, and was distracted. By the time he was level again, the baby swan had settled into the twigs comfortably. It had tucked its downy grey head into its wings, and seemed to be fast asleep, twenty-five meters in the air.

As soon as they touched down in the landing square, just off the high street of the little seaside town they had decided on, Jimin was surrounded. His broom hovered by itself, still horizontal in the air, as if unwilling to disturb the small bird nestled in its twigs.

“Jimin-ah?” Asked Jin. “Who’s this?”

Jimin smiled softly, and stroked the swan’s fluffy head before lifting them up and cradling them in his arms. 

“Angel. This is Angel.”

~❀~🦎~❀~ 

The addition of Angel to their coven left only Namjoon, Taehyung and Yoongi without familiars. Their group drew several curious gazes as they walked down the high street, what with a hulking vulture, cheetah, cygnet and black cat draped all over them. Jungkook brought up the rear with Taehyung, walking slowly as they soaked the sights and sunshine in, and found himself uncomfortable at all the attention. Bam’s fur was bristling from their position on his shoulder, and soon the little cat padded down his arm to sit in a less conspicuous position. It didn’t help.

Jungkook found himself comparing his coven - and what a thought that was, his soon-to-be coven - with the others he saw around him. Nobody else their age seemed to have familiars at all. The youngest he spotted was a young mum about twenty, with a fox curled up sleeping on the hood of her baby’s pram. He saw plenty more cats, a few snakes and one or two ravens, but these all belonged to witches much older than them.

“What do we fancy doing first?” Asked Hobi, after they’d found lockers to leave their brooms in. “Lunch, rockpooling, or botanics homework?”

“Crabs,” said Namjoon.

“Lunch,” said Jin simultaneously.

“Arcade!” Yelped Taehyung in Jungkook’s ear, and before he realised what was happening, he was being dragged through the door of the local amusement arcade. He twisted round to find the others wandering off back up the street in the direction of a small café, and Taehyung patted his head reassuringly. 

“We’ll catch them up in a half hour, Kookie. They’ll get us something to takeaway.”

The arcade was noisy, and Jungkook found himself shrinking closer to Taehyung’s side. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been in an arcade before, come to think of it. He much preferred to spend his weekends at home. And it wasn’t as if he ever had anyone to go with.

“Hey, Tae?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you actually do in an arcade?”

Tae gave him a blank look, before a slightly terrifying grin grew over his face. “Why, Kookie. You’re asking the right person. Let’s start with the coin pusher, that’s simple enough.”

Taehyung dragged him over to an old machine in the corner, which a pair of girls were scowling at. Three shelves were moving back and forth behind the glass. Jungkook watched as the taller of the two girls reached up to drop a coin in a slot at the top, only to droop in disappointment when nothing happened. Her penny had fallen right into the middle, and there were no coins near the edge of the shelf. The younger girl kicked the machine a few times, and two pennies fell over the shelf. The girls ran away, giggling, and Taehyung moved confidently in front of the machine. 

“The trick with this one, Kookie, is the positioning. If your coin lands badly, you’ll get nothing. But if you drop it in the right slot at the right time…”

Taehyung dropped a penny through the middle slot, and Jungkook watched in awe as a huge cascade of coins spilled over the shelf into the collection slot. Tae fished out his winnings, blinking in surprise, and turned to offer half of the coins to Jungkook. “I wasn’t expecting to win that so soon, to be honest,” Tae admitted. “But the machine’s pretty empty now, let’s try something else.”

They moved onto a fake cauldron, which needed potion ingredients dropped into it via a claw at exactly the right time, and once more Taehyung explained his delicate strategy, only to win big immediately. He summoned a cloth bag to hold their coins in, and hung it over his wrist, where it jangled happily.

“I think you’re some sort of good luck talisman, Kookie,” Tae mused, and wrapped his arms around Jungkook’s shoulders to drag him to the claw machines. These Jungkook recognised at least, but he was more preoccupied with the feel of Tae’s magic. It was playful, and felt a little squiggly on his skin.

“Ok,” Tae started. “These are the ultimate trial for you. They’re rigged. Always rigged. The claws don’t close properly. The double-tap technique - I’ve tested this extensively - is a load of rubbish. The only way to win at these babies is sheer, dumb…”

A cute Pikachu soft toy dropped into the collection slot. Taehyung blinked, and fished it out. He passed the toy to Jungkook, and then sent him to stand at the other end of the arcade while he played the machine again. Jungkook walked back when Tae called him back over. 

“Any luck?”

Tae shook his head, and fed more coins into the slot. This time, the claw dropped unerringly down, seemed to miss catching anything at all, and then miraculously caught on two plushies on the way up. Eevee and Snorlax joined the collection in Jungkook’s arms, and Tae gave him a sidelong look.

“Yep, you’re definitely good luck,” Tae decided. “Let’s do some more.”

“Are we supposed to be doing this?” Hissed Jungkook, feeling like they were cheating somehow.

“Absolutely,” said Taehyung. “These machines have so many antihex wards on them, it’s impossible to cheat. This is fate, Kookie. We’re the dream team. I’m the artist, you’re my muse.” He squeezed Jungkook’s hand. “Win me Hello Kitty, muse.” 

There was a long line of claw machines against the back wall of the arcade, and Taehyung shuffled them over to the next one in the row, where Jungkook watched him pluck a Hello Kitty plushie first time once again. At this point, the two girls from before had started to watch over their shoulders, and Tae offered them their choice of the cute cuddly toys. They shook their heads, and pointed to a machine holding boxes of anime figurines.

“The most gruesome ones you can get, please” said the younger girl politely.

The pair walked away happily with matching figurines of zombies in various stages of decomposition, and Taehyung gave Jungkook a wink. “Anything that you want, Kookie?”

Jungkook shook his head, and then yelped as Bam bit his ear lightly.

Speak for yourself. I want one. That one, insisted his familiar, gaze fixed on a machine filled with Studio Ghibli-themed stuffed toys. Jungkook supposed they were pretty cute.

Taehyung followed Bam’s gaze. “You want a Ghibli one, Bammie? Which one?”

The grey egg monster. Bam decided, kneading their claws excitedly into Jungkook’s shoulder, and Jungkook translated. “Totoro.”

“You want a go this time, Kookie?” Asked Tae, but Jungkook was happier watching. He rested his head on Taehyung’s shoulder, and Taehyung reached up to ruffle his hair, managing the joystick of the claw machine with one hand. He won Bam the largest Totoro in the machine, along with a smaller blue one. At this point, one of the staff members was looking over at them in suspicion, and Tae made Jungkook shrink the plushies so that they fit in his bag. He quickly won a Ryan plushie for Namjoon, and then they hightailed it over to the cash-in desk before the staff could decide if they were doing something wrong or not.

Jungkook gazed up at the wall of prizes, feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The cheap plastic toys and snacks available to trade for didn’t really appeal to him, and they already had more plushies than they would ever need in life. (That’s what you think, Bam countered, paws wrapped tightly around their new cuddly toy.)

“Do you have goldfish?” Asked Taehyung, eyes trained on something near the bottom of the wall.

“Nope,” said the bored attendant manning the till. “I think that’s, like, cruelty to animals. Or fish. Fish are animals, right? I dunno.”

“I don’t know, either,” replied Jungkook, and the attendant nodded solemnly at their shared ground.

“What’s that then?” Asked Tae, pointing to something shiny in the mound of prizes. The attendant turned round, following Taehyung’s finger, and confusedly pulled out a small round plastic bag filled with water. Inside it did seem to be some sort of fish. It was pink and white, and didn’t appear to be moving. Jungkook wondered if it was dead, and Bam wondered if they could eat it.

Don’t you dare eat me, hissed the dead fish.

“Why would I eat you?” Replied Tae, bemused, and then slapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh Merlin. Merlin’s stinky toes. Jungkook! It’s happening!”

My name is not Jungkook, sulked the weird fish. I’m Tan. And I’m not a fish. The creature suddenly startled into motion. Both Jungkook and the arcade attendant jumped as he swam through the air to hover in front of Taehyung’s face. 

“I know,” said Tae, adoringly. “You’re an axolotl, and you’re perfect,”

See, I knew you and me would get along, Tan said rather primly.

“This is so cool,” said the attendant, and this time it was Jungkook’s turn to nod silently in agreement.

That was how Jungkook and Tae left the arcade with an improbable amount of plush toys, enough small change to pay for lunch, and the Bangtan coven’s latest familiar.

~❀~❀~❀~

They made their way down to the beach after finishing lunch with the others in the café, having dumped their arcade prizes in the lockers with their brooms. The four second years each had the task of finding and cataloguing five plants, though they had decided among themselves that they could probably get away with only finding three or four each instead, and pooling their finds for the rest.

The tide had begun to go out, and the damp brown sand shone before them like an aged mirror. The sun made the breaking waves sparkle, and Jungkook found himself transfixed watching them. Bam clung to his shoulder, eyeing the water with more skepticism. Their fur was fluffed out indignantly, and their drooping tail tickled his ear. In comparison, Angel was toddling happily over the sand in glee, flapping her stubby wings excitedly as she zigzagged back and forth, chased by Tan, who whizzed after her through the air without bothering to move a single limb, like he was riding an invisible magic carpet.

Namjoon fell into step next to him, and tugged him comfortably into his side. Jungkook’s aura expanded comfortably to include Namjoon too, but he felt rather than saw the affronted look that Bam gave him. Namjoon reached up to scratch behind their ears as well, and Bam gave a small purr, mollified.

“How are you liking the beach?” Namjoon asked.

Jungkook only hummed rather than replying, but he sensed that Namjoon had understood.

“The rockpools are just around the headland. We’ll probably find the most plants in that area too, so it’s hitting two frogs with one stone, really.”

“…Why do you like crabs so much?” Jungkook asked, wanting to keep listening, but not knowing what to say.

Luckily, Namjoon was more than happy to explain, and they chatted the rest of the way.

~❀~🦀~❀~

Namjoon was in his element around the rockpools. Jungkook trailed him as he crouched by first one and then another, moving carefully to keep his shadow from falling over the water. The others had fanned out, comparing any plants with an aura to the witchipedia list of the Sacred Seventy plants Jimin had pulled up on his phone.

Jungkook found one odd-looking plant relatively quickly, a slimy sort of thing with strange patterns on its pale leaves. If his identification app was working properly, it was a little-used type of seaweed good for seasickness. Now he just had to record it. Jungkook had always been bad at the precise charms used in Botanics, but with Namjoon giving him tips on how to make his impression charm clearer, he was proud of the result this time around. He smiled, quietly pleased, at the crisp outline that had transferred onto his notebook page, and followed Namjoon when he moved on to the next rockpool.

“Didn’t you say that there’s meant to be a migration of crabs happening?” Jungkook remembered.

“Yeah, crystal crabs,” Namjoon said, dispiritedly. “There was supposed to be. I checked online, and they normally pass through right about now, for a couple days. People on the forums saw quite a lot here yesterday, so I don’t know why they’re not here today. We can still look for the local crabs though,” he added.

Just then, Namjoon made an excited noise, and pointed out a small brown crab in the rockpool just in front of them. It was so well camouflaged that Jungkook took a few seconds to spot it. Jungkook sensed Bam on his shoulder getting interested, and placed a hand on their head to prevent them from jumping into the pool. As they watched, the tiny crab buried itself into the sand below it, leaving just its shiny oval eyes peeking out.

Jungkook was enthralled, although the little thing was so cute, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to eat crab stew ever again.

He found two more plants by following Namjoon around the rockpools, while Tae, Yoongi and Jimin had fanned out and were searching the foot of the nearby cliffs. Jin and Dionysus were supervising, ready to sound the alarm in case of any falling rocks, and Hobi was playing catch with Ego.

It was easy, being beside Namjoon. They didn’t really talk, both fixated on separate tasks, but the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. Jungkook’s magic loved Namjoon’s. He was almost embarrassed by how much. Namjoon’s aura was soft like worn denim, and even though the sun was shining brightly, Namjoon’s warm presence was all he felt.

Jungkook was beginning to lose interest in his plant-spotting, when Namjoon gasped. He twisted round and lost his balance on the slippery rocks, ending up pressed awkwardly up against Namjoon’s side. Namjoon didn’t even seem to notice that he’d fallen into him. He was reaching down into the rockpool in front of them, and Jungkook frowned, confused. Hadn’t Namjoon just spent ages explaining to him the best ways to leave rockpools undisturbed? He was pretty sure sticking your hand in one wasn’t what Namjoon had meant by that.

And then Namjoon pulled his hand out of the water. In his palm crouched a pure white crab with hundreds of clear gemstones sparkling on its shell. The crab wiped its oval eyes with the tiny little legs by its mouth, and Namjoon squeaked. Jungkook peeked at his face, and found his eyes brimming with tears.

“Hi,” whispered Namjoon.

Afternoon, replied the crab.

Jungkook looked up to realise that the others had somehow sensed something special was happening, and had gathered round their rockpool.

“That’s a crystal crab?” Asked Jin. “I thought they were just, like, called that?”

“What’s he called?” Asked Tae.

"He says crabs evolved before names existed,” Namjoon hadn’t taken his eyes off his new familiar even once. “But I can name him if I want. I'm calling him Ryan."

"Namjoon-ah, no..."

I like this appellation. I shall be Ryan.

 "You're going to regret that name in five years, Namjoon-ah," sighed Jin.

"I'll never stop loving Ryan," said Namjoon.

I should jolly fucking well hope not, grumbled the bejewelled crab, and they all took a moment to appreciate the sheer oddity of the situation.

Jimin tugged Jungkook up and away, explaining that they would give the two newly-bondeds a few minutes in private. Jungkook trailed after Jimin as they returned to poking around the base of the cliffs.

“Trust Joon’s soul to take the form of a crab,” sighed Jin, stroking Dionysus on the beak.

Not five minutes later, Jungkook had found and cast impressions on another two magical plants. Yoongi, Tae and Jimin finished not long after, and they ended up all playing a game of catch on the sand while Namjoon and Ryan continued to talk. Jin produced an expandable frisbee from his pocket, and Jungkook discovered for the first time a strong streak of competitiveness inside himself, throwing himself into the sand time and time again to catch the trickiest shots. Yoongi took a more relaxed approach, only bothering to catch the frisbee when it came within arm’s reach. But Jungkook could tell that he was having fun, too. And whenever he took a dive, he would find himself miraculously free of sand a few seconds later when he stood, no matter how covered he got rolling on the ground. He shot a quizzical look at Yoongi - nobody else was focussed enough to be able to cast a cleaning charm except him. Yoongi just stared back, and Jungkook looked away quickly, wrong-footed at such a casual display of kindness. 

The sun was getting lower in the sky before they were ready to leave the beach. Bam had been getting restless on Jungkook’s shoulder, and Ego’s ears were pinned back. Jungkook wondered if all cats hated sand. But even Angel was looking a bit uneasy.

The reason why was soon revealed. A tiny tremor shook the cliffs a few meters away, and a few pebbles skittered down the steep slope to fall onto the sand.

Jungkook froze. Was that..?

Their phones pinged in unison, and as an out-of-breath Namjoon ran to join them, Jungkook gazed in shock at the message on his screen.

Red alert. Magntitude 6 earthquake anticipated in 15 seconds. Please follow standard procedure by taking to cover or the air calmly.

From the direction of the town behind the headland, the early warning sirens started to sound.

Jungkook was so surprised that he couldn’t work out what to do. He’d never felt so much as a quake before - the warlocks, the officially-appointed protectors of the natural world, had never let one through in his lifetime. For any tremor to be felt was… was bad. Really bad. Something was wrong.

Jungkook’s breath hitched in surprise as he realised that the coven were taking to the air. Dionysus had lifted Jin several feet into the air, and was flapping hard to stay airborne. Namjoon had produced a shrunken two-person magic carpet out of his jacket pocket, and had managed to squeeze Jimin and Tae on along with him. Hoseok was levitating determinedly, face red with effort but holding steady, and Jungkook realised with a sinking feeling that he didn’t know what to do. They didn’t learn levitation until third year, and their brooms were safely locked in the lockers in town, with anti-summoning wards surrounding them to prevent theft. What was he supposed to do?

Someone yanked him into their arms, and Jungkook yelped, clutching automatically at whoever had grabbed him as he was lifted into the air. 

Yoongi.

Jungkook wasn’t sure how he knew the levitation charm - maybe he’d picked it up from the others - but he was managing it not just for himself, but Jungkook too. He hadn’t known that was possible… but then again, this was Min Yoongi. Min Yoongi, who had an entire school obsessed with his every move. Min Yoongi, whose magic was so strong that he’d needed a coven years before the average bonding age. If anyone could levitate two people, it would be him.

Jungkook tucked his head into Yoongi’s shoulder and shut his eyes as the rumbling started. Bam had forced their way down the collar of his shirt, and lay trembling, pressed against the fern-shaped scar on his chest that was a permanent reminder of when he’d been struck by lightning all those years ago. He’d been struck on his shoulder, and the raised scar extended all across his chest, shoulder and back. Yoongi, arms wrapped tightly around him, would most definitely be able to feel it, but Jungkook didn’t care, and Yoongi said nothing. Rough fingers brushed over the raised scar tissue through his thin shirt, and all Yoongi did was hold him tighter.

Jungkook opened his eyes at the sound of rocks crashing. The cliff was collapsing, huge boulders tumbling to the ground not ten meters from where they hovered. The sand, barely a few feet below their feet, bounced and shivered in the quake. He watched, frozen, as the water in the rockpools jumped and sloshed.

They all but collapsed back to the ground when the quake stopped. Their phones pinged an all-clear, but Jungkook was shaken up. That was an earthquake? He’d never experienced something so terrifying. Even when he’d been struck with lightning, it had been over so fast. This was the earth itself, tearing itself apart.

Why hadn’t the warlocks stopped it?

Something’s coming, said Bam suddenly. His familiar was turned towards the sea, fur on the back of their neck prickling and claws digging into his chest.

It’s stifling. There’s no wind. Feels weird. You feel it?

Nothing, replied Jungkook. What do you feel?

The others seemed to pick up on their own familiars’ nerves. Ego was growling - Jungkook had never heard him do so before - and tugging at Hobi’s sleeve with his teeth, trying to drag him back along the beach. Dionysus refused to land on the ground, dive-bombing to nip at Jin’s ears. Herding him. The coven stumbled to their feet, and exchanging glances at one another, began to jog back towards the town.

They were halfway there when their phones pinged again.

Red alert. Tsunami warning. All citizens within fifteen miles of the coast to move to higher ground immediately.

They met each others’ eyes, and started to run.

~❀~❀~❀~

They had only just reached the outskirts of the town when a tall man in official purple robes stepped out of thin air in front of them. A teleporter. They slowed to a halt, unsure, as he ran towards them, waving a badge in the air and shouting loudly.

“Bangtan coven? You’re the Bangtan coven? You’re being called up.”

“What,” said Jungkook.

“Shit,” said Namjoon.

The man reached them, panting, and started talking at them rapidly, ushering them to keep running at the same time. “The warlocks are compromised. We’re contacting all eligible covens to step in. Bangtan are qualified, correct?”

“Yes, but-” Namjoon started.

“Wonderful. We’ve got about five minutes to get to the clifftop and get you set up in a rune circle. Everything's going to be just fine.”

"But the warlocks..."

"Four are on cooldown after last week, two are in effing Sweden for a renewal, one has pixillitis and another is currently in labour," panted the official, all but shoving them forwards. “Most of the rest are currently the subject of a public enquiry. Big scandal earlier this week, didn’t you hear? Misuse of celestial energy. They’ve been removed from service. There's only five left, and it's going to take all they have to keep handling this quake and its aftershocks. You’re the only active unit near Busan, and the teleportals are down. We need you to step up,"

"Jungkook is literally fourteen," snapped Jimin. "You can't force him, he's not of age." Angel flapped her tiny wings in distress.

The official paled. "He's fourteen? Has he had any training?"

"We found each other this week. We're still negotiating how to go about bonding."

"Fuck," moaned the official, jabbing desperately at his phone, but it looked like the lines were down too. 

The man faded in importance as Namjoon turned to Jungkook and gripped his shoulders. 

"I'm sorry that this is happening, Jungkook–" he started, but Jungkook had made his decision. He reached up to feel Bam on his shoulder, and the little cat pushed their head comfortingly against his hand. Yoongi’s hand was somehow still in his, and he squeezed it. Yoongi squeezed it back.

"I'll do it, hyung. I'll do my best, whatever it is we need to do."

Namjoon pulled him into a tight hug, whispering in his ear. "You need to think this through carefully, Kook-ah. A ritual as big as this supersedes a bonding ritual. I know our bond has already started growing, but this is going to finalise it. You'd be part of Bangtan afterwards, whether you wanted to be or not."

Jungkook jerked his head back to meet Namjoon's eyes. "I do want that." He'd never been so sure of anything in his life.

"This is all great," hissed Yoongi, "but if we're gonna do this, we need to do it now."

The next five minutes passed in a blur of motion. They reached the top of the cliff overlooking the sea, and the teleporting official vanished with a crack, returning seconds later with bags of supplies. Namjoon and Jin grabbed the ash and salt, and made a seven-pointed star on the rough ground. Hoseok was frantically smearing pigment over his forehead and the backs of his hands. Jungkook felt hands on his shoulders, turning him around, and a second later, Yoongi was up in his face, painting the sigils onto his face too. Jimin grabbed one of his hands, pressed something crinkly into it at the same time, and just like that, they were forming a circle around the heptagram on the ground.

“Right, Kookie, we can do this. Focus on your aura, and then move your awareness anticlockwise. Spend seven seconds on each person. You ready?”

Jungkook realised that there was a small crowd behind them. This clifftop must be the highest point for several miles. He hoped that everyone had managed to get off the beach.

There were screams, and Jungkook snapped round to see the wave itself. It looked tiny from their spot on the cliff but he knew it would grow to be anything but. The tide had pulled out so fast that fish were flapping and gasping on the sand. Huge, seaweed-covered rocks that would normally be metres underwater were left exposed in the sun, dark like rotten teeth.

"Focus, Kookie," but Jungkook couldn't. He'd never been trained for this, the runes painted onto his face were burning and the swell of magic under his skin was making him anxious. It wanted to be let loose, he could feel it, but– how could he aim it? Magic had no direction, how was he supposed to move it anticlockwise? Wait, why could he only sense five other auras? There should be six—

This wave was going to come– this wave was going to crash into the coastline and hurt these people, his coven...

And then it was like he saw his magic with new eyes.

Jungkook let go of Jimin's hand, ignoring his confusion and panic as the herbs held between their palms dropped to the floor, and pulled him in with an arm around his shoulders instead. Yoongi was already doing the same on his other side.

He thought he would have to explain it to the others, ask them to trust him, but they understood immediately. 

They met in the middle. Hoseok's arm gripped his waist so tightly it was almost hard to breathe. Bam wrapped their soft tail around his neck. Jimin's hand was clutching at his arm desperately, someone's forehead was pressed into his shoulder, and he felt rather than saw that the others has closed their eyes as they closed ranks in a tighter circle, the rune circle trampled and ignored under their feet.

Jungkook kept his eyes wide open, and watched from the embrace of his coven as the tsunami simply slowed and sank into nothingness. 

He couldn't even tell where it used to be. Each wave lapped gently at the beach, collapsing into sparkling white foam that spread over the sand, and fled back into the water in time for the next gentle breaker to replace it. 

The tsunami had simply been swallowed by the sea.

"What the fuck just happened?" Came a raspy voice by his ear– Yoongi. It was Yoongi who had pressed his face into his shoulder, and whose trembling arms now came fully around him.

"I think," said Jimin wetly, "I think–"

"Holy shit," said Taehyung. "We just defeated a tsunami with a group hug."

In the sky above them, blues, pinks, greens and purples danced and rippled as the energy of a billion litres of water dissipated into an aurora they would never forget, stretching along the coast further than their eyes could see.

~❀~❀~❀~

By Sunday, the whole thing seemed like a dream. Jungkook was back at his mother’s flat, watching Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind on the sofa as if he’d never left. 

Well, except Jimin, Taehyung, Hoseok and Namjoon were crammed on the sofa with him, watching transfixed as huge insects chased Nausicaä round the screen. Jin and Yoongi were over by the kitchen cauldrons with his mother, soaking in her cooking tips as she stirred their stew for lunch. The flat was alive with people, and apparently much less prone to self-destruction now he was officially bonded.

Jungkook startled as something soft bumped into his shin. He reached to pet Bam automatically, and then stopped, confused. Bam was on Taehyung’s lap, curled into a purring croissant. He looked down.

Magenta looked up, and gave a quizzical mrrrrow before jumping into his lap, pushing her head firmly under his chin. Jungkook winced as her dainty paws jabbed into his leg muscles, and he could sense that his mother’s familiar was amused. She leant over into Tae’s lap and grabbed Bam by the scruff, dragging them, unprotesting back into Jungkook’s lap and beginning to lick their head roughly.

Jungkook hovered his hands in the air, uncertain for a moment, before resting them on Magenta’s shoulders and fiddling gently with her ears. Magenta started to purr throatily.

Jungkook cast a glance over at his mother, and caught her smiling softly at him. Magenta… Magenta hated him. Didn’t she? He’d stepped on her tail hundreds of times as a child, locked her out on the balcony more times than he’d locked himself out (so, a lot), and once spilled a glitter potion all over her fur just before they were about to go out. All accidents, but Magenta had learned to avoid him and his bad luck for her safety. She’d never once let him pet her.

Quit thinking so hard, poppet, sounded a croaky voice in his head, and he realised that this was the first time she’d spoken to him, too.

It seemed like his luck really had changed.

~❀~❀~❀~

They went back to the Bangtan residence for dinner, loaded up with leftovers to reheat. Jimin quizzed Jungkook on his Norwegian vocab, Jin sat the second years down and re-explained their malware homework in a way that actually made sense, and they’d just about finished writing up the paragraphs for their botanics homework.

It was odd, to go straight back to doing homework after the events of the previous day, but there wasn’t really much else they could do. Especially since their faces were all over TV and social media - the youngest coven in Korea, vanishing an entire tsunami by themselves with unknown magic. Nobody much felt like listening to themselves being discussed on the news.

Jungkook got up from the coffee table they’d been doing homework at, and wandered into the kitchen to get a glass of water. He jumped out of his skin when he heard a clacking at his feet.

Ryan was on the kitchen floor, waving his pincers in the air.

Up, he insisted. It is imperative that I be on the table.

Jungkook eyed him nervously. Those pincers looked sharp.

Up, hissed the familiar. 

Jungkook gulped, and held his hands out. Ryan skittered over his fingers to settle in his palm.

Now put me on the table. It's not rocket science, Kook-ah.

Jungkook blinked, and obliged. Ryan scuttled off towards the snack bowl. Cheers, old boy.

A thought occurred to him. It’d been bothering him for a while, but…

Hey, Ryan? He asked.

Yes? The little crab was crushing a biscuit in his claws, shovelling the crumbs into his mandibles happily.

Can the others hear you talk?

What?

You heard me. Namjoon, obviously. But can the others hear your voice in their heads?

I’m not answering that. He needs to tell you himself.

Who does? Jungkook asked.

Not me! Yelped Ryan, and grabbed another biscuit before jumping off the table, pincers waving manically. Jungkook watched him scuttle sideways out of the room, and sighed.

Jungkook poured himself his glass of water, and went to find Namjoon. If Namjoon didn’t know, he wasn’t sure anybody would.

~❀~🐇~❀~

It was only after dinner when Jungkook finally got Namjoon alone. He left Bam at the kitchen table, begging for prawns from Yoongi, and followed Namjoon into the lounge.

“You alright, Kookie?” Asked the other, patting the sofa next to him. “I was just about to order a new microwave.”  He pushed his laptop off his lap to give Jungkook his full attention.

Jungkook blushed at the memory. They’d tried to heat up his mother’s leftover stew in the microwave, and Jungkook had perhaps vanished the whole machine by accident when the stew started to bubble and spit. Luckily, the stew hadn’t been vanished with it, but he still cringed in embarrassment. Who was scared of microwaves, honestly?

“Sorry about that,” he mumbled.

“Happens to the best of us,” said Namjoon, chuckling softly. “Everyone’s scared of something.”

“Mmmm.”

“Did you want to ask something?” Namjoon asked quietly. “I know it’s been a tough few days.”

Jungkook hesitated, trying to phrase his question properly. “Is there something different, about our coven? How we’re able to do things?”

“You mean what we did yesterday? You’re right, it shouldn't have been possible," said Namjoon. "That sort of magic has never been seen before. But then, it wouldn’t be magic if we understood it, right? And we’re in this together, whatever this all means for us.”

“I guess. But… I don’t mean that.” Jungkook decided to just go for it. “I was just wondering if it’s normal to hear other people’s familiars?"

Namjoon blinked. “It’s been documented a few times. But only within covens, and in emergencies.”

“I can hear all of ours, all the time,” Jungkook said. “And my mum’s now, too.”

No comment, said Ryan, and Jungkook jumped. He hadn’t noticed the crab nestled in Namjoon’s hair.

Namjoon looked at him carefully. “Normally, only familiars can hear other familiars. But maybe you’re coming into a new affinity. I was so sure you were going to be a Luck Witch, though… It was all adding up…”

“A Luck Witch?” Jungkook asked, but Namjoon was lost in thought. He watched in bemusement as the other stood in a daze, and wandered out of the lounge, muttering to himself.

Jungkook gazed at his house slippers, lost in thought. He looked up when someone cleared their throat in the doorway.

It was Yoongi, carrying Bam.

“Your kitten is feral,” Yoongi announced, plopping himself down on the sofa next to Jungkook. 

Thank you for the prawns, hyung, purred Bam happily, and Yoongi scratched behind Bam’s ears.

“You’re welcome,” replied Yoongi. Jungkook was glad that Yoongi and Bam were getting on so well. Yoongi was the only one left in the coven who didn’t have a familiar, but he’d never once complained, or seemed jealous—

Something clicked.

“Hyung,” said Jungkook slowly. “Did you just talk to Bam?”

Yoongi’s fingers, massaging deep in Bam’s fur, froze. He looked a little panicked. “Um…”

“You did,” said Jungkook. “You heard them talk, too. Namjoon said that people can’t hear other people’s familiars.”

Just then, the rest of the coven began to shuffle into the room, and argue over what to put on TV. They mostly ignored Jungkook and Yoongi sat together on the settee, but Jungkook caught Jin watching him closely.

“Shit,” said Yoongi, and the others quietened down. “I was going to ask you in private. But… well.”

“Can’t get rid of us,” said Taehyung cheerfully. “What’s this about?”

“Jungkook,” said Yoongi, licking his lips nervously. “Would you be my familiar?”

“The fuck?” said Taehyung, and dropped his phone. Jin pinched him for swearing. “Humans can’t be familiars. Can they?”

“Oh,” said Namjoon. “That would do it.”

“Congratulations!” Yelled Hobi, and suddenly Jungkook had a lap of a very large, fluffy cheetah. 

Congrats, purred Ego. We’re glad you finally found your bonded, Jungkook.

Oi, said Bam, and Ego licked them gently on the forehead. We’re all glad for you too, kitten. Bam fluffed their fur up proudly.

“Can someone explain what’s going on?” asked Jin. “My Kookie’s not an animal.” 

Jin yelped as Dionysus nipped his ear. Humans are too animals, the vulture snipped. Don’t get all high and mighty on me now just because you have thumbs to play video games with.

Jungkook tuned out the chaos, and met Yoongi's eyes. The other looked nervous, but expectant. And suddenly, a lot of things started to fall into place. He felt Yoongi’s thoughts start to filter through his own, and he knew each and every one like they were his own.

He knew that when Yoongi graduated highschool, it would be a music scholarship that he would apply for at university, not a sports one. He knew that the captain of the basketball team had yelled at him last week for missing practice, and that Yoongi didn't care. He'd shut himself in the practice room with the piano, purposefully ignoring his phone, and afterwards pretended he'd got the days mixed up. Basketball just didn't make him happy anymore.

He knew that Yoongi worried about the future. More than the others knew he worried. He worried about what they'd achieve, who they would become, and how their coven would meet the expectations thrown at them. 

He knew, too, that his hyung had known the truth about Jungkook being his familiar from the moment Jungkook tumbled out of his kitbag as a rabbit. He also knew why Yoongi had kept it quiet – his worry of standing out even more, his worry of someone being in his head. Of being in someone else's head. He loved Yoongi all the more for being brave enough to claim him regardless.

Why didn't you say anything? He asked Yoongi. He knew instinctively that his voice would resonate within the other’s mind. I would've said yes.

I wanted to make sure you would be happy with us. Let you make the decision by yourself. Nobody should be forced to bond against their will.

Jungkook pulled Yoongi into a tight hug, and Bam leapt onto his shoulder. 

His familiar, and his witch. 

You think I would have been unhappy? I love you guys.

"Well," Yoongi smiled. "I was never going to leave a thing like that to chance."

~❀~❀~❀~