Chapter Text
Kim Dokja was in his room, dark with no light in the ceiling or anywhere, it only had a bed and a small closet with a few clothes in it.
He could hear the screams from his mother outside from the door of his room. He was afraid. He knew he was the next, he could hear the footsteps of his father approaching.
He hated being here, most of the time he agreed with his father about one thing, he wished he hadn't been born.
"Kid, look at me." His father said, and his son looked at him. "What bullshit is this?" A piece of paper was thrown towards the smallest.
It was a letter, it looked fancy, the lettering on the front was in a fancy script, it had a little red stamp on it, but it had been mangled. Dokja was scared to open that letter, as if perhaps it was a trap from his father, that when he opened that envelope he would receive a blow in response.
He managed to open it after a seconds of looking at it. The older man in front of him fidgeted in place, impatient, but he was waiting.
"It seems that someone pranked in you." He said with a mischievous smile. "I didn't know you had friends! You really think I'm that Stupid for falling for a joke like that? That stupid do you think I am, huh? You son of a b—" Before the blow reached his son, his wife threw herself on the older man to stop him.
"Stop! Hit me again!" She begged, crying, her voice was hoarse and broken, just like his body and soul. "I didn't learn the lesson! Leave him alone, please. He's just a kid."
"Just a kid, you say? He can think for himself, I'm doing anything wrong." He just stand there for a second and left the room, probably to go looking for some bear, like always.
"Mom? Are you okay?" The little one asked when they were finally alone. He clenched the letter in his hands, crumpling it.
"Oh, my boy. I'm so sorry." She said looking at him, her gaze softened as she watched the small eyes twitch slightly. "Come here." She hugged her son tightly, as if she didn't want to let go.
After a while, he managed to finally open the letter, the beginning of the letter beginning with an elegant scribble that read his name. He thought that the whole sheet of paper would be written in English, but to his surprise, it wasn't. It was Korean.
"I wish it was real, not a joke." His mother said. "So you can go away from here. That's all I want."
He was a surprised when he read the letter, who would write this? He had no friends, no acquaintances, any cousins or other relatives. It would be so nice to go to that school.
The day after, Dokja woke up around 10 in the morning, he had nothing to do. He normally spent the day reading newspapers that he found around his house. He wished he had books but he didn't want his mother to spend money on things like that, and his father... Well, definitely wasn't going to help him.
His mother worked all day, and his father always spend the day in something that dokja had no idea, probably bars, casino or maybe he was with another woman. Dokja didn't care, he prefer only to suffer at night with his presence than to suffer all the time.
The sound of knocking on the front door of his house brought him out of his thoughts. People never came to visit them so was quite rare and more at this time.
Never open to anyone, alright? He remembers the words his mother always said to him in a way to protect him.
He looked through the corner of the window that was next to the door. An adult lady was there. Wore a long black cloak, a white long-tipped hat that Dokja found a bit amusing. She did not seem surprised or impatient at the delay in being received by those who lived inside the house.
She knocked the door again, but this time she opened her mouth to said something. "I'm looking for Kim dokja." Words in english escaped from her mouth, Dokja was a stranger to this language, but he recognized his name at least.
Dokja repeated the words of her mother in his head for a while but in the end, found himself opening the door.
"...Yes?" He said a little shy, also afraid. He feel like something was happening. Actually, he wouldn't had opened the door and just ignore it, but something told him that he needed to open that door.
"Are you Kim Dokja? Is your mother home?" She said with a kind smile. He wanted to ask how she knew her mother, but he chose to just shake his head saying no.
"I'm Minerva McGonagall, I'm the headmaster from Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry.
"You... what?" He said also in english, his accent was weird but understandable.
"I am aware of the situations you have been through, and how regardless of how many letters we send, they will be avoided."
"Wait... You mean that... Magic is real?!" This was a suspicious situation, but he believed her. This felt like a dream to him, but after realization horror appeared on his face. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can go. My mother... she... No, I can't go.
"Dokja!" A woman's voice was heard in the distance, it came from her mother, Lee Sookyung. "Who are you? What have you said to my son?"
"Mom! She is the headmaster about the school that the letter mentioned that we thought was a joke! She just said it!"
"And you believed it? I'm sorry but we don't know you. Is there something you need?" His mother said looking directly at the older lady who was at the entrance of the house.
"Mrs. Lee, I need to speak to you." Her gaze fell on the boy who was behind his mother. "Privately, please."
"Of course, sorry if I snapped at you earlier." His mother said with a perfect english accent. "Dokja, please go to your room for a moment."
He didn't say anything and looked suspiciously at the lady with gray hair and quickly went to his room closing the door behind him.
He began to think about whether everything in the letter was true, it definitely moved him, another world full of magic and many things to learn. New friends and interesting things. But there was something that was bothering him. He couldn't leave his mother alone, not with his father. She doesn't deserve that.
He was an intelligent boy for his only 11 years, he knew that it was not likely that his mother would also go with him, he remembered reading in the letter that the school was in a very far place from Korea.
He waited, and waited, for what seemed like an eternity thanks to his impatience. After 20 or maybe 30 minutes, her mother opened the door and told him to go back to the living room of their house.
By the time he arrive the living, the old lady wasn't there, she was outside of the house, waiting for something.
"Dokja, this is a bit rushed and crazy but, I want you to go to that school."
"No! Mom! I mean, I want to but I won't leave you alone." He told her with a horror on his face.
"Dokja, please." He could see how the eyes of the woman in front of him shone with something like hope. Her eyes seemed alive for the first time since he has known her. "All I want, is you having a best life" She placed one of her hands on his little cheek. "I want the best for you" He could feel his own tears falling from his eyes.
"But mom... I know it's the best for me, I understand that, I also want the best for me, but that's not fair, not for you. Here, you, alone, it's dangerous! He could k-kill you or something! Mom!" With every word Dokja spoke, he grew more and more desperate.
"My prince." She said with an gentle voice and wiped away his tears. "The lady said that she's gonna protect me with magic."
After she said that, the lady entered the living again and took out something from the pocket of her black cloak, it was a wand. Dokja looked at her in amazement, unable to believe what he was seeing. "It's a promise." It was all she said, dokja knew it was true.
"Dokja?" His mother called.
"Yes, mom?"
"We'll see each other again at Christmas, okay? But I promise you, when this is all over, we'll go live somewhere else, I don't know where, and maybe even get married by then, we'll be far away from your father, okay?"
It was the first time that Dokja left Korea and the city he lived in. He always assumed that maybe when he grew up he would go somewhere else but he never thought it would be when he had 11 years old and to London.
The old lady, that Dokja started to call her by her name nad not only old lady was with him all the time. He asked her if she did this often, accompanying her students, and she told him no, but sometimes she did. She also said that he was special and with potential, and it was unfair that he couldn't go to Hogwarts. That made him feel special, for the first time in his life, someone had seen value in him, something that even him couldn't see in himself.
McGonagall said that she had to do something and she couldn't accompany him to all the places, so she gave him a piece of paper with the names of all the places he needed to go and Dokja, without any complaints, did as she said.
The first place was to buy his uniform, he had seen some students with a long black cloth uniform, he thought it was very cool.
When he found where he had to go, he didn't hesitate to enter. A short lady looked at him with a kind smile. "Hogwarts? First year?" He nodded his head shyly.
She told him that her name was Madame Malkin and then went to find a uniform to him.
He stood a little uncomfortable, not knowing what to do. A boy entered the store after a while. He was alone and a bit shorter than Dokja but just barely. His face was serious and he had a small frown on his face.
Dokja looked at him for a few minutes but the boy never turned to look at him. Dokja thought of speaking to him but before he could Madame Malkin appeared with a uniform in her hands.
"I'm sure this will be perfect for you but there are changing rooms at the end of the store, if you want." She smiled politely to him.
Madame Malkin started to talk to the other boy in the shop but he only gave a vague answer. He was a boy of few words. Dokja was relieved that he had not spoken to him, he probably would have had an embarrassing moment if he hadn't responded.
Dokja paid with the corresponding galleons and left the store. Before he left he felt a look on him, and after looking back he saw that the other boy was staring at him. Dokja gave him a small smile before leaving.
He went to stores to buy books, he had no idea of what they were but he made sure he had bought the right books. And the last store, was the store Dokja was so excited about, he would finally have his wand.
"Ollivanders" Dokja read out loud with an English accent. That was also something that was worrying him, it wasn't that difficult to understand what they were saying but it was extremely difficult for him to pronounce it. Dokja regretted not paying attention when his mother tried to teach him English.
Inside the store was an elderly man. All the walls were lined with small boxes that Dokja assumed contained wands.
"Hey, boy! First year?"
"Yes." Dokja answered.
"Let's get straight to the point, then?" Mr. Ollivander went to get something and brought a small box in his hands. After opening it, he took out a wand and handed it to Dokja. "Wave your wand."
Dokja did as the older man told him and something exploded in the distance on a shelf causing many boxes to fall, dokja yelled and his wand almost fell to the ground.
"Oh my— I'm sorry! I'm so sorry sir!"
"Ah... Don't worry, kid. This is normal, let's see another wand then."
It took at least 15 minutes to finally find the correct wand for him, Dokja paid with galleons and left. The man described his wand but Dokja did not understand anything the man was referring to, but he understood that it was a wand of 16cm.
After a while, McGonagall appeared in front of him with an owl in a cage. The owl was white with a few black wings, its eyes were completely black.
"Kim dokja, congratulations, it's for you. It is female" McGonagall said to Dokja with a smile.
"For me?! Really? Thank so much! I will take good care of her! I swear." Dokja's smile was huge, his cheeks ached.
"Think of a name for her."
"Mmmh" Dokja thought for a few seconds and his smile widened. "Biyoo."
September has finally arrived and Dokja was entering the train that would take him to Hogwarts. He was nervous. He was a little sad that he couldn't say goodbye to his mother but December probably was coming fast.
Dokja felt a little intimidated to see so many people at the same place, he saw children who seemed to be the same age with him but he also saw some who looked older.
The boy searched for an empty wagon or with a maximum of one person. Most of the wagons were full and many children already had a group of friends.
Dokja finally found one near the end of the train, there was only one lonely boy inside.
"Hey." Dokja said when he entered the wagon. "All the wagons are full, can I stay here?" He asked the boy, when he looked at him, he then remembered. That boy was the same boy he found in Madame Malkin's store.
The boy just nodded at him before looking back at the window. Dokja sat across from him. "I'm Kim Dokja, I'm glad I found someone that's Korean too. What's your name?"
"Yoo Joonghyuk."
What a good name, Dokja thought.
"Thanks."
Dokja gasped when he realized he said that out loud, his cheeks reddened in embarrassed and looked at the window to avoid his embarrassing moment.
A woman appeared in the door of the wagon with a trolley full of sweets.
"Hello, kids. Want something?"
Dokja looked at the contents of the trolley wanting sweets but refused, he didn't want to spend galleons on things like that.
Yoo Joonghyuk, contrary to him, asked the lady for some sweets and after paying for them, began to eat them slowly.
Dokja watched at him quietly.
"Are you gonna eat?" Joonghyuk looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Can I? Well, Thank you Joonghyuk-ah!" And he grabbed a chocolate, which was a frog but tasted like chocolate.
They arrive to the huge castle, Dokja could not hide his astonishment and Joonghyuk next to him looked indifferent.
Inside the castle, all the first years found Minerva McGonagall who was waiting for them all. Dokja waved at her with a wide smile, she just sent him a small smile after changing her expression to a serious one. She started to explain about a ceremony, they were going into a selection that was very important. Dokja didn't understand the difference between the houses but hoped to be in the same as Yoo Joonghyuk, after all, was the only person he knew besides McGonagall but she didn't count.
After the big door opened in front of them, the gaze of more than hundreds of students fell on them. Dokja felt a bit nervous seeing that he would have to stand in front of all those people in the selection.
Some children had passed by and had all been sent to different houses when he finally heard his name.
"Kim Dokja!"
He hurried up the steps and sat in the chair, the big hat was put on his head. He avoided looking at all the gazes that were directed at him. He flinched when heard a voice in his head.
"Hmmm, very interesting. It seems that you are very intelligent, you would be perfect for ravenclaw but I see a lot of ambition in you, boy, very clever. I see that you will do very interesting things in the future, you will surprise many and you will learn incredible things. You should definitely go to..."
"SLYTHERIN!"
One of the tables clapped loudly, it was definitely the loudest clapping table. He went to the table and sat down across from a girl with shoulder length black hair, she was looking at him through narrowed eyes.
"You're a Korean too! I'm Han sooyoung." She gave him a handshake as a greeting. She seemed very extrovert at first glance.
"Nice too meet you, Han sooyoung."
Dokja heard the name of Yoo Joonghyuk after a while, he was one of the last kids in the selection.
After a moment of tension, the big hat exclaimed.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Dokja was a little disappointed that they were in different houses.
"Well, it was pretty obvious." A few boys from his house said. "Everyone on his family is from Gryffindor."
"He looks like an annoying person." Han Sooyoung said with disinterest and went back to eating her food.
Dokja just looked again at the table that was in front of him, Joonghyuk's. And he looked at him for a few seconds and then also went back to eat his food.
Dokja was so excited for the future.