exomeme | part seventy

part seventy

EUREUREONG EUREUREONG EUREUREONG（●＾o＾●）

n_n

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1,406w and will probably be followed up on!!

builds off previous xiumin & lu han headcanon hp!verse fics, but this when they're still in school.

the title is relevant to the "branches and leaves" analogy ahaha

After four years of Lu Han asking to visit his house, Minseok is taken a little off-guard when (in the middle of writing their final essay for Astronomy) he instead says, “Minseok, do you have summer plans yet? If not, you should stay over at my place for a while.”

Minseok blinks and stops in the middle of a sentence: The properties of Saturn’s largest moon are manifold, but perhaps none are as important as... “I don’t have plans, no,” he answers slowly.

“So then, come over,” Lu Han replies. He smiles, and Minseok senses something off in the way his face changes, but he can’t quite place what.

“I’ll ask my parents, but there should be no problem with that,” he says.

Lu Han’s smile widens into something more natural. “Great,” he says cheerfully. “Now help me write this essay, I haven’t the slightest idea about what Saturn’s moons do.”

Minseok returns to his own home for a week before heading off to Lu Han’s. It’s a vintage, three-story house in one of the suburbs of London, protected from Muggle eyes by layers of protective charms. He uses the doorknocker (decorated, he notices, in the shape of a deer’s antlers) to tap three times, and Lu Han opens the door not five seconds later. “Good morning!” he says cheerfully, reaching over to help Minseok haul his trunk into the house.

“Were you waiting?” Minseok asks.

“I was bored,” Lu Han replies. “You’re in the guest room across from my bedroom, it’s on the third floor -- that’s okay, right?”

Minseok nods, but by the time they’ve gotten his trunk up two flights of stairs, he begins to reconsider. “Your house is huge,” he mutters as they put it down on the floor, leaning slightly against it to catch his breath.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lu Han says indifferently. “Too big for just my parents and I to live in, but what can you do about that? It’s not like I can make them move somewhere else. Or make it smaller.”

“By the way, Lu Han, where are your parents? I should say hello to them and thank them for letting me stay over,” he replies, standing back up again.

“They’re working right now,” he answers. There’s a pause, and then Lu Han tugs at his sleeve -- “Come on, let’s go out! We can take the Underground to downtown London and hang out. Have I ever told you, there’s a Wizarding part of Chinatown there? They’ve got these elemental lizards, and magical firecrackers and -- well, you know, not to say Honeydukes is bad by any means, but there a candy shops there that’d put it to shame.”

“Okay, okay,” Minseok says, smiling haplessly as Lu Han pulls them both back down the stairs and out the door.

They get back late in the evening after having stuffed themselves with street food and played with fire-breathing lizards until their fingers ached. “You’re getting better at using Muggle money,” Minseok says as he watches Lu Han navigate through the subways. “And also not openly gaping over Muggle technology.”

Lu Han winks, and Minseok notices the girl sitting next to him blush a little. “I’ve been practicing,” he replies.

“Anyway... you’re sure your parents won’t mind us staying out so late?” Minseok asks.

“Nah, it’s alright, they’re out on a business trip or something -- they travel a lot between London and Asia. But they should be back next week for a few days.” There’s a pause, and then Lu Han says, “Let’s go somewhere in Muggle London next time. Take me to a shopping mall or something, I want to see the apartment stores.”

“Department,” Minseok corrects. “I don’t really know a lot about Muggle shopping malls, to be honest. It was never really my thing.”

Lu Han gives him a look of exaggerated shock. “But that’s what I invited you over for!” he says. Then he grins: “Just kidding, of course. Then we’ll both learn more about them, I guess.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Minseok replies, just as the subway doors open at their stop. To get from the subway station back to Lu Han’s house, they have to take a bus and then walk a few blocks, but they barely notice the distance.

The next morning, Minseok wakes up long before Lu Han does, and walks around the house room by room. He’d always known in the back of his head that Lu Han came from an ancient family, but Lu Han had never really talked about it -- he’d only found out through Yifan that Lu Han’s father is a descendant of one of China’s most powerful lines (“My family’s rivals, actually,” Yifan had said, wrinkling his nose slightly, “but that stuff’s history, neither of us take it seriously,”) and an through off-hand mention from Ernie Macmillan that his mother is related to the Black family through marriage. When he sees the family crest and tree on the wall of the sitting room, though, he remembers it all very vividly. “Looking a bit unsettled there, boy,” says a kindly-looking woman in a portrait nearby. “I assure you, there’s no reason to be. It’s early, isn’t it? I’d suggest you get a good, hearty breakfast in your stomach.”

“I’ll go do that, then,” he replies, smiling up at the painting. There’s a pause, and then he asks, “Just wondering, but... are there many magical artifacts in this house?”

She thinks about it for a few moments. “We’ve our fair share, although compared to other Wizarding families it might not seem like much. Perhaps the most notable one would be the house itself, though. There are some unique enchantments placed upon it.”

“The house itself,” Minseok echoes. “Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind.”

The woman offers him a smile -- from the angle she’s sitting at, something in her face when she smiles reminds him of Lu Han.

After Lu Han drags himself out of bed and they eat breakfast, Minseok says, “I was talking to one of the portraits earlier, she said that your house is special.”

Lu Han shrugs. “Guess so,” he replies. “My mother once told me it’s because our family used both Eastern and Western enchantments on it. Different styles mixing, or something like that.”

“Can I look at them sometime?” Minseok asks.

“Sure, knock yourself out,” Lu Han answers. “But don’t forget you promised me Muggle shopping, alright?”

Minseok laughs. “I’d never.”

Just then, an owl swoops through the kitchen window and drops a letter by Lu Han’s side before perching itself on one of the empty seats. “Oh, shit,” Lu Han says, fumbling with the seal.

“Who’s it from?” Minseok asks, peering over.

Lu Han tears it open and skims it over. The way he holds it blocks it from Minseok’s view, and he’s not sure whether that’s on purpose or not. “My parents,” he answers. “They wanted to let me know that they’re coming back early. Tomorrow, probably.”

“Well, that’s good, isn’t it? You’ll get to see them more,” Minseok says. “That reminds me, my parents gave me something to give to them, you know, as thanks for letting me stay over. It’s Muggle stuff, though.”

He expects Lu Han’s eyes to light up with delight, but instead he seems to slump in his seat. “They won’t want it,” he mutters. “They’re practical to a fault, they don’t like gifts.”

Minseok blinks a few times. “Okay,” he says. “Should I give it to you instead, then?”

Lu Han gives him a half-smile which fades away all too quickly. He hesitates for a moment before he speaks again, and when he does, he doesn’t quite meet Minseok’s eyes. “Can you do something for me without asking why I want you to do it?” he says.

“Within reason, I guess,” Minseok replies carefully. “What is it?”

“Don’t tell my parents that you’re Muggle-born,” Lu Han says.

Minseok has to catch himself before he asks why? -- instead, he presses his lips together and nods. An uncomfortable silence falls between them, and Minseok doesn’t know what he could possibly say to break it.

Finally, though, Lu Han gets up and turns around. “Sorry,” he says. “I have to write them back as soon as I can, they asked me to. I’ll show you around later, okay?”

“Okay,” Minseok echoes, but Lu Han’s gone before he can even finish saying it.

random notes:
- in this fic xiumin has not yet decided for sure what he wants to go into, but this might be when he starts to realize architecture is what he's interested in.
- personal headcanon -- eastern and western schools of magic are different (since spells in hp!verse are basically terribad latin lmao).

sa that should be *a candy shop u__u

ahhhh now i'm so curious why yixing and lu han weren't sent to like a school in beijing instead and both ended up at hogwarts DO THEIR PARENTS KIND OF LOOK DOWN ON WESTERN SCHOOLS did the cultural revolution raid most of the ancient magical history there, just as it did with the rest of chinese history, was it their own kind of witch trials ;; KEEP GOING ANON i want to know the rest

ahhhhh i love all this backstory and building that all the hp nons are doing ;; good job anon, i raelly liked this!!! cries at lu han's parents tho, forever orphan no matter the verse

;A; anon!!! glad to see more architect!min ;; this was great :'3

swooons and sighs at this universe you've set up, i'm in love with it and i'm in love with you *u*

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part seventy

hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

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Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)

Re: hg: roots and leaves (team dessert)