The probability of there’s something out there hating him was quite high by now, because even though Chanyeol did his best to avoid Bomi, the world just casually ignore his determination and presented the girl in front of him.

He was back from Arithmancy class, later than his friends since he had some question to the professor – what do you know, Park Chanyeol was actually an over-achiever in the subjects that he loved – when something pink assaulted his eyesight.

His stomach churned on automatic and Chanyeol was so ready to turn around, except that whatever it was the Gryffindor’s Seeker was doing, it piqued his curiosity. She was walking back and forth in the corridor, mumbling things under her breath before shaking her head and continued walking.

Something clique on Chanyeol’s mind – they’re on the seventh floor, left corridor. Yoora, his sister, had told him about it.

Yoora was a terrible sibling with her being a genius and unfair ability to be the best at everything; she was a brilliant Chaser, was a Prefect on her fifth and sixth years, and the Head Student on her seventh. But she’s a good sister, always ready to help Chanyeol despite her tendency to bully and embarrass him, and Yoora, with all her glory as a perfect student, was downright a troublemaker. Chanyeol had no idea how she found out about the room, but he was thankful that she told him about the hidden room; The Room of Requirements.

Chanyeol was too busy thinking about his sister that he didn’t realize Bomi had turned around facing his direction, and he was startled when he met eyes with the girl.

“Cap!” Bomi loud whispered, her whole face lightened up like a Christmas tree, eyes sparkling as if seeing Chanyeol was the best thing that could ever happened to her. The thought was unsettling.

All of the sudden Chanyeol felt tired, like Bomi’s existence drained all of his energy, that he could only sighed. “I’m not your Captain…” Would it be rude if he walk away now? But why did it matter if he’s being rude or not?

He needed to learn to think faster because the next thing he knew Bomi was already in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

None of your business. “Arithmancy,” he waved his hand on the general direction of Arithmancy class behind him. Now is a good time to leave. He stayed in his place.

Bomi’s eyes widened as she leaned closer to Chanyeol, the smell of her shampoo was strong enough to invade his senses. “Cap, do you want to know what I’m doing?” she whispered, glancing around to check their surroundings, smiling giddily.

No.

Now is a really, really, good time to turn around and leave.

Even though the corridor was empty, apparently Bomi thought it’s completely necessary to pull Chanyeol down through his robe, and without asking for permission she whispered on Chanyeol’s ears, lips grazing his earlobe and her breath tickling his neck. “I heard from someone that—”

Chanyeol pulled himself back before Bomi could finish her sentence and he rubbed his neck furiously. “Don’t do that!” Bomi stared at him with wide eyes, surprised. “And I know what you’re doing, you’re looking for The Room of Requirements.”

The surprised look on Bomi’s face changed into admiration. “Captain! You know about the room too! They said I’m supposed to think hard about what I need, but I’ve been here for thirty minutes and there’s nothing. Was I being fooled?” She pouted and somehow she looked like a withered plant. A noise machine, a walking disaster, a baby duck, a withered plant, could it be this girl was actually a Shapeshifter?

Chanyeol shook his head before his thoughts could travel further down the Dumb Road.

“You have to think about it and walking back and forth three times.”

“Huh? I’m pretty sure I’ve done that millions of times…”

“What did you think of? Why do you need The Room of Requirements anyway?” Chanyeol asked, now genuinely wondering what possibly Bomi needed. She probably wanted a room full of food. Or a place where she could do stupid things together with Jongin. That’s very likely. And very irritating, for reasons.

“Well I just heard about the room and, don’t you think it’s so cool?! I want to try it out and I think about what I need except I don’t really know how it works so maybe a room with cakes—”

Hah.

“—but magic can’t create food—so maybe a room with a Snitch for me to practice, and I start to think would it possible if I need a room full of broomsticks and then I take a broomstick out but! Then I wonder if that counts as stealing so I start to think about different things all at once like fireplace would be nice isn’t it and maybe pillow but I also need to study for O.W.L—”

Chanyeol rolled his eyes and reached out to cover Bomi’s mouth. For someone so small she sure could talk a lot. What did her mother eat when she’s pregnant with her? An announcer?

“Why you’re not with your friends?”

Bomi blinked a couple times, slowly looking down to Chanyeol’s hand on . The boy retracted his hand, trying to act as if covering people’s mouth was something socially accepted.

For a while, Bomi didn’t answer, and she’s not grinning either, just smiling rather shyly – it made a tremor on Chanyeol’s stomach. He furrowed his eyebrows, didn’t like the sensation at all.

Bomi looked down to her shoes and started to fidget. This time she spoke slower. “Actually... I just want to try it out first, and… I think… Sure, it’ll be cool if I can brag about it to them later and try it with the kids, but I want to try it… alone.” Then she glanced up to him, silently asking for his opinion.

Well in Chanyeol’s opinion, those round eyes and slightly pouting mouth were offensive. They’re infuriating.

“Move,” he said, pushing the girl’s shoulder lightly to the side. Then he walked back and forth in front of the big tapestry on the wall which depicting the attempt of Barnabas the Barmy to teach trolls ballet – the hidden entrance of The Room of Requirements was on the opposite wall.

Chanyeol started to think about a quiet room where the Noise Machine could study, he thought the room should had the text books she needed, also parchments and quills and ink, and she mentioned a fireplace so a fireplace should be there too, but then the image of a fireplace made Chanyeol thought of napping – because, seriously, what kind of sorcery Bomi’s voice had that it made him tired and anxious? – so he could sleep while she’s studying, a room where there’s only the two of them without the unwanted judging looks, Kyungsoo’s knowing leer every time Bomi was in sight, Peeves’ mocking song whenever he saw him—

Let’s erase everyone one by one except us

Paused as if only you and I exist here

The lyrics to the song Chanyeol had listened the couple past days chose this exact time to occupy his mind. He’s going to stop listening to that weird song with growling chorus.

“OH!” Bomi’s loud exclaimed took Chanyeol’s attention. Following her direct line of vision, there’s a door on the wall that wasn’t there before.

“There you have it,” Chanyeol said. “You just have to think and want it really hard.”

“AMAZING,” she gaped. “Come on, Cap!”

“What—”

Bomi pulled Chanyeol by the wrist and took him inside the room, gasping as soon as she saw what’s behind the door. Everything Chanyeol thought about before was there – a fireplace, like the little wanted, along with the couches and a table, shelves full of textbooks and another one with every type of quills and even some cauldrons with various herbs. It’s a perfect room for the Baby Duck to study for her O.W.L. test.

“Why there are pillows and blankets?” Bomi’s question broke the silence, and Chanyeol glanced to the spot near the fireplace, where big, fluffy pillows were together with a blanket that looked promising – inviting people to lie down there.

“Because I’m tired and I want to sleep,” Chanyeol answered without thinking first.

Hearing that, Bomi beamed sunshine from her face, and Chanyeol realized then the implication of his words. “You’ll stay here with me?” Bomi asked, hopeful and full of joy.

“That’s not what I meant,” Chanyeol said hurriedly, feeling hot under the collar. “I was sleepy, okay, it just—kind of slip my mind, that I want pillows, and—”

“You can sleep here while I study!”

“Why should I—“

“And maybe you can teach me some subjects too!”

“Hold on—”

“But it’s totally fine if you just sleep, because at least there’s someone accompanying me, and, don’t you think it’s nice when there’s someone around you?”

Bomi stared at him, still looking hopeful, and Chanyeol gulped. Why suddenly he remembered a puppy? He liked puppy. But he’s allergic. He should stay away.

He thought of millions different things to say, from rude rejection to mean comment about them being Slytherin and Gryffindor and Pure-blood and Muggle-born, and Chanyeol looked away. He contemplated his words for a second before turning back to look at Bomi.

“I thought you want to be alone.” That was definitely not a rejection.

“Yeah, but I mean… It’s…,” she glanced up, waving her hand in the air. “… It’s you.”

There’s the sound of the cracking fire from the fireplace, the light from the candles all around them casted shadow on her face, and Chanyeol felt something shifted in the air. For once, Bomi didn’t have the usual infuriating grin on her face, and strangely, Chanyeol wished now that she did.

“… Whatever,” he replied, grunting as he walked to the stack of pillows on the carpet and dropped himself there. He needed to rest anyway. Crossing his arms in front of his chest Chanyeol closed his eyes, determined to fall asleep as soon as possible so he didn’t have to be aware of the fact that they were together in a closed space. Alone.

He heard Bomi’s cheer after his decision, her footsteps when she walked around the room – but then it was quiet, too quiet for Bomi’s standard, that Chanyeol couldn’t help himself but to peek. The Seeker was bending down in front of a small table where lots of scented candles were, and she’s inspecting them one by one.

“Cap—”

Chanyeol quickly closed his eyes.

“—What scent do you like best? Oh. You’re not sleeping yet aren’t you?” she lowered her voice.

He sighed, pretending that opening his eyes was such a hassle and he’s annoyed that he needed to do so. “What’s there?”

Bomi didn’t look apologetic at all for disturbing his attempt to sleep as she quickly turned around to read the labels on the bottles. “Umm, there’s Coconut, and Margarita, Leather, …Strength? I wonder how strength smells? Also, Vanillaroma, Energy, Passion—”

Chanyeol almost flushed red at the word.

“—Cinnamon Apple, Christmas Night, Grass, boy, they have everything don’t they? Dirty Sock… Why anyone would light up Dirty Socks candles? Bubble Gum, oh this is my favorite! Morning Fresh, Bayside Breeze, Summer Linen—“

“That.” Chanyeol stared at the ceiling as he cut off the girl. “That’s fine.”

“Summer Linen?” Bomi repeated to make sure before she lit up the candles. “… Oooh. Perfect.” She sighed blissfully after a moment.

For some reasons, either the fresh scent that reminded Chanyeol of clean sheets under the shining sun or the peaceful look on Bomi’s face, Chanyeol felt content, too. This time, his heart felt full of more unexplainable things, and he decided to close his eyes to avoid thinking.

He drifted in and out of consciousness soon, lulled by the quietness and the warmth provided by the fire, and Chanyeol thought he must had been deep in his sleep, because at one point when he fluttered his eyes opened he felt warmer on his side and when he looked down there’s something pink tucked in under his chin. But when he really woke up moments later, he opened his eyes to the sight of Bomi writing on a parchment, books scattered all around her.

She looked up to him when she noticed his movements and Bomi smiled, almost like welcoming him back from his slumber, and Chanyeol felt a pang in his heart.

He supposed that’s another thing he should add in the long list of unexplainable things Bomi made him felt.

***

Christmas break was very much welcomed, and Chanyeol spent it with stuffing himself with cakes and pies or any food available and playing Quidditch with his cousins. He called Yoora whenever she’s free – she’s unable to come home since it’s her first year at work, chasing some rare dragons all around Asia.

On Christmas morning Kyungsoo’s gift was already there under the tree and it didn’t need a genius to find out what it was, a big, long box that could only be used to contain a broomstick. Kyungsoo gave him the newest model of Exodus 99 that was supposed to hit the store after New Year, and that’s the Do for you, an old, Pure-blood family who’s loaded enough to buy things before they were out.

Chanyeol was glad he could buy Kyungsoo a very nice gift this year because usually Kyungsoo’s gifts always outdone his. Yoora was able to get him an egg of a mini-dragon, the kind usually kept as pets, and Chanyeol thought there’s nothing more perfect than a dragon to accompany Kyungsoo conquering the world – not that the boy wanted to do that, he just gave out the vibe.

He received other gifts from his family and friends, and all in all, his holiday was great.

But there’s this just, one, small, thing.

At some points – a lot of it – Chanyeol remembered about his Christmas break last year. He couldn’t enjoy the holiday to the fullest because of the upcoming O.W.L and he was a little bit stressed out about it, and he wondered, briefly, very briefly – not like a whole five minutes before he shook his head to chase away the thoughts, of course – about a certain pink-haired Gryffindor, where she was, what she’s doing, did she eat a lot like every day at Hogwarts?

But sometimes the thoughts also followed by – did Jongin buy her gift, did she buy Jongin anything, what if they spent the holiday together – the thoughts usually ended by a frustrated groan that drew weird, curious look from his cousins.

Even when he couldn’t see her, she’s still infuriating.

Christmas passed and soon it was New Year. Chanyeol stayed awake until 5am with his cousins and he’s fully intended not to wake up at least until 1 or 2pm, but a loud, insistent knockings on his window woke him up.

He sat up on his bed groggily, wondering what just waken him up and he squinted his eyes to see better when he pulled his curtains aside. Outside his window was a small, round owl with white feathers that he couldn’t recognize. Sehun’s owl, Vivi, was brown, and besides, even though he usually sent his Christmas gift late, Vivi already arrived two days ago.

Chanyeol rubbed his eyes and opened the window, letting the owl came in to drop the package it carried onto Chanyeol’s bed. It squeaked proudly over the work and Chanyeol gave it some treat he kept for Sehun’s and Kyungsoo’s owl – he didn’t have a pet himself, not since he lost his ferret when he’s a kid.

“Who’s your owner…?” Chanyeol mumbled, petting the bird before he turned his attention to the package on the bed.

A knitted scarf was inside the wrapped box, the color’s green like Slytherin’s symbol but when Chanyeol moved it sometimes it would look like the color’s silver instead. A magic was involved in that, Chanyeol had no doubt about it and he kind of wondering how to do that, but the more important question was… Who’s knitting him a scarf?

Looking for the card, Chanyeol found it on the bottom of the box. He opened it, a strange sensation of anticipation building up inside of him because he had a guess, a rather wild one, and his eyes went down to the signature first before anything else.

Yoon Bomi, that’s all Chanyeol needed to read before his throat went dry and there’s a burning feeling on his heart.

Chanyeol forced himself to read the words on the card.

Captain, merry Christmas!

I’m sorry the late present, I want to finished it before Christmas but

I’m still figuring out how to knit with magic and it’s hard >.<

It comes out not as good as I hope it is… T_T

The winter’s really cold this year, hope it can warm you up, don’t get sick, Cap!

Happy New Year, see you soon~!

Yoon Bomi

The first thing Chanyeol felt after reading the whole message was nauseous, because she knitted him a scarf and what the hell and what does it mean and it’s ridiculous how she used emoticons in her writing but then a wave of panic hit him – the holiday’s almost over, he had nothing to give the girl, and wasn’t it a common courtesy to give people gift when they give you one?

Using the logic as a reason for himself that it’s completely common to buy a gift for Bomi, Chanyeol browsed through the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes’ brochure, the one he got with Sehun’s gift – the younger boy had stock him with the usual sweets like Fainting Fancies and Fever Fudge for days they didn’t feel like attending classes and faked illness, along with some stupid products Chanyeol knew Sehun wanted for himself – there’s no doubt that he’s going to ‘borrow’ them from Chanyeol later.

Chanyeol settled with buying a bubble gun, a new bubble machine that could save several scents so it would smell after the bubble burst. Apparently it could also store short words, since his younger cousins were playing around with the same gun and they sent ‘ies’ to his ears before giggling to themselves.

The toy was completely childish and useless, something that Bomi would definitely find entertaining.

Thinking that a toy was nothing compared to a self-knitted scarf, Chanyeol was resorted to call Yoora. She’s currently in Tokyo and before she had teased Chanyeol, “Do you have special someone yet? Are you seriously going to leave Hogwarts with no love experience at all? There are a lot of popular accessories here, tell me if you want one, upgrade your relationship with Do, maybe?” Yoora had laughed back then, finding enjoyment in joking about Chanyeol’s and Kyungsoo’s long-lasting friendship.

He ended the call as soon as Yoora started to ask questions about who’s the lucky girl that would receive the accessory Chanyeol ordered.

Supposedly, it was a trend among witches in Tokyo now days, a bracelet with round, glow-in-the-dark beads that could changing colors as the user’s wish.

The rest of his holidays were filled with anxiety and pointless worries about what would Bomi thought about his present, and the night before he had to return to Hogwarts Chanyeol couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning around in his bed.

He finally fell asleep way past midnight, his new scarf folded neatly on the bedside table, and he dreamt of a lingering smile under the bright sun, wrapped in clean sheets and flashes of pink.

***

“What is it?” Kyungsoo asked, bug eyes glancing up from his book to look at Chanyeol who’s sitting in front of him on the compartment they shared. They’re on Hogwarts Express now, on the way back after Christmas and New Year break.

“What… What?” Chanyeol asked back, furrowing his eyebrows. He hadn’t said a word, he didn’t do anything that could disturb Kyungsoo’s reading either.

“You’re nervous about something.” Kyungsoo nodded at his legs and Chanyeol realized that he’s been shaking his right leg, his habit whenever he’s nervous. He quickly stopped his leg from moving.

His best friend gave him an unimpressed look at his obvious pretend, but then something like understanding fell on Kyungsoo’s eyes and he smirked, looking back down to his book. Chanyeol hated it when he’s on mind-reading mode like that. “You haven’t seen your Tweety?”

“T-Tweety—w-what?” Chanyeol spluttered. Sure he knew about the animated yellow bird character, but why Tweety? And, his Tweety?

“You know,” Kyungsoo shrugged, flipping a page, “Since is so small, and she’s tweeting all the time…” Chanyeol agreed that Bomi had a small, round lips – like a bird – yet somehow the thought that Kyungsoo also paid attention to Bomi’s mouth was disturbing. “… Plus, now she’s…” Kyungsoo stopped talking, suddenly looking back up to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol tried hard not to shout at him to continue his words.

Kyungsoo tilted his head. “Ah. Right. You haven’t seen her yet. … Well, can’t say that she’s ugly before, but now she’s definitely…” He shook his head, the end of his lips curved up a little bit in a mocking smile, agitating Chanyeol even more. “Let’s just say that you will be very pleased to see her, becoming closer to your type.”

The taller between the two scowled, turning his head to look outside the window. “I already told you that she’s not my type.”

“Huh. It’s quite interesting that you understand who I refer as your Tweety even though I never mentioned any name.”

Chanyeol scowled deeper, ignoring the hotness on his face or Kyungsoo’s obnoxious snort in the background.

*

Chanyeol thought he hadn’t feel angrier before; before that night, when he saw Bomi the first time after Christmas break.

The students filled the Great Hall for dinner and Chanyeol wore his new scarf around his neck. Not because it’s cold inside the castle, more like a… fashion statement, yes, that, because the scarf actually did look good. Sehun even asked where he bought it, and Chanyeol answered with a mutter that it was a gift.

It’s not that he’s specifically searching, but it’s hard to miss pink among the black robes of their uniforms, yet Chanyeol saw nothing of the taunting pink in the Gryffindor table. But then he heard the very annoying, very familiar laugh that he could imagine inside his head no matter where he was, and he saw Baekhyun, then he saw Eunji, Taemin, Jongin, but there’s no pink, instead, there was—

Blonde.

Bomi’s hair was blonde.

Pale yellow in colour, looking bright and even brighter along with Bomi’s smile – like sunshine, Chanyeol absentmindedly thought.

Now Kyungsoo’s reference about Bomi being Tweety made sense.

But that hair color.

On the girl.

Was, extremely, upsetting.

Chanyeol closed his eyes and put down his spoon, losing his appetite. He took a big gulp of his pumpkin juice to water his suddenly dry throat, feeling exhausted simply because he saw Bomi’s new appearance. If he thought pink was infuriating before, now he thought blonde should be banned and never be allowed on Bomi. It drove him very, very angry.

It drove him mad.

The new hair colour didn’t only affect Chanyeol, it seemed, since from across the room Chanyeol could see Baekhyun looking up to Bomi’s hair and his mouth moved to make a comment about it before he smiled. Eunji who sat beside her it, and Jongin, that damn kid with no manner, twirled some of the strands on his fingers, playing around with them with fascination on his eyes.

Desserts had never been this unappetizing before.

After dinner Chanyeol shuffled along with the other students leaving the Great Hall, momentarily stuck near the entrance since there were so many of them. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, Kyungsoo and Sehun on his sides, burying his face deeper into the scarf around his neck to cover his grumpy face. He’s sulking, so what.

He saw a bubble from his peripheral vision right before it burst near him, and all of the sudden Chanyeol smelled something familiar, like perfectly washed linen, fresh and clean, and his brain’s first thought was Summer Linen, together with a small, cozy room, a fireplace, a pink-haired girl and a heart-warming smile.

Chanyeol didn’t have the time to process the thought any longer, another bubble burst right next to his ear and Chanyeol heard her voice, quiet and shy, unlike her usual cheery shouts, “Thank you, Cap.”

He looked to the side and caught a glimpse of the now blonde girl, stealing a glance at him – a bubble gun on her hand with Chanyeol’s bracelet circling her right wrist – before she got dragged away by Eunji.

Chanyeol ignored Sehun’s question about whether he had a fever and chose to bury his face deeper into the scarf, trying very hard to stay grumpy but to no avail.

Does anyone experience glitch with AFF?

I can't see my Default Editor and the layout changes, the chapters list etc now on my right side... .___.

Anyway thank you for reading!