The number of Jongin's admirers increased dramatically after a small piece of parchment bearing his hastily-scribbled name, had come out of the Goblet of Fire. Not that he had ever gone completely unnoticed previously, but his admirers now include a steady following of girls—and boys, Taemin often reminded him—even outside of Hogwarts.

Even with his quiet demeanor, Jongin was simply hard to ignore. Yet, he knew that against the backdrop of the bunch of friends he had hung around with since first year, he was always last to be noticed. They were Hogwarts' most popular ones. There was Lee Taemin, captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team—cocky, strutting around the hallowed halls as if he owned the place. Kris Wu was less showy, but only slightly, with a smug smirk made more expressive by his exceptionally attractive eyebrows. And then there was Kim Junmyeon, the first Slytherin Head Boy in years, who was sweet and uncharacteristically kind and chatty (for a person of his House, people said), and so was inevitably loved by everyone, especially the teachers. Oh Sehun was the youngest and most handsome, earning him his own admirers even if his stoic, unreadable facade made him unapproachable to anyone else whom he hadn't been long term friends with.

And then there was Kim Jongin, who surprised everyone by entering his name for the Triwizard Tournament in the first place, and then getting to be Hogwarts champion at that. The school had thought it would be Taemin, the devil Chaser on the Quidditch field; but Taemin didn't even put his name forward, even if he was the one to convince Jongin to give it a try.

As with every morning since the Daily Prophet had printed the interviews with the Triwizard champions, owls from all over Britain swooped down the Slytherin table to deliver all sorts of fan mail. Jongin paid them no heed, concentrating on his breakfast instead of a package of what looked to be the entire daily stock of Honeyduke's sweets. Kris grabbed at one of the Chocolate Frogs, turning to Jongin. "You don't mind, do you?"

Jongin shook his head. "Help yourself."

Kris groaned when the face of Ronald Weasley looked up from the Frog card and muttered how he already had six cards of him. Junmyeon snorted before commenting about how Kris could be 17 years of age and still have a collection of Chocolate Frog cards.

The double-door entrance of the Great Hall burst open then, with Taemin strutting in, fashionably late as ever. He lazily raked a hand through his sandy-blonde hair as he sauntered to his friends, successfully making the girls he passed by, swoon at his presence. Upon reaching the Slytherin table, he randomly picked up a box from the pile of parcels, and guffawed when he opened it to release a horde of Charmed heart figures, each with wings like an angel’s. The hearts attacked Jongin’s face, planting kisses on every surface they could find, with puckered, protruding lips.

"ARRGGHHHHH! Get 'em off, get 'em off!"

Junmyeon jumped up from his seat and reached across the table to swat at the hearts, while Taemin and Kris only laughed, pointing at Jongin, as did the rest of the school. It was Sehun who pointed his wand, and on second thought, Charmed the winged hearts to go after Taemin and Kris instead. Their guffaws turned into a cacophony of "OWs" and "RUDDY BLASTED BIRD HEARTS!" and "MERLIN, !"

When he and Jongin and the rest of the Great Hall had had snickers of their own, Sehun flicked his wand and the hearts went back to the box, the lid snapping shut.

"Whoever sent that should be locked up in Azkaban!" Taemin complained, wiping his cheek free of the sticky kiss marks.

"Funny how you should say that when you're the one who should've received that package," said Jongin.

"Which is why I didn't sign up for the Tournament, did I? What do I get for all the trouble? The prize is just an empty cup."

And prize money of One Thousand Galleons, too; but neither one of them needed that as heirs of wickedly rich Wizarding families.

Not noticing the way Jongin’s shoulders had slumped, Taemin proceeded to wolf down his breakfast and wink at a Ravenclaw fifth year on the other table. Jongin got up then, slinging his bag on his right shoulder and bidding his friends a quick See you in class, before heading out the Great Hall and into the school courtyard. He stopped walking only when his feet had taken him a few yards away from the double-door entrance. That was when he let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding.

What was with him? Jongin knew, like everybody else, that Taemin deserved to be Hogwarts Champion more than he did, so why was he suddenly hurt at the idea now? If the other had not cunningly egged Jongin into trying out, he would have been content to watch on the sidelines and cheer for whoever was competing, instead of trying to survive the tasks. He was at least determined to prove the Goblet was right in choosing him, but as the date of the first task loomed over his head like a thundercloud, he was hopeless as to how to do that exactly.

His heart ached at disappointing the people who had been continuously sending him well wishes through fan mail. He didn't think he even deserved to have them as fans; maybe they only liked him because he was handsome. And even when people always said they looked alike, Taemin was still more handsome. What was he thinking dropping his name into the Goblet of Fire? He wasn't thinking, that's what happened.

Jongin's train of negative thoughts was interrupted by the sound of giggling from a band of girls, his fan club. Before they could approach him, however, he had made a decision to scuttle away and proceed to class.

***

What irked Jongin most about his rising popularity was that people now had a habit of stalking him. Even in class, girls would peek into classrooms to wave, smile, wink or ogle at him, until the teachers would give them detention for loitering in the corridors. Some were even more bold by going up to him bearing gifts, all of which he politely accepted, before the gifts, unopened, were chucked into his trunk the moment he got back inside the Slytherin boys’ dormitory. If the gifts were food, he would instead give them to Taemin and Kris, who happily consumed just about anything, even with Jongin’s warnings that they could be spiked with Love Potion.

It was Professor Longbottom who had kindly warned Jongin of the possibility, telling him of how Harry Potter had almost eaten a box of chocolates laced with Love Potion. It turned out that Ron Weasley had eaten the sweets instead, and for a few hours, was smitten with the girl who sent the gift. Jongin shuddered at the thought of the same thing happening to him.

What probably made all the experience worse was the talking. People thought they were being discreet, but Jongin never needed Extendable Ears to hear what they were saying. It always came back to how everything was shocking, that Taemin should’ve been champion, that the other merely gave way for his best friend. For every day since he had been announced Hogwarts champion, Jongin had to endure the whispers following him wherever he went; today was no different.

He, Sehun and Junmyeon had been at the library, working on an 11-inch essay for Transfiguration, when he caught of someone mentioning his name. It was one of his fan club members. They couldn't see him because there was a bookshelf wedged between their table and that of the girls'. The girls spoke in hush tones; however, Jongin heard it plainly when they said they didn't think he was that interesting, but that it would still be nice to date a Hogwarts champion.

Sehun noticed Jongin trying to mask a gloomy reaction, so he said to just ignore them, while Junmyeon gave a wry smile.

Jongin tried to concentrate on the parchment in front of him, even dipped his quill into the ink repeatedly so as to try writing, but found that he was unable to stomach the chattering any longer. He gathered his things and reasoned to his friends that he was tired, and that he'd see them back at the Slytherin common room.

The girls' eyes lit up like Christmas had come early when he emerged from behind the bookshelf, but he simply ignored them like he usually did. Outside, however, there stood another band of babbling, giggling girls, who must have only belatedly realized that the object of their attention had been at the library all along. He broke into a run, not minding where his feet were taking him, but then the girls pertinently decided to make chase. And Sweet Salazar, were they persistent!

Groaning at how his legs could not have the speed he would probably take on a broom, he dashed up a staircase to put as much distance between him and his pursuers. Still, they tried to follow, sporting predatory looks and a Cheshire grin they almost looked like the witches portrayed on books made to scare Muggle children—the ones with crooked noses and warts on their faces. Jongin had in mind the image of a wailing Banshee, which spurred him to continue running, even if his body was starting to get tired.

When he had reached the seventh floor landing, he turned left on instinct and made to slow down, leaning a hand on the wall to steady his erratic breathing; but then—

“Where is he?”

“He couldn’t have gone far!”

“Let’s split up, maybe he’s just around the corner.”

Jongin mentally cussed at their doggedness, at the Goblet of Fire for spewing out his name, at Taemin who was the cause of all the mess he was in. He had closed his eyes and prepared to run once they catch sight of him again, when he heard someone psst. He cracked his eyes open and frantically looked for the source, thinking his pursuers may have found him.

A girl with lime green hair waved at him, peeking from behind a door he didn’t notice had been there across the corridor earlier. She beckoned for him to come close and stuck her thumb towards the inside of the room.

Jongin didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t trust the girl, even though she looked slightly familiar. For all he knew, she was another one of the crazy fan girls luring him into a trap.

The girl blew at the fringe covering her forehead, but continued to motion for Jongin to come. Jongin simply shook his head. She sighed. “Alright, suit yourself. And don’t look now, but, your fan club has arrived.”

Jongin’s eyes widened as a shrill voice, so much like a Banshee’s shriek, declared, “There he is!”

He didn’t have a split-second to think twice as his body carried him towards the door, shoving the girl inside. “Move on, move on!” He figured he could deal with one mad fan girl instead of a dozen mad fan girls.

Jongin put all his weight into pushing at the door, stopping to catch a breath only when it closed with a thud. His bag fell to the floor as he bent to clutch at his knees, when he remembered his green-haired companion.

She sniggered at the sight of him panting. “I don’t normally let anyone else into my hideout, but I suppose you’re welcome to share for the time being.”

“Thanks,” Jongin muttered sincerely, only to shift ground with horror when she laughed evilly and let out her next statement.

“Oh, don’t thank me. You don’t know what you got yourself into, Kim Jongin.”

A/N: This is the same first chapter I've posted before, but with edits so that the story could flow more smoothly. From here on end, I intend to write better. ^_^

For HP fans:

• Ron Weasley Chocolate Frog Cards!
• Neville Longbottom is one of Jongin's professors!
• The lime green-haired girl's hideout is a room at the seventh floor, left corridor! Which room is it, can you guess? :)))))
• For non-HP fans who may be reading this one, you can ask questions if there is any HP reference you wanna talk about.

Notes for non-HP fans:

• The Goblet of Fire decides the participants for the Triwizard Tournament. Any student aged 17 (the legal age by Wizarding standards) or older, may join by placing his or her name into the goblet (it really is a goblet, a huge one, with fire burning inside it). Once chosen, the student can no longer withdraw.
• The Triwizard Tournament is an inter-school competition consisting of three sets of tasks meant to challenge various magical abilities. A champion is chosen each from the three participating schools—Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academmy of Magic and Durmstrang Institute (contrary to what they portrayed in the movies, the last two schools are coed).
• Hogwarts has seven years of study for students divided into four Houses named after the school’s founders: Godric Gryffindor (house colors: scarlet and gold; house animal: lion), Helga Hufflepuff (yellow and black; badger), Rowena Ravenclaw (blue and bronze, eagle) and Salazar Slytherin (green and silver, serpent).
• The Chocolate Frog is a type of sweet, which is Charmed to look and move like a frog, but is not really a frog. Each one comes with a collectible card of various witches and wizards, etc. Ron Weasley said that his greatest achievement was to be put on the card.
• The Daily Prophet is the British Wizarding World’s newspaper.
• The Great Hall is probably the largest room at Hogwarts. It’s where the students gather and have their meals. The hall has four long tables for the four Houses, and a table for the teachers and school staff on an elevated section at the end of the hall. The Great Hall’s ceiling is Charmed to look like the sky outside.