A week. It had been a whole week since Mina spoke to Yu. Well, spoke would imply they were being civilized because what they did was argue like little kids. Yes, she was pissed with the Ravenclaw girl but she knew that she had been a bit reckless. She couldn’t warn Yu about her boyfriend’s new friends without offering something more than a “they are evil”. However it was uncalled from Yu to act as if she despised all Purebloods. It was a false and stupid accusation even if it had some logical foundation. She had been crushing on a Pureblood since forever, for God’s sake!

It was after a whole week of this kind of thoughts. In addition to the stress that avoiding basically everyone that had her hiding near the Black Lake. Taking into account how big their group had grown in the last couple of months it was a hard task to avoid people. She had been trying to figure out her Charms homework, laying her back against the humid tree bark when a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" A male voice asked softly. She looked up to find a tall and tanned Hufflepuff looking at her with a shy smile. "It’s just that everywhere else is wet and this patch is the driest one to sit." He explained fidgeting.

"Sure, sit down! Not the owner of the land yet." She joked getting a small laugh in return. It had been a week since she felt like joking with someone.

The Hufflepuff boy threw his stuff near Mina’s feet and then took a seat a few centimeters away from her.

"I’m Jongin, I’m a 4th year." He offered Mina a big hand with a sheepish smile. She returned it with a small nod and a shy smile.

"I know." She giggled when the Jongin looked at her with wide eyes. "You are Sehun’s friend, right?"

"Ehm… well yeah, we kind of know each other." The boy’s expression fell as she mentioned the younger Slytherin. "Are you mad with your friends?"

"Excuse me?" Mina frowned because of the intimate question. "Have you ever heard about something called subtleness?"

"I’m sorry! I’ve always had a problem with my straightforwardness…"

"I can see why." Mina huffed.  "I barely know you and you are getting close and personal."

"I didn’t mean to pry!" He quickly explained. "I’ve seen you hanging on your own this past week or running from your friend and I just wanted to know how you are feeling. It’s hard to be alone…"

"Yeah well, I haven’t been running from my friends. I just, well, I…" she sighed. "Yeah, I’ve been avoiding them the whole week." She looked away to the imposing view of the castle.

"Are you that mad at them?"

"Not really… It’s more like I don’t want to talk about an specific thing because I don’t want them to worry again."

"But, aren’t friends for that? I mean, worrying about each other and annoying each other too." He puckered his lips as if he was trying hard to think. Mina looked at him and blinked several times.

"I  guess… In my case it just lead to an argument that I still don’t know how escalated that quickly." She shrugged.

"I think you should talk it out. I’ve seen them looking at you, I’m sure they want to talk it out too. It has to be nice having friends that worry about what happens to you. Even if they get mad at it." He half joked making Mina smile.

They sat there for a while. The air was chilly since it was still February but it wasn’t uncomfortable and the feel of the grass under their bodies was a nice feeling. After a couple of silent minutes Jongin began to take out his stuff. He opened a book, took a piece of parchment, his quill and let a heavy sigh out.

"Wow, that bad?" Mina asked lifting and eyebrow.

"Yeah, potions…" He wrinkled his nose in distaste.  "It’s my worst subject but I used to get by thanks to Sehun’s help…" his expression fell again. "Not anymore apparently."

Mina was silent for a couple of seconds while the Hufflepuff began reading. She wondered what happened. The journalist and her detective blood were dying to know about that secret. Sehun had said they weren’t friends but Jongin talked as if they had been really good friends. She decided subtleness was overrated.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"There isn’t much to talk about." Jongin confessed with a small voice.

"Okay…"

"I mean, what can you do when your best friend for three years who never cared about your blood status despite his family being the most uptight Pureblood family in the world tells you that he would rather not associated with you anymore because you like men." As he progressed with his explanations his breaths were shorter and his anger could be felt from meters.

"Wow… Never thought Sehun was like that." Mina bit her lower lip feeling bad about the poor boy.

"You see? That’s what I’m talking about! I just confessed I’m gay and you didn’t act like it was the end of the world."

"Well, everyone is different in these situations. I mean, I have no problems with you ual orientation Jongin but sadly not everyone is the same."

He sighed again.

"I know. Trust me I know. I was terrified when I thought about coming out to my family but then, I thought about it and I’m living in a world full of magic. When I realized that my parents, who are muggle by the way, were able to accept that magic exists in the world it felt absurd to believe they were going to have a problem with me liking men."

"Did they?"

"Thankfully not. My dad actually told me that after seeing my pants walk by themselves when I was 10 nothing surprised him anymore. My mum just told me she wanted me to be happy." He explained with a proud smile in his face.

"That is really nice. I’m happy they accepted you as you are." Mina smiled back.

"That’s why Sehun’s actitud hurts me…"

"Well, to be honest, the magical community surprised me too when I was introduced to it." Mina admitted. "I still don’t get why bother saying if your blood is pure, half or whatever. Everyone bleeds, that’s what matters."

"Sehun told me you had a lot of problems when you got into Slytherin…"

"Yeah, I had a lot of bullying." She clicked her tongue. "But I met my friends and…" she stopped talking when a pang of hurt made her flinch. Her friends. The ones who she had been avoiding for a week.

"And they helped you out by being there for you." He completed her sentence. Mina nodded with a sad smile, her eyes wandering again to the castle. "I do think you would resolve your problems, you just need to be honest and clear things out with them."

"I guess… I just need a bit more time."

"Maybe but don’t let it be too much. Some things have an expiration date."

Mina looked at the young Hufflepuff and couldn’t tell if he was talking about her or him. Whatever the case, they stayed until it was too dark to work working there with the chilly air and the wet grass. In a way, it was the most comfortable and safe that Mina had felt for a whole week.

The dungeons were deserted while Yu was walking through them. She had encountered a couple of young Slytherins on their way to the Great Hall but no-one else. Specially not the Ravenclaw that she was looking for. The Ravenclaw that had a lot of explaining to do, to be honest. The moment she arrived to the Potions classroom a group of laughs was heard. Her anger rising with each sound.

"Oh, I think someone has a visitor." A high, too-sweet voice said snickering.

Yu changed the weight from one foot to the other when three pairs of eyes looked at her. The two Slytherins were looking at her with identical smirks on their faces while Yixing looked at her with wide and surprised eyes.

"I’m so sorry love." Those were the first words that escaped the Ravenclaw’s mouth. "I got so tangled on mixing and…"

"You forgot about today." She huffed crossing her arms in front of her chest and a hurt expression on her face. "It’s the freaking third time this month Xing!"

"I know, I’m sorry."

Yu sighed uncrossing her arms and bit her lower lip looking away.

"I’ll head up to the common room now. We’ll talk tomorrow, if you are free." She spat the last part with the anger she felt at that moment.

"No, no, if you let me finish this we can—"

"We can’t do anything, Yixing." Yu interrupted him. "It’s almost curfew time and I’m tired. I might not be a Champion but I’m studying and training so, I’ll head up now. See you tomorrow. Good night."

She didn’t give him enough time to say goodbye. She made her way out of the classroom with her head up and her eyes upfront. He didn’t deserve to see the way it bothered her. The smirks the two Slytherins were sporting was another reason to leave there quick and with as much dignity as she had. However, the moment she got out of the dungeons her shoulders fell down and eyes began to sting. It was in that miserable state that Roro found her on her way to the Ravenclaw tower.

"Hey! I thought you had a date with your awesome, champion boy." The Gryffindor joked. However her smile died when she looked at her friend’s face. "He didn’t."

"Yep. He did. Again."

"Oh Yu baby…" Roro hugged her friend tight. "I’m sorry… I’m sure he doesn’t mean to hurt you."

"Well, he does." She answered angry at her friend’s goodness. "It’s the third time Roro! He stood me up three times in the same month and I get that he is busy but come on!" Yu huffed. "I’m not asking for much, just a bit of time together… Is it that too much?"

"No, it isn’t. I‘m just pointing out that he may be under a lot of pressure with the second task coming closer… It’s not like Yixing to be like this."

"Since he began hanging out with those Slytherins he’s more distracted than ever… " Yu looked away and her expression became even sadder. "I think I owe Mina an apology, you know?"

"Well, it would be about time!" Roro crossed her arms. "You two have been acting like fools for almost three weeks. I’m trying to stay out of it because I can see both your points of view but" she sighed "I think this is stupid. You are friends and you love each other, you still ask me about her every time." She sighed exaggerating her exasperation which made Yu smile a bit and Roro winked at her. "Just talk it out and let’s hang out together again. I need you both to handle all this teenage drama in my life."

"Oh yeah…" Yu snickered. "How was your tutoring lesson today?" She lifted an eyebrow. Roro rolled her eyes at her.

"Pleasantly uncomfortable I guess." She explained shrugging.

"Are you two still avoiding the subject and making googly eyes at each other?" Yu joked.

"Ha ha ha, really funny! I just… I don’t know how to act with him now."

"I told you already. Just keep acting like you do or say something." Yu patted her friend on the back. "You either confront the situation or you flow with it."

"Such wiseness. You truly are a  Ravenclaw." Roro snickered teasing her friend. Yu pocked her tongue back at her.

"Whatever… the real question is, where are you going now? Isn’t curfew in like 10 minutes or so?"

"Yep. I just need to go back to the library, I forgot  my CMC book there."

"Not surprising at all since your eyes have other preferences than rare and magical creatures." Yu .

"Yeah well, they better recover soon or I’m not gonna pass my O.W.L.S." Roro said with a serious face this time. When they got to the stairs she turned to say goodbye to her friend.  "Anyway, try to rest and don’t give Yixing too much Hell tomorrow. I’m sure he is feeling really guilty right now." Roro hugged her friend again trying to give her some support.

"I’ll try." The Ravenclaw girl answered without much conviction. "Night!"

"Night!"

Her friend began going upstairs while she walked the remaining path to the Ravenclaw Tower. Yu was ready for this day to end and, being honest, this whole month. Or better, if the Potion Championship could get to an end it would be fantastic. She was laying on her bed trying to chase sleep when she realized, she was acting like an egotistical . Apparently, it did run in the family.

After saying goodbye to Yu, the Gryffindor girl decided it was better to run if she wanted to make it for curfew without any problems. These past weeks had been weird to say the least. She had to manage her time between lessons, tutoring and her two friends. She tried to talk it out with them and convince them to talk but they were both too stubborn. She hoped after today Yu would apologize to Mina. After all, she had a bad feeling about those Slytherins too. In addition to her friends feud, she had Chanyeol’s problem to deal with. Okay, it wasn’t a problem per se. It was more of an small, sometimes uncomfortable, issue. She had thought about bringing the subject of the caress up but every time she got close to anything like that, the boy changed the topic. However, she wasn’t blind. Or stupid. She had seen him wanting to speak and stopping. Each time it happened she wanted to scream “YES, PLEASE LET’S TALK IT OUT PLEASE!”  

Yu was probably right. She needed to talk with him about it. Or maybe confess or something. Let him know how she felt. Was it more than a crush? Yes. Was it love? Roro didn’t know. She was too young to know and too inexperienced to know but she knew she wanted to know what it was and explore it with Chanyeol so, confessing was the best option. They had quite a bit in common and he was so nice and kind to her. He made her feel safe but daring. He made her feel confident enough to talk about her future as if it was more than a dream and he never made her feel underestimated or out of place. Her opinions mattered to Chanyeol and that was a beautiful feeling. She was about to turn around the corner to the library when she heard voices. She recognized one of them and a small smile appeared on her face when the other voice answered.

"Well, yes." Victoria’s voice was soft as she spoke. "I know. I’m not going to lie I still like you."

Roro’s eyes grew wider than ever before. Her breath got caught up on waiting for the answer.

"Well, that makes me really happy." Chanyeol’s low voice answered the chinese girl.

Her smile fell. Her ears began ringing.

Fool, you damn fool!

Stupid, stupid, stupid heart.

Stop it.

Fool.

Stupid.

She turned around and began running back to her dorm with stinging eyes, ringing ears and a broken heart.

AISH! The Drama~ 

I should be sleeping because it's 2 a.m here and I'm going to a Manga/Anime Convention tomorrow at 9:30 BUT I wanted to upload this weekend and I'm probably going to be knackered when I come back home so, here it is! 

As always, thank you so much for the lovely comments and the subscriptions! (I'm really amazed by how many people subscribed <3)

You know I love your feedback on the story!:D 

Anyway... seems like Jongdae has to step up as Big Bro again to smack some sense into our lovely Yeol <(｀^´)>

Let me know what you think!

Lots of Love

Roro