You leave ten minutes before the library closes, leaving the musty odor of worn and centuries-old books behind you as you exit. Taking a mental break from thinking about spell theory and arithmancy, you enter a meditative-like state while making your way through the quiet halls. Nothing but the quiet echo of your footsteps on cold stone and the subdued crackling of the torches affixed to the walls fills your ears.

Just as the warm veil of drowsiness begins to drape over you, you hear a second pair of footsteps pattering across the transecting hallway. Suddenly alert, you duck into the shadowy edge of the hallway. It wouldn’t do to be caught by Filch now, even if it technically wasn’t curfew time just yet. The surly caretaker had even taken to memorizing all of the prefects’ faces and patrol schedules. No, it definitely wouldn’t do to get caught now right before curfew, on a day that you were off-duty.

Watching warily from the dark, you wait silently as the hasty footsteps approach the intersection. A familiar brown-haired figure strides into view, accompanied by a levitating crate, before disappearing across the hallway.

Was that Taehyung?

Narrowing your eyes with suspicion, you quickly draw your wand and quietly murmur the incantation for a modified silencing charm, adeptly casting it at your foot. Concentrating hard, you carefully perform the disillusionment charm you had been laboring over since fifth year had begun. After looking down to scan your body, you note with surprise that you were almost entirely disillusioned. A careful eye would have no trouble spotting you, but combined with muffled footsteps, it was more likely that you would slip by unnoticed. Hopefully, nobody would catch you breaking the no-magic rule in the corridors, but if you could catch Taehyung it would be worth it.

You take off after Taehyung just in time to see him heading down a staircase. Was that crazy kid actually heading toward the Slytherin Dungeons? You pause for a few seconds, shifting nervously. Was catching Taehyung in the act important enough to risk being caught out of bounds past curfew?

After a quick huff, your back straightens with resolve. It was your duty as a prefect to uncover all misconduct, whether on-duty or off-duty. You jog after Taehyung, descending down the dimly lit staircase to find yourself in an empty hallway. You step quickly through the halls, ears perked to catch any sounds made by Taehyung.

After a few minutes of wandering through the abandoned corridors, you begin to lose any hope of catching the closet miscreant. Gritting your teeth with irritation, you begin to turn around to retrace your steps back to the first floor before catching the sound of footsteps. While keeping close to the unlit stone wall, you hurry toward the noise, eager to unravel the boy’s latest prank.

You stop in your tracks just as the figure of Taehyung appears from the end of the corridor. You force your breath to stay steady and quiet as you slowly make your way down the corridor. Taehyung passes by quickly without a single glance in your direction. Mentally sighing with relief, you continue down the hallway, feeling a slight tingling sensation for a split second. Your head whips around to face Taehyung, who is still hurrying down the corridor at the same pace. Your eyes shift thoughtfully before you decide to shrug off the feeling, sensing no change in your body.

After turning the corner, you spot a large door tinged with a deep green color, surrounded by an ornate arch. The arch was intricately designed with the chiseled forms of two snakes facing each other, long bodies draped along its shape. In front of the door was a large burlap sack decorated with a currency symbol.

….Was this kid serious?

You struggle to withhold a deep sigh as you walk toward the sack. Honestly, why would anybody ever get the idea that there would genuinely be money inside this suspicious sack? Sometimes you wondered if the golden boy actually had any sense.

Once you are a few meters away from the bag, you deliberate for a moment to consider your options. You could simply vanish the sack now that you knew how to cast the spell. But that would leave you with no evidence for Professor McGonagall to review. You knew from prior experience that while the strict professor held you in a relatively high regard, she would not accept just any accusations of a student without some form of evidence. With a sense of resolution, you cast a silent levitation on the bag.

No sooner had you cast the spell, than it suddenly exploded in a sickening cloud of moss green gas. A strangled cry escaped your throat before you could rein it back. Dungbombs! You should have known that the prankster would have resorted to something so base. Changing your mind about the evidence, you mutter an incantation to vanish the malodorous sack of dung bombs.

You turn on your heel and rush away from the scene, afraid of being caught by a Slytherin prefect on patrol. The corridors had been abandoned as far as you could tell, but it was likely that a prefect would soon stumble upon Taehyung’s prank.

As you turn right into the next corridor, you crash into a person at full force. You shriek with fright and fall onto your bum while the stranger stumbles backward. Your apprehension at having been caught increases when you realize whom you had run into.

“Who is that?” Yoongi asks in disbelief. The dim light of the torches along the halls outlines his frown deeply as he draws his wand.

I can’t let him catch me. With resolve, you quickly duck to the side before he can cast any Human Presence-Revealing charms. You leap to your feet and race off towards the staircase, narrowly avoiding the flare of an incoming Impediment hex. Your heart thunders in your chest as you run up the stairs onto the ground floor. You almost began to curse when you realize you have 6 more staircases left to make it to the Gryffindor Tower. There was absolutely no way you would outrun Yoongi before then.

“Homenum Revelio!” Yoongi shouts from a distance away. Before you can turn into the next corridor, the charm manages to strike your back, immediately dispelling your disillusionment charm. A second later, you are running down the adjacent hallway, hoping that he hadn’t seen your Gryffindor tie or worse, your face.

As you run down the corridor toward the next staircase, a door to your right opens up and before you can evade it, an arm reaches out and pulls you into a cramped supply closet. When you spot the identity of your captor as he hastily shuts the door, your eyes narrow.

“You-“ your words are cut off by a palm pressing against your mouth. Taehyung looks at you with widened eyes, quietly imploring you to remain silent. A few moments later, you hear footsteps pounding past the supply room down the corridor.

After a few tense seconds, you relax as you listen to Yoongi’s receding footsteps heading toward the second floor. Then, you tense up once again when you realize how close Taehyung is to you. One of his hands rests firmly against your sternum while the other clamps your mouth shut. One of his legs is brushing against your own. With the aid of the limited light provided by the torches outside of the room, you can see him staring at you thoughtfully. Your heart quickens once more from the proximity of your bodies, or perhaps maybe it was only the adrenaline from running away from Yoongi.

Yoongi! You had almost been caught by Yoongi! And it was all this kid’s fault!

You bite down on his palm as revenge.

“Ow!” Taehyung gasps quietly, taking a step backward as he nurses his palm. Who said the kid could be so close to you anyways? You cross your arms with a quiet huff. You wouldn’t even be in this situation if it hadn’t been for his delinquency.

“You have a weird way of showing your thanks,” he pouts as he wipes his palm on your arm.

“Hey!” you burst out angrily, jerking away from him.

He sighs and draws his wand, casting the Muffliato charm on the door. “Must you be so loud? You have no sneaking ability at all.”

“What?” you sputter out angrily. “For your information, I managed to catch you setting up that dung bomb trap in the Slytherin dungeons.”

He fans the area in front of his face with his free hand, flashing you with a boxy grin. “I can tell. You smell.”

You grit your teeth and step forward to grab his tie and pull him closer. “I’ve got my eye on you, Taehyung. You may have the rest of the school fooled, but I know exactly what you are.”

“And pray tell, what am I, miss [Y/N]?” he asks with an innocent tone, his eyes raking your face with interest.

You scoff and shove him away from you. “A trouble maker. I don’t know how you’re always getting away with everything. Or how you fooled Professor McGonagall into making you a prefect.”

Taehyung responds with a mock expression of hurt as he straightens his tie. “Why [Y/N], it stings me to know that you think so lowly of me.”

You decide to not even reply to that faux sentiment and instead opt for rolling your eyes and pursing your lips.

He tilts his head to one side and pouts. “I thought we were developing a nice little relationship just last week.”

Sighing with exasperation, you return your focus to him. “Taehyung, we are prefects. Our job is to make sure everybody is following the rules. Not to abuse our power and sneak around the castle to play pranks on the student body and the staff.”

“Are you sure? You seem to have a natural aptitude for stealth,” he tuts, scrutinizing you carefully. “I had no idea you were even around until I heard you scream after you foolishly activated that dung bomb.”

“I may have a few tricks up my sleeve,” you huff indignantly. “And how was I supposed to know that the sack had dung bombs in it? I was just going to take it away.”

“That, my dear, was an ingenious combination of transfiguration and an anti-tampering spell,” Taehyung boasts happily, puffing out his chest. Then he pauses to lean towards you and begins to wiggle his eyebrows. “What are these tricks you speak of? Invisibility?”

You lean away from him, eyebrows furrowed. “Even if I had that ability I wouldn’t show you how to achieve it.”

You ignore his pouting face and decide to look through the small window of the supply closet instead. “Can we leave now? I’m sure Yoongi has gone back to his patrolling area by now.”

As you are scanning both sides of the corridors, you hear the rustling of parchment behind you and turn around curiously. Taehyung looks up from the parchment and hastily shoves it into his robe pockets. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” he replies quickly.

“That doesn’t look like nothing.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just a map,” he insists while fidgeting in place.

“Do you need a map to get back to the dorm?” you ask with suspicion. This must be another one of his trouble-maker secrets.

“Um, maybe?” he responds with an unconvincing tone.  

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Uh, well I think we can go now,” he replies evasively, grasping your hand. Before you can protest, he opens the closet door and leads you out hastily.

When you reach the staircase for the second floor, you snatch your hand back. “I’ll figure it out,” you promise him with a glance full of determination.

He grins sheepishly while scratching his neck. It was a wonder how the boy even managed to keep his secrets so well. Without a further word, the two of you race up the staircase to make your way back to the Gryffindor Tower.