A body asleep and a precious memory

Jongin was sleeping.

That alone wouldn’t have been an odd sight, he slept through practically every class, but something was off. That something being Kyungsoo stumbling onto the Hufflepuff body on the seventh floor, near the Great staircase.

At first Kyungsoo thought he had found a corpse and was ready to scream, but then he realized Jongin was just sleeping. The wizard was peacefully hugging a column, his fluffy white hair sticking in all directions and his arms bare from the robe. His shoes were somewhere near his feet but strangely not worn and Kyungsoo noted with a gasp that his skin was full of cuts.

It was pretty early in the morning and Kyungsoo had gotten up at the sound of Chanyeol’s snoring. Since he found himself unable to go back to sleep he thought about sending a letter to his mother so he got up and went to the owlery, pen and paper under one arm and Nina’s cage in the other. He had the soft feathers of her head before handing her the envelope and sending her off in the distance.

Spring had literally exploded around Hogwarts bringing beautiful bloomed flowers dotting the grass and the strange tingle of excitement that the season was famous for. A flock of swallows accompanied Nina for a brief part of her journey until Kyungsoo couldn’t see her behind the clouds.

It was a beautiful day.

And yet, at six in the morning, Jongin laid asleep on the floor with little cuts and dried dirt all over his skin.

“Oh Merlin, Jongin!” Kyungsoo shouted, trying to wake the Hufflepuff up.

“Mmmm, five more minutes”

Jongin snuggled even closer to the pillar, but Kyungsoo wasn’t having it. He took out his wand and whispered a soft “Rictusempra”. Suddenly Jongin was wide awake and curled up in laughter, rolling over the floor.

Minseok had taught him that spell, knowing it would come in handy and he hadn’t been wrong.

“Do you still want those five more minutes?” Kyungsoo mocked with a smile.

Jongin, recovered from the spell, looked at him with a stunned look on his face, turning his head to get a bear of his surroundings. With a soft ‘o’ he finally understood where he was and scratched his head, smiling back at Kyungsoo.

“You’re the devil you know? Couldn’t you wake me up the normal way?”

The both got up and Jongin turned to fetch his shoes, putting them on without socks making the Gryffindor flinch.

“Trust me I tried. Care to tell me what are you doing here?”

“Why, can’t a lad pass out in private?” Jongin snickered, brushing the dust out of his robe.

Kyungsoo found himself snickering, but Jongin couldn’t fool him: he was evading his question. His clothes were wrinkled, his skin needed ointment and he could see his muscles were tense, his movements slower than usual.

He took a step closer and lifted his wand to the Hufflepuff’s face, murmuring another spell: “Episckey”, another one Minseok had taught him. Suddenly Jongin’s skin was as good as new, the cuts and bruises disappeared.

“How did you…?”

Jongin was as marveled as him. He had tried that spell numerous times on Chanyeol, seeing as his friend was so prone to otherwise inconceivable accidents, but he had never healed so many wounds at the same time and he was kind of proud of himself.

“Minseok taught me.” He whispered, feeling his cheeks growing red.

Jongin’s eyes were full of wonder and gratitude and Kyungsoo didn’t know how to react, so he focused on the questions burning on the tip of his tongue. The castle was incredibly quiet, the only sound was the gentle caress of the wind, pushing on the windows, and the faraway sound of steps as the professors were still on guard watch; he felt the weight of his every words pushing on his shoulder.

“It’s six in the morning. What are you doing sleeping here?”

Jongin opened his mouth, but as his gaze traveled to the floor he slowly closed it, as if he couldn’t find the words.

“I… I guess I walked here in my sleep. Sometimes I do that, don’t worry. I’ll go back to bed”

His voice sounded sincere, but as Kyungsoo searched in his eyes a trace of malice, he found just… fear. Like a deer caught in headlights.

There was something Jongin wasn’t telling him and Kyungsoo’s suspicion were growing stronger and stronger, but as the Hufflepuff rubbed his eyes, puffy from sleep, and yawned, patting his cheeks, he felt his worries melting into a puddle.

“Sehun is supposed to keep me in check but lately he’s gone in the head so I guess I can’t count on him anymore”

Kyungsoo laughed.

“Yeah, I heard that too. There’s a rumor something happened to him and another Slytherin, but nobody know what”

“Well” Jongin said, lowering his voice and giving it a comedic evil tyrant tone “I guess I’ll have to tickle Sehun until he spills the bean”

Yeah, there was no way someone behaving as cutely as Jongin could ever do something bad or cruel. The worse one could expect from him was, as it happened, to fall asleep in weird places.

His hard expression muted in a shy smile as he offered his hand.

“Let’s go down together. If I leave you alone I’m worried you’ll use the next stair as a mattress”

Jongin hesitated for a second before taking the Gryffindor’s hand, squeezing it gently. Jongin’s skin was boiling, warmth radiating from his body like a heater and Kyungsoo found himself slowing his step to walk a little bit closer.

The Hufflepuff had his eyes closed, blindingly following Kyungsoo’s directions. From time to time the latter would sneak glances and found him shaking his head or frowning, as if he was having some kind of argument in his head, and he had to smother a laugh.

They walked down to the hallway leading to the kitchen, taking a turn for the Hufflepuff’s dormitory.

“Well, I’m heading back to my room. Chanyeol will wake up soon and wonder where I went”

Jongin nodded, letting go of his hand and shot his a weird smile. His skin was glowing, his eyes were shining anew, but the curl of his lips couldn’t quite reach them.

“Thank you. I’m sorry to have caused so much problems for you. It looks like I can’t do anything else”

His voice was soft, like the spring wind, but it reached Kyungsoo like a tsunami. It sounded so sad.

“Hey, don’t worry. Just… be careful okay? Next time could be a ghost to find you. Trust me, I learned the hard way to not walk through them”

Kyungsoo inwardly rejoiced as Jongin hid a giggle behind his hands and waved him goodbye. He lingered there for a moment, unsure if he should move or stay there waiting for the Hufflepuff to come out again for breakfast, but then he turned and started walking back.

The sight of Jongin, his sad smile and his laugh, was making him speed up, like he could control his body anymore and he had to run away from all those feelings he didn’t know. When he got back to the dormitory -password was strawberry sorbet- he found Chanyeol still asleep, but thankfully not snoring.

He combed the hair away from his face and poked his squishy cheek, making the redhead groan and wiggle his nose.

Kyungsoo climbed back to bed and stood there, under the duvet staring at the ceiling. Just thinking about Jongin made him want to hide under the covers and sleep until tomorrow, but there was a voice in his head. A little voice in the distance that kept saying:

“He’s hiding something from you”

And as much as he wanted to silence it, he knew it was saying the truth. Jongin had something he wasn’t telling him and he had to discover what it was.

Because he had an ominous suspicion and he absolutely didn’t want it to be true.

***

The next morning Kyungsoo was as conflicted as he was the day before. He had tried to talk to Chanyeol about his doubts, but the redhead was too far gone talking on and on about Baekhyun, to the point of Kyungsoo asking Jongdae if there was as spell to remove someone’s mouth.

They were amidst their Transfiguration lesson, trying to learn how to turn their stack of feathers into birds. The teacher had opened the windows in case of any lose casualty and was ready to get into action, wand raised.

It wasn’t per se a complicated spell, Avifors, but it required a lot of concentration to control the birds and as much as he wanted to focus on his target, Chanyeol thought otherwise.

“And have you seen his eyes? Their like… shinier than a unicorn. Oh Merlin Soo, I wanted to ask him out so bad and I’ve messed it up again. I can’t even face him right now”

“Not now Chanyeol” hissed Kyungsoo, gripping his wand in his both hands “Avifors”

Suddenly his stack of feathers started shaking, glowing a soft blue halo, before beginning to expand and form a mass. Soon enough four little blue doves were hovering in the air, waiting for an order. Kyungsoo jumped up in victory but the movement made him loose focus and the flock immediately disappeared.

The professor walked to his desk and gave him and approving nod, making Kyungsoo smile. He was proving the be quite good at practical magic.

Chanyeol on the other hand was experiencing some difficulties. His feathers were glowing the wrong color and began smoking. Kyungsoo wanted to help him, showing him again the right hand movement, when a known voice erupted from the entrance door of the classroom.

“Sorry to interrupt professor, I have a message from the Headmaster”

Baekhyun entered the room with a red face and heavy breath, as if he had ran all the way there, and waved at his friends.

Kyungsoo felt Chanyeol physically skip a beat, and that was when all hell broke loose.

Chanyeol’s feathers transformed into a flock of bats, but instead of following the direction of the Gryffindor’s wand, they broke from the spell and began gliding over the heads of the other students, blinded by the light and disorientated.

Screams and cries could be heard from the other side of the castle until the professor, with the help of Baekhyun was able to turn the animals back to normal. Fixing Chanyeol’s disasters was becoming a routine every professor was coming to term with.

Twenty minutes later Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were in the Hospital Wing, watching Chanyeol being dramatic with the bandages on his arm.

“The bruise will heal in a couple of minutes, but don’t let your skin in the sunlight for at least today, or else you could find yourself with another nose. Understood?” the nurse had said.

The bats had scratched the Gryffindor arms quite deep and there was no fooling around with magical injuries, so he had been sent to the nurse alongside other five students. They had lost ten points for Gryffindor and if Kyungsoo hadn’t intervened with the teacher would have given Chanyeol five evening of polishing trophies with a toothbrush in the Trophy room.

“Yeol, let’s go back to the common room. We still need to finish out homework for tomorrow”

“But Soo, can’t you see I’m terribly wounded? I need care and food and…”

Kyungsoo sighed, patting Baekhyun shoulder.

“How about you stay here with him?” he said, smiling viciously.

Chanyeol’s eyes immediately went wide and muttered a “Damn you troll” and got up, hiding he blush in the collar of his robes. Baekhyun began to laugh, taking the two Gryffindor under his wings and heading back to the dormitories.

While looking at his two friends, Kyungsoo smiled. For the first time in a long time, he felt content with who he was.

“Mom, I hope these days never come to an end”

***

“Now, with everything that has happened in the Second Wizarding War the Headmaster has reasonably thought to have you wizards and witches learn this earlier”

The Ravenclaw students stood in awe, hands gripping to their desks, as their Defense against the dark arts teacher waved his wand in the air, mouth barely moving as he yelled “Expecto Patronum”. A creature of mist and blinding light appeared in the room, a beautiful swan flying through the air leaving a trail of white smoke.

Jongdae blindly took Minseok’s hand under the desk, eyes wide open as he followed the flight of the swan until it disappeared. Minseok looked at his friend with the tail of his eye, a sigh on the tip of his tongue as he squeezed the hand gently.

“Now, I know this sounds like pretty and easy incantation, but the Patronus is one of the hardest spell you’ll ever learn. It’s a shield, it’s light, it’s a memory.” The teacher looked at each student in the eye before breaking into a smile “Split into pairs and take your turns. Close your eyes and focus on the happiest memory you have, just the purest joy, and then say “Expecto Patrnum””

Jongdae immediately turned to face Minseok, shoulders shaking with excitement.

“What do you think my Patronus will be? A tiger? A lion?”

Minseok cocked his brow.

“I was thinking more like a snail”

“Oh yeah? Well, yours is going to be a sloth”

They both snickered. Jongdae closed his eyes first, trying to recollect the happiest memory he had: the first spell he had casted, when his mother had bought his first bike, when they went on a family trip across England… with each new memory he tried saying the spell, but the most he got was some blue sparkles coming out from the tip of his wand.

He heard Minseok giggling at his mistakes and opened his eyes, putting on a pout.

“You think this is funny? Then you try Mister smarty pants”

The other Ravenclaw smiled and closed his eyes. Slowly, he raised his wand and firmly said:

“Expecto Patronum!”

Suddenly the room filled with blue light and a beautiful calico cat was running through the other students, hopping from head to head before going back to his owner, disappearing between his fingers.

All Ravenclaws broke into cheer, clapping and shouting at the only students who was able to summon his Patronus. Even the teacher look incredulously happy, patting Minseok’s back. Everyone, except for Jongdae, who was looking at his friend like he was dying inside.

“Good Lord, not another cat!”

There were enough cats in Minseok’s life, and the one he already had was evil incarnate; he didn’t need another one, did he?

When the class was over Jongdae joined his friends, books falling out of his bag and hair pulled back in frustration. At the end, Minseok had really been the only one to pull the spell off, and he wanted to know how.

“Oh come one, not even a little advice?”

They were walking down the stairs, hoping it would change floor in the midst of their journey. Minseok sped up to make sure he landed on the second floor and Jongdae liked his arm to his so he wouldn’t fall behind.

“It’s difficult to explain. You just have to really concentrate on the happiest time of your life and then say it. I don’t think I did anything else”

Jongdae pouted, shrugging. He didn’t like to not be able to do something Minseok was good at. It made the difference between them clear, it made him feel distant. He thought about practicing the spell later that night, but there was one thing he was curious about.

“What did you think about, when you were concentrating?”

It was an innocent question.

Minseok suddenly came to a stop, almost making Jongdae trip over his feet. He knew the Ravenclaw well enough to know that he was blushing, because the tip of his ears was red, but his eyes were curiously soft.

“Minnie, what is-“

“You.” Minseok said, cutting him off “I was thinking of you. The first time we met”

That said, the Ravenclaw power-walked to the end of the hallway, disappearing around the corner, leaving Jongdae alone, completely stunned.

Students kept on walking around him but he didn’t notice. He couldn’t. His head had completely emptied aside from Minseok’s last words. If anyone would have stopped to look, they would have seen the timid smile plastered on the wizard’s face, his eyes wet with little tears.

***

The student was curled up on his bed, knees to his chest as tears were trickling down his eyes. He knew the others were waiting for him at dinner, but he didn’t feel like eating. It was his second day at Hogwarts and he wasn’t feeling like he belonged yet. He missed his mother and father, he missed his cat and the life he had before the letter.

Everything was exciting, the promise of a future as a magician as alluring as his father had told him it would be, but he didn’t know if he wanted to pursue that path. He was shy and didn’t talk much; not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t figure out when was it his turn to do so.

It was hard and he wanted to go home.

Suddenly he heard the door opening and he tried to dry out his tears with the hem of his robe. The stranger was a first year like him, he had seen him at the sorting ceremony and in class, but they had never talked.

He looked at him and suddenly Minseok felt miserable. The stranger was probably too polite to laugh at him, but he knew what was going on inside his head. Or he thought he did: the stranger didn’t say anything and sat to his left, pulling his leg onto his bed.

Minseok wanted to say something, but as usual he felt the voice inside his head telling him not to talk. Don’t say a word, or they’ll use it against you.

“You know, I miss my home too”

Minseok turned his head, eyes wide in surprise.

“How did you…?” he said, his voice unsteady.

The stranger smiled.

“Isn’t this why you’re here? All alone in your room?”

Minseok’s cheeks were burning. He nodded, hiding his face behind his knees.

“It’s not uncommon. Yesterday I heard a girl was thinking about stealing a broom a fly all the way to her house. I’m not kidding”

The Ravenclaw smiled. It felt so foreign.

“Yeah, well… I wouldn’t do that, just… I miss my life before”

The stranger smiled again, placing a hand on Minseok’s back.

“Me too. But I think this is where my journey is leading me and begin all sad about it won’t change a thing. It will only make things more difficult. So smile for me, will you? Things are going to get better”

Minseok straightened his back and tried again. Hi smile felt more genuine and was closely followed by the other wizard.

“I’m Jongdae by the way. What’s your name?”

“Minseok. Kim Minseok”

“Well Minseok, it’s really nice to meet you”

“Me too”

As Minseok took Jongdae’s hand, he suddenly realized he was right: things were going to get better, he just needed time.

So when Jongdae opened the door to go to dinner, Minseok followed him. They couldn't know, but you could read it in their smiles: that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

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Heyo! It's me again, after that humongous Valentines chapter, with a small one. I'm sorry, I had planned to write more but it seems those 12k words last time burned me out and I was facing some serious case of LazyTown virus and couldn't bring myself to open the computer. But at last, here I am :)

I know many people were waiting for Tao and Kris or Luhan and Sehun as they're the ones with the cliffhanger (lol) but I wanted to lay back and allow myself to write some fluffy and mysterious Kaisoo (which is my fav to write) and cute Xiuchen. People who know me knows that Kyungsoo is my literal sun so I wanted to write form his prospective more. Oh, also I kept thinking about Chanyeol at Nature Republic dramatically falling down and I had to write a scene where he causes a disaster. I just had to.

So yeah, I have in plans the other side of this chapter with all my other dumb characters and wait for hell to break lose :)

Also, thank you for all the love on my last chapter, you guys are the best. leave your thoughts in the comments for this chapter also, I love reading those ^__^

BYEEEEE