A plan into motion and an unexpected explosion

A.N: the title unintentionally rhymes and I'm extremely proud of it

It was supposed to be spring.

It was supposed to be bloody spring, and the weather was still freezing cold. For the tenth time since he had woken up that morning Kris cursed the clouds that were stubbornly hiding the sun and the wind blowing right in the holes of his trousers.

He had wanted to have a good morning of practice but half of his team was now frozen in their light summer robes, his Chaser was nowhere to be seen and so was the Snitch, Chanyeol was practically sleeping on his broom, rot rotating in the air twenty feet from the ground and he had already taken two quaffles in his face because he was paying attention to someone else in the team who was slacking off.

With a tired sigh he blew in his golden whistle and ordered everybody on the ground.

“Guys, what is going on today?! We have a match soon and this is the best you can do? The year is not far from being over, we have to give everything we got!” he shouted in frustration, his expression menacing as he slowly pointed to every single player on the field “Tomorrow, same time. I want results, or else I’ll make you practice twists all night”

He watched as his team numbly went back to the locker room, but as he saw Chanyeol strolling by, his eyes half-closed, he took him aside.

“Yeol, is anything wrong? I’ve never seen you as distracted as today, and that’s saying something”

The Gryffindor suddenly went a shade redder than before, up to the point of his ears.

“I… No that’s… Nothing’s wrong captain, it’s just this weather. Clouds and stuff… you know?” he said, as he kept glancing over Kris’ shoulder. He sounded anything but convincing.

The Gryffindor’s captain followed his gaze and found Baekhyun, waiting for his friend at the entrance of the locker room, eyes up on the sky. Now that was a little more believable.

“Are you sure it really is nothing?”

“As sure as I can be”

“So, you know, if I went and asked Baek to join us in this little conversation, you’d be okay with it?” he asked, raising a suggestive eyebrow.

Chanyeol then went from red to purple and Kris was actually concerned if he was going to faint, but he quickly regained his balance, hiding his face in the collar of his robe.

“I may have a crush on someone on the team.” He said, and quickly added “But I swear it wasn’t that today. I stayed up all night finishing my Potion’s homework. It’s wasn’t Baek’s fault. I promise I’ll give my hundred percent next time”

Kris observed his Chaser with newfound curiosity. That kid was probably the clumsiest wizard to ever set foot in Hogwarts, but he was a very good player and a loyal teammate. Besides, he too could understand what was it like to have a crush on someone difficult.

“Okay, I think I can understand. This time I’ll close an eye on the matter, but if next time you are not in top form I’ll have you on the benches, do I make myself clear?”

The redhead gave him one of his famous toothy smiles, nodding furiously as he ran over to Baek. While watching the two breaking into laughter as they went through the door, Kris felt a wave of fatigue washing over his body.

Rushing through his head were so many thoughts: exams, homework, his family, Quidditch… it was almost overwhelming, but he knew he could count on his friends to get over the tough times and focus on what was ahead of him. There was however that variable, that crazy little thought that kept him up at night and it began with T and finished with bloody ao.

Why couldn’t he have fallen in love with someone simpler, like that girl when he was a first year that had said he looked cute or that third year guy who two years back he had shared his Erbology class with? Life was unfair, but lately it was getting ridiculous.

He needed to talk to Tao. The sooner the better.

Well, maybe first he needed to remember that special buttcheeks protection spell…

***

“Hey buddy, wait for me!”

Chanyeol felt something round and small colliding with his head and finally turned around. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, his head completely blank on what he was doing or where he was headed , aside from Kris’ words echoing in his mind. He couldn’t have known that Baekhyun had been chasing for him all morning and his last resort had been throwing candies at him to gain his attention.

“Why must you have those legs that long? Every time I try to come up to you, you dash away. It’s like you are avoiding me or something”

The redhead felt the sting of guilt in his stomach, because yes, he had been avoiding Baekhyun, but it was his monkey brain talking, not him. It was called “survivor instinct”, because he was sure that in Baek’s presence something was bound to go wrong and he was going to die of embarrassment.

“No uhm… I was just thinking about something. Kris scolded me this morning and said he will bench me if next time I’m not giving my best so…”

Baekhyun looked at his friend’s frown and immediately stood on the tip of his toes (Hey, it was Chanyeol who was too big, not Baekhyun who was too short) to throw an arm around his shoulders, reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. You’re a great player, the captain was saying that just to make you want to improve. Besides, everybody knows we need to win or else we won’t get to compete against Slytherin again. Kris desperately wants to take his revenge on Tao”

Chanyeol shot his friend a timid smile.

“Hope you’re right or I’ll watch your next match from the bleachers”

“Of course I’m right. I always am.” He said, puffing his chest proudly “Listen, how about we take a stroll outside. The sun’s out now”

Chanyeol looked out the large glass window and noticed it really was sunny now. He hadn’t even noticed.

“Yeah sure”

They began walking down the stairs, headed to the courtyard where many other students were reading, playing exploding snap or just enjoying the now warm weather.

It was a great day, Chanyeol decided: he and Baekhyun were talking about nothing really, just walking through the patch of grass in the courtyard, but that was how he had imagined their relationship: sweet and accident-free. Well, maybe with some more kissing and hand-holding, but they could get to that…. Eventually…

They were talking about their next period when suddenly Baekhyun abruptly stopped in his track and fell in deep thought, eyebrows knitted. Chanyeol leaned his head, waiting for him to start talking again, but to his surprise the moment of silence stretched ‘till the bell rang.

“Baek…?”

The tiny Gryffindor suddenly sprang into motion, looking straight into Chanyeol’s eyes. The redhead had never seen him looking so serious.

“You know what? We should go on a date, no, we will go on a date. I’ll wait for you at the Shrieking Shack this evening. Don’t be late!”

That day, Chanyeol not only came in late to his Charms’ lesson, but eyewitnesses could swear he stood in that exact spot of the courtyard for a good half hour before taking a single step, afraid if he had moved he would have melted on the freshly cut grass.

***

It was an odd day. Just like the weather, changing from December worthy cold to a timid spring morning, Kyungsoo mood was wavering from satisfied, because he had finally got some point for Gryffindor by brewing a correct Forgetfulness potion, and madly stressed, because what he really wanted to do was talking to his friends about his suspicions, but the giant redhead was nowhere to be seen, and the two Ravenclaws in front of him clearly weren’t listening.

“Could you please focus for just one second? At least one of you”

Kyungsoo was beginning to get irritated. They were in the Great Hall for lunch, savoring some hot vegetable soup and rabbit stew. He was just about to give up on his story and head to the owlery when the enchanted ceiling gave a huge roar and the usually clear sky began filling with clouds.

All the student’s eye were glued to the ceiling when Professor Choi promptly shot up from his seat and raised his wand, emitting a blinding ray of light that hit the clouds and made them immediately disappear.

That was… unusual. Kyungsoo thought. He could’ve sworn he had read in some book that was an ominous sign of imminent danger.

But what was even more unusual, when the situation calmed down and everybody went back to their lunch, was that when he shot a glance at the Hufflepuff’ table he found Jongin peacefully asleep inside a bowl of chickpeas.

“Listen, I know I’m right when I say it: there’s something wrong with Jongin and I think it may be linked to all these accidents that keep on happening”

Just the day before they had gone to the dungeons just to find every single piece of furniture solidly attached to the ceiling of the Potion’s room. The fifth year Hufflepuffs had been aggressively attacked by a loose batch of Venomous Tentacula in the Herbology greenhouse and the seventh year, all very stressed for their upcoming exams, and seen their homework began walking out the door and fly away in the distance during their recess.

Useless to say those little accidents were not that serious, rarely someone had gotten hurt, but it was creating a climate of mass hysteria. Some Slytherin girls swore they had seen a dark, enormous figure down in the dungeons, but some other Gryffindor boys, cross on the heart, had seen a flying mass of smoke from the Divination tower.

The teachers were doing everything they could, but even with the intense help of the Prefects, they still couldn’t figure out what was happening. Their best guess was that some magical creature had snuck into Hogwarts and was now scared and disorientated.

And still, nobody wanted to listen to Kyungsoo’s theories.

“Look, didn’t he say he’s a sleepwalker? I think that’s a perfectly logical explanation” said Jongdae, who weirdly looked more interested in his soup than everything else.

Minseok sheepishly shot him a glance and nodded along.

“And even if there was something else, it’s his private matter, don’t you think?”

“Not if it involves the safety of this castle! Listen, if he was a sleepwalker, the teacher or the prefects would have found him way before me. And even so, he had cuts all over his skin, and leaves and petals trapped in his hair and I’m sure I’ve never seen blue tropical flowers in the greenhouse.

So either he has some hidden passion for Herbology and he’s cultivating something in his dormitory or he is lying”

Minseok pressed his lips together in thought, then gave another little nod.

“I’m not saying you’re entirely correct, but it’s true that something is a little weird. But tell me, aren’t you two good friends? Are you sure you want to dig deep into this? You could find something personal about him that he just wanted to stay secret and regret it”

Kyungsoo felt his cheek heat up. He truly liked Jongin, he was a good kid. He was kind and had that little smile that just made him want to beam back and he couldn’t deny he had a soft spot for him (well, a huge soft spot for him), but as his mother had taught him, the hard truth is always better than a sweet lie.

“I’m sure.”

He had heard some teachers talking about shutting down the school early if something more serious happened and that was the last thing he wanted to occur. Hogwarts had grown to be his second home, the place where he finally could be what he was meant to be: a wizard. He absolutely didn’t want to let that happen, and if that meant discovering Jongin’s secret, then so be it.

“Listen” he said, snapping his fingers to get both Jongdae’s and Minseok’s attention “I’m going to the owlery now. You two though are behaving strangely today. Is something the matter?”

Minseok looked at Jongdae who again looked back at him, both with the same hesitant expression on their faces. Something was cooking there, but Kyungsoo had already guessed what it was and decided those two just needed some privacy.

“Never mind. Save me some of that chocolate cake, will you?” he said and then strolled out of the Great Hall.

As soon as they were alone (alone as in a room full of people munching on their food), Minseok turned to the other Ravenclaw and said:

“I think we should talk”

And right on cue, as if those five words were actually a spell, as soon as Jongdae opened his mouth to reply a loud noise boomed in the space and the room began filling with a large, smelly swamp.

***

Three entire hallways and ten classrooms, that’s how many places in that moment were filled with moss and rather greenish brown water, all the way up to the hip of most students.

Minseok, who like his cat had scarily fast reflexes, instantly hopped onto the table the minute he heard the explosion. Jongdae however, famous connoisseur of loud noises, was still processing what could have been the cause fo the explosion and was a little slower. He was gobbled down by a wave of liquid mud and when he finally managed to pull himself on the table, he was drenched from head to toe. His usual light cologne could now be called “Eux de mud and dead animals” because he might as well have been swimming in a pool of troll’s farts.

“Good Lord Dae, are you okay?” asked Minseok, already pulling out his wand and whispering a light “Tergeo”.

Suddenly Jongdae found himself dry and with a pair of robes just slightly more maroon than before.

“Sorry, some stain don’t come off”

The other Ravenclaw murmured something in agreement, not entirely believing the situation before them: someone had snuck a portable swamp into Hogwarts and had made it explode right in the Great Hall.

Some students had had the same idea as Minseok and had sought the aid of tables; some more advanced were hovering in the air or encapsulated in protective bubbles, however the majority of them were drenched to the bone in swamp water and didn’t look too happy about it.

The professors and the Headmaster had already sprang into action, trying to find the source of the disaster, asking the ghosts nearby if they had seen anything, but nobody seemed to know who could be the culprit.

Down in the dungeons, Luhan, Tao and Sehun had found the same miserable fate of the soaked students like Jongdae, so had Junmyeon and Yixing in the library, Chanyeol in one of the third floor’s hallways and Baekhyun, right outside the Great hall. The only one who didn’t feel a thing was Kyungsoo, safely dry in the owlery with Nina.

But what really nobody saw was the dark figure creeping in the shadow with a crooked smile on its face. The portable swamp had been a great idea to cause ruckus, but it lacked the spark the creature needed.

And it disappeared in the darkness, a silent whisper could be heard echoing through the stones of the castle.

Something more…

Something more…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

HELLO, IT ME!

Back from the land of the dead, or if you want to called it University, this girl is back with another chapter!! I hope you are all still interested in this story and aren't already bored to death, but I promise creativity in exam period is a very rare and mystical creature to find.

Well, well... next chapter I swear, cross on the heart, my lovely couples (cough luhan and sehun cough)  will get some action and maybe, just maybe, the plot will see some interesting turns.

Let me know if you prefer to wait a little bit more and have a big chapter like Valentines' day or if you are okay with smaller chapter like this one.

As always, let me know in the comments how you like this chapter and thank you all for the lovely ones that kept popping in my notification. I don't deserve you aaaaaaaaa byeeeeeee ^__^