A deadly challenge and a tricky doubt

“Soo, dear, can you fetch me the dahlias?”

Kyungsoo squinted his eyes in the sun. It was a beautiful day: not a cloud in the sky, so blue and clear that morning, with a gentle breeze from the north dancing between locks of his hair. His mother was waiting for him in the greenhouse, big cotton overalls over her tiny body and sweat dripping down her face: she was repotting the plants for the new season. But despite the tiredness painted on her face, she was smiling, so bright and crisp it made his heart ache.

She was so beautiful.

“Coming mom”

He ran in the back where all the miscellaneous pots were placed and took three, balancing them in his arms. He looked down at the other two he had to take and thought to himself that he could just do another round later, but just as the thought escaped his lips in the shape of a sigh, the pots suddenly rose mid-air, waiting around him for an order.

Kyungsoo looked at the extraordinary happening with disbelief, but then the memory rushed back to him.

“Oh right! I’m a wizard”

Silly him to forget. Wobbling under the weight of the flowers, he went back to the garden, taking the path to the greenhouse.

Everything was so peaceful that day: if he closed his eyes and stood still, he could hear the faint rustling of the birds in their nests, taking a nap in the hours of heat, and the footsteps of the farmers down the pathway, watering their crops and vineyards.

His mother stood, stretching her arms after all the hours spent working, and a ray of sun kissed her rosy cheeks.

“Mom” Kyungsoo yelled, making his presence known “Look, look, without hands”

The tiny woman turned her back and a laugh burst from : her son was pirouetting between five pots of flowers spinning in the air like birds.

“Oh my, what do I have to do with you?” she said, still smiling, as she reached for Kyungsoo and closed him in a hug, leaving the pots to their happy dance. “One day you’ll have to teach me how you do that”

The wizard chuckled. They both knew it was impossible, but they didn’t care.

“Sure Mom”

They stood like that, wrapped in the hug, for a little while, until Kyungsoo broke the embrace.

“I’ll get the pots before they do any damage”

“Good call son. I’ll wait for you inside, it’s getting a little hot for me”

He watched as she went out the clear door and down the path to their house. For some reason he wanted to stop her, reach out for her hand and make her stay, but he didn’t. She was all alone now.

He finally turned to see where the mischievous pots had hidden, but he found them right behind him.

“Uh?”

“Come play with us!” they said, and launched themselves upon the poor wizard.

Crushed by their weight, Kyungsoo fought for his freedom, but they were too heavy. And rather annoying.

“Come on Soo, wake up and come play with us!”

Wait a minute, he knew that voice!

“Park Chanyeol, get of me this instant or I’ll hex your legs!”

He finally opened his eyes and found that, indeed, he was no longer at home but was in his dormitory, at Hogwarts. With Chanyeol sat on his torso.

“Hello Sleeping Beauty, slept well?”

The redhead was clearly full of energy, he was bouncing up and down on his bed, but Kyungsoo was not.

The poor Gryffindor looked around and exhaled: the bunk beds wrapped in red and gold covers, the big stained glass windows, the giant redhead in the crimson pajama... The greenhouse, the pathways, it had all been a dream, or rather a far, far memory…

“Soooooo!” the Gryffindor yelled “Aren’t you happy I’m back? I’ve so much I have to tell you”

Kyungsoo wanted to be mad, really. “Coffee before talking” was the only rule he had asked his friend to follow, but it had been so long since they had last seen each other that his anger instantly melted. Chanyeol’s smile was like a virus you couldnn't not catch; at the mere sight, you had to smile back, you just had to.

“Okay, okay. Two minutes and I’ll get ready”

Besides, there were things he was dying to tell him too. Like the Bubble Machine placed on his bedside table, near his glasses. He gently pressed its belly and a burst of bubbles filled the room with a thousand different colors.

“What’s that?” asked Chanyeol, crouching to observe the magical object while Kyungsoo began dressing.

“Oh, that’s Jongin’s Christmas present” he replied, grateful his face was now hiding in his robe.

His friend shot him a surprised smile but said nothing.

When Kyungsoo was done getting ready the two went down to the dining hall, filled to the brim with students. They had all returned to Hogwarts from Christmas break and were now all exchanging tales of their magical holidays, stuffing their faces with black pudding and oatcakes. Some had gone to the northern regions to ski on enchanted lakes, some to see Ireland vs Wales Quidditch match, some had even seen the dragons in the East.

The two Gryffindors sat down at their table, one with a plate full of sausages, one with just a cup of black coffee.

“How can you drink that without any sugar?” asked Chanyeol, turning his nose at the smell.

“I’d like to be awake, Yeol, not hyperactive”

The two friends chuckled and Kyungsoo sighed in relief: it was good to have his best friend back.

“So, what did you have to tell me that was so important?” he asked.

Suddenly, Chanyeol’s face flushed red, so intensely it matched his hair. Oh-ho, Kyungsoo thought, I smell a Baekhyun.

“Well… after I made a fool out of myself on Christmas I thought I could write to Baek and apologize for being such a freak, so I did, I sent my owl. I swear Soo, I only waited an evening but it felt like an eternity in Hell, anyway at the end he replied and then I replied to his reply and then he replied to my reply to his re-“

“I got the idea Yeol. So you two spent the holiday writing back and forth. It’s a good thing, yes?”

And yet again the redhead broke into one of his famous grins and Kyungsoo smiled back, reaching up with his free hand to mess up his hair.

“Here, here Casanova”

Chanyeol purred in delight and placed his head in the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck. It had become a habit they both were starting to love.

“You are so whipped” giggled Kyungsoo, taking a sip of his coffee.

“I am” the other murmured, drowned by a yawn “I was so excited to come back that I haven’t slept last night.”

“Of course you haven’t. By the way, where is Baekhyun? I haven’t seen him all morning”

“Oh, his family insisted in using a muggle plane to come back from France and he arrived at three a.m. last night. They almost locked him outside”

“And you know this because…?”

Kyungsoo eyes him with a teasing smile.

“Well, there was Quidditch practice this morning, but I am or may not have been waiting for him in the common room, and I may or may not have made a fool of myself… again…” he bit his lip, hiding his face in Kyungsoo’s neck “But he didn’t mind, he laughed even, so I think it’s okay”

Kyungsoo laughed, almost spilling his coffee.

“You two are very weird, you know?”

“Who’s weird?”

The two Gryffindors jumped, Kyungsoo definitely spilling his coffee this time, as Baekhyun plopped on the bench next to them, burying his face in his arms. He had dark bags under his eyes and was pale beyond any paleness, with faint blue veins visible under his skin.

“Wow, what happened to you?” Kyungsoo asked, trying to clean the mess on his pants.

“Haven’t you heard? Quidditch season’s up; the warm up matches are long bygone and now Kris is going into his “Freaking the bloody hell out” phase because the next one is Gryffindor vs Slytherin and everybody knows how he gets when Tao’s in the picture.” He moaned “He woke us all up this morning and brought us to the Pitch to practice. I couldn’t even see the Quaffle because my eyes were frozen shut!”

“I can testimony” said Chanyeol, grimacing at the memory “My hair was still wet from the shower and when I came down the broom they were a block of ice. I had to use an Incendio spell on it and almost burned down my head”

Kyungsoo shot them both a worried glance: perhaps he had done the right thing not trying out for the team.

***

Ten students away, however, sat the very embodiment of worry: Kris, half asleep above his oatmeal, with a hand in his hair and the other clutching the spoon. Every now and then he would abruptly wake up, look at the Slytherin table to check if a certain wizard had arrived, eat a bite of his breakfast and then doze off, leaning on his elbow.

He could still feel the penetrating cold of that morning practice, but he would not give up: he'd rather die on the broom than being Tao’s slave for a day. Only Merlin knew the embarrassing things he could make him do if he lost. He slouched farther down the bench, setting aside his food. Doing so, however, his wand slipped from his pocket, rolling on the floor. As he crouched down to reach it, a foreign hand snatched it from him.

“Having trouble sleeping?”

Kris forced himself to breathe in and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Hi Tao, what brings you to our table aside from stealing my wand?”

The Slytherin grinned, rotating the delicate stick between his fingers and taking a seat. Suddenly all the chit-chats hushed and heads turned to the pair, eyes glued to the back of their necks. Everybody knew that when rival captains met for breakfast it was never going down without a fight. Kris wanted to melt on the floor, but Tao’s grin only widened.

“I just wanted to be a good sport and say good luck”

The Gryffindor’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief at the blatant lie. Why couldn’t his days go by in peace? Why did the universe hated him so much? He already had an avalanche of problems on his own: he needed at least twelve hours of sleep, his was still frozen to the bone and he had another Prefects’ meeting to attend to in the evening. He really didn’t need another heartache that day, but apparently Tao hadn’t got the note.

“Pixie got your tongue?”

Kris groaned.

“Listen, I am positive my team will crush you, so just give me back my wand and go back to your table”

Tao pouted, then shrugged.

“Fair enough”

He handed him the wand, but just as he was taking it back, the Slytherin grabbed his hand, pulling it back so that his lips could reach his ear.

“Dream on little wizard. You’re going down”

And then he did the unthinkable: he gave him a little bite on the earlobe. And with that, a sly smile on his face, he walked back to his table, leaving Kris frozen in place.

...

Had that… just happened?

He brought a hand to his ear, his thoughts all merged in white noise at the back of his head. All his housemates were speechless, silence thick with expectancy, but his mouth had disconnected from his brain. But then again, did he really have a brain left to use? Probably not.

Seconds passed before he felt a hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly.

“Hey, you okay Kris?” asked Junmyeon, a cup of hot tea in his hand.

All of a sudden Kris shot up, teeth gritting and fuming with wrath.

“HUANG ZITAO, PREPARE YOUR 'CAUSE I’M GOING TO END YOU!”

That said he stormed down the hallway, swiftly followed by a very concerned Junmyeon.

After a moment of pure silence, murmurs exploded from every table, followed by the hilarity of the Slytherins. One in particular.

Luhan arched an eyebrow in Tao’s direction, spoon full of cereals dangling from his mouth.

“Having fun today?”

Tao let out a bright laugh.

“You have no idea”

The short wizard, turned his face to the right where another certain Slytherin was looking perplexed at the seat where Kris was once sitting, a smirk growing on his face.

“Oh, I think I do”

***

“Why is this so difficult?” Jongin murmured under his breath, repeating the charm for the tenth time.

He had escaped the chaos of the Great Hall to have his own lunch by the lake, leaving a trail of cookie crumbs behind him. He was now practicing for his Charm class later that evening, his feet immersed in the clear water, but he was having no luck whatsoever: the damn spell just wasn’t working right.

Putting the last cookie in his mouth, he placed his wand back behind his right ear and inhaled deeply, swinging his feet in the cold water. Little fishes had come up, attracted by the scent of his body, and were now dancing between his fingers in tickles.

“Hello there” he said, his breath heavy in the cold of January.

He placed a finger in the water and instantly three little fishes came up to him, flashing their beautiful scales against his skin.

It was really cold, but somehow Jongin didn’t mind.

“Seems like you like me” he murmured.

In response, the animals rubbed their bodies gently against his fingers, eager for a touch. Looking closely, they were all females.

“I thought so” he murmured, his eyes dropping down.

He was so tired: with the return of the students from Christmas break the dreaded group of girls following him around everywhere he went had started once again pestering him and his casuals naps between classes had been canceled in favor of a tactical retreat to his common room.

The Hufflepuff let himself fall on the frozen grass, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply the scent of the earth. Was there a more lovely perfume? He was about to doze off when two loud voices woke him up.

“You’re an idiot!”

“Look who’s talking, you dunghead”

Scratching his head and pushing back the cloud that was his hair, he squinted in the sunlight and found the owner of the disturbance. With a tired chuckle he went back to the comfort of the meadow, nestling his face in the softness of his white earmuffs.

He brought a hand up to the fur that covered them, it gently. Lovely memories lulled him to sleep granting him even lovelier dreams.

***

Meanwhile, closer to the castle.

“Dunghead? What are you, five?”

“Shut your mouth Oh Sehun”

The two Slytherins were walking side by side, faster and faster, neither of them letting the other walk ahead of the other, both headed to their house’s common room.

They were coming back from Quidditch practice, their bodies aching and quivering in the low temperature. Sure enough the little stunt at breakfast had had a worrisome effect on their captain who had decided that if they were still standing they hadn’t trained hard enough, so now they were wobbling to their dormitories with cramping legs and tired minds.

But not tired enough to get along.

“You found the Snitch only once all practice and you call yourself a Seeker” snared Luhan as his collided with one of the green velvet sofa in the common room.

He gently placed his broom on the floor, unwrapped himself from his Quidditch robes and started massaging his legs, half-asleep from the cold.

“Oh yeah? Than you try find a ball smaller than your thumb that runs at the speed of a scared unicorn. At least I know how to ride a broom, you barely keep your balance”

Sehun was doing just about the same, clenching his teeth as he moved his arms and finally regained feeling on his numb fingers.

“You wish long-nose. I’d outrun you with my eyes closed”

“Long-nose? Says the one with the lips of a teenage girl”

“Both of you, quiet!”

The two froze in place as Tao entered the common room, pale as a corpse, dragging his body behind like a potato sack. His eyes though were ablaze, lit up with pent up rage and blood-shot with exhaustion.

“Are you okay Captain?” asked Sehun, brows furrowed.

Luhan however had already understood: few were the moments where his best friend would be angered, but in those sparse occasions it was better to run. And sure enough, there came the uproar.

“If I hear another word of bickering between you two I’ll make sure you can never have children. We have our match in a week and it will be victory. Or death” he hissed.

That said, he disappeared in his apartment, leaving the two stunned Slytherins in the common room.

After a long moment of silence, Luhan sighed.

“Do you know what’s wrong with him?” Sehun whispered, afraid Tao could still hear him.

“Beats me”

The two stared at each other, not sure what to say. Since that night at the Ministry their relationship had evolved from pure hatred to a comic book arch nemesis one, but there were some moments were the insults ceased and the loud screams hushed; in those long silences they both didn’t know what to say.

Luhan shot the other a brief look before going back massaging his legs, hiding his eyes behind his bangs. Why was it so difficult having a normal conversation with Sehun? He had no problem talking to people, and not even the Oh’s heir, at least before their body-switching incident. After that nothing really had changed, but he felt different.

He raised his head, picking up his broom from the floor and found Sehun observing him. It was not the usual scowl, not even the annoyed look reserved to his more colorful insults, but a glint of bewilderment, like he was trying to figure him out.

“What do you want?” he hissed, sounding harsher than he intended to.

Sehun opened his mouth to say something, but then shook his head and got up, gathering his belongings.

“Nothing, pretty lips. Just trying to understand if you are as stupid as you look” he said with a smirk, walking down to the dorm.

Luhan, left dumbfounded for a moment, ran up to him, waving his fist in the air.

“Hey, how dare you! You…” his voice following him down the stairs.

Something, however, was different. As much as they were cursing at each other, they had a smile on their lips.

***

“Careful, its bite could cut off your head, but don’t worry: they’re cuddly”

Junmyeon looked at the green abomination in his hands and inhaled deeply, putting on his gardening gloves. Before him was a particularly large specimen of a Fanged Geranium and his mission was to remove its teeth for potion making.

Their professor had done it in a heartbeat, so quickly not even the plant had understood it was now toothless. His classmates however were having some problems: between bites, scorches and cuts their class was slowly becoming the set of one of those muggle’s war movies.

Just as he took out his first tooth, receiving a harsh bite on his pinky in return, a cry broke from the table next to his. To be fair, the greenhouse was now full of moans and shrieks, but that one in particular struck a chord in his heart: that was Yixing’s voice.

He turned and found… well, the teacher had said the plants were cuddly, but Junmyeon hadn’t thought she was serious, and yet Yixing was indeed petting the deadly flower, scratching its top petal like he would have done with a cat.

Junmyeon returned his gaze to the monster on his table and sighed.

It had been almost a week since his confession on Christmas and he was still waiting for a reply. He knew it was a difficult decision for Yixing, but that wasn’t the problem. He was willing to wait, living with Yixing had been nothing but patiently waiting, but now the Hufflepuff had stopped talking to him. Every time they met in the hallways he would cast his gaze on the floor, not making eye contact, and the random night visits had completely stopped. Yixing was avoiding him like a plague and he felt like dying.

He had spent the night before alone in his room, venting to Tabbytha.

“I’ve messed up everything Tabs. Yixing doesn’t even look at me anymore. He’d looked so sure when he had said he needed time, but now…” he’d wept, scratching his cat’s ears “What do I do now?”

The cat had meowed, rubbing her head against her owner’s neck.

“You’re right Tabs, another cup of ice-cream will fix everything”

And so now he was sad and full of chocolate ice-cream he had brought from home. And with a hand in the Fanged Geranium mouth, squashed between its teeth.

That day couldn’t really get any better.

***

Dinner time came around and Yixing finally got up from his chair, eyes drooping from lack of sleep. He was in the library trying to find a cure for Angel’s Trumpet’s poisoning, but he was just too tired and stressed he closed his books (which flew to their original places by themselves) and walked towards the hallway.

T-rex was already napping on his head, wrapped in several locks of his hair like a blanket, while he was trying to decide if a left turn sounded better than a right turn. Normally he and Junmyeon would have been studying together, so that Jun could show him the way when they finished.

What was he doing? He took his head in his hands and sighed. He'd asked Jun to wait and at the time it had sounded like the best idea: he would take some time off and clear his mind, so that he could give a proper response, but now every time he saw him he couldn't even bring himself to talk to him.

They had been best friends for years, there was nothing Junmyeon didn’t know about him, not even the most embarrassing memories, but after the sudden confession it was like their minds, tuned to the same wavelength for such a long time, were now on different paths.

Junmyeon loved him and he had never noticed, he had kept that secret to himself. Yixing had never stopped to think if those bright smiles were not for everyone, but just for him, if those nights spent together meant more than just casual sleepovers, if those warm touches were something special reserved only to him. He felt so stupid, yet he couldn’t bring himself to do anything just yet.

He raised his head and looked in marvel as he entered the Great Hall. He hadn’t got lost, for once in his life. It was probably going to snow indoors next time.

“Hey there Xingxing, how are you?”

A chirpy voice woke him up from his daze: Baekhyun, a chicken thigh in hand, was looking at him with the face of a zombie, but a cheerful spark in his eyes.

“I’m good” he murmured, not really convinced himself “You look terrible”

“Sheesh, why does everyone keep telling me?” he said, pouting “You don’t look good yourself. Has something happened?”

Yixing eyes watered. Baekhyun could be a real pain in the sometimes (as Junmyeon had said, multiple times), but he had that particular empathy that made him one of the best friend one could have.

They sat at the Hufflepuff’s table and Yixing began telling the Gryffindor about that Christmas night, Junmyeon’s confession and his response, about his doubts and the confusion in his mind. Baekhyun listened in silence with a slice of cake half in his mouth and let him finish before erupting in a joyful laugh.

“Xing, you are so dense sometimes” he said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Why?”

“Everybody in Ravenclaw knew about Juny’s crush. Hell, the entire school knew. He isn’t exactly very skillful at hiding his secrets, you know”

Yixing was left dumbstruck. Was he really he only one who didn’t know?

“But don’t worry, it’s not your fault. Juny’s an idiot for not telling you sooner, I’d told him a thousand times”

“I… I don’t know what to do now. I owe him an reply, but every time I see him my mind goes blank and I don’t even remember my own name. I was never nervous around and now just thinking about talking to him makes my hands shake”

Baekhyun looked at the poor Hufflepuff and stuffed a pumpkin cupcake in his mouth, patting his head, careful not to wake T-Rex.

“It’s okay. Juny knows you need time to think and you can take as much as you think you require. Love is not something you can force on someone, not even yourself, so my advice is to think carefully about this.” He placed a gentle kiss on his cheek “Just know that whatever your reply may be, it will be okay. Juny’s not an and definitely not an idiot. And even if it something goes wrong, I'll always be here for you”

Yixing felt the tears dripping his face, but hid behind another cupcake, jamming the orange cream down his throat. Baekhyun was right, everything would be okay. Three cupcakes later he already felt better and a grateful smile grew on his lips.

“Thank you Baek, I don’t know what I would do without you”

“You’d be lost in the dungeons”

The two burst out laughing, so much pumpkin bits of cake shot out their noses.

Little did they know that something ominous was waiting for them in the shadows, ready to unleash chaos in their peaceful lives.

***

Midnight had passed and the castle was quiet. Professors patrolled the hallways, wands lit in magical blue halo that lighted up the way, but even with their careful look, a dark shadow managed to slip from corner to corner, unnoticed.

The floors were cold and walls even colder, but the mysterious presence didn’t mind: it had a mission to accomplish. Traveling form shade to shade it came to a halt when the door it was searching for appeared before it. With a flick of its wrist, it unlocked handle and the shadow glided in, not a sound to be heard.

A soft red halo lit up from under the door, but the moment an alerted professor ran into the room, he found it empty.

The creature was already gone, back in the darkness of the night where it belonged.

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Hi there, happy new year everybody!!  I hope you had a lovely end of the year and celebrated with your friends and families :) Also, in Italy tonight is the feast of the Befana, so merry Befana to you all.

I don't have much time to write these days because exams=death, so sorry if this chapter is a little bit more rushed than the others, but hopefully it will entertaining enough (also stressed out Kris is becoming my favorite character lol). Next time we'll see some terrible Quidditch matches, lots of yelling Jongdaes, lots of curses and lots of laughs so stay tuned peeps.

As always, if you liked this chapter (or not) let me know in the comments, they really make my day ^__^