Despite the loud and warm Christmas festivities that had been going on throughout the day, there was something different about the castle at night. It wasn’t anything scary. But compared to the partying and feast earlier, the atmosphere of the place just seemed to become more mysterious and calming as everyone and everything was being bathed in the pale moonlight while they slept. Well everyone except for the six shady characters who weren’t exactly where they were supposed to be.

“There’s usually a prefect round the corner but we should be ok.” Tzuyu whispered down the line as she boldly stepped through towards the central staircase.

“Right, because that Prefect is currently shirking her work and leading us round the castle herself.” The older Slytherin jabbed as Tzuyu ignored her.

The Slytherin Prefect couldn’t help but feel a little proud at the fact that it wasn’t her first time sneaking around Hogwarts at night. In fact, Tzuyu might even say that she was enjoying herself. The empty castle helped calm her down and was soothing in a way. Momo on the other hand was freaking out every two seconds as she would mumble to herself or Chaeyoung whenever she heard or felt something.

“Y-yah, I-I swear the knight in that picture was staring at us through his armour.”

“Nothing new there.” Mina replied once Tzuyu declared the area to be far enough from the teacher’s offices for them to talk.

“W-what about the central staircase? I-it’s moving!” She squeaked as she tried to keep up with the group.

“They do that during the day as well you know?” Jungyeon chuckled as she wrapped a protective arm around the more on edge girl. “We’re here if that makes you feel better.”

“B-but we’re b-breaking the rule-.”

“Shut up already!” Chaeyoung hissed as Momo cowered further behind Jungyeon. The shortest’s robes glowed eerily in the dark as the moonlight reflected off the visible patches of yellow. “It’s no big deal.”

“It’s exciting isn’t it?” Sana replied with a small smile from behind the younger Slytherin. “A secret Christmas adventure~” Momo just hid further into Jungyeon’s green robes while the second oldest tried to dispel the blush on her face. The Hufflepuff Captain was a little closer than usual but pushing her off was the last option on her mind.

“I never knew why Momo got sorted into Hufflepuff but now I see.” She joked to distract the others who let out a snicker while said girl just let out a whine at being teased. Their laughter was cut short when Tzuyu stopped in front of a familiar painting.

“We’re here.” She gestured to the portrait which housed a currently very drunk lady dressed in pink robes. It seemed that the Christmas party atmosphere had spread to the paintings too. Realising it was her turn to step up, Jungyeon carefully handed Momo off to the younger Hufflepuff before moving past the two Ravenclaws to stand beside their party leader. Clearing for dramatic effect she grinned before repeating what Nayeon had told her earlier in the day.

“Candy Boy.”

“Seriously?” Chaeyoung asked while Tzuyu made a face at the ridiculous password as the portrait swung forward without looking at them. The group had barely gotten through the small round hole when three students bowled them over with a warm welcome. Momo squealed as soon as she felt someone touch her.

“Relax, it’s just me!” Dahyun piped up as she pried the older girl’s fingers off of her eyes. Seeing the familiar Gryffindor before her, Momo latched onto her as she started whimpering about how scared she felt on her way up as the Gryffindor Captain did her best to comfort the older girl. Meanwhile Nayeon and Jihyo guided the others over to the main space in their common room. While the other four ‘ooh and ahh-ed’ over the warm space the two Slytherins just stood back uninterested.

“Too proud to admit our common room is better?” Nayeon teased as she got up in Tzuyu’s face.

“Nope, but you do get bored of a place after seeing it so often.” Tzuyu replied with a grin on her face. Nayeon and Jihyo’s faces were etched with shock and the Prefect looked like she was about to punch the younger Slytherin. “What? Passwords fly around. Especially if you bully a first year or two.”

“You bully first years?!” Jihyo yelled as she shoved Nayeon out of the way only to replace her spot in front of Tzuyu. The youngest just grinned wider as she finished the last step of her trap.

“I don’t, but Jungyeon unnie does.”

“Yoo Jungyeon!” Jihyo proceeded to chase the Slytherin head girl around the common room while Tzuyu laughed at her friend’s look of fear. Good thing the Gryffindor common room was about the same as empty or else they would be discovered in no time. Seeing that at least one of their hosts weren’t busy, Mina spoke up.

“So why did we sneak through the castle anyway?” She asked quietly as everyone stopped to look at her and Nayeon.

“Oh right, check this out.” The oldest pulled out a vial from her pocket and showed it off for all to see. She sent Dahyun a signal and the young Seeker obeyed by pinning Jihyo’s arms behind her back. “I saw it in Jihyo’s potions case and thought we could play Drinks or Truth!”

It was at this point that everyone noticed the bottles of Butterbeer and jug of pumpkin juice that were on the coffee table nearby. Sana’s eyes were still on the vial in Nayeon’s hand however.

“Is that…” she was cut off however by their youngest.

“Veritaserum. Colourless, tasteless and odourless.”

“Is that even legal?” Chaeyoung asked as she stared at the small vial with a curious look. “Three drops is all it takes for us to spill the beans on anything and everything right?”

“Exactly.” Jihyo voiced out from her position. “It’s not safe to use let alone play with!”

“Then why’d you carry it around?” Nayeon stuck her tongue out at the girl before seeing the look of caution flash across Momo’s face. “Relax.” She smiled before whipping out a second vial. “Our potions master made an antidote.”

”Good to know.” Tzuyu spoke calmly as he sat on the floor next to the two drinks. “So pumpkin juice will be our antidote then?”

“Sure.” Chaeyoung replied as she sat beside her. Nayeon just nodded and handed Jungyeon the vial of antidote.

“Care to have the honour of preparing our game?”

“Better pray that I don’t smash the thing or hurl it into the fire.” Jungyeon joked as she proceeded to pour the vial into the giant jug of pumpkin juice.

“That would only happen if I stunned you,” Momo spoke for the first time from her spot on the floor. “Or if Sana was the one pouring the antidote instead.”

“That’s not nice…” Sana pouted from her spot beside the Hufflepuff Captain as everyone snickered at the joke while Tzuyu mouthed a ‘sorry’ to her.

They were sitting in age order and in something that looked like a circle now as Dahyun finally let go of Jihyo’s arms. There was however an awkward gap between Sana and the youngest Gryffindor as the two remaining people refused to sit down with the rest of them.

“I still think this is a bad idea.” Jihyo shook her head as she stared at the eager looks on her friends’ faces.

“I agree.” Mina quietly seconded as she stood beside her same aged friend. “We never know what could go wrong playing with potions.”

“C’mon guys, it’s Christmas Eve!” Dahyun whined as she squirmed a little on the spot.

“You’ll get to find out more about each other.” Nayeon tempted and Jungyeon caught her best friend’s hint.

“What our worst fears are… how embarrassing we were as first years… who some of us like…” She listed as she gestured at her Slytherin junior with her eyes. Mina took her spot instantly as Jungyeon let out a cheeky grin at the sight of her blushing face. That left the responsible Prefect as the problem. Tzuyu was quick to solve that one however and Jihyo was even quicker to crack.

“Chicken.”

The middle of their group seemed to have apparated into her spot as she glared at their youngest as if to say ‘bring it on’. Jihyo hated it when someone questioned her after all. She was also too stubborn to back down from a challenge and it just so happened that Tzuyu knew how to use that to their advantage. With a chuckle at how the maknae was able to affect everyone, Nayeon began to explain the rules.

“So here’s how our little game works, as you can see there are two drinks available tonight.” She waved her hand over the drinks that were now in the centre of their circle. “We will go around in a circle and take turns choosing truth or drinks. If you choose truth we ask a question and you can either answer it or take two drinks to pass.” Nayeon held up a bottle of butter beer and a shot glass for reference before continuing. “If you choose drink then you will only have to drink one shot but all the shot glasses will be laced with Veritaserum if you choose to drink either way so you’ll have to answer by the next round anyway.”

A shiver ran through the group as they suddenly realised the danger of this seemingly simple game. Momo had a scared expression on her face while Sana who sat beside her was frozen in awkward laughter. The rest of the circle looked a little restless at the thought of spilling their deepest secrets so Tzuyu spoke up to ease their discomfort.

“So where does the antidote come in?”

“I was about to get to that.” Nayeon jokingly glared at her as the youngest let out a chuckle. “After you answer a question under the effects of Veritaserum we’ll give you a glass of antidote-pumpkin juice so it’s a fair game. Who wants to start?”

“Since we’re sitting like this, let’s go in age order.” Jungyeon suggested as she looked around their group. Some of them were already nervously fiddling with their shot glasses. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Tzuyu chimed in again.

“Then let’s start off with the person who knows the game best.” She grinned evilly as her head turned to face Nayeon. “You know, just to show us how it’s done.”

“I second that!” Dahyun cheered as she high fived her fellow fifth year.

“I agree with you guys for once.” Jihyo nodded as she folded her arms.

“What?!” Nayeon yelled as she leaned back dramatically. “I thought you were against all this!”

“I am but that doesn’t mean I’m against seeing you spill your thoughts,” Everyone wore a grin as they saw their oldest faltering under her Prefect’s words. It only took one more push to get Nayeon into the game and Jihyo knew exactly what to say. “Could it be, you’re scared?”

Without another word, the Gryffindor Head Girl downed a shot of the laced Butterbeer they prepared earlier while Jihyo and Tzuyu exchanged knowing glances. The group just cheered as they watched the effects appear instantly. Nayeon’s eyes seemed to have an empty look to them before she returned to her usual self again. Meanwhile the game moved on to torment the next victim.

“So… truth or drinks, Jungyeon unnie?” Chaeyoung asked as Tzuyu was already pouring her shots.

“That’s not going to work on me.” She grinned as she took the shot before her. Again her body seemed to still all of a sudden before recovering with a cheerful grin as the others anticipated her next turn. They had two people who chose drinks already so things were starting to get a bit boring but then as usual, Momo surprised them out of nowhere.

“Truth!” She had nothing to hide anyway so why would she need to drink? Besides as a Hufflepuff she held strong moral opinions on honesty and a silly game wasn’t going to change her mind anytime soon.

“Hmm…” A round of muttering went around as everyone tried to think of something. In the end it was Mina who decided to spare Momo with a simple question. She didn’t want to torment her friend too much after all.

“What’s your most embarrassing moment?”

“Seriously? That’s weak, Mina.” Jungyeon sighed as she made a twisted face. “You’re supposed to be using this chance to get some information out of them.”

The group felt a chill down their spine at the sudden cold and calculating side of the Slytherin Head Girl. Even Mina shook a little as she stared at Jungyeon. Quick to prevent the ruining of their atmosphere, Tzuyu redirected their focus. “It’s already been said so let’s just go with it.”

Momo nodded as everyone else became quiet. Despite the unexciting question the group still wanted to know since nothing seemed to make the older Hufflepuff embarrassed. “So back when I first joined the Quidditch team in second year, I sort of had this rivalry with our Captain who was a Chaser.” Noticing the impatient look on Jungyeon’s face, she quickly continued. “S-so for every match we played we would count how many goals were saved and how many goals our team scored like a contest, which wasn’t really fair since that technically meant three chasers versus one keeper and I didn’t actually notice until Mina pointed it out to me after one of our matches.”

Jungyeon tried to stifle a laugh as the group stared at Momo in disbelief. They had always known that the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain was a little slow but this was a new record. Seeing everyone’s expression, she let out an absentminded ‘eh’ before Dahyun smiled as if telling her to keep talking.

“So yeah, the reason she brought it up was because during the final match that year we were playing Slytherin and I was still five goals behind compared to the Captain so I played extra hard that match and at one point I just flew all the way to the left hoop to avoid this Bludger when the Quaffle appears right after it! I couldn’t fly fast enough to stop it so as my broom slowly made its way over; I sorta pushed off my broom and stopped the shot but crashed down into the pitch in front of the entire school. I was so embarrassed that I didn’t tell anyone about the bruises from it all but apparently I started becoming extra ‘slow’ from that day onwards… eh? Why’s everyone looking at me like that?”

A few of the group had tears in their eyes while others had a look of concern on their face at the story. In the end it was Jungyeon who stole the words from everyone’s mouth as she wrapped a comforting arm around her fellow seventh year.

“See we wanted an embarrassing story, something we could all laugh about, not this sad mess.”

“Yeah! It’s Christmas Eve for God’s sake, you’re not supposed to be sad when the best holiday of the year is in a few hours!” Nayeon added from beside her. “New rule, no sad stories!”

“Eh? But it was embarrassing wasn’t it?” Momo asked with a dopey smile on her face.

“Not really… it was sad but I thought you were really cool too, Momoring!” Dahyun chimed with a light blush from her seat. Noticing the strange stares she was getting from Chaeyoung and Mina on either side of her, she decided to push things along. “Let’s move on, Sana unnie you’re next!”

“Hmm~” She pondered for a bit with a dreamy expression on her face before smiling. “Truth!”

“Tell us about your first kiss!” Tzuyu’s eyes widened at the sudden step up in question difficulty. Then again it was Nayeon who had screamed it out so there wasn’t much of a surprise there. Almost instantly, Sana drank two shots as everyone seemed a little disappointed at her dodging the question.

“Fast and decisive, like how this game should be!” Jungyeon clapped as she grinned at the next person while Sana managed a weak laugh as the effects took over. “Alrighty Jihyo what will it be?”

“I’m not falling for it again, y’kno?” She wiped the smirk off the older Slytherin’s face as she took a shot. “Next!” she yelled as she recovered from the short term effects.

To everyone’s surprise, Mina just quietly took a shot. They all thought that she would be like Momo since she has nothing to hide but apparently that wasn’t true as the quietest of the group smiled bashfully while putting down her shot glass as the feeling of drawing blanks settled in. Her actions however managed to leave the group curious and many questions began to float up in their minds as they awaited their chance to ask her on the next turn.

“So uh, Dahyun unnie truth or drinks?” Tzuyu asked awkwardly as she recovered from previous three lightning rounds.

“Haha ask away, truth!” Dahyun announced as she spread her arms dramatically. Chaeyoung pulled a face of disgust as she was almost hit by one of her flailing appendages.

“Alright, then how many people have you rejected so far?” Momo mumbled from her spot across the circle. Tzuyu almost let out a guffaw at the situation before her but quickly held it in as Chaeyoung slapped her arm as a warning.

“Haha… didn’t say that I’ll answer…” Dahyun countered awkwardly as she took two shots and let out a brief yell as the warm feeling and strange mind-emptying sensation both hit her at once. Momo just frowned at the lack of an answer and Chaeyoung who noticed her change in attitude quickly voiced her decision.

“Me next!” She stated with a raised hand and managed to get everyone’s attention. “Truth.”

“Tell us about your first love!” Jungyeon laughed at her lil’ bro’s predicament. Chaeyoung nervously glanced around the circle and sent a piercing glare at the Slytherin Head Girl before downing her shots. Tzuyu just gently her friend’s back to help her calm down from the brief effects of the drink.

“Ok, we saved the best for last! Maknae what do you-“ Nayeon was cut off as Tzuyu just downed a shot and smiled at her with an ‘innocent’ face.

“It’s your turn no