- October 23, 2005 -

Whenever it rained, there was a constant dripping that sounded down the hallway past the Slytherin house. No matter how often they searched for the sound, no one could ever find the source. Callum thought that maybe Peeves was the one who caused the original damage, but he had no proof of that. 

Kibum glanced down the darkened hallway before heading to the golden light of the Hufflepuff side of the basement. He hurried down the corridor to the barricade of barrels, leaning on the sideways-e by the entrance. 

After lunch, Kibum had told Minho he was going to take a quick nap, and now that he was up, he was ready to play chess or read some of the novels in the library or whatever Minho wanted to do, to be honest. He wasn’t really feeling that picky today. 

He peeked over his shoulder at the creak of the barrel opening. “Hey, Rhesa.”

“Hi!” She brushed her hair over her shoulder as she came around and stood before him, smiling as her head tilted slightly to the side. “What’re you doing over here?”

“Waiting for Minho.” Her smile faltered, and she folded her arms over her chest. 
“Is he in there?”

“I haven’t seen him since lunch.” 

“Oh.” Kibum pushed himself up off the barrel and started walking down the hall.

“You want me to help you?”

His brow furrowed as he smirked before he looked behind him at her. “No, I’m good.” As if he needed help to find his best friend, no matter how big the castle was. “Thanks, though.” A couple other girls joined her at the Hufflepuff entrance, and she let Kibum run off without another word to him.

Kibum jogged up the stairs, debating whether he needed to check the Great Hall or the library first, when he heard it -- Minho’s unmistakable laughter. It came from down the corridor and across from the Great Hall. He started for it, turning when he reached the doorway leading out to the garden and greenhouses.

And, there Minho sat with Professor Sprout in the middle of the garden, their knees and hands muddy from weeding. Both of them were wearing clear ponchos, which looked quite like the ones that Madam Hooch kept down at the Quidditch pitch, and the rain poured around them. Sprout was still chuckling about whatever it was Minho was laughing about -- which, based on what Kibum could see, was the mud that had splattered all up his front and onto his face. 

Kibum smiled and glanced around at the rain as he tried to decide whether or not he wanted to venture outside in this weather or not. He made the mistake of looking back at Minho, who just noticed him standing in the doorway. “Wanna help us?”

He hated weeding. With a passion. It was his least favorite chore to do for Grandma. In fact, he’d rather clean the entire house top to bottom than spend to weed even a section of her greenhouse. 

But, Minho smiled, bright even amidst the gray drizzle, and Kibum sighed.

“Sure.”

His smile grew to a grin as Kibum stepped out into the rain. “No, no, wait there! I’ll go get you a poncho!” He took a step backward, brushing the couple droplets of rain off as he watched Minho run inside Greenhouse 3.