- October 7, 2007 -

It was raining, still. 

The downpour had only let up until they finished dinner last night, which meant that everyone was trapped inside on this drizzly Sunday morning. 

The Great Hall was mostly empty -- a trio of Ravenclaw girls was huddled together at their table, their conversation nothing but a distant murmur to Minho. He and Kibum were lounging at Slytherin’s table, finishing off the last of their glasses of pumpkin juice. Minho stared into the glass, swirling the last bit of the spiced orange beverage before he downed it. Beside him, Kibum yawned, his thumb tapping against the side of his glass. 

It was a lazy Sunday, but those were the best kind, really. Especially with -- 

Kibum stretched his arms out over the table, his eyes closing as he rested his head on his biceps.

“Sleepy?” Minho asked, his own voice groggy. He knew the answer, but that didn’t matter. He was in the mood to listen to his voice, no matter how idle the chatter was. 

“Mm.” One eye opened. “You?” 

Minho nodded. “What do you want to do today?” 

“Jack .” He laughed and Kibum smiled, lifting and turning his head so that his chin rested on his arm. His dimples appeared -- for the briefest of seconds, but long enough for Minho to imprint them in his memory -- and then he sat up, his attention trained on the entrance to the Great Hall. “If you’re bored, I guess we could go exploring some more. I’m sure there are parts of the castle we have yet to see.” 

“You think?” 

Kibum snorted in amusement. “Min. It’s a magic castle. Of course there ing is.”

Minho cocked his head to the side, trying very hard not to be distracted by the way Kibum’s smile was growing. “Where to?”  

He squinted, his eyes twinkling merrily in the dim light, and looked back toward the entrance to the Great Hall. They scooted the bench back simultaneously, the screech of the feet loud in the practically empty hall. If the sound bothered the Ravenclaws, neither Minho nor Kibum bothered to look their way to check. 

Kibum led him up the stairs, and, to Minho’s surprise, all the way up to the sixth floor. They only really came to the sixth floor by accident on their way to the seventh floor, either to study or to go to Divination. There was nothing but empty classrooms and long-abandoned portraits collecting dust to be found here. 

Or, at least, that’s what they had always thought.

“I’ll check in this one,” Kibum said, already making his way to the first of the closed-off rooms. After a second, he jiggled the handle, and the door creaked as it swung open. “Come on,” he said, waving for Minho to join him. 

Minho slowly made his way over, holding the door wider so they could escape quickly if they needed too. 

The first room held nothing but dim sunbeams gleaming in through the long, thin windows. Dust glittered in the faint light and on the bare floor, the footsteps marring the thin gray layer as they made their way back to the door. The second room was just like the first, only this one had a few pieces of furniture covered by dingy white sheets. A desk, a few ratty armchairs in need of reupholstering...nothing much.

In the third room, however, there was a whole lot more to explore.

It was almost a furnished room, though very much abandoned. To Minho, it reminded him of the pictures of haunted Victorian houses that Kibum would show him in his Muggle Studies textbook. The room was dark, until Minho pulled back the heavy velvet curtains, and cluttered with sheet-covered furniture. There was a bed and a writing desk, a bathtub and a changing partition, an old wardrobe and a tall mirror... 

Minho pulled the sheet off of the mirror, his mouth slightly agape. The ts were quite beautiful and intricate, but what caught his attention was the inscription arching over the top of the mirror. He squinted, trying to make it out. “Hey, Bummie, is this Latin?” 

Kibum joined him in front of the mirror, looking up when Minho pointed at the inscription. “Erised stra ehru…huh, it doesn’t look like it...I wonder what it says.” He checked his appearance in the mirror, brushing some of the dust off of his clothes before he moved away, going back to the dresser wardrobe he was sifting through before. 

Minho started to look back up at the inscription but got distracted when he noticed that Kibum was still in the reflection...right beside him. He blinked, staring at him. Was the mirror enchanted? He glanced over at Kibum, the real one, and found him to be very much on the other side of the room, exclaiming excitement over the robe he just pulled out of the wardrobe. 

He cocked his head, and his reflection did as well, but only for a moment. In the mirror, Kibum laughed and slapped him on the arm, and he soon straightened his head with a grin and looked over at Kibum. 

Was...was that always how he looked at Kibum? 

Phantom warmth filled his hand, lacing between his fingers and squeezing tightly. He looked down at his hand, finding it empty, then to his reflection. Kibum was holding his hand, his eyes smiling as he held Minho’s gaze. First, it was just his reflection, but then his attention turned to him. His eyes were still glimmering with...with...Minho wasn’t sure what, exactly, but just maintaining the eye contact was making his heartache. 

But, even so, he couldn’t look away. Not even when the Kibum in the mirror did, returning his attention to his Minho. He stepped up on his tiptoes, pulling down on Minho’s shoulder so he could whisper in his ear. It was probably just his imagination, but he could feel the warm puffs of air caressing his ear as Kibum spoke to his reflection. Whatever he said amused Minho, apparently, because his reflection leaned against Kibum as he laughed. Kibum looked out at Minho, his smirk showing his dimples when Minho leaned down to press a kiss against his cheek. 

Heat bloomed across his face, and before the reflection could do anything more, the real Kibum walked behind him, the reflections blowing away as he appeared in the face of the mirror. “Merlin’s beard,” he said with an amused shake of his head. 

“W...what?” Minho asked, meeting Kibum’s eyes in the mirror instead of facing him directly.

“And to think, Jjong calls me conceited. How long do you need to look in the mirror?”

“I -- “ he glanced down to the clothes in Kibum’s hand. “What are you doing with those?” 

Kibum shook out the cloth in his hands, revealing a dark forest green velvet robe. “You never know when dress robes will come in handy.” He held it up to his chest and shoulders, inspecting it in the mirror with a slight smile. “I think it’s a good color for me.” 

“Mm-hm.” 

Did the strange reflections only appear when one was alone in front of it? Should he move aside so Kibum could see for himself...whatever that was? Or, would he see something different than Minho did?

Before he could decide, Kibum moved away, rolling and tucking the robe under his arm and heading toward the door. “Haven’t you looked at yourself long enough?” he asked with a laugh. “Come on, we have other rooms to explore!” 

Minho gulped, looking back at his reflection, wholly unsurprised to find himself accompanied by Kibum. His eyes, still twinkling, flicked to the open door for a second, where his Kibum had just left, before meeting Minho’s again. He nodded to it with a smile. Was he telling him to follow Kibum? 

He took a step back, the reflection beginning to dim. Another step, and Kibum winked at him before disappearing completely. 

Minho picked up his pace and hurried for the door, completely forgetting to close it as he went off in search of Kibum.

His Kibum.