Weeks had passed since Taemin had decided to avoid him. First he hadn’t talked to him like before. He hadn’t laughed at his jokes, he hadn’t even smiled. And then Taemin hadn’t greeted him if they had met in the corridor, in the classroom or in their bedroom. And the worst had come, too: Taemin had looked through him.

Minho didn’t know what he had done to deserve this. First he had wanted an answer from Taemin, but the boy had just shrugged his shoulders and talked about something else. Later, when it had been impossible to even get a ‘hello’ from him, Minho had decided to ask his friends about Taemin’s behaviour.

Well, it hadn’t happened like he had imagined. Most of the students had spent their times in the library because of the exams, and of course, they had had to be quiet there. So anytime Minho had met his friends at a table he had failed.

They had noticed the change between Minho and Taemin. The two boys had been inseparable since they had met in the younger’s first day at the Mahoutokoro School of Magic.

Minho remembered it like it had been only yesterday.

He had been a second grader, so the flying chariots with small dragons hadn’t been strange. But Taemin had felt awkward, when he had taken a seat in the chariot, holding on the pillow under him.

Minho had smiled at it, and sat next to the boy, who had wanted to be alone. Minho had understood it, so he had stayed quiet, but he hadn’t moved away from Taemin. He had stayed beside him during the whole trip, and when he had noticed that the boy had been watching him, he had smiled.

From that day Taemin and Minho had been inseparable, and the younger had met Minho’s friends, too.

“Has he told you anything? What’s wrong with him?” One day Minho asked Jonghyun, after they had changed into their school uniform after quidditch training.

“I don’t want to get into your business, Minho.”

“So you know! Jjong, please. Taemin doesn’t speak to me, and I have no idea why he is mad at me” he followed the shorter boy, and they stepped out to the snow covered yard.

They didn’t have more classes, so they didn’t have to rush. The chariots which carried the students to the bottom of the mountain started at every hour from the afternoon until night. They didn’t have to worry about going to their dorm.

The Mahoutokoro made a big shadow in the yard which was lighted, and the snow was shining. It was like fairies had been there to leave their dust on the school yard.

There were the symbolic animals’ statues on the building of school and dorm, too. Every one of them symbolised a floor. Unfortunately, now they couldn’t really see the figures because they were covered by snow. But sometimes, when they got bored of the cold, the monkey, the tiger, the snake and the dragon shook themselves, removing the snow.

“Just give me some help.”

“What kind of help? Will Minho cheat on an exam again?” Kibum raised his eyebrows, sitting in the warm chariot.

A red blanket covered him, and a mug of hot punch was floating in the air next to him. The scent filled the chariot, but the others were happy that they wouldn’t be in the cold.

“When will we leave?” Minho sulked and loosened his scarf.

“Soon.” Jonghyun looked at the clock on the inside of the chariot.

Minho leaned on the soft seat with an exhausted sigh, and crossed his arms before his chest. His friends knew he was tired, though, he had energy to be in a sulky mood.

“Wait! Wait for me!”

They heard a loud thump from outside, so all the three of them jumped up from their seats with shocked and terrified expressions. Jonghyun, who was closest to the door, hurried to it to take a look around in the yard.

He looked around from the chariot, but he didn’t see anybody. He wanted to go back to the nice, warm chariot, but then he heard a painful sound from the ground.

“Oh, hyung!”

Soon Minho and Kibum looked out too to see what was going out there.

Lee Jinki made a painful expression because of his , while he slowly stood up from the slippery, snow covered ground. He swept the snow off of his bag, and then he smiled at his friends like nothing had happened.

“Is everything okay?” asked Jonghyun and offered his hand to help him into the chariot.

‘I just didn’t want to miss the ride” he answered still with a smile, but before he would have moved inside, he looked back. “Hey, Taemin, hurry up, because you will wait for the next chariot!”

Minho’s heart skipped a beat after he had heard the name. Jonghyun and Kibum exchanged their gazes, raising their eyebrows. Both of them were curious about the next events, so they were sitting in their seats in silence. The blanket which had been only covering Kibum, slowly became bigger, and it moved to Jonghyun’s shoulder, covering both of the boys.

“Oh” he was surprised by the blanket’s decision, and the fact that he was sitting so close to Kibum.

It seemed Kibum didn’t really care about it. He was more satisfied with the events around them.

The clock was ticking, and the time had come when the chariot would start, so Jinki reached his hand, helping Taemin up.

The boy’s cheeks were red because of the cold. His blonde hair was dishevelled because of the wind. And they could see snowflakes on his clothes and bag, but they already started melting in the warm.

“Just in time.” Jinki sat down, and offered a seat to their friend.

But then Taemin stopped, and his hands stopped moving in the air, while he wanted to remove his scarf.

Minho was nervous. His hands were sweaty, his heart was beating faster. Taemin hadn’t looked at him for days, so this moment surprised him. What happened next didn’t really surprise him, though.

“It seems this chariot is full. I should go with the next one.”

Jinki wanted to stop him, but Taemin’s hand was already on the knob.

“Taemin, by the time the next one starts it will be darker and cold...”

They heard a weird sound from outside, and then the sound of cracking snow, and Taemin fell back. Fortunately he didn’t hit himself, because one of the pillows flown under him, avoiding a small accident.

“Are you okay?” Minho asked automatically, and he was already on his feet to help the boy.

“Jinki, will you help me with my homework? Potions isn’t my subject” he sat to the elder, not paying attention to the other’s question.

Everybody noticed it in the chariot, but none of them wanted to make the situation more awkward. Kibum took a sip from his punch. Jonghyun covered himself better with the red blanket, and Minho disappointedly sat back on his seat.

*

Christmas feeling had arrived to the Mahoutokoro, too. It was snowing in the corridor. The house-elves did everything to decorate the whole building. It happened more often that they made Christmas food for the meals, and sometimes students could hear quiet Christmas songs in the rooms.

Christmas meant that Minho would go back to South-Korea to his family, just like most of the students. And it made Minho realise something. He would go home soon, and he would only come back in January, and he still couldn’t find out what had happened to Taemin.

He exited the classroom with this thought in his mind, where he had almost fallen asleep above his Ancient Runes book.

“Hey, Minho.” Kibum suddenly hugged his shoulder, making the boy scared for a moment.

“What do you want?”

“What do you want?” he repeated the sentence, mimicking the boy’s grumpy style. “It’s almost Christmas, and you’ve turned into the Grinch! This isn’t good.” Kibum shook his head disapprovingly.

“Kibum, I should practice for my exams, so if you’d excuse me...”

“But this is what I want to do too! Come on. The practice room is empty, so what about a little training for Defence against the dark arts exam? I know you want the best mark.”

Kibum was right. Minho had been always better in practical subjects, so he couldn’t miss any chance to train himself. He agreed and followed his friend in the corridor.

When they turned to another corridor, they saw a few instruments which were playing Christmas songs all by themselves. First graders were amazed by everything, and they could watch these things for hours. But those like Kibum and Minho had gotten used to these kinds of magical things.

“Aqua Eructo!”

“Come on, Taemin! You know I hate this one. Look at my clothes!”

They heard a happy laughter from a chair, but as soon as Jinki noticed the opening door, he stopped and curiously turned around.

“Oh, Minho, Kibum!”

Kibum found Jonghyun’s gaze soon, and he winked at the older boy. The other just nodded, still in a grumpy mood because his clothes were too wet because of the water.

“Oh, no! It seems someone else is using the room. I really thought it would be empty.” Kibum shouted with pretended disappointment, and he was watching Minho from the corner of his eyes.

But Minho didn’t notice the lie, because he was only looking at Taemin. The boy was standing in the middle of the room in his uniform. His robe was on a chair with Jonghyun’s.

“Kibum, if you want to practice, then come back later or... or if it’s okay for you, then stay there, and do what you want” said Taemin without looking at the newcomers.

“Okay, okay, we’re good, right, Minho?”

He didn’t give an answer, but he reached for his pocket, and hit his forehead.

“My wand! I must’ve left it in the classroom.”

“I’ll go with you! I have to change my clothes. I don’t want to catch a cold for Christmas.” Jonghyun ran to him, his wet shoes making funny sound on the floor.

Before any of them could have protested, Kibum grabbed Jonghyun’s wrist, and they stormed out of the room. Jinki felt awkward in the silence which came. Taemin was studying the wand in his hand, and Minho was just standing in one stand. He didn’t move.

“So... are you guys excited about the exams?”

Maybe Jinki shouldn’t have started a conversation like this. If it was possible, the atmosphere just became colder.

“Me neither.” His smile still sent warmth, but he knew he had to act seriously. “Oh, I’ll go and check on Jonghyun.”

“Hyung.” Minho immediately stopped him. “Merlin’s beard! What are you doing?”

“He doesn’t bite” he looked at Taemin with a smile. “Or... he does a little bit. See you at dinner!”

And Jinki exited the room, leaving his friends alone. Any of them could have followed him easily. But they didn’t do that. It meant that maybe there was hope for a normal conversation with Taemin.

But no. He couldn’t do that. When his gaze met Taemin’s cold eyes, he knew it was impossible. Minho his heels without any words, and...

“So are you running away again? Without any explanations?”

It made Minho stop. He didn’t know what the boy was talking about. He slowly turned back, looking at him with a questioning look.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” Taemin laughed bitterly, and he headed to the door.

“Taemin” he grabbed his upper arm strongly.

His fingers’ grip gave Taemin pain, but he didn’t want to show it.

“Let me go.”

“Taemin, what’s going on with you nowadays? Just tell me, and...”

“Expelliarmus!”

There was nothing with Minho which could have flown away, so it was Minho himself who was flown to the other end of the room.

First Taemin got scared of what he had done, and he wanted to help his friend get up from the floor, but then he changed his mind. Minho hissed painfully, and he put his hand on his aching back.

Remorse burnt Taemin, but he didn’t move.

“Taemin, what the heck?”

“Now what? Will you go and tell this to Professor Suguro?”

Minho didn’t want to believe that Taemin thought he would immediately go to the school’s principal because of a thing like this.

He thought he should do something else to make Taemin stay in the room. He pulled his wand out so fast that Taemin didn’t even have time to be ready for what would happen next.

“Accio!”

Taemin had expected something worse after he had used that spell on Minho. It wasn’t so comfortable to him, though. His body was moving against his will, and he moved so fast, he was almost flying above the floor. He couldn’t stop until he reached Minho.

They were so close to each other that they could feel the other’s breath. Taemin couldn’t look into the taller boy’s eyes. He wanted to leave, but Minho held his wrist, and pressed him against the cold wall.

“Immobul...”

Minho knew what kind of spell Taemin was planning to use, so he took his wand away just in time, and threw it on the floor.

The wand landed with a loud sound. It echoed in the empty room. They couldn’t hear anything but their breathing, and sometimes a few quiet sounds from the corridor.

“And would you just leave me here after the spell of immobulus?” asked Minho.

The boy didn’t answer. Taemin stayed silent, and ducked his head. Minho could still see how he blushed, though, and then he realised that he had gone too far. He looked down between their bodies. Maybe a thin paper could have been between them, but there was no room for anything else. Minho cleared his throat, and took a step back.

“Taemin, I don’t get it. You were so excited in the past weeks, and then you suddenly changed, and...”

“Suddenly? Do you really not know what it is about? I thought the big Choi Minho is so perfect that he would find out immediately what my problem is. But I guess, you’re surrounded by perfect people, so at least they could have told you then.”

“What the... Taemin, I don’t have time for this. Just tell me, and...”

“Oh, will you have quidditch training?”

Something had changed in Taemin’s face, and Minho didn’t like it. He tried to find out the reason behind it, but he couldn’t do that.

“Yes, I will in the afternoon, but...”

“And you still don’t know what’s wrong?”

“Oh, Merlin’s beard, Taemin! We are not first graders anymore! You can just tell me what your problem is, and then...”

“I wanted to get in that bloody team!”

The words left Taemin’s mouth so loudly that they could still hear their echoes after a few moments. Minho couldn’t say anything, he was so surprised. How could he be so blind? How could he forget about the quidditch selection?

If he really thought about it, Taemin had really started to act strange after the selection. From that day they had talked less, and sometimes Taemin had avoided Minho’s company. But Minho had his own reason too why he had made the decision he had made.

“Taemin, I’m sorry if you feel like it’s against you, but you know that I couldn’t find the right person for the post, and there will be another selection after Christmas, and...”

“Jonghyun said you will choose Baekhyun.”

“What?” How could Jonghyun do this?

“He knew about my problem, because he paid attention to me. You didn’t choose me, and then you acted like nothing has happened.”

“Yes Taemin, because that is the team. And this is my personal life.”

“You could have still given me an explanation about why didn’t you choose me! Would it have been so hard to say a few words?”

Now it was Minho who wanted to leave the room. He stepped away from the boy, took a deep breath, and when Taemin thought the older would speak, Minho headed to the door.

The table turned. Taemin thought, and he quickly got his wand back. He pointed it at the door, and before Minho could have put his hand on the knob, the spell was heard:

“Colloportus!”

Minho started to shake the knob, but he couldn’t open the door because of the magic spell. He decided to use magic, but before he could have said the right spell, Taemin told his own.

“Expalliarmus!”

“Do you want to know my reason so bad? Okay!”

Minho decided to give up on this little game. He had had enough of the fact that Taemin looked through him, but he didn’t like this either, when the boy was grumpy.

“Our previous seeker has gotten into hospital, and I know well how dangerous quidditch is. Do you know how many times a bludger attacked me? Not to mention the storms... but the point is that I don’t want to see you like I’ve seen that seeker. The bludger hit his face, and he still doesn’t remember a lot of thing from his life. Jonghyun’s arm broke last year! I don’t want you to get hurt! Is it so hard to understand?”

At the end of the speech Minho’s voice became louder and more nervous. Taemin could barely recognise his best friend. He had been listening to him in silence, watching him as he had been closer and closer to him.

“But Jonghyun...”

“When he got into the team I wasn’t the captain, but now I am, and I would be responsible for you. And I don’t want you to get hurt because of a stupid sport.”

Stupid sport? If Minho said ‘stupid sport’, then he did really mean his words. Taemin didn’t know how to react to it. This whole confession had come too sudden. Of course, he wanted to get an answer. But he had expected a reason like his skills hadn’t been good enough to be a seeker. But Choi Minho was too worried about him, and this is why he hadn’t chosen him?

“Taemin...”

Maybe it was too much. Maybe he had crossed a line which he should haven’t. A line which they had built too long ago, and until now none of them had crossed.

“Taemin, I don’t...”

“Alohomora” mumbled Taemin, and both of them heard that the lock made a sound in the door.

“Taemin!”

But Taemin didn’t hear anything. There were too much things in his head. His heart was beating too fast in his chest. His lips were dry. He didn’t want anything but to be alone to think about everything Minho had told him.