The days passed too quickly. Only two days separated them from Christmas. And they knew that most of the students would go home to their families. Taemin was one of them. He was now sitting on his bed in their dorm.

He was bored. He couldn’t wait to go home. He heard the sound of knitting needles from the neighbour bed. Kibum used a pair to make a scarf, while the other pair was doing their job alone. Sometimes Taemin looked at them, so he could see that the scarf which was made by magic was almost done. He could even see a name on it.

Jinki.

If he saw well, there was the beginning of a name on the other scarf, too, which was made by Kibum. Taemin was sure that the boy had used magic to that, too, but he didn’t want to mention it.

“I can’t believe that these knitting needles are faster than me” he mumbled to himself, when he saw that the magical needles folded the scarf on the bed.

Taemin just smiled and saw that Kibum gave his half ready scarf to the needles, and he reached for a blue clew.

“Will you do this during the whole night?” Taemin sighed and closed his book.

“Why? It’s more interesting than your activities.”

Taemin wanted to argue with it, but the door opened, and Jonghyun came in with a red face. Both of them looked at him in shock and curiousity. Jonghyun held on the column of Kibum’s bed, and he turned to Taemin.

“Taemin... you have to hurry...”

“What happened?” Kibum asked worriedly.

“We just... we were practicing, but the wind became too strong, and there was a lot of snow, and...”

“Jjong, just tell us!”

“Minho fell off his broom.”

“Oh, no! Why didn’t you go to Professor Suguro?” Kibum mentioned the principal.

“Why should I know where Professor Suguro is?”

Taemin had enough, so he stood up from his bed, and took his coat on. He wanted to hurry, so he took his shoes on on his way. He almost bumped into Jonghyun, because of his speed, and he was already in the corridor.

When they stayed alone, Jonghyun sat down on the bed with an exhausted sigh, and when he looked aside he smiled.

“I thought my lungs would leave my body.”

Kibum smiled with him, and put the clews aside. Jonghyun noticed them, and looked at the folded scarf with raised eyebrows.

“Oh... my name...” he saw the one which was almost ready.

“Aish... you shouldn’t have seen this.” Kibum gasped, and he threw a red clew to Jonghyun’s head.

“Is it mine?”

Jonghyun looked like a child. Kibum always thought he looked like an excited puppy.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Kibum shrugged his shoulders with a sad expression, and he took the scarf from the needles. “You’ll get it before you go home.”

“Let me try it on.”

He did what the boy wanted, rolling his eyes. Kibum moved closer to him on the mattress, and threw the long material above the other’s head. He adjusted the scarf around his neck, and smiled when he noticed that this colour looked really good on his friend, and his name was visible enough on it, too.

“Merry Christmas, Jonghyun.”

The older couldn’t make his smile disappear, and soon Kibum was smiling, too. But the red colour only appeared on Kibum’s cheeks, when Jonghyun leaned closer to him and kissed his cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Kibum.”

*

Taemin was sure that he would wake up with a cold in the next morning, but he didn’t care. Minho could have been in pain. And Taemin had to help him. He arrived at the quidditch field, but then he realised that he should have brought Professor Suguro with himself. He swore, and he wanted to go back to the building, when he stopped and looked round the field.

No one was around. Only the moon and the torches gave light which surrounded the field. They were magical torches, so the wind couldn’t hurt them.

But the weather was different like Jonghyun had told him. The wind wasn’t strong, and it was only snowing a little bit.

Something was strange. Taemin walked closer to the field. The snow made crunching sound under his weight, and then he realised something. There were no footprints in the snow.

He became angry. He had come to the cold for nothing, and he already started to write his speech which he would tell Jonghyun, as soon as he would get back to the warm dorm.

Suddenly something hit his face, and a snowball fell on the ground. It was more than he could handle. He didn’t care who was responsible for this, but Taemin was sure that he would take revenge.

“I didn’t think you would show up.”

Taemin looked around, but he didn’t see anybody. Although, the voice was familiar. He could recognise it anytime, anywhere. Soon he saw that Choi Minho came down with his broom. But Taemin didn’t understand why he had another broom in his hand.

“Are you serious? Do you think it’s funny?”

Minho really smiled at the boy’s sulkiness. His feet touched the snow covered ground, and he held his own broom with his other hand, while he gave the other to Taemin.

“What should I do with it?”

“Well, I don’t know. You could clean up the field.”

“If you want this to be some kind of apologise mission, it pretty ” he still accepted the broom.

“Come on” he held Taemin’s wrist, and led him to the white field.

When they arrived, Taemin saw that white snowflakes fell on Minho’s dark hair. His face was red because of the cold, his lips were dry. And his scarf showed too much skin from his neck, and Taemin wanted to adjust it, but he held himself back.

It seemed that Minho was different. He put his broom on the ground, and stepped closer to Taemin. Before the boy could step back, Minho already pulled the coat’s zipper up, took his own scarf off, and wrapped it around Taemin’s neck.

“I know you don’t like to be ill.”

“What do you want, Minho?”

“Me? Nothing” he answered and looked up to the stars covered sky. And then he slowly looked back at Taemin who waited for him to continue what he had started to say. “But you want to be the part of the quidditch team, right?”

“You said it won’t happen.”

“Right” he confirmed it, and picked his broom up “, this is why I want you to prove me I was wrong.”

Taemin was too tired for this. He was cold, he was hungry, and he wanted to sleep. Still, he was curious what could be in Minho’s mind. He thought it was strange that the boy had just changed his mind after what had happened, so he asked:

“What made you change your mind? I thought you wanted to protect me.”

“Yes, but... I can’t be always around you, can I? But I can keep an eye on you in the field. And I shouldn’t let my feelings decide things about quidditch. The team needs a good seeker.”

“If you think I’m good, then why are we here?” Taemin whined.

“First rule of quidditch is to always be ready for a great match. Maybe next time I’ll kick you out of your bed at dawn.”

Taemin felt his face heated up, but Minho thought it was because of the cold. He cleared his throat, and put his broom between his legs. Minho took something out of his pocket with his gloves covered hand. Something that Taemin couldn’t see first. But then Minho’s long fingers showed what they had been hiding from him.

The golden snitch.

“If you catch it before me, then you’ll be in the team.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll buy you hot chocolate.”

“Hm...”

A smirk appeared in the corner of Taemin’s mouth which Minho had missed so badly in the past few weeks.

“Maybe I should lose on purpose.”

“If you lose you’ll get one hot chocolate. If you win, you’ll get two.”

“Let the golden snitch go.” Taemin adjusted the broom between his legs, and he concentrated on the small, shining ball in the boy’s hand.

As soon as Minho’s fingers relaxed the snitch’s wings came alive, and it slowly rose from the boy’s palm.

Both of them watched the shining snitch. And then suddenly it started to move faster, and it disappeared.

Taemin felt that his feet didn’t touch the ground, and the broom started to fly with him. It was dark, even with the help of the torches. The wind felt stronger when they were up in the air, so they couldn’t hear the sound of the snitch’s wings well either.

Suddenly Minho flown away beside him, and Taemin didn’t see the golden snitch, though, he rushed after the older. He just needed a few moments, and Taemin saw the flying ball, too. Minho’s broom was fast, and Taemin was worried that he wouldn’t get it on time. But then he had an idea, and he guided his broom higher.

The snowflakes flown to Minho’s eyes and he regretted that he hadn’t brought glasses. He was afraid that it would be more difficult to Taemin, because he couldn’t get used to it, yet. When he thought about the boy, he looked back, but he became nervous because of the emptiness he saw.

Taemin was nowhere. He only saw the lighted, empty quidditch field. He looked down in fear, maybe the boy had fallen, but he didn’t see anything there either.

Suddenly he heard the sound of the snitch. He wanted to get it, but the snitch was faster, and it already disappeared.

Minho went after it, but the next thing he remembered was a heavy weight which bumped into him. The gravity pulled him down to the ground.

He felt pain in his whole body, when he finally hit the ground. Snow was in his mouth, in his ears, and in his eyes, too. Maybe they shouldn’t have lied about falling off the broom.

Minho slowly sat up and opened his eyes. But he hadn’t expected Taemin to be under him. The younger boy’s face said he was in pain, too, and Minho started to panic.

“Taemin... Taemin, are you okay?” he cupped the boy’s snowy cheeks.

Taemin coughed, and when he calmed down he took a deep breath and looked up at Minho. The boy was hovering above him. And Taemin couldn’t see anything but Choi Minho, the moon, and the snowflakes dancing around him.

“Where are my hot chocolates?”

“What?”

Minho thought he had heard it wrong. Did Taemin only think about hot chocolate? He didn’t know why but a laugh left his mouth. His breath made a cloud in the cold, and Taemin laughed too.

“What are you talking about?”

Taemin slowly lifted one of his hands. Minho could already see the wings between his fingers as they were slowly moving up and down.

Taemin had caught the golden snitch.

“Don’t do this again during matches.” Minho helped him up and swept the snow off of their coats. “Are you okay?”

“Sure.” Taemin was smiling like he was the happiest person in the earth, and it made Minho happy, too. “Well, captain, if everything’s good, then what about going inside the dorm?”

“Good idea.” Minho put his hand into his pocket, and they walked to the building of the dorm with their brooms in their hands.

*

There were places in the dorm where students could rest together. The boys chose the room which was the closest to their bedroom. Fortunately, there was nobody there, and the fire kept the room warm from the fireplace.

Taemin quickly removed his shoes and hurried to the fireplace to warm himself up. There were snowball glasses on the top of the fireplace. It was snowing inside of it, and the snowman bowed, lifting its hat when it saw Taemin.

He heard sounds from behind, but he didn’t mind them. He didn’t want anything but warmth, his soft bed, and the hot chocolate which Minho had promised him.

“Taemin.”

“Hm? Is my hot chocolate rea... oh!”

There was a beautiful box in Minho’s hands instead of the hot chocolate. Taemin blinked at his friend in surprise, but he stepped closer and waited for Minho to say something.

“I’ve hoped that I could give it to you before Christmas. And I hope you will like it. Merry Christmas” he gave the present, and Taemin hesitated a bit but accepted it.

“What’s this?”

“Open it.”

Taemin walked to the sofa. After he had sat down, he put the present on his lap and started to open it. The persons in the paintings were curious, too, so they almost fell out of their places because they wanted to see the present so bad. Two girls hid their faces behind their fans, and they whispered something to each other, giggling. Minho noticed them, and sat next to Taemin, rolling his eyes at the girls’ behaviour.

The present looked like a photo album. Taemin led his fingers through it, and then he opened it. He remembered the first photo. It was the first one they had made together.

Jinki had been wearing glasses at that time, and he was adjusting it on the photo to look good. Kibum was checking on Jonghyun’s necktie. The older didn’t really like it as they could see on the photo, but he didn’t pull away. And there were Taemin and Minho. The taller boy was hugging Taemin’s neck, and he ruffled his hair.

“Oh, it happened at your birthday party!” Taemin pointed at a photo where they were on an ice rink, trying to help Jinki up from the ice. “I remember that your dad bought hot chocolate for everyone.”

Of course he remembered if it was about hot chocolate. Minho thought, and he was watching with gleaming eyes as Taemin was flipping through the pages.

“Thank you. Really, I... I really like it.”

“And there are some empty places, too. You can add your own photos, if you want.”

“Present and homework” noted Taemin, and it made Minho laugh. “Oh, let’s go to the bedroom.”

“Why?” Minho’s eyes widened, when the boy stood up and grabbed his wrist.

“Did you think you were the only one with a present?”

He didn’t get answer for that. He held his present tightly, and pulled Minho while they were going up the caracoles which led them to their bedroom.

Different kind of stairs led students to their bedrooms. Every bedroom had one way to go there. Taemin pushed the door when they arrived, although he found it weird that the others had left. He walked to his bed where he put his present down, and leaned down to the nightstand’s drawer.

“Then... Merry Christmas.”

The wrapping wasn’t as nice as the one Minho had prepared. But it didn’t matter, and Minho happily held the present. He tore the paper off with curiousity, and when he saw the title of the book, his fingers became faster.

“Wow! This... anytime I’ve gone to bookshops I couldn’t find it.”

“The owner said they always out of it.”

Minho held the book like it was the world’s most precious treasure.

Quidditch through the ages.

“Open it. Look at the first page.”

He didn’t know what to expect, but he did as Taemin had told. He became excited when he saw the writing, and his eyes had the same size as the golden snitch.

“Viktor Krum? And... Oliver Wood?! I’m sure you wrote these” he looked up from the autographs.

“No!” Taemin said honestly. “My brother helped me to get these, I swear!”

“Anyway, thank you. You made me really happy.”

Taemin had wanted to hear this, but he hadn’t known he would blush. Minho flipped through some pages to see the pictures, and Taemin was watching the boy. How could he be angry with him because of such a small thing like the selection? He should have known that Minho had had his reason.

“Minho...”

They heard a quiet, scratching-like sound. Minho closed the book, and put it on Taemin’s trunk. His lips parted because of the shock, when he saw what made the sound. Taemin saw that Minho was looking over his shoulder, so he turned back to see the impossible.

Thin layer of ice was on the window glass – ice flower. But they could see something on it. A shape of heart.

“What the...”

Taemin wanted to go to the window, but then they heard another sound. It was like something was moving. Cold ran through Taemin’s back. He turned around and saw that Minho was watching the ceiling. He looked up, too, and his heart skipped a beat, when he saw the mistletoe with a red ribbon.

“Is... is this a dream?”

“Maybe it is” answered Minho, and then his eyes left the mistletoe to look at Taemin.

“If... if this is dream... then we can do anything we want?”

“I guess we can. Why?”

Taemin couldn’t answer that. So he let his body answer it instead of his words. He stepped forward and crossed his arms around Minho’s neck. He rested his head on Minho’s shoulder, breathing the familiar, nice scent. The warmth which came from Minho calmed him, and Taemin felt even better when Minho hugged him.

“I’m sorry that I acted like a child.”

“Come on, I’ve gotten used to it.” Minho said, and Taemin kicked his ankle. “Autch!”

“I didn’t kick so strongly!”

“I wish you didn’t.”

Of course, Minho’s ankle wasn’t hurt, and he didn’t continue pretending it. He put his hand on Taemin’s cheek, and caressed the warm skin. He saw that Taemin’s gaze wandered to the mistletoe again, and it made Minho’s heart beating faster.

His fingers went to the boy’s nape from his face, and he pulled him so close that he could give him a kiss on his forehead.

“Hyung, this is a mistletoe.”

“I know” whispered Minho, and he looked down from the boy’s eyes to his soft looking lips.

Still, it was the younger who made the first step.

He didn’t know why he did it, though. Maybe he just felt too much love for his friend at that moment. He had missed him so much in the past weeks, but he had been too proud to talk to him. And now that they were together again, he just wanted to tell the boy how he felt. And if he could only tell it like this, then Taemin didn’t hesitate to do it.

The cold lips soon warmed up with each other’s help. It wasn’t more than an innocent peck. Their lips barely touched, and Minho immediately leaned away. But when he looked into Taemin’s eyes, he moved back, and this time his tongue found Taemin’s.

Maybe it wasn’t the best idea. But in that moment Minho felt it right. He had missed his best friend so much, and finally everything seemed okay between them. Well, it was more than okay. Because now Minho couldn’t get enough of Taemin’s tongue and his lips. He wanted them, and everybody knew that Choi Minho did everything for the things he wanted.

They slowed down and opened their dark eyes. Their lips were swollen and wet. Both of them felt the heat in their bodies. They were like magnets. It gave physical pain that they couldn’t touch each other, so Minho pulled the boy back by his shirt’s collar, and kissed him again.

Taemin’s whole body was on fire, and he made a quiet moan, when Minho accidentally bit his bottom lip. It didn’t stop them, though. Taemin leaned back immediately to feel those amazing lips again.

He crossed his arms around Minho’s neck, and Minho’s arms went to the boy’s waist. They didn’t even care about the Christmas music which started playing in the room.

They didn’t know when the music had started, or who had turned it on, but it didn’t bother them. They were busy with other important things, and they didn’t want anything to interrupt them.

“Merry Christmas.” Minho leaned his forehead on the boy’s, and he smiled, while Taemin kissed him.

“Merry Christmas.” Taemin giggled, and after he had pressed his body against Minho’s, the older took his lips between his gently.

*

It was fricking cold outside. The three boys almost froze to death, but they had to finish their mission. Jonghyun’s and Kibum’s hands were almost frozen while they pointed at the window of their dorm room with their wands. They were watching the events, too, obviously – thanks to Jinki.

They were standing around a frozen puddle where they could see everything that happened in the bedroom.

“When will we finish this? It’s too cold!” Kibum said, pretending to cry.

“Look... oh!” Jonghyun shouted with happiness.

Taemin kissed Minho. Every one of them had guessed that Minho would start the kiss, but still they found it amazing.

“Ahw... our little Taeminnie is a grown up man” said Kibum proudly.

“Yes, so we should move Minho’s bed farther from his.” Jonghyun told his idea.

“That’s right, and then... hey!”

Jinki stepped on the frozen puddle, just at the time, when Taemin kissed Minho’s neck. Jonghyun and Kibum looked at their friend like the whole wizard world was busted, and every one of them should live their lives as muggles.

“I’m starving! Let’s go. Maybe we can get something in the kitchen. I’m sure that the house elves will feel sorry for us, and give us some food.” Jinki hugged his friends’ shoulder, and led them to the building.

The two youngers started to whine because Jinki had destroyed their night, but in their heart all of them knew that they had given the most beautiful Christmas present for Minho and Taemin.