#1: Orange Blossoms [cont]

Tags: Hogwarts AU

Inspired by: A Tumblr Prompt, "i’m not allowed to go to hogsmeade but you always tell me stories about it and bring me candy from honeydukes”

The match goes about as well as it could have.

Really, it did.

Or at least, she hopes that it did.

With the amount of cheering going on outside in the corridors right now, she’s probably able to bet a hundred galleons that the Puffs won this time.

Finally.

The room’s not about to get any cleaner though. Joohyun and Taeyeon have a rag each in their hands, sporting matching expressions of annoyance. The classroom is lined from ceiling to floor in a thick layer of dust and no amount of scrubbing at the surfaces seems to be of any good. All they’ve managed to accomplish was to get very, very wet, and very, very grimy.

To say that they’re both unhappy with their current predicament is the understatement of the century.

“Do you think Hufflepuff’s won?” Joohyun asks, casually, pretending that she’s not about to strangle Professor McGonagall for slapping detention onto the duo. At least they didn’t have to do it with the Gryffindors. She’d probably have gotten another week of detention if they were forced to clean a room together.

Taeyeon makes a noise. “Of course. I suppose you should be off congratulating your Hufflepuff.”

“Sorry?”

Taeyeon blinks, turning to look at Joohyun. “Hey, aren’t you…”

“What?”

Taeyeon makes a quizzical expression, her eyebrows furrowing and quirking to the side. “The portraits said… never mind.”

“What?”

“Nah, it’s just something the portraits seem to be saying recently. They have nothing better to do but to gossip, you know?”

“So… what nonsense have they been up to lately?”

“Oh, you know. The usual drivel. Nothing to get your knickers up in a twist.”

“Taeyeon.”

“Really, it’s nothing! I swear! Will I ever lie to you?”

Joohyun rolls her eyes as she plonks her rag back into the pail, trying not to grimace at the sight of the dark grey water splashing out. “We’re both from the same house, you idiot.”

“Now, now, is that any way to speak to a sunbae like that?”

Joohyun swears her eyes would be stuck in a permanent lolled back position if she hangs around Taeyeon any longer. How the rest of her friends withstand her presence is a mystery. They’re something else entirely.

“Fine. Keep your secrets. But let me remind you that we’re stuck here because of you.”

Taeyeon clears . “Yeah, sorry about that.” Some sheepishness makes her way onto her face. “But they were being very insulting, you know. I don’t get wizards sometimes. They’re totally okay with Metamorphmagi and Polyjuice Potions and stuff but the second someone thinks that ‘oh, well, I don’t think I’m a wizard I think I’m a witch’ they kick up such a fuss. Honestly. That son of a bloody Bludger.”

Joohyun snorts. “And you just had to get involved.”

“Yeah well, Tiffany fought them first. So…”

“She holds up just fine herself, idiot.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hope she’s doing okay though.”

“I’m sure Madam Pomfrey’s going to work her usual wonders again. But geez, you’ve really got to get us banned from Hogsmeade right?”

Taeyeon sighs, flinging her rag into the pail. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sorry, will that be enough, your highness?”

“But it’s for an entire fortnight! I was looking forward to going this weekend—”

Taeyeon mutters something that Joohyun doesn’t quite catch.

“What?”

“If you don’t know what I’m getting at, well… That’s not my business.”

“What isn’t?”

“Alright I’m just going to change the water!”

“Taeyeon!”

“Shh. You’ll figure it out soon enough. And no, don’t look at me like that! You’ve got to figure it out yourself! Oh, come on, you’re brilliant. It’ll come to you eventually.”

“What will?”

Taeyeon shrugs, getting to her feet as she picks the pail up. “Like I said, you’ll figure it out.”

=====

Joohyun kicks her feet on her way back to the dungeons.

Taeyeon’s probably snuck into the hospital wing by now. Which means that Joohyun’s finally alone with her own thoughts.

Merlin’s beard, what was Taeyeon being so cryptic about?

Stupid Slytherins.

What are the portraits so interested in lately? All the stupid Fat Friar ghost and his damned portrait gives her are strangely broad smiles. Gosh, he’s ignored her for six whole years before this, but now? Portraits and those pesky ghosts are pretty darn weird.

Never mind that, Bae Joohyun. You’ve got an essay to write. Just get to that Arithmancy essay before Monday. Then maybe she’ll catch up on some reading before the weekdays slap her again. And maybe read the next chapter in Hogwarts: A History?

It’s really becoming a bit of a pattern, but she doesn’t notice Seulgi’s presence until she hears the girl’s voice call out at her, pulling her out of her thoughts.

“Joohyun-unnie! I didn’t see you at the match today… and… Well I heard you got assigned detention?”

Her head jerks up to see Kang Seulgi in front of the entrance to her common room. Seulgi’s hair looks suspiciously like it’s clumped with mud, probably because the Pitch was pretty darn wet from the morning rain. The brown spot on Seulgi’s jaw might be mud. Or it really could be chocolate. The torches down here are too dim for her to really tell.

“Yeah,” Joohyun grouses. “McGonagall made Taeyeon and I clean one of the unused classrooms. Without magic.”

Seulgi shakes her head in sympathy. “That must’ve been pretty . And you… got into a fight, right? You’re okay?”

“Yes, yes, I am fine,” she bites, somewhat irritably. Seulgi pulls back slightly at her tone, and Joohyun berates herself for letting her irritation at everything be thrown onto Seulgi. “Sorry. It’s just been a really long day.” She forces a smile onto a face. “Tell me. Did you guys win?”

“Yeah! We didn’t get the Snitch, but we still won! Well, by ten points. But we still beat them!”

“Oh yeah? I suppose a ‘congratulations’ is in order, Miss Hufflepuff Chaser. How many goals did you score?”

“A few,” Seulgi says, modestly. “Anyway, I saved something for you.”

“Oh?” She steps forward so she can finally see Seulgi properly. “Jelly Slugs! I haven’t had any in so long… But aren’t they your favourite? If you’re giving me all these Jelly Slugs, do you still have any for yourself?”

“Well, erm, I was hoping Honeydukes has some in stock when we go out tomorrow, actually.”

Joohyun gasps. “Oh no, I couldn’t tell you earlier! I’m so, so sorry – I can’t go with you tomorrow. Part of my punishment includes a Hogsmeade ban.” Her voice trails off, bitterly.

Seulgi’s bottom lip pushes out to form a pout for about two seconds before she shakes her head, a smile forming. “It’s okay! Give me a shopping list. I’ll get the stuff for you.”

She almost lets it slip that hell, it really doesn’t matter to her that she’s not allowed to go to Hogsmeade, per se, and that she’s more upset that she’s not going to spend a Hogsmeade weekend with one Kang Seulgi.

Instead, she swipes her thumb against Seulgi’s jaw, wiping the brown spot off.

Seulgi jumps backwards. Hits the wall. Winces.

The two of them stare at each other for a while.

Joohyun’s sure her face is red. Seulgi’s not faring any better either.

“Sorry,” Joohyun finally says. “You had a spot… of… chocolate right there.”

“Oh my. Guess I didn’t wipe my face properly after the celebrations. So… er, yes, will you want me to get anything for you?”

Joohyun hums. “It’s really okay. But if you’re going to be at Honeydukes anyway, can you get me a few Chocolate Frogs?”

At this, Seulgi relaxes. “Are you one of those people trying to collect the Limited-Edition Hermione Granger?”

“There’s a Limited-Edition Hermione Granger? Merlin’s pants. I mean, I won’t mind adding a war heroine into the collection. But I’m really trying to get one of Circe. She’s always eluded me.”

Seulgi laughs. “Well, maybe you’ve got to be some bloke who goes to war for an entire decade for some girl whose face sails a thousand ships… But hmm, you're really more Helen than Odysseus, don't you think? Not to say that you aren’t badass enough to be some Grecian hero but I don’t know, I don’t really see you clinging onto the belly of some poor sheep…”

===

By the time she’s back in her common room, nibbling on a Jelly Slug, all she can think about is how her heart’s fluttering like the golden wings of a Snitch in flight.  

And how utterly terrified she is when it strikes her that all her annoyance with McGonagall has all but dissipated because of one encounter with Kang Seulgi.

And maybe, when Seulgi hugs her for the second time this week, she’s finally discovered what she smells like out of her Quidditch uniform. 

Merlin help her.