Jisoo can't quite put a finger on it, but she just knows something had happened to Taehyung over winter break. January had rolled around and it was time to go back to Hogwarts. There, she began to take notice of his out of place behavior and she was quick to catch onto it because he was of course, her boyfriend, whom she spent almost every waking hour with. 

It's in the tiniest details of his behavior that had Jisoo glancing at him from the corner of her eyes in equal parts worry and suspicion. She had to get to the bottom of it. He was trying to act like everything was okay, plastering a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes and waving a dismissive hand every time the topic of pranks and jokes are brought up. Come to think of it, he has been keeping a low profile these days. He kept his head down, blended in the shadows and walked behind Jisoo with his hands deep in the pocket of his robes. That itself was concerning enough, because Taehyung is the life of the party, he was always naturally at the center of attention, but now it seems like he was beginning to be the opposite. 

The worse thing about this seems to be that Jisoo can't ask Jimin about it because she saw the other Slytherin boy less and less these days. And when she does see him, his face has a faraway expression. He seemed preoccupied. She can't help but wonder if this had something to do with Taehyung, if something had happened over the break between the two friends. 

But Taehyung throws a genuinely confused look when she asks him this. "Nothing happened between us, Jisoo." He says, hints of a small smile peeking through his expression. "What made you think that?"

"Oh," Jisoo blinks and stammers for a quick explanation. "I just thought... well, you were being kind of - I mean, I just thought it since he's not hanging out with us anymore." 

Taehyung chuckles, shaking his head. He puts his arm around her to bring her closer to his side, it's an effective way of making her feel like everything was okay with him. "Jimin is just very stressed about NEWTs and graduation, that's all. His parents gave him a hard time when we were back home." He sounded like he was picking his words carefully, as if careful not to reveal more. "He just has a lot on his mind these days." 

Jisoo understands this of course, it was a private family matter and she didn't want to pry. "Oh, really? What about you?" 

He tilts his head to the side, looking down at her. "Me?" 

"How were things with you and your parents?" As soon as she said it, his hand on her shoulder tightens a little. Just enough to make her notice. 

Taehyung looks away from her, obscuring her view from his facial expressions. There was nothing new about his reluctance to talk about his family, namely his parents, but it still does make her worry for him. "It was tolerable at the least." He shrugs, trying to play it off like it didn't bother him. But he can only hide so much from her. "They weren't home much for the rest of the holidays, as usual. Business matters. I'm fine, Jisoo." 

His tone sounded like he wanted to leave it at that and Jisoo didn't want to push it further, so she smiles and pats him on the head. "Okay, Taehyung." She just had to trust him then.

She's seen lots of peculiar things during her night patrols as a prefect for three years now but the scene in front of her really takes the cake for most bizarre things Jisoo has seen so far.

Lee Taeyong was still in his robes, but it was ripped by the hem and there was mud splattered all over him. He was shamelessly walking through the castle halls without a single care that he was breaking curfew or that the lower part of his robe was in tatters. There was a chunk of mud smeared on his right cheek and a bold, red gash on his pale hand that even Jisoo could see from where she stood. He looked like he had just killed a creature from the Forbidden Forest, and he most probably did. 

Jisoo didn't know if she should check whether he was okay first before giving him detention. The initial sight of him made her stop in his tracks, she stared as he walked with his chin up and his shoulders squared back, not caring about his messed up uniform and the dirt on his face and the blood slowly dripping from his hand. She came back to her senses when he was about to round the corner. "Hey!" She snapped, running after him as he was about to take the stairs that led to the Slytherin dungeons. "Hey, you're not supposed to be - "

She barely managed to enclose her fingers around his wrist when Taeyong whirled around so suddenly. She almost fell backwards to avoid knocking into him. His glare pierced through her tough prefect act and quite frankly, it scared her. She could feel her heart wanting to crawl out of her chest in fear under his sharp, unmerciful eyes. 

Taeyong was practically glaring holes into her and he looked absolutely livid. "Don't you dare lay your hands on me, you filthy little mudblood." 

Jisoo winced at the ferocity of his voice. He sounded like a feral big cat that was about to jump on its prey. She tried to swallow down her fear and face him with her chin up. "Says the one who looks like they've been rolling around Troll all evening." Her eyes skimmed over his tattered robes and it looked worse up close. She wondered what the hell had happened to him, but that wasn't really her problem and she doubts he'd appreciate her concern. "I'm going to have to take you to Professor Snape."

He laughed, it was a low and deep sound that came all the way from his stomach and reverberated across the walls. There was something menacing about his laughter that Jisoo didn't like at all. His anger subsides, and his face has gone blank instead. "Yeah? Go ahead, mudblood." 

She hated the way he said that word and how he said it to her, she hated the way he was smirking at her, as if taunting her, as if she was amusing to him. Moreover, she felt uncomfortable under his dark eyes. Jisoo knows that she doesn't particularly enjoy his company, but she knows now it was much more than that, she hated him. 

"What happened to you?" A familiar voice said from the shadows and Nakamoto Yuta walked out from the darkness of the corridors, his eyes trained on Taeyong but he stopped right next to Jisoo. He had his arms crossed and his eyes were narrowed, he took on a defensive stance. 

Taeyong rolled his eyes. "Another mudblood," he mumbled under his breath, Yuta didn't seem to catch that but Jisoo certainly did and it made her want to hex him on the spot. "It's none of your -"

"Never mind," Yuta interjects, raising a hand to stop Taeyong. "I'm not interested enough to know. You earned yourself some detention though. You can walk yourself down to Snape's office tomorrow, yeah? You're a big boy, you can do that much."

As if he could feel Jisoo shaking beside him, Yuta carefully places his arm around her waist, all the while as he maintains eye contact with Taeyong. But his action causes the aggressive Slytherin to flicker his gaze to the outward display of skinship and he smirks. She didn't like that and Yuta must have thought that she was shaking in fear, and she had been, but now that fear was replaced by pure anger. 

He his lips and wipes away the dirt from his cheek. "Taehyung would kill you right now if he saw you." 

At his blatant and empty threat, Yuta seemed unfazed and Jisoo tried to mirror his glare. Yuta doesn't drop his hold around Jisoo's waist and she appreciated that he didn't. 

"He's possessive of his things," He curls his upper lip in amusement before placing on a crude smile. His eyes land on hers, dark and void of sympathy. "Even if they are of little value." 

Jisoo is not bothered by his words this time, that he's degrading her right in front of her face. But she did despise the way he talked about Taehyung because last time she checked, they both couldn't say each other's names without throwing a tantrum. She wanted to yell at him that he had no right to talk about her or Taehyung like that, but decided against it. She didn't want to deal with him anymore, she no longer wanted to be in his presence and Taeyong seemed to be agreeing with her, thinking the exact same thing as he was retreating back to the direction of the Slytherin common room without another word. 

She turned around on her heel and Yuta lets go of her grip on her waist as he followed her. When they turned the corner and were out of earshot from Taeyong, Yuta placed a hand on her shoulder. "Slow down, Jisoo." She did and Yuta fell into step right beside her. "I'm sorry, I had no intentions of -"

"It's fine," she looked at him and offered a sincere smile, trying to hide the fact that Taeyong's words had gotten through her a little. Jus