Rating: PG
Word Count: 979
Prompt: "we’re the only ones on campus who didn’t go home for christmas!AU"  (HP! AU)

The castle almost looks like a ghost town. It’s a little odd, he realizes himself, for a professor not to be going home for Christmas. This year, every single student in the castle returned to their homes for the holidays, a rare occurrence.  It’s unfortunate that his house has a nasty infestation of Bundimuns. He’d apparated into his house on the first day of winter’s break to find himself standing a hair’s breadth away from a puddle of acid burning through his floor. 

He had no choice but to call the Pest-Sub Division from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures for assistance. He did his best to salvage anything in his house that hadn’t been ruined, deftly dodging oncoming acid spurts from the angry pests. Flooing his possessions out was out of the question since his fireplace had caved in on itself. He decided to alternate between apparating and using a portkey when he wound up drained of energy. The deposit trip to Gringotts had been as pleasant as ever, shoving his things inside his vault hastily before returning to Hogwarts, trudging back to his chambers, exhausted.

The damage is pretty extensive and it’ll be a while before the house is habitable again, forcing him to remain here for the remainder of the Christmas holidays. 

Sighing, he pulls on a thick cream sweater, shivering from the morning winter chill. His chambers in the castle are satisfactory enough, but it would have been nice to kick back and relax in the peace of his own home. 

It’s already Christmas Eve, he notes vaguely with a passing glance at his calendar. At least he can look forward to the giant spread in the Great Hall. The decorations are beautiful this year despite nobody being around to see them besides the ghosts.

After treating himself to a filling breakfast, he strolls out onto the grounds, letting the walk settle his stomach as he heads down towards the Great Lake.  

Just as he emerges from thicket of trees into the opening by the Lake, he notes that somebody is already there.

“Morning, Professor Kim!” he calls, surprised to see that someone else had stayed behind in the castle and he hadn’t noticed.

The man jolts in surprise, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose with a finger.

“Morning,” he replies quietly, straightening up from where he was slouched on the ground, dusting his hand off on his pants; “I thought the castle was empty this year; you didn’t go home?”

“Bundimuns infestation,” Chanyeol explains with a sigh, “They managed to destroy half my house before I found out they were in there.” 

The other professor nods in sympathetic understanding, knowing full well how troublesome pests can be.

“What about you, Professor? Decided the Banquet would be a nice break from cooking?”

“Jongin, please,” Jongin insists with a chuckle and Chanyeol smile. He notices how quickly Jongin’s face falls though, as he goes on;

“I can’t got home, it’s…it’s JJanga…she’s sick.”

His eyes are a little glassy before he lowers them to look back down at the plant he had been busying himself with. Dittany; Chanyeol recognizes the herb. 

“I have to stay here to take care of her or…she’ll die,” Jongin’s voice wobbles, his shoulders slumping miserably. 

Concerned, Chanyeol lowers himself on the grass, listening attentively as he invites Jongin down next to him to tell him more. 

It appears JJangga is the Niffler Jongin rescued from a tragic nest fire where she had been about to hatch and raised her as his own.  

“She’s caught some sort of virus that’s making her throw up in clots; she’s wasting away and I can’t figure out what’s wrong with her or how to help her.” 

He looks completely anguished, almost on the verge of tears as he stares out at the Lake with a trembling lip caught between his teeth. It stabs at something in his chest and Chanyeol quietly pulls out his wand and flicks it discretely behind his back.

Jongin blinks in surprise when the first snowflake lands on his nose, looking up at the sky with wondrous eyes and a smile finally breaks across his face. Chanyeol feels the corners of his lips curling up, noting how infectious Jongin’s smile is. He should smile more, Chanyeol thinks. 

“Can I meet her?” Chanyeol asks carefully after a while, “Jjanga, I mean. Maybe I can help you figure something out or at least keep you company? It’s Christmas after all.”

He holds his breath, wondering if he’s crossed some sort of line in such a delicate situation but Jongin’s eyes widen in surprise, mouth falling open like he can’t believe Chanyeol would be willing to do that with him.

“You- really?” he gawps, hope easily discernable as it creeps up in his voice; “I wouldn’t want to ruin your Christmas.” He looks so terribly concerned about the quality of Chanyeol’s holiday celebrations.

“Nonsense,” Chanyeol waves him off, grinning reassuringly as he gets to his feet; 

“My Christmas is essentially made when I’ve got company, so I’m all set!”

He offers out a hand to Jongin, watching as a dazzling smile blooms across his face, scrambling to get to his feet too. 

“I- this means a lot,” he starts, voice thick before he clears his throat. Chanyeol knows that already, able to tell that this is of tremendous importance to him and he smiles, glad that he’s able to share it with him. He’s amicable with most of the other professors in the castle but he’s never had all that many opportunities to properly interact with the Magical Creatures professor, their classes being on opposite sides of the school. 

This Christmas seems like the perfect place to start. 

Jamming his hands in his pockets, Chanyeol takes a step forward, turning to grin at Jongin encouragingly;

“Shall we?”