The Great Hall changed overnight to its winter holiday best, so when morning arrives, eleven proud pine trees line up the hall, golden stars, glittering trinkets, and magic candles hanging from their branches. A twelfth tree, so tall that its top star brushes the high ceilings, graces the back wall behind the professors table. Hanging fire braziers, garlands and crowns, cheer up the rest of the room. It’s all very warm and inviting, unlike the ceiling which presents rolling clouds full of snow, reflecting the cold weather outside.

Jongin notices none of this when he enters the Great Hall at full speed. He stops at the entrance and searches the Gryffindor table. Once he locates his target, he stomps his way towards the guy. “Do Kyungsoo!”

The raven-haired fifth year turns in his seat and inches his glasses higher on his nose. “How can I help you today, Jongin?”

“Where is Magnus?”

“How should I know? I don’t read those silly, romance novels for teen girls,” Kyungsoo says completely straight-faced. His friends—the half-giant Chanyeol, and half-veela cousins Baekhyun and Jongdae—chuckle and titter at the stupid joke.

“I meant Magnus my pet, not Magnus Bane!” Jongin snaps, making the group erupt in more laughter. Yeah, fine, they caught him. He reads those teen novels girls love so much. “Stop being an and hand him over.”

“You should’ve gotten a majestic owl like mine,” Kyungsoo says, grabbing a piece of corn bread and popping it into his mouth. “Not a squeaky little rat since you seem incapable of keeping track of where it is.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t feel the need to overcompensate for my shortcomings by buying an enormous and vicious animal.” Jongin mentally high-fives himself at the angry blush that blankets Kyungsoo’s cheeks.

Kyungsoo’s friends ‘oohh’ and ‘ahhh’ until he snaps at them to go away. They obey like the true minions that they are, and then it’s only Kyungsoo and Jongin glaring at each other.

It’s not the first time in the year that Jongin has found himself doing exactly this.

Ever since he attended Hagrid’s Proper Pet Care seminar last month Kyungsoo and him have been clashing. In the seminar, they ended up paired together for one of the exercises. But it all went wrong. Kyungsoo took an immediate dislike to Magnus for no good reason, and refused to participate. In the end, they both failed the seminar.

Hellfire’s sudden habit of stealing Magnus is probably just a game orchestrated by Kyungsoo to get back at him. Jongin has become paranoid enough to keep Magnus in his ro