#142 Ascendio (Lift Me Up)
Title: Ascendio (Lift Me Up)
Prompt: #142
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~8100 words
Side pairings: ninja!Baekhyun/Chen
Summary: HP!AU; in which Sehun loves to cause trouble in Jongin’s life, and Jongin (thinks he) really doesn’t like him.
Notes: To OP: I tweaked the prompt sliiiightly, but I hope you still like it! For the sake of the fic, please assume everyone is the same age. :)
Ever since that fateful day six years ago, Sehun and Jongin have been branded as Hogwart’s most infamous pair. As first years, Sehun had to deal with lingual braces - much thanks to his orthodontist mother - and stick straight brown hair, whereas Jongin had regular acne breakouts and unruly jet black hair that could seem to fight even the toughest of gels and hairsprays. The son of a mellow wizard and an upbeat muggle-born woman, Sehun dares to argue that he grew up with the best of both worlds. On the other hand, Jongin will never forgive his gifted parents for refusing to use magic in order to prevent his acne outbreaks for as long as he lives.
They day they met was a bustling September 1st, and Sehun had whizzed past Jongin, hair fluttering as he hung off the handle of his trolley, a single foot pushing off the ground. Jongin had wandered off, and was desperate to find his parents. They had told him to wait by the platform if he ever got lost - which is, obviously, a very common occurrence -, but where was the platform? Judging by the jet black owl in a cage on the hyperactive boy’s suitcase, the laughing child is sure to be a wizard, yes? So Jongin had approached him and tapped him shyly on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, but do you know where Platform 9 ¾ is?”
Sehun had blinked at him, as did his owl, before he broke out in a grin. Jongin will come to recognise this grin in record time.
“Right there,” Sehun had said, voice a little pitchy. Jongin, utterly relieved, had given Sehun a hug and thanked him profusely.
As it turned out, the platform Sehun had directed him to was Platform 7 ½. Poor Jongin nearly boarded the Orient Express that day. After his father had yanked him out of the Orient Express with a hand around his collar, Jongin vowed never to be nice to Sehun ever again.
Now, both seventh years, Sehun’s once again the Chaser for Hufflepuff’s Quidditch Team (has been for the past five years), and Jongin is Head Boy, Ravenclaw’s pride and joy. Sehun never fails to bother Jongin on a daily basis, and Jongin never fails to deduct a solid ten points from Hufflepuff in retaliation every single time.
It’s a Monday, and Jongin’s day is seemingly off to a bright start. His robes are miraculously wrinkle-free, and Peeves grants him a moment of hard laughter when he manages to dump a whole bucket of lake water onto Chanyeol the second they step out of the common rooms. Thankfully, the poltergeist had been nice enough to angle the water away from Jongin. Wheezing and doubling over with laughter, Jongin leaves Chanyeol to stew for a few moments before finally whipping out his wand and siphoning the murky water off his poor friend.
“Peeves should really have gotten you instead,” someone calls from behind them. Jongin rolls his eyes at the familiar voice and pockets his wand. Chanyeol, much too used to this to care, gingerly takes a step - his shoes are thankfully squelch-free.
“Shut up,” Jongin replies automatically as he strides resolutely ahead. He’s not about to let Oh Sehun ruin his fabulous Monday morning.
He’s barely taken ten steps when he feels wetness spreading from the small of his back. The last syllable of Aguamenti has just left Sehun’s lips when Jongin turns on his heel and lunges at the Chaser, who dodges easily and sprints away, laughter evident in his shake of his shoulders.
“Twenty points from Hufflepuff!” Jongin yells, peeling his soaking robes off and glaring after Sehun’s broad back as he dries them off. Chanyeol pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.
He barely makes it to Potions before class starts. By the time he’s dry and seated, Sehun’s already got his cauldron and scales out, and has his head ducked as he digs around his bag for his textbooks. Jongin sends another death glare towards the back of Sehun’s head. Sehun won't see it, but it makes Jongin feel better all the same.
“Good morning, class.” The professor, a little old lady with a head of shockingly blue hair, hobbles up to her podium and adjusts her glasses. “We’ll be continuing our studies into antidotes today - who can remind the class of Golpalott's Third Law?”
Jongin thrusts his hand up in the air, but Sehun bests him once again.
“Yes, Mr. Oh?”
"The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components."
“Excellent! Five points to Hufflepuff.”
Jongin seethes.
The thing is, Sehun doesn’t bother anyone but Jongin. The Head Boy will often witness Sehun help a poor first year carry a large pile of books down the hallway, give Quidditch players from other houses useful tips, and even gift house-elves with personalised ear-mitts during cold winters. It’s been this way for years, and Jongin can never understand why. Put it this way: Jongin wholeheartedly believes that Peeves will choose to protect Sehun over him.
During meals, there will always be a large group of enraptured students huddled around the Hufflepuff table, pressed close to Sehun as the bright-eyed boy talked about everything and anything. Jongin never watches long enough to catch tens of pairs of eyes flick over at him, Sehun’s included.
They’ve got a ton of mutual friends, and trips out to Hogsmeade will always see them in the same throng of people. Hogsmeade days are also when Sehun brings out his big guns. Exceptionally adept in Charms and Transfiguration, Sehun will often turn Jongin’s drink or food into poor, unsuspecting animals (usually canaries) or joke toys. And if that isn’t enough, nice walks will always turn into a mad fumble for balance when Sehun utilises the impediment jinx - before proceeding to catch Jongin right before he smacks his nose into the ground. During their fifth year, Jongin skipped out on most Hogsmeade outings, using the O.W.L.s as an excuse.
This year, however, Jongin’s plan of using the N.E.W.T.s doesn’t quite work out.
“You coming with us this Wednesday?”
“Can’t, I should start studying for -”
“Sehun’s not coming,” Baekhyun interrupts. The Slytherin gives him a pointed look. “He says he has to study.”
“Oh,” Jongin says, a little surprised. “Well. I guess I can come.”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes, says, "Remember to bring Junmyeon," before bounding off to join Jongdae in plotting the embarrassment of their next target. Jongin suspects it’s the mousy fourth year standing just a few metres away - the boy always acts like he owns the damn school. Sometimes, Jongin turns a blind eye to the two troublemakers, and this would be one of those times.
Gathering his books, Jongin crosses the courtyard, waving his wand casually and stopping a third year from bullying a poor second year with a well-chosen Jelly Legs Curse.
“Don’t let me see you do that again,” Jongin says, a smile plastered on his face. “Understood?”
The third year nods furiously up at him from his splayed position on the ground, cheeks flaming with embarrassment, and Jongin gestures for the second year to run along before lifting the curse.
“Ten points from Gryffindor,” Jongin mutters, and dismisses the student with a jerk of his head.
He settles into his seat in Advanced Arithmancy with an odd sense of calm. Perhaps that’s because Sehun isn’t in this class.
The first game of the Quidditch season is around the corner, and excitement levels amongst the students and faculty are already beginning to peak. The Caretaker's already cleaned the stands, which pleases Jongin greatly. He has a habit of finding a nice, high spot in the stands, usually behind the goalposts, to study for a few hours. Teachers have given him permission to be out there during his spare time, as long as he returns to the castle before night falls.
Jongin likes it out on the pitch - it’s serene, full of fresh air, and the sheer amount of space around him seems to lift the stress off his shoulders for a few hours. He loves Quidditch, he really does, but one thing he absolutely hates about the sport is the increase in the number of practice sessions as a game nears. Case in point: there’s a team making its way onto the pitch, and Jongin knows for a fact that it’s a last minute schedule. He checks the roster every day.
It’s the Hufflepuff team, and Jongin’s scowl deepens a little more. He fishes out the earplugs Kyungsoo had given him and all their friends after a trip into the Muggle world and stuffs them into his ears before turning his attention back towards Advanced Rune Translation. But earplugs can only do so much when you know there’re people on broomsticks flying about just metres away from you. So Jongin finds himself looking up now and again, spending a few precious minutes watching as Chasers swoop around the pitch, tossing the Quaffle back and forth between them, as the Seeker forms pretty patterns in the air in her goal to snatch the Snitch, and as the Beaters play a dangerous game of dodgeball with angry Bludgers.
When he breaks his concentration for the third (damnit Jongin!) time, he catches Sehun leaping off his broom in midair, Quaffle leaving his hand as he does so. Jongin’s heart leaps into his throat, lodging itself somewhere behind his vocal box, as Sehun seems to hover for a split second before punching the Quaffle into a goalpost. Jongin guesses that the tactic is for Sehun to be reunited with his broom after scoring, but Sehun’s leg misses the stick by a few centimetres.
Despite the distance between them, Jongin can spot the panic on Sehun’s face as the heel of his foot catches on the stick. Springing to his feet, Jongin ignores the painful clash that occurs between Advanced Rune Translation and Spellman's Syllabary as he pulls out his wand.
“Aresto Momentum!” He yells, his own voice muffled in his ears. The spell breaks Sehun’s fall just a few feet from the ground, and Jongin swallows hard enough to push his pounding heart back into its rightful cavity. Sehun’s teammates stare down, wide-eyed, at their star Chaser - one starts clapping slowly.
“You’re a goddamn idiot!” Jongin yells at the Chaser, breaking the spell and letting Sehun drop to the ground with a satisfying flump.
“Why were you watching me!” Sehun yells back, hair a halo around his head from where he’s spread out on the ground. Miffed and blushing ridiculously, Jongin sends Sehun’s broomstick careening off the pitch and towards the castle.
That Wednesday, Jongin finds himself dragged out of the castle by Chanyeol and Jongdae, Baekhyun and Junmyeon walking leisurely behind him. He doesn’t understand why they’re insisting on manhandling him out - he’d already agreed to go with them, didn’t he?
“Why,” Jongin asks, looking pointedly at Chanyeol’s grip on his arm.
“In case you think your books are better company than us,” Chanyeol replies. “This is a safety measure. Until we’re out of school grounds.”
“They are better company than you,” Jongin points out, and Baekhyun promptly chucks something at the back of his head. Wincing, Jongin shakes the pain off.
“I promise I won’t run away,” Jongin continues, “just please let me go. My circulation is cutting off.”
Chanyeol reluctantly lets go of Jongin’s arm, but Jongdae settles for hooking his arm around the crook of Jongin’s.
“It’s a compromise,” Jongdae points out, and Jongin has to agree.
Jongin spends a healthy hour or so with his friends in The Three Broomsticks, nursing a bottle of Butterbeer. Kyungsoo joins halfway through, bringing with him a glass of red currant rum with an exceptionally large decorative umbrella. Madam Rosmerta always did like him.
“I need to make a stop at the post office,” Jongin says, draining his Butterbeer. “Mum’s been nagging at me to send letters. She keeps comparing me to Junmyeon, who apparently is very good at sending letters on the regular.”
“We’ll be at Zonko’s,” Baekhyun says. “Need to stock up.”
He shares a grin with Jongdae, and Jongin sighs as he stands. “You really shouldn’t be telling me about the shenanigans you two get up to. I’m the last person you should tell.”
“Friendships are more important than Head Boy duties, are they not?” Baekhyun presses, and Jongin chooses not to answer. He flees from the store before Baekhyun can throw something else at him.
Five minutes later, he watches his letter fly off into the sky, attached securely around the leg of a Great Grey Owl. Not wanting to deal with the crowd in Zonko’s, he decides to pay Scrivenshaft's a visit. Thanking the storekeeper on his way out, he heads down the street towards the quill shop. He passes Spintwitches along the way, and when he glances inside the store, he spots a familiar face. Sehun doesn’t see him, too engrossed with whatever’s on the shelf before him.
Isn’t Sehun supposed to be in school?
Jongin chooses to forget about it, however, stepping inside Scrivenshaft and closing the door behind him. What are the chances they’ll end up running into each other? He spends a good fifteen minutes inside the store, picking out two quills and a few rolls of parchment. When he exits the shop and passes by Spintwitches again, Sehun’s nowhere to be seen.
He makes an impromptu decision to head inside Tomes and Scrolls - his sister had informed him of a new addition to the series of mystery books he’s been obsessed with lately. The sheer number of tightly packed books makes his mission a little harder, and as he rounds a tight corner inside the store, he walks right into someone’s back.
“Sorry - oh. It’s you.”
“Does that mean I don’t get the apology?” Sehun asks, eyebrow raised. Flustered, Jongin momentarily forgets how close they are.
“No, that’s not what I - forget it. You still get the apology; but I already said it, so don’t ask me to say it again.”
Sehun snorts, but he doesn’t drag the matter on. Instead, he flips a page of the book he’s holding, and Jongin realises with a start that it’s the one he’s looking for.
“Where’d you find that?”
“Right here,” Sehun replies, pointing to the shelf in front of them. Jongin scans the rows and rows of book spines, but he doesn’t spot another copy.
“Great,” he mutters to himself. Just his luck. He leaves the store without another word to Sehun; the taller boy doesn’t stop him.
They make it back to Hogwarts a few minutes before the curfew kicks in, and he dumps his purchases on his bed haphazardly before rushing off to start his duties. The rest of his day passes by quite uneventfully, save for Sehun levitating a row of pumpkin pasties in front of him during dinner time and instructing them to fly around the four tables. Jongin snatches one out of the air as it shoots past him and sends Sehun a warning glare over his shoulder. The Chaser obediently lowers the pasties back onto their plate and raises his hands in surrender. A few students around him giggle, and Sehun grins that grin of his. Jongin rolls his eyes.
It’s late when he gets back to his bed, hair fluffy and skin toasty from a hot bath. His things are exactly how he’d left them, but there’s a package by his bed that is unfamiliar.
Unknotting the twine used to hold the wrapping in place, Jongin pushes aside the paper and reveals a book. The book. The one he’d wanted but lost it to Sehun. It’s the same one - the small rip at the top right corner of its cover tells Jongin so.
Picking it up, Jongin flips it over and thumbs through the pages. Looks normal. He sets it down and reaches for his wand.
“Specialis Revelio,” he utters. Nothing happens. “Hmm.”
Reading it once wouldn’t hurt, Jongin reasons with himself. He’ll just return to Sehun after - and ask why Sehun had given it to him in the first place. There has to be a reason, no? An ulterior motive? Maybe Sehun will use this act of ‘kindness’ as leverage for whatever prank he’ll pull on Jongin in the future. Jongin frowns at the thought, eyes trained on the book. He should just give it back before he falls for whatever trap this is, but he really wants to read it.
He ends up falling asleep at 2:30 in the morning, completed book tucked underneath his pillow.
During breakfast the next day, Jongin makes a beeline for Hufflepuff’s table the second he walks through the doors of the Great Hall. His strides are purposeful, and some students inch away from him as he crosses - Jongin winces mentally and tries to school his features into a pleasant expression. Hey, he hasn’t had his morning coffee yet, alright?
“Oh Sehun,” he calls, and several heads swivel in his direction. Sehun himself looks up at him with mild curiosity, not bothered whatsoever by Jongin’s presence. Jongin stops a few feet away and thrusts the book into Sehun’s face. “I’m done. You can have it back.”
“You do know the definition of ‘gift’, don’t you?” Sehun drawls, pushing a chunk of buttered toast into his mouth and chewing methodically. “It means you aren’t supposed to return the item to the sender.”
Jongin colours. “It’s too early for your sass,” he retorts. “And why did you give this to me in the first place? Did you jinx it? Am I supposed to do something for you now?”
At that, Sehun sets his fork down with an affronted look on his face. “Excuse me, I am perfectly capable of gift-giving without expecting anything in return. If you don’t want the book, then that’s another story. Here, give it back to -”
“I didn’t say that,” Jongin interrupts, hiding the book behind his back. “It’s just… I’m not used to an act of kindness by you towards me.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Sehun quips, turning around and taking a swig of orange juice from his goblet.
Jongin narrows his eyes suspiciously at Sehun, but lets the matter of the book drop. As he heads back towards the Ravenclaw table, he feels something cold run through his hair for a split second. Spinning around on his heel, he points imperiously at Sehun.
“What did you do to me,” he demands, sifting fingers through his hair. It feels normal.
“Punishment for not appreciating the kindness of my heart,” Sehun calls back, grinning.
Chanyeol holds up an empty plate. Jongin takes a glance at his reflection and shrieks. His hair is streaked with over ten different colours, and there’s a horrible chunk of puke green hanging right in front of his eyes.
“Lasts for 24 hours!” Sehun hollers. Jongin sighs and slumps down next to Chanyeol. His friend pats him on the back and offers him a cinnamon roll.
On the day of the first Quidditch match of the season, the whole castle is positively buzzing with excitement. Students of all years have face paint streaked up and down their cheeks, some running down their necks and into the collar of their robes. Hardcore fans have magicked their hair to match the colours of the teams playing - Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Everyone looks the same, house scarves draped around their shoulders and proudly made signs and slogans waving high in the air.
If there was something that could dull the joys of Quidditch for Jongin, it would be his Head Boy duty of having to usher students to the stands whilst keeping them in line, and not to mention preventing students from the two rival houses from jinxing and hexing each other into the next dimension.
"Move along!" He yells, wand poised and ready to use in one hand as he jabs at the Quidditch pitch with his other. "The match hasn't started, and I do not want to dock points from the losing house before it even knows that it's lost."
The hoard of students around him quieten down somewhat, and Jongin exchanges pained looks with Luna, the Head Girl.
He manages to pull off his duties without throwing out a single spell at the occasional insolent first or second year, and he gives himself a mental pat on the back when he finally takes a seat in the stands. The chest holding the key pieces of the game is placed squarely in the middle of the field, and if Jongin squints, he can spot the handles of the chest trembling slightly - the bludgers are definitely eager to released from their confines.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jongin spots Baekhyun step up to the commentator's podium. His friend, with green paint smudged all over his cheeks, makes a grand show of clearing his throat. A few professors seated behind him try their best not to snort.
"Welcome, magical beings of Hogwarts!" Baekhyun booms, voice magnified tenfold. Jongin winces at the volume, and reminds himself to bring his earplugs along for the next game. "Today marks the day of a new Quidditch season, with a match between the sweet, sweet Hufflepuffs and the sly, sly Slytherins. It will surely be an interesting and action packed game - if not, I will personally weed out Hagrid's yard. Now, without anymore rambling from me - although I do know my voice is music to your ears - I present to you the Slytherin team!"
Half the crowd breaks out in screams and cheers, and a fifth year sends a dragon made out of green streamers soaring around the stands and out into the field. One of the chasers on the Slytherin team hoots. Luna acts before he does, standing up and sending the dragon crashing headfirst into the student's chest with a flick of her wand.
"Keep tricks to the stands," she says, authority radiating off her tiny frame. The fifth year turns beet red and tries to shove the dragon underneath his seat. The streamers knot themselves around his legs, and Jongin watches in amusement as the student struggles, feet thrashing. Luna grins down at him from her seat a few levels up, and Jongin laughs.
"And here is the Hufflepuff team!" Baekhyun hollers. Jongin directs his attention back towards the field, cheers from both sides reverberating in his ears. Someone nearby waves a gigantic stuffed badger in the air.
The Quidditch coach strides onto the field, whistle clamped between her lips. The second it sounds, both teams kick off the ground, brooms pointed skyward as they shoot up high into the air.
Jongin doesn't expect Sehun to fly around to where he's seated, but Sehun does.
"I've been practicing that little trick," he says, exhilaration already evident in the shine of his eyes. "I don't think you'll have to save my life today."
"Good," Jongin replies nonchalantly, trying his best to ignore the number of eyes trained on his face. "I wasn't planning on doing so anyway."
Sehun laughs brightly and speeds back to the centre of the field - Baekhyun whistles into the microphone, the sound low and drawn out. Jongin glares at his friend and raises his wand threateningly.
"Hey Head Boy, we hope you said some cute, encouraging words to everyone's favourite chaser," Baekhyun sing-songs, voice clearly heard all around the stands. It's then and there that Jongin makes it his life's mission to bring hell to Byun Baekhyun.
Twenty-five minutes into the game, the score sits at 110 : 60, a comfortable lead for Hufflepuff. Slytherin has a good team, a fair match for the other houses, but even with their three chasers working together, they're no match for Sehun's skill. The other two Chasers on the Hufflepuff team have played alongside Sehun for a good number of years now, and they're finely tuned to the Chaser's thoughts and movements on the field. Sehun makes full use of their skills, tossing them the Quaffle with the confidence of a world leader. In return, they pull their weight and play out as many tactics as they can, and more often than not, their teamwork usually results in Sehun chucking the Quaffle through a goalpost with a happy beam and winks for his teammates.
No one will argue with the claim that Sehun's singlehandedly brought Hufflepuff to the forefront of the school's Quidditch league over his entire Quidditch career - his house has won the Cup four times, and consecutively since Sehun's fifth year. Jongin remembers the match against Gryffindor two years ago, where Sehun had score enough goals to offset the capture of the Snitch by Gryffindor's seeker, resulting in a score of 270 : 210. Gryffindor's goalkeeper had resigned that very night, but Sehun had sent the poor girl a gigantic gift basket the next day, and managed to convince her to return to the team.
What's weird is, whenever Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw play against each other, Sehun seems to take a back seat in the games, allowing the other two Chasers to lead instead. Of course, he cuts in when they're lagging behind, and they'll almost always win regardless. But Sehun plays... much nicer against the Ravenclaws. Or so it seems to Jongin, anyway.
On the field, Sehun's got the Quaffle tucked underneath his arm, shooting straight for the goalposts, and Jongin suddenly gets déjà vu. He remembers Sehun's reassurances, but he inches closer to the barrier anyway, fingers coming to grip his wand. When Sehun surges upright and kicks off his broomstick with both feet, Jongin rises onto his as well, wand at the ready.
But this time, Sehun lands firmly on his broomstick, fist pumping into the air. Jongin blinks as Sehun executes a tight turn around a post and high-fives a passing Beater. He's still standing when Sehun flies towards him, a proud grin plastered across his face.
"Told you," Sehun calls over the cheers, sounding a little breathless. "Nice to see you were worried, though." Sehun gestures to the grip Jongin still has on his wand before flying away. Jongin blushes and sinks back into his seat.
The match ends with a win for Hufflepuff. The score sits at a pretty 300: 210.
The weather's starting to get chilly. As a result, Jongin chooses to spend his free time studying in the library, claiming one of the large tables in the corner on the third floor. A fair number of the seventh years have chosen to forgo the N.E.W.T.s this year, which gives the remaining seventh years a lot more space and access to the books in the library.
It's a lot more intimidating, studying amongst all these tomes of knowledge, but Jongin likes warmth a little too much. Junmyeon, a fellow Ravenclaw prefect and a family friend, has taken to joining Jongin in the library on certain days, and the two will anguish over Advanced Arithmancy and Ancient Runes well into the night.
It's a Friday, and it's sunny out. His friends have all decided to lounge by the lake in an effort to soak up the last of the summer sun's rays, but unlike them, Jongin can't afford wasting precious studying time. The exams may seem far away, but time passes way too fast when you're not looking forward to something.
Nose buried in scrolls of parchment, Jongin doesn't look up from his notes until he runs out of ink. It's only then does he notice Sehun sitting at the table across from his, equally immersed in his own notes. His white quill sways from side to side as he writes, and there's a subtle crease between his brows.
Jongin doesn't want to disturb him, but he really needs ink.
"Hey," he starts. Sehun doesn't hear him, and Jongin is much too lazy to get out of his chair. So he folds a piece of paper into an aeroplane and sends it floating over to Sehun with a wave of his wand. Sehun looks up when the plane lands neatly by the nib of his quill.
"Oh," he says, clearly surprised to see Jongin there.
"I was here first," Jongin points out. "But that's not important. Do you have a spare pot of ink?"
Sehun gazes at him for an extra second or two before breaking out into a smile and nodding.
"You know what," he says, "I think I do."
He reaches into his bag, pulls out a small pot of ink and tosses it across their tables - Jongin catches it easily.
"Thanks," Jongin says, unscrewing the lid. Sehun's smile doesn't falter.
It takes Jongin a good five words to realise. Sehun had given him rainbow ink.
"Sehun," Jongin sighs, staring down at the shimmering letters. They look much too happy to be notes on Advanced Potions.
"It'll brighten up your notes!" Sehun exclaims. "Don't they look cheery?"
Jongin stares down at his notes. They do look rather cheery.
Jongin manages to skip three trips to Hogsmeade by the time Baekhyun intervenes and demands for his presence. Having studied so much over the past few weeks, Jongin willingly leaves his books in a pile on his bed and joins his friends, thicker robes pulled over his shoulders. He doesn't even have the mental energy to complain over Sehun's presence.
The walk to Hogsmeade is rather pleasant, filled with easy chatter and fresh air. That is, until Sehun starts annoying Jongin, the habit engraved too deeply in Sehun's life for him to consider doing otherwise.
A sharp, cold puff of air bounces off the back of his neck, and Jongin yelps so loudly he sends a stray dog scurrying away for cover.
"Stop," Jongin hisses. Sehun blinks innocently at him.
The next attack comes in the form of Sehun sprinting ahead of him until he's a fair distance away. Jongin barely manages to register the wand movement before he's tugged forward by his robes.
"Stop summoning my robes!" Jongin yells, breaking the spell with a flick of his own wand. Sehun chortles heartily and transfigures a fallen leaf into a flower crown. Jongin glares daggers into Sehun's face as Sehun places the crown on his head - his limbs are too entangled in his robes for him to fend Sehun off.
"Flower princess!" Sehun crows, throwing his hands up in the air before spinning Jongin around. The rest of their group laughs, and Chanyeol comments on how pretty the crown is when they finally catch up.
"I want one too," Jongdae says, hand outstretched. Sehun finds another leaf and turns it into another crown for him. Jongdae places it on his head proudly.
"Don't encourage him," Jongin groans, finally managing to straighten his robes. The flower crown stays snug on his head.
"But it is pretty," Junmyeon comments. Jongin simply looks over at him, betrayed.
"And why am I a princess," Jongin demands, rounding on Sehun.
"Because you're pretty too," Sehun replies, winking. He dashes down the road laughing, leaving a spluttering Head Boy in his wake. Baekhyun waggles his eyebrows at him, and Jongin slaps him hard across the chest.
It isn't until they return to the castle and to their respective common rooms does Jongin realise that the flower crown is still on his head, the white daisies still perfectly intact. Junmyeon keeps his thoughts to himself when Jongin hangs the crown up on his bedpost.
When Christmas break rolls around, Jongin watches his friends pack their trunks and listens to them trade vacation plans.
"Say hi to your parents for me," Jongin says, waving goodbye to Junmyeon. "Have a great vacation! Merry Christmas!"
Junmyeon waves frantically until his carriage disappears from view. Baekhyun nearly drops his trunk on Jongin's toes when he reaches out and pulls Jongin into a rib-crushing hug.
"I'll buy you tons of souvenirs," he promises seriously.
"Please don't buy me tons of souvenirs," Jongin says adamantly. "I can do without another dozen dead insects painted decoratively."
Baekhyun simply pats his cheek and heaves his trunk up into a carriage. A feeling of pure dread settles into the pit of Jongin's stomach - Baekhyun is definitely going to top those insects. Jongdae runs up behind them, trunk hovering in midair and following at a more leisurely pace.
"We need to gooooo," Jongdae cries. "I'm gonna be late!"
"You're not going to be late," Jongin says automatically. "Chanyeol is going to be late."
Sure enough, Chanyeol lumbers out of the castle right before the last carriage rolls away. He looks like he's just woken up - his hair is an absolute mess (more so than usual), and Jongin spies the sleeve of a shirt sticking out of his trunk.
"Did you just -"
Chanyeol grunts in response and heaves both his trunk and himself into the carriage. He barely remembers to wave goodbye to Jongin before his carriage rounds a corner.
Watching the carriage trundle away, Jongin shakes his head incredulously and heads back into the castle. The hallways are empty of students, and a good number of paintings have visited their other portraits in other countries for a short holiday.
There's only one other student in the library - a stressed fifth year - and a house elf busy with dusting the shelves when Jongin returns to his desk.
"Love your shoes," Jongin says, smiling at the house elf. The elf jingles the bells on her pointy shoes and smiles back happily.
"Thank you sir! Have a pleasant holiday!"
"You too," Jongin replies kindly. The elf hops down from her perch, duster in hand, and leaves with a happy wave. As Jongin settles back into his seat, the fifth year sighs heavily and blows her hair out of her face. Even the puff of air sounds miserable. Jongin hopes someone sends her a nice Christmas present.
The first thing Jongin does on Christmas Day is stuff all his textbooks into his trunk and pull on the festive sweater his parents had sent on Christmas Eve. Giving the bell hanging from the mistletoe by the fireplace a nice jingle, he skips down the (delightfully) empty hallways and bursts into the Great Hall with a grin on his face. It slides off instantly when he sees a very familiar figure seated smack dab in the middle of the Ravenclaw table.
“What are you doing here?” Jongin asks, dumbfounded. Sehun looks up from his breakfast, the tip of his Santa hat swinging down around his cheek.
“I’m… a student here?”
“Funny,” Jongin deadpans, taking a seat across from him. “Ha ha ha. I meant, what are you doing back in school during the break? Didn’t you leave?”
“Yeah,” Sehun replies, drenching Christmas tree shaped pancake with syrup. “Came back to squeeze in some study time.”
“You didn’t celebrate Christmas Day with your family?”
Sehun shrugs, swallowing a mouthful of food. “Spent the night with them yesterday, they were happy enough with that. They weren’t against the idea of me getting extra time to study either.”
Jongin grabs two muffins - in red and green muffin cups - and drops them on his plate.
“Well then,” he says, picking up his butter knife and sinking it in a dollop of chocolate spread. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Sehun answers. Jongin’s about to gift Sehun with a genuine smile when a stream of red and green erupts from the end of Sehun’s wand - Jongin feels a heavy weight on his lap and he looks down to see a large bushel of mistletoe stuck to his stomach.
“Bet you missed me,” Sehun continues, and grins.
Jongin leans forward and wipes the entire side of his butter knife down Sehun’s cheek, leaving behind a nice, thick streak of chocolate. Unfazed, Sehun swipes it off with a finger and licks the digit clean.
“It’s good,” he comments, “you should actually have some instead of giving me all. It’s sweet though, thanks.”
Jongin doesn’t even bother coming up with a comeback.
After breakfast, Jongin finds himself wandering through the hallways with Sehun by his side. He’d managed to convince (i.e. threaten) Sehun to unglue the mistletoe from his sweater, but Sehun had tied it to Jongin’s wrist as a compromise. Now, Jongin has to carry the damn thing everywhere.
“Um -”
“It’s snowing outside,” Sehun comments, relieving Jongin from the uncomfortable task of coming up with something to talk about. “Do you wanna build a snowman?”
“If you put a tune to that question, it would sound like a very obnoxious song from a kid’s movie,” Jongin replies, but gestures for Sehun to lead the way out into the courtyard. It’s the holiday season, he could do with being nice for a day. Besides, neither of them have anyone else in the castle to spend Christmas with.
Sehun graciously lifts the mistletoe out of Jongin’s arms and sets it against the castle walls, the base pillowed with fresh snow. Bending, Sehun scoops up a handful of snow and lets the flakes trickle through his fingers.
“It’s not good snowman-making snow,” Sehun sighs.
“It’s good snow-angel making snow,” Jongin suggests, and Sehun’s trademark grin slowly returns to his lips.
“So it is,” he says, and promptly flops down onto his back, robes stuck underneath his knees. His Santa hat slips off his head. After a few frantic sweeps of his arms and legs, Jongin helps him to his feet and they step back to take a look at Sehun’s creation.
“It looks like…”
“A deformed flying squirrel,” Sehun remarks. He seems a little too impressed with himself.
“You’re shitty at this,” Jongin laughs. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
He finds a nice spot and lies down carefully. The amusement is evident on Sehun’s face as he watches Jongin move his limbs, each sweep calculated and neatly executed.
“You know this is supposed to be fun, right? You’re taking the fun out of snow angels.”
Offended, Jongin scrambles to his feet - effectively ruining his angel - and reaches for Sehun, only to trip over his own toes and fall face first into snow. The laugh that floats into his ears sends bolts of heat straight to his cheeks.
“Stop laughing at me, or I swear I will -”
“You’re cute,” Sehun wheezes between laughs. “You know I was kidding about you taking the fun out of snow angels, right?”
“First pretty and now cute,” Jongin grumbles, getting to his feet and shaking snow off his hair. “Stop teasing me.”
“I wasn’t teasing,” Sehun says, sobering up quickly. “I meant and do mean everything I say. Unless it’s something unpleasant, like the snow angel thing.”
“...What does that mean?”
Sehun scrutinises him for a moment before straightening and clearing his throat. “Wait here. Just for a couple of minutes. Don’t go anywhere, okay? I’ll be right back.”
“You have two minutes,” Jongin says, and Sehun acknowledges that with a nod of his head before he turns and sprints back into the castle. Two minutes is better than none, and Jongin could really use that time to collect his scattered thoughts.
Sehun makes it back in record time, kicking up puffs of snow as he runs across the courtyard. He skids to a stop in front of Jongin, and there’s a neatly wrapped package in his hands.
“This is actually why I came back today,” Sehun tells him, a little breathless. “Merry Christmas.”
Jongin stares at the present Sehun’s holding out to him, and Sehun has to shake it before Jongin realises what he should be doing.
“Oh,” he utters, reaching out for the gift. “Thank you. I uh, didn’t -”
“It’s fine,” Sehun interjects. “I understand. Go ahead, open it.”
The wrapping paper features tiny cartoon dogs, and the ribbon is blue and silver in colour. Jongin tugs on the ribbon, and it falls apart easily.
He’s about to pull on a flap of the wrapping when a thought comes to mind.
“This isn’t a prank, is it? It’s not something that’ll pop out and scare the shit out of me when I open it or anything?”
“No,” Sehun answers, and there’s something about his tone of voice that sends a pang of guilt ringing out from Jongin’s heart.
Jongin unwraps the present as carefully as possible - the wrapping paper is really cute! - and it’s not until he’s pocketed the paper does he register what the gift is itself. It’s the limited edition version of the first book in the mystery series he and Sehun both read, and the author herself had signed the cover of it. She’d even written a Christmas greeting next to his name.
“She was holding a book signing in my city,” Sehun says, “and I thought you’d like it. I’m sure you already have the book, but -”
“I do,” Jongin murmurs, thumbing through the crisp pages. “I really do. Like it, I mean.”
“Great.” Sehun brushes his hair out of his eyes, and the movement catches Jongin’s attention. He notices the pink tinge to Sehun’s cheeks, but the observation soon slips from his mind when their gazes lock.
Sehun has eyes that really hold your attention when you truly look into them, Jongin muses, fingers tightening around the book. When Sehun licks his lips - one habit of his that Jongin’s noticed since their second year -, Jongin suddenly thinks of something.
“Sehun? Why’d you give me a huge bunch of mistletoe?”
“Because it’s a visual representation of how much I’ve been wanting to kiss you,” Sehun answers, emotions heavy behind every single word, and Jongin knows it’s the truth.
The second Jongin leans forward, part of him wants to chalk the decision up to it being Christmas Day and all, but the rest of him knows that that’s a futile lie. The book falls from his grasp and lands by his foot, sound muffled by the snow. As cold fingers meet warm necks, lips meet lips.
Unlike Sehun, Jongin never knew how much he wanted this until the moment he got it. Sehun kisses him carefully, like he’s giving Jongin the chance and space to test the waters - but Jongin doesn’t want to take it gently, not when Sehun’s holding his face so certainly and tenderly at the same time, and especially not when Sehun curls his tongue like that around his own.
When Sehun makes a soft sound in the back of his throat, not unlike the sound a content kitty makes, Jongin tightens his hold on Sehun’s hips and pulls back slightly, just enough to give his tingling lips a little breathing space.
“The book’s getting soggy,” Sehun mumbles, peering down at their feet. The slight movement causes their noses to brush, which in turn causes Jongin to blush.
“There’s a spell to deal with that,” Jongin replies, and shuffles closer to Sehun, who willingly reclaims Jongin’s bottom lip between his own.
By the time they head back inside the castle, the book’s soaked through and through. Jongin brings Sehun into the Ravenclaw common room, and Sehun kindly offers to dry the pages one by one as Jongin calms himself down underneath his blankets. The book is as good as new by the time Jongin reemerges from his room, hair tousled from his fingers constantly running through them.
“How are you feeling?” Sehun tries, fiddling with his wand.
“Good,” Jongin says truthfully, “but confused. Since when..?”
“Third year,” Sehun answers, sheepish. “You started growing into yourself, becoming more independent, confident, assertive. I think it’s partly because your acne started to die down? But honestly, even with the blemishes, I would’ve fallen for you regardless. There was something about you I admired, and over the years, that turned into something more I guess.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me? Why wait?”
“I thought I’d outgrow it,” Sehun says honestly. “I only became aware of the fact that outgrowing my feelings for you wasn’t going to happen anytime soon when we started our sixth year. Then this year, I realised we would be leaving this castle and going off on our different paths in less than a year’s time - I didn’t want to let you go that easily.”
“And you thought messing with me was a good way to achieve that?” There’s no real bite to Jongin’s words, and he reaches out to take one of Sehun’s hands in his.
“I grew up with a pair of twin sisters,” Sehun tells him. “I loved pulling their pigtails.”
“Did he do it did he do it did he do it???”
Baekhyun slips on a patch of spilled water and barrels right into Jongin’s side, knocking him right into Sehun’s lap. Jongin yells and dumps his goblet of pumpkin juice down Baekhyun’s robes. Baekhyun simply shrugs them off his shoulders and tosses it to Jongdae, who sighs heavily and gets to cleaning the mess off with his wand.
“Yes,” Jongin hisses, shoving Baekhyun off him and scrambling to sit upright, cheeks blazing. Sehun continues with his dinner like Jongin’s head hadn’t been in his crotch just moments ago.
“Finally!” Baekhyun hoots, reaching around to shake Jongdae vigorously.
“What are you talking about,” Jongin demands. Chanyeol pops up out of nowhere and takes a seat.
“We knew what he was going to do,” Chanyeol says. “And he really only had the balls to do it after we told him that you felt the same way about him. So you kinda have us to thank."
“How could you possibly know what I feel towards him? I didn’t even figure it out until he kissed me.”
“Sehun kissed him,” Baekhyun moans dramatically into Jongdae’s shoulder.
Chanyeol ignores Baekhyun's antics, pushing his plate aside and leaning across the table. Jongin pulls back slightly.
“Your ears go red whenever you see Sehun, or when someone mentions him. Your heart rate increases as well. Don't ask me how I know that. Your pupils dilate. He pulls pranks on you and you let him, although you can totally take him on in a duel. Your expression falls whenever you find out he’s not coming to Hogsmeade with us, and whenever you ditch us, you secretly hope he gets upset too, which is why you always ask if he’s going first. Every single time he plays Quidditch, be it a match or practice, you get antsy and worried and kinda bitchy until he’s safely on the ground. You know his favourite foods, colours, music, and the fact that he had a lingual brace and not normal braces, whatever the hell those are. You -”
“Please stop,” Jongin mutters, his entire face flaming.
“I’m not done,” Chanyeol insists. “And I’m sure Junmyeon has more to add. Junmyeon?”
“All I'm going to say is,” Junmyeon starts, “is that you kept the flower crown Sehun made for you. And you look at it every night.”
Kyungsoo chokes on a chunk of meat and Baekhyun coos so loudly in his ear that Jongin thinks he’s gone temporarily deaf. But on his other side, Sehun’s gazing at him with love-filled eyes, and Jongin thinks he can deal with his friends’ teasing for a little longer.
“What happened to the mistletoe?” Jongdae asks, pushing his half-eaten slice of apple pie away.
“I think we left it in the courtyard,” Sehun says. “Why?”
“Well, if you don’t want it anymore, I was thinking I could keep it. Could I?”
“Sure,” Jongin says slowly. “But why do you want to keep it?”
“Someone’s being a prissy princess,” Jongdae says purposefully. “Says that actions mean more than words. Whatever nonsense that is.”
Baekhyun snorts in derision and shovels the rest of Jongdae’s pie into his mouth.
“What does mistletoe have to do with that?”
“It’s supposed to show that I want to kiss him and only him,” Jongdae grumbles. “Although I’ve told him countless times already -”
“Actions mean more than words!” Baekhyun hollers, and Jongin groans into Sehun’s shoulder when Baekhyun’s voice bounces off the walls of the Hall.
Everyone turns towards them, and Jongin has no choice but to lift his head off of Sehun, square his shoulders, and say, “Ten points from Slytherin. For being a loud, prissy princess.”
An hour later, as Jongin drops Sehun off at the Hufflepuff common room before starting on his nightly rounds, he spots a Jongdae-shaped shadow lugging something into the castle from the courtyard. He smiles.
“Ten points to Gryffindor. For being so brave to date a certain Byun Baekhyun.”
Prompt: #142
Rating: PG-13
Length: ~8100 words
Side pairings: ninja!Baekhyun/Chen
Summary: HP!AU; in which Sehun loves to cause trouble in Jongin’s life, and Jongin (thinks he) really doesn’t like him.
Notes: To OP: I tweaked the prompt sliiiightly, but I hope you still like it! For the sake of the fic, please assume everyone is the same age. :)
Ever since that fateful day six years ago, Sehun and Jongin have been branded as Hogwart’s most infamous pair. As first years, Sehun had to deal with lingual braces - much thanks to his orthodontist mother - and stick straight brown hair, whereas Jongin had regular acne breakouts and unruly jet black hair that could seem to fight even the toughest of gels and hairsprays. The son of a mellow wizard and an upbeat muggle-born woman, Sehun dares to argue that he grew up with the best of both worlds. On the other hand, Jongin will never forgive his gifted parents for refusing to use magic in order to prevent his acne outbreaks for as long as he lives.
They day they met was a bustling September 1st, and Sehun had whizzed past Jongin, hair fluttering as he hung off the handle of his trolley, a single foot pushing off the ground. Jongin had wandered off, and was desperate to find his parents. They had told him to wait by the platform if he ever got lost - which is, obviously, a very common occurrence -, but where was the platform? Judging by the jet black owl in a cage on the hyperactive boy’s suitcase, the laughing child is sure to be a wizard, yes? So Jongin had approached him and tapped him shyly on the shoulder.
“Excuse me, but do you know where Platform 9 ¾ is?”
Sehun had blinked at him, as did his owl, before he broke out in a grin. Jongin will come to recognise this grin in record time.
“Right there,” Sehun had said, voice a little pitchy. Jongin, utterly relieved, had given Sehun a hug and thanked him profusely.
As it turned out, the platform Sehun had directed him to was Platform 7 ½. Poor Jongin nearly boarded the Orient Express that day. After his father had yanked him out of the Orient Express with a hand around his collar, Jongin vowed never to be nice to Sehun ever again.
Now, both seventh years, Sehun’s once again the Chaser for Hufflepuff’s Quidditch Team (has been for the past five years), and Jongin is Head Boy, Ravenclaw’s pride and joy. Sehun never fails to bother Jongin on a daily basis, and Jongin never fails to deduct a solid ten points from Hufflepuff in retaliation every single time.
It’s a Monday, and Jongin’s day is seemingly off to a bright start. His robes are miraculously wrinkle-free, and Peeves grants him a moment of hard laughter when he manages to dump a whole bucket of lake water onto Chanyeol the second they step out of the common rooms. Thankfully, the poltergeist had been nice enough to angle the water away from Jongin. Wheezing and doubling over with laughter, Jongin leaves Chanyeol to stew for a few moments before finally whipping out his wand and siphoning the murky water off his poor friend.
“Peeves should really have gotten you instead,” someone calls from behind them. Jongin rolls his eyes at the familiar voice and pockets his wand. Chanyeol, much too used to this to care, gingerly takes a step - his shoes are thankfully squelch-free.
“Shut up,” Jongin replies automatically as he strides resolutely ahead. He’s not about to let Oh Sehun ruin his fabulous Monday morning.
He’s barely taken ten steps when he feels wetness spreading from the small of his back. The last syllable of Aguamenti has just left Sehun’s lips when Jongin turns on his heel and lunges at the Chaser, who dodges easily and sprints away, laughter evident in his shake of his shoulders.
“Twenty points from Hufflepuff!” Jongin yells, peeling his soaking robes off and glaring after Sehun’s broad back as he dries them off. Chanyeol pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.
He barely makes it to Potions before class starts. By the time he’s dry and seated, Sehun’s already got his cauldron and scales out, and has his head ducked as he digs around his bag for his textbooks. Jongin sends another death glare towards the back of Sehun’s head. Sehun won't see it, but it makes Jongin feel better all the same.
“Good morning, class.” The professor, a little old lady with a head of shockingly blue hair, hobbles up to her podium and adjusts her glasses. “We’ll be continuing our studies into antidotes today - who can remind the class of Golpalott's Third Law?”
Jongin thrusts his hand up in the air, but Sehun bests him once again.
“Yes, Mr. Oh?”
"The antidote for a blended poison will be equal to more than the sum of the antidotes for each of the separate components."
“Excellent! Five points to Hufflepuff.”
Jongin seethes.
The thing is, Sehun doesn’t bother anyone but Jongin. The Head Boy will often witness Sehun help a poor first year carry a large pile of books down the hallway, give Quidditch players from other houses useful tips, and even gift house-elves with personalised ear-mitts during cold winters. It’s been this way for years, and Jongin can never understand why. Put it this way: Jongin wholeheartedly believes that Peeves will choose to protect Sehun over him.
During meals, there will always be a large group of enraptured students huddled around the Hufflepuff table, pressed close to Sehun as the bright-eyed boy talked about everything and anything. Jongin never watches long enough to catch tens of pairs of eyes flick over at him, Sehun’s included.
They’ve got a ton of mutual friends, and trips out to Hogsmeade will always see them in the same throng of people. Hogsmeade days are also when Sehun brings out his big guns. Exceptionally adept in Charms and Transfiguration, Sehun will often turn Jongin’s drink or food into poor, unsuspecting animals (usually canaries) or joke toys. And if that isn’t enough, nice walks will always turn into a mad fumble for balance when Sehun utilises the impediment jinx - before proceeding to catch Jongin right before he smacks his nose into the ground. During their fifth year, Jongin skipped out on most Hogsmeade outings, using the O.W.L.s as an excuse.
This year, however, Jongin’s plan of using the N.E.W.T.s doesn’t quite work out.
“You coming with us this Wednesday?”
“Can’t, I should start studying for -”
“Sehun’s not coming,” Baekhyun interrupts. The Slytherin gives him a pointed look. “He says he has to study.”
“Oh,” Jongin says, a little surprised. “Well. I guess I can come.”
Baekhyun rolls his eyes, says, "Remember to bring Junmyeon," before bounding off to join Jongdae in plotting the embarrassment of their next target. Jongin suspects it’s the mousy fourth year standing just a few metres away - the boy always acts like he owns the damn school. Sometimes, Jongin turns a blind eye to the two troublemakers, and this would be one of those times.
Gathering his books, Jongin crosses the courtyard, waving his wand casually and stopping a third year from bullying a poor second year with a well-chosen Jelly Legs Curse.
“Don’t let me see you do that again,” Jongin says, a smile plastered on his face. “Understood?”
The third year nods furiously up at him from his splayed position on the ground, cheeks flaming with embarrassment, and Jongin gestures for the second year to run along before lifting the curse.
“Ten points from Gryffindor,” Jongin mutters, and dismisses the student with a jerk of his head.
He settles into his seat in Advanced Arithmancy with an odd sense of calm. Perhaps that’s because Sehun isn’t in this class.
The first game of the Quidditch season is around the corner, and excitement levels amongst the students and faculty are already beginning to peak. The Caretaker's already cleaned the stands, which pleases Jongin greatly. He has a habit of finding a nice, high spot in the stands, usually behind the goalposts, to study for a few hours. Teachers have given him permission to be out there during his spare time, as long as he returns to the castle before night falls.
Jongin likes it out on the pitch - it’s serene, full of fresh air, and the sheer amount of space around him seems to lift the stress off his shoulders for a few hours. He loves Quidditch, he really does, but one thing he absolutely hates about the sport is the increase in the number of practice sessions as a game nears. Case in point: there’s a team making its way onto the pitch, and Jongin knows for a fact that it’s a last minute schedule. He checks the roster every day.
It’s the Hufflepuff team, and Jongin’s scowl deepens a little more. He fishes out the earplugs Kyungsoo had given him and all their friends after a trip into the Muggle world and stuffs them into his ears before turning his attention back towards Advanced Rune Translation. But earplugs can only do so much when you know there’re people on broomsticks flying about just metres away from you. So Jongin finds himself looking up now and again, spending a few precious minutes watching as Chasers swoop around the pitch, tossing the Quaffle back and forth between them, as the Seeker forms pretty patterns in the air in her goal to snatch the Snitch, and as the Beaters play a dangerous game of dodgeball with angry Bludgers.
When he breaks his concentration for the third (damnit Jongin!) time, he catches Sehun leaping off his broom in midair, Quaffle leaving his hand as he does so. Jongin’s heart leaps into his throat, lodging itself somewhere behind his vocal box, as Sehun seems to hover for a split second before punching the Quaffle into a goalpost. Jongin guesses that the tactic is for Sehun to be reunited with his broom after scoring, but Sehun’s leg misses the stick by a few centimetres.
Despite the distance between them, Jongin can spot the panic on Sehun’s face as the heel of his foot catches on the stick. Springing to his feet, Jongin ignores the painful clash that occurs between Advanced Rune Translation and Spellman's Syllabary as he pulls out his wand.
“Aresto Momentum!” He yells, his own voice muffled in his ears. The spell breaks Sehun’s fall just a few feet from the ground, and Jongin swallows hard enough to push his pounding heart back into its rightful cavity. Sehun’s teammates stare down, wide-eyed, at their star Chaser - one starts clapping slowly.
“You’re a goddamn idiot!” Jongin yells at the Chaser, breaking the spell and letting Sehun drop to the ground with a satisfying flump.
“Why were you watching me!” Sehun yells back, hair a halo around his head from where he’s spread out on the ground. Miffed and blushing ridiculously, Jongin sends Sehun’s broomstick careening off the pitch and towards the castle.
That Wednesday, Jongin finds himself dragged out of the castle by Chanyeol and Jongdae, Baekhyun and Junmyeon walking leisurely behind him. He doesn’t understand why they’re insisting on manhandling him out - he’d already agreed to go with them, didn’t he?
“Why,” Jongin asks, looking pointedly at Chanyeol’s grip on his arm.
“In case you think your books are better company than us,” Chanyeol replies. “This is a safety measure. Until we’re out of school grounds.”
“They are better company than you,” Jongin points out, and Baekhyun promptly chucks something at the back of his head. Wincing, Jongin shakes the pain off.
“I promise I won’t run away,” Jongin continues, “just please let me go. My circulation is cutting off.”
Chanyeol reluctantly lets go of Jongin’s arm, but Jongdae settles for hooking his arm around the crook of Jongin’s.
“It’s a compromise,” Jongdae points out, and Jongin has to agree.
Jongin spends a healthy hour or so with his friends in The Three Broomsticks, nursing a bottle of Butterbeer. Kyungsoo joins halfway through, bringing with him a glass of red currant rum with an exceptionally large decorative umbrella. Madam Rosmerta always did like him.
“I need to make a stop at the post office,” Jongin says, draining his Butterbeer. “Mum’s been nagging at me to send letters. She keeps comparing me to Junmyeon, who apparently is very good at sending letters on the regular.”
“We’ll be at Zonko’s,” Baekhyun says. “Need to stock up.”
He shares a grin with Jongdae, and Jongin sighs as he stands. “You really shouldn’t be telling me about the shenanigans you two get up to. I’m the last person you should tell.”
“Friendships are more important than Head Boy duties, are they not?” Baekhyun presses, and Jongin chooses not to answer. He flees from the store before Baekhyun can throw something else at him.
Five minutes later, he watches his letter fly off into the sky, attached securely around the leg of a Great Grey Owl. Not wanting to deal with the crowd in Zonko’s, he decides to pay Scrivenshaft's a visit. Thanking the storekeeper on his way out, he heads down the street towards the quill shop. He passes Spintwitches along the way, and when he glances inside the store, he spots a familiar face. Sehun doesn’t see him, too engrossed with whatever’s on the shelf before him.
Isn’t Sehun supposed to be in school?
Jongin chooses to forget about it, however, stepping inside Scrivenshaft and closing the door behind him. What are the chances they’ll end up running into each other? He spends a good fifteen minutes inside the store, picking out two quills and a few rolls of parchment. When he exits the shop and passes by Spintwitches again, Sehun’s nowhere to be seen.
He makes an impromptu decision to head inside Tomes and Scrolls - his sister had informed him of a new addition to the series of mystery books he’s been obsessed with lately. The sheer number of tightly packed books makes his mission a little harder, and as he rounds a tight corner inside the store, he walks right into someone’s back.
“Sorry - oh. It’s you.”
“Does that mean I don’t get the apology?” Sehun asks, eyebrow raised. Flustered, Jongin momentarily forgets how close they are.
“No, that’s not what I - forget it. You still get the apology; but I already said it, so don’t ask me to say it again.”
Sehun snorts, but he doesn’t drag the matter on. Instead, he flips a page of the book he’s holding, and Jongin realises with a start that it’s the one he’s looking for.
“Where’d you find that?”
“Right here,” Sehun replies, pointing to the shelf in front of them. Jongin scans the rows and rows of book spines, but he doesn’t spot another copy.
“Great,” he mutters to himself. Just his luck. He leaves the store without another word to Sehun; the taller boy doesn’t stop him.
They make it back to Hogwarts a few minutes before the curfew kicks in, and he dumps his purchases on his bed haphazardly before rushing off to start his duties. The rest of his day passes by quite uneventfully, save for Sehun levitating a row of pumpkin pasties in front of him during dinner time and instructing them to fly around the four tables. Jongin snatches one out of the air as it shoots past him and sends Sehun a warning glare over his shoulder. The Chaser obediently lowers the pasties back onto their plate and raises his hands in surrender. A few students around him giggle, and Sehun grins that grin of his. Jongin rolls his eyes.
It’s late when he gets back to his bed, hair fluffy and skin toasty from a hot bath. His things are exactly how he’d left them, but there’s a package by his bed that is unfamiliar.
Unknotting the twine used to hold the wrapping in place, Jongin pushes aside the paper and reveals a book. The book. The one he’d wanted but lost it to Sehun. It’s the same one - the small rip at the top right corner of its cover tells Jongin so.
Picking it up, Jongin flips it over and thumbs through the pages. Looks normal. He sets it down and reaches for his wand.
“Specialis Revelio,” he utters. Nothing happens. “Hmm.”
Reading it once wouldn’t hurt, Jongin reasons with himself. He’ll just return to Sehun after - and ask why Sehun had given it to him in the first place. There has to be a reason, no? An ulterior motive? Maybe Sehun will use this act of ‘kindness’ as leverage for whatever prank he’ll pull on Jongin in the future. Jongin frowns at the thought, eyes trained on the book. He should just give it back before he falls for whatever trap this is, but he really wants to read it.
He ends up falling asleep at 2:30 in the morning, completed book tucked underneath his pillow.
During breakfast the next day, Jongin makes a beeline for Hufflepuff’s table the second he walks through the doors of the Great Hall. His strides are purposeful, and some students inch away from him as he crosses - Jongin winces mentally and tries to school his features into a pleasant expression. Hey, he hasn’t had his morning coffee yet, alright?
“Oh Sehun,” he calls, and several heads swivel in his direction. Sehun himself looks up at him with mild curiosity, not bothered whatsoever by Jongin’s presence. Jongin stops a few feet away and thrusts the book into Sehun’s face. “I’m done. You can have it back.”
“You do know the definition of ‘gift’, don’t you?” Sehun drawls, pushing a chunk of buttered toast into his mouth and chewing methodically. “It means you aren’t supposed to return the item to the sender.”
Jongin colours. “It’s too early for your sass,” he retorts. “And why did you give this to me in the first place? Did you jinx it? Am I supposed to do something for you now?”
At that, Sehun sets his fork down with an affronted look on his face. “Excuse me, I am perfectly capable of gift-giving without expecting anything in return. If you don’t want the book, then that’s another story. Here, give it back to -”
“I didn’t say that,” Jongin interrupts, hiding the book behind his back. “It’s just… I’m not used to an act of kindness by you towards me.”
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Sehun quips, turning around and taking a swig of orange juice from his goblet.
Jongin narrows his eyes suspiciously at Sehun, but lets the matter of the book drop. As he heads back towards the Ravenclaw table, he feels something cold run through his hair for a split second. Spinning around on his heel, he points imperiously at Sehun.
“What did you do to me,” he demands, sifting fingers through his hair. It feels normal.
“Punishment for not appreciating the kindness of my heart,” Sehun calls back, grinning.
Chanyeol holds up an empty plate. Jongin takes a glance at his reflection and shrieks. His hair is streaked with over ten different colours, and there’s a horrible chunk of puke green hanging right in front of his eyes.
“Lasts for 24 hours!” Sehun hollers. Jongin sighs and slumps down next to Chanyeol. His friend pats him on the back and offers him a cinnamon roll.
On the day of the first Quidditch match of the season, the whole castle is positively buzzing with excitement. Students of all years have face paint streaked up and down their cheeks, some running down their necks and into the collar of their robes. Hardcore fans have magicked their hair to match the colours of the teams playing - Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Everyone looks the same, house scarves draped around their shoulders and proudly made signs and slogans waving high in the air.
If there was something that could dull the joys of Quidditch for Jongin, it would be his Head Boy duty of having to usher students to the stands whilst keeping them in line, and not to mention preventing students from the two rival houses from jinxing and hexing each other into the next dimension.
"Move along!" He yells, wand poised and ready to use in one hand as he jabs at the Quidditch pitch with his other. "The match hasn't started, and I do not want to dock points from the losing house before it even knows that it's lost."
The hoard of students around him quieten down somewhat, and Jongin exchanges pained looks with Luna, the Head Girl.
He manages to pull off his duties without throwing out a single spell at the occasional insolent first or second year, and he gives himself a mental pat on the back when he finally takes a seat in the stands. The chest holding the key pieces of the game is placed squarely in the middle of the field, and if Jongin squints, he can spot the handles of the chest trembling slightly - the bludgers are definitely eager to released from their confines.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jongin spots Baekhyun step up to the commentator's podium. His friend, with green paint smudged all over his cheeks, makes a grand show of clearing his throat. A few professors seated behind him try their best not to snort.
"Welcome, magical beings of Hogwarts!" Baekhyun booms, voice magnified tenfold. Jongin winces at the volume, and reminds himself to bring his earplugs along for the next game. "Today marks the day of a new Quidditch season, with a match between the sweet, sweet Hufflepuffs and the sly, sly Slytherins. It will surely be an interesting and action packed game - if not, I will personally weed out Hagrid's yard. Now, without anymore rambling from me - although I do know my voice is music to your ears - I present to you the Slytherin team!"
Half the crowd breaks out in screams and cheers, and a fifth year sends a dragon made out of green streamers soaring around the stands and out into the field. One of the chasers on the Slytherin team hoots. Luna acts before he does, standing up and sending the dragon crashing headfirst into the student's chest with a flick of her wand.
"Keep tricks to the stands," she says, authority radiating off her tiny frame. The fifth year turns beet red and tries to shove the dragon underneath his seat. The streamers knot themselves around his legs, and Jongin watches in amusement as the student struggles, feet thrashing. Luna grins down at him from her seat a few levels up, and Jongin laughs.
"And here is the Hufflepuff team!" Baekhyun hollers. Jongin directs his attention back towards the field, cheers from both sides reverberating in his ears. Someone nearby waves a gigantic stuffed badger in the air.
The Quidditch coach strides onto the field, whistle clamped between her lips. The second it sounds, both teams kick off the ground, brooms pointed skyward as they shoot up high into the air.
Jongin doesn't expect Sehun to fly around to where he's seated, but Sehun does.
"I've been practicing that little trick," he says, exhilaration already evident in the shine of his eyes. "I don't think you'll have to save my life today."
"Good," Jongin replies nonchalantly, trying his best to ignore the number of eyes trained on his face. "I wasn't planning on doing so anyway."
Sehun laughs brightly and speeds back to the centre of the field - Baekhyun whistles into the microphone, the sound low and drawn out. Jongin glares at his friend and raises his wand threateningly.
"Hey Head Boy, we hope you said some cute, encouraging words to everyone's favourite chaser," Baekhyun sing-songs, voice clearly heard all around the stands. It's then and there that Jongin makes it his life's mission to bring hell to Byun Baekhyun.
Twenty-five minutes into the game, the score sits at 110 : 60, a comfortable lead for Hufflepuff. Slytherin has a good team, a fair match for the other houses, but even with their three chasers working together, they're no match for Sehun's skill. The other two Chasers on the Hufflepuff team have played alongside Sehun for a good number of years now, and they're finely tuned to the Chaser's thoughts and movements on the field. Sehun makes full use of their skills, tossing them the Quaffle with the confidence of a world leader. In return, they pull their weight and play out as many tactics as they can, and more often than not, their teamwork usually results in Sehun chucking the Quaffle through a goalpost with a happy beam and winks for his teammates.
No one will argue with the claim that Sehun's singlehandedly brought Hufflepuff to the forefront of the school's Quidditch league over his entire Quidditch career - his house has won the Cup four times, and consecutively since Sehun's fifth year. Jongin remembers the match against Gryffindor two years ago, where Sehun had score enough goals to offset the capture of the Snitch by Gryffindor's seeker, resulting in a score of 270 : 210. Gryffindor's goalkeeper had resigned that very night, but Sehun had sent the poor girl a gigantic gift basket the next day, and managed to convince her to return to the team.
What's weird is, whenever Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw play against each other, Sehun seems to take a back seat in the games, allowing the other two Chasers to lead instead. Of course, he cuts in when they're lagging behind, and they'll almost always win regardless. But Sehun plays... much nicer against the Ravenclaws. Or so it seems to Jongin, anyway.
On the field, Sehun's got the Quaffle tucked underneath his arm, shooting straight for the goalposts, and Jongin suddenly gets déjà vu. He remembers Sehun's reassurances, but he inches closer to the barrier anyway, fingers coming to grip his wand. When Sehun surges upright and kicks off his broomstick with both feet, Jongin rises onto his as well, wand at the ready.
But this time, Sehun lands firmly on his broomstick, fist pumping into the air. Jongin blinks as Sehun executes a tight turn around a post and high-fives a passing Beater. He's still standing when Sehun flies towards him, a proud grin plastered across his face.
"Told you," Sehun calls over the cheers, sounding a little breathless. "Nice to see you were worried, though." Sehun gestures to the grip Jongin still has on his wand before flying away. Jongin blushes and sinks back into his seat.
The match ends with a win for Hufflepuff. The score sits at a pretty 300: 210.
The weather's starting to get chilly. As a result, Jongin chooses to spend his free time studying in the library, claiming one of the large tables in the corner on the third floor. A fair number of the seventh years have chosen to forgo the N.E.W.T.s this year, which gives the remaining seventh years a lot more space and access to the books in the library.
It's a lot more intimidating, studying amongst all these tomes of knowledge, but Jongin likes warmth a little too much. Junmyeon, a fellow Ravenclaw prefect and a family friend, has taken to joining Jongin in the library on certain days, and the two will anguish over Advanced Arithmancy and Ancient Runes well into the night.
It's a Friday, and it's sunny out. His friends have all decided to lounge by the lake in an effort to soak up the last of the summer sun's rays, but unlike them, Jongin can't afford wasting precious studying time. The exams may seem far away, but time passes way too fast when you're not looking forward to something.
Nose buried in scrolls of parchment, Jongin doesn't look up from his notes until he runs out of ink. It's only then does he notice Sehun sitting at the table across from his, equally immersed in his own notes. His white quill sways from side to side as he writes, and there's a subtle crease between his brows.
Jongin doesn't want to disturb him, but he really needs ink.
"Hey," he starts. Sehun doesn't hear him, and Jongin is much too lazy to get out of his chair. So he folds a piece of paper into an aeroplane and sends it floating over to Sehun with a wave of his wand. Sehun looks up when the plane lands neatly by the nib of his quill.
"Oh," he says, clearly surprised to see Jongin there.
"I was here first," Jongin points out. "But that's not important. Do you have a spare pot of ink?"
Sehun gazes at him for an extra second or two before breaking out into a smile and nodding.
"You know what," he says, "I think I do."
He reaches into his bag, pulls out a small pot of ink and tosses it across their tables - Jongin catches it easily.
"Thanks," Jongin says, unscrewing the lid. Sehun's smile doesn't falter.
It takes Jongin a good five words to realise. Sehun had given him rainbow ink.
"Sehun," Jongin sighs, staring down at the shimmering letters. They look much too happy to be notes on Advanced Potions.
"It'll brighten up your notes!" Sehun exclaims. "Don't they look cheery?"
Jongin stares down at his notes. They do look rather cheery.
Jongin manages to skip three trips to Hogsmeade by the time Baekhyun intervenes and demands for his presence. Having studied so much over the past few weeks, Jongin willingly leaves his books in a pile on his bed and joins his friends, thicker robes pulled over his shoulders. He doesn't even have the mental energy to complain over Sehun's presence.
The walk to Hogsmeade is rather pleasant, filled with easy chatter and fresh air. That is, until Sehun starts annoying Jongin, the habit engraved too deeply in Sehun's life for him to consider doing otherwise.
A sharp, cold puff of air bounces off the back of his neck, and Jongin yelps so loudly he sends a stray dog scurrying away for cover.
"Stop," Jongin hisses. Sehun blinks innocently at him.
The next attack comes in the form of Sehun sprinting ahead of him until he's a fair distance away. Jongin barely manages to register the wand movement before he's tugged forward by his robes.
"Stop summoning my robes!" Jongin yells, breaking the spell with a flick of his own wand. Sehun chortles heartily and transfigures a fallen leaf into a flower crown. Jongin glares daggers into Sehun's face as Sehun places the crown on his head - his limbs are too entangled in his robes for him to fend Sehun off.
"Flower princess!" Sehun crows, throwing his hands up in the air before spinning Jongin around. The rest of their group laughs, and Chanyeol comments on how pretty the crown is when they finally catch up.
"I want one too," Jongdae says, hand outstretched. Sehun finds another leaf and turns it into another crown for him. Jongdae places it on his head proudly.
"Don't encourage him," Jongin groans, finally managing to straighten his robes. The flower crown stays snug on his head.
"But it is pretty," Junmyeon comments. Jongin simply looks over at him, betrayed.
"And why am I a princess," Jongin demands, rounding on Sehun.
"Because you're pretty too," Sehun replies, winking. He dashes down the road laughing, leaving a spluttering Head Boy in his wake. Baekhyun waggles his eyebrows at him, and Jongin slaps him hard across the chest.
It isn't until they return to the castle and to their respective common rooms does Jongin realise that the flower crown is still on his head, the white daisies still perfectly intact. Junmyeon keeps his thoughts to himself when Jongin hangs the crown up on his bedpost.
When Christmas break rolls around, Jongin watches his friends pack their trunks and listens to them trade vacation plans.
"Say hi to your parents for me," Jongin says, waving goodbye to Junmyeon. "Have a great vacation! Merry Christmas!"
Junmyeon waves frantically until his carriage disappears from view. Baekhyun nearly drops his trunk on Jongin's toes when he reaches out and pulls Jongin into a rib-crushing hug.
"I'll buy you tons of souvenirs," he promises seriously.
"Please don't buy me tons of souvenirs," Jongin says adamantly. "I can do without another dozen dead insects painted decoratively."
Baekhyun simply pats his cheek and heaves his trunk up into a carriage. A feeling of pure dread settles into the pit of Jongin's stomach - Baekhyun is definitely going to top those insects. Jongdae runs up behind them, trunk hovering in midair and following at a more leisurely pace.
"We need to gooooo," Jongdae cries. "I'm gonna be late!"
"You're not going to be late," Jongin says automatically. "Chanyeol is going to be late."
Sure enough, Chanyeol lumbers out of the castle right before the last carriage rolls away. He looks like he's just woken up - his hair is an absolute mess (more so than usual), and Jongin spies the sleeve of a shirt sticking out of his trunk.
"Did you just -"
Chanyeol grunts in response and heaves both his trunk and himself into the carriage. He barely remembers to wave goodbye to Jongin before his carriage rounds a corner.
Watching the carriage trundle away, Jongin shakes his head incredulously and heads back into the castle. The hallways are empty of students, and a good number of paintings have visited their other portraits in other countries for a short holiday.
There's only one other student in the library - a stressed fifth year - and a house elf busy with dusting the shelves when Jongin returns to his desk.
"Love your shoes," Jongin says, smiling at the house elf. The elf jingles the bells on her pointy shoes and smiles back happily.
"Thank you sir! Have a pleasant holiday!"
"You too," Jongin replies kindly. The elf hops down from her perch, duster in hand, and leaves with a happy wave. As Jongin settles back into his seat, the fifth year sighs heavily and blows her hair out of her face. Even the puff of air sounds miserable. Jongin hopes someone sends her a nice Christmas present.
The first thing Jongin does on Christmas Day is stuff all his textbooks into his trunk and pull on the festive sweater his parents had sent on Christmas Eve. Giving the bell hanging from the mistletoe by the fireplace a nice jingle, he skips down the (delightfully) empty hallways and bursts into the Great Hall with a grin on his face. It slides off instantly when he sees a very familiar figure seated smack dab in the middle of the Ravenclaw table.
“What are you doing here?” Jongin asks, dumbfounded. Sehun looks up from his breakfast, the tip of his Santa hat swinging down around his cheek.
“I’m… a student here?”
“Funny,” Jongin deadpans, taking a seat across from him. “Ha ha ha. I meant, what are you doing back in school during the break? Didn’t you leave?”
“Yeah,” Sehun replies, drenching Christmas tree shaped pancake with syrup. “Came back to squeeze in some study time.”
“You didn’t celebrate Christmas Day with your family?”
Sehun shrugs, swallowing a mouthful of food. “Spent the night with them yesterday, they were happy enough with that. They weren’t against the idea of me getting extra time to study either.”
Jongin grabs two muffins - in red and green muffin cups - and drops them on his plate.
“Well then,” he says, picking up his butter knife and sinking it in a dollop of chocolate spread. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas,” Sehun answers. Jongin’s about to gift Sehun with a genuine smile when a stream of red and green erupts from the end of Sehun’s wand - Jongin feels a heavy weight on his lap and he looks down to see a large bushel of mistletoe stuck to his stomach.
“Bet you missed me,” Sehun continues, and grins.
Jongin leans forward and wipes the entire side of his butter knife down Sehun’s cheek, leaving behind a nice, thick streak of chocolate. Unfazed, Sehun swipes it off with a finger and licks the digit clean.
“It’s good,” he comments, “you should actually have some instead of giving me all. It’s sweet though, thanks.”
Jongin doesn’t even bother coming up with a comeback.
After breakfast, Jongin finds himself wandering through the hallways with Sehun by his side. He’d managed to convince (i.e. threaten) Sehun to unglue the mistletoe from his sweater, but Sehun had tied it to Jongin’s wrist as a compromise. Now, Jongin has to carry the damn thing everywhere.
“Um -”
“It’s snowing outside,” Sehun comments, relieving Jongin from the uncomfortable task of coming up with something to talk about. “Do you wanna build a snowman?”
“If you put a tune to that question, it would sound like a very obnoxious song from a kid’s movie,” Jongin replies, but gestures for Sehun to lead the way out into the courtyard. It’s the holiday season, he could do with being nice for a day. Besides, neither of them have anyone else in the castle to spend Christmas with.
Sehun graciously lifts the mistletoe out of Jongin’s arms and sets it against the castle walls, the base pillowed with fresh snow. Bending, Sehun scoops up a handful of snow and lets the flakes trickle through his fingers.
“It’s not good snowman-making snow,” Sehun sighs.
“It’s good snow-angel making snow,” Jongin suggests, and Sehun’s trademark grin slowly returns to his lips.
“So it is,” he says, and promptly flops down onto his back, robes stuck underneath his knees. His Santa hat slips off his head. After a few frantic sweeps of his arms and legs, Jongin helps him to his feet and they step back to take a look at Sehun’s creation.
“It looks like…”
“A deformed flying squirrel,” Sehun remarks. He seems a little too impressed with himself.
“You’re shitty at this,” Jongin laughs. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
He finds a nice spot and lies down carefully. The amusement is evident on Sehun’s face as he watches Jongin move his limbs, each sweep calculated and neatly executed.
“You know this is supposed to be fun, right? You’re taking the fun out of snow angels.”
Offended, Jongin scrambles to his feet - effectively ruining his angel - and reaches for Sehun, only to trip over his own toes and fall face first into snow. The laugh that floats into his ears sends bolts of heat straight to his cheeks.
“Stop laughing at me, or I swear I will -”
“You’re cute,” Sehun wheezes between laughs. “You know I was kidding about you taking the fun out of snow angels, right?”
“First pretty and now cute,” Jongin grumbles, getting to his feet and shaking snow off his hair. “Stop teasing me.”
“I wasn’t teasing,” Sehun says, sobering up quickly. “I meant and do mean everything I say. Unless it’s something unpleasant, like the snow angel thing.”
“...What does that mean?”
Sehun scrutinises him for a moment before straightening and clearing his throat. “Wait here. Just for a couple of minutes. Don’t go anywhere, okay? I’ll be right back.”
“You have two minutes,” Jongin says, and Sehun acknowledges that with a nod of his head before he turns and sprints back into the castle. Two minutes is better than none, and Jongin could really use that time to collect his scattered thoughts.
Sehun makes it back in record time, kicking up puffs of snow as he runs across the courtyard. He skids to a stop in front of Jongin, and there’s a neatly wrapped package in his hands.
“This is actually why I came back today,” Sehun tells him, a little breathless. “Merry Christmas.”
Jongin stares at the present Sehun’s holding out to him, and Sehun has to shake it before Jongin realises what he should be doing.
“Oh,” he utters, reaching out for the gift. “Thank you. I uh, didn’t -”
“It’s fine,” Sehun interjects. “I understand. Go ahead, open it.”
The wrapping paper features tiny cartoon dogs, and the ribbon is blue and silver in colour. Jongin tugs on the ribbon, and it falls apart easily.
He’s about to pull on a flap of the wrapping when a thought comes to mind.
“This isn’t a prank, is it? It’s not something that’ll pop out and scare the shit out of me when I open it or anything?”
“No,” Sehun answers, and there’s something about his tone of voice that sends a pang of guilt ringing out from Jongin’s heart.
Jongin unwraps the present as carefully as possible - the wrapping paper is really cute! - and it’s not until he’s pocketed the paper does he register what the gift is itself. It’s the limited edition version of the first book in the mystery series he and Sehun both read, and the author herself had signed the cover of it. She’d even written a Christmas greeting next to his name.
“She was holding a book signing in my city,” Sehun says, “and I thought you’d like it. I’m sure you already have the book, but -”
“I do,” Jongin murmurs, thumbing through the crisp pages. “I really do. Like it, I mean.”
“Great.” Sehun brushes his hair out of his eyes, and the movement catches Jongin’s attention. He notices the pink tinge to Sehun’s cheeks, but the observation soon slips from his mind when their gazes lock.
Sehun has eyes that really hold your attention when you truly look into them, Jongin muses, fingers tightening around the book. When Sehun licks his lips - one habit of his that Jongin’s noticed since their second year -, Jongin suddenly thinks of something.
“Sehun? Why’d you give me a huge bunch of mistletoe?”
“Because it’s a visual representation of how much I’ve been wanting to kiss you,” Sehun answers, emotions heavy behind every single word, and Jongin knows it’s the truth.
The second Jongin leans forward, part of him wants to chalk the decision up to it being Christmas Day and all, but the rest of him knows that that’s a futile lie. The book falls from his grasp and lands by his foot, sound muffled by the snow. As cold fingers meet warm necks, lips meet lips.
Unlike Sehun, Jongin never knew how much he wanted this until the moment he got it. Sehun kisses him carefully, like he’s giving Jongin the chance and space to test the waters - but Jongin doesn’t want to take it gently, not when Sehun’s holding his face so certainly and tenderly at the same time, and especially not when Sehun curls his tongue like that around his own.
When Sehun makes a soft sound in the back of his throat, not unlike the sound a content kitty makes, Jongin tightens his hold on Sehun’s hips and pulls back slightly, just enough to give his tingling lips a little breathing space.
“The book’s getting soggy,” Sehun mumbles, peering down at their feet. The slight movement causes their noses to brush, which in turn causes Jongin to blush.
“There’s a spell to deal with that,” Jongin replies, and shuffles closer to Sehun, who willingly reclaims Jongin’s bottom lip between his own.
By the time they head back inside the castle, the book’s soaked through and through. Jongin brings Sehun into the Ravenclaw common room, and Sehun kindly offers to dry the pages one by one as Jongin calms himself down underneath his blankets. The book is as good as new by the time Jongin reemerges from his room, hair tousled from his fingers constantly running through them.
“How are you feeling?” Sehun tries, fiddling with his wand.
“Good,” Jongin says truthfully, “but confused. Since when..?”
“Third year,” Sehun answers, sheepish. “You started growing into yourself, becoming more independent, confident, assertive. I think it’s partly because your acne started to die down? But honestly, even with the blemishes, I would’ve fallen for you regardless. There was something about you I admired, and over the years, that turned into something more I guess.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me? Why wait?”
“I thought I’d outgrow it,” Sehun says honestly. “I only became aware of the fact that outgrowing my feelings for you wasn’t going to happen anytime soon when we started our sixth year. Then this year, I realised we would be leaving this castle and going off on our different paths in less than a year’s time - I didn’t want to let you go that easily.”
“And you thought messing with me was a good way to achieve that?” There’s no real bite to Jongin’s words, and he reaches out to take one of Sehun’s hands in his.
“I grew up with a pair of twin sisters,” Sehun tells him. “I loved pulling their pigtails.”
“Did he do it did he do it did he do it???”
Baekhyun slips on a patch of spilled water and barrels right into Jongin’s side, knocking him right into Sehun’s lap. Jongin yells and dumps his goblet of pumpkin juice down Baekhyun’s robes. Baekhyun simply shrugs them off his shoulders and tosses it to Jongdae, who sighs heavily and gets to cleaning the mess off with his wand.
“Yes,” Jongin hisses, shoving Baekhyun off him and scrambling to sit upright, cheeks blazing. Sehun continues with his dinner like Jongin’s head hadn’t been in his crotch just moments ago.
“Finally!” Baekhyun hoots, reaching around to shake Jongdae vigorously.
“What are you talking about,” Jongin demands. Chanyeol pops up out of nowhere and takes a seat.
“We knew what he was going to do,” Chanyeol says. “And he really only had the balls to do it after we told him that you felt the same way about him. So you kinda have us to thank."
“How could you possibly know what I feel towards him? I didn’t even figure it out until he kissed me.”
“Sehun kissed him,” Baekhyun moans dramatically into Jongdae’s shoulder.
Chanyeol ignores Baekhyun's antics, pushing his plate aside and leaning across the table. Jongin pulls back slightly.
“Your ears go red whenever you see Sehun, or when someone mentions him. Your heart rate increases as well. Don't ask me how I know that. Your pupils dilate. He pulls pranks on you and you let him, although you can totally take him on in a duel. Your expression falls whenever you find out he’s not coming to Hogsmeade with us, and whenever you ditch us, you secretly hope he gets upset too, which is why you always ask if he’s going first. Every single time he plays Quidditch, be it a match or practice, you get antsy and worried and kinda bitchy until he’s safely on the ground. You know his favourite foods, colours, music, and the fact that he had a lingual brace and not normal braces, whatever the hell those are. You -”
“Please stop,” Jongin mutters, his entire face flaming.
“I’m not done,” Chanyeol insists. “And I’m sure Junmyeon has more to add. Junmyeon?”
“All I'm going to say is,” Junmyeon starts, “is that you kept the flower crown Sehun made for you. And you look at it every night.”
Kyungsoo chokes on a chunk of meat and Baekhyun coos so loudly in his ear that Jongin thinks he’s gone temporarily deaf. But on his other side, Sehun’s gazing at him with love-filled eyes, and Jongin thinks he can deal with his friends’ teasing for a little longer.
“What happened to the mistletoe?” Jongdae asks, pushing his half-eaten slice of apple pie away.
“I think we left it in the courtyard,” Sehun says. “Why?”
“Well, if you don’t want it anymore, I was thinking I could keep it. Could I?”
“Sure,” Jongin says slowly. “But why do you want to keep it?”
“Someone’s being a prissy princess,” Jongdae says purposefully. “Says that actions mean more than words. Whatever nonsense that is.”
Baekhyun snorts in derision and shovels the rest of Jongdae’s pie into his mouth.
“What does mistletoe have to do with that?”
“It’s supposed to show that I want to kiss him and only him,” Jongdae grumbles. “Although I’ve told him countless times already -”
“Actions mean more than words!” Baekhyun hollers, and Jongin groans into Sehun’s shoulder when Baekhyun’s voice bounces off the walls of the Hall.
Everyone turns towards them, and Jongin has no choice but to lift his head off of Sehun, square his shoulders, and say, “Ten points from Slytherin. For being a loud, prissy princess.”
An hour later, as Jongin drops Sehun off at the Hufflepuff common room before starting on his nightly rounds, he spots a Jongdae-shaped shadow lugging something into the castle from the courtyard. He smiles.
“Ten points to Gryffindor. For being so brave to date a certain Byun Baekhyun.”