No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls and Brooms (part 1/2)
no pads, no helmets, just balls and brooms
sehun/suho
11690 words; g
written for bulletthestars for runandgun! :D it's happy potter au, based around quidditch!
They meet on the Quidditch field, because, really, where else would they meet?
Joonmyun’s got half of the field booked for a good three hours, when, sometime past five thirty, he hears the jeers and taunts from the Slytherins coming down the trail.
They don’t mean harm - not usually, at least - Joonmyun’s friends with loads of Slytherins, Lu Han namely, who happens to be captain and head chaser on their Quidditch team. Being loud and confident and getting on other people’s nerves just happens to be a common Slytherin trait, and quite frankly, Hufflepuffs have never reacted well to overconfidence, showoffs, or those kids who sit in the back of class and charm pieces of paper to fold themselves and fly around the room. Brats. That’s the word he’s looking for. (Again, not that every Slytherin is a brat, it’s just that-)
“Joonmyun!” a loud voice booms, and he sighs in defeat. Sunyoung shoots him a pitiful glance from the goal hoop and follows Joonmyun down to the ground.
“What do you want, Lu Han?” Joonmyun asks moodily. Normally he’s bright and on top of things, but their match against Ravenclaw is merely a week away, and they really need all the practice they can get. He’d even skipped his advanced Herbology class. Twice.
Lu Han inhales deeply, and Joonmyun knows what’s coming. He won’t falter this time though, definitely not. Especially not when Sunyoung’s watching him, with careful, practiced eyes. She’ll make a good captain one day - just needs the right sort of training, and Joonmyun doesn’t want to make a bad example of himself by being a pushover of a leader. Leaders aren’t supposed to be pushovers.
“Joonmyunnie,” Lu Han cooes, “I know I said I would let you practice peacefully next time our practices overlapped, but we really need the full field this time.”
“Full field?” Sunyoung asks, and Joonmyun puts a hand up to stop her from continuing. But really, full field?
“Our match against Ravenclaw is coming up, we need more practice than you guys. What do you need the full field for?”
The rest of the Slytherin team starts to shuffle a bit, and then someone is pushed forward, and Joonmyun is looking at a boy who’s a few miserable inches taller than he is, with ebony colored hair and a scowl that has Joonmyun wondering whether he did something or if he really doesn’t want to be here. “Sehun!” Lu Han introduces, wrapping an arm around said boy’s shoulder. “Fourth year. He’s our new seeker. We have high hopes for him. Actually, he’s a new student. He’s from Durmstrang.”
“He doesn’t look it,” someone says from behind them, and everyone turns to see Choi Minho, fellow seventh year Hufflepuff, and head Beater. By now the rest of the Hufflepuff team has gathered to see what the fuss is. (And most likely to help Joonmyun with whatever argument he’s having, because he tends to need that a lot.)
He has a point though. Sehun is, quite frankly, tiny. He’s scrawny - thin, almost frail looking legs, and a slender waist, with almost no muscle on his arms. Aren’t Durmstrang boys supposed to be really muscular and jocky, or something? Sehun doesn’t look like either. He does have the scowl down, though.
“You don’t look like a Hufflepuff,” Lu Han counters, and Minho shoots back a snappy, “You don’t look like a Slytherin!”
Joonmyun clears his throat. “Why are you fighting? You haven’t even said why you need the field yet.”
“Right. So anyway,” Lu Han says sweetly, but he gives something akin to a glare in Minho’s general direction as he pulls Sehun into a tight half-hug, “Sehunnie is our newest seeker. You heard about how Sooyoung got pulled out because her Transfiguration grades were dropping, right?”
“No?”
“I don’t think you were supposed to say that, ge.”
The voice comes from Sehun, and everyone, including Lu Han, looks surprised at his interjection.
His voice is nice, Joonmyun thinks somberly. It’s not too masculine, but it’s nice and rumbly with this slight feminine touch to it.
“Oh,” Lu Han mumbles. “Right. I probably wasn’t supposed to say that, actually. But, whatever, it’s happened; so she can’t play and Sehun’s been wanting to join the Quidditch team for the longest time, and he has all the credentials to skip auditions, so we took him in. It was a perfect switch, actually, Sehun and Sooyoung both being seekers.”
“Almost too perfect,” someone says, and Lu Han’s eyes flash with something a little too dangerous.
“So, Joonmyunnie, we really need the full field to practice. Please, can you let us use it? I swear, it’ll be the last time.”
“You said that last time,” Joonmyun huffs.
“Yes, but,” Lu Han says, and gestures dramatically at Sehun. “New things happened. I couldn’t help it! And you know we can’t just play without a seeker.”
That is very true. Seeker is one of the most important positions in Quidditch. Why is Joonmyun so easy to sway? With great hesitance (and utmost desperation in his eyes), he looks at his teammates for help.
“If Sehun is really Durmstrang’s prodigy, I’m sure you can wait an hour or two,” Yixing says from somewhere behind him.
“It’ll be dark by then,” Lu Han counters. “Have you ever played Quidditch in the dark? It sucks.”
He has, and it does, and dammit, Joonmyun needs to stop being so empathetic. He’s about to give up right there when another Slytherin pushes through the crowd to the front. It’s Yoo Youngjae, chaser, a fourth year Joonmyun once gave detention for setting the ends of Daehyun’s cloak on fire. They haven’t been on very good terms since, but they could probably be on worse terms.
“How about we just play each other?” he suggests. Well, Joonmyun would like to think it’s a suggestion, but it sounds more like an order.
It’s not a bad order though. He has a better chance of this than keeping to their original half of the field plan. Lu Han looks pleased with the idea, too. “I’ll agree to that, if my team is okay with it,” Joonmyun says, and gives a quick look over to the six other students standing behind him. When no one gives a look of discontent (except for Minho, but that’s because he usually has a look of discontent when Lu Han is in a five meter radius of him), Joonmyun gives Lu Han a nod. “All clear here.”
Lu Han doesn’t turn to see his teammates. Instead, he grins, big and bright, and says, “We should probably unbuckle that bludger, then.”
Hufflepuff loses.
On one hand, they put up a pretty good fight. Up until Sehun caught the snitch, it was 40 to 50. Yixing managed to block a record amount of quaffles from getting into the hoops, and Dongwoo and Jieun showed some amazing teamwork. Minho might not have sent Soojung to the Hospital Wing by hitting her in the face with a bludger, but everyone is more surprised she still has a face. Then again, Soojung is the first female beater in fifteen years.
Sehun, though. For someone who doesn’t look like he’s from Durmstrang, he certainly plays like he is.
Joonmyun doesn’t know how many times Sehun has almost crashed into him head on, and it’s almost as he if just knows that Joonmyun will be the one to divert paths first. They get exceptionally close once, and if it wasn’t for the quaffle that was thrown in between them that alerted Joonmyun, they probably would have had a head on collision.
Aside from that though, Sehun is exceptionally brutal when he plays. He has no problems charging ahead or shoving Joonmyun to the side to get a in front. When they first spotted the snitch, Sehun dived headfirst through the action, ignoring even Minho who was trying to get to a bludger in front of him.
Regardless, they lose, and Lu Han makes a big show of it by jumping onto Sehun’s back and cheering loudly. Joonmyun can practically feel Minho’s glare from the sky above him, and as they march back to Hufflepuff headquarters, he overhears Minho mumbling about Lu Han’s lack of credentials and how he shouldn’t be Slytherin captain. Joonmyun would help calm him down if he wasn’t feeling so moody himself.
The sigh he lets out reverberates in the Hufflepuff common room, and at least Sunyoung has the decency to ask him if he’s okay (though, really, everyone else is just used to it). “Okay,” Joonmyun says, about ten minutes later, “we need to go over what went wrong in that game. And better ourselves. Also, Minho, no hitting people in the face with bludgers.”
“I wasn’t aiming for Soojung.”
“It’s okay, Minho; we all know who you were aiming for,” says Dongwoo with a half hearted pat on the back, and Minho glowers at the floor. It’s not his fault Soojung was in Lu Han’s way.
“Right,” Joonmyun mumbles, and then clears his throat. “Well, uh, down to business.”
After their abnormally long Quidditch practice, Joonmyun barely has the energy to get out his prefect badge and pin it to his school uniform. He ends up putting it on anyway, because he’s Kim Joonmyun, and that’s what he does.
Tonight is an unusually quiet night, which Joonmyun is grateful for, because he’d really rather not be screaming at underclassmen now. But he’s also smarter than that, and knows that quiet either means a) everyone has gotten more clever at hiding their schemes, or b) something extremely big is on its way. After all, there’s never a dull day in a castle slash boarding school for magical students. Joonmyun knows this especially, when he’s forced to go back to the boring, mundane life his muggle parents live in the summer.
There’s a flash of light at the edge of vision, and when Joonmyun takes a few cautious steps down the hall in its direction, it turns off, and Joonmyun almost laugh. Is this a first year? Any upperclassman would have known by now that using light spells is the easiest way to get caught. He gives props to Youngjae, though, who managed to levitate himself above everyone for a good half an hour two years ago. This obviously isn’t Youngjae, though, and as Joonmyun lights up his wand, he’s almost perplexed to find an empty corridor.
Almost, because Joonmyun isn’t stupid, he knows how charms work. He quickly pulls out his wand and says in the most authorial voice he can manage, “Show yourself.”
They don’t.
Joonmyun sighs and wonders if he should even try to persuade them to come out. It’s been a long day, and he’s tired. But then he sees it: a blurred, transparent outline somewhere under the torch a meter or two away from him. Whoever it is is standing completely still, and when Joonmyun turns around, that’s when he hears the light step of footsteps.
“Reveal Yourself.”
He sees the tips of brown hair, dark robes, and then there is Sehun, standing there in all of his ex-Durmstrang glory.
“How did you do that?” Sehun asks, not looking very much like a student who was caught roaming around the school past curfew.
“It’s three thirty,” Joonmyun groans. “Is that all you have to say? What are you even doing out here? You’re not going to like, going to go play Quidditch by yourself, are you?”
“Why?” Sehun asks, “Did you want to join me or something?”
Joonmyun can’t help the dumbstruck expression that shows on his face. “You were really going to go down to the Quidditch field? Even if you got past me, and the dozen other prefects inside the castle, Hakyeon and Taekwoon are the ones patrolling the field tonight.”
Sehun shrugs. “Security seemed lighter than Durmstrang. I did it there.”
Joonmyun rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry we’re not as as strict as your magic military school. I’m still going to have to give you detention.”
“Magic military school?” Sehun pauses for a second, then his eyes widen in realization, and he turns to Joonmyun with an almost too serious face. “You’re Hufflepuff, and your parents are muggles.”
Joonmyun has been caught offguard more times today than he’s been this whole year. “How did you know that?”
Sehun shrugs. “Seemed like it. The air and all.”
“The air and all?” Joonmyun asks. It’s only after he sees Sehun’s annoyed face that he realizes the implication. “Oh,” he mutters. Then louder. “Oh. Sorry I’m not a proper enough wizard for you, I guess I didn’t have enough asshole in my blood to be Slytherin.”
This time, Joonmyun knows that he’s rendered Sehun speechless. Maybe one more comment and he can officially verbally crush all of Sehun’s hopes and dreams, but he can hear footsteps just around the corner, and then there’s Howon, the Slytherin sixth year.
“Howon,” Joonmyun calls out, smiling, “You came just in time. I caught one of your kind running about.”
“Oh, Sehun, what’re you doing out here?”
“Exploring,” Sehun mumbles.
He can explore a Professor’s office on Tuesday from three to five if he’s that dedicated,” Joonmyun says cheerfully, and Sehun glares at him.
Howon laughs. “Sorry Joonmyun, but don’t worry, I’ve got him.”
“I hope so.”
Sehun turns to give Joonmyun one final watch-your-back look before he trots off after Howon.
Joonmyun sighs. This has been a long day.
Sunday nights mean the Great Hall is overcrowded with students trying to finish homework for classes the next day. After helping a poor Gryffindor girl with her Herbology homework, he’s set up camp at the Ravenclaw table with Jonghyun, a seventh year Gryffindor, and Joohyun, a sixth year Ravenclaw.
“So we add in... two rat claws?” Joonmyun asks, then peers over to look at Joohyun’s notebook.
“I still don’t understand how alchemists went to Africa and discovered Quidditch instead,” Jonghyun says idly as he flips through pages of his textbook. He’s been opening to random sections of the textbook and reading aloud various things that have nothing to do with Alchemy. “Can we just ask- hey! Nick!”
“He dropped out of Alchemy; he’s taking Ghoul studies instead. Also, two rat claws and a liverwrot,” Joohyun clarifies, and Joonmyun pens it down.
“Don’t you usually have Quidditch practice at this hour?” Jonghyun asks.
“We have an exam tomorrow,” Joonmyun states, and sighs when Jonghyun laughs.
“But it’s Quidditch. Do or die, right? And you’re a seventh year. You only have one chance, you know,” Jonghyun says wisely as he bewitches a piece of paper to fold into a person and start tap dancing. Two Ravenclaws giggle and Kyungsoo looks over with a gaze that tells Jonghyun to kindly fuck off.
It’s the match against Ravenclaw.
Joonmyun is having something of a panic attack in the locker room. They have a mere five minutes before they fly out into the arena and fuck, Joonmyun is their leader, he should be calming down everyone’s nerves. Not the opposite.
“We can do this,” he says meekly to a not-listening Yixing. “We can do this, right?”
“Right,” Minho replies adamantly. He offers Joonmyun a smile and a hand and very roughly pulls him onto his feet. Joonmyun stumbles. “We can do this.”
“Yes,” Joonmyun says, and wonders why Minho isn’t leader. “We can. We. We’re gonna win this.”
“Yes,” says Sunyoung, from somewhere on his far right.
“Ravenclaw is gonna lose so badly they’ll spend the next two weeks calculating where they made a wrong turn and how fast their throws should have been,” Dongwoo gloats.
Everyone laughs, and Joonmyun feels the tension slowly leaving his body. He silently thanks whatever higher power there is for giving him such a wonderful team. He couldn’t have possibly asked for better teammates. Everything they do, they do together.
Joonmyun grins at Jieun and motions for everyone to come closer. “Okay. We can do this. We’re Hufflepuff - the best house ever created. No one will know what hit them.” A pause, then. “Not literally. Minho.”
Minho rolls his eyes.
“Let’s go Hufflepuff!”
Everyone cheers, and the flare crackling signals for them to enter the arena. Unlike other teams, where they let out their seeker last, Joonmyun enters ahead of everyone else, as their captain.
He stands across from Minseok, Ravenclaw’s captain, and they both give each other a handshake before going back to their brooms.
The game starts off awfully.
Minho drops the bludger, and it nearly knocks Jieun off of her broom, and Baekhyun makes a lewd comment about slippery hands and balls that gets him whacked on the head by one of the professors.
Jongup drops his bat and hits Dongwoo on the head, who almost crashes into Jaeseop. Sunyoung is called out for fouling Minseok (she didn’t), and by the first quarter, Yixing has already let three quaffles and a bludger past him and into the goal rings.
By the game’s half point, the snitch has yet to be seen by anyone, and Joonmyun is left to try to help out his teammates when he can and fly around the stadium hoping to see a shimmer of gold. Jihyun awaits at the top of the arena, which, Joonmyun thinks much later, is probably a much better strategy than flying around uselessly, but in turn, the game only turns around when the snitch flies into his face. Literally.
It flies right into his eye, and Joonmyun is probably going to have a black eye to show for it later, but that’s it - that’s the snitch, and without thinking, Joonmyun takes off after it. He hears the roar of Hufflepuffs behind him, and hey, that feels pretty good, but then Jihyun is right next to him, and the rest of the game is a fight to see who can grab the snitch first.
The spotting of the snitch makes for some type of catalyst for the rest of the team, because suddenly the score starts to go up. Sunyoung hits three quaffles into the goal rings in a row, and Baekhyun declares his undying love for her before someone hits him over the head again.
The end of the game sort of isn’t very fair. At least, that’s what Joonmyun thinks. No one really seems to agree with him.
In the final ten minutes of the game, the snitch stops midair and whizzes back the way it came from, right inbetween Joonmyun and Jihyun. It catches both of the them off guard, and they both swivel off course on their broomsticks, disoriented by the sudden change.
Jihyun is the one that heads towards the snitch first, with Joonmyun a few feet behind. The snitch stops for a second, and so does Joonmyun’s heart, because Jihyun is so, so close, close enough that she reaches her hand out to grab it.
Except it zooms straight up into the air, and Joonmyun takes off after it, Jihyun still slightly stunned by the change of direction.
He can hear all the Hufflepuffs chanting his name as he chases after the snitch, and groans in frustration, because it’s right there, and he actually has a chance of bringing Hufflepuff to the finals and he doesn’t want to fuck this up. They’ve all worked so hard. Joonmyun’s worked so hard - seven years of failures and almost could haves and would haves and goddamnit he’s definitely not going to give up here.
And then the chanting erupts into cheers, and Joonmyun realizes that he’s gripping the snitch in his hand, and Baekhyun is giving another one of his really inappropriate remarks, and his team is yelling and screaming and happiness.
Wow, Joonmyun thinks, with a sudden calamity. They’ve won.
He doesn’t even remember reaching the ground, but he knows that once his feet have something solid to stand on, and his broom is lying on the ground, there are six pairs of arms wrapped around him in some weird sort of team hug.
The way back to the common room is also hazy, like Joonmyun’s had one too many butterbeers, and he feels really good right now. There’s Jieun hanging off his arm on one side, and Yixing jumping on his back behind him, and Dongwoo is making loud howling noises in his ear. But this is good. Joonmyun likes this.
He goes through the next few days in a lost sort of euphoria. Logically, he knows he’ll have to get over himself soon, because their next match is the finals, against either Gryffindor or Slytherin, depending on who wins their match. But for now, he’ll revel in the pride it gives him.
The fun comes to an end when he’s faced with a grouchy Sehun and his Herbology professor, telling Joonmyun that they don’t have a Herbology course at Durmstrang, so he’s far behind the other students and needs tutoring.
“You didn’t have Herbology at Durmstrang?” Joonmyun asks curiously as they sit down in the far corner of the library. “Isn’t that in the O.W.L.s though?”
Sehun shrugs. “We learn them in our fifth year.”
“All of it?” Joonmyun asks. “Everything that’s going to be on the O.W.Ls in one year? Can you do that?”
Sehun shrugs again. “I guess it’s not that important.”
Joonmyun finds offense at this, considering he wants to be a Herbologist in the future. But he also doesn’t want to makes this any more complicated - if it’s even complicated - so he says nothing. He thinks the last time they met Joonymun chewed him out enough. “Whatever you want to think,” Joonmyun says simply and flips open Sehun’s textbook. “So, what do you know so far? Let’s start with a poppy plant, that’s a beginner flower. Okay. What’s are some properties of poppy plants?”
Sehun blinks at him. “Um. Healing?”
Joonmyun stares back. “It’s an opium.”
Sehun makes a noncommittal “okay,” and turns the page in his textbook. Joonmyun groans. This is going to take a long time. But that’s okay, because Joonmyun is Joonmyun, and Joonmyun wouldn’t be Joonmyun if he didn’t pull through with this. After all, Joonmyun is a pretty likable guy, and an excellent teacher.
He is either not as excellent a teacher as he thought or Sehun is an awful student. “No, that’s- A Puffapod is a plant that makes pink seeds. They have beans! A Shrivelfig is purple. Don’t you use that in Potions class?”
Sehun groans. “Herbology is stupid. None of this is even important.”
“That,” Joonmyun snaps, “is a definite lie. It’s stupid to you because you’re not trying. It sucks to listen to my voice, I know, but you literally have to learn three years worth of material to get caught up-”
“Sehun!”
They both look up at the sound of Lu Han’s voice, who is approaching their table with a peculiar expression on his face. “Shouldn’t you be at Charms now?”
Sehun gives Lu Han that same stupid face, except this time it’s a little less hate infused, and he turns to the clock on the wall. It’s 3:40, which, if Joonmyun recalls, is ten minutes past normal class time.
Sehun jumps out of his seat, scaring both Lu Han and Joonmyun, and rushes to grab his books. “Thanks,” he says to Lu Han, a little breathlessly. “Bye.”
He doesn’t spare Joonmyun a glance, which Joonmyun thinks is a bit rude, because hello, he’s been tutoring Sehun for the past hour and forty minutes. He deserves some recognition here, okay.
Lu Han laughs and waves him off, and they both watch the little fourth year sprint off to his next class. “He’s cute,” Lu Han sighs, and takes Sehun’s seat. “Remember when we were fourth years?”
Joonmyun grins. “Remember that time you went into the abandoned girls bathroom and Moaning-”
“Stop!” Lu Han shouts, and someone nearby shushes him rather loudly. “This is talk about Sehun behind his back time, not reminiscing Lu Han’s embarrassing moments.”
“Every moment you do is embarrassing, so it’s okay,” Joonmyun says, smiling, and Lu Han glares back at him.
“Are you sure you’re Hufflepuff? Sometimes I think you’re the real Slytherin here.”
“Yeah, because I’m just so cunning and evil,” Joonmyun drawls. “I definitely fit.” After a pause, he adds, “Maybe Sehun would like me more if I was Slytherin.” He turns to Lu Han, who is giving him another peculiar glance, and leans back defensively. “What? He hates me - I don’t know what I did, but he doesn’t like it.”
“Joonmyun...” Lu Han says slowly. “Sehun doesn’t hate you. Actually, he... I probably shouldn’t be saying this, actually.”
Joonmyun stares back at him. “You told everyone Sooyoung failed Transfiguration. This can’t possibly be worse.”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Lu Han points out, and Joonmyun rolls his eyes. He can’t even think of one time where Lu Han thought about the wellbeing of others, unless Lu Han wasn’t directly benefitting from it. “Right, well,” Lu Han takes a deep breath and fixes Joonmyun with a haughty glance.
“I’m pretty sure Sehun is mildly Infatuated with you. With a capital I.”
“Infa- what?”
“Dude,” Lu Han says, and waves his wand at the books on the desk. As Lu Han talks, they all start to sort themselves into neat piles, and Joonmyun makes a mental note to ask Lu Han what spell that is. “All he talks about is you. I mean, it’s not very pleasant stuff. Joonmyun is really lame, and I can believe he caught the snitch, especially against Jihyun, of all people. Does he ever get any sleep? He tutors Herbology, is captain of the Quidditch team, and is prefect? He has these really ugly bags under his eyes.”
“I-”
This is all Very New Information to Joonmyun, who had thought Sehun hated him from day one. Well. It still sounds like he hates him, but in an almost obsessively denial sort of way.
“Yeah, so, I didn’t actually tell you that,” Lu Han says. “In case you were wondering.”
“Right.”
“Oh!” Lu Han sits up. “I remembered why I came here. So Slytherin is versing Gryffindor in two days, and so I wanted to have a practice match against either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. And since you beat Ravenclaw - which, awesome match, by the way, good job - I thought it’d be better if we versed you. Full field, tomorrow?”
Joonmyun nods. “Sure thing.”
It’s seven in the morning, aka way too early for anyone to be awake, as observed by Yixing who almost faceplants into his porridge, and Amber, a fifth year Gryffindor who is knocked out on Kevin’s shoulder.
Minseok, a fellow seventh year, and a Ravenclaw, has always been a morning person, and Lu Han has always been a Minseok person, so they’re the only ones who stroll into the Great Hall completely awake and sit themselves down by Joonmyun.
“This is the Gryffindor table,” an underclassmen snaps, and Lu Han gives her a smile that has her gathering her books and scuttling away.
“Are we on for tomorrow, Joonmyun?” Lu Han asks, and Joonmyun gives him a yawn and a nod.
“On for what?” Yixing asks, and turns to Lu Han for explanation.
“Practice match. Slytherin versus Hufflepuff.”
“What?”
Lu Han and Minseok look behind Joonmyun, and Joonmyun slowly turns around to see Sehun standing there, eyebrows raised.
“Yup,” Lu Han says, making no effort to elaborate.
Joonmyun thinks about yesterday, and what Lu Han told him in the library. He smiles brightly, and Sehun visibly flinches. “I’ll see you, then,” Joonmyun says, and Sehun’s face instantly contorts into something akin to a grimace.
“Whatever,” he grumbles and strides past him abruptly, knocking into Yixing’s shoulder, who does spill his porridge this time, all over him and Joonmyun. A bright red ball falls out of his pocket and away onto the floor.
“Ugh, gross,” Joonmyun groans and takes out his wand. “Scourgify,” he says, and the mess disappears.
“Woah,” Minseok says, bright eyed, “teach me that sometime, yeah?”
“Sure,” Joonmyun replies, then points to the red ball. He gives a bright smile, effectively scarring Sehun again, and asks politely, “Sehun, can you pick up Yixing’s remembrall, please?”
It’s amazing how Joonmyun can notice everything now. Sehun flushes, and if Joonmyun didn’t know better, he’d think he was so angry he got red in face. Sehun bends down and tosses the remembrall somewhere in Joonmyun and Yixing’s direction before walking away in a huff. Joonmyun and Lu Han exchange a look and burst into laughter.
“You are most definitely a Slytherin,” Lu Han says, and Joonmyun shrugs.
“Your remembrall’s red though,” Minseok points out to Yixing, looking very concerned.
Yixing looks up, in a daze, still not completely awake. “Hm? Oh, yeah. Must’ve forgotten my Charms homework again.”
“We did that together, though,” Minseok mumbles. “What else could it be?”
“Quidditch practice later today?” Joonmyun asks.
“Oh!” Yixing says suddenly, “That’s true. Also I remembered I have to write two parchments worth on Unicorns for Care of Magical Creatures.”
Minseok and Lu Han share a glance when the remembrall stays red.
“It’s usually red,” Joonmyun remarks offhandedly. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
The practice match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff comes a lot quicker than Joonmyun had hoped it would come. Sehun still has that same stonefaced expression on, and now Joonmyun’s not sure if he has that face because Joonmyun’s here or if that is really just his regular face.
Yixing and Lu Han come in together, talking about something Joonmyun hopes is reason enough to be half an hour late, because him and most of the two teams have been bored out of their minds. He doesn’t get to ask though, because Sehun automatically latches onto Lu Han and Yixing walks over to Joonmyun. Minho and Lu Han are already glaring at each other from their posts, as Joonmyun ushers everyone to get into their places to start the match. They’ve dragged poor Seokjin to take score for them, thanks to Howon, who may or may not have blackmailed him to be down here. He sits with Taehyung, a third year, and gets ready for the two teams to start the game.
“Are you guys ready?” Seokjin calls out, and Lu Han and Joonmyun both gives thumbs up. “Okay, then, start!”
Joonmyun is proud of himself to say he doesn’t shriek pathetically when Sehun zooms forward and almost crashes into him.
He thinks he’s learned a little bit about Sehun’s playing style. He’s aggressive, to the point of violence, but never quite crossing the line. It’s one giant game of chicken, with Sehun pushing and Joonmyun dodging.
Behind them, Minho and Lu Han are at it again. Without any referees, Minho is free to toss as much bludgers at Lu Han as he wishes, and Lu Han retaliates by hitting them back. As far as Quidditch matches go, this hasn’t been Joonmyun’s most fair game to date.
Jongup nearly dodges a bludger thrown by Junhong, and Soojung’s already gotten two quaffles into the goal rings.
Joonmyun doesn’t get to concentrate too hard on what’s going around him, because Sehun is still cutting him off every chance he gets, and Joonmyun spends more time trying not to get knocked off his broom than looking around for the snitch.
“Sehun!” someone screams, and both Joonmyun and Sehun pause to turn around and see Youngjae by the announcer poll. He’s pointing at something a few meters away from him, and Joonmyun realizes with horror that the snitch is somewhere in that direction.
Sehun slams into his side and past him, and Joonmyun, stunned, flies off course, hitting Jongup in the back before he regains control of his broom and follows after Sehun.
It’s actually rather impressive, Joonmyun will think later, how quickly Sehun catches the snitch. It practically flies into his hand.
He’s not really impressed now, thought. More moody than anything. Slytherin wins with a whopping 220 to 30, and Lu Han makes sure everyone in a ten meter radius knows. Again.
Joonmyun isn’t really a sore loser, nor is he an angry person, but he’s almost sure Sehun is looking directly at him when he tells Soojung with a pitiful face, “I guess Ravenclaw had a bad day.”
That is rather infuriating, and Joonmyun makes sure Jonghyun knows this when they’re sitting next to each other in class.
“Remember when you said that thing about Sehun being enamored with you?” Jonghyun asks, and Joonmyun nods, because yeah, he told Jonghyun that too when they were in Alchemy together. “Yeah, well it sounds like it’s going the opposite way, too.”
“Oh,” Joonmyun says, then pauses. “Wait, no, that’s definitely not-” but Jonghyun’s not listening to him anymore. Instead, he’s using his wand to charm Hyorin’s pencil to draw hearts on her parchment. After he’s done, he looks back to Joonmyun and blinks when Joonmyun stares at him.
“What?”
“You’re an awful friend, is all.”
“You know that’s not true,” Jonghyun calls out after him when class is dismissed. He turns around to use his wand to draw a heart in the air at Hyorin and runs after Joonmyun. “All you’ve told me is that Sehun hates you and talks about you all the time, but seriously, all you do is talk about Sehun all the time. Unless you get off on assholes," Jonghyun says, and pauses. "If you know what I mean." He waggles his eyebrows, and Joonmyun wants to jump off the staircase. It hasn’t moved yet, and if takes a step forward, he’ll land in front of the History of Magic classroom. Seems fitting. But he’s on his way to Arithmancy, and that’s also sort of also extremely unappealing. “Don’t forget our study date!” Jonghyun yells as he runs down the staircase to his Potions class.
Joonmyun climbs the staircase when it comes with great difficulty, mainly because he can’t stop thinking about what Jonghyun said, and excuse him, Joonmyun does not get off on assholes. Well, maybe one type, but Joonmyun would prefer not to word it like that. It’s actually very logical that Joonmyun thinks about Sehun a lot, considering he’s the new Drumstang kid - he bets everyone talks about him a lot. Hogwarts almost never gets transfer students, and someone like Sehun, who looks nothing like a Durmstrang student, would be quite the discussion topic. Also, he’s the new seeker of Slytherin, which makes him Joonmyun’s rival.
His thoughts are cut off when he bumps into someone, and all of their and Joonmyun’s books fly everywhere. “Oh god,” Joonmyun groans, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t-”
He recognizes a Herbology textbook falling off the edge of the staircase before he looks up to see Sehun glaring at him. Wow. This sucks.
“Oh,” Joonmyun says dumbly. “Sehun. Uh, sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Sehun replies, a little hesitantly, and Joonmyun raises an eyebrow. That’s new. “I just....” he looks over the staircase railing and frowns. “How many floors down is that?”
Joonmyun laughs. “Don’t worry about that. What’d you drop?”
Sehun frowns. “Um. My Herbology textbook, a few parchments, my quill...”
“Alright,” Joonmyun says, and takes out his wand. “Accio Sehun’s fallen stuff!”
“What’s that?” Sehun asks, but takes a step back and nearly falls backwards when Joonmyun’s holding his Herbology textbook and his quill and parchments whirl back onto the stairs.
Joonmyun raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never used a summoning spell before?”
Sehun gapes unabashedly before he demands, “Teach me!”
“I’m your Herbology tutor, not your charms tutor.”
“You’re my tutor, that’s already enough.”
“I’m not teaching anything until you can tell me what the properties of Mandrakes are,” Joonmyun says curtly and he walks around Sehun. “Now hurry up, you’re late to class.”
It’s a regular Thursday morning in the great Hall, as far as most regular mornings in a magic school go. Joonmyun, Lu Han, and Yongguk are at Slytherin’s table again, going over their Arithmancy homework together when the chanting starts. It’s a dull tone for the most part, until it gets closer and closer, and everyone already knows what it is before it comes. Lu Han makes an inappropriate gesture for school and Yongguk shakes his head solemnly.
“Gryffindor! Gryffindor!”
“Oh god,” Soojung groans a few seats down from Joonmyun. “Gryffindor’s king is here. Quick, someone, do an Unforgivable Curse on me. It’ll be less painful than listening to them worship Kevin’s dick.”
A few people nearby laugh, including Joonmyun. More than Joonmyun though, Sehun is laughing, and Joonmyun’s never seen Sehun laugh before, except for the casual sneer. He eyes crinkle up prettily, and his usually emotionless expression changes for one much more pleased.
He may or may not be staring, because Sehun looks over, and his face immediately darkens. He turns away when Soojung jabs him with a quill and snaps, “We have to beat them today. If we don’t I’m tossing Jongup out of the Owl Tower.”
“Hey,” Joonmyun says, “he’s a good kid. And he’s on our team. We need him to face whoever wins.”
Kevin finally comes into the Great Hall, looking more amused than anything, which seems to be a change from usual smug-with-a-stick-up-his-ass look. Joonmyun feels bad for thinking that, because Kevin is actually a pretty cool dude. He’s good friends with Baekhyun, one of Lu Han’s friends, and since Joonmyun is one of Lu Han’s good friends, they know each other in this weird acquaintance sort of way.
Behind Kevin is someone wearing the lion head, and Joonmyun is more than positive that it’s Chanyeol. Gryffindors, man.
“It’s going to be really loud in here real soon,” Yongguk says to Lu Han and Joonmyun, but mainly to Joonmyun, since Lu Han is gripping his quill so hard he’s created a blot of black in the middle of his parchment that is sinking through the paper, “Should we head off somewhere else?”
“Yeah,” Joonmyun says, and jabs Lu Han in the back. “You can punch Kevin in the face later, let’s get this work done first.”
Lu Han follows them begrudgingly and makes faces at a few Gryffindors while their backs are turned.
“I don’t want to go to the game though,” Jonghyun groans during class. “Why don’t you go with your team?”
“But you always go to Quidditch games!” Joonmyun protests. “It’s your own house! Slytherin versus Gryffindor, isn’t that a big thing?”
Jonghyun makes a strangled sound of pain at the punch Joonmyun delivers to his back. “That’s because I only go to your games, dumbass. And I don’t care about that shit rivalry. Soojung is in Slytherin.”
Joonmyun feels touched, honestly. He didn’t know Jonghyun only went to Quidditch games for him. Truthfully, he knows Jonghyun hates sports, but school games are supposed to be full of school spirit, right? Jonghyun has a lot of school spirit. “Go for Soojung!”
“Soojung already knows I don’t do Quidditch matches. Why do you want me to go?”
“I want to see the match, okay!” Joonmyun whines. No. He does not whine. He says this very logically. “You see, I already know what most of Slytherin’s playing skills are like, but I’ve only faced Sehun head on, I’ve never-”
“Oh,” Jonghyun says, “this is about Sehun again.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Joonmyun snaps, almost defensively.
“It means- don’t wave your wand like that, I really like having two eyes, thanks,” Jonghyun puts his hand on Joonmyun’s wrist and pats it down. He has no idea what spell he just cast, but his quill starts to spin on the corner of his desk before Jonghyun decharms it. “Y’know, if I’m the one stopping you from causing mayhem, then there’s an issue here,” Jonghyun points out. “And I’m pretty sure the issue here is Sehun.”
“It’s not-”
“And because I’m your best friend, yes, I will go to the match with you.”
Joonmyun’s very glad he’s a nice person with a lot of friends, because if it were just him and Jonghyun, it would be dreadful to sit through this game.
“If I wave at Soojung, do you think she’ll see me and wave back?”
“Yeah,” Kibum says from next to him, “with a bludger.”
Jonghyun’s eyes sparkle. “That’s my girl.”
Joonmyun rolls his eyes and turns to Yixing. “You saw that swerve Sehun did, right? How’d he dodge the Quaffle like that?”
Yixing shrugs. “I missed that, actually. But look - Howon did an awesome toss there.”
Joonmyun tries to follow his line of sight, but he’s distracted by Sehun flying past Youngjae towards Amber, Gryffindor’s seeker.
“That’s it!” Baekhyun voice booms. “Amber’s spotted the golden snitch! Better go get those balls-”
“Baekhyun!”
Joonmyun laughs. He's still not sure why Baekhyun is still the official Quidditch commentator. He never takes his job seriously.
Then there is Sehun, who happens to fly right over their post, and Joonmyun is struck with a very odd thought.
Sehun has a very charming profile.
Up until now, his annoyed expression was usually frustrating, and definitely not on Joonmyun's list of attractive features, but here, on the Quidditch field, where Sehun is very clearly focused on the goal, Joonmyun thinks he looks very charming. Maybe it's their mutual love for Quidditch, and the understanding that comes with watching another seeker concentrated on their goal. Maybe-
"Your mouth is open," Jonghyun says from next to him. "Just so you know. Try not to think so loud."
Joonmyun turns to give Jonghyun a glare, but suddenly the crowd is cheering extremely loudly, some people jumping up in their seats, and by when Joonmyun turns back, Sehun is-
Sehun is standing on his broom (how the hell does he have the balance to do that?) looking very smug. In his hand, though, is a tiny golden object, and it takes a while for Joonmyun to process that that's the snitch.
"How is he doing that?" Yixing asks, and Joonmyun gives a bleak shrug.
It's then that Amber flies over to Sehun and says something to him that has him smiling brightly at her and shaking her hand.
White hot jealously pours through his veins, and that's new, and it makes Joonmyun purse his lips in thought, and that probably also shows on his face, because Jonghyun laughs so hard that both Yixing and Kibum have to shut him up.
"You are just as infatuated," Jonghyun says as all of the students pour out of the Quidditch stadium, and honestly, Joonmyun's too tired to argue with him.
NEXT
sehun/suho
11690 words; g
written for bulletthestars for runandgun! :D it's happy potter au, based around quidditch!
They meet on the Quidditch field, because, really, where else would they meet?
Joonmyun’s got half of the field booked for a good three hours, when, sometime past five thirty, he hears the jeers and taunts from the Slytherins coming down the trail.
They don’t mean harm - not usually, at least - Joonmyun’s friends with loads of Slytherins, Lu Han namely, who happens to be captain and head chaser on their Quidditch team. Being loud and confident and getting on other people’s nerves just happens to be a common Slytherin trait, and quite frankly, Hufflepuffs have never reacted well to overconfidence, showoffs, or those kids who sit in the back of class and charm pieces of paper to fold themselves and fly around the room. Brats. That’s the word he’s looking for. (Again, not that every Slytherin is a brat, it’s just that-)
“Joonmyun!” a loud voice booms, and he sighs in defeat. Sunyoung shoots him a pitiful glance from the goal hoop and follows Joonmyun down to the ground.
“What do you want, Lu Han?” Joonmyun asks moodily. Normally he’s bright and on top of things, but their match against Ravenclaw is merely a week away, and they really need all the practice they can get. He’d even skipped his advanced Herbology class. Twice.
Lu Han inhales deeply, and Joonmyun knows what’s coming. He won’t falter this time though, definitely not. Especially not when Sunyoung’s watching him, with careful, practiced eyes. She’ll make a good captain one day - just needs the right sort of training, and Joonmyun doesn’t want to make a bad example of himself by being a pushover of a leader. Leaders aren’t supposed to be pushovers.
“Joonmyunnie,” Lu Han cooes, “I know I said I would let you practice peacefully next time our practices overlapped, but we really need the full field this time.”
“Full field?” Sunyoung asks, and Joonmyun puts a hand up to stop her from continuing. But really, full field?
“Our match against Ravenclaw is coming up, we need more practice than you guys. What do you need the full field for?”
The rest of the Slytherin team starts to shuffle a bit, and then someone is pushed forward, and Joonmyun is looking at a boy who’s a few miserable inches taller than he is, with ebony colored hair and a scowl that has Joonmyun wondering whether he did something or if he really doesn’t want to be here. “Sehun!” Lu Han introduces, wrapping an arm around said boy’s shoulder. “Fourth year. He’s our new seeker. We have high hopes for him. Actually, he’s a new student. He’s from Durmstrang.”
“He doesn’t look it,” someone says from behind them, and everyone turns to see Choi Minho, fellow seventh year Hufflepuff, and head Beater. By now the rest of the Hufflepuff team has gathered to see what the fuss is. (And most likely to help Joonmyun with whatever argument he’s having, because he tends to need that a lot.)
He has a point though. Sehun is, quite frankly, tiny. He’s scrawny - thin, almost frail looking legs, and a slender waist, with almost no muscle on his arms. Aren’t Durmstrang boys supposed to be really muscular and jocky, or something? Sehun doesn’t look like either. He does have the scowl down, though.
“You don’t look like a Hufflepuff,” Lu Han counters, and Minho shoots back a snappy, “You don’t look like a Slytherin!”
Joonmyun clears his throat. “Why are you fighting? You haven’t even said why you need the field yet.”
“Right. So anyway,” Lu Han says sweetly, but he gives something akin to a glare in Minho’s general direction as he pulls Sehun into a tight half-hug, “Sehunnie is our newest seeker. You heard about how Sooyoung got pulled out because her Transfiguration grades were dropping, right?”
“No?”
“I don’t think you were supposed to say that, ge.”
The voice comes from Sehun, and everyone, including Lu Han, looks surprised at his interjection.
His voice is nice, Joonmyun thinks somberly. It’s not too masculine, but it’s nice and rumbly with this slight feminine touch to it.
“Oh,” Lu Han mumbles. “Right. I probably wasn’t supposed to say that, actually. But, whatever, it’s happened; so she can’t play and Sehun’s been wanting to join the Quidditch team for the longest time, and he has all the credentials to skip auditions, so we took him in. It was a perfect switch, actually, Sehun and Sooyoung both being seekers.”
“Almost too perfect,” someone says, and Lu Han’s eyes flash with something a little too dangerous.
“So, Joonmyunnie, we really need the full field to practice. Please, can you let us use it? I swear, it’ll be the last time.”
“You said that last time,” Joonmyun huffs.
“Yes, but,” Lu Han says, and gestures dramatically at Sehun. “New things happened. I couldn’t help it! And you know we can’t just play without a seeker.”
That is very true. Seeker is one of the most important positions in Quidditch. Why is Joonmyun so easy to sway? With great hesitance (and utmost desperation in his eyes), he looks at his teammates for help.
“If Sehun is really Durmstrang’s prodigy, I’m sure you can wait an hour or two,” Yixing says from somewhere behind him.
“It’ll be dark by then,” Lu Han counters. “Have you ever played Quidditch in the dark? It sucks.”
He has, and it does, and dammit, Joonmyun needs to stop being so empathetic. He’s about to give up right there when another Slytherin pushes through the crowd to the front. It’s Yoo Youngjae, chaser, a fourth year Joonmyun once gave detention for setting the ends of Daehyun’s cloak on fire. They haven’t been on very good terms since, but they could probably be on worse terms.
“How about we just play each other?” he suggests. Well, Joonmyun would like to think it’s a suggestion, but it sounds more like an order.
It’s not a bad order though. He has a better chance of this than keeping to their original half of the field plan. Lu Han looks pleased with the idea, too. “I’ll agree to that, if my team is okay with it,” Joonmyun says, and gives a quick look over to the six other students standing behind him. When no one gives a look of discontent (except for Minho, but that’s because he usually has a look of discontent when Lu Han is in a five meter radius of him), Joonmyun gives Lu Han a nod. “All clear here.”
Lu Han doesn’t turn to see his teammates. Instead, he grins, big and bright, and says, “We should probably unbuckle that bludger, then.”
Hufflepuff loses.
On one hand, they put up a pretty good fight. Up until Sehun caught the snitch, it was 40 to 50. Yixing managed to block a record amount of quaffles from getting into the hoops, and Dongwoo and Jieun showed some amazing teamwork. Minho might not have sent Soojung to the Hospital Wing by hitting her in the face with a bludger, but everyone is more surprised she still has a face. Then again, Soojung is the first female beater in fifteen years.
Sehun, though. For someone who doesn’t look like he’s from Durmstrang, he certainly plays like he is.
Joonmyun doesn’t know how many times Sehun has almost crashed into him head on, and it’s almost as he if just knows that Joonmyun will be the one to divert paths first. They get exceptionally close once, and if it wasn’t for the quaffle that was thrown in between them that alerted Joonmyun, they probably would have had a head on collision.
Aside from that though, Sehun is exceptionally brutal when he plays. He has no problems charging ahead or shoving Joonmyun to the side to get a in front. When they first spotted the snitch, Sehun dived headfirst through the action, ignoring even Minho who was trying to get to a bludger in front of him.
Regardless, they lose, and Lu Han makes a big show of it by jumping onto Sehun’s back and cheering loudly. Joonmyun can practically feel Minho’s glare from the sky above him, and as they march back to Hufflepuff headquarters, he overhears Minho mumbling about Lu Han’s lack of credentials and how he shouldn’t be Slytherin captain. Joonmyun would help calm him down if he wasn’t feeling so moody himself.
The sigh he lets out reverberates in the Hufflepuff common room, and at least Sunyoung has the decency to ask him if he’s okay (though, really, everyone else is just used to it). “Okay,” Joonmyun says, about ten minutes later, “we need to go over what went wrong in that game. And better ourselves. Also, Minho, no hitting people in the face with bludgers.”
“I wasn’t aiming for Soojung.”
“It’s okay, Minho; we all know who you were aiming for,” says Dongwoo with a half hearted pat on the back, and Minho glowers at the floor. It’s not his fault Soojung was in Lu Han’s way.
“Right,” Joonmyun mumbles, and then clears his throat. “Well, uh, down to business.”
After their abnormally long Quidditch practice, Joonmyun barely has the energy to get out his prefect badge and pin it to his school uniform. He ends up putting it on anyway, because he’s Kim Joonmyun, and that’s what he does.
Tonight is an unusually quiet night, which Joonmyun is grateful for, because he’d really rather not be screaming at underclassmen now. But he’s also smarter than that, and knows that quiet either means a) everyone has gotten more clever at hiding their schemes, or b) something extremely big is on its way. After all, there’s never a dull day in a castle slash boarding school for magical students. Joonmyun knows this especially, when he’s forced to go back to the boring, mundane life his muggle parents live in the summer.
There’s a flash of light at the edge of vision, and when Joonmyun takes a few cautious steps down the hall in its direction, it turns off, and Joonmyun almost laugh. Is this a first year? Any upperclassman would have known by now that using light spells is the easiest way to get caught. He gives props to Youngjae, though, who managed to levitate himself above everyone for a good half an hour two years ago. This obviously isn’t Youngjae, though, and as Joonmyun lights up his wand, he’s almost perplexed to find an empty corridor.
Almost, because Joonmyun isn’t stupid, he knows how charms work. He quickly pulls out his wand and says in the most authorial voice he can manage, “Show yourself.”
They don’t.
Joonmyun sighs and wonders if he should even try to persuade them to come out. It’s been a long day, and he’s tired. But then he sees it: a blurred, transparent outline somewhere under the torch a meter or two away from him. Whoever it is is standing completely still, and when Joonmyun turns around, that’s when he hears the light step of footsteps.
“Reveal Yourself.”
He sees the tips of brown hair, dark robes, and then there is Sehun, standing there in all of his ex-Durmstrang glory.
“How did you do that?” Sehun asks, not looking very much like a student who was caught roaming around the school past curfew.
“It’s three thirty,” Joonmyun groans. “Is that all you have to say? What are you even doing out here? You’re not going to like, going to go play Quidditch by yourself, are you?”
“Why?” Sehun asks, “Did you want to join me or something?”
Joonmyun can’t help the dumbstruck expression that shows on his face. “You were really going to go down to the Quidditch field? Even if you got past me, and the dozen other prefects inside the castle, Hakyeon and Taekwoon are the ones patrolling the field tonight.”
Sehun shrugs. “Security seemed lighter than Durmstrang. I did it there.”
Joonmyun rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry we’re not as as strict as your magic military school. I’m still going to have to give you detention.”
“Magic military school?” Sehun pauses for a second, then his eyes widen in realization, and he turns to Joonmyun with an almost too serious face. “You’re Hufflepuff, and your parents are muggles.”
Joonmyun has been caught offguard more times today than he’s been this whole year. “How did you know that?”
Sehun shrugs. “Seemed like it. The air and all.”
“The air and all?” Joonmyun asks. It’s only after he sees Sehun’s annoyed face that he realizes the implication. “Oh,” he mutters. Then louder. “Oh. Sorry I’m not a proper enough wizard for you, I guess I didn’t have enough asshole in my blood to be Slytherin.”
This time, Joonmyun knows that he’s rendered Sehun speechless. Maybe one more comment and he can officially verbally crush all of Sehun’s hopes and dreams, but he can hear footsteps just around the corner, and then there’s Howon, the Slytherin sixth year.
“Howon,” Joonmyun calls out, smiling, “You came just in time. I caught one of your kind running about.”
“Oh, Sehun, what’re you doing out here?”
“Exploring,” Sehun mumbles.
He can explore a Professor’s office on Tuesday from three to five if he’s that dedicated,” Joonmyun says cheerfully, and Sehun glares at him.
Howon laughs. “Sorry Joonmyun, but don’t worry, I’ve got him.”
“I hope so.”
Sehun turns to give Joonmyun one final watch-your-back look before he trots off after Howon.
Joonmyun sighs. This has been a long day.
Sunday nights mean the Great Hall is overcrowded with students trying to finish homework for classes the next day. After helping a poor Gryffindor girl with her Herbology homework, he’s set up camp at the Ravenclaw table with Jonghyun, a seventh year Gryffindor, and Joohyun, a sixth year Ravenclaw.
“So we add in... two rat claws?” Joonmyun asks, then peers over to look at Joohyun’s notebook.
“I still don’t understand how alchemists went to Africa and discovered Quidditch instead,” Jonghyun says idly as he flips through pages of his textbook. He’s been opening to random sections of the textbook and reading aloud various things that have nothing to do with Alchemy. “Can we just ask- hey! Nick!”
“He dropped out of Alchemy; he’s taking Ghoul studies instead. Also, two rat claws and a liverwrot,” Joohyun clarifies, and Joonmyun pens it down.
“Don’t you usually have Quidditch practice at this hour?” Jonghyun asks.
“We have an exam tomorrow,” Joonmyun states, and sighs when Jonghyun laughs.
“But it’s Quidditch. Do or die, right? And you’re a seventh year. You only have one chance, you know,” Jonghyun says wisely as he bewitches a piece of paper to fold into a person and start tap dancing. Two Ravenclaws giggle and Kyungsoo looks over with a gaze that tells Jonghyun to kindly fuck off.
It’s the match against Ravenclaw.
Joonmyun is having something of a panic attack in the locker room. They have a mere five minutes before they fly out into the arena and fuck, Joonmyun is their leader, he should be calming down everyone’s nerves. Not the opposite.
“We can do this,” he says meekly to a not-listening Yixing. “We can do this, right?”
“Right,” Minho replies adamantly. He offers Joonmyun a smile and a hand and very roughly pulls him onto his feet. Joonmyun stumbles. “We can do this.”
“Yes,” Joonmyun says, and wonders why Minho isn’t leader. “We can. We. We’re gonna win this.”
“Yes,” says Sunyoung, from somewhere on his far right.
“Ravenclaw is gonna lose so badly they’ll spend the next two weeks calculating where they made a wrong turn and how fast their throws should have been,” Dongwoo gloats.
Everyone laughs, and Joonmyun feels the tension slowly leaving his body. He silently thanks whatever higher power there is for giving him such a wonderful team. He couldn’t have possibly asked for better teammates. Everything they do, they do together.
Joonmyun grins at Jieun and motions for everyone to come closer. “Okay. We can do this. We’re Hufflepuff - the best house ever created. No one will know what hit them.” A pause, then. “Not literally. Minho.”
Minho rolls his eyes.
“Let’s go Hufflepuff!”
Everyone cheers, and the flare crackling signals for them to enter the arena. Unlike other teams, where they let out their seeker last, Joonmyun enters ahead of everyone else, as their captain.
He stands across from Minseok, Ravenclaw’s captain, and they both give each other a handshake before going back to their brooms.
The game starts off awfully.
Minho drops the bludger, and it nearly knocks Jieun off of her broom, and Baekhyun makes a lewd comment about slippery hands and balls that gets him whacked on the head by one of the professors.
Jongup drops his bat and hits Dongwoo on the head, who almost crashes into Jaeseop. Sunyoung is called out for fouling Minseok (she didn’t), and by the first quarter, Yixing has already let three quaffles and a bludger past him and into the goal rings.
By the game’s half point, the snitch has yet to be seen by anyone, and Joonmyun is left to try to help out his teammates when he can and fly around the stadium hoping to see a shimmer of gold. Jihyun awaits at the top of the arena, which, Joonmyun thinks much later, is probably a much better strategy than flying around uselessly, but in turn, the game only turns around when the snitch flies into his face. Literally.
It flies right into his eye, and Joonmyun is probably going to have a black eye to show for it later, but that’s it - that’s the snitch, and without thinking, Joonmyun takes off after it. He hears the roar of Hufflepuffs behind him, and hey, that feels pretty good, but then Jihyun is right next to him, and the rest of the game is a fight to see who can grab the snitch first.
The spotting of the snitch makes for some type of catalyst for the rest of the team, because suddenly the score starts to go up. Sunyoung hits three quaffles into the goal rings in a row, and Baekhyun declares his undying love for her before someone hits him over the head again.
The end of the game sort of isn’t very fair. At least, that’s what Joonmyun thinks. No one really seems to agree with him.
In the final ten minutes of the game, the snitch stops midair and whizzes back the way it came from, right inbetween Joonmyun and Jihyun. It catches both of the them off guard, and they both swivel off course on their broomsticks, disoriented by the sudden change.
Jihyun is the one that heads towards the snitch first, with Joonmyun a few feet behind. The snitch stops for a second, and so does Joonmyun’s heart, because Jihyun is so, so close, close enough that she reaches her hand out to grab it.
Except it zooms straight up into the air, and Joonmyun takes off after it, Jihyun still slightly stunned by the change of direction.
He can hear all the Hufflepuffs chanting his name as he chases after the snitch, and groans in frustration, because it’s right there, and he actually has a chance of bringing Hufflepuff to the finals and he doesn’t want to fuck this up. They’ve all worked so hard. Joonmyun’s worked so hard - seven years of failures and almost could haves and would haves and goddamnit he’s definitely not going to give up here.
And then the chanting erupts into cheers, and Joonmyun realizes that he’s gripping the snitch in his hand, and Baekhyun is giving another one of his really inappropriate remarks, and his team is yelling and screaming and happiness.
Wow, Joonmyun thinks, with a sudden calamity. They’ve won.
He doesn’t even remember reaching the ground, but he knows that once his feet have something solid to stand on, and his broom is lying on the ground, there are six pairs of arms wrapped around him in some weird sort of team hug.
The way back to the common room is also hazy, like Joonmyun’s had one too many butterbeers, and he feels really good right now. There’s Jieun hanging off his arm on one side, and Yixing jumping on his back behind him, and Dongwoo is making loud howling noises in his ear. But this is good. Joonmyun likes this.
He goes through the next few days in a lost sort of euphoria. Logically, he knows he’ll have to get over himself soon, because their next match is the finals, against either Gryffindor or Slytherin, depending on who wins their match. But for now, he’ll revel in the pride it gives him.
The fun comes to an end when he’s faced with a grouchy Sehun and his Herbology professor, telling Joonmyun that they don’t have a Herbology course at Durmstrang, so he’s far behind the other students and needs tutoring.
“You didn’t have Herbology at Durmstrang?” Joonmyun asks curiously as they sit down in the far corner of the library. “Isn’t that in the O.W.L.s though?”
Sehun shrugs. “We learn them in our fifth year.”
“All of it?” Joonmyun asks. “Everything that’s going to be on the O.W.Ls in one year? Can you do that?”
Sehun shrugs again. “I guess it’s not that important.”
Joonmyun finds offense at this, considering he wants to be a Herbologist in the future. But he also doesn’t want to makes this any more complicated - if it’s even complicated - so he says nothing. He thinks the last time they met Joonymun chewed him out enough. “Whatever you want to think,” Joonmyun says simply and flips open Sehun’s textbook. “So, what do you know so far? Let’s start with a poppy plant, that’s a beginner flower. Okay. What’s are some properties of poppy plants?”
Sehun blinks at him. “Um. Healing?”
Joonmyun stares back. “It’s an opium.”
Sehun makes a noncommittal “okay,” and turns the page in his textbook. Joonmyun groans. This is going to take a long time. But that’s okay, because Joonmyun is Joonmyun, and Joonmyun wouldn’t be Joonmyun if he didn’t pull through with this. After all, Joonmyun is a pretty likable guy, and an excellent teacher.
He is either not as excellent a teacher as he thought or Sehun is an awful student. “No, that’s- A Puffapod is a plant that makes pink seeds. They have beans! A Shrivelfig is purple. Don’t you use that in Potions class?”
Sehun groans. “Herbology is stupid. None of this is even important.”
“That,” Joonmyun snaps, “is a definite lie. It’s stupid to you because you’re not trying. It sucks to listen to my voice, I know, but you literally have to learn three years worth of material to get caught up-”
“Sehun!”
They both look up at the sound of Lu Han’s voice, who is approaching their table with a peculiar expression on his face. “Shouldn’t you be at Charms now?”
Sehun gives Lu Han that same stupid face, except this time it’s a little less hate infused, and he turns to the clock on the wall. It’s 3:40, which, if Joonmyun recalls, is ten minutes past normal class time.
Sehun jumps out of his seat, scaring both Lu Han and Joonmyun, and rushes to grab his books. “Thanks,” he says to Lu Han, a little breathlessly. “Bye.”
He doesn’t spare Joonmyun a glance, which Joonmyun thinks is a bit rude, because hello, he’s been tutoring Sehun for the past hour and forty minutes. He deserves some recognition here, okay.
Lu Han laughs and waves him off, and they both watch the little fourth year sprint off to his next class. “He’s cute,” Lu Han sighs, and takes Sehun’s seat. “Remember when we were fourth years?”
Joonmyun grins. “Remember that time you went into the abandoned girls bathroom and Moaning-”
“Stop!” Lu Han shouts, and someone nearby shushes him rather loudly. “This is talk about Sehun behind his back time, not reminiscing Lu Han’s embarrassing moments.”
“Every moment you do is embarrassing, so it’s okay,” Joonmyun says, smiling, and Lu Han glares back at him.
“Are you sure you’re Hufflepuff? Sometimes I think you’re the real Slytherin here.”
“Yeah, because I’m just so cunning and evil,” Joonmyun drawls. “I definitely fit.” After a pause, he adds, “Maybe Sehun would like me more if I was Slytherin.” He turns to Lu Han, who is giving him another peculiar glance, and leans back defensively. “What? He hates me - I don’t know what I did, but he doesn’t like it.”
“Joonmyun...” Lu Han says slowly. “Sehun doesn’t hate you. Actually, he... I probably shouldn’t be saying this, actually.”
Joonmyun stares back at him. “You told everyone Sooyoung failed Transfiguration. This can’t possibly be worse.”
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Lu Han points out, and Joonmyun rolls his eyes. He can’t even think of one time where Lu Han thought about the wellbeing of others, unless Lu Han wasn’t directly benefitting from it. “Right, well,” Lu Han takes a deep breath and fixes Joonmyun with a haughty glance.
“I’m pretty sure Sehun is mildly Infatuated with you. With a capital I.”
“Infa- what?”
“Dude,” Lu Han says, and waves his wand at the books on the desk. As Lu Han talks, they all start to sort themselves into neat piles, and Joonmyun makes a mental note to ask Lu Han what spell that is. “All he talks about is you. I mean, it’s not very pleasant stuff. Joonmyun is really lame, and I can believe he caught the snitch, especially against Jihyun, of all people. Does he ever get any sleep? He tutors Herbology, is captain of the Quidditch team, and is prefect? He has these really ugly bags under his eyes.”
“I-”
This is all Very New Information to Joonmyun, who had thought Sehun hated him from day one. Well. It still sounds like he hates him, but in an almost obsessively denial sort of way.
“Yeah, so, I didn’t actually tell you that,” Lu Han says. “In case you were wondering.”
“Right.”
“Oh!” Lu Han sits up. “I remembered why I came here. So Slytherin is versing Gryffindor in two days, and so I wanted to have a practice match against either Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. And since you beat Ravenclaw - which, awesome match, by the way, good job - I thought it’d be better if we versed you. Full field, tomorrow?”
Joonmyun nods. “Sure thing.”
It’s seven in the morning, aka way too early for anyone to be awake, as observed by Yixing who almost faceplants into his porridge, and Amber, a fifth year Gryffindor who is knocked out on Kevin’s shoulder.
Minseok, a fellow seventh year, and a Ravenclaw, has always been a morning person, and Lu Han has always been a Minseok person, so they’re the only ones who stroll into the Great Hall completely awake and sit themselves down by Joonmyun.
“This is the Gryffindor table,” an underclassmen snaps, and Lu Han gives her a smile that has her gathering her books and scuttling away.
“Are we on for tomorrow, Joonmyun?” Lu Han asks, and Joonmyun gives him a yawn and a nod.
“On for what?” Yixing asks, and turns to Lu Han for explanation.
“Practice match. Slytherin versus Hufflepuff.”
“What?”
Lu Han and Minseok look behind Joonmyun, and Joonmyun slowly turns around to see Sehun standing there, eyebrows raised.
“Yup,” Lu Han says, making no effort to elaborate.
Joonmyun thinks about yesterday, and what Lu Han told him in the library. He smiles brightly, and Sehun visibly flinches. “I’ll see you, then,” Joonmyun says, and Sehun’s face instantly contorts into something akin to a grimace.
“Whatever,” he grumbles and strides past him abruptly, knocking into Yixing’s shoulder, who does spill his porridge this time, all over him and Joonmyun. A bright red ball falls out of his pocket and away onto the floor.
“Ugh, gross,” Joonmyun groans and takes out his wand. “Scourgify,” he says, and the mess disappears.
“Woah,” Minseok says, bright eyed, “teach me that sometime, yeah?”
“Sure,” Joonmyun replies, then points to the red ball. He gives a bright smile, effectively scarring Sehun again, and asks politely, “Sehun, can you pick up Yixing’s remembrall, please?”
It’s amazing how Joonmyun can notice everything now. Sehun flushes, and if Joonmyun didn’t know better, he’d think he was so angry he got red in face. Sehun bends down and tosses the remembrall somewhere in Joonmyun and Yixing’s direction before walking away in a huff. Joonmyun and Lu Han exchange a look and burst into laughter.
“You are most definitely a Slytherin,” Lu Han says, and Joonmyun shrugs.
“Your remembrall’s red though,” Minseok points out to Yixing, looking very concerned.
Yixing looks up, in a daze, still not completely awake. “Hm? Oh, yeah. Must’ve forgotten my Charms homework again.”
“We did that together, though,” Minseok mumbles. “What else could it be?”
“Quidditch practice later today?” Joonmyun asks.
“Oh!” Yixing says suddenly, “That’s true. Also I remembered I have to write two parchments worth on Unicorns for Care of Magical Creatures.”
Minseok and Lu Han share a glance when the remembrall stays red.
“It’s usually red,” Joonmyun remarks offhandedly. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
The practice match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff comes a lot quicker than Joonmyun had hoped it would come. Sehun still has that same stonefaced expression on, and now Joonmyun’s not sure if he has that face because Joonmyun’s here or if that is really just his regular face.
Yixing and Lu Han come in together, talking about something Joonmyun hopes is reason enough to be half an hour late, because him and most of the two teams have been bored out of their minds. He doesn’t get to ask though, because Sehun automatically latches onto Lu Han and Yixing walks over to Joonmyun. Minho and Lu Han are already glaring at each other from their posts, as Joonmyun ushers everyone to get into their places to start the match. They’ve dragged poor Seokjin to take score for them, thanks to Howon, who may or may not have blackmailed him to be down here. He sits with Taehyung, a third year, and gets ready for the two teams to start the game.
“Are you guys ready?” Seokjin calls out, and Lu Han and Joonmyun both gives thumbs up. “Okay, then, start!”
Joonmyun is proud of himself to say he doesn’t shriek pathetically when Sehun zooms forward and almost crashes into him.
He thinks he’s learned a little bit about Sehun’s playing style. He’s aggressive, to the point of violence, but never quite crossing the line. It’s one giant game of chicken, with Sehun pushing and Joonmyun dodging.
Behind them, Minho and Lu Han are at it again. Without any referees, Minho is free to toss as much bludgers at Lu Han as he wishes, and Lu Han retaliates by hitting them back. As far as Quidditch matches go, this hasn’t been Joonmyun’s most fair game to date.
Jongup nearly dodges a bludger thrown by Junhong, and Soojung’s already gotten two quaffles into the goal rings.
Joonmyun doesn’t get to concentrate too hard on what’s going around him, because Sehun is still cutting him off every chance he gets, and Joonmyun spends more time trying not to get knocked off his broom than looking around for the snitch.
“Sehun!” someone screams, and both Joonmyun and Sehun pause to turn around and see Youngjae by the announcer poll. He’s pointing at something a few meters away from him, and Joonmyun realizes with horror that the snitch is somewhere in that direction.
Sehun slams into his side and past him, and Joonmyun, stunned, flies off course, hitting Jongup in the back before he regains control of his broom and follows after Sehun.
It’s actually rather impressive, Joonmyun will think later, how quickly Sehun catches the snitch. It practically flies into his hand.
He’s not really impressed now, thought. More moody than anything. Slytherin wins with a whopping 220 to 30, and Lu Han makes sure everyone in a ten meter radius knows. Again.
Joonmyun isn’t really a sore loser, nor is he an angry person, but he’s almost sure Sehun is looking directly at him when he tells Soojung with a pitiful face, “I guess Ravenclaw had a bad day.”
That is rather infuriating, and Joonmyun makes sure Jonghyun knows this when they’re sitting next to each other in class.
“Remember when you said that thing about Sehun being enamored with you?” Jonghyun asks, and Joonmyun nods, because yeah, he told Jonghyun that too when they were in Alchemy together. “Yeah, well it sounds like it’s going the opposite way, too.”
“Oh,” Joonmyun says, then pauses. “Wait, no, that’s definitely not-” but Jonghyun’s not listening to him anymore. Instead, he’s using his wand to charm Hyorin’s pencil to draw hearts on her parchment. After he’s done, he looks back to Joonmyun and blinks when Joonmyun stares at him.
“What?”
“You’re an awful friend, is all.”
“You know that’s not true,” Jonghyun calls out after him when class is dismissed. He turns around to use his wand to draw a heart in the air at Hyorin and runs after Joonmyun. “All you’ve told me is that Sehun hates you and talks about you all the time, but seriously, all you do is talk about Sehun all the time. Unless you get off on assholes," Jonghyun says, and pauses. "If you know what I mean." He waggles his eyebrows, and Joonmyun wants to jump off the staircase. It hasn’t moved yet, and if takes a step forward, he’ll land in front of the History of Magic classroom. Seems fitting. But he’s on his way to Arithmancy, and that’s also sort of also extremely unappealing. “Don’t forget our study date!” Jonghyun yells as he runs down the staircase to his Potions class.
Joonmyun climbs the staircase when it comes with great difficulty, mainly because he can’t stop thinking about what Jonghyun said, and excuse him, Joonmyun does not get off on assholes. Well, maybe one type, but Joonmyun would prefer not to word it like that. It’s actually very logical that Joonmyun thinks about Sehun a lot, considering he’s the new Drumstang kid - he bets everyone talks about him a lot. Hogwarts almost never gets transfer students, and someone like Sehun, who looks nothing like a Durmstrang student, would be quite the discussion topic. Also, he’s the new seeker of Slytherin, which makes him Joonmyun’s rival.
His thoughts are cut off when he bumps into someone, and all of their and Joonmyun’s books fly everywhere. “Oh god,” Joonmyun groans, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t-”
He recognizes a Herbology textbook falling off the edge of the staircase before he looks up to see Sehun glaring at him. Wow. This sucks.
“Oh,” Joonmyun says dumbly. “Sehun. Uh, sorry about that.”
“It’s fine,” Sehun replies, a little hesitantly, and Joonmyun raises an eyebrow. That’s new. “I just....” he looks over the staircase railing and frowns. “How many floors down is that?”
Joonmyun laughs. “Don’t worry about that. What’d you drop?”
Sehun frowns. “Um. My Herbology textbook, a few parchments, my quill...”
“Alright,” Joonmyun says, and takes out his wand. “Accio Sehun’s fallen stuff!”
“What’s that?” Sehun asks, but takes a step back and nearly falls backwards when Joonmyun’s holding his Herbology textbook and his quill and parchments whirl back onto the stairs.
Joonmyun raises an eyebrow. “You’ve never used a summoning spell before?”
Sehun gapes unabashedly before he demands, “Teach me!”
“I’m your Herbology tutor, not your charms tutor.”
“You’re my tutor, that’s already enough.”
“I’m not teaching anything until you can tell me what the properties of Mandrakes are,” Joonmyun says curtly and he walks around Sehun. “Now hurry up, you’re late to class.”
It’s a regular Thursday morning in the great Hall, as far as most regular mornings in a magic school go. Joonmyun, Lu Han, and Yongguk are at Slytherin’s table again, going over their Arithmancy homework together when the chanting starts. It’s a dull tone for the most part, until it gets closer and closer, and everyone already knows what it is before it comes. Lu Han makes an inappropriate gesture for school and Yongguk shakes his head solemnly.
“Gryffindor! Gryffindor!”
“Oh god,” Soojung groans a few seats down from Joonmyun. “Gryffindor’s king is here. Quick, someone, do an Unforgivable Curse on me. It’ll be less painful than listening to them worship Kevin’s dick.”
A few people nearby laugh, including Joonmyun. More than Joonmyun though, Sehun is laughing, and Joonmyun’s never seen Sehun laugh before, except for the casual sneer. He eyes crinkle up prettily, and his usually emotionless expression changes for one much more pleased.
He may or may not be staring, because Sehun looks over, and his face immediately darkens. He turns away when Soojung jabs him with a quill and snaps, “We have to beat them today. If we don’t I’m tossing Jongup out of the Owl Tower.”
“Hey,” Joonmyun says, “he’s a good kid. And he’s on our team. We need him to face whoever wins.”
Kevin finally comes into the Great Hall, looking more amused than anything, which seems to be a change from usual smug-with-a-stick-up-his-ass look. Joonmyun feels bad for thinking that, because Kevin is actually a pretty cool dude. He’s good friends with Baekhyun, one of Lu Han’s friends, and since Joonmyun is one of Lu Han’s good friends, they know each other in this weird acquaintance sort of way.
Behind Kevin is someone wearing the lion head, and Joonmyun is more than positive that it’s Chanyeol. Gryffindors, man.
“It’s going to be really loud in here real soon,” Yongguk says to Lu Han and Joonmyun, but mainly to Joonmyun, since Lu Han is gripping his quill so hard he’s created a blot of black in the middle of his parchment that is sinking through the paper, “Should we head off somewhere else?”
“Yeah,” Joonmyun says, and jabs Lu Han in the back. “You can punch Kevin in the face later, let’s get this work done first.”
Lu Han follows them begrudgingly and makes faces at a few Gryffindors while their backs are turned.
“I don’t want to go to the game though,” Jonghyun groans during class. “Why don’t you go with your team?”
“But you always go to Quidditch games!” Joonmyun protests. “It’s your own house! Slytherin versus Gryffindor, isn’t that a big thing?”
Jonghyun makes a strangled sound of pain at the punch Joonmyun delivers to his back. “That’s because I only go to your games, dumbass. And I don’t care about that shit rivalry. Soojung is in Slytherin.”
Joonmyun feels touched, honestly. He didn’t know Jonghyun only went to Quidditch games for him. Truthfully, he knows Jonghyun hates sports, but school games are supposed to be full of school spirit, right? Jonghyun has a lot of school spirit. “Go for Soojung!”
“Soojung already knows I don’t do Quidditch matches. Why do you want me to go?”
“I want to see the match, okay!” Joonmyun whines. No. He does not whine. He says this very logically. “You see, I already know what most of Slytherin’s playing skills are like, but I’ve only faced Sehun head on, I’ve never-”
“Oh,” Jonghyun says, “this is about Sehun again.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Joonmyun snaps, almost defensively.
“It means- don’t wave your wand like that, I really like having two eyes, thanks,” Jonghyun puts his hand on Joonmyun’s wrist and pats it down. He has no idea what spell he just cast, but his quill starts to spin on the corner of his desk before Jonghyun decharms it. “Y’know, if I’m the one stopping you from causing mayhem, then there’s an issue here,” Jonghyun points out. “And I’m pretty sure the issue here is Sehun.”
“It’s not-”
“And because I’m your best friend, yes, I will go to the match with you.”
Joonmyun’s very glad he’s a nice person with a lot of friends, because if it were just him and Jonghyun, it would be dreadful to sit through this game.
“If I wave at Soojung, do you think she’ll see me and wave back?”
“Yeah,” Kibum says from next to him, “with a bludger.”
Jonghyun’s eyes sparkle. “That’s my girl.”
Joonmyun rolls his eyes and turns to Yixing. “You saw that swerve Sehun did, right? How’d he dodge the Quaffle like that?”
Yixing shrugs. “I missed that, actually. But look - Howon did an awesome toss there.”
Joonmyun tries to follow his line of sight, but he’s distracted by Sehun flying past Youngjae towards Amber, Gryffindor’s seeker.
“That’s it!” Baekhyun voice booms. “Amber’s spotted the golden snitch! Better go get those balls-”
“Baekhyun!”
Joonmyun laughs. He's still not sure why Baekhyun is still the official Quidditch commentator. He never takes his job seriously.
Then there is Sehun, who happens to fly right over their post, and Joonmyun is struck with a very odd thought.
Sehun has a very charming profile.
Up until now, his annoyed expression was usually frustrating, and definitely not on Joonmyun's list of attractive features, but here, on the Quidditch field, where Sehun is very clearly focused on the goal, Joonmyun thinks he looks very charming. Maybe it's their mutual love for Quidditch, and the understanding that comes with watching another seeker concentrated on their goal. Maybe-
"Your mouth is open," Jonghyun says from next to him. "Just so you know. Try not to think so loud."
Joonmyun turns to give Jonghyun a glare, but suddenly the crowd is cheering extremely loudly, some people jumping up in their seats, and by when Joonmyun turns back, Sehun is-
Sehun is standing on his broom (how the hell does he have the balance to do that?) looking very smug. In his hand, though, is a tiny golden object, and it takes a while for Joonmyun to process that that's the snitch.
"How is he doing that?" Yixing asks, and Joonmyun gives a bleak shrug.
It's then that Amber flies over to Sehun and says something to him that has him smiling brightly at her and shaking her hand.
White hot jealously pours through his veins, and that's new, and it makes Joonmyun purse his lips in thought, and that probably also shows on his face, because Jonghyun laughs so hard that both Yixing and Kibum have to shut him up.
"You are just as infatuated," Jonghyun says as all of the students pour out of the Quidditch stadium, and honestly, Joonmyun's too tired to argue with him.
NEXT