2015: The Case of the Viceroy Butterfly (Baekhyun/Lay)
Pairing: Baekhyun/Lay
From: ANONYMOUS until REVEALS
Title: The Case of the Viceroy Butterfly
Rating: PG
Other Pairing(s)/Focus: platonic!Baekhyun/Chen
Length: 2,800 words
Summary: Baekhyun and Jongdae wreak havoc on Hogwarts and its inhabitants. Yixing is everyone's favorite Head Girl.
Warnings: mentions of Tao and Yifan
Notes: Thank you, first, to the mods for all your hard work :) Second, in the fic, there are mentions of a few Bangtan members because I'm a little too stubborn about my house headcanons…. Years and houses for reference: year 7-Yixing (G), Luhan (G), Yifan (G), Minseok (R); year 6-Baekhyun (G), Tao (G), Jongdae (R), Chanyeol (R), Kyungsoo (S), Junmyeon (H); year 5-Jongin (G), Sehun (S); year 4-Taehyung (G), Jungkook (R)
Baekhyun’s day starts with a bang. Literally. The explosion shakes the windows in the Great Hall, and he peers around the corner, cackling when he sees Kim Jongdae covered in blue feathers. Jongdae splutters, trying to blow off the feathers, but they don’t move. He tries picking them off and finds his hands covered with even more feathers. They stick as if they’re covered in glue, even catching on the people nearby. Baekhyun watches gleefully as Jungkook and Chanyeol get up hurriedly. Even as they leave, a few feathers cling to the sleeves of their robes.
Baekhyun ducks into an empty classroom as they pass him, but he slips back into the hallway to peer back out at the Great Hall again when they’re gone. He is just in time to see Jongdae rise with a huff, and Baekhyun strolls away whistling.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN.”
“Oh hello, Jongdae. It looks like you’re really into house spirit today,” Baekhyun says seriously.
Jongdae narrows his eyes, and Baekhyun grins at the promise they hold.
Suddenly, the feathers fall. They both turn around to see Zhang Yixing, a seventh year to their sixth, and she smiles.
“I’ll pretend I don’t know who’s behind this as long as there’s no evidence of it happening when I come back down for Herbology,” she says.
When Yixing walks away, Baekhyun mumbles, “We’re so lucky our Head Girl is so nice.”
“That’s true, but you’re cleaning this one up,” Jongdae says. He blows Baekhyun a kiss before turning and walking away with a smile.
Baekhyun shakes his head and laughs. With a wave of his wand, he makes the feathers disappear and heads upstairs to get ready for class.
★☆★
Baekhyun stops by the Great Hall before his first class, waving innocently at Yixing as she walks with Luhan to Herbology. Unfortunately, Chanyeol walks between them, and Yixing raises an eyebrow at a single blue feather on the back of his robes. Hurriedly, Baekhyun waves his wand, and Chanyeol’s entire robe vanishes.
Chanyeol lets out a yell, but Baekhyun just grins and winks at a giggling Yixing. She waves him away, mouthing, “Don’t be late to class again!”
Baekhyun mock salutes and leaves, the corners of his lips turned up, and for the rest of the day, there is a spring in his step.
★☆★
Jongdae gets his revenge the next Friday afternoon. The snow has stopped falling for the first time all week, and Baekhyun is heading to the lake to go skating with Jongin and Taehyung when something hits the back of his head.
He turns around, ready to start a fight, when another snowball hits his face. Spluttering, he narrows his eyes and scans the slope between the castle and the lake and finds no one suspicious. He sniffs and after another sweeping glance, heads back towards the lake.
Just before he sets foot on the ice, another snowball hits his head. Baekhyun curses, and he hears cackling coming from behind him. He pulls out his wand and whips uses it to whip a snowball behind him.
The resulting yelp is immensely satisfying, and Baekhyun turns around with a grin, which quickly fades into horror when he sees that Jongdae is on the ground, but howling in laughter and unscathed. Instead, Yixing is brushing snow out of her hair and face, lips pulled down in a frown.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did it get in your eyes or anything?” Baekhyun says, rushing over to help.
“After all I’ve done for you, this is how I’m repaid. What a thankless life,” she sighs plaintively.
“No, this was meant for Jongdae, I promise! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry….” Baekhyun keeps softly chanting apologies as he brushes snow from her shoulders.
Yixing stops him, gently plucking his hand off and laughing. “I was joking, Baek, I’m fine.”
“Ah, right,” Baekhyun says sheepishly.
“I’m meeting a friend, so I’m going to get going now, but thank you for the unexpected present,” Yixing says, still laughing a little. “I’ll see you later. You owe me at least some hot chocolate and a good seat by the fireplace tonight.”
“I’ll get extra marshmallows,” Baekhyun promises with a smile.
Once Yixing has left, Baekhyun sees that Jongdae is also gone, and he goes to join Taehyung. The fourth year grins at the tired look on Baekhyun’s face.
“Attacking Yixing got you too exhausted to skate with us?” he teases. Baekhyun just groans until Jongin comes back over from racing Sehun and tackles him into a large pile of snow. Taehyung then takes the opportunity to happily flop on top of them, and Baekhyun wonders what he did to deserve this life of being smushed into snow banks by awful friends and accidentally hitting beautiful girls with magical snowballs. All he’d wanted was some fun back in first year and Kim Jongdae accidentally setting Baekhyun’s eyebrows on fire had been a perfect opportunity, but this… five years later, he thinks that this is perhaps not the most ideal result.
★☆★
Yixing is already waiting for him on a couch in front of the fireplace when Baekhyun enters the common room that night with two mugs of steaming hot chocolate.
“I thought I was supposed to get you a nice seat?” Baekhyun teases. He carefully hands Yixing a mug, making sure she has a firm grasp on the mug before sitting down himself.
“Well I saw Zitao and Yifan leaving just when I got down here. You were nowhere to be seen, and I wasn’t going to wait around for you to get the couch,” Yixing retorts. She pokes Baekhyun’s arm, and he yelps, almost spilling hot chocolate all over himself. Yixing just grins.
Before Baekhyun can defend himself, someone taps his shoulder.
“Baekhyun?” Jongin’s voice, quiet and low and almost lost in the crackling of the fire, is apologetic.
“Yes?” Baekhyun turns around to find Jongin biting his lip. His eyes flicker towards Yixing and back to Baekhyun.
“I know this might not be the best time, but I really, really need help with Levitation Charm? It’s supposed to be on the O.W.L. and you mentioned you could help me, otherwise I promise I wouldn’t-”
Baekhyun pats Jongin’s hand to stop him. He smiles fondly at how Jongin so easily turns from incredibly loud and outgoing to a shy child. “I did say I’d help you. You don’t mind, do you, Yixing? I’ll make it up to you,” Baekhyun says, turning to Yixing with his best puppy eyes.
“As long as you stop trying to persuade people into doing things by making that face.” Yixing laughs when Baekhyun pouts. “Oh god, stop it. Go help the poor boy with his charm,” she says, lightly shoving Baekhyun away and winking at Jongin.
“You’re the best, Yixing,” Jongin says with a small smile.
Baekhyun just huffs. “My puppy eyes are adorable, Yixing. One day you’ll come around.”
Yixing just turns back to the fire and hums cheerfully. “I wouldn’t hold your breath, Byun.” She waves her hand at Baekhyun and Jongin, as if dismissing them, and Jongin giggles, tugging Baekhyun away before he can say anything.
★☆★
A few days later, Baekhyun sees Yixing in the common room, the gold in her tie glinting in the evening firelight as she bends over a scroll.
“Hey, Yixing?”
“Hmm?” It takes a few seconds before she looks up, blinking at him sleepily.
“I just want to apologize again, for the other day, because I didn’t get to before Jongin came over. I really didn’t mean to hit you, and I hadn’t noticed you behind me before, and I genuinely thought you’d be Jongdae….”
“I figured, from how loudly he was laughing,” Yixing says wryly.
“Yeah… what a tool,” Baekhyun mutters.
“I could say the same for you,” Yixing says, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey! I’m much better than that,” Baekhyun protests, pouting down at her.
“Yeah, much cuter,” Yixing says, poking his cheek and laughing delightedly when he blushes.
“I- okay, I’m going to go, I just remembered there’s a, umm, meeting for the-” Baekhyun ends with an indistinguishable noise and flees. Yixing’s laughter follows him out into the hallway.
★☆★
Everything seems to be okay the next day when Yixing greets him normally. Jongdae cackles when he sees Baekhyun and gets a slap on the back of the head (courtesy of Baekhyun’s hand). Minseok glares when Baekhyun accuses him of staring wistfully at Luhan.
Slowly, the days pass, and Baekhyun thinks a couple weeks later that it’s starting to get a little to quiet for his liking.
Just the next morning, though, Baekhyun’s getting ready for breakfast when Jongin wanders into the sixth years’ room. This is a rare occurrence, considering Jongin usually wakes up seconds before classes start, sprinting through the halls with an athleticism one wouldn’t expect from someone who spends so much time unconscious.
“Did you do something with your hair?” Jongin asks, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“Yeah, Zitao cut it for me last week,” Baekhyun replies.
“No I mean… your hair’s red.”
“Jongin, I think you should go back to bed.”
“No, Baekhyun… it’s really red.”
Baekhyun frowns, but Jongin just sighs and moves the mirror next to the window. The sunlight glinting off his head reveals undeniably red hair.
“What the fuck...?” Baekhyun combs his fingers through his hair cautiously.
Suddenly he remembers. Just a few days ago, Jongdae had casually complimented his new hair. He’d actually sounded sincere at the time.
“Kim fucking Jongdae,” Baekhyun growls.
“Umm…” Jongin backs away and slips into the hallway. “I’m going back to bed.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even hear him, too busy muttering under his breath as he storms to the Great Hall.
“What did you do to my hair,” he demands, drawing the eyes of a surprised Jongdae.
“What do you mean? I thought Zitao cut it?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, I know you turned it red.”
“I’ve noticed you turning it gradually red, but I didn’t do anything?” Jongdae looks genuinely perplexed, and Baekhyun frowns. Jongdae’s not this good at acting. Baekhyun chooses to retreat this one time, slipping onto the bench between Yixing and Taehyung, muttering quietly to himself and still suspiciously eying Jongdae. He only receives furrowed brows and worried looks in return.
Baekhyun puzzles over this the whole day, confused because nobody jokes around like this except him and Jongdae. He will admit, however, that this is a more subtle prank than anything they’d ever pull, which must mean there’s someone else in play.
Baekhyun can’t focus in any of his classes, accidentally turning his mouse into a clothes hanger instead of a button in Transfiguration and receiving a disapproving look from Mcgonagall.
★☆★
The next morning, Baekhyun’s hair is bright red. The yelling in the sixth year boys’ room wakes up nearly the whole house. Surprisingly, though, Baekhyun finds as he goes through his day that people seem to like his new hair color. This doesn’t stop him from trying to get rid of it to the point where Madam Pomfrey has to turn a pile of charcoal back into hair for him before dinner. It won’t stop being red, unfortunately, and Baekhyun goes to bed grumbling.
“I swear to fuck if they go through the whole rainbow-” Baekhyun swears to himself when he sees that the next morning his hair is an almost violent shade of orange.
Once again, Baekhyun tries turning his hair back to its natural back, but nothing works. Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey doesn’t say anything when Baekhyun walks in again (although she does raise an eyebrow), this time with a head full of black feathers, and Baekhyun returns to his room with a heavy sigh.
Baekhyun doesn’t even blink when he wakes up to lavender hair the next morning. Instead, he styles it up with a sigh of resignation and heads to breakfast.
Yixing laughs and pokes him with her spoon when he plops himself down next to her and immediately helps himself to potatoes.
“No grumbling to yourself today?”
“I give up,” Baekhyun says. “This isn’t hurting anyone, and I think Madam Pomfrey might actually take my wand if I walk in there with another mess on my head instead of hair.
Yixing laughs again. “Well I for one am really enjoying this. Who knew you looked so good with lavender hair?”
Baekhyun almost chokes on his potato slice. Almost. “You like it?”
“Yeah, I think it looks nice. Which is why I said you look nice.” Yixing grins when Baekhyun shoves her arm.
“Well I hope whoever’s doing this stops soon. It’s almost Christmas break, and my mom might actually murder me if I don’t go home with black hair. And that would be such a sad loss for you guys,” Baekhyun says, patting Yixing’s hand sadly.
“A true travesty,” Yixing says solemnly. “Whose messes would I need to clean up if you were gone?”
“Jongdae’s,” they say together, laughing as they turn to look at each other in mild surprise.
“Well I suppose I should hope the villain here lets your hair go black again,” Yixing says, folding up her napkin. “Don’t want to leave the castle to Jongdae’s mercy.”
Baekhyun snorts. “You make it sound like he’s the more terrifying one. Clearly I am smarter and produce a higher amount of mayhem per prank.”
Yixing hums and stands up. “I think you’re both pretty dumb to be quite honest.” She pats Baekhyun’s shoulder, and before he can do anything except open his mouth indignantly, she’s gone.
★☆★
The next day’s hair is a dark, blue-toned silver, but strangely enough, the morning after that, Baekhyun wakes up to black hair. He smiles and ruffles his hair happily before going downstairs to get breakfast.
When he gets downstairs, Luhan is just getting up, leaving the space next to Yixing free. Baekhyun sits himself down, smiling smugly when Yixing turns to face him.
“It’s black again!” Yixing exclaims, reaching out to brush his bangs.
“Mhmm,” Baekhyun hums happily as he pours himself pumpkin juice.
“I missed it. I knew red, orange, and grey would look good, and I wasn’t so sure about lavender, but I forgot how much I like the black.” Yixing reaches in front of Baekhyun for another scoop of scrambled eggs.
“Wait you…” Baekhyun is dumbstruck, staring as Yixing digs into her eggs happily.
“Yeah, see I’ve always wondered how you’d look with colored hair, but then you hit me in the face with a snowball, and I was like hey, what an opportunity!”
Baekhyun just keeps staring, the cup of juice in his hand forgotten. Yixing, Head Girl and Gryffindor’s star keeper, best in her class and arguably the sweetest, kindest person in the entire castle….
Yixing just giggles again. Her plate now empty, she gets up and peck’s Baekhyun’s cheek.
“What, a girl can’t have some fun around here?” she teases, and seconds later, she’s gone.
Baekhyun definitely doesn’t whimper.
[2 Weeks Later]
“Shh! This one!” Baekhyun pulls Yixing into an empty classroom.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN I SWEAR TO FLOBBERWORM I WILL CHIZPURFLE YOUR GOD-DIRICAWL HORKLUMP,” comes from the hallway, and Baekhyun and Yixing stifle their laughter as they see Jongdae storming down the hallway.
When he’s safely gone, Yixing collapses in giggles on Baekhyun, who amid his own laughter, pulls her closer.
“I can’t wait til he uses ‘jobberknoll’,” she gasps.
“Yes, and what about ‘nogtail’ oh my god. Could you imagine the look on Minseok’s face when Jongdae tries sassing him with harmless animal names,” Baekhyun replies, giggling into Yixing’s neck.
She laughs even more, pressing a kiss to his nose before breaking into an enormous smile that nearly leaves Baekhyun blinded.
“This is so much fun,” Yixing whispers happily.
“I know, it’s too bad you only let me know this year just how awesome you are.” Baekhyun pouts.
“Hey, I’ve always been awesome, you just never paid enough attention,” Yixing says, pouting as well.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, hurriedly kissing her pout away. Yixing huffs but leans back into Baekhyun with another smile.
“I can’t wait for Junmyeon and Kyungsoo to be Head Girl and Boy, though. I mean it’s not official, but who else would it be? And could you imagine the number of detentions Kyungsoo will give you and Jongdae? And poor Junmyeon, she’ll try to talk to you guys about being good students and respecting school property or something,” Yixing says with a happy sigh.
Baekhyun groans. “Why can’t you just stay for another year?”
“Because I’ve started down a dangerous path and need to get away before you pull me down too far.”
Baekhyun grins. “Just you wait, sweetheart. There’s a lot we can fit in before the end of the year.”
Yixing smiles and kisses his cheek before settling back against his side. “Poor Jongdae, kid doesn’t have any idea of what’s coming for him.”
From: ANONYMOUS until REVEALS
Title: The Case of the Viceroy Butterfly
Rating: PG
Other Pairing(s)/Focus: platonic!Baekhyun/Chen
Length: 2,800 words
Summary: Baekhyun and Jongdae wreak havoc on Hogwarts and its inhabitants. Yixing is everyone's favorite Head Girl.
Warnings: mentions of Tao and Yifan
Notes: Thank you, first, to the mods for all your hard work :) Second, in the fic, there are mentions of a few Bangtan members because I'm a little too stubborn about my house headcanons…. Years and houses for reference: year 7-Yixing (G), Luhan (G), Yifan (G), Minseok (R); year 6-Baekhyun (G), Tao (G), Jongdae (R), Chanyeol (R), Kyungsoo (S), Junmyeon (H); year 5-Jongin (G), Sehun (S); year 4-Taehyung (G), Jungkook (R)
Baekhyun’s day starts with a bang. Literally. The explosion shakes the windows in the Great Hall, and he peers around the corner, cackling when he sees Kim Jongdae covered in blue feathers. Jongdae splutters, trying to blow off the feathers, but they don’t move. He tries picking them off and finds his hands covered with even more feathers. They stick as if they’re covered in glue, even catching on the people nearby. Baekhyun watches gleefully as Jungkook and Chanyeol get up hurriedly. Even as they leave, a few feathers cling to the sleeves of their robes.
Baekhyun ducks into an empty classroom as they pass him, but he slips back into the hallway to peer back out at the Great Hall again when they’re gone. He is just in time to see Jongdae rise with a huff, and Baekhyun strolls away whistling.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN.”
“Oh hello, Jongdae. It looks like you’re really into house spirit today,” Baekhyun says seriously.
Jongdae narrows his eyes, and Baekhyun grins at the promise they hold.
Suddenly, the feathers fall. They both turn around to see Zhang Yixing, a seventh year to their sixth, and she smiles.
“I’ll pretend I don’t know who’s behind this as long as there’s no evidence of it happening when I come back down for Herbology,” she says.
When Yixing walks away, Baekhyun mumbles, “We’re so lucky our Head Girl is so nice.”
“That’s true, but you’re cleaning this one up,” Jongdae says. He blows Baekhyun a kiss before turning and walking away with a smile.
Baekhyun shakes his head and laughs. With a wave of his wand, he makes the feathers disappear and heads upstairs to get ready for class.
★☆★
Baekhyun stops by the Great Hall before his first class, waving innocently at Yixing as she walks with Luhan to Herbology. Unfortunately, Chanyeol walks between them, and Yixing raises an eyebrow at a single blue feather on the back of his robes. Hurriedly, Baekhyun waves his wand, and Chanyeol’s entire robe vanishes.
Chanyeol lets out a yell, but Baekhyun just grins and winks at a giggling Yixing. She waves him away, mouthing, “Don’t be late to class again!”
Baekhyun mock salutes and leaves, the corners of his lips turned up, and for the rest of the day, there is a spring in his step.
★☆★
Jongdae gets his revenge the next Friday afternoon. The snow has stopped falling for the first time all week, and Baekhyun is heading to the lake to go skating with Jongin and Taehyung when something hits the back of his head.
He turns around, ready to start a fight, when another snowball hits his face. Spluttering, he narrows his eyes and scans the slope between the castle and the lake and finds no one suspicious. He sniffs and after another sweeping glance, heads back towards the lake.
Just before he sets foot on the ice, another snowball hits his head. Baekhyun curses, and he hears cackling coming from behind him. He pulls out his wand and whips uses it to whip a snowball behind him.
The resulting yelp is immensely satisfying, and Baekhyun turns around with a grin, which quickly fades into horror when he sees that Jongdae is on the ground, but howling in laughter and unscathed. Instead, Yixing is brushing snow out of her hair and face, lips pulled down in a frown.
“Fuck, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Did it get in your eyes or anything?” Baekhyun says, rushing over to help.
“After all I’ve done for you, this is how I’m repaid. What a thankless life,” she sighs plaintively.
“No, this was meant for Jongdae, I promise! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry….” Baekhyun keeps softly chanting apologies as he brushes snow from her shoulders.
Yixing stops him, gently plucking his hand off and laughing. “I was joking, Baek, I’m fine.”
“Ah, right,” Baekhyun says sheepishly.
“I’m meeting a friend, so I’m going to get going now, but thank you for the unexpected present,” Yixing says, still laughing a little. “I’ll see you later. You owe me at least some hot chocolate and a good seat by the fireplace tonight.”
“I’ll get extra marshmallows,” Baekhyun promises with a smile.
Once Yixing has left, Baekhyun sees that Jongdae is also gone, and he goes to join Taehyung. The fourth year grins at the tired look on Baekhyun’s face.
“Attacking Yixing got you too exhausted to skate with us?” he teases. Baekhyun just groans until Jongin comes back over from racing Sehun and tackles him into a large pile of snow. Taehyung then takes the opportunity to happily flop on top of them, and Baekhyun wonders what he did to deserve this life of being smushed into snow banks by awful friends and accidentally hitting beautiful girls with magical snowballs. All he’d wanted was some fun back in first year and Kim Jongdae accidentally setting Baekhyun’s eyebrows on fire had been a perfect opportunity, but this… five years later, he thinks that this is perhaps not the most ideal result.
★☆★
Yixing is already waiting for him on a couch in front of the fireplace when Baekhyun enters the common room that night with two mugs of steaming hot chocolate.
“I thought I was supposed to get you a nice seat?” Baekhyun teases. He carefully hands Yixing a mug, making sure she has a firm grasp on the mug before sitting down himself.
“Well I saw Zitao and Yifan leaving just when I got down here. You were nowhere to be seen, and I wasn’t going to wait around for you to get the couch,” Yixing retorts. She pokes Baekhyun’s arm, and he yelps, almost spilling hot chocolate all over himself. Yixing just grins.
Before Baekhyun can defend himself, someone taps his shoulder.
“Baekhyun?” Jongin’s voice, quiet and low and almost lost in the crackling of the fire, is apologetic.
“Yes?” Baekhyun turns around to find Jongin biting his lip. His eyes flicker towards Yixing and back to Baekhyun.
“I know this might not be the best time, but I really, really need help with Levitation Charm? It’s supposed to be on the O.W.L. and you mentioned you could help me, otherwise I promise I wouldn’t-”
Baekhyun pats Jongin’s hand to stop him. He smiles fondly at how Jongin so easily turns from incredibly loud and outgoing to a shy child. “I did say I’d help you. You don’t mind, do you, Yixing? I’ll make it up to you,” Baekhyun says, turning to Yixing with his best puppy eyes.
“As long as you stop trying to persuade people into doing things by making that face.” Yixing laughs when Baekhyun pouts. “Oh god, stop it. Go help the poor boy with his charm,” she says, lightly shoving Baekhyun away and winking at Jongin.
“You’re the best, Yixing,” Jongin says with a small smile.
Baekhyun just huffs. “My puppy eyes are adorable, Yixing. One day you’ll come around.”
Yixing just turns back to the fire and hums cheerfully. “I wouldn’t hold your breath, Byun.” She waves her hand at Baekhyun and Jongin, as if dismissing them, and Jongin giggles, tugging Baekhyun away before he can say anything.
★☆★
A few days later, Baekhyun sees Yixing in the common room, the gold in her tie glinting in the evening firelight as she bends over a scroll.
“Hey, Yixing?”
“Hmm?” It takes a few seconds before she looks up, blinking at him sleepily.
“I just want to apologize again, for the other day, because I didn’t get to before Jongin came over. I really didn’t mean to hit you, and I hadn’t noticed you behind me before, and I genuinely thought you’d be Jongdae….”
“I figured, from how loudly he was laughing,” Yixing says wryly.
“Yeah… what a tool,” Baekhyun mutters.
“I could say the same for you,” Yixing says, raising an eyebrow.
“Hey! I’m much better than that,” Baekhyun protests, pouting down at her.
“Yeah, much cuter,” Yixing says, poking his cheek and laughing delightedly when he blushes.
“I- okay, I’m going to go, I just remembered there’s a, umm, meeting for the-” Baekhyun ends with an indistinguishable noise and flees. Yixing’s laughter follows him out into the hallway.
★☆★
Everything seems to be okay the next day when Yixing greets him normally. Jongdae cackles when he sees Baekhyun and gets a slap on the back of the head (courtesy of Baekhyun’s hand). Minseok glares when Baekhyun accuses him of staring wistfully at Luhan.
Slowly, the days pass, and Baekhyun thinks a couple weeks later that it’s starting to get a little to quiet for his liking.
Just the next morning, though, Baekhyun’s getting ready for breakfast when Jongin wanders into the sixth years’ room. This is a rare occurrence, considering Jongin usually wakes up seconds before classes start, sprinting through the halls with an athleticism one wouldn’t expect from someone who spends so much time unconscious.
“Did you do something with your hair?” Jongin asks, still rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“Yeah, Zitao cut it for me last week,” Baekhyun replies.
“No I mean… your hair’s red.”
“Jongin, I think you should go back to bed.”
“No, Baekhyun… it’s really red.”
Baekhyun frowns, but Jongin just sighs and moves the mirror next to the window. The sunlight glinting off his head reveals undeniably red hair.
“What the fuck...?” Baekhyun combs his fingers through his hair cautiously.
Suddenly he remembers. Just a few days ago, Jongdae had casually complimented his new hair. He’d actually sounded sincere at the time.
“Kim fucking Jongdae,” Baekhyun growls.
“Umm…” Jongin backs away and slips into the hallway. “I’m going back to bed.”
Baekhyun doesn’t even hear him, too busy muttering under his breath as he storms to the Great Hall.
“What did you do to my hair,” he demands, drawing the eyes of a surprised Jongdae.
“What do you mean? I thought Zitao cut it?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, I know you turned it red.”
“I’ve noticed you turning it gradually red, but I didn’t do anything?” Jongdae looks genuinely perplexed, and Baekhyun frowns. Jongdae’s not this good at acting. Baekhyun chooses to retreat this one time, slipping onto the bench between Yixing and Taehyung, muttering quietly to himself and still suspiciously eying Jongdae. He only receives furrowed brows and worried looks in return.
Baekhyun puzzles over this the whole day, confused because nobody jokes around like this except him and Jongdae. He will admit, however, that this is a more subtle prank than anything they’d ever pull, which must mean there’s someone else in play.
Baekhyun can’t focus in any of his classes, accidentally turning his mouse into a clothes hanger instead of a button in Transfiguration and receiving a disapproving look from Mcgonagall.
★☆★
The next morning, Baekhyun’s hair is bright red. The yelling in the sixth year boys’ room wakes up nearly the whole house. Surprisingly, though, Baekhyun finds as he goes through his day that people seem to like his new hair color. This doesn’t stop him from trying to get rid of it to the point where Madam Pomfrey has to turn a pile of charcoal back into hair for him before dinner. It won’t stop being red, unfortunately, and Baekhyun goes to bed grumbling.
“I swear to fuck if they go through the whole rainbow-” Baekhyun swears to himself when he sees that the next morning his hair is an almost violent shade of orange.
Once again, Baekhyun tries turning his hair back to its natural back, but nothing works. Thankfully, Madam Pomfrey doesn’t say anything when Baekhyun walks in again (although she does raise an eyebrow), this time with a head full of black feathers, and Baekhyun returns to his room with a heavy sigh.
Baekhyun doesn’t even blink when he wakes up to lavender hair the next morning. Instead, he styles it up with a sigh of resignation and heads to breakfast.
Yixing laughs and pokes him with her spoon when he plops himself down next to her and immediately helps himself to potatoes.
“No grumbling to yourself today?”
“I give up,” Baekhyun says. “This isn’t hurting anyone, and I think Madam Pomfrey might actually take my wand if I walk in there with another mess on my head instead of hair.
Yixing laughs again. “Well I for one am really enjoying this. Who knew you looked so good with lavender hair?”
Baekhyun almost chokes on his potato slice. Almost. “You like it?”
“Yeah, I think it looks nice. Which is why I said you look nice.” Yixing grins when Baekhyun shoves her arm.
“Well I hope whoever’s doing this stops soon. It’s almost Christmas break, and my mom might actually murder me if I don’t go home with black hair. And that would be such a sad loss for you guys,” Baekhyun says, patting Yixing’s hand sadly.
“A true travesty,” Yixing says solemnly. “Whose messes would I need to clean up if you were gone?”
“Jongdae’s,” they say together, laughing as they turn to look at each other in mild surprise.
“Well I suppose I should hope the villain here lets your hair go black again,” Yixing says, folding up her napkin. “Don’t want to leave the castle to Jongdae’s mercy.”
Baekhyun snorts. “You make it sound like he’s the more terrifying one. Clearly I am smarter and produce a higher amount of mayhem per prank.”
Yixing hums and stands up. “I think you’re both pretty dumb to be quite honest.” She pats Baekhyun’s shoulder, and before he can do anything except open his mouth indignantly, she’s gone.
★☆★
The next day’s hair is a dark, blue-toned silver, but strangely enough, the morning after that, Baekhyun wakes up to black hair. He smiles and ruffles his hair happily before going downstairs to get breakfast.
When he gets downstairs, Luhan is just getting up, leaving the space next to Yixing free. Baekhyun sits himself down, smiling smugly when Yixing turns to face him.
“It’s black again!” Yixing exclaims, reaching out to brush his bangs.
“Mhmm,” Baekhyun hums happily as he pours himself pumpkin juice.
“I missed it. I knew red, orange, and grey would look good, and I wasn’t so sure about lavender, but I forgot how much I like the black.” Yixing reaches in front of Baekhyun for another scoop of scrambled eggs.
“Wait you…” Baekhyun is dumbstruck, staring as Yixing digs into her eggs happily.
“Yeah, see I’ve always wondered how you’d look with colored hair, but then you hit me in the face with a snowball, and I was like hey, what an opportunity!”
Baekhyun just keeps staring, the cup of juice in his hand forgotten. Yixing, Head Girl and Gryffindor’s star keeper, best in her class and arguably the sweetest, kindest person in the entire castle….
Yixing just giggles again. Her plate now empty, she gets up and peck’s Baekhyun’s cheek.
“What, a girl can’t have some fun around here?” she teases, and seconds later, she’s gone.
Baekhyun definitely doesn’t whimper.
[2 Weeks Later]
“Shh! This one!” Baekhyun pulls Yixing into an empty classroom.
“BYUN BAEKHYUN I SWEAR TO FLOBBERWORM I WILL CHIZPURFLE YOUR GOD-DIRICAWL HORKLUMP,” comes from the hallway, and Baekhyun and Yixing stifle their laughter as they see Jongdae storming down the hallway.
When he’s safely gone, Yixing collapses in giggles on Baekhyun, who amid his own laughter, pulls her closer.
“I can’t wait til he uses ‘jobberknoll’,” she gasps.
“Yes, and what about ‘nogtail’ oh my god. Could you imagine the look on Minseok’s face when Jongdae tries sassing him with harmless animal names,” Baekhyun replies, giggling into Yixing’s neck.
She laughs even more, pressing a kiss to his nose before breaking into an enormous smile that nearly leaves Baekhyun blinded.
“This is so much fun,” Yixing whispers happily.
“I know, it’s too bad you only let me know this year just how awesome you are.” Baekhyun pouts.
“Hey, I’ve always been awesome, you just never paid enough attention,” Yixing says, pouting as well.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, hurriedly kissing her pout away. Yixing huffs but leans back into Baekhyun with another smile.
“I can’t wait for Junmyeon and Kyungsoo to be Head Girl and Boy, though. I mean it’s not official, but who else would it be? And could you imagine the number of detentions Kyungsoo will give you and Jongdae? And poor Junmyeon, she’ll try to talk to you guys about being good students and respecting school property or something,” Yixing says with a happy sigh.
Baekhyun groans. “Why can’t you just stay for another year?”
“Because I’ve started down a dangerous path and need to get away before you pull me down too far.”
Baekhyun grins. “Just you wait, sweetheart. There’s a lot we can fit in before the end of the year.”
Yixing smiles and kisses his cheek before settling back against his side. “Poor Jongdae, kid doesn’t have any idea of what’s coming for him.”