Archive of Our Own

This was it. They’d done it now. They’d done it and you were going to get them for it.

You, Junmyeon, and Mark, one of your fellow chasers from the Slytherin Quidditch team, were hiding behind a statue on the fifth floor, waiting for those three Gryffindor bandits to come out of the secret closet where Professor Snape kept some of his potions ingredients.

You’d had a hard time believing it at first. To think they would go as far as to try to feed poor Kim Jongin a love potion!

The boy was a sweetheart, and cute as hell. Granted, he was a bit too young for you, since you were in your sixth year already, but you still could appreciate beauty when you saw it. It wasn’t his fault that he kept receiving poisoned chocolates and gifts from girls who were trying to get him to fall for them. What he was at fault for, maybe, was falling for it every time. There had to be a reason why he was said to be as dumb as a brick. But no matter what his IQ was, or what he looked like, no one deserved to be poisoned just so that someone else could win a Quidditch match! Especially if that someone was the Gryffindor team…

Now more than ever you were glad that, back at the beginning of the school year, when you and the other Quidditch team captains had held your first meeting to plan the training schedules, you’d called dibs on the Thursday and Saturday afternoon slots, which meant your team would have to share the field with the Gryffindor team during training hours. That’s how Mark had managed to “accidentally” overhear about what those three were planning for their late March match against Hufflepuff.

You observed as the tallest one of them, Park Chanyeol, waited outside for the other two, since the closet was surely too small for three people. He wasn’t even bothering to check if there was anyone around. An obvious mistake. 

It didn’t take them very long to exit the ingredients closet amidst whispers and giggles.

The scream Park Chanyeol let out when Jumyeon, Mark and you stepped out from behind the statue was, to put it simply, otherworldly. He’d even almost fell backwards from the shock. With all that noise you would have Filch chasing you in no time, and it was way, way past curfew time. You had to act quickly.

“We know what you’re planning, and we’ve got proof now!” Yelled Junmyeon.

“What are you doing here, Kim? Aren’t you scared to lose your Prefect privileges?” Kim Jongdae, the cute one with the kitty smirk, yelled back, making you flinch with how fucking loud he’d been. If Filch hadn’t head Park Chanyeol’s scream, he for sure had heard this guy now.

Your fellow teammate Mark leaped towards Byun Baekhyun —the real mastermind behind the scheme, or so you’d been told—, his hands already trying to grab whatever ingredients he was holding in his arms. But Baekhyun wasn’t going to let it go without putting up a fight.

“Do you ever mind your fucking business?” He snarled as he tussled and turned his body to try and protect his precious loot from Mark’s grasp.

You wasted no time in aiding your teammate and rushed to his side. Junmyeon was too much of a goody-two-shoes to even risk getting physical like that. But before you could grab the flasks from Baekhyun’s fingers you felt a pair of arms circling your waist and pulling you away from him.

“Fuck! Let go of me!” You kicked Kim Jongdae’s legs softly. You weren’t really trying to get into a fight, after all.

But the nerve of this guy!? To squeeze you in his arms like that, even when all of your friends knew of his huge crush on you! Did he have no shame at all? You honestly never thought he’d dare approach you, much less make physical contact with you. You felt your feet lift off the ground and you squirmed and twisted in his hold until he dropped you away from the tangle of limbs that were Mark and Baekhyun. 

You didn’t even have time to turn around before you heard Park Chanyeol yell:

“Filch! He’s coming! He’s coming! Run!!”

Everybody stopped in their tracks. Byun Baekhyun was the fastest one to react, soon spinning on his heels and running in the opposite direction Park Chanyeol had pointed at. Suddenly, you were colliding with several shoulders and backs. You didn’t even know who was who.

From the corner of your eye, you saw a messy brown mop of hair going back into Professor Snape’s closet. Junmyeon! Of course he’d be smart enough to choose a hiding spot in the place where Filch would look last: right in front of him! You followed him into the closet, squeezing yourself against his broad chest before quickly closing the door with a locking spell. By blocking the closet’s only source of light, darkness immediately enveloped the both of you, and you breathed in relief.

That was close, you thought, hearing Filch’s voice approaching down the hallway screaming his usual threats. Now all you had to do was be patient and wait, making as little noise as possible, until he got tired of searching for you and waddled away. You soon realized this meant you had to stay as still as possible, because even the slightest of movements had you bumping into the hundreds of flasks, bottles, boxes and who-knows-what-else Professor Snape kept in that closet. 

You held onto Junmyeon’s robe tighter to secure your balance, scrunching the fabric in your hands, and, for a second, you were reminded of his girlfriend. For sure she wouldn’t be pleased if it got to her that you were so closely pressed against his boyfriend in a dark tight space. She already didn’t like you very much, even though you and Junmyeon were only friends. But you had never even thought about him that way, and you were sure it was the same for him, which was the reason you didn’t really mind being in this sort of situation with him.

However, something felt odd.

It was as Filch approached the closet, the light of the candle he usually carried with him faintly filtering under the door, when you noticed.

The inside of Junmyeon’s robe wasn’t green. It was scarlet red. 

Your eyes, which were slowly getting used to the darkness, traveled upwards. On Junmyeon’s chest, instead of a snake, there was an embroidered red and golden lion. You immediately lifted your head. Under a mousy brown mop of hair that —now that you looked at it closely—, looked nothing like Junmyeon’s, there was a pair of curly lips. Kim Jongdae was smiling nervously at you.

You had to cover your mouth with your hand to keep yourself from gasping out loud, your eyes opening wide as soon as you recognized his face.

Suddenly, your body lightly pressed against his felt so much more scandalous than it did when you thought it was only Junmyeon. Kim Jongdae was grabbing your elbow to keep his balance and, just because of that, you wanted to rip his head off. How dare he touch you so casually twice in the same day?? But you couldn’t slap his hand away without probably making him stumble, breaking a million things inside of the closet, and, worst of all, alerting Filch of your location. That was your first thought.

Your second thought was: This guy doesn’t know what an ‘inside voice’ is. If he so much as tries to whisper anything, he’ll give us away. So you instinctively put your hand over his mouth and he just gave you a perplexed look.

You could still hear Filch outside, pacing. God, doesn’t he have anything better to do? But Filch seemed to be taking his time in searching around the hallway, and all you could do was wait.

You might had had underestimated Kim Jongdae’s ability to keep silent, though. You could almost swear he wasn’t even breathing. He was only staring at you, wide-eyed, like he’d never seen a human being before. You had never noticed he had quite pretty upturned eyes with thick eyelashes. His warm brown irises were hard to see behind his dilated pupils. 

You’d always found his very straight eyebrows to be quite funny, but you’d never noticed how they reflected every bit of emotion he felt, in every slight twitch. And they kept twitching in panic and confusion while he stared at you. You almost felt like laughing. He was making a really funny face behind your hand. 

It made you wonder what his full panicked expression looked like, so you slowly lowered your hand and rested it on the next closest surface, which happened to be his shoulder. He was sporting a really funny frozen expression. You couldn’t hold back a smile. It was like he was getting more and more nervous every passing minute. His eyelashes fluttered at you, and you felt a funny something in the bottom of your stomach. The skin on his neck was soft, as soft as his lips looked. You felt your face heat up. You could swear he was getting closer and closer to you, and his lips weren’t parted half a minute ago. Your thinking was getting foggy, your thoughts deafened by the heavy thumping of your heart in your ribcage.

The hand that had been on your elbow a while ago settled now on your waist, holding you more intimately than you could stand. Something in your brain finally snapped. 

What the fuck? Was he going to kiss you? And, more importantly, were you!?

You reacted just in time by turning your head to the side and you could have sworn he’d frozen, even though he’d been somehow barely moving.

What the fuck was that about!? You barely knew this guy!

You felt the need to step away from him, but you were sure if you tried to move you were going to make a mess out of all the useless stuff piled inside of this closet.

And, suddenly, an idea crossed your mind.

Kim Jongdae… He surely couldn’t have chosen Professor Snape’s closet as the best hiding spot, could he? He couldn’t possibly be that dumb. He had to be planning to grab more stuff from it. Maybe he had even stuffed his pockets with stolen things. But you just happened to very luckily have locked up yourself with him by accident, and now you had a perfect chance to do something about it. You smiled to yourself. You’d just come up with a way to find out without raising too much suspicion.

You slowly slid your hand into his, and intertwined your fingers. It was warm, soft, and… empty. He hadn’t grabbed anything recently, apparently, his other hand still on your waist. You looked up at him again. The dumbfounded expression on his face kept growing by the minute. Maybe he had something in his pockets from earlier? You moved your hand from his to his chest.

You figured it was a fair exchange. You’d get to find out whether or not he’d stolen anything else from Professor Snape, and he’d get to kiss you. You’d both win. As you pressed your lips against his and you noticed his shoulders dropping, his hold on your waist weakening, you couldn’t help thinking this probably wasn’t the most honorable idea you’d ever had, taking advantage of a guy who had a crush on you like that. But you had an agenda to fulfill. He was kissing you back, anyway. You grabbed his robe and searched for anything in its pockets. It took you a while to find and examine all of his robes inner pockets, his soft tongue constantly distracting you. Damn, he wasn’t a bad kisser at all. 

By the time you finished checking all of his empty pockets, Kim Jongdae had already begun to sink his fingers into your hair, and was pressing his body against yours with an unexpected sense of urgency. He sighed, his breath closer to a moan than he probably thought. It almost made you want to forget about Snape’s stupid stuff, and Gryffindor’s stupid schemes, and just enjoy this boy’s sweet lips on yours. But you’d stopped hearing Filch’s pacing outside the hallway a good while ago, and it really wasn’t in your original plans to do this, so you parted from Kim Jongdae, who had a blank expression on his face as he looked at you, and, without exchanging a single word, you stepped out of the closet and ran towards the Slytherin Common Room, not even bothering to look back at him.

For the next few weeks, you noticed him staring. Definitely.

It was hard to miss, with how loud he usually was. In the Great Hall, in the castle hallways, on the Quidditch field… one second he’d be yelling his lungs out whining at his friends, and the next he’d seen you and gone completely mute while he looked at you with puppy eyes and reddened ears. He hadn’t dared to talk to you, though, mostly because you’d been expertly avoiding looking at him unless you felt like teasing him. You had also been sticking a bit closer to Junmyeon than usual. You were sure you were driving him crazy with your mixed signs. God, this was so much fun.

You really, really, tried to fight it, but it was so easy to use that against him during the first Slytherin-Gryffindor Quidditch match of the Inter-House season you couldn’t help it. It almost made you feel bad. You didn’t even had to strategize. You just waited until he sent a bludger your way. You could’ve sworn he missed on purpose, even if you barely managed to avoid it, because you knew from experience from past years he was an excellent beater. And yet it only took a playful wink with your tongue stuck out at him to leave him paralized in the air, capable only of staring at you like smoke was about to start coming out of his head. How cute.

You only noticed the bludger coming back at full-speed towards him half a second too late.

He didn’t notice it at all.

The bludger hit him with its full force on his shoulder, and sent him violently flying towards the ground. You didn’t even have time to feel guilty about it, because, all of a sudden, with no more bludgers nearby, you felt an intense burning pain on the inside of your left forearm. Which, added to the shock of watching Kim Jongdae’s brutal accident from up close, plus the knowledge that you had caused it, made you lose your grip on your broomstick, and you quickly felt yourself slipping off it, following the poor Gryffindor beater on his way down.

Thankfully, Madam Hooch was able to slow down the both of you before you reached the ground. She blew her whistle to stop the match and began running towards the poor boy, who was laying on the ground not too far away from yourself. You rushedly stood up. 

“Kim!!” You called for him while you ran towards him as quickly as your disorientation allowed you to. You arrived before Madam Hooch did, and knelt down beside him.

“Are you OK?!” you asked, even though you were pretty aware that the answer was obvious.

Kim Jongdae only whined weakly, while trying to turn so that he was lying on his back instead of on his face. You helped him, taking care not to touch his now weirdly shaped left shoulder. You grimaced at the sight. He winced when his back touched the ground and he finally opened his eyes. Should you have moved him like that? You hoped you hadn’t caused any further damage to his shoulder. You knew nothing about first aid after all.

“Are you OK?” he asked you in turn, before even answering you first. “I saw you falling too.”

You just looked at him in bewilderment. His facial expression looked stiff and congested, like he was trying to hold back his tears. He’d just taken a bludger to the shoulder and you were perfectly walking and standing. Shouldn’t he worry about himself first?

“I’m… I’m fine….” you stuttered. “I wasn’t hit or anything…”

“Ah, good” he sighed. “I was worried the bludger hit you too.”

I mean, you’re a beater, but alright, you thought, but you kept your thoughts to yourself. It wasn’t the right moment for such sarcastic remarks, much less if they were directed at someone who was so clearly worried about your wellbeing.

Plus, his gaze was making you feel uncomfortable. He was just looking at you with a slight smile on his curly lips, but he definitely looked like he had something else to say. You didn’t even know what to answer. Thankfully, you didn’t need to come up with anything because soon Madam Hooch arrived, along with some other professors, and you saw your chance to stand up and move away from the injured Gryffindor to give them space to work.

Your heart was beating at a mile per hour in your chest.

Your teammates were also beginning to come together around you, asking what the hell just happened, along with some of the people who were watching the game from the bleachers. It was mainly professors, but you recognized your friend Junmyeon among them too. He elbowed his way through the crowd until he got to you, his face pale like he’d just seen a ghost. He grabbed your arms with a strong grip and looked you up and down checking for any wounds.

“Are you OK?!!” he yelled, his hands shaking.

He hugged you tight as soon as he confirmed that you were uninjured and in one piece.

“What happened to you?”

You had to rewind the past minutes in your mind to even know what he was talking about. You had no idea why you’d lost your grip on your broomstick. The image of Kim Jongdae falling was engraved in your mind, but you could also recall an intense burning pain in your arm —which, you noticed, had already faded—. Then you’d fallen with no further explanation.

“I think I hurt my ar–”

As you said your answer, you began to lift your left sleeve to look at your arm but, before you could finish your sentence, a loud collective gasp was heard along the entire Quidditch field, bleachers included. You didn’t think you’d ever opened your eyes so wide.

It was… a soulmark.

It was in the shape of a dog, that was the first thing you noticed. A beagle. And it was still fresh, your flesh red around the darker lines of the tattoo. You blinked once, then twice, then you looked around. You felt the world spinning under your feet. What? What was going on? What the hell? There were thousands of people here. The entire school was watching the first match of the season. It could’ve been anyone. You looked up at Junmyeon.

His face had grown pale.

Sehun, the cute new Slytherin seeker from second year, let out a mischievous laugh.

“Ooohhh!” he said, pointing at Junmyeon. “Is it you?" 

Junmyeon’s face colored, and as he stepped away from you, he yelled:

“It’s not me!! Don’t start making things up!”

He’d better not be, you thought, because his girlfriend was probably watching the whole scene developing from somewhere in the bleachers, and you didn’t think she was going to be very happy about the hug already.

But not everybody knew about her, you guessed, because someone slapped Junmyeon on the back. 

“Dude, congratulations!” They said. 

Junmyeon recoiled even more. His face was beet red.

“It’s not me! I’m not in love with her! I-I have a girlfriend!”

“C’mon, we have eyes on our faces…” Snickered someone from behind you.

“That’s not how you hug a friend.” Said someone else.

Junmyeon was growing more and more flustered, as more and more people circled the both of you. He then looked at the bleachers. They were far enough from the field to not be able to tell exactly what was going on in there, but not so far that you couldn’t recognize Junmyeon’s girlfriend trying to leave the place, surrounded by a bunch of people you assumed to be her friends.

“Shit!” Junmyeon said.

And he immediately started running towards her, leaving you there.

You could feel people’s eyes on you, filled with amazement and pity. The buzz and gossip seemed to be gradually increasing in volume.

Dumped by her soulmate…

Minutes after her soulmark appeared…!

Poor girl!

“He’ll come around.” You heard someone tell you. “Soulmates are meant to eventually find each other. It doesn’t matter who he’s dating right now.” 

“He’s probably just shocked. Just give him some time!”

Oh, God, you were starting to have trouble breathing.

You had no idea how you managed to continue playing after everything that had just happened, but you did. It was probably one of your worst performances on the field in years but, at least, no one held it against you. 

In the end, Slytherin won that match. You didn’t care anymore, if you had to be honest. Only when it was time to shake your opponents’ hands you remembered Kim Jongdae, who had been taken to the Hospital Wing after his accident, and you felt another jumping sensation in your gut.

Damn. Guilt was not a nice sensation to feel. You should probably go check on him.

You waited until his friends exited the Hospital Wing to go inside. You didn’t miss the very conspicuous look Park Chanyeol gave you as he elbowed Byun Baekhyun’s ribs and started whispering something into his ear.

Would it hurt to wait at least until you’d entered the room? They were lucky you’d convinced Junmyeon and Mark not to report them to Professor Snape for what they’d done a few days ago.

When you entered the Hospital Wing, Kim Jongdae was in bed, munching on a sandwich with a sulky expression on his face. He was holding it with his right arm, his left one in a sling. His eyes instantly lit up when he saw you approach his bed though and, despite you trying to express with gestures that you didn’t want to bother him, he immediately put the sandwich away and brushed the crumbs off the bed sheets.

“Hi…” You shyly waved at him, and bit your lip. “How are you feeling? Is it that bad that you need to stay in bed?”

“Oh!” He drew a beautifully wide smile at your concern, and you thought your heart just skipped a beat. Woah. He was handsome. “No, I just told Madam Pomfrey I was seeing double so I could skip class on Monday.”

“Oh…” You felt you should’ve laughed at that, but you only felt relief. “So it’s just your shoulder, right? How is it?”

He proceeded to explain to you the treatment Madam Pomfrey had administered, and how he’d come up with the idea to lie about seeing double. It felt weird to have your first normal conversation —Quidditch bantering aside— with him in these circumstances.

“Is there any way I can help you?” You asked, after a while.

“No, but thank you.” He stayed silent for a few moments and then he blurted out: “You’re really sweet.”

You looked at him in surprise, as he gave you a not entirely apologetic look, although his cheeks were quickly turning red. He looked around the room, like he was trying to come up with something else to say, like he was trying to find the right words, and then he breathed deep.

“So, I heard you found your soulmate?” He asked. His eyes were fixed on you, but you couldn’t really read them.

You wanted the Earth to open right there and swallow you whole. You thought about Junmyeon’s horrified face when Sehun had asked if he was your soulmate, and the way he’d ran away once everybody had started congratulating him. He hadn’t been seen or heard of since then, not even after the match had ended. You were sure he was somewhere in the castle with his furious girlfriend, trying to reason with her, since the thought of being his soulmate didn’t even sound right to you. But if Junmyeon wasn’t your soulmate… You looked at Jongdae’s shiny eyes and the knot on your stomach tightened. He… he surely couldn’t be thinking he had a chance of it being him, could he?

“I… I’m not sure.” You answered.

“Oh.” He said. “D… do you have anyone in mind, then?”

You looked at him, then thought back to Jumyeon’s pale face as he worried about you back in the field.

“I… honestly don’t know.” You answered.

“I see…” Kim Jongdae said.

Did he look dejected? Maybe, a little. You couldn’t tell.

“Well…” He began again. “Uh… just… take your time. This isn’t an easy moment for you, I imagine.”

Oh, go figure! You had two options for a soulmate. The first one had been your friend for years and clearly cared about you, but looked horrified by the prospect of involving himself romantically with you and seemed adamant to continue his previously established relationship with his girlfriend. And your second option was a guy you barely knew and whom you may or may not had deliberately made fall for you, in more than one sense, for less than honorable reasons. How could any of that even work out? There was something obviously wrong about all of that.

“Thanks for understanding.” You said.

There was a knot in your stomach as you tried to fall asleep in your bed that night. It felt like ages until you actually managed to do so. You spent hours lying in bed, considering the options you had, and even the ones you didn’t. What if your soulmate was neither Junmyeon nor Kim Jongdae? After all, the entire freaking school had been present at the moment of your soulmark’s appearance, so it could be anyone, couldn’t it? But then why had nobody said anything? Maybe if you waited a few days your real soulmate would come forward…

You sighed and turned in bed. Nothing made sense.

To top it all, the next morning you found out Junmyeon was now, apparently, avoiding you. He sat as far away from you as he could, both in class and in the Great Hall. He avoided staying in the Common Room for very long, in case he bumped into you. None of it hurt as much as the perspective of being in everyone’s lips for as long as he decided to continue his antics. You were, in fact, almost glad that he’d been keeping his distance, because you weren’t exactly excited about the prospect of having a serious conversation with him about what all of this meant.

But things only seemed to tangle further. Later that week, Junmyeon’s girlfriend broke up with him. You barely even blinked when you heard the news from one of your friends, but everybody else seemed to grow restless. Was this it? Was he going to ask you out?

On Thursday afternoon, during Quidditch training, your team was practicing passing and catching when Mark’s gaze got lost in the distance and he dropped the quaffle. When you followed the direction he was looking in you saw Junmyeon entering the field, and your anxiety spiked, only to be immediately replaced with mere confusion. He looked absolutely furious; he was walking towards Mark, not you, and his now ex-girlfriend was walking right behind him.

“Mark!!” Junmyeon screamed.

Everybody —the Gryffindor members, who you were sharing the training field with, included— stopped in their tracks to look at Mark, at Junmyeon, at his girlfriend, and lastly at you. You weren’t about to get a minute of rest, were you?

“Would you mind repeating to me exactly, word for word, what you told my girlfriend?” Junmyeon yelled.

Mark scratched the back of his head. There was a sly smile on his face.

“What, the closet thing? Why, is it important?” He played dumb.

Your ears perked at the word “closet”. By this point, Junmyeon had already walked up to where you all were, and he was standing right in front of Mark with his chest pushed forward, his legs apart and his hands on his hips, trying to give off his most intimidating aura.

“Yes. The closet thing.” His face was centimeters away from Mark’s, his voice barely collected. “What did you exactly lie to my girlfriend about?”

“First of all, I didn’t lie about anything. I just told her what I saw with my own eyes.”

“And that is…?”

Mark pointed at you.

“That you went into Snape’s closet with her.”

You couldn’t hold a bewildered “What!?” at Mark’s words. Junmyeon, however, didn’t bat an eye. The members from the Gryffindor team, who’d been running laps around the field, were, of-fucking-course, already starting to come around you, always thirsty for gossip.

Junmyeon’s girlfriend suddenly exploded.

“Oh!” She yelled. “She’s playing dumb now!”

Junmyeon immediately turned to her.

“She isn’t! I haven’t talked to her all week! Why don’t you believe me!?”

“Because the entire school saw you the other day! Ask them what they think!” She pointed at the Gryffindor members, then she pointed at Mark. “This guy says he saw you, why should I believe you or her!?”

God, this was such a fuck up on your part. God, Mark, what the fuck.

“This is all a misunderstanding.” You tried to appease Junmyeon’s girlfriend, although you had a feeling you weren’t going to be very successful. “I think Mark saw me but mistook someone else for Junmyeon.”

The disbelief on your friends’ faces when they heard your words wasn’t doing you any favors.

“What? Who were you in there with, then?”

“Me!” Kim Jongdae spoke before you could come up with a good explanation, raising his hand and taking a step forward. “She was with me!”

You covered your face with your hands.

“Oh…” You heard Junmyeon’s girlfriend say.

“I can’t fucking believe this.” That was Junmyeon.

“Wait, is it true? It was you? But I thought… I mean, I saw…” Said someone who sounded like Mark.

“Yeah, it was me…” Kim Jongdae’s voice had the decency, at least, to sound sheepish.

There was a long moment of silence before you heard Junmyeon walk up to you.

“And you couldn’t have said anything sooner!?” He yelled. You raised your head from your palms and just looked at him, bewildered. He was yelling at you?? “You had to let me believe we were soulmates for an entire week!? And you!?” He turned to Kim Jongdae this time. “Do you think this is funny!?”

Kim Jongdae protested something along the lines of “I didn’t do anything!”, but his words barely registered in your mind. The annoyance that was bubbling inside of you quickly turned into anger.

“And how exactly did you want me to say something when you’ve been acting as if I don’t exist all week, asshole!?” You exploded at Junmyeon. Oh, fuck, that sounded jealous. Quick fix. “Do you think I’ve been enjoying thinking we were soulmates!? I’ll be glad if I never have to see your face again!!”

And with that, you turned around and started to leave, walking towards the castle. Fuck Quidditch training. You’d had enough. Junmyeon continued yelling behind you, ignoring Kim Jongdae’s protesting whines, but you purposefully tuned him out. It served him right, after having ignored you all fucking week.

So thinking you were soulmates had been a big source of distress for Junmyeon. Fine. Perfect. You’d been thinking he’d been trying to show his loyalty to his girlfriend by staying away from you but that, deep down, you were still friends. That he’d come to you if he needed it, that he’d talk to you about anything, that he would still count on you. Well, apparently that wasn’t the case, seeing as he’d thought more appropriate to talk to Mark instead of to you about a topic that concerned you the most. And then he’d had the nerve to scream at you for not talking to him! When he’d been avoiding you! All! Week!

You clenched your fists and your jaw in barely contained fury as you continued walking, until you heard someone behind you. Following you. The irritation you were feeling immediately increased tenfold, and you turned around, enraged.

“Can’t y’all leave me alone for one fucking second!?” You screamed. You stopped in your tracks when you saw Kim Jongdae’s perplexed expression, but not even his puppy eyes could stop your next words: “Just so you know!” You started, and he froze in his spot. “I didn’t kiss you that day because I fucking liked you! I only did it to register your fucking pockets to check you hadn’t stolen anything from fucking Snape! So stop getting your fucking hopes up!!”

And, just like that, you turned again and left, this time alone.

The weeks went by, finals week and the Christmas break rapidly approaching. The days kept getting shorter, and colder, and the first snow of the season graced Hogwarts with its presence on the first of December.

Junmyeon and you were on speaking terms again, although there was a lot more distance now between you than there used to be. It was ok. You could understand it. His girlfriend still didn’t like you, but that wasn’t something that was meant to change anytime soon. At least they were back together.

You, on the other hand, hadn’t found your soulmate yet. It was hard to tell if Jongdae was avoiding you now or not, since you only saw him twice a week during Quidditch training, but you hated how much you cared about it. What your eyes didn’t miss was the looks his friends —the same ones who had no sense of discretion— kept giving you. You guessed you were officially a bitch now. You couldn’t say you didn’t deserve it.

The worst part of all of it, though, was the fact that, for some reason you still hadn’t been able to pinpoint, the tension between the Slytherin and Gryffindor teams had risen exponentially, and the frequency with which both teams argued during practice was increasing. The fights were getting a lot harsher too, although they had yet to become physical.

You were afraid today would finally be the day, after all this time. 

You wished the Gryffindor team could have appointed, literally, anybody else but Park Chanyeol as their captain, because he did nothing to prevent the fights from starting. Quite the opposite, actually. He was passionate and outgoing, and you were sure the reason they’d chosen him as a captain was because his personality helped boost his team’s morale. He seemed to enjoy provoking all of your teammates, but especially Mark, who was so easily incensed.

The problem was, where Park Chanyeol was playful, Mark was downright cruel. He seemed to have taken note of every single one of the other team’s mishaps, and he’d bring them out right when he knew they’d hurt the most, like he kept doing with that one time last year when Park Chanyeol hadn’t been able to hit a single bludger for the entire match.

Judging from Park Chanyeol’s reddened face and the serious expression on Jongdae’s, Mark had just brought it up again. God, this was becoming exasperating. You put the quaffle down and approached the soon-to-be fight as quickly as you could.

“It’s alright.” Was saying Mark when you got closer to him. He had a satisfied smile on his face. “Just keep practising, Park Your Broom Yeol. I’ve seen you’ve been trying hard.”

It was a silly nickname. One that Park Chanyeol should not have gotten so worked up about, probably. One that someone —you didn’t know who— had given him on his first year on the team, when he’d struggled a bit to keep his newly earned position as a beater. You had almost forgotten about it but, now that Mark had brought it up, you remembered how mad it made Park Chanyeol to hear it.

"Repeat that again if you dare.” He spoke, clenching his teeth.

He was already about to raise his fists towards Mark when Jongdae stopped him, quickly grabbing his arms.

“Don’t listen to him.” He said to his friend. And then, addressing Mark directly, he added: “Why don’t you worry about your own training for a change? I think you’ve got lots of things to think about rather than to stay here for a chat with us.”

Mark just laughed at Jongdae’s attempt to pacify the situation.

“Ha! If anything, you’re the one who should mind their own business, Kim! Or you’ll slip on the drool you’re leaving after our captain!”

You were livid after hearing Mark’s words. He’d even had the nerve to point at you with his thumb. You were going to kill him. To your surprise, Jongdae’s face quickly colored, seemingly caught off guard, and you felt the irrepressible need to intervene.

“Mark!! That’s enough!”

But Jongdae was already answering:

“Like we’d be so desperate to go to Slytherin to get laid!”

You were, if you had to be honest, a little offended at his answer, even though you knew it came from resentment, and you gave him a not so kind look, but he didn’t recoil. Asshole, you thought.

However, the Slytherin girls who were listening to the unfriendly exchange were already getting heated up with Jongdae’s words and they quickly replied back:

“You ever look in the mirror?!” 

“We wouldn’t go near you with a ten feet pole!”

Fuck your life. Why was everybody here so quick to jump to verbal aggression?

“Girls, drop it!!!” You begged, to no avail.

“You think we don’t know you’re all jealous of Kim Jongin!?” They continued. “You wished you were half as good at Quidditch as him!”

Mark started clapping at that.

“Oh!” He said. You could tell he was enjoying this so much. “Oh! What was that? Say it again!” He pointed at the girl who’d just spoken.

You tried to place yourself in front of him before she could say anything.

“Mark, let’s calm down for a bit here.” You said.

Mark opened his eyes wide at you. He was getting more worked-up than you’d ever seen him, and you honestly didn’t know how to react.

“Yeah?” He said. “Now? You want to calm down now?” You stood there, not really knowing what his problem was now. There was a strange glint in his eyes. “Why the fuck can’t we report them to Snape?” He barked at you, pointing at Park Chanyeol and Jongdae. You were dumbfounded. “They deserve to get three years worth of detention for what they tried to do. We could get them expelled! And you keep protecting them!! Care to tell me the reason why!?”

Oh, you weren’t going to let him get away with that.

“Because I’m your Captain and I get to decide what we do when it comes to Quidditch! And you better calm down now before I kick you out of the team for getting into fights!”

“Really!? You’re gonna kick me out? Tell me, captain, did we spy on them to catch them red handed or because you wanted to hook up with Kim?”

Your face colored at the accusation.

“Mark, shut the fuck up!!”

“No! Tell me! Whose side are you on!? Are you switching sides now because Junmyeon ditched your ass and you wanna get your revenge on him!?

A hand stopped you, grabbing you by the wrist before you could slap Mark’s face. Jongdae was looking at Mark with a very serious expression on his face.

“Her personal life is none of your business.” He said.

You swallowed slowly. Mark raised his eyebrows even more and laughed.

“Oh! That was a good one! Wait, let me write it down for when I feel like being a fucking moron! You love to suck up to her don’t you? So that she doesn’t report you to Snape? Is that what you were doing in the closet that day? You were sucking on h–?” 

“Don’t speak if you don’t know what you’re talking about!” You yelled at Mark, interrupting him. You felt like crying.

“The only moron here is you.” Replied Jongdae, somehow managing to keep himself composed. He hadn’t released your wrist, and he began gently pulling you away from Mark, but he followed you.

“Where are you going!? Are you going back to the closet!?”

“Yeah, we’re going back to the closet.” Jongdae agreed with him, to try and shut him up once and for all, annoyance evident in his voice, as he continued walking with you towards the castle.

You didn’t get very far before you saw Sehun, sweet second-year Sehun, approaching from the direction you were going in, an anguished expression on his face as he gestured at Madam Hooch and pointed frantically at Mark. Jongdae and you stopped dead in your tracks.

“What’s going on in here?” Asked Madam Hooch.

Mark didn’t even wait a second before screaming his answer.

“These guys!” He pointed at Jongdae and Park Chanyeol. “They bursted into the closet in the fifth floor!”

“He’s lying, Madam!” You chimed in before he could even mention the words “love potion” or “Hufflepuff”, like you knew he would if you let him.

He’d been obsessed with reporting the three Gryffindors, lately. You really should have noticed earlier. And maybe what they’d done (and still were planning to do, as far as you were concerned) was obviously wrong, but you’d caused Jongdae enough damage already with the shoulder thing, plus your harsh words towards him, combined with the kiss that had been, definitely, going too far. You’d gone too far with your behavior towards him. You’d most likely hurt his feelings. And, even with all that, he’d still gone and defended you from Mark! He had to be some sort of angel.

You released Jongdae’s hand and pulled your sleeve up your arm to show Madam Hooch your bare soulmark. “Mark’s jealous because he asked me out on a date and I said no because I have a soulmark. But now he thinks Jongdae is my soulmate and he’s trying to get him into trouble!”

Maybe this was a bit too shameless even for you, but lying had gotten you out of trouble a good amount of times in your life before, and you weren’t about to start pulling your punches now. You kept a straight face, and stared intently at Madam Hooch, as she took note of the situation before her.

“What the fuck, you liar!?” Mark said.

You could almost physically see Madam Hooch’s soul leaving her body at what was coming upon her.

You more or less managed to salvage the situation, although you owed a big part of that to the fact that your constant arguing with Mark really took its toll on Madam Hooch’s patience to the point where she simply refused to continue listening to anyone’s versions of what happened and simply deducted 10 points from each one of you, then ordered you to polish all the candelabra in the fourth floor instead of going to Hogsmeade on the upcoming weekend. You considered it a personal victory as long as no one had been expelled or banned from the Quidditch team.

To prevent any future fights, Madam Hooch also changed your training schedule so that Slytherin and Gryffindor wouldn’t have to share the Quidditch field anymore. This was what bothered you the most, actually.

You let out a deep sight when you finally exited Madam Hooch’s office. Mark gave you and the two Gryffindors a spiteful look before walking away. He missed the way Park Chanyeol mocked him as soon as he’d turned around.

“C’mon, Dae, let’s go.” He said.

“Go ahead without me. I’ll catch up to you.” Replied Jongdae.

“Alright.”

Park Chanyeol left, without further ado, and you turned to look at Jongdae. He signaled at you, and you followed him down the corridor. When you were at a safe distance from Madam Hooch’s office, he stopped, and leaned on a window ledge.

“Thank you for lying for us.” He said.

“Jongdae, I’m so sorry.” You blurted out.

He looked at you and tilted his head cutely, a curious look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry about everything.” You continued. “You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I paid you back by getting you into trouble. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s ok, really” Jongdae replied. “I’m just… thankful you didn’t report us. We owe you one.”

“No, we’re even.” You insisted. “The way you defended me from Mark earlier really meant a lot to me. And, to be totally honest, I would’ve done the love potion thing too if I had come up with it before you did. You deserve the recognition, at least.”

That made Jongdae laugh, and you found it was a comforting sound.

“You really have no shame.” He said.

“Yeah, I don’t.” You agreed with a smile. “It’s a pity Baekhyun isn’t on Slytherin. We could use someone with his brains.” 

Jongdae burst out laughing at that sentence. 

“Baekhyun and brains don’t even go in the same sentence!”

Behind the window he was leaning on, a few shy snowflakes began to fall. You looked at his handsome face under the soft winter afternoon light as you continued chatting for a while, marveling at the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, and wondering why you’d never noticed the cute dimple on his cheek. It was already heavily snowing when he finally stood up from the window ledge to say his goodbyes, and you could only blurt out:

“Wait!! Before you go!”

He blinked at you.

"Do you remember when I said to not get your hopes up with me!?” You said, cursing yourself mentally for the shakiness in your voice. 

Jongdae reddened at your words and simply nodded.

“Well, maybe… do get your hopes up a little bit.” You said.

God, since when was this hard to look at someone in the eyes? Jongdae’s face had lit up like a lightbulb.

"Really!?” He said, his eyes full of stars. He just stood there staring at you with a dumb smile on his face until he seemed to be shaken up by his own thoughts and blurted: “Do you want to have coffee next weekend with me at Hogsmeade?”

God, you’d almost thought he would tell you to go fuck yourself. It’s what you’d deserve after all. But either Jongdae was even kinder and more forgiving than you’d thought, or he really liked you that much. The thought made your heart start beating faster in your chest.

There was still a tiny little reason why you couldn’t say “yes” to him, though.

“We’re on detention for the next weekend.” You argued, an apologetic smile on your face. And before he could come up with a rebuttal, you added: “And finals week is coming right after that, and afterwards it’s Christmas break.”

You saw the smile slowly vanish from Jongdae’s face as you spoke.

“Fuck!” Exclaimed Jondgae. “Then, uhh… oh, fuck.”

You laughed at how cute he was being as he racked his brains. 

“See you after Christmas break?” You suggested.

“Nooo, c’mon, I don’t wanna wait that long!” He whined.

“Yeah, well, I think you’re gonna have to wait!” You laughed.

Jongdae just huffed, and comically stomped his feet on the ground like a little kid. Then he stopped, and closed the short distance between you, a barely contained self-sufficient smile on his kitty lips.

“But does this mean you think I could be your soulmate?” He asked.

You just bit your lip as you looked at him, taking in all of his handsome features. Gosh, you were really begining to warm up to the thought of him being your soulmate.

“We’ll see about that.” You replied, as you playfully pushed his shoulder. Then you turned around to leave and waved goodbye at him. “After Christmas!!" 

You felt a happy bubbly feeling inside. You’d missed teasing him like this. And you had the bittersweet feeling that you were going to miss him even more during Christmas break.

Epilogue.

On the very next morning, as you were taking your seat at the Slytherin table for breakfast, you heard a few voices frantically calling your name among the swarm of students who were still entering the Great Hall.

“Where is she!? Where is she!?” 

You followed the source of the noise with your gaze until you came across a very agitated Jongdae running across the crowd, closely followed by his two best friends. Before you could ask what was wrong, he let himself fall next to you on the table, knocking over the glassware, and slammed his arm down in front of you.

“I got it too!” He panted. “I got it overnight!“

His sleeve was rolled up above his elbow. 

On his soft skin, a familiar shade of red drew a beautiful contrast around the edges of his newly developed soulmark.

You looked at him, mouth agape.

His expression was the brightest you’d ever seen on him, or on anyone at all, for that matter. He looked like he was about to burst from joy. Your mind and your body had gone completely blank, paralized. But not his. In his excitement, he grabbed your head and planted a big kiss on your lips.

You closed your eyes as you melted under his sweet kiss once again. A burst of warmth bloomed in your chest as you felt him smile into the kiss.

“Hey! Hey! You’re in public!” You heard Chanyeol’s voice from somewhere above. Someone was hitting your shoulder. “Save some for later!”