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Mingyu was in his 4th year when the triwizard tournament was held at Hogwarts. The infamous house rivalry was pushed to the background as students from the other schools arrived at Hogwarts, and it helped settle the fire between Yoon and Kim a great deal. The daily squabbles and fortnightly visits to the infirmary subsided, and they resorted to the occasional silly pranks on each other, and a few rare duels.
When it was time for the yule ball, Mingyu could hardly contain his glee. He was going to play the most hilarious prank on Jeonghan he had ever done, and even though it was not a malicious one, he knew it would set fire to Jeonghan's ego in the worst way.
On the day of the ball, Mingyu was in high spirits the entire day. He sang loudly as he showered, a big smile on his face. He couldn't wait to see Jeonghan at the ball tonight.
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Barely a few minutes later, his mood came crashing down, and the most enraged yell of anger echoed around the fourth year Gryffindor dorm.
No.....no way. This could Not be happening.
Oh, Mingyu was going to Kill him!
Mingyu was seething in anger, and only after a whole hour did he leave the dormitory to go to the ball – after a whole lot of convincing, placating, and pacifying from his friends. He honestly was in no mood to attend, his night already ruined.
People stared at him as he entered, but not for too long, they could see his anger all over his face. They knew it was Jeonghan’s doing, so no one wanted to get in the middle of whatever was about to go down tonight.
Mingyu could hear Seungcheol laughing at him quietly from behind him, but he was not going to get angry at his friend – he’s saving it for Jeonghan.
And then, Seungcheol starts roaring in laughter behind him. Mingyu turns around furious, but Seungcheol is pointing the other way. Mingyu turns towards the stairway and everyone around him starts whispering and giggling, finally laughing freely after holding back their laughter at Mingyu for the past few minutes.
Jeonghan had descended down the staircase in silver robes but what had gotten the students gasping was his hair.
Fiery, Bold, Gryffindor Red.
Mingyu smugly smirked in victory as their eyes met, Jeonghan staring at Mingyu with the same anger that Mingyu had been feeling ever since he had gotten out of the shower and had seen his bright green hair in the mirror.
Jeonghan felt his own fury cool down as they stared at each other, confused whether to laugh or start a fight.
"Well well well, who do we have here, a direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor if I had to guess myself!" Mingyu is the first to start the taunts.
"If it isn't our Slytherin prince Kim Mingyu himself," Jeonghan snickered back, "We should have known guys, the way he played in matches – there’s no way he was playing for the red side!"
Mingyu’s eyes narrowed, "Big words, coming from a reserve player."
"That’s because of my stamina, otherwise I’m still a star player in every sense!"
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They could not stop staring at each other, marveling at how hilariously the situation had turned out. Jeonghan had known the green would provoke Mingyu spectacularly, but what he hadn't known was that it would also suit Mingyu so well too. Mingyu himself was starting to become angrier by the second at how good the red looked on Jeonghan.
The night was filled with taunts and jeers at each other, even as they danced with their respective partners (but in close distance with each other), throwing out snide remarks every few minutes. Neither realized how much they were neglecting their own partners, focusing more on dancing around each other.
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As if the night could not get any more eventful for the students, the headmistress thought it would be hilarious to crown the Yoon and Kim pair as the yule ball partnership of the night.
"Not only are they donned in red and green in celebration of the Christmas festivities," she had said, "Yoon Jeonghan and Kim Mingyu have done it in their opposing house colours as a show of house solidarity during an inter-school tournament." The student body burst out in gales of laughter which the headmistress pretended not to hear.
"They must be taken as a token of unity and togetherness, they truly are a remarkable example of coming together to combine our best qualities and strengths when facing a common opponent" the headmistress continued, and the laughter only increased.
"Woohooo!!! Our Christmas tree!" someone yelled, and the roars of laughter became louder.
"The paragons of harmony and peace!"
"Leaders of the Slytherin-Gryffindor reconciliation movement!"
Jeonghan and Mingyu themselves couldn’t help but join in the glee and laughter of the student body as they went up to receive their awards. The affairs of the evening had truly done a great deal to calm both of their annoyance down, and when it was time for them to dance together, they were in equally jovial moods.
Which turned out to be less of a relief than either of them had expected.
Without their usual anger and rivalry to fall back on, they were left with awkward shifty eyes and nervous hands as they moved together.
Jeonghan’s gaze jumped from Mingyu’s eyes, to his chest, to their hands held together, not able to decide on where to look, and it felt awkward everywhere.
"Merlin, how on earth did I end up in this position, dancing with handso- annoying Kim Mingyu of Gryffindor " Jeonghan internally complained. He wishes he could summon back the anger he is used to feeling around Mingyu – armed with it he can confidently face Mingyu head-on and look him in the eye.
Jeonghan takes a deep breath, "come on, this is asshole Kim Mingyu the clumsy red-bottomed baboon " he reminds himself to get himself fired up, and bravely raises his eyes to meet Mingyu’s.
And he knows he's failed, he knows there's no fire in his gaze but instead all his nervousness is showing there, because after 2 seconds of holding eye contact (he thinks they both also stopped dancing for those 2 seconds, and he wants to cringe because of the awkwardness), Mingyu blinks rapidly and turns his head to the left, looking up at the ceiling, and simultaneously Jeonghan also immediately looks back down at his feet in embarrassment.
Mingyu’s head is spinning a bit and he literally cannot even remember what had happened a few minutes ago that caused him to have Yoon Jeonghan in his arms so close to him, and he tries to bring himself back to the present by focusing on the dance.
He looks back down at Jeonghan, at his downturned eyes and soft lashes brushing on even softer cheeks. He half wishes Jeonghan would look up at him again, not the way he usually looks at him, but the way he had looked towards him a few seconds ago – softly and slowly, big eyes getting bigger, and the way he had stared deep into Mingyu’s own eyes for a short 2 seconds.
Mingyu bites down on his lip, his eyes looking over the smooth flow of the red hair, and Jeonghan’s strawberry shampoo smelled crazy good; Mingyu wasn't unfamiliar with it, he had gotten whiffs of it during the few times they got into physical fights, but of course during those times he was never in a position to admire it properly, but now, like this, it was almost addictive, the mesmerizing smell putting him in a trance; and okay, Mingyu really needs to stop sniffing Jeonghan’s hair right now.
The song finally comes to an end (which was supposed to be like 4 minutes by the way, why was it playing so long this time? Mingyu’s sure they played the damn song for half an hour at least) and they step away without looking at each other. Jeonghan hurriedly brushes past his shoulder and Mingyu catches the wonderful scent for a few more seconds as it fades away.
He suddenly gets a flashback of the same scent striking his senses for a few seconds and fading away, exactly the same way as it just did, but the scene in his flashback is of him passing by the open door of the sixth year's potion classroom a few months back. Mingyu has no idea how this fleeting, specific memory is even stored in his brain.
And then he wonders if some sixth year uses the same shampoo as Jeonghan? Perhaps it was a popular shampoo among purebloods? But did they use it in such a high quantity that Mingyu smelled it from outside the room? That simply couldn't be. Maybe someone has spilled the shampoo in that area. That could be an explanation, Mingyu thought, even if it did not make much sense.
Mingyu shut his eyes and swept his hair back from his forehead, forcing the thoughts to the back of his mind. He opened his eyes and turned and smiled at his partner, and asks if they could go have more dessert.
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Hours later, Jeonghan lies in bed, hugging his blanket around himself, unable to stop replaying a loop of a specific 2 second memory in his head.
Intense. Warm. Beautiful. Jeonghan wants to stop thinking. His stomach gives a slight tug and jerk every time the loop replays. He turns over and buries his head under the blanket, but sleep comes very much later that night.
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((and if their fights after that are charged with something else and not the usual rage, their schoolmates don't mention it. after all, it is much more entertaining for them this way.))