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Min Yoongi, seventh year Sytherin, woke up with a dull ache at the back of his head. That and feeling like a centaur had kicked him in the stomach. Just for the fun of it.
The first thing he noticed when he cracked his eyes open – an incredible feat – was that he was not in his dormitory whose ceiling was pitch black. No, this ceiling was of rather blinding white colour, very much like the ceiling of Madame Pomffrey’s infirmary.
What in Merlin’s –
“Oh my God! You’re awake!” A voice he didn’t recognise exclaimed. “Madame Pomffrey! Madame Pomffrey! He’s awake! Mada –”
“I heard you the first time,” the healer said, her voice getting nearer. “Now, go back to your common room. I need to see how he is.”
“But – but,” the voice – definitely male – tried.
“He doesn’t need any more disorientation than what he has right now, child. Go back to your dormitory. It’s past your bedtime. Be gone before you get detention. Come back in the morning when he’ll be better.”
Yoongi heard a huff and then steps walking away. Madame Pomffrey approached his bed and touched his forehead with her hand.
“No fever, that’s good.” She smiled at him. He blinked, eyes tired and ready to fall close. “How are you feeling, son?”
“Terrible,” he mumbled, mouth dry and voice cracking. “What happened?”
“Figured you wouldn’t remember.” She said while filling a cup with some weird potion. “Getting hit by a bludger does that,” what?, “You were knocked out for a week! Poor beater that hit you did not rest until he saw you alive and well. Was here every morning and every night, not leaving your side. Poor boy,” she smiled, “almost had to have him staying for the night because of his nerves.” She handed him the cup with the strange liquid. “Will taste bad, but it will help you get back to your feet quickly.” He drank it and felt like vomiting. “Atta boy! Now go back to sleep. Tomorrow I’ll decide if you’re free to go.” She patted his knees and with a last smile she was back to her office.
To say Yoongi was a bit confused was an understatement.
He was the whole epitome of disorientation. Sure he knew his name, age and house, but apparently he’d been knocked off by a bludger for Merlin knows what reason and he’d been out for a week. He wanted to question, be enlightened on the subject. (In this case ignorance was definitely not bliss). He wanted to know what had happened, but his eyes were so heavy, that before he could try to speak, he was already falling into deep slumber.
When he woke up the next morning, no less confused, the first thing he saw was a black and yellow tie almost shoved in his face. Next were the very expectant face of the Hufflepuff boy whose eyes opened wide when Yoongi’s locked eyes with him.
Yoongi didn’t even have the time to open his mouth.
“I’m so sorry!” The boy bursted. “I swear I didn’t mean to hit you, but the freaking thing was nastier than usual and to avoid it knocking me off my broom I just had to do what I had to do, right? But it was so nasty and it was really cloudy so I didn’t really see and then I just happened to look your way right on time to see you falling to the ground with the bludger against your stomach and I really panicked! I thought you were dead! You didn’t budge an inch and we had to carry you here and practice was cancelled of course and I really thought you were dead but Madame Pomffrey said that was silly but you looked like you weren’t really breathing and you were so pale and you didn’t wake up the next day or the day after it and I was ready to pack my bags and leave because I would certainly be expelled from school because the Ministry of Magic wouldn’t allow a murderer among the students and I was so sad but ready to face the consequences and –”
“Okay! Breathe!” Yoongi said over him, silencing him immediately. “What’s your name?”
“Uh…” the boy hesitated, “Park Jimin… fifth year, Hufflepuff.”
“Clearly,” Yoongi nodded to the tie. Then he sat on the bed, the movement making him hiss at the now more reduced but still very present pain in his stomach. He looked at the worried boy. “Look, Jimin, I appreciate your concern but you can go now. I’m all good, no broken bone.”
“But…but…” Jimin stuttered, brown eyes blinking twice. “But I haven’t paid you back!”
“You were here every day, Madame Pomffrey told me.”
“But that’s not enough!” he exclaimed, gripping the bed frame. “I almost killed you, Yoongi! I need to pay you back!”
“There’s no –”
“What are you doing here, boy!” Madame Pomffrey questioned, making Jimin yelp. “You’re supposed to be in class! Go before I get you a detention!”
Jimin squeaked and hurried out of the infirmary. Yoongi sighed, he was finally gone. Madame Pomffrey walked to his bed.
“How are you feeling today? Better?”
“Yes, just a slight pain in my stomach when I move.”
“Ah yes,” she nodded. “That’ll be sore for a while but I can give you some painkillers and you’ll be fine in no time. But if you don’t have any other pain or complaint, you’re free to go. I’m sure your friends are anxious to see you up on your feet.”
In the week he’d been out in the dark, Yoongi had become a living legend. He’d been hit by a bludger and had lived to tell the tale.
His friends greeted him with great enthusiasm at dinner time. They hugged him and patted him in the back – very carefully of course, they didn’t want him back to the infirmary – and laughed at his misfortune. The first years in the Slytherin table looked at him with reverence and the other three tables whispered among them while sneaking glances at him.
He then, of course, heard the crazy rumours that had been spread like quick fire. The bludger was rigged, his skull had cracked open, the force of the impact had thrown him across the lake, and so many others, each more ridiculous than the other. He laughed at all of them, but it wasn’t like he was going to recommend being hit by a bludger in the traditional boring way. Yeah, 10/10 would totally recommend. True life experience, you should try it sometime. Right.
By dessert time the whispered had reduced and some students were beginning to leave fir their common rooms. Yoongi indulged his sweet tooth and stayed for a little while. His friends, wanting to catch up, stayed with him. He was on his second spoonful of pudding when someone cleared their throat behind him. His spoon almost felt from his hand when he saw no other than Park Jimin.
“You have to let me pay you back.”
Yoongi sighed. “Jimin, I really appreciate your thought, but you’ve done enough. I don’t hold any grudge against you, really. You don’t need to worry about any vex or enchantment I might send your way and you don’t need to pay me back.”
“But I want to,” he said with determination, “I’ll do anything you want.”
“I don’t need anything done at the moment and that’s not the point, anyway. Have a good night, Jimin” and he turned back to his beloved pudding.
Jimin huffed and stomped away.
But it wasn’t over quite so soon.
Jimin didn’t quit so easily, to Yoongi’s misfortune. Every day he’d go to the Slytherin table and repeat his vow to pay him back and every day he was dismissed by Yoongi. If any of Yoongi’s friends dared to even think of joking about it, Yoongi’s killer eyes stopped them.
But then Jimin kept popping out of nowhere wherever Yoongi was and ask if he needed any assistance.
“Do you need me to carry your books?”
“Aren’t you going to have Herbology next?”
“Yes.”
“I’m having Transfiguration. That’s on the other side of the castle.”
“But –”
“And you’re late already. It’s five to nine and even in a quick step you take at least ten minutes.”
Jimin yelped and ran away and Yoongi was free once more.
He’d be lucky if that had been the only occurrence, but it became so unbearable that he had to resort to drastic measures. He refuged himself in the library. There he’d find peace and no Park Jimin wanting to pay him back.
Yeah, right.
Even in the most secluded part of the library, hidden between the boring hardback books of History of Magic that no one liked, Yoongi was found by the eager Hufflepuff.
“Yoongi!” He exclaimed, jolting when a harsh shush came from some shelves away. “I didn’t know you studied in the library,” he whispered, before dropping his bag on the table with no ceremony. “The teachers are killing me. All they do is mention O.W.L.S and O.W.L.S and gives us hundreds of essays and homework!” he retrieved a large enormous dusty books from one of the nearby shelves. “I’m good at almost every subject, some stumbled in Potions and Transfiguration, but History of Magic is tricky with me. I’m not good with dates, you know?”
No, Yoongi didn’t know. He just wanted to read his book in peace. So he did. If he pretended Jimin weren’t there he could almost recover the quietness he desired.
Except the silence was suffocating.
Well, libraries were supposed to be silent and all that, but this silence was way too heavy, especially when Jimin was in the scene and Yoongi knew for a fact that Jimin was not capable of being silent for long. Not that he cared of course. He preferred the Hufflepuff as silent as a mouse. It was just weird, it was all. He didn’t care about it, he just found it weird.
So he couldn’t avoid raising his eyes to see what had Jimin so quiet. He was deeply focused in his reading, tongue poking out of his lips and small finger running along the lines, probably trying to find the date of a certain troll war or revolution. His black and yellow tie was crookedly done and the first buttons of his shirt undone. Unlike him, Jimin didn’t have his sweater on and the sleeves were rolled up.
“Do you need any help, Yoongi?”
Yoongi startled when Jimin spoke. He felt his cheeks prickling with red when he saw Jimin’s amused expression.
“Uh…no! Of course not!” He coughed, flustered. “Do you even know anything about Advanced Potions?”
“Uh…” the younger boy blinked. “No, not really…”
“Then let me study in peace,” he grumbled before going back to his book just to read the same paragraph twice because he hadn’t understand a word. (Because he was annoyed of course. Nothing else.)
“Can I still sit here and study?” Jimin asked timidly. Yoongi raised his eyes sharply. “I promise I won’t say a word! I’ll be like the dead.”
Yoongi clicked his tongue. “Do whatever you want.”
It was not as if he wanted, but the blinding smile Jimin sent his way had Yoongi’s heart skipping a beat.
It sort of became a routine.
Yoongi would hide in the library and Jimin would always find him and sit next to him, concentrated on whatever he was studying. The younger boy kept his promise: he didn’t speak a word. Well, most of the time he didn’t speak a word. But then he’d get tired or frustrated with something – some stupid date and why are trolls so full of revolutions? Wasn’t one enough? – and then he’d get restless and Yoongi knew they would work for much longer. So he just closed his book shut and got up, ready to leave.
For some reason he couldn’t decipher, Jimin always followed him to the school grounds, happily chatting with Yoongi, though the older seldom replied. And when he did it was either in monosyllabic grumbles or just a plain boring expression.
But Jimin kept on insisting to stay with him and they would sit by the lake, enjoying the last sun rays of the day before Yoongi returned to his common room and Jimin had Quidditch practice.
His friends laughed at him. Said he was too soft on the Hufflepuff, that even his harsher response to the boy was him being soft. Yoongi could send them a nasty look, but they would snicker. The great Min Yoongi was soft by the cute eager Hufflepuff that had hit him with a bludger. Talk about Stockholm syndrome.
But they were right, weren’t they?
Because Yoongi had easily let go some of those anxious to please juniors who wanted to fall on his good graces. He was all about sharp tongue and mean looks, not caring to some extent to what others felt.
But not with Jimin.
He could never be too harsh with the boy, who tried to hard not to bother Yoongi. Thankfully his endeavour to pay Yoongi back had subsided and he was no longer getting late to classes because he had wanted to carry Yoongi’s back across the castle. No, now he just stayed in Yoongi’s company, rambling as soon as they were out of the library, but not particularly caring that Yoongi didn’t reply.
A wild thought had crossed Yoongi’s mind one night. A wild thought that almost had him not getting a blink of sleep. They had become sort of friends, hadn’t they? Whatever way you looked at it, they looked like friends. Sure a strange pair, because Jimin fed on energy and excitement every morning and Yoongi was the total opposite, but it worked. In some way or another, that strangely formed friendship worked.
Plus – and that was the hardest part for Yoongi to admit – Jimin was cute. Jimin was al sunshine and rainbows, blinding smiles and twinkling eyes. He talked excitedly about everything, be it a letter he received from his family or some curiosity he had read in his Transfiguration book. He put passion in everything he did. He loved Quidditch with a burning intensity. He loved practicing new charms whenever they were sat outside by the lake. Jimin was loved by everyone and he couldn’t possibly hold the smallest resentment to anyone. Jimin was everything Yoongi was not. Yoongi was snarky, snappy and, more often than not, in a bad mood. But even then, Jimin had chosen Yoongi as his friend and enjoyed spending time with him.
So yeah, if Yoongi sometimes found himself observing Jimin it was not his fault. It was also not his fault that his heart started beating fast against his chest when Jimin gave him one of those smiles he’d come to like. It was not his fault. It was Jimin’s fault. It was all his fault.
The year was coming to an end and more students were starting to enjoy their afternoons in the school grounds. Exams were, if not over, almost over. Yoongi had taken his N.E.W.T.S the week before and for a week he had not seen the sun. The exams were hell, but he knew he had managed to perform well in those he wanted to. Might have messed up a bit in Herbology but nothing that would stop him from becoming a Healer.
Jimin, on the other hand, was still having his final O.W.L.S. Transfiguration he had said to Yoongi earlier that day. Poor guy had dark circles almost to his chin, because on top of O.W.L.S, Hufflepuff was on the dispute of the Quidditch Cup against Ravenclaw and practices were getting tiring and tiring. Hufflepuff didn’t win for four years and the desire to win was huge.
So, without Jimin, Yoongi sat on the green grass, under a tree shade and closed his eyes, relaxing with the sounds of the chattering of the other students nearby and of the birds.
As it would be expected, the relaxing time didn’t take long to end.
An energetic Park Jimin ran towards him, shouting for him.
“Yoongi! Yoongi! I’m finished! No more O.W.L.S! I am free!” He exclaimed, throwing himself to the floor next to Yoongi.
“Congratulations,” Yoongi said in a plain tone. “Two more years and you have N.E.W.T.S.”
“Don’t be such a buzz killer, Yoongi! Summer is almost there and there will be no classes for three whole months! There will only be Quidditch! Are you going to the World Cup? My dad got us tickets and we’re seeing the Egypt and Australia game! It’ll be so awesome! Will you go?”
“I don’t know yet. The Cup is usually packed with people. I don’t go well with crowds.”
“Well, yeah, obviously” Jimin shrugged, nodding in understanding. “But wouldn’t it be so cool if we met there?”
“If you’re going to be that excited and pumped with energy I’m not sure.” Yoongi smirked, earning and complaining hey from the Hufflepuff. “But before that, don’t you have your own final Quidditch game to worry about?”
“Oh yeah! Mark – the captain, you know? – has been so strict lately. He really wants to win, we all do, of course, but it’s his last year and he wants to leave with a victory or something. Will you come watch the game?”
“Why would I?”
“I’ll be playing, Yoongi! And it’s a final! It’s always awesome even if your house didn’t get to the final!”
“Will I be saved from any stray bludgers?” He chuckled. Jimin got beet red.
“That only happened once by accident,” he mumbled. “And if any threatens to hit you, I’ll be there to save you.”
Yoongi looked at Jimin, with his thumb pointing at his chest, with a huge proud smile. Be calm, heart. Be calm.
Yoongi looked away.
“I’ll think about it.”
The thinking was little because, in the following Saturday afternoon, Min Yoongi was easily found in the bleachers full of yellow and blue.
The game started with a quick pace. The longer the game took, the harder it would be for both teams. Both seekers flew across the field, eagle eyes trying to spot the Snitch. Yoongi wished the Hufflepuff seeker was the first to see it.
But his attention was not on the seekers for long. For such a small stature and petit body, Jimin was an outstanding beater, working efficiently with the bat. He swinged hard and aimed with precision. The game commenter, a sixth year Gryffindor, loud and charismatic, also had his attention in the Hufflepuff beater.
“And now, look at Park Jimin, Hufflepuff beater! He hits the bludger right in the direction of the Ravenclaw keeper! Be careful Park Jimin, Min Yoongi might have escaped without injury but we don’t want a repetition!” Yoongi shook his head in disbelief. Even after he got out of that school he’d still be talked about.
Forty minutes in, with the score 110-100 for Ravenclaw, and the Raveclaw seeker spotted the Snitch. The crowd went wild as the first chase began, the Hufflepuff seeker quickly catching up with the other. They flew across the field, arms held out, trying to get ahead before the other could. In the end, in a mess of bodies, bludgers, quaffles and yells of the crowd, Madame Hooch blew the whistle and the game finished.
110-150 for Hufflepuff.
The crowd erupted in a loud cheer. The captain threw a fist into the air, very possibly crying. The rest of the team hugged and gave each other pats on the back. The rest of the team, except Jimin.
The beater flew right into Yoongi, lacing his arms on his neck and hugging him tight.
“We’ve won! We’ve won! Can you believe it?” He let go and looked at Yoongi in the eye. He was incredibly close and Yoongi was sure his heartbeat could be heard from far. Then his eyes opened wide and his cheeks turned pink. “Uh…” Jimin said, putting more distance between them. He scratched the back of his neck.
“Congratulations,” Yoongi said, awfully aware of the multiple pair of eyes on them.
“Thanks.”
“Park Jimin!” His team mates shouted. “Where are you?”
“Uh…” Jimin looked between his team mates and Yoongi, unsure.
“Go. You need to commemorate your winning.” Yoongi waved his hand dismissively.
“Right.” Jimin nodded, getting back on his broom. Before he left, he turned back to Yoongi. “Uh… Can we meet?... I mean… later?”
Yoongi furrowed his brow. “Yeah, sure. After dinner?”
Jimin nodded, almost as if with recuperated energy. “I’ll see you then!”
They probably should have decided on the meeting point. But they hadn’t so now Yoongi was standing in front of Hufflepuff’s common room, with no idea if Jimin was there or looking for him across the castle.
It might have been luck, it might have been destiny, but when the portrait opened for the first time since Yoongi got there, it revealed Jimin.
“Yoongi! What are you doing here?”
“I… uh… We didn’t… I didn’t….” He stuttered. “Never mind! What did you want to talk about?”
“Oh…” Jimin jerked in surprise. He looked at his feet. “Yeah… I…well...” He hesitated. “It doesn’t matter now. I forgot.”
Yoongi scuffed. “I didn’t cross half the castle to have you forgetting whatever it was you wanted to say. Spit it out.”
Jimin looked around, biting his lip. He tapped his foot on the floor. He took a deep breath and raised his eyes to Yoongi.
“Okay,” and then he grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to the first empty room he could find.
Yoongi sat on one of the tables and observed the Hufflepuff. His shoulder were tight and he took several deep breaths.
“Okay,” he said more to himself than to Yoongi, turning to face the Slytherin. “I know this may sound very strange and weird, but I had made a promise with myself that would depend on the result of the game and we won and I still can’t believe it but then I got really anxious because that would mean I’d have to do what I had promised myself to do and at the time but then I thought it hadn’t been a very smart idea, but then I’d spoken to you already and I couldn’t escape, you wouldn’t let me escape, but what if you hated me afterwards? I don’t think I could bare you hating me, because we’re friends, well, at least I think of us as friends and –”
“Breathe, Jimin,” Yoongi advised. “You’re not making much –”
“I like you, Yoongi.” Oh. “I like you and I know you’re leaving school this year and you won’t be around anymore and I’ll be stuck here for two more years and you have the world to see and of course I wouldn’t like ask you to wait, that’d be ridiculous and you probably don’t think of me like that, but I just wanted to say it once before you left, to let you know, but I totally understand if you, like, don’t talk to me or something, I mean, I’ll be sad and all, but I can handle it, and I mean only by chance would you think of me back and I’ll be here for another two years and I almost killed you once and –”
“We have summer.” Yoongi said, fixing his eyes in his hands. Jimin’s voice fell quiet. Yoongi looked at him, aware of how his cheeks were red. “And Hogsmead visits.”
“Does-does that mean…?”
Yoongi snorted. “You’re kind on difficult to be erased from my mind, Park Jimin.”
Jimin blinked twice, taking two steps forward.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah…I mean –”
Yoongi couldn’t finish because Jimin latched himself on him, his lips crashing into Yoongi’s. It was awkward, barely a kiss, but Merlin, if they didn’t get that fuzzy feeling inside them, that warmth, that happiness. Jimin let go and looked at him. His cheeks were red and his eyes were little crescents. He giggled in delight, hiding his face on the crook of Yoongi’s neck.
“I hate to say it,” he mumbled against his skin, “but I’m kind of grateful that that bludger hit you that day.”
“Well, let’s try not to repeat that in the future, yeah?”
Jimin giggled and Yoongi smiled. He was sure he looked embarrassing, but he too, despite all the trouble, was glad that the freaking ball had brought him closer to Jimin.