❝𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐋𝐞𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐨𝐤𝐦𝐢𝐧 !❞
- wherein one night during his patrolling duty, Jisoo finds a cat loitering around in the castle...
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Sneaking out of the dorm went, unsurprisingly, without a hitch. The first tides of exam season had already flooded everyone’s minds. It would have been difficult to find someone who hadn’t been dead asleep after another day of overflowing classes.
After quietly crossing the stairs leading out of the Hufflepuff dorm, Soonyoung was the first to poke his head out into the hallway. His eyes flitted in every direction at least a few times. When he was certain no prefect was patrolling within the vicinity, he tapped Seokmin on the shoulder to give him the sign. The two of them swiftly rushed in the direction of the nearby courtyard, and, after a single confident jump in the air, morphed into two elegant felines that noiselessly dashed down the stone hallway.
Becoming animagi and learning how to transform into animals at will had been one of the best choices Soonyoung and Seokmin had made during their stay in Hogwarts. Granted, they only used it for mischief, but chasing after thrills wasn’t a bad way to live by at the age of reckless youth. Their cat forms made it much easier to navigate the castle in the dark and to hear approaching footsteps. Thus they managed to reach the exit leading outside without hurdles, the chills of the spring night air making any remnants of sleepiness disappear.
As the felines sprang from the stone steps onto the grassy patch of the courtyard, they morphed back into their usual selves of two young rascals, landing on their backs on the soft ground with muffled thuds. When he felt the gentle blades of grass lightly tickle his neck and let the fresh air embrace him, Seokmin suddenly lost every reason he may have had to complain to Soonyoung about dragging him outside. The constellations overhead blinked down curiously at the two boys, maybe thinking as two why these two fifth years were out so late at night.
The two friends remained soaked in silence for a while. The familiar stress crawling through the student body at the beginning of a new semester hadn’t evaded them either, despite their superficial facades. Seokmin had half the mind to ask whether those were the causes of Soonyoung’s sleepless nights. The older most likely wouldn’t have answered honestly anyway; displaying worry towards him tended to hurt Soonyoung more than the concerns themselves.
The serenity was broken by the consistent sound of footsteps on stone floors gradually increasing in volume. Soonyoung and Seokmin’s immediate reactions were to share a look of panic. The two boys reverted back to their feline forms and quickly retreated to the nearest shadow bypassing the edges of the courtyard. They bore their eyes into the entrance where they assumed the approaching sounds were coming from, and waited with bated breath.
A single boy appeared from the dark insides of the indoor castle corridor. The green and silver delicately lining his robe was enough to show which house he belonged to. Soonyoung and Seokmin didn’t quite need hints regarding the newcomer’s identity whatsoever. They would have been able to make out the presence of the Slytherin Quidditch team’s prized seeker even without the sharpened senses of their animal forms.
Hong Jisoo, seventh year Slytherin prefect, headed to the fountain in the middle of the courtyard and sat on its edge. The way he was so concerned about his robe, careful not to crease it even at such ungodly hours where nobody was present to witness it, and his needlessly meticulous actions, for some reason entertained Seokmin. What would have usually come out as an amused snort accompanied with his wild infamous laugh, in his animal form found its way out of seokmin’s lips as a faint meow.
The sound, in spite of being rather faint, managed to capture Jisoo’s attention. The Slytherin squinted his eyes at the shadows of the covered passageways lining the courtyard. He seemed to have made out the lines of the two figures in hiding, because the Slytherin prefect reached out a hand in invitation and made the typical sounds you’d make to call a cat with.
Seokmin could feel his lifespan decreasing right there and then. Soonyoung shoved him with a paw in distress and straight up dashed towards the inside of the castle. Seokmin was puzzled at the rapidity of everything, dead set on whacking his best friend on the head with his own broomstick after they returned to the Hufflepuff dorm without trouble.
Before Seokmin could follow suit, one confused glance in Jisoo’s direction kept him rooted to his spot. The lines of the Slytherin’s face spoke of melancholy. His lower lip was jutting the slightest bit out and Seokmin could clearly make out the shadow of a pout. Seokmin was used to associating the name Hong Jisoo with brimming confidence and excellence, yet in front of him stood a boy whose eyes bore sadness and exhaustion. As Seokmin’s paws softly pattered towards the fountain in the middle of the courtyard, that pout seemed to fade more and more as the distance between them shortened, and when Seokmin was finally within an arm’s length, a smile quirked up the edges of Jisoo’s lips.
❝ Hello there, ❞ the prefect said in the most soft and gentle voice as he caressed the top of the cat’s head, even scratching it behind the ears a bit, ❝ would you happen to be someone’s pet? ❞
