Stigma | Jikook + Harry Potter AU

Chapter 17: Adherence

It was a slow, tranquil morning as the sun rose above the horizon steadily, gleaming its amber glow across the landscape, glittering every blade of grass and glimmering through the gaps between each leaf. Early morning mist had begun to clear up, leaving the dew laden grass behind as the world was awakened from its lazy slumber to prepare for a new day.

Meanwhile, somewhere deep inside the Castle, in the Hufflepuff dorm – a snug, spherical basement – the tremulous light that was shimmering through small, circular window was apparently not enough to wake the students up. Even from the deserted Common Room, the faint sound of the Hufflepuffs' snores could be heard.

A little further along the tunnels where the boy's dormitories were situated, Jimin was still fast asleep, snugged up under his blanket with his hair sprawled out freely on his pillow. As a ray of sunshine landed on his faded orange coloured hair, the warm radiance of the light made it seem like there was a ring of halo glowing around his head. On the other side of the room, Hoseok was still in his dreamland as well, as he tossed and turned on his bed, causing him to be tangled up with the sheets instead.

It seemed like the sleepy Hufflepuffs weren't going to wake up anytime soon–

"Ouch!"

Maybe one of them had woken up sooner than expected, after all.

Hoseok, who was the source of the unexpected disturbance in the quiet morning, sat up on the hard wooden floor, looked bemused while he scanned around the dorm frantically.

The Hufflepuff combed his fingers through his tousled hair absentmindedly as he tried to find the cause of being rudely woken up from his nice sleep. As first, his disoriented and lethargic mind couldn't think of a reason why he ended on the floor when he was certain that he definitely slept on his bed the previous night.

Puzzled, the eighteen years old was scrambling up in an attempt to move back onto his bed when he felt a throbbing pain in his rear. Only then, he realised why he was on the floor: he had fallen off his bed!

Hoseok then faintly recalled that he had been dreaming before he had ended up on the ground. He had been so lost in his dream that his body might had responded physically, causing him to shift around on his bed unknowingly.

"Urgh!" he groaned in annoyance, as he rubbed his behind that twinged from its impact with the ground. It was a shame that he woke up, because he was having such a pleasant dream. In his dream, he was flying over the Castle ground while enjoying the picturesque view from above, with a pair of hands wrapped securely around his waist. He could still remember how carefree and thrilling it felt as a stir of soothing warmth from the person behind him spread across his back. However, as he tried to turn around to identify that person, he had to go ahead and fall of the damn bed: Such luck!

"Hoseok hyung? What happened?"

Just then, a tender voice that was still slightly raspy with sleep, snapped Hoseok back to reality. The older Hufflepuff then looked up to see a drowsy looking Jimin, who had sat up on his bed, staring at him with confused eyes as he waited for an answer.

Apparently, his fall must have been pretty loud since it woke the younger up from his sleep.