𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒' 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘 (𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙆𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝘼𝙐)

𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐊

Catch me using skz songs as chapter titles 👀👉🏻👈🏻

Chan had never ran as fast as he was running right now – or at least, not as far as he could remember.

There had been that time, during the holidays following his first year at Hogwarts, where he had had to run for his life while being strategically chased by his mother (clog at hand), because he had allowed a whole community of gnomes into their living room – but although his scariest memory yet, that moment felt almost like a joke compared to what he was feeling now.

A giant snake within the castle. Who would've ever suspected that? Suddenly, all the talks the Headmistress had told them about safety and all the recommendations she'd given, how they'd been strictly instructed to refer any oddity (though small) they might encounter ̶ they all made sense.

But how was he supposed to go find the Headmistress, when a giant creature was running free, and possibly already causing harm?

He didn't dare ask Woojin to leave him face the snake alone: not only was he sure that the friend would laugh at him rather than actually listening to the advice; but he also knew that, whatever was bound to happen, he would feel less stressed with the Hufflepuff by his side.

Instead, he had tried to tell the two Ravenclaws they had bumped into – who Chan highly suspected hadn't been randomly walking through the many corridors at midnight aimlessly, considering their status – to go fetch Mrs. McGonagall on Woojin's and his behalf, but the two wouldn't listen.

Those had been some very awkward ten seconds: while the Gryffindor was impatiently waiting for a positive answer, the two Ravenclaws had exchanged a handful of rather eloquent looks, that Chan was almost sure to have understood the meaning of perfectly:

"We should go now!" (That had been the long, black-haired guy, Hyunjin).

"We would be going to the Headmistress, you moron!" the smaller one (Changbin), there, had tilted his head in the direction of Mrs. McGonagall's office.

"Oh shit, you're right" the first one had bitten his lips, clearly conflicted. "What should we do now?"

"I say scratch the Headmistress" there, the second had mouthed a clear 'no'.

"So... should we go with them?" the fearful look the tall one had given Woojin and Chan had been as good as if he had been talking.

The other, at that silent question, had almost imperceptibly nodded. "Well... it was our fault" he had then said out loud. "I think we should help".

"Yes!" the voice of the taller one was very high-pitched. "We should... should help, yes".

At that, Chan had rolled his eyes: could they be any less helpful? But there was sadly no time to argue. "We're going to fight that thing" he specified, just to make them understand what he was not so certain they had grasped. "If you come with us, there's a risk you'll get hurt".

The smaller one had snored. "Oh, how intriguing. I thought you were gonna have a nice chat with each other, perhaps with some tea and biscuits" and he had even dared repeat the same eye-rolling motion Chan had done just a few moments earlier. "We said we're going, we... wanna help".

Chan had looked at Woojin, and the ladder had shrugged his shoulders. "What can we do?" he was saying.

The Gryffindor had breathed loudly. "Okay, it's fine with us" he'd stated, using what he'd hoped was a more commanding tone. "But you have to remember that this is no playground joke. There's risk you'll get hurt".