delacyrose224

eternallygyu

Just a 30-something K-Pop stan.Masterlist: The Jukebox

583 posts

Chameleon Boy (Part 2)

Pairing: Gryffindor!Jin x Ravenclaw!reader

Words: 7.2k

Genre: Hogwarts AU, Idiots to Morons to Lovers

Warnings/rating: SFW (but with a fun sprinkle of spice), cursing, reader continues to be bad with feelings, Jin continues to be a perfectionist, mild violence, cursing

Author's Note: This is a continuation of my portion of the @homeofbangtan Hogwarts collab! As always, thanks to @ttaetae for the banner, @min-yoon-kween for beta reading, @hyungieyoongi for beta reading/hyping me up/dying over the floof, @sunshinejunghoseokie for listening to my ideas, and @mochi-molala for writing a side JinMin friendship with me that has too many details not listed in this story!

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Days after the match, you still feel the phantom of Jin’s kiss on your cheek. He made you feel...safe. Like you could be yourself around him. Not that you couldn’t do that around your other friends, but Jin was just so much more than you expected. Funny. Smart. A good person. You weren’t quite sure what was happening between the two of you, but you were curious to find out. If you were being completely honest, you were excited to see him again-you just didn’t know when that would be.

“Hello in there? Hello?” You’re snapped out of your thoughts by Namjoon gently tapping on the side of your temple.

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it, your brain clearly isn’t in this room, and you’re thinking about something. Or should I say someone.” He chuckles as he smirks at you, but there’s kindness in his eyes.

You toss the pillow on your armchair across the room, and Namjoon bats it away to the floor and raises his hands in surrender.

“I’m just saying, you seem really lost in thought these days. Care to elaborate? I can maybe give you the male perspective…?” Joon offers.

You consider your options. You could keep things to yourself and possibly implode while trying to figure out what was going on. Or you could tell Namjoon, and maybe ask him some questions, get some insight. He might make fun of you, but that was a risk you were willing to take.

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you,” you sigh and roll your eyes, even as you grin at your best friend. “I can’t figure Jin out. He’s partners with me for this DADA project, but he brought me scones? And then invited me to his Quidditch game, blew me a kiss, and then kissed me on the cheek when we said goodbye after the game?” You’re not sure why each statement is coming out as a question, but they’re hanging in the air nevertheless as you finish talking.

Joon lets out a laugh. “Okay, so what are you confused about?”

“What does all that mean? I mean, half the school is in love with him or something, and he’s kind of flirty in general. I can’t tell what his angle is,” you motion with your hands exasperatedly as you further explain yourself.

“His angle? His angle is, he likes you.” Namjoon looks very self-satisfied as he leans back in his chair, arms folded over his chest.

“Okay, but you don’t know that, he didn’t tell you that…” you start, “-or did he? Wait-has he talked about me? To you?!” you screech.

“Calm down...no, he hasn’t. At least not yet. But I’ve seen the way he looks at you in class. And when you’re not looking over breakfast in the Great Hall. Whoops, he probably doesn’t want you to know that,” Namjoon looks slightly abashed as he sinks deeper into his chair.

Your eyes widen at this new information you’ve gathered from your friend. Before you can process it into a reply, there is a small tapping noise from the window. You both look over to see HooDini rapping his beak against the glass.

“Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Or, I guess his owl will.” Joon laughs as you glare at him. You choose to ignore his statement and go open the window to let the owl in. HooDini swoops joyfully across the common room before landing on your armchair, leg stuck out self-importantly with a note attached.

You’re quick to unfurl it, sinking back down in your seat as you absentmindedly pet the owl, your eyes roaming over the now-familiar script.

Hey Nerd-meet me outside the kitchens tonight at 10pm. Wear clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, I’m going to teach you how to make cookies the Muggle way. I couldn’t wait until class to see you again, so I figured why not be spontaneous? Don’t get caught sneaking out-I’d hate for you to lose house points...you study too hard and too much for that. :) -Jin

You smile to yourself as HooDini preens under your attention...at least you didn’t have to worry about when you were going to see Jin anymore.

“What’re you smiling about?” Namjoon grins over at you knowingly from his own armchair.

“Oh, nothing.” You tuck the note into your pocket and quickly scribble out a reply before sending HooDini back out the window to his owner.

“I have a feeling ‘nothing’ might also have a lot in common with a certain Gryffindor Quidditch captain,” Joon raises his eyebrow at you, daring you to disagree.

You just smile and shrug, and head up to your dormitory, leaving Namjoon with more questions than answers.

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Later that night, you made sure to leave your dormitory while the other girls in your year were out and about. Just as you go to leave the common room, you hear someone clear their throat. You freeze in place and slowly turn around to see who exactly has caught you the one time you’ve decided to break the rules.

“Going somewhere after hours, are we?” You meet the eyes of your best friend for the second time that day.

You breathe a small sigh of relief. “Joon, don’t scare me like that!” you whisper yell. “And yes...I am. Please don’t tell anyone?” You look at him with what you hope are convincing puppy dog eyes.

“Tell me where you’re going, and I’ll consider it.” You can see the corners of his mouth threatening to turn up at any moment, so you decide to just come clean.

“I’m going to meet up with Seokjin, okay?” you hiss as quietly as you can.

“Going to have a quick snog in the Room of Requirement, then? I thought you were confused about how he felt? Or how you felt?” Joon laughs goodnaturedly as you turn beet red.

“No, I am going to the kitchens and we are making cookies,” you state, willing your face to turn back to its normal color.

“Go, have fun. I won’t tell anyone...just tell Jin I said hi please, I haven’t hung out with him in a while. You seem to be taking up all his free time these days,” your friend winks at you and shoos you towards the door.

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You are out of breath when you arrive outside the kitchens, a mixture of nerves and having to sprint down the staircase to avoid getting caught out after hours. As you look down the basement corridor, there is only the flicker of torchlight. Were you here at the right time? Did Jin stand you up?

Just as you start to panic, a long shadow turns the corner and makes its way toward you. If it isn’t Jin, you are screwed. There’s no way to explain why a Ravenclaw was down in the basement, near the kitchens. Maybe you could say you were visiting Sunny and lost track of time?

“Hey!” The shadow calls out down the hallway in a familiar deep voice. You squint down the hall, and the shadow comes into view as Jin walks in front of one of the torches casting light off the stone walls.

“Hey,” you breathe a sigh of relief as he draws closer to you.

“Ready to make cookies?” He grins widely at you, and you nod. Satisfied, he turns and tickles the pear in a still life painting that sits in front of you. The pear giggles and the painting opens towards the two of you. Your eyes go wide in wonder as you both walk through the entrance to the most cavernous kitchen you’ve ever seen.

“How did you know how to get in here?” you breathe out softly, too afraid to talk any louder for fear of your voice echoing off the walls.

“I know a Hufflepuff or two, don’t worry about it. They owed me a favor.” Jin winks at you and grabs your wrist, pulling you over to the side with a large oven and plenty of counter space to work on.

“Here-”, he gestures grandly at the counter, “-is where the magic happens.”

You immediately go to pull your wand out of your back pocket, and he laughs.

“No, no, no...put that away, I told you we’re doing this the Muggle way. No wands. I get to teach you something for a change.” Jin nods approvingly as you move your wand back to your pocket.

He motions for you to put your hands out towards him, and as you do, he begins to gently roll up your sleeves for you. Every time his hands brush your arm, it makes your stomach feel funny. When he’s done, he holds out his own arms expectantly.

As you carefully roll back the sleeves of his maroon sweatshirt, you look up at him and smile. “If you’re teaching me something, doesn’t that make you...a nerd?”

Jin pretends to consider your question thoughtfully. “I suppose it does...I guess we’re just a couple of nerds then, aren’t we?” His eyes glitter with laughter as you smile up at him.

It’s then that you notice he’s got a backwards ballcap on his head.

“What’s with the hat? You know we’re inside, right?” You whisper conspiratorially to him.

His eyes go wide in shock. “Oh no, I didn’t realize! Call the fashion police, I deserve it.” He rolls his eyes at you as you laugh. “I’m wearing this to keep my hair out of my eyes. Plus my hair looks like a Hippogriff’s nest right now, it’s awful...and my Muggle habits die hard, I used to wear hats like this all the time.”

“Ooo, we’ve got a cool guy on our hands, watch out,” you tease as you finish rolling up his sleeves. “Speaking of watch, what’s this?” You point at a vintage style watch adorning his wrist that you’ve never seen him wear before.

Jin is practically glowing as he answers you. “My mum and dad sent it to me as a present, I got it in the post today. Just a ‘we’re proud of you’ gift. I swear, they’re entirely too nice sometimes.” He tries to play down the significance of the gift, but you can tell that he loves it.

“Well, that must be where you get your kindness from.” You look at him with pure sincerity in your eyes, and he can feel his heart somersault in his chest. He needs to change the subject, and quickly.

“So, cookies,” he clears his throat. “I’ve got my mum’s cookbook to go off of, and all the ingredients should already be here.”

The two of you set to work, gathering all the ingredients from the numerous kitchen shelves that surround you, as well as the refrigerator. Jin shows you how to crack an egg properly, and puts you in charge of mixing all the dry ingredients while he claims the wet ingredients (you could say that eggs were not your friends, even after Jin showed you how to work with them).

The two of you combine the two sets of ingredients, and he mixes them to the right consistency. You’re in charge of scooping the batter onto baking sheets, and then you place them into the oven.

“And now...we wait.” Jin stretches his arms above his head, his stomach peeking out from under his sweatshirt. Your eyes travel down to the exposed skin, noticing the outline of his abs. Must be from all that Quidditch, you think as your eyes go wide.

“...like what you see?” Jin smirks at you, having noticed your line of sight. Your face burns with embarrassment, you open your mouth to retort but can’t think of anything to say. Your eyes glance around the room, and land on the bowl you had been using to mix the dry ingredients. Before you can think too hard about it, you’ve reached in and scooped the leftovers into your hand and are tossing them towards Jin.

His mouth drops open into a position similar to yours. “Oh, no you don’t! C’mere!” Jin darts towards you, but you’re too quick for him. You run around the counter to the other side, sticking your tongue out.

“So that’s how it’s gonna be? You want to play dirty?” He grabs an egg off the counter and starts tossing it from left to right.

You weren’t prepared for retaliation, you weren’t even planning on throwing anything in the first place-but he just had to show his stupid abs off…

You fake right and dodge left around the counter, but Jin is too quick for you. He follows you as you dart across the kitchen, his long legs making it seem effortless. You turn to run around a set of cabinets when you suddenly feel something wet dripping down your back. You whip around to see Jin mere steps from you. He reaches out, grabs you by the waist, and pulls you toward him. The momentum of his speed moves you quicker than either of you realize, and you crash into his chest, breathing heavily from chasing each other around the kitchen.

You look up and find Jin already looking down at you, his gaze much more intense than you were prepared for.

“Gotcha,” he whispers, his eyes slowly traveling down your face from your eyes to your mouth.

What little breath you had left is quickly gone because of how Jin is looking at you. He slowly leans down towards you, wetting his lips in the process. You find yourself reciprocating, almost without thinking. Leaning towards him, eyes fluttering closed. You feel his hand move from your waist to your jaw, angling you towards him, bringing you even closer. Just when you feel that you can’t wait any longer and are about to take matters into your own hands-

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP

Your eyes shoot open and you immediately back out of Jin’s arms. What were you even doing? You’re making cookies, not...whatever was just about to happen between the two of you.

You look at Jin and see what you think is hurt flash across his countenance, but it’s rapidly replaced by his signature smile.

“That’ll be the cookies, then.” He slides an oven mitt on and opens the oven, retrieving the cookies and placing them on the counter. He starts to pout as he looks towards them.

“What’s wrong?” you ask. The cookies look perfect to you, you’re not sure what he’s upset about.

“Now we have to wait for them to cool before we can eat them.”

You can’t help but laugh as you pull out your wand and use a mild cooling charm to remedy his problem.

You pick up a cookie and hold it up to his mouth. He obliges easily, taking a large bite. His face collapses into bliss.

“Mmm...so good. You’ve got to try it.” He takes the cookie from your hand and holds it up to your mouth. Normally, you would take the cookie for yourself, but he’s so excited, you let him feed you a bite. “Good, right?” Your only answer is groans of delight.

The two of you polish off a few more cookies apiece, splitting the remainder between the two of you to take back with you. You each pull out your wands to speed up the cleaning process, since you had made a right mess of things. Finally, you both walk back out of the painting and into the basement corridor.

“Thanks for inviting me out tonight...I’ve never snuck out after hours before,” you state bashfully, looking at your feet.

“Glad I could be your first,” Jin wiggles his eyebrows at you and laughs, while your face whips up, appalled.

“You’re insufferable!” You whisper at him as harshly as you can manage.

His response is to take the pad of his thumb and gently wipe at the corner of your mouth. “You had a bit of chocolate...just there.”

His hand remains cupping your jaw, a warm smile gracing his face. “I’m so glad you agreed to do this and that I could see you again before class. And I got to witness your first batch of homemade cookies from scratch? That’s ten points to Ravenclaw, I’d say.”

“Jin, you can’t just say things like that! You’re a Head Boy, you can actually give out points!” You fret worriedly as his hand drops toward his side.

“Oh, I know,” is all he says with a smirk, as he slowly starts to walk away from you. “I know.”

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The next time you see Jin is in Defense Against the Dark Arts a few days later. He rushes in right before class starts, and slumps into his chair as his bag clatters loudly to the floor. You make eye contact and he gives you a small strained smile. You lean over to ask if everything is okay, but as you open your mouth, the professor strides in and starts class.

The lecture is nothing to write home about, just going over review material from last year, making sure everyone is on the same page before starting the material that will be on your N.E.W.T.s. The professor gives you a few minutes to connect with your tablemates at the end of class, and you turn expectantly to Jin, who gives you the same strained smile as before.

“Are you okay?” You ask tentatively.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Here, you can read over my sections I’ve been working on for our project, and I’ll take a look at yours.” Jin’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes, and you choose not to push him on the subject. Instead, you take the papers he hands to you and give him yours in exchange.

Your eyes scan over his work, and you’re impressed. He’s clearly put a lot of effort into what he’s put together, sentences scribbled through, rewritten, and notes added on the sides. You weren’t sure what to expect from a popular Quidditch captain when you were first paired up, but you have been pleasantly surprised by his smarts, not to mention his kindness...and you weren’t complaining about him being easy on the eyes either.

You turn to each other at the same time, and he motions for you to go first.

“Jin, this is good! You’ve got a comprehensive history of where the Imperius Curse came from, and how it spread in usage. The only thing is you’ve got this date wrong, the Great Wizarding War started in 1476, not 1434. But other than that, I’m impressed.” You smile warmly at him, hoping your praise will help him feel a little better. Instead you see his eyes narrow and the tight smile he had completely fall from his face. Your face falls in response.

“The only thing? Where the fuck do you get off telling me that ‘oh, everything’s all great, except for this major date is wrong’?” Jin scoffs derisively at you while rolling his eyes. “I’m sorry Ms. Perfect, I spent two days working on this with barely any sleep, but I guess I should’ve known it-sorry, I, wouldn't be enough for you, right?”

You pale at his accusation, and scramble to right what seems to be a massive wrong you’ve committed.

“Jin, I-is this about the other night? I don’t...your paper is fine, really. You asked me to go over it for you, so I just…” You stumble over your words, trying to figure out what this is all really about.

“You know, here’s your work back...should be no surprise that it’s perfect, right? Guess you really are a nerd.” You gasp hearing him use his usually affectionate name for you turned into a slur. You suddenly feel tears pricking at the corners of your eyes, which you try to quickly blink away.

“If you think crying’s going to get me to feel sorry for you, you thought wrong,” Jin hurls aggressively at you, causing some of the tears you’d been fighting to fall over your waterline.

Your argument has gotten progressively louder as it’s gone on, drawing curious stares from classmates. You see Jimin lean over towards Jin.

“Trouble in paradise?” The blond is smug, sarcasm dripping from every word. Jin’s eyes flash dangerously as he turns to face him.

“No, Jimin...didn’t you hear? I’m not good enough for her,” he turns back to you at this statement, his eyes now a mixture of anger and the hurt you saw the other night in the kitchens. “I’m done here, if no one has any more questions?” Jin looks around at everyone else, their eyes on the trainwreck happening in front of their eyes, no one daring to speak. He shoves his belongings in his bag and storms out of the classroom.

“...class dismissed?” Your professor looks just as bewildered by what happened as you feel.

As you gather your things, you see a Slytherin with pitch black hair rush out after Jin, looking highly perturbed by what just happened...Yoongi, you think his name is. What would he be so concerned about?

You abandon that train of thought to question whether you should try to talk to Jin after what happened. He seemed so angry...but why? Did he think you rejected him when the timer interrupted the two of you? You thought that your friendship was moving into uncharted territory, but after the exchange that just happened, maybe not. If he was going to be this emotionally volatile, you wanted no part of any kind of relationship with him.

You decide that you’ll leave him to sort out his feelings himself. From now on, he’s your project partner...and that’s it.

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Jin storms down the empty corridor, fuming. Who did she think she was, correcting his work loud enough for everyone to hear? And Park Jimin can keep his stupid mouth shut and his nose out of other people’s business. He just needed to go...somewhere. Be by himself. Clear his head. Lately, his brain had felt foggy and his emotions a little all over the place. He had a lot on his plate-Head Boy, Quidditch captain, classes, preparing for N.E.W.T.s, keeping Jeon in check, friends, family...it was getting to be a bit much, that was all.

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching from behind him. He turns to tell whoever it is to piss off, but before he can say a single word, Min Yoongi is pulling him into an empty classroom and closing the door behind them.

“You’re acting like a right git, you know that?” Yoongi crosses his arms over his chest, looking highly unimpressed.

Jin’s eyes go wide in surprise.

“Don’t look at me like that, you just yelled at that poor girl for what seems to me to be no reason in front of the whole class. And if my hunch is right, which I’m sure it is, almost took Jimin’s head off. What’s your problem?” He raises an eyebrow at Jin.

“What’s my problem? What’s your problem? You’re the one who’s hiding your blood status from everyone you know, afraid that Slytherin house will throw you out or something if they find out you’re not a pureblood. No one knows who you really even are. For God’s sake, every time we hang out, we’re skulking about after hours because you’re embarrassed to be seen with me,” Jin seethes.

Yoongi’s other eyebrow raises to meet the first.

“You know, I was going to try to talk some sense into you, but I see you might be a lost cause at the moment...so I’ll just say this. She deserves better than this. I deserve better than this. And honestly, Jin-you deserve to treat yourself better than this too.” Yoongi shakes his head softly at the man across the room from him, and heads towards the door.

Before he leaves, he turns back, eyes filled with disappointment and hurt. “And just so you know...I’d never be embarrassed to be seen with my best friend.”

He gently closes the door behind him, leaving Jin staring in his wake, head pounding, guilt slowly filling his insides. One question keeps making itself known, even through the fog filling his brain.

Was he actually the problem?

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The week seems to drag on more than usual with the absence of Jin occupying your free time. Luckily, you don’t have any other classes with him, and since you don’t share the same house, you’re able to avoid social interactions. You try to hide how off you feel (with some success), but it’s no match for Namjoon or Sunny who you’ve been best friends with for six years now. They each have their own ways of trying to distract you from you overthinking every interaction you’ve had with Jin - which is how you find yourself sitting in the Hufflepuff side of the stands during their Quidditch match with Gryffindor, though you’re not particularly pleased about it.

“Why am I here again? Jin is playing, I don’t need to be here. I don’t want to be here,” you pout looking over at Sunny.

“You’re fine! You’re in the Hufflepuff section, he has no reason to look for you here. Plus you’re being a good friend because I wanted to come,” she reassures you gently. You sigh in response, settling in for the game.

Sunny turns out to be right. Either Jin doesn’t see you, or if he does, he chooses to ignore you...you’re not sure which you’d prefer. Even though you haven’t talked to him in almost a week, you can’t stop yourself from watching his every move. He’s playing much more aggressively than he did last game, his bat sending Bludgers careening towards every Hufflepuff player he can manage. As the game goes on (much longer than the Slytherin match), Jin starts playing dirty when the ref isn’t looking-Bludgers flying towards players that don’t have the Quaffle, the crack of his bat even sending a hit towards Hufflepuff’s Seeker, narrowly missing Jungkook in the process.

You see his redhead counterpart sidle up next to him, clearly yelling in frustration at the way he’s choosing to play, and he simply yells back in return. You don’t know what’s being said, but she eventually retreats back to her position. Whatever she attempted to get across clearly isn’t working, because from that point on, Jin is covering both of their positions, still playing dirty when he can get away with it. It makes your stomach turn seeing him behave this way...you thought that your almost kiss was the reason he had been upset in class, but it seems like his behavior is just getting more erratic.

Sunny suddenly tugs on your arm and directs your attention across the pitch, just in time to see Hufflepuff’s Seeker grab the Snitch from right in front of Jungkook’s face. There’s a giant ‘ooooo’ through the crowd at the unexpected action, and the Hufflepuffs explode into cheering. Gryffindor was the favorite going into the match, and the underdog had managed to upend everyone’s expectations.

The two of you exit the stands, the buoyant atmosphere of the Hufflepuff win finally lifting your spirits a little. As you turn to head back to the castle, you notice a small crowd gathering around a couple of Gryffindors, one with their voice loud enough not that you could hear the words spoken, but you definitely recognize the timbre.

Jin.

You urgently pull on Sunny’s arm, dragging her over to the crowd. As you shove your way through what seems to be a gaggle of first years to the front of the group, you hear Jin absolutely tearing into Jungkook.

“I created a foolproof plan for this game...simple instructions, simple execution. This was supposed to be our easiest game of the season, yet somehow, Hufflepuff won. The Snitch was sitting right in front of your face-” Jin looks up, barely registering the massive group that now surrounds him and his team’s Seeker. He fleetingly makes eye contact with you as he scans over the front of the crowd, and immediately turns back to Jungkook.

“The Snitch was sitting right in front of your face, and you were too busy making goo-goo eyes at some girl to see it, and Hufflepuff literally grabbed it out from under your nose.” You can hear the venom dripping from his voice, and you can tell he isn’t just mad about some random girl Jungkook is interested in. When he emphasizes the word girl, you can feel an icy chill run through your veins-he’s still mad at you.

Jungkook opens his mouth to respond, but Jin cuts him off. “Tell me, Jeon, how does it feel to be the weakest link on the entire Gryffindor team?” The Seeker’s usual bravado seems to fall away as he shrinks under the uncharacteristically harsh gaze of his captain.

Just then, Park Jimin steps out of the crowd with a sneer on his face, eyes trained on Jungkook.

“Yes, Jeon, please enlighten us. You haven’t been able to catch the Snitch one single time this season, have you? Lost your touch, hmm?” Jimin strides closer to the two of them. “Or maybe...your captain just doesn’t know how to get you to perform.”

Jin’s brain is so fuzzy he can’t think straight. Jeon’s underperforming, his foolproof gameplan has proved otherwise, and everyone is a spectator as his emotions go haywire, flying out of control.

Jimin steps even closer. “I should have put 10 galleons on Hufflepuff today, honestly. So much for Golden Boy Jeon and Kill ‘Em Kim, eh?” Jimin asks, clapping Jungkook on the shoulder.

There is a sudden flurry of motion in the middle of the crowd. Jin closes the distance between himself and Jimin, a loud crack sounding as his fist collides with the blond male’s face. Jimin is lying in the dirt, Jin kneeling down to grab him by the collar of his shirt.

“You’re lucky I don’t have my bat on me, otherwise your face would look much worse,” he spits, pulling Jimin back up to his feet to do who knows what else to him. Just as Jimin regains a wobbly sense of balance, the black haired Slytherin boy from Defense Against the Dark Arts class rushes forward.

“Jin, stop!” The blood rushing in Jin’s ears prevents him from hearing anything. Instead, he brings his fist back, prepared to connect with Jimin’s face again.

“SEOKJIN, STOP!” Yoongi bellows, grabbing Jin’s wrist as he tries to move it forward. There are murmurs around the crowd, whispers wondering why this Slytherin boy seems to know Gryffindor’s Quidditch captain so well. Jin harshly yanks his arm out of Yoongi’s grasp, and the motion sends his wristwatch flying into the ground, shattering the clock face.

“I’ve known you since we were 6...you’re better than this. What’s going on?” Yoongi demands concern lining his face. There’s a collective gasp through the crowd at this revelation.

The fog slowly lifts from Jin’s brain, leaving a heavy pounding in his head. There’s a shooting pain coming from his clenched fist, and when he looks down, he sees blood covering his knuckles. But he’s not bleeding, so...his gaze travels up to where he sees Jimin, clutching his own hand to his face, blood pouring from his nose. What has he done?

Yoongi is still staring at him, and the crowd is murmuring to themselves. They know. They know he and Yoongi are best friends. He sees you, and you look so incredibly disappointed. Disappointed in him. He’s disappointed in himself.

Jin is overwhelmed, and quickly pushes his way through the crowd, setting off in a sprint towards the castle once he’s cleared through the throngs of people.

In the meantime, you push your way through to Jimin, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He flinches when he realizes who you are.

“Here to finish your boyfriend’s dirty work?” he asks thickly, trying to stop the horrendous nosebleed he has, coming from what you suspect is a broken nose. He can’t hide the fear in his eyes as he tries to glare at you.

“I’m here to help, I’m studying to be a Healer-,” you pull out your wand from your robes, “-and he’s not my boyfriend,” you add quickly.

Jimin looks at you, disbelief etched all over his face. “She can help, it’s okay.” Sunny has appeared beside the two of you, and is pleading with Jimin to let you help him. He looks at you again, giving a brief nod.

“Brackium Emendo,” you breathe out quietly, pointing your wand at Jimin’s face. There’s a loud crack as his nose goes back into place, but you can immediately see the bleeding lessen.

“...thank you,” he murmurs under his breath as he dusts himself off. He then turns and marches off towards the castle, Sunny trailing in his wake, no doubt going to see if he’s really okay.

As Jimin leaves, the crowd starts to disperse as well, seemingly sad to see the dramatic incident end. You see Yoongi lingering behind, not sure what to do with himself.

“Hey,” you grab his attention from watching other students leave. “Thanks for stopping him...that could have been a lot worse than it was,” you sigh, not wanting to think about the further damage that could have been done.

Yoongi looks at you curiously. “He’s my best friend...I had to stop him.” He shrugs as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. There’s a beat of silence before he continues. “Just so you know, he’s not ever like this. I don’t know what’s gotten into him, but it must be really bad. I overheard what he said to you last class, and you didn’t deserve that.” He picks at his robes, avoiding eye contact with you.

“Thanks,” you smile softly. “It’s Yoongi, right?” He looks up at you, surprised you know his name, and nods.

“He likes you a lot, you know. I can maybe see why if you’re kind enough to heal a Slytherin that he punched in the face.” Yoongi laughs a little as he says this.

“Do you...know where he went? I think he and I need to talk,” you state matter-of-factly.

Yoongi considers you for a moment before he decides to trust you with the answer. “He’s one of two places...either the Owlery, or the Astronomy Tower.”

You nod in thanks, giving Yoongi a small wave as you depart toward the castle. You notice the broken wristwatch on the ground, gathering it up as you leave to give it back to Jin…it was time to get to the bottom of things.

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After an unsuccessful trip up to the Astronomy Tower, you find yourself cautiously peering around the corner of the entrance to the Owlery. What you find makes your heart sink through your stomach and land at your feet. Jin is sitting in an alcove, head in his hands. HooDini is settled into the crook of his neck, rubbing his head against Jin’s face in an attempt to comfort him. It would almost make you smile, if it wasn’t for the events you knew had led the boy in front of you to hide away from the rest of the world. You tentatively step forward, and HooDini swivels his head towards you, letting out a soft “Hoo”.

Jin slowly lifts his head out of his hands to see what has caught his owl’s attention. As he sees you, his body seems to crumble in on itself...broad shoulders bending inward, pulling his knees up into the alcove and hugging them to himself. As you draw nearer, you motion to the empty spot in the alcove beside him. He nods meekly, telling you to sit. No one says anything for a while, awkward silence hanging in the air between the two of you.

“...hey,” he eventually croaks out, voice wobbly with emotion.

“Hey,” you respond, unsure how to broach the subject of his recent behavior. Instead, you draw his broken wristwatch out of your pocket and try to hand it over to Jin. He instantly recoils from your hand, face going pale.

“G-get that away from me!” he exclaims loudly. “Please,” he adds in a more controlled tone, taking shaky breaths to calm himself.

“What’s wrong?” You are extremely confused-he loved this gift from his parents, and you figured he would want it back, strange behavior or not.

“It’s...cursed,” he breathes out.

“What?”

“The watch, it’s cursed.” Jin looks at you, pleading with you to understand.

“Wait, how do you know it’s cursed? I thought your parents gave it to you?” You’re still confused, none of this makes any sense.

Jin takes a deep breath before he starts to explain. “My parents did give it to me, but they found it at a vintage shop, so they must not have known. This whole week, I’ve felt...off. Strange. My brain has felt foggy, and my emotions have been almost impossible to control. Almost anything could set me off, no matter how trivial.” He looks at you meaningfully at this statement, knowing you’d been a victim of his anger. “I’m sorry for the way I acted towards you, truly,” he says softly, reaching forward like he wants to grab your hand, but thinks better of it and stops. Instead he continues with his explanation.

“I wasn’t acting like myself. I yelled at you, I yelled at Yoongi, I punched Jimin in the face…,” he blanches again as he lists his actions out loud. “But when Yoongi stopped me from punching Jimin a second time, the watch broke. As soon as it did, it felt like the fog lifted from my brain and I could finally think straight. Even though I had a massive headache, I realized it was cursed. I’ve been studying different types of curses since fifth year...it all made sense.”

“Well, at least you know what happened and now I know why you were acting so strange?” you offer gently. “You know, I was coming up here to give you a piece of my mind...I thought you were acting like this because…” you trail off meekly, suddenly embarrassed and staring at your feet.

You feel Jin lay his hand on your arm, and you look up at him. “Because of what?”

“Because...that night in the kitchens...I didn’t kiss you, and I-,” you start, but Jin quickly cuts you off.

“Merlin’s beard, I would never be mad about that! Whatever you’re comfortable with is fine with me, I just…” Now it’s Jin’s turn to be embarrassed, his ears starting to turn red. “I mean, did I want to kiss you? Yes, but I never would force…I’m so sorry you thought that.” He stammers out, ears getting redder by the second.

You elbow him in the side, laughing. “Good to know you aren’t a complete arse, then.”

He lets out a weak chuckle in response. “Yeah, I guess...I just...the watch was cursed, but that doesn’t excuse anything that I did really. It just magnified the way I was feeling and made me express it in ways that I wouldn’t normally? I shouldn’t even have had those feelings, but I’ve been stressed lately, and I-,” Jin starts to ramble, his voice going thick with emotion the more he talks.

“Hey, it’s okay...Jin, it’s okay,” you gently murmur, your hand patting his thigh. “I’m here if you want to talk about what’s been stressing you out.”

His eyes widen in surprise at your offer. HooDini, who has been intently listening to your conversation from Jin’s shoulder as if he understood every word, softly taps his beak on his owner’s cheek, as if to encourage him to talk.

“Well...my classes are hard, but the same goes for everyone’s seventh year,” he starts. “I think part of the reason I lashed out at you in class was because I know you’re really good academically, and I just have to work really hard to perform at that same level. Head Boy duties aren’t hard, they just take up extra time. You know I’m Quidditch captain, so that means long nights of developing gameplay strategies. I’m constantly looking out for Jeon, making sure he doesn’t overstep with Park - and then here I go, punching Park in the face instead. I’m the first wizard in my family, and I need to make sure I’m making my parents proud. My best friend is in Slytherin, which means we hang out in secret, which is so dumb now that I’m saying that out loud…”

Jin looks over at you. “I know I said a lot of messed up things while I was wearing that watch, but I am afraid one thing I said was right...you’re too good for me. I don’t deserve you coming up here and comforting me after all the things I said and did to you.”

You glare at him. “Good thing that’s not for you to decide, who I’m too good for. Jin, you are so deeply good...listen to you! I asked you to explain why you were stressed, and you started to talk about everyone’s classes being hard, and looking out for Jungkook, making your parents proud...you’re so concerned with making sure the people you care about are taken care of, you’re forgetting all about yourself. You have to make sure to take care of you. You are allowed to care about all those things you mentioned, but please ask for help if you need it. At least ask me. Or I’m sure Yoongi would be happy to help too, he really cares about you.”

All of a sudden, you’re pulled into Jin’s embrace, his head sitting on top of yours.

“Thank you,” he whispers softly in your ear, sending shivers down your spine. You wrap your arms around his torso in return as tightly as you can, hoping to convey your care through your touch. After a few moments, he pulls back, eyes watery with unshed tears.

“Are you okay? Are we...okay?” he asks nervously.

“We’re okay,” you smile. “As long as you promise to never call me a Nerd as an insult ever again.” You glare jokingly at him.

“Deal,” he chuckles.

“C’mon, I think we can still make it downstairs for dinner if we hurry.” You stand up from the alcove, putting your hand out to help Jin up. He gladly takes it, and HooDini flaps off his shoulder to a perch above your heads.

You both move towards the exit, and Jin keeps a tight grasp on your hand, causing your cheeks to warm.

Suddenly, he turns to you. “How did you even know to look for me up here?” he muses.

“Yoongi told me you’d either be here or in the Astronomy Tower...he’s a good friend, you know,” you smile.

“I know,” Jin grins at you, starting to look more and more like his normal self.

“The three of us should hang out sometime,” you offer as you walk downstairs.

“I think I’d like that-” he says, rubbing circles over your thumb with his own.

“-Nerd.” He finishes with a firm squeeze of your hand, smiling as he opens the door to the Great Hall.

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Part 3

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