𝐧𝐨𝐯 𝟐𝟓 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟒
"can't believe you went for that disgrace." a slytherin jeered, dropping the latest newspaper on the table in front of mark.
confused, he picked it up to read its contents. his eyes widened at the moving picture of yunhee throwing her arms around him and him resting his chin on top of her head in response. the newspaper made it out to seem like a romantic interaction, when actually it was completely platonic and because yunhee was worried for her friend.
"shit. i shouldn't let her see this." he muttered to himself.
"see what?" chenle asked, taking a seat next to mark. he showed him the paper in his hands and chenle, too, was surprised. "all the girls are going to treat her badly again. this isn't good."
"again?" mark asked and chenle nodded his head.
"last time, they got jealous of her being close with jeno." he said, rolling the newspaper up to hide it.
"i think i heard about that, but i didn't realise it was yunhee."
"yeah, it was terrible because it was around the time jisung ditched us. she was already upset because of it, but jeno was good to her. eventually, people mistook their friendship as something else and jealousy took over." chenle explained, glancing at the great halls door. "speaking of which... there's jeno and renjun."
he waved the two older boys over and they happily took their seats in front of them, not knowing about what was currently going on.
"anyone seen yunhee today?" renjun asked.
"you don't think... she's heard about everything?" chenle turned to mark with a frown.
"i hope not." he replied, watching the doors to see if she had entered yet.
"fill us in." jeno said, knocking on the table to get their attention. chenle slid the newspaper in his direction to read it. him and renjun, both, had the exact same reaction as chenle and mark.
"should we go find her?" mark asked, worried that she had seen the paper already or someone else had informed or pestered her about it.
"wait. i think i see her over there." renjun said, pointing towards the doors.
"blimey. look at the way everyone's staring at her. she must be so uncomfortable." jeno voiced, standing up. "i'm going to get her and bring her here."
"good idea."
he walked over to the hufflepuff girl who's eyes were all over the place, confused by the sudden attention from all the students, especially the houses that weren't slytherin.
"oh, hey, jeno." she greeted, wearing her usual bright smile.
"good morning, yun. we're sitting over there." he pointed to the others who waved at her. "i was worried you wouldn't spot us from here. come on."
she trailed behind him, passing students that watched her like hawks. one ravenclaw girl had purposely bumped her shoulder so harsh she stumbled a little, another had cursed at her for apparently 'walking too close to her'. things got worse when a random gryffindor tripped her and others burst out into laughter. this behaviour towards yunhee was normal from slytherin's, but never other houses. it scared her.
"yunhee!" jeno rushed to her side, helping her get back onto her feet and guiding her to the table so that no one else had their chances to pick on her.
"i think everyone woke up this morning and decided to pick me as their punching bag." she joked as she sat down next to mark. the others didn't laugh, sending each other knowing looks.
"maybe you shouldn't sit next to me today." mark said.
"what? why?" she asked, feeling hurt.
"read this... but warning, it isn't very nice." chenle pushed the newspaper towards her and she hesitantly rolled it open.
"hufflepuff, muggle-born, yunhee kim, shamefully throws herself at hogwarts champion, mark lee, while having durmstrang's champion, victor krum's best friend wrapped around her finger... an article written by rita skeeter." yunhee placed the paper down and after a few moment of silence, she burst out into laughter.
"what?! you're laughing?!" renjun exclaimed, confused by her bizarre behaviour.
"how are you laughing at this?" mark questioned, just as confused.
"i'm sorry, you got dragged into these lies with me, mark. i can't help but laugh. i find it so funny how this woman tried to make a hot scoop with such a ridiculous thing about me, and the fact that it's got all of mark's fan girls knickers in a knot. it's amusing, honestly."
"i wasn't expecting that reaction at all..." mark admitted. "aren't you upset about all the girls treating you cruelly?"
"i can put up with it. it's not too much of an issue, but do you really want me to stay away from you to prevent any more rumours?" she asked, preparing herself to move next to jeno.
"i don't care about the rumours. i'm only worried about you and those that will go after you, so i thought you staying away from me for now would be good for you."
"mark, i'm not going to let this ridiculous thing get in between our friendship. these gits can believe what they want because i'm not staying away." she announced, proudly.
"that's the spirit!" jeno cheered, raising his hands. "we shouldn't let these gits ruin anything for us. we have to stick together."
"exactly. now, let's go to class. together." chenle said, emphasising on the 'together'.
yunhee smiled at her friends who were clearly trying to lighten up the mood for the two that had fallen victim to rita skeeter and her awful articles. she wordlessly followed them to their potions class with professor snape and took a seat on the second row from the back of the classroom with chenle who was her desk partner.
the class seemed to be going as normal until a girl dropped some liquid, she had been carrying, all over yunhee's robes. it had a putrid smell that stuck to her even when she wiped her robes dry.
"professor." a student at the desk in front of her raised her hand. "someone here smells awful. can i move seats?"
yunhee's face lit up from embarrassment when others snickered, knowing the smell was coming from her. she put her head down, focusing on her work as chenle whispered comforting words to her. it didn't help though. she could hear all the whispers and laughs from around her.
"mudblood." someone muttered, walking past her desk.
usually, it wouldn't bother her because it was so common for someone to say that to her, but the person that said it happened to be a gryffindor. she was utterly baffled and even more devastated. things were going too far and she would explode into tears or anger—or both—if anything else happened.
of course, there was only one other person who could pester her, not in a way that would usually upset her, but she was too emotional today to control herself.
"psst! yunhee. psst!" she could hear someone call from behind her. she closed her eyes, trying to avoid the voice and got on with her work, but it was beginning to get annoying after a couple of minutes.
"what!" she snapped, turning around to face donghyuck. he didn't get to say anything as a book was slammed down on the hufflepuff's desk, startling her. turning around, she was met with professor snape glaring down at her.
"five points taken from hufflepuff." he snarled, taking his book and leaving.
"yunhee, ignore everyone. class is ending soon." chenle said, squeezing her hand.
"i'm trying." she replied, rubbing her forehead. the stress was overwhelming now that she had the professor on her case.
"yunhee, hey. don't ignore me." donghyuck whispered, throwing balls of paper at her back to get her attention. "it's important. yunhee, hello. yun–"
"why can't you leave me the hell alone?!" she yelled, standing up to face the slytherin who's eyes widened in response.
"miss kim!" professor snape hollered. "ten points taken from hufflepuff! yell in my classroom again and you'll find yourself in a weeks worth of detention."
"sorry, professor." she sank down into her seat, ignoring everyone, even chenle.
when class was over, she was first to pack up and leave, but donghyuck was second. he ran after her, his books threatening to spill out his bag as he hadn't closed it properly.
"yunhee! wait!" he caught up to her. "look, i'm sorry."
"leave me be." she said, lowering her voice so she wouldn't suddenly yell at him. he paused, allowing her to storm past him and to her next class, charms.
she tried her best to ignore the stares from everyone else already in the class and took a seat closest to the door so she could make a run for it after class ended. she expected no one else to sit next to her since none of her friends had the same class, but someone did take the seat.
"hi, yunhee."
"jaemin... hey." she mumbled, only looking at him for a second before focusing her eyes on her fingers. "why are you sitting next to me? a slytherin and mudblood? won't others judge you?"
he frowned at this, especially the word she used to describe herself.
"i don't care about that. anyway, i saw what happened in potions and i thought you could do with a bodyguard."
"bodyguard?"
"no ones going to pester you now that i'm here. they'll be too scared. i guess that's a perk of being a slytherin and an acquaintance of draco's." he said, leaning back on his chair and crossing his arms while his eyes scanned the room. he watched one girl who was staring at yunhee, but the minute she realised he saw her, she frantically turned to face the front of the class.
"thanks..." yunhee couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face. "you continue being my bodyguard. i need to catch up on some sleep."
she placed her head down on the table, her hair covering her face. she kept her eyes closed, but stayed awake listening to the professor talk. yunhee wasn't one to skip classes or mess around, but she no longer had anything to lose. plus, this professor wouldn't care too much.
jaemin moved closer to the table and picked up one of his large books. he placed it in front of yunhee, so that it was standing up. she assumed he did it so it looked like she was laying down and reading it because the professor wouldn't think twice about it. but the real reason he did it was so that no one else would be able to see her.
jaemin was right about no one bothering her. throughout the entire class, no one had come near her, said anything or tried dropping something on her. they all really were too scared of jaemin to come anywhere near him.
"i'll have to consider hiring you. how would you like to be paid?" yunhee joked, lifting her head up from the desk. her neck was a bit stiff, but she felt more relaxed.
"let's be friends. that's all i ask for." he replied, holding his hand out.
"i guess that'll work then." she grinned, shaking his hand.
"are you going to go to lunch?" he asked, packing his stuff up.
"um... i don't think going into the great hall would be a good idea. i'll..." she paused, debating whether or not to tell him about the kitchens. sneaking into them was something she did with her friends, but he was her friend now... right?
"i still have food from breakfast. we can sit by the lake. come on." he picked up her bag the minute she finished packing and threw it onto his shoulder.
"hold on." she faltered, catching up with him as he left the room. "i can carry my own bag."
"i'm aware, but this way, i know you'll have to follow me." he said, patting her bag.
"you're a strange boy, jaemin." yunhee told him as they made their way to the lake.
she had momentarily forgotten about her friend group that were probably searching for her, worried. the last time they saw her she was fuming and ignoring them. for all they knew, she could have gone to beat up donghyuck or was being attacked by more of mark's fangirls.
jaemin sat down next to a tree, having a perfect view of the lake. he pulled out a plastic bag, full of sweets.
"when you said you had breakfast, i wasn't expecting sweets. that's not food at all." yunhee sighed as she sat beside him.
"it's all we've got so deal with it." he rolled his eyes, opening the bag. she reached her hand out to grab a handful, but he snatched the bag away. "if you're going to complain, then you won't get anything."
"i'm not complaining anymore. i need something. i'm so hungry." she whined, reaching for the bag that he held above his head.
"sorry, slytherin's don't share. i forgot." he stuck his tongue out, standing up to make it harder for her to get the sweets.
"you're not being fair!" she got up on her toes, trying to stretch herself, but he was taller than her. it was impossible to even try.
"what's that? are you going to let me tease you like this? you hufflepuffs are too nice." he dangled the bag above her and it was beginning to test her patience.
"you forget i have a wand." she smirked, pulling her wand out from her pocket. "i don't want to use it, so you better give me at least one sweet."
"i surrender." he dropped the bag into her hands. "i know you're really good at spells. i don't want to get hit by one."
"good. know your place." she laughed, chewing on an orange jelly bean.
"i didn't say i'm bad though. i'm better than you in everything and i will hex you if you annoy me." he leaned towards her, making her lean back. when he was satisfied with her flustered face, he moved back and took the bag again. "just joking."
"gosh. you're such a nark."