𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬 ⋆˚➳ 𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐰𝐨𝐨

chapter nine

i quietly opened the door to professor gu's classroom. one side of the room has ceiling-high windows, which are now covered in ice. i think it's best to get ahead with my studies than waste my time with the snow.

just then, a ball of white stuff smashed into my face. surprised by it, i tumbled a few steps back. it took me a moment to realise it was some kind of cream, the ones you eat with scones. i scanned the ceiling and sure, there was peeves, the household poltergeist.

sure, his pranks and hoaxes can be entertaining, but not when i'm the victim.

"peeves, for god's sake!" i groaned, wiping off the cream.

he threw another handful of it and it landed on my shoulder. "can you please leave me alone? go find some other person."

"won't do, miss study bee," he cackled. "why don't you find somewhere else to nibble your chocolates?"

chocolates? i looked at my shoulder bag, where a box of chocolates was peeking out. i stuffed it back in and stalked myself out of that classroom. his chortles bounced throughout the hallways.

peeves was just another reason as to why i won't be spending my time in empty classrooms reading books. something has been bugging at the back of my mind. i can't exactly pinpoint what, but it certainly prevented me from studying.

"jinyoo! long time no see," the voice echoed from the high ceiling of the hallway. i looked up. of course, the fat friar. "you look rather disheveled."

"that's an understatement," i tried to remove what was the remains of the cream on my shoulder. "listen, do you perhaps know, uh..."

what do you even want to know, jinyoo? what else to do other than studying?

"...where sunwoo is?"

that certainly caught the ghost off guard as much as it did to me. out of all the things, i wanted to see the ravenclaw?

"am i seeing something here?" he swooped down in front of me. "never mind, he's in the courtyard with your other ravenclaw friends."

"thank you," i started my way.

"have fun!" he called after me.

finally, i arrived at the opening of the courtyard. i could see, yes, sunwoo, haknyeon, kevin and suhyun throwing snowballs at each other.

"sunwoo!" i blurted out, without even stepping out on the courtyard.

before i can even make out which one is him, a snowball hit me right in the face. i brushed it off to see haknyeon with his hand still up and a guilty face.

"that's it," i made a beeline towards him, pulling out my wand. "i've been hit on the face not once, but twice in the span of less than ten minutes and i would not hesitate to curse you into an actual snowball."

before i can even reach haknyeon, guess who stopped in my tracks. "woah, woah, woah, calm down there gryffindor. never knew you are this fierce."

"there's a lot of things you don't know about me," i lowered down my wand but still held it stiffly. i saw haknyeon running to the others from my peripheral vision.

"tell me about it," sunwoo inched closer, brushing some snow out of my forehead. i cringed at how cold his hand was. for a brief second, i think i saw his eyes fell down... to my lips. or that was just delusional thinking.

i turned, making his hand fall away. i'm all surrounded by snow, but somehow, i felt warm.

"you called?" he asked.

"o-oh yeah!" i swivelled round, trying to find something that could be an excuse in my bag. i hated myself for being in a situation like this. "uh... have some chocolates!"

he stared blankly at the box i held out in front of him. "you do know i bought these for you, right?"

despite that, he picked one out. "if you say so," and popped it in his mouth.

i ate one myself, unable to handle the embarrassment i just had. i see that the fight has resumed, suhyun being in the lead with dozens of snowballs cradled in her hands.

"what are you doing here? and you look kinda bothered." is that concern i hear lacing his words?

"peeves," i stated.

"ah," he nodded, understanding. "care to join in a snowball fight?"

i scoffed. "why would i?"

"come on," he took the bag off my shoulder and rested it on a nearby ledge. "pretend that i'm peeves," he walked backwards, holding up his hands as if challenging a fight. "claim your revenge."

"fine!" i said haughtily while gathering some snow.

and off we go, running around, throwing snow, and then joined by the others, all filled with happy smiles and occasionally mad faces. i can't believe i would say this but...

it's worth giving up studying for a day like this.