3k reads already! tysm, i love you all <3
forever grateful for the support~

Felix had never liked silence.
He didn't exactly know why, but it had been like that ever since he'd been a little kid: he could just not stand being in places where he was not allowed to talk, nor sneeze, nor cough... why had humans been given ears, if not to listen to something?

Still, the Hufflepuff couldn't help but longing for that quality he so much hated; and had he not been involved in a difficult fight against his Housemates he would've definitely found it very funny, how he had actually come to want it to be silent.

The thing is that Hufflepuffs were way too energetic: he could not blame them, by any means, – he was apart of them himself! – but sometimes he had to admit that it didn't always come in handy.

That moment, for instance, was a perfect example of that: he could not understand how his fellow Hufflepuffs could not see how stressed and tired their Head Boy looked?

Not that Felix could really say for sure what Woojin was feeling during now, – he was as different to the boy as one could imagine – but it was still pretty clear to him that all that mess wasn't helping.

Trying to think of a safe way to get everyone quiet, he automatically got up; and after having brought both his index and thumb to his lips, he made a whistle so loud he could've given Madame Hook a run for her money.

"Keep silent, 'Puffs!" he said, only now realizing that everyone's gaze was on him. "It is under my impression that we are not exactly helping".

A soft murmuring immediately broke off, but Yunho's strong voice was enough to top it: "Right! So, Woojin, what's the matter?"

The Head Boy shook his head: Felix wondered what was going on inside his head. As a way of supporting, he added: "C'mon Woojin, you know we can be trusted". A positive response followed his words.

Woojin gave a shrug, but eventually decided to open up: he told everything about the Headmistress' visit to the Hospital Wing, and how Chan was still... unable to do his duty; how Mrs. McGonagall had gotten suspicious for no reason (he'd made sure to mark that passage well), and had demanded a meeting with the both of them; how Chan didn't know anything about it and wasn't in the condition to go either; how he was sure that his friend would've gone immediately had he heard of it... in short, he needed two great excuses – one to keep the friend from going (and possibly knowing), and one to have the Headmistress believe he was busy somewhere else.

"You could say Bang Chan is still too fleeble to attend", suggested San after awhile (where the room had been filled with the strangest sound Felix had ever heard being heard in there: silence).

Woojin shook his head. "Wouldn't work. Chan's been feeling well today – too well, truth be told. Tomorrow he'll be the most annoyingly energetic person in all Hogwarts".

"Tell her he had to solve a fight between two students!" said Lia, a strange smirk on her face.

"And how should we find two fighting students to keep Chan away at the exact needed time and at the exact given place?" asked Taehyun, a bit of sass audible in his voice. Felix had never really got to know him that well, but the guy had always given him this aura of superiority... it looked like his being the top student among fourth years played some wicked jokes to his ego.

Lia rolled her eyes. "We won't need to find them, Kang. In fact, we already have them here – would you like to hang out tomorrow? You know; together, at around six... near the Gargoyle corridor, perharps? How should you like that?"

Taehyun, to Felix's surprise, smiled: "Sure, it'd be a honor. I shall bring a few butterbeers as well – but pay attention, because I'm quite the clumsy type. Hope you'd not get offended by a few spills on your coat".

After the guy had finished talking, even Felix had grasped the plan: the two made for a pretty good couple, he had to admit. And the rest of the House clearly thought it too – it was impossible to miss it, especially when Yunho had faked a vomit attack and had cried: "Get a room!"

That night, Felix went to bed feeling good: it had been a great sunday; good, but hectic: the Quidditch match from that morning felt like it had happened months before.

As he rolled himself into his bed, his thoughts shifted from the match to the one who had won it – and he was not too sure why (maybe the possibility of having it as an excuse for missing an appointment had linked it together), but also to the strange episode that had happened earlier that week, on that thursday night.

At first, he'd been sure the boy was having visions: he must've trained hard, and perharps he was too tired to reason. But the look on his face could not be mistaken for simple folly.

The more Minho had explained about the voice he was hearing, the more confused Felix had got. Luckily for him though, Jisung had been there as well – and as a Pureblood, he'd also come up with many more explanations to the problem than the Hufflepuff could ever have done in a year.

In the end, both Jisung and Minho had agreed on the most probable answer: the Slytherin was a Parseltounge.

"A what?" Felix remembered asking, and the answer had come quickly and easily: Minho could talk to serpents. If Felix had been shocked at the discovery, now he didn't recall it.

The thing is that it had all made so much sense then: this was why neither him nor Jisung could hear the voice, and why they couldn't tell where it came from either.

"We should tell Chan", had immediately said Jisung. "The last time something like this happened, it was when Harry Potter was at Hogwarts. And had he not found that out, the School might have never opened again!"

Felix had found that solution most reasonable – not because he really believed a basilisk was hiding in the plumbing system, but still telling the Head Boy would not be a useless move. At the end of the day, they were there to help solve problems, were they not?

But Minho had shown reluctant since the very beginning. "If the voice is really that of a serpent", he'd said, "this could well explain why it's there in the first place – I'd be too scared to show up in the middle of the corridor as well. I think we'd better leave it be: it's caused no harm, and if it was to be found people would not exactly be gentle".

That had shifted Felix's thoughts about the situation: Minho was right – it was no use hurting an animal if it could be avoided.

Jisung had resisted a little longer, but he'd eventually ended up yielding as well. "You saved us", he'd told Minho. "I think I can stand knowing a serpent is slinding through the plumbers".

"Yeah", had said Felix. "But should I find it when I'm bathing, I'll scarcely keep quiet".

The Gryffindor had laughed at that, and so had the Slytherin. "So – can I have your word?" the ladder had asked at last, "you won't tell anybody?"

They both had agreed, and that had been the only reason that had kept Felix from telling Woojin about it that night.

A serpent in a plumber, he thought as he kept his gaze fixed onto the top of his bunk bed (every room in the Hufflepuff's dorm had them; it had scared him at first, knowing that someone – not necessarily thin – was sleeping right on top of him, but in the end he'd got used to it). That would've made for a perfect excuse; Bet Chan would've come right away.

~🤍~
I have one question for y'all: when you read normally, do you prefer paper of audio books?

i've always been a paper-kinda gal (😔✊🏻), but audio books must come so in handy for when you're like crazy busy & you can just listen to them on the go, while in the bus, at training etc., so i was considering trying one. what do y'all say? are they worth it?

anyways, i hope you liked the chapter. next one's going to be either Hyunjin or Changbin – i have to see who was the one i did last, n i'll do the other lol.

hope you have an amazing week!

Vic🌙.