"... so this is how Jisung almost broke his leg, Minho is the long lost nephew of Lord Voldemort and Changbin made friends with a giant Horned Serpent", concluded Chan, biting his own portion of pork pie.

Yeji, sitting right beside him, shook her head quickly as if to clear her mind from all the information she'd just received. "So this is what you've been up to?" she asked in disbelief, staring blankly in front of her. She looked like she might accidentally punch someone.

"Yeji, look" now it was Hyunjin talking. "I know you are angry and offended and what not, but look at it the bright way: we made it out alive, and Binnie and Bartholomew are close friends now!"

"Bartholomew?" Seungmin looked confused.

"It's how they've renamed the Serpent babe" lazily replied Y/n, taking a sip of his soft drink.

Felix (Chan noticed) was looking at them suspiciously from the other side of the table. "You'll have to explain what this babe bullshit is all about-", he started threateningly, but never got around an answer.

The girl, in fact, sensing the questioning incoming, immediately decided to acknowledge the presence of the last two missing guys, who had just set foot into the Hall and were now looking around as if searching for something. "Oh, would you look at that!" she said quickly, to avoid the others' attention to linger too much on Felix's words. "Looks like we're now all here finally!"

And in fact, just as she finished talking, the two boys (who in the meantime had had time to find out for themselves where their friends were sitting) arrived. "Uh, we were looking for you guys" stated Minho, letting himself fall beside Seungmin, "had no idea you'd choose the Ravenclaw table".

His consideration (Chan had to admit) was not completely out of place: although allowed, it was not usual for people of different Houses to sit at a table together ̶  and their group, besides, was so diverse that the other students who had started entering the Hall for dinner had already sent them rather inquiring gazes (one Ravenclaw, for example, had immediately ran towards Jeongin. Chan did not know who he was, but he simply assumed he was one of his friends, who had obviously got very worried at the Ravenclaw missing for over a day and wanted to check on him. The Head Boy had actually been about to invite him to sit down with them, but Jeongin had waved him off before Chan could do anything: the youngster had probably put all the explaining off for later ̶  which, at the end of the day, had been the smartest decision).

As soon as he heard the Slytherin's words, Changbin got up as if he was about to go fight the elder. "Are you implying something with-", he started, but Jeongin held him by the shoulders and prevented the innocent joke of the Slytherin to become something much more serious.

"Oof" Jisung, who had sat himself right next to his best friend, was already eyeing the various dishes the usual silver trays were full of. "I am starving! Good thing there's still food left. Have you guys all already eaten?", he then asked, looking around the small group that had gathered on one far end of the dining table.

"Yeah", confirmed Woojin. "We were actually waiting for you. Are you tired?", he then asked, referring to Minho.

The Slytherin smiled. "Not anymore".

"This is good" commented Jeongin. "But now that we're all here, there was something we particularly were interested in knowing..." Chan's trained eyes followed his gaze (that imperceptibly landed on Y/n), and didn't miss the sudden smirk Felix had now plastered on his face: it looked like the two were now totally at peace with each other. "Seungmin? Anything you'd like to say about it?"

The Slytherin decided to play it off coolly, and masked the slight blush on his cheeks with a nonchalant "I have no idea what you're talking about".

"Oh, really? The set up duo really has nothing they wish to tell us?", peeked in Minho, sarcastically. Chan was starting to see where the conversation was going ̶  but then again, it was also pretty obvious.

Seungmin was about to reply ̶  probably some bold and sassy remark ̶  but Y/n anticipated him: "C'mon Minnie, it's no use hiding" she took his hand and raised it. "We're dating!"

A sudden wave of claps filled the group. Chan nodded approvingly: he liked them, and was sure they'd make for a pretty good couple.

"And in any case", added Y/n after she and Seungmin were done bowing playfully and thanking everybody for their support, "we might be the 'set-up couple', but we did do something useful", she stated almost reproachfully.

Before Chan could work out what she meant exactly, Minho peeked in once more: "You've really told her everything already?", he asked incredulously. He was clearly directed at Jisung ̶ it was obvious both from the direction of his gaze and from the sudden shift in position of the Gryffindor.

"She was being too insistent", he replied with a shrug of shoulders. "And besides, it's not as if we're guilty of something".

"You'd better not" confirmed Woojin, sounding remotely threatening ̶  but his voice did carry a rather sarcastic undertone.

"Yes, because there are two people here who are guilty of something, and who should apologize" continued Yeji, who was now leaning comfortably on Chan's figure. It did not take a genius to understand who she was talking about.

The Head Boy looked amused as Hyunjin's complexion quickly went from rosy to red, then green and lastly a pale, silvery white. "Look, you won't get into trouble" he said, trying to get the Ravenclaw to calm down. "You've helped us and supported us; so whatever it is you're already forgiven".

Hyunjin let out a loud sigh. "Thank God", he said. "Yeji, you should really learn some manners from your man".

The Slytherin rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up! Apologize", she then sollicitated when she noticed that her brother was not moving. "We're all waiting here!"

"Yeah" confirmed Felix. "I must admit you've got me quite curious; ever since you bumped into Innie and I last night".

"Well" started Changbin, matter-of-factly, "we might or might not have been the ones to set the whole Water Ball prank up" he admitted, trying badly to hide his embarrassment by playing with his (now red) ears.

"No!" Chan didn't know Seungmin's tone could get any more sarcastic ̶  yet here they were. "I would've never guessed!"

Minho laughed, but Chan noticed how he subtly placed a hand on the friend's leg as if to prevent him from going off completely. "All in all, it was a nice prank" he conceded. "You just got very unlucky, but hey ̶  there is always next time! I'm actually pretty curious to see what you guys will come up with..."

"Oh thank you!" replied Changbin on a whim. "We were actually considering trying to summon a pond-", he started, before Hyunjin immediately placed his hand on his mouth to make him shut up. Chan mentally thanked the Ravenclaw: the least he knew, the better.

"Noo" pouted Jeongin, directed to Hyunjin. "I was enjoying all the exposing!"

"Well" commented Woojin quietly (but managing as always to get everybody's attention). He was glancing sideways at Chan ̶  and the Head Boy had a very bad feeling about that gaze. "There could potentially be another secret..."

But before he (or Y/n, or Seungmin; because Chan was sure they'd already understood where the Hufflepuff was going) could add anything more to that sentence, Chan quickly spoke up: "I say we stop here, alright? We're all mentally exhausted and we deserve a break. Minho and Jisung are not even done eating!"

Luckily for him, everybody seemed to agree, and the conversation quickly blended in more casual and laid-back topics. Only Woojin, after awhile, casually leaned against the Gryffindor's right ear (Yeji, on his other side, seemed to have dozen off): "You could've told them", he whispered. "I thought you wouldn't mind if they knew".

Chan flinched very slightly. "Perhaps I wouldn't, perhaps I would" he said mysteriously. He looked around, letting his gaze land separately on each of the ten people now sitting around him: he didn't know if he would be okay with them knowing; but he did know, however, that they would be okay with knowing it. And that, at present, was all he needed and more.

~🤍~

New unexpected chapter! I am reviewing the story and felt like something was missing... so I decided to add this! :)

It's been awhile since I last checked up on here, so I truly hope y'all are doing well!

Are you excited for IN LIFE? I can't wait already >_<

Vic🌙.