"ow, joy, stop stepping on my foot!"
"that wasn't me, it was jungkook!"
"hey, it's not my fault it's dark!"

"did you lot happen to forget that this is supposed to be a secret escapade?" yeri says loudly, as they all tiptoe (or at least try to) past the dark halls of hogwarts. the three gryffindors clam up, knowing that she's right. they're currently on the second floor of the grand castle tower, and one moving staircase away from the secret passageway to hogwarts.

"jungkook, are you sure you know where we're going?"


"yeah, of course i do- lumos," the gryffindor seeker's wand briefly lights up as he checks the ancient map. "we just have to get to the phoenix statue in the west wing." he responds, stopping in front of the final staircase they need to pass. the staircase shifts to the left, connecting with the door that leads to the ground floor.

"i'm sick of stairs now. merlin, i feel like vomiting."
"kindly do not say such things when we're going off to eat, taehyung."
"i feel like vomiting."

"do they always have rows?" yeri questions jungkook, glancing at the two gryffindors that are debating about another insignificant topic behind them. the gryffindor seeker and slytherin prefect are naturally isolated from the bickering two in times like this.

a light snort escapes from jungkook. "you're only seen a part of it. trust me, i'm really glad you're here, yeri, i couldn't have handled them at all. individually, yes, but together? bloody hell, no."

for the first time yeri feels sympathetic for this boy. "they have good chemistry though," she says absentmindedly.

it's hard to figure out anything in the dark, but yeri can see the gryffindor raising his eyebrows. "huh, guess i'm not the only one who thinks so. wouldn't be surprised if they secretly fancy eachother, honestly..."

"how long have you known them anyway?"

"well, taehyung - i've known him since i was a kid," jungkook grins. "our mums are close. i only befriended joy in first year, but we're still as tight as taehyung and i."

"oh, that sounds like me and tzuyu."

when jungkook sends her an inquiring stare, she elaborates, "my best friend."

"oh," the boy's face scrunches up, as if he's trying to reminisce something. "is that the tall girl with the reddish brown hair?" yeri nods in surprise. "i've seen her around with you a lot," he says casually.

"i didn't know you were interested in her."

jungkook blushes, or at least, she thinks he is. "no, it's nothing like that-"

"aaaghhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

the two fifth years flinch simultaneously, turning around to see an empty darkness, with taehyung and joy nowhere in sight.

the gryffindor boy curses under his breath. "merlin, they never get themselves out of trouble.." he mutters a few more obscenities as he and yeri march back in the direction they came from.

the hall is empty, and everything is dark. at the end of the hall, where there's a turning corner, yeri sees something glinting strangely. jungkook seems to notice it as well. they rush forward, wands in their hands.

they edge towards the object cautiously, which twinkles as they step further. at last, they're within reaching distance, and jungkook picks up the item.

...a marble?

"HA!"

"ahhh!" they shriek, recoiling instantaneously upon seeing a tall figure in the shadows. jungkook grasps onto his consciousness successfully, but yeri, in her panicked state, whips out her wand and yells "petrificus totalus!"

there's a flash of bright blue, and the spell rapidly strikes the figure in darkness. a small yelp is heard as the silhouette falls to the ground by the full body-bind, directly below the moon's glow - it's a boy, around their age or possibly older.

a stunned, uncomfortable silence ensues as the three stare at eachother in silence.

"...jongup?"

-

"ing hell, i feel like a slug," the boy named jongup complains as he stretches his now curse - free limbs(yeri's "finite incantatem" did the trick).

"you are a slug," jungkook replies irritably.

"sorry, mate - couldn't help it, the looks on your faces-" jongup guffaws. "who's this one though?" he nods at yeri.

it turns out jongup, the gryffindors' friend and fellow housemate, hadn’t been asleep at all: instead, he was waiting for them to arrive and then pull a mighty good joke on the lot of them. taehyung and joy were the first victims - then jungkook and the unsuspecting yeri second. of course, jongup didn't expect the slytherin to be there, and neither did she foresee his presence.

"she's a slytherin," joy responds before she can. "my year," she taps taehyung, who's visibly groggy from the unexpected scare. "oi, you alright?"

"no," taehyung answers faintly. "merlin, i think i busted my tailbone-"

"ugh - come on, let me take a look - wait, never mind-"

"apologies for the fright, i'm jongup moon. sixth year gryffindor," jongup grins amicably and offers his hand for a shake. she shakes it politely. "you've got pretty great reflexes, sure you don’t play quidditch?"

yeri shakes her head. "yeri kim, fifth year slytherin prefect, like she said." she's starting to wonder if all the gryffindors are this friendly to slytherins, or if it's just these people being social butterflies of tzuyu's level. (speaking of tzuyu, she misses her best friend dearly, and wishes she'd just gone straight to the house dorms.)

"what's a slytherin like you doing here with the gryffindors? especially a prefect?" jongup asks, though not in a derisive way. he seems genuinely curious, to say the least.

the girl briefly exchanges a look with jungkook, who clears his throat. "i asked her to join us, we ran into eachother at the library..."

"i'm surprised, jungkook. i didn't know you had any friends besides us."

jungkook stares at him indignantly, but refuses to comment. "anyhow, we ran into eachother by chance and here we are - were - before you sneaked up on us, you lousy scumbag."

"hate to cut it off, but we've got to go," yeri says hurriedly, checking the hall clock. ten thirty. "it's half past ten."

jungkook jumps up. "that reminds me, the professors might've heard us screaming, no matter how deep we are in the building, get yourselves together and let's go."

joy grunts from the other side as she gets to her feet. "moon, i'm going to murder you tomorrow-"

"no, i'm going to murder you tomorrow," taehyung interrupts. he stands up. "i'd like a compensation for my permanently damaged eardrums, thank you very much."

"oh shut up, kim, you screamed your entire bloody head off," joy snaps back.

"and there they go again," jongup sighs melodramatically. "young love," he stage whispers the last two words.

"i heard that, jongup."

-

yeri's utterly fascinated by the concealed route behind the marble glory of the phoenix statue.

as she's making her way through the dark, narrow passagway with the gryffindors, she discovers herself feeling profound excitement - something that really hasn't occurred to her in a while. and strangely enough, the girl's not all that concerned with the fact that she's breaking the rules now. it comes off as a surprise to her; after all, she's a prefect. (still, she crosses her fingers and hopes the headmistress won't know of this.)

"mission accomplished," taehyung intones as soon as they they reach the small exit at the final point. jungkook steps forward and pries open the rather thin metal bars that block them from their destination, with great ease. each roll out of the small opening, yeri included.

in the darkness, with only the street lamps as a light source, she realizes they're in the back alley of the three broomsticks. the long, triangular roof is all too familiar - and she's sure she can hear casual chatter leaking through a few niches in the wooden windows, as well as the occasional clink of butterbeer glasses.

beside her, jungkook exhales. "we made it, mates. well done." jongup offers him a high five, which he reciprocates.

"we have prongs, padfoot, moony and wormtail to thank," joy remarks. "so," she grins. "butterbeer?"

less than a minute after her suggestion, the five are settled inside the small, cosy pub-slash-inn. they're doing wonders to hide the hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry emblem on their robes from view. joy attempts to perform a concealment charm, but it yields unsuccessful results, as the whole outer robe disappears instead of only the emblem. jongup suggests they use incendio to burn off the emblem entirely (and earns a judging look from jungkook and yeri). in the end, they decide to be as smooth as possible - meaning, hiding their identity in any way.

"four mugs of butterbeer and one cherry syrup at your service," a young woman, probably the waiter, says cheerfully as she places the large, steaming hot mugs on their table. yeri raises her eyebrows - they all ordered butterbeer. "it's one cherry syrup, right?" the waiter asks.

the five exchange looks with eachother, not sure what to do. their voices don't exactly scream mature, definitely non-fetus adult, except for...

taehyung, yeri says with her eyes as they make eye contact, you say it.

the gryffindor gives her a look that undoubtedly screams no ing way.

she glances around to see the others, who are also gazing at taehyung with their eyebrows raised. clearly, they all agree.

come on, jongup seems to say to taehyung through his pointed stare. you're a complete dip, but your voice sounds makes you sound like a fifty year old. say something.

taehyung groans loudly, but eventually complies. "five butterbeers...actually," he says gruffly. his tone's a complete octave lower than normal; he sounds like he could be hagrid's long lost giant brother. and it's taking all of yeri's self control to not laugh, hard.

"oh, must’ve been my mistake. wait here.." the waiter quickly returns with a hot mug of butterbeer. "here, sorry!"

"thank you," taehyung growls. for yeri, the pain is now excruciating. she sees jungkook shaking with mirth beside her too, which doesn't help. if she doesn't laugh, she swears she'll detonate like a fireball-

"you're welcome."

as soon as the waiter leaves them, the table erupts into a choir of hyenas, its laughter so loud that a few wizards and witches peer at them briefly in the middle of their drinks.

"i can't-" jongup splutters, "i can't - breathe -"
"his voice," joy crows, snorting with amusement. "your ing voice-"

jungkook chokes on his laughter. "good work." he manages to say in between chuckles.

"you tried," yeri offers. this, only makes the other gryffindors laugh even harder.

taehyung, on the other hand, slumps in his chair. " you," he spits. "seriously,  you all."

"we love you too," they all respond promptly.

-
 

after an eventful hour at the three broomsticks(and a success in identity concealment), the slytherin and the gryffindors set out to explore the other well-known parts of the town.

the village of hogsmeade is fairly teeming, surprisingly, even during the nights. yeri doesn't see a single familiar face, thankfully. but she kind of enjoys the feeling - it gifts her a sense of freedom and strangely, belonging.

"merlin, see that-" joy points at a large booth set up in front of zonko's. "a life-size wizard's chess board!"

taehyung smirks. "bet you five galleons that i'll win."

"oh, you're on..."

yeri settles down on the steps of a closed shop and watches the two dash to the booth. soon after, jongup demands to play as well (on taehyung's side, something about the gryffindor brothers' code). the girl feels a small smile curve on her lips at the sight. they're her age and above, yet they look like kids now - excited and content. she wonders when it was that she last had as much fun as she's having now.

"they're just bundles of fun, aren't they?"

only then is the slytherin reminded of the last gryffindor's existence. "yeah," she replies. "it's a good thing."

"of course it is," jungkook sits next to her.

"why aren't you playing chess with them?"

"well, why aren't you?"

she groans. he's doing that thing again, the counter-questioning. "well, i don't know how to play chess."

"well, for my answer, i'm not a big fan of playing chess," the boy shrugs. "watching it is pretty interesting though."

there's a silence after his words, but it's not an awkward one. it's a companionable silence, the kind of tranquility that's completely comfortable. he seems to acknowledge it as well; a content expression is on his face when she steals a look.

meanwhile, the girl surveys the surrounding shops with mild interest. a peculiar booth catches her eye: madam wimbledon's spectacular fortune telling & tarot. she remembers it being there on her last hogsmeade outing - tzuyu insisted they go for fun, but they didn't have enough time to stop by.

"hey, jungkook?"

he blinks.

"mind if we go there?" she points at the fortune telling booth.

yeri doesn't know if it's just her eyes playing tricks, but jungkook pales a bit at seeing the booth.

"uh, it's your choice, of course, but i wouldn't really recommend it. all superstition and no validity. the woman's as real as trelawney," he laughs, but it sounds oddly forced.

"tzuyu and i were planning to go there last time, but oh well." she gauges his reaction.

jungkook shakes his head. "taehyung and i visited it previously, er, not really any good results."

"um, alright," the slytherin says suspiciously, but she decides to let it go. there's obviously something about the booth that makes him uncomfortable, but she can't quite make a good enough theory on why. "well, how's quidditch?" she attempts a change in topic.

"oh, the usual," jungkook replies easily. "throwing, punching, snitches colliding with my face, and all that," he laughs as he sees her expression. "i'm kidding. it's fine. my leg is a lot better than the state it should have been, honestly."

yeah, because i cast a time-freezing spell, yeri thinks, but she doesn't say it out loud, of course.

"that quidditch game? it was weird. i was falling so fast - and then i gradually slowed down, then i out. it was probably a spell cast by somebody. i thought it was professor mcgonagall, but taehyung told me she dropped her wand. was it you?"

 

thud. yeri can hear her own heart beat against her rib cage. she glances at jungkook. he seems to be completely serious - at least that's what she thinks by the expression on his face.

"uh, why'd you think that?"

"oh, nothing, just a passing thought.." the boy trails off, his brows knit into a frown, and yeri realizes he's in deep thought. she's not exactly sure what notion it is, but she hopes he's not attempting to fit in the pieces together.

"i just remember that it came from one of the towers to my left. the slytherin tower, maybe? but whoever it is, i owe them my life and my future career."

yeri doesn't really want to tell him that she was the one who saved him - she doesn't want the unnecessary attention to it. besides, she doesn't think it really matters that much. instead, she says, "you're planning to be a quidditch player?"

"mm, seeker. quidditch was always my best mate, even when i was a small tot, i'm going to try out for the british national team." the gryffindor spares a grin in her direction. "what plans do you have? after hogwarts, i mean."

it's a simple question, but it has yeri thinking. "i actually don't know," she admits. "i've never really thought about it seriously."

"you should be an auror."

she turns to him, raising her eyebrows as his eyes meet hers. "why?"

"i don't know, i think it suits you well," he gazes at her thoughtfully - which brings a strange little thumping in her heart. his eyes light up. "oh yeah, the full body bind you did on jongup! that was epic," his expression shows genuine awe. "i almost became your admirer, you know."

it's a simple joke, but yeri feels her face flush ever so slightly. she thanks the gods above that it's midnight. "thanks." she feels like her responses are too stale, so she adds, "you seem pretty capable of being an auror too, though." it's genuine.

"not a problem. but ah, me? not really, i lean towards the more free and fun-loving type, so i don't think i could live up to the serious responsibilies and expectations of an auror. not that being an auror isn't fun, though, sorry." the boy says quickly.

yeri laughs lightly - she's not sure how often she's laughed in front of jungkook, but she guesses it's the first time, by the look on his face. "it's nothing to apologize about. but well, what you said is true. an auror is a pretty serious job, and it needs responsbility, drive and ambition. which is also required for a quidditch player, and fits your description, for sure."

the boy raises an eyebrow. "how would you know?" he asks, openly curious of her thoughts.

"well, i know it hasn't been long since we met, but-" yeri pauses, remembering everything she ever saw or heard of him. "it's not hard to observe when i watch you playing quidditch. you're always so dedicated to the sport and your role as the seeker in the team. the time when i visited you in the infirmary, you said you felt guilty about being injured. that's enough to prove your responsibility, really. and your drive and ambition? it's revealed in your play, and how fondly you speak of quidditch. i wouldn't be surprised if you made it - no, you will."

when jungkook doesn't respond, yeri stares at him - and discovers his flushed complexion. "uh, thanks," he says, coughing.

"i'm guessing that was a bit too sudden?"

"no, it's not that," jungkook says instantly. "well, it was - but it wasn't anything bad. thanks, really. it's actually the first time i've heard such a thing.." he trails off.

yeri feels her cheeks getting hot as well. "it's nothing. just telling the truth.." she mumbles.

they smile at each other shyly. tranquility ensues between them, and it's quiet except for the distant buzz of conversation in the main streets of hogsmeade.

"hey, we should go to honeydukes," jungkook suddenly says, possibly in case she were to say anything about the fortune telling booth again. "i'm low on chocolate frogs, and some fizzing whizzbees would be nice..."

yeri realizes her stomach is still rumbling a bit. she nods. "i think i'm craving some sugar too-"

"race you to the shop, loser pays for five acid pops!" the boy suddenly shouts. he rushes off, leaving a confused yeri behind for a millisecond.

"oi, that's not fair, you cheater-" the slytherin sprints after the gryffindor with incredible speed, as if her life depended on it. the seeker merely smirks as he sees her gaining on him - it's obvious he’s enjoying the whole spectacle of her struggling to get to his pace.

but she has to admit it too - this is fun - and one of her best nights yet.