Strolling down the hallway, their arms almost touched, swinging back and forth in matching rhythm with their walk. Kyungsoo's heart jumped every single time he could feel the air heat up as Jongin's hand swooshed by. They were heading to the library to meet Suho and Sehun for their secret operation, code name rainbow. As they drew near, Kyungsoo noticed that Jongin's arm was gradually slowing down, lingering longer and longer next to Kyungsoo's hand. He wondered whether it was just a coincidence or if it was on purpose.

Kyungsoo's heart stopped in anticipation for the next swing-by. He swallowed a gasp as the back of Jongin's hand grazed his, sending an electric lightning up his arm, jump-starting his heart again. It didn't end there. Kyungsoo felt as Jongin's fingers snuck into the palm of his hand and slowly crawled down until they found Kyungsoo's fingers, weaving them together with his, making it hard to discern which ones were his and which ones were Jongin's.

“What are you doing?” Kyungsoo whispered under his breath. Luckily the hallway was deserted, but you could never be too careful. He was trying to be the responsible one, but it was hard to be sensible when your insides were melting.

“We're boyfriends. This is what boyfriends do.” Jongin gave him a killer smile. Kyungsoo died instantly.

Without warning, Jongin pulled him into an old trophy room and shut the door, pushing him up against the wall beside the door. He was clearly out of his mind.

“What are we doing here?” Kyungsoo's voice faltered.

“I'm a star seeker, at the end of the chase, I always get my snitch.” Jongin said and lunged forward, pressing his lips against Kyungsoo's. Jongin's lips were even softer than they looked. Kyungsoo felt a vague pang shoot through his gut, reminding him that Jongin was under the effects of a love potion. This wasn't real. This was wrong. He was taking advantage of Jongin. He decided to break free of the kiss, but his lips wouldn't budge. Instead, they attatched themselves tighter to Jongin's lips, his tongue softly prying them apart. After that, there were no more thoughts. He slowly snuck his arms around Jongin as he disappeared into his arms. It was so warm. He wanted to stay there forever.

Suddenly the door flew up and Chanyeol charged into the room, his face distorted by rage. Chanyeol, Sehun's big brother, the one who was to blame for this whole thing, for it had been his potion. Those two brothers were the bane of Kyungsoo's existence. Surprised at how fast his own reflexes were, Kyungsoo quickly pushed Jongin away, so hard that Jongin put his hand over the spot where Kyungsoo had nudged him and coughed. He had been fast, but not fast enough. Chanyeol had seen them. Kyungsoo was ashamed of himself for taking advantage of Jongin in his compromised state. He couldn't believe he had allowed the kiss to happen. He was weak, and apparently had no morals. He had let his first kiss be swallowed by the shadow of misdoings. He wanted to regret it, but he didn't. He was a horrible human being.

“Have you seen Baekhyun anywhere?” Chanyeol asked with urgency, not seeming to pay any attention to them or the sordid thing he had caught them doing.

Stunned, they both shook their heads and Chanyeol disappeared out the door as suddenly as he had appeared.

Jongin stumbled over nothing, like he was tipsy.

“Wow, you're a really good kisser.” he giggled, drunk on the potion. Kyungsoo felt kind of dizzy too, maybe he had been exposed to the effects of the potion when he kissed him.

“So where were we?” Jongin chuckled, slowly approaching him. Kyungsoo giggled awkwardly, feeling extra shy. He wanted nothing more than to kiss him again, but he knew he had to be the sensible one, the mature one, the one who still had control over his brain. Although, it didn't really feel like he had full control over his brain anymore. His brain was drunk on Jongin, and it wanted another sip to keep the buzz going. Besides, the kiss had already happened. The deed was done. What did it matter if they kissed again? And maybe again? And once more after that? Kyungsoo was already the bad guy, he might as well enjoy it.

Surrendering himself to the dark side, Kyungsoo was ready to welcome Jongin's lips again, back to where they belonged. But before they had the chance to pick up where they left off, the door barged open.

Not again.

They stared at it, waiting for the perpetrator to enter, but there was no one there. Strange. Then, a full minute later, Baekhyun barged inside with his hands in the air, running at full speed. Paying no attention to them, he ran across the floor, his eyes focused, staring at nothing. He ran along the far wall of the room and then, out of the blue, he got down on all fours and crawled head first under one of the trophy cabinets. He struggled with something for a while. Kyungsoo started suspecting he was stuck under there, but before he could decide whether to offer him his help, Baekhyun reemerged from under there, looking like a scare crow, dusty with his hair all in a mess. Without so much as a glance in their direction, he ran straight back out again. Weird.

The constant interruptions had ruined the mood. Maybe just as well. They were late to meet Sehun and Suho anyway. And so they headed to the library.

The Suho who had for the longest time been walking on pink clouds, idolizing the ground Sehun walked on, was nowhere to be found. Instead, behind a carefully constructed mountain of books, sat an extremely grumpy Suho who looked like he was carrying the whole world on his shoulders. Kyungsoo skimmed the titles on a few of the books Suho had already cast aside. 'A Spell Gone Wrong: How to Undo Mis-Spells', 'Mischievous Magic', 'Defense Against the Disasterously Dumb'. Huh, he had been under the impression that they were meeting to try and research that mysterious rainbow egg, but Suho clearly had something else on his mind.

“Hey, are you okay?” Kyungsoo whispered softly.

“No!” Suho said in a full voice, turning the pages with such force that they made a loud cracking sound as they turned, doing all they could to hold on for their lives, praying not to get ripped clean from the spine of the book.

“Shht!” a couple of students on the table next to them shushed them.

Kyungsoo looked at Sehun, the likeliest source of the disgruntlement. Sehun looked happy as a pig in mud, reading the latest volume of 'My Quidditch Hero', while Suho did all the work. Sehun giggled and watched with intrigue as Xiumin, the animated hero of the comic, swooshed across the page on his broom and rescued the damsel in distress from the vicious Peruvian Vipertooth dragon. Kyungsoo's quidditch hero was right next to him, he thought to himself, blushing as he recalled that Jongin had called him his snitch. He imagined Jongin saving him from a fire spewing Chinese Fireball, flying him to safety and then jumping off his broom with elegance to give him a passionate kiss... Kyungsoo shook his head, this was not the time to get lost in a daydream. Perhaps he was experiencing some secondary effects from the potion after all. He used all his energy to put his focus back on Suho. Kyungsoo could easily understand Suho's frustration, he would also snap and end up in an insane asylum if he had to spend an entire day with Sehun.

Hang on.

If Suho was angry with Sehun, didn't that mean the potion had stopped working? With all the books about how to reverse spells, Kyungsoo had thought Suho was looking for a way to stop the effects of the potion, but soon realized that it didn't make any sense. If Suho was still under the influence, he wouldn't be trying to get out of it, he would be happy as pie, doting on Sehun as if he was the king of the universe.

“Are you... are you back to yourself now?” Kyungsoo asked, not sure whether love potioned people could tell if they were being themselves or not. Probably not, since the illusion of love was the whole point of the potion. It had been an idiotic question.

“Ugh, you break free from one spell, only to be put under another!” Suho grumbled, his eyes glued to the book.

So the love potion had worn off. Kyungsoo's heart fell into despair. It was only a matter of time before the same would happen to Jongin. Kyungsoo's hand went on a secret mission under the table, hunting down Jongin's hand and sequestering it, holding it as tightly as it could. He had to use the time that was left wisely, Jongin was likely to turn bitter like Suho when he sobered up from the potion. These precious memories were going to be the only thing Kyungsoo had left of him, so he had better make as many as he could while he still had the chance.

“We made a lovers' binding spell a couple of days ago.” Sehun proudly showed them his ring. Suho was clearly trying to find a way to get out of it.

“Ahh! Here it is!” Suho exclaimed triumphantly, but a moment later his face fell to the floor.

“This spell does not require a counter spell, for the ring will fall off the moment the heart to which it is linked falls out of love. The ring is solely a symbol of the ring owner's feelings and it is thus impossible to misuse or abuse the spell's effects.” he read out loud.

“What?” Suho stared at the page. “...but ...but ... I was drugged with a love potion!”. He looked at the ring on his finger and shook it to try and make it fall off. He then pulled on it with all his might, but the ring didn't budge.

“I don't think a simple love potion can bamboozle a lovers' binding spell. I don't think it works unless there are real feelings involved.” Kyungsoo pointed out, vaguely recalling what he had read in last year's spell textbook.

“Besides, even if the spell was tricked by the potion and did the binding based on false feelings, now that the potion has worn off, the ring should've fallen off already.” he added, causing the black cloud above Suho's head to grow into a dangerous thunderstorm.

“See! You like me.” Sehun grinned sheepishly and his ring happily.

***

Chanyeol cursed Baekhyun under his breath as he followed his path of destruction. He surprised himself with his extensive knowledge of curse words. Normally he took pride in never using such foul vocabulary, but with Baekhyun he couldn't help himself, the harshest, most ingenious cusses just flew out of his mouth. He was not going to let him get away this time. Baekhyun had failed to show up for his detention today. He had checked with the other Prefects, and he had been on time yesterday and the day before and according to them, been an absolute joy to supervise. It infuriated him. The one day Chanyeol was in charge, and Baekhyun used it to not only play hooky but also wreak havoc around the school, making Chanyeol look completely incompetent.

Why did he respect everyone else's authority and not his? Did he look down on his talents as a wizard? Chanyeol was pretty smart, even if he said so himself. He did well in all of his classes. Or, was Baekhyun doing this to try and catch his attention. That had to be it, Chanyeol was sure of it. It was the only thing that made Baekhyun's behavior make sense. He sighed. It was as if they were still five years old, playing in the sandbox. How had Baekhyun never grown up? He was figuratively pulling Chanyeol's hair to show him he liked him. That was all he needed, the admiration of a crazy person. He could never fall for a reckless idiot like Baekhyun. He was going to handle this situation like an adult, unlike Baekhyun, and tell him straight out that he didn't return his feelings. Hopefully that would put a stop to Baekhyun's immature advances.

There he was!

He saw the back of Baekhyun's head disappear around the corner. He ran as fast as he possibly could, wand drawn. This time he was not escaping from him.

Cornered at the end of a small, dimly lit hallway, Baekhyun sent him the sweetest smile. Against his will, Chanyeol's rage subsided. It was such a childlike smile, cute and mischievous. No. No! He couldn't let Baekhyun's skilled wizardry affect him like this. The Joker was also always smiling, and he was a psychopath, he reminded himself. Muggle movies were a secret hobby of Chanyeol's. He took a deep breath and centered himself.

“You know, there are easier ways to get my attention.” he said in a calm, cool voice.

“Are there now?” Baekhyun smirked.

He was going to let Baekhyun down gently, he was simply going to tell him that this crush of his was going nowhere, when something moved inside the sleeve of Baekhyun's robe.

“What was that? What do you have there?” Chanyeol peered his eyes but saw nothing.

Baekhyun took one step towards him, leaning in close like he was going to whisper the answer into his ear. Chanyeol got goose bumps on the back of his neck. He was holding his breath for no reason, his heart playing ominous music, dudung, dudung.

“Wouldn't you like to know.” Baekhyun whispered in a breathy voice into his ear, before kicking Chanyeol's wand out of his hand and making a run for it, his cheerful chuckles echoing down the hallway.

“Argh!” Chanyeol growled.

Chanyeol's insides squirmed uncomfortably. Baekhyun had done something to him. He had never felt like this before. It was probably courtesy of one of Baekhyun's new magic tricks. He tried to shake off this disconcerting feeling, but it lingered on for the rest of the day.