It’s absolutely devastating for a guy like Namjoon to think about other things beside school or classes, or studies. Moreover, about feelings.

He has that uptight aura of a geek whose nose always buried in books when he actually isn’t. He’s just reserved and saving energy not to socialize with people who’ll exhaust him more, because he always need his alone time. That somehow made him to always find a way to make things easier to do and easier to understand. And this mostly applied to academic matters.

But not for this kind of matter. Relationships, being honest with his feelings, all that jazz. He has seen many from his gang of lousy friends, but teenager Namjoon lacks experience. Especially since he just realized whom he wanted to ask to the Yule Ball. Whom he wanted to spend the so-called festive night comfortably. Which was you, his very recent study-slash-library friend.

 

“Oh shoot, is it October already?” you whispered as the sudden realization hit you. You both were in the library, on the same spot every week. “Slughorn said the essay should be done by the first week of October and I’ve been practically avoiding nothing but that..”

Namjoon smiled as he too answered your exasperation in whispers, “Well, technically it’s still september 31st, so you still have approximately 7 days until the end of the first week.”

“Yes but even years wouldn’t be enough for Potion.” You surrendered and finally closed your Muggle Studies—your newest favorite subject because you just found a perfect way to learn it, once a week meeting with Namjoon and interrogating him who has a muggle dad about the real muggle world, in a different perspective. You’re a hufflepuff with pure blood lines (not that you care), but your parents went to different houses. Your mother was gryffindor and your father was ravenclaw. They said one family tends to be on the same houses but the theory doesn’t work for your family. But in a way you got a different perspective about each houses and maybe that is why you are rarely judgemental, you are used to think that houses don’t divine the people. You don’t quickly judge a person based on their houses. You have many friends from several houses you met on several very different occasions. You met Gryffindor Jungkook in an addition class of Magical Creatures, you met Slytherin Jimin near the Forbidden Forest to catch Almond, his escaping calico cat. And apparently, they belonged to the same group of friends. A lousy gang, actually. One thing leads to another, it made you meet Namjoon, the street smart Ravenclaw. Slughorn’s all favorite boy.

“I am very lucky to have you here to escalate things up.” you laughed when you finally clear up the table and pack up, “when did you finish yours?”

“Yesterday.” He answered as he squeezed a bunch of new book he’s borrowing from the library to his black book bag, the one he always carried whenever he went to the library.

“Wait,” you suddenly remembered something. Even only once a week meeting with Namjoon, you already know his clumsiness, “Didn’t you say something about meeting Seokjin before dinner? It’s like, five minutes to dinner now, Joon!”

“Crap!”

And he fled, leaving his book bag he just packed. A very Namjoon thing to do.

--

“Jin! My kindest friend, the most capable, the—“

“Stop your Joon, I don’t want to talk to you.” Jin walked past him in the corridor without even looking at Namjoon. He was supposed to meet Jin for his experiment about transforming Pixy Egg to a-popping-firework-egg for Easter or something, basically to make it more festive and he completely forgot that.

“But i have found the book about Pixies!” he searched for the book but he realized he’s only holding his wand and nothing else, “..where’s my bag?”

Jin only rolled his eyes for the nth time,

“There- you- are!”

You came on the exact right time to bring the bag. For a second Jin gave Namjoon a knowing look you didn’t realize when you’re catching your breath after crossing the whole corridor carrying two heavy bags around.

“So you’re the reason I got stood up. How predictable—aAW“ Namjoon stomped on Jin’s feet in panic.

“Despicable, he meant despicable. Thanks, by the way.” Corrected Namjoon. He stopped there to see you grinning, your black and yellow tie a bit distorted and your messily clipped hair is a bit messier than usual, but you still managed to get him whipped anyway.

“No problem. I’ll head to dinner first, bye you two!” his eyes still following your figure getting smaller entering the Great Hall. Even though you are literally smaller by a head than Namjoon, resulting in you always have to look up whenever you two are talking.

“Have you asked her yet?”

Namjoon jolted from his thoughts, he almost forgot he’s standing next to Jin, “-yes i’m still here, brat.”

Namjoon sighed and suddenly remember how determined he’s this morning to ask you to the Ball, but everything just vanished whenever he saw you talking. “Not yet.”

“What makes it so hard, eh?” Jin asked as they walked to the feast.

“What makes—are you kidding me? i’m not you!” Namjoon felt offended, “I suppose you already asked someone?”

“Yeah, i asked Joy, the 4th grader i told you about. And not before turning down Lucy, Clara,..”

And Namjoon chose to busy himself chomping whatever it is near him instead of listening to what Jin said in their table. It is Ravenclaw’s table where Jin’s not supposed to be sitting, but it’s their thing. Even if only two person at first sitting together there, in minutes there will be five more to come. They just came to reunite on whichever house table they chose.

”Oooh, someone’s grumpy here.” ..Taehyung sat next to Namjoon. And then came another curious eyes and ears around from Jimin and Jungkook.

“Let me guess,” Yoongi has always been the quietest to approach them, but then suddenly talking as if he was there all along, “So between us 7, only you who haven’t asked someone out to the Ball?”

“What??” Namjoon felt betrayed, “So you guys already have plus ones?”

“Of course.” Jimin answered while munching the potatoes, “We agreed that today’s the deadline, right?”

“No, we didn’t.” Namjoon protested, “It’s tomorrow by breakfast!”

“Same thing. You only got an hour or two until bed time, what’s the difference?”

“All the difference in the world! it’s tomorrow, okay? Let me just eat my dinner in peace.” The crankiness was getting to Namjoon’s nerves. While the rest of the gang were joking and teasing each other about how they asked their dates to the Ball, Namjoon couldn’t help but looking for you on the corner of his eyes.

You were there, as ordinary as usual. Chatting and eating with your hufflepuff friends, surrounded by some girls giggling about something Namjoon didn’t know, approached by a guy..

Wait. What?

A gryffindor guy, what’s the name, Mino or something? Just approached you boldly on the dinner full of everyone, easily spotted, with a bouquet of rose, something Nerdy Joon would have never done. Besides he would rather not announced it publicly, he also knew very well that you don’t like red roses. You prefer yellow roses or tulips. What he couldn’t believe was that he himself was getting there, he will approach you after dinner before you go to your common room. He was just late by minutes, and here he had to watch you answered to Mino’s request? What a mess.

And by the way you blushed, accepted the bouquet, and teased by your friends (not to mention a big yes! gesture from Mino, walking gallantly back to his table received by his friends as if he’d saved the Wizarding Community), Namjoon knew he’s late late. And suddenly, the grilled chicken in front of him didn’t seem so appetizing anymore.

“Hyung, come on.” Jungkook nudged him, apparently all of them also saw the hurtful scene before, “You know i would gladly sabotaged him, right?”

“Or i could crush him on tomorrow’s quidditch? I could fly the bludger towards him..” Jimin, slytherin’s beater already offering some kind of heroic actions.

“Thanks, but no, that’s a very muggle high-schooler thing to do.” Namjoon sighed and look at you. For a second your eyes met him, and shyly nodded your head and back to eating you soup. “it’s her decision, after all.”

But he didn’t finish his dinner.

--

“Would you go on a date with me tomorrow?”

That was one unexpected line that came out from Mino. Because the whole castle is on roaring attempt of getting plus ones for the Yule Ball but here he is, only asked you to go on a date with him tomorrow.

“I thought you were gonna ask her to the Ball?” Seulgi besides you gasped when seeing the beautiful roses pointed at you.

“Maybe? But i think we deserve one date for the sake of knowing each other, right?” Mino said nonchallantly, pointing his sharp eyes at you.

You are not one to prepare to be approached like this. You are not that fond of anything done.. publicly. You are not as charming as Slytherin’s Joy, or as bright as Seulgi, or even as pretty as Irene. You are just.. you. The not-so-prepared-for-a-surprise-you. That’s why you blushed when you accepted Mino’s roses. And pretty much no word came out beside a nod. Because no further harm could be done because of accepting one date, right?

--

The next day Namjoon met you at Potions, because you both were class partner after all, you shared the same cauldron today because apparently Slughorn just wanted a teamwork for this Felix Felicis finishing. Namjoon just hoped that he could be as lucky as this light liquid on his life.

“Why are you so quiet today?” you asked him, “did something happened?”

Namjoon stopped his daydreaming, “No, not at all.” But he’s not a sore loser, with you or not, he’d have to go to the ball and you’re his—well—friend after all, “What’re you doing after this?”

“Oh—“ suddenly you bit your lower lip, “You know that Mino guy from gryffindor?” yeah, as if i didn’t see it yesterday, Namjoon held his breath for a second, “he asked me for a date today, so i said yes.”

“I saw it. The rosey gesture huh.” he stirred the liquid until it turned bright, almost transparent. “what did you do with the poor flower?”

“Gosh, i feel bad so i just left it on the corner of my common room. This morning, a house-elf already put it on a vase, i’m guessing Winky, she likes to decorate.”

“One day i left a note on top of my holey socks and asked any house elf to help me sew it. It ended up with a flower pattern, Winky doing. To be honest i prefered them holey, thank