Periodically, throughout the year since Youngbae had given them each their own little magical booklet of questions, they would all open them up to check if a new question had appeared. There was almost never anything new, though when Seunghyun opened it at the end of March it had the first question again, his original short and to the point answer of, “the Lake”, was still there. After a moment of fussing and confusion he realized that underneath his answer was another question. This time it asked for his favorite things about Hogwarts, so, feeling only a little stupid for not recognizing that there was another question, though in his defense he had been expecting them to be on different pages, he thought very hard about how he would answer.

Technically speaking, the question was fairly similar to the original question that asked for his favorite place, and he very briefly considered just re-writing that answer; but there was something about the way it was worded and the fact that it was placed where it was that made him realize that he had a better answer. It probably also helped that he was still reeling from the pain that he was feeling for hurting Daesung’s feelings. He looked at the rules for the question very briefly, laughing as he saw that Youngbae wanted them to only have ‘four’ favorite places, before dipping his quill into his new bottle of green ink and starting to write.

Seunghyun likes the sounds that his feet make as he races down from the Gryffindor common room with only two minutes until class. He loves how even though the teachers always reprimand him for being late, or disrupting class, they are always trying to hide a smile. He likes the shuffling of parchment that can be heard during a test, or when Jiyong and Youngbae are drawing when they should be doing their homework.

He likes the fact that Jiyong and Youngbae are in Ravenclaw, but neither had ever really been interested in school; similarly, he likes the fact that Daesung is in Slytherin, even though he’s one of the sweetest and happiest people that Seunghyun has ever had the chance to meet.

He likes that all of the house elves in the kitchens wear fun and random articles of clothing (some of them are even knit), and that they know him by name.

Seunghyun likes that he can get/stay fit without drawing anyone’s attention because of the Room of Requirement, which always has what he wants exactly when he wants it (even if he doesn’t know that it’s what he wants).

His favorite places are Hogsmeade, the Alcove, the Room of Requirement, and the room to the left of the main stairway where he meets to play gobstones. He doesn’t really like any one of them any better than the other, and there are more (like the Owlery and the Great Hall) but he had to follow at least one of Youngbae’s rules, even though he was certain that there would be no awful side effects if he didn’t.

He likes the Alcove because that’s where the five of them always meet, and he thinks that the best part is that they don’t even have to talk to each other about when to go there anymore; when it’s time to go, they all do.

He likes being a Gryffindor, where being silly and crazy and just kind of joker-like is accepted and practically expected. He likes that he can be his crazy, silly self and still be intimidating with a stare, and people just accept it, and expect it and know.

He likes to play gobstones because it’s quiet, it’s thrilling, it’s funny; and Jiyong and little Seunghyun are so repulsed by it that they leave him alone when he is playing (Youngbae and Daesung don’t though, but they understand that it’s his downtime, and he likes it when they watch and play).

He likes the Owlery because of the sound of the owls, and the cold air in the winter. He can send and read as many letters as he wants, and he only feels homesick sometimes.

He likes that he can do things in private because being around all of the kids all of the time is overwhelming for him, and he likes the places that he has found where he can be calm and collected and maybe even write something for his mom.

Hogwarts is home. His friends are his home.

It was at this point that Seunghyun realizes that he really can’t go on ignoring Daesung; but he would never tell Youngbae that it was because of his ‘stupid’ question game.

No one else got another question until finals; a time when Jiyong would open the booklet only when he was alone, afraid that the question would be far more personal than he really wanted to answer. Daesung about died of happiness when he got his next question, and Seungri, who checked the booklet regularly, was only a little upset when his next question turned out to just be a prompt: Dance…

It was a rather puzzling moment for Seungri, and he almost took the booklet up to Youngbae like a confused student during a test when he saw it; but he stopped himself as he was suddenly self-conscious and didn’t want Youngbae to know what question he had gotten.

Though he couldn’t decide why the booklet had decided that this was the most relevant question of the moment (though if he were honest with himself he would have realized that it probably had something to do with his impending third year and the need to choose a career track), he figured that maybe the rules for the question would help him. There was just one line, and secretly Seungri was thrilled as Youngbae usually tended to prattle on for ages when it came to rules, it said: What does it make you think of? He only allowed himself to be upset with Youngbae over the older boy’s decision to put the actual question in the rules for a short moment before he allowed himself to think about what it meant. He bit his lip and stared off into space, his studying forgotten for the moment in light of this suddenly much more pressing matter.

Dancing was something that his body needed. Seungri knew that it wasn’t in the same way as it was for Youngbae who just couldn’t sit still and moved as if he were a part of the music itself; no, that wasn’t Seungri.

For Seungri, dancing was a release; it was a freeing moment that gave him clarity and allowed him to feel so much more deeply. He was good at it, and though Youngbae often teased that he didn’t need to ‘master’ dancing as it wasn’t going to be on a test…there was something about being ‘good’ at dancing that made Seungri strive to be better, to work harder at it, to get more out of it. Dancing was currently something that made him stand out from the crowd and made people pay attention to him. Hogwarts had never before really had talent shows, but sometimes Seungri would dance for his housemates or for his four older friends…but very rarely on both accounts.

The only person that really ever saw him dance was Youngbae…so to Seungri, the word dance meant friendship and camaraderie. ‘Dance’ was the command Youngbae would give on particularly frustrating Tuesday afternoon study sessions, while he just sat and finished his homework. Youngbae knew that Dancing would help rid Seungri of his wandering mind and blank stares; he was always better focused after dancing for a bit, as if his mind would only pay attention if his body were exhausted.

After answering their new questions, they each wondered the same thing: What’s the point of this? They liked how they felt after answering the questions, they enjoyed the challenge of writing a good answer (and ignoring as many of Youngbae’s rules as possible in the process), but they wanted to understand the reason.

Youngbae was unusually tight-lipped about it.

***

 “This feels wrong.” Daesung says for probably the 5^th time in the last three minutes. Seungri rolls his eyes and shakes his head before pointing toward the door and putting his finger up to his lips. Daesung rolls his eyes this time and walks over to the door to keep watch while Seungri rather skillfully opens the letter on Youngbae’s bed.

Youngbae and Jiyong had gone with Youngbae’s parents to pick up Seunghyun from the train station in town, thus leaving the two youngest alone in the house. It would have been fine, but just after Youngbae left a tawny owl that could only be from Hogwarts had shown up with a small number of letters attached to its leg. It was nearing the end of summer vacation so the boys had been expecting their letters at any point now and they were thrilled to have them delivered, only to be rather disappointed as they realized that they should probably wait until Youngbae and Jiyong came back with Seunghyun as along with their school letters the three oldest boys had received their O.W.L results.

“I feel uncomfortable knowing that you are so good at that.” Daesung says, as he sits down next to the door with his back against the wall. Seungri lets out a short laugh as he finishes opening the last of the O.W.L results letters and places it gently on the bed next to the other two.

“Alright, who’s first?” Seungri asks, his eyes darting quickly to Daesung as he kneels in front of the bed with his hands in the air; ready to grab a letter.

Daesung takes in a deep breath, pausing for a moment as he teeters between being totally against this invasion of privacy and curiosity. “Jiyong.” He says, and Seungri lifts an eyebrow questioningly as he reaches forward and grabs the letter.

“Not big Seunghyun’s?” He asks as he eases the results out of the envelope and carefully unfolds them.

“Nah, he’ll tell me.” Daesung says dismissively, wondering briefly why everyone seemed to think that he only cared about big Seunghyun’s life. “If you don’t hurry they will be back and catch us.”

Seungri nods, smirking slightly at the way that Daesung had suddenly become impatient with his pace when earlier he had been totally against the idea of them looking at the results. Seungri looks down at the unfolded results and scans the first page quickly. Noting that it’s just basically an explanation of the scoring methods and other directions that he didn’t care about, he flips to the next page. Seeing the grid of grades, Seungri makes a frantic hand gesture to Daesung who gets up quickly and shuffles closer, propping his head on Seungri’s shoulder.

“Wow.” Seungri breathes, and Daesung reaches around him to point to each subject.

“Ancient Runes…O. Arithmancy…E. Astronomy…E. Care of Magical Creatures…O. Charms…O.” Daesung mutters as he drags his finger down the list.

“Of course,” Seungri says on a quiet laugh after Daesung reads the Charms result.

“Defense Against the Dark Arts… O. Herbology… A. Ohh, Jiyong will be disappointed by that.” Daesung mutters, but Seungri shakes his head.

“I honestly think that he secretly likes not being good at that class…He likes having tutors for it.” Seungri says and Daesung chuckles lightly at that.

“I think he’s blown through all of the available tutors on that topic over the last few years…he’s probably going to have to break down and ask Youngbae to tutor him if he keeps taking the class.” Daesung says, shifting to make himself more comfortable; and to stop choking Seungri as his arm had gone from casually resting on the younger boy’s shoulder to being wrapped around the boy’s neck.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t already, they do all of their homework together as it is.”

“Yeah…but I think he’s embarrassed…it’s one-on-one time where all of the focus is on him and his own learning.” Daesung shrugs even though he knows that Seungri can’t see it. “We’ll see what happens.”

“Yeah,” Seungri says, before turning back to the paper. “He got an ‘E’ in History of Magic, how on earth does anyone get higher than “Troll” on that? How do you study? Binns is dead boring!”

“You’re so funny, V.I, so very funny.” Daesung says dryly, rolling his eyes at the over-used joke about their ghostly Professor.

“I’m serious!” Seungri protests and Daesung slaps him lightly on the side of the face and Seungri grumbles momentarily before looking back at the paper. “And finally….He got an “O” in both Potions and Transfiguration.”

“He’ll be pleased.” Daesung says softly, before looking down at his watch. “Merlin, look at how late it is! They’ll be back any minute; put them back!” He hisses, moving back to his spot by the door.

Seungri pouts as he carefully puts Jiyong’s results back together the way that he had found them. “But I wanted to see all of them.” He says dejectedly as he re-seals all three letters.

“How do you do that?” Daesung asks while he watches Seungri carefully shut the letters.

“Practice,” He says with a small smile as he places the three letters on top of their respective owner’s Hogwarts letters.

“I’m sure the other two will leave theirs lying about somewhere and we’ll be able to look, if you’re that upset about it.” Daesung says, noting the pout still firmly placed on his youngest friend’s mouth.

It was barely five minutes later that they heard the front door open and the voices of their three oldest friends come ricocheting up to greet them. Daesung pushes himself away from the door, feeling guilty and jumpy, as he forces Seungri into an impromptu arm-wrestling match to make it look like they had been doing something while they were waiting.