Youngbae had a crush. Daesung was fairly certain that if Youngbae had had the choice, no one would have known. Unfortunately, living in such close proximity with Jiyong made it impossible for that type of thing to actually be feasible.

It would have been funny and cute and they would have enjoyed teasing him about it more, if it weren’t for Jiyong. Jiyong was rather awfully upset about the whole thing, though he would never come right out and tell Youngbae so. No, no what Jiyong did instead was take their fun teasing and turn it slightly nasty. His normally witty and fun comments coming out twisted and mean.

Big Seunghyun and Daesung stopped teasing him about it almost immediately. In fact, after about the third or fourth conversation that ended in a rather depressed look on Youngbae’s face and a bitter look on Jiyong’s, they decided to just never talk about anything that even closely related to crushes or dating. It was because of this that they never really managed to catch Seungri’s reaction to the whole thing.

Youngbae’s crush was rather remarkable in and of itself, as they had never known their friend to show any interest in any human being in any type of romantic way…ever. Daesung and Seunghyun never thought to ask Youngbae or Jiyong just who exactly the person in question was; all that they knew was that she was a younger Ravenclaw girl. They didn’t know how Youngbae came into contact with her. They didn’t know the full extent of his crush. And quite truthfully, no matter how completely curious they were, they were not going to invite a conversation on the topic.

***

The summer was excellent, as always. They rotated houses and did everything that they normally did. But it was slightly more…sad. Seungri was not ready for the three oldest to no longer be at school with him and Daesung, but it was mostly himself that he was worried for. The other three were Hogwarts graduates and had jobs lined up, well, Jiyong and Youngbae had jobs; Seunghyun was still looking and going to interviews. They didn’t have every day of the summer like before, and while he liked Daesung (he did, he really and truly did), he was convinced that he would never see the older three ever again.

He was also upset because he knew that now that they had graduated, it would only be one more year until Daesung graduated, and then Seungri would really be alone. That was the biggest problem that he was having with this whole graduation thing.

The day before he went back to his house for the final time that summer, he cried all day. They had been at Youngbae’s house the whole week, and the day before the five of them had gone off with Youngbae’s parents to find a flat for the three oldest. Seungri had held up remarkably well (much better than Daesung who had rarely smiled in three days), but the next day he just couldn’t pretend. He sat in the garden at the park next door and cried. He had run off during breakfast after TOP had jokingly said that the breakfasts at Hogwarts didn’t compare to Youngbae’s mother’s cooking. They had yelled after him, but had been so surprised by the outburst that they were slow in getting up to chase after him.

GD found him first, and shooed everyone away after assessing the situation. Seungri had his knees up to his chest, and was crying freely. It was vaguely reminiscent of the first time they had met him, but GD decided that instead of all of them, Seungri really just needed one person at that time. He sat in front of Seungri, legs crossed and close enough that they were touching Seungri’s feet. They made no other contact, and GD said next to nothing for the three hours that they sat there. Seungri stopped crying after the first hour, and started chattering immediately to fill the silence. After two hours of that, the other three slowly moved in out of their hiding places. There really was no way that they would leave him alone when he was upset.

***

The Seunghyun’s showed up to the platform together, as always. Daesung was met at the station at 10:35am, as always, by Youngbae and Jiyong. Everything was the same as always…except that at 10:58am, the only people getting on the train would be Daesung and little Seunghyun.

Daesung always smiles, always. It is something that he can be counted on for during the most difficult of moments. But Daesung wasn’t smiling, and little Seunghyun looked like he was just coming down from the high of a laughter potion (something that everyone knew big Seunghyun had bought the week before). Daesung had smiled through little Seunghyun’s breakdown three days prior, and he normally even smiled when he was upset. But not today.

Daesung’s parents smiled and greeted the Seunghyun’s when they arrived; tearfully congratulating big Seunghyun on the flat that he, Youngbae, and Jiyong had recently acquired, while Jiyong and Youngbae tried to coax at least a small smile from Daesung.

Big Seunghyun talked excitedly with Daesung’s parents for a few moments, before Youngbae was pulled in and soon Jiyong followed and the conversation flowed away from him. After that, he spent all of his energy on Daesung.

It hadn’t missed his attention that Daesung’s face was lacking the normal brightness that a smile provided. He knew, just like Jiyong and possible Youngbae (though that was up for grabs because he tended not to notice when people were hiding their emotions), that Daesung was just as upset about the three of them not being there this year as Seungri was. Seunghyun also knew that there was no way that Daesung would say that because he didn’t want the attention, and he wanted people to pay attention to Seungri.

Big Seunghyun started out with a few quick ‘jokes’ about things that he wouldn’t be able to do now that he’s not going back to Hogwarts.

“I’ll have to learn how to do my own laundry now, huh?” He says, sniffing his sleeve and bumping his shoulder lightly into Daesung’s.

“Yeah, I guess.” Daesung responds, his eyes focused on something in the distance.

They probably weren’t as funny as he had originally anticipated, but they had made little Seunghyun laugh on the way to the station that morning, so he figured it had been worth a try. He decided to skip actual jokes, as Daesung had never really found his jokes to be funny, and moved on to poking Daesung in the cheek repeatedly. It earned him an annoyed glance, but he did this so often anyway that Daesung barely even flinched. He was becoming disheartened as the frown remained firmly planted on Daesung’s normally bright face no matter what he did.

Along with disheartened, Seunghyun was starting to feel just the teensiest bit antsy. He wanted to make Daesung smile and he couldn’t think of anything else to do. That’s when it hit him, literally. Little Seunghyun collided with his back as he ran away from Youngbae, who managed to tackle the younger boy to the ground once he had moved around Seunghyun. The answer was simple: He just needed to act silly. How this thought came to him via a collision with little Seunghyun, the world may never know, but weirder things have happened.

Daesung couldn’t help but to laugh as big Seunghyun helped Jiyong pull Seungri and Youngbae apart, and then started to dance. He wasn’t sure why Seunghyun was dancing as he was rather awful at the whole business, but it had always been one of Daesung’s favorite things to witness.

Seunghyun considered his mission a success. He watched Daesung and Seungri board the Hogwarts Express without him, wide smiles and watery eyes adorning their faces, and he wished that he could be going with them, at least just for the ride. But he was an adult now, just like Youngbae and Jiyong and countless others.

Now to find a job….

***

It was 11:00am and the Hogwarts Express was pulling out of the station. Seungri and DAesung were alone in their usual compartment, and they could no longer see their friends standing on the platform. The next two hours were spent in relative silence. They spoke only sporadically, and even then, it was only short and almost useless sentences.

It was at this point in the train ride that most people started to get restless, and it wasn’t uncommon for a large number of people to be wandering about the train, trying to find friends or just stretching their legs. A couple of kids stopped in to chat for a bit at this time, but they all wandered off after a short while to be with their other friends. It was after the third person stopped in to talk to Daesung that Seungri said something.

“You can go and sit with them if you want. It would probably be more fun.” He kept his eyes trained on the ground as he spoke, as if looking at Daesung while saying what he had would have been painful.

Instead of answering, a smile broke out across Daesung’s face; the first really true and bright smile he had made that day. The silence, though relatively brief, was long enough to cause an antsy Seungri to look up; he was afraid that Daesung was seriously considering his suggestion. At the same moment that Seungri looked up, Daesung burst into laughter. Confused and more than just a little bit hurt, Seungri starts to stutter, as if he were trying to defend himself.

Daesung shakes his head as he fights to control his laughter. He reaches forward and grabs at Seungri’s hands, which were flailing wildly in an attempt to articulate his thoughts. “Seungri, I wouldn’t want to sit with anyone else. You’re one of my absolute best friends.”

“But…you weren’t talking, and, and all of the people came in…”

“People came in to talk to you too!” Daesung says, his voice rising encouragingly. He sits back in his seat and shakes his head sadly. “Where’s the V.I I know who asks questions and chatters incessantly?” He asks, and Seungri pouts, though Daesung knows that it is more for show than for anything else.

“Yah! Don’t make fun of me!” Seungri says, his tone just a tad grouchy causing Daesung to smile wider. “You never talk! And I mean, honestly! How can you even see me when you smile like that!?” Daesung tried his hardest not to laugh as Seungri continued his rambling speech. After the last comment, he lunged forward and grabbed Seungri around the middle, before lifting him up and dragging him to the floor.

“I can see just fine!” Daesung shouts, through his laughter as Seungri tries to squirm away from him.

“Get away from me!! Besides, we have to put our robes on!” Seungri had scrambled away from Daesung and up onto his seat and was holding his arm out in front of him in the hopes of deterring Daesung from getting any closer.

Daesung was kneeling on the ground across from Seungri’s seat, trying to contain his laughter, and failing miserably. “Scared?” he asks, before pretending to lunge forward, causing a squeak of alarm to escape Seungri’s mouth.

A pair of robes is thrown roughly at his chest, and he manages to duck just in time as he sees something very similar to a book being thrown at his head.

After this, they calmed down considerably, and managed to talk like civilized human beings. Though, Daesung couldn’t help but to fake a lunge in Seungri’s direction every once in a while, just to see the younger boy’s reaction.

On the whole, the two would probably characterize this as one of the longest train rides they had ever dealt with…though not necessarily in a bad way (unlike that one from Daesung’s second year…).

***

“Hey! Seungri!” A voice calls from down the corridor. It was the first morning of classes, and he had been making his way to the Great Hall to get breakfast and pick up his schedule. “Wait up!”

He stops and turns; a smile already on his face as he watches Erato jog slightly to catch up to him. “Morning.” He says, and is momentarily shocked by the almost arrogant sound of his words.

She smiles at him and shakes her head. “Honestly, you walk around in your own little world!” He makes a face at her and waves the comment off with a flick of his wrist. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your more than interesting letters this summer. They kept me entertained as I was dragged around by my parents and relatives.” She smiled up at him then, and Seungri couldn’t help but to remember a moment the year before when he had vehemently denied thinking that she was pretty. He would definitely have a hard time doing so now.

“Aww, no problem!” He says, a little louder and more boisterous than he probably intended. He ruffles her hair as he does it and hopes that she doesn’t notice that he only did that because he’d become rather embarrassed all of a sudden. She makes a noise, kind of like a soft growl, and glares up at him as she fixes her hair, but before she can say anything, they are interrupted.

“Seungri! I didn’t expect you to be awake.” Daesung says cheerfully, though admittedly he sounded a little tired.

Seungri turns and smiles over at him, “I’m always up this early. It’s you I’m surprised about!” Daesung laughs and waits at the entrance to the Hall for Seungri to catch up. Seungri turns to say goodbye to Erato, but she’s not next to him anymore. He searches the area for a moment, before spotting her with a group of Ravenclaws heading toward the Hall.

“What’s up?” Daesung asks, taking Seungri by the arm to steer him through the doors.

“My tutor…” He says, and Daesung nods.

“Ahhh yes, I remember her. Cute girl.” Daesung says as he snags his timetable from a fellow seventh year before heading toward the Hufflepuff table.

“Yeah…cute…” Seungri says, his eyes following her to her table before he shakes his head and pays attention. “Youngbae has a crush on her.” He says suddenly, and Daesung falters as he goes to drop into the seat next to Seungri.

“Wait…she’s the girl that Youngbae has a crush on?” He asks, his eyes open wide in shock.

“Yeah, why are you surprised? You don’t think she’s pretty enough for him or something?” Seungri says, and Daesung leans back just a bit.

“Woah, calm down, I wasn’t saying anything against her, I was just surprised because no one told me who it was.” Daesung pauses for a moment, watching as Seungri’s face flushes lightly and the younger boy tries to avoid his eyes.

“Yeah, sorry, just still a little tired I guess.” Seungri mumbles, before starting to fill his plate with food.

Daesung’s forehead scrunches in thought as he contemplates his friend for a couple of seconds. This whole crush thing was probably going to get interesting…and Daesung couldn’t tell if it was going to be in a good way or not.