Spring was fast approaching, and all Seungri could talk about was Easter break. Traditionally, most everyone stayed on the castle grounds during this break, as final exams were fast approaching. But this year, the Hogwarts staff had decided to allow any of those staying on the grounds to go into Hogsmeade. This slight rule change would be great for families who hadn’t seen their kids since September (mostly wizarding families, of course), but it would also allow old friends to get together. So, because of this rule change, Jiyong and Seunghyun had planned a small party for the five friends to enjoy in Hogsmeade. They were renting a couple of rooms at one of the inns, and planned to have a good time all weekend.

Daesung wanted Seungri to stop talking about it. The topic of Jiyong was still a little touchy when it came to Erato, and Daesung winced every time Seungri started to gush about the plans when they were sitting with her. Seungri had forgiven Jiyong around a week after the event, though Jiyong never apologized to any of their knowledge, Erato had told Daesung countless times that she was perfectly alright and she was not upset anymore. Seunghyun personally believed that Jiyong had secretly sent her an owl apologizing for his behavior, but Daesung decided not to question her, and Seungri seemed to just blindly accept it.

Either way, the way that Seungri was talking would lead anyone to believe that he had every intention of dragging Erato along with them for the party. When Daesung pointed this out one morning as she was looking over Seungri’s Herbology homework, her eyes had gone big and round and she had shook her head violently behind Seungri’s back. He’d changed the subject as quickly as he could.

Another issue that they were facing was the fact that the closer that Easter got, the closer they got to Daesung graduating and leaving Seungri with what seemed to everyone to be only Erato as a friend. It was true that Seungri was hanging out more with people from his House, but he wasn’t as consistent or as attached to them as Daesung was to his own friends, and his concerns were echoed by their older friends.

It couldn’t be helped though, as the year was slowly moving toward its conclusion, and Daesung would soon have to worry about getting an actual job and living outside the confines of the Hogwarts grounds and his parent’s house. Daesung had much bigger things to worry about, but he couldn’t stop himself from worrying over Seungri.

***

Youngbae had started Healer training sometime at the beginning of January, and Seunghyun felt that this wasn’t fair. Youngbae spent far less time at home than either of his other two friends now that he had this new responsibility and Seunghyun was a little unhappy. This new time-stealer, along with his job at the radio that he refused to give up because he apparently ‘needed the money’, meant that Seunghyun had to spend an increasing amount of time alone with Jiyong.

In normal circumstances, this would be fine. If they were all back at Hogwarts, Seunghyun wouldn’t have been so upset by this. Unfortunately, they weren’t at Hogwarts, they were in the real world, in a small apartment, with very few things to keep them occupied when they weren’t at work or together. Jiyong spent a good majority of his free time writing, all shut up in his room or at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen area from the living room area. This would also be a welcome relief to Seunghyun, if it weren’t for the fact that the only times Jiyong appeared in the common areas was when he was frustrated, which just made it more difficult to handle him or have a nice conversation with him.

Seunghyun was rather tired of the way that Jiyong had started to kind of sulk around now that Youngbae was busy far more often. Daesung had suggested that part of it was because Jiyong was a little jealous that Youngbae was already moving on to an actual career, while he was still stuck manning a cash register. Seunghyun also guessed that part of the reason why  Jiyong was spending so much time writing was because he had found himself a small amount of fame on Youngbae’s radio show, and was using that to his advantage and showcasing as much of his work as possible. Seunghyun was secretly hoping that Jiyong really was spending a good majority of his writing time on new songs to try out on the radio, because every once in a while Seunghyun was invited to join in on the recordings, and he really enjoyed that.

Mostly, though, aside from the annoyance that Jiyong’s incessant crabbiness of late had induced, their lives were rather mundane. They still loved living together, but they were in the real world now…and they still weren’t quite sure what their places were.

***

Daesung was glaring at the study guide in front of him with such ferocity that Seungri was almost afraid to ask if he could sit down at the table with him.

“Hovering is more annoying than speaking.” Daesung says suddenly, and Seungri swings his head back to the table. He’d shifted his focus to the room at large without really noticing, and so had missed when Daesung became aware of him. “Sit down.” Daesung says, in his calm breathy voice. Seungri was glad to hear it, as the hard glare Daesung had been giving the paper lead him to believe that Daesung would be in a bit of a mood.

Seungri sat down with a careless plop, and set his bag on the table in front of him. “What’s up?” He asks, folding his arms on top of his bag and dropping his head down on top.

Daesung sighs and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes. “I’ve been studying for the N.E.W.Ts for well over a month now, and I just realized that I have no idea why I’m putting so much effort into it when I don’t even have an idea of what I want to do when I leave here.” He lets out a heavy breath and Seungri squeezes his eyes shut tight before opening them again and tilting his head to the side.

“Quidditch.” He says with some finality and Daesung chuckles lightly and shakes his head. “Why not? Taeyang wouldn’t consider it either!” Seungri falls into a pout. He honestly didn’t understand why neither of them would pursue the sport professionally, especially since Daesung had been captain of the Slytherin team for such a ridiculously long time.

“I could, Seungri.” Daesung says as he leans forward and rests his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. “But what happens when I get hurt? What happens when I’m too old to play?”

“You go to a Healer and you are fine…” Seungri says, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Yeah, I can go to a Healer for normal issues; bruising, cuts, scrapes, broken bones…” Daesung takes a deep breath, sitting back up as he does so. “But if I have to stop playing, or if my team keeps losing, then what happens to me? Merlin Seungri! What happens if I stay on second string for years? How much money do they make? How fulfilling would that be?”

Seungri scrunches his face up in disgust and shakes his head. “You’re too good for second string.” Daesung laughs at that and shakes his head.

“Maybe, maybe not. But I know that I need to have an actual career in mind. I need something that I can do.”

“You can sing.” Seungri says, scooching his chair forward and sitting up a little straighter.

“Yes, I suppose I can, but that’s not a guaranteed career.”

 Seungri makes another face, but this time it was because he knew that Daesung was making fun of him. “Alright, then what can you do?”

“Exactly my point.” Daesung smiles as Seungri lets out a sigh of frustration. “I don’t really know, as I said before…but I was thinking that maybe…just maybe…” He trails off and looks to the side, making Seungri sit up straighter in anticipation.

“Just maybe…what?!” He asks, trying not to sound impatient and failing horribly.

Daesung bites his lip a little uncertainly before leaning forward. “I kind of…want to work with dragons.”

Seungri was stunned silent for a couple of moments, and all he could do was blink. Daesung starts to turn a little pink under Seungri’s scrutiny.

“I mean, I know it’s kind of a long-shot and definitely kind of a weird career choice but umm…” Daesung starts to ramble, but part way through Seungri seemed to get his mind back.

“Oh Merlin that would be so cool!” Seungri gushes. Daesung smiles tentatively and takes a deep breath.

“Yeah, I think it would be, and I would qualify for the training with my grades and if I do well on some of the more important N.E.W.Ts…” Daesung says, and Seungri nods along eagerly. But Daesung’s good mood seems to suddenly disappear as a small frown falls over his face. “But there is only one dragon enclosure in the UK, and it’s kind of difficult to get into as it’s rather small…”

Seungri thinks on that for a few moments, completely uncertain about what was holding Daesung back. “And? You can go to other places, right?”

“Yeah…right…” Daesung says. He clears his throat. “Alright, let’s start studying. You’ve got a Transfiguration exam coming up!”