Seungri found that he quite liked being at the broadcasting station for the Wizarding Wireless in Hogsmeade. It was a wonderful reward for having finished his 5^th year and his O.W.Ls; being allowed to come in and help Youngbae with his radio show. Seungri enjoyed it quite a lot, and even better for him: he was quite well-liked by the listeners.

Youngbae always used the nickname “SOL” while on the radio. It hadn’t started out that way; he had started by just using Taeyang, but then decided that he wanted just a tad bit more anonymity than that. Because of that, whenever any of his friends guested on the show, they would assume their less-used nicknames, so Seungri became V.I whenever he came to visit. Jiyong had already been dropping his freshly written songs on the show for over four months by the time the semester ended and Seungri and Daesung were done for the year.

This meant that they now had the time to come in and guest and sing the songs that Jiyong had made for them. Daesung didn’t come in often, but that was mostly because he was working on finding himself a job while he searched for apprenticeships.

As it was, the two youngest spent a lot of time at their older friends’ apartment that summer. Indeed, Daesung ended up moving in, much to both his own mother, and Seunghyun’s mother’s chagrin.

“But we can’t have them living together right out of school!” Mrs. Choi had lamented under one of the brightly colored umbrellas of a small café in Diagon Alley. Mrs. Kang had nodded solemnly and placed her hand over the other woman’s across the table.

“I know, I know. It just doesn’t seem right to let them live together so soon….” Both women paused then, deep in thought as they watched over the bustling street before them.

“Allow me to alleviate your concerns!” A charming voice said from just behind them. Jiyong pulled out a chair then, and sat himself down at the table with the two women whose houses he had spent a lot of time at over the years.

“Oh! Jiyong, sweetheart!” Seunghyun’s mother gushes. He sends her a smile and then pats both women’s hands, which were still resting on the table.

“I was just coming in to grab a sandwich for lunch when I noticed you two.” It was a lie, of course, Jiyong abhorred the lunch workers at this café and had in fact only stopped in because he had heard the two women talking. “And I wanted to say, that you really have nothing to fear with letting Daesung move in with us.” Mrs. Kang opens to say something, but Jiyong holds up a hand politely and presses on. “We’ve got an extra room as it is, and we are in a great location. I would be worried about Daesung living alone so soon after having lived in the dorms for so long…”

Jiyong’s ability to manipulate people, especially older women, was something of a talent that he had found out very early on in his life. He had initially been worried that his friends’ parents weren’t accepting of Daesung and Seunghyun’s relationship, and had been ready to go on a full attack…but then…

“Oh but Jiyong, dear! It’s so unheard of to allow a young couple to live together so early in their relationship, don’t you think?” Mrs. Choi said.

“Maybe, but they aren’t living alone together, I mean, I spend most of my time in the apartment by myself as it is because the other two work so much…” Jiyong didn’t have the heart to bring up the fact that the normal reason why parents don’t want their children living with their boyfriend or girlfriend is usually the possibility of pregnancy…but luckily for him, his charm had worked, and soon the women were a lot less unhappy with the coming arrangement.

***

“Can I be on the show ALL the time?” Seungri asks from somewhere on the floor. Youngbae rolls his eyes as he checks over a list of things his boss and him had talked about for the show.

“No…not all the time, Ri.” He says absently as he shuffles through the papers in front of him.

Seungri pouts even though he knows that Youngbae can’t see him. “Why not?” He asks sullenly, and then pouts harder when Youngbae lets out a soft chuckle.

“Because you go back to school come September, Ri, and you won’t be able to come back until summer.” Youngbae says patiently, and Seungri can hear him flip through more paper.

“Oh…right.” At this revelation, which Seungri took to mean that he was totally allowed to be on the show however often he wanted over the summer, he felt much more at ease. “I understand.”

“Good.” Youngbae says before pushing his chair back and away from his desk. “Let’s go practice that song Ji wrote for us.”

***

“A Healer. How long until his apprenticeship is finished?’ Daesung asks absently as he sorts through the pile of mail that had accumulated while everyone had been out for the day.

Seunghyun sighs and shrugs before putting his hands behind his head and kicking his legs up. “You got me. I think he’s prolonging the whole thing, to be honest.” He says, and then shrugs again when Daesung throws him a questioning look. “What? Bae’s a smart guy, and you and I both know that these apprenticeships only stay ‘apprenticeships’ for a short time before they start becoming more job-like. The pamphlets in third year basically guarantee it, and even if they were greasing the truth…if anyone can prove the pamphlets right it’s Youngbae.”

Daesung sighs and starts to actually put the letters into piles by intended recipient. “Yeah, and he’s had this one for…what, seven, eight months? And from the way that he talks about it he is barely past the basics and hasn’t even crossed into actual potion-brewing.” Daesung pauses to drop two thick letters onto Jiyong’s stack rather aggressively before turning to look directly at Seughyun. “And like, you know, that would mean that he’s still in the theory part which I’m sure is fascinating but by now he should be moving onto the practical application of that theory.” He shakes his head. “He’s definitely smart enough for the job…”

Seunghyun nods, idly biting his lip as they lapse into silence and Daesung stares down at the perfectly sorted stacks of letters. “It’s Jiyong.” Seunghyun says suddenly and rather softly; hoping vainly that Daesung will disagree with him just because he sounds uncertain.

But he’s slightly disappointed by the straight stare that he receives in return and the even more straight answer: “Yeah, yeah it probably is.”

***

Despite all of the whining that he put in toward the end of the summer, and the doom and gloom he had predicted when Daesung hugged him goodbye on their last day together…Seungri wasn’t really alone.

In retrospect, he should have realized this.

Erato was in a situation that was very similar to his; one of her best friends graduated with Daesung. Actually, Seungri knew that Erato had other friends aside from the curly haired girl from Daesung’s House, but he didn’t think they were that close because otherwise why had she always be so available to do things with him the year before?

"it’s because she’s a nice person, Seungri, Merlin." Jiyong had said on a sigh over lunch one day. Seungri would never admit how surprised he was by that, but the look on his face must have given him away. “Oh honestly, Ri, I’m not a completely heartless jerk. It was an off day…she and I understand each other now.”

Daesung had been a little less harsh but still rather direct on the matter: “You don’t normally give her a choice in the matter…" He had said kindly as he helped Seungri choose the correct ingredients to refill his potions kit.

It didn’t really matter, because in the end, what this all meant was that he was sharing a compartment with Erato on the train ride in for his 6th year.

"Do I annoy you?" Seungri asks suddenly, looking away from the window and across the compartment at Erato. She was reading a book and when he spoke, she looked up at him her eyes a little unfocused, until she blinked to clear away the fog.

"No."

"Are you sure? Because you can go back to your friends…" Sometimes he hated his tendency to do this; bait someone into saying that they liked him. He did it often with Daesung, Jiyong, Youngbae and Seunghyun…and he just couldn’t stop himself.

"Of course I can go sit with my other friends," she says, closing her book and moving so that she could sit cross-legged on the seat, “but they could also come and sit with me. Or, you could go sit with your other friends."

He watched her put her book down, she was challenging him; he should have known that she wouldn’t just compliment him and let it be done. “Well, I suppose that I could, and that they could. But then I wouldn’t have Calliope’s lovely company." He smirks while saying it, daring her to say something back.

"My company is rather well sought-after, yes. If you are content to sit here whilst I read, I would understand completely, I am rather distinguished and eloquent." She was waving her hand in the air and acting snobby, he almost couldn’t hold back his laugh.

"Well, I was more going for your silent reading and writing. Can’t handle too much noise, you know." She grins, her head to the side, and then throws her book at him.

"If you want to talk, just talk! You know I’m awkward and incapable of interaction!" She says, moving forward to poke him in the arm and retrieve her book.

He frowns slightly before switching to a bright smile, “you’ll be my best friend this year!?"

"Only if you do your homework." It was like talking to Youngbae, except she was prettier.

Erato settled back down to continue reading her book, and Seungri leans back in his seat. He really enjoyed picking at her, and he especially loved the connection that they had over her nicknames…but the nicknames were something that he always had wondered about. “What’s your real name?"

"Only my best friends know that." She doesn’t even look up.

Seungri has a new goal: Learn Erato’s real name.