It was the first day of Seunghyun, Youngbae, and Jiyong's 4th year, and as they sat in the Great Hall waiting for the sorting ceremony to begin so that it could end and they could eat, they all felt it. Well, Youngbae and Jiyong felt it; Seunghyun just felt hungry and Daesung was still a little difficult for them to read sometimes.

Sitting at the Ravenclaw table, in between the Gryffindors and Slytherins, Jiyong and Youngbae were staring at each other from across the table. Seunghyun was currently sat directly behind Youngbae at the Gryffindor table. Sitting directly behind Jiyong was Daesung at the Slytherin table. Over the Summer, they had finally decided on nicknames for Seunghyun and Jiyong: TOP/Tabi and G-Dragon/GD, respectively, and while Youngbae was convinced that the new names would serve them no real purpose; they had all fallen into using them rather quickly.

Youngbae nods over Jiyong’s shoulder at Daesung, “Ask Dae.” He says, and Jiyong nods, turning to get Daesung’s attention.

"Hey, did you notice anything...?" he whispers, leaning across the gap between the tables so that Daesung can hear him.

Without taking his eyes away from the first years up at the teacher's table, Daesung leans back toward Jiyong; "yeah, I think it's from up there." His brow furrows as he scans the line of first years, stopping briefly on a couple of people he recognized from the train before whipping back to look at a boy in the center of the line.

Youngbae, meanwhile, had been scanning the entire Hall when he felt something hit the back of his head. "What!?" he whisper-shouts, turning around to glare at Seunghyun as he rubbed at the spot that had been hit.

Seunghyun just nods his head up toward the first-years; "One of them just made eye-contact with me. The one in the middle there."

Youngbae looks up just in time for the kid to look directly at him too; "Ji...GD!" He whispers frantically, reaching across the table without looking, leaving his eyes trained on the first year.

"Daesung just pointed him out to me; what's his problem, staring at us all like that?" GD had his arms crossed, a slight frown marring his features as he nodded up at the boy.

Youngbae knew better though; Jiyong was intrigued, not angry, and from the looks on both Daesung and Seunghyun's faces, he knew that they were too. “I don’t know, but it’s weird.” Youngbae mutters, and Jiyong nods, returning his eyes to the front as names began to be called.

"Lee, Seunghyun!" The four boys watched as the boy who had been staring at them walked up to the stool and had the hat placed on his head. After almost two full minutes, the rip at the brim opened:

"HUFFLEPUFF"

It shouted, and the young Seunghyun bounced off the stool, handed the Hat back to the teacher with an adorable smile on his face, and wandered in the wrong direction (toward the Gryffindor end) until he seemed to suddenly realize what he was doing and made his way to the Hufflepuff table where he was greeted warmly.

Soon the ceremony ends and the feast begins; Jiyong has his mouth too full to speak, Daesung is talking to some kids in his year, Seunghyun is reenacting some apparently magnificent thing he saw over the summer, and Youngbae is humming softly to himself as he eats and taps his free fingers on the table while his legs jump nervously in place.

They don't all see each other at the same time until the second day of classes. The four boys left their respective common rooms at almost the exact same time, and wandered away from their dorms toward a normally abandoned corridor on the fifth floor.

Daesung, Jiyong and Youngbae meet up on one of the staircases, and run into Seunghyun who was waiting at the top for them. They all instantly start talking, well, 'continue' talking would be more appropriate. You would think that they had all been together the entire time with the way that they were talking. As they neared the area where they normally stopped, a small circular alcove with seats and a random curtain that concealed it completely from view, they were able to hear something that sounded remarkably like crying.

Daesung was instantly worried, and he hurried forward to try and find the source of the noise.

"You'd think he was a Hufflepuff sometimes instead of a Slytherin, wouldn't you?" Seunghyun says loudly, hoping to get a reaction from Daesung as he hurried off.

Seunghyun was rewarded with a quick smile that Daesung threw over his shoulder as he closed in on the source of the crying. What he found was the little Seunghyun from the Sorting Ceremony, sitting against the wall.

The young boy immediately started to swipe at his eyes to rid them of any evidence that he had been crying, but Daesung stopped him, "what's wrong? It's only the second day of classes it can't be that bad already!" He was smiling brightly and crouching in front of the boy, but this only seemed to make things worse, as the boy suddenly slapped his hands back up to his face as fresh tears poured down.

The other three had made it to them by now, but they had apparently begun to argue along the way.

"I'm just saying, Daesung sometimes seems like such a Hufflepuff that you would never guess that he was a conniving Slytherin!" Seunghyun states, poking Jiyong roughly in the shoulder.

"Ow! I know that, but Daesung is too cool to be a Hufflepuff."

Daesung was still staring at the boy, and Youngbae had knelt down beside him to see what he could do. At Jiyong's words, the boy seemed to start to cry harder, and it was only at this point that Daesung notices the yellow emblem on his robes and Youngbae remembers that he had been sorted into Hufflepuff.

Jiyong seems to realize it at the exact same moment, as his eyes go wide and his hands fly up to cover his mouth, "No, I didn't mean it!"

"What are you talking about? Of course yo-oof!" The rough kick to the shins that Jiyong administered was enough to shut Seunghyun up and make him notice what the others had already come to realize. "Aw man, it's not that bad! Is that what this is about?"

The younger Seunghyun nods almost imperceptibly behind his hands, making both Daesung and Youngbae coo lightly and move closer. Jiyong hovers over Youngbae's head, propping his hand on Daesung's shoulder and looks back at Seunghyun with raised eyebrows and a slight nod toward the boy.

Seunghyun rolls his eyes and moves everyone out of his way so that he can be directly in front of the boy. He grabs the boys chin and makes him look up.

"Don't cry, really. We just make fun of Hufflepuff because the hat chose to put Daesung in Slytherin over Hufflepuff. Can you believe that that boy right there is a Slytherin? He doesn't seem very self-serving, but he's got them all eating right out of his hand" at this Daesung pushes Seunghyun lightly with a small 'shut up!' and Seunghyun can't help but to turn and smile at him.

"What he's trying to say is that you aren't defined by your House. There is nothing wrong with having Hufflepuff traits, and there is nothing wrong with badgers." Youngbae says, though he shivers at the word 'badgers' and seems to be trying to convince himself of that fact.

Jiyong just rolls his eyes and leans back, as if their job there was done already. "Alright, come on, anyone can hear us out here in the open." He ushers them all to get up, but the younger Seunghyun just looks at him. "Well, hurry up, we haven't got all day!" The four friends start walking toward their alcove, something about everything was starting to feel...right.

"Hey, we're going to have to call you something else, we've already got one Seunghyun!" Youngbae calls over his shoulder.

The boy blinks, and stands up quickly so that he can follow them; "Seungri?!" he calls out, half joking.

"I like it," Jiyong says, conversationally, "We can call you Victory, or V.I for short." He says, nudging Daesung who nods in agreement.

“Yes, though I’m not sure how either of those would be shorter to say…” Daesung says, holding the curtain open after the other three make their way inside. “Come on little Victory! Before any other students happen upon this corridor and see our hiding spot.” He was smiling brightly and little Seunghyun couldn’t help but to smile back as he quickened his pace and was ushered into the alcove with Daesung’s hand at his back.

“I’m Youngbae,” Youngbae says brightly before gesturing to the others, “This is Jiyong, Seunghyun, and Daesung.” They all nod and smile at him and Seungri feels more comfortable than he has since he stepped onto the train the morning of September the 1^st.

Yeah, this was definitely right.

***

“I don’t want to study for my Transfiguration test.” Seungri says on a whine as he hitches his backpack up higher onto his shoulder and trudges obediently away from the Charms classroom where Youngbae had been waiting for him. “If you want to study for Ancient Runes, why don’t you ask GD? He’s in that class with you and you two always do your homework together anyway don’t you?” Youngbae doesn’t answer, and Seungri jogs a little to keep up with his older friend’s stride.

Youngbae fights the urge to roll his eyes and keeps his mouth shut for a moment so that he doesn’t say anything rude. “Jiyong has Herbology tutoring every Tuesday after last class.” He says finally and Seungri nods, opening his mouth to speak again before Youngbae cuts him off quickly. “And you’re going to study for your test so that you can pass it.” He says, making Seungri’s face color slightly.

“But I don’t like studying.” Seungri says, apparently deciding on another track to get his way. It was only November and Seungri was comfortable enough with his new friends to whine and complain at them; and they liked him enough to endure it. Within two days of meeting Seungri, Youngbae had already memorized his schedule and figured out homework due dates and test dates.

Seungri wasn’t really any better as they all found out rather quickly; within a week he knew all of their schedules and special activities. Seungri knew the Quidditch practice and game schedules for both Ravenclaw and Slytherin (Daesung had made the team his second year) as well as the exact schedule of Seunghyun’s seemingly erratic Gobstones club meetings. If he hadn’t have been trying to get out of studying for Transfiguration, he would have remembered that on Tuesday nights Youngbae had no one to hang out with as Jiyong had  tutoring session for Herbology, Seunghyun did homework with his dorm mates and Daesung had Quidditch practice.

Tuesday had become Seungri and Youngbae’s ‘bonding time’, but it normally involved studying or homework because they were still getting to know each other and Quidditch practices had only started a couple of weeks previously.

“What do you like to do, Seungri?” Youngbae asks, stopping in front of a tapestry that most certainly was not the door to the Library, nor were they on the 5^th floor near their alcove. Seungri takes a moment to try and gauge Youngbae’s mood before shrugging and letting out a light breath.

“I like to dance.” He says, and Youngbae’s eyes widen briefly before settling into small slits as a smile breaks out across his face.

“Have you ever heard of the Room of Requirement, V.I?” He asks, and Seungri shakes his head, instantly interested. Youngbae smiles again and paces up and down three times in front of the wall across from the tapestry.

Seungri watches, his eyes wide, as right before his eyes a door appears where once there wasn’t one. “Whoah.” He says, and Youngbae smiles at him before pulling open the door and ushering him inside.

“It can transform into whatever you want…within reason and the laws of magic of course.” Youngbae explains as he shuts the door behind them and they both turn to face an open room with mirrors on one wall. There was a table and two chairs against one wall and Youngbae walks over and places his bag there, Seungri following suit.

“This is amazing.” Seungri says, still trying to wrap his head around the concept of the Room of Requirement.

“It is, yes.” Youngbae says, toeing off his shoes and moving to the center of the room. “I’ve got an idea. Let’s dance for a bit, and then I’ll help you study; I’m not really in the mood to study either…and besides, I finished all of my homework with Ji on Sunday.” He says.

Seungri tilts his head to the side. “You dance?” He asks, unable to keep the note of surprise out of his voice. Youngbae laughs and Seungri watches his feet start to move.

“I can’t sit still.” He answers simply before flicking his wand in the direction of a radio of sorts on the other side of the room. Music starts to fill the space and Seungri watches as Youngbae begins to move. He instantly feels stupid for questioning Youngbae’s ability to dance as he watches and starts remembering a multitude of moments when he noticed Youngbae’s inability to sit still or sudden outbursts of random movement to a beat only he could hear.

Seungri allows himself to smile and he steps out of his shoes, moving next to Youngbae and falling into the rhythm of the song. It was about an hour later that they stopped and after a short breather, Youngbae ushered Seungri over to the table to study.

“Next Tuesday?” Seungri asks, trying not to let too much eagerness show in his voice.

Youngbae smiles brightly and throws an arm around Seungri’s shoulders. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He says, and Seungri can’t help but to smile happily.

***

They had been sitting on the train for the ride home for the Winter holiday for about an hour when Seungri cocked his head to the side while looking at Daesung “Can you even see when you smile?” It seemed funny to Daesung that it had taken little Seunghyun this long to ask it.

The compartment went completely silent for a couple of seconds, and even though Seungri’s eyes were starting to crinkle up in that way that they did when he realized that maybe he’d said something that he shouldn’t have; Daesung couldn’t even make himself be upset.

Instead he just smiles brightly and leans forward, reaching out with both hands to grab at Seungri, “I guess not!” he says, pretending to not be able to find the younger boy, arms flailing in the wrong direction. Everyone starts to laugh and Daesung looks up at Seungri who was trying valiantly to look hurt instead of laughing like he wanted to.

“Yah! You don’t have to make fun of me!” Seungri crosses his arms and turns away toward the window, which was unfortunately blocked by Youngbae who reached out and patted him on the head.

“It’s alright, normally he gives the people who ask him that one of his terrifying straight-faced stares” Youngbae says before leaning forward and whispering so that only Seungri can hear him: “even us. Seunghyun asked him once, that’s the day we realized that he was meant to be a Slytherin.” Youngbae nods once and pats Seungri’s cheek, careful to avoid the boy’s mouth as his jaw was practically touching the floor.

As the laughter died down and everyone went back to their normal conversations, Daesung leaned over and rested his chin on Seungri’s shoulder.

“I don’t mind you asking questions, little Seunghyun, you just have to pay attention to what you’re saying.” Daesung meant it, too. There was something about Seungri that made him perfectly alright with dealing with his crazy thoughts and incessant questions.