“You lied to me, hyung. I hate you,” Woohyun spoke through gritted teeth bitterly. He shifted awkwardly in his spot, feeling uncomfortable, but immediately froze soon after. The muggle was in an strange situation: sitting on the wizard’s lap on the subway. Well, not exactly. He was sitting on the messenger bag, and when he first sat down on it, he heard Sunggyu grumble about having to burn the bag later. But Woohyun didn’t feel guilty. The wizard deserved it for toying with him, dashing his dreams.

Sunggyu whispered harshly back, the earbuds affixed in his ears, “That’s because you didn’t let me finish. It’s not my fault you jumped to the wrong conclusion. Now stop moving. It’s weird.”

Woohyun tightened his fists on his knees. He would like nothing more than to exchange some choice words with the other, but he couldn’t. He had to play ghost again, be ignored by the world, and act like he didn’t exist. And worst of all, they weren’t going to Hogwarts. Well, not really.

---

That morning, after Sunggyu announced that they were going to Hogwarts, Woohyun jumped excitedly up on the bed and started bouncing on the springs. “Really? We’re going!” he exclaimed. His life-long, and once impossible dream was coming into fruition. He was going to THE school of witchcraft and wizardry. He was going to walk down the halls that Harry and his friends did. He was going to visit Dumbledore’s voice (or barge in. It didn’t matter. He was invisible anyways, so he could go anywhere…even the forbidden forest!). He fell onto the bed with a happy hum and began rolling around in the sheets. A sudden thought invaded his brain, and he shoot straight up and panicked. “Hyung, we have to go back to my house. I don’t have my passport.”

“Passport?” Sunggyu repeated, staring at the other curiously as he romped about in the bed. “Where do you think we’re going?”

Woohyun’s heart stopped, suddenly wondering if he had misheard. “Hogwarts, right? In England?” he asked sheepishly.

Sunggyu snorted a few times before bursting out into a peal of laughter. “How could we smuggle you on a plane, idiot?” he sputtered out between laughs.

“W-we’re not going? But I thought you said…”

While wiping the happy tears forming in his eyes, the wizard interrupted, “We’re going to the branch, here in Korea. Haha, oh God! You thought we were going to THE Hogwarts?! That place has been destroyed for years.”

“WHAT?!” Woohyun could feel his heartbreaking. Not only was he not going to his fantasy school, but he could never go there. And so the school remained just that, a fantasy. He brought a pillow closer to his chest. This magical world he was living in really and truly .

He felt the bed sink down next to him. Sunggyu had sat down. “Y-you didn’t know,” he was mildly surprised. “But I thought you read the books?”

Woohyun breathed in deeply, inhaling the scent of the pillow, which was oddly calming. “I did, but it didn’t say anything about…” he couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

“The series was about the revival of the Great Wizard War, right? At least that’s what I gathered.” Sunggyu’s voice was strangely gentle, like when he had talked to Sungjong about his shop. And that made Woohyun feel a little childish and naive, but he still nodded, answering the question. “The school was destroyed then, and they didn’t really recover. Plus the spot was filled with ghosts from both sides of the war, so they thought it best to establish a new school elsewhere.” His hand began patting Woohyun’s head which was still covered with a hoodie. “I’m sorry, Hyun.”

Woohyun shook the hand from his head. He wasn’t in the mood to be treated like a child. “So…it’s gone,” his voice was barely audible.

Sunggyu backed away and stood up from the bed. “Yea,” he answered grabbing his messenger bag and stuffing every possible thing in there, even things that shouldn’t even fit inside like cauldron. “But before it was, the grandchildren of the four founders went around the globe, establishing other schools. The one we’re going to is one of them. I’m told that it’s a lot like the original,” he ended, shooting a cautious glance at the muggle huddled on the bed. Sunggyu threw his messenger at the other, successfully taking him out of his gloom. “Put what you need in here. We need to leave soon, or we’ll miss the train. I’ll be downstairs to send Owllie off before we go.”

Woohyun was dumbfounded for a few seconds, reeling from the sudden hit. It wasn’t until after Sunggyu was out of the bedroom when he finally came to. “Hedwig! Her name is Hedwig!” he shouted after him. He then grumbled as he looked down at the messenger bag in his lap. “Put what you need in here,” he said in a high pitched voice. He looked around the room and giggled mischievously. As far as he knew, the bag had no limit as to what it could hold. After he was done, there was barely anything left in Sunggyu’s room, save for the furniture.

When he was done, he dropped the bag in front of Sunggyu (who was cleaning Hedwig’s cage) with a loud thud. The wizard looked down at the bag. “What the Hell did you put in there?” His eyes glanced up at the other and his brows met in the middle of his forehead. “And what are you wearing? Are you planning on robbing someone?”

Woohyun pulled down the mask from his mouth. It was a bit suffocating, especially with the warm summer air surrounding him. “I can go out like this, hyung. I look normal, so I don’t have to walk around anymore. Smart right?” he bragged. The muggle was completely covered from head to toe. He was wearing jeans, a hoodie with the hood pulled tightly around his face, large sunglasses, and a mask. He had checked himself out in the mirror earlier and save for a small stretch between the lip of the hood and the brim of the glasses, not a span of his transparent skin could be seen. He was hotter than Hell, of course, but this way, he could go out in public like a regular human being.

“Do you think you’re a celebrity?” Sunggyu joked, washing his hands after cleaning. “Take it off. I’m not going out with you like that.”

“But hyung!”

“Off,” he repeated a little more forcefully. “You’re going to die of heatstroke,” he mumbled quickly and quietly, almost went unnoticed by Woohyun. “And this way, we don’t have to pay for a ticket,” he stated with a proud smile.

Woohyun pouted as he began to take off his clothes again. “I swear, you must get a rise out of this,” the muggle complained, tossing each and every item to the wizard so that he could put it in the bag.

“Just a little.”

---

But now on the subway, the wizard was regretting his decision. He hadn’t thought about the logistics about riding on the subway, where the invisible boy was going to sit or stand. The only spot available was Sunggyu’s lap. It was unbearable for the both of them, and Woohyun couldn’t stop squirming, which made Sunggyu’s bag look like it was moving on its own. The wizard prayed that no one else could see it.

The worse part about it was the closeness. All he could smell was Woohyun’s scent with each and every breath he took. Sunggyu could see the sweat forming and trailing down the other’s back, and feel the warmth radiating from the muggle. Sunggyu tried his best to keep a composed face, so he closed his eyes and pretended to be sleeping. But there was still a noticeable blush creeping onto his cheeks.

Woohyun, besides feeling uncomfortable and exposed, wasn’t having as bad of a time. He was instead, finally taking advantage of being invisible and making faces at the other passengers on the subway. Also he could blatantly check out anybody he wanted. So all in all, it wasn’t too bad. Then he noticed two girls whispering to each other and looking at him. Woohyun smiled and waved at them, but they didn’t wave back. Instead they were giggling to each other and kept whispering. That’s when it hit him. They weren’t looking at him (duh), but they were admiring Sunggyu behind him. Woohyun frowned at that, feeling a little jealous.

Then he felt something hit him in the middle of his back. Woohyun craned his neck to see that Sunggyu’s head had fallen onto his back and that he had completely fallen asleep, feeling the deep and steady breaths brush past his bare skin. Figures. He woke up really early. Woohyun then quickly leaned back, causing the wizard’s head to slam against the window.

“Ow!” he yelped, rubbing the back of his head. The girls across from them began laughing hysterically, and Woohyun did his best to hold in his own. Sunggyu discretely kicked Woohyun’s legs, acting like he was stretching.

Woohyun bit his tongue hard, trying to keep in his own yelp. He then glared at the other. When he was allowed to be ‘visible’ again, Sunggyu was going to get it. “I don’t know when we’re getting off,” Woohyun lowly whispered, explaining his actions.

Sunggyu looked up at the map. “! Now!” He jumped up, making Woohyun crash onto the ground. Sunggyu somehow managed to grab the other’s arm (no longer caring about looking ‘normal’) and pulled Woohyun up so that they could exit the doors before they closed. He quickly exited off the subway, dragging the other with him. Once he stepped onto the platform, he let go a sigh of relief. “We made it…right?”

“Yea, I’m here.” Woohyun wrested his arm from the other’s grip. “Now what?”

“Now we catch the next train,” Sunggyu announced and began making his way to the next platform. However, after looking around the station and noticing the rush, the crowd being thicker than the day before in the streets, the wizard suddenly stopped. “Hold onto me, so I know you’re with me,” he said as he offered his arm to the other.

Woohyun raised an eyebrow and pinched the fabric at the elbow of the elder’s shirt. “Okay,” he responded after securing an anchoring on the other. “Let’s go.”

And it was a good thing Woohyun held onto to him because Sunggyu started to weave in and out of the crowds, narrowly missing people, which meant Woohyun would bump into them (it was alright though because they all assumed that it was Sunggyu). His hand slowly moved from the elbow down to Sunggyu’s wrists, where he had a better hold. Woohyun grimaced. He felt an awful like a heroine in a Kdrama, being dragged around roughly by her love interest. He was sick of feeling weak and dependent on the other. He was sick of not having control in his life.

He was also sick of Sunggyu randomly stopping without warning as he slammed into the wizard’s back again. “We’re here,” he announced quietly, nodding over to the janitor’s closet.

Woohyun smiled. He knew exactly what to do. He dropped the other’s wrists and began to walk towards the door. If this was like the book series, he’d be able to walk right through like Platform 9 ¾ and several other places. But like everything else he’d experienced recently, it was nothing like Harry Potter. He crashed into the door and fell down.

Sunggyu looked down at Woohyun as he took a large step, trying to avoid hitting the muggle, towards the door. He turned the knob and laughed. “You’ve been invisible for so long that you think you’re a real ghost?” he teased. “Get up. The train will be here in five minutes.”

“Stupid door. Stupid magic,” Woohyun grumbled as he followed Sunggyu into the janitor’s closet. It was completely dark. “Where’s the train?” he asked. He heard a slight murmur, and the tip of Sunggyu’s wand began to glow. He walked into the middle of the room and tugged on the pull string attached to the lone lightbulb in the room. It didn’t even turn on. “Well, that’s useful,” he remarked sarcastically.

Sunggyu turned to him. “What’s it supposed to do?” he asked in all seriousness. Then the floor beneath them began to shake. Woohyun looked down only to see that the floor had vanished. He instinctively grabbed hold onto the wizard as the two were into the vacuum that had formed underneath them. His eyes were screwed shut, and he felt his stomach drop like it does when riding a roller coaster.

The muggle felt Sunggyu untangle the hands around his waist. “It’s okay to open your eyes now,” he said turning around to face Woohyun. Woohyun opened one eye slowly and saw the smug smile on the wizard’s face. “They were closed, right? You’re such a baby,” he lightly teased.

Woohyun ignored the comment and opened his other eye, looking around. They were no longer in a subway station. There were train tracks laid out in front of them. Red brick walls were surrounding them. A cheerful light flittering in. This…this was exactly like platform 9 ¾. Woohyun’s face immediately lit up. He whooped and began to run around the platform.

Sunggyu was looking about, confused, trying to follow the zig-zagging path of the invisible boy. His hand tightened its hold on his bag. “Hyun…don’t you want to put on some clothes?”

“Forget clothes! Look at this place, hyung! It’s perfect!” he exclaimed, happy that something finally met his expectations. Regardless of what he just said, he still ran back towards the baffled wizard. He yanked on the bag excitedly and begged in a cute voice, “Gimme. Gimme.” Sunggyu just blinked and handed the bag over. Woohyun ped it and put his head in the bag. All he could see was a deep cavern of nothingness. “Where did everything go?”

“Oh,” Sunggyu snapped out of it. He stepped closer and brought out his wand. “Accio…Woohyun’s clothes.” And despite the apprehension in his voice, the clothes still flew out of the bag. “Get dressed. The train will be here soon,” the normal authoritative tone returned to his voice.

“Okay!”

Shortly after Woohyun haphazardly threw on his t-shirt, jeans, glasses, and hat, the beautiful black train arrived with ‘Hogwarts Express’ written on it in large, elegant gold letters. Woohyun’s smile was so wide, his face was threatening to rip in half. Sunggyu showed the train passes to the conductor, and the both of them boarded it. The train was nearly empty. A few other passengers had boarded the train from previous stations. Sunggyu nodded and waved to them as they passed the compartments. He even greeted a few of them by name. It was strange to see him acting so friendly after being so calloused in the muggle realm. Maybe it’s all just a defense mechanism, to scare people way so that he wouldn’t get found out.

They settled in the compartment, sitting on complete opposite sides. Woohyun had felt like he had been to clingy to the elder lately. They just needed some space. Unfortunately, Sunggyu had taken the window seat, and Woohyun was relegated to the seat by the door. The muggle was still looking at the window out of the corner of his eye. If only he could get a better look, he could probably find out where they were going and the location of the school. Then later on he could…

“You know, you can sit over here too,” the wizard broke into the other’s thoughts, his own eyes still glued to the window. “I mean…if you want.”

Woohyun didn’t even answer and slid down the bench towards the window. Why did he care before? This was a once in a life-time opportunity. And the scenery was beautiful, watching the gently rolling hills turn into mountains and the trees growing thicker in the forefront. “This is pretty far away,” Woohyun remarked.

“That’s why we had to wake up early,” Sunggyu responded with a yawn. He moved his legs up onto the bench and slid his back up against the window, closing his eyes. “Wake me up when we arrive…please.”

Woohyun’s eyes darted towards the other. Please? Is he trying to be cute? Woohyun smiled. He directed his eyes back to the window. For the first time in days, he actually felt relaxed and happy. He put his hand against the cool glass, trying to trace the peaks of the heightening mountains.Oh…that’s right. He couldn’t see it. For one second, he had forgotten that he was invisible.

His ride went fairly well. He was able to charm the woman with the refreshment cart into giving him a free sandwich and pumpkin juice. She thought he was fascinating and was clapping in delight when he took off his shirt and saw, well, nothing (which was funny because he was used to getting a similar reaction with his abs). He had gotten a sandwich for Sunggyu too, but since the wizard kept sleeping, he ate that one too. It tasted even better than his own. But eventually the ride came to its end, right as a large lake came into sight. And right behind that lake, was a castle. It was just like Sunggyu said, it looked just like Hogwarts.

“Hyung,” Woohyun leaned over and gently shook the wizard by the shoulder. Sunggyu’s head rolled over onto his shoulder where Woohyun’s hand was. The elder grumbled about wanting to sleep some more. Woohyun brought hi s other hand up and began to slap the wizard’s cheek. “Yah! Get up. We’re here.”

Sunggyu slowly opened his eyes and stared at Woohyun, looking him right in the eyes through the glasses. The muggle still wasn’t used to it, eye contact. Even the refreshment cart lady was so overwhelmed with the invisible boy, not knowing where to look, that their eyes never met. And apparently, Sunggyu still wasn’t used to waking up to seeing floating hat and glasses. He stared for a little too long before quietly saying, “Get out of my face.”

Woohyun tsked and pulled away, watching the elder get up with a groan. “You ready yet, Grandpa?” he lightly insulted as he watched the wizard stretch and shoot the other a killer glare. But Woohyun didn’t care. He was bouncing around on the balls of his feet, amped up and ready to go explore the world outside of the train. “Come on, hyung. Hurry up!” But Sunggyu didn’t move any faster; in fact, he seemed to move slower, almost as if it was intentional (actual Woohyun was sure it was). “Fine. I’m leaving without you,” Woohyun announced as he darted out of the cabin.

“Y-yah!” Sunggyu yelled after him. Good things never happened when he left Woohyun alone.

Five minutes later, he finally caught up with his invisible friend, dragging him away from the shore of the lake. “Do you have a death wish?” Sunggyu shouted, yanking on Woohyun’s collar. The other was trying to squirm away from him.

“But, hyung, I thought I saw a mermaid! A real mermaid!” Woohyun exclaimed, tearing himself away. “I think it wanted to play.”

Sunggyu drug his hand down his face in frustration. “No, idiot, it wanted to drown you,” he explained, seeing the other freeze as he was about to dip his foot into the water. He watched the shoe slowly pull back from the water. “Weren’t they in your books too?”

Woohyun gulped. They were, and they weren’t entirely good in there either. He took in a deep breath. He needed to rein in his excitement and not be so impulsive, to stop and think for one bloody second before acting. He could do that. He was a rational human being. He wasn’t five anymore. He could control himself. Then he caught something out of the corner of his eyes. “Oh! That’s a thestral, isn’t it?” he asked as he ran after the carriage flying straight towards them.

Sunggyu scratched the back of his head. “How does he know all of these things?” he mused. Then the wizard walked up to the skeletal, winged horse, caressing it’s smooth and cool head, but his hand stilled soon afterwards. He slowly turned towards Woohyun’s hat, bobbing midair as he circled around the thestrals. “Wait…can you see these?”

A wave of relief flush through the wizard as the hat shook back and forth. “Nope, you can only see these if you see death, right?” he asked. His eyes then focused on the wizard’s hand obviously resting on something unseen in the air. “Hyung…have you?”

Sunggyu immediately removed his hand and put it in his pocket. “Um, yea, but that was a long time ago. I don’t even remember it,” he answered walking to the carriage tied behind the thestrals. The other carriages have already departed with their passengers, and theirs was the only one left. He climbed inside. He looked for his friend, only to see him facing the thestrals still. Sunggyu leaned forward, resting his arms on the carriage’s edge. “Maybe you’re like them too. People can only see you, if they’ve seen something else,” he pondered outloud. The hat and glasses snapped towards him. Woohyun then made his way over and joined him in the carriage.

“Maybe if you’ve seen true love, you can see me?” Woohyun proposed, sliding into the seat across from the other. “That would make sense because you’re too much of a loner to experience that.”

The joke stung, causing Sunggyu to look away, but he tried to hide it with a scoff. “Then what about your parents? They couldn’t see you, and Sungjong too.”

The hat and glasses shook violently. Woohyun was shivering. “Don’t remind me of that weird couple, hyung. Myungsoo gives me the creeps,” he muttered under his breath. A few moments later he sighed. “I wonder what it’s like to love someone that much that you don’t even care about whether they were living or not,” he thought outloud.

“You don’t know either?” Sunggyu asked and immediately regretted his use of ‘either.’

The glasses turned from the passing scenery and towards the wizard. “Hyung, I can’t see myself either,” he joked referring to the condition he laid earlier. Woohyun then looked away and back towards the castle which was growing in size the closer they got. “Just like the movies,” he declared. His feet were bouncing on the carriage floors, ready to pounce out the moment the carriage stopped. He’s waited his entire life for this moment, and he didn’t want to waste another second.

The carriage finally stopped, and Woohyun jumped out and sprinted towards the castle as soon as his feet hit the soft ground. He ignored the shouts from his friend as he pranced up the path. After all, what was so dangerous here? He admitted that he was stupid about the lake earlier, but there was nothing dangerous about a door, especially after he saw his fellow passengers filter through it unharmed. Yep, this time Nam Woohyun was using his head as he sprinted excitedly.

But somehow he still landed with his back pressed to the grass and a heavy weight on his chest, pinning him down. Something slimey and wet trailed down his face. “Ah! You got one! Good job, Tongtongie!” a rough and heavily accented voice praised whatever had tackled Woohyun. A gloved hand reached to grab the color around the neck of the black beast. It relented, obeying its master, and backed away to reveal a stern looking man with deep wrinkles creased in his tanned face and a seemingly permanent grimace on his face. “You thought you could just enter the castle, eh muggle? You’re the first one this year,” he said, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him up. Although significantly older than the invisible boy, the man was around the same height, his hair was wild and unclipped. He looked Woohyun up and down and let out a condescending chuckle. “Word of advice, boy. Next time you try to camouflage yourself, don’t forget your clothes…and that my hound will be able to sniff you out regardless.” He nodded to the black beast next to him who was about half his height. The man then began to head towards the castle, dragging Woohyun behind him. “Come on, boy. The headmaster will make sure you forget this ever happened, and we’ll send you on your way.”

“HOYA!” Sunggyu had finally caught up to them and was panting from exertion. “Hoya! The muggle’s with me,” he explained.

A hearty laugh ripped through the air. Woohyun stared with his jaw dropped at the man next to him. The face had warmed up, transforming the stern wrinkles into smile lines. His smile appeared wolfish still with his sharp canines, but friendly all the same. “Well, well, well,” Hoya spoke letting go of Woohyun’s collar and focusing his attention on Sunggyu. “If it isn’t one of the Beastie Boys? Did you come back to terrorize us like you used too?”

Sunggyu smiled back at the other. “You liked it. You were the one who kept inviting us to your hut for a ‘good romp.’ Admit it. You miss me.”

Hoya crossed his arms and looked away with a frown. “Well, I don’t miss being woken up in the middle of the night because two boys got locked out of the castle again.” He turned towards the wizard and smiled even more warmly. “At least not much.” Hoya then cleared his throat. The moment was getting too sentimental for his liking. “What brings you back?”

Sunggyu nodded towards his neglected friend. “Him. I, uh, did that to him,” he confessed, blush forming on his cheeks.

Hoya laughed again, his mouth ripping incredibly wide. He patted the large hound next to him. “Do you hear that, Tongtongie? The Beastie Boys are still causing trouble.” The laugh died down with a soft sigh and a shake of his head. “Some things never change. Follow me. I’ll you to your uncle. Come on, boy.” Woohyun was unsure if he was referring to the black dog or himself, but he followed Hoya anyways.

Woohyun slowed his steps to match the wizard’s. “You have an uncle here?” he asked. Sunggyu’s eyes were fixed on Hoya’s long, leather coat, swishing back and forth as he walked.

“I really don’t like people knowing that we’re related,” Sunggyu curtly replied. “He’s nothing but trouble.”

Hoya craned his neck to the two boys behind him. “Don’t say that, Gyu. He has good intentions,” he retorted.

Sunggyu ducked his head and nodded, feigning to agree with that statement, but Woohyun heard him mutter under his breath, “What good are intentions if he still screws things up?”

Woohyun nudged the wizard, and Sunggyu snapped his head back up, staring Woohyun in the eye. “Hey, Gyu, that’s a cute name. Can I call you that too?” he asked.

“No,” the other responded roughly, but a small smile graced his face.

“Too late,” Woohyun retorted, sticking his tongue out at the elder (and by the look on Sunggyu’s face, he knew it). The muggle quickened his step to match the man in front of them. “Hoya-ssi, tell me all about Gyu as a student? Was he naughty?”

Hoya cackled again. “Naughty doesn’t even begin to describe it.” The man then began to recount stories from the past, of Sunggyu the mischievous Ravenclaw and his immature best friend, whom Hoya kept calling ‘that stupid kid.’ Apparently, Sunggyu had become a potion’s master without a slew of trial and errors, but mostly errors. The school had to be evacuated on a number of occasions because of the potion ‘master’s’ experiments. And so Hoya wasn’t so surprised with Woohyun and his condition. Actually, it seemed like the old man almost expected it. And all the while this story-telling was going on, Sunggyu was trailing far behind them, groaning with his head hanging down, wanting to die.

“But, Hoya-ssi, why do you call Gyu and that kid the Beastie Boys?” Woohyun asked, his hand was unconsciously rubbing the head of the black hound (who apparently was a big softie just like his owner, as evident that the only way Tongtongie knew how to attack people was with kisses).

“That…is…a good question,” Hoya vaguely responded, craning his neck to look back at Sunggyu, who head was now raised and shaking back and forth violently. Hoya snapped back forward and smiled awkwardly at Woohyun. “I couldn’t tell you. Just one of those things that just stuck, I guess,” the explanation was hardly convincing.

But Woohyun’s mind was soon torn away from that enigma by the large mess of slobber now dripping from his hand. “Ew! Gross!” He narrowed his eyes on Tongtongie, who seemed to be smiling with delight and his tongue was rolling out of his jowls.

“We’re here!” Hoya announced as they arrived in front of a large eagle statue. “Hey there, Sam!” Hoya greeted, and the statue came to life, bowing. Woohyun jumped at seeing the stone suddenly move, but his surprise was soon replaced with amazement, knowing exactly where they were about to enter: a replica of Dumbledore’s office. “The boy wants to see his uncle,” Hoya announced, gesturing to Sunggyu who just waved at the statue. Woohyun stared at the embarrassed wizard curiously. So his uncle is the headmaster…is that why he doesn’t want people to know?His thoughts were soon derailed from a loud caw coming from the eagle.

“Gyu-goon! He’s been expecting you!” the eagle squawked and opened the passageway into the office.

Sunggyu groaned, “When the Hell isn’t he? He must be expecting me all the damn time!”

“He just misses you, that’s all,” Hoya said. Hoya’s eyes flittered to Woohyun with an unsteady gaze. “You go on ahead, boy. I need to talk to Gyu for a second.” And Woohyun didn’t need to be asked twice to enter the place he wanted to see most in the world. He darted right past the eagle and into the office. Hoya smiled crookedly watching Woohyun’s clothes disappear into the entrance. “He’s a good kid,” he said. He then faced Sunggyu with his stern expression. “Have you given any thought about what would happen after you get him back to normal?”

Sunggyu looked down at his feet and put his hands in his pockets. “A little,” he answered meekly, kicking the stonework beneath his feet.

Hoya fully turned towards him and crossed his arms over his chest, looking incredibly imposing even if his stature wasn’t that large. Even Tongtongie added to his presence. “You know what you have to do. It’ll be better for all of us and for him, if you cast a memory charm after all of this is over. That way, the kid could return to his own world and lead his life normally,” Hoya spoke authoritatively, like a mother scolding a child for eating a cookie before dinner, like Sunggyu was ‘ruining’ Woohyun’s life like the child spoiled his appetite.

And sadly he was right. No matter how much Sunggyu thought about this, no matter how many scenarios he played in his mind, the only and best solution was to cure Woohyun and erase his memory. Woohyun already knew too much, and it would be impossible for him to led a normal life in the muggle world with that kind of knowledge. And he couldn’t live in the magical world either. He nearly had himself killed 3 times today, and it was just past 2 in the afternoon. “I know,” Sunggyu responded meekly. “And I’m going to.”

Hoya put his hand on Sunggyu’s shoulder, offering some condolence. “You’re a good kid too…most of the time,” he lightly teased.

Sunggyu lifted his head and smiled weakly. “Thanks,” he replied as he stepped towards the office entrance. But he quickly retreated his steps, rounding back to the old man. Sunggyu gave Hoya a quick hug. “It was good seeing you again, Hoya.”

Hoya smiled wolfishly again as he gave the younger a squeeze. “You too,” he responded and let go. He quickly cleared his throat again. The atmosphere was a little too mushy for his liking. “Tongtongie and I are going to hunt some Tebo’s now. They’ve been wrecking havoc on the grounds. See you later, Gyu,” he spoke as roughly and manly as he could before his climbed back down the stairs.

Sunggyu waved goodbye to Hoya and then spun on his heels, walking straight into the headmaster’s office, where (not surprising) Woohyun was busy examining the knick-knacks littered about the room. He currently was tossing a Remembrall up and down. As soon as it hit his palm, a cloud of red smoke filled it’s insides. “! That can’t be good,” he cursed. “What am I forgetting?”

The wizard rolled his eyes and snatched the Remembrall away from the other and placing it back on the shelf. The red smoke suddenly cleared. “How about your manners?” Sunggyu retorted.

Woohyun scoffed. “Haha very funny…but where’s your uncle? I don’t see him anywhere.” He had surveyed the room already while Sunggyu was talking to Hoya (and touched a lot of things. Good thing his skin was transparent because he didn’t want Sunggyu to see the burn he got from playing with a miniature of a phoenix that had burst into flames as soon as he touched it. Nope, that would lead to a lot of nagging that Woohyun wasn’t in the mood for). Other than the objects, the moving portraits (which Woohyun tried to talk too, but they were all too snobbish to acknowledge him), and the weird fishbowl with a golden flower floating in it, there was nothing else in the room.

“Oh no, he’s here,” Sunggyu insisted. He walked up to the desk and knocked on its oaken surface. “Seriously, Professor? Under the desk? I thought you were better than that.” An older man in a green robe crawled out from under the desk, with his long pastel pink beard trailing on the floor. He slowly straightened himself up, the creaking in his joints giving away his age, but the twinkle in his eyes was still useful as he giggled sheepishly at his nephew.

“You!” Woohyun exclaimed, pointing at the headmaster (although it really had no effect, being invisible and all). “You’re Dumbledore?! Uh, I mean, the headmaster…and you!” His finger pointed at Sunggyu now, but it’s not like the other could tell. “You’re his nephew?! B-but you guys look nothing alike!” Woohyun’s hand flew to his head, ruffling his hair and hat in frustration. His hat fell off his head. “This makes no sense.”

“Nam-goon! It’s good to see you again,” Sunggyu’s uncle was apparently oblivious to Woohyun’s distress. “We haven’t been officially introduced yet. I’m Professor Jang Dongwoo, and welcome to Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry…the South Korean branch!” he walked up to Woohyun, trying to give him a handshake, but his hand missed the other’s several times. Finally he found it and giggled in delight as he squeezed it warmly.

“Professor,” Sunggyu called out to the old wizard now swinging Woohyun’s arm around. “If this is the first time you’ve been introduced yet, how come you know Woohyun’s name?” he challenged.

The professor’s hand slowly came to a halt. The smile fled his face as he blankly stared at the invisible man in front of him. “Because…” he was grasping for an explanation in the back of his mind. “Because he was wearing a nametag when I first met him. Yes, a perfectly logical explanation.” The cheerful smile returned back to his face. He let go of Woohyun’s hand with a final, tight squeeze.

“Oh yea, nice to meet you,” Woohyun finally managed to find his voice again. He watched the old wizard walking back to his nephew and giving him some playful pokes. Sunggyu looked at the other sternly, as if their roles were reversed. “How are you two even related?”

“Good question!” Professor Jang chirped with a little hop. “I’m his father’s brother, but he refuses to call me ‘Samchon.’ It makes me sad,” he whimpered with a hurt expression. Sunggyu just rolled his eyes. “Even though I let him live in my house, helped him set up shop, gave him the master bedroom,” he began to list off, looking straight as his nephew as he said them.

“Wow, Gyu. You big meanie,” Woohyun teased walking up to the headmaster’s side. “I’ll call you Samchon, if you want,” Woohyun offered.

“Really?” Professor Jang’s face lit up.

“Eung!” Woohyun responded. “Samchon!” The professor giggled. “Samchon!” The laugh grew louder. “Samchon! Samchon! Samchon! Sam-“

“SAMCHON!” Sunggyu yelled angrily. The laughing duo fell silent and turned towards Sunggyu who was huffing. And in spite of the harsh volume and the growling tone, the headmaster was smiling brightly at his nephew’s ‘endearment.’ “Samchon,” Sunggyu growled again. “Isn’t there something a little off about Woohyun?”

Professor Jang looked the boy in question up and down, his finger tapping his chin pensively. Then he snapped his fingers, having arrived at the conclusion. “Did you get a haircut?” he asked, wagging his finger at Woohyun.

Woohyun leaned towards Sunggyu and whispered, “Uh…can he see me?”

“I-I don’t know.”

The headmaster snorted and sputtered into a gleeful chuckle. “I was just kidding. He’s invisible. I’m not a dummy,” he retorted, jutting his chin out towards his nephew. “Come. Let’s sit down, and you can tell me the whole story.”

And Sunggyu did, slowly at first, afraid to admit his own faults to his uncle. But Professor Jang was nodding understandingly along, never interrupting him to reprimand him or to tell him how stupid he was being (unlike Sungjong). And so his story built up steam. Woohyun occasionally, never able to remain silent, threw in a comment or two, like how he ‘begged’ for Woohyun’s help and he corrected Owllie to Hedwig on several occasions (it was his damn bird).

“Hm,” the headmaster hummed in thought after hearing the story. “So you don’t know what you did to cause this?”

“Not a clue,” Sunggyu admitted.

The professor his pink beard, his eyes gazed past the two boys. “Well…” he began thoughtfully. Sunggyu held his breath. His uncle, although silly at times and borderline insane, was a brilliant man. You don’t rise to a position like his without some exceptional intelligence. If anyone could get them out of this mess, it was Jang Dongwoo. “I’m stumped,” he finished with a sheepish giggle.

“Samchon!” Sunggyu and Woohyun protested in unison.

“This,” Professor Jang started in his sage-like tone, pointing his finger onto his desk. “This is not my puzzle to solve. It’s not my lesson to learn. I can’t tell you the answer or else you won’t learn anything. That’s cheating,” he lectured with a twinkle in his eye. He stood up from his desk. “Now Gyu-goon, I suggest you hit the books. I suspect that the answer may be hidden in the library. I’ll take Nam-goon on a tour of the grounds with Hoya,” he winked at the invisible boy.

“Okay,” Sunggyu replied, completely disheartened. He should have known that his uncle, the professor, would have used this as a teaching moment. He stood up from his own chair and dragged his feet across the office.

“Gyu-goon, before you go.” A set of keys whizzed through the air and fell into Sunggyu’s palms. “The keys to the forbidden section of the library and to the potion master’s apartment. It’s still empty. We haven’t, er, found one yet, so you two can sleep there tonight,” the headmaster explained. Sunggyu looked up to his uncle who was currently shooing him away. “Now go! Nam-goon and I have 12 years of catching up to do.” Sunggyu muttered something under his breath as he exited the office. Professor Jang giggled as he walked around his desk. “Good. We got rid of him,” he cheered, bending down to pick up Woohyun’s fallen hat, and he placed it on his own head. “Now you! You’re too suspicious. Muggles aren’t supposed to be here, so we’ll have to hide you. Don’t want to get into trouble,” he rambled as he shuffled over to a cabinet and pulled open a drawer to pull out a shimmering cloak. The headmaster threw it over Woohyun’s shoulders. “There! Perfectly invisible!” he cheered.

Woohyun picked at the invisibility cloak on him. He raised his hand which was covered by the cloak. The thing was, he wasn’t ‘perfectly’ invisible. Now he resembled a chameleon blending into its background, fairly noticeable under close observation. “Um, Samchon. If I need to not be seen, I can just take off my clothes.”

The headmaster shook his head adamantly. “No, I wouldn’t suggest that. Tongtongie is a er. Unless you want to get slobber everywhere, including…”

“The cloak is fine. I like the cloak. Let’s go!”

And that was the beginning of probably the best afternoon of his life. They had left the office, and Professor Jang gave an extensive tour of the castle, telling Woohyun its history and some funny anecdotes about some rooms and past students. They went into the Great Hall and saw the four long tables belonging to each of the houses. Woohyun ran to sit down at the Gryffindor table (of course). The headmaster practically had to pry the other off the bench to continue the tour.

Professor Jang then lead him to several classrooms, telling the other about the teachers there. And when they entered the potions’ classroom, the old man sighed. “Potions…no teacher yet,” he stated sadly as he slowly sauntered into the room.

“Why don’t you just hire Gyu, Samchon?” Woohyun asked. His voice echoed because his head was inside a cauldron.

“Because he’s not ready yet, but he is getting closer,” the wizard replied with a wink. He put his hands behind his back as he inspected the room. “He just needs to learn that there’s more to life than just money and fame.”

“Like magic!” Woohyun added, pulling his head from the cauldron.

Professor Jang sighed. “There’s more to life than just magic too.”

“I know,” Woohyun retorted. “There’s a lot more, like family and friends…and love,” he thought back to the life lessons learned from his beloved books. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the professor agreeing with him. Woohyun then jogged up to the other’s side, trying to see what he was looking at. “You guys have a weird relationship, and you guys look nothing alike. Are you adopted? Is Gyu adopted?”

The professor laughed and shook his head. “No, Gyu-goon just takes after his mother, but our relationship is complicated for a reason.”

“Ah!” Woohyun clapped his hands. “Nepotism!”

“Sure, let’s go with that,” the headmaster replied as he walked out of the classroom. Woohyun furrowed his brows, not knowing whether that was a typical response from the headmaster, but vague answers were all he was getting lately. It was annoying. Maybe it’s a wizard thing. He all the sudden started to appreciate Sunggyu’s bluntness.

After they were done with a tour of the castle (of course they couldn’t explore every nook and cranny. They didn’t have a time, and the headmaster had said he wanted to preserve the ‘mystic’ of the castle. Woohyun thought the other said that because the muggle had accidentally blurted out something about the Chamber of Secrets. The tour ended shortly after that). For the tour of the grounds, they were lead by Hoya (accompanied by his hound, of course, who immediately Woohyun’s face again and made the headmaster’s beard sopping wet). Hoya was revealed to be the groundskeeper; however, unlike Hagrid from the series, Hoya was (obviously a lot smaller and) an excellent wizard. He put his magic to good use to keep back the deadly creatures from the surrounding forest and mountains, which was apparently a home to a good number of dragons. Hoya was also a close classmate of the professor’s and had retired career as a quidditch player (he was a beater)and become the groundskeeper as a favor to his old friend. He also let Woohyun fly (well hover) on his old team broom. Which was the perfect end to his perfect afternoon.

Professor Jang squinted at the sun as it was setting, painting the entire sky orange and pink. “Well, it’s time we head back and eat dinner,” he announced.

“Come on, Samchon. Five more minutes!” Woohyun begged as he kicked up from off the ground, hovering on the broomstick. “I think I got the hang of it,” he said proudly to Hoya.

Hoya glanced over to his friend. “How old is this kid again?” he teased.

Woohyun’s feet touched the ground. “I’m sorry. It’s just that…this is everything I ever dreamed of when I was a kid,” he apologized, handing the broomstick back to the groundskeeper. “Things are finally the way they should be.” Hoya raised his eyebrows at the other, who was barely visible against the background. Woohyun chuckled. He had meant that things were finally aligning with his expectations. Things were exactly like they were in the books, with a few differences. He breathed in deeply the fresh mountain air. He wished that everyday could be just like today. He would like spending his days like this even if he were invisible. He felt like he belonged here. He felt happy.

But the smile quickly fled his face and his stomach sank. There was an incessant nagging in the back of his mind. Truth was, he didn’t belong here. He had a life back home. He couldn’t abandon his parents now to live out his childhood dream. That would be selfish. There’s more to life than just magic. I can’t do whatever I want. I can’t just live for myself.

Being an adult .

“Let’s go back in,” Woohyun grumbled.

---

Sunggyu joined them for dinner in Hoya’s hut. The four of them ate a meal prepared by the groundskeeper himself. It was simple but hearty. In the end, it didn’t matter how it tasted because they washed everything down with large mugs of beer; everything after a buzz tasted heavenly.

But there was one person who didn’t appear to be enjoying his meal. Sunggyu pushed the food around the  plate with his fist pressed against his cheek. “Gyu, what’s wrong?” Woohyun asked, watching the wizard move the food with his chopsticks.

“Nothing,” Sunggyu muttered back. “Just thinking.” He looked utterly exhausted and depleted. Obviously the past couple of days had taken as much of a toll on him as they did on Woohyun.

“Did you find a cure?” the muggle reluctantly inquired.

The chopsticks fell with a clang against the table. Sunggyu quickly picked them back up again. “Maybe,” he quickly replied and began shoveling the food into his mouth. Woohyun didn’t press the issue. Maybe vague answers is  a wizard thing. Maybe I should work on it.

“So Nam-goon, did you have a good day?” Professor Jang asked, tearing the muggle’s attention away from his friend.

“The best day ever!” Damn it.

---

After the meal was finished, the young men and the old wizard headed back into the castle. Sunggyu’s uncle wished them a good night and headed off into his chambers. Woohyun was left to follow a somber and silent Sunggyu. The muggle wasn’t going to let that dampen his spirits. He walked around, looking at every painting, bust, everything they passed. And soon all he saw was Sunggyu’s back as he ran into it…again. The wizard really needed to stop doing that.

“Are you wearing an invisibility cloak?” Sunggyu asked, squinting at the other.

Woohyun pulled off the hood, revealing his glasses. “You finally noticed, huh? I can finally wear clothes again!”

“That is…the dumbest solution I’ve ever seen,” he remarked, a small smile finally gracing his face. He laughed. “Seriously? It’s so stupid!” He picked at the cloak.

Woohyun started to laugh along with him. “It is, isn’t it?” he agreed, happy to see the other out of his funk.

But then the smile fled. “! Someone’s coming,” Sunggyu whispered, pulling the hood over Woohyun and pushing the younger behind him. They stayed like that for several moments, holding their breath. Woohyun couldn’t hear or see anything himself, until…a soft clicking resounded throughout the hall. It grew louder and louder. But, Woohyun still couldn’t see a damn thing. Maybe it was invisible like himself.

“Meow!”

Woohyun glanced downwards. He immediately hopped onto Sunggyu’s back, pointing at the beast. “What kind of monster are you?!” he squealed.

Sunggyu wiggled and dropped his friend from his back. He bent down and started to pet the small pinkish creature. “That’s not a monster,” he chuckled as the cat his hand. Sunggyu grimaced. “It’s ugly though, but not a monster. Isn’t that, right Jureumi?” He scratched the cat behind its ears and it began purring. The wizard lifted his head and looked around. “Where’s your owner?”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” a voice echoed in the hall. A tall man emerged from the shadows with a smirk on his face. He clicked his tongue, and the cat pranced back to his side. He scooped it up into his arms, it tenderly. He looked back at Sunggyu and lifted his chin. “It’s my so-called best friend, back from the dead.”

Woohyun gasped, stepping away from Sunggyu. I always knew something was strange about him. Sunggyu, on the other hand, scoffed, “Don’t exaggerate. I never died.” He shoot a worried glance towards Woohyun and insisted, “I didn’t die.”

“Might as well have been dead,” the tall man with the cat mumbled. He lifted his eyebrows sadly. “You never kept in touch like you said you would.”

“You didn’t either,” Sunggyu retorted.

The man brought up his face from the cat, smirking. “That’s because I’m chic,” he replied coolly.

Sunggyu sputtered into a laugh. “Lee Sungyeol, you never changed.”

Sungyeol chuckled a bit too. “You know I do. Once a month,” he argued. His hand tightened against the cat as he muttered in a hushed voice, “And it’s getting worse.” The cat sunk its claws into his skin. “Ah ah ah!” he yelped. “Okay, okay I’m letting you down.” As soon as he put the cat on the ground, it sped off like a shot, and Sungyeol looked a little heartbroken by it.

Sunggyu walked up and hit the other on the shoulder. “Sorry,” he apologized. “That I couldn’t help you with that like I said I would.”

“You can now,” Sungyeol said with eyes wide with hope. “No one makes the Wolfsbane Potion like you do.” Wolfsbane, where have I heard that before, Woohyun wondered, stepping closer to the duo. Sungyeol…is he the other Beastie Boy? He had a hard time believing that the two would be so close.

The muggle felt Sunggyu reach for him. Woohyun put out his hand, and Sunggyu’s fingers circled around his wrists. “I’ll make you one before I leave,” Sunggyu offered Sungyeol and pulled Woohyun with him down the hall.

 “Wait!” Sungyeol shouted. He looked even more sad than when his cat ran off. “You’re leaving already? B-but you just got here!” What happened to being chic? Sungyeol stomped up to his friends and looked at him confused. “D-did you not come to see me? I thought Samchon told you about the job.”

Sunggyu dropped Woohyun’s wrist. He cocked his head. “What job?”

“You’re looking at the new teacher for the Magical Creatures course,” Sungyeol announced proudly, pointing at his puffed up chest.

 “You!” Sunggyu exclaimed in complete shock. “You’re going to be a teacher?!”

Sungyeol pushed the other and frowned. “Geez, don’t act all surprised. I wasn’t that bad at school,” he argued. His friend sent him a skeptical look. “Okay okay, maybe I was,” he confessed. He wiggled his eyebrows at the other. “But I know a thing or two about magical creatures.”

“Takes one to know one,” Sunggyu remarked with a smirk.

Sungyeol nodded. “I’m thinking about changing in front of my students when I teach them about werewolves,” he sputtered excitedly. “Wouldn’t that be cool? Take them out in the middle of the night, then raaaaaaawr!” He mimicked ripping apart his shirt and changing into…and Woohyun suddenly remembered what Wolfsbane was for.

“Lee Sungyeol, that is the worst-“

“HOLY ! HE’S A F***ING WEREWOLF!” Woohyun shouted and jumped up away from the tall wizard. The hood fell away from his head, revealing his round glasses, floating in the air.

 “HOLY ! THERE’S SOMEONE ELSE HERE?!” Sungyeol squealed and hid behind Sunggyu. “Is it a ghost? I f***ing hate those things.”

“No,” Sunggyu said with a frustrated sigh. He stepped away from the werewolf, who made a grab for his fleeing friend/protection, and stood next to the glasses. “Woohyun, this is Sungyeol, my best friend from school. And Yeol, this is Nam Woohyun…the boy I made invisible.”

---

The three relocated to the potion master’s apartment, where they could speak more freely. Sunggyu repeated the story he had shared with his uncle, and Woohyun added his own commentary (Sungyeol agreed that Hedwig was a better name than Owllie too). But when he was finished, they all sat around a round table in silence as Sungyeol was soaking in everything they just told him. His round eyes were scanning the hovering clothes across from him (Woohyun had put away the cloak earlier).

“Wah!” Sungyeol finally spoke. A wide smile graced his face, exposing his gums. He slapped his friend next to him. “You outdid yourself this time, hyung. What? Did you forget the time you turned me blue and nearly killed me? I thought you learned your lesson about testing potions,” he lectured Sunggyu.

And he accepted it in stride. “I did. It’s just that,” he shot a quick glance at the boy on the other side of the table. “Woohyun needs adult supervision,” he mumbled.

Sungyeol stood up and leaned over the table, waving his hand around until it made contact with Woohyun’s head. And when it did, he kept slapping the same spot. An amused smile appeared on his face. “Fascinating,” he muttered in awe.

Woohyun slapped the wizard’s hand away and stood up too, slapping Sungyeol like he had done moments prior with each word he spoke, “Yah! Don’t poke me like I’m an ghost. I’m a person.”

Sungyeol pulled away, hand on reddening cheek. But the smile remained. In fact, he looked even more excited. “Yea, but just barely. Like us!” he exclaimed, gesturing between himself and Sunggyu.

 “Us?” Woohyun repeated. His eyes went straight to Sunggyu, who suddenly found the ceiling very very interesting. “Gyu-hyung,” he called out to the other. Sunggyu slowly brought down his head, met Woohyun’s gaze for a second, and immediately looked to the right. “What does he mean by ‘us’?”  Woohyun pressed.

Sungyeol’s eyes sparkled mischievously, staring at his classmate. “You didn’t tell him,” he said in a sing-song tone,  like children do whenever they catch another in a lie. He stepped closer to Sunggyu, who jumped from his seat and away from the werewolf.

He raised his hands between them, a silent prayer for the other not to come any closer. “It didn’t really come up?” he spoke in a meek voice.

Woohyun was confused, watching the werewolf stalk his friend. Should he get involved? Against a werewolf, no way. “What didn’t come up?” he decided to ask.

Sungyeol laughed like a madman, even throwing his head back, his shoulders jostling up and down with every chuckle. “Ho ho! You didn’t tell him. I guess you won’t mind if I show him then,” the werewolf threatened.

“Yeol, don’t,” Sunggyu objected, sprinting to the other side of the room. The werewolf reacted and chased after him.

“Show me what?” Woohyun inserted, walking closer to where Sungyeol cornered Sunggyu. Serves him right for being so slow, but even that joke didn’t ease the tension growing within Woohyun. He had been suspicious of the wizard for a long time. There were some things that didn’t quite add up, and lately Sunggyu had been acting skittish, more on edge. So Woohyun allowed Sunggyu to be trapped by the werewolf. He was invisible. He could’ve probably outsmarted and outmaneuvered Sungyeol (especially with his known fear of ghosts), but more than anything Woohyun wanted to know the truth.

Sungyeol smiled triumphantly. He was behind Sunggyu, pinning the elder’s arms to his back. Sunggyu was squirming and protesting. Sungyeol’s biceps flexed as he tightened his old on Sunggyu. “What your Gyu-hyung really is,” Sungyeol said with a sneer. He brought his face until it hovered over Sunggyu’s shoulder, his lips hovering up the elder’s neck. Sunggyu tried to crane his neck away, and a few desperate pleas fell from his lips. But Sungyeol was able to follow him. He guided his mouth up to behind Sunggyu’s ear. Sungyeol puffed his cheeks and softly blew onto the ear. Sunggyu’s face grew red. His ears twitched. His eyes were wide and blinking. Sungyeol chuckled happily and let the elder go. And as he stepped away, five white, plush tails came from behind Sunggyu’s body. Sungyeol waved excitedly at them. “A demon! Jjang!” the werewolf finally finished with a dramatic flair.

A loud thud rang throughout the room. Woohyun had fainted.

---

“Hyun…Woohyunnie?” Sunggyu’s voice echoed in the air. There was also a high-pitched ringing accompanying it. Woohyun slowly opened his eyes. Everything was hazy, blurry. His glasses, they were gone. And he was…on his back? . I must’ve fainted. There was a dull throbbing on the back of his head and a stiffness in his neck, proving that he had fallen on it. In spite of the pain, everything became a little clearer. He could make out Sunggyu’s face hovering over his. Woohyun flinched, feeling his head brush against the fabric of the wizard’s jeans. He squinted up at the other. I’m in his lap? Well, this is weird.

“Sungyeol, I swear if he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m going to pummel you,” Sunggyu hissed at his friend, completely oblivious to the fact that Woohyun had already come to…he was just a little afraid to admit it to his friend-that-was-really-a-demon.

Sungyeol’s face suddenly appeared in his line of vision.  “If you really think about it, it’s not my fault,” the werewolf defended himself. He started wagging a blurry finger in Sunggyu’s face (Woohyun really needed his glasses). “You should’ve told him earlier.”

Woohyun felt Sunggyu’s hand brush against his hair. He felt it getting closer and closer to his scalp. Okay, that’s enough! Woohyun sprang up from Sunggyu’s lap. “Yea, you should’ve,” Woohyun complained, rubbing the back of his neck. He had gotten up too quickly, and the throbbing was becoming more intense.

“You’re awake,” Sunggyu sounded relieved, scooting over to his revived friend.

Woohyun immediately put a hand up, stopping the approaching wizard in his chest. “Just,” he started and crawled away until his back was against the wall. “Just stay there, okay?” he begged.

Sungyeol whistled lowly, evaluating the situation in front of him. He got up from the floor and dusted off his pants. “Well, I think I know when it’s time for me to leave,” he announced. He then grabbed Sunggyu by the shoulder. “Don’t forget your promise, ‘kay hyung? The Wolfsbane,” he reminded his friend. Sunggyu nodded and waved until the other left the room.

The wizard faced the boy huddled in the corner, the knees of his jeans were pinned to the chest of his shirt. He was scared. Sunggyu slowly made his way toward the other, sliding across the floor, and as far as he could tell, Woohyun didn’t move away. Once he was a foot away, he stopped. He looked down at his lap, nervously twiddling his thumbs. “Woohyun, I…” he started.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Woohyun interrupted.

Sunggyu let out a slight laugh. “You’re not even going to ask what I am?”

“Well, it’s obvious with the tails. You’re a gumiho,” Woohyun responded with a dry voice. He shut his eyes tightly. He slept next to that demon…nothing bad happened. But it could have.

“Half, actually,” Sunggyu added. He scratched the back of his ear. Woohyun watched it twitch inhumanly in response. How did he not notice before? “My mom was one. She’s human now, but…I still ended up like this,” he explained.

Woohyun’s head started pounding more strongly; the buzzing in his ear grew more loudly. His heart racing. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? I thought we were friends,” he grumbled.

 “We are.”

Woohyun’s eyes snapped wide open, narrowing them on the wizard. He wished that the wizard could see him now, just for this look. “No, friends don’t keep secrets like this,” he growled.

Sunggyu reeled as if he’d been hit. His head hung back down again. “I was afraid, okay?” he admitted quietly. “You were kinda already freaked out with the whole magic thing, and then the being invisible thing. I feel like you could have used one less thing to freak out over.”

Woohyun scoffed, letting go of his knees finally. “I wouldn’t have freaked out,” he retorted.

The wizard glanced up, raising an eyebrow. “Then what are you doing now?” he challenged with the tiniest trace of a smirk.

 “…Processing,” Woohyun responded, hating to admit that the other was right, partially. “Just give me a minute, okay?”

“Alright,” the half-demon relented. He got up and straightened out his jeans. He also pulled Woohyun’s glasses from his pocket and offered the frames to the muggle. Woohyun took them with whispers of thanks. Sunggyu nodded, his face growing grey. “I should probably go make that stupid potion for Sungyeol anyway,” he stated and began to head out of the door, to the laboratory attached to the apartment. Woohyun watched him shuffle off as slowly as ever. Regret was seen in every step.

 “Gyu, wait!” Woohyun shouted after him. Sunggyu turned with furrowed brows. “You’re not going to eat my liver or anything, right?” the muggle half-joked.

Sunggyu forced a smile onto his face, trying to be reassuring. “No,” he answered. “Your liver is too fatty.”

“Hyung!”

“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”

---

“!” Sunggyu cursed as he stopped stirring the bubbling potion underneath him. No, he didn’t need to mess up the potion. He’d made it perfectly after years of practice. It just needed to simmer for a few hours. But Sunggyu just about managed to screw up everything else in his life…and in Woohyun’s. Especially Woohyun’s.

He had found a solution this afternoon. It was a long stretch, but it was the only thing he could think of. It wasn’t a cure, per say, but an antidote. If he could make a potion that counterattacked every single ingredient in the first potion, Woohyun may return to normal. Unfortunately, there was one ingredient in the new potion, the castor bean, was probably one of the deadliest poisons out there. Everything could be ruined by a legume. “God damned bean.”

And then, if Woohyun had managed to survive, Sunggyu would still have to erase the other’s memory, probably starting from the very beginning.

He didn’t particularly want to, but when was life about doing what he had wanted? There were things in life more important than him and his desires. And one of them was letting Woohyun live a relatively normal life, with or without him.

There was a knock at the door. Sunggyu turned to see the doorknob twisting. The door propped open, and glasses flew into his view. “Gyu, can we talk?” he asked stepping into the room, but then he stopped. “Wait. Is it safe?”

Sunggyu wiped his hands on a towel and nodded. He was glad for Woohyun’s preference for talking. It meant that they could resolve things more quickly. “Of course,” he answered, tossing the towel back onto the counter. Then he leaned against it. “What do you want to talk about?”

Woohyun walked over and leaned next to him. He hummed in thought. “Let’s start with your childhood.”

---

Sunggyu finally spilled everything that night. He actually began further back, to when his parents first met. His mother had met his father while she was still a gumiho. She had stalked him for three months before laying a trap for him. Then one night, under the guise of a beautiful woman, the fox demon lured him out into the woods, into her lair. She had began tearing into him, when he began to cry. He wasn’t like the other’s begging for his life, but he crying for her. He had been watching her, like she had been watching him. He’d fallen for her, amazed by her graceful demon form, entranced by her human. “You…don’t have to live like this…a slave to your desires,” he wheezed, blood flowing from his mouth. She stopped. She stopped eating from him, stopped feasting on flesh. She nursed him back to health, and his liver regenerated.

“How? Oh magic, right Gyu?”

“No. Biology, dummy.”

1000 days later, days free of killing and meat, she turned human, and then they married. But Sunggyu’s grandfather wasn’t pleased. His grandfather knocked his father from the family registry (he later adopted the common surname ‘Kim’ because he was no longer allowed to be a ‘Jang’). His grandfather forbade anyone to interact with him or even speak his name. Professor Jang, Sunggyu’s uncle and little brother to his father, refused to abide by those rules. He still kept in contact with his brother, but in secret. In fact, it wasn’t until Sunggyu’s 3^rd year at Hogwarts, when his paternal grandfather had died, when the headmaster was revealed to be his uncle instead of a close family friend. And Sunggyu had a hard time adjusting to the new relationship, especially when the headmaster went overboard, wanting to do all of the uncle-nephew activities that they missed out over the years. It was a bit overwhelming.

Sunggyu had a sister as well, who had similar traits to him. They both had heightened senses, hence the reason why Sunggyu was able to so easily detect Woohyun’s position. Sunggyu had admitted that he followed the other’s scent.

“What do I smell like?”

“Sweat, mostly, because it’s hot outside…but also a little musky, with a hint of…” he sniffed. “Well now you just smell like beer.”

“Hint of what, hyung?”

“Forget it. It’s not important, anyways I…”

He also ate meat, nearly raw and in vast quantities; it made him feel healthier. He then explained how he never cooked beef for anyone else before outside of his family, so he didn’t know he was doing it wrong until he went to the restaurant with Woohyun. He also confessed that he tried abstaining from meat, like his mother had, hoping that his tails would fade away. He hated his tails. He was made fun for them all throughout his childhood and teenage years. They had a tendency to pop out whenever he got too excited, frightened, or when someone abused one of his sensitive areas like Sungyeol had. And soon it became a game for his classmates: ‘Who could make the fox show his tails?’ Not only was it embarrassing, but it also hurt for them to appear, as his tails would fight through whatever pants he was wearing. And so he tried to make them disappear by changing his diet.

“But they’re still here?”

“Duh.”

“Why?”

“Because meat tastes good.”

“Eung…how long did you last?”

“…23 days. I was really hungry.”

Sunggyu tended to be bit more of an outcast because of his ‘family history.’ People either , or were afraid of him. And sometimes both. The same held true at Hogwarts. For a few years, the only friend he had was Hoya and Tongtongie. The half-demon had forged a relationship with the groundskeeper one night when Sunggyu had an insatiable urge to hunt and Hoya was bored; instead of reporting the Ravenclaw for breaking curfew, Hoya decided to take him under his wing and into the forbidden forest to help him kill some rogue beasts. After that, the two made regular hunting trips into the forest. Because of those trips, Sunggyu also sharpened his skills as a wizard, and it made him rise to the top of the class. Which didn’t help the bullying at all either.

In his 4^th year, he had heard of a 2^nd year in Slytherin who had been bitten by his younger cousin, who just happened to be a werewolf. Sungyeol was then ostracized by his classmates and was found by Sunggyu one day, crying in the boys’ bathroom. Sunggyu showed him his tails, and the other excitedly rambled about how they should start an exclusive club: ‘Only Beastie Boys Allowed.’ Sunggyu agreed because he thought it would get the other to stop crying and let him poop in peace. What he didn’t expect was for the little werewolf boy (yes there was a time when Sungyeol was shorter) to follow him around like a puppy. Eventually, Sunggyu got used to the company, and they became close friends. Sungyeol also became acquainted to Hoya through his friend, and the two would help out Sungyeol whenever he went through ‘the changes.’ But just being there wasn’t enough.

And so Sunggyu learned how to make the Wolfsbane potion, which even a few experts could manage to make properly (the potion master at that time included). And that’s how Sunggyu found his passion. It turns out that his heightened sense were extremely useful when concocting potions. Because of it, the difficult potions weren’t so much of a struggle. He said that he went through, making each and every potion in a book from beginning to end.

“There’s few left now.”

“Except for the Philosopher’s Stone.”

“Eung. I’m almost done.”

He had also met Sungjong at Hogwarts too, and although he wasn’t a ‘Beastie Boy,’ Sungyeol insisted that the young boy had to be a part of their club because he thought Sungjong looked like a cat.

“And he’s so light on his feet too!”

“Not you too?!”

When Sunggyu had graduated, his uncle offered him  the chance to set up the Apothecary for the chance to hone his skills. He jumped at the chance, and perhaps plunged a little too deeply. He had lost contact with Sungyeol, who decided to travel the world and find other ‘Beastie Boys.’ Sunggyu would have also lost contact with Sungjong, if it weren’t for the fact that the younger owned the only wizard’s bookstore in town. His parents and sister were in the countryside, because of his parents’ weak health.

And besides Dwaeji and the occasional visits from Professor Jang, Sunggyu was holed up in the Apothecary, alone.

“And I guess that’s it,” Sunggyu finished,  playing with the towel in his hands. Over the course of the conversation, the two had migrated to on top of the counter, facing each other. Their feet slightly overlapping. The half-demon laughed to himself. Why did I even tell him all of this? He’s going to forget it soon. It doesn’t matter. His eyes drifted up from the towel to where the muggle’s face should have been. Nothing. And for the life of him, Sunggyu couldn’t remember what used to be there.

“What is it, hyung?” Woohyun asked, noticing the worried expression on the other’s face.

“I forgot what you looked like.”

“Oh,” Woohyun muttered. His hands went to touch his own face. It made sense. It had been days, and they hadn’t known each other for too long before then. “I guess that it’s been awhile,” he said with a sad chuckle.

“Come here,” Sunggyu ordered, gesturing for the other to lean closer. And when Woohyun did, Sunggyu grabbed the muggle’s face, removing the glasses and then carefully cupping his cheeks, caressing the skin gently under the pads of his thumbs.

Woohyun tried to pull away, but Sunggyu held him firm. “W-what are you doing?” he stuttered.

“Remembering,” the wizard exhaled, as he furrowed his face in concentration. His fingers traveled upwards slowly. They traced up and down the bridge of Woohyun’s sharp nose. Sunggyu then moved them outwards.

“Ow! That’s my eye,” Woohyun whined, blinking away the tears that formed after Sunggyu had poked him.

The warm hands fled from his face. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Sunggyu apologized as was about to place his hand into the pocket of his hoodie.

Woohyun grabbed the wizard’s wrists and led them back to his face. “No, keep doing it,” he insisted, closing his eyes as soon as the hands cupped his face again to avoid another mishap. “I like it.”

Sunggyu’s fingers then began to explore his face again. Tentative at first, but he soon began to touch with a little added pressure until he was softly laughing and pinching Woohyun’s cheeks. “I forgot that your cheeks were like this. So round,” Sunggyu said, fascinated.  That’s because I’m smiling. Woohyun bit back his lips, hiding his smile. He shouldn’t be liking this so much. “Oh, where’d they go?” he exclaimed. Woohyun could feel him trying to pull up the cheeks again to where they once were. He bit down his tongue hard, refusing to smile again.

Sunggyu soon left his cheeks, and his long fingers traced the arch of his eyebrows and explored the small lines in his forehead, before they traveled back downwards along the sides. His knuckles followed the cut of Woohyun’s jaw. They met at the dimple on his chin and moved up. His thumb grazed the bottom of Woohyun’s lip. The muggle leaned down and kissed it.

The wizard let out a soft gasp. Woohyun opened his eyes to see Sunggyu blushing and staring at his thumb as if it had been pricked. Then the half-demon looked right back at the boy across from him, right where the lips were, and he unconsciously his own.

Woohyun took it as a sign and leaned in, placing his hands on either side of Sunggyu’s thighs and planting a soft kiss on the wizards lips. He pulled back, slowly opening his eyes to look at the other. Sunggyu’s face had grown into a deeper shade of red. His eyes wider than Woohyun thought possible. And except for the twitching of his ears, he was completely frozen.

The muggle jumped down from the counter. “Well, I’m going to bed,” he announced with a great show, forcing out a yawn. “Out here, right?” He tried to walk away but fell over some stools on his way to the door. He jumped up, glancing back at the wizard who was still frozen. “I’m okay! Don’t worry. Just stay there.” Not like he’s moving anyways. “Night, hyung!” he wished as he closed the door.

What the Hell did I just do?

---

 What in the Hell did he just do?

Sunggyu finally snapped out of it and slid off the counter. A chirping filled the room. It was the timer he had set. The potion was ready for Sungyeol. Sunggyu tried his best to bottle the Wolfsbane up quickly, but his hands were shaking. But after a few spills and a few extra minutes, it was all ready for the werewolf.

With a case full of bottles in hand, Sunggyu exited the lab with his tails trailing behind him.

Sungyeol must have set a timer of his own because he was outside of the apartment, waiting for his friend…and maybe for his cat to come back from wherever it was. The werewolf looked up at the demon with a smirk, fixing his round eyes on the white tails. “What?” Sunggyu asked non-chalantly, handing the case to his friend.

 “Nothing,” Sungyeol remarked with a sly glint in his eyes, accepting the case and placing it under his arm. “It’s just that now it totally makes sense why you never dated in school. Looks like you kept more than just one secret from him.”

Sunggyu scoffed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yea, play innocent, hyung. You’re so good at it, you little fox,” Sungyeol teased, nudging his friend.

“So there’s your potion. I’m going-”

“So, hyung,” the werewolf interrupted, not wanting to let this die down like Sunggyu had. “Did you ever have a crush on me?”

Sunggyu bared his teeth at the other. “We’re not talking about this,” he growled.

Sungyeol jumped up. The bottles clanged against each other. “You did!” he exclaimed and pointed at the other and then to the door. “And now you like him. Wow, you really have a type.” He pulled back and shook his head.

“What? Obnoxious?” Sunggyu retorted.

Sungyeol frowned. “I was going to say ‘handsome’ or ‘honest,’ but…”

“I didn’t have a crush on you,” Sunggyu interrupted this time, looking smug. “I’m too good for you.”

“Psh. And this Nam Woohyun is better?“ the werewolf challenged, shifting the box to his other side. It was heavy.

Sunggyu sighed and fell back against the door, his tails swishing back and forth. “I don’t know. Just…don’t know,” he stammered.

 Sungyeol leaned on the wall next to him. “Well, I know this, being the clever snake I am,” and only Lee Sungyeol would say that with such pride. “If I knew something like your Woohyunnie existed, I would steal him and use him for my own benefit.”

The half-demon looked at his friend confused. “What do you mean?”

“You have something virtually undetectable,” he explained, setting down the case. His arms were tired. “Don’t you think someone might want that? And it’s not like curses that can control people don’t exist. You know which one I’m talking about,” he remarked, noticing the panic in Sunggyu’s face. “You should protect him.”

Sunggyu shook the doubts from his mind. “He’ll be fine. Besides only 4 people in this entire school knows that he’s here: me, samchon, Hoya, and you,” he stated and turned towards Sungyeol. His face was solemn and stern. “And you’re the one I’m worried most about.”

“These lips are sealed, impenetrable. Nothing is going to get past these,” Sungyeol remarked, ending with an air kiss.

Sunggyu stood up straight again and pointed at the werewolf in the chest. “I’m counting on you, okay? Don’t let me down,” he spoke in his usual commanding tone. He opened the door to his apartment and went inside.

“Yah!” Sungyeol barked. “Why do people always assume the worst in me? I got hired here, not you. Don’t forget that!” he grumbled as he picked up his case and walked back to his own rooms.

“Jureumi? Come here kitty!”

---

The truth was Sunggyu did like Woohyun, and just in the way the keen werewolf had thought. But just like for everything else, most of what the wizard knew about love came from books (yes, there was a time or two a less than academic book slipped into his pile. Sunggyu just wanted to be ‘well rounded’). Sunggyu had all of the symptoms (sudden redness, erratic heartbeat, aphasia, strange urges, etc.), even the ones from lovesick poets about the other always being on their minds. But Sunggyu’s case was a bit different there. Given the situation (making the other invisible and maybe ruining his life), he worried about Woohyun, a lot. He felt responsible for Woohyun and his actions. And he cared whether the other was eating right or was depressed or…on second thought, maybe Sunggyu’s situation wasn’t that much different than the poets’. So Sunggyu diagnosed himself with chronic love, but he couldn’t do the same for Woohyun.

For one, Sunggyu couldn’t observe the subject correctly to arrive at the same conclusion. Yes, Woohyun was the one to initiate the kiss (and was practically the only one doing actual kissing, but the wizard had been caught by surprise and also feeling it but not seeing Woohyun was really...abnormal), but displays of affection doesn’t always amount to love, or at least love of the same type and degree. For Woohyun’s actions, Sunggyu had already found a cause: transference.

Whenever Woohyun felt alone, Sunggyu was there. Whenever Woohyun missed his family and friends, Sunggyu was there. Whenever Woohyun wanted to be cared for and treated like a normal human being, Sunggyu did. Sunggyu had been assuming the roles of everyone important in Woohyun’s life recently. It would only be natural if some feelings or attachment would arise, especially with Woohyun being so affectionate and greedy for attention in the first place. So whether Woohyun kissed Sunggyu because he wanted to or because he had no one else to kiss, Sunggyu didn’t know. All he knew was that his own feelings were honest…and that Nam Woohyun had passed out in his bed again.

“You,” he poked the sleeping form in between his shoulders.  “This is a bad habit.” He sighed as he looked at the small twin bed. “I thought you went upstairs.” He picked at the covers, lifting them slightly. His hand drifted over to the small of Woohyun’s back, ready to push him to the side. But Sunggyu just sighed again, dropped the covers and took a step back. “This is a bad habit.”

He went up into the loft and slept on the couch there.

---

 Deep in the night, the door to the potion master’s quarters opened. A dark shadow slipped in and began slithering across the floor. The darkness darted through the apartment, searching for something, only to find it sleeping in the twin bed. The shadow raised itself until it was erected and poised over Woohyun who was softly snoring in his sweet slumber. A crooked wand was pulled from the long black cloak.

A low hiss filled the room.

“Imperio!”

---

 And they never saw Nam Woohyun again.

---

...

...

...

Just kidding!

“EXPELLIARMUS!” The crooked wand flew across the room. “STUPEFY!” A red spark zig-zagged across the air, hitting the cloaked figure square in the chest. A familiar laugh filled the room. “Lumnos.”

Light filled the room, revealing Sungyeol with a black wand decorated with a claw handle. The werewolf looked down at tsked at the middle aged man knocked out in front of him. “It’s always the Dark Arts teacher, isn’t it?” he remarked.  “Looks like we’ll be needing a new one of these again. They never last more than a year,” he said with a sigh.

Sunggyu poked out his head from the loft and looked down, squinting. “What’s going on?” his voice heavy with sleep.

“You’re completely useless. That’s what!” Sungyeol yelled up to the fox and looked back down to Woohyun. “You’re lucky that Jureumi was hiding in here,” he declared, pulling out a roll of parchment from his back pocket and tossing it on the floor. It unfurled slightly, revealing names and fleeting footprints traveling across the yellowed background.

It was the Marauder’s Map.

“Now where is that damn cat?”

---

The incident that night only cemented the plans formed in Sunggyu’s head. They had to go somewhere else, somewhere secluded and safe and rural. So they left Hogwarts early in the morning without saying goodbye to anyone. Sunggyu saw a small tear drip down in the air, coming from Woohyun’s eye no doubt.

They also had to go back into Woohyun’s house to gather up a few things he had forgotten earlier and to prepare for a more extensive leave. Sunggyu decided to accompany him this time, hidden under the ‘invisibility cloak.’

“How long are we going to be gone, Gyu-hyung?” Woohyun asked rummaging under his bed, tossing some things aside in his search.

“I don’t know, but it’ll be more than a week,” he replied, putting some items Woohyun had thrown to him into the messenger bag. He also put a few things that he thought looked interesting, like q-tips and a rubber ducky.

Woohyun got up with a start. “I’ll need my bank book. Hyung, can you look in that drawer? I think I left it in there,” he asked as he walked over to his dresser to grab some more underwear.

Sunggyu pulled open the desk drawer hesistantly, afraid something would pop out (because that’s what typically happened when he went through his uncle’s things). “I don’t even know what I’m looking for,” he complained as he sift through a stack of papers.

“You’ll know it when you see it. It says ‘Bank…Book,’” he pronounced as if the other was slow.

Sunggyu held back his biting remark and put that energy into his search. Then he saw it. It wasn’t the bank book. He still had no idea what that looked like, but this, this he was very familiar with. He had gotten his own 14 years ago, and the signature on it was unmistakable: Professor Jang Dongwoo.

“Hyun?” he called out in a shaky voice.

“Yea.”

“I…I think you’re a wizard.”