“Minseok is not coming?” Luhan asked as they were walking out of Hogwarts' castle to Hogsmeade.

“No, he said something about a potion paper that he had to finish absolutely during breakfast this morning.” answered his friend Jongdae.

Jongdae was, just like Minseok, a Ravenclaw so he was the only one who saw Minseok this day.

“What? I'm in the same class, do we really have a potion paper to do?”

Jongdae had a little smile seeing his Slytherin friend's confused face.

“I guess so, but you know Minseok, it's probably due for two weeks but he's just doing it early.” answered Yixing, Luhan's best friend, an Hufflepuff.

The Slytherin shook his head.

“Nevermind.” he said. “I'll do it tomorrow if needed.”

No one answered him. Luhan looked quickly at them, they were all staring right in front of them. He knew what they were thinking, that Minseok could have waited for tomorrow to do his homework, and yes, they were probably right. This Saturday was the day every students at Hogwarts were going to Hogsmeade, including their groups of friend. Since they were practically all in different houses, they did not have really that much time to spend together. He was in Slytherin, with Kyungsoo, Jongdae and Minseok were in Ravenclaw, Yixing and Jongin were in Hufflepuff. They had all this kind of pact to be together – and all of them – at Hogsmeade, but Minseok was always the first to break it to study. And it had gone worst and worst with the years, especially this one, their seventh, with their N.E.W.T coming.

“One Saturday without studying, it's not a big deal...” he heard Jongin mumbled.

It was true, Minseok always had excellent grades and was a brilliant and smart student, so a day off wouldn't be too bad for him. Luhan knew he was worrying for nothing and studying more than needed. But it was how he was, and, to be honest, the Slytherin found it kinda cute. Plus his friend's nerd side was helpful sometimes, he would always help with everyone homeworks, especially with him since Luhan was not as good as him.

“Don't think about it too much, Minseok is just perfectionist and he's starting to be very stressed about those ASPIC thing.” Luhan added.

“Why? He's the best student among all of us, I even think among all of Hogwarts', he doesn't need to study that much.” said Jongin, louder this time.

Luhan opened his mouth to answer but Yixing did it faster:

“Yeah, maybe. But still, you have to respect this, he always cheers you and Luhan for Quidditch even if he doesn't like it at all.”

The Slytherin saw that Jongin was about to say something again so he cut it short:

“Let's forget about it and enjoy this day.”

All his friends approved and they started to walk a bit faster. The first shop they went in was Zunko. Jongdae was a huge fan of this shop, if nobody was there to stop him, he could have been able to buy the entire. They really did not care about what he was doing with his money but the fact that they had to deal with all these stupid jokes after it was encouraging them a lot to be sure Jongdae won't buy too much of it. Usually Luhan would follow his friend in all this and fool around as they discover some new stuffs in the shop but this time he was just standing against a wall, his eyes a bit lost. He was not in the mood. He tried at first but he had to admit it, something was missing. More like someone. Earlier, he did not hesitate at all and just defended Minseok but he was as confused as his other friends, he really did not know why the Ravenclaw had to study so much and he was also sad because he could not see him, apart during the two classes they shared together. Now that he was really thinking about it, it was obvious, he was missing him, a lot.

“Hey, Luhan, we're going to Honeydukes!”

Yixing happy voice woke him up and he realized that Jongdae had finished all his purchases. He nodded and followed them outside. It was very cold, since it was early February, so they hurried up into the next shop. The smell of candy and sweetness immediately made him feel warmer but, still, he felt empty. Minseok loved candies. He could totally remember all the time they spent here, only the two of them, leaving the others either at Zunko or at the Three Broomsticks, Luhan never really paid attention to that, choosing the weirdest candies to buy, just to try it. He could see, just like he was in front of him right, his cute face while discovering them all. Minseok was a muggle born, often he was surprised in front of what was basic little things for Luhan, and, yes, he was very adorable. As the times passed, the Ravenclaw was more and more used to the magical world but, sometimes, a Chocolate Frogs jumping on his shoulder would still surprise him so much that Luhan would almost cry of laughter.

“What's going on? You really seem like you're far away from us today.”

He jumped with surprise. He had not noticed that Yixing was just beside him.

“I'm not, I'm here.”

“You don't look so. You're just staring in the corner of every shop we went in. That's not you.”

“I'm just a bit tired.”

The Hufflepuff just stared at him in silent. Luhan felt uncomfortable. It was like he could read on his mind, and eventually he always managed to read it well, so well that he was sure that his friend was a Legilimens or something like that but won't admit it to them.

“Why are you looking at me like that, it's true! We started the Quidditch practice and there is a lot of pressure and...”

“And Minseok's not here, right?”

“What.. what” he stuttered “What do you mean, it's only about Quidditch, don't be silly Yixing.”

The other one just staid quiet but was still looking at him, a sparkling light in his eyes and a tiny smile on his lips.

“I'm going to buy some Chocolate Frogs.” he finally said feeling too uncomfortable.

“Oh! Isn't that Minseok's favorite?”

Luhan opened his mouth but since nothing intelligent was coming into his mind he just turned around and left. How did he understand that it was not candies for him? That guy, seriously. He sighed. After that, the Slytherin tried his best to be more “with them”, he laughed when someone made a joke, he nodded when Jongin talked about Quidditch and tried his best to act like he always did by asking innocently what would be Hufflepuff way to play for this season, but he was still quieter than usual and he knew Yixing noticed it and he could see all his glances. They were all sitting at les trois balais when Luhan suddenly stood up.

“I'm going back at Hogwarts. I'll see you all for lunch, okay?”

He did not wait for any answers and just left.

Minseok adjusted his glasses and authorized himself to take a look at the window. The sun was shining but there was still a tiny white sheet of snow everywhere. It was a pretty day. A good day to go at Hogsmeade, he thought. He shook his head, nevermind, he really had to study. He was late with his schedule, usually he should have finished this potion paper at least a week ago but, here he was, still working on it. He could not understand why but he had troubles to do it. He never had those kind of problems. Potions was not the class he liked the most but, still, he would be stupid to lie, he was good at it and never ever took more than a week to finish a paper like that. A terrible thought crossed his mind, what if it was getting harder because it was the level of his exams and maybe the fact that he could not do it just meant that he was not that good as everyone thought? His heart was pounding. It could not be that. He breathed deeply. These days, it was just impossible for him to focus on anything and mostly on his studies which was making him completely crazy and even more stressed. He took his head in his hands. The worst of it was that he could not understand what was going on, it was really not the good time for all of this.

“Yo!”

Surprised, Minseok drop off the book that was in his hands. Luhan laughed.

“So clumsy.” he said while picking up the book.

“Thank you.”

The Slytherin put the book back on the table and sat next to him.

“Aren't you supposed to be at Hogsmeade?”

“I was but I just...”

He paused for a moment, like he was looking for the good words.

“I was tired so I came back.”

Minseok was surprised, Luhan was not the type to miss any occasion to go out and have fun at Hogsmeade and he had never seen him “too tired” for it. But he said nothing. Actually, he was glad to see him.

“They told me that you were studying and that's why you did not came with us.” Luhan continued.

The Ravenclaw sighed. Completely absorbed by the thought that his friend came immediately to see him after coming back from Hogsmeade and by his – very beautiful – face that he had forgotten about his homeworks.

“Oh yeah.”

Luhan smiled and pinched gently one of his cheek. He blushed. He felt like butterflies on his stomach. He had noticed that since a few weeks now. The Slytherin's touch made him feel different. Not different bad, not at all, different very good but different weird. He loved it so much but at the same time it made him completely afraid. He cringed. Luhan stopped smiling.

“I can't concentrate on it.” the Ravenclaw said a bit too coldly, trying to put away all the sensations he was feeling.

He could see on his friend face that he was confused because of how he acted and talked. Usually they were very close, and even physically, they never had any problem with that, it was just so natural. However, those feelings, they were scaring Minseok so much.

“I see, well maybe you're just overworking and now you just reached your limit?”

The Ravenclaw felt his heart tighten. He was so nice. So soft. So gentle. So wonderful. So pretty. Was he even real? How was it possible? He pushed away all his thoughts away.

“I don't think so.”

Knowing that just looking at Luhan was making his heart flutter, he tried to only look at his parchment.

“Is everything okay?” his friend gently asked.

Minseok closed his eyes and passed his hands on his hair.

“Yes!” he suddenly said “I just want to focus on this, so, if you don't mind, can you leave? I really need to be alone right now.”

He was not looking but he could imagine Luhan chocked face. He heard the chair scraping the floor and his friend standing up.

“Of course I can.”

He heard him searching something on his bag and then dropping a bag on the table.

“I bought you Chocolate Frogs by the way.”

Minseok opened wide his eyes, seeing this bag full of candies. He turned around but Luhan was already gone. He stayed still, his heart pounding into his chest and completely out of breathe, trying to assimilate what he had done. After a few seconds, he came back in front of his books. He launched a look at the chocolates. His favorites. He did not even realized that Luhan knew that fact about him, and he had been so mean with him for no reason except that he could not control his own feelings. What was happening to him?