sorry for the weird indent situation- still havent figured out how to fix that

                “You’re sure this will work?” The taller boy spoke from above Jihoon, where he sat on the ground in front of a small cauldron of boiling, murky potion. The smaller boy picked up a vial from his left and watched as it slowly poured into the concoction, making the mess sizzle.

                “Positive. Soonyoung did it the other day. Worked like a charm.” Jihoon didn’t look up, instead stayed focused on his creation. “I can do this. Potions is my forte.” He heard the standing boy groan at his choice of words, and snickered to himself. “Besides, what could go wrong? Everyone who has taken the felix felices reported nothing but good luck.”

                “What do you mean what could go wrong?” The other boy sat in front of Jihoon now, staring at him through the thin cloud of smoke between them. “You know how people are like then they take this. Giddy, and happy, and that’s nothing like you! You would rather stay cooped up in the dorms than go to a Quidditch game, you would rather study for these classes than come to Hogsmeade with us, and on, and on. He’s going to sense something’s going on.”

                “Wonwoo, listen… I get where you’re coming from, but this is my last resort! I can’t get his attention any other way, you’ll never catch my at a Quidditch game, or drinking a butter beer with you guys, but this is proven to work.” Jihoon argued back.

                Wonwoo scoffed, and Jihoon still didn’t look up. “You know; you could just confess. Like a regular person. He’s the happy go lucky guy, he’ll either accept or let you down lightly.”

                “But that’s what I don’t want, Wonwoo! The embarrassment following a rejection is too much, and I have Dark Arts with him, it would be too awkward.”

                “Jihoon, you have nothing to lose. We are year 6s, he’s just below us. There’s not much embarrassment to face when you’re the older one.” Jihoon sat and thought for a moment, pausing his brewing. “Has he spoken to you besides the one time that he dropped his books? Or when you had to be partners?” Jihoon shook his head. “Then that’s fine! You don’t frequent each other often enough for you to be acquaintances, so it can’t be that awkward. Worst case scenario, he rejects you and you don’t look his direction in Dark Arts again. Simple.”

                “What if he doesn’t like people like me? What if his type is like himself?” He spoke quietly, so Wonwoo softened his tone.

                “Then that would be boring for himself. Opposites attract.” Wonwoo could see Jihoon visibly doubting himself at this point, and Wonwoo almost feels bad for telling the boy his idea to use a vile of Liquid Luck wouldn’t work; but he knew it was better to start without any influence. He proposed another idea. “This takes six months to brew, correct?” Jihoon nodded while fiddling with the empty vials. “In the meantime, why don’t you try sparking up some more conversation? The wait will be a while, so you might as well… I don’t know, get started, or something.”

                Jihoon looked up, he looked slightly less upset than he had moments ago. “I guess so.”

                Wonwoo jumped up. “Great! Let’s go.” Jihoon had wide eyes as he frantically followed Wonwoo’s movements.

                “G-go? Go where?” Jihoon was forced up by Wonwoo grabbing his arm.

                “To the Great Hall. I’m starving. Plus, we did enough today. It’s time you eat, too.” Wonwoo stretched and waited for Jihoon to regain his composure. He sighed, and set aside the filled and empty vials, and followed Wonwoo out, their footsteps echoing off the walls of the vacant lavatory, the faint bubbling of the cauldron promising Jihoon a successful future.

--

                Jihoon jolted when he felt an arm around his shoulder. “You good? You’ve been staring at your plate for a good fifteen minutes, just wanted to make sure no one put a spell on you.” Jihoon looked to his right to see his fellow Ravenclaw, Jun, a witty smile on his face, and Jihoon couldn’t hide the small smile that reciprocated.

                “I’m fine, just a little distracted is all.” Jihoon looks back to his plate, and the only thing he can muster up the appetite to finish is his favorite hot chocolate.

                “Stressed about something? Forgot something? Failed something?” Jun attempted to reason with the short male. Jihoon ran a hand through his hair. He didn’t bother looking up to Jun when he answered.

                “Just… stuff.”

Jun looked as if he was about to question further when commotion at the further end of the Ravenclaw table drew both of their attention. A few students were gathered around their head boy, probably trying to get information out of him for whatever Jihoon couldn’t care less about. He heard Jun choke a laugh next to him when he returned to face his dinner.

“Have you heard? About Joshua and his boyfriend? Or I should say, boyfriends.”

Jihoon now looked over to the head boy, he looked cheerful talking to other students, the smile on his face never receding. “Boyfriends?”

Jun nodded. He shook his head, Jihoon watched as his raven colored hair swept side to side at the motion. “Rumor has it he’s reeled in two of the other seventh years. I guess it’s not really a rumor, since Lisa walked in on all of them in the staircase, and she claims they were just talking, but, strangely all way too close to each other. I don’t buy it, personally. Just look at him,” Jihoon did as suggested. “He seems all nice and , but come on, all the nice ones have the darkest kinks.”

“Where is this conversation going? I don’t want to hear about your biggest fantasies about with the head boy or something.” Jun laughed and tore his gaze away from Joshua. Jihoon knew that since they were first years, Jun had had a minor (growing every year) crush on Joshua, who was now appointed head boy. Jun, unlike Jihoon, took every opportunity he could to talk to the older male. Jihoon never asked how it all went, though. It made him all too self-aware of his cowardice.

“Should have been me.” He swiveled the drink in his cup, and Jihoon watched the action a little bit pityingly.

“Who even are the other boys anyway?” Probably a bad question, but Jihoon should get payback for things Jun has done to him over the years.

“Head boy of Hufflepuff, Choi Seungcheol. Cocky bastard, but I mean, I guess I can see them together if I really try hard enough. And then there’s the Slytherin boy, the one who had the rumor about him a few years back. You know the one, that he blew some kid in the bathroom for answers to the exams.” He scoffed. “Jeonghan, that prick. With his long hair, and his perfect smile, that son of a just had to go after Joshua out of everyone here.” Jihoon watched with growing anxiety as Jun’s knuckled got whiter and whiter around the cup he was holding, and he hastily pried the ceramic object out of his hands before it shattered.

“OK, let’s calm down now. Let’s talk about something else. How’s your marks in Herbology? Getting better?”

Jun drew his gaze away from the Slytherin table, Jihoon was afraid he was going to pull his wand out and use the death curse on the long haired boy at any moment. “Yeah, they’re alright. The professor wants to kill me though, that’s for sure. Doing another lesson with Mandrakes, Jesus, what hell that was. I make one move to help my partner, and then she snaps at me!” Jihoon was gazing out at the crowd of students, not really paying attention to Jun’s spiel. He sighs, rests his hand on the table, listening to Jun rant about his partner when a certain someone walking into the Great Hall grabs his attention.

His head slowly raised from his hand as he stared at the tall boy walk in with another by his side. His robes fanning out behind him like a ing god, his tie flown to the side as he swiftly weaves through the students who made way for him. His head turned to the side to address the boy at his left, his smile carved out of pure bliss, the canines dipping down below the rest of his teeth and Jihoon absentmindedly gulped. His eyes shone as he laughed at whatever was said, the Adam’s apple of the throat that haunted Jihoon’s dreams was visible, his arm wrapped around textbooks and his hands, god, those hands, gripped the spines of the hard covers, and Jihoon felt his tongue peek out to his lip. The red and gold of his tie fit him so well, it completed him. His brown hair was windswept, the dark sides peeking out through his sideburns and at the nape of his neck, and Jihoon felt his heart stop as he turned to face forward, and he made eye contact with Jihoon, and Jihoon almost mewled at the way he rose an eyebrow at him, the way he-

“Jihoon! Were you listening to any of that?” Jun looked in the direction that Jihoon was hypnotized to. He furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes as if it improves his eyesight by tons, and he turned back to Jihoon. “Is that the boy you like?!”

Jihoon stuttered in his motions to turn to glare at Jun, he noticed, horrifyingly, that the closest vicinity of the table had turned to stare at Jihoon due to Jun’s loud proclamation of Jihoon’s interests. Jihoon swiveled out of the bench, picked his textbook up and dragged Jun by the tie to follow him, not stopping to make sure the taller boy wasn’t choking, he hoped he was. He could feel every stare on his back as he dragged his perpetrator out of the Great Hall by his tie, listening to his complaints but not caring.

Jihoon walked them to a vacant hallway and shoved Jun against the cold marble. “Yes! That was the boy I like, you ! Now everyone knows that I like the friendliest, good looking, smart, sporty, tall…” He swallowed. “Godlike, best seeker Gryffindor has known since the infamous Potter himself, Kim Mingyu, and everyone knows, and it’s your fault!” Jihoon spat at Jun, but the latter only looked amused as Jihoon stood there with red cheeks, blinking rapidly, thinking of the boy that has Jihoon wrapped around his finger although they hadn’t had much of a verbal exchange.

“You should talk to him.” Jun calmly proposed.

Jihoon stared at him like he just suggested a suicide pact (though at the moment, Jihoon wouldn’t have minded). “No!”

“Why not?” Jun kicked himself off of the wall to approach the smaller boy who was not making eye contact. “You like him, he’s friendly, you can start some kind of friendship here.”

Jihoon kicked his shin, resulting in Jun shrieking and falling to the cold tile as Jihoon stood over him, and footsteps resounded from down the hall, shouting their names.

“Jun! Jihoon! What are you doing?!” Wonwoo ran to the both of them, looking exasperatedly at Jun on the ground and Jihoon fuming over the boy who he had crumpled. “What happened?”

“This decided to announce to the whole house that I have a crush on Mingyu and now they all know!” Wonwoo stared at him for a moment, Jihoon looked genuinely embarrassed and angry, and Wonwoo felt bad for him for a moment. He was about to open his mouth to reason with him for a moment, but he ran off down the vast corridor, and Jun called after him, but Wonwoo knew where he was headed.

He turned back to Jun and nudged him with his knee, making him fall back to the tile.

--

                Jihoon heard footsteps approach his brewing station in the abandoned lavatory, but he made no move to turn around as he knew who it would be. He focused on adding the most recent vial of scent and various potions to his ongoing brew of felix felices, a method he had not given up on yet.

The footsteps that were getting closer had doubled, Jihoon noticed, and heard a small yelp of ‘ew’ as he knew he was accompanied by another Ravenclaw this time around.

“Still up to this?” Wonwoo asked as he sat next to him, Jihoon enjoying the warmth that he brought with the onslaught of cold weather coming in.

“You’re sitting on the floor!” Jun yelled, and they both glared at him, and he just decided to reside leaning against the wall.

“I don’t know what else to do. Every time I even just think about talking to him normally I get nervous. Just looking at him makes me nervous. How could I go up to him and hold a conversation while keeping my composure? I don’t know.”

“We can help you?” Wonwoo suggested. Jihoon looked up from stirring to wait for Wonwoo to keep talking. “We can talk to people to talk to him. Get some info. I can talk to the boy in my Potions class, Minghao, he’s friends with Mingyu. If that doesn’t work, we can go for a longer connection? I can talk to Joshua’s boyfriend to talk to his friend Soonyoung because he’s friends with Mingyu’s friend and roommate?” Jihoon heard Jun scoff at the mention of the beautiful Slytherin boy.

“That option is too long. I guess you could talk to Minghao.” He was going to continue, but Wonwoo cut him off by standing up.

“Good, let’s go Jun. Let’s go find Minghao.”

“Wait!” Jihoon shot up and stood before the two boys. “What are you going to tell him?”

“That you like Mingyu.” Jun took the place of Wonwoo answering. Wonwoo slapped his chest and quickly recovered the answer at Jihoon’s wide eyes.

“We are not doing that. I’m going to ask Minghao if he says anything about you, but casually throw it in there. Okay? I got this. I won’t let him talk.” Wonwoo made more of an attempt to calm his panicking friend, and he soon sat back on the ground and let the taller boys take it from his hands.

--

Jihoon pet the wings of his black owl, admiring how it cooed under his touch. The sky was cloudy white, a sign that snow was soon to fall, and Jihoon had not been up to the owlery in a while. He looked up at all of the cubbies for the owls to nestle in at night, and watched as his own flew up high and settled in one far away. He breathed out through his mouth, white fog pouring over his chapped lips and floating up in the sky.

He stood with his back to the entrance, his white fluffy coat hanging off his shoulders, the faux fur tickling his throat and his hands warming quickly in the fleece lined pockets. “Be good, Viktor.” He called after his bird. He backed out slowly, taking one more look inside the tower before turning to leave, not before crashing into someone who happened to enter at the same time.

Jihoon backed up to apologize grumpily, but as he opened his eyes he was deemed speechless to see the person of his dreams right in front of him, rosy cheeks and sheepish smile as he quickly apologized to Jihoon. He stood still for another second before reacting to what was happening, his heartbeat heavily drumming in his ears as he watched the tall male take his bottom lip in his teeth as he said something about not watching where he was going.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault!” Jihoon croaked finally. “I wasn’t watching… where I was going, not you. Don’t, don’t worry.” He made another move to weave past the boy and he went the opposite way to avoid another awkward bump in, and as he turned to leave his mouth spoke before his brain. “M-Mingyu?”

Said boy turned expectantly, and he continued, even after he realized what he just did. He contemplated just saying never mind, but the memory of talking to him finally was too much to just walk away. “there’s a game on Saturday, right?” Mingyu nodded, his five-star smile taking shape again and Jihoon’s heart stopped. “Good luck.” He was about to turn, before Mingyu stopped him to say something of his own.

“Aren’t you in the Ravenclaw house, though? It’s against your team. You should be wishing luck to them instead.” He laughed, and Jihoon almost fainted.

“W-well… just thought I would spread some… positivity. I guess,” He stuttered, and he cursed himself to hell if he did it again. He watched as Mingyu smiled (does this boy ever stop?) and talked once more.

“Yeah, but, your seeker is monster. I don’t know how I could win without a bit of liquid luck.”

“Isn’t that-”

“Against the rules. Don’t worry. I was just kidding. I’ll try my best. Will I see you there?”

Jihoon’s mouth stood agape for a second, before getting courage to answer again. “I-it’s possible.” Mingyu grinned at the answer and turned around, and Jihoon took it as his sign to leave. (Truth be told, Jihoon didn’t even know who the Ravenclaw seeker was).

Nearly tripping over everything in his path, he ran into the bathroom where he told Wonwoo to meet him, eager to share the story of his meeting.

“Wonwoo!” He came charging towards the boy who was absentmindedly drawing figures in the air with his wand and his head snapped around when he heard the tone of Jihoon’s voice.

“What? What happened?” He pocketed his wand, and Jihoon told him the whole ordeal, out of breath and sinking to the ground halfway through.

“And- and he asked me if he would see me th-there. What does that mean? Does he want to see me there? Does he really?” Jihoon sprawled out on the ground, encompassed by the feeling of bliss and hopefulness.

“Jihoon, I’m very happy for you, but please, don’t lay on the ground here, that’s gross.” Jihoon slumped forward and kept his eyes on the pot of brewing potion, now four months into the process. “I’m really happy that you actually talked to him without being a stuttering mess.”

“I did stutter though.” He sighed dejectedly.

“That’s fine, he probably thought you were so cold and stuff. Are you going to go to the game, though? That’s what I would like to know.”

“I don’t know, I kind of just said that so he wouldn’t think I don’t go to any games.”

“But you don’t.”

“But I don’t want him to think that!” Jihoon flopped to the wall beside him and watched as the thick concoction bubbled and steamed, he could smell a fresh scent of lavender. It relaxed him. “Do you think he likes lavender?”

Wonwoo sighed. “Please Jihoon, you know that you shouldn’t go with artificial luck to confess top your crush.” Jihoon met his eyes. He looked sad. “I’m not saying that it won’t work out, but you need to be genuine. And don’t give me any of that ‘this is genuine’ bull. Talk to him. Talk to his friends. I will go with you if you don’t want to go alone. Just… try your options before you go to this method. Okay?”

“I’ll try.” Jihoon muttered meekly, and Wonwoo stood up and let out a small ‘come on’ to usher him to the dorms. Jihoon followed suit and they walked together through the hallways, Jihoon’s eyes reluctantly following the Gryffindor common room entrance, wishing he could take a peek inside.

--

Study hall was usually the period in their schedule that he could use to catch up on work that he had fallen asleep doing halfway through, but today was totally different, for some reason. Wonwoo had not shown for the last 10 minutes, and when he was about to get up and find him himself, one of his friends from the Slytherin house, Soonyoung, if Jihoon remembered correctly, told him that he had stayed behind in Potions so he and his partner could work on their project together. Jihoon felt a little betrayed by this, 1) because he and Wonwoo always studied together during this time, and 2) because he was now left alone, which he hated. He figured he would let Wonwoo live for it though, because Wonwoo was, after all, not the best Potions student and he could use the extra grade boost.

Halfway through his revision a person sat across from him, and Jihoon looked up to meet piercing eyes of the Slytherin that Jun despised. His shoulder length hair was pushed behind one ear, and his hooded eyes revealed that Jihoon was probably not going to feel comfortable in this interrogation.

“You’re friends with that Jun kid?” Jihoon felt like he knew where this was going, and mentally cursed Jun for putting himself in a situation like this.

“Yes, why?” He figured he would hear out the Slytherin instead of wishing death upon him, like a certain friend of his.

“I’ve heard from some people that he and Joshua were seen together, walking down the stairs. He looked awfully close to my boyfriend. What’s up with that?” If looks could kill.

Jihoon decided that Jun was an for announcing to the Ravenclaw table that he likes Kim Mingyu, so he considered this as payback. “Can you keep a secret?”

The corner of his mouth upturned in a smirk. He raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer. “’Course.”

“You can’t tell. Seriously.” He looked him dead in the eye, the Slytherin looking more cunning by the passing seconds. “Jun was jealous that you got with Joshua, he had a small crush on him since first year.” The male, Jeonghan, watched him intently as if to see if he was lying or not. “Between you and me, I think Jun would rather be in your place. I think you should tell him to back off by just getting even closer to Joshua.” Jihoon matched the smirk on Jeonghan’s face as the Slytherin nodded.

“Good idea. I’ll show him.” He stood rapidly, and Jihoon watched. “Good luck with that.” He nodded in the direction of Jihoon’s textbook and stalked off, his hair flowing behind him, and Jihoon half expected flower petals to rain down behind them.

Directing his attention back to the book in front of him, he was yet again interrupted, but by a less important matter. “Is this seat taken?” He shook his head in response and let the boy, Seokmin, if he can recall, sit across from him.

A sufficient amount of studying was done, and Jihoon was proud that he managed to get that much done. He was about to leave when Seokmin had a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you any good at Potions?” Jihoon nodded. “Can you help me?” He sat back down.

“What do you need help with?” He didn’t mind helping, especially since he excelled in that subject.

“Just memorizing some of these formulas, I can’t seem to get them right.” Jihoon sat beside the Gryffindor and helped him revise the formulas, and one certain one he knew all too well. A while of revisions had the other boy feeling a little more confident in remembering the recipes and formulas.

“Ah, thank you! I’m sorry if you had somewhere to go.” Seokmin humbly apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I like Potions and I would help if someone asked.” Seokmin laughed, and Jihoon thought it was cute how his eyes disappeared.

“Your name is Jihoon, right?” He nodded. “I thought so. My friend brought you up the other day, said he bumped into you in the owlery.”

Jihoon stiffened for a moment. “Your friends with Mingyu?” His heartbeat quickened just at the mention of him.

Seokmin nodded. “We’re roommates! He’s been so nervous about this game because your seeker is really good. He’s worried he won’t be as good.”

“That’s not true.” Jihoon mentally face palmed at how fast he responded and Seokmin’s look of shock. “Mingyu’s a great seeker! Our seeker has nothing on him.” He tried to sound confident, but even just thinking of how Mingyu looked after a game had his hands shaking. Out of breath, hair all wet from the sweat, that goddamned crooked smile, his-

“I’ll tell him you think so then. I’ve got to go. Thank you for your help again!” Seokmin ran off, and Jihoon was afraid he had said too much.

--

Saturday night drifted along, and though Jihoon felt a little ty about not going to the game, he really had no energy to, and it seemed that Wonwoo didn’t either. They both had fallen asleep on the common room couch, Jihoon tucked under Wonwoo’s arm like they were the couple, and Jihoon wasn’t striving for someone else, when Jun walked in and arose them both from the slumber.

“Jesus, you have a room for a reason.” Jun plopped himself down on the opposite end of the couch, Wonwoo groaned at him and rubbed his eyes while Jihoon resumed his original position and nestled back under Wonwoo where all the warmth was.

“Jihoon, you should have been there. It was so intense, Mingyu thought he wasn’t going to get the golden snitch, he and our seeker were in a race to get it and at the last second the snitch switched course and our seeker was thrown off her broom, and the snitch hit Mingyu in the chest and he caught it!”

Jihoon sat up straighter at the mention of his name and how he had won the game for Gryffindor. He knew he should feel upset that his house didn’t win the tournament, but he really couldn’t be happier.

“Hey,” Wonwoo nudged his shoulder. Jihoon was too tired to turn around, so he hummed in acknowledgement. “Hasn’t it been six months? Isn’t the liquid luck done?”

Jihoon smiled, “Oh, yeah. I forgot. It should be done.” He smiled wider at the thought of his dream of being with the star seeker coming true, at the thought of them being a couple so close in his reach. “Imagine… it’s us. Me and Mingyu, Mingyu and I. Everything I wanted since second year. Can you imagine Wonwoo?” Jihoon grabbed Wonwoo’s hand, as said boy and Jun watched Jihoon go off in amazement. “Wouldn’t be great? Who wouldn’t love us? We’d be everything.” Jihoon flopped back against the couch and gazed off in a dreamlike state, while Wonwoo and Jun looked to each other weirdly.

“We need to get the potion! We need to go!” Jihoon attempted to get up from the couch but Jun and Wonwoo simultaneously grabbed his waist and pulled him back down.

“Not now, you’re crazy? It’s past curfew. I only just got here because of Quidditch, but you didn’t even go, and you’re walking away from the Ravenclaw dorms. Just wait ‘til the morning. Nothing will happen to it.”

Jihoon whined, and started squirming impatiently. Wonwoo sighed and stood, grabbing Jihoon’s arms, as he bent down to lift Jihoon over his shoulder to bring him to the shared rooms. Jihoon whacked Wonwoo’s back but the boy was not budging, and he watched as he was carried up the stairs with Jun’s laugh in the background. He sent him the middle finger before he disappeared around the spiral staircase.

--

The morning that greeted him was bright and promising, and Jihoon woke with adrenaline pulsing through his veins. He knew today he would finish up his potion that he had been so impatient for, and he would finally get all the courage he could find in his small body and confess to the Gryffindor seeker. He was so stuck on the idea that nothing could go wrong, because, well, its Liquid Luck after all! Everything goes well with Liquid Luck and nothing was dampening Jihoon’s spirits, so Wonwoo no longer had the heart to tell him that he should do something logical anymore.

The teardrop shaped vial was promising, and his reflection in it made him aware that his dreams were about to come true. He carefully poured the clear liquid with a purple haze into the vial, and his smile of satisfaction looked back at him through the glass. Wonwoo and Jun looked on, and almost felt as happy for him as he did.

A trip to Hogsmeade was in order. Planned perfectly ahead six months (by Jihoon, of course) he knew he would actually have to attend for this to go well, and he was a little giddy, and he trusted Wonwoo to hold the vial with the worry that he might drop it, and all his hard work would go to waste.

Standing in the small group of 13 that was due to go, he watched Mingyu converse with a few Hufflepuff, named Chan and Hansol, Wonwoo was talking to his Slytherin friend Soonyoung and Jun was busy eyeing down Jeonghan who stood way to close to Joshua (who occasionally looked over and snarled) who were talking to another Slytherin named Seungkwan.

Jihoon stood close to Wonwoo through the whole thing, like he was watching to make sure Wonwoo didn’t drop it, and once they were settled in The Three Broomsticks and Jihoon only had a little bit of his butter beer left, he turned his head and looked to the corner, where Mingyu and Seokmin were settled, neither of them paying much attention to the other. He shoved his drink over to Wonwoo, where he and Jun made eye contact, and then he pulled out the teardrop vial of clear liquid and poured it into Jihoon’s drink.

Jihoon took it back and looked at it swimming in his drink for a moment, and looked up to Wonwoo when he spoke to him again. “You’re sure about this?” Jihoon bit his lip, then nodded after a beat of silence. He gulped down the drink and looked up to Wonwoo and Jun in satisfaction, and a small smile started to grow on his face. Wonwoo sat back with his arms folded across his chest while Jun just leaned on top of the table, both intently waiting for a reaction.

Jihoon looked over to the table again and saw now only Mingyu resided there, and he stood, nearly knocking his chair over but paying no mind as he strode over, Wonwoo and Jun watching his every move.

Jihoon sat across from Mingyu who was staring down into his cup, he looked up and smiled upon seeing Jihoon sitting where Seokmin was previously. “Is this seat taken?” Jihoon sat straight and held a glint of mischief in his eyes, and Mingyu shook his head and fixed his posture as well. “Sorry for the random approach but, our meeting in the owlery left me curious and wanting more.”

Mingyu’s tongue peeked out and he drew his bottom lip into his teeth, looking Jihoon in the eyes. He noticed how this meeting seemed completely different than the previous, Jihoon being shy before and being bold and making the first steps. He quickly peeked over his shoulders to see his Ravenclaw friends carefully watching him. He looked back to Jihoon. “How much more?”

Jihoon looked at the table in shyness for a moment before regaining eye contact. “Let’s go on a walk. It’s a little cramped in here.” He stands, and Mingyu follows in his actions. The snow was falling as they walked out, and Mingyu watched as snow caught in Jihoon’s curly hair and the fur around his neckline. They walked past shops and conversing couples and groups and some other wizard students they knew. Small conversation took place to fill the time, and only pure adrenaline raced through Jihoon, and he was hyperaware of it whenever he looked up to meet Mingyu’s eyes.

They sat deep in the forest, the snow still softly falling as they stood by the wire fence looking out at the Shrieking Shack, Jihoon knew there was no better time than the present.

“So, Mingyu, I wanted to talk to you, actually.” He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He thought Mingyu looked so beautiful with the snow cascading around him, the white steam leaving his lips with every breath he let go of, his teeth peeking through his lips and Jihoon was inclined to kiss him right then and there, but he had a tactic.

“About what?” Mingyu’s expression didn’t falter, but Jihoon knew luck would be on his side today.

He looked to Mingyu one last time, and held his gaze. “I’ve liked you for a really long time. I know we don’t talk an incredible amount, and I don’t do anything amazing like you, who plays Quidditch or has tons of friends, but I like you. From the first day I watched you get sorted into Gryffindor I was a little upset that you weren’t put in Ravenclaw, but I told myself I would get to you one day.” He shrugged, and couldn’t stop the breakthrough of another smile. “I was really shy the other day because it was so unexpected and I’ve just… I just wanted to know you. Tell you that I like you.”

He watched Mingyu for the time they stood there, he showed no sign of emotion until he looked down at his feet, Jihoon heard him laugh and he looked back up. His cheeks were pink and a shy smirk was on his face. He looked down at Jihoon. “Can I do something crazy?”

Jihoon raised his eyebrows, and shrugged. He inhaled deeply, and watched his warm breath thicken in the weather when he spoke. “Go for it.”

Mingyu stepped forward, placed his warm hands on both sides of Jihoon’s frosty cheeks and leaned in to kiss him. Jihoon’s heart beat so fast he swore it was going to fly out of his chest, and his own hands met Mingyu’s on his face, and they stood there sharing warmth in the coolest time of the day, and Jihoon smiled into the kiss. He knew it would work.

--

Wonwoo and Jun stood behind the tree watching the pair. Jun clapped to himself when he saw Mingyu lean in to kiss him and Wonwoo turned around, pressed his back to the tree and reached in his pocket.

“When do you think he’s going to find out?” Wonwoo spoke as he held up a teardrop vial with a lilac tinted potion inside, the real vial, seal untouched.

Jun turned now to see Wonwoo holding up the vial. He laughed. “Does he have to?” Wonwoo snickered and pocketed it.

“Nah. I knew he could do it.”