Tao transfered at the beginning of the fourth year. His father got a new job at the ministry and therefore they had to move. He was able to attend the sorting with the first years. He still remembers how some had looked at him questioningly. Were transfere students that seldom here? Too shy to ask for the way, he had already even gotten lost in the halls at the beginning. An older scary looking student seemed to see his misery and silently brought him to the great hall. Tao wasn't even able to thank him before the other vanished in the sea of students.

He had felt rather insecure when everyone had looked at him curiously when it was his turn with the sorting hat. The moment the hat bellowed a loud "Hufflepuff!", he was just glad to be able to get out of the spotlight. Back then the students at the other house tables had looked at him funnily. Tao wasn't blind, he knew he looked rather intimidating with his height and constant glower, unfitting to be a Hufflepuff. His wushu trained body didn't help exactly with making friends. At his old school he used to have the reputation of a bad boy, even though his record was totally clean and he had never even touched a cigarette or alcohole.

The Hufflepuff table had welcomed him warmly though and a group of older students has taken him under their wing, Junmyeon ("Call me Suho") had taken a special liking to him and treats him like a mother would her son.

Now in the middle of the fourth year his reputation of being scary still hasn't exactly cleared up. The only people who believe in him being nice is his own house.

They had pretty quickly noticed it when Tao stormed into the common room heavily crying one evening not soon after his transfere. He had immediatly burried himself into Suho's arms. When the latter asked him what was wrong, he had quietly told him how a ghost had scared him when taking a shower. The whole common room had been silent in shock for a while before they immediatly cooed at him while rubbing his back and asked him which ghost it was, so they could scold them for him.

The other houses didn't really believe the Hufflepuff students though without real evidence and Tao isn't exactly planning to make a fool of himself again in front of other students, so his bad reputation stays.

He is sitting at his table and getting out his stuff for his potions class when he hears someone sitting down next to him. He curiously looks up, wondering who it is since he usually sits alone. He is rather happy to finally have a seat neighbour since he doesn't like to be alone and he's also not exactly the best in mixing potions. His smile immediatly vanishes though when he sees who it is. Sitting next to him is Oh Sehun. Tao knows of him because Sehun is the best student in potions class in their year, and also because he has a constant glare that's even worse than his own. The Slytherin has the reputation of being rather mean and cold.

With dismay Tao notes that all the other seats seem to be taken already. He spares another quick glance at his new seat mate only to quickly whip his head back when Sehun catches him staring. This class just became even less fun.

The lesson felt like it had taken various hours and Tao can say, that this has been the most tense potions class he has ever had. He and Sehun had barely talked, only interacting when necessary and Sehun had pretty much done all the work alone, so Tao felt useless, too. He was just really happy that it was finally over.

After leaving the class room Tao is thinking about which way will be the fastest to the great hall when he sees Minseok out of the corner of his eyes. Just yesterday he had watched some korean dramas to train his korean and is excited to show the elder. So it is with a bright smile that he waves wildly and shouts enthusiasticly.

"Minseok oppa!!"

Minseok and a few other students promptly stop whatever they were doing and look over to him with a startled expression. Tao smiles at him expactantly only for the other to tell him

"Zitao, only girls are supposed to call elder boys 'oppa' ".

Tao's smile slowly slips of his face as he takes in the new information. Immeditly his whole face flushes in embarrassment. He can hear some students who understood the situation giggling and Minseok was patting his shoulder comfortingly, telling him that he would get it right next time. Only when he hears loud snorts and giggles coming from behinde him, he breaks out of his stupor and turns around to look who it is. To his great shock, it's Sehun who is holding his stomach and laughing uncontrollably at Tao's situation. Sehun's face has a bright smile, his nose scrunching up and his eyes completely disappearing, and Tao notes with wonder how he suddenly doesn't look intimidating at all now, he even looks funny, if not cute.

Tao's ears and cheeks are still red but he smiles lightly at the Slytherin nonetheless.

"Stop laughing! It isn't even that funny."

Sehun just snorts and starts giggling again.

Minseok watches the whole scene with a smile before voicing his own thoughts.

"Don't worry, I won't tell the others, Taozi."

Before he can even utter a sheepish thanks, Sehun's loud squawk interrupts him.

"Taozi!? As in peach!?", the blonde doubles over in laughter again and Tao would be embarrassed if the other didn't look so funny when laughing. So he also starts giggling a bit at the strange situation.

"Stop laughing or I will start calling you 'Oppa'!"

Sehun just keeps laughing and it was on that day that Zitao lost his bad reputation and gained a new friend.

Since then Tao and Sehun have started sitting together in every class they share and quickly became best friends. They still keep calling each other 'Peach' and 'Sehun oppa' and don't plan to change that any day.

At the beginning of Tao's fifth year Suho brings some of his other friends with him to Hogsmeade, they join them at their usual table. Tao immeditaly recognizes the tallest one, it was the student who had helped him on his first day. He had seen him various times in the halls after he had gotten the feeling of being watched. But the elder was always going the opposite direction from him so Tao had brushed it of as his paranoia. He waits patiently for Suho to introduce them all before he can say his thanks.

"I don't know if you still remember, but you helped me find the way on my first day.", he shyly says, looking up at the other, now known to him as Kris, "I didn't get the chance to thank you back then, so I want to say thank you now."

He feels shy under the taller's scrutinizing gaze and quickly lowers his head, looking at his shoes.

Suho smiles happily at them both, glad to see that some of his friends already seem to know each other. Sehun looks curiously at them and throws an arm over Tao's shoulder.

Somehow Kris' glare suddenly intensifies and Tao can actually feel the temperature drop in the room. He cowers into his best friend's side and if it's even possible, Kris' expression turns more sour than it already was. The elder klicks his tongue in annoyance and averts his gaze somewhere else.

"You're right", Tao immediatly perks up at Kris' answer, "I don't remember."

His shoulders slump and he can feel embarrassment and disappointment coursing through his veins. Kris stands up and goes to the counter, grumbling something about getting a drink, Suho follows him, berating the other on how he should treat his 'sweet peach' better. Next to Tao Jonghyun patts his knee consolingly and offers him some of his waffle. He takes a bite, thankful that his older friends are so nice to him. Sensing Tao's sad mood, Sehun squeezes his shoulder and glares into the direction Kris went to.

"What crawled up his and died?", the Slytherin asks with contempt.

"No wonder he is known for being a scary prefect in our house. Does he have to give Slytherin a worse reputation than it already has?"

Tao perks up a bit at hearing those news. He doesn't want to believe stupid rumours, after all the ones about him and Sehun had been totally wrong. And Kris has already showed that he cares when he helped Tao back then. So Tao forms a small plan in his head to show the other students that there is more to the Slytherin prefect than just his intimidating looks.

After the rumours about Tao had been proven wrong, there had been some students who came up to him and had initialized conversation. Baekhyun had been one of those people.

Shortly after the incident with Sehun, Tao has been sitting alone in the library, reading a book about mythical creatures in China when suddenly a squeal came from the library's entrance. He barely has enough time to turn around before he has his arms full with a Gryffindor student. Confusedly he lookes up and sees two other Gryffindor students, who are rather tall, make their way