Jonghyun’s legs wouldn’t move. His heart pounded loudly in his chest, his stomach churned and all Jonghyun wanted to do was run. Out of the library, down the hallway, and all the way to the safety of the Hufflepuff common room. Kibum’s eyes hadn’t even lifted yet, but Jonghyun already feared embarrassing himself before the other boy. And Jonghyun was certain that this was him. He had spotted him instantaneously, despite Kibum being seated by the far window. It wasn’t the green lining of the robs. It wasn’t the Korean facial features, nor the glasses that the boy wore which gave his identity away. No. It was the air of immortality which seemed to simply exude off Kibum’s form. His expression, his posture, his entire being. It screamed untouchable. And it intimidated Jonghyun immensely.

He unconsciously felt one foot shuffling back, his nerves getting the best of him. He seriously contemplated leaving. Turning around and never coming back. And he might’ve, as well. If in that moment, Kibum’s eyes hadn’t lifted from his book to instead watch the library door, landing upon Jonghyun’s frozen figure. Jonghyun cussed inwardly, and a rouge shaded his cheeks. Now he’d done it. Already embarrassed himself before the younger boy.

He must think I’m some weirdo, Jonghyun thought. Just staring at him like that. Maybe he thinks I’m a wimp. His insides jolted. Merlin… He probably recognises me from around school and didn’t know my name and now he’s regretting ever agreeing to tutor such a loser –

But then he waved. Kibum, the untouchable, Slytherin genius, waved. At Jonghyun. And it wasn’t just a small wave of the fingers which would have acknowledged Jonghyun’s presence well enough. The Slytherin’s arm had shot above his head, and from his position by the window, his hand waved back and forth enthusiastically, a wide grin adorning his previously stoic face.

Jonghyun’s stomach churned again, but this time, he was fairly certain it wasn’t due to fear. Taking the plunge, he took a step forward, and then another, until he was standing on the opposite side of Kibum. He breathed in deeply.

‘Hi.’ Jonghyun said pathetically.

‘Hi.’ replied Kibum, and somehow, it didn’t seem so pathetic. ‘You are Jonghyun, right? ‘Cause if not, this is about to get really awkward.’

Jonghyun couldn’t help himself. He laughed. ‘I am Jonghyun, don’t worry. And you definitely must be Kibum, because I haven’t heard anyone pronounce my name so well since coming to Hogwarts.’

And then Kibum started talking in Korean. Jonghyun nearly fainted on the spot. ‘Dumbledore told me you were having some difficulties with pronunciation, so I’m assuming you speak Korean, right?’

Overwhelmed, Jonghyun sat in the seat across from Kibum. He wouldn’t admit that it was because he was sure he legs would have given out beneath him if he had remained standing. ‘Yeah. I like your Daegu accent, by the way.’ Why Jonghyun had said that, he did not know.

Kibum chuckled and leaned forward to slap Jonghyun playfully on the arm. ‘Flirting isn’t going to get you anywhere, buddy.’

Jonghyun choked on air. ‘I wasn’t – I’m not flirting!’

Kibum winked, before leaning down to get his books out. Jonghyun didn’t think he’d ever been so red, and hurriedly followed suit in an attempt to cover the blush.

‘So, what subject do you think you’re struggling most with?’ Kibum questioned upon laying his books out.

Humming in thought, Jonghyun responded. ‘I think… Transfiguration. ‘Cause there’s so much spell work. But I’m not doing too well in Potions either. It’s just all the practical stuff, I guess.’ He bit his lip. The truth was, he was rubbish at every subject. Kibum must already be regretting his decision.

‘That’s fair enough, it’s a little bit nerve-wracking, isn’t it? And then when the spell doesn’t work the first time it feels like everyone’s watching you… waiting for you to screw up again. I totally get it.’ Kibum’s response had not been what Jonghyun was expecting, and he felt himself staring at the younger boy with wide eyes.

‘Yeah…’ Jonghyun agreed lamely. ‘That’s exactly what it’s like.’

Kibum rested his cheek against the palm of his hand and studied Jonghyun for a few seconds. ‘You don’t believe me, right? You’re thinking, ‘If he gets nervous in class, then why are his grades so good?’’

For a brief moment, Jonghyun wished that his cheeks didn’t flame up so easily. He awkwardly looked down at his books. It was difficult to maintain eye contact. ‘Well… yeah.’

‘I’ll give you a little tip.’ Kibum grinned, and if Jonghyun had been looking in his direction, he probably would have found himself passing out at the mere sight of the Slytherin’s dimples. ‘Rather than imagining Snape, or McGonagall, or the entire class watching you do the spell, imagine it’s someone you really admire. Someone you want to impress.’

Jonghyun was doubtful. ‘I’m pretty sure that would only make things worse. I don’t think I’d want those people watching me screw up.’

‘Exactly!’ exclaimed Kibum. ‘Since you actually care about their opinion, you unconsciously work harder at the thought of them watching you because you want to impress them. Like, for example, I imagine my grandma watching me since she’s been with me since I was a baby and would understand how much I’ve improved over time. If that makes any sense.’

Yep, still doubtful. ‘It does make sense, I guess. But I don’t know… The more you want to impress these people, the less you want to stuff up. And that’s what makes me so anxious in the first place – Not wanting to embarrass myself in front of people.’ Jonghyun could barely believe he was telling Kibum, a stranger, some of his innermost thoughts.

Kibum hummed. ‘Well, yes, I suppose. I guess I didn’t really think of it like that. Not to worry, on to plan two!’

Jonghyun could barely believe how enthusiastic his tutor was. Looking at him from across the library, Kibum had appeared stoic, arrogant, and quite aristocratic. But now that he’d begun actually talking, it was as though a completely different being had taken over. As Kibum spoke, his hands flailed everywhere in explanation, and whenever he laughed, he threw his whole body back and stamped his feet excitedly, as though it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. Jonghyun was in awe. Perhaps the best thing so far about Kibum, Jonghyun concluded, was the mere fact that he seemed to never shut up. His chatter filled the awkward silences Jonghyun feared so much, and if Jonghyun didn’t have the answer to something, it didn’t matter, because Kibum was likely to tell him anyway.

‘So, we’ll start with the theory for all your subjects. We’ll revise it until you memorise everything practically by heart, so that when we move on to practical work, you won’t have to think too hard about wand movements, or how fine you need to crush your snake fangs. Sound good?’

Jonghyun nodded. It did sound rather good.

Kibum beamed. ‘Perfect! Now, do you mind if I take a look at your Transfiguration notes?’

This was it. The moment Kibum was going to realise just what he’d gotten himself into. Jonghyun could already feel the humiliation crawling over his skin, dreading what was sure to come. He hesitated for a short moment before resigning to his fate. He opened his Transfiguration notebook and nudged it towards Kibum.

He awed at the notebook. ‘How did you bind your parchment like this? And what kind of ink do you use?’

Jonghyun laughed. ‘It’s muggle. They call it paper and pen. Neat, right?’

‘It’s much thinner than parchment…’ Kibum mused. ‘It’s quite practical. Your notes themselves on the other hand…’

Jonghyun swore he tasted bile at the back of his throat.

‘They’re not too bad. You’ve covered all the information, definitely. But see how you’ve copied McGonagall’s notes word for word? It makes it a lot harder to remember facts and make sense of things. The key is to only write down the main points – and in your own words. Here, take a look.’ Kibum pushed his own notes over. ‘I don’t want you to have to write everything again though… Maybe if you just underline the main bits? And see if you draw an arrow here –’ he pointed to a paragraph of Jonghyun’s notes, ‘and then summarise it in a little box over here. Just so you don’t have to reread the massive paragraph every time to get information.’

Embarrassment fading, Jonghyun could only listen and watch in amazement. In a hurry, Jonghyun turned to fish for something in his bag. He pulled out a yellow highlighter, and highlighted a few key sentences, before drawing the arrow with a black pen. Kibum halted his explanation and stared at Jonghyun with intrigue. ‘What’s this? This colourful quill?’

‘It’s called a highlighter.’ Jonghyun explained with a grin, passing it over for Kibum’s examination.

‘Pretty nifty… I guess muggles aren’t completely useless.’

Jonghyun felt his grin falter. Did Kibum realise that he was muggleborn? His breaths felt suddenly shorter than usual, worry clouding his vision. But before he could dwell on the possibility of Kibum disliking him due to his blood status, the fifth year continued.

‘My mother always told me stories of muggles – about how they lived like peasants. Safe to say, when I came to Hogwarts, I realised that wasn’t the case at all. Some muggle stuff, like this highlighter, actually seems pretty cool. Are you muggleborn?’

Swallowing thickly, Jonghyun nodded. ‘Yeah.’ he responded, voice barely a whisper.

‘That’s kinda cool. Can I tell you a story?’

Jonghyun was well aware that they were meant to be studying in that moment, but found himself nodding in agreement nonetheless.

‘Okay, okay.’ An excited expression overcame Kibum’s face, and he bounced in his seat. In an instant, Transfiguration was in the furthest corner of Jonghyun’s mind. ‘So, there’s this muggleborn boy in third year – he’s Slytherin as well, so you can imagine he gets a lot of . But anyway, so last year, a few gits sneaked into his dormitory and hid a whole bunch of his belongings. One of them happened to be a muggle magazine, which I managed to find under a cushion in the common room a few days later. And look, I should have given it back to him. I was planning on it – really. But the clothes the muggles were wearing were brilliant. Bright colours, fancy hats, shoes with platforms. So I took it. Still got it stashed away in my trunk somewhere.’ Kibum was blushing bright red now, but his eyes glowed with a mirth unlike any other.

Jonghyun had never seen a more endearing sight. Though his Hufflepuff conscience still managed to get the best of him. ‘You shouldn’t have stolen it…’ he replied.

Kibum smirked. ‘You’re smiling as you say that.’

‘Well – I mean – It’s… still funny.’ And then he snorted. Dear Merlin, he snorted. He covered his mouth in embarrassment.

Kibum didn’t seem to mind in the slightest, head thrown back in loud laughter. He ignored the glare Madam Pince was sending their way and imitated Jonghyun’s snort, before bursting out in a new fit of giggles.

‘Kibum, sshh.’ Jonghyun tried to hush, highly discomforted by the librarian’s expression. ‘We’ll get in trouble.’

Kibum shook his head. ‘Don’t worry, Madam Pince loves me.’

‘If she knew about your book stealing habits, she wouldn’t.’

Feigning offence, Kibum quipped. ‘Excuse me, but I don’t appreciate you speaking about my dark secrets so frivolously.’

‘I still think you should give the magazine back.’ Jonghyun spoke. A pout embellished Kibum’s face. ‘If you want… I can buy you a whole bunch of newer muggle magazines over Christmas break? Or ask my mum to send some?’ And as quickly as it had come, the pout was gone.

‘You’d really do that?’ Kibum asked, hope shimmering in chocolate orbs.

Jonghyun grinned, ‘Of course. But… we have to make sure my grades are up before then. And you have to give the third year his magazine back.’

Kibum nodded fervently. ‘Definitely! The grades are going up, either way.’ He cast a Tempus. ‘Now, our time for today is basically up, but first we have to figure out a little schedule for the rest of the year. What days are you busy?’

‘No days, really. I’m free whenever.’ Jonghyun wrung his hands awkwardly.

Kibum smiled, and whether he meant for it to be or not, it was oddly comforting. ‘Perfect. Well, I do have prefect duties on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but other than that, I’m usually free. We can make our schedule now, but if anything comes up which prevents us from attending a session, we’ll be sure to owl the other person. Sound good?’

‘Yeah, sounds good.’ Jonghyun replied, ripping out a blank sheet from his notebook and writing the header, Tutoring Schedule.

‘Alright,’ Kibum began. ‘We’ll do Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, seven until eight. And then every Sunday, two until four.’

Jonghyun gulped. That was a lot of studying.

‘I know it sounds a bit overwhelming, but it’s good to get into habit. Besides, something tells me we’re going to end up doing a lot more talking than studying anyway.’ Kibum beamed mischievously, and Jonghyun laughed in response.

‘You’re right.’ he replied. ‘That sounds fine then.’

Kibum clapped his hands together once. ‘Right. Now, onto your homework.’

‘Homework?!’

‘I swear it’s just this once. We didn’t get much done today, and I don’t want you to get into any trouble in class tomorrow.’ Jonghyun felt his chest warm. ‘So, I just want you to go through these spells,’ Kibum wrote down twenty transfiguration spells on a spare piece of parchment. ‘And memorise their wand movements off by heart. Try and say them aloud when you practice as well, just to get used to the pronunciation.’

Jonghyun nodded softly as he took the piece of parchment from Kibum. He supposed that was fair enough.

Packing away his things, Kibum stood from his seat and flashed Jonghyun a wide smile. ‘This was fun,’ he spoke in Korean. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Don’t let Snape and McGonagall get you down.’

Jonghyun’s heart lurched. ‘R-Right. Thank you, Kibum. See you tomorrow.’

And then the Slytherin was off, walking towards the library exit as though the world was in the palm of his hands. With a life like his, it probably was.

Packing away his belongings, Jonghyun concluded he really liked it when Kibum said his name. And Kibum wouldn’t admit it, but he really liked it when Jonghyun said his name too.