Sitting on one of the benches in the stands and doing his homework while Slytherin was having their Quidditch trials wasn’t Baekhyun’s brightest idea. Not that he cared much about who their new Beater or Chasers were going to be (he should though, since those were the people whose playing styles he wasn’t familiar with yet). At any rate, it was the Captain whom he was there waiting for. The annoyingly good-looking and good at flying and good at everything (except Transfiguration and Divination) Captain of the Slytherin team. He should be doing his homework while waiting. Should be.

 

Except he found himself unable to concentrate every time he so much as heard Chanyeol giving out orders or saw the Slytherin mounting his broom and flying up to where the goals were to take notes about the tryouts. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that Park Chanyeol was distracting whenever it came to him in his Quidditch uniform while doing Quidditch things. Which was every Quidditch match, practice, and trial, so Baekhyun didn’t know why he had agreed to wait at the spectator’s stand.

 

“Byun! How much longer are you going to sit there and take notes about our strategy?”

 

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun shut his Charms textbook loudly and looked at the Slytherin Chaser now hovering on a broom in front of him. He was Lee…something. “I don’t care about your strategies. Ravenclaw doesn’t need them to beat you guys.” As Lee-something was about to open his mouth, Baekhyun reached for his wand, ready to cast a muting spell on the other when he remembered that there was a shiny ‘P’ badge on his robe and released his grip from his wand as he flashed the Quidditch player a disarming smile. “Your Captain’s calling you.” No, Chanyeol wasn’t, really.

 

As Lee-what-was-his-name-again turned around, Baekhyun packed up his things at record speed and rushed towards the stairs. No doubt Lee-whatever would be shocked at how fast Baekhyun had left.

 

Hurrying down the stairs, Baekhyun’s messenger school bag slipped off his shoulder a few times and he had to struggle to pull it back up since his other hand was occupied with several books. The moment he reached the field level, his bag once again, fell.

 

“Merlin,” he groaned before he began to stuff more books into his bag after adjusting it. Without looking up, Baekhyun continued walking and slammed right into someone’s chest. “Oh fu – ” he grabbed his nose on instinct, assuming that it got broken by the impact because he was paranoid like that.

 

“Baekhyun, are you alright?” Chanyeol asked worriedly, grabbing Baekhyun’s wrist gently to pull it away from his nose. Leaning in closer, Chanyeol tilted his head left and right as if he could properly check if Baekhyun was fine like that. “Did I break your nose? Do you need to go to the hospital wing?”

 

Looking unsure, Baekhyun raised his other hand and tapped the bridge of his nose a few times, making Chanyeol chuckle. There was no way he could break his nose from that, Chanyeol’s chest wasn’t even that hard.

 

Pulling Baekhyun’s hand away again, Chanyeol laughed as he said, “stop that. You’re being too cute.”

 

Ignoring the comment, Baekhyun wrinkled his nose and pulled his hand away from Chanyeol. “Why are you here?”

 

Using a thumb to gesture behind, Chanyeol explained, “trials ended.”

 

“When?” Baekhyun asked, slightly perplexed.

 

“Just?” Chanyeol offered. “Weren’t you talking to Taeyong? Or was he bothering you?”

 

Oh yes, Lee Taeyong. Third Year. He should be a Third Year. “He was telling me off for stealing your strategies,” Baekhyun recounted drily.

 

At that, Chanyeol’s eyes widened to a comical extent.

 

Scowling back at Chanyeol, Baekhyun resisted the urge to transfigure his boyfriend into an owl right there on the spot. “I wasn’t taking notes about your strategies. I was trying to do my homework. What notes were there to take anyway?”

 

Shoulders relaxing, Chanyeol swung his arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder, making the Ravenclaw frown deeper. “Trying to do your homework, you say?”

 

“Not the main point.” Baekhyun began walking, hoping that it would shake Chanyeol off but to no avail. It wasn’t fair that the Slytherin could grow so tall. In his own opinion, Baekhyun thought that he was by no means short. Chanyeol was just too tall. “I wasn’t trying to steal your strategies,” he repeated.

 

“I know.”

 

“No, you don’t. I could be stealing your Quidditch strategies right under your nose the whole time and you wouldn’t know.”

 

“We’ll talk about that when you no longer get distracted by me in my uniform anymore.”

 

Stopping in his tracks, Baekhyun turned to Chanyeol in horror. “Who told you that?”

 

“You.”

 

“I did not.”

 

“You’re always staring at me, Baek.” Facing Baekhyun fully, Chanyeol bent down so that they were at eye-level. “Always staring. Sometimes I wonder how long you can stare at somewhere but I don’t ever count. I just make sure not to be an idiot whenever you’re looking. I just make sure that you won’t take your eyes off me. I just make sure that there’s no one else you’ll look at.”

 

Pressing his lips together tightly, Baekhyun resisted the urge to smile like a fool. Smacking his lips lightly, Baekhyun moved his face closer to Chanyeol. “You’re very handsome.” Having said that, Baekhyun nodded at the Slytherin with sparkling eyes and was about to move away when Chanyeol caught his hand.

 

Turning Baekhyun back around, Chanyeol crashed their lips together messily. In fact, he had missed Baekhyun’s lips and ended up kissing the side of the Ravenclaw’s lips instead. It was only when the prefect shifted and connected their mouths properly did they start kissing for real. The taste of pumpkin spice lingered on Baekhyun’s tongue as he swiped it over Chanyeol’s lips.

 

 

 

 

 

“Are you planning to work for the Ministry?” Chanyeol asked out of the blue when he was studying in the library with Baekhyun. When no reply came from the Ravenclaw, Chanyeol repeated his question. Again, Baekhyun didn’t answer but Chanyeol was determined to get a response. “Are you planning to work for the Ministry?” He punctuated each word with a kick to Baekhyun’s leg.

 

Returning with a harder kick, Baekhyun continued reading his book, unsympathetic to Chanyeol’s whimper of pain. “I don’t know yet. Why?” he replied after a while.

 

Gesturing wildly to all the books and the parchment and the quill laid out in front of Baekhyun (not that the Ravenclaw could see), Chanyeol then looked at the single book lying open in front of himself. “Then why are you studying so hard?”

 

A pause, a flip of a page, and then, “because I want to.”

 

“You don’t have to if we decide to be Quidditch players eventually.”

 

Upon hearing Chanyeol’s words, Baekhyun finally looked up. “We?”

 

Nodding excitedly, Chanyeol’s eyes sparkled as he spoke. “Then we won’t have to be on opposite teams anymore. We don’t even have to fight for the same position seeing that you’re a Chaser and I’m a Beater. Thank Merlin that we both aren’t Keepers or Seekers.” As Baekhyun only blinked back at him, looking confused, Chanyeol’s heart sunk. “You don't seem too happy about this idea.”

 

Snapping out of his trance, Baekhyun quickly shook his head to reassure Chanyeol. “It’s not that. I just haven’t thought of it before.” His gaze was starting to drift off again until Chanyeol snapped his fingers in front of him, bringing him back to the present. “It’s genius,” Baekhyun concluded.

 

“Star players of the century.”

 

“Of the history.”

 

Grinning, Chanyeol quickly looked around before pressing a short and chaste kiss to Baekhyun’s lips. “Careful there. Ambition is supposed to be my thing.”

 

“Whatever,” Baekhyun scoffed, closing his book and then stretching his legs out. “I wish we could be Quidditch players on the same team. I wish we could stay together after graduation. It’s so easy in Hogwarts because we can see each other every day.”

 

Chuckling, Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s hand in his and kissed the Ravenclaw’s fingers. “What are you talking about, Baekhyun? You don’t have to wish for that. We just have to be that. Be together.”

 

“Easier said than done.”

 

“Just say the words and we’ll be always be together.”

 

“What’s the spell for that?” Baekhyun joked.

 

“You’re the best student in Charms, you tell me.” They both knew that Chanyeol was only teasing.

 

Checking his surroundings and seeing that everyone else was head deep into their books and essays, Baekhyun beckoned Chanyeol closer with a hand. Leaning over the table himself, Baekhyun only spoke when they were so close that their foreheads were almost touching. “I love you.”

 

The librarian walked past then, throwing them a dirty look, especially because he probably knew that Baekhyun was a prefect. But it was worth the way the tips of Chanyeol’s ears turned red and how his mouth couldn’t form the right shapes to say back the words properly.

 

 

 

 

 

With the first Quidditch match approaching, Slytherin’s practices could only increase exponentially. Ravenclaw’s ones were too since they were playing the second game, only a week away from the first. As for Baekhyun, he still had prefect duties on top of playing on the field so it took a while before Baekhyun and Chanyeol found a common weekend to go to Hogsmeade together. Never had seeing the caretaker tick their names off the list at the gate been so satisfying before.

 

Quickly finding a seat in a dark corner at Three Broomsticks and ordering their food and drinks, they proceeded to make out for five whole minutes which was, in their opinion, too short. But there was a time and place for snogging and the Three Broomsticks then wasn’t it.

 

Reluctantly breaking the kiss, Baekhyun adjusted his coat and moved back to his own seat.

 

Clearing his throat, Chanyeol nodded towards Baekhyun’s drink, ignoring the way two Gryffindor Fourth Years were openly staring at them with big curious eyes. “What have you got there?”

 

Scoffing, Baekhyun simply pointed to the mug that had a layer of foam at the top because it was self-explanatory. Glancing at the Fourth Years, Baekhyun waved at them, making them scramble for their drink so that they could pretend that they weren’t gawking at them. Facing back to Chanyeol, Baekhyun grinned at the approving smirk on the Slytherin’s face. “What else can I be drinking?” Lifting it up, Baekhyun brought it to his mouth and took a sip, scrunching his face up at the sweetness of it, making Chanyeol laugh, before he placed it back down and flashed Chanyeol a silly smile.

 

Without saying anything, Chanyeol lifted a hand to Baekhyun’s face, thumb coming out to swipe away a foam stain at the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth before wiping it on a handkerchief on the table. Subconsciously, Baekhyun’s tongue came out to the side of his mouth where Chanyeol’s thumb had been.

 

“Butterbeer,” Baekhyun began with a smile. “Always tastes good.”

 

“You find it too sweet,” Chanyeol countered. “I don’t know why you still always drink it.”

 

Taking another sip, Baekhyun found the taste better the second time, like he always did. “I don’t know why I do a lot of things to be honest. I don’t know why I’m dating you for instance,” he added just to tease the other.

 

“Funny, because I remember you giving me a list of reasons some time last year and over this summer,” came Chanyeol’s easy retort.

 

“I was drunk,” Baekhyun grumbled in defense.

 

“On Butterbeer,” Chanyeol said and pointed to Baekhyun’s drink.

 

Looking at the mug thoughtfully, Baekhyun rested his cheek against his palm. “I seem to have more reasons not to drink it.”

 

“And yet you still do.” Leaning back in his seat, Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun fondly. “You always amaze me, Baekhyun.”

 

There weren’t any words Baekhyun could say, only a smile he could offer.

 

Smirking slightly, Chanyeol bent forward so that he could speak softer as if he was talking about some kind of conspiracy to get rid of O.W.L.s that year. “So, there’s a Halloween Dance this year after the Feast.”

 

Raising a brow, Baekhyun tried remembering if he had heard about it somewhere. “Is there?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“There wasn’t an announcement,” Baekhyun reached the conclusion when his mind came up empty.

 

Stubbornly, Chanyeol insisted, “but there is.”

 

Squinting his eyes at Chanyeol suspiciously, Baekhyun pointed at the Slytherin. “What did you do this time?”

 

Pushing Baekhyun’s finger away, Chanyeol pouted. “Nothing!” he exclaimed, feigning hurt as he held onto Baekhyun’s hand. “My parents made a donation, that’s all.”

 

Squeezing Chanyeol’s hands, Baekhyun gave him a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Your family honestly has too much money to spare.”

 

Pausing, Chanyeol observed if there was a change in Baekhyun’s expression – there was none whatsoever. “Is that a bad thing?”

 

Shaking his head, Baekhyun casted his eyes downwards. “Not necessarily.”

 

“I hate it when you’re being cryptic,” Chanyeol chided, using his free hand to tilt Baekhyun’s chin up.

 

“I’m not being cryptic.”

 

“I hate it when you’re being a Ravenclaw.”

 

“Which is all the time,” Baekhyun pointed out with a laugh. “No one told you date me.”

 

“I told myself to,” Chanyeol responded honestly with a shrug. “I told myself, ‘I have to date that Ravenclaw’ and I’ll take full responsibility for it.” Baekhyun didn’t doubt him. Who could? “Enough of that anyway. Let’s get back to the main point.”

 

“Which is?”

 

“The Halloween Dance.”

 

Despite knowing where this was leading to, Baekhyun decided to play for a bit longer. “What about it?”

 

“Go with me.”

 

“Why are you even asking?”

 

“Is that a ‘yes’?”

 

“Chanyeol,” Baekhyun started with a dramatic sigh. “When have I ever said ‘no’ to you? Besides, who else could you have gone with if not me?”

 

Nodding to himself, Chanyeol did a little victory punch to the air. “Just wanted to make sure.”

 

“Make sure what?” Baekhyun whispered.

 

“That we’ll always be together,” Chanyeol answered without a moment’s hesitation.

 

The sides of Baekhyun’s lips automatically began to curve upwards as he crinkled his eyes at Chanyeol. It was a nice sentiment, a nice thought to keep in mind. It was romantic too, maybe a little scary with the idea of eternity. But it was something that Baekhyun didn’t mind having with Chanyeol. Now, if only there were a spell to make a forever last. Sure, there were potions and enchantments but neither of them were genuine nor the truth. Baekhyun knew that Chanyeol would tell him that they didn’t need a spell for something as simple as ‘forever’.

 

Now, if only Baekhyun could believe that.