kino brushes his teeth and combs his hair as he preps for his return back to hogwarts. as he walks back into his room, he sighs as he looks at his half empty suitcase and his empty owl cage. his owl archie hasn’t came back yet and he still can’t decide if he wants to bring his old clothes to hogwarts or if he wants to change his image and bring his nicer stuff instead.

but his mom rushes him from the kitchen and kino just shoves his old clothes into his suitcase and zips it up as archie flies through the window and obediently lands on the perch in its cage. kino shuts the cage door close and heads into the kitchen. what does it matter if he even attempts to change his image? his robes will cover his clothes anyway, and besides, it’s not like anyone would even notice. kino’s close to invisible.

not that he minds, of course. he likes how he can walk down hallways without getting stopped by others for small chit-chat, how he can read on the balcony without getting disturbed, and how he can daydream in class without getting noticed by his professors. he lives quite peacefully, and even with his new friends, they don’t bother him too much either.

he met suho in the library last year when kino couldn’t find an open table and suho scooted his things over for his “slytherin brother.” surprisingly to kino, they conversed really well. they were interested in the same subjects, the same topics, the same type of books. they meshed better than anyone else he’s ever met before. kino thinks that him and suho might’ve shared a room together his second year and suho’s fourth year, but he really isn’t too sure. suho invited him to eat lunch with him and his friends afterwards, and the rest has been history. 

there’s suho, jungwoo, daniel, jaebum, and now kino. suho’s in his seventh year and he’s a fellow slytherin; he’s crazy smart and plans on becoming an auror when he grows up (which is controversial within his class because no one believes that slytherins are cut out for the job). jungwoo’s a sixth year gryffindor; he’s outgoing and he charms everyone around him like a true gryffindor stereotype. daniel is a fifth year like kino, and he’s a hufflepuff; daniel’s dating yerim from slytherin, and everyone in slytherin knows her because yerim was nominated (and won) the spot for this year’s fifth year prefect position. jaebum is a third year hufflepuff; he’s friendly and very talkative, but he was kind of cute and adoring, like a younger brother.

the group is actually pretty great, and kino never really missed being in a group of friends until he saw them make various jokes, offer each other food, and vibe with each other. he was glad that he was accepted as one of them, although he’s quite sad that this will be suho’s last year at hogwarts before he graduates. he’s not crazy close to all of them yet, but their future seems promising.

kino kisses his mother’s cheek goodbye and he takes a cab to the train station. he arrives, heads to platform 9 and ¾, and loads his belongs onto the side of the train before he boards it. he’s talking to the sixth year slytherin prefect jaehyun when someone bumps into him.

“oh, sorry!” a brunette male apologizes with a small smile before he runs down the aisle and meets up with his friends. kino was about to scowl and curse the guy mentally when he notices who the brunette actually is.

it’s byun baekhyun, one of the more popular asian fourth years at hogwarts. kino knows this because he’s best friends with dong sicheng, the even more popular fifth year. if baekhyun was popular among the asian community at hogwarts, then sicheng was popular throughout the entire hogwarts student body. no one could resist the charismatic, friendly seeker from hufflepuff. it was a wonder why sicheng wasn’t sorted into gryffindor, since he seemed to match those characteristics more, but there must be a reason behind it. it was quite rare for hufflepuff to have popular students, but sicheng was truly an exception. he was the swiftest seeker hogwarts has ever seen, he’s friendly to everyone he meets, and his smile has the glow of a thousand suns. no one was able to resist sicheng’s charms; not even kino.

kino remembers the day where he first fell for sicheng. he was in the east wing, on the balcony, reading 38 Useful Wizarding Tips when there was a swoosh of air and a loud squawk. kino looked up from his book and there he was: sicheng’s hair was dyed blonde back when they were both in their second year, so his entire being glowed like a golden sunshine on a clear spring day. he was chasing a falcon that swooped down and stole a rabbit from the gardens below, attempting to save the rabbit’s life. sicheng caught it in one swift motion with ease, before he let both of the animals free after he separated them. kino’s never been one who was sensitive or emotional about these things, but he had never seen anyone so majestic.

after that, kino caught himself looking for sicheng whenever he walks into crowded spaces. he watches sicheng from afar, never able to muster up the courage to talk to him. sicheng has approached him multiple times, but kino stuttered like the mess he was and ran away as quickly as possible to avoid embarrassing himself further. once, sicheng asked if he wanted to buy a bracelet for charity, and kino didn’t have any money on him, so he told sicheng that he would get some and then come back. later on that day, he had his pouch full of galleons and sickles and went out to find sicheng to buy a bracelet, but once he found him, he overheard sicheng tell another classmate that he had already sold out, so kino just sulked away into a hidden corridor in silence.

sicheng is the type to outshine everything he touches, the type that would never notice kino if it weren’t for accidental bump-ins or coincidental meetings. last year, sicheng got about fifty different invitations to the yule ball, while he got none. sicheng probably had a great time with whoever he chose; kino wouldn’t know. he didn’t go.

kino finishes his conversation with jaehyun before he walks down the aisle to find an empty booth, when he unknowingly gets closer and closer to the same group that baekhyun was greeting.

“kino!” someone calls his name, and he looks up startled. it’s daniel, and he’s with his girlfriend and… baekhyun and sicheng. he freezes in his spot. sicheng is sporting a new haircut and a white button up, the classic hufflepuff tie, and a black sweater vest overtop of it all. kino’s seen sicheng up close a number of times, and his opinion never changes; sicheng is so ing dashing. it has to be illegal.

“oh,” baekhyun’s face flashes in recognition, “i bumped into you just now. sorry about that, again. i didn’t mean to do that, promise! i was just rushing and i wasn’t looking carefully…”

baekhyun flashes a dazzling smile and rubs the back of his neck meekly, making kino feel mesmerized all over again. handsome people do just hangout with other handsome individuals.

kino mutters a small, “it’s okay…” before daniel pulls at his arm and introduces him to his girlfriend, “yerim, this is kino! my new friend i was talking about yesterday.”

yerim gives him a friendly smile, “ah, yes. kang kino, right? i think we had a defense against the dark arts class together last year. you practically saved me last year. you always went before me and you did every spell perfectly.”

“i…” kino starts, but nothing comes out. he doesn’t know how to reply. jaebum and jungwoo are really personable, but these three are truly something else. the aura that they give off… no wonder they have such a big following at hogwarts. kino collects his thoughts back and straightens his posture, “i, um, i don’t think i did anything for your thanks but… no problem? i think.”

daniel laughs, “kino, you’re being so shy. you weren’t like this when you first met me, though?”

kino feels his cheeks warming up from getting teased, but he gets distracted from someone’s soft laughs. he looks up to see sicheng laughing with a brilliant set of teeth and cute dimples. kino thinks his heart is going to run straight out of his chest. sicheng shakes his head, “daniel, don’t like that.”

sicheng then turns to look at him, his eyes oozing with the type of warmth that wrapped kino’s entire body in a blanket fresh out of the dryer, before introducing himself, “hi kino! i think i’ve talked to you a couple of times before, but if you forgot who i am… i’m sicheng!”

kino’s mind begins to spin in a million different directions. how… how was he supposed to reply to this? sicheng remembers talking to him? does that mean he remembers the time when sicheng asked him how to get to professor kremlin’s office, or when sicheng told him that his shoes were untied, or when sicheng offered him a package of tissues because his nose was sniffling loudly in the library? it’s getting hard to breathe, kino thinks, and he barely sputters out, “o-oh, yeah. i… i remember you.”

sicheng’s face lights up a little bit, “oh! you do? that’s great! i hope we’ll get to talk more this year, then.”

kino feels his breath getting stuck in his throat as he nods wordlessly, attempting a smile, but it feels slightly forced. silence falls on them before baekhyun laughs awkwardly to ease up the tension, “well, it was nice meeting you, kino. sicheng and i are going to find a booth now, so… prefect yerim, join us later on if you want! bye daniel, bye kino! see you guys later!”

sicheng flashes kino another smile before baekhyun pulls him away, and kino’s pulse begins to fall back into its normal rhythm. daniel laughs a bit, “kino, bro, are you okay? i’ve never seen you so… flustered?”

“if you’re intimidated by sicheng, don’t be,” yerim tries to comfort him, “everyone thinks he’s this big shot kinda guy, but he’s really nice and genuine. i mean, i wouldn’t be best friends with him if he weren’t.”

“i… i’m not intimidated by him,” kino admits, “i just… i’m not comfortable meeting new people so suddenly like this.”

yerim gives a reassuring shrug and claps him on the shoulder, “you’ll get used to him eventually, and then soon he’ll be like… one of the boys!”

kino nods his head weakly in response. as he stands awkwardly to the side while the couple talk about other things, he can’t help but think about how he doesn’t want to think of sicheng as ‘one-of-the-boys’. he just wanted sicheng to be his boy. sometimes, he thinks about how they would be together if they were a couple. would sicheng help him come out of his shell and socialize more with the people around him? or would kino help sicheng develop more “homebody” characteristics? when kino thinks of sicheng, he imagines scenarios of them sharing snacks while they’re studying or they’re kissing passionately on a hidden balcony. 

his cheeks start warming up again as he pulls himself back into reality. he looks down the aisle and he catches sicheng laughing with a couple girls from gryffindor, and his heart sinks a little. sicheng would probably never date someone like him. they’re almost complete opposites and he seems like the type of person that needs someone who can keep up with him (something kino’s not sure he can do with confidence). it was rumored that sicheng would’ve been sorted into gryffindor if he wasn’t so ‘over-emotional’ (so kino as heard) and loyal to his beliefs, which is ironic because there isn’t a house he hates more than gryffindor. they’re generally so cocky and overconfident. maybe one day he’ll realize that it’s pointless to hold onto this fantasy of him and sicheng getting together and he’ll get over it. 

after all, it is just the perception of sicheng that he fell in love with.