“What are you playing at?” Chanyeol spat at Baekhyun as he walked through the door. Baekhyun was unsurprisingly half-assing his detention.

“Eeeh.. you mean because the blackboard is so squeaky clean?” Baekhyun said, startled but not unnerved. “Why use manual labor, when you can do it so much better with magic?” he added with a smirk.

“It's an important part of the punishment, to learn that you can't always take the easy way out and magic yourself out of any dilemma. You have to do it yourself.” Chanyeol lectured him.

“It's my magic, though. You can't say I didn't do it myself.” Baekhyun protested in an annoyingly sassy manner. There was no student in this entire school that got more on Chanyeol's nerves than Baekhyun. He was at the end of his patience.

“I spoke to the Gryffindor prefects about you.” Chanyeol told Baekhyun coldly, peering his eyes at him. This was the real reason he had sought Baekhyun out. He wasn't really in charge of Baekhyun's detention, the Gryffindor prefects were, but he had to get to the bottom of this.

“Oh? And did they tell you how wonderful I am, and how much they worship me?” Baekhyun snorted.

“They said that even though you're an annoying, little smart-arse who can never sit still, you're an unusually gifted student who never causes any real trouble. They were almost suspicious of me for reporting you so often.” Chanyeol wrinkled his eyebrows. There was something fishy about all this.

“Then I figured you were maybe being smart about this, not ting where you sleep, so I had a little conversation with the prefects in Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Some of them had never even heard of you.” Chanyeol was still dumbfounded. How was he always the one to bust Baekhyun? It didn't add up. He had even run some statistics of the likelihood of this being pure chance, and the probability was infinitely small.

“What's going on?” Chanyeol asked him straight out. He was tired of trying to figure this out on his own, his head hurt.

“What do you think is going on?” Baekhyun put up a mysterious grin, raising one of his eyebrows teasingly. Ugh. Chanyeol should have known better than to hope for a straight answer from him.

“You are up to something. I know you are.” Chanyeol said in a low, threatening voice, taking slow steps towards Baekhyun until he had cornered him up against the blackboard. He was trying to look menacing, scaring him into confessing.

“Am I?” Baekhyun just tilted his head and smirked.

“Why am I the only one catching you in the act all the time?” Chanyeol growled at him, leaning in even closer.

“Maybe you're just smarter than the others...” Baekhyun sent him a wink. There was something irritating in the lining of his voice, like he knew something Chanyeol didn't know.

“I'm smarter than to fall for your mind games.” Chanyeol bluffed convincingly.

“Are you now? ...then you should already know what I'm up to...” Baekhyun looked Chanyeol right in the eyes, maintaining eye-contact as he stepped half a step forward, so he was all up in his face. Then, oh so gently, Chanyeol felt Baekhyun's hand slide down the outside of his upper arm. His whole arm tingled, and the tingles started spreading from his arm all over his body.

Chanyeol jumped backwards. “What are you trying to do to me?!? What spell was that??” he asked him angrily.

“What do you mean?” Baekhyun wrinkled his eyebrows.

“Don't even... You did something. I felt it.” Chanyeol insisted. He did not take misuse of magic lightly.

“You felt it?” Baekhyun looked surprised. He was a good actor.

“Huh... interesting.” Baekhyun's face turned into a big, devious smile.

Ugh.

There was no winning with that guy. Chanyeol stormed out in a huff. Baekhyun was impossible and he was definitely up to no good. He was going to need a private cell in Azkaban, and a one way ticket.

***

“Today we will be tickling some Codariocalyx Motorius, or Dancing Grass, so named because they dance when you touch them at the base of their leaves, or their 'armpits', so to speak.” the Herbology professor chuckled.

She had clearly not finished what she had to say, but Sehun stuck his finger out, attempting to tickle the Dancing Grass in the pot in front of him. A tiny little face appeared on stem of the Dancing Grass, along with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. With a swift jerk of its agile stem, it sank those tiny teeth into Sehun's fingertip.

Sehun shrieked, jerked his hand back and hid behind Suho, on his poor finger, crouching down so only his eyes were peeking over Suho's shoulder.

“Oh, yes, right... be careful, because they bite!” the professor warned them, shaking her head at Sehun. “There is however a little trick to it, if you sing to them, they become much calmer and more eager to dance, so you better dust off your singing voices students, and let your light shine!”.

“The dancing makes them grow much faster, and since all the school's supplies were used up recently on curing a certain star seeker, the hospital is in dire need for some more.” she glanced pointedly in the direction of Jongin, who grinned sheepishly.

“So tickle away, students. Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!” she sang, giggling as she demonstrated how it was done without losing a finger in the process. She had a powerful singing voice, that carried all through the greenhouse.

“Oh Sehun, you should maybe pay a visit to the nurse, get her to bandage up your naughty finger. I'm assuming that the finger acted of its own accord and that you had no control over it tickling out of line?” she peered her eyes at Sehun when all the students had begun their tasks.

“Mhm, yep. Bad finger!” Sehun nodded profusely, eager to throw his finger under the bus and get out of whatever punishment the professor had lined up.

“Alright, then consider your finger grounded, it can't go anywhere unless it is accompanied by you. You have to be extra watchful over it from now on, making sure it doesn't step out of line again, or that finger might face some dire consequences.” the professor said sternly, clearly suppressing a giggle.

“Go on now, off to the nurse.” she waved him out.

“Uh, professor, if you have a first response chest, I can do it, I can take care of Sehun.” Suho stepped forward in protector mode.

“Ah, Mr. Kim to the rescue I see. Where would we be without you. Hmm, Dancing Grass is not poisonous, so it's just a simple cut. Go on then, the chest is in the back.” she waved them away. “Be sure to put some of my special Calendula Arnica healing mixture, it's in the chest, clearly marked.”.

Suho sat Sehun down in a tiny little work room at the back of the greenhouse and dug up the emergency chest. Most wizard households had a chest like this, with the most essential healing potions and creams for emergencies. But this chest was like no other, twice as big and full of all kinds of mixtures and foul smelling liquids and herbs.

Sehun whimpered at the sight of a tiny spec of blood on the tip of his finger, his lips quivering.

“Don't worry, I'll make you all better.” Suho smiled at him encouragingly, finding the right cream. He gently held Sehun's hand as he covered the barely visible wound with a large blob of cream. Sehun blushed.

Suho then proceeded to wrap up the finger in an endlessly long bandage. Sehun's finger looked like something out of a cartoon, it was at least three times as big as his other fingers and he was barely able to move it.

“No, you stay back and just watch. You are injured, you have to take it easy.” Suho instructed Sehun when they returned to class, sitting him down on a chair. Sehun grinned and nodded happily.

Suho started serenading their two dancing grass plants at the same time, his voice milky soft, lulling the plants into complacency. He then did a sneak tickle attack, one hand on each plant and they started dancing like they had never danced before.

“Wooooow, hyung!! You are the best!!” Sehun exclaimed in awe.

Suho looked back at Sehun, grinning proudly, showing off. While he was only paying attention to Sehun, the dancing grass used the opportunity and Suho got both his index fingers bit.

***

Kyungsoo saw a group of girls head down the hall towards him. Oh no. The giggles started immediately. Apparently Jongin's very loud declaration of their boyfriend-status had been overheard, and overnight they had become Hogwarts' most famous couple.

Kyungsoo hadn't even wrapped his head around what had happened yet, or how he was going to tackle the situation, and they already had a fan club. One that was growing by the minute, girls bursting into giggles in every nook and corner, following them around, hoping to glimpse them together, plotting to put them into situations where they were forced to kiss.

Luckily, Kyungsoo had managed to avoid any kind of skinship so far, but he had to be on his toes all day and all night. He never thought he would miss all the bullying, back when everyone hated him for hospitalizing Jongin. That was a much quieter time, and a much less difficult situation to navigate. This was like being thrown into a whole new alien world where he didn't even speak the language.

“Hey!” Jongin waved at him energetically with a bright smile, hurrying towards him.

“Hey...” Kyungsoo's cheeks turned into two furnaces, burning bright red. He didn't really know how to act around Jongin anymore.

“MISTLETOE!!” a tiny girl from first year squealed, holding a Muggle fishing rod with mistletoe attached to the end, waving it over their heads.

“You have to kiss.” she lost herself in a fit of giggles.

Oh no.

It wasn't the common mistletoe that had been commercialized for Christmas, in both the wizarding world as well as the Muggle world. Kyungsoo felt it at once. How had she got her hands on the original Greek plant that still had its ancient magical powers? It was extremely rare.

The common mistletoe had long since lost its magical powers and only tradition remained. People kissed under it because the memory of the old mistletoe, which enchanted people so they had no choice but to kiss, had turned into folklore and tradition, as so much of old nearly extinct magic usually did. But at least now people had a choice whether to kiss or not.

Kyungsoo felt the spell take control over his body, the urge to exchange a kiss becoming overwhelming. His stomach twisted into a double pretzel. He felt queasy. He didn't want their first kiss to be like this, with Jongin under the spell of a love potion, on top of a mistletoe enchantment. There was no free will involved. And it was not only their first kiss, it would be Kyungsoo's first kiss ever.

A group of girls had gathered around them, giggling in unison. Kyungsoo wanted to run away, but the mistletoe's enchantment was way too strong. He hoped a professor or a prefect would walk by, saving them from this terrible embarrassment, but he had no such luck.

Jongin took a step towards him, looking him into the eyes. Kyungsoo held his breath, his heart going wild in his chest, trying to flee the scene before anything happened.

Jongin slowly leaned in. It was happening. It was really happening. It was as if Kyungsoo's most horrible nightmares and his wildest dreams were coming true all at the same time.

Their lips were only inches apart. Jongin smelled really good. Kyungsoo couldn't handle this and closed his eyes, wishing it was over so he could go hide under a table somewhere. He so wasn't ready for this, and the rowdy audience was not helping.

Kyungsoo felt something warm and soft gently touch his cheek. And then it was over. He felt the enchantment subside as mixed sounds of squeals and sighs of disappointment emanated from the group of fangirls. Jongin had kissed him on the cheek. Kyungsoo couldn't believe it. He opened his eyes, looking straight at Jongin's beaming face. Jongin always looked stunningly beautiful, but he had never looked as beautiful to Kyungsoo as he did right now.

Jongin had found a loophole. The mistletoe only required a kiss, there were no instructions as to where the kiss was supposed to happen, one's lips only had to touch the other's body and the requirements of the enchantment would be fulfilled. Since Jongin was blinded by the love potion, Kyungsoo had of course expected Jongin to take full advantage. But that sweet boy had respected his boundaries and kissed him on the cheek. Kyungsoo's inside melted into warm goo.

“Come on, let's get out of here.” Jongin gave him a short wink, grabbed his wrist and pulled him away.

Hand in hand, they ran down the corridor, making a series of unexpected turns to shake off all the remaining fangirls.

They ended up in an old empty classroom that seemed like it had stood abandoned for many years.

“Thanks.” Kyungsoo whispered, embarrassed. He worried his face was permanently turning into a tomato.

“My pleasure.” Jongin sent him a sweet smile.

They spent quite a few moments in awkward silence.

“Tell me, where did you get the Veritaserum? I thought it was tightly controlled by the Ministry of Magic?” Kyungsoo asked, partly just to say something, to break the unbearably awkward silence, but also because he had been curious and had never found the right moment to ask him. They were always surrounded by people, and Kyungsoo didn't want Jongin to get into trouble if he used Veritaserum without the Ministry's permission. He was still pissed at Jongin for stooping so low as to use such dirty tricks to get him to talk, but Jongin's judgment was clouded by the love potion, which was Kyungsoo's fault in the first place, so Kyungsoo couldn't very well let Jongin be sent to Azkaban for Kyungsoo's own mistakes.

“Weeell, it wasn't technically Veritaserum.” Jongin grinned guiltily. “It's a new thing. Let's just say it's still in production. It's not nearly as strong as Veritaserum, so it's not controlled by the Ministry. That, and the Ministry has no idea that it exists.”.

“Not strong?!? It felt pretty damn strong to me!” Kyungsoo objected with a low growl.

“Maybe you're just weak.” Jongin chuckled, sticking his tongue out at him.

“Hey!” Kyungsoo pouted.

“Maybe.. just maybe, it didn't affect you at all. Maybe you just wanted to tell me you loved me and used the truth potion as an excuse.” Jongin suggested, watching Kyungsoo's reaction carefully with hopeful eyes.

“I never told you I loved you.” Kyungsoo stubbornly folded his arms. “Wait, you gave me something untested?!?!” Kyungsoo gasped, realizing it way too late.

“Did you really give me an experimental potion? You might as well have poisoned me!” Kyungsoo looked at Jongin with an incredulous expression. He couldn't believe he could be so reckless.

“First of all, isn't that what you did to me?” Jongin smirked, before he continued. “Secondly...”.

“It was an accident!” Kyungsoo interrupted him.

“Secondly... I have a very reliable connection. I knew it was perfectly safe.” Jongin assured him.

“Where are you getting all this stuff from? The Marauder's map, the truth serum... who are you? Are you really that good at Quidditch or is that also some potent magic trick you've got up your sleeve?” Kyungsoo peered his eyes at him, suspicious.

“Quidditch is all me!!” Jongin pouted in objection, not believing Kyungsoo could suggest otherwise.

“As for the other stuff, I can't tell you. I took an oath of secrecy.” he added, pursing his lips to indicate that Kyungsoo would never be able to make him reveal his source. “Oh! Not the hardcore one that kills you though.” Jongin chuckled sheepishly.

“I thought there were no secrets in a relationship.” Kyungsoo spat at him in a huff.

Jongin got a sudden uncontrollable cough attack, barely able to catch his breath.

“We... “ Jongin stopped as another cough attack interrupted him. “We're in a relationship?” he asked, absolutely stunned.

“Who was it who declared in front of the whole school that we were boyfriends?!” Kyungsoo growled. “If you don't want to, then forget it...” he added, annoyed, jumping off the desk on which he had been sitting, storming out.

“No! Wait!” Jongin caught up with him. “Of course I want to.” he said extra softly, his voice like velvet. Kyungsoo got goose bumps.

Jongin sneakily slid his hand around Kyungsoo's, entwining their fingers together. Kyungsoo's tummy was suddenly filled with jumping beans, or it felt like it was.

Kyungsoo had thought it through, and decided that offense was the best defense. He was going to take professor Kim's advice and try and lift the love spell from the inside. If he was forced to go on a date with Jongin to cure him, well, then he would just have to go on a date with him.

A tiny grin snuck onto Kyungsoo's lips.