"Yixing." Soomin hurries to catch up to Yixing just as the boy is about to leave the practice room.

"Can we please talk? Tonight after dinner, meet me in the green house. Please." Soomin pleads, the Slytherin merely nods as the Hufflepuff beams before heading back to Eunmi and Jiha as they're monitoring Sehun and Jongin's routine.

"Woah, are you in a hurry or something?" Jongdae comments, watching his housemate wolf down her plate.

"I'm meeting Yixing at the greenhouse tonight." She smiles, her friends share a look before wishing her good luck as she practically zooms off.

"Where's Soomin off to?" Jongin asks, as the rest of the 6th and 7th years join the table.

"Greenhouse." They keep the answer vague. Though the males are smart enough to note the absence of a certain Slytherin as well.

Soomin is nervously pacing around the green house, scared of Yixing not showing up, but thankfully she doesn't have to wait long when she hears the door being opened and closing before the footsteps close in on her.

"You're here." Soomin beams, the Slytherin smiles at her.

"I did indicate I would be here." Yixing chuckles, noticing her nervously glancing around.

"I didn't think you would show up, you know avoiding me and everything." Yixing blushes at being called out, but Soomin only smiles.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Yixing clears his throat, as he sits on the floor, Soomin following him.

"Yixing Zhang, I really really like you." Soomin starts, watching as Yixing completely freezes up, but she continues. "Hera informed us about your families past and honestly it didn't really surprise me, because I've always been aware of the eyes following Hera and you. I knew your family was looked at differently by other witches and wizards, but it has never affected my feelings for you. I don't care how others perceive you, because I know who you are. You're one of the kindest and caring people. If I didn't know just how hard-working and ambitious you were when it comes to your future and dreams, I would have considered the hat putting you in the wrong house. Yixing, you said you liked me, but won't be with me, was it because of your family history or was it due to something else?" Soomin asks,

"I like you too and yes, I'm hesitant to go ahead with you because of my family past. I have seen my mother being criticised and I'm scared of you having to face that judgement for me. I care too much about you to watch you go through that."

"Like I said, other people's opinions are just that, opinions. Or is that you don't trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. But I don't ever want to see people talking down about you. I love you too much for that." Yixing confesses.

"I love you too Xing." Soomin sniffles, but the Slytherin looks scared.

"Soomin,"

"I'll give you an ultimatum. I want you to think about everything I said and I want you to know, that I am willing to always be with you regardless of what anyone else thinks or says. I need you to truly to believe that we  bring out the best in each other. I need you to know that I am in love with you. Which is why I'm giving you until the Muggle-Fest to think everything over and I'll ask you once again that night at the closing party for your answer. However, at that time I want a Yes or a No. Regardless of your answer, I would like to go back to our friendship and if you're not comfortable with that either, I promise to stay away from you. For now, I'll give you the space you need to think about your answer. Is that okay?" Soomin cries, Yixing thinks over her words before nodding.

"I love you Xing." Soomin kisses his forehead before she leaves the Slytherin in the green house.

Her housemates are waiting for her as she stumbles in, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I gave him till the night of Muggle-Fest." Soomin tells the three.

"Will you be okay till then?" Jongdae asks, unsure as the muggle-fest isn't for another few months.

"I waited this long, what's another three months. I don't want to force him, but I don't know how long I can live in this limbo of not having him. At this point, I think I'll be more than happy to even stay as a mere friend." Soomin cries.

Soomin and Yixing are staring into each other's eyes with her legs wrapped around his hips while the male has a strong grip on her hips.

The silence is broken with the sudden applause and the two are quick to pull away from each other as their dance captains give them more pointers.

Lillian is quick to drag Yixing away as she wipes the sweat off his forehead, but the Slytherin subtly steps away snatching his towel out of her hands as his eyes wander off to Soomin. The Hufflepuff is leaning against Eunmi watching Jiha get into a disagreement with Sehun.

Jongin catches Yixing's eye and the male gives him a subtle nod, before making a show off wrapping his arms around Soomin's shoulder and resting his chin on her head as the girl is a head shorter than him, before smirking at Yixing and planting a kiss on her hair. Soomin is used to Jongin's affections as the male has desensitized her to his small affections in the past months of their friendship.

Yixing frowns, though it doesn't last long as Soomin brushes Jongin off and heads straight for him.

"Do you mind if I walk to Prof.Longbottom's office with you?" She asks him, the dimple-boy is quick to agree and the two set off.

"Jongdae" The group simultaneously turns to see a shy Gryffindor walk over to their table holding onto a tightly wrapped box.

"Hello." The male politely greets, watching the girl blush.

"As you know Valentine weekend is coming up. I wanted to invite you for a date?" The brave girl shocks the group and Jongdae throws a glance towards a certain Slytherin before looking at the nervous girl standing in front of him.

"I'll be waiting for you by the staircase." Jongdae smiles at her, causing her to beam as she hands him the box and pecks his cheek, before running off to her friends.

"Congrats." Jiha wiggles her eyebrows, watching her twin, carefully tear the wrapping around the box, revealing it to be a signed copy of Jongdae's favourite book.

"Wow. Someone has a serious crush." Baekhyun whistles, eyeing the book.

"You better treat her right." Eunmi warns her housemate, 

"Man, and here I thought I wouldn't be the only single one during Valentines." Soomin jokes, nudging Jongdae but the male is too engrossed in his book.

The group intentionally ignores Hera glaring at the book, before she shifts her focus to her assignments. Not that they don't care for her, but she herself has made it clear she doesn't want to talk about her problems with Jongdae as she's scared of it ruining their friendship.

The morning of Valentine's Day, Soomin is surprised to wake up to two bouquets by her bedside along with notes attached. The first one, a mix of roses and tulips, is from Jongin and while the second, a mixture of gardenias and pink camellias, note is signed LZ, which she recognizes as Yixing's nickname. 

"Thank you for the chocolates." Jongin grins, as the friends gather for breakfast.

"Oh yeah. They were delicious." Jongdae adds, smiling over at his best friend. Jongin pouts, as he honestly did think he was the only one to receive something from the Hufflepuff.

"It was the lavender." Sehun asks,

"Lavender?" Jongdae says, "It was good."

"Everyone had something different to theirs, according to what you prefer." Soomin explains.

"Why were we excluded?" Chanyeol points to himself, Kyungsoo and Minseok.

"Because we took care of yours." Jiha, Seungwan and Audrey pull out decorated boxes for their partners, of course the 'secret' couples choose to exchange their gifts in private.

"Soomin." Jongin pants, running to catch up to the Hufflepuff as she's heading towards the practice rooms.

"Hey, I didn't think you would show up?" Soomin chuckles,

"Why not?" Jongin asks, confused,

"It was quite last minute." Soomin nervously scratches her neck,

"It was but, I'm sure Sehun and Jun would appreciate the time with their girlfriends." Jongin beams,

"Right."  She mumbles, quickly switching the topic.

"Are you ser-" The smile falls off Soomin's face as soon as she opens the door and sees the scene in front of her.

Before either of the two people in the room can notice them, Soomin is backing away from the door, running off, Jongin is quick to run behind her.

Thankfully his long legs allow him to catch up to the Hufflepuff quickly as she heads for the field.

Jongin stays right beside her letting her cry her eyes out in silence.

"Do you want to fly?" Jongin asks, noticing her sniffles decreasing, Soomin nods, while Jongin summons a broom.

They don't talk about the scene the walked into in the dance room and Soomin is thankful, even though she's still hurt, she's manages to put on her best fake smile as the two head back for dinner.

"What's with your boyfriend?" Soomin hears Jongdae whisper to his twin, the Gryffindor looks done with the Slytherin.

"I reckon it has to do with Seungwan, with the way he seems to be glaring at Chanyeol." Eunmi points out the obvious, as the 7th year is practically glaring daggers at the 6th year.

"Did he catch them snogging behind Honey dukes?" Audrey asks, not noticing (ignoring) the glare thrown her way by Seungwan.

Seungwan scoffs, "Like Jiha and you were simply talking behind the Three Broomsticks?"

Minseok turns red at his sister's words, quickly turning his attention to Yixing.

"Hypocrite." Seungwan sneers, pouting at her boyfriend. 

"And this is why I'm glad I don't have an older brother." Audrey shakes her head,

"Babe, Asher is worse than Minseok." Kyungsoo points out, the Gryffindor only laughs as her boyfriend still seems to be wary of her little brother.

"I can't believe you losers choose to stay behind and practice?" Jiha points to her older brother and best friend.

"Practice? In this cold weather? No wonder your nose is bright red." Jongdae worries, serving Soomin the warm soup,

"I thought you were staying behind for dance practice?" Sehun asks, looking over his best friend.

"We didn't feel like it." Jongin answers vaguely, receiving looks from his younger sister,

"So, what did you two do?" Jiha asks, suspicious as Soomin has yet to say a word and she refuses to look at anyone.

"We just flew for a while." Jongin answers, trying to keep the attention away from Soomin, the Ravenclaw notices a certain Slytherin worriedly glancing over at them.

"I'm heading off to bed. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Soomin quickly stand up, hurrying to get away from her friends, though Jongdae is quick to catch a glimpse of her face and notice the red, swollen eyes.

"I'll walk with you." Jongin offers, before Soomin can refute, Jongdae is pushing his plate away.

"It's fine. I'll go. You guys continue enjoying your Valentines." Jongdae smiles, though the eldest Kim still walks with them.

"What happen? I thought you were staying back to work on your Muggle-fest performance?" Jongdae questions,

"Nothing. I didn't really feel like it, so I asked Jongin to accompany me to the field." Soomin answers, of course Jongdae is an expert at telling when she's lying, though he chooses to not push her.

"Thank you for walking me back." Soomin tells Jongin as he pulls her in for a long hug.

"I'm sorry." Jongin whispers, kissing her hair before she's walking into her common room.

"What happen?" Jongdae asks his brother, once the door shuts behind Soomin.

"We were headed to the practice room, but when we got there, we say Yixing and Lillian there, together. I can see why Jiha hated me after Soomin saw Rachel and I that night." Jongin shakes his head, while Jongdae is dumbfounded.

"Are you serious?" Jongdae asks,

"Unfortunately." Jongin shakes his head, remembering the look on Soomin's face when she saw Yixing kissing someone else.

"Take care of her." Jongin says, before he's walking away.

Jongdae hurries inside, finding Soomin blankly staring at the fireplace, he sighs before taking a seat next to her before wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm fine. Jongdae. I really am." Soomin tells him, but they both know she's lying.

Baekhyun and Eunmi aren't surprised when they return to the two dozing off in that position, all they do do is wrap a warm blanket around them, before joining them.

Soomin springs back to herself, though she pours all her focus on her studies and Quidditch. The only time she has to interact with Yixing is during their practice sessions, however before when it would be only the two of them, Jongin and Sehun join them.

Yixing, of course notices the change, because she might be behaving the same around others, but she's completely cut off all contact with him. She no longer watches for him to walk through the great hall doors, nor does she wave and smile at him when he enters the room, going as far as choosing to partner up with someone else for their Herbology club meetings. She makes has Healer Longbottom assign her a different schedule to shadow her, when before she would insist on parenting up with him. Yixing wonders if that's her way of cutting him off, and wanting to get back with Jongin, but the Ravenclaw along with Jongdae are always glaring at him, if he even looks at Soomin and there's really no noticeable changes in the relationship between the two ex's.

"Where's Lillian?" Jiha is the one to bring the matter up, noticing the obvious absence of the certain 4th year Slytherin that seemed to follow Yixing around like a little puppy. 

She raises an eyebrow seeing Yixing and Soomin freeze at the name, while her brothers are fidgeting a little too much. Soomin excuses herself from the table, running off before anyone can stop her, of course Jongdae is quick to follow after her.

"I choose to end our friendship." Yixing answers,

"Did something happen?" Jiha asks, always curious about everyone and everything.

"She wanted something more than friendship and I'm not interested in her that way." Yixing answers honestly,

"Really? Did you realise that before or after you snogged her in the practice room?" Jongin sasses, shocking the table at the information.

"How do you know?" "Merlin's a*s, Are you serious?" "Is that why you rejected Soomin?" "What are you talking about?"

"We were simply talking when she suddenly jumped on me. I didn't even realise what was happening before I pushed her off me." Yixing clarifies, before realization dawns on him,

"Does Soomin know? Is that why she's been distant with me?" Yixing asks Jongin,

"Didn't she say she was giving you the space to think without her presence?" Jongin dodges the question, before hurrying to excuse himself.

"I don't think she knows, if she did, she would have told us." Hera tries to reassure her brother, though the look she shares with Jiha indicates otherwise.

Yixing simply nods, before finishing up his meal and leaving.

"That bi*ch knows and she didn't even think to tell us." Jiha fumes as soon as Yixing is out of hearing range.

"Calm down, you don't know that." Eunmi tries to defend her room-mate.

"She hasn't been her smiley self since Valentines." Hera points out,

"And I just realised, but Jongdae has been glaring at Yixing the past few weeks." Baekhyun says,

"So has Jongin, and he always insists we practice with Yixing and Soomin." Sehun adds,

"Soomin." Jongin waves, waiting for the Hufflepuff to finish Quidditch practice.

"Jongin." She smiles,

"So you know what we saw on Valentines day?" Jongin feels her tense up, "It was a misunderstanding. Apparently, the Slytherin came on to him out of nowhere leaving him surprised, before he pushed her off him." Jongin reveals, though there's no visible reaction from Soomin.

"What's wrong? I reckoned you would be happy after learning the truth?" Jongin asks,

"I'm indifferent, well I guess I'm slightly relieved but that's all." Soomin tells him,

"Soomin, he's cut her out." Jongin tells her,

"I'm sorry, he lost a friend."

"Why aren't you running off to find him and clear up your misunderstandings?" Jongin asks her,

"Because he doesn't have to explain anything to me. I told him, I'm giving him space until the Muggle-fest and I'm going to stick to my word. Yixing and I aren't together right now. He can do anything he wants and I can't have a say in it, because it's his life and his decisions. He doesn't owe me anything." Soomin says, though the tear running down her face suggest otherwise.

"Soomin." Jongin sighs, pulling her in for a hug.

"Just because it's not Lillian, doesn't mean it can't be someone else. I really don't want to get my hopes up and get hurt again." She cries, piercing Jongin's heart at the again.

"I'm sorry. I know, no matter how many times I apologise, I can never erase my past mistakes, but I promise to do my best to make sure you're happy." Jongin tells her,

"My happiness is not on you, Jongin. That's my responsibility. Just like you're responsible for yourself." She sniffs,

"I know, but if I can help it, I'll make sure nothing harms your happiness. Even if that means watching you be happy with someone else." Jongin tells her,

"Thank you. You know I'll always be grateful for you right." Soomin looks up at him, the boy smiles, before pressing a kiss on her forehead.

"Silly, it should be the other way around. I'm supposed to be grateful because you're letting me remain close to you, even after I hurt you." They both chuckle.

I think the next chapter might be the last chapter???