It’s not like Joy has never noticed her before, you know.

She is:

• pink-tinged cheeks, all smooth and probably utterly squishable;
• fair skin that tanned whenever summer approached;
• dark eyes that are pulled wide whenever her hand shoots into the air, nearly, but not quite, shrieking in excitement for the professor’s attention even when they’re in the Astronomy Tower (read: so small and crammed that every time Joy moves to change something on her telescope or read the charts on the other side of the room, she’d invariably bump into the girl);
• short, wispy soft hair and oh, perhaps they look so perfectly soft, soft enough that Joy Would Not Mind curling her fingers around them…

but she had to go cut her hair! and dye her hair blonde!  

Ugh.

Merlin’s pants. That’s got to be illegal.

*

She’s a year above her, all ready to take her N.E.W.T.s to graduate and get the hell out of this forsaken castle. Joy is not usually one to creep around – because that is what she is doing, you know, creeping – but she gets one of her classmates to sneak into a certain Son Seungwan’s bedroom while she’s out training at the pitch to make a copy of Seungwan’s schedule.

Then maybe, she ensures that the Ravenclaw will always keep her silence with a little bit of a trade, namely something equally valuable to said classmate; Joy makes a list of dates where Jaehyun claimed to be free for the next five weeks. She even made sure that Jaehyun was freed the weekend after the next for a potential Hogsmeade date. Of course, she doesn’t leave it at that. (She directs one of the moony-eyed First Years to dig up a short, sentimental, but somewhat embarrassing story about that Fifth Year Ravenclaw and she makes sure that the girl gulped when Joy revealed that she knew about it.)

A glance at Seungwan’s schedule tells Joy that okay, this really isn’t going to be easy, not at all, not when all but one of Joy’s classes seemed to clash with Seungwan’s own. In her less optimistic moments, Joy wondered if going to all that trouble would ever be worth it because when Joy is free, Seungwan isn’t. Vice versa. It’s like the entire universe existed to conspire against Joy’s plans.

Securing operational intelligence was clearly insufficient. There’s something more that she had to do in order to secure an audience with Son Seungwan.

Seungwan… oh, what might she even want?

Seungwan’s not exactly a fan of Joy. Their rivalry on the Quidditch Pitch sort of dictates that they maintain some sort of apparent hostility. And Seungwan’s not exactly a huge fan of the Slytherins. Joy is probably not exactly an innocent bystander in all the moments that her fellow snakes conspired to ambush the other houses. Attempts at recovering the public image of her House aside, the bookish Ravenclaws will always remain excellent targets for her kind. Immediate post-war rebranding was long over, thankfully, and what the older kids decided on then did not stop the subsequent batches from having a little fun with them.

Joy’s always thought that their limited cordiality wouldn’t pose a problem. Not even when she, halfway through her Fifth Year, realised that her stomach twisted into a dozen knots when she bumped into Son Seungwan in the corridors. Joy doesn’t let anyone distract her from what she wants – it’s ridiculous. But when all these emotions rear its hundred heads should she even dare to strike them out of her system and all she wants to do is set this blistering bother afire, it’s almost impossible for her to not address it.

But: oh hell, how was she even going to get Son Seungwan alone?

*

One wonders if she isn’t just cursed.

Yesterday, when she tried the library, Seungwan was nowhere to be found.

How hard could she be to find? Sure, Son Seungwan is pretty damned tiny but Merlin, her hair is so blonde it's almost white. Shouldn’t it be easy to find her? Her shock of pale hair should make her somewhat easier to find, right?

Ugh. Is it because Seungwan’s short?

How is she supposed to embark on any of her plans when she cannot even find her?

(Krystal, laughing: your plans aren’t real plans, Joy.)

(Yeah, okay, Krystal is right.)

So she does the next logical thing. She makes lists.

List 1: What does Son Seungwan like?

List 2: What does Son Seungwan dislike?

List 3: What should she say when she finds Seungwan alone?

List 1 and 2 are a little easier to make.

Seungwan likes Quidditch, singing, and dancing.

In their last gathering with the fellow Asian kids in the castle, she learns how Seungwan likes Korean food far more than meals with piles of butter and potatoes. There is a small memory of Seungwan’s eyes widening, somewhat comically, when she takes a bite of the kimchi Joy’s mom sent her – it tasted like her mother’s.

She likes baking.

This is something that Joy is pretty sure of, what with Seulgi ambling about with a cookie jar in hand from time to time. When asked, Seulgi’s always said that Seungwan was the one who baked them. Not that Joy has the faintest clue about where they baked in the first place.

It’s also said that she likes painting nails.

Seungwan’s nails are simply gorgeous.

Before Seungwan, Joy used to think that the coloured Muggle gunk was a waste of time, a mess that only served to stink up an enclosed room. Back when she was around, Joohyun would exile the half-bloods who dared to take that stuff from their common room until the fumes dissipated. That was until Seungwan and Joohyun became friends, sort of, and Joohyun would occasionally sport painted nails. Needless to say, a fifth year Joy hated it whenever Seungwan and Joohyun hung out. Rationally, she had known that Joohyun and Seungwan weren’t a thing, but her stomach would’ve roiled whenever she saw the two together anyway.

What she disliked was a bit more of a limited list – she didn’t know what Seungwan disliked, and she wasn’t quite interested in exhausting her favours over this. Would not be an economical use of social capital at all. She knew, of course, that Seungwan disliked too much sun, but that wasn’t a detail she really needed to care about just yet given that summer was still aeons away.

She draws a blank on the third list.

Yeri catches her brooding for about two seconds and taunts her. Calls her a starry-eyed baby for getting so hung-up about a Ravenclaw. At least it’s not a Hufflepuff.

Joy concurs. But Yeri doesn’t need to know that. Starry-eyed?

“It’s unlike you to sulk, Sooyoung-unnie.”

“Joy.”

Yeri shrugs. “If using that name helps you fit in better, sure. Anyway. I’ve not seen you like this before. It’s kind of gross. It’s almost shameful, really.” Yeri swipes the parchment from Joy’s desk, who only yelps in protest but she decides it’s not worth it to fight her. Yeri scans through the itemised list, squinting at some of the stuff Joy’s written.

“Park Sooyoung. You’ve got it bad.”

“It’s Joy, Kim Yerim.”

“And do you know what I think?”

“I don’t really care about what you think.”

Yeri doesn’t care for that dismissal either. “I think that wallowing like this isn’t going to help you. It’s uny, you get?”

She spends much of Wednesday evening figuring out how to snipe back at Yeri where it’d hurt. Makes a scathing comment or two on Friday morning over breakfast, but to her dissatisfaction, Yeri only laughs, entirely unaffected as she sips her pumpkin juice, before she points out Seungwan’s entrance into the Great Hall. All thoughts of getting back at one Kim Yeri are vanished when all her head can think of is, “Seungwan! She’s so cute.” She only stops staring when Seungwan looks up from her cereal. In her haste to pretend she wasn’t looking, she nearly falls off the bench. Joy’s not quite sure if she’s flushing because of Seungwan’s entrance, or her own blunder.

*

Friday evening: Yeri walks in on her practising.

Joy doesn’t notice her at first, too absorbed as she is in trying to figure out if her smile’s pretty in a particular angle or not.

“Son Seungwan,” she says, affecting a lazy drawl. “Would you like to go out with me?”

Her reflection in the mirror frowns.

That’s not quite it. It’s too basic.

“Son Seungwan. You’re cute. I’m hot. You and I should go out together.”

Her reflection in the mirror winks, the mascara and eyeliner line melding together in a decidedly sultry line.

“Son Seungwan. You’re tiny. Like a Snitch. Got to say I’ve been Seeking you—”

She hears her first, laughter strangled by a honking snort.

“At the rate you’re going, you might as well use something stupid like,” Yeri’s voice switches an octave higher, aegyo-mode on, “‘did you survive the Avada Kedavra curse? Because you're drop dead gorgeous.’ Or since we’re Slytherins, do one of those ‘can I slyther-in?’ things.”

Joy whips around. “Didn’t someone teach you to knock, Kim Yerim?”

Yeri shrugs. “And what, miss this one-man comedic act? Hardly. Seriously, Park Sooyoung, what the hell? Ugh, I can’t believe I had to hear you say that Snitch line. What in the world’s that? That’s the worst line I’ve ever heard – you’re not even a Seeker, for Merlin’s sake.”

She has a point. “Do you have a line for Beaters then?”

Yeri groans. “I will beat you up, Merlin help me.”

“So be helpful or be on your way.”

“Look, Sooyoung-unnie, I’m only saying this so you don’t embarrass yourself, okay? Those lines are terrible. How can they even be that bad? You’ve gone out with so many of the other boys and I never had to hear any of these uttered prior…” Yeri says more to herself than anything, shaking her head. “But if anyone heard you saying that drivel outside of your room, I’m not quite sure we could keep you in Slytherin.”

Joy deflates. “Yeah, I get that I’m a colossally hopeless cluster of a disaster when it comes to her. But can I help it? She’s such a good person! Like, actually a genuinely good witch. Her grades are perfect. She’s so quick on the Quidditch pitch, her aim flawless as it is – do you remember how we nearly lost against them last year? Did you even hear her sing during the Welcoming Feast? If I had to hear her sing again for Christmas Feast I might actually die.”

“Mm, and maybe we’ve got to prevent that from happening. Bah. I’ve never known you to be like this.” Yeri waves her hands for emphasis at bah. “For the record, when I say I want to get rid of you, I don’t actually want your ghost moping about in the corridors.”

“I think we might even be agreed on that.”

“Of course. It’s for your own good after all. Also, did you really only do your makeup on the left side of your face?”

Joy snatches her wand to apply a removal charm before Yeri can rib her further about it. “What do you suggest anyway?”

There is a moment of mock seriousness on the younger girl’s face before she grins, and Joy immediately begins to doubt the wisdom of daring to ask Yeri for advice. Oh well, no one was ever sorted into Slytherin for wisdom.

Something akin to softness crosses Yeri’s face for about a second but it’s gone so quickly that Joy’s not quite sure if she’s just imagined it. She probably did – all these lovestruck hormones causing her to hallucinate impossibilities. Yeri, soft? Not for Joy.

“You know, for someone so smart, you really can be so dense sometimes. Like come on, you’re not any less compared to her. Like, look in the mirror! You’re ing pretty. I’d date you if it didn’t feel like . As it already is I’d kill you for your body.”

“Glad to know that you’ve not learned how to transplant your soul into my body, I guess?”

“I’d emphasise the I’d date you bit, not the I’d kill you part, to be clear. Hmm. Do you really want to fish for compliments? If that’s the case, I’ll have to dock another ten points from the one and only Yeri’s People Scoreboard.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you’re sliding pretty rapidly lately.”

“A scoreboard?”

“I keep track. Don’t you?” A quirk of an eyebrow.

“Erm.”

“You didn’t hear it from me, but you’ve always been ranked pretty highly.”

“I… what?”

“Anyway, point being, you’re a catch. So stop… whatever this is and go get your girl.”

*

Joy picks Halloween to ask Seungwan out.

After all, thirty-one is her favourite number. It’s the day the first war ended. A day when all the ghosts are stashed in some dungeon or other for the Sir Nicholas’ Deathday party so none of them would stumble upon them when Joy summons enough courage to carry out her plans.

And if anything goes wrong, she could just say it was a prank that someone put her up to anyway.

*

She makes sure to spray some perfume on herself before leaving the Dungeons that night. She has a pretty good prediction of where Seungwan might be found for the night. One might even say that she’s absolutely certain that Seungwan can be found in one of the classrooms upstairs.

Most of the castle’s already made their way to the Feast.

But not Seungwan.

Stopping outside the door, Joy adjusts her robes. Okay. It’s now or never.

The door opens with a loud creak.

It’s Seungwan, two metres away from the door.

Ah, it’s just as it should be.

Seungwan, tightly frozen on the chair, her wand a whole metre away from her.

Or maybe not.

Huh. She never thought she would have her crush disarmed and bound like this in front of her. It’s not exactly something she fantasised about, per se. Joy really never needed to know what Yeri wanted to do with the people she liked. She’d have to have some words with Yeri about consent and magical coercion – she strongly doubts that Seungwan really agreed to be stuck in one of the colder classrooms in the castle.

With a wave of her wand, she releases Seungwan from her binds and Joy darts to catch Seungwan before she falls to the ground.

“How long have you been here?”

At the same time, Seungwan screeches, “What was that for? I should have you two booked and sent to detention, or something! Do you know how bloody irresponsible it is, petrifying another student like that?”

She winces as Seungwan’s voice rises. “Oh please. The days of Argus Filch are long gone.”

“So? You’re a prefect too! You know the rules. Merlin, what is wrong with you guys?”

Joy sighs. “I didn’t know she’d resort to petrifying you, okay? I’m sorry.”

“I’d never understand Slytherins and their ideas of harmless fun… Wait, did you say you were sorry?” Her eyes are so wide that Joy has to stifle a laugh. “You, sorry?”

“Do I have to say it again? Anyway, Joy her lips. “I doubt you’re going to thank me for freeing you, right?”

“I…” Seungwan sputters. “I guess? Thanks?”

“Mm.” Joy her lips again. “Anyway, you’re cold right?” She moves forwards to grab Seungwan’s hands. Icy. “Yeah, you are.” Another wave of her wand for a warming charm. “That should do it.” She doesn’t quite let go of Seungwan’s hands. “Charms are my specialty. Well. Usually. I’ve never quite gotten the hang of how to charm you…” Joy looks down at their hands, unwilling to see what kind of expression Seungwan’s sporting. “It’s okay if you don’t know how to cast a proper warming charm, you know. I can teach you even if you are the Outstanding N.E.W.T.s student here.”

“Hang on, you want to charm me? What?”

“I said what I said.”  

“Hang on. What?”

Joy hums, her apparent nonchalance belied by the faint shaking of her hands and the constriction of her chest. She offers a smile. She hopes it’s a smile. Everyone’s told her that she’s got a great smile, so she’d start with that.

“Yeah, I’m the best student in my year, more or less, haven’t you heard? It’ll benefit your grades if you’d let me tutor you for Charms. I’ve been told that I’m pretty good at transfiguration too. And I hear you’re good at potions. Not that I’m bad at it, mind you, but I wouldn’t mind the extra leg up on my grades. You’d be guaranteed to date the top of my year if that’s the case.”

At this, Seungwan jerks backward. If it wasn’t for her excellent Quidditch reflexes Joy’s sure she would’ve fallen right on top of Seungwan by now. Which admittedly, wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen except that her poor heart might leap out of .   

“Wait, are you asking me out? Is that what’s this about?”

Joy makes sure to offer a perfected wink. “Well, depends on your answer. So, Son Seungwan, would you go out with me?”

There’s a suspicious look on her – a slight narrowing of the otherwise still-wide eyes. “Are you really serious right now? Is this some sort of joke? Kim Yerim, come out from the back of the closet.” A heartbeat. “Okay, from wherever the hell you are!” Seungwan reaches into her pocket with her free hand. “Hominem Revelio!”

“There’s no one else but us, I swear.”

Seungwan stuffs her wand back into her pocket, groaning as she pulls her hand free of Joy’s hand to lower her head into her arm. “I had to make sure, right? It would totally if this was a prank. Doesn’t help that you both are twin devils – didn’t you guys somehow orchestrate the Beans Fiasco from last year?”

Joy smiles, attempting to reassure. “The Beans thing? It was for Halloween. Of course we had to do something. How could we not?”

“I tasted earthworm for days!”

“Hey, at least it wasn’t vomit. Yeri wanted to give you guys that but I decided the worst flavours would be reserved for the lions, you know.”

“Merlin. Or booger.” Seungwan shudders.

Joy brightens. “That’s the spirit!”

A small, reluctant smile crosses Seungwan’s face. “It was pretty genius. How did you guys manage it?”

“Ah, but that would be telling, wouldn’t it? So, what do you say? Would you go out with me?”

At the reminder of why Joy even bothered to organise this little non-accidental meeting, Seungwan frowns, her brows creasing in confusion.

“But why?”

“Huh?”

“Why would… why would you want to ask me out?”

“Why not?” Joy shrugs. “I know you’ve never really wanted to talk to me but…”

“You mean that you could never bear to be seen talking to me. Like, we both play Quidditch. Your House would’ve massacred you for even talking to me in public, no? I don’t quite understand… well… this. The only time we’ve ever really talked is during Chuseok, and even then, you can barely stand to look at me.”

She winces. That’s not entirely wrong. “Look, I… well.. I don’t know. Wait – isn’t it the other way round? That you wouldn’t talk to me?”

“What?”

“I mean, I’ve had this terrible, gigantic crush on you for like a whole year. I have to say that I’ve tried very hard to not stare at you, but I do. But you’ve barely glanced at me, ever.”

Seungwan groans, sinking further into her hands. “I thought you didn’t want to talk to me! And…” Seungwan’s voice is small. “I thought you didn’t want to look at me.”

This time, it’s Joy who utters, “What?”

“Yeah, I mean, every time I actually like, look at you, you look away! And I am so very consistently the subject of your devilry. What am I supposed to think?”

She has a point. Joy says as much. “You’re right. Hmm. We’ve really got ourselves in a bit of a bind, I think.” She hums again and reaches for Seungwan’s hand. “But, hey, you don’t quite hate me, right? So, what do you say about this going out thing? It can be like… a trial period. You don’t even have to commit yourself to more than one date with me. Refunds available. If you say yes, I wouldn’t tell anyone. No one would know.” She corrects herself. “Well, Yeri would, I guess. But she’s not likely to say anything if you don’t want her to.”

“That’s very generous of you.”

“What can I say? I want a date with you.” Joy shrugs. “I can be convincing, sometimes, when I want to be.” Joy squeezes Seungwan’s hand, entirely relieved that Seungwan’s not tried pulling away again. Just say yes already, Merlin.

Seungwan’s face still shows some reluctance. Hmm. “Wait, do you want to know why I want to go out with you? Were you serious when you asked?”

Seungwan flushes. “Yeah. You could go out with anyone. Hell, you went out with Sungjae, and half the universe’s been queuing to even catch a glimpse of him!”

Joy laughs. “Haven’t you heard? I got tired of his fangirls. Wait, does that sound like I want to date you because you’re less popular? That kind of came out wrong. But point is, I’m not seeing him anymore.”

“No, no, that’s okay, I don’t need a horde of fangirls anyway. Never needed them.”

The open curiosity in Seungwan’s eyes is encouraging. Come to think of it, Joy’s surprised she’s even made it this far. She takes it as a good sign that Seungwan’s not turned her into a toad just yet.

“Anyway, you’re like… I was talking to Yeri about you. You’re perfect, okay? Not that you are a perfect human being and that cannot be why I want to date you because I know no one in the world’s perfect and if I thought you were utterly and completely perfect you should probably say no because I’d come in with terribly unrealistic expectations – wait, ugh, that’s not quite right either. I’m so bad at this. I’m not usually this bad at this.” She barrels on anyway. “Come on, you’re smart and you’re bloody good at everything you do. I have it on good account that you’re like, the nicest person on earth too. Your friends think the world of you – if I didn’t know better I’d think both Seulgi and Joohyun are in love with you, not with each other. And you are really cute. Wait, are you really going to say that you aren’t cute, Son Seungwan!”

Seungwan’s got open when Joy said cute. “Er. Maybe?”

Joy stares at her incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding me, wait, do you really think you aren’t cute? Seungwan!”

“I…” Seungwan leans into her chair. “Sometimes?”

Joy growls. “Whoever’s caused you to think that…”

Seungwan’s the one who squeezes Joy’s hand this time, startling her. “I’m not an advocate for murder. Or any form of permanent injury. Or any form of bodily harm. Or anything you are thinking of right now!”

Inhale. Exhale. “If I find out who they were… And in case you were wondering, I was thinking more of the good old-fashioned Cruciatus. It’s more efficient that way.”

“Hey, hey, no Unforgivables! I can’t very well go out with you if you were stuck in Azkaban, can I? Can you even cast a Cruciatus?”

Joy affects a shrug. “Honestly? I don’t think so. But I could learn how to, for you.”

“Is that supposed to be sweet?”

“Just kidding. I’ll find other ways to inflict the maximum pain and suffering on… whoever they are. If you’d ever give me their names. Knowing you, you’d never.” Joy sighs. “The Cruciatus wouldn’t prolong the suffering properly anyway. They’d go absolutely gaga first.”

Seungwan chokes for a moment on Joy’s choice of words before she questions, “Should you really be joking about something like that?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, you should know that your new hairstyle’s great, by the way. I love it.”

“Thanks?” Pink suffuses her cheeks. (She’s so cute, Merlin help her.) “It took a lot of bleach.”

“Bleach?”

“Erm, it’s some muggle thing. Kills the melanin in your hair so poof, you get whiter hair.”

“What? It kills the… melanin?”

“Yeah, the way the muggles do their hair is a little weird to think about, but it’s kind of more permanent and since I’m not great at Charms… Oh, wait.” Seungwan sits up straight. “Park Sooyoung, are you free next Saturday?”

“Hmm.” Joy pretends to consider. “Yes, why?” She doesn’t even mind it when Seungwan calls her Sooyoung.

“Hogsmeade date, us, ten a.m. Say yes?”

“Well… ten a.m. is a bit early…”

“Take it or leave it.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll get up early on a Saturday morning. For you only, deal?”

Seungwan offers a small, tentative smile. “Deal.”

They spend a few moments staring at each other. Joy wonders if she'll get the chance to ever get used to this: Seungwan’s hand, warming in hers. Son Seungwan, actually smiling at her.

But of course, the door has to burst open at that exact moment.

“ing finally, you two. Come on, we’ve got to get down to the Feast if you want anything for dinner, you lovebirds.” Yeri turns to look at Seungwan. “By the way, Sooyoung-unnie’s eaten muggle food before. Pizza, but without the crust. She’s weird that way. Thank me later.”

“Kim Yerim! You!” Yeri sticks her tongue out and flees down the corridor.

“No murder allowed!” Seungwan warns.

“Just a little bit?”

“No. All murder is murder.”

“Fine.” When Seungwan pulls them up, she’s reminded that Seungwan’s still holding her hand, and that Seungwan’s agreed to a date with her anyway. “I guess she’s right. Say, do you want to sit with me later? And maybe head to one of the parties together? I bet you’d look cute in whatever costume you’d wear even if I can’t see your face.”

“Hmm, I don’t know, it sounds like we’re going back on the terms of our deal...”

“Think of it as a bonus instead. You get a pre-trial trial period!”

Laughter bubbles out of Seungwan. “Okay, okay. Wouldn’t say no to a better deal. You’re such a snake.”

“I know,” Joy agrees happily, a little giddy. “Come on, I’m starving. You must be too. You know, we could go in something cute together… What’s that Muggle cartoon again, the one with the yellow bear?”