Reunion

Sungjin pauses on explaining a topic to his students as something flies up to the tower with the help of the wind. They follow it with their eyes until it drops onto Sungjin’s head. Sungjin takes the letter, frowning as he turned it over to read the recipient’s details.

 

Park Sungjin

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Sungjin furrowed his brows before he shrugged and put the letter away to his desk. He resumes teaching again until the door to the tower opens, the History of Magic professor barging in, together with the other professors. Sungjin frowned confusedly, scanning their faces, and narrowing his eyes at Jaehyung’s panicked expression. Then he looks at his students who looked back and forth between him and the other teachers.

“Class dismissed,” Sungjin says and lets the students leave.

Jungkook closed the door as the older teachers approach Sungjin.

“What are you doing here? You don’t have papers to grade — “

“Have you opened the letter?” Jaehyung cuts him off.

Sungjin blinked, “No. I just got it minutes ago.”

“Well, open it,” Seokjin demands.

Sungjin takes the letter and pulls the tab open. He takes the paper inside and furrows his brows again, gasping a bit before looking up at the other teachers, eyes widening.

 

“Apparate.

— Ilhyun.”

“What — does this mean she’s back?” Sungjin questions. “Does Chan know? Where is he?”

“We’re speculating he doesn’t. He’s probably in the Ministry of Magic,” Namjoon says. “Considering he’s one of the strongest and most prominent Aurors, along with your boyfriend.”

“Oh, that’s right. Why don’t you ask your boyfriend if Chan knows? Or if he knows about this?” Yoongi smirks, arms crossed on his chest.

Sungjin leans back on his desk with his hip, sighing, “We haven’t contacted each other since.”

“You haven’t talked with or seen Younghyun hyung in seven years?” Bambam raises his brows.

Sungjin shook his head and pulled out a necklace from under his teaching robes, “But it never stopped burning.”

They look at his Quidditch team captain badge that he had turned into a pendant with Jungkook’s help. It was glowing red. Sungjin folds his arms over the other as he looks down on the ground.

“Wonpil hyung and I sometimes see Younghyunnie hyung at work,” Dowoon suddenly speaks. “He has your prefect badge pinned on his clothes, most of the time on the inside of his coat.”

Sungjin nods a bit in acknowledgment.

“And it was glowing, too,” Dowoon adds.

Sungjin his lips as he looks at them, “The letter just says apparate. Where do we apparate?”

“Apparition works if you think of the place you want to apparate to,” Mark says.

“You think it will work if we think about getting to the place Ilhyun wants us to go to?” Jinyoung asks. “Even if not specifically?”

“Worth a try,” Hoseok shrugs. “We can always meet back here when we end up in different locations.”

“Wait,” Sungjin stands up. “If everyone got this letter, including Wonpil, then we would be gathering together in one place, right?”

They looked at each other.

“Yeah. What are you saying?” Jaehyung raises a brow.

Sungjin gulps and shakes his head a bit, “I’m not ready to see Younghyun yet.”

“Then when?” Yugyeom frowns, Sungjin looks at him. “When are you going to be ready?”

“You haven’t forgiven him?” Jungkook mumbled.

“I was never mad at him,” Sungjin says. “I was hurt, that was why I stayed away. But I was never mad.”

“Brian thought you were mad at him,” Jaehyung informs. “That’s why he was leaving you alone, too.”

“So you had a bit of misunderstanding regarding that,” says Bambam. “But are we still going to where Ilhyun wants us to go?”

Everyone looks at Sungjin who took a deep breath.

“Does the Headmistress know we’re leaving? We’re all teachers here,” Sungjin grins a bit.

“Oh, please,” Seokjin waves him away. “McGonagall will know.”

“But we can’t risk it, she’ll chew our ears off if she didn’t know we all left without telling her,” says Namjoon.

Seokjin scowls playfully, “I miss Dumbledore, that old man knows everything.”

“Oh, I would also know everything, Professor Kim,” a stern voice speaks from behind them and they look to see McGonagall standing by the door of the tower.

“Headmistress,” Seokjin bows politely, and Namjoon giggles beside him.

“Ilhyun also sent me a letter to tell me she was borrowing all of you,” McGonagall says. “I have announced that classes for tomorrow are canceled so you are free to go.”

“You’re not even wondering why Ilhyun’s back, Professor?” asks Jungkook.

“I had Bang update me every three months, if not monthly, on how she was doing. He mailed me two years ago that she arrived at his doorstep and that she’s had her powers completely controlled,” says McGonagall.

“Two years ago?” Bambam raised his brows.

“He didn’t even bother to tell us,” Yugyeom pouted.

McGonagall looks at them, “She probably wants to tell you something, that’s why she wants all of you to gather.”

McGonagall turns to leave then. Sungjin sighed again and takes his teaching robes off, putting a hoodie on over his shirt and then a different robe draped on his back.

“Let’s go, then,” Sungjin says, leading the way out of the tower.

He waves his wand to lock the tower as he walks ahead of the group, the air getting under his robes and making it fly out behind him a little. They leave Hogwarts just so they can apparate, and it brings them all to a deserted place. They turn around and sees a deserted house, big enough to be considered a mansion.

“Wah,” Jungkook whispers.

“Who owns that house?” Dowoon mumbled.

“Wait,” Jaehyung mutters. “Isn’t this Ilhyun’s?”

Mark looks around, “Oh, you’re right. The earth is green now so it was kind of hard to recognize.”

“Come on,” says Sungjin, walking towards the house.

And they follow him up to the doorstep. Sungjin glances back at them before knocking on the door.

“What a sec!” they hear someone yell from the inside and —

“Was that —?” the door opens, “ — Jaebeom hyung,” Jinyoung blinks.

Jaebeom grins and turns to the inside of the house, “Yah, guys! The teachers are here!”

They frown as they hear heavy footsteps. And then a boy emerges from the corner, walking up to them with a big grin on his face.

“Hyungs, Bambam, Yugyeom!”

“Chan,” breathed Sungjin.

“We haven’t seen you since graduation!” Bambam hits the Gryffindor’s chest.

Chan giggles as he greets them with a handshake, “I got offered a job in the Ministry right after and I got busy instantly. Sorry.”

Yugyeom pouts as he crossed his arms, “Just because you went there for an internship.”

Chan giggles again.

“You guys got here way earlier than I expected you to.”

Emerges from the same corner that Chan came out from was Ilhyun with a small smile on her face.

“Took them long enough, you say,” Wonpil follows out and instantly greets Jaehyung head-on, and then Jinyoung.

They leave the house, just because Ilhyun wants a more spacious location. Not that the house wasn’t that spacious enough for them already. She had said it would be best if ever one of them decides they’re mad at her and suddenly throw spells, to which they denied and told her they never considered her as an enemy.

“I read Sungjin oppa’s mind, he’s ready to fight me if he feels like it,” Ilhyun says.

“I’m sorry,” Sungjin grins sheepishly. “I heard you’re an Auror. Do you see Younghyun in the Ministry?”

“Younghyun, Younghyun, Younghyun. Even now all you speak about is Younghyun oppa,” Ilhyun teases.

Sungjin rolled his eyes, “Where are the others?”

And as if on cue, Jimin, Taehyung, and Youngjae arrive.

“Sorry we’re late,” Jimin sighed.

Jaebeom smiled, “Tough cases?”

Taehyung nods, rolling his eyes, “They keep on escaping just because Jimin wants more challenge and we always catch them within seconds whenever we let them escape.”

“And what about you?” Mark grins at Youngjae. “Tight schedule?”

Youngjae laughs, “Yeah, but I canceled everything for tomorrow when I got the letter.”

“We’re only missing two,” says Jinyoung.

“Jackson’s still on a practice, I think,” Jaebeom shrugs.

“And what about Younghyun hyung?” Namjoon asks.

“Yeah, how do we know if he’s coming or not?” Seokjin questions.

“He’ll come. Probably a bit later than Jackson,” Yoongi says.

“Future?” Hoseok smiles, Yoongi nods.

They decided to update each other in the meantime, starting with Sungjin.

Sungjin had chosen to teach Astronomy for personal reasons. Dowoon has always been drawn to animals since he was a kid, so he chose to teach Care of Magical Creatures. He would work with Wonpil sometimes, as the Slytherin’s profession is an investigator under the Beast Division. He helps him whenever Wonpil needs it.

Jaehyung, as mentioned earlier, was a teacher for History of Magic. He doesn’t know how he ended up in that post but he likes reading and history books always amaze him as realizations dawn on him every time he reads a book. He connects them to why things are the way they are now. Many had considered the class to be the most boring one, but that wasn’t the case when Jaehyung had started to take over. He’d joke about some events that were considered significant, just to lift the students’ moods and he’d always have a fruitful discussion.

Namjoon teaches Arithmancy and Advanced Arithmancy. Seokjin had persuaded him since no one else was smart enough to take the post. Seokjin himself teaches Potions. He keeps on saying he relates it to him having a passion for cooking, which everyone thinks is a bull reason. They know he just wants to see who would be better at him in Potions other than Bambam.

Yoongi teaches Divination because, well, simply because he is a Seer. Divination was very tiring. But not for the students, for Yoongi, as his students would always be so unenthusiastic. He’d give sarcastic remarks to them and the class would light up and would always result in a quite fun session for the students — exhausting for Yoongi.

Hoseok teaches Herbology. Namjoon had wanted that post, but he considers Seokjin’s reason for him to teach Arithmancy instead. Hoseok’s love for plants grew since he noticed the Head of their House, Professor Sprout, kept on bringing plants into their common room. He became interested in the subject since then. And besides, he lets Namjoon join him sometimes when he teaches and the Gryffindor was on vacant. Herbology was a really exhausting class before. But it was all light and fun with Hoseok, even more with Namjoon and his clumsiness.

Jimin and Taehyung are Aurors. The Ministry teamed them up in every case together, just because they’re the only ones who can handle the playfulness of the other. They fit together and they can be dangerous if they’re serious so they always get the job well done. Jungkook figured out late in his school years, in his fifth year, how he can change his body at will. He figured out he was a Metamorphmagus.

So he decided to teach Transfiguration, to which he sometimes change into animals or other people to impersonate them and earn laughs from his students — this either before the class starts or in the middle of class. He had been transforming into a bunny ever since he learned about his abilities and Bambam and Yugyeom think he had been changing into the animal quite frequently as he had looked like a bunny most of the time even when he was in human form. His hair was always colored light blue, hardly ever a red.

Jaebeom is an Auror as well. He’s one of the top Aurors the Ministry has and he would get the most underlings every year. Mark is a professor, too. He teaches Charms as he always had a knack for it, also in hexes and jinxes. Jackson is a professional Quidditch player. He plays on the English National Quidditch team as a chaser, but he also part-times as a professor in Hogwarts, teaching Flying.

Jinyoung teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. He and Mark would duel each other whenever they’re bored, and McGonagall has always warned and stopped them to not duel just because they’re bored, but they refuse to heed her warnings. Youngjae is a famous musician, in and out of the wizarding world. He performs for both worlds. The professors would always brag about them being close with Ars, Youngjae’s name in the Muggle world.

With Bambam being an ace in Potions, him being a Muggle-born, and him being friends with Jungkook who teaches Transfiguration, he ends up teaching Alchemy which was a sort of composite subject between Transfiguration, Potions and Muggle Chemistry. The subject focused roughly on the tranation of substances into other forms, which Bambam loved because he likes turning silver to gold like some of his accessories.

Bambam simply rubbed off on Yugyeom, influencing him to take interest in muggle things and driving him to teach Muggle Studies. The Hufflepuff was still learning as he teaches, and he’d go to Bambam for help in explaining things he can’t quite understand. Yugyeom would be the one to always mention Youngjae, telling stories about how the older Hufflepuff would tell him interesting contraptions in the Muggle world and Yugyeom would talk about the contraptions to his students.

Chan is an Auror. In his fifth year, McGonagall told him the Ministry is looking into taking him as an intern and he had agreed. Right after he graduated, he applied to the Ministry for the position of an Auror and he had been admitted easily. And also because the Ministry would benefit from his powers.

Ilhyun is also an Auror, but she doesn’t go to the Ministry. She was simply a registered Auror and they’d mail her regarding missions. Some wizards and witches still see her as a threat so they want her out. But Chan had compromised, saying he’d leave if they managed to make her leave. So they recognize Ilhyun as one of the prominent Aurors, just not an official member of the Ministry.

Brian — all they know about Brian is that he’s one of the most powerful and prominent Aurors in the Ministry. His name is well-known in the wizarding world, just not as much as Ilhyun’s and Chan’s. Criminals would instantly surrender if they knew Brian was sent after them. They knew they’d have no match. Sungjin wonders how he had grown so strong over the years. That, no one knows. Maybe Chan does, but he refuses to say.

It was midnight when they started. They had talked for about three hours now, just sitting in front of the mansion now confirmed as Ilhyun’s, now Chan’s property, too. Jungkook had produced a round table and chairs out of thin air for them to sit on. They left one empty chair between Sungjin and Chan. Jackson had arrived a few minutes after Jimin, Taehyung, and Youngjae did. He was still in his Quidditch robes as he had come from a practice session. Jaebeom provided Jackson with clothes to change into from the little sack that he brought with him.

They talked peacefully for a few more minutes before the final member finally joins them, apparating into the land. Sungjin gasps as Brian appears out of nowhere. He smiles softly at them, apologizes for being so late, and telling them he had been given missions continuously, and that he had no time to send them a letter to know about his whereabouts.

“No worries,” Jaehyung grins as he initiates a hand hug with the younger.

Brian accepts it and then walks to sit on the empty chair beside Chan. And that was the moment they finally felt complete. Sungjin becomes timid beside him. He becomes silent and just remains listening to them, either smiling or laughing at times. Sungjin steals a glance at the Auror beside him and catches his prefect badge on his black shirt that was covered by a robe. And speaking of his appearance, Sungjin’s initial thought, when he saw him that night, was that he looked so good, though his eyes looked tired.

He had a kind of emo style now. His black hair parts a little on his right, and he was wearing all black — plain black shirt under his black robe and black pants that were slightly ripped on its knees. And Sungjin had been clenching his hand into a fist to hold himself back from putting it on the younger’s half-exposed knee. He dressed up as emo but the emotion on his face was nowhere close to that vibe. He was bright and happy like how Sungjin knows him. Sungjin bites his lip as he stares into Brian’s eyes.

Brian, who had now also ceased to be a listener at the moment as well, blinks before turning to look at him. Sungjin wants to look away, yet Brian’s eyes held him. And Brian smiles at the familiar sparkle in the older’s eyes. Sungjin tries to enter his mind, for the first time. And Brian smiles a bit wider.

“You can’t, Geom,” he says and Sungjin’s heart skipped a beat at the unwanted nickname.

Brian had started calling him that ever since they fell out. And him calling him that tonight, after seven years, breaks Sungjin’s heart. Maybe Brian had turned away from him over the years.

“I perfected Occlumency over the years,” Brian says. “I don’t want anyone entering my mind and causing that memory to resurface.”

Sungjin gulps before looking away and focus back on listening to their friends. Yoongi catches his eyes and he raised his brows a bit at the different look in the younger’s eyes. Yoongi leans to the table with his arms.

“Hey, does everyone know about that odd mirror in Hogwarts?” Yoongi questions.

“What mirror?” asks Dowoon.

“The mirror that doesn’t show just your reflection?” asks Mark, smiling a bit.

Yoongi nods, “Yeah, that. Did everyone see that?”

Everyone nods.

“But I’ve forgotten what I saw in that mirror,” Jungkook says.

“I remember mine being my profession now,” Youngjae speaks up.

“Me too,” Jackson points at Youngjae.

“I saw myself brewing an original potion,” Bambam informs.

“I saw myself in another world. It seemed unusual to me before but now I figured out it was the Muggle world,” Yugyeom says.

“Do you know what that means? What you saw in the mirror?” Yoongi asks and they shook their heads.

Sungjin feels Brian get nervous beside him and he frowns, looking at him.

“That’s called the Mirror of Erised,” Jaehyung speaks up. “It shows our greatest desire. When I first used it, I saw myself laughing hysterically so that probably means I wanted to be happy.”

“Oh, so you never really liked me, did you?” Brian playfully sneers.

Jaehyung smirks and nods at him, “What did you see?”

“If I remember correctly, Sungjin saw you smiling beside him that time,” Seokjin speaks up from beside Namjoon.

Brian feels his ears turn red.

“You said you saw yourself as an Auror,” Mark joins.

“But is that really what you saw?” Yoongi raises a brow.

Brian avoids their eyes and chooses to stare at the wooden table.

“He told me he saw me with him,” Sungjin speaks up. “But that was all, I don’t know if I was doing — “

“You were hugging me,” Brian cuts him off, eyes still focused on the table.

Sungjin snaps his head over to look at him, lips parted in surprise.

“You were smiling while you were embracing me from behind,” Brian mutters.

Seokjin smiles a bit. Hoseok leans to the table with a wider smile.

“Amortentia. It’s said that the potion emits a smell that attracts you. Simply the smell of the person whom you are attracted to,” Hoseok says.

“What did you smell?” asks Jimin.

“I smelled Yoongi hyung,” Hoseok tilts his head to the seer beside him. “Dogs and face wash.”

“I smelled you too, Snape said it was a rather odd combination because I smelled soil and vanilla,” Yoongi says.

Taehyung giggles, “The soil is probably because Professor Sprout brings in different plants into our common room at times. He always helps her bring them in.”

“Yeah, because vanilla is Hoseok hyung’s natural scent,” Jungkook nods.

“Jaebeom, Jinyoung. Have you smelled it?” Mark turns to them.

Jinyoung nods, “I smelled silicone.”

“Silicone?” Bambam furrowed his brows.

“That’s probably one of the Muggle-borns. Most probably Mark hyung since he always has his phone,” Youngjae says and earns confused looks from the others.

“A phone is something that lets you play with it, send messages through signals and numbers, call someone, and play music,” Yugyeom explains.

“How is that Mark hyung?” Taehyung asks.

“Phone cases are mostly made of silicone,” says Jackson.

“Ah, right!” Mark nods. “I always have my phone.”

“What about Jaebeom hyung?” Chan questions.

“I smelled broomstick and freshly cut grass,” Jaebeom answers.

“That’s like…” Sungjin squints his eyes. “The Quidditch Pitch.”

“The Pitch? Then it might be Jackson,” says Namjoon. “He always lies down on the Pitch, right? Jackson’s obsessed with the Pitch and Quidditch.”

Jackson smiles sheepishly, “What about the others?”

“I haven’t really smelled one,” says Ilhyun, head shaking a bit.

“Oh, wait. Seems like I have some in my inventory…” Seokjin trails as he takes out a small bag enchanted to fit in his whole inventory of potions.

Namjoon laughs at him. Seokjin laughs a bit as well before pulling out a small vial filled with pink liquid. And Sungjin and Brian look at each other knowingly. Seokjin pops the cork off carefully and smells it.

“Smells like… the sea and… a bonsai tree,” Seokjin says.

“The sea? Probably Namjoon hyung,” Jungkook declares. “He likes the sea.”

“Yeah, and he owns a little bonsai tree,” Jackson adds. “I remember he called it Jjin-jjin.”

Namjoon smiles shyly while Seokjin passes the vial to Jaehyung.

“Have you smelled this, Wonpil-ah?” Jaehyung questions. “I smell your shampoo.”

“I have, actually, together with Jinyoung and the others. I smelled roses and Sungjin hyung’s deodorant back then,” Wonpil says and the atmosphere changes.

All heads turned to look at Sungjin who stares a bit wide-eyed at his Slytherin best friend, surprised.

“Me?” Sungjin points to himself.

“Yeah, I really smelled you,” Wonpil nods.

Ilhyun snorts from between Chan and Dowoon. Dowoon giggles from beside her, head shaking.

“I knew it smelled familiar,” Dowoon says. “Jaehyung hyung’s cologne smells like Sungjin hyung’s deodorant. It’s probably Jaehyung hyung you’re smelling but because he smells like Sungjin hyung, you think you smell Sungjin hyung.”

Jaehyung snorts before he laughs with his chest, followed by everyone else, “Ah, what?! I thought you were attracted to Sungjin!”

Wonpil shakes his head, eyebrows furrowing in denial. Sungjin chuckles softly, but Brian keeps quiet. Jaehyung hands the vial to Mark. The Ravenclaw inhales from the vial and then sniffs Jinyoung’s shoulder.

“You smell like blueberries?” Mark asks him.

Jinyoung blinks.

“He does smell like blueberries,” Jaebeom nods and earns a sharp look from Mark. “What? Oh, don’t tell me you’re jealous just because I know what he smells like!”

“He’s been his best friend for years!” Jackson laughs.

Jinyoung slaps Mark on his chest, taking the vial carefully and passing it off to Chan.

“Geom and I smelled each other when we were second years,” Brian suddenly says.

“Second years?” questions Dowoon.

“We served detention with Snape that night,” Sungjin says.

“Again, Brian, I’m sorry for leaving you on the train — “

“You just fell in love with Wonpil, I know, I get it,” Brian rolled his eyes, and everyone laughs.

“You still have a grudge on him for that?” Jaebeom grins comically.

Jaehyung scowls playfully and ushers Sungjin to continue.

“We were tasked to clean potion bottles and vials, and I was cleaning one that smelled good so I kept on smelling it. I said it smelled like Younghyun, he said it smelled like me. The bottle had a bit of pink liquid left in it,” Sungjin explains.

“We didn’t know what it was before so we had no idea about what it meant when we smelled each other,” Brian added.

Yoongi nods, smirking meaningfully before he asks Chan what he smells.

“I smell petrichor and… dirt,” says Chan, passing the vial to Ilhyun who hands it over to Dowoon.

Dowoon just stares at him, then at her, “You’re not gonna smell it?”

“Why?” questions Ilhyun.

“Just smell it,” Dowoon demands and Ilhyun does, her eyes rolling.

“Cotton and leaves,” Ilhyun simply says and hands it over to him again.

“Cotton and leaves?” Hoseok raises a brow.

Ilhyun shrugs.

“Is that Chan?” Jungkook frowns.

“Me?” Chan blinks. “Well, I wear cotton sweaters when I’m indoors and I lie down on leaf piles when it’s autumn.”

“Smells like home,” Ilhyun mutters almost inaudibly but Chan heard her and he smiles as she passes the vial over to Sungjin.

“I already said — “

“I know, I heard, but what do we know? Maybe it changed,” Ilhyun cuts off.

Sungjin glares at her before taking the vial and inhaling. He stares at the table, focusing, before closing his eyes and sighing.

“What did you smell the first time, again?” questions Namjoon.

“The first time was chocolate and linen sheets,” says Sungjin, eyes opening and then handing the vial to Brian.

“What about now?” Seokjin blinked.

Sungjin leans back on his chair, glancing at Brian who was sniffing on the vial, “Parchment, something earthy, and iron.”

“That’s a bit vague, isn’t it?” Jaebeom mumbles.

“What about you, Younghyun hyung?” Wonpil calls.

Brian closes the vial with the wooden cork and hands it back to Seokjin, “The first scents I smelled were the kitchens at Hogwarts and Geom’s sweater.”

They hummed, nodding at him to continue. Sungjin watches Brian run a hand through the right side of his hair, the few fringes flicking back front to softly fall on his forehead. And Sungjin had never thought the cute, happy kid before would turn so mature and hot. Sungjin gulps and looks away, catching Dowoon and Wonpil who were grinning teasingly at him. He rolled his eyes.

“Now… I smell flowers, the owlery, and something similar to wet fog. Or moisty fog,” Brian mumbles.

“Flowers?” questions Yoongi, curious. “What flowers?”

“I don’t know what kind of flowers but they’re definitely flowers. I just don’t know exactly what they are,” Brian explains.

The teachers look expectantly at Hoseok.

“Can I guess?” mutters Sungjin, sitting up and leaning onto the table. “Carnation and Paperwhite.”

Hoseok draws his wand out and points it to Brian, “Orchideous.”

A bouquet of two different flowers shoots out of his wand and onto the table. Brain grabs it and sniffs, nodding.

“Yeah, this is the smell,” he says.

“Sungjin hyung has those flowers on his desk,” Dowoon speaks up.

Sungjin looks down at the table, his right hand fiddling with its own fingers.

“Why those flowers?” asks Jackson.

“In the Victorian language of flowers, what the Carnation conveys depends on its color. Light red symbolizes admiration. On the other hand, Paperwhite says that you want your loved ones to stay just the way they are, somewhat consistent,” Hoseok informs. “But I think it’s more than that. Am I right, hyung?”

Sungjin doesn’t respond.

“Carnation and Paperwhite are actually the birth flower of January and December, respectively,” Hoseok adds. “He asked me that before and requested for me to plant those flowers. He picks some up from my garden when the ones in his office wither. He specifically asked me to plant dark red Carnation which conveys deep love.”

“That explains the flowers. What about the owlery?” asks Yugyeom.

Sungjin remains quiet.

“I write to Sungjin hyung monthly,” Jaebeom says. “He asked me after the war to update him regarding Younghyun, how he was doing. He told me Yoongi hyung saw me and Younghyun becoming Aurors so he had me keep a close eye on him.”

Brian looks at Sungjin, Sungjin remains unmoving as he stares at the table, avoiding everyone’s eyes.

“And the scent similar to wet fog?” Youngjae wonders out loud.

It goes quiet, everyone wondering why Brian would smell that if he was smelling Sungjin’s scent from the Amortentia. Sungjin closed his eyes for a moment with a sigh when no one spoke.

“I’m an Astronomy professor. I spend my time at the highest tower in Hogwarts, day or night,” he says.

“Hence, the smell of the clouds, that’s right!” Mark claps once.

“So you smell Sungjin hyung,” Bambam concludes. “How can we prove Sungjin hyung smells Younghyun hyung, though?”

“What do you smell, again?” Jinyoung nods at Sungjin.

“Parchment, something earthy, and iron,” Sungjin repeats.

“Parchment might be because when Younghyun isn’t out for a mission, he stays in his office for paperwork,” Jaebeom says.

“Oh, that’s right. His office is full of papers, it smells like the library,” Chan nods in agreement.

“What’s something earthy?” Jimin frowns.

“Let’s go to the iron first,” says Taehyung.

“Could it be the prefect badge?” Chan speaks up. “Whenever I visit him, I always catch him fiddling with the badge in his left hand whenever he was working.”

“Isn’t it hot, though?” Jimin frowns deeper.

“I got used to it,” Brian smiles reassuringly at him. “Besides, it’s helpful when it’s cold.”

“So, something earthy…” Jaehyung trails, thinking.

“It’s something like — it smells like the forest, too,” Sungjin supplies.

“Oh, I got it!” Dowoon beams excitedly. “Wonpil hyung once brought him with him when he went to me for help with some case. He said Younghyun hyung wanted to befriend some bears and I took him to the forest to help him befriend some. I find him there on the same spot sometimes when it was his day off. He would be either feeding bears, hugging bears, or have a bear sleeping on top of him while he just stares at the sky or sleeps, too.”

“You befriended bears?” Jungkook giggles with Chan.

“They’re cute. And fluffy. And warm,” Brian reasons out.

“So is Sungjin oppa,” Ilhyun says.

Sungjin smirks, “You think I’m cute — “

“Don’t push it, I’m just saying you resemble a bear. That doesn’t mean you’re just as cute,” Ilhyun sneers playfully.

Sungjin laughs softly.

“Sounds like you just missed Sungjin hyung throughout the years,” Mark rolled his eyes.

“And so what if I did?” Brian raised a brow.

“So now that you’ve seen him, you don’t miss him anymore?” Jaehyung grins.

Brian only rolled his eyes, not bothering to answer. Sungjin his lips, trying to subtly calm his beating heart down. He realizes his feelings were still as strong — no. Stronger. He gulps, eyebrows furrowing a bit as the group flies from one topic to another. He hesitantly looks at Brian who was listening to the others with a small smile on his face. He was happy, Sungjin can see that. It was obvious. But there was something more in his eyes. And then his eyes widened when he started to see images.

 

•••

“I love him, hyung, I don’t want to lose him,” cries Brian.

“You won’t,” Jaehyung closes his eyes when Brian grips his shirt tightly.

“But I already am,” Brian sobs heavily. “I already am. I hurt him, I lost him, hyung, I — “

Jaehyung pulls his head to his shoulder to shush him and just let him cry. And his vulnerable cries echo through the empty hallway.

 

•••

Dowoon walks towards Brian who was sitting on the ground, a bear sprawled on his lap. The Ravenclaw smiled when Brian looked up at him.

“You know, hyung, Sungjin hyung never liked anyone touching him,” Dowoon says.

Brian’s eyebrows furrowed, “But he was always the one holding me.”

“Then what does that tell you if he was always the one initiating it?” Dowoon smiles a little wider.

 

•••

“Hyung, for the record, I wasn’t scared of you when we first met because you were left on the train,” Wonpil says.

Brian furrowed his brows at him.

“I was scared because I wanted you to like me. Because you’re special to Sungjin hyung. And anything special to him is special to me and Dowoon. So I wanted you to like me,” Wonpil added.

Brian blinked in surprise. He never knew that.

 

•••

The door to his office opens and Brian looks up.

“Hyung, I got a letter for you!~” Chan sang as he offers him the envelope.

Brian takes it, thanking the younger, before opening it and looking up, “Apparate to where?”

“Just apparate. Tonight,” Chan smiled.

“What’s this for? Is this for that reunion that Ilhyun wants that you keep on mentioning? Is everyone going to be there?” Brian blinks.

“Yeah. At least, I hope so. Some of the professors in our squad might not be able to go, though,” Chan says, frowning.

“Sung — Geom’s a professor, right? What does he teach, again?” Brian furrows his brows.

Chan smiled again, softly, “Astronomy.”

“Right. Do you know why he chose Astronomy? I figured he’d have interest in, I don’t know, his wand is highly suited to Transfiguration and combative magic. I thought he’d teach Defense Against the Dark Arts or Transfiguration,” Brian babbles.

Chan giggles before smiling softly, “Hyung, you always talk a lot when it’s about Sungjin hyung.”

Brian sighs, leaning back to his chair and cradling his head, fingers rubbing his temples, “Sorry.”

“No, it’s totally fine,” Chan waves his hand a bit in dismissal. “You still like him, don’t you?”

Brian sighs again, looking up at the boy with pain and fondness in his eyes, “I love him, Chan. Never stopped even for a second. Never forget even for a second.”

Chan nods, "You even worked hard to be an Auror because he believes you're a great dueller. And the badge. Do you know why it's burning?"

Brian furrows his brows, "No. Why is it burning?"

"It means he needs you. And if the badge with him is burning, it means you need him."

 

•••

Sungjin gets pushed out of the memories and he blinked to see Brian looking shocked at the table. His head moves a bit, probably to look at him but he stops himself. Brian gulps.

“Should we wrap up for tonight?” Seokjin yawns as he stretched.

“You can pick your rooms,” Ilhyun says, standing up.

The rest of them follow and the wooden table and chairs disappear. Chan and Ilhyun lead them into the house, enchanted to be a lot more spacious inside than what can be seen from the outside. Five couples decide to room together. Chan has his own room, as does Ilhyun. Yugyeom, Bambam, and Youngjae chose to room with each other.

“Yah, don’t be noisy, okay?” Jaebeom warns.

“Hyung, we live in a magical world. We’ll put a charm to block sounds from the inside,” Bambam rolls his eyes and earns a hit on the head from the older.

Jungkook, Jimin, and Taehyung room together as well, promising to also put a charm in case they get too noisy.

Dowoon asks Chan if he can room with him and the younger Gryffindor agrees easily.

“I have games from the muggle world. We can play with those!” Chan beams.

“Assa,” Dowoon giggles, nodding.

“Is there room for one more?” Brian mumbles.

“Oppa, this house is enchanted. We can just add another room,” Ilhyun answers.

“Alright. I’ll sleep there,” Brian says.

“Hey, do you have a rooftop or balcony or something?” Sungjin turns to Ilhyun.

Ilhyun blinks, “Yeah, why?”

“I want to look at the sky before sleeping,” mumbles Sungjin before turning around and walking to the stairs leading upstairs once he spots them.

Jaebeom chuckled, head shaking, “Well, we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jackson walks alongside Jaebeom towards their room.

“Good night,” Jaehyung waves and everyone retreats to their room.

Ilhyun puts a Muffliato Charm for each of the rooms, just in case.

On the rooftop, Sungjin looks up at the still-dark sky. There were still stars, the moon peeking behind the clouds as the fluffy whites slowly pass by it. Sungjin leans to the railings and sighs, the wind blowing his hair to the side. He blinks as he starts to connect the stars to form a constellation. And somehow, he’s always formed Sagittarius. He closes his eyes once he sees the constellation. He bows his head with a sigh, the wind still blowing.

And he suddenly feels presence beside him. He hopes it’s not Brian. He still stands by his words earlier, he was not yet ready to see the younger. And even when they’d sat side by side, his heart still wasn’t calming down. And his hands start shaking slightly. He closes them into fists tightly. And something slightly heavy drapes itself on his back. He raises his head and looks to the side to see the one person he wasn’t ready to see.

Brian leaned back to the railing, looking up at the sky, “You should have brought a sweater or something. It’s November, it’s cold. It penetrates when all you’re wearing is — ” Brian scans him, “ — well, you’re wearing a hoodie. Why are you still shivering? You have a robe, too.”

Sungjin keeps quiet and shrugs.

Brian looks down at him, eyes squinted as the wind was still blowing, harder every minute. Sungjin sees the first-year Brian for a second and his heart aches. The big and bright grin was gone with his now 25-year-old self.

“Geom, can we talk?” Brian mutters, eyes relaxing.

Sungjin turns around to lean back to the railing as well, sighing, “We can if you stop calling me that. Why do you even call me that?”

“I can’t — It hurts me to call you as usual. I just… I don’t know. I just feel like I’ve lost my right to call you that since our sixth year,” Brian replies.

“I never revoked your right to call me by my name. Why would you revoke it yourself?” Sungjin asks.

Brian’s eyes glisten with tears, “I hated myself, I still do. I hate me for hurting you. I never want to see that look on you again.”

Sungjin kept quiet.

“Geom means night,” says Brian.

“I know that. And I know why you chose to call me that,” Sungjin sighs.

“It’s also kind of a wordplay to reference bears,” Brian adds.

Sungjin chuckled softly, “Gom.”

Brian nods, “Look, Geom. I’m really sorry. I know it’s so late, it’s too late. But I still want to apologize for what happened between us in our sixth year. I never intended to imply that you were disloyal. I just — I was hurt to see you with a girl. I was worried something had happened to you. I’ve always thought you’re the turbulent type, you’re prone to stress and I was worried you weren’t taking it well. I let my feelings control me and I hurt you because of that. So I’m sorry. I understand if you won’t forgive me. I disrespected you and your house, so I totally understand. I just still want to apologize.”

Sungjin watched him catch a tear that escape from his eye, and he sighs again, “You said you perfected Occlumency. Why was I able to get in your mind earlier?”

“I… I honestly don’t know why, either,” Brian mutters.

Sungjin stares at him, “You’re lying. I got in your mind again. You know why I was able to get into you, you just don’t want to tell me.”

Brian bites his lip.

“If you want to talk about all that’s happened between us, tell me the truth. Why am I still able to get into your mind even when you know Occlumency?” Sungjin narrowed his eyes.

Brian looks away from him for a second, the rest of his tears falling and he doesn’t bother to wipe them away this time. He sniffs and then looks back to him, “Because I always fall apart for you. You have a way of getting into me without even knowing. I lose control of myself with you, even my mind gets weak.”

Sungjin’s expression softens at him, “Younghyun, you know why I chose to teach Astronomy?”

Brian wipes his tears, sniffing as he turns to lean forwards to the railing, head shaking, “You saw that in my memories. No, I have no idea.”

Sungjin stares at him and Brian returns the stare. Sungjin gulps as he reads what he failed to read earlier: the extreme longing in Brian’s eyes. “Because you never failed to tell me how my eyes look like the night sky.”

Brian his lips.

“I want to know what you see in my eyes; I want to see what you see in them. I want to realize the beauty you see in my eyes. I want to know why you always say that even when you’ve said it a lot of times before,” Sungjin adds.

“And have you figured it out?” Brian questions.

Sungjin shook his head, “No. Because only with you will I be able to understand what my eyes hold. Only with you will I be able to truly realize and appreciate what you see in my eyes. Only by looking at you will they be able to hold the same beauty.”

Brian steps closer to him just to get a better look at his eyes, “If you look at a mirror, you can study your eyes. It reflects everything — your feelings, your emotions, your soul, the lights, the stars. Even me. Your eyes are so clear and bright, I see my reflection in them. Of course, not a clear reflection. But I can see myself. Your eyes are so beautiful. It’s one of the reasons why I can’t forgive myself for hurting you. Your eyes reflected nothing but betrayal and pain that time. You were crying but they were still so beautiful and I hate it because they were beautiful for the wrong reasons.”

Sungjin takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry too, you know.”

Brian furrows his brows at him, confused.

“I hurt you, too. And I also can’t forgive myself for it. It haunts me until now, your face when I pointed my wand at you. You were so scared. When I left, I was scared you’d fear me after that. I regret getting mad at you. Even if you say I have the right, I still regret it. I let my feelings control me as well, and I ended up hurting you too. It wasn’t just entirely your fault. It was mine, too. I never told you what I was doing while you were worrying about me,” Sungjin continues. “Would you still wanna know?”

Brian shrugs, “Yeah, I guess.”

“I wasn’t hanging out with her for no reason. She was the only one in the school who I openly told about my feelings for you,” Sungjin pauses when Brian’s lips parted in surprise. “That time when you found us, I was spewing the usual to her. I always told her about you, told stories about you but of course, nothing personal. She knows I like you, hell, she was telling me to just tell you every praise that I tell her about you. She was encouraging me to confess to you. I was freaking out about you to her.”

“So you knew you were drifting away from us?”

“I did. I was planning to make it up to everyone by bringing you all to Hogsmeade and treating you. I needed that, Younghyun. I needed to let my feelings out because I was going crazy. And I can’t tell it to anyone else in the group because I was scared it would reach you and I’m not ready to tackle that. I do love you but we were too young, Younghyun, I don’t want us to get into something so mature,” Sungjin explains.

Brian nods in understanding, “Sorry I jumped to conclusions. I know what you saw in my mind earlier. I’m not going to explain why I needed that explanation.”

Sungjin nods back, “You were jealous.”

“Yeah,” Brian muttered. “Though I have no right to be. We only kissed. It didn’t mean you were mine.”

Sungjin feels his chest tighten.

“Speaking of, you remember that, right? When we were in the Room of Requirement?” Brian looks at him.

“How could I forget?” Sungjin smiles faintly.

“I figured out that wasn’t a mistletoe that the Room gave us,” says Brian. “It was my other birth flower, holly.”

Sungjin grins, Brian furrows his brows.

“I know,” says Sungjin.

“You knew?” Brian can feel his ears start to burn.

“Yeah, I knew that wasn’t a mistletoe. But you identified it as one so I went with it,” Sungjin giggles a bit at the amount of shock and embarrassment that crept up to Brian’s face.

“S-so, why did you kiss me?” Brian raised his voice a bit, panicking.

“Why not? I wanted to. It appeared because of me. Your birth flower appeared because I wanted you. And the Room knew that,” Sungjin says. “I’ve wanted you since our first year, Younghyun. It just truly showed on our fifth year.”

“Oh, Merlin’s beard,” Brian whispers to himself, facepalming in embarrassment.

Sungjin giggles at him, “I was surprised you didn’t know what a real mistletoe looks like.”

“Well, they’re hard to differentiate!” Brian scowls.

“Mistletoes have white berries, hollies have red,” Sungjin informs.

“I know that now!” Brian punches his arm.

Sungjin laughs a bit. It turns calm for a moment then. The breeze blew again, colder. And Brian shivers a bit.

“Why did you give me your coat if you — “

“That’s not my coat. That came from my wand,” Brian cuts off, stopping him from taking the coat off him.

“Then wear it — “

“No, Geom — “

“Stop calling me that!”

“But I can’t — “

“I forgive you! Let’s put that behind us already!” Sungjin kind of whines.

Brian chuckles, “Alright! Although you look cute, stop pouting.”

“I am not pouting,” Sungjin glares.

“Oh, now you just look like a kid from where I can see you. You are pouting, hyung, you have your bottom lip jutted out,” Brian taps him on the chin a bit, grinning fondly at him.

Sungjin huffs, cheeks blowing out a bit, before looking ahead and crossing his arms. Brian giggles at him, looking ahead as well. The air lightens, compared to when it was heavier before they started talking. Brian steps closer to Sungjin.

“Hyung, do you remember everything that happened in the Room of Requirement?” Brian asks.

“We danced, we kissed, of course, I remember. Again, how can I forget?” Sungjin looks up at him. “Why?”

Brian his lips and bit down on his bottom one as he looked down.

“Kang Bra — “

A vulnerable sob escapes Brian’s lips and he bites down harder on his lip as his tears fell again. Sungjin pushed himself off the railing, holding his face with his hands, eyebrows furrowed in intense worry.

“Kang Bra? What’s the matter? Do you regret all of it?” Sungjin softly inquires.

Brian instantly shook his head, “Merlin, no. I’d never regret anything that happened in there. I just…”

He laughs as he cries, confusing Sungjin as the older wipes his tears.

“Then what? Why are you crying?” Sungjin asked, still worried as hell.

“I — “ Brian chuckles, sniffing. “I just missed you calling me that.”

“Oh,” Sungjin grins.

Brian composes himself, wiping his tears, “You remember how you told me you would hold me when I — “

Sungjin throws himself to him with a soft grunt, arms wrapping around his waist. Brian smiles and embraces him back, arms around his shoulders. He closes his eyes and after seven years, he was finally able to relax completely, all stress gone. And Sungjin was the same, stepping closer to Brian and hugging him tighter, as he felt his shoulders and chest lighten.

“Kang Bra, you don’t need to ask me to hold you. You can just hold me whenever you want and I’d hold you too, you know?” Sungjin smiles against the crook of his neck when Brian buried his face on his shoulder.

“Dowoon said you hate people touching you,” Brian mumbles.

“I know, I saw that in your memory. I’m okay if it’s you,” Sungjin says, his hold on his tightening a bit more.

Brian hugs him just as tight, “Your embrace is still so warm. It didn’t change. Your hold is so calming.”

Sungjin smiled wider, “It was a promise, Kang Bra. That they’d hold you if you need to. If you want to.”

Brian pulls back and then leans down to him, lips taking his upper one. Sungjin puts a hand on the back of his head and pulls him closer, earning a low moan from him. He tilts his head to deepen it, and Brian willingly parts his mouth. Sungjin smiles a bit and pulls back for a second, just to tilt his head to the other side and kiss him again, open and deeper.

Brian pulls at him as he leans back to the railing, lengthily as Sungjin holds his head still, the hand on the back of his head sliding down to his nape. Sungjin goes deeper and harder as he takes control. His mouth was the only one moving, Brian still obediently staying still and letting Sungjin explore him. Sungjin draws another low and lengthy moan from him as he pulls back. The older moves to his neck as Brian catch his breath, hands holding tightly onto Sungjin’s shoulders.

“Hyung,” he breathes.

Sungjin grips at his hair and gently tugs at it, making him tilt his head back and granting Sungjin access to his throat. Sungjin hums deeply against his neck. An involuntary moan reverberates from his throat when Sungjin bites down before moving to the side of his neck, biting down again.

“,” Brian shakes a bit.

Sungjin smirks cockily against his skin, “See? I never forgot anything that happened in the Room. I still even remember your weak spot.”

“Oh, you little . Get off,” Brian breathes out.

Sungjin obeys, letting his hair go and placing his hands on his hips, thumbs going under his shirt and caressing his bare skin softly. Sungjin smiled at him.

“Sorry, did I pull too hard? Or did I bite too hard?” Sungjin raises his right hand and uses it to massage his scalp a bit, and his neck after.

“No,” Brian shakes his head and Sungjin puts his hand back on his hip.

Brian stares at him lovingly, Sungjin returns the look, and the younger sighs in content as his eyes roam his face.

“Hyung, have I ever told you how beautiful you are?”

Sungjin chuckles, “Just my eyes. You told me I was cute when we first met.”

“You still are. I’m now telling you, you look beautiful,” Brian pushes his hair back, places a tender kiss on his forehead, and pats his hair back down.

“You look good, too,” Sungjin steps back a bit for a moment to look at him from head to toe, before going back in his arms. “You never change. You’re always gorgeous whenever I see you.”

Brain scowls playfully, “It’s not a competition, you don’t need to beat me on everything I say and do to you.”

Sungjin giggles, “I don’t try to. I’m just saying what I want to say, what I feel, what I see.”

Brian sighs, “I hope you know I love you just as much as you love me, if not more.”

“I know,” Sungjin nods as he smiles a bit wider, drawing Brian’s attention to his lips and gasping a bit at how red and wet they are. And Sungjin grins. ”Yours are just as swollen.”

Brian pulls him in and hides his face on his shoulder, shy, “You idiot.”

Sungjin embraces him as well, hands rubbing his back, “I love you.”

“I love you,” Brian sighs.

“We should go to sleep, Kang Bra. It’s already 4,” says Sungjin, pulling back.

Brian frowns, “How did you know? You have no watch with you.”

Sungjin chuckled, smirking, “I’m an Astrologist, Kang Bra. I study the sky — “

Brian scoffs, “You study your eyes.”

Sungjin grins as giggles bubble from his throat, “Whatever you say. Let’s go.”

Sungjin pulls at his hands and leads him into the house.

“It’s true. Your eyes really do look like the night sky. Do you remember my owl, Bbirong? He reminds me of you because his feathers are like the night sky. Oh, and hey! The sparkles in your eyes are back — “

Sungjin pulls him into a kiss, a short and quick one, as they enter his room, “You never shut up, Merlin.”

Brian frowns as Sungjin closes the door and pulls him to the bed to lie down, “You love me the way I am, shut up.”

“I do but sometimes, I just wonder how I’m able to put up with all your shenanigans,” Sungjin rolled his eyes as he lied down.

Brian lies down beside him, head on top of Sungjin’s bicep and arm thrown across his abdomen, “Don’t talk like you don’t act like a kid sometimes.”

“When did I ever act like a kid?” Sungjin retorts as he puts his arm around the younger.

“You do when you’re upset. Like you’re having a tantrum,” Brian says, settling his head on his shoulder. “I remember when we were kids, you always frowned when you don’t get what you want.”

“What? Who was that — when did that happen?” Sungjin furrows his brows in pure confusion.

“Never but I have no arguments left,” Brian pouts, upset.

Sungjin facepalms as he laughs a bit, “You’re still making me crazy but for the wrong reasons now.”

“You know, you’re so different from everyone else,” Brian suddenly mumbles seriously.

Sungjin looks down at him and sees the younger one already looking up at him.

“You have the stars in your eyes. You have the voice of an angel. I feel like I’m in heaven when I’m with you. And you just… you look so ethereal. Always. You don’t even have to try,” Brian says. “You’re a celestial.”

Sungjin smiles, “If I’m a celestial, then you’re the universe I reside in. I don’t exist without you.”

And Brian’s heart explodes.

---

Catching Up

The next morning, Brian wakes up, rolling to his back as he yawns. He felt heat on his face and he uses his hand to block the sunlight streaming through the window of the room. He stretches and then slowly opens his eyes, looking at his side to find it empty. He shot up, jumped out of bed, and ignoring the pain that struck his head when he stood up too fast. He ran out of the room and down to the living room where he bumped hard into someone. He apologizes quickly and realizes it was Wonpil.

Wonpil blinks, “Why are you — are you okay? You seem scared.”

“Sungjin hyung. Where is he?” Brian asks, tears springing up to his eyes. “Where’s Sungjin hyung? Please tell me — “

“Kang Bra?”

Brian turns around and instantly tackles the man into a tight embrace, head burying to his shoulder. He felt strong arms wrap around his waist slowly and he squeezes him.

“He looked scared,” Wonpil says before leaving to the kitchen.

Brian feels a hand run up and down his back.

Sungjin whispers against his ear, “Yah, what happened? Did you have a nightmare?”

Brian shakes his head, “I thought you left. I thought you left me. I thought — “

“Shh,” Sungjin hushes him before chuckling. “Why would I leave you?”

“I thought I did something again,” Brian whimpers.

Sungjin pulls back and holds his head, smiling at him after pressing a kiss on his forehead, “Forget about it, Kang Bra. I’m not leaving you ever.”

Brian sniffs and nods obediently. Sungjin smiles wider and squishes his cheeks together. He giggles at him.

“You still look the same as when I first did this to you,” Sungjin says happily.

Brian speaks, voice muffled, “Your eyes are sparkling again like they always do before.”

Sungjin grins, “Well, they’re looking at their moon again.”

Brian slaps his hand down from his face, scoffing as his ears turned red, “I’m hungry.”

“Everyone’s in the kitchen. We’re already done eating. Come on, you can eat while we talk,” Sungjin grabs his hand and drags him to the kitchen where the rest of their friends talked altogether.

They stopped when they entered, grinning teasingly at them.

“Good morning,” Jaehyung wiggles his brows at Brian. “Got some last night?”

“Oh, my god, please stop,” Ilhyun groans, Chan giggles at her.

Brian hits Jaehyung on the head, “No, we just talked.”

“Yeah, considering how Sungjin hyung’s preparing your breakfast, we figured you’ve made up,” Mark grins widely.

Sungjin serves him his breakfast as he sits down beside him. He places a hand on his thigh and Brian gulps before taking a bite. Chan, who sat beside Brian, sees Sungjin’s gesture and slowly faces his body towards Ilhyun.

“So, how’s Hogwarts?” Chan questions no one in particular.

Jinyoung shrugged, “Still the same. Slytherins still hate Gryffindors.”

Yoongi scoffed, “I pair Slytherins and Gryffindors together in my class.”

“Ah, I heard a pair developed into a romantic relationship because of you,” Hoseok grins.

“The kids aren’t scared of you, hyung?” Jimin asks.

Seokjin laughs, “Students think he’s a copy of Snape.”

“No, they just get on his bad side,” Namjoon says. “I hear some students say Divination is fun.”

“Hoseok hyung brings flowers to Yoongi hyung sometimes,” Jungkook reveals.

Yoongi sighs exhaustedly, “Hoseok is noisier than a mandrake’s cry.”

They laugh, Namjoon strongly agreeing.

“I can testify to that. It’s fun in Hoseok’s class. It’s all laughs,” Namjoon says.

“Namjoon is regarded as the smartest professor there is in Hogwarts,” Seokjin informs and Namjoon shies away, shaking his head though he was smiling abashedly.

“Yeah, he can substitute for any other subject except for muggle-related subjects,” says Yugyeom. He destroys all the muggle stuff!”

Youngjae leans back, “Yugyeom calls me when he’s bored.”

“Youngjae hyung and I come over to mess around in Bambam’s classroom,” Yugyeom grins.

“He also calls Youngjae hyung whenever he’s having a hard time explaining a muggle thing and I’m busy,” says Bambam.

“Why don’t you ask me?” Mark raises a brow. “I’m a Muggle-born, too.”

Yugyeom only shrugs.

“Yugyeom is, like, a kid even when he’s teaching,” Jinyoung says fondly.

“Yeah, he’s the only professor who’s actually excited to teach. A lot of students like him and his subject because of that,” Mark nods.

“Students don’t like you because you’re the sassiest creature there is,” Jaehyung rolls his eyes.

“He joins Jinyoung hyung in teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts whenever he’s stressed,” Bambam says.

“I let out steam that way,” Mark mutters.

“You even tell some jinxes and hexes to the kids, one of them tried it out in my class before,” Jinyoung glares.

“Bambam gets confused because of his students sometimes,” Yugyeom beams, laughing softly. “He tries to be patient always.”

Bambam laughs as well, “They’re all so stupid. Can’t even finish a simple task.”

Seokjin nods in agreement, “I know what you mean.”

“Seokjin hyung outright judges his students when they fail to brew a simple potion,” Jungkook giggles, hair a light blue.

“What about you? I heard students sometimes find you as a bunny on your desk,” Namjoon grins when Jungkook’s hair turns pink.

“Oh, I heard about that!” Jaehyung sits up. “First-years mistake him as a pet when they first meet him. Every time.”

“I heard his hair’s also pink whenever he teaches,” Dowoon mumbles. “That’s cute.”

“Aren’t you the cutest professor there is in Hogwarts?” Sungjin finally joins after focusing his previous time on feeling up Brian’s thigh who tried his very best to focus on eating.

Dowoon’s ears turn red when everyone looked at him with a smile.

“No one takes you seriously because you’re cute. That’s why you always have a baby dragon on your shoulder to threaten them indirectly and make them listen to you,” Sungjin grins.

Dowoon whines in a pout, “They’re always just smiling at me! No one’s listening to me the first ten minutes. I always have to bring Hosun out.”

“Hosun is your baby Hungarian Horntail, right?” Chan inquires as he grins. Dowoon nods.

“Dowoonie is strict when it comes to his creatures,” Wonpil says. “I was there one time when he was introducing a Hippogriff to the class. He was explaining how Hippogriffs get aggressive when they don’t get the respect they demand and I’ve never seen him so serious before.”

Dowoon scratches his head.

“You disturb me at Hogwarts when it’s your day off,” complains Jaehyung.

Wonpil pouts a bit as he crosses his arms, “Don’t pretend like you don’t like it. You go to Dowoon’s den whenever you know I’m coming over to get him for help.”

“I heard Wonpil hyung is the densest but most progressive and intuitive investigator in the Ministry,” says Taehyung.

“And you’re a walking danger,” Jaebeom remarks to Taehyung.

“He’s Jimin oppa’s hypeman,” Ilhyun mutters. “Always supporting him even when he’s making an obviously stupid decision.”

Chan giggles again and slaps her arm, “But Jimin hyung is the most badass Auror there is.”

“He’s also soft and sneaky, though,” Jaebeom smiles.

“You,” Jackson points at him. “You might be regarded as the best mentor there is for the up-and-coming young Aurors but they talk behind your back, you know. You always demand respect, you’d kill them for respect.”

Jaebeom chuckles sheepishly, “Who is it? Is it Changbin? And how the hell do you know?”

“They’re mailing me to tell you to tone it down!” Jackson informs.

“Jaebeom hyung comes to duel with me sometimes,” Jinyoung speaks up. “He doesn’t even teach.”

“If I don’t come down there to disturb you, you’ll either be pitting your students against each other or yourself against your students,” Jaebeom retorts. “I’m surprised you still have eyes, considering how you always roll them so hard whenever your students can’t execute a simple spell.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes at him, “Jackson should stop being a part-time professor at Hogwarts.”

“What?” Jackson frowns.

“Yeah, he’s always swarmed by students whenever he arrives. Even if he arrives flying, the students gather on the field just to watch him hover around,” Mark scoffs.

“I know that,” Jaehyung nods. “It’s like the students have this alarm that sets off in them whenever it’s time for him to arrive.”

“He boasts his relationship with Jaebeom hyung, too,” Namjoon butts in. “Makes the girls jealous since Jaebeom hyung is also regarded as some kind of celebrity like him.”

Ilhyun rolls her eyes as well, “So corny.”

Bambam looks at her, “What about you, Ilhyun? How are things in the Ministry?”

“How should I know? I don’t come in there,” Ilhyun replies.

“But you’re the scariest Auror there is,” says Taehyung.

“I heard about that, too,” Wonpil nods. “The never-before-seen Auror but regarded as the scariest one.”

“She’s scared of a whining Chan,” Jaebeom mumbles.

“True,” Ilhyun nods and Chan laughs softly.

“Channie is a celebrity all over the Wizarding World, right?” Dowoon questions, making Chan’s ears turn red.

“He’s suspected to have a relationship with Ilhyunnie,” Jimin points off at the other Slytherin.

“Oh, right. How are things between you two?” Yugyeom beams.

Ilhyun looks at Chan who kept his head down, embarrassed, “Go on, tell them how you asked me out.”

“You’ve asked her out?” Youngjae raises his brows in surprise, grinning widely.

“I… she entered my mind… and I asked her out then,” Chan barely mumbles.

Bambam, Yugyeom and Jungkook laughed, together with Youngjae.

Yoongi raised a brow amusedly at the Gryffindor, “You asked her through her Legilimency?”

“I didn’t know how else!” Chan whines.

“You could have used your voice,” says Brian, finally finished with his breakfast.

He waves his wand and the plates and utensils fly to the sink, washing and putting themselves on the drying rack. Chan turns to him, glancing down and facing Ilhyun again when he sees Sungjin’s hand still on his thigh. Brian shakes the older’s hand off his thigh or at least tried to. He pushes his hand away and Sungjin hides his grin behind his hand.

“What about you two?” Jackson grins.

“Oh, Younghyun — “

Brian raises a finger to stop Jimin, “No personal stuff.”

Sungjin squints his eyes a bit and looks at him, “Why? You’re hiding something?”

Brian looks back at him and sees the suspiciousness in his eyes. He sighs, “No, I just… whatever. Go on.”

Jimin grins, “Younghyun hyung is the most devoted Auror. He takes cases that are almost impossible to finish. He takes cases that no one else wants to take.”

Sungjin frowned.

“Oh, yeah!” Taehyung nods. “Some are even almost considered as cold cases but he solves them still!”

“He’s workaholic,” says Ilhyun. “Chan mentioned last night that when he’s not in the field, he’s in his office to do paperwork.”

“I’m surprised you’re still fine,” Jaehyung looks at his best friend. “I can’t even survive grading N.E.W.T.s.”

“Same,” Mark nods.

“Younghyun is the strongest Auror in the Ministry,” Jaebeom speaks up seriously. “I mean, under Ilhyun and Chan. The Ministry heard that criminal groups ordered flee-on-sight with him.”

“Flee-on-sight? Wah,” Jimin whispers in amazement.

Brian stares at the table, fingers fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“Your prefect badge is always pinned inside his coat,” Chan peeks over at Sungjin.

Sungjin stares at Brian but acknowledges Chan’s statement. He nudges the younger, “Yah. What’s the problem?”

Brian sighs, “I’m not proud of that flee-on-sight order they placed on me.”

“But why? That means you’re strong and they don’t want to cross paths with you!” Taehyung frowns.

Brian his lips, “I mean, I’m proud that I’m strong enough that criminals fear me, that helps in cases. But — “

They stared at him, waiting for him to finish. Brian gulps.

“When I stay in, when I’m not out on the field, I’m worried that you’re all going to be scared of me because of that flee-on-sight order. The juniors and some witches and wizards stay out of my way because of that,” Brian mutters.

Jaehyung and Sungjin look at each other before Jaehyung chuckled, head shaking. Sungjin grins comically. He reaches a hand to run it through Brian’s hair. He pushes it back a few times, watching it fall back to cover his forehead.

“You’re harmless, Kang Bra. We’re never going to fear you. We know you,” Sungjin softly says before pulling his head to put a kiss on the side of it.

Brian blinks.

“You befriended bears just because you miss Sungjin hyung. How is that scary? That’s honestly the softest thing I have ever heard,” Jinyoung says.

“It’s scary because he actually managed to tame them,” Jackson says.

“Yeah, but not to order them to attack someone but just so he gets the feel of Sungjin hyung being there with him or something,” Mark says.

“You should feel prouder that criminals are ordered flee-on-sight when it comes to you,” Jaebeom taps the table to earn his attention.

Brian peeks up at him and Jaebeom smiles.

“You’re good. You won’t be able to harm us, anyway,” Jinyoung says.

Brian nods and smiles a bit.

“What about Sungjin hyung? What’s up with him as an Astronomy teacher?” Youngjae inquires.

“I heard students talking about him in the hallways. They’re making theories about him,” says Seokjin.

Sungjin sat up, “What?”

“They say you have so much you’re hiding,” Seokjin says.

“Yeah, they perceive you as a secretive professor,” nods Namjoon.

“I also heard some say you’re a strict professor,” Jinyoung butts in.

“Yeah, those are the rumors. Why is that? How did that start?” Mark asks.

Sungjin sighs and covers one side of his face with his hand, “Maybe because I’m stressed. I get uptight when I’m stressed.”

“He’s just problematic,” Dowoon shoos him away. “He’s easy to anger when he’s stressed and has a lot to think about.”

Jaebeom shuffles in his seat, “Should tell them about that, hyung?”

Sungjin looks at him, Jaebeom raises a brow. Sungjin looks away and Jaebeom takes that as approval.

“We all know Sungjin hyung keeps his captain badge as a necklace pendant under his clothes,” Jaebeom starts and earns a few nods from everyone. “Other than that, he has drafts of letters in his office. It fills this one box.”

They look at them confusedly.

“He’s hesitant to send them to Younghyun in the Ministry,” Jaebeom adds and Brian snaps his head to the Hufflepuff who refused to look at them. “He wrote a letter every month these past seven years. They’re still there in his office. I think he’s planning on burning them.”

“But why?” Yugyeom frowns.

“Probably because those letters contain written memories,” Ilhyun speaks up. “He’s planning to burn down those memories along with the letters.”

Brian turns his body to him fully, a certain emotion flashing past his eyes. He grabs Sungjin and forces him to look at him. Yoongi stands up and ushers everyone to leave and gives them space. They move to the living room. Sungjin gulps and keeps his head down, hand still covering half of his face.

“Hyung,” calls Brian. “Hyung, look at me.”

Sungjin shakes his head, sniffing.

“Were you planning to forget about our memories?” Brian questions softly.

Sungjin still shakes his head and croaks out, ”No.”

“So — “

“I could never forget them. Even if I burn down those letters, I can’t forget them. They’re engraved in my mind,” Sungjin mutters.

“Then why?” Brian asks. “Why are you planning on burning them? Why didn’t you send them to me?”

Sungjin leans to him, putting his head on his shoulder, sobbing airily a bit, “Because I don’t know if you’ll reply. I don’t know if you still want me. I’m not — I don’t know if you still remember me — I don’t know if you still want me in your life, Kang Bra.”

Brian sighs, putting a hand on his head to keep it on his shoulder, “Don’t you think it’s the other way around? I’m the one who hurt the other between us, hyung. And it’s just been seven years. I kept your prefect badge with me all the time, why would I forget you?”

Sungjin remained quiet, only sniffing. Brian apparates to their room, pulling Sungjin to their bed and letting himself fall back to it. Sungjin lies on one half of his body, arm around his neck as he buries his face on the side of his head.

“I’ll always want you, hyung. Only you,” Brian mutters before placing a soft, lingering kiss on the older’s forehead.

And for once, the tables have turned — Sungjin was now the one in the other’s arms. He was the one who feels safe and secure now.

Sungjin closes his eyes, the remaining beads of tears rolling from his eyes to Brian’s shirt. He sniffs, shuffling to raise his other hand and hold Brian’s hand that was on his head. Brian looks down at him, smiling softly. Sungjin buries his face deeper into his neck. And Brian smiles wider, turning towards Sungjin to put his other arm around him, around his middle, and hiding his face on his chest.

Sungjin takes his hand, the one that was holding Brian’s hand, and puts it between them, letting Brian play with his hair and massage his scalp soothingly as he embraces him.

“I’ve never — you’ve never been like this,” Brian whispers.

Sungjin sniffs, “Should I stop —?”

“No!” Brian instantly answers. “I don’t like to see you crying but I like how you can be vulnerable with me, as I can with you.”

Sungjin keeps quiet as he stares at Brian’s black shirt, his fingers tracing random figures, and he draws the constellation of Sagittarius.

“Hyung, I’m here, okay?” Brian says and Sungjin feels the heat on his neck slowly disappear.

He pulls back from Brian and carefully tugs his necklace from under his shirt. His Quidditch captain badge was no longer burning. Scared, he looked up at Brian who was frowning. Then Brian turns to the bedside table to grab his prefect badge and it, too, was burning no more. And Sungjin becomes more scared.

“Kang Bra? Kang Bra, I can’t lose you again — “

“Shh,” Brian pulls him in again when he starts breaking once more. “It probably means we’re both finally at peace. We have each other, we’re in each other’s arms now. And we don’t need anything more than that.”

That seemed to calm Sungjin down until he finally gets the sleep he’s been craving since the war had ended and they parted ways. Brian closes his eyes and smiles, relaxing as soon as he felt Sungjin relax against him.

---

Two Years Earlier

Home

Chan grunts a bit as he throws himself onto the couch in his living room. He closes his eyes and relaxes, about to drift to sleep soon. He had just come home from a two-day mission. He had worked with Brian but the lead they had was fake. However, it led to another crime, that was why it took them two days. They finished it, thankfully. He has a day off the next day so he decided to just go to sleep until tomorrow.

But a soft knock on his door disturbed the tranquility he was basking in. He sighed loudly, opening his eyes to glare at the ceiling before standing up slowly like an old man. He walked towards the door, frowning when his visitor didn’t knock again to prompt him to answer the door faster. He looked into the peephole but found no one was in front of his door. He opens it and looks down to check if it had been mail. But it wasn’t.

Then he leans out and looks side to side before freezing when he turned his head to the right. Stood there leaning against the wall with their arms crossed was Ilhyun. Ilhyun had disappeared right after the war ended and not even one of them received any updates about her. Even the Ministry had no idea. It was like they had no trace on her whatsoever, they couldn’t track her. And now here she was — wait.

Chan steps out and chuckles, “I thought it was somebody else. How can you change into Ilhyun, Jungkook-ah?”

Jungkook, or so Chan thought, pushed himself off the wall to turn to him, “Jungkook can change into other people? He’s a Metamorphmagus? Since when?”

Chan chuckles again, shaking his head, “Yeah, funny. Come on, change back. What do you need?”

Ilhyun stares at him stoically, a bit confusedly. Chan frowns again and pulls his wand out, pointing it at her.

“Revelio.”

Chan waited for the spell to take effect yet nothing happened. And his eyes widened as he gasps softly.

“Ilhyun?”

“We’ve been looking at each other for the past… two minutes. Why do you insist I’m Jungkook?” Ilhyun chuckles a bit, grinning lopsidedly.

Chan feels his heart skip a beat and that was when he realizes the Ilhyun in front of him was real. And he tackles her into an embrace. A tight one.

“You’re back. You’re okay,” Chan whispers, lips trembling as he keeps his tears in.

He feels arms wrap around him fully and he tightens his hold. Ilhyun kept quiet for a moment, waiting for Chan to pull back before she can speak but Chan looked like he has no intentions of letting go. So she does. Chan grabs her wrist and brings her into his house, straight to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” Ilhyun asks after Chan made her take a seat on one of the two chairs.

Chan bustles about the kitchen, “Making you food.”

“You don’t need to. I’m not staying too long,” Ilhyun informs.

Chan completely stops and looks at her with a deep frown and sadness in his eyes, “You’re leaving again?”

“I mean, I have to go home, don’t I?” Ilhyun shrugs. “I just wanted to visit and see how you’re doing. And tell you that I’ve finally got complete authority over my powers.”

Chan grins brightly, “Really? I’m so proud of you.”

Ilhyun smiles a bit, “I know you are. Thanks, Chan.”

Chan grins wider, and then it slowly disappears as he looks down, tongue poking out to his lips, “Am I… gonna see you again?”

Ilhyun rolls her eyes, “Of course. I can come over twice a week, maybe, if the Ministry allows.”

Chan nods, his grin slowly turning into a soft smile and then to a frown again, “You don’t go into the Ministry — how come the Ministry can’t track you?”

Ilhyun raised a brow, “They can’t? I don’t know, I didn’t do anything.”

Chan narrows his eyes, “Are you saying they’re hiding you?”

Ilhyun stares at the wall for a few seconds before blinking, “No, I think it’s because of that one Auror I met during one of my missions.”

Chan faces her and leans back onto the counter, ushering her to continue.

“I haven’t gotten full control over my powers that time so maybe he decided to not tell the Ministry about me,” Ilhyun explains. “I sent a letter to the Ministry saying I don’t want anyone else to know about my whereabouts, even you guys. I wanted to focus on myself and my powers and present a better Ilhyun to you.”

Chan nods.

“So I guess the Ministry heeded that and lied about not knowing where I am,” Ilhyun added.

Chan walks to the table and leans to it with his hands, “What do you mean by better Ilhyun?”

Ilhyun shrugged, “A better one. One who can control her powers. One who’s happy. One that is the result of the war that everyone fought in.”

“Are you… happy now, then?” Chan mutters.

“Yeah,” she smiles genuinely, softly, and warmth spread inside Chan. “I mean, I finally saw you again. Why wouldn’t I be happy? I’ll be happier if we’re complete again.”

Chan his lips, “Should we call for a reunion?”

Ilhyun hums in thought, “Maybe — “

She stops when they hear a squeak from the stairs leading to the second floor. She looks at Chan.

“Oh, you have company?” Ilhyun asks.

Chan smirked at her, “Yeah.”

“Should I go?” Ilhyun stands up.

“Why are you going?” Chan tilts his head.

“I don’t know,” Ilhyun frowns.

Chan chuckles, “It’s not a human. Kreacher!”

Ilhyun watches an old house-elf enter the kitchen, looking up at them.

“Oh, you have a house-elf,” mumbles Ilhyun.

Kreacher scowls at her before walking out to go somewhere in the house.

“Sorry about him,” Chan says. “He’s — “

“Relocated to you from the Black family,” Ilhyun looks at him.

“How did you know?” Chan raised his brows a bit.

“Dobby is his friend. He told me about him and how happy he was because he was getting a new family to serve. Dobby hopes they’re kind. I think I can assure him Kreacher will be fine with his new master,” Ilhyun says.

Chan grins, giggles a bit, nodding.

 

•••

Familiar

Dowoon caresses Buckbeak’s feathers as he waits for his next class. It was his vacant and he was bored and well-fed, so he decided to just hang out with the Hippogriff until his next class. He sat beside him, leaning against his back, almost lying down against him. And suddenly, the nearby leaves rustled. Buckbeak wasn’t alerted so Dowoon knows it was either a professor or a friend from the Ministry. He guesses the latter.

“Dowoon-ah.”

Ah, yes. He was right. He sighed as he closed his eyes, tossing his head back and completely lying against Buckbeak.

“What?”

He receives a slap on his shoulder and he opens his eyes and sees Wonpil crouching beside him. Brian stood behind him with a soft smile.

“Oh, Younghyun hyung,” Dowoon acknowledges.

“Yah,” Brian nods at him.

Dowoon sat up, “Why are you here?”

“He’s looking to befriend the likes of Sungjin hyung,” Wonpil juts his thumb to the Auror behind him.

Brian smiles a bit wider, sheepish.

“You want to befriend bears?” Dowoon blinks up at him.

Brian only giggles. Dowoon sighs again and stands up to lead them to the Dark Forest. The teacher brings them to a certain place that looked like a cave. Dowoon looks in and steps back a bit before a big, brown creature jumps out of the cave, tackling Dowoon to the ground. Wonpil and Brian’s eyes widened. They were about to panic but they see Dowoon laughing as he tries to get the bear off him.

After he succeeded at that, he sits the bear down and talks to it slowly. And as if the bear can understand him, it goes into the cave. Dowoon smiles at them. And after a minute, a sleuth of bears emerged from the cave, a different bear leading them out. Dowoon tilts his head at the bear before introducing Brian, pulling him next to him. Wonpil watches. He has no idea what was happening.

“Oh, it’s Bang,” Dowoon mutters at the leading bear.

“Bang?” Wonpil asks.

“Not Bang as in Chan. But I named him Bang,” Dowoon says.

“Why Bang?” Brian questions. “It’s like Sung — Geom’s owl, Bang-bangie.”

Dowoon smiles, “I don’t know, he likes pouncing around so I called him Bang. It’s supposed to be Bangbang, like a trampoline, but Sungjin hyung’s already used that for his owl.”

Brian blinks.

“He’s an Asiatic Black Bear,” Dowoon adds.

“But he’s brown,” Wonpil frowns.

“That’s what makes him unique. His species is Asiatic Black Bear but he’s colored brown,” Dowoon reaches to his head but the bear walked away from him, making him frown.

Wonpil laughs at him, “He doesn’t like you.”

“He’s always like that. But anyway. You can try to get close to them,” Dowoon addresses Brian, encouraging him to try and pet one of the bears.

Brian cautiously does, reaching a hand to one of them. The bear growls a bit at him and he retreats a bit. Another bear, one that seemed to be the most distinguishable of the sleuth, goes to the bear and headbutts his side, making him fall over. Wonpil snorts, Dowoon smiles.

“Bang’s playful, too,” Dowoon says.

Bang faces Brian and the Auror steps back a bit. Bang sits back and watches him, head tilting.

“Oh, that’s so cute,” Brian mutters under his breath before he tried to get closer to Bang and pet his head.

“Oh, he likes you!” Dowoon beams a bit.

“Yah,” another voice calls at them and Wonpil and Dowoon look back.

Brian was busy with the bear. Jaehyung walks to them with a smile. He stands beside Wonpil and puts an arm around his shoulders before noticing Brian.

“Brian, what are you doing?” he asks.

“I’m befriending a bear,” says Brian before the bear moved, tackling him down to the ground.

Dowoon was about to rescue him but Bang just stayed still, sprawled out on top of him. Jaehyung walks to him and frowns down at him.

“Why are you befriending bears?” Jaehyung questions.

“He misses Sungjin hyung,” Wonpil mumbles.

“No, I don’t,” Brian scoffed.

Jaehyung rolled his eyes, “You can just mail him, you know? Oh! Why don’t you see him? He’s probably in his quarters.”

“Really?” Brian looks up at him as he caresses Bang’s head that was beside his own.

“Yeah,” Jaehyung nods.

“Would he like to see me, though?” Brian frowns a bit.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Dowoon inquires. “Because of the fallout? I don’t think he’s mad at you still.”

“I don’t think he was even mad at all,” Wonpil says.

“Well, whatever. Bang won’t move so I can’t go,” Brian reasons out.

“You’re just not ready to face him,” Jaehyung rolled his eyes again.

“I’ll mail him if I’m ready — no, wait. What if I mail him and he’s not ready?” Brian moves his head up to look at them properly, though they were upside down.

And Bang bites his whole neck, teeth gently pressing against his skin multiple times.

“What is he doing?” Wonpil laughs as Dowoon grabs Bang’s head back.

“I told you, he’s playful,” Dowoon reminds.

Brian looks at the bear with a soft smile, until he sees a familiar sparkle in his eyes, “Your eyes look like Sun — Geom’s.”

Bang tilts his head, Jaehyung hits Brian’s head, “Even in a bear!”

Brian was serious. He can see his reflection in Bang’s eyes.

---

Truth

Brian opens his eyes slowly, eyebrows furrowing as he does. He blinks when he notices that he can’t feel his right arm, and he looks down to see Sungjin looking up at him with his round, swollen eyes. Brian’s other arm was around his shoulder, holding him close to him. Sungjin smiles a bit.

“Hey,” Sungjin whispers, hand fiddling with his shirt by his waist.

“You alright?” Brian asks.

Sungjin smiles a little wider, nodding against his arm, “Yeah.”

Brian nods as well, pressing a soft kiss on his forehead before embracing him again. And he feels the familiar, but different than usual, warmth spread in him.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Sungjin inquires with a frown. “It’s already past lunch.”

Brian kept quiet as he tried to remember the familiar warmth he was feeling. Sungjin looks up at him again when he received no answer.

“Kang Bra?” Sungjin reaches a hand up to his face, thumb caressing his cheekbone.

Brian blinks and looks at him, “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” he sees worry fill Sungjin’s eyes.

“Yeah, I just…” Brian sighs softly. “I just remember Bang.”

Sungjin blinks, “Bang?”

“Yeah, he’s one of the bears I managed to befriend at Hogwarts, with Dowoon’s help,” Brian says. “He’s the closest one. He always lies on top of me, or I always hug him. He’s warm like you.”

Sungjin sits up, his lips, and Brian sees the worry worsen in his eyes. Brian sits up as well.

“Hyung, it’s a bear,” Brian said. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

Sungjin shook his head and looks at him, “You don’t know Bang.”

Brian furrows his brows at him, “What are you talking about? How do you — do you know Bang?”

“Do I know Ba — yes, I know Bang,” Sungjin stands up from the bed, putting his hands on his hips.

And suddenly he was stressed. Brian stands up as well.

“What does that mean?”

Sungjin runs a hand through his hair and looks tearfully at him again, “I — “

“Don’t look at me like that,” Brian cuts. “Please don’t cry again. Calm down. Don’t cry.”

Sungjin gulps, “Have you ever wondered why Bang is friendly when all the other bears took some time to warm up to you?”

“Dowoon said they’re wild animals, not usually tamed so that didn’t really surprise me,” Brian said.

“That’s right, they’re wild animals. Not usually tamed like a cat or a dog. So how come you tamed Bang easily?” Sungjin questions.

Brian looks confusedly at him, “Hyung, where are you going with this?”

Sungjin sighed, “It was me! I am Bang!”

Brian furrowed his brows, “What?”

“I’m an Animagus, Kang Bra. I lead the sleuth. Bang wasn’t like the other bears because he’s a human. It was me. That’s why he’s friendly. That’s why he’s playful. That’s why it seems like he can understand Dowoon because he can,” Sungjin pauses. “It was me all along.”

Brian looks away before heading to the door to leave the room. Sungjin sighs again, closing his eyes as he pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue. He knew it was wrong to get close to Brian in his Animagus form.

Brian had told Bang everything. He had told him how it was at work, his years in Hogwarts, his memories with Sungjin. Brian told Bang his sentiments for Sungjin in all those seven years they were apart. He had told Bang about his happiness, his curiosity about things, his regrets. He cried to Bang while he was telling him about his fallout with Sungjin. He cried while he was telling him how he regrets it, how Sungjin had looked so hurt that time. He almost always cried himself to sleep against Bang every time he cried to him. Bang had been his comfort for the last two years. He bore alone all the things that he had told Bang inside the two years they know each other. And for the last two years, Bang was the only creature he shared his burdens with.

Sungjin pushed his hair back again, looking to the side, and his eyes land on the two badges on the bedside table. He takes both and leaves the room. He pads down to the ground floor, where the rest of their friends scattered in and outside of the house. Sungjin scans the living room and goes to the kitchen when he didn’t spot Brian. Brian had been drinking water when he found him.

Sungjin his lips again as he approached the younger, “Younghyun.”

Brian turns his back to him. And it was as if the rest of the gang knew something was wrong with them again. Half of them peeked from the living room while the others, who were outside of the house, watched through the kitchen windows.

“At least keep my badge. Please,” Sungjin mutters, lips trembling.

This was probably the last time he’ll be able to talk to the Gryffindor. The very last time.

“Please. I want to make sure you’re safe,” Sungjin places a cautious hand on his shoulder, scared that Brian will shrug him off. “Please, Younghyun.”

Brian turns around and snatches the badge from his hand. Sungjin gives him a soft, obviously pained smile.

“I love you,” he says. “Goodbye, I guess. For the last time.”

And Sungjin turns around to leave, smiling wider for their friends as he accios his coat from their bedroom.

“I guess I’ll see you back at Hogwarts,” he grins to his co-professors. “Dowoon, look after the sleuth for me, okay?”

Dowoon frowns, “You-you’re leaving?”

Sungjin shrugged.

“Thank Merlin I don’t have my wand with me or it would have blasted you off because of your stupidity,” Ilhyun rolls her eyes.

“These hyungs are so dramatic,” Chan mutters beside her.

“You know what? I am done,” Namjoon waves his hand away.

“I don’t care anymore at this point,” Seokjin crosses his arms and leaves to the living room, following the rest of them.

“I know you’re not going to fall out again,” Jaehyung says.

“How can you be sure?” Mark looks at him.

“Because a second war will happen if they do,” Jinyoung mumbles as he sits beside Jaebeom.

“What? All of us against those two?” Jaebeom grins.

“Honestly, that would be scary,” says Jimin.

“Yeah, Younghyun hyung is, like, the strongest Auror there is,” Taehyung nods.

“What about Chan and Ilhyun?” Wonpil asks.

Bambam scoffs, “Ilhyun and Chan will join this drama? Ilhyun would make it worse because she thinks it’ll be more fun and thrilling, Chan would focus on trying to stop her and keep her away.”

Youngjae laughed, agreeing, “That’s so accurate.”

“There will just be more drama, Sungjin hyung will go on a rampage if Younghyun hyung is hurt,” Yugyeom adds.

Yoongi sighs dramatically, Hoseok giggles beside him. Sungjin smiles at them before leaving Ilhyun’s house. He plans to walk a few steps away before apparating but a voice called out to him.

“You can’t be serious,” Brian says from the doorway.

“There they go,” Ilhyun sighs.

Brian points his wand at her, “Oscausi.”

Chan blocks his spell easily, grinning comically, whilst Brian glares at the Slytherin.

Brian turns to Sungjin and steps out of the house, closing the door behind him, “Why are you leaving again?”

“Would you want me to stay?” Sungjin questions back. “After I lied to you?”

“Lied to me? You never said anything to me about not being an Animagus. If you told me you’re not an Animagus and then now you tell me you were Bang, then that’s lying to me. But you never mentioned you’re an Animagus, now, didn’t you?” Brian babbles.

Sungjin looks down at the grass.

“Bang was the greatest comfort to me these past two years, you know,” Brian smiles when Sungjin looks up at him. “Even if you turn to him right now, I will still tell my life to him.”

Sungjin gulps. Brian walks to him and puts his arms around his neck, but never embracing. And he smiles wider as he gazed down at him, still warmly, still lovingly.

“You’re true to your word, you know that?” Brian’s face softened as the emotions it displays intensified. “You said you’d never want to read my mind because you want the words to come from my mouth. Because you want to hear me say it.”

Brian fiddles with the hair on the back of his head while Sungjin hesitantly holds him by the waist.

“The only time you read my mind was when we met again, last night,” Brian continues. “And even now, when you think we’re about to fall apart for good this time, you didn’t try to invade my mind.”

“Because even how painful it might sound, even how painful the words you’ll say to me are, I’d always want to hear your voice. Even if you say goodbye, I still want to hear it from you. Even if it’ll break me into pieces, I’d still want to hear you. You make everything better for me that even if you hurt me with your words, I’d still think it’s beautiful. Because it came from you. It came from one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me. So if you’re planning to say something to me, just say it,” Sungjin murmurs to him.

Brian smiles ever so sweetly, ever so softly. He scans Sungjin’s face whilst Sungjin stared at him, at his eyes, as if burning him into his mind. And he probably is.

“I love you,” Brian says.

Sungjin takes a deep breath, Beautiful. “What about Bang?”

“What about him?” Brian grins. “He’s my best friend.”

Sungjin blinks.

“I needed to drink water, hyung. I was so confused and surprised. If I didn’t drink, I would have fainted. Besides, I hope you don’t forget what you hear with your Animagus every time you transform back to human,” Brian says.

Sungjin chuckled softly, shaking his head, “No, I don’t. I remember everything.”

“Good,” Brian pats his cheek softly before pulling back. “Now, show me Bang.”

Sungjin gives him an amused look, “What?”

“Show me Bang. I still don’t completely believe the you told me,” Brian ushers him to change.

Sungjin grins lopsidedly in disbelief before obeying and transforming into his bear Animagus. And Brian looks at him as he sits, head tilting at him. Brian blinks at him.

Then he turns around, “Okay, I need more water.”

Sungjin Bang follows Brian into the house, looking at their friends who looked at him, pausing their conversation. Wonpil’s eyes widened.

“Bang?” Wonpil gasps. “Oh my — Younghyun hyung, Bang is Sungjin hyung?!”

Brian emerges from the kitchen, now grinning widely as he bent down to drape himself on Bang’s back while he was on all fours, “Yeah, he’s Bang.”

“Oh, I forgot he’s an Animagus too,” Mark mutters, Seokjin nods.

And everyone looked at them.

“You know?” Dowoon questions.

“Wasn’t it obvious? Doesn’t he understand you? And the eyes, are you kidding me?” Seokjin chuckles. “Younghyun always talks about his eyes nonstop, I’m surprised you don’t get the mental image of it.”

“See! I told you his eyes were like Sungjin hyung’s!” Brian points at Jaehyung.

“Yeah, but I never expected him to be — I never thought he was an Animagus!” Jaehyung retorts.

Sungjin turns back to human and catches Brian to him as he falls off his back.

“But why Bang?” Chan whines.

“Oh Merlin, my boggart is here,” Ilhyun sighs.

“There are so many names, why my last name — who named him?” Chan sat up, ready to fight.

“Dowoon did,” Sungjin answers.

“What? No, I didn’t! You said you named your Animagus as Bang!” Dowoon points at Sungjin.

“Oh, right. I did. I named myself,” Sungjin grins when Chan pouted in defeat, crossing his arms.

“You know he’s Sungjin hyung?” Brian looks at Dowoon.

The Ravenclaw shrugged, “Yeah, I mean, I caught him vibing with the sleuth once, and then I saw him turn into his Animagus form. He says he hates his Animagus form but since you befriended him, he always comes down to the Forest to hang out with his sleuth and wait for you to come.”

Brian looks at Sungjin with a brow raised in amusement and tease.

“What? I love you,” Sungjin reasons out simply.

Ilhyun makes a loud, obnoxious vomiting sound.

---

Together

It was after a month of their reunion that Brian got a day off. He had to work extra hours after the reunion because he had failed to file a leave. He was absent the following day after their reunion. He initially decided to just go home and rest but he set that aside and headed to Hogwarts. He had dropped by the cave of bears, figuring out that their supposed leader, Bang, wasn’t there.

He crossed paths with a teaching Dowoon as he was getting to the castle and the Ravenclaw had told him Sungjin had ceased to go down there and hang out with his sleuth. That made Brian sad. He visited all their other friends in the classrooms, disturbing their class. Jaehyung had to fling him back and shut the door to his face when he refused to leave the first time Jaehyung had asked him to. He had gone to Yoongi’s classroom next.

To his surprise, everyone was active. Back in their days, Divination was a tiring and boring class. Guess it depends on the professor. All students at every classroom he entered had gaped at him. It was just then that he realized he was also known to the Wizarding World just like his fellow Aurors. And it made him happy and shy at the same time. He also gave some pointers in Jinyoung’s class. Jinyoung had asked him to give some when all his students did was gape at Brian.

He’d also met McGonagall along the corridors. He had said his hellos but all McGonagall did was tell him where the Astronomy Tower was. Brian had frowned, ears burning hot as he followed McGonagall’s direction. He climbed up the stairs and knocked on the door. He heard a muffled “Come in… or come out” and then he opened the door, the wind hitting him instantly.

Sungjin stood in the middle, looking up at the sky with his eyes squinted to protect it from the wind. Brian steps out and closes the door behind him. Sungjin blinks before looking at him, his eyebrows raising.

“Kang Bra,” he says.

Brian smiles, “Yah. Are you busy?”

Sungjin shook his head with a frown, “Why are you here?”

“I wanna talk to you, ask you a favor,” Brian walks to him.

Sungjin sighs, looking away as he closed his eyes, “Bloody hell.”

Brian giggles, “Why do you always expect the worst? Why? We can’t talk these days?”

Sungjin rakes a hand through his hair uselessly, the wind was still blowing his hair to the side, “I just get nervous whenever someone wants to talk to me.”

Brian smiles and takes his hand, “Take me to your office, may you?”

Sungjin raised a brow, “Why?”

Brian simply shrugs. Sungjin blinks curiously and suspiciously at him but leads him back in the tower, anyway. He leads him down from the Astronomy Tower and maneuvers him around the castle. The students’ classes had just ended and they were just leaving the classrooms when they were walking around. And they gape at them, some whispering not-so-quietly to their classmates. Brian had his head bowed down in shyness.

Sungjin was still holding his hand, fingers laced together securely, as he walked ahead of him. The older glanced back at him over his shoulders and chuckled at him before looking ahead again. The students had blocked the doors of the classrooms and some of the professors had to look at what the commotion was about. And they only rolled their eyes at them.

“You know,” Jaehyung speaks up when they pass his classroom.

Brian stopped, preventing Sungjin from walking further ahead. They look at him.

“These kids are surprised because they actually see Sungjin as a strict teacher,” Jaehyung says.

Brian looks at a student who was nodding a bit in agreement.

“And you’re ruining that ‘strict teacher’ image of him,” Jaehyung adds.

“Why am I ruining that?” Brian frowns.

“Because we thought he’ll die a bachelor,” a Ravenclaw says.

Sungjin looks at him, eyes sharp, and the Ravenclaw hides behind a Hufflepuff, “Shut up, Han.”

Brian releases his hand and pushes him aside, smiling at the Ravenclaw boy, “Sungjin hyung is harmless, really. Yah, if he scolds you, owl me in the ministry, alright?”

Brian smirks at him, winking. Sungjin rolled his eyes.

“He’s graduating this year, Kang Bra,” Sungjin informs.

Brian frowns and then grins evilly, “Annoy him then send an owl to me.”

The students erupted soft laughter. Sungjin rolls his eyes again and Jaehyung watched amusedly.

“Come on,” Sungjin nudges Brian.

The Auror takes his hand again, frowning, “I never got an owl in the Ministry.”

Sungjin stops completely and turns to look at him stoically.

“Oh, it’s that mood,” one of the students whispers.

“He’s about to get sentimental and sensitive again,” another one whispers.

Sungjin gulps a bit and then turns to walk, letting Brian’s hand go but ushering him to follow him. Brian blinks at the older’s retreating form before looking at the two students.

“What does that mean?” he asks.

“He always gets emotional every midnight. Usually when our class ends,” the Slytherin says.

“Kang Bra!” calls Sungjin, voice raspy.

Brian ignores, “And? What happens to him?”

“He always gets teary-eyed when he dismisses us,” a Hufflepuff joins, voice deep, surprising Brian a bit.

“I left late once because I was fixing my things and he was crying a bit when I left,” a different Hufflepuff frowned.

“You should have asked him what was wrong,” the Ravenclaw from earlier, Han, scoffed at the Hufflepuff.

The Hufflepuff frowned deeper, “He’d sometimes write in between classes, usually when he gives us a task.”

And Brian connects it. He smiles at the four of them, thanking them, before jogging towards a scowling Sungjin. Brian smiles at him and takes his hand again, his thumb running gently over his veins by the back of his hand. They finally get to his office and Sungjin tells him to sit on his chair behind his desk. Brian obeys.

“Do you want something to drink? Or to eat? What about coffee? And cookies? Or chocolate, I have chocolate — “

Brian tugs at his hand, forcing him to bend down a bit. He pulls his head down with a hand on his nape and presses a soft kiss on his lips.

“Calm down. I just want to hang out with you. But yeah, coffee and cookies sound good,” Brian says.

Sungjin rolled his eyes once again, Brian telling him to stop it as he was becoming Jinyoung. That made him smile a bit. He brews some coffee and magically takes come cookies from his cookie jar. The cookies place themselves on a plate and Sungjin brings them out. He places the plate of cookies on the table, watching the two cups of coffee slowly hover to them and on the table.

Brian sips from his coffee and then takes a cookie while Sungjin summons another chair. And Brian takes his hand again as he looks at him.

“Hyung,” he starts.

Sungjin sighed, “You wanna see the letters.”

Sungjin grabs a cookie. It wasn’t a question. It was a statement and Brian stops, lips parting before he frowns.

“I mean, it’s okay if you don’t want me to see it,” Brian mutters.

Sungjin squeezes his hand with a soft smile before a cabinet from the side opens and a medium box flies out of it. It was labeled with his name, Younghyun. Brian watched it gently land on the table. The flaps open and the letters fly out, organizing themselves in seven piles.

“84, one per month for seven years. 85, actually,” Sungjin says and nods to the stack on the farthest left. “January 2011. Until January 2018.”

Brian blinks and looks at him, “You stopped last month?”

Sungjin nodded, “Our reunion was on the 20th of January, right? My last letter was on the 19th.”

Brian gapes at him as he feels his heart skip a beat. Sungjin smiles at him, closes his mouth, and then leans back.

“I wrote every 19th. Because that was your birthday,” Sungjin mutters softly.

And Brian feels himself moving to tears. He looked away when his vision blurred, gulping. Sungjin chuckles a bit, reaching a thumb to him to wipe his unfallen tears.

“Go ahead, read them. I stopped writing because I have you now. And you want to see them so go ahead. So I won’t have to send them to you at the Ministry,” Sungjin says as he ran a hand through Brian’s hair.

Brian takes the first letter, carefully opening the envelope and sliding the paper out. Sungjin stays there with him, beside him. He’d tried to grade papers on the third letter but he got lazy and just sat there staring at his office. The letters weren’t so long. The longest Brian had read so far only covers half of the parchment so it didn’t take him long to already read half of 2011.

Sungjin had grown tired when he was reading July. He had moved to his room in his office and Brian had stared at where he disappeared, frowning deeply. Sungjin had knelt on the bed when he stopped to look at him through the open door. He chuckled when he saw the younger one already pouting at him.

“What?” he had asked.

“I wanna be with you,” Brian had answered.

Sungjin had laughed a bit at him, “Come here, then.”

“But I wanna read the letters,” says Brian, taking the next letter.

“Kang Bra, we’re wizards. You can have them flying to you. Bring the box so you can put it in there when you’re done,” Sungjin says as he fixes his bed.

Brian beams, grabbing the box before going to him. Sungjin ushered him to sit by the headboard while he sleeps beside him but Brian had better ideas. He sat across the bed, where Sungjin’s head was supposed to be, and then pat his lap, ushering Sungjin to lie on him. Sungjin had frowned in confusion and Brian pulled at him. He made him lie down his head on his lap, Brian’s free hand across his chest as he began to resume reading the letters.

Sungjin had watched him read for a few seconds before smiling and taking his arm. He kind of embraces it as he turns to his side, away from Brian. He kisses his palm before lacing his fingers with his. And Brian smiled, glancing down at him before letting the letter go. The letter flies towards the box, putting itself in before another letter flies to Brian’s hand. And slowly, Sungjin falls into a deep slumber. Brian continues reading.

 

2011 December 19

Kang Bra Younghyunnie-ah,

Happy birthday. The first time we actually don’t celebrate this day of the year together. I hope you take your day to rest, Jaebeom looks so worn out whenever he comes over so I’m assuming you’re just as worn out as he is, or worse. I heard you’re one of the most prominent Aurors the Ministry has. I’m so proud of you. Still, if you don’t have time to rest, at least have a snack to replenish your energy. I’ll still celebrate your birthday for you if you can’t.

I remember we always used to stay up late when it’s your birthday. We always used to go to that abandoned classroom that I think eventually became ours. It became somewhat a tradition. We do it on my birthday, too. We always dropped by the kitchens to grab some snacks to eat. It was always a variety of snacks. So I decided to eat some of those snacks on your birthday.

This year, I’m eating Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans. You always give this to me whenever you bought from the Trolley Lady. We always end up sharing what we have, though. Anyway, happy birthday again.

I love you, Younghyun-ah. I miss you.

— Geom? Sungjin

Brian smiles, mumbling, “I always celebrated your birthday, too. And my birthday that year, we ate the same snack because I remembered you first thing when I woke up, and Every Flavor Beans was your favorite.”

Sungjin shuffles on his lap, hugging his arm tighter and putting his hand right in front of his lips, his soft breath hitting his skin. Brian smiles wider and then continues reading.

 

2012 September 19

Kang Younghyun-ah,

I hope you’re doing well. Do you remember what happened between us at his month, a few days back? Yeah, the fallout.

I want to apologize for that. It wasn’t your fault. You were only worried about me so please don’t ever think it was your fault. Seokjin told me it was no one’s fault, too, so please don’t blame yourself. I don’t regret it happening. If Seokjin can lend me his time-turner, I would still let the fallout happen. But don’t think that I wanted it to happen.

I’m simply cherishing that memory because it was then that I knew you felt the same. It was then that I was able to tell my feelings to you, though not in a good way. It was the day, the time that we knew each other’s feelings so I’m glad it happened. It allowed us time apart, too — figure things out, sort out our thoughts, dig deeper into what we really feel, know what we really want, truly know ourselves.

It was with that incident that I found myself, Younghyun. I found my true self, one who was serious and capable of loving. One who was a little more mature than the 11-year-old happy-go-lucky boy you first met. So I hope it made a positive impact on you, too, as it did on me.

I miss you, Younghyun. And I love you.

— Geom Sungjin

Brian paused, blinking, and his tears that welled up as he was in the middle of reading, fell. An overwhelming feeling washes over him and moves him to more tears. He sniffs and Sungjin slowly opened his eyes. He looks at him and Brian sees the worry arise in his face. He turns to him and reaches a hand to wipe his left cheek.

“Why are you crying? Are you okay?” Sungjin’s deep and slightly raspy sleep voice asked, his eyebrows knitting a bit in worry.

Brian lets the letter fly to the box, wiping his tears away. He smiles at Sungjin and nods.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Go back to sleep, hyung,” he croaks out.

Sungjin stared worriedly at him for a few more seconds before burying his face on his abdomen and wrapping his arms around his waist. Brian runs his hand on Sungjin’s back as the next letter flies to him. He reads calmly this time. He was starting to notice little spots on each paper, from the very first one up to the one he was holding. It was always on the same words — I miss you or I love you. Maybe Sungjin had always teared up and his tears fell on those words.

Brian doesn’t know if that was on accident or if it was planned. But it would be weird if that was planned. Besides, at some letters, it was on the erased Kang at the start or on Sungjin’s signature at the end. For some reason, he always accidentally started his letters by calling Brian as he usually did — Kang Bra. And he would question at the end on how he should address himself in the signature line — if he should write his name or Brian’s nickname for him after their fallout, Geom.

He always ends up erasing Geom and leaving his name as signature.

 

2013 May 19

Ka Younghyun-ah,

I’m starting to lose myself again. I miss you so much. I’m having breakdowns more frequently, Jaehyung says it’s not healthy. I’m having a hard time falling asleep, too. And I always lose track of what I’m teaching. It’s starting to get to me.

I miss you, Younghyun-ah. I need you. Please come back. I love you, please come back to me.

— Geo Sungjin

Brian paused again. He rereads the letter over and over, realizing Sungjin’s penmanship as he does. It seems that Sungjin had a rather shaky hand while he was writing the letter. And there were lots of tear spots, not just on the greetings and at the signature lines. The body has some tear spots.

Moreover, the signature line was almost erased, almost torn. It had so many tear spots that it could have been torn. And Sungjin’s hardships that time, when he wrote the letter, gets to Brian. And Brian cries harder as he moves his hand to Sungjin’s head and gently massages his scalp. So that was why the badge was burning a lot hotter those times. Sungjin truly needed him.

 

2014 July 19

Kang Bra Younghyun-ah,

I love you. I miss you and I love you.

— Sungjin

Brian his lips as he starts hesitating on asking Sungjin if he was already fine. It was 2013 when he wrote that he’d lost himself. Brian was hesitating to ask if he found himself again now. But all hesitations were thrown out of the window when he reads further.

 

2015 March 19

Ka — ssibal Younghyun-ah,

I confronted Seokjin. I asked him to help me. He had helped me calm down whenever I needed it. I had anxiety attacks and he always calls everyone to help me calm down. They assured me. It was mostly Jaehyung, I was surprised that it helped me a lot, honestly.

Jaebeom comes over too after Jinyoung sends him an owl. He assured me you were okay. He also told me that Chan told him you still remember me, that you still have my prefect badge. I think that was what made the greatest impact. I hadn’t sent you a single letter so I don’t know how you’re doing.

Kind of ironic for me to write all these letters but never send them, right? Anyway, I’m alright now. I have enough strength to go on again. And even when you’re not here, you still helped me get through it. The thought of you, at least. So, thank you.

I miss you. I love you.

— G Sungjin

That warmed Brian’s whole being. That mended his heart that broke a few letters back. It made a new meaning to his existence. And he smiles a bit, sniffing as he wipes his still falling tears. Sungjin shuffles and looks up at him. He worries again as soon as he noticed he was still crying.

“Why are you crying?” he sleepily whines, pouting a bit.

Brian chuckles, “It’s just — I never knew you had anxiety before.”

Sungjin blinks, “Ah. Yeah. I sent mail to my parents at that time to get help. I visited them, too. It helped a lot, but it was — I always felt like something was still missing even after getting help from them. Jaebeom suggested — they all suggested to bring me to you those times, or the other Aurors bring you to me. But I didn’t want to because I still wasn’t ready. Ironic, isn’t it? I wanted you, I needed you the most yet I still wasn’t ready to see you again.”

“I wasn’t ready, too. I guess the fallout affected us so much that we didn’t want to meet again,” mumbles Brian as he pushes Sungjin’s hair back, exposing his forehead.

Sungjin nods silently. Brian leans down to kiss his forehead before he told him to go back to sleep. And Sungjin obeys.

 

2016 July 19

Kang Younghyun,

I finally saw you again today. I had a glimpse of you. You still look the same, I still see the 11-year-old boy in you. You only looked more mature, but your face was still the same. You looked so good when I saw you today. Though, you look so tired. I hope you’re getting enough rest, Younghyun-ah. Eat a lot, get enough sleep. Your eyes had dark circles around them, you look like a panda.

Though I would still love you the same. I’m getting enough rest myself. Yah, I never understood why our professors always looked like they’re going to hex us to another dimension before. Now I know why. The kids are so tiring, especially those four sixth-years. They all seemed attached at the hip even when they’re from different houses, and they’re so noisy.

They have someone like Jaehyung, he’s in Ravenclaw too and he’s noisy, and he looks like you. He reminds me of you. They don’t have a single Gryffindor amongst the four of them, though. There were two Hufflepuffs, but that one Hufflepuff kind of has Gryffindor traits. The Ravenclaw isn’t the brightest, but he learns easily.

Oh, and the Slytherin looks like Wonpil. He looks like his little brother. He told me Dowoon once called him Wonpil. I think Wonpil had met him already.

But anyway, as usual, I miss you, I love you.

— Ge Sungjin

P.S. You know what? Why do I even hesitate on calling myself Sungjin in these letters? I never liked Geom, anyway, and I just let you call me that because it was the result of our fallout. Why do you even call me that? I’ll put Sungjin in my signature from now on.

Brian smiled before giggling. Even in a letter, Brian can see the older’s cuteness. It took him back to when they were first-years. And his heart lightens at that. Sungjin’s head moves in his lap and he looks down with a smile. Sungjin smiles softly when he saw the smile on him. Then he raises his head to look at the letter.

“Why are you smiling now? What are you reading?” Sungjin asks.

Brian lets him take the letter, “Why do you keep on waking up?”

“Because you’re noisy,” Sungjin mutters.

“I’m noisy? I don’t even speak! I only giggled and it wasn’t even loud!” Brian protests.

“Yeah, but your little things mean a lot to me. So if you’re merely giggling, I wanna know what made you giggle or smile or laugh, whatever,” Sungjin says, sighing.

“Well, it’s only you,” Brian grins as Sungjin looked up at him, handing back the letter to him.

“I ranted on that letter. Those four students always get on my nerves, they’re so noisy and always cause trouble. But they’re fun, they’re serious when they need to be,” Sungjin says. “The Ravenclaw nearly fell off the Astronomy Tower once.”

Brian’s eyes widened, “What? What happened?”

“He was running around because it was windy and it was their first time there,” Sungjin replied.

“And? Did you panic?” Brian questions.

“No. Why would I panic?”

Brian gasps, slapping his arm, “You’re a professor!”

“And?” Sungjin looked up at him and grins lopsidedly. “Kang Bra, have you forgotten I was Quidditch captain?”

Brian frowned. That’s right, he was a Quidditch captain. And suddenly, Sungjin was hotter.

“I beat your team’s dynamic duo and even the original from Ravenclaw. Why would I panic if a student of mine falls from the Astronomy Tower? I can always Accio a broom and chase them down. Besides, I never forgot Arresto Momentum,” Sungjin mutters before going back to sleep, embracing him by his waist again.

“Right,” Brian clears his throat to compose himself. “So, who were they? The four students who seem to piss you off?”

“Those boys you talked to earlier. Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin,” Sungjin replies.

“Who was the Ravenclaw?” Brian blinks as he brushes Sungjin’s hair back.

“Han Jisung.”

“Ah, the boy you glared at,” Brian nods.

“Felix and Hyunjin are the Hufflepuffs,” Sungjin added.

“So why don’t you like them if they’re from your house?” Brian questions.

Sungjin rolls his eyes, “It doesn’t work that way.”

Brian smiles and lets him go back to sleep again. He continues reading.

 

2017 December 19

Kang Bra!

See that? I’m calling you Kang Bra again.

Anyway, happy birthday. When are you coming back? When are you going to visit? Don’t you miss Jaehyung? He tells me you haven’t come to visit him but he sees you accompanying Wonpil to get Dowoon sometimes. When are you going to the castle? I’m kidding.

I hope you have a very nice day. It’s your, what, 9th birthday that we didn’t celebrate together? No matter how many birthdays you celebrate without me, I’ll still celebrate it. This year, I’m eating your favorite sweet, chocolate frogs, for you. It’s a Tuesday so I’m guessing you have work. I remember you always wanted to eat chocolate frogs first thing on your birthday. You eat some every midnight. So if you don’t have enough time to eat some today, I’m eating for you.

Food’s always been some kind of love language for you.

I never forget to look at the moon, these eyes will always look at the moon; they’ll always look at you, Kang Bra. I’m still waiting for you. Happy birthday, my moon.

I miss you, I love you.

— Sungjin

Brian grins, nodding as he mutters under his breath, “I was out all day on my birthday last year. I had my day off on Sunday so I had just celebrated that day. I ate chocolate frogs, too. I also celebrated with you. I always thought of you so naturally, I thought of you even when it was my birthday.”

Then he sighs, glancing down at Sungjin, “My night sky.”

He waits for the next and last letter to arrive in his hand and then he reads again.

 

2018 January 19

Kang Bra,

It has been two years. Two years since I was able to hug you again; since I was able to hear your voice again. You might be wondering how.

I’m Bang, Kang Bra. I’m the bear who always accompanies you. I’m the bear who was always there for you. I’m the bear who always listens to your stories. I’m the bear who you cried to, who cried with you. I’m the bear who always hugged you.

I’m thinking you’re not taking this well, so I’m sorry. If you come back, if you still want to, I’ll be there for you. I’ll Bang will wait for you. You can always talk to him. He’ll always listen to you.

I’m sorry for keeping this to you when you’ve told Bang so many; when you’ve told him practically your whole life. I’m sorry.

I still miss you. I still love you.

— Sungjin

Brian would have cried if he had received this before their reunion. He would have cried in his office in the Ministry. Even after all these years, even after all that’s happened to them, between them, Sungjin was still consistent with his words — that he’ll always be there for him; that he’ll still be waiting for him. And Brian had never felt himself love the Hufflepuff more than at that moment.

He lets the letter go with a smile before shuffling ever so slowly. He was careful to not wake up Sungjin but he still did, anyway. Sungjin opens his eyes and sits up, frowning as he watched Brian reposition himself to his desire. He lies down properly on one side of the bed and looks at Sungjin with a smile before opening his arms to him.

Sungjin looks suspiciously at him. Brian chuckles.

“What?”

“What are you doing?” Sungjin questions before looking at the box that was closing itself and flying over back to the cabinet. “You’re done reading everything?”

Brian nods, arms still open.

And Sungjin looks more suspiciously at him.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Brian whines.

“What do you want?” Sungjin squints his eyes.

Brian rolls his eyes, “Nothing. Let’s lie down. You still look sleepy.”

Sungjin only stared.

Brian sighs, “It’s just… your last letter…”

Sungjin raises a brow. He remembers his last letter. Of course, he does.

“I’ve never loved you as much as I do now after reading that,” Brian says.

“What do you mean?” Sungjin lets him pull him to him.

“I never knew how much you love me. And I never knew how much I love you. But I always thought you love me more. I think I love you just as much as you love me now,” Brian pulls his head to his chest. “Scratch that, I know I love you just as much now.”

But Sungjin retaliates, pulling the younger to him with a sigh.

“And hyung,” Brian looks up at him and he looks back. “I would never leave Bang. Even if you would have sent that to me in the Ministry, I’d still come to meet him. Even more when I know that it was you all along. You don’t have to wait anymore, hyung. I’m here. I’m not leaving.”

Sungjin looks at him so lovingly, smiling softly, before placing a kiss on him, “You’re so cheesy.”

Brian huffs in disbelief, “Says the one who wrote letters every month.”

Sungjin bites down on his lip, a bit hard. Brian whines in pain.

“But I love it! We’re never throwing those away,” Brian holds his face to try to push him away.

Sungjin lets go, “Whatever.”

“No, really. I appreciate all those letters, hyung. I was kind of glad you never sent any to me because if you had sent even one, I would have gone over to see you and you wouldn’t have written all the other letters,” Brian says, thumb caressing his cheekbone as he looks at his eyes that never lost its sparkles.

“Kang Bra, if you ask me to write you a letter, I would. Anything for you. So if you want me to leave, I will — “

“Why would I want you to leave —?”

“I’m just saying. It’s just a metaphor — “

“It’s an awful metaphor — “

“I’m just saying that — “

“Why are you always implying that I’ll hurt you? It’s starting to offend me. Have you not really forgiven me from before? Don’t you trust me anymore?”

Sungjin pulls back from him and faces the ceiling, “I won’t try to talk sweetly ever again. In the course of this relationship, I will solely talk as I usually do.”

Brian laughs, throwing an arm over his abdomen and placing his head next to his, on his shoulder, nuzzling against his side, “I’m kidding. I’ll do my best not to hurt you again.”

Sungjin wraps an arm under his head and holds his waist, turning to kiss his head, “I love you.”

“I love you,” Brian replies with a smile. “Hey, I have a day off until Monday. Can I attend class?”

Sungjin raised a brow, “Who’s class are you attending?”

Brian gives him a look, “Yours.”

“What? No. My students don’t listen to me sometimes until they get to the point when they nearly fall off the Tower. They’re not going to listen completely if you’re there,” Sungjin rejects.

“No, I’ll make them listen to you, hyung. Really. Maybe I’ll play with them for about five minutes before you start the class,” Brian smiles.

 

~~

The Last and First Night

Brian smiles at the students who gaped at him as soon as they came out of the Tower. Sungjin leaned on the railing, arms crossed as he watches Brian and his students stare at each other.

“Hello,” Brian greets.

“Sunbaenim!” a Ravenclaw, Jisung, beams at Brian.

Brian grins, “Oh, you know me?”

“How could we not?” a Hufflepuff, Hyunjin, asks back.

“You’re only the most dangerous Auror!” another Hufflepuff, Felix, adds. He points to the Slytherin beside him. “Seungmin’s a big fan.”

“Oh, nice to meet you,” Brian holds his hand out to Seungmin and the boy shakes his hand hesitantly. “You really do look like Wonpil.”

Seungmin smiles abashedly. And suddenly, the others want a handshake as well. Brian giggles as the kids walk up to him. Sungjin watched them crowd Brian for five minutes before he’s had enough. He holds his hand out to Brian and the younger slides back to him. He holds him still beside him and crosses his arms.

“Settle down,” Sungjin commands.

Jisung scoffs, “You’re such an old man, Professor.”

Brian snorts, the other students suppress their laughter. Jisung grins comically. Sungjin only stares at the class. Hyunjin slaps Jisung’s arm.

“I will throw you off this Tower, Han,” Sungjin threatens.

“You can’t do that, I’ll die!” Jisung exclaims.

Sungjin rolls his eyes. Brian giggles beside him.

“You won’t die. Sungjin hyung will get you,” Brian says.

“How can he get me when I fall off the Tower?” Jisung inquires.

“Oh, you don’t know?” Brian blinks, frowning. He looks at Sungjin. “They don’t know?”

Sungjin shook his head.

“Know what?” Felix tilts his head.

“I assume you know Jackson Wang?” Brian asks.

The class cheers in chorus.

“And you know his partner when he played for Gryffindor?”

“Im Jaebeom sunbaenim!” a Gryffindor answers.

Brian nods, “What about the original dynamic duo who were from Ravenclaw? Has anyone —?”

“Professor Tuan and Professor Park,” Jisung answers. “They always brag about it.”

Brian grins, “Well maybe you’ll make them stop bragging about that once I tell you that your Professor Park right here — “ he grabs Sungjin to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and placing a hand on his arm, “ — was the Hufflepuff chaser and Quidditch captain who kicked those two dynamic duos’ asses.”

The class went silent before Jisung snorts, not believing a thing.

“Professor Park was a Quidditch player?” Jisung grins comically.

Brian looks at Sungjin who only raised a brow at him, not even offended. He knew his students won’t believe he was even a Quidditch player. Then Brian digs his hand into his clothes by his chest.

“Yah, what are you — “

Brian takes his necklace and pulls it out of his clothes to show it to the class. And they gasp.

“Really?” Hyunjin’s eyes widen, his eyebrows raising.

“Yes, see? He was the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain,” Brian says. “He was a prefect, too.”

“Now you’re just bragging,” Jisung crossed his arms.

“No, really,” Brian unpins Sungjin’s prefect badge from the inside of his coat. “I’m a Gryffindor, this is his prefect badge.”

“You’re — what are you doing — can you stop — “

“Shut up, let me brag about you. It seems like these kids don’t know anything about you,” Brian pushes him aside, about to take over.

“Jisungie thought Professor Park doesn’t have many credentials since we don’t know anything about him,” Seungmin exposes, earning a gasp of betrayal from Jisung.

“He’s also a — oh, I can’t say that can I?” Brian looks at Sungjin.

“No, you can’t say anything anymore,” Sungjin walks back to him and pushes him aside as well. “Now — “

“My point is, Sungjin hyung’s an excellent wizard. If you fall from the Tower, you can expect him to catch up to you in a broom,” Brian smiles.

“Kang Bra, you told me you’ll make them listen to me. You’re not even listening to me right now,” Sungjin glares at the younger.

“Why do you call him that? Isn’t his name Younghyun?” Felix asks.

“None of your business,” Sungjin snaps.

“You’re still the same strict Professor Park even after all that,” Jisung scoffs.

“He’s not strict, you’re just a delinquent,” Brian retorts. “Now listen to him.”

Jisung looks weirdly at him whilst Hyunjin speaks beside him, “He always stuck with Minho hyung and they always pull pranks together.”

Brian’s eyes change, “If you pull a prank on Sungjin hyung — “

“I don’t pull pranks on teachers! Besides, that’s just when Minho hyung was still here. He graduated already. And even then, we don’t prank teachers,” Jisung cuts off.

Brian stares and the atmosphere changes. Sungjin rolls his eyes and gets his students’ attention. He starts discussing, letting Brian go about himself. Sungjin thinks he’s monitoring the kids as all he does is stare at them, walk around for a bit, and then stares at them again. At some point, he gives the students an activity to focus on before calling at Brian who stood by the door by that time. Brian walks over to him and leans back on the railing as he stood beside him, still looking at the students.

Sungjin chuckles. He turns around, facing his back to the class, and mutters to him, almost inaudibly, “Yah, stop staring at them. Look, they can’t focus on their activity. I can handle myself if ever they pull a prank on me, Kang Bra. I can get into minds, remember?”

“I know. It’s not that,” Brian shook his head.

“Then what?” Sungjin taps his chin once with his fingers.

“I regret saying something about you now. The girls are looking differently at you since,” Brian frowns.

Sungjin glances at his class and chuckles again when the girls instantly bowed their heads down. Sungjin turns around, watching them peek at him. He smirks and wraps an arm around the waist of the man beside him, pulling him flush to his side.

“I’m yours, Kang Bra,” Sungjin says.

“But you’re not officially mine yet,” Brian says.

Sungjin looks up at the night sky, “This is the last night you and I are single… And the first night we’re taken.”

Brian pulls at his pocket watch, opening it to see the time. It was only a few seconds after midnight; after Sungjin had spoken. Sungjin looks at his watch over his shoulder, smiling.

“You have a photo of me on your watch?”

Brian closes his watch and keeps it, ears turning red before he crosses his arms, “So what do you care? What is it to you?”

Sungjin grins, giggling at him in disbelief as he shook his head, “It was moving, too.”

“Shut up, I had Jaebeom take a photo of you smiling because I missed that,” Brian mutters.

Sungjin pulls at his head to give him a kiss on his temple before letting him go and stepping forward, asking the kids to turn in their activity. Brian smirks at the girls who had witnessed what had just happened. He nods at them and then to Sungjin, ushering them to pass their activity. After that, they were dismissed.

“What?” Sungjin questions when he sees Brian smiling at him.

“First of all, I successfully made those girls jealous,” Brian starts, earning a grin and a look of disbelief from Sungjin. “Second, you look good when you teach. I should come over whenever I have a day off.”

“You should rest when you have a day off, not come to my classes. It’s in midnight,” Sungjin pokes his forehead.

“But I get to rest — you’re my resting place, though?” Brian tilts his head.

Sungjin had never grinned so widely before. Everything was going so well now. He has Brian for himself, and him for Brian. And Sungjin suddenly feels he can conquer anything with Brian on his side.

“Your eyes are sparkling more than usual,” Brian steps to him and lifts his face with his fingers on his chin to look at his eyes better.

“Because they’re looking at the future,” Sungjin says.

All Brian can do was kiss him under the moon and stars, amidst the wind blowing around. And everything had been better.

 

-fin-