“Where is he?” Yesung muttered to himself as he walked down the train corridor, peeking through the doors he passed by. “Where is he? Where is he?”

He stopped once he found an empty compartment, scanned the busy corridor one last time, and entered. “You know what? He can just look for me.” He dragged his things in and shut the door behind him, quickly taking the seat by the window as he watched other Hogwarts students bid their families goodbye.

Yesung’s family already had their quick goodbye at their house, each of them in a hurry to get to their own schedules. He was fine with that — at least he didn’t have to publicly deal with his mother trying to calm down the very dramatic crying of his father as they sent him away. It was a privilege he had over his younger brother, who had to deal with it for five minutes every day that he was dropped off at his school.

He was waiting for Heechul to show up. They’d sent letters once in a while over the summer, but they were able to see each other during the little events their weird pureblood family traditions have. Supposedly, they were going to stay in the same compartment, but it’s always difficult and quite troublesome to find each other in the crowd, so that’s probably poor planning on their part.

Yesung found the platform slowly going empty and looked up to see the big clock showing there were less than 3 minutes left before the train starts moving.  Guardians were waving their last goodbyes through the windows, and some of them started stepping back since they knew the time was almost up.

Suddenly, a family burst its way through the entrance of the platform, coming from the King’s Cross entrance. Yesung knew at once that they were a muggle family, probably the first year of the young boy who was pushing the trolley, by the way that they all paused and looked back as if failing to understand that they had just entered through a brick wall. At the last call for passengers, the family seemed to snap out of it, make very quick goodbyes, and push the little boy towards the train.

Yesung couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he watched to see the kid make his way to the train just as it started to leave.

He sighed with a smile as he looked down at the book he was holding, trying to focus back on it again. This plan was slightly interrupted by the knock on the door.

“Just come in.” He answered without looking up, assuming it was Heechul. 

“Hi!” The unfamiliar voice hesitantly greeted, making him do a double-take at the person who was at the door, finding it was actually the boy he had seen outside. “Uhh, I think the best choice is to quickly find a compartment to stay in because I might fall over while the train moves. So…?”

“So?” Yesung repeated with a raised eyebrow, trying to hold back a smile as the boy’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Uhh… So, I was wondering if I could stay here?” His tone slowly started going up with nervousness. “If that’s okay with you? Sorry, I was just— I thought, maybe, since you’re the only one here? So, maybe, I could— Actually, never mind!”

Yesung laughed, causing the other to pause in his actions to leave. “No, no, I’m sorry. I was just joking. You can stay here.”

“Oh. Oh, okay.” He breathed out before slowly pulling his luggage in. “I’m going in now.”

“Yup, go ahead.” Yesung paused for a moment and stood up. “I’ll help you put it up.”

“Oh, thank you!” The kid replied as they worked together to put the trunk in the rack above their heads. “My name’s Hyukjae, by the way.”

“Yesung.” He answered back. “It’s your first year, huh?”

“Woah,” The kid’s eyes widened as he sat down opposite Yesung’s spot. “Is that magic? Did you just read my mind?”

“What?” Yesung grinned, almost laughing again. “No. I just haven’t seen you before. And I saw you and your family outside. You all looked a bit new to everything.”

“Ah,” Hyukjae scratched his head in embarrassment. “I’m the only one who has magic in my family. The professor who explained it to me called me muggle-born? I think?”

“Yup. That’s what you’d be. But it’s not really that important.”

Hyukjae leaned forward, his eyes wide with wonder. “Really? So, I guess you’re not a First Year like me, right? Can you tell me more about Hogwarts? About magic? Would I be able to do well even though I’m muggle-born? What spells would I be able to do? Is flying with a broom real or is that just in the stories?”

Yesung waved his hand. “Woah, calm down. So many questions.”

“Sorry!” Hyukjae turned red as he went quiet.

“It’s fine. It’s good that you ask as much as you can.” Yesung smiled comfortingly. “Just give me the time to actually answer your questions. Let’s try again one by one, and slower. The trip takes a while, you know?”

“Okay, uhh…” The First Year nodded his head and blinked as if gathering his thoughts. “Okay, I already asked the professor this, but I didn’t really understand. What are the Houses? What is that?”

“Mm, well, you get sorted into them.” Yesung shrugged. “Kind of like teams. There are certain traits usually associated with each one. For Slytherin, there’s usually ambition, cunningness, and resourcefulness. For Gryffindor, there’s bravery, courage, that kind of thing. Ravenclaw values wisdom, knowledge and creativity. And then there’s Hufflepuff with loyalty, hard work, and dedication.”

“Ooh,” the younger one nodded. “And what House are you in?”

“Slytherin.”

“The best one!” Another voice joined in with the door sliding open, revealing Heechul standing there. “Hello, new kid, are we adopting you?”

“You’re talking like we’re some Sixth Years who know everything. Calm down, it’s just our Second Year.” Yesung shook his head at his friend who sat down beside him. “This is Heechul, a friend of mine. He’s also in Slytherin. Heechul, this is Hyukjae. He’s a First Year.”

“I wanna be in Slytherin too! That means I’d see you often, right? Which is great because I know you already!” Hyukjae excitedly said.

“Yeah,” the two Slytherins exchanged knowing glances. Such bright character and personality is very rare in their House. “But we could still see each other even if you’re in another House.” 

“Promise?” He asked in a small voice.

“Of course.” Yesung smiled. “If there’s anything you need that we might be able to help you out on, just let us know.” 

Heechul sighed. “So, we are adopting someone.”

“We are not adopting him.” Yesung rolled his eyes. “This is called making friends.”

“Yeah, yeah, same thing,” Heechul mumbled as he made himself comfortable and lay down on the seat, using Yesung’s lap as a pillow. “We’re too young to be taking people in.”

“You started talking about it like that.” Yesung snapped back, lightly hitting his friend’s head with the book.

Heechul retaliated with a glare and a slap to the arm. “You’re the one who started adopting someone. I wasn’t even here yet!”

“You two are funny,” Hyukjae commented quietly, and they both looked up to see him smiling.

“This is funny?” Heechul huffed and closed his eyes as he began to rest. “Well, if you stick with us for a while, you might find us hilarious.”

The ride continued on with Hyukjae asking them questions, and the other two answering them to the best of their abilities. Heechul had even entertained him by showing off his metamorphmagus skill, which was why he left the train with blond hair, instead of the dark brown it had been at the start. Both Slytherins promised to save Hyukjae a seat should he end up in the same house, but it wasn’t one they had to keep when the kid was later on sorted to Hufflepuff.

Yesung had clapped enthusiastically and waved with a smile when the younger had taken a seat at the Hufflepuff table but was scanning the Slytherin table and looking for them. Seeming to see it as a sign that they’d not be strangers, the younger one finally properly greeted his fellow badgers.

He would have thought that them being in different Houses and different year levels might make it a bit harder to actually see the kid often, but Hyukjae actually went up to their table to greet them the next morning.

“Hi, Yesung hyung!” He greeted cheerfully, another Hufflepuff walking right beside him. “Oh. And Heechul hyung.”

“There’s such a difference in the way you’re greeting us,” Heechul responded with a roll of his eyes. The tips of his blond hair started noticeably turning red. “Should I be offended or thankful you’re not being very clingy to me specifically?”

“Woah.” Hyukjae just acted unaffected, as if he wasn’t so amused by it as well the day before, but the other Hufflepuff beside him stared at the changing hair color with wide eyes. “That’s so cool.”

Heechul looked at the other kid for a second and shrugged. “Metamorphmagus. Not a big deal.”

“Oh, sorry!” The Hufflepuff pouted. “I didn’t mean to stare. Or offend you. I just think it’s really cool! You’re really cool. My dad’s friend is also a metamorphmagus but she doesn’t do anything with it anymore because she thinks it’s “not proper” which I think is just so boring! I mean, look at you! You look great! It really suits you. I think any color would suit you. Is your hair originally blond? Or is it red? You look really pretty!”

Yesung watched Heechul just blinking as the kid rambled on. Suddenly, Heechul grinned widely and stopped him from talking. “Kid, what’s your name?”

“Just keeps talking to them like they're decades younger. What are you, a Seventh Year?” Yesung muttered as he gestured for Hyukjae to take the seat across from him. Mindlessly, he passed a plate of bread to him, which the other gratefully took.

“My name is Donghae!” Hyukjae’s friend said as Hyukjae pulled him to sit beside him on the seat in front of Heechul. “Nice to meet you. Hyukjae is my dormmate and he said he met some Second Years yesterday. I don’t know anyone else here, so I’m here to make friends!”

“Donghae,” Heechul sighed as he looked at the First Year. “Do you know what you are?”

The excitable kid paused. “...A Hufflepuff?” Yesung saw Donghae glance at Hyukjae, who glanced at Yesung, who just shrugged with a smile. 

Heechul nodded then shook his head. “Not just any Hufflepuff. You’re officially my favorite Hufflepuff.”

“So dramatic.” Yesung shook his head, smiling when Hyukjae heard him and laughed.

“I’m your favorite?” Donghae’s eyes lit up before he frowned and looked at Hyukjae. “What about Hyukjae? You met him first.”

Heechul waved off his concerns. “He can be Yesung’s favorite.”

“I’m your favorite?!” Hyukjae dramatically gasped with a hand to his chest as he looked up to Yesung, mimicking the exchange the two had earlier. 

Yesung laughed and played along, nudging Heechul who was glaring at one of the younger ones. “Stop glaring at my favorite Hufflepuff.”

“There’s something really annoying about him,” Heechul murmured back, not bothering to hide it from Hyukjae, who only responded by sticking his tongue out childishly. “Why did you have to take him in?”

“He’s not a pet, Heechul,” Yesung replied, knowing his friend was really just joking, before pulling him up. “Come on, we have to go. It takes a while to get to the greenhouses, remember?”

“I hate Herbology.” Heechul groaned before standing. “Goodbye, Donghae, my favorite precious Hufflepuff kid. Oh, and, I guess, you too, other Hufflepuff.” Then he walked away to the muffled goodbyes of the Hufflepuffs (the level of enthusiasm vastly different) who were already stuffing their faces with food.

Yesung paused before leaving, gently pushing the two glasses of water closer to the two of them. “Chew your food properly. We can’t have you choking to death on your first day. Also, it’s okay to stay at other houses’ tables, but since we’re leaving you might want to go eat with your housemates instead if you have time before class.”

Hyukjae quickly drank from the cup and then smiled at Yesung. “Okay, hyung. Thank you!”

“See you around.”

And he did see him around. At some point in the first week, the two Slytherins took the two Hufflepuffs around on a tour of Hogwarts. It wasn’t planned, but after three different times that they came across Donghae and Hyukjae being very lost and very late to their subjects, wherein they repeatedly begged the older ones to help them, they decided this would be the best course of action.

“We’re the best tour guides you could have even though we’re just in our Second Year.” Heechul had told them. “Yesung-ie knows about all the secret passages from his parents and I went looking for the rest by myself.”

“Secret passages?” Hyukjae whispered to Yesung when Heechul had dragged Donghae before them and was telling him other stories from last year.

“There’s a lot in Hogwarts. My parents would use them a lot when they went here.” Yesung grinned. “Of course, I didn’t tell Heechul all of it.”

Hyukjae perked up. “Will you tell me?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.”

“Pleeeease,” Hyukjae whined. “I’m your favorite Hufflepuff.”

Yesung laughed. “I’ll think about it.”

Hyukjae would often find him when they both had no classes. Sometimes, he would bring Donghae, which Heechul would always be happy about. But usually, it was just him. Honestly, Yesung couldn’t remember having that much free time when he was just a First Year.

“I found you!”

Yesung sat up in surprise. He had been resting by one of the trees near the lake after he finished his homework for Defense Against the Dark Arts. He was about to take a short nap since his next class wouldn’t be until the next hour, but a voice interrupted the quiet.

“Hi, Hyukjae.” Yesung smiled. “Don’t you have class?”

“Yup!” Hyukjae plopped down on the grass beside Yesung and passed him an apple. “But it’s done. I passed by the kitchens to get something to eat after we finished Potions a while ago.”

“Ahh, that’s why you smell like the dungeons. Maybe you should roll around the grass for a bit and get rid of the smell.” Yesung joked, lightly pushing Hyukjae away. “Where’s Donghae?”

“That’s rude. I do not smell bad.” Hyukjae huffed. “And I thought I was your favorite Hufflepuff! Why do you always look for Hae?”

The Slytherin put his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, sorry. He’s your closest friend though, isn’t he? You two are usually together. In my first year, I was usually with Heechul. Though, thinking about it now, maybe that’s because I’m just not that eager to go and make a lot of friends.”

Hyukjae hummed in thought, taking a bite from his own apple. “Well, yeah, Hae is my best friend. But you’re my best friend too! Right?” He looked at Yesung so expectantly that the other couldn’t say