“Do you think anyone is ever late for the train? What do you think happens?” Yesung asked as he stared out of the window, book open and forgotten on his lap.

Heechul shrugged. “Probably not allowed to go to Hogwarts anymore.”

“What?!” Donghae immediately stood up and had a hand on the door. “I’m gonna go look for Hyukjae!”

Heechul grabbed his wrist and dragged him back to his seat. “I was just joking, Hae! He’s gonna be fine.”

“There are only five minutes left though,” Yesung noted, still watching the King’s Cross entrance. “Maybe we should at least find a prefect to tell them one of the students is late.”

Donghae agreed. “Hyukjae’s going to panic if he gets here and the train is gone.”

“He’s gonna be fine!” Heechul repeated, rolling his eyes at them. “The professors probably have a system for this. He’s most likely not the first one to be late.”

Yesung sat up, spotting something in the crowd. “He’s here.” They all looked to see Hyukjae and his father running through the entrance and saying their quick goodbyes.

“LEE HYUKJAE!”  Donghae had managed to open the window and scream out of it. “GET ON THE TRAIN!” The panic in his voice could be heard, and it seemed to have an effect on Hyukjae who suddenly had a crazed look in his eyes as he ran to the train doors.

Heechul allowed his hair to turn a few shades lighter as he watched Donghae in amusement. “I told you he’s gonna be fine. Now, come sit down.”

“He was late last year too,” Yesung commented. “He’s earlier by a minute or so now, but not by much.”

The door to their compartment slid open a few minutes later after the train started moving. “I need water.” Hyukjae breathed out, obviously still in the process of catching his breath after running wildly. Yesung bit back a smile as he handed the younger one a bottle of water he had bought at the station earlier. “Give me a second.” He added, referring to his luggage that was taking up the space in the middle.

With a sigh, Yesung stood up and put the trunk beside his in the overhead compartment himself.

“Thanks, hyung!” Hyukjae smiled brightly, taking the seat beside Yesung’s before frowning and lightly kicking the leg of Donghae who was sitting across from him. “Why did you have to shout my name out? Everyone on the platform heard you. So embarrassing.”

“I panicked!” Donghae defended. “What if you didn’t get on the train?”

Hyukjae huffed, leaning back on the seat. “They don't just kick people out, Hae, especially not for being late. I would have still gone to Hogwarts.”

“Told you he was fine,” Heechul said. “Both of you were worried for no reason.”

Yesung rolled his eyes when Hyukjae turned to him with another bright smile. “Hyung! You were also worried about me?”

“I just said maybe we can tell one of the prefects that you were late so someone can find you.”

“I am your favorite Hufflepuff!” Then Yesung spent a few minutes trying to get away from the hug that Hyukjae was attempting to trap him in.

Heechul laughed at his friend's helplessness. “Hey, Hufflepuff Number 2, are you still going to try out for Quidditch? If you put in more effort to your strength, you might be good as a Beater.”

“Why am I Number 2— Actually, never mind,” Hyukjae asked with a pout then wisely stopped when he looked at Donghae. He paused to think of his answer as he finally let go of Yesung. “I think being a Chaser is more fun.”

Yesung nodded approvingly. “Right. Playing as the Chaser is more important too because—”

“They pretty much carry the game since they have to score the points. Not the seekers, like what most people think, because they do one thing and the game is done. I know. You said that before,” Hyukjae continued. “Like a million times.”

“I think I’m going to try out for Beater.” Donghae decided, sounding sure. “My dad used to be one and he’d sometimes teach me and my mom and we would play our version of Quidditch on the ground because mom can’t fly. Sometimes, mom would just let us use tennis rackets because she used to play that and she’d teach us how to play that too.”

“What’s tennis?” Heechul groaned. “Is that another sport? Isn’t one in the whole world enough?”

“It’s a muggle sport less complicated than Quidditch, that’s for sure,” Hyukjae answered, shaking his head as he seemed to recall learning about the magical sport. “I don’t know anything about it but it seems to be pretty obvious if someone won or lost.”

“Quidditch is easy to understand, though.” Yesung protested. 

Heechul gave him a look. “Not everyone is as obsessed with it as you are.”

“You weren’t complaining when I had to teach you about it.”

“Oh, right!” Donghae turned to Heechul. “How’s the whole commentator thing?”

Heechul grinned, his eyes remaining their usual dark brown, but practically sparkling with pride. “They said I’m in! Of course, I’m still mostly going to be practicing this year, but I’m good! Apparently, they think my general energy and the fact I know a lot about the people who are going to be playing would make commentary fun.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Hyukjae asked. “You’re just in your third year.”

“Oh, please,” Yesung snorted, “Heechul didn’t care about the fact that people were in different years. He knows everyone. When we were in our First Year, he immediately became close friends with the Slytherin Head Boy.”

“Dongseok hyung was so easy to talk to!”

“Dongseok hyung was very intimidating. A lot of people would agree.” Yesung shrugged. “Sure, he was actually very nice, but a lot of people were a bit hesitant to approach him because he looked a bit intimidating.”

“Kinda like you, then?” Donghae asked. 

Yesung paused, not sure if he heard it right, but the Hufflepuff was looking at him. He pointed a finger at himself. “Me?”

“Yeah!” 

“Me?!”

“Yeah…?”

Yesung blinked, astonished by this new revelation. “I’m intimidating?” He turned to Hyukjae. “I’m intimidating?” He repeated.

“Well, when you ask like that…” Hyukjae avoided his eyes and then sighed before looking back at him. “I don’t find you intimidating, honestly. But I have been told that you usually look like you want to be alone. Plus you’re known to be close friends with probably the most eccentric person in school.”

“Eccentric?” Heechul asked. “Who?”

“They mean you,” Yesung threw his book at Heechul, who managed to catch it and throw it back with surprisingly quick reflexes. “People probably think I’m a whole new level of weird because I’m usually quiet but I can handle your weirdness.”

“I’m eccentric? People say that?” Heechul looked to the younger ones for confirmation. “Wow, I feel so proud right now. I told you I make unforgettable impressions on people!”

Donghae tilted his head. “Isn’t it weird for people to just talk about you?”

Yesung saw Heechul smile at the worry in his tone. “Aw, Hae, honey, I’m used to it! Don’t worry.”

“Just because you’re used to it, doesn’t mean it’s right.” 

Heechul turned to Hyukjae who just spoke before smiling. “Oh, I wouldn’t have expected such nice words with a hint of concern directed to me from you, Donghae’s friend.”

“Did you just call me—” Hyukjae shook his head as if deciding that it wasn’t worth it to continue that train of thought. “Yeah, I just mean, if people are saying wrong things about you, we should stop them. Even those about Yesung hyung being intimidating.”

“Hyukjae told off someone about that last year,” Donghae added, teasing his friend who was trying to shush him. “‘Yesung hyung has been so nice and helpful about everything!’” Donghae said in a very bad and exaggerated imitation of Hyukjae’s voice.

Yesung burst into laughter and swung an arm around Hyukjae’s shoulder to pull him close. In a twist of events, it was now the younger one who was trying to avoid the clingy Slytherin. “Aww, Hyukjae-ah! You think I’m so nice and helpful!”

“No,” Hyukjae groaned, pushing him away. “I take it back. You’re just very, very annoying. Please leave me alone.” Once Yesung had let go with a laugh, Hyukjae glanced outside the door, noticing something. “Did the trolley already pass?”

“Yup, just a while ago,” Donghae nodded. “Did you want to buy something?”

“Mm, I regretted not bringing home a bag of Caramel Cobwebs. I was dreaming about it every night.” Hyukjae answered as he stood up and made to leave the compartment. Of course, he couldn’t leave until after the other people with him gave out their orders and passed him the money. It took him an extra five minutes to finalize what they all wanted and another ten as he had chased down the trolley lady who had moved so far down the train already.

“Next time, could you all just buy it yourselves? Or maybe buy it when the trolley is in front of the compartment.” Hyukjae huffed as he came back to them, arms full of treats. “Mint humbug and Peppermint Toad for Heechul hyung. Bertie Botts for Donghae. And, hyung, someone who went before me got the last Chocolate Frog, so I was only able to get you the Dragon Claws.”

Yesung sighed, taking his pack of sweets. “I’m never gonna get that card of Celestina Warbeck.”

“Why are you still collecting those?” Heechul asked as he bit off the head of the Peppermint Toad. “I swear, sometimes, I think you spend half of your money on Chocolate Frogs for the cards.”

“Who’s Celestina Warbeck?” Hyukjae opened his pack of Sour Strawberry Strips and took a piece before offering one to Yesung.

Heechul grinned. “Yesung’s old crush.”

“She is not my crush!” Yesung quickly moved to smack the top of Heechul’s head with his book. “She’s just a singer from back in the day that my parents are a fan of, so, naturally, I’m a fan too.”

“I haven’t listened to—”

The conversation was interrupted by sudden choking and Donghae running to the window to spit something out of it. “I GOT SOAP. I GOT SOAP! I HATE IT SO BAD!”

Everyone else held back laughter as Heechul lightly patted Donghae’s back in an attempt to comfort him. “At least soap isn’t the worst flavor you could get.”

“Yeah, but it always lasts for a long time!” Donghae whined as he stomped back to his seat. 

“So, why do you keep buying it?” Hyukjae gestured to the open red and white striped box with the words ‘Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans’ printed on it. “Last year when we tried it in the dorms, you got a rotten egg flavored one and you cried.”

Donghae shook the box in front of them, a sign of offering. “Because I wanted to try it with you guys!”

“...I should probably get changed, right? Better to be prepared when we get to Hogwarts!”

“Good call, Hyukjae-ah. Should we get our robes from our trunks?”

“I should get changed too! Yesung-ah, Do you have an extra tie? I think I might have forgotten mine.”

“How are you going to survive a year if you don’t have your tie on the first day? Also, Yesung-ie hyung, look at this. Is it fine if my robes are a bit wrinkled?”

“Yeah, it’s not that bad.”

“Oh, one of the prefects in Gryffindor is really good with the ironing spell, you can ask her when we get there.”

Donghae sighed, closing the box of jelly beans before standing to get his own stuff. “You’re all the worst.”

In the end, Hyukjae and Yesung were able to stay safe and completely reject Donghae’s attempts at making them eat the beans. Heechul wasn’t so lucky. He wasn’t lucky at all.

“He’s testing his spot as my favorite, Yesung-ah.” Heechul struggled to say as he downed another glass of cold Pumpkin Juice and chewed the ice in an attempt to get rid of the taste lingering in his mouth. They had made it to the Great Hall and through the sorting of the new First Years, so they could finally enjoy the feast. “He made me eat dirty socks.”

“He made you choose a bean to eat.” Yesung corrected, amused at his friend. “You chose a bean that turned out to be a dirty sock flavor.”

“Can we switch favorite Hufflepuffs?” Heechul let his head fall on the table, his hair in an unflattering shade of yellow that echoed his disgust. It doesn’t even seem like he noticed what shade his hair was. “I don’t think your little gremlin is that bad anymore.”

Yesung patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t let Donghae hear that, you’re gonna make him cry.”

“I mean,” Heechul breathed out, “it would just serve him right, though? I can still taste the socks!”

A new voice joined in. “Sorry, did you just say you ate socks?”

Yesung turned his attention to see one of the new First Years sitting across from them, a slightly disgusted and judgemental face looking at Heechul. “No, he didn’t. He just ate one of the every flavor beans, and now he regrets it.”

The 11-year-old’s eyes lit up. “Oh! You can have this.” He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a pack of Chocolate Frog. “I was saving it for later but it really works well to get rid of the taste of the beans.”

Heechul didn’t hesitate to take it from his hands and stuff the chocolate in his mouth. “You’re right,” Heechul almost cried, making Yesung silently laugh again, “I can feel the socks disappearing.”

“He means ‘thank you’.”

“Yes, thank you,” Heechul repeated Yesung’s words with much more sincerity. 

“No problem!” The kid shrugged with a smile. “My name’s Ryeowook. Kim Ryeowook.”

Heechul raised his hands in celebration. “Another Kim! In the Slytherin house!” He turned to Yesung gravely. “Your position as my favorite Slytherin is seriously being challenged right now.”

Yesung nodded in surrender. “He did save your life, apparently. Seeing how dramatic you are.”

“See, my favorite would never call me dramatic.”

“I still don’t know your names.” The two Slytherins turned to look at Ryeowook to find him with an unimpressed expression. 

Heechul leaned towards Yesung. “Do you hear that tone? I love that. He’s one of mine now.”

Ryeowook tilted his head at those words. “What?!”

“I’m Yesung. This is Heechul.” Yesung answered before Heechul could sing more praises about the new kid and forget to answer his questions. “We’re both in our third year.”

“Oh, I know your names!” He said, to the surprise of the two older Slytherins. “My parents told me about you two. ‘The two kids of the two Kim families are in Slytherin’.” Ryeowook echoed the words his mother probably told him.

Heechul raised an eyebrow. “Is your family the Kim family that doesn’t join in when we have gatherings?”

“Yeah, we don’t like going to those kinds of things much. No offense to your family, I heard they host a lot. I just think it’s boring if it’s all formal and proper.”

Heechul shook his head. “My dear, you are now definitely my favorite Slytherin.”

Ryeowook blinked before focusing back on the food. “That doesn’t really mean much to me.”

Yesung almost choked on his drink at Ryeowook’s words, trying to not laugh when Heechul looked taken aback. “Oh no, what if he’s actually my favorite Slytherin?” Yesung asked.

“You can’t do that! I already claimed him!” Heechul protested, slapping Yesung’s arm. “And I’m your favorite Slytherin!”

“Do we have to choose a favorite? What is this?” Ryeowook asked, looking between the both of them. “If I have to choose, I’ll go with the one who can give me a Lorcan d'Eath card from the Chocolate Frogs.”

“Oh! Oh!” Yesung sat up eagerly. “I have two!”

“Really?!”

“Yeah!”

“You wanna trade? I brought my cards with me, but they’re probably at the dorms right now. Maybe tomorrow during one of the free times?”

“Sure, sure. I’ll just look for you when I can. There are a lot more subjects to take in our third year.” Yesung sighed then paused for a moment. “You don’t happen to have a Celestina Warbeck card, do you?”

Ryeowook hummed in thought, unknowing of the excitement Yesung was feeling. “I have, I think, three copies of it?”

"Oh, Ryeowook, my dear," Yesung sighed happily then turned to Heechul. “He’s definitely my favorite now.”

“Oh no, you’re both collectors." Heechul could only roll his eyes. "I’m starting to regret my choice of company in this house.”

The next day, during one of his free times, Yesung brought out his small binder that contained around 90 cards and was equipped with an extension charm and several protection charms to keep the collection safe. Heechul saw it and Ryeowook’s own collection for a second, groaned, then decided to go off and find someone else to stay with.

“Why does he hate these?” Ryeowook asked a couple of minutes after he and Yesung found a spot on the outdoor grounds to go through each other’s collection. Yesung had finally received a Celestina Warbeck card and had happily traded one of his copies of Lorcan d'Eath to Ryeowook for it.

Yesung gasped at seeing a rare card in Ryeowook's collection and admired it for a moment before realizing he was asked a question. “He doesn’t hate it. Just doesn’t find it as fun now. But he used to collect a bit and then ended up losing half of his collection because of his pets, so he decided to just give it up. Plus he doesn’t like chocolates too. Seemed like the best choice for him.”

“Mm,” Ryeowook turned Yesung’s binder to him, pointing one card out. “What’s this? A Masamtrio card?”

Yesung glanced at it. “Yup. They’re a band of three. Promoted for a really short time.”

“No, I know the Masamtrio band.” Ryeowook waved his hand at the explanation. “I mean, I didn’t know they had a card.”

“They’re a part of the new ones just released last week.”

“There are new ones?” Yesung looked up at Ryeowook’s shocked tone. 

He nodded carefully. “Yes, there’s even more singers this time around. There’s the Hobgoblins, S.E.S., and, I think Bludd also has one now—” There was a choked sound before Ryeowook looked back down at the cards. “Wait, are you crying? Please don’t.”

“An S.E.S. card?” Ryeowook took a deep breath. “There’s an S.E.S. card, and I didn’t know about it?!”

“Hi.” A new voice unsurely greeted. “Uhh, should I just go?”

Yesung turned to see Hyukjae standing to the sides. “Hi, Hyukjae! It’s okay, you can come and sit with us.”

Once Hyukjae had taken a seat beside Yesung and glanced for a second at the binders in front of the two, he smiled at Ryeowook. “Hey! You’re the First Year that took the last Chocolate Frog on the train, right?”

“And that wasn’t even an S.E.S. card!” The youngest one mourned before falling on his back dramatically.

“That’s Ryeowook,” Yesung introduced. “He’s having a crisis because I think S.E.S. is his favorite group and he doesn’t have their card yet.” He explained, gesturing to the binders and the few cards they’ve carefully taken out to trade.

Hyukjae nodded in understanding. “You’ll get it.” He attempted to encourage the other kid, before introducing himself. “I’m Hyukjae, by the way. Second Year Hufflepuff.”

“Ryeowook, First Year Slytherin,” Ryeowook said when he finally sat up again. “I don’t know how I’m gonna get through the day without only thinking of the—” He whined again at the thought.

Hyukjae tilted his head. “Uhh, aren’t First Year Slytherins in a double class with Ravenclaws at the greenhouse for Herbology? I just came from there and other students were already on the way.”

“Wait, what?” Ryeowook glanced around, noticing mostly higher years were on their break before grabbing his schedule. “I’m almost late!”

“Go!” Yesung helped him grab his things. “I’ll take care of the cards for you, promise.”

Ryeowook paused, hands hovering above the cards. With the amount of care they usually put into putting them back in the binders, he would actually turn up late in class on the first day if he decided to continue. “Fine, please take care of it or I refuse to be associated with you, much less be your or Heechul hyung’s favorite Slytherin. I will burn down your collection as well.”

The rushed words were the last things Yesung heard from the kid before he ran away in the direction of the greenhouses.

“So, he’s your favorite now, huh?” Hyukjae asked in a joking manner as the Third Year carefully handled the cards. “I see how it is. It’s just so easy to get replaced now.”

Yesung laughed. “Aww, is my favorite Hufflepuff jealous?”

“Nope!” Hyukjae answered with a shrug. “As long as you still spend time with me, I’m good.”

“Well, you still seem to find me with no problem.” Yesung shrugged. “Feel free to just join in during my free time.”

“Will do.” Hyukjae placed his bag behind him and used it as a pillow as he lay down on the grass. “I signed up for Quidditch tryouts this morning.”

“Oh, good luck!” Yesung immediately replied. “Tell me when it is, maybe I could go watch and support you!”

Hyukjae paused. “No, don’t watch. What if I’m bad?”

“Donghae says you’re not bad during your Quidditch class last year.”

“Yeah, but if I fall, you’re gonna make fun of me for weeks.”

“No, I won’t!”

“Yes, you will!”

“I won’t!”

“Fine.” Hyukjae rolled his eyes. “You’ll be worried for a second and then once Madame Pomfrey has healed me all up, you and Heechul hyung will tease me about it!”

“...ok, yeah, maybe.”

“See! You’re not going