Yesung patted Heechul’s shoulder before passing him off to lean on Donghae instead. “I’m going to go get you something to drink, okay?”

“Hyung, are you going to buy from the station? The train is about to leave.” Donghae noted, wrapping an arm around Heechul, who was now clinging to him. “We can just wait for the trolley later.”

“The trolley only serves sweet things and he needs something like water.” The other Slytherin looked at his currently dark blue-haired friend, his hair was long enough to cover his eyes which were red and puffy. “Plus there’s seven minutes to go? Hyukjae’s got on the train in less time.”

Donghae nodded. “Okay, you’ve got a point. You might even get here before he does.”

Yesung walked out of the compartment without another word and got off the train to head straight to the little stall at the station. It mostly sold newspapers, light snacks, and sandwiches which were healthier than the choices at the Hogsmeade trolley on the train, usually catering to workers at the station or parents who dropped their kids off early. He kept an eye on the King’s Cross entrance as he handed the seller some coins and waited for a cold bottle of water.

A smile immediately settled on his face when a familiar figure zoomed through the brick walls just as Yesung was about to head to the train.

“Three minutes.” He heard the Hufflepuff breathe out. “Not that bad.”

“Actually, it’s one minute.” Yesung corrected before grabbing Hyukjae’s luggage from the trolley and swinging an arm around the younger one’s shoulders. “We have to run.” He whispered.

Hyukjae let out a panicked squeak before grabbing Yesung’s wrist without even looking at him and pulling him towards the doors. The Slytherin had no choice but to follow, but he began laughing when they finally made it on the train.

“I was right!” Hyukjae cried out, looking at the clock outside. “There were three minutes left! We could have not run.”

“I was seeing if we could make you get to the train earlier.” Yesung managed to catch his breath. “Is this really going to be a habit of yours? Are you always going to be almost late for the train?”

“At least I—” Hyukjae turned to finally look at Yesung and stopped in the middle of his sentence before blinking three times. “Woah.”

Yesung, who was double-checking to make sure the bottle of water he bought wasn’t spilling or making a mess when they ran, turned to Hyukjae. “What?” 

“You’re taller.” The Hufflepuff looked at him up and down as if failing to believe it. “You’re… Yeah, you’re taller.”

“Hmm, yeah.” Yesung frowned, barely listening to what the other was saying because he was slightly distracted and worried. “Are you okay? Why are you red?” He moved forward to place a hand on Hyukjae’s forehead. “You’re not having a fever or something, right?”

“N-No! I’m fine!” Hyukjae swatted his hand away, which caused Yesung to frown at him more. He turned slightly redder. “I think it’s from suddenly running… Yeah, the running! Which you made me do! So, this is all your fault!”

The Fourth Year watched his friend throw his hands up in the air and walk away from him. “Am I supposed to bring your things?” Yesung shouted, causing Hyukjae to stop and go back slowly.

“Yeah, you should,” Hyukjae mumbled grumpily but picked up his trunk anyway. “You made me run.”

“You’re acting like you’re not a Quidditch player. Shouldn’t you be practicing speed?” Yesung teased, ruffling the other boy’s hair, which caused Hyukjae to swat his hand away again. “Anyway, I should be warning you before we get to the compartment.”

“About what?”

“Heechul.”

Hyukjae snorted. “Heechul hyung should always come with a warning. What is it this time?”

“Remember Hangeng?”

“Yeah, he gave me and Hae some advice when we came across each other in the Quidditch Pitch for practice one time.” Hyukjae nodded. “Oh, is this about what you wrote to me one time? He might transfer schools, right?”

“Mhmm,” Yesung sighed. “I told you Heechul was trying to convince him and his family to not move.”

“I never did get to ask you that in the letters. How did Heechul hyung get close to Hangeng hyung’s family?” Hyukjae asked as they continued walking down the hallway. “And how did the whole convincing thing go?”

Yesung shrugged. “I think Heechul just managed to convince Hangeng to invite him over and when he got there he just pulled out all the tricks in the book of making people like you. He’s good at that if he tries.”

Hyukjae sent him a teasing smile. “Very Slytherin.”

“But, it wasn’t enough.” He continued, ignoring Hyukjae’s comment. “Hangeng is muggleborn, after all, so it wasn’t going to be easy for his family to just give up everything just to make sure Hangeng stayed in Hogwarts. They had to move to another place because of his parents’ work, and there was another perfectly fine magic school there. Heechul’s been crying since he went up and down the train and really didn’t find Hangeng.”

“Crying?” Hyukjae repeated. “Did you leave him with Donghae?”

Yesung nodded. “I had to go get Heechul some water since none of us had some.”

Hyukjae groaned. “I hope Donghae isn’t crying too. He tends to cry when other people are crying and I’m not sure I can handle an entire train ride in the same compartment with two crying people.”

“Come on, cut them some slack.” Yesung swung an arm around Hyukjae’s shoulders again, leaning on him. They walked side by side, practically squeezing together through the narrow corridor of the train that had just started moving. “If you suddenly had to leave I’d be sad too.”

“Aww,” Hyukjae cooed dramatically. “Really?”

“Of course!” Yesung let go and walked a bit faster when they were nearing their compartment. “You are my favorite, after all.” He winked at Hyukjae, a teasing tone in his voice. He moved ahead to open the door, smiling at Heechul (who still had his dark blue hair) and Donghae (who thankfully wasn’t crying but looked close to it).

Yesung turned again to see Hyukjae standing frozen in the corridor. “Hyukjae-ah?” He also thought that the Hufflepuff was feeling better but it seemed like the redness from earlier hasn’t completely faded away yet. Maybe he needed a bit of proper rest. “Are you okay?”

Hyukjae shook his head at the sound of his voice as if snapping out of a trance. “Yeah! Sorry, the, uh, trunk got caught on something,” he gestured to his luggage before tugging at it and moving to the compartment.

There wasn’t anything on the corridor for the wheel to get stuck on as far as he could see, but Yesung didn’t really get to think about it because Donghae called for his attention and gestured for the bottle of water.

“Hyung?” Hyukjae hesitantly addressed Heechul. He looked slightly torn about whether he should tease the Slytherin or not, so Yesung caught his eye and shook his head subtly. “Do you need anything?” He ended up asking as he took the other seat near the window and Yesung sat beside him.

With only a shake of the head as a response, Hyukjae could only reply with an “Okay” because he wasn’t sure how to comfort the usually not-crying Heechul.

“He’ll be fine,” Yesung reassured the two Hufflepuffs who looked on with worry. “Right, Heechul? You can still send letters to Hangeng, at least.”

Heechul pulled away from hugging Donghae and nodded with a pout. He took the bottle of water offered to him, drank half of it in one go, then turned to watch the view from the windows. “It looks so pretty,” Heechul commented a few minutes later, and Yesung looked over to see the field of muhly grass that always grabbed his attention on the train ride. “Hangeng would have liked them.”

“When we go to Hogsmeade, I could show you some biscuits patterned after those flowers.” Yesung offered gently. “You can send some to him.”

“That would be nice.” Heechul sniffed.

The rest of the train ride was spent catching up with each other, but there wasn’t much to really talk about in that aspect since they regularly wrote letters over the summer. Donghae had gone on a trip with his family to the beaches. Heechul mentioned how his parents managed to throw 5 parties in the summer, all of which he managed to escape. Hyukjae brought up a funny story of him and his family trying to clean up the house, but he managed to convince them to buy him a small tent. Yesung mentioned going to watch movies with his family as per the request of his younger brother, who became interested in it when he learned about it in school.

Hyukjae and Donghae recommended films that they knew and enjoyed and were in the process of going through what Yesung had started to collect when the compartment door opened.

“Hyukjae hyung!” A voice greeted him and ran up to the mentioned Hufflepuff to pull him in a hug. “How have you been? How was your summer?”

“Hi, Ryeowook,” Hyukjae said back with a smile. Both of them have really gotten closer since last year. “Summer’s been good, it was fun. How about you?”

“Great!” Ryeowook cheered as he turned to Yesung without letting go of Hyukjae. “I collected a few more cards!” 

“We can go through them later if you want.” Yesung grinned, knowing he also collected a few more cards over the summer. It was way more fun collecting now that he knew someone else who did it too.

Ryeowook nodded enthusiastically before turning to the other people in the compartment. “How was your summer?”

“Good.” Donghae smiled, but Ryeowook’s attention focused elsewhere.

“What happened to you?” He asked in a slightly judging tone, eyebrows furrowed as he took in Heechul’s current state. “Did you cry?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.” 

Ryeowook looked to the others for some sort of explanation, but everyone just shook their heads. “Wow, this is probably the most depressing place on the train.”

“Ryeowook-ah,” the door opened to reveal another kid who looked to be the same age as Ryeowook. Yesung immediately recognized him, having met several times last year because of the younger Slytherin.  “I’ve been looking for you! I thought we were going to stay in the same compartment.”

“I just went to say hi to some people.” Ryeowook huffed.

The other kid was glaring at Ryeowook or, more accurately, the fact that Ryeowook was still clinging onto a certain Hufflepuff. “Who’s this?”

“Oh, yeah!” Ryeowook brightened up. “I haven’t introduced you. That’s Donghae hyung, then Heechul hyung. You’ve met Yesung hyung before. And this one is Hyukjae hyung!” Ryeowook leaned on Hyukjae with a smile. “Remember? I told you about him before! He’s the one who gave me the S.E.S. card.”

The kid half-heartedly waved at Ryeowook’s prompting. “Everyone, this is Kyuhyun! He’s a Ravenclaw and the same year as me. We’ve known each other for a long time since we've been neighbors for forever.”

“So, you’re Hyukjae.”

“Manners, Kyu!” Ryeowook reprimanded lightly as he stood up. “He’s older than us by a year!”

“I was supposed to get you the S.E.S. card!” The Ravenclaw whined in reply. His Slytherin friend just shook his head, a sign this was a common topic they talk about, and started pushing him out of the compartment. Ryeowook waved to everyone one last time. “I’ll see you later at the feast! Save me a seat, Yesung hyung!”

Yesung couldn’t help but think that it was a bad choice to have the younger Slytherin seated near them because dinner that time was mostly spent getting teased by him and a couple of the Slytherins nearby. They’ve made enough of a fuss that other houses looked over at the source of the noise and were even shushed by the head of the house. He saw Hyukjae looking over at him with a raised eyebrow but Yesung only shook his head with an exasperated sigh. The only good thing about it was that it somehow made Heechul come out of his sad bubble.

He thought they’d get over it after some sleep, but Ryeowook brought it up again when he passed by their side of the table when Donghae and Hyukjae were eating breakfast with them. 

“Oooh, Yesung hyung, you look really good today!” The Slytherin giggled exaggeratedly before running off to sit at the Ravenclaw table and avoid the half-eaten bread that Yesung tried to throw at him.

The Hufflepuffs watched in confusion as Yesung shoved Heechul roughly when the latter laughed with sudden light green highlights showing in his hair. “What is going on?” Hyukjae asked. “Did we miss something?”

“You won’t believe this,” Heechul gasped out in between giggles, “our Yesung-ie is in the running to be the most popular Slytherin.”

“What?!” 

“I am not!” Yesung shoved the other Slytherin again, but it only made Heechul laugh harder. “Stop saying that!”

“How do you know?” Donghae asked, tilting his head in thought. “Do the Slytherins have some sort of ranking for popularity?”

“Not officially.” Heechul began to explain. “Everyone knows everyone in this school. But, you know, there are some people that stand out. Like when you think of Ravenclaw, some would think of Lim Yoona or Shin Hyesung immediately. Our notable alumna, Lee Hyori, is for Slytherin because her charisma is off the charts, but I’m not discrediting myself. I know I have a pretty good reputation now. Zhou Mi in Hufflepuff — He’s your year, right? — has been becoming popular because he’s extremely friendly. Same thing with Choi Siwon in Gryffindor, I think.”

Yesung snorted. “The notable Gryffindor right now is Leeteuk, and you know it.”

“Shut up.” Heechul barely spared him a glance. “So, you kinda get it? Just people that stand out! So, yesterday, we noticed that some people would pass by Yesung and be all ‘hey, how was your summer?’ or ‘wow, did you do something different with your hair?’.” Heechul tucked his hair behind his ear and batted his eyelashes at Yesung, which went ignored. “And that was pretty much the starting signs of him rising to popularity.”

“I don’t wanna be popular.” Yesung huffed while moving things around on his plate. “I swear, if people start bothering me when I want to be alone, I’m going to lose my mind.”

“You could, but people are weird. They might be more attracted when they see you get angry.” Heechul teased. “Why did you suddenly turn attractive over the summer? It’s really your fault.”

“Hyung, it’ll be fine!” Hyukjae declared, making Yesung look up at him. “I always manage to find you first, so maybe when they see that you’re not alone, then they wouldn’t bother you!”

Heechul put his chin on his palm, sending a challenging look to the Hufflepuff. “And what if you’re the one who was bothering him?”

Yesung shoved the Slytherin for the third time during breakfast when he saw Hyukjae’s grin fade slightly. “Thank you, Hyukjae. I would appreciate that.”

And the smile turned a bit more sure and determined as they all steered the conversation to the classes they would take and some complaints about everyone’s schedules as breakfast slowly came to an end.

Hyukjae kept his promise for the most part. Usually, he would be able to find Yesung quickly and they would just sit and talk about the most random things until it was time for one of them to go to their class. Sometimes, they’d be quiet if one of them was tired and wanted to take a nap or if they both had work to do and needed to focus. Often enough, Donghae and Heechul would also be there and it would feel like they were in the first year they met again.

But Yesung had noticed that his time spent with Hyukjae must have lessened compared to last year, especially as they got further into the year. It was a bit sad to think about, so Yesung always just ignored it and busied himself with other things instead.

Anyway, it’s not like he should even be feeling sad about it. It was always normal for students in different year levels to drift apart at some point, considering the difference in the schedule. The fact that they had completely different electives (because Hyukjae insisted on Divination despite Yesung telling him it wasn’t actually a very helpful subject) and that Hyukjae had Quidditch to deal with didn’t help. Their plans of at least seeing each other through the Quidditch stands couldn’t work out when the Hufflepuff Captain closed off audiences to non-Hufflepuffs.

Their conversation at the train home last school year was almost a blur. Yesung vaguely remembered promising to spend more time with Hyukjae, but the Hufflepuff himself seemed to be the busier one now. And he couldn’t really get mad at it because his experience in his Third Year was surprisingly more difficult compared to his Fourth Year so far.

But Yesung wasn’t alone in between the busy schedules of his classes. Surprisingly, Ryeowook’s schedule was much more aligned with his, and the younger Slytherin always had some new topic to start talking about. But, as opposed to the avoidance he was doing last year, Ryeowook was bringing a certain Ravenclaw with him every time he could. This led to a new friend of Yesung (and, eventually, an addition to their usual group).

“I just think Sung Sikyung should have a card.” Kyuhyun shrugged as he bit into a sandwich he had brought with him. The three of them were sitting around in Yesung’s usual spot on the grounds near the lake, and the topic of the Chocolate Frog Cards came up again.

Ryeowook sighed, and it was obvious to Yesung that these two had this discussion before. It seems like most of their arguments are things they've talked about before but they both seem to enjoy the bickering so Yesung doesn't say anything about it. “Yeah, but Sung Sikyung just graduated two years ago and is only now starting to make songs that make people actually know who he is.”

“But his songs are all so good!” Kyuhyun argued, which was always interesting for Yesung to see considering Kyuhyun actually doesn’t collect the cards nor does he particularly care about them. “Why do the card makers take so long to decide who to put on the cards? What even are the rubrics to being one?! No one knows!”

“Kyu, they have to be established, well-known, and publicly acknowledged figures in history!” Ryeowook’s tone went slightly high, as it always did when he got into verbal arguments.

“And what exactly makes someone an established, well-known, and publicly acknowledged figure in history?! They probably decide amongst themselves, which makes them a very biased group. They probably take bribes. You’re supporting an evil corporation.”

Yesung spied Ryeowook’s hand inching towards a very small stone and, while he knew that Ryeowook wouldn’t actually do anything harmful to his friend, he didn’t want to risk anyone getting hurt. “Kyuhyun-ah, isn’t it time for your next class?”

The Ravenclaw paused at his words, blinked, and then hurriedly started packing up his sandwich and other things. “Shoot, I have to go! Thanks, Yesung hyung. You’re pretty useful, I see why Wookie keeps you around now.”

Yesung laughed, already used to the way Kyuhyun usually teases him. “I really like the way you say thank you. I can really feel the sincerity!”

“Bye Wookie!” Kyuhyun ignored Yesung’s words in favor of sending one bright smile to Ryeowook before running off.

“He’s really so loud.” Ryeowook shook his head after a long while as they both noted the sudden silence when the Ravenclaw left.

Yesung noted the lack of annoyance in his tone. “You’re one to talk. It’s probably why you still hang out with him. You have someone to constantly argue with now, congratulations!”

“Aw, thanks!” Ryeowook replied sarcastically. He started up a new conversation and was telling stories about the things he and Kyuhyun got up to back home during the summer when he looked around at the other students who were also gathered at the outdoor grounds for their break. “Hey, isn’t that Hyukjae hyung?”

Yesung followed Ryeowook’s line of sight and spotted Hyukjae among a group of other Hufflepuffs. As if he could feel eyes on him, Hyukjae looked up and found them. He waved excitedly before gesturing to his friends with a pout. Those friends noticed his actions and sent polite smiles before going back to their own discussion.

“It’s fine,” Yesung mouthed to him with a smile, waving his nonverbal apologies away. With one last exaggerated pout, Hyukjae turned back to his group.

Ryeowook hummed. “I think I haven’t seen Hyukjae hyung around you in a while.”

“It’s been over a week or so, I think? But that’s normal though,” Yesung answered nonchalantly. “It’s fine, we’re still friends.”

“Yeah, but I thought you guys would be hanging out all the time.” The younger one frowned. “Damn, now I feel bad for always avoiding Kyuhyun in our first year.”

“Hyukjae and I are fine though, no need to feel bad. And I feel like Kyuhyun wouldn’t allow you to really avoid him successfully.”

Ryeowook laughed. “Ah, that’s true. He’s so clingy.” His words reminded Yesung of a conversation that happened a while back, but he didn’t voice it out and he didn’t get to think much about it because Ryeowook posed another question. “Don’t you miss hanging out with Hyukjae hyung, though?”

“Sure, I do,” Yesung answered truthfully but shrugged to keep it casual. “But, as I said, it’s normal for friends to hang out with other friends!”

Ryeowook seemed to take it in for a moment before nodding. “Right, you can hang out with me!”

Yesung smiled. “That would be great, Wook-ah. But don’t you have a class in a few minutes, too?”

The younger Slytherin’s eyes widened as he realized the time. “Oh, no!”

“You and Kyuhyun are just so alike.” Yesung shook his head fondly at the two before standing. “Come on, we can walk to the castle together. I need to get to Charms too anyway.” They walked off together and Yesung looked back to see if he could wave goodbye to Hyukjae, but the other was too involved in their talk, so it didn’t seem right to interrupt.

The next empty time slot he had, which was a few days later, Yesung decided to get started on his Potions essay due in a week. Usually, he’d leave his other work on hold until a few days before it's due, but Yesung’s smart enough to know his Potions knowledge and skills are very much lacking and he needs the headstart that he could get.

He had been in the library for a while. Shindong said hello to him when he got there and wished him luck on the essay before leaving to go to Arithmancy class. Yesung also managed to help one of the Hufflepuff friends of Hyukjae and Donghae whom he has a vague recollection of meeting find a book that he needed to study. He was once again trying to gather up the patience to read the entire page for the fourth time because it was just not going into his head when another student sat at the same table as him.

“Hi, Yesung hyung,” Choi Siwon greeted. “Can I sit here?” 

Yesung smiled back, despite being stressed. “Hello, Siwon-ah. Yeah, you can.” The young Gryffindor had also been someone he was growing quite fond of over the past few months.

The smile on Siwon’s face turned to a frown of worry as he set his things on the table. “Hyung, are you alright? You don’t look too well.”

“Just a bit tired,” The Slytherin sat up to lessen the younger one’s worry. “You’re a Third Year now. You probably understand the hardships that academics bring a bit more.”

Siwon laughed softly. “Yeah, absolutely.” The Gryffindor paused before rummaging through his bag and pulling out something. “Here,” he handed it to Yesung.

In his hand was a quill. But at closer inspection, there was a slight translucency in it that was telling that it was a sugar quill. Yesung quickly snatched it away before any sharp-eyed librarian saw it. “Choi Siwon!” He whisper-shouted. “You know you’re not supposed to have any kind of food in the library!”

Siwon grinned mischievously at him, scrunching up his nose. “They won’t know if you don’t tell!”

Yesung narrowed his eyes at him before wordlessly replacing his own quill with the sugar quill he got. “I didn’t think you’d be someone who breaks rules, Choi Siwon. The professors always grant you points for being the perfect student.”

“The fun thing about being a trusted student is that you can get away with a lot of things,” Siwon whispered with a wide smile. “I learned about that from Teukie hyung.”

“Of course, he would teach you that.” Yesung held back his laughter by chewing off a bit from the top of the quill. “You know, the more I get to know him, the more I think he and Heechul have in common. He really should have ended up in Slytherin.”

Siwon nodded in agreement and they fell into a bit of silence as they started their work. After a while, Yesung finally closed the book he was reading.

“Are you feeling better?” Siwon asked him.

Yesung nodded. “Thanks for this,” he shook the remainder of the sugar quill, “I think it really helped.”

“It really does. I was using it a lot last year because you sent me some last year. Remember that?” Siwon smiled. “I didn’t expect it. Thank you again.”

The Slytherin laughed. “You don’t have to thank me for it every time it comes up, Siwon-ah. I only bought you something once from Hogsmeade.”

“Speaking of Hogsmeade!” Siwon latched onto the topic excitedly, as if he’d been waiting for it. “Hogsmeade weekend is coming up soon.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Yesung stretched his arm out on the table and rested his head there for a second, suddenly feeling like taking a nap. “That’s great, I think I need a break from essays.”

“Hyung, do you have any plans?”

“For the Hogsmeade weekend? Hmm, not really? Just go around, I guess. There are more weekends to come anyway.”

“Oh, then—”

“Yesung-ie hyung!” A very familiar voice excitedly greeted him, and it was quickly followed by the infamous shushing of the Hogwarts librarian. Yesung felt a finger poking his cheek, causing his eyes to open.

“Hyukjae-ah,” Yesung smiled at the Hufflepuff, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Hyukjae was grinning widely as he took one of the chairs and dragged it so that it was beside Yesung’s instead of on one side of the table. “I know! I really didn’t expect the third year to be this demanding on me. Plus the Quidditch training.”

“I warned you,” Yesung teased, but patted the younger one’s head fondly. “But you’re doing well, right?”

“Yup! And I’m a bit ahead on some of my work now.” Hyukjae seemed proud to say that and Yesung felt happy for him. “So, I can hang out with you! And I can enjoy Hogsmeade weekend without any worries.”

“Good job, that’s the best scenario for your first Hogsmeade trip.”

“You’re gonna tour me, right?” Hyukjae looked at him with hopeful eyes. “Pleaaase, can we go around Hogsmeade together? I might get lost.”

Yesung nodded without hesitation. “Of course. You didn’t even have to ask”

The genuine smile turned into something more teasing. “Aww, Yesung-ie hyung, did you miss your favorite Hufflepuff?”

Not one to easily get teased anymore because he got used to Kyuhyun and Ryeowook’s usual level of teasing, Yesung only rolled his eyes and answered. “Yeah, of course, I did. Like I said, I haven’t seen you in a while.” Then he turned to Siwon. “This is Siwon, by the way. You two know each other, right?"

“Yup.” Hyukjae smiled at the Gryffindor. “Donghae's Potions partner last year. Hope you're okay from all the things you both spilled in class. I remember Hae had to go to the Hospital Wing sometimes.”

Siwon laughed softly. “Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for the concern.”

“Wait," Yesung frowned, “weren’t you saying something, Siwon-ah?”

The Gryffindor pursed his lips into a tight smile. “Ah, no, hyung. But I actually have to go. I just remembered something. Maybe I’ll see you two around Hogsmeade this weekend?”

“Sure!” Yesung grinned. “I might even buy you more sugar quills.” Siwon nodded enthusiastically at this and waved goodbye cheerfully when he quickly finished packing his things.

The Slytherin turned to the Hufflepuff and scrunched his eyebrow. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you all red? Are you okay?”

Hyukjae blinked blankly twice before shaking his head. “What do you mean? I’m not red.”

“You kinda are, though,” Yesung placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature. “You’re fine, I think. Do you feel like you need to go to the Hospital Wing?”

“Nope, I think I’m just feeling a bit warm.” Hyukjae started to stand. “I probably just need a cool drink or something. Go with me to the kitchens?” Yesung still felt like taking a nap but he shrugged and followed the younger one anyway.

The weekend came in no time. Since they had made vague plans together, the two Fourth Year Slytherins and two Third Year Hufflepuffs were all bundled up in warm clothes to shield them from the winter cold when they met up and took the same carriage to the village. Since it was their first time, Hyukjae and Donghae were both excitedly looking around even when they were already walking down the village path and constantly needed to be guided by Yesung or Heechul unless they wanted to lose their way.

“We have to head to the inn first,” Yesung told them. “If you want to eat a proper meal here, that’s where we should go. And now’s the best time since the others usually get a meal later on and it gets hard to find a table.”

Trusting the Slytherin’s past experience in Hogsmeade, the younger ones followed with no complaints and eagerly ordered whatever they liked on the menu because Heechul suddenly said that he would treat them. “But just this once!” Heechul repeatedly reminded them before turning to Yesung. “And you can buy your own.”

Yesung rolled his eyes at his currently silver-colored hair friend. “Who’s the lousy husband now?” He muttered before ordering a meal of his own.

“How have you both been?!” Donghae asked with a wide smile as they dug into their meals once it was served. “I feel like I didn’t get to see you two as much.”

“Don’t worry about it.” It was Heechul who answered with a wave of his hand. “Third year gets really busy, so I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, next year you’ll have more time. Which feels weird.” Yesung added, a thoughtful look on his face. “But that’s because you’ll both have adjusted to it a bit more.”

“Exactly.” Heechul nodded. “Anyway, some recent news about me: I’m hosting the next Quidditch game!”

“I think you mean we are hosting the next Quidditch game.” Another voice approaching them chimed in. “You can’t take all the credit, Chul-ah.”

“Chul-ah?” Yesung repeated, his lips turning up in a wide grin.

“Shut up,” Heechul grumbled, his platinum blond hair suddenly gaining tints of red. But Yesung will commend his friend for the control because the tints were already starting to disappear. “Why are you always everywhere, Leeteuk?”

The Gryffindor in question arrived at their table and only answered with a smile.

“That’s not true,” Donghae chimed in, sharing a knowing look with Yesung and Hyukjae, “I haven’t seen Teukie hyung in a while.”

“Yeah, even I find it hard to find him, and we’re in the same dorm,” Kangin added from beside Leeteuk. “You two must have just seen each other a lot for the commentator practices, huh?”

“He follows me around, I swear,” Heechul whined, much to everyone’s amusement.

“That’s because you always try to get out of the practices and you know we need to practice for the upcoming match.”

Hyukjae perked up. “Wait, isn’t the next one a Hufflepuff game? Against Ravenclaw, right?”

“Yes,” Leeteuk answered. “I think that’s why they got Heechul and me to commentate on it as our first match since we’re from neither of the houses.”

“I think you’ll do well even if the match was Gryffindor and Slytherin.” Siwon optimistically added. “You’ll both be fair and unbiased.”

“Maybe you don’t know these two well, Siwon.” Yesung jokingly replied. “Or at least you don’t know this one,” he pointed to Heechul beside him, “that much yet. But I won't say Leeteuk's all that innocent.”

“Don’t you have a table to get to?” Heechul snapped at the Gryffindors, who didn’t look all that bothered, already used to his behavior. 

Leeteuk pouted, but it was obvious he was holding back a smile. “Aw, Chul-ah, I thought we were becoming close!” Before Heechul could do something stupid, like throwing his plate at the Gryffindor, Kangin was quick to direct Leeteuk and Siwon the other way and say goodbye to everyone with a laugh.

The table went quiet for a moment before Yesung turned to his friend. “I didn’t know you and Teukie were that close, Chul-ah.” Yesung suddenly found himself on the ground after being shoved roughly by Heechul, but he only laughed and Hyukjae and Donghae were quick to follow, their laughter heard throughout the entire inn. 

The teasing went on for a bit until Yesung spotted traces of red back on his friend’s hair and he gestured for the other two to stop. Hyukjae had to step on Donghae’s foot to actually get him to stop, but luckily Heechul was distracted by a different topic to talk about.

They chatted a bit more and finished their meal just in time for other students to begin crowding the inn to grab something to eat. Donghae immediately asked for them to go to the Honeydukes shop for some candy, and the rest of them could only agree when the Hufflepuff looked close to crying after Heechul jokingly said no.

“I’m not buying you more,” Heechul told Donghae sternly, but Yesung could see his resolve weakening at the sight of Donghae’s infamous wide, pleading eyes. “This is already too much candy. It’s not good for you.”

“You’re bringing the parental instincts out of Heechul again,” Yesung nudged Heechul teasingly, “and I think that’s saying something, Donghae-ah.” He gently took away the extra candy in the Hufflepuff’s hands and set it back on one of the shelves.

“But it’s just a few more—”

“No, Hae—”

“—and I promise I’m gonna eat it moderately!”

“You and I know you’re not gonna be able to keep that promise.”

“I thought I was your favorite Hufflepuff!”

“This is not how you use that! I’m not gonna let you crash from eating too much sugar again!”

Yesung walked away from the two that were arguing, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he came back to find that Heechul had given in to the younger one. He went to grab several packs of candy that he planned to send out to some people, paid for it quickly, and then looked for the other Hufflepuff that went missing after a few minutes of them entering the store.

“Hyung!” A figure appeared in front of him when he turned the corner, making Yesung jump in surprise. Hyukjae laughed at Yesung’s expression for a moment, avoiding the Slytherin’s attempts at hitting him before bringing something out of the bag of candy he must have already paid for. “I bought you something!”

Yesung was presented with a bright red lollipop. It didn’t have any label on it and looked like a very small, simple, spherical red lollipop, but Yesung knew what it was and sent Hyukjae a deadpanned look. “No.”

“You don’t even know what it is!”

“That’s a blood-flavored lollipop.”

“...Maybe.”

Yesung stared back at Hyukjae for a moment, shook his head, and began to walk away.

“Get it? Cause you’re always so pale and I told you before you look like a vampire.” Hyukjae quickly followed after him. “It really is so weird how you’re so pale all the time when you’re usually on the grounds outside.”

“I told you, I always stay in the shade.” Yesung kept ignoring the lollipop still being offered to him. “I am not eating that.”

“But I bought it for you.” The Slytherin meant to continue on walking and scanning the shelves, but the sulky tone paired with the fact that Hyukjae had stopped keeping up with his steps made him stop and look back. The younger one was now pouting like a toddler and looking at the ground, probably not even realizing he was doing it.

Yesung sighed, walked back a few steps, grabbed the lollipop, unwrapped it, and stuck it in his mouth in one quick motion. The Hufflepuff’s face quickly brightened up when he realized what was happening and a giggle almost left him, which Yesung found amusing, but he covered up his mouth and watched Yesung’s reaction to the candy with excitement.

It was surprisingly bearable. The candy is, after all, still a candy sold to people, not just vampires. There is a sweetness to it that reminds Yesung of fruits, but the metallic taste that is usually associated with blood was there. Subtle, but still there, so Yesung didn’t really like it. Luckily, he was good at controlling his expressions so he just nodded as if appreciating the taste before taking the lollipop out by the stick.

“Not bad,” Yesung said. Hyukjae’s jaw dropped at the lack of disgust and it almost made Yesung break character. “There’s something sweet in it. Like strawberries. I think you’d like it. In fact, I think I have an extra one in the Honeydukes Candy Galore pack I got for Ryeowook. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind his favorite hyung getting one.”

Hyukjae’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing what was going to happen. “No,” his tone was a bit high-pitched as he took a step back, “I’m fine, hyung. I don’t need to try it.”

“Aha!” Yesung managed to find the blood-flavored lollipop in the package he bought earlier. He quickly removed the wrapper and held it out for Hyukjae to try, but the Hufflepuff avoided it. “Come on, Hyukjae,” Yesung coaxed him with a smirk, “I just want to share the experience with you.”

“Nope!” And Hyukjae ran away. But Yesung had seen that coming, so he was quick to follow and, in just a few steps, he was also able to grab Hyukjae by the waist, kind of hugging him from the back, then held the lollipop just by his mouth.

“Open up~,” He said in a singsong tone, his strong grip on Hyukjae managing to keep the other from running away. “It’s not that bad! You made me try it!”

Not seeing any other way to escape, Hyukjae whined one last time then hesitantly took the lollipop in his mouth. Yesung kept his arm around the younger’s waist until he saw the wince that was proof he properly tasted the candy. The Slytherin then fell into a fit of laughter as Hyukjae immediately got rid of the lollipop and made all sorts of faces at the taste.

“How did you manage to not throw up?!” Hyukjae cried out, looking close to scrubbing out his tongue with the next soap he came across. “That was so disgusting.”

“Aww, was it?” Yesung cooed as he couldn’t stop his wide grin at seeing the different expressions on the Hufflepuff’s face. He pinched the other’s cheeks for a few seconds then let go with a laugh. “So adorable. Come on! You can get rid of the taste with some other sweets. Maybe Donghae and Heechul are done paying.”

He walked in the direction of the counter where the shop’s till was, then noticed Hyukjae wasn’t following. “What?” Yesung asked, seeing the younger one frozen in place. “You really couldn’t handle the little candy? Your face is all red!” Yesung chuckled as he pulled the other by the wrist. “Come on, Hyukjae-ah. One step at a time.”

After finding the other two, and Yesung confirming that Heechul did give into Donghae’s request for more candy, they decided to explore a bit more. The two Hufflepuffs wanted to go to check out the Quidditch shop, but the older two stood their ground on the stores they each wanted to go to (“But hyung, I don’t need to go to that shop!” “Well, Donghae, I didn’t really need to buy you that candy, did I?”).