The cappuccino he was drinking didn’t taste as good as he remembered it. He’s not exactly sure if it was because it was from a different cafe or if it was because the first time he tried a cappuccino when he went cafe-hopping with his family over the summer, it was an iced drink and the one currently in his hand is hot.

Not exactly sure what to do with the drink now that he decided he didn’t like it, Yesung placed it back in the little takeaway container he received earlier. He tucked it into its spot carefully, making sure to balance the two drinks he was carrying as he waited for the light on the other side of the road to turn green.

Muggles were everywhere around him but, to be fair, Yesung always thought that clothes were the main problem in allowing muggles and those with magic to perfectly blend together. Apart from that, he wouldn’t be really surprised if some of the people around him were headed the same way he was — Kings Cross Station.

He was patiently waiting for the go signal to cross the street (which was so fascinating when he and his parents first learned about it that they kept talking nonstop while just looking at it, but Jongjin just pushed them to keep walking because (‘People are staring! Stop embarrassing me!’) when something on the other side caught his eye.

Or rather, someone. A specific someone in a slightly loose green sweater, looking a bit out of breath and stressed out as he stared up at the traffic lights and waited for it to change as well.

Yesung couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sight of him, but it’s not that much of a big deal if the other was too focused on the traffic light instead of seeing Yesung looking at him. It also meant that he couldn’t see Yesung waving at him and trying to get him to just go to the train, so the Slytherin settled for trying to mentally shout at the other not to cross the road.

But when the light for crossing the street turned green, the younger one started running like crazy. Sighing, Yesung also jogged to cross the road while keeping an eye on his friend. The moment they crossed paths, Yesung was quick to grab the other’s wrist and pull him back in the opposite direction he was running.

“What—”

“Hyukjae-ah. Where do you think you’re going?” Yesung didn’t even let him finish the sentence. “The train’s leaving any minute now.”

“Wait, what—?”

But Yesung only grinned and kept a tight grip on Hyukjae’s wrist as they ran past the crowds of people in the train station and through the deceptive brick wall of Platform 9 & ¾. They made it just in time to hear the final call for students and got onboard at the exact moment the train started moving.

“If we ran even just a second later, we might not have gotten on the train.” Yesung laughed when he managed to catch his breath. “Why were you going in the opposite direction?”

Hyukjae, who was leaning on the wall, also exhausted from all the running he did, shot him a look. “Because I promised I’d meet you at the cafe!”

“Where are your things?” Yesung asked, realizing the Hufflepuff was empty-handed. “Oh no, did you leave all your things on the platform?”

“I’m not an idiot, hyung.” Hyukjae rolled his eyes. “I actually got here earlier to put my things in the compartment with Donghae, but I didn’t realize it took me a lot of time to look for the compartment so I was running out of time to find you at the coffee shop.”

“It’s not surprising, though. You always manage to be late on the first day.”

“Almost late.” Hyukjae quickly corrected. “I always manage to get here on time, don't I?”

Yesung smirked. “Yeah, but you would have been left behind if I didn’t drag you here just now.”

Hyukjae looked up at him with a glare before huffing and turning around, his mumbles of ‘Why does he have to be so tall?’ and ‘Slytherins are so annoying’ making Yesung laugh as he chased after the younger one in the aisle.

“Where have the two of you been?” Heechul greeted them once they found the compartment with their two friends. “Actually, this mess of a Hufflepuff is constantly late, so I’m not surprised, but what about you, Yesung-ah? I just found this compartment with your things in it.”

“Then I had to drag Hyukjae’s things from another one.” Donghae frowned. “Are you fighting? Are we not supposed to sit together this year?”

Heechul glared at the two still standing before dramatically wrapping his arms around his favorite Hufflepuff. “No, Hae, sweetheart, they’ll have to drag my dead body away before I get separated from you.”

“Such a drama queen.” Hyukjae rolled his eyes playfully. “No, we just had somewhere to meet up at earlier, but I ran a bit late.”

“A bit,” Yesung repeated with a snort, exclaiming in pain when Hyukjae elbowed his side before the younger one took a seat. “Anyway, get up, Heechul-ah.”

“What, why?” 

“Prefect meeting.”

“Nooooo.”

“Wait,” Donghae looked back and forth at the two from his place near the window. “You two became prefects?”

“I’m not, but he is,” Yesung answered. “I’ve just been tasked with making sure this one attends at least the first meeting. Someone specifically requested my assistance.”

“Wait, what? Who?” Heechul poked him at the side, but Yesung ignored the question.

“I would’ve understood Yesung hyung as the prefect. But, you?” Hyukjae had an extremely confused expression on his face as he turned to Heechul.

“I know, right?” Heechul shook his head as he stood up and stretched. “What were they thinking?!”

“Seriously,” Yesung shook his head in resigned agreement.

Donghae hesitantly smiled at them. “I bet you’ll do great.”

“Of course, I will,” Heechul grinned, “I have some plans for this year.”

“I’m terrified already.” Yesung sighed and was about to leave but he turned to Hyukjae. “Oh, right, I almost forgot. Here.”

Hyukjae took the offered drink with furrowed brows. “Wait, is this—”

“The iced chocolate drink you talked about. I ordered it for you when I realized you’d be late.” Yesung tilted his head as he considered the other drink again. “I kinda regret the cappuccino I ordered, so you can both have it if you want. I’ll be back soon!”

He waved to the two Hufflepuffs before leaving the compartment with his friend. For a moment, he thought he was safe from any interrogations that he had been preparing himself for, but it seemed that keeping his head down wasn’t enough to hide the grin that took over his face when he saw Hyukjae turn slightly red from accepting the drink.

And it certainly wasn’t enough to hide from a Kim Heechul, whose hair was blonde with highlights of green that perfectly matched the amusement, determination, and mischief that was showing on his face.

“How come I didn’t get an iced chocolate drink?” Heechul asked in a knowing tone. “I see you’re playing favorites.”

“You don’t even like chocolate. Or anything sweet.” Yesung answered with a shrug. 

Heechul narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, but you didn’t get Hae anything too.”

“I don’t know what Donghae would like from the cafe. I’m not really in a position to recommend anything either, since it was my first time there. I only got a drink for Hyukjae because we’ve talked about it through the letters.”

“Ah, yes, of course.” His friend hummed. “Are you sure it’s not because you like him?”

Yesung stopped in his tracks and turned to Heechul with a blank face. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Heechul stepped closer to Yesung and almost whispered, making it seem like what he was saying was so scandalous. “You like Hyukjae, don’t you?”

A beat of silence followed the question. Then an innocent smile spread on Yesung’s face. “Of course, I do, Heechul-ah! Didn’t I make it obvious that Hyukjae has been a good friend of mine in the past years? I even answered this question of yours last year.” He replied with an overly bright tone and turned to continue walking down the corridor, but not before sending Heechul a very Slytherin smirk.

“Ugh, Kim Yesung!” Heechul groaned in frustration, and Yesung could hear the other dragging his feet as he followed. “You could just answer my question properly. I know you know what I mean.”

“That’s nice. But we’re here already, and I have to leave you to your fun prefect duties.” Yesung stopped at a compartment and gestured to his friend to open it.

Heechul mockingly repeated Yesung’s words as he opened the door and stopped mid-sentence when he noticed who was inside.

“Oh, you got here early enough. They say the meeting’s about to start in a few minutes.” A very familiar Gryffindor greeted him with a smile. “I heard you’re a prefect too, so I saved you a seat.”

“Leeteuk?” Heechul asked as if he didn’t know full well who exactly was standing in front of him. “You’re the Gryffindor prefect of your year?”

“Yes. Didn’t Yesung tell you? I told him when we talked earlier.”

Heechul didn’t reply and just turned slowly to see Yesung had already taken several steps backward at the sight of angry red creeping through Heechul’s earlier white and green hair. “Kim Yesung. I’m going to murder you.”

“I wasn’t the one who made you a prefect.”

“But you’re the one who brought me here, so you are absolutely dead.”

“Aww, come on,” Leeteuk, the brave person that he is, swung an arm around Heechul’s shoulder and frowned jokingly. “That’s not nice to say to a friend.”

“I’m gonna kill him. And then I’m gonna kill you too.”

The calm tone of his voice didn’t terrify the other Slytherin at all. He’s immune to his friend’s threats. They’re not exactly empty threats, Yesung just doesn’t feel threatened by them anymore. “Okay, you can finish your meeting and plan our deaths after, hmm? See you later!” And he left, laughing again as he heard Leeteuk’s teasing and Heechul’s cursing.

Surprisingly, the meeting wasn’t as short as Yesung expected it to be. He didn’t see Heechul until later on. The entire train ride was spent talking with Donghae and Hyukjae about things they got up to in the summer and, when Donghae left for a bit to greet some other friends in other compartments, he chatted more with Hyukjae about plans for the year. 

Anyone who saw them would’ve thought that they didn’t manage to keep in touch in the summer. But they were consistent in their weekly replies and managed to update each other on the plans that they had through the letters that they sent endlessly back and forth. It’s just that they never really ran out of topics to talk about nor did they feel tired of going back to past conversations they just had to talk about again. The silence was also comfortable whenever there were moments in between their chats as they closed off on one discussion and rested before starting another.

Before they knew it, they arrived at the school.

Yesung was listening to Hyukjae talk about how helpful the book Yesung sent him about Quidditch techniques was and how excited he was to try some of the things he’d read. They were walking up to the Great Hall for the welcoming feast and Yesung was about to recommend other books he saw in the library when someone interrupted their conversation.

“Yesung oppa!” A voice called out from behind them. Both Yesung and Hyukjae turned to see Nayoung running to catch up to them. “Hi! I was hoping to see you on the train, but I didn’t find you in the nearby compartments.”

Yesung ignored Hyukjae’s pointed looks at him and politely greeted Nayoung back. “Hi, Nayoung-ah. Did you have a good summer?”

She smiled at his question. “I did! My mom and I took painting classes. Muggle ones, of course.”

“Oh, that sounds fun! My brother went through this art phase a while back and he would leave paintings he made around at home, so all of the non-moving paintings around the house are from him.”

“Then your house must be very colorful,” Nayoung commented before holding out the package she held in her hand. It was a small one, wrapped in a pretty white and yellow patterned cloth. “I wanted to give you this. It’s a gift!”

Yesung carefully accepted with both hands. “A gift? What is it?”

“Mom likes cooking and baking. When I told her that you helped me choose the gifts for her last time, she said she wanted to give you something.” She sighed fondly. “So, we made you cookies.”

“Oh!” Yesung held the package more securely in case he dropped it. “You didn’t have to!”

Nayoung laughed. “I know. But please! Just take it. And let me know what you think! I’m sure my mom would like to hear some feedback.”

“I will enjoy this so much. Thank you!” 

The Hufflepuff looked around and noted that most of the other students had already entered the Great Hall. “We should probably go inside now, we might miss the speech. I’ll see you around, oppa!”

“Thanks again for the cookies, Nayoung-ah.”

She waved before turning to the other student who had been silent and watching them the entire time. “Hyukjae! I’ll see you at our table?”

“Of course!” Yesung saw the amused smile Hyukjae directed at his friend before she ran off to the Great Hall. The moment she was out of sight, Hyukjae turned to him immediately. “Well, well, you two have gotten closer. It’s like I wasn’t even here.”

“I have literally barely talked to her since that time in Hogsmeade.” Yesung nonchalantly answered as he tried peeking through the wrapped gift without really opening it. “But she’s so nice, isn’t she? You must be the exception.”

Hyukjae raised an eyebrow. “Exception?”

“Mhmm,” Yesung turned his attention from the package to Hyukjae and smiled. “Because if Donghae and Nayoung are both such nice people, you must be the only annoying Hufflepuff out there.”

Hyukjae let out some offended noises as Yesung laughed and started to walk away first. The younger one easily caught up and gave him a light slap to the arm. “I’ll have you know, I am a great Hufflepuff, okay?”

“Sure, sure.”

“What is with this tone of yours?!”

“Nothing! I believe you!”

“It doesn’t sound like it!”

“I believe you!”

“Saying it again doesn’t make it sound more true!”

“Yesung hyung!” Another voice interrupted them again, causing them to pause and turn to see Siwon walking in their direction. “Did you have a good summer?” The Gryffindor asked when he was close enough.

“I did…” Yesung paused when he answered, staring at the Gryffindor who he was sure was shorter than him the last time they saw each other. “You got so tall.”

Siwon waved his comment off. “Not that much. I’m just around the same height as Kangin hyung.”

“Which means you’re around the same height as me.” Yesung shook his head. “Stop that. You’re not allowed to do that. You can’t grow anymore.”

Siwon laughed. "Alright, hyung. I'll try, but I can't promise anything." Then he turned to see Hyukjae. "Hi, Hyukjae. Good summer?"

"Great," Hyukjae answered with what Yesung thought was an exaggerated smile. "Absolutely fantastic."

"That's good! Anyway, hyung," Siwon looked at Yesung again, "I traveled a bit during the summer and have something to give you."

"Like a souvenir?" Yesung raised an eyebrow. "You didn't have to!"

"No, I saw it and I knew I had to get it for you! I'll find you tomorrow since it's with my other things right now."

"Okay, fine," Yesung sighed but still smiled at the younger Gryffindor. "It better be good."

"Of course!" Siwon nodded surely. "I'll head inside now. You two should as well!"

Hyukjae grabbed Yesung's arm before the Slytherin could walk towards the Great Hall and grinned at Siwon. "We'll follow you."

With another wave of his hand, Siwon left the two of them in a relatively empty hallway. 

Yesung turned to face Hyukjae, expecting him to have something to say since they had been left behind by most students now. But the Hufflepuff was looking back at him with calculating, narrowed eyes. 

"What?"

"Hmm."

"What??"

"So, this is it, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"This is what Heechul hyung meant last year when he said you were going to be popular."

Yesung rolled his eyes when the words processed in his head. But the teasing tone of the other's voice threatened to make him smile. "Not this again."

"You had two conversations with different people who wanted to give you gifts and we haven't even gotten to the welcoming feast yet."

"They're friends!"

"You just said you barely talked to Nayoung! You consider that a friend?"

Yesung shrugged helplessly. "I guess! Maybe acquaintances?! It's not that big of a deal!"

"Okay, sure," Hyukjae replied in the same unconvinced tone Yesung used earlier. "Both conversations happened like I wasn't even there right beside you!"

"Oh, please, they both talked to you too!"

"Would you have even noticed if I left in the middle of the conversation?"

"Of course!" Yesung paused before he continued. They've been using a slightly joking tone the entire time, but he can't help but think that he might have made Hyukjae feel a bit left out. He took a deep breath to calm down a bit. "I'm not an idiot, Hyukjae-ah. Of course, I would have noticed. I was talking to you first."

"Hmm, sure." The small grin the Hufflepuff was trying to hide did nothing to help the unimpressed tone he was going for. 

Yesung, now sure he made the younger one feel a bit better, swung an arm around the other's shoulder. "Why, Hyukjae-ah? Were you jealous?"

Hyukjae immediately tried getting away from him with those words, but Yesung already had a tight grip on him. "JEALOUS? OF WHAT? LET GO OF ME!"

"Aww, Hyukjae…" Yesung grinned as the other kept moving around to no avail. "You're still my favorite! That's not going to change! You're my absolute favorite!"

"Stop that!" Hyukjae squirmed as Yesung brought one finger to poke at the space above his mouth — a habit of Yesung that he uses to annoy his close friends, especially Hyukjae. "Get away from me!"

"Ahem." They both froze in the middle of the hallway and turned to see one of the professors watching them with a glare. "I don't suppose the two of you are too busy to attend the welcoming feast?"

"Sorry, professor."

"We'll go there right now!"

And both of them ran to the Great Hall without another word — each of them sprinting off to find a seat at their respective houses, but not without sharing one more look with the other, both trying not to burst into laughter.

"You like him." Heechul decided when Yesung sat beside him and the prefect noticed the looks between the two.

"Believe what you want," Yesung replied with an innocent shrug.

"And I will believe the truth." Heechul smiled, then took a sip from the cup he had in front of him while keeping his knowing eyes on his friend the whole time. “The truth being that you like him.”

The reason why Heechul didn't return quickly from the prefect's meeting at the train started to spread quickly at the school within the first week in the form of a rumor.

Of course, Yesung already knew it wasn't a rumor because the metamorphmagus told him about his plans since the first night back. He didn't think much of it until the younger ones asked about it when they managed to have free time that left everyone free to gather at their usual spot by the tree outdoors.

"What's the deal with the party rumors? Do you think that it would happen?" Ryeowook asked as he gently flipped through his collection of Chocolate Frog Cards.

"Of course it would." Heechul suddenly dropped down from the branch he was sitting on and laughed when Hyukjae screamed in shock. "You should've seen the look on your face."

"How do you know?" Donghae asked.

"He's the lunatic that proposed it," Yesung answered from where he was quietly lying down on the grass. He removed the book he was covering his face with and sat up. "It was still an idea waiting for approval but he decided to spread rumors about it because now everyone's excited about the idea."

"Ah, public pressure," Kyuhyun noted from beside Ryeowook. He nodded to Heechul in acknowledgment.

"Exactly. You get it." Heechul moved closer to ruffle the Ravenclaw's hair. "This is why you're my favorite Ravenclaw."

"Mhmm," Kyuhyun swatted the older one's hand away, "I still don't care."

Heechul narrowed his eyes. "I will make you love me."

"No, thanks." Kyuhyun shut his eyes and leaned on Ryeowook's shoulder. "Ryeonggu, your friends are so weird."

"Ryeowook's friends?" Donghae pouted. "Is that all we are? I thought we were friends too, Kyuhyun-ah."

"Oh, we are!" Kyuhyun was quick to correct. "You're the exception. Maybe Yesung hyung a bit. He's okay."

Yesung grinned at the incredulous look Heechul sent him. "I didn't even have to do anything."

Hyukjae sighed dramatically as he moved to sit by Yesung. "Of course, you love Yesung hyung. Everyone does!"

Yesung groaned. "Not this again."

"He's so popular already!" Hyukjae fake-sobbed into his left hand while keeping his right hand on Yesung's shoulder. "He got some gifts from people he's not even close within the first week of school! Remember us when you leave us for fame."

Heechul sniffed, playing along with Hyukjae because teasing Yesung about his popularity seemed to be one thing they had perfect harmony on. "Fame can change you, Yesung-ah. Never, ever change."

Kyuhyun chuckled, watching them from his comfortable position that Ryeowook was still allowing him to stay in. "Idiots, the both of you. You should be keeping him as a friend! Popular people can get you places, you know."

Ryeowook lightly slapped the Ravenclaw's head. "Don't encourage them."

"Stop teasing Yesung hyung!" Donghae laughed. He turned to point at his friend. "Is this really how you’re going to act, Hyukjae? Last year you were always talking about how great Yesung hyung is and now it's all teasing him and—"

The Hufflepuff was cut short by the other Hufflepuff tackling him to shut him up. The two ended up wrestling each other for a bit, much to the amusement of everyone else.

"Can we just please talk about something else?" Yesung asked, raising his voice a bit so he could be heard over the fighting of the two Hufflepuffs. "Weren't we just talking about the party?"

"Oh, right!" Ryeowook finally looked up from his collection and carefully set it aside. "So, how would it go? Do you have any plans for it already?"

Kyuhyun moved his head away from Ryeowook's shoulder to look at him properly. "You seem excited about this."

"Sure," Ryeowook answered with a shrug. "I've barely been to wizarding ones because my parents love embracing the muggle side of the world. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just want to experience it again. I think I thought it was fun. You'd probably enjoy it."

Yesung could see the typical determination that Kyuhyun has in his eyes whenever Ryeowook even implies he wants something. "So, Heechul hyung, what would the party be like? Is there anything I could do to help?" The Ravenclaw asked.

Heechul exchanged a knowing look with Yesung — they've both noticed Kyuhyun's attachment to Ryeowook and talked about it once in a while — before answering. "It's going to be a bit like the parties our parents hold, which is a traditional wizarding party. Just less formal and more open."

"So, everyone dresses up, we listen to some music, dance around, talk to people, eat some food." Heechul listed off some things. "The main thing is that we're just letting people experience what those wizard parties are like, but as far as I know, there's not a big difference to some muggle ones. It’s all about socializing and getting rid of academic stress in the end."

"I find it hard to believe you plan this to be a normal party," Hyukjae asked, suspicion obvious in his tone.

Heechul sighed. "I don't actually have a choice. I'm doing this out of spite." Yesung laughed when his friend pouted and shook his head, the Slytherin's originally dark hair starting to show hints of orange because of embarrassment. "I once mentioned to my mom about how she took so long to plan one of the parties and she smiled at me? Patted my head? And said I could never??"

"Ah," Donghae nodded sagely. "Everyone knows that you never tell Kim Heechul he could never do something."

"You never tell Kim Heechul he could never do something!" Heechul repeated and, with a sigh, he willed his hair to turn back to his originally dark brown shoulder-length hair. "So, I'm proving a point."

Yesung subtly leaned toward Hyukjae, who was looking bored of the topic. "You know, Heechul's mother is really smart and probably knew that Heechul would take it this way, so she definitely said that to teach him a bit of responsibility." He whispered in the younger's ears, careful not to get caught by the Slytherin who was talking about the plans he already had in mind.

He didn't get any response for a second, so he thought he must have whispered too softly for the other to hear. But when Hyukjae laughed awkwardly after a beat, Yesung turned to look at him in concern. 

“Are you okay?” He saw the slight redness on Hyukjae's face and quickly placed a hand on the other's forehead to check his temperature. “Well, you don't have a fever.”

Hyukjae quickly and gently pushed his hand away. “I'm fine. We've just been out here for a while, it got a bit warm.”

Yesung frowned and looked at the sky. “The sky is so cloudy though, there's barely any sun.”

“Yeah, but still!” Hyukjae failed to come up with a proper response. “I'm just gonna drink a bit of water and I'm gonna be fine.”

Yesung watched Hyukjae go through his things to find something to drink and noticed some things. Like how his hands kind of shook a little out of nervousness. Or how his ears were also red. Or how his eyes darted everywhere but at Yesung.

The Slytherin didn’t say anything but laughed softly before reaching out to quickly poke at the other's philtrum — causing Hyukjae to jump in surprise. He turned back to the conversation that everyone else was still having, ignoring that Hyukjae had hit his arm in retaliation.

“— have a bit of music, people can go dancing in the middle, there’s probably gonna be a bunch of couples having fun or dates being awkward—” Heechul was explaining when Kyuhyun, who had been listening carefully, gasped loudly.

“Dates? Wait, is this a thing where people bring dates? Like asking other people to go with them?”

“I mean,” Heechul huffed, “it’s not required. But it’s possible. Think of it like a school dance! Muggles have that too, that’s what a bunch of the other prefects said when we had the meeting. You can go as couples or as friends or go alone, it’s really up to you! We’re trying to let people have a lot of freedom here. But I’d say go have fun while you’re young and ask someone you’re interested in!”

“While you’re young?” Yesung repeated with a raised eyebrow. “We are still young, Heechul-ah. Are you beginning to feel old?”

“We are married with,” Heechul paused to count, “four kids!”

Yesung shook his head at his friend. “I want a divorce.”

“A school dance…” Kyuhyun muttered. Everyone saw how his head slowly turned to Ryeowook.

Even Ryeowook noticed it, but he just smirked and leaned back at the tree trunk casually. “Well, that would be fun! I bet a lot of people would want to ask me to the dance if it does happen.”

“Of course, it’s going to happen!” Heechul immediately replied and, because he was always good at catching onto things, leaned to pinch the cheeks of the youngest Slytherin in the group. “And, of course, a lot of people are going to ask you! You’re so precious and my favorite Slytherin — people are going to fight over you!”

Ryeowook sighed, evidently not oblivious to the widening of Kyuhyun’s eyes. “I guess I’m just gonna have to choose whoever asks me out in the best way!” He made a show of looking back at the castle. “Oh! Would you look at that? Other students are heading back. It must be time for our class soon, Kyu.”

The older one of the group watched as Ryeowook simply picked up his bag and started walking back. Kyuhyun was a little less graceful and was rushing to repack the books he had taken out earlier to study. When he finally stuffed all of it into his bag, he took a moment to breathe and noticed the others watching him. “What?!” He asked defensively.

“Good luck,” Heechul, Donghae, Hyukjae, and Yesung replied in unplanned unison with matching amused grins. 

Kyuhyun glared at each of them before running to catch up with Ryeowook.

“We should probably go too.” Hyukjae tapped Donghae’s shoulder as they both started to get up. The Slytherins groaned but ended up moving to go to their class as well.

“I don’t know what Kyuhyun looks so worried about. Ryeowook may be getting a bit more known because he’s one of the top students, but everyone knows he’s always with Kyuhyun.” Donghae commented as they walked back to the castle together.

Heechul laughed. “If anyone should be worried, it’s whoever wants to take my Yesung-ie to the dance! He’s already so popular!” Heechul fake sobbed and avoided the punch that Yesung was aiming at his shoulder. “He’s cheating on me, I just know it.”

“Yeah, sure.” Yesung sighed, giving up fighting because Heechul wouldn’t stop if he kept reacting. He noticed one of the people who usually wasn’t joining in and nudged Hyukjae with an elbow. “What about you? Do you plan on going with anyone for the party?”

“Hmm?” Hyukjae replied, as if distracted. “Oh, uhh, isn’t it a bit early to think about this yet? It might not even push through.”

Heechul stopped walking and, since he was in front of all of them, they all had to stop. He turned to the Hufflepuff with an offended hand on his chest. “I will not have you spreading this negativity around me. The party will push through purely because it is my idea and I will make it happen. Got that?”

Hyukjae had no choice but to nod until the other was satisfied and started walking again. Yesung stifled his laughter as the younger one glared at his dormmate. Hyukjae ended up shooting a glare at him too, but started to laugh when their eyes met. 

“I was just saying,” Hyukjae muttered quietly to Yesung, “we don’t know if it’s even going to be approved!”

“I think it will.” Yesung shrugged. “We’ll find out soon.”

And they did find out a couple of weeks later. Heechul pulled a few more tricks, like spreading more rumors about possible artists who could be invited to perform at the dance. A bit over a month later, it was announced during dinner that there would be a party held before the holidays so that people wouldn’t have to choose between staying to join or going home for the break. 

There was still a lot of time left, but many people started doing proposals to invite someone to go to prom with them. At the latest Quidditch game, after Ravenclaw won against Gryffindor, the Ravenclaw team suddenly got into a position that put the team captain in the middle as he asked his girlfriend out to the party in a very ostentatious way. At least, Yesung found it to be a bit over-the-top, but a lot of people seemed to be in awe at the small fireworks and confetti that blasted in the air when she said yes.

The Quidditch proposal seemed to have triggered a bunch of other people to make grand gestures. If they aren’t making the grand gestures, some would comment loudly on how sweet it would be if someone asked them out similarly. Some of the students saw an opportunity and set up a business about it — a couple of galleons in exchange for help at asking who they wanted to ask to the dance out. And so, the Walala Crew took over the school.

(It is explicitly stated that Walala Crew events do not guarantee success, but Yesung has to give credit to Shindong for starting up the whole thing. When he asked him how it was doing during their Potions class, Shindong said he and his team were making a lot of money out of it from several satisfied customers.)

Out of their group, Ryeowook seemed to be the usual target for these things. Not very surprising since he has always been very sociable and is quite well-known in the school. Yesung thought he wouldn’t mind, but the younger Slytherin looked irritated every time it happened. 

“Do I look like I should be asked out to be someone’s date to a dance by a choir of five who can barely hold a note?” Ryeowook grumbled as Yesung shooed away another attempt by someone to ask Ryeowook out. “Can’t they at least ask me in person instead of sending a group of strangers through the dance proposal planner thing?”

“What, so you can reject them to their face?” Yesung teased, only to get a glare back.

If he had to guess why Ryeowook was so easy to anger nowadays, he would say it’s because of who the second most popular recipient of the Walala Crew events in their group was — Kyuhyun.

That one came as a bit of a surprise. They often saw Kyuhyun just following Ryeowook around and they don’t realize he's built up a pretty good reputation of his own. One day, a Walala Crew member walked up to them to pass a note that someone wanted to give Kyuhyun and tried to serenade him while they were all taking a quiet break outside.

Ryeowook immediately shouted at them to leave, saying that he had a headache from all the things he had to read for an essay and that they were making it worse with their low-grade singing. To be honest, Yesung never thought the singing was as bad as Ryeowook was making it out to be, but it didn’t seem like the best plan to disagree with the younger Slytherin when he was in such a mood.

It didn’t help that Kyuhyun just agreed with whatever Ryeowook said and would secretly smile to himself (though everyone else had noticed), seemingly smug about the fact that Ryeowook was personally blocking any proposal events for him.

Yesung would have thought that Heechul would be the third most popular recipient of will-you-go-to-the-dance-with-me questions in their group if the other Slytherin wasn’t a constant whirlwind of busy work as he set up the whole event. It felt like you were just a bother if you interrupted him and he also looked quite insane whenever he talked about the dance. He was very casual about it at first but must have realized how big the event was going to be at some point and started panicking.

Luckily, Yesung didn’t have to step in and calm him down because an angel by the name of Leeteuk started bothering Heechul to share more of the workload under the guise of helping out a fellow prefect. Yesung was sure everyone could see how stressed Heechul was becoming but just didn’t know how to help out so he was just very thankful Leeteuk convinced him to relax a bit. They’ve also fallen back to their habit of bickering with each other, which Yesung now just identifies as a stress relief method for the both of them.

The flirting that started last year between those two also came back once in a while, although Heechul would endlessly say that he was just getting revenge for all the times Leeteuk had annoyed him. It was always a treat to see it happening because it ended with both of them being flustered and just trying to go back to work. However, Yesung developed some theories by himself when he noticed that Heechul seemed to turn up the flirting when someone else looked like they were about to ask Leeteuk to the dance.

Since it wouldn’t be Heechul, he thought Donghae would have been the third to get asked to the dance the most. Being part of the Quidditch team and being overall a really sweet person who had the potential to fight for the most good-looking title in their school meant that Donghae was very noticeable and popular. Surely, many students would like him as their date for the dance.

But the Hufflepuff quickly made it known he didn’t want to go with anyone because he would like to just hang around with friends and talk with anyone without worrying about entertaining a date.

(But this did mean that Donghae had promised to save a dance for so many people already that Yesung thought there wouldn’t be enough songs for him to fulfill all the promises. This has resulted in Heechul taking time to teach his favorite Hufflepuff to reject these save-me-a-dance proposals. Even though it has proven to be difficult for him to learn that lesson so far.)

The third most popular recipient of Walala Crew proposals turned out to be Yesung.

He definitely wasn’t happy about the sudden attention paired with Heechul and Hyukjae's teasing comments when a new proposal comes when they’re around. He has received serenades, notes, letters, chocolates, gifts, and all sorts of things that he ends up sharing with his friends because he doesn’t know what to do about it. He tried to do what Donghae did and tell them he wouldn’t go to the dance with a date, but no one seemed convinced of it and the word didn’t spread.

It took around a week and a half of this before he approached Shindong personally and asked (begged) him to field off any proposals directed to him. He was thankful that Shindong just laughed and joked about ‘the problems of being handsome’ before ensuring that he would stop accepting requests dedicated to Yesung.

For a while, it seemed like that was enough to solve the problem. But a couple of days later, some people gathered enough courage to personally go up to him and ask him out in public. This put him in a worse mood since now he had to deal with rejecting people he didn’t even know all that well right to their face, usually in a public setting. Most of them seem to only have the strength to ask him out when they have a group of friends nearby to support them, but it really just makes Yesung less likely to say yes.

“Why don’t you just try and go with one of them to the dance?” Heechul suggested after Yesung had grumbled about the whole thing again. “Just say yes to one of them.”

Hyukjae answered before Yesung could say anything. “So he could spend the dance you planned awkwardly standing around with someone he doesn’t really know? Do you want Yesung hyung to leave early?”

“Hmm, no.” Heechul ran his fingers through his currently short-cut black hair, which he chose to style that way because it required the least amount of maintenance and he was a very busy person these days, before looking back up at Yesung with a glint in his eye. “I have an idea.”

“I hate it already.” Yesung groaned immediately but waved his hand, gesturing to the other to continue.

“You should just ask someone.” Heechul grinned. “It’s the perfect solution! Tells people that you were rejecting them because there was someone you wanted to go with. Plus it keeps other people from asking you!”

Yesung whined childishly. “Maybe I don’t want to go with a date.”

“Yeah, but people don’t know that. You’re not very loud about it like Donghae was, nor do people know you well enough to deduce that. Do you want people to stop asking you or not?” Heechul and Hyukjae watched him, waiting for an answer. They were currently in one of the many corridors in the castle with benches you can rest at lined at the sides and a view through the windows that showed the late afternoon sky. Some classes were still ongoing, but the three were done with their schedules and had decided to take a rest in an empty corridor that wasn’t easy to find.

With a sigh, Yesung rested his head against the glass of the window. “I guess it’s not a bad idea.”

“Of course, it isn’t. I came up with it.” Heechul shrugged.

Hyukjae blinked. “Wait, so you’re doing it? You’re asking someone to the dance?”

Yesung shrugged. “Probably. The constant proposals from people I don’t even know are getting annoying.”

“Who are you asking?”

Yesung looked from Hyukjae, who asked the question and had all his attention on him, to Heechul who was sitting on the floor and wildly pointing at Hyukjae, the Hufflepuff unable to see what was happening behind him. “Not sure yet.”

Heechul soundlessly threw up his hands, as if giving up, before clearing his throat. “Well, I wouldn’t go with you as my date.”

“Oh, finally.” Yesung breathed out a sigh of relief. “Are we officially getting divorced?”

Heechul rolled his eyes. “No, it’s just a moment of separation, hmm? I’ll get sick of you if I see you every day, including special occasions. It’s for the best.”

“Do you even have a date?” Hyukjae suddenly asked, directing the question to Heechul. “You’ve been busy doing all the preparations. I don’t think I heard anything about you having a date.”

“I’ll get to it when I get to it,” Heechul said. “It’s not going to be hard for me, The Kim Heechul, to get a date if I want one. But, unlike Yesung, I appreciate the proposals that do reach me. Of course, a lot of people wanted to take me, but I’m just too good for anyone!”

“I worry about your brain sometimes,” Yesung shook his head and then quickly evaded Heechul’s attempt at hitting him. “What about you, Hyukjae?”

“I worry about his brain too.” Hyukjae was not so lucky to avoid Heechul’s sharp pinch to his side.

Yesung laughed. “I meant are you taking someone to the dance as a date?”

“Oh,” Hyukjae paused. “Maybe?”

Heechul’s eyes narrowed. “That means you’re at least considering someone. Who is it? I need a name.”

Hyukjae pursed his lips before shaking his head. “Not sure yet,” he repeated in the same tone as Yesung earlier. Yesung caught Heechul raising an eyebrow at him but chose not to comment on it.

“Well, I’m sure whether you bring a date or not, we could still hang out at the event.”

“You both should settle who your dates are going to be,” Heechul advised. “It’s still a couple of weeks away, but time flies fast when you attend classes in between. Not to mention you need to sort out what you’ll wear.”

Hyukjae gasped. “Right! Where can I buy clothes? Or rent? Are formal-looking clothes expensive in the Wizarding World? I never really bothered to check.”

“Don’t wear the typical formal wizarding robes, I’m begging you.” Heechul sat up and grabbed Hyukjae by the shoulders, forcing the younger one to meet his eyes. “We’re opening the event to allow muggle formal wear at my request because the robes are absolutely terrible.”

“It can’t be that bad?” Hyukjae asked, turning to Yesung for confirmation.

The Slytherin winced. “I wouldn’t recommend the formal robes too. There are some good ones with nice patterns and fabric that can be comfortable, but they really are outdated and just tend to make everyone look like they’re a hundred years old. The girls’ dresses seem to be improving but the usual suits for guys?”

“I wore one when I was 8 because my mother forced me to.” Heechul buried his face in his hands. “I had to burn the photo we took. I can’t have that image of me existing anywhere.”

“Alright,” Hyukjae nodded, still a bit unsure. “I guess I’ll just look for muggle options.”

Yesung nodded solemnly. “It’s such a shame though. Maybe someone can think of ways to make the robes look better. A bit more modern or something.”

“But for now: muggle suits are better. No competition.” Heechul concluded. “Since you’re muggleborn, you might have a better sense of what would look good. All the better for you to make your date feel lucky that they have you as a date!”

Hyukjae rolled his eyes at Heechul’s wink. “That’s if I do end up with a date.” He amended, somehow returning to the topic they had earlier.

“It wouldn’t be a problem for you though,” Yesung said. “A bunch of people have asked you to the dance.”

While Hyukjae only suffered two very subtle Walala Crew-arranged proposals, several students have personally walked up to him and asked him to the dance. Yesung thought it was very fitting for Hyukjae, who was always so genuine and kind to the people that he met and befriended. The personalized proposals that were done with so much thoughtfulness tend to come from people that Hyukjae actually knew.

It was quite different from most of the anonymous proposals that Yesung got because he had barely interacted with the people paying Shindong’s team to serenade him in public. Hyukjae’s admirers tend to also ask for a bit of his time and request to speak in private. In a way, Yesung is a bit envious to see such considerate proposals, but he’s happy that Hyukjae seems to be well-liked. Even if Hyukjae has rejected every single one of the proposals.
 
“Didn’t we mention earlier that just saying yes to anyone isn’t easily the best answer?” Hyukjae groaned. “Is this conversation going in circles?”

Heechul hummed thoughtfully. “No. That was Yesung’s case. He genuinely wasn’t comfortable with the people who asked him because most of them were strangers. You, on the other hand…”

“You’re close with some of the people who asked you, right? Friends, at least? I think Donghae was the one who mentioned that a while back.” Yesung added.

Hyukjae groaned louder before standing up. “I just didn’t want to go with any of them! I’ll figure it out! Leave me alone!”

The two Slytherins stayed in place and watched as Hyukjae started to walk away from them, looking adorably grumpy as he went down the corridor. 

“Just tell us who you want to go to the dance with!” Heechul demanded teasingly. “Maybe we can help you out!”

“Shut up!” Hyukjae shouted over his shoulder as he turned a corridor and walked out of their sight.

There was a moment of silence between them until Heechul broke it. “Wanna make a bet?”

Yesung took that as his cue to get his things and stand up. “No, thanks.”

“Come on!” Heechul persisted, also scrambling from his spot on the floor and running to catch up with Yesung. “It’ll be fun!”

“Betting with you is never fun.”

“Yes, it is!”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“No.”

“Yes!”

“Stop. I’m not betting with you.”

“I bet I know who Hyukjae wants to ask to the dance,” Heechul said in a singsong tone, skipping beside Yesung to see his reaction.

Yesung only rolled his eyes, amused. “I don’t care,” he answered in the same tone.

His friend was undeterred and grinned knowingly. He sang his next words again in a similar tune to his first ones. “I bet it’s you~”

Yesung laughed. “You’re a terrible singer.”

The smug look on Heechul’s face quickly disappeared and was replaced by an offended glare. “I ing beg your pardon? I am an excellent singer!”

Yesung didn’t bother replying, causing Heechul’s hair to slightly turn red as he kept defending his singing ability to Yesung by singing random songs on their way to the Great Hall for dinner. He only stopped when one of the professors made her way to their table and personally asked Heechul to shut up.

The peace that followed only lasted for a short while, long enough for them to eat with a short conversation about some essay they had to write for DADA, but they got interrupted by someone clearing their throat. In unison, Yesung and Heechul turned to see a younger Gryffindor standing behind them, smiling.

“Hi,” Siwon greeted.

“Oh, well,” Heechul sighed before turning back to his food, “at least you’re not a certain Gryffindor with an interest in making all decorations white.”

Yesung spared him a glance. “I thought you and Teukie were getting along now. A bit, at least.”

“Whatever,” Heechul rolled his eyes before wiping his hands on a piece of napkin on the table and looked back at the Gryffindor standing and waiting for them to finish talking. “You must be here for me? Need my help asking someone to the dance, hmm?” He grinned knowingly.

“Umm,” Siwon furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, “no. I actually came here to talk to you.” He finished his sentence as he turned to look at Yesung.

Yesung saw Heechul also turn to him in confusion. “Him?”

Yesung blinked once before lightly slapping his friend’s arm. “Why do you sound so confused that he’s looking for me? People can want to talk to me!”

“I didn’t say anything like that! I just thought…”

Yesung didn’t bother waiting for the rest of the sentence and just smiled up at Siwon. “Sorry about him. Do you need anything? What did you want to talk about?”

Siwon shook his head. “It’s no bother. I was hoping we could speak in private though. Do you have time to walk with me outside?”

“Oh?” Heechul loudly replied, as if he were the one being asked the question, distracting Yesung again. 

“Yes, that would be best.” Yesung lightly hit the back of Heechul’s head. “Don’t think we would get any conversation done with this one chiming in every other sentence.” He stood up from his seat and gestured for Siwon to lead the way.

They ended up in one of the corridors near the courtyard. Yesung could feel the cold breeze around him as the evening started to settle in. He saw about three or four people left hanging out in the courtyard since most students had chosen to search for warmth inside the castle. He also noticed a familiar silhouette seeming to follow the path Siwon and Yesung were walking down, but Yesung only rolled his eyes and chose to say nothing.

“So,” Yesung stopped in his tracks when he heard Siwon talk. He had been too busy looking around to notice the other had stopped. He turned to see the Gryffindor watching him nervously. “You know the event that’s coming up soon?”

Yesung blinked and said ‘yes’ without any noticeable pause. But if anyone had access to Yesung’s brain at that moment, they would see how fast he was thinking of a lot of things at once.

He’s not an idiot. He knew what it would mean, especially nowadays, when someone starts the conversation about the party coming up. Combined with how Siwon looked hesitant about his words when he was usually confident and sure of himself, Yesung knew he was about to get asked to the dance again.

That realization was then followed by questions of why Siwon would ask Yesung, of all people. He knew Siwon had his fair share of admirers and was also the target of several Walala proposals. The younger one had a lot of people in the school to choose as his date if he wanted, and yet it seemed like he was about to ask Yesung.

Does he like me? He thought over it as he watched Siwon smile at him. Mentally shaking his head, he dismissed the thought. No, most likely the Gryffindor only wanted to go with him as friends. Yesung had enjoyed the small chats he had had with Siwon over the years and he’d be confident to say that he made the younger one feel comfortable around him. Maybe that’s it! He wanted to go with Yesung as his date because Yesung is a comfortable friend.

Wait, but Siwon is still quite a popular student. Did he not have other friends? That can’t be true. He’s seen him with other groups of people around the school. Did he feel more comfortable with Yesung compared to the friends he spent most of his time with? Yesung could feel himself getting a bit worried for the other, but he pushed it down. No need to overreact about it.

But he will think of talking to Leeteuk and Kangin about it.

Yesung was snapped out of his thoughts when Siwon cleared his throat and started to speak again. He put his other thoughts on hold because what if Siwon was just talking to him to ask for advice about asking someone else as his date? Or maybe the younger one might have some questions he wanted to ask about the dance unrelated to being his date but he didn’t feel comfortable asking Heechul or Leeteuk so Yesung might be the best choice? It’s a good thing Yesung hadn’t said anything yet because it would have been embarrassing if that was the case and Yesung had just assumed that he was being asked to the dance. 

That figure that had followed behind them would definitely not let him forget about it.

“I was wondering if you would like to go to the dance together? As my date?”

Okay, so his thoughts were somehow right. He was being asked to the dance. The very polite way that Siwon asked him was adorable and brought a smile to his face. He’s very honored to be asked by him. It’s the first time Yesung got asked to the dance by someone he knew and was comfortable with. This has been the best proposal he’s got so far.

But even though he wanted to ask why Siwon thought Yesung would be a good date, he didn’t bother because…

“This is very sweet, Siwon-ah. I really appreciate it.” Yesung smiled apologetically, mind already made up before the question was even asked. “But, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’d be a great date for the dance, but I would have to say no. I just…”

“It’s okay!” Siwon interrupted when Yesung paused to think of how to say the words. “You don’t even have to explain. I heard you had turned down other people to the dance so I figured you either wanted to go alone or there was someone you wanted to go with. If it was the latter, I doubted it was me.”

Yesung didn’t know what to say to that but he felt relieved that he detected no sense of resentment or any other huge negative emotion from Siwon when he spoke. Maybe there was that slight disappointment, but that’s normal, right? He did just get turned down for the dance. (And Yesung would wonder later that night about how he just did that to one of the most popular students. Him? What was so special about Yesung?)

“Ah! No!” Siwon held his hand up when Yesung tried to talk again. “I don’t want to hear you say sorry. Please don’t feel bad. I just knew I might regret it if I didn't ask.”

Yesung closed his mouth and sighed, smiling softly at the other. “Thank you for asking me, Siwon.”

“Thank you for being nice even when you said no.” Siwon grinned back. He exhaled before looking around them. “Well, we should get back now. It’s getting a bit colder here, right?”

“I’ll stay here for a bit. Enjoy the breeze.” Yesung replied.

Siwon nodded at his words and said goodbye before leaving Yesung in the corridor.

But of course, the Slytherin wasn’t alone.

“You can come out now,” Yesung said as he looked out to the empty courtyard, leaning forward to feel the cold air better. 

There was nothing for a while until he heard soft footsteps making their way to stand beside him. He didn’t have to look to know who it was, but curiosity and habit led him to turn his head and see what color his friend’s hair would be this time.

“Violet?” Yesung couldn’t help but ask. Heechul’s hair had streaks of violet in it, which isn’t a color Yesung often saw on him. He probably only saw hints of it once in a while, but not enough for Yesung to have figured out what it meant without asking. And it’s better late than never. “What does that mean?”

Heechul kept looking out at the courtyard with narrowed eyes. “I’m confused.”

Yesung hummed. “About what, exactly?”

“Siwon asked you.”

After a moment of silence, Yesung shook his head in amusement. “I’m sorry, are you confused that he asked me?”

“No!” Heechul snapped at him, sending an impatient glare that hadn’t affected Yesung since their First Year. “I’m confused about why Siwon asked you.”

“Because…”

“Because I thought he was asking someone else!”

Yesung watched his friend for a moment. “This isn’t you hoping that he would have asked you, isn’t it—”

“Absolutely not!”

“Okay!” Yesung put his hands up in defense. “Okay! That’s what I was saying! So, who did you think he was going to ask?”

“Teukie.”

It took a lot of Yesung’s willpower to not comment on the fact Heechul just called Leeteuk ‘Teukie’ or the intense way that Heechul said it or how affected his friend seemed to be about it. In his attempt to be serious and not , all Yesung could say was: “Hmm.”

“I know, right?” Heechul replied, finally pushing off of the wall and turning to walk back into the castle. Yesung knew it was his cue to follow, and so he did. “It’s so weird!”

“Why would Siwon ask Teukie to the dance?”

“Because the kid likes him!”

“First of all,” Yesung answered with a sigh, “We’re barely a year older than Siwon. Stop referring to him as a kid as if you’re several years older. Secondly, I didn’t know you knew Siwon well enough to know who he would ask to the dance.” Thirdly, why is this such a big deal for you? But of course, Yesung didn’t say that last bit.

“I’ve talked with him a couple of times and he always managed to bring Leeteuk up. He seems to idolize Leeteuk.”

“What happened to ‘Teukie’?”

“What?” Heechul sent him a confused look.

Yesung shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Anyway, I’m just shocked.” Heechul exhaled deeply as they walked. “What if Leeteuk was expecting him to ask him? He seems fond of Siwon as well.”

Yesung held back his laughter. “I really doubt that.”

His friend turned to look at him with a grin. “And of course, you’d know everything about Siwon. Putting everything aside, I didn’t realize you two were close enough for him to ask you to the dance!”

“Who asked Yesung hyung to the dance?” A voice popped up behind them.

Donghae smiled at them when they turned. The Hufflepuff looked like he had just run to catch up to them and the fact that Hyukjae was running to them seemed to support that.

“Doesn’t matter,” Yesung answered.

“What doesn’t matter?” Hyukjae asked when he reached them.

“Yesung — Mister Popular over here — just turned someone down again.” Heechul cackled. “And it’s someone we actually know this time.”

Donghae’s eyes widened before he started jumping up and down while chanting “Who?” repeatedly and slapping Yesung’s arm again and again.

“It doesn’t matter— Stop! You don’t— Ow! Hae, I—” Yesung tried pushing him away, but the younger one was filled with too much energy. “Fine! Fine! It was Siwon.”

“Siwonnie?” Donghae repeated, eyes somehow growing wider. “Why did you turn him down? Siwon would have made a great date! I didn’t know you two were that close.”

“Neither did I,” Heechul added.

“He gave you a gift at the start of the year, didn’t he?” Hyukjae asked curiously, looking straight at Yesung. “And I think I’ve seen you two hang out before too.”

“Is that so?” Heechul gasped dramatically. Yesung could tell this wasn’t going to end any time soon unless he did anything about it. “Oh my… Did you steal that poor Gryffindor’s heart?”

“Oh! Oh!” Donghae excitedly jumped up and down again. “Now that I think of it, Siwon asked me some things about Yesung hyung before. Like he asked me if you help me and Hyukjae out often with our work and he said you must be really smart and nice to do that.”

“Oooh, you’ve got an admirer!” Heechul teased, Donghae quickly joining him and giggling. “And to think you turned him down. He could have been such a gentleman during the dance.”

“Shut up,” Yesung rolled his eyes before moving to put an arm around Hyukjae’s shoulder and directing him down the corridor. “Are you going to annoy me like them?”

Hyukjae unsurely shook his head in response, but Yesung took that answer gladly and pulled him away from the other two. “I’m going to go get snacks with Hyukjae, and you two are not invited!”
 
“Well, Donghae and I were the fun ones anyway!” Heechul shouted back as Yesung and Hyukjae made their way down one of the many corridors of Hogwarts.

“You haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you?” He asked, knowing he hadn’t spotted Hyukjae at the Great Hall earlier. Yesung’s arm comfortably stayed on Hyukjae’s shoulder as they walked side by side.

“No… I was looking for Donghae earlier.”

“Ah, well. At least we know how to get into the kitchens.” Yesung smirked at the younger. He let his finger lightly graze Hyukjae’s cheek and smiled as the Hufflepuff turned red. “Let’s go?”

= YH = PMM = YH =

Hyukjae knew something was wrong. 

Okay, maybe not exactly wrong. But…

Something was different.

He was completely relying on Yesung’s arm around his shoulder for directions, pulling him close and guiding him through the corridors, because he was too distracted by so many things going on in his head. Interestingly enough, one of those things was the fact that Yesung had his arm around his shoulder. More specifically, Hyukjae was trying to focus on his reaction to Yesung’s arm around his shoulder. 

The thing is Hyukjae doesn’t blush often. The only times he ever turned red were when he laughed so much that he couldn’t breathe anymore or when he had a childish argument with his sister and got really, really mad. It also happens when he gets embarrassed but he doesn’t really like thinking about those moments in his life, so he doesn’t think there’s been much of those times. The point is that while he didn’t blush often, he knew how it felt when his cheeks would turn red.

There would be this warmth inside him that could grow stronger depending on the situation. The feeling seemed to start from somewhere in his chest (sometimes accompanied by a burning sensation in his lungs where he needed to catch his breath) and would creep up his neck, then his ears, and then it would spread to his face. It was like having a heater inside him and he would instinctively find some breeze or fan himself with his hands to cool himself down.

He didn’t understand why he had been blushing more often nowadays. And, for some reason, Yesung was always involved.

He was fine just now. He even ran a bit because Donghae suddenly decided to speed up when he saw the two Slytherins. There was no redness on his face at that time and the moments after. But Yesung put his arm around him, and was talking to him, invading his space the way he had always done and, suddenly, that warm feeling was there.

The clinginess of the other was never unnoticed. In fact, Hyukjae had come to a realization a while back that Yesung seemed to be more physically affectionate with him ever since that time he talked about his fear of being too clingy when he was in his First Year. Yesung started being more comfortable and welcoming towards him since then, as if afraid to let Hyukjae feel unwanted (not that Yesung ever even made him feel that way). It was a very kind thing to do but Hyukjae never found the words to thank him. He just slowly got used to the pats on the head and arm around his shoulders. But sometimes it makes him blush. And he couldn’t point out exactly why…

Hugging was also a thing. It didn’t happen often, but it happened. Hyukjae didn’t like thinking too much about the time when Yesung was comforting him before his first Quidditch game last year. Remembering that moment always manages to bring back that warm feeling again.

“Hi, Yesung-ssi! Hi, Hyukjae-ssi!” Cloudy was the first to greet them. Hyukjae barely even noticed that they arrived in the kitchens. The last of dinner was being served, so it seemed that most of the house elves were magically cleaning things up. “Did you enjoy your meal?”

“I did, Cloudy, it was so great. The sweet and sour pork was my favorite this time.” Yesung answered sincerely. “But, Hyukjae over here hasn’t eaten dinner yet because he was busy. If it isn’t too much trouble, I was wondering if—”

“Oh! No trouble at all! No trouble at all!” Cloudy enthusiastically replied as she gestured for them to follow as she led them to the back where they knew some chairs and tables would be. “Cloudy will fix something up for Hyukjae-ssi! And also snacks for Yesung-ssi!”

“You don’t have to—” Yesung tried to protest as they sat down, but Cloudy was already gone. “That elf is so precious but seems to be dead set on feeding me every time she sees me.”

Hyukjae hummed in response because he got lost in his thoughts again.

“Hyukjae?” The direct call of his name and the light tap on his hand barely caught his attention. “Are you okay? Would you prefer to just go to your dorms and rest instead?”

And there’s that warm feeling again. Hyukjae pushed down on it immediately to keep it from spreading. He’s not sure how successful he was, but Yesung was looking at him so concerned and the fingers on his hand felt like electricity, so the chances were low but he hoped very much that he was able to look somewhat normal.

He still didn’t understand what was happening. Something must be wrong, right?

“I’m fine, hyung! And no,” Hyukjae breathed out as he shook his head. “I’m a bit sleepy, but I want to eat a bit and talk more before going back.”

Yesung watched him for a moment as if knowing Hyukjae wasn’t telling the whole truth. For a tense second, Hyukjae thought he was going to get called out for his weird thoughts, but the Slytherin ended up nodding. 

“Okay, if that’s what you think. I’m happy to comply,” Yesung grinned. Hyukjae couldn’t help but smile back. “I had Potions today too, so you’re in for a fun story. It’s another one where Shindong saved the lives of everyone in this school simply by being the one assigned to sit beside me.”

Yesung proceeded to talk about his class in detail. Usually, Hyukjae would gladly listen to him and laugh the entire time. Potions stories were always fun to hear because of how much of a mess Yesung seemed to be. 

But Hyukjae still had so many thoughts. He could only manage to hum and nod and smile while half-listening.

Because what was that? Just a bare touch to his hand and he’s blushing all over again? Hyukjae forced himself to keep his eyes away from looking at his hand because some twisted idea in his head made him think looking at it would be acknowledging… something. He didn't even know what that something was!

The blushing thing may have been happening more recently, but it has been happening for a while, hasn’t it? A memory came to mind of when he saw Yesung on the train last year. Something changed about the Slytherin that made him more noticeable. He understood why Yesung was getting teased about being popular. Hyukjae didn’t know how he felt about that. (Whether ‘that’ was the change or the unexpected popularity, Hyukjae wasn’t sure as well.)

Whenever he tried to think about the whole thing, Hyukjae would get stuck on this never-ending loop in his thoughts where he found no answers but gained more questions. He decided to avoid the thinking as much as possible, but his thoughts circle back to it and he falls back into the loop. Once in a while, Donghae would notice him thinking too much and snap him out of it. (His friend usually thought it was something related to their subjects and would remind him to take a break if it was becoming too much. Hyukjae appreciated the help but couldn’t bring himself to share his thoughts with his fellow Hufflepuff. At least, not yet.)

Hyukjae shouldn’t have been surprised when Yesung snapped his fingers in his face to try and get his attention again. He also shouldn’t have been surprised when Yesung clearly didn’t believe Hyukjae when he said nothing bothered him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Fine,” Yesung rolled his eyes. “I won’t ask anymore. But you’re clearly not even listening because I just said I died after I drank the mystery potion I made in class and you just nodded.”

Hyukjae blinked. “Maybe I just thought it made sense.”

Yesung raised an eyebrow. “Do I look like a ghost to you right now?”

“Well, you’re very pale.”

“Should I be worried about your education if you think being pale is enough to identify a ghost?”

He shrugged. “It’s a start.”

The older one chuckled before leaning back on his chair with a sigh. “Anyway, you’ve hurt my feelings now! Maybe we should just wrap things up here and go back up since I’ve just been talking but no one’s listening.”

“Hey, no!” A slight panic ran through Hyukjae at the other’s words even though he logically knew that it was said jokingly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll listen now. Promise.”

Yesung smiled at him, showing that he wasn’t hurt at all. “You said that you wanted to talk a bit too. So, why don’t you talk?”

“Okay!” Not okay. Hyukjae’s having a hard time trying to get his mind out of the loop. He needed a topic. “What do you want me to talk about?”

It was Yesung who shrugged this time. “Anything! What have you been busy with?”

“Quidditch mostly.” Hyukjae internally sighed at the safe topic. “The team’s trying to maintain a good record. We won against Gryffindor in the last match, but only barely.”

“Donghae really did well last match.” Yesung put his chin on the palm of his hand and looked into the distance as if he were recalling the game. “He really has the potential to be one of the strongest players in Quidditch.”

Hyukjae nodded. “His aim’s no joke too. He could probably be a Chaser if he wanted to try it out.”

“He’d be good at it if he tried, but not as good as you.” The Slytherin immediately pointed out. “You had such great improvement since your first game. Your team didn’t tell you that?”

“They might have said a thing or two.” Hyukjae tried to play it off casually, but he was proud of how well he was doing. His friend obviously noticed and just grinned in encouragement. “But you helped a lot too. The books you gave me were so helpful and you always told me things I could try out to play better after each game.”

“Glad my family’s and my obsession with watching Quidditch but not really playing it is doing you some good at least.” Yesung laughed, and Hyukjae couldn’t help but laugh with him. “You’ve been training with your team more often nowadays, right?”

Hyukjae huffed. “Yeah, but everyone’s a bit distracted now because of the whole dance thing.”

“Ah, but not you?”

Hyukjae narrowed his eyes at Yesung who looked like he was planning something. “No? I go to the Quidditch Pitch to train. I don’t know why they keep talking about what they’re going to wear or who they’re going to ask to the dance.”

The Slytherin leaned forward on the table again and Hyukjae subtly leaned backward, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the other suddenly moving closer. “Oh? And who are you asking to the dance?”

Annoyance and panic shot through Hyukjae for a very quick moment. The annoyance is there because Hyukjae has heard this question asked several times