Author's note: no chapter tomorrow since it's Christmas. Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it and to those that don't, Happy Holidays!

Sometimes he likes reading his old notes and books, back from the beginning of his apprenticeship.

Mostly, it’s to reassure himself that he’s learned things and made progress. Everything had seemed so complicated and complex back then, Daesung had honestly thought he wouldn’t be able to learn any of it and end up disappointing everyone quite a few times. His parents and Youngbae had been a blessing, having faith in him when he didn’t have a lot of it himself despite having worked very hard during school.

He pokes at the piece of wood resting on the workbench. It’s still rough but it’s actually shaped like a wand now and the runes on the inside are smooth and functional. His progress seems to have sped up recently – his master says it’s because he’s getting to the last stages of studying wood, actually getting to work on them and practicing. The beginning is the slowest part, where you need to study and memorize all the knowledge you need to have before touching anything.

The clock chimes from somewhere inside the stacked shelves. Daesung hums to himself softly, packing the letters inside his bag, putting the writing supplies and the rough wand away, wiping down the workbench, putting the book back into the office and making sure he’s got everything before leaving. His master waves a hand at him as he leaves, staring at the ledges and muttering something to herself – or the store, sometimes he can’t tell which.

His walk home has a bit of a skip to it. There’s about half an hour between him getting to the apartment and needing to be at the Leaky Cauldron. He pats D-Lite on the head gently and opens the window to let him leave and make his way to his parent’s on his own like usual. It may not be eyebrow raising in the wizarding world but muggles tend to stare at you weirdly if you’re walking around with an owl on your shoulder.

He isn’t entirely sure what to wear but ends up just changing his shirt to a long sleeved black one and a long coat since his cloak isn’t really appropriate. His hair still looks fine but he combs it anyway, running his hands through the fringe afterwards. Taking a moment to make sure he looks okay, Daesung stares at his own reflection before grabbing his bag again and walking out. It’s still really cold now but he quickly applies a warming charm to his coat while making his way to the pub.

It’s filled with people at his hour. The light is dimmer than it should be, the smoke is particularly thick tonight, making him cough into his fist a couple of times. Daesung tries to ignore the foul air and stands on the tip of his toes. A familiar head of perfectly styled hair near the muggle exit catches his eye and he quickly makes his way over. His disgruntled thoughts about the Leaky Cauldron abruptly freeze once he’s close enough to properly see his boyfriend and his jaw sort of drops.

Dear. Merlin. A suit. Seunghyun is in a suit. His heart stammers wildly at the sight and he can’t make it calm down. Daesung had told him he would need to find muggle clothing for this, had even offered to go shopping with him but the Slytherin had assured him it wouldn’t be an issue and now he has to agree. It’s simple enough, dark blue with a white shirt, but it fits him so well, follows the lines of his body and hugs his shoulders perfectly. It’s probably custom made but right now he wouldn’t care if it was a gift from an alien colony on the moon with how dry his mouth feels.

“Daesung?” a concerned tone reaches his ears as a gentle hand cups the side of his neck, snapping him back to reality. Seunghyun is looking at him as if to make sure he’s feeling okay, eyes narrowed slightly. He lets out a nervous, shaky sort of laugh, curling his fingers into his palms before shaking his head slightly at the still worried look leveled his way. “You uhm… that looks very good on you.”

His boyfriend blinks twice before looking down at himself, brushing the jacket down with his free hand. That slight pink flush he hasn’t seen in a while tints the older man’s ears and spreads quickly all over his nose. There is relief in his eyes and Daesung suddenly realizes that he must have been worried about being appropriately dressed. Truthfully the suit is a bit much but by Merlin, he’s not going to complain about it.

Letting out another laugh, a more natural one this time, he laces their hands together and drags the other man along outside. It’s probably just the effect of the wards shielding the Leaky Cauldron from view but coming in or out of the pub always makes a shiver run down his spine. Part of it must be the magic washing over him, yet part of it is feeling the atmosphere changing as he steps into another world.

Muggle London is so loud. It’s funny how he keeps forgetting just how small and isolated the wizarding world is in comparison. It’s not a bad thing, necessarily, but it means he needs a second to adjust and remember how big the planet truly is whenever he goes to visit his parents. Daesung takes a deep breath and turns his head to look at Seunghyun – whose eyes are wide, flickering all over the place and the expression of stunned disbelief on his face is so like Jiyong’s that he needs to cover his smile with a hand.

The Hufflepuff can sort of comprehend what it’s like. Stepping into wizarding society and culture probably felt just as surreal and confusing as this. Except he thinks magic to an eleven year old is probably easier to accept than technology for a full grown wizard who’s never been faced with it before. He gives Seunghyun a couple of minutes to take it all in before squeezing his hand. Dark eyes blink before settling him on him, becoming slightly less wide. They smile at each other, one of them reassuringly and the other a little uncertain, before he tugs at his hand once more.

Thankfully it doesn’t take long to get a taxi. Daesung had debated this for a while but he didn’t want to overload Seunghyun too much this first time – and besides, the mere thought of bringing a pureblood wizard with him on the tube makes him nervous. It’s amazing how wizards don’t even blink at riding brooms and performing tricks on them at ridiculous speeds but sort of freak out at the idea of an underground train. He supposes if something is part of your upbringing or normal life it doesn’t really strike you as weird.

Seunghyun doesn’t talk much on the way there. He still looks surprised, eyes looking out through the window in wonder and Daesung keeps squeezing his hand in reassurance every once in a while. The reason they keep quiet is not out of nervousness but because the driver would probably think their conversation completely weird – after all, who doesn’t know what cellphones or credits cards or TVs are? And sure, the younger man had explained quite a few things by now but there is so much his boyfriend doesn’t know and it comes across in the sort of questions he asks and how he asks them. All perfectly legitimate but also eyebrow raising for any muggle.

They make stilled conversation – trying to avoid any and all reference to magic, so having to weight every word – after a while, since traffic in London is a bit of a mess at that time of night.  Daesung does most of the talking, squeezing his boyfriend’s hand periodically and pulling it over his lap at some point, tracing some abstract design or another on the back of it. The trip goes smoothly for the most part except for that one moment in which the driver had to make an abrupt stop, almost giving Seunghyun a heart attack and making the Hufflepuff have to reach over to stop him from grabbing his wand and cursing someone.

Finally they arrive at their destination. Seunghyun quickly steps out and Daesung lets him have a bit of fresh air as he pays the cabby and watches it leave. When he turns back his boyfriend seems more relaxed, looking at the light street lamps in curiosity, possibly wondering how they work. Wizards have those, too, but they’re powered by spells, of course. He wonders who came up with the idea first, muggles or wizards? It doesn’t happen very often since the stature of secrecy was enacted but sometimes the two worlds do influence each other.

“How do…?”

“Electricity.”

“… is your electricity involved in everything?” Seunghyun is still staring at the street lamps, peering up at one, tapping a finger against his chin in a thinking gesture. It’s kind of cute how utterly fascinated he is by such a simple thing but then, Daesung remembers, most purebloods believed muggles are still stuck in the eighteenth century so that isn’t really surprising. Still, the look on wonder on his face is so much like a child’s he can’t help but smile at the sight.

“Yeah pretty much.”

“And it’s a… power source?”

“Yep!”

“Uhm,” he lets the Slytherin stare and poke around the street for a while before he walks over and gently pulls at his jacket’s sleeves. Seunghyun doesn’t have time to ask anything before a hand is curling at the back of his neck, pushing him down into a kiss. He responds immediately, hands sliding down to Daesung’s waist, who smiles at the touch. Their lips linger for a few seconds before they separate, white breaths swirling up together into the night’s sky.

“Daesung?” he tries for a reassuring smile. His boyfriend isn’t fooled, resting their foreheads together in a comfortable, now familiar motion and waits for him to speak. Daesung should tell him someday, how much that means, that he’s always willing to wait. His fingers twitch, brushing gently against dark hair in a caress.

“I’m alright, just a bit nervous.”

The grip on his waist tightens, firm but kind. He sort of understands the older man’s anxiety during lunch at the manor now. It’s not that he thinks his parents will hate Seunghyun or that he’ll hate them, he has no reason to think that, but his nerves are still a bit high-strung. His breathing deepens a little as he tries to calm them. The Slytherin keeps staring at him, gaze as firm as his hands. “Daesung. They are your parents. Unless they do not treat you well, there is no cause for worry or concern, for I will surely love them.”

And that is pureblood for ‘don’t fret, everything will be okay’. Daesung doesn’t even think that way of speaking is odd anymore, with how much he’s heard it lately, and both his tone and words are reassuring so he leans in to brush their lips gently together one last time before stepping back and eye smiling at him happily.

“Right, okay. Let’s go, they’re waiting.”