#119: You’re Alluring, You’re My Universe

[exolliarmus]

►username: anonymous
►prompt #: 119
►title: You’re Alluring, You’re My Universe
►pairings: Sehun/Kai (main), multiple Exo & non-Exo pairings
►rating: R
►word count: 17,148
►warnings: angst, cursing, use of the word m*dblood
►summary: It starts in a laundromat in London and ends in the Hogwarts hospital wing (but not really). AKA the story of how a Hufflepuff named Jongin falls in love with the strangest Slytherin in the world, Oh Sehun.
►author's notes: to my lovely, lovely prompter: thanks for the wonderful prompt! I hope this is okay and that you don’t absolutely hate it. Due to some unforeseen events I wasn’t able to really flesh out this fic like I wanted and it’s a bit choppy, but I hope you like it anyway!

It’s not unheard of for Jongin to be at the Laundromat two streets away from Grandma and Grandpa Kim’s house at 10pm on a Friday night in the middle of summer. It’s a family tradition for the Kim children to spend their weekends at his grandmother’s home when they aren’t away at school.

Jongin takes dance classes during the summer when school is out and has semi-regular performances with his classmates on the weekends at a theater close to his grandparents’ house. For years his routine has been to arrive at his grandparents’ home with his elder sisters in tow and then head out to the Laundromat after dinner to wash his dance uniform for his Saturday afternoon performances.

Right now it’s just him, sitting on an uncomfortable plastic chair in a deserted laundromat. He’s watching his clothes go through the rinse cycle, absent-mindedly wondering if he’s brought enough coins for the dryer. Last week, he forgot to bring enough money and ended up having to lug his bag of wet clothes to his grandparents’ house, where he allowed his fussy grandmother to use a drying charm.

Unlike most of his classmates, Jongin likes to keep his summers as magic-free as possible, much to the chagrin of his father and grandparents. He knows his mother appreciates it since she’s had enough run-ins with a bewitched broom and their overzealous mail owl to feel truly comfortable with the use of magic.

He counts the coins in his pocket, silently rejoices at the fact that he has enough, and contemplates getting a Diet Coke out of the brand new vending machine that some kind soul decided this place needed. He gets the shock of his life when a very familiar head of dyed blond hair catches his eye as it comes in through the front door and approaches a washer near the entrance.

Jongin allows his eyes to trail down the person’s figure, from the bleached blond hair, to their furrowed brows, the eyes that are squinting at the instructions written on the machine, lips formed into a pout, down to a plain grey sweatshirt and black skinny jeans. The boy is wearing what look to be boat shoes, sky blue and white in color, which clash horribly with the rest of his outfit.

It’s Oh Sehun.

Exactly why a pureblood wizard from Slytherin house is walking into a nearly-deserted Laundromat at 10pm on a Friday night is unbeknownst to Jongin. Particularly, this pureblood wizard.

From what Jongin knows, Oh Sehun is a pure-blood Slytherin boy whose father is one of the most respected wizards of his generation and filthy rich by both muggle and wizard standards. He’s in Jongin’s year and in the same house as Jongin’s best friend, Taemin. The two of them have had classes together before, but they’ve never really interacted, outside of the time that Sehun asked Jongin to pass him the extra pair of earmuffs in Herbology during Mandrake lessons. Mostly, the things he knows about the younger boy are things he’s heard from friends.

Jongin knows Sehun is a favorite student of the Slytherin Head of House, Kim Taeyeon (according to Taemin). He also knows that Sehun never speaks much to anyone besides his best friend Huang Zitao (according to Chanyeol hyung). The stuff about Sehun’s father he knows from his father reading the Daily Prophet all the time and leaving the paper lying around the house.

Other than those basic facts everything else is conjecture. Jongin has heard unsubstantiated rumors that Sehun’s home life is horrible. No one ever talks about his mother other than to speculate what happened to her, since she hasn’t been seen in the wizarding world for a while.

Jongin breaks out of his thoughts when he realizes the washing machine he was watching has stopped wringing out his dance uniform. As he goes to put his damp clothing into his basket, mentally counting his coins yet again, a voice rings out, unimpeded in the Laundromat that is currently empty save for Jongin and Sehun.

“Kim Jongin?” a soft voice calls out.

Jongin turns toward the person calling out his name, already knowing who it is and yet trying to pretend he doesn’t. It still kind of freaks him out to see Sehun out of his Hogwarts uniform, if he’s honest.

“Um, yeah?” he replies awkwardly. He allows his eyes to meet those of his classmate, amazed to see that the usual blank stare that Sehun is famous for has been replaced by a kinder, gentler gaze. His peers’ jokes about Sehun being completely emotionless aren’t funny, but it’d be a lie if Jongin said they didn’t ring true sometimes.

“I thought it was you!” Sehun muses. “I was asking myself what you of all people would be doing in this place but then I remembered that you’re a half-blood,” Sehun says casually, as if it’s not him who is out of place in a Laundromat in the middle of London, for God’s sake. There’s no malice in his words, strangely enough. He seems neither disgusted nor curious. It’s like he’s remarking on ordinary things, like saying “Oh, right, I forgot that your last name is Kim.”

“…You know who I am?” Jongin asks stupidly.

Sehun gives him a funny look.

It’s unsettling to Jongin because not once in their four years of going to school together has Oh Sehun shown interest in speaking to him. And yet, he seems to know both his full name and something as personal as Jongin’s magical ancestry, without having ever exchanged words.

It’s even more unsettling that Sehun is still choosing to acknowledge his presence after somehow finding out about Jongin’s lineage. Despite the progress toward equality that’s been made in the wizarding community since the Great Wizarding War, there are still those who seem to think blood purity is important.

And Sehun is no ordinary Slytherin. Grandson of a former Minister of Magic, with a father who runs the Auror Office, Oh Sehun is the closest thing to royalty they’ve had at Hogwarts since the children of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley attended Hogwarts.

But that doesn’t seem to mean a thing to the boy himself, since he’s here talking to Jongin as if they’re old acquaintances.

“Kim Jongin, 4th year Hufflepuff, Quidditch seeker, Half-blood wizard who likes to dance in his spare time. To be honest, it’s kind of hard not to know your whole life story. You’re best friend is, Lee Taemin, right? He talks about you all the time in lessons,” Sehun admits sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his neck.

Jongin absently wonders why Sehun would be embarrassed when Jongin is clearly the one suffering at the hands of his best friend’s big mouth.

“If it weren’t for the fact that he keeps a picture of Headmaster Kim under his pillow I would’ve assumed you two were dating…” Sehun trails off, looking at Jongin amusedly. There’s something else in his gaze as well, but Jongin isn’t exactly great at reading people.

“O-Oh, yeah. He’s got a big crush on the headmaster for some reason. Says he reminds him of his favorite actor from that one drama, it’s called…um…I think it’s called Triangle or something,” Jongin says, trying his hardest to seem like he didn’t watch all 26 episodes of that very same drama with his sisters and doesn’t own the collector’s edition DVD.

“…Yeah, so,” Sehun continues on, as if Jongin hasn’t embarrassed himself enough already with the few words he’s spoken, “Taemin also says you’re pretty muggle-like for a half-wizard,” he says carefully, as if Jongin isn’t doing just about the most unmagical thing a wizard could be doing, washing his own underwear and sweat pants in a Laundromat in the middle of London.

“Uh, I mean, I suppose I am?” he responds, mystified as to what Sehun’s real question is, since it’s clear he’s dying to ask something.


“I’ve actually been looking for someone who was muggle-born to help me out with something.” He rubs the back of his neck, sheepishly, as if Jongin is going to judge him for asking for some help.

“Oh!” Jongin immediately assumes what the next words out of Sehun’s mouth will be. “Um, well, the way these clothes washing machines work is basically just—“ Jongin begins.

“No,” Sehun interjects, “I didn’t mean with washing my clothes. I can do that just fine,” he teases.

Jongin hurries to apologize as the younger boy pulls open the washer’s door, dumping what look like Hogwarts robes and basketball shorts in, then adding his detergent and softener before pushing a few coins into the slot and pressing the Normal Cycle button. Sehun waves his apology away but Jongin feels the need to ask.

“…How?”

Sehun smirks at his dumbfounded expression.

“My father doesn’t believe in making our house elves do the laundry, so we each do our own. My usual laundromat is closed, though, so I had my friend tell me how to download an app to find one nearby,” he waves his phone in Jongin’s face. It’s an iPhone, a nicer model than Jongin’s own, and its screen has the Yelp app open.

Oh Sehun, Hogwarts’ pureblood Slytherin Prince, has an iPhone and uses Yelp…. Oh Sehun washes his own clothes and downloads apps…. At the risk of sounding like a broken record player, Jongin repeats himself.

“How?”

“How what?” is the confused counter-question he receives in turn.

“How are you here in my local Laundromat wearing muggle clothes, using muggle machines and electronics, looking like this is all normal to you? You’re from Slytherin house!”

The teasing smirk on Sehun’s lips gives way to furrowed brows and a stubborn stare. He even spares an indignant pout for the elder.

“Not all of us in Slytherin house cling to the dark ages of blood purity, you know? Or have you forgotten that Tao is in our house?”

Huang Zitao, 5th year Slytherin, Sehun’s best friend, and the first completely muggle-born Slytherin at Hogwarts in 200 years. If rumors are to be believed, Zitao had only accepted his place at Hogwarts to get away from his over-bearing parents and his nightmarish cram school back in New York City. He constantly reminds anyone who will listen that he doesn’t care about the history of werewolves or the secret to making a good sleeping draught, he just wants to be a fashion designer. And even with all this and his routine hysterics in Potions whenever he has to cut up all types of gross, slimy things, his fellow Slytherins accept and love him. Or at the very least, tolerate him.

So, yes, Sehun may have a point. This new generation at Hogwarts is very different from their grandparents’ and even their parents’ generations.

“You’re right, I’m being unfair. You can do whatever you like, wizard or not. I promise it’s not like me to be so discriminatory,” he apologizes.

“Great,” Sehun says, his eyebrows still furrowed, clearly still thinking about something. “Now, about helping me…”



It takes Jongin far less time than he’d like to get to Sehun’s house. He’s nervous, fingers running through his fringe every so often. As far as he knows, no one at Hogwarts has ever been invited to Sehun’s house besides Zitao.

The younger boy lives in Hampstead, which Jongin thinks should be surprising, since a majority of pure-blood families still live in mostly rural areas of England (though this is changing, judging by the home addresses of Jongin’s classmates), but in actuality is far from surprising.

Hampstead is by far one of the nicer and richer areas in the all of London, so it makes sense for someone as loaded (and as technologically savvy by wizard-standards) as Sehun to live here. Then again, Jongin himself lives in Bloomsbury, so he can’t say much about well-off people living in well-off people areas.

The house itself looks old and modern at the same time. It also looks like every single person in the world with the surname Kim could be housed here.

Jongin thinks to himself that the amount of wealth Sehun has shouldn’t surprise him, considering the Slytherin has monogrammed robes and his loafers are Italian, and yet…

Sehun’s blond head of hair is just visible over the shrubbery that hides his mansion’s front entrance from view. He’s all smiles as he let’s Jongin in.

It’s only now dawning on Jongin that muggles in the area probably have no idea that Sehun’s house exists.

“Fidelious charm!” Sehun offers, looking like the Cheshire Cat and savior of Jongin’s sanity all at once. “My dad is the head of the Auror’s office. Did you really think he’d be dumb enough to let muggles stumble upon our humble abode and wander onto our lawn or sneak into our pool?”

Sehun has a point.

“They have no clue we live here. No one does, unless we give them our address.”

“I guess I never thought about the logistics of powerful pure-bloods choosing to live in mansions in the middle of London,” Jongin supplies, still scratching his head.

“You know,” Sehun drawls, “For someone who tries to seem non-discriminatory against others, you sure are hung up on my family’s blood purity.”

“Look, how about you tell me why you wanted me to come over,” Jongin hurriedly responds, clearly not wanting to give Sehun the wrong impression. “You didn’t actually specify what kind of help you needed on Friday. All you said was that you had some ‘fancy-schmancy muggle electronic equipment’ you needed help installing.”

“Oh yeah,” Sehun says, now leading him toward what looks to be a home theater. The walls are white, the floors are marble, and the furniture is clearly designer. And yet, the mansion looks lived-in. It looks like a home.

“I lied. I’m just tired of hanging out here on my own all day. There’s only so many times I can ask the house elves to re-enact scenes from Lord of the Rings with me, you know.”

Marry me, is what Jongin thinks.

“Why did I ever think you were a total badass?” is what he actually says.

“Did you really think I was a badass? There you go, you wrongly-sorted Hufflepuff, making assumptions about us Slytherins. Clearly, you were meant for the GREATNESS and BRAVERY of Gryffindor house,” Sehun teases, his lisp slowly sneaking out in his words as he teases Jongin.

His eyes are squinty and his facial expression is the stupidest thing Jongin has ever seen, but the elder still feels his palms get a bit sweaty. He holds onto the decorative cushion Sehun has tossed to him and decides to sink into the lavish home theater couch until it swallows him whole.

The screen is bigger than any TV Jongin has ever seen and not ten feet behind him is a giant, comfy-looking bed. Rather than stare at it forlornly, wishing for a nap, he replies:

“It’s not because you’re a Slytherin! You’re just always quiet and broody and angry-looking. Everyone thinks you’re a tough guy.”

“Well if, eeeeveryone thinks so,” Sehun jokes.

“Don’t act like you don’t know how much people fear you at school. Everyone knows who your dad is.”

It suddenly hits Jongin that talking about Sehun’s privileged life at Hogwarts and at home is not something he should be doing right about now.

“Ha,” Sehun laughs humorlessly. “You know, it’d be nice if people would stop assuming things about me that aren’t true.”

Jongin opens his mouth to respond but Sehun simply continues, not allowing the elder to get a word in edgewise.

“I do hear them, you’re right. I hear every single one of them. They say my dad is a power hungry ex-Death Eater who has no business being an auror, despite the fact that my entire family was back in Korea at the time of the War and never followed or fought for Voldemort. They say I think I’m better than everyone because I have money. They say I’m just a jerk who doesn’t know how good he has it—“

At this point, Sehun is whispering, his eyes glued to the polished wood floors of the home theater, his hands pulling at a loose thread hanging from one of his sweater sleeves. Outside, the wind has picked up, rustling the leaves in the trees to the point that they look like they’re dancing. When Jongin looks toward Sehun again, the younger is looking straight into his eyes.

“You know what the worst part is, Jongin? They’ve never even tried talking to me. They have all these preconceived notions about me, yet they’ve never once tried to get to know me. Why should I be the one to try to show who I am, when people already assume they know my true colors? I’m a snake to them. A dirty, pureblood snake.”

Not for the first time, Jongin feels guilty about the way he’s treated Sehun. He always assumed the younger boy would never give him the time of day or care about him, so he never tried. Now it looks like Sehun thought the same thing about him.

“Sorry,” Sehun says sheepishly. Jongin can see the tops of Sehun’s cheeks becoming pink. “I shouldn’t offload all of this on you. We only had our first real conversation three days ago. You probably don’t even care.”

“Of course I care,” Jongin responds earnestly. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, Sehun. I’m really blunt with my words sometimes. It was never my intention to hurt you by bringing up the rumors people make up. If I ever say something that hurts you, tell me so.”

At this point, Jongin’s mind is reeling from the seriousness of the conversation and the easy way in which he and Sehun seem to have stumbled upon such a severe topic.

“You make it sound like we’re friends.” The tone in Sehun’s voice is one of awe. Like he can’t believe that Jongin truly cares about him only three days after their first real meeting, with only a a horribly typed text containing only an address and several emojis shared between them.

Jongin feels his heart start to race to the point where it seems like it will vanish into thin air, leaving him behind. It’s beating so fast at the thought of Oh Sehun being thrilled at his friendship.

Never mind the fact that Sehun has been Jongin’s wet dream since the beginning of their third year, when Jongin watched Sehun dive into the Hogwarts lake to retrieve a first year’s remembrall.

Never mind the fact that Sehun clearly has a pure heart and a fantastic ass that has caused Jongin more than one sexuality crisis.

And here he is now. Kim Jongin is sitting in Oh Sehun’s mansion ready to die the mere THOUGHT of being allowed to be Sehun’s friend.

His answering squeak startles Sehun, who at first thinks the other boy has suddenly fallen ill but then realizes it’s just Jongin being overwhelmed.

“Uh, yeah,” Jongin clears his throat, “I meant to say that we, uh, are…friends. We can be, I mean! If you’d like?”

The hopefulness in his reply seems to settle Sehun, who immediately chucks another throw pillow at the other boy.

“That settles it, then. Kim Jongin you are officially my friend. No take-backsies!” says Sehun cutely.

If Jongin weren’t already completely gone for the younger boy, he’d have no chance against his charms now. Not that he’s willing to admit that to himself, just yet.

“Anyway,” Sehun continues, stretching out the last syllable in a way that reminds Jongin of his favorite baby cousin, “I think you should teach me how to play video games!”
“Really, Sehun?” You’ve got this entire mansion to yourself and the most exciting thing you can think of doing is playing video games?” Jongin teases.

He watches as Sehun reaches into a cabinet in a corner of the room and pulls out a gaming console and a handful of video games still in their packaging.

“Heeeeeey,” Sehun pouts, “I’ve never played them before! Tao only likes to swim in my pool and watch The X-Factor on my flat screen TV. I haven’t even figured out how to work this damn Xbox thing yet since the only thing he knows how to do is sew clothes and eat all my food.”

Taking pity on his new friend’s bad luck, Jongin decides to help him set up the console. As he watches Sehun choose between Mario Kart and Call of Duty, he decides to voice his thoughts to the other, a rare occurrence.

“You know, I think it’s really cool that you’re interested in muggle stuff. Not many witches and wizards are, even the half-bloods. You’re a cool guy, Oh Sehun…for a Slytherin,” he jokes.

He expects Sehun to once again joke about how discriminatory he is, and is surprised when the other male simply blushes and refuses to look his way, staring only at the two games in his hands.

“Really?” he asks quietly. Gone is the boy who is second only to Professor Kyuhyun in apathetically glaring at everyone and everything. His replacement, a clearly nervous young boy with the prettiest face and the nicest heart that Jongin has ever witnessed.

“Yeah,” he murmurs back.

He tries not to read into Sehun’s actions, fearing that he might actually convince himself that Oh Sehun likes him back even a fraction of how much Jongin likes him. And he doesn’t want to lie to himself.



“Okay, wait,” Sehun wheezes, his words caught on a laugh as he processes Jongin’s story. They’re sitting in Sehun’s home theater once more, their 10th round of FIFA 15 paused on Sehun’s flatscreen.

“So this guy just broke up with your noona by putting a piece of paper in a cookie and pretending it was ‘destiny’?”

Somehow, Sehun’s incessant whining about being hungry and having no house elves on hand to feed him led to Jongin telling him about how one of his older sister’s had her heart crushed by a jerk with and affinity for lo mein.

“Basically. Noona still can’t go near fortune cookies. Our family hasn’t had Chinese food in forever because of her,” Jongin muses.

“Well, he’s clever, you have to give him that. I bet if your noona was a Slytherin she would’ve done more than spill her drink on his head. I have to say, though, I love the fact that muggles were so determined to predict the future that they decided to bake vague prophecies into biscuits and hand them out to people who buy their fried noodles.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it does sound silly,” Jongin admits.

“’Sounds silly’? It’s completely ridiculous! Almost as ridiculous as Professor Heechul’s tea leaf readings.”

Noticing the beginnings of a frown on Jongin’s face, Sehun quickly amends his statement:

“Well, I mean, what do I know. I’ve never had muggle fast food.”

“Really? You’ve never ordered a pizza on the phone or gone out for a Chinese with your family?”

It’s the middle of July now, two weeks since Jongin and Sehun first hung out, and yet it feels to Jongin like he’s constantly learning something new about Sehun.

“Jongin,” Sehun speaks slowly, as if trying to deal with a child, “I’m a wizard. The only time I’ve eaten food not cooked by a parent or house elves is when I make popcorn in the microwave before you or Zitao come over here.”

“Fair enough. Do you want to?”

“Want to what?”

“Go out and have some greasy fried food that would make your beloved Miranda Kerr shudder in horror.”

“Hey! I showed you my Victoria’s Secret catalogue collection in good faith! If I’d known you would make of fun of me for it—“

“I’m kidding, Sehun. Although I won’t pretend to understand your supposed ‘non-romantic’ admiration of a supermodel.”

I will, however, pretend it doesn’t crush me that you quite obviously like women, he thinks to himself.

“Whatever. Are you taking me out for food or not?”

“Excuse me? Out of the two of us, who is the one who owns a 7-bedroom monster of a mansion?”

“Neither! This house is my father’s. Besides, aren’t you my hyung? Shouldn’t you treat me?” he flutters his eyelashes in Jongin’s direction.

Jongin only has so much willpower.

Jongin finds himself debating the validity of using Korean honorifics in England on the way to and from Nando’s. He doesn’t mind it one bit. Especially when he gets to witness Sehun’s face as he tastes the creamy mash for the very first time.




“You’re telling me you willingly ate mashed potatoes and chicken at a chain restaurant that has no Michelin stars whatsoever?” Zitao asks Sehun, eyeing him and Jongin distrustfully from the beanbag chair Sehun somehow convinced his father he needed.

He reminds Jongin of a proud peacock, eyeing up his competition. He’s been giving Jongin the stink eye for the past couple of hours. (Or at least it feels that way. Time spent with the Chinese-American boy seems to go by too slowly for Jongin’s taste.)

Zitao is back in England, fresh from visiting his extended family in Qingdao. On one hand, Jongin is a bit disgruntled at having to share Sehun’s time with the elder boy, preferring their video game sessions without him.

It’s been an undoubtedly fun summer for Jongin. Between getting to dance with Taemin during showcases on the weekends and being Sehun’s own private “muggle studies tutor”—as Sehun had explained to his father, who was clearly just relieved that Sehun seemed to have found more friends—Jongin feels like he doesn’t want their break from school to end.

He loves Hogwarts, his friends, and Quidditch. He’s just not sure he’s ready to lose…whatever this is. The chances of Sehun being so candidly friendly and open with him once they go back to school are slim to none, in his mind.

On the other hand, it’s nice to socialize with someone other than his best friend and his sisters.

“I may be muggle born, but I will die before I ever eat anywhere that hasn’t been personally recommended by Anthony Bourdain. Give me hors d’oeuvre presented on fine china or give me death!”

“Americans,” mutters Sehun.

“Aren’t you from New York City? How have you avoided fast food all your life?” Jongin asks, completely baffled.

“I have a tremendous amount of self-restraint.”

“Your credit card statement says otherwise, I believe.”

“You know, Sehun, I liked you far more when you knew nothing about my world,” Zitao pouts.

Before the youngest in the room can retort, the door to Sehun’s home theater (which by now has become Jongin’s third home, after his grandparents’ and his own) bursts open, announcing the arrival of two very familiar people.

“Minseok gege!” Zitao absolutely shrieks, startling the former Gryffindor and Head Boy.

“Nice of you to welcome my boyfriend so enthusiastically, Tao,” the man standing next to Minseok remarks sarcastically.

His accent, an unmistakable mix of Mancunian English with a Parisian lilt, is music to Jongin’s ears.

Luhan, the only (former) student with Veela blood to study at Hogwarts in recent years. He’d transferred to Hogwarts from Beauxbatons the year before Jongin started.

If rumors are to be believed, he’d used his Veela ancestry to charm his fellow Gryffindor into a relationship. Jongin, however, would like to believe it was true love that led two people so different from each other to come together, but what does he know.

Regardless, Jongin himself has always been a bit infatuated with Luhan, but for other reasons.

“Hello, Luhannie hyung!” Sehun greets. “Come meet my friend, Jong—hey, are you okay?” Sehun asks worriedly, seeing as Jongin is staring unblinkingly at Luhan.

“Maybe he’s particularly succeptible to people who are quarter Veela?” Minseok asks. He’s finally managed to calm down Zitao and now has a protective arm around Luhan’s waist, like he thinks Jongin might just try to kidnap Luhan.

It wouldn’t be the first time.


If anyone besides Jongin—read: if Luhan, with his uncanny ability to read people— notices the stormy look that passes over Sehun’s face for a millisecond, they don’t mention it.

“C-c-can I have your autograph?” Jongin stutters, blushing when he realizes the words he’s always wanted to say to Luhan have come out of his mouth.

“Ah, it’s just a case of idol worship,” Minseok remarks sagely. “Good.”

The downward quirk of Sehun’s lips remains.

“Oh, you are too adorable!” Luhan smiles. “I know you! You joined the Hufflepuff squad during our sixth year. Forgive me for not remembering your name,” he offers apologetically.

“His name is Jongin, and he doesn’t need your autograph.”

“Don’t be rude to hyung, Hun-ah.” Zitao has somehow manhandled Minseok onto his roomy beanbag and is now excitedly fawning over the elder man, asking about ‘Kris gege and his Auror training.’

Jongin somehow manages to keep from drooling when Luhan ruffles his hair and produces a piece of paper and pen from his bag.

“I assume you were at the Gryffindor-Slytherin final back when Baozi and I were 7th years?”

“The way you and Minho hyung led the Gryffindor squad to a complete annihilation of Jiyong sunbae’s three-year winning streak is still talked about,” Jongin gushes. “We were all rooting for you even though you’d crushed us out of the title race weeks before.”

“Careful, kid,” Minseok says, “the last thing Luhan needs is even more adoring fans.”

“Baozi is just annoyed that his precious Liverpool lost to Man United this weekend, just like I predicted they would!” Luhan cries victoriously.

“You Mancunians love to gloat, don’t you,” Minseok says, half-teasingly.

Jongin likes to think that someday he’ll be swept off his feet by a rich, handsome young man who loves football as much as he does, even if he supports the wrong team. He likes to think that there’s a Luhan out there to complete his Minseok.

(If that rich, handsome man of his dreams happens to look a lot like Oh Sehun, well…)
“Anyway,” Luhan says, “did you forget our plans Sehun-ah? We’re supposed to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to help you buy your school things. You have a week left before the start of the new school year.”

Sehun blushes, sneaking a glance at Jongin, although the other boy is too busy admiring Luhan’s nice penmanship on the back of a Tesco’s receipt. He and Minseok really like Belvita chocolate chip biscuits, it seems.

“You don’t have to go with me, hyung. I’m not a baby!”

The way everyone in the room—Jongin included—snickers makes it clear that they don’t believe him at all.

“Oh Sehun, I was there when you bought your first wand! You will not deny me my traditions!”



The next day finds Jongin in Diagon Alley, school book list in hand as he, Sehun, Luhan, and Minseok trail a frazzled Zitao to Madam Malkins’ shop. Apparently, Zitao’s brand new robes are monogrammed with the wrong color thread, lime green rather than forest green, and this is too much for the poor boy.

Suddenly, Sehun pulls Jongin away from the group.

“What—“

“They’re all distracted, now’s our chance! Let’s go get some ice cream or something.”

They walk through the Alley with their ice cream cones, occasionally pausing to shyly offer each other a taste of their own.

Jongin revels in the way Sehun bites his lip every time he leans over to lick at the younger boy’s strawberry flavored treat, before reminding himself that Sehun has a bunch of catalogues with half-naked women hidden under his bed. Whatever is making him flustered, it obviously isn’t Jongin.

Minseok eventually manages to find them, dragging them both back to where Luhan and Zitao are bickering over the usefulness of a monogrammed handkerchief.

“If I have to listen to these two for the rest of the day, so do you,” he states bluntly, although his tone is apologetic, like he knows how much they’ll all be suffering for the next hours.

They finally finish their shopping sometime around four o’clock and by the time Jongin gets home he’s too tired to even think about the fact that he won’t see Sehun again until school starts.



September 1st is a clear, crisp autumn day, just like it is every year. Jongin’s parents drop him and Taemin off at Platform 9 ¾, acquiescing when the two boys claim they can get through the platform and onto the Hogwarts Express by themselves.

After much hugging and kissing, they eventually make it onto the other side of the platform, immediately making their way past the herd of students and overbearing parents.

“Hey, I have to go check in with ‘Key omma’,” Taemin huffs, using air quotes. “You know how he gets when I don’t immediately announce my presence to him. He’ll call me an ungrateful brat for months again. I swear he actually believes he raised me.”

The furrow in his brow would usually amuse Jongin to no end, in that special way that watching your best friend get scolded does, but he has more important matters on his mind.

Mainly, wondering whether Oh Sehun will acknowledge his existence and their friendship. It’s not unusual for Slytherins to have friends outside of their house (Taemin being the perfect example), but Sehun isn’t just any Slytherin. It’s something Jongin has been churning over in his mind for days.

“Are you going to be okay without me, lover boy?” Taemin asks, half-worried.

Jongin bristles, “What good are you if you can’t keep my secrets?”

“If you haven’t figured out by now that best friends means embarrassing you every minute of every day, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe next time you shouldn’t be so damn obviously in love,” Taemin shrugs. He walks off with a wave and a pat on Jongin’s back.

Jongin busies himself with carrying Powell, his barn owl, and trunk onto the train.

Just as he finishes settling into an empty compartment, which Taemin will join him in once he’s done being coddled by a certain 7th year Slytherin with motherly instincts, the door opens.

“Mind if we join you?”

Jongin feels relief the minute he catches Sehun’s inquiring gaze. So he’s not going to pretend he doesn’t know Jongin. This is good.

Sehun’s standing at the compartment door with none other than Zitao and an older Gryffindor that Jongin recognizes from quidditch but can’t name.

“Of course not,” Jongin responds. “I just hope you don’t mind Taemin’s snoring. He’ll be back here in a bit and he usually sleeps the entire way.”

“Lee Taemin?” the as-of-yet unnamed Gryffindor inquires.

“I almost broke his nose last year with a badly timed bludger. Hope he doesn’t mind me being here. I’m Jongdae, by the way,” he smiles. “I’m Tao’s—“

“Friend!” Zitao screams, loud enough to be re-classified as a banshee and not a wizard. No doubt he’s startled half the students already settled on the train.

Somewhere in another compartment, the current Head Boy Kim Junmyeon is probably already staving off a horrible headache.

“Jongdae is my friend! Just a friend,” ZItao glares at the Gryffindor. Jongdae merely seems amused at Zitao’s antics, giving the younger boy a wide smile.

Jongin ignores their weird behavior by introducing himself to Jongdae and then turning to give Sehun a bright smile, which the other boy happily returns.

“What classes are you planning to take, besides the required ones?” he asks Sehun.

Sehun places his own owl’s (Windsor is his name, Jongin learns) cage next to Jongin’s in the overhead compartment and then replies.

“Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies, I think. I might as well continue my foray into the wonderful world of muggles if my tutor is at Hogwarts with me, don’t you think?”

“I guess we’ll be seeing each other quite a bit, then.” Good, he thinks.

“I guess so.”

Before Jongin has a chance to mentally question why their conversation is so stilted compared to the way they were before, the compartment door opens, revealing two younger, smiley boys. One boy has a shock of orange hair and the other has the cutest chipmunk face Jongin has ever seen.

“Jonginnie hyung! Hi!” yells the orange-haired boy, clearly hyped up on Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans.

“Do you know him?” Sehun whispers into his ear. Jongin tries not to shudder at the feeling.

“Taetae!” he greets back. “Sehun, this is my cousin, Taehyung, and his friend Jimin.”

“Nice to meet you!” greets Jimin. He then promptly offers everyone a licorice wand.

Taehyung, bless his soul, has no concept of personal space. He immediately settles down next to Sehun and rests his head on the Slytherin’s head.


“You’re a Slytherin, just like Jungkookie!”


“Who?” Sehun can’t help but ask.

“Jeon Jungkook?” Jongin asks, incredulously. “He’s on your house’s Quidditch team.”

He receives a blank look from the other boy.

“He’s the seeker! How can you not know this?”

Sehun simply shrugs.

“He’s also absolutely perfect,” Taehyung comments, clearly not bothering to follow along with their conversation. “Jungkookie is so cute and smart and driven. He’ll make a great husband someday,” he sighs dreamily.

“You and your Slytherins, Tae,” Jimin pipes up from his place between Zitao and Jongdae. They look like they’ve decided to adopt him, with Zitao cuddling the younger boy close and Jongdae enthusiastically asking him questions about himself.

Eventually, Taemin returns, with his Kibum and Minho hyungs in tow, and the group struggles to arrange themselves comfortably in the compartment. Sehun eventually strikes up a conversation with Key, who kindly ignores the young Hufflepuff currently drooling on Sehun’s shoulder.

Jongin asks Minho for Quidditch tips, and the two (plus Jimin, who plans to try out for Gryffindor’s team this year) talk about the upcoming Quidditch World Cup qualifying matches.
It’s so much more fun this time around, riding to Hogwarts. Usually Jongin and Taemin are alone in their compartment. It’s not that they’re anti-social, it’s just that not many people bother to hang out with them. They’re not especially popular or good-looking or interesting (in their own opinions).

But now they have a compartment full of people they like (or in Zitao’s case, tolerate), and everyone is enjoying themselves. Sehun also seems happy with this new development. Jongin thinks back to Sehun’s confession about not putting himself out there for people who judge him, and is glad that no one currently present makes a fuss about Sehun coming out of his shell.

By the time they arrive in the Great Hall, Jongin feels like the school year is off to a great start.




By the time their second week of school begins, Jongin feels like the school year is not off to a great start.

Their professors have already started piling on the homework, claiming that as fourth years they should already be preparing for their O.W.L.s. Jongin has to make an assignment chart for the first time in his life, just so that he doesn’t miss the deadlines on anything.

As if that weren’t bad enough, Jongin has been rudely reminded of the other reason he loves his summer breaks so much.

Kang Seulgi and her inexplicable crush on Jongin are back and stronger than ever.

She’s not exactly subtle, with the way she openly stares at Jongin, blushes every single time he talks to her, and refuses to take no for an answer when it comes to Jongin being her partner in anything.

During the first week she’d somehow managed to get permission from their Head of House, Professor BoA, to take a third elective class, Care of Magical Creatures. Coincidentally (or not) Jongin is in that class as well. And she seems to have made it her mission in life to stand next to him for every single lesson and partner up with him every time they have hands-on demonstrations. She’s also managed to sit next to Jongin at both breakfast and dinner every day in the Great Hall.

It’s getting harder and harder for him to pretend he isn’t annoyed every time Seulgi pulls him toward the Hufflepuff table, when all he wants to do is walk over to the Slytherin table and sit in the spot Sehun keeps reminding him is saved for him.

He’s really getting tired of seeing the younger boy frown when he smiles apologetically and has to decline his offer. Oh Sehun should never be forced to frown. As much as Jongin doesn’t like to hurt people’s feelings, he thinks he’ll have to put an end to Seulgi’s behavior.

As he makes his way toward Herbology with Professor Donghae after breakfast, someone claps him on the back, startling him easily.

“Aish! Seriously, noona?” Jongin whines. “You know how easily I startle.”

“Sorry, kid,” Amber snickers. “I just wanted to let you that starting this week we’ll be running drills on the field twice a day. Can’t have another fourth place finish like last year. I wasn’t able to look Minho in the eye for weeks! And Soojung was smug. She should never be that smug,” she shudders.

Jongin holds back a groan, even though he very much wants his displeasure to be known. It’s not that he’d forgotten about his role as Hufflepuff seeker, really. But with their first match of the year two months from now in November, he figured he’d get a few weeks to acclimate to his homework load before he’d inevitably have to give up good grades in favor of Quidditch.

“Sorry, kid. I know how horrible your fourth year can be, but I need you to get your head in the game, yeah?”

Jongin makes a vague noise of assent in the back of his throat.

“Thanks, Jonginnie! I knew I could count on you. Now do me a favor and go tell Jinnie and Taehyungie that I will have stern words for them if they miss practice this Friday. I have to get to class.”

She’s off without another word and Jongin finds himself carelessly pulling out his muggle cellphone to text Hufflepuff’s keeper and least qualified (yet most lovable) chaser and let them know what’s going on. He’s intercepted, however.

First, by Professor Kyuhyun, who is clearly hitting a rough patch in his relationship with the school nurse, since he’s even more unfriendly than usual and immediately scolds Jongin for having his phone out.

“Jongin, I can’t tell if you’re being stupid or just your usual Hufflepuff self, but you should already know by now that your fancy muggle contraptions don’t work on school grounds. Since you clearly seem to have forgotten this crucial piece of information, I will do you a favor.”

The Potions professor takes Jongin’s phone along with ten points from Hufflepuff, promising Jongin he can get the phone back later in the day, if Professor Heechul doesn’t get to it first and try to use it as a Divination tool.

Jongin worries.

The second time he’s intercepted it’s by Seulgi, who no doubt wants to make Jongin her Herbology partner, just like she has since their first lesson. Luckily, Sehun seems to have followed Jongin out of the castle and immediately greets the pair.

“Hey, Jongin! Mind being my partner? You know how bad I am at Herbology,” Sehun says, winking stealthily in the Hufflepuff’s direction, as if to say I’ve got you.

Seulgi looks like she’s about to protest, but Sehun wastes no time waiting for a reply, simply pulling Jongin along by the elbow, eventually leaning in to whisper: “You so owe me for that, by the way. Anyone and their mother could tell you were two seconds away from awkwardly accepting her invitation.”

“Ugh. Look, it’s not my fault she likes me. I didn’t ask for this!”

“You’re just too popular for your own good, Kim Jongin.”

“You’re joking, right? I might as well be a ghost with the way most people ignore me.”

“I don’t believe you. Everyone knows seekers are like the strikers of Qudditch. You’re basically the Messi of Hufflepuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if your secret fan club were meeting in the Room of Requirement right now.”

“Now I know you’re joking. The reality is more like Kang Seulgi sitting in the Great Hall waiting for me to come in so she can try to pull my arm off as she manhandles me into sitting next to her. Messi, I am not. I’m not even a subbed-on David Beckham playing for Major League Soccer. Also, you should probably stop hanging out with Luhan and Minseok so much.”

Sehun huffs, at both Jongin’s use of muggle football references that he doesn’t understand, and at his point in general.

“For someone who describes himself as a loser and a loner, you sure seem apprehensive about giving the poor girl a chance,” Sehun says, his tone belying some type of underlying question. Jongin wants to know what that question is.

“First of all, I didn’t describe myself that way at any point in time, but nice try. And secondly, I can’t help the fact that I’m not attracted to girls, especially ones as oblivious about my sexuality as Seulgi.”

Sehun stops walking but keeps his grip on Jongin’s arm, causing the other boy to jerk back.

“You…you don’t like girls?” Sehun asks, letting go of Jongin.

Jongin’s heart sinks, but he manages a firm resolve.

“Is that a problem?”

As much as he likes Sehun (as a friend and otherwise) he’s not going to put up with ill-treatment because of his sexual preferences.

“What? Oh! No, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m not homophobic, Jongin, I swear,” Sehun hurries to say. “It’s just surprising, is all.”

“Really? Because you’re still not looking me in the eyes.”

Sehun’s cheeks flush but he looks Jongin in the eyes defiantly.

“It’s not like I make a point of assuming people’s sexualities, you know.”

“Fair enough,” Jongin says. “I haven’t actually come out, so I guess I can’t fault you for being surprised.”

As they stand in the greenhouse waiting for Professor Donghae and his mulch-stained robes, Sehun leans over to whisper in Jongin’s ear.

“If that girl doesn’t leave you alone and you don’t feel like announcing your sexuality to the world, you can always come to our common room. I’m surprised you never go in there, if I’m honest. Your best friend is a Slytherin.”

“It’s too cold and dreary in there.”

“I can help you stay warm and make our common room more suitable to your tastes,” Sehun teases.

Jongin blushes and thinks Sehun’s done more than enough for him already.




It’s nearing the end of September and Jongin has somehow managed to fend off an eager Seulgi enough to claim that space Sehun has saved for him at the Slytherin table.

It’s nice, being able to sit and talk with Sehun and Taemin (and Zitao, Jongdae, Taehyung, and Jimin, who inevitably join them). Most days, Do Kyungsoo stops by to give Jongin, and by extension their entire group, sweets.

A 5th year Ravenclaw, Kyungsoo has doted on Jongin since his second year, when his best friends Park Chanyeol and Byun Baekhyun accidentally gave Jongin a Puking Pastille meant for their favorite hyung, Henry.

Jongin likes Kyungsoo. He’s relaxed and friendly and always gifts Jongin Pumpkin Pasties when he knows the younger boy is stressed from lessons. He’d be the perfect boyfriend for Jongin if it weren’t for the fact that Kyungsoo already has a boyfriend and the fact that Jongin is hopelessly in like with Sehun.

True to his word, Sehun has kept Jongin warm in his house’s near freezing common room, offering him multiple blankets and pepper imps. Sometimes, they get Irene noona, who has a soft spot for them, to make them hot cocoa.

They pretend to study but in reality they sit and watch as Taemin stresses over all the work he has to do. Most times, the great Kim Kibum is called in to talk the boy off his metaphorical ledge, which inevitably leads to Jongin and Sehun asking Minho—who goes wherever Key goes—about his post-Hogwarts plans.

When they’re not taking up space in the Slytherin Dungeon, they sit by the lake. Autumn is chilly, turning to winter by the day, but the days are still agreeable enough to spend outside.

It startles Jongin, how easily he and Sehun have fallen into a friendship. They’re very touchy nowadays, and it isn’t unusual to see them nestled together on a couch with their limbs interwined.

Part of Jongin is ecstatic at the progress they’ve made, while the other part of him questions what they’re moving toward. Sehun hadn’t offered any clue as to his own sexual orientation that time that Jongin opened up to him, and he doesn’t think it’s his place to try and broach such a sensitive topic.

There are days when Sehun will walk up behind Jongin and wrap his arms arms his torso, resting his head against Jongin’s shoulder. The Hufflepuff relishes those few seconds, basking in the fantasy.

It’s not just Jongin that notices the change in Sehun. Everyone else seems to notice how Sehun has opened up.

People talk about Sehun being one of the best students in their Muggle Studies class, even more knowledgeable than some of the half-bloods, knowing all about the latest muggle technology and television series.

Taemin teases Jongin about Sehun being in all his activities outside of Quidditch, and it’s true. Sehun, poor, poor tone deaf Sehun has joined Hogwarts’ Frog Choir and nobody besides Jongin seems willing to pretend that he’s done it because he particularly likes to sing. He’s also in the Hogwarts Debate Society, started by Kyungsoo’s best friend and mortal enemy, the overly-argumentative Ravenclaw Byun Baekhyun.

On good days, Jongin has no trouble believing what his friends and hyungs say, which is that Sehun would conquer his fear of flying if it meant he could be on the same Quidditch team as Jongin, thus allowing them to spend even more time together.

And then there are days, rare and unexpected, when Jongin feels like Sehun is hiding from him. The younger boy stays away for whatever reason, and Jongin is left feeling like he’s got a phantom limb troubling him.

Those are the days when he berates himself for childishly believing that his love life could ever be so simple and straightforward as to allow him to love and be loved by one of his closest friends.

Sehun always makes it up to him after he deserts him, clinging to Jongin. He doesn’t say much, but the smile he gives Jongin—different than the one he gives to anybody else—shows how contrite he feels and how happy he is that Jongin hasn’t given up on him. Yet, he never mentions what it is that makes him upset.

He never seems to divulge anything too personal of his own, even as Jongin shares everything with him. Jongin can (begrudgingly) accept that he’s kept at arms-reach, mostly because Sehun makes up for it in other ways, but sometimes his self-consciousness rears its ugly head. At such times, Jongin finds it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to speak up about his feelings.

It’s stressful, more than anything, harboring a crush that is blooming rather than wilting. Jongin feels his admiration becoming adoration, and he’d much rather suppress it than admit it. Not that he’s fooling those around him, if the looks that Chanyeol and Zitao send his way during breakfast are anything to go by.



September becomes October, and Amber drives the Hufflepuff team to the brink of exhaustion. Even normally relaxed Seokjin is on edge, snapping at his boyfriend at breakfast one day, for rapping along to a Nicki Minaj song on the ipod he managed to smuggle into school of all things.

While Jongin’s cousin and his best friend are excited about Halloween and their first trip to Hogsmeade coming up, Jongin finds himself at a breaking point. He’s so sleep deprived and miserable that he can’t even drag himself out of bed for his usual breakfast time with Sehun, which only irritates him more.

It’s as if Sehun can sense his breakdown coming, regardless of the fact that Jongin barely has time to speak to him nowadays.

He pulls Jongin away from his Transfiguration homework on yet another clear day that Jongin won’t get to enjoy.

At first he thinks Sehun wants to drag him to the weekly Debate Society meeting, but the younger boy simply leads him to the 7th floor, where he paces in front of a wall. Just as Jongin is starting to question Sehun’s sanity, he notices a door in the wall that wasn’t there before.

“Should I even bother asking?” he arches an eyebrow, but his tone betrays his awe.

“I saw Jumyeon hyung come in here with Kris hyung once. I told hyung that I’d spill the story of his secret relationship to the Daily Prophet once he became Minister of Magic. You know how Junmyeon hyung protects his image. He was all too willing to show me how to use the room.”

“What kind of room is it?” Jongin questions, stepping inside behind Sehun. His question is rendered useless once he looks around.

“It’s a dance studio?” Jongin asks stupidly.

“No, dummy,” Sehun teases, “It’s the Room of Requirement. A special room will give you exactly what you need, when you need it if you just know how to ask. It’s different for everyone who uses it, but since you needed a dance studio right now, that’s what it is.”

“What makes you think I need a dance studio right now? What I need is a time-turner to go back in time to stop myself from coming up here with you.”

“Jongin, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the bags under your eyes are darker than Tao’s pet cat and you almost broke your last quill today from gripping it so hard while writing your essay. You’re stressed,” Sehun answers.

“So your solution is to make me lose even more time so that I can be even more tired and stressed later on?” Jongin huffs. His lack of rest coupled with his anxiety over everything going on in his life is causing him to get far too irritated.

“Look, forget about your homework. I’ll talk to Professor Boa and tell her you’ve got too much on your plate. I’m her favorite student, along with Taemin, so we can vouch for you. Plus, I’m sure she wants her own house to win the House Cup as much as Amber noona does. I promise you won’t get in trouble.”

Jongins anger begins to melt away. Sehun always offers the simplest solutions, yet they’re always the right ones.

Jongin’s lack of reply seems to put a damper on Sehun’s mood, since he quietly says, ”I’m sorry. I just wanted to help you relax. Taemin hyung says dancing is the only thing besides flying that can calm you down. And since Quidditch is a current source of your frustration, I thought it would be better for you to keep your feet on the ground.”

Jongin, finally taking a good look around the room, realizes how nice Sehun is. To find a way to bring a dance studio to Jongin, just so that he can de-stress, while getting nothing in return…it’s more than nice. It’s a true testament to Sehun’s good heart.

“Thanks, Hun-ah. Really, you’re too good to me. I know I haven’t been a particularly great friend lately, skiving off our time together to do other things,” Jongin recalls, feeling ashamed.

Sehun has never once complained to Jongin or about him, yet Jongin treated has him like trash for doing something so nice.

“I don’t know how to repay you,” Jongin adds, feeling guilty.

“Don’t think about that. Just do what you love.”

And Jongin does just that.

The room looks just like Jongin and Taemin’s own dance studio back in London, and Jongin doesn’t doubt that his best friend showed Sehun a photo in order for him to conjure it up here at Hogwarts.

He stands in front of the mirrored wall, Sehun sitting against the wall behind him, and tries to remember all the steps to the routine for the last showcase. He sheds his robes, feeling silly in them now that he’s about to dance, and is left with only his white undershirt and skinny jeans. The outfit isn’t ideal, but he’ll make it work.

Sehun dutifully produces an iPhone and plays the track that Jongin indicates to him.
Having not danced in over a month and a half, Jongin is rusty. He watches himself stutter through some of the more difficult points in the routine.

He’s nowhere near as smooth in his movements as he should be and his transitions are anything but clean. He feels himself getting fed up with himself, which Sehun seems to notice immediately.

“Hey,” he calls to Jongin softly, “this is supposed be be relaxing you, not stressing you out even further.

He makes his way over and puts a comforting hand on Jongin’s shoulder.

“Whatever it is that’s making you feel like you’re not good enough, forget about it. From where I’m sitting, you’re amazing, Jongin. Just dance, without worrying about your form or whether you’re out of shape.”

The look Sehun gives him is so sincere that Jongin almost stops breathing altogether. His palm is warm on Jongin’s shoulder, grounding him.

“Yeah, hyung!” a booming voice calls out behind them. Jongin jumps, heart racing as he turn toward the intruder.

“Taehyungie?”


“How the hell did you get in here, kid?” Sehun questions. His words are less harsh than they are bewildered.

“Through the door, of course!” Taehyung answers, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“I specifically tried to make sure the room wouldn’t let anyone but Jongin and me in.”

“Well, that seems kind of creepy, to be honest.” Taehyung raises an eyebrow at the Slytherin.

Jongin senses Sehun’s frown more than he sees it, since he’s still facing his cousin.

“Taetae, Sehun was just trying to do something nice for me since he knows I’ve been pretty stressed out lately. Would you mind leaving us alone for a bit?”

“Of course, hyung!” Taehyung replies brightly.

He allows his cousin to guide him toward the door, stopping once they get there to whisper in Jongin’s ear.

“Hyung, if that snake tries anything with you that you don’t want, I can be here in a jiffy! Jiminie managed to get his hands on a Devil’s Snare and I’ve been itching to let it loose on someone,” Taehyung says, eyes wild.

“Uh, yeah, sure Tae. I-I’ll let you know,” Jongin supplies.

He lets his cousin go with an unsure smile and then turns to find Sehun staring at himself through the mirror thoughtfully. He’s pulled off his robes, now clad in a white t-shirt and his skinny jeans.

“That move you did earlier, where you’re on the ground and lift up to do a twist before you fall back to the ground, it was, um, it was really cool,” Sehun says sheepishly, looking anywhere but at Jongin.

Jongin smiles, “I could show you some moves if you’d like? That one’s a bit advanced, but there are other really cool ones you could probably do.”

“Sounds cool,” Sehun says nonchalantly , but Jongin doesn’t miss the way he immediately starts trying to do Jongin’s stretching exercises from earlier.

As Jongin gives Sehun helpful tips on his technique, he thinks fleetingly that all his days should be spent like this.

If they both completely forget about all of their responsibilities for the rest of the afternoon, no one has to know.




The 31st comes, and with it come the costumes that the half-bloods and muggle-born students insist on wearing and which Headmaster Kim happily allows.

“Are you planning on dressing up, Jongin?” Zitao asks.

He’s sitting at the Slytherin table again, his spot back at the Hufflepuff table practically collecting dust.

Before he can answer the question, which Sehun really seems to be interested in hearing (judging by the fact that he’s leaned in closer than necessary to Jongin), a disgruntled voice speaks up.

“Huang, I didn’t give a shit when you tried to redecorate our common room, or when you covered our dorm room in pictures of your precious Candice Delebean, but I refuse to let this table be overrun by a bunch of losers from other houses who have nothing better to do,” Min Yoongi complains.

“Excuse me?” Zitao arches a perfectly plucked eyebrow.
“You may not care that our house is going to the dogs, but some of us have a little more pride than that. We’ve been nice enough to accept your kind here—“

“His ‘kind’?” Sehun repeats, looking murderous. Jongin shrinks down into his seat, as Jongdae, Kibum, Minho, and Taemin all attempt to speak out at the same time.

Zitao places a hand on Sehun’s arm, clearly wanting to handle the matter himself.

“You mean anyone whose not a pure-blood like you? Might as well use your favorite word to describe me, I can tell you’re itching to do so,” Zitao bites out.

“Look,” Yoongi replies, with a condescending grin, “I get that it’s not your fault you’re a mudblood, but just tone it down, all right? That’s all I’m saying.” His smile is sinister, the ”or else” heavily implied.

Jongin flinches involuntarily at Yoongi’s use of that word, but Zitao and Sehun don’t so much as blink.

“You could have literally called me anything else in the world and it would’ve had a bigger impact. I don’t care about your goddamned blood purity or your insults relating to it, to be quite honest. Now, excuse me while I go and get my absolutely fabulous, Gucci-designed, Lady Gaga bubble costume ready,” Zitao replies coolly, calmly getting out of his seat and leaving.

Sehun is still clenching his fists on the table, and Jongin wants nothing more than to reach over the table and make the tension in his shoulder’s melt away.

“Hey, fuckface,” Kang Jihyun—better known as Soyou amongst her friends—calls out to a smug Yoongi, “I thought I told you not to mess with our special snowflake. Do you want me to let professor Taeyeon know who stole one of the eyeballs in a jar from her office? If you’re lucky she might let you get off easy and just make you water the Whomping Willow,” she teases nastily.

Yoongi turns even paler than he normally is, and immediately stands up to leave, cursing them all under his breath.

Jongin, along with everyone else in their group, watches dumfounded as Soyou sits next to Kibum and immediately starts discussing Professor Victoria’s outfit during their last Muggle Studies Lesson, as if the previous exchange never happened.

Kibum is the first to recover, engaging his best friend in a conversation.

Taemin steals Jongin’s attention, asking what his grade on the last Muggle Studies test was. Sehun immediately interjects.

“I got every question right! Not even Jongin managed that,” he brags.

“Oh Sehun, you are clearly the imposter here,” Jongin whines. “No other Slytherin would take Muggle Studies, let alone be proud to have the best grade in the class.”

“Excuse you! Key hyung takes the class as well. It’s not that weird.”

“Key hyung considers himself the future spouse of Choi Minho. Muggle Studies for him is basically a way for him to figure out how to ingratiate himself to his future in-laws,” Taemin jokes.

“I resent that, you brat. Everyone knows Minho will be taking my surname,” Kibum says haughtily. Minho squawks indignantly next to him.

As the conversation around them devolves into a discussion about keeping surnames after marriage, Jongin allows Sehun to drag him away.

“Are you ready for later?” Sehun asks as they walk in the courtyard.

Later, also known as dinner in the Great Hall, where Jongin and Sehun will reveal their joint costumes. Jongin isn’t ready.

“Y-yeah,” he stutters out awkwardly. “I think we’ll show everyone up with how awesome our costumes are, to be honest.”

“Clearly, you underestimate Tao’s love of Halloween.”


They end up almost missing the Halloween dinner, Sehun’s costume being too difficult to zip up on his own and Jongin is already in his own. They managed it after forty-five minutes, luckily, but by then they’ve already missed the Headmaster’s semi-drunken address and a nasty spat between Professors Taeyeon and Jessica over whose decorations in the Great hall are better.

Jongdae delights in recounting the events for them in a minute-by-minute replay (“You should’ve seen Professor Yunho. He kept saying “Jaejoong I think you’ve had enough Firewhiskey” exasperatedly but the Headmaster just kept drinking and talking! It was brilliant!”)

None of their friends seem to be bothered by their costumes in the slightest. They may or may not still be shocked by Zitao’s ridiculous and revealing costume. The same can not be said for the rest of their peers, who are all clearly fixated on Jongin and Sehun’s “couple” costumes.

“Oh my god! They’re dressed as a mailbox and a letter, how cute is that?” Jung Soojung gushes to Park Sunyoung.

Taehyung winks at his cousin, seated a few seats down in his own Captain America costume. Jimin, ever the narcissist, is receiving not only praise from their school’s entire population of females but also glares from Yoongi and Jeon Jungkook because of his Black Widow costume. Jongin won’t even try to understand that one.

They’re all (meaning Sehun and Jongin’s group of friends, as well as everyone in Baekhyun’s Debate Society) sitting at the Gryffindor table for a change. There’s lots of food and laughter to be had, especially once Chanyeol and Jongdae start up their annual Halloween “stand up special”—also known as the yearly retelling of stale jokes that no one bothered to laugh at last year—and incur the wrath the Head Girl and Head Boy, who don’t appreciate being pranked at a school function for the sake of bad comedy.

Sehun, who has rather limited mobility in his costume, has to rely on Jongin to feed him the tasty Halloween-themed food throughout dinner. Jongin attempts not to blush as he brings a fork to Sehun’s mouth and wipes at his face when the younger boy behaves like a brat and moves his face away as Jongin holds up a spoonful of roasted vegetables.

“Don’t look now,” Sehun attempts to whisper in Jongin’s ear at some point, although the distance required by his costume makes it so he has to speak at a normal volume. “Your stalker is glaring at me, right now.”

Seulgi hasn’t been crowding around Jongin much lately, much to his delight and her clear displeasure. It makes a bad feeling settle in his stomach, however, when he watches her stare at Sehun as if he’s grown another head, the sadness in her gaze plain to see.

Jongin tries to rationalize it all. He knows he never meant to lead her on, and if she’s still hung up on him when he’s clearly (according to everyone who knows him) hung up on someone else, then it’s not his problem.

But the niggling thought in the back of his mind, the one that says that it could just as easily be him in her position, keeps him in a state of unease whenever he sees her.

In another life, one where all of Jongin’s free time isn’t spent being in awe of Oh Sehun’s flawed perfection, where Jongin was heterosexual and had a thing for beautiful, nice girls, maybe Jongin would find himself falling for her.

Jongin spends the rest of the night silently wishing that Sehun never treats him the way he’s treated Seulgi.




November is the beginning of Quidditch season at Hogwarts, and as such, all the Quidditch players become instantly recognizable to their peers: their school uniforms are regularly replaced with their Quidditch uniforms because of their numerous practice sessions, they spend all their free time sleeping, and they begin to close off around those who aren’t members of their own houses.

Jongin laments being so secretive and avoiding his best friend, even though Taemin does the same to him. It’s a generally understood fact that every house is competitive and willing to do whatever it has to in order to be the last one standing when the Quidditch final comes and goes.

Even the heads of houses get overly competitive, favoring their own house’s team to the point of granting them special favors. Some, like Professors Yunho, Han Geng, and BoA allow their house’s students to have extended deadlines on assignments during the weeks leading up to their house’s matches. Others, like Professor Taeyeon, prefer to pile on the homework for students from other houses.

It makes for a tense atmosphere, which is why almost everyone welcomes the brief respite from Quidditch during the holidays, before it all starts back up again at the end of February.

The only person Jongin talks to during this time who isn’t a fellow Hufflepuff is Sehun, although his teammates all disapprove. Seokjin in particular gives Jongin his sad puppy eyes. He’s given up quality time with his own boyfriend, despite the fact that Namjoon knows about as much about Quidditch as Jongin knows about astrophysics.

Sehun, who is insanely perceptive, never attempts to talk to Jongin about Quidditch nowadays, lest Jongin comes to think that Sehun is working as a spy for Slytherin.

The notion is admittedly silly, and during any other month Jongin would scoff at the idea that Sehun is trying to get Amber’s tactical plans out of him, but with the first matches of the season coming up, anything is possible.

Especially now that Zitao has joined Slytherin’s team, much to the chagrin of one of his team’s beaters, the loveable Min Yoongi.

Jongin had been among those to rejoice when one of Slytherin’s chasers had had a drunken run-in with the Whomping Willow that resulted in a broken arm and nothing more serious than that.

The happiness faded when his replacement was announced. Especially when ZItao’s prowess as a chaser was discovered.

Now, Jongin and Zitao eye each other warily from their respective tables. Even Chanyeol and Jongdae, who are normally quite close, spend their days snarling at each other in a horribly funny but also appalling display of extreme competitiveness. More than once, Kyungsoo and Baekhyun have to put up with indignant shouts of “He started it!” Even Soojung and Amber spend time apart, their status as respective captains of their own house weighing on their relationship.

Of course, some people just don’t care, the prime example being Minho and Kibum. They spend their time together like always, not caring about being labeled traitors by their peers.

Jongin gets quite a few disapproving glances from his otherwise supportive fellow Hufflepuffs, but he doesn’t care. Sehun is always there when Jongin needs him.

They’ve managed to find the perfect balance between being together and apart. Jongin’s long practices keep him away most afternoons, but they make up for it by spending time in the Room of Requirement and in Debate Society and Frog Choir meetings (where Baekhyun and Professor Changmin, stamp out any inter-house animosity, respectively).

They also spend quite a bit of time out by the lake, ignoring all the rumors that seem to be circulating about them.

Ever since their “couple costumes” fiasco, people have been talking about Jongin and Sehun a lot more. It seems like not a day goes by that Jongin doesn’t hear a new story about how he and his “boyfriend” are spending a fair bit of quality time together.

He tries to put it out of his mind as the first matches draw closer. Gryffindor is playing Slytherin in the first match, and Jongin tags along with Sehun to support Taemin and Zitao.

The match is messy, as any rivalry match between the snakes and lions is wont to be. There are numerous fouls on either side, and at one point Kibum almost attempts to hex Chanyeol from his spot in the stands next to Jongin, after the Slytherin nearly beheads Minho with one of his bludgers.

The real stars of the match are the seekers. Yoon Bora, a seventh year, fights to keep third year Jeon Jungkook off her trail as she makes a beeline for the snitch. It’s futile, in the end, as the slippery little snake proudly lifts the snitch and effectively ends the match.



Two weeks later, it’s Jongin’s turn. Taemin and Zitao tag along with Sehun, who sneaks into the Hufflepuff changing rooms to wish Jongin good luck.

Everyone in the room other than Jongin tries to stifle their laughter as Sehun blushes and stammers. He’d not had the foresight to remember that Jongin and his teammates might be in a state of undress, and had walked in just as Jongin was removing his shirt.
Meanwhile, Jongin is too busy getting into the zone that he fails to register his friends’ presence until Taemin clears his throat awkwardly for the third time.

“O-oh, hey guys!” he greets them, subtly attempting to pull on his black and yellow uniform before Sehun can see all the Quidditch-related bruises on his upper body.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to wish you luck, Nini!” Taemin cries, smirking evilly when Jongin registers the use of his embarrassing nickname.

“Not that you need it,” Sehun assures. “You’ll be great out there. I’m willing to be Tao’s entire Gucci handbag that you’ll catch the snitch in twenty minutes, tops.”

Tao sniffs at that but says, “Yeah, I think you can take a team full of girls, to be honest. It would be embarrassing if you couldn’t.”

Once his friends leave, Jongin spends his time before kickoff trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.

Just before leaving, Sehun had pulled Jongin into the most comfortable hug ever and whispered encouragements into his ear. Now, Jongin is trying to use Sehun’s words as a way to center himself.

The Hufflepuff team walks out onto the pitch to find the Ravenclaws already waiting there. Jongin ignores all the talking that goes on in favor of getting into the zone.

The referee, Professor Hyukjae, blows his whistle, and suddenly Jongin is in the air. Despite having spent so much time training on this same pitch, Jongin feels as though it’s brand new. The feeling of playing another Quidditch match for Hufflepuff House forces his nerves to recede and he feels free and competitive and happy, once more.

He spends most of the game high up above the other players, carefully looking out for any sign of the snitch or a sign that will tell him whether Sunyoung, Ravenclaw’s seeker, has spotted it herself.

Down below them, the match is much less dirty and far more entertaining than the previous one. Both teams are neck and neck with their scoring, with Seokjin clearly emerging as the Hufflepuffs’ hero. He catches nearly two thirds of the balls Soojung and Wendy try to get past him.

Baekhyun is the announcer for this match, as Jongdae still has detention for trying to poison Chanyeol before their match two weeks ago. Not that Baekhyun is much better, if Professor Boa’s glares are any indication.

It’s pure coincidence, really, that Jongin feels a tickle by his ear and reaches up to scratch it, his hand brushing against cool metal for an instant. He knows the feeling of this texture.

Without even thinking twice, Jongin turns around and dives for the snitch. With Sunyoung halfway across the pitch and Jongin so close to it already, it takes him less than two minutes to catch the flighty little thing.

The first thing Sehun says to him as he’s mobbed by his teammates and fellow Hufflepuffs is, “I told you! Nineteen minutes!”

Jongin can’t wait to tease Zitao about his designer collection.



December greets the students of Hogwarts in style, with a blizzard covers all of the Hogwarts grounds in white powder, allowing them a brief period of fun during it’s first week.

Jongin is still putting up with taunts and teasing from his freakshow of a win against

A certain Slytherin, whose name rhymes with Win Woongi, attempts to make people believe that Jongin had bribed someone to make the snitch sluggish, in order to secure a win for his team. Nobody believes him.

Jongin and Sehun spend their mornings sorting through their holiday mail. Every few days, they each get a football-themed Christmas card from either Luhan or Minseok, instructing them to disregard the last Christmas card, as “Luhan/Minseok clearly doesn’t understand that Manchester United/Liverpool is the best team in all of England.” They find it all very amusing.

The whole school begins to catch the Christmas spirit, with Professor Changmin working the Frog Choir to the bone in order to prepare for their Winter Showcase. Mistletoe pops up everywhere, as do candy canes and presents from home for those students who will be spending the holidays at Hogwarts.

It’s with a heavy heart that Jongin ends up having to say goodbye to Sehun. His family plans to spend the holidays together and thus he won’t be spending the holidays with Sehun, whose father will be busy and would prefer for his son to stay in the safe walls of their school.

Sehun and Taemin see him off at the train station, and Jongin spends the entire ride thinking about how nice it would be to spend Christmas with Sehun. He knows it’s dangerous to think this way, but he thinks it’s okay to allow himself a brief respite from bottling up all he feels for the other boy.



Despite keeping in touch throughout Christmas and New Year’s Eve, it’s a relief for Jongin to be back at school with his friends and his Sehun.

A week after they get back, Jongin is woken up by Taemin, Sehun, and Kyungsoo. They’re carrying a cake and immediately begin singing Happy Birthday once Jongin sits up to receive both the cake and their presents.

Kyungsoo and Taemin leave eventually to get to their lessons, but Sehun keeps Jongin hostage in his bed.

“I can’t believe we’re missing all of our classes today just because you want to celebrate my birthday,” Jongin says incredulously.

“It’s your birthday! We have to spend the day together on your birthday! That means you can’t go to class today. And when it’s my turn, we’ll spend the day together as well, I’ve already decided,” Sehun says with finality.

They do nothing but laze around in Jongin’s bed for most of the day, eating the sweets their friends and Jongin’s parents have sent, and watching movies on the laptop Sehun managed to smuggle into the school.

All in all, it’s a pretty perfect day.



When Valentine’s day rolls around Jongin is an absolute mess. He spends all morning worrying that Seulgi will attempt to gift him a Valentine and ask for his heart, or that Sehun will show up with some girl on his arm after confessing his undying love to someone who is not Jongin.

What actually happens is much worse.

Jongin is called into the Hufflepuff common room, at midday, and the sight that greets him is a horrible one.

Taehyung is there, flocked by Seokjin, Jimin, Namjoon, and a boy Jongin doesn’t recognize. He tries to explain to his cousin what happened, but his constant crying makes everything unintelligible.

Namjoon is the one who explains. Taehyung had tried gifting a box of Valentine’s day chocolate to Jeon Jungkook, who had scoffed, called him a mudblood, and told Taehyung that if he ever came near him again he would use the Cruciatus curse on him.

Understandably, Taehyung is more than a little upset.

And in a giant twist coming out of nowhere, it had been Min Yoongi who had found him, gotten Jimin to go comfort Taehyung, and then taken it upon himself to punch Jungkook in the face.

Jongin spends the rest of the day with his cousin, partially out of family loyalty, and partially because the thought of facing Sehun on Valentine’s day and receiving an indirect rejection is too much for him.

Kim Jongin is a coward, he knows.



Neither Jongin nor Sehun mention the events of Valentine’s day or Jongin’s disappearance that day, though it’s clear Sehun knows what happened, if his utterly unabashed disdain of Jeon Jungkook is any indication.

Jongin watches Slytherin beat Ravenclaw with Sehun at the end of the month, watching as Zitao continues to shine (even as he still insists fashion design is his true calling).

Two weeks later, Hufflepuff manage to beat Gryffindor by the thinnest of margins, with Jongin doing much the same as Jungkook, just barely managing to capture the snitch in his fingers before Bora can grasp it in hers, making their final score 210-170 to Hufflepuff.



It’s a regular day in the middle of March when everything changes.

Jongin is waiting for Sehun outside of the Great Hall in order to walk to Care of Magical Creatures together. When the younger boy gets there, however, he pulls Jongin in the opposite direction of their class.

“Sehun? What are you doing?”

The other boy doesn’t answer, choosing instead to lead Jongin in the direction of the lake.

“Sehun, seriously, is something wrong? We have to get to class.”

What Jongin is expecting once they get to the lake, is an explanation for his friend’s actions. What Jongin is not expecting, is for Sehun to close in on him and caress his cheek.

“W-what are you doing?” he asks uselessly.

He finds it extremely difficult to break away from Sehun’s gaze. There’s something in Sehun’s eyes that Jongin doesn’t recognize. He’s seen it there before, but now it’s like it’s magnified.

He’s struggling to catch up mentally when Sehun carefully holds his face in his hands and kisses him.

It’s a short kiss, five seconds long at most. Yet it completely throws Jongin’s mind into a tizzy.

Sehun pulls away looking more nervous than Jongin has ever seen him, Scratching the back of his neck as he waits for Jongin to react.

He doesn’t.

Jongin says nothing. He can’t. It feels like Sehun’s kiss has pulled all of the words he had out of him.

Sehun’s face becomes impassive, looking much like it used to back when his only real friend was Zitao.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” he says, appearing uncomfortable and sad. “Forgive me.”

He doesn’t wait around to hear Jongin’s response, not that he had one anyway.

Jongin doesn’t go to Care of Magical Creatures or any other class that day. He stays by the lake and tries not to think about what it all means.



April blends into May, and Jongin can’t help but feel a tremendous sadness when he remembers how he didn’t get to spend Sehun’s birthday with him the way they had originally planned. He tries not to think about the gift he has hidden under his bed, wrapped in silver wrapping paper and addressed to Jongin’s “favorite person in the history of the world.” He tries not to frown at how great it would have been to see the look on Taemin’s face as Sehun read that aloud.

Sehun doesn’t even try to talk to Jongin anymore. When they pass each other in the halls or have lessons together, he simply pretends Jongin doesn’t exist.

It’s frustrating because, if anything, Jongin should be the one doing all the avoiding. He’s the one who got kissed for no reason and with no explanation. And yet, it’s him who gets treated like an undesirable while Sehun pretends that nothing occurred.

As much as he tries not to, Jongin sometimes wishes he could run away without a trace, like he used to do as a kid. Wishes he could still wander off and end up in a place completely different from where he’d been with no clue as to how he got there. It’s a useful skill for ignoring your problems, he thinks.

He thinks that he shouldn’t have been at the Laundromat that day, shouldn’t have struck up an easy friendship with the then-blond boy. He should have just avoided Oh Sehun and his crush for as long as possible.

Because now Jongin feels like his heart’s been ripped out of his body and stomped on, but he can’t bring himself to tell anyone that. At least not yet.



There’s no conceivable explanation for why Jongin is standing in Luhan’s living room a week after Sehun’s birthday, allowing the older man to give him a tour. And yet here he is.

“I gave Minseok that Manchester United snow globe for his birthday,” Luhan points out. “He gave me tickets to the Liverpool-Everton match for Christmas. It’s kind of our thing.”

“Hyung,” Jongin pleads, not the least bit interested in ugly novelty items that all look the same. “I need your help. Sehun kissed me! He kissed me but then he—“

“I know all about that, Jongin. No need to explain,” Luhan reassures him.

“You know? Did Sehun tell you?”


“Of course he did. You may be the boy of his dreams, Jongin, but I’m still that brat’s favorite hyung. I’m the one who he confides in when he feels lost. And boy does he feel lost right now. You’ve really done a number on him.”

“Me?” Jongin spits out incredulously. “He’s the straight boy with Victoria’s Secret catalogues! He’s the one who has never treated me as more than a friend! And now he apparently wants to kiss me?”

“Okay, first of all,” Luhan says, as he drags Jongin to sit on his red and white patterned ugly couch, “there’s no sign or anything anywhere that says that a homosexual male is not allowed to look at or collect Victoria’s Secret catalogues. But if there was, don’t you think it might be possible that Sehun is bisexual?”

Actually, no. Jongin had not considered the fact that Sehun was neither fully heterosexual or homosexual at all.

“Jongin, you really have to stop assuming you know things that you don’t. Look, Sehun is a loveably simple boy,” Luhan continues. The way he utters the word “simple” makes Jongin think that Luhan actually means to say “stupid.”

“Clearly, he likes you enough that he kissed you, but was too stupid to talk it out with you beforehand. Are you sure you were completely blameless in all of this? Maybe you pushed him away after the fact?”

“Hyung, all I did was stare at him. I never once said no to him, I couldn’t have,” Jongin murmurs. “I was shocked. I couldn’t move if I tried, but he just muttered and apology and left.”

“You didn’t go after him?” Luhan asks incredulously.

“Was I supposed to?”


Luhan takes a moment to smother himself in Minseok’s decorative Liverpool FC throw pillow.

“I swear on Headmaster Kim’s washboard abs, I was never this dumb around Minseok. Jongin, you should have gone after him! You should’ve told him how you felt!”

“But hyung, if he left after kissing me, doesn’t that mean he regretted it? He didn’t actually want to kiss me!”

Luhan just barely manages to keep himself from smacking Jongin upside the head. The same can’t be said for Minseok, who wanders in from the cold and flicks Jongin on the head.

He sits next to Luhan and casually drapes an arm around him. Jongin can see now why they had such devoted fan clubs during their Hogwarts days.

“Jongin, this entire issue could have been avoided if you and Sehun had just chosen to come clean about your feelings to each other,” Minseok advises sagely.

“Since you two didn’t, and things are now complete shit, I suggest you stop whining about how messed up things are and go fix them like the big boy you are.”

Minseok’s tone leaves no room for argument and Jongin finds himself leaving his friends’ home with a new sense of purpose.

He plans to march straight into the Slytherin common room and give Oh Sehun the biggest smooch of his life, consequences be damned!

Except, what really happens is that Jongin gets back to the Castle from Hogsmeade and decides he’s not ready for such a big step. He spends the rest of the day in bed, hating himself.



The day of the Quidditch final arrives two weeks later. Jongin steels himself to go up against Zitao, who seems to be angry at Jongin for whatever reason.

He makes threatening gestures over his porridge at Jongin and even recruits Yoongi to do the same. Apparently, the two have found common ground in Quidditch and have turned the animosity between them into animosity against Jongin.

Luckily, he still has Taemin (and by extension Kibum and Minho) on his side, and the three of them are more than happy to hiss back at anyone who insults Jongin.

Jongin hasn’t slept well. There have been no recent developments with Sehun, and he’s constantly plagued by Minseok’s words.

The truth is that he knows it’s his responsibility to make things right, even if Sehun was the one to make the first move. It’s him who has to fix this issue that’s come between them. But acknowledging the truth and doing something about it are two different things.

As Jongin walks out to the pitch after breakfast, he can’t help but think about the kiss.

It had been soft and chaste. Sweet and far too short.

Jongin hadn’t let himself think about it too much in the aftermath, because that just made it more painful when he saw Sehun and received no acknowledgement.

And now he’s here, able to think about nothing else as he plays in his first ever Quidditch final at Hogwarts.

The kiss and everything else Sehun has done for him or with him, are now coming back to the forefront of his mind.

This is what he gets for hiding his feelings and trying to bury them.

He ends up having a mini-freak out once the match actually starts. From up here in the air, he can see Sehun down in the stands, sitting with their shared group of friends. Even now, he’s avoiding looking at Jongin.
It stings.

Jongin decides to push it out of his mind, as Min Yoongi seems to be trying to personally knock him off his broom with some expertly hit bludgers.

He has to duck and climb ever higher above the rest of the players in order to escape him and his nasty grin.

Eventually, Jongin sees the snitch. He watches in horror as that little jerk Jungkook zooms after it. Jongin knows he won’t catch up to the younger boy and the snitch in time, but he realizes he can’t give up.

That’s when the realization hits him.

All this year, Jongin has watched passively as the things he wants most in life are paraded in front of him, without ever reaching out to grab them for himself. He got lucky once, during their first Quidditch match of the season, but he knows he won’t get lucky again. Especially not in matters of the heart.

He has to try to win this time. He has to give it a shot without fearing failure.

He immediately attempts the dumbest thing he ever possibly could: he zooms around the stadium in the opposite direction of Jungkook, effectively putting them on a crash course for collision where the favorable outcome (catching the snitch) is far less likely than the unfavorable one (killing them both).

As he approaches Jungkook, the younger boy begins to understand Jongin’s plan. He seems to delight in this game of chicken, rather than fear it, as shown by his crazy smile. It seems that Slytherins have a thing for dangerous situations.

They’re getting closer now and Jongin knows that pretty soon it will be too late to back out, so he presses on.

Jungkook seems to falter now, realizing the extent of the danger involved in such a play.

Two seconds before Jongin is expecting a violent crash, the younger boy swerves to the left, moving out of Jongin’s way, but still attempting to reach out for the snitch. The movement causes Jongin’s broom to slam into his right arm, a nasty bone-breaking sound being heard, and throws off Jongin’s balance.

He just barely manages to reach out for the snitch and right himself on his broom, elated that his plan worked.

He should’ve known it wouldn’t be that simple, however.

Just as his fingers close around the snitch, a carefully aimed bludger smashes clean through his broom, essentially turning Jongin from a flying badger to a non-flying one.

As he falls through the air, he dimly thinks that at least he was able to die doing something he loves.




Jongin wakes up to find Zitao crying by his bed in the hospital wing, a disgruntled Yoongi lazily trying to calm him down.

“Jongin! I’m so so-sorry!” Zitao blubbers. “I was just mad about Sehun, I swear I didn’t mean to make Yoongi almost kill you!”

Yoongi looks extremely uncomfortable as he offers his own apology, “Yeah, sorry about that. You know how it is, trying to make sure your opponent doesn’t catch the snitch and all. No hard feelings?” he states more than asks.

“We’re really sorry that happened and that you had to miss Hufflepuff’s celebrations.” Zitao cries.

Jongin, who is feeling extremely tired and in lots of pain says, “Yeah, sure, whatever. Just let me sleep for a bit, okay?”

And promptly falls back asleep.


He’s woken up by Zhou Mi around eight o’clock in the evening to take his medicine.

“You’ve been out since the afternoon, Jongin. You took a nasty fall and none of the Professors were able to catch you in time, though I suspect the likes of Kyuhyun and Changmin didn’t even try,” he tuts.

“I need you to take this disgusting medicine now so that you can recover quickly. Don’t give me that look, do you think I enjoy making you miserable?”

He’s pulled away after giving Jongin his medicine by a groaning noise that sounds suspiciously like the Slytherin seeker.

“Sorry, kiddo! I’ll be right back!”

Jongin lays there peacefully for a few minutes before he sees the curtain around his bed get pulled back, revealing a disheveled Oh Sehun.


It must be the effects of the healing potion Zhou Mi has given Jongin. There’s no other explanation for why the first words out of his mouth are:

“If you’re here to kiss me and then run away again, I would appreciate it if you just didn’t bother.”

Sehun looks sufficiently chastised.

“I’m really sorry about that, you have to believe me.” Sehun makes to grab his hand but Jongin pulls away.

“Why are you here, Sehun?”

“Why? How could I not be?”

“You haven’t been around much in months. It seemed like you were well and truly sick of me,” Jongin replies bitterly.

Sehun hangs his head in shame.

“I don’t understand why you even did it. Was it some sort of joke? Why would you kiss me and leave me?” Jongin asks miserably.

Sehun’s eyebrows furrow.

“Really? You have no idea why I would do this? None at all?”

Jongin stares at him blankly and feels like he’s about to get a stern talking to.

“You can’t actually be this dense, Jongin. You’re smart, I know that for a fact.”

“I don’t know, Sehun. It’s not like you actually me.”

“Actually, it is like that. In fact, it’s exactly that. I kissed you because I liked you, but I was too much of a coward and didn’t want to ruin our friendship, although it looks like I managed to do that, anyway.”

Jongin sits there in his sickbed, wondering about many things but most of all wondering how he managed to fuck things up so badly.

“B-b-but, you-you’re straight!” he mumbles feebly, the words sounding dumb even as he says them.

“I never told you I was straight, Jongin.”

“You have a collection of Victoria’s Secret catalogues that you keep in mint condition, Sehun! What was I supposed to think?” Jongin retorts. He reaches for the glass of water Zhou Mi had left for him, grimacing as the pain in his ribs makes itself known once more. Everything hurts at this point.

Sehun sighs, grabbing the glass himself and holding it up to Jongin’s lips.

When the older boy is done drinking, Sehun places the glass back on its tray and grabs Jongin’s hand. The other boy is too tired to refuse.

“Don’t aggravate your injuries, Jongin. You’ll never recover at this rate,” he scolds.

“Look, I think at this point we should both just admit we’ve been idiots who should’ve confessed how they felt months ago. Yes?”

He’s looking anywhere but at Jongin, but he continues playing with his fingers. Jongin can’t think of anything to say to that, so he doesn’t.

“I shouldn’t have avoided you after that kiss, I know. I regret it so much, you can’t possibly know how much. But, in my defense, I really did think that I’d completely ruined our friendship. The way you looked at me after I kissed you, like you couldn’t believe I would do something so stupid…” Sehun trails off miserably.

“You didn’t. You didn’t ruin anything, Sehun. I did. You did nothing but make my dream come true. It was my own fault for not trying to confront you. I gave up so easily when it was the last thing I wanted to do. I wasn’t trying to make you think you’d done something stupid, I was looking trying to figure out why the hell you were kissing me of all people. I’m sorr—“

“No, don’t apologize to me. Just…just tell me one thing,” Sehun urges.

“Anything.”

“Do you like me, Jongin?”

For the sake of his sanity, Jongin pretends he can’t see Zhou Mi standing behind the curtain blocking his bed from view, probably there to give Jongin more medicine and eavesdrop while he’s at it. He swallows hard, wanting nothing more than to be completely honest about what he feels.

“…I think,” Jongin begins, “that I more than like you, and I have for a while.”

“That’s all that I needed to hear.”

This time, when Sehun kisses him, Jongin immediately winds his arms around his neck to make sure he stays, causing a small noise of protest from Sehun, who knows the position is painful for Jongin. Their lips smack together as Sehun pulls away, immediately cooing at Jongin’s grimace of pain.

“I don’t want you to hurt yourself just to kiss me. These lips are yours, any time and day of the week. They’ll still be here once you’ve recovered,” he assures with a playful but shy smile.

Jongin immediately blushes and laughs loudly at that, possibly startling the school nurse.

“You’re so cheesy, oh god!” he cries, face red as a tomato yet smiling the biggest smile in the world. “Oh Sehun, you ridiculously cheesy boy. You’re fucking amazing, I love you so much—“

“Me too,” Sehun interjects, before Jongin even has a second to contemplate what he’s just blurted out. “I just want to tell you that upfront so you don’t have any lingering doubts.”

“…Yeah?”

Jongin hopes he doesn’t take it back. He’s been let down enough this year, by himself mostly, but also by others. He’s ready to be Sehun’s boy fully and completely.

A cool breeze blows in from an open window, caressing Jongin’s overheated skin like a kiss. He feels Sehun move to lay on the bed beside him, careful not to push or prod at Jongin’s injuries. The face each other and Sehun places a comforting hand on the older boy’s hip.

“Jongin, you taught me how to play video games and order pizza on the phone. How could I not be in love with you?” Sehun jokes.

“I’ve been sort of in love with you since you told me you made your house elves re-enact Lord of the Rings,” Jongin confesses sheepishly.

“So it’s roleplaying that gets you hot, is it?” Sehun waggles his eyebrows.

Jongin figures the only way to shut the other boy up is to kiss him, so he goes to do just that. They’re interrupted, though, by what seems to be an overly invested school nurse.

“You two are literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, OH MY GOD! This is cuter than the time Kyungsoo brought Yixing dinner or when Luhan and Minseok became a couple after they both ended up in here!. Wait until I tell everyone!” Zhou Mi exclaims loudly, before forcing Jongin to take more medicine.

The end of the school year can’t come quickly enough after that.




EPILOGUE


“Oh Sehun, you’re going to make my noona hate me.”

They’re sitting on Jongin’s bed with their shirts off, resting after a huge meal of Chinese takeaway. It’s mid-July and uncharacteristically sweltering in London. Jongin takes a moment to appreciate the smug smile on his boyfriend’s face, before allowing his eyes to trail down his glorious, hickey-covered torso. Sehun preens under his gaze, clearly in favor of being marked possessively.

They’ve recently discovered the wonders of heavy petting and are enjoying their summer quite nicely.

“And why is that?” Sehun asks.

“Because from now on, Chinese food and fortune cookies are going to be our couple thing. Like Luhan and Minseok hyungs’ football souvenirs.”

Sehun had showed up earlier in the day with two bags full of said Chinese takeaway, his new Macbook, and a handful of DVDs. It’s a routine for them at this point, one which they both love.

Jongin especially loves the part where Sehun pulls out a fortune cookie from his pocket, pretending he has no idea where it came from, attributing it to the nice ladies at the shop.

Said fortune cookie is always either misshapen or slightly burnt, giving away its homemade origins. It inevitably bears a cheesy, handwritten love declaration inside in Sehun’s chicken scratch writing, which Jongin will put inside a box under his bed, along with all of Sehun’s other love declarations.

“Well, I do quite enjoy the tangerine chicken from the shop around the corner,” Sehun jokes. “I wouldn’t mind eating it for the rest of forever with you.”

Somewhere in New York City, Huang Zitao is probably cursing his friends’ culinary tastes as he leads Jongdae into a four-star fusion restaurant with nothing fried on the menu.

Somewhere else, Taemin is annoying his other long-suffering hyungs Onew and Jonghyun, Kibum is working on his wedding scrapbook, and Luhan and Minseok are using the outcome of a football match to figure out who will wash the dishes.

Jongin and Sehun don’t care about anything but this moment, though. For them, nothing beats egg rolls, fortune cookies, and the company of the person you consider the Luhan to your Minseok.

(Just don’t tell the real Luhan and Minseok. They’re smug enough as it is.)