the things that you see
the things that you see
krisho(hp!au) - pg 13
junmyeon is bad at getting the prefects to listen, but somehow he gets yifan to notice him
Yifan finds himself staring as the Head Boy dishes out reminders on the school rules that almost every prefect has committed to heart. The Head Boy’s face changes in a fascinating way; there is a dazed look in his eyes when he is in deep thought, there will be a mini pout when he realizes that people aren’t paying attention, and his lips stretches to reveal all his perfectly straight teeth when he smiles. The new Head Boy is pretty, he admits.
He was disappointed when his letter came without the Head Boy badge over the summer, and till now he still cannot fully understand how the Hufflepuff boy managed to get it. The boy is unable to control the other prefects, allowing them to shirk their duties and wreak havoc on the train ride to school earlier on. Instead of patrolling, the prefects had a mini party in their carriage cabin, creating more noise than the whole of the train combined and as the Head Boy he was unable to stop any of it; instead he chose to take on all the duties on his own. He tried his best, Yifan concedes, but simply trying is not enough, not when they have some of the worst troublemakers being elected as prefects this year.
The endless chatter in the room ceases to stop despite several pleas from the Head Boy for them to pay attention. And in the end, he sighs resignedly and specifically talked to those few who are paying attention to him instead.
Yifan has always been taught that being in the center of attention is the most important thing once you step into a room, and he cannot comprehend how can the other boy lives knowing that people are purposefully ignoring him. There is a hint of tiredness in his eyes which quickly disappears whenever he smiles in enthusiasm at his pathetically few listeners.
“Shut up and listen,” he snaps to everyone’s surprise, including himself. He has been irritated with the noise level and the Head Boy’s incapability, but he had not intended to help in any way. The room stays painfully quiet, and the Head Boy shoots him a smile gratefully before continuing his assignment of patrol partners for the next two weeks.
“Thank you,” he says, making his way closer to Yifan as everyone moves out of the room at the end of the meeting. “You’re Wu Yifan right? My name is -”
“Kim Junmyeon.” The Head Boy’s eyes widen in shock momentarily, before crinkling into a smile. His eyes sparkle with an emotion that Yifan cannot identify, but he decides that he likes this.
Luhan, his fellow Slytherin prefect decides to pester him about his sudden explosion on their way back to the dormitory.
“It is highly unbefitting of your image,” he questions. “I thought you will be the type to ignore it.”
On a normal day, Yifan will have just ignored it seeing how it will not benefit him at all. But tonight, he chooses to help someone with no conditions, and his brain is telling him frightening things that he does not want to admit.
Yifan chooses the easy way out, to both Luhan’s question and his own mind. “His incompetence is too appalling, and I hate incompetent people.”
Luhan nods in agreement, and the rest of the walk is spent in silence.
To Yifan, breakfast is the worst time of the day, especially since it’s the first official day of school. By the time the first period rolls by, he has already received requests to find his new housemates five times by first-years who are overly upset that their friends that got lost on the way to Great Hall.
Luckily for him, the first lesson will be Potions where interaction can be kept to a minimum if desired. For the past few years, he had always been partnering Luhan, and the two of them has this chemistry where they know what they have to do respectively and prepare their ingredients in silence. He just hopes that there are not much Gryffindor in this class, not when they can’t seem to survive without invading other people’s personal space and just being loud in general.
His prayers failed as he steps into the class and see his worst nightmare, the beagle line. The trio Byun Baekhyun, Kim Jongdae, and Park Chanyeol are infamous for their pranks and abhorrently high energy level which never seems to deplete as they go through the day, causing more trouble than the whole school combined. And up till now, Yifan has never understood how they became prefects.
Yifan quickly makes his way to the back of the classroom, not willing to engage in any conversation that they might start. Over the next few minutes, a few more familiar faces file into the class, including Luhan and his new boyfriend. Yifan curses as he realizes that he will be alone today when Luhan gives him a slight wave before settling into the table his boyfriend chose. Now he can only hope that he will be paired with someone competent enough.
Mr. Kim, the Potions Master walks in a few minutes later, and manages to get the whole class in order without even saying a single word. Yifan likes him for various reasons, one of which might include the fact that he is the Head of his house, but there is this underlying respect for how he is able to capture everyone’s attention without even trying (the incident where his students disappear for three days after blowing up a cauldron in class may or may not have a relation with it). The class starts smoothly without exceptions, and everyone is busy scribbling down notes on their parchment when the front door of the classroom opens, and someone bursts in.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Mr. Kim, I didn’t realize that it was so late already, I -” The intruder apologizes profusely while keeping his head bowed all the time.
“It’s okay, Junmyeon. I bet you are helping all the first-years again right?” The boy’s face flushed prettily as he nods. “Just go take a seat before I decide to penalize you.”
Mr. Kim is well-known for being strict, however, like all the other Professors; he seems to have a soft spot for the Head Boy easily forgiving any mistakes that he commits. Yifan is not jealous, after all he makes sure that everything he does is perfect, and he does not need favoritism of this sort, but he can’t help being curious as to what makes people react differently to Kim Junmyeon.
A soft voice comes from his right, “Can I sit here?” the Head Boy asks.
Yifan looks around the room and realizes that the seat beside him is the only empty spot and nods unwillingly. Sitting next to the other boy is not as comfortable as sitting with Luhan, but he is much better than Park Chanyeol whom Yifan made the mistake of sharing the table with once. Whenever Kim Junmyeon is confused with something, he will make this weird noise indicating his shock before repeatedly repeating the line that Prof just mentioned as if it will allow him to remember better, then he’ll continue the act of note taking. Yifan will rather have complete silence, but this is better than the incessant chatter that Park Chanyeol has once subjected him to.
Mr. Kim decides that they should start revising for N.E.W.T. and gets them to brew Amortentia, the love potion that they learnt last year. The Head Boy offers to collect the ingredients leaving Yifan to set up the cauldron. He comes back soon enough, with the ingredients of the potions balanced precariously on his encircled arms.
“What will you prefer preparing?” Kim Junmyeon asks in that soft voice of his.
Yifan wordlessly takes the moonstone, leaving Kim Junmyeon with the task of plucking rose thorns from its stem. The duo continues their work in silence, a sharp contrast to the rest of the room where partners are shouting instructions at each other, or just making a lot of noise in general.
The preparation of ingredients finishes fast enough, and Yifan throws the powdered moonstone into the cauldron once the water boils. He double-checks the instructions on the book and stirs the potion 10 times anti-clockwise. The Head Boy quickly throws in the Ashwinder eggs and rose thorns once the liquid turns a dull grey and the two of them waits.
Instead of the greyish hue like what the book mentions, the liquid is emitting a purplish hue and Yifan knows that Kim Junmyeon must have done something wrong as he will never commit any mistakes, at least not in Potions. There is a stricken look on the other boy’s face as Yifan glares at him, and he starts his stammering again.
“I’m sorry; it must be because of my blood. I thought washing it off the rose thorn will be good enough, but I guess it altered the property of the rose thorn.”
He looks so apologetic, and in his voice, Yifan hears a hint of sadness.
“We still have time, go get more ingredients, and we will redo it.”
Kim Junmyeon’s face brightens at the offer, and he quickly scrambles to the ingredients room to get what they will need for a second brew. Yifan frowns as he spells the liquid away, confused at his actions. He was never one that will forgive his lab partners easily when they screw up, but when he saw the Head Boy’s crestfallen expression, the offer just slips out of him.
Yifan takes the rose before the Head Boy can choose that ingredient again and wordlessly starts plucking it. He tells himself that it is because they don’t have time to redo the potion, but there is this nagging voice in his mind that tells him that he just doesn’t want Kim Junmyeon to get hurt again.
They get the potion right perfectly this time round, and by the time class ends, they are the only group that got it right perfectly. Mr. Kim praises them as he walks past their table, and orders the rest of the class to crowd around their table.
“Take a deep breath when you are near the cauldron. The different smells that you will experience will signify the different things that you love the most.” Everyone scrambles to get closer to the cauldron, even though they already did this once in their sixth year and Yifan quickly backs off before anyone can get too close to him and watches as the rest bubble in excitement over the different smells.
“What did you smell?” Kim Junmyeon asks him when they are transferring the potion into bottles. “If I got all of mine right, I smelt books, rain, and apples.”
Yifan shrugs choosing not to answer, and sees a disappointed look overtakes the other’s face.
“I didn’t get a chance to have a go at it just now,” he says and the Head Boy’s face lightens as Yifan holds the vial holding the potion close to his nose.
“Freshly mown grass, fire, and some weird fruit.”
“Is it?” The other boy looks contemplative for a moment, “This is interesting, isn’t it?”
They continued their work in silence until all thirty vials are completely full.
“Thank you for your help,” Kim Junmyeon says as they step out of the classroom. “I doubt I can complete it if you weren’t my partner.”
And he smiles, in a way where any on-looker would have thought that he got top grades for all his N.E.W.T.s. “You can call me Junmyeon, and I can call you Yifan right?”
Yifan didn’t get a chance to reply before the other boy sprints off, leaving a “see you later, Yifan” behind.
“Didn’t know you two were getting so close,” Luhan teases as they walked to their next class.
“What happened between not liking his incompetence to saying goodbyes after class?”
Yifan chooses not to answer and picks up his speed, leaving Luhan trailing behind him.
Yifan should have expected to see Junmyeon in his next class since all the seventh year are sharing a common class. The Head Boy shoots him a quick smile as he sidles into the corner seat at the back of the class once again. Yifan contemplates nodding in response, but before he can react, Junmyeon already turned around to talk to his table mate, and he is left at an awkward pose.
Luhan makes his way to Junmyeon as he strides into the classroom and greets him with so much enthusiasm that people who didn’t know them will have thought that they are best buddies. From his spot, Yifan sees Junmyeon’s face contorting in shock before he returns the greeting with a warm smile (and he can’t help but compare the smiles he and Luhan got).
The Slytherin prefect snickers as he sat down on the empty seat. “You’re so dead, Wu Yifan. I caught you staring.”
“Isn’t it normal to stare when you’ve a friend acting weird?” Yifan replies in the calmest voice he can muster.
“Whatever you say,” Luhan sing-songs, “Continue being in denial.”
Ancient Runes class passes exceptionally slow with Luhan sending him furtive glances every few second, and giggling for no good reason. For once, Yifan does not enjoy the class and wishes that Jongin is here to entertain Luhan.
The rest of the week passes by peacefully, or as peaceful as it is possible when you have Luhan as your friend. Yifan kept his interaction with Junmyeon minimal; exchanging curt nods when they pass each other in the hallway and simply sitting as far away as possible when they are in the same room. Luhan teases him every now and then, and attempts to create opportunities for the two boys to interact, but Yifan has learnt to hang out with Luhan only when Jongin is nearby so that he can distract Luhan whenever it is necessary.
His plan to avoid Junmyeon fails when they have to patrol together on Friday night. Luhan was supposed to be his partner for that day, but somehow he managed to convince the Head Boy that he is not feeling well and has to rest for the night; successfully evading his responsibilities. If anything, Luhan’s obnoxious wink when he left the common room tells him that he had been set up.
The Great Hall is eerily still for a magical building, save for Junmyeon who is pacing around non-stop.
“Hello,” he greets cheerfully when Yifan comes into his view. “Let’s get started shall we?”
Yifan nods and follows Junmyeon as he makes his way up the stairs.
If Yifan has to choose his favorite spot in Hogwarts, it will be the Astronomy tower. He loves flying, and it is the only thing that can calm him down when he is furious. But the tower is his healing corner. There is this inexplicable contentedness that his father will have labeled as weak when he lies down and looks at the stars, gently tracing the outline of each asteroid trying to figure out the constellation they belong to.
Byun Baekhyun and Do Kyungsoo were walking down the flight of stairs when they reach the landing that will lead them to the Astronomy tower. Yifan knows that they are not on duty tonight, but he chooses to ignore it, abandoning the Head Boy that is bombarding them with rushed questions.
There was no one inside the room when Yifan pushes open the door, and normally he would head back and carry on his patrolling. However, he decides to let himself indulge in the serenity of the room as his partner is still busy questioning the duo. He used to visit the tower at least once every two days, but with his mind jumbled and Luhan being an ass for the past few days, he had not been able to find time for this little guilty pleasure of his.
He was leaning against the window when Junmyeon burst into the room, clearly out of breath. “Is there anyone here?”
“No,” Yifan answers.
The suggestion of moving to the next location was swallowed when Junmyeon sees how relaxed Yifan is, and if his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him, there is a hint of a smile on that stoic face.
“You should be like this more often.” Junmyeon states. “It makes you look more approachable.”
Yifan raises his eyebrows in confusion, prompting Junmyeon to continue. “I mean, try smiling. I bet even more girls will like you once you show them your smile.”
Normally, Yifan would have snapped and scowl to his best ability when he hears things like this. But somehow, tonight is not a normal night. He and the person he had been avoiding for days are at his favorite spot together. Instead, he chooses to lie down in a position that will not block his view of the stars. The Head Boy doesn’t reprimand him for slacking, and moves to the window and peer at the sky that has held Yifan’s attention captive.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Junmyeon utters after a while.
Yifan tears his eyes away from the stars, and looks at Junmyeon that is basking in the moonlight. With the weak light from the moon, he seems even paler than usual, lending him an ethereal glow.
He nods absentmindedly.
You are pretty too, he thinks.
The rest of the patrol is done in a hurry after the duo wasted too much time in the Astronomy tower. To Yifan’s surprise, no students sneaked out of their dorm and the rest of the patrol proceeded smoothly.
“Goodnight,” Junmyeon says as they reached the split paths in the dungeon. Going to the left will lead them to Hufflepuff, while the right will lead them to the Slytherin dorm.
“You should really smile more; I think it’ll look nice.” Junmyeon gives him a little wave before heading down the left tunnel.
The words worm their way into Yifan’s mind and stays there resolutely for the whole night, depriving him of his sleep.
“What’s with your dark circles?” Luhan asks the next morning, trying to poke at Yifan’s eye bags.
“Nothing,” Yifan grunts, irritation building up in him quickly due to the lack of sleep.
The chatter in the Great Hall is aggravating his headache, and he knows that he is going to snap at the next person who tries to talk to him. It doesn’t help that the next lesson starts in 15 minutes, and there is no way he can squeeze in a little sleep before he has to be in class.
Yifan swipes an apple from the dining table and waves to Luhan, signaling that he is leaving first before promptly exiting the Great Hall. The silence in the corridor comes as a great relief, and Yifan can feel his headache subsiding to a dull ache at the back of his mind. It is still too early to go to class, and the corridors are empty, except for a few students rushing to grab breakfast before the first period starts.
To his surprise, someone is already waiting outside the classroom when he approaches the room. The Head Boy is leaning against the wall with his head buried in the Charms textbook, not noticing even when Yifan joins him in his spot.
“Morning,” Yifan greets in a low voice.
Junmyeon jumps a little, nearly dropping his book in process before whipping his head to the source of the voice.
“Morning.” Junmyeon replies with a warm smile, looking slightly confused at the unexpected greeting. It is uncharacteristic for Yifan to strike a conversation with anyone who isn’t in his group of friends, and Junmyeon has not expected this with how quiet the other boy is for the past few days.
“Why are you not eating with the rest?” Junmyeon asks, gesturing at the apple in confusion.
“Too noisy.” Yifan tries a little smile with his reply, even though his facial muscle feel a little too taut, and he is sure that it looks more like a grimace instead.
Junmyeon looks genuinely surprised with his eyes widening perpetually. He quickly changes his expression and his eyes crinkle into a smile when he realizes that his reaction might be considered rude, “our school can be a little bit too loud sometimes.”
The rest of the class finds them leaning against the wall in a comfortable until before Park Chanyeol decides to break the peace with his obnoxiously loud greeting.
Junmyeon shoots him a little smile before following his group of friends into the classroom bringing all the noise away with him.
Luhan wolf-whistles as he approaches. “So you didn’t enjoy our company.”
“Shut up Luhan, I’m going to write to Uncle and make him send you to St. Brutus.” Yifan threatens tiredly.
Luhan sticks his tongue at him childishly and drags Jongin into the classroom.
Yifan sits next to the Ravenclaw prefect, Kim Minseok after Luhan decides to abandon him once again. The Ravenclaw prefect is smart and quiet, taking down all the notes perfectly without making weird little noises unlike Junmyeon. They also manage to get through the practical without any mishaps, landing themselves the highest mark in class. Kim Minseok was the kind of partner that Yifan would have wanted initially; he is clever, independent, and quiet. But as he sets the last vial down on the table, he finds himself missing the little distractions that Junmyeon would have caused.
The bi-weekly prefect meeting is a disaster with everyone being noisier than usual. Everyone acts like they have not seen each other for weeks (when they actually see each other every day), and starts complaining about the heavy workload when it is only the third week of school. Junmyeon tries to catch everyone’s attention with incessant nagging, some useless threats, and even bribery (he offered to give everyone 10 chocolate frogs if they paid attention) but nothing works, and the only one who is listening is Kim Minseok.
Yifan can sense the distress radiating off Junmyeon as well as the pleading glances that is sent his way. The first time he helped, it was an accident, and Yifan will not let it repeat again. The other boy has grown on him for the past two weeks, with him noticing the Head Boy more and more when they are in the same room. The other boy is hardworking and helpful and pretty, and Yifan might be somewhat attracted to him, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is incompetent. Yifan still somewhat thinks that he doesn’t deserve the Head Boy spot, and Junmyeon could have definitely tried harder. He stares resolutely back at Junmyeon, and with the sigh of defeat that escapes the latter mouth, he knows the message has been clearly conveyed.
What he does not expect is the boy sliding into the chair next to him seconds later.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
“Do you want a chocolate frog?” Junmyeon produces three chocolates from his bag, and passes one to Kim Minseok before offering Yifan.
“What are you doing,” Yifan presses refusing to take the chocolate in Junmyeon’s hand.
He lets out a soft sigh, “I’m tired, so let me rest for a while?” A lethargic smile spread on Junmyeon’s face, and Yifan feels bad for a moment, contemplating helping to keep the other boys in check before he remembers that this is the job of a Head Boy.
“Stop wasting everyone’s time. We have better things to do than to wait for you to try and take a bunch of kids in hands.” The words comes out harsher than it sounds in his mind and with the visible wince on Luhan’s face, he knows that half the room has probably heard him.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to finish in 10 minutes.” He quickly gets up from the chair and moves into the corner of the room where he can be as far from Yifan as possible.
The room is quiet with everyone holding their breath as Junmyeon assigns the new partners for the following two weeks. His mouth curls into a smile whenever he calls out someone’s name, but his eyes never stay on anything for more than 1 second, and he looks like he is ready to bolt.
“Yifan, your partner this week will be me.” A slightly awkward expression crosses Junmyeon’s face, as if he is scared that Yifan will reject him in front of everyone. He could have easily paired him up with Luhan again, but Junmyeon must have thought that they are friends with the little conversation Yifan strikes up throughout the week. The guilt that is taking root in Yifan’s heart intensifies as Junmyeon scrambles to get out of the classroom once the meeting ends, ignoring the calls of his friends.
He receives multiple glares as he walks through the door. It was something that he is used to, with people being jealous of his grades and family background, however this is the only time he feels uncomfortable.
“That was rude and hurtful.” Luhan reprimands once the two of them is out of earshot.
“I know, it just came out before I realized.” Yifan sighs, running his hands through his perfectly styled hair.
“What should I do now, Luhan?” The question comes out as a whine, and Luhan laughs despite feeling bad for his friend.
“How long has it been since you last whined, Wu Yifan? I told you, you are so dead.” Luhan replies not bothering to hide the amused expression on his face.
“Just help me.”
“What do I get in return?”
“Me not writing to your father about what a brat you had been.”
Luhan makes an ugly face at him before explaining his plan, “Just apologize, and send him lots of nice stuff. I think he might be the type to enjoy sweet stuff, so buy him lots of that.”
Yifan is skeptical that such an easy plan will work, but he has never apologized to anyone before (except his parents) and he just have to believe Luhan this time round.
There is a flutter of wings as the owls fly in during breakfast bringing in the morning mail. Ace, his tawny owl catches the attention of most people in the room with the enormous package it is carrying and Yifan can see his poor owl struggling under the immense load. The owl dives straight for the Hufflepuff table and staggers as it nears its target, making everyone in the vicinity duck in fear that the package will land on their head. Junmyeon is sitting with his back towards Yifan and the other boy cannot see his expression, but he can imagine his surprised expression when Ace drops the parcel on his morning toast ungracefully, successfully knocking several plates over.
The Hufflepuff table breaks out in hushed whispers as everyone looks on with anticipation. Yifan sees Ace throwing a mini fit when Junmyeon didn’t release its claws from the parcel immediately causing the other boy to pull off the string quickly. The Head Boy’s posture is apprehensive as he peels off the wrapping paper slowly, making the process agonizing for everyone including Yifan. The table gasps collectively as the content is revealed, and Yifan swears that he can hear people asking who will send half of Honeydukes to Junmyeon.
His heart races as he waits for Junmyeon to notice the roll of parchment lying at the top of all the sweets. It will be his first time doing something like this for anyone, and he doesn’t think that he can deal with rejection of any sort.
Junmyeon quickly picks up the roll of parchment and scans through the content. I’m sorry is all it said, but he can guess who is it from. He pretends to look around the Great Hall, scanning for any possible sender before turning to the Slytherin table when he thinks no one is looking. The smile he shoots Yifan is full of wariness, as if he is expecting Yifan to ridicule him the next moment, and Yifan’s heart twist at the difference in smile he is getting. He has gotten too used to seeing Junmyeon smiling warmly at him.
Yifan quickly pulls his lips into a smile that he practiced for the whole night (Luhan tells him he finally doesn’t look scary when he smiles) hoping that it shows the other boy how much he wants to be friends. Junmyeon quickly ducks his head and turns to talk to his friends that are bombarding him with questions, and Yifan can’t help but feel a little upset with the short interaction.
“You did well,” Luhan tells him as they sit in front of the common room fireplace that night. “Didn’t expect you to send him so much of sweets though.”
“Is it? Isn’t that amount necessary to show your sincerity?”
Luhan looks like he is ready to kill himself with Yifan’s question, and sighs loudly in frustration. “No Yifan, your sincerity shows when you really mean it.”
The next morning finds Yifan in a grouchy mood after he loses sleep over Luhan’s reply. There is this nagging voice in his mind that Junmyeon is reacting coldly because he thinks Yifan is being insincere, and he might need to do something else (he has no idea what) to make the two of them okay again. Luhan leaves for breakfast without him, citing not wanting to deal with a grumpy Yifan and rather spending time with Jongin as his reason and Yifan doesn’t restrain the string of curses escaping his mouth as he makes his way to the Great Hall.
“A prefect isn’t supposed to curse in public.”
Yifan looks up in surprise at the familiar voice, and sees Junmyeon standing by the door, waiting for him apparently.
“It will be bad example for the younger students when they hear it?” Junmyeon says weakly when Yifan stares at him without speaking.
“I got your chocolates,” he slowly starts, “thank you, and it is not really necessary, you know? What you said is the truth, and I didn’t mind it at all.”
Yifan opens his mouth to protest, “I was being rude. And I should always apologize after hurting someone.”
“Then you have a lot more people to apologize for. I’ve heard the way you chastise Chanyeol when he was your lab partner,” Junmyeon teases.
“Anyway, I’ve distributed the chocolates to the lower years since there were so much and I can’t possibly finish them all.” Yifan’s expression changes and a scowl slowly form causing Junmyeon to panic and launch into another explanation.
“I’m sorry for not asking you in advance, but there was just too much. And I tried giving the Slytherins too but they just refused to accept it. I’m sorry, really.” The relaxed expression on Junmyeon’s face disappears as he tries to explain the rationale, and Yifan feels guilty for making the person he is apologizing to apologize to him.
“It’s okay,” Yifan tries smiling at him reassuringly. “I think I went a bit overboard with it too.”
Junmyeon’s stance looks slightly more relaxed with Yifan’s answer, and he thinks that everything might be okay again.
“Do you want to grab breakfast together? We can go to the kitchen and get some food.”
“I’m sorry,” Junmyeon looks apologetic as he rejects the offer “I’ve plans this morning. Maybe another day?”
Yifan forces himself to smile, “Yeah, that’ll be good. I’ll be heading to the library to finish up some work first. See you later.” He quickly sidesteps the other boy and climbs up the stairs that will lead him to the library.
The first Quidditch match of the year is between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. The cloudy weather did not manage to dampen the students’ mood with the Great Hall buzzing in excitement with their prediction of the first winner of the year. Yifan has never understood the need to play any game competitively. He loves flying, but he likes the feeling of the wind enveloping him gently as he weaves through the trees rather than piercing air hurting his cheeks when he is in the pursuit of balls flying in random direction.
The rest of his housemates do not share his sentiments as tension increases across the table whenever the Captain shouts out any new instructions. The time for the match comes way too quickly, and he hears Luhan shouting at the first years to follow him to the pitch. Yifan abandons his toast and follows behind the last first year, making sure that none of them will get lost, lest he has to go through more trouble of finding them eventually.
Excited students rapidly fill up the seats, with their loud chatters echoing throughout the entire pitch.
“Good morning, everybody.” The voice of the announcer resonates in the surrounding, raising the level of anticipation among the students. At the stand opposite of Slytherin, Yifan sees the last of the Hufflepuff first-year settling down, and Junmyeon leaving them to sit next to his friends.
The match starts off slowly with none of the team scoring more than five goals after the first thirty minutes. Luhan is continuously cheering for Slytherin next to him, but Yifan really cannot be bothered anymore, feeling bored with the lack of progress in the game. He allows his eyes to wander and land on the Hufflepuff Head Boy who is unreservedly cheering for the rival team.
Junmyeon cups his hands around his mouth forming a mini megaphone and continuously shouts what seems like “Minseok, you can do it!” from where Yifan is sitting. The veins on his neck becomes more and more prominent with every shout, and his face starts turning red from excessive shouting, and yet he continues cheering, as if his life depended on it.
The game becomes more interesting with the seekers sighting the snitch near the Gryffindor stand, and Junmyeon keeps his eyes trained on the two racing figures with his mouth slightly gaping. Yifan cannot help but be amused by Junmyeon’s myriad of expressions choosing to pay attention to the boy rather than the intense situation on the pitch. Not long after, the Slytherin stand breaks out into loud cheers as their seeker gets hold of the snitch, and Yifan watches Junmyeon’s face crumple in disappointment before breaking into a small smile. An amused smile creeps up on his face, and this is the first time he genuinely enjoys watching a match.
The prefects are not needed to lead the first-years back to the school building, and Yifan chooses to wait till the rest of the school clear out before making his way back. Luhan abandons him again, once Jongin appears and asks him out for a walk by the lake side, and he has to trudge back to the school alone. Junmyeon, apparently has the same thoughts as he sees the other boy walking across the pitch unaccompanied.
“Hey,” he calls out to Junmyeon, “I saw you cheering just now.”
Junmyeon smiles sheepishly, and ducks his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, Minseok is on the Ravenclaw team, so I thought I should support him.”
“Not that I like Ravenclaw more than Slytherin though. I’ll just cheer for any team as long as my friend is on it.” He adds as an after-thought.
Yifan nods his head thoughtfully, “So do you like Quidditch?”
“Yes,” Junmyeon nods his head rapidly. “But I’m really bad at flying, so I’m stuck with watching people play during actual matches.”
They continue their walk back to the school in silence, until Junmyeon breaks it when they are nearing the building.
“Erm, do you want to grab breakfast together next week?”
Yifan knits his brows in confusion, as he cannot remember anything special happening next week.
“Well, it’s Hogmeade weekend next week, and I thought we can go get breakfast together since I turned you down previously,” Junmyeon quickly explains.
The Head Boy’s eyes shine with apprehension when Yifan takes more than a few seconds to reply. “It’s okay if you don’t want to though.”
“I would love to.” Yifan answers with an easy smile. “Let’s meet at eight at the gate?”
Junmyeon agrees, his wide smile erasing the uneasiness that was on his face previously. “See you then.”
Friday night finds Yifan bustling around the room, throwing his clothes in a haphazard manner as he tries to look for something presentable to wear.
“You’ll look good with that white shirt, the gray cardigan on the floor, and a pair of black jeans.” Luhan offers after half an hour, tired of seeing his best friend turning their room into a mess.
Yifan holds the three pieces of clothing against his body and stares at the mirror as if it will provide him the answer as to whether this will be the best outfit. “If you are feeling slightly cold, wear the maroon colored pullover your mum sent you last Christmas.” Luhan suggests through the mirror reflection.
With a sigh, Yifan flops on the bed burying his face in the little lump of clothes on the bed. “I can’t do it,” he says, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.
“Yes, you can. It’s just a breakfast,” Luhan says as encouragingly as he can, “And.” He bites his lips tentatively, unsure if he should continue. “Junmyeon does this breakfast thing quite often with some other guys. He was always having a breakfast date with Jongin before we started dating.”
The lump on the bed groans before plunging his head deeper into the mountain of clothes.
“I’m not trying to be a killjoy,” Luhan tries to clarify, “I just don’t want you to expect too much out of it.”
Despite the daunting conversation from last night, Yifan finds himself brimming with excitement as he waits for the Head Boy by the school gate. There is no one around except for Mr.Jung, with everyone finishing their breakfast in school before heading out to the neighboring village. He is slightly early; fifteen minutes earlier to be exact since his housemates decide to kick him out of the common room with his excessive pacing that is scaring the lower years.
Ten minutes later, he sees a small figure that is wrapped up in semi-winter clothing running in his direction. Junmyeon is decked in a dark blue varsity jacket that looks super warm, and there is a beige woolen scarf and black beanie protecting him from the slightly chilly October wind.
He smiles sheepishly when he reaches Yifan, “Sorry that I am late.”
“No worries, I’m early. But you look cold.” Yifan gestures to the outfit that makes Junmyeon look smaller than usual.
“I’m scared of the cold.” Junmyeon pulls at his scarf unconsciously. “So I tend to wear a bit more than the rest during winter.”
Their breakfast date, as what Yifan calls in his mind went relatively well. The duo settles in Three Broomstick for breakfast, and for once, the bar isn’t overly crowded with students. Instead, there are just a couple of adults finishing their breakfast hurriedly before they rush off for work. They ate in a comfortable silence, with Junmyeon constantly eyeing his scrambled eggs while picking on his own toast.
“You can have a bit of it if you want,” Yifan offers.
“Really?” Junmyeon questions with his eyes stretched widely while his fork is already poking the sides of Yifan’s eggs.
“Yeah.” Yifan smiles indulgently as he sees Junmyeon scoop a mouthful of his eggs and shoving it into his mouth.
“What’s the difference of eating here and in school?” He asks while Junmyeon is busy chewing on his food.
“Ambience.” The boy answers with his mouth half-full. “It feels like we are really friends when we can go out for breakfast together.”
“Can I ask you something?” Junmeyon asks as they are sipping on their drink.
Yifan resists the temptation of answering you already did, and nods instead.
“Do you resent me? I know that you will have been the better Head Boy candidate, but I got it somehow.” Junmyeon looks up at him with uncertainty while trying to maintain his smile. “It’s okay if you do, you know.”
“Why will I be sitting here with you if I disliked you?” Yifan smiles teasingly. “I still think that you are incompetent, but I like you as a person somehow?”
There is slight awkwardness in the smile Junmyeon piles on his face, but nevertheless he seems satisfied enough.
Honeydukes is relatively empty when they step in, with only a few students sweeping half the sweets off the shelf before the rest of the school appear. Yifan is not a big fan of sweets, so he opts to stand in a corner and watch Junmyeon stack more and more chocolate frog on the table in front of him.
He smiles inwardly as Junmyeon struggles to balance the mountain of chocolates in the small space he has while continuing to stack more on it.
“Can’t you just tell the cashier to wrap it up for you?” Yifan points at the little mound of chocolates that are threatening to topple over any minute.
“Yeah, but it won’t be fun anymore. Since you won’t get to see how much you are buying.” Junmyeon grabs a handful of chocolate frogs before allowing the cashier to wrap the rest up.
“You really like them, don’t you?” Yifan states when they finally leave the shop with the cashier promising to deliver the package by the next morning.
Junmyeon nods, before answering with a mouthful of chocolate. “Yeah, they make me happy. And I want to collect all the cards, so I’ll be eating lots till the day I get the full collection. And they are really good treats for the kids when they are upset.”
“You should stop spoiling everyone. Then maybe the rest of the prefects will listen to you.”
The Head Boy smiles wistfully, “I’ve thought of that, but I can’t help it? I just dislike using my authority as a reason for people to listen to me. Rather than the Head Boy, I want to be the friend that they can lean upon and talk to when they are troubled. I want them to listen to me because we will be a better team when we work together, rather than them listening to me because they have to.”
Yifan frowns slightly at the answer, “You know that you can achieve all of that even if you are authoritative at times right? You just have to find the right balance.”
Junmyeon nods glumly, “That’s why I think I’m not suited for the position.”
The taller boy gently ruffles his beanie as a form of consolation.
The rest of the day is constantly interrupted by the appearance of Junmyeon’s friends. After their haul in Honeydukes, the duo decides to head towards the apothecary so that Yifan can stock up on his potions ingredients. The minute they step into the room, the loud laughter of Park Chanyeol bounces off the walls.
“Seriously Baek, how can you call a Newt’s tail a lizard tail? Mr. Kim will totally kill you for this.” Chanyeol gasps between his short peals of laughter.
“Shut up, Park Chanyeol. What about you not knowing the difference between Saltpetre and Salpeter?”
The two continues their argument not noticing the new spectators they have, till Kyungsoo notices their presence. “Hello Junmyeon, and hi Yifan.” If Kyungsoo is surprised by Yifan and Junmyeon appearing together, he showed no signs of it as he greets the pair easily.
The arguing couple stops their heated conversation immediately and turns to look at the two next to the door. Park Chanyeol’s mouth obviously drops when he sees them, and Byun Baekhyun sends them an awkward wave.
Junmyeon offers them the remaining chocolates while waiting for Yifan to pick out the several ingredients he is running low on.
Even when he is in the other corner of the room, Yifan can hear the loud chatter coming from the group of friends. Park Chanyeol is constantly bugging the Head Boy on his appearance with the Slytherin prefect while Junmyeon brushes it off as a normal outing between friends.
This is only two friends going out for breakfast, he reminds himself over and over again and he gathers the things he needs. The apothecary assistant is more than happy to help him wrap up his purchase while shooting daggers at the trio, too polite to scold them for making such a racket when they are not buying anything.
Park Chanyeol stops his rambling when he sees Yifan approaching the group, and Kyungsoo quickly takes this chance to pull the other two away.
Yifan thought that nobody will disturb them anymore after the trio left, but he was proven wrong when he hears someone shouting for Junmyeon once they step out of the shop. Two kids that he does not recognize are hanging around Luhan and Jongin, and with the expressions on those two, he expects another round of whining to start.
“Junmyeon, how can you leave without us this morning? If not for Luhan, we will not have known that you went off first.” The dark haired boy with sharp eyes complains.
“Tao, I told you that I am going to spend time with my friend today remember?” Junmyeon answers patiently.
“But me and Sehun want to spend time with you too.” The other boy with droopy eyes nods disinterestedly, helping Tao prove his point.
“Is that so? Then do you all want to join us now? Yifan, you don’t mind right?”
Yifan can only shake his head, not wanting Luhan to make fun of him later.
The six of them make their way to Three Broomsticks once again, with Tao whining that it is too cold to be walking around. Yifan trails behind with Jongin, leaving the other four in front of him skip happily to the bar.
“Sorry for crashing the date,” Jongin apologizes sincerely. “Tao is just extremely clingy when it comes to Junmyeon.”
“It’s not a date.”Yifan shrugs, “I’ve never seen the two around before though.”
“They’re one year younger. Sehun is Junmyeon’s cousin, and Tao is Sehun’s best friend.” Jongin explains. “Tao is actually in Gryffindor, but somehow he is over at the Hufflepuff dorm more often.”
“How did you know all these?” He asks curiously.
Jongin laughs easily, “I am his other cousin, and Chanyeol is our childhood friend, though I prohibit him from speaking to me in school cause he’s too embarrassing.”
Yifan can only stare in shock as he processes this knowledge, and he sighs in relief when he realizes that Junmyeon and Jongin probably had breakfast dates as they are cousins.
He realizes how dependent the two younger one are on Junmyeon when they settle into a table in the bar. They pick the seat on either side of Junmyeon, and continuously talk to him about random things ensuring that his attention never leaves them. For the entire time, the Head Boy will listen patiently and give appropriate answers, never once getting irritated with their behavior. Even when Tao decides to whine about his candy going missing, Junmyeon only smiles and offers him one of his chocolate in an attempt to placate the other boy. He can’t help but find it cute.
The day ends off with six of them trudging back to school before the sun sets. Tao is still stuck to Junmyeon’s side, monopolizing his attention, dragging him away before Yifan can say a proper goodbye.
Surprisingly, Luhan left him alone that night and chooses to head to the library to catch up on his homework. The corridor is slightly crowded as he makes his way to the Astronomy tower, with students milling around for a little chat after dinner. It has been a long day, but his mind refuses to rest as it continuously replays the scenes from earlier on. The whole day had been going well, and he is even okay with Tao and Sehun’s appearance, however, he can’t help but admit that he is disappointed with not being able to bid goodbye properly.
The corridor to the Astronomy tower is empty as usual, with students choosing to visit it only after midnight for their illicit activities. His heavy footsteps echo the little regret in his heart, and it seem to grow exponentially as he reaches the door.
He didn’t expect the little, “hello” as he steps into the room, making him jump slightly.
“What are you doing here?” He asks when he sees Junmyeon sitting in a corner of the room.
“Enjoying some peace, and looking at the stars?” He replies looking at Yifan with a soft smile.
He contemplates leaving since the other boy came here to be alone, but instead he sits down next to the boy, close enough to invade his personal space.
“Won’t you be able to see everything better if you are nearer to the window?” Yifan questions as he sees half the sky being covered by the walls.
“It is warmer here.”
Yifan places his jacket on the smaller boy, and nudges him forward. “Can we sit by the window now? The view there is at least ten times better.”
There is an indulgent smile on Junmyeon’s face as he pulls the jacket closer before scooting forward with the Slytherin prefect.
“Thank you for the jacket, and today.” The Head Boy’s soft voice sounds exceptionally loud in the empty room. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too,” he says, “maybe we can do it some other time. And I’ll consider giving you tips on how to command attention if you treat me to lunch.”
“I don’t need help.” Junmyeon retorts, pretending to be scandalized.
“Yes, you need. You’re the worst Head Boy I’ve ever seen.” Yifan snorts.
“But I got your attention, right? So tell me again, how is that bad?” The playful reply left Yifan flustered and he chooses to look out of the window instead of replying.
A comfortable silence envelope the two and Yifan finds himself drifting off before Junmyeon’s voice wakes him up.
“I’m going back first. You should go too, curfew is in fifteen minutes.” He slowly takes off the jacket and hands it back to Yifan.
“Hey Junmyeon,” he calls, before the Head Boy has the chance to leave the room. “Want to meet at the kitchen for breakfast again tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Junmyeon’s eyes disappear with the wide smile on his face. “Teach me how to be a better Head Boy at the same time.”
Yifan smiles awkwardly and gives the leaving boy a small wave, “Goodnight.”
He shrugs the jacket on after the other boy leaves the room, and as he slips his arm into the sleeves, he catches a whiff of something fruity.
original working title was i don't have to hear them to know them, and this was supposed to be a oneshot with 1000+ word count with the three scenes, but it somehow evolved into this during the past few weeks. hope yall enjoyed this.
i used full names for some on purpose as that's how i imagined kris to address people he's not close with
& anyone interested in becoming friends?
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krisho(hp!au) - pg 13
junmyeon is bad at getting the prefects to listen, but somehow he gets yifan to notice him
Yifan finds himself staring as the Head Boy dishes out reminders on the school rules that almost every prefect has committed to heart. The Head Boy’s face changes in a fascinating way; there is a dazed look in his eyes when he is in deep thought, there will be a mini pout when he realizes that people aren’t paying attention, and his lips stretches to reveal all his perfectly straight teeth when he smiles. The new Head Boy is pretty, he admits.
He was disappointed when his letter came without the Head Boy badge over the summer, and till now he still cannot fully understand how the Hufflepuff boy managed to get it. The boy is unable to control the other prefects, allowing them to shirk their duties and wreak havoc on the train ride to school earlier on. Instead of patrolling, the prefects had a mini party in their carriage cabin, creating more noise than the whole of the train combined and as the Head Boy he was unable to stop any of it; instead he chose to take on all the duties on his own. He tried his best, Yifan concedes, but simply trying is not enough, not when they have some of the worst troublemakers being elected as prefects this year.
The endless chatter in the room ceases to stop despite several pleas from the Head Boy for them to pay attention. And in the end, he sighs resignedly and specifically talked to those few who are paying attention to him instead.
Yifan has always been taught that being in the center of attention is the most important thing once you step into a room, and he cannot comprehend how can the other boy lives knowing that people are purposefully ignoring him. There is a hint of tiredness in his eyes which quickly disappears whenever he smiles in enthusiasm at his pathetically few listeners.
“Shut up and listen,” he snaps to everyone’s surprise, including himself. He has been irritated with the noise level and the Head Boy’s incapability, but he had not intended to help in any way. The room stays painfully quiet, and the Head Boy shoots him a smile gratefully before continuing his assignment of patrol partners for the next two weeks.
“Thank you,” he says, making his way closer to Yifan as everyone moves out of the room at the end of the meeting. “You’re Wu Yifan right? My name is -”
“Kim Junmyeon.” The Head Boy’s eyes widen in shock momentarily, before crinkling into a smile. His eyes sparkle with an emotion that Yifan cannot identify, but he decides that he likes this.
Luhan, his fellow Slytherin prefect decides to pester him about his sudden explosion on their way back to the dormitory.
“It is highly unbefitting of your image,” he questions. “I thought you will be the type to ignore it.”
On a normal day, Yifan will have just ignored it seeing how it will not benefit him at all. But tonight, he chooses to help someone with no conditions, and his brain is telling him frightening things that he does not want to admit.
Yifan chooses the easy way out, to both Luhan’s question and his own mind. “His incompetence is too appalling, and I hate incompetent people.”
Luhan nods in agreement, and the rest of the walk is spent in silence.
To Yifan, breakfast is the worst time of the day, especially since it’s the first official day of school. By the time the first period rolls by, he has already received requests to find his new housemates five times by first-years who are overly upset that their friends that got lost on the way to Great Hall.
Luckily for him, the first lesson will be Potions where interaction can be kept to a minimum if desired. For the past few years, he had always been partnering Luhan, and the two of them has this chemistry where they know what they have to do respectively and prepare their ingredients in silence. He just hopes that there are not much Gryffindor in this class, not when they can’t seem to survive without invading other people’s personal space and just being loud in general.
His prayers failed as he steps into the class and see his worst nightmare, the beagle line. The trio Byun Baekhyun, Kim Jongdae, and Park Chanyeol are infamous for their pranks and abhorrently high energy level which never seems to deplete as they go through the day, causing more trouble than the whole school combined. And up till now, Yifan has never understood how they became prefects.
Yifan quickly makes his way to the back of the classroom, not willing to engage in any conversation that they might start. Over the next few minutes, a few more familiar faces file into the class, including Luhan and his new boyfriend. Yifan curses as he realizes that he will be alone today when Luhan gives him a slight wave before settling into the table his boyfriend chose. Now he can only hope that he will be paired with someone competent enough.
Mr. Kim, the Potions Master walks in a few minutes later, and manages to get the whole class in order without even saying a single word. Yifan likes him for various reasons, one of which might include the fact that he is the Head of his house, but there is this underlying respect for how he is able to capture everyone’s attention without even trying (the incident where his students disappear for three days after blowing up a cauldron in class may or may not have a relation with it). The class starts smoothly without exceptions, and everyone is busy scribbling down notes on their parchment when the front door of the classroom opens, and someone bursts in.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Mr. Kim, I didn’t realize that it was so late already, I -” The intruder apologizes profusely while keeping his head bowed all the time.
“It’s okay, Junmyeon. I bet you are helping all the first-years again right?” The boy’s face flushed prettily as he nods. “Just go take a seat before I decide to penalize you.”
Mr. Kim is well-known for being strict, however, like all the other Professors; he seems to have a soft spot for the Head Boy easily forgiving any mistakes that he commits. Yifan is not jealous, after all he makes sure that everything he does is perfect, and he does not need favoritism of this sort, but he can’t help being curious as to what makes people react differently to Kim Junmyeon.
A soft voice comes from his right, “Can I sit here?” the Head Boy asks.
Yifan looks around the room and realizes that the seat beside him is the only empty spot and nods unwillingly. Sitting next to the other boy is not as comfortable as sitting with Luhan, but he is much better than Park Chanyeol whom Yifan made the mistake of sharing the table with once. Whenever Kim Junmyeon is confused with something, he will make this weird noise indicating his shock before repeatedly repeating the line that Prof just mentioned as if it will allow him to remember better, then he’ll continue the act of note taking. Yifan will rather have complete silence, but this is better than the incessant chatter that Park Chanyeol has once subjected him to.
Mr. Kim decides that they should start revising for N.E.W.T. and gets them to brew Amortentia, the love potion that they learnt last year. The Head Boy offers to collect the ingredients leaving Yifan to set up the cauldron. He comes back soon enough, with the ingredients of the potions balanced precariously on his encircled arms.
“What will you prefer preparing?” Kim Junmyeon asks in that soft voice of his.
Yifan wordlessly takes the moonstone, leaving Kim Junmyeon with the task of plucking rose thorns from its stem. The duo continues their work in silence, a sharp contrast to the rest of the room where partners are shouting instructions at each other, or just making a lot of noise in general.
The preparation of ingredients finishes fast enough, and Yifan throws the powdered moonstone into the cauldron once the water boils. He double-checks the instructions on the book and stirs the potion 10 times anti-clockwise. The Head Boy quickly throws in the Ashwinder eggs and rose thorns once the liquid turns a dull grey and the two of them waits.
Instead of the greyish hue like what the book mentions, the liquid is emitting a purplish hue and Yifan knows that Kim Junmyeon must have done something wrong as he will never commit any mistakes, at least not in Potions. There is a stricken look on the other boy’s face as Yifan glares at him, and he starts his stammering again.
“I’m sorry; it must be because of my blood. I thought washing it off the rose thorn will be good enough, but I guess it altered the property of the rose thorn.”
He looks so apologetic, and in his voice, Yifan hears a hint of sadness.
“We still have time, go get more ingredients, and we will redo it.”
Kim Junmyeon’s face brightens at the offer, and he quickly scrambles to the ingredients room to get what they will need for a second brew. Yifan frowns as he spells the liquid away, confused at his actions. He was never one that will forgive his lab partners easily when they screw up, but when he saw the Head Boy’s crestfallen expression, the offer just slips out of him.
Yifan takes the rose before the Head Boy can choose that ingredient again and wordlessly starts plucking it. He tells himself that it is because they don’t have time to redo the potion, but there is this nagging voice in his mind that tells him that he just doesn’t want Kim Junmyeon to get hurt again.
They get the potion right perfectly this time round, and by the time class ends, they are the only group that got it right perfectly. Mr. Kim praises them as he walks past their table, and orders the rest of the class to crowd around their table.
“Take a deep breath when you are near the cauldron. The different smells that you will experience will signify the different things that you love the most.” Everyone scrambles to get closer to the cauldron, even though they already did this once in their sixth year and Yifan quickly backs off before anyone can get too close to him and watches as the rest bubble in excitement over the different smells.
“What did you smell?” Kim Junmyeon asks him when they are transferring the potion into bottles. “If I got all of mine right, I smelt books, rain, and apples.”
Yifan shrugs choosing not to answer, and sees a disappointed look overtakes the other’s face.
“I didn’t get a chance to have a go at it just now,” he says and the Head Boy’s face lightens as Yifan holds the vial holding the potion close to his nose.
“Freshly mown grass, fire, and some weird fruit.”
“Is it?” The other boy looks contemplative for a moment, “This is interesting, isn’t it?”
They continued their work in silence until all thirty vials are completely full.
“Thank you for your help,” Kim Junmyeon says as they step out of the classroom. “I doubt I can complete it if you weren’t my partner.”
And he smiles, in a way where any on-looker would have thought that he got top grades for all his N.E.W.T.s. “You can call me Junmyeon, and I can call you Yifan right?”
Yifan didn’t get a chance to reply before the other boy sprints off, leaving a “see you later, Yifan” behind.
“Didn’t know you two were getting so close,” Luhan teases as they walked to their next class.
“What happened between not liking his incompetence to saying goodbyes after class?”
Yifan chooses not to answer and picks up his speed, leaving Luhan trailing behind him.
Yifan should have expected to see Junmyeon in his next class since all the seventh year are sharing a common class. The Head Boy shoots him a quick smile as he sidles into the corner seat at the back of the class once again. Yifan contemplates nodding in response, but before he can react, Junmyeon already turned around to talk to his table mate, and he is left at an awkward pose.
Luhan makes his way to Junmyeon as he strides into the classroom and greets him with so much enthusiasm that people who didn’t know them will have thought that they are best buddies. From his spot, Yifan sees Junmyeon’s face contorting in shock before he returns the greeting with a warm smile (and he can’t help but compare the smiles he and Luhan got).
The Slytherin prefect snickers as he sat down on the empty seat. “You’re so dead, Wu Yifan. I caught you staring.”
“Isn’t it normal to stare when you’ve a friend acting weird?” Yifan replies in the calmest voice he can muster.
“Whatever you say,” Luhan sing-songs, “Continue being in denial.”
Ancient Runes class passes exceptionally slow with Luhan sending him furtive glances every few second, and giggling for no good reason. For once, Yifan does not enjoy the class and wishes that Jongin is here to entertain Luhan.
The rest of the week passes by peacefully, or as peaceful as it is possible when you have Luhan as your friend. Yifan kept his interaction with Junmyeon minimal; exchanging curt nods when they pass each other in the hallway and simply sitting as far away as possible when they are in the same room. Luhan teases him every now and then, and attempts to create opportunities for the two boys to interact, but Yifan has learnt to hang out with Luhan only when Jongin is nearby so that he can distract Luhan whenever it is necessary.
His plan to avoid Junmyeon fails when they have to patrol together on Friday night. Luhan was supposed to be his partner for that day, but somehow he managed to convince the Head Boy that he is not feeling well and has to rest for the night; successfully evading his responsibilities. If anything, Luhan’s obnoxious wink when he left the common room tells him that he had been set up.
The Great Hall is eerily still for a magical building, save for Junmyeon who is pacing around non-stop.
“Hello,” he greets cheerfully when Yifan comes into his view. “Let’s get started shall we?”
Yifan nods and follows Junmyeon as he makes his way up the stairs.
If Yifan has to choose his favorite spot in Hogwarts, it will be the Astronomy tower. He loves flying, and it is the only thing that can calm him down when he is furious. But the tower is his healing corner. There is this inexplicable contentedness that his father will have labeled as weak when he lies down and looks at the stars, gently tracing the outline of each asteroid trying to figure out the constellation they belong to.
Byun Baekhyun and Do Kyungsoo were walking down the flight of stairs when they reach the landing that will lead them to the Astronomy tower. Yifan knows that they are not on duty tonight, but he chooses to ignore it, abandoning the Head Boy that is bombarding them with rushed questions.
There was no one inside the room when Yifan pushes open the door, and normally he would head back and carry on his patrolling. However, he decides to let himself indulge in the serenity of the room as his partner is still busy questioning the duo. He used to visit the tower at least once every two days, but with his mind jumbled and Luhan being an ass for the past few days, he had not been able to find time for this little guilty pleasure of his.
He was leaning against the window when Junmyeon burst into the room, clearly out of breath. “Is there anyone here?”
“No,” Yifan answers.
The suggestion of moving to the next location was swallowed when Junmyeon sees how relaxed Yifan is, and if his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him, there is a hint of a smile on that stoic face.
“You should be like this more often.” Junmyeon states. “It makes you look more approachable.”
Yifan raises his eyebrows in confusion, prompting Junmyeon to continue. “I mean, try smiling. I bet even more girls will like you once you show them your smile.”
Normally, Yifan would have snapped and scowl to his best ability when he hears things like this. But somehow, tonight is not a normal night. He and the person he had been avoiding for days are at his favorite spot together. Instead, he chooses to lie down in a position that will not block his view of the stars. The Head Boy doesn’t reprimand him for slacking, and moves to the window and peer at the sky that has held Yifan’s attention captive.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Junmyeon utters after a while.
Yifan tears his eyes away from the stars, and looks at Junmyeon that is basking in the moonlight. With the weak light from the moon, he seems even paler than usual, lending him an ethereal glow.
He nods absentmindedly.
You are pretty too, he thinks.
The rest of the patrol is done in a hurry after the duo wasted too much time in the Astronomy tower. To Yifan’s surprise, no students sneaked out of their dorm and the rest of the patrol proceeded smoothly.
“Goodnight,” Junmyeon says as they reached the split paths in the dungeon. Going to the left will lead them to Hufflepuff, while the right will lead them to the Slytherin dorm.
“You should really smile more; I think it’ll look nice.” Junmyeon gives him a little wave before heading down the left tunnel.
The words worm their way into Yifan’s mind and stays there resolutely for the whole night, depriving him of his sleep.
“What’s with your dark circles?” Luhan asks the next morning, trying to poke at Yifan’s eye bags.
“Nothing,” Yifan grunts, irritation building up in him quickly due to the lack of sleep.
The chatter in the Great Hall is aggravating his headache, and he knows that he is going to snap at the next person who tries to talk to him. It doesn’t help that the next lesson starts in 15 minutes, and there is no way he can squeeze in a little sleep before he has to be in class.
Yifan swipes an apple from the dining table and waves to Luhan, signaling that he is leaving first before promptly exiting the Great Hall. The silence in the corridor comes as a great relief, and Yifan can feel his headache subsiding to a dull ache at the back of his mind. It is still too early to go to class, and the corridors are empty, except for a few students rushing to grab breakfast before the first period starts.
To his surprise, someone is already waiting outside the classroom when he approaches the room. The Head Boy is leaning against the wall with his head buried in the Charms textbook, not noticing even when Yifan joins him in his spot.
“Morning,” Yifan greets in a low voice.
Junmyeon jumps a little, nearly dropping his book in process before whipping his head to the source of the voice.
“Morning.” Junmyeon replies with a warm smile, looking slightly confused at the unexpected greeting. It is uncharacteristic for Yifan to strike a conversation with anyone who isn’t in his group of friends, and Junmyeon has not expected this with how quiet the other boy is for the past few days.
“Why are you not eating with the rest?” Junmyeon asks, gesturing at the apple in confusion.
“Too noisy.” Yifan tries a little smile with his reply, even though his facial muscle feel a little too taut, and he is sure that it looks more like a grimace instead.
Junmyeon looks genuinely surprised with his eyes widening perpetually. He quickly changes his expression and his eyes crinkle into a smile when he realizes that his reaction might be considered rude, “our school can be a little bit too loud sometimes.”
The rest of the class finds them leaning against the wall in a comfortable until before Park Chanyeol decides to break the peace with his obnoxiously loud greeting.
Junmyeon shoots him a little smile before following his group of friends into the classroom bringing all the noise away with him.
Luhan wolf-whistles as he approaches. “So you didn’t enjoy our company.”
“Shut up Luhan, I’m going to write to Uncle and make him send you to St. Brutus.” Yifan threatens tiredly.
Luhan sticks his tongue at him childishly and drags Jongin into the classroom.
Yifan sits next to the Ravenclaw prefect, Kim Minseok after Luhan decides to abandon him once again. The Ravenclaw prefect is smart and quiet, taking down all the notes perfectly without making weird little noises unlike Junmyeon. They also manage to get through the practical without any mishaps, landing themselves the highest mark in class. Kim Minseok was the kind of partner that Yifan would have wanted initially; he is clever, independent, and quiet. But as he sets the last vial down on the table, he finds himself missing the little distractions that Junmyeon would have caused.
The bi-weekly prefect meeting is a disaster with everyone being noisier than usual. Everyone acts like they have not seen each other for weeks (when they actually see each other every day), and starts complaining about the heavy workload when it is only the third week of school. Junmyeon tries to catch everyone’s attention with incessant nagging, some useless threats, and even bribery (he offered to give everyone 10 chocolate frogs if they paid attention) but nothing works, and the only one who is listening is Kim Minseok.
Yifan can sense the distress radiating off Junmyeon as well as the pleading glances that is sent his way. The first time he helped, it was an accident, and Yifan will not let it repeat again. The other boy has grown on him for the past two weeks, with him noticing the Head Boy more and more when they are in the same room. The other boy is hardworking and helpful and pretty, and Yifan might be somewhat attracted to him, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is incompetent. Yifan still somewhat thinks that he doesn’t deserve the Head Boy spot, and Junmyeon could have definitely tried harder. He stares resolutely back at Junmyeon, and with the sigh of defeat that escapes the latter mouth, he knows the message has been clearly conveyed.
What he does not expect is the boy sliding into the chair next to him seconds later.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
“Do you want a chocolate frog?” Junmyeon produces three chocolates from his bag, and passes one to Kim Minseok before offering Yifan.
“What are you doing,” Yifan presses refusing to take the chocolate in Junmyeon’s hand.
He lets out a soft sigh, “I’m tired, so let me rest for a while?” A lethargic smile spread on Junmyeon’s face, and Yifan feels bad for a moment, contemplating helping to keep the other boys in check before he remembers that this is the job of a Head Boy.
“Stop wasting everyone’s time. We have better things to do than to wait for you to try and take a bunch of kids in hands.” The words comes out harsher than it sounds in his mind and with the visible wince on Luhan’s face, he knows that half the room has probably heard him.
“I’m sorry. I’ll make sure to finish in 10 minutes.” He quickly gets up from the chair and moves into the corner of the room where he can be as far from Yifan as possible.
The room is quiet with everyone holding their breath as Junmyeon assigns the new partners for the following two weeks. His mouth curls into a smile whenever he calls out someone’s name, but his eyes never stay on anything for more than 1 second, and he looks like he is ready to bolt.
“Yifan, your partner this week will be me.” A slightly awkward expression crosses Junmyeon’s face, as if he is scared that Yifan will reject him in front of everyone. He could have easily paired him up with Luhan again, but Junmyeon must have thought that they are friends with the little conversation Yifan strikes up throughout the week. The guilt that is taking root in Yifan’s heart intensifies as Junmyeon scrambles to get out of the classroom once the meeting ends, ignoring the calls of his friends.
He receives multiple glares as he walks through the door. It was something that he is used to, with people being jealous of his grades and family background, however this is the only time he feels uncomfortable.
“That was rude and hurtful.” Luhan reprimands once the two of them is out of earshot.
“I know, it just came out before I realized.” Yifan sighs, running his hands through his perfectly styled hair.
“What should I do now, Luhan?” The question comes out as a whine, and Luhan laughs despite feeling bad for his friend.
“How long has it been since you last whined, Wu Yifan? I told you, you are so dead.” Luhan replies not bothering to hide the amused expression on his face.
“Just help me.”
“What do I get in return?”
“Me not writing to your father about what a brat you had been.”
Luhan makes an ugly face at him before explaining his plan, “Just apologize, and send him lots of nice stuff. I think he might be the type to enjoy sweet stuff, so buy him lots of that.”
Yifan is skeptical that such an easy plan will work, but he has never apologized to anyone before (except his parents) and he just have to believe Luhan this time round.
There is a flutter of wings as the owls fly in during breakfast bringing in the morning mail. Ace, his tawny owl catches the attention of most people in the room with the enormous package it is carrying and Yifan can see his poor owl struggling under the immense load. The owl dives straight for the Hufflepuff table and staggers as it nears its target, making everyone in the vicinity duck in fear that the package will land on their head. Junmyeon is sitting with his back towards Yifan and the other boy cannot see his expression, but he can imagine his surprised expression when Ace drops the parcel on his morning toast ungracefully, successfully knocking several plates over.
The Hufflepuff table breaks out in hushed whispers as everyone looks on with anticipation. Yifan sees Ace throwing a mini fit when Junmyeon didn’t release its claws from the parcel immediately causing the other boy to pull off the string quickly. The Head Boy’s posture is apprehensive as he peels off the wrapping paper slowly, making the process agonizing for everyone including Yifan. The table gasps collectively as the content is revealed, and Yifan swears that he can hear people asking who will send half of Honeydukes to Junmyeon.
His heart races as he waits for Junmyeon to notice the roll of parchment lying at the top of all the sweets. It will be his first time doing something like this for anyone, and he doesn’t think that he can deal with rejection of any sort.
Junmyeon quickly picks up the roll of parchment and scans through the content. I’m sorry is all it said, but he can guess who is it from. He pretends to look around the Great Hall, scanning for any possible sender before turning to the Slytherin table when he thinks no one is looking. The smile he shoots Yifan is full of wariness, as if he is expecting Yifan to ridicule him the next moment, and Yifan’s heart twist at the difference in smile he is getting. He has gotten too used to seeing Junmyeon smiling warmly at him.
Yifan quickly pulls his lips into a smile that he practiced for the whole night (Luhan tells him he finally doesn’t look scary when he smiles) hoping that it shows the other boy how much he wants to be friends. Junmyeon quickly ducks his head and turns to talk to his friends that are bombarding him with questions, and Yifan can’t help but feel a little upset with the short interaction.
“You did well,” Luhan tells him as they sit in front of the common room fireplace that night. “Didn’t expect you to send him so much of sweets though.”
“Is it? Isn’t that amount necessary to show your sincerity?”
Luhan looks like he is ready to kill himself with Yifan’s question, and sighs loudly in frustration. “No Yifan, your sincerity shows when you really mean it.”
The next morning finds Yifan in a grouchy mood after he loses sleep over Luhan’s reply. There is this nagging voice in his mind that Junmyeon is reacting coldly because he thinks Yifan is being insincere, and he might need to do something else (he has no idea what) to make the two of them okay again. Luhan leaves for breakfast without him, citing not wanting to deal with a grumpy Yifan and rather spending time with Jongin as his reason and Yifan doesn’t restrain the string of curses escaping his mouth as he makes his way to the Great Hall.
“A prefect isn’t supposed to curse in public.”
Yifan looks up in surprise at the familiar voice, and sees Junmyeon standing by the door, waiting for him apparently.
“It will be bad example for the younger students when they hear it?” Junmyeon says weakly when Yifan stares at him without speaking.
“I got your chocolates,” he slowly starts, “thank you, and it is not really necessary, you know? What you said is the truth, and I didn’t mind it at all.”
Yifan opens his mouth to protest, “I was being rude. And I should always apologize after hurting someone.”
“Then you have a lot more people to apologize for. I’ve heard the way you chastise Chanyeol when he was your lab partner,” Junmyeon teases.
“Anyway, I’ve distributed the chocolates to the lower years since there were so much and I can’t possibly finish them all.” Yifan’s expression changes and a scowl slowly form causing Junmyeon to panic and launch into another explanation.
“I’m sorry for not asking you in advance, but there was just too much. And I tried giving the Slytherins too but they just refused to accept it. I’m sorry, really.” The relaxed expression on Junmyeon’s face disappears as he tries to explain the rationale, and Yifan feels guilty for making the person he is apologizing to apologize to him.
“It’s okay,” Yifan tries smiling at him reassuringly. “I think I went a bit overboard with it too.”
Junmyeon’s stance looks slightly more relaxed with Yifan’s answer, and he thinks that everything might be okay again.
“Do you want to grab breakfast together? We can go to the kitchen and get some food.”
“I’m sorry,” Junmyeon looks apologetic as he rejects the offer “I’ve plans this morning. Maybe another day?”
Yifan forces himself to smile, “Yeah, that’ll be good. I’ll be heading to the library to finish up some work first. See you later.” He quickly sidesteps the other boy and climbs up the stairs that will lead him to the library.
The first Quidditch match of the year is between Slytherin and Ravenclaw. The cloudy weather did not manage to dampen the students’ mood with the Great Hall buzzing in excitement with their prediction of the first winner of the year. Yifan has never understood the need to play any game competitively. He loves flying, but he likes the feeling of the wind enveloping him gently as he weaves through the trees rather than piercing air hurting his cheeks when he is in the pursuit of balls flying in random direction.
The rest of his housemates do not share his sentiments as tension increases across the table whenever the Captain shouts out any new instructions. The time for the match comes way too quickly, and he hears Luhan shouting at the first years to follow him to the pitch. Yifan abandons his toast and follows behind the last first year, making sure that none of them will get lost, lest he has to go through more trouble of finding them eventually.
Excited students rapidly fill up the seats, with their loud chatters echoing throughout the entire pitch.
“Good morning, everybody.” The voice of the announcer resonates in the surrounding, raising the level of anticipation among the students. At the stand opposite of Slytherin, Yifan sees the last of the Hufflepuff first-year settling down, and Junmyeon leaving them to sit next to his friends.
The match starts off slowly with none of the team scoring more than five goals after the first thirty minutes. Luhan is continuously cheering for Slytherin next to him, but Yifan really cannot be bothered anymore, feeling bored with the lack of progress in the game. He allows his eyes to wander and land on the Hufflepuff Head Boy who is unreservedly cheering for the rival team.
Junmyeon cups his hands around his mouth forming a mini megaphone and continuously shouts what seems like “Minseok, you can do it!” from where Yifan is sitting. The veins on his neck becomes more and more prominent with every shout, and his face starts turning red from excessive shouting, and yet he continues cheering, as if his life depended on it.
The game becomes more interesting with the seekers sighting the snitch near the Gryffindor stand, and Junmyeon keeps his eyes trained on the two racing figures with his mouth slightly gaping. Yifan cannot help but be amused by Junmyeon’s myriad of expressions choosing to pay attention to the boy rather than the intense situation on the pitch. Not long after, the Slytherin stand breaks out into loud cheers as their seeker gets hold of the snitch, and Yifan watches Junmyeon’s face crumple in disappointment before breaking into a small smile. An amused smile creeps up on his face, and this is the first time he genuinely enjoys watching a match.
The prefects are not needed to lead the first-years back to the school building, and Yifan chooses to wait till the rest of the school clear out before making his way back. Luhan abandons him again, once Jongin appears and asks him out for a walk by the lake side, and he has to trudge back to the school alone. Junmyeon, apparently has the same thoughts as he sees the other boy walking across the pitch unaccompanied.
“Hey,” he calls out to Junmyeon, “I saw you cheering just now.”
Junmyeon smiles sheepishly, and ducks his head in embarrassment. “Yeah, Minseok is on the Ravenclaw team, so I thought I should support him.”
“Not that I like Ravenclaw more than Slytherin though. I’ll just cheer for any team as long as my friend is on it.” He adds as an after-thought.
Yifan nods his head thoughtfully, “So do you like Quidditch?”
“Yes,” Junmyeon nods his head rapidly. “But I’m really bad at flying, so I’m stuck with watching people play during actual matches.”
They continue their walk back to the school in silence, until Junmyeon breaks it when they are nearing the building.
“Erm, do you want to grab breakfast together next week?”
Yifan knits his brows in confusion, as he cannot remember anything special happening next week.
“Well, it’s Hogmeade weekend next week, and I thought we can go get breakfast together since I turned you down previously,” Junmyeon quickly explains.
The Head Boy’s eyes shine with apprehension when Yifan takes more than a few seconds to reply. “It’s okay if you don’t want to though.”
“I would love to.” Yifan answers with an easy smile. “Let’s meet at eight at the gate?”
Junmyeon agrees, his wide smile erasing the uneasiness that was on his face previously. “See you then.”
Friday night finds Yifan bustling around the room, throwing his clothes in a haphazard manner as he tries to look for something presentable to wear.
“You’ll look good with that white shirt, the gray cardigan on the floor, and a pair of black jeans.” Luhan offers after half an hour, tired of seeing his best friend turning their room into a mess.
Yifan holds the three pieces of clothing against his body and stares at the mirror as if it will provide him the answer as to whether this will be the best outfit. “If you are feeling slightly cold, wear the maroon colored pullover your mum sent you last Christmas.” Luhan suggests through the mirror reflection.
With a sigh, Yifan flops on the bed burying his face in the little lump of clothes on the bed. “I can’t do it,” he says, trying to keep the whine out of his voice.
“Yes, you can. It’s just a breakfast,” Luhan says as encouragingly as he can, “And.” He bites his lips tentatively, unsure if he should continue. “Junmyeon does this breakfast thing quite often with some other guys. He was always having a breakfast date with Jongin before we started dating.”
The lump on the bed groans before plunging his head deeper into the mountain of clothes.
“I’m not trying to be a killjoy,” Luhan tries to clarify, “I just don’t want you to expect too much out of it.”
Despite the daunting conversation from last night, Yifan finds himself brimming with excitement as he waits for the Head Boy by the school gate. There is no one around except for Mr.Jung, with everyone finishing their breakfast in school before heading out to the neighboring village. He is slightly early; fifteen minutes earlier to be exact since his housemates decide to kick him out of the common room with his excessive pacing that is scaring the lower years.
Ten minutes later, he sees a small figure that is wrapped up in semi-winter clothing running in his direction. Junmyeon is decked in a dark blue varsity jacket that looks super warm, and there is a beige woolen scarf and black beanie protecting him from the slightly chilly October wind.
He smiles sheepishly when he reaches Yifan, “Sorry that I am late.”
“No worries, I’m early. But you look cold.” Yifan gestures to the outfit that makes Junmyeon look smaller than usual.
“I’m scared of the cold.” Junmyeon pulls at his scarf unconsciously. “So I tend to wear a bit more than the rest during winter.”
Their breakfast date, as what Yifan calls in his mind went relatively well. The duo settles in Three Broomstick for breakfast, and for once, the bar isn’t overly crowded with students. Instead, there are just a couple of adults finishing their breakfast hurriedly before they rush off for work. They ate in a comfortable silence, with Junmyeon constantly eyeing his scrambled eggs while picking on his own toast.
“You can have a bit of it if you want,” Yifan offers.
“Really?” Junmyeon questions with his eyes stretched widely while his fork is already poking the sides of Yifan’s eggs.
“Yeah.” Yifan smiles indulgently as he sees Junmyeon scoop a mouthful of his eggs and shoving it into his mouth.
“What’s the difference of eating here and in school?” He asks while Junmyeon is busy chewing on his food.
“Ambience.” The boy answers with his mouth half-full. “It feels like we are really friends when we can go out for breakfast together.”
“Can I ask you something?” Junmeyon asks as they are sipping on their drink.
Yifan resists the temptation of answering you already did, and nods instead.
“Do you resent me? I know that you will have been the better Head Boy candidate, but I got it somehow.” Junmyeon looks up at him with uncertainty while trying to maintain his smile. “It’s okay if you do, you know.”
“Why will I be sitting here with you if I disliked you?” Yifan smiles teasingly. “I still think that you are incompetent, but I like you as a person somehow?”
There is slight awkwardness in the smile Junmyeon piles on his face, but nevertheless he seems satisfied enough.
Honeydukes is relatively empty when they step in, with only a few students sweeping half the sweets off the shelf before the rest of the school appear. Yifan is not a big fan of sweets, so he opts to stand in a corner and watch Junmyeon stack more and more chocolate frog on the table in front of him.
He smiles inwardly as Junmyeon struggles to balance the mountain of chocolates in the small space he has while continuing to stack more on it.
“Can’t you just tell the cashier to wrap it up for you?” Yifan points at the little mound of chocolates that are threatening to topple over any minute.
“Yeah, but it won’t be fun anymore. Since you won’t get to see how much you are buying.” Junmyeon grabs a handful of chocolate frogs before allowing the cashier to wrap the rest up.
“You really like them, don’t you?” Yifan states when they finally leave the shop with the cashier promising to deliver the package by the next morning.
Junmyeon nods, before answering with a mouthful of chocolate. “Yeah, they make me happy. And I want to collect all the cards, so I’ll be eating lots till the day I get the full collection. And they are really good treats for the kids when they are upset.”
“You should stop spoiling everyone. Then maybe the rest of the prefects will listen to you.”
The Head Boy smiles wistfully, “I’ve thought of that, but I can’t help it? I just dislike using my authority as a reason for people to listen to me. Rather than the Head Boy, I want to be the friend that they can lean upon and talk to when they are troubled. I want them to listen to me because we will be a better team when we work together, rather than them listening to me because they have to.”
Yifan frowns slightly at the answer, “You know that you can achieve all of that even if you are authoritative at times right? You just have to find the right balance.”
Junmyeon nods glumly, “That’s why I think I’m not suited for the position.”
The taller boy gently ruffles his beanie as a form of consolation.
The rest of the day is constantly interrupted by the appearance of Junmyeon’s friends. After their haul in Honeydukes, the duo decides to head towards the apothecary so that Yifan can stock up on his potions ingredients. The minute they step into the room, the loud laughter of Park Chanyeol bounces off the walls.
“Seriously Baek, how can you call a Newt’s tail a lizard tail? Mr. Kim will totally kill you for this.” Chanyeol gasps between his short peals of laughter.
“Shut up, Park Chanyeol. What about you not knowing the difference between Saltpetre and Salpeter?”
The two continues their argument not noticing the new spectators they have, till Kyungsoo notices their presence. “Hello Junmyeon, and hi Yifan.” If Kyungsoo is surprised by Yifan and Junmyeon appearing together, he showed no signs of it as he greets the pair easily.
The arguing couple stops their heated conversation immediately and turns to look at the two next to the door. Park Chanyeol’s mouth obviously drops when he sees them, and Byun Baekhyun sends them an awkward wave.
Junmyeon offers them the remaining chocolates while waiting for Yifan to pick out the several ingredients he is running low on.
Even when he is in the other corner of the room, Yifan can hear the loud chatter coming from the group of friends. Park Chanyeol is constantly bugging the Head Boy on his appearance with the Slytherin prefect while Junmyeon brushes it off as a normal outing between friends.
This is only two friends going out for breakfast, he reminds himself over and over again and he gathers the things he needs. The apothecary assistant is more than happy to help him wrap up his purchase while shooting daggers at the trio, too polite to scold them for making such a racket when they are not buying anything.
Park Chanyeol stops his rambling when he sees Yifan approaching the group, and Kyungsoo quickly takes this chance to pull the other two away.
Yifan thought that nobody will disturb them anymore after the trio left, but he was proven wrong when he hears someone shouting for Junmyeon once they step out of the shop. Two kids that he does not recognize are hanging around Luhan and Jongin, and with the expressions on those two, he expects another round of whining to start.
“Junmyeon, how can you leave without us this morning? If not for Luhan, we will not have known that you went off first.” The dark haired boy with sharp eyes complains.
“Tao, I told you that I am going to spend time with my friend today remember?” Junmyeon answers patiently.
“But me and Sehun want to spend time with you too.” The other boy with droopy eyes nods disinterestedly, helping Tao prove his point.
“Is that so? Then do you all want to join us now? Yifan, you don’t mind right?”
Yifan can only shake his head, not wanting Luhan to make fun of him later.
The six of them make their way to Three Broomsticks once again, with Tao whining that it is too cold to be walking around. Yifan trails behind with Jongin, leaving the other four in front of him skip happily to the bar.
“Sorry for crashing the date,” Jongin apologizes sincerely. “Tao is just extremely clingy when it comes to Junmyeon.”
“It’s not a date.”Yifan shrugs, “I’ve never seen the two around before though.”
“They’re one year younger. Sehun is Junmyeon’s cousin, and Tao is Sehun’s best friend.” Jongin explains. “Tao is actually in Gryffindor, but somehow he is over at the Hufflepuff dorm more often.”
“How did you know all these?” He asks curiously.
Jongin laughs easily, “I am his other cousin, and Chanyeol is our childhood friend, though I prohibit him from speaking to me in school cause he’s too embarrassing.”
Yifan can only stare in shock as he processes this knowledge, and he sighs in relief when he realizes that Junmyeon and Jongin probably had breakfast dates as they are cousins.
He realizes how dependent the two younger one are on Junmyeon when they settle into a table in the bar. They pick the seat on either side of Junmyeon, and continuously talk to him about random things ensuring that his attention never leaves them. For the entire time, the Head Boy will listen patiently and give appropriate answers, never once getting irritated with their behavior. Even when Tao decides to whine about his candy going missing, Junmyeon only smiles and offers him one of his chocolate in an attempt to placate the other boy. He can’t help but find it cute.
The day ends off with six of them trudging back to school before the sun sets. Tao is still stuck to Junmyeon’s side, monopolizing his attention, dragging him away before Yifan can say a proper goodbye.
Surprisingly, Luhan left him alone that night and chooses to head to the library to catch up on his homework. The corridor is slightly crowded as he makes his way to the Astronomy tower, with students milling around for a little chat after dinner. It has been a long day, but his mind refuses to rest as it continuously replays the scenes from earlier on. The whole day had been going well, and he is even okay with Tao and Sehun’s appearance, however, he can’t help but admit that he is disappointed with not being able to bid goodbye properly.
The corridor to the Astronomy tower is empty as usual, with students choosing to visit it only after midnight for their illicit activities. His heavy footsteps echo the little regret in his heart, and it seem to grow exponentially as he reaches the door.
He didn’t expect the little, “hello” as he steps into the room, making him jump slightly.
“What are you doing here?” He asks when he sees Junmyeon sitting in a corner of the room.
“Enjoying some peace, and looking at the stars?” He replies looking at Yifan with a soft smile.
He contemplates leaving since the other boy came here to be alone, but instead he sits down next to the boy, close enough to invade his personal space.
“Won’t you be able to see everything better if you are nearer to the window?” Yifan questions as he sees half the sky being covered by the walls.
“It is warmer here.”
Yifan places his jacket on the smaller boy, and nudges him forward. “Can we sit by the window now? The view there is at least ten times better.”
There is an indulgent smile on Junmyeon’s face as he pulls the jacket closer before scooting forward with the Slytherin prefect.
“Thank you for the jacket, and today.” The Head Boy’s soft voice sounds exceptionally loud in the empty room. “I had a lot of fun.”
“Me too,” he says, “maybe we can do it some other time. And I’ll consider giving you tips on how to command attention if you treat me to lunch.”
“I don’t need help.” Junmyeon retorts, pretending to be scandalized.
“Yes, you need. You’re the worst Head Boy I’ve ever seen.” Yifan snorts.
“But I got your attention, right? So tell me again, how is that bad?” The playful reply left Yifan flustered and he chooses to look out of the window instead of replying.
A comfortable silence envelope the two and Yifan finds himself drifting off before Junmyeon’s voice wakes him up.
“I’m going back first. You should go too, curfew is in fifteen minutes.” He slowly takes off the jacket and hands it back to Yifan.
“Hey Junmyeon,” he calls, before the Head Boy has the chance to leave the room. “Want to meet at the kitchen for breakfast again tomorrow?”
“Sure,” Junmyeon’s eyes disappear with the wide smile on his face. “Teach me how to be a better Head Boy at the same time.”
Yifan smiles awkwardly and gives the leaving boy a small wave, “Goodnight.”
He shrugs the jacket on after the other boy leaves the room, and as he slips his arm into the sleeves, he catches a whiff of something fruity.
original working title was i don't have to hear them to know them, and this was supposed to be a oneshot with 1000+ word count with the three scenes, but it somehow evolved into this during the past few weeks. hope yall enjoyed this.
i used full names for some on purpose as that's how i imagined kris to address people he's not close with
& anyone interested in becoming friends?