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Akaashi Keiji is academically gifted in many areas, but potions is not one of them.
He's clever, even among his fellow Ravenclaws, and focused studying is something which comes naturally to him, and yet for some reason, however precisely he follows the instructions in his textbook, the final result is always terrible.
It's eight weeks until his OWLs, which is plenty of time to overcome five years of melted cauldrons and minor explosions. Akaashi is definitely not worried about it.
That Wednesday afternoon, Akaashi's attempt at a growth potion boils dry while he's trying to chop ragwort (which must be added fresh, or so the textbook says). Kenma, his Gryffindor lab partner, dissipates the acrid cloud of smoke with a far too well-practiced flick of his wand, and sighs. Akaashi can never quite tell if he's endlessly patient, or just apathetic, but he supposes it's better than having a partner who shouts at him.
"Maybe you should try asking Kuroo for help," Kenma suggests. They're putting away spare ingredients, while absently watching their classmate Tanaka as his shaved head hits the ceiling and he continues to grow, legs tangled in the ridiculously tiny desk he'd been sitting at.
Akaashi considers the offer for half a minute, thinking about the Gryffindor sixth year and his sly, scheming grin.
"I'll be fine. Thanks, though."
Kenma gives him a long look, then ducks away as Tanaka's wild attempts to free himself from the desk send a chair flying in their direction.
Eight weeks is plenty of time. Akaashi has nothing to worry about.
---
He's really got it, this time. The ingredients are laid out ready, he's simmered the lakewater for exactly the right length of time, and he knows what he's doing. He drops the wormwood into the cauldron, and it explodes.
It's six weeks until his OWLs, and Akaashi is starting to worry.
Kenma, who had long ago learned never to lean over the cauldron while Akaashi is working, gives him a sympathetic look.
"...It seems I might have to talk to Kuroo-san after all," Akaashi tells him, as he gingerly picks up the remains of his work and carries it across to the bin.
This is how Akaashi finds himself, two hours before curfew, standing outside the Gryffindor common room, waiting for Kenma to let him in. The Fat Lady, who is apparently rather fond of "sensible Ravenclaws," won't stop telling him about this year's crop of Gryffindor first years, who seem physically incapable of learning a password, even when she's offered to give them clues, and half of them are persistently late back in the evenings, although none are as bad as some of the sixth and seventh year students, who had-
Akaashi feels a broad, heavy palm settle on his shoulder.
"Is there a reason the Ravenclaw seeker is lurking suspiciously outside our common room?" says the tall, capricious sixth year in question, one eyebrow raised in query.
Ah. Bokuto.
"Kenma was supposed to be introducing me to Kuroo-san, to help study for potions, but I think he's forgotten."
It isn't that Akaashi knows Bokuto particularly well, or has really spoken to him much at all before now, but the Gryffindor chaser's reputation for mischief tends to precede him, especially when his name comes up in connection with Kuroo Tetsurou.
"Kenma just got a new chess set," Bokuto says with a wry smile, "so we'll be lucky to see him in the next week. But I can totally let you in and fetch Kuroo for you!"
Akaashi is opening his mouth to make an excuse and run as far away as the moving staircases will allow, but there's a hand grabbing his wrist and he's being pulled through the open portrait door by a grinning Bokuto before he gets the chance to protest.
The Gryffindor common room looks surprisingly similar to his own, albeit with fewer bookshelves. Bokuto sits him in a chair near the fireplace, and runs up a flight of stone steps, calling something about "dragging Kuroo out of their dorm right now!"
Akaashi sits, and takes a very deep breath.
"So you're the guy who bleached Kenma's hair," says a voice from behind him.
Kuroo is standing with his hands on his hips, smirking. Akaashi has the strange sensation of being a small animal in the gaze of something much bigger and much hungrier that him, and with much sharper teeth than his own.
"No way, that was you?!" Bokuto jumps down the last three steps to join him, thudding as he hits the floor heavily.
"Accidentally. And I offered to charm it back for him, but he said he didn't care." Akaashi can feel a tension headache forming already. "...So you can see why I need the extra help?" He turns a somewhat pleading gaze on Kuroo.
Bokuto hoots with laughter.
"I like this one! Can we keep him?" he glances to Kuroo, who's still contemplating Akaashi with that feline grin.
"I guess I can help. But it means you'll owe me."
Akaashi really, really doesn't like the sound of that, but it's not like he has much choice.
It's six weeks until his OWLs, and, as Kuroo sits down in the chair opposite him, Akaashi wonders just what he's got himself into this time.
---
The door to the owlery creaks as Akaashi pushes it open, closing it gently behind him and pulling out his wand to scourgify a section of the floor so he can sit without covering his robes in droppings.
He's been coming here since he was in third year - sometimes, he wants to be somewhere quiet but not silent, without people but not alone, and the draughty tower is always full of soft hoots and rustling feathers. It's soothing, and a couple of the owls have even taken to sitting with him, perched on his shoulder or knee or on top of his head, while he reads his textbooks and enjoys their warmth.
There's one owl which is his particular favourite: an enormous eagle owl, feathers speckled black and white and silver, eyebrow-like tufts sticking out above the brightest golden eyes, always observing him. Today it perches by Akaashi's leg and nudges vaguely at the potions textbook with its hooked beak, before hooting inquisitively at him.
Akaashi holds his hand out to scratch gently at the soft feathers of the owl's chest and head, and opens his textbook.
It's four weeks until his OWLs, and this is probably the first few moments of peace Akaashi has had so far this month. Between quidditch matches, his professors piling on the homework, exam revision, and study sessions with Kuroo and Bokuto, Akaashi isn't sure how he's even finding the time for meals these days.
He'd been surprised at first when Bokuto had offered to join in with the potions tutoring. As far as Akaashi knew, he wasn't exactly the most book-smart person in the sixth year. When Akaashi pointed this out, Bokuto pouted and whined.
“Akaashi, that's so mean!”
Kuroo laughed.
"You're right, he's terrible at memorising stuff. History of magic and muggle studies are just," he pulled a face.
“But I'm awesome, like, absolutely the best at practical stuff!!” Bokuto interjected. “I just do it, and I get a feeling, and it works!" he grinned widely at Akaashi, as if he'd just made everything clear.
"...Well," he added, "except transfiguration. That one never really agreed with me. But everything else!"
It isn't until Akaashi sees him making a potion that he understands it. Bokuto had seemed to dance around the cauldron, throwing in seemingly random quantities of ingredients, laughing to himself as the liquid bubbled and sparked.
Kuroo stood next to Akaashi, watching him watch Bokuto, with that scheming smirk firmly in place.
"You see what I mean? He's the stupidest genius I've ever met."
The potion let out a hissing sound, before turning purple. Akaashi thought he could maybe smell a waft of lavender in the air.
"It's a sleeping draught,” explained Bokuto. “Madame Pomfrey gets me to brew it for her sometimes. Cool, right?”
“Cool,” said Akaashi, thinking about how everything he'd thought he'd known about being able to do anything if only you studied hard enough was a complete lie, disproved in twenty minutes by a gangly teenager with too much hair gel.
Kuroo had spotted the look on his face, and laughed until he could barely breathe.
In the time he's been thinking about Bokuto and the sleeping potion, a barn owl has settled on Akaashi’s shoulder, heavy but not unpleasantly so. The eagle owl has hopped up onto his thigh, and nips gently at his fingertip with its beak.
Akaashi sighs.
“I've got no food for you, you know.”
The owl puffs out its chest and hoots, somewhat indignantly, before settling back down onto Akaashi’s leg and gazing at the textbook, as if it were reading along with him.
He turns the page.
There are four weeks to go, and Akaashi wonders for the first time in his life if studying is going to be enough.
---
They're sitting in the Gryffindor common room again, at a table by the window this time. Kuroo is opposite him, quizzing him on the properties of different ingredients, while Kenma lounges on the floor next to them, playing a muggle video game. Apparently Kuroo had charmed it so that the batteries never ran out as a Christmas present several years earlier, with few noticeable side effects aside from the game protagonists’ new tendency to ask questions about their own non-existence during cutscenes. Akaashi is reluctantly impressed.
Outside the window, Bokuto is practising his flying, performing increasingly dramatic aerial acrobatics, and occasionally whooping, partly for joy and partly, Akaashi suspects, in demand of their attention. Akaashi watches as he executes a perfect barrel roll in the late morning sunlight, looking up to check that they'd seen him and getting sidetracked enough that he almost crashes right into one of the castle’s other towers. Akaashi snorts.
Kuroo looks over at him, potions revision momentarily set aside.
“You know Bokuto’s an owl, right?”
Akaashi thinks about his ridiculously spiked hair, his hooting laughter, his broad shoulders and long arms spread like wings as he soars through the air after scoring a point in a quidditch match.
“Yeah. I can definitely see that.”
There's a huff of laughter from Kenma’s direction. Kuroo raises an eyebrow.
“No, I mean he's literally an owl, the same way I'm a cat.”
Akaashi looks across at Kuroo’s sharp, predatory eyes, and laughs again.
“Right. Whatever you say, Kuroo-san.”
Kuroo shakes his head, looks back down at the textbook, and asks Akaashi the properties of spider’s silk when combined with different ingredients.
It's two weeks until his OWLs, and as he listens to Bokuto’s shouts outside, Akaashi wonders when any of this is going to actually sink into his brain.
He's started to have his usual pre-exam recurring nightmares now. There are the usual ones, like turning up to his transfiguration practical in his underwear, or vomiting into his cauldron, or forgetting how to write during history of magic. But there have been some new additions too, of late – the care of magical creatures exam, in which he must do the bidding of a giant black cat, or else face being eaten along with academic failure; stranger still, the eagle owl from the owlery, which settles its huge, taloned feet across the delicate bones of his wrist and gently squeezes, before hopping up to his shoulder and whispering what Akaashi is sure are the correct answers into his ear in soft hoots, if only Akaashi could understand what it was trying to say.
Two more weeks. He can definitely be ready in time with two more weeks. Maybe.
---
Bokuto's hand is around his wrist, strong and warm, and before Akaashi knows it he's being tugged into a bathroom for what Bokuto calls ‘extra practice’.
There's an out of order sign on the door of the far stall, which Bokuto ignores, swinging it open and ushering Akaashi inside, before locking it behind them.
It's less cramped than Akaashi had anticipated, but not by much. There's a small cauldron set up on the floor, but aside from that it's just an ordinary bathroom stall. Bokuto puts his hands on Akaashi’s shoulders to step around him and the cauldron, puts down the lid of the toilet, and sits. He pulls his bag up onto his lap, and opens it, revealing what appears to be half of the potions stock cupboard.
“So,” he asks, “what are we making first?”
Akaashi stares at him.
“Passing my OWLs won't be much help when they catch us and kick me out of school, you know.”
Bokuto laughs, his usual hoot.
“Relax! The stall is soundproofed – Kuroo and I charmed it when we were in fourth year. We won't get in any trouble, promise!”
“…Why did you and Kuroo-san need to soundproof a bathroom stall?” Akaashi asks, but Bokuto is ignoring him in favour of leafing through Akaashi’s textbook, settling on a potion and starting to pull ingredients out of the bag.
Three failed potions later, and Bokuto’s grin is starting to look a little strained. Akaashi sort of wants to cry. Bokuto stands up, and Akaashi thinks that he's finally going to decide that Akaashi is a lost cause, and leave him there.
It's one week until his OWLs, and Akaashi is completely and utterly fucked.
Instead of leaving, Bokuto squats down next to him, and waits for him to finish scourgifying the cauldron.
“I think maybe it's less about what you're doing, and more about your mindset,” he begins. “Most of what you're doing is right, but you're still not getting the results. So it's got to be about what you're thinking, right?”
Akaashi makes a face.
“Does that sort of thing actually make a difference? If I'm getting the process right, it should work, shouldn't it?”
Bokuto blinks back at him, smiling like he's a solved puzzle.
“It's all still magic, isn't it? It's the same as if you're casting a charm, or transfiguring something. If you're thinking about something else, or you don't believe it's going to work, of course it's not going to!” He bumps his shoulder against Akaashi’s, then reaches for the textbook again. “We’ll make something together, and you'll understand. Alright?”
Akaashi nods, and they start on a laughing potion, taking it in turns to drop ingredients into the bubbling cauldron.
“Try and think about what the potion is supposed to do while you're making it,” Bokuto explains. “So in this case, think about things which make you laugh, or about the sound of people laughing, or something like that!”
Bokuto’s hooting laugh is what immediately comes into his mind, and he finds himself smiling as he stirs the potion thirty times anticlockwise, watching it turn from fiery orange to dark, leafy green.
With a flick of his wand, Bokuto extinguishes the fire burning under the cauldron, and pulls a small beaker out of his bag.
“Looks about ready!” He fills the cup, offering it to Akaashi.
“...and you promise take me straight to the hospital wing if this goes wrong?” Akaashi replies, raising a sceptical eyebrow as he gingerly takes the cup. Bokuto nods, eagerly, and Akaashi takes a sip of the potion.
He thinks, momentarily, that it tastes a little bit like broccoli, and for some reason it's the funniest idea he's ever had, and suddenly there are tears running down his face and his stomach hurts and he is impossibly, uncontrollably giggling.
Bokuto gives a delighted shout, and suddenly Akaashi’s face is being slammed against Bokuto’s shoulder as he pulls him into a tight hug, shouting something about ‘I knew you could do it!’ Akaashi is still laughing too hard to mind.
With one week to go, Akaashi thinks that just maybe this is going to be okay after all.
---
He walks out of the dungeons on slightly wobbly legs, brain still in exam-mode. He should probably go and debrief with Kuroo and the others, but he needs a few minutes alone first, to recalibrate himself and calm his frazzled nerves.
Before he really knows where his feet are taking him, the owlery door is creaking open. He scourgifies the patch of floor again, like always, and sits. As if on cue, the eagle owl swoops into the tower, settling on Akaashi’s raised knee and hooting softly to him in greeting. He reaches out to smooth the feathers of its chest with the back of his fingers, and finally feels himself relax. He sighs, smiles, and closes his eyes, just for a second.
There's a strange sort of popping noise, and suddenly the air is full of squawks and hoots and ruffling feathers, and the weight which had been on his knee is much bigger, pinning his legs. Akaashi opens his eyes again to find Bokuto Koutarou, conspicuously naked and grinning widely, sitting across his lap.
"Well? How did the exam go? I’m guessing it was fine because you were smiling, but maybe you were just relieved it's over?”
Akaashi opens his mouth, and lets out an incredibly dignified and manly scream.
After he calms down, Bokuto sits opposite him on the dirty floor, wrapped in Akaashi's cloak, and looking perhaps a little sheepish.
“I guess you probably want me to explain, don't you.”
“Yes,” says Akaashi, “I think an explanation would be a good start.”
Bokuto absent-mindedly strokes the head of one of the barn owls nearby as he begins.
“When Kuroo and I were in fourth year, we kept getting caught sneaking around the castle after dark. The school threatened to write to Kuroo's parents about it, which would have been… bad, for him. So we had to come up with a way we could still explore the castle, but without the teachers knowing we were doing it.
“Kuroo found it in a book in the restricted section of the library. I mean, you'd think they'd keep the instructions for animagus transformation away from a school library altogether, so it's not even really out fault! In the end, Kuroo did most of the transfiguration part and I did most of the charms, and Kenma kept lookout and helped us find the difficult ingredients. And, well, it worked, obviously, and here we are!!”
Akaashi blinks at him, slowly, as several things – what Kuroo had said before, about Bokuto literally being an owl, the soundproofed toilet cubicle – fall into place in his head.
“You mean to tell me that you performed an incredibly complex, completely illegal piece of self-transfiguration just to sneak around the school at night? Instead of, say, brewing an invisibility potion?”
Bokuto seems a little taken aback.
“But where's the adventure in that, Akaashi?”
There's very little he can really say in response to that.
“But that still doesn't explain what you've been doing here in the owlery all these times,” he prompts.
A light flush comes over Bokuto's cheeks.
“Well, mostly I just like hanging out with the other owls. They've got some really interesting stories about taking the post! But today you didn't come to the common room after your exam was over, so I just assumed you'd be here, and I wanted to see you, so I came.” He levels Akaashi with a smile. “Plus, you give really good head scratches. Like, so good.”
Akaashi glances across at Bokuto’s bare ankles, oddly vulnerable. If anything, he's frustrated with himself for not figuring this out sooner. He stands up, and Bokuto looks up at him questioningly.
“I should probably tell Kuroo how the exam went, then, shouldn't I?”
Bokuto jumps to his feet, babbling about whether or not Kenma was back yet and which potion Akaashi had been asked to make, grabbing him by the wrist and moving to drag him out of the room.
“Bokuto-san, your clothes,” Akaashi starts, and Bokuto stops with his hand on the door, as if he'd genuinely forgotten that he needs to wear clothes in public.
There's another strange popping sound, and the borrowed cloak falls to the floor, as the eagle owl swoops up to settle on Akaashi's shoulder. He picks up the cloak, smiling as the owl nips affectionately at his ear, and lets the door creak closed behind him.