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It’s something that Gyehyeon has never experienced before, this feeling of bittersweetness.
It’s a beautiful afternoon in the late spring, and Gyehyeon is joined by his two best friends, Dongheon and Yeonho, on a large blanket spread out on the grass, the Hogwarts castle towering behind them in the golden light of the sun that’s beginning to set.
There’s the activity of other students all around them, everyone out enjoying the warm weather in the final days of the school year. Exams are already over, and soon, everyone will be going home for the summer, well, everyone except the seventh-years, naturally. Most of them will be starting their post-Hogwarts lives, including Dongheon, who’ll be leaving tomorrow, and today, Yeonho and Gyehyeon are throwing something of a graduation party for him, a picnic right here in the grass.
They’re a somewhat unusual grouping, the three of them all distinct personalities. There’s Dongheon, a Gryffindor and one of the younger seventh-years, still only seventeen and quite the poet and musician; Gyehyeon, a sixth-year Gryffindor and star quidditch player; and finally, there’s Yeonho, a fifth-year Hufflepuff with a beautiful singing voice and an innocent brightness that makes Dongheon and Gyehyeon both fiercely protective of him (when they’re not playfully teasing, of course).
And for hours now, they’ve been out here, talking and laughing nonstop, practicing magic, reminiscing about great memories from the past year, and just enjoying each other’s company in these last peaceful, precious hours when it’s still the three of them all together like this.
They know it won’t be forever that their little trio will be broken up. Gyehyeon will be graduating next year, and then Yeonho the year after that, and until then, they can still exchange letters, and they can all meet in Hogsmeade during free time and on holidays off the Hogwarts grounds.
Even so, it’s just not the same, and they all know it. It’s not the everyday jokes and all the wild, schoolyard mischief. It’s not the deep conversations late at night when they should be studying, or the countless hours spent writing music together. It’s not the constant comfort of each other’s presence that they’ve had for so long and that they had always taken for granted. And it will certainly be difficult; for all three of them it will hurt.
It’s starting to get late, their picnic soon to be over when Dongheon suddenly asks Gyehyeon if he can talk to him alone for a moment, and so while Yeonho starts packing up, the two of them step away, walking far across the grass until they’re under the shade of the trees, fragrant with the blossoms of spring flowers.
“I’m really going to miss it here,” Dongheon starts, letting out a little chuckle. He then glances over at Yeonho, who is using magic to pack up the leftover snacks and to fold the picnic blanket. It’s a bit unnecessary, but Gyehyeon supposes Yeonho is just doing it for the sake of freely using magic while he’s still on Hogwarts grounds and still allowed, and Gyehyeon smiles at his cute dongsaeng, amused.
“You’ll watch out for him, right?” Dongheon asks, his eyes still on Yeonho and his voice soft. “You’ll take care of him when I’m gone?”
“Of course,” Gyehyeon murmurs, and then, he looks back at Dongheon, and at the look in Dongheon’s eyes as he looks at Yeonho, the same look that Gyehyeon has seen a million times before. It’s as familiar as anything else that the three of them have shared together, and Gyehyeon smiles again as he reaches to squeeze Dongheon’s shoulder.
“You should tell him,” Gyehyeon says.
At that, Dongheon turns back to Gyehyeon, Dongheon’s ears going red. “What?” he asks, eyes wide but lit up with something warm and bright.
“You’re leaving in the morning,” Gyehyeon goes on. “You should tell him now.”
There’s a long, silent pause between them, until Dongheon lets out a deep sigh, then turns away to look back at Yeonho, and Dongheon is smiling a gentle smile, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Just do it,” Gyehyeon says, and he gives Dongheon a little push, Dongheon stumbling a bit before he looks back at Gyehyeon, and Gyehyeon nods.
There’s another long pause between them, and then, Dongheon lets out a little laugh and turns away, and Gyehyeon swears he can hear Dongheon’s pounding heartbeat as he watches him return to Yeonho all the way across the grass.
And from here, Gyehyeon can’t hear what they’re saying, and Dongheon is facing away from him, but Gyehyeon can see Yeonho’s face, and Gyehyeon watches with fascination as Dongheon speaks to him and then takes Yeonho’s hands in his, and as Yeonho’s cheeks turn pink and his eyes flutter, his lips parting.
It’s only when Dongheon takes a step closer to Yeonho, reaching to cradle Yeonho’s face in his hands, that Gyehyeon realizes that he should probably give them some privacy, and so he just shakes his head to himself, chuckling under his breath before leaving to head back to the Gryffindor common room.
Still, it’s only moments later that Gyehyeon’s curiosity wins over, and he glances back in time to see Dongheon still holding Yeonho’s face, and then leaning forward to kiss him under the late afternoon glow, and Gyehyeon looks away immediately, grinning wide to himself as his pace quickens and he slips back towards the castle entrance.
Yes, it’s all too bittersweet. They’re growing up, and things will be different, and soon, all they’ll have left of their years here together, precious and fondly spent, will be their memories, the three of them just waiting for the time when they’ll be whole, when they’ll all be together again as they’re always meant to be.
But the future is exciting too, and it’s full of possibilities.