Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Choi Yeonjun.”

Eleven years old Choi Yeonjun was full of energy. So he was not walking to the sorting hat trembling nervously like other fellow first years children wizards and witches did. He was quite confident and skipped his way to that ancient talkable hat. He sat on the chair with a big smile on his face. It was a moment that he had been waiting for all his countable-using-one-hand years of life. Growing up in a pureblood family with also pureblood grandparents and great-grandparents, being accepted to Hogwarts is like a dream come true. And to add on that, Yeonjun’s family is not that kind of only pureblood for pureblood shit. He had all varieties of half-blood and muggle-born uncles and aunties and cousins. It was just his pureblood parents falling in love with each other and he was born. Fate works wonders maybe. Every year during thanksgiving, when his big family gathered, he was one of the excited pure souls whose eyes shone brightly listening to the elders telling their stories about Hogwarts updates, dragon extinction, newly developed potions and the gossip around daily prophets. To say that he loves magic is an understatement. He couldn’t imagine himself living his life without all these enchanting and enigmatic worlds of wizardry and witchcraft. Full of wonders and possibilities. Like a dream come true. And now, he was living the moment. The Sorting Hat Ceremony. 

Yeonjun was the 4th generation of pureblood. 54% of his family ended up in Slytherin and 32% were in Gryffindor. 12% were Ravenclaw and the other 2% had been in Hufflepuff. He did all that calculation and data collecting over the summer because he was obsessed like that. It was quite predictable, wasn’t it? Yeonjun wanted to be in Slytherin and nothing should stop him. If the sorting hat had planned for him for another, Yeonjun would shamelessly negotiate. It was a known fact to all that house sorting is a negotiable process. The sorting hat is nice enough to take your preference into consideration. And our Yeonjun here, who made his preparation for unwanted consequences, already interviewed his cousins who had first-hand experience of that house bargain. He took notes on the right words to say even the intonation so that he didn’t sound pathetic or maybe rude. He didn’t want to piss the hat off and would make a bad impression on the professors who were around there witnessing the ceremony. Choi Yeonjun wants everything to be perfect. 

All set. He was ready to be sorted!

“Oh, pureblood?” That was the first thing that the ancient hat said and Yeonjun couldn’t help but grow a bigger smile.

“Fourth generation,” Yeonjun added proudly.

“A brave one, a risk taker.. good, good.” The sorting hat continued also quickly let the fourth generation of additional information pass by with no notes taken.

That one made Yeonjun gulp. His mother was a Gryffindor, so the possibilities were high. But his father was a Slytherin and a lot of people he met told him that he is really his father’s son. That might signify something, right?  

“You are a tricky case, child.” The sorting hat took his time thinking and Yeonjun interfered. “Slytherin. I want to be in Slytherin.” 

The ancient hat grunted. “That request from you might be impossible, child. I didn’t see any bits of Slytherin qualities in you.”

“No way, I am a pureblood, my father was a Slytherin, I am quite cunning you know and.. and.. I have a resting bitch face, which is intimidating-”

Yeonjun internally skimmed over his mental notes under the heading ‘bargaining with the sorting hat’ and nothing he could utter accordingly as panic ensued, taking all over his body with a hint of offence. He was too out of it to notice that his sorting session had come to an end. The hat had decided thus came the final blow; 

The hat decided. “HUFFLEPUFF! Yellow suits you.”

And that was Yeonjun’s villain origin story. 

🦡

No, no, no. Yeonjun didn't turn into a villain or anything near. His future was described as the warmth of the sun in winter where the sunlight reflects on the white snow and turns everything dazzling, one time during the art of divination class in his third year. It was a good read. Bright future and all. Taking into account that the person who did the crystal ball reading was Huening Kai, his Gryffindor friend who also claimed by the art of divination professor himself as a potential student in the class just by looking at his sparkling with stardust eyes, maybe being in the Hufflepuff would not bring any evilnesses to Yeonjun’s supposed to be a perfect life. 

Supposed to be a perfect life. Yes, Yeonjun worded it that way ever since the sorting hat said that he looks good in yellow. What the hell is that supposed to mean? The first week into his first year, Yeonjun spent most of his free time in the library, researching anything and everything about wizardry and witchcraft capabilities related to colour. And yet he found nothing. Magic shouldn’t be colour coded, right? It has nothing to do with colour, it always hasn’t. Also, the sorting hat’s saying that Yeonjun didn’t have anything of Slytherin inside kept him awake at night for a month. An eleven-year-old poor boy was sleep deprived because of an ancient hat’s single line. Who wonders if a single colour could affect a boy so much? 

Yellow. A colour of hope. The colour of the ray of the sun on a bright day, is the reason all that on earth stays alive. The colour of light, shining the way, helps you see in the dark. The colour of spring, bees and flowers. Also, the colour that Choi Yeonjun despised the most. Yellow reminded Yeonjun of late nights, staring at the ceiling thinking of being unaccepted. Well, that was the only reason and the strongest reason why he couldn’t help not to gag when he saw yellow. What can he do? A single ceremony and a colour took away his dream. A month into the first year was a hustle for Yeonjun. A month of wondering why, a month of feeling out of place and a month of thinking that he shouldn’t have wished for anything. This might be extreme but getting into Hufflepuff, the light in his eyes was taken off. He learned a thing which is to expect disappointment so that he won’t be disappointed. That lesson was applicable through the years in Hogwarts. For example, when they forgot to serve seaweed soup for breakfast on his birthday while others who shared birthdays with him were not forgotten in his 1st and 2nd year, when his crush in his 4th year dated someone else, and mostly when the end of term exam and OWL. Regarding the exams, Yeonjun had never failed any subjects even on the subject he least favoured. He just always aimed for Outstanding and getting lower than that disappointed him. Look, he has been striving for perfection since he was a child and getting into Hufflepuff tainted his perfect life, sure, but it shouldn’t affect his perfect academic performance. 

In his second month, Yeonjun made a monumental decision in his life that kept him separated from his trauma and inferiority. He moved to the Slytherin dorm and lived off his Slytherin childhood friend, Choi Soobin. Before doing that, Yeonjun had checked the Hogwarts Rulebook (the latest version and 3 older versions just in case) and asked his older cousins about sneaking into other houses’ dormitories. Well, nothing had been written or said it was prohibited specifically.  It was just a matter of how you can get into it as different houses have different ways of getting through the main door and getting a death glare from the people of the house. Yeonjun basically didn’t break the rules. It said and stated about the common room and never once mentioned the dormitories. He was doing fine in and out of Slytherin’s boys’ dormitories without even stepping his foot in the common room. The latest version of the rulebook doesn’t really emphasise that one rule anymore. That rule was basically outdated. No one really cared as much as they did in the past. House segregation never really does good in the wizarding world as a whole anyway. 

Soobin had enough of Yeonjun’s shit and contradictory, kind enough to be a loyal friend as a Slytherin allowing Yeonjun to be his roommate or a bedmate. The deal was supposed to be until winter break but somehow it turned into 5 years. Habit is scary and hard to die, Soobin and other Slytherin were very used to Yeonjun’s presence to the point having Yeonjun’s absence for a night concerned all of them. The people of Slytherin accepted him there during his first year living off Soobin so quickly as if it was not beyond ordinary and later he found out that they thought he was a Slytherin because he looked like one. Yeonjun was flattered hearing that and wondered if the sorting hat looked at his appearance rather than his ‘inside’, would that change something? 

Okay, whatever. The past is the past. Yeonjun would be starting the 6th year, 2 more years and he didn’t have to wake up early in the morning for class and adorned himself with that ugly yellow and black striped tie and all these suffocating Hufflepuff signified robe uniform. 

“Good morning, Jun!” 

Soobin greeted him as he slid into the Slytherin table of the great hall for breakfast. Obviously, he sat there. He was practically a Slytherin with a Hufflepuff uniform. 

“Morning, Bin.” A plain greeting because nothing can be good about having a history class to start the year with. Yeonjun grabbed the cinnamon roll on Soobin’s plate and shoved it into his mouth, a little sweetness to lighten up his day.

“Oh, Jun, smile a little bit will you? Why do you look sad and depressed all the time?” Soobin said while pouring Yeonjun a cup of tea. It was out of habit, muscle memory and not that he cared or anything.

Yeonjun who really hated that line especially when it came out from Soobin’s mouth, rolled his eyes before he turned to Soobin, showing his best friend his cringiest aegyo to piss him off. “Like this?”

Soobin regretted it instantly. “I sometimes hate you.” Of course, he didn’t mean it. Soobin is someone who would stay up all night to consider someone to be hateful or not. He is kind like that. 

Which made Yeonjun think that life is unfair. 

Soobin is a half-blood. Again, it was not that he had discrimination towards them, it was just it was very unlikely for a half-blood in the Slytherin, okay? And not only that. With that face of Soobin, his kind smile, comforting presence and positivity, he is too Hufflepuff to be in the Slytherin. Even back then when they were children, Soobin said he did a buzzfeed quiz which Yeonjun didn’t know what was supposed to mean, Soobin was predicted to be in the Hufflepuff. But now, he was looking at Soobin in that Slytherin uniform, greeting the other members of the house and he looked like he belonged. Like green and silver had always been his colours. He mingled with the Slytherins like he was born to be with them which he did and he looked very happy with his fate. Soobin’s life was everything Yeonjun could ever dream of. And sometimes it did hurt him. 

They were then joined by their other two friends, Kang Taehyun, a Ravenclaw and his boyfriend Huening Kai also who had already mentioned briefly earlier. The quartet came in a set and their friendship started from being in detention during the last month of their first years and some shared classes. Their friendship is somewhat intriguing to the whole of Hogwarts including their headmaster as they all came from different houses. It was an interesting sight to see when they walked alongside each other while wearing different colours of robes. They used to be exemplary of friendship and the icon of love beyond differences and colours which they thought didn’t really make sense because basically there were only 3 houses, Yeonjun and Soobin grew up together as they were neighbours, and had been inseparable ever since and the four of them came from the same nationality but the audience believed what they wanted to believe. Whatever it was, they didn’t really bother. They were happy and will always be as long as they are together. 

The first day passed. It was quick and slow at the same time which was normal. Yeonjun was glad how this year he could breathe more peacefully as they had free time with fewer elective subjects to take and yeah, no big exam. A new academic year, Yeonjun wished for nothing but another decent year where everything should be under his control. He is fine if the year is boring. Well, boring is better than chaotic. The first day was normal (read: plain), he thought. It was dinner, he was eating dry grilled meat on Slytherin’s table, Taehyun and Kai being disgustingly sweet toward each other and Soobin was rambling about everything and nothing about his eventful day. It was good. This was his normal.

And yeah, Yeonjun shouldn’t have judged it too early.

As he bid goodbye to Taehyun and Kai when they needed to take separate ways, heading to their respective dorms except for Yeonjun who will go with Soobin, he saw a boy in a Hufflepuff robe whose hair passed his nape with quite a pretty face approaching with nervous energy exuded from his petite body. Actually not that petite but he is a few inches shorter than Yeonjun. Slightly shorter but compared to the four, he is small (figuratively?). 

“Choi… Choi Yeonjun!”

Maybe the bad energy of nervousness was too much in the air that seeped into Yeonjun’s body. That long-raven-haired Hufflepuff was trembling knowing the other Hufflepuff was looking at him rather judgingly.

“Yes?” Yeonjun said, hiding under his confident mask. He didn’t know why but nothing at this moment felt normal. 

The other three friends only watched as the scene unfolded. The two Hufflepuff were drowned under their analysing gaze. 

“I have something to talk to you about. No, it’s actually we, but.. it doesn’t matter.” That Hufflepuff was stuttering. He shook his head before he put his intention into words again but confidently. “Look, I and the other Hufflepuff have something to discuss with you, so do you mind spending some time in your own dorm tonight?” 

Own dorm. Yeonjun didn’t miss how the other Hufflepuff enunciated those two words with a more cryptic nuance. But it was harmless. It was an invitation for you to go back home except, for Yeonjun, Hufflepuff is never his home, to begin with. 

🦡

The way to the Hufflepuff basement shouldn’t be that unfamiliar for Yeonjun as half of the way is also the way to the Slytherin dungeon. Both dormitories were located in the lower part of the castle, unlike the other two which had their own towers. Yeonjun was quiet during the whole walk, following the long-haired Hufflepuff a few steps behind because he just couldn’t bring himself to walk side by side with his fellow house members because he never did and he could never dream of. He cursed Soobin internally because the Slytherin suddenly bailed out not going the same way and said that he had a plan with Taehyun and Huening Kai in Gryffindor’s common room which made Yeonjun very positive that they were going to talk about him and whatever situation he was in right now. He wished he could interrogate them tonight and not tomorrow which also means that he needed to sleep on his yellow sheet bed which he barely believed he had. 

“You know me, right, Yeonjun?” 

That question pulled Yeonjun out of his trance and realised that they were already near the castle kitchen. They stopped walking and the other Hufflepuff turned to him. Looking around, Yeonjun could only see people in Hufflepuff robes. Feeling out of place even though he wore nothing different from theirs. 

“What’s wrong? This should not be too unfamiliar for you, right?” Another question was thrown to Yeonjun. Yeonjun caught the snort that was most probably directed at him that only lasted for 3 seconds. 

Now that Yeonjun was able to look at that face closely and Beomgyu’s visual is no joke. He is pretty. Like really pretty. His long hair suits his face shape, accentuating all the features on his face that perfectly complement each other which resulted in absolute beauty that caught Yeonjun a little only a little off guard. What he saw right now wasn’t the same as the idea of Beomgyu in his head. He almost didn’t recognise him anymore. But as Yeonjun noticed his round head which also made out a perfect circle, he knew he wasn’t mistaken. In front of him was the same cutie round as a circle boy from 5 years ago. 

Is this really the Choi Beomgyu he knew 5 years ago? 

He knew this boy standing in front of him. Choi Beomgyu. They shared some classes over the years and Yeonjun saw him here and there but never this close that he thought he grew up to be a gorgeous-looking man. A Hufflepuff, in a quidditch team–the team chaser–for 3 years now, a muggle-born and someone that Yeonjun once labelled as a model Hufflepuff. Yes, a model Hufflepuff unlike him who was a failing Hufflepuff who couldn’t accept his fate. 

“Choi Beomgyu. Of course, I know you.” 

Choi Beomgyu. The only person Yeonjun thinks would never look bad in every shade of yellow. He checked all the lists of Hufflepuff stereotype characteristics. Diligent, nice, friendly, honest, loyal, passionate and yeah, even indecisive. He got everything as expected from a Hufflepuff. Maybe it was a bit unfair to judge him like that as Yeonjun didn’t know him personally but not that Yeonjun cared enough because Choi Beomgyu here is all that Yeonjun is not. Yeonjun envied him. 

“What a relief.” Beomgyu showed Yeonjun his beautiful smile. It looked genuine. Far from the person who snorted mockingly at Yeonjun earlier. “All my hard work on the first week in Hogwarts of trying to befriend you was not wasted then. I am glad.” He ended with a grin which Yeonjun found quite blinding despite how dim it was down here.  

Well, Yeonjun actually remembered that bit of memory, wherein 11 years old Beomgyu with his round head and eyes followed him around, asking his whereabouts, greeted him every morning during breakfast and his reluctance to join Yeonjun at the Slytherin table which he ended up not because unlike Yeonjun, he looked nothing like a Slytherin and easily intimidated by the other green robes wearer. He also remembered that boy who accompanied him in the library while he was so into his magic and colour correlation research on the whole day of the free Friday that the first years had. The loyalty he showed was so… Hufflepuff which somehow made Yeonjun annoyed. Partially because he was not like that and the other part because Beomgyu was too much of a chatterbox and Yeonjun preferred serenity. 

Yeonjun spaced out again and it took Beomgyu to tug at the hem of his robe sleeve to snap him out of it. “Come on.”

If Soobin, Taehyun and Kai saw Yeonjun being this obedient, they would not believe it. But being beyond his comfort zone, Yeonjun just couldn’t help it. He followed Beomgyu closely, walking towards the pile of large barrels in the corridor that holds the kitchen. Yeonjun didn’t remember the barrels being this many and yeah, of course, he didn’t because the last time he was here was years ago. 

Ahead of them were some first years and second years which Yeonjun assumed by their height and face shining so brightly full of wonders, looking confused on which barrel to tap on for the entrance to appear. Yeonjun felt the deja vu. He was one of them back then. Small with a petite body, confused about the right barrel to tap on so he would not be doused in vinegar and access barred. Unlike those boys, at that time the shine on his face already faltered due to the damned sorting ceremony. Hufflepuff and the ritual of coming into the dormitory, Yeonjun found burdensome. Slytherin and Gryffindor were the first in the convenience of only having a password which barely changed in a year to access the dormitory. Let’s not talk about Ravenclaw’s riddles which are as troublesome as Hufflepuff’s here. Well, another reason to justify his dislike towards this house. 

“You guys forgot, huh? Cutie.” 

Yeonjun watched from afar how those kids’ eyes were sparkling, idolising Beomgyu who walked through them confidently and showed them the right barrel. Not gonna lie, if Yeonjun were one of them, he would admire Beomgyu too because Beomgyu is Beomgyu. A handsome 6th-year senior with a pretty smile and cute round head who has a great personality. Just what’s not like about a person like that? 

“Look here, it’s two from the bottom in the second row. Please remember it so I don’t have to save anyone from flooding vinegar anymore.” Beomgyu told them and those little heads bobbed up and down as a sign of understanding. 

Beomgyu then proceeded to tap with a rhythm and there, the barrel entrance was revealed. 

Wait, something off with the rhythm but it works? How?

Those kids said thanks to Beomgyu like a choir before swarming into the entrance and disappearing from Yeonjun’s sight. Beomgyu again needed to tug Yeonjun by his robe and drag him into the passageway to the common room. 

“You spaced out a lot, aren’t you?” Beomgyu complained.

“The rhythm… changed… Right?” Yeonjun was so bothered by it, completely disregarding the last question from Beomgyu. Even though he knew himself that he was the one who declared that he didn't want to be associated with that badger house, he kinda felt betrayed knowing the rhythm changed without him knowing. What if one day he happened to be wanting to go back where he should belong and he did the ritual wrong and was recognised as an intruder? The possibilities were very low but what if that happened? So, they don't care about him anymore, huh?  

“Yeah, it did. During the fourth year. They changed it to something more ear-worm rhythm so it will be easier for the freshers.” Beomgyu explained and of course he didn’t notice betrayed face of Yeonjun’s. 

Earworm, huh? Easier? Are they even true Hufflepuff if they could hardly remember the simple easy-peasy rhythm? Yeonjun didn’t get it. Confused about which barrel to tap was okay since it really was confusing but the rhythm… It wasn’t that hard… Right? 

“It’s a good decision though. The last rhythm is really hard to remember and easy to forget. I don’t even remember what it sounded like.” 

No way. Beomgyu the model Hufflepuff said that?

“Are you serious? It is not that easy to forget.” Then Yeonjun proceeded to hum to the former rhythm which was totally fresh in his mind since he always thinks that the whole ritual is kinda absurd. 

And he earned a loud gasp from Beomgyu. “Oh, you are right! It sounds like that before.” His face showed too much amazement which made Yeonjun feel a bit uncomfortable. Well, if he looked more closely, he could see a little hint of gladful and pride which could make his stomach stir wildly. 

“You are a Hufflepuff, still, Yeonjun. All those people saying that you hate us is not true, right?” 

Hate. Hate is a strong word. Yeonjun never really thinks he hates Hufflepuff or anything so hateful being a Hufflepuff. He has no valid reason to do so. He isn’t sure either what he feels but the thing that he is sure of is that it wasn’t hatred. He told everyone that he was too cool to be a Hufflepuff and something about how he liked it more to be in Slytherin. So yeah, people worded it something along the lines that Yeonjun thinks Hufflepuff is not a cool house and he wanted to be in Slytherin more but he never expected someone would see him as someone who hates Hufflepuff. It's just that he feels that he doesn’t belong there. That long list of Hufflepuff qualities, he has none of them and never will because he is not good enough. Like there is no space for him in this acclaimed ‘cosiest common room’ in Hogwarts. 

Here was him, Hufflepuff common room. It should make one feel at home. A low-ceilinged room with small round windows level with the ground at the foot of the castle that shows a pleasant view of rippling grass and dandelions, decorated in the cheerful, bee-like colours of yellow and black, polished honey-coloured furniture, patchwork quilts blanket and fluffy pillows scattered around the sofas circling the fireplace and a colourful profusion of plants and flowers waving and dancing at passers-by on the wooden circular shelves fitting the walls. Being in the Hufflepuff common room feels like you are not allowed to be unhappy because you have no reason to be. Added to that, the atmosphere there was so lively. Not that Slytherin’s dormitory was full of grim or sadness, it was just that the vibe here was more vibrant and warm.  

Yeonjun’s eyes went from the animated-looking dancing cactus to Helga Hufflepuff's huge portrait over the wooden mantelpiece with the motherly smile of hers looking so welcoming making Yeonjun’s stomach churn. She shouldn’t smile. Yeonjun had been a disrespectful child for 5 years, he didn’t deserve any smile from her. He looked away from the portrait to find where Beomgyu went. He dashed to Beomgyu’s side and found another fellow Hufflepuff in their year, Bae Sumin. 

“Hey, Yeonjun! It’s so fascinating seeing you here,” She really did look fascinated with her toothy grin on display, eyes glistening watching Yeonjun. 

“Hey.” Yeonjun was lost for words. Faking fascination. Well, he barely talked to other Hufflepuff so he was in an awkward situation. 

Sumin scanned him once again for the very last time before she left, maybe to the girl’s dormitory. Seeing Yeonjun with a Hufflepuff common room as the background was so rare, that Sumin couldn’t help but wanted to keep the view in her head properly. 

“Well, Jungwoo hyung, Seungkwan hyung and Sejeong noona will be late. Sorry about that. I guess we need to wait for some time.” Beomgyu told Yeonjun about the information he got from Sumin just now.

“It’s fine. I can wait here.” Yeonjun nodded and wasn't really sure how to feel about that. Those names were not unfamiliar. He may have a clue about why he was taken there but-

“Beomie! Catch!”

Yeonjun recognised that voice and there a flying book came into his sight which was safely caught by Beomgyu. 

“You know you can just hand it to me like a normal person, right?” Beomgyu shouted but a smile grew on his face as the thrower of the book came closer to them. 

It was Yang Jeongin, a Slytherin, Soobin’s roommate who was practically his roommate too. 

“We are wizards, Beomie. We don’t do normal.” Jeongin reached out his arm to ruffle Beomgyu’s hair into a mess but Beomgyu was quick enough to dodge and ran to the boy’s dormitory leaving him and Yeonjun alone. 

“Hi, Jun!” Jeongin said to Yeonjun with a cunning smile of his before he ran towards Beomgyu’s direction, also running. “Yah! Choi Beomgyu!”

And what can Yeonjun do other than follow them? Maybe he was running too. Only the dancing cacti and Helga Hufflepuff in the portrait knew. 

“Stop looking at me like that Jun and please take a seat on your bed or whatever.”

For how long has he been there, watching Jeongin and Beomgyu bickering about how many holes their trousers have which was absolute nonsense while they were changing into their pyjamas? Yeonjun didn’t know but it must have been longer than 5 minutes. He wonders what was in Sumin’s head that she was fascinated by having Yeonjun, a Hufflepuff, come into the Hufflepuff common room while here, he witnessed Jeongin, a Slytherin making this yellow and black themed room like it was his and no one points it out. And he couldn’t help but stare at Jeongin who was already lying down on one of the beds in the room judgingly. 

“Why? You think only you can live in the dormitory that is not yours?” Jeongin whined as he realised he was being watched intently. 

Fair. Yeonjun couldn’t say anything about that. It was just that he never thought Jeongin and Beomgyu were that close. He never noticed. But yeah, he never noticed anyone in the first place after all. So now, he knows where Jeongin was when he was unavailable in the Slytherin dorm all these days and needs to tell Soobin that he had nothing to worry about Jeongin feeling uncomfortable with them or whatever because Jeongin in front of him now was all cosy buried under the yellow patchwork quilt. 

“You can lie down while waiting. Here is your bed.” Beomgyu said while pointing at the neat un-personalised bed next to Beomgyu’s. 

“My bed?” Yeonjun never really remembers having a bed at Hufflepuff’s for 4 years. He never even came. The bedding and rooming system in Hufflepuff is based on first come first served. With the number of beds in each room varies, sometimes they spread out randomly. Students of the same years used to stick together in one room and some people don’t mind who they end up rooming with. They might share with the students in another year if one is late. And looking around the room, it was filled with familiar faces. His one-month-long ex-roommates; Beomgyu, Lee Jeno and Lee Heeseung but Lee Felix and Jung Sungchan were missing. Unlike the old room which had 6 beds, this room only has 5 beds. Someone was sacrificed and the bed Jeongin co-owns most probably belongs to Felix as the two are close friends. 

So, it must be Sungchan… How can he have a bed saved for him? 

“How can I have a bed here?” The question was directed to everyone in there and Beomgyu seemed unable to say a word. 

“Our Beomie here saves your bed every year even after you left and never showed any interest to come back.” 

Felix came out of nowhere, walked into the room and went to his bed where Jeongin landed on the opposite of what they called his bed . 

Whatever came out of Felix’s mouth, he didn’t want to acknowledge. He hesitated to put down his butt on the yellow warm and comfy-looking bed. But Yeonjun was right. Sungchan was not here. 

Jeno from the bed at the end of the room added. “With the excuse, quote unquote just in case you change your mind.” He paused to shrug as if he was upset. “Poor Sungchanie, forever rooming with a year above or below.” 

“Hey, Jungwoo hyung adores him and he said he is fine there. I’ve talked to him!” Beomgyu, half shouting, with the urge to defend himself who already looked like a bad guy in this conversation. 

“Sungchan is too kind to say no, by the way, Beomie-ya. Everyone here knows you like Yeonjun more than him.” This time it was Heeseung who was against Beomgyu.

“Why are you still here and not going to your prefect duty, Heeseung?” Beomgyu was completely red. Yeonjun wasn’t sure because he was really angry or if it was an embarrassment of defending a bed whose owner never knew its existence. 

They were all enjoying teasing Beomgyu and Yeonjun could see why because annoyed and whiny Beomgyu was kinda cute and entertaining to watch. Even the angel Jeno participated in. But realising how this all teasing was partially about him, it was not really fun. 

“Beomgyu is really happy having you back here,” Heeseung whispered to Yeonjun with trails of giggles before he quickly made his way out of angry Beomgyu’s sight. 

“Whatever he said, don’t believe it,” Beomgyu grunted, warned Yeonjun.

The others were a giggling mess at the corner, Jeongin too, looking very amused while Beomgyu looked like he was on the verge of crying and staring everywhere except Yeonjun. 

Yeonjun was beyond confused and he hoped whatever this situation was about, it was nothing serious. 

And calmness came back to the room as Felix offered his freshly baked blondie that he baked himself to everyone to taste in which Yeonjun saw a high amount of gratefulness surfacing Beomgyu’s eyes upon Felix’s action. 

🦡

“What? A seeker?” 

Yeonjun almost choked on Felix's delicious blondie. It was really good to the point he brought a few pieces with him when Beomgyu told him the seniors were back and they needed to do the discussion with him. But choking on those yellow sweet treats wasn’t a part of the plan. 

So, he was told to come to gather in the common room. Under the surveillance of half asleep Helga Hufflepuff portrait, they rounded up and Yeonjun never left Beomgyu’s side because he felt a little socially (read: Hufflepuff) awkward and Beomgyu at his side felt familiar like a safe circle that he didn’t dare to leave or else, he would be in danger. The others were already there with the three aforementioned 7th graders. Sumin, Sungchan, Jeno, Ryujin, Eunchae and a few recognisable faces that Yeonjun is worried about messing up their names. It took him only 3 seconds to figure out what all these were going to mean. Quidditch. He may rarely come for Hufflepuff matches but Yeonjun just couldn’t help knowing them all and their skills in quidditch because he needed to know them to play coach a certain someone and of course, didn’t have anything to do with him thinking Hufflepuff’s line-up these few recent years are quite amazing and exceptional therefore he was interested.

And to summarise, the 7th-year seniors needed to leave the team because of the damn NEWT which also meant that they were gonna lose their golden seeker Kim Jungwoo. At first, Yeonjun argued since Slytherin’s 7th-year seniors didn’t step down according to Soobin. Quidditch was not going to take all their time for academics. One of Yeonjun’s cousins still graduated fine even though he was involved with that overrated (according to Taehyun) sport. Well, that was a failed argument because he was talking about the non-Hufflepuff. Hufflepuff takes things seriously. Passion, determination and hard work equal success, one gone, they would not be satisfied. In the final year, they wanted to focus on academics and they think they had enough fun in the past years and now it is time to pass it on to the younger ones. They were not greedy to ‘gatekeep’ the sport to new faces. 

Then Yeonjun came out with another argument where the other teammates could fill up their position which only ended up with him losing again. Sungchan was filling Seungkwan's position as keeper and Jeno was filling Sejeong’s position as the beater. For the seeker position, they all tried it and Jungwoo said that all of them were hopeless. No one was offended by that because they all knew their own capabilities and no one could compare to Jungwoo who practised his ass off 3 times harder than anyone. 

“Wait, why me? You guys have never seen me play. Who knows if I am even good at it?” 

It had been a long time since Yeonjun felt so many emotions in one night because his life was quite a plain one. Doing too much panicking in the span of a few hours was unordinary. He didn’t know what expression he was making when he felt a gentle hand pat his back which seemed to carry the intention of calming him down. It must be resulting from his extreme frowning and uneven breathing. Those pats also helped the piece of blondie down his throat properly. It was Jeno and he flashed Yeonjun his kind smile, mouthing ‘are you okay?’ and proceeded to hand him a glass of water. 

“Beomgyu said you are the one who trained the Slytherin seeker which is.. not gonna lie, he is damn good and I trust Beomgyu. ”

There, whatever Boo Seungkwan said while the others nodded in agreement. Another betrayal of the night. No one should know that he was coaching Soobin secretly.

“Beomgyu?” He turned to the mentioned name in disbelief. 

“Tyun. Taehyun told me.” Beomgyu said. He blinked quite a lot of times per second out of nervousness and Yeonjun couldn’t not take note of those pretty long lashes he had. 

“Tyun? Since when Taehyun is close to you?” Tyun, Taehyun’s nickname. Yeonjun barely could recall anyone apart from the three calling him by that name. Even he himself called Taehyun by the government name more often. He felt another betrayal. He wondered if Soobin and Kai knew about this. 

Those round eyes stopped blinking and now they were opened wide, so round like a full moon except that they were full of aligned constellations. “Taehyun and I are close. I have seen you play once. During the Slytherin practices. Jeongin had seen you play too. You are excellent. Amazing indeed.”

“Jeongin?” 

Another name was mentioned. He didn’t feel betrayed as much as he did know Taehyun and Beomgyu were friends on a nickname basis. Okay, that was a pass. Yeonjun was quite flustered by Beomgyu telling him he was good at quidditch. 

Living in the wizard household, he grew up having a mini quidditch field in his backyard. His father played quidditch during school as well as a hobby and he had an uncle who played quidditch for money so, it was natural for him to fly on a broom before even stepping into Hogwarts. One of his goals was to be a part of the quidditch team but he couldn’t fulfil that because he didn’t want to associate himself with Hufflepuff and it was against the rule to join another house's team. So, Soobin, also now referred to as a Slytherin seeker in this discussion, was the person who Yeonjun dumped all his yearning for quidditch at. All the popularity that Soobin gained from being a flashy brilliant Slytherin seeker was all thanks to Yeonjun. Slytherin and Soobin wouldn’t make it this far if it wasn't for him. In other words, Yeonjun admitted himself that he betrayed Hufflepuff but no one needed to know that. It was supposed to be like a friend helping a friend thing. What they didn’t know shouldn’t hurt them. But now, the cat is out of the bag. They knew Yeonjun betrayed them. Fuck Jeongin who brought Beomgyu to the Slytherin practises. Fuck Taehyun who told Beomgyu what he was supposed to not know. And fuck his life. 

But what bothered him the most was how the faces who were looking at him right now weren’t inflicted with any anger or betrayals.  

“Come on, Yeonjun, please. We see no hope in the team for this year. Other houses' lineups are crazy.” Sumin, who was in the chaser position alongside Beomgyu said. And she was not wrong. Taehyun and Kai talked about that during lunch and Yeonjun himself thought it was crazy. 

Hong Eunchae, their only 4th-year chaser who recently got into the first lineup, mumbled but loud enough to add to that. “It’s not like we ask you to spy on the Slytherin or anything.”

“We need you. Stuck at number 2 for 3 years straight isn’t fun anymore, you know.” Shin Ryujin, everyone’s girl crush, the beater of the team who was in the same year as him, almost pleading. Yeonjun never saw this side of her. 

Being the runner-up for 3 years after Slytherin wasn’t fun. Maybe that was what Ryujin was trying to say. Living in the Slytherin circle, Yeonjun must be lying if he said that he never heard any of the nasty Slytherin bad mouthings or mocking Hufflepuff, saying the badger house was too humble to strive as number one and they were too intimidated by the snakes. People (read: the Slytherins) talk down on Hufflepuff as weak and not up to their par as if Gryffindor and Ravenclaw didn’t get beat up a good time by them. The Hufflepuff quidditch team was excellent and as Hufflepuff that they are, they wouldn’t hold back on something they were passionate about. The fact that they sometimes did these in front of Yeonjun with full confidence as if Yeonjun were siding with Slytherin was really too much. But Yeonjun did nothing in return. He turned his blind eyes, deaf ears. 

And when Yeonjun scanned across all Hufflepuff quidditch team faces, he felt guilty. 11 pairs of puppy eyes were on him who betrayed them once before. What feeling must he feel right now other than guilt? He can’t do this. He turned his back on them, not having any intention to come back, separating himself from them and now he has them all begging for him to come back while they had done nothing wrong to justify Yeonjun’s despicable action for 5 years.

“Guys, I appreciate this but I am sorry. It’s not like I don't want to but..” No, There was no but. Yeonjun didn’t want this . He just didn’t know how to put them all in a polite and kind way. Look.. how pretentious he was trying to refuse in a pretty way so he won’t look bad. Yeonjun couldn’t do this, he wanted to escape from here. 

Yeonjun’s pause brought Sejeong, the captain, took over the talking again. Finally spoke after a while, “Come to our practice this Saturday, watch us play and decide after that. We won't force you or anything but please consider. Okay?”

Kim Sejeong the legendary Hufflepuff beater. Being the beater herself as a woman surprised a lot of people. And when they chose her as the captain, some even ridicule her but of course not Yeonjun because, in the quidditch field, this woman was a beast, a beautiful one at that. Now, Yeonjun was in the front view interacting with her, he realised that Sejeong didn’t deserve any hatred or any mouth against her. She is too charismatic and her words were kindly enveloped with gentleness. She was not pressuring Yeonjun or guilt-tripping him. It was purely a request with genuine asking for a favour. Yeonjun finally agreed. “Okay. Alright.”

The others let out a relieved sigh as if they were all holding their breath waiting for his approval. And Yeonjun may or may not have noticed Beomgyu’s eyes staring at him with overflowing bliss which made all the stars in his orbs visible even if they were hidden behind his curtain of overgrown fringes. Pretty.

“Thank you,” Sejeong said, gifting Yeonjun a smile and a pat on his shoulder with a (gentle) firm hand. 

As the discussion ended, Seungkwan clapped his hand for attention, living up the night.  

“Alright now, does anyone want ramyeon?” 

Ramyeon. 

If one day, Yeonjun were asked what his weakness was, ramyeon will be it. Yeonjun might be a complicated person but sometimes he can be a simpleton. And this moment was one of them. He kept his guilt hanging around somewhere and devoured a cauldron of ramyeon served in front of him. 

One perk that people know about living as a Hufflepuff in the castle is the free and unlimited supply of food. Being close to the kitchen and being the house-elves favourites, they have free access to the kitchen and also the food. It will be a plus if you are interested in cooking and baking. The house elves would let you use the ingredients available and you can start experimenting. Late-night snacks were common and a daily thing. 

Yeonjun almost forgot his intention of going back to the Slytherin dorm as he got the second cauldron of ramyeon. Ramyeon first, his social (read: Hufflepuff) anxiety second. Plus, he had a bed saved here, wasn’t he? For years Beomgyu saved it for him, he should return the kind favour. Oh, hypocrite Yeonjun. 

That night was not only about ramyeon though. At first, Yeonjun only decided to eat his ramyeon quietly and observe the other Hufflepuff (they were joined by others and some of the quidditch team members quit to bed) talking about nothing and everything. But as the conversation flowed, and new topics unfolded, Yeonjun found himself interfering here and there. It was fun. He felt welcomed. Well, in the Slytherin dorm, he only could talk to Soobin and only a few people in his year because he had the awareness of how he was an outsider and he actually cannot really blend in their conversation either. Some of their opinions totally contradict and made Yeonjun tend to hold himself back. But here, he felt free. He was not judged. They were all thinking the same thing and even when he was not, he felt accepted. He got a good laugh and also some new insights. It was fun, he enjoyed it a lot. 

But maybe it was because of his usual cursed late-night thoughts that came through the door of his mind, circling a full lap in there so Yeonjun has no excuse to not acknowledge its existence. A slap of reality that he actually didn’t belong there. Hufflepuffs are kind, of course, he was welcomed and nicely treated. It was their nature. But that didn’t erase the fact that Yeonjun betrayed them and had 5 years of not acknowledging himself as one of them. He was the bad guy in this situation and he didn’t deserve any of this. 

“In the end, you need to sleep here since it's past curfew. Sorry.”

Yeonjun needed to crane his neck while he was lying down on his bed to see Beomgyu who came back from brushing his teeth. It was dark in the room, no night light was on because all of them here preferred to sleep in total darkness. That was the fact Yeonjun knew from 5 years ago and it was still applied. 

“No, don’t be. It’s nothing. The ramyeon is too good to resist.” Yeonjun’s gaze followed Beomgyu’s figure until the other tucked himself under the duvet. Despite the darkness, he could see him. Weird enough, he could make out the effortless yet sweet smile on Beomgyu’s face like there was a dim light coming spotlighting above him. He looked happy. Like 11-years-old-Yeonjun letting 11-years-old-Beomgyu follow him around on the last Friday they spent together. 

“Beomgyu, can I ask you something?” 

“Sure,” Beomgyu answers, head turning in his direction. 

But Yeonjun didn’t do the same, he only stared up. “About this bed, you really saved it for me? Since the second year?”

It took a while before Beomgyu answered. “Yes. It's silly, I know. I don’t know why I even saved it for you.” Nervous giggles at the end which Yeonjun missed because his mind had already run a mile away. 

“No, it’s not silly. Thank you. Really.”

Yeonjun could feel Beomgyu's soft gaze upon him from his bed but he couldn't bring himself to reply to that. He gulped. A beat of pause. 

“Thank you for considering me going back here and yeah, thinking of me for the seeker position, all that, thanks. You don’t have to do all this, you know. I thought no one would remember me as a Hufflepuff.”

“You are a Hufflepuff. We are family. No one deserves to be forgotten. Everyone thinks the same actually.” Beomgyu replied however without missing a single beat as if it has always been at the back of his mind to say those to Yeonjun. 

Family . Yeonjun forced himself to not trust Beomgyu's words and kept on believing that he was just being nice because it hurt him more, acknowledging that he didn’t even deserve to be here right now. “Sure.” 

“Uhm, another thing, Beomgyu.” This time Yeonjun called him with a softer voice so gentle. 

But only for him to be cruel next. 

“You can let Sungchan have this bed. I might not be back. Ever.”

Silence. 

“Oh.” 

A sound of glass shattering into pieces followed but only Beomgyu could hear it. 

“It’s nothing about the dorm or the house or you guys. It’s me. I just feel that Hufflepuff isn’t for me. I don’t belong here.”

Those explanations mean nothing, Yeonjun knew it. It was more like telling himself more than Beomgyu who already didn’t care. It was bullshit. 

“Nothing I can say could change your mind, right?” Beomgyu said but it lacked Beomgyu . It sounded so plain, so rough. “Nevermind, good night, Yeonjun.” 

It was never a good night. Not only for Yeonjun and Beomgyu but the whole room too. 

🦡

No, but… 

Yeonjun actually had a really good night. He overslept even. Waking up to an empty dorm and almost empty basement, only a few still linger around having some stuff to grab before class starts. It was not late late, Yeonjun thought. If this was the Slytherin dorm, there could be some who overslept too. Hufflepuff—they are morning people, get to class early and so on—Yeonjun understood. What Yeonjun didn’t understand right now was… How the hell did all 4 of his one-night-roommates not bother to wake him up? Why? Not to be dramatic but Yeonjun just couldn’t process that. Not that Yeonjun wanted to be seen among them but it is not that hard to wake up fellow schoolmates so they were not late for breakfast, right? Aren’t Hufflepuff supposed to be kind? 

Now that Yeonjun with his unresolved issues to ponder about not only made him late for breakfast but also, class. He could only grab a piece of milk bread before rushing to his first class, Herbology which required a long walk to the greenhouse. He ran as fast as he could only to make it 7 minutes late. Professor Jung already started his class when Yeonjun entered with a train of apology from his mouth. Professor Jung, who is also the head of Hufflepuff, lectured him about being punctual and taking classes seriously even though there’s no big exam this year with a hint of disappointment on his face before he was forgiven and told to quickly go to the workstation as they were about to start handling the Barren Bittercrass, a wiggly magical plant that produces the Bromkos fluid that is widely used in anaesthetic potions in the medical field.

Yeonjun didn’t realise at first that he ended up partnering up with Heeseung. Yeonjun had a lot to say upon seeing that face. Well, a lot to ask actually but he will save it for later. He didn’t want to disappoint Professor Jung further. Enough with his denial as a Hufflepuff which that professor already knew of. He took advanced herbology this year entirely due to wanting to be on Professor Jung’s bright side, something like wanting to make up for his misbehaviour of ditching his own house which he actually didn't have to because to that professor, it was not such a big deal. However, it was a big deal to Yeonjun and not that he had a clear career plan so he doesn't have to be careful in choosing subjects to take. Herbology is not that hard either, so here he was, trying to extract the Bromkos fluid out of the plant while Heeseung distracted the plant with some charm so it would stop wiggling and calm down. They made a good team despite the lack of communication. The herbology lecture ended so quickly. Extracting, pointing out the unique characteristic, analysing the colour and a short discussion about the usage. The important thing was, no additional assignment because Professor Jung is sweet like that. 

The class ended without further inconvenience and Yeonjun was glad but that didn’t mean he forgot about the grudge he held earlier in the morning. 

“We made a great team. Let’s partner up for any assignments in the future.” Heeseung suggested as they walked out of the greenhouse, following the other classmates. 

Heeseung’s face had so much exultant that Yeonjun just couldn’t understand whether he pretended innocence or maybe he actually didn’t know. Look, Yeonjun was not a heavy sleeper. Yes, he slept very well last night but he believed he would awake if someone really made an effort to wake him up. 

Suddenly, Heeseung stopped walking and pulled Yeonjun to a halt. He sighed before saying, “I know what you are angry about but you know… it’s partially your fault too.” 

Maybe Heeseung noticed Yeonjun's sour face that exuded too much negativity. That was why he came clean, ready to confront him, unlike Yeonjun who is a coward. Well, he still stood there frozen, not knowing how or what to say further. But he did something to his face, making sure his face reflected his confused brain, wanting an explanation of what he did wrong. 

Heeseung read it brilliantly. “Last night, you upset Beomgyu… Us too. Actually, I thought maybe it was just a part of my dream but I know Beomgyu too well to notice how he felt this morning and what makes him upset.”

That brought Yeonjun down memory lane. What the hell did he do last night? Something he said or something he did or…

“You can’t blame us for hearing that. You know how at night every sound appears louder in the basement.” Heeseung added. Seemed like he mistakenly took Yeonjun's confused face as something he should be offended of. Yeonjun still remained silent and Heeseung kept on going. He started with a mocking tone, “ It’s not you, it’s me… what was that? You can’t just pull up break-up line shit on us like that. Especially to Beomgyu, it’s unfair.” 

Finally, that one knocked some sense into Yeonjun. So, everyone in the room heard him saying that. And those words were hurting them all. From a puzzled face, it turned to a pale one, surprised with a glint of disappointment. Obviously, disappointed in himself. Guilt started blooming as his mouth dried. Before he could do anything, Heeseung stormed away with a remark about how he was frustrated talking to lack-of-response-Yeonjun. 

Couldn’t blame him, Yeonjun was frustrated with himself too. 

🦡

Yeonjun happened to know 2 days later about how everyone in the Hufflepuff, literally everyone in that house, especially in their years, are protective of Beomgyu. He learned the hard way, really. 

After being confronted by Heeseung in the Herbology class, he was ditched by his potion class partner, Felix, got Hufflepuff points deducted by Ryujin who is also a fellow member of the house for a ridiculous reason ever (all he did was lean against the wall shutting his eyes for a very quick nap while waiting to enter the D.A.D.A class and Ryujin who shared that same class popped up from nowhere saying that finally, she had a reason to minus the point out of him because apparently, she hated his gut), Sumin who was just scolded by the cranky Professor Yoon snapped at him when he only wanted to ask the other to not block the whole hallway, the angel Jeno who was generous with smiles glared at him one time during lunch, the used to be sweet 5th year Hufflepuff Kim Sunoo snatched the book Yeonjun needed for homework at the library and didn’t compromise even he said he needed only for a minute causing him to not finishing his homework, a small boy in 2nd year from the same house happened to turn his almost done essay into a freaking butterfly and Yeonjun couldn’t even bring himself to scold that boy who very resembles 11-year-old-Beomgyu practising transfiguration and yes, he got side eyes from all those wearing yellow robes from his year.

And he finally got the chance to rant about his 2 days of being tormented by people whom he had nothing to do with to his best friends after the classes of the day had ended except he wasn’t being comforted. He also learned how no one was on his side. 

“So, you are the reason why Beomgyu was not being himself yesterday?” Taehyun first commented, looking at Yeonjun so judgingly, up and down with no mercy.

Yeonjun felt so wronged. “What does that supposed to mean?” Maybe he was at the urge of crying, no one knew even himself because he was feeling everything and nothing at the same time. All because of one particular pretty boy with sparkling round eyes and long shiny black hair. 

He felt Kai’s warmth embracing him as the latter squeezed at his side, hand patting his back to comfort him. It was so kind of Kai to do that but what he said after wasn’t really comforting. “Yeonjun-ah, let me tell you something. Among the people in our year, there are 3 unspoken rules. One, Professor Yoon hates everyone in our batch so the only thing we can do is just bear with it. Two, never flirt with Huang Renjun because even if he said publicly he is not dating anyone, there is something going around between him and Mark Lee. And three, if you upset Beomgyu you basically upset everyone in Hufflepuff.”

That was news to Yeonjun. The term unspeakable rules he meant. Of course, he knew Professor Yoon has a bad personality, Renjun is off limits and everyone likes Beomgyu but he never knew all those rules were established and complied with.

And there was Soobin looking at him sympathetically. “You broke the rule and you received the consequences. It’s only natural.” He shrugged, words lacking sympathy, unlike his gaze. 

Yeonjun sighed. He wanted to throw a tantrum but he knew if he did no one would really care.  “How is it natural for everyone to have their emotions depend on one person?” It was ridiculous, Yeonjun thought. 

But surely, it ended up with Yeonjun being the only one who was ridiculous. “That one person is Choi Beomgyu, that’s why,” Soobin said and Taehyun and Kai nodded with 100% agreement. 

Whilst Yeonjun still looked confused and everything, Taehyun gasped at his ignorance. “Don’t tell me you don’t know anything about the Choi Beomgyu, Yeonjun-ah…” He looked like he almost wanted to disown Yeonjun with the right amount of appropriate disappointment, whatever it means. 

“Choi Beomgyu. The kindest person in the whole of Hogwarts. In our OWL year, he organised a tutor session to help those with bad grades for free, he was the person behind the reason why Hogwarts is now 99% bully-free and advocating everyone should be treated as equal no matter from which bloodline or from which house. During the marigold haze outbreak, he was one of the front-liners volunteering alongside Mrs Song and he was the one who contributed to the revision of the meal menu and hell, he is the only student that Mr Filch Jr. Jr. recognised that he let Beomgyu pet Mrs Norris the seventh whenever he likes.” 

Yeonjun felt defeated. For 5 years he was only occupied with himself, never really looking around and keeping up with everything else. Now he knew. There was a reason why everyone in his batch excelled in OWL that made the headmaster so proud, why the segregation between houses and between pureblood and muggles were close to none over the years, people were more accepting of each other. The observable evidence would be the couples and friendships between different houses were common and him, Choi Yeonjun who ‘seek refuge’ in the Slytherin dormitory. And regarding the marigold haze outbreak in which Yeonjun was one of the victims, it was a sudden disease outbreak that widely spread among the pureblood line–something about the genetics they said–a nightmare if Yeonjun could describe his condition that time and the volunteers alongside Mrs Song, Hogwarts healer, totally were big of help that he was very grateful for. Then, of course, Yeonjun noticed the castle food that was more allergies sensitive and vegan-friendly these days. He had no comment about Mr Filch Jr. Jr and his Mrs Norris. It was an honour not being hated by that man indeed the greatest achievement of all time. 

So that was all and there was a lot. Beomgyu did so many to the Hogwarts community. So many things mattered more than his lack of sense of belonging issues. Also, he now knew, how Beomgyu is an amazing person. That got Yeonjun speechless, nothing to whine about at the moment. 

“Now, tell us what you said to him that cause all of these. Maybe we can help.”

Finally, someone offering help rather than making Yeonjun felt like he fucked up big time. Thanks, Soobin.

But… Yeonjun was unable to say anything. He pursed his lips as soon as he felt like sharing the whole conversation that night. Yeonjun took one stepped back to look at the bigger picture of the situation before deciding to say anything. One thing he learned from the whole fiasco was to not say and act hastily. He needed to chill, and never let his emotions or true intention got their way out first. And yeah, Yeonjun was quiet for a whole 3 minutes making his three friends worried. 

“Was it that serious?” 

Was it that serious? Maybe it was. Beomgyu was there at his side the whole night as if he knew Yeonjun wasn’t really comfortable with the unfamiliar surrounding, got a bed in the dormitory saved for him for years meaning he had always waiting for him to come back, reminded Yeonjun they were a family, assured him no one ever forgot about him and then only for Yeonjun to tell him that he might not ever come back with a cliche break up line bullshit. 

It was serious. And knowing how Soobin, Kai and Taehyun would choose to be on Beomgyu’s side, Yeonjun didn’t dare to tell. 

“I don’t know. It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t know it would affect him to this extent.” Yeonjun harshly ran his hands over his face out of frustration. Maybe Yeonjun lied there. He knew the effect of his words. Maybe, just maybe all he wanted that night was for Beomgyu to hate him because he deserved that much. 

“Just apologise to him. Sincerely, of course. Beomgyu will forgive you.” Taehyun gave him a side hug and patted his shoulder a few times. Then, he added, “Or Beomgyu will come to you first and apologise before you could and it will make you feel more guilty.” 

No way. Yeonjun wouldn’t think that’ll happen because why would Beomgyu apologise when he was the only one to blame?

And for the nth time, Yeonjun was wrong.

“Yeonjun, I am sorry.”

Taehyun was right. Well, he was never wrong, to begin with. Beomgyu came to Yeonjun first that night because Yeonjun is a coward. Beomgyu found him in the library whilst he was finishing the essay that had turned into a butterfly. While Yeonjun’s brain was still transitioning from the Battle of Hogwarts 1998 to the pretty long-haired Hufflepuff who was standing in front of him looking guilty and nervous, Beomgyu took the vacant seat beside Yeonjun as he had a long speech to deliver.   

“I really am sorry. I heard about everything… about what they did to you. I… I wasn’t aware they would react this way. I didn’t mean to mop around like a heartbroken man for a whole day. I didn’t realise my emotions could affect them like this, affecting you in the process, and giving you a very hard time. I heard it had been around 2 days now, no? Oh, I swear they don’t really mean it to hate you or anything. It’s just because of me- They just- I thought- Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Seeing Beomgyu stammer and all, broke Yeonjun’s heart. The little devil at the corner of his mind whispered that there was no way a person could be this angelic but Yeonjun quickly shoved the thoughts away. By that, he just realised that Beomgyu’s hands were on his free hand, squeezing out of guilt. His eyes stared at his lap as if he was really the one to blame.  

Yeonjun put down the quill and rested his hand on Beomgyu’s. He ducked his head a bit so that Beomgyu’s eyes would be on the same level as his and it would be easier to hold eye contact. He assured him, “Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s alright. It’s not entirely your fault.” 

All the frowns on Beomgyu’s face disappeared and it lightened Yeonjun’s heart. Now, Yeonjun only wanted to see him smile. 

“They didn’t do anything beyond dangerous. Even though you should be aware of how huge your fanbase is and you should handle them better but really, it’s not your fault. I should apologise too. I am sorry, Beomgyu. I said something I shouldn’t say.”

Yeonjun wasn’t sure which word made Beomgyu scoff and made his lips stretch into a smile so dazzling. Whatever it was, Yeonjun was glad.

“You are forgiven. I know. I am just being too emotional and forgetting everything including my quote-unquote huge fanbase. I will ask them to apologise to you and tell them to stop being ridiculous.” 

So, it was the word fanbase. Yeonjun found Beomgyu so charming that he knew he was an admirable person himself, having people idolise him and all yet he knew it and embraced it. Yeonjun decided to keep on going with light heart comments and vibes.

“I guess, if someone I like is being hurt, I would be mad too. And you should know how your smile is a blessing to them that they want to protect all their life with.”

Well, that was cheesy but did Yeonjun stutter? There was something about Beomgyu’s smile that did something to Yeonjun’s heart. It must do something to their hearts too, right? Don’t ask him what that something was because Yeonjun didn’t want to look into it yet. Being the coward he is and everything. 

Yeonjun didn’t miss how Beomgyu’s cheeks reddened and how he pouted as he bit a smile. It was fucking cute, Yeonjun couldn’t stop staring because why would he looking at anywhere else when the view was right there in front of him? Oh, it took everything for Yeonjun to not lean in, brush his hair and tuck his fringes behind his ears so that they didn’t hide his face, especially his beautiful eyes. Now, he sounded like a creep. Anyway… 

The staring didn’t last long because Beomgyu cleared his throat, not going to indulge himself with the flatterings longer and then embarrassed himself. So, he changed the conversation’s direction. “You are still coming for quidditch, right?”

Yeonjun might be preoccupied with his Beomgyu issue these few days but surely he didn’t forget about that quidditch practice invitation. It was hard to forget or to take for granted. “Of course, I am coming. I promised Sejeong-ssi already.”

“I am so relieved. If you happen to back out, Jungwoo hyung will disown me.”

Ah, Yeonjun forgot how Beomgyu was so expressive when he talked. His relieved face where all his facial muscles loosened transitioned into a flicker of gratitude for a second and then he displayed a little distress thinking of the uneasy probability that wouldn’t happen. It ended with his lips protruding into a pout. It was only a simple line and a compound yet Beomgyu made it sound so engaging. Yeonjun snorts in return trying his best to make the conversation two-way instead of one. He wasn’t sure if he did well because he found himself wanting to praise Beomgyu more. He swore he was not flirting right now. 

“He wouldn’t. Even if I back out. No one should trade you for me. We are on different levels. You are Choi Beomgyu and I am just Choi Yeonjun who-”

Beomgyu interrupted him instead, not taking all the praises well. 

“Just because we are on different levels which I don’t think matters, it doesn’t mean that you mean nothing. You are your own person, just as precious as everyone, just as special as everyone. Have some pride in yourself, Yeonjun. You are the good-at-everything-Choi Yeonjun. Don’t downgrade yourself like that. At least not in front of me.”

Yeonjun wasn’t expecting that. Beomgyu said all that like it was a fact that Yeonjun used to overlook. So nonchalant, so eloquent. It made Yeonjun realise how 16-year-old Beomgyu was full of surprises. 11-year-old Beomgyu was bright and jumpy which was very cute. This version of Beomgyu in front of Yeonjun was different even though he was still bright and cute (less jumpy which was age appropriate). He had this image of Beomgyu in his head of being the model Hufflepuff which he thought he would be annoyed with because he was sceptical and biassed, thinking overly kind and warmhearted person which sometimes seemed forced upon them, could be a little cringe. However, interacting with Beomgyu recently (and closely at that) felt different. He didn’t expect to feel warm all over his system, especially in his heart or feel this easy. There wasn’t any annoyance or irk. 

“Wow, now I know why you have such a huge, solid fanbase.” He was sincerely amazed. 

Beomgyu giggled in response. “So, are you joining yet?”

“I will consider.”

There, Yeonjun was staring again. And Beomgyu was the one who kept the conversation running with his rosy pink cheeks. He took interest in the paper in front of Yeonjun, the half-written essay. 

“Is that the essay that Woojoo accidentally cast into…“ Clearly, he wasn’t sure about that part because who cares what it turned out to be? Transfigure someone’s homework into an arthropod (no matter how beautiful) was so petty and foul.

“Yes, butterfly.” Yeonjun laughed at Beomgyu’s dismayed face. Yeonjun could put a name on that 2nd year who was as round as 11-year-old Beomgyu finally. To ease all the frowns on Beomgyu’s face, Yeonjun added, “It was pretty, not gonna lie. He is so good at the transfiguration.”

Of course, Beomgyu would not let that pass. He was unnecessarily guilty. “Let me help. I feel responsible.” 

And Yeonjun couldn’t refuse such generous help which also mean Beomgyu’s company. With a light heart, he answered, “If you feel so then, sure.”

🦡

As per Taehyun, Beomgyu was a great person to be around with. He was (again), right. Three hours passed like a breeze. Finishing the essay only took less than an hour because of Beomgyu’s help which made Yeonjun happen to acknowledge how Beomgyu was a great study buddy too. Then, they just talked about everything and nothing for the remaining time which made Yeonjun’s heart full. In the first half, it was Beomgyu who did all the talking. Yeonjun may or may not listen to him intently, analysing every crinkle on his face and every move of his facial muscles and importantly how his eyes shine like they were telling stories too. It happened to be like that from now on. Yeonjun would not look anywhere else whenever Beomgyu was talking because he was mesmerising and nothing else matter when it came to Beomgyu. The ultimate unspeakable new YJ’s life rule. And when it turned to some topics that Yeonjun was familiar with and had a lot to share, Beomgyu became an extremely excellent listener. He paid attention and responded whenever appropriate. He laughed at Yeonjun’s jokes like he meant it and Yeonjun swore Beomgyu’s laughter could make the flowers bloom in the middle of depressive winter. 

When it was almost curfew, they both walked together to the basement, still holding conversations and wearing smiles that seemed to not fade anytime soon. 

“If you hadn't left 5 years ago, I think we could be besties.” 

It was random and all Yeonjun could respond was, “Ah..” 

They became silent for a moment, only the sound of the castle ghosts fighting over some god-who-knows betting they did, could be heard and fainted grunts of stairs moving behind them. They were still walking, though. While Yeonjun was more to no thought head empty, Beomgyu’s mind was speeding 200 miles per hour. 

He showed it on his face when he asked Yeonjun, “Why are you so adamant about thinking Hufflepuff is not for you? I really couldn’t understand-” Beomgyu paused, realising he may or may not cross the line. Sheepishly smiling, trying to hide how badly he wanted to know about it. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Forget it.”

Yeonjun wondered if it was Beomgyu’s habit to apologise unnecessarily. It could develop into a really bad habit of self-deprecating. He took note of it to tell Beomgyu later. Because now, he was intrigued to solve Beomgyu’s inability to understand his lousy life decision. 

Why did Yeonjun think Hufflepuff is not for him? The usual answer he used when Soobin, Taehyun and Kai asked was, he felt like he didn’t belong. He could use the same answer to Beomgyu but somehow he couldn’t because the real issue was beyond that. He wasn’t sure what actually was the reason. It was too complicated for Yeonjun’s brain, which was only full of the golden snitch, ramyeon and his imaginary designer cloak collection, to process. And something in him didn’t want to disappoint Beomgyu with his shallow reason. So, instead, he answered,

“I don’t know.” A pause for a suspense effect as Beomgyu looked at him expectantly. He smirked as he suggested, “Maybe you should show me.”

“Uh?” Yeonjun had never seen Beomgyu as puzzled as he looked right now. It was cute, like a lost baby dragon. 

“Show me what’s so good about being a Hufflepuff. Maybe I’ll consider coming back.”

“Are you serious?” Beomgyu’s face now was unreadable, with an enormous amount of mixed emotions reflected in his eyes. 

Yeonjun was a calculated person. He wasn’t used to making impulsive decisions all his life and now, he was a changed person. And what made it more ridiculous was, Yeonjun was confident he would not regret this. He knew Beomgyu was a competitive person just like him and then a deal was made. 

“If you are up for the challenge, I guess. Until the end of the year, show me the reason why I should come back. Deal?” Yeonjun put out his hand, waiting to be shaken.

Beomgyu scanned his face while all the gears in his head rotated to some degree. It didn’t take long for Beomgyu to shake Yeonjun’s hand, a smirk on his face mirroring Yeonjun. 

“Deal.”