It's rare to find such a dedicated friend; who remembers your wishes!"

"Worshipping my ass" bluntly replied the Ravenclaw. "Your friend would be too busy drooling over that scary Slytherin to even notice".

"He's not scary. Just... a bit intimidating".

"A large bit intimidating, then" corrected the younger. "To be honest, I don't even know how Jisung got himself together for long enough as to ask Minho out".

"It was Minho who invited him, in fact" stated the Hufflepuff matter-of-factly. He then turned around the small window from which he could see part of the school's fields and, from afar ̶ the Shrieking Shack. "They should be still on their date now" he considered. "I wonder how it's going..."

***

Jisung awkwardly took a sip of his butterbeer. Be careful, Han. Do nothing that could result into anything embarrassing. You're a grown-up man now. You can get through this!

Minho (who had already started drinking his) suddenly chuckled. "You've got foam all over your mouth!" he said as an explanation, his eyes all giggly.

Oh shit. What did I just call myself? An adult? Dear Lord Jisung, you're so embarrassing. The Gryffindor quickly grabbed a paper napkin and pressed it on his lips ̶ maybe a little too intensely, as the Slytherin (who was sitting right in front of him) smiled widely.

"Do I still have some on?" asked Jisung (at that point completely resigned) at the elder's gentle giggles.

"No, it's all good now" answered Minho, after having leaned towards the younger a little bit for a quick analysis ̶ that had felt like forever to Jisung, who could already feel his cheeks turn into a soft shade of maroon. "You looked cute though, so no worries" he added with a smile that made the Gryffindor want to melt on the spot.

"Yah! Why would you tell me then? I bet I looked like some old grandpa" he whined, lowering his eyes.

"An extremely cute and handsome grandpa" confirmed Minho. Jisung screamed internally.

"So" said the Gryffindor, eager to change topic, "how have you been doing lately?"

Minho shrugged his shoulders. "The usual. Our team is still training; we have got the last few evaluations coming up; I'm gonna be home for Christmas for the first time in a while- are you okay?" he then asked, sounding rather concerned.

"What? Yes!" replied Jisung, surprised by the other's remark, "why would I not be?"

Minho took a sip of his butterbeer. "Nothing ,you just seemed uninterested. But to be honest, that was quite a boring answer so..." he added matter-of-factly.

"Oh" the nonchalance with which the Slytherin spoke took Jisung aback; but deep down he knew he should not be too surprised. Every Slytherin he knew of was known for their bluntness. "Ehm ̶ then let's change topic? You can ask me about whatever really" he awkwardly suggested.

"Uhm, let me see" Minho tingled his head up, as he usually did whenever he was thinking. "Why did you decide to learn how to fly?" he asked at last, and specified: "with me, I mean. You could've asked your friend, or Jongho... that guy is really good, honestly".

Oh no. How do I answer this now? Jisung took his glass of butterbeer and brought it to his lips, as to have more time to reflect on the question. He was so nervous that his hands had become all sweaty, and he almost risked dropping it. As he was putting it down (sadly, he could not avoid the question forever), panicking, the only answer that came to mind was: "Well, why did you invite me to Hogsmeade, instead of... say... Seungmin? You could've picked someone else. Some questions will have to remain such, I fear" he concluded, and didn't take another sip from his drink only because he was too curious to see what the other's reaction to his words would be.

Minho's eyes grew wide, and the boy did seem genuinely surprised for a short second ̶ but he recovered quickly, for he immediately replied: "Dang, if you chose me as your coach for the same reason why I invited you, I got lucky!" he smiled, "So you really wanted to spend time with me then!"

Hold on (Jisung could feel his brain-cells working hard to decipher those words). Did he just... flirt?!

Speechless, the Gryffindor opened his mouth to talk: then he realized he didn't know what to say. He closed it and reached for his butterbeer, but only to find out he had drunk it all. Oh, crap.

"Uh, I see you're finished" the elder carried on the conversation from where he'd left it, completely relaxed ̶ which Jisung was incredibly grateful for. "Shall we get going then? I have already paid anyways".

"You-" Jisung was confused: how had he not noticed?

"Of course! When I 'went to the toilet'" explained Minho smiling. "C'mon, let's go!"

Outside, it was pretty chilly ̶ but the sun was up in the sky and everything was illuminated by its soft and almost blurry light. The two took on a secondary path in the village, and walked in silence for a while.

"The thing you said at the Three Broomsticks" murmured Jisung after some minutes, shocking himself as if he couldn't believe that those words were coming out of his mouth, "is indeed true".

Minho furrowed his brows. "The bit when I told you your question was kinda boring? Yeah, but it's true" he replied. Luckily, that time the Gryffindor was able to take on the sarcasm within that answer.

"Nooo!" he pouted, "I meant what you said after..." he could feel how red his cheeks must've been by then; but that time ̶ he didn't care. "I did want to spend time with you..." he whispered.

The Gryffindor had lowered his head, so he couldn't see how the Slytherin had reacted to his statement ̶ but he couldn't not notice when he felt his waist being grabbed by a strong arm and when he suddenly found his face inches away from the other's chin.

Minho lowered his gaze and locked his eyes in Jisung's: the ladder felt so warm and fuzzy inside he felt like he might've exploded. Minho's eyes were by far the most intimidating feature the boy had ̶ but once one actually took the time to look through them, they were left in awe by how mesmerizing they were. If Jisung held his hand, he might've grabbed hold of the entire galaxy...

But (once again), Minho acted more quickly, and before Jisung could understand what was going on, he felt another pair of lips on his. As realization hit him, he wanted to scream, to jump, to run ̶ but he couldn't, because he knew none of those actions would've equalled that feeling.

Their lips had just parted, that the Gryffindor already was longing for them to meet again. Minho, instead, locked their hands together and made the younger look at him once again. "Thank you, Han Jisung" he whispered softly.

The Gryffindor quickly wiped the few tears that had formed on his face, and engulfed the other in a big hug.

In that moment, life couldn't have been more perfect.

the end.

~🤍~

omg, i can't believe we are done! T_T

this story means so much to me, because besides being my very first 'novel', it also includes the nine guys who have helped me through so many hard times and have never failed to put a smile on my face, or to make me feel better about myself.

i hold so much respect for stray kids; they deserve the actual world and i am so incredibly proud to call myself a fan!

but OF COURSE i can't forget about my readers, who have supported me all along and, despite not knowing, ave provided me with the best motivation i could have ever hoped for!!

obviously you can't see that, but you literally could not picture how widely i smile or how happy i get whenever i get the notification that someone has interacted with my story; my work!! :D

so really, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart, you make vittoria write~
(couldn't have been me unless i had finished this with a very bad pun hehe)

love y'all lots!❤️

Vic🌙.