Wingardium Jaywonsa

Potions

Jungwon checked his bag for the hundredth time that afternoon. He knew his potion manual was in there, but he was a little traumatized by their delay that very morning.

To be honest, it was also something out of nervousness he wanted to do to occupy his mind. Or rather, change his mind.

"Won?" asked Niki, looking at him. "Why did you stop?"

Jungwon was in the middle of the hallway, just a few steps away from the potion classroom. He hadn't even noticed he had stopped walking.

"No.. nothing" he replied, frowning.
"Is this about this Jay guy again?" whispered Niki as he came closer to his friend.

Jungwon wanted to deny it. After all, Niki had already endured three years of a certain Jungwon being whipped for a certain Jay that didn't even look at him.

"Let's just go to class" replied Jungwon, trying to convince himself.
"I knew it" mumbled Niki.

~

Hufflepuffs and Gryffindor left the classroom after two hours of a over complicated potion recipe. No one had managed to create a potion as pure as the teacher's, however the latter did seem satisfied with his students' results.

Jungwon had enjoyed the class. He did like potions a lot. They were like a cooking recipe one had to follow in order to get good results. Kind of obvious, of course, however it had a deeper meaning for him.

Jungwon was born into a muggle household and wasn't even aware of magic before he received his letter four years ago. At first, his grandmother had thought it was a joke, but after going to London with her grandson and seeing everything with her own eyes, she had to believe it. The separation between the little boy and his grandma had been terribly difficult.

Jungwon's parents worked abroad and he rarely saw them. That didn't even bother him that much, because he had his grandmother. She was his whole world. She was in a way his mother. At least the one that was always there for him.

Perhaps this was the reason he liked potions so much, it reminded him of his grandmother cooking for them.

"Should we meet the guys?" asked Niki, once they had dropped their bags near their beds.
"Of course" replied Jungwon.

They left the common room and walked down the stairs until they reached the ground floor. They soon passed the two enormous front doors and entered the viaduct courtyard.
Weather in September was a little chilly, but still nice, so the group of friends usually hung out outside before supper. That would last a couple months until it became too cold to stay outside.

"Do you think we'll see the giant squid?" asked Niki, already smiling.
"Don't know" replied Jungwon.

He didn't really get why the giant squid was so amazing to Niki. Of course, it was a giant squid, but after three years of seeing him every now and then, it didn't feel as fantastic to Jungwon. On the other hand, Niki liked every magical creature.
The same thing applied to Niki though. He didn't understand how could Jungwon enjoy potions so much.

"Over there" said Niki, pointing at two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw sitting near the lake.

Jungwon nodded and they adjusted their paths until they finally reached their friends.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Sunoo, slightly pouting.
"I don't know, maybe having to walk seven flights of stairs up and down to drop our bags" replied Niki sarcastically as he sat down.
"Not wrong" mumbled Sunoo.

Jungwon chuckled as he sat down as well. As soon as his bottom touched the floor, Jake turned  himself to Heeseung.

"Can you explain what happened at lunch now that Won and Niki are here?" he asked.

Jungwon guessed that he had been trying to know for a while now.

"Sure" replied Heeseung. "So we were sitting at the Gryffindor's table."
"At lunch?" whispered Jake.
"Yeah" replied Sunoo. "I wanted the Tea."
"Did you guys get scolded?" asked Jake. "Did Christopher scold you?"

"Christopher didn't" added Niki, quickly glancing at Jungwon before going on. "But Jay did."
"Jay?" repeated Jake. "Slytherin's Jay Park?"
"Yup" confirmed Sunoo.
"Why on earth would he do that?" asked Jake.
"He's a prefect now" explained Niki.
"Even so" added Jake. "Why would he be bothered by something happening at Gryffindor's table? That's Christopher's problem right?"

"Yeah well, I don't know" replied Heeseung.
"Chris said he meant well and that he wanted to do a good job on his first day" added Sunoo.
"Still, it's weird" commented Jake.

Jungwon hadn't spoken a word. His friends had noticed his discomfort and had changed the subjects. The Gryffindor had done his best the whole afternoon to keep his mind free of any thoughts concerning Jay, but that had been difficult to maintain as he heard them going on and on about him.

Hopefully they were now talking about the upcoming selections for the quidditch teams. Jake wanted to join Hufflepuff's and had trained the whole summer for it.

And so the minutes passed until they went back inside to eat supper. They sat around the Hufflepuff's table and as usual, food prepared by hundreds of House Elves underneath the Great Hall appeared on the table. They even had had pudding -Sunoo's favorite- for dessert.

Heeseung left the first, he wanted to get started on the homework he had been given today. Niki and Sunoo started a wizard chess game and Jake attentively commented each moves they made.
Jungwon on the other hand wasn't in the mood for anything, except going to bed.

He excused himself earlier than usual and took a deep breath before walking up the stairs.

He had done his best not to think about Jay, but as soon as he laid down on his bed, everything came rushing back.

The fact that they had met in the hallway, the lunch scene, every comment his friends had made about him...

Jungwon sighed.

Why do you act like that with me Jay?