Wingardium Jaywonsa

Failure

One day turned into a week before Jungwon could even process it. Between classes, homework, supporting Jake in his quidditch selection, time had flown by.

Jungwon woke up Saturday morning with that strange feeling of having slept enough in hours but without getting any rest.
To be honest, he hadn't slept well the whole week. As Niki had pointed out, Jungwon had picked up his worst habit as soon as he had stepped inside Hogwarts: thinking about Jay.

Jungwon growled a bit, turning himself to see if Niki was awake. Unfortunately, he wasn't. However, he was mumbling something incomprehensible that sounded like ururang or something.

So Jungwon got up, trying not to wake his other roommates. Niki and him shared his room with Jeongin, Yunho and Beomgyu, and they were all alseep for now.

Once successfully out of him bedroom, Jungwon started working on his homework in the common room, which was strangely empty.

Guess not a lot of students want to study this early on a Saturday...

Jungwon didn't mind though. In fact, it even made him feel better to be studying. He remembered how the gap between the second and the third year had shocked him last year, but it was nothing compared to this year's gap with the third one.
For some reason, all the teachers had started to become obsessed with their O.W.L.S., even though those exams wouldn't happen until next year. Rumor was that last year's results had been so low that the teachers were now pressured into preparing their students better, hence the obsession.

Jungwon sighed. In a way, it was kind of reassuring, because it meant they would be ready next year, right?

~

"Homework this early?" asked Niki, behind Jungwon.
"Hey" replied the concerned. "You were sleeping, so I thought I'd start ahead."
"I see" replied Niki. "Are you sure you're a Gryffindor?"

Jungwon chuckled. No one knew that, but the sorting hat had hesitated sending him to Ravenclaw instead of Gryffindor, but Jungwon had chosen Gryffindor to stay with Niki.

"Pretty sure" replied Jungwon, smiling at him. "Did you remember your dream from last night by the way?"
"That's random" replied Niki. "I don't know, I think it was a ball or something... people were dancing..."
"Dancing?" repeated Jungwon, not seeing any link with the "ururang" Niki had said in his sleep.
"Breakfast?" asked Niki.
"Yes!" replied Jungwon, rolling his DADA parchment.

~

"So I've been thinking" started Jungwon, as Niki and him went down the thousand stairs leading to the Great Hall. "Just don't interrupt me until I'm done ok?"
"That's never good" commented Niki.

Jungwon looked at him for a second before continuing.

"As you know, Jay and I were friends when we were kids" continued Jungwon.

As Jungwon had asked, Niki did not interrupt him, but he did roll his eyes nonetheless.

"Come on" said Jungwon. "But as he started attending Hogwarts, we drifted apart, which makes sense, cause he was here, and I was in Bristol, right?"

Niki nodded, that technically wasn't wrong.

"But since I've been studying here as well, he has never acknowledged me, and not only does he ignore me, but he also acts like he doesn't know me" added Jungwon.
"Yeah, we know that, what's your point?" asked Niki, fearing the worst.
"Well... I want to talk to him" admitted Jungwon.

Niki stopped in the middle of his step.

"What?" he asked in shock.
"Don't be so dramatic. I just want to ask him what's the deal" explained Jungwon.

Niki looked extremely sad.

"Look Won. You know I'm saying that cause you're my friend and you matter a lot to me" started Niki. "Let. Him. Go."

Jungwon turned his face, he was unable to look at Niki right now.

"If he's ignoring you, mo matter the reason he may or may not have, he doesn't deserve your attention. Please stop this. It's been three years and it's getting difficult to see your getting more and more hurt" explained Niki.

Jungwon nodded. He knew Niki was genuinely worried.

"But I need to know" he whispered.

Niki shook his head and started walking again. They reached the Gryffindor's table in silence, each in his own thoughts.

~

"That's a bad idea" commented Sunoo. "But I am extremely curious as well, so if you want to go for it, I'm with you."

Jungwon had decided to take a poll. If the majority of his friends voted no, he would drop the case.

"I think it's been too long and you need this answer, no matter if it is positive of negative. But please be aware there's a great chance you'll get hurt" added Heeseung.

Niki was throwing lightning with his eyes.

"What about you Jakey?" asked Jungwon.

The latter looked at everyone, knowing his decision would be the tie breaker.

"I'm not sure you should do it" said Jake.

Niki shouted a unnecessarily loud "yas".

"But you've been obsessed for three years, so I think it's time to rip the bandaid out" added Jake, turning Niki's yas to a "yaaaasohnoooo".
"It's settled then" replied Jungwon, satisfied.

Jungwon dedicated the rest of his day to gather the courage he needed to go talk to Jay. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. Firstly, Jay was nowhere to be seen, and secondly, Jungwon didn't know how to begin such a conversation.

Could he just walk to Jay and say "hey, why have you been ignoring me for three years?" ?

In any case, Jungwon didn't get any opportunity until later in the evening. He was walking alone to the Great Hall when Jay appeared on the other end of the hallway. He was walking alone, so it was the best chance Jungwon could get.

As the prefect walked closer, Jungwon felt a nod forming in his throat. The seconds seemed to have slowed down and Jungwon was very aware that this was the moment he had waited for for so long.

It should have been so easy. A simple "hey, could we talk for a sec?" or a "do you have a minute?" would have sufficed.
Unfortunately, as Jay passed next to Jungwon the latter froze, unable to say or do anything.
Jay hadn't even looked at him.

~

"What's going on?" asked Sunoo.

Jungwon sat next to him and laid his head on Sunoo's shoulder.

"I couldn't do it" whispered Jungwon, still looking down, unaware of the concerned look his friends shared.
"I had a great opportunity and let it go" explained Jungwon, extremely frustrated and angry at himself. "I'm so stupid."

"Hey, no insulting oneself under my watch" said Jake.
"You'll get another chance" added Heeseung. "Don't worry."

Niki didn't say anything. He did want to be supportive, but it killed him to watch Jungwon being desperate for someone who clearly didn't want anything to do with him.

Jungwon ate in silence. His friends assumed it was out of disappointment and sadness, but it wasn't.

At the end of the meal, Jungwon gathered the attention of everyone and exposed the plan he had spend an hour imagining.

He was pretty confident that if he could execute it well, everything would work and he would be able to talk to Jay peacefully.

"And that's it" he said, as he finished explaining everything to his friends.

"That's a bad idea" mumbled Niki.