𝐀 𝐇𝐎𝐆𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒' 𝐌𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐘 (𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙮 𝙆𝙞𝙙𝙨 𝘼𝙐)

... 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐒

Seungmin was leaning against a particularly cold and dark wall: he was not sure how to feel, and before acting, as always, he needed to first check the accuracy of it all.

He had always been like that: little to no impulse, and all mind. He did not like things to be random or unplanned, it made him feel all weird and anxious. Furthermore, when he himself was the one planning them out, he ended up actually enjoying them and not wishing they had gone differently.

For that reason, he now had a few words to exchange with an acquaintance: his Ravenclaw friend, Jeongin, had seemed pretty confident when he had first said those words, and the immediate denail he had showed after that both he and Seungmin had finished talking had not managed to convince the Slytherin.

"I was joking!" the Ravenclaw had laughed, but so awkwardly that he might've as well stayed quiet and acknowledged the gaffe. "It-it's not true, obviously! No need to bother your friend-"

But how could Seungmin not tell Minho, if that – as he rightfully suspected – turned out to be indeed true?

Minho was his best friend, the only one that had always stuck with him, despite the age difference and all the nasty comments the younger had received during his first years at Hogwarts.

He'd proven to be the best brother Seungmin had ever known, and his presence had been so comforting that the boy didn't really know what he would've done if Minho hadn't been beside him through his whole school life.

When Seungmin had fist started Hogwarts – he had to admit – he had not given a very good first impression of himself: those who had grown up in the wizarding world knew of his family (very powerful within the Ministry), and probably just because of that had immediately labeled him as the annoying "know-it-all" who believed himself to be better than others just because he was the best student of that year.

The ones who had not already heard of him per hear-say, instead, hadn't taken long to get all the information they needed – or that they'd thought they needed – from those who already knew Seungmin.

Truth be told, in any case, the boy hadn't helped with these very harsh opinions people seemed to have about him: he never helped the ones in trouble, he often acted as if he were superior to them and was all of the teachers' pet; but what else was he supposed to do?

He had been so pressed between his parents' expectations – who were pushing him to be exactly what he pretended to be – and the things other students thought of him, – which was essentially what his parents had tricked Seungmin to think he was – that he had ended up forgetting what he wanted to be.

Until that very moment, at Hogwarts, Seungmin had been known as the petty straight Es student, and he had ben targeted as that so insistently that he had ended up believing it as well. The only person he acted differently with was Minho – he didn't know why, but he had always put nothing but utmost trust in the friend, which had made it very easy for Seungmin to confide with him entirely.

As the years had gone by, furthermore, that friendship had helped Seungmin to get to know himself better: the fact that the only person he actually felt good to be around with was also the only one he behaved differently with, couldn't have been a coincidence.

Minho had managed to make Seungmin better himself, something his own parents had never succeeded to do, and had helped him become more confident.

Seungmin was really proud of the person he had come to be – so proud that the comments of all the people who still believed him to be that annoying first-year didn't even manage to bother him anymore. The boy would've been more than eager to show them how far he'd come if the chance to would ever come, but he did not wish to go seek it immediately: he did not feel the need to prove himself anymore. He was Seungmin, and being Seungmin was already a success in itself.