hogwarts with jae.

three.

the great hall was abuzz with excited chatter. it was the first day of classes and everyone was sharing their schedules with their friends, either groaning or cheering as they scanned the list.

as per usual, you had gathered with your friends at the hufflepuff table to go over your schedules. you noticed with a smile that you were in the same spots as you normally were on the first day of school, with zahra sat next to wonpil on your right, sungjin to your left and younghyun with dowoon across from you.

"does anyone else have potions fifth period?" younghyun asked as he ran a hand through his hair. he hated having potions at the end of the day: it meant that he had to stay behind and clean up as a part of his prefect duties.

"i do," zahra said, smiling at the ravenclaw boy. "but i'm not helping you clean up."

younghyun groaned. "please? i'll buy you anything you want next time we go to hogsmeade."

"anything? like the new vinyl record the weird sisters released?" zahra said with an innocent smile. you already knew that she would help him out regardless but she loved teasing him about it.

younghyun looked conflicted. "aren't vinyls expensive? i saw one going for about 100 galleons the other day."

"you did say anything, after all," you piped in, holding back a laugh as younghyun narrowed his eyes at you.

"fine," he said after a while. "i'll buy you the vinyl. but you better help me."

zahra smiled and reached across the table to shake his hand. "pleasure doing business with you, sir. even though i would've done it for free."

younghyun choked, gaping at her while the rest of you laughed. there was no taking it back now; the magic with the handshake had sealed the deal.

"anyways," you started, bringing the attention back to the matter at hand. "please tell me i'm not the only one with herbology for fifth. i might actually fall asleep."

dowoon looked up at you with a smile. "wonpil and i do. we'll make sure you don't fall asleep."

you shuddered as you thought back to the last time you shared a herbology class with them. you had fallen asleep whilst repotting a baby mandrake due to a late night of studying. the boys, however, decided that uprooting the mandrake and having it scream into your ears was the best way to wake you up. you were lucky that you had been sitting because if you weren't, there's no doubt that you would've fainted from the noise alone. you still have no idea how they weren't caught by professor sprout.

on the outside, they seemed like completely innocent hufflepuffs but you knew how chaotic they could truly be.

"i trust you," you replied, making a mental note to yourself to make sure you get a good night's rest from now on.

as your friends continued talking about their schedules, you began to drift off in thought. you were unusually excited for classes this year, which was weird in itself, because normally you dreaded them. the sudden increased workload never failed to stress you out, and you knew that this year it would only double in preparation for the N.E.W.T exams next year.

so what was it? you looked around at the joyous faces of your friends. was it them? they had always made you happy, of course, but never enough to distract you from the anxiety of school.

you glanced over younghyun's shoulder. you felt your breath catch as you looked over at the slytherin table, seeing that jaehyung was directly in your line of vision. this time, he was sitting in between two unfamiliar slytherins that you assumed were his friends.