Eagle Knocker

It was one of those dreadful days in the midst of his sixth year when Felix deeply regretted his decision to ask the Sorting Hat to place him in Ravenclaw.

But he had to be sorted into Ravenclaw. Not only was his entire family filled with alumni from that house, but during his first year, Felix had watched all of his best friends being sorted into it. The thought of being separated from them was unbearable. Thus, he politely requested the Sorting Hat to assign him there, to which it had easily agreed. And Felix had been satisfied.

Jisung might say that Felix begged and begged with the Sorting Hat, elongating the sorting ceremony into one of the longest. Seungmin might even say that all the students waited hungrily for the feast to start but all they could do was watch Felix perched on the stool for the longest time, wearing the Sorting Hat with a deep furrow in his brow, as if he was engaged in a heated debate with the Sorting Hat. Jeongin might even say that all the students clapped after Felix was sorted only because they could finally eat their meals.

However, it's advisable to take all of those three accounts with a grain of salt on such matters. Because what was that saying? ‘With friends like those, who needs enemies?’ 

That’s what his friends were, his biggest enemies. 

Even currently, they were all snuggled inside their beds in the Ravenclaw tower while Felix was trapped outside. He hadn’t really realized how readily he had relied upon his friends and other Ravenclaw students to be let inside the towers, until he stood outside today, arguing with the Eagle Knocker. 

The Ravenclaw Towers, known for housing intelligent students, was closed off by a door that had no keyhole or a doorknob. The only way to be granted entrance into the tower was by answering the riddle posed by the Eagle Knocker. 

The question that Felix had been posed with was, "Who lived longer, the ghost or the poltergeist?"

But here’s the kicker, the answer doesn’t even have to be the correct answer, as long as the student answered it with a witty explanation, the door to the towers would open up for them. However, Felix had made the grand mistake of asking, “what the hell is a poltergeist?”

And now, given that the damn Eagle Knocker was aware that Felix had no clue what a poltergeist meant, even if Felix tried to provide an answer, he would not gain entry without a coherent explanation…and he will not be able to make that coherent explanation without knowing what that damn poltergeist was. Thus, he could only gain entry if he somehow magically knew the correct way to respond, or he would have to linger around the entranceway until another Ravenclaw student happened to walk by. 

It had been well over an hour since he’d stood there, waiting for any of his fellow students to pass by. But given the late hour, and the fact that curfew had long passed, there were scarcely any students roaming about. Felix held onto the hope that Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin would notice his absence in their dorm and come to his rescue. But they hadn’t and Felix could only believe they had assumed he was still serving detention with Snape for failing his Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA) exam yet again, or they had assumed he crawled over to the Slytherin dungeons to hang out with Jisung’s supposed arch-nemesis and fixation since first year, Hwang Hyunjin.  

They would have been right to assume the latter, because immediately after detention ended, Felix had made his way straight into the dungeons to hang out with Hyunjin, especially because Snape’s office was right by it. He had stayed there far too long, and rushed back out when he realized it was past midnight, only to find out that he was left by himself to figure out the riddle. 

After a few minutes of lingering at the entrance, he had gone back to the dungeons again, thinking of just spending the night at Hyunjin’s. However, just like the situation at the Ravenclaw towers, not a single soul was in sight at the dungeons, and therefore no way for Felix to be granted access there either. To be granted access into the Slytherin dungeons required knowing a password—which Felix did not know—and he had no means to let Hyunjin know about his predicament. 

He still stood out there though, figuring that being caught outside at the dungeons would be far better than suffering the amount of ridicule from the Ravenclaws if they found out Felix had failed to decipher the riddle. As if they didn’t already ridicule him for scoring so low in all the subjects—he was just glad that no one but his friends knew that he had failed the DADA exam multiple times already. 

Unfortunately, while he was still waiting around at the dungeons, Snape had caught Felix lingering out there past curfew and deducted ten points off Ravenclaw before telling him to scurry back. Crestfallen, Felix had slowly walked back to the Ravenclaw towers where the Eagle Knocker asked the same question yet again. 

“Can’t you ask another riddle?” Felix begged. But the Eagle Knocker stayed silent. 

“The Poltygarist! The Poltygarist lived longer!” Felix exclaimed as he kicked the door in annoyance. 

He knew he had pronounced the word wrong but he couldn’t recall how the Eagle Knocker had pronounced it and nor could he care because he knew the answer was wrong and it had so nicely told him so by yelling out, “wrong!”

Felix sulked as he walked toward the statue positioned on the far right side of the entrance, plopping down and resting his back against it, figuring that if anything, he could just sleep there for the night. He just hoped none of the Ravenclaw students spotted him there, he really wouldn’t be able to handle any of their ridicule. 

He hated feeling like he didn’t belong in Ravenclaw. And he had felt that way twice just today. 

He was well aware that he was awful in DADA. And he really was trying to get better, but even with the help of all of his friends, he just couldn’t get better at it, specifically the dueling section of DADA. Not like he was any better in any of the theoretical stuff either, but Felix could still get by getting better marks in that compared to dueling. 

Felix had made several attempts to get better at dueling by recruiting his friend’s help. However, it felt like his brain couldn’t process the offensive spell quickly enough to come up with the right spell to counter the attacks. Sometimes his brain blanked at what spell his opponent had cast and sometimes his brain figured out what spell they had cast but fell short on coming up with a counterspell. Thankfully, his Quidditch training had at least sharpened his reflexes, allowing him to dodge out of the way before he got hit head-on. And his friends were unrelenting when it came to the spells that were cast his way, Felix couldn’t tell you the amount of times he had to vomit out slugs because Seungmin continued to cast that specific spell at him.

Well, no matter how much training Felix did, he just couldn’t get any better at it. Resulting in him failing the DADA exam today—and coupled with his consistently poor grades on previous DADA tests, Snape wasted no time in assigning Felix detention. Where Felix spent a dreadful amount of time with Snape trying to go over some of the material of the year. And Snape hadn’t missed any opportunity trying to fix every single error while simultaneously questioning why Felix had been sorted into Ravenclaw after finding out how poorly he also does in Charms and Potions classes. 

He wanted to scream that he did belong in Ravenclaw, but he had bit his tongue and said nothing. And he was glad he hadn’t, because now he was quite embarrassingly locked outside of the towers, where even the first years had an easier time gaining access through. 

It was like even the towers didn’t think he belonged inside. And that really hurt Felix. 

He tried not to cry as he got comfortable leaning against the statue because he told himself that he was a Ravenclaw and nothing should tell him otherwise. Not the long sorting ceremony, not the ridicule of his fellow classmates, not the low grades in his classes, not Professor Snape, and certainly not the stupid Eagle Knocker. 

A couple of minutes later, Felix heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He let out a silent plea, praying that it was a Ravenclaw student, as he hastily retreated into the shadows of the statue, hoping to evade detection and the eventual ridicule that would definitely result if any of them found out his inability to gain entrance into the towers. 

But thankfully, Felix didn’t have to try hard to hide, because the passing student hurried past without a second glance, making a beeline for the tower's entrance. 

His robes identified him as a Ravenclaw, but Felix couldn't recall who the other student was. He was a brunette with a sharp nose and clear-cut jawline, and arguably the handsomest wizard that Felix had ever seen in his entire life. It made Felix momentarily wonder if he was one of the few Veela Beauxbatons students staying over at Hogwarts for the Triwizard Tournament. 

But Felix recalled that the Beauxbatons students slept in their carriages parked near the Forbidden Forest. Plus, the student before him was wearing the Hogwarts uniform, not the Beauxbatons one. So, this guy had to have been a Hogwarts student. But Felix couldn’t help but wonder how he hadn’t noticed such a handsome Ravenclaw ever before. Someone as handsome as him would have surely caught Felix’s eyes. 

Anger was rolling off the other student though, as he finally stood in front of the entrance. And in his anger, he banged on the door quite loudly with his fist, awakened, the Eagle Knocker asked in a disgruntled voice, “what is the truth?”

Felix groaned, wishing he had received such a simple question because at least he would have had a great explanation to back up whatever he answered that with. 

The student just tsked as he let his finger push back his hair in annoyance before replying, “The truth is that it’s been seven years and I’m so fucking sick of all these motherfucking questions about stupidass topics like this, you bloody fuck-witted bastard.” He yelled as he kicked the door.  “The other Houses just have to memorize a dumbass password to enter and we have to answer a freaking riddle? Who in the name of Merlin’s saggy left testicle gives a flying damn about all this shit anyway? I’ve been working my arse off in the library for the past nine hours—now let me the fuck in, or truthfully, I’ll blast my way in and take you with me!”

The Eagle Knocker tutted, as if offended, before opening the door and allowing the student entry anyway. While Felix stared open-mouthed in awe at the amount of verbal and physical assault the student had let out at the Eagle. And somehow it worked too! It was so witty and fantastically assholish that it had made Felix swoon. 

The other Ravenclaw was almost inside and the door was just about to close right behind him, before Felix cried out, “wait!”

Thankfully, upon hearing Felix, the student extended a hand out to hold the door open. Felix scrambled to his feet and dashed towards it.

As Felix caught sight of the student's face illuminated by the firelight of the common room, he couldn't help but gasp. The boy was undeniably handsome, especially when his anger had dissipated into a small smile after Felix had lowered into a slight bow of gratitude, offering his thanks for helping him get in. 

“No problem, Felix,” he said as he turned around to leave, making Felix’s heart skip a beat that he knew his name. But before the other student could make his way upstairs to his room, Felix called out to him again. 

He turned around and patiently waited for whatever Felix had to say. 

Felix blushed at his expectant look before gathering his courage and shyly asking, “can you really blast your way into the Ravenclaw Towers?”

It took a few awfully silent seconds, where the only thing either of them could hear was the wood crackling in the fireplace. Felix was about to apologize for asking such a ridiculous question and was about to hastily retreat to his room before the student let out a loud laugh. 

It only made him even more handsome if that was even possible. Happiness and laughter looked so good on him that Felix blushed even harder. Felix just hoped that the student wouldn’t call him out on looking so red. 

“You heard all that?” he asked after he had stopped laughing. 

Felix merely nodded. 

“Oh, that’s quite embarrassing,” he admitted as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly while avoiding Felix’s gaze. 

Felix was quick to fix his embarrassment because he immediately said, “don't be! I thought it was the coolest thing ever! You don’t understand how angry I was getting with its riddles too—I wanted to just kick it down too.”

“Thank you? The riddles do get annoying after spending so long studying at the library,” he admitted with a chuckle. But he had clearly found amusement in Felix’s question because he honestly answered, “I supposed there must be a spell to blast the door open, but I feel like Professor Flitwick must have taken precautions to ward against such attempts. Otherwise, the security measurements of those riddles wouldn’t really serve a purpose as anyone could just barge in with a blast.”

“Oh, that’s probably true,” Felix muttered, recognizing how obvious that point was. Of course the Head of the House, Professor Flitwick, or even Headmaster Dumbledore must have taken precaution against any potential intruders who may try to breach through the Towers. The riddles served as a means to only grant access to Ravenclaws—although anyone smart enough would be able to get in, but that was an argument for another day. 

“It would be pretty cool if there really was a spell that could still go past the wards though, I would love to blast that stupid door and it's stupid riddles away,” he chuckled. 

“Yeah,” Felix replied with a smile, but inwardly he was already formulating plans to run to the library with Hyunjin, Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin the next day to search for any spells that would allow him to do just that—bypass the door’s wards. Not only to impress the student before him, but also to have a handy solution for future encounters with those stupid riddles. 

“Nice talking to you, Felix. I will see you around?” he asked before turning around to walk up to his room. 

“See you around!” Felix definitely hoped that he would still be able to see the handsome student around. He waved his goodbyes, before walking towards the opposite side of the room where another set of stairs led him to his room. 

He walked into his room with the dopey smile plastered onto his face. 

His roommates were still wide awake, sitting in their respective beds and tossing the quaffle ball lazily amongst themselves. They all turned to look at him as he walked inside.

“Why are you smiling like a creep?” Jeongin asked in distaste.

“What took you so long?” Seungmin asked with concern. 

“Don’t tell me you were with Hwang?” Jisung asked with annoyance as he caught the quaffle. 

But Felix ignored them all as he headed straight for his bed, flopping down onto it with a dramatic flair as he declared, “I think I just met the love of my life.”

“HWANG?!” Jisung yelled. 

“The love of your life?” Seungmin scoffed before asking, “Who?” 

“Is that why you’re smiling like that?” Jeongin asked, hopping off his bed, trotting over to Felix, and plopping down on top of him. Normally Felix would have pushed him away, but his brain was way too caught up trying to memorize the features of the student he had just met than to deal with Jeongin. 

“I think I’m going to marry him,” Felix said as he allowed himself to be squeezed by the weight of Jeongin’s limbs lying haphazardly on top of him. 

Seungmin let out a fond chuckle before asking, “who is it?”

Jisung continued panicking as he ran over to Felix and pushed Jeongin out of the way. He grabbed Felix by the shoulders, pulled him up in a sitting position, and shook him as he asked, “don’t tell me it’s that evil Slytherin, Hwang?!”

“It’s obviously not Hyunjin,” Jeongin answered for him while staying in the position that Jisung had thrown him into on Felix’s bed. 

But Jisung still had his hold over Felix, so Felix sighed in resignation before admitting, “it's not Hyunjin.”

“Good,” Jisung exhaled, a wave of relief washing over him and almost smiling. However, he quickly corrected himself, shaking his head and looked at Felix with concern. “I mean, it's good that you’re not caught up with that evil Slytherin. I know you spend a lot of time with him, but he’s trouble, Lix.”

“Sure he is,” Felix couldn't help but look at Jeongin and laugh at how convinced Jisung was that he was successfully masking what he truly felt for Hyunijn. 

“He is!” Jisung exclaimed before plopping down on Felix’s bed as well. 

“Are you going to tell us who this ‘love of your life’ is?” Seungmin asked as he remained comfortably seated on his bed, his comforter snuggly laying over his shoulders. 

“You lot are going to help me find out who he is,” Felix said. 

“You don’t even know who this guy is?” Jeongin asked as he jumped off Felix’s bed and made his way towards Seungmin’s instead, snuggling up next to his boyfriend. 

“Nope, but he is the most handsomest man I have ever seen in my entire life,” Felix stated. He heard Jisung scoff but Felix ignored him. 

“What house is he in?” Seungmin asking the rational questions. 

“Ravenclaw,” Felix answered. 

“And you still don’t know him?” Jeongin asked. 

“Like you know all the Ravenclaws here,” Felix rolled his eyes. 

“I do!” Jeongin protested. 

“He does,” Seungmin confirmed. “And it's quite frankly rude that you don’t know them all by now, considering it’s your sixth year here.”

“Oh, shut up,” Felix muttered before chucking his pillow at Seungmin, aiming to hit his face but Seungmin caught it pretty neatly before spiraling it to Felix’s face. And of course his Quidditch position as a Beater came in handy as the pillow planted pretty harshly onto Felix’s face.  

“Well, what did he look like?” Jisung asked once Felix pulled the pillow out of the way. 

“Beautiful,” Felix answered dreamily as he recalled that student’s brunette hair waving past him as he angrily sauntered his way towards the Eagle Knocker, cussing, and kicking the heck out at it. 

“That’s not really helping us, is it?” Seungmin chuckled fondly. 

“Well, he has brown hair and sharp features. He looked older than me, and swore like a sailor at the Eagle Knocker while answering the riddle,” Felix explained as he closed his eyes and tried to tattoo that memory permanently into his brain. “And he was kind enough to hold the door open for me and let me in.”

“He swore at the Eagle?” Jeongin gasped and Felix happily nodded in response. 

“Why? Did he not know how to answer the riddle or something?” Seungmin asked while pointedly staring at Felix, as if he knew that Felix had been unable to answer and was then grateful to be allowed in by another student. 

Felix ignored his gaze and said, “no, he answered it perfectly fine but he was just annoyed from studying for so long at the library—or at least that’s what he said. And you don’t understand how cool he was when he angrily cursed at the Eagle.”

“A brunette with sharp features doesn’t really lower our options,” Seungmin said thoughtfully. “But I’m guessing he’s not from the Sacred Twenty-Eight if you can’t recognize him.”

“No, he wasn’t,” Felix nodded. Sacred Twenty-Eight were the 28 British families that were still truly pure-blood by the 1930s. It was a controversial list and apparently taken in high regard by the Malfoys, Notts, and Lestranges, but looked down upon by the Weasley’s and Lee’s despite their inclusion in it. However, the point was that everyone in that list knew each other. And since Felix did not recognize the guy from earlier, his chances of being in one of those families was eliminated. 

“Was it Eugene Barret?” Jeongin asked. 

“No, he’s ugly,” Felix said as shook his head. “I clearly told you the guy I met was extremely handsome.”

“Eric Sohn?” Jeongin asked again. 

“No, he’s our age and I already know him,” Felix rolled his eyes. 

“Owen Gibbs?” 

“I don’t know who that is,” Felix said. 

“It could be Owen Gibbs, he’s extremely handsome,” Seungmin said. “And I heard he swears a lot.”

“Hmm it could be,” Felix said as he fell back first on his bed again and threw his legs on top of Jisung’s, wrapping himself around him, ignoring his protests. “But I get the feeling that he would have a prettier name than that.”

“Maybe point him out to us during breakfast tomorrow?” Jisung suggested after going limp in Felix’s hold and hugging him back.  

“Sounds like a good idea,” Felix agreed. 

“We should probably go to sleep now, it’s quite late,” Jeongin said as Seungmin yawned and let out the lights off the room with the swing off his wand. 

______________________________________________________________________

The following morning, at the Great Hall, Felix immediately spotted the handsome Ravenclaw he had met the other day. He sat at the far end of the table, munching on his breakfast while struggling to keep his eyes open. He looked like he was on the verge of falling asleep right then and there.  

“There he is,” Felix whispered to his friends, subtly indicating at the Ravenclaw with the tip of his head and pointing his chin in that direction. “The most beautiful man in the world.”

Even in his sleepy state, he looked extremely beautiful. Felix sighed dreamily as he continued staring at him, he wished he could just thread his hand over his silky brown hair. 

“The guy who keeps on yawning?” Seungmin asked. Felix nodded, unable to tear his eyes away. 

“Minho Lee?!” Jeongin exclaimed in a whisper. Felix broke his gaze away from the man to look at his friends again. Jeongin and Seungmin, sitting across Felix, looked back at him with shock. Confused at their expression, Felix turned to look at Jisung, who was sitting right beside him, also looking equally surprised. 

“That’s his name?” Felix asked, feeling slightly unsettled at their gaze. “He’s a Lee too?”

“Yes, if you’re pointing at the guy who looks like he’s going to collapse any time soon,” Jeongin said, bringing his face back to neutrality again.  

“Not the Sacred Twenty-Eight Lee though,” Seungmin said. “He’s the muggle one.”

Felix let out a sigh of relief at that, there was enough inbreeding with his own Lee ancestors and he would very much like to stop that, thank you very much. 

“Minho Lee,” Felix mouthed it out loud before smiling wide at his friends and saying, “I told you he would have the prettiest name! And the best part is that I wouldn’t even have to change my last name after I get married to him.” 

“Married?!” Jisung choked on his cereal. 

Felix ignored him before turning around to look at his future husband and frowned as he noticed how exhausted he looked, “he really does look like he’s going to nod off any time soon, doesn’t he? Should I go help him? He could accidentally hit himself with that fork.”

But before Felix could do anything, a pair of Gryffindors approached Minho, laughing at his state before peeling the fork out of his hands and helping him walk out of the table, clearly noticing that Minho needed a bed asap. 

“He’s friends with one of the participants of the Triwizard Tournaments? Christopher Bang? The guy who blinded the dragon during the first challenge?” Felix exclaimed as he recognized one of the seventh year Gryffindors helping Minho walk out. He was one of the champions of the competition and everyone had admired how bravely he had faced the dragons during the first challenge, momentarily blinding them as he completed his task. 

“Yeah, and I can’t believe you didn’t know who Minho was!” Jisung exclaimed. 

“I’m upset too, for not knowing such a handsome man existed,” Felix said as he watched them exit the Great Hall. When they finally left, Felix turned to face the three again as he asked, “but why? Was I supposed to know him? Why are all of you so shocked that I like him?”

“Because Felix, it's Minho Lee,” Jeongin explained as if it was obvious. “Everyone’s always flirting with him and he’s rejected everyone! Apparently he has a heart of stone.”

“And rumor has it that he was supposed to be sorted into Slytherin but he argued his way out of it with the Sorting Hat.” Jisung tsked as he folded his arms over his chest and gave a stank look towards the Slytherin table, Felix didn’t have to look to know who Jisung was glaring at. “Evil Slytherins,” Jisung muttered under his breath. “Maybe that’s why he’s known to have a heart of stone.”

“Well, I also argued with the Sorting Hat,” Felix pointed out. “And Minho held the door open for me yesterday when he could have just let it close on me, so I don’t think he has a heart of stone.”

“You might think you had the longest sorting, but it wasn’t you. Yeah, you told us you argued but who knows what Minho Lee must have been arguing with the Sorting Hat about—because, apparently, he had set some sort of record for the longest sorting ever,” Jeongin added. 

“Still, he definitely belongs here,” Seungmin added. “Because I think he’s the smartest student.” 

“I think he might even have Hermonie Granger beat in that category,” Jisung added. 

“Wow, really?” Felix asked, his eyes widening. He was hardly deterred by everything that was said, instead he was mostly impressed as he smugly added, “I always knew the love of my life would be the most coveted and smartest person ever.”

Seungmin rolled his eyes before adding, “he’s also a muggle-born.” 

Felix waved his hand in nonchalance as he said, “my parents wouldn’t care.”

“It will kick your family out of the Sacred Twenty-Eight if you do happen to pursue him,” Seungmin pointed out. 

“Even better,” Felix shrugged. “My parents don’t like being in it anyway.”

"Well, if you're serious, then go for it," Jisung encouraged, nudging Felix's shoulder playfully with his own, a grin spreading across his lips. "I can't believe my little Lixie already has a crush. He's all grown up!" Jisung exclaimed dramatically, feigning tears.

“Felix has a crush? On who?” Hyunjin asked as he walked by their table, nudging Jeongin out of the way and sitting right across Felix. 

“Eww, evil Slytherin, go away,” Jisung said as he pulled up his fork and knife and made a faux Christian cross, as if Hyunjin was a creature that needed to be warded off. 

Hyunjin simply ignored him, leaning closer to Felix with a wide grin and gleaming eyes, and asked, "Who is it?"

“Minho Lee,” Felix said without hesitation. “Do you know him?”

“Oh, the seventh year Ravenclaw?” Hyunjin asked. “The one that used to go around hexing anyone that pissed him off?”

“Didn’t you used to do that?” Felix asked, narrowing his eyes at Hyunjin. 

“Who do you think I learned it from?” Hyunjin looked back smugly, flipping his long black hair away from his shoulder in a smooth motion, making him look even more haughty.  

“I told you, they’re all evi—” Jisung started. 

“I swear, Han, if you say ‘evil Slytherin’ one more time, I will take that fork off your hands and stab you in the neck,” Hyunjin snapped as he made that motion with his hands as if trying to show him exactly how he would do it. 

“Felix!” Jisugn exclaimed as he hugged Felix in alarm, the fork and knife in his hands clattering onto the table. “I told you he’s trouble!”

Felix pushed him off as he asked, “what do you mean, you learned it from him?”

“Well, it’s not like he actually taught me anything,” Hyunjin said as he snatched the bread toast off Jisung’s plate and began eating it, much to Jisung’s dismay who let out a screech. “I just heard rumors about it and decided I could follow his example. But I’ve never actually talked to him before.”

“I don’t think he’s a bad guy though,” Seungmin added as he laughed at Jisung’s antics. 

“He’s literally besties with the friendliest guys in Hogwarts, Christopher Bang and Changbin Seo,” Jeongin pointed out. “If he was an ‘evil’ guy, I doubt Bang or Seo would even be friends with him.”

“Well, Felix is the nicest guy that I know, but he’s still friends with Hwang here, so your point doesn’t really prove anything,” Jisung protested, trying to snatch his bread toast back. 

Hyunjin looked almost ready to lunge across the table and tackle him to the ground. While Jisung grabbed the knife and fork and held it up as a cross sign again. As if he really thought that would ward Hyunjin off. 

“Aww I’m the nicest guy you know of?” Felix asked as he turned to look at Jisung with puppy eyes. 

But Felix doubted Jisung heard him. He looked too busy whimpering away from Hyunjin as Hyunjin glared and wordlessly grabbed the closest butter knife and motioned that he was about to decapitate Jisung with it. 

“You know…” Seungmin started, grabbing Felix’s attention. “Minho’s really good in Defense Against the Dark Arts, particularly dueling. Professor Snape even favors him more than some of his Slytherin students.” 

Seungmin looked pointedly back at Felix, as if Felix was supposed to figure out where he was leading to from that statement. But all Felix could do was stare back blankly. 

Seungmin sighed when it looked like Felix wasn’t about to fill in the blanks. “If you want the chance to get closer to him, you could—maybe—ask him to tutor you.”

“And embarrass myself in front of him? No, thank you,” Felix frantically shook his head against that. He already embarrasses himself multiple times throughout the day when he tries to duel with his friends—he couldn’t imagine going through all that in front of Minho. 

“Honestly, you should try it out,” Hyunjin said. “Snape really loves Minho because of how easily he just excels at everything Snape puts his way.”

“If he’s been successfully hexing everyone that pisses him off since the first year, I have no doubt that he must be really good with dueling,” Felix said. “But I don’t have enough courage to just go up to him and ask him for help. If I was that brave, I would have been sorted into Gryffindor.” 

“It would be like killing two birds with one stone, though,” Jeongin cut through. “Not only would you have a chance to really get to know him through this, but you can also get better in DADA through this.”

“Yeah, you can find out if he really is an evil Slytherin through this too,” Jisung added. 

“Honestly, yeah,” Hyunjin shrugged. “I also really want to know that, so please let me know if he is. Maybe we can become besties if he is.” Hyunjin pointedly winked at Jisung as he said that last part. 

Felix seriously considered their suggestions. The idea sounded great…but he couldn’t help but think how badly that would turn out. How was he supposed to approach someone known for their ‘heart of stone’ and ask them for help with his studies? Plus, if word got out that Felix, a Ravenclaw, received tutoring from someone else, it would be the end of Felix. The ridicule he already faced was bad enough, he didn’t even want to think how much worse it could get if he resorted to getting tutored instead of studying independently in the library like a typical Ravenclaw. Felix rolled his eyes at how ridiculous the expectations for Ravenclaws to excel by their own skills and merits were. Yet, despite finding it ridiculous, Felix couldn’t bear the thought of enduring more mocking by his fellow classmates. 

“Well, I had another plan on how I could get closer to him,” Felix said as he remembered what he had thought of last night.

“And what was that?” Seungmin asked. 

“Last night Minho had threatened to blast the Eagle Knocker and the door away so he could enter the towers,” Felix explained. “And then I asked him if there was a spell that could actually do that. But all Minho had said was that it was possible, but he didn’t know for sure. And I was thinking I should try to find a spell that could actually do that.”

“Umm…I don’t think such a spell actually exists,” Jeongin said while Seungmin just outright laughed. 

“I can’t believe you actually asked him that,” Hyunjin chuckled. 

“What?! It’s a very reasonable question,” Felix huffed but could feel himself flushing in embarrassment. 

“I feel like if there actually was a spell like that, then some Ravenclaw before us must have already figured it out,” Jisung pointed out. “And Flitwick already must have warded the door against it.” 

“Yeah, Minho also said that,” Felix said before curling his hand into a fist and determinately saying, “But I am definitely going to find out if there really is a spell like that. There are billions of spells out there and surely not even Flitwick or Dumbledore could ward off that many spells.” 

“You could try,” Jeongin shrugged. “I’m definitely not helping you with that, though.”

Felix pouted but Jeongin just shook his head with a playful smile before diverting his attention onto his breakfast again. 

“Don’t involve me either,” Jisung said as he continued eating his breakfast. “That’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“You and your muggle phrases that no one understands,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes. 

“You got a problem with me being a muggle-born, Hwang?” Jisung spat back, his spoon hovering in front of his mouth, mid-bite.

“No, but I do mind it when you talk with your mouth full of food,” Hyunjin gagged. “Don’t muggles teach basic table manners?”

Instead of answering, Jisung just opened his mouth wider to show off the masticated food even more. 

Hyunjin gagged harder. 

“Will you and Seungmin help me, then?” Felix asked Hyunjin, trying to bring the attention back to him and his situation again. 

Hyunjin had the nerve to simply laugh in his face before hopping off the bench and sauntering back to his Slytherin table, still chuckling to himself as he sat down amongst his Slytherin friends.

Felix turned to Seungmin, his eyes pleading with the best puppy-dog expression he could muster. After all, Seungmin was his last hope.

“Lix…” Seungmin sighed. “I really think you asking him for DADA help is way better than this plan.”

“Yeah, like a thousand times better,” Jeongin interjected. 

“And no offense, but even you know that you’re terrible at casting spells. So, even if you do come across a spell that could blast the tower doors away, I doubt it would even work out for you,” Seungmin added. 

Felix couldn’t even argue against that. If he had been good at spellcasting, then maybe his grades in DADA and Charms wouldn’t be suffering. 

All he could do was slump down in seat, staring disappointedly at his breakfast and absentmindedly fiddling with his spoon. He no longer felt like he had an appetite to continue eating. He really did want to blast that door away, not only to impress Minho but also because he, himself, was quite frustrated with that stupid Eagle. 

"But..." Seungmin began again, allowing Felix to hold onto a thread of hope as he looked at his friend expectantly. “You’re extremely good at Transfiguration—”

“The best in all of Hogwarts actually, no wonder he’s a Ravenclaw,” Jeongin added and smiled at Felix with pride, making Felix preen at him. 

“Maybe you could transfigure the door or the Eagle into something else? I doubt Flitwick or even Dumbledore took precaution against that, considering many would-be intruders would prefer to ‘blast’ their way in with a powerful spell instead,” Seungmin suggested. 

Felix gaped at his friend, truly stumped at how ingenious that idea was. He really needed to stop forgetting how smart all of his friends were. 

“Seungmin, I could literally jump over this table and kiss you right here with how brilliant that plan is,” Felix said. 

Seungmin pulled out his wand threateningly as he said, “if you do that, I will keep on making you vomit out slugs everyday.”

“Plus, Minho would get the wrong idea,” Jeongin said and he knew Felix was joking but he still wrapped his arm around Seungmin’s shoulder and pulled his boyfriend closer to him, making it immediately known that no one else could ever get the permission to kiss him. 

“But that’s all the help you’re receiving from me,” Seungmin said. “I’m not going to the library with you to help you figure out what to do from that.”

"That's fine," Felix waved dismissively as he rose from his seat. "You've already helped a lot. I'll just head to the library now and figure it out myself. Can't have any of you looking through the Transfiguration books all confused when I could just fly by all of it myself."

"Hey, just because you're better at Transfiguration than the rest of us doesn't mean we're bad at it!" Jisung exclaimed.

“But you are, though,” Felix pointed out, laughing at the faux pained expression that crossed Jisung’s face, acting as if he’d been stabbed in the chest by Felix’s words. Felix being good in Transfiguration was an understatement, even as a sixth year, he had already received numerous job offers from wizards worldwide, all seeking to recruit him for their organization because of his exceptional talent. Felix wasn’t about to let an opportunity to boast about his talents slip away, especially since it was such a rare occurrence for him in a house full of Ravenclaws. Besides, his friends already knew his words held no real bite. If it did, he would have been the biggest hypocrite of all. 

"See you three later," Felix said as he rose from the bench at the dining table.

"Study a bit for DADA while you're in the library too," Seungmin called after Felix's retreating figure.

Felix made a disgusted sound but nodded nonetheless as he hurried out of the Great Hall and into the library.

______________________________________________________________________

As he looked through all the books, Felix had multiple ideas pop into his brain. However, before delving into the transfiguration books, he decided to start with the one detailing the history behind the Ravenclaw towers and the Eagle Knocker

It took forever to read through the mind-numbingly dull book, but at least after reading it through, Felix quickly realized that Seungmin had been correct in assuming that the wards on the door were primarily designed to repel malicious charms, spells, or curses. There seemed to be no specific ward against unconventional transfigurations that might be attempted on the door— although transforming it into acid probably counted, given the door had been protected against that ever since a student in the mid 1940s had attempted to do just that to steal the Ravenclaw diadem for some reason. However, the culprit had been caught and immediately suspended, which of course meant his wand had been broken by the school. Felix shuddered because that's the last thing he ever wished to happen to a wizard. 

Felix realized that he had three options on what objects he could transfigure in order to gain access into the Ravenclaw towers. He could either transfigure the door itself, the Eagle Knocker, or the walls surrounding the door. The walls surrounding the door seemed to have significantly less chances of Felix’s wand-work backfiring on him as there weren’t that many wards placed upon it. 

However, Felix couldn’t help but get excited as he thought of transferring the damn Eagle itself. That was the root cause of Felix’s frustration in the first place. The revenge of turning the Eagle into something else would be sweeter than the cauldron cakes or even the chocolate frogs. 

Thinking of all those sweets made Felix’s stomach grumble. He placed his book down on the table and cast Tempus to check the time. 

The time materialized in front of him before disappearing away. Felix gasped as he noticed it was already 4pm. He couldn’t believe he had been at the library nearly all day since breakfast, it was no wonder he was getting hungry. While he felt a bit upset that most of his time had been spent reading the boring Ravenclaw history textbook, a part of him was relieved that he had at least found out that transfiguration was a good solution to his problems. He also came to the realization that he shouldn’t attempt to do anything malicious when transfiguring the Eagle or the door into something else, unless he wanted to suffer through the worst punishment. He figured he was still going to get punished irregardless, but at least if it just looked like a funny prank, he wouldn’t be punished severely for it. 

Felix stood up from his seat and stretched his limbs, feeling satisfied with the amount of research he had accomplished for the time being. Quickly, he began returning all the books to their respective places on the shelves. 

As he was about to leave the library, his eyes caught sight of Minho sitting near the windows, hunched over a desk. Furrowing his brow in concentration, Minho was scribbling on a parchment while reading through a textbook.

Felix quickly ducked behind a bookshelf so he wouldn't get caught openly staring at Minho. Alone at his table, Minho was fully engrossed in his book. The setting sun streamed through the window, casting a radiant glow on his sharp features, making him look almost ethereal. The sunlight highlighted the fluffy texture of his brunette hair, giving it a lighter shade of brown. Felix couldn't help but wonder if Minho had some sort of Veela ancestor—no human could possibly look that beautiful. 

At least, Minho didn't appear as exhausted as he had been in the morning. Felix could only assume he had taken a nap before heading to the library to study. However, looking at the way Minho was hunched over and furrowing his eyebrows in concentration at whatever he was reading, Felix couldn’t shake the feeling that Minho desperately needed a break from whatever task he was engrossed in. 

He really wanted to approach Minho and strike up a conversation, to provide him with a distraction from his studies. But, Felix felt too shy to do so. He also didn't want his attempts to be rejected if Minho preferred to continue studying instead. Plus, Felix recognized that he wasn't close enough to Minho to simply tell him to take a break—he couldn't impose on him in that way.

Quickly getting an idea, he glanced around him. Though he was a registered Animagus, no one besides his friends knew he was one and Felix didn't want anyone witnessing his transformation, especially considering what he was going to do afterward. Once he confirmed that no one could see him amongst the bookshelves, Felix set down his backpack and wandlessly transfigured himself. The world appeared larger as he dropped onto all fours, his senses heightening. 

Felix could only hope that Minho was fond of cats as he padded over to his table.

Felix took pride in his Animagus appearance as a cat. Even though he appeared as a small brown tabby kitten, he knew he looked incredibly adorable. Professor McGongall had informed him that as Felix ages, so would his cat form, meaning he wouldn’t remain a kitten into adulthood—much to Felix’s disappointment. He enjoyed playing the adorable kitten whenever he wanted something, using his cute appearance to his advantage. However, he had no doubt that he would still manage to be adorable even as a fully grown cat. 

He reached Minho’s table and looked up at him. From this angle, as he looked up at Minho, Felix couldn’t help but let out a blush. He pushed all the inappropriate thoughts away and just focused on how beautiful Minho looked. Minho was still hunched over his textbook, not noticing the cat near his feet. 

Instead of trying to get his attention, Felix trotted towards the chair next to him. With shaky paws, he climbed up the chair's leg and let out a heavy breath as he reached the seating portion. He hadn't anticipated how much strength it would take just to climb up the chair's leg. He pondered how actual cats managed it—maybe he simply lacked the strength of a real cat.

He glanced up at the head of the table above him. It didn't seem too far away, easily within reach. With determination, he leaped off the chair and landed gracefully on the table, at least he still had the cat-like reflexes of always landing on his feet. 

Felix let out a meow as soon as he landed, grabbing Minho’s attention. Startled, Minho immediately jerked out of his seat. Undeterred, Felix slowly padded closer to Minho, jumping on top of his textbook, effectively covering it up so Minho wouldn’t have to continue reading it for now. 

Still, Felix hoped that Minho wasn’t actually afraid of cats. He looked up at him, hoping that it was okay to be there. Minho stood there for a few minutes, blinking down at him before frantically looking around to see if anyone else could also see the cat. Not spotting anyone else around him, Minho looked down at Felix again, but this time his eyes were almost sparkling in interest as he sat back down. 

“Hello there, little one,” Minho cooed as he threaded his hand over Felix’s fur. 

If Felix could blush as a cat, he had no doubt his fur would have turned a beetroot red the moment Minho touched him. Felix was hyper-aware of every place Minho's hand glided over, and he couldn't help but notice how expertly Minho was petting him. It made Felix briefly wonder if Minho owned any cats himself, given his skill with petting.

“What are you doing here?” Minho asked. 

Felix let out a couple meows in response, expressing that despite their recent meeting, he had an immense crush on Minho and thought he was extremely handsome. Even though he knew Minho wouldn't be able to understand his little meows. However, Minho paused his pets and blinked down at Felix in surprise and confusion. Felix stared back at Minho, puzzled as to why the wonderful head-pats had stopped. He meowed again, demanding more head-pats.

Minho was blushing for some reason but then a small smile spread across his face as he resumed petting Felix. "Of course, little one. Can't stop petting you now, can I?"

Felix meowed in agreement, clearly enjoying the attention.

"You're so adorable," Minho whispered affectionately as he continued to stroke Felix's head.

Felix purred with satisfaction and promptly rolled over, inviting Minho to pet his stomach. Minho laughed fondly before obliging and rubbing his stomach.

"You're really cutting into my studying time, you know that?" he teased, though his tone was fond.

Felix meowed that he did know that and wanted to serve as a distraction from his studies or else Minho might just collapse from the way he was reading the textbook. 

Minho laughed as he continued rubbing Felix’s soft tummy. 

Felix rolled around, wondering what textbook Minho was reading. He immediately collapsed back onto his back when he noticed it was a DADA textbook for the seventh years. He definitely didn’t want to look at that sooner than next year. 

“Do you want to read it?” Minho asked when he had noticed Felix taking a peek at the textbook. 

Felix let out a meow, hoping that it sounded like he was disgusted with the concept of having to read such a book. Because it had been a big, resounding, nope. 

Minho chuckled, not stopping the belly rubs. 

“What were you doing in the library today, huh?” Minho asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.”

Felix meowed twice saying, ‘Eagle Knocker’ but didn’t offer any meows after that. Minho’s petting was too relaxing, it was almost making him sleepy and therefore providing him with no energy to explain any further than that. And after all, he didn’t have to, it's not like Minho would have understood whatever he had to say as a cat anyway. 

Minho looked down at him as if Felix was a great puzzle to solve but Felix was just glad he hadn't stopped his ministrations on his tummy. 

“Do you want something to eat?” Minho asked as he pulled his hand away, much to Felix’s dismay. Felix rolled up on his paws again and watched Minho as he grabbed his backpack up from the floor and scrambled through it. “I think I have some blueberries, would you want some?”

Felix happily meowed a yep. He had forgotten that he was extremely hungry. After this, he was going to head straight to the kitchens to grab a quick snack before dinner rolled around. 

Minho took out his box of blueberries and offered one to Felix. 

Felix looked at his offered hand and wondered if this meant that he was supposed to eat it from his palm. He had figured that Minho would have just placed the blueberries down and Felix would’ve eaten it by himself. 

Minho nudged the blueberry closer and after contemplating it for a second, Felix bit down on the offered fruit. He was glad he wasn’t a human because he couldn’t help but flush at the thought that he was getting fed by Minho. 

Felix ate another blueberry as Minho said, “my cats really love blueberries.”

Felix was glad to know that there was one mystery that was solved about Minho, he was a cat person. He did own cats and Felix mentally noted down that his cats loved blueberries. He hoped to see Minho’s cats one day and win them over by offering them blueberries. Although, he could just simply turn into a cat around them and play with them. But that path was too easy, he needed to win their affections over as a human. 

“I have three of them,” Minho continued as he offered another blueberry. “Soonie, Doongie, and Dori.”

Felix chuckled at their names but meowed back, as if to let Minho know that he was listening. 

“I really miss them,” Minho said. “They’re back at home.”

Felix pouted at the sullen look on Minho’s face, wondering why Minho hadn’t just brought one of them to Hogwarts. But Felix supposed that Minho didn’t want to separate the three of them. 

“They would really love you,” Minho said and Felix was glad to hear that. 

After a while Felix let out a meow and nudged his face away from the offered blueberry, signifying that he doesn’t want to eat anymore. Minho seemingly got the message and ate the blueberry himself. Satisfied, Felix sat down again, this time he sat away from the textbook as it had started to become uncomfortable sitting on the binder of the book. 

Several minutes passed like that, with Minho scratching Felix's ears and stroking his fur while Felix purred a few meaningless meows. Felix couldn’t help but feel happy knowing that he had held Minho’s undivided attention the entire time. 

Felix scoffed when he remembered how his friends had told him that Minho had a heart of stone. He seemingly didn’t have a heart of stone, considering how gentle he was when rubbing Felix’s stomach, or just plainly entertaining him for the past 20 minutes or so, cooing adorably and even offering him more blueberries. At that moment, Felix realized that Minho was an absolute sweetie. 

Of course the moment was ruined when Felix spotted a fuming Seungmin, all decked out in his Quidditch robes, gallivanting inside the library, stomping his feet in fury. Felix trembled when he realized that he had Quidditch practice today.

Felix whined at Minho, attempting to convey the need to hide from Seungmin, the Quidditich captain, who was definitely going to make Felix go through hell during the practice session. However, before Minho could even react, Seungmin glanced across the library and spotted Felix. A soft whimper escaped Felix as Seungmin narrowed his eyes upon noticing him in his Animagus form, being petted by Minho of all people. 

He immediately rushed across the library hallway towards them. His face was still contorted in fury as he looked at Felix’s cat form, obviously not falling for the adorable kitten charade. 

“What are you doing here?” Seungmin asked with barely restrained anger as he reached out to grab Felix. “I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Felix let out a soft mew, begging Minho for help.

Minho, unfortunately, didn’t do anything and let Seungmin grab him by the neck. Felix let out a loud squeal in betrayal—was the exchange of blueberries and belly rubs not enough to cement a loyal relationship?

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know my cat,“ Seungmin looked pointedly at Felix as he apologized to Minho, “was here with you.”

Minho just chuckled as he shook his head, “it's fine, I quite enjoyed my time with him.”

“Okay, we will be leaving now,” Seungmin said as Felix just yowled and hissed at his friend. 

“Alright,” Minho waved with a big smile before adding, “see you around, Felix.”

Felix immediately stopped hissing at Seungmin and turned to stare at Minho, fully gaping at the fact that Minho had used his name. 

Even Seungmin had faltered before slapping his forehead as if he had just recalled something, “you’re a cat-whisperer! I can’t believe I forgot.”

“I am,” Minho nodded as he smirked back at Felix. 

Felix blinked for a second, processing what was being said before letting out a loud screech. 

“So you understood everything Felix might have said to you while he was a cat?” Seungmin asked. 

Minho nodded, “I did.”

Felix continued screeching but this time he turned his head to hide underneath the ruffles of Seungmin’s robes. He couldn’t believe Minho had just let him gallivant around as a kitten while he had known and perfectly understood what he was saying the entire time. 

This was beyond embarrassing. 

“What did he say?” Seungmin asked, inching closer to Minho. More than happy to let the time for Quidditch practice pass if it meant he could grab hold of something to later tease Felix for. 

“A lot of things were said,” Minho said vaguely. Not offering to provide an actual response, much to Felix’s relief. 

“Well, Felix,” Seungmin tugged Felix out of his robes. “You might as well just transform back into yourself again, since he already knows.”

He will not be doing that, thank you very much. 

He was more than content staying as a cat for the rest of his life. He had confessed his crush to Minho for Merlin’s sake! And it was only the second time he had even interacted with him—if interacting with him as a cat even counted. 

No wonder Minho had looked so surprised and bewildered when Felix had proclaimed that. No wonder Minho acted like he understood everything Felix had said as a cat. Of course, he had to turn out to be a freaking cat-whisperer. Felix doesn’t think he could ever bear to see Minho again without fully freaking out from now on. 

Minho laughed as Felix let out a loud curse. “He’s swearing a lot, right now,” he clued Seungmin in. 

“Bad kitten,” Seungmin reprimanded, obviously enjoying Felix’s dilemma. 

Felix nipped at Seungmin’s finger in annoyance. 

“We really are running late for our Quidditch practice,” Seungmin muttered before apologizing to Minho once again and turning around to leave. 

“Bye!” Minho said as they left the library. But Felix remained silent, covering his face once again with Seungmin’s robes. Felix urgently needed to transform back to grab his backpack and wand back but he definitely couldn’t transform back around Minho’s vicinity currently. Thankfully, Seungmin’s motherly-sense was tingling as they passed by the shelf where Felix had hid it—or he just noticed Felix loudly yowling while pointing in that direction. But either way, Seungmin immediately stopped, turned around and grabbed it for Felix. 

Felix purred out a thanks in response. 

“You idiot,” Seungmin muttered under his breath as they walked out of the library. “I really was looking all over for you. How long were you in the library?”

As soon as they left the library, and Seungmin had made sure that no one was there to see them, Felix immediately transformed back into his human self. 

“I have been in there since breakfast,” Felix answered as he kept his gaze glued to the ground and grabbed his backpack off Seungmin’s hands. 

“Did you tell Minho anything you wouldn’t have if you were not in your Animagus form?” Seungmin asked as they continued walking down the hallway while Felix continued flushing. 

Felix nodded but didn’t offer a response back. On one hand he was extremely embarrassed but on the other hand, he was just refusing to accept reality just so he wouldn’t have to feel shy and awkward about the entire situation. 

“Was it bad?” Seungmin asked as they walked into the Ravenclaw towers—of course, Seungmin had very easily answered the riddle—so Felix could change into his Seeker robes. 

“I confessed to him, Seungmin,” Felix whined as he changed. 

Seungmin widened his eyes before saying, “wow, I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Clearly, Minho wasn’t either. And clearly, I didn’t realize he would understand me either. How can he just randomly be a cat-whisperer?” Felix muttered, feeling the urge to jump into his bed and hide there until the year ended. But Seungmin’s motherly-sense must have tingled again because he steered Felix away from the bed and lugged him out of the towers. Felix went limp and let himself be dragged out into the Quidditch pitch. 

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Felix pleaded, but he knew his pleas were falling on deaf ears.

“Are you kidding? I’m telling Jeongin as soon as I see him,” Seungmin laughed. “And well that means that Jisung will know about it too. And if both of them find out about it… then Hyunjin will too.”

Felix groaned. 

Fortunately, Felix thought as he mounted his broomstick, Minho was a Seventh Year, which meant that this was his last year at Hogwarts. And now that December had already started, there were only a couple of months remaining in the year. So, if Minho was weirded out by Felix’s confession, at least he only had a few more months at Hogwarts left before they never saw each other again. 

Seungmin was relentless in the practice session. Stating that they had to win the Quidditch cup this year, or else he would sooner die than let the Slytherins or the Gryffindors win it over them. Felix almost felt bad that the Hufflepuffs were left out of the equation…but he didn’t think much about it, especially because he was still moping around the entire time during the practice over his untimely confession. 

Seungmin yelled at him to concentrate, but it was nearly impossible to focus on anything else. 

Honestly, Felix felt so mortified by his actions at the library that if the Headmaster had run out into the field, declaring that a meteor was about to crash onto planet Earth within the next hour and kill them all…it would’ve been a preferable relief than enduring this utter embarrassment. 

“I want to kill myself,” Felix groaned as he sat down in the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall for dinner. 

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad,” Jisung shrugged. 

Felix stared at him, wondering if Jisung knew what he was talking about. But his doubts were quickly answered when Jeongin said, “at least he knows that you’re trying to pursue him. You can just outright court him now, the pure-blood way, if you want to.”

“No one does that anymore,” Felix murmured as he placed his head down on the cool surface of the table. Apparently in the past, when the pure-bloods knew who they wanted to marry, they would attempt to court each other, whereby they would present each other with gifts, write each other poetry or draw other forms of art, and act all gentlemanly towards each other. Honestly it wasn’t much different from the regular dating culture of the modern times, except for the fact that it was mostly chaperoned in the past. And the ultimate intention was, well, marriage—and it was hard to find someone who wouldn’t be overwhelmed by that idea in this modern society of hookup culture. Even if Felix had told his friends that he wanted to marry Minho…and, frankly, he had always wished that whoever his first love would be, he would eventually marry. But even Felix knew that it was utterly preposterous considering he hadn’t actually had a chance to even sit down and talk to Minho yet.

“And it sounds like he didn’t outright reject you like he does with everyone else,” Jisung pointed out. 

"That's probably because I was a little cat when I confessed, and he was more likely confused than thinking of rejecting me," Felix said, keeping his head lowered to avoid Minho spotting him on the table.

Felix had noticed him the moment he entered the Great Hall after showering off the sweat from practice. His face was already flushed from the hot shower, but upon seeing him sitting there, Felix's face was practically burning. He had quickly hid behind Seungmin as he made his way to his usual spot at the table. 

Felix hadn't been able to catch Minho's expression, but he seemed happy as he laughed along with his friends. Apparently, only Felix was acting like the world was about to end soon. This made Felix wonder what Minho was thinking about the confession and his Animagus form. Was he weirded out by it? Was he sharing it with all of his friends and making fun of him for it? Or did he simply not think it was a big deal and probably forgot about it?

All these questions were swirling around in Felix’s head, but none of them led to a good possibility or a good outcome. 

“I heard what happened~,” Hyunjin said in a sing-songy voice, taking his usual seat next to Jeongin as he poked Felix’s head, attempting to get Felix to face him. 

Felix slightly lifted his head up to look at him as he harshly asked, “how could you possibly already know?”

“Jeongin told me about it,” Hyunjin pointed at the sly bastard who had the audacity to just grin back at Felix. 

“Seungmin told me before he went to take a shower and then I told Jisung and Hyunjin,” Jeongin explained. “You know I can’t hide anything from them. Especially not something as great as this.”

“Fuck you,” Felix spat at the boyfriends. “Hope all of you go to hell.”

“We probably will,” Seungmin shrugged. “And your clingy ass will follow right after.”

Felix didn’t have the energy to argue back as he just placed his head down again. 

“Frankly, I think your prospects are already looking great, considering he didn’t outright reject you,” Hyunjin said. 

“Yeah, that’s what I sa—Yah! Don’t copy me!” Jisung exclaimed. Felix heard some sort of shuffling around him where he could only assume that Jisung and Hyunjin were fighting in some manner, but Felix kept his head down and eyes closed. 

“He must think I’m a weirdo,” Felix cried. 

“I would be more shocked if he didn’t think that,” Seungmin said. 

“How many times do you want me to say ‘fuck you’ to you?” Felix asked. 

“Just eat for now, you haven’t even eaten lunch,” Jeongin said. “We’ll help you figure out what to do next after dinner.”

Felix could feel his stomach growling for food, and the wonderful aroma could no longer be ignored especially after Jeongin had told him to eat. So, Felix gingerly lifted his head and looked down at the food, where he had specifically requested the House Elves to serve him something Korean instead of British. 

However, after that, he couldn’t fight the instinct of turning to see what Minho was up to. And of course, that was the moment Minho caught him looking. 

Felix could see the blush forming on Minho’s cheeks before sending him a little wave. Felix promptly placed his head right back down onto the table, feeling a little too flustered. 

“Did he just wave at you?” Hyunjin asked, obviously finding all of this a little too amusing. “Why would you ignore him? What’s wrong with you?!”

“Leave me alone,” Felix cried. 

______________________________________________________________________

After that, the next couple of days were spent with Felix doing his utmost to avoid being seen by Minho.

However, as both of them were Ravenclaw students, it proved to be nearly impossible. 

It was funny, considering Felix didn’t recall ever noticing him before. Or maybe, Felix had simply been so preoccupied in his own world that he had never really taken notice of that guy. Him cursing out the Eagle Knocker had apparently made a big impact on Felix’s life. 

Because every time Felix caught even a glimpse of Minho, his heart would race, his pupils would dilate, and his skin would break out in goosebumps before he promptly turned around and scurried away, hoping to avoid being spotted by Minho.

It was strange because on one hand, Felix found himself oddly enjoying the physical reaction his body had upon not just seeing the older Ravenclaw, but even just thinking about him. However, on the other hand, he was too scared to actually approach Minho or allow Minho to approach him. Therefore, he chose the easiest option—running away.

But this running away and getting all flustered was apparently becoming too much according to his friends. Or as Seungmin nicely put it, “if you hadn’t been so preoccupied by Minho, we could have actually won against freaking Hufflepuffs!”

Seungmin was fuming that they had lost against Hufflepuffs because Felix hadn’t caught the snitch. While Seungmin was entirely correct that it was because Felix had seen Minho standing in the audience, cheering for Ravenclaw, that had captivated Felix’s attention, making him freeze up at the thought that Minho was right there and staring right at Felix. Which ultimately led to the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Diggory, to catch the snitch. But Felix was definitely not going to admit that to Seungmin, ever. 

There was also the fact that Felix had spent the entire time the very next day thinking about how Minho had made eye contact with Felix during the Quidditch game. Minho hadn’t looked at any of the other players who were actually doing something, but he had looked directly at Felix, who had flown there on his broomstick, utterly frozen. His brain was going into overdrive, wondering why Minho had looked at him and what he could have possibly been thinking, whether Felix had somehow captured Minho’s attention… All of those thoughts had ultimately resulted in whatever Potions that Felix was supposed to make at the Potions class to blow up. 

"Ah, my dear boy," Professor Slughorn chimed, sauntering over to assist Felix. "If you'd kindly refer to page 325, you'll find all the instructions you need. They're not particularly taxing, you see, simple English."

Felix heard a few Ravenclaw students behind him, snickering and muttering words like "dumbass." Of course, the responsible adult in the classroom, Professor Slughorn, hadn’t noticed the teasing, who had simply strolled away. Hyunjin, standing beside Felix, shot a piercing glare at the students, quickly shutting them up.

“Thanks,” Felix said to Hyunjin as they walked out of the classroom. 

“Anytime, Lix,” Hyunjin smiled before placing his arm around Felix’s shoulder. 

They were both walking down the hallway to make their way into the Great Hall for lunch when they overheard a couple of Seventh year Ravenclaws gossiping. Of course, Felix’s ears perked up when he heard the name, Minho Le, being passed around. And so he had to pause and listen to what those students had to say. 

Felix recognized them, it was Eugene Barrett and Devon Miller.

“I heard Minho got 12 Os for O.W.L.s in his fifth year,” Eugene Barrett said. “I don’t doubt that he’s going to get the highest grades for the N.E.W.Ts this year too.”

Felix couldn’t help but feel immense pride in his chest for Minho at that. It was nearly an impossible feat to score so high. Felix had barely managed to get 2 Os in his fifth year with Transfiguration and Arthimacy. Besides that, he had barely passed the rest of the subjects. 

“I have seen him stay in the library the entire day just to study,” Devon Miller uttered. 

Felix nodded, Minho was a studious guy. Obviously he was very concerned about his grades and was serious about his studies. Anyone could respect and applaud that, not just Ravenclaws. 

However, Barrett just laughed, “I heard he was a bit of a recluse, but seriously? Staying in the library the entire day to study? Does he have no life? No girlfriend?”

“Of course he has no girlfriend, he’s gay remember?” Miller reminded him. 

“Oh how could I forget? On top of being a recluse, he’s also gay,” Barrett laughed again. “It’s like he could have just been the perfect guy if it wasn’t for those two points.”

“Yeah,” Miller snarked. “I genuinely wonder what all those people see in him.”

“I can only assume he goes around placing some sort of spells on everyone, making all those girls fall for him or something—what was that potion called? Amortentia? Or maybe he strayed a bit too far in the Dark Arts and cast Imperius on everyone he meets so they like him,” Barrett laughed. 

Felix couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Amortentia, the most potent love potion known to wizardkind, is capable of ensnaring anyone who drinks it into a deep and uncontrollable infatuation with the person who gave it to them, it was highly non-consensual. And the Imperius curse, one of the Unforgivable Curses, capable of manipulating the victim’s bodies and thoughts in any way the caster wanted—highly illegal and could lead the caster straight to Azkaban. To even suggest or joke that someone was casting such a spell or brewing such a potion is utterly awful. 

Barrett didn’t have a chance to make another joke at Minho’s expense because Felix bent down to take off his shoe and angrily launched it at Barrett's stupid head. 

“What the fuc—Felix?” Barrett cursed, clutching his head in pain as he turned around to face Felix in fury. 

“Ahh here comes the Idiot of Ravenclaw,” Miller chuckled. 

“Feli—” Hyunjin began, his grip tightening on Felix’s shoulder as he took out his wand, ready to cast a hex on them. But Felix had seen red, he shook off Hyunjin’s hold, ran to Barrett, and delivered a solid punch to his face. 

“How dare you suggest that about Minho?” Felix yelled. 

Through the corner of his eyes, Felix saw Miller holding his wand up, aiming it at Felix and muttering a jinx. However, Hyunjin was faster, yelling, “Brachiabindo!”

In an instant, Miller's entire body cinched together, losing his balance and tumbling onto his back, entrapped by an invisible cord.

“Let me go, Hwang!” he screamed, but Hyunjin only tightened his grip. 

"How dare you?" Barrett snarled, gripping a chunk of Felix's hair and pulling it harshly.

Still fueled by adrenaline, Felix swiftly twisted Barrett's hands away from his hair before forcefully pushing him to the ground.

"Don't tell me you've fallen under the spell of that wretched gremlin, too?" Barett spat, his eyes narrowing into a venomous glare directed up at Felix.

Felix noticed Barrett slyly reaching for his wand, but Felix drew his own wand faster. Despite not being the best at casting jinxes, he was determined to use any form of Transfiguration to his advantage. Thus, before Barrett could utter a word, Felix swiftly exclaimed, "Pullus!"

A burst of yellow light shot from the tip of Felix’s wand before hitting Barrett squarely in the chest. In an instant, Barrett was transformed into a Chicken.

“Felix, that’s hilarious,” Hyunjin laughed. “Of course you can cast such a strong spell.” 

Hyunjin walked over to Felix and placed his arm over his shoulder and looked down at the brown chicken. The chicken had rolled onto his back and was clucking angrily as he tried to roll himself back onto his feet but was unable to do so. 

However, Felix was still seething with anger and couldn’t even get himself to find humor in the situation. 

“What’s going on here?” Professor Flitwick’s voice boomed across the corridor. 

“Shit!” Hyunjin swore before both of them turned around and watched as Flitwick made his way towards them. Apparently they had caused a big uproar because there had been a huge crowd of students watching over the entire fight. Felix had been so caught up with whatever Barrett and Miller were saying that he hadn’t even noticed such a crowd. 

Flitwick walked by Miller and wordlessly unbinded him, much to Felix’s and Hyunjin’s dismay. Felix quickly walked in front of Barrett’s chicken form to avoid him being seen by the Professor to avoid any harsher punishment. 

“Mr. Lee and Mr. Hwang,” Flitwick addressed the two of them with a narrowed gaze. “You better have a good explanation for binding Miller like that.” 

The chicken was clucking way too loudly to be ignored by anyone at that point. Alarmed, Flitwick quickly walked over and looked behind Felix and gasped at the brown chicken. 

“Am I right to assume that this is another student?” the Professor asked. 

“Yes, sir,” Felix answered, keeping his gaze down. 

"Who cast such a spell?" he inquired, his tone stern.

Hyunjin tightened his grip on Felix, silently urging him not to confess, but Felix felt overwhelmed with guilt. Realizing he might have gone too far with the spell, he admitted, "I did. I apologize, sir."

“On any other day, I would have been impressed,” Flitwick said as he regarded Felix. “But not today. 40 points off Ravenclaw and 30 points off from Slytherin!”

“Sir!” Felix yelled in protest but the Professor just ignored him. 

Instead, Flitwick faced the chicken before quickly transforming him back to his ugly human self. 

“Sir! Professor Flitwick, you better punish Lee severely, sir!” Barrett screamed as soon as he was able to talk and pointed directly at Felix. And while Flitwick’s back was still facing them, both Felix and Hyunjin stuck out their middle fingers at him before quickly placing it away. 

“You can leave my job to me, Mr. Barrett,” Flitwick said. “But before I send the two of you off to Madame Pomphrey to get healed, I would like for the four of you to tell me what happened here.” 

“We were just talking and then Felix Lee here ran up to Eugene and hit him with a shoe,” Miller exclaimed. 

“Why don’t you tell the Professor what actually made Felix hit him with that shoe?” Hyunjin drawled. 

“Sir, Eugene Barrett had made the preposterous suggestion that Minho Lee was casting Imperious on every student around him and brewing Amortentia. They were also making homophobic jokes. I couldn’t control my anger after that,” Felix explained. 

“I see,” the Professor nodded, assigning the two detention before sending the two off to Madame Pomphrey. 

Before leaving, Barrett couldn’t resist brushing past Felix, muttering, “this isn’t over, Lee.”

Felix scoffed at the threat, he would be more scared of a bee than him. 

“Although I will not tolerate to hear such awful suggestions about a student of mine, I also cannot condone the usage of such jinxes on school grounds,” Flitwick said as he faced Felix and Hyunjin. “I will still be taking away those points from Ravenclaw and Slytherin but I will not be assigning you detention. However, I will let this be a warning.”

“Understood, sir,” Felix and Hyunjin nodded before being dismissed by the elder. 

As they were about to leave, multiple students were still standing around, eavesdropping, and eager to find out what had occurred. But Hyunjin flashed them an unimpressed look before uttering, “show’s over…Scram.”

Although his voice was low, it was dripping with venom. It didn’t take much for everyone to quickly walk out of their way. 

Felix and Hyunjin barely exchanged any words as they made their way to the Great Hall for lunch. Heading towards the Ravenclaw table, they noticed the others hadn't arrived yet, but Felix took his usual seat nonetheless. This time, Hyunjin chose to sit beside Felix, where Jisung typically sat, rather than across from him or beside Jeongin and Seungmin. So, Felix couldn’t help but break out into a little smile before saying, “Jisung’s going to be mad that you stole his seat.”

Hyunjin grinned before shrugging and whispering, “maybe I will just cast Brachiabindo on him then, just to shut him up.” 

Felix laughed. 

He glanced around and noticed several students already whispering, pointing, and stealing glances in their direction. Felix groaned at the attention and diverted his focus to nibbling at the bread placed in front of him.

“They’re going to talk for some time,” Hyunjin said as he noticed what Felix was looking at. “Let them. Now they know who they’re messing with if anyone says anything otherwise.”

Felix stared back at Hyunjin. He looked so nonchalant about the situation—but Felix supposes that anyone who grew up jinxing people for sport since first year was probably used to this by now. 

“I wish I could be as calm as you,” Felix said. “I still feel guilty because of the points that got taken away from my house”

“Guilty” Hyunjin scoffed. “No, don’t feel that way. Those two definitely deserved what was coming for them…but, Barrett? He deserved way much worse. I wish he could have stayed as a chicken for a while longer.”

“I definitely don’t feel guilty for turning him into a chicken,” Felix said. “But 40 points? Why would the Head of my own House take off so many points?”

“I already got so many points off Slytherin at this point, I lost track,” Hyunjin brushed the topic aside like it was nothing. 

Felix could only stare at him open-mouthed. 

He heard shuffling around him and noticed the three were already there and seating themselves onto the table. Jisung was about to say something to get Hyunjin off his seat but the glare that Hyunjin sent Jisung must have been very strong because Jisung immediately stopped whatever he was going to say to him and promptly took his seat on the opposite side of Felix. 

“Did you guys hear?” Jeongin began. “Apparently some Seventh year Ravenclaws got attacked in the hallways. Professor Flitwick caught them.”

Felix turned to look at Hyunjin who just shot back a sly smile. 

“You didn’t hear who attacked them?” Hyunjin asked. 

“Apparently one of them was a Slytherin,” Jisung said. 

“Of course, you would focus on that,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes.  

“I just can’t believe the word of it has already spread so fast,” Felix said. 

“Look around you, everyone’s talking about it,” Hyunjin pointed out and sure enough literally everyone was staring at them. Before it had only been a handful, but now it felt like the entire Great Hall was staring at him. 

“How come they all look like they know we did it, but these three have no clue?” Felix asked. 

“Probably because they were too scared to let these three know who did it since we are so close to them,” Hyunjin answered. 

“Wait, excuse me, what?” Seungmin asked, gaping at the two. 

“You both attacked them?!” Jeongin exclaimed. 

“How dare you corrupt Felix like that?” Jisung asked as he leaned his hand over Felix’s shoulder and dragged him away from Hyunjin like he was contagious. 

“Felix attacked them first,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes. 

“What?” Jisung asked before turning to face Felix and asking, “is that true?”

“Yep, they were bad-mouthing Minho, I had to,” Felix answered before telling the three of them exactly what had occurred. 

“Why a chicken?” was the first question that Seungmin asked as he laughed at that part of the story all while looking quite impressed that Felix had cast such a spell. Felix didn’t think it was such a powerful spell but seeing how everyone was reacting, he supposed that it might be. 

“I don’t know,” Felix said. “I couldn’t think of any other spell.”

Both Seungmin and Hyunjin laughed at that. 

“If I see those two, I might just punch them in the face,” Jeongin said. “I can’t believe they would even joke about something like this.”

“I will help you,” Jisung offered. 

“I’m glad you all agree,” Felix nodded before turning his attention to his food.

They sat there, eating whilst venting about the unjustness of having points taken off for what they did. Until Hyunjin nudged Felix’s ribs to get his attention before whispering, “look who’s staring at you.”

Felix followed Hyunjin’s line of sight and noticed Minho looking back at Felix. 

Felix couldn’t read the expression on Minho’s face, nor did he spend too long looking at him before startling away to look down at his plate. 

“Do you think I scared him away for what I did today?” Felix asked. 

“Minho?” Hyunjin asked. “Definitely not.”

______________________________________________________________________

Before long, they found themselves in the common room of the Ravenclaw towers at night time, engaged in a game of wizarding chess. Hyunjin had decided to join them too.

Hyunjin and Jisung were playing against each other, while Felix played against Jeongin, who was effortlessly beating him. Seungmin offered Felix some pointers to help him out, and Felix was grateful that despite the two being in a relationship, Seungmin was still helping him out, against Jeongin—even though Jeongin kept on winning effortlessly. 

Felix looked over at Hyunjin and Jisung, amused by their focused silence during the game. It was unusual for them to be so quiet around each other, their loud banter was almost like a competition between the two, to see who could get the most insults out towards each other. But currently, Felix supposes winning the chess match took priority over that. 

He laughed at how alike the two were in that regard. They both had the biggest competitive nature and both were too stubborn to accept anything other than a win. 

Felix looked down at his own chess board and sighed when Jeongin called for another checkmate. 

“Maybe we should just stop playing against you at this point,” Felix suggested when it started to seem like both him and Seungmin were putting in joint effort to lose every single game against Jeongin—because even after their third game, they hadn’t won once. 

“You’re not getting up until you win at least once,” Jeongin huffed. Almost like he wanted the two of them to defeat him for some reason. 

Seungmin leaned in to concentrate more as the pieces rearranged themselves again, sending an irritated glance at Felix. Many of the pieces had been eliminated because of him, and the chess pieces couldn't help but express their frustration with an angry huff as they lined themselves in their correct boxes. 

They had been so engrossed in their game that they all jumped when they heard some screaming and shuffling behind them. Felix quickly turned around, but his view of the common room was obscured by black fabric. It took a moment for him to register that the black fabric was part of someone's school robes. The person stood too close, their back facing him, so all Felix could see was the robe's fabric. He slowly looked up and recognized the familiar brunette hair he had spent a week memorizing and daydreaming about.

“Minho?” Felix called for him, his voice low, wondering what the elder was doing. 

“Get out of the way, Minho,” someone barked. 

Felix leaned a bit to the side to make out what Minho was obscuring his view from. His eyes widened when he realized it was Eugene Barrett, whose face was contorted in fury and had his wand raised. There was a clear blue shield in front of Minho, effectively shielding him and Felix and his friends from the enraged Ravenclaw.

“Felix, move out of the way!” Jisung yelled. 

But Felix was comprehending things way too slow because all of sudden Barrett had noticed Felix peeking sideways to see what was going on before screaming, “Ebublio!”

A water bubble the size of an adult surged forward toward Felix, but Minho stood firm, reinforcing his shield charm. The bubble was deflected and burst on the ground, showering nearby students with water, prompting them to scream in alarm. The entire common room floor got soaked in the process as well. 

“This isn’t your fight,” Barrett yelled at Minho. “It’s none of your business, so get out of the way and let me get to Felix!”

Minho swiftly dispelled the shields, causing Felix's heart to sink as he feared Minho was truly going to step aside and leave Eugene to deal with him. Even though Felix and his friends would be more than capable of handling the situation, he couldn't shake off the feeling of disappointment at the thought of Minho walking away.

But Felix was wrong to think in such a way, because immediately after disarming the shield, Minho shouted, “Langlock!”

Barrett immediately clutched at his throat, gulped, then made obscene gestures, swinging his arms about but unable to let out a single word, owing to the fact that his tongue had just glued itself to the roof of his mouth. 

“Nice one!” Hyunjin laughed as he stood up from his seat. He was looking at Minho with so much admiration in his eyes, it was like Hyunjin had found his true master that he would learn from forever…it was truly weird. 

Devon Miller walked into the room, making Felix finally stand up in apprehension. Thinking that he will attack too. 

However, Miller just took one look at Barrett before swiftly dragging him out of the common room and out into the corridor. Barrett was still looking at them furiously and if he had been able to speak then Felix had no doubt that he would have been swearing at them all. 

Minho was still standing in front of him, shielding him from the two of them, not giving up his spot until the tower doors closed. Felix could sense that his entire body had been tense during the encounter. It was only after the doors closed that Minho allowed himself to relax.

Minho turned around to face them, his eyes widening when he realized how close he had been standing to Felix. He immediately took a step back before Felix could react. 

“Thank you for helping us out,” Seungmin chimed in before anyone could say anything. 

Minho shifted his gaze away from Felix and nodded at Seungmin. “It’s no problem at all. I had been sitting here for a while too when I noticed Eugene rushing in with his wand pointed at Felix—and I had to step in before anything bad happened.” 

“I can’t believe he would stoop so low! Trying to attack Felix from the back!” Jeongin huffed indignantly. 

“I guess he didn’t want a repeat of turning into a chicken again,” Jisung laughed. 

"You scared him so badly, he figured he'd stand a better chance catching you off guard," Hyunjin chuckled as he approached Felix, playfully smacking him on the back.

But Felix didn't react nor did he say anything, his gaze fixed on the ground. 

Concerned, Hyunjin let out a worried noise before asking, "are you alright, Lix?"

"Barrett didn’t manage to get you, did he?" Seungmin asked, concern evident in his voice, as he approached Felix.

"Lix?" Jisung's voice was filled with worry as he and Jeongin hurried over to check on him.

“I thought I made sure that none of his spells would go past my shields,” Minho said as he took a step closer to Felix again. 

As Felix's gaze remained fixed on the ground, Minho's boots came into view. He was already feeling warm all over but seeing his boots caused him to blush even more intensely. Physically, he was unharmed; none of Barrett's jinxes had landed. It was actually Minho's swift intervention that left Felix nearly speechless. The ease with which Minho had stepped in to shield him stirred a whirlwind of emotions within Felix. His heart raced, doing freaking cartwheels inside his chest, his stomach churned with a swarm of butterflies, and found it difficult to articulate a single word out, almost as if Minho had cast Langlock on him instead of Barrett. He wanted to thank him so badly, but he was just unable to do so with how overwhelmed he felt with his emotions. 

“I thought I had protected you,” Minho whispered, sounding upset at himself. And well, Felix just couldn’t stand hearing such a tone from him. 

He quickly looked up at him before exclaiming, “you did protect me!”

He had said that with so much intensity that it caused Minho to widen his eyes and jerk back. 

With just a single glance at Felix’s state, Seungmin muttered, “Oh,” then quickly stepped away, stifling a chuckle as he peeled the others’ hands off Felix and ushered them away. 

Felix supposes his face must have still been as red as a tomato as he had so violently looked up to face the elder Ravenclaw. But Felix couldn’t possibly hide himself anymore. 

“He didn’t get a chance to get any hits on me,” Felix said and awkwardly wiggled his arms as if to show off how unharmed his limbs were. 

“That’s good,” Minho smiled, unable to look away from Felix’s flushed face even though Felix was wiggling his hands about right in front of his eyes. 

“Thank you very much,” Felix finally let out as he stopped moving. 

“Anytime,” Minho said before turning to look behind Felix. 

Felix turned to his friends, who had all sat back down on their seats, barely containing their laughter as they attempted to appear nonchalant, as if they weren't eavesdropping.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Minho asked. “Somewhere private?”

Felix turned to face him again and upon seeing his expectant face, he said, “yes.” 

“Is that room okay?” Minho asked as he pointed out a room across the corridor. 

Even though Felix felt terribly shy of being around the elder, he nodded before following behind Minho. He turned around to face his friends again who were all watching him with wide grins, probably bursting at the seams to run after them and eavesdrop even more. Felix hoped they wouldn’t. 

But thankfully as soon as they entered the room, Minho closed the door and then cast the muffliato charm on them so that no one could hear them at all. Felix stayed stationed in front of the door, not taking a step further into the room. 

“So, I overheard this rumor back in lunch today,” Minho started, standing right in front of Felix. 

Felix groaned when he understood exactly what rumor Minho must be referring to. 

“That you fought against Eugene and Devon because they were making homophobic jokes against me?” Minho asked, but his eyes were sparkling with amusement. As if he wasn’t offended at all by the jokes but instead found the situation entertaining. 

“Not just that, they also made jokes about you brewing Amortentia and casting Imperius curse on everyone!” Felix exclaimed angrily. 

“Ahh, that’s awful,” Minho said but sounded completely undeterred about it. Instead, he just grinned before saying, “I heard you punched Eugene right in the face for it and then turned him into a…chicken?”

“I did,” Felix nodded, feeling quite proud of himself after Seungmin had explained how hard casting that jinx actually was. 

“That’s hilarious,” Minho let out a laugh. 

Felix couldn’t help but feel pleased at himself for that. 

“They didn’t harm you back, did they?” Minho asked. 

“Oh please, with Hyunjin around? No one can even think of harming me,” Felix said haughty.

“I see,” He said. He was quiet for a second before asking, “are you close with Hyunjin?”

“I am,” Felix nodded and watched as Minho took a step closer to him. 

“How close?” Minho asked.

Felix gulped nervously, meeting Minho's gaze before slowly asking, "Why do you want to know?"

"Let's just say…” Minho's lips curved into a faint smile. “I'm interested," he replied cryptically.

"Interested by what?" Felix pressed, curiosity tingling in his voice.

"Just interested," Minho reiterated vaguely.

Felix chuckled. "Don't worry, Hyunjin's just being his usual protective self. He's always talking about wanting to be more like you—just hexing anyone who annoys him," Felix explained with a grin.

Minho groaned, running a hand through his hair, his ears turning a shade of red as he said, “so you know about that?” 

"Yeah," Felix said, patiently waiting for Minho to meet his gaze once more. When Minho finally looked back at him, there was a curious expression in his eyes, almost as if he were gauging Felix's reaction to his pastime activities. Felix’s intrigue must have been clear in his eyes as he said, "I do know about that."

Minho studied Felix for a moment, a soft chuckle escaping him. "Most people tend to shudder in fright at the idea of someone resorting to jinxes and hexes," he remarked, his gaze drifting away momentarily to fixate on a point behind Felix, almost as if he anticipated Felix to shudder in fright after his statement and didn’t want to see such a reaction.

"Not me, though. I love dangerous things," Felix said in a hushed tone.

Minho turned to face Felix again, the curious glint returning to his eyes, albeit differently this time, no longer uncertain but rather intrigued. 

"Hmm, really?" Minho asked as he leaned closer, matching Felix's hushed tone. "Then there must be some Gryffindor in you."

"I said I love dangerous things," Felix replied. "But I don't have a single bone in me to tame it."

"Is that what you like? Taming danger?" Minho asked, stepping closer. Felix's back pressed against the door behind him as Minho rested his hand on the door over Felix's shoulder, peering down at him.

"No, I prefer to be ensnared by it," Felix admitted, relishing the attention. "I love the thrill of it—the way goosebumps ripple across my skin because of it."

Minho glanced down at Felix's hands, seizing one and raising it, a smirk playing on his lips as he noticed the goosebumps forming on Felix's skin. "So, is there someone in your life, Felix? Someone who gives you such a thrill? Or raises those goosebumps, as you put it?"

"I'm beginning to think there might be," Felix admitted, locking his gaze with Minho's.

Minho's smirk widened, but instead of acting on it, he took a step back, his voice casual as he suddenly asked, "The Yule Ball is coming up soon."

“It is,” Felix confirmed, trying to recover quickly from the way his heart had beat so fast at the tension between them and adapt to this sudden change of topic. 

“Are you going with someone?” Minho asked.

“I will be going with Hyunjin,” Felix replied, pausing momentarily to see Minho’s reaction to that. This time it was Felix’s turn to smirk as he noticed Minho’s eyes narrowing before continuing, “along with Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin.”

“So, you’re going as friends?” Minho asked. 

“No, I am going with them as a date,” Felix clarified. “All four of them.”

“I see,” Minho grinned mischievously. “Then I don't suppose I can ask you to be my date?”

“You can!” Felix exclaimed, perhaps a bit too eagerly.

“Then Felix Lee, would you like to--”

“Yes! I would love to,” Felix interjected eagerly, unable to contain his enthusiasm.

“You didn't even hear what I was going to say,” Minho chuckled.

“Oh please, of course I knew what you were going to say,” Felix rolled his eyes playfully. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know you’re not,” Minho said before playfully adding, “But I could have asked if you would like to help decorate the Yule Ball with me.”

“And honestly, I would have still said yes to that,” Felix replied with a grin.

“Oh really?” Minho laughed. “Well then, I'm a little upset that I'm not on the decorating committee. Otherwise, I would've had fun decorating with you.”

Felix let out a shy giggle before asking, “what color will your robes be?”

“Emerald green.”

“Like the Slytherin colors?”

“People keep on spreading this rumor that I convinced the Sorting Hat to not sort me into Slytherin. Instead of fighting back, I thought, why not just embrace my ‘true colors’ as everyone puts it?” Minho’s eyes glinted mischievously, making Felix giggle and almost curl a strand of his hair around his finger like some sort of a swooning damsel. 

“Hyunjin will literally die from happiness when he sees you in those colors,” Felix said, already imagining how glad Hyunjin would be just to see Minho in anything remotely Slytherin. “I feel like he will start a fan club for you at any moment now.”

“Please tell him not to,” Minho deadpanned. 

“I would’ve been the first member to join,” Felix giggled. 

Minho’s cheeks reddened slightly at that before quickly changing the subject and asking, “what color will you be wearing?”

“I was planning on wearing navy blue,” Felix answered.

"Like the Ravenclaw colors?" Minho inquired, a gentle smile gracing his lips.

"Yeah, but I don’t think I can switch it to green at such short notice—"

"Why would you want to change it to green?" Minho interrupted.

"To match with you, why else?" Felix replied.

"Don’t bother, green and blue will complement each other perfectly," he assured.

“But they aren’t complementary colors to each other,” Felix pointed out. 

“For us, I will make it be,” Minho said. 

"Really?" Felix’s flush deepened. 

"Absolutely.”