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Chapter Text

Beam ducked out of the corridor into the Hufflepuff common room with a sigh. A full day of classes plus Quidditch practice and then study group with the third years? It was way too much for him to handle. The Headmaster had better make him a prefect next year so that he could use the private baths. Relaxing in them sounded so good right now.

He was ready to go upstairs, shower, and fall into bed. And his mind was set on that until he saw three figures on the floor huddled around the fireplace. Stepping closer, he came to see Pete sitting between Wayo and Can, each with a hand on the former’s back.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his presence startling them. “It’s almost midnight. What are you doing up?”

“Well,” Wayo said, glancing at his two friends before looking back to Beam. “Pete decided it would be a great idea to drink his weight in Fire Whiskey. Can and I are here to supervise.”

Only when he stood behind the couch did he notice the half empty bottle in Pete’s hands and the pink flush to his cheeks. It was Tuesday, and he’d decided that now was the best time to get drunk? Pete didn’t even like alcohol, not to mention he had zero tolerance for the stuff.

Which was only proven when he slurred his words, “I can stop whenever I want to.”

“Then how about now?” Can offered, reaching to take the bottle from him. “Because you’ve almost drunk the entire thing.” He held his hands up to his shoulders when Pete glared at him and took a long swig.

Seeing as he wasn’t going to get a wink of sleep any time soon, Beam circled around to the front of the couch, sitting back against the pillows. “Want to explain why you’re willingly giving yourself a horrible hangover, my little badger?”

“Let me tell you,” Pete exclaimed. “I have been growing Moondew in the greenhouses for two months.” He shoved his hand in Beam’s face, holding up two fingers. “Two. Months. And they were beautiful! I was going to give them to Madame Pomfrey to use in healing antidotes. But that idiot Bright had the audacity to cut them from their roots! Said he wanted to make extra-sweet Butterbeer to see if it actually got people drunk. Who does that?”

Taking another long drink, he shook his head quickly, bangs flittering across his forehead. “I can’t believe him. Does he even know who I am? I could kill him.”

“Sweetheart,” Wayo said cautiously, placing a soothing hand on his arm as Pete’s fingers curled into warning fists. “You almost cried the first time you pet a Pygmy Puff. I doubt you could kill a Gryffindor beater.”

“Then does he know who my boyfriend is? All I have to do is look at Ae,” he widened his eyes and put an innocent pout to his lips, “and Bright would be dead in front of me.”

Wayo nodded, continuing to pat his arm. “Yes, yes. People as cute as us only have to bat our lashes, and we’ll get whatever we want.” He looked across Pete to Can. “Isn’t that right?”

Can nodded. “Ai’Tin likes to think it’s a Hufflepuff curse or something. We’re all destined to be adorable.” He flashed a smile in Beam’s direction. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, P’Beam?”

Beam rolled his eyes, ignoring how his three underclassmen laughed at him. He was oh-so glad they were enjoying themselves, but as their senior, he had to maintain some sort of responsibility over them.

“I’ll be sure to pass the threat onto P’Bright tomorrow,” he said, standing up. “But for now, bed time.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Pete said, hiccupping as he struggled to get to his feet. “You’re not my mom.”

“Funny, because that’s exactly what I feel like right now. Come on, let’s go – hey!” Beam grabbed onto Pete before he could stumble over his own feet and fall flat on his face. His only reaction was a fit of giggles, and Beam swore under his breath. Compared to his friends’ younger housemates, his own were usually easy to handle. But tonight of all nights, they decided to be the biggest handful imaginable.

Securing an arm around Pete’s shoulders, he led him to the stairs. Looking behind him, he asked, “Are you two going to just stand there or are you going to help me?” They both shrugged, following after him.

Pete wasn’t making things easy for him. He kept leaning against his chest, head lulling onto his collarbone as he mumbled incoherent nonsense in his ear. Grunting, he managed to get him to stand up straight. “You’re going to hate yourself in your nine o’clock Charms class tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to hold this over him forever,” Wayo said, sounding far too giddy. “Pete’s never done a single bad thing in his life. I can’t believe he got this fucked up over a couple of plants.”

“They were not just plants!” he snapped, waving his finger in Wayo’s face. “But you wouldn’t know, because you suck at Herbology!”

Beam shushed him as well as Wayo and Can who had begun to laugh again. Opening the door to their shared dorm room with one hand, he dropped Pete onto his bed. He wouldn’t let go of him, and Beam, twice as tired as he had been when he walked in, wasn’t having it.

“Go to sleep. If you want someone to cuddle, ask one of them. I’m going to my room.”

“Or we could just get Ae,” Can offered, giggling behind his hand.

“Ae?” Pete asked, perking up.

Beam shook his head. “Absolutely not. We tell no one about this. Do you know what N’Ae would do to all of us if he knew we let his ‘precious, innocent Pete who can do no wrong’ get drunk? Or worse, what P’Kongpob would do? We wouldn’t be able to leave the Hospital Wing for the rest of term. And P’Arthit would probably give him house points for it.”

As realization hit them, Wayo and Can shared a look before nodding in agreement. This entire incident didn’t leave this room.

It was no use trying to get Pete to agree, seeing as he’d passed out against his pillows. But when he woke up with a pounding head ache and no recollection of the night before, Wayo made sure to fill him in on just what he forgot. After he apologized profusely, thoroughly embarrassed, he easily agreed with them. No one needed to know about that night.

Chapter Text

When Forth walked through the portrait hole, he was ready to share the candy he’d nicked from Bright with his housemates. Tomorrow was Saturday, which meant they could stay up as late as they wanted, consuming ridiculous amounts of sugar until dawn.

“Look what I got,” he sung, swinging the bag off of one of his fingers as he stood in front of the couch.

Kongpob and Ae, each with a pillow hugged to their chests, said nothing. Instead, they looked past him into the fire. Waving a hand in front of their faces, even snapping his fingers a few times, Forth looked to Aim when neither worked.

Aim only shrugged, barely sparing him a glance before going back to his homework. “They’ve been sulking like that for the past half an hour.”

“Why?”

“Something about having boyfriends who are too committed to school.”

He looked back towards the two, eyebrow raised as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on. “You’re upset because your boyfriends are both good students?”

“P’Arthit has been with his Charms study group since the beginning of the week,” Kongpob answered glumly.

“And Pete has a Muggle Studies and Arithmancy exam next week,” Ae said, shoulders slumping a bit more. “He’s been in the library since this morning.” Finally looking away from the fire in favor of dropping his head against the back of the couch, he moaned, “It’s so hard having a smart boyfriend. You wouldn’t understand, P’.”

“I’m going to choose to ignore that because of how pathetic you’re being right now,” Forth said. Because he understood very well. Dating someone like Beam, who was on track to becoming a healer for magical animals, wasn’t easy. He spent the majority of free time with Hagrid, tending to broken owl wings and sick fire crabs. So while he wasn’t a Potions master like Arthit or a Herbology protégé like Pete, he was still plenty smart.

“What about you?” he asked as he heard Pond walk down the staircase. “You’re not upset that you can’t spend time with ChaAim?”

Plopping down beside his best friend, Pond snatched the bag of candy from Forth, rummaging through it. “ChaAim is in double the amount of electives she needs to be. I’ve been doing this for months. Those two are amateurs compared to me.” Pulling out a package of Fizzing Whizzbees, he popped one into his mouth. “Which is why I’m here to help.”

Forth sat down in an armchair. If he was going to deal with his friends’ aching hearts, he may as well be comfortable.

“You two don’t realize it yet, but this is a good thing,” Pond said.

“How is not getting to see our boyfriends a good thing?” Ae asked, immediately pushing Pond’s hand away when he went to pinch his cheek.

“Let me tell you, my dear shorty. After their tests are over, one of two things will happen.” He raised his index finger. “They’ll do well, and they’ll be nicer than usual. You know, extra clingy, kiss you more, all that gross stuff.” He held up a second finger. “Or they’ll do bad. And they’ll be so pissed that you’ll get to have super hot sex.”

“As if ChaAim has ever done that,” Ae said, arms crossed, thick brows furrowed.

“Of course she hasn’t. My angel has some decency. Unlike your two boyfriends.” He pointed to Kongpob. “Your stubborn snake? He’ll drag you all the way to the dungeons by your tie and then ride you until your dick falls off. Just to get his frustration out.”

He then looked to Ae. “I don’t think Ai’Pete is capable of being mad. He’d just be … whinier. More of a bottom than usual. I can see it now.” Intertwining his fingers, he raised them to his cheek as he pitched his voice higher. “Oh, Ai’Ae, I feel like such a failure. You don’t think I’m a failure, right? Will you prove it to me?” Pursing his lips, making obnoxious kissing noises, Pond laughed as Ae pushed him back on the couch.

“Shut up, you asshole.”

“He’s not exactly wrong,” Kongpob said, staring off in thought. “When P’Arthit’s mad, he’s pretty aggressive. Especially when it comes to school. When he got an A in Astronomy, he–” Cutting himself off before he could incriminate himself any more than he already had, he eyed all of them. “If P’Arthit hears about any of that, I’ll hex you until you can’t walk anymore.” He looked over his shoulder at Aim who only raised his hands defensively.

Pond nodded with a proud smile. “Of course I’m not wrong. Remember when Ai’Pete got upset because he couldn’t get rid of that Boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts last year? We couldn’t get into the dorm for hours after. I’ve never seen so many hickies on one neck before.” He nudged Ae with his elbow. “I’m so proud of you.”

Ae lunged at him, but Pond managed to block him with a pillow. “Alright, if you’re so smart, what would P’Beam be like if he failed an exam?”

Pond looked to Forth for permission, and he only nodded him on. He was more than aware of how Beam acted when he was upset, but now he was genuinely curious of what Pond would come up with.

“He doesn’t seem as angry as P’Arthit. He’d probably be more like Ai’Pete. Is he pouty?”

“Oh yeah,” Forth chuckled. They didn’t even know the half of it.

“Then he’d probably just ask for an innocent round of cuddles before jumping P’Forth.”

Shaking his head, Forth smiled fondly. Pond wasn’t even that far off.

“Well, it doesn’t matter either way. They’re all good students. So they’ll do well and be happy. Which is better, right?” Kongpob and Ae glanced away silently. Oh no, he could not believe this. “Right?”

“Of course it is!” Kongpob agreed, running a hand through his hair as he smiled sheepishly. Sometimes Forth wondered how he could be older than all of them when he acted like this. “I’m just saying, it wouldn’t be the worst thing if they did bad on one exam.”

“You want your boyfriends to fail?” Aim asked, twisting around in his chair to gap at them. 

“No!” Ae said. “We’re just saying that if they do, then we’ll be there to … help them.”

Aim went back to scratching on his parchment, mumbling under his breath, “Thank god my relationship is normal.”

Forth sighed. Those two could dream all they wanted, but both Arthit and Pete could rival all of Ravenclaw with their grades. They’d come out at the top of their classes, just as they always did. And so would Beam. Having him happy and smiling was better than the alternative.

Plus, when he was in a good mood, Forth got away with a lot more. Now he only had to figure out how to convince him to skip the Hogsmeade trip the weekend after his exams so that they could have the dorms to themselves.

Chapter Text

Pha looked up from his Potions notes when he heard the door to the Ravenclaw common room open. Knot, followed by a slow moving Tew, came towards the table he was sharing with ChaAim.

“Where have you two been?” he asked, setting down his quill. “You agreed to help me with this Potions essay, P’. I can’t figure out this Calming Drought for the life of me, and our resident raven princess refuses to give me any hints.”

ChaAim giggled. “It’s really not as difficult as you’re making it out to be, P’Pha.” And here he thought underclassmen were supposed to respect their seniors.

Dropping into the chair next to him, Knot picked up Pha’s parchment, looking it over. “Sorry, we got held up in the library.” Glancing up at him, he flashed him a smile. “We ran into N’Dae. He asked Tew if he could help him study for his next Charms exam since he’s just so smart. I think his brain stopped working after that, so I had to drag him all the way up here.”

Pha rolled his eyes. For months now, Tew had been pining after that little Slytherin. He didn’t think he’d ever seen someone so hopelessly in love; and that was saying something, considering he hung around Ae and Pete on a daily basis.

Tew, who had been standing star struck near the door, finally came to his senses and let out a long groan. “It was so embarrassing,” he said, joining them at the table. “I didn’t even say anything! I just nodded like an idiot. And,” he dropped his face into his hands, “he said it was a date. I know he meant a study date, but he smiled at me and I couldn’t take it.”

“Oh no, we are not doing this,” Pha said. “I refuse to sit through the smile talk again.”

“Agreed,” Knot said as ChaAim nodded.

Running his hands down his face, Tew moaned, “I don’t know what to do. I like him so much.”

“Then ask him on a date,” Pha offered. “A real one where you leave the books in your dorm and actually talk for a change.”

“I can’t do that!”

For someone who was always at the top of his class, Tew really was shit when it came to dealing with solving problems outside of his textbooks.

“Sure you can. I don’t see the big deal.”

“Of course you don’t.” Pha couldn’t believe that he was almost pouting. “You’ve been dating N’Wayo for years now. You wouldn’t get it.” Curling his arms on the table, he rested his chin in them. “How did you do it? Get Wayo to go out with you I mean.”

Smiling fondly – as he always did whenever anyone mentioned his most precious Yo – he said, “I mean, I liked him since he was a first year. Back when he still wore his glasses. He was so cute, but then he had to go to Paris to visit his mom’s Muggle relatives and they gave him those stupid contact things so now he won’t wear his glasses anymore, even though I’ve told him how much I like them–”

“Get to the point,” Knot deadpanned.

Shooting an unappreciative glare to his senior, he turned back to Tew. “Honestly, I was just like you. I liked Yo a lot, but I couldn’t bring myself to do anything about it. If it weren’t for Kit and Beam pushing me, I probably wouldn’t have ever asked him out. But I did, and he ended up liking me back. So it all worked out.”

“But Dae might not like me,” Tew said, burrowing further into his arms.

“You’re more oblivious than Pond,” ChaAim said with a long sigh. Pushing her parchment away from her, she leaned across the table, closer to Tew. “You’re afraid he doesn’t like you? He’s been making it obvious for months. You think he lets you grab the books he needs off the high shelves because he appreciates the help? He won’t let anyone else do that, because he’s as stubborn as Slytherins come. Only you can do that for him. For Merlin’s sake, he brushed his hair behind his ear the last time you did.”

“Wow, that is painfully obvious,” Knot laughed as Tew’s ears flushed red.

For as much as he teased him, Pha did sympathize with Tew. He wasn’t kidding when he said he’d been in his place. And because he knew how awful that was, he refused to let his senior suffer as he had.

Looking him in the eye, he said, “Here’s what you’re going to do. When you go to study with Dae, you’re going to relax and ask if he has any plans for the next trip to Hogsmeade. Then you’re going to ask him if he’d want to go with you.”

 “What if he says no?”

“If he’s as obvious as ChaAim says he is, then he won’t. Then you’ll go, confess your feelings, kiss, start dating, and then come and thank me for all of my help.”

Tew glared at him, but he still appeared hesitant. “I just don’t want to ruin anything. I like being around him, even if it’s just as friends. I don’t want that to go away just because I confessed to him.”

“P’Tew,” ChaAim said, soft but firm. “He likes you. Just like you like him. He’s probably waiting for you to say something, because he’s afraid of all the same things you are. You’re just complicating things more by waiting.”

Tew bit his lip, not meeting any of their eyes. Pha wondered if he acted so pathetic when he was moping over Wayo. If he had, he really had to apologize to Kit and Beam for all of the trouble he put them through.

“Okay,” he finally agreed quietly. “I’ll do it. If you really think I have a chance with him.”

“Positive,” Pha said. ChaAim gave him an encouraging nod. “Now, in the wise words of Beam Vongviphan: go get your man.” Everyone at the table laughed, quieting to go back to whatever they had been studying before.

It was silent until Pha said, “I’ll be waiting for that thank you. You’ve said your mae makes good treacle fudge, so you can just give me some of that. Oh, or you could give me access to the prefects’ bathroom for a night. And then not tell anyone when I sneak Yo in with me.”

Pha was quick to dodge the three quills thrown at him.

Chapter Text

Having a pillow fly past him when he stepped into the Slytherin common room shouldn’t have surprised Kit as much as it did. His housemates had done far worse than have a pillow fight. But it was still aggravating.

In the middle of the room, Ming and Tin were going at each other. His boyfriend seemed to be much more heated than Tin who only had a mildly irritated expression on his face. They were barking nonsense back and forth, but Kit couldn’t bring himself to care what their argument was about. He was more focused on stopping it before he got a headache.

Looking to the three sitting on the couch, he motioned towards the other two. “Someone want to explain what the hell is going on?”

Arthit, flipping a page nonchalantly in his book, didn’t even spare him a glance. “They’re fighting about who has the cuter boyfriend. They’ve been at it for the past forty-five minutes.”

“And you didn’t try and stop them?” Of all the times to use his prefect authority, now would have been a pretty perfect time.

“Like they’d listen to me anyway.” Holding up a pair of wands, still not looking at him, he added, “But I took these, so there will be no trips to the Hospital Wing tonight.”

“Unless they start using their fists,” Prem said with a wide grin. “I still say you give them back their wands. At least then things would get interesting.”

Kit raised an eyebrow at his senior. “I’m surprised you haven’t joined them.”

“Nah.” Throwing an arm around Wad’s shoulders, Prem said, “I already know my boyfriend is the cutest. I don’t have to argue with anyone about that.”

“You’re an idiot,” Wad mumbled, but Kit didn’t miss the way he leaned closer into Prem’s chest. His stubbornness could rival Kit’s own, and a part of him respected that.

Sighing, he stepped in to stop the argument. If no one else was going to do anything about it, then he supposed it was up to him. It must have looked ridiculous, someone as short as him pushing two absolute giants like Ming and Tin away from each other. But what he lacked in height he made up for in his ability to not give a fuck.

“You’re both being ridiculous,” he said. Dragging Ming by his tie, he shoved him into a chair, squeezing in next to him. “I don’t see why you’re fighting about this to begin with.”

“Because he’s wrong, and he refuses to accept it,” Ming said, still glaring in Tin’s direction.

“Why do you even want him to think I’m cute?” Kit asked. “You’re so disgustingly territorial; I figured you’d snap his neck if he did.”

“I don’t want him to think. I want him to know.”

Kit shook his head. He was dating a complete idiot. Granted, he was a sweet idiot, and that at least made up for some of his stupidity. “Well, it doesn’t matter, because you’re both wrong. Pha has the cutest boyfriend.”

“Your obsession with my best friend should offend me,” Ming said. Some of the aggression had melted from his face – and Kit was sure if he asked why, he’d give him some stupid response along the lines of my Kit-Kat always makes me feel better – and he wrapped an arm around Kit’s waist, practically pulling him into his lap. “But I’m glad you get along.”

“That’s nothing special,” Tin said, sitting down in his own chair, crossing his arms and legs simultaneously. “Can gets along with Pete.”

“Can gets along with everyone,” Ming pointed out. “And Pete has some weird infatuation with you two anyway, so that doesn’t count.”

“N’Pete is invested in all of our relationships,” Arthit said, flipping another page. “He just loves love. I’m pretty sure if N’Tew and N’Dae don’t get together soon, he’s going to slip a love potion into their morning pumpkin juice.”

Kit shuddered at the thought. That was exactly something Pete would do.

“Yeah, but he’s the most invested in your relationship, P’. You and P’Kongpob are like his parents.” Resting his chin on Kit’s shoulder as he hugged him from behind, Ming said, “But I’m surprised. You and P’Kongpob have been together forever. You didn’t want to argue that he’s the cutest?”

Arthit finally looked up, raising his eyebrows in a less than impressed expression. “Half of the school wants to be Kongpob. The other half wants to be me so that they can date Kongpob. I don’t need to argue anything.”

“That’s just your way of getting around admitting that you think Kongpob is cute,” Prem teased, and Kit could practically hear the bruise forming under his shirt sleeve when Arthit punched his arm.

“You deserved that one,” Wad said.

“You’re not even going to offer to kiss it better?”

“Not on your life, P’.”

Laughing at Prem’s expense, Kit looked over his shoulder to Ming. “Why were you even fighting about that in the first place?” he asked.

“It all started, because Tin was talking about how cute Can looked in that jumper that his sister sent him. You know, that pink one with the hearts all over it?”

“He did look cute.”

“Okay, sure. But then I said that you looked way cuter when you wear my Bigonville Bombers jersey. Because you do. You look extra small and adorable, and I could just eat you–”

“Get to the point,” Kit hissed, ears turning red. Ming most definitely did not need to be saying things like that around other people (especially people like Prem who would hold it over him until the day he died).

“So then he disagreed with me and I disagreed with him and it just went back and forth from there. When you walked in, he was just telling me how absolutely precious Can is after they have sex, because all he wants to do is cuddle.” He smirked in Tin’s direction. “I’ll make sure to mention that to him the next time I see him.”

Tin breathed an unamused laugh, returning his smile. “Then should I tell P’Kit how adorable you think he is when he begs? Because if I remember correctly, you said he whined–”

Kit clapped both hands over his ears, shaking his head. He didn’t need to hear any more of that. The fact that Ming had said it to begin with – in front of a bunch of his friends no less – made him want to drown himself in the lake.

“I hate you.”

“Aw, but, Kit-Kat, it was a compliment. I like it!”

“Well, I hope you don’t like it too much, because I’m never doing it again.”

“Don’t be like that!”

Arthit sighed, going back to his book. “The Sorting Hat cursed me when it put me in a house with you idiots.”