Magical Paw Prints, 9/9
Title: Magical Paw Prints
Chapter: 9/9
Rating: G
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- - -
“So, the last two missing lambs are finally arriving.”
As soon as Juri and Jesse slipped through the door of the Gryffindor common room, they met the Divination teacher who was also the Head of their house. He was tapping his foot against the floor and staring at them with a very serious look on his face, and Juri suddenly felt cold shivers that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. “Come with me,” he said and the boys had no other choice but follow him into his office where Hokuto, Taiga, Kouchi, and Shintaro were already standing in a one guilty line with each of their Head of Houses present as well.
“Shintaro!” Juri cried out when he saw the boy with the others. His arm was properly bandaged now, and Juri also saw glances of bandages through the troll-ripped hem of his shirt. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Shintaro said but apparently he didn’t dare to say more and Juri decided it was better if he didn’t say anything either as he had no idea of what his friends had already told to the teachers.
“Well, here we have a pretty sight,” the Arithmancy teacher, the Head of Ravenclaw House, sighed and shook her head sadly. “Dear boys, what on earth was going on in your minds? Going into the forest, and even in the middle of the night!”
“Sorry,” Shintaro said, “it was originally my idea.”
“Don’t try to take the blame again,” Hokuto hissed and took a deep breath before looking at the four teachers. “We were all equally in the plan.”
“But why?” asked the teacher of Charms who was also the Head of Slytherin.
“Centaurs,” Shintaro said, hardly daring to raise his gaze from the floor, “We wanted to see them.”
“But there hasn't been a single centaur in the forest in ten years!” the Divination teacher said, “How did you suddenly get the idea?”
“I heard you talking,” Shintaro said and glanced at him carefully, “When you told professor Katori that the centaurs have come back. None us had ever seen a centaur before but--”
“Did you really see them?” the Divination teacher interrupted him.
“Yes,” Shintaro said and the others confirmed his words by nodding, “But they didn’t like it. They told us to go back and--”
“You talked to them!” the Divination teacher cried out and the boys nodded again.
“I don’t think you realize how very unusual situation that was,” the teacher said and if Juri hadn’t been so afraid about what would happen to them now, he might have grinned widely when he saw the teacher’s expression. Jealousy, however hardly he tried to cover it, was very clear on his face. It wasn’t difficult to see that their Divination teacher would gladly have used an opportunity to talk with a centaur, too.
“What about you two?” the fourth teacher, the Head of Hufflepuff. He was the one Juri was the most afraid of at the moment; Transfigurations were his specialty and he would probably be the first one to guess something if even one of the six students gave him any reason to think about some things.
“Yes, sir?” Juri asked, fearing what was about to come.
“Why did you two only return now? When we were asked to come to the Hospital Wing, we only had these four. They insisted it was only them but when would they go somewhere without you two? We immediately guessed it must be a lie.”
Somewhere deep inside Juri felt a pinch of pride. He was happy to belong in a group of friends that were known to be always together. At the same time, no matter how much he didn’t want to get punished, he was happy they were all six together when getting scolded. No matter what Taiga had said, Juri didn’t think he could have stood it if only the four had gotten a punishment while he and Jesse would have gotten out of it just like that.
“We got lost when escaping from the troll,” Juri said in a steady voice, trying to look like he was telling the truth, and praying in his mind that the others had said nothing about them earlier. Why would they have, since neither Juri nor Jesse had really done anything important on the most critical moment? To his relief the teachers seemed to believe him.
“Why didn’t you just use the Four-Point Spell? Matsumura told us the six of you used it when you were searching for the centaurs.”
“We panicked,” Jesse said and the embarrassment on his face looked innocent enough that even Juri might have believed him, hadn’t he known the truth. “I know the spell but I simply forgot to use it.”
“We had to walk quite a long way,” Juri said and glanced at his four friends, “I’m happy the others made it here before us. We were afraid they’d still be in the forest.”
The Head of Ravenclaw shook her head again and looked very tired and very unhappy with the whole situation.
“What should we do with you?” she asked and looked very troubled, “The school year will end soon and the finals have already passed so it would be in vain to get you expelled or even suspended you now. Not that I'd want to do that anyway.”
“I suggest,” the Head of Slytherin started thoughtfully, “That everyone gets detention for the next three evenings. Separately. I’m sure we can find six teachers who need helping hands now that we’re already cleaning the castle for the summer. And of course we will send owls to your families.”
The other Heads of Houses nodded approvingly, and Juri could hardly believe his ears. No-one was going to get expelled! What would a few hours of scrubbing old Cauldrons or dusting ancient books mean when none of them was going to get kicked out of the school? He was shaking again, this time from the amazing feeling of anxiety slowly melting away. After having been so amazingly lucky he was sure he could even bear a basket full of Howlers.
He was wrong, though. The last time he had only watched his mother sending the Howlers to Koki. Nothing could have prepared him to the feeling of actually receiving a whole basket full of Howlers during the breakfast next morning. He didn’t have enough time to even consider quickly opening them - there were too many - and his mother’s Howlers exploded simultaneously above the Gryffindor table. If the rumor of their adventure hadn’t already echoed across the ears of every student, teacher, ghost, and painting in the school, that moment would have fixed it.
"Don't worry," Kento consoled him with a pat on Juri's shoulder, "You guys will probably become a legend among the students."
It was hard to feel the glory of being a legend, though, when rubbing the third-floor toilets clean with an old scrub brush. Without any magic which, Juri thought when big droplets of sweat ran down his forehead, was an inhuman punishment. By the time the first evening of their detention finally ended, every muscle on his hands and arms was aching and the knees of his jeans were filthy from all the crawling on the dirty floors.
"Don't complain," Jesse murmured from his armchair, coughing weakly between every word, "I archived all the student records of this place from the year 1427 to 1654! You have no idea how dusty those old pieces of parchment are!"
"Cheer up," Kouchi suggested, "maybe you'll reach this century after two more days?"
"I'd rather file the archives, Hokuto moaned, "I've mowed the lawn at home many times but it's a completely other thing to mow a whole Quidditch field worth of tall grass, with that ancient mechanical lawn mower…"
"What's this smell?" Taiga asked and scrunched his nose, "It's… disgusting."
"It's me," Shintaro murmured from his place on the sofa.
"What did you do?"
"Canned ten gallons of fermented seaweed mash at the dungeons," Shintaro said with a gloomy sigh. "The teacher said the smell will fade in a few days."
"Nice to know," Juri murmured and Shintaro made a face at him.
The next two days were busy with people packing and looking for everything they had lost along the school year, students whining about the amount of homework their teachers gave them for the summer holiday, planning their holidays, and trying to enjoy what little time they still had to hang around the school grounds.
On the third afternoon of the detention Juri finished his tasks as quickly as he could and immediately rushed out of the castle when he was allowed to. Then he sat on a bench up in one of the stands around the Quidditch pitch, watching how Hokuto swept the floor with an old cleaning broom.
"Not much left anymore," Juri cheered his friend who rolled his eyes.
"I would be done faster if you lent me a helping hand," Hokuto pointed out but Juri quickly refused with the excuse of having suffered his punishment already. He lay down to one of the benches instead, closing his eyes and letting the rays of the sun warm his face. He was still pale after the long winter but it was only a matter of time; he got tanned easily and before long his skin color would deepen into warm brown.
Hokuto swept all the dust and dry leaves down from the side of the stand and moved to the next row of benches. Juri snoozed off, until Hokuto's surprised noise made him open his eyes.
"What is it?" Juri asked, shading his face with his hand and turning to look at Hokuto who was looking down at the pathway that led to the Quidditch pitch.
"Shintaro," Hokuto said and tilted his head. "Man, I wonder what's wrong with him."
"What do you mean?" Juri asked and quickly stood up, rushing to see whatever Hokuto saw down there.
Hokuto was right; it was obvious that something was bothering their friend. His shoulders were hunched when he walked, the way he moved was somewhat slack, and the expression on his face was sullen when he slogged closer to the Quidditch pitch.
By the edge of the pitch Shintaro stopped and looked around until he saw Juri and Hokuto up in one of the stands. Suddenly his face was all bright and smiley when he waved at them eagerly, but there was a certain stiffness in his posture that caught Juri's eyes. Hokuto noticed the same thing, and nudged Juri's arm with his elbow.
"I think someone is in a need of a good serious talk," he murmured, "And I think you should be the one who talks with him."
"I guess," Juri answered reluctantly. He hated the thought of forcing Shintaro to talk to him but what else could he do? Hokuto was right; there was something bothering Shintaro, and Juri knew from experience that Shintaro would never initiate the talk himself.
He beckoned to Shintaro so the boy would stay where he was, and rushed down the narrow and creaky wooden stairs of the stand.
"Huh? I could have come up there too," Shintaro said but Juri shook his head and dragged Shintaro away, to the path that would eventually lead to the forbidden forest. (He made sure they left the path well before coming even close to the forest; he didn't want anyone to see them and think they were doing something wrong again, now that their detention was finally over.)
"What is it?" Shintaro pressed when Juri just kept walking around the grounds without saying a word, "What's wrong with you?"
"No, what's wrong with you?" Juri asked in a firm tone. "I saw you coming to the Quidditch pitch. I saw your face."
"Oh," Shintaro said and hesitated, "It's nothing really. Don't worry about it!"
"Ugh, shut up moron," Juri snapped and crossed his arms, "You're a terrible liar. There is something bothering you and I promise I won't stop nagging you before you tell me what's going on in your stupid head!"
For a second Juri saw a hint of annoyance flash on Shintaro's face and he wondered if he had been too harsh, but then Shintaro sighed and nodded, and Juri let out a breath he hadn't noticed he had been holding.
"It's just," Shintaro murmured and continued walking slowly, his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, "I don't know. Well, it's you guys. All of the others too, but mostly you."
"Me?" Juri asked, unable to cover the confusion in his voice.
"You," Shintaro repeated and avoided Juri's eyes, turning to look at the castle behind them instead. "You won't be here next year. All of you."
Oh. So that was the problem. Too bad Juri couldn't do much to help the situation.
"Jesse will be here," he tried, even though he knew it was in vain. Shintaro already knew it, and obviously it didn't make the situation much better.
"But it's not the same," Shintaro murmured. "We don't have any classes in common, and I know he will be lonely without you guys, too. The hideout will be so silent."
"It's just one year," Juri said and Shintaro snorted at his words.
"It's easy for you to say! You get to do new things, you'll meet new people and all, while we'll just stay here, left behind!"
"You'll get used to it," Juri said and immediately wished he hadn't, when Shintaro suddenly looked at him angrily. Juri felt slightly intimidated by the boy's fury. It wasn't like Shintaro to lose his cool like that.
"What if I don't want to get used to it? What if we're too lonely here, and I'll become a grumpy old seventh-year student who scares all the first-years?"
"You won't," Juri said firmly, trying to control the growing feeling of insecurity and frustration. He wasn't good at dealing with things like that. He wasn't good at it at all, and he had no idea how to make it better. Whatever he said, Shintaro just got angrier.
For a moment it really looked like Shintaro wanted to punch him and run away. But when the silence between them got longer, Shintaro finally sighed and flopped to lean against some mossy rocks next to the path. He looked down, blinking furiously, and his voice was rough and weak at the same time when he forced the words out of his mouth.
"I'll miss you," Shintaro said, and Juri, too, felt a sting of longing in his chest. It was stupid, really - they were together now and there shouldn't have been any reason to miss each other. Yet he already did.
"I know," Juri whispered, "I'll miss you too."
Shintaro nodded wordlessly, and Juri moved to lean against the same rock, close enough that he could grab the boy's hand between them without looking too obvious.
Shintaro's hand was familiar and warm, but Juri couldn't help noticing the way his hold on Juri's hand was just a bit tighter than usually. Fuck subtlety, Juri thought and without a word leaned in to press his lips on Shintaro's.
"It's just the matter of one Floo Powder trip to get from Diagon Alley to Hogsmead. I'll come back every once in a while," he promised. It was just a hasty whisper between kisses, but it was the best Juri could offer and Shintaro seemed to understand it.
"Besides," Shintaro added later when they were already going back towards the castle, "We have the whole summer."
Juri smiled and nodded. Sure, in a few months their lives were going to change more than they had changed in many years - ever since Juri had gone to Hogwarts for the first time when Shintaro had still been too young to follow him - but they still had a little more time to stay together like this, and he wanted to make the best of it.
- - -
Hogwarts Express had never been so quick before; at least that's what it felt like to Juri when he looked out from the window and noticed they'd soon arrive at London. His feelings were a mixture of excited anticipation towards the future and wistful happiness for the years he had spent in Hogwarts. He already missed what he had left behind but at the same time he was eager to see what was ahead, and he recognized the same feeling on the faces of his friends as well.
Shintaro and Jesse exchanged silent looks whenever their friends got too noisy but Juri was delighted to see neither one of them looked really unhappy. In a way, the next school year would be something new for the two of them as well, and Juri was happy for that.
"We'll be there soon," he said in a brisk tone, having decided it was his job as the designated joker of the group to boost the mood even more, "Now, remember the rules everyone! No paw- and hoofprints on the mats. No hiding nuts and cones under people's pillows. No shedding fur and feathers on our mothers' sofas! Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" everyone yelled and burst out into overjoyed laughter. On the next minute they were already agreeing to meet as soon as possible ("We could even meet tonight! I mean, what's stopping us?") and planning all the amazing things they could do during the long summer holiday, now that they had finally learned the Animagus spell and thus achieved the goal they had pursued for years.
- - -
Chapter: 9/9
Rating: G
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- - -
“So, the last two missing lambs are finally arriving.”
As soon as Juri and Jesse slipped through the door of the Gryffindor common room, they met the Divination teacher who was also the Head of their house. He was tapping his foot against the floor and staring at them with a very serious look on his face, and Juri suddenly felt cold shivers that had nothing to do with the temperature outside. “Come with me,” he said and the boys had no other choice but follow him into his office where Hokuto, Taiga, Kouchi, and Shintaro were already standing in a one guilty line with each of their Head of Houses present as well.
“Shintaro!” Juri cried out when he saw the boy with the others. His arm was properly bandaged now, and Juri also saw glances of bandages through the troll-ripped hem of his shirt. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Shintaro said but apparently he didn’t dare to say more and Juri decided it was better if he didn’t say anything either as he had no idea of what his friends had already told to the teachers.
“Well, here we have a pretty sight,” the Arithmancy teacher, the Head of Ravenclaw House, sighed and shook her head sadly. “Dear boys, what on earth was going on in your minds? Going into the forest, and even in the middle of the night!”
“Sorry,” Shintaro said, “it was originally my idea.”
“Don’t try to take the blame again,” Hokuto hissed and took a deep breath before looking at the four teachers. “We were all equally in the plan.”
“But why?” asked the teacher of Charms who was also the Head of Slytherin.
“Centaurs,” Shintaro said, hardly daring to raise his gaze from the floor, “We wanted to see them.”
“But there hasn't been a single centaur in the forest in ten years!” the Divination teacher said, “How did you suddenly get the idea?”
“I heard you talking,” Shintaro said and glanced at him carefully, “When you told professor Katori that the centaurs have come back. None us had ever seen a centaur before but--”
“Did you really see them?” the Divination teacher interrupted him.
“Yes,” Shintaro said and the others confirmed his words by nodding, “But they didn’t like it. They told us to go back and--”
“You talked to them!” the Divination teacher cried out and the boys nodded again.
“I don’t think you realize how very unusual situation that was,” the teacher said and if Juri hadn’t been so afraid about what would happen to them now, he might have grinned widely when he saw the teacher’s expression. Jealousy, however hardly he tried to cover it, was very clear on his face. It wasn’t difficult to see that their Divination teacher would gladly have used an opportunity to talk with a centaur, too.
“What about you two?” the fourth teacher, the Head of Hufflepuff. He was the one Juri was the most afraid of at the moment; Transfigurations were his specialty and he would probably be the first one to guess something if even one of the six students gave him any reason to think about some things.
“Yes, sir?” Juri asked, fearing what was about to come.
“Why did you two only return now? When we were asked to come to the Hospital Wing, we only had these four. They insisted it was only them but when would they go somewhere without you two? We immediately guessed it must be a lie.”
Somewhere deep inside Juri felt a pinch of pride. He was happy to belong in a group of friends that were known to be always together. At the same time, no matter how much he didn’t want to get punished, he was happy they were all six together when getting scolded. No matter what Taiga had said, Juri didn’t think he could have stood it if only the four had gotten a punishment while he and Jesse would have gotten out of it just like that.
“We got lost when escaping from the troll,” Juri said in a steady voice, trying to look like he was telling the truth, and praying in his mind that the others had said nothing about them earlier. Why would they have, since neither Juri nor Jesse had really done anything important on the most critical moment? To his relief the teachers seemed to believe him.
“Why didn’t you just use the Four-Point Spell? Matsumura told us the six of you used it when you were searching for the centaurs.”
“We panicked,” Jesse said and the embarrassment on his face looked innocent enough that even Juri might have believed him, hadn’t he known the truth. “I know the spell but I simply forgot to use it.”
“We had to walk quite a long way,” Juri said and glanced at his four friends, “I’m happy the others made it here before us. We were afraid they’d still be in the forest.”
The Head of Ravenclaw shook her head again and looked very tired and very unhappy with the whole situation.
“What should we do with you?” she asked and looked very troubled, “The school year will end soon and the finals have already passed so it would be in vain to get you expelled or even suspended you now. Not that I'd want to do that anyway.”
“I suggest,” the Head of Slytherin started thoughtfully, “That everyone gets detention for the next three evenings. Separately. I’m sure we can find six teachers who need helping hands now that we’re already cleaning the castle for the summer. And of course we will send owls to your families.”
The other Heads of Houses nodded approvingly, and Juri could hardly believe his ears. No-one was going to get expelled! What would a few hours of scrubbing old Cauldrons or dusting ancient books mean when none of them was going to get kicked out of the school? He was shaking again, this time from the amazing feeling of anxiety slowly melting away. After having been so amazingly lucky he was sure he could even bear a basket full of Howlers.
He was wrong, though. The last time he had only watched his mother sending the Howlers to Koki. Nothing could have prepared him to the feeling of actually receiving a whole basket full of Howlers during the breakfast next morning. He didn’t have enough time to even consider quickly opening them - there were too many - and his mother’s Howlers exploded simultaneously above the Gryffindor table. If the rumor of their adventure hadn’t already echoed across the ears of every student, teacher, ghost, and painting in the school, that moment would have fixed it.
"Don't worry," Kento consoled him with a pat on Juri's shoulder, "You guys will probably become a legend among the students."
It was hard to feel the glory of being a legend, though, when rubbing the third-floor toilets clean with an old scrub brush. Without any magic which, Juri thought when big droplets of sweat ran down his forehead, was an inhuman punishment. By the time the first evening of their detention finally ended, every muscle on his hands and arms was aching and the knees of his jeans were filthy from all the crawling on the dirty floors.
"Don't complain," Jesse murmured from his armchair, coughing weakly between every word, "I archived all the student records of this place from the year 1427 to 1654! You have no idea how dusty those old pieces of parchment are!"
"Cheer up," Kouchi suggested, "maybe you'll reach this century after two more days?"
"I'd rather file the archives, Hokuto moaned, "I've mowed the lawn at home many times but it's a completely other thing to mow a whole Quidditch field worth of tall grass, with that ancient mechanical lawn mower…"
"What's this smell?" Taiga asked and scrunched his nose, "It's… disgusting."
"It's me," Shintaro murmured from his place on the sofa.
"What did you do?"
"Canned ten gallons of fermented seaweed mash at the dungeons," Shintaro said with a gloomy sigh. "The teacher said the smell will fade in a few days."
"Nice to know," Juri murmured and Shintaro made a face at him.
The next two days were busy with people packing and looking for everything they had lost along the school year, students whining about the amount of homework their teachers gave them for the summer holiday, planning their holidays, and trying to enjoy what little time they still had to hang around the school grounds.
On the third afternoon of the detention Juri finished his tasks as quickly as he could and immediately rushed out of the castle when he was allowed to. Then he sat on a bench up in one of the stands around the Quidditch pitch, watching how Hokuto swept the floor with an old cleaning broom.
"Not much left anymore," Juri cheered his friend who rolled his eyes.
"I would be done faster if you lent me a helping hand," Hokuto pointed out but Juri quickly refused with the excuse of having suffered his punishment already. He lay down to one of the benches instead, closing his eyes and letting the rays of the sun warm his face. He was still pale after the long winter but it was only a matter of time; he got tanned easily and before long his skin color would deepen into warm brown.
Hokuto swept all the dust and dry leaves down from the side of the stand and moved to the next row of benches. Juri snoozed off, until Hokuto's surprised noise made him open his eyes.
"What is it?" Juri asked, shading his face with his hand and turning to look at Hokuto who was looking down at the pathway that led to the Quidditch pitch.
"Shintaro," Hokuto said and tilted his head. "Man, I wonder what's wrong with him."
"What do you mean?" Juri asked and quickly stood up, rushing to see whatever Hokuto saw down there.
Hokuto was right; it was obvious that something was bothering their friend. His shoulders were hunched when he walked, the way he moved was somewhat slack, and the expression on his face was sullen when he slogged closer to the Quidditch pitch.
By the edge of the pitch Shintaro stopped and looked around until he saw Juri and Hokuto up in one of the stands. Suddenly his face was all bright and smiley when he waved at them eagerly, but there was a certain stiffness in his posture that caught Juri's eyes. Hokuto noticed the same thing, and nudged Juri's arm with his elbow.
"I think someone is in a need of a good serious talk," he murmured, "And I think you should be the one who talks with him."
"I guess," Juri answered reluctantly. He hated the thought of forcing Shintaro to talk to him but what else could he do? Hokuto was right; there was something bothering Shintaro, and Juri knew from experience that Shintaro would never initiate the talk himself.
He beckoned to Shintaro so the boy would stay where he was, and rushed down the narrow and creaky wooden stairs of the stand.
"Huh? I could have come up there too," Shintaro said but Juri shook his head and dragged Shintaro away, to the path that would eventually lead to the forbidden forest. (He made sure they left the path well before coming even close to the forest; he didn't want anyone to see them and think they were doing something wrong again, now that their detention was finally over.)
"What is it?" Shintaro pressed when Juri just kept walking around the grounds without saying a word, "What's wrong with you?"
"No, what's wrong with you?" Juri asked in a firm tone. "I saw you coming to the Quidditch pitch. I saw your face."
"Oh," Shintaro said and hesitated, "It's nothing really. Don't worry about it!"
"Ugh, shut up moron," Juri snapped and crossed his arms, "You're a terrible liar. There is something bothering you and I promise I won't stop nagging you before you tell me what's going on in your stupid head!"
For a second Juri saw a hint of annoyance flash on Shintaro's face and he wondered if he had been too harsh, but then Shintaro sighed and nodded, and Juri let out a breath he hadn't noticed he had been holding.
"It's just," Shintaro murmured and continued walking slowly, his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans, "I don't know. Well, it's you guys. All of the others too, but mostly you."
"Me?" Juri asked, unable to cover the confusion in his voice.
"You," Shintaro repeated and avoided Juri's eyes, turning to look at the castle behind them instead. "You won't be here next year. All of you."
Oh. So that was the problem. Too bad Juri couldn't do much to help the situation.
"Jesse will be here," he tried, even though he knew it was in vain. Shintaro already knew it, and obviously it didn't make the situation much better.
"But it's not the same," Shintaro murmured. "We don't have any classes in common, and I know he will be lonely without you guys, too. The hideout will be so silent."
"It's just one year," Juri said and Shintaro snorted at his words.
"It's easy for you to say! You get to do new things, you'll meet new people and all, while we'll just stay here, left behind!"
"You'll get used to it," Juri said and immediately wished he hadn't, when Shintaro suddenly looked at him angrily. Juri felt slightly intimidated by the boy's fury. It wasn't like Shintaro to lose his cool like that.
"What if I don't want to get used to it? What if we're too lonely here, and I'll become a grumpy old seventh-year student who scares all the first-years?"
"You won't," Juri said firmly, trying to control the growing feeling of insecurity and frustration. He wasn't good at dealing with things like that. He wasn't good at it at all, and he had no idea how to make it better. Whatever he said, Shintaro just got angrier.
For a moment it really looked like Shintaro wanted to punch him and run away. But when the silence between them got longer, Shintaro finally sighed and flopped to lean against some mossy rocks next to the path. He looked down, blinking furiously, and his voice was rough and weak at the same time when he forced the words out of his mouth.
"I'll miss you," Shintaro said, and Juri, too, felt a sting of longing in his chest. It was stupid, really - they were together now and there shouldn't have been any reason to miss each other. Yet he already did.
"I know," Juri whispered, "I'll miss you too."
Shintaro nodded wordlessly, and Juri moved to lean against the same rock, close enough that he could grab the boy's hand between them without looking too obvious.
Shintaro's hand was familiar and warm, but Juri couldn't help noticing the way his hold on Juri's hand was just a bit tighter than usually. Fuck subtlety, Juri thought and without a word leaned in to press his lips on Shintaro's.
"It's just the matter of one Floo Powder trip to get from Diagon Alley to Hogsmead. I'll come back every once in a while," he promised. It was just a hasty whisper between kisses, but it was the best Juri could offer and Shintaro seemed to understand it.
"Besides," Shintaro added later when they were already going back towards the castle, "We have the whole summer."
Juri smiled and nodded. Sure, in a few months their lives were going to change more than they had changed in many years - ever since Juri had gone to Hogwarts for the first time when Shintaro had still been too young to follow him - but they still had a little more time to stay together like this, and he wanted to make the best of it.
- - -
Hogwarts Express had never been so quick before; at least that's what it felt like to Juri when he looked out from the window and noticed they'd soon arrive at London. His feelings were a mixture of excited anticipation towards the future and wistful happiness for the years he had spent in Hogwarts. He already missed what he had left behind but at the same time he was eager to see what was ahead, and he recognized the same feeling on the faces of his friends as well.
Shintaro and Jesse exchanged silent looks whenever their friends got too noisy but Juri was delighted to see neither one of them looked really unhappy. In a way, the next school year would be something new for the two of them as well, and Juri was happy for that.
"We'll be there soon," he said in a brisk tone, having decided it was his job as the designated joker of the group to boost the mood even more, "Now, remember the rules everyone! No paw- and hoofprints on the mats. No hiding nuts and cones under people's pillows. No shedding fur and feathers on our mothers' sofas! Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" everyone yelled and burst out into overjoyed laughter. On the next minute they were already agreeing to meet as soon as possible ("We could even meet tonight! I mean, what's stopping us?") and planning all the amazing things they could do during the long summer holiday, now that they had finally learned the Animagus spell and thus achieved the goal they had pursued for years.
- - -