Magical Paw Prints, 3/9
Title: Magical Paw Prints
Chapter: 3/9
Rating: PG
1 2
- - -
Kouchi’s success encouraged the rest of them to keep on trying, and before a week had passed, they were surprised again.
It was a rainy, boring evening in late October. Juri, Taiga, and Shintaro were spending time in the hideout, doing their homework and chatting about whatever came up to their minds.
Juri glanced at his wristwatch and sighed. Hokuto had had something important to do after dinner and he had promised to come to the hideout later, failing to specify what time ‘later’ actually was. Juri would have needed help with his Defense Against Dark Arts exercises but apparently he’d just have to find the answers all alone. Taiga wasn’t much of help; the curse that he had been given for homework had nothing to do with Juri’s curse.
Shintaro had been sitting in the corner of the sofa for a long time, staring at the air in front of him, and Juri had supposed he was simply deep in his thoughts. Maybe he had been, but suddenly he looked up at Juri and Taiga, a small yet somehow excited smile playing in the corners of his mouth.
“I think I can do it,” Shintaro said. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck, grinned and raised two fingers into a peace sign - started to change. Juri’s mouth fell open from the shock as he followed how Shintaro’s familiar features suddenly switched to something completely else. Like Kouchi, Shintaro too grew fur but his fur was thick and grey, his ears pointed and nose long, and his paws were almost the same size as the whole squirrel had been.
If Juri had ever wondered what a living, breathing wolf looked like, he now got the best view possible as he stared straight into the eyes of one.
Juri hardly dared to breathe when the wolf studied his face. He remembered Kouchi’s reaction to changing and tried not to think about what it would look like if Shintaro’s inner wolf threw a similar fit.
“Juri…” Taiga whispered in a wavering voice and Juri guessed Taiga was feeling the exactly same kind of a slowly raising panic as he was. Neither one of them managed to do anything else before the wolf stepped across the short distance, towards Juri. Juri gasped aloud and thought, for a fleeting second, about his wand that was in his bag behind his chair, but on the next moment he almost fell from the chair when he suddenly had his lap full of paws and ears and fur that was both rough and soft at the same time.
“Shintaro?” he asked and the wolf let out a whining noise, rubbing the top of his head against Juri’s shoulder and tapping his thighs with his paws. “You’re not mad are you? Not dangerous?” Juri asked, just to be sure.
If it was possible for a wolf to look accusing and amused at the same time, Shintaro sure did. He shook his head and sniffed Juri’s clothes curiously, making Juri squirm and laugh.
“Stop it! It tickles!” he cried out and finally dared to raise his hands to properly grab the fur on Shintaro’s neck. Shintaro seemed to like it; he let out a low happy growl and leaned his head against Juri’s hands until Juri understood he was actually begging for scratching.
“What kind of a wolf are you even,” he chuckled aloud, his tone much gentler than he had originally meant to, “An adorable attention-seeking puppy dog is what you are!”
After a while Taiga dared to walk around the table and crouch next to Shintaro, joining in to scratch his neck. Shintaro didn’t hesitate to show how much he enjoyed all the attention he got, and Juri couldn’t help a soft smile.
The torch next to the door made a clicking noise and Shintaro immediately looked up towards the noise. Juri looked up too and grinned widely. Hokuto had absolutely no chance to process what happened before he was lying on the floor already, a full-grown wolf’s heavy paws on his chest.
“Down, boy,” Juri laughed and almost took pity on his friend who looked like he was actually mute of the shock, his eyes wide and round when he looked up into the black eyes of the wolf.
“Juri, Shintaro! Stop being mean,” Taiga scolded, even if he couldn’t help smiling as well. Without any needless considerateness he went to push the wolf away from Hokuto.
“Shin--” Hokuto stammered, slowly seeming to remember how to form words. “Shintaro?” he repeated and looked at the wolf who had sat down next to him like any well-mannered family dog. Then the sudden understanding lighted up Hokuto’s face and he could hardly hide his excitement.
“Really? You can do it! Did you already tell Kouchi and Jesse?”
“Not yet. It’s kind of a recent piece of news from the last five minutes,” Taiga chuckled and Shintaro waved his tail happily. There was no doubt about how pleased he was with himself right at the moment.
“You brat, tell me on this instant how you managed to do it!” Hokuto demanded laughing and attacked Shintaro, scratching and tickling him until they were rolling around on the floor as a one big bundle of fur and limbs.
“There we have a mature adult wizard,” Taiga pointed out and shook his head, smiling at his friends. Juri nodded and grinned too, but it wasn’t Hokuto that he was looking at.
As weird as the thought was, Shintaro was kind of good-looking even as a wolf. Juri liked his dog-like features that distantly reminded him of his own dog back at home. Going to a boarding school had its downsides too - one of them was constantly missing his pet dog. Why were cats, owls and toads allowed in the school when dogs were such a no-no? Well, he had to admit, a dog surely made more noise than any cat or toad ever did. Owls might be noisy sometimes but at least they lived in the owlery and thus rarely disturbed anyone.
“Juri? What are you staring at?”
The sudden words and Shintaro’s face just a few inches away from his nose awakened Juri from his deep thoughts and he blinked in surprise. Even though he had been looking at Shintaro and Hokuto his thoughts had distracted him well enough that he hadn’t really noticed Shintaro changing back.
“Nothing, I… Sorry,” Juri answered lamely and offered Shintaro a sheepish grin, “I must be tired or something.”
He wasn’t sure if Shintaro looked at him a bit longer than what was normal or if he was only imagining. He didn’t have time to keep wondering about it when Hokuto sat down on one of the chairs around the table, repeating his earlier question now that Shintaro could talk to him again.
“I… uh, how to explain it,” Shintaro said, “it’’s… it’s so tricky and simple at the same time.”
“Try, at least?”
“Well,” Shintaro said slowly, frowning in the same way Kouchi had done when he had been asked the same question. “You know, when you cast the ordinary everyday spells, you know, accio, fixing charms… The usual stuff that you know you’d be able to do even if you were half-asleep. When you do those spells you don’t need to wonder if they will work or not. You have your wand and you know you know the spell by heart and you just know whatever you want to make happen really will happen. I… I think it’s the same here. You need to know you’re able to do it.”
“Really?” Taiga asked, crossing his arms on his chest and clearly trying to understand, with weak results.
“Of course I’m just guessing,” Shintaro rushed to add, “but that’s the best way I can explain it.”
Hokuto nodded as if he understood but he said nothing. For the rest of the evening Shintaro amused them all by randomly changing back and forth every now and then. (“I need to practice a lot, or I might forget how to do it before tomorrow morning!”)
-
The Halloween party of the school was a spectacle that every student in the school always waited eagerly. On the Halloween eve only one lesson was held after lunch, after which everyone left the Great Hall to prepare for the party in their own dormitories.
Juri looked at the mirror and frowned. He had colored his skin to look much paler than usually, and dressed up with some old rags of clothing that his mother had found in the attic and sent him by their family owl. After dressing up he had splashed a big bottle of self-made fake blood all over his face and clothes, successfully making himself look like someone who had been violently assaulted to death.
All in all, he was very pleased with his costume. The only problem were his eyes. He had managed to change their color with a simple color-changing spell but he wasn’t sure if the made-up dull greyish shade would stay for the whole evening.
“Are you ready to go?” Jesse asked from the door. He was wearing a ridiculously old-fashioned black dress robe and a black pointed hat with a wide brim. He had probably used some kind of a spell to make his nose much bigger and his teeth disgustingly yellow and twisted. On top of everything he was carrying along the most pathetic-looking broomstick Juri had ever seen - and he had seen many.
“I’m a witch,” Jesse explained when he noticed Juri’s questioning look, “This is what muggle kids think witches look like. They dress up like this every Easter!”
“Such medieval mental images, huh?”
“Pretty much,” Jesse agreed and grinned, “I considered bringing a stuffed black cat with me but it would be too much of a bother to drag it along the whole evening.”
The Great Hall was a stunning sight every year but even the seventh year students had to admit this time it was even more impressing than usual.
Hundreds of floating candles and carved jack-o-lanterns on the long tables were the only source of lighting in the otherwise dark Hall. Real bats were flying around, the windows had been covered with black velvet curtains, and when looking up at the ceiling they saw thousands of little stars glimmering on the cloudless night sky.
The party started with a feast, during which the students sat in their own houses’ tables. Afterwards they were allowed to switch tables to sit with their friends as they wished.
Juri frowned when he saw Shintaro’s costume; the grey ears and tail, and the furry pelt he was wearing.
“Are those real?” he hissed and glared at the ears and the tail.”
“Of course they’re not my own,” Shintaro snorted, rolling his eyes, “I’m not that stupid! I bought them in Hogsmead last week. I wouldn’t risk someone noticing anything. Besides, I wouldn’t even be able to grow the ears and the tail like you do - it’s either-or for me.”
Juri felt a bit embarrassed for having snapped so easily and he simply nodded, not really wanting to be forced to admit he had pulled too quick conclusions.
“What are you then?” he asked, in an awkward attempt to change the topic.
“I’m a werewolf of course,” Shintaro said as if it should have been obvious even without him saying it, “And you are…”
“A living corpse, maybe? I don’t really have a name for this,” Juri chuckled and grinned, “just wanted something bloody.”
“You’re weird,” Shintaro informed him and glanced at the tables where empty dinner trays had been switched with new servings of dessert. “Come on, I think I could finally manage to eat something more. Where are the others?”
“In the end of the Slytherin table. Let’s go there!” Juri said and pointed at the direction where he saw Hokuto, Kouchi and Jesse sitting together with Taiga.
A few hours later they were still sitting on the same place, chatting and having fun, and enjoying themselves. Juri felt like he would probably never have to eat again with how full he was, and the best news of the evening was the headmaster’s announcement that there would be no lessons before lunch on the next day.
“The charms teacher totally got mad at me today,” Hokuto said and emptied his cup of pumpkin juice, “You should have seen his face!”
“It’s no wonder, it was both stupid and dangerous,” Kouchi scolded, and Hokuto grinned without a slightest hint of regret.
“I wasn’t the one who started it; Fuma was!” he defended himself and everyone laughed. In the middle of it Juri happened to look up and suddenly met Shintaro’s eyes. Shintaro just looked at him quietly, and Juri quickly looked away, afraid of anything the other might see in his eyes.
A sudden pain in his ankle made Juri grimace and he looked at Jesse, ready to snap at him. Jesse narrowed his eyes and Juri could only barely see his minimal twitch of head towards Shintaro’s direction. Juri shook his head and frowned, trying to ignore Jesse’s wordless message. It proved difficult when Jesse continued kicking his ankles and legs until Juri kicked back.
“Fine,” he shushed through his teeth and Jesse’s smug smile was even more annoying than usually.
“Huh?” Kouchi asked, “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” Juri said quickly, “What were you saying about the charms?”
As time passed by, little by little people started to move towards their own beds and finally, when the big clock of the school hit three o’clock, the six boys decided it was time to go to sleep as well.
“Did you have something to do?” Jesse whispered with a meaningful glance at Juri. Juri simply pushed him towards the staircase.
“Go to sleep, brat,” he murmured. Jesse grinned and followed Hokuto upstairs at the same time when Taiga, Kouchi and Shintaro turned towards the corridor that lead to the underground floors of the castle.
“Shin,” Juri started, very aware about how there wasn't any way to avoid sounding incredibly stupid with what he was about to say. “I need to talk to you. Do you…”
“Huh? No. I mean, I don’t mind,” Shintaro said quickly and Juri wasn’t sure if his awkwardness was more comforting or unnerving. At least Shintaro didn’t laugh at him, which Juri supposed was a positive thing. He didn’t know why he thought Shintaro would possibly have wanted to laugh at him but he couldn’t help thinking so anyway.
Kouchi and Taiga shared an unreadable look but neither one asked anything (another thing Juri felt rather thankful for) and they left, leaving the two boys alone in the dimly lit corridor.
“Uh, can we find some… more private place?” Juri asked and Shintaro glanced around.
“The staircase to the astronomy tower? It’s right there and I doubt anybody will be passing by tonight,” he suggested.
Juri nodded and they tiptoed through the entrance hall. They couldn’t hear or see anyone but Juri kept having a weird chilly tickle in his neck the whole way to the staircase. He had a strange feeling the paintings and the old armors by the walls somehow knew two students were sneaking around in the middle of the night. Despite none of the paintings and armors reacting to them in any way Juri only dared to look around when they were safely at the door behind which the astronomy tower staircase was. There, in the dark corner, his back against the robust wood, Juri felt notably safer than at the open corridors.
“So,” Shintaro started but seemed to be unsure how to continue. “So, you… wanted to talk.”
“Yeah,” Juri murmured. He looked up to the ceiling, down at his own shoes, at the empty corridor in front of them, and finally almost into Shintaro’s eyes but not quite. His heart was beating as if he had just ran a marathon and his palms felt sweaty no matter how many times he tried to rub them dry against the sides of his jeans.
What had he been thinking about? What was one supposed to say in a situation like this? Juri had never confessed to anyone; what should he say? Jesse had teased him about the lacking courage. Well, there were many kinds of courage, Juri thought bitterly. He was pretty sure he could fearlessly fight a boggart or some other weird creature but somehow, at the moment, Shintaro frightened him a lot more than any magical creature he could imagine meeting.
He made the mistake of looking up into Shintaro’s eyes and shivered. The torches along the corridor were still burning and even though the torches hardly gave them enough light to perceive each other’s features, the light was strong enough that Juri could see Shintaro’s eyes and the way Shintaro was biting his lower lip. It was hard not to stare and Juri had to mentally slap himself before he'd start looking too creepy.
“I really don’t know how to say this,” he finally sighed. He felt so incredibly stupid and embarrassed at the same time. He was just a coward after all. The only thing that stopped him from escaping and running up to the Gryffindor common room was his pig-headed pride and maybe basic manners as well. He had asked Shintaro to come with him so he had better swallow his fear and say what had to be said.
“Try anyway?” Shintaro said and the softness of his voice finally made the magic. Juri slowly looked up again until they were looking into each other’s eyes.
“The thing is,” he started and took a shivering breath, “I like you. You know, that way.”
There, he had finally said it aloud. Juri blinked and felt a chill run up his spine. He was still afraid of Shintaro’s reaction but somehow it felt like the worst part was over already.
Shintaro was very quiet for a long time and Juri shifted his weight from one leg to another. Why did it take so long? Was Shintaro trying to come up with a nice way to turn him down after all? Maybe Juri had been misjudging his actions all the time?
“Me… too,” Shintaro slowly said and let out an awkward laughter, “You, I mean. I like you.”
The words were hardly audible but Juri heard them as if Shintaro had screamed them aloud. The nagging fear suddenly vanished from his mind but his heart was still racing in an undoubtedly unhealthy speed. He couldn’t help smiling and felt a warm wave flooding through his body when Shintaro smiled back at him, the both of them chuckling until the noise turned too loud and they suddenly fell silent when the sound of their laughter was starting to echo from the stone walls of the empty corridor.
“So, um. What do we do now?” Shintaro asked and Juri felt sincerely relieved. Insecurity was easier to stand when he wasn’t the only one feeling it.
“I don’t know,” he first admitted but continued after a while, “What people usually do when they like each other? You know, I’m being serious here.”
“Me too,” Shintaro said and glanced away for a second before looking back into Juri’s eyes. “Does it mean you want to be together with me?”
“Something like that,” Juri said and suddenly felt braver again. By now they were definitely past the worst part. A confession, an answer; they were across those already. They only had the backwash left and Juri didn't really mind that part much. “Yes. I want to be together with you. You know, I’m not the worst boyfriend option there is,” he added. A tiny piece of humor never killed anyone, right?
“I wonder,” Shintaro chuckled and grinned, and for Juri the grin was bright enough to warm the whole cool space around them.
Juri answered the smile and looked down again, for some reason locking his eyes to Shintaro’s hand. Without a second thought Juri reached across the short distance and took Shintaro’s hand in his own, just to feel his skin. It was warm like Shintaro’s smile, and so real that Juri felt a bit overwhelmed from that only. He had long ago lost count of how many times he had tried to imagine touching Shintaro in any way that couldn’t be explained as normal affection of close friends.
They stood like that for a long time - at least if felt like a long time - until Shintaro looked down at their linked hands and cleared his throat.
“We should go to sleep,” he said and Juri really liked how reluctant the tone of his voice was.
“I know,” he said with a nod but did nothing to carry out the plan. Suddenly, without any kind of a forewarning, Shintaro yanked on Juri’s hand and pulled him into a tight hug. Juri gasped when he felt Shintaro’s arms around his shoulders and the sudden warmth and Shintaro’s scent that immediately surrounded him.
“Don’t worry. I won’t change my mind by the morning,” Shintaro whispered right into Juri’s ear and Juri couldn’t help a small shiver. How had Shintaro guessed what he had been thinking about?
“You better not,” Juri chuckled and wrapped his own arms around Shintaro’s waist. It felt good to just stand there like that and Juri closed his eyes for just a tiny moment.
After a while Shintaro shook him a bit, laughing when he stepped back to see Juri’s face better.
“Are you falling asleep?” Shintaro asked and Juri couldn’t help a tired grin.
“What if I am?”
“Come on,” Shintaro said and rolled his eyes, “I’ll take you to the Gryffindor common room.”
Kento and Shoki were already sleeping when Juri tiptoed to their room. When Juri climbed up to his bed he noticed a hand-written note on his night stand.
I expect a full report, it said in Jesse’s tidy handwriting.
Juri grinned and crawled under his blankets. He actually had things to report, he realized and rolled around in his bed for a few times, simply from pure relief, happiness, and excitement.
Maybe he dared to say he was qualified to be a Gryffindor after all.
- - -
The next morning was not quite as nice as Juri had imagined.
Firstly, he felt deadly tired even though he only woke up around half past ten.
Secondly, what actually woke him up was Jesse sneaking into their room and jumping on Juri’s bed with a huge leap, alarming him from his sleep.
“I did warn you,” Jesse said and nodded towards the small memo still on Juri’s night stand, “Now tell me everything.”
“Not so loud…” Juri whined and tried to pull his blanket across his head. Jesse, however, did not seem to find a problem at crawling under Juri’s blanket as well. There he stared at Juri until Juri forced his eyes to open and looked at Jesse who grinned widely and shook his head.
“It’s okay. Nakajima and Morohoshi already left an hour ago. Some people went to sleep in time, you know. But it’s okay; just tell me what happened.”
“It’s none of your business,” Juri mumbled and pressed his face against his pillow, unable to stop the smile that was growing on his face as the events of the past night quickly returned into his mind.
“It’s thanks to me that you can smile like that you know,” Jesse said with a smug smile that slowly turned into more sincere one. “No, really. You look like it went well?”
Juri simply nodded at first, not quite sure what he was supposed to say before he suddenly found the words.
“I… think I have a boyfriend. No, I really do,” he said, for the first time ever, and he really liked the taste and the feeling of those words.
“Man, congrats!” Jesse said and rolled onto his back, his smile getting even wider, “You know, you’re the first of us. Well, you two are.”
“I guess,” Juri chuckled and glanced at Jesse, “Thank you.”
“No problem. So, how was it?”
“How was what?” Juri frowned and turned to look at Jesse who answered by raising his eyebrows as if Juri had just asked something very obvious or very stupid.
“Kissing him, of course,” Jesse said, looking expectantly at Juri’s blank expression until understanding spread on his face and he sat up in shock, pulling the blanket along with him. “You didn’t kiss him?”
“Cold,” Juri complained but sat up as well. “Well, no. We just… didn’t feel like that I guess. I mean, I want to kiss him, of course I do, but. Wouldn’t it have been a bit too rushed?”
“Too rushed he says,” Jesse moaned and buried his face into his hands for a moment, “Tanaka Juri. You’re… I don’t even know what to say. And Shintaro. What are you two, innocent virgins?”
“Rather big words from someone who has barely held hands with a girl themselves,” Juri pointed out in a more bitter tone than how he really felt.
“Not the point,” Jesse retorted and shook his head, looking so disappointed that Juri actually laughed at him.
“What did you expect to hear? That I pressed him against the wall and kissed him senseless?” he blurted out the first thing that came up to his mind, and immediately regretted his words as they brought along way too nice mental images that he’d rather not have had with Jesse in the same room. (With Jesse in the same bed.)
“Too much information,” Jesse announced and got up from the bed, “Enough with beauty sleep and adult-rated fantasies, the breakfast is served late today but it's almost over already. I’ll go downstairs, come to the Great Hall when you're ready!”
Juri didn't know what he had imagined when thinking about the next morning, or if he had imagined anything at all. Either way, the breakfast was the most awkward one that he had ever had, even though the other four seemed to be totally unaffected by the awkwardness that milled around Juri and Shintaro.
Shintaro looked up when Juri found his friends sitting together in the Hufflepuff table. Their eyes met and both looked quickly away. And yet, when Juri secretly glanced back at Shintaro he noticed a small smile on his face, much alike to the smile that Juri couldn’t prevent even if he tried to.
Everyone else was talking together while Juri and Shintaro ate quietly. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to talk to each other, and the feeling was far from the disoriented insecurity from last night. Suddenly they just didn’t seem to know how to talk to each other. Juri wondered if the others knew the reason.
Slowly, secretly, he looked at each of his friends through his bangs. No-one paid any attention to him. Juri knew Jesse was ignoring their silence on purpose but Hokuto, Taiga, and Kouchi seemed to be completely oblivious about the matter.
He winced in surprise when he felt a light nudge against his ankle. Seriously, what was with these people? It was a miracle he hadn’t gotten bruises from how Jesse had abused his legs during last night’s dinner. It took a moment before he realized it wasn’t Taiga who was kicking him from the other side. It was Shintaro.
Surprised, Juri raised his eyebrows in a question. Shintaro shook his head and smiled, leaving his feet where they were, leaning against Juri’s feet. The small gesture broke the ice between them and Juri chuckled quietly, shifting his own feet just so they were even closer to Shintaro’s.
Maybe Jesse was right; maybe they were disgustingly innocent. Somehow it didn’t disturb Juri at all.
“What are you smiling at?” Hokuto asked and waved his fork in front of Juri’s nose, “One could think you’re in love with the mushroom pie when you look at it like that!”
“Who knows,” Juri said, and Hokuto soon gave up when he got nothing more to tease him about.
During the day it came obvious that the others really had no idea about what had happened last night. Maybe the two of them weren’t being quite as obvious as Juri had feared, after all. In fact, after the Care of Magical Creatures lesson Juri could have sworn Hokuto was acting weirder than he was, even though Hokuto himself assured him there was nothing wrong with him.
“Well, in fact there’s something,” Hokuto finally admitted, “I’ll show you in the evening, okay?”
Juri accepted the promise and they agreed to meet at the hideout after the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s practice. Juri tried to concentrate on the lesson again but he soon noticed the attempt was doomed to fail. He was present in the Magical Creatures class but his thoughts were circling around the Potions classroom where he knew Shintaro was sitting.
After the Quidditch practice it was already dark when Juri and Jesse walked back to the castle, and Juri felt like he could sleep for a week if only he had been allowed to. They left their brooms to the broom closet of the great hall and were halfway in the staircase when they heard the echo of running steps behind them.
“Juri!” Shintaro called and jogged to them, grinning when he stopped at the same step with them. “Sorry I’m late. You were quicker than I expected.”
“I’ll go first!” Jesse said cheerfully, winked at them and left his friends alone in the middle of the big staircase.
“Late?” Juri asked and frowned, “Late from… wait. Were you waiting for me?”
“I planned to,” Shintaro said with a shrug and Juri felt the familiar warmth flooding inside him again. At the same time he was painfully aware how sweaty and red-faced he still was. Gryffindor’s first game against Slytherin was only a few days ahead and they had trained with their full energy. Juri was actually shaking of exhaustion and he hoped whatever Hokuto wanted to talk about would be a quick thing.
"Are you coming to the hideout too?” Shintaro suddenly asked and Juri nodded in confusion. Had Hokuto asked them all to come? He wondered what was so important on such a late hour.
“Good, then I’ll wait for you while you’re showering,” Shintaro said happily.
“You don’t need to,” Juri said quickly, “It’d be a bother to you. Just go before me.”
“It’s all right. I'll wait,” Shintaro said and looked at Juri in a way that didn’t accept any complaints. “Don’t make me wait too long or I start to think about you in there and --”
“Fine, fine, shut up,” Juri hissed and pressed his hand on Shintaro’s mouth, only noticing how badly the action backfired when he saw Shintaro’s eyes that were shining from laughter. Juri quickly pulled away and swallowed. He was being awkward again, and it was even worse now that Shintaro was clearly handling the situation with much more ease than he was.
“Sorry,” Shintaro chuckled, “I suppose I shouldn’t joke about that?”
“No, I don’t mind! Uh, I mean… just. Just do as you wish,” Juri stammered and felt like jumping down from the Astronomy tower. Seriously, he had been able to hide his crush for more than a year already, so why did Shintaro’s presence make him feel like a lovesick idiot now that he had already got what he had wanted all the time?
“Go,” Shintaro pressed, “I’ll follow you and wait in the corridor.”
Shintaro did wait him as promised. What Juri hadn’t expected was that as soon as he opened the door of the bathroom and tried to step out Shintaro pushed him back in and locked the door after them.
“Finally,” he sighed and grabbed the collar of Juri’s shirt in his fists but didn't quite look up into Juri’s eyes. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find you alone anywhere?”
“It’s not--” Juri started but trailed off mid-sentence when he realized Shintaro might be right. He had been hanging around with several people for the whole day - on purpose.
“Yes it is,” Shintaro said. He sounded depressed enough that Juri took a deep breath and gathered his courage. He raised his hands on Shintaro’s sides and pulled him closer until they were standing chest-to-chest; close enough that Juri could lean his head against Shintaro’s.
“When did you grow up like that?” he asked quietly, “I mean, both you and Jesse suddenly became so tall.”
“How would I know?” Shintaro chuckled sheepishly, “Ryu never grew this tall. They even joked about it at home, wondering whose child I really am since our parents aren't very tall either.”
“It’s all right,” Juri said and closed his eyes for a moment, “It’s comfortable like this.” He really meant it, and it got even more comfortable when Shintaro let his shirt go and wrapped his arms around his shoulders instead, very much the same way he had done last night.
“It’s been a weird day, huh?” Shintaro said and Juri nodded. It still was even at the moment but he actually felt easier about talking about it now that Shintaro was there with him.
“Definitely,” Juri agreed. “So,” he continued when Shintaro was quiet for a long time.
“So?” Shintaro asked and Juri squirmed, not really wanting to admit how clueless he felt.
“Now what?” he then murmured. Shintaro smiled and leaned back so that he saw Juri’s eyes without taking his arms off of Juri's shoulders.
"How about you kiss me?" he asked and seemed to be happily aware of Juri's sudden shyness. "Come on, it's just me."
"It's because of you that I'm like this you know," Juri whined, "You just glance at me and I'm immediately all confused and insecure and--"
His complaints were cut in short when Shintaro quickly leaned over and gave him a small peck right on the lips. Juri blinked, suddenly feeling like his heart had completely stopped for a moment.
"I really admire the famous Gryffindor courage," Shintaro murmured and brushed his fingertips across Juri's cheek, smiling amusedly, "But you know, just sometimes it requires a Hufflepuff to make sure things actually get done." He grinned and leaned closer again, this time to kiss Juri properly.
Juri's body worked on its own, without him telling it what to do. He closed his eyes and clutched on Shintaro's shirt, answering to the kiss curiously, his shyness slowly fading off when he realized Shintaro wasn't any better at kissing than he was. He liked it anyway.
A small gasp escaped Shintaro's lips when Juri gathered his nerve and moved his hands across Shintaro's back and sides, and Juri felt a bit lightheaded. Shintaro's lips against his own, the soft fabric of Shintaro's hoodie, the warmth of Shintaro's body, the small sounds Shintaro made when Juri tentatively ran his tongue across his lower lip; even such little things were almost too much to him for now. He could have continued it for hours, or maybe forever, if the fear of their friends’ way-too-curious questions hadn’t forced him to step back after a while.
“I think we should go already,” he said and leaned his forehead against Shintaro’s, “Before they think I finally learned the spell and changed into a fish.”
“That would be a sight,” Shintaro snorted, and suddenly turned serious. “What if that happened? What if one of you changes into something that can’t live out of water?”
“Then obviously one of us will throw him into a bowl of water and then he’ll change back.”
“But it’s not very much fun,” Shintaro sighed, “he could always swim in the lake but it sounds rather lonely business.”
“No-one has changed into a fish yet and we can always hope that won’t happen at all. Our Animagus forms are supposed to reflect our personality and inner traits. Which one of us look like a cold, slimy and soulless person to you?”
“Sometimes if feels as if all of you were like that,” Shintaro said, making a face, and Juri laughed.
“That’s because we like you,” he said and couldn’t resist the urge to kiss Shintaro once again before they would have to leave to the hideout.
Once, or maybe twice.
It took almost fifteen minutes before they finally walked through the wall and found everyone already waiting in the hideout.
“Forty-five minutes, Juri,” Jesse said. His voice was mocking and he was rolling his eyes but Juri saw the amused twinkle behind the faked frustration, and he didn’t take Jesse’s words to heart. Not that he would have done so very often anyway. “Seriously, one could think you'd have learned to take quicker showers by now, considering there are six more people in your family, all wanting to use the same shower.”
“My brothers like to shower in the mornings,” Juri said with a shrug. “I’ll rather shower in the evenings to avoid queuing. Besides, no-one really cares. If someone takes too long in the shower the next one will just join him,” he continued like it was the most natural thing in the world. To him and his brothers it was.
“It’s true,” Taiga murmured from the other side of the room, “And they don’t really bother to check who is in the shower before walking in.”
“Aw, Taiga. Are you still traumatized over it? That was years ago!” Juri laughed, and at the same time mentally thanked him for pulling the attention into himself instead of Juri and Shintaro. “You just aren’t used to that,” he tried to console his friend. Taiga only chuckled, pointing out the fact that as an only child he didn’t really need to get used to such things.
“What was it that you wanted to talk about,” Shintaro asked and slumped onto his favorite armchair, looking at Hokuto expectantly.
Hokuto and Taiga exchanged a silent glance, and Taiga nodded.
“We’ve been practicing,” he said, waving his hand between himself and Taiga. “And, well. We thought we’d show you, too.”
After such a preparing speech Juri already guessed what was going to happen. Yet he felt surprised and excited at the same time, hardly blinking when he stared at Hokuto and Taiga who, without any difficulty, changed forms in front of their friends.
The both of them shrank in size; Taiga more and faster than Hokuto. While Hokuto grew a greyish-yellow spotted fur, Taiga got a shiny light brown plumage. Hokuto’s pointed ears had cute tufts, and he sat down on the floor once the change was complete. At the same time Taiga spread his wings and flew a circle around the room, landing on the back rest of one of the chairs.
The lynx and the falcon were quite an impressing sight, especially together like that. Juri had only ever seen pictures of such animals so he was eager to take a closer look.
He didn’t need to wait long since Taiga rose up on his wings again and flew across the room, and when Juri raised his arm, Taiga landed on it, turning his head and looking into his eyes.
“Wow. You’re gorgeous,” Juri murmured and slowly raised his other hand. “May I pet you?”
Taiga nodded and turned his head even more towards Juri’s hand when he carefully brushed the soft feathers with his index finger.
“I don’t think I have to be worried over my a puppy form anymore,” Shintaro chuckled and scratched behind the lynx’s ears, “Just look at Hokuto. I’ve never seen a more domesticated kitten!”
“What else would he be but domesticated? He’s house-trained and would hardly survive two days in the wilderness,” Jesse joked and crouched next to them. Hokuto didn’t mind getting even more attention and happily slouched on the floor between Jesse and Shintaro.
“Feels weird,” Kouchi murmured when he too reached to pet Taiga’s head and back with his fingertips.
“Why?” Juri asked curiously, and Kouchi made a face.
“Squirrels are not necessarily falcons’ most common food but it doesn’t mean they can’t hunt squirrels as well, sometimes.”
Taiga turned to look at him with narrowed eyes and Juri could only barely keep his poker face when Kouchi winced just a little bit at the sudden movement. Juri had never thought a falcon would be able to look so unimpressed. Taiga let out a short high-pitched cry and jumped from Juri’s arm, landing on top of Kouchi’s head instead.
“Ouch,” Kouchi gasped, “mind the nails!” Taiga tilted his head, glanced down at his thin yellow toes and then jumped down on Kouchi’s shoulder instead.
“Thanks,” the boy murmured and rubbed his head with the other palm. “I didn’t say I was afraid of you eating me, did I?”
Taiga shook his head and comfortably ruffled his feathers.
“Did you say you’ve been practicing?” Shintaro asked and Taiga nodded again. He looked at Hokuto but the lynx seemed to be asleep or just too lazy to answer, Juri wasn’t quite sure. Taiga made a weird noise - something between a shriek and a chirp, and flew to the floor just to change back.
“For a while, yeah,” he admitted and sat on the sofa, looking at Hokuto when talking. “Sorry for not telling you guys. We just figured it was easier to practice with just the two of us. A pride thing, probably. We wanted to make sure we’d have the spell properly mastered before showing off to you.”
“It’s okay,” Shintaro said, clearly unable to separate his hands from Hokuto’s fur. Juri supposed Shintaro missed his pet dog as much as Juri missed his own, and at the moment Hokuto was pretty much the same size with Shintaro’s dog, if not just a bit smaller.
“Hey, what are you guys going to do on the Christmas holiday? My mother asked if you all would like to come over to celebrate New Year with us,” Shintaro suddenly said, “I know it’s a bit early but her owl came today and I thought I’d ask you now that you might not have made any overlapping plans yet.”
“Sure!” Jesse immediately said, and the others nodded - even Hokuto who apparently was awake after all.
“Great,” Shintaro said and grinned happily, “You remember the big forest close to my home? We could all go to play there! You know, like this,” he said and ruffled the fur on Hokuto’s stomach.
Juri and Jesse glanced at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking about. They liked Shintaro’s idea but there was a small ‘but’ in it. It meant they’d have to learn the spell before the Christmas holiday that was less than two months away.
- - -
Chapter 4
Chapter: 3/9
Rating: PG
1 2
- - -
Kouchi’s success encouraged the rest of them to keep on trying, and before a week had passed, they were surprised again.
It was a rainy, boring evening in late October. Juri, Taiga, and Shintaro were spending time in the hideout, doing their homework and chatting about whatever came up to their minds.
Juri glanced at his wristwatch and sighed. Hokuto had had something important to do after dinner and he had promised to come to the hideout later, failing to specify what time ‘later’ actually was. Juri would have needed help with his Defense Against Dark Arts exercises but apparently he’d just have to find the answers all alone. Taiga wasn’t much of help; the curse that he had been given for homework had nothing to do with Juri’s curse.
Shintaro had been sitting in the corner of the sofa for a long time, staring at the air in front of him, and Juri had supposed he was simply deep in his thoughts. Maybe he had been, but suddenly he looked up at Juri and Taiga, a small yet somehow excited smile playing in the corners of his mouth.
“I think I can do it,” Shintaro said. He stretched his arms and cracked his neck, grinned and raised two fingers into a peace sign - started to change. Juri’s mouth fell open from the shock as he followed how Shintaro’s familiar features suddenly switched to something completely else. Like Kouchi, Shintaro too grew fur but his fur was thick and grey, his ears pointed and nose long, and his paws were almost the same size as the whole squirrel had been.
If Juri had ever wondered what a living, breathing wolf looked like, he now got the best view possible as he stared straight into the eyes of one.
Juri hardly dared to breathe when the wolf studied his face. He remembered Kouchi’s reaction to changing and tried not to think about what it would look like if Shintaro’s inner wolf threw a similar fit.
“Juri…” Taiga whispered in a wavering voice and Juri guessed Taiga was feeling the exactly same kind of a slowly raising panic as he was. Neither one of them managed to do anything else before the wolf stepped across the short distance, towards Juri. Juri gasped aloud and thought, for a fleeting second, about his wand that was in his bag behind his chair, but on the next moment he almost fell from the chair when he suddenly had his lap full of paws and ears and fur that was both rough and soft at the same time.
“Shintaro?” he asked and the wolf let out a whining noise, rubbing the top of his head against Juri’s shoulder and tapping his thighs with his paws. “You’re not mad are you? Not dangerous?” Juri asked, just to be sure.
If it was possible for a wolf to look accusing and amused at the same time, Shintaro sure did. He shook his head and sniffed Juri’s clothes curiously, making Juri squirm and laugh.
“Stop it! It tickles!” he cried out and finally dared to raise his hands to properly grab the fur on Shintaro’s neck. Shintaro seemed to like it; he let out a low happy growl and leaned his head against Juri’s hands until Juri understood he was actually begging for scratching.
“What kind of a wolf are you even,” he chuckled aloud, his tone much gentler than he had originally meant to, “An adorable attention-seeking puppy dog is what you are!”
After a while Taiga dared to walk around the table and crouch next to Shintaro, joining in to scratch his neck. Shintaro didn’t hesitate to show how much he enjoyed all the attention he got, and Juri couldn’t help a soft smile.
The torch next to the door made a clicking noise and Shintaro immediately looked up towards the noise. Juri looked up too and grinned widely. Hokuto had absolutely no chance to process what happened before he was lying on the floor already, a full-grown wolf’s heavy paws on his chest.
“Down, boy,” Juri laughed and almost took pity on his friend who looked like he was actually mute of the shock, his eyes wide and round when he looked up into the black eyes of the wolf.
“Juri, Shintaro! Stop being mean,” Taiga scolded, even if he couldn’t help smiling as well. Without any needless considerateness he went to push the wolf away from Hokuto.
“Shin--” Hokuto stammered, slowly seeming to remember how to form words. “Shintaro?” he repeated and looked at the wolf who had sat down next to him like any well-mannered family dog. Then the sudden understanding lighted up Hokuto’s face and he could hardly hide his excitement.
“Really? You can do it! Did you already tell Kouchi and Jesse?”
“Not yet. It’s kind of a recent piece of news from the last five minutes,” Taiga chuckled and Shintaro waved his tail happily. There was no doubt about how pleased he was with himself right at the moment.
“You brat, tell me on this instant how you managed to do it!” Hokuto demanded laughing and attacked Shintaro, scratching and tickling him until they were rolling around on the floor as a one big bundle of fur and limbs.
“There we have a mature adult wizard,” Taiga pointed out and shook his head, smiling at his friends. Juri nodded and grinned too, but it wasn’t Hokuto that he was looking at.
As weird as the thought was, Shintaro was kind of good-looking even as a wolf. Juri liked his dog-like features that distantly reminded him of his own dog back at home. Going to a boarding school had its downsides too - one of them was constantly missing his pet dog. Why were cats, owls and toads allowed in the school when dogs were such a no-no? Well, he had to admit, a dog surely made more noise than any cat or toad ever did. Owls might be noisy sometimes but at least they lived in the owlery and thus rarely disturbed anyone.
“Juri? What are you staring at?”
The sudden words and Shintaro’s face just a few inches away from his nose awakened Juri from his deep thoughts and he blinked in surprise. Even though he had been looking at Shintaro and Hokuto his thoughts had distracted him well enough that he hadn’t really noticed Shintaro changing back.
“Nothing, I… Sorry,” Juri answered lamely and offered Shintaro a sheepish grin, “I must be tired or something.”
He wasn’t sure if Shintaro looked at him a bit longer than what was normal or if he was only imagining. He didn’t have time to keep wondering about it when Hokuto sat down on one of the chairs around the table, repeating his earlier question now that Shintaro could talk to him again.
“I… uh, how to explain it,” Shintaro said, “it’’s… it’s so tricky and simple at the same time.”
“Try, at least?”
“Well,” Shintaro said slowly, frowning in the same way Kouchi had done when he had been asked the same question. “You know, when you cast the ordinary everyday spells, you know, accio, fixing charms… The usual stuff that you know you’d be able to do even if you were half-asleep. When you do those spells you don’t need to wonder if they will work or not. You have your wand and you know you know the spell by heart and you just know whatever you want to make happen really will happen. I… I think it’s the same here. You need to know you’re able to do it.”
“Really?” Taiga asked, crossing his arms on his chest and clearly trying to understand, with weak results.
“Of course I’m just guessing,” Shintaro rushed to add, “but that’s the best way I can explain it.”
Hokuto nodded as if he understood but he said nothing. For the rest of the evening Shintaro amused them all by randomly changing back and forth every now and then. (“I need to practice a lot, or I might forget how to do it before tomorrow morning!”)
-
The Halloween party of the school was a spectacle that every student in the school always waited eagerly. On the Halloween eve only one lesson was held after lunch, after which everyone left the Great Hall to prepare for the party in their own dormitories.
Juri looked at the mirror and frowned. He had colored his skin to look much paler than usually, and dressed up with some old rags of clothing that his mother had found in the attic and sent him by their family owl. After dressing up he had splashed a big bottle of self-made fake blood all over his face and clothes, successfully making himself look like someone who had been violently assaulted to death.
All in all, he was very pleased with his costume. The only problem were his eyes. He had managed to change their color with a simple color-changing spell but he wasn’t sure if the made-up dull greyish shade would stay for the whole evening.
“Are you ready to go?” Jesse asked from the door. He was wearing a ridiculously old-fashioned black dress robe and a black pointed hat with a wide brim. He had probably used some kind of a spell to make his nose much bigger and his teeth disgustingly yellow and twisted. On top of everything he was carrying along the most pathetic-looking broomstick Juri had ever seen - and he had seen many.
“I’m a witch,” Jesse explained when he noticed Juri’s questioning look, “This is what muggle kids think witches look like. They dress up like this every Easter!”
“Such medieval mental images, huh?”
“Pretty much,” Jesse agreed and grinned, “I considered bringing a stuffed black cat with me but it would be too much of a bother to drag it along the whole evening.”
The Great Hall was a stunning sight every year but even the seventh year students had to admit this time it was even more impressing than usual.
Hundreds of floating candles and carved jack-o-lanterns on the long tables were the only source of lighting in the otherwise dark Hall. Real bats were flying around, the windows had been covered with black velvet curtains, and when looking up at the ceiling they saw thousands of little stars glimmering on the cloudless night sky.
The party started with a feast, during which the students sat in their own houses’ tables. Afterwards they were allowed to switch tables to sit with their friends as they wished.
Juri frowned when he saw Shintaro’s costume; the grey ears and tail, and the furry pelt he was wearing.
“Are those real?” he hissed and glared at the ears and the tail.”
“Of course they’re not my own,” Shintaro snorted, rolling his eyes, “I’m not that stupid! I bought them in Hogsmead last week. I wouldn’t risk someone noticing anything. Besides, I wouldn’t even be able to grow the ears and the tail like you do - it’s either-or for me.”
Juri felt a bit embarrassed for having snapped so easily and he simply nodded, not really wanting to be forced to admit he had pulled too quick conclusions.
“What are you then?” he asked, in an awkward attempt to change the topic.
“I’m a werewolf of course,” Shintaro said as if it should have been obvious even without him saying it, “And you are…”
“A living corpse, maybe? I don’t really have a name for this,” Juri chuckled and grinned, “just wanted something bloody.”
“You’re weird,” Shintaro informed him and glanced at the tables where empty dinner trays had been switched with new servings of dessert. “Come on, I think I could finally manage to eat something more. Where are the others?”
“In the end of the Slytherin table. Let’s go there!” Juri said and pointed at the direction where he saw Hokuto, Kouchi and Jesse sitting together with Taiga.
A few hours later they were still sitting on the same place, chatting and having fun, and enjoying themselves. Juri felt like he would probably never have to eat again with how full he was, and the best news of the evening was the headmaster’s announcement that there would be no lessons before lunch on the next day.
“The charms teacher totally got mad at me today,” Hokuto said and emptied his cup of pumpkin juice, “You should have seen his face!”
“It’s no wonder, it was both stupid and dangerous,” Kouchi scolded, and Hokuto grinned without a slightest hint of regret.
“I wasn’t the one who started it; Fuma was!” he defended himself and everyone laughed. In the middle of it Juri happened to look up and suddenly met Shintaro’s eyes. Shintaro just looked at him quietly, and Juri quickly looked away, afraid of anything the other might see in his eyes.
A sudden pain in his ankle made Juri grimace and he looked at Jesse, ready to snap at him. Jesse narrowed his eyes and Juri could only barely see his minimal twitch of head towards Shintaro’s direction. Juri shook his head and frowned, trying to ignore Jesse’s wordless message. It proved difficult when Jesse continued kicking his ankles and legs until Juri kicked back.
“Fine,” he shushed through his teeth and Jesse’s smug smile was even more annoying than usually.
“Huh?” Kouchi asked, “Did you say something?”
“Nothing,” Juri said quickly, “What were you saying about the charms?”
As time passed by, little by little people started to move towards their own beds and finally, when the big clock of the school hit three o’clock, the six boys decided it was time to go to sleep as well.
“Did you have something to do?” Jesse whispered with a meaningful glance at Juri. Juri simply pushed him towards the staircase.
“Go to sleep, brat,” he murmured. Jesse grinned and followed Hokuto upstairs at the same time when Taiga, Kouchi and Shintaro turned towards the corridor that lead to the underground floors of the castle.
“Shin,” Juri started, very aware about how there wasn't any way to avoid sounding incredibly stupid with what he was about to say. “I need to talk to you. Do you…”
“Huh? No. I mean, I don’t mind,” Shintaro said quickly and Juri wasn’t sure if his awkwardness was more comforting or unnerving. At least Shintaro didn’t laugh at him, which Juri supposed was a positive thing. He didn’t know why he thought Shintaro would possibly have wanted to laugh at him but he couldn’t help thinking so anyway.
Kouchi and Taiga shared an unreadable look but neither one asked anything (another thing Juri felt rather thankful for) and they left, leaving the two boys alone in the dimly lit corridor.
“Uh, can we find some… more private place?” Juri asked and Shintaro glanced around.
“The staircase to the astronomy tower? It’s right there and I doubt anybody will be passing by tonight,” he suggested.
Juri nodded and they tiptoed through the entrance hall. They couldn’t hear or see anyone but Juri kept having a weird chilly tickle in his neck the whole way to the staircase. He had a strange feeling the paintings and the old armors by the walls somehow knew two students were sneaking around in the middle of the night. Despite none of the paintings and armors reacting to them in any way Juri only dared to look around when they were safely at the door behind which the astronomy tower staircase was. There, in the dark corner, his back against the robust wood, Juri felt notably safer than at the open corridors.
“So,” Shintaro started but seemed to be unsure how to continue. “So, you… wanted to talk.”
“Yeah,” Juri murmured. He looked up to the ceiling, down at his own shoes, at the empty corridor in front of them, and finally almost into Shintaro’s eyes but not quite. His heart was beating as if he had just ran a marathon and his palms felt sweaty no matter how many times he tried to rub them dry against the sides of his jeans.
What had he been thinking about? What was one supposed to say in a situation like this? Juri had never confessed to anyone; what should he say? Jesse had teased him about the lacking courage. Well, there were many kinds of courage, Juri thought bitterly. He was pretty sure he could fearlessly fight a boggart or some other weird creature but somehow, at the moment, Shintaro frightened him a lot more than any magical creature he could imagine meeting.
He made the mistake of looking up into Shintaro’s eyes and shivered. The torches along the corridor were still burning and even though the torches hardly gave them enough light to perceive each other’s features, the light was strong enough that Juri could see Shintaro’s eyes and the way Shintaro was biting his lower lip. It was hard not to stare and Juri had to mentally slap himself before he'd start looking too creepy.
“I really don’t know how to say this,” he finally sighed. He felt so incredibly stupid and embarrassed at the same time. He was just a coward after all. The only thing that stopped him from escaping and running up to the Gryffindor common room was his pig-headed pride and maybe basic manners as well. He had asked Shintaro to come with him so he had better swallow his fear and say what had to be said.
“Try anyway?” Shintaro said and the softness of his voice finally made the magic. Juri slowly looked up again until they were looking into each other’s eyes.
“The thing is,” he started and took a shivering breath, “I like you. You know, that way.”
There, he had finally said it aloud. Juri blinked and felt a chill run up his spine. He was still afraid of Shintaro’s reaction but somehow it felt like the worst part was over already.
Shintaro was very quiet for a long time and Juri shifted his weight from one leg to another. Why did it take so long? Was Shintaro trying to come up with a nice way to turn him down after all? Maybe Juri had been misjudging his actions all the time?
“Me… too,” Shintaro slowly said and let out an awkward laughter, “You, I mean. I like you.”
The words were hardly audible but Juri heard them as if Shintaro had screamed them aloud. The nagging fear suddenly vanished from his mind but his heart was still racing in an undoubtedly unhealthy speed. He couldn’t help smiling and felt a warm wave flooding through his body when Shintaro smiled back at him, the both of them chuckling until the noise turned too loud and they suddenly fell silent when the sound of their laughter was starting to echo from the stone walls of the empty corridor.
“So, um. What do we do now?” Shintaro asked and Juri felt sincerely relieved. Insecurity was easier to stand when he wasn’t the only one feeling it.
“I don’t know,” he first admitted but continued after a while, “What people usually do when they like each other? You know, I’m being serious here.”
“Me too,” Shintaro said and glanced away for a second before looking back into Juri’s eyes. “Does it mean you want to be together with me?”
“Something like that,” Juri said and suddenly felt braver again. By now they were definitely past the worst part. A confession, an answer; they were across those already. They only had the backwash left and Juri didn't really mind that part much. “Yes. I want to be together with you. You know, I’m not the worst boyfriend option there is,” he added. A tiny piece of humor never killed anyone, right?
“I wonder,” Shintaro chuckled and grinned, and for Juri the grin was bright enough to warm the whole cool space around them.
Juri answered the smile and looked down again, for some reason locking his eyes to Shintaro’s hand. Without a second thought Juri reached across the short distance and took Shintaro’s hand in his own, just to feel his skin. It was warm like Shintaro’s smile, and so real that Juri felt a bit overwhelmed from that only. He had long ago lost count of how many times he had tried to imagine touching Shintaro in any way that couldn’t be explained as normal affection of close friends.
They stood like that for a long time - at least if felt like a long time - until Shintaro looked down at their linked hands and cleared his throat.
“We should go to sleep,” he said and Juri really liked how reluctant the tone of his voice was.
“I know,” he said with a nod but did nothing to carry out the plan. Suddenly, without any kind of a forewarning, Shintaro yanked on Juri’s hand and pulled him into a tight hug. Juri gasped when he felt Shintaro’s arms around his shoulders and the sudden warmth and Shintaro’s scent that immediately surrounded him.
“Don’t worry. I won’t change my mind by the morning,” Shintaro whispered right into Juri’s ear and Juri couldn’t help a small shiver. How had Shintaro guessed what he had been thinking about?
“You better not,” Juri chuckled and wrapped his own arms around Shintaro’s waist. It felt good to just stand there like that and Juri closed his eyes for just a tiny moment.
After a while Shintaro shook him a bit, laughing when he stepped back to see Juri’s face better.
“Are you falling asleep?” Shintaro asked and Juri couldn’t help a tired grin.
“What if I am?”
“Come on,” Shintaro said and rolled his eyes, “I’ll take you to the Gryffindor common room.”
Kento and Shoki were already sleeping when Juri tiptoed to their room. When Juri climbed up to his bed he noticed a hand-written note on his night stand.
I expect a full report, it said in Jesse’s tidy handwriting.
Juri grinned and crawled under his blankets. He actually had things to report, he realized and rolled around in his bed for a few times, simply from pure relief, happiness, and excitement.
Maybe he dared to say he was qualified to be a Gryffindor after all.
- - -
The next morning was not quite as nice as Juri had imagined.
Firstly, he felt deadly tired even though he only woke up around half past ten.
Secondly, what actually woke him up was Jesse sneaking into their room and jumping on Juri’s bed with a huge leap, alarming him from his sleep.
“I did warn you,” Jesse said and nodded towards the small memo still on Juri’s night stand, “Now tell me everything.”
“Not so loud…” Juri whined and tried to pull his blanket across his head. Jesse, however, did not seem to find a problem at crawling under Juri’s blanket as well. There he stared at Juri until Juri forced his eyes to open and looked at Jesse who grinned widely and shook his head.
“It’s okay. Nakajima and Morohoshi already left an hour ago. Some people went to sleep in time, you know. But it’s okay; just tell me what happened.”
“It’s none of your business,” Juri mumbled and pressed his face against his pillow, unable to stop the smile that was growing on his face as the events of the past night quickly returned into his mind.
“It’s thanks to me that you can smile like that you know,” Jesse said with a smug smile that slowly turned into more sincere one. “No, really. You look like it went well?”
Juri simply nodded at first, not quite sure what he was supposed to say before he suddenly found the words.
“I… think I have a boyfriend. No, I really do,” he said, for the first time ever, and he really liked the taste and the feeling of those words.
“Man, congrats!” Jesse said and rolled onto his back, his smile getting even wider, “You know, you’re the first of us. Well, you two are.”
“I guess,” Juri chuckled and glanced at Jesse, “Thank you.”
“No problem. So, how was it?”
“How was what?” Juri frowned and turned to look at Jesse who answered by raising his eyebrows as if Juri had just asked something very obvious or very stupid.
“Kissing him, of course,” Jesse said, looking expectantly at Juri’s blank expression until understanding spread on his face and he sat up in shock, pulling the blanket along with him. “You didn’t kiss him?”
“Cold,” Juri complained but sat up as well. “Well, no. We just… didn’t feel like that I guess. I mean, I want to kiss him, of course I do, but. Wouldn’t it have been a bit too rushed?”
“Too rushed he says,” Jesse moaned and buried his face into his hands for a moment, “Tanaka Juri. You’re… I don’t even know what to say. And Shintaro. What are you two, innocent virgins?”
“Rather big words from someone who has barely held hands with a girl themselves,” Juri pointed out in a more bitter tone than how he really felt.
“Not the point,” Jesse retorted and shook his head, looking so disappointed that Juri actually laughed at him.
“What did you expect to hear? That I pressed him against the wall and kissed him senseless?” he blurted out the first thing that came up to his mind, and immediately regretted his words as they brought along way too nice mental images that he’d rather not have had with Jesse in the same room. (With Jesse in the same bed.)
“Too much information,” Jesse announced and got up from the bed, “Enough with beauty sleep and adult-rated fantasies, the breakfast is served late today but it's almost over already. I’ll go downstairs, come to the Great Hall when you're ready!”
Juri didn't know what he had imagined when thinking about the next morning, or if he had imagined anything at all. Either way, the breakfast was the most awkward one that he had ever had, even though the other four seemed to be totally unaffected by the awkwardness that milled around Juri and Shintaro.
Shintaro looked up when Juri found his friends sitting together in the Hufflepuff table. Their eyes met and both looked quickly away. And yet, when Juri secretly glanced back at Shintaro he noticed a small smile on his face, much alike to the smile that Juri couldn’t prevent even if he tried to.
Everyone else was talking together while Juri and Shintaro ate quietly. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to talk to each other, and the feeling was far from the disoriented insecurity from last night. Suddenly they just didn’t seem to know how to talk to each other. Juri wondered if the others knew the reason.
Slowly, secretly, he looked at each of his friends through his bangs. No-one paid any attention to him. Juri knew Jesse was ignoring their silence on purpose but Hokuto, Taiga, and Kouchi seemed to be completely oblivious about the matter.
He winced in surprise when he felt a light nudge against his ankle. Seriously, what was with these people? It was a miracle he hadn’t gotten bruises from how Jesse had abused his legs during last night’s dinner. It took a moment before he realized it wasn’t Taiga who was kicking him from the other side. It was Shintaro.
Surprised, Juri raised his eyebrows in a question. Shintaro shook his head and smiled, leaving his feet where they were, leaning against Juri’s feet. The small gesture broke the ice between them and Juri chuckled quietly, shifting his own feet just so they were even closer to Shintaro’s.
Maybe Jesse was right; maybe they were disgustingly innocent. Somehow it didn’t disturb Juri at all.
“What are you smiling at?” Hokuto asked and waved his fork in front of Juri’s nose, “One could think you’re in love with the mushroom pie when you look at it like that!”
“Who knows,” Juri said, and Hokuto soon gave up when he got nothing more to tease him about.
During the day it came obvious that the others really had no idea about what had happened last night. Maybe the two of them weren’t being quite as obvious as Juri had feared, after all. In fact, after the Care of Magical Creatures lesson Juri could have sworn Hokuto was acting weirder than he was, even though Hokuto himself assured him there was nothing wrong with him.
“Well, in fact there’s something,” Hokuto finally admitted, “I’ll show you in the evening, okay?”
Juri accepted the promise and they agreed to meet at the hideout after the Gryffindor Quidditch team’s practice. Juri tried to concentrate on the lesson again but he soon noticed the attempt was doomed to fail. He was present in the Magical Creatures class but his thoughts were circling around the Potions classroom where he knew Shintaro was sitting.
After the Quidditch practice it was already dark when Juri and Jesse walked back to the castle, and Juri felt like he could sleep for a week if only he had been allowed to. They left their brooms to the broom closet of the great hall and were halfway in the staircase when they heard the echo of running steps behind them.
“Juri!” Shintaro called and jogged to them, grinning when he stopped at the same step with them. “Sorry I’m late. You were quicker than I expected.”
“I’ll go first!” Jesse said cheerfully, winked at them and left his friends alone in the middle of the big staircase.
“Late?” Juri asked and frowned, “Late from… wait. Were you waiting for me?”
“I planned to,” Shintaro said with a shrug and Juri felt the familiar warmth flooding inside him again. At the same time he was painfully aware how sweaty and red-faced he still was. Gryffindor’s first game against Slytherin was only a few days ahead and they had trained with their full energy. Juri was actually shaking of exhaustion and he hoped whatever Hokuto wanted to talk about would be a quick thing.
"Are you coming to the hideout too?” Shintaro suddenly asked and Juri nodded in confusion. Had Hokuto asked them all to come? He wondered what was so important on such a late hour.
“Good, then I’ll wait for you while you’re showering,” Shintaro said happily.
“You don’t need to,” Juri said quickly, “It’d be a bother to you. Just go before me.”
“It’s all right. I'll wait,” Shintaro said and looked at Juri in a way that didn’t accept any complaints. “Don’t make me wait too long or I start to think about you in there and --”
“Fine, fine, shut up,” Juri hissed and pressed his hand on Shintaro’s mouth, only noticing how badly the action backfired when he saw Shintaro’s eyes that were shining from laughter. Juri quickly pulled away and swallowed. He was being awkward again, and it was even worse now that Shintaro was clearly handling the situation with much more ease than he was.
“Sorry,” Shintaro chuckled, “I suppose I shouldn’t joke about that?”
“No, I don’t mind! Uh, I mean… just. Just do as you wish,” Juri stammered and felt like jumping down from the Astronomy tower. Seriously, he had been able to hide his crush for more than a year already, so why did Shintaro’s presence make him feel like a lovesick idiot now that he had already got what he had wanted all the time?
“Go,” Shintaro pressed, “I’ll follow you and wait in the corridor.”
Shintaro did wait him as promised. What Juri hadn’t expected was that as soon as he opened the door of the bathroom and tried to step out Shintaro pushed him back in and locked the door after them.
“Finally,” he sighed and grabbed the collar of Juri’s shirt in his fists but didn't quite look up into Juri’s eyes. “Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find you alone anywhere?”
“It’s not--” Juri started but trailed off mid-sentence when he realized Shintaro might be right. He had been hanging around with several people for the whole day - on purpose.
“Yes it is,” Shintaro said. He sounded depressed enough that Juri took a deep breath and gathered his courage. He raised his hands on Shintaro’s sides and pulled him closer until they were standing chest-to-chest; close enough that Juri could lean his head against Shintaro’s.
“When did you grow up like that?” he asked quietly, “I mean, both you and Jesse suddenly became so tall.”
“How would I know?” Shintaro chuckled sheepishly, “Ryu never grew this tall. They even joked about it at home, wondering whose child I really am since our parents aren't very tall either.”
“It’s all right,” Juri said and closed his eyes for a moment, “It’s comfortable like this.” He really meant it, and it got even more comfortable when Shintaro let his shirt go and wrapped his arms around his shoulders instead, very much the same way he had done last night.
“It’s been a weird day, huh?” Shintaro said and Juri nodded. It still was even at the moment but he actually felt easier about talking about it now that Shintaro was there with him.
“Definitely,” Juri agreed. “So,” he continued when Shintaro was quiet for a long time.
“So?” Shintaro asked and Juri squirmed, not really wanting to admit how clueless he felt.
“Now what?” he then murmured. Shintaro smiled and leaned back so that he saw Juri’s eyes without taking his arms off of Juri's shoulders.
"How about you kiss me?" he asked and seemed to be happily aware of Juri's sudden shyness. "Come on, it's just me."
"It's because of you that I'm like this you know," Juri whined, "You just glance at me and I'm immediately all confused and insecure and--"
His complaints were cut in short when Shintaro quickly leaned over and gave him a small peck right on the lips. Juri blinked, suddenly feeling like his heart had completely stopped for a moment.
"I really admire the famous Gryffindor courage," Shintaro murmured and brushed his fingertips across Juri's cheek, smiling amusedly, "But you know, just sometimes it requires a Hufflepuff to make sure things actually get done." He grinned and leaned closer again, this time to kiss Juri properly.
Juri's body worked on its own, without him telling it what to do. He closed his eyes and clutched on Shintaro's shirt, answering to the kiss curiously, his shyness slowly fading off when he realized Shintaro wasn't any better at kissing than he was. He liked it anyway.
A small gasp escaped Shintaro's lips when Juri gathered his nerve and moved his hands across Shintaro's back and sides, and Juri felt a bit lightheaded. Shintaro's lips against his own, the soft fabric of Shintaro's hoodie, the warmth of Shintaro's body, the small sounds Shintaro made when Juri tentatively ran his tongue across his lower lip; even such little things were almost too much to him for now. He could have continued it for hours, or maybe forever, if the fear of their friends’ way-too-curious questions hadn’t forced him to step back after a while.
“I think we should go already,” he said and leaned his forehead against Shintaro’s, “Before they think I finally learned the spell and changed into a fish.”
“That would be a sight,” Shintaro snorted, and suddenly turned serious. “What if that happened? What if one of you changes into something that can’t live out of water?”
“Then obviously one of us will throw him into a bowl of water and then he’ll change back.”
“But it’s not very much fun,” Shintaro sighed, “he could always swim in the lake but it sounds rather lonely business.”
“No-one has changed into a fish yet and we can always hope that won’t happen at all. Our Animagus forms are supposed to reflect our personality and inner traits. Which one of us look like a cold, slimy and soulless person to you?”
“Sometimes if feels as if all of you were like that,” Shintaro said, making a face, and Juri laughed.
“That’s because we like you,” he said and couldn’t resist the urge to kiss Shintaro once again before they would have to leave to the hideout.
Once, or maybe twice.
It took almost fifteen minutes before they finally walked through the wall and found everyone already waiting in the hideout.
“Forty-five minutes, Juri,” Jesse said. His voice was mocking and he was rolling his eyes but Juri saw the amused twinkle behind the faked frustration, and he didn’t take Jesse’s words to heart. Not that he would have done so very often anyway. “Seriously, one could think you'd have learned to take quicker showers by now, considering there are six more people in your family, all wanting to use the same shower.”
“My brothers like to shower in the mornings,” Juri said with a shrug. “I’ll rather shower in the evenings to avoid queuing. Besides, no-one really cares. If someone takes too long in the shower the next one will just join him,” he continued like it was the most natural thing in the world. To him and his brothers it was.
“It’s true,” Taiga murmured from the other side of the room, “And they don’t really bother to check who is in the shower before walking in.”
“Aw, Taiga. Are you still traumatized over it? That was years ago!” Juri laughed, and at the same time mentally thanked him for pulling the attention into himself instead of Juri and Shintaro. “You just aren’t used to that,” he tried to console his friend. Taiga only chuckled, pointing out the fact that as an only child he didn’t really need to get used to such things.
“What was it that you wanted to talk about,” Shintaro asked and slumped onto his favorite armchair, looking at Hokuto expectantly.
Hokuto and Taiga exchanged a silent glance, and Taiga nodded.
“We’ve been practicing,” he said, waving his hand between himself and Taiga. “And, well. We thought we’d show you, too.”
After such a preparing speech Juri already guessed what was going to happen. Yet he felt surprised and excited at the same time, hardly blinking when he stared at Hokuto and Taiga who, without any difficulty, changed forms in front of their friends.
The both of them shrank in size; Taiga more and faster than Hokuto. While Hokuto grew a greyish-yellow spotted fur, Taiga got a shiny light brown plumage. Hokuto’s pointed ears had cute tufts, and he sat down on the floor once the change was complete. At the same time Taiga spread his wings and flew a circle around the room, landing on the back rest of one of the chairs.
The lynx and the falcon were quite an impressing sight, especially together like that. Juri had only ever seen pictures of such animals so he was eager to take a closer look.
He didn’t need to wait long since Taiga rose up on his wings again and flew across the room, and when Juri raised his arm, Taiga landed on it, turning his head and looking into his eyes.
“Wow. You’re gorgeous,” Juri murmured and slowly raised his other hand. “May I pet you?”
Taiga nodded and turned his head even more towards Juri’s hand when he carefully brushed the soft feathers with his index finger.
“I don’t think I have to be worried over my a puppy form anymore,” Shintaro chuckled and scratched behind the lynx’s ears, “Just look at Hokuto. I’ve never seen a more domesticated kitten!”
“What else would he be but domesticated? He’s house-trained and would hardly survive two days in the wilderness,” Jesse joked and crouched next to them. Hokuto didn’t mind getting even more attention and happily slouched on the floor between Jesse and Shintaro.
“Feels weird,” Kouchi murmured when he too reached to pet Taiga’s head and back with his fingertips.
“Why?” Juri asked curiously, and Kouchi made a face.
“Squirrels are not necessarily falcons’ most common food but it doesn’t mean they can’t hunt squirrels as well, sometimes.”
Taiga turned to look at him with narrowed eyes and Juri could only barely keep his poker face when Kouchi winced just a little bit at the sudden movement. Juri had never thought a falcon would be able to look so unimpressed. Taiga let out a short high-pitched cry and jumped from Juri’s arm, landing on top of Kouchi’s head instead.
“Ouch,” Kouchi gasped, “mind the nails!” Taiga tilted his head, glanced down at his thin yellow toes and then jumped down on Kouchi’s shoulder instead.
“Thanks,” the boy murmured and rubbed his head with the other palm. “I didn’t say I was afraid of you eating me, did I?”
Taiga shook his head and comfortably ruffled his feathers.
“Did you say you’ve been practicing?” Shintaro asked and Taiga nodded again. He looked at Hokuto but the lynx seemed to be asleep or just too lazy to answer, Juri wasn’t quite sure. Taiga made a weird noise - something between a shriek and a chirp, and flew to the floor just to change back.
“For a while, yeah,” he admitted and sat on the sofa, looking at Hokuto when talking. “Sorry for not telling you guys. We just figured it was easier to practice with just the two of us. A pride thing, probably. We wanted to make sure we’d have the spell properly mastered before showing off to you.”
“It’s okay,” Shintaro said, clearly unable to separate his hands from Hokuto’s fur. Juri supposed Shintaro missed his pet dog as much as Juri missed his own, and at the moment Hokuto was pretty much the same size with Shintaro’s dog, if not just a bit smaller.
“Hey, what are you guys going to do on the Christmas holiday? My mother asked if you all would like to come over to celebrate New Year with us,” Shintaro suddenly said, “I know it’s a bit early but her owl came today and I thought I’d ask you now that you might not have made any overlapping plans yet.”
“Sure!” Jesse immediately said, and the others nodded - even Hokuto who apparently was awake after all.
“Great,” Shintaro said and grinned happily, “You remember the big forest close to my home? We could all go to play there! You know, like this,” he said and ruffled the fur on Hokuto’s stomach.
Juri and Jesse glanced at each other, both knowing what the other was thinking about. They liked Shintaro’s idea but there was a small ‘but’ in it. It meant they’d have to learn the spell before the Christmas holiday that was less than two months away.
- - -
Chapter 4