Harry Potter AU - requested by anonymous on tumblr

Seijūrō had a plan for his entire life. A simple plan with simple steps; impress the teachers with his knowledge and his magical strength as well as his determination and intelligence, become prefect in his fifth year, move onto being head boy and immediately after school get a prestigious placement in the Ministry of Magic. By the time he was thirty, he knew he would have taken the top position and be Minister of Magic, same as his father.

What he hadn'texpected, was that his world would be turned upside-down by the Hufflepuff boy that sat next to him in Charms and seemed to be afflicted by a strange tremor whenever he happened to look upon Seijūrō. He introduced himself normally when they were in class, but apparently his reputation had beaten him and the boy—Kōki—was hardly able to take his hand to shake it (his entire body was shaking after all). Seijūrō was shocked, but let it pass by. Until he noticed that the boy was also in his Potions class. They were seated together—Shintaro would have called it fate but Seijūrō didn't believe such ridiculous notions—and at some point during the lesson Kōki managed to break a vial of belladonna extract mixed with monksbane (why it was out in a first years' class Seijūrō had no idea) and it spilled over Seijūrō's hand. He hissed in pain as his skin seared red and Kōki yelped apologies and cowered as if Seijūrō was going to hit him. He considered it, but was interrupted by the Professor who told Kōki to take Seijūrō to the hospital wing.

He stayed for longer than he necessarily needed to, but Seijūrō was (in part) grateful for the company.

The next incident occurred at their first flying lesson. Seijūrō found himself standing next to Kōki again (by his own volition? He couldn't remember) and he timidly asked Seijūrō how his hand was. Seijūrō replied that it was a lot better. He wasn't lying, either. The skin only pulled a bit when he was writing and he hardly thought about it the past couple of days. The lesson started and Seijūrō was surprised to learn that Kōki was a decent flier. Maybe even more than decent.

With careful consideration and slow movements, he managed to befriend Kōki, only now and then asking himself why he was bothering with it. It wasn't as if Kōki was on his level; apart from flying he was completely average.

The next year they both joined their respective Quidditch teams, both as Chasers. The games could get slightly awkward sometimes, what with a determination rising in Kōki that Seijūrō hadn't even realised he had causing him to become fixated on his goal. More than once Seijūrō was knocked off his broom if he let himself get distracted at all. Kōki would apologise profusely afterwards, and with a bit of guilt-tripping and manipulation Seijūrō found he could persuade Kōki to carry all his books for him from class to class—they shared many, after all.

And Seijūrō wasn't really sure when it changed, but one day he was watching Kōki in Herbology and he'd taken his gloves off with a relieved sigh and pushed his fringe back carelessly and Seijūrō could only stare and think that he wanted Kōki as his. He stepped slightly closer to him and shot a narrow look around the greenhouse, lest anyone had seen that beautiful gesture and was thinking of making him their own. Over the next few weeks, which turned into months, which turned into an entireyearhe tried to tell Kōki that they would have to be more than friends, but every time he panicked—panicked—and would blurt out excuses which, as time went on, only became more and more ridiculous.

The worst parts were when a girl would come up to Seijūrō and in a nervous manner ask whether Kōki would be adverse to going out with her. After a curt, "He's already interested in someone, sorry," she would scamper away, cheeks scarlet. And it happened a lot more than Seijūrō wanted it to. Every time Kōki would groan that he thought Quidditch players had more girls interested in them, and he'd only had a couple (which had slipped through Seijūrō's careful guard) Seijūrō would feign absolute innocence.

"Don't tell me you're basing your worth on how many girls are interested in you?" Seijūrō said scathingly at one point.

Kōki blushed and averted his gaze. "No. But it would be nice sometimes, you know?"

Seijūrō looked up from his Transfiguration essay. "You have nothing to worry about," he said casually. "Have you gotten much further with your essay?"

Kōki was chewing his lip as he watched him, but roused himself and shook his head. "Transfiguration makes no sense."

Seijūrō couldn't help thinking that if he got to 'teach' Kōki in his own way then he would learn a lot quicker and have a lotmore fun.

Kōki quit the Quidditch team in his fifth year, whilst Seijūrō stayed on as captain. In some ways it was better, seeing Kōki in the crowd, either teasingly making a point of supporting Hufflepuff or dutifully supporting Slytherin. Seijūrō knew from the beginning how it would go. Same as every year since he'd joined the team, and by even more of a margin when he was made captain near the end of his second year after the previous captain was injured, they would win. The finals were against Hufflepuff, and even seeing Kōki very obviously supporting Hufflepuff in the morning didn't bother him. It was kind of cute, actually, watching his smirk and the way he gently put Slytherin down and boasted about his own house.

"Kōki," Seijūrō said firmly after he insulted Slytherin's captain.

Kōki grinned slightly sheepishly at him. "Yes?"

His big eyes seemed confused when Seijūrō only watched him for a moment. "I… after the game, if Slytherin wins, I need to tell you something."

From Kōki's expression and the way he chewed his bottom lip Seijūrō was pretty sure that Kōki knew. He had been dancing around the issue for over three years, after all. He nodded slowly, and after glancing nervously at him from under his eyelashes and fiddling with the front of his shirt he went up on his tiptoes to quickly kiss Seijūrō on the cheek. He froze. "For luck," Kōki said as explanation, before bolting away, his shoulders hunched forward.

It was quite a surprise to Seijūrō that he didn't fall off his broom after that, but Slytherin played, and naturally he beat Hufflepuff's team. Kōki was already down from the stands and he smiled when he saw Seijūrō. Seijūrō was frozen again for a moment, before he started towards Kōki.

"So what was it that you—" Kōki broke off, had to break off when Seijūrō tilted his head up and kissed him. After a pause in which Seijūrō considered whether he should move back and maybe apologise, Kōki made a small sound, pressed forwards and tugged at his hair to pull him closer.

So Seijūrō didn't pull back. He'd waited long enough for this anyway.