#nikolai lanstov fanart | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lonslibrary · 1 year

Text

twin hearts (teach me something new) | alternatively: a harry potter/polyjuice potion retelling of the wrong first kiss in crooked kingdom

wylan turned to his potions partner with a grim, determined face.

kuwei, the raven haired boy and one of wylan’s friends in potions class, mirrored his expression from next to him.

“ready?”

wylan nodded, taking a big breath before sticking his fist out between them.

“rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

“yes!” wylan grinned as his scissors secured victory. he had hung out with kuwei enough to know his partner was cursing in shu.

the polyjuice potion assessment was notoriously one of the toughest of the year. in two days’ time, professor snape would ask the class to split into pairs and brew the potion so it would successfully turn one of them into another person in the school for a minimum of an hour. and while wylan loved potions and was determined for a good grade, he hadn’t exactly been looking forward to drinking the potion and walking around as professor hagrid, who had graciously given them a strand of his hair for their practice trial. he didn’t think he would have known what to do with a body that big.

wylan filled exactly one glass with their finished potion, pushing it in front of kuwei. after close to two hours, their elixir had ended up brewing a deep ravenclaw blue. while it didn’t smell anywhere close to as bad as the one from the group who had used the empty classroom before them, kuwei was still eyeing the glass nervously, looking a little closer to slytherin green.

“bottoms up, i guess.” kuwei said, gripping the glass before tipping his head back and swallowing twice, then once again. wylan watched anxiously as he smacked his lips.

“is it working?” he asked.

“i dunno...but it tasted like eggnog!” his partner’s smile faded as he groaned, grabbing his stomach. “it’s working. oh, no.”

“oh, yes.” wylan corrected as he turned to grab his pen from his bag. it was his first time seeing polyjuice potion in action and he intended to take as many notes as possible for their exam. when he turned back, however, he dropped his pen, stifling a shriek when he saw kuwei.

or—not kuwei. himself.

“all the saints and their mothers,” wylan paled.

“what?” kuwei asked frantically, feeling around his new face. “what happened? did something go wrong? i do feel a bit small for professor hagrid. actually, i feel smaller than myself.”

wylan just wordlessly pushed a looking glass over to his friend, still staring, aghast. was his nose always that crooked?

kuwei gasped when he caught sight of his reflection. “why am i you? what happened to professor hagrid’s hair?”

“i...don’t know.” wylan said honestly. he didn’t even know how they could possibly have mistaken his hair for professor hagrid’s.

“well,” kuwei shrugged. “at least we did it!”

wylan couldn’t help but smile at that before he was reminded of a very scary point from their lessons.

“...you don’t think we could have accidentally used both my hair and professor hagrid’s, do you?” wylan looked warily at his partner. “polyjuice potion can have very dangerous consequences when mixed with different people. maybe it would be a good idea to fetch professor snape and have him figure out what exactly went wrong.”

kuwei’s triumphant grin promptly dropped. “bloody hell. i think that would be a very good idea.”

the thought of a hybrid 8′6″ third year ravenclaw with a ginger beard and an affinity for flute had wylan sprinting out the door.

—

fifth year slytherin jesper fahey was having a very good day.

if you had told him a month ago he’d be happy about the tutor he’d been assigned because he close to flunking potions, he would’ve said you were insane. in fact, he’d been close to deciding that flunking the class would be just fine, especially when he found out his tutor was a third year. what had been a reluctant first meeting with a ruddy haired ravenclaw turned into thursday nights at the library that jesper grew to look forward to—all because of a wylan van eck.

wylan had been more nervous than him during their first lesson, looking away any time jesper looked at him too long and stumbling over his words. but as he explained the importance of salamander blood and the deflating draught, the boy’s voice had found a strength that came from a very obvious passion for the subject.

nerd, jesper had wanted to call him, but he found that for the first time he seemed to lose his words around his tutor with the perfect curls and nice handwriting. something about wylan van eck made jesper want to focus on potions. he wanted to love what wylan loved, and he was determined to impress him at their next lesson.

he had not impressed wylan at their second lesson. or their third lesson. in fact, a month in, wylan was still making him redo his homework while he studied for a different subject himself. jesper had been taken aback by the lack of attention.

“van eck,” jesper had called for the fiftieth time. it was infuriating, the way the ravenclaw’s eyes never left his parchment.

“don’t make me kiss you.” he had said as a last resort, and then the boy was flushing a delightful red. jesper had desperately wanted to peel back wylan’s collar to see if the color reached as far down as he imagined.

he hadn’t expected wylan to reply, eyes still trained on his desk and pen still moving: “you wish.”

jesper did indeed wish. he wished very much.

every thursday, jesper became a little bit better at potions and a little bit more in love with his tutor. it was a cliche he had thought he would only ever see in muggle rom-coms that nina loved so much, but kaz and inej did think his newfound appreciation for potions was pretty funny.

two months later they were reaching exam season and jesper had been nervous—not only about his exams, but also about what it would mean if he got his Os. as wylan studied beside him, jesper had been growing anxious. what if wylan wanted nothing to do with him one was his job was done?

“hey wylan,” jesper started. thinking back, he wasn’t even sure what he was going to ask.

wylan ignored him, eyes still trained on his book. jesper couldn’t help but smile as he ripped off a piece of parchment from his review guide, scrawling as quickly as he could before sliding it in front of his focused tutor.

van eck

wylan glared at him pointedly, just pushing the note back to jesper. jesper added a sentence before passing it back.

aren’t you supposed to be helping me or something???

this was a joke and they both knew it. wylan had just spent two hours helping jesper put a review guide together. their scheduled thursday sessions had gone from one hour to sometimes even three as they both lingered in the library to study.

wylan didn’t even look at the note, still reading his book as he slid it back to jesper. jesper scoffed amusedly.

don’t make me kiss you.

wylan coughed loudly, breaking the din in the library and turning red. it was gratifying to know that some things never changed. jesper grinned with satisfaction as wylan finally picked up his pen.

get your Os in potions. then we’ll see.

jesper was still processing what he had read as wylan packed up his books as fast as a snitch, disappearing before jesper could even say “amortentia”.

—

a week later, fifth year slytherin jesper fahey was having a very good day because he had just received his exam grades.

and there was a very big O on his potions exam.

jesper raced the hallways towards the potions wing, having heard from some third years that wylan was practicing for exams. nearly mowing down a group of first years, jesper burst into the classroom, feeling like he could do anything.

wylan spun around at his arrival, standing up as jesper made a beeline for him.

“are you coming from professor snape?”

“hell yeah i am.” jesper itched to touch him.

wylan peered crookedly at him. “i’m guessing we’re okay?”

jesper beamed. “better than okay.”

“thank the saints!” wylan yelped, throwing his arms around jesper. “oh, i was so worried it’d be bad.” to jesper’s dismay he stepped away after what seemed like seconds “saints, sorry, i didn’t mean to—”

jesper managed to shake his head, missing his warmth immediately. wylan smiled shyly, looking up at him from beneath his eyelashes. “guess all there’s left to do is wait then.”

hell, jesper felt like he couldn’t wait another second. with a desperation that surprised himself, he leaned down to press his lips to wylan’s, muffling his taken noise.

jesper wasn’t a genius. he had gotten a mixture of bad and okay grades in his other exams and the only reason he had an O in potions was a big motivating factor. however, it didn’t take a genius to figure out something was wrong, that wylan didn’t want this. jesper stepped back immediately.

the redhead was flushed—not in the way that turned him that pretty shade of pink, but in a very clear shade of confused. “i- not that you’re not a very good kisser, but i think there’s been a misunderstanding here.”

jesper felt like he was suddenly going to be sick. had he misread the signs? the weeks of flirting? that note?

wylan looked just as panicked. “uh, where’s wylan?”

where’s wylan????

“right here.” a familiar voice came from behind them.

jesper spun, feeling like he was hallucinating. there stood another wylan, the apparently real wylan at the door. jesper had never seen him look so expressionless—it was clear he had seen everything.

“what. is going on.” jesper made out.

the wylan at the door looked past him at the wylan that jesper had just swapped spit with.

“kuwei, professor snape says you’re going to be fine. i’m supposed to take you to the infirmary so he can monitor your condition just in case.”

jesper could only watch in disbelief as kuwei-wylan walked slowly towards the door, eyes darting between the two. “i think i can take myself, actually. you guys should...talk.”

and with that, there was only one wylan left in the room. the real wylan.

jesper had no idea what to say. he didn’t know what he had been expecting to happen today, but this was definitely far from it. he was realizing this was the first time he was even seeing wylan since that day in the library, the day before his exam. wylan was still standing by the door, eyes on the floor.

“er, i got an O on my exam?”

wylan cracked a small smile that released something in jesper’s chest. “congratulations. your hard work paid off.”

jesper laughed at that. it was thanks to wylan that he had passed. even when he had studied in the common rooms by himself, he had felt like wylan was with him. jesper was feeling like he had to apologize, though he wasn’t sure just what for.

“wylan-”

“polyjuice potion.” wylan said. “a homework accident. we were trying for professor hagrid and my hair got mixed in somehow, i guess.”

jesper couldn’t help but snort. “‘a homework accident.’ figures all your friends are nerds too.”

wylan looked at him, a gleam in his eye. “a nerd you just kissed?”

"i-” jesper swallowed, words gone. “i came here to thank you. to tell you that you’re the only reason i even have an O.”

wylan shook his head. “that’s not true.”

“but it is. i came to tell you how bloody patient and helpful and lovely you’ve been. i came to tell you i really like your handwriting and laugh, and really, you, van eck. and i came here to collect on that promise. i thought it was you at that desk.”

wylan’s eyes softened as he smiled. “i figured as much. i just can’t believe kuwei stole our first kiss.”

jesper raised an eyebrow, grinning. “our first kiss, huh?”

wylan went pink. “i mean, it’s just unf- i can’t believe that he-”

jesper closed the gap between them in long strides until he was standing in front of his pretty tutor who knew way too much about bezoars and basilisk venom.

“i don’t really believe in firsts if it feels like a first time every time.” jesper murmured, eyes already trained on wylan’s mouth. the right mouth. “how would you like a do-over?”

wylan took a step closer. “i would like that very much.”

and with that, jesper’s lips were on wylan’s. it was better than he had imagined while he was studying for exams and it was worth every hour he had spent. it felt like some kind of a chemical imbalance, the way jesper couldn’t breathe but didn’t need air. when wylan inevitably pulled away, he didn’t go far.

“you’re really good at that,” he said breathlessly.

jesper felt just as out of breath. “want lessons? i can teach this time.”

wylan laughed. “deal.”

“you know, i’ve actually had that dream where there’s two of you and one of-”

wylan pulled him down by his tie, effectively shutting him up with his mouth. wylan van eck was going to be the death of him, jesper thought.

he wouldn’t have it any other way.

it just makes sense to me that wylan’s polyjuice potion tastes like christmas. a repost for season 2 day!!