"Hey, buddy!" Kurt could hear his dad calling him from inside. "Come here real quick, will you?"

Kurt groaned, shaking his head against the lounge chair in the humble backyard of their vacation house. "Do I really have to, dad? It's so hot I feel like if I move I’ll melt."

"Any way you want it, but Astoria just came back and she's got quite the stack of envelopes with her, most of them with your name on them!"

Kurt got up immediately and quietly damned Blaine to himself for making him want to get up and most definitely risk actually melting into a puddle of overheated, disgusting goo on the ground.

It was bad out, the sun beaming down from the sky and attempting fry everything under it, but it was ten times worse inside with zero air conditioning.

So Kurt did the most sensible thing he could think of. He sprinted inside through the backdoor and grabbed the mail from on top of the kitchen table, patted the head of his beloved barn owl gently and jogged right back outside.

Burt chuckled at him once he was already back out of the house.

"You're something else, kid" He told him, peeking out of the glass door opening to the backyard.

"I'm melting, dad. That's what I am."

Clearly Astoria wasn't all that fond of the heatwave either because a moment later the owl flew out of the back door and sat on the armrest of the chair Kurt was seated on, letting out a barely audible hooting sound.

"You like the shadow too, huh?" Kurt turned to look at his long-term pet with a small smile, reaching his hand out to smooth out the varying brown and white feathers on her back.

"Dude, I don't think I'll ever get used to that" Finn said from where he was getting out of the pool, eyes on the bird sitting next to his step-brother.

Kurt scoffed, furrowing his brows at him slightly. "Get used to what?"

"The owl" He said, wrapping a towel around his broad shoulders. "I never had one. I got a toad for my twelfth birthday and I still have him. He's not really sociable though, so I guess that's what I find so weird about-" Finn made a face, squinting at Astoria. "-Her."

The owl tilted her head to the side, looking toward Finn.

The Slytherin couldn't help but laugh at this. "Oh come on. You’ve worked with dragons for the last year! And she's so nice."

"I know, but I don’t understand her I guess. I've lived with her a shorter time than you, yeah - I get it, but she doesn't seem to be getting used to me any more than I am to her."

“You can always change that” Kurt simply said, smiling at his stepbrother a little.

The next fifteen minutes he spent watching over Finn playing with the owl, dangling this fur ball toy that looked a little too much like a pygmy puff in the air in front of her while she tilted her head in all sorts of directions and paddled along the chair trying to catch it in her beak.

“She is pretty adorable” Finn admitted finally after he’d thrown the toy onto the lawn, sending Astoria flying after to retrieve it.

“Maybe you should get one of your own” The far shorter boy suggested, finally grabbing the first one from the stack of letters in his lap and starting to open it. “I know dragons are maybe the cooler flying creatures of this world but owls are still pretty amazing, as you see. We’ll go shopping next week anyways” He waved the halfway opened letter with the Hogwarts stamp on it in the air for Finn to see. “You are coming back, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I am” He said, startling a little upon Astoria landing on his forearm but smiling at her when she dropped the toy from her beak and into his hand.

Finn had spent the last full year in Europe studying Care of Magical Creatures and specifying in dragons and their origins, thus not technically going to Hogwarts for an entire year. Still, unlike Sebastian’s, his year off had been with full credits and there was no need for him to spend an extra year at the school making up for his absence. Now he was just going to come and do his final year with Kurt and Rachel and everyone as he was supposed to, like he’d done the last five years up to now. The fact that they would get to do that – starting and finishing school together was just so great.

“And yeah, maybe – about the owl, I mean. This one owl that I have always used for sending letters home from back at the Owlery, I named him Harold – Taken that he’s still there, I’m not sure what he would think, dude. We’d grown pretty fond of each other.”

Kurt simply grinned at him, shaking his head a little. It was very easy to get along with Finn now. It had admittedly been a little challenging at first – especially the time he had the biggest crush on him (also known as the time that they don’t talk about), but now years after they’d grown to be like actual brothers and it was great. Kurt couldn’t help but always feel super safe when he went anywhere with Finn because he was so tall and well-built, and Finn had someone to help him with his tendency to not know what in the world to wear when he was out of his robes. It worked well for both of them.

“I think that you need to consult to both Carole and my dad first, though. To check if they desire having two owls flying around the house on holidays.”

“I think you’re thinking right. I need to do that.”

Finn walked back inside calling for Carole, extending his hand out to allow Astoria to fly off onto the lower branches of the singular oak tree in the backyard.
Kurt smiled to himself, reading through the list of supplies he was required to get for his seventh year ahead. He slipped the two papers back inside the envelope and set it down on the table next to him, leaving that for him to worry about later.

He then proceeded to open all the rest of the letters, most of them from Blaine. His smile only grew as he read on about the boy’s continuing summer adventures and how he just felt like he needed to send more than one letter at a time – hence why he was holding five letters of Blaine’s in his hands. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen Blaine’s owl at least once every week since their holidays began and vice versa, but Blaine said in his fourth letter that he wanted to send a letter especially for Astoria for all the long distances she’d had to conquer delivering Kurt’s letters to him.

And sure enough the fifth letter was assigned to Astoria, holding inside a tiny note that Blaine had written his well wishes on for her, as well as one of those tiny mouse-shaped toys meant for cats.

Kurt couldn’t help laughing out loud at that particular letter. He looked up to see the owl staring at him down from the tree, somehow knowing that he was keeping something from her.

“You want this right now?” He picked the mouse toy up and the owl instantly flew down to catch it in her beak.

Kurt sighed wistfully.

Nine more days.

-

“Blaine, honey!”

“Yeah?”

His mom appeared in the porch doorway, leaning on the frame with a suspiciously giddy smile on her face.

“I finally got one of these odd things” She lifted up her hand and waved the iPhone in it with a wide, proud grin. “And I even learned to use it. It wasn’t that hard!”

Blaine’s eyes widened, his mouth curling into a smile very much mirroring his mother’s. “You did?” He asked, excitement evident in his voice, which made Pam just all the more happy.

“Yeah. And guess what?” She sat down on the chair next to the one her son was seated in, turning towards him.

The boy lifted his eyebrows quizzically, holding onto the armrest of the chair.

“I just got off the phone with someone. I found their number on the internet after a moment of searching, which I’m also super proud of” She announced, brushing a brunette lock of hair behind her ear. “Guess who it was?”

“Mom” Blaine started, more amused than anything. “How do you even know about the internet?”

“Come on Blainey” She reached out to ruffle Blaine’s product free hair. “It’s not like I’m living in ancient time! Just guess who it was.”

The boy shook his head, his curls bouncing on his forehead. “I have no idea” He said, still smiling. “Just tell me.”

“Burt Hummel.”

Blaine gaped at his mother, heartbeat quickening. Did she really…? “What?”

“Apparently he has a business and owns a phone!”

“Yeah” Blaine just nodded. “Yeah, he does.”

“Well, honey, he promised he would get you on the phone with Kurt first thing tomorrow when they get back home from their family vacation” Pam declared with a smile that reached all the way to her eyes, reaching out to squeeze his son’s shoulder, but Blaine surged forward to wrap his arms tightly around his mother instead.

“Oh my god! That’s amazing. Thank you so much.”

-

“Kurt” Blaine breathed out, a smile curling on his lips instantly after the call connected.

“Blaine” Kurt chuckled softly from the other end of the line, leaning on the windowsill in his room.

“How are you?” Blaine asked, shaking his head, still kind of trying to process that this was actually happening. It had been so long since he’d heard Kurt’s voice and he’d missed it so, so much – Not to mention that the phone was kind of its own thing to get used to.

“I’m good. Unpacking is not that fun and knowing magic doesn’t really help when you can’t use it outside school” Kurt said, not sounding the least bit annoyed.

“It is so good to hear your voice again” Blaine told him, brushing a stray dark curl away from his face.

Kurt ducked his head. “Maybe I should’ve sent you that howler after all” He joked, holding the phone pressed in between his shoulder and ear to stuff the stack of books in his hand back into his bookcase.

The Hufflepuff laughed. “Yeah, maybe.”

“So, uh” Kurt started, falling back on his bed. “A week, huh?”

Blaine was silent for a moment. “Yeah” He nodded mainly to himself. “But hey, we’ve gone seven without any problems. I think we’ll be good.”

“Yeah, no, it’s not that. I know we can do that, I just really, really miss you” He said softly, clutching a pillow against his chest. Thinking a year or two back, Kurt would’ve never been able to expect himself being able to be this open and vulnerable with someone – anyone. It felt as odd as it did completely right.

Blaine bit the inside of his cheek, inhaling sharply. “I know” He whispered.

“We could go back to school shopping together, though. Then we would only have to wait a couple of days.”

“That sounds like the best thing I’ve heard in a while” The Hufflepuff told him, his smile audible. That was the best thing that Kurt had heard in a while, honestly.
“I’ll just check with my-“

Blaine turned around to go look for his mother but he didn’t need to search much, having her sitting right there right behind him.

“Don’t even bother asking” She said, and Blaine’s heart almost dropping before she continued with a smile on her face; “Of course you can go, what are you thinking?”

Kurt smiled despite himself. “I heard that. No need for repetition. So is midday on Tuesday good?”

“Yeah. I can’t wait.”

“Me neither.”

-

Once Tuesday came neither Kurt or Blaine barely managed to wait for their assigned time to meet. This was why they ended up meeting two hours earlier than initially planned.

Burt had struggled with the wall for a while and Kurt had rolled his eyes, groaning in utter frustration that it was just a diagonal line he had to draw on a bunch of bricks, damn it and he’d done it without problems dozens of times before but of course this time had to be the one he struggled.

Once this problem was out of the way, the only one remaining was actually finding who they were supposed to be meeting.

Diagon Alley was expectedly very very crowded, witches and wizards of varying ages strolling down the street along them, some taking their time but some sprinting forward and dodging others in their way like their life depended on how fast they got to the end of their shopping lists. Some were carrying owls in cages and some trying to keep their rats from running away from them, but everyone seemed to be on a quest and they all seemed pretty determined to accomplish theirs. There were wizards there who not only wanted but needed to be first in line to get this or that and although Kurt was also supposed to belong to this group of wizards, buying anything became secondary the second he saw Blaine standing outside Ollivanders.

Or, well – he practically ran straight into him because he did not see him at first.

Suddenly it was very easy for Burt to forgive his son for his slightly unkind words from earlier upon seeing him and Blaine finally together, smiling brighter than he’d ever seen him smile before. Seeing just what Kurt had talked his ear off about unfolding in front of him and everything making sense made him wonder if that’s what Kurt felt like when he was with Blaine but the answer was very obviously yes. It was really no wonder why he got frustrated having to wait extra ten seconds to meet him.

“Oh, finally!” The Slytherin exclaimed, his arms instantly finding their place around Blaine as he turned around all bright smiles and sparkling eyes.

“Hi!” Blaine threw his arms around Kurt and pulled him closer to his chest, forgetting just about the entire rest of the world for the moment, allowing himself to be overwhelmed by the feeling of Kurt back where he belonged – and on the contrary the feeling of being back where he belonged himself, too. “I was pretty sure I wouldn’t find you out here.”

When they dared to part after being convinced by both Pam and Burt that they wouldn’t (and couldn’t) be dragged away from each other the second they did like they seemed to be sure they would, they started their search for their required school supplies.

They got their books and updated quills and ink refills and were both nothing but smiles and heart eyes all the while getting them, and the best part was that nobody batted an eye, nobody cared.

Around one Finn appeared into the tiny little café Pam had insisted they go pay a visit to and so they found themselves at the pet store getting an owl for Finn.
You could think that getting a pet like that would be easy, but oh no. Finn spent a good hour browsing the tiny shop for the ‘perfect owl’ and Burt almost told him that there was no such thing as a pet dragon when he finally made his mind once one of the birds attempted to bite a piece of his ear off. The snowy owl called Elmo that attempted said ear-biting now happily hooted inside of the cage Finn carried it out of the shop in.

It was nearing three in the afternoon when they’d done just about everything one could do on Diagon Alley and Burt announced that they should have to get going so that he could get back to work. Of course both Kurt and Blaine knew that they needed to leave too, needed to get their things packed and go back to spending the last few days of their holidays with their family etcetera, but it was very very challenging to carry out.

“Okay” Kurt turned to face Blaine then, grabbing both of his hands and looking him in the eyes.

“Yeah?” Blaine countered, squeezing the boy’s hands gently.

“We’ll see each other soon enough again, and then we’ll see each other all the time – possibly so much that we’ll get totally sick of each other-“

“You can speak for yourself” The Hufflepuff smiled in amusement.

Kurt shook his head with a smile of his own. “My point is that I have far too much to do considering I have hardly two days until I have to leave home for another three and a half months, and I’m pretty sure you are no different no matter how organized you can be” He grinned and got a chuckle out of Blaine as he’d wished. “We won’t even notice it until we’re together again, I promise.”

And they didn’t, not really. Two days went by like they were nothing and on September first they met at Kings Cross with all of their things and spent a good while hugging not only each other but all of their friends before boarding the Hogwarts Express with all their fellow students. They sat in the same compartment with Rachel, Sam, Finn and Santana like they’d done before parting two months earlier, sharing every story about their vacation that they could think of.

Somehow both Blaine and Kurt stayed awake this time, Blaine sitting practically in Kurt’s lap by the window. It was a compromise they had to make for wanting to fit six people in the same compartment, but they didn’t really mind. Not at all.

All in all the train ride wasn’t bad at all, the weather typical for the time of year it was – not really warm or cold, a few raindrops falling from the greyish sky every now and then. This only meant that they didn’t need to deal with it being unbearably hot like in June.

Everything went perfectly swimmingly up until they got off the train seven hours later, Kurt and Santana parting from the rest of the group with promises of meeting up soon and saw their favorite fellow Slytherin on the platform.

“We don’t need to deal with this” Santana told Kurt immediately, completely serious and endearingly nothing but the welfare of his best friend in mind.

“I know” He said quietly, smiling at her in response. “I just want to be polite this one time.”

Sebastian walked past the two of them then and Kurt was quick to catch his attention.

“Oh, hi, Smythe! How was your summer? Great or simply outstanding?” Kurt asked him in a far too chipper of a tone for it to sound normal for anyone.

He was almost ecstatic to find that the Slytherin didn’t even stop to talk to him, just kept on walking and grumbled “Go to hell, Hummel” as he went.

“Wow. Cute” He exclaimed after him sarcastically. “Where exactly do you think I came from?”

Santana started laughing hysterically next to him, clutching onto his shoulder as she practically heaved for air, willing for some to return to her lungs.

“I missed you a lot, you know.”

The boy chuckled. “Yeah, I missed you too.”

“This year will be amazing, I’m telling you.”

Kurt just so happened to look towards the flock of slightly confused looking first year students that Blaine seemed to be giving compassionate orders to despite what seemed to be both the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw prefects’ presence, a smile on his face and his trunk as well as Ilia’s cage in his hands. The Slytherin watched him nod and squeeze the shoulder of the closest little girl standing to him, sending them on their way towards the castle with the prefects that looked equal parts irritated and thankful for Blaine’s intruding.

Blaine looked up then, finding Kurt’s eyes in the crowd almost instantly. His already there smile just brightened and he lifted up his hand in a small wave.

“I know” Kurt waved back at him, smiling as he bit into his lower lip. “I know it will be.”