Author's Notes: This was an idea that has been wandering about in my head for a while, so I decided to write it down. I'm not even sure if I made it work.

Hogwarts AU, for no particular reason. Everyone is in their sixth year; Owen, Jack and Ianto are in Slytherin, Tosh is a Ravenclaw and Gwen is a Gryffindor. I have no idea how it turned out, really, but it was really intense to write towards the end, so feedback would be deeply appreciated.

The pre-Christmas trip to Hogsmeade was definitely not going according to plan.

Jack had had it all laid out. They'd all leave the castle together, then – when they split to buy presents – he could take Ianto somewhere aside and ask him out. He could even find one of the places where there would be mistletoe above them; the little plants were hung on strategic spots all around the small village.

And yet here he was, cold and alone, with Tosh and Owen trailing behind him and discussing what kind of sweets could each of them be.

"Ianto would be dark chocolate," he said grimly when they asked for his opinion. "Hard to find, delicious and absolutely unaffordable."

"He'll like whatever you give him because it's you," Owen scoffed. "Don't be an idiot. He doesn't care how much things cost."

"Do you know what he's got for Gwen?" Jack asked, turning around. "A golden necklace. With a bloody large ruby on it. You know, so it can match her house colours."

"Merlin." Even Owen was impressed. "I've always known that he was a pompous git, but this is too much."

Of course Owen would know, Jack thought. Ianto and Owen had grown up practically together and when the three of them had been sorted in Slytherin, Jack had tried to befriend them separately and had instead received the whole package of Ianto and Owen passively aggressively hating each other. Tosh had joined their small group in third year when Slytherins had had Potions with Ravenclaws and Jack had been paired with her and had then lured her to hang out with them.

"I've got him dragon hide gloves," Tosh put in. "And I think Gwen's getting him a new Quidditch hoodie since you nicked his last one."

In Jack's defence, the thing was really warm and he wasn't accustomed to the coldness that reigned into and around the castle, having grown up in California. That, and he secretly enjoyed the sight of the silver CAPTAIN JONES letters on the green fabric and the way they were branded on his chest when he wore it. Jack himself wasn't the Quidditch type of person; he enjoyed watching it but Ianto was the one who really took the whole thing seriously and had, at the beginning of the new school year, been made a captain.

Which was what made his friendship with Gwen all the stranger, because she was in her sixth year, just like them, and was the captain of Gryffindor's team.

They'd met last year when Ianto had started dating her best friend Lisa, which had forced Jack and Gwen to develop the 'my best friend is dating your best friend and I'm sorry' kind of friendship. It had later grown into genuine affection and Gwen had stuck around even after Ianto and Lisa had broken up.

Which was depressingly close to the root of Jack's worries, really. While Jack himself was known as the flirt of their year, he rarely actually acted on it and he respected people's relationships. Ianto, on the other hand, was notoriously good at ruining his own life by hooking up with people without really thinking about it and then by being just a bit too friendly with someone else. Lisa had left him because she'd thought he'd been cheating on her with Gwen and no assurances that Gwen had a boyfriend back in the Muggle world could convince her otherwise; not even when Ianto and Gwen had both seemed appalled at the mere idea of it.

Ianto had grown up in a manor and had only met other pure blood kids his age, which meant that despite his efforts (mostly made for the sake of Tosh and Jack, both of which half-bloods) he was still at least a bit sceptical towards Muggles and Jack knew for a fact that he despised Rhys. And Gwen, being Muggle-born, brought so much new information into their world that Ianto – always eager to know everything – listened to her with his mouth open.

And now they were both conveniently missing.

"Where have they gone, actually?" he asked suddenly. Tosh, long since used to his non-sequiturs, immediately caught his train of thought.

"Present shopping. I think they're planning something big."

"So what you can do now," Owen said, pushing him forwards determinedly, "is buy him a present while he's not here and hope it helps him fall for your manly charms."

"Leave him alone, Owen!" Tosh snapped and Jack sighed.

This was going to be a long day.

Or so he thought. And yet just a few hours later, he had got a ticket for St. Mungo's student trip for Owen who wanted to be a Healer, a practice kit for Ancient Runes which Gwen studied, and a book on advanced Transfiguration that Tosh had wanted for ages.

And still nothing for Ianto.

Jack sighed. What could you buy for someone who had everything? He mentally went through his best friend's interests for the hundredth time.

He took Ancient Runes, but Jack had already used that on Gwen and plus, it wasn't memorable enough. He adored Astronomy, but he already had his own observation tower at home – Jack had been there more than once. He loved Quidditch and drawing, but he already had all the best tools for both; he liked detective stories–

Detective stories!

Jack finally had a reason to smile.

-.-

Still unable to chase the grin off his face, Jack crowed in triumph and pulled out the book from his bag.

"A Study in Scarlet," Owen read out loud. "Am I supposed to be impressed?"

Tosh reverently took the old book from his hands and opened it, gaping at what she saw there.

"First edition! He'll love it!"

Jack knew that perfectly well. Ianto loved old things; the furniture in his room was all antiques. He had no idea who Sherlock Holmes was, of course, but he'd come around. "I hope so," he said. "And I'm still holding my breath for whatever he's got me."

o.O.o

Perhaps, Gwen admitted to herself, setting Ianto loose in a mall full of Muggles in the last day before the holidays hadn't been one of her brightest ideas. There was nothing that could be done about it now, though.

She had never seen anyone so enthusiastic about completely mundane things like pens and notebooks. Ianto had been in awe in front of a laptop and decided to come back and get it sometime later. Gwen winced at the sheer capacity of the damage that could be done with that single decision, knowing Ianto's abilities.

Now, though, they were focused on Christmas shopping.

"D'you think Tosh would like that?" he asked, pointing at a mobile phone. Gwen bit her lip pensively and briefly wondered if she could talk him into getting the same one for her.

"She won't be able to use it at school, but I think she'll like it, yes," she decided in the end and elbowed him in the ribs playfully. "And, hey, if she doesn't, you can always give it to me."

Ianto smiled cryptically. "I've already got you a present."

"So that leaves you with Owen–"

"Ha. Not bloody likely. My father will send his father a present, and vice versa. That's as far as we're ever gonna get."

Even after nearly two years of being in Ianto and Owen's company, Gwen still couldn't quite figure out the pureblood society and its strange understandings of politeness. "Okay, then. That means you've got only Jack left."

Ianto gave her a beaming smile. "I think I saw something nice on our way in. Come and see?"

Gwen tried to brace herself, and then nodded solemnly. "Bring it on."

Ianto had Apparated them on the middle of Cardiff, but they weren't drawing as much attention in their school uniforms as she'd thought they might. That didn't mean that there weren't other means of drawing attention, thought. For someone as intelligent as Ianto, this entire new world was an absolute delight and even his normally repressed nature gave way to a little excitement. And when Ianto set his mind to something, he never gave up.

"I just want to give him something fitting," he confided in her. "Something that just says 'Jack', you know?"

Really, Gwen thought, people would probably have never invented songs like the Sitting on a tree one if people like Jack and Ianto didn't make it so damn easy.

She briefly considered telling him that Jack had been gathering up the courage to ask him out for weeks, but then decided against it. Sometimes it was better to let things run their course.

"So," Ianto said and Gwen realised suddenly that they had got out of the mall. "What do you think?"

It took her a moment to realise that Ianto was indicating the car that had been put out on display. It was black and flashy and enormous and she gulped.

"Don't you think that this is a bit– much?"

"Why? I thought cars were the big thing among Muggles."

"Yes, that's just the thing," Gwen started carefully. "Cars are a big thing, period. He'll feel bad for not getting you something equally big."

"Bollocks," Ianto scoffed. "His presents are always brilliant."

"Yes, but," Gwen's eyes were fixed on the price, "none of them costs twenty-five hundred quid on sale."

"Oh." Ianto seemed to still contemplate it for a moment before looking at her. "Back in, then?"

Gwen smiled. "Afraid so."

She'd been afraid that they wouldn't make it back on time, but it was only fifteen minutes later when Ianto called her again, his eyes wide with excitement and she saw the subject of said excitement in a clothing shop.

"Oh, yeah," she nodded, smiling in response to Ianto's ecstatic grin as he looked up at the dark blue coat. "Yeah, definitely."

o.O.o

The Great Hall was quiet with more than half of Hogwarts's students gone home and the Slytherin table was even quieter than the other ones – some of the other houses had stayed because they had no one to go to; the orphans of the War were more there. Slytherin hadn't suffered that much damage and everyone had gone home.

Jack and Ianto had both stayed, while their three other friends had all headed home. Jack's father had died years ago and his mother was back in California, which simply wasn't worth the trip, and Ianto was just unwilling to go back to the manor. As far as Jack knew, his father had never really favoured his presence and it had only got worse after his mother's death.

"It's weird, though," Ianto said over their dinner for Christmas Even when Jack asked him why he'd stayed. "The manor actually belongs to my mother's family – that's why I took her name, after all, they're the noble ones – and it seems to be protecting me. It builds walls all by itself after me, locks the doors behind me and he can't unlock them even with magic. A bit like Hogwarts, but it's mostly built to protect its children."

Ariadne Jones had left Ianto all of her fortune, Jack knew. He'd kept the family name while his sister had taken his father's one. Ianto hated them both and that was probably the main reason for him to stay at school. The company on Christmas was always important.

The few students on their table had long since retreated back into the dungeons until there were only about ten people in the Hall and the teachers and the table had started giving them very pointed looks.

"Want me to show you something?" Ianto asked suddenly and Jack looked up at him before nodding. His friend took his hand and led him off the table and into one of the corridors. "There's this classroom on the first floor; I found it a few days ago," he started. "I asked Professor Gilburne about it and he said that it served as a Divination classroom one year when a centaur taught them."

"A centaur?" Jack laughed. "What kind of a classroom–"

His voice died when Ianto opened the door.

The room was bigger than it could possibly be. The ceiling was enchanted just like the one in the Great Hall, but while the other one was currently showing the snow from outside, this seemed to be permanently velar and displaying the constellations that could be seen with the human eye. The room itself resembled a glade in the middle of the forest at night. The serenity and the beauty of it all was so overwhelming that Jack froze by the door and Ianto had to push him inside so he could close it. They were technically not supposed to be here, after all.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ianto asked quietly and gracefully sat down on the clean grass. Jack nodded wordlessly and followed his example. "I know it's not very Christmassy," Ianto continued. "I think it's always spring in here."

"It's amazing." Jack looked sideways at his best friend as he quietly admired everything around them and he was so beautiful that he forgot to breathe for a moment. Right here, on the moonlight in this little piece of heaven where time had stopped, Ianto was a masterpiece, a marvel, and he was the only one who had the right to see it; to admire the fine lines of his face and the deep blue of his eyes.

A petal fell down next to him from one of the cherry trees and Jack smiled. "You know," he said quietly, not wanting to disrupt the silence but feeling the need to put what he felt into words before he exploded. "There's a poem written by a Muggle poet about this."

Ianto looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"'I want to do with you with you what spring does with the cherry trees'," he quoted and saw Ianto's eyes light up with interest.

"It's beautiful," he whispered and then seemed to hesitate. It wasn't typical of him; they had never been shy about what each of them wanted. "Tell me more."

It took Jack a bit off guard, but on the inside he felt hope blossoming. He'd relied on the present, but why wait until tomorrow morning when he could start today? "A long time I have loved the stunned mother-of-pearl of your body," he started, voice just as quiet as before. "Until I even believe that you own the Universe. I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells, dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses." He smiled and traced a finger over Ianto's wrist absently. "I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees."

He looked up suddenly to ask Ianto what he thought and the words died on his tongue. His best friend's eyes were wide open; unguarded and honest and more expressive than Jack had ever seen them being, as if they struggled to express something that words wouldn't have been able to.

"You–" He managed at last and Jack nodded hastily, not trusting his voice to speak. "Thank you." It was the most heartfelt sentence he'd ever heard leave Ianto's mouth and Jack smiled again, realising that it would probably be appropriate to give him a moment to compose himself. That was what anyone with Ianto's upbringing would expect him to do, anyway.

But it didn't matter. Right now, it didn't matter. He closed his eyes and leant in, pressing a kiss just on the corner of Ianto's mouth. "Always."