Break time
Seola had three days out of the castle, the maximum time Minerva had given her to stay away from the tournament. It was enough for her, it would give her enough time to visit her family, besides giving an excuse for her not to participate in the rehearsal for the ball, as she was grateful for not having to see the mess that it would be and for not having to put up with some kid at school trying to invite her to dance.
"She wants you to invite her," Xuanyi said as they walked around the school trying to calm the students who had stayed there for the Christmas holidays, Seola had taken her wand twice because of messy students of Slytherin.
"What?".
"Bona, she wants you to invite her".
"To the prom?".
“This too, and you should do it fast, I don't know what you're thinking, if you think you have an unspoken agreement that you guys are going together, but she definitely expects you to do something, and do it fast, before she can get angry and ended up accepting some of the hundreds of invitations she receives each day”.
"Okay, I'm going to find something that doesn't give me an attack while I do”.
"Great" Xuanyi smiled proudly at her friend "and that's not what I was really saying, she wants you to invite her to go with you to the trip".
"And why would she want that?".
"I don't know, maybe she doesn't want to be away from you, or maybe she wants to be away from the people on top of you guys all the time”.
Seola only made the invitation two days before the trip, when she noticed that the girl was starting to talk about the trip with her directly.
"Don't take so long the next time" Jiyeon said after slapping her arm.
"You don't need the invitation next time, you are invited to all the things that happened from now on”.
That's how she stopped on the train with the few students who had chosen to go home during the tournament. Jiyeon had slept halfway through the trip, her head resting on Seola's shoulder as she tried to hide from the cold.
Seola was glad to have stayed up, so she could see something through the clouds. It was high and very difficult to see, but Seola knew exactly what was cutting through the clouds, it was easy to recognize that animal after being attacked by one of them, the griffin seemed to follow the train until it was close enough to humans, disappearing in the cloud right after the first houses starting to show up.
Seola was happy to think about the work that the ministry would have with an animal from that port flying over the city.
Jiyeon woke up between the disappearance of the griffin and the arrival of the train at the station, leaving for a few minutes to change her clothes and returning while Seola hid the jacket with the Hogwarts logo in the old backpack she had.
"Don't look at me with such surprise" Jiyeon said as they walked through the station, Seola had still not managed to overcome the fact that the girl appeared to have good choices of Muggle clothing.
"Sorry, the last person I took to meet my uncles was Eunseo, and she walked all over the city in a purple tunic, I felt like I was a Muggle studies teacher for pure blood wizard".
“Don't blame her, when you only live in one world, another world looks fascinating, Luda is from a Muggle family, she was so excited when she arrived at school that she couldn't stop doing spells, in fact, she only stopped when she ended up doing all pink room, Yeoreum was not very happy when she saw how the place looked”.
"Maybe we should introduce them then, it would cause less trouble if they taught each other" Seola held Jiyeon's hand before they left the station, pulling her through the crowd to the exit, continued like this until they were far enough away that she could pull her wand “I hope you don't mind taking the Knight bus”.
"Knight bus?"
"Yeah, one of my favorite ways of getting around, much better than a broom and as I can’t Apparate..." Seola pointed her wand at the street and then took a step back.
It didn't take long for the big purple bus to stop abruptly beside them, then a man hopping off it and giving Seola a big smile.
“Oh, Seola, long time no see, let’s go! Come in! Today being a busy day, same place as always, right?”.
It wasn't hard to see that Seola actually used the bus often, you could tell by the way she looked familiar with the place, dodging the beds, greeting some of the passengers and talking to the driver for a few moments, all while Jiyeon held on in one of the beds that went from side to side.
“You really are an amazing girl,” The man who had helped them with the suitcase had returned, holding some papers in his hand “I really didn't expect you to enter the tournament, I have this newspaper since it show up, I show everyone 'an assiduous passenger of the bus is the next champion of the triwizard tournament”.
"I didn't expect it either, I just put my name on the cup because I lost a bet".
Seola reached out to look at the newspaper, it was an edition of the prophet's diary, she had been isolated from the newspapers since her parents were arrested and her family was on her cover every day, none of the times there were positive words about they. So, she still felt surprised when she saw her face on the front page of the newspaper since she entered the tournament, her eyes always strayed when she saw a student reading something about her.
'Hogwarts champion is an obscure blood Seola read the title, the same term used for her family for years, an obscure, marked by her blood to be a bad person, it was always something they said about her, being called that gave more shiver and discomfort than she should. Below the title was a picture of her, she remembered that moment, she was sure she would never forget actually, the expression of frightened and surprised really matched the pallor that her face had taken on.
"At least you're on the cover" Jiyeon commented pulling her attention.
"Exactly, don't worry about what they say, there will always be someone cursing you, but some people are changing their minds about you after your first task," The man said pulling out the newspaper so she wouldn't read the rest of it, probably something much worse than the title, he then turned to Jiyeon "maybe I should show the newspaper that you are on the cover, I'm Changkyun, but you can call me IM".
"Bona".
"Seola is really amazing, I never thought I would meet a veela...".
"I am only part of the veela...".
"It's still incredible, Seola dating a part veela is incredible”.
Seola remembered the newspaper he was talking about, she had caught Wonyoung, the first year Slytherin, reading these one day, the girl looked like she had been caught cheating on a test when she desperately tried to hide the edition, she had to send Yeonjung to talk to the girl to convince her that everything was really okay. She had only seen the cape briefly, enough to see a heart-shaped picture of her and Jiyeon on the cover, one of the times that the girl was putting on her uniform before school, she had blushed so hard when she saw the photo that did not have the courage to read the article.
It didn't take long for the bus to stop again, IM going ahead to pick up the girl's bags, he stayed at the bus door saying goodbye to them until the bus left, as fast as it arrived.
Seola lived in a village of wizards, in one of the most remote houses so that she wouldn't have so many looks from the other residents, in fact, the residents seemed to have got used to the girl's presence, it was easy since she didn't spend much time there, but still she could see some people standing outside while she was on vacation, she could recognize tourists from afar because of that. It was a small two-story house, a little crooked to the left, and with a chimney that looked higher than the other houses.
"At least I got the house in order before I went to Hogwarts," Seola commented as she pulled out her wand to light up the place and the fireplace.
"Don't pretend you're messy, I've been to your dorm more than once to know that you like to have things in order".
"Uzzu doesn't like mess, and I don't want to upset it, it’s a good animal, but I don't want to risk my luck," Seola stopped what she was doing to watch Jiyeon, the girl had a warm smile on her face and tried give Seola a good feeling, but still she was nervous, being alone with her at home seemed a much bigger step than being alone with her in her dorm “Well, my aunt is waiting for us tomorrow, so I think it would be a good alternative as soon as we wake up ”.
"You need to relax, take a breath, this is not a tournament task, Seola."
Seola even tried, but she only managed to relax when Jiyeon was sleeping upstairs in her bed, after much argument that she should stay on the couch for the night. Her eyes were fixed on the fireplace until she heard a noise outside.
The griffin.
She jumped up, running around the room looking for her boot and coat so she could get out. Wrong choice, the snow that had fallen hours ago had accumulated enough to stay at her knee, which made the way to the animal very difficult.
"Hey, you're going to put me in danger" Seola said breathlessly as she reached out to touch the animal "if the ministry sees you here it will think that this is some plan of mine to help you in your escape".
The griffin did not seem to mind the idea, lying on the floor in front of her. Seola gave up minutes later, sitting down next to him, a mixture of cold snow and warm griffin hitting her.
She felt something weighing in her pocket, she pulled the result of the first task of the tournament, she could never forget that she always carried it in her pocket. There was something different about that situation, she felt different, she felt safe and at peace in some way, as if for the first time in her life she felt like she was someone more than her surname and her blood.
She fixed her eyes on the object until the things in it started to make sense, 'What do you see in the dark?', She felt her heart racing when she realized it had happened, she had just found whatever it was the tip for the second task. She jumped up, startling the griffin.
“Sorry” She touched him again until he calmed down “I need to go now, but I need you to stay here, don't go flying around or following me, my uncles would have a heart attack if they saw you, there is a small forest not far from here, stay there for a while, I'll find a way to solve all this, so they don't take you”.
Seola only went back into the house when the griffin was out of sight, she didn't care about her wet clothes or the snowy path she had left to the kitchen table, quickly scribbling a letter to Exy, she already knew she would to pay a good amount to her neighbor so she could use his owl, but she needed to think about it quickly.
"Hey, you're going to be sick like that" Jiyeon appeared half sleepy, scratching her eyes as she pulled the girl to the fireplace.
"I was seeing the griffin, it followed me here."
"I know, I think the whole city was able to hear him, but it could have waited until tomorrow, now you're going to be sick”.
"I'm not going to be sick, I fell into the lake and didn't die, I think I can survive a few minutes in the snow".
"I'm going to make a potion tomorrow when you wake up sneezing”.
Seola pulled the girl to the old sofa she had there, stretching her legs so they were closer to the fire. Jiyeon pulled her hand so that they were between hers.
"I'm sorry I woke you up" Seola started after a while.
"I didn't wake up because of your snow adventure, I couldn't sleep properly knowing that I stole your bed”.
"You didn't steal my bed, I offered it to you”.
"It's still your bed," Jiyeon sighed beside her, causing Seola to look at her "did you feel forced to call me here?".
"Is that what is going through your head so much?" Seola reached out to give a quick kiss between the girl's hair.
"I don't know, I started to think about it a little after you called me, Xiao said that maybe I was putting too much pressure on you to invite me".
“I wouldn't invite you if I was feeling pressured, I don't do things like that, I just took a while because I didn't really know that I wanted to come with me, it's not common to see wizards who want to go to the world of muggles, but I like being around you, a lot, I'm just not used to people enjoying being around me too”.
“You know, I saw you in my divination class in my first year, I mean, it wasn't clearly you, but there was a tall woman, I couldn't see her face, I could only see the green around her, I only managed seeing it for five minutes, but the image got stuck in my head, when we arrived at Hogwarts, I saw you in the distance through one of the carriage windows, just as the woman appeared during my class, I knew it was you , and I was even more sure during the first dinner, Luda said that it is because we are soulmates”.
"You attend divination classes" Seola said with a frown, Jiyeon laughed, throwing her head back and slapping Seola on the shoulder.
“Is that what you paid attention to? Sometimes you sound so Slytherin”.
"Hey! I'm a Slytherin, it's just... Divination?... At least the best divination student is Slytherin”.
"You really are part of your house, it must have been one of the easiest selections for the hat ever done".
"Do you believe what Luda said?" Seola asked after a while in silence "I mean, the whole soulmate thing".
"I know I want to be with you, I had feelings for you without even meeting you, things are natural with you".
"You already with me".
"I noticed something" Jiyeon approached, her fingers roaming Seola's cheek "you never denied when someone assumes we are a couple".
“Does that make you uncomfortable?
"No, I thought that with your friends you didn't deny it because you thought it wouldn't make a difference, but on the bus you didn't deny it either".
“IM was study at Hogwarts, I'm sure he sent a letter to Exy to ask about, and he just said that to make sure something on his mind was right, but I like you, I don't think I want to deny any rumor like that”.
"Maybe we shouldn't be a rumor anymore."
Seola stared at the girl, trying to get any sign of what that meant, whatever her answer to the search was, she felt at peace, as if she never wanted to leave that moment again. Jiyeon smiled at her, her hand firm on her face as she pulled her closer.
Jiyeon's lips tasted like chamomile, just like the tea she had made before bed, Seola wondered why she hadn't done that before.
"Baby," Jiyeon broke the kiss, but didn't dare let Seola go away "let's go to bed".
Seola was still in the clouds when she woke up, she didn't even care when she had to pay her neighbor two extra coins to use his owl, there was no way she would be angry when she got a good morning kiss from a sleepy Jiyeon.
"Please don't show your wand while we're there" Seola whispered as they walked the streets of the quiet neighborhood where her uncles lived.
"Does your aunt feel resentful for being the only human in the family?".
“No, she has been more relieved by this since it all happened, it's just that my father was not very peaceful when it came to that, maybe he pointed his wand once or twice at my uncle, and you know how muggles that has no knowledge of the world of magic acting on small things, imagine a direct threat, and he panicked a little the last time with Eunseo making the microwave float in the air by accident”.
"Did Eunseo float any more thing while she was around?" Jiyeon asked when she saw some people who seemed to be the same age as Seola entering the houses quickly.
"No, that was me, maybe I blew up a bicycle when I was a kid."
"Didn't they erase their memory?".
“No, the ministry was more busy with other things, and the fact that my mother worked there helped it to go unnoticed, besides my parents thought it was a good thing, they thought it was a good thing to have humans afraid of us, we are here” Seola stopped at the door of one of the houses, a light blue two-story house, which seemed to be the embodiment of a traditional family house “by the way, you can call me Hyunjung”.
The door to the house opened, Hyunjung's aunt indicating them to enter.
"Leave your bags there, your uncle will take them upstairs," When they arrived in the room she finally noticed the presence of the second person "you must be Bona, Hyunjung's letter indicating that you would come arrived yesterday, I'm Dasom".
"Nice to meet you".
“Nice to meet you too” The aunt turned to Hyunjung again, taking the coats they were wearing and leaving the room for a few seconds “the good news is that your uncle did not have a heart attack with all the owls coming, he even managed to see one of the newspapers of the daily prophet a few days ago, but still keep your wands hidden, let’s go, I'll show you your room”.
Even though Jiyeon had known humans before, it was still strange to be in one of these houses without any magical apparatus all around.
Hyunjung's aunt even asked if they needed an extra mattress, as well as the times that a friend of Hyunjung's had visited them, Jiyeon found it adorable how Hyunjung's cheeks turned pink when she said they didn't need an extra mattress, it seems that even Dasom had found that funny, having to leave the room while holding her laughter.
"At your age I would never be able to share a room with someone I'm dating" Said Dasom when she and Seola were alone in the kitchen.
"That's because you always dated muggles, I'm sure my grandparents would give you the whole house if you showed up with a wizard”.
"I don't doubt that this was the problem, anyway, I'm glad you found someone”.
"Is that when you will give an emotional speech?".
"No, I will save this for your wedding”.
"Marriage? I am still a teenager, aunt”.
"I like that you think you are a teenager, I still resent that you were placed as an adult too soon, anyway..." Her aunt sighed, setting aside the freshly baked cookies to look at Hyunjung "you are more like your mother than you imagine, except for all the evil and dead that your mother carries, you still have the same posture as her, still have the same habits, If I remember well your wands are even sisters, I would not be surprised if you get married to first person you date, and romantically love only one person during your entire life”.
"I don't know if I like being compared to her”.
“Everything is all right dear, we all know what she did, and why she is where she is now, but she is still your mother, she is still part of you, she loves you like she never loved anyone, I already admitted to myself that she a big part of me, but she protected you with her life, she never let you do anything you shouldn't, maybe she has upset you with bad ideas and it took us a long time to get them out of your head, but she didn't did it badly intentions, she did it because she thought it would be the best for you, when she saw that everything was lost, that it was her last day of freedom, she came to me, begged me to take care of you, never asked me for forgiveness for what she did, but I felt sincerity in her eyes when she asked for help, you can hate her for what she did, but I don't think you should hate her for being your mother”.
Hyunjung was silent for a few seconds, her eyes fixed on her shoes, Dasom knew that she would only speak again in her time, the surprise was that she spoke again before they left the kitchen “She would be happy that I was dating a witch, right?”.
"I think we all already knew that your heart wouldn't go to a muggle, right?" Dasom smiled at her, indicating that they should leave "she would be happy that you were letting someone call you Hyunjung again".
A few hours before returning to the castle, the three had another conversation alone, during one of the nights that the baby had woken up at dawn, while Dasom fed her they entered the room, Jiyeon gave a low laugh when she saw a little stuffed wizard wearing the clothes of the hufflepuff.
"Xuanyi thought it would be funny" Hyunjung commented as she passed her to sit on the armchair.
"It doesn't surprise me"
“Did she wake you up? I'm sorry, they should be resting for the prom” Dasom said, turning to them.
"No problem, we still have a day until the dance and we can sleep on the train" Jiyeon came over to touch the few hairs on the baby, who looked at her curiously.
"It will be weird not having Christmas around here" Dasom commented as she gave the baby to Jiyeon, little Jihye was already too entertained with her.
"Sorry, it was really unexpected”.
"No problem, I'm happy that you're going through with other people and not hiding in those dungeons, I'm going to your next task in the tournament”.
"You don’t need...".
"Seola, you almost lost your arm last time, and if it weren't for Minerva I would never know that" She turned to Jiyeon who had somehow made the baby sleep "Please make her stay alive until there".
"You don't have to ask me that, I already keep an eye open with her, your husband is funny while he talks about Jihye's future”.
"I know, he wants her to go to the same college, continue the legacy, you know?".
"Maybe you should think about another legacy" Hyunjung joined the conversation, still a little afraid in her words, she had talked to Jiyeon about it a few hours ago, the best way to tell her uncles that they felt she was not a muggle .
“So did you feel it too? I was still in doubt about it” Dasom sighed, leaning against the crib as he did it “maybe she should go to her school, Miss Bona, her uniforms are prettier”.
The trip back to Hogwarts was much busier, even without the griffin following the train, Jiyeon made them share the cabin with other students, students of the second year of the Ravenclaw, 'you need to be more social since you represent them' Jiyeon argued, and maybe Seola was unable to argue because Jiyeon was very close to her while saying that. At least she had slept half the trip, getting away from the series of questions that Ravenclaw students used to ask.
The castle seemed a lot calmer too, but when some students hurried by, holding huge dresses, it reminded her that the ball was coming, and that they were probably exploding in some part of the castle trying to get clothes for it.
When she was going to her room, Jiyeon pulled her back, holding on to her coat so she wouldn't move.
"Go to the prom with me" Jiyeon's fingers were still trapped in her coat, even though Seola showed that she wasn't going anywhere.
"I thought that was already underlined when I said I want to be with you”.
" Hyunjung, it is because of the symbolism of the action, ask me even if you know the answer".
Hyunjung laughed, breaking the space between them, by the noise of surprise from the other students, I could tell that they didn't expect to see her kissing Jiyeon in such an open place, even though they had already seen the girls having a scene or two of affection between them.
"Of course, I'm going with you”.
The dorm really showed the mess she expected, she even had to stop a sixth year student from trying to bargain for a dress exchange with a second year student. She found Yeonjung in their room, she knew that the girl had thrown out the others as soon as she saw her in her ball gown.
"What do you think?" Yeonjung swirled in the dark pink dress while smiling at her.
"I didn't know you were going to wear red for the prom”.
"It's not red, it's pink" Yeonjung rolled her eyes "Well, while you were on your honeymoon, some things happened".
“Dayoung blew something up again? I thought Minerva had made someone keep an eye on her in the meantime”.
"That's not it, but she even got a date for the dance faster than me, Eunseo invited Meiqi to the dance, in front of all the Gryffindor, we really should have warned her before".
"Yes, sometimes we only see what we like to see".
"Should I go talk to her?"
"No, she got somebody a few hours after she was denied, but you know what she looks like, give her time, you should go look for Exy actually, she thinks maybe she got an answer to your letter”.