Chapter 4
Hyunjung found Exy at the entrance to the Ravenclaw, the girl smiled at her as she approached, holding her dress against herself so it wouldn't touch dirty the floor.
"Look who's back from their honeymoon," Exy said, signaling them to stay away from the second-year classes student that were nearby, it was pretty obvious to anyone that they would open their mouths to the other schools if they heard anything about the tournament “I received your letter, the owl almost took my finger off, I had to go to the infirmary”.
"Sorry, I asked the first neighbor I saw, I just realized that he was the one that used to talk to himself when the owl was away".
"Let's get an owl as soon as the year is over, so you can also talk to Bona, so anyway..." Exy looked around, rolling her eyes when one saw two girls trying to disguise that they were as invested in the conversation as they two friends were, then she lowered the volume of her voice, a mere whisper was enough for the two to stay out of their business “do you remember that class of defense against the dark arts? The one with the big closet and the Boggart thing?”.
Of course Hyunjung remembered, the class seemed to be excited about it that day, everyone seemed to be amused by the sight of their fears becoming a big joke, the girl in front of her had turned huge snakes into balloons. Then it was her turn, Hyunjung stood in front of the closet, her hand squeezing her wand and a big smile on her face, which died as soon as she heard the click.
The first thing she recognized was the smell, vanilla, as well as the perfume that her mother wore, the class was still laughing when her smile completely fell apart, no one even seemed to realize what was happening to her. Then the door opened, it was only 5 seconds, just enough for her to recognize the smiles and the eyes into the darkness, so she raised her wand and locked the closet door.
She lost 10 points to the Slytherin in that class for not doing the spell that was being taught, apparently the teacher was not paying attention to the situation to realize what had really happened, and she was not keen to defend herself, her energy had been sucked in just 5 seconds. But the students had noticed, it was one of the only times that people had sided with her and empathized with her, who, after all, could raise her wand against her parents and face them?
"Yes, I remember" Hyunjung said in a small voice, Exy realized that it was not to protect the conversation from the others students, of course she would notice something like that.
"Seola...".
"Everything is fine, Exy, but I have to go, I still need to find a way to get flowers until the ball".
"I'm sure Yuqi from Gryffindor has managed to grow some for the ball, I saw she selling them yesterday”.
"I already tried there, apparently that is no more" Hyunjung started to walk away, trying to give the sincerest smile that she could "by the way, your dress is touching the floor".
She managed to hear Exy snort as she was walking away.
Hyunjung was exceptionally bad at herbology, she had given up on the subject at the first opportunity she found, which is why she was so lost in one of the library halls a few hours before the ball started, snorting when she found nothing that came close to the roses that she wanted, she was starting to think that maybe wizards saw roses as a muggle thing, so maybe she should look for Muggle studies books in the boring part of the library.
“I found you” Soobin approached her to get her attention, she was already wearing her dress and trying very carefully so it wouldn't get dirty “Exy told me that maybe you would be here, you should be getting ready, you are the Hogwarts champion, it must be the prettiest among all the others schools”.
"Come on, Soobin, don't say nonsense things, I just need to find something, I'll be there when it's time".
“I know about that too” Soobin walked past her, picking up a book that was three meters away from her, Hyunjung could never imagine that that was the book she was looking for “I am the best in herbology, you don't have to do everything yourself”.
"Thank you Soobin, I own you one”.
"It's okay, but I need to go now, and you too, I'm sure Bona wouldn't care if you showed up empty-handed, but she sure would be furious if you don’t arrive".
"Don't worry, I'm on my way."
Hyunjung arrived just in time, enough to see the girl entering the castle in a long dark green dress, and a smile getting bigger as she walked towards her. Hyunjung felt silly to be holding a little wilted daisy in her hand, maybe she should have asked Soobin for help before she left, or maybe transfigured something, if she didn’t think that it would be cheating, but Jiyeon smiled at her, and she forgot the long moments she it took to make that simple flower.
“What happened for you to be with that expression? Did a griffin attack you again?” Jiyeon said as she approached.
"I'm sorry for the single flower," Jiyeon smiled even more as she reached for the little daisy "I'm not good with plants".
"You don't have to be good with everything" Jiyeon winked at her as she watched the little flower become more alive, putting it on her dress "I'm kind of good with plants".
Hyunjung smiled at her, a silly smile that looked like she was floating. Then she held out her hand and indicated that they were going to the hall.
The other champions were waiting at the door already, Minerva smiled at her as soon as she saw her, indicating that they should approach quicker.
"I'm glad you got not only a pair but also get along with the other schools" Minerva whispered to her as she indicated their place in the queue.
"I'm happy too, professor Minerva".
They heard the minister speaking from inside the hall, shortly after the gate was opened.
Hogwarts was magical, but seeing the room decorated in that way made it look even more magical, the big Christmas trees, the tables placed elegantly, there was even snow falling around, not that the flakes reached them, but it was still… Everything was so beautiful.
Then Hyunjung felt her hand being squeezed, she looked urgently at the girl next to her, Jiyeon looked nervous, extremely nervous, and from the contact they were having, Hyunjung could feel the girl's hand sweating. It was the first time she saw Jiyeon nervous like that, of course, there was all the commotion when she got hurt, but this time it was different, the so confident Jiyeon seemed to have disappeared as soon as their feet entered the hall.
"Are you okay?" Hyunjung asked as they walked to the center of the hall for the first dance, the small orchestra in the background had already started playing, and was doing its best to make it look like there were hundreds of them there.
"Do you know how to dance?" They stopped in the center of the room.
"Yes, my parents used to throw fancy parties, is that what is making you so nervous?" The orchestra stopped for a few seconds, Hyunjung pulled her closer, her hand firm on Jiyeon's waist while Jiyeon had her hand uncertain on her shoulder.
"If I step on your foot, pretend it didn't happen."
Of course, Hyunjung would do anything she asked, in fact, she wouldn't need to ask for anything like that, the pain in her foot was nothing compared to Jiyeon's pink cheeks, and how her eyes went down every moment to have sure that she wouldn't crush Hyunjung's feet, that she didn't mind slowing down so that the girl could keep up.
“You look beautiful today” Hyunjung commented when the orchestra slowed down and the other students started to enter the dance floor.
Jiyeon got even closer, hiding her face on her neck, but Hyunjung can still see the silly smile and even the tips of Jiyeon's ear turn red.
A broken heart can do a lot of damage, especially when it is mixed with drinks and extremely loud music. Hyunjung saw this result at the ball.
She had met Eunseo's pair a few hours after the ball started, SinB was dancing with a student group, but her friend was nowhere in her view. She even thought about looking for Exy or Yeonjung, but after remembering that she had seen them sneak out of the ball with their peers, she had decided that it would be better to take care of the situation herself.
Jiyeon stayed with Meiqi and Xuanyi, who seemed to be on a mission to make the girl learn to dance slowly, even though the music she was playing was the rock band of the Gryffindor boys from the third year, and Meiqi was already sitting massaging her own feet.
Hyunjung took one last look at the group SinB was in, just to make sure her friend was not hiding behind someone before she left the room.
She couldn't blame SinB for not paying attention to Eunseo, she was sure there was a mutual agreement between them about the invitation. SinB had been dating a muggle, her neighbor since she was a child, Hyunjung was sure she had heard her grumble about how much her parents pretended they weren't relieved that she wasn't dating a wizard, they still hadn't come in terms of their daughter's life situation, she was also sure that Eunseo only invited her because it was the easiest situation, they were also friends for a long time, since Eunseo pulled her under her ass and took as a promise to protect the born of Muggle family, it was part of her heroic fantasy, Hyunjung also understood her reason for doing this, she was even happy to see SinB cheering for her in the first stage of the tournament, disguised and secretive for sure, but the positive sign in her direction already it was enough. Inviting SinB just to not appear alone or having to go through the whole process of inviting someone, it seemed as easy as accepting Eunseo's invitation so that she didn't have to deal with the whole issue of going to the ball while dating someone outside.
Hyunjung found Eunseo after some walking, just outside some towers, sitting among the snow and pointing her wand at the ground so that the fire from the fire pit near her feet kept alive.
"You're going to be sick" Hyunjung commented as she pushed the snow out the stair beside her so she could sit.
"You can also get sick”.
"Last time Jiyeon took care of me, I think I'll be fine, maybe even happy to do that again”.
Eunseo smiled, this time a small and sad smile, as she watched the flames of the fire pit get bigger so they could warm Hyunjung too.
Hyunjung wondered how to start the conversation, she could feel that maybe Eunseo was more hurt than she expected, that maybe that passion for Meiqi had increased in some way that she hadn't noticed.
"So, do you like her?" Hyunjung asked with no intention of looking as weird as the result came out to be.
"Yes, but she doesn't like me".
"Well, feelings are complicated”.
She can hear Eunseo chuckling, her eyes coming out of the fire to look into the distance, maybe even the lights of the other school's ship.
"It's funny that they sent you to cheer me up me" Eunseo had a funny tone in her voice that made Hyunjung relax beside her.
"I know? I start dating and now everyone thinks I have some aptitude for giving loving advice”.
"Yeah, I still remember last year with you stuttering when Joy went to talk to you".
"Don't pretend that you wouldn't act like that, everyone has a crush on Joy, I didn't expect that in her senior year she would want some friendship with me".
“The great friendship made you blush for the rest of the day,” Hyunjung looked away, anywhere that could hide her pink face “that’s why I was a little shocked when I saw that you were really making progress with Bona, without stumbling over your words and without hesitating, at one point you wanted to leave school to not participate in the tournament, the next you needed to run because you were already late to study with Bona for the same tournament, it was a big change”.
Hyunjung caught something in the air, she knew that even Eunseo could not have caught the meaning of her words, and at the same time it made her slightly uncomfortable, but she understood.
"I always think you should be in my place" Hyunjung said her eyes fixed on the girl.
"Don't be silly, I would probably die facing a griffin, I would definitely fight it and not befriend one," Hyunjung smiled wondering what the griffin was doing near her house, she hoped it was terrifying a little the residents “you would have to invade the task to save me, that would be more embarrassing that not begin the champion of Hogwarts”.
"No, you are good with the broom, you would reach the finish line before the griffin could reach you".
“I'll be fine, Seola, you don’t need to tell lies” Eunseo suddenly changed the subject, looking at her smiling, a genuine smile “we are teenagers, sometimes we see things bigger than they are, I broke my heart myself by creating something in my head which was never real, I'll be fine, I'll talk to Xuanyi later too, when it's not Christmas and I can't break the mood, and you shouldn’t worry about not seeing what is coming, people live their own story without needing to see others stories, is a normal thing”.
"You will never break the mood, she is your friend first of all, she will be happy to see you returning to normal".
"And I will help you more in your next task, SinB noticed some important points from the other editions, they are always attentive in the interactions of the participants, not only the champions but those they love can be put at risk".
"You are saying...".
"If they go after someone you like, I am 100% sure it will be Bona, so I will make a protection group around her".
"She is a great witch."
"Hermione was even bigger, and even her was caught, don't worry, nothing will happen to her".
Hyunjung wanted to say that she knew that nothing would happen to the girl, she knew what fear would come, but talking to her would make her have to talk about what was coming, and that was something she knew couldn’t happen, she wasn't ready to talk about what was coming, and she probably wouldn't be ready to talk about what was the test about afterwards.
After she directed Eunseo to the dormitory, with the help of Gryffindor senior student Jihyo, she met Jiyeon again, in one of the empty corridors near the hall.
"Hey, you missed my slow dance classes" Jiyeon said approaching her.
"Maybe you can show me what you got later”.
"I'm probably going to forget everything in a few minutes”.
"Then I will teach you again, but now I need to show you something".
Jiyeon looked at her curiously as she pulled out a box, just like that with the red bow that wrapped everything. Jiyeon opened the box under Hyunjung's watchful eye, who seemed to want to remember every detail of the girl's reaction.
The necklace inside as dark as the pendant, a black solitary stone of five centimeters.
"When did you have time to buy this?" Jiyeon asked as she took the necklace out of the box.
“I didn't buy it,” Hyunjung turned her back to her, tossing her hair to the side to help put the necklace on “it was my mom's, it was in the bottom of my bedroom drawer, I haven't touched it for years, but maybe the time to let some things go, to open up more”.
Jiyeon turned again, her hands on Hyunjung's face as she pulled her closer, Hyunjung melted at her touch.
"You should have told me you were going to give me a serious gift."
Hyunjung smiled thinking about the two books that Jiyeon had given her earlier, one about broom flying techniques and the other about griffin care, silly gifts just as they had agreed to exchange a few days ago while they were travelling. Then she saw the box at the bottom of her drawer, like it was calling her to it.
"Sorry about that, I just felt like I should give it to you”.
"It looks really special, are you sure?".
"It was too special, so it lost the value a little bit, I think it deserves someone to make it important again”.
"Isn't that someone you?".
"It is very heavy for me, it was ruined because of my family, maybe it will be better with someone new".
"Hey, why do you sound like you're scared?".
"I'm a little bit more scared than the first task”.
"Because of what?".
"Because I know what's coming, and it's bigger than what I fear most in my life".
"I'm going to be there, I mean, not during the task, but after, you're not going to break."
Hyunjung was silent, letting herself be pulled into a hug, and having her face covered in kisses, she let herself relax and have her mind taken away from anything that was coming, at that moment all that mattered was that Jiyeon was there.
"Show me what you learned then".
Hyunjung spent the rest of the night dacing with Jiyeon in that corridor, not caring about the task that was coming, with the students passing by or with the necklace that was between them, as her parents had still casting a shadow under them.