Jessica can already feel her forehead dampening with sweat as she stares across the dining room, looking at the table of menacing girls. Even though Yoona, Hyoyeon, and Sunny are doing nothing but talking and eating breakfast, Jessica trembles in her flats as she watches the girls.

Of all things to have happened from just simply gossiping with her roommate, what transpired a few days ago was not what Jessica had expected. SKY, being the prestigious academy that it is, is the last place Jessica had expected for an actual fight to break out among her peers. And the last thing she wants is to be involved with such trouble. Gripping her sweaty palms, Jessica silently prays she’ll make it out of this conversation alive, gathers her nerves, and begins to walk across the dining hall. 

“H-hey.”

Hyoyeon immediately stands from her seat and snaps, “you’ve seriously got some balls to come over here!”

Jessica gulps and naturally staggers back a step as the other witch steps forward. “I-I’m sorry about the other day. I really didn’t know what they were going to do. Yuri and I were just talking, I swear. I didn’t think they would—”

“Well, do us a favor and shut your mouth,” Sunny interrupts. “Now run along, snake, you’re not welcomed here.”

Jessica grits her teeth as she starts to feel tears creep into her vision. Never before in her life has she been attacked like this and she quivers while summoning the courage to ask, “d-do you know where I can find Taeyeon? I want to apologize to her.”

Yoona’s palm slaps the table surface, making the smaller witch jump. “Are you stupid or something?! You seriously think we’re going to tell you where she is?!”

Stepping into Jessica’s space, Hyoyeon leans in uncomfortably close. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t talk to her, otherwise you’ll have to talk to me first,” the Gryffindor girl clearly warns.

“P-please,” Jessica sighs, swallowing down her fear, “I just want to apologize.”

Grabbing the Slytherin girl by the shoulders, Hyoyeon turns the girl around and pushes her away from the table. “Piss off, Sica. Seriously.”

***

***

Having not been able to sleep most of the night, thanks to her guilty conscience, Jessica continues to look for her potions partner. Though Taeyeon’s friends are intimidating, Jessica doesn’t want to be affiliated with the conflict, so she desperately seeks the girl out to resolve this misunderstanding.

When she can’t find the girl in any of the common areas, she naturally starts to make her way over to the Gryffindor dorm, only to be surprised when the girl in question finds her in the vacant corridors first.

“Sica.”

“Holy sh—!” Jessica clutches her pounding heart as she whirls around to face Taeyeon. “Where did you come fr—?”

“You’re the cat?” Taeyeon bluntly asks, hardening her stare.

Surprised by the first words out of , Jessica rapidly blinks in surprise. “Wh-what?”

“You’re that cooper cat, right? You’re an animagus?” Taeyeon questions.

“I-I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jessica stammers, uncomfortably shifting her weight from foot to foot.

Taeyeon shakes her head in disbelief. “Sneaking around at night and spying on your peers? I wouldn’t have expected that from the great, talented Jessica Jung from Mahoutokoro. You seriously have some nerve.”

Jessica gulps. “Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I’m sorry I said something to Yuri. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”

“Whatever you think you saw the other night? Keep it to yourself. And if I hear you spreading rumors about me again, you’re going to have a really ty time here, do you understand?”

Taeyeon and her friends hardly sugarcoat their threats, but, surprisingly, this time it doesn’t instill fear into Jessica. What Taeyeon really does is ignite the other girl’s temper. Tired of dealing with all these mean girls, the transfer-student straightens out her spine and stands up a little taller than her potions partner.

“I wasn’t spying on you, you narcissist. The world doesn’t revolve around you. I was doing my own thing and you just happened to be around.”

“And you felt the need to tell your friends about your findings, why?”

Jessica avoids the question altogether. “What kind of secrets are you hiding for you to be so worried about anyways?”

Clenching her jaw, Taeyeon sharply exhales. “Forget it. Just mind your own business. I don’t have time for this,” she sighs before turning on her feet.

“Just like you don’t have time to meet for our lab?” Jessica retorts, watching the girl’s turned back start to move down the hall.

“I told you, I was sick,” Taeyeon calls over her shoulder.

“You didn’t look very sick with Professor Choi!” Watching her lab partner ignore the jab and continue to walk away just annoys the Slytherin girl. Temper sparking, she can’t refrain herself from shouting after Taeyeon. “I was…I was just trying to figure out how girls like you even got here!”

Taeyeon stops and turns back around, surprised by the insulting tone. She a brow. “Girls…like me?”

“Yeah!” Jessica says defiantly, turning her chin into the air. “Lazy…and spoiled.”

Taeyeon laughs. “You do realize that most kids are here, in SKY, because their parents have deep pockets, right? You’re a Jung witch; you must be one of them too.”

“SKY Academy is the new leading wizarding school in Asia. I came here because my last school didn’t offer continuing studies. I needed a bigger challenge—”

“Daddy still paid for it, right, princess?” Taeyeon teases.

Even though it’s true, Jessica feels her temper flare at the comment when she thinks about how Taeyeon doesn’t even care about the education she’s getting. “We’re all here because we’re lucky our parents have the ability to put us here. It’s a blessing.”

The other girl rolls her eyes at the assumption. “For some of us, maybe,” Taeyeon mutters.

Irritated, Jessica angrily huffs and decides to stride forward, closing the distance between them. “You’re such a spoiled brat. Not everyone gets the luxury of paying to get past entrance exams to get into this prestigious school. Since you don’t have the talent or work ethic, at least have a little gratitude for what your parents have done for you.”

Taeyeon grimaces. “What did you say?”

“You don’t think I haven’t heard of all the rumors? About how your rich--CEO parents paid to get a deadbeat like you into SKY?”

At the bold accusation, Taeyeon leans into the transfer-student, matching the girl’s heated temper. “You don’t know anything about me, Jessica.”

“Like you told me: everybody knows each other here, right? Tiff’s right. You’re such a spoiled, little . You don’t even know how good you have it.”

“Get off your soapbox,” Taeyeon sneers. “How superficial do you have to only be thinking of school, all the time? Do you ever think about other stuff? Did you ever think that some of us have other things to worry about in our lives instead of being the first ranked student? You think it's such a privilege to attend this posh academy, but not everyone is you, Sica.” 

The Slytherin girl flinches when Taeyeon exploits a nerve that she didn’t even realize was sensitive. She does her best to bite back her hurt before countering, “and what could possibly be so bad about being part of SKY?”

If it's possible, Jessica watches another glaze of emotion harden over Taeyeon's eyes. “You know, people will tell you that rich girls like me—like Yoona, like Sunny—people will say that we had an easy time, being born with silver spoons in our mouths, but money isn’t everything, Sica. Like…do you even know about Yoona? Do you know what it must be like with parents that don't give a about you? Parents that raise you on nannies and ship you away to boarding school as soon as they can?”

Dumbfounded by the sudden intimate information, the tension melts right out of Jessica’s body as she watches Taeyeon continue to rant.

“And Sunny, she didn’t even want to go into wizardry. She wanted to live a mortal life, but her parents told her she would be a disgrace if she did. So, they dumped her into this hole, against her will. And Hyo doesn’t come from families like ours. You’re a Jung witch, you have no idea what it’s like for a half-blood like her. Her parents blew their entire life savings to get her into this school.”

Jessica tries to swallow around the sudden tightness in . “I didn’t mean—”

“And you!” Taeyeon huffs as her chest heaves with angry, hot air. “Y-you…” she pants, feeling rage painfully knot in her stomach, “…yo-you don’t even get to know about me!” She grits her teeth hard enough that she feels her eye twitch too. “Go crawl back onto Tiffany’s lap, like the good dog you are. I thought you were different, but you’re naïve and selfish, just like her.”

Speechless about the sudden turn in their argument, Jessica can do nothing but watch Taeyeon storm off in a fury. Even with the girl’s razor insults, Jessica wants to feel good about the way she’s stood up for herself. She’s already spent days with girls bumping shoulders with her, watched them throw her dirty glances down the hall, witnessed them set fire to her friends—enough is enough.

Jessica doesn’t want to be the pitiful victim.

But antagonizing Taeyeon has done nothing but make her stomach feel sick. Watching the Gryffindor girl vanish down the hall, Jessica can’t help the tears that start to dot her lashes when she feels awful about who she’s become in just a few short weeks.

***

“Bora’s not back for a few more days, right?” Yuri whispers, nuzzling into the crook of Tiffany’s neck.

Feeling Yuri’s hands crumple her crisp dress shirt, Tiffany giggles before nudging the girl away. “Don’t you have class or something this morning?” she asks as she straightens out her tie.

“It’s the weekend, Fany,” Yuri mutters, gently kissing the girl’s cheek.

“Well, I have tutorials to get to.”

“You don’t need the extra credits,” Yuri whines. “I can’t think of a better way for you to spend your free time,” she whispers.

“Was last night not enough for you?” Tiffany wheezes as Yuri pushes her against the wall. “Uff, you’re getting heavy,” she huffs through giggles.

“Come onnnn. We should enjoy ourselves before the semester gets busy.”

Even though this arrangement certainly isn’t new, Tiffany blushes under the girl’s wanton stare and shivers as the warmth of Yuri’s body starts to press against hers. However, Tiffany flinches when she starts drowning in hypnotic shades of rubies in the Slytherin girl’s eyes.

“Y-yuri,” Tiffany breathes, feeling the slightest brush of the other girl’s lips.

“Yes, Fany?”

“St…stop it,” Tiffany hisses, finally blinking out of her trance and turning her head away. “I hate it when you use it on me. Cut it out.”

Yuri her lips, disappointed that she couldn’t hold the girl’s attention longer. “Oh come on—”

“Don’t use it on me. Understand?” Tiffany growls, pushing her off.

The other girl steps back with a frown as she watches the Hufflepuff girl straighten out her skewed shirt. “You know, you don’t always complain like this, right?” she grumbles, bitter about her bruised ego.

“You don’t need to force me,” Tiffany whispers, wrapping her cloak over her shoulders.

“I wasn’t trying to—I didn’t mean to,” Yuri sighs. “I’m sorry. Can’t we just, rewind?” The girl pouts as she gently tugs on her friend’s necktie, hoping to re-loosen it.

Tiffany pulls away though. “Well, if I was in the mood, I’m certainly not now.”

Yuri frowns. “I said I was sorry. You know it just kind of happens sometimes.”

“I know,” Tiffany sighs, “but that doesn’t make me hate it any less.”