“Werewolves, huh?”

Jessica jolts in her seat as the man’s voice startles her. “P-professor!” she stammers as she slams her book close.

Siwon just smirks at his student before leaning in even closer. “Interesting topic of research, Miss Jung.”

Under the shadow of his large build, Jessica gulps, unsure of how the read the expression on his face. He may be politely smiling, but the student can’t figure out if her werewolf-professor might find her inquiries insulting in some fashion.

“I-I was just curious,” she whispers.

With a soft chuckle, Siwon withdraws himself from the girl’s personal bubble. “You know, Jessica, if you head to the top floor of the main tower, there’s a door on the east side that specifically says ‘only staff permitted’.” He smirks. “I hear it’s a nice place to sit down and think.”

“I’m s-sorry?” the girl stammers, confused.

Mindful that they’re still in a library, Siwon whispers in tone so low and coarse that it makes the hairs stand up on the back of Jessica’s neck. “Top floor. East side. Staff only door.”

With that, the man leaves the table, but glances over his shoulder to click a wink at the girl. Stunned, Jessica rapidly looks around, wondering if anyone else has just laid witness to this exchange. Finding herself alone, she palms her own warm cheeks as she wonders if her modelesque teacher has just made a pass at her. If he did, Jessica sighs as she thinks about how her life is turning more and more into some drama show.

***

***

Top floor. East side. Staff only door.

Jessica stares at the wooden door with the clear label, ‘ONLY STAFF PERMITTED’.

“What’re you doing?” she mutters to herself, boring her eyes into planks of oak.

Reaching out, she finds the door suspiciously unlocked. For a magical school that has restricted areas, Jessica finds it odd that there’s no physical or magic spells to bind it closed, but she pushes it open anyways. On the other side, she finds a wooden staircase that spirals up into bright light.

The rooftop.

Once she ascends the long, curved staircase, she exits through another door to the tiled roof. Against the faded blue sky, she spots a small, seated silhouette in the distance. Finally realizing why the professor has sent her this direction, Jessica freezes in her step, hesitant about approaching her potions partner.

Now that she knows the girl’s a werewolf, she’s not too surprised to watch Taeyeon suddenly turn her nose up into the air before looking at her direction. The Gryffindor girl squints out of disbelief.

“…Sica?”

With a heavy sigh, Jessica caves and decides to clear the air between them. She carefully makes her way across the red walkway and admires the vast view of the lush oak trees that surrounds them. Even with the misty ground, the afternoon sky is still a sparkling bright-blue and Jessica likes that the warm autumn afternoon doesn’t make her feel so stressed as she reaches Taeyeon.

As she steps off the walkway and onto the tiled roof, she in a deep breath before finally addressing the girl.

“Hi.”

Surprise written all over her face, Taeyeon looks up at Jessica, standing over her, and blinks a few times in succession. “What are you doing here?” she whispers, stunned that her potions partner isn’t still giving her the cold shoulder.

“I, um,” Jessica pauses when she’s not even sure why her curiosity has led her to the rooftop—alone with Taeyeon, no doubt. Well aware that she’s been deliberately avoiding contact with her potions partner, Jessica decides to honestly tell Taeyeon, “I think we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we can talk it out?”

If Taeyeon’s eyes could widen with anymore surprise, they would. “Sure,” she mumbles, watching the Slytherin girl take a seat next to her, fidgeting on the uncomfortably hard tiles. “What brought you around, kitten?” Taeyeon asks, softly smiling.

Jessica pouts at the girl’s endless fountain of nicknames. “Are you ever going to call me by my name?”

“What’s wrong with Japan or kitten?” Taeyeon teases, glad to feel the weight of tension between them lighten slightly. “If you don’t like them, do you like…Jessicat more?” she snickers.

Jessica, though, just rolls her eyes. “You’re a brat.”

Taeyeon giggles. “So, what brings you up to my roof?”

“Your roof? Please.”

“You’re cramping up my special spot,” Taeyeon sarcastically tells the girl.

Jessica plays along. “What? It’s a nice view. Don’t be so selfish. Sharing is caring, you know?”

“I guess I can make an exception—just this once,” Taeyeon tells the girl, stretching her legs out and leaning her arms back.

As their small talk dies out, a gap of awkward silence begins to make them both shift uncomfortably.

Jessica’s the first to break the hush. “So, um, about what happened the other night.” She doesn’t miss the way Taeyeon’s expression sours. “The reason I came looking for you in that dungeon is because I wanted to apologize. I don't want you to think I'm a gossip queen—really, I'm not. I didn't mean for things to go so far. I really am sorry about what happened with Tiffany and Hyoyeon.”

Appreciating the girl’s sincere apology Taeyeon nods with a small smile. “Thank you. It’s, uh, water under the bridge, okay? Also…I'm, uh, sorry about what you ran into the other night. You really surprised me.” Taeyeon awkwardly rubs the back of her neck, feeling her stomach churn in discomfort as the pink elephant in the room shows itself. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag now, huh?”

Jessica gives the girl a small nod. “So…what’s it like?”

“You mean…?”

“What’s it like being a werewolf?”

Ah. Taeyeon scoffs. “.”

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” Jessica starts cautiously, not sure about how to pry into an obviously sensitive topic. “That night that I came down into the dungeon…there wasn’t a full moon that night. How did you turn?”

Nose twitching, Taeyeon wiggles her pout back and forth while she deliberates on how much she wants to tell the other girl. Surprised by her own verdict, she openly tells the Slytherin girl, “because I’m not a natural werewolf.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Like, Siwon’s a natural werewolf,” Taeyeon explains. “He was born as one and raised in pack. He comes from a whole lineage of them, so on full moons, he turns, but my circumstances are kind of…different,” she sighs. “Guess I’m sorta artificial.”

Furrowing her brows, Jessica gently shakes her head. “I don’t get. So were you bitten?”

“, why am I telling you all this?” Taeyeon laughs to herself, sinking her face into a palm.

“Come on!” Jessica pleads, turning to face the girl and nudging her shoulder. “Tell me, please?”

Taeyeon meets the girl’s gaze. “I really don’t need you spreading anymore rumors about me.”

Jessica doesn’t miss the snark in the girl’s tone. “I swear, I was just talking with Yuri about you and Professor Choi. I didn’t think it was going to get blown out of proportion! Seriously, I’m not the gossipy type, okay? I just…I just thought it would be nice to get to know you better.”

The amount of attention that Taeyeon’s getting from the girl is absolutely suffocating. Skeptical of her peer’s  sincerity, she asks, “why? I’m messed up. You’ve heard them say it all the time.”

“I don’t think you are,” Jessica says, shrugging.

Taeyeon blows out a long exaggerated exhale, hating how Jessica’s so easily crawling under her skin. Soft for the girl, she tells her, “I’m not a natural werewolf. I don’t shift from the full moon. Emotions are usually my catalyst, but sometimes the lunar phase amplifies it. Usually when my emotions go bonkers, it stresses my body out enough that I shapeshift. You…you made me so mad the other day that I just started losing control.”

Flinching, Jessica feels terrible once she realizes what happened. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s fine. You couldn’t have known.” Taeyeon spits out a small laugh before sinking her face into her palms. “Oh my god, why am I even telling you all this? I barely even know you.”

“I won’t say anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. I promise.”

“Thanks,” Taeyeon mutters back. “Also, um, the other day…I said some stuff I shouldn’t have about Yoona and them. I kinda run my mouth when I get too hot-headed. Could you not mention to them that—”

“I’m not a gossip queen, if that’s what you’re worried about. Superficial stuff, maybe,” Jessica giggles, “but I wouldn’t dare gossip about stuff that personal. That’s not cool.”

“Thanks.”

“…Were the three of them really as much trouble as everyone keeps telling me?”

Taeyeon laughs out loud. “Probably even more than that. They were the worst.”

“You guys don’t seem so bad,” Jessica says, turning her thin lips into a sweet smile.

The smile is short lived though as a blast of cold air sweeps over the tiled roof. Suddenly no longer fond of the pretty scenery, Jessica squeals and cringes as she pulls her knees to her chest, hating the chill of autumn seeping through her white sweater. She hears the other girl clap her hands together before she suddenly feels a warm palm touch her back. Even more surprising, she feels the heat from Taeyeon’s hand immediately seep through the cashmere fabric and spread through her body, warming her from head to toe.

Eyes wide, she looks up to meet Taeyeon’s gaze. “Woah, how did you—? You don’t even have a wand….”

The other girl grins before removing her hand from Jessica’s back. “Us ‘lazy and spoiled types’ are just full of surprises,” Taeyeon mockingly mentions, reminding her potions partner of some unpleasant words exchanged between them. “Some of us are actually quite gifted and hard working too.”

Jessica sighs when she’s reminded of her accusation and she feels guilt bubble up into her chest. “I-I’m sorry about what I said before. With being the new kid, and everything else that was going on, I guess the stress just really got to me. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Looks like we both have bad tempers anyways,” Taeyeon replies with a small smirk.

Jessica lightly chuckles at the thought of Taeyeon’s special form of a temper tantrum. “Alright, we’re stuck together for, like, a whole semester. Let’s just start clean, okay?”

Taeyeon nods in agreement.

“I’m Jessica,” the Slytherin girl reintroduces, holding her hand out, “the new kid, who has a bad case of perfectionism when it’s comes to school, which makes her a little socially stupid.”

The other girl can’t help her own laughter at Jessica’s sheer bluntness. So, she returns the favor and shakes the girl’s hand. “Kim Taeyeon, a werewolf that hides in the basement of SKY Academy. Instead of full moons, I get chained up when I’m having bad days.”

Jessica smiles when she’s relieved about ironing out this wrinkle in her life. “It’s nice to meet you, Taeyeon.”

“You too, Sica.”

They only share the pleasant moment for a few seconds before Taeyeon abruptly lets go and rises up from the tiled-rooftop. “Okay, let’s go inside,” she says hurriedly as she staggers to her feet. “My ’s falling asleep.”

***

Jessica finds it a little bizarre that, just yesterday, she was having lunch with Taeyeon and her friends, and today, she’s sitting on Tiffany’s bed and helping the girl with her potions homework.

She tries not to think about the two girls’ rivalry and tries to concentrate on schoolwork. 

“So did you figure out 3-b yet?”

Tiffany cutely pouts and shakes her head. “How do you decide between using seahorse tails or rat tails? You could use either, right?”

“Technically, both work. The difference is that seahorse tails come dried and are easy to grate down into a powder. If you reduce it to a powder, then the whole dry mix blends better before you add a solvent. Rat tails are better if your potion’s boiled over a long period of time, but since your solvent’s cold, you’ll want the seahorse tail, so that it w