When Seohyun woke up, she didn’t think anything was wrong.

 

Sure, the bed across from hers was empty, but that was normal. Sooyoung most likely never made it past the eagle again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

 

It wasn’t until the announcement of a school assembly and rumors of a missing third year Ravenclaw student that Seohyun started to worry.

 

When a first year Ravenclaw named Wendy burst through her dorm doors with the words “Unnie! Sooyoung Unnie has gone missing!” spilling from her lips, Seohyun felt her worst fears coming true.

 

Seohyun never ran faster in her life.

 

---

 

 

The students of Hogwarts spilled into the hallways of the castle, all filing towards the Great Hall while led by professors and prefects. Jessica and Yuri shuffled through the crowded corridors behind the other Slytherins. The entire time, Jessica caught Yuri trying to sneak a peek at what seemed like an old parchment hidden inside her robes.

 

Rolling her eyes at her friend’s failed subtleness, she hooked her arm around Yuri and gently guided her along. The Slytherins were the last to file into the Great Hall, and like usual were given the evil side eye. Jessica scoffed. The whole house feud was getting old fast. She wouldn't have been surprised if a few of the Gryffindors suspected one of the Slytherins for being responsible for Sooyoung’s disappearance. 

 

Jessica scanned the row of maroon colored robes but couldn’t spot the three Gryffindor girls. The amount of people walking back and forth made it too hectic. Feeling restless, Jessica tightened her grip on Yuri just in case.

 

Once everyone settled in, McGonagall took the front and addressed the students.

 

“Silence, please,” her stern voice boomed across the room. The murmurs immediately came to a quiet stop.

 

McGonagall surveyed the room once, satisfied that everyone seemed to be present.

 

Well, almost everyone. 

 

“As you may have heard,” she began. “There has been report of a missing student.”

 

Murmurs broke across the room again like a ripple. However, they were quickly silenced by a raise of McGonagall’s hand.

“Students are forbidden from leaving Hogwarts premises and weekend trips to Hogsmeade shall be postponed until further notice.” There was a collective groan from the older students.

 

"Prefects, please proceed with a headcount of the students here and professors, continue the search for the missing student. That will be all for now,” McGonagall announced before walking to a group of professors and immediately launching into discussion.

 

Jessica and Yuri stayed seated as the prefects conducted the headcount. When the headcount was finished the students were asked to stay in the Great Hall for another hour or so as the professors finished their search. However, they were free to mingle amongst each other.

 

Jessica wanted to check on how the Gryffindor girls were doing but her plans were cut short as Professor McGonagall approached them herself.

 

“Kwon Yuri, if I may have a word with you,” the Professor gestured sternly, her tone leaving making it clear it was more of a command than a request.

 

Yuri hesitated, her eyes darting towards Jessica, who nodded mutely showing that she was fine.

 

McGonagall noticed the interaction and promptly stated, “Your friend can come too,” before turning and leaving.

 

Yuri and Jessica shared a glance before hurrying after the Headmistress.

 

“You wanted to talk to me, Professor?” Yuri asked timidly once they walked into a deserted classroom.

 

Professor McGonagall fixed her steely gaze on the raven haired Slytherin. “I was told you were the one who reported the missing student, is that correct?”

 

Yuri nodded dumbly and Jessica looked to her friend in surprise. How had she known Sooyoung was missing?

 

It seemed McGonagall was thinking the same thing as she asked, “And how did you know Ms. Choi was missing?”

 

Yuri fidgeted slightly, and Jessica caught the way her right hand ghosted over a specific spot on her robes. Eyes flickering up to McGonagall, Jessica was sure the older witch noticed it as well. Jessica doubted anything escaped the old witch's sharp eyes. 

 

“Umm,” Yuri hesitated. When she initially reported the incident, she was able to skirt around the details of how she knew Sooyoung was missing, emphasizing that quick action was more important for the student’s safety. However now, under McGonagall’s unnerving stare, Yuri knew she wouldn’t be able to wiggle her way out this time.

 

McGonagall was in no mood for games and raised her eyebrow impatiently as she stared down at Yuri who let out an involuntary noise from the back of in hesitation.

 

Should she tell the truth and expose to McGonagall everything they’ve been doing, or lie?

 

“I, uh, we’re partners for potions and we were supposed to meet up to practice the shrinking solution for class on Monday. She didn’t show up, so I looked for her and couldn’t find her anywhere. It became worrying so I told the head of Ravenclaw, Professor Yang, who conducted a quick search and concluded that she was missing.”

 

Yuri felt McGonagall’s sharp eyes bore holes into her skull and tried her best not to look uncomfortable though her hand nervously caressed the Maruader’s Map which was hidden within her robes. She had a feeling McGonagall knew she was lying. Yuri wouldn’t have been surprised if McGonagall knew how to read minds, though her tough gaze acted enough as a truth serum. The older witch seemed to know everything.

 

She felt Jessica tense next to her as her staring contest with McGonagall continued. Finally, McGonagall relaxed, sending Jessica a stiff glance before turning back to Yuri.

 

“I see. You may go back to the Great Hall now,” McGonagall waved her hand to the door, and Yuri took it as her cue to leave. She grabbed Jessica’s arm and pulled her towards the exit.

 

“Do let me know if your potions partner shows up, Ms. Kwon,” McGonagall called after them and Yuri had a feeling with the way McGonagall emphasized the words ‘shows up’ that McGonagall somehow knew about the Map. When Yuri looked back to reply, McGonagall was no longer there. Stunned, Yuri stood frozen at the classroom door until Jessica pulled her away.

 

“Come on.”

 

Yuri followed Jessica dumbly, not forgetting to check her robes to make sure the map was still there. 

 

 

---

 

 

“Wait, didn’t Professor McGonagall tell us to go back to the Great Hall?” Yuri frowned as Jessica pulled her into another empty classroom and locked the door, both manually and with a locking charm.

 

“Yeah, but since when did you listen to her, Ms. I’m - Potions - partners - with - Sooyoung - and - we - were - supposed - to - meet - up?” Jessica smirked up at her, trapping Yuri with her own lie.

 

“Uh, I” Yuri stammered helplessly like a fish out of water. If Jessica could catch onto her lie, she had no doubt McGonagall had also caught on. 

 

“And the truth, please, Yuri. I’m not going to let you off easy like McGonagall,” Jessica’s stare hardened, causing Yuri to gulp in nervousness at the girl’s seriousness. “She tried to use Legilimency on you too. You’re lucky I’m okay with Occlumency otherwise she’d know all your darkest secrets by now.”

 

“What?” Yuri blanched at the revelation. So McGonagall actually could read minds and stupid Yuri basically let her by refusing to shy away from the eye contact. “You’re an Occlumens?”

 

Jessica shrugged nonchalantly. “Ice princess remember? No emotions? I can usually control my feelings pretty easily,” she answered, referring to the nicknames she earned a week into her transfer to Hogwarts. “Anyways, enough of that. How did you know Sooyoung was missing?” she asked Yuri once again. “And the truth. Unless you want to see how good I am at Legilimens.”

 

Yuri grinned at her friend’s attempt at a scary glare. She had gotten used to them long ago. “Okay, okay. Remember that night we met the Gryffindors in the library? Well, Sooyoung was there.”

 

Jessica raised an eyebrow at the information but didn’t say anything, waiting for Yuri to continue.

 

“Well, I met her Saturday night as well, the night you passed out after dueling Taeyeon. She told me she wanted to help,” Yuri continued.

 

Jessica frowned at this. Students seemed really nosy here at Hogwarts. “Why?”

 

Yuri shrugged. “She said she might know something about the Kodama.”

 

“What does she know?” Jessica asked curiously.

 

Yuri frowned. “I don’t know, she didn’t want to tell me, saying that she’ll tell us on Friday.”

 

“Yesterday,” Jessica clarified and Yuri nodded.

 

“But she never showed up…” Jessica drawled before lighting up in realization. “That’s why you were so fidgety to leave. You were waiting for her to show up and when she didn’t, you were worried the entire time!”
 

Yuri groaned. “I just thought she chickened out. I didn’t think she would actually get into trouble.”

 

Jessica stared Yuri down in anger. “Yuri, why didn’t you tell us about this? Why didn’t you tell me about Sooyoung?”

 

Yuri flinched. “Honestly? I didn’t think she’d show up. I thought she was just joking around.”

 

Jessica sighed and faced the ceiling in frustration. “And now she’s gone,” she stated coldly, looking back down at Yuri who refused to meet her eyes out of guilt.

 

“Yeah…”

 

Jessica inwardly groaned. Things never went their way. “This is bad, Yul. This is very bad. We have to find her before something happens to her,” Jessica stressed as she paced back and forth in the empty classroom.

 

Yuri eyed her friend. “Do you know something?”

 

Jessica froze mid step, before twirling to face Yuri. “I -” Her voice caught, unable to find the right wording. Her mind was in a jumble of thoughts. She sighed once more before closing her eyes.

 

“Something like this happened to me before,” Jessica confessed quietly. “I just hope it won’t end the same way as last time.”

 

Yuri took in Jessica’s words silently, her curiosity aching to be satisfied. ‘What happened last time?’

 

However, one look at Jessica’s closed eyes and troubled face,  made Yuri decide to hold her tongue back. For now at least. After all, she knew perfectly well what it as like to have a troubling past. Yuri scoffed at herself. ‘Troubling doesn’t even begin to describe it.’

 

Opening her eyes, Jessica stared at Yuri. “Let me see the Map.”

 

Yuri flinched at the command, her hand automatically going to hover over the spot where she kept the Map hidden in her robes. “How do you know about the Map?” she asked indignantly as she shielded the Map closer to her body.

 

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Oh please, as if you’re Ms. subtlety. I saw you looking at it several times on the way to the Great Hall,” Jessica confessed causing Yuri to pout.

 

‘I thought I was being plenty subtle,’ Yuri sulked to herself. 

 

“Besides,” Jessica turned her gaze away guiltily. “I may have accidentally peeked into your mind.”

 

“What the bloody hell!?” Yuri jumped up, completely against the idea of Jessica invading her mind. ‘What if she found out about...that?!’

 

“It was by accident!” Jessica defended fervently. “When I shielded you from McGonagall’s legilimency, I accidentally saw you using the Map. I swear I didn’t see anything else,” Jessica insisted firmly. "You were just so nervous about her finding out about the Map that that memory was so prominent. I didn't mean to see it, I swear!"

 

Yuri peered at Jessica suspiciously. “You swear you didn’t see anything else?”

 

Jessica raised her right hand. “Promise.”

 

Yuri narrowed her eyes trying to determining if the brunette was telling the truth or not. ‘I don’t think she saw anything. Besides, if she did...she would have reacted by now, right?’

 

Sighing, Yuri pulled out the Maurader’s Map from within her robes and spread it on the table. She tapped it once with her wand. “I solemnly swear I’m up to no good.”

 

Jessica watched in wonder as the previously blank parchment unfolded itself and black ink started to fill up it’s front with names and diagrams of the castle. She spotted her own name next to Yuri’s.

 

‘Jessica Jung Sooyeon.’ Jessica frowned slightly. ‘How does it know my Korean name?’

 

Leaving her own name, Jessica’s eyes flickered to the Great Hall where hundreds of names were shown before flickering to the lone names of the Professors in the corridors. She noticed that Sooyoung’s name was nowhere to be seen.

 

“Sooyoung’s name isn’t on here meaning she’s either not on campus, in an untraceable room, or…” Yuri finished Jessica’s sentence in her head.

 

‘Or dead.’

 

“Do you…” Jessica paused. “Do you think she followed us into the Forest?” she asked quietly.

 

Yuri pondered the question. “Are you thinking she got killed in the Forest?” she answered back, voice heavy.

 

Jessica shook her head. “I don’t think she’s...gone gone, but…” ‘If history is repeating itself, Sooyoung should be alive but…’

 

Yuri fought the urge to groan inwardly. “You’re thinking of tracking her, aren’t you? We’re going to have to go back to the Forest, aren’t we?”

 

Jessica stayed mum, which was answer enough for Yuri.

 

“What if she never made it to the Forest though?” Yuri questioned. She could practically see the gears spinning in Jessica’s mind.  

 

“Yuri,” Jessica called out suddenly.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Is there anyone that Sooyoung is close with?”

 

Yuri furrowed her eyebrows at the random question. “Yeah, why?”

 

Jessica didn’t answer and instead tilted her head to look back down at the Maurader’s Map.

 

“What are their names?”

 

---

 

 

Seohyun lightly sipped on the tea they offered her before setting the cup down in front of her gently.

 

As one of the last people to have seen Sooyoung and as her closest friend, Seohyun was summoned for questioning.

 

“Where and when did you last see Ms. Choi?”

 

Seohyun looked meekly down at her clasped hands on her lap. “At dinner. In the Great Hall.”

 

There were sounds of quill scratching against parchment as her answer was recorded word for word.

 

“And was Ms. Choi acting out of the ordinary? At all?”

 

Seohyun frowned slightly before shaking her head. The girl had seemed normal as usual, stuffing large amounts of food down .

 

‘But,’

 

An intrusive thought invaded her mind. Before she could even ponder whether or not it was important to disclose this thought, something prompted her to speak.

 

“But recently, she’s been muttering about something called...a Kodama?” Seohyun rambled, forcefully closing once her thought was spoken and then stared suspiciously at the tea cup in front of her.

 

They had mixed the tea with veritaserum, a truth serum.

 

She should’ve known.

 

“Alright, thank you, that will be all.”

 

Seohyun stood up, bid farewell, and left the room with a frown. ‘What had Sooyoung gotten herself into now?’ Seohyun could only pray that the girl was safe.

 

She was on her way back to the Great Hall, when she was stopped by two familiar figures.

 

Seohyun automatically frowned. “What are you doing out in the halls? You’re not allowed to be outside the Great Hall,” she admonished the two Slytherins. But Yuri and Jessica maintained a completely serious look that put Seohyun on edge.

 

“Seohyun, we need to talk to you. It’s about Sooyoung. We might be able to find her,” Yuri spoke. Seohyun knew then that Sooyoung had definitely gotten herself into deep trouble if her sworn rival and enemy was worried for her. Seohyun could only swallow her nervousness as she followed the two scary Slytherins.

 

 

---

 

 

“They’ve been gone for a while now,” Tiffany grumbled to herself, eyes searching the masses singling out the students in green robes only to end up disappointed that they weren’t the ones she was looking for.

 

Next to her Taeyeon stayed silent; they were still fighting, somewhat. More like Tiffany was refusing to talk to Taeyeon until the older girl came to her senses. Hyoyeon however, was bored out of her mind and was this close to throwing a tantrum and sneaking out the Great Hall.

 

Wait a minute. Tiffany perked up. Sneak out. “I’m going to sneak out,” she stated as she stood up suddenly. Sitting here and waiting was making her too restless. She needed to find Jessica and Yuri and talk about last night. ‘And make sure Jessi is feeling alright after she fainted last night.’

 

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Hyoyeon shot up as well. “Take me with you!” She jumped to her feet, relieved that she could finally escape boredom.

 

They looked down at Taeyeon. “You coming?” Tiffany asked roughly. Taeyeon looked away stubbornly.

 

“Are you going to look for them?” Taeyeon asked, emphasizing the last word venomously.

 

Tiffany crossed her arms as her eyes hardened and that was enough of an answer for Taeyeon.

 

“So you coming or what?” Tiffany raised an eyebrow.

 

Taeyeon bit her lip, still refusing to look at Tiffany as she fought an inner turmoil before hoisting herself onto her feet. She shot Tiffany a dark look. “Only because your clumsy self would get into trouble somehow,” she grumbled. Tiffany lightened up slightly and shot her friend a smile. As always, she could count on Kim Taeyeon to have her back.

 

“Of course. Now let’s go. Hyo, time to put all your pranking experience to work. Sneak us out,” Tiffany grinned.

 

Hyoyeon matched her grin playfully as she cracked her knuckles. “I never thought I’d hear you say that Pany-ah and you have no idea how happy that just made me.”

 

“Oh Merlins. Please keep it lowkey,” Taeyeon groaned, recognizing Hyoyeon’s good-for-nothing grin.

 

 

---

 

 

Seohyun followed behind Jessica and Yuri quietly until they reached a hidden door behind a statue. She watched curiously as Yuri lifted the helmet of the stone statue and it moved aside creakily to reveal a hidden door.  

 

“Where does this lead?” she asked surprised. She had no idea the school had hidden passageways and was even more lost on how one would find them.

 

“Outside,” Yuri replied with her hand on the doorknob when Seohyun protested.

 

“You’re leaving the castle?!” she exclaimed, taking a step back.

 

Yuri raised an eyebrow. “We’re leaving the castle,” she said as if stating the obvious.

 

“But that’s against the rules! Professor McGonagall specifically forbid us from leaving the castle!” Seohyun protested indignantly. “Where are you even going anyway?”
 

“Uh,” Yuri hesitated, but Jessica cut in.

 

“Your friend is in danger and you’re afraid of breaking of few rules?” Jessica glared icily at Seohyun and for the first time, Seohyun understood why the students called her an ice princess. Seohyun faltered immediately, eyes cast downwards, too scared to face the scary Slytherin.

 

Jessica softened up immediately upon seeing the girl’s reaction. “Sooyoung is clearly not in the castle, otherwise the professors would’ve found her already. What’s a few broken rules in order to save your friend?”

 

Seohyun pursed her lips. The scary Unnie was right. Taking in a deep breath, Seohyun nodded. “Okay.”

 

“Okay?” Jessica asked once more just to be sure.

 

“Yeah. Sooyoung, she may not have been the best friend, but she was one of my only friends here,” Seohyun confessed suddenly, her voice going quiet at the thought of her missing friend. Suddenly it all hit her. Her friend was gone.

 

She brushed away the unshed tears in her eyes. ‘I can’t cry now. I have to find Sooyoung first.’

 

“Let’s go,” she stated firmly, moving to walk through the door first.

 

“Seohyun!”

 

Seohyun turned around to see a familiar girl running towards her. Yuri squeaked in surprise next to her.

 

“Yoona Unnie?!” she exclaimed upon seeing her friend coming to a halt suddenly in front of her. She heard more footsteps and craned her neck to see a shorter Hufflepuff girl scurrying towards them.

 

“Yah Yoona! Didn’t I tell you to wait for me? I have short legs!” Sunny huffed as she came to a stop in front of the four girls. “Hey Sica, Yul,” she greeted. Jessica merely raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement, a bit startled by the sudden intrusion.

 

“What are you guys doing here?” Seohyun questioned, her ‘it’s-against-school-rules’ rant ready on her lips.

 

“We came out looking for you,” Yoona grinned before looking concernedly over at Seohyun. “I know Sooyoung was one of your closest friends. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Seohyun warmed at the confession, rant forgotten.

 

Yoona’s eyes glanced past Seohyun for the first time and noticed the two Slytherin girls. “Oh, hi Sica Unnie! Hi...Yuri.”

 

Yuri meekly nodded in return while Jessica merely raised her eyebrow even higher at the greeting. Since were she and Yoona close enough for her to call her “Sica Unnie”?

 

“Where are you going?” Yoona asked, nodding nonchalantly towards the hidden passageway

 

“Uh, we’re going to try and find Sooyoung Unnie,” Seohyun admitted, never one for lying.

 

Yoona raised both eyebrows in shock. ‘So little Seohyun is sneaking out of school to find her friend. I never thought I’d see the day Seobaby willingly broke the rules.’ Her expression softened. She then eyed the two Slytherin girls. ‘She also has the weirdest company. I guess there’s no choice then.’

 

“We’ll come too then. A friend of a friend is a friend,” Yoona grinned comfortingly at Seohyun who returned the smile gratefully. Sunny smiled ruefully behind the doe eyed girl. She knew the moment she snuck out of the Great Hall with Yoona that they would end up in something troublesome. ‘Ah well. It’s for a good cause. Plus, I do miss Jessica.’

 

“What? But-” Yuri began to protest until Yoona shot her a look.

 

“What? Do you have a problem with that?” Yoona questioned with edge in her tone. Everyone else gulped slightly in fear. The Hufflepuff angel could be scary when she wanted to be. 

 

“No-no!” Yuri squeaked, taking a step back in reflex. “L-let’s just go before the professors catch us.” She hurriedly walked through the door.

 

“Don’t forget us!” Yuri heard a very loud, familiar voice shout and whirled around. “Tippany?!”

 

'It's a wonder the Professors haven't caught us yet,' Jessica thought as she winced at Tiffany's loud outburst. 

 

“Yup!” The loud redhead bounded over, her two Gryffindor friends following closely behind. “We’re a team now, right?”

 

“We are?” Yuri skeptically looked at Taeyeon who glared back.

 

“What?” Taeyeon challenged, daring Yuri to say otherwise.

 

“Nothing,” Yuri gave up, raising her hands in surrender. At this point she just wanted to shrink into the passageway and go. She was tired of people glaring at her. 

 

“Oh, Sunny? You’re here too?” Hyoyeon asked as she saw the bright blue haired girl.

 

“Hyo?” Sunny found it extremely surprising that the rebellious Gryffindor was somewhat on good terms with the black pearl of Slytherin. Last time she checked, they couldn’t even stand being in the same room as each other without going after each other’s throats.

 

"Jessi, you feeling okay?" Tiffany asked the shocked blonde.

 

"Peachy," Jessica mumbled, eyeing all the newcomers.

 

“I guess it’s the eight of us then. Let’s go. Sooyoung could be in danger," Yuri sighed. 

 

At the mention of the girl’s name, all of the faces hardened with seriousness. They were going to find Sooyoung back. One by one, they walked through the door and into the hidden passage.

 

Jessica stood there, eyebrow still raised, eyeing all the newcomers as they passed her to go through the passageway.

 

‘How did we end up getting more and more people involved?!’

 

“Yah, you coming or what?” Taeyeon grumbled at the unmoving Jessica Jung as she brushed past her.

 

Jessica swore her eyebrow could not have gone up any higher.

 

‘What is going on?'

 

---

 

 

The passageway led them into a dusty old room that smelled of musk and rotting wood.

 

“Lumos,” Yuri lit up her wand to take a good look around the room as the others exited the passageway one by one.

 

“Where are we?” Sunny asked, also lighting up her wand. Yoona, Taeyeon and Seohyun followed suit, also lighting up their wands to take a closer look.

 

“Shrieking Shack,” Yuri answered as she stepped forward and crawled through another entryway as if she’d been here many times before.

 

“We’re in Hogsmeade?” Tiffany asked in wonder. Being third years, this was the first time for all of them in Hogsmeade. 

 

“Woah, I’m totally using this passage in the future,” Hyoyeon grinned causing Seohyun to frown and bite her tongue in order to hold back her speech on following school rules.

 

“Actually,” Yuri clarified. “There’s a hidden passage to the Forest here,” she revealed. Seohyun froze at this and released her tongue.

 

“The Forbidden Forest?” she asked indignantly as if the idea of entering never crossed her mind, and to be fair, it probably never did.

 

No one answered; instead, as they stepped out of the Shrieking Shack, the familiar trees that surrounded them was already an answer enough.

 

Taeyeon grumbled to herself quietly. “I can’t believe I’m in the Forest again.” She was getting real tired of this place, that and all the danger that was associated with it.

 

Seohyun hesitated at the exit. “What are we doing here?” she asked timidly, though deep down she already knew the answer.

 

“We think Sooyoung might have been here last night,” Yuri answered as no one else besides Jessica and her knew the answer.

 

“Why?” Seohyun frowned. ‘Just what was she up to?’

 

Tiffany also frowned. “Wait, so she was in the Forest with us last night?”

 

Yuri shook her head. “Not sure. It’s a long story.”

 

“Well how are we going to find her then?” Hyoyeon asked, looking around. “The Forest is huge, unless you’ve forgotten how much we ran yesterday.”

 

“You guys were in the Forest last night?” Seohyun frowned even more as she listened to the conversation. “You guys do know it’s called the Forbidden Forest for a reason right? Why would-”

 

“It’s a long story,” Yuri sighed, cutting in, tired of all the questions. “Let’s just focus on finding Sooyoung.”

 

“Again, how?” Taeyeon butted in.

 

“Yeah. How are we supposed to find her if even the professors can’t find her?” Hyoyeon added.

 

“I have an idea…” Jessica hesitated. “But I’m not sure it would work?”

 

They all turned to look at her. From within her robes, Jessica pulled out a scroll. She bent down and slowly unrolled the scroll on the ground revealing scribbles and writing that seemed to be in Japanese.

 

“What is that?” Seohyun asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as she peered down at the foreign scribbles.

 

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Jessica who answered her.

 

“It’s a summoning scroll,” Sunny spoke up from next to Yoona.

 

“A summoning scroll?” Seohyun had never heard of such a thing. “Is this magic from Mahoukotoro?”

 

Sunny nodded. "From Japan."

 

“How do you know?” Seohyun was not friends with the eccentrically hair colored girl, but she knew of her. After all, she was Yoona’s friend and had seen Sunny quite a few times. It was safe to say, therefore, that she knew very little about the people here.

 

“Sunny used to be from Japan,” Yoona answered for her friend. “She lived there when she was little.”

 

“Yeah,” Sunny affirmed. “But I left at a young age too, so I don’t know any Eastern magic. I only know of it. In fact, Jessica and I are childhood friends.”

 

Everyone besides Yuri and Yoona raised an eyebrow at the revelation. They were all thinking the same thing.

 

‘What a small world.’

 

Jessica took out her wand and touched the tip of the wand to her thumb. As she pulled back, a string of red liquid followed the tip. Yuri recognized the liquid to be blood. Straightening her arm, Jessica pointed the bloody wand tip at the scroll and let a single blood drop fall right into the center of the scroll.

 

“Shokan: Ninken!” (Summoning: Ninja dog!)

 

There was a puff of smoke as the scroll disappeared and giant black white dog appeared in its place. The seven girls immediately took a step back as they marveled at the sight of Eastern magic. Only Jessica remained unfazed.

 

The dog stepped forward towards the brunette and Jessica raised a hand to pet its head. She gestured for Seohyun to step forward.

 

The girl did so timidly, her hand reaching into her robe pocket and pulling out a blue and white scarf, Sooyoung’s Ravenclaw scarf. She had gone back to retrieve it at Jessica’s command earlier when they met in the hallway. Though confused at first, she now knew what purpose it served.

 

The white canine immediately stuck its nose deeply into the scarf and started sniffing. Soon, its nose was sniffing the air, looking for traces of the girl. Jessica watched the dog carefully and almost sighed in relief as its head perked up. It had found Sooyoung’s scent. The girl was here in the Forest recently.

 

Without warning, it bounded forward, surprising the eight girls as they ran in pursuit.

 

As Taeyeon ran after the girls, she couldn’t help but wonder what she was doing. What was she doing with a group of girls she barely knew, looking for a student barely knew, all after chasing something she barely knew about? This was not how she foresaw her third year at Hogwarts. She just wanted a peaceful year with Tiffany and Hyoyeon.

 

Not to mention, this was the weirdest possible group of third years ever. One was from Mahoukotoro and got on Taeyeon's every nerve; one had a terrible past who no one except her fellow Slytherin got along with; one can change their hair color at will (which is weird if you ask Taeyeon) and was the main source of all her troubles as she was the same person who gave Hyoyeon the chocolate frogs last spring that led to the whole Kodama mess in the first place; one was the most popular student at Hogwarts, and the last one was known as the potions prodigy from the Seo family. 

 

Really, Taeyeon had no idea how they all came together. 

 

 But as the adrenaline rushed through her blood, she couldn't help but think…’It is kind of liberating.’

 

---

 

AN: Aren't you all proud of how quickly I updated? My flight to the US got cancelled, so yeah I had a bunch of extra time. I guess I'll have more time tomorrow on the flight as well. 

OT9 is sooooo close to being together! Honestly nothing happened this chapter besides getting all the girls together, which was honestly soooo difficult omg. 

Anyways, comments and upvotes are always welcome (think we can get to 70+ upvotes and 300 comments?). Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks in advance!

Till next time,

~Sosh

 

PS fun fact. I made the head of the houses the CEOs of the main entertainment companies. Aren't they fitting?

Gryffindor- Lee Soo Man

Ravenclaw - Yang Hyun Suk

Hufflepuff - JYP

Slytherin - Kim Young Min (current CEO of SM)