When Eunha woke up, she was alone in her dorm room. SinB had spent the night in the hospital wing again, clinging to Umji with renewed vigor. As Eunha got ready for the day, she found a sealed envelope at the foot of her bed. Eunha barely spared it a glance and didn't even read the letter, burning it without a second thought.

She knew what it was, another apology from Sowon. It didn't matter. No number of letters could erase the fact that Sowon had accused SinB of paralyzingly the muggleborns. She's sure Sowon thought she'd been doing the right thing, but to think SinB was capable of such atrocities was too much to accept. SinB had been like her sister since they were eleven years-old and sorted into this hell together. A pretty girl couldn't replace years of friendship, of family.

Since Eunha was in the dorm, she decided to grab SinB some more clothes and books while she stayed with Umji for the weekend since they didn't have classes. On her way to the hospital wing, Eunha quietly seethed over Sowon and Yerin’s betrayals.

While Eunha wasn’t too broken up over Yerin, she knew SinB was. Every time Eunha tried to mention it, SinB would pretend she hadn’t said anything and change the subject swiftly. However, Eunha knew she wasn’t okay when she overheard SinB crying to Umji one afternoon. It made Eunha ache to see SinB in pain, but there wasn’t much she could do so Eunha settled for being as cold and angry as she could. It wasn’t that hard, especially when she thought about Sowon.

Sowon was the one to accuse SinB, to push for her punishment as the perpetrator. It made Eunha sick to think the vigor with which Sowon must’ve argued against SinB. Even if Sowon didn’t know SinB, she knew Eunha. Eunha had let her guard down bit by bit around Sowon, letting her see bits and pieces of who she was. Did Sowon really think Eunha would be friends with someone as twisted as the person going around paralyzing students?

Eunha’s seething stuttered to a stop when she realized someone had stopped walking in front of her. Blinking a few times, Eunha felt her face pull into a sneer when she recognized who it was.

"What do you want?" Eunha was pleased to see Yerin look ashamed. She deserved it for what she did to SinB. Just when SinB finally began to lower her walls for this girl, she managed to build them even higher. "Well?"

"I wanted to talk to you about SinB."

"How you thought she could've been the one paralyzing students?" Eunha retorted sharply.

"I didn't want to!" Yerin snapped. She looked so young suddenly, lost and confused. Eunha recognized the expression from when she'd been sorted into Slytherin, unable to understand why her house dictated who she was in others' eyes. "I don't think of SinB the way I did at the beginning of the year. I always thought she was this stuck-up snob who thought she was better than everyone else and believed in blood supremacy. It was easy to believe, you know? Everyone said it and she never denied it."

"It's hard to convince people you aren't what they think you are."

"Clearly, or we wouldn't be in this situation,” Yerin said with a pointed look. “That was then. SinB was different from the moment she started flirting with me. She smiled and laughed. She seemed more human. Sometimes... it felt like she could even like me. I wanted to believe her so badly, but how could I when she is constantly proving rumors true? Clearly not the blood supremacy, but coldness and the arrogance. Even when things went well, one of us would say or do something, and it felt like starting from the beginning all over again. I couldn’t figure her out.

“She opened up to me once and my heart broke for her, but a part of me warned that it could’ve been some plot. I've been conditioned to see Slytherins this way from the day I got sorted. No matter how much SinB gave herself to me, there was always a voice telling me to be careful and I don't want to listen to it anymore. I've seen SinB grieve for Umji, terrified she won't wake up. But none of that mattered when I saw her by the blood writing. It's like all of my worst fears came true. It was all a lie, and I was the fool. I don't know what to believe anymore."

It was clear Yerin was having some sort of existential crisis over who she was and what to believe anymore when it came to the houses and their students. Eunha had some sympathy. She'd gone through the same thing with SinB when they'd been eleven. Now, Yerin was seventeen and she'd been blind to the bigotry six years longer than they had. She didn't blame her for being so confused. As much as Eunha wanted to tell Yerin to go to hell and walk away, Eunha knew for SinB’s sake that this needed to be resolved.

“I get what you’re going through,” Eunha told her softly. “SinB and I had it rough when we first got here. Everyone was telling us who we were before we even had the chance to know who we were. We struggled a lot with the stereotypes and rumors pinned against us, but we eventually decided on fulfilling those bastards’ wishes and being the ungodly terrors they thought we were. Of course, we never said anything that had to do with blood purity, but the rumors spread anyways. We had to protect ourselves. Whenever we tried to be different, well you said so yourself, people thought it was a plot. We were young, and this was the only way we could think to protect ourselves. It ended up sticking with us for the rest of our school years.”

“SinB told me a little bit of that,” Yerin whispered, and Eunha was shocked to see tears welling in her eyes. “She told me why she goes by SinB and how she broke her leg in third year. All of this, it made me want to stand up against Sowon in the Headmistress’ office, but it was like I was frozen. I was so confused. I knew what was true, but it was like my body wouldn’t let me do anything.”

Eunha sighed to herself as Yerin started crying, unsure of what to do. Tentatively, she laid a hand on Yerin’s arm and rubbed up and down in a comforting gesture. She winced as Yerin cried harder but continued the action until Yerin’s sobbing had subsided into sniffles.

Yerin wiped her tears away and looked away, embarrassed. Eunha didn’t want to but she felt for the girl who clearly struggling to do what was right. Yerin at least knew she was in the wrong, but Eunha wasn’t sure Sowon did.

“Could you talk to SinB for me?” Yerin asked, voice rough with tears. “I just– I want to tell her I’m so sorry. I’m also sorry to you, Eunha. Neither of you deserved my horrible treatment, and I just… I want to make things right.”

Yerin obviously regretted what she’d done, so Eunha nodded and said, “I’ll talk to her. No promises she’ll forgive you, but I’ll talk to her.”

“Thank you so much,” Yerin whispered.

Eunha nodded and shifted uncomfortably. “Get some rest,” Eunha told her. “You kind of look terrible.”

Yerin gave a watery laugh and nodded. She wiped away more of her tears and waved sadly to Eunha. Yerin walked by her, and Eunha was pretty sure she heard Yerin start crying again. Eunha shook her head. Not her problem right now.

When Eunha got to the hospital wing, SinB was staring off into space with a book in her lap. Eunha made sure to make plenty of noise as she walked over, so SinB knew she was there. Eunha sat down next to her, and SinB greeted her with a small smile.

“You’ll never guess who I ran into on the way here,” Eunha said cheerfully, making SinB glance at her warily. “I saw Yerin.”

Like magic, Eunha watched all of SinB’s walls come thundering down at the mention of the blonde. It was kind of impressive, but it was the opposite of what Eunha needed from SinB. Between Umji’s state and Yerin’s betrayal, SinB had been near catatonic, so Eunha knew this had to change for the better now.

“Nothing bad,” Eunha reassured her quickly, voice soft as she reached out to hold SinB’s hand. “She wants to apologize to you, and I think you should let her. She seemed to really regret not defending you.”

SinB said nothing for a long time, but Eunha knew it was just her thinking through her feelings. After a minute or two, SinB admitted quietly, “I want to let her. It’s exhausting to hate her. Feel free to tell me ‘I told you so,’ but I fell for her again. That dumb Gryffindor that’s all rainbows and sunshine.”

“You could do worse,” Eunha joked lightly.

SinB smirked slightly but it quickly faded into a frown. She looked to Eunha, and Eunha was struck by the same lost look that Yerin had given her earlier. SinB shook her head and said, “How can I possibly be involved with someone who doesn’t trust me?”

“Trust doesn’t happen overnight,” Eunha reminded her. “I’m sure there will be more times that you guys try and fail, but given enough time, I think the two of you could actually build some trust.”

“You think?” SinB asked, sounding so young and scared that Eunha wrapped her up in a warm hug and whispered, “I do think.”

“And what of your Gryffindor?” SinB questioned softly.

Eunha subconsciously tightened her grip on SinB as she replied stiffly, “I don’t see her groveling on her hands and knees for our forgiveness, do you?”

“No, but Yuju said she sees you burning at least three letters from her a day.”

“Yuju should learn to mind her own business,” Eunha grumbled under her breath. She hugged SinB closer to her and tucked her head under SinB’s chin for maximum cuddles. “It’s whatever,” Eunha said, trying to sound indifferent.

“It’s not whatever,” SinB said, and Eunha couldn’t see her but she just knew she was rolling her eyes. “You like her, Eunha. I’m talking ‘pink cheeks and hearts in the eyes’ like her. I’m not the only idiot who fell for a Gryffindor.”

“But your Gryffindor didn’t accuse your best friend of a heinous crime,” Eunha retorted.

SinB sighed and pressed a kiss to the top of Eunha’s head. “It hurt,” SinB admitted quietly, “but I forgive her. Sowon can be a jerk, but she usually has a reason for being a jerk. Maybe you should talk to her about why she was a jerk this time.”

“No,” Eunha replied quickly, her pride getting the best of her even though her heart ached for her to say yes. “Not yet,” she added in a whisper.

“Okay,” SinB agreed, “not yet.” Eunha felt her smile against her head as SinB teased, “Just make sure she grovels on her hands and knees when you talk to her.”

Eunha giggled and playfully shoved SinB away. Her best friend just kept grinning, keeping a hold on her hand. SinB squeezed it comfortingly before she turned to Umji and asked, “Can you believe how stubborn Eunha is?”

“Me?” Eunha laughed. “Umji, I can’t wait for you to wake up and put this idiot back in her place.”

“Idiot?” SinB repeated. “I’m so gonna tell on you to Umji when she wakes up.”

Eunha smiled, feeling warm despite the circumstances. She squeezed SinB’s hand and turned to Umji. Things weren’t really okay, but for now, she could pretend they were.