When Sowon went to bed last night, Yerin hadn’t been in the room. This wasn’t an abnormal occurrence, especially with everything that’d been going on. Yerin usually stayed in the common room, somewhere too public to talk about something private, but always with a book so no one would disturb her. However, Yerin always made her way back up to their room at the end of the night.

This morning Yerin wasn’t in their room. It was the first thing Sowon noticed when she woke up, and when she saw the empty bed beside her, Sowon felt her heart stutter to a stop. In a flurry of panic, Sowon got dressed and ran down to the common room. She was hoping to find Yerin asleep on the couch, but no one was there but a second year. When Sowon asked him if he’d seen Yerin, the kid shook his head and told her he’d been down here since five in morning.

Sowon barely managed to spit out a thank you before she was sprinting out of Gryffindor’s dorms and heading toward the dungeons. She needed Eunha and SinB’s help if Yerin was missing. She was out of breath when she reached the dungeons, managing to arrive just as a first year was leaving. When Sowon asked to be let in, the first year sneered at her. However, Sowon just flashed her prefect’s badge and told the kid to scram. The first year looked annoyed by the show of power but let her in nonetheless. At the back of her mind, Sowon felt kind of bad, but she was too focused on Yerin to feel too bad.

After a few nervous looks into a few of the rooms, Sowon found Eunha and SinB’s. She also found Yerin. In SinB’s bed. With SinB.

Sowon stumbled into the room with wide eyes, panting and now kind of pissed. She’d been so worried that Yerin had gotten paralyzed, but in reality, Yerin had just been in bed and cuddling with SinB. Sowon was upset Yerin hadn’t let her know, but she couldn’t deny she looked peaceful in SinB’s arms.

“Cute, right?”

Sowon jumped and spun around guiltily. Eunha stood in the doorway of their bathroom, looking unfairly put together when Sowon knew she still had bed hair and probably dried drool on her chin.

Eunha nodded over to SinB’s bed and said, “They’ve been like that since last night. Yuju offered to take the night shift with Umji and when I got back, they were passed out together. Completely adorable, almost vomit-inducing really.”

“When I didn’t see her this morning…” Sowon trailed off, trying to shake over the remaining shakiness of thinking Yerin was in danger. Smiling weakly, Sowon just said, “Sorry for barging in.”

“It’s fine,” Eunha waved off her apology, more civil than she’d been in weeks. Sowon wondered what changed her mind. “Let’s have breakfast and let the lovebirds sleep in some.”

“A-are you sure?” Sowon stammered in surprise.

Eunha rolled her eyes and walked to the door. “Yes, I’m sure.”

Not questioning her again, Sowon followed her to the Great Hall. They walked in silence, and Sowon debated the entire time if she should break it. She didn’t in the end, too nervous to ruin Eunha’s kind mood.

It wasn’t until they were sitting at a relatively empty Slytherin table that Eunha said, “I’m giving you one chance to explain yourself.”

Sowon knew what she was talking about and had been mentally preparing herself to explain for weeks. She pushed away her plate, knowing she was going to lose her appetite soon. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sowon said, “I just want to say I’m sorry again… I’ve always been particular about petrification.”

“Why?” Eunha asked, not holding back.

“When I was nine, I had a friend named Jiwon,” Sowon said slowly, knowing if she didn’t pace herself she’d cry. “We lived in a small wizarding village, but there weren’t many kids our age. There were a lot of them younger or older, but none close enough in age for us to get along with, so it was just us.” Sowon paused, suddenly unsure if she was going to be able to go through with talking about this. Then a hand covered hers, and Sowon looked up to see Eunha looking at her with solemn eyes. her lips, Sowon continued, “When we were nine, there were rumors of a kidnapper in the area. Some sicko was going around petrifying kids to sell off to the highest bidder.”

Eunha’s hand tightened over Sowon’s, and Sowon felt close up. “Sowon, you don’t have to,” Eunha told her.

“No, I need to,” Sowon said. She took another breath, focusing on Eunha’s hand on hers before continuing. “My parents were worried, so they didn’t want me out playing. I was a pretty obedient kid, but Jiwon was an only child, not even an older sibling to keep her company. I snuck out one afternoon to play in a nearby field with her. We were playing pretend, I guess. We were these amazing aurors, saving the wizarding world.

“I had my back turned for just a few seconds when I heard her scream. When I turned around, Jiwon was on the ground, petrified. I tried to run to her, but then I was frozen. Not petrified but unable to move. I watched as this man came out of nowhere and grabbed Jiwon. Then I watched as he looked at me and asked me how much I thought I’d be worth. I was terrified. Just as the man walked toward me, I heard my parents shouting for me. The man panicked and apparated away with Jiwon. My parents found me and broke the spell, but Jiwon was already gone.”

Sowon gave an empty smile as she said, “They never found her.”

“Sowon,” Eunha said softly, looking like she wanted to say something but didn’t know what.

“It’s okay, Eunha,” Sowon told her. “I don’t expect this to magically make everything better, but I thought you should know why I did what I did.” She shook her head and bitterly admitted, “Ever since then, I’ve been kind of obsessed with petrification and saving people.”

“A savior complex,” Eunha said with a wry chuckle. “I should’ve known.”

“It hits a little too close to home,” Sowon said, still ashamed of her actions. “I just… I needed to find the person this time. I was desperate to find who was responsible this time… To save the people this time.”

“Sowon,” Eunha whispered as she reached across the table to cup her face. “We’re going to catch this bastard.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive myself if we don’t,” Sowon replied quietly. Then she jolted when Eunha abruptly flicked her forehead. Sowon whined and held her forehead. “What was that for?” Sowon asked.

“This isn’t all on you,” Eunha told her with a huff. “It’s not your responsibility to catch this person. If you want to, cool. Join the club, but you can’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”

Sowon stared at Eunha for a long moment, unsure of what to say, but Eunha just sat back down in her seat and went back to her food like nothing happened.

“You’re an idiot,” Eunha told her matter-of-factly before adding in a softer tone, “but I forgive you.”

Sowon found herself smiling widely, pleased at the turn of events. She hadn’t expected her confession to fix everything, but she’d be lying if she hadn’t hoped.

“There they are!”

Sowon and Eunha turned toward the exclamation, where Yerin was pulling SinB into the Great Hall.

“Morning, lovebirds,” Eunha greeted with a sly grin.

Yerin predictably blushed but still smiled. “Good morning,” she replied shyly.

“Morning,” SinB said as she plopped down next to Eunha and stole her toast. She took a large bite and commented, “You look serious.”

Sowon tensed, but Eunha merely shrugged and said, “I’ve decided to forgive Sowon.”

“Yeah?” SinB asked curiously, glancing at Sowon.

“Yeah,” Eunha nodded.

SinB regarded Eunha for a moment before saying, “Okay, good enough for me.” She turned to Sowon and said, “Welcome to the club. If you hurt Eunha, I’ll kill you.”

“SinB!” Eunha scolded, whacking SinB’s arm.

Sowon just laughed and said, “Same goes for you with Yerin.”

“See, the Gryff gets it,” SinB said, waving her toast in Sowon’s direction.

Eunha rolled her eyes and stole her toast back. “I’m going to see Umji.”

“Oh wait, I wanna go too,” SinB said, grabbing an apple as she stood up.

“You don’t wanna play with your new Gryffindor friend?” Eunha accused, sending a quick wink to Sowon to assure her she was kidding. Without waiting for an answer, she left.

“I’ll have plenty of time to make fun of you with Sowon later,” SinB called after her. She waved to Yerin and Sowon and chased after Eunha.

“Why does it feel like things are finally falling into place?” Yerin asked in a soft hum as she reached for a pastry.

Sowon smiled and replied, “Probably because they finally are.”