When Yerin woke up, it was barely five in the morning. She groaned into her pillow. She was never a morning person, but as much as she tried, she couldn’t go back to sleep. She checked the time and saw it was now half past five. Sighing, she dragged herself out of bed and changed into some workout clothes. If she was going to be up at this hour, she might as well get some use out of it.

Yerin grabbed her broom and headed out onto the quidditch pitch, blinking the last of the sleep out of her eyes. The pitch was blessedly empty. It was a bit strange, considering quidditch was beginning in a month, but there’d probably been some miscommunication about who had the pitch this morning. Their loss was Yerin’s gain.

Tugging her sweatshirt closer to her, Yerin tried to shake off the October chill as she got onto her broom. She lazily circled the pitch as a warm-up while she decided what to do. Part of her was content to simply ride her broom for the sake of relaxing, but another part of her reminded she hadn’t practiced much during the summer, meaning she was still pretty rusty despite the practices Gryffindor had held so far.

Yerin was still debating what to do when she spotted another figure entering the pitch and flying into the air as well. Curious, Yerin flew closer and immediately regretted it. She’d recognize those highlights anywhere. It was too late for Yerin to turn around and pretend she hadn’t seen her though.

SinB glided up next to her with a raised eyebrow, and Yerin couldn’t decide if it was because she was awake this early or because she looked at a hot mess. Yerin had barely ran a brush through her hair before throwing it up in a bun. Then again, SinB was dressed in sweats and had her hair in a messy ponytail, so she had no room to talk. Probably surprised by finding someone else on the pitch then.

“I didn’t realize lions even knew what six in the morning looked like,” SinB remarked airily.

Yerin rolled her eyes. Without much thought, she said, “I couldn’t sleep.” She had no idea why she told SinB as if she’d care, but to her surprise, SinB’s face softened into something like understanding.

“So you thought the best idea when sleep deprived was to fly 20 meters in the air?” SinB drawled, a smile curling at the corners of her lips.

“Yeah,” Yerin found was all she could say. She blinked. Was SinB smiling? Yerin had seen her smirk and grin and smile in all sorts of sarcastic and condescending ways, but this was the first time Yerin had seen SinB smile genuinely. She shook her head. “What’s your excuse to be awake?”

SinB didn’t say anything for a moment, settling for letting herself hang from her broom upside down like an overgrown sloth. Yerin barely held her tongue to tell her that was dangerous. After SinB righted herself, she said simply, “Same as you.”

There was something about the way SinB said it that made Yerin wonder why. It seemed like something more than Yerin’s restlessness. Something else was keeping her up at night, and for some reason Yerin wanted to know what.

“Want to race?” SinB asked suddenly.

Yerin startled. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at SinB questioningly. SinB just stared back at her guilelessly, not even with that fake innocence she used sometimes. Who was this girl and what had she done with SinB?

“Why are you being like this?” Yerin demanded, confusion making her want to tug at her hair. When SinB just stared, she revised her question. “Why are you being nice? Polite even?”

SinB just kept staring at her. After a long moment, she looked away and said quietly, “Because you’re being nice to me.”

“What?” Yerin exclaimed in exasperation.

“Do you want to race or not?” SinB said instead of explaining.

Now it was Yerin’s turn to stare. This wasn’t Hwang Eunbi, Slytherin’s cold-hearted leader that would sooner kill herself than spend time with a muggleborn. This wasn’t even SinB from Potions who snarked and taunted her on the daily. Who was she? Maybe this was some sort of trick.

“What do I get when I win?” Yerin asked suspiciously. Maybe SinB was trying to coax her into racing with her to get something.

“Well, what do you want if you win?”

Yerin didn’t hesitate. “You don’t talk to me in Potions for the rest of the year.”

“For a single race?” SinB scoffed. “I’ll do a month. If I win, you bring me untampered chocolate for a month.”

This time Yerin did hesitate, but she’d never been one to back down, especially with her competitive streak urging her on. “Deal.”

“Excellent,” SinB said with a familiar smile, one that promised chaos. “Once around the school. Whoever gets to the farther goal posts first wins. You can even count us down, princess, so you can’t accuse me of cheating.”

“Don’t call me princess,” Yerin scowled. SinB had taken to calling her princess and sweetheart interchangeably, rarely using her actual name. It was downgrading and frustrating, but SinB refused to stop. “Ready?” SinB sidled up next to her, making sure they were in line. “Three, two, one. Go!”

They took off like bullets, and as soon as they began, Yerin wished she had done more of a warm-up. She couldn’t even imagine how SinB must feel. The wind whipped past her face, cutting through her sweatshirt like it was nothing. She fought off the chill and focused on the race instead. She was ahead of SinB, barely.

While Yerin slowed for a turn, SinB kept her speed. Yerin thought SinB was going to crash into Ravenclaw tower (she could only imagine the trouble she’d get in if that happened), but at the last minute, SinB rolled, cleanly missing the tower. Yerin stared in outrage as she rounded the corner, now a solid meter behind SinB. SinB was either very reckless or very precise. It was hard to tell which it was, if not both.

From there, Yerin knew she was screwed. SinB had a solid lead, one that would only grow with every turn that Yerin had to slow down for. Sure, she could try whatever the hell SinB was doing, but that could also lead to her killing herself. Yerin was prideful but she wasn’t suicidal. With a scowl to hide how impressed she was by SinB’s skill, Yerin pulled to a stop by the goals a full thirty seconds after SinB.

SinB was grinning like a kid at Christmas, face full of strands of hair that had come loose from her ponytail. She was panting but was still moving slowly side-to-side as she caught her breath. For a second, Yerin was struck by how beautiful she looked in that moment, especially with the sun rising behind her.

Shaking her head, Yerin said bitterly, “I guess I’ll have to get some chocolate.”

“Damn right,” SinB laughed, and Yerin couldn’t believe her eyes. Did SinB take some potion to make her this carefree? Before Yerin could question her about it, SinB’s eyes were drawn to the ground. Following her line of sight, she spotted the Ravenclaw Yuju liked, Umji, walking toward them with a serious glare on her face. “Aw man. Umji must’ve seen us from the Ravenclaw tower. She looks pissed. I have to go. Don’t forget my chocolate!” With those rushed and abrupt statements, SinB sped off to meet Umji, arms waving to defend herself before she even landed.

Yerin watched dumbfounded as SinB got off her broom and talked to Umji a thousand words a minute, hands flying. Umji just looked thoroughly unimpressed as she pushed SinB in the direction of the castle. As they walked away, Umji casted a curious look over her shoulder at Yerin, and Yerin fought the urge to look away at being caught staring. Umji just stared for a moment and continued pushing SinB to the castle.

Yerin followed soon after, head swimming with what happened that morning. Who was SinB? Was she the girl who supposedly almost killed a kid? Was she the girl who told her what was wrong with her potion? Was she the girl who defended herself and her friends fearlessly and relentlessly? Was she the girl who smiled at her and asked her to race like a little kid?

By the time she was walking to Potions with Sowon, Yerin was no closer to sorting out her thoughts. If anything, she was just more confused.

As Yerin sat down next to SinB, she glanced at her and tossed a chocolate bar at her, earning a slight smirk. “Were you being nice just to get something out of me?” Yerin couldn’t help but ask. It’d been bothering her for hours. “Besides the chocolate.”

Yerin knew she said the wrong thing immediately because SinB stiffened, spine straightening visibly as her fist clenched around her quill.

SinB turned to her with fathomless eyes, dark and dead. Nothing like the ones bright and beaming at her this morning. “And if I had been?”

“Then you’re an ,” Yerin replied flatly. She shook her head. “What were you trying to get this morning?”

“Your friendship,” SinB sassed with a sarcastic smile. “Was I close to getting it?”

Yerin refused to admit that if that had been her first meeting with SinB she might’ve been her friend. It had all just been an act. “Not even close,” she lied.

“Good thing I didn’t want it then.” With that, SinB went back to copying down their assignment for the day, hiccoughing solution.

Yerin rolled her eyes. This morning had clearly been a fluke. She just needed to focus on her potion. Since SinB seemed uninterested in annoying her today, it was easier to focus, but she found her mind wandering.

Yerin went to drop in her chopped roots when a hand suddenly clamped down on her wrist. She fought the urge to jump and instead turned to glare at the perpetrator.

SinB merely stared back with a blank face. “The roots are supposed to be cut into uniform centimeter by two centimeter sections.” She glanced down pointedly at Yerin’s uneven chunks. “Do that and you’ll make a sludge instead of a solution.” With that, SinB turned back to her own potion, mixing it as if she hadn’t said anything at all.

Ugh, she’s so arrogant, Yerin thought. Clearly the old SinB was back and whoever had been on the pitch with her that morning was gone. But, she was also right, so Yerin scrapped her roots and recut them, grumbling the entire time.

As Potions drew to a close, Yerin waited for Sowon by the door. She noticed SinB and Eunha lingering in the back talking, standing close. Eunha appeared to be telling SinB a story, and SinB was smiling at her like she hung the stars. For some reason, seeing them like that made Yerin’s stomach turn. Was it because SinB was smiling at Eunha in such a way, definitely not toying with her like she had with Yerin? Wait, why did Yerin care? SinB was a heartless Slytherin. It didn’t matter who she smiled at.

“What’s with the glare?” Sowon asked as she walked up to Yerin. She glanced to see what Yerin was looking at. “Did SinB do something again?”

Yes, Sinb did do something, but Yerin had no idea what she had done. Whatever it was, it made Yerin’s head spin.

“Nothing more than usual,” Yerin answered, eyes still tracking the way Eunha’s hand came up to hold SinB’s arm gently. “Just thinking about how we’re going to beat Slytherin in the first match.”