“Excuse me, pardon me!” Wendy apologizes profusely as she scrambles through the hallways of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, ducking and dodging around the other students heading in the other direction— really, what her luck.

“Wan— hey! Watch it!” Seulgi growls at a student who’d rushed by her before hurriedly increasing her pace to catch up to her best friend. “Where are we in such a hurry to, again?”

“I have to catch Joy quickly!” Wendy shouts in reply. She bites her lip before grabbing Seulgi’s hand and pulling her down a less crowded corridor, panting heavily.

“Why?” Seulgi asks, noticeably less winded than her friend. “Why can’t we just wait for her at Great Hall for dinner?”

“Because she’s not going to the Great Hall!” Wendy whines, letting out a quiet noise of frustration after she pokes her head into a classroom. Empty. “Where is that damn Slytherin?! Oh god, this is bad...”

“Wan, what’s wrong?” Seulgi inquires, coming to a standstill and forcing Wendy to halt in her tracks.

“Nothing!” Wendy’s voice is shrill with panic. “It’s just that Joy asked me to make a potion of Liquid Luck for today for a boost of confidence – she’s confessing to somebody today, by the way, and—“

“Is that what this is about?” Seulgi frowns, fully aware of Wendy’s minor (more like major) crush on the confident fifth-year girl. “Joy approached you for help to ask another girl out, not knowing your feelings for her?”

“No!” Wendy exclaims before groaning. “Okay, so maybe my feelings for her were a bit of an issue at first, but that really isn’t the problem right now!”

“So what on earth is going on?!”

“...I may or may not have accidentally given her the wrong potion.”

“That’s it?” Seulgi raises an eyebrow at the shorter girl now squirming in place. “Wendy, that’s fine! Joy will understand that it was a mistake and she’ll, like, have to deal with being a cat for a day or something! I mean, serves her right for not thinking of your—“

“Seul, I accidentally gave her a love potion!” Wendy bursts out, and Seulgi freezes in place, gaping at her best friend in shock. Meanwhile, Wendy groans again, hands coming up to tangle in her own hair. 

“It was an accident, I swear.” She sighs. “I’m in Advanced Potions, remember? We were making Amortentia in class, the most powerful love potion in the world, and we were allowed to take a small amount with us. I got the vials for the Amortentia and Liquid Luck mixed up and I accidentally gave the love potion to Joy. I didn’t realize until a few minutes ago, when I opened the vial I hadn’t given away and it didn’t smell like— I’m going to stop right there.” Wendy quickly shuts .

“Okay,” Seulgi starts, a small quirk at the corner of . “First of all, Amortentia smells different for everyone depending on who their true love is, right?”

Wendy stares at Seulgi warily. “Yes, and...?”

“Did the love potion smell like chickens for you?”

“No!” Wendy exclaims, crossing her arms. “It smelled like kiwis!” She rolls her eyes. “Anyways, I’m hoping that Joy realized that it wasn’t Liquid Luck... Joy’s smart, so I’m almost positive she knows about Amortentia. She probably realized that she smelled, I don’t know... lavender or something when she opened the vial.”

She misses the way that Seulgi stiffens at the mention of that certain scent.

“Lavender?” Seulgi voices aloud. “As in, how Irene Bae always smells like lavender?”

Wendy shrugs, fixating on the ground and not the storm in Seulgi’s eyes. “I don’t know... doesn’t Joy like Irene? They’re always together with that fourth-year girl— Yeri is her name?”

“Joy better not like Irene,” Seulgi mutters under her breath, quiet enough so that even Wendy’s astute ears can’t hear her.

“Sorry, what?”

“Nothing!” Seulgi chimes in an overly-happy tone. She reaches for Wendy’s hand and pulls her up. “Let’s go then. We better find Joy.”

Wendy nods, suddenly looking tired. “Okay. I just hope that she hasn’t drank the potion... I-I really like Joy, and I want to be with her, but not like this.”

“Don’t worry, Wan,” Seulgi says comfortingly, patting Wendy’s head. “Everything will be alright.”

—

Or not, Wendy thinks to herself drearily.

They find Joy on top of the Astronomy tower, chatting with her best friend Yeri about Quidditch. Everything seems all fine and dandy until Wendy and Seulgi actually catch their attention.

And that’s when Wendy’s stomach sinks into a dark place, catching the way that Joy is looking at her.

There’s absolutely no way that the affection in Joy’s eyes is real. There is no way that the raw adoration in Joy’s eyes is real. Affection and adoration for Wendy, of all people? Impossible. (But there’s not an ounce of Wendy that doesn’t wish for the love in Joy’s gaze to be real.)

“Wendy!” Joy calls for her with that harmonious voice of hers, and Wendy wants to melt into a puddle on the spot. Meanwhile, Yeri snickers and scurries off to draw Seulgi away.

“Hi Joy,” she manages to say instead, a small smile on her lips. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling great!” Joy chirps still looking at Wendy like she put the stars in the sky, and something like guilt churns in her stomach. “By the way...”

Oh no. “Yeah?”

“You look gorgeous tonight,” Joy says boldly, and it takes all of Wendy’s willpower not to collapse right then and there (god, how she wishes this was genuine).

“Thank you,” Wendy murmurs bashfully, going over the list of symptoms for love potions in her head. Ridiculous amount of affection? Check. Oddly shiny eyeballs? Check. Drunken confidence? Che—

“No, really,” Joy says assuredly, a big, charming smile dancing over her lips. “You look breathtaking, Wendy.”

Wait, that didn’t sound very “drunken.”

“Joy,” Wendy starts cautiously, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Nope,” Joy singsongs, “I’m very much in love.”

Wendy takes a deep breath, nodding nervously. “Right...”

“I didn’t drink it, by the way,” Joy comments off-handedly, and Wendy nearly trips.

“I’m sorry, what?” Wendy gapes after regaining her sense of being. Joy didn’t drink the love potion?

“You accidentally gave me a vial of Amortentia, right?” Joy questions. “Or, maybe it wasn’t an accident...?” She throws a wink Wendy’s way that sends the older girl into a stammering mess.

“N-no, trust me, it was an accident!”

“Sure,” the tall brunette giggles, and Wendy just about dies on the spot. “Well,” Joy chuckles, calming herself down. “Regardless, I didn’t drink it. I may not be in Advanced Potions, but I do know that Liquid Luck does not smell like oranges.”

“Oranges...?” Wendy slowly registers the fact that she’s the only one of their friends who wears orange-scented perfume, but that can’t be right...?

“This definitely wasn’t the way I was planning on confessing,” Joy admits.

“Right...” Wendy says quietly before her eyes widen with a start. “Wait, what?!”

“I was planning on confessing to you today,” Joy laughs. “That’s why I asked for the Liquid Luck. You’re so beautiful and smart and so out of my league, Wendy! You’re the top of your class, but you’re so humble and friend and damn, I fell really fast. I thought that needed the confidence booster.”

Wendy flushes, staring up bashfully at Joy through her lashes. “You... you’re sure you didn’t drink that Amortentia?”

And the older girl wants to take a vial and cap a piece of Joy’s laughter— the beautiful sound rang through the top of the Astronomy tower, making everything feel a little lighter.

“Positive,” Joy affirms, sticking a hand into her pocket and pulling out the vial, which gleams under the moonlight. “See? It’s still in here. Joke’s on you, I was in love with you way before you gave me this thing.”

“I was too,” Wendy breathes. Then she blinks, her head spinning. She vaguely registers Joy pulling her to sit down. “Wait, I am. I still am... in love with you, I mean.” She blushes. “I’ve uh, been in love with you for a very long time.”

“I’m glad the feeling is mutual,” Joy drawls, a lazy smile on her face. She leans forward to drape her body over Wendy’s, nuzzling her face into the shorter girl’s hair as Wendy relaxes into the embrace.

“What happens now?” Wendy asks, reaching out to play with Joy’s fingers.

“Now, we just be,” Joy replies, grinning. “Y’know, as girlfriends, and probably the best couple of witches this school has to offer.”

“Think we really take that title?” The shorter girl chews on her bottom lip, feeling Joy nod into her blonde hair.

“Oh yeah, babe,” Joy says, and Wendy positively swoons. “I mean, we’ve got some steep competition now that Seulgi and Irene are an item, but—“

Wendy’s eyes shoot wide at that.

“Wait, Seulgi and Irene are a couple? What?!”

“...I’m assuming that they didn’t tell you?”

“Apparently, no one tells me anything around here!”

—

BONUS:

“I didn’t know that you were such a good actress, Seul,” Irene chuckles, leaning into Seulgi’s warmth as they make their way down to the Greah Hall. “So everything really did go according to plan, huh?”

“It went perfectly,” Seulgi beams. She leans in to nuzzle the older girl. “Are you proud of me, Hyun?”

Irene rolls her eyes playfully but kisses Seulgi’s nose anyways. “Extremely proud, you bear.”

“But your idea of switching the Amortentia and Liquid Luck vials was really smart, Hyun!” Seulgi enthuses. She swings an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulder. “You’re a genius, baby.”

“Thanks, Seul,” Irene smiles, resting her head on Seulgi’s shoulder and intertwining their fingers together. 

“So Hyun...”

“What’s up, Seul?”

“What’s this I hear about Joy being interested in you?”

“For the last time, Seul, she doesn’t like me like that!”