Valentine’s had long passed, and the exam period was in full swing. Students had their heads buried in books, desperately trying to cram a year’s worth of material into a few short days of intense studying, and all nighters were a frequent occurrence, with common rooms almost never emptying. And in the midst of it all, Seulgi and Irene still found time to meet up twice a week for their duels. (In fact, that was where Seulgi was headed to right now, about to duel with Irene and potentially spend the next 2 hours mocked by that witch. Seulgi had yet to win a duel for the past 3 weeks, and her body was seriously starting to ache from all the stunts Irene pulled.)

Seulgi sighed. It wasn’t that she disliked dueling Irene - honestly, it was a win for her whether she won or lost (a pouty Irene was a heavensent, a taunting Irene was really kind of hot) - but she would be lying if she said the thought of Irene tutoring her hadn’t crossed her mind. After all, Irene was fantastic in History of Magic and Charms, the two subjects Seulgi just could not seem to master. Seulgi, on the other hand, excelled in Defense against the Dark Arts and Potions, the two subjects Irene did poorly in. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, Seulgi mused, and she wondered how she might bring it up to Irene when they met later. Perhaps if I win, I can get her to agree with me? Seulgi wondered, deep in thought as she trudged into the entrance of the Charms classroom, her legs already well acquainted with the route there.

“Hey Sluggie, nice of you to finally join me.” The same honeyed tone came drifting across the room, invoking a sense of warmth in Seulgi’s heart. Honestly, just hearing her voice made her happy, how whipped was that? I’m not whipped, I just like her voice, Seulgi thought, in denial over her obvious attraction to Irene. “How long are you just going to stand there, Sluggie? Ready for our duel?” Irene said.

Wait, I’m supposed to ask her about the peer tutoring, don’t back out now, Seulgi, do it for your grades!

“Um… Irene…” Seulgi begin, stammering. Irene cocked her head to her left quizzically and stared at her. Cute. “I was wondering… If we could… Y’know…” she continued, a bumbling mess of words and thoughts. God, I’m so bad at this.

“Yes, Seulgi? You thought we could?” Irene whispered huskily, sashaying over to where Seulgi stood, rooted to her spot, eyes bulging out in fear at the sight of Irene. With each step Irene took towards her, Seulgi took one step back, two, three, until she hit the wall of the classroom. There was nowhere else to go, and she needed to escape Irene’s seductive gaze before she collapsed.

“Um… uh, I wanted to ask if…” Seulgi stammered yet again, and this time, Irene closed the gap between them, and they were close, so close Seulgi could make out each individual eyelash on Irene's mesmerizing eyes, so close that Seulgi could feel the heat radiating from her body, and it was doing things to Seulgi's sanity that she couldn't seem to explain, as she stared dumbly into the universes that resided in Irene's eyes –

“Did you, perhaps, think that we could tutor each other? Seeing as how the exams are so close?” Irene whispers in her ear, tone warm and reassuring, as if to tell Seulgi that no, asking her for peer tutoring was not weird. Seulgi nodded dumbly, still shellshocked from the close proximity between the two of them just moments before.

“Well, why didn’t you just say so, Sluggie? I thought you were going to propose to me or something, seeing how red your face was.” Irene said mockingly. Seulgi felt her face turn the darkest shade of red at the word “propose”, as she would definitely be lying if she didn’t admit the thought of spending her life together with Irene Bae had never once appealed to her.

“If you’re done staring at me, Sluggie, why don’t you come over here and teach me how to do this Potions essay? You could tutor me today and I could tutor you in two days, is that alright?” She hears Irene ask, breaking her out of her stupor, and she nods her head dumbly, making her way to the desk Irene was at.

“So, you have to add Wolfsbane to the concoction, then turn it 7 times clockwise, because that will cause the Wolfsbane to mix well with the lizard’s tail you put in before. This will cause a reaction which would produce Felixis, one part of the potion that you are trying to create.” Seulgi says, pointing at the textbook that they are pouring over.

“I don’t get it, why Wolfsbane?” Irene asks, and Seulgi wants to roll her eyes, because God, she swore she answered that question 3 minutes ago, and it had a super embarassing answer, and because Irene was looking at her with a deceptively seductive smirk that was sending the butterflies in Seulgi’s stomach into overdrive.

“Sluggie? You in there? Why do we have to add Wolfsbane?” She hears Irene ask yet again (she swears she hears a teasing tone within), and this time she sighs, and replies.

“Because Wolfsbane is the embodiement of saying ‘I like you’, and its a sorely required ingredient in Felixis because the mixture is mostly used as part of love potions.”

“Sorry, but did you say you like me?” Irene asks, and Seulgi groans again, because she saw this coming a mile away. “No, Irene, I said that it was the embodiement of saying ‘I like you’, not that I, Kang Seulgi, likes you.”

“If that’s the case, then why did you give me Wolfsbane for Valentine’s this year?” Irene asks, batting her eyelashes innocously, and Seulgi chokes on her drink. How did she know that was mine? “I did not! ...Okay, I did, but I swear that was before I knew it meant ‘I like you’, honest!” Seulgi tries to reason.

“Mm. I see.” Irene replies, and Seulgi thinks she sees a slight frown cross her face before quickly disappearing. “Are you... are you angry?” She asks, worried at the sudden change from Irene.

“No. Why would I be? Continue teaching, Ms Kang.” Irene replies, and Seulgi freezes, because the last time Irene called her Ms Kang, she spent a week on her knees begging for forgiveness and showering Irene with gifts and cards and whatever she could come up with. But that time was because Seulgi had, rather stupidly, accused Irene of spiking her drink, which would cause anybody to be angry. This time, Seulgi literally just denied that she knew Wolfsbane meant ‘I like you’ (Okay so maybe she did know at the time, but Irene didn’t need to know that).

But that wasn’t the problem here. The problem was that Irene was angry, and Seulgi did not want to spend another week begging for forgiveness for something that was obviously not her fault. Irene was just being petty. So, having made up her mind, Seulgi said, “Sure, Miss Bae.”

And all hell promptly broke loose.

“Miss Bae? Did you just call me Miss Bae?” Irene snarled, and Seulgi was so shookt that she flung herself out of her seat to get as far away from Irene as possible. “Ye..yes?” She squeaked, the confident tone she had mere moments ago gone. An awkward silence permeated the air. Oh you done screwed up now Sluggie, Seulgi thought to herself, Why did you even think that was a good idea?

“Ms Kang, kindly come back here and teach the remainder of this topic to me, so that we may part ways as soon as possible.” Seulgi stood rooted to her spot, not daring to move a single millimeter to an angry Bae Joohyun.

“Now.” This time Irene’s tone resonated within the classroom, and Seulgi sprinted to the desk before Irene could say another word, because she knew that the next words coming out of Irene’s mouth had a 99% probability of starting with Avada and ending with Kedavra. Seulgi did not want to die young. (She still had to confess to Irene, though she would honestly fight a hundred headed hydra right now.)

The rest of the tutoring session passed quickly, and Seulgi just wanted it to be over, regretting that she had tried to stand up for herself, and wishing she had just confessed that she knew what Wolfsbane meant and it was the reason why she had sent it to Irene in the first place.

“Thank you, Miss Kang. I will see you in two days. Bring along your Charms notes.” Irene said with a tone of finality, standing up and making her way to the exit.

As if moved by an invisible force, Seulgi reached for Irene’s hand, tugging it back. “Please... please wait.” She mumbled.

This is it. Just put aside your pride for a second, and tell her the truth. If not she’s going to go to bed crying, just like the last time she ignored you, and you don’t want that do you? Seulgi thinks.

“What do you want, Miss Kang?” She hears Irene say, voice as steely as it was before.

“I... I knew what Wolfsbane meant when I sent it to you.” Seulgi whimpered.

“I couldn’t hear that, Miss Kang. Please speak louder if you want me to hear.” Irene said, her voice not betraying any emotion that she might have felt.

“I... I knew what Wolfsbane meant when I sent it to you!” Seulgi shouted, before covering her face with her hands, embarassed at what she had done. She waited for Irene’s reply, but after hearing none for a good 5 seconds, tentatively peeked out from her hands to look – and saw Irene’s face mere centimeters away from her, with her gaze locked on Seulgi’s own, but her eyes not yet showing any emotion.

“And what does it mean, Miss Kang?” Irene says, and this time Seulgi hears a hint of teasing within, and knows that she’s been forgiven, and she can’t hide her smile as she whispers back, “I like you.” And she feels Irene’s hand carressing her hair, and Irene’s voice in her ear, voice layered with those familiar tones of warmth and honey, “I like you too, dumb bear.” Seulgi can’t help but snuggle against Irene at this, and she feels Irene reciprocate the action, patting her head with warm, soothing touches, and Seulgi feels right at home.