Her fingers twitched, heavy eyelids flutter open. It was darker than she thought, she stares out the window to little to no sunlight. Sooyoung sighs and searches for her little pocket watch necklace

Though her right hand didn't move, her eyes shoot down to her bedside, finding Jiwoo sleeping soundly, clinging to her like her life depends on it and tightening that grip when Sooyoung tried taking her hand out.

When was the last time she woke up from being sick or in a coma to see someone so worried they're by her bedside?

Right,

Never.

Until Jiwoo showed up.

The corner of her lips twitched into a smile and used her left hand instead to grab her pocket watch around her neck.

Four in the morning is earlier than what she would have liked, plus there's no way she can go back to sleep after how many hours she had been out. She eyes around the room out of curiosity. At the end of her bed were some flowers, presumably from Jungeun while a box of muggle chocolate should be from Hyejoo. And a hand painted mug from Chaewon?

She chuckles. How kind, Sooyoung thoughts.

Though she can't say she's not disappointed to see Jiwoo without a gift,  her reason isn't that Jiwoo didn't get anything but rather has Jiwoo been spending most of her time here that she had no time to get one? The said Hufflepuff is sleeping here.

The bedside table, however, piling with a bunch of papers and a handful of paper swans with 'read me!' on one of its wings along with a number.

With the difficulty of having only one hand available, Sooyoung just managed to unfold them to see handwritten notes from Jiwoo.

She smiles at the cute handwriting, every single one has its number on the top left. She rearranged it in order before beginning to read one by one.

'Sooyoung, you dummy! :<
you said you'll be careful,
Wake up soon, so I don't have to write more.'

'Jungeun reminded me to eat,
I'm so worried I almost forgot to eat.
I think there'll be more swans.'

'Madam Pomfrey said it'll take a while.
So Jiwoo went around for the works 
you missed, copied them for you too <3
wake up soon!'

'Sooyoungie I've been sleeping here,
Madam Pomfrey didn't mind somehow.
You'll probably wake up to see me.'

'Dummy this is the fifth swan,
you know what that means?
Five days and you're still asleep.'

'I missed you.'

'Wake up soon.'

Sooyoung sighs helplessly, wondering how anxious and worried the Hufflepuff must have been. "So I've been out for a whole week." She sets the crumpled paper aside and picks up the work Jiwoo has kindly copied for her, her eyes glance through the neat handwriting and occasional hearts.

"Thanks, Jiwoo."

She sets the crumpled papers aside, grabbing the class notes the Hufflepuff has kindly written out and uses her time to read them.

"Wait." She pauses, picking the ex-paper swans up to read it one more time to only realised just now the Hufflepuff speaks in third-person sometimes. And looking back from the patrol nights, Sooyoung remembered Jiwoo addressing herself in third-person occasionally, too.

She has never met anyone who does but coming from Jiwoo, it's kinda cute, not that she'll ever admit it out loud.

And as much as she wants to wake Jiwoo ups and clear the younger girl of her worries, she'd preferably let her rests for a little while longer. Plus, reading these to catch up would be ideal.

Her eyes travel across the pages, left to right, from the top all the way down, almost forgetting to blink from how concentrated she was and it didn't take long for the clock to ticks to half-past six in the morning.

Rubbing the bridge of her nose from continuous reading, she finally discards them onto the bedside table before nudging the sleeping Hufflepuff softly. "Hey, Jiwoo, I'm awake."

"Nghh," She groans, eyebrows furrowing. "Five more minutes."

Sooyoung laughs before nudging a little harder. "Jiwoo, it's me, Sooyoung."

If this fifth year has a pair of puppy ears, it'd perks up instantly as soon as she hears the name, Sooyoung. Well, if not, then her eyes open immediately with no signs of being tired or just having woken up, Jiwoo didn't hesitate to throw herself at the Slytherin, almost sobbing with her arms clutched tight around Sooyoung's neck.

"I was so worried," She mumbles.

"That's why I didn't promise you." Sooyoung laughs despite the situation. "I didn't want to make a promise I can't keep."

"Well, yeah!!" Jiwoo detached herself before making a pout. "You got hit in the head!"

"It wouldn't be the first."

Jiwoo widens her eyes and punches Sooyoung lightly before instantly regretting her choice when a wince escapes Sooyoung's lips.

"It's a part of the game that I can't change, unfortunately." Sooyoung sighs as Jiwoo gets off and sits properly in a chair. "Although I wouldn't mind if it means I'd wake up to see you. It's nice to feel loved."

"You don't have to do that, you can just tell me..." The Hufflepuff mutters under her breath.

"Pardon?"

"I said you don't have to take a bludger to the head to see me, just tell me and I'll be there."

Sooyoung — caught off guard — almost chokes on her word, she thanks Madam Pomfrey in her mind when the lady walks in the room to checks on her.

"Oh, Miss Ha, I see you're finally awake."

"Am I allowed to leave or are we gonna go into that stage where you tell me to rest a bit more?"

She nods. "Yes, and you've learnt taking a few bludgers to the head means staying here for a li