2/9

Hit me with your cauldron pot!
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“Ou-Ouch! Hey!”

Yujin tried to kick Yena but the spasm in her abdomen constrained her to move. Yujin flopped back onto her bed like a deflated balloon with a whine as Yena laughed at her misery with a forkful of strawberry tart waving in the air,

“Hey! Don’t bully our Yujin!”

Eunbi lightly smacked Yena on her side in which Yena complied by carefully feeding Yujin the piece of desert. 

Yujin hummed in satisfaction as she snuggled into her blanket, Chaeyeon truly doubted if she’s really that in pain when the contempt was written all over her face, she seemed like she’s having the time of her life not having to attend classes for three days straight.

A day has passed since the unfortunate encounter, Yujin was recovering quickly since the injury was a small blow to her abdomen. Eunbi, Yena and Chaeyeon were using their spare time to pay Yujin a visit, everything else has been pretty fine, like the usual.

“I can’t believe your stupid dared to cast a jinx Sakura, I literally told you to stay out of it.”

Eunbi huffed, her hands tucked underneath each other, Chaeyeon didn’t lift her head up from her book but silently peered at Yujin to anticipate her reaction. Yujin mirrored Eunbi’s actions and puckered her lips, unguilty of whatever she had done. 

“Whatever. She deserves it.”

Yujin insisted, her eyes showing no sense of remorse. 

Chaeyeon gulped, trying to suppress a weird nauseous feeling whelming up, she knew it’s not because she’s nervous or anxious that had stirred up these reactions.

Maybe it’s because she felt bewildered by her lack of maturity. Personal relationships are not to be taken into regards for Chaeyeon when it comes into deciding a definite right or wrong, Yujin was behaving wrongly, and Chaeyeon didn’t approve of it.Chaeyeon felt that Yujin’s actions were unjustified, no matter how much she didn’t like Sakura. She acted on an impulse with the intention of hurting Sakura who hadn’t commit anything wrong at the known time.

Chaeyeon‘s thin fingers clawed onto the book tightly till she could feel her fingernails scratching on the surface, albeit she shouldn’t get so worked up on these matters which solely lie between Sakura and Yujin, she’s worried that Yujin might throw herself into her grave again, but she shall only interfere when necessary.

Chaeyeon flickered her eyes back onto the book, although her span of attention was already exhausted till nothing since class ended and her brain refused to absorb more information,

‘Well, she’s just eleven and a half, she will learn.’ 

Chaeyeon inwardly concluded as she placed the book into her satchel with a soft sigh and listened to their conversation.

“What jinx did you exactly want to curse on her?” 

Yena chomped onto a chocolate tart supposingly prepared for Yujin, Yujin was about to throw her fist at Yena for casually eating her deserts and also dropping the crumbs on her bed, but for whatever reason she had decided to answer Yena instead,

“Ducklifors! The one that you taught me!”

“Jesus! Yujin! Why would you want to turn her into a duck! Thank goodness you didn’t turn into a duck when she deflected the jinx back!”

Yena sputtered with her greasy mouth full and bits of the pastry flew onto Yujin’s hospital gown. Yujin made a shrill gasp and used her legs to push Yena away,

“I thought it’d be pretty funny to turn her into a duck! And can you stop turning my bed into a junk yard! It’s filled with crumbs because of you!”

“Who are you accusing? Not all these crumbs came from me, it was already dirty because of you!”

“Hey! I couldn’t shower this time because I was confined to the bed, the nurse didn’t allow me to!”

“You didn’t shower!?”

“Wha-weren’t we talking about this!?”

Chaeyeon chuckled at the amusing sight, the bickering and fights are a norm to them anyways.

 Eunbi dragged another chair from the corner and positioned herself beside Chaeyeon,

“So.”

Eunbi began, her voice hushed and low,

“Are you okay?“

Chaeyeon blinked away from the bickering duo and raised her eyebrows at Eunbi,

“Yea? I’m feeling okay, superb actually.”

Chaeyeon felt like she had missed out entirely when when she saw the subtle twitch Eunbi’s brows did and that’s when she sensed something was not right.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Chaeyeon whispered, a smile played on her lips in attempt to lift the mood up. Eunbi broke into a weak smile and shook her head, but that did not make Chaeyeon feel any less worried.

“No...it’s just that I almost my pants yesterday, that you were there...fending Yujin from you know who....I could have stayed there and prevented all these from happening, but instead I had chosen to get the professors. Now the news have been spreading around the school, I just feel sorry.”

Chaeyeon nodded her head as she listened to Eunbi attentively, while Eunbi sheepishly rubbed her nape, And she was confused, actually.

 Chaeyeon leaned back onto her chair while she processed Eunbi's words.

Nothing really was sinking into her, tne encounter happened like two ships passing in the night, it was brief and intense. There are no distinct memories or the thrill that had etched in her mind yet, it’s an insignificant occurrence in her life.

“It wasn’t really a big deal, was it? No one was seriously injured...you shouldn’t blame yourself for anything.”

Chaeyeon mumbled mindlessly, puzzlement echoing in her dubious tone. 

It’s probably the underlying indifference in her tone that had gained their attention, there was a long pause which Yena and Yujin were completely frozen in an awkward position with a look of utter disbelief on their face. Even Eunbi had her jaw hung open in astonishment at the calmness, or even the can’t-be-bothered attitude Chaeyeon possessed after the escalation of events after yesterday.

“N-no! I meant that everything is in the past! We’re all fine! See? There’s nothing to worry about now, so you shouldn’t beat yourself for anything.”

‘Although I really don’t get what’s the fuss about.’

Chaeyeon squeaked, her neck sunken into her shoulders. Although that sounded more like a question than a statement, it seemed to have temporarily convinced them, fortunately.

“Wow! I have successfully raised Chaeyeon into a bad , I’m so proud of myself!”

Yena announced at the top of her lungs and Yujin hollered in agreement, whirling her hand in the air. Chaeyeon was so embarrassed she could create a endless hole in the ground and jump into it, the two were so loud everyone outside the hospital wing could hear them.

Yena climbed off the bed with a hop and almost tripped herself while she did so, she stumbled about to balance herself but was shoved on the ground by Eunbi instead,

“Shut up! I raised her!”

Eunbi exclaimed dramatically, her hands clutching the fabric on her chest tightly. Chaeyeon can only rubbed her hands onto her eyes, trying to shield herself from witnessing anymore of the barmy exchange so she wouldn’t have to suffer from second hand embarrassing.

“But really, Chaeyeon unnie was really cool! She casted expelliarmus and that snake’s wand literally! Whoosh!—”

Yujin swung her hands over her head to mimic how the wand had gone whizzing through the air and they adruptly jerked into a stop as if the wand crashed into the wall,

“—It went straight into the wall! And Boom! It exploded! You should have seen it, I’m so glad I was able to see Chaeyeon duel!”

Chaeyeon wanted to protest but she couldn’t, because that’s exactly what happened, unexaggerated and all. Yena and Eunbi nodded with a proud look of acknowledgement while looking at Chaeyeon, 

Nonetheless, They shouldn’t be encouraging Chaeyeon to carry out such practices ever again because like what Chaeyeon had always insisted, Magic is not allowed to be used on students.

“It’s good that you’re finally putting your knowledge into use.”

Yena remarked as she crawled up from the floor and brushed the dust off her robes onto the bed, purposefully or not. Yujin made a face at her being her usual unhygienic self and Chaeyeon tried really hard not to snort out in laughter.

“Okay, serious talk guys, I’m really happy that Chaeyeon had exhibited such heroism, but challenging Sakura is like asking for a death wish, so Chaeyeon, please don’t do that again.”

“You’re being dramatic, I’d like to see a wild Chaeyeon again with my own eyes-Ouch!”

Yena cut in and earned a hard smack on her head from Eunbi, she howled in pain as she rolled about on Yujin’s bed, not caring about how Yujin was loudly protesting and trying to push her onto the ground again.

“Guys, I’m sure it’s not that serious!”

Chaeyeon titled her head with a easy smile, 

“She won’t remember me at all, I’m sure there are more important things she has to pay attention to, so there’s nothing to worry about! Furthermore, shouldn’t we focus on Yujin’s recovery instead?”

Chaeyeon trailed as she slide out a balm container from her back, indicated ‘Star Grass Salve’. She gently placed the medical ointment on the table next to Yujin’s bed. 

“I’m pretty sure that they’ve fed you some medicine already, but to wish you a speedy recovery, I made you some balm, it’s pretty effective, I’d say.”

Chaeyeon intertwined her fingers behind her back, a genuine look of concern on her face as she gazed at Yujin who’s eyes were blinking in surprise.

Yujin’s bunny teeth were adorably peeking out from her gaped lips as she carefully inspected the unresponsive metal container, as if it would suddenly jump and bite her.

“You made this for me?”

Yujin’s huge round eyes were crinkled into crescents as she peered up into Chaeyeon’s eyes. Chaeyeon responsed by nodding her head, in which Yujin immediately grabbed the container off the table and slid it into her pockets, keeping it safe like her treasure. 

Yena and Eunbi chuckled at Yujin’s child-like behaviour because it’s just endearingly funny that her mature appearance couldn’t veil her youth.

“You’re always taking care of us, I’m starting to think that you might be older than us.”

Yena rubbed her chin and said that with all seriousness. Chaeyeon didn’t answer because she couldn’t decipher if Yena was being serious or not. 

“Yeah, I want Chaeyeon to take care of me like this, Yena, should we try to cast Ducklifors on each other?”

“Should we? Not a bad idea though.”

Yena replied Eunbi with a straight face, and even drawing out her wand from her robes, Chaeyeon immediately shrieked in protest but face palmed when she knew she was being teased upon seeing the sniggers the duo shared.

Just at the this moment, the nurse approached them and kindly informed that they have to leave the infirmary to give Yujin the ample rest she needed for recovery.

“What rest? She looks perfectly fine.”

Was the last thing Yena said without using her brain and it escalated to them being chased out by the nurse.

“Yena! You !”

“I’m speaking the truth!”

“I agree, I’m losing braincells.”

“What-Chaeyeon! You too? And what do you mean by you’re losing brain cells? Are you okay? Is this the muggle way of saying that you’re dying?”

And Chaeyeon could only wish her brain cells won’t perish entirely. However, that’s Yena in her prime, Chaeyeon reckoned there will be more opportunities in the future where she could witness Yena ridiculing herself again. 

 

———————————————-

 

Chaeyeon was thinking about what Eunbi has said just now.

Yes, she’s the one who casually dismissed the topic but that’s because she didn’t want Eunbi to dwell on the past and feel sorry for what she wasn’t responsible for.  

When Chaeyeon asked her what’s wrong, the genuine look of anxiety striked her hard. Eunbi probably had the worst case scenarios played out in her head when she was waiting for Chaeyeon’s answer,

‘And the news about the fight had spreaded around the school? Why am i not aware of it?’

Chaeyeon wondered, and is it necessary for her to take note of such matters? Likely not.

Chaeyeon kicked her robes as she headed towards the quidditch pitch. She tried not to mull over it any further because she might trip on herself.

Eunbi and Yena had implored Chaeyeon to come to their quidditch practice, claiming that they craved for her presence 24/7, although she was clearly aware that the two gluttons probably just wanted her to deliver snacks.

Chaeyeon brought up a packet of Pringle’s potato chips from the huddled mess of other tidbits in her chest. Yena said she liked this particular thinly fried potatoes slices, as what she called it, Chaeyeon had always tried to educate her on the names of muggle snacks but Yena’s brain would malfunction.

Chaeyeon hummed a cheerful tune as she arrived at the pitch and a number of gryffindor players were already doing their warm up laps which Eunbi and Yena were leading. 

Noticing an oak tree with plenty of shade to share, she gently placed Eunbi and Yena’s share of snacks onto their respective benches and waddled towards the oak tree, crunching on patches of the fallen, withered oak leaves.

Chaeyeon blankly stared up the gigantic oak tree towering over her, the blinding gaps between the fiery leaves which gentle sun rays were escaping through. Indulging in the approaching summer warmth, she carefully placed her satchel on its protruding roots and laid herself down.

The gentle spring breeze kissed her cheeks and brought a moist earthy scent to her, a hearty feeling swelled in her chest as she watched how the beautiful red foliages shed from the branches, it’s like raining fire, but the leaves didn’t hurt her as they descended onto her, they felt a bit ticklish on her skin, that’s all.

Sliding a book from her bag and placing it over her closed eyes to shield them from the sunlight, she could feel herself sinking into oblivion.

Already heavy with sleepiness, Chaeyeon subtly heard muffled movements around her, dismissing them, thinking that she was just enchanted by the fragrance of the plants. 

Maybe she’s hypnotized by the scent emitted by other trees nearby, she remembered that a book once mentioned that some trees would release a faint, light floral smell which their prey would inhale and fall into a trance, the sweet aroma would lure they to a close proximity to the tree before it will strike and kill them. Perhaps that’s why she’s feeling so light headed right now, like she's in dreamland.

Oddly, she didn’t feel the urge to move from her position and go to a tree. But the heavenly fragrance around her gradually intensified and only when the soft shuffling noises beside her stopped, that’s when she realised that someone was beside her.

The scent was of a distinct bitter sweet aroma, it made her head spin. And it was considerably easy to indentify the flower which could give off this smell.

“Cherry blossom?”

Chaeyeon mumbled to herself, 

Who wears this perfume in this school?

“I didn’t know that sleeping under an oak tree was an option, Chaeyeon.”

A familiar soft voice teasingly spoke and Chaeyeon instantly snapped out of her slumber. She bolted up from her position and looked around, her heart hammering against her chest heavily. 

“Sakura?”

Chaeyeon timidly called out as she stood up and whirled around, searching for the petite figure in the midst of the falling leaves. Chaeyeon dart her eyes around frantically, but there were no trace of her, nothing, the fragrance, the sounds, they all vanished like they weren't there at all.

‘It was a dream, yet it felt so real.’

Chaeyeon glanced around again, and she could only see the quidditch team approaching the bench and seemingly about to take a break. It had already been an hour. Chaeyeon awkwardly brushed off the remaining leaves on her robes and picked up her satchel, she slowly made her way to the bench, purposefully kicking the leaves up as she made through the sea of fiery red and yellow.

She tried not to think about what dreaming about Sakura was supposed to mean, although she has always been curious, and she tried not to think about that too.

“Chaeyeon! There you are!”

Eunbi greeted her enthusiastically while tearing open a packet of gummy bears, her sweat glistening brightly under the sun, the rest of the team also smiled at her in acknowledging her presence. 

“You know, someone was looking for you just now.”

“Really? Who?”

Chaeyeon incquired while snapping open a new bottle of pumpkin juice, she gulped a mouthful of the lightly sweetened drink while Eunbi tried to recall whoever it was.

“She’s from Hufflepuff, the one that Yujin always ogled over, do you know her?”

‘Oh.’

Chaeyeon pupil dilated, pulling away from the mouth of the bottle with a pop,

“Is it Minju?”

“Yes, that’s her. She said she wanted to see you, but you weren’t here just now. So she’s waiting all the way—“

Eunbi pointed her fingers to across the pitch at the other end where the hufflepuff players were located, Chaeyeon spotted the particularly pretty looking girl with beautiful eye smiles, engaged in busy conversations her housemates, that’s Minju.

 

“—there. She looks pretty busy though.”

“That’s okay, Minju will talk to me.” 

Chaeyeon grabbed another bottle of the pumpkin juice and briskly walked across the field towards Minju.

Extremely tiny and small they may seem from the gryffindors’ bench, the HufflePuffs were ridiculously tall and huge up close, Chaeyeon is small for a 14 year old, but that didn’t make it normal for Minju to be a head taller when they’re of the same age.

Upon spotting Chaeyeon in the midst of the Hufflepuff crowd, Minju broke out of her reserved demeanour and excitedly waved her hand at her, Chaeyeon returned the gesture with an equally enthusiastic wave,

“What’s up? I heard that you’re finding me.”

Chaeyeon said with a heave as she popped down beside Minju wand offered the beverage, Minju accepted it with a smile and gently leaned onto Chaeyeon’s head while she gazed into the distance, watching the HufflePuff players taking flights into the sky.

“Nothing much, I just want to apologise on the behalf of our house mates, for causing so much trouble...and getting you involved with Sakura. Anyways, I will be rooting for you.”

‘Rooting for me?’

“Minju! Not you too!”

Chaeyeon whined, throwing her hands up in frustration,

“I’m perfectly fine, Everything has been the same.”

“Chaeyeon, what if she does something to you...?”

“That won’t happen, Minju.”

Chaeyeon reassured her earnestly, a tug at the corners of , pulling her lips into a tiny smirk. Minju looked like she wanted to say something but she hesitated upon sensing how Chaeyeon didn’t want to address the matter and so she didn’t and said something else,

“You know...you’re kind of famous now?”

“Pft-!”

She almost belched the contents out of her stomach when she choked, that’s literally the last thing she wanted to hear, being famous for doing something stupid,

“F-for real? In a bad way?”

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cowiscow
Love Iz*one, appreciate Lee Chaeyeon, pamper our Wonyoung.

STAN THEM

Comments

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ayedee
#1
Chapter 3: Not sure if I’ll cry because this is so beautiful or maybe because the chance of getting this updated is close to a miracle 😭🤚🏻
Paige_29 #2
Chapter 3: aighhttt this is tooo good i hope you'll bave ur update soon authornim
LeeChae11
#3
Update Authornim
LeeChae11
#4
Update
kwang_cee
#5
Chapter 3: Maybe it's not too late to hope for an update? I really love this tho.
JuneCastellan #6
Chapter 3: I'm so sad that this don't have a update have long time. Everything in this story is WORTH, I love the character and the background story of Sakura just makes me yearn for answers...

Sigh...

I am sad, really
Curachan #7
Chapter 3: It's nice that Yena seems to be cool with Miyawaki after having a conversation with her. My fav book series + my fav ship = perfection. Can't wait to know about Sakura's goal when she's aleeady powerful and how they will develop their relationship. I wonder how whipped can they be with each other.

You write well author. English is my second language that's why there are some words that aren' t familiar but it boosts my vocabulary to help me in school so not only did the story made me feel so inlove it also helped me with my academics. Thank you :)). Fighting!
ROYAL_OTPSONLY
#8
Chapter 3: This gives a cute version of rivalry I LOVE IT!
willing to wait for your next update!
BP6707 #9
Chapter 3: Ahhhh this is the best Izone hp any I’ve seen so far! Keep up the great work!
Chichu_25 #10
This story is soo good :)) but im a year late... hope you are okay authornim and pls update ??