That night, Mina dreamt of an ornate jade palace amongst the clouds, one that was close enough to touch but just barely out of her reach. When she woke, it was with an aching desperation in , one she couldn’t quite swallow down no matter how hard she tried.

Mina forced herself out of bed despite the overwhelming longing to sink back into the mattress and return to the painful comfort of her dreamworld. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Mina glanced over at her roommate’s bed— the sheets were neatly folded, Yoohyeon herself nowhere in sight. The girl must’ve already made her way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Having not eaten much the previous night and her stomach already grumbling at her, Mina figured she should do the same.

—

As soon as she stepped into the Great Hall and made her way toward the Ravenclaw table, Mina felt eyes on her. She did her best to ignore it— ignore the stares and whispers, what she had been dealing with practically her whole life. Mina knew the routine, anyway: she was like a shiny new toy, and the majority of people would lose interest in her after a while. She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later so she could get on with her life.

“Hey, Myoui! Come sit with us!” a boy from her House called to her, a group of his friends hooting and cheering in what she supposed was an attempt to entice her. But Mina didn’t trust the boy’s toothy grin and the way his friends leered at her, so she just politely smiled and moved away, hoping the group received her message loud and clear.

(She hated it when people called her by her last name only, as if that was all there was to her. “My name is Mina,” she wanted to scream sometimes, but her father had always scolded her for using the nickname. He wanted her to be proud of her full name— like it was some kind of badge of honor, something more than just a couple of letters thrown together to form a word.)

Mina ended up snagging a muffin from the table and tucking it into a napkin, retreating from the Great Hall. It was too overwhelming, being amongst all of those people— besides, she’d grown accustomed to escaping away at meals at Mahoutokoro in order to have some peace and quiet. Those precious moments alone, away from any prying eyes, were part of what kept her sane.

She ate her breakfast in a little alcove in a hallway she’d found, the huge stained glass window allowing her to observe the courtyard outside. The space was all but empty, save for two Hufflepuff girls sitting next to each other on a stone bench. It seemed they had a similar idea as Mina— a meal to themselves, both giggling as one of them tried to shove a piece of her croissant into the other’s mouth. It was sweet, and almost made Mina long for that kind of companionship— one she’d gotten brief tastes of, but had never truly known.

Wanting to focus her mind elsewhere, Mina continued to nibble at her muffin and pulled out a scroll of parchment that had her schedule inked onto it. Hogwarts had an entirely different testing system than Mahoutokoro, so Mina was briefed beforehand on the basics of O.W.L.s. Luckily, the two schools did have very similar classes, so Mina was able to continue taking courses she had excelled in at Mahoutokoro. Her first class of the day was Potions, which she already figured out was located down in the dungeons.

Lost in thought, Mina was only pulled back to reality when she heard loud voices coming from the courtyard. As she refocused on those two girls again, she was surprised to see them being flanked by that same Ravenclaw boy and a few of his friends from earlier.

“—you’re honestly such a pig, Hirai, it’s disgusting,” he was scoffing, arms crossed as he looked down at the Hufflepuff with dark hair and bangs.

“That isn’t even an insult to her,” the blonde girl said with an eye roll, at the same time as the one with bangs— Hirai— retorted indignantly, “Pigs are very intelligent creatures, you know!”

The group of boys just snickered mockingly. “Well, if you’re a pig, then you won’t mind eating this off the floor, then.” The boy’s back was to Mina, but she could hear the cruel sneer in his voice. In one quick movement, he whacked the girl’s plate out of her hands, sending it crashing to the ground while his friends hooted.

“HEY!” Hirai yelled, and Mina saw the blonde jumping to her feet, a seriously angry look on her face.

Mina knew that these two girls could handle a couple of s, and she really didn’t want to get involved. That wouldn’t exactly be adhering to her usual policy of staying out of trouble and keeping her head down. But then that stupid boy was pulling his wand out of his robes to point threateningly at those two girls and, before Mina’s mind could catch up with her legs, she was rushing out into the courtyard with her own wand drawn.

“I said, eat it off the ground, you stupid bit—“

“Leave them alone,” Mina called out, hating how meek her voice sounded. It caused the boy to turn around nonetheless, and Mina had to force herself to not visibly shrink under the weight of so many pairs of eyes now fixed solely on her in such close proximity.

The Ravenclaw boy gawked at her. “Are you kidding me?” He was almost half-laughing, glancing behind him to gesture at the two Hufflepuff girls who he was still holding at wand-point. “You’re too high and mighty to hang out with your own Housemates, but you’re really going to defend Dumb and Dumber here? I know you’re new, so I’ll give you another chance to align with the right crowd.” His eyes narrowed, obviously daring Mina to make the wrong choice.

Mina had never cared about status, or being aligned with the “right crowd”. That was her father, not her— and Mina, she wouldn’t stand by and let this boy torment two innocent girls. “I said, leave them alone,” she repeated more firmly, her voice finally hardening, as if a switch inside of her was flipped. “I won’t warn you again.”

She could see the boy’s confidence wavering for a moment, but it seemed he wasn’t ready to give up just yet. “What are you gonna do to me, huh?” he taunted, “A rich, snobby little girl like you probably can’t even cast a spell to save her life.”

“Want to bet on it?” Mina countered, tilting her head a little bit, a competitive glint in her eyes. “My father wanted to ensure that I would be able to protect myself, so he enrolled me in an exclusive class specializing in rare Japanese hexes. Have you ever heard of a Japanese hex?” Not allowing the boy to answer, Mina continued with a faux polite smile, “I can promise you they’re quite nasty.” It was a complete lie, of course— no such class existed, though obviously the boy wasn’t aware of that.

Mina could practically see the gears spinning in his head as he tried to figure out his next move, considering his options. He wasn’t moving fast enough, so Mina lifted her wand to point directly at his chest and began to chant whatever random Japanese words that first popped into her head.

Her tactic worked, as immediately the boy’s hands flew up and he cried out, “Okay, stop!” Mina stopped chanting, and he hesitantly lowered his hands to glare at her. “Have fun with your new loser friends,” he spat, tossing one last dirty look at the Hufflepuffs before stalking off elsewhere with his buddies.

When Mina looked back at the two Hufflepuff girls, her satisfaction at “winning” fizzled out. Now they were staring at her, eyes wide and mouths agape. Mina was seconds away from making a hasty exit before things got more awkward before the girl with dark hair exploded, “Oh my God, that was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen!”

Mina’s confidence from minutes before having disappeared just as quickly as she had summoned it, the girl’s comment made her feel suddenly and intensely embarrassed. What was I thinking?! the Ravenclaw mentally bemoaned, realizing that she hadn’t been thinking at all in that moment, which was terribly unlike her.

Both girls were standing now, facing Mina. “You didn’t have to step in, but we appreciate the chivalry anyway,” the blonde Hufflepuff said in a lightly teasing tone.

Mina just shrugged dismissively. “It wasn’t that big of a deal…” When she glanced back up, the girls were exchanging smiles with each other.

“It’s rude not to introduce ourselves!” the blonde abruptly exclaimed, fixing Mina with a bright, bubbly smile. “I’m Dumb, and this is Dumber,” she joked, pointing with a thumb to her friend.

“Excuse me!” ‘Dumber’ complained with a pout, pushing at the blonde’s elbow in irritation. “I’m not the one who asked Dahyun the other day if Muggles used a different alphabet—“

“That was a perfectly valid question!” ‘Dumb’ retorted shrilly, before turning back to Mina with an exasperated, yet somewhat endeared, look. “I’m just kidding, anyway. My name’s Sana,” she introduced.

“I’m Momo,” the one with bangs added, pausing from looking down forlornly at her ruined plate to shoot Mina a smile.

Despite them only using their first names, Mina instinctively began to recite, “My name’s Myoui Minar—“ She didn’t know what stopped her. Maybe it was the kindness in these two girls’ smiles, or maybe she was just tempted to make a small act of rebellion after the adrenaline rush of standing up to those bullies. Regardless, she quietly amended, “Um, actually, you can just call me Mina.”

“Mina,” both girls repeated, almost in unison, as if testing it out on their tongues.

“That’s a really pretty name,” Sana said sweetly, and sure, Mina’d received plenty of compliments about her name before, but for some reason that particular one made her face heat up.

“Oh, thanks,” Mina mumbled. There was a beat of silence, and for some reason anxious to fill it, she blurted out, “I got it for my birthday.” She immediately cringed at her own stupid joke— That’s it, I need to go to my bedroom and never come out. No, that’s not enough, I need to leave the country immediately.

Much to Mina’s immense relief, however, she heard tinkling laughter from both of the Hufflepuffs. “You’re cute,” Momo stated, like it was a fact, only serving to intensify Mina’s developing blush.

I need to get out of here, Mina realized, partially because she actually had to get to her first class, but mostly because of how incredibly flustered she felt in that moment. “Well, I’ll, um, see you two around I guess,” she said quietly, barely waiting for a response before she her heel and high-tailed it out of there.

“Thanks again!” was the last thing she heard as she whipped around the corner, trying to suppress the smile that threatened to tug at her lips.

———

Momo couldn’t believe that a girl with such a tiny, soft voice could be so… tough? She had to admit that just looking at the new Ravenclaw, you could guess she came from a wealthy family— her perfect posture, the air of elegance that seemed to surround her. Her voice, too, was quiet but polite, even as she was threatening to hex that nasty boy. It was impressive, to say the least.

Sana’s eyes were bright as she interlocked her arm with Momo’s while they traveled down the corridor. “I knew we’d like her!” she chirped enthusiastically, “Chaengie was right, she does seem really nice!”

Momo bobbed her head. “That was so cool of her. I mean, she went out of her way to help out strangers!” It wasn’t something that just anyone would do, so that display alone made Momo develop a respect for the girl.

Before Momo could stop her, Sana dove in to quickly peck her cheek, cooing, “Anyone who helps my Momoring is an instant friend!”

Momo just made a face, lifting up her free hand to rub at the spot where Sana’s lips had made contact. “Gross,” she mumbled, even as she allowed herself to be pulled into a side-hug with Sana’s hand curled around her hip. In fact, Momo couldn’t help but melt into Sana’s warm embrace— who was she kidding, she could never help herself around that girl.

“Well, it’s decided,” the blonde hummed, Momo immediately recognizing the look of intense determination in her gaze. “We have to be friends with her now! It’s like it’s destiny!”

The dramaticness of the whole thing made Momo laugh, but she couldn’t help but agree with her best friend. After their official first encounter, she had to admit that it did seem fated that Mina would be in their lives, one way or another.

—

The next time the two girls saw Mina, it was at dinner in the Great Hall. The Ravenclaw was obviously not intending on staying there for her meal, as she made a beeline for the doors as soon as her plate was secured. The two Hufflepuffs weren’t going to let her go without a valiant effort made toward friendship, though— that wasn’t their style.

“Hey,” Sana called out, trying to keep her voice light so as not to startle the other girl. Mina turned around, and Sana could clearly see a brief flash of panic in her eyes. Wearing her best, most innocently friendly smile, Sana offered, “Want to sit with Momo and I?”

Momo gestured to the empty space across from them with her fork, right next to where Mina was standing. “There’s plenty of room!”

The Ravenclaw girl was clearly hesitating, her eyes flickering back and forth like she was a cornered animal looking for an exit.

Immediately feeling guilty and not wanting to make the other girl uncomfortable, Sana added softly, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, or if you have other plans.”

Mina’s tongue poked out of the side of , drawing Sana’s attention down to the transfer student’s (very pretty) lips. “I don’t know…” the girl admitted, her voice so quiet that Sana almost had to lean in closer to hear her. “You two really seem nice, I just—“ She released a frustrated sigh, reaching a hand up to fuss with her bangs. “I don’t want you to try to be friends with me simply because you think you owe me, or something silly like that.” Mina’s gaze was now firmly fixed on the ground, seemingly embarrassed at her little confession.

Sana’s heart almost broke in that moment— the girl looked so small and sad that every instinct in Sana’s body told her Mina must be protected at all costs. Before she could respond, however, Momo beat her to it.

“Okay, that’s fine, we understand,” the girl agreed easily, not even bothering to look up from her plate. Sana’s jaw dropped, feeling a burst of annoyance— she thought her and Momo were on the same page!— but then Momo continued, “If you’d like to sit with us, though, we can get to know you better so that way we’ll want to be friends with you because we realize you’re an amazing, cool person!”

Another burst of pure adoration bloomed in Sana’s chest— she should never have doubted Momo, who truly was a softie at heart. Sana intertwined her fingers with Momo’s under the table and gave them a gentle squeeze, smiling as her best friend squeezed back.

Mina looked taken aback, to say the least. Once again Sana’s heart ached— it was almost like this girl had never been shown true, unselfish kindness before. “I- I guess that would be alright,” she eventually murmured, cautiously moving to sit across from the two Hufflepuffs.

Both Sana and Momo beamed at the girl, pleased that they had convinced her to stay. Sana was positive that with enough time, the two of them could get the shy girl out of her shell.

“Before we start on a clean slate, though,” Momo began, leaning forward across the table and her eyes alight with curiosity, “You have to teach us all those cool Japanese hexes you were talking about!”

In a matter of seconds Mina’s face and neck were flushed a deep pink. Ducking her head with a nervous little laugh, Mina shyly admitted, “Well, actually, they um— they don’t exist. I just made it up.”

There were a few beats of silence, Sana and Momo exchanging glances. Mina peeked up, looking anxious, as if she thought the two Hufflepuffs would be upset that she lied.

Instead, both girls burst out laughing almost at the same time, triggering a slow smile to appear on Mina’s lips. “That’s really impressive!” Momo exclaimed, amazed. “You must have a really quick mind, to be able to think of that right on the spot!”

Mina’s smile wavered, just for a moment— Sana almost thought she imagined it, as the Ravenclaw quietly said, “Yeah, I guess.” The blonde couldn’t help but wonder if the transfer student wasn’t telling the complete truth, but she wasn’t about to push the subject and make Mina uncomfortable.

“I can’t believe that jerk was calling us Dumb and Dumber when he didn’t even know that Japanese hexes weren’t a real thing,” Momo huffed, scooping a forkful of her dinner into .

“To be fair, we didn’t know that they weren’t a real thing, either,” Sana pointed out with a little eye roll, bumping her shoulder into her best friend’s teasingly.

Momo just gestured dismissively with her free hand. “Yeah, but, he’s a Ravenclaw, aren’t Ravenclaws supposed to be all smart and everything? They should know these sort of things.”

“You’re just playing into the stereotypes!” Sana insisted, “Ravenclaws can be dumb just like Hufflepuffs can be smart!” Wanting to include Mina in the conversation, Sana smiled and tilted her head a bit. “What do you think, Mina?”

The transfer student was quiet for a few moments, obviously considering the question carefully before she finally answered. Her voice was musically soft as she said, “Each student is assigned to a House based on certain qualities, yes? Judging by what I’ve read and heard, those qualities can be ones that the student possesses, or ones that they value, or even both. So, that being said, if you value intelligence and learning, you can be put into Ravenclaw even if you yourself aren’t the most textbook-intelligent person. I’m guessing it’s the same with the other Houses as well.”

There was another brief period of silence as the two Hufflepuffs digested what Mina had just explained to them.

“Yeah, that definitely doesn’t sound like something a Ravenclaw would say at all,” Momo deadpanned, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

Sana whined and pushed Momo again, though she couldn’t help but mirror Mina’s smile across from her. Sana had a good feeling about this, about the three of them— if there was anything she lived her life by, it was trusting her gut, and her gut was telling her right now that they would fit together perfectly.