Well, Chaewon doesn’t really expect that Chaeyeon’s grumpy little sister will accept her half-assed date invitation, but she did. Which is quite an incident, but at least she doesn’t need to go to the Ball with her sister.

Speaking of her sister, Minjoo is probably having the time of her life playing Quidditch with her friends. Chaewon remembers that Minjoo has sworn on her pink hair to not attend the Ball if Yujin won’t go with her, after all. And knowing that Yujin is still mindful of her recently-healed cursed legs, it’s a given that Minjoo isn’t going to sacrifice both her pink hair and her relationship with Yujin over some annual event, even if Yujin has already allowed Minjoo to go if her date is going to be her own sister.

Who is she kidding, there is no way Minjoo would put Chaewon above her pink hair.

The older of the Kim siblings leans against the brick wall as she exhales a sigh. Because of Hyewon’s insistence, she is forced to arrive earlier than their scheduled time. The older Slytherin said that it was better for her to arrive early as Hitomi is known as someone who is very, very punctual with time.

But still, a Slytherin waiting in front of the Badgers’ nest... looking very red-faced and anxious...

“Chaewon, you’re early.”

Wow, Hyewon was right.

“You look beautiful,” the sentence rolls out from Chaewon’s tongue with practiced ease. Chaewon adds a winning smile as she assesses her date from top to bottom, suddenly feeling very lucky that Hitomi is wearing a dress that coincidentally matches her dress robe. “I won’t be surprised if you catch some attention by how beautiful you are, Hitoma.”

The Hufflepuff doesn’t look impressed by her compliment. “It’s Hitomi, Chaewon.” She smirks. “I guess that all those practices you do in front of the mirror just can’t prepare you for that.”

“W-Well,” Chaewon sputters out, flustered by the comeback. “It’s cuter that way...?”

“Sure,” Hitomi smirks slowly turns into that of a teasing smile. “You’re adorable, Chaewon. Even if your method of showing that part of yours isn’t exactly adorable.”

“Is that a compliment?” Chaewon dazedly queries as she offers her hand to her. It hasn’t been five minutes and her brain is already fried by less than ten sentences coming out from Hitomi’s snarky mouth.

The hum coming from Hitomi doesn't sound convincing. “Perhaps,” she says with a brief chortle. She drawls on her words, seemingly relishing in the way the older knits her eyebrows together, clearly uncomfortable. “As adorable as you are daily, Chaewon, you look quite dashing today.”