CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

War had been officially declared, according to the latest issue of that morning's Daily Prophet. Of course, such an intense announcement brought about waves of unease and anxiety among the public. The Ministry had tried to played it down, reassured everyone that they were going to finish him off before any major damage has been done but Jisoo knows better. 

Bona had told her that everyone in the Ministry was terrified, especially the Aurors. This is what they've spent their whole life training for, but there is still fear lingering behind their tough armor at the notion of impending doom. 

Both the girls didn't much about You-Know-Who because they had just been born during his first rise to power, and the remnants of him were very little during their days in Hogwarts. The professors were still touchy about the subject, as they were once gallant warriors who fought alongside their comrades during the first wizarding war, so not much of it had been discussed during formal class lectures.

Perhaps, because everyone wanted to forget. 

But the students still talked, and apparently, the war had been a huge massacre that nearly wiped out half of the population. But his defeat eventually came eighteen months later, when a secret group of elite Aurors had cornered him and presumably killed him. It had been long thought that he was dead, but that hadn't been the case at all.

Because now, he's back and he's more powerful than ever. 

"Oh, Jisoo! It's so sad you have to cancel your wedding because of this damn war." Jisoo had told Bona about Taehyung's proposal right away after she told her parents during their visit yesterday. Her parents still believed that she and Bona are bunking together, but perhaps when Taehyung and Jisoo finally tie the knot, they'll allow her to live with him (as if she hadn't been doing that these past several months already). 

Jisoo shoves Bona playfully. "There's a whole war going on and you're more concerned about my wedding?" They had to postpone it of course, given everything that was happening right now. "These are dark times, even the goblins at Gringotts are scared. They say Death Eaters live among us still." 

The goblins had been neutral last war, siding neither with the Dark Lord nor the Ministry. They didn't intervene because it hadn't been their fight. She wishes they'd do the same this time, even when they were afraid of the Death Eaters and their master. 

Bona sighs loudly. They were in her room in the shared apartment the Ministry housed their Aurors in. She lived with two other Aurors as well, the three of them a team and were on-call anytime. Right now, the two other female Aurors were in their respective rooms and Bona had enchanter her room to be soundproof. 

"It's a bad time to be a wizard, especially a muggle born, Jisoo." She said solemnly. "He's targeting folks like us, I would advise you to quit your job."

Jisoo frowned at that. Although she wasn't quite enjoying her job these days, and it's not like she needed the money that much because... well, Bon had been right as much as Jisoo was ashamed to say it out loud: Taehyung was rich. He was loaded with galleons, sickles, and knuts that seemed to flow out endlessly from his pockets. She always gave him a portion of her salary so she could contribute to the bills and to the groceries, but Taehyung almost always shook his head and pushed the handful of money back to her. 

"You can join the Aurors." Bona's words tore Jisoo out of her thoughts.

She looked at her friend incredulously. "What? Are you trying to recruit me?" 

"Maybe," Bona smirked as she leaned forward. "But you're wasting your talents sitting in that bank all day, and I think you're better off doing something more... proactive."

Jisoo couldn't believe what she was saying. She reeled herself back from her initial shock and looked at Bona with furrowed eyebrows. "Are you seriously trying to recruit me?" 

"I'm just saying —"

"Bona, you think it would be safe for us muggle borns to be on the frontlines?! That's suicide." Jisoo didn't know what was running through Bona's head. If anything, she should have been the one telling her friend to quit her job as an Auror and not the other way around. "Weren't you just telling me how it's a bad time to be a muggle born? And now you're recruiting me to be an Auror!" Jisoo wondered if she had to check in her friend at St. Mungo's. The things this girl was saying....  

Bona leaned closer towards Jisoo with a hard stare. "I'm just saying it's better than going into hiding because that is what he would want. We can't let fear overcomes us, we can't let them win, and we can't be cowards. He's starting this whole war because he wants to 'cleanse' the wizarding bloodline and get rid of all muggle borns, he wants to exterminate us like we're some pests. I can't let him do that to us and everyone else. I'll stand in his way for as long as I can."

Jisoo felt her features soften at the show of bravery Bona had just done. All that training and work of being an Auror has changed her friend, she matured for the better and developed a harder exterior. She was still the same care-free and playful Bona she knew from Hogwarts, but she was also someone else entirely but in a good way. In the best way possible. 

"Also," Bona sighed. "I can't seem to shake off the feeling that I want to protect you." Her voice was now laced with worry as she looked at Jisoo with concern written all over her face. "We've been friends since we were children, Jisoo. You're my only friend in this hectic world because you understand me the most, and what it's like to be muggle born. We have to stick together, look out for each other, you know? It would ease my worry each day knowing you were right beside me during work." 

Bona's words sounded so familiar even though Jisoo was hearing them for the first time just right now. But then she realizes why when a faint memory resurfaced from the depths of her mind and she remembers Yuta had once told her the same thing: that muggle borns had to look out for each other. She hasn't seem him since their graduation but she knew that Yuta was also an Auror, perhaps he was even living in another apartment building like the one Bona and her team resided in. 

"Me too, Bona. It's..." Jisoo paused, trying to find the right words to say. "It's difficult for me to imagine you risking your life out there this soon. You've just finished training and they've already dispatched you. Aren't you scared like the rest of them?" Jisoo grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it tight.

Bona squeezed back, a small smile playing on her lips. "Not at all. This is what I wanted. I'm doing a good thing." She says more to herself than to Jisoo. 

But Jisoo admires her bravery and courage, and thought maybe she could use some of that herself. 

When the news of the death of two wizards a few towns away reached Taehyung, he blocked the door the next morning with a charm so Jisoo couldn't go out. "It's not safe for you anymore out there, Jisoo." For the past twenty minutes, he had been trying to convince her to quit her job but he was a lot more whiny about it in comparison to Bona.

Jisoo easily countered his charm and wrestled out of his grasp to get to work that morning.

He looked like he could cry in relief when Jisoo walked in the door eight hours later as she returned home.

Taehyung immediately closed the door behind her and locked it before giving her a bone-crushing hug that she could feel all the way down her toes.

Jisoo tapped his side with her trapped arms. She wheezed, "I'm fine, Taehyung." 

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