When they arrived at the Gryffindor dorms after dinner, the place had turned into a mini nightclub with loud music and snacks prepared by the house elves. Jihyun glanced at the nicely decorated place filled with people that she hadn’t seen before, and opted to stick close to Taehyung and Jin as she held onto them.

As the night advanced, the group started dispersing themselves. Taehyung , being the social butterfly, had gone to talk to a few friends, and Jin talked to some of the seventh-years that she didn’t really know. Jungkook, Jimin, Mina, Yoona, Hoseok and Yoongi were dancing to a random song on the dancefloor, while Namjoon was curled up with a book at one of the study tables. She found it amazing how he could concentrate with all the noise around him, but decided not to probe as she stood beside him calmly, watching the chaotic room unfold.

Deciding that parties weren’t her thing, she took her drink and decided to go to her favourite place in Hogwarts - the Astronomy Tower. It was the tallest tower in Hogwarts, and it was usually out of bounds after classes. But Jihyun had discovered that the place was perfect to reside in when she was doing her prefect duties one day as she strolled down the hallways, and she had been going there ever since, whenever she felt as if she wanted some time to herself.

The Astronomy Tower always gave her a sense of comfort. It had the perfect view of the dark night sky and the stars, and she had always felt as if her problems were so insignificant every time she was there. It made her feel better, and another reason was because it felt like her grandmother was one of the stars there, watching over her all the time.

As she stood on the balcony ledge and sipped the punch that she had smuggled out of the party, the tranquility of the night brought peace to her confused mind.

She still hadn’t figured out why there was such a distasteful feeling in her when she witnessed Jungkook and Ahreum hugging. Maybe she was just being a protective friend because she knew what kind of person Ahreum was - but that couldn’t be it, her friendship with Jungkook was just starting to get better, he couldn’t be that important to her, much less for her to be protective, right?

She looked out into the black murky waters in the Great Lake as she immersed herself in her thoughts, to the point where she hadn’t noticed that the doors to the room had creaked open.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she jumped in surprise and spilled her punch as she looked up to see a familiar person with an amused expression.

“What the , Jeon! You scared the out of me!” Jihyun shrieked as she cast a cleaning spell and cleaned up the mess on her clothes and floor. The stain had thankfully disappeared immediately.

“The opening of the door was so loud, not my fault you didn’t notice it.” Jungkook shrugged as he took a swig of his drink and stared out into the night sky.

“What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same.” He turned to her and relaxed his shoulders against the cement barrier on the balcony.

“I thought only I knew of this place.” Jihyun said and Jungkook let out a small chuckle, “You think too highly of yourself, Kim.”

“I found this place in my second-year when I was heading back to the dorms. I come here sometimes to think when I need to.” Jungkook said, and Jihyun couldn’t help but think that they were pretty similar after all.

“That makes two of us.” Jihyun breathed, feeling her thoughts start to slow down as his presence brought a certain sense of comfort to her. She had wanted to be alone, but Jungkook’s presence made her feel less lonely under the blanket of night sky.

“Shouldn’t you be celebrating instead? You’re the man of the hour today.” Jihyun asked curiously, and Jungkook looked indifferent. “It’s only the semi-finals, I just did what I had to.”

Jihyun hummed in response as silence enveloped them. She ignored the nagging feeling in her to ask what had happened on the field - she didn’t want to seem like she was probing.

“Ahreum kissed me today.” Jungkook broke the silence all of a sudden, and Jihyun was surprised that he had revealed it. He observed her expression, and she turned to him with a knowing look.

“I saw it.” She said honestly, and Jungkook looked taken aback before composing himself again.

“So you guys are back together?” Jihyun asked and Jungkook shook his head, “No, but she asked me to.”

“She did?” She asked in surprise while he nodded. “Yeah, she told me that she broke it off with Sungmin and all that.”

“You’re going to take her back?” Jihyun asked, dreading his answer as he simply shrugged, “I don’t know.”

“Men are too confusing.” Jihyun said as she rolled her eyes and stared out afar, and she could spot the smoke coming out of the chimney in Hagrid’s hut.

Jungkook laughed softly to himself at Jihyun’s straightforwardness, strangely amazed at the fact that he was opening up to her so casually when he had trouble doing so over the years. He didn’t seem to hate spending time with her lately, and even though the competition between them was still strong, the tension wasn’t as high as before.

“I don’t like who I become when I’m with her.” He confessed, and Jihyun turned to see a guilty expression on his face. “We don’t like that Jungkook either.” She said with a sigh as she thought about the number of times she had seen her friends’ disappointed faces when Jungkook blew them off for Ahreum.

“You just called me Jungkook for the first time in six years.” Jungkook chuckled with raised eyebrows, and Jihyun merely laughed. “Well, we’re talking nicely for the first time in six years, so that calls for a change, isn’t it?” Jihyun mused.

“I’d like that.” Jungkook said as the atmosphere lightened slightly and the duo smiled.

“They were really pissed, you know?”

“Yeah, they chided me for that after I got better.” He thought about the elders’ words, telling him off for missing all their meetups the entire six months that Jungkook and Ahreum were together. The boy had essentially gone missing in action, and the only time anyone could find him was when he was with Ahreum.

“I think you know what to do, you just can’t let it go.” Jihyun said and Jungkook shrugged, “Well, Ahreum and I had similar histories.”

“I don’t want to reveal much, but Ahreum didn’t come from a particularly loving family either. I saw a piece of myself in her, and I kind of know how she feels from the lack of love. I think we can help each other feel loved again.”

“Jungkook, there’s many kinds of love in this world.” Jihyun said as she stared into his brown orbs, “Just because your parents don’t love you doesn’t mean that you’re not loved.”

“Of course you would talk like that, you don’t understand because you didn’t come from a broken family like mine and Ahreum.” Jungkook retorted, and Jihyun fell silent.

Was it hurt? Was it disappointment? It could be a mixture of both.

“What about us?” Jihyun asked as she looked up at Jungkook, who continued looking at her with a perplexed expression. “Don’t the seven of us mean something to you? We’re a family, aren’t we?”

Jungkook fell silent, and Jihyun could tell that he was thinking hard.

“There’s people who love you, Jungkook. You don’t need to seek love and approval from others when these people are just right beside you.” Jihyun said sincerely, and Jungkook merely nodded slightly as he took in Jihyun’s words.

“Think about it.” Jihyun said with a small smile before leaving the room. Jungkook continued staring at her back view before she ascended the stairs, into the hallway which he came from.

--

The final quidditch match of the semester had arrived quickly, with Ravenclaw beating Hufflepuff and advancing to the finals to play against Gryffindor.

Yoongi had easily gotten the golden snitch against Hufflepuff’s new seeker, Lee Jonghyun. Jonghyun might have been one of the fastest fourth year seeker, but Yoongi was even faster as he captured the snitch in the nick of time, defeating Hufflepuff at a score of 180-30.

After the encounter between Jihyun and Jungkook, the two hadn’t had much time to bicker as they had both been caught up with quidditch practice. Jihyun wasn’t sure Jungkook had taken her advice, because she had caught glimpses of the brown-haired boy with Ahreum when they walked to their next class together.

The pit of uneasiness settled in her stomach again, and she didn’t like it very much.