The ominous phone call stays in the back of Asha's head like an annoying itch that persistently refuses to leave. It's off-putting - and distracting. She tries and fails to make sense of what she heard.

Which is a problem, because a restless and intrigued Asha equals a stubborn Asha. And a stubborn Asha doesn't know when it's time to quit. She gets overly focussed on one thing, and one thing only. And that is what triggers a rather aggravating side effect she had successfully avoided for many years.

But with how Hogwarts students left and right are eyening her strangely there is no doubt it made a reoccurrence. Sheesh.

She flips the ponytail over her shoulder and fingers the bubblegum pink strands, watches them turn grass green without her doing. Gallopin' gorgons, did she not miss this.

Good thing none of her old classmates are at Hogwarts or else her nickname 'Rainbow slushie' would experience a renaissance. No thanks. She's okay with water nerd, deep sea , chameleon and the like, but names like cotton candy or unicorn puke always got on her nerves. Worst of all rainbow slushie. 

Miss Asha Pleiter is a strong independent woman who needs no man - and who is not fragile by any means. She rocks things, not sugarcoats them.

Maybe she got detention a few times because of it.

But how could she not, when that head Elaiza kept nagging her about her hair changing colours whenever she got hyper focussed and lost track of everything else. Giving her a piece of mind was totally worth getting her kicked by Professor McGonagall.

Okay, deep breaths. Merlin's beard, it's not like that's difficult. One, two, three, four...

A little Gryffindor stares at her with big round eyes, mouth slowly dropping open.

...Five, six, seven...

"P-Professor Plei-daaa..."

She scowls. "What."

"Uh...," the little boy fidgets, "can you... I mean, could you maybe, I mean would it be okay...?"

"What is it?"

"CouldyouturnintoHarryStylessoIcantakeaselfieplease?"

"...Come again?"

"I, uhm. You are a metamorphmagus, right?"

Asha blinks. Then slowly tilts her head, anger evaporating. "Not quite. My granny was one. I can only change my hair colour."

Noting how bummed the little fella looks, she quickly adds, "Or my facial features, if I concentrate hard."

 "So you could turn into Harry Styles?!"

Asha shrugs. "Only the head but yeah, I guess?"

"That's so cool!"

 

She ends up doing the kid the favour of turning into that Harry Styles guy and posing for some pictures together. It takes a few tries but after a while she manages to pull off a believable expression. The boy is beyond himself and skips over the meadow to his friends, a group of kids that's standing in plain sight and giggling already. He almost gets hit by the Whomping willow but doesn't even seem to notice.

By the time Asha reaches the doors to the Great Hall, the story has already spread like wildfire and she gets swarmed by over-eager fangirls and -boys. 

It's equal parts fun and draining. If that trend still is a thing by tomorrow morning, maybe she should start taking payment for her services. Three sickles for fives snapshots - or gossip. That's a fun payment too.

What's also fun - read: not -  is how Jeongguk seems to have no problem at all to slip back into his role of a bubbly teacher in spe within minutes. When Asha enters the Great Hall, she can already see him chatting up Hagrid. Which can be either a good sign, her friend deserves all the love and attention possible - or a bad sign. Because if Hagrid gets excited, it also makes him prone to getting ideas. Ideas of the sort of illegally purchasing a dragon and hiding it in his very much flammable hut. Which is... not ideal, to say the least.

So Asha makes her way to the professors' table at the far end of the hall with quick steps, hoping to do some damage control. (Is she ignoring the Professors' entrance at the far end of the hall? Maybe. It's the vibes. Half of the Great Hall's magic comes from the wondrous feeling of walking beneath hundreds of floating candles and a seemingly endless open sky.)

By the time she reaches the table, her hair has undergone three more changes and she had to pull off a Keira Knightley face imitation. The classy brown waves fade into a rich shade of night blue as she ascends the podium and takes the other seat next to Hagrid. Jeongguk watches her with his mouth slightly agape.

"This is so cool. This will never stop being cool," he whisper-yells.

Asha gives him a tight smile and tries to tune out the several coins wandering up and down the table at her latest hair colour. A plan that goes well for exactly two seconds until Hagrid fist-pumps the air and announces with booming voice "Aye noo eht! I noo she do'aht!" only to promptly lose his sickle to Professor Trelawney who holds out a demanding hand to him. Just Hagrid's kind of luck, really. Asha shakes her head.

Once all money exchanges are complete, the conversations all around the table pick up where they left off, like lose threads of yarn laying on the floor and waiting patiently for what is to come. Like this, it only takes two sentences between Jeongguk and Hagrid to set Asha on high alert. Because, no. A Nundu is most likely not a horribly misunderstood creature that should be brought to the Hogwarts grounds! That's a very very bad idea.

"Hagrid," she says decidedly. "Remember what happened with Norbert. What did I tell you concerning Norbert? Hm?"

Hagrid pouts under his shaggy beard and kneads his giant hands but drops the topic of introducing Nundus to the school grounds. Thankfully. From behind Jeongguk, Professor Flitwick flashes Asha a subtle thumbs-up.

Phew. That was close.

With Hagrid now sulking between them, Jeongguk bombards Asha with questions about anything marine once more. She is hesitant to answer him, doesn't like to share her discoveries one bit. Revealing secrets to the species she studies feels about as wonderful as getting her teeth pulled out one by one.

And, again, she is wary of the younger. Of what that weird phone call earlier meant. Just what in Merlin's name is going on?

 

The coins in her purse clink together as she puts it away for the day while whistling the Smurfs tune. Her cat gives Asha the stink eye for her questionable music taste and waits two more extra seconds before jumping down the windowsill and demanding pats. Asha is all too willing to comply. Though she doesn't stop whistling.

Maybe she should change professions. If she keeps doing impressions of celebrities not only for the tons of students at Hogwarts but also for adults - who can afford to pay her more - it might actually be enough to pay rent and cat food.

On the other hand... is it worth the massive headache she will sport after a few full-face transformations? Nah. Even if that's something she can easily hex away, no thanks. 

Her thoughts drift off, the motion of her hand scratching behind Yuki's ears turning subconscious. What can she do about her understudy and his suspicious secret, short from tailing him all day? Maybe not much. Maybe nothing at all. But she will be damned if that does stop her.

For now she'll watch him like a hawk, and ask her friends to keep an eye on him too. Just in case. And maybe she should pay a visit to the library soon.

At one point he just has to slip up. Secret big plans never work 100% perfectly. Ever.

 

Asha is not pouting. She isn't! Of course her first visit to the library would be fruitless, you never find what you seek at the first try. Everybody knows that. So no, she is not sulking. At all. Madame Pince didn't make it any better earlier when the librarian gave her an incredulous stare, followed by a "Oh my, Miss Pleiter wants to actually read books?" Which, excuse her. Just because she's dyslexic doesn't mean she does not read. That's what anti-dyslex glasses are for, are they not? She even published a handful of books under her name by now. Maybe if Madame Pince wasn't always such an about it she would have visited the library more often back in the good old days. Just saying.

Anyway, this whole attitude is pointless because the end of the line is that she did not find a thing about Jeon Jeongguk or the Jeon family or whatever. And having internal monologues where she gives Madame Pince for that snarky comment surely won't help her case too.

Still mulling it over, she faintly hears the clock striking.

"Merlin's pants!" 

She hadn't realised it was that late already. Now she has to actually rush to be on time for her own lesson.

The voices of young students carry over once she rounds a corner and she slows down again, interest piqued as soon as she catches the word 'Snape'. Her favourite ing subject - aside from Elaiza, that , and literally every single article ever published by Rita Skeeter.

"...I mean, I know Slughorn is capable and all, but the way he kept fawning about Snape and him being the Lord halfblood or something and coming up with such amazing potions recipes and all, like, seriously? Can you not?" 

The girl who said it is gesturing animatedly where she sits with her friend and almost slaps her square in the face twice, blonde wild mane bobbing with her every movement. The other girl, a dark-skinned beauty with dozens of neatly done braids of black hair nods solemnly and is obviously trying so hard to maintain a stoic expression. Asha immediately likes the pair.

"Yeah, I know. Out of all people, why did he have to hold a lecture about him? Why not about Mr. Fleamont Potter, or Nicolas Flamel, or literally every other poitoneer?"

"I know, right?! Exactly! You get me," blonde girl exclaims and almost falls off the window sill they are both perched at.

A serious nod follows. "I do."

Asha grins and busies herself redoing the lacing of her boots but the two teens are way too much in their own bubble to even notice her.

"Like, honestly, he was just a terrible person. I know nobody dares to say it because The Harry Potter dictated to not bad-mouth him after Snape had, like, one good moment. But seriously? He was an . And I don't wanna learn potion recipes from an ."

"Pfft!" Asha can't hold back a loud snort at that. The girls both flinch and finally turn towards her, eyes of blondie going big as saucers.

"Oh, uhm, Prof-fessor, I didn't mean to, we didn't-"

"Did you two just talk about a Professor?" Asha glowers at them from beneath furrowed brows.

The girl fidgets and looks away quickly. "I, uhhh..."

"About Professor Snape?"

"Well, you see, I wouldn't say-"

Blondie wrings her hands helplessly but gets cut off by her friend who is yet to look away from Asha, her voice calm as she answers.

"Yes."

Asha keeps up the farce for about five more seconds before she breaks out into a wide grin. "C'mon guys, high-five, the both of you."

She lifts up a hand and waits for the girls to answer the gesture, one clap hesitant, the second one not at all. And because blondie still look a little out of it, Asha gives her another wide grin and ruffles her hair.

"You're good, kid," she assures and watches drop open.

Yeah, okay, maybe that was not very professor-like behaviour of her. But technically she is only a temporary professor anyway. And the whole thing feels still weird most of the time. Rather than students and her underlings she regards all those kids like younger siblings. Because, let's face it. Compared to her colleagues (Headmistress McGonagall is her colleague now! Holy dragon poop!), the between student body and her is much smaller. How old is Professor Bins again? A few centuries? Hello? Point taken and case closed.

A quick glance at the loose red and golden ties around the girls' necks confirms her suspicions. She still doesn't know if it has any effect whatsoever when she is the one saying it but just for s, Asha proudly announces "Ten points to Gryffindor".

And then breaks into a sprint as she remembers just how late she is.

 

"Okay guys, let's go over it one more time." Asha is perched on the teacher's desk with her feet just slightly lifting off the ground. Her favourite teaching position. "When you see a Lobalug...?"

"Ebulio jinx," Peter blurts out immediately, his freckled hand not even fully extended yet.

If Asha was an teacher she would comment on how that is not a complete sentence. But she is a cool teacher so she lets it slide and nods.

"Good. And the ebulio jinx does what again?"

Peter doesn't even bother to lower his hand before excitedly declaring, "It traps someone in a big bubble that can't be popped!"

Another nod. "Very good. We will practise that one at the lake tomorrow, just like the other spells. And no, I don't care if it'll be ty weather so don't even think of complaining. This is your life-saving training in everything water, wear a cape, cast a spell or pray. What else?" 

"Fianto duri!"

"Someone who is not Peter, maybe?"

Rachelyn - a name Asha only memorised because it starts with 'R' and the Ravenclaw girl keeps mouthing off - raises her hand. Asha gestures towards her, intrigued how it will go this time. Things can go both ways with Rachelyn but it certainly doesn't get dull with her. To be honest, Asha is growing quite fond of the discussions they sometimes have.

"The imperturbable charm. It creates an invisible barrier," the girl adds before Asha can ask.

"Okay, right. Do you all still know the movement?"

Her students nod, albeit some of them a tad too hesitant for her liking. So she has all of them draw the swirl in the air three times.

"Good." She claps her hands. "But you are forgetting a very easy yet no less powerful one, everybody." Asha turns to her understudy who has been silently watching from his chair in the corner most of the time. "Mister Jeon, any idea what spell I'm talking about?"

She's kept an eye on him the whole lesson, waiting for that dark expression to flit over his face again. Something, anything that could clue her in on how the telephone call is not something she made up in her head. But nothing. The guy is being his usual engrossed self, nothing more and nothing less. It irks her to no end.

"I'd say the shield charm, Miss Pleiter. Although I'm not quite sure how you call it."

Asha gives him a raised brow. "You don't know the shield charm?" He is, what, something over twenty? Surely this is a joke. Everybody knows the shield charm.

"Oh, I do know a shield charm," he is quick to assure, smiling bashfully. What a pretender. Asha knows that's a farce. "I'm just not familiar with yours."

And, okay. That's enough to make her curious. Maybe it's her fault but she is easy like that - someone mentions a spell or creature she doesn't know, and she wants to find out more.

Giving in way too quickly for her liking, she asks, "So how do you call it, then?"

Jeongguk gives her a cocky little grin that tells her exactly how much he is not a quiet and dutifully listening understudy.

"It's the bǎohù wǒ, of course."

Asha blinks. Yeah, of course. Because everybody knows that one. Sure.

"Right..." More than just a little puzzled, she turns back to the class. "Okay guys and how do we call the shield charm?"

At least that question gets every single one of her students to raise a hand. The word 'protego' echoes through the room and Asha turns around to Jeongguk with a smug look of her own. Why, she doesn't know.

 

"No, seriously Firenze, something is off about him," Asha insists.

It is late afternoon by now, the Highly discouraged Forest turning almost icy cold in the late hours, thick fog creeping over the ground. Asha spent most of her free time looking for her old friend. The centaurs definitely have become more elusive in the time she was gone. And even now her former Divination teacher paws at the ground, head flicking from side to side as he barely listens to what she has to say.

"I rarely leave the forest these days, young lady. He might not even come close." Firenze swishes his tail, eyes finally landing on Asha. "And I won't leave the forest for such a reason."

"You don't have to. All I want you to do is keep eyes and ears wide open in case he does enter your territory."

"Why would he come here? The Forbidden Forest is forbidden for a reason."

Asha gives him a little grin. "It's Highly Discouraged Forest now. And, that's exactly why. What better place to pick for a secret and suspicious venture, far away from anyone and everything?"

Firenze hums, gives her a jerky nod and then heads back into the depths of the forest. 

"Thank you," Asha shouts and waves after him. She gets a raised hand as answer before the centaur rears up and falls into a sudden gallop. Moments later the dark trees have devoured him.

Huh. That went better than expected. It wasn't exactly the profound chat she was hoping for, but at least Firenze agreed to her plea. So... all is good?

Next is Eroan. And she knows for a fact that the mer will be more than happy to station patrols all around the lakeside and not only keep two but a dozen eyes on Jeongguk. Now if only she could convince someone to tail her understudy within the confines of the castle... but to be very honest, in that matter she has absolutely no idea what to do. 

 

As if to confirm his shady tendencies, Jeongguk is missing during dinner. Asha is not worried he'll have to sleep with an empty stomach, she swears! Surely he will find a house elf and aks for some snacks. Right? Anyway. With the lad missing, it is Professor Flitwick who sits at her other side. Which in itself must be quite the view - half-giant Hagrid to her left, normal-sized human her in the middle and tiny as-good-as-dwarf Flitwick to her right. She definitely hears some snickers amongst the students.

But sitting between those two also means she has taken a spot between two of the most talkative professors of the school if it comes to certain topics. Which is how she ends up sitting at the table for almost two hours, chatting with Hagrid about his latest beast adoption plans and, as soon as he is occupied with eating switching back to the conversation with Flitwick and geeking out about the Weasley twins together.

You can say about the infamous troublemakers all you want, they sure had a knack for spells. Were actually brilliant with charms, even though they didn't always priorise the homeworks Flitwick gave them. However, Flitwick is a chill professor and that means, respect where respect is due. Fred and George Weasley were some of his favourite students.

"And I heard just last week that Mr. Weasley is planning to expand and open a new store of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Bulgaria," the professor squeaks excitedly.

Asha nods her head. "Yeah, seems like the business is going really well. And I guess it's not surprising he wants to gain a foothold in Bulgaria."

"Hm? How so?"

"It's one of the most well-known secrets the twins love the Bulgarian Quidditch team," she chuckles.

And is answered by a loud boyish cackle. Fred pops his head through the table and gives her a big fat grin. Keeps grinning from ear to ear and then slinks back down - right through Asha's filled plate.

"Mr. Weasley," Professor Flitwick shrieks, "it's bad manners to go through food!"

Fred just laughs, waves a hand and lets tiny fireworks go off above the professor's head. It's a strange picture, Asha thinks, the ghost fireworks that is. Achromatic and half transparent yet they still pop, sparkle and light up - somehow. Professor Flitwick rolls his eyes with the practise of someone who is used to such treatment, then stuffs a big piece of pumpkin pie in his mouth.

That up-to-no-good grin is still on his face as the ghost glances at Asha. It's all the confirmation she needs. The whole 'Bulgaria is the favourite team of the most ingenious wizarding twins' propaganda must be one big joke of the twins.

But Asha is good at making people talk. Not in the whip-and-shackles kind of way. No, her expertise is being smart about it and tricking her victims into talking. Despite her animal-related job she's always been interested in the human's psychology (funnily enough her work with animals actually helps a lot here, as she is used to reading non-verbal cues the animals and beasts give her all the time). Has taken some classes out of pure thirst for knowledge a few years back. By now she's pretty good at reading people, and some of her closest friends even call her a manipulator. (They're not wrong.)

That's also why she is so damn sure Jeongguk is hiding something big. 

So she gets to work. And if only because she sees the lie as a personal challenge.

Pretending not to further care about it, she starts chatting up Fred about the business he and his brother founded, about their most popular products. Wants him to become comfortable around her, even going as far as to write 'hot chocolate' on her menu card and offering the hot beverage to the ghost once it pops up on her place. The ghost falters for a split-second in which Asha remembers that, , ghosts usually don't consume any kind of food. But then he gets a roguish expression and the next moment the hot liquid ascends from the cup and thins out into a webbed pattern all over the teachers' table - just to splash down noisily.

Asha snickers along with the ghost. Then she gets back to idly talking with the young Weasley. She speaks with him about loosely connected topics like the Barking Broom (one of the topsellers of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes that features barking sounds of various dog breeds and a wagging tail if the broomstick gets ) and keeps controlling the conversation, slowly drawing the circles around her target tighter and tighter. And so, even the infamous Fred Weasley cracks after a few minutes.

"...I mean, don't get me wrong, Krum is great of course. But you shouldn't forget about Troy, and Lynch, and Ryan," the ghost laments, idly floating behind the table, just high up enough to reach out for any professor's hair and give little tugs here and there. "And Veelas may be wicked but I feel a lot more at home with leprechauns, you know?"

"Yeah, I wonder why," Asha mutters.

"Hm?"

"Oh, nothing."

Of course the mischievous twin would prefer the little guys who produce fake money and let it rain everywhere over pretty women. So. Not Bulgaria but Ireland, huh? Why didn't she think of it herself? 

Not much later, Jeongguk finally finds his way in the Great Hall. He is walking as fast as possible without it being called running, then flops down onto one of the many empty chairs. Most of the teachers have left already, just like the students who have long since filtered out of the hall except for a few handful.

"Good evening," Asha quips.

Her understudy doesn't even react. He is too busy scribbling various dishes at the parchment on his plate. Moments later the enchanted piece disappears and the plate starts filling with food. Jeongguk grabs the first best thing and starts to dig in as if there's no tomorrow.

Asha watches him inhale alarming amounts of food in no time, shaking her head.

"Seriously, you are like a blue whale."

"So... you think I'm deep?" Jeongguk splutters happily around a mouthful of rice.

"No," she deadpans. "Blue whales can consume in a single mouthful as many calories as a human consumes in 180 days."

"Are you calling me fat, then?!"

Asha doesn't deign to answer. Just keeps watching the guy, how he stuffs his cheeks like a chipmunk and barely chews and swallows fast enough. His brows are furrowed to two thick angry lines.

Wait.

What, why?

"Are you... angry, Mr. Jeon?"

"Huh?" Jeongguk blinks at her with big wide eyes. "No? This is really delicious!"

"...Ahh."

So that's his happy eating face.

Weird.

 

The moon stands already high on the enchanted ceiling of the hall as Jeongguk excuses himself and leaves. Asha casts a quick glance at a more than tipsy Hagrid who keeps singing the Hogwarts hymn backwards (Fred's courtesy; the ghost kept offering him shot after shot which he distractedly accepted  while talking with Jeongguk about the most uncommon pets in the wizarding world). Professor Flitwick is already pointing his wand at the gentle giant with a sigh, so she decides it'll be fine and hurries after her understudy.

Jeongguk keeps climbing up and up the floors, barely fazed by the ever-moving staircases at that point. They are exactly what makes it difficult for Asha to stay on track. But she manages, somehow - until they get past the Ravenclaw tower and she hears loud wobbly laughter. She comes to a sudden stop and listens.

"Where do vanished objects go?" The rusty voice of the door knob sounds muffled from around several corners.

"Y-your ," a student drawls, followed by several loud snickers that definitely do not belong to sober students. 

Asha turns on her heels and follows the voices to the entrance of the common room, Jeongguk and his sneaky be damned. It seems like Hagrid isn't the only one drunk tonight - and she would be a horrible professor (or human being in general) to not help a few lost students with getting back into their room.

Turns out 'a few' has an exact number and that is: seven. There is a whole lot of seven Ravenclaw idiots, probably sixth-years, laying sprawled over the floor and each other in front of the door, laughing obnoxiously. 

"Wrong," the door knob declares monotonously as the door stays shut.

One of the bunch, a buff guy with buzz cut, raises a fist at him. "Lie!," he declares, makes to get up, takes one wobbly step and falls back on his .

"Where do vanished objects go," the eagle intonates again. And despite Asha being still too far away to see it, she can hear the eye roll in that question crystal clear.

Just when a pale girl with bright red hair and flower tattoos everywhere blurts out "Merlin's string tanga" and a lad half stuck beneath her smacks her arm while complaining that no, 'between your mother's ' is the correct answer obviously, buzz cut guy spots Asha.

"Yooo, guys, it's the Skittles hair boss woman!"

Asha's brows raise to the sky. The what, now?

...What's a Skittles?

"Both are wrong," the eagle door knob then announces before she can wonder if the term Skittles is worth an in depth research.

Right. She's here to bring a bunch of chicks back into their coop. She gingerly steps around the students spilled all over the floor until she's right in front of the door.

"Good evening. Could you please repeat the question?"

The bronze eagle puffs its feathers and clacks its beak before following the request.

"Huh." Asha glances down at the giggling heap to her feet. "That's an easy one, actually. You guys really are wasted, hm?"

"Are not," a muffled voice from beneath several armpits claims. "I jus... just had one... One. One drink."

The snickers turn into full-blown laughter, one guy even snorting so hard he chokes.

"Oh yeah sure," a boy with the most wicked purple eyeshadow Asha has ever seen at Hogwarts says. "You just had one butter beer. And a Wanton Witch shot. And a whisky. And like five sips from Ludovica's Baileys bottle..."

"Ffff-for 's sake, up shut your , mother... mother ! One plus one is... is still one."

Asha listens to the whole thing, torn between crying and laughing so much it physically hurts. Before One Drink Dude can fight his way free and start throwing fists at Glamorous Guy, she leans towards the eagle and mutters, 'the Room of Requirements'. The door swings open, accompanied by a cacophony of 'Ahhs' and Ohhs'. Behind it, a few older Raveclaws are luckily still up and lounging in the common room. A girl takes one look at the chaotic heap behind Asha, face-palms and gets up.

"Thank you, professor."

It takes Asha a moment to realise the girl is talking to her. Sheesh. She will never get used to the wording.

"Ah, don't mention it. Can you handle them from here on?"

The girl nods, then calls some names over her shoulder. There are twin groans from somewhere further into the room but a few moments later, two more girls and a boy trudge towards them.

"Ugh, they are so dumb," Rachelyn huffs, then looks at Asha and gives her a lopsided grin. "Hi, Miss Pleiter."

Her friends stare at her with wide eyes. 

"Are you nuts," the boy whisper-yells, "you gotta call a professor that, 'professor'!"

"Nah."

"Shut it, Rae. Goodnight Professor Pleiter," the girl who called them over says, stressing the 'professor' with a stern look at Asha's Tweet student. And Rachelyn... actually looks down first. Huh. That's most interesting.

Asha bids her Goodnight to the group and keeps thinking about how apparently there is someone who can get that mouthy smartass to shut up while she steps past the now lightly snoring heap of students, climbs down the tower and makes her way to her own room. Only once lying in her bed with an almost violently purring Yuki on her chest does she scold herself for letting Jeongguk slip away.

 

The autumn air bites at her skin when Asha gets out of her shoes and socks, then pushes the legs of her trousers up to her knees. The obligatory professor's robe lays in the grass several steps behind her, easily forgotten.

"Peter, give me the bucket, please."

The boy eagerly hands her the old thing with enough energy to splash half of the water over Asha's lap.

"Oh crap- I mean, I'm, I... I'm so sorry professor..."

"...Thanks," she just says and grabs a hold of the bucket. It's not like she wouldn't have gotten wet in a few moments anyway. 

Peter's whole face is glowing bright red as he steps away and joins the other Tweet students in discharging his footwear. Once everyone is bare feet, Asha slowly wades into the lake's water.

"Come on guys, we don't have all day! The faster you're in the lake, the faster we can get over and done with this."

The students are reluctant to follow her - until Jeongguk all but jogs into the water with a big grin. Asha rolls her eyes. What a show-off. But a smaller part of her registers how the guy has no fear whatsoever to enter the lake - whether because he simply doesn't know what lurks inside or because he knows yet doesn't care, she can't tell. All she knows is that she always loved water. And someone who didn't hesitate to run into the sea or a lake is her new best friend by default.

She sighs. Ah, how troublesome. Here she was, determined to mistrust the guy, and now he likes water!

Following her words from earlier, the students form a lose circle around her. Some of them are already shaking and from one direction she can hear chattering teeth. Better to be quick about this.

"Okay, here we go. Ready..." She flips the bucket, dozens of tadpoles dropping into the shallow water. "Now!"

The Ebulio jinx goes off all around her. Some get it right at the first try, small bubbles with one or two tadpoles inside floating in the air. Others... are not so lucky. As expected with her exposed position, Asha herself gets caught in a bubble too. With a flick of her wand she pops the bubble and drops back on her feet. Two, no, three students got nabbed as well. She sends off a quick row of unlocking charms and tells them to continue.

It takes her reciting the spell along with the wand movement one more time but eventually, all tadpoles are caught and floating in small bubbles above the students' heads. She slowly turns on her heels to double-check if there indeed is a bubble above everyone, then declares the exercise a success and ushers them out of the water while tadpole after tadpole finds its way back into her bucket.

"Very good, everyone," she announces. "Remember to practise that spell, especially on bigger objects to get used to modifying the bubble's size. Now small break time, dry off yourself with a heating spell or towel if you brought one. Once you're all dry we start working on your water shields."

A mix of sighs, grumbles and "Yes, Professor Pleiter"s acknowledges her words.

Jeongguk is the first one to be dried up. Figures. With him being years ahead to her students and everything. He slinks towards her with a little smile.

"Your teaching is really good. You are a great professor."

Asha arches an eyebrow. "Isn't that why you wanted to become my understudy in the first place, Mr. Jeon?"

"Uh." Something in his expression shifts. It's just a small change from him making eye contact with her to looking the tiniest bit to the side while his body tenses. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's just even more impressive to actually see you in action."

Asha wills her face to give away nothing, to morph into a pleased little smile as she accepts the compliment. She knows how someone looks who prepares themself to lie straight in her face.

"You haven't nearly seen me in action yet I recon, Mr. Jeon."

The eager grin she gets in response looks so bright - and cute... no, Ash, no, nope - she wished it would be genuine. If only that young man would be here for the reason he claims to be. Time to do some prodding.

"If you are interested in teachers who have a keen understanding of all kinds of creatures and how to approach them, I imagine you might be interested to join Professor Hagrid in some of his Care of Magical Creatures classes. I doubt this school has ever seen a teacher who knows more about all kinds of creatures than him."

"Oh, I, hm. I'm sure that's true but I also admire your sometimes unconventional methods and way of thinking..." He's fiddling with his robe, still very much not meeting Asha's eyes.

She tries again. 

"Well, Professor Hagrid sure is unconventional. As is Mr. Weasley. I'm sure you would like him a lot if those are the things you value."

Jeongguk's head snaps up. "The... the ghost is a teacher?!"

Oh. Huh. She blinks. This one is on her, for not being specific.

"No but he's actually an older brother of Fred. Have you ever heard of Bill Weasley?"

Jeongguk shakes his head.

And maybe it's better like that, Asha thinks. With that mischievous gleam she caught in the younger's eyes a few times by now, who can tell what would happen if the two men were put into one room together? Surely nothing good. Who knows what they would come up with... maybe it's a good thing for world peace's sake they don't know each other.

"I can imagine you would get along quite well. He comes to Hogwarts for a few weeks every year to give Apparition lessons, as far as I know. And his methods surely are... multifarious."

What, again, for world peace, she does not tell him is how the second-eldest Weasley brother has a tendency to turn the Apparition exams into one huge game of tag where almost everything is allowed. With students zapping through the Great hall and popping up at random places everywhere. You pass once you tagged three people without getting tagged yourself in that time. It's loud, and chaotic, and absolutely exhilarating.

Jeongguk looks like he might actually consider it - except Asha doesn't believe so for even one second - and then shakes his head.

"No, I still think your lessons are by far the best."

She sighs. "All I'm saying is, that if you want to become a teacher yourself one day it doesn't hurt to watch and learn from more than just one person, Mr. Jeon."

Jeongguk just hums but doesn't comment on it further.

 

The rest of the lesson goes smooth like butter, none of her Tweet students showing any problems with the full-body shield charm - until it doesn't anymore.

Things have been going well as they walked into the lake and kept walking while the water slowly closed up around them from all sides, Asha firing off a few Lumos Multiplex while leading the group further into the depth. 

But then the first curious selkies appeared, Eroan amongst them, and the sight itself is enough for one of the girls to lose it.

Cassandra is screaming bloody murder while pointing at one of Eroans friends, voice shrill and piercing enough to rival the Fat Lady whenever she attempts to sing an opera.

The girl for sure is not one of Asha's favourite students, with how there isn't a day without her talking about how she is a direct descendant of the most powerful Egyptian wizard to ever walk on this earth (allegedly), the great Mahmoud III. himself. She is constantly looking down on others, chin held high and thickly kohl-rimmed eyes piercing. And easily vain enough to put her name in the Goblet of Fire.

Most of the time Asha is just glad the girl doesn't disrupt her lessons. This still ongoing deafening screaming fit however is very much that - a disruption. Asha huffs. She already had to add a large second shield around the whole class, in case someone freaks out and loses control of their own shield spell. Now she has to play caretaker for her. Great.

"Calm down, deep breaths, come on," she murmurs in her best attempt of a soothing voice while slowly grasping the outstretched arm and pressing it down. "Also, it's rude to point at people. But don't worry, nobody is going to kill you, the selkies here are my friends and won't harm you, I promise... now take another deep breath... just like that, good..."

Eventually the hysterical screams fade, and then stop. Asha pats Cassandra's back.

"See, nothing happened. All good? You okay? Are you done?"

And, okay. Maybe the last question came off a little snippish. It's enough for the girl to latch onto and within seconds her thrown expression turns disgruntled.

"Oh, I see how it is!" Cassandra crosses her arms and blows a black strand out of her face. "So some ugly shack gets to scream and it's all normal and just haunted, no big deal, but when I do it I'm disturbing class, huh."

Now it's Asha who has to take a deep breath. This is your student, do not roll your eyes at your student.

(She internally rolls her eyes.)

 "Whatever makes you happy." Then she turns around and raises her voice. "Anyway! I'm going to remove my shield now, are all of your shields still up? We still have a bit more to walk until we reach the outskirts of the seaweed forest, so let's get down to business."

She secretly hopes one of the kids catches on. 

She doesn't get disappointed. Indeed, a voice belonging to a scrawny Hufflepuff girl exclaims, "To defeat... the huns!"

Asha grins. And together with at least half of the class loudly sings, "DID THEY SEND ME DAUGHTERS WHEN I ASKED FOR SONS?"

She high-fives the Hufflepuff girl and grins at the kids who have taken their Disney diet seriously. "You are my kind of people. Ten points to every house!"

The selkies keep a healthy distance for the rest of the lesson after that.

 

It certainly is funny, Asha muses, how different people can react. A few students (including Jeongguk because, of course) seem hesitant to leave the lake at the end of the lesson whereas others are nothing short of sprinting towards the confines of the old castle. Asha isn't even done shouting a goodbye when they are bolting off.

Huh.

It's just a dark lake. Was their little trip really that traumatising?

Those of her Tweet students who started running just because of some murky water probably shouldn't try to enter the tournament, for their own safety. Maybe next lesson her class will have dwindled significantly. Which, if it happens, she will respect it. 

But back to some more pressing matters. During their trip into the lake, Eroan has signalled her to come over. It seemed to be rather urgent. Maybe he found out something about her understudy? With one last glance at Jeongguk's slowly retreating figure, Asha turns around and walks to a slightly more secluded area at the shore, then casts the same spell she just taught her class and re-enters the lake.

"It's good that you're here, burbuila," Eroan promptly says after their exchange of the typical selkie greeting gestures. "My friends and I are at our wit's end, and mother keeps talking about taking actions."

Asha walks faster, fitting her speed to Eroan's hurry. "Actions? Against what?"

"Against Bobby. He's getting moody."

Oh. That's. Not ideal. Bobby, the giant squid Hagrid put into the lake decades ago and who has grown a real lot since then. Him getting moody can mean a lot of things, from releasing numerous bursts of ink like there is no tomorrow to the misery of everyone else living in the lake, to experiencing bouts of rage that make it difficult for the selkies on watch duty to stop him from flinging out a tentacle and rip a tower off the Hogwarts castle.

This one is going to be tricky. Especially as squids hate to listen to the voice of reason.

"I can take a look at him and then see what can be done," she promises. "But don't get your hopes up."

Her friend smiles at her as if she just promised to single-handedly build a rocket and fly to the moon to carve a portrait of him there or something. 

"You are the best!"

 

"...So?" Eroan asks from where he was told to stay behind and not interfere. "How did it go?"

Asha, covered from head to toe in slimy ink and dripping worse than her grandma's leaky faucet, just grunts.

"That well, huh?"

"If I see that prick again in the next two days I'm gonna do something very unpleasant."

It's an empty threat and they both know it but still. She is royally pissed. A giant squid with an attitude is hecking annoying.

 

On her way back to the castle she spots a familiar figure heading to the gates from the opposite direction. At that distance she isn't sure yet but 64% guts say it's Jeongguk. And would you look at that, he's coming straight from the Highly Discouraged Forest.

She narrows her eyes. Rationally thinking, what could a marine magizoology understudy possibly want in that forest?

Strange.

Maybe Firenze knows something. Gosh, Asha prays the centaur could listen in on another dubious phone call by chance.

Just as if to confirm her hunch that he wasn't up to any good in the forest, Jeongguk tenses at her sight before he continues on his way.

Asha is still thinking up different strategies to get some information out of him by the time their paths merge and they pass the gates together. But before she can put any of those plans into action, there is the sound of numerous shoes hitting the old stone floor in a little stampede, then something barrels into her and next thing she knows, Asha harshly lands on her .

"Ouch! Great sizzling dragon bogies! What in the ever-loving ?!"

The stampede passes and gives way to a Jeongguk dramatically sprawled on the floor like a starfish.

"Ah, shibal," he mutters. Turns his head to Asha and asks over a groan, "What was that?"

Asha watches the students settle down at the end of the corridor like a flock of pigeons, various electronic devices in their hands. There is a collective sigh.

"I'd say that was the Wi-fi."

"Huh? Come again?"

"The Internet. The connections are only fixed in staff rooms, but for the general student body the signal keeps moving through the entire castle at will." She scratches her nose, then makes to get up, Jeongguk's earlier behaviour forgotten for now. "I think the introduction of Internet happened on behalf of the Weasley family. Might explain a few things."

"...I'm not sure I can follow."

Asha chuckles as she steps over to offer him a hand.

"That's okay. Just be happy you have permanent signal in your room and know it's a privilege."

"Huh."

Jeongguk accepts the offered hand with a grateful smile. Dusting off his robe, he keeps glancing at the students with their laptops and phones. Some of them have already taken such ridiculously relaxed positions it looks like they've been lounging in the corridor for hours instead of a mere minute.

"But I've never seen any sockets here, I think. How does this work?"

"This is a Wizarding school. Everyone knows the basic Repete charm here. No need for charging."

"But... doesn't the router need a steady source of energy? How does that work?"

Asha shrugs. "Magic?"

It's enough to have the younger crack a smile. "Fair enough."

And just when she thinks they are good to head into the Great Hall, Jeongguk quips, "So is that your new style, or...?"

Asha looks down at her still very much inky self and curses.

 

One hot bath, three different soap bars and various muttered spells later, she deems herself ready for the teacher's table. Lunch might not be the most visited meal of the day, seeing as how not all classes end at the same time and there is a steady trickle of students entering and leaving. But there are still a lot of eyes watching the podium. And frankly, Asha doesn't feel like explaining why she looks like a squid sneezed at her - which is pretty close to what actually happened.

So yeah, no, bath and then late lunch it is. 

Yuki definitely seconds that choice from where she's perched at the broad rim of the tub, fuzzy paws darting out relentlessly to catch floating bubbles.

With a last scratch behind her ears and a boop to the damp little nose, Asha leaves for the Great Hall. Her steps are quick and it takes her half of the way there to remember she's part of the staff now, meaning she doesn't have to worry about not getting any Yorkshire pudding. Whatever she wants will appear on her plate. Perks of being a professor.

But even with that knowledge she doesn't slow down, unconsciously keeps up the fast pace. Old habits die hard.

Lunch itself is pretty uneventful in regards of her Jeongguk investigation because one, by the time she finally arrives he is almost done eating already, and two, Professor Flitwick is talking so animatedly with him Asha honestly has no chance to steer the conversation in any useful direction.

She thinks lunch just so happens to be dull today and that's that. However. As soon as she leaves the Great Hall she's met with the sight of Jeongguk, Fred and Peeves standing in a corner and talking animatedly . And Asha might be too far off to have any clue what they are talking about but she knows impending trouble when she sees it. The two most mischievous ghosts of the whole school picking out someone to take under their wing easily qualifies to spell 'trouble' in capital letters.

She's got a very bad feeling about these three together.

 

"YOU ING IDIOT," Asha yells as she rushes forward to the middle of the Grand Staircase Tower's ground floor - right below where Jeongguk is dropping through the air at high speed.

The guy keeps shouting something that could sound like 'parkour' with some phantasy, limbs flailing while he's narrowly avoiding a set of rotating stairs.

There is no time to think, no time to be torn between looking away with eyes squeezed shut and staring at the impending doom. Jeongguk is still falling, time itself slowing down because it surely is not normal for someone to fall that long, or maybe Asha is going crazy, she doesn't know. Doesn't know anything, head empty except for a string of pleas and curse words as she fires random shield and protection spells towards Jeongguk.

Please don't die, please don't die, please don't die...

Smack!

Jeongguk collides with another set of moving stairs. There is nothing to break the harsh landing, the nasty thud deafening in the almost empty tower.

Asha's airways constrict and her vision begins to swim dangerously. Her feet are moving before she can give them the order. Up, up, up they carry her otherwise numb body and she gets reckless herself with how she lunges from one stairway to the other before they are completely aligned yet.

Don't be dead, don't be dead...

He isn't dead.

There is a lot of blood on the stone and soaking the dark robes but his chest keeps rising raggedly and a house elf is already kneeling above him. All these things are slow to register to her brain however. and so, Asha crashes to her knees, not registering the pain shooting through her legs and entire body. She scoops up the limp (and heavy! Merlin's beard, how much does that guy weigh?!) figure up and makes to apparate smack-dab in the middle of the Hospital wing. 

"Look, Miss, help is coming," the elf peeps.

Madame Pomfrey storms down the corridor at the end of the stairs. Asha has no idea how the healer got here this fast but she's immensely grateful.

As soon as Jeongguk is in experienced hands, the fog in Asha's brain clears a little. At least enough for her to acknowledge that her attempt to apparate while the general apparition ban is still active at Hogwarts would have lead to a severe case of splinching. Uh-oh.

"He's going to make it, right?"

"Of course he is. Silly boy," Madame Pomfrey tuts.

Asha could kiss her.

 

The moment Jeongguk opens his eyes, he is met with a rather unpleasant sight.

Asha knows, for she is doing her very best to give him a scorching glower - and she knows for a fact that her death glares are very effective.

"Uh, hi?" he croaks.

"Once you're properly recovered you are so dead."

"Wh-"

"Don't. Ever. Pull such a stunt," Asha warns with a jab of her finger to his heavily bandaged chest.

She doesn't get much further because then the door to the hospital wing bursts open and in marches a man with bleached and rainbow-coloured hair, heels clacking loudly on the stone. He looks like he could hail from the same country as her understudy but Asha doesn't want to be rash. The suit-clad figure - it's an expensive fit, one of the kind where Asha automatically wonders if she should know that person, if he's a public figure or something - makes a beeline for Jeongguk's bed.

Jeongguk's eyes go even wider than they have been before and he opens his mouth. But before he can say something, the newcomer cuts him off and starts talking agitatedly, hands flying in every direction and occasionally pointing at the patient in an accusing manner. Asha doesn't understand a single word but she can guess the stranger is a friend or at least acquaintance of Jeongguk, and he's picking right up where she left.

One word in particular keeps reappearing, something that sounds like 'pabo'. Asha secretly hopes it means idiot. Someone has to tell that guy how much of a he is.

It takes a while for the guest to calm down but eventually he does and turns towards her with the most innocent smile - as if he didn't give Jeongguk hell just moments before.

"Hi, sorry for barging in like this. I'm Park Jimin, a friend of Jeonggukkie. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Pleiter," he says and then bows deeply.

Asha gapes.

"I, uh. What?"

Park Jimin - why does that name sound familiar - gives her a perfect toothpaste ad smile, eyes turning into little crescents. "Our school got a message that this dip-" he juts a thumb at Jeongguk who protests with a weak 'hey'- "almost got himself killed with a severe case of stupidity. So I came here via floo network to try and kick some sense into him."

Asha feels like she's missing some big fat between-the-lines text but she nods. "I see."

And then they continue to roast Jeongguk together, until he caves and mumbles something about 'figuring out those stairs is for the weak'. 

Both Jimin and Asha give him a smack to the head.

 

Much later, after Asha and Jimin have given Jeongguk a lot more and the both of them quickly becoming friends in the process, and after Jimin got properly settled in for the night in a guest room (Asha didn't even know Hogwarts had guest rooms), she heads over to the Highly Discouraged Forest herself.

As per usual it takes some time for Firenze to come after her calls went out. So for a few minutes she just stands there, looks around and tries her very best not to think of the giant spiders still living in the forest. She's not all that big on spiders.

The centaur arrives with a disappointment in tow. No, he did not hear anything Jeongguk said, didn't see anything he did. In fact, Jeongguk hasn't been here at all.

"But," Asha tries to align her memories, wonders if she got hit on the head at some point and now is imagining things, "but I saw him! He came straight out of the forest, right over there." She points somewhere to her side.

Firenze shakes his head. "I've kept an eye on the outskirts of the forest all day. Nobody entered the, aside from you."

"...This doesn't make sense at all."

How did Jeongguk manage to escape the centaur's keen eyes? What is he trying so hard to hide?

With an ugly sense of defeat coiling in her guts, Asha thanks Firenze and goes back to the castle.

Maybe that charming friend of Jeongguk knows more. She's got lots of questions for Jimin.

 

So maybe her plan to get answers is backfiring. Royally. 

On a whim Asha decided it might be helpful to get Jimin drunk so she sneaked down to Hogsmeade and wangled some Firewhiskey together with a few other beverages off Madame Rosmerta.

The problem isn't that Jimin does not drink per principle. Or that he simply doesn't get drunk. Or refused to drink right now.

No, the problem is that he didn't want to leave his buddy Jeongguk alone. Which lead to their current situation, Jimin babbling about embarrassing childhood memories without taking a breath while the very much sober Jeongguk watches him like a hawk, ready to interfere as soon as one wrong word slips past his lips.

In other words, that particular interrogation is not working at all in Asha's favour.

"And... y'know, some... some people are college," hickup, "college smart but daily life dumb, right?"

Asha nods begrudgingly. And faintly wonders where in her life she went wrong for now being stuck with drunk Park Jimin who has been talking nonsense for the past three and a half hours straight, switching languages every few sentence so she has not the closest chance to get the bigger picture of this monologue. Ever. Not that it matters, with how often Jeongguk has already interrupted his friend before he could talk about anything that happened less than ten years ago.

 This was not the plan. This is the complete opposite of her plan. 

"Anyway, I'm like... like, hajima, jugellae because I mean." Jimin hickups and points at Jeongguk, "I mean, geuneun baboibnida, seriously. But then he just goes wae and then... then jumps anyway. And, like. I told him, I, I told him it's a terrible idea, there were tons of grindylows in the lake but he didn't care, and hasn't cared ever since. I mean look, he's here now, and all just because-"

"Jimin-ssi, I really think you should go to bed soon," Jeongguk gripes.

Oh, for crying out loud!

Just when Asha leaned closer because things were getting interested. She has the faint urge to punch a wall into smithereens.

Jimin makes to blubber a reply that may or may not reveal at least the tiniest bit, when Jeongguk adds,

"You'll need all the sleep you can get, given your height and all..."

And oh, Jimin explodes.

Asha slinks away, leaving it to Madame Pomfrey to get the newcomer off her patient as Jimin keeps yelling how he is 'almost the same height as you, you absolute nugget' while his tiny fists rain on the bandaged body. It's time to admit defeat for the moment. Feels awful. Almost as bad as getting gallons of ink spit at her.

 

The next day is a day off for Asha. Which is great for two reasons: one, she gets to sleep in however long she wants. Two, she can avoid the probably fully-healed Jeongguk and the massive headache their next encounter will be. Oh, and she can make good of her promise to Eroan about calming down Bobby.

...That's three things. Whatever.

The fish in her bucket are still alive when she throws them into the sea. Asha feels bad for them, but they happen to be the giant squid's favourite snack. And thus the easiest way to catch its interest. So she stays put in her little nook, the rocks giving her protection from the faint drizzle that has been going down all morning, and reaches back into the bucket.

"One for you..."

Splash.

"One for me."

Splash.

"One for you..."

Agitated voices are approaching from the castle's direction. Asha freezes. Strains her ears over the intensifying rain as steps come closer and she can manage to make out some words.

"No, I'll not 'come on', pabo!"

It takes Asha a solid two minutes to figure out the voice belongs to Jimin. He sounds a lot more sober and less agitated today. That is to say, very different. It's the kind of voice that makes Asha see why he is wearing a tailored suit - and owning the look.

The - model? Lawyer? Honestly, what is he? - switches to talking in what must be Korean, in a much faster and more hushed way. Even if Asha understood the language she wouldn't be able to listen in with how quiet their voices have gone, Jeongguk whispering back with equal stealth as they walk past their spot.

Just when they are almost out of hearing range, Jimin switches back to English in the middle of a sentence. It must be his thing, switching language like switching lanes whenever he gets excited.

"...no I do not understand. I keep telling you it's a terrible idea. You are being a lying piece of is what you are. She doesn't deserve..."

The rest gets swallowed by the next corner they round.

Asha doesn't move for a very long time.