“Have you seen, I think there’s a new girl.” 

Taeyeon doesn’t lift her head up from her task. The morning’s harsh sunlight pierced through the gap she had left in the curtains and brightened the room so that Taeyeon could pack and ready herself for the school day. What she didn’t need peering through her door, or rather pushing it and barging in without even a greeting, was Tiffany. Sunny once compared this to the sun rising above the horizon, and Taeyeon begrudgingly agreed because it certainly gave her no other choice but to wake up. 

“There was someone sitting at breakfast in the Slytherin robes, a new face, and they were chatting to Yuri, so she must be in our year,” Tiffany continues despite Taeyeon’s lack of response. “They don’t look alike, so they’re unlikely to be sisters, but she’s pretty good-looking.” 

Taeyeon slides her Potions assignment into her satchel, tucking the parchment neatly in the back compartment as she recalls Tiffany’s fleeting crush on Yuri when a couple of months after she transferred which she adamantly insists it was a ‘temporary shock at how attractive she was after puberty finally hit her’. Still, whoever this was, they must’ve been eye-catching for Tiffany to say that even as they were sitting next to Yuri. 

“But who in their right mind transfers into Hogwarts in the middle of the school year, in our last year too? I mean, is it even worth it? And there wasn’t even an introduction or anything so something’s fishy.” 

Tiffany had taken it upon herself to lay on Taeyeon’s just-made bed, sprawling her arms and dark hair over the blankets, lipstick-tinted lips pursed in thought. 

“Have you ever considered becoming an Auror?” Taeyeon says, commenting on the detective work in response to Tiffany’s gaze falling on her as an invitation for her opinion. 

“You’re no help, TaeTae,” she sighs, sitting upright. “Don’t you want to see? Aren’t you at all curious? If we go now we might still catch them.” 

Taeyeon could care less. Minisculely. But she could. So she shakes her head in resignation, picks up her satchel and already Tiffany is beaming at her as she leads the two out. She finds herself being pulled at an almost nauseating pace because ‘quick! Or else they’ll be gone!’. The common room blurs past her, she vaguely remembers nodding her head downwards at a couple of other Slytherins in the area, and she finds herself out of breath as they climb the stairs before reaching the Great Hall. 

They push open the door and are greeted by a small crowd of fellow students, mostly finishing up their meals and heading out back to their dorms.  Taeyeon starts to regret her decision even further as Tiffany continues to drag her to one of the tables near the end, stumbling over her own feet whereas Tiffany doesn’t hesitate to march on. 

“Shucks, we’re too late!” 

“Oh what a bummer,” comes Taeyeon’s response as she collects herself. 

A slap comes to her arm’s way, and Taeyeon grimaces at the sting it has left. 

“We probably would’ve made it we were faster,” Tiffany laments, shoulders slouching in disappointment. 

It’s Taeyeon’s turn this time, to grab a hold of Tiffany’s hand and lead her out of the Great hall. 

“If she’s Yuri’s friend then you can ask about her later. S