The Great Hall glittered in the darkening dusk, thousands of candles casting their flickering light across the room and enveloping the students in a false sensation of warmth, despite the knowledge that the interior of the castle was far cooler than the outside on that late summer evening.

Joohyun sat by Yerim’s side at the long Slytherin table. She could almost feel the intensity of the younger girl’s grin, well aware of the boost in status that simply sitting next to a seventh-year student would afford her, let alone when that student was Bae Joohyun and they actually engaged in easy conversation.

The talking would have to wait for later, though, because the large room was engulfed by deep, almost sepulchral silence, and Joohyun felt like the slightest whisper would echo across those stone walls and reach every corner of the hall. It was always like this during the Sorting, a hush of excitement and anticipation that seemed to the first-years like nerve-wrecking judgment, all eyes on them as their fate was decided.

It was always a bit painful to watch, in Joohyun’s opinion. Little children looking half-frightened out of their minds, watching that tiny rickety stool as every limb trembled. The Hat’s song began, breaking through the quiet strangely, and seemed to drag on for an eternity as she studied the new students, careful not to make eye contact for too long and scare them further.

The Muggle-borns were always particularly easy to spot. They were the ones who didn’t just study the talking hat with wary eyes, but rather let their gaze sweep through the entire hall, everything inspiring them with equal measures awe and fear. The floating candles, the shimmering house banners, even the Headmistress in her brightly-coloured robes, which formed an interesting but unexpected contrast to the dark clothes of the student body, was enough to have them swallowing drily.

The meandering song finally came to an end and Joohyun let out some of her tension with a small sigh. It would be easier once the first student was sorted and the usual eruption of cheers cut through the unnerving atmosphere filling the hall. A name was called out and she watched a short, stocky boy slowly walk along the corridor between tables and settle down on the unstable stool, the old hat slipping all the way down to his nose.

“Gryffindor!” the Sorting Hat called out after a few seconds. The boy pulled it off, exposing his reddening cheeks, and dropped it ineptly on the seat before hurrying to his table, where a crowd of older students clapped him on the back as they cheered loudly.

A low rumble rose from the other tables, the usual half-hearted complaints at the loss of a potential housemate, but Joohyun didn’t bother joining in. A discreet smile lined her lips as she saw a few of the first-years lose their frowns, small fists unclenching and furrowed brows loosening as their young faces brightened, at least a bit.

The next student was a Slytherin, and Joohyun hurried to join in on the celebrations, aiming a reassuring smile at the small girl heading in their direction and nodding in approval as a few of the third-years squeezed together to let her sit by their side. She was still studying the new addition to her House, trying to catch the conversation between the girl and the older students who had welcomed her, when the next House was called out.

“Hufflepuff!”

The sudden cry startled her and she rolled her eyes as Yerim giggled at her poorly-concealed surprise, the only one who dared to laugh at Joohyun. The new Hufflepuff was a skinny boy, a bit tall for his age and with thick curly hair. Joohyun’s gaze followed him all the way to his table and she couldn’t help a smile as she saw Seulgi waving wildly, almost standing up in her eagerness to beckon him over to her side.

She had the same reaction every year, never mind that the older she got, the scarier she must seem to the young ones. Then again, Joohyun found it hard to see anything to be afraid of in the enthusiastically flailing girl, who seemed one poorly-aimed wave away from smacking someone on the head. At these moments, Joohyun truly wondered how Seulgi could manage such lack of coordination while being the star Quidditch player of the entire school.

While Joohyun pondered the mystery that was her best friend, she was startled once again as Seulgi really did smack the person sitting next to her. She turned over to apologize, rubbing her victim’s shoulder soothingly, and Joohyun followed the action with concern until she noticed who it was. Seungwan.

“Gryffindor!” the Sorting Hat declared with pomp, distracting Joohyun momentarily as a new wave of grumbling rose from her fellow Slytherins.

To be honest, the spirit of House rivalry had been hard to keep up once sixth year had come around and they had all started taking their NEWT classes together, and now that she was on her last year, Joohyun really didn’t care which students ended up where. Still, it was Gryffindor, so she mustered up a response to Yerim’s disapproving comments, nodding gravely along as she watched the newly-sorted student walk over to her assigned table.

Her attention was quickly elsewhere, her eyes drawn back to the scene she’d abandoned. Seulgi still rubbed Seungwan’s shoulder as her friend patted her hand and said something, probably along the lines of ‘Don’t worry about me, I’m fine, everything is fine, and it was actually my fault for putting my shoulder where your hand could reach it.’

Joohyun barely had the time to sigh away her irritation before another student was sorted into Slytherin and she had to get up and clap. This time, she didn’t even glance at the new student, attention still on the two girls across the hall from her. Seungwan smiled brightly at Seulgi, who had given up on rubbing the offense away and now laughed self-consciously, probably at her own clumsiness.

True to their nature, about half of the Hufflepuffs barely muttered as students were sorted into other Houses, even Slytherin. As the students at Joohyun’s table cheered loudly for their new housemate, the ones across the hall talked amongst themselves or simply kept quiet.

Still, it was a bit excessive to clap for another House, wasn’t it? Not even Seulgi did it, and yet there was Seungwan clapping away with that stupid smile on her face. Always smiling. Like the littlest thing made her happy.

Yerim poked Joohyun on the side just in time for the next student to be sorted and for her to jump in her seat as the Hat loudly called out, “Ravenclaw!” She turned to her younger friend with an eyeroll, fully prepared for some teasing comment.

“What are you staring at?” Yerim asked with a look of innocence that was very hard to believe.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly, too quickly to be believable. “Seulgi,” she added as an afterthought.

“Is that why you were scowling?” Joohyun pressed her lips together, forcing back a sigh. “I think you were staring at Seungwan.”

This time, she really did sigh. “Please don’t start with your conspiracy theories,” she said simply, fingers beginning to tap on the surface of the empty table. How much longer until the Sorting would be done and they could get their dinner?

“It’s not a conspiracy theory, everybody knows you hate Seungwan.”

“I do not hate Seungwan. And why is everybody talking about me, anyway?”

“She’s Head Girl for Hufflepuff this year,” Yerim carried on, completely ignoring Joohyun’s question. “She really does it all,” she added with dramatic emphasis, then paused to stare pointedly at Joohyun.

“What about it? Good for her.”

The group of unsorted students grew smaller, but not quickly enough for Joohyun’s taste. She wasn’t even hungry anymore, she just wanted to escape the conversation before it drew any more attention.

“How many NEWTs is she even taking?” Yerim wondered aloud, smirking as Joohyun’s irritation became more obvious.

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she’ll be better informed on the topic.”

It was the truth, Joohyun really didn’t know the number. All she knew was that Seungwan was in all of her classes, and all of Seulgi’s classes, and that everyone she talked to had classes with the girl. Her fingers drummed a little faster.

“Yerim, when you said that everybody knows I ‘hate’ Seungwan,” she began, carefully emphasizing the word to communicate that this was nothing but baseless speculation, “did you just mean that you’ve been talking about it to everyone you meet?”

“No, it really is a thing. Lots of people have noticed you burning holes into Seungwan’s back, plus she’s pretty skittish around you by now and she’s usually super bright and bubbly.”

Yerim paused to recover her breath while Joohyun’s mood darkened at the information. It wasn’t enough that Seungwan had to haunt Joohyun with her constant presence, but she also insisted on reacting so dramatically to seeing her, like Joohyun had ever given her a reason to be anything but comfortable around her. They had the same best friend, for god's sake! The least the girl could do was act normal and not give cause to these ridiculous rumours.

"But I also have been talking to everyone about it," Yerim admitted with a smirk, interrupting Joohyun's brooding. She didn't even have the decency to act guilty, not that she ever did. Being Seulgi's little sister and Joohyun's protégée from the moment she'd stepped into Hogwarts had made her a little too daring.

"Maybe next time, you can talk to them about something more productive, like how to brew a cure for boils. Which you'll need after I hit your little gremlin face with a hideous, disfiguring curse to teach you to mind your own business," Joohyun said coolly, facing straight ahead.

"You can't, you'll get detention," Yerim replied without hesitation.

"Maybe. But first, you'll get a face full of boils."

Yerim laughed out loud at her threat and Joohyun gave up with a shrug. Too little too late, clearly. The younger girl had grown beyond the healthy fear she should keep for her upperclassmen and there was nothing Joohyun could do to fix this now.

Across the hall, Seungwan leaned over to brush something away from a first-year's collar, the usual bright smile on her face, and Joohyun’s scowl returned.

(...)

“Anyway, I talked to Professor Youngbae and he said I can hand it in next week if I make it twice as long. So I guess I know what I’ll be doing this weekend.”

Joohyun dropped back onto Seulgi’s bed, studying the yellow and black drapes that were currently tied at the corners. She wondered how many people actually slept with the drapes closed. It was a bit too claustrophobic for her, in any case.

Seulgi sat on the ground, doing her usual afternoon stretches in the little time she had between the end of her classes and Quidditch practice. She grunted as she leaned forward, releasing a little thankful hum when Joohyun shuffled forward on the bed and reached out to push against her back.

“Seriously, who gives homework this early in the term?” Joohyun carried on complaining, more to herself than anything. “It would be fine if it was just this Potions essay, but then there were those star charts for Astronomy and that stupid dream analysis that took twice as long as it should have. Teachers should really consider that we have other classes.”

“Can you do it, though?” Seulgi piped up as she shifted positions slowly. “Make it twice as long, I mean. There’s only so much you can say about a potion.”

“Actually, there’s quite a lot to say, if you can be bothered. Beyond the basics, like ingredients, preparation and use, you can focus on the history, like when it was developed and by whom and why, or important cases of its usage. Then, there’s the most common mistakes in brewing, ways to identify and correct them, possible side-effects, alternative potions...” Joohyun ticked off each item on her fingers, hands freed by Seulgi’s change of position. “If you really want to stretch it, you can go into the fine details of the ingredients, explore the active principle and any synergetic associations, even the history and popularity of each ingredient.”

Seulgi glanced sheepishly at Joohyun and it became clear that she had zoned out about halfway through the speech. Joohyun sighed and rolled over on the bed, not really bothered. It wasn’t like Seulgi would be writing her Potions essay, so she didn’t really have to know any of this.

“What really is that you can find all that information in the library, but in no less than ten different books. Last year, I went through the entire section on 15th century magical plagues to find out when leech juice started being used in potions.”

“You read all those books?” Seulgi exclaimed in surprise, whipping her head around to study Joohyun with wide eyes.

“Well, no.” She couldn’t help a smile at Seulgi’s shock. “I used my trusty old Search Charm.”

“There’s a Search Charm?” Seulgi’s eyes widened further. “Why did nobody tell me about this? It’s bad enough that we can’t just google stuff, but I’ve been looking through books like an idiot when I could just cast a spell?”

“She means the index,” a timid voice sounded from the dorm entrance. Seungwan stood by the door, holding her hands together and seeming to shrink further into herself with every passing second. “It’s a joke the NEWT Charms teacher makes all the time.”

“Hey, Wan,” Seulgi declared cheerfully from the carpet where she still sat. Seungwan waved awkwardly, then made eye contact with Joohyun and clearly pondered greeting her before letting her arm drop without another word.

“Hello, Seungwan,” Joohyun said pointedly, fighting back the urge to scowl as Seungwan jumped at her words and stuttered out something undecipherable. “What are you up to?” she added in an effort at politeness.

Regular smiling Seungwan was annoying, but somehow this nervous version of herself that she became around Joohyun was even more frustrating. Couldn’t she just go about her business normally and stop calling attention to herself even more?

“Just, uh, getting some books. Sorry for interrupting your conversation, I kind of jumped in, huh?” She edged around the room until she reached her bed, then rummaged around her chest for a set of books which she exchanged for the ones in her bag. “Anyway, I’ll be going to the library, don’t mind me, sorry for barging in like that.”

“It’s your room,” Joohyun replied simply, fighting off an eyeroll. She shuffled back to a sitting position and leaned against one of the bedposts, watching Seungwan move books around inside her overfilled bag so that it would actually close.

“Have you done your Potions essay yet, Wan?” Seulgi jumped in, drawing Joohyun’s attention. She watched warily as Seungwan’s head snapped back to Seulgi like she’d already forgotten that her best friend was also there.

“That’s what I’m doing now,” she declared happily, pulling out the Potions manual and waving it in their direction. It had the added benefit of emptying the bag just enough for it to close, so Seungwan hoisted it up on her shoulder and simply tucked the book under her arm. “I wanted to do it earlier but…”

“Those star charts got you too?” Seulgi suggested. Seungwan blinked rapidly, then fixed the strap of her bag, which had begun to slip.

“No, I haven’t done those either. There was a big History of Magic essay due today. Plus the whole...” She paused to nod in Joohyun’s direction a bit fearfully. “Dream analysis thing for Divination. But I’ll do them today, there’s time for everything!” She attempted an encouraging smile, which Seulgi returned emphatically.

“Hey, maybe you can do the essay with Joohyun, she hasn’t finished hers either and-”

“I already told Soojung we’d do it together,” Joohyun stated coldly, unimpressed by the betrayal. Did Seulgi really think she needed the help, or that she would accept it in the first place?

Seungwan seemed torn between fear and relief as she took in the rejection with a few nods of her head. “Right, yeah, it’s always better to study with friends. Maybe I’ll see if Heeyeon was planning on doing it today.”

“Yeah! Head Girl buddies!” Seulgi cheered on as Seungwan threw her a half-smile and walked back out of the dorm. For a moment, the two friends watched the closed door in silence.

“Can you tell your friend to stop acting weird around me?” Joohyun requested, breaking the silence. Seulgi turned to her, looking unimpressed. “It’s making people think I hate her or something.”

“You do hate her.”

Seulgi got up, stretching abandoned for the moment. Or maybe she was already done, Joohyun hadn’t been keeping track.

“Hate is a strong word. Maybe animosity. Either way, I don’t want people to think it.” She paused to pointedly ignore Seulgi’s derisive snort, then carried on. “Ideally, everybody would just mind their own business, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon, so I guess it’s up to Seungwan to stop being so dramatic.”

“You could also stop being mean to her.”

“How was I mean?” Joohyun demanded, a bit offended. “I said hi, I asked what she was doing, what more can I do? It’s not my fault I couldn’t do my homework with her.”

“You know, she doesn’t hold a grudge. She’d be happy to work with you, or hang out, or anything. She’d be your friend, if you wanted.”

“I know that, she’s the model Hufflepuff,” Joohyun grumbled, ignoring Seulgi’s half-hearted shove against her shoulder at the subtle jab. “She’d probably give me a kidney, if I asked. And she’d smile about it.”

Seulgi paused on her way to the closet, where she kept her custom-made broom, and turned to Joohyun. “Seriously?” she asked with clear amusement. “You don’t like that she smiles?”

“She is always smiling. It’s excessive, and honestly a little off-putting. I don’t need that kind of energy in my life.”

“Happiness, you mean?” Seulgi resumed her actions, gently pulling her broom free from its protective straps and patting it before returning to the bed, where Joohyun had flopped down once more, not bothering with a reply. “I’m going to practice now, do you want to come with?”

“No, I want to stay here and fall asleep on your comfy bed,” Joohyun whined, although she still got up to follow Seulgi out. They walked down the long corridor that connected the common room to each year’s dorm, dug deep in the heart of the castle.

Unlike the Slytherin rooms, which were dark, with high ceilings and elegant decorations, everything in the Hufflepuff common room and dorms was bright and colourful, or as close to it as one could manage underground. Along the wide corridor were little sconces where happy, healthy plants grew under magically-produced sunlight, filling the place with gentle scents, and one step into the common room was enough for the senses to be assaulted by millions of colours and sweet smells, not just from the greenery but also from the assortment of baked goods that always seemed to cover every table.

Joohyun would never admit this, not even to Seulgi, but she quite liked the Hufflepuff common room. She would always prefer her own House, with its elegant, minimalistic designs, but the overbearing warmth and cosiness of the Hufflepuff decoration was comforting in its own way.

She certainly liked it enough that her time with Seulgi was always spent here, despite even the constant threat of Seungwan jumping in without notice and interrupting their conversations with unnecessary comments and awkward smiles. Of course, it did help that the door to the Slytherin room had a tendency to disappear in front of non-Slytherins. It took a lot of manoeuvring to outsmart it and get Seulgi in there.

“Hey, so can you make it to the game?” Seulgi asked. Joohyun blinked away from her distracted thoughts, turning to her with an interrogative look. “If you’ve got the essay.”

“Oh, is Hufflepuff opening the season?” she asked once she had processed Seulgi’s words. The first Quidditch match of the year would be taking place on that weekend, but Joohyun always managed to forget who was playing when, despite most of her friends being Quidditch players.

“Yeah, Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw,” Seulgi said. Joohyun scrunched up her face in displeasure. “You can’t make it?”

“No, it’s not that,” she grumbled as they exited into the Hogwarts underground, shivering at the sudden change in temperature. “I just don’t have any Ravenclaw friends and I already know Soojung will want to sit next to Sunyoung.”

Seulgi’s disappointment vanished instantly and she laughed loudly all the way up the stairs. “And Sunyoung will be with Wan,” she finished for Joohyun, laughing some more as she got shoved in retaliation.

“You know, I’ve been having some trouble with Transfiguration, those Conjuring spells are trickier than they seem. Maybe I should work on that this weekend,” Joohyun mused with a clear hint of menace.

She smirked as Seulgi clung to her with her free arm.

“Come on, you have to come!” the girl demanded. Without a word, Joohyun peeled Seulgi’s fingers off of her and turned to head back downstairs. “Hey, wait, where are you going?”

“To do my stupid Potions essay, so I’ll be free on the weekend. Obviously,” she added smugly. Seulgi squealed happily, nearly bouncing on Joohyun’s back before remembering that it might bruise her precious broom.

Joohyun dragged her feet down the stairs, all excitement gone now that she was on her way to do homework. She made it all the way to her room, where she grabbed some parchment, a quill and ink, and her Potions book, then returned to the common room, quickly settling into one of the dark, intricately carved desks.

This would do for at least the first part of the essay, which would already take her a few hours. If it was long enough, she might even be able to hand it in by the next day and avoid having to write the extra paragraphs she’d just bargained for. Otherwise, she’d have to go looking for some finer details in obscure books, as always seemed to be her fate.

Either way, all that mattered was that she wouldn’t be going into the library for the rest of the afternoon, not when she knew that Seungwan would be there, working on the exact same essay. Not when she knew that the girl would probably be happy to join her, might even suggest it. And she’d do it with one of those insufferable smiles.