Joohyun wondered whether people were disappointed.

Was Chanyeol the odd one out, or had everyone else felt the same? Had they all been expecting Seungwan and Joohyun to build up to some catastrophic event, rather than simply fizzle out to nothing from one day to the next?

It felt like all eyes were on her. Nothing new there, of course, but it began to feel a bit absurd that nothing she did would ever turn the attention away. Dislike Seungwan, not dislike her, be by her side or never cross paths, anything was enough for the gossip-hungry crowd to focus on her.

And now it seemed that there was a new pair of eyes following her every move.

Seungwan sat a few tables down from the one where Joohyun tutored Jennie, occasionally turning her attention their way before returning to her mountain of manuals. She sat alone, only studying and spying, and Joohyun was sure she hadn’t been the only one to notice the glances, unfortunately.

Maybe spying wasn’t quite the right term. Joohyun didn’t think Seungwan was going out of her way to follow her. It just so happened that they shared all of Joohyun’s classes – for obvious reasons – and both spent most of their free time in the library.

Still, Seungwan could have at least-

No. Joohyun wasn’t going to do that anymore. She didn’t care what Seungwan did. She’d tried something and it hadn’t worked out and now she was going to move on like an adult, instead of picking at everything Seungwan did.

She could do whatever she wanted; they just weren’t friends anymore. Or whatever they’d been.

“Joohyun? Sorry, I’m just having a little trouble with the focus for this spell, could we go over it again?”

Jennie’s question pulled Joohyun away from her thoughts and back to what she was supposed to be doing. Sunmi, sitting next to her apparently just to be annoying, since she wasn’t actually doing any studying of her own, sent her a significant look that she promptly ignored.

“Right, of course, this is a tricky one. The instinct is to...”

She carried on with her explanation, all the while aware of the way Sunmi was still studying her profile, until the girl finally grew tired and, even worse, turned to study Seungwan instead. Did these Quidditch players never have any homework to do or tests to study for?

Just as Joohyun had expected, Sunmi’s prodding didn’t end with a few innocent glances.

“She’s jealous,” the Hufflepuff remarked casually, as soon as Joohyun had stopped talking and Jennie had returned to studying the pages of her textbook. The younger girl looked up at the two seventh-years with an awkward expression, probably feeling like she’d stepped into a private conversation.

“Who,” Joohyun sighed out, not even bothering to give the word an interrogative inflection.

“No need for the owl impression, we both know who I’m talking about,” Sunmi quipped quickly, pretending to study her nails with disinterest and mostly failing, because the girl had never in her life managed to look uninvested.

“Really? We’re going to do this now?”

Jennie was occupied in a brave attempt at acting like she couldn’t hear a thing, face down near the pages as she took unnecessarily detailed notes if only to make herself look busy, but she looked to the side cautiously just in time to catch the way Joohyun tilted her head in her direction.

“I’ll, uh...” She hesitated, sneaked a peek at Sunmi, who nodded imperceptibly, like she had any authority over Joohyun’s temporary student. “I’ll go find those Potions books you talked about, maybe? I think I’m done with Transfiguration for today.”

Joohyun gave in with a half-shrug, patting Jennie’s arm to communicate that her impatience was in no way her fault. The younger girl gave a hesitant smile in return, blushing slightly in embarrassment, then hurried off.

“You do realize the longer I take to tutor Jennie, the more precious time I lose for my own work.”

“This discussion can be had in minutes, if you stop acting dense,” Sunmi offered, utterly ruthless in her determination to help.

“Fine, then.” Joohyun leaned back, crossing her arms. “Why would she be jealous? She’s welcome to my detention, if she wants it so badly.”

“Does she know it’s detention? Or does she maybe have no choice but to assume she’s been replaced as a study buddy?”

Joohyun shrugged sullenly. “How would I know what she thinks?” she replied defensively.

“You’re acting dense again,” Sunmi pointed out. Joohyun rolled her eyes.

“Seulgi could have told her about detention, I don’t know.”

“Did you tell Seulgi to tell her?”

Joohyun slumped a little lower in her chair, not answering the question. Must they really do this? Couldn’t they just move on, like Joohyun was honestly trying to do, and never discuss this again?

“Joohyun...”

Oh, no. This couldn’t be good. Sunmi was doing that lowering-her-voice thing she always did when she was about to empathize. Joohyun searched the stacks, but of course Jennie was nowhere to be seen. After all, she’d left to let them talk. She was probably hiding somewhere, waiting for her cue to return.

“What happened?” Sunmi carried on, confirming Joohyun’s fears. “You two were getting so close, and then you won’t talk to each other again? That doesn’t just happen.”

“And yet it did,” Joohyun attempted. Sunmi frowned slightly, and that was familiar too. It was the “I’m trying to help but you won’t let me” face, and Joohyun did not have good feelings about it. “She took Chanyeol’s side," she offered tersely.

Contrary to what Joohyun had expected, Sunmi didn't immediately counter with further questioning, or more accusations of denseness. Instead, she grew quiet and thoughtful, the frown still firmly in place.

"Did she hurt your feelings?"

The question caught Joohyun entirely off guard, and she couldn't even find the presence of mind to deny it. She only looked at Sunmi silently, eyebrows creased slightly, feeling like a sullen child who resorts to silence under unwanted questioning.

"I know, I know, you're the Bae Joohyun, you don't even know what feelings are," Sunmi brushed off with a wave of her hand. "But I'm your friend first." Her gaze grew serious as her hand reached out to cover Joohyun's.

"I know we like to tease you, and we'd never give that up." Sunmi's lips quirked up into a smirk, her fingers tightening to trap Joohyun’s hand just as she tried to tug it free. "But we'll always take your side. You don't have to tell me what happened, if you don't want to. We'll take your side."

"Well, I… appreciate that," Joohyun dragged out with exaggerated reluctance, but she knew that Sunmi understood the truth in her words. "But it's fine. Nobody hurt anyone. We're just not… I tried something and it didn't work out, that's all."

The words she'd said to herself sounded much less believable when they were spoken out loud, but Sunmi didn't push. Instead, she released her hold on Joohyun’s hand and looked off as if distracted, but very clearly not really distracted.

“You know…” she began, and Joohyun genuinely considered getting up to go drag Jennie back to the table. “I could go ask Seungwan to sit with us, if that’s alright with you. Not because you want me to, because I know that you don’t care,” she reassured emphatically. “But just because I feel like chatting with a fellow Hufflepuff while you’re busy with your tutoring.”

“You can just go away,” Joohyun muttered under her breath, too low for Sunmi to catch more than a murmur.

“And maybe while we’re talking about this and that, I might let slip that this is your detention,” Sunmi continued, entirely indifferent to Joohyun’s grumbling. She turned to her, request clear in her eyes. “If you’re alright with her sitting here, of course.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course you do. Like I said- “

“Yeah, yeah, you’re on my side,” Joohyun repeated with an eyeroll. “It really isn’t like that, you know? It isn’t about injured pride or… giving in first or something. We just…” She trailed off with a small shrug, as if the rest was self-evident, or maybe too complicated to express in a few words.

“Of course it isn’t,” Sunmi said simply, her expression annoyingly innocent. Joohyun wanted to smack her arm, or perhaps flick her forehead, but she didn’t, because she could feel Seungwan’s eyes on them again. “So can I ask her to sit with us?”

Joohyun gave up with a deep sigh. “Fine. But she can figure out the detention thing on her own.”

“I don’t know about that. Seungwan can be very dense when she wants to. Reminds me of someone,” Sunmi quipped, standing up and out of Joohyun’s range before the Slytherin changed her mind on the smacking.

And barely a moment later, there was Jennie, trailing along a large pile of floating books which she waved onto the table as she took her seat in front of Joohyun.

“I think that’s all of them,” she said with some apprehension, sizing up the large pile ahead of her. Joohyun could understand her worries, but at least they only had to go through some chapters of each book. After all, they were meant to be complements to the main textbook, only for the potions Jennie was struggling with.

Jennie’s eyes finally left the books and swept the table, only then noticing the absence of the Hufflepuff. “Oh, did you friend leave?”

“No, she went to get some company.” Joohyun twisted slightly in her chair to casually point out the two girls talking a few tables over. It appeared that Seungwan was proving hard to convince. She turned back to Jennie with an apologetic grimace. “Sorry, I thought she’d have asked you first.”

“Oh, no, it’s totally fine. You’re the one doing me a favour, so…” Jennie trailed off uncertainly, still standing by her books, and Joohyun pondered mentioning that it wasn’t exactly a favour before deciding that there was no way to say it tactfully. Instead, she motioned for Jennie to sit so they could get started on the books. She offered another reassuring smile, which made the girl blush again.

They worked their way through an entire recipe, with Jennie taking feverish notes throughout, and Sunmi still wasn’t back. Joohyun threw more and more frequent glances at the girls, wondering what could possibly be so difficult about the simple decision of either going or staying. Every once in a while, one word or another rose above the hush of the library and Joohyun found herself straining her ears to catch it.

“Joohyun?” Jennie asked, and Joohyun could tell from her tone that it hadn’t been her first attempt at catching her attention. She cleared , trying her best not to seem so distracted.

“Yes, sorry, what was the question?”

“Oh, no question,” Jennie rushed to clarify. “I was just saying that, uh, if now isn’t a good time, I could just go and we’ll pick this up later. I mean, we’ve been at it for a while now, I totally understand if you’re tired or have other things to do.”

“No, it’s fine, the sooner we’re finished the better,” Joohyun replied quickly, mind only partly on her words.

“Yes, definitely,” Jennie agreed, then her eyes widened, she took in a breath, and Joohyun could already see what was coming. “I mean, not that I want to be done with you- With, uh, with this, with tutoring. This is fine, it’s fun- I mean, it isn’t, but it isn’t bad either, you’re not bad, it’s just that the sooner I’m done, the sooner I won’t be behind in classes and-“

Joohyun was preparing to interrupt her with some reassuring words, but Jennie cut herself off before she could get in a word, speech abruptly coming to a halt.

“Sorry, I’m rambling,” she admitted with a slight grimace. “It’s just, uh…” She fumbled with her quill, looking away. “I’m a little nervous. Studying with you makes me nervous. You’re a cool seventh-year with great grades, and you know all these things nearly by heart and you’re nice and pretty and- and you almost exploded a student the other day, which is- I’m rambling again,” she groaned, letting her head fall on her hands.

“You’re just intimidating,” Jennie finally concluded, peeking at Joohyun from the side. “Not scary-intimidating, I just meant… cool-intimidating.”

Joohyun studied her silently for a moment, digesting the very disordered information she’d been given. Jennie continued to hide her face in her hands, refusing to leave their relative protection. “I’ll take it,” she declared eventually, catching the younger girl’s attention. “Cool-intimidating sounds good to me.”

Jennie showed her face tentatively, slowly peeling her fingers away and exposing bright cheeks. Joohyun took the opportunity to offer her a sincere smile, which was hesitantly returned.

A throat was very loudly cleared by Joohyun’s side, and she knew without looking away from Jennie that it was Sunmi.

She really needed to get new friends.

She looked over, glare already forming at whatever comment Sunmi might be about to share, and was shocked by the fact that she wasn’t standing alone.

Seungwan had actually come over. Joohyun hadn’t expected that one.

“Hi,” Sunmi offered instead of any quip, and her tone was almost apologetic, like she regretted the interruption. Joohyun knew right away that she’d gotten the wrong idea. She couldn’t help but wonder whether Seungwan had gotten it as well, but she didn’t let her eyes leave Sunmi as her friend opened to make introductions.

“Jennie, this is Seungwan, my friend. And Seungwan, this is Jennie, the, uh… Yeah…” she finished awkwardly.

Sunmi had to be doing this on purpose. To torture Joohyun and prolong some ridiculous misunderstanding. She wasn’t allowed to reveal the truth about Jennie, so this was her payback.

“Yes, Jennie is…” Joohyun began, trying to salvage the interaction, then paused. Actually, it was difficult to come up with a good explanation that didn’t just give away the situation. She inwardly apologized to Sunmi for her suspicions and tried again. “I’m helping her with her studies.”

Jennie waved at Seungwan, who was probably another cool and intimidating student to the girl. Seungwan waved back politely, wearing the same smile she always did, then turned hesitantly in Joohyun’s direction, eyes settling somewhere over her shoulder.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your work, but Sunmi was… very insistent that she needed some company while you two studied,” Seungwan explained, not looking quite convinced herself. She shifted on her feet and finally faced Joohyun. “Do you mind if I join you? I’ll be quiet.”

“If only Sunmi could promise as much,” Joohyun commented lightly, trying to clear the atmosphere. Seungwan had shed some of her earlier fear of confronting her, but there was still an air of kicked puppy about her that irked Joohyun. An insistence on returning to their unpleasant exchanges, instead of…

Well, instead of moving on. Or maybe pretending they hadn’t happened. That all of it hadn’t happened. In a way, those were just different ways of doing the same thing, weren’t they?

Joohyun wanted to be able to look in Seungwan’s eyes and not see that constant fear of her. That fear that lay deep down or shone in plain sight, but was never gone. She supposed it wasn’t fair to simply expect it to leave with a single smile, or one kind word. She supposed Seungwan needed an explanation.

But it didn’t make it any less annoying. Any less frustrating. To keep being faced with her past failings, with no chance at reprieve.

“I don’t mind,” Jennie offered with a solicitous smile, and Joohyun wondered whether she’d let the silence drag for very long. Seungwan’s eyes finally left hers to settle on the younger girl, nodding in acknowledgment.

“Yes, stay. Maybe you’ll be able to keep Sunmi entertained and we’ll actually manage to work in peace,” Joohyun cut in, with her best attempt at casual.

She turned her attention to the table before Seungwan could focus on her again, shifting books and parchment to free some space for the two girls still standing, with Jennie moving at once to help. Thinking for a moment, she motioned for Jennie to come sit next to her instead of across the table. That would make it easier for them to pair off.

Seungwan took the seat in front of Jennie and Sunmi lagged behind for a moment, just long enough to mouth a repeat of “she’s jealous” that Joohyun received with an eyeroll.

Surprisingly, the new configuration achieved peace quite quickly. Seungwan worked diligently, somehow managing to smoothly juggle studying and returning all of Sunmi’s comments without once displaying the urge to forcibly silence the girl, which Joohyun often struggled with. Joohyun and Jennie went over each book in turn, Jennie’s pages of notes growing steadily.

As Joohyun had thought, it was much easier to study side by side. She didn’t have to lean over the table to point something out, or constantly crane her neck to the side to read their shared texts. Instead, she scooted her chair closer to Jennie and leaned her arm on the corner of her backrest, using her free hand to tap the text for emphasis. Her student listened obediently, her ears slightly red despite how well she was doing. Maybe she was just shy.

A chair scraped a bit too loudly against the stone floor and Joohyun flinched at the unpleasant sound.

“Well,” Sunmi began in what was certainly not her inside voice, “I think that’s enough studying for me.”

“You didn’t even study,” Joohyun commented simply, then returned to the page in front of them, trying to find her place.

“Yes, great,” Sunmi carried on without reaction. “Jennie, dear, feel free to call it a day if you’re tired. This is Joohyun’s detention, not yours.”

Joohyun’s head whipped up at the clearly intentional revelation, the betrayal clear on her face. “Traitor!” it cried out silently, her eyes widening in shock and displeasure.

Sunmi deflected Joohyun’s reaction with a slight eyeroll, as if to say “Well you weren’t going to, so somebody had to,” and very narrowly got out of the way of another of Joohyun’s shin-kicks. Damn her short legs.

“Seungwan,” Sunmi carried on ruthlessly, and Joohyun had to choke down the sudden impulse to lunge out of her seat and tackle her into silence. At the mention of her name, Seungwan looked up from where she’d begun to pack away her things, clearly ready to follow suit and leave. Joohyun was sure she’d twitched at the earlier revelation, but she was being frustratingly unreactive, face an unreadable blank. “What are you doing? You’re halfway through an essay.”

At this, Seungwan finally reacted, by gazing helplessly in Sunmi’s direction, but Joohyun couldn’t even spare the presence of mind to be annoyed by the fresh reminder of her frightening aura, because Sunmi had betrayed her! Again! With an absolutely ridiculous plan, which just made it even more insulting that Joohyun hadn’t guessed it from the start.

Jennie’s head whipped between the three other girls in turn, seemingly trying to piece together the appropriate response, before she settled on Joohyun. Her expression did not raise Joohyun’s hopes.

“I really am tired, actually,” she admitted hesitantly. For a moment, Joohyun almost considered using her intimidating presence to force Jennie to stay, but the poor girl didn’t deserve it.

“Fine, we’ll all go, then. Just in time to catch Seulgi before Quidditch practice. I’ll keep you guys company.”

She tried to get up, moving as quickly as she could without appearing frantic, but Sunmi’s hand was suddenly on her shoulder, grip surprisingly strong. Damn her Quidditch player strength.

“You said you’d work on your Charms homework once you were done with tutoring.”

“I’ll just do that-”

“You specifically told me not to let you put it off. You’ll regret it later,” Sunmi added significantly, and with a small smirk aimed only at Joohyun.

Joohyun sighed, very deeply, because she was trapped, and not just by Sunmi’s freakishly strong grip. She couldn’t escape without making it even clearer how much she wanted to. And she wasn’t even supposed to care.

“Right, of course. Thank you,” she pushed out between gritted teeth. She waved Sunmi closer and the girl approached cautiously. “You’re horrible and I hate you,” she hissed into her ear.

“Aww, that’s so sweet of you,” Sunmi declared brightly. She jogged off, dragging Jennie along, and then Joohyun was alone with Seungwan and a pile of Potions manuals.

She made a show of pulling out a fresh roll of parchment, along with her Charms textbook, but she couldn’t make much progress no matter how much she tried. Her concentration was hopelessly broken, not only because of the hours of tutoring she’d just gone through. Her thoughts insisted on straying elsewhere, drawn to the unnerving presence across from her.

Seungwan just sat there, silent, carrying on with her notes. Her movements seemed a bit more hurried and her teeth worried at her lower lip in what had become a familiar habit, but she wouldn’t leave either. Did she expect something from Joohyun? Or did she just refuse to be the one to give in to the tense atmosphere?

Joohyun didn’t want to be the first to speak. But the page in front of her remained empty and really, if she wasn’t going to work, she’d rather not waste her time at the library.

“So… I think I’ll just finish this in the common room-“

“What did you mean?” Seungwan cut through her flimsy excuse, face still turned towards her notes. Joohyun paused, confused by the sudden question. “When you said we were done, that we shouldn’t pretend. What did you mean?”

“Well… What I said. That we shouldn’t pretend,” Joohyun said slowly, surprised that Seungwan had actually brought it up so directly. She wasn’t sure what to do, and her desire to get up and leave only grew.

Seungwan looked up at last. “And what does that mean, exactly? Not be friendly? Not study together? Not acknowledge each other’s existence? I’m just asking because…” She trailed off, looked away as if struggling for words herself. “Because I thought you were done with me, but now here I am.”

“Sunmi wanted to invite you.”

“You didn’t say no.”

“Why would I?”

“Why are you always like this?” Seungwan’s voice was tight, frustrated. It was unexpected, from someone that was always so meek, so unassuming. Joohyun couldn’t even think to interrupt, defend herself. “You never say anything. Never explain. We are whatever you want us to be, and we switch whenever you want, and you expect me to follow along without question.”

“I never- I don’t expect anything,” Joohyun riposted weakly.

“Oh, I know. I can just go if I don’t like the way things are, can’t I?” Seungwan asked with a tinge of irony. Joohyun wanted to open , to confirm it, but she only sat silently and waited. “I am trying. You don’t give me anything, but I try-“

“So don’t try,” Joohyun finally cut in, because now she was growing frustrated as well. “This isn’t any favour that you’re doing me, some charity project to endure.”

“You know that’s not what I mean!”

“Then what do you mean?”

Seungwan had surged to her feet. Joohyun had followed. They stared each other down in sudden silence, after the hissed whispers they’d exchanged across the table, low voices strained by the emotion they carried with no room to express it.

“Forget it,” Seungwan said simply, shoulders slumping along with the words. Her eyes fell to the table as she quickly picked out her belongings and pushed them carelessly into her bag.

“Where are you going? You haven’t finished you essay,” Joohyun quickly added, and it felt like a flimsy reason to keep Seungwan behind, but her search for words had offered nothing else, and for one confusing moment she’d been gripped by the need to keep Seungwan here, just a bit longer, just until she got the words out of her. What words, she couldn’t say. All she knew was that she needed to hear them.

“You’re not my mother,” Seungwan spat out, sweeping the last roll of parchment off the table. “I’ll finish it later.” She swung her bag over her shoulder and turned her back on Joohyun.

“Oh, very mature,” Joohyun threw at her back, voice a little too loud for the library. She stood there, making no effort to put her things away, only staring angrily at Seungwan.

“And Jennie has a crush on you,” Seungwan called out over her shoulder, voice just as loud. Then she was gone.

After one tense moment of wondering whether she’d be kicked out by the librarian, Joohyun settled back heavily on her chair. She gazed blindly ahead, brows furrowed tightly together, annoyance and confusion battling inside her.

“What does that have to do with anything?” she muttered to herself.