Year One

There are many stories in the magical world. Hers begins like this:

The moment Kim Yongsun steps into the center of the Sorting Hall, she feels her heart race.

Sumasandeul’s Sorting Ceremony is pretty simple, all things considered. A first year student steps unto the school crest in the Sorting Hall and waits. If a House wants her, the statue of the representative animal will move towards her and bow and the torchlights will change to the color of the house. 

One by one, she stares at the large figures surrounding her. The Four Great Beasts that came together and brought magic to most of East Asia and thus representing the four houses of Sumasandeul. To the north of the circle, made entirely of polished black marble is the Black Tortoise, the guardian for Hyeonmu, that houses open-minded wizards eager to carve their own way in the world. To the south, a large carnelian statue of the Vermillion Bird of Jujak, for creative witches and wizards with a thirst for exploring new ways of magic. Directly west of her and made entirely of limestone, is the White Tiger, where the adventurous and determined students of Baekho are accepted. And lastly, to the east, a great Azure Dragon made of pure lapis lazuli, the looming guardian of Cheongryong, known for producing some of the greatest leaders in Korea’s wizarding community.

Yong holds very still, and she waits.

At first there is nothing, and she feels the whispers of worry in the back of her mind. Her sister had told her it usually took a while but still. She can’t help the anxiety that comes as the silence drags on. Students who were never chosen have to leave the school, and Yong is well aware that all the older students are watching from the galleries above.

She closes her eyes and hopes.

Then, she hears it, the crack and groan of stone coming to life. She doesn’t open her eyes for fear that it will all just be in her mind, but very soon, the floor beneath her trembles with movement. She feels something in her chest settle, something old and powerful, uncoiling bit by bit like so many shimmering scales. When she finally opens her eyes, it’s to see the great Azure Dragon bowing low before her, its massive serpentine body coiled around the school crest and her like a protective shield. Around her, the torchlights are a brilliant blue. 

Her House. Cheongryong. 

Year Two

Her older sister ditches her for her other Hyeonmu friends, so Yong is left to find a compartment for herself. The complex where all the Sumasandeul students gather to be taken to the school at the start of the year is massive, like an entire stadium surrounded by a circumference of pillars. In the open space, rows upon rows of spacious gamas, each strapped to a Chollima stallion, ready to fly the passengers to the school’s mountainous campus.

She peers into every gama she passes in an attempt to find her other friends from Cheongryong too, but by the time she comes across an empty compartment, Yongsun grabs at the opportunity and jumps inside. 

There’s a new feeling to being on the way to Sumasandeul as a second year, she thinks. Last year, she had been a flutter of nerves and excitement, cheerily talking her sister’s ear off as their gama floated above the clouds. This time around, she feels a bit more settled and a lot more calm, but there is the inexplicable anticipation of the journey. The feeling that she’s headed back home. She gets lost in it a bit, just enough that she almost doesn’t hear the person knocking at her compartment door.

She remembers hearing the two-minute warning whistle a few moments ago, which means they’re just about to take off into the sky. She turns and it’s to see a girl she doesn’t recognize, so probably not someone in her year. She doesn’t look older than her either, so Yong is left to think that it’s probably a first year. The girl is eyeing her a bit tentatively, and Yong leans forward to unlatch the door. “Hello,” she says, shyly. 

The girl hesitates just a bit, before steeling herself, “Do you mind? Everywhere else is full and we’re about to leave.”

Yong eyes the empty seat in front of her. As much as she had been enjoying the thought of a peaceful ride by herself, she knew how scary a first gama ride could be for a first year. She smiles and steps aside, “Of course!”

The other girl steps in and takes a quick seat, a few moments later they feel the rumble of the gamas being pulled off into the sky. It doesn’t escape her notice how the other girl looks eagerly out the window as they rise further and further from the ground. Definitely a first year then.

They’re quiet for a few minutes, both stewing in the awkwardness of sharing a compartment with someone you don’t know. That’s when Yong notices the bag the other girl is clutching with a death grip, and how it has several international Quidditch team patches sewn onto it. Yong spots one she recognizes and grins.

“You like the Tengus?” she asks.

The girl glances down at the deep red of the Toyohashi Tengu patch and smiles. “Through and through!” She announces happily, eyes shining bright. Yongsun feels the mood in the compartment lighten, glad to have something in common with this stranger. They end up talking about the Tengus for the next thirty minutes, discussing their favorite players and best games and matches they’ve seen. Somewhere during the conversation, the other girl bursts out laughing and Yong finds herself enjoying the sound.

It’s only when they hit a lull in the conversation that Yong realizes she doesn’t even know this girl’s name.

“Uhm, I’m Kim Yongsun by the way, 2nd Year.”

The other girl’s eyes widen. As if she’s also just come to the realization that they haven’t been properly introduced. “Moon Byulyi. First year.”

Yong nods, happy to be proven right at least. “Do you know what house you’ll be sorted into?”

Moon Byulyi gives her a strange look, “No one knows that until the House chooses you,” she replies.

Yong backtracks, “I know, I meant--” She takes a moment to try and parse through the words, to try and explain how, even during the deafening silence of her own Sorting Ceremony, she had felt the shift inside her even before she opened her eyes. Had felt the Azure Dragon stake its claim on her and the rightness of it was something she couldn't question. “Sometimes you just know, y’know?” She finishes lamely.

Byulyi chuckles, “Did you?”

“I did!”

“So what house are you in?”

“Cheongryong!” Yong announces with no small amount of pride, she even puffs out her chest just a little bit. Byulyi smiles at her.

“Then maybe I’ll be in Cheongryong too.”

Yong grins, “Cool. You can help us win the House Cup!” Byul nods, dark eyes glinting and dark hair blowing just a bit in the breeze from the open window. It’s then that Yong falls a little in love, though she doesn’t figure it out until years later.

When the gamas land on campus, Byulyi is whisked away with the other first years to Sorting Hall, meanwhile Yong follows the rest of the students to smaller gamas, this time carried by a pair of dokkaebi, that will carry them up the mountain trail into the viewing galleries.

“Yong!”

She turns to where someone is calling her name, and finally catches sight of the rest of her Cheongryong friends.

“We looked for you at the complex before take off,” Chorong says, pouting just a bit. Yong nudges her friend in the shoulder, “I looked for you guys too,” she says, “but then I ended up in a gama with a first year.”

Changsub frowns, “. Sorry about that. Next year we’ll make sure to get in a gama compartment together.” Beside him, Sodam nods. 

Yong shrugs, “It wasn’t that bad.” Her thoughts stray to Byulyi, and she finds herself hoping to see the younger girl joining their table later on. 

The Sorting Ceremony has other plans for them though. 

Yong’s heart is in when Moon Byulyi’s name is called. She watches from above as the young girl strides confidently forward, as she stands in the center of the Sumasandeul crest. Then she waits for a handful of heartbeats along with the rest of the school, eyes trained on the Azure Dragon of her own house, and then--

There’s the familiar rumble of stone coming to life, but it isn’t from the dragon, it’s from the great White Tiger, hopping off its pedestal and circling Byulyi once, like prey, before standing before her and lowering its head in a deep bow. The torchlights flash a brilliant white. 

Baekho.

The bolt of disappointment that goes through her takes her by surprise. She meets Byulyi’s eyes once the other girl is settled in the Baekho viewing gallery, and Yong thinks she sees a hint of her own regret reflected in Byulyi’s gaze.

She would have liked to get to know her better, she thinks, and unintentionally holds her stare. It isn’t until Joohyun gives her a nudge in the ribs that she looks away.

“You okay, Yong?” Joohyun asks. 

She nods, forcing herself to smile. “Yeah.” 

Later, at the Feasting Hall, with tables overflowing with food, she manages to forget about Moon Byulyi and her haunting eyes.

Year Three

Neither Baekho nor Cheongryong won the House Cup last year; the honor went to Jujak, and on the gama ride this year, finally in a compartment with the rest of her friends, Yong gamely listens as Changsub dramatically blames it on Da-Hye and Hyo Jin’s collective nerdiness.

They haven’t taken to the sky yet, so he’s confident enough to stand as he gestures wildly about. “You’ve seen them in Charms. It’s like they know every answer before the professor even asks! If they actually left some questions for the rest of us to answer, we would’ve won!” he declares.

Joohyun looks up from the book she had been reading and rolls her eyes. “And if you, Jin Woo and Hyun-kyu hadn’t set fire to your rooms, maybe Cheongryong wouldn’t have come dead last.”

Chorong and Sodam burst out laughing at the memory, to which Changsub does his level best to defend what was apparently a very important magical experiment, but Yong finds her attention drawn to the door, where a group of Baekho students are walking past. One of them is laughing a familiar, full-bellied laugh. Before she knows what she’s doing, Yong is sticking her head out of their cramped compartment to look after her.

Moon Byulyi turns back, as if she’s sensed her gaze, and she gives Yong a single, perfect smirk.

The warning whistle blows and Yong sticks her head back into her own gama. 

--

Yong, Joohyun, and Chorong take to the stands to cheer on Sodam and Changsub when they decide to try out for the Cheongryong Quidditch team. Changsub makes it as the new beater, and Sodam gets a position as Chaser. That year, Yong’s cheers for Cheongryong are the loudest they’ve ever been.

The Cheongryong team is defeated in their third and last game一the one that would have decided the championship一by Baekho’s new seeker, a slim, dark haired girl, who was nothing more than a blur of pale skin and white and silver.

Byulyi holds the Golden Snitch aloft, triumphant, and all of Baekho and half of Hyeonmu stand up to cheer for her.

That year, the Feasting Hall’s torches all burn white on the last feast day, and this time, Changsub blames Cheongryong’s house cup loss on Baekho’s new Shooting Star, as they’ve taken to calling her.

Year Four

She doesn’t see Byulyi much, because aside from them being in different houses, they’re also in different year levels which means they literally have no classes together. Still. Sometimes, on her way back from the Greenhouses, she’ll catch Byulyi with the rest of the Baekho third years on their way to the second floor for Charms probably. And more than once, when she enters the Feasting Hall she’ll hear Byulyi’s laughter echoing all the way from the Baekho table.

Sometimes when she turns to look, it seems like Byulyi was just staring at her table too. But that’s silly, so Yong barely entertains the thought. 

Usually, whenever she catches sight of Byulyi, the younger girl is with her regular group of Baekho friends: four other boys and a girl. Today though, she isn’t with any of them.

Through a rather strange turn of events, the Herbology teacher had stopped her on her way to the library during her free period to ask if Yong could drop off a few textbooks at Greenhouse 2 because I have an important meeting with the other Teachers and I’m already running late. You don’t mind, do you Yongsun-ssi?

So instead of spending the time catching up on the essay she was meant to turn in for Potions, Yong finds herself walking back through the courtyard alone, that’s when she spots Byulyi with two second years, one from Jujak and the other from Hyeonmu. And if the sight weren’t puzzling enough, they all seem to be hunched over a tiny cauldron.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Yong walks over.

“--Just add in a scoop of the powdered Asphodel petals once it comes to a simmer but not before or else it won’t be as potent.” Byulyi is saying. Once Yong is near enough, the other three turn to look at her, and Byulyi’s face breaks into a wide grin.

“Hello Yong,”

She bristles a bit at the casual tone, and is about to snap back when she clamps down on the words. What reason is there to be mad at? It’s not Byulyi’s fault she was chosen by Baekho, and it’s not her fault either that despite how well they bonded that first day on the gama two years ago, Byulyi moved on to make new friends in her actual house. Just like how Yong has her own friends in Cheongryong.

Instead she leads with, “What are you doing?”

Byulyi’s grin grows a bit wider, “Showing these two how to make a sleeping draught!”

The alarm in the back of her head that tells her something’s about to go wrong is ringing quite loudly. “Are you...allowed to do that?”

“I don’t see why not,” Byulyi says casually, leaning back on a lean arm. “I had pretty good grades during Potions last year. By the way,” and Byulyi finally gestures to the two other girls, “this is Jung Wheein from Jujak, and Ahn Hyejin from Hyeonmu.”

A fluffy little Scottish Fold appears from behind Wheein, and the younger girl flushes a little in embarrassment. “And this is Ggomo,” she says, no small amount of warmth in her voice as she reaches out a hand to scratch at the cat’s ears. “He came to Sumasandeul with me.”

Yong feels the last of her irritation melt away. “Hello, Ggomo.”

The two younger girls smile up at her and Yong returns the gesture. “Why are you asking Byulyi for help?” She asks, bluntly. Hyejin shrugs.

“The Hyeonmu and Jujak second years have Potions together later this afternoon and the assignment was to study the Sleeping Draught.” Hyejin says, scooting over to effectively make room for Yong. “We thought we might as well get a leg up on it and this Unnie offered to help.” This last part the younger girl says with thumb pointed at Byulyi.

Yong nods, peering carefully into the steadily bubbling cauldron. When she turns to look at Byulyi however, her lips curl down into a frown. “This isn’t very responsible of you. Just because I get good grades too doesn’t mean I’m qualified to teach younger students about Transfiguration or Care of Magical Creatures.”

Byulyi shrugs, the nonchalance of it is so elegant. “Maybe so, but as an upperclassman, it would be remiss of me not to help out younger students who asked for my help, right?” Yong eyes her warily, there’s a mischievous smile playing around the corners of her lips. 

Finally, Yong gives out a defeated sigh. She plops down on the grass with them, “and as the oldest one here, it would be remiss of me to let you accidentally teach something wrong to these two.” Byulyi bursts out laughing and it’s that full-bellied sound again, like the first time they met. Despite herself, Yong smiles.

For the next half hour, Yong and Byulyi show Wheein and Hyejin how to make a sleeping draught, and it all goes pretty smoothly until they have to add the last ingredient.

“I’m telling you it’s two Valerian sprigs” Yong says for the fourth time, the frustration already creeping into her voice.

“And I’m telling you , you remember it wrong,” Byulyi says, waving three Valerian sprigs in her face. “When I made this last year I placed three Valerian sprigs and it came out just fine.”

Then, without waiting for a counter argument, Byulyi chucks the three sprigs into the concoction and continues stirring. Yong glares at her but watches as the liquid slowly turns a silvery grey, as it’s supposed to. Huh, maybe she had remembered it wrong after all.

Byulyi’s smug look isn’t worth saying that out loud however.

Wheein looks up from the notebook she had been furiously jotting notes on and turns to look at the small cauldron between them. Her brow furrows. “Is it supposed to bubble like that?” She asks.

Yong watches as the potion begins to boil incessantly, despite the fact that they had already lowered the heat earlier after pouring in the Flobberworm Mucus.

“Yeah, don’t worry,” Byulyi says, although her voice is starting to sound unsure, “That’s uh… the final stage before it settles.”

Ggomo’s sudden hiss and the way the cat scampers off into the farthest part of the courtyard is the only warning the four of them get before the potion explodes into a cloud of mist all around them.

Wheein and Hyejin collapse in an instant, and Byulyi is already swaying dangerously, about to fall face first into the boiling hot cauldron. Almost before she’s aware of it, Yong reaches out and catches her just before she falls forward, effectively pulling Byulyi’s body on top of hers as she herself is knocked out by the sleeping draught.

The last thing Yong is aware of is the scent of Byulyi’s hair, sweet vanilla and sharp citrus, and then her world goes dark too.

When all four of them wake up, it’s several hours later, the sky has already grown dark, and Headmaster Do Hoon is glaring down at them. There’s also an impressive collection of students standing just a few feet away, laughing and pointing. Yong’s friends and Byul’s friends are front and center.

They end up getting detention for missing all their afternoon classes, which , but it isn’t so bad because Do Hoon decides to have all four of them clean out the Trophy Room every night for a week. Which is how Yong finds herself warming up to Wheein and Hyejin and how she manages to spend seven whole nights with Byul’s teasing laugh ringing in her ears.

At the end of that week, as she’s headed back to the Cheongryong dormitory she feels a traitorous thump, thump, thump in her chest and stops dead in the middle of the hallway. The two stone dragons that mark the entrance to Cheongryong stare coldly at her with sapphire eyes but the only thing Yong can see is Moon Byulyi, with her eating grin, polishing trophies in the middle of the night, the ocher glow from the Trophy room’s torches casting her skin in a burnished glow.

She shakes her head. There is no way she is going to let herself develop a crush on Moon Byulyi of all people. 

Year Five

In her fifth year, Yong rides a gama to school with Byul and Wheein and Hyejin and they spend the entire journey laughing and sharing snacks from their bags and comparing which of the ghosts that haunt the campus is, effectively, the scariest. Every now and then, Byul presses up against her side due to the force of her laughter, and Yong feels herself turn warm.

At one point throughout the ride, they lapse into a comfortable silence, and while Wheein is working her way through cutting out a butterfly shape on a piece of dalgona with her wand, the enchanted candy starts floating upwards and preparing to fly away. The little creature flits from Wheein’s palm to the window beside Yong when Byul’s hand darts out lightning fast, catching it in the cage of her fingers. 

“Woah,” Wheein says, clapping before accepting the fluttering dalgona butterfly from Byul, “Nice reflexes, Unnie”

“As expected from Baekho’s Shooting Star,” Hyejin says around a mouthful of hotteok. 

Byul is smiling, glowing from the praise. Meanwhile Yong can’t quite shake the image of how her fingers looked when they snatched the butterfly in midair right in front of her face

--

This year is also the year that Jung Krystal, a sixth year from Baekho, becomes Head Girl. She’s apparently descended from one of the stronger Wizarding Jeong clans, a family born from magic as old as the Silla period. 

She’s also, subjectively, gorgeous. 

At least, that’s what the majority of the male population of Sumasandeul seems to think. And, okay, Yong sees it, she does, but what she also sees is the way Byul’s friends tease and rib her every time the Head Girl passes by. What she sees is how Byul’s eyes trail after Krystal every time she walks the length of the Baekho table, and every time Yong sees that, she also sees green which she doesn’t understand because she shouldn’t care and it’s none of her business who Moon Byulyi likes so why does she feel this way?

“I just don’t see what all the hype is about,” She complains to Wheein and Hyejin one lunchtime after they watch a gaggle of Hyeonmu boys trail after Krystal like a herd of sheep. They’re eating lunch outside, by the courtyard, and Ggomo is chasing grasshoppers at their feet. Byul is with her Baekho friends this afternoon. Also staring as Krystal saunters past. Yong doesn’t miss the wistful look in her eyes and it leaves a sour taste in .

“There’s a Head Girl every year. What makes her so special?” Yong is quite aware of how sullen she sounds.

Wheein shrugs, preoccupied with her Care of Magical Creatures homework, “She’s pretty, boys are dumb. It’s not that difficult, Unnie.”

“Unnie isn’t talking about the boys though,” Hyejin suddenly says, plopping down beside Wheein and stealing a chip from her plate. She gives Yong a smug little grin, and Yong has to fight down the blush that’s creeping up her neck.

Finally, Wheein looks up, confused. “What do you mean?”

“Nothing!” Yong says a bit too loud, before Hyejin can even open . “It’s nothing. I’ve gotta go. I left uhm--in the dorms.” She grabs her bag and hightails it out of the courtyard as fast as she can.

--

“You’re Kim Yongsun!” 

Yong looks up from the mountains of books she had surrounded herself with. She’s in the library, studying for the final exams with the rest of her friends when the voice startled her out of the deep focus she had been in. Changsub, Sodam, and Joohyun look just as confused as she feels. She peers behind a stack of books and comes face to face with the owner of the voice, and Yong is surprised to realize that she knows this girl.

It’s Moon Seulgi, Moon Byulyi’s younger sister. She knows this because she remembers her ears perking up at the familiar surname during the sorting ceremony. More importantly, she remembers the look of immense pride on Byul’s face as the Vermillion Bird of Jujak had bowed low before her sister, the torchlights all burning red.

She doesn’t bother looking too deeply into how or why she’s managed to remember that moment.

“Yes, I am.” She replies slowly, she looks around, there’s no one else in the library aside from them, “are you waiting for your sister? Do you--”

“You’re the one that likes my sister, right?” Seulgi asks.

Yong chokes on her spit.

Changsub and Sodam bury their faces into their books, shoulders shaking with repressed laughter. Joohyun disguises her own snickers in the guise of a cough. 

“I do not!” Yong says, after she’s recovered. She slams her book shut with a bit more force than was probably necessary for a centuries old tome. The librarian shoots her a wary glare from the front desk.

“Seulgi-ah! There you are!” The new voice is from Wheein, appearing from behind one of the bookshelves. She blinks at Yong in surprise before ushering for Seulgi to follow her. “Come on,” Wheein says, “Let’s head back to Jujak.”

Seulgi looks at her a minute longer, dark eyes the same shade as her sister’s, then shrugs. “Alright, I’ll tell her she’s imagining things.”

Seulgi walks away before Yong can think to ask what, exactly, has Byul been imagining about her.

--

The next semester, the whispers spread across the entire castle like wildfire. Krystal and Jujak’s Quidditch Captain Jong In were spotted making out near the Baekho dormitories. The morning after, they walk into the Feasting Hall arm in arm, looking every inch like a model couple that could grace the covers of Witch Weekly.

Byulyi, Yong notices, isn’t at the Baekho table. 

She never thought this unnamed annoyance at Krystal could grow any more than it already has, but then she catches Byulyi by the rivers near the enchanted forest that afternoon on the way back from Care of Magical Creatures. She’s staring forlornly into current and there are silent tears making their way down her face. At that moment, Yong’s never hated anyone more than she does Jung Krystal. 

She hangs back a bit and raises her voice louder than was necessary when she tells her friends to go ahead to the dorms without her. By the time she makes it to the river bank, any evidence of Byul’s tears have been erased so completely it’s as if they were never there.

“Ditching class again?” Yong asks, careful to act as normally as possible.

Byul shrugs again, that same elegant up and down of her shoulders that’s just a little bit mesmerizing. “Got a free period.” She says, and it’s so obviously a lie but Yong does her the courtesy of not pointing it out. 

“I see,” Yong says, and she does, her heart aching for the hollow look in Byul’s eyes, a secret so raw and exposed she wonders if it counts as a secret at all.

She says nothing and plops down beside Byul, nothing between them but the gentle sounds of the river trickling past. 

--

Yong manages to convince one of Byul’s friends, Heeyeon, to slip a plain white handkerchief into Byul’s bag, under the lie that it was Byul’s and she had dropped it in the Feasting Hall at breakfast. It’s been scented with eglantine roses from the greenhouse. Her mother would grow them and give them to her friends at home whenever a loss occurred because their meaning was ‘a wound to heal,’ and apparently the scent was supposed to help ease heartache if picked during the new moon.

She’s not sure if it worked, but every now and then she sees it on Byul sometimes, the pure white cloth peeking out from her sleeves or her pockets and this reassures Yong that at least, the other girl found it a little useful.

Year Six

At the start of term this year, Byul invites her to eat Breakfast with Wheein and Hyejin. They end up in a small circle near the Quidditch Field with a plate of eggs, sausages, and scallion pancakes from the Feasting Hall shared between them.

“I hate runny eggs,” Byul mourns, poking at her egg yolk and deliberately cutting around it to only get the at the whites.

“That’s the best part!” Wheein argues, reaching over to grab the abandoned yolk from her plate. Hyejin nods in agreement. Ggomo is napping a foot away.

This is nice , Yong thinks to herself, smiling at this unlikely band of friends she’s somehow made. Byul catches her eye and smiles back and that pleasant warm feeling is back.

She’s long past denying what this growing feeling for Byul is, but that doesn’t mean the younger girl has to know anything about it.

Their breakfast sessions become a daily thing, and Yong thinks it might be the best thing to happen in her sixth year in Sumasandeul.

That is, until the midterms come around. 

--

By some unknown logic known to man and beast, Byul approaches her with a plea to help her study for midterms. 

“Why me?” She asks, steadily trying to ignore how the torchlights highlight that mischievous glint in Byul’s eyes. The younger girl had cornered her just outside the Feasting Hall after dinner.

“You just went through it,” Byul argues, “which means you’re the best person to tutor me!”

“Well--” Yong stammers. She’s not even sure why she’s arguing the point. The truth is, she wants to help Byul study, but also, the thought of being alone with Byul, at night, in close quarters is making her head swim a little. “Why don’t you ask the other Baekho sixth years?”

“Because I’m asking you,” There’s a smile toying around the corners of Byul’s lips, and Yong realizes it’s probably the expression she wears when she knows she’s about to get something she wants. 

“Will you invite your friends?” Yong blurts out.

Byul pauses, and blinks. “You--you want me to invite them?”

She can’t decipher Byul’s tone or why it sounds so confused so Yong shrugs instead. “Why not? They’re your friends aren’t they? I’ll ask my friends to help too and it can be a whole thing.”

Byul’s eyebrows furrow for a bit before she takes a step back and nods. “Okay. Thanks Yong!”

The first meeting is awkward as all hell.

Byul and her friends are on one side of the table while Yong and hers are on the other.

“I don’t want to help a bunch of Baekho fifth years study for their midterms!” Changsub had whined the other night when Yong brought the topic up to the rest of them, “We have our own midterms to worry about!”

“Just--please! Please help me out here!” Yong begged. There is some basis to her asking her friends to do this. Amongst the other sixth years in Cheongryong, Chorong had scored highest in Charms last year, Joohyun always got top marks in Herbology, Sodam had scored an Outstanding in Transfiguration and as much as he whined about it, Changsub had done fairly well in Defense Against the Dark Arts. And as for her, well, Yongsun isn’t ashamed to admit that her Potions and Care of Magical Creatures grades were some of the best in their year level. 

Putting it bluntly, amongst the five of them, she had no doubt they could give Byul and her friends at least a fighting chance at passing their midterms. Nevermind the fact that she may or may not be currently harboring some very distinct feelings for Byul. That’s nobody’s business but hers.

Joohyun sat up from the couch she had been reclining on, eyes calculative in a way that made Yong feel exposed. “What’s this really about, Yong?”

She shrugged, trying fervently to seem unaffected. “No reason. She asked, and well, since we’ll also be studying it might be a good refresher, you know? And Byul is--” she swallowed past the lump in , “--my friend. I want to help her.”

Joohyun’s look was a little too knowing and her smirk was a little too smug for Yong’s comfort but she decided to ignore it because thankfully, the other girl said she’d do it, which led to the rest of Yong’s friends reluctantly agreeing. 

Which brings them to: now. 

Yong glances helplessly at her friends who in turn, just shrug at her. Across the table, Byul’s friends--Yong now knows them as Jin, Junghwan, Sunwoo, Jaehwan, and Heeyeon--are staring at them warily.

Finally, Byul clears loudly and reaches into her bag for a roll of parchment and a quill that looks like it’s seen better days. “So. Midterms. What’s first?” She’s keeping her voice purposefully casual, which everyone in the table is more than grateful for because the awkward air that had been hanging around them lifts a bit. 

“Well, one of the trickier subjects is always Charms,” Yong says slowly, “So, uh. Chorong?”

The other girl puts up the token amount of pouting before reaching for her own books and starting them off. It all goes smoothly from there and across the table Byul genuinely smiles at her. 

From there, the study sessions actually go surprisingly well. Yong is a little surprised to discover that she likes Byul’s friends. They’re nice and willing to learn and Heeyeon and Jung Hwan are actually good fun to be around. By the fourth night, she even hazards to say that they’ve all become rather close, and Yong is not so secretly glad that she agreed to do this.

That is, until it’s Yong’s night to lead the study group with Potions and she and Byul end up getting into a little argument about the Polyjuice Potion which escalates until the librarian has to throw their entire study group out of the library.

“Well, maybe we can just study Potions on our own,” Jin says, already walking in the direction of the Baekho dorms. The rest of their friends are dispersing too but Byul hangs back so, despite still being more than a little frustrated, Yong does her the kindness of staying behind. 

“Sorry about that,” Byul says, hands stuffed in the pockets of her robes. “I was the one who asked you for help, I shouldn’t have questioned you.”

Yong sighs, shaking loose her ponytail and running a hand through her hair. She’s tired and a little embarrassed at being thrown out of a library, so her brain-to-mouth filter isn’t at full capacity when she speaks.

“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have raised my voice.” She says, “You just drive me so crazy sometimes.”

Beside her, Byul stills and her eyes go wide. When her own words finally catch up to her, Yong feels her entire face go red. Without warning, she turns on her heel and starts walking as fast as she can back to the Cheongryong dorms. A hand reaches out to grab her wrist.

“I was starting to think,” Byul says, her voice low and hesitant. Yong doesn’t turn around and she tries not to shiver at the feel of Byul’s calloused palm around her wrist. “--it was just me.”

Yong sighs and turns around so that she and Byul are eye to eye. There’s no escaping it now. Her heart is jackhammering around her ribcage and there’s a prickling sensation crawling up and down her skin. Anticipation, she thinks.

She wishes she could be as brave as her house would suggest. 

“It’s not just you,” she finally admits, and it feels like stepping off a cliff, except Byul’s hand tightens around her wrist and pulls her a bit closer and instead of falling, Yong feels like she’s floating.

At one point they’re close enough that Yong notices Byul has a mole above her eyelid that’s an exact mirror to the one she has. Then Byul closes what little distance there is left between them and Yong’s entire world narrows down to the soft feel of Byul’s lips against her own and that familiar scent of vanilla and citrus all around them.

Year Seven

She’s Head Girl this year, and she has to juggle for seven subjects for her eventual finals, not to mention she’s started helping out a few of the professors with the younger classes, which is to say, she doesn’t have a lot of free time in her last year at Sumasandeul.

Still, she makes time for Byul, partly because she knows the other girl will hunt her down and take time away from her if she doesn’t, but mostly because, she’s more than a little head over heels and after finally reaching this point, she sees no reason to turn back.

--

Byul apparently has another sister--the youngest-- entering Sumasandeul this year, and to the surprise of many, she’s sorted into Cheongryong. But none of her older sisters seem to mind, and when the great dragon bows before her, all of Baekho and Jujak end up cheering. 

There is one thing that’s very inconvenient about having Moon Yesol share her house and it’s this:

It’s 7:00AM and Yong is in her matching puppy pajamas,  feet bare against the carpet as she walks out to have some cookies and tea in the dorm common room so she can jumpstart her system before heading back into the dark hole that is studying for exams. Her hair is an absolute mess, salvaged only by the top bun she keeps it in, and quite possibly she hasn’t showered in two days because her professor assigned a hideous five-scroll report in Ancient Runes.

She’s yawning and bleary-eyed and exhausted and all she wants to do is sleep until this semester is over and she misses the days when her bed was an actual bed and not an extension of her desk (and coincidentally, when her desk was just a desk and not the place where she inevitably falls asleep). It’s absolutely bad for her posture, and possibly for her overall sleeping patterns too because she keeps dreaming of dark eyes and a mischievous smirk, and that certainly isn’t good for her concentra--

She bumps into something--someone--and because she’s so sleep deprived, proper foot coordination is a little beyond her right now so upon collision she is too shocked to catch herself and ends up bringing both her and this mysterious person down onto the hallway floor.

It’s only when the person grunts underneath her, a familiar sound that Yong realizes she is on top of, and effectively pressed up against, her own girlfriend while still in puppy pajamas, unbathed, and with her unwashed, greasy hair. 

Her face is as red as the Jujak statue, and she is sitting up and spitting out incoherent apologies while Byul is just there, laughing at her.

Suffice to say, after that experience, Yong makes sure to have a thermos of coffee ready by her bed so she can be fully awake once she ventures into the dorm common room because Moon Byulyi is apparently still a menace and continues wandering around the Cheongryong dorms like she owns the place, all in the name of checking up on her youngest sister. 

--

“You can tell Changsub and Sodam that we’re going to hand their asses to them on a silver platter this year,” Byul says idly, running her fingers through Yong’s hair.

They’re outside, enjoying the last vestiges of summer as it bleeds into autumn, and Yong kind of wishes they could stay in this moment of time forever.

“Are you, now?” She says instead, her voice rising to the challenge. She doesn’t open her eyes from where she’s lying down on Byul’s lap.

Byul chuckles, “When I find that Snitch in record time, I’ll fly right up to you and give it to you in front of everyone.”

She cringes at the thought of the overly greasy overture, but inside Yong goes warm. “If you do that, I might have to reject you in front of the whole school.”

“You wouldn’t,” Byul says, entirely too confident, then she kisses her just as she opens to argue further. 

She forgets what she was going to say, but surely it can’t have been as important as kissing her girlfriend, so Yong tangles her hands in Byul’s hair and pushes it from her mind.

--

They brew amortentia in Potions, much to everyone’s obvious excitement and anticipation. Because Byul had pestered and begged and nagged her about it the week before, Yong bottles some of it and hides the vial in her robes. For later.

Later ends up being sequestered away in their normal spot near the Quidditch Field, huddled in a small circle with Wheein and Hyejin, right after midterms. They each take a deep whiff before asking each other what theirs smells like, giggling and grinning and jostling each other with their elbows.

Wheein says she smells Ggomo, her mother’s perfume, and magnolias. Hyejin says she can smell the sea, her grandmother’s mattress, and grilled meat. 

While the other two have another go at sniffing the potion, Yong turns to Byul. “What do you smell?” she asks, keeping her voice low below the ongoing conversations.

Byul shrugs, “My childhood home, kimchi--” there’s a beat of silence, and then, “--and Eglantine, like on the handkerchief you gave me.”

At that last phrase, Yong stiffens a little in surprise. Byul smiles at her before burying her face in the crook of her neck. She feels Byul sniff at her neck and it sends heat pooling low in her belly. “Bet you thought you kept it a secret from me, huh?” Byul whispers against her skin, “What do you smell?”

“Tteokbokki and vanilla and citrus and Valerian sprigs,” is her immediate response.

“Valerian?” Byul says, already laughing at her.

Yong shrugs. “The sleeping draught you messed up,” is her sideways explanation, she means it to be teasing but from the sudden softening in Byul’s eyes, she knows the other girl understands.

Epilogue

It’s only her first week as an apprentice in her new job and she’s supposed to actually show up early today so she can start training with the Dragons but after all this time, Yong learns there are just some things she needs to make time for.

Like seeing Byul off on her last year at Sumasandeul.

The gama complex is a hustle and bustle of activity, students yelling and running every which way, trying to find their friends. Parents giving pep talks to wide eyed first years. A whole menagerie of owls and cats and bats being loaded into cages and carted off to the large gama assigned for luggage. All around, the herd of Chollima are already pawing at the ground, their wings twitching in preparation for the long flight ahead. 

So they find a little corner to themselves by one of the pillars, behind a stack of luggage.

Byul immediately hugs her, her face against her neck and breathing in deeply. They had spent almost every day of the summer together. Byul had been there when Yong went to apply for Park Yejun’s Dragon Tours and she had been there to help her move in when she finally got an apartmemt of her own just outside Seoul’s magic district. Still, with all the time they’d spent together, when the day that Byul has to leave for school arrives, it still feels like too soon.

“I’m going to miss you,” Yong says, likewise breathing in that vanilla citrus scent she’s come to love so much.

“I’ll miss you too,” Byul mumbles against her collar. “You better write to me.”

“Every week,” she promises, “And I’ll even try to visit on Chuseok too. And you can stay over at my place for the Christmas holiday if you’d like.”

Byul’s responding smile is so brilliant, that she can’t help the way she leans in to taste it. 

“Ew, what are you doing ?”

The sudden voice startles them apart and they look down to see Moon Yesol, staring up at them in what could only be the childhood disgust of someone who just witnessed her sister making out with her girlfriend.

“Hello Yesol-ie,” Yong says, kindly, “I’m seeing Byulie off.”

“No, you were kissing her.” Yesol argues, to which Byul responds by pulling Yesol’s hood over her head and pushing her off to where Seulgi is probably waiting to board.

Once the sound of Yesol’s footsteps fade away, Yong pulls away from Byul, but not before the other girl manages to sneak one last kiss on her nose. 

“I love you, Yong.” Byul says, simple and straightforward. An honest truth that still sends a beautiful thrill right through her spine and down to her toes. She smiles, knocking a finger under Byul’s chin.

“I love you, too.” She says. 

The port master blows his two minute warning and Yong watches Byul walk away. In the distance, Hyejin and Wheein wave to her from a gama.

--

There are many stories in the magical world. Theirs begins like this:

At the end of the school year, she’s back at the gama platform, tiptoeing over the crowd in an attempt to spot her girlfriend. Turns out, the effort is completely unnecessary because Byul is the one to come barrelling into her, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around.

When they finally settle, Yong casts a look back at the rows and rows of gama compartments, trying to pick out the exact one they sat in when they met. She thinks about Sumasandeul, the castle in the mountains that was their childhood, the castle where she fell in love with her, and up until last year, the castle that will always be a little bit of home.

Then she turns to look at Moon Byulyi, all dark hair, and mischievous eyes that even seven years later, still looks like they hold surprises in store, and Yong thinks that home for her might be a new place now. 

“Are you ready to go?” She asks.

“Anywhere, with you,” Byul replies, which is cringey and greasy and  Yong rolls her eyes, but she smiles too and Byul smiles along with her.

She can already tell, their story will be a beautiful one. 

fin