THE SHRIEKING SHACK

Fifteen minutes had passed since Vivi started talking. Choerry had moved Yeojin up against a wall, so she could more properly see what was going on. The dark haired girl was staring intensely at Vivi, her fingers running fervently over the surface of her pale brown wand. She was watching carefully, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Haseul, Vivi and Jungeun had gone back and forth over their story in the intervening time. Vivi had gone first, followed by Haseul, and then by Jungeun. None of them were paying any real attention to the changing girl in the corner. Jinsoul’s pain had gotten so bad that she had stopped screaming. She had resorted to crawling along the floorboards in an attempt to get into the room at the far end of the shack.

Yeojin watched this all with watery, tear-filled eyes. She could hardly believe that this had happened to all of them. It all seemed so tragic. She wanted to give Vivi a hug. It was the least the poor girl deserved.

Sooyoung stood apart from the other three, her wand flicking back and forth between each of them as they went through their story. Her face went from curious, to disgusted, to horrified, to disgusted again. She was clearly ready to zap someone.

The tension was nearly tangible.

“Just tell me why I should not kill this beast.” Vivi jerked her wand in the direction of the crawling, changing girl. Her voice was harsh and unyielding, even through her thick accent.

Jungeun sniffed. Haseul snuck a glance over at the blonde. Her face was wet. It was clear that she was uncharacteristically affected by the story the three of them had just shared. Haseul didn’t look too far away from tears herself.

“Because...because I love her.” The statement came out more as a question than a declaration, as if Jungeun was unsure if that was a satisfactory reason to spare her life.

Vivi shook her head. “No. I loved Coco. She’s dead. Her killer should be too.”

Jinsoul whimpered as she dug another clawed hand into the rotten wood of the floorboards.

Haseul grimaced, and then she turned back to Vivi. “You shouldn’t kill her because it’s wrong. What happened was a terrible, terrible accident, and I’m so sorry for my part in it, but Jinsoul is human. You can’t kill her.You’re a good person.”

Vivi bowed her head, contemplating the floor for a brief moment before bringing it back up again. When she did, her eyes were filled with a resolute determination. “She doesn’t look very human right now.”

Everyone turned to look at Jinsoul. Grey, mattted fur had spread across her body and claws had burst through her fingertips. Her blonde hair was beginning to fall out in clumps. Vivi was right. The girl looked bad.

Vivi took advantage of the situation immediately. She pointed her wand at Jungeun and shouted “EXPELLIARMUS!” A bright blue spark exploded in Jungeun’s hand and her wand was thrown from her reach. Jungeun whipped her head around and Sooyoung stepped forward, ready to attack. Haseul held her back and gave her a warning look. Sooyoung shook her head and ler her hand drop to her side.

Vivi rushed Jungeun, who threw herself over Jinsoul’s transforming body, shielding her from any kind of magical attack. “No!” She yelled at the pink-haired girl.

Vivi hesitated. She looked...confused. Yeojin thought that she probably only wanted to kill Jinsoul. Jungeun wasn’t part of the deal, apparently.

Jungeun’s tears began to flow in earnest. “Y-you can’t. She’s a good person. She’s done her best to make up for what she did….but you can’t hold her responsible. She has no control over herself when she’s like that. She’s sorry. S-so sorry.” Jungeun looked like a mess, snot dribbling down her face as she pleaded for the life of her girlfriend. “I-I’m sorry, too. I messed up. I started this. If you’re going to kill anyone…”She looked directly into Vivi’s eyes, “It should be me.”

Haseul’s jaw dropped and she made a noise that was halfway between worried and indignant.

Vivi frowned deeply. “That is not...I do not…” She furrowed her eyebrows. The girl paced back and forth and clapped her hands to her head. “NO!”  She tossed the silver blade in her hand to the floor. “Fine. Go.” She pointed to the room Jinsoul had been struggling to get into.

Jungeun didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Jinsoul by the armpits. Haseul scrambled over to her and lifted Jinsoul’s legs. The two of them carried her into the room beyond with swiftness. Yeojin didn’t see much of what happened afterwards, because they closed the door behind them. They came out a few moments later, no worse for wear. They did look exhausted, however.

Vivi had retreated to a corner, her face buried in her hands. Sooyoung hugged Chaewon tightly to her chest. The poor girl was shaking from the intensity of the confrontation. Yeojin thought that she shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

Haseul crouched down next to Vivi and put her hand on her shoulder. “”Hey, you did the right thing.” Her voice was gentle and soothing. “It’s okay. The only reason I came out here was to keep you from doing something you’d regret. And look….you regret it already, right? That’s a good thing.”

Vivi gripped Haseul’s arm as if it was the only thing keeping her from drowning. Her lower lip was trembling. Finally, the girl let out a loud sob. Yeojin wondered how long she had kept that in, how long she had restrained herself from expressing her true grief over her friend’s death. She was certainly expressing it now. Yeojin looked away. She didn’t need to see that.

Jungeun sat down next to Choerry and herself. She struggled to wipe her tears from her face, to put on a brave face for the two of them. She wasn’t doing a great job of it. She was clearly shaken from the intensity of the night’s events, and from recounting the tale of what had happened nearly a full year ago now.

They stayed that way for a while, each of them trying to give each other some comfort after what had just happened. They did their best to ignore the sounds from the room at the end of the hall. By silent agreement, they all stayed in the Shrieking Shack through the night, long enough to hear the screams get progressively louder and louder, and long enough to hear them whither away into the whimperings of a very scared girl.

THE DAYS AFTER

They didn’t speak to each other on their way out of the shack.  They were too focused on digesting their own thoughts. Instead, they attended their classes as normal. If any of the faculty noticed anything out of the ordinary about this, they failed to mention it..

Yeojin’s paralyzation had long since worn off by the time she made it out from underneath the Whomping Willow. She walked hand in hand with Jungeun back to their dorms. They had a lot to discuss. They didn’t.

Yeojin didn’t say much of anything to anyone until she was back in the great hall, eating breakfast. She couldn’t look at any of them the same way ever again. Well, except for Sooyoung and Chaewon, but they didn’t really count. She rapped her spoon against the wooden table, contemplating. Once again, she needed to say something to someone. Preferably someone who wasn’t there. She needed to get out of her own head in order to process this.

She spotted Hyunjin sitting on her own. It was a rare sight, but a welcome one in this case. Yeojin grabbed her plate and plopped down on the seat next to her. Hyunjin blinked.

“Huh? What are you doing here?”

Yeojin placed her spoon on the table carefully. She looked Hyunjin directly in the eye and asked her, “You were there that night. The night Jinsoul got bitten and Coco died.” Hyunjin raised her eyebrows. “How do you know that? And why?”

Yeojin let her chin rest on her hand. “Haseul told me. I saw Jinsoul change.” It was part of the truth, but it was enough.

“Well, why are you asking me, then? It was a stupid mistake and we all want to forget about it.” Her voice was slightly unsteady as she spoke. Hyunjin kept her gaze firmly on her bacon.

Yeojin put her hand on Hyunjin’s. “I know. But I think I saw something last week...I think I saw Coco’s ghost.”

Hyunjin’s eyes lit up. “She has a ghost? Where?”

“Near the library. I saw her. I mean, it has to be her, right? If she’d been around for longer, more people would know.”

Yeojin led Hyunjin to the spot where the two of them had had their little ‘conversation’ a few days earlier, but she was nowhere to be found. They asked around, but nobody seemed to have seen her. Few of them even realized what Yeojin was talking about.

“I don’t get it. It’s like she’s just disappeared, like a….”

Hyunjin smirked. “Like a ghost?”

Yeojin nodded and rolled her eyes. “Durr-hurr, yes. Well, we’ll have to come back later. In the meantime...I’ve got to talk to some people.”

It turned out that Jungeun had gotten the same idea. She sent letters to each of the people who had been inside the cabin (and friends), inviting them to meet up in their old hideout the next afternoon. One full day later, Yeojin waited outside the little hole in the wall with bated breath. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen now, but she hoped they could come to a resolution. If things went bad inside, they were going to go really bad.

Haseul showed up first, followed by Heejin and Hyunjin. Haseul refused to look Yeojin in the eye. She seemed ashamed. It was an appropriate expression, Yeojin thought. Sooyoung, Jiwoo and Chaewon came next. Sooyoung looked skeptical with her arms crossed over her chest. Jiwoo seemed troubled, pulled into a thin line. Chaewon cowered behind the two of them. She clearly didn’t want to be there. Vivi was there a few seconds later, her hair unkempt and dirty. She hadn’t changed her clothes in the time since the shack. She looked tired, but then again, she always looked tired. She glared at Haseul and shoved her hands into her pockets. Finally, Jungeun, Jinsoul and Choerry arrived. Jinsoul refused to look anyone in the eye. Jungeun greeted them all carefully and opened the entrance with a tap of her wand.

Instantly, the tiny hole in the wall expanded to a full-on doorway. The eleven girls stepped through in a hurry, none of them wanting to be left behind. It must have been a funny picture to an outside observer. Yeojin didn’t find it very amusing.

The room inside the hole was fairly spacious, for a secret hideout. There were beds stacked up in a corner. Pillows were strewn about carelessly, and a flag on the center of the back wall featured all four house symbols. There was a tiny kitchen space and a few cabinets on the left side of the room, with a dining space that seated six in the center. Yeojin thought it was pretty neat. She took a seat on one of the mattresses. Orange was always her favorite color.

Haseul took a look around and, as if by muscle memory, began lighting the jar candles that were interspersed around the room. Soon, the entire place smelled of cinnamon and pine needles. Yeojin shut her eyes and let the smell seep into her nostrils.  The other girls took seats at the table and on the pillows on the ground. Vivi sat next to Yeojin. She probably didn’t trust anyone else in the room.

There was a brief moment of silence before Jungeun stepped to the center of the room and said, “So, we need to talk.” That was an understatement.  There was another brief pause as the girls all looked at each other, and then they began to speak all at once.

“What the hell was that?”

“Who do you think you are?”

“Does the headmistress know?”

“We need to figure this out!”

Jungeun watched helplessly as the situation devolved into chaos. Luckily for her, Jinsoul was there to bring everything back in focus. The blonde girl got out of her chair and gently pushed Jungeun out of the way. The instant she did, all eyes were back on her.

“It’s okay, Jungeun. Have a seat. I can speak for myself.”

The younger girl nodded and sat down at the table with Haseul, Choerry and Sooyoung.

Jinsoul coughed once, twice, three times to clear . Every eye in the room was fixed on her in silent concentration. She fidgeted a little, fiddling with her fingers in an uncharacteristic bout of shyness.

“U-um...Oh, this is actually kind of scary.” She looked down, gathered herself, and then she started again. “I’m a werewolf. You all know this now. I know that’s scary. I do. It’s also a big secret to share and to keep. I didn’t want anyone else to know, because I was afraid it would change the way you thought of me. So, I’m sorry.” She looked down at the floor again, her cheeks flushed with color.

Haseul shook her head. “Don’t be sorry. You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who should apologize to you, again. Because...what I did…”

Jinsoul put a hand on her shoulder and gave Haseul a warm look. The Hufflepuff quieted.

“It changed the way my parents thought of me. They...threw me out of the house. Now, no one knew that except for me and Jungeun. So, that’s something I can share with you guys, to make up for the bigger secret, the real one.”

Sooyoung shook her head. “You don’t have to…”

Jinsoul gave her a small frown. “No, I do. I have to get this all off of my chest.

Her white scars gleamed in the amber light of the candles. Yeojin could see the deep bite marks where the wolf’s teeth had penetrated her skin. She felt a great sense of pity rise up within her.

“I really don’t want this to change the way you think of me...and…” She looked Haseul directly in the eye again. “Maybe now that enough time has passed...maybe we could all try being friends again?”

Haseul stared intently at her shiny black shoes. Sooyoung watched carefully, hand resting on her chin.

“Or for the first time, in some cases.”

Jinsoul gave her a thin smile. “Yes, that too.” She looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep contemplation. “Uh, I think that’s it. Someone else should talk now.” Jinsoul tossed a glance at Vivi as she sat down next to Jungeun.

Nobody jumped at the opportunity to speak in front of the other girls. Yeojin considered her hands. Directly or indirectly, she had been the cause of the confrontation at the Shrieking Shack. She should say a few words about that. Or maybe about what they should do. She was no leader, and she was pretty sure nobody liked listening to her, but she had already made a difference in this little circle of friends. Maybe she could make one more.

To her surprise, she was on her feet quickly. Haseul’s eyes widened as she saw Yeojin walk up to the head of the room. Similar looks of surprises were painted on several of the other girls faces. Just about the only one who didn’t look surprised was Jungeun. She looked...satisfied? Proud, maybe?

Yeojin felt surprisingly comfortable getting up there. She was a natural at public speaking, or so her teachers had always told her. She never quite got why others might be uncomfortable with it. She stood up there, arms at her side, and looked over her audience.

“So, Jinsoul’s got a secret. We all know about it. I guess that means its up to each one of us to decide what to do with that secret. We can tell the whole school, or even just a couple of friends. We can make it front page news.” She paused for effect. Jinsoul shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

“Or we can do the right thing. We can keep this secret. For Jinsoul. I think...we have to be responsible for this. We have to protect her. Who knows what could happen if somebody else knew? Jinsoul doesn’t deserve to get attacked for something she has no control over.”

Yeojin looked directly at Vivi as she spoke. She knew the girl was angry, and that she had every right to be, but she had almost killed her friend. Someone who knew Jinsoul less might be inclined to do the same. Yeojin had a feeling the wizarding world wasn’t very tolerant of people with differences like that.

“I think we should keep this between ourselves. I trust all of you. I hope Jinsoul can do the same.” Yeojin nodded and retook her seat. Maybe words wouldn’t be enough, but she didn’t think any of her friends were cruel enough to sic the world on Jinsoul that way.

Vivi patted Yeojin gently on the back as she sat down. It seemed the girl had returned to being mute in the time since the shack. The thought made Yeojin a little sad.

Haseul took the stand next. The girl looked pale, as if public speaking was physically harmful for her. She struggled to find a place for her arms. She moved them over her chest, under her arms, clasped at her waist. Eventually she just decided to leave them hanging by her sides.

She coughed. “Yeojin is right. We might not like it, we might not even want it, but the responsibility for Jinsoul’s secret and her wellbeing are on us. If she gets hurt because one of us tells someone else about it, that’s on us.”

Sooyoung nodded silently, her chin in one hand, her legs crossed elegantly over each other. Jinsoul buried her face into Jungeun’s shoulder. Jiwoo was listening intently with a plushie pressed tightly to her chest.

“So….let’s vote on it.  All those in favor of helping Jinsoul keep her secret, raise your hand.” Ten hands went up. The only exception was Vivi. Her face was downcast, her fingers interlaced over her lap. Yeojin nudged her. The pink-haired girl gave her a warning look. Yeojin held up her hands and backed off.

Vivi hesitated for a few more minutes, and then she too raised her hand.

Haseul nodded and clapped her hands together once. “That’s it, then. We’ll keep your secret, Jinsoul.” She beamed at the blonde. Jinsoul smiled wanly.

It turned out that keeping a secret was a lot more work than any of them had made it out to be. Yeojin nearly blurted the secret out in the middle of the Slytherin commons during a conversation with Heejin. They all had to keep their heads down in order to make sure nothing slipped out.

It was hard.

People noticed the changes in behavior. It was hard not to, considering how they avoided speaking to everyone now. The teasing (read: bullying) from Yeojin’s “fellow” Slytherins had started up again. Apparently, enough time had passed that they could justify continuing their behavior. Yeojin exited the castle one fine afternoon, looking to enjoy the crisp Autumn air on her own time, when one of the second years pushed her into a puddle of mud, face first. Yeojin spent the rest of the night trying to get the stains out of her robes.

The only real upside to this secret-keeping was the fact that they all got to spend more time with each other.  The old lair saw a lot more activity in the days that followed, more activity than it had seen in over a year. Jiwoo took to decorating the room with girly little plushies she had gotten from claw machines over the years. Yeojin thought it added a nice touch.

Her and Hyunjin had taken to searching for the ghost that had mysteriously disappeared, although they didn’t have much luck. Day after day, after classes ended, they would head to the same spot outside of the library, with no more success than the day before. And so it went, until the day she appeared to them in the strangest place imaginable.

THE GIRL’S BATHROOM, 4TH FLOOR

Yeojin tapped her feet against the floor of the girl’s bathroom impatiently. Hyunjin was taking forever in the stall. She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. She thought the short detour into the bathroom was going to be exactly that. Instead, the two of them had been in this place for almost half an hour while Hyunjin did whatever the heck she was doing in the toilet. It certainly wasn’t using it.

“We should be out there, trying to find the ghost! It’s the key. It’s what we need to help Vivi trust us.”

Hyunjin fumbled with something inside of the stall, the sound of cloth rusltling against wood. Yeojin looked around, trying to see if this maybe wasn’t all a big joke.

“I agree. But just looking hasn’t worked. We need to be more aggressive...we need to..” She grunted and kicked open the door. Yeojin put a hand over to stifle her giggle.

Hyunjin had draped a heavy looking black blanket over her shoulders and her face was painted a pure white. She looked ridiculous.

“You look ridiculous.”

Hyunjin shook her head, bright red spots alighting in her cheeks. “Yeah, but that’s the point.”

Yeojin raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Huh?”

Hyunjin’s lips quirked up. “We haven’t found miss ghost by looking, so I figured we’d get her attention by dressing up.”

Yeojin giggled. “You’re a weirdo!”

Hyunjin shrugged, “And you’re vertically challenged, but I don’t spend every second of every day pointing that out.”

Yeojin huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.  “You can be so mean.”

“It’s true.”

Hyunjin pulled the blanket up and over her head. She looked like a nesting doll that way.

“So now what? You go ooooooh and hope the ghost comes and finds you? I’m pretty sure real ghosts don’t work that way.” Yeojin hadn’t realized how ridiculous the statement was until it was already out of . “Wow. Real ghosts. Never thought I’d be seriously talking about real ghosts.”

Hyunjin didn’t respond. She was gaping at a spot just behind Yeojin.  Yeojin rolled her eyes. “And I guess the ghost is right behind me, right?”

Right.

The ghost was standing (or more accurately, floating) behind Yeojin, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked faintly pissed off.  Hyunjin pushed past Yeojin and got right up into the ghost’s face. She beamed.

“Hello, Miss Ghost! I’m very pleased to make your acquaintance.” Hyunjin bowed respectfully. Yeojin and the ghost rolled their eyes in unison.

Yeojin gave the ghost a small wave. “Nice to see you again.” The ghost nodded. Yeojin could see the faint traces of a smile on her lips. “I figured out your hints. Thank you. You really helped me out. Helped us all out.”

Hyunjin took a few steps forward, her massive blanket trailing behind her. She had produced a magnifying glass from god only knows where, and she was currently using it to give the ghost a thorough inspection. When she was done, she put the glass back into the folds of her blanket and clapped her hands.

“Hah!”

Yeojin nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden shout. “Jeez, Hyunjin, could you get any quieter?”

Hyunjin mouthed a few words that Yeojin couldn’t possibly hope to hear. “Um, I was being ironic.”

Hyunjin shrugged. “Your whole existence is ironic. Anyway, this is definitely Coco. Hi Coco. Nice to see you again.”

Coco the ghost slapped her palm against her face. The impact didn’t produce any noise, which Yeojin thought was quite creepy.  Yeojin edged a little closer to Hyunjin. She might not get along with the older girl perfectly, but at least she was still alive.

Yeojin looked over the ghost once more, this time with the perspective of someone who knew what had happened to her. The black stain in place of made more sense now, along with the inability to speak. It was probably trauma and not physical limitations that made her so quiet. Physical limitations on a ghost...this was making Yeojin’s head spin.

Yeojin suddenly remembered that they were there for a reason.  “

“Coco!” The ghost looked directly into Yeojin’s eyes. Yeojin struggled not to look away. The intensity of the stare was nearly unbearable. “There’s someone we need you to meet. Two people, actually.”

Hyunjin and Yeojin had been doing a lot of reading about ghosts and the undead. A lot of it was creepy, useless myths and old wives’ tales, but there was a line of truth that ran through all of them. Ghosts were people with unfinished business. Once they finished their business, they could move on. Most of the ghosts in Hogwarts were folks who had missed their opportunity to finish their business, to pass on peacefully. The people they needed to talk to and the situations they needed to resolve were far in the past, or so far away they were no longer accessible.

This was not the case for Coco. Vivi and Jinsoul were right there. Yeojin had decided that if there was one thing that she was going to do with the story Vivi had told her, it was this. One good thing. It wouldn’t put all the bad stuff back in its cage...those scars would stay with the girls forever. But maybe it would be a good first step.

Yeojin gave Hyunjin ‘the signal’, a three flick of the wrists. Hyunjin didn’t notice. She was doing her best imitation of a ghost while Coco watched on and cringed. Yeojin tried again. Hyunjin slapped her wrists against her chest. Yeojin sighed and marched over to Hyunjin and slapped her in the face.

“What?!”

“Go get them, Hyunjin-ah! I’ll keep Coco company.”

Hyunjin blushed, visible even through her make-up. “Oh, yeah. That.” She tossed her blanket off of her shoulders and onto the floor. Underneath the blanket, her shoulders were coated in the same fine white powder she had used to make up her face. The girl sprinted out of the room, her embarrassment clear in every inch of her person.

Yeojin crossed her arms and leaned against the blue-green fountain at the center of the restroom. It was almost like a piece of art, the way it was sculpted. Yeojin wondered how old it was, and how long it had been since anyone had come in to make improvements to the place. Coco watched her carefully before sitting down next to the girl and holding her hand. The ghost girl’s hand felt like shoving her hand into a bag of fresh ice, cold and bitter. Yeojin forced a smile to her face and tried not to let the ghost know how freaked out she was.

It took almost twenty minutes for Hyunjin to come back with the two girls in question. Neither of them looked too pleased at being interrupted, and Vivi looked downright pissed.

“What do you…” She was frozen in her tracks as she caught sight of the ghost sitting next to Yeojin. She whispered something in chinese that Yeojin didn’t quite catch, and then she was running, all anger forgotten in her moment of shock.

Coco stood up from the fountain and spread her arms. Vivi ran towards her with her arms spread, her eyes full of joy. All of that was dashed when Vivi came out the other side of Coco’s body with nothing but an armful of air.

The pink-haired girl gasped audibly. Her brows furrowed and her eyes watered as the full weight of this interaction crashed down upon her. She stared at her hands, as if seeing them fully for the first time.

Coco turned around slowly. Her expression was pure pain. Yeojin felt her chest tighten. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. Jinsoul had backed away towards the door, her face transfixed on the scene in front of her. She looked horrified.

Hyunjin put a hand on Jinsoul’s back to stop her from leaving the room. The girl whipped her head around to face Hyunjin, eyes wide. The sudden turn made her hair swirl around her like the edge of a golden top.

Vivi was clutching her chest. She leaned against the fountain and sobbed, loud, messy, pained sobs. Yeojin frowned. The ghostly shape that was Coco put a hand on Vivi’s shoulder...as much as she could put a hand on anything. Yeojin folded her hands behind her back and looked at Vivi. Now was the time to do something...she needed to give Coco the voice she didn’t have.

“She loves you, you know. That’s why she stuck around.” Yeojin was pulling this out of her , but Coco didn’t seem to disagree. On the contrary, she nodded. “She wanted to see you again. And…” Yeojin looked directly at Jinsoul. “She wanted to see you. She wants you to forgive yourself.” Again, Yeojin had no idea if any of this was true, but she knew she wanted to see Jinsoul forgive herself. In the weeks since the Shrieking Shack, she had gone from lovable goofball to reserved, tired and curt. Yeojin missed the old Jinsoul.

Vivi turned herself around so she was facing Coco. She whispered something in chinese. Coco ran her ghostly white hands up Vivi’s neck and along her cheeks. Vivi closed her eyes and let herself bask in the sensation of Coco’s touch once more, even if it was only an illusion. Jinsoul took a few stuttering steps towards the ghost. She stumbled like a drunk in a dark room.

Coco mouthed the words that she couldn’t speak and Vivi nodded her understanding. Coco turned to face Jinsoul as she fell to her knees next to Vivi. She whined, and then she put her arm around Vivi. Vivi didn’t resist.

“I’m s-s-so sorry, Coco. I never meant, I just…” She let the air out of her lungs with a loud whoosh. She was trying very hard not to cry.

Coco crouched down so that she was eye level with both of the girls, and then she put a finger up to Jinsoul’s lips. The girl quieted instantly. The message was clear.

Partially by instinct, partially by a desire to see things resolved, Yeojin began to speak. She didn’t know where the words came from, and she didn’t care. They were good, and they were strong, and they were what everyone needed.

“I forgive you. I never blamed either of you in the first place. I want you to see that and to move past it. Be good for me, okay? And thank you.”

Something wondrous happened then, something Yeojin would always remember and cherish.

Coco passed on.

It started at her fingertips. They glowed a white brighter than any Yeojin had ever seen. The white light separated into the entire spectrum of colors in their purest, most vivid form. It was difficult to look directly at her now. Her entire spectral body was suffused with that same light. The room was totally silent as she rose up into the air, her eyes closed in a serene expression. The light built and built until it was blinding and Yeojin had no choice but to shield her eyes.

When she opened them again, Coco was gone.

Yeojin wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

WINTER COMES TO HOGWARTS CASTLE

Yeojin didn’t see much of either Vivi or Jinsoul for the next three days. Neither did anyone else, it seemed. That was probably okay. The girls needed time to process what had just happened. Still, Yeojin couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. She had sprung the situation on them with no warning, and the ghost was gone almost as soon as she had appeared. She hoped they were okay, wherever they had gone off to.

In the meantime, she decided to rededicate herself to her studies. Things were starting to come  a little easier to her under Sooyoung’s tutelage. She wasn’t just picking up stuff she had already studied, she was beginning to be able to make connections between different kinds of magic. This made Sooyoung very proud.

Winter had come, and with it the tidings of the holidays. Decorations popped up in nearly every corner of the castle and the grounds. The snow came in hard and fast, and pretty soon almost every inch of the school grounds was shrouded in a cloak of pure white. The sight of the heavenly downpour made Yeojin suddenly and incredibly homesick.

After she finished up with classes, she went straight to the commons. She thought she would ask Jungeun if she could borrow her owl again. On the way there, she saw something peculiar.

Hyunjin was speaking to a much older woman. The woman had to be at least thirty years old. Her light brown hair was tied up in a neat bun. Interestingly, she was wearing a bright-green leather jacket that was totally garish in comparison to the rest of her get up. Most interesting of all was the fact that she was currently taking notes furiously.

Yeojin breathed in sharply. She ducked behind a nearby column and tried to listen in. If this lady was a reporter... Yeojin looked Hyunjin over carefully. There was no way Hyunjin would betray them. No, she wouldn’t believe it. She’d ask Hyunjin about it later, in private, and give her a chance to explain herself.  I mean, the girl had just helped her bring Coco’s spirit to rest.

Hyunjin looked nervous and uncomfortable, so that was a point in her favor. Yeojin couldn’t hear much from this distance, but she didn’t dare get closer for fear of being spotted. She’d just have to deal with it later. She watched the two until the older woman left with a satisfied smile on her face. The smile reminded Yeojin of some sharks she had seen on television a few months ago. Yeojin shivered. Hyunjin looked down at her feet for a long while before she shuffled off, hands behind her back.

Yeojin couldn’t go back to what she was doing before. She had to go and confront Hyunjin now, before something else happened. She dashed out from behind the column and tapped Hyunjin on the back. Hyunjin whipped around quickly, eyes cast upwards. She had clearly been expecting that woman to return and confront her. When she didn’t see her, she looked down and saw Yeojin. Her eyes widened and turned into a perfect ‘o’.

“Yeojin? What are you doing here…” She looked around guiltily. “Did you see that?”

Yeojin nodded solemnly.

Hyunjin stammered, “I-I can explain…”

Yeojin stuck a thumb in the direction of the hideout. “You can explain it to everyone.”

Hyunjin wrung her hands nervously. Sweat was visibly dripping down the sides of her face. Yeojin frowned and took one of her large hands in her own smaller one. Hyunjin seemed to get a little calmer after that.

Yeojin called a meeting the way they always did...by magic. Inside the lair was a stack of paper that, once tapped with the tip of your wand, sent letters out to all of the official members of this little club of theirs. The papers would apparate in the hands of all the girls outside the hideout. It was something Vivi had come up with when the lair was first discovered. Sooyoung had helped improve the enchantment’s efficiency with a couple of spells of her own. Yeojin found it incredibly convenient.

Hyunjin sat down on one of the soft mattresses in the corner, her hands crossed against her chest. Hyunjin’s dark hair hung over her face, hiding it from view. Yeojin sat next to her and rubbed a hand across her back.

“Hey, I’m sure everything’s going to be okay. If that lady was forcing you to….we’ll understand.”

Hyunjin’s face became hard and unreadable underneath the curtain of hair. Yeojin decided to back off and put her hand back in her lap.

The first girl to arrive was Jinsoul, unaccompanied by anyone. The girl looked fine. Better than fine, actually. She was glowing. For the first time since Yeojin had known her, the girl was actually, genuinely happy. The guilt that had weighed down her shoulders for the longest time was gone, at least for the moment. The thought made Yeojin smile.

A few seconds after her came Vivi. Vivi wasn’t smiling, but she did seem a little more sociable. Yeojin thought that they might have spent the missing time together, discussing their losses. Vivi draped her arm around Jinsoul, who smiled at her. The gap that had existed between them was gone now, and they were both the happier for it. Good.

Jiwoo, Sooyoung and Chaewon came in next. Jiwoo had her camera around her neck and a very uncharacteristic look of annoyance on her face. Sooyoung held Chaewon’s hand and guided the girl to a seat around the table. Jiwoo sat down next to Chaewon.

Haseul, Heejin, Jungeun and Choerry all came in at once, all chattering to each other about their missing friends. They stopped when they realized everyone was in the room. Curiously, they didn’t choose to sit down next to their missing friends. Instead, they grouped together on the couch against the far wall.

There was something going on here, and Yeojin intended to get to the bottom of it, however long it might take.

Jinsoul practically hopped in front of her and Hyunjin, a wide smile stretching her face.

“Thank you. Thank you both so much. I really needed that...really.”  Her eyes shined and sparkled with the glow of a changed woman. She pulled Hyunjin and Yeojin into a tight embrace. So tight, in fact, that Yeojin struggled to breathe. “H-hey! I need air to survive!” Jinsoul blushed and let go of the two girls. She frowned when she saw Hyunjin’s face. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Hyunjin took a deep breath and then she started. “I did something bad. I told Jiwoo’s mom about...us.” Jinsoul took a step back, a hand over . “You did what?” Hyunjin looked at Jinsoul with pleading eyes. “I didn’t tell her your secret...it’s just...everyone’s been talking about us. I mean, who wouldn’t? We’re a group of eleven girls who don’t talk to anyone else. People are going to talk. So, I guess the newspapers got a whiff of controversy and they sent Jiwoo’s mom down here to investigate, see if there’s a story. I pretty much just confirmed there was one… I swear I didn’t tell her you were a werewolf. I would never...I don’t want...ugh!” She screamed in frustration, palms against her forehead.

Jiwoo put down her camera and stood up. Her normally smiling face had turned dour. “You should have come to me, Hyunjin.” Hyunjin looked at her helplessly. “I didn’t have time! I didn’t know what to do. And…” She tried to look at Heejin, but she could only get as far as her feet. She was too ashamed to even look the other girl in the eye. “Your mom invited us to stay at her place for the holidays. Um..” She took a few shaky breaths. “Invited is too nice a word for it. We have to go. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t stronger.”

Everyone was glaring at Hyunjin now. The intensity of their anger was enough to make even Yeojin cringe. Yeojin pulled Hyunjin into a hug and patted her back. It was a rough situation.

Heejin whispered, so low and strained that Yeojin only barely caught it, “She’s not my mom.”

Yeojin had a very bad feeling about this.