Wonpil was surprised to realize that he was actually quite nervous, when there really shouldn't have been any apparent reason to be: the Headmistress had already talked to him many times, and it had been she who had chosen him as Head Boy; yet, knowing he was about to meet her face to face after being invited with urgency in her office did not help with feeling helplessy guilty – guilty of what, though, he did not know.

The Hufflepuff tried hard to think about what he had done wrong: had he boasted about being a Head Boy too much? Had he overused his powers that summer, more than what a legally adult wizard was allowed to do? Had he mistreated students?

But didn't matter how deep he went with his immagination, none of his faults – if there even were any – seemed so big as to earn a possible telling-off by the Headmistress herself.

Focused on these reflections, the Hufflepuff didn't notice that the carriage had already covered most of the road already and that he, together with the three other people he was sharing it with, was about to arrive.

"Wonpil, mate" called Chan abruptly, which made him flinch for how unexpected that had been. He heard the friend giggling – least the ladder wasn't feeling anxious about the upcoming meeting. "We're almost there, try and be decorous".

"I always am..." muttered Wonpil quietly, shaking his head. "I guess I am just tired".

"Hard to be a Head Boy?" asked Jisung, sitting right opposite him, while nodding understandingly, which the despite the tense mood Wonpil was in sill managed to get a smile to creep up on his face: he found it incredibly funny how the Gryffindor was acting all that knowledgeable, as if he had been Head Boy all his life, but also appreciated the moral support.

For that, he decided not to mock him. "I'm just curious about what Mrs. McGonagall is going to tell us", he explained, pointing both at him and at Chan.

"Curious or fearful?" inquired Minho, a sarcastic grin on his face. Wonpil sent him a dead stare.

"None of the two, for your information" answered the  Hufflepuff bitterly. Chan just giggled once again.

"C'mon, you two! Try and get along, you'll have the chance to slap the shit out of each other at some Quidditch match!" he said cheerfully.

"Ah, looking forward to that!" exclaimed Minho, his eyes fixed in Wonpil's.

"Mercy! Please!" dramatically screamed the Head Boy. "I'm already shit scared at the thought of meeting McGonagall first thing upon arrival!, don't make me think about facing the Lee Minho later on!"

Wonpil's exaggerated prayer made the whole group roar with laugher, and they seemed all considerably happier when they finally got out of the carriage.

"Here our ways part" solemnly announced the Slytherin as they entered the School. "I wish you two brave souls good luck. May the odds always be in your favour!"

"Forever grateful, dear companion" replied Chan, bowing so exaggeratedly that his hat almost fell off of his head.

Wonpil shook his head. "See you around guys" he told Minho and Jisung. Then, he pulled Chan by the point of his sleeve. "And you moroon, hurry up! We can't leave McGonagall waiting!"

The four guys parted; and as the two youngsters entered the Great Hall (where the sorting ceremony would take place within minutes), the Head Boys made their way up to the Headmistress' office.

Chan'd believed Wonpil's anxiety to be injustified (the friend had seemed tense from the very moment when the conductor called the two to inform them of the Headmistress' wish!), but he – luckily – had decided to let it flow and not comment on it, to avoid any arguments: they had just rejoined each other, and there would definitely be time for that eventually.

Luckily, because as they were making their way towards McGonagall's office, the Gryffindor had had to admit to himself that he was feeling his nerves tensing abruptly, too – and a bunch of incredible nonsense had immediately filled his head: could there be an actual reasoning behinds Wonpil's anxiousness? Or was it purely fruit of his own thoughts?

He was still trying to reassure himself completely by finding reasonable and truthful answers to those not-so-merry considerations, when the two came to a halt at last – the 'halt' being the Gargoyle whose back hid the Headmistress' office from strangers' curious eyes.

In the letter they'd recieved that summer, – the one announcing them that they had been selected as the new Head Boys – it was said that telling the statue their names would be enough for it to let them in. So, taking the chance, he said clearly: "We're Bang Chan and Kim Wonpil, newly elected Head Boy–"
Chan could barely scratch an ending to his sentence, for the Gargoyle had already started to turn on itself, revealing the hidden staircase that led to the office.

"You go first" offered Wonpil, straight up pushing the friend to be ahead of him. Cursing underneath his breath, – they were about to meet with the Headmistress, and it would not have been a great introduction had she heard what he was saying – Chan tried his best to keep a straight face and knocked at the big wooden door separating them from the real office.

"You may enter" informed a voice.

Even if Chan hadn't know who it belonged to, his guess would've been that the owner must be a very strict, responsible, stony person – which was exactly the first impression the Headmistress usually gave of herself: of course, it was well-known that she could also be sweet and caring (Neville Longbottom, the Herbology teacher, always told that to students), but the aura of terror she inspired kept being untouched.

"Good evening professor", greeted Chan politely, shifting on the side to make room for the friend. "We've come here as fast as we could".

With a light hand gesture the Headmistress invited the two boys to sit down in front of her desk. "The reason why you're here", she started, a sigh immediately coming out of her mouth, "is because the teachers – me included – have a reasons to doubt Hogwarts' current state of safety".

Chan moved uncomfortably on his chair. What could that be? Were they involved?

"Of course, nothing's clear", she continued. "We have no information about what kind of danger we're in; but at the same time, it's obvious that something's wrong".

"Why? What happened?" asked Wonpil impulsively: Chan could feel the tension mixed with anxiety in the friend's voice.

"Nearly deathly accidents, I would say", confessed the Headministress. "And what's more – not ordinary students with lacky magical education were involved, but well-rounded people from the Hogwarts staff".

The two Head Boys were now completely hypnotized by McGonagall's words: they must be informed, they must help.

"I'm not asking you two to actively participate to our protection patrollings", explained the woman. "Though I appreciate the fact that you would like to" she added quickly, after that the two boys had both opened their mouths to protest. "Your own patrolling, summed up to the considerable amount of studying you'll be put under should be enough to keep you more than busy" she explained, a slight smile starting to form on her lips. "What I'm asking you to do is to keep an eye open for all occasions: should something unsual, mysterious or suspicious happen, I want the two of you to run to the closest teacher and inform them as soon as possible. Do you consider this doable?"

Chan felt pretty flattered about the fact that McGonagall had gone so far as to ask them what they thought of the matter. "We'll gladly take on the task" he assured. Wonpil nodded convincingly, in agreement. "Hogwarts is our second home – first home to many. We'll try our best to keep it safe".

~♡~
Soooo,, last time I said I'd inform you guys about my thoughs on Levanter, so here it goes: absolute genius.

I genuenly believe making songs must be super hard; plus there are so so many good songs out there that I always assume new ones will never sound as good as the already existent ones – and how wrong am I!

Levanter is full of bops and you can't tell me otherwise, I'm so proud of them for outdoing themselves once again! I think my favourite song remains Double Knot, but Levanter is a close second. Sunshine takes third place for me, but booster is definitely a runner-up.

We're truly lucky to have Stray Kids in this worlds. God bless them♡.

Vic🌙.