Woojin felt bad for lying – but should he?

It was not his fault if Chan had forgotten to take his medicine, he knew; how could the friend always remember about everything? In his view, it was absolutely licit: but he was not sure the Headmistress would care. They had been told to observe carefully and try keep the situation calm, certainly not to create chaos themselves.

But even then, he could not betray the friend so openly, and declare that it had been him to forget about it. So that was why he had needed to tell that lie, and now had to face a more inquiring interrogation with Minerva McGonagall.

When, on friday, the Headmistress had come to the Hospital Wing, Chan had been asleep: that had given the opportunity for Woojin to talk freely with the Headmistress, and tell her whatever he may have thought more appropriate.

"It's complicated" he'd answered to the question she'd asked him, regarding why the boy had risked his security and that of the students around him, by forgetting such an important precaution.

Minerva McGonagall had shifted her head left, only slightly, to look at Chan. "Poor thing", she'd said softly, and Woojin had been sure he hadn't understood well what she'd just said.

"Pardon?"

"He looks distraught, that's for sure. And you look so tired too! It's okay boy, don't worry. But you shall need to tell me what's happened a little bit more in detail, okay? Later, that's for sure. Perhaps on monday? I'm pretty sure I could carve a few minutes for you in my schedule. Wait a second, let me just check..." at that, she'd taken out her wand, and with a swift movement had made a little leather-covered agenda appear. "I have a free space at six on monday – I know it's dinner time for you, but do you think it would be possible?..."

"Yeah! Sure" had quickly replied Woojin, still confused on what was going on.

"Perfect then. I shall see you on monday then. Goodbye Kim, and make sure to tell Bang about it as well!" and she had vanished out of the door.

Woojin had shaken his head, trying to understand why the Headmistress has been satisfied with only a simple "it's complicated" as the reason behind Chan's forgetfulness: it could've not been the fact that she was not interested, nor the fact that she trusted them completely – had it been for those, she would've not insisted on meeting them on monday.

Then, suddenly, the look of pity the Headmistress had given him before walking out of the room  had come back to Woojin's mind: she'd looked almost sorry... could it be that she was simply afraid of stressing them too much, or that maybe she believed that reason so serious, that she grieved for what they had (supposedly) gone through?

Whatever the reason, Woojin had still not found out; but he had thought about how to behave during that meeting nevertheless.

He was already convinced he would not bring the blame on Chan; but to do so, he also needed Chan not to attend – there was no way the Gryffindor would shut up about his faults if present.

So there had come his first lie: to not tell the friend about the meeting.

But that first lie necessarily needed a second to survive: "Why could he not come?" was something Mrs. McGonagall was sure to ask him when he'd show up alone, and if his excuse would not be strong enough, she would certainly reach Chan to find it out herself.

Woojin took a sip out of his tea cup, while still trying to figure out what he was going to say to the Headmistress.

Stressed, he kept rolling his wand in his hands, and tapping his feet on the floor of the Hufflepuff's common room: the atmosphere was as cosy as ever, and all his housemates seemed to be rather enjoying themselves, playing random games in front of the fireplace and cheerfully telling jokes to each other. Normally, he would've joined them – even if just to make sure that they weren't going to set the whole room on fire – but that sunday night he was so focused he almost couldn't hear them.

It was however impossible to ignore them completely once one of them got up from the circle they'd formed (they had started a game of mafia) to go check up on him: everyone, in fact, was very fond of Woojin (Prefect, Head Boy, Quidditch capitain...) and he was usually referred to as the pride of the House. Seeing him so thoughtful and concerned, as a consequence, had immediately made everyone grow worried for him.

"Woojin? Are you okay?", asked Yuna, a very friendly fourth-hear, shaking her hand quickly just before his eyes.

Woojin was immediately brought back to reality, and jumped on his seat, his wand falling on the ground. "Yuna! Hi, how was your day?" He could feel his heart pounding, but he figured that the girl must be in search for help if she was looking for him.

The young girl rolled her eyes. "Perfectly fine, thanks. And yours?"

"Equally fine, of course!" Woojin chuckled awkwardly, "why are you asking?"

"C'mon Woojin, come and play with us!", exclaimed a hyper fifth year, best known as Choi San. His invitation was followed by approving screams.

Woojin shifted uncomfortably. "Thank you for the offer, but-"

"Bugger that", replied another one, – Beater in the Quidditch team, Jeong Yunho – getting up from his comfortable position next to the fireplace, making his way towards the Head Boy and lifting him from the couch he was laying on. "Chill for a goddamn night, Woojin!"

Woojin tried to protest, but his screams were made unheard by the stronger ones his fellow Hufflepuffs were making. "Yunho, c'mon, Yunho! Let me down!..."

But the Beater did not let go of him until he had positioned him in the place right in front of the fire – the honorary place everyone always got into fights to get, but that had been eagerly been left empty for him to seat there.

Woojin was already thinking about all the different sorts of excuses he could've come up with to leave them unhurt (homework, patrollings...), but his housemates had anticipated him.

"Tonight!" roared Yunho, and he waited until San had finished faking loud drum noises to continue with his speach: "tonight, none's leavin' the room until we manage to get Woojin back to his normal self!"

The Hufflepuffs clapped and cheered at that, and at that point Woojin would be lying to himself if he said that he still felt annoyed: how could he possibly find such sweet and supportive friends annoying?

"C'mon Kim, spill the tea!" demanded San, with a wink.

"Tea? What does tea have to do with this?", inquired Yunho (who, as his Pureblood-born self, knew nothing of Muggle slang).

"It's clear you don't own a Twitter, dear friend".

"I don't own a what?"

"A Twitter, it's that Muggle app where you can write updates and communicate with people, but everything must be under a hundred forty characters-"

"Keep silent, 'Puffs!!" cut in another voice, and this time everyone actually shut up, thanks to its naturally deep tone: Felix had both his hands up in the air, and was sitting right opposite Woojin. It wasn't normal for him to talk with so many people around, but he still kept on as nothing was happening – or rather, as none was watching him. "It's under my impression we're not exactly helping".

All the eyes shifted from the fifth to the seventh year; and the ladder shifted too, uncomfortably. What was he going to tell them?

(please don't get offended, but woojin is prettier than you~~)

~🤍~
House interactions are the cutest ÙWÚ (aggressive uwu coming your way, kinda looks like an angry bird – seongwha wya?)

but anyways, I was considering doing one of this more house-focused chapters for each house before moving to the actual clue of the story (👀👀), what are your thoughts on that?

Anyways, see you on monday (w felix!) or on saturday, if by chance you're also reading my newest story!

bye bye everyone, love u lots <3

Vic🌙.