Chapter Text
Mina breathes deeply, inhaling the smell of clean train exhaust and bustling excitement—a scent exclusive to the platform of 9¾. She feels her heart swell with anticipation as she looks over heads and under hugging arms for a familiar pair of faces in the sea of people. It’s not until she hears a chorus of loud squeals of her name, until she’s turned half way around, that four arms wrap around her and two bodies knock the wind from her lungs.
“Mina!” She hears, voice muffled in the fabric of her sweater.
She laughs as they disentangle their limbs, Momo and Sana standing before her, now vibrating with excitement. They look so silly, Mina thinks every year—the silver and green of Sana’s robes so jarring next to the yellow of Momo’s. It must look like a joke to anyone who doesn’t know them—a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff, hands tangled and smiles bright with excitement.
“Aren’t you excited?” Momo says, grabbing Mina’s hand and bouncing on her heels. She’snusually the more subdued of the two, but now she makes Sana look like a sloth with the way she’s nearly bursting at the seams.
“For Sixth year?” Mina asks with a gentle laugh.
Momo’s mouth opens in a half gasp. “This year’s the Triwizard Tournament,” she says, like Mina is forgetting the most important thing of her life.
Mina feels a bubble of confusion refusing to pop in her brain as she mulls over the familiar words. The confusion is familiar, too, still finding new things about the wizarding world even after years of being immersed in it. Her eyebrows knit together, trying to remember where she’s heard the term before, and then—
“Oh,” she hums. “The competition between the three schools, right?”
“It’s more than a competition,” Sana says seriously. “It’s an experience. I think I’ll be putting my name in the goblet actually.”
Momo snorts out a laugh. “It’ll read your name and spit your entry right back out.”
Mina tucks her lips together to hide her laugh at Sana’s pout and leads the bickering pair across the platform and into the train. She curls herself into the corner of their chosen compartment and listens to the roar of the train as she presses her ear to the window.
“I think I’ll nap,” she announces—words falling on oblivious ears as Sana and Momo engage in an argument about who would win in an arm wrestle (“without the use of strengthening potions, Sana!” ) Mina lets her eyes flutter shut, persistent chugging of the train lulling her to sleep.
But nothing good can last, and just as sleep begins to cloud her brain, the compartment door slides open and Park Jihyo stands in the doorway with wide eyes that slowly settle into a smirk.
“Oh, hello,” she says to the three girls. “Not in your robes yet, Myoui? And where’s your prefect badge?” She asks, voice light and teasing as she points to her own badge fastened to her shiny robes.
Mina rolls her eyes. “The fifth years are the ones monitoring the train,” she says, feeling Sana and Momo trying terribly to suppress their grins.
Jihyo tuts. “Not setting a very good example for the little ones,” she chastises as she moves further into the compartment.
“What do you want, Park?” Mina asks tiredly, all hope for sleep now out the window.
“I was looking for Jeongyeon, but maybe I’ll sit here instead,” she offers. Mina groans as she moves to sit and her face scrunches in a scowl when Jihyo grins at the noise.
“No,” she says simply.
“Come on, Myoui. Look, I even complete the Hogwarts Crest! One Slytherin, one Hufflepuff, one Ravenclaw, and one Gryffindor,” she sings, pointing to each girl until her finger lands on herself.
Sana and Momo are positively giggling now and Mina wishes her friends weren’t so horrible at being friends. She feels her own lips beginning to quirk up at the sounds of their laughter, and the stupid look on Jihyo’s face as she waits for a reaction.
“Tough one to please, huh?” She asks when Mina doesn’t move. “Fine. I’ll see you when we stop,” she says, sending another dazzling smile to Sana and Momo who wave their goodbyes until Jihyo gently slides the compartment door shut once more.
“You’re so mean,” Sana laughs. “Jihyo isn’t even bad.”
“She likes getting a rise out of me,” Mina grumbles. “And you’re one to talk. One mention of Nayeon and you start frowning—see, like that.”
Sana straightens her back, face hardening into something serious. “That’s completely different,” she argues. “Nayeon is the evil spawn of what I believe to be a cross between a Doxy and Grindylow. Jihyo is just smart, and that makes your Ravenclaw ego upset.”
Mina rolls her eyes and lets her head fall back against the window with a thud. “Wake me up when we stop.”
[…]
The Dining Hall on the first day of school is always a surreal feeling—decorations strung from every corner, ceiling painted by the beautiful night sky, buzzing chatter that makes the air feel charged with electricity.
Mina straightens the prefect badge against her chest and takes a seat next to Kim Dahyun just as the entrance to the Hall opens once more and a line of First years follow behind Professor Bae to huddle at the front.
The Sorting Hat burst into its yearly song the moment Bae put it on its brittle stool and Mina hears a few snickers as some of the First years jump at the sound. It’s the same as every year—watching each First year sit beneath the Sorting Hat with clenched teeth and solid fists until their House is shouted to the very edges of the Dining Hall. Mina finds herself holding her breath with each student, letting out a sigh of relief with them all until the last student is sorted into Hufflepuff and the applause is ceased by the abundance of food filling each plate before them.
The Hall explodes into a cacophony of chatter, and Mina feels like the only stray words she catches from every end are Triwizard Tournament.
“Are you excited for the tournament?” Dahyun asks from next to her just as she empties her goblet of the chocolate milk that sat in it.
Mina smiles at the sight of the leftover milk on her lip before she shrugs. “It sounds interesting.”
“Interesting,” Dahyun echoes. “Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” she laughs. “It’s one of the most highly anticipated competitions in Wizarding history.”
“Really?” Mina asks, eyebrows raising in surprise. She figures she shouldn’t be that shocked—the only time she really keeps up with Wizard buzz outside of Hogwarts is when she visits Sana and Momo over summer.
Dahyun nods, face serious as she leans closer. “People even place bets on the Champions.”
Mina scrunches her nose. “Isn’t that kind of weird?”
“I guess,” Dahyun shrugs. “It’s like betting on Quidditch.”
Mina hums, not given an opportunity to reply as their plates are wiped clean. Professor Lee steps up to the podium with a brilliant smile and her yearly speech on the tip of her tongue.
“Welcome, students,” she starts. “Now that dinner is over, I have a few start-of-term notices to relay to you.” As always, she warns the first years of the Forbidden Forest, robotically recites a list of demands from the caretaker—Mina could almost repeat the speech verbatim.
This year, however, the chatter doesn’t start up again once she comes to a pause. Eager students wait for her to continue and Professor Lee’s eyes light up at the sight.
“Well, as I’m sure most of you know, this year Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament.” There’s a small break of excited noises before the sea of students fall silent once more. Professor Lee smiles her brilliant smile and continues, “Unfortunately, this means no Quidditch Cup this year. Durmstrang and Beauxbaton will be joining us in one month’s time and it’s on this day that the Goblet of Fire will be made available for eligible students to submit their names.” She looks around the room for a moment before clasping her hands together. “Alright then, with that out of the way—you may go back to your dormitories. Timetables will be given to you in the morning.”
Mina is only too excited as students slowly disperse back to their Common Rooms. She stands with a stretch and clears her throat.
“First years!” She calls over the rising volume of the Hall. “First year Ravenclaws follow me to the Common Room, please!”
When she sees a group of mousey-looking children line up next to her she begins to lead the way out of the Hall. To her great dissatisfaction, she bumps shoulders with Jihyo as they slowly file out of the doorway. Jihyo has her own line of small first years following her and Mina huffs as she tries to ignore her.
“Looks like we’ll be walking together,” Jihyo says through a bright grin. “Come on, first years!” She calls, booming voice much louder than Mina’s could ever be. “Keep up!”
Mina catches Dahyun’s wrist just as the girl begins to pass her and she pulls her close to her side. “Hi, Dahyun,” she says, ignoring her look of confusion. “Help me show the first years to the Ravenclaw Tower?”
Dahyun nods slowly letting Mina pull her further along. Mina ignores Jihyo’s laughter fading away behind her. “Don’t get lost!” She calls to the students that are trailing her. “These stairs like to change direction,” she mumbles, voice faltering when her eyes catch Jihyo’s from one level below, the other girl shooting her a wink that makes her huff in frustration.
Park Jihyo is the most insufferable person she knows.
[…]
Breakfast the next morning is good until it isn’t. Her favourite foods are being served, the tables are empty enough this early that Momo and Sana manage to sit next to her at the Ravenclaw table. And then their Heads of House begin scouring the tables to discuss classes.
“I can’t believe you two took Divination,” Mina mutters with a sour face once Momo and Sana finish talking to their Heads.
“It’s literally the easiest class here,” Momo says. “You just make stuff up and Kang passes you. Why wouldn’t we choose that over Ancient Studies?”
Sana nods in agreement, too busy eating to involve herself in the discussion. Mina sighs heavily, wondering who she’ll be sharing classes with for the year.
“It was so much easier when we did everything with our Houses,” she says quietly. Eyes tracing over the list of classes in front of her until she sees a shadow cast itself along the parchment.
“Nice, I can copy off of you in Potions again,” Nayeon says from behind her. Mina looks up at her with a half-hearted glare.
“Or you can study and do well on your own,” Sana grumbles, pushing her plate away as if the sight of Nayeon alone was enough to quell her appetite.
Nayeon narrows her eyes at Sana. “Mina loves letting me copy her. Right, Mina?”
Two heated pairs of eyes are on her and Mina mashes her lips together, suddenly very interested in the designs on the table. When she looks back up, Sana is smug and Nayeon is annoyed.
“Whatever,” Nayeon huffs. “I think you have, like, all your classes with Park by the way!” She calls over her shoulder as she makes her way out of the Dining Hall.
Mina feels a spark of annoyance in her chest and is suddenly glad she didn’t give Nayeon the upper hand over Sana—however childish that may be.
“I told you she’s evil,” Sana whispers next to her. Mina’s scowl softens into a smile before she bumps her shoulder into Sana’s.
“It’s fine,” she sighs. “I’m past letting Jihyo annoy me.”
[…]
Every year, Mina dreads the classes she’ll share with Jihyo—memories building her annoyance over the summer until she can’t stand to look at the Gryffindor when September rolls around. And every year, she realizes she maybe, slightly over-exaggerated Jihyo’s behaviour in every memory she replayed in her head.
But Mina is stubborn, and she’ll never admit this.
Begrudgingly, the first week goes by smoothly. She does, in fact, share almost her entire timetable with Jihyo—the only exceptions being Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. And Nayeon does, in fact, copy her work in Potions.
After a week, she accepts that she doesn’t necessarily mind either of these things. Jihyo is relatively quiet in classes, opting to listen and take notes rather than offer answers despite Mina knowing she has them. But she’s still Park Jihyo, and she still likes to make Mina’s blood simmer for a few measly moments of laughter.
She gives Mina a week of grace, is at least this merciful. But when they’re paired to review the lesson together in Transfiguration, when Mina extends kindness from the bottom of her heart—or an obligation to fill the silence—and asks, “are you sad that Quidditch is off for this year?”
Jihyo looks at her with that stupid smile and Mina already regrets asking at all. “Why? Miss cheering for me at games?” She asks, smile turning into a loud chuckle when Mina glares at her and turns her seat until her back is to Jihyo. Jihyo, who laughs until Professor Bae gives her a warning look that has her coughing into her fist and Mina smiling behind the parchment in her hands. “Sorry,” Jihyo mumbles to the Professor.
It’s enough to make up for Mina’s annoyance and she turns back around with a giddy smile.
[…]
Time begins to tick faster than ever and Mina feels heavy with the weight of the homework she takes back to her dormitory every day. It’s bearable enough, knowing these are classes that she’s chosen and ones that’ll actually benefit her in life after Hogwarts.
But it’s still tiring.
She watches the last of summer get eaten away by the autumn chill from the Ravenclaw Tower window and, before she knows it, she’s standing sandwiched between Momo and Sana as they excitedly await the Triwizard guests.
“Are you cold?” Sana asks for what feels like the millionth time, her own nose red with chill as she rubs Mina’s gloved hands between her own.
“I’m alright,” Mina mutters for what feels like the millionth time. Momo grabs her arm and shakes gently, pointing at the sky above the forest as a grand carriage flies above it.
Mina watches with her mouth slightly agape as abnormally large winged horses cut through clouds with their gold, glimmering wings. The carriage pulls along without a creak or waver, rustling the leaves of the forest’s trees and blowing a heavy wind toward the waiting crowd of staff and students.
“Beauxbaton,” Momo whispers helpfully. Mina nods as the carriage doors open and a flood of students pour out behind their Headmistress who counts them under her breath, looking almost bored.
Professor Lee greets her with a genuine, beaming grin. They exchange pleasantries while the students chatter about both the arrival of one school, and when the appearance of the other will be made.
“Just wait,” Sana says, bouncing with excitement. “Durmstrang comes on this huge ship. It’s so cool.”
And, as if on cue, the Great Lake rumbles and roars as something boils beneath the surface. Mina holds her breath in anticipation, watching with wide, dry eyes until the ship breaks to the surface and bobbles for a moment, like it’s not quite sure where it is. The Durmstrang students huddle on the top deck and wave sluggishly, heavy looking coats weighing them down.
Once they reach land and Professor Lee has greeted their Headmaster, the students are shuffled toward the Castle once more and Mina is delighted by the warmth as it swallows her whole. When they enter the Dining Hall, she quickly realizes it’s been enchanted, nearly doubling in size to accommodate the influx of students needing to be seated at once. There are two additional chairs placed along the staff table as well, and Mina watches the guest Headmasters take their seats before Professor Lee welcomes the two schools and their tables are filled with a welcoming feast once more.
To her credit, Professor Lee waits for all the plates to be emptied before standing and addressing the room. She looks around until silence falls and Mina feels in awe of her ability to build anticipation so thickly. The tension and excitement is palpable, oozing from the eager eyes of every student in the room and Professor Lee holds it for just one moment until—
“In a moment,” she begins, “the Triwizard Tournament will commence.”
Mina hangs on to her every word as she goes through her explanation. Catches that the Tournament is to test each champion in a plethora of ways—pushes limits of their magical knowledge, their problem solving, how well they hold their weight under pressure. Despite not caring for a moment about entering the competition, Mina feels herself on the edge of her seat, almost contemplating if it was worth it with the deliberate way Lee spoke.
And then she pauses, and the contemplation fades to nothing. Mina settles back into her seat comfortably once more, cheeks slightly red from how invested she had become.
Lee moves just down the steps and taps her wand against a box-like object on a table. The lid hisses with age as it opens and Lee’s eyes glimmer as she reaches in to remove its contents.
Its contents being the Goblet of Fire. Mina swallows heavily as she watches the blue flames lick against the golden rim, hungry and waiting.
“All those who are eligible have twenty-four hours to submit their names to the Goblet. This time tomorrow, the Goblet will have selected the three Champions,” Lee says. “Good luck, and now, goodnight!”
Slowly, the Dining Hall begins to empty. Most students linger longer than they usually would, scribbling their names on slips of parchment, and other students stay to watch as the Goblet swallows them whole. A few boys from Durmstrang enter their names together, a Beauxbaton girl following once they’re finished. Mina isn’t even quite aware that she’s one of the students left watching until a hand clasps her shoulder.
“Thinking about entering?” Sana asks from behind her. Mina looks at the hand on her shoulder and sees the small piece of parchment with Sana’s name written on it.
“No, but it seems like you are,” she says. “You know it’ll be dangerous, right?” Mina says slowly, thinking back to Lee’s speech.
“Relax,” Sana waves her off. “They have, like, a million safety protocols in place to ensure no students die.”
Mina looks at Sana like she’s a little bit of an idiot. “Dying isn’t the only bad thing that can happen to you.”
Sana shrugs. “If I’m not dead, then there’s always time to heal.” She pats Mina’s shoulder and then darts off to drop her name into the Goblet. Even through the distance, Mina can hear the soft gasp Sana lets out as the Goblet’s fire roars and then relaxes.
Sana grabs Mina’s hand with an enormous smile and tugs her out of the Dining Hall, giggling all the way.
[…]
The Dining Hall in the morning is filled with murmured theories and wondrous glances as students try to guess who has already put their names in the Goblet, and who has yet to. It’s still a surprise seeing the enlarged Hall, even more surprising still to see the strangers seated for breakfast.
The day goes by so agonizingly slow that Mina wonders if the past month that had blurred together is now expanding itself within one day. She finishes her homework, and then finishes her readings, and feels helpless when she still has an hour to go until Transfiguration.
Not that she would particularly mind on any other day—she’s still annoyed with Jihyo for laughing at how she pronounced Snargaluff in Herbology and could do without seeing her for the rest of the day. Today, however, Transfiguration is the only thing standing between her and the announcement of the champions.
She’s embarrassingly excited for it, and would never admit it if anybody asked. But there’s also the small bubble of dread in her stomach, hoping that Sana’s name isn’t blown from the blue flames tonight.
“Did you enter your name, Myoui?” Jihyo asks as they sit in front of two perfectly transfigured teacups that once were gerbils.
“No,” Mina answers shortly. If she hadn’t been holding on to annoyance, she may have noticed the nervous lilt to Jihyo’s question. If she hadn’t been holding onto annoyance, she also may have asked Jihyo the same question back.
But the dismissal bell rings, and Mina darts from the class so quickly that she’s sure she leaves a trail of flames behind her.
The excitement from the Dining Hall stretches all the way to the winding corridors. Students flooding the halls on their way to dinner, rapidly discussing who they hoped would be the Hogwarts representative.
“Hwang Hyunjin is really strong.”
“Yeah, but he’s kind of… dim, don’t you think?”
“I bet it’ll be Yoo Jeongyeon.”
“Did she even enter?”
“People are guessing she snuck down at night and submitted her name so no one would know.”
“Well, that’s a little silly. Don’t you think it…”
The rambling conversations of strangers float away as the corridor opens into the packed Dining Hall. It feels smaller today, more condensed despite the Enlargement Spell still being in effect—the excited tension fills the room to the brim.
“You think I’ll get picked?” Sana muses as she takes a seat next to Mina.
Nayeon, who had entered the Dining Hall with Sana, rolls her eyes. “Please, you’d trip over your own two feet. Your clumsiness is more life threatening than anything the Tournament could throw at you.” She says it like it’s supposed to bite, but Mina squints her eyes at the hint of nervousness in Nayeon’s voice.
“Do you hear something?” Sana asks Mina brightly, not catching the undertones that Mina did. Nayeon rolls her eyes once more, flicking Sana on the arm and smiling at her loud whine before she moves to sit at the Slytherin table.
“Sana,” Momo’s voice booms as she marches from the Hufflepuff table. It’s quite a funny sight—an angry Hufflepuff, and even funnier, an angry Momo. Mina raises her eyebrows in amusement and waits for Momo to reach them. “You entered your name?”
Sana winces, and Mina could smack her.
“Yeah,” Sana nods slowly. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Momo looks angry for another moment, and then sits down with a huff. “It’s fine,” she says and then, just as her plate fills with dinner, “I entered too.”
Two voices shriek, “what?” And a few Ravenclaws grimace at the volume.
“The fire looked cool and I wanted to see it get big!” Momo defends. “I won’t be chosen, anyway.”
Mina feels the urge to scold her for literally magically binding herself to a promise by entering her name, all for the sake of seeing the fire get big, but resigns herself to a tired sigh as she watches Momo stuff her cheeks with dinner to avoid conversation. They eat in peaceful quiet until Professor Lee stands and their plates are wiped clean.
“Students, please, back to your House tables,” she says, waiting as students scramble back to their seats. Sana and Momo wave goodbye and head to their own tables and Lee only speaks once the air has settled into silence. “Now, I’m sure you’re all very excited so I won’t keep you waiting. The announcing of the three champions will now commence.”
A new, heavier silence spreads itself thickly throughout the Dining Hall as the Goblet begins to spark and choke on its own fire. Professor Lee stands next to it, calm as ever when she reaches a hand out and catches the first charred piece of parchment paper that it spits out.
“The first champion,” she booms, loud and important, “is Song Mingi, from Durmstrang!”
The sea of students breaks into a loud roar. Durmstrang guests whoop the loudest as one of the boys from their group stands with a brilliant grin, and Mina thinks the excitement is infectious as she watches the Goblet begin to spark once more.
“The second champion,” Lee starts, smoking piece of parchment held delicately between her fingers. “Ha Sooyoung, from Beauxbaton!”
The cheers this time are, if possible, even louder. Sooyoung looks slightly dazed and her fellow Beauxbaton students are hardly able to hide their jealousy. Momo seems to notice this, too, because she catches Mina’s eye and they share a laugh until their attention is pulled back to Professor Lee.
“The third and final champion,” she calls out, parchment floating gently down toward her palm, “from Hogwarts—Park Jihyo!”
The applause is deafening—beastly roars from the Gryffindor table and loud cheers of excitement from all other Hogwarts houses as Jihyo is propped up on two Gryffindor boys’ shoulders. Mina’s expecting a smug look of satisfaction, some type of pride, but all she sees is nervous confusion and shock.
Did Jihyo really think she wouldn’t be chosen at all?
And then Mina wonders why Jihyo hadn’t said anything about submitting her name, why no one in the hall was betting on Jihyo when she was the obvious choice for Hogwarts champion.
“Are you okay?” She hears Momo ask from somewhere behind her.
She pulls her eyes away from a now-beaming Jihyo who is led into a room just off of the Dining Hall with the other champions, sees Momo and Sana waiting for her. “Yeah, sorry—I zoned out.”
“Okay,” Momo nods easily. “Let’s go? We can have a sleepover in my dorm.”
“Sure,” Mina says, only half-listening. Her mind is still stuck on Jihyo.
As she’s guided through the corridors toward the Hufflepuff Common Room, she lets out a heavy sigh.
She’ll never understand Jihyo.