Chapter Text
"San wait" Seonghwa called after her familiar as it ran out of the dorm room for the nth night that school year, they didn't particularly like being strict with letting it roam free but it had become a pattern and she was getting curious to as what had taken the familiar interest to cause it to always go out around the same time at night. The white cat ignored its witch and kept running through the dark corridors of the castle, Hwa debated on following the familiar it was well past curfew, she didn't like breaking the school rules but she reasoned that it was necessary to ensure their familiar safety. The teachers would probably understand, they knew they never broke the rules in all the years of studying at Aurora. “Why are we in one of the unused classes? San there’s nothing here, let’s go back to the dorm.” She called for the familiar that didn’t listen to them and sneaked into the empty classroom, only the classroom wasn’t empty. When they entered the room determined to grab her familiar and go back to bed, it was getting late and cold in the castle hallways, they found San cuddled against a black cat a little smaller than their own familiar, another familiar, one they had never seen on the school grounds. Black cat familiars were said to be only tied to those who were born with dark magic, a type of magic that used to be forbidden from the school, it was said to be way more harmful than any other kind of magic could ever be. Seonghwa had always considered it unfair towards those born with it that did not wish to cause harm, they had been one of the only ones that had been happy to hear the change in the rules for that school year. Most of the student body and their parents had caused an uproar about their own safety, and how they were letting evil into the school, but Seonghwa thought it was stupid and discriminatory everyone deserved a chance. “You have dark magic,” They said as they saw the other person in the classroom, by the looks of it another student, the uniform worn by the other indicated that they were in the same year, even if their uniform was visibly altered from its original state, but Seonghwa was sure they had never seen the other before. “Thank you for stating the obvious, get your cat back or not, but leave, I have assignments to finish '' The other student spoke without taking his gaze off the cauldron in front of him, focused on the task at hand. “It’s past curfew, I should report you to a teacher,” Seonghwa replied, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall for support. They were intrigued to know more about the mysterious student. “You are out past curfew just like I am, so leave or help me with the assignment” the other replied, tone still annoyed, making Seonghwa question their own sanity because that tone was doing things to her. "What are you making? And anyway, why should I help you?" She wanted to say yes just to spend more time with the other student, just out of curiosity, and they could feel the judgment in their familiar's eyes as the two cats witnessed the scene. Seonghwa had a feeling San probably knew more about the situation, she'd have to ask the familiar later, especially with how the two cats were cuddling. They had never seen San interact with another familiar, let alone cuddle with one.
"Because you are Park Seonghwa, highest grades in every class and the professors told you to help the new student if case needed. Case is needed and I am the new student" The shorter witch's voice broke them out of their thoughts, he had a point the professors had told her that. "Well, then I will need to help you Mr new student. So what are you working on?" She spoke as she moved to examine the very questionable content in the cauldron, it looked like it belonged in a book as an example of what your potion should never look like unless it's a poisonous one, but they had faith that that was not what the dark witch was trying to make.
"I have a name you know? I'm trying to make a sleeping potion but I can't get it to turn the right shade, my previous teachers always said I'm a terrible potionist." The new student admitted glancing at the potion with disgust. "You might but I don't know it, you should tell me if you want my help. It's only fair as you know mine already." They took another glance at the cauldron content before making it disappear with a swift motion of her hand. "It's best if we start from scratch before you accidentally create a new type of poison." The shorter witch opened his mouth to complain about the white haired witch's assumptions but was interrupted by them before he could say anything. "Anyone could by messing up, especially with a sleeping potion, not just because you have dark magic" Seonghwa explained before checking all the ingredients that were scattered across the
working table. "Okay, I'm Hongjoong by the way. So professor Park, what's the first step?"
The new student, hongjoong, said looking over to the textbook to check what the first step to begin the potion was, simple water. "Order your ingredients, you can't work in chaos. Don't argue or I won't help, this mess is driving me insane" Seonghwa knew that she was lucky not to have a roommate, as if they were to be paired with someone messy they would probably fight with them more often than not. Hongjoong followed the light witch's instructions word by word but by the time morning came they had 5 batches of failed potions. Sometimes during the last attempt, Seonghwa had drifted off to sleep with the two familiars on her lap, still cuddling one another.
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"You look rough Hwa, had some fun last night? Finally, let one of your many suitors fuck you dumb?" Seonghwa rolled their eyes at her best friend's insinuations, she had known the younger since they were both children and he had never not tried to meddle in their love life. “Super fun, had to help the new kid study, he’s absolutely terrible at potions.” They complained as they hooked her arm with her best friend’s and headed towards the first class of the morning. “You are just too demanding” Yeosang said, teasing the older witch, before she could ask what she meant by being absolutely terrible they were interrupted by another student.
“Who’s demanding?” The new comer, Yunho, asked draping an arm on either one of his two friends holding them close, using his height and built to his advantage. “Hwa unnie is”
“I knew they would be demanding in bed too” The two younger witches commented, making the white haired witch roll their eyes for the second time that morning, if the two kept this behavior up she was going to find new friends. “Why does everyone think I had sex?!” Why was everyone so invested in her sex life, couldn't their younger friends let them be over it. “Your uniform is not your usual perfectly pristine one” The tallest of the friend group, and Yunho's partner, Mingi pointed out as they joined the trio, causing Seonghwa to scoff and try to iron out the creases in her clothes with her hands.
“For the second time, I helped the new student with school work” They said again giving each one of the three younger witches a stern look, she did not want to hear anymore comments about how they had spent their night.
“Did you use your special method?” Yunho inquired looking at the older one with curious eyes, causing Hwa to sigh nothing was going to stop the three witches' curiosity.
“No yuyu, I barely know him, I actually met him only because Sannie kept running away at night and I wanted to know what he was getting into, turns out he’s cuddling with the new witch’s familiar.” She explained as they sat down at their respective desks, thankfully the charms teacher soon followed and they weren't bothered by more curious questions.
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"Oh now you look at me like that?" Seonghwa giggled as their cat looked at her with hopeful eyes, the familiar definitely wanted her to go with it to meet the dark witch and his familiar. "I can't keep breaking rules just because you are so cute and I can't say no to you" They felt silly sometimes reasoning with a cat but she knew that San wasn't a regular cat, he was a familiar which meant it understood everything that its bonded witch told him. Sometimes the familiars could communicate telepathically with the witches but it was more of a rare case that happened only when strictly necessary as it took a lot of energy out of both familiar and witch. "No no don't look at me with your cute little sad face" Her complaint did nothing to stop the familiar from sulking, who knew cats could sulk so well? "You win, you win, let's go see your friend" The word friend gained him a push and a stern look from the cat. "Oh not your friend? Your partner?" Hwa laughed as they realized how absurd they must sound in the moment and grabbed her robe to put over the pink pajamas she was wearing and followed the familiar to the usual empty classroom.
"Oh you again," The dark witch said as he saw her, making the blonde scoff. She was out of bed, after curfew, only because they wanted to help him and this was the welcome she received. "Hello to you too Hongjoong, still troubles with potion, or is it a different subject?" They inquired taking the book out of the shorter one's hands making him complain, the complaint fell on deaf ears. "I see, it's history today. That you shouldn't have trouble with, is not like you can risk brewing or casting something deadly. I guess Sannie and I will go back to bed now that it said hi to Wooyoungie" She said giving Hongjoong back his book with a small smile and turning around to call the familiar. "Wait! Can you help me with that too? I'm not really a good student..." The usually confident dark witch looked almost shy asking for help studying. Normally Seonghwa would have refused, they already didn’t want to be out past curfew let alone spend anymore time out of bed, but she found the other witch too attractive to refuse the offer to spend more time with him. “I’ll help you but this is the last time we are meeting past curfew, I don’t care to be caught and get written up. Next time we’ll meet before curfew at either of our dorms. You can bring Wooyoungie” She decided on compromising, not wanting to put an end to these meetings but also not wanting to risk their school career.
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“He’s your soulmate” San spoke in the light witch’s head, startling her, it was only the second time the familiar had spoken in their head, the first one being when they bonded at the familiar summoning. Seonghwa had been studying in her dorm room completely engrossed in the textbook they were reading, not quite paying attention to their familiar who she assumed was napping on her lap. San was napping but as it woke up he realized why they had both been drawn to the dark witch and his familiar, the realization seemed to have shocked its witch. “Impossible Sannie, that’s literally impossible. Witches haven’t been able to find their soulmates in centuries… Is that why you have been sneaking off to all these nights? Is his familiar your soulmate? Oh …… he is my soulmate, my soulmate is a dark witch.” They were ramblings, looking at their familiar in shock. She remembered being a child and reading about soulmates and dreaming of one day meeting her but never had they expected to actually meet them. The more they thought about it the more it made sense, especially with how the two familiars had bonded, she knew full well how San usually shied away from other familiars. “What am I going to do now?” She asked no one specifically, more to herself than anything. They didn’t know if they should tell the other student or if it was best if she kept it to herself, what were they going to tell him anyways? My familiar thinks you are my soulmate and I happen to agree, ridiculous she was going to sound insane. Plus they had never dated anyone, preferring to focus on their studies, sure she had had some flings but never something serious, how would she know how to behave with her soulmate? They distracted themselves from the soulmate issue by focusing back on the curse work they had to do, leaving no room to think about the shorter witch.
Through dinner, their friends kept teasing them about their newfound friendship if it could even be called that, with Hongjoong. She had thought about sharing it with them and asking for their opinion but they endured enough teasing about the dark witch as if there was no need to add fuel to the fire. “There’s more to Hongjoong than you are telling us” Damned be Yeosang and his intuition, it wasn’t even a question just a statement, she almost wanted to deny it and say that there was nothing more to it but she knew better than to tell the younger that their intuition was wrong, so they simply nodded and left before they could ask anything.
Between the revelation that Hongjoong was her soulmate and the panic that had caused her to forget that the other witch was supposed to come to their dorm to study, only remembering about it once he knocked on the bedroom’s door. “Sannie what do I do? I can’t face him” She knew that asking her familiar was a little bit pointless as it wanted to push the two of them together, but he was the only one that knew about the soulmate situation. “Hwa can we talk? Wooyoung told me something that I think you should know”
So the familiars had planned to tell them on the same day, which meant that Hongjoong knew that they were soulmates and yet he still came to knock on their door and wanted to talk. Seonghwa felt like a coward in comparison, they assumed it was a difference in how they were raised, maybe Hongjoong’s family believed more in soulmates than her own ever did. Their mother used to chastise them whenever they talked about their dreams of finding their soulmate. “I can’t Hongjoong, not today… please” They murmured without opening the door or leaving the bed, she just hoped that the other would understand that it was hard for her to accept that they were soulmates, they just needed some space to accept it in their brain before they could talk to the shorter witch. “I think it’s important we talk about it, Hwa. It doesn’t mean anything, we don’t have to date just because of this, I know you probably have someone else.” Hongjoong paused, Seonghwa thought she could see the usual expression he would assume when trying to word something. “Someone better, someone who doesn’t have dark magic in them. But I thought we could be friends at least?” Seonghwa felt their cat’s judging expression glued on them as they both heard Hongjoong voice be only a little bit over whispering levels. “There’s no one else, you idiot. I am scared and being a coward okay? I grew up being told that soulmates were a childish thing to wish for. I never thought I would find mine. I hoped when I was little but my mother would scold me for it so I stopped. Yet, here you are proof of it being a reality.” She stood up from the bed, she was certain that if she didn’t San would have scratched them just for being a stupid coward, they probably deserved it, and went to open the door to face her soulmate. “I don’t know how to act now” She admitted looking at her feet instead that at Hongjoong, the dark witch cupped their cheek making them look at him, he was smiling sweetly at her, and she felt her cheeks heat up at the gesture. “As you always did. You know, you being so bossy made me like you even more. But I meant it when I said nothing has to change, we can take things slow and see how we want to move forward together.” Seonghwa began crying at the dark haired witch’s words, he hugged them drying their tears with gentle strokes of their cheeks. “I like you too even if you are a disaster of a student, enough of this soulmate talk, I need to make sure you don’t fail I am not staying behind to wait for you,” She said after spending a while enjoying the hug of their soulmate, they took the two cats in her lap and sat on the bed waiting for Hongjoong to do the same so she could quiz him on the topic of their next test.