WITCHCRAFT | jungri

♚Eighteen♚

a/n: it's been months, my loves. hope this chapter makes up for it <3 (who am I kidding nothing will make up for my ridiculous extended unnecessary hiatus I'm so sorry)

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So far, Yeri had managed to make it two more weeks at Hogwarts without any sort of chaos erupting around her.

Just a week ago, the students had restarted their classes after the horrible incident at the Yule Ball. The process was as normal as it had been before, though students seemed to be more cautious due to the recent tragic events. Every slam of a door or drop of a textbook made Yeri jump— she knew she was being overly alert, but there was nothing she could do to stop herself. She could feel her mental state deteriorating, though her friends and professors were doing their best to help her feel safe.

The girls from Beauxbatons had long since departed back to their school, as had the boys from Durmstrang. Yeri missed all of them already, and made sure to send letters every few days just to make sure they were holding up okay. She especially missed Sungwoo, and Eunbi of course— though there really wasn't much she could do about that situation. All of the students were left traumatized upon hearing of her death, even the ones that hadn't known her well.

"How'd you do?" Jungkook asked, summoning Yeri from her stream of thoughts as she looked up at him. His presence brought her comfort, needless to say— something she really needed at a time like this.

Wordlessly, Yeri slid her graded test paper over to him, looking down at the empty space in front of her.

"Seventy-five," Jungkook frowned, giving Yeri a look of pity. "It's okay, I didn't do too well either."

"I'm not even going to act like I didn't see that fat one-hundred mark on your paper, Jungkook," Yeri said, annoyance tinting her voice. "It's fine, I don't need any more pity."

She was right. Ever since the attack, Yeri's mind hadn't been in the right place. She'd relished in the time she had to herself and with her friends during the time they'd had off from school. Now that they were back, however, she found herself struggling more than ever before. Even her teachers had been giving her extra points on her homework, quizzes and exams out of pity.

"Sorry," Jungkook apologized, quietly observing the upset first-year. Anyone with common sense could see that the boy's heart ached for Yeri, yet there wasn't much he could do in a situation like this. It was difficult to see Yeri in such pain, and the times that she was seen as happy and carefree were quite rare nowadays.

"Stay around her as much as possible," Jungkook remembered Wendy's words from a week ago when he'd dropped her back off at her common room. "Your presence seems to comfort her the most."

At this point, Jungkook could care less about how the public perceived their relationship— or whatever it was, really; he didn't even know himself. Ever since Yeri's traumatic experience, he'd completely dropped his 'I-hate-you-but-maybe-I'm-into-you' act and simply focused on trying to make himself useful around her— so much to the point that he himself had no idea what the two of them were anymore.

To say he was confused would be a giant understatement.

Sure, Jungkook was a lot nicer nowadays in an attempt to not irritate Yeri up to the point where her mental state completely deteriorated (though it was already pretty banged up at this point), and sure, the two had held hands a few times during their break from classes, but they'd never really talked about where they stood. "Friends" seemed too subtle, but "Couple" seemed to intimate.

At times like this, Jungkook wished that things in his life could set themselves clear. Besides, everyone else seemed to have their relationships fully established: Seulgi and Jimin were official after Jimin had abruptly asked Seulgi to be his girlfriend, Joy was constantly sneaking out to meet Seokjin despite the fact that everybody already knew about their not-so-secret relationship, Hufflepuff's newest and hottest couple — Jisoo and Yuta — were finally confirmed, and according to the endless gossip heard from Yeri and the entire Ravenclaw house, Eunwoo had dumped Sejeong for some first-year Ravenclaw hottie named Doyeon, while Sejeong found herself a new boyfriend from Gryffindor named Doyoung— a third year like herself.