Both are talking in Korean IC Date: August 22nd 2022

“Eun-ji! Lee Eun-ji, where are you hiding?” She wasn’t hiding. The Ravenclaw was just running away from her problems thank you very much. A good book and a purring cat in her lap were a perfect recipe for escape. “Ah…there you are.” And yet, she was actually glad when Ye-jun finally managed to find her. Eun-ji was pretending to be wholly unaffected by the reality of him leaving tomorrow morning however she was doing a poor job of it. To people that knew her well at least, to which category her cousin definitely belonged. “You can’t keep moping forever, come on how about we go outside?” The boy suggested cheerfully. He was also pretending. For whose sake were they even doing this if they both saw right through one other? It was hard to say really…perhaps to make themselves feel better. “Outside? Where? You did notice how hot is it out there, didn’t you?” The wizard huffed, definitely unamused by her unwillingness to do move. “Well duh. It’s summer but I have a plan.” Eun-ji still wasn’t entirely convinced but it did feel wrong, wasting their last day together at home. “Fine, I shall trust you once more.” The girl relented eventually and went to her room to change. Whatever he had in mind couldn't be that bad. After all, last time he decided to surprise her, she got a greenhouse out of it.

The two of them ended up taking the family bike to get to their destination. It was indeed too hot to walk and according to Ye-jun, their destination wasn’t necessarily close either. The Ravenclaw was a bit worried, especially when he told her to leave Mordred at home yet she already promised to trust him and follow his lead and being a person that liked to keep their promises, she couldn’t change her mind now. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to recognise where he was taking them. The path was familiar despite the fact that she wasn’t here for several years already. “You still remember?” Eun-ji asked curiously after the bike stopped by the beautiful lake. It was lunchtime so the place was mostly devoid of people. “Of course I do, we used to come here every summer.” The girl smiled as the nostalgia hit her with a full force. Those were simpler times. They still had problems back then but those were gone now and replaced with something much worse. Something they couldn’t quite fight off on their own. “Come on, let’s refresh ourselves a bit.” The boy added cheekily. “Are you serious? Oppa...we are not kids anymore.” She protested halfheartedly, watching him walk towards the lake without any hesitation. “So you keep saying but kid or not, the scorching sun is still dreadful to me.” He was now ankles deep into the water and didn’t look like he was going to change his mind anytime soon.

Eun-ji huffed. She wasn’t a reckless person but it did look refreshing and her cousin definitely took her here in order to lift her spirits. I should play along. She owed him that much at least. Smiling at his antics, the witch put her bag on the ground and rushed to join him. “We look insane.” She informed him as they raced each other further into the lake. “But it’s fun.” He retorted. Eun-ji chuckled at that. “But it’s fun,” she confirmed as she splashed his face. Ye-jun immediately returned the favour of course but she didn’t mind. The water wasn’t freezing and their clothes would dry up in no time in the today’s heat. “By the way, I really hate your grandparents!” The boy called out as if he was talking about weather...very loudly. He probably did so on purpose. If he suddenly turned serious, it would ruin the mood. Most would consider this a really bad timing and attitude but the Ravenclaw didn’t mind. There was not much time left for them to talk and this kind of approach actually made it much easier for her to open up. “I know…me too!” She called back. “I wish they would disappear.” Die was the first word that came to mind but she stopped herself just in time. Ye-jun couldn’t know how dark some of her wishes truly were and it felt freeing just saying this aloud. A huge weight was lifted of her shoulders and her cousin looked extremely proud as he gave her a 'job well done' hug . It was clear he was just excited that she finally shared some of her honest feelings with him. It only took her the whole summer but it was progress.

END OF PART 10

Blue in English, Red in Korean IC Date: August 31st 2022: Chester

The last couple days after the boys left were dreadful to say the least. Mrs. Hunt had taken it upon herself to ‘entertain’ Eun-ji since she no longer had to practice and Morgana was lost to her, leaving the girl with very little to no reason for venturing outside. “Seriously, why do I even bother with you. Had I not lost Alex, I wouldn't have to spend so much effort on the likes of you.” The Ravenclaw gritted her teeth, desperately trying not to talk back. She knew it would only make things worse but it felt incredibly unfair to be treated like this day after day. It's not like she wanted to do this. The Hunts were the ones who suddenly decided to show up and ruin her perfectly peaceful life. “Can't you at least pretend like you are trying to look half decent?” For whom? She was stuck at home or her grandparents' summerhouse most of the time now. She just wanted to rest and breathe a little. “Well...at least she's naturally...kind of pretty... I guess our genes still did their job after all.” Her aunt chimed in unhelpfully. She was trying to act agreeable ever since their little secret talk but she was a terrible liar and therefore sounded incredibly awkward every time she tried to play nice. Anemone was obviously caught off guard by her comment but seemed to consider her words anyway. “Hmm...I suppose. I like the hair at least.” She decided after what felt like an eternity of judgemental staring. Ugh. Eun-ji liked her hair too. That's why she kept them so long but she wasn't sure she'd feel the same about them now…

It was a stupid reaction of course. Extremely childish and so ill-fitting her character but she just couldn't help it. “Keep them long. It's certainly eye-catching if nothing else.” Stop...just stop. “Sure,” she said instead. “May I go now? I'm leaving for Hogwarts tomorrow so I still need to pack.” That part was a lie of course. The Ravenclaw didn’t do anything last minute if she could help it. She was all packed up and ready to go but she did want to go to the Korean mart and buy some snacks and cooking stuff. She would be allowed to use kitchens this year. “Fine...we'll see you next summer then. Make sure to behave yourself at school and I want to see some duelling progress too.” Eun-ji was only half listening. She was honestly tired of the woman and couldn't wait to get away from her. Some days she fought, today she'd rather give up and end her two months of misery. “Of course.” She agreed without an ounce of enthusiasm in her voice before finally leaving her relatives behind. The air around outside felt much lighter than it did that morning.

“Oh god...how much stuff did you actually buy?” Eleanor sounded genuinely horrified when Eun-ji dragged herself home at noon. All right, maybe she got carried away a little. “Don't worry, I'm not taking everything with me but can you cast a preserving spell to those that I choose to take?” Her mother seemed a bit hesitant at first but eventually agreed to do so. It was a simple request she probably just thought Eun-ji cooked plenty at home and she shouldn't bother doing so at Hogwarts as well. For a moment, she simply forgot that her daughter loved preparing meals for herself and others. “I have a double shift but your dad will be taking you to the king's cross tomorrow. I'll write you as soon as I can, okay?” The woman promised, giving her daughter a short goodbye hug. Will you? The young witch wondered. The previous two years suggested otherwise but she didn't want to fight with her mother before leaving. They already argued more than she’d like because of the Hunts. It really wasn’t worth it.

Once Eleanor left, Eun-ji looked at her packed up suitcase and sighed. She didn't feel like reading or drawing and she studied plenty. There was really only one thing she wanted to do today. It was the one thing she was eager to do the whole summer but her father prohibited her from doing so. The summer holiday thus far proved to be chaotic enough to keep her mind occupied at all times but now, sitting in an empty house, it was considerably harder to resist. She missed her grandpa dearly. “Just a few minutes...surely a few minutes should be okay, right? My dad doesn’t even need to know.” She asked Mordred who seemed entirely uninterested in her internal struggle. The clock stroke three and she knew it was now or never. The visiting hours would be over soon. And so just like that, for the first time in her life, the witch decided to oppose her father. It was one of those times where her heart won over the brain. She may have been beyond reasonable for her age but she was still just a human.

“He is getting better but his memories did not come back and he is still a bit weak. He lost a lot of muscle while he was in coma. We are working on getting him to walk again but it might take a bit more time.” The nurse explained as one of the staff wheeled her grandpa to the hospital park for some fresh air. “You can say hi but be ready. He most likely won't recognise you.” Eun-ji knew as much but that didn't make this any easier. “Hello,” she greeted the man hesitantly. He didn't look much better but he wasn't as thin as the last she saw him at least. Crouching down in front of him, the girl carefully touched the his warm hand. “How are you feeling today?” Her grandpa looked visibly confused and it was clear her face indeed did not ring any bells. Still, she couldn't tell him who she was. His mind was stuck in the past, a world where she didn’t exist. It would be incredibly selfish to force his memories and it probably wouldn’t work anyway. “I'm sorry for the sudden visit but we used to know each other.” Nothing...just a blank lifeless stare. It was honestly unnerving. “My name is Eun-ji.” She added. Something flickered in her grandpa’s eyes upon hearing the name. Did he perhaps recognise it? Could it be that somewhere deep down he still remembered her? The Ravenclaw didn’t get much time to ponder about it...

“Die...” Without any warning, the patient launched himself at her, wrapping his hands around her slender neck. Eun-ji’s cheek hit the concrete rather unfortunately but she didn't have the capacity to care. The man that used to adore her to no end was trying to hurt her...maybe even kill her. For someone that was recovering from such serious injuries, he seemed pretty strong at that very moment...or perhaps it was just the position and added weight of his body. She was struggling to breathe by the time the nurse got her bearings. She couldn’t really blame her though. Brain injury patients had a tendency to be emotional and angry but this must have been a huge shock anyway. Not as big as it was to the witch though. Her vision was getting blurry but she still saw the hatred mirrored in her grandfather’s eyes. Why was this happening? She couldn’t concentrate enough to even attempt to find an answer. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, the medical staff rushed in and pried the man off her. “Are you okay?” Someone asked. It sounded as if it was coming from miles away. Eun-ji chuckled in response. She must have looked a bit insane but really….wasn’t that just the most ridiculous question? How could she be okay? A single tear escaped the corner of her eye and more threatened fall but she rubbed her eyes viciously to get rid of them just in time. Crying wouldn’t fix this. Nothing could.

Sitting in the nurse office afterwards, felt like a torture to her. Eun-ji just wanted to ran away and hide. From the nurses, from her family... from the whole world. Preferably forever. She hated the staff fretting over her as if they actually knew her. “I’m fine,” she snapped at the guy that kept asking her questions. Finally the adults got the hint and retreated from the room, leaving her with just the head nurse who was currently on the phone with her father. The witch refused to give her his number but it didn’t seem to matter. He was already in their database as a guardian so it didn’t take long for them to get it. The whole conversation was completely lost on her; it was only when the nurse started talking to her that Eun-ji started paying attention. Well…as much as she was able to anyway. “I’m sorry, it seems Dr. Lee has an emergency case and won’t be able to pick you up. Would you like me to call somebody else? Any other relative? Friends?” The Ravenclaw huffed as she was forced to face the harsh reality that there was indeed no one else she could call. Her mother had a double shift and there was no way she’d call any of the other Hunts to pick her up. They would never let her live this down. “No...I’ll just take an Uber.” She answered curtly, eager to get away. She hated the pity in the woman’s eyes as the door finally closed behind her. Eun-ji didn't need her pity. She was fine.

END OF PART 11 - Thread finished