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"wow, a prefect! imagine all the responsibility. at least your badge is pretty."
☆☆☆
The trip to King's Station is rigid.
Shinhyung and Hyoeun are stiff and silent and dripping in disdain in the Ministry-appointed Muggle transportation device. Eunbyeol shifts uncomfortably in the compartment—a car, was it?—and tries to adjust the fabric strap that wrapped around her torso and lap. She winces when her arm knocks agains Hwaseul's cage and sends it jangling.
They arrive at the massive station just before the silence overwhelms Eunbyeol and drives her to insanity. She exits the car with as much grace and speed as possible. Shinhyung and Hyoeun part the teeming station into two as if they are gods, and Eunbyeol follows, luggage in tow. They slip through the wall between the ninth and tenth entrance and find themselves on a train platform just as crowded as the one before. "Be good, Eunbyeol," Shinhyung tells her stiffly. "Do not disappoint us."
"Yes, father." Eunbyeol bows her head.
Hyoeun nods in agreement. "Get good grades and don't embarrass the Moon name."
"Yes, mother." Eunbyeol bows again and boards the train as fast as she can. It doesn't take her long to find Padma, who is lounging in a compartment with her sister, Parvati, and Lavender Brown.
"Eunbyeol!" Padma is warm and comforting, like honey and autumn leaves. The Indian girl embraces her housemate eagerly. She smells like cinnamon and parchment, so familiar and comforting and so Ravenclaw. Eunbyeol can't exactly explain how the scent fills her chest with something warm and hazy, like smoke curling up from candles. "How was your break?"
"It was fine, thank you." Padma's smile falters at Eunbyeol's quiet, reserved answer, but she continues.
"Would you like to sit with us?"
Eunbyeol bites her lip and considers searching for Ginny. "Yes. I have an hour before I have to go to the prefect meeting."
"Prefect?" Lavender Brown swoops into the conversation, blonde hair sending a swish of strawberry shampoo. "Can I see the badge?" The girl is awfully nosy and childish, but she means well, so Eunbyeol obliges. "Wow, a prefect! Imagine all the responsibility. At least your badge is pretty," Lavender coos, running a finger over the gleaming badge. "So pretty. I bet Harry and Granger are the Gryffindor prefects."
Eunbyeol notices the use of Hermione's last name compared to Harry's first name and frowns. "Granger?"
Lavender flushes as if she was a child caught stealing sweets. "Hermione, I mean. I don't have anything against her, honest. She's just too bossy for my tastes. She's always studying or yelling at Ron or spouting off bouts of information nobody really cares about and oh!" She cuts her ramble short with a nervous, tittering laugh. "She just needs to loosen up, is all."
