All This Time | Enhypen

| 16 |

There was a rhythmical drumming amongst the chatter in the Hufflepuff common room. Time and time again Millie's fingertips drummed against the table surface she had dragged Kumiko to, eventually also getting accompanied by Sunoo.

"I'm bored," Millie remarked a look of dissatisfaction spreading across her face.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Kumiko questioned, glancing arouns the common room before letting her eyes land on Millie.

"I don't know... what are the others doing?" Millie questioned, cocking her head a bit to the side before placing her cheek into the palm of her hand.

"Ravenclaw has Quiddith practice," Kumiko sighed and looked down at her palm, "I don't know about Jay and Soomin though."

"Sunghoon's not on the Quidditch team either," Millie reminded.

"I bribed him to tutor Emi," Kumiko shook her head.

"But she's one of the smartest in class," Sunoo frowned and finally tuned in to the conversation beside him.

"Yeah, but she's not too enthusiastic about magic," Kumiko scrunched up her nose as she brushed her hair over behind her ears, "I hopes Sunghoon could help on it."

"Jay and Soomin are probably fetching more rat tails from Snape," Millie chuckled and scratched the palm of her hand quietly, "if I didn't know better I would've thought they were sneaking off together."

"They might as well," Kumiko shrugged.

A silence fell over the trio as neither of them looked at each other. Seemingly all trying to find something fun to do.

"Why is it that Emiko isn't too enthusiastic about magic?" Sunoo frowned and looked towards the ceiling, "I mean... I find it quite nice, I'm sure dad will as well once I'm allowed to do magic at home."

"Mom insisted that we went to muggle school before we would start at Hogwarts," Kumiko shrugged, "I always understood that we don't speak about magic in public, but Emi didn't get it. The other kids in her grade wasn't the kindest to her, because she always spoke of magic. I think she dislikes it in some way because of that."

"Makes sense," Sunoo nodded quietly before glancing around and letting out a sigh, "what even happened to that troll in the dungeon last week?"

"Some first years fought it in the girls' lavatory," Kumiko shrugged.

"I heard it was Harry Potter and friends," Millie added on, "Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, I think."

"Hm..." Sunoo hummed with a small nod, "I could see that. They've been running around being all shady. I could imagine things going more wrong with each year."

"Probably," Millie hummed in agreement before finally getting up from her chair, attracting more attention from the two people across from her. Both looking curious as to what she was going to do now, "If you don't mind. I think I might go to the kitchen's and ask if I can get allowance to bake a cake or something with leftover ingredients that need to be used anyway."

"What cake?" Kumiko questioned.

"You'll have to wait and see for dinner," Millie grinned, "I'll have it served on the Hufflepuff table anyways. So you'll just have to be excited for the result."

"I've been missing Madeira cakes this year," Sunoo admitted with a small sigh, "dad used to buy one for him and I the first Friday in every month to share. Our local bakery makes the best Madeira cake."

"Where are you from?" Kumiko frowned, realizing she had wondered about his accent often, but never quite gotten around to ask him where he was from.

"Aberdeen," Sunoo casually replied, "an hour or so, south-east from here."

"So you go all the way to London, to basically take the train back home again?" Millie questioned in disbelief.

"Soomin's from Perth, that's only two hours south of here isn't it?" Kumiko frowned and looked to Sunoo.

"Yeah," Sunoo nodded quietly, "dad and I are probably gonna drive her home this summer. It's on the way home anyways. Something about her aunt being a bit disconnected from magic... I think."

"Yeah, her aunt hates it," Millie nodded in confirmation, "she was supposed to spend the summer with Miko and I, but her aunt didn't let her."

"I'm trying to figure out if we just can take her with us each time, dad and I," Sunoo nodded quietly, "she's asked me to check because her aunt wasn't willing to take her to London, nor pay for the trainfare."

"Her aunt's not the nicest woman," Kumiko shook her head, "why do you think Soomin loves Hogwarts so much?" Kumiko snickered in amusement as Sunoo stayed quiet in pondering. Clearly thinking about how horrible Soomin's aunt could be for her to be so happy at school. After all Hogwarts was school above anything else.

"Well, I'll be going to the kitchen. Perhaps make a Madeira cake," Millie excused and sent her two housemates a small smile, mostly towards Sunoo, who looked excited at the thought of perhaps getting a slice of Madeira cake for dinner tonight.