It was already spring. If I had the time to stare out my window, I would see lots of green and bright sunlight.

The second evaluation was plain gory. It was so bad that I was out of commission for a couple days but I knew it was only going to get worse.

The Hebridean Black was still not defeated but we both had similar levels of damage.

Carleton refused to call off the evaluation until I could no longer move. It was clear that he wanted to push me to the very limit.

The days when I could just sit on my bed and enjoy the silence rarely happened, this was one of those days.

Maguire was here earlier to tell me that Carleton ordered that I was to rest today.

I had eaten breakfast which was brought by Stugg, the House-Elf was one of the reasons that I could even eat.

He was always so bubbly when he brought my meals, it was hard to imagine how someone who lived such a horrible life could even smile.

It was easy to think about the plan to steal the gem and get my revenge on Carleton and The Cabal but actually carrying it out was slowly driving me mad.

There were many times I seriously contemplated going berserk as my Basilisk and breaking out of this hell but I kept hanging on.

I had to weather it out.

Just because I was transmigrated didn't give me any sort of specialty, the world was just as cruel to me as it was to everyone else.

I wasn't going to give in.

I had already prepared to train today, but now that I had been ordered not to, there was nothing to do.

I got off my bed and went to the window side, I should be allowed to walk the grounds of the mansion at least.

It was the first week of April, over three months since I was forced on the run and then declared dead.

A knock dragged my attention to the door.

I frowned, no one should be looking for me, or did Carleton change his mind about letting me rest? It was exactly the kind of thing he would do.

I remained quiet, waiting for the person on the other side to speak first.

If it were Maguire, the annoying secretary would have started speaking before he even knocked and Stugg's knock was unique.

It couldn't be Carleton himself, could it?

I only saw him on the days of evaluation, on other days, he pretended that I didn't exist and I did the same.

The only reason I kept up with the tortuous training I had to go through each day was because of myself, because of what I stood to gain.

"Uh hello? It's Ji-hun, can I come in?"

Even before he said his name, I already knew who it was.

Bak Ji-hun.

I knew that he was affiliated with Carleton but he was the very last person that I had been expecting to see.

What was he doing at Carleton's mansion? 

I knew that Hogwarts was most likely closed down for the Easter holidays, it would explain why he was able to move around freely.

I sat on the edge of my bed, I was curious about his presence and also why he was with Carleton.

Ji-hun didn't strike me as a power-hungry person.

"Sure, come in." I allowed him.

Ji-hun opened the door and gingerly stepped in, although I suppose there was no reason for him to ask to come in.

If he was a part of Carleton's gang then he should know that I was Imperiused and won't be able to protest if he just walked right in.

Ji-hun was dressed in all black, somehow I expected it. His outfit was also a little worn out, the black of his t-shirt and jeans fading to a dark gray.

"Hey." Ji-hun self-consciously waved, walking in.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" I gestured at my reading chair. "Pull up a chair."

He did as I said, sitting nervously across from me.

"You are the last person I was expecting to see." I said casually, looking in the direction of the window.

Ji-hun glanced down. "I had to come see you." He sighed in a forlorn tone. "Here."

I caught the rolled-up newspaper that he threw at me, unfurling it to scan through the pages.

It covered the fire that I had supposedly died in but it was very different from what I had been expecting.

I expected it to fully cover everything, that I was on the run after killing another student but it didn't.

It was a bit of a surprise that the media didn't use this opportunity to smear my already tarnished name.

There were no mentions of the murder even, it just said that there was a slight altercation that Hogwarts regrets not handling in the proper manner which led to a student committing suicide.

I scoffed silently, tossing the newspaper back at Ji-hun. "Placing awards on my grave, huh?"

Ji-hun's anxious expression turned sad. "An alibi stepped up to prove your innocence when the news got round the school."

I laid back on my bed at Ji-hun's words, staring up at the ceiling. Maybe I had been too hasty to run.

The issue with me breaking out of school had been a series of unfortunate circumstances that only one person benefited from.

"Headmistress McGonagall even publicly apologized, what you did for Hogwarts last term wasn't forgotten?"

I shot Ji-hun a glare. "Why are you telling me all this?"

Ji-hun stared at the ceiling as well. "I don't know, maybe it's because I feel guilty." He looked back at me now. "I'd get in trouble if Carleton found out I was telling you all this but I feel bad okay!"

"Why?" I asked blankly, still not getting it.

"Because I was the one who murdered Sawyer." He muttered in a small voice, looking down.

"Yeah, I know."

His eyes looked to me, disbelief filling them. "You do?"

"Why?" I repeated, curious now.

Ji-hun pulled his legs on the chair he was sitting on, resting his arms on the top of his knees. "For my sister." He answered softly.

I sat up at this, I had been quite curious about this. Why did Ji-hun work for Carleton, even going as far as murdering someone?

I knew for one that he wasn't Imperiused so he was willingly doing all this.

"She has a blood malediction and is currently bedridden, she's at St. Mungo's and they say she doesn't have long to live."

I listened quietly, making no comments.

Ji-hun went right on like he had bottled it up for so long that now that he was talking about it, the flow wouldn't stop or slow. "My mom had it too, it's rare for it to show up this commonly among family but an old ancestor had angered a very powerful witch, no one even remembers who now, too caught up trying to keep the people they love alive."

My mom managed to live for so long because my father blew his fortune to make sure she did when she eventually died, he followed right after." He tucked himself closer. "My younger sister, Juni was born with it and it wasn't supposed to affect her till she was an adult but the death of our parents got to her."

"She fell into a coma and hasn't opened her eyes since then, it's been two years..." He stopped, his voice sounding choked. "She'll be twelve soon, she'll be missing another birthday."

"The gem." I thought out loud.

"Yeah, Carleton promised to use it to heal her." Ji-hun replied, going quiet.

I frowned, Carleton wasn't the type to do charity. I doubted that he would fulfill his promise to Ji-hun.

Ji-hun had to know it too but I could see the helplessness in his dark eyes, he was backed up against a wall and there were no other options left.

"I see." I said shortly.

"I know… I know that you're not in the right state of mind right now but I had to apologize for…"

"No need, we're both pawns on Carleton's chessboard." I cut him off.

Ji-hun looked at me with wide eyes and I could see the tell-tale glassiness in his eyes. "You…"

"Leave it at that." I interrupted him again, glancing at the window.

"I also wanted to tell you something else."

This caught my attention. "What?"

"Your friends…" He started to say then stopped, eyeing me warily.

I raised a brow "Are you going to say it or not?" 

"Well, I doubt it holds any meaning now but they're all miserable, they refuse to believe you died and keep investigating." Ji-hun looked at his rough palms. "Must be nice to have friends like that."

"Friends that turn on you on the slightest whim?" I snarked.

"Friends are humans too and they make mistakes, anyone else would leave it at that but friends will come back, apologize and try to fix things, at least I think that's what friends do." He kept his gaze down.

I stared at him for a while then sighed. "Isn't that what you just did? Doesn't that make us friends?"

Ji-hun's eyes widened again. "What?" He whispered.

I got to my feet. "You should get going."

"Oh, y-yeah." Ji-hun stumbled to his feet, weaving unsteadily. 

He stopped when he got to the door and looked at me. "Audric… thanks."

I walked to the window once again as the door clicked shut behind me, I stared up at the blue sky, the bright sun making me squint.

The bigger picture was always better, stepping back a bit made things easier to understand.

I had been slowly backed against a wall ever since I left Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays so it wasn't surprising that my first reaction when things reached the climax was to make a run for it.

My 'death' had made everyone step back and see the bigger picture, the same way finding Carleton helped me understand better too.

I had still not decided on what I would do after getting my revenge on Carleton, I placed my arms on the window sill.

I still had a lot of time to make up my mind and plan out my next steps after breaking away from this hell.

Friends…

They were tricky to get and keep.

I wanted to be a person that would have friends but wouldn't have to depend on them for anything.

I had to be capable of providing, physically and emotionally for myself whatever I needed.

Because at the end of it all, the strongest always wins the fight.

It didn't matter if my friends stood by me when it counted or not because Carleton would have gotten his way in the end.

Friendship meant nothing in the face of power… but it sure made you feel good, in a different kinder way than power did.

Having the two was something most people never achieved. Was it something I wanted?