[kitchens] i n t e r l u d e

"No, don't touch," Jae said as he snapped his spatula at her hand without making contact. He was in the midst of cooking just like he always did on Saturday afternoons. He told everyone he had threatened the house elves to let him do as he wished, but mostly he had bribed them with a few sweets his grandmother had sent him and promised them he'd clean up after himself. Which he did.. mostly.

It had been a few years since he had started this little habit, but he slid his glance to the Gryffindor girl beside him. He wasn't quite sure when she had joined in on this habit and while he did like the company at times and she was funnier than he gave her credit for, she also had the annoying habit of trying to steal food before he was ready. Wearing dark jeans and engulfed in a hoodie two sizes too big for him, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, Jae was almost done cooking. His stomach grumbled as if confirming its hunger.

"What did you do to get detention anyway?" he asked, dark brow raising up to disappear beneath the raven black hair that hung over his forehead. Isaac in detention? Not surprising in the least. Maybe surprising only because Jae hadn't joined him. But Nola? She didn't seem like the type.

@Magnolia Lane Hawkins

Magnolia made a face at Jae, jerking her hand back at his sudden movement even if he had not actually hit her with the spatula, “Rude”. Though at this point, it might have been expected, the girl had a habit of letting her curiosity take over when it came to things that she didn’t understand. And one of those things was how delicious the food Jae made was even though it looked a little suspect at best. However, the Gryffindor digressed that what mattered most was that she got to try it. And it was with that in mind that she often found him just when he was in the kitchen whipping up something that smelled divine. Magnolia figured it had to be fate (but more likely, her tendency to nosiness).

“Can’t give you an opinion if you don’t let me try it first,” she teased, though she already knew it would be good. Though Magnolia had never tried Korean food before meeting Jae, her loss really, she was starting to become acquainted with it and had grown to like it. It wasn’t like anything she’d ever tasted before, and though the spice was more deadly than savory, she had grown more tolerant over time.

Magnolia shrugged when he asked about detention, distracted by the food, and hoping to give the impression that it had not mattered to her as much as it had when she was there. “Dunno,” she said finally, “I guess because I was passing notes in class, or maybe because I corrected the Professor's notes, he made a spelling mistake,” she gave him a triumphant grin. It wasn't often that the girl had the chance to correct the teacher, though her reasons hadn't been for glory, they had been for someone else. But, Jae didn't need to know that. “It wasn’t all that bad, at least I got some of my assignments done, the late ones,” she explained, looking down at the pot again to figure out what he was making. “You’ve been to detention before, right? Who are the regulars?” she asked, pretending like her question hadn’t been a little strange for her. Now, it was time to cover that up. “You know, just in case I end up there again and need a friend,” she laughed.

"Don't recall saying I wanted your opinion," he told her with a roll of his eyes as he started slicing up the carrots into thin, even sticks to put into his japchae. Without saying a word, he slid a couple of carrot matchsticks across the cutting board to her in silent offering. Mostly so she wouldn't eat the rest of what he needed to cook. He wasn't a professional chef or anything, especially considering he was using his hands instead of his wand, but he liked it better this way. And Nola had been down here long enough that he didn't feel the need to switch away from his muggle tendencies even though the thought did cross his mind now and then.

He glanced up at her, his hands stilling from where he had moved on to cutting up the red bell pepper, and he gave her a little smirk. "Caught passing notes? What are you, a second year?" he teased, his tone light. Her triumphant smile made him shake his head and get back to business, finishing the pepper. He hummed his answer to her question about being in detention. Who hadn't gotten detention before? Five years of not making one mistake in front of adults who were obsessed with telling students what to do and not to do? Yeah, he had been at detention more than once. "Regulars?" he asked, echoing with a small tilt of his head as he considered the question.

"Well Duncan's an idiot so he makes an appearance more often than not. Shauna and Aaron too," he added, mentioned the 6th years who had been dating since 4th year and were inseparable but evil, especially together. "And Isaac, of course." Jae mentioned, almost as an afterthought. "Why, are you planning on getting detention again anytime soon?"

“I’m the gossip queen of Hogwarts,” Magnolia announced proudly, though she had only said it because she had heard one of the first years say it once and it made her feel special. The teenager was aware that the rest of her schoolmates probably thought she was just an incredibly nosy witch, either way, people noticed. “Everyone wants my opinion,” she added playfully, watching the way he cut the carrots closely, very aware that had it been her choice, she wouldn’t go through all of that trouble. Either way, when he slid them across the table, she took them willingly. “Yum!” she announced happily, taking a bite from the crunchy vegetable, she smiled at his conclusion.

“Don’t judge me, I don’t go around passing notes in class,” she said as if she were surprised that he wasn’t aware. That wasn’t entirely truthful, Magnolia often passed notes to Mavis in class when the professors insisted that they couldn’t sit next to each other. Magnolia was a shameless chatterbox, a quality that had gotten her into trouble more than once. “I’m a good girl,” she stated further, in a way that had made it obvious that she was doubtful herself. Magnolia nodded when he reiterated her question, she was only asking about one regular in particular but didn’t intend to give that piece of information up.

“Ah Duncan,” she made a face, Magnolia was not a fan of the older boy but knew limited information about him. The girl had initially suspected that he would be the leader of the little crew but all she had ever heard him do is tell dirty or stupid jokes. But it pleased her to think that she was not the dimmest witch at Hogwarts. “Don’t think I’ve meet Shauna and Aaron,” she started, reaching for the other carrot stick to nibble on, “Hmm, yeah Isaac, I know that jerk,” she scoffed, shaking her head at him. “Hope not, though that might be a little hard considering who I share classes with,” she trailed off. “Anyway, what is this called again?” she looked at the dish.

He gave her a look as if to say he definitely wasn't included in her "everyone" but he knew it wasn't worth questioning her self-identified "gossip queen" status. An idle, curious thought did cross his mind as he continued making quick, deft chops on his cutting board if gossiping was really all that interesting. She certainly seemed to think so and while he was interested in what people thought, he wasn't inclined to believe everything he heard. He was too doubting for that and maybe that made him not cut out for that kind of thing. He'd stick to his observing silently from a distance thing.

Exhibit A of the whole not inclined to believe everything he heard: Magnolia saying she didn't pass notes. He grinned at her, not believing her for a second. "So you got detention for passing notes even though you don't pass notes?" he asked smartly, summing up her little story, followed by a skeptical "mmmhmm, sure" to her "good girl" statement as he moved on to cut up the green onion.

"That's a good thing, believe me," he muttered as she mentioned Shauna and Aaron. Jae was always the first to doubt anyone's opinion of someone. After all, someone's views were always colored by their own experiences and prejudices and he wasn't willing to blindly accept judgements, but when it came to those two? Everything said about them (quietly, behind their backs so they hopefully wouldn't hear of it) was true. He avoided them as much as possible.

"Jerk? What makes you say that?" Jae said, stilling his cutting motions as he glanced up at her, not bothering to admonish her for eating more of his already chopped carrots. He and Isaac had been friends almost since his first day at Hogwarts and sure, he was a little rough around the edges, but he had a certain sense of authenticity more than most people that Jae appreciated.

"So the good girl gossip queen is doomed to get more detentions?" he asked, raising a brow, curious as to what she thought of that. At her question of the dish, he glanced back down and returned to work. The only thing left to chop was the sweet onion and this he took his wand out for because he hated tearing up over onions. "Japchae. You don't remember from last time?" he asked as he accioed a pot down from the rack and filled it with water to start to boil.

“Somebody passed a note to me,” she clarified, pressing a finger against her own chest in order to emphasize her point, “and I, thinking this bloke was confused or needed help or whatever, took that note and read it, honest,” she repeated, her voice rising in pitch just a little as she explained. Magnolia often did this when she was telling half-truths, but she only noticed it half of the time.

“I think the Professor’s after me or whatever don’t really ever turn in Muggle Studies stuff, haven’t got the time,” she added as an afterthought, an extra justification for why her life was turning out the way it had. But from Jae’s reaction, she could tell that the Hufflepuff didn’t seem convinced by her excuses.

Magnolia wasn’t really sure what exactly made Isaac a jerk so she just shrugged, reaching for another piece of chopped carrot as she contemplated how to answer the question while asking more information but also avoiding that whole it’s obvious why she’s asking for information thing.

These sorts of stealth operations were not normally her specialty. “I dunno, you two are best friends, right? You know the guy, he enjoys making people’s lives a living hell,” she added. “He isn’t like that ‘round you?” she asked, pretending not to be as interested in the answer and only asking for the sake of conversation.

“I hope not, detention is precious time wasted,” she concluded, frowning a little when she heard the name of the dish, “Japchae…” she tried it and obviously failing as she butchered the name before it dawned on her, “oh, the one with the see-through spaghetti, yeah I remember,” she added, “are you going to make that egg roll thing again, that one was pretty good,” she added. “What are your plans for break anyway?”

He rolled his eyes at her excuses, nodding but letting her tell her take on things. "Muggle Studies?" he scoffed as soon as he heard that was the professor who had given the detention. "Should've known," he added with a shake of his head, his dark hair moving against his forehead. He hated the whole idea of the Muggle Studies class and avoided that professor at all costs. He didn't understand why someone would dedicate themselves to a 'subject' like that. While he was muggleborn and not technically a muggle, he felt distinctly singled out with a class like that, as if his family were specimens to be studied under a microscope.

Jae rolled his shoulders back, turning his head this way and that to crack his neck as he thought about his Slytherin friend. Enjoys making people's lives a living hell? Wasn't that their job as teenagers? He smirked a bit and gave her a little shrug. "Sure, he's not everyone's cup of tea but he's better than some of the Gryffs you hang out with," he said, his lips curling up so his dimples showed.

The dark-haired boy nodded at her description of the dish and busied his hands with the next steps, grabbing a couple of carrot sticks and munching on them himself. "You want an egg roll too?" he asked, sighing heavily with a bit of melodrama before gathering some of the ingredients. It was pretty simple to make but he wasn't her personal chef or anything.

"Probably just go home and spend time with the family," he said dully, not looking forward to it at all. He wasn't sure if it was his whole curse showing itself in new ways, but everytime he went back home, he felt more and more like a stranger. Guess that's what happened when you spent nine months out of the year away from home. "What about you?"

“Wish I could drop the class altogether, pretty sure he’s out to fail me,” she explained, conveniently leaving out the fact that she had turned in almost every assignment several days late or not at all. Though those seemed like unnecessary details considering that Jae probably already knew that she was a terrible student, it was not the best-kept secret in the world or anything.

The topic of her friendship was a much more interesting one anyway and as soon as he made a quip about her friends, the loyal Gryffindor in her jumped to their defense. She gasped dramatically, making sure that he would hear the intake of breath very clearly, and made a face at him, one that surely showed how disappointed she was in his assumptions about her friends. “Jae Kim, not okay, comparing a Slytherin to some of my best Gryffindor girls? They’ve taken you to the dark side so soon?” she said disapprovingly.

“Fine, I take it back,” she said almost immediately when he offered to make her an egg roll, good food was hard to come by and she wasn’t going to ruin her foreign food connection by standing up for Mavis or Josie or whoever he was talking about. Though she had her ideas if the way he and a certain best friend interacted every time they were in the same vicinity as one another. Whatever, they would understand. “But there must be a reason you aren’t part of that group, Isaac and his band of clowns,” she rolled her eyes at the thought.

“So, you’re going back to…Korea?” she offered, she was not sure if he had extended family there or if she had been imagining that. “I’m probably staying home, catching up with the family, spending time with Mavis, stuff like that,” she explained, “We should hang out if you’ve got time! Do you do anything special for New Year’s?”

Jae rolled his eyes, looking at her so she could see the full extent of his cynicism before shaking his head and finishing up the food. "Pretty sure professors don't even care about us that much to purposely fail anyone," he scoffed. And if they did, what sad lives they led. Not that he believed Nola for a second anyway.

At her gasp and use of his full name, a smirk curved up the corners of his lips and he laughed quietly. So easy to prod and poke a Gryffindor, almost too easy. "Just being honest," he said in defense with a perked brow. He spent just as much time with them in classes and other activities to know that just because they were cute didn't mean they were much better than some of the Slyths. He actually thought the house of green and silver were more chill than the gaggle of Gryffs that Nola and Mavis belonged to. He almost thought he would fit in better with them if not for the ridiculous notion of separating students by house. What an archaic ideal.

He plated the food, it steaming merrily from the plates before he pushed a plate into her hands and nudged a fork in her direction then leaned back against the counter and dug in. He grunted or scoffed or somewhere in between mouthfuls of food and rolled his eyes heavenward. "Yeah, it's because Isaac's posse is insufferable," Jae told her as he thought of each one and just shook his head again. Maybe he should be glad that he wasn't in Slytherin and didn't have to deal with that lot every day. Then again, the Hufflepuffs weren't any less annoying.. "Isaac is the only tolerable one in the group." Hey, that was almost a compliment. He'd have to tell Hackney that the next time he saw him, he thought with a smirk.

Jae ate quickly, like he always did when it was good food, which was usually only when he was cooking himself. His plate was clean in just a few minutes. "No, just to Hampstead," he told her, his eyes sparking at the mention of a certain Gryffindor who lived just down the street from him. "Hang out where?" he asked, curious but also a little guarded. He knew she liked to bug him for food while he was cooking or for information on the Potions assignment, but as much as he said he didn't care, he knew that he wasn't exactly in the 'circle' that Nola surrounded herself with, the new group of friends Mavis had.. replaced him with. He tried not to think of it.

"No nothing too special. My parents celebrate Lunar New Year more so than this upcoming one," he told her as he cleaned up and then gave her a pointed look. "You could help, you know."

Magnolia extended her hand in his direction, showing off the recently completely manicure topped off with miniature crystals that changed color in the light. “Can’t, sorry,” she looked a little apologetically at his suggestion that she ought to help. “Thanks for taking care of it though,” she grinned, even though he had not offered to do such a thing. In Magnolia’s experience, asking for someone to do something before they asked if she wanted it done made them more willing to do it. She had read that somewhere…maybe. Either way, that didn’t matter, she was too busy devouring the food that Jae had so graciously shared with her (or that she had invited herself to).

“But I’ve never been to Hampstead! We can hang out there,” she offered, though she couldn’t exactly remember if she was making that first bit up or not. Either way, the point was to spend more time with Jae so that he’d sort of talk her up to Isaac and the plan of eventually getting her crush to like her back (for the first time!) would be in the works. What Jae had said about Isaac’s friend group had made sense, too, considering that she’d met plenty of them and disliked them all. She had sort of disliked Isaac too, but he had grown on her and here she was trying to get more info from the (seemingly) only mutual connection the two of them had.

“Since you’re not busy,” he had said that New Years wasn’t their thing like Lunar New Year’s was, “you could even show me around,” she suggested. “This is really good, Jae,” she said with a smile as she finished up a little more than what might have been her portion. “You should make way more next time though,” she complained, pushing the dish in his direction.

She would have stayed for a longer chat, at least had intended to until she looked up at the clock and made a face. “Ugh,” she let out a long, loud noise of frustration, her head lulling back as she made an annoyed expression. “I’m late, better get going or I’ll end up in detention, again” she added, gathering her things as she did. “So, Hampstead, Christmas Break, bring Isaac, okay?” she said hurriedly, waving as she left.

It was a shot in the dark, Jae would probably ignore her but maybe she’d come up in their next conversation. And that, she decided, could be a very good thing.

[/end]

"You haven't been over Mae's?" Jae asked with a perked brow as he glanced up from the food. Then thought twice. "Mavis," He corrected himself. And then he felt stupid for changing his mind since Nola would obviously know who he was talking about. Whatever. Nola was pretty easy to distract.

Jae shrugged and gave her a "Maybe" in response to her idea of him showing her around. What exactly was there to show? Some suburban houses, the stray cat that lived under the big maple on the corner, and the park that he and Mavis frequented often as kids? Nothing special there and he knew her well enough that she would probably get bored quickly. And he wasn't sure she was being sincere in her interest anyway. He tried not to be sour about it as he gave her a roll of his eyes on her food comment. "Next time you can cook and I'll sit and do nothing," he said deadpan before eating another bite.

It wasn't long before she was making excuses to leave but he didn't mind much. He liked the quiet of the kitchen and he just nodded at her, curious at her ask to bring Isaac, but gave her a small wave as she left. Then glanced around the kitchen and the mess he had made while cooking. He could have cleaned it up with a charm in no time, but for some reason, he wanted to do it the old-fashioned way by hand. He rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

/end