nights we won't remember || isaac

November 28 2003

Magnolia should have known that he was up to no good as soon as he had plucked the Herbology textbook off her desk. But the Gryffindor refused to react, resolving to tell Professor Ajay should he not return it by the end of course. After the last detention, the two shared, the witch had made it her objective to avoid as much contact with Isaac Hackney as possible. She had even gone as far as to pull the girl that had entered the room right behind her, some unsuspecting fourth year, into the seat next to her to make sure that he had no choice but to sit on the opposite side of the room. It was a little easier to avoid him like the plague when she was with her friends but if she sat with them too often, she got distracted too. The witch really needed to pass this course so she could only hope that her usual table would understand. It was her birthday, she’d celebrate with them later.

Of course, the distance did not keep her from occasionally letting her eyes wander in Isaac’s direction, wondering what he was doing with her textbook and why he had not given it back to her already. Whatever game he was playing at, she had no desire to participate in. At least it was what she told herself as she forced herself to return to the lecture. It took much will power on her part but by the end of class, Magnolia felt proud of the notes she had kept and had made a mental note to ask some questions to Professor Ajay on some of the terms she had used. She would look them up in her textbook first, though. By the end of class, however, Isaac had simply left the textbook on the desk and walked away, not one word nor a look (at least not any she could decipher) as he walked out of the door.

Well she couldn’t ask any questions now, he’d already left. But she waited until more students had left the room, waited until no one was paying attention to flip through the book trying to understand what he wanted with her book and why he hadn’t bothered to say anything to her. At least until she caught sight of the message, written in those beautifully scripted letters of his, in the corner of one of the pages for the day’s reading.

And that was how she found herself sitting on the sill of one of the grand windows of one of the empty corridors right after dinner, making sure to stay out of the light and not draw the attention of anyone that might be within earshot. He said he wanted to meet after dinner but for what she did not know and instead of enjoying the birthday wishes from her friends, Magnolia had nervously watched the clock, waiting the time as it creeped by minute by minute, this weird mixture of anxiety and anticipation making her lose her appetite. Rushing off after dinner with claims that she had to do some studying and a million apologies to her friends, she found the meeting place rather early. This had better be something good.

Squinting her eyes to adjust to the darkness and thinking that looked like him, though it was hard to tell from where she was standing, she whispered out loudly, “Hackney, is that you?” she started, realizing a moment too late that if this was the wrong person, she’d never live the embarrassment down. At least she hadn’t called him by his first name. That had to mean something, right?

@Isaac Hackney

Isaac wasn't sure what he was doing, or even where he was going, as his feet carried him absently across the greenhouse. Taking her book from her without permission, or even as much as a hello, was not unusual these days. He wasn't nice to her, but she kept talking to him anyway, which confused him. The Slytherin knew it was her birthday but did he wish her a good one? Of course not, that would imply that he cared. Instead, he just slid her book off the desk and headed back for his.

Magnolia didn't argue, didn't stop him, and that puzzled him too. He could feel her eyes on him as he flipped the pages to where they were supposed to be working and grabbed his quill. He could have just told her in person, or hell, slid a note her way, but this was more irritating, and in turn, more his style. Finishing what he was writing, he closed the book, and soon enough, the lesson was over as well. Isaac didn't return it, didn't look over at her; he just left it on the desk and walked out of the greenhouse. Sometimes his actions didn't even make sense to himself. He didn't know why he even cared that it was her birthday or to make sure that she thought he didn't care; it felt chaotic.

He'd expected her to have some grand plans with her little click. The assumption that she wouldn't have time to hang out with him (or that she wouldn't want to in the first place) made him angry before she even had a chance to say no. Isaac didn't like being told no, so most of the time, he didn't even ask. He'd nearly talked himself out of it by the time he'd gotten down to the greenhouse, but his feet moved without his mind's consent.
After the lesson had finished and dinner, Isaac made his way to the corridor. It was already dark outside, but Isaac didn't mind the shadows that the lit braziers cast across the stone walls as he walked. He'd swapped out his school robes for black jeans and a charcoal gray hooded sweater, the plain white shirt underneath, cutting a strange contrast with the rest of his dark outfit. All black sneakers hit the stone floor lightly, and he continued the inner struggle of whether to walk faster or turn back.

Eventually, he was too close to not go through with it, and Isaac rounded the corner with a straight face. His brown eyes squinted into the relative darkness until he found her sitting on a window sill. He took in the light of the lanterns glowed off of her skin. "Hawkins," he said, drawing out her name so that she could hear the way his eyes rolled when he said it. Approaching her, Isaac didn't say much before he pulled himself up to sit next to her, in the space left on the sill, and looked at the wall across from them. "Heard it was your birthday or some shit," He started, pretending he didn't know for sure, but he did. She had told him, and he had remembered.

The little box in his pocket was burning a hole, but he left it there. It's not like it was anything fancy, and he was pretty sure she'd hate it anyway, but he had convinced himself it was an excellent way to get what he wanted. Hiding behind the wall of ulterior motives he'd built up, Isaac finally turned to look at her. "So, Happy Birthday, I guess,"

Even though he had invited her, Magnolia was still surprised that he had shown up. He looked different than what she normally saw him in, but only because she didn’t really see him outside of class often. It was a good type of difference; it felt more like him than the wizarding robes and all that green. Not that the girl had anything against the color, but more so the people it represented at Hogwarts. But his clothing was still dark, which was fitting because it matched perfectly with that awful personality of his. Had she had the time to change she would’ve chosen something bright yellow or neon pink, her rather intense wardrobe selection an accurate description of her boisterous personality.

“What kind of half-assed birthday wish is that?” Magnolia said, looking over at him, the incredulous look on her face said it all. The girl really should have started with a thank you and went on her way, therefore foiling whatever plans he had to sabotage her special day. There were only a few more hours until it was all over and she had yet to truly enjoy it. Magnolia was finally sixteen after all, and yet she didn’t feel much different but only because little had changed. If anything, the Gryffindor had been slowly reverting back to those toxic habits of hers: not turning in homework on time, getting distracted by cute, unattainable boys, staying up late. It was the perfect recipe for disaster.

But that didn’t change the fact that she wasn’t really sure what he was doing here or why he was doing it. It was suspect. It was almost as if she expected Duncan, Allison, and Fiora to jump out of the shadows at any moment to tease her the moment she let her guard down. He had led her on plenty of times before, why would her birthday be any different. So, she had to be careful. She hadn’t liked the way he had said it but he had wished her a happy birthday in his own way so she supposed she couldn’t be one-hundred percent mad at him.

“Thanks…?” she responded, the intonation at the end of her sentence rising as if she had asked a question. She wasn’t really intending to do that but the whole situation felt so weird. She had the option to take it seriously or dismiss it as another one of her tricks but either way she’d end up with a losing hand. Maybe she was reading too much into it, at least he had been consistent about one thing: his mum.

“You’ve come to remind me I can’t tell anyone about your mum?” she tried, her hands gripping the edges of the sill as she swung her legs against the stone, her shoes lightly knocking against it. It kept her busy, at least. “’Cause I haven’t,” she further qualified. “So whatever you and your friends are planning just…don’t.” It had been a civil request, surely he’d comply with a truce for the next few hours.

The annoyance in her voice was clear, and it made Isaac want to smile, or leave, or say something rude back; he had no idea. He was annoyed too, but he couldn't know why. Instead, he just shrugged one shoulder at her, if the shrug was half-assed like she had said. Nola had thanked him, but he expected she meant it as much as he had. Isaac's eyes shut with frustration as the topic shifted to something he hadn't come here to talk to her about. But he understood why she expected it.

Ever since the train, he had been keeping tabs on her, reminding her about the non-promise she had made him, and generally making her life hell. He lashed out at her because he couldn't stand the idea of her knowing any of his secrets. Not even his 'friends' knew what his mother did for a living.

His eyes had wandered back to the wall across from them, he was quiet for a moment, but they shot back at her when she brought up his friends. What did his friends have to do with this? They weren't here, and he hadn't told them where he was going. He'd told them to mind their own fucking business when they asked. Isaac knew he'd hear about it later. "We are not?" He started, "There is nothing planned," He shot back at her as he realized she thought he was here to ruin her birthday.

Something about that didn't sit right with him. He wasn't trying to be her bestie, he wasn't trying to make her birthday better, but he wasn't trying to set it on fire either. "Just forget it," He told her as he pushed off of the ledge. He shouldn't have come here; this was stupid. They weren't even friends, so why did he give a fuck that it was her birthday? Convinced that he didn't, Isaac scowled at her. That his feet hadn't moved to walk him away from her yet told a different story.

Magnolia had expected him to come prepared with more biting remarks but when he simply told her that he and his friends had not planned anything and shortly afterward to just forget it, she felt guilty for doubting him. He had not given her much reason to trust him but at the same time, the girl felt closer to him than she had three months ago. She still knew little about who he was but she had unavoidably (and very stupidly) grown a little fond of him. They weren’t friends but they weren’t just acquaintances anymore either. It was difficult to label their relationship to each other and it was that fact that Magnolia used to excuse why she had failed to tell her closest friends about him and the time they spent in each other’s company.

A beat after he had jumped off of the window sill, she followed suit. “Thanks,” she started once again, though this time with much sincerity, “I’m not trying to be difficult, I’ve got a lot on my mind,” she offered. If he asked further, she’d talk about her issues in school, not the fact that she was spending a lot of her spare time thinking about him too. Magnolia knew he’d start assuming things and it would make this weird frenemy dynamic strange again. There were other boys too, like that one Ravenclaw that had asked if she’d like to do something in Hogsmeade that weekend for her birthday. She had yet to get back to him.

“You could’ve just said happy birthday in Herbology,” she offered, though it wasn’t said in an accusatory tone, it was more of a suggestion. She leaned against the sill again, but didn’t bother to hop back onto it to sit down. Instead, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and observed him, “I mean I know we’re not friends or whatever but I don’t think your mates would’ve made a big deal out of it,” she probed further, wondering if he’d prove her assumptions wrong or just storm off. It was a roundabout question to what she really wanted to know, what exactly were they doing here with each other and why. He was giving her too many mixed signals and she needed some clarification.

Isaac's eyebrows lowered in curiosity when she apologized; he wondered what kind of things she could be worried about. It was her sixteenth birthday, she had plenty of friends, he figured her home life was something out of a storybook, yeah she was a fucking menace when it came to class, but all things considered, he had assumed Magnolia had a great life. So what could be weighing on her? And why did the question bother him so much that he felt like he had to know?

He moved a little after she had followed him off the ledge, finding himself more comfortable near the shadowed wall that the glowing brazier and window. Shrugging his shoulders, Isaac supposed it would have been better if he had just said something in Herbology. Why had he wanted to make a bigger deal out of it? Why did he even care if she had a good birthday? Magnolia had been nothing but an irritation since the first time he'd spoken to her nearly two months ago.

Would his friends have made a big deal about it? They were just like him in the sense that they were always looking for some reason or another to make someone else feel shittier than they did. No insult was too much, nothing was off-limits, anything to bring their classmates down and make themselves feel more powerful. It wasn't the first time she had back a comment about his friends, it was part of their typical banter, but this time he let it slide right past him.

Ignoring her jab, Isaac rolled his eyes and moved back toward the window sill. He didn't sit on it either, just leaned against it with his hands gripping the edge on either side of him. He was facing toward the wall, but he turned his head toward her as he spoke, softly, even though they were very much alone in this hallway. "What is on your mind?" He asked; instead of being rude or telling her not to talk shit about his 'friends', Isaac zeroed in on what she had mentioned earlier. Like nothing else mattered, and the intensity in the way he looked at her showed it.

He was kidding, right? At least it was what the witch was thinking when he zeroed in on the comment she had said earlier about having something on her mind. Magnolia hadn’t actually expected him to ask her that, or care for that matter, which was why she suddenly became suspicious of his intentions. Lately they had been talking more, like actually having conversations rather than bickering all the time and that had been nice. Magnolia hadn’t gone as far to ask him if he wanted to hang out with her and her friends, mostly because she assumed it’d be extremely awkward, but she had considered it on occasion. Then again, the two of them could never really get to this comfortable speaking place in front of other people. Not that she did it on purpose or sort of just tended to happen that way.

“Um..” she started, a hand reaching to fiddle with the chain around her neck as she considered how she might want to approach this. “Well school stuff, mostly,” she said because it was the easiest thing to talk about. Magnolia didn’t feel like time was running out or she was lacking purpose, but her grades probably didn’t reflect that. And her parents didn’t seem too happy that she wasn’t sticking to her plan to concentrate more diligently. “Trying to focus more but that’s been pretty impossible lately,” she laughed a little, nervously if one really paid attention. Magnolia felt strange about being put on the spotlight, didn’t know she’d be at such loss for words when it came to talking about herself, and wondered if it was because of who she was talking to.

“O.W.L.’s are going to murder me this year,” she added, relaxing her shoulders as she reminded herself to stop being so weird. “But at least I made it to sixteen so yay!” she said with a grin, even if the combination of words seemed slightly fatalistic.

Isaac had convinced himself over the last few days that he didn't like being around Magnolia. She was obnoxious and stubborn, always came to the wrong conclusions, and she irritated him so much. He told himself these things, even as he watched her get distracted during class, and wondered what had caught her attention. He reminded himself when she acted like she found him annoying anytime he said something to her. And yet, despite all of his work, here he was asking her what was going on and wishing her (in his rude sort of way) Happy Birthday. His need to talk to her had moved beyond just making sure she didn't spill his secret to the rest of Hogwarts, and even though he tried, Isaac couldn't tell himself otherwise much longer.

Nodding along as she informed him she was worried about school and her apparent lack of focus, Isaac felt like there had to be more to it. After all, this was Magnolia, and even if she was worried about these things, he felt like she would have been able to compartmentalize today of all days. He thought her Sixteenth birthday would have been all-encompassing; she seemed to like that kind of witch, and yet here she was going on about her OWLs. "Yay?" He asked, an eyebrow raised and a bit of a frown on his face.

"Not saying that you should not be worried about your exams," Don't be a prick, Isaac, a voice rang out in the back of his mind. If anyone needed to worry about their OWLs, it was probably Magnolia. Her obvious intelligence wouldn't get her passing grades; there were far too many dates and facts she needed to have memorized. "But they are months away, and your birthday is today," Isaac was telling her things she probably already knew, but he was good at that. His brown eyes turned away from her and focussed on the wall across the hallway from them.

Isaac was being surprisingly sweet? The word didn’t seem to make sense when associated with the boy who had been more or less tormenting her for the last three or so months but at the same time, Magnolia could not say that it was entirely unexpected. Here and there he had demonstrated glimpses of himself that she had never expected to see, and though she was grateful to know he did have a heart under that cold stare of his, it also further confused their relationship.

Were they friends now? Or did this mean that they were even? Or was he being civil because he had learned to trust she wouldn’t tell his secret? If only she could ask him then she would know. But knowing the little she did about Isaac, Magnolia also felt that he’d never really give her a straight answer. Rather, he would use whatever she said to come to conclusions on his own. And that was enough to scare her into keeping silent.

“Thanks,” she said in reply. Magnolia knew that the OWLs were months away and that she should enjoy her birthday, but she could derive her own interpretations of his words. He was being nice in the way he knew how, and she appreciated the gesture. Sort of. But it was not really that helpful because it did not even begin to cover the great list of problematic thoughts that she had started to have about him. “Right, guess I better start studying,” she said, but not convincingly. At least Magnolia knew she would not really turn it around from one day to the next.

“So, would it be odd if I asked for some advice?” she spoke suddenly, not really wanting to wait to lose her nerve, “Well not really advice but more like…your opinion on something,” she made sure to clarify. But before she waited to see what he might say, she continued talking. “So if you like this person, it’s probably better to figure out how they feel instead of just outright saying anything, right?”

Scoffing, Isaac didn't believe her proclamation about getting to work studying for a second, but he didn't think she had meant him to. Something about the way she said it, the lack of enthusiasm he was used to hearing in her words, told him it was just filler. Something to say in between saying what she was really thinking. What she said next had his eyes turning back toward her, and he'd opened his mouth to say something, probably something smart, but she continued before he could. Was it odd? Were they at that point in their... friendship? Isaac wasn't given the time to think about an answer to his own question before she was asking more.

As her words began to hit him, he ignored the silent alarms that were going off in his head. Magnolia was cool, she was fun and interesting, and she certainly had nerve, but for the life of him, Isaac could not figure out what part of his persona made her think he was the person to talk to about crushes. In all the moments they had interacted, he was pretty sure he had never given her one single reason to think he was worth asking advice. And he certainly didn't know any of his rudeness would have come off as an invitation. And yet, here they were.

"Uh," Shifting uncomfortably, Isaac looked from Magnolia to the wall, to the floor, and back. Why was she asking him? She had more friends than he knew the names of; surely she would be better off going to one of them. Logically he tried to put the pieces together, finally coming to terms with the idea that she was probably asking him because it was one of her friends she was referring to and he was so far removed from that social circle that he had no skin in the game. Yeah, that made sense, completely logical, so why did it bother him so much?

Clearing his throat after a painfully long pause, Isaac finally began to answer. "Having as much information as you can is always beneficial." It was such a clerical answer, but honestly, how much more could he be expected to give. Isaac never admitted to anything without knowing all of the surrounding facts. He liked to be prepared, ready for anything the world could and would throw at him. Never defenseless.

He didn’t say anything for some time and the girl became desperate for something even if that reply came in the form of an insult so that she wouldn’t feel so silly for asking him in the first place. She wondered whether he had expected something like that from her or if it had taken him by surprise. The Gryffindor girl was predictable to a fault. And when he finally spoke, she realized that she only wanted to dissect everything he had said to better understand what he was saying. She wanted to understand what he was about.

“So, is that what you did with Allison?” Magnolia asked almost immediately, hoping that the question would come off as asking for more information rather than being incredibly nosy. She wanted to know, probably for the reasons he assumed, but she hoped he’d tell her the answer anyway. Had she sounded a little defensive? Hopefully not. “I mean like…” she clarified, slowing down again and smiling a bit to pretend she was trying to better understand what he had offered. “How do you know…?” she tried again, hoping that this combination of words was clearer than before.

Magnolia had assumed that he’d say something rude and then he hadn’t but now she actually wanted a response to this question and was having trouble saying it without feeling that he’d find a way to figure out who she was talking about. Even the girl wasn’t clear about who she was talking to, or at least wasn’t completely convinced about who those butterflies in her stomach were for. “Because the last time I thought I knew and yeah,” she laughed about it because it didn’t matter as much as it had back then, “did not work out the way I wanted it to,” she explained.

Her crush on Roderick had only been funny after he had rejected her, well not really, but if she laughed about it enough she figured people assumed she didn't care. Magnolia wondered if Isaac had heard about that. Why was she still talking? Shut up, Nola, she scolded herself. They weren’t friends and she was better off asking Mavis for advice and yet, here she was talking to the boy that only months ago she had declared was the worst among everyone she knew.

What had changed? Obviously not her foolishness.

Isaac was intelligent enough to be wary of her follow-up question. How she snuck Allison and his non-existent relationship with the witch into the conversation. Magnolia would have made a good Slytherin if she wasn't so annoyingly good. He sighed, it was loud enough for Nola to hear, but Isaac didn't pull away from the question. In reality, he understood why she thought what she did, but it didn't stop him from being irritated by it. "Allison is easy," He told her, not mincing his words or making any attempt to sound less crass and cruel than he indeed was. Allison had never been a challenge; she had been throwing herself all over Isaac (and plenty of other wizards) from the day she got out of a training bra.

"She made it quite apparent how she felt; I did not have to do anything, but..." As it occurred to Isaac, truly occurred to him what Magnolia thought he had with Allison, the wizard had to correct her. "We are not together; we have never been." He blinked a few times before continuing. 'At least, not like that," Isaac had assumed that Magnolia was the sort of witch who thought if two people physically involved, then it meant they were officially dating, like boyfriend and girlfriend dating, and that just wasn't how Isaac's world worked.

Magnolia's words made him curious, who had it not worked out with? Why didn't it work out? And most importantly, how did she think asking him these questions would somehow make her next crush any different. "What happened?" He asked, his eyes void of malice or judgment as he pulled himself back up onto the window ledge.

Magnolia would have been lying if she said that she had not been relieved when he told her that he and Allison weren’t a thing. But that relief only lasted for a moment, soon after overtaken with the thought that he didn’t seem the type to share that information with just anyone. So, it was safe to assume that they probably were together, in some sense of the word, but maybe hadn’t specified it with each other. Magnolia couldn’t really imagine what that would be like, being with someone but not labeling the relationship.

Magnolia had never considered the in-betweenness because she was so enchanted with the other aspects of togetherness. The deep conversations, the hand-holding, the cuddling, the doing separate things in the same room; those were some of the images that came to mind first. All that other stuff mattered too, but she couldn’t phantom just going around kissing every wizard she found attractive. No matter how bold the Gryffindor could be, she had her limits. Isaac’s perspective was apparently different but before she could question it, he asked about that experience she had had, and the witch felt compelled to explain.

Did she really want to embarrass herself once again and tell him about how she had a massive, completely unrequited crush on Roderick? Sure, why not. Sounded like a lovely way to spend her sixteenth birthday. “So, I had this huge crush on uh…MacNair, you know him, right? Roderick MacNair? He graduated last year,” she explained. Even if things had not worked out in her favor, saying his name still made her feel some sort of way. Then again, it had not helped that she’d scribbled it into her notes so many times. But she would not be sharing that fun bit of information today.

Magnolia assumed they knew each other because they were in the same house. “And I think he liked me? Well not really but I feel like there could have been something?” she explained, in not so definite terms. “Killian and Mavis thought I was out of my mind and I get it they were trying to protect me or whatever but honestly I think long-distance wasn’t his thing? He was going to graduate anyway,” she explained. "I'd go like crazy if I couldn't see my boyfriend all the time," she added. One could only assume if they'd never experienced it before.

And then she reminded herself that this wasn’t her group of friends, this was Isaac, and he probably thought she was being weird. She stopped talking, not sure what he'd concluded about her in the short little speech she had just given him, one he probably did not want. “Uh...so you’ve never dated anyone at Hogwarts?”

It was so strange to be talking to Nola about anything real, especially this, but Isaac found he was less annoyed by it than he thought he would be. Perhaps he was just in a charitable mood, it being her birthday and all. He figured she would have something snarky to say about his non-traditional relationship with Allison or even just the way he had explained it. And yet, Nola breezed past the subject and answered his question instead. Her words before had been so profound, and he had felt oddly comfortable talking to her without insult, but soon enough, everything came to an end.

"Roderick MacNair?" He asked, the disbelief playing on his dimpled smile, it took him a second to fully register what she had just told him, and when he did, the laughter began. "You have to be fucking joking," While Isaac didn't know the older wizard personally, he knew about what everyone else seemed to know about him. "As in, almost killed his little brother, Roderick MacNair?" Isaac continued to laugh at Nola's expense; the glee in his dark eyes was unmistakable.

"Damn Magnolia, I knew you had a thing for Slytherins," He nodded toward her, the confidence in his words coming off in waves as though she had just proved all of his assumptions about her were correct. In an attempt to contain his entertainment Isaac took a breath and considered the rest of her confession. "Of course you would," He commented when she said she'd go crazy if she weren't in constant contact with her boyfriend. That was so on-brand for what he had come to think of Magnolia, he figured she would be clingy. Roderick was lucky he graduated when he did.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" He asked her just about the same time she asked him, his curiosity firing on all cylinders now. "Uh, no, not really," Isaac told her like it was the easiest thing in the world. He wasn't ashamed that he had never had a legitimate and official 'girlfriend'; it was precisely the way he wanted it. Isaac didn't want to date anyone, especially not Allison, because he couldn't stand the idea of someone expecting things from him. That they would need to be around him all the time, wanting him to listen when they talked, all of that.

Well, she hadn’t expected him to outright laugh at her when she told him the identity of her crush, though she wasn’t hurt by it in the least. “Yes, you can laugh all you want, I’m not ashamed of it,” she announced proudly, but it was only because by this time it was no longer a secret, just another little part of the database she hoped she’d eventually erase. Since information could not so easily be taken out of rotation (Hogwarts was terribly small) the second-best way to get even with the student body was to pretend that she did not care. And when she put her mind to it, Magnolia was surprisingly good at it. Not that she had not done her fair share of moping and crying over the summer. Plus, it wasn’t like Roderick was married or anything, in her eyes all hope was not lost. It was not over until it was over.
 
“I do not,” she scowled at him but it was a weak attempt at pretending she was angry; really, she was more embarrassed by his assumption because technically she might have been right, “Fourth year was difficult, I was going through a phase,” she clarified, “But I’m done with Slytherin boys, so there’s that,” she added in a move of decisively. By tomorrow, she’d likely forget it, but for now, it made Magnolia feel rather good to say something like that with such conviction. The Gryffindor was notoriously weak-willed, even when it came to making statements like those, so now she’d have to find it in herself to do better. She’d have to find that letter Killian had sent her over the summer, he had offered a few options in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw that were probably better.

She ignored his comment on her conclusion about wanting to see her boyfriend every day because it felt like a very boy thing to say. But Magnolia knew clingy boys existed, the ones that wanted to be with their girlfriends all the time or they’d go mad. One in particular came to mind.

“I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug, “I guess it depends on what you mean by boyfriend,” she insisted, putting a hand on her hip as she thought how this topic and his assumptions were making her upset. In short, no, Magnolia had never had a boyfriend. “Not really he says,” she rolled her eyes, “What does that even mean?”