nov mp || squad goals || squad/open

Billie got up.

Killian felt his heart drop into his stomach as she did, whispering bathroom in a light voice that barely anyone could hear. He could, though. He was listening for her.

She walked away without acknowledging him -- couldn't blame her, given who was sitting between them. With his permission his head twisted, looking out after her even though he had nothing to say.

Christ, he must look pathetic and pitiful to the girls. Killian twisted his head back around to them, trying not to think about how long Billie would be gone for, if she was going to come back at all, couldn't blame her if she didn't but Donnelly was still sitting beside him so what was he meant to do about that --

Why even bother with Two Towers if you didn't watch the first one? asked Jae, and Killian latched onto that. Lord of the Rings. That was something real, something concrete to hold onto. "Oh, I showed them Fellowship first, but Towers was in theaters over the summer and I just thought--" he cheeks felt hot again, "it would be nice to go to the cinema. With friends. My friends from my old school are, uh," oh, drat, now they were back in vulnerable topics, "I dunno, we don't hang out in the summers much."

Killian twisted his head around to address Jae directly. "Have you seen them, then? I'd bet it'd be neat to go to Return of the King with someone who actually likes Tolkien." A light-hearted jab at the girls, but it would be nice if at least one of the other lads at the table didn't hate him.

Mavis busied herself with sides, adding too much of the fish sauce to whatever types of potatoes she could scoop onto her plate, and reached for another roll. One day she hoped they’d have something less bland to eat at Hogwarts. If she had to suffer through another mystery meal smothered in marinara or brown sauce, she might not make it. Where was the flavor? The drama? The teenage witch needed more spice in her life, and not even whatever tension was unfolding at the dinner table could satiate her appetite. Billie got up, leaving the lover boy behind, and Mavis watched his face with the beginning of a smile on her lips. It was wrong to hope he’d frown, but if she’d place bets, she would have certainly won.

Her attention moved back to Jae, indeed her favorite of the grumpy boys at the table, and Mavis shrugged. She pulled a bit of her bread roll apart, popping the little clump of carbs into her mouth and smiling with closed lips as she chewed. Why watch the second without the first? She wondered if she should mention that she was more interested in the cute elf with long blond hair than the scruffy hobbit with an evil ring. Deep brown eyes slid to Magnolia, Mavis knew the other witch would understand, but the conversation moved forward before she finished chewing.

Kilian mentioned going to the cinema, and that had Mavis bouncing in her seat. “We should do that!” She exclaimed, over and under and in between what Killian said next, but her giggle faded as he mentioned his old friends. And Mavis looked at Jae again. He was her old friend from before Hogwarts, the muggle boy she’d kept her magic a secret from, but then he’d surprised her by having been a wizard all along. Mavis’s eyes stayed on Jae as Killian pointed another question at him, her stare unhidden, as she chewed on her lip, lost in thought.

Jae finished the last few bites on his plate, his attention lingering on Mavis and wondering why she was staring so much at Donnelly. Was she into him even though he was taken. His bad day seemed to get worse with that fleeting thought and he set down his fork with a clank before she looked back at him. There was a moment where he felt like she could read his thoughts and he felt stuck, unable to move before she glanced away and he sucked in a breath. He refocused on Buckley and gave him an unsympathetic stare as he mentioned his friends that were no longer friends. Yeah, welcome to the club buddy, he thought miserably and refused to meet Mae's gaze even though he felt her eyes on him.

He grabbed another roll and neatly spread some butter on it as he nodded his head at Buckley's question. "Yeah, I have. Fellowship was a little drawn out though and the books were much better even if Tolkien is long-winded. Did you know he created full languages too?" he added and then glanced at Josie and Nola before sliding his gaze to Mavis and then the doors. After he had read the first trilogy years ago (when had that been?), he had been more enamored with the languages Tolkien had written than the lore of the fictional world he had created. He refused to admit in front of his current audience that he was so nerdy that he had started to learn Quenya, the Elvish language, on his own for fun. And he certainly didn't want to entertain questions about it.

"I've gotta go finish up my Charms essay, see you later," he said as he stood, swinging his long legs over the bench and grabbed his bag, the lie slipping from his mouth easily. He had already finished it yesterday, he didn't plan on seeing any of them later, and he wasn't even sure why he cared to give a polite excuse anyway, but nevertheless, he gave the group a smart salute and strolled away, his hands in his pockets.

/end

First Billie, then that Hufflepuff boy (whose friend was he again? When Barbara tried to remember who he associated with, she came up blank, so did he even have any place in this group? He certainly seemed as out of place as she felt) left the table; Barbara cast a look sideways at Phillip next to her, but she was probably below his eyeline anyway, and -- oh, what was she doing here? These were Billie's friends. (How was it that Billie Fay -- Billie Fay -- had so many rowdy friends, when she, Barbara, didn't? It didn't seem like Billie -- that thought felt vindictive, more like Rowen than herself, so Barbara tucked her eyebrows into a frown, chiding herself for -- well -- it hadn't been anything cruel, just a little selfish.)

The boys were droning on about tokens, or something -- some Muggle thing, she thought -- Barbara went back her fish, cleaved another bite off it with the side of her fork and stuck it in her mouth, chewed it, stared blankly down at the plate across from hers, high enough that she wasn't sulking and low enough not to make eye contact with anybody.

Ought she to follow Billie? She wasn't a fool -- though Billie was going to the bathroom, it wasn't to go to the bathroom, it was to get out of the fog of this table and its passive-aggression, and Barbara didn't begrudge her friend at all her desire to escape. But, she thought, even if she was only sitting here because of Billie, it wasn't polite to go and admit it, and she certainly wasn't about to make some lame school-related excuse like Jae Kim had, so -- for now -- she was trapped.

Better to stay, then, but at least -- she hoped -- everybody knew how little she could say about these tokens, and wouldn't bother her, and -- in any case -- she was on the other side of Phillip Donnelly, whom probably nobody wanted to invite to the conversation.

[out]

What the hell was he still doing sitting here?

Phillip blinked silently at the others, wondering if they wanted him here as little as he wanted to be here, and then sighed. It didn't matter what they wanted. He was here because Billie had asked him to be, and the moment she had gotten up to excuse herself, he should have taken off too. He considered it, but at first, he thought she was going to come right back. Or at the very least, give him an out, like walking her to wherever she was going (before she had mentioned the bathroom). And even though the boys had started talking about a topic Phillip might have otherwise been interested in, he avoided looking at any of them.

Barbara was the only Ravenclaw left, and when Jae left, it was two blues lost in a field of loud red, and Phillip did not plan on sticking around. Although next to him, Barbara was quiet, and he should have felt some sense of camaraderie toward her, he didn't. She was the only one of Billie's friends he could stand, most likely because they seemed very similar, quiet, intelligent, and not like the Gryffindors, but it didn't matter. "Yeah," Phillip said all of two minutes after realizing Billie was not coming back right away and stood up from the table. Then, he gave Barbara and her only a short nod before heading out of the Great Hall in hopes of finding his girlfriend.

[out]

The boys were talking about the books again, and as much as Mavis loved the good-looking actors in the film, she was not interested in learning a nerdy new language. So instead, Mavis got out of her seat and moved to sit next to Magnolia. Jae got up too and made some excuse about having to do an assignment she was pretty sure he'd already bragged about finishing, and she stuck her tongue out at him as she swung her legs back over the bench seat. In a way, Gryffindor was sad that everyone seemed to be leaving or turning to do their things because the drama was fading quickly, but it was nice too. And besides, she needed to talk to Magnolia.


Without much warning, Mavis turned to her book bag, which she'd miraculously remembered not to leave where she was sitting before, and yanked it open. Unfortunately, the zipper had broken two days ago, the little silver part stuck halfway down the teeth, so it took some doing, but finally, Mavis pulled out the latest issue of the Witch Weekly from the tote. She plopped it on the table, smiled, and began quickly started flipping through it, showing Magnolia the cute hair clips that she wanted to try and find in Hogsmeade this weekend.

/end

Killian's eyes widened! "Yes! I've been asking my mum for the guides to Elvish for ages but she told me to go learn Elvish here and how do I tell her there are no Elvish classes, right?" This was the most uptake he had on a Tolkien related conversation from another male person since Gene Horowitz had told him to shove off in second year. Killian was elated.

His face fell in short order -- Jae, instead of making conversation about it, was begging off. "Right, yeah. See you, then." He watched Jae go for a moment, frowning. Was he mucking them up again? He had gone about it all wrong in first year, but History of Magic had given the two boys a rare opportunity to try and become friends again. Maybe Killian was the only one trying.

He turned back to the table. Phillip was peeling off, Mavis was cornering Mavis, Billie was gone... and Barbara was picking at her food. Killian frowned. Well, if the others were gone...

Killian slid down the table, in the space vacated by Billie and Phillip, leaving a proper amount of distance between him and Barbie. "I never asked -- is there a Christmas ballet recital?" He tempered his tone. "If there is, and you don't mind it, I had a great time in August."

There were worse things than talking to Barbie about dance. The rest of this evening, for one. A simple, one on one conversation, without the looming form of Phillip Donnelly, could be lovely.

/out

Magnolia wasn’t really sure what this electricity thing Ki was talking about was, or maybe she did but couldn’t really figure out why it mattered, so instead of answering she sort of just shrugged her shoulders and moved on to the next topic of conversation. Too much muggle stuff, it made her head hurt. “’Cause I don’t have to, Ki’ll explain it all as we go along, can’t be that hard,” she looked over at Jae making a face. As if she had six hours to spend watching a movie about a muggle’s take on elves and all that nonsense.

Magnolia might have suggested that they go to the movies, but Ki seemed keener on spending time with his other friends so she dropped it. She and the girls would have probably been too busy doing each other’s makeup and talking about boys, Jae would probably stand them up anyway, and Ki would probably end up going with the majority. He was nice like that; maybe she’d do one of her facials on him.

She looked over at Billie as she said something, not really processing what she was saying as much as she was realizing how uncomfortable she looked. Probably, Phillip, Magnolia figured, hovering like some protective ogre. Next time, she’d be clear and say no male Ravenclaws at the table allowed whose name started and ended with P. “Oh?” she looked up at Billie as she got up, not entirely sure she actually meant to go to the bathroom but just as quickly went back to the conversation. She glanced over at Phillip, unsure of why he hadn’t gone after Billie or if he actually thought she was going to the bathroom, but she ignored it. Whatever. It wasn’t like she was going to talk to him anyway.

“Ugh, can we not talk about books at the table,” she scoffed, pulling out a mirror from her bag and setting it on the table. If books were the topic of conversation, she was better off focusing on her makeup anyway. Jae looked pretty interested in whatever he was talking about so she wasn’t about to get sucked into yet another academic conversation during non-class times. Gross.

But of course, salvation came in the form of her best friend, Mavis, who slid in next to her and produced the latest copy of Witch Weekly, which got Magnolia’s attention immediately. “Brilliant, you’re amazing,” she smiled, listening avidly as she spoke her favorite language: fashion.

/out