[gravesend] a total eclipse of rationality || isaac

Isaac chalked her "sixth sense" up to an alternate reality she seemed to inhabit and laughed. "Yeah, okay," He scoffed, but the smile was still in his eyes. She had a way of saying crazy things and making him laugh that caught him off guard. It was probably because he hated everyone and assumed society was a mess, but Magnolia was different. Talking to her was exhausting, but not in the way that it usually was for the teenager.

Looking at her empty hands when she mentioned running out of candy, Isaac nodded, and then a chuckle came from his lips, "Oh, you think that do you?" He asked, finding it annoying (and cute) that she expected him to buy her more candy. Where was her muggle money? It seemed just like her to show up to a muggle theatre without a pound to her name. "Okay, I will buy you more candy if you sneak me into your movie," He bargained, nodding upward toward the door she had emerged from. Technically he had paid for a movie ticket, but still, it was breaking the rules to jump to a different theater halfway through the show. It was a dare, but Gryffindors loved those, right?

Isaac turned slowly toward the concessions stand, allowing her enough time to move with him, and began heading in that direction. "That fucking leprechaun movie blows," He admitted with another laugh. It wasn't like he was pulling for the characters or heavily invested in the story, so he could make fun of himself for choosing it, even if it meant she would tease him too.

“Oh isn’t that why you’ve come out? To see what Princess Nola might need you to do for her?” she teased, a small joke referring to something he had called her earlier in the month when they had been arguing (for the umpteenth time) about something she couldn’t even recall. He hadn’t even called her that in a nice way but whatever negativity had surrounded it had all but disappeared. The teenager had a tendency to only hear what she wanted to hear, take it, and completely run wild with it. Although she should have probably been more offended that he’d assume she’d do a thing like sneak him into her movie (because Mavis! Hello?) the thought that he was challenging her to do it only made her want to. But first, caution.

“Sneak you in? For some candy?” she scoffed, “and get sent to muggle prison for whatever ridiculous law that breaks? No thanks,” the girl continued, not sure if she was in for the quest-level sort of stuff that she would have to probably deal with if the ward that kept the right people in the right theater detected that the wrong person was going in. The last thing she needed was for hair to grow out of her ears or something for defying the law, that seemed like something muggles cared about. “And even if I did want to do that,” she started, “which I do not,” she emphasized, “You’ll have to do way better than a bar of chocolate, I’m not that easy,” she smirked. For the right chocolate bar maybe she was but this went further than chocolate, this seemed like the sort of opportunity that Magnolia had been waiting for all term.

“Of course it blows, it looks stupid, our movie is so good, the music is fantastic,” she added but in reality she hadn’t even been paying attention. “So, what are you going to do for me to get into it?” 

Isaac rolled his eyes when she referred to herself as Princess as if she would never let that one go. He'd called her Princess as an insult, but in a traditional Magnolia fashion, she had turned his words around and into something she liked better. She lived in a fantasy world. "You would think that," He sighed, shaking his head playfully, and wondering what other things he had said that she had twisted.

Just when Isaac thought Magnolia had said the ridiculous thing he had ever heard, she went and topped it. "Muggle prison? For movie jumping?" He repeated, in complete disbelief, exactly how little did she know about the muggle world? Isaac had done far worse for much less and hadn't gotten a slap on the wrist. "That is not really how it works. Do you ever pay attention in Muggle Studies?" He knew for a fact that she didn't, at least not recently, and he had been part of the reason why.

Isaac considered offering her two bars of chocolate instead, in hopes of making her laugh, but then decided to go a different route. "There are plenty of ways I could repay you," He offered, smirking as he bumped his shoulder against her, "Especially in the back of a dark theater,"

“How can I ever pay any attention in Muggle Studies if I’m always paying attention to you?” she said, but realizing that it probably sounded much more serious than she had ever intended, she pretended to be unfazed by her own statement. Cool move, Magnolia. “Is probably what you think I do, I know, but I’m pretty sure he’s never talked about that, I would know, the crime stuff is literally the only stuff that’s worth listening to,” she added. Magnolia was no horror buff, nor did she enjoy hearing about the awful things that muggles got onto in their spare time but hearing about it was much more interesting than all the other boring stuff she had to listen to.

“Plus if I ran the muggle pictures and delinquents like you came in, I feel like some precautions are important,” she teased, making her point by poking playfully at his arm, but there was no ill intention in her actions, in all honesty she had sort of wanted just to touch him. Magnolia first thought it might be flirty until she realized that it probably just made her seem weirdly childish. What was done was done; there were no take backs for that now.

Magnolia made a face that made it clear she had not been pleased with his suggestion (not to say that her mind didn’t briefly wander off to what that might mean) taking a step away from him to further prove that she wasn’t like that. “Never going to happen, Hackney, never in a million years,” she clarified, patting her pockets in search of that muggle money again. Sure, Magnolia really wanted that chocolate bar but wasn’t desperate for it. “Why’d you come to the movies anyway, isn’t that what pervs and weirdoes do?”

"How can I ever pay any attention in Muggle Studies if I'm always paying attention to you? Isaac smirked, only really hearing the second half of her argument, and even though it shouldn't have been possible, he grew even smugger from her words. "Oh, I see," He had begun to say, but she realized her fault and tried to cover it up quickly. Her attempt only made him laugh, but it wasn't the cruel sort of way he typically laughed at other people, but something more playful. Magnolia was funny, even when she didn't realize she was so. No, he thought, especially when she didn't know she was.

"Precautions perhaps, but not magical wards," Isaac teased her lack of muggle knowledge once more, making a point to find her eyes when he mentioned magical wards. If anyone overheard them, surely they would assume they were debating the storyline of whatever movie they had just watched, so he didn't bother to lower his voice. Muggles loved to pretend like magic was real; Isaac almost pitied them for not knowing the truth. "Worst they do is ban you from the theater, but there are plenty of theaters in London," Isaac shrugged. He liked this theater, so he didn't want to be kicked out, but he doubted it would come to that. No one paid attention, no one care all that much, he'd movie jumped on more than one occasion and with friends that were far less stealthy than even Magnolia Hawkins.

Never in a million years, he scoffed, "Your loss," Isaac didn't feel like she was genuinely rejecting him, so it didn't bother him. He knew how to be charming when it was beneficial, and the arrogant young man still believed he could convince her if he felt like it. The Slytherin saw her patting at her pockets and shook his head, "I will get it," He said with a bit of finality, "You can just owe me one," He cocked his head to the side and laughed as they neared the booth. Isaac wondered for a moment if he wanted more popcorn or if he should get some chocolate as well, now that they had spent a good few minutes talking about it.

"I came to watch the movie?" Isaac fired back at her, pretending to be baffled by her question as if it made no sense, and then he continued. "If you think there is anything else to do at the theater, then perhaps you might be the weirdo,"

Of course, Magnolia should have expected that smug expression on his face as soon as she told him that she had been paying attention to him, but at least she had felt as if she had successfully played off the rest of the phrasing since he was still standing there and hadn’t run off to tell his friends or make fun of her for sounding desperate. Though, the girl assumed he had probably thought it.

“Magical wards sound like the way to go,” Magnolia shrugged at his statement, not really sure why muggles bothered with security and precautions if they weren’t going to do it right anyway. Sometimes, she wondered if muggles actually knew how ridiculous their own systems were and if they had shunned magic at the witch trials in the past because it sort of pained them to know someone else was living life much easier than they were. It was only a passing thought, though, nothing she’d get into conversation with anyone about. Magnolia thought, instead, that getting banned from the theater sounded quite cool, “you think they’ll ban you from this one and then I won’t have to see your face every time I come in here?” she asked, arching an eyebrow as she spoke.

Magnolia would definitely be returning to this muggle theater again, especially since she wasn’t actually watching the move like she had come to in the first place. But if she was going to run into Isaac every time she did, it would certainly become a problem. She already had him distracting her at school; she didn’t need him distracting her all through break, either. Then she remembered he was going to buy her candy.

“But first!” she said with much enthusiasm, hooking her arm in his to drag him towards the concessions stand even quicker before he got away. “Chocolate then getting banned from the theater,” she teased his answer to her question only making her giggle. “I meant like...alone,” she added, “Who goes to the movies alone? That’s strange, isn’t it?”

Chocolate and then getting banned from the theater? Isaac found her priorities amusing, and it showed in his eyes as he turned from her. Magnolia was interesting, she always had some weird opinion that Isaac might not have considered, and he found it entertaining. "I told you earlier," Isaac pretended to sigh, like repeating himself was exhausting, and continued, "I came here with someone else, but she is gone now," He lied again. "Besides, it's only weird if you make it weird," Isaac knew that wasn't an excellent defense, but it didn't matter.

They were at the counter now, and he was reaching into his pocket for his wallet. "Milk duds, a large popcorn, and whatever shit she wants," He told the pimply teenager behind the register and turned back to Magnolia.

"No one to bother me this way, I can actually watch the movie," Isaac very much preferred to have company in the theatre, but only when it was something he wasn't trying to watch. He loved horror movies. The scarier, the better. And coming to the movies today, the wizard had actually thought the Leprechaun 2 might fit the bill. He had been so, so wrong. "Why, are you offering to keep me company?"

“Oh right,” she retorted, rolling her eyes at his comment as if she didn’t believe him, but realistically, she had been so consumed with trying to keep up with him that she had completely forgotten that he had said as much at the very beginning, when he had initially (and very chivalrously) jumped the queue to pay for her stuff. “Your elusive girlfriend,” she added for effect, a little miffed that he would bring the girl up again if she were long gone but also incredibly curious about who this mystery girl might be.

If it had been Allison would not, she had stuck around for as long as possible? Magnolia knew very little about the girl but had seen the way she acted around Isaac enough to know she would not be so easily dismissed. Not that Magnolia cared or was jealous or anything silly like that, she just noticed things. “Well you’re making it pretty weird yourself,” she pointed out, before turning back to the counter as if she hadn’t just made it weird herself. Magnolia had a talent for making things awkward, those achievements were high up there with her knack for unrequited crushes, not turning in homework, and being terribly distracted by any cute boy in her line of vision.

“Well, I like to talk during movies,” she confessed; it was her thing to actively comment on everything that was happening before her, and for the first part of the movie she had been making comments on what was going on on the screen in front of her. What kind of best mate took pictures of your girl? And what kind of woman has an affair with her husband’s brother? And why did everyone in this movie know each other? It was supposed to be a romantic comedy but there was nothing funny nor remotely romantic about it, it was kinda just weird. If adulting was all about miscommunication, warped romance, and strangers all being strangely connected, she wanted to opt out of that bit of life.

“Um,” she looked down at the glass case, “The jellies,” she said excitedly, “oh and those round ones too, the Maltesers,” she added, turning to Isaac and grinning widely, “you don’t mind, do you? I’ll pay you back, promise,” she added. “You can always ask me on a date to the movies if you want my company that badly,” she half-joked. Not that she’d say yes if he asked or…maybe she would. This night was turning out to be pretty wild. “But no horror movies.”

Isaac rolled his eyes at her elusive comment, as dramatically as possible, and then turned back to the counter. It was the reaction he wanted, so he didn't push it, but he had to keep up the lie. The teenager hadn't come to the movies with anyone this afternoon, but for whatever reason, he wanted Magnolia to think that he had. Maybe because he liked the way she frowned anytime Allison (who was not his girlfriend) came up. Isaac felt like he was starting to recognize the look enough to tell when she was thinking about the Slytherin girl, even if she didn't say it out loud, but maybe he was making assumptions. Or perhaps he wanted her to think he was here with someone else so she wouldn't think he was weird for coming to the theater alone. Which, now that she had brought it up, he supposed might have seemed a little strange. Isaac was independent like that, and despite being the leader of his little group of friends, he was a bit of a loner. The teenager preferred doing things by himself; other people irritated him.

"Why am I not surprised?" Isaac commented with a judgemental shake of his head. Of course, Magnolia was the sort to talk through the whole movie. It was fitting, and he had already assumed as much, but her saying it out loud made him feel smug about the assumption. Isaac knew he'd hate to see a movie with her if she was the sort that ruined it by commenting on every little thing, but in reality, he probably wouldn't have minded it as much as he would pretend to. She had funny ideas about things, especially muggle things, so her comments might have been hilarious. "Wow," he commented on her large amount of choices and then forked over the muggle money to pay for it without question. "That's alright, you can just owe me," He knew she'd hate the idea, which was why he brought it up again and turned to smirk at her as the man behind the counter figured out how to press the buttons on the register and passed him back some change.

"Horror movies are the only movies worth watching," Isaac declared as he shoved his wallet back in his jeans and picked up the little tray that held all of their snacks. "Your not scared of them, are you? I thought the Big Bad Gryffindors were not afraid of anything?"

“Bet you wish you’d have some of my commentary to make that leprechaun movie more exciting, huh?” she said playfully, though the girl knew that had she had to sit next to him for an entire film she would have been too nervous, probably spending most of the movie glancing over at him to gauge his reaction to things and act accordingly. Movie dates were the worst type of first dates, that had been a truth that one of her magazines had already established. The thought of sitting next to your crush in complete silence was the sort of deal breaker that ended up dooming relationships from the start. Not that she was looking for a relationship, or anything. Well, no, she was looking for the lucky boy she could experiment on (or with, whatever) but it certainly was not going to be Isaac Hackney. No way, never in a million years.

“Thanks,” she said apprehensively, she didn’t like the idea of owing him anything and might have said something along the lines of how she was repaying him in full by keeping his secret but decided against it. “I’ll pay you back before you go home, don’t need you coming up with creepy ideas on your own,” she said almost immediately, waiting as the boy at the counter retrieved the bag of octopus-shaped jellies and placed them on the counter followed by their chocolate. He asked them to wait a bit for the popcorn as it was still in the process of being made. While she waited, she opened the bag of jellies, taking one octopus and slowly biting off each of its legs, leaving the body for last, it was the tastiest, after all.

“I’m not scared,” she said much too quickly and with too much emotion to ever convince anyone, but she had already said it and couldn’t take it back. “I just don’t like bad films, like I have standards and horror films are stupid,” she added. Her experience was very limited, but if she had to watch horror it’d be the black and white variety, that one was a little more interesting that all the bloody stuff in the more recent ones. “If I ever come across a good one, I’ll let you know, in the meantime, no thanks.”

"Nothing could make that movie any worse," Isaac smirked, "Why, are you offering to keep me company again?" The teenager wished she would agree but knew that she would mention her friend again, and he'd have to pretend not to care. Isaac hadn't planned to want her to come to the theatre with him, but the more she dangled the idea and then refused to, the more he became obsessed with the idea. Having something he wasn't supposed to was a recipe for trouble, but Isaac was a cliche in that way. He only wanted it when she wouldn't let him have it. Then again, she was out here spending time with him instead of hurrying back to her girlfriend, so he supposed he was already winning a little.

"What kind of creepy ideas?" The teenager countered, wondering what she was thinking, and hoping it was at least half as entertaining as what he wanted her to think that he was thinking. It was all very complicated, but conversations with Magnolia had never been anything less. Maybe that was why he kept having them with her. As they waited for the popcorn (and impatiently Isaac wished he could just charm it to pop faster), the teenager laughed at Magnolia's eating habits. "Are you serious?" He asked, shaking his head through the chuckles as she bit off every leg of the candy before finally eating the body. "For someone who doesn't like horror movies, you've already got the psychopath torture thing down," In truth, Isaac hated those kinds of movies. He didn't need to watch someone hurt someone else. That wasn't scary, that was reality, and it wasn't fun. He wasn't a serial killer, and he didn't get a kick out of watching people brutalize others.

Isaac was an elitist when it came to his picks of horror movies worth watching. He should have known better to think that the Leprechaun movie would be anything intellectual, but it was the best of bad options playing this month, so he took the chance. Isaac liked the thrillers, the psychological horror movies that had you guessing, thinking, and never expecting the killer to strike when he did. The ones that used fancy filming techniques to create the creepiest settings. The ones that made him look behind him at every sound when he walked home alone in the dark. Those were horror movies. Not whatever the fuck that Saw movie was.

"Your standards suck if you like romantic comedies, what a bunch of bullshit in those movies. Let me guess: the girl hates the guy in the beginning but eventually, he wins her over even though he doesn't deserve her, and somehow that is romantic?" Isaac thought the premise of every romantic movie was the same; the girl should have known better, the boy manipulated her into thinking it was her idea, and eventually, they ride off into the sunset together. Also known as bullshit. "Fucking rubbish, horror movies are better."

“Hm, let me think,” she started, pausing for dramatic effect before she continued, “no,” she added, though the smile on her face and the fact that she hadn’t been running back to Mavis probably told otherwise. “I’d rather be stuck in a room with Horus Heyward than go to a horror film with you, and that’s saying a lot,” she added. Of course, this was completely untrue, but Magnolia knew that if she gave Isaac any reason to believe that it was exactly what she wanted to do, he’d find a way to ruin whatever fantasy she had concocted in her head about what they might do if they went on a movie date together.

Of course, that Isaac was ten times nicer than the real one and he also said really cute things to her like complemented her obvious academic potential and thought she was totally prettier than Billie not that she’d ever say these things out loud. She loved Billie, but the fact that she had tons of boys (really she only knew of two so far) after her made the Gryffindor wonder if she’d have better luck with boys if she was small, quiet, and blond, too.

“Probably nothing I’d say out loud,” she made a face, hoping that he’d imagine the worse and get offended by it. Magnolia didn’t have many thoughts on it apart from the fact that watching a movie alone seemed like a sad thing to do, and that guys that did that probably went to pick girls up at the theater, though the teenager wasn’t sure if there were many girls into the Leprechaun to begin with. But muggles were oddly obsessed with magic, and maybe Isaac was the type of guy that liked flirting with muggle girls.

She smiled proudly at his conjecture, taking another jelly to do the exact same thing to it, “They taste better when I torture them first, obviously,” she rolled her eyes, they were jellies after all. Once upon a time she had cried after a classmate had told her that the jellies were real and they could feel pain, but she had been six or seven at the time and had soon after realized that none of that was true anyway. That had been like a horror film, it was terribly traumatic.

“Romantic comedies are fun, plus no one is watching them to think about it, it’s just, I dunno, girl stuff,” she added, “plus the actors in this movie are really fit,” she continued, walking over to the posted that had been taped at the front of the counter to make her point. “This guy? I’d totally go out with him,” she added. He had been the shitty friend who was after his best mate’s wife but that was besides the point. “Name one good horror movie then?” she challenged him, though she was almost certain she wouldn’t even know it. 

"Hang on," Isaac said, holding his hand up to stop her as she moved over the movie poster to explain another one of her reasons for preferring romantic comedy to horror. "So the only reason you go to the movie is to turn off your brain and objectify some actor?" He was pretty sure that was what she had implied, and while he probably shouldn't have responded the way he did, Isaac couldn't help himself. Sometimes Magnolia made it too easy to pick on her, and the Slytherin had always loved low hanging fruit. "Wow, and you think I'm the bad guy," Acting superior like he was smarter or better than his peers was something that Isaac had grown quite good at over the years. He wore his attitude like armor, and Gryffindors were the easiest prey.

Still, as much fun as he was having, and the smug look on his face displayed just how much that was, Isaac knew better than to push too far. He was enjoying hanging out with Magnolia, even if he pretended like he wasn't half of the time, and if he was too rude, then he figured she would decide to go back to her friend with her free candy and leave him alone. "Horror movies can have those things too, by the way," He mentioned, leading them from the counter now that the popcorn was finally done and giving the concession guy one last impatient scowl for good measure.

"But better," He brought them to the poster of a horror movie he'd seen a few months ago. It was a thriller, lots of twists and turns, definitely a thinker, which was what Isaac had liked most about it, but the fact that the main girl was an absolutely babe didn't hurt either. "You get to see her tits in this one," Isaac explained, the smirk reaching his eyes as he balanced the tray with one hand and tossed some buttery popcorn into his mouth. He crunched on it loudly, obnoxiously so, as he waited for Magnolia to respond. She had asked him earlier to name one good horror movie, but Isaac could name several. When he'd finished eating the kernel of popping corn, he smiled again. Instead of answering her question like she had dared him to name one good movie, he answered it as she had desperately asked for his recommendations.

"There are too many to name. If you want something psychological, go with The Rear Window; if you want something creepy, try Dead of Night, or if you are looking for fit guys and no thinking, there's always Nightmare on Elm Street." The final recommendation was sarcastic, and Isaac made no effort to hide it. Freddy Krueger was far from good looking

Magnolia looked over at him incredulously, as if the answer to his question was the most obvious thing in the world, “Movies are supposed to be fun, Isaac, not schoolwork,” she said, who was the square, now? The girl was not going to tell him that bit directly because she knew he’d find one way or another to bring her right off of her high horse as soon as she climbed up on it, but it had been a lot of fun saying it in her head. “Plus I’m not objectifying anybody, I’m appreciating their faces,” she defended herself.

If he thought her commenting on how cute some of the men in the movie had been was objectifying then he’d be better of staying out of her shelf of steamy romance novels or the posters of half-naked Quidditch players she rotated around her room once in a while. Though she had to stop doing the latter so openly because her father didn’t really care for it (he was still getting over the fact that Magnolia was no longer his little girl anymore). “Plus why get into films if you don’t want people to judge your face?” she added, again in that same nonchalant tone that said he should’ve been thinking exactly what she had been thinking.

And apparently, he had, when he moved over to the poster of the horror movie he was showing her, her reaction not so gracious or understanding when he pointed out the main actress who looked like she had no business being near any sort of horror movie set to begin with. Naturally, Magnolia rolled her eyes at him, “Ugh, that’s not the same thing,” she said almost immediately, of course now she’d only think that he watched the movie because of the scene and the last thing she needed in her mind was a picture of that sort of thing in her head. Gross. “Well the movie looks complete rubbish like the one you came to watch now, seems like your taste in movies is shit,” she said pointedly.

But then he was actually giving her recommendations that didn’t sound half as bad as whatever rubbish film they had been looking at earlier and maybe he wasn’t all about bad horror and seeing naked girls in films. Maybe. And That Nightmare on Elm Street sounded like a winner if it was indeed all fit guys and no thinking but she had a feeling that Isaac was playing with her, like he did with most things. Then again, Isaac never did take her seriously. “Other films you’ve watched alone?” she quipped with a smirk of her own, “I’ll stick to my romcoms thank you, I bet you’ve never watched one in your life, have you?” she eyed him suspiciously. 

Still holding their tray of snacks with one hand, Isaac reached over, without much in the way of permission, and snagged a few octopus jellies from her bag. He gave Magnolia a grin before popping one into his mouth, not bothering to torture it first, and shrugged. "Not everyone needs other people around to validate us." Isaac wondered if she really thought he was weird for watching movies alone and then hated that he cared at all. When she asked if he had ever seen a romcom, Isaac shook his head dramatically slow. "Not any worth remembering," He teased, knowing that she probably had a whole list of recommendations that he'd never bother to watch. He didn't care about watching 'fit blokes' chase after chicks who were too dumb to know better. He'd rather watch the torture movies than that garbage.

"But your movie must not be very good since you basically abandoned your mate to hang out here with me," Isaac felt smug, assuming he was the reason she was still out here and feeling like keeping her from her movie was somehow a victory. The idea that she was just out here because he was annoying and she had to have the last word or for the free snacks hadn't really occurred to him. "Change your mind about coming back to the theatre with me, then? The back row is completely empty," He winked dramatically, knowing she wouldn't say yes, but entertaining himself with the idea anyway.