[library] see through || isaac

Actively finding ways to avoid your crush when you had only just been actively finding ways to spend time with them was no easy task. For Magnolia, that strange gut-wrenching feeling she experienced every time she saw Isaac only to look away was the sort of reminder, she needed never to fall for the stupid thoughts in her head again. The amount of planning the Gryffindor put forth in her seating arrangements for every class they shared was practically unheard of; the girl had made plans to sit next to someone new in every class, rotating every week or two to avoid the trappings of a new friendship she didn’t necessarily want. Magnolia had been proud of the way she had completely ignored him on the train back to Hogwarts, finding it so much easier to huddle in with her best friends and talk about nonsense than face her insecurities and talk to the boy she had been spending practically all of winter break with.

It was easy when she remembered that she hadn’t told her friends anything, and with her attention fully set on Horus now (much to the poor boy’s chagrin), Magnolia had more or less convinced herself that the rest of term would continue on swimmingly. Though the boy had not expressly agreed to it, yet the two were practically dating now. For Isaac, she would be just another girl that had stupidly fallen for his tricks, and for her, he would be just another one of her many mistakes. And then, last week had sort of happened and once again she had spiraled a little out of her orbit of concentration, falling into that old pattern of looking for reasons to be alone with him. Although now, her reasons had a bit more of an ulterior purpose.

But Allison’s words replayed in her head, a reminder that Isaac was only after one thing, and once he got it well, that’d be the last she’d ever hear of his nice side. She had also confirmed her biggest suspicion, that the two were still seeing each other.     
Magnolia considered telling the Muggle Studies Professor that putting her in a group with Isaac and Horus was a recipe for a disaster of monumental proportions but after everything had been assigned, the man had not opened the room for discussion or disagreement. So, as she begrudgingly made her way to the Library to meet up with these groupmates (Horus was strangely picky about timetable organization and had made a schedule for them to meet all week right before dinner) she thought of all the ways this might go wrong. For a week and a half, she had enjoyed rubbing her new “relationship” in Isaac’s face whenever she had the chance, now that Isaac had something to one-up her with (was it technically cheating?) she didn’t feel so confident.

“You’re late,” hissed Horus, frowning in her direction as she moved to take a seat next to him. It was when her hands reached for the zipper of the hoodie she was wearing that she looked briefly across the table realizing her mistake and leaving the hoodie on. It hadn’t been on purpose, but lately, she practically lived in it, it was comfortable. “Sorry, got caught up making plans, still on for Saturday, are we?” she asked, giving Horus a small smile. He looked at her, a confused look on his face before he shrugged it off. That was probably the best response she was going to get so she took it in stride. “Perfect,” she said, turning her attention back to the group, “So I was thinking Chelsea and I can do the music section, let you boys figure out the sports and what not?” she offered.   

@Isaac Hackney

Getting grouped up with Magnolia and her new boyfriend was a ridiculous coincidence, and Isaac couldn't help but find it suspect. A part of him wondered if the professor was secretly hoping they would all kill each other so he would have fewer papers to grade. Or if Magnolia was secretly more nefarious than she let on. Either way, he was glad that Chelsea had also been assigned to the group because if Magnolia were going to try to make him jealous, then he'd have to join the game. Isaac got to the library early but not because he wanted to impress Horus or 'be a part of the team' but because he needed the control being on time afforded him.

Staring out a nearby window, leaning back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest, Isaac barely even pretended to listen to what Chelsea was telling him. Magnolia was the last to show up, and until she got there, Isaac had been relatively quiet. He sat forward, about to mouth off to Horus for chastising Magnolia, and then stopped himself. Good, he thought, hoping there was trouble in paradise already, and smiled at her as she awkwardly made plans with him. Horus seemed disinterested or entirely invested in the project; either way, it made Isaac happy to see it.
His dark eyes crinkled, even more when he noticed that Magnolia was wearing his sweater again. The one she'd stolen over the break. And with a new level of smugness, Isaac wondered if Horus knew where she had gotten it.

Magnolia tried to take control of the conversation, and Isaac shook his head. The setup was fine and had anyone else suggested it, he probably would have agreed, but instead, he refused. "Chelsea does not know shit about Muggle sports," He began, turning to Chelsea and given her a charming shrug, "No offense Chels," And then turned back to Magnolia, "I think I will work on Music." He demanded and turned to Horus, who had actually been named 'Team Leader' to make his case and completely undermine Magnolia at the same time. "Assuming you want a good grade on this project, Heyward, do you agree?"

Of course, she thought to herself, the smug manner in which he had just foiled her plans making her a little angrier than the situation probably required. There was no doubt in her mind that Isaac was doing this on purpose, though she wasn’t sure if he was trying to get a rise out of her so that she might tell their secret or if he was having fun at her expense. Not that they had a secret to begin with, their canoodling over winter break was hardly a relationship, and even if she had thought it was, she wasn’t about to lose face by admitting this to herself. But who was she fooling? The girl had fallen for the word middle ground like a complete idiot and now here she was having to pretend she didn’t care while also showing how much she cared about Horus, just to get a rise out of Isaac in return. If only her boyfriend could be a little more cooperative, she would not have felt all out of sorts in the first place. She’d have to see if Horus had any sweaters, she might have borrowed to up the ante, but something told her that the very pristine boy had probably never owned a sweatshirt in his life.

“Well I’m sure you wouldn’t mind working with Chelsea, now would you?” Magnolia said before she could stop herself, though, true to form, she immediately regretted sounding so bitter about it. “I practically live at Spinners, obviously I’ve got much more experience with Muggle music than the lot of you,” she said, turning to Horus and hoping that he’d find the coquettish way she blinked her eyelashes at him enough to do whatever she asked. That’s what girls did, right? When they wanted something, they just pouted and batted their eyelashes, and boys were supposed to do whatever they said.

“Uh—” Horus started, seemingly considering what she was saying, “Why are you blinking so much?” he frowned a little, at a complete loss of how to proceed from here, “Are you alright?” he asked slowly. No, no he wasn’t considering anything he was probably just trying to figure out what in the world was wrong with the girl sitting beside him. Great, just great. “I think everyone should have a chance to choose,” he said finally. Why was no one ever on her side?

She rolled her eyes, sinking lower in her seat in equal parts embarrassment and frustration. “Fine, I’ll do the sports, pretty sure I can do it on my own, all you losers can stick to music.”

While he would have much rather worked with Magnolia, Isaac knew if he looked too eager, she would hold it over him forever. So instead of countering her proposal, Isaac agreed to work with Chelsea with a smile. "Yeah, we are good friends, so that works for me," Isaac replied smugly, hoping to irritate the Gryffindor in front of him when he put his arm around the witch next to him. And then she threw in the bit about Spinners, and Isaac felt that wave of jealousy creeping back up inside of him. She always had to one-up him, still had to win; it was infuriating, and he was like a moth to the flame.

"Whatever, have fun working by yourself, then," Isaac agreed way too quickly, but his words were soon drowned out by Horus' complete lack of knowledge when it came to witches. "You know your pretty daft for a nerd," Barely containing his laughter, once more at Horus' expense, Isaac began to behave exactly like one might assume a Slytherin would in a situation like this. Cold, insulting, and above everyone else.

Horus seemed to be trying to navigate this tricky political situation for all his faults and offered everyone the chance to choose. "I will work with Chels," Isaac used her nickname again, hoping Magnolia would read into the informality and be bothered by it, and then smirked at her. "You two make such a good couple. Why don't you work together," Isaac reached over to clap Horus on the back in mock celebration like he had won something, but Isaac's sinister laugh told a different story. "You are a sporting fellow, right Horus? Know all about the muggle games?" Giving the well-read Very Pureblood wizard another look, Isaac somehow doubted it.

They would probably fail the project at this rate, but Isaac thought it was a worthy sacrifice.

For someone that was over-expressive to a fault, Magnolia thought she was doing a relatively good job of hiding the hurt on her face, though the fist she had balled up under the table at the sight of Isaac putting his arm around Chelsea the way he had was helping. A little. Now everything made absolute sense, it had been Allison over winter break and now that they were back at school, Isaac had wasted little time in replacing her with someone else. It probably wasn’t difficult to replace someone that didn’t matter, she thought to herself but didn’t want to linger on it for too long because it would show on her face. But it was hard not to care, especially when the conclusion she came to was further proven by the way Chelsea was looking at her, like she knew something and was enjoying the torture she was putting the Gryffindor girl through.

Of course, just because it wasn’t written on her face, didn’t mean that it wouldn’t be written all over everything else she did. So when Isaac butted in to laugh, Magnolia couldn’t help herself, “Oh I’m sorry, don’t remember either of us asking for your opinion, Isaac,” she said pointedly, turning her attention back to Horus, who looked at her with a surprised expression on her face. It really did take the impossible to get the unusually chipper girl in a terribly bad mood, but Isaac had gone and exceeded her greatest expectations here, too.

The shoulders flinched slightly at the sound of that nickname that filled her with a sort of jealousy she couldn’t remember ever having experienced before. And it was at that moment that Magnolia decided she didn’t like the girl at all even though the two of them hadn’t shared more than a handful of words all term. Magnolia, the girl who could become friends with just about anyone, had conditions and though it didn't sit well with her at all, she wasn’t sure what to make of all these feelings. The only solution was to redirect them towards Horus. Obviously.

“He knows enough,” she said quietly, resting her hand on Horus’ leg and squeezing reassuringly, he tensed under her hand but (surprisingly) didn’t complain about it. Maybe it made him feel cool getting defended by one of the loud fifth-year girls. Whatever it was, she was going to work it in her favor. “Plus I can teach you everything you need to know when we meet up later,” she said, it had been sort of whispered but meant to be loud enough for Isaac (and Chelsea) to hear. “So what music are you and Chels doing?”

While Isaac couldn't actually see where Magnolia's hand had gone under the table, he could tell it was no longer in her lap, and from the look on Horus' face, it was somewhere else entirely. Naturally, he assumed she was doing something she absolutely should not have been (at least not with Horus) and saw red. "--when we meet up later," Isaac's fist slammed against the top of the table, it wasn't exceedingly loud, but it was enough to startle Chelsea and scare Horus. The witch next to him covered her mouth and then giggled, a book flopped onto the floor, and Horus sat up straighter than a nerd should have been physically able to, but Isaac didn't see any of it.

Without a word, he shot up from his chair; it tipped over and fell onto the floor behind him as he stalked toward Magnolia. "We need to talk, privately." He hissed, giving Horus a menacing look before wrapping his hand around Magnolia's upper arm and practically yanking her from her seat. Isaac ignored everything around him as he nearly dragged her out into the hallway. Away from Horus and Chelsea, away from their peers, and into the quiet corridor.

When he was reasonably sure they wouldn't be overheard, Isaac turned to face her and tried to keep his voice in check. "What the fuck was that? Why are you trying to make me jealous?" He may have tried first, but Magnolia had done it better, and that pissed him off. "What exactly are you playing at?"

The sound of Isaac’s hand slamming on the top of the table startled enough to make her jump a little as she turned to look at him wide-eyed and a little confused by his outburst. Okay, not entirely confused because Isaac had some serious anger issues going for him, Magnolia had seen that way back when they had that discussion about his mum but this was another level entirely. But it made her heart race a little in that sort of ‘this is a little toxic but totally hot like in the moving pictures’ sort of way that made her feel butterflies in her stomach. Or maybe she was nervous. Or hungry, it was hard to tell the difference.

Of course, Isaac only made things worse by practically dragging her away from the library. She aimlessly tried to reach for Horus's hand and even looked over at him hoping he’d do something, anything, but the poor nerd was much to frighten to do or say anything in his typical nerd-like behavior. And to think that he was supposed to be her boyfriend! Magnolia mentally reminded herself to go over that list of ‘Things You Must do as My Boyfriend’ she had written out for him in rainbow ink and glitter during Charms class. Obviously, Horus needed a refresher.

But back to the current state of events, she reminded herself, looking at Isaac and frowning as he leaned in closer. It made her nervous when he leaned in like that because all she could think about was kissing him but he definitely did not deserve a kiss then and there. “Trying to make you jealous?” she repeated his question, shrugging it off as if it wasn’t written all over her face that that was exactly what she was trying to do. “With my boyfriend? Why on Earth would I want to do that?” she scoffed. “Anyway you’re the one all friendly with Chelsea, or should I say Chels, in there anyway, obviously you don’t care about me,” she said pointedly, lightly stabbing her finger into his chest as if to make a point. “So stop acting like a psycho, Isaac, it’s not a good look on you.”

If the point of the game was to show Magnolia how much he did not care about her, Isaac had just lost. Practically dragging her out of the library, some dark part of him hoped that Horus would try to intervene so he could give the Ravenclaw a piece of his mind, too. However, as Isaac had expected, Magnolia had far more guts than her brick house of a boyfriend. Despite knowing exactly what he was doing, Isaac felt like he was on autopilot as he led Magnolia out of the library and to somewhere private. Like something else had taken over and was driving him forward, it was a chaotic feeling, and he hated that too.

Magnolia repeated his question, and he shook his head at her. He didn't need to know everything about her to know she was about to lie. Or, at the very least, fabricate some very Magnolia-like fairy tale version of what had just transpired. Standing closer to her than was necessary, Isaac stared down at her as she began. The way she said my boyfriend grated him precisely the way she probably wanted it to, and Isaac scoffed. "A pyscho?" They had called each other a lot of names in the past few months, but that was a new one, and worst of all, she was right. Isaac had no business being jealous. It wasn't as if he had asked her out, but he also hadn't been the one to start ignoring the other, either. So, in the end, he wrapped back around to this being all her fault.

And wait. "Is that my hoodie?" He asked, suddenly realizing he recognized the black zip-up and remembering the night he had let her borrow it. He figured he wouldn't get it back at the time, but at the time, he had liked the idea. Isaac had liked how she looked in his sweater, but now, it confused him. Isaac moved closer, his heart racing as he considered all of the possibilities. She had ignored him after winter break, had started dating Horus not long after, but if she was still wearing his sweater, then maybe not everything had changed.

Standing so close to Magnolia, it was impossible not to remember what kissing Magnolia had been like. Isaac had thought about that day in January more times than he should have the past few weeks, and it was at the front of his mind now, angry or not. His eyes slipped down to her mouth, and then the sweater she'd stolen, before darting back up to meet Magnolia's. It was clear what was on his mind as the corners of his lips twisted up into a smirk. "If you are with him, why are you wearing my sweater?"

“Yes,” she replied pointedly, knowing enough about psycho behavior herself to know when someone else was acting the part. Plus, she didn’t even know why he sounded so offended when he had totally said worst to her! She frowned a little, doing her best to look as angry as he did when he scoffed but found it hard to copy his actions when she wasn’t sitting next to Horus. Not that Horus would do anything, really, but deep-down Magnolia hoped that he’d have at least one chivalrous bone in his body, and he would do or say something to help her out. But just as she was about to pout and walk off, a grand, dramatic exit formulating in her head, he spoke again, and she looked at him in confusion.

“What?” she exclaimed, waiting for a second for clarification before it dawned on him and he looked down at her chest, realizing exactly what he was talking about. Right. Just as quickly as the realization settled, she could feel her cheeks become warm in embarrassment. This was going to be a hard one to explain herself out of. But then again, if anyone could explain themselves out of a sticky situation it was Magnolia Lane Hawkins.

“Now wait a minute,” she proclaimed, pressing a finger into his chest as if gently pushing him back, finding it hard to act so unaffectedly when he was so very close. “You gave me, this hoodie, remember?” she started out loudly, but her voice lowered down to a loud whisper when she noticed some other students passing by. “Which means I’m wearing my sweater, as I should,” she attempted. It was a poor excuse, but it would have to do.

“Anyway, why do you care? Want it back?” she suggested angrily, making a big act of unzipping the hoodie and pulling one arm out of it as if to show him that she was willing to give it right back but hoping he’d back down. It was her favorite sweater lately for more reasons than one and she didn’t want to have to give it up over a technicality.

It was mental how much Magnolia irritated him, but it was quietly likely even more insane than he still always wanted to talk to her. It would have been a hell of a lot easier if the Slytherin did not care as much as he pretended to. He brought up the sweater she'd stolen from him, and Magnolia jumped straight to defending herself, and Isaac shook his head. "I didn't give you shit." He answered quickly, nodding to the sweater, but she continued and called it her sweater. "I let you borrow it," Of course, Isaac had never expected to get it back, and he hadn't minded until right then either.

The teenager watched as she started to unzip it and felt himself getting angry again. Why did she have to go and start dating Horus Heyward? And more importantly, why was she being such a… well, that, to him now? Isaac had thought they were friends after New Years', but then she'd ignored him on the train and avoided him since, and it was just annoying. He hated that she was like this but hated himself more for letting it happen. He felt like he'd been set up, and he should have seen it coming. This was why he didn't date and generally did not like people. And he should have known better, Isaac did his best to avoid drama, but all of Hogwarts knew Magnolia was the Queen of it.

"No, I didn't say that," He barked back, shaking his head again as his eyes watched her eyes. "Just that it is fucked up that your wearing it while dating him," And he stood by that, but he didn't hate what it might have meant. Even if it meant nothing and she was just cold this morning.

“You did, too!” she emphasized the last bit as if it took away from the childishness with which she said it. But Magnolia remembered these little details, how could she forget that he had given her his sweater and later asked her to choose one when she was sitting on his bed in his house. The thought that he didn’t remember only hurt her a little, knowing that he probably played this game with every girl he had conquered. That she wasn’t special or the one, she wasn’t even Magnolia, just another girl.

Of course, she didn’t really want to give the hoodie back but now it felt like the only way to not look like a total loser or like she was hurt. “Well—” she started, frowning at his statement and what he was insinuating. “If you haven’t noticed Horus doesn’t own any hoodies, duh,” she rolled her eyes at him, leaning closer to him as she slowly continued pulling the hoodie off to give it to him.

Not anticipating this line of events, she hadn’t worn much more than a spaghetti strapped shirt, she had literally sort of thrown it on for comfort and hadn’t given it much thought. Now, unfortunately, she felt stupid and cold and way too exposed. “Take it,” she said, holding it up for him. “I don’t want your stupid sweater, anyway. I'm sure Horus will be just as happy to wrap his arm around me instead," she added bitingly. She hadn't cleared that bit with Horus and he probably wouldn't offer but she'd insist and debrief him later.

“You did, too!” Magnolia had shouted, and Isaac took a step away from her. Maybe he had given it to her, perhaps he hadn’t (he 100% had), but he felt like it didn’t matter now. She was with Horus, Magnolia wasn’t his friend, so it made no sense that she was still wearing his hoodie. Or maybe he wanted to force more reason onto something stupid than was probably reasonable. Then again, Isaac never felt reasonable when Magnolia was around. “Did not.” He said back, echoing her childish words and pressing his lips together in a thin line. Isaac didn’t care about the sweater; he had more, but rather the meaning he was trying to assign to it.

If she was wearing his hoodie, then maybe she wasn’t as into Horus Heyward the Whatever as she was trying to convince him she was. And for reasons he was starting to understand, Isaac took that as a good sign. Or… at the very least, a medium-okay sign. Good was relative.

Isaac smirked when she told him Horus didn’t have any hoodies and then nodded. “Probably because they do not make them in his size.” He quipped, laughing once at his mean joke. Horus wasn’t actually that big, but it didn’t matter. Magnolia continued to unzip the hoodie as dramatically as possible, and Isaac huffed as she held it out to him. Even at the start of this conversation, Isaac had been aware that his attitude wasn’t really about wanting the hoodie back. And now that she had called him out on it, handing the hoodie back, Isaac knew he didn’t want the conversation to stop there.

Rationally he should have just taken the hoodie and let Magnolia return to her boyfriend, but Isaac wasn’t feeling rational either. He wanted to keep her out here, where it was just the two of them, and he didn’t mind seeing the tank top she’d had on under his sweater, either. “No, you keep it. I’m good.” Isaac said between her words, and then she brought up Horus, and he felt that little sting of feelings he hated. Jealousy? Anger? How could he miss something that they had never been? It wasn’t as if he wanted to date Magnolia, but he was also cognizant of the fact that he didn’t want her to date Horus either. And she was so damn good at making sure to remind him of that every chance she got.

“Yeah, he seems like a real romantic.” Replying to her comment about Horus keeping her warm, Isaac rolled his eyes. It wasn’t like he knew what it meant to be a good boyfriend, but he was pretty sure that if Nola were his girlfriend, he would have made more effort to at least sit next to her in the library. Horus seemed like he barely knew how to breathe next to Magnolia, let alone any of the other things boyfriends should probably do. And Isaac was damn sure he wouldn’t have been cool with her hanging out with some other boy for this long out in the hallway if the situation was reversed.