Magical Hogwarts

Magnolia was ready to ask once again when he responded with a What? but did not quite have the chance to do so before he inserted a little piece of information about himself that, for some reason (though she wasn’t sure why), she had gotten wrong. Of course, he had had girlfriends before, now she felt silly.

Or had he? His statement right after confused her once again. “Oh, I mean, if you have, it’s not a big deal, I figured,” she looked down, feeling a little disappointed that she had once again missed the obvious. Now she wondered if she would be compared to every other ex-girlfriend he had ever had. Was Allison his ex-girlfriend, too? She knew better than to ask.

“Yeah, just a bit longer,” she offered, spotting a trash bin and using that as an excuse to take a moment to herself as she approached it, all but finished with her chips, she tossed the paper waste in the bin. And, of course, she placed a bit more distance between them as she fell silent. “So…” she started awkwardly, “any other big plans for before school?” She tried, but really, all she could think about was how stupid she probably looked, assuming she was his first real girlfriend (if that at all).

Not being familiar with being complimented was only half the story. Isaac could not stop the nervous heat that rose to his cheeks. He didn’t like what she had said out loud—but he didn’t hate that it was her who thought it, either. It was a conundrum. Of course, he wanted her to think he was attractive — that was like a big part of this whole setup, right? —but he didn’t want her to explicitly say it. It made him feel awkward, like he was on display, or being judged. And more importantly: was he supposed to immediately compliment her back? Was this some secret verbal dating hand shake he didn’t know? Was he doing it wrong already?

Isaac felt like he’d said the wrong thing, but also like, even with all the time in the world, he likely wouldn’t have found the right thing to say. He probably shouldn’t have lied though… that was pretty obvious. And he’d tried to take it back, but maybe she hadn’t heard it, or maybe he wasn’t clear. Or maybe (likely) he was a stupid fool who needed to relax. She’d given him a compliment, and he was acting like it was the damned inquisition.

“No, I haven’t had a girlfriend before.” He said pointedly, and that felt off too. Like he was being too direct, correcting her like that when he’d been the one who said it in the first place. If he was a comic book character, he’d of been eating his sneakers. At least the place wasn’t too much further, Isaac sighed. Magnolia went for the trash can, and he was pretty sure he’d messed up a moment. She didn’t sound disappointed, but he liked to think he recognized the difference in her voice. He’d heard her try to be cheery before, this was worse. “I don’t know why I said that.”

Magnolia looked in his direction curiously as he said that he had not had a girlfriend before and frowned. She could not understand why he’d feel the need to lie about that, nor how easily the lie had slipped from his mouth. Was he just in the habit of telling lies about himself? Or did he just like to contradict what she said? Magnolia tried not to linger on the thought for too much longer, though, because she knew that if she did, it would only spiral out of control. “Well, there’s a first for everything or something like that,” she responded instead with a smile, attempting to lighten the situation by turning her focus elsewhere.

“Just over this way,” she pointed to the small gate ahead, which marked the entrance to the park. Tucking her hands into her jacket and really hoping she had brought a bigger one now that they were uphill and the winter wind was really blowing, she turned to Isaac again. “I think there’s a garden or something on the other side of the park that has a cafe if you want something warm later,” she added. “But here we are,” she suddenly, stopping in her tracks and turning towards the landscape in front of them. The view was the best in the city, “I think your house is somewhere over there,” she pointed out, stretching her hand out in what seemed like the right direction.

Not that she really knew; Magnolia wasn’t exactly the most coordinated person.

“Yeah,” he said, there was a first time for everything. Isaac wasn’t sure if that was an insult or escape. If she was trying to stop whatever they were barreling toward before it happened. And if that was the case, he appreciated her for it. He let out a sound that sort of resembled a laugh, more like a quiet snort because he was frowning, too.

Isaac followed his girlfriend (right?) toward where she led them, kicking rocks all the way up the path. One of the rocks shot forward, rolling in front of him. Another didn’t budge and nearly tripped him—served him right. When they finally reached the top, he exhaled, not out of breath, but because of the cold. His breath collected around his face before dispersing, and Isaac took a moment to look at the city displayed beneath them. It was a good view, she wasn’t wrong, but the teenager didn’t have the presence of mind to appreciate things like this. “It's cool,” he shrugged.

“Think anyone will notice if I do magic here?” the teenager asked, looking side to side for any muggles, “It's fucking cold.”

It wasn’t much but for what it was worth the words It’s cool, made her light up a little in triumph. It was hard to get a reaction out of him so when she got words and a reaction, it made her feel pretty cool. “Right? I love it here,” she nodded in agreement. She considered his question her eyes traveling around the park as she spotted the other visitors.

Even though it was the weekend, the park was relatively empty, apart for some people walking their dogs and a couple of kids hanging about in groups. They had passed a small group of teens earlier drinking enthusiastically out of the same Thermos but Magnolia suspected it wasn’t just hot chocolate that they were drinking. They had more or less ignored them, though, so she didn’t think they’d be a threat.

“I think it’s fine,” she said, finding a bench under one of the larger trees and took a seat, patting the seat next to her. “I’d like make something but you know, don’t think I’ve gotten to that part of the Charms textbook,” she added. Magnolia wasn’t actually really sure what was in the Charms textbook if she were entirely honest but she figured there must have been a section on “Spells for Magical Dates” or something to that effect. Now that she considered it, there was probably something like that in Witch Weekly, she’d have to check.

Isaac sank into the seat beside her, even the wooden bench was chilly. He could feel the cold metal bolts that held the backrest together as he leaned against them. Pulling his wand out from his sweatshirt, Isaac spoke before beginning a warming spell that would help them both. “Oh yeah? What would you make?” he asked, “If you could know any spell.” Isaac knew she wasn’t particularly studious, but there was no shortage of creativity. Even though he rebelled against norms and Magnolia seemed to propel herself toward them, Isaac was certain she was more of an individualist.

“Or like, what is your favorite spell?” To forget about the stupid things he’d already said and done today, Isaac realized the conversation needed to get going. He didn’t know as much about Magnolia as he wanted, and now seemed like a fitting time to learn more. The teenager dug out some food from his bag and turned slightly toward her as he began eating.

“Oh, I dunno,” she started when he asked, but mostly to buy time while she considered what she would want to do should she have the knowledge to do it. “Something fancy like control the weather, make it summer again, that sort of thing,” she offered. Though, in retrospect, Magnolia supposed that would not work so well with so many muggles around unless she was keen to get in trouble. “I don’t think I have a favorite spell,” she considered it as he pulled out his food, turning towards him so that they could speak better.

“I kinda feel like magic gets in the way sometimes, you know?” She offered. It might have been a controversial thought, or perhaps a wild one coming from someone whose family relied on magic for so many things at home, but it was something she often thought about when she considered things like Charms class or her education at Hogwarts altogether. “That wasn’t much of an answer, sorry,” she said with an apologetic smile, “what about you?”

Isaac was amazed to learn she didn't have a favorite spell. He had imagined it would be something like glitterfying things, or perhaps a spell for her hair. Not because she was shallow, but because in the last half hour he'd clocked at least four separate items on her person covered in sparkles, and she was always fussing with her hair.

“I kinda feel like magic gets in the way sometimes, you know?” Isaac shrugged. He had follow up questions, but instinctively, he seemed like he already knew what she meant. There were countless times he could easily remember when magic was just added work. Right now, for instance, it was freezing out and a warming spell was going to help, but wearing a pair of gloves or staying inside during winter -- (what a novel idea!) -- would have done just as well.

"Some magic is useful though," he said, popping a fry into his mouth and nodding. He didn't have any examples for that side of the argument right now, but felt like it had to be said anyway. Even if it was just to be contradictory. "Yeah, I guess I like the useful shit," Isaac's gaze veered off across the field behind her as he thought about it. "You know like," he paused, taking a deep breath and considering the question probably more than he needed to.

"Apparating, and getting water, and I don't know, not getting eaten by werewolves and shit."

Magnolia felt silly as soon as she had said it, but any thoughts of redeeming herself were abandoned completely when he reiterated what she already knew. Some magic is useful thought, he had offered in return, and she could only nod in agreement because he was right. But there was more to the statement that Magnolia had not added that might have given him a better understanding of what she meant. Stuck at Hogwarts for a better part of their teenage life made living in the magical world easy but almost impossible to adjust to life outside of it.

The teenage girl had friends on the outside, friends she had to actively hide her reality from, which never sat too well with her, to begin with. But there was no point in getting into all of that now. Perhaps magic was more useful to Isaac because he had spent a considerable amount of time studying it, and it was not so valuable for her because, well, she spent most of her time socializing.

“I s’pose that’s useful,” she agreed, hugging her knees closer to her body though she wasn’t technically cold anymore. “Wait…” she paused, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear for what felt like the umpteenth time, “why are you running away from werewolves again? Is this a thing? I thought like werewolves were practically extinct?” She asked, tilting her head a little in confusion. Or was that another creature? She had missed that lecture, or perhaps she had ignored it altogether. "I guess if useful is what we're going for, I use a coloring spell for my hair sometimes; that's pretty useful," she offered.

“No, I mean, if I ever did have to,” Honestly Isaac wasn’t sure that would ever happen, but they’d learned about it in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and he was a teenage boy, so of course he paid attention to the monsters series. “I think they still exist…” He’d never seen one in real life, but he supposed that was probably a good thing. “I’d bet loads of things are out there we don’t know about, and shit.” It made sense, and it made the world feel bigger, which Isaac didn’t mind at all. Tilbury was so cramped.

She mentioned a hair coloring spell, and Isaac responded in an even tone. “Like the purple in your hair last year?” Of course, he'd noticed. Biting the end off of another fry and chewing it quietly, Isaac considered there were plenty of useful cosmetic charms, but he’d likely never learn about any of them. They had learned how to make cloth articles different colors last year, and that was pretty useful. It meant anytime his mum bought him a new sweater in any color but black, he could quickly remedy the problem. Not that she bought him clothing often.

The thought reminded him of school robes, and Isaac spoke again. “Do you want to go to Diagon Alley with me before break is over?”

The newfound knowledge that one of those creatures could exist filled her with a sudden surge of irrational fear that she shuddered involuntarily. “That’s awful thanks for giving me nightmare fuel for ages,” she said with a pout. But he was right, there were probably many things that out there that they knew nothing about, just waiting to be discovered. While Magnolia enjoyed a good adventure once in a while, she was still wary of running into anything like a werewolf, prepared or not.

His words brought a smile to her face, unaware that he had paid attention to her that much to remember her purple period. “Violet and Lilac,” she corrected with a smile, “didn’t know you’d been paying that much attention though; pretty sweet of you,” she added teasingly. “I’m thinking something like super green or minty during the next break, something completely crazy. What’s your favorite color?” She asked though after a second’s thought, she figured he’d say something along the lines of black.

“To shop for materials?” She wondered, tilting her head curiously before nodding enthusiastically. “Would love to, I can take you to my favorite places too, and we can get matching quills!”

Isaac probably should have known better than to tell her he’d noticed her hair last term. In the moment it had felt fine, but after she responded, Isaac felt like he’d just handed her ammunition for her favorite weapons. He grimaced, but not at her color ideas for the coming year. Isaac didn’t want her to think he was some weird obsessed kid. He'd been paying attention to her last year, yes, but how much was too much? Would it be worse to try to backtrack now? In the end, he left it alone. “Yeah, that would be cool.” He said about the mint green.

“I haven’t got one,” No favorite color? Shocker. He supposed she would look cute with anything, but for some reason the idea of her doing green instead of red made him want to smile. (He didn’t, though, because he realized it probably wasn’t because of him.) Then again… she hadn’t done blue last term, so…

After he’d spent too much time thinking about her choice of hair coloring and burning the top of his mouth with another fry, Isaac did the unthinkable and attempted to make future plans with his new girlfriend. It was uncharted territory, indeed. And not entirely successful. “Yeah, I need to buy some shit.” He shrugged, the idea of going to her favorite places earned a nod, but the quill suggestion had him frowning. “Matching quills? Really?”

”Yeah, that would be cool” was not the sort of enthusiasm she was hoping to get from him but at the same time, it felt better coming from him than nothing at all. She was surprised he even agree if she were completely honest, minty green did not seem like one of the colors on Isaac’s list of favorites. Black, on the other hand, seemed to match well. But Magnolia was quite over Black hair (she’d gone through her depress-y goth phase, too) therefore was not entirely enchanted with the idea of doing that.

“Not even one color? Crazy,” she said in disbelief, but only because it didn’t seem like him to not have at least one color he enjoyed. But then again, Magnolia had everything in about a hundred colors. Her whole life was just one big, very colorful and glittery rainbow.

“Obviously,” she said as if having matching quills were the most natural thing in the world. At least it was for Magnolia. “I mean I could’ve said matching pins or t-shirts so you know, quills aren’t that bad. Plus you can get like glittery ink or we can get special ink,” she added with a smirk. “Unless you want to do pins, because that’s totally fine too and very cute, I 100% would agree,” she added enthusiastically.

The increasingly familiar feeling struck Isaac of being on a runaway train headed straight for a cliff. “Wait, no,” he said, trying to stop her from going too far down this track, but he feared he was already too late when she started mentioning glittery ink. “Hold on,” he added (which was more polite than the ‘fuck that’ he had on the tip of his tongue), but it was no use. Isaac grimaced at the idea of matching pins being totally fine and very cute and shook his head quickly.

Reaching for her hands, Isaac took a deep breath and did his best to distract her from the horrifying scenario she was painting for them. He could practically hear his dorm mates snickering at him for matching quills. “No pins, no glittery ink, how about we just hang out?” Isaac bit off more than he could chew, inviting her to Diagon Alley, but he wasn’t taking it back now.

Magnolia could not help but to laugh at his reaction. Initially she had been discouraged by it but now she found it weirdly endearing. “Fine,” she rolled her eyes playfully, “we can get like matching tattoos or something, I guess” she added with a playful smirk, her hand holding his a bit tighter when he reached for her. “Can I still keep your hoodie, though?” She asked instead. Isaac obviously didn’t care about it as much as Magnolia did but there was something particularly special about having something to show for the relationship they were not. Not that she cared if anyone knew. Well, she did care but felt cooler pretending like it was whatever. Still, she supposed it was the same reason girls that got engaged wanted some crazy-looking ring on their finger, to show it off.

She thought to say this but bit her tongue just in time. That was a joke that Magnolia knew might push her boyfriend over the hypothetical edge. “Alright, where to first? What’s on the list?”