Magical Hogwarts

Magnolia looked over in Mavis’ direction when the professor turned away, biting her lip as she considered how she might tell her best friend of the super important life event that unfolded over the course of her winter break. The girl thought to owl her late Sunday night but sort of got distracted making a list of all the best places at Hogwarts she and Isaac might end up in for a date (or better yet, a quick snog in between classes) and had completely forgotten. “Psst!” she tried when the professor turned to the board again, coughing soon after to conceal the noise. Not that it helped, several of her classmates glared in her direction and that was enough for her to give up.

Instead, she reached stealthily into her bag, pulling out her notebook to begin scribbling her a note.


From: Magnolia Hawkins
To: @Mavis Nandamuri
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Status: A crumpled up note with messy handwriting in glittery, pink ink.
Contents:

Mavis! You are never going to guess what happened to me during winter break. But also, your hair looks amazing. Sorry I missed you at breakfast, got a bit caught up with my makeup.

-MLH
 

Mavis wasn't really a morning person, but she was certainly a 'get first crack in the showers' sort of person. So by the time the first lesson started, she was pretty much wide awake. And then the professor began the lecture, and she instantly felt the urge to crawl under her blankets again. Eyes weary, lids heavy, she didn't expect the note passed her way. And, upon reading the potential for juicy gossip, she was awake again.

Scribbling back quickly, and ignoring the shush from a Ravenclaw next to her, Mavis pulled out a napkin-wrapped breakfast from her bag and passed everything back down the line to her best friend.

And then realized she should have kept the scone for ransom, in case Magnolia had made her wait too long for the tea.


From: Mavis Nandamuri
To: @Magnolia Lane Hawkins
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Format: Written on the bottom of Magnolia's parchment. Passed through Nora Adams, Colm Murphy, and Erin Smith, along with a half-flattened (from being inside her bag) raspberry scone wrapped in a napkin.
Contents:

What happened!?

Your make-up looks brilliant, a perfect excuse for missing breakfast! You'll have to show me how you did the liner. I snagged you a scone.

Seriously, though, what happened?!

Magnolia waited impatiently for her friend’s response, tapping against the metal frame of the desk completely oblivious (not really but who cared) to the death stare she was getting from her desk mate as the desk squeaked every three taps. Looking over at the clock she rolled her eyes, wandering if there had ever been a worse type of torture than her current class. Surely this was worse than Azkaban. Surely.

As soon as the note made it to her desk again, she brightened up, moving her arm to cover it as she unfolded it, thankful for Mavis’ thoughtfulness as she took a small piece of the scone and quickly shoved it in her mouth.

She waited a moment or two for good measure before she wrote back.


From: Magnolia Hawkins
To: @Mavis Nandamuri
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Status: Written in glittery pink ink and passed through John Jameson in the back row before he flicked it (with perfect aim) to land on Mavis' desk.
Contents:

You are literally an angel, thank you because I am starving. The liner is super easy, it also glows in the dark so will show you later. Literally the coolest thing ever.

But the big news is...

I have a boyfriend. Like a proper one. Isn't that wild?


 

"What?" Mavis coughed the word (far too loudly), and then shrunk as into her seat when the professor turned around. She slid the note into her lap, staring forward, not making eye contact, and pretending to the absolute joy of a student she simply was not. The professor looked around, unable to find the source of the interruption, and turned back to the board.

Mavis immediately craned her neck past Nora Adams and the blockhead Colm Murphy, to mouth the word again at Magnolia, "What?", and then began furiously scribbling on the tiny amount of real estate left on the parchment.


From: Mavis Nandamuri
To: @Magnolia Lane Hawkins
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Format: Written on the bottom of Magnolia's parchment. Crumpled (silently) into a ball and thrown directly at her best friend. Words underlined multiple times for (adequate) dramatic effect.
Contents:

I'm sorry, what? How are you telling me this sort of news by note?

I demand details Magnolia.

The cough immediately grabbed Magnolia’s attention, or more like the word What? she had so clearly heard underneath it. Nervously, Magnolia looked over at the professor at the front of the room, hoping that it wouldn’t be one of those times when their notes to each other got read out loud for everyone to giggle and be aware of their conversation. She had to be careful.

Smiling in Mavis’ direction, she got to work on a response, crumbling up the piece of parchment and tucking it safely into her bag before pulling out a fresh piece of parchment to keep the conversation moving.


From: Magnolia Hawkins
To: @Mavis Nandamuri
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Status: Written on a new piece of parchment (literally, a piece) in lighter pink ink. It is neatly folded several times and passed through Colm Murphy who pretended to open it before rolling his eyes at Magnolia when she made a fuzz and passed it on to Mavis.
Contents:

I’m sorry, meant to tell you this morning at breakfast but got caught up : (

I’ll tell you everything after class, but it happened like a week ago. And yep, it’s probably exactly who you think it is. Do you know who I think you think it is?

Anyway, he’s lovely. You’ll love him. Wanna have lunch with us?


 

Waiting for the next note to arrive carried by Colm Murphey, Mae sat still – (no she did not, the girl practically fell off the edge of her stool with anticipation). Practically vibrating with eagerness, Mavis stayed in her seat because she was a patient individual – (nope, that wasn’t true either). “Colm,” she hiss-whispered the same moment that Magnolia gave him a look – (that part was true) – and then shoved her things into a messy stack as quietly as possible. Waiting for the note train was going to kill her (probably not), so Mavis did the only rational (silly) thing she could.

“Switch seats with me?” she whispered to Colm, giving him a sweet smile with certain murderous undertones. The seat Mavis was giving up in the trade was far better than the center of the room, right in the teacher’s eye-line one Colm had been stuck with arriving late to class, and the wizard seemed to do the math quickly before agreeing.

Mavis opened her books quietly, unsure how she'd done any of that without garnering the attention of the professor, and then returned to her best friend.


From: Mavis Nandamuri
To: @Magnolia Lane Hawkins
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Format: Written underneath Magnolia’s pink ink, hurried and a little sloppy.
Contents:

Who do you think I think it is?

Lunch!? Who is it!?

Magnolia almost applauded Mavis’ good sense when she switched seats with Colm, the boy hesitated but Magnolia figured that the ugly glare she had given him several times as they had passed notes had helped out a bit. But having Mavis practically next door made it even hard to not just burst out with what she wanted to say. Of course she assumed if she had done that her Professor would have done something horrible like make her read the note out loud. No, she wasn’t embarrassed about dating Isaac but she wasn’t entirely sure he’d be keen on letting the whole class know at once.

But she had to tell Mavis. Surely, Isaac was, at that very moment, telling all of his close friends about his new change in relationship status. Had there been a way to make it Hogwarts official, she would have.

Looking down at the note when it finally reached her she smiled in response to her friend’s use of punctuation marks.

From: Magnolia Hawkins
To: @Mavis Nandamuri
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Status: Written on a new piece of parchment (literally, a piece) in lighter pink ink. Magnolia has strategically turned it into a mini airplane to send it in Mavis' direction.
Contents:

I can’t like write it down. What if someone blackmails me with this super top secret info?
I think you know who I think you think it is. It’s that Slytherin I was obsessing over last year? Ring a bell?

Anyway, have lunch with us but no embarrassing questions. I’m trusting you, Mae.



P.S. It’s Isaac. Duh.

Sitting next to Magnolia made the note pass so much more efficiently, and Mae could hardly stop herself from reading her best friend’s words as she wrote them. It seemed like Nola was telling her in person, like seeing it live, and Mavis forgot for a moment they were in the middle of a lesson. “For the love of Morgana…” she said, her voice at a regular level for the first two words, before she felt the eyes of her classmates and finished the rest under her breath.

The teenager cleared her throat when the professor turned to look at them. It took every ounce of willpower not to look down at the note, not to give away what they had been up to. She attempted an innocent smile, “Caught a hang nail, sorry,” she explained, waving her hand upward as if to show off a cut she did not have. The professor frowned, and Mavis felt smaller as the lesson resumed, and she bit her lips to avoid giggling.

Another minute passed, and when she finally felt like the coast was clear, Mavis wrote back.


From: Mavis Nandamuri
To: @Magnolia Lane Hawkins
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Format: Written underneath Magnolia’s pink ink, hurried and a little sloppy.
Contents:

Are you serious!?

I mean, I’m happy for you, of course, but really, him?

Magnolia bounced her knee nervously as she waited for Mavis to read the entire note, her eyes glancing over in her direction once in a while as if to telekinetically push her to move faster. She coughed almost immediately when she heard Mavis but wasn’t fast (or loud enough) to stop the professor from looking in their direction. Magnolia attempted to smile innocently, her smile only widening when she heard Mavis’ brilliant excuse. “Oh no, Mae, are you okay?” She looked over at her friend, an expression of concern on her face as she ignored the dramatic sighs of some of her classmates to her left. Thankfully, none of them felt the need to tell.

Taking the note from Mavis, she scrambled to open it, looking around first before looking down at the note.

——————

From: Magnolia Hawkins
To: @Mavis Nandamuri
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Status: Scribbled onto the edge of the note and decorated with hearts.
Contents:

I know, I know! I swore off Slytherins like last year, but he’s different. He’s like a total badass but also like weirdly super sweet? Plus, you’d be proud to know that he owns actual books. Like he’s totally going places, you know. Plus did I mention that he's super cute? Lol.

Mavis tried to remain cognizant of her facial expressions as she read Magnolia’s last note quickly, but a grimace or two might have slipped by totally unfailliable focus. She pressed her lips together (to avoid gagging dramatically) at the “sweet” part, covered her mouth so Magnolia wouldn’t see her stick out her tongue when she read he was going places (yeah, like Azkaban prison, she couldn’t help but think), and rolled her eyes at him being super cute, she didn’t see it.

But! Mae reminded herself that none of this was about her. If her best friend wanted to date a snake, Mavis could do two things about it, and neither of them was to stop Nola from making her own choices. One: she would fully support Magnolia, as a best friend should. And two: she would threaten Isaac later, to make sure he treated Nola right, possibly (hopefully) with Killian and/or Josie in tow.


From: Mavis Nandamuri
To: @Magnolia Lane Hawkins
Sent: January 3rd, 2005
Format: Written underneath Magnolia’s pink ink, hurried and a little sloppy.
Contents:

I'll have to take your word for it.... ha ha =) When did it start? How did it happen? Tell me all the things!