Take A Breather ((Mack))

[Valmer Van Ruster S7]

In the past four years, Valmer had been down in the Slytherin Common room only about four or five times. Not much for your average house member. He had been down there, of course, when they had had house meetings or something important, but other than that, he was usually in his room, the library, or somewhere other than the common room. He wasn't sure why, but he just never ended up down there. Today was different though. He was tired of doing homework all day, and was happy to be done with classes for the day as well. He had to get out of his room, because if he went there, he'd be forced to work on more school stuff. He had to let his brain rest.

He made his way down the stairs to the common room, under the lake. As he walked into the large room, he saw a few people he knew. Valmer waved at the few boys and girls, but kept walking towards the back. There were a few seemingly empty couches back there, so he figured he could grab one and just relax for a while. Not have to talk to anyone, not have to do any work, just relax. It wasn't that he minded all of that. He enjoyed talking to others, and school was what he was there for in the first place, so he had become used to it. He turned to the right and threw himself down onto the couch closest to himself.

As he sat there, he contemplated the day's events. He had ran into quite a few people earlier that day, and had frustrated a few professors as well. He grinned as he thought about Snape's face when he had made the wrong concoction color. His face had turned about the same bright red that his mixture had been. He had been so mad at him, Valmer was sure he would do something drastic. But Snape had collected himself, and just had him do it again. The old bulldog had a temper alright, but he was knowledgeable. He had to give him that much. As he began to daydream, he noticed a girl, sitting not too far away from him, on one of the nearby couches.. He wasn't sure what she was doing, but it didn't look like homework or reading. He propped himself up to see who it was, but couldn't recognize her.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack entered the common room with a severity that it would have knocked over a fully-grown male. She wasn’t in a good mood at all. Well, if you thought about it, Mack was hardly ever in a good mood unless she was with Alex and at the moment – she wasn’t with Alex. In fact, she had just gotten done patrolling with Kennedy and was now in a rush to get everything together before going to meet up with Alex before bed. She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed as she set her shoulder bag on one of the leather armchairs in the common room. The fire was crackling nearly silently in the fireplace and the lighting was dim, reminding Mack just exactly where the Slytherin common room was. She hated the fact that the Slytherin common room was in the dungeons, but she couldn’t really do anything about it. It wasn’t like she could propose a renovation or whatever to the castle, although that might be a bit beneficial to the first years. Mack shook her head and collapsed onto one of the leather couches, lying back and crossing her ankles as she took two or so minutes to relax and gather her bearings before rushing off to see Alex. She needed to rest, but the moment she closed her eyes she saw that blasted kneazle. That kneazle that Kennedy was obsessed with and spent most of the night looking after. Mack groaned. She couldn’t believe he wanted to raise the kneazles as his own and he was going to get Alex mixed up in it. A sigh escaped Mack and she opened her eyes, looking up at the ceiling of the common room.

She didn’t know how long she had laid there, looking up at the ceiling, trying to remember why in hell Alex would even care about kneazles. Oh, right, Alex was absolutely in love with magical creatures. Possibly more so than he was in love with her. Mack smiled at that thought, that ridiculous thought, before she sat up and turned around on the couch so she was facing the fireplace and the flames that licked the grate. That fire was so stupid. It had eaten her guitar. Granted, she had thrown it in there, but still. The portrait hole opened and closed and people flooded in, but Mack chose to ignore them as she reached down and picked up her notebook that she had left there earlier that morning. She flipped it open and looked over the song lyrics she had left off on, but her mind was elsewhere. Finally, she closed it and sat there a moment before realising someone was staring at her. Yes, staring at her. Mack followed the feeling that she was getting to a boy who was a year younger than her, Valmer Van Ruster if Mack’s memory served correctly – and it ought to considering she knew everyone in her house. Mack stood from the couch and walked to the armchair that held her shoulder bag, slipping the notebook in, and then turned around to face Valmer.

“You know, I’ve heard that if you take a picture, it really does last longer.” She said with a smirk as she lifted her shoulder bag and placed it on her shoulder, quite happy that her hair was short enough that she hadn’t the need to pull it out from underneath the strap. “May I help you or were you just watching me for kicks?”

[Valmer Van Ruster S7]

She had noticed him. Valmer wasn't purposely staring, but he had been looking at her to try and figure out who she was. That had lasted a bit of time, before she noticed. His hand jerked out from underneath him, causing him to lose his balance and fall back onto the couch he was presently occupying. She slyly told him that he should take a picture, and it would last longer. Geez, way to be rude. Oh wait, we're both Slytherins. That's expected. Valmer gathered his bearings, got up, and grabbed his bag, walking over to where the girl was sitting. "Well, first of all, I wasn't staring. I was trying to figure out who you were. However, I could take a picture, but sadly, I'd rather my camera didn't break, Mack," he said, taking the jab he had been waiting to use almost all day. He had built up an attitude and wanted to make sure people knew about it. Yes, he was one of the nicer Slytherins, but a Slytherin all the same. He had then remembered who she was. Any time he had ever seen Mack, she was always with Alex, and this was a first. She was without him. It was quite surprising, to say the least. He just had to question it.

"So why aren't you with Alex? Any time I've ever seen you around the castle, you're always with that guy. This is likely the first time I've ever seen you alone. Although, it's also one of my few times that I've ever been in the actual common room. I usually just breeze through to get to my room. So for all I know, you could be coming here alone all the time, and I'd never know. So what's the deal?" It was the truth, really. He barely ever came in here. It was sometimes too crowded for his liking, plus the majority of the few friends he had, he met outside or somewhere else within the castle. He had been taking quite a few long walks lately, getting to know the halls better than last year. A summer would do that you, sometimes. His second year, he had almost forgotten where all of his classes were. It was like his first year had started up again. It took a few walks all over to get him back to knowing his surroundings, so that's what he did from then on. He took a routine walk around the entire castle about twice a month, just to keep it all fresh in his mind. Some people might see that as odd, but it was what he needed to do so that he could remember. If someone had a problem with it, they had to take it up with him.

Valmer moved over and pulled a chair out across from Mack, setting his feet up on the table, rather rudely, just to see what she might do. This seems like a perfect place to read my assignment for Potions, he thought. He pulled out his book and flipped to the page he had been assigned, and looked back at Mack, waiting for her to reply.

[Mackenzie Holden]

"Staring is staring. You were looking at me for longer than a second and I wasn't speaking to you, ergo… staring," Mack raised her eyebrows at Valmer before running her fingers through her blonde hair and turning to head toward the portrait hole. She sent Valmer a glare at his second comment, though, and snapped back with a; "Well, then, I suggest you keep your camera from any mirrors that might be reflecting you in them. Then you'll be down a mirror and a camera lens and where would you be then?" She scowled at Valmer, wondering what the hell the kids problem was. She hadn't insulted him and yet he had jumped down her throat without much cause. Mack rolled her eyes slightly and then decided she'd stay for a bit. She didn't know if Alex was done patrolling anyway, so there was no point in heading toward the classroom if he wasn't going to be there for a bit. She wouldn't stay too long in the common room, though, because she figured Valmer would get on her nerves sooner rather than later anyway. She took a seat at the table near the wall to her right and set her shoulder bag on the floor, letting her eyes drift to her fingernails that had a neon blue nail polish starting to chip off. She didn't look back up until Valmer spoke again, this time asking why she wasn't with Alex. Mack's eyes lifted lazily to look at the fifth year and she sighed, not seeing how it was any of his business anyway.

She didn't answer immediately, instead she continued to be silent and stare at her hands. Valmer took a seat across from her, and Mack looked up, an expectant spark in her eyes. He propped his feet up on the table and Mack eyed his feet, waiting for the most opportune moment to tell him to get his feet off the common room table like a good Prefect would. Mack? A good Prefect? Hah. That was a laugh. Mack wasn't bad, but she wasn't the best Prefect either. That didn't mean she couldn't use the Prefect status she owned to her advantage. Before she could shove his feet off the table, though, Valmer pulled out a book and then looked up at her – waiting for her reply to his Alex comment. Mack scowled and reached over, shoving the fifth year's feet off the table top; "Show some respect for the common room furniture, Van Ruster." Mack's eyes locked on his a moment and then shook her head before leaning back in the chair she was sitting in and crossed her arms over her chest. "And to answer your question, Prefect duties. I was patrolling with Kennedy tonight and Alex decided to patrol the grounds. Now, I'm just giving him a bit before I meet up with him before bed." She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed slightly, not sure why she was feeling like she should be with Alex all the time. She loved being with him, he was her everything, but Mack didn't know if she wanted to be with him 24/7 because of that or because she didn't like when something happened and she wasn't around.

"And you, Valmer?" Mack asked suddenly, looking back up at him with a genuine curiosity in her eyes, "You said so yourself that you're hardly ever in the common room – why the change tonight?" It wasn't like she wanted to delve into Valmer's personal life. She just felt like she had a right to ask the same question he had asked her only moments before, which she had answered completely honestly.

[Valmer Van Ruster S7]

Valmer eyed the girl, Mack they called her, didn’t they? She was quite rude, as he could have a tendency to be once in a while. He ignored her jabs and continued on with the conversation about Alex. She was hesitant, it seemed, to talk to him. That didn’t affect him much, mainly because people always seemed a bit leery of him. Who knows when he could explode into a fit of rage again, as he slightly had with Mack just a few seconds ago. She frustrated him even more when she rudely shoved his feet off the table, using his last name. That got him heated. No one, not even his best friends, was allowed to call him that, especially a rude stranger such as Mack. They had barely met, and she was using his name like it was nothing. His father called him that, only when he was about to beat him with the belt. Anytime he heard the name, he knew what was coming.

He felt he should lunge out at Mack for calling him that, but he did his best to conceal it. It wasn’t easy though. If she knew, she’d likely spread it around Hogwarts of how he hated it, and everyone would start calling him it, just to spite him. He could not have that. So he kept his mouth shut, his eyes shooting daggers at the girl in front of him. She went on about patrolling with Kennedy. Kennedy was one he would like to meet. Valmer had heard good things about the guy, and he wanted to see what the hype was. She went on some more about her dear Alex, and how she had to meet him before bed came, and he chuckled to himself. Oh, young love, he thought. It can be destroyed so easily. Why must she always be with him? Couldn’t he be getting tired of it? Eh, guess it’s just personal discretion. His own relationship, if you wanted to call it that, had drained quite a bit. Ruby had barely ever gotten back to him, and it almost seemed like she was avoiding him. But he didn't need her.

She asked about his trip down to the common room, and he hesitated as well. Did Mack want to get into his personal life, just so she could destroy it? Likely not. Most people weren’t that horrible. But could Mack do it? Of course. She was a Prefect, she could basically do anything around the castle and get away with it, as far as he saw. He decided it couldn’t hurt to tell her. “Well,” he said calmly. “I came down to see if anyone was down here. Usually this place is so cramped and packed with people, that’s why I avoid it. But tonight it seemed pretty quiet, so I figured it might be a good place to relax.” He reached down to the bag he had forgotten in the room earlier, when it was busy. “Plus, I came through here earlier and was talking to someone, on the way to my room, and left my bag. Any more questions?” He said the last phrase with a tone, so she knew he meant business.