Calling All Idols...? ((Skyler))

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack raked her fingers through her now short blonde hair as she tucked her legs underneath her. She was sitting in the Student Lounge, waiting for Alex to get out of his Care of Magical Creatures class. She never took that class. Mack wasn’t one for magical creatures in the least and while Alex was, she never really tagged along to his class though he had asked her to plenty of times. She didn’t she how he was so into it, but she didn’t get bothered by it anyway. The downfall to it was that he had to be away from her for an hour – coincidentally, the only hour that she had free. It was alright, though, she usually busied herself with homework. Today, however, she had picked up her guitar that she hadn’t touched in months and was playing it. She had started out playing a song from her sophomore album and then had molded it into the song she had started on tour, but never finished. Could she finish it now? Mack paused in her playing to pull out a piece of parchment and a quick notes quill. Sucking on the top of it a moment, Mack set the quill on the parchment and then began to play. She never had any problems remembering melodies, only lyrics. Well, she’d been out of the business for so long – who knew? Maybe she wouldn’t be able to memorize the melody. I’ll risk it… Mack thought as she hummed quietly.

After humming for awhile, Mack started to sing – remembering the lyrics she had started to write; “I feel my heart doesn’t fit, ‘cos it beats too many times, and it skips; running races through my head and then…” Her voice, because she’d been so out of practice, sounded pretty untrained. She wasn’t untrained – just out of practice, and although Mack hadn’t ever taken voice lessons, her voice had always been a gift that she never thought she would need lessons for. Sure, once she had started recording – Tommy (Bleh…Tom Quincy…) had given her a few pointers on how to get her voice to sound the way the label wanted it, but he had also told her that her voice was one that most people would kill for…a voice that needed hardly any training at all. Still, she was out of practice so…her voice sounded terrible. “I feel…” Mack trailed off and thought a moment. She hadn’t liked what she had written previously, if she remembered correctly. How could she make it better? “…running races through my head and then…I feel my hands don’t work, touching your skin in the dark, I was put here to watch not meant to get caught up in…close to your skin.” She paused here and let her hands linger around the strings of the guitar. This song she had started to write while she was on tour was about Alex, but she couldn’t finish it because at the time it had felt like it was missing something. What that something was, Mack had no idea – until now.

Their whole relationship together had changed, for the better, and now she could put in a lot more emotion into the song. Her fingers brushed against the neck of the guitar and her eyes travelled over the smooth wood. For a moment, she was sucked into a memory of her sitting in the common room, playing her guitar, and then being joined by a third year. She closed her eyes in thought. Conan… Conan…Conan Mc… McSomething. Mack was relatively good with names, but this kid…she hadn’t seen him around in ages. Which was sad because he had been fun to be around. She opened her eyes and looked at the acoustic guitar in her hands and spun it around in her lap, setting the bottom of it on her knees and trailing a fingertip down the smooth dark wood. She found herself wondering where the third year was now, what he was doing, if he had gotten everything with his family resolved. It was so strange to think that she had one conversation with the boy, just one, and he had somehow changed her life. Unknowingly, Conan Mc…McSomething had changed the way Mack saw things – of course, shoving her guitar in the fire had some kind of influence, but Conan McSomething had a lot to do with it, too.

Mack set the guitar back in her lap, looked around the Student Lounge to make sure it was empty, and then began to play one of her other songs. The thing with Mack and fame was always something less touched. She was hardly famous at Hogwarts. She was Mackenzie Holden, Slytherin first and foremost and then Mackenzie Holden, Star last. No one really looked at her and saw a popstar because she wouldn’t let them. They had known her first as Mack, the girl who died her hair a ghastly shade of red, and then they found out second about her stardom. She knew there were a few people in the school who were heading down the road of stardom and they were just…milking the attention for all it was worth. The poor souls didn’t understand that it just wasn’t worth it in the end. Yes, Mack missed making music – but she could do that without the fame. Every song she would write from now on was for her…and for Alex, that was it. Not for the “fans.” So, this is precisely was why when she looked around and saw that the Student Lounge was empty; she broke into one of her top sellers, “I drift away to a place, another kind of life – take away my pain and create my paradise. Everything I’ve held has hit the wall, what used to be yours isn’t yours at all. Falling apart and all that I’m asking, is it a crime, am I overreacting? Oh, he’s under my skin – please give me something to get rid of a him. I’ve got a reason now to bury this alive, another little white lie.” She hadn’t realized, that as she sung, someone had entered the Student Lounge - for if she had, she would have stopped. It wasn’t until she was finished with the song and the newcomer said something that Mack realized she wasn’t alone.

[phantomlynx]

Skyler was lost. Again. Not really lost. He knew that he was in Hogwarts Castle. He just didn't know where in the castle. He couldn't believe it. And yet it was true. There was no other way to explain the situation. You would think, thought Skyler, that one of these days I would find my way. He had just been at The Great Hall and was heading towards Charms. I think Charms is this way. He was following a gaggle of Ravenclaw girls but their laughter drove Skyler nuts and so at a junction he turned. BAM! He was lost. He turned around and was going to find the girls but they had already disappeared. Skyler hoped that all his days weren't going to be like this. Hopefully when he came back from holidays he would be able to navigate his way through the corridors. Maybe he should ask his father for a muggle compass. But who knows if that would work in here? Skyler smiled as he thought of himself holding a muggle artifact in the magical castle. Ah, the muggle world. It seemed only yesterday he was a muggle himself.

Things had picked up since his life turned magical. When he was younger and in muggle grammar school, he had soared over the other students. His marks were always the best and he always was aware of more than the average student. He knew now that that was due to his possession of magic but at the time he just thought he was different, better than the rest. And because of this thought he had not made friends. His parents sent him to Hogwarts in the hope that he would have to socialise. And it worked. Skyler soon found that he was just an average wizard, an average kid. It felt nice to be average. It felt good to have to ask others for help.

All of a sudden he heard a girl singing. Not only singing they were singing one of his favorite songs! A song by Mackenzie Holden, a muggle star Skyler soon learned. Not many people had her of her in the wizarding world. But this person obviously had! Skyler followed the sound until he entered the Student Lounge. Oh so that's where I am. He quickly spotted the source of the song as she was the only one in the empty lounge. He walked towards her wallowing in her wonderful voice. "You sound just like Mackenzie," he said to her. He got closer to her and had a better look at her. "You.... you... you are Mackenzie!" Then Skyler did the only appropriate thing there is to do when you met your one and only idol... he fainted.

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack jumped in her seat when she heard a voice and she turned around slightly, nearly dropping her guitar, to see who it was who had spoken. Before she could really see, though, the boy exclaimed that she was Mackenzie and…he…well…he fainted! Mack’s blue eyes grew wide and she discarded her guitar as she stood from her seat and hurried over to the boy’s side. He couldn’t be much older than a second year, in fact – he had to be a first year. Mack moved his robes around to see the lining and sighed. A Ravenclaw. “Alright,” she whispered to herself as she pulled her wand from her pocket and pointed it at the wand. Even as a sixth year she wasn’t very confident in her wand usage – not as confident as she had been in third year. But then again, every third year Slytherin was cocky enough to believe they were amazing at wand work. Nonetheless, this was in a fact a fourth year..or maybe fifth year…spell, and so Mack was certain she had it down pat even though she hadn’t ever used it before; “Enervate.” A light blue sparked from the tip of the wand and sparked into the boy, and Mack waited for something. Anything. She shook the boy lightly, “Hello? C’mon…please wake up…an unconscious boy with a Slytherin 6th year isn’t the best of circumstances.”

A scowl unwelcomingly crossed her face. Who was it that gave 6th year Slytherin girls a bad name these days? Why the Queens of course. The Queens had died out after the last one had graduated last year, but their reign still remained fresh in first years’ minds. Mack had hated the Queens of Slytherin and couldn’t believe that someone would actually make an organisation bent on “destroying” all the muggle borns of half bloods in the school. They never really destroyed them, but they did make the lives of those less than pure hell. Mack had never aspired to join the Queens as her sister had, but even after becoming part of the Queens – Dixie had realised that it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Regardless, Mack kneeling over a first year Ravenclaw with her wand drawn was not a pretty picture for another Prefect to see. Even though she was Prefect, Slytherins still had a bad name that they had to bare with. She shook the boy again, gently still, as she slipped her wand back into her pocket. At least that way she can’t be accused of stunning the kid. “Firstie? Hello? You awake?” Her voice was soft, though somewhat frantic. Mack had never dealt with a fainted first year. In fact, she hadn’t dealt with a fainting anything before. She didn’t know what to do or what might have caused his fainting. She did feel somewhat responsible, though.

Finally, after a moment or two, the boy seemed to wake up and Mack felt a breath of relief wash over her and from her; “Oh, thank Merlin! C’mon… can you sit up? Hmm perhaps sitting up would be a bad thing…I know…” Mack looked the boy over a moment and then grabbed a pillow from the near by couch and set it behind his head. “There. Now you can lie there until you feel… well enough to stand.” She offered him a bright smile and then sat down with her legs tucked beneath her beside him, “I’m Mack, but I think you already know that…”

[phantomlynx]

What a wonderful dream. I was lost and then found myself in the student lounge with Mackenzie Holden. Mackenzie Holden! Oh, Mack, can I call you Mack?..... oh Mack, I just love your music.... What? What did you just ask?..... Do I want to sing with you? I could never sing with you..... Well if you insist..... What's that?..... You want me to go on tour with you?..... Of course I will! I must be the luckiest person on the planet. But why is everything so dark? I don't remember the lights going out or closing my eyes.... hmmmm.... What's that blue glow? Shhh!! Someone's talking:

“Hello? C’mon…please wake up…an unconscious boy with a Slytherin 6th year isn’t the best of circumstances.”

An unconscious boy? A sixth year Slytherin? What are they talking about? Slytherin's don't even like half-breeds like me not to mention the five year age difference. Unconscious? Is that what I am? The voice is speaking again:

“Firstie? Hello? You awake?”

Someone just groaned. I think it was me. Yes! I'm awake. Sort of. Open your eyes. See who's talking.

Skyler slowly opened his eyes to see Mack looking down upon him with a concerned look upon her face. She looked very relieved that he had opened his eyes. When she suggested that Skyler not move he was grateful. She got a pillow and placed it beneath his head. She introduced herself as Mack. "I do know who you are! I love your music! I listened to your CD all the time until my batteries died and I don't think they've heard of batteries in the wizarding world. I had tickets to your concert the next time you were in my town but they told us that you stopped touring..."

Skyler blinked. Here was one of his idols and he was blabbing like an idiot. His cheeks turned a shade darker. "I just fainted in front of you, didn't I?" He couldn't remember a time that he was more embarrassed. He gingerly sat up. "Umm... Thanks. But what are you doing here? Are you a student? And who was that sixth year Slytherin?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized the obvious answer. She was in the school dress with Slytherin colors. "My name's Skyler by the way. Skyler Willis."

[Mackenzie Holden]

Mack smiled and rocked slightly on her heels as she looked at the younger year. It was…different to see someone who had known who she was in the music world. Sure, Mack got her fair share of fans while in the muggle world but she hardly ever encountered someone in the wizarding world who knew who she was. Of course, that was a given considering Mack had signed to a muggle record label. Tommy had been a wizard producer, though…the whole of G-Major had been confusing. Mack ran her fingers through her short hair again, letting it fall over her eyes a bit before shaking her head and getting it out of her line of vision. She listened to him talk about having a ticket for her concert when he found out she had cancelled the tour and noticeably grimaced; “Yeah, I’m sorry…but hey, I’ll give you a free concert sometime, eh? No, just kidding…I don’t want it to seem like I’m doing it just because you missed out on my concert. I’ll think of something, though.” She smiled kindly at him, fumbling somewhat with how to handle the whole starstruck fan ordeal. No one had ever really been falling over themselves to meet Mack, not like this guy was. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, trying to think of something to say as he turned a shade darker in his cheeks. All she could think of doing was smiling warmly, “Hey, look, I… I didn’t mean to make you faint or anything…it’s partially the reason I gave up singing.” A pathetic chuckle escaped her and then she shook her head vehemently when he went to sit up.

“Oh, no, no. You might have a concussion or something…no I think it’s best you stay lying down...” Mack patted his arm and then nodded as if to say that was the final decision whether or not he liked it. She was a nice Slytherin, but she was still a Slytherin, yeah? “Well, Skyler, let me answer your questions one by one, eh? Let’s see…I am a student here, I have been for six years. I was actually a student here before I made any type of music in the muggle world. The sixth year Slytherin? That’s me. If you haven’t noticed from my robes. But no worries, I’m not a mean sixth year Slyth like every other one seems to be… I’m a nice one -I guess I have to be in order to receive this blooming Prefect’s badge, eh?” She smirked and flicked the page lightly with her forefinger before shrugging and settling comfortably down beside the first year. It was so odd to be talking to someone who actually knew about her musical career. Knew it. Not just because she told them about it, but because he had bought her album and listened to it – he had… had listened to it. Quite a bit apparently. Mack had never dealt with this fame thing well, it was another reason why she had quit. There were three main reasons; it wasn’t fun anymore, she had no inspiration, and she wanted to devote all of her time to Alex. There were minor reasons within those main reasons, though, and Mack was finding new ones every day.

“Now, my turn…” she grinned at him as she tapped her fingers on the floor in thought, “You’re a first year, right? So that means you’re just learning everything about the castle. I’m going to assume you got lost and found yourself here, found me, and then fainted…however, if I’m wrong let me know. If I’m right, though, as a Prefect I should tell you how to get around and it would be useful to produce a map…I don’t have any left, though, all the first years in my house took them…shows how smart Slytherins really are, eh? Not being able to navigate the castle when they really don’t go anywhere above the dungeons their first year?” She smirked and shook her head before shrugging, “You’re in Ravenclaw from your robes…which means Alex is your Prefect…I’m going to get on him about being a bad Prefect.” A wink sparked across her face and then she laughed quietly before looking away a moment and sitting in silence. She had nothing in common with this first year and yet she sat, thinking of something to say. “What other kinds of music do you listen to?” she asked him, settling on the safest common factor between the two – music.

[phantomlynx]

As Skyler tried to sit up, Mackenzie patted his arm and told him to lay back down. Skyler really didn't think he was hurt that much, but if Mackenzie Holden thought it best, then that was what Skyler was going to do! He couldn't believe it. Here was Mackenzie Holden talking to him like a normal person! She showed him her prefect badge. Well I'm glad at least the prefects will talk to me. No one else will. She smirked and he smirked along with her. Of course there had to be prefects in all the other houses, but Skyler had never given it much thought. It just goes back to separating the students into classes, something that Skyler was very much against until someone could prove him otherwise. They were all people. Was it really necessary to put a label on them? Here are the brave students, over there are the most cunning, beside you stand the most intelligent, and somewhere in the mix are the most loyal. I usually lose the Hufflepuffs. They're not really important. UGH! Why couldn't they just be students!

"I did get lost. I was on my way to Charms from the Great Hall and somehow I ended up here. A map would be wonderful!" Skyler chuckled to himself when she made the joke about Slytherins. "I might as well be in that house. I'm supposed to be in the intelligent house." Skyler looked around the Lounge. "More segregation if you ask me..." he added under his breath. He turned back to her when she mentioned Alex being the prefect in Ravenclaw. "You know Alex?"

Ah, Alex. Ever since their meeting in the Ravenclaw common room Skyler couldn't get him off his mind. Alex was so nice, so gentle. Not at all what Skyler pictured a sixteen year old boy should be like. Most older boys that he had met in Hogwarts either ignored Skyler completely or found something to tease him about. But Alex was different. Skyler was the older brother at home but he had always wanted an older brother of his own. He imagined that if he did, he wanted that brother to be like Alex. But it was more than that. Skyler really felt that he had a special connection to Alex. But Skyler couldn't put his finger on it. He just knew that he wanted to be with Alex as often as possible. He made him feel comfortable and Skyler wanted to open up to him. The first person, to Skyler's knowledge, that he wanted to be honest with.

Skyler was jerked from his thoughts when Mack asked another question. "I'm not very familiar with wizard music. Back in the muggle world I would listen to all kinds. I like music that is easy to sing along with and/or you can dance to it." Skyler knew that answer was vague but his music tastes were vague. He liked whatever he liked. "By the way, what were you doing in here alone?"

[Mackenzie Holden]

Segregation. Mack ran her fingers through her hair again, a habit that was fast becoming one that she hated. She knew a lot of people saw the segregation of houses as a bad thing, but that was because most of those people were people in the other houses. People who weren’t Slytherins. Mack pulled herself from her thoughts just in time to hear Skyler ask if she knew Alex. A small smile crossed her face and she looked at Skyler a moment. Wouldn’t it be something if he found that Alex and her were dating? A Ravenclaw and a Slytherin. House segregation did not exist between Mack and Alex, it never had. They were just… Mack and Alex. The only difference was that she wore green and he wore blue. They were equals otherwise, though. “Yeah, I know him a bit. Then again, most prefects know all the other prefects, eh? We kind of have to. Alex and I, though, are a bit different – I know him quite a bit better than I know the other Prefects.” She smiled at Skyler and then looked around the empty Student Lounge like he had done just moments before. It was quite odd to see that Student Lounge so empty when she only had memories of it being full. She even had a memory of being attacked by Death Eaters in her third year in the Student Lounge. Mack shuddered slightly and turned back to Skyler, her smile returning.

“I’m the same way. Don’t ask me anything about the Weird Sister’s or the Dragon Slayer’s because I won’t have a clue, but if you ask me about some muggle band… like Nirvana, or… the Clash…or any of the older music – I can go on rants. I like muggle bands because they are easier to sing along to, wizarding bands often use magic to alter their voices and make them sound… amazing and no one, I repeat no one, can match their voice.” Mack nodded in agreement with herself before relaxing back onto her hands, her eyes still on the first year. He asked her what she was doing alone in the Student Lounge and Mack let out a small sigh, “Waiting for my boyfriend to get out of Care of Magical Creatures. And that led to me actually trying to write a song again.” She looked at her guitar with a sad look, “I think my inspiration’s completely disappeared, but oh well…better now than when I was making records, I suppose.” Her voice sounded so sad, but she quickly caught it and turned it into a happier tone for next she spoke. There was a small silence around them for a bit first, though.

“You muttered something about segregation… I am afraid I’m going to have to rid you of your first year notions that segregation is done to pit everyone against each other.” Mack smiled and drummed her fingers on the floor before continuing, “You see…when the school was founded, the houses were split because not everyone agreed on what they should allow into the school…you know, Slytherin thought only the pure blah blah blah. So, they divided the houses.” Mack looked up at the door as someone entered, looked at the two, and then turned and left again. She chuckled and continued, looking back at Skyler, “The houses could easily be merged now, okay so perhaps not easily – but easily enough… but they don’t do it for two reasons. One, is because it’s traditional to have the houses separated. It would turn the school completely upside down. You’d have people confused, older years would always refer to younger years by the houses they would have been sorted into, etc. The second reason is because… it’s safer to keep everyone segregated. I’m a Slytherin, but I’m a nice one. You don’t get many of those. There are Slytherins that would you alive, Skyler, I don’t know if you’ve realized that. You’re muggle born, right? So, that’s a big major strike against you, and you’re a first year; that’s another. It’s just… safer for you if the Slytherins are kept away from the other houses.”


((WOO! 1,000 posts! *throws confetti*))
((Congratulations! And all of them top quality! )

[phantomlynx]

Skyler didn't really understand the subtle way that Mack had told him that she and Alex were more than friends. His eleven year old brain just couldn't understand. If he had he might have been jealous. But then, even he didn't know that he wished to know Alex a bit better than the other prefects. He was at that age where he no longer thought girls had cooties, but still too young to do anything about it. His mother had once sat him down and explained the birds and the bees. Skyler remembered that conversation quite well. Not because he found the topic very interesting. The whole idea of sex had grossed him out at the time. So much effort into creating a life. He recalled wishing that he still believed in the stork. But besides that talk, no one had ever talked to Skyler about relationships. It just seemed to him that people were a couple to have babies. They remained together to raise the kids. It was illogical to him that people would be a couple because they wanted to be together.

Sure, Skyler had seen some students walking down the corridors holding hands. He had always thought that they just liked holding hands. But now, that seemed strange to him. Everything to do with relationships was turning upside down right before Skyler's eyes and he didn't like. That was why he tried not to think about it. But just about the time that Skyler’s body started to change, Skyler noticed that his thoughts seemed to change also. No longer did the topic of sex gross him out. In fact he started thinking about it favorably. He started noticing things that he hadn't before. He noticed when someone took a shower, or when they combed their hair. Things that always had no importance all of a sudden were on Skyler's mind. It was a strange a scary time for Skyler. He really wanted to talk to someone about it. But how could he? How could he tell someone what he was feeling? They wouldn't understand.

Skyler was still on the floor with Mack sitting next to him when she tried to explain why the houses were segregated. She went into the history of the houses. Something that Skyler found very boring. Aurora had tried to explain it to him once, so had Drew. But both of them failed to answer one question. "Why would the four founders create a school together if they thought so differently?" Skyler asked Mack as they both looked up to see a student wander into the lounge and then out again. "Why wouldn't Slytherin create his own school?" She continued on with her explanation as he listened. True he wasn't familiar with the wizarding world and its deep rooted class system, but it was an absurd system as far as Skyler was concerned. "I'm from the muggle world, but my mum is a witch," he replied to Mack's question. "I don't want to argue about it Mack. Maybe someday, my thoughts will change. Right now though, I don't see any difference between me and Elizabeth, a first year Hufflepuff." Skyler thought that he said all that he wanted to say on the subject, so he added with a smile, "Do you think I can get up now? I don't know how well Professor Flitwick would approve of my excuse about fainting."