What Is and What Never Should Be ((Promise))

[Dixie Holden-Greene]

Dixie Holden looked through the sketches that Bernice Negri had dropped on her small desk earlier that morning. She let out a small sigh as she took her pencil and started to make adjustments to the cocktail dress the senior adviser had drawn. She didn’t know how Negri had gotten the position she did, but Dixie wasn’t going to let her jealousy cloud her ability to work and make Negri look good. Dixie eyed the design and tucked her brown hair behind her ear before slicing off about a half of an inch of fabric from the bottom of the dress. Negri had this unbearable idea that T.A.R.T. fashions would go into some conservative direction. Dixie’s job was to make sure Negri’s designs didn’t look like an old grandma could wear them. She had been promoted upon returning to London, from someone who refilled the printer ink and unjammed the copier, to someone who was basically a lap dog. Dixie scowled and flipped the page of the portfolio to the next sketch. She wasn’t sure how long she had worked at making Negri’s designs appealing to the younger generation, but when she looked up at the clock on her desk she nearly cursed aloud. Pushing her chair back, Dixie grabbed her handbag and shoved it onto her shoulder roughly as she stacked the sketches into a neat pile and closed the folder. Rushing from her small cubicle, Dixie hurried toward Bernice’s office, rap tap tapping on the door with her knuckles. The door swung open to reveal Negri with her father in the background and before she could ask what Dixie wanted, Dixie shoved the portfolio at her boss; “I’m late for a brunch date!”

Negri’s eyes grew wide as the portfolio was thrust upon her and again before she could say anything, Dixie wheeled around and hurried down the corridor. Her high heels clicked along the tile as she searched through her bag for her wand. Where did she put it? She knew she had put it somewhere! Of course she had put it in her purse, because Dixie didn’t go anywhere without her wand. Another curse word was about to roll off the tip of her tongue, but Dixie caught it as she felt her fingertips touch her wand. She gripped it and then pushed the down button on the lift. Tapping her foot impatiently, Dixie watched the light that indicated which floor the lift was at change until it dinged on her floor. She stepped inside eagerly and quickly closed the elevator doors before anyone else could get in. Quick as a flash, Dixie pulled out her wand and apparated out of the elevator. Since she worked at a muggle building, she couldn’t apparate in the middle of the hallway. Elevators seemed to be the best way to do this. So, thus, Dixie apparated while in the elevator. Within seconds she had appeared inside the Leaky Cauldron. Yes, she could have just walked to the Leaky Cauldron considering it was only about a ten minute walk – but she really wasn’t feeling up to walking ten minutes to the Leaky Cauldron. Regardless, Dixie apparated into the Leaky Cauldron and looked around quickly before heading into the alley that served as the entrance to Diagon Alley.

She couldn’t quite remember where she had told Alex Promise, her sister’s new boyfriend, to meet her – but it couldn’t have been the Leaky Cauldron. Simply because she was already 10 minutes late and he would have been in there. Dixie racked her brain for where she could have set this brunch date as she tapped access to Diagon Alley. The bricks moved aside and Dixie stepped inside the busy street as she remembered the name of the café she had told Alex to meet her at. She neared the entrance to it, and cast a quick look to see if he was sitting outside under one of the obnoxious umbrellas. When she was satisfied that he wasn’t, Dixie opened the door and stepped inside to the cool building. It wasn’t terribly busy and the few customers that were there were either reading the Daily Prophet or talking to someone else. There was one, however, that caught her attention – and Dixie made her way over to the table Promise was sitting at. She sank into the seat opposite him and let her purse drop beside her by her feet, “Sorry for the lateness of my appearance. I was held up at work.” She offered him a wry smile and ran her fingers through her hair a moment, eyeing him; “You know… I had every intention of coming here and telling you not to hurt Mack, but I think you’re pretty much okay on that category.”

[Alexander Promise R7]

((OOC: Post may contain some inuendo.))

((OOC x2: Approval to G-mode Mack was given.))

It wasn’t typical of Alexander Promise to be awake any time before noon. With the comfort sleeping with his girlfriend brought him, some days he slept well into the afternoon and that wasn’t a problem at all…seeing as he and Mack had developed a habit of being busy well into the night. Last night, just so happened to be one of those nights and when his alarm buzzed in the morning his head was pretty foggy as to why on earth he had set an alarm. It didn’t take long to hit him however, and when he slipped out of bed with Mack (carefully, trying not to wake her) he was glad he didn’t have to worry about stripping down to climb into the shower. He had just about an hour to be all washed, dressed, and mentally prepared before he’d have to take floo into London and meet at a café he couldn’t even remember the name of in Diagon Alley. He hadn’t been in the shower more then ten minutes when he heard Mack’s voice, but that wasn’t a surprise, she always woke up when he did. "You're up early. Have another date with your other girlfriend?" She said teasingly, obviously standing just outside the shower. Alex shook his head, smirking and went ahead to pull the shower curtain back a bit, he wasn’t really worried about getting the floor wet. “Actually honey…I’ve got brunch with your sister this morning.” Mack looked shocked, and sadly, Alex didn’t think it was because she was watching him shower. "My...my SISTER? As in Dixie Holden? What on Earth could possess you to have brunch with her? I'm the better Holden sister, I assure you. In many, many ways."

Alex bit his lip, beginning to wash his hair after looking at her apologetically. “Not exactly my choice honey, but I think that when I get an owl requesting my company for brunch from the sister of the girl I love, I better as heck be there…don’t you think?” He nodded slightly. Alex wasn’t near excited to meet Dixie Holden, aside from what he’d heard about her, he had never been a fan of meeting family. And this wasn’t just family, this was the sister of…well...the girl he loved. Mack was shaking her head vehemently at this point. "No. Seriously. Just come back to bed, Alex, really…she'll understand. I'll make her understand. She's probably just in the mood to frighten you off. Please come back to bed. It'll be better than going to brunch with my crazy sister, I promise." Alex smiled over at her lovingly as he turned off the shower, grabbing a towel and drying off. He climbed out and wrapped the towel around his waist, walking over to her. “Sweetheart, as much as that sounds absolutely amazing? I think I need to meet your sister…it’ll be good for all of us. She’s not going to scare me away Mackenzie, nothing will ever keep me from you, not even a scary sister.” She sighed and shook her head more. "You've not met my scary sister.” Alex looked at her seriously. “Alright...alright...go, but no sudden movements!" He smiled and nodded, and once he was all dressed and ready to go, he had her check his clothing choice and then kissed her, they said their I love you’s and he headed into the fireplace.

Alex stepped out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron and immediately dusted himself off. He looked left the pub and tapped the bricks to get onto the street and then looked around. He spotted and older woman, that oddly enough, looked something like his grandma, and stopped her, asking her to tell him if there was any soot on him. The woman looked a bit surprised by the odd question, but happily told him that he looked rather sharp. That eased Alex’s fears slightly and he thanked the woman, heading back down the street. He reached into his pocket and pulled out he note he’d received from Dixie. He skimmed it over until he found the name of the café he was to meet her at. This was probably going to prove bothersome. Alex didn’t go to Diagon Alley much, he went there to buy school supplies but the first time he’d actually just spent a day there was the beginning of the week with Mack. He laughed nervously to himself as it occurred to him that this whole week was turning out to be the most nerve wracking week of his life. The beginning of the week he was explaining to Mack that he loved her, and now he was meeting that love’s sister. He walked down the street, eyeing cafés on either side of it until he reached the one with the sign he was looking for. He looked at it for a while. It was a pretty warm day, and Alex had never been one for eating outside, in the sun. Especially not with how dirty outside tables to get. No, no, it would probably be much safer to eat inside. He navigated his way through the round and square, umbrella topped tables and opened the door to the place, heading inside. He smiled when he was immediately cooled down and looked around the room. There was only one other wizard there, and he was stirring a coffee and reading today’s Daily Prophet, a copy of which Alex noticed, was on each table. It was slightly calming to know that Alex had gotten here first, until he thought that maybe he had chosen the wrong café. He pulled the note out of his pocket once more, and after checking the name with a waitress, he chose a seat at a table he was sure Dixie would notice when she came in.

He sat for a about three minutes before ordering a glass of water. He wasn’t ever one for breakfast, but he did like lunch, and since this was lunch, he was half way between hungry, and not hungry. He had no intention however of ordering any food before Dixie showed up, his mother would scold him for doing such a thing, it was rude and he surely didn’t want to get started on a bad foot with Dixie. Alex wasn’t rude, just wasn’t in his nature. Laid back, yes. Rude? No. He watched as a few more people entered the café, none of them being Dixie and half of him hoped that maybe she had forgotten about their meeting. However, shortly after thinking that, he saw someone walk through the door, and just by her appearance he could tell that that was the person he was waiting for. As she made her way to the table he began to stand, planning on shaking her hand and saying his hellos but Dixie sank into her seat before Alex had even managed to stand. He assumed that there was no problem with remaining seated however and so he smiled warmly at her. She apologized for being late and Alex shook his head. “No matter, life happens.” His smile dimmed slightly when Dixie explained her original intentions, but when she told him she thought he was pretty much ok in that area, it brightened immediately. “Mackenzie means the world to me, hurting her is the last thing I ever want to do.” It was true down to the last syllable. Alex wanted to say he would never hurt Mackenzie, but sometimes things just happened, nothing on purpose of course. If he ever hurt her it wouldn’t be something he had meant to do at all. Alex wasn’t the type to cheat, or lie, or do any of those things that dumb boyfriends tended to do. No, if Mackenzie was ever hurt by him, it would be an accident, and an accident that Alex would make up for. Just the thought of hurting Mack hurt him, even accidentally, and he shook his head, a change of mind forming. “No…no, I’ll never hurt her. You have my word on that.” Mackenzie had a way of changing his thought process…she just was that great. He looked back up at Dixie and smiled again. “I hope you don’t mind, I ordered a water.”

[Dixie Holden-Greene]

Dixie looked at the younger boy across the table they shared. Her eyes drifted down his clothing. As a fashion designer, or an aspiring one anyway, Dixie usually judge someone by the way they dressed. Alexander Promise was dressy and casual. He wore a button up shirt; which meant he cared about this meting and that was important to Dixie. She lifted her eyes off his shirt to his eyes as he spoke of Mack. Only he didn’t call her Mack; he called her Mackenzie. Dixie gave him a funny look and then smirked as she relaxed into her chair; “My, my, Promise, you sound like my mother. Not particularly my father because he didn’t really call her anything, but my mother and every other adult who knows her calls her Mackenzie. I suppose she hasn’t ripped your head off for calling her that, then?” Dixie raised an amused eyebrow as she pushed her hair over her shoulder. Now that she was here and actually talking to her younger sister’s boyfriend – Dixie didn’t know what to say. She had meant to prepare herself earlier – but she had forgotten or had gotten too distracted to have done it. Nonetheless, here she was. She had to think of something to say. Dixie was just never good at coming up with something to say on the spot.

“Oh,” Dixie said in reply to his water, “No, why would I mind? I’m surprised you didn’t have a whole meal…I kept you waiting long enough.” She sent him an apologetic smile. Dixie normally wasn’t late. She had just gotten so caught up at work. She didn’t think much of explaining this to Alex, though, it wasn’t much any of his business. Still, here Dixie was at a loss for words again. Something inside her was holding her back from playing the older sister role. Perhaps it was because she had never played the role of the older sister toward Mack. So she would feel wrong doing it now. Dixie looked up as a waitress appeared by her side and she ordered an iced tea with a lemon slice. The drink appeared and Dixie took a sip of it before heading into an opening line; “I don’t know how much Mack’s told you about our relationship. There isn’t much to tell, anyway. I’ve never been the ideal older sister but in all fairness to me she’s never been the ideal younger sister either. Mack and I have our differences, and they’re rather large ones.” Dixie eyed Alex a moment, wondering how much she should talk to him about. She wondered how much Mack would like Dixie to dispel to her new boyfriend. And then, Dixie didn’t care; “She probably told you not to come here. Didn’t she?” She paused a moment, smirking, “Whatever, the point remains – Mack’s never liked to share her life with me. Which is going to be rather difficult now that we’re living under the same roof again.

“Regardless, Promise, I felt it necessary to meet you because as it would have remained – we would never have met unless I put it into action. If I’d left it up to Mack, she wouldn’t have told me more than your name and house…” Dixie trailed off here and sipped her tea as she tapped her foot against the floor almost silently. She knew that the house issue was one thing Mack was worried about Dixie complaining about the most. With a good reason to believe, too. Dixie had never been one for mixing houses. Slytherin and any other house especially. She was the ideal Slytherin for the majority of her years at Hogwarts. She was like every other pure blood brat who was sorted into the house. Mack wasn’t. Mack didn’t believe in the segregation, she didn’t believe in a difference in blood. She never had. Mainly because she was treated like a lower blood for the majority of her life. Dixie hadn’t been. Dixie had been treated like a princess and for the most part she let it go to her head. Now, though, now was completely different. She didn’t think that way anymore. Let people date whomever they want to date. It’s the 20th century. “I’m not,” she said with a small smile, “going to tell you that you aren’t good enough for Mack, because I believe that you’re probably the best boyfriend she’s had. Ever. Period. Every other guy she’s dated? They either treated her in a bad way or ended up breaking her heart by disappearing.

“However, I will say, that Mack does deserve the best. She deserves happiness because she’s been denied it for so many years. So many years that she spent locked up in that attic or in her room or sneaking out. Mack’s got quite the past, Promise, and I’m not going to tell you it – she will. Eventually. Don’t pressure her for it. Don’t take her granted. Don’t question her actions. They all have reasons. I assure you, they all have reasons.” Dixie was aware she might sound like an over protective sister – so she was pulling on the older sister role; but she couldn’t help it. Perhaps she was telling Alex all this for selfish reasons (reasons like she didn’t want to have to hear Mack crying at night over him), but still…the fact remained that she was in fact telling him these things.

[Alexander Promise R7]

Alex chuckled when Dixie looked at him funny and asked if Mack had ripped his head off for calling her Mackenzie. He shook his head and took a sip of his water. “No, actually she’s told me she likes when I call her it. Says it sets our relationship apart.” He smiled brightly. He could remember the night she had told him that. He could remember lying with his head on her chest, half asleep. I love you, Mackenzie… Then she had gone with it, told him about how she felt when he called her that, how she hadn’t even noticed it until the second time they’d met but how she loved it because it made their relationship different then the ones they had with other friends. Alex had to agree. He was happy he was the only one who called her Mackenzie out of their friends because he strongly believed, and knew she did as well, that he was not just another one of her friends. You could say he was her best friend but he was more then that. Just the same way she was more then that to him. She was his everything and he knew he was hers. He wouldn’t trade their relationship for the world; Mackenzie Holden was the best thing to ever happen to him. He was sure of that.

Alex smiled and brought himself back to the present as Dixie commented on his not having ordered a whole meal. He shook his head and chuckled. “I’m not terribly hungry anyhow, I didn’t mind waiting, but I was rather thirsty.” He smiled and waited as she ordered water as well and then sat back, knowing she would want to say something. Mack and Alex had talked about family, and he had been told quite a bit about the two sisters’ lives together, which…wasn’t really a life together. However, Alex wasn’t sure he had heard everything. He wasn’t one to push information out of someone, and especially not Mack. Sure, he asked questions but he listened to what she told him and didn’t push her to tell him something if she seemed to not want to talk about it. He didn’t say anything as Dixie spoke however, he just listened. He definitely didn’t want to cut her off and be seen as rude. As calm as he was trying to keep himself, he was still outstandingly terrified of having brunch with a family member of Mack’s. When Dixie did ask if Mack had told him not to come however, he smiled guiltily and shrugged slightly. And then he listened again, trying to keep back the negative thoughts he had when she mentioned that Mack would be going back to live with her. He really, really didn’t want Mack to be away from him. He was already missing her terribly and they hadn’t even been apart for more then an hour. He wondered what she was up to, no doubt being bothered by Chrys. Or maybe she was taking a shower…ooo, shower…no no no, not right now. Alex shook the delicious thought from his mind to listen to Dixie again. It was definitely not time for thoughts like that.

Alex noted that Dixie had already developed a habit of referring to him as Promise, but he didn’t really mind. A lot of peopled called him that…which always made it funny when they said something like ‘I promised Promise I would blah blah blah’. Alex always got a good chuckle out of that. He nodded thoughtfully when she mentioned that they probably would never have met if she hadn’t initiated it, he didn’t doubt that at all. Unless of course Alex visited over the holidays or something, which he was bound to do, but even then, knowing Mack, she would probably shuffle him off into her room without introducing him. Alex watched Dixie take a sip of her drink and he eyed his, watching the condensation form on the outside of the glass as Dixie paused, apparently in thought. When she spoke again, he smiled softly, without looking up from his glass. He finally looked up at her, Alex found he had a hard time taking positive remarks straight in the eye. Regardless, he continued to listen as Dixie talked about Mack. She was saying everything Alex already knew. Of course Mack deserved the best, every day since he’d met her all he could think about was making sure he’d give her the best. Alex smiled softly and nodded as Dixie told him not to pressure her, take her for granted, or question her actions…all things he knew. When finally Dixie stopped talking, Alex was still smiling, mostly to himself and he took a sip of his water too in thought. What was he to say in response to that? Of course he’d just gotten the ‘I’m the big sister’ lecture, but he’d never gotten in before and honestly, he was a bit at a loss for what to say. “Dixie…” He paused and looked at her, hoping she wouldn’t mind him calling her by her first name, but it felt odd to call her Miss Holden or something of the like… “Since the first moment I met Mackenzie, I knew she was special. She’s not anything like any other girl I’ve ever met in my life.” He paused, smiling, thinking about their meeting on the train. “Every morning I wake up and the first thought on my mind is ‘how am I going to make this day perfect for her…’.” He paused again and looked across the table at Dixie. “You know she really does mean the world to me…and I know that it’s probably hard for you to believe that, I mean, doesn’t every boyfriend say that? But…really and truthfully…you have to believe me when I say that Mackenzie is the greatest thing to happen to me in…well in all my life. I…I really love her, Dixie. I believe with all my heart that I’ve been in love with her since the moment I met her. The first time I saw her. You might think it’s dumb but I honestly think she’s…well…my soul mate...” He hadn’t said these things before…not to someone other then Mack. He’d told his sister how much he cared about Mack, but not like this, not defending himself, not trying to assure someone that Mack was safe with him. “Dixie…I can promise you that as long as your sister’ll have me? I’m gonna wake up every morning being the best boyfriend for her I can be… you have my word…and so does she.”