Diddy-Bop

[Mina]

Heels elegantly sounded their way down the hallway toward the Dance Hall, the steady beat of a girl's hand on the front of her guitar thumping away in time as she walked. Her strawberry-brown hair was messy around her shoulder, almost hip-length with a few curls here and there. She looked as though she had just woken up.

The stud in her nose shone a clear crystal, carrying attention to the sparkle in her aquamarine eyes as she began humming along and sounding a few strange sounds on the way. Hoops dangled off her ears, and she wore a long sleeveless top with stripes running long-ways on it. It was a beige colour, and it somehow matched the black pleated and plaid mini-skirt she had pulled on after getting out of bed.

Finally reaching the doors, Mina let the bronze guitar relax on it's strap around her neck as she opened them, stepping inside and closing them behind her. "I left it there on the train track, my pink and blue scar tattoo!" She sang with a melodious voice, running her pretty nails down the strings of the guitar and letting her hand wiggle at the top to cause a rather wonky ending to the song.

Mina then turned around to face the inside of the hall. It was habit for her now, coming down here each morning. Nobody ever used the Dance Hall because everyone was either out on the grounds messing around, or in classes. She had no friends, and music was her soulmate, so what better way for the sixteen-year-old to spend the break of each dawn?

[Kenneth Stone]

Of course, Ken had yet to make many friends at Magic Horizons, either. Plus he hadn't yet had the opportunity to visit the Dance Hall and see it for his own. So he figured after break fast one day to take a little trip over and look at it himself. And that's exactly what he did. After finishing off a delicious chocolate croissant, licking his fingers free of the gooey sugary goodness, Ken pushed open the oversized doors to the dance hall, and was surprised to find a single girl within, strumming her guitar complacently, singing a tune he'd never heard before.

"Oh! Um...excuse me, miss. I just wanted to take a look inside. This is the first time I've seen the dance hall."

The room was quite expansive, and the two students standing within its walls seemed little more than spots on an otherwise spotless floor.

"That's a very nice guitar you have there. Who makes it? I assume its of Muggle manufacture. Let me guess...Fender? No...Gibson, maybe? How about Ibanez?"

Ken knew a bit about guitars, himself. His muggle friends back home in the States had a band that played every weekend at an under-18 bar in his hometown. He would often go and watch them perform, sometimes playing around with the guitar himself. Over time he managed to learn a few riffs, such as Van Halen's "Eruption" and Deep Purple's intro to "Smoke on the Water."

"Forgive me for bombarding you with questions. My name is Ken. I'm a student in Hufflepuff. What's your name, Miss...?"

[Mina]

Mina jumped as the doors were shoved open again, her guitar sounding a dang as her finger slipped and she turned back around. Looking the boy up and down, she greeted him with a warm smile, but her smile soon grew much wider as he mentioned not only the correct manufacturer of her guitar in a single guess, but two other guesses of real brand names after that too.

The glimmer in her eyes increased and she looked at him eagerly, ready to blurt out her own share of questions. Do you play? Have you got a Fender guitar? What can you play? Can you show me? Do you absolutely adore music as much as I do? But his next words stopped her from saying any of those things. He apologised for 'bombarding' her with questions, and she thought twice about doing the same back at him.

She laughed, and tucked her stray hair behind her ear. "Wow, yeah, it's a Fender, good guess." She spaced her words, still studying whether he was genuine or not. So many guys had tricked her in these kinds of things, but this Ken dude looked about as genuine as anyone could be. She let her guitar hand on it's calico strap again and she extended a hand to him kindly.

"I'm Mina. Please, call me that, not miss. You're way too polite." She assured him with a wink.

[Kenneth Stone]

Mina certainly seemed the friendly type. That's what Ken was thinking, at least. He was glad that he wasn't the only student in the school that had some taste in music. Everyone here was too interested in magic spells or wizarding history or something else. No music though! At least this girl had taste.

"Thanks...um...Mina. What was that song you were singing? I didn't recognize it."

As Ken looked at this girl he'd struck up conversation with, he realized that she'd fit in perfectly in any muggle crowd in any random town across the United States. She had a sort of punk rock look to her and he smiled. He wondered if she did that on purpose.

OOC: Gah...muse...non-existent...again...X.x

[Mina]

Ooc: Lol. ^o^

Ic: Mina bit the inside of her cheek gently as he asked what the song was that she had been singing. Her cheeks turned a shade of pink and she swallowed, turning to face the massive Dance Hall so he wouldn't see her embarrassment. She scolded herself silently, how was it that she could perform but when someone asked her what she was singing, she couldn't even tell them?

Because she made the song up.
She was a dancer, she wasn't made for singing.

That's what she told herself. Giving a short chuckle to the discussion in her mind, she hoisted her guitar up on her hip, keeping her back to him, then closed her eyes, and strummed a few notes, saying the beginning's of the song as she went.

"So we were taking a walk,
One night under the stars,
He said he wasn't one to talk,
But he did, always about cars,
I asked him which kind he'd like,
He said he didn't want a car,
He took my hand up in his,
And said 'babe, I want you, as you are'."

Her hand then slid further down the guitar and her hair jerked forward as she moved her head to the beat she had suddenly created on the guitar. It was a lot faster, obviously a chorus.

"We walked through that station,
I could have kissed him in front of a nation,
My heart whizzing like I was on crack,
I left it there on the train track,
He said 'babe, I love you'.
My pink and blue scar tattoo.

I left it there on the train track,
My pink and blue scar tattoo,
I left him there on the train track,
All pink and blue, my scar tattoo."

She let the last strum go slowly, and her voice faded to stop, before she hesitated a moment, then glanced over her shoulder and laughed gently. "I'm no song writer, but that's one of my silly songs." She then took a breath and continued on into the hall, hoping he would follow. Afterall, they couldn't stand in the doorway all day.

[Kenneth Stone]

Instead of answering his question right out, Mina merely turned around, obviously embarrassed over something, and began playing the tune again, singing along to the notes she played. As she finished, Ken smiled.

"Not bad for a silly song. I'd buy your records if you ever decided to make a serious album," he said with a grin.

Just hearing the notes floating through the air thanks to Mina's guitar made him long for one strapped around his own neck. Ken shuffled his feet and looked at the ground, embarrassed, before he spoke to her again.

"Um...Mina. I know this is probably out of the question, but I figured I'd ask. Can I hold the guitar for a little bit and play something?"

OOC: Gah...where the hell is my muse?!

[Mina]

Ooc: In a box maybe? o.O

Ic: Mina laughed again quietly as he said he would buy her albums. She would never be a singer, she knew that much, but she appreciated his comment all the same. Taking in the Dance Hall again she sighed contentedly and could have hugged herself where she stood. That was the effect it had on her, she just loved being inside it, it gave her a buzz. Closing her eyes she smiled and inhaled deeply, then exhaled, as though it had a smell, and to her, it did. The polished floor, the wooden curves of the grand piano at it's center, even a distinct scent of people from whoever was in here last.

Suddenly she noticed how awkward Ken was standing, and was he blushing? She looked puzzled for a moment, and turned around to face him completely. He asked if he could play her guitar, and she grinned, relieved. So that was all. "Yeah, of course you can. Be careful though, you break it, I break your neck." She winked, then ducked out of the calico strap and handed it over to him carefully. She had been joking about the breaking his neck part, and with how nervous he was about asking her to borrow it, she hoped he didn't take it seriously.

Nevertheless it would be amusing, and as she let it rest in his arms, she walked further into the Dance Hall and just sat down in it's middle on the dance floor, staring at Ken. She waited, curious to see what he would play.

[Kenneth Stone]

OOC: Possibly. Maybe it'll show itself tonight.

At Ken's first statement, Mina laughed. Maybe she didn't think she was as good as he thought she was. Soon afterwards, she granted his request, joking that if he harmed the instrument that she'd snap his neck in two. Ken gave a nervous laugh and nodded, holding out his hands as Mina placed the guitar in them. As she walked away to sit down and listen to what he was about to play, Ken lifted up the strap to the guitar and rested it on his neck gently.

The first thing the boy did was tune the guitar, picking one string at a time and making sure that it sounded correct. Adjusting a few of the knobs accordingly, Ken then warmed up on the instrument by playing a simple scale one time, up and down. Afterwards, Ken stood for a moment, recalling a song he'd heard his friends play once. Then he started picking a tune from one of his favorite bands from the 1980s - a group known as ZZ Top, which was known for its Southern Blues Rock style. At first, his fingers slid over the frets on the guitar, his fingers picking lightly on the strings. Suddenly, music seemed to fill the air as a backup guitar, drums, and a bass could be heard joining the boy as he played.

Rumour sprendin' a-'round in that Texas town
'bout that shack outside La Grange
and you know what I'm talkin' about.
Just let me know if you wanna go
to that home out on the range.
They gotta lotta nice girls.

Suddenly, his fingers began forming various chords and the volume of his picking elevated itself slightly. As he reached the chorus to the song, he didn't exactly sing any particular lyrics. He simply made a strange sound, immitating the singer of the original song.

Have mercy.

A haw, haw, haw, haw, a haw.
A haw, haw, haw.

Well, I hear it's fine if you got the time
and the ten to get yourself in.
A hmm, hmm.
And I hear it's tight most ev'ry night,
but now I might be mistaken.
hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm.

After that set of lyrics, Ken kept playing, going into a guitar solo. The hard rock style invigorated the American student and he went all-out before returning to his beginning, soft tone, then picking it up again, going into a second solo before the music began to fade and eventually cease as Ken lifted his fingers from the neck of the guitar, his fingertips slightly red from the movements over the strings and frets of the Fender. He took a deep breath and exhaled, sighing contentedly. After a moment, he looked up at the girl and smiled.

"Thanks," he said. "I needed that. You can take your guitar back again."

The boy lifted the Fender's strap from his shoulders and grabbed it by the neck, holding out the guitar for Mina to take back.

[Mina]

Mina bobbed her head along with the beat as the music around the hall seemed to escalate and sound out of nowhere. She grinned at Ken as he played, he was sure full of surprises, she thought, tapping her hands against the ground to the same beat as the drums were thumping. She always liked drums, especially in dancing.

Watching his fingers speed over the strings of the guitar she sat back on her hands and continued to bob her head. Her mouth couldn't help but open wider as he performed a guitar solo, and then another, the music visibly soaring through him as he enjoyed every second of running his fingers over the strings and sending out more music.

Mina burst into applause as he finished, thanking her and handing her back the guitar. Reaching up, she took it from him and placed it in her lap, hooking the calico strap around her own neck and brushing her hair back behind it. "No! Thank you!" She smiled warmly, her aqua-green eyes sparkling with admiration. "That was amazing!" She said honestly, glancing from his eyes to his fingers and finally the guitar.

Patting the ground in front of her she signalled for him to sit. It was not perhaps the most comfortable of spots, but it was a habit for her, so naturally, she did not even consider looking for chairs or anything different to sit on. Balancing her fingers over the edge of her guitar's face she tilted her head at him and smiled again. "So you definitely love music eh? I could see it while you were playing." She explained to him, truth touching her every word.

[Lottie]

ooc: Maybe it's in my sugar cube box? ;D

bic: Lottie had been running up and down the corridors all morning looking for nothing inparticular and yet something at the same time. It was a while before the small brown haired girl skidded to a stop outside the dance hall after hearing music. Music and... voices? Grinning from ear to ear, the small girl wasted no time in throwing the doors open and bouncing into the room.

"Morning!!" she sang, clasping her hands behind her back and keeping her grin as she reached the two, one of whom she knew, one she didn't. "Hi, Ken!! You're up early, aren't you? Maybe you won't be Mr. Sleepalot! We could play games in the morning before everyone else gets up! I have a basketball net type thing which you stick onto the wall and throw the ball into? Wanna play sometime?" Lott asked all in one breath, before her eyes darted to the other girl.

An inquisitive tilting of the head may have given across the impression of shyness, but for Lottie, it meant completely the opposite. It meant that the Hufflepuff's curiosity had been roused, and wouldn't settle until one, two, or maybe fifty question had been answered.

"I'm Lottie McCartney. Who are you? Have I seen you around before? You look familiar... you're in my Transfiguration, maybe? I'm sure I've seen you before.. but maybe not. Are you new? Because if you are, that might explain why I'm not sure! You meet so many people at this school! Do you like cake, icecream or balloons? Or all three, if you like all three that'd be cool! You must like music though, I heard you both outside, you're both really good! I never learnt how to play an instrument..." Here, the young girl stopped for a breath before carrying on.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters? I have one sister, she's my twin! But she's a vampire... does that mean we're still twins? It might do.. I can't figure it out though... Which house are you in? I'm sure you like whichever one it is! Do you have parties and everything? We do! It rules!"

Here, Lottie stopped to take more than one breath, looking expectantly up at the two waiting on any answers she may get.