you're gonna be popular [callie]

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It was a new year, and for the first time in forever, Imogen had decided to make a New Year's Resolution. In December of the previous year, she had stumbled across one of the other professors at the school singing, and had somehow discovered that she had a talent for singing. It felt kind of like cheating, since Imogen had better control of her vocal cords than most others did, but she liked to sing, and she wasn't going to let that slip away from her just because she might have a little bit of a boost up. There were other people who were naturally talented at singing, and they didn't feel bad for it! Imogen was still trying to convince herself of that, but the more she sang, the easier it was to convince herself that the quirk wasn't anything to be ashamed of. She had spent most of the break practicing, and she had even mastered one song - Home, from Beauty and the Beast. Now that school was beginning again, though, Imogen wanted a new challenge, and she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. There were two songs she was trying to decide between for her next challenge. She needed a second opinion, and the only person she knew who could give that opinion was the person who had gotten her into singing in the first place - the Muggle Studies professor, Callie. Imogen appeared in the door of the Muggle Studies classroom, holding the two separate sheaves of sheet music in her hand as she waited to be noticed and invited in.

calliope ivory fleming

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Calliope was glad to start the new term; she loved having the time off to spend with Calex of course, but she was thrilled to continue her students in their study of Muggles. She had just finished a class with her fifth years teaching them about Muggle de-stressing techniques; with their OWLs imminently looming, she knew that they would all start on the nerves and anxiety shortly. Yoga, meditation and breathing techniques were what Calliope was most familiar with, and she felt that she had helped at least one student with their anxiety.

Her sixth years she was most excited for if she was being honest; after introducing Fairy Tales, Callie decided that they would learn about Muggle musicals - she had a hunch that some of them were more talented than they let on, so she was intrigued on what would be revealed. As she was writing down her lesson plan to decide which musicals to talk about, she saw someone enter her classroom out of the corner of her eye. “Imogen!” she exclaimed with a smile, standing up and heading towards her fellow professor, her deep purple robes sweeping behind her. “How was your break?” she asked. She recognized the papers Imogen was holding as sheet music, but she waited for the woman to elaborate on why she was here.

@imogen

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It didn’t take long for Callie to notice that Imogen was standing in the door, which was a relief. She had worried that maybe she would never be noticed, and then she’d have to slink away like some awkward, shunned animal. “Good afternoon, Callie.” Imogen greeted in response to her name. The other professor left her position at her desk to come speak to Imogen, and she felt slightly bad for not approaching the desk first and letting Callie stay where she was. “My break was wonderful, thank you. I got to see some of my friends at the Yule Ball.” Really, she had only seen Callisto, but that was more than who she usually got to see, so Imogen was letting herself be happy about it. “I actually also spent a lot of time singing…” Imogen said, trailing off a little as she glanced at Callie to see what the other woman’s reaction would be. She expected that Callie would be pleased with that, but it was better to check in. “I was actually wondering if you’d help me choose between these two songs.” Imogen said, presenting the other professor with the two separate packets of sheet music. “The other song I learned was Home, from Beauty and the Beast.” Imogen added, perhaps unnecessarily. One of the songs she had chosen was a similar style – extremely lyrical and not all that happy – but Imogen still wanted a second set of eyes.

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Calliope looked pleased to hear that Imogen had a good break; really they were all working hard this year with all the new security throughout the castle, and it was good for all of them to enjoy some relaxing time, spending it with family or friends, or both. She perked up immensely though when Imogen mentioned she had been practicing her singing. “Oh how marvelous!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She accepted the two packets of sheet music, nodding as she mentioned the song ‘Home’ from Beauty and the Beast. “A lovely number,” she murmured, engrossed in reading the music sheets in front of her. Both songs she recognized of course, but one in particular was standing out a bit more, mainly because she never would have picked the song for her. “Popular, from the musical Wicked?” she asked, looking back over at Imogen curiously. She wondered what had drawn Imogen to this particular number, as there were plenty of amazing songs from that musical. The more she dwelled on it, the more she realized she wanted to hear Imogen sing it. “That one, definitely,” she decided, handing the song from Wicked back to her with a smile.

@imogen

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Imogen didn’t say anything while Callie studied the sheet music; she didn’t want to distract the other professor, who seemed rather engrossed in the music in front of her, not that Imogen could blame her. They were both wonderful pieces – even Im, untrained in the art of musical theatre, could see that. When Callie asked about Popular, Imogen nodded. “At first I thought maybe I could do Defying Gravity, mostly because I’ve always wanted an excuse to turn my skin green…” The Metamorphmagus trailed off. “But from what I’ve heard, that’s rather overdone.” And besides, wasn’t part of musical theatre getting to step into shoes you wouldn’t otherwise fill? Imogen knew a thing or two about being a misunderstood witch who felt betrayed by her best friend. She didn’t know a thing about being a slightly vapid popular girl. Imogen had suspected what Callie’s choice was going to be, but she smiled nonetheless when she was given the sheet music for Popular. “Would you like to hear me sing it now?” Imogen asked, slightly shyly. She had tested out both of the songs before, but this would be her first time singing that song – or any song – in front of an audience.

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Calliope nodded in agreement and chuckled at Imogen calling Defying Gravity ‘overdone’. Well, that was certainly one way of putting it. “There are a lot of great Elphaba songs aside that one; The Wizard and I is very upbeat and hopeful, while No Good Deed is very powerful emotion-wise,” she told her. She’d seen Wicked live….at least a half dozen times; one of her close friends who was a Muggle had played Elphaba for a two year run so of course she’d gone. The song ‘Popular’ though was a choice that was outside Imogens’ evident comfort zone, and Calliope could appreciate that she was pushing her limits “Let’s hear what you’ve got!” she exclaimed with a smile. She crossed over to her record player and thumbed through her music. “I knew I had this,” she said happily, pulling out her copy of Wicked. She’d enchanted all of her musicals to not have the words, just the music, so it’d be perfect for Imogen. She placed the point on the correct number and turned back to Imogen. “Whenever you’re ready,” she said with a smile.

@imogen

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Imogen nodded when Callie gave her opinion on Elphaba’s other solos in Wicked. She was hoping to expand her repertoire outward to include songs from many different musicals, but given the speed she was learning them, Imogen didn’t think it would be too bad to have two songs from the same musical. Callie said that she could start whenever she was ready, but Imogen had one more thing she needed to do before she could begin. “Hold on.” Imogen said, popping her hair to be bright blonde. Maybe that was cheating, but it helped her get into character, and that wasn’t ever a bad thing. Imogen cleared her throat, skipping the spoken part at the beginning of the song to go straight to the singing. “Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I, and face it, who isn’t less fortunate than I?...” She began. Imogen then proceeded to spend the next few minutes flouncing around, acting like someone who was definitely not herself. Coming out of the song was strange, a little like Imogen imagined coming down from a high would be, and she turned her attention to Callie expectantly.

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Calliope couldn’t help but laugh a little as Imogen changed her hair to bright blonde; talk about getting into character. Callie had never been excellent in Charms, so she had never been quite successful in changing her own hair color by magic. Thankfully, she loved her hair color the way it was so she had never been incredibly determined to change it. She listened to Imogen sing, nodding along with the song. When the other professor had finished, Callie stood up to give her notes. “Alright, well vocally that was lovely; whatever you did to your vocal cords is definitely working in your favor,” she told her, always starting with the positive. “You definitely did your best getting into the character of Galinda but I think you were... a bit more superficial than Galinda was. Perhaps it’s because I had a few friends who played this role, but from discussions with them, Galinda truly believes what she is doing is for Elphabas’ benefit. Remember this song takes place after Elphaba gets her into the sorcery class that she was so desperate to get into, so she does feel indebted. She’s trying to show Elphaba how happy being popular makes her.” Calliope paused, then smiled. “So, with those notes in mind, let’s try this again,” she told her.

@imogen

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Imogen was ready for Callie to critique her performance, but she wished that she had brought a quill or something so that she could keep track of everything that Callie said, both good and bad. The Hufflepuff was glad to hear that her changing of her vocal cords was turning out alright; it had been a hard thing to control, mostly because it wasn’t something that she had never been taught. At the comment about being more superficial than Galinda, Imogen raised her eyebrows, but she continued to listen to Callie despite what her own instincts were telling her. She couldn’t really believe that someone singing about popularity truly believed they were doing the best thing, but singing involved quite a bit of acting as well, it seemed. Popularity made Galinda happy the way…Imogen was trying to think of an apt metaphor for her and Galinda, but couldn’t find one. Nothing made her so happy that she would sing an entire song to someone else to convert them, especially if that person was unwilling to hear it. Still, she was going to try, and began the song again. At the end, Im knew she hadn’t done much better, and she sighed, defeated. Maybe this had been too big of a challenge to take on.

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Calliope had noticed Imogens’ doubt in her description of Galinda, which made sense. Her sister had been obsessed with Wicked the musical however; that alongside one of her friends performing in it had given Callie somewhat of an insider knowledge on how the actors prepared for specific roles. “Vocally it’s good, but I can tell you don’t agree with me on Galinda,” Calliope told her, being honest but giving her a smile. “I know it’s weird to think of someone who comes off originally as vain and vapid as having good intentions, but it does happen. I know I certainly knew a person or two at school like Galinda,” she said, laughing a little. Oh boy, she could certainly think of a specific someone who fit that description to a T. “The point is, if someone is vain or shallow, or small-minded, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll always be like that. Things happen to them to change their perspective on something. In Galinda’s case, she had been rather cruel to Elphaba because it was easy; she had green skin, awkward social skills, and was shunned by the rest of her classmates. But by Elphaba doing that act of kindness for Galinda gave her a new perspective, and she thanks Elphaba the only way she knows how to...which is instructing her on how to be more popular with the other students.” Callie paused, then smiled. “Sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in. But think of it this way; if someone did something nice to you that you didn’t expect, how would you want to repay them?” she asked Imogen.

@imogen

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Imogen didn’t pretend that Callie was wrong about their disagreement about Galinda. There were some things in life that Imogen just didn’t understand. She didn’t understand why Mina did what she did, always drinking and gallivanting, and she didn’t understand why the world could be so…cruel. There were a lot of things Imogen didn’t understand, and when she tried to, it seemed that everything just fell apart. “The people who I know were small-minded remain small-minded to this day.” She said stiffly. There were people that she had cared for, loved even, who hadn’t been able to accept her when she transitioned. Imogen tried to keep up with them, Henry mostly, but it seemed that they were still off, being their usual, shallow selves. Things hadn’t changed for them. And things hadn’t changed for Im either. Even when she tried to be better, she didn’t change. It was frustrating, but it was life.

“I don’t – I don’t know.” Imogen said. She didn’t know how to explain that every time someone was kind to her she didn’t expect it. When every act of kindness was unexpected, it began to lose some of its power. And, if she was honest, Imogen didn’t have much to offer. She wasn’t like Galinda, with popularity and presumably money to give away at will. She was trying to give Callie something to work with here, but Imogen was honestly…puzzled. “All I have to give is my power.” Im said, switching the color her hair to be more specific about which power she was talking about. Other than that, she was unremarkable.

calliope ivory fleming

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Callie pursed her lips, trying not to look sadly at Imogen. She was sure Imogen was right that some people remained small minded from the days of their youth but often times hard feelings carried over on both sides of the spectrum. It wasn’t her place to say anything though, and so she kept her mouth shut. “It must be hard,” she said finally, unable to fully understand as she had not gone through anything like Imogen had during her school years.

Calliope studied Imogen curiously as the other woman seemed to struggle a little with what she had to offer to other people. “Well, you can include your voice in there now. I can always use a partner in crime when it comes to vocal coaching students,” she told her encouragingly, hoping the thought helped. Then Imogen mentioned her power, and she snapped her fingers. “Your power is also your gift Imogen! You can brighten someones day by turning your hair...oh I don’t know, rainbow, or their favorite color. Something as simple as seeing a happy color can sometimes do more than you could even imagine,” she told her enthusiastically.


@imogen

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Callie said that prejudice and people remaining small minded must be hard, and Imogen shrugged her shoulders. “I am who I am today because I had to fight against people like that.” It had destroyed her, and Im was still trying to build herself back up again, but there was no one bigger factor that had affected her personality than bigotry. Well, that and betrayal, but the two sort of went hand in hand. It was sad, to see people who lived in a box that they built themselves and then complain that there wasn’t enough room.

“If you want my help, then I’m more than happy to give it.” Imogen responded when Callie said she could use a partner in crime for vocal lessons. She didn’t want to encroach on the other professor’s space, but since the offer was on the table, Im thought that it would be silly to say no. “I made getting to choose my appearance a prize for a class activity once.” Imogen told Callie, voice slightly pensive. It hadn’t worked out the way that she expected, that much was certain. “It’s amazing how little kids know about color coordination.” She said in a weak attempt at a joke.

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Calliope nodded, smiling a little. “Well I think you are a good person Imogen, so I’d say that even though you had to fight people like that, it made you stronger in the end,” she said confidently. She knew that Imogen was new to teaching this year; during her own first year of teaching she had been grateful for positive words coming from any one of her fellow colleagues. Hopefully Imogen felt the same way.

Callie’s smile widened when Imogen offered her help with vocal lessons. “Excellent, I must say I do love being Head of Hufflepuff but it does take up a lot of my free time,” she said with a small laugh. She welcomed the challenges being a head of house, though it did leave her very little time to seek out any students with exceedingly good singing voices to assist in any way she could. Most nights during the week she fell into bed exhausted and slept in a sleep of the dead. “Oooh, may I ask what the winner ended up choosing?” she exclaimed, interested in what the student would pick as his prize. She would probably want to see Imogen with rainbow hair; she’d seen a few girls in London with hair dyed in the multiple colors of the rainbow and wondered how on earth they could sit that long in a salon while that was being done. Imogen though had the luxury of being able to change her appearance at will, and didn’t need those wasted hours to change it.

@imogen

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It was still strange, Imogen thought, to find that there were people who thought that she was a good person. It was a little bit of a relief not to be around people who knew her before her transition, Imogen thought. Obviously some of those people – her family, mostly – were still a big part of her life, but it was nice, too, to have people who only knew her as she had always known herself. “You know me. Practically a bodybuilder.” Imogen said, attempting to tease but unsure whether or not her joke had come across well.

Imogen nodded when Callie said that she loved being Head of Hufflepuff, but that it consumed a lot of her free time. “Better you than me.” Im said wryly. As far as she knew, she and Callie were the only two professors who had been Hufflepuffs in their time at Hogwarts, so if the older woman ever tired of the job, it was likely that Imogen would be the one who was asked to follow in her footsteps. It was much easier to help Callie in this manner, with vocal lessons, than have to talk to students about their futures. Imogen was sure that she would be terrified to accidentally lead a student down the wrong path, and wouldn’t give much good advice. When Callie asked what the winner had chosen for her appearance, Imogen winced. “Yellow hair, a pointy nose, and dog ears – the floppy kind. The worst part was the hair, really. Yellow doesn’t look good on me.” The other bits hadn’t been as bad, because it was obvious that Imogen hadn’t chosen them herself. The hair, though, could have been intentional, albeit a fashion mistake.

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