Goals

[Xavier Jeffreys]

There were times when Xavier wished he could teach a bug to talk, and have it sit on his shoulder all day the way Pirates had their birds. It was not one of those times. Instead, bugs were surprisingly the last thing on Xavier's mind. That day he was focused on seeing his Hufflepuff friends, catching up with them on the happenings in each other's lives during the holidays over delicious house elf home cooked food. Xavier wasn't usually an impatient person, but he wished his friends would arrive already because he had begun to look awkward sitting alone at the Hufflepuff table, tapping his hands on the plate in front of him. ​

 

[Eleanor Hope]

Eleanor was in a very good mood. Her Christmas holidays had definitely been eventful and coming back to Hogwarts with all of her friends had just lifted her mood. The girl was getting dressed in her dormitory humming a muggle Christmas Carol from her sister's book that she had received from their aunt for Christmas. All of the songs were definitely very catchy and she was still humming the song as she made her way down to the Great Hall. Bursting through the doors she started singing at the top of her lungs. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!" she sang, ignoring the looks other people were giving her. "Had a very shiny nose..." Eleanor's eyes scanned the room and found Xavier sitting at the Hufflepuff table. She walked in his direction, still singing pretty loudly, and nodded at him as she sat down, buttering a piece of toast. Hopefully he didn't mind her singing voice.

 

[Marzen Svajone]

It had taken him a couple of hours to wake up fully that morning, but Marzen quite enjoyed just lying back listening to his roommates shuffle about doing their daily routine. By the time his eyes were fully open everyone had already left, and Marzen decided it was probably time to get up, otherwise he'd miss breakfast. Stumbling out of the dorm, a bright green beetle welcomed him and Marzen quickly scooped him up before anyone accidently stood on him, he knew full well who the tiny creature belonged to and he knew Xavier would be devastated if he found one of his tiny pets crushed in the corridor. Placing him in his shirt pocket gently, Marzen quickly strode down the staircase and into the great hall, already seeing his friend and room mate sat down with an empty plate in front of him.

As he approached he could also hear another of his housemates very loud and very cheerful singing, but this wasn't uncommon for Eleanor Hope and smiling as he sat down he commented "I don't think I've heard that one before." Turning to his roommate he chuckled as he placed the small beetle onto the boy's plate. "Does this belong to you Xavier?" he asked as he himself grabbed a plate and started piling on food.​

 

[Bryony Woods]

Being back at Hogwarts was bittersweet. One the one hand she loved being at home for the holidays but she missed her friends back at Hogwarts. There was a group of Hufflepuff's that she had grown considerably closer to and she missed them. But, now she was back at the castle she missed her parents at home. It was like she couldn't make her mind up on where she wanted to be. However, it was only the start of term and she figured that it would get better as time moved on. As soon as she would see her friends that day she knew that all of her homesickness would fade away, for the time being anyway. She very reluctantly got out of bed and got dressed to go down to the Great Hall for breakfast. The only thing Bryony seemed to be good at these days was sleeping, she struggled every morning to get up for classes. She was definitely not a morning person that was for sure.

She walked into the Great Hall and saw the familiar faces of her three best friends, already sitting together at the Hufflepuff table. She waved at them from across the room and then made her way over and sat next to Ellie who seemed to be singing a well known muggle Christmas carol. Bryony's forehead wrinkled "you know it's not Christmas anymore right, Ellie? she asked her fellow Hufflepuff but giggled nevertheless at how loud she was singing, people from the other houses were looking round to see where the noise was coming from. Bryony bowed her head and picked up a bowl and filled it with cereal. She hated being the centre of attention so she busied herself with the food around her. Bryony only heard half of what the two boys were talking about and only saw Marzen drop a bug on Xav's plate. "Ew, Marz! Why did you bring that down to breakfast?" she shrieked picking her bowl up from the table to protect her food from the bug.

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Eleanor's singing was more than just music to Xavier's ears, it was a reassurance that she had now arrived and he would no longer need to sit alone in wait for his friends. He smiled at Eleanor, and then towards Marzen and Bryony as they quickly sat down. They were easily the nicest, most fun and interesting people in the school and Xavier was proud to call them his friends. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and sipped from it. However the smile on his face soon disappeared at the shock of one of his beloved beetles being placed on the plate in front of him. Xavier gasped as he picked up the beetle, holding it to his chest affectionately. The poor thing must have felt so scared, lost without the safety of it's jar and the small enclosure Xavier constructed inside of it. "Marzen! Thank you so much! What happened? Where did you find him?" He asked frantically, hoping the rest of his bugs were safe and wondering how on earth that beetle managed to escape. In that moment he was tempted to jump from his chair and run to the dorms just to make sure because his bugs were more important to him than anything, even the delicious looking food in front of him.​

 

[Liam Adams]

It felt strange being back at the school but Liam was glad, as much as he had enjoyed Christmas he was reaching a point where living without magic felt strange. Tvs, video games, it all felt so alien to him so he was glad to be back in the familiar surroundings of Hogwarts. After what felt like a lie in that morning Liam made his way down to breakfast at the Hufflepuff table, several of his friends were already assembled at the table so he greeted them with a broad smile. "Morning guys," He said taking a seat. He noticed Marzen hand a bug to Xavier and shook his head, "Buddy you know this is why people call you bug boy right?" He asked his friend playfully. "Personally I think you should just own the nickname, what do you think Marz?" He asked the other boy turning to him. Turning his attention from the boys to the girls he smiled at Ellie who had arrived singing a Christmas song, Liam had heard a lot of them when he was home and it was part of the muggle festivities that he did still enjoy. "Hey Ellie, great song choice, I think it's still close enough to Christmas to get away with singing them don't you Bry?" He asked sticking his tongue out at his friend.

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tesla was already missing home if she were to tell the truth. She missed her mom's big hugs and her dad's bad jokes and weirdly enough she missed her little brothers and sister. She had practically been tackled with hugs by Kinsey when she had returned home but there was the rest of the school year to finish so the little Kiwi girl was ready to make it as great of a semester as she possibly could. Maybe she'd even make some friends too. The first year went to the great hall and sat at her table, not too far away from a big group of students she had seen around the common room but had been too nervous to say anything. She wasn't eaves dropping as she ate her food quietly but she couldn't help but hear the excitement in one boy's voice about a beetle. It was at this point that the girl looked over at them and smiled wide to see the boy cuddling it. She didn't know much about beetles because her parents were never very keen on entomology but she couldn't help but pipe up and ask, "What type of beetle is he?" She immediately felt stupid for intruding and wished she hadn't but her curiousity had gotten the better of her.

 

[Eleanor Hope]

Eleanor continued singing and beamed when Marzen came over to join them, followed by Bryony and then Liam. "The reason you haven't heard it before is because it's a muggle Christmas Carol!" she exclaimed to Marzen, quite proud of herself for knowing something that he didn't. "My sister got a book for Christmas filled with them. She doesn't use it very much, you know." Eleanor smiled at them all, happy that they didn't mind her singing very much. She didn't care about the people around them looking at her as her friends' opinions were all that mattered.

Eleanor's eyes widened at the bug that Marzen put on Xavier's plate. "Can I touch it?" she asked tentatively, finding the bug to be quite interesting. She didn't mind that they were all eating as she didn't think insects were too disgusting at all. As a matter of fact, she loved nature and was unsure why Bryony seemed so revolted by it. Eleanor was sure that if she was in the beetle's position that she wouldn't feel too great by that comment, and something made the Second year feel sorry for it, simply because it didn't belong enclosed in a jar and probably escaped on purpose in an attempt to break free.

Eleanor frowned when Bryony interrupted her singing to tell her that Christmas was already over. "Don't be a Grinch!" she spat at her, thankful when Liam complimented Eleanor's song choice and stood up for her. "It should be Christmas all year round." she thought aloud. "That way we'll all be getting presents everyday!" Eleanor smiled brightly at her friends, wondering if they all thought the same thing.

 

[Marzen Svajone]

While his mother had been a muggleborn, Marzen and his sister had both been raised in a magical household, following very little of muggle traditions, in fact the Christmases he had back in Lithuania were very different from Christmases here. "But surely a reindeer with a red nose is magic? or is he just ill?" He asked Eleanor, but his train of thought was interrupted by the arrival of several others and he beamed at his friends.

Laughing at the serious drop in expression of Xavier when he plopped the little beetle down he found himself faced with a torrent of rapid fired questions, making this the first time he'd ever seen the boy so anxious about his bugs, usually he just saw the adoration. "Relax, He was just outside our room. It must have happened just after you left because he didn't get far." he assured the boy and turning to the beetle he adopted a baby voice, "no you didn't, did you?" He laughed at Bry's reaction and probably would have waved the small creature under her face if he still held the poor bug.

He turned towards Liam with a small smile as he told their friend about the nickname some people used for him, personally if Marzen was to give Xavier a nickname he would have shortened it to X, like one of his favourite muggle superheroes (one muggle subject he did have knowledge on), but bug boy fitted him perfectly and he nodded in agreement. "Embrace the name, Bugboy."

His laughter was interrupted when the group was interjected by a small first year he'd often seen around the common room. she was sat on his side of the bench so he graciously slid up the bench barging Liam up the table playfully so she could move along and join them, but said nothing as he also wanted to know more about the bug.

Spoiler: Alternate Ending

His laughter was suddenly interrupted by the interjection from a small first year who moved up to sit with them. Marzen stopped laughing and looked the girl up and down, noticing the lack of his favourite colour and just the yellow and black Hufflepuff robes. "Excuse me?!" he asked as she sat down. "On Wednesday's we wear pink." It was true. They all stood up to reveal an item of pink clothing. "You can't sit with us." [/font]

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier always admired Liam's confidence but in that moment it did nothing to lighten his mood, nor did the mention of the name 'bug boy'. More than anything, Xavier was concerned about his beetle friend. Though the sweet little bug was no longer in harms way, he still worried how it escaped from it's home. He kept the beetle clutched close to his chest as he took in everyone's reactions about Eleanor's cheerful festive singing, nearly forgetting that a younger Hufflepuff student asked about the bug. When he remembered that he should answer her, he shook his head slightly, attempting to calm his terror at what might have happened to his other precious bug friends since leaving the dorm only a few minutes ago. "It is a shield bug." He said, then looking back down to his hands that were continually keeping the bug safe from harm. The great hall was busy all the time but especially in the mornings and Xavier did not want to let his guard down and allow the adorable bug to escape from him again. He loved it too much to intentionally put it in danger, and knew it would be best to leave so he could return the bug safely to it's home and only then return to have a proper breakfast. But but he felt himself unable to move from his spot on the bench. The juice he was drinking and the banter between his friends he otherwise loved had become a forgotten thought.​

 

[Tesla Wilde]

Tess smiled as one of the boys moved further on the bench so she could get in closer and did so a bit nervously. They could find out she was a muggle-born and suddenly be so mean to her that she couldn't bare the kind action so she hesitated slightly and played it off as listening to the boy holding the bug. She looked at him with a slightly confused look on her face. "Why do you have one of those?" she asked, knowing enough about shield bugs to know they weren't exactly pleasant creatures with their stink that they regularly produced. She didn't mind bugs in any way but really, that was a bit weird.

Can we just ignore that it's been a month since I've replied? #worsthufflesquadmemberever