"Ack!" Swatting furiously, Rosalina attempted to shoo the large bug away. Every time she came outside it seemed like she was being chased after by some ugly bugs. Tanner used to make so much fun of her. He used to say that her perfume was what made the bugs so attracted to her. Rosalina didn't believe it for a moment. Surely they knew that she hated them with every fiber of her being, and that was why they chased her around. "This is why I don't like going outside." Especially when it was hot outside. Rosalina definitely preferred the colder weather, as she hated feeling sweaty, and she hated the bugs even more. Rosalina wouldn't even be outside if it wasn't for the fact that she was trying to avoid studying and finishing her homework. It was either deal with the bugs or bury her face in a book, neither which sounded very appealing.
Rosalina found a patch of grass that looked comfortable enough to sit on, and plopped herself down with a sigh. The sun was shining and provided a decent amount of warmth. If Rosalina hadn't been so worried about magical bugs ripping her limbs off, she'd probably find herself taking a nap out of here. Whether magical bugs actually existed or not, she was unsure, but she wasn't about to risk it. Being pulled from her thoughts, Rosalina was aware of the fact that she felt something crawling on top of her hand. "AHH!" Shaking the bug from her hand, Rosalina pushed herself from the ground and stared hatefully at the bug she thrown off of her. Was nowhere in this world safe from those ugly things? The worst part was, Rosalina still felt as if the thing crawling around on her. A shudder escaped the Gryffindor's body. Bugs were so gross.
Xavier was on the hunt for bugs again. It was his favourite pastime, and really the only pastime he had when he wasn't cooped up in classes. So it was only natural that whenever he found a spare moment, he walked to the more forested areas of the school grounds with a jar and a lid in his hands and the ambition to find another bug to add to his beloved collection. The collection itself was not as vast as it once was. Xavier released many of his bug friends earlier in the semester and since then the collection was dwindling down to nothing. He needed to capture more bugs and restore the collection he once had to his former glory and as he walked through the lakefront, stepping slowly in the pebbles to not startle the beetle he was stalking, his motivation was at it's peak. The beetle his eyes were on was entirely black with a distinct, white spot on its back and it was something the Hufflepuff had never seen before.
He needed to capture it. He needed to befriend it and he needed to study its behavior to see if it was the same as his other beetles. But most of all, Xavier needed to keep his movements gradual and silent so he could actually capture it. He inched closer to the beetle as it landed on a nearby rock, fluttering its wings and crawling around. His next movements were almost trained as he approached the rock, moving the jar closer to the bug, on the brink of capturing it in the glass. He was in the midst of his concentration, biting his tongue as he moved the lid to persuade the beetle to go inside the jar. It was nearly completely captured when the sound of a nearby scream caused it to fly away and Xavier to groan and kick the pebbles at his feet in reaction. He didn't want to let the bug get away that easily, however and immediately followed it. His steps eventually lead to another patch of grass where he saw a girl screaming and his precious beetle being thrown to the ground in all the commotion. Xavier did not even hesitate to approach the ground where the beetle was, kneeling in the grass with his face only centimeters away from the beetle. "Don't move a muscle." He said to the girl to make sure she did not scare the beetle away again as he slowly, but surely captured it in his jar. He stood up from the grass immediately as he screwed the lid properly on the jar to make sure the beetle didn't fly away. "Hurrah!" He shouted as he inspected his capture. "Thanks for your help." He then said to the girl as an afterthought because the elusive bug would not be captured safely inside his glass jar if she had not screamed enough to momentarily startle it.
Rosalina was about to start stomping and flailing around in an attempt to scare the bugs away, but the voice of another person made her freeze instead. "Uhh..." He told her not to move a muscle, which instantly led Rosalina to believe that another bug was crawling around on her somewhere. Standing as still as she could, her brown eyes took in his every movement carefully. He had a jar, and carefully he seemed to be going after something on the ground with it. It took a moment, but finally she noticed the ugly beetle crawling around by her feet. Rosalina resisted the urge to squish it out of pure curiosity. What the heck was he doing? When he had the beetle in his jar and shut the lid tightly, Rosalina suddenly understood what this guy was up to. He was catching bugs. not cute bugs like butterflies or lighting bugs, but the big ugly kinds like beetles.
"Ew. Did you seriously just put that beetle in a jar?" Rosalina spat out, once again forgetting her inner filter was sometimes helpful when it came to addressing people she didn't know very well. It just disturbed her that someone would actually want to catch one of those things willingly. He even thanked her for helping him to catch it. Quickly Rosalina shook her head. "I didn't help you catch it. You're just lucky he wasn't squished before you managed to come over. I hate bugs, they are so gross." Rosalina was tempted to take the glass jar from the boy's hand and kick it into the lake. Could bugs drown? What better time to test the subject and find out once and for all? Rosalina had seen this boy around a few times. He was in her year, and a Hufflepuff, but that was about it. Other than the fact that he must have some type of an affinity with bugs.
Xavier continued to inspect the beetle in his jar, reveling in the success of his capture as the girl's words interrupted him. He looked from the jar and down towards her inquisitively before saying "But it's in the jar and away from you now. I don't see the problem." to try and comfort her because it was indeed true. The glass was a barrier between her and whatever weird thought process that caused her to be scared of bugs. At least he assumed she was scared of bugs. Her screaming earlier was enough of an indication for him to assume she wasn't a fan of the creepy crawlies he adored with his entire heart.
He smiled at the girl an sat down on the grass to face her, the jar still safely held in his hands. "But you did help." He began. "I've been chasing this adorable little beetle all day and wasn't having much success until you screamed loud enough." He said matter of factly, nodding his head while continuing to smile. Whether she wanted to believe it or not her screaming had helped him with a successful capture and it at least warranted a thanks in his mind. He continued to keep the jar safely in his hands, darting his eyes from it and to the girl. "Why don't you like bugs?" He asked with nothing but pure curiosity. To Xavier, bugs were amazing no matter what kind they were. They fascinated him to no end and the task of capturing them to only learn more about them was the cherry on top of the cake. Why this girl, and a few other people Xavier had crossed paths with during his time at Hogwarts, disliked them was beyond what he could comprehend. He was eager to find out what the stigma behind bugs was and was not shy in asking the girl about it. She seemed nice enough to answer his question honestly and without intentions to be rude to him either way so he was happy so sit and anticipate whatever her answer would be.
Sorry about the delay. We had some girls quit where I work so I took on a lot of extra hours, which wound up giving me absolutely no free time.
"We're in the wizarding world. We have plants that can eat people. I don't even trust normal bugs, let alone any we find around here." For all she knew, that bug could spit out acid, or eat through glass. It didn't look any different than a normal bug. But after some of the scary things she had witnessed in the greenhouse, she wasn't about to take any chances. The boy didn't seem bothered by the bug, but there were also people out there that weren't afraid of dragons either and Rosalina was pretty sure they weren't safe either. Watching the beetle crawl around the jar with its nasty little legs and small body, made Rosalina's stomach churn and she prayed that it would be kept in the jar from here on out. Once she was safely back in the castle, he could do whatever he wanted with it, but until she did, she'd prefer he kept it in the jar.
"If you say so. You're lucky I didnt squish it first because that's what usually happens when bugs decide to climb on me. I can't really see what you find so interesting in those things." Especially not enough to follow one around the rest of the day. Rosalina didn't even cute boys interesting enough to follow around that long, and she definitely had a strong interest in them. When asked why she disliked bugs, Rosalina snorted softly. "Well for one, they're ugly. They bite or string, and anything that has more than two eyes or four legs is not natural in my opinion. Don't even get me started on spiders." Animals like dogs, or cats, or even cute little bunnies were okay in her books. Anything that had more than four legs and two eyes was too creepy for her tastes. Spiders were at the top of the creepy list. Her brother used to tease her about it all of the time by putting fake spiders around the house for Rosalina to find.
Xavier continued to sit still in the grass, eyes moving between his newly captured beetle and the girl as he listened to her answer his questions. She was clearly strong willed, adamant in her belief that bugs were disgusting and while Xavier could respect that she thought differently, he wanted to voice his side of the story and opinions on bugs because they were indeed very different to hers. "The thing is, bugs are tiny and easy to squish, right?" He began after clearing his throat and making sure the beetle in his jar was still safe and seemingly comfortable. "They need a way to defend themselves, so they have lots of legs to run away quickly and, or stingers to ward of predators. Bugs wouldn't have survived so long if they weren't able to adapt and live with all the big, scary animals and humans in the world." Xavier was speaking confidently although calmly so the girl, whatever her name was, didn't take offense to his words. Both their opinions on bugs were equally as valid but Xavier wanted to explain his in more detail. "They're more like you and me than we like to think, sometimes. Humans adapt and so do bugs depending on their environments." and so they did, it was one of the countless reasons Xavier adored bugs and related to them as if they were his friends.
As he finished speaking his eyes once again moved to his jar. He shook his head. "Anyway. You're allowed to believe what you want to about bugs. Just try not to hurt them, okay? they deserve to live just like we humans do. I'm sure no bug has ever wanted to hurt you, even spiders." He said in an attempt to reassure the girl that bugs were as friendly as he truly believed they were. After a moment of further thought, Xavier realized changing the subject might have been a better idea than debating about a subject he held so close to his heart so he promptly looked to the girl again and introduced himself, smiling as he did so. "I'm Xavier, by the way. What's your name?"
Rosalina had to admit, the boy had a point. Although the bugs might be creepy with all of those legs and pincers, but in the end they were just things the bugs needed in order to survive, though didn't stop the young Gryffindor from finding them repulsive. "You make a good point. But how is it that every time I'm outside the bugs seem to find crawling all over me amusing?" Rosalina might hate bugs, but she had the feeling that if they'd leave her alone when she was minding her own business, she wouldn't have to go about killing them all of the time. When she was little, Tanner used to have her believe that they could smell fear and that was why they always went after her. A part of her still half-wondered if that was true. Maybe they knew she was afraid of them and liked to see her suffer. Or maybe it was her perfume? It did smell a bit flowery.
"I'll make a deal with you. If they leave me alone, and stay out of places like the shower or my bed, I'll leave them be. I don't like things crawling on me, it feels gross." Rosalina bit back, trying her best not to act like a spoiled brat, but not wanting to completely give up her fear of bugs just yet. The boy then introduced himself as Xavier. This gesture instantly made Rosalina forget entirely about the fact that he still had that ugly bug trapped in the jar he was holding. "My name is Rosalina! What year are you in?" She didn't bother to ask which house due to the fact that houses didn't matter much to her. Plus she already knew he couldn't be a Gryffindor, as she had yet to see him in the common room even once. So he must be from one of the other houses.
The girl was clearly adamant in her beliefs, however she wasn't dismissing anything Xavier was saying, either. He was glad that she was at least listening and taking his words in to some degree. It was more than he could say for other people he had crossed paths with in the school. Many of them hated bugs, never showing them any mercy and never attempting to see their side of things. It surprised and disturbed Xavier as he had always believed that bugs were kind creatures that simply wanted to survive and were evidently more scared of humans than humans were of them.
He was interrupted from his reverie when the girl agreed to make a deal with him. It wasn't an insurance that she wouldn't hurt any bugs, but it was a start. He nodded and replied "Deal." hoping that she would further mull his opinions over. When she introduced herself, Xavier's smile widened. Her demeanor seemed to change completely. He was relieved and equally as intrigued by Rosalina. He quickly introduced himself in return, answering her question happily. "I'm Xavier! and I'm a second year Hufflepuff!" He looked momentarily down to the beetle in the jar before looking back to Rosalina. "What year are you in? He asked, assuming she was around his age as she didn't look old and was somewhat familiar. He just had trouble placing her face in his memory in that moment.
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