Pieces

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier was on his way back to the castle from another successful day of bug hunting. Successful in the sense his bug collection now included one more bug. A cicada to be exact. It was a treasure because only once before in his life had Xavier managed to catch a bug to elusive and rare. The scraping sound they made was all too easy to recognize from a distance but made them almost impossible to find when he got closer and the sound stopped. They were so well camouflaged that searching for them without the aid of the sound they made was like finding a needle in a haystack. Xavier was not only proud of himself for being at the right place at the right time to find and capture a cicada as it sat leisurely on the leaves of a bush by the gardens, but he was also eager to show Ares his find and made a beeline to the castle to search for his brother.

The jar was safely clutched within Xavier's hands. Or so he thought before an older student bumped into him and he fell to the ground, the glass jar hitting the stone floor and smashing into pieces all too suddenly for Xavier to realize in time to save it. The Cicada flew from the jar's pieces and to the castle door and Xavier frowned to himself as he knelt in front of the broken jar. He wasn't going to admit defeat that easily but with his glass jar now in pieces and the cicada flying further away by the minute defeat seemed to be his only option.​

 

[Bethany Zanders]

After doing her homework a full three days before it was actually due, Bethany decided to go outside to reward herself for not putting it off until the night before like she usually did. Just as the second year was making her way down the stairs into the courtyard, a group of rowdy first years ran past her. All the commotion jostled her and she accidentally ran into an older student, who in turn ran into another boy and she heard a shattering.

Being so short, the older student probably thought she was just a first year and didn't offer much more than a glare to Bethany and a quick apology to the other boy. Beth scowled at the older student walking away and looked down at the boy who was kneeling beside the jar. Now she felt really bad because she had caused the older student to run into the boy with the jar so she felt responsible. She only just managed to glimpse a sight of a bug flying away, presumably from the jar and saw how the boy seemed disheartened at the escape. "I can try and turn it into a button so it won't fly away!" Beth said to him quickly, trying to help out. She had just learned it in Transfiguration last week and it was technically turning beetles into buttons but she figured a bug was a bug right? She hoped she could do it successfully in such a hurry. "Should I?" she asked the boy as she pulled out her wand, knowing time was running out before they lost sight of the bug but she didn't want to hurt the bug or cause it to panic and fly away for good.​

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier looked up from the pile of shattered glass and leaves that was once home to his precious cicada and to the girl that spoke to him. He stood from the stone floor, shaking his head and holding his hand up defensively as she pulled out her wand. Her kind offer was appreciated, an in any other place Xavier would have chased after the cicada as if his life depended on it and would have let her turn the bug into a button as many times as she wanted. But now he was technically in the castle and cleaning the glass now spread along the shattered floor was more of a priority than re-capturing his bug no matter how much he wanted to. "No it's fine. Don't worry. I should focus on cleaning this mess up." He said to the girl as he looked back down to the mess. "Thanks anyway." He said as he knelt back on the ground, beginning to pick up the larger pieces of glass and not thinking to use his wand as he did so.

"I could always find another cicada." Xavier said, more to reassure himself than to the girl as he picked up the pieces nearest to him and cradled them gently in his hands to avoid accidentally cutting himself. When he picked up all he could he returned to his feet and placed the pieces on a nearby windowsill and hopefully away from harming anyone that later walked down the corridor. "What's your name?" He asked as he retrieved more pieces of what used to be his jar, looking up to the girl curiously because he recognized her from classes though never had a name to put to her familiar face.​

 

[Bethany Zanders]

Bethany frowned softly when the boy refused her offer to help him catch the bug again, but decided to take his word for it. The Gryffindor slipped the wand back into her pocket with a small shrug and thought it was probably for the best anyway because she didn't know how to the button back into a beetle; or probably the button would've still had its legs and gotten away anyway. Plus, bugs were kinda creepy. As she heard the boy mention what type of bug it was, Bethany quickly gathered that he probably didn't think they were creepy, which she immediately found strange and interesting.

Too late she realized that she was just standing there watching him pick up the jagged pieces of broken glass and she should've been helping him. She carefully made her way over him, careful not to step on any piece and shatter it into smaller harder to pick up pieces. She smiled a little as he asked her name and said, "Sorry, I'm Beth," realizing she probably should've started with that first. "You're a second year, right?" she asked him, recognizing him from classes. "What's your name?" she added, now bending down to help him with the smaller pieces.​

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier continued to pick up the scattered pieces of glass as he resisted the urge to feel sorry for himself while trying to put an optimistic spin on the situation. He had caught the cicada, regardless if he got to show it to his twin brother or not and that notion meant he could catch another one sooner or later. With determination and dedication he could easily capture another one if he spent enough time trying and that, paired with the realization that he was talking to someone he could make a friend out of brought a small smile to his otherwise sullen face. When the girl introduced herself, Xavier looked to her and widened his smile. "I am a second year." He confirmed, standing up when his hands were once again carrying too much glass.

He walked to put what he was holding again gently on the windowsill before dusting his hands together as he introduced himself in return. "I'm Xavier. Nice to meet ya" He said as he continued to smile at Beth, bidding his task of cleaning as finished. The bigger pieces of glass were out of the way and that was all Xavier could do to clean up without using his wand and risking making a bigger mess with a cleaning spell. Despite how much he loved magic, cleaning spells were not his forte and only made matters worse and Xavier wasn't sure why. It could have been his love of getting his hands dirty in the mud and wanting to know everything first hand hindering his ability to clean but he brushed off that thought as soon as his mind pondered it. He focused on the present, deciding that the day wasn't a total loss because while his cicada was nowhere to be found and one of his precious jars in a million pieces he was glad to have met someone that was nice. Nice enough to help him clean his mess at least.
​

 

[Bethany Zanders]

Since the boy had picked up most of the glass, there wasn't much else for Beth to help him with. She took the few pieces of glass she had in her hands and took them over to where he was discarding the pieces, and took note that he seemed to be finished cleaning up as much as he could. She smiled at him as he introduced himself in return and said, "It's nice to meet you too Xavier, even if the circumstances were a little unfortunate," she gestured to the broken glass.

"You know you could've fixed this with magic right?" Bethany loved magic. She had grown up around magic all her life and she thought it was the solution for everything, hence why she had offered to turn the boy's bug into a button at first. It was especially great for fixes and clean-ups because her family had so little they constantly repaired everything with magic because it was so much easier on them than having to go out and buy a new one.​

 

[Xavier Jeffreys]

Xavier grinned sheepishly as Beth asked why he avoided using his wand to clean the glass from the stone floor. He wasn't a prideful kid but he did momentarily hesitate to answer the question on the off chance the girl would judge him for opting to use his hands instead of magic to clean up as he wasn't the best at cleaning or repairing charms by any means. But he figured if she was nice enough to help him move the glass she wouldn't be so judgemental and eventually answered "I'm not that good at charms. Would do more harm than good." as he messed up the back of his curly hair with one of his hands. His eyes moved to the stone floor where his shattered glass previously lay and then to the windowsill before returning to Beth. "Thanks for helping me, and sorry about all of this." He said as he gestured to the area around him with his hand. He of course, appreciated her help and showed that previously, but showing that with multiple thank yous in one interaction was a habit of his he evidently wasn't about to break. "You're really nice. I'm annoyed we haven't talked in class before." Xavier added.​

 

[Bethany Zanders]

Beth chuckled lightly, not maliciously or anything, but she understood where he was coming from. "I suppose you're right," she nodded considering. "I wouldn't know enough to change it back into a bug after I transfigured it anyway, so it's all for the best." She leaned against the wall and shrugged when he thanked her for helping and said, "No problem! I'm sorry that I was kind of the one who broke your jar," she shifted uneasily now. "What did you catch anyway?" she asked, wondering what would be interesting enough to catch in a jar and hoping it was common enough to catch again so she wouldn't feel so bad.

Bethany actually laughed out loud at his next comment and grinned at him; she liked his choice of word, and hearing that he was 'annoyed' at not having met sooner struck her as endearing. "Well thank you," she beamed, and she had to say she agreed with that sentiment too. "At least we met now! Better late than never," she laughed. "And now we get to be friends!" she said simply, with someone like Xavier it seemed that easy.​