Fight For Me

The halls of Hogwarts Secondary School were relatively empty as Xenophilius wandered through them after rehearsals(nothing special, just blocking between songs). The only other people he saw were other theatre students and a couple of athletes of whichever sport was going on at the current moment(Xenophilius couldn’t care less, not his scene). He trailed his fingers along the lockers, fingers dipping through the cracks when metal turned to bricks.

He smiled when he rounded a corner and spotted Pandora at her locker. He sped up, taking longer strides in an attempt to reach her faster. They'd had one more date since their last(they went to the Butterfly Conservatory) and had another one planned for tonight. Nothing special, just a coffee/tea date at The Beetle and the Bard but Xeno was terribly excited nonetheless.

Before he managed to reach his girlfriend, two other guys Xenophilius easily recognized as Avery and Dolohov from some...unpleasant experiences in the past few years, snuck up behind her. Avery's hands came up to the back of his neck and Xenophilus heard Pandora yelp in surprise as something fell of her person. Dolohov quickly snatched it up, holding what turned out to be her alexandrite necklace. From what Pandora's told him, Xenophilius knew it was one of her and Evan's birthstone and it had been a gift from him to her two years ago.

"Hey!" Pandora shouted, jumping to try and reach it. Dolohov snickered, holding the necklace just out of reach. "Give that back!"

"Hm, no. I don't think we will." Avery said tauntingly.

Xeno plucked the necklace from Dolohov's possession the moment he was able, causing the other senior to spin around. He took several quick steps back as Dolohov lunged for the piece of jewelry. Xenophilius used his towering height to his advantage and much like Dololhov had just done to Pandora, held the crystal above his head, well out of reach. "Antonin. Weren't you ever taught not to take things that aren't yours?"

"Hand it over you fucking freak!" Dolohov growled, once again jumping at Xeno.

Xenophilius to another step back, shaking his head. "And why would I do that? Afterall, it's not yours."

"Phil!" Pandora shouted, tone frantic. "Behind you!"

Xenophilius whipped around, only to be met with Avery's fist to his gut. Pandora let out a small shriek and Xeno groaned, free hand clutching his stomach as he slouched over. Dolohov quickly grabbed the necklace back just before Avery slammed Xenophilius' back against the lockers. His head banged against metal and Avery fisted a handful of long blond waves. Xenophilius hissed at the zip of pain, glaring down at Avery.

"Listen carefully, Lovegood," Avery spat out his name like it was vile, nothing more than the scum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. "Someone should have taught you the importance of not pissing off people who can and will make your life a living hell. You remember eight grade, right? Of course you do, I made sure you of it. You wouldn't want that to happen again, no would you? If you don't, and you'd be stupid not to and while you may be a crazy little bitch, you actually have some working brain cells, I suggest you keep out of our way."

Xenophilius grit his teeth. "Fuck you."

In hind sight, that might've not been the best idea, no matter how satisfying it was to see Avery's face turn red with rage. For future reference, don't talk back to the guy whose got you pinned and is actively threatening you.

Xenophilius' head banged against the locker's again as Avery's knuckles came into contact with his cheek. Blood filled his mouth from where he cut his tongue and he was quickly let go. Avery and Dolohov laughed as Xenophilius staggered, practically skipping down the halls as they ran off with Pandora's necklace.

"Are you alright?" Pandora asked, reaching up to cup his cheeks. Her eyes were wide with guilt and concern as her finger gently caressed the tender flesh from Avery's punch.

Xenophilius smiled, hands circling her wrists. "I'm quite alright, sunshine. Are you?"

"You're bleeding." She whispered.

"Nothing a little water can't fix. Did you know oral wounds heal the fastest?"

"Is your stomach okay?"

"I've dealt with cramps worse than that punch."

"I should've done something."

"Hey, hey, no. None of that," Xenophilius said firmly. He forced her ducked head up and their eyes met. He noted the tears gathering in her eyes and he lowered his forehead to hers. "They're assholes. Nothing you could you would've made it better."

"Why did you do that?" Pandora chastised. "You got yourself hurt. It wasn't that serious."

He gave her an unimpressed look. "Don't try and brush this off, sunshine. I know how much that necklace meant to you."

She sniffed, blinking quickly to try and clear her eyes. "It's fine. I'll get another one."

Xeno narrowed his eyes at her dismissive behaviour. "Pandora...has this happened before?"

She didn't reply.

"Sunshine," Xeno whispered, pained. "Why didn't you say something?"

A tear ran down her cheek and Xeno swiped it away with his finger. "I don't need everyone solving my problems. It's just a couple things. I can replace them."

"I love that you're independent, I truly do, sunshine. You are just as capable of doing just as everyone else can but please, please remember you can ask for help. Me, Evan, Regulus, Barty, Dorcas- any of us. We want to help, sunshine."

"I know."

He let out a relieved breath. "Good, good. What else have they taken?"

"Nothing much just...my water bottle, my sweater, my homework sometimes, some of my hairclips, some hair ties and a couple of other small things. It's fine, really, it is. The things we've lost have a way of coming back to us eventually..." She trailed off as miniature waterfalls wore tracks into her cheeks.

Xeno made a fussed little noise, cupping the back of her head and gently guiding her face to his chest. She wrapped her arms around the small of his back as her shoulders began to shake. His free hand tangled in the end of her braids, gently running his fingers through them. He rested his chin atop her head, murmuring sweet nothings.

"I don't want to cry," Pandora mumbled between sobs. "This eyeliner took twenty minutes."

Xeno let out a small chuckle, despite the somber atmosphere. "I can do it for you again once we get to the cafe. That is, if you're still wanting to go."

"Of course I do," She said, tilting her head up just enough to look at him. The white and blue dots and swirls all around her eyes had smudged, leaving watered tracks in the wake of her tears. "Just give me a second."

Xeno smiled. "Of course, sunshine."

"There they are!" Benjy cried happily when they caught sight of them. Their hair had been redyed except this time, orange and black for Halloween, which was only a couple weeks away. "My favourite darlings. How are you this afternoon?"

"Been better, been worse," Pandora replied truthfully. "And how are you?"

"Sorry to hear that, love, but I'm going well, aside from the fact that Emma is absolutely kicking my ass in this Fitbit challenge thing." Benjy said, momentarily glaring down at the device around their wrist.

Emma poked her head out from the kitchen. "Maybe if you did something other than cyberbullying little kids on Roblox and playing PowerWash Simulator, you might just have a shot."

"Maybe you should stop being an actual healthy, functioning human being. What person likes to run? For fun?"

"Many people do, fuckwad." Emma said with a roll of her eyes, flipping them off with both hands.

"Well, stop. Eat an entire tub of ice cream. Please."

"Only if we can watch 'The Adam Project' this weekend."

"Again?" Benjy whined. "But it makes me cry every time."

"Which is exactly why we'll need ice cream." Emma replied with a smirk.

Benjy groaned. "Fine."

Emma laughed in victory before disappearing again.

Benjy shook their head fondly before turning back to Pandora and Xeno. "Sorry about that, darlings. What can I getcha?"

"Don't sweat it," Pandora said, waving away their worries. "I'm in the mood for a hot chocolate so I'll take a medium one of them."

"One medium hot chocolate, alright, and for you, Xeno?" Benjy asked, tapping on the till screen.

"Y'know, that sounds like a wonderful idea. Can I have a medium frozen hot chocolate?"

"Excellent choice. Anything else?"

"Two turnovers, please. Any kind, surprise us."

"For here or to go?"

"Here."

"Alright, just tap your card on the screen and I'll call you when it's ready."

"Thanks Benjy."

They smiled brightly. "Anytime you two."

When they got their items, Pandora chose a table by the windows and took a seat. Xenophilius wasted no time in pulling out his face paints and capturing Pandora's chin in his hand, holding her face steady. In pinks, yellows and blues he began to draw little butterflies all around her eyes. As he did so, he plotted. Plotted what he was going to do to get Pandora's possessions back because while he'd let Avery and Dolohov pick on him any day, he wasn't about to roll over and allow them to do it to Pandora. Sweet, lovely Pandora who deserves nothing less than the world served to her on a silver platter.

Pandora said that the things we've lost have a way of coming back to us and Xenophilius was damn well going to make sure of it.