Fight For Me

Xenophilius liked to believe that he was a decent human being. He tended to keep an open mind. Everyone was different, had different experiences, different morals and views that shaped them into the people they were. As a trans man, he didn't like to judge. He didn't see the point in dragging people through the mud because they weren't exactly like him. If he didn't like something, he ignored it. Plain and simple.

That being said, he can be a petty fucking bitch when he wants to be.

Two months ago, Xenophilius had witnessed the absolute scumbags that were Avery and Dolohov rob Pandora - lovely, sweet, peferect Pandora - only to find out that it most certainly was not the first time. He doesn't doubt that it's continued, even though Pandora hasn't said anything. Two months ago, Xenophilius vowed to himself to find a way to get her stuff back. Two months it's taken to formulate his plan and now he's finally putting it in motion.

Somehow, during the midst of the chaos that is Tech Week, Xenophilius began to steal their things. Yaxley's hair ties, Snape's chemistry homework, Avery's skateboard, Dolohov's shoelaces(don't ask how he managed that), Dawlish's earrings, Rowle's water bottle, Mulciber's jacket, Mulciber's backpack, the lock to Mucliber's locker, Mulciber's bracelet and, most recently, Mulciber's phone.

Because Mulciber is a simple human, the passcode to his phone was the same as his locker combination. Xenophilius had quite the evening, scrolling through any and everything he could find. His snapchat, his messages, his photos, his google searches(unfortunately, Mulciber doesn't seem to understand what 'incognito' tabs are for), the rest of his socials(he was not at all surprised to find out how many Twitter wars he's started but he was not expecting him to have a Tumblr account).

The most interesting thing he found, though, was in his hidden picture files.

Xenophilius hadn't expected anything of it, though he should've seen the signs. They had the longest snap streak, he was at the top of Mulciber's most recently messaged and his call log was filled with endless FaceTimes from one specific person. It wasn't until he found hidden pictures of them kissing, holding hands and cuddling that Xenophilius realized.

Mulciber and Avery were dating.

Now, Xenophilius was petty but he wasn't an asshole. As tempted as he was to send himself the mountains of evidence in front of him to plaster is all around the school, he wouldn't(he would send himself a couple things though, just in case). Mulciber had outed Peter to the entire school and Xenophilius had seen how it affected him. No one deserved to have that happen to them. If someone had outed him as trans before he was ready, he doesn’t what to think about what he might’ve done.

That being said, he was not above using it as blackmail and pretending he would follow through.

Is it toxic that Xenophilius had fallen asleep with a smile on his face that night? Was it even the slightest bit concerning that it had been one of the best sleeps since the school year had begun? Potentially. Did he care? Not in the slightest.

During lunch the next day, Xenophilius had managed to part from Dorcas, with whom he shared his art class, instead of following her to their usual table in the cafeteria. He made his way to the school's basement and waited outside the boy's locker room because for some, inexplicable reason, Mulciber and his 'friends'(Xenophilius doubted that they all genuinely liked each other) had decided that the best possible location to monopolize during lunch was a room that had literal decades of sweat clinging to the walls and a rancid enough smell to peel the paint.

It didn't take long for people to begin to arrive. Dawlish was first, and he didn't even spare him a glance. Snape was second, who stared at him, leaning against the wall on his phone for seemingly no reason, before shaking his head and heading inside. More and more people passed him until finally, Avery and Mulciber came, rather predictably, together and last.

Mulciber scowled at the sight of him. "The fuck are you doing here, Lovegood?"

"Waiting." Xenophilius said simply.

"Do it somewhere else."

"Impossible."

"What could you possibly be waiting for?" Avery demanded. "And here, of all places?"

"You two."

Avery raised a surprised eyebrow and Mulciber scoffed. "What, want to find a dick to bounce on? Wouldn't surprise me. You can pretend to be a dude all you want but ain't no pussy good enough to satisfy your greedy little hole."

Xenophilius' expression soured into a glare. "I'd be careful, if I were you."

Mulciber laughed. "What're you gonna do?"

Xenophilius dipped a hand into his cardigan pocket and produced Mulciber's caseless phone, holding it high over his head and precariously between two fingers. Avery's mouth dropped before it morphed into a furious scowl and Mulciber took a quick step forward. Xenophilius let the phone slip farther through his hands, fingers leaving trails along the screen, until it was only barely within his grasp. "Stop right where you are and watch your words carefully or it's smashed."

Mulciber paused before he smirked, crossing his arms. "Fine. Do whatever you want with it, Lovegood. I can just buy a new one. God knows I have the funds for it."

Xenophilius raised a brow. "Whatever I want?"

"Uh, Nik?" Avery said, hands fidgeting, and Mulciber glanced back. "Are you sure that's a good idea? You could have private things on there."

Mulciber chuckled and pat his boyfriend on the shoulder. "As if he'd know the code."

"12, 17, 35." Xenophilius said.

Mulciber's head snapped towards him. "How could you possibly have known that?"

"It's the same as your locker," Xenophilius said casually, digging into the duffle bag he'd brought along with him(that also happened to be Mulciber's gym bag) full of all the stuff he stole and bringing out the lock. "It's also the code for your hidden images folder."

Both men froze.

Xenophilius smiled, a cold, cruel twist of his lips. "That's right. I know everything."

"You better not say a goddamn word, Lovegood." Mulciber growled and his fists shook with poorly contained anger. Next to him, Avery's breathing had grown laboured, his hands trembling uncontrollably, and pressed his back to the brick wall, sliding down to the floor.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to."


"Then what the fuck was this all for?" Mulciber demanded, gesturing around them.

"I wasn't finished. I won't tell anyone if, and only if, you give Pandora her things back and agree to never steal from her, or anyone else, again."

Mulciber swallowed and looked down at his struggling boyfriend. "Fine. But give me my phone back."

"Hmm...no."

"The fuck you mean 'no?'"

"I mean no. You can have these," Xenophilius threw the duffle down at Mulciber's feet. "But I'm keeping your phone for the meantime. You can have it back only after I've witnessed you return Pandora all her stolen items."

Mulciber stared at him for a moment before his eyes hardened, his lips quirking up in a small smirk. 
"You wouldn't. You don't have the balls - both literally and figuratively - to out someone."

Xenophilius pulled out his own phone and pulled up one of the images he had taken from Mulciber's hidden file, this one showcasing the two cuddled up in bed at one of their homes, Avery asleep tucked up under Mulciber's chin, clinging to him like a koala while Mulciber smiled down at him, one hand routinely passing through his hair. He pulled up the groupchat Peter had made for the Halloween party and imputed the image, but didn't send it. He turned his screen to Mulciber and hovered his finger over the small blue arrow that would send Xenophilius' whole plan crumbling to ashes. "Wouldn't I?"

"Wait, stop!"

"Make your decision quick, Mulciber. Your boyfriend is starting to look more like a tomato than a person."

Mulciber looked back at Avery again and his eyes widened in panic. He dropped to the floor and brought him into a tight hug before glancing back up at Xenophilius. "Fine, Lovegood. Just- don't. Please."

Xenophilius shook his head. How can someone who is so terrified about being outed do that very same thing to someone else? Especially to a soul as special as Peter's? It disgusted him to no end but well, he'd gotten what he wanted from this interaction and his phone was beginning to chime with concerned messages from Pandora, Dorcas and even one from Evan, which was most surprising, considering Xenophilius was pretty sure the guy despised him for dating his younger sister. He erased the threatened message and began to walk away.

He paused when we was only a few steps away from turning down the corner of the hall and said over his shoulder: "You're pathetic, Mulciber. I hope you know that. And Pandora's stuff better be returned by the end of the week."

Xenophilius was not at all surprised when Mulciber showed up the next day in the cafeteria and dumped a big collection of items that were so clearly Pandora's it hurt, on the table.

Conversation, both at the table and all around the cafeteria, came to a complete halt. Regulus was glaring beams of pure hatred at Mulciber, Barty was staring at the mountain of clothes, jewelry and other trinkets in confusion, Dorcas observed with a raised brow and Evan watched Pandora snatch up her alexandrite crystal necklace with an indecipherable expression.

"So...we cool?" Mulciber asked hesitantly, looking at Xenophilius.

Xenophilius looked over the collection of items and glanced over at Pandora. "Is this everything?"

"Looks like it," Pandora said. "What did you do?"

Xenophilius didn't answer, only pulled Mulciber's phone out of his pocket and place it in his outstretched hand. "We will never be 'cool' but as far as I'm concerned, there is currently no issue between the two of us."

Mulciber snatched his phone away with the speed of a viper and attempted to run but Xenophilius latched onto his wrist with a grip tight enough to send him stumbling. Xenophilius yanked him down, bringing his lips close to Mulciber's ear and Mulciber scrambled to keep himself upright.

"If you do anything to hurt Pandora - or my other friends, of course - I will not hesitate to expose your little secret. Got it?"

Xenophilius let go and Mulciber jumped to get away from him, nodding his head profusely before scrambling out the cafeteria doors.

After a solid ten seconds of silence, the cafeteria burst into conversation again.

"The fuck was all this about?" Barty demanded.

"It looks like Mulciber's been stealing Panda's stuff." Evan said slowly, gripping the edge of the table with enough force to turn his knuckles white.

Pandora avoided his insistent gaze as she began to gather her belongings. Her silence was answer enough.

"How long had this been going on?" Regulus asked.

"Quite awhile, if I had to guess." Dorcas said, scowling.

"A year," Pandora mumbled. "But it's fine. I had it under control."

"Did you?" Evan said, raising a brow. "Because it doesn't fucking look like it."

Pandora glared at her brother from across the table. "It's fine. The things we've lost have a way of coming back to us eventually and would you look at that! Everything's here. End of discussion."

"No," Evan said. "It looks like blondie over there is the only reason your shit 'had a way of coming back eventually.'"

"What did you do, anyway?" Barty asked. "I don't think I've ever seen Nikolai Mulciber that scared before."

Xenophilius mimed locking his lips. "That's for me to know and for you to hopefully never find out."

"Blackmail," Regulus said, nodding in approval. "Isn't as effective if it's common knowledge."

Barty frowned and kicked his feet under the table like a child. "But I don't like being on the outside of secrets."

Dorcas flicked him in the forehead. "Deal with it, fuckwad."

Barty harrumphed and crossed his arms.

"Panda, why didn't you-"

"Tell you?" Pandora interrupted, finishing her brother's thought. "Because you would've done something stupid and reckless and violent that would've kicked you out of school, like you always do. I don't need my big brother swooping in to beat the shit out of everyone every time I have the smallest little issue," she whirled on Xenophilius, just as furious. "And I don't need my boyfriend fighting my battles, either, which I distinctly remember telling you!"

Xenophilius sighed, shoulders drooping and a hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck. "Listen, sunshine-"

"Don't call me sunshine when I'm mad at you." Pandora said, anger wavering as she turned her back, looking anywhere but her friends as she crossed her arms.

"I gave you time to ask for help or find a solution, just like you said you would," Xenophilius explained. "And when you didn't, I took matters into my own hands. You were so upset all the time and I couldn't just sit back and watch as every beautiful thing you created, every possession you brought here, got stolen knowing I could do something. When we first started talking, you told me about how much you loved all your necklaces, your earings, your rings and that one sweater with all the flowers on it? Now, you never wear them because your scared of them being stolen. I just don't want you to have to worry about that, sunshine. You're always so free, it's one of my favourite things about you, and I want you to be able be that weightless spirit without the burden of someone clipping your wings."

Pandora was silent for a moment before she turned back around and squeezed him in a hug. Xenophilius breathed a sigh of relief - there was nothing more frightening than an angry Pandora, specifically when she's angry at him - and returned the gesture.

"Thank you," Pandora whispered. "But maybe next time, make me apart of the plan? If it's my issue, I want to be able to help is some way."

Xenophilius smiled and pressed a kiss to her air. "Of course, sunshine."

"Y'know, Xenophilius, you're a pretty cool guy." Barty said.

"I agree but if you ever bring up the fact that I said so again, I will gaslight you into believing it was a fragment of your imagination." Regulus said.

"Finally, you fucking admit it," Dorcas said, exasperated. "I've been trying to tell you that for the past three months."

Barty shrugged. "He had to prove his worth and I think he's done so."

Regulus nodded. "I don't know what exactly you found out, but you seem to know how to find valuable information and how to use it correctly. That, and you must be quite the pickpocket if you managed to steal Mulciber's phone."

"Among a dozen other things." Xenophilius admitted.

Barty cackled. "That's awesome. Blackmail on top of force feeding him his own shit sandwich? Fucking brilliant."

"I guess you're okay," Evan said and Xenophilius beamed at him. "There are worse people for my sister to date."

Dorcas wrinkled her nose. "Definitely. She could've started dating Avery."

Barty let out a whiney "ewwwwwwww" and Regulus flipped his second headphone onto his ear(he always has at least one on at any given moment) and proceeded to blast whatever he was listening to - the Just Dance 4 version/Halloween Thrills cover of Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Show - loud enough for the entire table to hear with perfect clarity. Evan gagged and turned away from the table, clawing at his eyes while he cried "I need bleach!" over and over again. Pandora just shook her head at their antics and buried herself deeper into his chest. Xenophilius laughed silently and watched as the table almost instantly devolved into an argument about whether or not covers or original recordings were better.