[001] stubborn little santa

                              Was it true that Chrysanta Xu hated lots of things, more so than the usual Hufflepuff her age? Yes, it was absolutely true. Chrysanta hated stuck up snobs, she hated people who littered and treated the earth like its personal garbage can, she hated liars and she hated generic pop songs, she hated having to wake up at six am in the morning for school and most times she really hated her mother who was less of a mother and more of a stranger to her. She hated ignorant people and she hated bullies (except when she was the one bullying the right people). She also really hated candy corn. Like who actually thought that was worth eating?

                           Jerks with no good taste in candy, that's who.

                           Many who knew of Chrysanta (because lots of people at Hogwarts knew of Chrysanta but didn't actually know her since she had no friends) always saw her with a frown on her face or she was stuck in the herbology classroom even after classes were over. Oh, and she was a prefect, but no one knew how the fuck she got that title. Chrysanta didn't even know how. She was just as surprised as her other housemates when she was declared Hufflepuff's sixth year prefect alongside goody two shoes, Jasper Eyre. The worst Hufflepuff in the world paired up with Hufflepuff's golden nerd? You couldn't have picked two worst people to work together. She's still convinced that it's the school's way of torturing her. There was nothing fun about making rounds - even if it happened to be in an enchanted school.

                              But nonetheless, Chrysanta had no choice but to do her job. She just had an entire year to try and be a perfect little prefect and not get into any trouble. It wasn't really easy. She severely underestimated just how many students would be running around and trying to cause trouble. And although Chrysanta deeply hated her new job, she did a good job at scaring other people away from ever sneaking around. Chrysanta Xu was very good at being scary - with just one glare, it'd have people running in the opposite direction.

                             That didn't bother Chrysanta one bit, thank you very much! 

                            She liked being alone. She liked just being surrounded by nature and the earth since the earth was the only one to understand her. Chrysanta only really cared about nature and her two dads anyway. Chrysanta had never bothered to make an effort when it came to friends. Now six years had passed and Chrysanta still didn't see the point in making them. The only great thing about Hogwarts was all of the magical plants and flowers Chrysanta was surrounded by whenever she got a chance to be inside of the herbology classroom. Other than that, Chrysanta didn't have much to look forward to at all.

                            So, as you probably expect, Chrysanta was not thrilled to once again be doing another patrol around the enchanted castle at night. If anything, she'd rather be back in her room and looking through her book of flowers or even tending to some she kept in her room. But prefect duties called and Chrysanta had to get the work done. If she didn't, she'd land herself in far more trouble than necessary.

                             Jasper Eyre, her buddying prefect, was now walking alongside Chrysanta as the two began wandering around. He wasn't too annoying compared to most of the students Chrysanta had to deal with (especially one annoying, arrogant twerp by the name of Lucius Malfoy - but we'll get to him later). But he was definitely a stickler for the rules and such an annoying nerd (and yet an annoying nerd like him still managed to make friends faster than Chrysanta ever could). Chrysanta couldn't stand talking to him longer than two minutes, even if Jasper often tried to make the conversation longer. A good relationship between Prefects is part of the job, it's how we'll be able to work together and do our jobs well, Jasper always said.

                           Too bad Chrysanta didn't give a shit.

                           "I think we should stick with the same routine today," Jasper suggests while they continue to walk around. "I'm convinced that we'll be able to catch those Marauders again. I just know they're up to something. Chrysanta? Chrysanta? Are you paying attention to anything I'm saying?"

                           Chrysanta huffs before nodding. "As long as you keep the talking to a minimum, Jasper, I think we'll do just fine."

                            "How much longer do you think we can go on without talking to each other? I'm not saying we have to be friends because trust me, that's the last thing I want -," Jasper begins to say.

                           "Finally! Something we can both agree on," Chrysanta quickly cut him off.

                           "But we have to work together. How long do you expect this to last?" Jasper shook his head.

                           "Hopefully for the rest of this year. And when we come back, I hope some other unfortunate soul gets to take my place," Chrysanta shrugged.

                           "For a girl named after a flower, you don't seem to bring people a lot of joy," Jasper pointed out. It wasn't the first time someone made a similar point to Chrysanta and it probably wouldn't be the last time either.

                           Chrysanta shrugs again. "Good thing I don't care about other people then."

                           Jasper seriously couldn't understand what was wrong with Chrysanta Xu. Like many, he couldn't understand how she ended up in Hufflepuff in the first place when she was the moodiest girl on the planet. But there were bigger things to worry about, such as making sure that they completed their rounds and caught any troublemakers. And so that's exactly what they planned on doing.

                           As expected, Prefect Duty was incredibly boring. The halls were kind of scary at night, even with candles illuminating the path. Only true psychopaths (like those bloody Marauders) would be lurking around the castle this time of night. Chrysanta just hoped there wouldn't be anyone at all so this could end a lot faster and she'd be back in her bed a lot sooner.

                           "Do you hear that?" Jasper whispers, causing Chrysanta to awaken from her thoughts.

                           Chrysanta's frown deepens. "Hear what?"

                           "The footsteps!" Jasper hisses at her now. "I think we just caught our very first rule breaker for the night."

                           "So much for an uneventful night," Chrysanta rolls her eyes.

                           Nonetheless, she follows behind Jasper towards the noise. Chrysanta's more than fully prepared to tell off whoever it is deciding to break the rules and ruin her perfect peace. And then give them a detention just because she felt like it. Jasper seemed to be on the same page (but then again, throwing out detentions to rule breakers was probably the only thing they got along with) and he was equally as prepared.

                           So when they both turned the corner, Jasper already had the words to say. "Stop right there!"

                           Chrysanta appears beside Jasper, only to see the "culprits" Jasper ended up catching. It was none other than Lucius Malfoy and Victorine Greengrass, the Slytherin Prefects of their year. Now, do you remember the earlier mention of an arrogant, annoying twerp by the name of Lucius Malfoy? This was the very same one. Lucius already represented lots of things Chrysanta hated: rich, arrogant, prideful, greedy, good looking, etc. He also had a habit of picking the absolute worst nicknames, including the one he had picked out for Chrysanta.

                           Ever since he started calling her Santa in second year, Chrysanta truly had it out for him. To be fair, she had called him Lucy first. But Lucy was a perfectly good nickname for Lucius. It made sense. Santa was just... ugh, it was awful! And it didn't even suit her. But Lucius thought of himself as quite the genius for it (not only was he arrogant and thought too highly of himself but he was just absolutely delusional). Chrysanta wasn't going to just take the nickname lying down, of course, so the two of them had been butting heads ever since. Their rivalry had been passionately going on for the past four years now and it didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon.

                           "Good job, Jasper. You managed to catch us in the act of doing our job. I'm shaking in my boots," Lucius sarcastically drawls, clapping his ring clad fingers together, earning chuckles from Victorine.

                           The both of them were rich, blonde, and beautiful - which made sense as to why they were both cruel and mean to those who weren't them. But Chrysanta wasn't about to tolerate it. Especially not from Lucius.

                           "If you ever were trying to sneak around here, you'd do a terrible job at it. You have loud and heavy footsteps, you know. Must be because of those big feet of yours," Chrysanta pointed out.

                           "Ah, stubborn little Santa. It's always a pleasure seeing you again," Lucius sends her a smile, one that was more poisonous than sweet, "Still finding a way to ruin the fun around you?"

                           "Oh, you know I am. Still being a self righteous, pompous asshole as usual?" Chrysanta retorted.

                           "Someone has to be," Lucius shrugs.

                           "I swear, I think all of your brain cells evaporated along with the pigmentation in your hair. Must be a family thing. But then again, you Malfoys are quite intimate with your family, aren't you?" Chrysanta retorted.

                           Lucius bristles at her words which are an obvious sore spot. Then again, it was no secret that his family and others within the Sacred Twenty Eight married their cousins and other family members to keep the bloodline pure. "Don't you dare speak a word about my family when yours is practically nothing. You are nothing, Santa."

                           "Are you... upset, Lucy? I think you are upset. I can see you getting mad and everything," Chrysanta continues to taunt him, a smile breaking out onto her lips. It was probably the first time she had smiled all night and it was all because she had managed to get under Lucius' skin.

                           It seemed as though the two were neck to neck in their wicked little game but Chrysanta had advanced by two points for her latest burn.

                           Jasper steps in, suddenly clearing his throat. "We really don't have time for this. We have an entire castle to -."

                           "Shut up, nerd. This is the most interesting thing to happen all night," Victorine cut him off.

                           "I beg your pardon?" Jasper frowns.

                           "You're supposed to be down in the dungeons, where the both of you belong. Or did you manage to get lost?" Chrysanta folds her arms across her chest.

                           "We figured we'd try and patrol your area a lot better than you ever could," Lucius shot back. "There's nothing for you or Jasper to worry about. There's no trouble here."

                           "How kind of you," Jasper says, only to realize that Lucius was insulting them rather than actually helping them. "Oh. Well, while I doubt Chrysanta's drive and overall desire to even be here, I definitely don't need your help. Or Victorine's. So why don't you two just go back to your part of the school? And Chrysanta and I can focus on ours?"

                           "Yeah, what he said, Lucy. You know how to follow the rules, don't you?" Chrysanta raised a brow.

                           "Of course I do," Lucius drawled. "Just make sure to actually do your job. Come on, Victorine."

                           Lucius and Victorine both leave, the former making sure to bump into Chrysanta's shoulder on purpose, and then it was just Jasper and Chrysanta left in the hallway.

                           "What the hell was that all about?" Jasper frowned.

                           "Wow, I didn't think you were capable of cursing," Chrysanta dryly remarked.

                           "Whatever personal issues you have with Malfoy, you should keep it away from your professional duty. You know the teachers wouldn't appreciate hearing about this," Jasper's quick to remind her.

                           "Do you know what you need, Jasper? A girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Just anyone that can help take the giant wand out of your ass," Chrysanta retorted before she too walked ahead, continuining on with her patrol.

                           Jasper sniffs indignantly before he stomps after Chrysanta, determined to not let her comment get the better of him. Besides, he knew that he did not have a giant wand up his... butt. He was perfectly capable of relaxing when he wanted to. Even if that wasn't very often.

                           Besides Jasper complaining every so often, the rest of the patrol went on smoothly. They didn't catch anyone and Chrysanta was more than happy when it was over. She knew she'd have to wake up ridiculously early (curse you six am!) for school so she was eager to take whatever rest she can get. But the last thought on her mind before she went to bed was just how much she hated Lucius Malfoy's guts.

( 🌍🪷👩🏻 )

word count: 2204
notes: here's the first chapter! i wrote this three times and this was the best result that could come from it. i really hope you all enjoy this though since writing chrysanta's character is really interesting and i look forward to learning more about her and her relationship with lucius!