“Oh! Yes! I watched the remake of that film awhile back!” The main reason Posie remotely remembered that movie was the fact that she found the main actress attractive. “She’s definitely a badass character and you’re seriously working the look. I bet you’ve intimidated a lot of guys tonight.”

“I love those movies, I could watch them all the time.” She couldn’t keep from laughing, both from the compliment as well as the comment about being intimidating. “Oh that happen on a daily basis, not just today or because of the costume.”

Posie pursed her lips slightly, still fairly perplexed by this whole Elsa situation. “Oh no, I purposefully chose this costume. The Snow Queen is one of my favorite classic fairytales. Perhaps I should have done some frost-bitten makeup to make myself look less like this Elsa character.” She mused. Though her attention quickly shifted to Lucy’s costume, “Who exactly are you supposed to be? I like your costume and all – but I don’t get it.”

She furrowed her brows together in slight confusion but kept her smile. “Yeah, that might have helped.” She placed her hands on her hips at her follow up statement. “I’m Lara Croft. You know, treasure hunter, tomb raider and adventurer? From the movies and video games?”

Cassius was usually one who followed rules, though he didn’t mind too much that she’d just confessed to possessing a plant that might not have been obtained through the proper means. It didn’t sound dangerous enough to be cause for alarm, or at least that was how it seemed to him with the way Lucy was talking about it. “I’d be happy to help. Do you have it with you? What’s the basis of our search?”

She thought for a moment, wondering of the best possible way to attempt to look it up. “I’d say by description first but it has similar qualities to a large amount of other plants. Green with red hues, lanky with large leaves. I think we’ll be better off searching by location first since not all plants grow in dark conditions like the forbidden forest.”

being a bit interested in herbology himself, he found the revelation to be intriguing. “really? so you can’t find it in your textbooks? that’s pretty cool. i hope it isn’t something like a plant that gets hungry for meat or like to tickle you in your sleep,” he joked, hands mimicking the actions of the plant.

“No no,”she interjected with a giggle and swatting his hands away playfully. “Nothing of that sort. But it is rather peculiar and I’d hate for it to go and die on me while in my care.”

“A pesky new plant? And how did you come to possess it?” he asked. Herbology did interest him, and he was rather curious as to whether or not he might perhaps recognize it and be of help to Lucy. “I still have a free hour to help you look through the catalogs if you want.”

“Well-,” she stalled for a moment, not really wanting to get the person in trouble but then deciding to confide in his regardless. “My somewhat cousin Teddy Lupin found it in the forbidden forest and brought it back for me.” Everyone knew that Teddy, although not blood related to the Wotter clan, was considered family to them. “It seemed harmless enough. Sure, it would save me some time if the both of us looked through them.”

“But you didn’t,” he teased like a five-year-old. “Admit it, I’m a good snogger. Go on.” He grinned before laughing as her face became rosy in color. “The later would be my guess. Or they’re afraid of me coming after ‘em. After all, any git who hurts you is gonna have some explaining to do.” 

She scoffed and punched him lightly on the arm. “I wouldn’t know really, it was one snog. That usually doesn’t give me much to go by. So I won’t go fluffing your ego,” she joked. She could imagine that some of her ‘suitors’ were swayed away from her because of Cal, but she hoped someone would be brave enough at some point.

“Yes. Company would be nice. So long as you’re not too loud.” Contrary to what most people probably though, Cricket didn’t hate being around people. He only hated when they were loud. It became too much for him. He hummed, considering her words. “Yes, I think people find me intimidating. I do not try to be, though.”

“I can be loud, but only when provoked,” she joked lightly. “So as long as you steer clear of that you won’t have to worry about it.” She bit her lip nervously. “That’s not it, I mean- I don’t find you intimidating. That wasn’t the reason why I was so nervous, not really,” she assured him, hoping she hadn’t made him think she found him at all frightening. Especially since it was the exact opposite. 

“Yes. I make red velvet cupcakes. You can make whatever you wish.” Red velvet cupcakes were, quite honestly, the only thing Cricket knew how to make, and they only thing he was interested in making. A look flashed over Cricket face–something akin to confusion. “You were? Why?” He didn’t think he was particularly intimidating. Sure, he was very tall, and, sure, he had chronic resting bitch face, but he had never been mean or rude to anyone–to his knowledge. 

“Thanks, I’ll remember that. Hopefully we’ll bump into each other one Monday.” She swallowed nervously, trying her best to think of a manner to word her response without completely giving herself away. “I just, felt a little nervous whenever the thought of speaking to you came up. I know you like your privacy and I didn’t want to disrupt you either. But I really did want to speak with you.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” It was indeed a busy summer from what he could recall, but whether he could trust his memory completely, he was no longer sure. Still, it was what he knew. “Did you have work to do?” he asked, glancing at the books she had. “If so, don’t let me bother you.”

She raised a brow at him in confusion before following his gaze down to the books in her hands and shaking her head. “No, not work in particular. Research yes, but not for an assignment. I’ve come to possess a rather pesky new plant I’ve never seen before and I’m hoping I can find out more about it by looking for it in these older catalogs.”

“Oh?” Cricket shifted in his seat, his head resting against his own shoulder. “I wouldn’t call this a new development. Was something stopping you from talking to me before?” He glanced over, locking eyes with Lucy. His mum once told him–lovingly of course–that one of his problems what that he either made too little eye contact, or too much. Usually the former, which magnified the other. “I only bake on Mondays,” he said. “Anyone is free to join me, if they’d like.”

“Oh okay, Mondays, got it,” she repeated, making a mental note of it and hoping that she was the only one who he’d shared this information with so far, that way she’d most likely find him alone and all to herself. She shook her head lightly, willing the selfish thought away. “Ah you could say that I was just very shy when it came to approaching you,“ she replied truthfully.

jeremy chuckled. “yeah, i kind of do that a lot too, so i was almost tempted to let you keep going. but, you obviously need that extra energy to study whatever it is you really need to study,” he teased lightly. “what’s so important by the way?” he asked, curiously trying to steal a peak of the book’s title. he was probably a bit too nosy for his own good, but he did help. 

She gave him a small laugh, appreciating the joke even if it was at her expense. “What’s important is that I’ve found a new plant and it’s become quite pesky and difficult to handle. I’m hoping to find it in an old catalog to find out more about how to care for it.”