littlestnott:
Gabrielle’s expression only fell more at his views on the Prophet. “That doesn’t seem fair to the creatures.” As if each and every one of the Doxy were her friends. Her mother had always scolded her for trying to catch them and bring them in as pets, having mistaken them for fairies. She’d had a fairy house set up in her room. Stefan would bring her fairies in when he was home, but the girl was young at the time and didn’t usually notice her mistake until they were in the house. “Shouldn’t the ministry be intervening? They have a whole department for Magical Creatures and the likes.”
Slender hands took a copy of the paper and looked at the article. The picture was definitely interesting, but she didn’t comment on it, focusing on the article instead. “Isn’t that dangerous for Wizards as well, especially children? Since Doxy bites are poisonous? I caught one as a child, thinking it was a fairy and it bit me. My mother had take me to Saint Mungos to get the antidote.”
The girl continued to look at the article, peeking up only for a second to ask, “Do you have a subscription form?” She read for the better part of many of her days and the paper seemed interesting enough to keep her attention. Plus, it talked about creatures, which she loved. Maybe she could send a copy to Hugo as well, as he might appreciate it. “And could I get an extra copy? I have a friend that I think would really find this fascinating.” Her fingers were already moving to her coin purse again.
The wizard’s question caught her a bit off guard, but she considered it. She slowly shook her head, not one to oppose things, but she wanted to explain that it wasn’t meant as a slight at the creature. “No, I always thought it was an endearing term. My uncle always called me the little biting fairy, because I used to bite him when I was a toddler. And it’s like a winged horse, they aren’t exactly horses, but they’re part of the horse family, but their wings make them different. Kind of like the Doxy’s poisonous bite making them different from their relative, the fairy.”
As the young girl spoke, Xeno found himself shrugging and shaking his head sadly. “These breeders have made sure to cover their own arses. Once their doxies are scared away, they tend to avoid civilization and people all together. So the ministry doesn’t care to put out the resources to intervene, since they’re not technically a danger to us. Only the doxies are at risk, so it ‘doesn’t matter’. They’re probably glad that the version that’s a nuisance to us is being eradicated.”
He looked grumpy as he finished speaking, but added quickly in a softer tone. “I’m glad you were alright from your bite, though.” Her next words caught Xeno completely off guard. His jaw fell slightly open, and he stared for a moment. No one had ever asked about subscribing to the Quibbler before. AS it stood, the editions came out somewhat irregularly. He was the only member of the paper’s staff, and didn’t have the time or organization skills to find stories every week. He wrote the Quibbler when he thought there was something that the world needed to know about.
“Um, no, unfortunately. I have set up any sort of subscription process, yet.” Then, an idea struck him, and he grabbed another copy from the ground and drew a pencil from a back pocket. “But! Give me a mailing address and you can be the very first!” His grin was massive as he handed over the paper and pencil. He gathered up two more copies and offered them to her. “And an extra, extra copy on the house for my most loyal reader.” There was just a tinge of embarrassment in the laugh that followed his words, but he accepted the knut happily.
Xeno giggled good naturedly at Gabrielle’s anecdote. A fairy nickname suited her well. She was such a cute, bubbly thing. “Huh. You know, i never thought of it like that. That’s. Yeah. That’s really sweet. I guess i’m so used to people saying ‘biting’ like it’s such a horrible thing, instead of just a distinction.”
