The Reinvention of Pandora Knightley

Chapter 1 - Misfortune

"Did you finish that essay for Slughorn yet?" The short blonde next to me asked as she adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag.

"Of course I did," I scoffed, rolling my eyes at her in a teasing manner. "He said twenty extra points if you had it in by today, weren't you there, Jenna?"

"Oh, please, as if you need those points. You, Lily, and Snape could do Potions in your sleep," She stuck her tongue out at me.

I had always been more studious than Jenna Hughes, my best friend since first year, though she always took care of her schoolwork as a top priority.

We were forced to separate as we entered the dungeon classroom, Jenna peeling off with a wave to claim the empty seat behind Lily Evans and Marlene McKinnon, leaving me to claim the seat beside Severus Snape – my usual seat. Occasionally another Slytherin would sit there, but I was the only Gryffindor that ever did. I think I'm always so polite to Snape in a subconscious effort to prove to him that not all Gryffindors were despicable bullies.

It has yet to work.

"Hi," I muttered quietly as I sat down – Snape and I weren't friends, by a long shot, but I pitied his lot with the Marauders, and I garnered a grudging respect from him with my skill at Potions.

I think we could have gotten along when we were younger, if not for my being Muggleborn – a hindrance, nowadays – and him figuring out that I pitied him. I can't say I sympathize, since I've never experienced what he has, so pity is the only word for it. Snape doesn't appreciate pity – he loathes it.

Thus, the only response to my greeting was a glance out of the corner of his eye and a miniscule twitch of the lips.

Unfortunately for him, or perhaps both of us, Sirius Black and James Potter, the most popular of the Marauders, were seated at the table directly behind us. I could hear them whispering to each other as the lesson began, but it seemed Snape was doing his best to ignore them. Seats weren't assigned in Slughorn's classes, but with as much trouble as had been caused by the Marauders sitting about five feet behind Snape, I was surprised that our Professor let them continue to sit there each class.

Then again, Slughorn didn't really pay much attention to anyone unless they had connections or a particularly eye-catching appearance, so I shouldn't be surprised that Snape didn't register on his student radar, despite his talent with Potions.

"Now, today we will begin brewing Amortentia -" A slew of excited muttering broke out upon the round-bellied Professor Slughorn's words.

"Yes, yes, the most powerful love potion in the world. Now, rest assured that every last drop will be turned in to myself upon the end of the project. Wouldn't want a string of new relationships popping up around the castle if you manage to brew it right, now would we?" He wagged his finger good-naturedly at us.

"Amortentia, in the brewing phase, can be exceedingly volatile if not brewed with the utmost care. If it is ingested or even makes contact with the skin at such a time, the effects can be dire. Can anyone tell me why this is?" My hand shot up, along with Lily Evans'.

"Ah, yes, Miss Evans?" I had to refrain from rolling my eyes – Jenna was sniggering into her hand – of course he'd pick Evans, he's practically in love with her.

"Because Amortentia, as other love potions, clouds and deludes the mind into a false sense of infatuation. In the unfinished state, while lacking certain ingredients or steps, Amortentia has yet to ascertain the properties with which to target the correct portion of the mind to trick. Upon exposure to the unfinished potion, depending on the level of exposure, if correctly brewed to that point, and what stage of the potion someone is exposed to, it can cause severe damage to the mind, most likely including some form of memory loss, from a level comparable to that of a concussion to an extreme form of amnesia." Lily rattled off promptly, her tone matter-of-fact and confident.

"Either she's brewed this before, or she's eaten the textbook for lunch," I heard a voice mutter at the table behind me; I would assume Black's, since Potter wouldn't say something vaguely insulting about the supposed love of his life. "Oi, Prongs, maybe that's why you're obsessed with the bird!"

I heard a muffled thumping sound, a sound I would assume to be Potter hitting Black with his textbook.

"Excellent, Miss Evans! Twenty points to Gryffindor!" Slughorn beamed.

When the class started that day, there was nothing abnormal about it. Nothing strange, nothing unusual, and certainly nothing to tip me off about what would happen to me that day.

It was a partnered assignment, which I loathed. I'm not a particularly greedy person, if I do say so myself, but I detest having to work with people on projects. I like doing things my way and not having to worry about someone else's opinion. At least Snape was skilled - much more so than I, to be honest - so I didn't have to worry about him ruining our grade.

I'm the type of person that meticulously follows the rules. Well, I was then, anyway, so when I saw Snape silently slicing his Lemongrass in the exact opposite of the way described in our textbook, I had to bite my lip very harshly as well as give myself a somewhat bitter reminder that he had an even better grade than I in this subject.

I was so focused on ignoring Snape's defiance of the rules and Slughorn's over-the-top praise of Lily's work that I didn't notice the paper swan floating in the air until it hit me in the nose.

"Ouch!" I cried, dropping the knife in my hand to the tabletop with a bang.

"Are you alright, Miss Kingsley?" Slughorn asked, once again forgetting my last name, which was Knightley; Jenna gave a very obvious snort at this, which she covered with an even more obvious cough.

"I'm fine, I just caught the tip of my finger with my knife, sir," I lied, covering the swan with one hand.

If Slughorn had been paying attention, he surely would have known I was lying, for I was a terrible liar. My ears were reddened and my voice always went to a higher octave than it's normal one. As it was, he wasn't even looking at me and probably didn't even listen to my response.

Jenna raised her eyebrows at me, as if to say, "Did you just lie to a teacher?"

I mouthed the words "shut up" at her from across the room, glaring sharply because I knew for a fact that it was she that had sent the note in the first place. Jenna delighted in pestering me with animal-shaped notes during lessons.

When I unfolded this one, the message inside was very short and made me smile in spite of myself. Jenna's messy scrawl spelled out the question, So how long do you think it'll be before Slughorn proposes to Evans?

Glancing cautiously at the professor to make sure he wasn't paying attention – he wasn't – I carefully wrote a reply to Jenna stating that he'd have to go through Potter first. I tapped the paper discreetly with my wand, watching as it folded up into the shape of a rabbit that bounded through the air to my best friend.

Naturally, I had checked for anyone watching this exchange before I sent the note back, but the one place I had not looked was directly behind me, at the two dark-haired hooligans. They weren't paying any attention to my note-sending, of course, but had I looked at them I might have seen the Fillibuster's Wet-start Firework levitating through the air in the direction of my Potion.

I did, however, hear the splash as it landed inside Snape's cauldron.

Snape had gone to the supply closet a few minutes before, but I had worriedly leaned over the top of the cauldron at the splash, peering into the murky depths with furrowed eyebrows.

That was when our potion exploded in my face.

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