She never believed in true love, even after she met him. She didn't believe in the creatures he chased nor the beasts he tracked down. She didn't believe in his theories nor his rantings or his wild ways of thinking.
She didn't believe in the lands he spoke of. The rolling hills of Linsborrow Hawse, a hidden world only accessible on the second full moon of the fourth month through a gap between two willow branches. She didn't believe in Crumple Horned Snorkacks or Wrackspurts or Nargles—all of his invisible creatures, hidden by fanciful tricks and abilities.
Despite living in a world of magic and wonder, Pandora Lovegood lived with her feet firmly planted on the ground.
She believed in what she could touch, could feel, experience, and change. She wanted to know it all; the secrets behind what made the grass grow and the leaves change. She wanted to learn how the animals knew when to hunt and when to hibernate. She wanted to know why the potions brewed the way they did, how the ingredients melded together to make something so different and wonderful.
She wanted to understand the magic behind the magic.
And, in his own weird way, Xenophilius did too.
She met him in a forest. An odd place to meet any person, but when she looked back on that day, she couldn't imagine meeting him anywhere else. A full moon hung in the sky, dappling light through the leaves onto the floor. She spotted him, hunched over a small, green bush and peering through a pair of odd, multicoloured glasses.
He had shushed her before she had even realised that she had gravitated to his side.
"Can you see them?" he had asked in a breathy whisper filled with wonder and amazement. One she would grow to admire and adore.
"See what?"
"The Flitterbees! They're shaped like leaves to camouflage with the bushes, but they come out on a full moon to dance. Look!"
He grabbed her wrist to tug her down. Pandora gazed into the bush but saw nothing within the green leaves, only them rustling in the cool, evening breeze. She frowned and stared at the man beside her. He was an odd chap, with purple robes and a velvet bag slung over a shoulder. He was young, but his hair was already a cloud of silver that shone in the moonlight. His hand was still on her wrist, clinging tightly in excitement. But his face, Pandora had only seen a face like that once before. In a mirror, whenever she had found something new to study. It was a face of wonder.
"I don't see anything," she whispered back, peering further into the hedge.
"Shh, listen. You can almost hear them singing."
Pandora sighed but closed her eyes. She couldn't hear singing or any voices at all. All she heard was the soft rustle of the trees, the breaths of wind that shook the branches and wove through the grass. She heard the mellow calling of owls and mice through the forest, their soft footfalls through the undergrowth. She heard the magic in the silence. It sounded like a song to her.
Pandora didn't know when she began to fall in love with Xenophilius. After that night in the forest, he invited her to a meadow in Moorhen to look for Nargles. Pandora never saw a single creature out of the ordinary, but she laughed endlessly at Xenophilius' stories and adventures as he led her through the flowers. When they explored the mountains looking for the Snowdonian Fligglewopper, Xenophilius made her a cloak of wool and furs to keep her warm. On a boat in the lake district, he packed a picnic of her favourite food to make sure she never got hungry.
They rarely found any of the creatures they searched for. But somehow, Pandora found that she didn't care. She got to explore places she never even thought of exploring, and even though they never found the Garden of Trinkyflunks (the lesser-known cousin of the Hinkypunk), she did get to study more about plants, animals and magic than she ever would have thought possible. When stuck in a cave in the Hebrides, it was Pandora who discovered that limestone could be charmed with Incendio to make a safe, portable fire which didn't burn out. On a beach in Plymouth, it was Pandora who reconfigured the body-bind curse to only work on specific limbs, allowing her and Xenophilius to safely rescue crabs and seals from Muggle fishing nets.
Xenophilius' openness to accept everything that magic had to offer opened Pandora to its endless possibilities too. She stopped asking 'why' and began asking 'why not.' Why couldn't magic fix someone's eyesight or cure dragon pox? Was there a limitation to magic or was it simply a limitation of the people?
Xenophilius believed in everything. He believed in Wrackspurts, Nargles and unimaginable things. He believed in wonder and joy and happiness. He believed in love at first sight, in soulmates, in best friends and serendipitous circumstances.
Pandora didn't believe in any of that. But she believed in Xenophilius, and that was enough for her.
THC
Ravenclaw
Astronomy
Drabble
wc:861
Prompts: [Pairing] Xeno and Pandora Lovegood