Episode IV
A Toy for the Little Rival
"Have you talked to your brother yet?" Pandora asked Lauren in a low voice. "You two really should have made up by now."
"He lied to me for seven years of my life!" she snapped back bitterly. "I can't just forget that..."
Lauren had just recently found out that she was the Heir of Gryffindor, as well as a cardcaptor, but was unable to use any of those powers because she had no one to teach her. Rangi could, but he refused. He seemed to favor Pandora a bit much.
Pandora sighed and said, "I have to go to Charms now.... Please talk to your brother."
"I have no brother," she said as she skipped off to her own class.
Charms was painless enough. She got to sit next to Harry, which made everything that much better. Last on her Fridays was Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Tamarah Black, who happened to be Sirius Black's wife. Only Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Pandora knew this. Pandora knew it because when Harry found out her secret of being a cardcaptor, he felt he should return the favor with his dearest secret. Anyhow, that lesson also went well, and as she left to head back towards the Common Room, Christopher Phillips, Lauren's brother, came up behind her and tapped her shoulder. "Can I talk to you a minute?"
"Um... Sure!" She smiled at Harry and said, "I'll meet you back in the Common Room in a few minutes!"
Chris waited until they left before asking, "I know you've been talking to Lauren a lot lately... and I'm very grateful to you for finding her. I was wondering if... if you could tell me anything about her. I just want to know if she's okay, you know?"
"I think she'll be fine, she's just very disappointed in you and your parents. She'll get over it, though."
"Well..." he began, breaking off in a nervous laugh. "I found something I thought she might like, if she doesn't think it's too elementary for her..." He pulled out from his robes a little stuffed lion with white wings. "Do you think she'd like it? She always liked stuffed animals before, but I don't want to put her down or something."
Pandora grinned as she reached out for the toy and held it. "It's so cute! I wish I had one! Rangi would be so jealous!"
"Who?"
"Uh... nothing."
"Okay... So should I give it to her?"
She nodded as she handed the toy back. "Most definitely! She'll love it! Where did you find it, anyway?"
"That Incantations teacher, Professor Everest, was carrying it down the hall with her. She passed me and smiled, then asked if I knew who it might belong to. I told her I didn't, and then she asked if I'd like it for my sister. It was really weird, like she knew exactly what was going on, you know? But anyway, I took it."
"That seems like a sure sign that you were meant to give it to her. I should know. I had Divination this morning," she said with a wink.
Chris laughed. "Don't you feel tuned in to the universe?"
"Of course..." she said as she rolled her eyes.
"Okay, well thanks, Panda! I'll talk to you later. If she mentions anything about it to you, tell me, okay?"
"Sure! Bye!" she said, as he ran down the hall to meet up with a few of his friends that were passing.
Pandora turned to start back for the Common Room... and ran smack into Ginny Weasley.
"Oh... hi Ginny. What were you doing standing there?"
She looked kind of nervous, as if she got caught doing something bad. "No reason really! Eh heh... so! What did you and Chris talk about?"
Pandora smiled gently. "Don't worry about anything, we were only talking because he wanted to see if I knew anything about his sister, Lauren. You really ought to get to know her if you want to get to know Chris, he loves her a lot."
Ginny huffed indignantly. "Whoever said I wanted to get to know him?!" she shouted, then turned and stormed away. Pandora shrugged after her and went on to her room.
That Friday night was really rather boring. She would have almost preferred an adventure like last Friday's, even if it did nearly kill her. One thing made it all better, though, and that was Harry. He rarely had left her side for the past week. She figured it was probably more because he didn't want to miss out on any of the card captures, but she could pretend it was because he actually liked her....
It was around eight, and just about everyone was down in the Gryffindor Common Room. It would be a good time for Pandora to go check on Rangi, in any case, so she told Harry quietly and walked upstairs.
He was sulking on her pillow when she walked in. "You didn't feed me any dinner!" he griped in his annoying Cockney accent.
She smiled as she unwrapped a piece of chocolate and held it out to him. It was gone in a second. "I'm sorry, I was talking to my friends and I was preoccupied..."
He fluttered back down and looked a little more satisfied, but seemed as if something was troubling him. "You act a bit preoccupied yourself, Rangi. Something up?"
He shrugged. "I'm probably just imagining things. I just feel some sort of presence.... a familiar presence... but I don't know how to explain it."
"Is it a Hogwarts Card?"
"No, I don't think so." He yawned and curled up. "It's nothing, I guess." He opened an eye for just a moment and turned it casually up to her as he added, "And just because a Hogwarts Card wasn't what I was talking about just then doesn't mean there's not one out there. Maybe I'm just giving you another shot at it."
"You talk as if I didn't do The Fly all by myself."
"There are so many things you have to learn, Pandora. Hogwarts Cards are all around, but you seem not to be able to sense them until they're right on you, and that's not good. It just takes some getting used to, I guess. Why don't you go around the castle a while tonight? You're bound to find something, even if it's not a card. I'm sure your boyfriend would love to..."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"You want him to be though!" Rangi chirped with a giggle.
Pandora made some sort of annoyed and exasperated noise as she turned and hurried back downstairs before Rangi could further perturb her.
She was rather surprised as she emerged once again into the Common Room to find Lauren hugging her brother and acting incredibly happy to be with him. But as soon as she realized Pandora was in the room, she waved goodbye to Chris quickly and hurried upstairs.
"I take it you two have made up," Pandora said as she walked over to Chris.
"Yeah, I guess so. It was really weird, though. When I first gave it to her, she took it reluctantly and walked off, still mad. But then about half an hour later she ran down, hugged me, and pretended like nothing bad had ever happened. I guess it took her a while to get used to it. Oh well, everything's fine now, so I should be thankful. Except I still have to tell Mom and Dad that she knows..." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair as Ginny walked into the Common Room. "Well I'm going to go on upstairs, I've got a lot of essays to do by Monday and it will be less painful if I do one tonight."
Pandora had never known anyone so eager to do essays, but she shrugged it off and considered it one of the many American oddities. Harry waved her over from where he sat with Ron and Hermione. The two of them seemed to be having it out once again over who knows what, but Pandora didn't mind. That just meant that Harry would pay more attention to her.
"Hey, Panda!" he said, taking her a little distance away. "I wanted to ask you how your cardcaptoring is going. Anything new?"
"No, not really.... but Rangi says that he thinks something's up, but I don't..." She stopped because Harry yawned really big and suddenly looked very tired. Not only was she a bit concerned for him, but she also thought it was rather rude... and, of course, very unlike Harry. "Are you okay?"
"Uh... yeah, I think so. I dunno, I just got really ti... tir... tired...." Harry laid his head on his knees and fell asleep.
Pandora blinked at him, not exactly knowing what to do. She turned around to get some help, only to discover that everyone else in the Common Room had fallen asleep as well. "This... can't be good...." She ran upstairs, checking all the girls' rooms as she went, each room repeating the one before, all present inhabitants sleeping soundly. A few of the rooms didn't have anyone in them, like the Second Years' room, but it didn't really matter.
Finally she reached her own room, where Rangi was also fast asleep. At first, this concerned her, but then she recalled his usual sleeping habits after eating a piece of chocolate that was three times his size and figured nothing was out of the ordinary as far as he was concerned. "Rangi!" she whispered at the curled up creature on her pillow.
He opened one eye with a snort, then closed it again. "Five more decades, Helga... Just five more decades..."
Pandora grabbed her wand out of her pocket and thwacked him over the head with it. "OW!" he shouted... not even causing the two other girls in the room to stir in their perfectly peaceful sleep. "What?!"
"Something's up, Rangi. I think it might be a Card. I... I sort of sense something, and besides that, everyone in the Common Room is asleep!"
Rangi opened his mouth to say something, but as soon as he did, the other two girls woke up and began talking to each other as if they were picking up on the exact same conversation they left off on. They blinked curiously at Pandora, who nervously laughed and waved at them, and rushed downstairs.
Everything was much the same as it was before the great sleeping epidemic. Harry was looking around for her, as if he didn't understand exactly where she could have got off to. She walked up behind him and playfully patted his unruly hair. "You look baffled about something, any reason?"
"Pandora, I swear... you were just here... and we were just talking... and then you just sort of disappeared... Where did you learn that?"
She bent closer and whispered in his ear, "It's a Card."
His eyes brightened and he nodded. "Which one?"
She shrugged and sat down on her knees in front of him. "Judging by what it makes everyone do, and also judging by the creativity generally put forth in the naming of these cards, I would think it would be called something like The Sleep."
"You mean I just fell asleep?"
"You and everyone else in the Common Room."
"I wonder why we just woke up suddenly though."
"Maybe it's playing with us. Rangi
said that some cards really just like to have fun, but are perfectly
harmless left to their own devices."
"We'll just have to keep a lookout for it then, huh?"
"Yes, we will."
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There were no more sleeping sessions through the entire weekend, and even Monday went uneventful. But when Pandora woke up Tuesday morning, she knew something was going to go wrong. It was almost a good feeling, being so sure that there was a card. It meant that her cardcaptoring powers were getting stronger. But still, she really hoped that this card only was a bit mischievous and not all that dangerous.
Harry waited for her downstairs in the Common Room, then escorted her to the Great Hall for breakfast. "Ron and Hermione are already there," he explained.
Pandora nodded and walked a little closer. "I brought a certain someone along... I think he may come in useful..." She lifter her arm just-so until Rangi's bright yellow snake-eyes peered out from within the baggy sleeve.
Harry smiled and whispered, "Hey, Rangi! I'll make sure to slip you some sugar."
"Alright!" Rangi cheered, a little too loudly.
"Shhh! Be careful!" Pandora scolded, suddenly noticing three very familiar people walking closer. It was Draco and his two friends, Crabbe and Goyle.
Draco walked closer, waving Crabbe and Goyle very forcefully away. He knew Pandora hated them, and was always kind enough to get rid of them for her. He gave Harry a look of most sincere hatred before he hugged Pandora. "How have you been, Panda? Haven't been able to talk to you much being how you're a... a... Gryffindor and all..."
"I'm not really, you know."
"I know, but still. Father sent a long letter to me saying how it was simply not right having a Gryffindor in this family."
"Oh, so he'd rather me be the Squib he once believed me to be?"
Draco laughed. "Oh, don't be that way. He doesn't want you to be a Squib either."
"Sure he doesn't. I don't think he really cares what I am. He's never liked me much... Anyway, it doesn't matter, we need to be getting to Potions, which includes you, Dray, so either you can destroy your reputation and walk with us, or you can run along ahead and catch up with your henchmen."
Draco shook his head with a grin. "No, I would hate to be seen with Harry Potter, so I'll go on. See you in class!"
Harry didn't say a word until Draco was far away. "I really don't like him. I don't see how you two are related."
"I take after my mother."
"Obviously."
Potions started out as horribly as it always did. Snape asked Pandora questions that there was no way she'd know the answers to. Finally they started in on their lab, and Harry was her partner. She hated the way Snape seemed to linger by their table, as if waiting for them to do something wrong. Apparently they did, because he hurried over there and said in a very loud voice specifically to draw attention to them and embarrass them, "You can't put that much into it! It could kill someone. Perhaps you'll work a little harder if you will have to test it once your finished.... Don't fall asleep while I'm lecturing you, Harry Potter!"
But it wasn't just Harry... Everyone in the entire room was falling asleep, until Pandora and Snape remained, seeming completely unaffected. Pandora didn't know what to do. She needed to talk to Rangi....
The door to the dungeon burst open and the Incantations professor (who often seemed to be in the company of Severus Snape... and enjoying it....), Eva Everest, walked in. "Severus... Everyone in the entire school... all of the professors... Dumbledore... McGonagall.... and the students...." She stopped and looked curiously at Pandora. "I take it back. We seem to be the only three, that I know of, anyway, still awake. That's an odd combination."
Pandora tried to act casual and asked, "What should we do, Professor Everest?"
"I want you to go directly back to your Common Room and wait for further instructions. I don't know what's going on, and it would be safer for now." Something in the way she said it made Pandora wonder if that's what she really meant....
"Yes, ma'am."
Pandora hurried out, but turned a few corners wrong just to be sure Everest and Snape couldn't catch up to her any time soon. "Psst! Rangi!"
He fluttered out of her sleeve. "I know what it is! I do I do I do!"
"You do? What is it?"
"It's Tu!"
"Me? Whatever did I do to you...?"
"Not 'You,' Pandora, Tu!"
"Tu? That's a funny name for a card...."
"No, not the card, Pandora, the other thing that was bothering me. It's Tu!" He seemed quite disappointed in Pandora's most vacant of expressions. "Oh, just follow me, I'll show you."
Rangi flew around until they came into the Great Hall.... Face to face with Lauren Phillips and a most interesting little lion with white wings floating up by her head. "See? Tu."
The lion turned around and growled. "Oh, it's you, Rangi. The oh-so-perfect Hogwarts Beast. Well, I'll show you! My cardcaptor will be much better than that pitiful excuse will ever be!"
Lauren sort of blushed and turned away. In her hands she carried her own staff, which was red with a lion's head on the top. Come to mention it, her entire outfit was scarlet.
Rangi bristled angrily. "My cardcaptor is THE Cardcaptor! There is nothing better than her!" His Cockey accent came out just a bit more than usual. It tended to do so when he was angry about something.
Rangi and Tu continued to have it out, while Pandora and Lauren just sort of stared across at each other. Finally, Pandora said to Lauren, "I think we need to catch ourselves a card."
Lauren smiled and gave a determined nod. "Um... exactly how do you get it to come to you?"
Pandora twirled the tip of her long, silvery blonde hair around a finger. "Well... to be quite honest... I don't know if it will always work that way or not.... We might just have to find..."
But before Pandora could finish her sentence, a quiet, small, pale figure floated down from one of the high chandeliers. She sprinkled some sort of sparkling dust upon them, but it had little affect. She stopped before them and stood idly, as if waiting for something.
Lauren looked on in awe as Pandora called upon her own staff. It was a bit difficult to capture cards without it. "Return to the Center, your Master awaits... Sleep Card!" The small woman disappeared, and in her place left a blue-backed card.
As Pandora picked her new Ravenclaw card up and examined it, Tu fluttered over to Lauren and immediately began babbling, "You didn't even try for it! What were you thinking?"
"I... I didn't know how... and you were so busy arguing with that other stuffed animal that I couldn't ask you...."
"I'm not a stuffed animal!" Rangi and Tu both growled in unison.
Pandora shrugged and said aside to Lauren, "At least they agree on something."
A few doors opened from other corridors, and Pandora could hear the sounds of people coming out of rooms. "They're awake. We need to go back to our classes. Hopefully they won't realize we were gone. Otherwise we'll have a little bit of explaining to do." Pandora hid the card and headed back to Potions.
"Pandora, wait!" Lauren called after her. Lauren crossed her arms and grinned as Pandora turned back to her. "Just because you got this one doesn't mean you'll get the next!"
"I know, Lauren... That's what you said last time."
"But... but I mean it this time!"
"Sure you do."
The two friends... or rivals... continued
on, little knowing what new obstacles waited in their paths.