The Real Rival
Cardcaptor Pandora
Episode IIX
The Real Rival
Pandora was quite relieved when everything that went wrong with
the Labyrinth Card finally settled down. Indeed, though she had
spent what she believed was three days in the Labyrinth, only
five minutes passed outside. She didn't understand why, but why
ask why? Harry helped her get all of the twins to the Hospital
Wing, where they woke up not remembering anything that happened.
Except for Draco. He remembered everything exactly as it happened,
but fortunately for Pandora he accepted that it was only a dream...
reluctantly. She knew she would have to be more careful around
him now, because if he told their father.... She didn't even want
to think about it.
And then it was finally the day of the Halloween Masquerade. Everyone
was excited, putting the finishing touches on their costumes,
flirting with whoever their date was, and so on. Poor Pandora
though, she still didn't have a date.
She met Draco at 6:50 as planned, where
he waited with Pansy, a dateless Goyle, and Crabbe with Sydney.
Sydney was the only one who seemed remotely happy to see her,
though Dray was at least being civil. He and Pansy seemed to be
in the midst of a little spat of some sorts, Pandora couldn't
imagine what except for the fact that it was Dray and Pansy and
could really be just about anything.
"There, we're here now," Draco said gruffly as they
entered the Great Hall, where the tables were scattered every
which way, obviously not set up for the usual dining-by-House.
"Go find somewhere else to sit and leave me alone."
"But Draco! I don't have anyone..."
"Pandora, go away!" Pansy shouted.
Draco gave her a disapproving glare then
turned his attention back on his sister. "Look... there's
that Lauren girl, she probably won't mind it if you break her
date a bit. He looks kind of boring."
"Fine," Pandora said with a reluctant
sigh as she walked to where Lauren sat with her date.
Lauren looked up, a dull expression on
her face which lit up when she saw her friend. "Pandora!
What a nice surprise!" She stood up and hugged Pandora across
the table. "This is my date, Danny. Danny, this is Pandora,
my bestest friend!"
Danny smiled in a completely unimpressed
fashion and waved. "Are you sitting here?" he asked
in a voice dull enough to remind her of Draco's.
"Well, I didn't know a second ago, but after such a warm
welcome, who could resist!" Pandora said, only a little sarcastic.
She caught an amused look from Lauren and they sat across from
each other.
Her group was not much for conversation,
at least not with Danny around. Pandora gave up on trying to start
one and looked around at everyone coming in. There were so many
costumes, and they all were quite interesting (though there was
also a wealth of people dressed as wizards and witches...). One
of the most realistic costumes she saw was McGonagall's cat costume.
A person never would have known she wasn't a cat... But the couple
that caught her eye the most had to be Snape and Everest. Everest
wore a costume of all white which almost seemed to glow, a golden
circle charmed to float above her head as a halo. She was the
angel. Snape on the other hand could hardly be considered in costume
because it fit him so perfectly. He was a demon, and wore a costume
of blacks and reds with two red horns coming off the top of his
head. Pandora had a feeling Everest probably made him wear that.
It was finally time for the dinner to begin, and Dumbledore stood
before them in his seventies disco man costume and announced,
"I know you are all ready for your feast, but before we get
to that, we have a special surprise for all of you. We usually
don't get new students this time of year, but she has only recently
moved to England and will be joining the Fifth Years. I would
like for all of you to meet Persephone Avaran."
Persephone Avaran... Pandora knew that
name... It was the name written on the Labyrinth Card! Which meant...
Persephone was the master of the card... which also meant that
Persephone was a Cardcaptor.... and that could mean only one thing.
Professor Everest was not the Heir of Slytherin... Persephone
Avaran was. And now she was at Hogwarts and would be in her Slytherin
classes (for surely she would be sorted into Slytherin) which
meant... Pandora really needed to talk to Draco.
McGonagall took the Sorting Hat back the
second after it was put on. "SLYTHERIN!" had been announced
as if it pained the poor ripped up piece of junk to sit on Persephone's
head at all.
Now it was time for the Princess of Darkness
to find a seat... and exactly what Pandora was afraid would happen
did happen. As soon as people began talking again while the food
was coming, Draco walked over to Persephone after leaving a very
upset Pansy with Goyle, and held his hand out to her. "Hello.
I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, turning on as much charm as he
possibly possessed.
"I know who you are," she said
in a low, alto voice. Draco seemed to like her voice very much,
for his grey eyes seemed to get a bit more light in them for a
moment. He also rather liked the fact that she knew him.
"Would you like to come sit with me?"
"Is that your date?" she asked, pointing to Pansy.
"Not anymore."
Persephone seemed to rather like this answer
and followed Draco. They did not go back to the table he had been
at before. Instead they found a darkened corner....
"Dray!" Pandora whispered angrily
under her breath.
Lauren had also seen everything that had
happened and patted Pandora's hand. "Maybe she's not that
bad..."
"Not that bad? She's the...!" But Pandora caught herself
just in time before saying too much... though Danny wouldn't have
noticed anyway. He didn't seem like the brightest of characters...
"Do we need to talk?" Pandora
nodded, very glad that Lauren wasn't really the idiot everyone
tried to make her out to be. To be honest, she was probably very
smart, just a little clumsy...
They walked to a less crowded area, and
after making sure no one was really paying any attention to them,
Pandora said, "She is the Heir of Slytherin!"
"What! Why do you think that?"
"Because when I sealed the Labyrinth Card, it already had
a name on it, and the name was Persephone Avaran. Then it disappeared
to go back to its master. There is only one Cardcaptor left to
be found after all, and it must be her!"
Lauren suddenly looked very nervous. "I...
I don't feel very well... I'm gonna go upstairs..."
"But what about your date? The dance
hasn't even started yet!"
"I feel like I'm going to pass out..."
she murmured, taking a few steps back unsteadily.
"Here, I'll help you," Pandora
said, taking one of her arms to try and steady her. "Lean
against me."
"Thanks Pandora..."
*********************************************************************************************
Pandora stayed with Lauren for a few minutes
until she drifted off into a restless sleep. It made her feel
very worried for her little friend, but there was nothing more
she could do for her. She walked back down to the Great Hall,
where the dance had been going on for probably about ten minutes.
She looked around the room in search of the two things she most
detested to see. Harry and Cho were the first to meet her eyes,
except they didn't seem quite as enthralled in each other as Pandora's
overimaginative mind had made them. To be quite honest, she seemed
almost disinterested and kept looking away. Pandora shrugged and
looked over the crowd for any signs of silvery blond hair. It
was a blessing when you were trying to find someone...
Curse her overimaginative mind, it wasn't
nearly imaginative enough for those two... She looked away, her
heart pounding. She didn't know what to do, but she had to get
Draco away from Persephone. She ran her hand nervously through
her hair, then across her forehead, her hand stopping right over
her crystal. "That's it... if she sees that she'll know who
I am... and maybe I can talk to her..."
She walked to the area Draco and Persephone
were and stood behind her brother where Persephone would see her.
Indeed, her eyes lit up and she stared at Pandora as if she thought
she just might know her. Then Pandora pushed her hair aside to
show the crystal, and Persephone's eyes seemed to blaze with a
hateful fire. "Excuse me..." she said and left Draco,
who turned around very curious to find his new date walking angrily
towards his twin sister.
"Hello, Persephone," Pandora
said shakily as she walked off of the dance floor, Persephone
following her silently.
"So you are the Center?" Persephone
said sharply, looking at her closely. "I would have expected
something better..."
"And you are V... Voldemort's daughter..."
The girl looked away and said, "Yes,
I am. That would be a logical conclusion, I would expect something
a little more profound from you."
Pandora didn't really know what to make
of the girl. She seemed so bitter and dark... but there was something
else that she didn't understand.
Draco walked over and draped an arm around
Persephone's waist. "Do you want something, Pandora? Because
if you don't mind, I would like my date back."
Persephone grinned at him darkly. "I
will talk to you more later, Center...." she said, then walked
away to a darker corner with Draco.
"No...." Pandora whispered, not
wanting to leave Draco along with her. "Please..." But
she only watched. She did not move from there until a hand touched
her shoulder gently.
"Pandora...?"
"Harry!" she cried, a little
more excitedly than she would have preferred. "Um... hi!
Where... where's Cho?"
"Oh... she wanted to go say hi to some friends." She
could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn't telling the
entire truth. "So what was all that about? I saw you and
her talking. You don't look very happy, and that's not like you.
It worries me..."
She blushed at his sudden show of concern,
but had to admit she was rather pleased to hear he was. "She's
the Slytherin Cardcaptor, thus..."
"Thus the Heir of Slytherin and Voldemort's
daughter," Harry finished. "Wonderful." Then he
reached out and took both of Pandora's hands in his own. "Are
you alright?"
It took her a while to get over the blushing fit and to answer,
"I suppose so... I will take it up with Rangi. Maybe he knows
something. The only thing at present I really don't like is Draco's
interest in her..."
Harry nodded, but seemed not to really
be listening. Instead he was staring into her eyes, and she was
moments away from hugging or something when he asked, "Would
you like to dance?"
She didn't know quite what hit her, but
she decided there was no harm in... eh heh... "rolling with
the punches" so to speak.... He escorted her to the dance
floor, where he timidly put his hands on her waist as she draped
her hands over his shoulders, knowing she probably looked incredibly
nervous. "Cho probably won't like this much."
"I... don't really care. Draco won't either."
"I don't really care."
She wanted the song to go on forever, but
it seemed to end in seconds. She felt as if she were flying on
a cloud where all dreams could come true, and this certainly was
not a dream she wanted to awaken from any time soon.
Leave it to a Weasley.
"Oh my gosh! You and Pandora, Harry?"
Ron shouted, Hermione staring on disapprovingly. "That's
crazy! This party's getting boring, too many people. Besides,
I have to watch Snape and Everest flirt anymore I think I am going
to die."
Pandora and Harry followed the other two
out, hand-in-hand. This relationship seemed to begin so suddenly,
but why complain? Who knew, maybe it was nothing. Maybe they would
be back to being nothing more than friends the next day. But for
now, Pandora could imagine. It helped her get her mind off of
other matters...
********************************************************************************************
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Leave it to Rangi! ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Rangi: Hey-hey-hoo!! It's time for the
first (but certainly not the last) "Leave it to Rangi!"
where I, your favorite Guardian Beast in all the world, answer
questions that have been asked about Cardcaptor Pandora. Miss
Ashkelon believes I am most suited for this task in comparison
to the other Beasts because of my immense knowledge, unsurpassable
magical powers, and rugged good looks!
Kira: Rangi! Shut up and get on with it!
Rangi: Huh? Oh! Sorry! Yes ma'am! (regains
his composure) Anyway, as I was saying, I am going to answer
some questions about this fanfic.
Question #1: Why is Draco called Dray when
in Latin his real name would be pronounced "Drah-co?"
Rangi's answer!
It's true that in the original Latin, that is how you would say
his name. But, being that this is a book and as of this moment
reading names is up to personal interpretation, Miss Ashkelon
has chosen to pronounce the name "Dray-co." The reason
is because when one language (such as English) adopts something
from another language (such as Latin), it may change some as it
is used throughout the centuries, thus possible ending up with
a completely different pronunciation in that language. And besides,
if you had an annoying twin sister who insisted on giving you
a stupid nickname, would you like to be called "Drah?"
Question #2: Why isn't there a male Cardcaptor?
Rangi's answer!
Though not as obvious a parallel as the Cardcaptor theme, this
is also somewhat related to other Animes, mainly Magic Knight
Rayearth, another of Miss Ashkelon's favorites. If you are unfamiliar
with this ingenious CLAMP creation (CLAMP also created Cardcaptor
Sakura), get in touch! The "group" in that one is a
group of three girls, thus Miss Ashkelon's group of Cardcaptors
is a group of five girls. It is not meant to offend anyone in
any way, it's just Miss Ashkelon's CLAMPish obsession.
Question #3: Is Draco only a side figure?
Rangi's answer!
Draco is supposed to somewhat be the parallel of Toya from CCS,
Sakura's older brother. But for those of you are Draco-obsessed,
never fear! He will serve more of a purpose, but I cannot expose
all of the secrets or I shall be fired...
Question #4: Why didn't Snape fall asleep?
Rangi's answer!
Wouldn't you like to know, heh heh heh.... I suppose you'll just
have to keep looking for those next episodes! ~_^
Question #5: You like myths, don't you?
Rangi's answer!
That could not be stated any better! Miss Ashkelon loves myths,
beyond the usual Greek, though you have probably noticed the connections
between the names Pandora and Persephone already.... As far as
the significance of naming them that, Pandora opened the box,
Persephone is... well... a bit dark, to put it mildly.... But
there's more! The first person to email Miss Ashkelon and tell
her what mythology the Guardian Beasts' names are taken from will
get a prize! What prize, you ask? It's a surprise! (honestly
has no clue, but he would never admit it).
I hope you have enjoyed this little discussion!
If you have more questions, ask in the review or you can email
Miss Ashkelon with them and the answer to the question at:
kiraashkelon@hotmail.com
Come again!
