o.O Sorrrrry this took so long! I spent 3 weeks away from the internet and computers altogether at one time and since then, if I haven't been racing or training, I've been out of the house doing chores and such...so I'm sorry x 1867908793.2! Hope you can forgive me! I have a clear vision for the next two chapters so I will hopefully update quickly!
The morning sun reflected dimly across the still lake, the cool September morning misting Pandora's even breath. She enjoyed the timeless feeling of early morning, the endless quiet and the knowledge that no one would disturb her rare peace for hours. Pandora sat upon a cold stone edging the sun-illuminated lake and absent-mindedly dragged the bottom of her bare foot along the surface of the water, sending erratic ripples along the undisturbed pool. The inconsistent night of sleep she had endured sent her away from the common room at an early hour, though she remained thankful that no one had been witness to the disconcerting thrashing and screaming her nights usually encountered.
The one thing that undoubtedly boggled Pandora's mind was the plate full of food presumably from the feast the night before, evidently charmed to sustain the heat. She knew she was just familiar enough with the school to assume the culprit of this gesture was Hermione Granger, but a strong lesson she had learned for herself was never to take action without facts. And Pandora was surely not interested enough in the situation to gather facts and inquire about the plate, so she accepted the meal blindly and consumed the whole of it in quite an unladylike manner.
Pandora sighed as she noted the faint glow surrounding certain windows of the large castle and decided to gather her supplies and replace her shoe before returning to the ancient building. She felt every eye on her as she entered the Great Hall and in turn glared at each student she passed on her way towards her seat. She resumed her stiff posture on the bench and half-heartedly picked at the food covering the long table.
Ron nearly stumbled his way down the corridor towards the Great Hall, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had woken up later than intended and rushed to get dressed and gather his things so he would have time to eat enough breakfast to get through to lunch. Ron lazily wrapped the tie enclosed in his hand around his neck and hastily fastened the remaining buttons on his crinkled shirt only to find the buttons failed to match up with the correct holes. He sat down heavily in his spot on the bench and began shovelling food frantically into his plate. His fork clinging to a scrappy pile of eggs stopped abruptly as he noticed Pandora sitting across the table and to his right, her back stick straight and her piercing eyes gazing uninterestedly into her plate. He wondered briefly if she ever ate anything at all; he never recalled seeing her do anything more with her food than play with it idly. In the short break he took from cramming food into his mouth, he noticed the cold looks Pandora received from others situated at the table. He recalled hearing about how she had gone off to Hermione and now everyone in Gryffindor seemed to loathe the new student. Ron jumped suddenly as Pandora's gaze settled on him, causing the cooling eggs dangling off of his fork to fall back onto his plate. Her sharp eyes seemed to bore a hole right through Ron and he decided to return his attention to his breakfast.
Transfiguration and Herbology had passed by quite quickly for Pandora, though Potions had seemed to wear on. The entire class was spent reading a whole chapter and taking notes under the scrutinizing eye of Esson; that bloke never seemed to blink. Pandora wandered rather aimlessly towards the Great Hall, rather unenthusiastic about entering a large room filled with glaring eyes. She walked through the large doors donning a mask of bored confidence and took her seat, ignoring the inevitable looks she received, and assumed her stiff position while picking subconsciously at the plates stuffed with food in front of her. Her peripheral vision allowed her to notice the looks of disdain that soon trickled into other tables. Even certain Slytherin's had found the time to sneer at her, although she had guessed on a different reason for that. In Pandora's quick sweep across the tables dotted with angry students, she noticed only one who spared her a look of scorn: one familiar redhead who was unsubtly averting her gaze while attempting to cram more food into his mouth than was humanly possible.
Pandora's final two classes had proven to be somewhat more enjoyable than the morning's classes and she walked away from each learning a new spell and found herself becoming stronger in magic. She decided to wander outside after her final class was finished and weaved in and out of the growing shadows created by the looming towers of the castle and tall trunks of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Pandora found the spot near the lake she had occupied that very morning and decided to rest against the cold stone once more. She sighed; Pandora couldn't say she missed her old life. It wasn't much of a life to miss. But this new life wore heavily on her mind, and although the classes took her mind off of most troubles, the people she was constantly forced to be surrounded by did nothing to help her mood. She did not regret her uncontrolled release of fury on the school princess; Pandora thought it best that the poor girl not bask in her own tainted company. A rustling of the earth behind her unhinged her reflexes and Pandora's braced stance and raised fists brought out a dry chuckle from an elderly witch.
"My dear, we have much to teach you. If I were to be a Death Eater, you would have had your ears hexed off before you could form a fist."
Pandora hesitantly lowered her arms and relaxed her body as the familiar voice of McGonagall washed over her ears.
"I do hope you have not forgotten our lesson. Follow me."
The first week of schooling had gone by rather slowly and uneventfully for Pandora. She had completed all of her assignments without much difficulty and she found herself learning basic magic quickly. Although the looks of disdain she constantly received from nearly every student in the school began to feel all too familiar and she eventually accepted them as a normal occurrence. As she made her way down the corridor from breakfast, she nearly toppled over someone bent over on the ground. Sighing impatiently, Pandora turned on the figure only to look down at Ron, red in the face and surrounded by parchment and books.
"Although it is good to see you wanting to learn, I suggest rolling around in books in the privacy of your dormitories."
A mumbled apology was all Pandora heard from the disgruntled boy, but curiosity bested her at that moment.
"What are you doing?"
Ron huffed and looked up at Pandora while attempting to stack his text books and gather the unrolled parchment.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm late for class, I rushed, I dropped everything-"
Pandora leaned down slowly and eyed Ron oddly.
"It's Saturday, dear boy."
Ron raised an eyebrow at her, pausing in his scattered attempts at cleaning his mess.
"Don't take the Mickey outta me today, I have a lot-"
"Oi, Ron, finally decided to take school seriously, eh? Only took you 7 years..."
Ron glared as Seamus walked casually down the corridor, chuckling softly. Pandora rolled her eyes and reached for the mess of parchment and began neatly rolling it back into place.
"Take this as repayment for sparing me a look of death."
Ron took the roll of parchment cautiously, his eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion, and blinked once he looked up to find Pandora nowhere in sight.
Pandora continued on her way to the common room uninterrupted and settled into the couch, reading from the DADA spell book. She found reading casually through her texts instead of them being forced down her throat by professors allowed the knowledge she obtained to sink in better, more clearly. She scanned over facts about beasts that did their masters bidding and the ritual one goes through to obtain that power, spells and curses which attacked specific parts of the human body, and even variations of the Imperius curse that changed ones personality severely. Her eyes stopped midway through a sentence when she heard the portrait hole creak open, though her eyes never left the page.
"How is your...magic doing?"
Pandora instantly recognized the gentle voice and returned to her reading, pausing only when she felt the couch sink ever slightly from the small weight of Hermione.
"Do you need any more-"
"If I had needed any more help, I would have asked."
Hermione sighed and leaned towards the fire before glancing back up at Pandora, her face still hidden by the book.
"I don't think you would." Pandora peeked from behind the obstruction to direct a glare at the woman seated opposite her. "Look, if you would just show me something, I will leave you alone, all right? I won't force you to learn if you-"
"Reducto."
The flashing spell flew inches past Hermione's head and hit a small bit of tapestry behind her, effectively reducing it to nearly nothing. Hermione glanced at the slight wreckage Pandora created and widened her eyes slightly before nodding somewhat approvingly and heading up the stairs to the dormitories.
"Horcruxes? Harry, are you are sure there are more?"
Hermione furrowed her eyebrows slightly and sighed heavily as Harry nodded.
"Yes. Voldemort split his soul seven ways when he killed, and placed each piece into an object that had meant something to him during his childhood. We've only destroyed two."
Ron turned his gaze away from Harry and looked over the dark lake.
"So...there're bits of Voldemort all over the place, then?"
Harry sighed and shook his head in amusement.
"Yeah, something like that."
"So what were the first two?"
Harry glanced in Hermione's direction briefly before returning his gaze to the lake.
"Apparently...the diary was the first one. Dumbledore already destroyed a ring. I dunno how, I only know it ruined his hand."
"So...how did you destroy the diary?"
"I stabbed it. With the basilisk fang. It was like it bled ink. I don't think they all do that."
Hermione bit her bottom lip in thought.
"The venom...the strong poison from that venom must have destroyed the bit of soul living in the diary...and the ring...Dumbledore must have taken that to a whole new level..."
Harry chuckled humourlessly.
"Yeah, that sounds like him."
Hermione sighed heavily as she looked out to the horizon.
"Have you any idea what the other five are?"
Harry furrowed his eyebrows in thought.
"That fake locket I-we found in the cave. I mean, R.A.B. has it somewhere, right? Assuming he hasn't already destroyed it. And...there was this memory Dumbledore showed me...a woman's memory with Voldemort. He killed her and took the locket and...a goblet with the Hufflepuff emblem on it."
Harry racked his brain for more answers but found none.
"That's all I know...we'll have to look for the other three on our own...somehow."
Pandora sat alone in the common room late at night, idly practicing simple spells and enchantments while glancing through spell books and notes. She had lasted amongst these people for a month now, spending the last weekend of September reviewing what she learned in desolate silence. Others' treatment towards her had slightly worsened during this time, varying from words of insult to attempting embarrassing pranks. Pandora quickly caught on to those who were behind these hoaxes and may or may not have offered a silent threat or two.
The last few weeks also found her excelling in Apparition and, strangely enough, Potions. She received one of the top marks with Esson, third only to Hermione and Draco, and impressed most students, although none would admit to it. Oddly enough, the class Pandora struggled with the most was Defence Against the Dark Arts. And the charm she remained unable to accomplish, the Patronus.
She sighed and closed her book gently and ambled over towards the window of the great tower. The days were growing shorter, the air becoming crisper, and yet the days moved by like molasses in winter. She needed to find a way to help the days pass at more of a leisurely pace before the people and the lessons made her mental.
So that's that! I know its not real exciting, but everything leads up to whats going to happen and its just getting good now =) If you see anything that can be improved or have ideas, lemmi know!