I know it's been over a week since I last updated BUT I finally have Word on my own laptop! So does everyone know what that means? Faster updates! Yay! So, like I said, things start getting more interesting as you will hopefully see here. I thank everyone who has reviewed and added me to their Alerts and Favourites, every single time I get an email from FanFiction it makes my day! Hope I don't disappoint you!
The air began to feel stiffer by the day in Hogwarts School as some unknown tension built up in its students. This tension was not due to homework nor the inevitable war looming over their heads, but something unseen...something no one could pin point. Pandora felt this odd energy ooze from the people around her as the days wore on and couldn't help but feel something familiar, like a cloud of dread that would change Hogwarts, perhaps forever.
No one dared voice this particular feeling in hopes it would pass by and onto another building or even another country. It was nearly two weeks until Halloween and no festivities had been planned and no celebrations had been prepared for that day, though it seemed the last thing on everyone's mind. Pandora watched as students trickled into the Great Hall at a reasonably steady pace, as she was the first one to enter for breakfast. They lazily chatted amongst themselves as each took their seat and picked at the food set in front of them. Pandora shook her head in amusement as Ron all but ran to his seat and shovelled food hungrily into his plate. Halfway through heaving a forkful of hash browns into his mouth, his gaze settled on Pandora and her empty plate as she eyed the food placed in front of her in an almost disgusted way. Ron settled his fork back into his plate and took a deep breath. "You ever eat anything?"
Pandora started slightly as the loudest voice in the hall at the moment echoed mockingly around the large room and she turned her head slightly to glare at Ron. Raising an eyebrow, she grabbed at a sausage from a platter in front of her with her bare hand and took a sizeable bite out of its end and promptly placed it onto her own plate. Ron chuckled lightly and returned to his breakfast in time for Harry and Hermione to join him at the table.
Pandora had come out of her morning classes learning how to successfully transfigure a tortoise into a small desk, how to concoct a more serious form of the Draft of the Living Dead, and how to use a rather large, purple plant to treat what were considered to be permanent scars. Heading towards the Great Hall, she caught a snippet of a conversation between two people who sounded like Ron and Hermione.
"- an idiot, Hermione!"
"Ron, you need to learn one day that people don't see you as a silly, little boy anymore!"
The soft clicking sound of dress shoes approached Pandora and a flustered looking Hermione brushed past, clearly distracted. Around the corner, Ron stood motionless, staring into the space Hermione had previously vacated.
:::
After learning how to defeat a Vampire, charm a room to clean itself, and Apparate near perfect, Pandora trudged towards the Great Hall for a Friday night feast the following week. She noted Ron idly talking to Hermione seated beside him and allowed a grin to tug at the corners of her lips; some people could never seem to stay apart from each other for very long, despite what happened between them. Pandora took her usual seat and managed to scoop some potatoes and peas onto her plate, although she resumed picking uninterestedly at them until nearly everyone in the Hall had left for their dormitories. Draco was one of the few who remained in his seat, glancing up at Pandora every now and then but refusing to meet her eye. After mere moments, she stood to leave, never looking back at the slightly pained expression flashing over the Slytherin's face.
Familiar voices flooded her ears as she approached the entrance to Gryffindor Tower.
"Honestly Ron, I really think it's beginning to look too obvious that I am helping you with your homework! You are just going to have to learn to do this yourself."
Ron huffed impatiently and followed Hermione closely as she bustled around the fire lit common room.
"Come on, Hermione, we all know how this is going to work. You'll stand your ground until I bother you enough and you'll give in and help me, like always."
Ron's confident grin disappeared once Hermione rounded on him, her features hardened by his statement. She repeatedly poked her finger into his chest, emphasizing each word with a sharp jab.
"Well, Ronald Bilius Weasley, you best get used to change this year, because this little fantasy process you think you have got all figured out ends now!"
With a final poke, Hermione turned on her heel and bounded up the steps towards her dormitory, leaving a stunned Ron in her wake. The entire room seemed heavy with silence as Ron shuffled his feet along the carpeted floor. As he turned slowly towards the fireplace, his eye caught Pandora walking through the short alley in the portrait hole, her stark green eyes narrowing, bearing an odd look directed at Ron, and she made her way to the couch in front of the fire. Ron sighed heavily as the room began to fill with its usual noise and sat at the opposite end of the couch, earning him a pointed glare from the female sharing the seat.
"What?" Ron asked rather tiredly. Pandora's glare never wavered and neither did her lips. "I'm...I'm not moving..."
"You don't sound convinced."
Ron blinked; rare was the time when her voice didn't seem to drag along his skin painfully. She sounded nearly conversational now.
"I...wha-...what are you looking at?"
His question came out shakier than he had intended. Pandora returned her gaze to the fire.
"A fool who refuses to expand his knowledge."
Ron's face flared in anger.
"Is that supposed to be a dig at me?"
His anger fuelled his now strong voice, although his change in tone seemed to have no effect on Pandora.
"Listen more carefully to my statement. I'm sure you'll answer your own question."
The bored tone dripping from Pandora's words aggravated Ron more.
"I'm not a bloody idiot, Pandora!"
"Hmm...see, I don't think you listened to well. I suppose I think I am looking at a fool who refuses to use his ears."
The room, once again, fell into a painful silence. Ron stood up fiercely and pointed a long finger at the witch who, had no one heard their conversation, seemed to not to be involved at all.
"I may be a lot of things, Pandora, but I'm not a fool! I know everyone thinks I'm an idiot, but every time I try to prove them wrong, I just end up proving them right-"
"Why do you constantly make others do your thinking for you?"
Pandora's voice appeared to be very quiet, yet it commanded the attention of a deflated Ron.
"I'm...I procrastinate..."
Pandora shook her head.
"No...you already answered that question. You're just rambling now, aren't you? Gotten yourself all flustered and now you fail to make a compelling argument anymore."
Pandora's gaze raised to Ron's, her face smooth and stony. Ron's face seemed red as the maroon carpeting and he finally exploded.
"You think you're so intelligent, don't you? You can just glare at everyone and snap at anyone you like, right? That's not how it bloody works in this house! We all treat each other with respect! And just because no one ever gets in your way or bothers you does not mean they respect you! They bloody fear you! How does it feel, eh? To know that no one wants to be near the foulness that follows you ever second of the day! Yeah, you're intelligent! Maybe I'm not the smartest bloke in the entire world, but i know for a damn fact that I have more than you ever will, and that's damn fine with me!"
His chest heaved slightly once he finished, his steely blue eyes intent on Pandora's poisonous green ones. A flicker of fear jolted through him as he realized what he just said; he really did let himself get flustered and ramble. Pandora's unsettling blank stare unnerved Ron and he nearly jumped out of his skin when she suddenly rose to her full height and looked him straight in the eye, a faint grin softening her features.
"Took you long enough."
Her usual tone carried a string of amusement. Ron stared, bewildered, as she slithered by him and up the stairs to her dormitories.
:::
Ron woke the next morning with many unanswered questions still floating in his mind from the day before. He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands as he lay in his four-poster bed. What had the bloody girl meant by, 'took you long enough'? Why was she smiling at him after his temper once again got the best of him? And why couldn't he get her out of his bloody thoughts? This had to be a case of unhealthy obsession. She was simply a confusing witch, completely different from anyone else he'd ever met, and became an enigma. Enigmas were supposed to be interesting. He just needed to figure this particular one out before it drove him mad.
A few hours and a couple unanswered questions later, Ron was idly poking at a piece of ham on his plate, ignoring the odd looks he received. He jumped suddenly at Harry's hand draping over his shoulder and flinched when his sudden movement caused his fork to shriek across the plate. Harry chuckled as he joined Ron at the table.
"What's on your mind lately, mate? There's been something...off about you this week."
Ron shook his head absently and returned to his holey ham.
"Wouldn't have anything to do with..." Ron looked up and caught Harry's subtle glance in Pandora's direction. "...would it?"
Ron laughed somewhat nervously and stabbed at his ham steak with finality.
"Bloody confusing witch...why does she...ahh..." Ron viciously cut through the pork and shoved nearly half of it in his mouth. "I mea', why can' she 'usht shpi' i' ou' 'likh e'ery 'un elsh?"
Harry shook his head in amusement.
"You wanna try that again?"
Ron huffed and chewed the rest of ham.
"I mean, she beats around the bush with what she says...never outright tells me anything..."
"So, you talk to her often?"
Ron glanced up at Harry and half heartedly shrugged.
"Not particularly. Last night was the most I ever talked to her...and it wasn't exactly the most pleasant conversation..."
Harry scooped some chips and steamed vegetables onto his plate and glanced in Pandora's direction again, raising an eyebrow at her empty plate and blank stare.
"I don't imagine many conversations with her being pleasant."
Ron's head shot up at Harry's sentence and his eyebrows met in anger.
"Don't insult her like that! You'd be surprised at how kind she can be!"
Harry nearly choked on his pumpkin juice and looked over at his best mate incredulously.
"You-you were just bloody mouthing her off-"
"Yeah, well...I know her a bit better than you...just...just don't talk about someone you don't know like that..."
Harry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in slight exasperation and returned to his meal.
"You sure seem protective of her. I would have thought after what she did to Hermione you'd be throwing around threats left, right and center."
Ron mumbled something indistinctive and set his fork down before rising to his feet just as Hermione arrived.
"So sorry I'm late. Lost track of time in the..." Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as Ron left the table in quite a state. "Was it something I said?"
:::
Pandora leaned against the wall just outside of the DADA classroom. She became quickly bored with the food and company in the Great Hall and decided to arrive early and flip through her text book until the faint sound of crowds of footsteps echoed the large corridor. She heard a clicking sound erupt from the door she was leaning beside and looked around cautiously before opening the door slowly, the creaking hinges filling the silence in the empty room. Pandora started when she heard another door click closed and looked up from her place in the doorway to see her DADA teacher, Professor Bates, a dark slender hand clutching at her chest.
"Goodness, Pandora, you gave me a right scare! You're quite early..."
Pandora shrugged as Anastasia lumbered down the steps from her small office towards the back of the classroom. She donned deep purple robes draped with a black shawl covering her long braided hair.
"Not much to do near the end of lunch break. Hope you don't mind."
Anastasia smiled warmly and shook her head while linking her arm with Pandora's and walking back up the small alley between the tables. Pandora stiffened noticeably but never cut off the surprising bit of human interaction she received.
"Of course not! You know that you are always welcome in my classroom." She guided Pandora to her work desk and leaned against it casually while she eyed the young witch in front of her levelly. "Filius tells me that you are having trouble with a particular charm."
Pandora's eyebrows met in anger at this; how dare people discuss her behind her back? Especially her elders.
"Is that right? And what is that?"
Anastasia completely ignored Pandora's scathing look and cold tone and continued in her usual calm manner.
"Your Patronus Charm. You are unable to conjure one, am I correct?"
Pandora shifted her weight on the balls of feet rather uncomfortably under her professor's intense stare and instantly felt exposed; it was a feeling she loathed deeply and wanted very much to rid herself of it.
"It is a complicated charm. I've been learning about magic for the past month and a half while everyone else in my year has been learning it for six years. I'd like to believe I'm doing rather well."
Pandora struggled to keep her calm as she spoke, but Anastasia's calm features never wavered and she continued.
"The Patronus is a complicated spell. But I've seen you work. You are quite powerful for your level of training. You are capable of handling a charm like that. You know what is required of the caster of a Patronus, I am sure."
Anastasia eyed Pandora expectantly, her arms folded across her chest.
"A happy memory. A powerful...memory."
Pandora's strong eyes never left Anastasia's intense ones as she spoke, the feeling of being rudely exposed never wavering.
"That is correct. You must have a happy memory of some sort? Any thought that you find gets you through the day?"
Pandora opened her mouth to answer but was cut off as students burst through the door in quite a barbaric manner. Mentally thanking Father Time for her luck, Pandora nodded her head curtly at her teacher and headed back to her usual spot in the classroom...beside the ginger. As she set her required supplies upon her desk, she noted Ron repeatedly opening and closing his mouth, somewhat resembling a fish, and the occasional nervous glance in her direction. As the lesson started, he began scratching idly on a spare bit of parchment with a fixed gaze. The moment Pandora returned her attention to the front of the classroom, she noticed some ink had spilled onto her own parchment. Silently cursing, she moved to clean up the small mess only to realize that the supposed spilled ink was a message. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she carefully read the scratchy writing.
What exactly did you mean by, "took you long enough"?
Pandora rolled her eyes and immediately looked to her left at Ron sitting nonchalantly in his seat, seemingly interested in the current lesson. Her glare eventually broke him down and he looked at her long enough to mouth, 'write back' and point at the parchment with his writing. Pandora sighed impatiently and scribbled hurriedly,
I meant it took you a substantial amount of time.
Pandora blinked as her writing disappeared and glanced over on Ron's desk to see her own writing reappearing on his parchment. Ron grinned as she stared bewildered at this new wonder and read her reply, a frown replacing his amusement. He scribbled something on his parchment and returned his attention back to the lesson once more. Pandora sighed again and read his reply.
You know what I mean. Quit beating around the bush with me.
Pandora blinked at the blunt frustration clearly shown in his words and rubbed her forehead in exasperation.
This is childish. Meet me just inside the courtyard after classes.
Ron heaved a long breath as he read the spidery scrawl and nodded sharply, his gaze returning to the professor.
:::
Pandora leaned against one of the stone columns surrounding the courtyard, observing everything from the occasional student who passed by to the details of the castle. It really was an enchanting place, if you ignore the fact the building was surrounded by spells. The workmanship and creativity it must have taken to create the statues and columns and towers. This entire place seems to defy gravity and it secretly fascinated Pandora. Her thoughts were interrupted by the clipping sound of Hogwarts dress shoes pounding on the cement. Pandora walked into the open corridor and spotted a flash of undeniable red hair attached to a red, wheezing face.
"S-sorry I'm late...got kept in after class...f-for-"
Pandora waved her hand dismissively and sauntered over towards the opposite wall of the open corridor while Ron caught his breath. The colour in his face seemed to have calmed down and he looked at Pandora expectantly.
"Well?"
Pandora's face split into a grin that didn't quite seem to touch her eyes and spoke as her gaze never lifted off of Ron's.
"You finally stood up for yourself. And quite effectively, I must say. Every point you made in your final argument, if it could be called that, was correct. And you meant it. Now, there's no need for you to blow your top every time you do it, but I respected your words. Use them more often instead of silly questions. No one wants to answer silly questions."
Ron blinked at Pandora's bluntness and opened his mouth to speak just as she nodded sharply and brushed past him at a determined pace.
:::
The next week and a half passed by rather slowly for Ron; he seemed to have gotten on more friendly terms with Pandora, but was not quite friendly enough for conversations. A question here, a greeting there, no more than a few words between the two, though he prided himself in being the only person in the school she no longer glared at. The Friday night before Halloween, Ron found himself alone in the common room her, lost in a book he had never heard; Merlin, she was worse than Hermione sometimes. Somehow, he had found a brave moment and approached her sitting in a rather large chair, still stiff-backed and proper.
"What's that you're reading?"
Pandora peeked over the top of the book and raised it slightly as if he should understand the odd lettering scripted on the tattered cover. She shook her head at his confused expression and sighed.
"Don't you understand Latin?"
Ron chuckled softly.
"Only the spells we learn...I'm not exactly fluent."
Pandora raised an inquiring eyebrow and lowered her book.
"You mean...no one is required to study Latin? That's odd...I thought...I mean I was told that..." She shook her head and pointed to the cover again. "Historia de Magica...History of Magic. Found this is Latin...thought I would spruce up on that language a bit more. It's been awhile."
Ron nodded absently; this woman read a dead language? Fluently? She was becoming more and more strange the more he found out about her.
"That's...brilliant. I think only certain teachers here could say the same thing."
The corners of her lips curled up slightly and she closed the book completely.
"Think I'll turn in for the night."
Just as Pandora started the steps to her dormitories, Ron spoke so softly she barely heard.
"Goodnight, Pandora."
Ron took solace in the fact that his small sentence caused her to pause just brief enough to be acknowledged.
:::
Halloween was oddly quiet in comparison to the usual goings on that took place within the castle. The usual feast was as grand as always and ghosts bobbed in and out of tables, talking amongst themselves and starting heated conversations with certain students. Pandora was silently amazed by the simple charmed decorations and enchanted ceiling, but her reaction to the food was no different than it always was; it was not as if she didn't enjoy the meals, but she'd much rather eating on her own time.
Throughout the conversations a shoving of food down throats, there seemed to be something unexplainable hanging over everyone's head like a heavy fog. The moment Pandora had noticed this, the great doors swung open with force and in swooped nearly forty, tall, and black cloaked witches and wizards with frightening masks and wands raised in anger. The entire hall deafened with silence at this sight and immediately the professors rose their wands in defence, but instead found themselves instantly frozen in place and unable to move any part of their body save their eyes. This curse spread through to every student in the Great Hall. Pandora felt herself stiffen and glared fiercely at the cloaked cowards as one of them began to speak.
"Please, please! Don't get up for us; I insist you all sit down and...relax." This voice sounded smooth and cold and Pandora's glare intensified as half of the cloaked visitors removed their masks and looked around at the students in disgust. "Simple orders from Lord Voldemort himself. Keep an eye on all Mudblood's, Half-Blood`s, and Blood traitors alike. Now it seems you are all here...all accounted for. Don`t let us spoil your wonderful evening, please! Continue with the festivities."
The cold and humourless voice rang through everyone's ears like shards of ice and no one moved once released from their magical hold. Pandora's eye flickered across the frightful faces of the younger students and rested on the Trio's determined ones. It seemed the fog had rested on Hogwarts.
*Gasp* Oh what have I done? Guess you'll need to find out in the next chapter ;) BTW, its like, 1:30 am right now, so if there are any mistakes, I apologize!