Alright, so using my own laptop did not help me update faster. But...I've had some busy weeks. Still no excuse! This chapter is not quite as long as the past couple, but I kinda like it...moves things forward at least! Thank you everyone who has added my story to their favourites and subscriptions! It means so much to me!
Seeing as how I have not disclaimed in awhile...
Disclaimer: Let's face it; I'd be like the third richest person in the world if I owned this. I only own Pandora. (Sounds kinky...)
The school had fallen into a deathly silence over the next couple of days. The occasional chatter rippled throughout the school, each student wondering whether they had dreamt what had happened Halloween night or if it was a cruel joke the teachers were playing on them. Pandora's first three classes on Monday felt stiff and unnatural, like the professors were expecting someone or something to pop out of a cupboard or closet at any moment, and lunch in the Great Hall was quiet. Black cloaked witches and wizards were seen wandering around the outside of the House tables, twirling wands rather lazily in their hands.
Pandora had finally made her way to her Defence Against the Dark Arts class with some questioning and mild threats of torture from Hogwarts' new inhabitants hindering her journey. She noticed a strange man seated at the front of the classroom as she entered, donning a dark cloak and odd tattoos surrounding the side of his face and one hand, which Pandora assumed must have covered half of his body. She cautiously took her usual seat at the back of the room and eyed this new addition carefully as other students began filtering in.
"Good afternoon. Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween." His raspy, humourless voice contrasted painfully with the words he spoke. "My name is Garrikus Larvil. I have been sent to keep an eye on all of you and make sure none of you break any of the new rules. Of course, I will not be wasting my time teaching you. Instead I will monitor your lessons with Bates."
Anastasia appeared from the shadows behind Garrikus, carrying a confident poise she knew she had to don for the sake of her students. Garrikus leaned stiffly against the back wall, presumably out of sight, but every student felt his icy gaze upon them. She began the lesson on Unicorn blood and the practical uses it provided to those close to death. Every student took reluctant notes as their professor unwillingly taught, as though she felt the tip of his wand at her back. By the end of their lesson, Larvil made his appearance once.
"Don't expect my visits to be sparse. This is how each and every lesson shall be until the Dark Lord is victorious, and so-" His sudden cut sentence and razor sharp gaze seemed to empty the room of oxygen. "It seems someone in this room mistakes my hearing to be flawed. The owners of those words will spare their professor pain if they stand forward and face their punishment."
Pandora glanced up the row of seats and tables at Hermione, subtly being held back by Harry and Ron. She sighed and stood straight up, looking the man square in the eye. The entire class looked up at her defiant stance and began to murmur amongst themselves.
"Silence! Come here." The crinkled man beckoned his finger harshly. Pandora stiffly made her way to the front of the classroom, ignoring the surprised looks she received from the trio. As she approached Larvil, she noticed everyone in the room had stiffened noticeably and assumed the spell used to still everyone in the Great Hall on Halloween had been cast in the very room. "Ah yes. You are the fresh Mudblood. Grew up sixteen years surrounded by filthy muggles." Pandora narrowed her eyes and stood her ground. "You must be used to muggle punishments, then." Pandora's expression never changed as her hands jerked together behind her back and were bound by some sort of invisible rope. She eyed him levelly as he slowly circled her stiff figure. "It won't take much to bring you down to a much preferred level."
Without notice, Larvil's rough fist connected with Pandora's stomach, causing her to gasp sharply before regaining her smooth composure and facing the Death Eater fearlessly. Sneering, he aimed for the small of her back, his face contorted with fierce concentration. Pandora gasped for air again and braced her weakening stance, before she ignored the pain and faced the man once more. No sooner had she looked Larvil in the eye again did he strike a powerful blow across her jaw, and she struggled to keep herself upright on both feet. Seconds later, she was finally brought down to her knees from a hit across her nose. Broken, bruised, and bleeding, Pandora was unable to rise. She felt energy in the room once again and realized the students must have been set free from their hold once the invisible ropes released their hold around her wrists.
"Lesson one." was all Larvil said as the class slowly left the room, not daring to speak. Anastasia had a tense hand clasped to her mouth and moved to help Pandora, but stopped in her tracks at a warning look from the witch in pain on the floor.
"P-Pandora? Bloody hell-"
"I strongly suggest you leave now."
Ron looked down slightly at Larvil, a dark look spreading his face.
"Unless you want me to show you how much pain you just put her through, I strongly suggest you let me help her out." Ron's voice was menacing.
"You will learn to pick your battles, boy-"
Pandora suddenly forced herself from the ground and gripped Ron's arm, dragging him out of the classroom door with her.
"I could have taken the bloody-"
"I did not go through that for nothing, Weasley."
Ron blinked at how strangled Pandora sounded.
"Why did you do that?"
Pandora remained hunched over in pain and grasped at her side with one hand while trying to stop the flow of blood from her nose with the other. She looked rather intimidating.
"Hermione is brilliant, but she isn't the toughest thing out there. I could take it. I know I could. And I know it would have killed you and Harry if that had happened to her. You care about her."
Pandora suddenly limped for the nearest girls lavatory but was stopped by Ron as he wrapped a brave arm around her waist and turned her toward the stairs.
"What on earth are you-? Let go of me!"
Pandora struggled against Ron's firm grip but her resistance proved futile in her state and she stopped fussing.
"Look, I'm not gonna leave you like this, so you may as well stop wiggling and let me fix you!"
Pandora glared up at Ron, craning her neck to fix him in her gaze.
"Could you possibly make that sound any more degrading?"
Ron grinned. "Probably."
His arm never left her waist as he helped her towards Gryffindor tower.
"All right you sit on the couch...stay there! I mean it, Pandora! I'll be right back."
Pandora slumped unwillingly into the couch and clutched at her side while Ron disappeared upstairs. She briefly wondered why he cared so much about helping her when the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairway interrupted her thoughts. He silently knelt on front of her with a small, bulging bag and began to unload it.
"What you got there?"
Ron grinned at the curious tone that carried through Pandora's voice as he took out a small jar, a porous cloth, and several bandages among other odds and ends and looked up at her face.
"Stuff."
Pandora rolled her eyes and hurriedly attempted to stem the flow of blood pouring from her nose once again, swaying slightly from the considerable amount lost. Ron's eyebrows suddenly rose in worry and he grabbed her knees to keep her from swaying from one side.
"You alright?"
Pandora glanced down at Ron's hands briefly before masking a miraculous look of composure despite her current state.
"M'fine."
Ron's face suddenly burned red and he removed his hands from her slim legs to grasp his wand.
"All right...this might twinge a bit, but...it'll fix your nose."
Pandora barked a humourless laugh.
"That bad, is it?" Asked Pandora as she noted the grimace flickering over Ron's face.
Ron took a deep breath as he pointed his wand directly at her angled nose.
"Episky."
A muted crack sounded from her nose and Pandora's face contorted in pain for mere moments before returned to the composed mask Ron was so used to. She looked at him expectantly after a few moments.
"How do I look?"
Ron looked over her face briefly before shaking his head and looked through the assortment of things he had laid out on the floor beside him.
"Err...alright, I'm just gonna wipe the blood off...off of your face so just...lean forward."
Pandora leaned towards Ron agonizingly slow, her sharp green eyes never leaving his soft blue ones, until her face was no more than five inches away from his. Ron gulped visibly and, with a shaky hand, moved the cloth across Pandora's smooth face, removing the blood drying around her straight nose, pale cheek and soft lips.
"You act as if you've never touched a woman before."
Ron dropped his hand and dully looked at the floor before glancing back up at Pandora`s blood-streaked face.
"Err...close your eyes."
Pandora did as she was told and patiently allowed Ron to sweep the cloth around her eyes and across her eyelids. She peeked out beneath her eyelashes once he stopped and found him glancing down her neck. Her reflexes took over when she felt the cloth graze her collar bone and grasped his wrist in a death grip. Ron eyed her oddly and slowly lowered his hand.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to...just need to wipe it all off..."
Pandora ran a hand across her neck and eyed the red smear staining it. She slid the cloth out of Ron's hand and wiped the mess off herself before chucking the now red cloth on the floor.
"Do your sides still hurt?" Pandora nodded once. "All right...just...stand up as much as you can." Pandora rose from the couch and hunched over slightly from the pain. "Um..." Ron took a deep breath. "Right, I have to put some dittany on your...stomach and back, so-" Pandora tenderly removed her vest and unbuttoned the bottom of her blouse. Ron promptly began looking everywhere in the room as she did this, finding the threads in the carpet rather interesting, but she captured his attention when she cleared her throat. Ron attempted to control his breathing when his eyes found her smooth waist and curved back; Pandora had only lifted the bottom half of her plain white school shirt to allow access to her bruising sides and red back. Ron cleared his throat purposely and grabbed the jar and opened it, emptying a small amount of its contents into his hand. "Where does it hurt?" Pandora gestured to her right side, just above her hip bone. Ron nodded and began rubbing the dittany into her skin, forcing himself to think of anything: Quidditch...Voldemort...Harry's scar...that seemed to work. "Where else?"
"My back. The middle there..."
Pandora's voice carried an unfamiliar vulnerability as she spoke. Ron nodded and began rubbing the essence into her back. Once he finished, Pandora buttoned her blouse and replaced her vest on her body before she walked up to Ron as he finished refilling the bag. "Thank you."
Just as she approached the portrait hole, Ron's voice stopped her.
"What makes you think no one cares about you?"
Pandora turned around and eyed Ron severely before speaking.
"Is it not obvious enough for you? Everyone in this school has developed a deep dislike for me."
Ron exhaled loudly and looked Pandora square in the eye.
"Not everyone."
Pandora's eyebrows met in confusion and Ron continued.
"Not obvious enough for you either, eh? You think I hate you?"
Pandora shook her head and shifted her feet.
"No need to be nice to the new student. It won't benefit you."
Ron grinned half-heartedly. "I don't do things that'll benefit me. I do things just 'cause I want to."
Pandora scrutinized him with her eyes.
"So you...like me simply because you want to?"
Ron nodded and suddenly found his hands rather interesting. Pandora grinned slightly and spoke over her shoulder as she exited the common room.
"I don't suppose my actions will prove me a true Gryffindor now?"
Woot the end of another chapter! Isn't Larvil pleasant?
Reviews keep me motivated and may even help me improve! *hint hint nudge nudge*