Hello again! Another chapter! A lot happens in this one, I think its pretty important. Well, its planned out that way, at least =P Hope you enjoy it! Thank you to all who have read, favourited, subscribed, and reviewed! Hope I don't disappoint!
Disclaimer – HAH! If I was Rowling...well, this story would be much better.
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Pandora spent her afternoon classes avoiding attempted questions and not-so-subtle stares in her direction. Her final two lessons were not much different from her Defence against the Dark Arts period, each consisting of a Death Eater with a dark lesson and relentless punishments, which were few and far between since Pandora's incident. She stiffly made her way her way towards the Gryffindor tower, standing slightly taller than before and enjoying the relief of the permanently stemmed flow of blood coursing from her nose. After muttering 'seashells' to the Fat Lady and tenderly stepping through the portrait hole, the crowded room she entered was so suddenly cut into silence that Pandora temporarily forgot to breathe. Every eye in the common room was fixed upon her, but for once this school year, no one glared. No one mocked. Pandora noticed several students glancing at her blackened eye or flickering their gaze to her clutched side. After what seemed like hours, a soft voice broke the tension in the room.
"P-Pandora? Are you all right?"
Hermione's figure rose from the couch where she sat beside Harry and Ron in front of the fire and nervously wrung her hands together. Pandora's eye shifted around the room in uncertainty.
"Yes."
No one moved or averted their attention from Pandora. It unnerved her. Hermione spoke as if no one were in the room save herself and the confused witch she spoke to.
"Why did you...why?"
Only the confusion in her voice and determined look in her eyes compelled Pandora to answer honestly.
"You're a symbol of hope in the school. Of intelligence. I'm simply a symbol of something you all despise. So...who's heart would break if I took the fall, right? I didn't do it for anyone. I did it because this school has recently turned into a prison and the moment they find a weakness, they won't stop using it as a threat."
Hermione narrowed her eyes as a brief ripple of whispers sounded amongst the audience.
"You...you...silly woman!" Pandora blinked. "That...you...ugh! That was very admirable, Pandora, I'll give you that. You...put a lot of thought into your actions. But-" Pandora had never seen Hermione so menacing. "-he could have done worse than that! He could have used the Cruciatis on you, he could have-"
"The what?"
"-used a weapon, he could have even killed you as an example, Pandora! You just don't go waltzing up to these people, testing their limits!"
Pandora's lips twisted into a wry smile.
"Probably shouldn't have said what you did to prick that blokes finger..."
Hermione stiffened slightly and muttered something about hearing being much too good for a human. Pandora shook her head in amusement and gently swept past Hermione, catching Ron's eye as she weaved through the still crowd.
"You've proven yourself now, you know that, right? There's no turning back now. You're a Gryffindor."
Pandora took a deep breath as she ascended the stairs.
"Had to prove myself, did I?"
:::
Pandora was on her way to Herbology after a gruelling Transfiguration lesson that required each student to Transfigure their partners into the most horrid creature she had ever seen, a Dartmouth Raider (her partner, Michael Corner, seemed to have lost himself in the transformation and began spitting venom and loping madly around the classroom filled with the same mad creature), and had just finished a Potions class in which Pandora was surprised to find no Death Eater supervising the class creating a drought that caused great blood loss and severe chills, otherwise known as a slow and painful death, and concluded that Professor Esson was a follower of the Dark Lord himself. After the odd and sometimes frightening plants she found herself faced with in her next lesson, Pandora was not looking forward to what was considered an evil plant.
Her thoughts were soon answered as she learned of the blood sucking tendencies of the Vampire Bat Trap, and unpleasantly related it to a Venus flytrap...only much larger.
One hour later, Pandora, among several other students, furiously nursed their injuries as they made their way to lunch, sucking on a puncture on their arm or holding a cloth to their face. Pandora did not fail to notice the occasional stare that followed her through the corridors or ripple of conversation she seemed to create around the castle. It seemed she became as much a topic for discussion as the Death Eaters that surrounded them.
Pandora barely had a chance to take in the dark Entrance Hall when she was suddenly bombarded by a red head.
"I've barely seen you all morning. How are-"
"Think after you fix me up we`re best friends now, do you?"
Ron blinked at Pandora's sharp question. He clearly did not expect her reaction to him to be so sour. Pandora expertly read his face and continued.
"We're not, Weasley. I appreciate your help, as it saved me the trouble of cleaning up my mess, but it changed nothing. We are still better off without each other. I strongly suggest you no longer associate yourself with me."
Pandora made to move around Ron, but his wide frame stepped to the side, blocking her path towards the Great Hall. Ignoring an icy glare from the witch in front of him, he bravely took her hand in his and dragged her in the opposite direction.
"What are you bloody-You big oaf-Leggo of my-"
Ron stopped Pandora's fist aiming for his head with a grunt and calmly lowered it to her side.
"Please...please just follow me. I'll never bother you again."
Pandora considered Ron with her scrutinizing eyes for a moment before he felt her surrender to his will and followed him up two flights of stairs. After nearly fifteen minutes of walking, Pandora finally broke the silence.
"Where are you taking me, you silly-"
"Here." He stopped in front of a rather plain looking wall and looked over at Pandora expectantly. "Walk by this wall three times and think really hard about something you want more than anything."
:::
Ron watched as Pandora stiffened slightly and eyed him oddly. He held back a grin when she jumped once she had finished pacing. She glanced in his direction before pushing the large door open and heard her gasp. Curiosity got the better of him, and Ron slowly followed her into the room. His eyebrows met in confusion at what he saw: all three, plain white walls were covered with still photographs of three women all very similar in appearance. Ron noted one of them very much looked like Pandora. But she looked different; younger, happier. The other two in the photos looked like they could have been her sister and her mother. One thing in the room looked slightly out of place: a hollow wooden box with a long handle of some sort and wire connecting the two. Ron's heartbeat quickened as he noticed Pandora's shaking hand covering her mouth, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Ron had never seen this kind of emotion from her before. It was almost as frightening as when she unleashed her anger.
It took him a moment to realize Pandora had stopped looking around the room and focused her fierce gaze on him.
"You! Why did you do this?"
Ron was at a loss for words.
"WHAT DID YOU FOLLOW ME FOR? WHAT DID YOU HOPE TO SEE?"
Ron opened and closed his mouth repeatedly.
"WANTED TO SEE THE GREAT GHOSTS OF PANDORA'S PAST, IS THAT RIGHT? WHAT IF I WALKED RIGHT IN ON SOMETHING PRIVATE AND JUST DECIDED I WAS A PART OF IT?"
Ron choked on his words as he noticed her tears falling freely down her cheeks.
"You just need to stay out of my life, Ron. You make it more complicated than you know."
The switch from yelling at the top of her lungs to a chilling calm in her voice made Ron shiver involuntarily and before he knew what was happening, Pandora had slipped past him and out of the door into the corridor. With a last sweeping glance around the room, Ron turned around and darted out the door after her. Pandora's shock of black hair whipped around one turn and Ron bolted, cursing her quick pace as he finally caught up with her in the courtyard. The stormy nature of the weather suited the mood currently hovering over their heads.
Ron cautiously approached Pandora, her back to him, and reached a tentative hand out to her shoulder. He leaped back when she whipped around, robes and hair dripping from the rain and dark-lined eyes smudging from the moisture, although what most shocked him was the look of torture swimming in her eyes.
"Pandora, I'm...I'm so sorry. I thought it would make you happy, going into that room, I didn't-"
"How did you find all of that?"
Ron blinked.
"I-it's called the Room of Requirement. You...you just walk by it like you did and think of something you need...something you want...and the room takes the shape of whatever it was you were thinking."
Pandora seemed to consider him for a moment before turning away from him again.
"What did you expect to happen by bringing me into that room?"
"I thought you would relax more. I know there's more to you than this face you put on everyday..."
Pandora spun around once again and before Ron had a chance to defend himself, she slammed her fist into his chest and his stomach with such force that a grunt erupted from his lips before he finally grabbed her wrist. He restrained her other wrist before she had a chance to use it as a weapon against him and forced both of her arms against her chest. Her face twisted in fury.
"You have no right...you can't just do that and...you have no idea what I've been through...you bloody poor excuse for a bloody..."
The last thing Ron expected Pandora to do as she struggled against his hold was to break down completely in his arms. Her arms caught between them, she wept against his chest, barely able to hold herself up, shaking uncontrollably. At a loss for words, Ron did nothing but wrap his own arms gently around her shaking body and firmly concentrated on never letting her go.
:::
The next couple of days had passed by in mutual silence between the two, neither strained nor uncomfortable, but simply understood. Pandora endured each lesson quietly and without notice from the Death Eaters, completing homework properly and on time without complaint. She continued to ignore the all-too-familiar stares and mutters as she walked the halls of the school. After an Apparition lesson on a mid-November afternoon, Pandora made her way down to the Great Hall earlier than usual. She tossed her school bag under her seat and plopped herself down at the long Gryffindor table. Most of her housemates had thankfully left her alone since that evening they all confronted her about her actions after Halloween. A few students silently acknowledged her as they took their seats and immediately resumed conversations with their friends. Pandora waited for the feast to appear so she could pick at her share of food and return to the seclusion of the common room.
She suddenly felt the presence of someone to her right and knew it was Ron, though she never turned her head from the middle of the table, now filling with food. Harry and Hermione soon sat to his right as well, although they all seemed to agree on a companionable silence. As Pandora finished her miniscule meal and gathered her things, Ron spoke up.
"Pandora?" She slowly turned to face Ron, his expression etched in worry. He cleared his throat. "Err...would you like to study with us? Later?"
Pandora raised an eyebrow and looked on the other side of Ron at Harry and Hermione who returned her inquiring gaze with a friendly one.
"I...I suppose so."
Pandora patiently waited for the trio to finish off their dinner and then they headed up towards the Gryffindor tower which turned out to be relatively empty due to the earliness of the evening. Pandora pulled out her work in an organized fashion on a small table beside the staircase. Her ears pricked at the small discussion the three were having around the fire and she caught Ron's eye.
She hated that feeling whenever he looked at her. She felt naked, exposed, stripped of any barrier she had left between her and that boy. She had exposed such an emotional part of her to him that she felt he had a sort of a claim on her that no one could see except them, and it made her skin crawl. The thought repeatedly crossed her mind of whether he had told his friends about that afternoon and what he saw, but she never noticed any looks of pity.
Pandora forced herself to return to her work on the importance of Seethite Root in various destruction potions for Esson. She was nearly finished her twelve-inch essay and already began thinking of the new spell she needed to learn for Defence Against the Dark Arts when Hermione made her way towards Pandora's table.
"Is there anything you needed help with?"
Pandora blinked. Hermione had not asked to help Pandora since that first week she arrived at the school. Eyeing her finished essay, Pandora sighed and closed her text book. Hermione took this as a sign of defeat and sat in the empty chair on the opposite side of Pandora, attempting to conceal an eager face. Pandora's twisted in slight disgust as she handled her wand.
"It's horrible. I do not want to learn this spell. I don't want to write about these things. I don't want to disembowel someone. But what choice do we all really have?"
Hermione's eager face dropped slightly. She looked down into her hands at her own wand.
"And...you listened to me, did you? Decided it's best not to constantly get yourself in trouble?"
"I decided if I get too injured I won't be able to look after you."
Hermione laughed softly at Pandora's statement but stopped abruptly when she looked up and saw no amusement in her green eyes. She cleared her throat.
"What did you need help with?"
Pandora inhaled sharply and eyed her wand.
"The Dead Atmosphere. From Larvil's lesson."
Hermione nodded mutely. She conjured a sort of mask for the four of them and waited patiently as each applied the mask over their mouths in slight apprehension. As Hermione spoke, she weaved her wand in an intricate pattern Pandora picked up quickly.
"Mortuus Aer."
The air almost seemed to shrivel Pandora's skin. She felt heavy and weak and she struggled to keep the steady rise and fall of her chest.
"Aer."
The air seemed to seep out of Hermione's wand and she felt strong and healthy again and promptly removed her mask, the others following.
"What bloody magic are these people forcing on us?"
Pandora's sharp tone seemed to jerk the others into reality.
"This isn't right...this isn't what magic is meant for...but..." Pandora eyed all of them in turn. "...we learn this Dark Magic. We learn it...and at the opportune moment, we use it against them."
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If anyone has ever wondered, yes, I did create the Willow Hominis, Mortuus Aer, the Dartmouth Raider, that blood-loss potion, the Vampire Bat Trap, and a lot of the lesson plans seeing as 7th year never really happened and we don't ever find out every single spell, potion and creature. So I know Rowling used Latin as a base for the spells and i just decided, 'hey why not make my own!' Y'all should try it, its really fun!