Oh my Rowling, over 4,000 words...good news though =) It did not feel like I typed 4,000 words...so it should be a good solid chapter to read if you have nothing better to do =) I am actually quite proud of this chapter. A lot happens =) SO. Let me know what you think! Hope ya don't fall asleep on your hand whilst you read and accidentally hit that review button with your chin _
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Stiff necked, tired and a little too warm, Ron awoke early on Monday morning. The common room was still quite dark, though the window overlooking the Black Lake allowed a dark sunset to peak through the window. Bloody hell, had that really been just yesterday? As Ron recalled the events of the day before, his innocent walk with Pandora that morning seemed a lifetime ago. She told him why she hadn't come to this school earlier, told him about her childhood, which he realized now had been disrupted by lies. He could not blame her; he supposed he caught her off guard, asked her something too private in public.
As he thought of the truth of the situation, rage boiled inside him once again at her father. At this point, he cared not that there were tests to be written and homework to be completed, and that the consequences of failure at both resulted in torture; he knew that Pandora and Hermione would do fine.
His thoughts were disturbed as he felt Pandora stir beside him. He looked down at her for the first time and saw her face peaceful and relaxed, yet streaked with tears blackened from her eye makeup. He quickly cleaned her makeup and tears away with his wand, wanting her to keep her pride should someone wake early and totter into the common room. For the first time since he's known her, he saw what she truly looked like underneath her mask.
She looked gorgeous as ever; her natural skin colour shining through radiantly and her full, slightly pink lips were, he thought, perfect and he wondered briefly why she covered her face so heavily. Had her father told her she was ugly, too?
Stuffing his anger, he made to move from her side so she would be able to lie down properly but the hand that had been lying so innocently on his chest had clenched into a fist around his jumper again, thus making him immobile. He relaxed in her clutches for mere seconds before tensing up once more as her eyes squeezed together and she moved in closer to him. Ron gulped nervously and attempted to release her hold of his jumper, but it was as if she was aware of his actions and tightened her grip further.
Suddenly, she jumped upright and looked around wildly, focussed on Ron's face quite close to hers and leaped away from him, forgetting her iron grip on his jumper in the process. Ron found himself thrown across the couch and on top of Pandora from the force of her escape. She gasped, eyes wide, and had it not been for the surprisingly quick moment, Ron may have laughed at her maroon coloured cheeks. He swiftly lifted himself off of her and sat up a little too straight at the far end of the couch, her doing the same.
Pandora placed her hands on her burning cheeks and her eyes widened even more as her hands swept through her tangled hair. She began fanning herself slightly, stopped abruptly, and covered her eyes. Ron watched in amusement as this process repeated itself a few times before he spoke up.
"Do you need a moment? A glass of cold water, perhaps?"
Ron smirked as Pandora glared at him, her cheeks flushed pink and her green eyes sharp.
"Oh, maybe toss a snowball at my head. That should do the trick." She sighed. "It's not as if it's my fault, Weasley. You have a very hot body!"
Ron didn't know whether to burst into laughter or melt away into the couch from embarrassment, though Pandora looked like she wanted to do the latter. Her cheeks burned red and her eyes were wide as the misspoken words hung in front of her. After several heavy moments, she finally dropped her head into her hands and shook it back and forth.
"I meant-" she mumbled into her hands. "-I meant...I didn't mean it like...your inner temperature is-"
"I understand, Pandora!" Laughed Ron. "Thank you, though."
Pandora shot him a dirty look and rose stiffly from her seat, promptly ignoring Ron as she passed him. She was soon stopped by his hand on her wrist and the seriousness in his eyes.
"Pandora, wait...you can't just...I mean, you...last night..."
Pandora's expression softened at Ron's helpless tone and she sat herself beside him again. She looked at her hands as she spoke.
"Look, Ron...you must understand I have never told anyone about my life before. Besides my sister and my mum, no one else has ever seen me cry." A sad smile crept across her face. "It frightens me how close I feel with you...mostly because with that closeness comes the fear that something will happen to you."
Something new triggered inside Ron, blazing him with a raw bravery that he had never felt before. He reached out his hand and touched Pandora's cheek, forcing her gaze on him. His voice was surprisingly calm as his heart seemed to bound out of his chest.
"Pandora, I'm not going anywhere, all right? So, just stop thinking like that right now." Fear flitted through her eyes. "Do you believe me? I'm not letting you go until you believe me."
A small smile curved on her pink lips. Ron grinned.
"Well, now that we have that settled, I'm going to go clean up. I probably look like hell after last night."
At this, Ron piped up and promptly placed his foot in his mouth. "Oh, I took all that rubbish off earlier. You look better without it actu-"
"You what?"
Pandora leaped from the couch and up the stairs to her dormitory, nearly knocking Harry over in the process. He stared after her, bewildered, and proceeded across the common room floor towards Ron only to meet the same expression. They shook their heads and muttered at the same time, "Women."
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Although successfully passing her two tests and completing all of her assigned homework, Pandora still came out of both Potions and Charms with rather painful injuries with the excuse that her and Hermione had cheated to achieve the scores they received. The Death Eaters watching each lesson thought it a good idea to use the spells and techniques they were teaching as punishment to demonstrate the strength and power of the things they were learning, although it only made students more reluctant to learn them. Though Pandora found herself sickeningly used to this sort of routine, it ate her up as she saw the looks of anguish stretching across her schoolmates faces as they exited classes.
Heading towards Gryffindor Tower to drop off her bag and spell books, Pandora passed Harry, sporting a bleeding nose and puffy lip, as he made his way towards the Great Hall. Instinctively, she stopped him as gently as possible and looked him directly in the eyes. As she expected, something guarded appeared there, not completely sure of what he saw in front of him.
"What do you want?" His eyes shifted uncertainly as he spoke.
Pandora swept her gaze up and down the nearly empty corridor before replying.
"You don't like me."
Harry blinked. "You've quite a knack for making people uncomfortable with your bluntness, you know that?"
Pandora flashed a grin and folded her arms as the cracks in the stone wall became increasingly more interesting.
"Look, I know...I know that I haven't exactly been all roses and butterflies but...well, if being a flower or an insect of some sort will help you to realize that I'm not all bad, then...what?"
A muffled chuckle erupted from behind Harry's hand as she spoke and he shook his head innocently. "Nothing. Go on."
Pandora raised an eyebrow at him. "What I'm trying to say is I realize that you refuse to completely trust me and-"
"That's only because every time someone offers to help or acts like they're on my side, I end up being stabbed in the back and escape within an inch of my life. So you can see my inner dilemma."
Pandora nodded her head in understanding. "I...know how you feel, Harry. You probably don't believe me. I grew up rather...restricted. So I can understand why it would be hard for you to trust others. But oddly enough, I trust you. I have since the day I arrived here. I don't know why."
Harry continued to scrutinize Pandora with his bright green eyes almost as if expecting her to avert his gaze.
"Ron told me about Voldemort...and your parents, and something about a prophecy. How you are making yourself fulfill it on your own." Harry betrayed nothing. "He mentioned you are figuring out how to destroy him."
Finally, Harry's eyes sharpened and his green eyes became molten poison. "He told you about that, did he?"
Pandora raised an eyebrow at him. "You really should trust your best mate, Potter. Otherwise it's only a matter of time before you no longer trust yourself." Harry eyes boiled beneath his glasses. "No, he told me nothing. Said that you would tell me if you saw fit to."
Harry shook his head slowly. "I've only told Ron and Hermione. Prove to me you're different...prove to me you're trustworthy, and maybe I'll let you in."
"I only wish to help. I ask for nothing."
Harry considered the witch before him for a moment before he spoke his parting words.
"Prove it, first."
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Three lessons and four broken fingers later, Pandora trudged up the steps towards the Gryffindor tower. Students filtered towards their own common rooms, a hopeless gloom hovering over their heads. It was to her understanding that letters from home were no longer being received and letters sent out from the school were simply scorched by Death Eaters. People everywhere worried for their families and stressed about where their lives now stood: in the hands of the Dark Lord, in the palms of the Death Eaters, and in the eye of despair. Pandora began to feel the familiar pressure of depression settle over her heart, but something unknown acted as a shield, something she was unfamiliar with.
Thinking of the possibilities of such an obstacle, Pandora's attention was not on where her feet were taking her and she found herself face to face with Ginny, clearly preoccupied with an arm full of notes and a quill. She nearly snarled as she discovered her path was blocked and looked up into Pandora's eyes. A faint fiery light lit up in her deep brown eyes as she considered her obstacle and brushed past Pandora, colliding shoulders as she resumed her pace. Pandora turned and eyed her oddly as a scientist would eye an enigma. She shook her head and made to head towards the next staircase, nearly jumping out of her skin when she found Ron right in front of her. Clutching her heart, she slapped him across the chest and glared at him angrily.
"Do you bloody Weasley's have to sneak up everywhere?"
Ron watched, bemused, as Pandora took off the down corridor in an angry huff.
After muttering a quick 'shadowheart' to the Fat Lady, Pandora finally collapsed into a lumpy chair near the stairs and withdrew her wand from the inside pocket of her robes. A few painful moments and four muttered 'episkey's later, her fingers felt whole and limber. Pandora knew the rest of her house was in the Great Hall, stuffing down their food as quick as they could and escaping the looks of the Death Eaters. She found herself uninterested in food at the moment and instead gazed into the comforting fire across the room.
It wasn't long before witches and wizards of varying ages trickled in the common room, the occasional greeting passing from one to Pandora as they passed her. Most, Pandora noticed, were limping or had blood stained on their robes from injuries to their face; it seemed the Death Eaters were bent on making sure everyone saw the marks that their torture created.
After nearly half an hour, Ron, Hermione nor Harry had returned from the Great Hall and Pandora began to worry. She knew they were up to something and could only imagine the punishment they would go through if they got caught. She eventually sifted through a random text book and pretended to study it as the hours passed and one by one the Gryffindors headed up to their dormitories. She spent the last two hours trying desperately to cling onto a conversation with Lavender about Lord knows what and found herself greatly relieved when her mouth opened into a yawn instead of another discussion on Margaret Salina's newest line of dress shoes. With much insistence on Pandora's part, the blonde girl made her way up to their dorms with a promise that she would wait up for Pandora. Which is why she all but flew out of the common room through the portrait hole and into the dark, cold corridor.
She saw her breath mist out before her as she exhaled and shivered involuntarily. It seemed Dementors patrolled the castle at night in search for those who attempted escape. Swiftly and steadily, she slithered down the corridors, not knowing where exactly she would go but sure she wouldn't be disappointed in her travels. Going by instinct alone, Pandora descended two sets of stairs and eased along a few corridors unrecognizable by the night. After finding nothing of interest for nearly an hour, she flew down a few more flights of steps until she no longer recognized her surroundings and found the air stiffer and colder than before. She must have been near the first floor where the most Dementors protected the front doors.
After what seemed like hours and miles taking its toll on her burning body, she spotted a faint white light, blurred by what appeared to be a window. She instantly recognized this area as the library and then many things happened at that moment: Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces were illuminated by the light of the wand as they looked right into Pandora's eyes when several Dementors appeared from what seemed out of nowhere and the last thing Pandora saw in her mind's eye was her mother being knifed down, her sister being taken away and her father minimizing her hope with every single blow.
"...if we just use-"
"No, can't risk it right now. Just hide it 'till we get back."
"But I have it with me right now, we could just-"
"Look, I want to get rid of it just as much as you do, and I know there is no proper place to, but this is hardly the time right now. It's too dangerous. They may be on their way right now if we aren't quiet. We're too tall for this thing, Harry..."
"That was quite the scream; I'm surprised the whole school isn't crowding around, actually..."
"Ron, don't be such an insensitive git."
"Look, she's waking up now. Can we-"
"Not in this hall, Harry!"
Three dark figures came into focus as Pandora regained consciousness. She felt drained of energy, dehydrated and extremely cold. With a violent shudder, she shot up and almost knocked one of them in the face. Her vision doubled and she flopped herself unceremoniously back onto the hard floor with a groan.
"Eat this, Pandora. Trust me, you'll feel better."
Pandora fumbled in the dark for whatever Hermione was offering her but finally someone grabbed her hand and stuffed something hard into her hand.
"Wazzit?"
"Chocolate. Eat it, go on."
Pandora bit a chunk of the sweet food and instantly felt more energetic. With a grunt, she sat up properly and squinted at the dark shapes surrounding her.
"What the bloody hell happened?"
She noticed one of them wringing their hands nervously and immediately assumed Hermione.
"Pandora, haven't you ever...performed a Patronus before?"
Pandora's eyes tried to seek one of the other two figures in the darkness for Ron but found only silhouettes. "N-no. Never quite g-got the hang of it."
Although a sheet of darkness blinded her, Pandora could almost hear Hermione exchanging looks with the other two.
"I know that you haven't been learning magic for very long, but I've seen some of the spells you've done and I know you can do it. It's almost essential now because of the state of the school. Now, all you need is a happy memory. There must be something strong en-"
"Hey, Hermione, we should really get out of this corridor. I thought I heard something."
Pandora found that Ron was to Hermione's left and offered him a weak smile she knew he would not see.
"You're right." Ron gasped in mock horror. "Can you walk?"
"'Course I can walk. I was-"
"I was talking to Pandora, Ronald."
"Oh. Er...right."
Pandora chuckled weakly. "You two could be a comedy act." She grunted as she rose. "Yeah, I'm fine to walk."
The four of them walked down the corridor underneath what appeared to be a cloak barely covering them at all to the first flight of stairs in silence until Pandora's head felt heavy from all the questions that filled her head.
"Still don't know what the bloody hell is going on. I mean...I think I know why you were in the library, I just can't remember anything after that...except something about danger...and doing it now? But that makes no sense..."
"Well...you sort of passed out because of the Dementors. It was weird...all we saw was you for a brief moment and then you just seemed to disappear..."
Ron's voice faded as he spoke and, to Pandora's surprise, Harry carried on.
"I just instinctively cast a Patronus...that's all that happened, really. It took you a few minutes to gain consciousness."
Pandora nodded absently as they continued down another corridor and up one more flight of stairs.
"Thank you."
Harry was silent, but Pandora knew he was conflicted when it came to her. They soon stopped outside a bit of blank wall that Pandora recognized and attempted to eye the trio.
"What...are we doing here?"
In her mind she saw Hermione fidgeting with her hands as she considered her response.
"What...what we have to do here, Pandora, we have to do alone. I'm sorry-" Pandora swore she heard Harry say 'don't be sorry' under his breath as Hermione paused. "-but this is something the three of us have to do alone."
Pandora nodded in understanding and was just about to slide out from underneath the cloak when Ron's voice stopped her.
"No. There are too many Dementors out there and you can't defend yourself against them yet. It's too dangerous."
Pandora felt the waves of anger from Harry but decided to speak before he said something he would regret.
"Never felt so bloody fragile in my life...look, it's your business what you do on your own, so I'll just stay out here. All right?"
After a moment of speaking through their eyes, Harry finally spoke.
"Yeah. Right. Take this, then."
He slid the cloak off and handed it to Pandora. It looked odd in his hand. Like she could almost see the floor through the cloak itself.
"Err...thanks but, I'm not cold anymore."
Harry rolled his eyes. "It's an Invisibility Cloak. Just put the bloody thing on." Pandora did as she was told and draped it over herself. "And don't steal it, eh?"
"Harry!"
Pandora flinched at how close Hermione now sounded. She watched as he walked by the Room three times and saw the great black door appear seemingly out of nowhere. Harry pushed through, followed closely by Hermione who was almost tailed by Ron until he stopped and looked around in Pandora's general area.
"For Merlin's sake, would you please be careful?"
Pandora grinned. "No promises."
Ron flashed a tight smile before walking into the Room of Requirement where the doors immediately shut behind him. It was deadly silent in the dark corridor. Almost too silent. It unnerved her as she remembered the calm before the storm. She heard nothing in the imaginary room behind her for nearly ten minutes until a blood curdling scream erupted from behind the door. Pandora whipped around and stared hopelessly at the wall, not knowing how she could possibly enter. All rational thought gone from her mind, Pandora pounded on the hard wall with her protesting fists and attempted to scratch at it when that proved futile. She drew her wand and muttered 'reducto' over and over again but to no avail. To her horror, the screaming was cut drastically short and then there was silence. A stray tear streaked down her cheek as she stared at the wall, her hands clutching its cracks.
She leaped away from stone as it moved beneath her fingers and soon became a door. She yanked the Cloak off of her and glared at the trio that emerged, slightly shaky but otherwise all right. A severely damaged diamond tiara hung limply in Harry's hand.
"You three nearly gave me a bloody heart attack! What the hell was all the screaming? What did you-"
Her sentence was broken off as an amused Ron stepped forward and gently wiped her tear away from her cheek with his thumb. "Didn't scare you, did we?"
Pandora's eyes became acid. "No, I pound madly on walls all day just for the fuck of it."
Behind Ron, Harry tried to hide a smirk and exchanged an amused expression with Hermione.
Ron's eyes hardened as he looked into Pandora's. "Are you all right?"
Pandora blinked. "'M fine."
He raised an eyebrow at her but remained silent as Harry spoke.
"What...what do we do with it?"
Ron turned to face the other two. "How 'bout the Forest? It'd eventually just be buried by leaves and branches, right?"
The three of them looked at each other for a mere moment before Harry nodded sharply. "Right. We'll do that when we visit Hagrid. Not-"
"STUPEFY!"
The Death Eater sneaking up on the small group flew back from the power of Pandora's spell and hit the corridor wall, unconscious. Brief glances were exchanged before the group took off down the corridor and bounded up the staircases until they reached Gryffindor tower. Panting, Hermione and Pandora leaned against the wall while Harry and Ron clutched their knees and caught their breath.
"Th-thanks." gasped Harry.
Pandora's head shot up in Harry's direction. "No prob'm."
Moments later, they straightened up and glanced quickly around the corridor.
"Are you four going to stand there all night and risk punishment or do you feel like coming inside for a visit?" snapped the Fat Lady.
Hermione whipped around. "Sorry. Shadowheart."
"Very well."
:::
"Where were you last night? I stayed down here for hours waiting for you."
Ron attempted to sink into the couch as his sister's piercing gaze swept across him, Harry and Hermione in turn. She huffed impatiently sat down where she stood in front of the fireplace.
"Look, if you are out...fulfilling Dumbledore's mission in the middle of the night, you could get in so much trouble. If they found out exactly what you were up to, they might even kill you." She tilted her head to look directly at Harry. "I know what you'll say, but you need more help. We'll all help if you need it. You can't keep hiding things from us all."
Unfortunately for Harry, Ginny caught his quick glance in Pandora's direction where she sat innocently at a small table, her head leaning on her hand as she perused a worn book. She followed his look and narrowed her eyes at what she saw.
"So...you'll let her in on your secret, but not me, is that right?"
"Ginny, she was-"
"Look, red, do you have a problem with me?"
Pandora was sitting stick straight in her chair and her eyes burned into Ginny's skull. Ginny stood to her full height, five inches shy of Pandora's, straightened her shoulders and faced her head on. Ron felt sick.
"My name is Ginny, Witte. And yes, I do."
Pandora calmly rose from her seat and stepped out from behind the table. The room had gone silent. Ron felt frightened.
"Spit it out, then. Don't let it manifest itself inside."
"If you think you can show up here and win everyone's heart, you're in for a rude awakening, princess!"
"I wasn't exactly welcome with open arms, in case you haven't noticed, Ginny. It took me a few moments for people to warm up to the monster you see before you now."
"Don't think I'll be quite as forgiving then! You tell Hermione off, you yell at my brother...I mean, has everyone conveniently forgotten this? You spent four weeks just glaring at anyone who so much as blinked and now it seems one good deed has redeemed you of many more faults?"
"YOU TRY BEING RIPPED FROM EVERYTHING YOU KNOW AND FORCED INTO A BUILDING WHERE PEOPLE YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW JUDGE YOU AS YOU PASS THEM! IT'S NOT ALL RAINBOWS AND UNICORNS, DESPITE HOW WONDERFUL IT MAY SOUND TO YOU!"
"DOESN'T MEAN YOU GO-"
"AND SINCE WHEN IS THERE A PERSON ALIVE WHO HAS NO FAULTS? WHO HAS DONE NOTHING WRONG, HAS NO REGRETS? LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND TELL ME YOU HAVE NEVER MADE A MISTAKE!"
"I'VE NEVER PUSHED PEOPLE AWAY FROM ME WHO ARE ONLY TRYING TO HELP, AND YOU GO-"
"Ginny, wait, you don't underst-"
"STAY OUT OF THIS, RONALD!" Pandora and Ginny yelled at the same time, never taking their eyes off each other.
Ron was feeling nauseous. His sister and his troubled friend were mere inches away, all but spitting in their faces as they argued. They had not uttered a word since their request to Ron, but Pandora's eyes were boiling poison and Ginny's were deadly acid.
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What did you think? I am truly curious! What about Pandora and Ginny's argument? Who do you agree with? The next couple of chapters will be pretty full and eventful so I'm looking forward to getting it all out of my mind and into this text =)