Chapter Five
"Oi! It's good to see you, Harry! Come on in!" Hagrid greeted, a grin on his face.
"Hi Hagrid," Harry slipped in, pulling Pandora in behind him. "This is my friend, Pandora."
"Well it's nice to meet you, Pandora," Hagrid smiled, enveloping her tiny hand in his ginormous one. She gave a timid smile. "Sit down, sit down! Make yourselves comfortable! I was just about to go walk Fang for a bit. Make yourselves a cup of tea, I'll only be gone for a bit," It was as if Hagrid could read Harry's mind. He gave him a knowing smile as he called Fang over.
"Thanks, Hagrid." Harry smiled.
"No problem at all! Hey…congrats on all of your tasks, by the way! You've been bloody brilliant!" Hagrid complimented. Harry looked down at the floor, feeling embarrassed.
"Thanks," Harry mumbled sheepishly.
"I'll be back later, make yourselves at home!" Hagrid called out, shutting the door behind him.
"He seems nice," Pandora said quietly.
"Hagrid? He's the best," Harry beamed. "I come here all the time with Ron and Hermionie. He always lets us hang out here,"
"That's fun, it's like your own secret hideaway." Pandora observed. She turned to him. "So why did you act all weird when Hagrid congratulated you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Harry replied. "I wasn't acting weird."
"Yes you were," she declared. "You got all uncomfortable and awkward. Why?" Harry shrugged in response. She patiently waited. After a pause, he sighed.
"I just…I know it's great, that I've done so well and all. But I keep feeling like if I don't succeed, if I don't do well, I just will be letting everyone down. As long as I keep winning, I'm living up to their expectations. Which is what I want to do. I mean, I think I want to,"
"I see," she murmured quietly.
"So, why did you act all weird when I told you that I had been in your dad's store?" he asked.
"What were you even doing there?" she questioned.
"Hey, no changing the subject!"
"You tell me first," she insisted. "What were you doing in Knockturn Alley? It doesn't really seem like your…scene…"
"Well…" Harry gave a sheepish grin. "Truth be told, I couldn't figure out how to use floo powder. I was trying to get to Diagon Alley but…you see… I didn't say it clearly enough and it transported me there." Pandora began to crack up, covering her face with her hands. Harry laughed along with her.
"You're just as good as a muggle-born!" Pandora giggled.
"Hey," Harry stopped her. "One of my best friends is a muggle-born, and she's the smartest witch of all."
"My apologies," Pandora held up her hands defensively. "Didn't mean it like that."
"It's okay, I forgive you," Harry said, giving her a half-smile.
"So…best witch of all, huh?" Pandora purred with a devilish smirk on her face. Her eyebrows waggled.
"Not like that!" Harry laughed. "We're just friends. She's just very intelligent."
"If you say so," Pandora said, smiling. They were sitting at the table across from one another, their books scattered on the desk. Harry reached over and flipped over her Potions textbook, flipping to the page that she had bookmarked.
"So is this what you do in your spare time?" He asked nonchalantly.
"I guess you could say that," she scooted her chair closer to his so they could read alongside one another.
"A relaxation potion? Do I stress you out?" He joked.
"It's for Bridget," she explained. "She's having trouble sleeping and is under a lot of stress."
"Do you make potions often?"
"Yeah, I enjoy it," she revealed. "I'm good at them. Professor Snape loves me,"
"He doesn't love me," Harry chuckled.
"Yeah, well that's because you're the Chosen One," she giggled.
"It's not my fault I'm destined for greatness!" Harry laughed.
"Oh, but of course," she mocked sympathy, patting him on the shoulder lightly. "It's just so hard to be eternally famous and all that,"
"You know," he said, turning to face her. "Out of everyone I've ever met, I feel like you get it. Which is weird, because I know we only just met, but…I don't know. You don't put pressure on me or have expectations for me. It's like, you know what I'm saying when I talk about all the expectations and all that,"
"It's because I do. Get it, I mean. I've heard it all before," she confided.
"What do you mean?" He asked. She sighed.
"My father believes I'm destined for greatness. I have to follow in his footsteps. Over the summer he teaches me all about the types of items he sells and the way he runs his store because one day I'm supposed to take over it. All of my ancestors have done great things. They were all Slytherin and all pureblood. He expects nothing less from me." She ranted, her eyes staring off into a faraway place. "My mother was a brilliant potion-maker. She could brew anything and everything. He knows of my abilities and urges me to work on them as often as I can. He doesn't take no for an answer. He just expects me to be as amazing as her, which I'm not. I don't know if I ever will be."
"I'm sorry," he said, leaning towards her. "I understand, Pandora. Expectations suck."
"But yours are true," she looked into his eyes. "You've already proved yourself. You're the Boy Who Lived."
"No, I'm the baby that miraculously stopped the Dark Lord by crying in my crib and escaping with a scar," he muttered. "Everyone acts like I'm capable of such great things but no one understands that it's not like I did it all on purpose. It's not like I thought to myself, hold up, let me just stop this wizard for a second. No, it didn't happen like that. I don't even know how it happened, it just did. And since then everyone's either loved or hated me, no in between. All because of one night that I barely remember."
"You stopped a reign of terror," she said. "You don't know how and you don't know why, but you did."
"But where do I go from there?" he looked at her desperately. "They all think I'm some kind of powerful wizard who stopped Voldemort, but I don't even know where to start. Even with this tournament. I didn't ask to be in this. Someone put me in the cup. He or she expects me to win, or die, I don't know."
"You won't die," she suddenly had his face in her hands. "Harry, you're stronger than you know. You may think that that night was not in your control, but right now is. You've done more than any fourth year, let alone wizard could have done already. You'll make it through this. You don't see it, but you're determined and powerful. You don't have to live up to their expectations, but you should live up to your own."
"Pandora," he whispered, reaching out to run a hand through her hair. "You're powerful as well. You think that you have to do what your dad wants, but you don't. You enjoy potion making, right? So continue that. Do it because you love it, not because it's what's expected of you."
"I don't know if I love it as much anymore," she confessed. "It's become more of a chore than a hobby. I've seen how much damage it can do. Bridget wants to be an amazing quidditch player but also a star scholar. She drinks potions so she won't sleep. She uses the time to study, to practice, to work. She doesn't take any breaks and she's constantly asking me for more. Those are her expectations. She has to be the best at everything,"
"Everyone has expectations," he observed, a solemn look on his face.
"My other friend, Viola, she doesn't work half as hard as Bridget. But she gets good grades, which bothers Bridget to no end. It's because she sleeps with her professors and her tutors. She cheats to get ahead. She's never in class but no one notices because she'll sleep with some guy to drink Polyjuice potion and pretend to be her for the day. It's sickening," Pandora was venting now, letting out everything that had been bottled up inside of her for as long as she could remember. "I'm so sick of all of the 'I have to do this before I do this' and the 'this is what must be done, this is what's expected'. Why can't anyone enjoy the present? Why are there so many expectations? Destined for greatness, who cares? What if I want to go marry a muggle and become a sculptor for the rest of my life?"
"I'm surprised you know what a sculptor is," Harry laughed, his eyes twinkling. She grinned.
"I was once in a muggle town and I found this remarkable ice statue. I had been so fascinated by it that I had asked the nearest person, 'what magic is this?' and she had laughed and told me to go ask the sculptor." She admitted.
"I don't know whether to be more shocked that you were fascinated by a statue or that you were in a muggle town in the first place." Harry teased. She swatted at him and he caught her arm, pulling her towards him. They both paused, looking into each other's eyes and hardly breathing. He reached over and pushed back a strand of her blonde hair, his fingers brushing her cheek and sending a warm chill down her spine. She bit her lip, gazing at his. Every atom in her body was vibrating, flying off and pinging against her bones, begging her to lean forward and kiss him.
"It's getting a little late, you two don't want to get in trouble now," Hagrid's voice came from out of nowhere and the two nearly leapt out of their seats. Harry checked the clock.
"He's right, it's almost past curfew," Harry observed. "I'll walk you back," the two thanked Hagrid for letting them stay and walked in silence to the castle. Once they had reached the courtyard, he turned to her.
"Did you mean it when you said we weren't friends?" He asked innocently.
"I said that a long time ago," she murmured. "I didn't know you then,"
"And now?" He asked.
"Well, I still don't totally know you,"
"Then get to know me," he leaned close, his intoxicating smell filling her nostrils. She felt herself tilting towards him, drinking in his scent and wanting to savor this moment forever. She shook her head, snapping out of her reverie.
"Why would you want to be friends anyways?" She asked. "It's not like everyone around us is screaming for it to happen."
"I like you," he shrugged. She felt her heart flutter. "You're fun to talk to."
"Yeah," she said, his words still ringing mellifluously in her ears. "We can be friends."
"Yeah?" he gave a lopsided grin.
"Only because you taught me how to build a snowman," she added, her eyes sparkling.
"Can I still call you house elf?" he asked. She wrinkled her nose.
"Only if I can be a free elf," she said.
"Okay, you're a free elf." He told her. The clock struck midnight and the two groaned, realizing they were beyond past curfew. She began to walk off, knowing that if they were caught, they would be in huge trouble.
"You better not tell anyone about this, Potter!" She called out as she walked away.
"I would never," he said as he began to back away in the opposite direction. "I'll meet you tomorrow night, right here."
"Bring gloves," she replied. "We've got many snowmen to build."
"Anything for my free elf," he said before turning and going off to his side of the castle.
