Scattered all across the green bedspread was an assortment of ingredients that Pandora had spent the previous weeks collecting. Just some of these items were dried apple slices, flower petals, salt water, pine needles and cones, and a vial of diluted peppermint. She was in the middle of organizing her things by color when she was interrupted.
“What the hell, Pandora?” Evan demanded as he stormed into the dorm, his best friend, Barty, close behind him. “What the hell is all this shit?”
She shrugged. “It’s for my spell jar.”
Evan took a deep breath as he pinched his nose. “Okay,” he said, trying to find his bearings. “Okay, why is it on my bed?”
“Because if I did it on my bed my sheets would get all dirty and I don’t want to have to clean it,” she stated as if it were obvious.
“Okay, do you realize that now my bed is going to get dirty and I’ll have to clean it?” he asked his twin sister. They looked similar with their mother’s hair and father’s nose. The same dark skin covered each of their lithe bodies, but Pandora always thought that was where their similarities ended. She nodded her head.
Barty barked a laugh as he slapped Evan’s behind. “Don’t worry, Rosie. You can bunk with me so you don’t get cursed by her muggle voodoo shit. What’s this spell jar even about Dora?” he asked as he lounged on his own bed.
“Well-” Pandora started with an excited smile. She loved when people didn’t shut her down about her interests. Her friends never took her seriously, usually Regulus was the only person who didn’t laugh at her. “-it’s a love spell. I made it. The original spell is meant to be luck-inducing but I’m thinking if I replace the acorns with pine cones it’ll change its purpose.”
“And why’s that?” Barty questioned.
Pandora scoffed. “Everyone knows that pine trees are the most romantic conifers.”
Barty raised his arms in mock surrender, “Oh, my mistake.”
“You do know that this isn’t real magic, right Panda?” Evan asked cautiously.
Pandora rolled her eyes at her brother. “It is,” she insisted. “Just because there’s no flashy colored lightning doesn’t mean it’s not magic.”
“It’s muggle magic,” Barty chimed in. “If you want a real love spell just brew a batch of amortentia.”
Pandora closed her eyes and counted backward from ten out loud. “Well Bartemius, if you actually paid attention to Professor Slughorn and didn’t just make Regulus do everything for you,” Pandora started calmly. “Then you’d know that amortentia doesn’t produce true love. Just infatuation.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” Barty laughed and then winced when Evan jabbed him in the stomach as he settled in next to him.
Evan rolled his eyes and turned back to Pandora. “If you want Evans to fall in love with you, why don’t you just talk to her?” She tried to keep the blush off of her face at just the mention of her longtime hallway crush.
“You’re one to talk,” she murmured. Evan looked at her pointedly. “I am going to talk to her. After I fill my jar I will talk to her. I’m just waiting for Regulus to bring me the ladybugs I need,” she promised with a smile.
Before Barty or Evan could question her, Regulus opened the door to the dorm. “Oh, hello, Dora. I was just about to go looking for you. Here,” he said as he gave her a tiny jewelry box with needle-sized holes in the lid. She expressed her gratitude and pulled Regulus into a hug.
Barty held his arms outstretched, “What, Reggie? No hug hello for Barty?”
“Shut it, Crouch. Go hug your boyfriend,” Regulus retorted.
Evan’s eyebrows furrowed as he turned in Barty’s arms to face him. “You have a boyfriend?”
“No, Rosie, of course not. Reg is just taking the piss,” he reassured him, giving Regulus a pointed look.
Regulus rolled his eyes, murmuring something under his breath in French, and Pandora giggled. “So, what’re the ladybugs for?” Regulus asked her.
“She’s making a love spell for Lily Evans,” Barty sang from his spot on the bed and Evan laughed next to him.
“Shut up!” Pandora giggled and threw a pillow at them.
She began to fill up the mason jar, starting with the Lily flower stems and ending with the pine cone scales. When she was done, she wrapped the jar in a piece of twine adorned with raw rose quartz, clear quartz, and green aventurine crystals, setting it in her messenger bag so she wouldn’t forget it the next morning.
***
“Bloody hell,” Remus swore from his spot across from Lily at the Gryffindor table during breakfast time. She looked up from her textbook to see Remus digging through his messenger bag searching for something; Sirius tore himself away from his important game of utensil quidditch with James as well.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
Remus gave up on the bag, throwing it to the floor in frustration. “I’ve run out of beetle’s eyes,” he complained. “Now this batch is useless.” He and Lily were working on their semester final for potions, they were to make a Draught of Perception and compose an essay on the purpose of each ingredient in the potion.
Lily sat up on her knees to peer over the cauldron. “Don’t be ridiculous, Rem. You can salvage it.”
“I can’t,” he insisted. “I have to do the next step soon or else the whole brew will go flat. I’ll just have to restart once Slughorn opens the supply closet, I suppose. Unless you happen to have any spare eyes on you?” Lily apologetically shook her head, so he turned to the rest of the group. “Anyone?”
Peter gave a small smile, “Sorry mate, you’re the one we go to when we need stuff.” James hummed in agreement through a mouthful of pastry, and Remus sighed and put his head in his hands.
“Don’t worry, Moony. You and I can drop into Hogsmeade after breakfast and pick up some more,” Sirius assured him as he scooped applesauce into his mouth. He continued to talk with his mouthful, and Lily couldn’t hide the disgust from her expression. “I wasn’t planning on going this weekend, but my schedule for today consists only of waiting for Remus to finish his potion anyway.” He smiled up at Remus, knocking their shoulders together, then returned to eating. Remus rolled his eyes, but the smile he was sporting betrayed him. Lily smiled to herself when she noticed the pink on both boys’ faces.
Marlene strode into the Great Hall alongside Dorcas Meadowes, parting ways as they went to sit at their assigned tables. When Marlene sat next to her, Lily leaned in close and whispered so only she could hear, “You aren’t as subtle as you think, Marly.” Giggling as her roommate flushed bright red, Lily and Marlene had a whispered discussion that resulted in “details later” before returning to the boys. James and Sirius were currently arguing over the classification of a beetle. The origin of this conversation topic was completely lost on both girls, but amusing nonetheless.
“Well, Padfoot,” James began. “That’s where you’re wrong. Beetles are animals. In fact, beetles make up a fourth of all animals in the world!”
Sirius stared at his brother in disbelief, “James where the hell did you hear this bullshit? A beetle is a bug, it isn’t a fucking animal.”
James’ grin was so smug at that moment. “Yes and no.”
Lily laughed as she saw a vein threaten to burst in Sirius’ forehead. The bickering escalated quickly, and they garnered other tables' attention. So many eyes were on the Gryffindors, but Lily felt one pair of eyes on her specifically. She looked to the Slytherin table, expecting to find Severus glowering at her only to find a pair of blue eyes looking on.
The body these eyes were attached to was unfamiliar to Lily. She didn’t notice most people in school who weren’t in her year or house. But now she noticed this girl, with blond hair and wide eyes that didn’t shy away when met with Lily’s. Instead, they held her gaze and brightened as she gave Lily a dazzling smile that was involuntarily returned.
Her presence was so bright. Lily couldn’t believe she was a Slytherin until she noticed: The girl had forgone her robes today, which was against the dress code, and the only signification of her house was her blue tie. So she wasn’t a Slytherin. Why was she sitting with them then? Why wasn’t she with the Ravenclaws?
This was also against the rules. The schoolwide policy was that students had to sit at their house tables during meals. As a prefect, Lily should have half the mind to walk over there and tell her off. She should deduct 25 points from Ravenclaw. Not wearing your robes and sitting at the wrong table is even grounds for a detention! So why was she frozen in place, forced to stare at her pale curls from across the hall?
Her reverie was interrupted by a very irritated Remus Lupin slamming his hands on the table. “Sirius, beetles are both animals and bugs. It’s in the animal kingdom and the Insecta class. Don’t be so confident arguing about shit you don’t know. Muggle sciences really aren’t your thing; stick to wandwork,” he snapped.
Sirius gave him a defeated look while James had a very self-satisfied expression that Lily knew Remus was about to wipe off of his face immediately. He turned to James and Lily sat back to watch the show.
“And you,” Remus seethed. James’ face immediately fell as his posture shrunk and Lily laughed. “You know damn well you only brought this up so you could win an argument for once. I don’t know where you learned this useless shit and I don’t care. Stop trying to pick fights, you wanker. Go hit a quaffle or whatever the fuck it is you do, I’m getting a headache.”
Marlene and Lily shook with laughter at the look on both boys’ faces and the murmured apologies they both gave Remus. When Lily looked back at the Slytherin table, she didn’t see the girl. The spot where she sat before was empty, and surrounding it was Dorcas, two boys she didn’t recognize, and Sirius’ little brother.
She looked the Slytherin table up and down looking for her, but she was gone. She was still looking around the Great Hall for the Ravenclaw but gave up when Potter cut in, “Well me and Marls are going to a last minute practice before Holiday break. You joining Wormy?” Marlene let out a string of complaints before James dragged her away, Peter following closely behind.
Lily said her goodbyes as they left for the Quidditch Pitch. It was just the three of them left before Remus whisked Sirius off to Hogsmeade, leaving Lily alone at the Gryffindor table. She began to pack up her things when she heard an angelic sound from behind her. “Where are you off to?”
She turned around, not recognizing the quiet voice, to see a soft pink smile on the face of the mystery girl. Up close she could see her face in detail. She had high cheekbones that made her look elegant but round eyes that rested wide in childlike wonder. Her hair was a silky platinum blonde that contrasted against her cool dark skin; suffice to say that Lily thought she was absolutely lovely.
“Oh, I was just about to head over to the Black Lake,” Lily blushed.
Lily noticed the girl’s cheeks start to pink as well. “Do you mind if I join you?”
Nodding eagerly, Lily began to put her things away as the girl waited. She kept fumbling with her books, and she dropped her quill back onto the table twice before finally placing it into her messenger bag. She looked back at the girl embarrassed, but she was just watching with a pleasant expression.
As they left the castle, neither girl started a conversation. The silence was prolonged, and Lily was suddenly very aware of how she was walking and stood up a little straighter, fixing her hair and covering her ears with it as they walked into the cold outdoors.
Outside, snowflakes fell lightly and landed in the Ravenclaw girl’s hair. “What’s your name?” Lily asked her, breaking the silence and wishing to call her something besides ‘Mystery Girl.’
“Pandora,” she replied. Pandora.
“That’s very beautiful,” Lily complimented and Pandora smiled at her gratefully. “Is there a story behind it?”
Pandora’s face fell slightly and Lily privately mourned the absence of her smile. “Not one that I know of, I’m afraid. I don’t know my parents very well. My brother and his friends call me Dora and Regulus calls me Panda, but that’s the extent of it.” She smiled again at the thought of her friends. “What about you?”
“Well, my name’s pretty common. Lily. People always think it’s short for Lillian or Lilith or something but it’s just Lily,” she shrugged and looked at Pandora, who listened with furrowed brows. Lily fixed her bangs on her forehead nervously. “There’s not much nickname potential there. Remus calls me Lils but people mainly call me by my last name.”
Pandora frowned slightly before she moved her attention to the water in front of them. “I think Lily is remarkably pretty.”
Lily thanked her as they approached the half-frozen lake and sat on the bench facing it. She hoped Pandora would just blame the color of her cheeks on the cold, which wouldn’t be far-off, as it was freezing. A shiver ran through her as she turned to face Pandora, “It’s a bit nippy to be out here with no robes. Would you like to head back to the castle?”
Pandora just shook her head. “No, I quite like the cold. If you’d like to go inside then we can.”
“Is it rude to ask you why you aren’t wearing a cloak in the middle of December?”
The giggle Pandora responded with was so musical. Lily was never a huge music fan, but she’d let Black spin his records at full blast if this was what played. “It’s bad luck to wear black on the second Saturday of each month,” she said, without a hint of sarcasm in her tone.
Lily raised an eyebrow at her skeptically. “Do you truly believe that?”
Pandora nodded. “I do.”
Lily hesitated for a moment. She searched Pandora’s eyes for a hint of a joke, but all she saw was deep blue. She smiled “Okay. Me too.”
She stood up and went to work removing everything she was wearing that was black. Her boots and robes were the first to go. Then she remembered the black hair tie that was holding her ponytail and ripped it out of her hair. She laid her cloak out in the snow and placed her boots in the center, grabbing the corners and tying it into a bundle with her rubber band. Lily then picked up the bundle and hurled it thoughtlessly into the lake.
She stood there staring at the broken ice in shock. "Why the hell did I just do that," she murmured, barely audible. She barely felt like herself, throwing her belongings into a frigid lake, with no regard for the rules or having to replace those things or about the hypothermia she had likely inflicted on herself.
Before she had the chance to fully reflect, she turned back to Pandora. She didn’t care about the cold anymore. She stood shoeless in the snow with a beautiful girl she hardly knew, both of them wearing thin blouses and short skirts, freezing their tits off in the winter sun and she felt alive.
As soon as their eyes met both girls burst into hysterical laughter. Lily was feeling rather cold, but then she felt Pandora’s arms around her, still giggling as she led her towards the castle.
“Let’s get you inside, love,” she whispered. Love.
***
Lily was sharing a quilt with Pandora in front of the fire in the Ravenclaw common room, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. Now that the ice was broken- literally and figuratively- Lily felt free to ask the other girl all the questions she’d been curious about from the start.
She sat with the Slytherins during meals because that was the house her brother and best friends were in. She had no friends in Ravenclaw because they thought of her as weird and unsettling. She was the grade below Lily and that’s why they had no classes together. She was staring at Lily during breakfast because she found her mesmerizing. Regulus was her best friend in the world, but Dorcas was her first. Evan was her twin in nothing but looks, but she loved him more than anyone else in the world.
They talked about hobbies. Pandora’s favorite class is herbology because she loved working with plants, and she even taught herself how to take care of muggle plants on her own time. She talked of Regulus' interest in muggle biology, especially bugs, and how she thought it’d be good for Evan to find a hobby to take his mind off of his anxieties. Lily told her that she didn’t have much time for hobbies, as she was always focused on school, and Pandora assured her that that was okay too.
They talked of their family and home life. They talked about their dreams, the ones of the night and the ones of the future. They talked about beliefs, values, and favorite colors. They talked and they laughed and Merlin Lily could talk to this girl forever if she let her.
She wanted to know everything about her, but she got the idea that no matter how much Pandora revealed herself to you, you’d never truly understand her. She wanted to understand though. She wanted Pandora to show her every part of her that lied beneath the surface. She wanted Pandora to tell her all the unimportant details of her life. She wanted Pandora to trust her with the things she was scared to utter out loud. She wanted to know what was important to her. She wanted to be important to her.
Lily couldn’t help but wonder if Pandora was real. She was so kind, and she had this quality that made Lily want to pry her open to see what made her tick. The way she complimented her name earlier, she said it so matter-of-factly as if that was the only answer and there was no room for argument. Lily would believe anything she said if she said it that way.
She was confident yet reserved, whimsy but wise. She was so unlike any person Lily had ever met. This time, when the conversation lulled in the quiet common room, it was a comfortable silence. She had no care of what time it was when the windows went dark and Pandora was completely pressed up against her, sides touching everywhere they could.
“Your friends are probably back from Hogsmeade by now,” Pandora whispered as she turned her head to face Lily, catching her stare. Lily held her gaze.
“I don’t care,” she replied simply.
The corners of Pandora’s pretty lips curled upwards. “They’ll probably be missing you by now.”
“Will you?”
“I will,” Pandora cooed. “I won’t have to miss you too long though, right?”
Lily smiled back at her. “Of course not,” she promised.
They looked at one another briefly before Lily leaned in and kissed her. Pandora raised a gentle hand to rest on Lily’s cheek as Lily took a coil of her hair and twisted it around her finger. It was a short kiss, and when Pandora pulled away she rested her forehead on Lily’s and broke into a bright smile as she brushed Lily’s hair out of her face.
***
“What are you cheesing about?” Lily teased, but Pandora noticed her lips were pulled into a smile, surely matching the one on her own face.
Pandora shrugged. “You’re just so lovely” she beamed. “I’ve fancied you for so long from far away, and now you're so close.”
She began carding her fingers through Lily’s hair as she settled her head into the crook of her neck. Pandora could feel her smile against her shoulder as she whispered, “I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, but it’s only been a couple of hours. Is that crazy?” Pandora couldn’t possibly agree more.
Pandora has watched Lily since her second year. She knew that Lily would pick apple pie for dessert every single time. She knew that when Lily is focused she catches her tongue between her teeth. She knew that she pretended not to care about quidditch, but when Gryffindor wins a match she’s the loudest voice in the crowd. She knew all of these insignificant things, not because she was searching for them but because she was mesmerized by Lily Evans and she couldn’t help but watch and catalog every action of the girl.
For so long she was content with this. She’d come to peace with only knowing the things about Lily Evans that she could see from afar. But now, in her arms, she knew her just a bit more.
When Lily left, it was nearly curfew. She had to borrow Pandora's muggle sneakers, promising to return them to her the next day. She walked out of the portrait hole, waving goodbye and not breaking eye contact until the painting fully shut. They missed both meals that day, but Pandora had never felt so full. She grabbed the full mason jar from her messenger, turning it in her hands, and felt a her lips tug at the corners. “It is rather crazy,” she murmured.