Pandora lestrange never felt like she fit in anywhere, certainly not with her family
As if being the only gray wizard in a family of dark wizards wasn't bad enough, I was evidence of my mother's infidelity with a fae, i'd heard the true story of my conception when i was just 7, the nargles had told me about how my parents had been camping near a fae circle when a mischievous fea had shapeshifted into my mother's husband resulting in me being born nine months later with blonde hair that was almost white,bright purple eyes and a serene smile on my face.
Naturally lord and lady lestrange had been furious, they had taken one look at me and knew i was not theirs so they'd tried to get rid of me, they'd throw me in a forest but by the time they got back home there i was in my crib, unharmed. No matter what they did I always came back.
So then they had starved me yet while i continued looking perfectly healthy their second son Rabastan became weaker each day, finally resigning themselves to the curse of raising me they had ordered a house elf named tini to take care of the child, confining me to the lower left wing of the manor.
The first time I had met my parents was when I was 5, it was also the day I learnt my name. Tini had only ever called me little mistress . Tini had spent the whole week preparing me on how to behave in front of master and mistress and had dressed me in the most beautiful gown I'd owned. The lord and lady had only spent 3 minutes with me , they had informed me they would be hiring tutors as I will be carrying the lestrange name and they couldn't have me disgrace them especially because they had they had began arrangements with the Walburga and Orion black to have me marry their second son Regulus. As they were leaving the lord had turned around to say one last thing 'you shall be leaving for Lebanon tomorrow Pandora,hopefully their permanent body transfiguration will be able to do something about those eyes'.
I had attended my first ball at 8, I had been plucked and fussed over by Tini till I could hardly recognize myself, purple blue eyes complimenting me royal indigo robes with gold trimmings, my platinum blonde hair braided into a beautiful crown around my head and decorated with pearls. The lord had taken one look at me and declared i looked like a veela,the lady stated it was for the best as if i was to secure my betrothal to the black boy.
The ball had been beautifully daunting, there were loud sounds and people everywhere and my parents had abandoned me moments after they had greeted lord and lady Malfoy; our hosts for the evening. While i had trained for this with my etiquette tutor the reality was quite overwhelming and I had only ever been around a maximum of 3 people at once so naturally after a few moments of panic I had found myself magically in a garden next to a fountain where a small boy in black robes and startling gray eyes was sat on a bench with a book in his hand.
I can never quite remember how that first conversation went but thirty minutes later I i and my first friend had walked back into the ballroom together, they had barely taken 5 steps into the room when a rather beautiful woman stepped in front of them, "where have you been Regulus" she asked in a rather grating voice "I was showing my new friend the gardens mother" he had said as tense as a stick fairy besides me, the woman glared at me the snare on her face sucking all it's beauty away, she looked downright terrifying "and you are you" she asked "Pandora lestrange m'lady" I said curtsying low as my tutor had taught me, in an instant she face changed snarl replaced with a soft smirk, glare taken over by a sight sparkle "and you are friends with my regulus" she asked much softer than the first time " yes m'lady he's very smart and knows all the names of all the flowers" I'd responded, at my response a slight smile appeared on her face "I suppose you're pretty enough, and Regulus seems to tolerate you, it seems your parents may get what want after all" she had said before turning away, she made a gesture that made Regulus quickly say his good her goodbyes before trailing after her.
After that day I had playdates with Regulus every other week, most times it was just me and Reggie, sometimes Reggies big brother Sirius joined in, I did not enjoy those days as much because Sirius made fun of my hair and the things I said "crazy Rory" he would call me which always made me upset because only Reggie had permission to call me Rory. I was the happiest I'd ever been whenever we had our playdates, we'd often sit in the library reading. Regulus had interesting tastes in literature, frequently fawning over French poetry.
Little over a year later my Elder sibling Rodolphus had married Regulus' cousin Bellatrix in the most beautiful ceremony I had ever seen, granted it was the only ceremony I had ever seen. There were flowers everywhere and Bella, as she had asked me to call her, wore the most beautiful green robes. I wouldn't lie and say the engagement did not take me by surprise, from the little the nargles and bowstrows told me about Rodolphus I would never have guessed he would marry Bella, or any woman for that matter but Regulus explained that he was fulfilling his duty and that one day we too will have to do what is expected of us.
Regulus introduced me to my second ever human friend at the wedding, His cousin Evan Rosier. Evan looked more like my cousin than Regulus' with his curly blonde hair and blue eyes. At first I had been worried he wouldn't like me much and then Regulus would stop liking me too but from the moment we made eye contact I knew my worries had no foundation. If anything the opposite happened, thanks to Evans' uncanny ability to charm adults our play dates went from twice a month to three times a month.
Two of the playdates were usually at London in the Black's family library where where I and Regulus would read and discuss our books while Evan did whatever he did, some days he would sit quietly braiding my hair into intricate designs other days he never seemed to stop talking distracting both of us till we ended up spending all our time gossiping.
The third was always at Rosier manor, we'd play hide and seek in the garden maze till we're absolutely exhausted most times.Sometimes the boy's would go flying on their brooms while I gathered a bouquet of flowers from the garden for Tini, I tried flying with them once but I was uncoordinated than a pack of blind wrackspurts besides Regulus and Tini said flying isn't for ladies.
The year I turned ten was a hard year, the playdates at Regulus' stopped abruptly, he didn't even come to the one's at the Rosier manor. I sent many letters but they returned unopened, I was almost at my wits end when I finally heard what had happened from Bella, she had said not to worry, that Aunty walburga felt she was too soft on the boy's and had allowed them too much liberty, which is why they'd ended up with a Black in Gryffindor and that her aunt just wanted to train Regulus properly before he went off to Hogwarts next year.
Bella and Evan were my confidants during that year, Bella treated me like a doll, buying me many dresses and jewelry, especially during her moon cycle, with each moon cycle that passed the gifts became more extravagant. I had soaked it up, I had never been doted on by a human before, certainly not so tenderly at least. Bella taught me many spells and unspoken social rules and once in a while she'd sneak a letter to Regulus from me and although she couldn't sneak a letter back from Reggie she sometimes passed along messages from him.
Evan and I continued to meet at Rosier manor, while we had been friends before we had really bonded during that year, the Rosiers had acquired Pegasi and while I still flew like my brothers walked after a bottle of firewhiskey I enjoyed taking care of the animals. I also discovered why Evan's magic felt so similar to mine, he was half creature too, the Rosiers had quite a lot of Veela blood in them, the most recent full blooded Veela in his family being his grandmother.
Before I knew it my Hogwarts letter arrived, I was so excited I broke an important rule left my wing of the house without being called for, I had just wanted to show Bella my letter and I hadn't expected anyone to be in halls, that was it first time I was him, the tall handsome dark haired man with red eyes and wrackspurts all around him, i had never seen that many of them in my life, needless to say i turned right back around and ran to my room. I had thought he was a demon but I would later learn he was a dark lord.
Bella had taken me to get all the things needed for Hogwarts including my wand, I had practiced with Bella's wand before but Bella says casting with my own wand would be much easier. Before we went to Ollivander's we visited a pet store where Bella brought me a pretty brown owl so I could write to her; mother had banned me from using the family owl years ago, it was only to be used by the family she had said.
My wand had called to me as soon as I entered the store, the wand shaking furiously in its box. Ollivander had thought it curious, especially since the wand had apparently been in the store since the store itself had opened 45 years ago, Ollivander having bought it from an irish wandmaker who had had as much luck as him selling the wand. A 12 inch Hawthorne wood wand with a Nymph hair core, the last of its kind in Europe since hunting sentient creatures had been banned 60 years ago Nymph being one of them, along with trolls,giants, werewolves, veela and many more.
Soon enough I was standing in front of the Hogwarts Express, mother and father did not see me off, rather Bella and my brother Rodolphus were the ones who had taken me to the train station. My brother and I had inevitably grown closer given how much time I spent with Bella but our bond was more similar to that of good acquaintances than siblings.
With one last hug to Bella and a nod to my brother I ran over to Evan who was waiting for me by the door of the train with a dark haired boy I had yet to meet. "Come quickly, Regulus has gone to secure a cabin." He said as I approached, "don't be rude Evan" I said stretching my hand out to the dark haired boy "hi I'm Pandora lestrange, and you are?" "Bartemius Crouch Jr, but please call me Barty," he said, taking my hand and kissing it. "How do you know Evan?" I asked, I had been under the impression I was Evan's only friend "I don't" "he doesn't" he and Evan responded at the same time "I and Regulus share a dueling tutor, both our parents refused to settle for anything but the best so as a compromise we have dueling classes together every Wednesday. He left me here with this blonde idiot to look for a cabin" he clarified
"Well we best not keep him waiting you long" I said.
My excitement to see Regulus had been one of the reasons I had rushed my goodbye to Bella, I hadn't seen him physically in almost a year. Grabbing Evans hand we went into the train, sighting Reggie standing in front of a cabin towards the end of the hall I began to run, barreling into him with a big hug, he seemed shocked but eventually hugged me back his chin resting on my head. I felt Evan join the hug and I felt safer than I had in a while but there was still something missing. Lifting my head up slightly I saw Barty standing awkwardly to the side and beckoned him to join the hug.
We all stood in front of the cabin hugging until someone bumped into us a dark skinned girl with beautiful braids and even prettier eyes, "can't you do this in the cabins" she said adjusting her blue tie as she rolled her eyes. "Yes with can we just don't want to " I responded before stretching my hand out to introduce myself "I'm Pandora lestrange" i said while she eyed my hands as though i had offered her troll shit "Dorcas'' she said still looking at my hand "Meadowes, i'm Dorcas Meadowes'' she said finally deciding to take my hand.
" Would you like to sit with us Dorcas, I'd prefer not to be the only girl traveling with this lot. '' I said, nodding my head towards the cabin where Regulus was already seated and Barty and Evan were standing, already arguing about something. "I suppose I could…" she said observing the boys in the cabin "as long as you lot act like I'm invisible, I'd like to finish my novel during the trip" she said waving the book she had been reading before bumping into to us "is that Trowney'' Regulus said recognizing to author, "yes have you read his works?" She asked as she entered the cabin sitting opposite him, following her lead I entered the cabin and slid next to Regulus closing the door as I entered.
Looking around with my head resting on Regulus' shoulder as he and Dorcas talked about books while Evan and argued about Merlin knows what, I couldn't help but think I found a place where I finally belong.