A new beginning
START NOTES:
Istg Pandora is so autistic in this chapter, I love her sm!
Also if you were wondering why Pandora is so self-aware and ashamed of being weird and diffrent, I know she's confident and wouldn't give a fuck, but remember, she's a child, so she has to get there. She won't instantly be confident and proud of who she is. She's been bullied her entire life for being weird, it'll take some time for her to realize that weird is good.
Also I know I said I'd update friday, but I'm shit at being patient so i'm gonna post a chapter whenever I finish one (which is def gonna bite me in the arse later on, when I get a writers block, but oh well ahaha)
I honestly think that's it. Have fun reading!
Trigger warning:
Don't think there's any for this chapter but do let me know if I need to add anything.
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First class Monday morning, Pandora finds out something she's been wondering ever since the train left London yesterday. The name of the weird boy from the compartment she was in.
After breakfast Ravenclaw has potions with Slytherin. When Pandora gets into the classroom she sees that the teacher is not there yet and when she looks for a place to sit, she can’t find her brother anywhere either. She does spot Barty though and he seems to have already spotted her because he’s waving her over. She walks over to him and sits down in a chair at his table, setting down her bag beside her. That’s when she sees a dark haired boy by the table who she instantly recognizes.
“Hey you’re that rude boy from the train” she states, without hesitation. The boy just looks at her clearly offended and confused.
“You’re the one pointing and you’re calling me the rude one” That’s when she realises she is indeed pointing at him so she drops her arm down by her side.
“You two know each other?” Barty asks, looking between them.
“Well no, not really. He just sat in the same compartment as me, my brother and my friend, Dorcas. I don’t even know his name”
“It’s ‘my brother, my friend and I’”
“Stop correcting me”
“You’re the one who sat here!”
“Because I didn’t see you, I came to sit with Barty!”
The weird boy turns his eyes towards his friend. “Barty, are you friends with her?”
“Yes” he says before turning towards the blonde girl “and Pandora If you’re still wondering, his name is Regulus” Barty offers with a smirk in Regulus' direction.
Regulus, that name reminds her of something, but she can’t quite put her finger on where from.
"Barty!” he exclaims “I didn’t tell her for a reason”
“And why’s that? Just to be rude or what?” Pandora asks with a raised brow.
“No, it’s because I don’t like you” Regulus answers
“Well weirdly enough the feeling is mutual”
“How is that weird?”
“Because my sister here likes everyone. I actually think you’re the first person she doesn’t like.” Evan's voice says behind her.
She turns around and there’s her twin “Ev!” she exclaims as she gets up from her chair and hugs him, he quickly hugs her back. She saw him yesterday, but it feels like ages ago already, she guesses that’s probably due to so many new things happening in a very short amount of time. When she pulls away, she remembers what he said and she looks at him offended as she sits back down again. “That’s not true, there’s other people I don’t like”
Evan pulls out a chair at their table to sit with them. “Okay, give me a name”
“Well there’s-” Pandora rummages through her brain looking for a name, looking for someone she doesn’t like. When she doesn’t come up with anything she sighs in resignation “Fine, he’s the only one”
“See!” Evan exclaims “and I’ll bet you’ll even end up liking him”
“No! There’s no way! He's so rude!”
“I’m right here”
“I know, but I’m just saying the truth and I don’t talk about people behind their backs”
“And I repeat my earlier statement, you’re calling me the rude one”
She opens her mouth to say something back to him, but she doesn’t get the chance because in that moment the teacher, (who introduces himself as Slughorn,) comes in and the class starts.
They spend the class learning the basics of potions. They even try an easy one, which they have to work on two and two, so Pandora obviously works with Evan for the class. Luckily her and Regulus don't speak anymore for the rest of the class, since he’s busy working with Barty on their potion. Pandora can see that Barty keeps joking around so Regulus has to do most of the work. Regulus doesn’t seem to care though and Pandora gets it. She loves potions and she wouldn’t mind getting to do it alone, it’s easier to experiment a bit with the ingredients if she’s working alone, because Evan insists on following what the book says so ‘they don’t make the classroom explode’ his words not hers.
Despite ending up sitting with the rude boy from the train, the class ends up being very fun anyways. Next time she just needs to look better before she sits down somewhere, but on the other hand she’s glad she sat with Barty, so maybe it’s worth the hustle for a new friend.
Next lesson is the one Pandora has been mostly excited for, flying. Dorcas told her it’s not that exciting when you come from a wizarding family and have already flown a ton of times. She said that all you learn is the basics of flying. That didn’t make Pandora less excited though. And now she’s standing here, second class of first day at Hogwarts, beside a school broom, (Since they're not allowed to bring their own broom in the first year.)
Pandora has always been a decent flyer, she’s not as good as Dorcas of course, but she’s not bad either. She doesn’t do quidditch though and she’s not going to join the quidditch team at Hogwarts like Dorcas plans to. No, Pandora loves the freedom of flying, unlike magic it doesn’t have rules and order. She loves to fly around as fast as she can, feeling the wind in her hair and the coldness pinching her cheeks. It makes her feel more alive than anything else in the world.
“Welcome to your first flying lesson” the teacher says and everyone quiets down, turning towards her. “I’m madam Hooch” she presents herself and everyone starts mumbling together and laughing, Pandora looks around confused. “funny name, yes I know.” With that she gets everyone to quiet down again “Though that is not what we are here for today, so if you’d all wait to talk about that till after the lesson. Today we will learn how to get your broom into the air. All you have to do is stick your hand out to your side so it’s over the broom and then say ‘up’”
“Is that all? Flying sounds easy” a gryffindor, who Pandora guesses is a muggleborn, says.
“It is not. Now everyone, try getting your broom to fly into your hand the way I just explained” with that madam hooch steps out to the side, looking at everyone, waiting to see if anyone needs help.
“Up” Pandora says with her hand stretched out over the broom. The broom instantly flies to her hand and she quickly closes her fingers around the smooth tree. She looks up to see most other people in the class are already holding theirs as well. The ones struggling are probably all muggleborns or someone who’s never used a broom before.
Pandora decides to sit down on the grass, waiting for the rest. She thinks everyone struggles the first time. She remembers riding a real broom for the first time, it was 3 years ago, she was 8. She was so anxious and excited that she didn’t say ‘up’ clearly enough and her father ended up having to just skip it. When she got into the air, her father of course didn’t let her fly higher than a few metres into the air. That night she heard her parents fight about it, her mother said she was too young, that she could have gotten hurt. Her father argued that he he was there the entire time and that she was fine. She didn’t get much sleep that night. She knows her parents don’t like each other, like parents in books do, but at least they don’t hate each other like Dorcas’ parents.
“Say it more firmly and clearly” Madam Hooch yells, breaking her out of the memory. A few more have gotten their brooms up and only 3 are still struggling.
It doesn’t take much longer for the rest to get their brooms up as well and when they do Pandora gets up from the ground, waiting for the best part of this class, flying.
Madam Hooch spends a long time after that, explaining the basics of flying and Pandora hates it. Pandora doesn’t care about how the broom works or why it was made. She just wants to fly and feel the wind in her hair. It’s sad how flying lessons are the only times she can fly on a broom this year, since they aren’t allowed to bring one for their first year. Next year, Pandora is definitely bringing her own, even though she’s not going to try out for quidditch.
“Now, everyone mount your broom” their teachers finally say and Pandora happily puts a leg on each side of hers. “Now get into the air, like how I just explained” Pandora hadn’t listened when it was explained, too caught up in her thoughts, but it doesn’t matter since she have already done this many times before, so with a leg on each side of the broom, she kicks off on the ground and flies a metre into the air, before hovering in the same place, waiting for further instructions.
They spend the rest of the lesson doing small flying exercises. She should have found it boring, since the whole lesson was exercises witches and wizards have done since before they could even walk. Yet she doesn’t, she finds it exciting and fun. She also loves helping the muggleborns and giving a hand here and there. She loves seeing the excitement in the other kids' faces as they fly for the first time. She loves being in the air and she loves the freedom of it. Whenever she’s flying it feels like all her worries disappear. It feels like whenever she’s in the air, whatever happens on the ground doesn’t matter at that moment. It feels like a whole other life, where the one in the air is careless and fun. Pandora doesn’t think she’ll ever get enough of this feeling
At lunch, she quickly spots Evan and Dorcas at the slytherin table and she walks over to sit with them.
“Don’t you have your own friends to sit with?” Evan asks when he sees her taking a seat beside Dorcas. It’s not in a mean way, more in a worried way. Evan knows Pandora has always had trouble finding friends.
“I am, Dorcas is my friend too, if you remember”
“In your own house I meant”
“I do, I just want to sit here with you guys” She’s not lying, she does like talking to her dorm mates and she technically could sit with them, but she knows she won’t be able to see Dorcas or Evan often anymore, since they’re in different houses. At least she’ll see Dorcas more than she did last year, when she was here while Pandora was stuck in London.
“Awe little Rosier here loves us” Dorcas says, stretching out the o in ‘loves’ while ruffling Pandora’s hair.
Pandora rolls her eyes, but doesn’t fix her messed up hair, she doesn’t really care how her hair looks if she’s honest. “You say that like I ever pretend I don’t. Of course I love you guys. Now can we please drop the whole ‘you should sit with your new friends so you don’t get lonely’ talk”
“Fine” Evan gives in.
“Good. Now, I have some news for you Dorcas”
“Ooo gossip, do tell” Dorcas says, leaning further towards Pandora, clearly very interested. Pandora rolls her eyes at her friend with a laugh.
“Well it’s not gossip, it’s just the name of the boy from the compartment yesterday. I’d been curious about it ever since he wouldn’t tell us and I’d tell you just in case you were wondering as well”
“Well I hadn’t really given it much thought, but now I am curious”
“It’s Regulus”
“Regulus Black?”
“Salazar! you’re right. I knew I recognized the name”
“He’s from that pureblood family who no one has ever really seen, right?” Evan asks
“Yup, the ones that don’t have contact with anyone besides their family” Dorcas says.
“He has an older brother, doesn’t he?” Pandora asks
Dorcas nods “yup, Sirius Black. He’s a gryffindor. He got a howler at breakfast the morning after the sorting ceremony. The Black family has always been in slytherin so his mother wasn’t too happy with him being sorted into Gryffindor”
“I kinda feel bad for him now” Pandora says as she looks down the slytherin table till she spots the black haired boy, sitting alone, reading while eating. “I’ve heard horrible things about that family and how they raise their children”
“Yeah, from what I’ve heard, his parents are even worse than mine,” Dorcas says while also looking at the younger Black brother.
Regulus looks towards them and catches them staring, so he gathers his things and leaves. Pandora quickly looks away, filled with guilt.
“I still don’t like him, but I also feel bad for him”
“I feel sad now, let's talk about something to lift the mood” Evan suggests.
“Oh, I know” Pandora begins and turns towards Dorcas. “I had my first flying class today and I wondered if you were going to try for the quidditch team this year, you said you would.”
“Yeah, I am going to. There’s no try-outs for a month though, so I’m going to spend the next few weekends training. You could come with to train and fly with me this weekend if you want!”
“I’d love to fly with you, but we don’t have brooms as first years yet.”
“I could ask madam hooch if you could borrow a school broom though, she likes me so she’ll probably say yes”
“Yes! Then I’d love to. It could be so much fun” she turns towards her brother “Will you join us?” she asks him.
“Nah, I think I’ll skip” he laughs, Evan has never been the biggest fan of flying.
Pandora shrugs “Your loss”
Pandora realises she hasn’t started eating yet, so she starts putting different kinds of food on her plate like yesterday.
“Hey Panda, Hey Ev and hello girl I don’t know yet” Barty says as he sits down with them.
“Bart! This is the friend I told you about, Dorcas.” Pandora exclaims, still chewing on her food.
“Pandora, stop talking with your mouth full of food! It’s disgusting.” Evan exclaims.
“Says you. You talk with your mouth full all the time” Dorcas defends her with a smirk and a laugh.
“I like you already Dorcas, I’m Barty” He presents and Dorcas turns back towards him.
“Well nice to meet you too. So Barty, you’re a first year too, right? I don’t recognize you”
“Yeah, I am. I’m guessing you’re not a first year then?”
“Bingo! I’m a second year”
“Bingo?” Barty frowns confused.
“It’s a muggle saying for when something is correct” Pandora explains excitedly.
“Panda is obsessed with muggle culture so I guess I’ve just started doing some of the things without realising” Dorcas laughs.
“Well can you blame me? They’re interesting”
“Yes, we can blame you” Evan laughs.
“Hey!” Pandora exclaims, punching him in the arm.
“Ouch,” Evan says, rubbing his arm, pretending to be hurt. “Be nice to your favourite brother”
“You’re my only brother”
He sticks his tongue out at her and she laughs as the others start laughing at the twins' antics as well.
“Hey Barty, how are you and Regulus friends by the way?” Pandora asks, confused.
“What do you mean?” the boy asks, his brows furrowing.
“I just mean, no one really sees that family, they don’t seem to even leave the house and you’re not from the sacred 28 and I don’t think his parents are very keen on him being friends with someone who’s not the purest of the pure from what I’ve heard. They literally marry cousins in that family”
“I can’t say, sorry. I don’t want to get Regulus in trouble”
“That’s completely okay, sorry for sticking my nose into it.”
“Hey Pandora?” Dorcas asks.
“Mhm?” Pandora hums, showing that she’s listening, as she takes another bite of her food.
How do you know so much about the Black family? I feel like no one really knows anything about them except for the fact that they’re very powerful.”
Pandora has completely forgotten that they hadn’t told Dorcas yet, not that they’d kept it a secret or anything, Pandora doesn’t mind anyone knowing, it just hasn’t come up. “Their cousins mum is a Rosier”
“Really?” Barty asks, shocked.
“Yup, but she cut contact with our family after she married Cygnus. She does talk to my aunt sometimes though”
“So you’re related to their cousins”
“Well technically all us pureblood families are related in one way or another” Pandora answers.
“I’ve always found that so weird and disgusting” Dorcas says, mock gagging, which makes Pandora laugh.
“Aren’t you excited to marry a cousin, Panda?” Evan teases, bumping his shoulder into hers playfully.
She takes after Dorcas and mock gags at that. “You have to marry a cousin too”
“I’m a boy, it’s not as important for me as it is you. I will find a way to get out of it”
“So you’re just throwing me to the wolves so you can get out of it” she teases back.
“Nah, I’m gonna run away and take you with me. We can live in a cave somewhere.”
“You two wouldn’t survive a day out there. You need to hunt your own food and you can’t use magic if you’re in hiding” Dorcas laughs.
“No magic? I think I’m gonna skip.” Pandora announces.
“I thought you were obsessed with muggles” Barty half jokes, mostly not joking.
“Well yes, but I love magic too much. I find magic so interesting too. I intend to find a way to bend it to break the rules for magic.”
“That’s not physically possible,” Evan says.
“Watch me”
“I believe in you Pandora!” Barty cheers with a laugh.
“Why thank you Bart. At least someone here believes in me” she says the last part throwing a pointed look towards her brother.
“I do too” Dorcas joins in.
“Fine, fine. I’ll take my words back when I see it Panda”
“Good, because you will and I can’t wait for that day.” she laughs.
That evening, when she comes back to her dorm, tired after a long first day of classes, the only one in there is the blonde girl. She never did end up talking to them yesterday and this morning she was already gone when Pandora woke up – Pandora hates waking up and tends to sleep until the very last minute – maybe now she’ll get to talk to the mystery girl.
The girl looks up when Pandora closes the door.
“Hi, I’m Pandora Rosier.” she tries, as she walks further into the room, towards the middle, where the tables are.
The girl just looks at her, blinking a few times, not even offering a small smile. “I’m Hannah” she finally says, before turning back to writing in a notebook.
“So, what are you?” Pandora asks as she makes her way to her bed, sitting down on the edge, facing Hannah.
“Excuse me?!”
“Like muggleborn, halfblood or pureblood”
Hannah huffs out in offence “I’m normal, thank you very much” she says with a hairflip. What a diva, Pandora thinks, rolling her eyes in her mind.
Pandora’s smile doesn’t falter though “What do you mean by normal? Do you mean muggleborn or bloodpurist pureblood.”
“The one that’s not weird and delusional enough to call themself a bloody witch!”
“You know that you are a witch right?”
“Hell no I’m not” Hannah exclaims before shutting the curtains around her bed, Pandora sighs as she finds a book from her nightstand, before getting down on the floor, sitting with her back against her bed, reading.
She doesn’t get far with the book though before the door opens again. Pandora looks up, seeing her other three dorm mates walk in, laughing.
“Hey Dora,” Melissa says as she notices her.
“Hi,” Pandora says with a smile, putting her book away.
“What are you doing on the floor?” Nicole asks. She hasn’t heard Nicole speak a lot, but she has noticed that when she does speak, she’s very blunt, which Pandora likes, since she’s quite blunt herself.
Pandora smiles “It’s comfortable” she simply says.
“Really? I never thought the floor was comfortable” Amy laughs.
Pandora simply shrugs, getting up from the floor and walking over to her nightstand, putting the book back.
Amy looks around the room “Where’s your cat?”
“Angel?”
“Yeah”
“Probably out exploring the castle, she loves exploring”
“Adorable”
“Anyways where have you guys been?”
“We got lost” Malissa groans “this castle is so big and confusing”
“Yeah, how didn’t you get lost, Dora?” Amy asks.
“I did a bit, but I also spent the entire summer getting my mum to explain where everything is, over and over again.”
“Godric!” Amy exclaims, turning to her sister “Why didn’t we think of that?!”
Nicole shrugs with a small laugh and Amy turns back to Pandora. “Yeah, now I really regret not asking my mum either”
“So all of your families are purebloods?” Pandora asks them.
“Well my mum is a halfblood, but not my dad, he’s a muggle” Melissa explains.
Pandora starts flapping her hands excitedly “Oh merlin! That’s so cool. I’d love to meet your dad!”
Melissa laughs at that.
“Both of our parents are purebloods” Amy joins in.
Pandora turns towards them curiously “Oh really? I don’t think I’ve seen you before, sorry if I’m mistaken though. What’s your family name and have you been to the Christmas balls before?”
“No it’s alright” amy answers with a laughs “You haven’t. We’re not a part of the sacred 28, like your family”
“Oh sad, it could have been fun if you could attend the christmas balls, so I wouldn’t have to be stuck with my brother” she says the last part jokingly. Her laughter fades out as an idea comes to her, she turns to look directly at the three girls. “Wait, what if we all stay here for christmas?”
“That’s a great idea Dora! I’ll ask my parents!” Melissa says excitedly.
“We’ll ask too, right Nicole?” Amy adds and Nicole nods with a smile.
“Great! It could be so much fun! I’m definitely staying here now. I need to see how christmas is at hogwarts! Come on, lets go to the owlery” Pandora says and then the four girls run out of their dorm, laughing, as they make their way towards the owlery.
The answer arrives the next morning, at breakfast, when the owls fly in with the morning post.
A letter lands in front of Pandora, she gives the owl a treat. It’s her brother's owl, who she borrows sometimes, because she doesn’t have one herself. Their parents said they could only have one pet each and Pandora chose Angel. Luckily Evan is not here, he hates when she uses his owl because he thinks she should have chosen one as well, instead of a cat that in his opinion has no practical use. Pandora wouldn’t exchange Angel for an owl though, no matter what.
Pandora quickly scans the letter before looking back up again. “I’ll see you later” she quickly says to Barty and Dorcas, not even waiting for an answer as she grips the letter and runs to the Ravenclaw table where Melissa, Amy and Nicole are sitting.
“hey” she greets as she sits on an empty seat beside Melissa and opposite the twins. They all look at her with a smile.
“Look at that, is this the Pandora Rosier actually sitting at the right table for once” Melissa teases.
“It’s actually surprising how we just got here the other day and you’ve only been at this table the first night, after sorting.” Amy says, laughing.
Pandora sticks out her tongue at them, trying not to laugh as well. “Anyways, did you guys get a letter from your parents?” Pandora asks, holding up her own, with a wide smile.
“Um yeah” Melissa says
“We did” Amy adds.
“And? What did they say?”
“Sorry Dora, but my parents wants me home for christmas”
“Ours too, we’re sorry. We would have loved to stay though, but our parents said they wanted to see us, since this was the only time through the school year we’re allowed to come home.”
“It’s okay, It’s a good way to meet new people though. I’ll have fun here anyways” Pandora says with a smile.
“I’m so jealous, I’m sure Christmas here could be so much fun!” Amy says
“I’m sure mum and dad will let us stay here for christmas when we get older” Nicole tells her sister.
“Yeah, when we’re older we should all stay here for a Christmas together!” Melissa says.
“Wait, did I hear that right? You’re staying here for Christmas, Rosier?” They hear a voice say and they all turn to Hannah, who’s only sitting a few seats away from them.
“Yeah, I am!” Pandora says with a big smile.
“Great! There goes my peace”
“Oh, I’m sorry” Pandora says as her smile fades away.
“Drop it, just stay away from me and preferably the dorm”
Pandora opens her mouth to apologise again, when Melissa grabs her arm. “Come on Dora, let’s go. If she’s gonna be mean, she’s not worth it”
Pandora sees Amy, Melissa and Nicole get up and Pandora does the same. They walk out of the great hall, Pandora looking back at Hannah quickly. She doesn’t understand why the girl hates her, they’ve only talked once, like what’s so wrong with Pandora that makes people hate her before they even know her really?
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END NOTES:
Okay so I know it looks weird that I put end notes and start noted IN the fic, but that's bc for some reason the boxes don't work for me. When I try to do it the right way, all the end notes end up in the last updated chapter which is so weird. If you know how to solve it please lmk.
There you go! Hope you enjoyed it!
First off, I have a surprise!! I want to be working on three multichapter fics at the same time so I won't lose focus and can just switch between them, also so y'all have diffrent stuff to read. So besides this one and "Seeing you tonight, it's a bad idea right" I'm actually working on a nobleflower timetravel fic (it's inspired from ruby red, but you do NOT need to read or watch it to understand my fic!)
I honestly don't have a lot to say this chapter tho.
Dorcas being a gossip queen >>>
Love their little chat about the Black family.
Pandora being autistic and not understanding why she's so different is so sad. I love her sm!
Evan being like "I'll bet you'll end up liking him" and Pandora's like "There's no way" like hun, he's your platonic soulmate, you will become best friends whether you like it or not ahah.
Hannah refusing to admit she's a witch even after she's at bloody hogwarts ahah. Also there's a lot more to her character y'all don't know yet.
Okay I think that's it. Have a nice day and remember to leave comments if you want, they always make my day!
See you in chapter three!