-PANDORA-

Draco woke up feeling more tired than he did before he went to bed. The “gnaw” was still there in the pit of his stomach. He shuffled his feet to his private shower and let the hot water wake up him. He knew he was going crazy, to actually want to sit at the Gryfindor table, to go bribing night watch men in aquariums, though it was wizard gold, gold was gold, no matter what power hungry maniac’s face might be printed on to it.

He dressed for the day, running a comb through his silken locks as he looked in the mirror. “you look like hell… how are you going to go wooing your witch with your eyes bloodshot like that?” The mirror barked at him. Usually the mirror always boosted his ego, his own reflection smirking at himself, though a handsome devil he was, he had to admit he did look like he got backed over by the night bus. He charmed away the dark circles and bloodshot eyes, and whitened his teeth to an even brighter shade of white. Satisfied with himself he picked up the weirdo plant and his quidditch pin from his dresser and marched to the great hall.

He was early and decided to mull around the entrance to the great hall to wait for her. First years avoided him at all costs, aside from the constant fluttering of eye lashes from the girls, most of the female population at Hogwarts never minded getting a good look at the dashing blonde, but today he got rather strange looks as he held the somewhat large red plant, but he shot them all glares that sent them scurrying away.

He was grateful she had a way of standing out in a crowd, 5’8 and all legs, and a thick mane of the most vibrant ruby red hair he’d ever seen. He spotted her walking down the hall “Gods she’s gorgeous” he muttered aloud. She spotted him just as soon as he spotted her, his heart pounded in his chest as she skipped over to him. He smirked at the look on Potter’s face as she tore from their little group and all but shrieked his name with delight.

Well he knew she didn’t shriek it, but he loved the innocent and adorable way she would say his name when she was excited. She instantly attached herself to him wrapping her arm in his. “Good morning beautiful” he drawled as his eyes drank her in “these are for you” he said as he offered the red flowers to her. “there beautiful! How did you get them? They must have been impossible to find! Oh thank you Draco!” she said as she pecked his cheek “ the red ones are my favorite too!” she said examining the bubble.

He smirked, damn straight she loves it… she’d better, I risked life and limb for that weirdo plant he thought smugly. “sit with me at the Slytherin table today?” he asked as innocently as possible. “OK” she said brightly. He was grateful she went without a fight and Potter wasn’t there to protest. Till he felt her being tugged from his arm.

He gripped onto her arm firmly and all but dragged her out Potter’s grip, never looking back at him he stated calmly “she’s sitting with me today Potter”. Hermione slapped Harry’s hand away and Draco escorted her over to the dark side of the great hall.

Harry swallowed his pride and trudged over to the Gryffindor table. “Malfoy will see who’s pin she’s wearing soon enough” he said smugly. “He can’t possibly be doing what I think he’s going to do.. is he?” Hermione asked incredulously. Draco knew he was treading on thin ice inviting a Gryffindor over to the Slytherin table, but his housemates can go bugger themselves if they didn’t like it. All eyes were on Draco and Pandora, Gryffindor‘s new hottie, Albus Dumbledore’s niece and the Slytherin Prince were about to do something that had not been done since the inception of their houses.

The Great Hall was stone silent as Draco made a seat for Pandora at the Slytherin table, her Red and Gold uniform in stark contrast against the sea of black green and silver. Pandora was use to stares and snide remarks from her old school and wasn’t phased by the sudden attention she had drawn. She gingerly took her seat next to Draco, the silence in the hall was broken only by Draco’s voice.

He turned to face her, noticing the rapt attention of everyone staring at him. He took her hands in his and gave them a soft kiss. “will you be mine Pandora?” he asked her frankly. If possible the great hall grew even more silent, everyone was anxious to hear her answer. She gave him a dazzling smile “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me, Yes Draco!” she chirped as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The great hall was positively buzzing with chatter, spreading the news to those who could not hear, Draco Malfoy was now dating Dumbledore’s niece – a Gryffindor to boot!. Gossip traveled faster than Harry’s firebolt at Hogwarts and most everyone knew Pandora was already wearing Harry’s Quidditch pin, so why was she saying yes to Draco?

He took his pin from his robes and displayed it in his hand for her. He hadn’t expected her to understand what it meant to wear his pin, but was pleased when she took it from his palm. “will you wear it for me?” he asked hopefully as she pinned it to her jacket. Her arm distracting his view from Harry’s pin. “ You know what it means to wear my pin, don’t you?” he asked, staring into her eyes. “It shows people we are together” she said happily as she adjusted the pin on her jacket. His eyes relished the sight of his pin on her, no wizard could lay claim on her now he thought. He smiled brightly at her till his eye rested on Harry’s pin.

His blood boiled, and his heart shattered. She had accepted Potter’s pin, she didn’t like him any more than that scar head he thought bitterly. He couldn’t understand her, why did she say yes to both of us? He felt the venom of hatred welling up in his veins, Potter bested him again. He was livid, but underneath all the rage he was desperately trying to hide a broken heart. He knew he loved her, he had only known her a week but he couldn’t eat, sleep or study, he dreamed about her every night and she was in his every thought, and she now she rightfully belonged to Potter.

He felt the tears searing into his eyes, but bit them back bitterly. A mask of cold fury settled over his fine features as he abruptly got up from the table and stormed from the Great Hall, not uttering a word to Pandora. She gripped the list she made him in her hand and called after him “Draco, what’s wrong?” she sprang from the table, list in hand and ran after him.

“Draco!” she was running as fast as she could to catch up with his long strides. She eventually caught hold of his arm and felt him stiffen and shook her hand off of him. “go back to Potter Pandora, you never really wanted me in the first place did you?” he asked her bitterly. “Draco… what did I do wrong? I don’t understand” she said, chocking back tears. “Keep the pin, keep the flowers, keep everything… your Potters girl now, not mine”. She was practically running to keep up with his angry strides “but Draco, I… I need you!”. She could not form words properly she was so affected by his anger, she thought of the first thing she was feeling and it blurted from her mouth.

He stopped abruptly and gave her a cold stare “funny… I thought I needed you too, I guess we were both wrong”. “Draco please! At least…let me give you this”. She offered up the list she had made him, her hand shaking. He wanted nothing more than to stop the tears falling from her eyes, but he had never felt more broken in his life. “what’s that?” he asked darkly. “You asked me to think about you… to sort out my feelings” her voice was chocking up the longer he refused the parchment. He took it from her and unraveled the paper, she shifted her weight nervously. His eyes gazed over the many lists and felt his blood rushing through his ears.

He would have laughed at the simplicity of her lists, and how literal she took him to be. She had literally sorted out her feelings for him, and described them in great detail. His cold resolve melted as he skipped to the very last page to read the “conclusion”.

His breath hitched in his throat, she thought she was in love with him… he didn’t care why or how she was so different than everyone else, or the fact that she seemed so foreign to every day concepts in his world. He knew he was in love with her, and in her own unique way… though she struggled so hard to express herself in a way he could understand, she had just told him she loved him. “I love you too Pandora” he said as he lowered the parchment from his eyes, but she was gone. “PANDORA!” he called after her, running through the hall, he caught site of her down the very end of the hall.

She was running as fast as she could, her heart beating madly. He had hurt her so badly with those words, that he didn’t need her anymore. She was running for the lake, she wanted to escape the world of wizards, who were cruel and too complicated for her to understand. She had thought even of going back to Drogheda to see her mother. She was tearing at her uniform wildly, she had made it out of the castle and had tossed her blouse off, a trail of her clothes behind her. Draco followed her discarded Gryffindor uniform, picking up everything she was tossing behind her.

He was closing in when she had stripped down to nothing and jumped in the lake. He couldn’t believe his eyes. What the hell was she doing? He put her clothes in a pile and stared in wild wonder into the water. She was disappearing deeper and deeper into the lake and he was getting worried, she had been underwater longer than he knew anyone could hold their breath. He stripped off his robe, shirt and shoes and jumped in after her. He swam as fast as he could, searching the water for her. His lungs started to hurt after being in the water for so long and suddenly felt something wrap around his leg.

There were tons of them upon him, grindylows by the dozens rushed him, pulling him farther into the water. He struggled against them, thrashing violently in the water, he had no wand and was under water for far too long. He was ripping them off of him until suddenly he saw a flash of gold before everything went black.