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Pandora paced nervously as she waited for Sybil to arrive. Anxiety was rolling off her and she could feel how jittery she was. Her stomach had twisted, the anxiety tying a thousand tiny little knots, however alongside the anxiety and the nerves, she was practically shaking with excitement.
Merlin, it had been months of pining in secret before she had managed to somehow find the courage to ask out the slightly frazzled girl she had been watching from across packed hallways and busy classrooms. Regulus hadn’t been much help throughout her pining, always there with the same sceptical expression across his face although she knew it was an act, she had seen the mask drop enough times to know he had a heart that would care for every small insignificant thing if he only let it. In all honesty they had been united in their hopeless pining, Regulus’ eyes being trained on the cocky griffindor every time the the other boy stepped into a room that Regulus inhabited, and Pandora’s eyes being drawn to the wisp of the girl that Sybil was.
It had taken pandora being locked in an empty classroom with her, something she suspects was Regulus’ doing, to actually ask the other girl if she maybe possibly would be open to the of possibility going on a date. The other girl had practically squeaked an instant yes, ducking her head in an attempt to hide the way her face had turned a bright tomato red.
And so, here she was, waiting impatiently for her date to arrive.
It was dark but she had illuminated the space she had laid out with a simple lumos charm. It’s was thankfully a night with only a slight chilly bite to it, but if all went well she didn’t think either would end up getting too cold. The clouds had disappeared and the night sky was clear, it let the shine of the millions of the stars be seen, highlighted against the black backdrop of sky.
Pandora was well aware that a picnic at night was far from a typical first date, something regulus had been all to willing to point out, but in all fairness Pandora didn’t exactly know how to do things typically, so starlight picnic it was.
Pandora glanced down at the picnic rug at her feet frowning as she bent down to straighten out a crease.
She should be sitting down right? It was weird for her to be waiting like this, Sybil would get there and see Pandora pacing back and forth and it would be awkward. She should sit down. But she just kept pacing, needing a way to let out the nervous energy. A timid cough from behind her had her jolting out of her thoughts and whipped around, her gaze drawn to the small girl that stood before her.
The breath was punched out of her as she took in Sybil. The thoughts that had previously been occupying her brain were long forgotten. Nothing else was relevant to Pandora, the universe had narrowed down to the sight of her.
She was in a long black skirt with detailing of black lace here and there, she had on the combat boots that made her just that little bit taller, she had on a sweeter that Pandora recognised, it was slightly oversized and it hung of her a bit but something about it was comforting, although maybe that was just Sybil. Her neck as adorned with an assortment of different necklaces, many hung with various crystals and Pandora thought she could make out a silver dragonfly pendant, somewhere in the back of her mind she thought dreamily that the dragonfly suited her. Her mass of curly hair had been pulled back into a loose bun atop her head, a few strands hanging down to frame her face perfectly and a deep red scarf wrapped around her head. Every part of her was beautiful but Pandora was mesmerised by the the pair of hazel eyes that were looking owlishly right back into her own.
Pandora would have been more then happy to endlessly stare into the warmth of her eyes but unfortunately it was at that moment that her brain decided to catch up with her, and she realised that she hadn’t uttered a single word and had simply been staring at the other girl for who knows how long. She shook he head abruptly, clearing her head from the fog she had been wading through.
“Hi. Sorry, i- hi.” She smiled sheepishly at Sybil trying to ignore the blush that she was sure was staining her cheeks.
“Hi.” Sybil sighed dreamily. Pandora had noticed that at times Sybil would seem to fade in and out of reality, the girl always seemed to always have a part of her that was off exploring some other dimension.
People around Hogwarts loved to say she did it for attention, that she was a loner and did it all to get people to notice her. People would take any chance they could find to spread rumours about Sybil. Pandora hated those people. She would hear mutterings in the hallways and would be instantly ready to throw hands. Despite her usually being thoroughly against violence as soon as the people she cared about were threatened she became ruthless.
“Would you like to sit?” Pandora said, gesturing nervously at the picnic rug she had set up. “I uh- I’m sorry its not much, and I didn’t know what food you would want so I kind of just raided the kitchens for anything I could find that looked appetising, and I didn’t own a picnic rug because why would I have a picnic rug?” She let out a breathy laugh. “For some reason it was Barty who ended up having a picnic rug? Merlin knows why he had a picnic rug.” Pandora realised she had let her nerves take over and she was talking too much all the while Sybil watched her, saying nothing. Merlin she knew that when she got nervous she talked to much, but somehow the knowing didn’t give her the ability to stop, instead the words would come out of her mouth all the more fast, as if the dam walls had given way and all the water came rushing out at once.
Pandora felt out of place. She didn’t know what to say or how to act, what to do with her arms and she felt it all knot in her stomach again. But then it all faded away again as Sybil slowly smiled. It was funny how Sybil had that effect on her. All she had to do was exist in Pandora’s presence and Pandora would look at her and everything else would melt away.
Sybil’s smile was slow and warm and Pandora felt it like a warm blanket on a rainy day.
“It’s lovely, Pandora.” She tried to ignore the way Sybil saying her name made her feel however the blush that stained her cheeks negated that slightly.
“Thanks.” She said, slightly awkwardly. Merlin she was bad at this.
The smaller girl sank to the ground leaving a spot next to her for Pandora to sit next to her. She followed the other girls actions far less gracefully but she eventually found herself sitting next to the owlish girl.
Sybil looked at the ground and mumbled something under her breath, blushing furiously.
“Sorry I didn’t quite catch that.” Shooting the other girl an apologetic smile.
“Oh, um, I brought you something.” She shuffled around, reaching into a pocket that was stitched onto her skirt, and bringing something out. She held out her hand to Pandora and finally lifted her gaze to meet Pandora’s. Her smile was timid but it was there, and it was real and it made Pandora feel like she could jump to the moon if she wanted to.
Pandora looked down at Sybil’s outstretched palm and drew in a breath. In her palm was a a rock. It was smooth and flat and about the size of her palm but what caught her attention was the the image that had been intricately painted on its surface. The strokes and swirls of colour created the image of a girl with golden hair, she was holding a box, one delicate hand placed on the lid of the intricate box, about to open it. Pandora gazed at it in utter awe. It was beautiful. She reached out and took it from Sybil, completely mesmerised.
“I’m sorry if this is weird. I just- well you see it’s-“
“Pandora’s box.” Her voice came out breathy and she felt all light and floaty. “Yeah, I’m familiar.” She could feel a giddy smile spread across her face. “Sybil it’s beautiful.” As she said it her eyes flickered up to Sybil, she was greeted by a pair of owlish eyes watching her intently, her lips quirked up at the corner in a small tentative smile.
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Yeah I do.” Sybil was still looking at her and Pandora couldn’t tear her eyes away from the hazel.
“I didn’t know you painted.” She said, still just gazing at her in awe.
The other girl raised an amused eyebrow, her lips twitching upwards and she raised her hands so that they were at eye level with Pandora, this forced her to take her eyes away from the other girls eyes to her great chagrin. Pandora’s eyes were drawn to Sybil’s delicate fingers that she now saw had been stained by a multitude of different colours. Pandora tried to ignore the fact that her fingers were adorned with rings. Lots of rings.
Sybil placed her hands back in her lap and looked away. A slightly wistful look passed over her face.
“Yeah, my mother taught me.” Her eyes had gone distant, as if she was lost in the memory of it. “We waisted so much of my childhood painting on anything we could find, rocks, leaves, bark, quite literally anything we could find became a canvas.” She looked up at Pandora an almost worried look in her eyes. “It helps me stay connected to reality. It’s sometimes hard for me to do that.”
Pandora didn’t know if she had the right words to respond to that, words didn’t always come naturally to pandora so instead she shuffled forward ever so slightly and place her hand on top of Sybil’s clasped ones, she hoped the non verbal communication was enough.
Sybil looked up at her, startled at first, but then a lovely thing happened. She smiled. It was soft and sweet and worth more then gold.
There was silence between them for a long moment, but that was ok, they didn’t need words to fill it, because the silence was filled with warmth and light and they didn’t need to do anything other then simply exist in the same space as each other, a kind of understanding flowing through the two girls. It was enough to simply be with each other.
After a bit they found themselves drawn to the baskets of food Pandora had brought. A delighted squeak came from the direction of Sybil, Pandora glanced over to where the other girl had opened the cover to one of the baskets and was grinning in delight at its contents. Before Pandora had time to ask what had caused her such delight, the other girl was hurriedly bringing out the container of waffles Pandora had packed.
“Waffles?! Oh Merlin Dora you have no idea how much I love waffles, you truly are a saint.” Pandora’s grin was instantaneous. Dora. She liked that. She wanted to hear that again.
“You called me Dora.” The dopey grin never left Pandora’s face and it only grew in satisfaction as she watched Sybil go bright red and duck her head, refusing to meet Pandora’s eyes.
“Merlin please ignore that I just said that.”
“I will be doing no such thing.” Sybil had now looked up at Pandora, incredibly sheepishly. “Besides, I liked it.” She said a smirk in her voice although it was counteracted slightly by the fact that she was blushing furiously.
Sybil saved herself from having to answer by stuffing a waffle in her face. Pandora burst out laughing at the panicked look on her face. Even as she had a waffle stuffed in her mouth, she still looked wonderfully ridiculous. Before she knew it Sybil had joined in on the laughter coughing on the waffle she still had stuffed in her mouth.
The laughter subside and they ate and talked and laughed and then they ate some more. All the waffles were long gone and they had devoured the hot cocoa she had brought as well as some honey cakes and a variety of dried fruit. They were both contentedly full and despite the chilly night air Pandora felt warm.
They talked, and they talked and there was a natural flow to it all. Pandora learnt about the time when Sybil was 8 her and her mother adopted a stray cat and it had stolen all of their shoes and hidden them in the back of her fathers closet. She learnt that when Sybil was 6 she would refuse to eat anything but this special Pasta her mother made, for 3 months. And she told Sybil her own stories. She told her about how she and her mother used to sail a boat, sail it the muggle way, no magic involved, around the huge lake they lived near. She told her about how when she left for Hogwarts she had tried to enchant every single one of her books to fit in her suitcase but instead she somehow made them all sing and it had taken a week to get everyone to stop completely, Pandora had had a headache for weeks after. Sybil had very unsympathetically laughed hysterically at that, Pandora tried to frown but it was very hard to look grumpy when she was listening to Sybil’s laugh, she had made Sybil laugh, in Pandora’s opinion it was one of the greatest accomplishments of her life. Before she knew it her cheeks were aching from smiling. They shared so many stories, and between the words they shared soft looks and warm smiles.
She felt light and happy and free and she couldn’t remember the last time all her anxieties had just washed away, but here she was, and she wouldn’t trade it for the world.
The light from her lumos charm had slowly faded until all the light came from the shining stars above them. The pair had ended up on their backs, staring up at the stars, that were now slightly shrouded in clouds, but still visible, as the laughter slowly subsided and they were left in the calm of the storm they had just talked up Pandora felt as if she could dance on clouds and never fall through.
The silence they were left in was so soft, it was like lying in a bed of feathers, and maybe that made no sense, but Pandora didn’t care, because, to her, that’s what the silence was.
Pandora loved the quite, and that wasn’t to say she didn’t love the chaos of noise, she loved to talk, sometimes it took her far to long to stop talking, but she loved the kind of quite that was filled with comfort and safety. She sometimes found it hard to find people she could be quite with, it had taken her years to find anyone other then her mother and Regulus, but she had eventually. She had found a second family in the group of wayward Slytherins. Regulus, Dorcas, Evan and Barty. They were a family to her. They understood her. She could find the silence she needed in each and every one of them. From the outside you would think that to some of them (Barty) the concept of silence would be virtually non-existent, but they were all exactly the people Pandora needed. And here, looking up at the starlight, she found another one, like a rare gem that had just been waiting to be discovered by the right person.
Merlin Pandora hope she was the right person.
“Do you have a favourite star?” Sybil asked, gazing up at the ocean of silver above them, her soft voice barely penetrating the heavy night air but it was loud enough for Pandora to here. Sybil turned her head slightly, meeting Pandoras eyes. Pandora’s eyes had adjusted to the dark by now and she could make out the soft smile that had quirked Sybil’s soft lips up. Pandora smiled in return and raised an amused eyebrow at Sybil.
“Well I wouldn’t put it past Regulus to murder me if I said anything other then his namesake, so I guess the answer to that has got to be the Regulus star.”
“Right of course, how could I have been so stupid?” Sybil replied, playful sarcasm thick in her voice. They both quietly chuckled
“Do you have a favourite?”
“I do. Vega. It’s the brightest star in the Lyra constellation.” She raised her hand and pointed out constellation. “See, its right there.”
“Yeah, yeah I see.” She smiled at the other girl. And then... the rain started.
It was just light at first, Pandora barely noticing the faint droplets land on her face, but after a few minutes it starts coming down heavier and heavier until it’s a constant stream.
“Fuck.” Pandora grumbled as she pulled herself off the ground, she looked over at Sybil who was glaring daggers up at the sky. “We should probably go in.”
“Unfortunately I think that’s probably a good idea.” Sybil muttered. Pandora reached put a hand to Sybil and helped pull her up. Once up, Sybil immediately turned to the baskets of food with a dismayed expression creasing her eyebrows.
“Merlin, the food is going to be ruined. Here, I’ll help you back up.” And with that she began scrambling to cover up all the baskets.
“Oh no you don’t have to do that Sybil.”
“Yes, yes I do. What sort of date would I be if I left you in the rain to pack up by yourself?” She sounded distraught at the thought, and Pandora suppressed a chuckle.
“No Sybil I mean, you don’t have to do that.” And with a flick of her wand the entire contents of their picnic all flew into one basket and was instantly covered by the basket top. Pandora smirked at Sybil. “It’s a little thing called magic. You may have heard of it.” Sybil looked slightly mortified and Pandora couldn’t help the grin that spread over her face as she looked at the other girl, drenched and embarrassed and yet still absolutely beautiful.
The other girl made her way clumsily over to Pandora trying to hide her own smile as she went.
“As much as the rain coming right now is inconvenient, I do love the rain more then anything.” Pandora said as she turned her face up to the sky, smiling as she felt the water cascade over her features. “As a kid my mother would never be able to stop me from running outside the second I heard the rain and I would dancing my little heart out for hours. My mother would eventually give up and just join me.” A glance at the other girl showed her raising a skeptical eyebrow at Pandora.
“Dancing. In the rain. Really?”
“Sybil, don’t tell me you’ve never danced in the rain?” Pandora exclaimed, she found that thought absolutely tragic.
“Why on earth would I have danced in the rain?”
“Oh Sybil, you poor thing. I absolutely must remedy this.” She held out a hand to the other girl, smirking as she did so. “May I have this dance?” The shock on Sybil’s face was practically comical.
“Wh-what? No. I can dance, and there’s no music.”
“Come on, I promise you haven’t lived until you’ve made a fool of yourself dancing in the rain.” Sybil shot her a glare even as she took Pandora’s hand.
“See was that so hard?” Pandora inquired, her voice light and airy.
And so they danced. They laughed and they spun and they were both completely awful at dancing but it didn’t matter in the slightest as their wild grins only grew. It didn’t matter that the rain had plastered their clothes to their bodies and that their hair had begun to hang in wet clumps, it didn’t matter because they were happy.
Sybil’s laugh rang out as she spun and slipped slightly in the mud, stumbling forward and crashing directly into Pandora. The two made a valiant effort to stay upright but unfortunately gravity had other plans and they went crashing down, Pandora landing on her pack and winding her slightly and Sybil landing directly on top of her. The two had stopped laughing in the commotion but the second Sybil’s eyes met Pandora’s the girls burst out into hysterical bouts of laughter once again.
They were laughing and they were looking at each other and they were gasping for breath and they were oh so close to each other. Pandora didn’t know how it happened, she didn’t know who moved first. All she knew was that all of a sudden they were kissing. They were kissing and nothing else mattered except the warm soft lips delicately moving against her own. They were lying in mud and they were cold and they were drenched but not a single one of those things mattered as Sybil’s hand moved to cup her face and Pandoras’s hands came up to bracket Sybil’s back.
Sybil drew back slightly but only enough to rest her forehead against Pandora’s, noses brushing slightly. Pandora noticed a little smugly that Sybil’s breath had become ragged. She could feel the soft way Sybil was smiling even if she couldn’t see it, maybe because Pandora’s own expression was mirroring it.
“We should um- we should probably head inside.” Sybil said, her voice was all breath and warmth.
“Yeah we probably should.” Pandora replied.
Neither girl moved for who knows how long.
Eventually they did stand up, and they began the trek bag to the castle hand in hand, covered in mud.
They would each grow up, and they would each discover the challenges that life would bring, but throughout it all the sound of rain would forever make each girl look up and smile.