𝕿𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗 - ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

Chapter 36: Pandora Knows Everything

[ April 7th, 1978 ]

PANDORA HAS always been infatuated by the butterfly affect. She had spent countless hours throughout her life tracing each important moment back to its root. Finding the first domino that fell and then finding what pushed it. It fascinated her endlessly to think how differently her life may have ended up if it weren't for the most seemingly insignificant details.

     When she was eight her parents lost track of time and forgot to pick her up from her dance class. Miss Carlisle, her teacher, had to watch her for an additional thirty minutes, and Pandora became so attached to her that her parents asked Miss Carlisle to babysit for them in the future.

     From then on when there was a pureblood society event her parents had to attend, Miss Carlisle would watch Pandora. Her parents didn't want Pandora around all the stuck up, closed-minded lords and ladies at such an impressionable age.

     However, when Pandora was nine, Miss Carlisle unexpectedly came down with a case of the Black Cat Flu and had to cancel last minute. Her parents, having no backup babysitter, had no choice but to bring Pandora to the wedding of Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange. That was the night Pandora met Regulus Black.

He was shorter than her back then, and round in the cheeks. His eyes were kinder, his face unmarred by the deep line carved between his brows. He had splotchy pink on his cheeks and freckles on his nose, evidence of Sirius's love for playing outside. All of that was gone now, more than seven years later.

A lot can change in seven years.

     Pandora's attachment to Miss Carlisle lead to her friendship with Regulus, yes, but their friendship and subsequent fallout also lead her to Theona Bell.

     It was mid-August, and Regulus had just flooed into Pandora's living room for their regular Sunday tea. He had looked gaunt, cheeks sunken, under eyes shadowed, irises no longer holding their trademark silver glint—only a dull, dimensionless grey. She knew immediately that something was wrong.

     She tried to reach out for him, but he flinched back, a move he hadn't pulled since their first year of friendship. Closer now, she could see that his face was shining, sweat along his brow, and his lips were pulled down into an ever-constant grimace. He was in pain.

She asked him what was going on, she asked what she could do, how she could help. He didn't respond. Instead, he backed away, shaking his head, eyes filled with grief. She'd only seen him like this once before; the first time he came over after Sirius left.

Like a switch being flicked, a determination settled behind his eyes. His expression evened out and his back straightened, almost statuesque. What followed were not words her Regulus would have ever said. Pure vitriol, spewing hatred to a degree not far from madness. Pandora had always known some of Regulus's parents' views had festered in his mind. She just thought, well, that he chose to believe them because it was easier. He was far too logical a person to buy into them completely.

But the cruel cacophony of words he was spouting, and furthermore the disgust he claimed to have at her own bloodtraiter views, did not make sense with the person she knew her best friend to be.

     She tried to refute him, told him she would help him get out of whatever was making him say this. Then, after a tension filled moment of hesitation, he peeled back his sleeve. The dark magic that swirled beneath his skin was enough for Pandora to understand what was happening. Regulus must have hoped it would've been the final push to her believing him, but she knew him too well for that. He was trying to save her, because he could not—and would not—save himself. He was a sinking ship and she hadn't noticed until she was being thrown on a lifeboat. What a best friend she was.