In the World of Magic(Harry Potter Next Generation Fanfic)

Chapter 51 - Pandora

James' POV

Amanda had disappeared with that man, Dominic, and I was left with the stranger in front of me. She was looking at me with a calm smile, the same smile that had stayed on her lips during all the time I had seen her. It made me uneasy. 

"James Potter, it's a pleasure to meet you", the woman said as she took a step closer to me. I didn't take a step back, even though I wanted to. If I had taken a step back I would have shown fright, or at least uneasiness, and I did not want that. I want to look strong. 

"I would love to be able to say the same, but I've been told that lying is bad", I spoke and almost felt like smiling when I saw how there was a small twitch in the woman's smile. Knowing that I would probably get in real trouble if I smiled made me fight the amusement. Instead I simply returned her glare with an uninterested look.

"Maybe you should learn to respect others, Mr. Potter. You see, I'm someone you do not want to fight with." Another graceful step towards me and I could feel the smell of some perfume hitting my face. It smelled expensive, and not as anything I could really name. That didn't exactly spark a memory of ever meeting her, which I had expected since she spoke as I should have known of her.

"Well, since I don't know who you are I can't really know if you're dangerous or not", I simply explained and tried to keep my face neutral, even though I instinctively wanted to let the confusion show on my face. The problem was just that I was afraid that she would be able to use my emotions against me. Therefor I was unnaturally aware of everything that I did. 

"I'm Pandora Riddle, and I'm extremely dangerous." A huff almost escaped my lips. Riddle? I had heard that name plenty of times before. It wasn't really a secret that it was Voldemort's surname, but my father being "the chosen one" made me even more familiar with the subject. 

"Are you really that much of a fan of Voldemort that you changed your surname to his muggle one?", I wondered with a single raised eyebrow. I couldn't help it. This woman must've really been crazy, and maybe that made her dangerous. Or maybe it just made her think she was.

"Don't speak his name! And no, it is my birth name." I felt confusion rise at her words. She must have really been out of her mind. The way she yelled at me to not speak his name was simply weird. I knew that speaking Voldemort's name during my father's youth had been taboo, but everyone had stopped caring. Why should we have cared? The man was dead and it make any sense being scared of a deceased wizard.

"That's impossible. All of his family was dead", I stated. It was a well known fact. If any of his family had survived the wizard community would have known, wouldn't they? It seemed awfully reckless of them to let his family exist in secret. At least I should have known if the opposite was true, at least my father should have known. Although, what was there to stop my father from keeping secrets?

"Do you really believe that? A whole family, completely wiped out. All of it? Not even a distant cousin to survive and continue on with the family name? Riddle is my surname and it has been that ever since I was born", the woman firmly explained and it made a little sense actually. Families were big, even if they were small. The wizard community probably didn't bother with them all, maybe only the ones close enough to have known of Voldemort's family. 

"Well, what do you want with me? I'm told I look like my father, but he's not sixteen. I don't get why you would care about bringing me here", I changed the subject. It was pretty obvious that I wouldn't get anywhere with her regarding her family. She could either really be a Riddle, or she was just crazy. Arguing about it didn't get me any closer to the truth though.

"Now that you brought it up I might as well tell you. I want something that your family has and I can promise you that you can leave if you tell me where it is", she spoke with her smile widening just a millimeter. I didn't really know what to think of her promise, but trusting her blindly would be awfully stupid of me.

"What is it?" Even if I didn't trust her and even if I wasn't going to tell her anything I knew that I at least needed to know why she had brought Amanda and me there. I needed to know if I was going to tell my father about it. Because that I knew I was going to do. Amanda and I had proven that we couldn't handle it alone. She might not agree with me, but she wasn't a witch. She didn't know my father the way our community did. Amanda would have to trust me.

"The elder wand", Pandora told me with her eyes on my face the whole time. It almost looked as if she was trying to read my expression, see if I reacted in a certain way. Because of that I made sure of my face not chaining the slightest. 

"The what?", I asked in true confusion. It sounded like something I might have heard before, but not really cared about. I couldn't really pin it to what it was. Obviously it was a wand, but except for that. It sounded important so there had to be something else to it. 

"The elder wand. I'm surprised that you're so shocked from hearing about it. The elder wand is the most powerful wand in the whole world. It's one of the deathly hallows." There it was! Something I definitely knew and I could remember where I'd heard about the elder wand. Although I did know that my father had the invisibility cloak I had never heard him speak about the other two. Why was Pandora so sure of my father having them?

"Isn't that from a kids story? About those brothers that met death?" I decided to play it of as if I didn't know they were real. The less I knew the better. If Pandora wanted the wand she could figure anything out from me anyway.

"Yes, but it's not just a story. The deathly hallows exist and your father was the last person to ever be seen with the elder wand. I want to know where it is", she spoke with a low voice as she took a step closer to me. She less than a step away. It made me uneasy and harder to act as if I didn't mind. The way she had moved and spoken made it feel as if she was threatening me. 

"I have no idea", I told her honestly. I met her eyes with intensity, that she did respond with. The same mysterious calmness stayed behind her eyes but at least she stared back at me. Although maybe that wasn't a good sign. 

"I have a hard time believing that." Her voice stayed cool, but if I hadn't payed attention I would have probably missed how she pronounced the last word with slight anger. It made me realize that she probably didn't believe me. That she thought that I was lying. 

"That doesn't change the facts. My family has never spoken about that in my entire life. Sorry that I couldn't be of more help. Maybe I should just grab Amanda and then we can leave", I simply spoke in another attempt to prove my honesty. That didn't seem to work. As I was about to walk past her towards where Dominic and Amanda had gone Pandora grabbed my arm. Her long, black nails dug into my skin.

"Not so fast. I don't think you've though hard enough about this. Maybe with some motivation your memories will resurface." With the grip on my arm she was able to push backwards. Before I had been able to regain my balance she had already gotten out her wand. It was pointed straight at me. Just as I was about to try and reason with her the curse her lips. I felt how it hit my body and insufferable pain filled my whole being. A scream escaped my lips and that was all my body would let me do. The rest of it was controlled by the raging pain that the curse caused.

Amanda's POV

The only thing I heard was a scream. A male one, from a voice I knew more than well. It made me shiver and the strands of hair at the back of my neck rise. I had already tried braking out of the closet without any success. In the end I had sat down just by the door, trying not to think about how the walls were almost closing in on me. The problem was that when James screamed I couldn't help the panic that arose in me. He sounded as if he was going through the worst thing in his entire life. I couldn't just sit in a closet while that happened. I needed to help him! I needed to do something" 

"James! Let me out of here! Please, let me out!", I yelled as I started to pound on the door. I knew that it might have seemed weak or helpless, but there wasn't that much I could do. I couldn't brake out of there but the fright of what was happening to James, mixed with the feeling of the walls closing in that I no longer could stop, made me not think. The only thing I knew was that I needed to get out.

"James!" 

A/N: Okay, so there aren't many chapters left actually. I'm sorry if I haven't updated as frequently recently but I hope that's okay anyway :) I think there will be six more chapters and then I don't really know if there will be a sequel or not. If you've liked the story so far then please vote and thank you for reading my story! xxx