Light and Darkness

YEAR 3: TWO

I decided to skip the first two years and skip right to Year 3 - I hope you don't mind.

YEAR 3

¦TWO¦

Despite being in rival houses, Fred, George and I remained friends. Although, it was tough in school since we didn't see that much of each other and it was deemed 'unacceptable' for a Slytherin to associate themselves with anyone in another house really or of lower blood status. But since Ted and Andromeda were good friends of Mr and Mrs Weasley, that kept the bond between the three of us as Ted liked to visit the Weasley home often. I know Mr Weasley knows who I am and who my parents are and was very reluctant to invite me over at the beginning of my friendship with Fred and George, but after meeting me and talking with Ted, he was nice enough to let me over and see past who my family are and instead focused on who I was.

It was the day before Fred, George and I returned to Hogwarts for our third year and Ted and Andromeda decided to visit Mr and Mrs Weasley. I liked these visits, even though they were rare. It was the only real time that I got to spend time with Fred and George outside of school because Ted and Mr Weasley would talk from noon until night. We arrived at the Burrows, where Mrs Weasley opened the door to greet everyone. Tonks wasn't able to make it and frankly, didn't want to go. I greeted Mrs Weasley with a hug before she directed me to Fred and George's room, three flights of stairs above the kitchen.

Ted and Mr Weasley quickly began talking about Mr Weasley's work in the Ministry. I rolled my eyes and made my way to Fred and George's room. I knocked on the door several times before entering. I swung the door open to reveal the familiar bedroom where Fred and George stood on either side, packing their individual trunks, "Packing already?" I asked entering and sitting on Fred's bed, beside a pile of jumpers that he had yet to pack.

"Well, yeah." George answered, bending over and putting a familiar piece of parchment into the trunk, "School starts tomorrow -"

"- Wait." I jumped up and ran over to the George, "You still have this?" I asked taking the parchment out and examining it. Fred and George both nodded their heads before I returned to my seat on Fred's bed, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." I said just before the blank parchment became enriched with writing, revealing the title - The Marauder's Map.

Fred snatched it off me, "Mischief managed." He quickly said, "Are you serious? You could get us in trouble." He said before tucking the parchment underneath his robes that were stacked in his trunk, "You know we're not allowed to use magic outside of school."

I rolled my eyes, "So, I'm twenty-four hours early, what's the big deal?" I laughed as the twin brothers continued to pack, Fred nearly done.

"We could get expelled, we're not seventeen yet." George said, "I can't wait until I'm seventeen. You can finally use magic outside of school."

I laughed at George's statement, "You only want to be able to use magic outside of school so you can use it to pack your trunk and make your bed."

"And your point is?" He responded as Fred shut his trunk closed and let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, a young red-haired boy entered the room, "Fred, do you have a jumper I could borrow?" I knew this boy to be young Ron Weasley; the youngest boy of the Weasley family.

Fred furrowed his brows and looked at him confused, "Jumper? Why do you want one of my jumpers?"

"Because I need one for school? Mum said one of you would give me one of your old ones since I don't have many." He answered, looking between his older brothers, "Oh, hi Pandora." He smiled to me - this was a rare occasion, mainly because whenever I had seen Ron, he always seemed to be frightened of me, which George then explained it was because I was in Slytherin

I returned the wave before Fred responded to Ron, "Go ask Percy. I need my jumpers." He said as Ron turned on his heels, "Actually," Fred called, Ron returning to where he was, "Charlie should have left a few behind. Go check his room."

Ron ran out of the room, "Where's Charlie gone?" I asked, referring to the second eldest of the Weasley children. I knew Charlie from being friends with Tonks. Like Tonks, he has now left Hogwarts.

George closed his trunk, sighing with relief also, "He's gone to Romania, to study dragons."

I nodded my head in amusement, "That sounds interesting." I responded, "What do you guys want to do when you leave Hogwarts?"

I looked between the boys, who laughed to themselves, "Open up our own joke shop of course." Fred answered, getting up from where he sat and made his way across the room. "I actually forgot to pack these." He said picking up a rectangular, orange box and bringing it over to where I sat, George coming over and sitting beside me. "Weasleys; Wizard Wheezes." Fred answered, opening the box to reveal a handful of very diverse objects, some moving, some lighting up and some just looked pure disgusting.

I picked up a rainbow colored sweet, "What's this one?" I asked, about to put it in my mouth before George's hand swiped the sweet from my grasp, "What?" I asked, looking at George rather annoyed since he took the sweet from me.

"This," George said holding up the sweet before putting it back in the box, "Is a Ton-Tongue Toffee."

I looked between the brothers confused, "A what?"

"It's a toffee sweet that makes your tongue grow." Fred answered, with a quirky smile on his face, "It's still in development, but we're working on it."

I rolled my eyes at the pair, "Why would you want a sweet to make your tongue grow?" I stupidly asked, knowing I was going to get an answer back from one of them.

George gave me a strange look, "Why wouldn't you want a sweet to make your tongue grow?"

I laughed slightly at how ridiculous the two of them were being, "Besides, don't you two have Quidditch to practice before try-outs next week?" I asked referring to Fred and George successfully making it to the Gryffindor Quidditch team last year as beaters.

The boys got to their feet, "Nah, we're too good." Fred joked. At that moment, a knock was heard on the door, "Ugh, what is it Percy?" Fred asked, rolling his eyes at his older brother who stood in the doorway of their room.

Percy gave a look of disgust toward Fred, "I'm just reminding you brother dearest that you should remember to pack the quills mum has bought for you. They're in the kitchen and I would think she would appreciate if you remembered to bring them. Not like your potions book last year." He smirked before turning on his heel and leaving the room.

I noticed both Fred and George roll their eyes, "He is so annoying." George retorted, "Go get your quills." He mocked Percy, "They're quills, not something useful."

I giggled at his remarks, "I'll go get them." I said, standing up, "I have to go speak to Ted and Andromeda anyways." I smiled.

"Ted and Andromeda?" Fred asked, "You mean your mum and dad?" He laughed.

I felt myself go pink at the mistake I had made, "Oh, uh -" I stumbled over my words, "Yeah, I call them by their names sometimes." I said slowly backing out of the room, nervously laughing before turning around and running down the stairs.

As I reached the bottom flight of stairs, I heard a snippet of the conversation Ted and Andromeda and Mr and Mrs Weasley were having, so I sat down on the step I had stopped on, "The girl is too young to know what her family are." I heard Mr Weasley's voice, "She's only thirteen. Give it a few years."

"- But what if we don't have a few years?" Andromeda's voice butted in, "What if someone in school finds out who she is and tells her everything. We've tried talking to her, but she doesn't want to know."

"Does she know where her parents are?" Mrs Weasley asked, "Surely she must know."

I heard both Ted and Andromeda sigh, "Yes, she does know that her parents are in Azkaban and that's as far as she would let us go." Ted sighed, "I'm not even sure if she remembers her real name because she's been known as 'Pandora Tonks' for so long. I just feel sorry for her at this stage." He breathed, "She has to lie to everyone she knows. We're not her parents and it's hard on us too to go along with this facade."

I heard Mr Weasley sigh, "I know it can be tough, but we have to see this through. If anyone finds out that Bexley has been reported missing for the past nine years, then we are going to have a problem." I felt my heart sank. I have been reported as a missing person for the past nine years. But, I'm safe, living with my aunt and uncle, how could I be a missing person? "What about Dumbledore and the teachers at Hogwarts?" Mr Weasley asked.

"Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape are fully aware of Bexley's existence and changed her name in the schooling system as Pandora." Andromeda answered, "But, we can't let anyone else find out, or we could be in big trouble."

"What about the Malfoy boy?" Mr Weasley asked, "Draco -" I felt my heart beat faster at the sound of his name. Draco, my younger cousin, the last thought on my mind before I had been taken to Ted and Andromeda's cottage so many years ago. Thoughts circled my head about Draco and about Narcissa and Lucius. I missed them dearly and thought about them everyday. I tried to discard all of these thoughts and focus on the rest of the conversation, "- We just need to make sure she is protected -"

"Pandora." I heard Fred call from two flights of stairs above me, "Everything alright?"

I jumped to my feet and ran up a few steps, "Yeah." I called back before dodging the kitchen and forgetting about Fred's quills.

I returned to the bedroom, "Where's my quills? You were ages down there." Fred said, looking at me up and down.

I felt my heart rate increase and my cheeks become red, "Oh, yeah." I breathed, "I couldn't find them. I guess they weren't in the kitchen after all." I shrugged my shoulders before sitting back down on Fred's bed, trying to process what I had just heard but also appear to Fred and George that I was fine.

Fred, George and I discussed what we hoped would happen throughout our third year in Hogwarts. For each of us, it was different. Fred hoped to win the Quidditch cup, George hoped that their pranks won't get them into trouble with Mrs Weasley again and for me, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted from this year at Hogwarts. "I'm not quite sure -" I answered.

"- Probably to get with Adrian." George mocked, interrupting my train of thought.

"- What?" I said defensively, slightly going pink, "No."

Fred and George laughed, "Oh come on." Fred chuckled, "You've wanted him since first year. He's a real catch."

I fanned myself to prevent my cheeks from burning more red, "I have not wanted him since first year." I said, "What about you lot then?"

"What about us?" George asked, shrugging his shoulders.

I stopped fanning myself, "Which one of you are going for Angelina Johnson?"

The twins looked at each other before laughing, "That's where you're wrong." Fred answered, "I believe the correct term is 'just friends'."

I shook my head with a giggle, "I don't believe it for a second." I couldn't believe that both of them saw right through me when it came to Adrian. Myself and Adrian have been really good friends since our first day at Hogwarts and maybe I found him a bit attractive. He is a chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team which is one of the main reasons why Fred and George don't like him, and that he is in Slytherin. I always found it strange how most of the Weasley family dislike Slytherin's, yet, here I am, sitting with Fred and George and would consider them my good friends. If Andromeda and Ted weren't my 'parents', I'd guess that Fred, George and I wouldn't be close at all, and would actually dislike one another.