Pandora Malfoy and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter Eleven: Andy's Message

~ Continued from previous chapter ~

"What?!" Hermione said eventually.

"My name's Pandora Malfoy," I said resignedly. "I come from one of the oldest Pureblood families in Britain, and the rest of my family believe very strongly in the whole Pureblood elitism thing."

"But you don't?" Hermione asked, sounding a little confused.

"Of course I don't," I confirmed.

"How does that work?"

I gave her a confused look, and she elaborated for me.

"Normally, if your family have such strong beliefs, you'll grow up with the same beliefs unless some outside influence changes how you think or feel about those things," she explained. "But that can only have been someone you're close to, who grew up with the same beliefs but then had them changed later in their life, because you wouldn't have befriended anyone from — what do you call it? — the Muggle world if you still had your family's beliefs." She took a pause for breath, then added, "Did that make sense?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it did. And as for your question, it was my mother."

"But I thought all of your family were blood-purists?"

"They are. Well, I think they are, anyway..." I made a confused face. "Father and Draco definitely are, but Mother... I don't know. I think it was an accident that she gave me the book, but—" I broke off and shrugged.

"What book?"

"Oh, right. When I was about eight, Mother gave me a hardback book. It had a cover that said it was The Tales of Beedle the Bard — that's a book of wizarding fairytales — but when I opened it, it was actually Muggle book called Matilda."

"Oh, I love that book!" Hermione said, sounding excited. "When I first read it, I managed to make things move like Matilda could, and I got so excited, I dropped the book on my foot."

"Ouch," I said, with a sympathetic wince.

Hermione nodded, then said, "Anyway, how did that book get a different cover? And how did your mum not notice it?"

"I don't know, but someone called Andy had written a message on the blank page at the back," I said, shrugging.

"What did it say?"

I frowned as I tried to remember, bringing up a picture of the message in my mind.

Pandora,

There's much more to life than money, power, and blood status. The Muggle world is a fascinating place, and the people living in it are just as human as we are. Don't let yourself become another child who follows their family's twisted beliefs without question.

Andy

I repeated these words to Hermione, who looked increasingly interested with each sentence.

"So Andy was a wizard then?" Hermione asked, and I nodded.

"And a Pureblood, by the sound of it," I added. "But he can't be very closely related to me, because I know a lot of my family tree, and he's definitely not on there. Father's an only child, and Mother had one sister, but she got married to someone called Rodolphus and didn't have any kids. And even going back another couple of generations draws a blank." I sighed quietly.

"Why does he have to be on your family tree?" Hermione asked. "Aren't there more Pureblood families?"

"Well," I started, "technically, yes, but you'll find that most, if not all, old Pureblood families are connected in some way. They tend to marry into the same few families to 'keep their blood pure', which can lead to a pretty confusing family tree."