Pandora liked to walk around the castle late at night. Some corridors were too terrifying to visit but some were nice enough to feel secure in them in the dark. She had friends among few paintings and some ghosts and the thought of graduating and leaving the castle one day was rather depressing. But for now she was walking around in silence, thinking of the upcoming exams.
"What are you doing here?", familiar voice interrupted her as Tom Riddle emerged from the dark, holding his luminous wand in his slim hand.
His face looked extremely handsome in this light, but also terrifying.
"What are you doing here?", Pandora crossed her arms.
"Well, I am doing my duties and night patroling", he explained.
"Alright, now do your duty and punish me", she smirked, "Come on"
"As much as I'd want to, I don't want Slytherin to lose the points because of a foolish brat like you", he drawled out and approached her.
"Leave me alone then"
"Aren't you scared?", he lowered his voice, "There were few victims around the castle last year. One of them even died"
His gaze was intense like he wanted to look inside her soul and like he knew something she did not. They both knew one thing, though - it wasn't Rubeus Hagrid who was reponsible for all these weird attacks that had occured during the previous year. She didn't know who it was, but she was sure it wasn't that poor Gryffindor boy. She was sure that the murderer was still among them.
"I have nothing to be scared of. My blood is as pure as the driven snow", she snorted, "Unlike yours", she added and his dark eyes widened, "Maybe you're the one who should be afraid, half-blood"
Tom knew that he shouldn't have done that but his rage was out of control. And there was this new spell that he's read about in the book from the Restricted Section so...
"Strangulare", he pointed his wand at Pandora and the bold grin immediately disappeared from her face.
She started to choke and desperately tried to release herself from invisible hands around her neck. But there were none so she couldn't do anything about that. It was quite fun to watch.
"Don't you dare speak to me in such manner again, Lestrange", he warned her and then released her from the spell.
Pandora fell down on the floor and started to pant heavily. Her eyes filled with tears and the vision of Tom disappearing in the shadows again became blurry.
Maybe it was just a bad dream?
Dream or not, Pandora started to avoid Tom Riddle at all costs. She would run away somewhere else every time she saw him and she never looked him in the eye again. It made Rodolphus happy, as he was not aware of the reason behind that sudden change in his sister's behaviour. Pandora wanted to tell him that Tom Riddle had hurt her. Almost had killed her. But she was sure that Rodolphus would admit that it was a well-deserved form of punishment. Teachers wouldn't believe her either - Tom was a perfect student with the best grades and he had never caused any trouble. Unlike her.
But Pandora knew. Oh yes, she knew.
The murderer was indeed still among them.
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