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Lily was sitting on some stranger's bed in the Slytherin dorms. Supposedly, Pandora was friends with the boys who slept here but honestly, she wouldn’t’ve been surprised if she’d just chosen a random spot to sneak into. Pandora liked to hang out in different places, claiming sitting in the same spaces day after day made the air feel stagnant and attracted knargles. Lily didn’t really understand what she meant,but she was happy to go along with it. She found Pandora’s spontaneity refreshing.
“Done!” The girl in question exclaimed, and Lily let out a deep breath. She’d tried her best to stay still while Pandora sketched her, but found it difficult. She stood up and stretched her arms before reaching out to grab at Pandora’s sketchbook. It was an old leather bound book that for whatever reason smelled like lavender. Lily loved watching Pandora draw. She’d also occasionally caught her writing, but that was when she got more evasive. Lily thought that Pandora sometimes wrote poetry, but clearly didn’t want to share that side of her.
“Can I see?”
Pandora bit her lip and avoided Lily’s gaze while handing it over. Lily gasped. She looked beautiful. Pandora had drawn her in a way that brought out all of her best features.
“I- I don’t even know what to say.”
Hovering her finger over the delicately sketched curls, she accidentally pushed the page back. Something fell out. Pandora quickly snatched the journal back.
“I’m sorry, it’s just the other stuff is kind of personal.”
“No, I understand” Lily was quick to reassure her. “I didn’t mean to, I just got caught up. Dora, you’re really talented.”
Lily went to sit back down and noticed the paper that had fallen. She reached to pick it up, when Pandora jumped up.
“Let me!” She squeaked. Lily found it rather cute.
“Relax, I was just going to hand it back-” Lily laughed, then stopped when she looked at what she was holding. She didn’t mean to invade Pandora’s privacy, but she noticed her own name.
‘Lily, I’m used to being treated like-’ she read before Pandora was grabbing at her.
“This is about me!”
“It’s nothing, don't worry about it.” Pandora kept trying to grab the paper from her, but Lily ignored her and held it up higher. This was the one advantage of being taller than all of your friends, she supposed. Lily kept reading.
I don’t know how to deal with my feelings and Dorcas suggested I write my feelings in a letter. I’m not going to send it, but I thought it might help me sort things out, so here goes.
Dear Lily,
I’m so used to being treated like I’m strange that I wasn’t prepared to meet someone like you. Despite what everybody thinks, I can tell when people are being genuine or not. And you’ve always been genuine with me. You are the bravest person I’ve ever met. I love the way you always defend others. You have a temper, but you’re never mean. You remind me of a forest fire. Do you know that forest fires actually strengthen the health of a forest in the long term? They allow the old growth trees to thrive. You’re so kind, and you have never made me feel like I was intruding. How was I ever supposed to do anything other than fall in love with you?
Ugh, isn’t that mushy? It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, I’m more of an artist than a writer anyway. I’m just going to stuff this in my journal and go back to repressing things. If it works, it works.
She flopped down on the bed and let the paper fall from her hand. Pandora loved her back? Lily had seen signs, but she’d thought it was just wishful thinking.
“I didn’t mean to … Lily, your friendship is so important to me.” Lily realized Pandora was trying to explain, to comfort her because she thought she was upset. As if her feelings could’ve been an imposition. She cut her off.
“Dora, I love you too.”
She reached out and grabbed her hand, and gave it a comforting squeeze. Pandora beamed at her. Something about that smile told her that everything would be just fine.