Chapter Text
Pandora had seen her friends' deaths hundreds of times in her mind. So by the time the summer before fifth year rolled around, she decided she needed to change the future.
She read in a book somewhere that the future was like a web, made from people's choices. According to that logic, she should be able to see multiple futures if she tried. Turns out that wasn't the hard part.
She seemed to only be able to see death, human death.
✦✧✦✧
“Do you want to know what I learned?” Reg asked, as they sat down in their usual train compartment, “Sirius is an animagus”
“Wait what?” Barty screeched, “How’d you learn that”
“Ok, so he was in his room, and like the window is locked, no way to unlock it, not even the muggle way. So I walk in because I need to tell him that we're having dinner and he’s not there, the only thing in his room is a big black dog”
Reg breaths, “ok so I look at him and go ‘Sirius’ and he changes back and freaks out he’s like you can't tell anyone and like acting paranoid, so yeah”
Evan grinned, “I mean Sirius did it how hard can it be”
Dorcas swallowed her pumpkin pasty, “Are you suggesting that we become illegal animagi? Cause I'm all for it”
“Yes that is exactly what I'm suggesting”
Barty turned to her, “Hey panda, can you add it to the list of goals?”
“Sure, any other requests?” She sighs
Dorcas bumps Reg, “The two of us are going to get a girlfriend, and boyfriend, respectively”
Reg rolled his eyes, “Wasn't that on the list last year too?”
“Oh shush, anyways add that to the list Panda”
“Great, any more requests” The five continued like that laughing, talking, creating goals, and guessing the years gossip, till they got to Hogwarts.
✦✧✦✧
After the castle was asleep she headed to the Slytherin common room walked up the stairs to the girl's dorm and shook Dorcas awake. “Hey Cas, we’re having a meeting”
Dorcas looked up at her and groggily said, “Really Panda right now, it's the middle of the night”
“Well, when else am I supposed to call everyone to a meeting?”
She got up following Pandora out of the dorm. “I don't know, but maybe not in the middle of the night,” she then paused for a second and cried, “We’re going to have to wake up Barty! And Reg! Oh my god Panda this is a suicide mission”
She reached for the door and Dorcas looked at her and whispered, “I call Evan, you have to wake up Barty and Reg, they like you best.”
Pandora smiled softly, “That's not true but ok”
Yet when they walked into the room the three boys were sitting on their poofs in the middle of the room. “Thank god” Dorcas whispered, as the two plopped down on their poofs forming a small circle.
Barty looked around the circle confused, “So is someone going to explain why you two appeared in the middle of the night?”
Evan nodded and added, “And will this also explain why my twin sister was basically never around all summer?”
Pandora replied, “Yes, to both of you, also, this might be a conversation where tea is needed”
Barty sighed, “It's my turn right”
A chorus of “yeah” was his response.
“Ummmm hey Pixi, is it possible that you could make us some tea?” his voice shakes as he speaks.
Barty was always awkward around house elves, ever since the time in first year when he was rude to one, and Reg refused to talk to him for two weeks. The silent treatment had ended in Reg yelling at Barty, telling him that if he was ever rude to a house elf again they would never talk. It was a moment that was never really forgotten. Dorcas even replicated it one time in second year, when Barty, Evan, and Reg said something particularly awful about muggle-borns.
Pixi appeared a few seconds later and squeaked, “Master Barty, you said you wanted tea right?” She looked around the circle and when she laid her eyes on Reg she squealed, “Master Regulus!” she flung herself at him and engulfed him in a hug, and he was grinning.
After the hug finished Pixi stepped back and said, “Yes I do believe that the tea will be ready soon, we will be sure to not keep you waiting” and she disappeared.
“Why do house-elves always like you?” Barty grumbled towards Regulus.
“I thought it was obvious,” Regulus replied, “It's because I've always been nice to them.”
Barty looked appalled, “That was one time, I was 11, I didn't know better!”
Reg opened his mouth to say something but Pixi reappeared holding a tray with a bunch of tea mugs, and a teapot in one hand and an unfoldable table in the other. She unfolded the table and set the tray on top, “Remember you can always call Pixi if you need anything”
And all five kids chorused, “Thank you Pixi” as she disappeared.
Pandora poured out tea for everyone, and taking a sip of her tea she said, “I know this is weird but I need all of you to make me a promise, and I need you to go through with it because if one of you backs out, all of you die”
Dorcas looked up from her mug, “Wait what?”
Pandora took a shaky breath, “Promise, promise me that you will do what is best for the world, not just the wizarding world, everyone, because if any one of us chooses to not do what's best, the plan fails and we all die” She looked around at the others in the circle, “I promise.”
Dorcas paused then said, “I promise.”
“I am all for not dying, so I promise too” Barty added.
Evan breathed out then said, “I promise too.”
Pandora turned to Regulus and tilted his head, “I promise too” Regulus whispered.
Pandora clapped, “Great,”
Barty questioned, “So why was it necessary to have us promise that?”
“Um well you're not going to like the plan” Pandora admitted.
Reg exchanged a glance with Cas, “ok so what is this plan that we’re not going to like”
Pandora smiled, “Yeah, so over Christmas break we run away to go horcrux hunting”
“Run away?”
“Horcruxes?”
“Girl, what do you want us to do?”
The sound in the room increased, everyone trying to talk and ask their questions.
“Darlings you're at a 10 I want you to be at a 3,” Pandora said
There were murmurs of “Shush Panda” but the overall volume decreased almost immediately.
“I know all of you want to hear the plan but I'll give you a rundown of why we have this plan, basically you all know who Voldemort is and what he stands for right?”
“Ya”
“Yup”
“Sure”
“Ok great, so basically your families are going to ally with him, except Dorcas, but she's going to leave us so none of us can escape and Reg and Evan become death eaters, and because Barty doesn't want to be on the opposite side of the war he joins too, I run away by getting married”
She took a long breath and then rattled on, “So basically Reg dies first because Voldemort hurts Kreachter and he’s annoyed so he goes into this cave where Voldemort is keeping a horcrux, which you need to find and destroy to kill him, I still don't know why though”
“And then he drowns, then Evan gets killed by an auror, then Cas gets killed by Voldemort, then I die in a freak potions accident, then Barty gets his soul sucked out by a dementor.”
“Wait, why do I have the worst ending?” Barty cried.
Regulus nodded, “So what's the plan?”
“Great question thanks for asking, Reg. Barty, I don't know why, ok, you also live the longest.” She breathed in before the explanation, “In order to not die, we are going to go horcrux hunting. I've decided that we are going to run away during Christmas break because we have a lot of planning to do.”
She breathed again then added, “Also I have notebooks for all of you, they have some things specialized and some just overall plan and you can add ideas for the plan and, yeah”
“So we’ve established that we are going horcrux hunting yet, I'm not exactly sure what a horcrux is,” Dorcas questioned.
“So we might need to do a little research, but I know it's the key to defeating Voldemort” She admitted, “I figure that you or me could get access to the restricted section quite easily.”
“Just checking in does this plan guarantee our survival?” Evan asked, “Cause my notebook says there’s a fifty-fifty probability.”
“Ok so yeah, I mean all of us living is not a hundred percent each of us has about a fifty-fifty percent chance of death, but it's the highest life probability out of all of the options”
Regulus looked between his notebook and her, “What is this? You want me to escape? With Sirius?” The boy was visibly shaking. “You want me to leave Kreacher! He’s going to die! Pandora, this is madness!” He was nearly screaming.
Pandora looked towards him sadly, “It's for you, you won't die, but not just that it's for the world, if we don't do this the casualties are immeasurable”
“I MIGHT NOT EVEN SURVIVE! AND I DON'T WANT TO TRADE HIS LIFE FOR MINE! I DON'T CARE IF THIS SAVES THE WORLD! TELL ME IF HE SURVIVES! PANDORA!” he was fully screaming, tears running down his face.
Pandora looked at him devastated. “I can't see anything other than human deaths, I can only see the possible human deaths from the choice. I can't, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” There were quiet tears falling down her face too.
“YOUR FUCKING USELESS! YOU CAN’T DO THE ONLY THING I ASK YOU TO!”
“GET OUT! GET OUT!”