Pandora Malfoy sat in her boarding room brushing out her long, silky silvery blonde hair. Her three other roommates had already gone home for the summer holidays that morning, and eagerly at that, anxious to see their families again. Pandora sympathized with them to a certain extent. She wanted to see her mother more than anything, and knew she felt the same. They needed eachother, especially since they lived with someone as horrible as Lucius Malfoy.

Pandora's father hated her. True, she was a Squib (which in itself was a lie. She, for some reason, just had never been invited to Hogwarts thus it was assumed she was but a mere Squib), but usually parents tend to love their children regardless of their God-given faults. Not her father. She wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find that he never even sighed mournfully if he were to receive a letter telling him that she had died in some freak cafeteria accident. Hey, it could happen. Those Smeltings lunch ladies could be ruthless at times.

Though each of her parents sat at complete opposite ends of the scale, there was still her twin brother, Draco. He was stuck somewhere in the middle, as brothers tend to be. Right half between good and evil. He was a perfect brother.

Unfortunately, Draco didn't get out of school until a week after her, and Pandora hated being at home without him. When their father didn't have Draco to spoil, he kept making up faults of Pandora's and accused her of all sorts of things. She had already made arrangements with the head of Smeltings to stay an extra week, but she hated that too. Of course it was better than the first option.

A few students were going to take a later train home, but all of her friends had left. So she decided to do what she usually did when she was bored: go practice colorguard.

She stepped outside with her blue and orange practice flag and flipped it around a few times, but it was absolutely no fun without others there to practice with (and show off to, she had to admit. She was pretty good, after all, she was the captain of the guard). She put the flag away and resorted to Plan B: the school library.

When she got there, it was almost empty, unless there were people hiding behind the many bookshelves. She really had no reason to be there or a specific book to find, so she picked up her usual default: a book of Greek mythology. She wasn't crazy about the Greeks or anything, but it was fun for her to read her name in a book. Besides the story of Pandora's Box, her other favorite was the myth of how the four seasons came about. She always thought that Persephone character was rather dumb, or just did it to be cruel. She was so close to leaving, but she just had to eat that stupid food! Ugh. Some people... Otherwise it would be summer all the time. There's a nice thought. No school forever!

Anyhow, Pandora was flipping through this book when a chair scraped the wooden floor next to her. She turned to see who it was, and couldn't say she was overjoyed with the result. It was Dudley Dursley. He had been following her around since the first day of school. Pandora had no interest in him at all, but remained polite. He always seemed to catch her in the library, especially on weekends. He'd missed very few, anyway. She was quick to note, however, that he had lost a lot of weight since the beginning of school. He almost looked normal. Maybe she was a good influence.
"Good afternoon, Pandora!" he greeted. He was never polite to anybody but her. Go figure.

"Hello, Dudley. Are you taking an evening train home?"

"Yes, what about you?"

"Oh... well... you see..." she began uneasily, "I don't want to go home until my brother gets home, and he doesn't get out of school for another week. So I'm going to stay at Smeltings until then."

"That's horrible! Why doesn't your brother go to Smeltings too?"

"He goes to a special school... um... for the performing arts! Yes, he's quite a good dancer, especially ballet," she lied, smiling inwardly as she tried to imagine what Draco would look like dressed in a pink tutu with laced-up pink ballet shoes on point.

"That makes sense then." Dudley got quieter suddenly and averted his eyes. "You know, it's really a shame for a pretty girl like you to have to stay here by herself for so long. Especially when people like me live in a house with multiple spare rooms..."

"I can take care of myself."

"I have no doubt that you could! But... would you consider... just maybe... you could stay at my house for a week!"

Pandora stared at him blankly, thinking things over. Sure, a house would be much better than Smeltings, but with Dudley? She sighed and shrugged. "If you're sure your parents won't mind, sure. Why not."

"That's great!" he cheered, his pudgy cheeks puffing out in a wide grin. "Get your stuff ready, and I'll meet you in front of Smeltings at five!"

The plans were made and followed through. By six they were on the train home, and just before seven they arrived at the Dursley home. Dudley's parents were more than accommodating. The house was neat and Mrs. Dursley gave Pandora a room upstairs.

Dudley said, "My cousin will stay here when he gets home from school in a week," as he helped Pandora carry her things upstairs, "but you are much more welcome to it than he is."

"Oh, I'll be gone before then, anyway. Who's your cousin?" she asked, trying to make polite conversation.

"He's a loser, you'll be glad you're gone. His name's Harry Potter."

Pandora froze but tried to look casual. She couldn't believe it. Imagine if Dray knew...

"Anyway, since we were on the train so long, Mum made a late dinner for us. Would you like to come with me?"

"I'm... not so hungry..." she said. It was true. She felt a bit sick.

"Oh, okay," he sighed, disappointed. "I'll see you later, then! Bye!"

*******************************************************

It had been a week, and Pandora still hadn't gone home. She'd written her mother when she'd gotten to the Dursley's, and Mrs. Malfoy had written back suggesting that she stay a few days into the next week because Narcissa would be leaving for a little while and didn't want Pandora at home alone without her. The Dursleys were more than willing to let her stay longer.

But the next problem came when Dudley had to leave for a three-day camp... the same day Harry Potter would be coming home from Hogwarts. Besides the problem of him needing his room back, there was also that of great enmity between him and her brother, Dray. Once he found out her name was Malfoy... if the silvery blonde hair didn't give it away first... who knew what horrible things might happen? If he told the Dursleys that she was from a wizarding family, they would surely kick her out, forcing her to go home and stay with her father and brother alone.

But perhaps he wouldn't be as terrible as all that... as long as she didn't try to pick a fight (which she most certainly would not, it wasn't in her nature).

She sat in the living room waiting for a Mrs. Dursley to return. Mr. Dursley was at work. Pandora wore one of her favorite casual Muggle outfits: a pair of flare blue jeans and a fairly tight pink-sleeved white shirt with a panda bear on it. She'd gotten it on a school outing and was wanting to show it to Draco. He'd taken to the habit of calling her the endearing nickname of "Panda." Brothers...

The front door opened and Pandora heard Mrs. Dursley saying, "Don't forget Dudley's guest! I don't want you to scare her off with any of your nonsensical talking about..." but she stopped abruptly and smiled when she saw Pandora seated there. "Pandora! Hello!" She nudged Harry as if to hurry him away, but as soon as he'd stepped onto the first stair the phone rang. "Oh, I suppose I should get that. Harry, why don't you keep our guest company?"

Harry walked slowly over as Mrs. Dursley ran to the kitchen to answer the phone. "Um... hi," he said. "I'm Harry Potter. What's your name again?"

She noticed how his eyes ran over her hair. He saw the resemblance. At least she looked more like her mother than father, unlike Draco. And her eyes were amber instead of that horrid grey color. But still, there was little else to do but press on, come what may. She stood up, smiling cheerily as she offered her hand for a handshake, saying, "Hello! My name's Pandora Malfoy."

He didn't look surprised or angry, just satisfied in a way as if an earlier thought had been confirmed. He glanced towards the kitchen then said in a lower voice, "Any relation to a Draco Malfoy?"

She laughed and said, "What do you think?" tossing her hair for emphasis. "I'm his twin sister."

"But... but then why haven't you been at Hogwarts these past four years?"

She blushed. "I...was hoping you wouldn't ask. I was never invited..."

"Are you... a Squib?"

"Yes and no. I have magical abilities, I've just never been invited. But I know I'm good enough. I can do all the spells up through the intermediate level, and that's with only my mother teaching me."

He opened his mouth to say more, but Mrs. Dursley came back. "I'm really sorry," she said, "but it looks like I'm going to have to leave. I won't be back until tomorrow probably, and Vernon will have to come, too." She glared at Harry. "There'd better be no trouble while I'm gone, understand?"
"I understand!" he said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Reluctantly, Mrs. Dursley left to her bedroom to gather her things. Pandora looked at Harry curiously and asked, "What's going on?"

Harry shrugged. "Ickle Duddikins probably got kicked out of camp early this year."

Pandora held a hand over her mouth to suppress a burst of laughter as Mrs. Dursley walked back in with her suitcase. "I'll be back in at most three days. Pandora, I'm glad you could stay, and you are more than welcome to visit us any time... in case you leave before we get back." Now her voice and expression became much harder. "Harry, be sure to clean the basement before we get back. That's where you'll be staying this summer." Before he could protest she left.

Pandora became exceedingly uncomfortable as the door closed. Such an awkward silence filled the room, until a hoot from the first stair broke it. She looked over to see a beautiful white owl in a cage. She gasped delightedly. "Is this yours, Harry? She's wonderful!"

He smiled proudly as he went to her cage and let her out. "Her name's Hedwig."

Hedwig flew directly to Pandora and perched on her shoulder. Pandora lightly traced a finger down the owl's front as Harry stared. "She's... usually not quite so friendly with strangers."

Pandora beamed at Hedwig. "Really? That's very special... I've never had a pet of my own, not even a little owl."

"You should see Pig, my best friend's owl..."

"Ron Weasley, by chance? I met his father once, Arthur, is it? My father doesn't like the Weasleys much, but I thought Mr. Weasley was very nice."

Harry laughed. "You're nothing like Draco."

"No, he's the evil twin."

"I believe it." He sighed forlornly and gazed down a corridor. "I guess I should start on the basement. I almost forgot we had one! It'll take forever for me to-"

"I'll help you!"

This really shocked him. "Help me? You will?"

"Of course! Why not? It's the least I can do to repay you for letting me use your room!"

He smiled even bigger. "Then let's get to it!"

As they both began for the end of the hall, the phone rang again. "Oh, who could it be this time? I'll be right back, Pandora." A few minutes later Harry returned, and he wasn't alone.

"Malfoy!" Ron Weasley gawked, "You've turned into a girl!"

Pandora rolled her eyes. "I've always been a girl, you pinheaded git! Draco's my twin brother! I'm Pandora Malfoy, Squib Extraordinaire..." she added with a moan.

"Is that why we didn't meet you at the Quidditch World Cup? Your father too ashamed of you to be seen in public?"

"Ron!" Harry scolded. "You don't have to be mean to her! She's a very nice Malfoy!"

"Nice and Malfoy don't mix."

Pandora shook her head. "Look, I'm not offended. I know my father and brother have been disrespectful towards the Weasleys for a long time. I don't blame you for being angry, Ron. But really, we should get to work. That basement won't clean itself, especially since the two of you aren't allowed to use magic!"

The three managed to find the basement, but once inside it was nearly impossible to maneuver in. It was so cluttered with just about everything imaginable.

They managed to get a sort of path going here and there, and found some half-filled boxes on one wall that they could use to put things away in. Unfortunately, once they removed the last one, an entire section of bricking fell out.

"Oh no..." Harry groaned, "Aunt Petunia's going to kill me! We've got to fix it. I'll go to a store and get some supplies."

"I'll go with you," Ron said.

"No, you stay here with Pandora."

She smiled. "I'll be alright, I promise. You two can go while I just continue filling these boxes. Hurry back, though, okay?"

Ron blinked. "You really are a nice Malfoy... how odd..."

The two boys left, and Pandora turned back to the wall to inspect exactly how much damage had been down. Imagine her surprise when she found a door, still half covered by bricks. She touched it, very curious, but also remembering the fate of another very curious Pandora.

She was about to forget all about it and get back to work when another strange and frightening thing happened. From the other side of the door came a steady thud... thud... thud... and suddenly the rest of the bricks fell away, revealing the entire door.

Pandora was terrified. All she could think about were the horrible stories Dray used to tell her when they were little about trolls who liked to eat blonde little girls. Yet something sparked her curiosity more, drawing her closer. She shrugged and said aloud, "I'll try the door. If it's locked, then I won't pursue it further."

She prayed that it was locked as she placed her hand delicately on the knob, turned it, and easily pushed the door open, greeted by just the slightest protest from the creaky hinges. The pathway was dark, but seemed empty. She mustered as much courage as she could, and pressed onward into the blackness.