"pandora died trying to destroy the horcrux" what if she didn't. what if she died doing a perfectly routine experiment but the hair regulus usually tied back for her was left loose and smudged a rune or barty wasn't there to shout "watch out!" when something was about to explode or dorcas wasn't sitting there reading out instructions for the ritual and she missed something or evan wasn't there to cut her ingredients properly because pandora always rushed and did it carelessly. what if pandora loved xenophilius but never quite let him help with her experiments because that was hers, that was hers and dorcas's and barty's and evan's and regulus's, it was for her and the four people she loved with all her heart and soul and whose voices in her head were indistinguishable from her own, even after all those years. what if pandora died doing something she'd done a dozen times before because this time, she was alone?
