The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

I.XVI

Flashes of green light flared behind her eyelids.

Electra jolted awake with a gasp. Heart hammering against her rib cage, she fumbled in her sheets for her wand, her hand clasping around the cool wood like a vise. Electra pointed her wand towards the light, and only a second later when her scrambling brain paused, did she remember.

With a sharp sigh of relief (and a little self-vexation) she fell back into her pillows, her wand dropping back into the mess of her sheets.

A loud sound of disgust came from across the room. Araminta flipped over in her sheets. "Worst fucking roommate," she hissed under her breath.

Electra ignored her as she flung her arms over her face and waited for her quick beating heart to slow and didn't move until she was sure Araminta was sound asleep again.

Electra rolled over in her jumble of silky sheets, her body heavy and tight. She picked up the small clock she kept at her bedside table and lifted her heavy head to peak at the time. 6:42 am.

She dropped her head back into her pillow with a groan. This sodding Scottish sun!

This was not the first time she'd been woken like this. It only occurred on mornings when she'd forgotten to close the hangings around her bed at night, leaving the morning sun to shine through the lake above, giving off greenish flashes as the water rippled overhead. Usually she was so careful, but Electra hardly remembered stumbling into her room the night before so there was no chance she'd think to close her bed hangings. Stupid.

It was no use trying to fall back asleep after being ripped from sleep on these types of mornings, nightmares would usually follow.

Giving herself one last glorious moment on her mattress, Electra rolled her body to the side and slid off her bed. Every muscle in her body screamed in protest.

A silent curse formed on her lips as she looked at herself in her vanity mirror.

Knees bloodied and grass-stained, wrists in a state she'd rather not go into detail about, and hair so frizzy —except for the portions plastered to her forehead and neck in dried blood— she would have mistaken her own reflection for Granger. There was a bruise forming on her hip that she wasn't sure how she got as well as a huge one on her thigh. At least she had the sense to strip down to her underwear before climbing into bed (not that that really kept her sheets any cleaner).

Electra didn't want to look at herself any longer. After brushing her teeth, she pulled on her bathrobe, slipped into her shoes, swiped clean clothes and her wand off the bed. A side glance at Araminta told her bathing in her dorm was off the table. It didn't matter, she had plans.

She tiptoed past Araminta's bed and slipped out the door. Electra took a shortcut to the fifth floor, not out of fear of running into someone, but because she wanted to get the grime off of her as soon as possible to feel a sense of peace again.

"Sandalwood."

The door to the prefects' bathroom unlocked with a click. Electra pushed it open and kicked the door shut behind her.

Shuffling to the golden bath tabs, Electra kicked off her chunky mary janes and threw her bathrobe onto one of the marble ledges as she went, and turned her favorite faucets on (one with a massive teardrop amethyst gem atop the twisting gold knob and the other that looked like a miniature jade encrusted Fabergé egg). The smell of lavender and rosemary hit her before the periwinkle purple water splashed onto the bottom of the swimming pool sized tub.

Electra undressed, making a new pile on the ledge (knowing full well the house elves would take her dirty laundry and return it to her closet clean), and padded barefoot to the side of the tub, grabbing a clean towel above the cast iron furnace while trying to ignore the curious eye of the mermaid portrait above her head. The tub filled magically quick, and by the time she had gathered shampoo, conditioner and a loofa, the taps shut off on their own. The steam rippling off the opalescent water was too enticing to wait any longer.