The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

I.XIV

Cedric collapsed against the glass wall of greenhouse five, his knees falling weakly into the grass. He ran his hands through his thick, golden brown locks. "Bloody hell. Lupin's been a werewolf the whole time."

He looked green. Electra gripped his shoulder, offering him a sense of comfort, remembering quite well that his boggart presented as a werewolf at the beginning of the year. "He's not a threat," she said with enough confidence that she hoped her friend would feel a bit of ease by it.

This was futile. "Not a threat?!" he bleated. "What was Dumbledore thinking hiring someone like that?!"

Rage boiled in her chest. Electra clipped Cedric around the back of the head. He looked up at her in shock. "That's enough!" she hissed so viciously Cedric's face flashed with fright. "You fear and hate what you don't know. His condition has never interfered with your life or anyone else's here in the castle, so what's it matter?!"

She wasn't entirely sure where the anger stemmed, but thinking back on it, perhaps it was because deep down she knew that whatever a Clairvoyant was, what she was, she wasn't just a witch either. She herself was Other, like Lupin.

Cedric looked at her with bright, wide eyes. "I don't think you've ever yelled at me like that before," he said almost breathlessly.

"Well you're being a bigot," she said with a scowl pulling at her lips.

Cedric's cheeks flushed pink. "I didn't think you liked the professor that much," he said in a small voice. She didn't deign that with a response, only a scoff. Electra turned away, looking over the side of the wall again at the Whomping Willow through the little light provided by the castle.

She heard him shuffle next to her, clambering up the wall. "I take it back," he said softly, tugging at her robes like a child. She peered over her shoulder at him. "You're right. I am scared. I didn't mean to be so..."

"Prejudice? Close-minded?" she offered.

"Yeah, alright Black, I get it now." He sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry, okay?"

Electra looked back over the wall. "I know." In her experience, boys didn't usually like to admit their wrongs, but Cedric had always been different, especially when Electra was not. He'd acknowledged he was wrong about her those five years ago, and with his change of heart, he tried (and failed, bless him) to make the others see her as he did. Electra was the stubborn one, and Cedric had always been the ever-changing one.

Cedric stood on his toes to see over Electra's head. "Still scared shitless though."

Electra smiled despite herself. "I'll save you from the scary things, Ced."

He huffed annoyingly. "I can take care of myself," he grumbled. Electra bit her lip to stop herself from smiling further. He was still a boy after all, didn't like being a damsel in distress. "So how do we get into the Whomping Willow passage?"

Electra's eyebrows furrowed. "This orange cat, he—"

"Duck!" Cedric pushed her head down. Voices echoed nearby and Electra and Cedric scuttled against the wall of the greenhouse, pressing their backs against the glass. Not voices really, just whimpers and small sobs. Electra sunk into the grass and slowly —with Cedric gripping her robes and trying to pull her back— looked around the wall again.

Eight silhouetted figures clambered out of the base of the whomping willow; one very obviously a cat and another, floating in mid-air. Electra's heart palpitated. Had she been too late? Had Snape already directed a Dementor to administer the kiss?

They moved towards the castle and Electra had to smack Cedric to get him to back up with her. They scurried around the greenhouse wall. "One wrong move, Peter." Lupin's unmistakable voice rang in the night. Electra peered around the greenhouse again. Lupin's tall shadow pointed his wand at a short, squant figure. Peter Pettigrew.