The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

II.III

The Quidditch World Cup match was incredible.

And that was saying something coming from Electra.

And Fred had interpreted her dream correctly; Irish Nationals won the Cup, but Krum caught the Snitch. Suffice to say, the night was a roaring success, even though she was sure Cedric was going to pitch himself out of the stands trying to get closer to the damned Veela.

She and the Diggorys walked back to their tent in a near euphoric stupor after the match ended. She bid Cedric and his dad goodnight and stumbled into her little section of their tent, changed into her pajamas and collapsed into her cot.

...

Electra had the strangest dream.

She was in a graveyard. Large, magnificent mausoleums, statues and obelisks jutted out of the misty ground like she was looking over a foggy cityscape; a really creepy cityscape.

Electra had been to plenty of cemeteries before with the Sisters of Our Fair Lady, but she had never seen one like this before. It looked far too old to be anything in New York City; its mausoleums and tombstones were covered in layers of moss and other overgrowth. Electra took a weary step forward and watched the low fog waft around her legs like she was wading through cloudy water. Her bare feet walked along the cold, dewy grass, moving towards a rather prominent statue that seemed to be calling to her.

The fog below her shifted suddenly and heard a sickening slithering sound. Electra looked down, her heart sinking in fear, but saw nothing past her calves. A shiver snaked up her spine.

It's just a dream.

She steeled herself and pressed on until she stood in front of the statue that was drawing her in. The Angel of Death's skeletal face smiled grimly down at her. Electra shook her gaze from the oddly familiar face of the statue and down at the lavish sarcophagus below it. She ran her fingers across the marble. It was cold to the touch.

Electra noticed suddenly that the very beautifully decorated sarcophagus was really three different ones stacked on top of one another, a family residing within them for the rest of eternity. She found it was sweet, in a morbid kind of way, that they were together. They must have loved each other very much.

Electra stepped under the Angel of Death's scythe to read the names of the family members before her on the large marble tombstone. Thomas Riddle, Mary Riddle, and Tom Riddle Senior.

Why did that name sound so familiar? Electra reached forward to trace the last name with her fingers as she dug deep into her mind to remember where she heard that name before. The second her fingers touched the cool marble a horrifying face flashed across her vision. His skin was whiter than bone, with two brilliant red eyes and a snake-like nose.

With a yelp Electra yanked her hand back from the tombstone. It was only a second, but it was enough to rattle her to the core. Her heart thumped painfully in her chest and she felt a cold sweat coming on making her hair stick to her temples and the nape of her neck. She took rattled breath after rattled breath as she clutched onto her locket.

She heard the awful slithering sound again and looked up. Wrapped around the neck of the Angel of Death was the biggest snake Electra had ever seen in her life. It opened its mouth to show its terrifyingly long and sharp fangs. But most horrifying of all, when it opened its mouth it spoke to her.

"Electra," said the snake. It was a woman's voice she'd never heard before. It sent a chill up her spine.

Electra was very sure she couldn't speak Parseltongue.

"Electra, get up."

But Electra was paralyzed where she stood, her locket pressing painfully into her palm. There was a rustle behind the Angel of Death and Electra jumped in alarm. Someone else was there.