I Know The End {Fred Weasley, ACT I}

Chapter 20- Percy (II.)

September flew by in a blur after the start of Assassins. The game was a welcome distraction as the seventh-years workload grew. All seventh-year potion students were given a capstone project in which they were to formulate a potion of their own making. After years of brewing every potion under the sun and learning about the properties of every possible ingredient, Snape believed all students should now be capable of mixing elements without instruction to create the desired result. This project wasn't due until Christmas, but it was starting to build upon those taking the class.

Transfiguration and Charms were proving to be just as difficult, with essays being handed out every class session to be finished by the next one. A part of Eleanor wanted to drop her classes, leave school, and become a full-fledged member of the Order of the Phoenix but she knew her godfathers would never allow it. Or at least Lupin wouldn't. She supposed someone needed to watch out for Harry at Hogwarts anyway.

Eleanor's mood wasn't improved by the fact that she had yet to eliminate her first target, Louis Wright. She was watching him carefully, with the help of Fred and George, but they hadn't decided on how to properly ambush him yet. Louis was in Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Care of Magical Creatures with Eleanor, but she didn't share any other classed with him. He wasn't on the Slytherin Quidditch team, nor was he apart of any clubs. He spent most of his free time in the Slytherin common room, making it quite difficult for her to get at him. Fred pointed out that Eleanor knew the Slytherin password as she was Head Girl. The issue was that as soon as she burst into the Slytherin common room everyone would know her target was a Slytherin and be on guard. She had to be more cautious than that.

Her newest plan of attack would include hiding under Harry's invisibility cloak and simply waiting for him to return one night after dinner, stunning him before he reached the common room. Her backup plan involved Draco Malfoy, but she wasn't a hundred percent sure she could trust him not to two-time her.

George was having similar issues, but they had a concrete plan in place for his target. Eddie Rhodes was the elected student head of the Astronomy club, which was a rather small association. George briefly considered using the Invisibility cloak to sneak up on him on the way to the astronomy tower but decided that a more full proof plan would involve the use of Polyjuice Potion. The potion was currently brewing in the middle of a dusty room in the Shrieking Shack.

Fred was having much better luck. After returning from their pact meeting in the Shrieking Shack the night of the first official Assassins meeting, Fred told everyone he had been assigned Montague and would need their help in knocking him out of the game. No one was surprised by Fred's inability to keep his target to himself. It was common knowledge that Fred despised Graham Montague more than he did anyone else at Hogwarts. And for that reason, everyone believed him, including Alicia.

A few minutes after the clock struck midnight and the game commenced, Fred turned to Alicia with a pleasant smile and asked her to pass him a piece of parchment. As soon as her back was turned, he stunned her. His lack of mercy was both admirable and disturbing.

Alicia was the first person to be eliminated from the game and she was furious. She didn't speak to Fred for an entire week after he stunned her, which Eleanor believed was to be expected. The game was anything but fair, but it still stung to have your own friend manipulate you out of the competition so early on. It probably also stung that Alicia had fallen for Fred's bullshit in the first place.

After Alicia, Fred was assigned Athena Lovegood, one of the two seventh-year Ravenclaw Lovegood twins. Athena contrasted greatly from her younger sister Luna. Her hair was jet-black and cut sharply at her shoulders. Everything about her appearance was sleek and pristine, whereas her sister and twin brother appeared mildly disheveled, as though they were too lost in their own world to care much about their outward demeanor in this one. Overall, Athena reminded Eleanor vaguely of Percy. A much less annoying version of Percy, but still someone who was trying to break away from the associations of their family name.