The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

II.XII

"Excellent, lass."

Electra wiped the sweat off her forehead. It was blazing hot in Moody's office, despite snow beginning to fall outside the windows.

"I'd say you mastered the Protego Diabolica charm," Moody said, a pleased smile pulling at his slanted mouth.

Electra swallowed hard. She had been sure that he had been teaching her only Dark Magic in their previous few lessons, but Protego Diabolica had a different kind of sinister feel to it that made Electra uneasy. He had thrown different objects into the circle of black fire that Electra had conjured up. At first she was to let grapes in, nothing else until she had mastered that. Then he'd call out different fruits and she'd have to change what the flames allowed in and what had to be kept out (and by 'kept out' she meant incinerated). It took some practice and a lot of disintegrated fruits before Electra had gotten a hang of it.

The flames died as she collapsed onto the empty stool, but the stifling heat stayed. Moody handed her a handkerchief and she hummed a thanks. She wiped the back of her neck as she slumped forward over her knees.

"That was Dark Magic," said Electra as more of a statement than a question, her eyes on the floor.

Her words hung in the air for a long moment. "Yes." Moody cast a spell that opened the windows in his office, letting in the bitter cold. Electra shivered.

"Why teach it to me?"

"Your enemies are going to play dirty, you should too."

She couldn't really argue with that. "Does Dumbledore know?"

Moody grumbled. "What Dumbledore doesn't know won't hurt him."

Electra's eyes followed Mad-Eye under furrowed brows. It didn't take a Clairvoyant (even one with her abilities blocked) to get the feeling the ex-Auror had ulterior motives with her... but what were they?

Moody grunted as he got out of his seat and lumbered over to one of his odd contractions. He stared intently into one of them with his real eye as his false one whizzed about his head. "It feels good, doesn't it?"

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"The Dark Arts. It feels good using Dark Magic, doesn't it, lass?"

Electra schooled the features of her face into one of stoicism. Was he testing her now?

"All magic is magic to me."

Moody's laugh came out like a gruff bark. "Dumbledore's right to have you on his side."

Electra turned her gaze towards the windows. Moody clambered back to his seat and sat down with a groan. Electra kept her eyes on the snow falling outside the stone walls as Moody took a swig of whatever was in his flask. "If you ask me, I think he's putting too many eggs in one basket," she mumbled.

"Two baskets to be correct. Potter and yourself."

Electra scoffed. "It's that a lot to put onto two teenagers' shoulders?"

"Suppose so, but what choice do we have?"

They sat in stillness, their silence deafening. Electra always liked how when it snowed it muffled the world around you, but this time it only made her uneasy. "Something's coming, isn't it?" she said finally, her voice as soft as the snow falling outside.

Moody's eye narrowed at her. "What do you mean?"

"I— I can feel it." She looked out of the snowy window and Moody followed her gaze. "I've been feeling it for sometime; growing stronger each year. Something dark, something very dark is brewing. And whatever it is, I must be prepared."