I Know The End {Fred Weasley, ACT I}

Chapter 39- The Assassination of Graham Montague

Fred Weasley was assassinated at 11:36 AM on Monday, January 22nd, 1996 by none other than Graham Montague. It was, as he so put it, the worst thing to happen to him in his life thus far. Well, that and having his memories wiped by his girlfriend - scratch that, ex-girlfriend. 

Eleanor found herself messing that up a lot – calling herself his girlfriend. Never aloud of course, but when she was tossing and turning at night, stricken with memories of their relationship; every moment, every kiss, every smile, every promise. The promises hurt the most knowing that she broke most of them in one single act. They'd never really broken up, not in words at least, so it was easy to fall prey to the old titles. Boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, lover, whatever they were but no longer were and she was the only one to blame. Well, her and the fates, whatever Ares meant by that. Fuck the fates.

Eleanor's mind also seemed to dwell on Fred when she was bored or anxious, and she just happened to be both in that exact moment. With a sigh, she glanced to her right where Montague sat beside her, shuffling his notes. She wasn't the only one filled with anxiety that evening, a fact that lessened her fear by a fraction. She liked watching him sweat, especially now that he'd thrown Fred into a tailspin. He'd lost Quidditch, Eleanor, and now Assassins in the short span of a few months. He was devastated. No matter how insignificant Assassins felt in the grand scheme of things, it was the one thing that he had left that was truly his. And he'd been a shoe in for Assassins. Every betting man had bet on him.

Other than Eleanor, who'd put five galleons on herself. Fred had been her biggest competition, but she knew she could beat him. With Fred gone, she had to win. She still had George and Isabella to worry about, but she believed in herself. She'd win for Fred, even if he didn't want her to. And now she was even more determined to eject Montague from the game. She had purpose again, motivation. What Fred lost, she gained. She hadn't even gotten around to telling him her new target yet. She'd lost her nerve every time their eyes met, telling herself that maybe he just needed more time, maybe if she gave him a bit more space...

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Montague spat, side-eyeing her as he finalized the order of the papers in his hands. "Don't tell me you're still bitter about Fred."

"It's been like six hours," Eleanor pointed out. It was Monday, January 22nd, 1996, 5:56 PM. Four more minutes until she was forced to be in his presence again.

"Well, get over it," he ordered, "this is important. We need to be completely focused and you must be on your best behavior. I'm not having you mess up another board meeting because you can't remember the governors' names."

"There's a lot of them," Eleanor complained, "and they all look the same." All except Lucius Malfoy. He stuck out like a thorn.

"Then don't attempt to address them by their names!" He hissed.

"Last time you told me I had to address them all properly!"

"And this time, I'm begging you to just respond to their questioning with sir or ma'am."

Eleanor shrugged. "Whatever, it doesn't really matter."

"It does! This whole thing is nothing more than a test. The Ministry wants to see if the Head Boy and Girl are equipped to move up their ranks and I will not let you ruin this for me. You ruin enough things for yourself."

Eleanor frowned. "Fuck off, Montague."

"You've made a right mess of George, you know that?"

"I said fuck off." She did know. She didn't need Montague reminding her.

"I honestly should be thanking you," Montague said softly, the shadow of a smile flickering upon his face. "It shouldn't have worked. Fred should have been prepared for an attack; he'd been prepared the whole year. But he lost focus, all because of you. All I had to do was sneak up on him when he was smoking a cigarette in the bathroom. He didn't even look at me twice. I performed the spell, but you killed him, Eleanor. Don't worry, I'll give you an honorable mention in the playbook."