The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

I.XV

"Fuckin' hell," breathed Cedric. "Are we in—"

"The Shrieking Shack."

Electra could recognize the smell of mold and the decaying wood of the most haunted house in Britain from miles away.

As instructed, she turned the dial of her Time Turner and here they were, three hours earlier. Journeying through the castle proved much more difficult than they anticipated. Once they had to back into an empty classroom as Nearly-Headless Nick and headless horseman floated by. Poor bloke was making his case to join their hunt again. And sneaking out of the castle had been an issue all on its own; they had to use the secret tunnel behind Babayaga's hump to which she silently thanked the Weasley twins and the Marauders. Cedric was amazed that she'd known a secret passage in the castle... she didn't have the heart to tell him.

After hurling rocks at the knot in the Whomping Willow —another silent thank you to that ginger cat for revealing that (you know, thinking on it gingers were starting to really prove themselves as her lucky charms as of recently)— and hurrying hunchbacked through the low ceilinged, dirt-packed tunnel under the tree that went on for way too long if you asked Electra, they emerged through the entrance to find themselves in the last place in Britain they'd like to be. Well, save for Potions with Snape.

"You've got to be shitting me," moaned Cedric.

Crinkling her nose, she scanned the room they crawled into. Wallpaper was peeling from the walls, the windows boarded, and there was a healthy layer of dust settled over everything. Well, almost everything.

"Look," she whispered, nodding her head at the floor. A well-trodden trail of clean floorboards led the way out of the room to their right and into the hallway. It looked like a blending of footprints from two animals, one big and one small, and further down the hall, footprints of a human could be distinguished. This was the right place all right.

"Come on." She scooted next to him and let him drape his arm over her shoulders for support. They hobbled through the Shrieking Shack, following the trail up to the second floor and into a bedroom (and the only room that seemed to get traction).

A once regal four-poster bed with heavy sun bleached curtains took up a good portion of the dusty bedroom, with a dresser that was missing most drawers and a wardrobe as the only other distinguishable furniture. Like almost everything in the shack, all the furniture in the room was broken or shattered.

"The wardrobe," said Cedric as he hobbled over. It was the least destroyed piece in the room.

She was reminded of a book she had read as a kid, before she knew she was a witch, about a wardrobe that had been the entrance to a fantastical world. She was sure she wouldn't find anything so fantastic in this wardrobe.

"We'll hide here," he said, opening the wooden doors gingerly. Cedric sat at the bottom of the empty wardrobe and tucked his legs in, with a little groan for his twisted ankle. He held out his hand for Electra to join him, but she hesitated.

Electra's heart raced, and it had nothing to do with being in the Shrieking Shack. She didn't do well in small spaces. They reminded her of that night... the one she used to have nightmares about every night.

Cedric beckoned her with his hand. "Come on Lex," he urged. "It's sundown by now. They should be coming any time."

She bit her lip hard. It's going to be nothing like that night, she told herself. Nothing.

Electra steeled herself and took Cedric's hand with her sweaty, shaking one and let him help her into the wardrobe. It creaked dangerously under their combined weight. The wardrobe was fairly deep, but not enough for them to sit side by side, so they sat on either end of the bottom, their legs tangled together in the cramped space. Electra let Cedric close the doors as well as they could with both doors half off their hinges. Luckily with the doors jacked, it made the slightest of gaps for them to see slivers of the room through.