The Queen of Vipers || Fred Weasley

III.XXI

The week before Valentine's Day Harry had them begin practicing duelling. In each corner of the room a different duel took place— to minimize the risk of wayward spells and making sure everyone had plenty of chances to participate. The goal of each duel was to knock their opponent out of the circle Harry had chalked into the flagstones. A magical sumo wrestling match, if you will. And any spell goes (that would not seriously injure or maim of course... boring).

Instead of partnering with Neville, Harry had asked Electra to act as moderator with him and to step in whenever she had a "feeling" one of the four duels was about to go south.

The Room of Requirement was louder than usual as those not participating took it upon themselves to cheer on their friends or in Fred, George and Lee's case, take bets.

There was only one duo still duking it out this round; Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, with neither willing enough to use more aggressive spells against each other.

"Stop being ninnies and duel already!" hollered Padma, Parvati's twin, in annoyance. She had a point. This duel had been going on for far too long.

Growing bored of watching the petty volley of hexes and curses like the world's most boring tennis match (which she already found rather boring), Electra decided to make sure the next round was a little more entertaining to watch. She leisurely strolled around the gathered crowd until she reached her target. "Psst."

Neville jumped and whipped his head around. "Oh," he said in relief. "It's you."

"It's me." Neville smiled a little at her light tone. "Are you ready for your duel?"

His smile was wiped right off his face. "I... think so?"

"That didn't sound very confident. You know what I say about confidence."

"Confidence is half the battle," he recited. "And it makes you ten times hotter."

Electra fought back a grin. "That it does. Now, do you want to hear a little secret?" Neville nodded eagerly. Electra beckoned him closer with the wiggle of her finger and he bent his head towards her. "Did you know that when you cast the Confundus Charm, you can make the other person do a small task if you really concentrate on what you want them to do?"

Neville's gaze snapped to hers. A small, impish smile started forming on his round face. Electra pressed her finger to her lips before sending him a wink and wandered away.

She lazily circled Lavender and Parvati's duel, watching the girls' feeble attempts at knocking the other out of the circle.

"I have half a mind to tell the ref that the coach is interfering," said a voice over her shoulder.

Electra's stomach flipped giddily. She peeked over her shoulder. "You won't though."

Fred gave her a smirk and stepped closer, his chest almost bumping into her shoulder blade. Electra could practically feel the magnetic pull between the short distance of their bodies that she wanted so badly to give into. "Only if you tell me what you told him."

Electra stepped away to face him and save herself from embarrassment. Not that looking into his sinfully handsome face was much better. "I just gave him a little tip to make these duels a tad more interesting."

"I'm worried what your definition of 'interesting' is."

Electra let out a single laugh. "The only match I've seen all evening that fits my definition was Looney Lovegood's when she used the Full Body-Bind Curse on Abbott and rolled her out of the circle."

Fred grinned begrudgingly. "That was a clever move."

"It was. And the only one since. All I told Neville was a harmless yet different way to go about his duel."