𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱, fred weasley

˗ˋ 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN
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-: sixth year :-

── IN WHICH THE TASK LOOMS

. . .

Any happiness that the trip that Hogsmeade had created was extinguished from Elodie's body as the next morning came around. She had been woken up far too early by one of Madame Maxime's helpers, and told to go and visit her in her office (a room on the fifth floor of Hogwarts, that Elodie was pretty sure was a rather large broom closet at one point).

Of course, Elodie had no choice but to listen, and so, had gotten up in the early hours, gotten showered and dress and made her way into the castle, shivering in the low November temperatures.

It took her far to long to ascend up to the fifth floor - whoever had put in the moving stairs was to blame, considering it was almost impossible to get past them without taking one wrong one. 

But when she did arrive, Madame Maxime sat her down and told her what she would be up against in the First Task on that very Tuesday. And whilst she would never show anything but strength to her headmistress, it was fair to say that Elodie was now somewhat terrified. 

With nothing better to do, the Beaumont girl sat and waited inside the Great Hall, watching as breakfast appeared on plates in front of her, and students began to pile in. 

"Dragons." She kept mumbling to herself. She needed to get past a dragon and somehow retrieve something - Madame Maxime suspected an egg, as the dragons were nesting mothers, as mentioned to her by Hagrid. 

"You look rather pale." Fleur coommented, her tone worried as she sat down next to her best friend. "Is it because of the task? I thought you had that covered because of the twins."

"I thought I did.." Elodie paused, before telling Fleur all about what Madame Maxime had told her, in a hushed voice. "And now, I'm worried."

"I think you should talk to the twins about it. Or at least Fred. He seems to stare at you during meals the most out of the two of them." Fleur picked at a piece of bacon, Elodie staring at her. "What? It's pretty obvious he's pretty attracted to you."

"Not that I'm surprised, of course." Fleur continued, Elodie still staring, a pink blush arising on her cheeks. "It's only a matter of time before he asks you out. Look at him, not even five feet into the hall and he's already staring." Fleur said, and Elodie twisted back, seeing that what she was saying was true. 

She met Fred's eyes and blushed even more, turning around to face Fleur. "So what do you think I should do?" Elodie asked. 

"Hm?" Fleur discarded the partially eaten bacon and took some strawberries off a plate, looking at her best friend. "Oh about Fred? Well I think you should just let him-"

"No you idiot, about the dragons." Elodie cut her off, and Fleur nodded, attention fully on her friend rather than her fruit. "What in Flamel's name can I do about the dragons?"

"See, I didn't really listen in that part of the Magical Creatures class. All I needed to know was that they breath fire and that I should definitely stay away from them." Fleur shrugged. "I say go and talk to the twins, perhaps they'll know as much as I do, hopefully a lot more."

Elodie nodded and stood up out of her seat, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "I'll see you at lunch." Elodie promised, and Fleur repeated it back to her, waving goodbye as the girl walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"'Morning Ellie." Fred said, and instantly, Elodie blushed. "You don't like it? I thought I would try something new?" Fred had turned slightly,pink, brushing the tips of his fingers through his hair in an attempt to hide it. 

"No.. I like it a lot actually." Elodie said, smiling. Fred mirrored her expression, and across the table from him, George, Harry and the girl - who Elodie had learnt was called Hermione - was staring at the other Weasley twin like he had just said something so unbelievable. 

"So, what's up, Ellie." George said, mocking his brother slightly. Fred turned even more pink, and Harry laughed, turning to the side to look at someone, only to pause and look back to the interaction between the twins and the girl. 

"I need to talk to you.. both." Elodie said, clutching her bag so tightly her knuckles turned white. "Um." She gulped. "It's about the task." Harry looked like he knee what she was talking about, as did Hermione. But neither of the twins did, and the both of them shot to their feet instantly, Fred taking Elodie's hand and quickly pulling her out of the hall, George following them.

"What's happened?" Fred asked. "Did we do something bad - have we ruined all your practise time with nonsense that you can't use during it?"

"It's dragons. I have to get past a dragon." Elodie told them, and glancing at each other, then back at Ellie, who was a shade of green, the twins pulled her onto a nearby bench.

"Dragons?" George said, Elodie nodding. "We can do dragons - our brother Charlie, he works out in Romania with dragons. Bet that's where they got the dragons from, thinking about how he was acting on the platform."

"That's not the point." Fred said, and George nodded - and Elodie found that they both looked oddly serious for once. "The point is, we know about dragons - and we can help you practise, all day if you need to."

And so, that's what they did. 

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