Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
────── 〔✿〕──────
ii. TWO
ARACHNOPHOBICS
────── 〔✿〕──────
MELORA HAD SEEN SEVERAL SPIDERS BEFORE IN HER LIFE. They weren't exactly rare to find. In her childhood years, she would choose to spend the majority of her time in the oversized gardens at Malfoy Manor, where the creatures were generally found. As a younger girl, she hadn't been too selfish about where she stood within the family. She'd given the Malfoys their deserved space, as soon as she understood her origins. Lestrange was not their name, but it was hers. Hence why the little outsider spent her time outdoors, separated from the others.
It was when Ilia Nyxeris dropped her Potions books in the middle of the corridor, and bolted out of sight that Melora saw another spider. It rested on top of a spellbook, fumbling about, its legs twitching every now and then. She could understand why her friend had chosen to flee; its body was much fatter than the average spider, and there was excessive amounts of hair on it. It didn't move anywhere, either. It simply rested on top of the spellbook, flicking one leg around.
Upon noticing the creature, Ilia screamed and practically threw her books towards the wall, before taking off down the corridor, her screams echoing. Students gave her odd looks as she evaded the animal and her Potions work, but once they had reached the spider, the majority of them also started running away (and some smaller children even cried).
Melora smirked at what was happening. It was quite amusing, to tell the truth. Not only did she get to see Ilia's embarrassing reaction, she also got to watch plenty more people do the exact same thing. One boy stepped closer after being egged on by his friends, and raised his foot above the spider to stand on it. Melora watched, entertained, as someone then used a spell to levitate the spider, raising it up to the boy's eye-level. He did not miss out on the screaming party.
She scoffed at the sight of the clear arachnophobics within the school, before she caught sight of two others who were not running away. They were absolutely killing themselves as they laughed, clutching at their stomachs in poor attempts to control their shrieks of joy. She didn't need to go over to work out who they were. And she certainly didn't need to ask any questions to know that it was completely their doing.
Melora raised her wand at them, prepared to catch them out, and to laugh at them, but they had seen her too early. Fred and George scampered away, leaving her to stand in the middle of the corridor beside an abnormally large spider and some abandoned spellbooks.
Transfiguration, she realised, was how they had successfully released a horrifying spider into the middle of the corridor. And it was perhaps one of the first things they had learnt in one of those classes, to turn transfigured objects back to their original state.
It only took a moment for the spider to disappear, and for the Potions book to remain in its place. Quickly, Melora picked it up and hurried after Ilia, who was peeking around the corner nervously. As she caught up with her friend, she whacked her lightly on the head with the book, before handing it back to her.
"Honestly, you're not supposed to run off screaming whenever you see spiders," Melora tutted teasingly, laughing as Ilia scowled at her, attempting to defend her actions. She only grinned in return. "You know it was only Fred and George, right?"
Ilia grumbled something inaudible as they entered their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, immediately taking a seat at a free table, leaving Melora to slip into the chair beside her. The two girls did not mention the spider incident throughout the lesson, since it would only send Melora into fits of laughter and Ilia a deep scarlet from embarrassment.
Even with the regular switching of teachers, Melora had some skills within the subject. This, along with being a member of her house, made it more plausible for Umbridge to hand out house points to her. And it turned out that the newest teacher also liked to - essentially - make fun of other students through Melora. References to Melora's successes in her subject would be used to make them feel completely worthless and moronic, or simply to irritate them.
And it was on the day with Ilia's spider incident that Professor Umbridge decided how much she sincerely disliked the Gryffindors. Or, to be more precise, the Weasley twins. And it was with great pleasure that she split them up from each other. Perhaps it was with less pleasure that George took a seat beside Melora Lestrange, and Ilia slumped down into the chair beside Fred Weasley.
"You're an empty-headed prat, by the way," Melora spat after the two of them had refused to speak to one another for a solid fifteen minutes. "Ilia hates spiders."
"Oh, my apologies, your majesty," he replied shortly, to which she glared at him. He laughed to himself, and grinned as he said, "Although, I suppose Malfoy would have to be the Queen of Slytherin, wouldn't he?"
"If you say so, Weasley," she shrugged.
The lesson dragged on, ensuring to torture every last student before it even considered reaching the end of the lesson. The reading of theory would continue in silence, where no person would speak out of turn, unless they wanted to spend any extra time in the horrendous company of Dolores Umbridge.
Well, that were only if they got caught.
"Did you call me a queen?" she asked, a small element of smugness in her voice, and there was pride that glistened in the corner of her eyes.
George smirked, "No, that's what I called Malfoy. Did you not catch that part? I can repeat myself if-"
"Well, I'm glad you didn't," she said quickly, cutting him off. She glanced up at Umbridge, who was either unaware of their conversation or was for some reason letting it slide, before turning back to George. She smiled sarcastically. "Because that's ridiculous, and it makes my skin crawl. It would only be another thing to make you appear more brainless than you really are."
"Is that a compliment?" he smirked, the smug attitude then playing on his lips.
"Absolutely not," she finished, snapping her book shut and standing up to leave the classroom as their lesson finally came to a grinding halt.
