Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 73 ⚡️

"Crucio!"

There was a burst of light from the tip of Voldemort's wand and he gleefully jerked it toward Vega, who let out a muffled cry of horror as the sparks came streaming towards her directly. It hit her with a bang but that wasn't the end of it – and Vega couldn't even process it when a scream tore out her throat. Tears flooded out of her eyes as an unbelievable degree of pain shot through her entire body.

It was a pain beyond anything Vega had ever experienced – her very bones were set on fire, and her body felt like it would surely split apart along her scar. She wanted to scream but it was all soaked into the rag, and her eyes were rolling around madly in her head to find a relief away from the pain.

Part of her brain wanted to shut everything out, and Vega could feel her body wanting to put her out of her misery by dissolving into subconscious but maybe it was the art of the spell that didn't allow that relief to her. All that she wanted right now was to die – she only wished for death right now.

How long it went on, Vega had no idea – but all of a sudden, it was gone. She was hanging limply, twitching slightly, only held up by the ropes binding her to the headstone of Voldemort's father, looking up into those bright red eyes through a kind of mist. Vega wasn't sure if it was a delusion.

And it was now that Vega's ears met with the sound of the Death Eaters' laughter that rang into the night. Vega wanted to soundlessly sobbing into rag at the sheer pain flooding through the length.

"You see, I think," Voldemort said. "How foolish it was to suppose that these two could ever have been stronger than me. But I want there to be no mistake in anybody's mind. Harry Potter and Vega Lestrange escaped me by a lucky chance. And I am now going to prove my power by killing them, here and now, in front of you all, when there is no Dumbledore to help him, and no women to die for them. I will give them their chance. They will be allowed to fight, and you will be left in no doubt which of us is the stronger. Just a little longer, Nagini,"

The snake that had been circling them glided away through the grass to where the Death Eaters stood watching. Voldemort turned to look at Wormtail, who was standing a bit further from others.

"Now untie them, Wormtail, and give them back their wands,"

Wormtail approached Vega and Harry, who both scrambled to find their feet, to support their own weight before the ropes were untied. He raised his new silver hand, pulled out the wad of materials gagging them, and then, with one swipe, cut through the bonds tying them to the gravestone.

Vega crumbled to the ground; her injured leg unable to hold her up anymore, especially after the torture. She wanted to just curl away from everything but the thought of sitting on the grave forced her to stand back up, breathing heavily and wincing at the pain, Vega held onto the gravestone.

There was no chance of them to run away from them, not with the Death Eaters closing in rank, forming a tighter circle around them and Voldemort, so that the gaps where the missing Death Eaters should have stood were filled, clearly anticipating the end of the two teenagers.

And then, Wormtail walked out of the circle to the place where Cedric's body lay and returned with Vega's and Harry's wands, which he thrust roughly into their hands without looking at them. Then Wormtail resumed his place in the circle of watching Death Eaters. Vega clutched onto it tightly.

"You have been taught how to duel, Harry Potter and Vega Lestrange?" Voldemort said softly, his red eyes glinting through the darkness. "I have heard you are much like your mother, Vega, and of course, she is the most formidable from my ranks,"