Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 1 ⚡️

It was a late afternoon in the late days of the first week of July. Vega was outside, laying down the slope that lead down from the Tonks Household to the stream below. Summer flowers were all blooming, birds were chirping, the crickets were stridulating and toads were croaking by the stream. Above her, in the deep blue skies, there were white puffy clouds floating merrily. It had been raining the last few days, and today, the sun had surface.

There was a warmth in the air and Vega could feel the warm breeze flowing. Vega had come outside to read through the volumes of books that Dora had studied for her Auror studies. However, she had been interrupted by her many fairy friends, who had come by and started to braid Aerglo's hair while the Kneazle laid next to the black-haired girl.

Of course, no one else could see Vega – the Tonks Garden was line with large bushes of colourful mophead hydrangeas that shielded her and the magic away from the occasional car driving by or the numerous walkers with their dogs.

However, Vega hadn't been the only one who had decided to spend time out in the sun. She could hear the distant sounds of children playing their usual cricket. She could hear the sound of the ball hitting the wooden bat and the skirmish sounds of batsmen seeking to score runs or the fielders ran to catch the ball as it soared in the air.

Once in a while, Vega would hear the ball hit the wicket stumps, outing the boy and causing fervour amongst the opposing team as cheers reached the brightness of the sun. And often, she would see the ball flying in the air as the batsman scored a solid sixer.

Vega was a fan of cricket, too – she fancied herself a spinner when it came to bowling. But the only person she had ever played cricket with was Uncle Ted as she was shy kid, and Dora was too clumsy. Most of her memories were watching the Cricket World Cups.

The latest had been held in 1992, and the next one would be held the coming year. Vega recalled watching it on the TV in the shed, and watching the last champions, Pakistan, beat England by twenty-two runs. It was very emotional.

I miss Quidditch.

But Vega didn't want to think too much about Quidditch because she was reminded of her team, and by remembering her team, she was reminded of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, and that reminded of her Cedric Diggory, the person unfairly murdered on Voldemort's orders.

It wasn't a lie that Vega had been struggling to come to terms with the death of Cedric. Everything that she thought about or did only reminded her of how her tactlessness had led to the death of a person who should have never died. Or gotten hurt.

There were nights where Vega found it difficult to fall asleep. She was constantly exhausted and wanted to do nothing all day but lay in bed and read. Yet still, with that tiredness, sleep was far away. Uncle Ted proposed it must be insomnia.

Andromeda tried several times to take Vega around with herself when she ran errands but Vega felt too distant from the Muggle World, and too closely-stalked in the Wizarding World. It was clearly a lasting effect left by Barty Crouch Junior.

Today – after much assurance by Vega that she would be okay, she was finally left home alone. She had wanted to see if she would do okay while Dora and Ted were on their jobs while Andromeda had gone to the market for some grocery shopping.

It was difficult but Vega had tried to find solace in the fact that there was nothing Crouch could do to her anymore. Even if it kept her up at night, there was no way he could touch her again. There was no way he could watch her with that eye, follow her with that Marauder's Map, find amusement in the way she reacted to his behaviour.

Maybe it would take her an eternity to get over this filthy feeling.

Vega was missing her friends – Dora wasn't able to be home for long or too often due to what she was doing for Dumbledore, aside from the Auror duties. She had asked the older female what was going on but thus far, she couldn't reveal anything.