Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 29 ⚡️

After having their breakfast, they headed back upstairs to where Hermione haughtily sat down and watched Harry and Ron went up to get not their bookbags but their broomsticks. Vega didn't say anything as she put her bag and get her own new broomstick, too. Then, she, Harry and Ron walked down the sloping lawns toward the Quidditch pitch, their broomsticks over their shoulders, Hermione's dire warnings that they would fail all their O.W.L.s still ringing in their ears.

"I mean, we can do it tonight," Ron spoke up. "And we've got tomorrow. She gets too worked up about work, that's her trouble..." There was a pause and he added, in a slightly more anxious tone, "Do you think she meant it when she said we weren't copying from her?"

"Yeah, I do," Harry replied. "Still, this is important too, we've got to practice if we want to stay on the Quidditch team... plus, we've got Vega to help us out if Hermione doesn't,"

"Yeah, that's right," Ron said in a heartened tone. "And we have got plenty of time to do it all..." He turned to look at Vega, who had been quiet all this time. "Will you help us out, Vega?"

"Um, okay," Vega answered, snapping out of her thoughts as she looked away from the blue sky and toward her friends. "Sure, but I won't be able to do anything if Hermione finds us and scolds me for making it too easy for you guys,"

Silence came upon them and Vega returned to look at the sky where she could see the owls flying. She recalled the Owlery and looked down at Harry, who was staring off toward the Forbidden Forest as they approached the Quidditch pitch.

"Something really strange happened today," Vega spoke up. "When Fred and I were up at the Owlery – Filch burst in," She gave a look to Ron at his snort. "And he accused that I was ordering Dungbombs, he got some tip from somewhere,"

"You, too?" Harry asked as he stopped to look at the girl, and Vega stared at him. "It happened to me, too! I was up there, and then there was Cho –" He fell silent.

"Filch accused you both?" Ron said as he looked at them both. "Why would he do that? Do you think it was Malfoy who tipped him off? Just to get on your nerves?"

"Maybe," Harry replied, whose ears were turning red and it was clear to Vega that he was hoping to avoid the conversation just because he was with Cho.

It seemed to be enough for Harry and Ron but Vega couldn't take her mind off of it. She couldn't think it was just Malfoy playing a harmless prank – he must have hoped that they were caught with suspicious letters and got Sirius busted there in London.

What if it wasn't Malfoy?
No, who else could it be but him?
Filch had believed Malfoy's tip off in their First-Year, too.

They collected the balls from the cupboard in the changing room and they set to work. Ron was to guard the three tall goalposts while Vega and Harry played Chasers in trying to get the Quaffle past Ron and showing him how Chasers tried to confuse the Keeper.

"Chasers aren't just to score on a whim," Vega told them both. "You have to disorientate the other players – the Keeper with your throws, and the other players with your movements,"

Vega could, however, see that Ron was actually good – as long as he didn't let his nerves get to him. He managed to block a three-quarters of the goals that Harry had attempted past him but near to none by Vega, an actual Chaser. But she was sure it was just him being nervous because he played better the longer that they practised.

"You're learning, and that's all that matters," Vega assured Ron as they headed up to the Hogwarts castle a few hours later. "Let's have lunch and go down again,"