Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 36 ⚡️

Vega and Harry made their way to the courtyard where they spotted Ron and Hermione already standing in a sheltered corner, their cloak collars turned up against the wind. Harry slit open the scroll as he hurried toward them and Vega looked down to find five words, that she highly disproved of as well, in Sirius's handwriting:

Today, same time, same place.

"Are Hedwig and Aquila okay?" Hermione asked anxiously, the very moment Vega and Harry were within earshot of her. Vega nodded.

"Where did you take her?" Ron asked.

"To Grubbly-Plank," Harry replied. "And I met McGonagall... listen..." And he told them what Professor McGonagall had said to him and Vega.

To both Vega and Harry's surprise, neither of the others looked shocked; on the contrary, they exchanged significant looks.

"What?" Harry asked, looking from Ron to Hermione and back again.

"Well, I was just saying to Ron... what if someone had tried to intercept Hedwig?" Hermione asked. "I mean, she's never been hurt on a flight before, has she?"

"I was thinking the same way," Vega replied quietly. "Aquila hadn't gone out anywhere but he seemed quite harassed, too... it must really be the same person who tipped Filch off,"

"Who's the letter from?" Ron asked, taking the note from Harry.

"Snuffles," Harry responded quietly.

"'Same time, same place'?" Ron asked as he read the message. "Does he mean the fire in the common room?"

"Obviously," Hermione said, also reading the note. She looked uneasy. "I just hope nobody else has read this..."

"But it was still sealed and everything," Harry said, trying to convince himself as much as her. "And nobody would understand what it meant if they didn't know where we'd spoken to him before, would they?"

"I don't know," Hermione said anxiously, hitching her bag back over her shoulder as the bell rang again. "It wouldn't be exactly difficult to reseal the scroll by magic... and if anyone's watching the Floo Network... but I don't really see how we can warn him not to come without that being intercepted too!"

"Hedwig would never allow anyone to get their hands on a letter that she is carrying," Vega pointed out. "She's really tough... and she is extremely loyal to Harry,"

Together, they trudged down the stone steps to the dungeons for their Potions class, lost in their thoughts. But as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were recalled to themselves by the voice of Draco Malfoy, who was standing just outside Snape's classroom door, waving around an official-looking piece of parchment and talking much louder than was necessary so that the four of them could hear every word.

"Yeah, Umbridge gave the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to continue playing straightaway,

I went to ask her first thing this morning.Well, it was pretty much automatic, I mean, she knows my father really well,
he's always popping in and out of the Ministry...
It'll be interesting to see whether Gryffindor are allowed to keep playing, won't it?"

"Don't rise," Hermione whispered imploringly to Vega, Harry and Ron, who were all watching Malfoy, faces set and fists clenched. "It's what he wants..."

"Look at him gloat," Vega muttered in annoyance. "Clearly, Gryffindor not participating would be the only way that Slytherin would get to win the Quidditch Cup,"

"I mean," Malfoy said, raising his voice a little more, his grey eyes glittering malevolently in Vega, Harry and Ron's direction. "If it's a question of influence with the Ministry, I don't think they've got much chance... from what my father says, they've been looking for an excuse to sack Arthur Weasley for years...