Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 38 ⚡️

The rainy weather did not improve as the day wore on, and at seven o'clock that evening when Vega, Harry, and Ron gathered and went down to the Quidditch pitch for practice, they were soaked through within minutes, their feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. Vega sighed and looked toward the sky in the distance above.

Right now, the sky was a deep, thundery grey and it was a relief to gain the warmth and light of the changing rooms, even if Vega knew the respite was only temporary. They found Fred and George debating whether to use one of their own Skiving Snackboxes to get out of flying.

"– but I bet she'd know what we'd done," Fred was whispering out of the corner of his mouth. "If only I hadn't offered to sell her some Puking Pastilles yesterday –"

"We could try the Fever Fudge," George muttered. "No one's seen that yet –"

"Does it work?" Ron inquired hopefully, as the hammering of rain on the roof intensified and wind howled around the building.

"Well, yeah," Fred started. "Your temperature will go right up –"

"– but you get these massive pus-filled boils too," George finished. "And we haven't worked out how to get rid of them yet,"

"I can't see any boils," Ron pointed out, staring at the twins, and Vega couldn't see them anywhere either – not around their exposed skins, at the very least.

"No, well, you wouldn't," Fred replied darkly, quite forgetting the Vega was also standing there. "They're not in a place we generally display to the public –"

"– but they make sitting on a broom a right pain in the –" George went on.

"Fred! George!" Vega exclaimed, moving away from them all as she finished tying the Gryffindor Team robes over her Quidditch uniform. "Don't talk about stuff like that in front of me,"

"All right, everyone, listen up," Angelina said loudly, emerging from the Captain's office. "I know it's not ideal weather, but there's a good chance we'll be playing Slytherin in conditions like this so it's a good idea to work out how we're going to cope with them. Harry, didn't you do something to your glasses to stop the rain fogging them up when we played Hufflepuff in that storm?"

"He can use Impervius," Vega suggested and reached for to tap her wand on Harry's glasses. "Impervius," She turned to others. "It can also be used on your faces," She pointed at her face.

"I think we all ought to try that," Angelina agreed. "If we could just keep the rain off our faces it would really help visibility – all together, come on – Impervius! Okay! Let's go!"

They all stowed their wands back in the inside pockets of their robes, shouldered their brooms, and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms. They squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.

"All right, on my whistle," Angelina shouted.

Vega got onto her Firebolt and waited for Angelina to blow the whistle, which was lost into the harsh wind. And as she ascended into the air, Vega felt the wind pulling her somewhat off course.

And because of this, Vega had no idea how the Beaters were going to stop the Bludger they were practising with, how the Seeker would seek out the Snitch, or how the Keeper and the Chasers would get around to block and throw the Quaffle.

Barely a minute into the practice, the Bludger tried several times to unseat Vega from her broom but it was obvious that no one could see it, not even Fred or George, and unfortunately Angelina did not see this happening either.