Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 42 ⚡️

It did not feel as though Gryffindor had won the match at all that night. Everywhere that Vega looked in the Gryffindor common room, there were disconsolate and angry faces; the team themselves were slumped around the fire, all apart from Ron, who had not been seen since the end of the match. Night was falling by now and Vega had told everyone what had happened in the office as Harry and George refused to speak.

"Banned," Angelina spoke up in a rather hollow voice. "Banned. No Seeker and no Beaters... what on earth are we going to do?"

"It's just so unfair," Katie muttered numbly. "I mean, what about Crabbe and that Bludger he hit after the whistle had been blown? Has she banned him?"

"No," Ginny replied miserably; she and Hermione were sitting on either side of Harry. "He just got lines, I heard Montague laughing about it at dinner,"

"And banning Fred when he didn't even do anything!" Angelina said furiously, pummelling her knee with her fist.

"It's not my fault I didn't," Fred said, with a very ugly look on his face. "I would've pounded the little scumbag to a pulp if you three hadn't been holding me back,"

"Oh, Fred, don't say that," Vega mumbled against his ear. "We didn't want to see you... hurt and get hurt, you know? I wouldn't have wanted that,"

Vega had been very upset over the news of her friends being banned, but she tried not to be too upset because everyone else was already upset. She hugged Fred, having been sitting on his lap on her favourite armchair, and she nuzzled her head against his until he moved his head around to press a kiss against her cheek.

Fred wrapped his arms around her waist and Vega set her head against his shoulder, staring around the room vaguely. The Snitch that Harry had caught earlier was now zooming around and around the common room; people were watching its progress as though hypnotised and Crookshanks was leaping from chair to chair, trying to catch it. On the other hand, white snow had started to fall against the darkness of the skies.

"I'm going to bed," Angelina said finally, getting slowly to her feet. "Maybe this will all turn out to have been a bad dream... maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and find we haven't played yet..." She was soon followed by Katie.

"Maybe you should go to bed, too," Vega suggested to Fred and George, seeing that they looked extremely upset. "It's been a long day,"

Neither Fred nor George verbally responded but they both nodded. Vega got off of Fred's lap and reached up to give him a kiss before he and his twin brother sloped off to bed, glowering at everyone they passed, and Ginny went not long after that. In the end, Vega, Harry and Hermione were left beside the fire.

"I think I might go... sleep with Fred later," Vega muttered before catching the slightly panicked looks from her two friends. "Sleep, as in shut-eye, not your nasty thoughts. He's surrounded by roommates there – not that I would do that anyhow, of course, not when he is upset..."

There was an awkward silence.

"Have you seen Ron?" Hermione asked in a low voice, and Vega and Harry shook their heads. "I think he's avoiding us. Where do you think he –?"

But at that precise moment, there was a creaking sound behind them as the Fat Lady swung forward and Ron came clambering through the portrait hole. He was very pale indeed and there was snow in his hair. When he saw Vega, Harry and Hermione sitting there in the common room, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked anxiously, springing up.

"Walking," Ron mumbled. He was still wearing his Quidditch uniform.