Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [5]

⚡️ Chapter 52 ⚡️

Vega was trying to study in the ground floor dining room, she was trying to focus on the books spread open in front of her yet her thoughts were far away – to the looks on the faces of her friends, to the what they had all seen in that hospital ward, to what Mrs. Longbottom had said –

They were heroes, not criminals
so I don't see why you're ashamed

It seemed horrible to Vega that she was more open about how horrible her parents were than Neville was over how honourable his were. And worse still, was the fact that she was constantly harassed over how much she was like her mother – yet no one seemed to encourage Neville about his likeness to his father's abilities or anything.

Both Vega and Neville seemed to resemble their mothers, and it was truly something that Vega wasn't sure she liked. If she had been like Neville and resembled a woman that was not evil, then she would've appreciated a lot more.

But Neville was still ridiculed for his appearance.

Harry had realised too late that he shouldn't have mentioned her mother's name in front of everyone so casually but it hadn't been his fault. She should have been clearer when denouncing her mother and the things she had done to others.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny seemed to have let go of the topic but while Ginny hid her expressions good and Ron was out of sight most of the time, Hermione still looked at Vega with a peculiar look that made her feel... quite strange about herself.

I wish I didn't have to go through this.

If there was anything that Vega had learned about being born as herself, it was that people had easier time understanding you if you were born with hate and changed your ways than they did when you only had good in your heart for them but made the mistake of being born out of the wrong person, because everyone thought the same –

How can you be good if you come from evil?

In another world, had she been born a Muggle or even a Squib, Vega wouldn't have to do anything with the Wizarding World. She wouldn't have met so many people, and they wouldn't have met her and come into the dilemma of her identity.

Even after years, she always had to prove her innocence.
It was still the world of guilty until proven innocent.

Vega anxiously turned the ring on her finger around, staring at it as she tried to reason that there must have been something in her that convinced Fred that he liked her and that he wanted to be in a relationship with her – that she was worth having around and not shunted aside like her brother and aunt all those years ago.

It's true that what Fred feels is truly sincere,
but do I deserve it at the end of the day?

Compared to Neville, Vega had always been given the best from everyone – she had good grades, she had good friends, she was a favoured Quidditch player, she had been a champion, she had a loving boyfriend and a caring family – and all that made her so very guilty that she had the nerve to enjoy such luxuries when he had lived in trauma of his parents' situation from when he was just a child. She was truly a horrible person.

Neville now knew that she knew of his family... that she had known it for a very long time. Yet she had the nerve to come around him and 'pretend' to be nice and kind to him. She knew that he had a lot of grievances with her – and it would take her whole life to atone for them.

How am I going to face him now?

And now that he knows, Neville should come and ask her to make up for it. He should come and ask her to gain his forgiveness, to make up for all the things that he lost every time that he saw his parents in that condition. Would that, somehow, lessen the pain of losing your parents without actually physically losing them.