Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [7]

⚡️ Chapter 4 ⚡️

The shock of losing Mad-Eye hung over the house in the days that followed. Vega constantly wondered if things had turned out different – better – if she had been there to help out. She felt useless, that she had not done enough. And even now, Vega found herself expecting to see Mad-Eye Moody stumping in through the back door like the other Order members, who passed in and out to relay news about what was going on in the outside world.

It was hard to keep these feelings to herself, especially since Vega did not want to increase the stress at the Burrow, given that there was a wedding coming up. And when Fred returned to his flat with George the following morning, she felt like she had escaped at least one interrogation. She hoped to see him well before she left to look for the Horcruxes as soon as possible.

Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines, and Vega could understand that – they both felt that they could only find some solace for Moody's death if they got at least one step closer to ending Voldemort's reign of terror upon the two worlds.

Ron and Hermione were rather tense regarding this topic, but none of them got the chance to speak about it until two days later. Vega, Harry and Ron were sitting at the breakfast table; Mr Weasley and Bill had just left for work, Mrs Weasley had gone upstairs to wake Hermione and Ginny, while Fleur had drifted off to take a bath.

"Well, you can't do anything about the –" Ron spoke and mouthed the word Horcruxes. "Til you're seventeen. You've still got the Trace on you. And we can plan here as well as anywhere, can't we? Or," He dropped his voice to a whisper. "D'you reckon you already know where the you-know-whats are?"

"Not precisely," Vega admitted quietly. "But I have some locations where I would like to stop by, and what sort of things I need to look for. I've been working hard,"

"I think Hermione's been doing a bit of research, too," Ron replied and Vega nodded. "She said she was saving it for when you got here,"

"The Trace'll break on the thirty-first," Harry spoke, looking at Vega. "That means we only need to stay here four days. Then we can start on what you figured –"

"Five days," Ron corrected him firmly. "We've got to stay for the wedding. They'll kill us if we miss it," Vega understood 'they' to mean Fleur and Mrs Weasley. 'It's one extra day,"

"Don't they realise how important –?" Harry started mutinously.

"'Course they don't," Ron responded said. "They haven't got a clue. And now you mention it, I wanted to talk to you two about that,"

Quickly, Ron glanced towards the door into the hall to check that Mrs Weasley was not returning yet, then leaned in closer to Vega and Harry over the table.

"Mum's been trying to get it out of Hermione and me," Ron told them. "What we're off to do. She'll try you next, so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin've both asked as well, but when we said Dumbledore told you not to tell anyone except us, they dropped it. Not Mum, though. She's determined,"

Ron's prediction came true within hours.

Shortly before lunch, Mrs. Weasley detached Vega and Harry from the others by asking them to help identify a lone man's sock that she thought might have come out of his rucksack and Vega to help since the girl had been the one tasked to the laundry that day.

Once Mrs. Weasley had them cornered in the tiny scullery off the kitchen, she started.

"Ron and Hermione seem to think that the four of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," Mrs. Weasley began in a light, casual tone, and Vega held back a sigh.

"Oh," Harry said. "Well, yeah. We are,"

The mangle turned off its own accord in a corner, wringing out what looked like one of Mr. Weasley's vests, "May I ask why you are abandoning your education?"