Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [2]

⚡️ Chapter 14 ⚡️

For the next few days, the entire school could talk about nothing but the attack that had happened on Mrs. Norris. Filch, in particular, had made sure to keep this fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked continuously, as though he thought the attacker might come back.

When passing the corridor, one could see the caretaker scrubbing the message on the wall with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone.

When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like 'breathing loudly' or simply 'looking happy.'

The person suffering the most from this was none other than Vega Lestrange.

Suddenly, Vega found herself unable to walk out and about in the castle without facing the wrath of the school caretaker. She was continuously piled with detentions by him, and she felt like Filch was barely keeping himself from lunging at her to get revenge for his cat, who was still petrified. There was no where for her to prove her innocence, and it was incredibly frustrating for her as the people spoke about her.

It didn't help that Vega was taller than most of her class, and found it hard to hide behind people – especially since people were keeping such a good lookout for her. Ron and Dean, however, tried to.

Whenever the Gryffindor students were leaving classes, Vega was hidden behind the two of them to avoid Filch noticing her as they moved, since they were the only ones taller than her in her class.

Among others, Ginny Weasley had also become rather disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate. And according to Ron, she was a great cat lover.

"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told his younger sister bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her," Ginny's lip trembled. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron assured her. "They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled," Ginny blanched. "I'm only joking –"

The attack had also had an effect on Hermione.

It was quite usual for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing almost nothing else. Nor could Harry and Ron get much response from her when they asked what she was up to. They tried to ask Vega but the girl had gone back to her shell, not feeling like talking anymore.

It wasn't until the following Wednesday that they did find out.

"Vega, you look like a ghost," Ron said uncertainly as he watched Vega walk around in the shadows of the library, looking at the books quietly.

"I'm sorry," Vega repeated her mantra, her head lowered so that her thick black curls covered her pale face. "I'm sorry..." She returned to look at the books to try and distract herself.

Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks, while Vega, Ron and Hermione had a quick lunch (and Vega had refused to eat anything) before the three of them went to the library, where Hermione was looking around in some corner in library and Ron was measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three-foot-long composition on 'The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards.'

Vega gently pulled out the book titled 'Aquatic Wonders of Yorkshire: A Wizard's Field Guide', as well as 'The Children's Anthology of Monsters' and 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander. She turned around to go where Ron was sitting with their stuff and ran into –