Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 7 ⚡️

Vega followed quietly behind Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Percy, Charlie, Bill and Mr. Weasley in a one file line as they clambered upward along with the rest of the crowd. They slowly filtered away through doors into stands to their left and right of the stairs, which were carpeted in a rich purple – to showcase the involvement of the British Ministry of Magic with their colour.

Mr. Weasley's party kept climbing up onward even after others parted from them – until, at last, they reached the top of the staircase and found themselves in a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium, situated exactly halfway between the two triads of golden goal posts for each team.

About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows here, and the eleven of them filed into the front seats. A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their places in the seats, which rose in levels around the long oval field. Everything was suffused with a mysterious golden light, which seemed to come from the stadium itself. It was nice, but Vega was interested in the field.

The field looked smooth as velvet from their lofty position. Vega felt envious of the players.

At either end of the field stood three goal hoops, fifty feet high; right opposite them, almost at Vega's eye level, was a gigantic blackboard.

Gold writing kept dashing across it as though an invisible giant's hand were scrawling upon the blackboard and then wiping it off again, a continuous cycle, all of them advertisements:

The Bluebottle: A Broom for All the Family – safe, reliable, and with Built-in Anti-Burgler Buzzer ... Mrs. Shower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover: No Pain, No Stain! ...
Gladrags Wizardwear – London, Paris, Hogsmeade...

"Vega, is that... Dobby?" Harry asked and Vega turned around to follow his gaze to the back of the box where a house-elf was sitting quietly on her own. "What is Dobby doing here?"

The female house-elf was sitting exactly in the second from last seat at the end of the row behind them. Except for her – it was entirely empty. She herself was dressed in a tea towel draped like a toga and had her face hidden in her hands. From here, Vega couldn't see why she was doing that.

"I don't think that's Dobby, Harry," Vega said quietly, but it seemed like the house-elf heard her.

The tiny creature looked up and stretched her fingers, revealing enormous brown eyes and a nose the exact size and shape of a large tomato as she peered curiously from between her fingers. And she spoke in a high and quivering voice in a squeak, "Did sir and miss just call me Dobby?"

Ron and Hermione spun around in their seats to look – though they had heard a lot about Dobby from Vega and Harry, they had never actually met him. Even Mr. Weasley looked around in interest.

"Sorry," Harry told the elf. "We just thought you were someone we knew,"

"But I knows Dobby too, sir!" squeaked the elf. She was shielding her face, as though blinded by light, though the Top Box was not brightly lit. "My name is Winky, sir – and you, sir –" Her dark brown eyes widened to the size of side plates as they rested upon Harry's scar. "You is surely Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, I am," Harry replied.

"But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" Winky said, lowering her hands very slightly and looking awestruck. Vega slowly moved back in case she freaked Winky out like she did with Dobby.

"How is he?" Harry asked. "How's freedom suiting him?"

"Ah, sir," Winky responded, shaking her head. "Ah sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favour, sir, when you is setting him free,"