Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 10 ⚡️

Vega, Harry and Hermione dragged Ron away, and by the time that the sounds of the Veela and their fervent admirers had faded completely, the four of them found themselves in the very heart of the woods. They seemed to be alone now; everything was much quieter. Vega looked around.

"I reckon we can just wait here, you know," Harry said to the other three as they stopped, and Vega nodded lightly in agreement. "We'll hear anyone coming a mile off,"

"I hope everyone is okay," Vega said, playing nervously with her fingers. "All of them, of course..."

All of a sudden, Ludo Bagman emerged from behind a tree that was right in front of them. Even by the feeble light of the three wands, Vega could see that a great change had come over Bagman in the past hour or so. He no longer looked buoyant and rosy-face; there was no more spring to his step. He looked very white and strained. Vega couldn't understand what was going on with him.

"Who's that?" Bagman asked, blinking down at them, trying to make out their faces behind the three wands. "What are you doing in here, all alone?" They looked at one another, surprised.

"Well – there's a sort of riot going on," Ron said.

"What?" Bagman asked as he stared at him in confusion.

"At the campsite..." Ron spoke up while Vega continued to eye Bagman strangely. "Some people have got hold of a family of Muggles..." Bagman swore loudly.

"Damn them!" Bagman said, looking quite distracted, and without another word, he Disapparated with a small pop, leaving the four teenagers behind.

"Not exactly on top of things, Mr. Bagman, is he?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"He was a great Beater, though," Ron said, leading the way off the path into a small clearing, and sitting down on a patch of dry grass at the foot of a tree. "The Wimbourne Wasps won the league three times in a row while he was with them,"

"Maybe he should've just vanished with that glory..." Vega mumbled. "He really made it worse on himself – I guess, after a while of such a celebrity status, you seek more recognition or excitement,"

When she turned to look at others, Vega raised her eyebrows at Ron – who casually took out his small figure of Viktor Krum from his pocket, set it down on the ground, and watched it walk around. Much like the real Krum, the model was slightly duck-footed and round-shouldered, much less impressive on his splayed feet than on his broomstick. Harry and Hermione eyed it as well.

It got boring to see the small Krum model so Vega began to focus on the direction they had just come from, listening to what sorts of noises were coming from the campsite. From here, everything seemed much quieter now – perhaps those people were gone now... perhaps they were caught.

"I hope the others are okay," Hermione spoke up after a while.

"They'll be fine," Ron assured her.

"Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy," Harry said, sitting down next to Ron and watching the tiny Krum slouching over the fallen leaves. "He's always said he'd like to get something on him,"

"That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right," Ron said.

"Those poor Muggles, though," Hermione said nervously. "What if they can't get them down?"

"They will," Ron said reassuringly. "They'll find a way,"

"Mad, though," Hermione said. "To do something like that when the whole Ministry of Magic's out here tonight! I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just...?"