Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 25 ⚡️

Vega was beginning to get bored as they all stood aimlessly in wait for the guests to arrive. Professor McGonagall was scolding Cormac McLaggen for being unable to stand still, Hermione was trying to convince a fifth-year Hufflepuff to join her cause in a hushed voice, while the first-years were trying to keep their excitement inside. Or maybe it was them shivering due to the cold sweeping inside.

The night had fallen, and Vega was also beginning to yearn for dinner, ignoring everything that was going on. She tried to distract herself by looking at the stars that had begun to show them, but soon enough, both her eyes and her thoughts strayed over to Fred, who was standing not that far away.

Fred and George weren't muttering amongst themselves about that secret thing anymore – instead they were talking normally with Lee Jordan, chuckling under their breaths to avoid getting caught.

And then, finally, Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the other teachers – "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?"

Many students eagerly looked around in all sorts of different directions, and Vega snapped out of her blissful thoughts to join them in searching for the Beauxbatons' delegation in the skies above.

"There!"

Everyone followed the gesture of the sixth-year who had yelled out, and Vega looked toward the Forbidden Forest, where they could all distantly see something manifesting in the darkness.

"It's a dragon!" shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.

"Don't be stupid..." Dennis Creevey exclaimed. "It's a flying house!" His guess was closer.

Above it, in the distance, there was a gigantic black shape that skimmed over the treetops. When the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, she saw a gigantic, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage, the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant. It took Vega a moment to recognise them.

"Oh, they're Abraxan horses!" Vega breathed, perking up immediately at the sight of the great big horses. "They're a kind of winged horses – I love winged horses,"

The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled ever lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed – then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth year's foot behind him, the horses' hooves, larger than dinner plates, hit the ground.

A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels, while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes. Vega was in awe of their beauty.

Then, the door of the carriage – which bore a coat of arms with two crossed golden wands emitting three stars each – opened and a boy dressed in pale blue robes appeared, jumping down out of it.

The boy then bent forward and fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor and then unfolded a set of golden steps. Following this, he sprang back respectfully to let someone out.

A shining, high-heeled black shoe emerged from the inside of the carriage – a shoe the size of a child's sled – followed, almost immediately, by a very large woman, causing a few people to gasp.

As the giant woman stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive-skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose.

Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.