Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 34 ⚡️

It was the strangest and the most inconvenient thing that when you were dreading something to happen – and would give anything to slow down time – it had a disobliging habit of speeding up. The days until the First Task seemed to slip by as though someone had fixed the clocks to work double speed. Vega was trying her very best to keep it down but her nerves were getting the better of her.

Finally, on one fine morning of the Saturday before the First Task, all the student in third year and above were permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade. Hermione told Vega and Harry that it would do them good to get away from the castle for a bit, and neither of them needed much persuasion.

"What about Ron, though?" Harry said, and Vega looked over at Hermione as well – since the brunette normally stuck around with Ron when it came to this. "Don't you want to go with him?"

"Oh... well..." Hermione started rather awkwardly as she went slightly pink. Vega trained her narrowed eyes on her. "I thought we might meet up with him in the Three Broomsticks..."

"No," Harry responded flatly, and Vega let out a small sigh as she looked away from them both.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said. "This is so stupid –"

"I'll come, but I'm not meeting Ron," Harry told them. "And I'm wearing my Invisibility Cloak,"

"Oh, all right then..." Hermione snapped, giving up. "But I hate talking to you in that cloak, I never know if I'm looking at you or not,"

"Hey, I'll be there with you," Vega said, raising her hand slightly to let them know she was still there.

In the end, Vega and Hermione walked down to the Hogsmeade Village in a normal manner and Harry followed behind the two girls after he had gotten his Invisibility Cloak. He joined them by the time they reached the village, and before so, Vega found herself looking at a lot more badges – but most of them were currently saying 'Support Cedric Diggory!' rather than the alternative message.

As Harry could not be seen by their naked eyes – Vega was their only target. The Hufflepuffs all changed the messages on their badges while the Slytherin eagerly took to insulting her over her position as a champion and over what had been written in the Daily Prophet about her earlier.

"I wonder how long this is going to last," Vega mumbled to herself as she tried to ignore the words being hurled at her. "But... I'm starting to become quite tired of the constant torment,"

Their first destination was Honeydukes, where they bought some large cream-filled chocolates. Vega slipped a few of them to Harry under the cloak, and once they had enough, they left the sweetshop.

Vega pulled her beanie down on her head snugly and took another bite of her chocolate as she looked around the village. She was hoping not to run into any more trouble while at Hogsmeade.

"Looking for someone?" Hermione asked, wondering what Vega was looking out for. "Is it Cedric?"

"No, I just don't want us to get stuck in that gaggle of Slytherins over there," Vega said as she nodded ahead toward the Slytherins by the Quill Shop. "Let's just go to the Three Broomsticks,"

"Wait!" Harry said invisibly just as they turned toward for the Three Broomsticks and his hand grabbed Vega's. "Vega, don't look behind us – it's Rita Skeeter,"

In a blink of an eye, Vega's black hair turned blonde and her eyes switched to green. She didn't say anything even when Hermione gasped at the sudden change of the person next to her. But Vega was watching Rita Skeeter as she and her photographer friend emerged from the Three Broomsticks.

The two of them were talking in low voices, and as they did not recognise Hermione – despite writing about her – they walked right past Vega and Hermione without looking at either of them.