Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 50 ⚡️

Once the first Care of the Magical Creatures class of the second term ended, the Gryffindors parted from the Slytherins and headed up to the castle for their lunch. Vega was in a bad mood because of Malfoy but now her concern for Hagrid's mental and emotional well-being was mounting higher.

"I hope she stays, that woman!" Parvati was going on, certainly not helping Vega. "That's more what I thought Care of Magical Creatures would be like... proper creatures like unicorns, not monsters..."

"That doesn't make sense," Vega pointed out. "'Monster' or not, those are all creatures – magical creatures. Some of them are just more in tune with their offense side,"

"Besides, what about Hagrid?" Harry asked angrily as they went up the steps.

"What about him?" Parvati responded in a hard voice. "He can still be gamekeeper, can't he?"

Parvati had been very cool toward Harry ever since the Yule Ball. Vega had pointed out to Harry that he should've paid the girl more attention but according to him, she seemed to have had a good time all the same. She was certainly telling anybody who would listen that she had made arrangements to meet the boy from Beauxbatons in Hogsmeade on the next weekend trip for some sort of a date.

But Vega wasn't sure which one of the boys Parvati was going to meet because their names changed often and it was clear that Parvati was struggling with the French names, especially paired with a French accent. Vega offered her help to the girl but Parvati was just as upset with her as with Harry.

I don't even know why.
But I suppose it is because I'm friends with Harry.

"That was a really good lesson," Hermione said as they entered the Great Hall. "I didn't know half the things Professor Grubbly-Plank told us about the unicorns,"

"It's all in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, though," Vega pitched in. She turned to look at the brunette. "Wait... don't tell me you think Hagrid wouldn't have been able to tell us all that?"

"Well," Hermione replied bracingly, because she had caught the look on Harry's face. "It's true –"

"Look at this!" Harry snarled, and he shoved the Daily Prophet article under Hermione's nose. Hermione's mouth fell open as she read. Her reaction was exactly the same as Ron's.

"How did that horrible Skeeter woman find out?" Hermione asked, looking up at Vega, Harry and Ron in shock. "You don't think Hagrid told her?"

"No," Harry answered, leading the way over to the Gryffindor table and throwing himself into a chair quite furiously. "He never even told us, did he? I reckon she was so mad he wouldn't give her loads of horrible stuff about Vega and I, she went ferreting around to get him back,"

"Maybe she heard him telling Madame Maxime at the ball," Hermione said quietly.

"We'd have seen her in the garden!" Ron pointed out. "Anyway, she's not supposed to come into school anymore, Hagrid said Dumbledore banned her..."

"Maybe she's got an Invisibility Cloak," Harry said, ladling chicken casserole onto his plate and splashing it everywhere in his anger. "Sort of thing she'd do, isn't it, hide in bushes listening to people,"

"Like you, Vega and Ron did, you mean," Hermione responded, picking an issue at something that needed not to be discussed right now. Vega pursed her lips.

"We weren't trying to hear him!" Ron retorted indignantly. "We didn't have any choice! The stupid prat, talking about his giantess mother where anyone could have heard him!"

"Stop belittling Hagrid, he was overtaken by emotions!" Vega interjected, frustrated by both Ron and Hermione's words. "We've got to go and see him at his home,"