Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 54 ⚡️

The following day, Vega and Harry were still stricken with what they had found out the night before, and Harry could hardly wait to tell Ron and Hermione about what they had witnessed between Snape, Filch and Moody while they were out on the prowl. It didn't take him long to get a chance.

"You two said you'd already worked out that egg clue!" Hermione said indignantly from next to Vega once Harry had finished, and the black-haired female knew it had been long incoming.

"Shhh," Vega replied, glancing around. "Someone might hear – and we did work it out now, didn't we? We just have to worry about Harry and his ability to swim underwater, you see..."

Before Harry had gone off the rails about Moody and Snape, Vega had informed the three of them about what she had discovered in the Golden Eggs. Much like her, the others were convinced it was to do with the Great Lake – but they weren't any ideas about what they had to retrieve from there.

Currently, Vega, Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting at the very back of the Charms class with a table to themselves. The three of them, along with the rest of the Gryffindors, were supposed to be practising the opposite of the Summoning Charm today – the Banishing Charm.

Owing to the potential for nasty accidents when objects kept flying across the room, Professor Flitwick had given each student a stack of cushions on which to practice, the theory being that these wouldn't hurt anyone if they went off target.

It was a good theory, but it wasn't working very well. Neville's aim was so poor that he kept accidentally sending much heavier things flying across the room – Professor Flitwick, for instance.

"Just forget the egg for a minute, okay?" Harry hissed as Professor Flitwick went whizzing resignedly past them, landing on top of a large cabinet. "I'm trying to tell you about Snape and Moody..."

"Oh, dear," Vega breathed, staring at Professor Flitwick, who was hanging out on the cabinet.

This class was an ideal cover for a private conversation, as everyone was having far too much fun to pay them any attention. Harry had been recounting his and Vega's adventures of the previous night in whispered instalments for the last half hour.

"Snape said Moody has searched his office as well?" Ron whispered, his eyes alight with interest as he Banished a cushion with a sweep of his wand (it soared into the air and knocked Parvati's hat off). "What... Do you reckon Moody's here to keep an eye on Snape as well as Karkaroff?"

"We're not sure about that," Vega replied. "We don't know if Dumbledore personally asked him to do that but he told it straight-up to Snape that he was doing it to him,"

"Also, don't forget," Harry spoke up, waving his wand without paying much attention, so that his cushion did an odd sort of belly flop off the desk. "Moody said Dumbledore only lets Snape stay here because he's giving him a second chance or something..."

"What?" Ron asked, his eyes widening, his next cushion spinning high into the air, ricocheting off the chandelier, and dropping heavily onto Flitwick's desk. "Harry... maybe Moody thinks Snape put your names in the Goblet of Fire!"

"Oh, Ron," Hermione said, shaking her head sceptically. "We thought Snape was trying to kill Vega and Harry before, and it turned out he was saving their lives, remember?"

Hermione Banished a cushion and it flew across the room and landed in the box they were all supposed to be aiming at. Vega had already finished throwing all of her cushions and was mainly quiet as she played around with her wand, staring at the way she held it to see what was unique.

Professor Lupin said that, didn't he?

"I wonder..." Vega muttered, looking up. "... what is going on? Snape hasn't been very cordial with us, has he? He always blames us first... and I wonder what was taken from his office, if there was anything suspicious... also, I don't think Dumbledore would like Snape around if he didn't trust him,"