Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [4]

⚡️ Chapter 79 ⚡️

The weather could not have been more different on the journey back to the King's Cross than it had been on their way to Hogwarts the previous September – there wasn't a single cloud in the blue sky. For a moment, this improved Vega's mood and she felt herself smiling... until she remembered that they were one person short this time around, and Cedric was not here to enjoy this warm, clear and beautiful weather like the rest of them.

Just as usual, Vega, Harry, Ron and Hermione had managed to get a compartment to themselves. Pigwidgeon was once again hidden away under Ron's dress robes to stop him from hooting continually; Aquila and Hedwig were both dozing, their heads under their wing, and Crookshanks was curled up in a spare seat like a large, furry ginger cushion.

And it was here, as the train sped them southward, that the four of them talked more fully and freely than they had all week. It felt as though Dumbledore's speech at the Leaving Feast had unblocked the words stuck in Vega and Harry, somehow.

It was less painful to discuss what had happened now.

They broke off their conversation about what action Dumbledore might be taking, even now, to stop Voldemort only when the lunch trolley arrived with her array of sweets that Vega was yearning for.

Vega quietly picked out several of her favourite sweets, including crystallised strawberries, and returned back to her seat, plopping a piece into her mouth. Hermione came back into the trolley a little while later and put her money back into her schoolbag before dislodged a copy of the Daily Prophet that she had been carrying in there.

Harry looked at it, but Hermione, seeing him looking at it, said calmly, "There's nothing in there. You can look for yourself, but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Just a small piece the day after the third task saying you both won the tournament. They didn't even mention Cedric. Nothing about any of it. If you ask me. Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet,"

"It's... unfortunate that they haven't mentioned Cedric's passing," Vega mumbled. "But knowing the Daily Prophet, it would've become more sensationalised rather than giving him proper respect,"

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," Harry said however. "Not on a story like this,"

"Oh, Rita hasn't written anything at all since the Third Task," Hermione said in an oddly constrained voice. "As a matter of fact," She added, her voice now trembling slightly. "Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her,"

"What are you talking about?" Ron asked. "Have you been threatening people, too?"

"I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," Hermione said in a rush.

Immediately, Vega had the impression that Hermione had been dying to tell them this for days, but that she had restrained herself in light of everything else that had happened. She was curious as to what the brunette had been up, and so was Harry.

"How was she doing it?" asked Harry at once.

"How did you find out?" Ron asked, staring at the girl.

"Well, it was you, really, who gave me the idea, Harry," Hermione said.

"Did I?" Harry asked, perplexed. "How?"

"Bugging," Hermione said happily.

"Wait," Harry said. "You said they didn't work –"

"Oh, not electronic bugs," Hermione said. "No, you see... as Vega suggested, Rita Skeeter –" Her voice trembled with quiet triumph. "– is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn –" She pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag. "– into a beetle,"