Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [6]

⚡️ Chapter 1 ⚡️

It was late afternoon at the Tonks Household, the peak hours of activity in the house with Dora and Ted coming home for lunch while Andromeda cooked and Vega did her homework – yet today, it was very uncharacteristically silent. There was not a single creak in the house, and all the rooms had been left completely unlit and dark.

Early July had brought its warmth and the sun had at last looked out from behind the puffy clouds but it was unable to stream into the room, suffocated by the thick dark red curtains, allowing only a dull light to hit the wooden flooring of the bedroom.

The window itself had been left open, allowing the warm breeze to permit into the room, stroking past the red drapes. And beyond it, the sound of chirping could be heard as waxwings swooped into the rowan tree right outside the window, picking at the brightly ripening red berries to feed on the juicy fruits to fill their tiny bellies.

In the corner of that bedroom laid Vega, her head stuffed into her pillow, her stomach pressed against the mattress, and her hand laid on the wooden floor limply – all lamps in the room were dark except for her eyes that sat unseeingly on the ground.

If Vega was to summarise her and her family's current situation – it was that each and every one of them were feeling downtrodden in one way or another. And surprisingly, none of that came from the reality of Vega's parentage.

Well, aside for Vega.

Andromeda was taking Sirius's death rather hard; it seemed like she had suddenly realised that she was left on her own. It wasn't that they even met often but Vega knew that Andromeda had found solace in the fact that she wasn't the only one who had objected to the Black Family traditions, and that she wasn't the crazy one – her family was.

It was something that Vega had been struggling to deal with as well, and she found the more she thought about it, the more it hurt, and on the other hand, she felt guilty over the fact that had she put her foot down and stopped them, it wouldn't have come this far. She did, however, get some distraction while she cared for Dora at St. Mungo's.

Dora had to visit the hospital for check-ups, and Vega made sure to stay by her side – and fortunately, she had gotten back on her feet rather quickly. But the real problems started for Dora a week later than that when she went to meet with the Order.

When the older female had returned back, Vega could immediately notice the change in her cousin, and it wasn't just the colour of her hair. Dora had been crying – her eyes were red and her face was flushed and clammy. Vega was on the case quickly.

Remus Lupin had rejected Dora's affections, it had turned out and Vega had been rather concerned – she had a suspicion that her cousin was feeling something for the man but she had not expected it to be something she would confess; Dora rarely did.

Of course, Vega had tried to comfort her cousin the best that she could but there was nothing that could console Dora, and she had started to blame herself for Sirius's death and the sorrow that put onto Lupin's head following that.

Vega's eyes moved, finally, when she heard noises in the house and she stared at her door, waiting to see if something was going to happen.

The noises seemed to be coming from Dora's room – she had arrived earlier to rest in while she waited for her Auror duty late in the evening. Vega heard a muffled conversation before heavy footsteps came toward the direction of her bedroom.

Door opened to reveal Dora but Vega didn't react, still laying still as she watched. Dora, however, had noticed that she was awake and walked over to her bed.

"Mum's stress-cleaning my room," Dora muttered as she climbed over Vega and laid down heavily in the open space on the bed. "Don't mind me crashing here,"