Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [6]

⚡️ Chapter 23 ⚡️

Katie Bell taken from the Hospital Wing and all the way to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries the following day, by which time the news that she had been cursed had spread all over the school, though the details were confused and nobody other than Vega, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Leanne seemed to know that Katie herself had not been the intended target. Yet still, Vega felt very unprotected – anyone, including Malfoy, could be a Death Eater.

"Oh, and Malfoy knows, of course," Harry said to Vega, Ron and Hermione, the latter two of whom continued their new policy of feigning deafness whenever he mentioned his Malfoy-is-a-Death-Eater theory but Vega usually humoured him with it.

And on the very other hand, Vega wondered whether and when Dumbledore would return from wherever he had been in time for Monday night's lesson.

But having had no word to the contrary, she presented herself outside Dumbledore's office at eight o'clock with Harry, knocked, and was told to enter.

Dumbledore greeted them with a sight of looking unusually tired; his hand was as black and burned as ever, but he smiled when he gestured to Vega and Harry to sit down. Vega took the offered seat and frowned at how dishevelled Dumbledore was.

The Pensieve was sitting on the desk again, casting silvery specks of light over the ceiling.

"You both have had a busy time while I have been away," Dumbledore said, taking the conversation. "I believe you witnessed Katie's accident,"

"Yes, um, Professor," Vega spoke up. "May I ask how Katie is doing?"

"Still very unwell, although she was relatively lucky," Dumbledore informed. "She appears to have brushed the necklace with the smallest possible amount of skin: There was a tiny hole in her glove. Had she put it on, had she even held it in her un-gloved hand, she would have died, perhaps instantly. Luckily Professor Snape was able to do enough to prevent a rapid spread of the curse –"

"Why him?" Harry asked quickly, and Vega looked over. "Why not Madam Pomfrey?"

"Impertinent," said a soft voice from one of the portraits on the wall, and Phineas Nigellus Black raised his head from his arms where he had appeared to be sleeping. "I would not have permitted a student to question the way Hogwarts operated in my day,"

"Yes, thank you, Phineas," Dumbledore said stiflingly. "Professor Snape knows much more about the Dark Arts than Madam Pomfrey, Harry. Anyway, the St. Mungo's staff are sending me hourly reports, and I am hopeful that Katie will make a full recovery in time,"

"Where were you this weekend, sir?" Harry asked, disregarding a strong feeling that he might be pushing his luck, a feeling apparently shared by Phineas Nigellus, who hissed softly – but Vega was just as interested in what was going on.

"I would rather not say just now," Dumbledore replied, and both Vega and Harry were clearly disappointed. "However, I shall tell you both in due course,"

"You will?" Harry asked, startled.

"Yes, I expect so," Dumbledore said, withdrawing a fresh bottle of silver memories from inside his robes and uncorking it with a prod of his wand.

"Sir," Harry said tentatively. "We met Mundungus in Hogsmeade,"

"Ah yes, I am already aware that Mundungus has been treating your inheritance with light-fingered contempt," Dumbledore said, frowning a little. "He has gone to ground since you accosted him outside the Three Broomsticks; I rather think he dreads facing me. However, rest assured that he will not be making away with any more of Sirius's old possessions,"

"I hope so as well," Vega mumbled, slightly relieved but still upset with Mundungus's lack of tack.

"That mangy old Half-Blood has been stealing Black heirlooms?" asked Phineas Nigellus, incensed; and he stalked out of his frame, undoubtedly to visit his portrait in number twelve, Grimmauld Place.