Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [6]

⚡️ Chapter 26 ⚡️

Vega had hoped that Ron would get over everything after a night's sleep but she was severely disappointed to find that he was not only cold-shouldering Ginny and Dean, but also treating a hurt and bewildered Hermione with an icy, sneering indifference. It wasn't until Vega had explained to her about what Vega and the boys had seen with Ginny and Dean that the brunette got a bit of idea but that didn't stop the fact that Ron seemed to have become, overnight, as ready to lash out as the average Blast-Ended Skrewt.

Given that this had almost become a habit, Vega and Harry spent the day attempting to keep the peace between Ron and Hermione with no success; finally, Hermione departed for bed in high dudgeon, and Ron stalked off to the boys' dormitory after swearing angrily at several frightened first years for looking at him. Vega sighed softly, tired.

"I cannot handle all this over my studies, and Quidditch," Vega admitted to Harry as she gathered her things to head to her dorm as well. "He's sixteen now and needs to start understanding his feelings and handling them without hurting people too much,"

"Hopefully he gets better soon," Harry muttered, also getting his things up so he could follow after Ron up to their dormitory so he wouldn't alone with Dean in any case.

And with that, the two of them headed off to their respective dormitories to listen to their friends finally start to complain about the other openly.

To the dismay of Vega, however, Ron's new aggression did not wear off over the next few days. Worse still, it coincided with an even deeper dip in his Keeping skills, which made him still more aggressive, so that during the final Quidditch practice before Saturday's match, he failed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced Demelza Robins to tears, which seemed to be it for everyone.

"You shut up and leave her alone!" Peakes shouted angrily, who was about two-thirds Ron's height, though admittedly carrying a heavy bat.

"ENOUGH!" Harry bellowed, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron's direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat-Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand. "Peakes, go and pack up the Bludgers. Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really well today. Ron..."

Harry waited until the rest of the team, aside from Vega herself (who had been trying to comfort Demelza), were out of earshot before saying it, "You're my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I'm going to kick you off the team,"

For a second, Vega was quite sure that Ron might just hit Ron – but then something much worse happened: Ron seemed to sag on his broom; all the fight from the last few days went out of him and he said, "I resign. I'm pathetic,"

"You're not pathetic and you're not resigning!" responded both Vega and Harry rather fiercely in unison, and Harry seized Ron by the front of his robes as he continued, "You can save anything when you're on form, it's a mental problem you've got!"

"You calling me mental?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, maybe I am!" Harry responded.

They glared at each other for a moment and Vega bit her lower lip while watching the two of them closely, her hand on her wand in case things started to go array and a fight broke out between the boys. But then, Ron shook his head wearily.

"I know you haven't got any time to find another Keeper, so I'll play tomorrow," Ron told them. "But if we lose, and we will, I'm taking myself off the team,"

Nothing Vega or Harry said made any difference to Ron.

They tried boosting Ron's confidence all through dinner, but he was too busy being grumpy and surly with Hermione to notice. Vega and Harry even persisted in the common room that evening. But their assertion that the whole team would be devastated if Ron left was somewhat undermined by the fact that the rest of the team was sitting in a huddle in a distant corner, clearly muttering about Ron and casting him nasty looks over his behaviour that day.