Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [6]

⚡️ Chapter 34 ⚡️

"Why would you do that, Harry?" Vega asked, looking more upset than angry as she pulled him along with herself. "We were supposed to take our time and ask him properly – it isn't something he would just give up! It was something that needed to be discussed in an intimate setting, not blasted upon him so suddenly and just like Voldemort, too!"

On the other hand, neither Ron nor Hermione was at all sympathetic when Harry told them of this disastrous interview. Hermione was still seething at the way Harry had triumphed without doing the work properly. Ron was resentful that Harry hadn't slipped him a bezoar too.

"It would've just looked stupid if we'd both done it, especially with Vega!" Harry said irritably. "Look, I had to try and soften him up so I could ask him about Voldemort, didn't I? Oh, will you get a grip!" He added in exasperation, as Ron winced at the sound of the name.

Infuriated by his failure and by Ron's and Hermione's attitudes, Harry brooded for the next few days with Vega over what to do next about Slughorn. Realising that he should've listened to what she had to say in the first place, Harry agreed that he would not do anything stupid and just do whatever she planned to do with Slughorn and the memory.

"Our first issue is to recover all the mess you've made," Vega told him as they walked together. "It's going to be hard and he's not going to believe us but pretend you know nothing about Horcruxes. Ugh, I don't like how we're trying to gaslight someone..."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Harry responded in frustration and Vega gave him sharp look that shut up him immediately and she pursed her lips.

"For now, let's lull him into a false sense of security," Vega told him. "And then we will start to lay a plan... that includes a bit of emotional blackmail. We have to stress upon him how important this memory is and convince him to give it up to us to help ease his burden,"

"And what if it doesn't work?" Harry asked.

"Well, in that case... I suppose we might have to use force," Vega said and Harry's eyes immediately went to her wand. "Hey!" She snapped her fingers. "My first plans always work,"

When Harry did not question Slughorn again, the Potions Master finally reverted to his usual affectionate treatment of him, and appeared to have put the matter from his mind. Harry seemed happy that Vega's plan was working until she pointed it out to him.

"We're still not in the clear," Vega admitted. "He's still quite wary of your motives, and I think he figured out that Dumbledore would put both of us on it,"

"Doesn't help we look like him either, does it?" Harry muttered and Vega shook her head. "Let's wait for another one of his invitations, huh?"

And so, Vega and Harry awaited an invitation to one of his little evening parties, determined to accept this time, even if they had to reschedule Quidditch practice as Vega believed that right after the party would be the right time to do it.

"He's always very energetic during his parties," Vega told Harry. "And when he comes down from that high, it will be easy for us to increase his emotional burden and then offer to relieve him of it,"

"You're scary, you know?" Harry replied.

"Well, not scarier than what plagues Slughorn – knowing that he helped Voldemort become what it is," Vega responded. "We need to know what Horcruxes are,"

Unfortunately, however, no such invitation arrived.

Vega personally checked with Hermione and Ginny: neither of them had received an invitation and nor, as far as they knew, had anybody else. It made it very clear that Slughorn was not quite as forgetful as he appeared, simply determined to give Harry – or her – no additional opportunities to question him about that memory.