Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [6]

⚡️ Chapter 55 ⚡️

All lessons were suspended, all examinations postponed. Some students were hurried away from Hogwarts by their parents over the next couple of days – the Patil twins were gone before breakfast on the morning following Dumbledore's death, and Zacharias Smith was escorted from the castle by his haughty-looking father.

Seamus Finnigan, on the other hand, refused point-blank to accompany his mother home; they had a shouting match in the entrance hall that was resolved when she agreed that he could remain behind for the funeral. She had difficulty in finding a bed in Hogsmeade, Seamus told Vega, Harry and Ron, for wizards and witches were pouring into the village, preparing to pay their last respects to Dumbledore.

Some excitement was caused among the younger students, who had never seen it before, when a powder-blue carriage the size of a house, pulled by a dozen giant winged palominos, came soaring out of the sky in the late afternoon before the funeral and landed on the edge of the forest.

Vega watched quietly from a window as a gigantic and handsome olive-skinned, black-haired woman descended the carriage steps and threw herself into the waiting Hagrid's arms.

Meanwhile a delegation of Ministry officials, including the Minister of Magic himself, was being accommodated within the castle, something that was not quite welcoming to Vega.

Almost diligently, Vega was avoiding contact with any of them; she was sure that, sooner or later, she would be asked again to account for Dumbledore's last excursion from Hogwarts. She had not stuck around in the Hospital Wing for more than a few hours after she had fainted – she did not want to be caught by the Ministry questioning.

It was an issue – there was no way that Vega wanted people to find out that she was feeling this way, that there might be something wrong with her. She insisted that she was okay and only tired, leaving the Hospital Wing before the sun had set.

Vega, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were spending all of their time together. The beautiful weather seemed to mock them; Vega could imagine how it would have been if Dumbledore had not died, and they had had this time together at the very end of the year, Ginny's examinations finished, the pressure of homework lifted... life normal as always...

They visited the hospital wing twice a day: Neville had been discharged, but Bill remained under Madam Pomfrey's care. His scars were as bad as ever – in truth, he now bore a distinct resemblance to Mad-Eye Moody, though thankfully with both eyes and legs – but in personality he seemed just the same as ever.

All that appeared to have changed was that he now had a great liking for very rare steaks.

"... so eet ees lucky 'e is marrying me," Fleur told them happily, plumping up Bill's pillows. "Because ze British overcook their meat, I 'ave always said this,"

"I suppose I'm just going to have to accept that he really is going to marry her," Ginny spoke up as she sighed later that evening, as she, Vega, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat beside the open window of the Gryffindor common room, looking out over the twilit grounds.

"She's not that bad," Harry said, trying to assure his girlfriend. "Ugly, though," he added hastily, as Ginny raised her eyebrows, and she let out a reluctant giggle.

"Well, I suppose if Mum can stand it, I can," Ginny said.

"Fleur can be a bit blunt but she's not entirely a bad person," Vega spoke up, playing with a strand of her hair. "I'm sure we'll all come around to her. I feel like if Bill is happy with her and likewise back, then it is a love that should be appreciated,"

"You have a way with words, don't you?" Ginny asked but the younger female was smiling. Vega just shrugged lightly and gave her a weak smile back.

"Anyone else we know died?" Ron asked Hermione, who was perusing the Evening Prophet. Hermione winced at the forced toughness in his voice.