Coup de Foudre [Fred Weasley] [7]

⚡️ Chapter 12 ⚡️

Vega was the first to wake up the following morning as always, compared to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They had all slept in their sleeping bags on the floor of the drawing room. She pushed herself out as quietly as possible, folding everything up and setting it aside as she straightened her clothes, reaching to press her lips against her ring.

It warmed in return almost immediately, and Vega stared at it as it remained so for a very long time – clearly, Fred's concern could be felt through that. She tried not to dwell on the thought and turned to look around the drawing room, now that it was brighter.

A chink of sky was visible between the heavy curtains.

It was the cool, clear blue of watered ink, somewhere between night and dawn, and everything was quiet except for Harry, Ron and Hermione's slow, deep breathing.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were laid on the floor as dark shapes. Ron had had a fit of gallantry and insisted that Hermione sleep on the cushions from the sofa, so that her silhouette was raised above Ron. Her arm curved to the floor, her fingers inches from Ron's.

For a moment, Vega wondered whether they had fallen asleep holding hands. The idea made her feel strangely lonely and miss Fred more than ever.

Don't be like, it hasn't even been a day.

Looking away, Vega's eyes trained upon the shadowy ceiling, the cob-webbed chandelier. Less than twenty-four house ago, Vega had been standing in the sunlight at the entrance to the marquee, waiting to show in wedding guests and with Fred just in her vision.

It seemed a lifetime away.

Everything was blurry to Vega as to what she must do from now. She wasn't sure where she was to take her friends as everyone was starting to look at her instructions. Her thoughts had been stuck upon the Horcruxes all night long, towards the daunting complex mission Dumbledore had left her and Harry... and Dumbledore himself...

Vega wondered about the accusation she had heard from Muriel – could Dumbledore have let such things happen? Had he been content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him? Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden? Vega found herself wondering and wondering the more she remained still.

While waiting for others to wake up, Vega busied herself by looking around in her bag to see if they had everything in and nothing had been lost. She had just finished arranging everything when she saw Harry stirring and open his eyes, "Good morning,"

"Good morning," Harry replied groggily.

"I'm going to go look around," Vega muttered as she picked up her wand and quietly made her way out of the drawing room and into the landing outside.

"What are you going to do?" Harry asked, hurrying out of the room and closing the door behind him as well. "Have you thought where we should go first?"

"Let's wait until the others are awake," Vega replied. "Until then, I hope to have a look around properly this time. Just to see if someone has really been here,"

Harry decided to tag along.

On the second landing was the bedroom in which Harry and Ron had slept last time they had been here. When Harry stopped, Vega did as well and they glanced into it. The wardrobe doors stood open and the bedclothes had been ripped back.

"Someone has been here after the Order had left," Vega said quietly. "And I don't think all this was done by Mundungus..." Harry nodded slowly.

When Vega's gaze wandered to the portrait that sometimes-contained Phineas Nigellus Black, her great-great-great grandfather that she was certainly not a fan of, she saw that it was empty, showing nothing but a stretch of muddy backdrop.