Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
—AS ALEXANDRIA AND HER FRIENDS REACHED THE ENTRANCE HALL, THEY NOTICED A COMMOTION. "Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" Draco Malfoy's voice boomed throughout the corridor.
Harry, Ron and Hermione turned.
Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something.
Alexandria rolled her eyes and was about to leave when Pansy stopped her and pointed to what Draco was holding. "Let's go get a better look," whispered Pansy excitedly.
"What?" They heard Ron Weasley ask.
"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Draco, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet, and speaking very loudly, so that everyone in the packed Entrance Hall could hear. "Listen to this!"
"FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC It seems as though the Ministry of Magics troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office." Draco looked up with a grin. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley, it's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"
Everyone in the Entrance Hall was listening now.
Draco straightened the paper with a flourish, and read on: "Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved with a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ('policemen') over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of 'Mad-Eye' Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene." continued Draco, "And there's a picture, Weasley!"
He flipped the paper over and held it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house– if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"
Ron was shaking with fury. Everyone was staring at him.
"Get stuffed, Malfoy," said Harry. "C'mon, Ron..."
"Oh yeah, you were supposed to be staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? Just before you kidnapped the heiress of Slytherin?" sneered Draco in malice.
