CHERRY, george weasley

045, percy weasley likes the daily prophet!

CERISE SIGHED AS SHE pursed her lips. George gave her a small smile as he continued talking to Harry, "We're coming to that. Dad reckons Fudge only wants Percy in his office because he wants to use him to spy on the family — and Dumbledore."

"Bet Percy loved that." Harry said after letting out a low whistle. Ron gave a hollow laugh.

"He went completely berserk." Ron stated. "He said — Well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been — you know —not had a lot of money —"

"What?" Harry asked in disbelief as Ginny made a noise that reminded Cerise of an angry cat.

"I know," Ron's voice was low as he spoke. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he — Percy — knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now."

Cerise felt George squeeze her hand a little tighter. She knew both Fred and George acted as if they hated their older brother, but she knew that they missed him.

"Mum's been in a right state," Ron continued. "You know — crying and stuff. She came up to London to try and talk to Percy but he slammed the door in her face. I dunno what he does if he meets Dad at work — ignores him, I s'pose."

"But Percy must know Voldemort's back," said Harry slowly. "He's not stupid, he must know your mum and dad wouldn't risk everything without proof—"

"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row," Ron shot Harry a look. "Percy said the only evidence was your word and... I dunno... he didn't think it was good enough."

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," Hermione said as everyone else nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Haven't — Haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked anxiously, sharing a look with Cerise.

"Yeah, I have!" Harry replied.

"Have you read it properly?" Cerise asked him, her voice shakey.

"Not cover to cover," Harry shook his head. "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it?"

Loralei carried on, "Well, you'd have to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they mention you a couple of times a week."

"But I'd have seen—"

"Not if you've only been reading the front page, you wouldn't," Hermione interrupted, shaking her head. "I'm not talking about big articles. They just slip you in, like you're a standing joke."

"What d'you—"

"It's quite nasty, actually," Hermione forced her voice to be calm. "They're just building on Rita's stuff."

"But she's not writing for them any more, is she?"

"Oh, no, she's kept her promise — Not that she's got any choice," Hermione added with satisfaction. Cerise knew what they were talking about. She was the last to find out, due to locking herself away when everyone else was in the hospital wing after the whole... incident, but Loralei told her everything about Rita Skeeter. "But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now."

"Which is what?" Harry was becoming impatient.

"Okay, you know she wrote that you were collapsing all over the place and saying your scar was hurting and all that?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they're writing about you as though you're this deluded, attention-seeking person who thinks he's a great tragic hero or something," Hermione, said, very fast. "They keep slipping in snide comments about you. If some far-fetched story appears, they say something like, "A tale worthy of Harry Potter", and if anyone has a funny accident or anything it's, "Let's hope he hasn't got a scar on his forehead or we'll be asked to worship him next"—"

"I don't want anyone to worship—" Harry began hotly.

"I know you don't," said Hermione quickly, looking frightened. "I know, Harry. But you see what they're doing? They want to turn you into someone nobody will believe. Fudge is behind it, I'll bet anything. They want wizards on the street to think you're just some stupid boy who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because he loves being famous and wants to keep it going."

"I didn't ask — I didn't want — Voldemort killed my parents!" Harry spluttered. "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think I'd rather it'd never —"

"We know, Harry," Ginny said softly.

"And of course, they didn't report a word about the dementors attacking you," said Hermione. "Someone's told them to keep that quiet. That should've been a really big story, out-of-control dementors. They haven't even reported that you broke the International Statute of Secrecy. We thought they would, it would be in so well with this image of you as some stupid show-off. We think they're biding their time until you're expelled, then they're really going to go to town — I mean, if you're expelled, obviously. You really shouldn't be, not if they abide by their own laws, there's no case against you."

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs made George and Fred exchange alarmed looks, before they disappeared with a CRACK! Loralei was quick to follow, telling Cerise she'll grab Jay before she did-so.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now." Molly said to the ones that were left, "Everyone's dying to see you, Harry. And who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?"

"Crookshanks," said Ginny. "He loves playing with them."

"Oh," Molly sighed, "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, Elijah, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please..."

Ginny and Elijah followed Molly out of the room and Cerise looked at Harry. She gave him a small hug. "It's nice to see you, Harry," she said, before she disappeared.

A/N: Okay guys, so other than this fic, I've been working on a few others in my drafts: One's a James Potter fic — Accidentally in Love — and the other is a Remus Lupin fic — The Werewolf Whisperer — I also have one with two main oc's and those two marauders as the love interests, but that don't have a name yet.

I'm working more on this fic and The Werewolf Whisperer than the others, so my Remus fic will be out before any of my other ones, so keep a look out for it :)