Firecracker | George Weasley

Chapter 25

Scarlett was in the common room with her friends after dinner, they were discussing how weird the speech from Professor Umbridge had been.

"George said that Professor Umbridge is from the ministry." Scarlett declared

"That's even weirder. Why is the ministry getting involved in Hogwarts?" Andrew asked confused

Scarlett shrugged "I honestly have no clue."

"Maybe it's because of what the Daily Prophet has been publishing. My parents weren't keen on sending me back here." Bianca said

"Same here." Leslie added

"My parents are constantly arguing about whether what they are saying is true, my dad believes Dumbledore but my mum believes the Prophet." Andrew said

Scarlett sighed remembering her family life and the mess it was in. She didn't even realise how the Daily Prophet might be affecting their marriage. She got absorbed into her thoughts of her family life and how everything had gone wrong since that dreadful day until she snapped out of it

"Scarlett." Bianca said as she nudged her

"Sorry what were we talking about?" Scarlett asked looking around and realising that more people had joined their group

"They're asking where you stand on the whole Dumbledore vs The Daily Prophet situation?" Andrew asked worried about her

"Oh, I believe Harry. I prepared Cedric, no accident would have got him killed and if anything had gotten the better of him, he would have sent up red flares. He wouldn't have sacrificed his life and he wasn't dumb enough to be in some freak accident. Even when my parents asked what exactly this freak accident was no ministry worker or Fudge himself was able to give a detailed explanation that made sense." Scarlett replied bluntly detaching herself from the emotions that the memories brought up.

The other Hufflepuffs who had been listening in to find out how Scarlett was reacting nodded understanding her point, when Scarlett realised people were eager to find out her perspective, she continued "Wait, do you guys believe the Prophet?"

Some students walked away ashamed to admit to her they believed or had believed the Prophet. Scarlett felt her anger grow at how ridiculous it was that anyone would believe the madness that had been published by the Prophet but most importantly that they thought Cedric would have died by the vague 'freak accident'. She stood up causing those who had started to walk away to stop and turn their attention back to her while all those who stayed and her friends stared at her confused

"You should be ashamed if you are walking away from me because you believed my twin, your friend, Cedric died from some 'freak accident'. You all knew him, you saw how hard he worked. He survived the first task, fair enough he got injured but you saw how hard we trained in order to learn from that mistake and then in the second task he came first AND came out unscratched and so did I. If Fleur who didn't pass the second task got out alive why in the world wouldn't Ced?! Explain to me how anything of what the Prophet said makes any sense? Was Fudge there? No. Who was? Harry. Why would he lie? The only reason I can think of for him lying was if he had killed Cedric and we know he didn't. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. How dare you even talk to me or ask me my opinion on this ridiculousness when you believed the Prophet over Harry. I'm not the biggest fan of Harry, I'll admit especially after last year but his story makes sense, unlike the Prophet, whether you like the guy or not there comes a point you just have to use your brain instead of your bias against him. I love this house and I know Cedric loved this house too but some of you make me ashamed to be associated with Hufflepuff because you believed this nonsense. " Scarlett vented angrily causing those who walked away to hang their heads in shame.