Into The Light (Golden Trio Era) {2}

The Quibbler

Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny, Neville, and Mikayla had finished their Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes and they were busy swapping Chocolate Frog cards when the compartment door slid open and the pair walked in, accompanied by Crookshanks and a shrilly hooting Pigwidgeon in his cage. "I'm starving," Ron groaned, stowing Pigwidgeon next to Hedwig, grabbing a Chocolate Frog from Harry and throwing himself into the seat next to him. He ripped open the wrapper, bit off the Frog's head, and leaned back with his eyes closed as though he had had a very exhausting morning. "Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each House," Hermione said, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each." "And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" Ron said, still with his eyes closed. "Malfoy," Harry replied at once with a bitter tone. "'Course," Ron said, even more bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another. "And Avery which is a lot better than having that cow Parkinson," Hermione said viciously. "Although Pansy is acting like she's invincible now that her two besties are Prefects." "Who's Hufflepuff?" Mikayla asked curiously. "Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott," Ron said thickly."No surprise there." Mikayla smile proud of Hannah, who was a really sweet girl. "And Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil for Ravenclaw," Hermione added. "You went to the Yule Ball with Padma Patil," said the vague dreamy voice of Luna. Everyone turned to look at Luna Lovegood, who was gazing unblinkingly at Ron over the top of The Quibbler. He swallowed his mouthful of Frog. "Yeah, I know I did," he said, looking mildly surprised. "She didn't enjoy it very much," Luna informed him. "She doesn't think you treated her very well, because you wouldn't dance with her. I don't think I'd have minded," she added thoughtfully, "I don't like dancing very much." She retreated behind The Quibbler again. Ron stared at the cover with his mouth hanging open for a few seconds, then looked around at Ginny for some kind of explanation, but Ginny had stuffed her knuckles in her mouth to stop herself giggling.

Ron shook his head, bemused, then checked his watch. "We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," He told the group, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something..." "You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" Hermione said sharply. "Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," Mikayla added scoffing slightly. "So you're going to descend to his level?" Hermione questioned Ron, raising her eyebrow in a disapproving way. "No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine." "For heaven's sake, Ron—" "I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," Ron said happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "I... must... not... look... like... a... baboon's... backside..." Everyone laughed, but nobody laughed harder than Luna Lovegood. She let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to wake up and flap her wings indignantly and Crookshanks to leap up into the luggage rack, hissing. She laughed so hard that her magazine slipped out of her grasp, slid down her legs, and onto the floor. "That was funny!" Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Ron. He looked around at everyone else, who were now laughing at the expression on Ron's face and at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of Luna Lovegood, who was rocking backward and forward, clutching her sides. "Are you taking the mickey?" Ron asked, frowning at her. "Baboon's... backside!" she choked, holding her ribs. Everyone watched in amusement as Luna laughed whilst Mikayla joined her laughing at the repetition.

As she slowly calmed down, Harry leaned forward and pointed at Luna's forgotten magazine. "Can I have a look at this?" He asked Luna eagerly. Luna nodded, still gazing at Ron, breathless with laughter. Harry picked up the magazine and opened it before turning to the middle of the book, looking excited. He nudged Mikayla with his elbow and said, "Look at this." She looked down at the magazine and saw a rather bad cartoon. There was a man standing on a pile of human bones with his wand out. The article read:

SIRIUS - Black As He's Painted? Notorious Mass Murderer OR Innocent Singing Sensation? For fourteen years Sirius Black has been believed guilty of the mass murder of twelve innocent Muggles and one wizard. Black's audacious escape from Azkaban two years ago has led to the widest manhunt ever conducted by the Ministry of Magic. None of us has ever questioned that he deserves to be recaptured and handed back to the dementors.
BUT DOES HE?
Startling new evidence has recently come to light that Sirius Black may not have committed the crimes for which he was sent to Azkaban. In fact, says Doris Purkiss, of 18 Acanthia Way, Little Norton, Black may not even have been present at the killings. "What people don't realise is that Sirius Black is a false name," says Mrs. Purkiss. "The man people believe to be Sirius Black is actually Stubby Boardman, lead singer of the popular singing group The Hobgoblins, who retired from public life after being struck in the ear by a turnip at a concert in Little Norton Church Hall nearly fifteen years ago. I recognised him the moment I saw his picture in the paper. Now, Stubby couldn't possibly have committed those crimes, because on the day in question he happened to be enjoying a romantic candlelit dinner with me. I have written to the Minister of Magic and am expecting him to give Stubby, alias Sirius, a full pardon any day now."

Mikayla finished reading the article and stared at the page in disbelief. She knew that the Quibbler often reporting strange stuff, but she would have never imagined that they would write that... Harry, who had too finished the article, flipped back a few pages, finding another article, this time written about Minister Fudge. Mikayla didn't bother reading the title for this article, but as she read through the words, she figured she should have.

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, denied that he had any plans to take over the running of the Wizarding Bank, Gringotts, when he was elected Minister of Magic five years ago. Fudge has always insisted that he wants nothing more than to "cooperate peacefully" with the guardians of our gold.
BUT DOES HE?
Sources close to the Minister have recently disclosed that Fudge's dearest ambition is to seize control of the goblin gold supplies and that he will not hesitate to use force if need be. "It wouldn't be the first time, either," said a Ministry insider. "Cornelius 'Goblin-Crusher' Fudge, that's what his friends call him, if you could hear him when he thinks no one's listening, oh, he's always talking about the goblins he's had done in; he's had them drowned, he's had them dropped off buildings, he's had them poisoned, he's had them cooked in pies..."