WHERE RED MEETS WHITE

𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲

"Still on your unnecessary hunger strike?" I raised my eyebrows at Hermione.

Her face turned red and started to fill her plate with food, "If you must know, I've decided to help the house-elf fight for their rights in a different way."

"And what's that?"

"With Spew of course," Hermione answered.

"What the bloody hell is Spew?" Ron asked, with his mouth full of food.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "It's S-P-E-W. Stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare... I was going to put Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status - but it wouldn't fit. So that's the heading of our manifesto."

"Our?" Harry and I repeated.

"Don't get us involved in your mess," I joked. "Good luck, Hermione."

She huffed in response and ate her breakfast. Gia cleared her throat, "What's our first lesson?"

"Herbology and then Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid," Scarlett shrugged. "Let's go."

We walked out of the Great Hall and I hadn't failed to notice that Malfoy sent a glare in my direction. I remembered what happened in the carriage and started giggling quietly.

~~~

After a long day of classes, the girls and I returned to the common room to freshen up before dinner.

We all sat together at the Gryffindor table and listened to Fred, George and Lee tell us about Moody's lessons.

Our conversation was interrupted by Malfoy and his goons approaching our table. Malfoy had the Daily Prophet in his arms and I knew this wouldn't end well.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" He called out, referring to my brother and not me.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Ron rolled his eyes.

Malfoy slapped the Daily Prophet in front of Ron and I, "Your dad's in the paper. Listen to this!"

My eyes shot down to the paper that was titled, "FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC"

Malfoy had another copy of the paper in his hands and was reading it aloud to the whole hall.

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end. 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.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley, it's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" Malfoy bellowed out with laughter and my face dropped.

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 policeman, but refuse to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

I felt a hand on my back and looked up to see Scarlett giving me a sad smile. Malfoy spoke out again, "And there's even a picture!"

My eyes shifted yet again to the paper in front of me and I saw a picture of Mum and Dad standing outside the Burrow, looking a bit uncomfortable.