The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|62| Order of the Phoenix

The Weasleys, Hermione, and I warned Harry to not talk about Percy in front of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Over the summer be broke their heart choosing the Ministry over his family.

"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, our names got dragged into the row," I said, shooting Harry a furtive look. "Percy said the only evidence was our word and— I dunno, he didn't think it was good enough."

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously," said Hermione tartly, and we all nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, looking around at is.

"Haven't— haven't you been getting the Daily Prophet?" Hermione asked nervously.

"Yeah, I have!" said Harry.

"Have you— er— been reading it thoroughly?" Hermione asked still more anxiously.

"Not cover to cover," said Harry defensively. "If they were going to report anything about Voldemort it would be headline news, wouldn't it!"

I sighed while the others flinched at the name, "Well, you'd need to read it cover to cover to pick it up, but they— um— they've mention us a couple of times a week."

"But I'd have seen—"

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

"What d'you —?"

"It's quite nasty, actually," I grumbled. "They're just building on Rita's stuff."

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

"Oh no, she's kept her promise— not that she's got any choice," Hermione added with satisfaction. "But she laid the foundation for what they're trying to do now."

"Which is what?" said Harry impatiently.

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

"Yeah," said Harry shooting me a look.

"Well, they're writing about you guys as though you're these deluded, attention-seeking people who think they're great tragic heroes or something," said Hermione, very fast, as though it would be less unpleasant for Harry to hear these facts quickly. I slumped in my chair, getting angry at the memory of reading the articles.

"They keep slipping in snide comments about us. If some far-fetched story appears they say something like 'a tale worthy of the Potter Twins' 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, cutting me off.

"I know you don't," said Hermione quickly, looking frightened. "I know, 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 kids who's a bit of a joke, who tells ridiculous tall stories because they love being famous and wants to keep it going."

"I didn't ask— I didn't want— Voldemort killed our parents!" Harry spluttered. "I got famous because he murdered my family but couldn't kill me! Then Maisey got dragged in because everyone found out about her true identity. Who wants to be famous for that? Don't they think we'd rather it'd never—"