Clarissa || {Draco Malfoy}

Chapter 5: Year 4

"Seed planted."

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Dinner came around much slower than I had expected it to. Classes with the Serpents would have been an utter pain in my arse if it hadn't been for Daphne.

I heard Weasel's faint voice in front of us. Daphne must have too because, in the next moment, I was being quickly dragged over to the Gits.

Unfortunately, Draco managed to hear Weasel too because he was calling out to him as Daphne and I managed to catch up with the Gits at the end of the line in the entrance hall.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

We all turned. All of the Serpents were standing there, each looking thoroughly pleased about something, although Blaise's looked slightly forced.

"What?" Weasel asked shortly.

I looked at Draco, genuinely intrigued at what he was doing talking to Weasel.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" he said, brandishing a copy of the Daily Prophet and speaking very loudly so that everyone in the packed entrance hall could hear. "Listen to this!

FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. 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 Artifacts Office."

Draco looked up.

"Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?" he crowed.

Everyone in the entrance hall was listening now. I glanced at Weasel and I could see he was slowly starting to get angry. Even Black and Lia were fuming. Draco straightened the paper with a flourish and read on:

"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in 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 policemen but refused to answer Daily Prophet's questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley!" exclaimed Draco, flipping the paper over and holding it up. "A picture of your parents outside their house, if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

That was it. I looked at Weasel. He was shaking with fury and everyone was staring at him.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Lia snapped. "C'mon, Ron..."

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Lupin? Along with Potter?" sneered Draco. "So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" said Potter.

I watched as it took Lia, Black, Potter, and Bush to stop Weasel from launching himself at Draco.

"That expression she's got like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" Potter snapped.