The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 22

The next few days were boring. All anyone was talking about was the next Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, even though everyone knew that Hufflepuff would win. Without Harry, Fred, and George the Gryffindor team was lousy. They were still alright, but Ron just wasn't a good keeper, probably because of stage fright.

Finally the match came and to nobody's surprise Hufflepuff won, but only by ten points because Ginny had caught the snitch quickly. Of course at the end of the match, Pansy and her friends started singing "Weasley is Our King." Draco grinned proudly but thankfully didn't join in.

The next morning Delilah and Draco entered the Great Hall just after the morning post owls. There seemed to be way more than usual, and most of them were heading towards... Harry? Yet no one seemed to know why. The reason became clear when mid-morning enormous signs had been put up all over the school, not just on House notice boards, but in the corridors and classrooms too.

— BY ORDER OF —

The High Inquisitor of Hogwarts

Any student found in possession of the magazine The Quibbler will be expelled.

The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-seven.

Signed:

Dolores Jane Umbridge

HIGH INQUISITOR

"Hey Draco," Delilah whispered. "Want to get a copy?"

He grinned.

"Thought you'd never ask."

In the middle of Transfiguration he had managed it.

"Got this from a Hufflepuff. They really are great at finding things."

He handed her a paper that looked like an extract from their Transfiguration textbook.

"Tap it with your wand and say toadette."

Delilah snorted.

"That's insulting to Toadette, but alright."

She did as instructed and the page turned into Harry's article. Delilah read over it. It was basically just what had happened in the maze, how Cedric had died, and which Death Eaters had shown up, so all things Harry had already told her.

She tapped her wand against it again and it turned back into the Transfiguration page.

Meanwhile Professor Umbridge was stalking the school, stopping students at random and demanding that they turn out their books and pockets. It was obvious she was looking for copies of The Quibbler, but the students were several steps ahead of her. The pages carrying Harry's interview had been bewitched to resemble extracts from textbooks if anyone but themselves read it, or else wiped magically blank until they wanted to peruse it again. Soon it seemed that every single person in the school had read it.

The teachers were, of course, forbidden from mentioning the interview by Educational Decree Number Twenty-six, but they found ways to express their feelings about it all the same. They started praising Harry and awarding him for the most random things. Delilah didn't have any classes with him with teachers that would do this, but she overheard what had been happening in the halls.

"No, really," a Hufflepuff insisted to their Ravenclaw friend. "Professor Sprout gave him twenty points for passing her a watering can."

The Ravenclaw snorted.

"At least she didn't give him a box of sugar mice like Flitwick did. Sure he was brave and all, and I totally believe him, but really? Why is he always the one that gets favoritism? First Dumbledore and now most teachers.... It's starting to get ridiculous."