Magic? || Years 1-5

Taunts Through The Daily Prophet: Year 4

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

The four of them turned around to find Draco with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him. All of them with matching expressions of glee.

"What?" Ron asked sharply.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley! Listen to this!" He raised up a copy of the Daily Prophet, voice carrying easily through the crowd.

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

"Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muffle 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 questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

"And there's a picture, Weasley! A picture of your parents outside their house -- " He cut off, taking a longer look at the photograph, "if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

Amisty's version went scarlet, but she was nowhere near as furious as Ron, who was shaking.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry growled. "C'mon, Ron..."

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

Hermione and Amisty grabbed Ron's robes to keep him from flying at him, though both of them didn't seem too far off from letting him go.

"You know your mother, Malfoy, that expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose?" Harry snapped, stepping in front of the three of them. "Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," Draco snarled, a faint tinge of pink of his cheeks.

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then," Harry countered, turning his back to him and starting to walk away.

Amisty saw it before anyone else did, her legs launching her forward, "Harry!"

BANG!

She shoved him forward, dropping down to the floor as Draco's spell went flying over her head, barely missing Harry's face and singeing a few strands of her hair.

BANG!

"OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" A voice roared.

Amisty lifted her head, watching as Professor Moody stormed down the marble staircase, wand out and pointed at... a white ferret... that seemed to have replaced Draco.