Harry Potter's Pen Pal

Chapter Twenty

"Harry," Draco said quietly, "Fred, George, there's something you should see." He looked worried. The twins exchanged wary glances.

Harry raised an eyebrow and stood up. "What?"

"It's in the Daily Prophet," Draco said. "I left it in the common room."

"Let's go, then," Harry said as Fred and George got up. "Neville, are you coming?"

"I have to finish this essay for Professor Snape," Neville said regretfully.

"We'll tell you later," said George.

The four of them left the library and walked down to the dungeons. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they found Percy Weasley talking to Vincent Crabbe, who looked stupider than usual.

"Vincent," Harry called. When Vincent didn't respond, he rolled his eyes and said, "Crabbe."

Weasley and Vincent both turned to him, frowning. "Potter," Weasley said stiffly.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Odd to see you down here, Weasley. What are you doing ⎯ hoping to catch Slytherin's Heir single-handedly?" Draco and the twins sniggered, and Vincent coughed quickly.

The prefect's face turned red with anger. "You ought to show a bit more respect to a school prefect!" Weasley snarled. "I don't like your attitude!"

"Because I'm going to show respect to a person who has always been kind to me," Harry drawled sarcastically. "Oh wait ⎯ you haven't ever been kind to me. Let's go, Vincent, Draco, my demons." He marched past Weasley, leading the four Slytherins to the common room entrance.

"Pureblood," Draco stated, and the concealed stone door opened. Harry stepped inside.

The common room was mostly empty, given the fact that most Slytherins had gone home for Christmas, and they barely glanced up when Harry entered; though the ones that did looked incredibly respectful. Harry noticed that Vincent was looking around as if he'd never seen the common room before, an expression of deep concentration on his face.

Well that was odd.

"What did you want to show us, Draco?" Harry asked, taking a seat in his armchair. The twins collapsed on either side of him, and Vincent sat down on Fred's left.

"I'll go get it, Father just sent it to me," he said, rushing up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

"What do you think happened?" Fred asked curiously.

"Nothing good," George frowned. "Did you notice that he wanted to show me and you?"

"That means it's got something to do with one of the family members who actually like us," Fred growled. A flicker of a sneer appeared on Vincent's face.

Harry frowned slightly. That sneer could be interpreted as disgust for the Weasleys that didn't like the twins, but Vincent had never shown any expression but boredom and confusion.

Draco appeared at that moment and handed the newspaper to Harry. "It's about Mr. Weasley," he said worriedly.

The twins leaned over to read over Harry's shoulder.

Inquiry at the Ministry of Magic

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, was today fined fifty Galleons for bewitching a Muggle Car.

Mr. Lucius Malfoy, a governor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the enchanted car crashed earlier this year, called today for Mr. Weasley's resignation.