The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

CXIV: The White Ferret

Cedric Diggory trotted down the stairs from Defense Against The Dark Arts, Roger Davies and Herbert Fleet right alongside him. The Entrance Hall was bustling with students queuing up for dinner. Herbert slid down the bannister side ways, arms raised up above his head, grinning and laughing as Cedric and Roger simultaneously warned him to get down before they docked him points for unruly behavior.

"Unruly behavior?" Herbert laughed, "If you were docking me for that I'd be pointless."

Cedric grinned wickedly.

"Shut up, Diggory," Herbert said, shoving Cedric's shoulder.

"What? I didn't say anything," Cedric laughed.

"You were thinkin' it," Herbert accused.

"I think anyone in ear shot of you was thinkin' it, Fleet," Roger input. The doors were opening and the queue was moving into the Great Hall. "You lot going in?" Roger asked.

"Yeah, in a sec," Cedric said. A large group of Slytherins had just come up from the dungeons and he was hoping to spot that lad who'd lost his sickles to the Weasley twins, "You lot go on, I'll catch you up," he added, craning his neck to see over the crowd of green robes. Herbert waved Roger off, staying with Cedric as Cedric waded through the crowd, looking at the Slytherins as they shoved by him.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Cedric turned when one of the boys shouted - half expecting it to be the boy he was looking for, given the tone he was calling "Weasley" out in - but he found it was a fourth year. Draco Malfoy. Draco was on the Slytherin quidditch team and Cedric had a bit of a bad taste for Malfoy, honestly, as the boy had more of a ruthless entitlement to his gameplay than sportsmanship and a great deal more money than he had talent to boot. And it wasn't the Weasley twins that Draco Malfoy was shouting to but rather their younger brother, Ron.

"What d'you want, Malfoy?" Ron snapped.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" said Malfoy and he took a copy of the Daily Prophet from his robes pocket and flapped it meaningfully open, snapping the paper so it made a loud cracking sound and caught the attention of several passers-by.

Herbert raised a brow and nudged Cedric, who turned back from his search for the second year Slytherin boy as Draco read, loudly in his drawling voice, "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...

"Arnold!" The shit-eating grin that lit up Draco Malfoy's face was one whose energy could have lit up the whole of Scotland. "They didn't even get 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, faces turned toward Draco, flanked by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, and Ron Weasley, who stood in a knot with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, both of whom Cedric recognized from when they'd all shared a portkey from Ottery St. Catchpole to the World Cup.

Malfoy flourished the paper a bit, grinning 'round the room at the people listening in, and he continued 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," he added, looking around, nodding, showing off his knowledge of muggle things before he continued, "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 a undignified and potentially embarrassing scene."