Leah Riddle (Book 1)

Chapter Seven

"Look at this," Draco smirked, scanning the Daily Prophet.

"What?" I asked, biting into an apple. He looked at me for a moment, gaze lingering until I tilted my head at him questioningly.

"Weasley's father is in the paper," he looked back at the prophet.

"Good or bad?" I asked.

"Depends on who you're talking to," Draco had his gaze trained on the doors of the Great Hall. I looked back and saw the trio leaving. Almost a second later, Draco was on his feet, headed towards the doors.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" Draco called, sauntering over. Pansy, Blaise, and I followed, along with two idiotic looking Slytherin's named Crabbe and Goyle.

"What?" Ron bit out.

"Your Dad's in the paper, Weasley!" Draco waved the Prophet, the volume of his voice attracting a lot of attention.

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

The entire Hall had its eyes on us. I was torn between gloating with Draco and putting a stop to the whole thing. Draco continued to read the article that included something about Arthur having to erase muggles memories because Moody raised the alarm and Arthur went to help, only to discover it was a false alarm. Putting it all together, I'm assuming the real Moody did raise the alarm and call for help, but by the time Arthur got there, Barty had taken his place and the Ministry thought it was a false alarm. Well this is interesting now isn't it?

"And there's a picture Weasley! A picture of your parents outside their house. If you can call it a house! Your mother could lose a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"Draco," I scolded quietly. Weasley looked absolutely furious.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Potter snapped and then glanced at me in disapproval.

"Come on, Ron," he muttered, pulling Weasley back.

"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 sneered and Pansy and I shared a suffering look. As if he thinks this can possibly end well.

"You know your mother, Malfoy? 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 glared.

"Oi!" Pansy and I snapped at him. I took a defensive stance and Pansy stepped forward threateningly. I was standing next to Draco at this point. Potter looked between us with narrowed eyes.

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter," Draco snarled.

"Keep your fat mouth shut then," Potter said, turning away to drag Weasley out of the Hall. Draco's wand was out in a flash and a loud bang echoed around us. I raised my eyebrows and then sent Draco a look when I noticed he'd missed Potter. Draco looked at me for a moment, looking just as irritated, and then another bang filled the Hall and Draco was gone. I screamed and stepped back, noticing a white ferret on the ground.

"Oh no you don't, laddie!" Moody came hobbling down the stairs and I felt my face heat up.

"Did he get you?" Moody asked Potter. I understand that Moody has to gain Potter's trust but what the fuck kind of stunt is this?