Chapter 30: Daily Prophet scandal article
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. IT BELONGS TO JK ROWLING.
A/N: Read, enjoy, and remember not to take either life or my writing too seriously.
Two days later, Harry and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall, enjoying breakfast as they fed each other Eggs Benedict, when the Daily Prophet was delivered. There were two sets of side-by-side pictures. The first set had Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape and the other had Ron Weasley and Professor Trelawney. The headline read:
S*X SCANDAL ROCKS HOGWARTS
By
Rita Skeeter
It has come to this reporter's attention that there are not one, but two ongoing relationships between students and teachers at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Recently on the night of the Yule Ball, it was discovered by this reporter that Draco Malfoy, the only child of prominent wizard Lucius Malfoy, was engaged in a sexual act in a public corridor with none other than his Potions Professor and Head of Slytherin House Severus Snape.
The two lovers were discovered by two friends of young Malfoy, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe.
"It was awful," Goyle told me.
"Snape was under Malfoy calling for Draco to perform sex on him. Vincent and I left the corridor immediately."
The other incident occurred at the Yule Ball itself. I witnessed the Professor of Divinations, Sibyll Trelawney, on the arm of the fourth Triwizard Champion, Ronald Bilius Weasley. The two seemed to be happy until the young professor became nauseous and had to admit herself to the hospital wing. Sources indicate that she was suffering from morning sickness.
I call upon the Headmaster of the school, Albus Dumbledore, to investigate these occurrences with the utmost vigor and bring a standard of integrity back to the school over which he administers.
Madam Pomfrey was sitting at the head table and had just finished reading the article.
She slammed down her cup of pumpkin juice while muttering under her breath, "I said she would be fine in the morning, not that she had morning sickness."
Draco Malfoy was sitting next to his betrothed who was reading the Daily Prophet.
When she finished the article, she turned to her fiancé. "How could you, Draco?" Millicent asked. "How could you betray me like this?"
"What... what do you mean?" Draco asked, confused since Millicent never let him read the Prophet anymore.
"You and Professor Snape before the Yule Ball! You were supposed to be going to the hospital wing and now I find out you're sleeping with our Head of House."
"WHAT!" Draco exclaimed.
"I didn't know you were bisexual, Draco," Millicent said. "Though I guess I should have known from all the hair care products you used to wear."
"I'm not bisexual!" Draco exclaimed.
"You're GAY?" Millicent yelled at him. "How can you be marrying me when you're GAY!"
"I'm..." Draco stopped and looked at his plate as he thought. 'Could this be a way out of the marriage? I just tell her I'm gay and she breaks up with me. No one else is around us to hear it. I'll just deny everything later.'
Millicent was ticked. Her betrothed had betrayed her! All of her dreams were crashing down around her. And then she remembered the contract and the Slytherin in her came out to play.
She brought her wand up and pointing it at Draco while he wasn't looking, and whispered, "Sonorous."
Draco looked back at her and his magically enhanced whisper filled the Great Hall, "I ADMIT IT. I'M GAY. I'VE BEEN SLEEPING WITH PROFESSOR SNAPE."
Millicent got up from her seat and stormed out of the Great Hall while the laughter started ringing around the room as Draco realized what had just happened as he slumped in his seat and dropped his head onto the table where it came to rest in a heavy maple syrup he had recently put on his waffles.
At the head table, a greasy head of hair attached to the head of Professor Snape was rotating to look in the direction of Gryffindor table. "POTTER! I know it was you! Detention EVERY night until you leave this school after your seventh year and eight hundred points from Gryffindor!"
Professor McGonagall had a look of disgust as she was forced to look over at her colleague... er... coworker... er... at the idiot who taught Potions. "Severus, it was your own students who gave witness, not Mister Potter. Don't be blaming someone from my house for your indiscretions." She turned to the Slytherin table.
"Mister Goyle, Mister Crabbe, fifty points each for telling the truth and bringing the matter to the proper attention." She then looked over at Harry. "Of course you will not serve those detentions, Mister Potter, nor will the points be removed."
Finally she turned to the Headmaster. "I presume you will be investigating these accusations?"
Albus Dumbledore, leader of the light and Headmaster of the school had been deep in thought wondering if he should braid his beard. After all, he did have his tea later that day with Alastor. He had nearly decided on trying a French braid this time when he was rudely interrupted by his Deputy Headmistress. "Investigate what, Minerva?"
"Severus' sexual activity with young Draco. Didn't you hear Mister Malfoy yell out earlier confirming it?"
"I'm sorry, but I was busy contemplating very serious issues," Headmaster Dumbledore said before he then turned his twinkling eyes on his potions master.
"Severus, you shouldn't do things like that. Don't let it happen again. Or at least don't get caught again." Sitting back in his chair, the aged wizard felt proud for dealing with the situation so firmly.
'After all, I need Severus for the Greater Good.' His thoughts turned back to his beard. 'Maybe a Dutch braid?'
McGonagall just shook her head in disbelief. Turning back to the Headmaster one more time she asked, "And what about Sibyl? She might be carrying Ron Weasley's child."
Madam Pomfrey spoke up at this time. "Sybil is not carrying Mister Weasley's child; I can assure you of that."
"Are you sure, Poppy? This is a serious issue." McGonagall asked.
"I'm quite sure, Minerva. I examined Sibyl just last evening and it wasn't morning sickness."
The noise in the Great Hall had continued to rise as people were once again discussing Draco Malfoy being gay, causing the conversation between Minerva and Poppy to continue to increase in volume.
"So she was in the hospital wing? What was she suffering from?" Minerva asked.
Ron Weasley was at that moment reading the article. He had started several minutes prior, but he still had trouble reading those things where multiple sentences were strung together and called paragraphs. Therefore, it took him longer to finish.
When he finally finished, he exclaimed, "That two-timing bitch! I give her the best evening of her life and she's carrying someone else's child?" As he finished that rant, he looked over at Harry and Hermione who had gone back to feeding each other and laughing at something shared only between themselves.
"PPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPPPWWWTTTT PPPWWWWTTTTPPPPPPPWWWTTTT!"
The whole Hall went silent as everyone turned to look at Ron.
That is, everyone but Poppy who was replying overly loudly to Minerva to be heard over the din. "SHE WAS SUFFERING FROM NAUSEA CAUSED BY SEEING RON WEASLEY'S ARSE."
The Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were having a hard time swiveling their necks and laughing at Draco on one side of the Great Hall and Ron Weasley on the other side. Many of them ended up in the hospital wing with sore necks.
Lucius Malfoy sat back in his chair as he finished reading the Daily Prophet and tried to remember who would inherit their fortune if Draco didn't have an heir.
'Gay? My son is gay?' He looked over at his stash of Firewhisky. 'Six bottles left; I'm going to need more after today.'
He thought of going up and asking Narcissa if it would be possible to have another child, but her words from their wedding night came back to him.
"IF YOU EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN, I WILL PERSONALLY CAST SEVERING CHARMS ON ANY PART OF YOU EVEN REMOTELY CONNECTED TO REPRODUCTION AND SHOVE WHAT COMES OFF WHERE THE SUN DOES NOT SHINE!"
Lucius had always considered himself lucky that they did conceive that night, but with the latest revelations concerning his son, he started reconsidering. No, he definitely would not ask Narcissa. He knew she even kept an extremely sharp knife in the bedside drawer just in case she couldn't find her wand.
Omake:
A/N: the rest of this chapter is not really happening, just humor for you to read. If you like Molly PLEASE do not read further. Molly bashing,
Arthur Weasley sat back in his chair causing it to bump into Perkins "Sorry Perkins." He said automatically though he had much greater concerns at the moment. He'd just finished reading the article in the Daily Prophet about the sex scandal at Hogwarts.
'My son got a teacher pregnant?' Arthur asked himself in disbelief. Then with a sigh he thought of his youngest son and how different he seemed to be in comparison to his other children. Bill, Charlie, the twins, even Percy and Ginny all showed remarkable intelligence, but Ron just didn't seem to match up to the same caliber as all other children.
'Could it be?' A question came to his mind. Though he kept dismissing it, the thought kept nagging at his mind the rest of the day. By the time he was ready to leave, he knew he had to know the answer. He quickly unlocked the closet of items that he had confiscated but kept since they might be useful at a later time and removed a bottle of Veritaserum and put it in his pocket.
'I know Molly would never....but...' Arthur thought as he walked out of the Ministry.
Later that evening at the Burrow, Arthur and Molly were sitting down to their usual dinner together. The house was extremely quiet now that all the children were either at Hogwarts or had moved away.
When Molly was in the kitchen retrieving the last of the food, Arthur pulled the little bottle from his pocket and poured three drops into Molly's tea.
Being so diluted, it wouldn't force him to ask direct questions, but would lead her to answer him almost like a normal conversation. When she returned, he casually chatted with her during dinner until the tea was consumed. He waited for her gaze to go unfocused and he started the questioning.
"Molly Wobbles dear, is Ron my son?" Arthur asked.
Molly turned her unfocused eyes toward her husband. "Of course, dear."
Mr. Weasley sighed in relief. He knew his Molly wobbles would never do such a thing.
"Can you think of anything that might have happened to him that would cause...cause his difference? I mean he doesn't seem to be like any of our other children."
"Of course he isn't dear. Why would he when they don't share the same father?" Molly answered.
"But... but you said he was my son!"
"Yes dear. He is your son."
Arthur was confused, but then slowly he realized what she was implying. "Are you saying that none of my.. .of the other children are mine?" Arthur's face was now ashened.
"Yes dear. I am very fortunate that my red hair is a very dominant feature."
"Who...Whose are they? I mean, we had Bill because of our wedding night."
"Bill was Amos Diggory's," Molly answered, looking at her husband with those unfocused eyes.
"But Amos... he was what, fourteen when Bill was born?"
"Yes dear, and his parents wouldn't let a thirteen-year-old marry me when he got me pregnant. That's why I had to give you the love potion and suggest we elope so quickly. Remember, Bill was born two months premature. Well, that's what I told you."
Arthur was stunned. This wasn't what he thought he was going to hear. "And Charlie?"
"You remember the Easter celebration we had that year? Well, Hagrid and I... well, we had a little fun. I was glad to find out the giant blood doesn't pass down through a second generation. Why do you think he loves dragons so much?"
Arthur went to the shelf and grabbed the bottle of Firewhisky and a glass. As he started to pour himself a drink, he put the glass back and drank straight from the bottle. 'Molly and Hagrid?' Arthur's life was crumbling before his eyes.
"And Percy?" Arthur asked after another swig of the fiery liquid and a burp of a nice long length of flames.
"I'm not exactly sure. I think it happened at the office party when I took that job at the Ministry when you were unemployed. I recall both Barty Crouch and Cornelius Fudge were both giving me drinks that evening."
Another swig, then a gulp of the Firewhisky. The numbness that flowed into his body was helping and very much welcome. "And the twins?"
Molly Weasley's unfocused eyes seemed to lose even more focus as a smile of longing appeared on her face.
"Oh, I remember that night very well. Sirius took me up for a ride on his motorcycle. Did you know you that bike can hover? What that man could do with his hands... I can still remember that feeling." A slight shudder seemed to move through body as her smile grew larger.
"Sirius Black?"
"Yes dear." Molly said.
"And Ginny? Is she mine?"
"No dear."
"Who... who's her father?"
"You remember the Halloween party the Potters had after Harry was born?" Molly asked.
"Not James? Please don't tell me it was James?"
"Of course not, dear. But there is a reason she looks so much like Lily," Molly said.
"Lily's father was such a nice muggle. He complimented me on my cooking and, well, one thing led to another. It was tragic when he and his wife died shortly after that night."
"So Ginny's actually Harry's aunt?"
"I suppose," Molly replied, trying figure out the relationship there.
"You've been trying to set Harry up with his aunt?" Arthur asked incredulously.
"It would be like having James and Lily back again. Like they never died. Wouldn't that be wonderful?" Molly asked.
By the time the Veritaserum wore off of Molly, Arthur was gone. He was discovered many years later where he was rising fast in the muggle political arena. Not having a clue about everyday items such as electricity or understanding the value of money seemed to be an asset in that career. The people kept electing him to higher and higher offices.
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