Disclaimer: Not mine! No profit is being made by this work; it all belongs to Mrs. Rowling.

A/N: A kind of take on the diary/letter/blog form of story-writing, I suppose. I'm counting on DP articles to tell a fair bit of the story each chapter. I always felt like the wizarding world, the Ministry/Daily Prophet especially, seem to make a lot of things very glib and glossed over, so that was what I was going for here in the article, a bit of satire.


Daily Prophet, November 16, 1998

THIS JUST IN: WIZARDING WORLD SAVED BY FLAXEN-HAIRED ANGEL

DERBYSHIRE, ENGLAND- Late Tuesday night, the problem of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was for once and all vanquished by a formidable Draco Malfoy. Meeting on a dark moor in central England, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and that red-headed boy joined in supporting their friend in his quest to eradicate the dark once and for all. As Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, looked on in support, Mr. Malfoy cast the final curse that defeated he Dark Lord. The spell cast was an especially formidable "Diffindo", ripping what was left of the Dark Lord (after the destruction of the horcruxes by Ms. Granger) in half. At the tender age of eighteen, Draco Malfoy has become the undeniable hero of the wizarding world, the man to whom all other men will be compared to in the the coming years. After all was said and done, Mr. Malfoy strode gracefully away from the scene, leaving the crumpled form of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named behind on the ground as Aurors swarmed the area. Heading towards the apparition point set up for the clean up and investigation stage of the event, Mr. Malfoy had this to say to this reporter,

"Oh bugger off. Go ask Scarhead back there what he thinks; I'm going to take a nap."

A hero with a decisive plan of action! This reporter believes that Draco Malfoy is just what the wizarding world needs in dark times such as these. At the time of press, very little information was available to the press. More will be sure to follow in the days to come. Keep your eyes on the Daily Prophet for updates and news about the ongoing war recovery effort. Stay safe and report any suspicious activity to your local Auror hotline at 0808 1570475!

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"Can you believe this rubbish, Harry? It's honestly ridiculous the type of thing they've been printing recently, I mean it's MALFOY for Merlin's sake, he's not the bloody Second Coming!"

Harry sighed tiredly and looked at the unruly haired witch sitting besides him, then to the Daily Prophet she had just chucked at the opposing wall, which now lay crumpled and dejected on the floor. He turned to face her, shifting as much as the narrow, extremely uncomfortable bench would allow. He took a deep breath before replying,

"To be fair Hermione, he did do exactly what they said he did. Even more astonishing, they actually quoted him accurately! It has to be one of the most factually correct articles the Prophet has ever done…"

"That's only because it's so bloody short," she burst out again. "What's Malfoy been doing in there all day anyway?" she spoke, gesturing to the door that stood across the hall from where they sat waiting to go in. "He's been in there for hours, hell, we've been out HERE for hours!"

"Ye, Hermione, I am quite aware. My awareness has become even more on point with the fact that we've had the same conversation about Malfoy at least TWELVE times now!"

Harry sighed again and dropped his head back against the wall in the Ministry. He rubbed the back of his head where it now throbbed. Harry's patience with the situation and indeed, the witch beside him, was growing extremely thin. He was tired, hungry, dirty and ready to go home. At the same time, he was extremely relieved. The pressure was off, Voldemort was gone and the press had a new playtoy. He perked up a bit at the thought that Rita Skeeter would no longer be harassing him for a news story.

Looking up and down the endlessly white corridor once more, he again tried to guess just where in the Ministry they now were. Giving up after a few short moments, he closed his eyes, settling his head once more against the hard wall, more gently this time. Just as he had finally begun to successfully block out Hermione's continued utterances about he unfairness of everything concerning Malfoy, the door across the hall flew open, banging against the wall.

"Sleeping again on the job there, Potter? That's two times this week, I reckon. You should probably get a bit more rest; you might miss out on vanquishing another Voldie sometime soon!" Malfoy laughed as he strode away down the hall, throwing a mock wave and salute over his shoulder as he went.

"Honestly Harry! The nerve of that good-for-nothing, Daddy-loving, money-grubbin—"

"Hermione!" Harry interrupted. "You are talking about the man who just saved all of our skins AND if I recall correctly, more than once over the course of this war. Remember that time at McNair's last year? We were lucky to have him there!"

"Fine!" Harrumphed Hermione as she crossed her arms over her chest. "He may have saved us, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it!" She stood up and stalked across the hallway and through the door, which closed swiftly behind her.

Harry through his hands up in the air and rolled his eyes. As he contemplated the "Auror Interrogation Room" sign on the door across form him, Harry wondered if he was surrounded with twelve year-olds. Between Hermione's whining, Ron's insufferable attempts at humor and Malfoy's…..him-ness Harry was extremely close to abandoning ship. But, he thought as he sat himself back down on the bench to wait his turn for interrogation about the previous night, things could only get better, right? Once everyone began working together to build a better future for the wizarding world, or whatever it was the Minister was spouting this week, they would all begin to see eye-to-eye, right?

Harry dropped his head into his hands with the realization that before things got better, things would be getting much, much worse.


Yes, it's horribly short but there will be another chapter so long as someone shows some interest it in, I do promise! And our darling Hermione will get better/more mature. I unfortunately cannot say the same for Ronald as I must admit I don't really like him much but perhaps if I am feeling benevolent…