Author's Note: Another fic that I wrote a while ago for a friend and am just getting around to uploading to my profile now. If, like me, you aren't British and you don't know what a page three girl is, some newspapers, on the third page, have either scantily clad or nude ladies. It's a bit surprising if you aren't expecting it, lol.
Arthur was sitting on the sofa near the fireplace, trying to read a Muggle newspaper. He had found Stebbins from the canteen at the Ministry with it. The fellow said that he had been trying to enchant it, so the photographs would move like normal photographs did.
He had meant to throw it in a bin before he had come home. But it must have slipped his mind, and when he had gotten home Molly had almost immediately left to visit one of her friends, and the boys had been asleep for a good hour or so. Surely it wouldn't hurt if he glanced through it.
He took it out and unfolded it from the inside pockets of his robes. Hmmm...The Sun. Strange name for a newspaper, but no stranger than some of the things they did.
He glanced over the first page. He had heard from Lovegood across the village that there had been talk of developing a spell that would allow a newspaper to read itself to you. He found himself thanking Merlin that it hadn't followed through, as he suspected this newspaper would be shouting at him.
Rubbing the spot between his eyes, he opened the paper to pages two and three and immediately he felt his face and ears start burning.
"Oh dear," he said out loud. He glanced at the paper again, and then immediately folded it back up. "Oh dear," he said again.
No wonder Stebbins wanted to enchant it.
Suddenly the fire in the hearth flared up and immediately he tried to put the newspaper back in his pocket inside his robes. But he fumbled with it and dropped it on the floor and Molly was finished spinning around in the fireplace before he had been able to pick it up.
"Hullo, dear," he tried to casually keep the newspaper pinned out of sight in the crook of his arm but Molly had already seen it.
"What is that?"
Arthur's face burned even more.
"Nothing, dear,"
"Why is your face so red if it's nothing? You know your face only gets red when you are hiding something."
"It's...erm...something from work?" Arthur said desperately.
Molly's eyes narrowed even more and for a moment Arthur thought she was going to snatch it out of his arm.
"Is that an instruction manual for one of those Muggle televisiors?"
"Er..."
"Arthur, why do you insist on bringing these home? You must have about eighty-seven of them already. You can't possibly need them all. Throw it away. Or if you really need it, put it away in your briefcase. Heaven knows I don't know much about Muggles, but they must have written more things than instruction manuels for televisiors. Do you really need it?"
"Er, no Molly, I suppose not."
"Good, throw it away then, dear. You know, if you are so interested in Muggles, you really should learn more about them then ekltricity. I mean, there are so many of them. They must do other things."
"Yes, Molly." Molly walked toward the kitchen and Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He walked over to the fire and tossed the newspaper in.