Written for the 3rd Daily Prophet Challenge: if you could change a scene in HP, what would it be?

Scene: Ron casts a curse on Malfoy which backfires, causing him to eat slugs.

Word count: 505


'No one asked for your opinion,' Draco Malfoy sneered. 'Filthy little Mudblood.'

The Gryffindors were shocked. Fred and George looked stunned, whereas Alicia and Katie had to hold back Angelina from punching the smug little twerp in the face. Harry and Hermione merely looked at each other, nonplussed. What is a Mudblood? In contrast, the Slytherins were all wearing various smug expressions, as though Malfoy had just completed some extraordinary feat.

Ron was the first to react properly, drawing his spello-taped wand.

'You'll pay for that one, Malfoy!' he yelled furiously. 'Eat slugs!'

By some miracle, Ron's charm actually worked, despite the dubious nature of his wand. Malfoy doubled over, a grimace forming upon his features. His face turned purple and his mouth bulged. He nearly choked as he tried to keep the slugs in, to no avail. A large purple slug erupted from his mouth straight onto Montague's newest broomstick.

It slowly inched up the wood, leaving a glistening and sticky trail behind. Montague threw the broom to the floor in disgust and quickly wiped his hands on his robes, despite the fact that he hadn't even come close to touching the slug, which was happily waving its antennae.

By this time, Malfoy had fallen to the floor, one arm raised in a hopeless gesture. He looked at Adrian Pucey pleadingly, but whatever he was going to say was lost as another slug came up, this time green in colour. Adrian high-tailed it off the Quidditch pitch, making sure to gather up his own broom before it became infested.

Harry almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

'Nice one, Ron,' Fred grinned, ruffling his little brother's hair. 'You even managed to get the House colours.'

Ron's face broke into a huge grin as Fred and George raised him onto their shoulders. The Gryffindor team broke into cheers, chanting "Ron, Ron, Ron." Colin Creevey was busy taking picture after picture of the event, and Harry was sure that they would be all over the Gryffindor Common Room that night. It would be a relief to finally joke and laugh with everyone about somebody else for once. In fact, Harry was looking forward to it.

An unspoken agreement passed between himself and Hermione to ask Ron about the word "Mudblood" later on that evening. After all, they didn't want to ruin this rare moment of glory for him. Without a word, Hermione made her way to the stands, though Harry was sure he could see a grin tugging at her lips.

The Slytherin team fled in disgust, leaving the trail of slugs behind. Poor Malfoy was still on the floor convulsing, and Harry could have sworn that the slugs were coming faster and faster and with more and more mucus by the minute. He would really have to ask Ron about this nifty little spell.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Alicia dragged Draco Malfoy to the side of the Quidditch pitch, where he could vomit in peace. After all, the Gryffindors didn't want to be distracted from their practice.