FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley! Listen to this!"

- Malfoy gleefully breaks the news of this article to Ron.

FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC was an article published in the Daily Prophet on 2 September, 1994. It reported on an incident that took place outside the home of Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody that was considered embarrassing for the British Ministry of Magic and also made reference to the dark events that took place earlier in the year at the final of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup amongst other topics.

Draco Malfoy took great delight in reading this article out loud to Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, his loud voice catching the attention of everyone else in the hall as well. He poked fun at the fact that the article misnamed Arthur Weasley as "Arnold Weasley" and, indicating the picture accompanying the article, suggested that Molly Weasley could stand to lose some weight. When, however, Harry retaliated by commenting on the appearance of Malfoy's mother, Malfoy attempted to curse him behind his back and was Transfigured into a ferret by Moody (actually Bartemius Crouch Jr. in disguise).

Transcript
''It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. 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 Artefacts Office. Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer Daily Prophet questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.''

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire