Chapter 29: Revelations, and Reporter's Plight
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.
Harry looked down suddenly. "What do you mean?"
"I think I found out how she gets all of her news as well." Hermione said as she carefully detached the silk bundle.
She took it over to a table and laid it gently on the surface. Thinking quickly, she ran up to her dorm and grabbed the small knife from her potions kit and returned to the common room. Very carefully, she cut away the silk leaving a fat beetle.
Looking closely, she noticed markings around the antennae that matched the awful glasses the reporter wore. "See those markings? Do they remind you of Rita Skeeter's glasses?"
"They do, don't they?" Harry responded.
"I think Rita is an unregistered Animagus," Hermione said. "Here." She handed the beetle to Harry. "Walk over there and I'll see if it moves on the map."
Harry walked across the room, and Hermione saw the dot marked Rita Skeeter go with him. "Now, set it down and come back. I want to make sure it's not something else on you." Harry did as his girlfriend asked and Hermione saw the dot stay in the place Harry had left the beetle. "It's her, alright."
"So what do we do now? Would the spider have poisoned her?" Harry asked.
"Possibly. Maybe we should take her to Professor McGonagall so she can be sent to St. Mungo's."
But just as she was saying that, the beetle started moving. It reached out a leg and then another. "We know that it's you, Rita," Hermione said. And a few seconds later, the reporter from the Daily Prophet was standing in front of them. Unnoticed by the reporter, a small pad fell to the ground beside her.
"How did I get away?"
"Harry saved you, Rita. It seems you were caught by a spider."
Rita spun to look at Harry. "How many of those monsters did you have to fight? Are you injured? How can I ever thank you?"
"Fight what?" Harry asked, looking perplexed.
"The Acromantulas of course!"
"It was just a spider, nothing of any importance," Harry started, but Hermione had picked up the pad Rita had dropped and, since it was a book of sorts, couldn't help but open it. She realized it was the notes Rita had been taking. Coming across one of them, she exclaimed
"You are not writing anything bad about Hagrid!"
"But dear, he is a half giant. Parents need to know the dangers their children face at this school." Rita explained like she was talking to a four-year-old.
"Hagrid dangerous?" Harry asked incredulously.
Hermione had been scanning the notes Rita had taken concerning Hagrid. "A bite from a flobberworm? You've got to be kidding! They don't even have teeth. Oh, of course. It was Draco Malfoy who told you that."
"Hagrid was my first friend in the magical world, Miss Skeeter." Harry said. "Look, I would appreciate it if you wouldn't write that article."
"Besides," Hermione warned. "You might not want any stories where you quote Draco after the incident last night." Hermione remembered the story that was blazing around the Great Hall at the beginning of the Ball.
"What about Mister Malfoy? He comes from a very influential family."
"Well according to rumors..." Hermione told the reporter about the story of Draco and Professor Snape.
"I think it was said a couple of his friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, were the ones who witnessed it."
Rita Skeeter was already polishing her award for the story of the son of one of the most prominent families having a sexual relationship with a Professor at Hogwarts, in a corridor no less. She turned to Hermione. "Didn't Mister Malfoy just become betrothed to a Miss Bulstrode?"
"I do believe so," Hermione responded. "Maybe you should go investigate it."
"I'll do that, and," Rita looked at Harry, "can I write the article on Hagrid in a friendlier tone, talking about his friendship with you?"
"That would be fine," Harry replied. "I look forward to reading it."
"Excellent!" Rita replied, also planning a story on Harry's daring rescue of a certain reporter from that Acromantula. She knew he would never admit to it, so she would just write it as she felt it occurred. 'Just a spider? That boy is just too modest.'
Luna Lovegood woke the next morning after the Yule Ball with a smile on her face. Though she didn't find the Snorkack again, she never realized just how much fun it was to remove Nargles.
No wonder her father was smiling so much when Luna found him curing her mum's Nargle infestation when she was seven. 'I just hope I don't get bitten by a Snorkack when I find one. The anti-venom injections appear to be painful,' the blonde Ravenclaw thought.
'At least it seemed that way by the way Mum was crying out when Father was administering her cure. At least she understood the importance of the injections as she kept telling him not to stop.' She turned her thoughts back to Nargles. 'I wonder if I can get Victor under another mistletoe today?' She asked herself. (A/N yes I know he's seventeen and she's thirteen, but I couldn't resist.)
~•~•~•~•~••~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Thank you for reading!
See you in the next chapter ✨
Thank you very much for all the support and donate power stones!!
Do Comment, anything just comments and Donate Power stone!!
If you're enjoying the story, don't forget to leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating! Your feedback means so much. And feel free to comment on where you think the story should go next—I'd love to hear your thoughts on the future direction!