professor? ( ✓ )

chapter twenty

"Ms. Skeeter, what a... pleasant surprise." The Headmistress was the first to stand. She walked around the table, and shook hands with the witch who worked with the Daily Prophet. Her lips were held in a tight expression, and McGonagall looked anything but pleased to see her.

"Oh, Minerva, you always have given me the nicest welcomes!" Rita cheered, grinning brightly through her red lipstick. The first years of each House watched the interaction in confusion, and the older students only rolled their eyes. Why was she here?

"May I ask as to what you are doing here?" McGonagall asked, her brow furrowed. It was at this moment that a first year from Gryffindor squealed and the sound of footsteps echoed across the vast hall.

"Mumma Rita, Mumma Rita!" Madeline Morgan cheered, running up and hugging the blonde-haired woman with her entirely green formalwear, and tightly knit hair.

"Maddy, love!" The woman smiled, leaning down to kiss her goddaughter on the cheek.

"You...have a daughter?" McGonagall asked, glancing at the pair in confusion. She clasped her hands together, analyzing the situation to the best of her ability.

"Oh Merlin no! Madeline's my goddaughter. Her mummy is my best friend." Rita explains, running a hand through the girl's ginger hair. Madeline smiled, and stood close to the woman facing the headmistress.

"Ah, I see. But still, I am curious as to why you're here, Rita." The headmistress claimed, turning the conversation around again. Maddy spun around and gave her friends a big thumbs up before facing the women again.

"I asked her to be, Professor. I really needed a word with her and I just couldn't get it all down in a letter. Please don't be angry with me." The Gryffindor explained, swaying back and forth on her small feet. McGonagall stared at Maddy, pursing her lips and then turned to the reporter once more.

"Once you're done here, I request you leave. We can't take any guests at this time." And with that, she turned around and Maddy took the blonde woman's hand, leading her out of the Great Hall to talk in private.

~△⃒⃘~

Following Madeline's talk with Rita, the blonde woman did not leave the school as instructed, and instead wormed her way into a guests' quarters where she began plotting the ultimate way to get out a story about her favorite pupil: Harry Potter, and his possible lover, Draco Malfoy. How scandalous.

Maddy had told Rita all about the Veritaserum, and how the two had started a Dueling Club together, and their bond that McGonagall had placed them in for some time. She told her absolutely everything she knew about the two boys, and Rita's quill wrote everything down that it could on the matter.

She decided she would interview Charles Byerley first, and get his motives on why he put truth serum into the juice at the Christmas dance, and if he didn't give enough information, she'd talk to Bradley Grant and Anthony Pembroke as well.

She'd then find a way into the next Dueling Club meeting, and figure out how the two worked together on such a frustrating topic. If need be, she figured she could Polyjuice herself into an unsuspecting student and use the disguise to her absolute advantage.

Then, she'd find a way into the living quarters the two had been forced to share, and if her searches through there came up empty, she would set up a secret interview with Narcissa Malfoy, and pry as much information out of the woman as she could.

If there was one thing Rita Skeeter was good at, it was prying and pestering. She got what she wanted, no matter what it took to get it. She would get information on Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy as a pair, and nothing could stop her. As usual, she was prepared to do her worst, all for the good of the gossip.