More Important Than Any Broomstick [Harmione]

34. Having Fun

The map came to life, revealing names and locations of everyone at Hogwarts. They went through the map quickly to find their location, and were astonished to see that it was the Daily Prophet reporter, and suspected mistress of Minister Fudge, Rita Skeeter.

"She's not on the list of animagi!" said Hermione.

"Neither are we," said Harry.

"But we're not doing it to get stories," said Hermione.

"The question is; what do we do with her," said Harry with a smile.

Hermione's face brightened. "We could use this to blackmail her into not reporting anything untrue about you."

"Or I could just buy the Daily Prophet and have her fired," said Harry with a smirk. She looked at him with her eyes wide open, so he couldn't resist. "What do you think, Wide-Eyes?"

"Th-that is another option. Do you know what it costs?"

"Yes I do," said Harry, "I sent out an anonymous inquiry after challenging her to a duel. It actually costs a lot less than I thought. Apparently they lost a lot of subscribers last week after that incident. People don't believe what the Daily Prophet says anymore, so they don't see any reason to pay for a fiction magazine."

"We could buy what they have and turn it around, maybe even change the name. With your fame...Don't give me that look Harry! With your fame everybody will buy it out of curiosity. If we make sure that the articles are true and not just an attempt to insult people and ruin reputations, it could be just what the wizarding world needs! Maybe I can write a weekly article about the treatment of other sentient magical creatures like house-elves. It's not funny, Harry!" Harry was chuckling.

"Honest, Mine, I wasn't laughing at your idea. I just love seeing you so excited. But we're both students here. How could we run a newspaper? We'd have to hire someone to run it. Who do we know that could do it that we trust? I don't want to get rid of any of our teachers, and it shouldn't be someone who works for the ministry. Who else do we know?"

"Hm," said Hermione. She took a deep breath. "There's only one person I can think of, and I'm not sure she'd be interested."

"Who?" asked Harry.

"Er, can I write her and ask first? I promise you'll approve if she agrees to do it. I just don't want to put her on the spot. We still haven't decided what to do about Rita."

"I say we have a conversation with her," said Harry. He then pointed his wand at the bug in the jar and said, "Enervate."

They saw the beetle move, so Harry said happily, "Hello Rita Skeeter! Not having a very good day, are you? I'm sure you're wondering how we know who you are, but you'll have to keep wondering that. I wonder what would happen if word got out that you were an illegal animagus. I'm only gonna say this once. DON'T EVER SPY ON ME AGAIN! I ought to just squash you and claim I didn't know it was you. What do you think we should do with Rita, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled and winked at Harry while the beetle turned toward the brunette girl. "Maybe we should keep her in this jar until after the tournament."

"As tempting as that sounds dear," said Harry, "I don't think I'd want to take care of her that long."

"Maybe we should send her to Minister Fudge," suggested Hermione with a wicked grin.

Harry laughed out loud. "That's perfect! Let me write him a note and then we'll send her with a school owl. I wouldn't want there to be any proof it was us."

"I'll write my other letter, too," said Hermione.

"That's a good idea," said Harry, "Hedwig hates it if I use a different owl than her. We'll send her with your letter first."