Out of The Shadows (Golden Trio Era) {1}

Rita's Revenge

The foursome headed down the steps of the dungeons but paused, looking ahead cautiously. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in a huddle outside the classroom door with Pansy Parkinson's gang of Slytherin girls. All of them were looking at something and snickered loudly. Pansy's pug-like face peered excitedly around Goyle's fat back as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Mikayla approached. "There they are, there they are!" She giggled and the knot of Slytherins broke apart. Mikayla noticed Pansy had a magazine in her hands—Witch Weekly. The moving picture on the front showed a curly-haired witch who was smiling toothily and pointing at a large sponge cake with her wand. "You might find something to interest you in there, Granger, you two Wormy!" Pansy said loudly and she threw the magazine at the girls. Mikayla caught it with a glare in Pansy's direction, and at that moment, the dungeon door opened and Snape beckoned us all inside. Hermione, Harry, Ron, and Mikayla headed for a table in the back of the dungeon as usual. Once Snape had turned his back on them to write up the ingredients of today's potion on the blackboard, Mikayla and Hermione hastily rifled through the magazine under the desk. At last Hermione found what we was looking for. In the center pages, there was a colorful photograph of Harry that headed a short article.

Harry Potter's Secret Heartache

A boy like no other, perhaps—yet a boy suffering all the usual pangs of adolescence, writes Rita Skeeter. Deprived of love since the tragic demise of his parents, fourteen-year-old Harry Potter thought he had found solace in two of his female friends at Hogwarts, Muggle-born Hermione Granger and Pure-blood Mikayla Black. Little did he know that he would shortly be suffering yet another emotional blow in a life already littered with personal loss.

Miss Granger, a plain but ambitious girl, seems to have a taste for famous wizards. Since the arrival at Hogwarts of Viktor Krum, Bulgarian Seeker and hero of the last World Quidditch Cup, Miss Granger has been toying both boys' affections. Krum, who is openly smitten with the devious Miss Granger, has already invited her to visit him in Bulgaria over the summer holidays, and insists that he has "never felt this way about any other girl." Of course, according to this reporter's sources, Harry Potter doesn't seem torn up about Miss Granger.

Our secret source says that Mr. Potter is much closer with Miss Black, the daughter of mass-murderer, Sirius Black. Miss Black has been seen around Hogwarts with another Triwizard Tournament champion, Cedric Diggory. Sources say the pair have been dating since the beginning of November and that they spent Valentines Day professing their love for one another. Cedric even sang Mikayla a song, and she got him a watch from his favourite Muggle movies of all time, James Bond. Sources tell us that Miss Black was known as the 'Gryffindor Whore' after a fight with Mr Ronald Weasley, which some believe sparked her relationship with Mr Diggory, who may have been hoping to 'get some' from the young girl, who would willingly provide it according to our sources.

"I can't possibly understand why there would be boys after them in the first place." Says Pansy Parkinson, a pretty and vivacious fourth-year student. "They're really ugly. I wouldn't put it past them to use a Love Potion. They're quite brainy. I think that's how they've been doing it." Love Potions are, of course, banned at Hogwarts, and no doubt Albus Dumbledore will want to investigate these claims. In the meantime, Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart on a worthier candidate.

"I told you two!" Ron hissed at the girls as they stared down at the article. "I told you not to annoy Rita Skeeter! She's made you both out to be some sort of—of scarlet women!" Mikayla and Hermione, who didn't seem that bothered about the article, snorted with laughter. "Scarlet women?" Hermione repeated with suppressed giggles as she looked at Ron. "It's what my mum calls them." Ron muttered, his ears turning red. "If that's the best Rita can do, she's losing her touch," Mikayla said, giggling, as Hermione threw Witch Weekly she took from Mikayla onto the empty chair beside her. "What a pile of old rubbish." Hermione looked over at the Slytherins, who were all watching her, Harry, and Mikayla closely across the room to see if they had been upset by the article. Hermione gave them a sarcastic smile and a wave, whilst Mikayla sent them a rather rude gesture. "Well if anyone sees Pansy, they'd know how fake Rita's article is. Pretty is the last word to come to my head when it came to describing Pugsy." The foursome shared a laugh at Mikayla's statement.

They started unpacking the ingredients they would need for the Wit-Sharpening Potion they were to brew. "There's something funny, though," Hermione spoke up ten minutes later, holding her pestle suspended over a bowl of scarab beetles. "How could Rita Skeeter have known..." "Known what?" Ron said quickly. "You and Mikayla haven't been mixing up Love Potions, have you?" "Don't be stupid," Hermione snapped, starting to pound up her beetles again. "No, it's just... how did she know Viktor asked me to visit him over the summer?" Hermione blushed scarlet as she said this and determinedly avoided Ron's eyes. "What?" Ron gasped, dropping his pestle with a loud clunk. "He asked me right after he'd pulled me out of the lake," Hermione muttered. "After he'd got rid of his shark's head. Madam Pomfrey gave us both blankets and then he sort of pulled me away from the judges so they wouldn't hear, and he said, if I wasn't doing anything over the summer, would I like to—" "And what did you say?" Ron, who had picked up his pestle and was grinding it on the desk, a good six inches from his bowl, asked, looking at Hermione closely. "Now that I think of it, how'd she know what happened between me and Cedric on Valentines Day. I know for a fact no one was there, I would've seen them." Mikayla whispers on edge, "And he did say he'd never felt the same way about anyone else," Hermione went on, going so red now that Mikayla could almost feel the heat coming from her, "but how could Rita Skeeter have heard him? She wasn't there... or was she? Maybe she has got an Invisibility Cloak; maybe she sneaked onto the grounds to watch the second task..." "And what did you say?" Ron repeated, pounding his pestle down so hard that it dented the desk. "Well, I was too busy seeing whether you and Harry were okay to—" "Fascinating though your social life undoubtedly is, Miss Granger," said an icy voice right behind them, causing all four of them to jump, "I must ask you not to discuss it in my class. Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape had glided over to their desk while we were talking.

The whole class was now looking around at them and Draco took the opportunity to flash POTTER STINKS across the dungeon at Harry. "Ah... reading magazines under the table as well?" Snape added, snatching up the copy of Witch Weekly. "A further ten points from Gryffindor... oh but of course..." Snape's black eyes glittered as they fell on Rita Skeeter's article. "Potter has to keep up with his press cuttings..." The dungeon rang with the Slytherins' laughter, and an unpleasant smile curled Snape's thin mouth. To Harry's visible fury and the girls horror, he began to read the article aloud. "'Harry Potter's Secret Heartache... dear, dear, Potter, what's ailing you now? 'A boy like no other, perhaps...'" Mikayla's face burned red in embarrassment as Snape read the whole article aloud. He paused at the end of every sentence to allow the Slytherins a hearty laugh. The article sounded ten times worse when read by Snape. "'...Harry Potter's well-wishers must hope that, next time, he bestows his heart upon a worthier candidate.' How very touching," Snape sneered, rolling up the magazine to continued roars of laughter from the Slytherins. "Well, I think I had better separate the four of you, so you can keep your minds on your potions rather than on your tangled love lives. Weasley, you stay here. Miss Granger, over there, beside Miss Parkinson. Black, you'll go to Mr. Malfoy. O'Brien, you work with Weasley. And Potter that table in front of my desk. Move. Now."