monophobia • harry potter³ [UNEDITED]

𝐱𝐥𝐯. it all starts now

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      NYX LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW. The weather could not have been more different on the journey back to King's Cross than it had been on their way to Hogwarts the previous September. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky. She, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had managed to get a compartment to themselves. Pigwiedgeon was once against hidden under Ron's dress robes to stop him from hotting continually; Hedwig and Hypnos were dozing off together, while Poppy took her time to groom Crookshanks. The four of them talked more fully and freely than they had all week as the train sped them southward. They broke off their conversation about what actions Dumbledore might be taking, even now, to stop Voldemort, only when the lunch trolley arrived. 

When Hermione returned from the trolley and put her money back in her schoolbag, she had dislodged a copy of the Daily Prophet that she had been carrying in there. Harry looked at it, but Hermione, seeing him look at it, said calmly, "There's nothing in there. You can look for yourself, but there's nothing at all. I've been checking every day. Just a small piece the day after the third task saying you won the tournament. They didn't even mention Cedric. Nothing about any of it. If you ask me, Fudge is forcing them to keep quiet." 

"He'll never keep Rita quiet," said Harry. "Not on a story like this." 

Nyx chuckled knowingly as she looked away from the window, "Don't worry, Harry. Rita hasn't written anything at all since the third task." 

She and Hermione exchanged a maniacal look. 

"As a matter of fact," Hermione added, her voice trembling slightly. "Rita Skeeter isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless she wants me to spill the beans on her." 

"What are you talking about?" said Ron. 

"Nyx and I found out how she was listening in on private conversations when she wasn't supposed to be coming onto the grounds," said Hermione in a rush. 

"How was she doing it?" said Harry at once. 

"How did you find out?" said Ron, staring at Hermione. 

"Well, Harry had actually given Hermione the idea," said Nyx, grinning. 

"Did I?" said Harry, perplexed. "How?" 

"Bugging," said Hermione happily.

"But you said they didn't work—" 

"Oh not electronic bugs," said Hermione. "No, you see... Rita Skeeter"— Hermione's voice trembled with quiet triumph— "is an unregistered Animagus. She can turn—" Hermione pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag. "—into a beetle." 

"You're kidding," said Ron. "You haven't... she's not.." 

"Oh yes she is," said Hermione happily, brandishing the jar for them. Inside was a few twigs and leaves and a large, fat beetle.