Dumbledore and Harry's Adventures

Halloween Catharsis

"... and I am so grateful for Minister Fudge's quick response in freeing my godfather and his diligence in ensuring justice has been meted out by punishing Mister Crouch for his role in Sirius's unjust imprisonment. Thanks to the Minister, I was able to rest easy and focus on my opportunity to learn the basics of warding from the Masters of the craft at Gringotts."

Harry was happy to know that his first interview with a member of the press was ending. He couldn't understand how Gilderoy could thrive amongst reporters. After half an hour and making sure to recite some rehearsed phrases about the Minister, he was exhausted and craved to never give another interview. On the bright side, he finally got to meet Gilderoy's girlfriend. Having spent nearly thirty minutes in a one-on-one setting with Rita Skeeter, he could honestly say he understood how the two matched so well. The main difference seeming to be that Gilderoy liked to steal stories he thought were accurate but attributed to the wrong person (aka Gilderoy), and Rita liked to have her Quick-Quotes Quill write inaccurate stories that were attributed to the right person (aka Rita's target). Thankfully, she had directed her quill to be complimentary of Harry.

Rita smiled broadly and nodded (Harry struggled to ignore how her elaborate blonde curls remained so curiously rigid) and looked over the top of her jeweled spectacles, piercing Harry with her eyes. For some reason, he found himself reminded of the feeling he had when he was in the Chamber of Secrets and he had his eyes tightly shut as he felt the basilisk gaze upon his body and preparing to strike. Idly, he wondered if he would need Fawkes to also save him from Rita.

Rita tittered lightly when Harry slightly shuddered, her smile taking on a sense of victory.

"I'm sure the Minister will appreciate your support, Harry. Now, one final question, we all know you are traveling the world with Albus Dumbledore and will not be attending Hogwarts this year. What the people want to know is, do you think you will ever return to Britain's finest school?"

Harry paused as he collected his thoughts. "Hogwarts... Hogwarts was the first place I ever felt truly at home. I have so many good memories of my time there. I have learned so much within its walls. Will I ever return? Well, I don't know what the future holds for me, as I haven't started studying Divination. But... I certainly wouldn't count out the possibility of my returning someday."

Rita smiled at Harry, staring at him for a long second. With a small laugh, she pointed her wand at the quill and her notes. The quill dropped down and everything was quickly packed away in her purse.

With an amused glint in her eyes, she spoke in a much friendlier tone than she had during the interview. "I can see why Gilly finds you to be such a frustrating client."

Harry ignored Rita's pet name for Gilderoy and simply looked at the woman in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Last night, when he was asking me to go easy on you, he mentioned that you never seemed to be overly interested in taking his course on speaking to the press. His other clients wouldn't have stumbled as much as you did."

"I stumbled?"

Rita laughed airily. "You left at least a dozen openings for me to dig for dirt and start destroying your reputation. As a word of advice, if you're going to try to mimic Albus Dumbledore's style of sidestepping questions, then you should get him to specifically tutor you in that skill. Or you can become so powerful that people will be hesitant to go all out against you until you've died. Or just take Gilly's course, he's as good at manipulating the press as he is at manipulating my..."

"RIGHT!" Harry interrupted quickly. "Right. I'll talk with Gilderoy, as long as you don't finish that sentence."

Rita smiled smugly.