stardust ⋮ george weasley

seventy-four :

S E V E N T Y - F O U R

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When Hermione had insisted Adeline that meet her at the Three Broomsticks on the next Hogsmeade trip, Adeline was incredibly reluctant to go.

Not because she didn't trust Hermione or anything like that. Normally, Adeline was all in whenever Hermione came up with a plan. But, it was Valentines Day and she had been hoping to spend the entire Hogsmeade trip with George. But, Hermione said it wouldn't take more than an hour, leaving the rest of the day and evening for them.

When she arrived at Three Broomsticks, Adeline nearly ran out the door when she noticed a familiar woman with jeweled spectacles and magenta dress robes, but she pressed on and approached the table in the corner of the pub.

Around the table sat the strangest collection of people she had ever seen. Luna was attempting to start a conversation with Rita Skeeter and was clearly failing as Rita seemed more focused on scribbling something down with a lime-green quill on a piece of parchment paper, Hermione was sitting in the center with a proud smile on her face, and Harry was sitting at the end with the most confused look on his face.

She and Harry locked eyes and she mouthed, "What's going on?". Harry shrugged and shook his head, which didn't make Adeline feel any more at ease.

"I mean it," She could hear Hermione tell Rita. "One word about Harry or even Adeline's love life and the whole deal is off."

"You haven't mentioned anything about a deal, Little Miss Prissy," Rita snapped, causing the two to delve into a snipping argument that had Adeline whipping her head back and forth as if she was watching a Quidditch match and Harry roll his eyes. Luna seemed to be paying no attention and was even quietly singing 'Weasley is Our King' between sips of her butterbeer.

"I'm confused..." Harry interjected. "What deal? What's going on here?"

"So did you just tell everyone to meet you here without telling them the plan like some sort of ambush?" Rita scowled at Hermione. "I'm interviewing the two of you about what happened the night of the Third Task. Although, why it's being published in the Quibbler and not the Daily Prophet is beyond me..."

"Wait, wait...hold on–" Adeline interjected, looking at Hermione, panicked. "You...you want me to talk about what happened that night?"

Hermione hesitated in answering. She had been so focused on what was such a fool-proof plan that she hadn't stopped to consider that maybe Harry and Adeline didn't want to talk about that night. "Well...yes..." She eventually responded. "I thought that maybe if people actually knew what happened that night, they would begin to believe you more. A lot more people have been beginning to doubt the Daily Prophet after the Azkaban breakout because there are so many gaping holes in their story. Even though it sometimes doesn't seem like it, people want to know what happened that night."

"It's an incredible selling point, too," Rita added with a smirk, despite the withering glare from Hermione. "I mean, I get the first, exclusive interview with the two poor souls who saw You-Know-Who come back to life. You can't make up headlines like that!"

Hearing that made Adeline go light-headed. Out of all the people to talk to about that night, she didn't want it to be Rita Skeeter – the woman who would exploit anyone's life for an over-dramatized, borderline false story and snappy headline. She had her words twisted and warped enough as it was by the Daily Prophet. She did not want Rita Skeeter to make that even worse.

Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her.  "How do we know she's actually going to print the truth?" He questioned, eyeing her warily. "And not just use us for some ridiculous headline like she has so much in the past?"