Sirius's son

Parting of ways

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. They somehow managed to get a compartment for themselves.

"I bet that reporter will be writing about this for a while," said Ron.

"The daily prophet isn't going to be writing anything at all for a while. Not unless they want me to spill the beans on them." Hermione grinned.

"What are you talking about?" said Ron.

"Turns out that reporter is Rita, she's been passing information to the daily prophet," said Hermione in a rush.

"How was she doing it?" Rigel asked.

"Well, it was you, really, who gave me the answer," she said.

"Me?" Rigel asked perplexed. "How?"

"Rita Skeeter" — Hermione's voice trembled with quiet triumph as she pulled a small sealed glass jar out of her bag. "— is a beetle animagus."

"Hermione! You kidnapped Rita Skeeter!" Eliza cried.

"Is that her?" Harry asked.

"You're kidding..." Ron said as Hermione handed him the jar. "Hermione- you're lying-"

"No, I'm not," said Hermione, beaming. "I caught her on the windowsill in the hospital wing. Look very closely, and you'll notice the markings around her antennae are exactly like those four glasses she wears."

"There was a beetle on the statue the night we heard Hagrid telling Madame Maxime about his mum!" Harry exclaimed

"Can I squish her?" Rigel asked hopefully.

"No!" Hermione said horrified.

"Oh come on!" Rigel whined. "Can I at least shake her?"

Hermione relented and Rigel enjoyed shaking the beetle.

"Anyway, Viktor pulled a beetle out of my hair after we'd had our conversation by the lake. And unless I'm very much mistaken, Rita was perched on the windowsill of the divination class the day your scar hurt. She's been buzzing around stories all year."

"When we saw Malfoy under that tree . . ." said Ron slowly.

"He was talking to her, in his hand," said Hermione. "He knew, of course. That's how she's been getting all those nice little interviews with the Slytherins. They wouldn't care that she was doing something illegal, as long as they were giving her horrible stuff about us and Hagrid."

"He was talking to her, in his hand," Hermione said. "I'm sure that Pansy did the same thing because she was always giving Rita quotes about Eliza- okay, I think that's enough shaking, Rigel."

"Aww!" Rigel pouted. "You know I'm surprised her animagus isn't a snake. Bloody hell, defiantly six months in Azkaban"

"Yes, well, I've told her I'll let her out once we get back to London," Hermione said. "I've put an unbreakable charm on the jar, you see, so she can't transform. And I'll owl her to Susan Bone's auntie Amelia. She's the head of the DMLE."

Smiling serenely, Hermione placed the beetle back inside her schoolbag. The door of the compartment slid open

"Very clever, Granger," said Draco Malfoy.

Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind him. All three of them looked more pleased with themselves, more arrogant and more menacing than Rigel had ever seen them.

"Draco..." Rigel signed "Are you here for any particular reason?"

"I just overheard Granger's loud voice going on about Skeeter," Malfoy said coldly. "She caught some pathetic reporter, and the Potters are Dumbledore's favorites again. Big deal."