Creature Comforts (h.p.)

16

The next morning Harry woke bright and early. He showered as usual, not even scowling as he watched Ron go through his belongings. He met Hermione in the common room, which was currently almost empty. She looked just as excited as he felt. They had decided to turn up a short while before the post came so they would be there when the papers came in.

They shed the glamours as they walked through the corridors. No one recognised Harry because of how different he looked, and no one knew what had happened to Hermione. When they entered the great hall everyone fell silent. Dumbledore looked like he'd passed a kidney stone. No one was ever open about their creature blood, so this was an entirely unusual situation. Luna smiled at them from across the hall. Neville and Ginny gasped, and rushed over excitedly. None of them could wait for the papers to arrive.

There was a scrabble for newspapers as the students were hungry for answers, and they were not disappointed. There was a collective gasp as they realised the incredibly attractive winged man talking to Hermione granger was in fact Harry Potter himself. there was a tense several minutes as everyone read the article. When she set the paper down, Luna beamed brighter than any of them had seen before and light glowed from her eyes as she transformed. The students of Hogwarts were in for surprise after surprise as Luna had suddenly grown beautiful wings. Her hair assumed the knot she'd tied with the phoenix feathers in it. She lifted herself in the air and plopped gracefully into the spot next to Ginny. Neville grinned, and began emitting a gold light as he sprouted his horns and wings, and fur grew over his goat legs.

The group of oddities caused quite a stir. Harry was quite interested in what Rita had come up with, and took the paper from Luna to read aloud.

The title of the article read 'POTTER: THE MAN BEHIND THE SCAR' and right on the cover was a moving picture of he and Hermione removing their glamours. The subheading was a quote from the interview-

"I always felt like there was something off about Dumbledore, and I've been proved right. Which is why, we are going neutral."

"Today I, Rita Skeeter, come to you with one of the biggest stories of my career. When I received a letter from none other than Harry Potter himself, requesting an interview with me, I had no idea just what was in store. Yesterday evening at 9pm, I met with Harry and his friend, Hermione Granger. The following is a series of extracts from the interview, with notes added by yours truly.

"Now, do tell me, dears... Why did you request this interview?" They share a brief nod.

Harry-"Well, we have some dirt on Dumbledore that the public should know."

"I was under the impression that you rather admired the man." Harry winces.

Harry- "That was the work of loyalty potions."

"He used potions on you?"

Harry-"Oh, he used plenty on me, as I found out on July 26th. Here's the full list, you're welcome to make a copy for the paper." He pulls out the list of blocks placed on him, and pushes it towards me.

Accompanying this is a copy of the parchment.

"This is authentic? From Gringotts and all?" Harry nods.

Harry-"the goblin Meqik removed them. I owe him my life and my free will."

Hermione- "Could you please mention in the publication that we've moved my parents to a safehouse, and that Dumbledore was using their lives to force me into working against harry. their old house has been attacked already and i have not even shown defiance."

Harry -"which moves us on to the second thing. We wish to publicly denounce our acquaintanceship with Ron Weasley and Molly Weasley - and possibly Arthur, too, though we do not know for sure - for working against me, stealing money from my vaults and pretending to care for me."