Scorching Roses

The Article

Rose was up early again because of morning sickness. She was sitting on the couch when an owl dropped the Daily Prophet in her lap. She picked it up and couldn't believe it. The headline of the day was  titled 'Rose Weasley Pregnant with Scorpius Malfoys Child'. She quickly read the story before going to get Scorpius. He had to see this. 

Scorpius was in the middle of a dream that involved Rose and  a child. Their child. Suddenly, something hit him on the head. He snapped back to reality and saw Rose standing there. He sat up, thinking something was wrong. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, worried. 

"Meet me downstairs in 5 minutes. I have to show you something." Rose replied and left the room. 

Scorpius got dressed and went downstairs. He wondered what was so important that he had to get ready before 7. 

He saw Rose holding the Daily Prophet. "What is it?"

She handed him the paper. "Look at the headline." 

He looked. "How did it get out? The only people who know are your family."

"I've been asking myself the same question."

He studied the picture. "That looks like the picture Lily took yesterday after you fell asleep."

"You let her take a picture of us?!"

"Yes. Is that a bad thing?"

Rose sighed and was about to say something when she heard footsteps. "Hide the paper." But it was too late. Grandma Molly was downstairs and wanted to see the paper.

"Good morning, Rosie, Scorpius. What's today's news?"

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other for a minute before they gave the paper over.

"I have no idea how it got out, Grandma. We've only told the family." Rose stated truthfully.

"Don't worry about it, Rosie. We can't control what's already happened."

She gave Rose a hug before going off into the kitchen to make breakfast.

Rose and Scorpius were cuddling on the couch when Lily came down.

"Hey Lily," Rose said as she stood up and grabbed the paper, "do you know why the picture you took is on the front page of the Daily Prophet?" She handed the paper to Lily.

"No," Lily said, skimmimg over the article, "I didn't tell anyone or send the picture to anyone."

"I wonder how it got out then."

"It wasn't me, and I'm the most likely to tell."

"I know. It's just weird."  Something clicked inside Rose. "Wait, isn't Rita Skeeter an animagus? Isn't she a cockroach? She could have been in the room without anybody noticing."

"That must have been what happened. She spied on our family in her animagus form."

Once everyone was in the kitchen, Rose set the paper in the middle of the table for everyone to see. Then she explained her theory. "Rita Skeeter takes the form of a cockroach when she's an animagus. She could have easily spied on us without anyone knowing. She also could have gotten the picture from Lily."

 No one shot down the theory, in fact a lot of people reinforced it. It was the only thing anyone could come up with to explain.

Later that day, Rose was reading when a cockroach crawled across her page.

She squealed before trapping the bug in between the pages of the book. She didn't kill it, because she knew it might be Rita Skeeter.

She took out her wand, placed the bug on the floor, and revealed the journalists.

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked.

"Why, hello, Ms.Weasley. I was doing my job."

"That still doesn't answer my question. Why were you spying on me and my family as the little cockroach you are?"

"I was simply looking for a story."

"That doesn't mean you can spy on us. Now, please leave and do not return."

"Of course." Rita Skeeter went to pick up the quill she had dropped, and was turned back into a bug by Rose.

Rose scooped up the cockroach and trapped it in a jar before taking it down to her family.

She held up the jar. "It's Rita. She crawled across my page while I was reading and I trapped her."

Scorpius looked at the bug. "She really is a nasty cockroach."

Everyone agreed it would be best to keep Rita trapped.