Of Constellations → 𝘥. 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘧𝘰𝘺

xviii. unjust infamy

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chapter eighteen

unjust infamy

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Our first Hogsmeade trip of the term was on a dreary, grey day. It was also Valentine's Day, which seemed fitting for my group of, frankly, misfits. It was just Luna and Neville and me. Ginny was at practice with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. After Umbridge banned Harry and the Weasley twins from playing, Angelina Johnson was frantic to train their replacements.

Apart from being his partner for D. A. meetings, I'd never spent much time with Neville, so I was actually looking forward to getting to know him. He'd been getting better throughout the year. Bolder and less timid.

First, the three of us went to get snacks at Honeydukes and then went to get butterbeers at the Three Broomsticks.

Neville was chatting with us about the O.W.L.s and how he was nervous about the career advice meeting he'd have to attend soon.

"What would you fancy having as a career, Neville?" Luna asked him.

He turned slightly pink and shrugged his shoulders in defeat. "Dunno. I'm not good at much. The only class I know for certain I can get an O.W.L. in is Herbology. That's the only class I really like, anyway."

"With how well you're doing in the D. A., I'm sure you'll get one in Defense!" I said, smiling.

He nodded solemnly. "Sure, maybe. But there's no way I'll get through Potions or Transfiguration...or History of Magic or Astronomy—"

"I can help you study for some of those. Especially Astronomy," I said.

"Really?" asked Neville, looking surprised. "Could you? I've never been good at Astronomy. Sometimes Hermione helps me, but she's usually too busy."

"Sure," I said with a shrug. "Just ask me whenever."

Just then, as if Neville mentioning her name had summoned her, Hermione Granger walked into the pub with a disgruntled woman behind her. It took me a second to place her as Rita Skeeter, a former reporter for the Daily Prophet. My dad used to complain about her snooping around his department, looking for a report she could twist into a story.

But, why was she here? With Hermione especially?

When Hermione saw us, she nodded at Luna, who was staring dreamily into space. I lightly tapped her wrist with one of the licorice wands we got from Honeydukes. She reentered her head and looked over at Hermione.

"Excuse me," she said to us and left without another word. Neville and I stared at each other, completely confused.

"Do you know what that's about?" he asked. "I thought Hermione hated Rita Skeeter. Did you see the horrible things she wrote about her last year during the Triwizard Tournament?"

"No, but I heard people talking about it," I said. There had been a story about Hermione supposedly two-timing Viktor Krum and Harry Potter. Obviously, it wasn't true, but she'd gotten a lot of hate for it.

"And what's Luna got to do with it?" he asked.

"Hermione might want her to write an article about something. She's no longer working for the Daily Prophet, so maybe they'll have it published in Luna's dad's magazine instead."

"What would they want to publish an article on?"

"Maybe a rebuttal to the rubbish the Daily Prophet printed about the Azkaban breakout? I mean, their explanation made absolutely no sense."