Unmasking the Reporter

Hermione blushed at the praise but had an answer to why the Headmaster hadn't considered it. "Sir, I think it's because advanced arithmetic isn't taught in the wizarding world. Fractions are used in potions but only to represent a portion of an ingredient. How they are used in mathematics is never taught as far as I can tell. If I were to ask most of the students in this school who were not taught in muggle schools, what a half of a half is, most of them would answer incorrectly or ask 'half of what?' as if what you were dividing would make a difference. The only mathematics taught here is Arithmancy, and it's the study of whole numbers and the magic they imply whereas…" Her eyes widen as the question that had popped in her mind came flooding out. "Would Riddle have purposely split his soul into…into a magically significant number of pieces?"

Dumbledore internally smiled at the brilliance of Miss Granger, both in her analysis of fraction usage in the magical world and in the deducing what Riddle might have done, but enough information had been shared. "That's an interesting concept Miss Granger," He stood as if to dismiss the others. "As much as I would like to continue this discussion, I have many things to do. Harry if you have any more of these visions please let me know," His eyes moved from person to person, "Remember what we just discussed cannot be shared with anyone. No friends, no relatives, no one."

A chorus of "Yes sir" responded.

"And again Harry," Dumbledore said. "Please refrain from that potion. I think the protection the bond offers is something you really need to have."

"Yes sir."

With that acknowledgment, Harry, Remus and Harry's bond mates left the Headmaster's office. Many questions had been answered but with those answers came many more questions.

The next morning they were all back in the Great Hall eating breakfast when Hermione received her Daily Prophet. She had just unfolded it and looked at the front page when she spat pumpkin juice all over. Then Harry felt a wave of disgust and anger washed over the bond. Before Harry could look over at the paper, Draco Malfoy shouted across the Great Hall from the Slytherin table.

"Hey, Potter! Potter! How's your head? You feeling all right? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"

Malfoy was holding a copy of the Daily Prophet too. Slytherins up and down the table were sniggering, twisting in their seats to see Harry's reaction.

Hermione reluctantly handed the paper over to Harry. He found himself staring at his own picture, beneath the banner headline:

HARRY POTTER "DISTURBED AND DANGEROUS"

The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School. Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). Yesterday in the middle of Hogsmeade, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter collapse in the middle of the street, saying his scar hurt and he started rambling about You-Know-Who. He was in the company of the Werewolf Remus Lupin at the time.

It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting and having visions of You-Know-Who is an expression of his deep-seated confusion.

"He might even be pretending," said one specialist. "This could be a plea for attention."

The Daily Prophet, however, has unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public.

"Potter can speak Parseltongue," reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."

Young Malfoy's statement was very much proven since as earlier indicated, the boy in question was in the company of a werewolf at the time of the incident and I can personally attest the relationship appeared to be one of friendship. As for the Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, has long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remain unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark Magic, and are historically associated with evildoers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence."

Albus Dumbledore should surely consider whether a boy such as this should be allowed to compete in the Triwizard Tournament. Some fear that Potter might resort to the Dark Arts in his desperation to win the tournament, the third task of which takes place next month.

"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" said Harry lightly, folding up the paper.

Over at the Slytherin table, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were laughing at him, tapping their heads with their fingers, pulling grotesquely mad faces, and waggling their tongues like snakes.

It was later when they were in the Chamber of Secrets that Hermione vented her frustration at Rita Skeeter, but now Fleur and Gabrielle's ire at the reporter had risen to match their bond sister.

"Why did it have to happen in front of her?" Hermione cried out in frustration. "She just had to be in that spot at that time."

"She wasn't," Remus replied. "After how she attacked me last year after it was revealed I was a werewolf, I go to extremes to avoid her. When Harry first collapsed I looked around for help and she was nowhere around. Of that I am very certain. In fact no one really stopped, well outside of that stupid bug that kept buzzing around us. Every time I tried to swat it away, it'd just return."

Hermione stopped pacing abruptly. She stood frozen for several seconds and then a dreamy expression came over her face. She raised her hand and ran it through her hair.

"Hermione? Are you okay?"

"I think I am more than okay," She turned to Remus. "What type of bug was it? The one that was around you at the time, possibly a beetle?"

"Yes," Lupin replied in puzzlement. "I think so. Why?"

"Because I think I know how Skeeter is getting her stories," Hermione replied. "We just need to do some bug hunting."

"Bug hunting?" Harry asked.

"Beetle hunting to be exact," Hermione replied. "I think Rita Skeeter is an unregistered animagus. Remember when she overheard Krum talking to me? He pulled a beetle from my hair. It was February; beetles are either dormant or dead during the winter months. So how could a beetle have been in my hair then? It had to have been her. That's how she is getting her stories."

Not for the first time, Harry really wished he had the Marauder's map. It would make finding Skeeter much easier.

....

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