Alright as I said in my first chapter of Death's Guardian I am still working on the new chapter of HCM however I'm having a writer's block but not really. I know what to write but I like don't know if it's the right thing to write. So to focus some of my creative writing elsewhere in an attempt to get ideas for HCM I'm writing this new story. This is a good Rita Skeeter story who raises Harry. It will be slash as usual for Harry and there's a rather huge chance that this will turn into a threesome. Also uh it's going to be a Harry who's curious about everything as he wants to follow his mother's footsteps. Also this Rita Skeeter's rather old, in fact she's about McGonagall's age. She grew up around Tom Riddle so she knows of him. Another thing this won't exactly be Dumbledore bashing despite the harsh opinion Rita has of him. Dumbledore in this story has just had a long and difficult life trying to live up to the expectations of the Wizarding World and he is human so should be expected to make mistakes
Disclaimer: I do not own HP.
Investigative Wizard
Rita Skeeter was by far the furthest from nice a person could be considered. Now this was of no fault of her own but rather the fact that the Wizarding War had jaded her. She had seen the corruption of the Wizarding World at its base and believed foremost that the truth would never be accepted. So this led to her exaggerating the truth and telling lies in order to protect herself. If a younger Rita Skeeter was to look at her future self she'd be rather disgusted. As a child Rita wanted to do nothing but fight for the truth and help people live better lives. She would be horrified that her future self was doing the complete opposite of that. Which brings us to our current problem. Rita Skeeter was having a crisis of faith and conscious. You see this morning she had received an anonymous tip about the location of one Harry Potter, the Wizarding World's prolific hero. Rita practically salivated at the thought of learning about the life of the Savior. This article would make her fame soar, as nobody had heard anything of the Savior since that fateful night that he vanquished the Dark Lord. Of course according to the high and mighty Albus Dumbledore he was safe but the tiny bit of honest journalistic investigator left in Rita knew that had to be a lie. So she took the advice of the source and went to Private Drive under the guise of her Animagus form, a beetle. This is where her crisis of faith started.
The sight that met Rita Skeeter when she arrived at the location her source gave to her was one that she did not expect. The Savior was a short scrawny, malnourished six-year old boy. This set off dozens of alarms in her mind as signs of abuse. Despite the fact that Rita had grown up in a nice family she had a best friend who was a victim of abuse. The abuse got worse and worse until she committed suicide. The death of her best friend devastated Rita so much that it was what set Rita on her path to represent the truth. So seeing clear signs of abuse in the Savior send waves of recognition in a mere second through Rita. Instantly her career path flashed through her mind. Now Rita had never really paid attention to the aftermath of her articles but she had unconsciously noticed the ruins she left in her path. She was now remembering how one article of hers had outed a male muggleborn who was in a relationship with a male pureblood. Normally in their society homosexuality was not seen as a problem as there were potions to solve the issue of not having kids. However, the fact that the male pureblood was a respectful member of the House of Black was what ruined it. She vaguely recalled an obituary of the male muggleborn not two days after, having committed suicide. If she was in her human form her face would have instantly paled and she would have vomited right away. Quickly she flew to a secluded place and instantly transformed back, and curled up into a ball. Suddenly her well-tuned barriers she had around her mind shattered and more instances like the muggleborn incident flashed through her mind. How? How could she have strayed so far from her path. She had vowed to herself to champion the truth and help others. What she had done with her life had been the complete opposite. She had ruined countless lives and I guess you could say she was responsible for the fall of the House of Black, considering that the male Pureblood was none other than Arcturus Black, the head of the House of Black at the time. Suddenly she heard leaves crunch behind her and she turned, seeing the Savior, no Harry Potter staring at her with concern in his eyes.
"Miss? Are you okay?" Harry said.
"I-I'm fine little one. I, just realized how bad I've been." Rita said, her voice thick with emotional pain.
Now, Harry Potter was always sensitive to people's emotions. You had to be such when you grew around people like the Dursleys. It was with that emotional sensitivity that he walked up to the woman and gave her a hug. In an instant Rita Skeeter's emotional barriers fell and she broke down. She didn't know for how long that she cried for but when she finished she readjusted her glasses and looked at the young boy.
"You okay now miss?" Harry asked.
"Yes young one." She said before getting an idea.
"Harry, how would you like to leave your relatives?" Rita asked.
Instantly Harry was shocked, because how could this woman possibly know his name? He had never seen her before so there was possibly a chance he met her when he was a baby.
"How do you know my name Miss?" Harry asked.
"Where I am from everybody knows your name little one. You're pretty famous actually. In fact, would you like to hear a story?" Rita asked.
Harry nodded eagerly, never really being told a story. So with that Rita began to spun the first truthful story she had spun in a long time. She told him the story of magic and a boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle. A boy who seemed to be very bitter to the world and didn't have many friends. She told him of how Tom slowly evolved into rather bad person, named Lord Voldemort. How Lord Voldemort waged war on the Wizarding World in retaliation for the pain that he had experienced. She then told him the story of James Charlus Potter and Lily Marie Evans. Two complete polar opposites of each other. How James Potter was a prankster whose pranks had tormented other people. How Lily Evans grew up not knowing of magic until her first best friend, Severus Snape, told her of it. How James Potter fell in love with Lily the day that they met and how Lily vehemently rejected him. How James made lifelong friends with three other boys; Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. Going forward, how in fifth year one prank by James Potter ruined eight years of friendship in one shattering second. How Severus Snape regretted what he said to Lily Evans but felt that she would never forgive him even though she had already did. She told them of how James Potter proposed to Lily Evans the day they graduated. She then told him of how one Harry James Potter was born to two very happy parents but ended up swept into the war that Lord Voldemort razed. How Lily and James went into hiding with little Harry after finding out Voldemort was after their child. How Sirius Black had allegedly betrayed them and gave their location to Voldemort. Lastly she told him of how one little boy, Harry, managed to defeat the powerful Lord Voldemort by simply surviving a curse that nobody had ever survived before, telling him she expected it had to do with his mother, a genius in her own right.
When she was done young Harry was staring at her in awe and adoration, stirring something that she hadn't felt in a long time.
"But why did Tom turn out that way? Did nobody try to help him?" Harry asked.
That question made Rita think. She thought of the years at Hogwarts were she was a fellow student alongside Tom and realized that nobody attempted to help him. In fact, Dumbledore, the Transfiguration teacher at the time, seemed pretty antagonistic to him
"Sadly little one nobody did." Rita said.
"So, am I that Harry? I mean I can't possibly be, I'm just Harry." Harry said.
"You are in fact that Harry. The proof is your scar on your forehead. That's where the curse hit you." Rita said.
"Oh." Harry said matter of fact.
"So, what do you think little one? Do you want to leave this place? I must admit that doing so would require me to reveal your abuse to the Wizarding World. Are you alright with that?" Rita asked.
"I'm alright with that Miss. As long as it gets me away from here. But uh what am I to call you miss?" Harry asked.
"I'm Rita Skeeter but after this it's more than likely going to be mom." Rita said.
A Personal Revelation and Truths Revealed
By Rita Skeeter
I am sure by now most of you, my readers, now that my stories tend to be very big and extravagant. However, some of you tell you that I exaggerate the truth and sometimes and even lie. I am very sorry to say but that is the truth my readers. Over the past fifty to sixty years that I have been your source of news I have exaggerated and even lied about the many things I have printed. I have ruined countless lives through this and I myself believe that I am no better than Voldemort. In fact, I believe I am worse because at least Voldemort's deeds were physical. I apologize to the countless people I have hurt with my articles and from now on I vow on my magic and blood to tell nothing but the truth in my articles. Now, what I have to say in this article will rock the foundations of Magical Britain for years to come but it must be said. This morning I told a little child a story that I must share with you. A long time ago back in 1938 I had begun my education at Hogwarts. However, I wasn't the only one who had done so as well. In fact, there was a rarity that year, a muggleborn had been sorted into Slytherin, at least at the time he was believed to be so. That boy was named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Now many of you may not recognize that name but soon you will. That young boy was bitter to the world, for reasons I'm not entirely sure. Not one person in the entirety of the school tried to help ease that bitterness. Sure he had people he could talk to but he did not treat them as friends, but rather as followers. As time passed the boy grew even more bitter to the world. Soon we graduated and parted ways. Not twenty years later the name Lord Voldemort had popped up. It was then that I as a relatively unknown reporter investigated. The information I had found perplexed me because it pointed towards Tom. It was actually during a random bout of boredom that I found the truth by rearranging Tom's name. It turns out that rearranged Tom Marvolo Riddle changes to I am Lord Voldemort. Now I could have shared this information with the world but it was around that time that I had grew a bit jaded. I decided to keep this information to myself. Years passed by and we come to the birth of Harry James Potter, our Savior. And soon after that the vanquishing of Lord Voldemort. It was again that my curiosity was peaked and I began to investigate the past of Lily Evans nee Potter and James Potter. I had found out a lot on the two but nothing to really tell me why or how young Harry survived the curse, although I had believed it had to be something on Mrs. Potter's part as all signs pointed to her being a practical genius. So with that I drew my attention away. That is until now. This morning an anonymous source had tipped me off to the location of one Harry James Potter. So immediately I headed off to where the location was. What met me there immediately brought back memories that I had locked away ever since I was young. When I got there I saw that Mr. Potter was severely abused. In fact, after getting permission from the little one to examine him, which if I might add he knew nothing of magic, I had found out that he had broken almost every single one of his bones at least once. Of course he had no outwardly scarring which was probably done to prevent others from noticing. What does it tell us readers when Albus Dumbledore had told us Mr. Potter was safe but in truth he wasn't at all? Can we really trust the Supreme Mugwump with our Savior, no Harry's wellbeing? We are very lucky that he hadn't started to turn out like one Tom Marvolo Riddle. We are lucky that he is still quite a happy little child who is curious about the world around him. That is why I have vowed to little Harry that I will be the one to take care of him from here. By the time the public gets this article I will have adopted one Harry James Potter as Harry James Potter-Skeeter. Do with that information what ye will but I will be playing hide and seek with my new six-year old child. This writer will turn her venomous quill on anyone who dares harm her new child, and that is not a threat but an assurance.
Rita had a rather hard time getting the article published through her Editor because of what it had in it. Thankfully Rita owned eighty percent of the shares of the Daily Prophet so she was able to force Barnaby into publishing it. After that she got an advanced copy to the Minister, who was eager to expedite her adoption request because he knew it would ruffle Dumbledore's feathers. While she was doing all this she was having an old friend babysit young Harry, one Minerva McGonagall. Rita's friendship with Minerva was an odd one to say mostly because they were a Slytherin and a Gryffindor. Even back in her day the two houses fought like cats and dogs but Minerva and Rita seemed to strike up a friendship despite that. However as Rita became jaded they slowly drifted apart. So it was safe to say that Minerva was rather shocked when Rita had shown up on her doorstep with Harry and an advanced copy of the Daily Prophet. She was enraged when she read the article and quickly agreed to watch over Harry. When Rita left to see the Minister Minerva gave her a passing remark with a smile.
"You've changed Rita, quite for the better." Minerva said.
That one sentence gave Rita hope so she rushed to the Minister. After the business with the Minister she had other things to do, that is she had to get some stuff for young Harry. Having been given his measurements when she examined him she got him new sets of clothes so she could gleefully burn the rags that he was given by his relatives. Along with that she got him some magical books to read as young Harry had told her that he loved to read. Afterwards she stopped at Gringotts to update her will and her family tree. To her surprise her family tree had magically updated to include Harry on it. So it was safe to say that magic approved of the adoption. With all that done for now she headed to Minerva's to pick up Harry
The years passed by rather quickly but weren't a blur to Rita. When the article had gotten out Magical Britain was practically thrown into chaos. A lot were calling for Dumbledore's head but personally she figured it was best if Dumbledore stayed as it was better the evil you know than the evil you don't. It was with that belief that she made it so that Dumbledore was only stripped of his title as Supreme Mugwump and kept his seat as Chief of the Wizegamot. Of course she forced Dumbledore to have the Dursleys tried in magical court which led to them being sentenced to Azkaban for life and Dudley was forced to live with his aunt. Minerva of course visited often, becoming Aunt Minny to little Harry. It was around eight or nine that Harry made his first best friend in one Blaise Zabini. Rita knew of Blaise's mother, Aeana Zabini. She was known to have married six times in the past seven years and was rumored to have killed her husbands but Rita knew the truth. Aeana was cursed to have her significant other die shortly after marriage. Each and every one of those men and women that Aeana had married had loved her deeply and were willing to die for her. By now though Aeana had given up and was now completely focused on her child. Harry and Blaise were quite adorable together and Rita could swear that despite his age Harry was absolutely smitten with Blaise. She guessed the whole Potter First Love rumor was true, that all Potters fall in love with the one at first sight. That would explain James' determination to date Lily Evans. She figured she wait until Harry was twelve or thirteen to tell him the truth of his feelings. Twas better to let the friendship develop more before it became a relationship. Of course she had a rather hard time convincing Minerva and Aeana against planning their wedding this early. She'd much rather allow Harry and Blaise to plan it on their own than their parents and aunt. She was told it was a better experience that way. Another interesting development was when six months after adopting Harry he declared he was going to follow in her footsteps. At first Rita thought it was a phase but Harry was very adamant about it. So on his seventh birthday she gifted him his own enchanted notepad and quill. Of course this one wasn't a Quick Notes quill, something she had ditched immediately after adopting Harry, but a Full Dictation quill. It would fully write what it heard rather than an abridged version and the pad just like hers would float right beside Harry when it was active. Rita found it rather adorable when Harry demanded an interview with Blaise who reluctantly agreed. Soon enough the time came for Harry to head to Hogwarts. Aeana was on Wizegamot business so she asked her to take Blaise with them to Diagon Alley so with that Blaise came along. The trip wasn't that exciting except for the where they found out that Harry's wand was the brother wand of Tom's. Quickly after a month passed and it was time for Harry to go to Hogwarts.
An eleven year Harry Potter-Skeeter was rather ecstatic about today. Why? Well it was because he was getting to go to Hogwarts. He wondered what stories he would write there and if any of them would be noteworthy like his mother's. Over the five years that he's been her son her reputation had turned around completely. No longer did she exaggerate the truth rather she told it as it was. This actually had the opposite effect of what his mother had expected as it made her thousands of times more popular and even now internationally read.
"Harry! Are you up? We have to leave in ten minutes!" His mother shouted from the other side of the door.
"Yes mom! I was checking to see if I had my spare notepad and quill!" Harry replied after tying his shoulder-length black hair into a ponytail.
"You do realize that even if you forgot it you could send Hedwig to pick it up for you right?" His mother replied.
She was referring to his snowy owl that he got from Diagon Alley. Hedwig was the most gorgeous thing he had ever seen, and very protective of him as well.
"Yeah but like you said, it's best to always be prepared on the moment rather than be unprepared." Harry said before closing his suitcase and shrinking his main notepad and putting it in his pocket with his main quill.
With that he grabbed his suitcase and headed out to meet with his mother. From there they apparated to platform nine and three quarters where they met up with Blaise and his mother.
"Hey Blaise! You ready for this year?" Harry asked excitedly.
"Absolutely Harry, can't wait till we get sorted." The other boy said just as eagerly as the other.
The two adults chuckled at them before turning to speak to them.
"You two might want to hurry before we get surrounded by your mother's adoring fans." Aeana said
"Honestly, if I had realized how annoying fame was when I was younger I would have kept my name anonymous or used a pen name." Rita said with a roll of her eyes, causing Harry to chuckle.
"Laugh it up mister but you have your own kind of fame so you might want to hurry as well." Rita said.
Harry nodded quickly and dragged Blaise along with him into the train. They quickly found an empty compartment where they settled in. Harry then quickly brought out his quill and notepad and activated its enchantments. Normally it would then start writing anything that was spoken or seen but Harry had his mother enchant his quill with her custom spell that made the quill require a command to start writing.
"Honestly Harry people are going to find you weird with that thing floating alongside you." Blaise said, shaking his head.
"So? A good investigative reporter always has his or her pen ready. Besides I asked mom if I could get an article published in the Daily Prophet. She agreed but said that she got to select the topic." Harry said.
"Really? What was the topic?" Blaise asked.
"She basically said that I had to interview various students to get their opinions of the teachers or the magical world. She said that the parents would probably appreciate it since they don't really know what's going on nowadays." Harry said.
The conversation devolved from that into a game of Exploding Snaps. About ten minutes later the compartment door opened to reveal a bushy haired girl.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking for a place to sit." The girl said.
"Oh no, it's fine. You can sit here if you want. It's not like anyone else is coming." Harry said with Blaise nodding.
The girl thanked them before putting her luggage up in the rack and then sat by the window. Harry gave the girl a look before realizing something.
"You're a muggleborn aren't you?" Harry asked, shocking the girl.
"Yes, how did you know that?" She asked.
"Well to be blunt your appearance, mostly your hair." Harry said, causing the girl to instantly reach for her hair.
"What's wrong with it." She said, sounding offended.
"Nothing! It's just most people who know magic from birth would have straightened their hair by now with magic since the spells for unknotting hair are rather unpleasant." Harry said.
"Oh. Are they really that unpleasant?" the girl asked, intellectual curiosity showing in her eyes.
"Oh boy are they. It feels like it's trying to rip your hair out. When I was young I had really messy hair that knotted really bad. Thankfully my mom straightened my hair afterwards." Harry said.
"It did make your hair look a hell of a lot better. Before it looked like a rat's nest." Blaise commented causing Harry to glare.
"What! It did!" Blaise protested.
This caused the girl to laugh at the both of them, causing the glare from Harry to dissolve. Suddenly after Harry got an idea.
"Hey! Would you mind if I interviewed you?" Harry asked.
The girl immediately looked confused and turned to Blaise for help. The look on Blaise's face practically told her to go with it.
"Alright I guess it couldn't hurt." The girl said.
"Yes! Interview start!" Harry said, and instantly the pad and quill floating by him glowed green.
It was actually around then that the girl actually noticed the quill and pad.
"Harry Potter-Skeeter here sitting down with one.." Harry said, giving a look to the girl.
"Hermione Jane Granger" the now dubbed Hermione said automatically.
"Ah, Hermione. Shakespeare?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, my parents were big Shakespeare fans." She said offhandedly.
"Neat. Anyway onwards we go. So, I'm sitting here with one Hermione Jane Grange, a new muggleborn student on her way to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. So, Hermione what was it like when you discovered magic?" Harry asked.
"It was pretty amazing actually. Ever since I was young I knew I was different from the occasional book that seemed to float down to me when I really wanted it or when I was unharmed from falling out of a tree. When Professor McGonagall confirmed it I was ecstatic." Hermione said.
"Books? Sounds like we have a promising Ravenclaw here. So you've met my Aunt Minny then. What did you think of her?" Harry asked.
"Well, she seemed strict but her tone had an underlying warmth to it. She's someone I definitely wouldn't mind teaching me." Hermione said.
"That's Aunt Minny for you. So, what did you think of your first trip to Diagon Alley?" Harry asked.
"It was absolutely amazing. All the magic being used openly was so stunning! I wanted to stay so much that my parents had to drag me out of the place." Hermione said, Harry chuckling at that.
"That's usually any person's first reaction. So, what do you expect to get out of being in the Wizarding World?" Harry asked.
"I'm hoping to be able to join a community where I will make many life-long friends. Growing up I didn't have many friends because of my intelligence." Hermione said
"Once again, another Ravenclaw trait." Harry said with a laugh before continuing.
"Well, wrapping this up it's safe to say you've found your first friend Miss Granger. Thanks for the interview." Harry said.
"Thanks for interviewing me." Hermione said with a smile.
"Interview end." Harry said, causing the quill to glow red and stop writing.
The pad then floated down into Harry's hands and he looked over the transcript. He gave it a few look overs before giving it a nod of approval, which prompted the pad to float back up into the air.
"May I ask what that is?" Hermione asked.
"I don't mind. It's an enchanted pad and Dictation Quill. The pad follows me around as well as the Dictation Quill. Basically the quill writes down what it hears and sees during the interview but only of me and the person or people I'm interviewing. Normally however the Dictation Quill is used for note taking and writes everything down but my mom enchanted it to be specific." Harry said.
"So who is your mom?" Hermione asked.
"She's Rita Skeeter, a rather famous reporter for the Daily Prophet, Britain's Magical newspaper. She's loved both nationally and internationally because she only reports the truth." Harry said, brimming with pride about his mother.
"She actually used to be quite different about five years ago. But Harry here changed that." Blaise said, causing Harry to blush at the unintended praise.
Hermione, not sure what to say just nodded and later joined them in a game of Exploding Snaps. About ten minutes later the train started moving, signifying that they were on their way to Hogwarts. They decided to take a break from their game of Exploding Snaps and read some of their course books, wanting to get ahead of the curriculum. About three hours into the ride a pompous blonde haired boy barged into their compartment.
"Harry Potter's on the train. Since this is the last compartment I've checked you must be him." The boy said.
Indiscreetly Harry had his notepad switch to a blank page and start writing.
"Yes I am and you?" Harry asked.
"You must know who I am? Draco Malfoy? Scion of the Malfoy House." The now identified Draco said.
"That should mean something to me?" Harry asked, causing Draco's cheeks to tinge pink in anger.
"Why yes it should. I'm offering to be your friend to help you avoid being part of the wrong crowd like that mudblood over there." Draco said, causing Blaise to gasp and Harry's eyes to narrow.
Harry had known very well who this person was but he wanted to confirm a few rumors. Apparently Draco was rumored to be very unlike his father who was a lot subtler and less offensive in public. Lo and behold the rumors were very true. Harry wondered what Lucius Malfoy would think of his son acting like this.
"Well, I'm assuming you know who my mother is?" Harry asked causing Draco to sneer.
"Yes, a mudblood as well." Draco said causing part of the window to crack.
"My biological mother yes. But my adoptive mother is Rita Skeeter." Harry said, causing Draco to pale and rush out of the compartment.
"What was that about? It seemed to get tenser when the word Mudblood was mentioned." Hermione said.
"Mudblood is a derogatory term for muggleborns. He's practically saying your blood is dirt to him. Some purebloods think this as well but they do not say the word mudblood knowing it is political suicide to do so." Blaise said.
"Then why was Draco saying it?" Hermione asked.
"Because he's completely different from his father of whom I am going to inform of this." Harry said, carefully removing the page with Draco's words on it, having turned off the quill as soon as Draco left.
"Do you even know where his father lives?" Hermione asked.
"Kinda. I've been to a few events held by him as a tag-along with my mother. But that doesn't matter cause I have Hedwig." Harry said.
"Hedwig?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, Harry's owl. She's actually really bright. Just tell her who the letter is for and she'll find them no problem. It doesn't help that Harry spoils her." Blaise said.
"Blaise! Is that jealousy I hear? Are you jealous of an owl?" Harry said in mock shock, causing Blaise's face to tinge pink in embarrassment.
"I am not jealous of an owl!" Blaise said.
"It's okay Blaise. I'll spoil you this winter." Harry said in a baby voice.
Blaise's response was to harrumph and turn away from Harry to face the window. Hermione's response however was to break out into a peal of laughter. The rest of the ride wasn't that different besides them gaining another friend in one Neville Longbottom. Harry managed to convince Neville to let him interview him but he was shocked to hear a few things. For one, apparently it was very clear that his uncle abused him. That made Harry remember his own Uncle. The second thing was that his grandmother dotted on him a lot but she held a rather fixed view of the child. Apparently she expected him to grow up and be just like his father to the point that he was given his father's wand. Which if he recalled from Ollivander was a really, really bad thing. Wands choose the wizard; this wasn't a saying that Ollivander said to mystify the wizard. Wands get very temperamental when they are used by a wizard who is not a fit for them. Thankfully by Neville's tales of attempts at magic it was apparent that this wand very reluctantly worked for him. This signified that part of the wand fit Neville and due to the extreme reluctance it was probably the core. Now how did Harry learn of this? Well, when he was younger he was interested in Wand Lore and had his mother purchase a book from Mister Ollivander. It was all interesting but not a profession he wanted to go into as it took ages of practice. After Harry finished the interview he turned to Neville.
"Neville, you need a new wand." Harry said.
"Wha-" Neville started.
"Your wand is very, very reluctant to work with you. Wands choose the wizard Neville not the other way around. Please promise me when you get to Hogwarts you'll tell your head of house about this?" Harry asked.
"Fine, I guess. But Gram's going to be mad. She wanted me to use my father's wand." Neville said, looking glum.
"Just tell her that you'll never be her son. It is impossible for one person to be another. Sure you can invent another person and be that but you can't completely be someone else." Harry said.
Neville nodded with a confidence he didn't have before which made Harry smile. Right after that another person came in. She had almost neon purple hair and eyes that matched that. She looked to be a Seventh year.
"Hey look little firsties! Can I please crash in here? The boys are going crazy over me." The woman asked.
"Uh, sure." Harry said.
At first it looked like she wasn't going to fit in the last spot open on either side but she shrunk her body down to fit, causing all of them to stare in shock.
"You're a Metamorphmagus aren't you?" Harry asked
"A Metamorph-whatsit?" Hermione asked.
"A Metamorphmagus it means I can change my appearance at will." The woman said, now looking like a third year.
It was with that, that Harry begged her to let him interview her. By his attitude the woman deduced that he was Harry Potter-Skeeter and commented that only a Skeeter would beg to interview someone. She agreed with a giant smile and they began the interview. The first thing that Harry asked her was her name. She told him it was Nymphadora Tonks, but begged to call her Tonks as she despised her first name. He then asked her what it felt like to be a Metamorphmagus.
"It can actually feel pretty weird at times. When you change your looks and body structure it feels like your body reverts to putty before reforming. Of course being a Metamorphmagus has a downside. Because your body is constantly shifting its molecules you end up extremely clumsy. I can't tell you how many times I've tripped on practically nothing." Tonks said.
Then Harry asked her about her professors which she liked and which she didn't.
"Personally my favorite has to be Pamona Sprout. But that's probably because I'm a Hufflepuff. She's really nice and if her students just need a shoulder to cry on she's always there. My least has to be Snape. He's biased to anyone but his Slytherins. But then again he's the Potions teacher and potions require intense watch or something terrible could go wrong or so my mother says. Also it doesn't help that people treat the Slytherins rather horribly." Tonks said.
Well Harry figured he should file that away for later. Especially if he ends up in his mother's old house. Harry asked her a few other questions like what friends she has or what her favorite subject is before asking the last question; what does she want to do when she graduates.
"I wanna be an Auror. Despite the fact that I'm clumsy I think it'd be great to be one. Just think about it, helping people wherever you can and fighting bad wizards. It seems rather cool. Of course my mother wanted me to be a Healer like her but I just don't have the aptitude for Medical Magic like I do for Defense Magic." Tonks said.
Harry then stopped the quill and saw that they were nearing Hogsmeade so he put away his Quill and Pad. An announcement came telling them to leave their stuff on the train as it'll be brought up on its own. With that they all threw on their robes, not bothering to change the clothes under and headed out. When they got out Tonks waved goodbye and headed off to the carriages with her other friends. Harry, Hermione, Blaise, and Neville were called over by a man that looked like a half-giant. They were then herded into a boat which then started moving on its own. Soon after that they reached some sort of docks under the castle where Harry spotted Aunt Minny waiting for them. Of course he guessed here that she'd want him to call her Professor McGonagall in public. The professor instructed them that they were to wait out here for a few minutes before they were called in to be sorted. That caused a murmur of conversations to pop up, wondering what the sorting process was. Harry and Blaise knew it was nothing dangerous as their mothers told them that much. When they were brought into the Great Hall Harry was awed by the enchanted ceiling. He then directed his attention to the stool at the center of the room. On top of it was a hat and right after noticing that the hat began to sing. After it was done Harry was rather shocked. They were to be sorted by a hat after all. One by one they were called up by their names. Hannah Abbot was the first one and she was sorted into Hufflepuff. McGonagall went down the list and soon hit Hermione's who was sorted into Ravenclaw. When it hit Neville's he was sorted into Hufflepuff. Soon enough it was Harry's turn.
"Is that him?"
"The one with the floating notepad and quill?"
Floating notepad and quill? Oh wait, he had activated the enchantments sometime after getting into the Great Hall.
"I would die for that hair it looks so nice." Was one voice that made Harry blush beet red.
Soon Harry reached the sorting hat and he put it on.
Hmmm what do we have here? Such an inquisitive mind here.
'Are you the hat?' Harry thought.
Why yes I am. And before you ask I would love an interview. Not many people like to get my opinion nowadays.
'Awesome!' Harry thought.
I can see you're also rather ambitious. Of course one would have to be after being raised by Rita Skeeter. You know you remind me of both of your mothers when they were young. Lily was so inquisitive and curious about the world around her and Rita wanted to champion the truth and succeed. So where to put you? Definitely not Gryffindor. While you are very brave you like to think before you jump and that wouldn't do well in the House of Lions. Not Hufflepuff, had it been five years ago then it would be a sure fire thing as they would have accepted you as one of their own and coddled you. Better it be…
"Slytherin!" The hat shouted.
The Hall wasn't surprised to say the least when they consider who Harry's adoptive mother was. So with that the Slytherin table broke into a cacophony of cheers and gladly welcomed Harry into their fold. One in particular, a Pansy Parkinson, dragged him to the seat right next to her. Now Harry had brief meetings with Pansy at the various events that his mother dragged him to saying and he quotes 'I am not suffering alone kid.'. Pansy was a rather nice girl, always caring about others and didn't mind speaking her mind so Harry didn't really mind her.
"Hey there Harry! Welcome to the house of snakes." Pansy said before noticing Draco sneering at Harry.
Harry immediately intervened because knowing Pansy she would sock Draco in the face.
"Let him be Pansy. I have a little something for his father that will make everything better." Harry said.
"You didn't." Pansy said, knowing very well of Harry's tendency to take notes of everything.
"I did." Harry said with a smile.
Right after that the last person, which so happened to be Blaise, was sorted into Slytherin. Blaise plopped a seat right next to Harry and gave a friendly smile to Pansy.
"So anything happen over the Summer Pans?" Blaise asked.
Blaise had known Pansy a bit more than Harry but that was only because one of his mother's previous spouses was Pansy's aunt so they were cousins-in-law.
"Nothing really. Though Harry I got to say your mother's article on Dolores Umbridge was absolutely brilliant." Pansy said with her rare vicious smile that she used when someone she hated got their just desserts.
Dolores Umbridge used to be the Undersecretary of the Minister but the Minister had suspected her doing something foul behind the scenes and asked Harry's mother to investigate. Lo and behold Rita had found out that Dolores was using Blood Quills, a forbidden and illegal artifact only useable on consenting parties when forming a contract that was overseen by Goblins, on her employees. Yes, despite the fact that Magical Britain seems to dislike magical creatures they have a close relationship with Goblins. I mean you wouldn't want to be untrusting of people who handle your money. On top of that Dolores was siphoning money away from the Ministry funds which explained the cuts in the DMLE, or the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. All that got her life in Azkaban and she was immediately replaced by Pansy's mother, Arturia Parkinson, Dolores' former secretary who was repeatedly subjected to Blood Quills. This was the reason that Pansy despised Dolores Umbridge.
"All in the day's work of the Justice Reporter." Blaise joked, causing Harry to groan.
"Ugh, me and my mother hate that nickname." Harry said.
After Rita had turned over a new leaf and proved that she only wanted the truth, the public gave her that name and the name irritated Rita only because it made her immensely more popular to the point people wanted her autograph.
After the feast finished they were led by their two prefects to the dungeons where they met with a brick wall that had a snake carving on it.
"This is the entrance to the Slytherin Common room. The password as of now is Hierophant." The female prefect, Tanya Callahan said, the snake separating the walls causing an entrance to form.
When they were led in they were met with Professor Snape as well as the current Head Girl, Ophelia Capulet. After everyone was in and the door closed Ophelia took a step forward.
"As your prefects must have told you I am Ophelia Capulet, current Head Girl. I am here to welcome you to Slytherin, the House of Snakes. Now, most of you while being here may be subjected to discrimination, although not as severe as four years ago thanks to one of our alumni." Ophelia said before looking at Harry when saying alumni.
"But as I was saying. This is Slytherin and Slytherin for the next seven years will be your family. If you have disputes with your fellow housemates bring it up to either me or Professor Snape. But do not, I REPEAT do not act out your dispute out in public. Slytherin must show a front of unity in the face of everyone else. If you do get into a fight with a fellow house mate in public I will let you know Professor Snape will not hesitate to punish you." Ophelia said before taking a step back.
Professor Snape stepped forward and produced a stack of papers before handing them out.
"These are your class schedules." Snape started with a drawl before continuing.
"I expect you all to be on time to all of your classes including most of all mine or I will be…. Displeased." Snape said.
"Breakfast starts at six o'clock and ends at eight. Lunch starts at eleven and ends at twelve and dinner starts at seven and ends at nine. Curfew is at nine thirty for first years through fourth and I expect you to be in bed by no later than eleven. If you have any problems, please let me know and I will do my best to take care of it unless it is a simple problem that even a Gryffindor can solve." Snape said, sneering at the word Gryffindor.
Right after that Snape turned and headed to his office which seemed to be inside the Slytherin Common room. The prefects then split the first years up into male and female and led them to their respective dorms. There they all settled in and got ready for bed. Before Harry went to sleep however he wrote a letter to Lucius Malfoy.
Dear Lord Malfoy,
I am writing to inform you of an altercation I had with your son today on the Hogwarts Express. The actions your son had committed are unbefitting, as you will agree, of the heir of House Malfoy. As I have been sorted into your son's House I would like this situation rectified as soon as possible if you so kindly will as I do not want to besmirch the name of House Slytherin, House Potter, or even House Malfoy. With this letter I have enclosed a copy transcript of the altercation today and wish for you to look over it. As you know my mother is Rita Skeeter and she has asked me to interview various students and ask what they think of the wizarding world and the teachers at Hogwarts. I would dislike to have to accidentally slip the real transcript into the stack of papers I give my mother this December. Now even if I did I would let her know that it is of no fault of yours but I would not wish to effectively ruin young Draco's standing. Please get back to me at the earliest you can.
Sincerely,
Harry James Potter-Skeeter
Heir Skeeter
Heir Potter
With the end of that he opened the window only window in the room that led to outside and Hedwig flew in. He then handed her the letter and told her to deliver it to Lucius Malfoy. After she set off Harry settled into bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Alright! First Chapter done! I really loved writing this! I might have gotten some ideas for HCM but I'm not entirely sure. I just know I'll attempt to update this as soon as possible. The floating pad and quill was an idea from a friend on my Author Facebook, even though he's also my friend on my actual Facebook. I hope you guys enjoy this story as I enjoyed writing it.