While Skeeter transfigured the two office chairs into large, overstuffed lounge chairs, Hermione pulled a small radio from her robe pocket to give her team a brief update. All of them had earpieces that they were wearing for emergencies, disillusioned as to be invisible. Luna thought the whole thing great fun. The members of the SGC were so accustomed to wearing them in the field that they hardly noticed.

Daniel quietly reported back that the Minister had forced everyone back into the ballroom, and the majority had gone back to gossiping and dancing. A select few, however, couldn't let their eyes stray from the door that they knew would produce her for more than a few seconds.

Teal'c let her know that he was still outside should she need him. She assured him that if anything were to happen, she would let him deal with what she left of the reporter in whatever manner seemed fit. She heard Skeeter snort at that. Finally, there was no more stalling to do. She crossed over to one of the loungers, and prepared a cup of tea.

"The Grindelwald war. I know that it was Dumbledore that fought and won against him in the end. I know that his sister Arianna was killed in a three way duel between Albus, Aberforth, and Gridelwald. That's really the extent of my knowledge. I'd thought to do more in depth research in the week between sitting my NEWT's and the leaving feast, but we both know how that turned out."

"Oh, you missed out on that. But we'll come back to it." Skeeter sat back with her tea cup. "Did you know that Minerva McGonagall started teaching at Hogwarts when she was twenty three years old? She took a couple of gap years after graduation to travel, and returned to apprentice the then Transfiguration teacher in preparation to take over."

"So," Hermione reasoned out, "McGonagall apprenticed with Dumbledore, who was set to take over as Headmaster when Dippet retired. I know she became the official Transfiguration teacher in 1956."

Skeeter nodded and set her cup on the table between them. "Right. She came back in '52, spent four years as the old goat's apprentice, and took over. Now, want to hazard a guess as to WHY it took her five years to go back to Hogwarts?"

"This is starting to get annoying, Rita." Hermione laid the emphasis on the other witches name, dripping with sarcasm. "I thought you wanted to tell me what happened, not throw three sentences at me and make me play guessing games."

"You don't think like a journalist, Hermione. Taking jumps in logic is how we reason things out."

"You mean like how a fourteen year old girl is shagging at least three other teenagers?"

"No, I didn't have proof behind it and I told you that. I mean, how an eighteen year old girl was in love with her professor."

Hermione felt her temper rising at a rate that would not be good for Skeeters chances at getting out of that office in one piece. "I did NOT invite you to bring up my situation with Snape!"

"What if I was bringing up Minerva's infatuation with Albus?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open in surprise. She knew it looked ridiculous, but she couldn't seem to help herself. "She… you… but… WHAT?"

Leaning back, looking smug, Skeeter nodded. "Oh, yes, it's true. This time I did my research. Our little alley cat decided she was in love with her teacher in her final year. She took the time to travel to try and get over it. When she didn't, she decided to get as close to the object of her fantasy as she could. How much closer could she get than as his apprentice?"

"That doesn't make any sense, though. If she and Albus were lovers, what would she POSSIBLY have had against Severus and me?"

"That's where this little fiasco gets interesting. They weren't lovers. He told her it could never happen while he was Headmaster and her direct superior. Even when she was made Deputy Headmistress, he wouldn't give in. What you did with Snape was step on an almost fifty year obsession that the woman had with a dead man.

"Tell me, in the days before that last one, did you notice anything different about her? Anything at all?"

Although it had been ten years, Hermione was never one to forget details. "A little. I was still trying to get used to the children then, and Severus had been distancing himself from me, so I was worried about that. But she seemed… withdrawn? I remember thinking that she might have had trouble sleeping."

"This one little bit is just speculation, but I think she knew about you and Snape way before she lost her mind over it. I have a feeling that, in her mind, watching you with him, and then with the children, was a bit like what it would have been if she'd gotten what she'd wanted for so many years. I think in a way, she was living through her favorite student. You reminded her so much of herself, that she was able to be happy for you, and not interfere, because at least one of you got the fairy tale ending."

"But if that were the case, then why would she have turned on me so suddenly? It doesn't make any sense," Hermione asked.

"It does if you have the rest of the legitimate, fact checked information."

Hermione made a 'get on with it' gesture.

"She was the executor of Dumbledore's will. She had, in the two years since his death, been slowly going through his things, cataloging what went where and to whom. I suspect that a few days before she blew up at you was when she found the letter."

"What letter?"

Skeeter held up a very old looking envelope she'd dug out of her bag. "This letter. From Gridelwald to Dumbledore. Or rather, from Gellert to his lover."

Hermione's jaw threatened to come unhinged again. Skeeter nodded.

"I know, right? I mean, it didn't really matter that the old coot was gay. That's not that much of a surprise, when you think about it, though it does make the interest he took in Potter a little creepy. But it does explain why a woman that had been strung along for fifty years would take out her anger on the first available target. It was almost just dumb luck that it was you.

"Fifty years of repressing her true feelings for the man, of never moving on, never getting married or having children, and she finds out that not only did he not love her the way she loved him. He never did, and if he had lived, he never would. That old man used her like he used everyone else in his life. And I imagine it took a few days for her to wrap her head around it, and once she finally did, you happened to stumble into her way. It could have been anyone she shredded that day, but it was you.

"The perfect embodiment of everything she wanted, and suddenly realized that she never, ever could have had. You had everything she wanted. The kids, the man, the bright future. And she couldn't stand it. So she took everything she could away from you."

She refilled her cup, refreshing her parched throat and giving Hermione time to process everything that had just been said. A minute later, she continued.

"She tried to get Snape fired too, you know. That was her big downfall, because once she went to the Governors to try to force him out, she had to tell them everything she did to you. When they saw how unglued she'd gotten, they had her removed as Headmistress. Flitwick's been Headmaster since then. She's spent the last ten years in one of Dumbledore's properties, digging through every piece of parchment she can lay her paws on, trying to prove it isn't true," here, Rita smirked at Hermione.

"And you. I did listen to your goody two shoes rant a few minutes ago. I think you can see how the way your life turned out is THE ultimate revenge for what she did. She set out to destroy you, girl, and instead, you turned your life into the biggest fantasy she could ever aspire to. You have loving children that you adore. You've got to have at least a decent job with your resume. Nothing she did would have kept any government in the world from trying to hire you, so you have to have been able to handpick what you wanted to do. And that man you turned up here with? I needed a glass of ice water, he was so yummy. You got everything, she got nothing. You win."

"Oh Rita," Hermione buried her face in her hands. "That almost makes it worse. Severus broke my heart when he left me. I don't know if I've ever really gotten over it. But we were together only a handful of months. To find out the man that you'd loved for fifty YEARS had been using you… No wonder she lost it."

"You can NOT actually feel bad for her. God damned Gryffindor's and their loyalty."

"I do, a bit. Not enough to forgive her, or really justify it. But it's almost like the woman that attacked me that day wasn't really the McGonagall I knew. The woman that invited me to call her Minerva was destroyed by reading that letter and, I guess, it's almost like they're two separate people. "

She wiped away a bit of moisture from her eyes. "I really don't want to say this, but thank you. You were right, I did need to know. It's like, I can remember the Professor that I trusted and looked up to for so long with the fondness I used to feel. I know that inside her, she still had that ability for hatred that eventually came out. But it doesn't have to darken the memory that I have of before. Now, if that's all?" She stood to leave.

"Not so fast, Granger. I have some more information that might make it a little easier to go back out there."

There it was, that gods forsaken sighing again. "What now, Skeeter?"

"I interviewed everyone for this information. Everyone. Okay, not Snape, he threw a jar of something vile at my head the one time I tried to ask, but everyone else. I think you should know some of what your friends said. I know," she held up a hand to keep Hermione from arguing, "It won't change your mind about coming back here. I can't blame you there. But it might make the rest of the shit you went through a little less awful. Hey, I was right about the McGonagall thing, wasn't I?"

"Fine. Let's get this over with, I really DO want to get out of this office at some point tonight."

"Great." Skeeter pulled a notebook out of her bag, and flipped it open. "Who to start with, the obvious okay?

"Potter and Weasley. You weren't wrong about them thinking of you like one of the boys. They both said that they thought you'd go away somewhere for a few weeks, forgive them, and move in to the Burrow, or that horrible Grimmauld place with the kids. They claim that they didn't do anything to help at the time because they were both so shocked that you were 'shacking up with Snape' that they didn't know what to do. Morons. I have a suspicion from talking to Ronald that he was also seriously jealous that you broke up with him to sleep with Snape."

"But I DIDN'T," Hermione almost yelled, incensed. "We broke up because he bored me stiff, and he hated being around me when I was studying. And I'm ALWAYS studying. I didn't… start seeing Severus until months later."

Skeeter nodded. "What did I say? Morons. That goes for the entire gender, by the way. Well, mostly. You did have one that was desperate to try to find you. I mean, everyone I interviewed asked me to pass along that they wanted to speak to you if I found you, but Longbottom was almost fanatical about it."

"Neville? But… why?"

"He wouldn't say, and I didn't push. But he gave me a letter to give you. And when I didn't find you, he sent another one. He's sent me a letter to give to you every three months for the last ten years."

She paused to pull out a large stack of envelopes tied together with ribbon. She handed them to Hermione. "If you don't mind, at least send him an owl telling him to cut it out. I've had to trundle those things around with me every damned where on the off chance that I'd run into you. It's been a pain in my ass."

Hermione took a moment to look at her name written in Neville's familiar handwriting on the front of the top envelope. She then shoved them all in her magically enhanced robe pocket. She'd used the same series of charms on them as she'd used on her beaded bag just after sixth year. It made the pockets bigger on the inside.

"What else?"

"Let's see. The Weseley girl, now there's a piece of work. I have no idea how that one didn't end up in Slytherin."

"What do you mean?"

"She was obviously concerned for you, but it seemed like an awful lot of that concern was more of the 'could this happen to me' type. I have no doubt there was at least a little bit of worry for your health and safety, but there was a LOT of wanting to know what you did and how, so she could skirt around the same situation if it came up. She's sneaky, that one.

"Then there's the Malfoy boy. I didn't really get him either. I got the very strong impression that he didn't think you'd really done anything wrong. But, Snape's his godfather, so maybe he thought that if the man was in a better mood, he'd get a better Christmas present or something. Who knows with that kid? I did hear some sort of noise about him owing you a life debt."

"There were a lot of those after the final battle."

"Yeah, no kidding. I asked him about it, too. I wanted to know if his owing you a life debt might mean he'd be interested in helping to find you."

"I take it he wasn't?"

"Not exactly, no. He seemed to think that if you wanted to hold him to the terms of the debt, you'd find him instead. He didn't seem wholly displeased by the idea, either. He also implied that you wouldn't be the type to call in a debt, something about you being too interested in doing the right thing without demanding payment for it."

"Well, how about that," Hermione mused. "Draco Malfoy, of all people, actually understood me. He was right, you know. I had no intention of calling in that debt. In the end, his father insisted on paying it for him, it's what brought me here tonight."

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me why?"

"I appreciate the information you've given me, Rita, but that doesn't mean I trust you. Was there anything else?"

"Oh, I have plenty other info, but that was the juiciest of it. Here." She handed over her notebook. "I have a copy in my vault. This has all the interviews I conducted, with my own quill this time. Everything is verbatim. I just thought you might like the highlights, so you could decide how to act in that circus out there. Peruse the rest at your leisure. I would like to ask a favor, though, and I am not going to act hurt if you turn it down."

"What would you possibly want from me after all this?"

"To have a way to forward any more information I get. People besides Longbottom occasionally send things to me for you. It clutters up my office."

Hermione stowed the notebook in her pocket, and gave Skeeter a considering look. "Okay. The Minister is going to be in touch with my boss. He can forward anything you want to give him to me. Anything else?"

"Just one more thing."

Rita Skeeter reached forward, grabbed Hermione by the sides of her face, and planted a kiss directly on her startled mouth. She pulled back and grinned. "It's been fun, Hermione. I'm almost going to miss having you as a project. And I'm going to have a good old time watching you in that ballroom tonight. Keep in touch, won't you?"

She then turned, and opened the door. Bill Weasley was crouched at her feet, having just finished dismantling the wards.

"Took you the whole time, didn't it. Yeah, my wards are the best. Toodles, kids." And she sashayed back towards the party.