Wow, it's been awhile since I've updated. This chapter doesn't contain a lot of C/H in it, any mention of them is in photographs. And the thing about the assistant in the beginning is just to show Rita's character, so I hope that isn't too confusing. It's not a part of the plot. I'd like to say, thanks so much for all the reviews and I really hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter I would weep with joy and buy my own snow cone machine and hire someone to make me snowcones every day. Since I currently have no snowcone nor am I weeping with joy it is safe to assume that I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 13

Rita Skeeter sat perfectly still in her chair, lightly sucking the tip of her quill. It was moments like this, she decided, that made her job worth it. Discovering that juicy little secret, ferreting out the truth, uncovering the lies, and when it suited her, weaving a few lies of her own. Sometimes she really thought her Animagus form should have been a spider, but a beetle was fine in its own way. She always got the… buzz… after all.

She laughed, a short bark of a laugh that quickly subsided when her assistant rushed over. "Do you need something?" the plain sprout of a young woman asked.

Rita smiled, knowing that it wasn't a pleasant smile. She hadn't smiled pleasantly since girlhood. "No, I'm fine." The plain woman walked away, and Rita bit the top of her quill again, reviewing in her mind what secrets she knew about her. Rita knew about everyone who worked for the Daily Prophet. She didn't keep a file system, much like one might have guessed. Her mind naturally kept track of the seemingly insignificant little details that really made all the difference. Take her new assistant, for example. The one whose name she honestly couldn't remember and honestly couldn't care less.

Miss Assistant was screwing the boss, but the boss had a wife. Thus, problem. Even bigger problem, Miss Assistant didn't know the boss had a wife. Rita knew that it would all come out eventually, and when it did she knew she would be the first on the scene to get the story. She could see the headlines now. SCANDAL! DAILY PROPHET PUBLISHER CAUGHT CHEATING ON WIFE! ADULTERY WITH AN ASSISTANT! Just the thought of the words, published for millions to see, made her shiver with anticipation. She lived for her work.

Thinking of scandal, she turned her attention and eyes to the pictures laid out on her desk. They had been taken at Hogwarts over the year and last week she had found out something very interesting. Little Miss Know-It-All Hermione Granger was secretly going out with Cedric Diggory. Now normally this sort of news would not be interesting, except for the fact that Hermione Granger was the best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived, was publicly dating the famous Bulgarian Seeker Viktor Krum, and was now also involved with yet another Triwizard Champion. Just last week Rita had been very pleased with the way her article about Granger had turned out, knowing it would hurt the girl. A day after the publication she had hid in the library and watched the girl cry her eyes out on Diggory's shoulder. But somehow these pictures didn't seem to fit what was going on.

Yes, she had shots of the tears, and then of the snogging the two had done. But she also had pictures of their other interactions, moments she had seen them working together or talking together or laughing together. And then Rita had gone back, searching her files for all the pictures of Cedric Diggory she had. And this was what she'd found.

The Quidditch World Cup. There was a shot of Amos and Cedric talking to the Weasley clan, with Hermione and Harry on the side. Surprisingly, Hermione wasn't looking at any of the boys in the picture; instead she was staring off to the side. It was Cedric who was watching her.

The first task. There was the shot she'd gotten of Potter and the girl together, when Hermione had hugged him. But there was something about that picture that didn't quite speak of a romantic relationship between them. Rita couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she knew just by looking that there was no romantic involvement between Granger and Potter and there never had been. There were other shots of the first task, but she focused on the only one that had Cedric and Hermione in it together at the same time. This time, their images were standing closer together, Hermione smiling as she wished the Hufflepuff luck and Diggory reaching his hand out, almost as if he was about to ask something but then deciding against it.

The Yule Ball. Rita had sneaked in as a beetle, equipped with a special camera she'd had made for her, so she could take shots with her small size. She'd gotten a photo of the Champions standing by the doorways and then eating dinner, nothing special there although the blush on Granger's face as she and Diggory talked was interesting. Then the dance shots, again nothing too special except for the one where the two couples had swirled by each other and in an instant's luck Rita's camera had captured the image of Cedric and Hermione looking away from their partners to meet each others' eyes.

The second task. There were no shots of the two together, but the separate shots of them more than made up for it. Hermione and Viktor Krum stood together, Viktor talking quietly to her as Hermione stared off into space, attentive yet not attracted, Rita realized. She'd ordered the photographer to get shots of the people on the shore, not the lake water as the reflective, rippling surface made for a bad image, especially in wizard photos. That was how she'd come across this shot.

Cedric was standing beside Cho, and she was holding onto his arm as she looked up at him, chattering on about something. But the look on Cedric's face told a story the close up image didn't: the worry etched across his features said that Hermione hadn't made it out of the lake yet.

Then there was the next shot on her desk, the one slightly covered by the Hermione and Viktor one. It was of Cedric and Cho again, in the same position, with the pretty Asian girl still chattering away. But this time his expression was different. He was laughing and smiling, with pure relief written in every line of his posture. Interesting indeed.

There were several conclusions she could draw, based on these shots. One, Hermione's lust for fame hadn't been satisfied by Krum and Potter alone. Rita quickly dismissed that, knowing that Granger wasn't out for fame. Two, Granger had never been after Potter or Krum. The first was evidenced in the photos, but the latter would be difficult to agree with. Three, something was going on here that Rita didn't understand. She nodded. She could accept that, after all, Rita Skeeter, ace reporter, always ferreted out the truth. She would understand soon enough.

Now the all-important question was the article. Information such as this deserved an article, and she couldn't very well disappoint her fans at Witch Weekly now could she? But timing was the key. She'd just released an article about the girl last week, another one too soon could make others doubt her reliability as a reporter. This new gossip would have to wait.

She twirled her quill slowly, thinking out the details. More pictures would be good, plus more information. These things would require more investigation, as well as more time. As Rita didn't quite yet understand the dynamic between the couple, she knew she'd have to put off writing the article until she did. She'd already made the mistake of not examining Granger and Potter's relationship, and refused to repeat the same mistake. Before she had not analyzed because she had merely written to hurt, but now she wanted the truth, plain and simple.

As for timing... an idea formed in Rita's mind. She could write it right after the tournament was won! Then there would be the most uproar over the scandal, the most publicity. She clicked her fingernails against the desk, admiring the lurid green nail polish. It was decided then. She would expose Cedric Diggory and Hermione Granger's secret relationship right after the end of the tournament.

She simpered at the pictures on her desk. Sometimes she felt as if the people in them were her playthings and she was the child who controlled and manipulated every instance of their lives. What could she say? The press had more power than most people realized.

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