DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter 9: A Marked Beetle
Sirius and Harry were in the lead, with James and Lily close behind. Ron and Hermione followed. The Dursleys were at the rear, held back from rebelling by fear and awe. My sister's alive, Petunia thought, not quite sure how to handle the information. She's from the past. Sixteen years old. I wonder how…what will happen? Wizards and witches, all of them, in front of us. She looked at her son and husband. They had the same build and features. Dudley and Vernon, she thought, attempting affection for the two. She found none. Instead, she found disgust at what she had produced, and repulsiveness at her taste. What's happening to me? she asked herself.
Harry, in the front of the line, suddenly stopped. Sirius stared at him. "What is it?" the godfather asked. Harry pointed at the floor. A beetle. "Yeah?"
"Hermione," Harry ordered, without turning his head, "come here." Hermione pushed her way up.
"What is it?" she asked. Harry continued pointing. The brunette gasped and gently cupped the beetle in her palm. It tried to get away. "Rita Skeeter," she stated, her voice marked by disgust.
Sirius' eyes widened, then a harsh laugh came from him. "So that's how…"
Hermione nodded. "She's an Animagus. A beetle. You can recognize her by the markings around her eyes."
Sirus looked closely, and saw that the markings were the same as the glasses that the human Rita wore in real life. He nodded and asked, "Should we transform her?" The beetle was attempting to get out of Hermione's cupped hand. Hermione nodded and told him, "Get Lily and James to help. You're the only one advanced enough to do this spell." Petunia shivered at the last word. Sirius called his teenage friends to come and help him.
"Who is it?" Lily asked.
"You'll find out," Hermione answered.
"Ready?" Sirius asked. "One…two…three…GO!" A single spell flashed from all three wands, and a blue light erupted in the center of the now-formed circle. Petunia covered her mouth to prevent from screaming. Vernon and Dudley watched, terrified. Ron, Harry, and Hermione looked on calmly. The beetle was now growing limbs—the wings were disappearing—taller, taller, until, finally! Rita Skeeter stood there in magenta robes, her perfect hair mussed, her glasses fixed on her face, and the infamous acid-green quill in her hand. She scowled.
"You!" Lily and James cried at the same moment.
"Rita Skeeter," Lily said. "I should have known."
The libelous reporter looked around. She took out a sheet of parchment and placed her quill to the paper, but Harry gripped her arm tightly and lifted it away.
"Harry!" Rita cried in a phony, affectionate manner. "Now, Harry, if you would be so kind, could you tell me—"
"Shut up," Harry snapped. Rita's eyes widened.
"Why, Harry, is this any way to treat the person who helped you become famous?" Rita asked.
"Famous!" Harry spat. "Famous! I didn't want to be famous! I was already famous before you came along. And then you wrote all those lies about me. What else have you written, huh, without finding out the facts?"
"Harry, let go." Hermione pried Harry's fingers of Rita's arm gently. Rita looked triumphant.
"So, you two are girlfriend and boyfriend?" she asked. She put the quill once more to the parchment. "What shall I say?" Before the quill could move, however, it was knocked to the floor by Sirius. Rita saw him and cried, "Sirius Black, the murderer!" She saw Lily and James and acted fearful. "Have you come back to avenge him, my dear ghosts? To avenge your murder? Or you!" She turned to the Muggles. "To avenge him for leaving you with poor Harry. Black, what have you done?"
"SHUT UP!" Harry yelled, but the damage was done. James and Lily backed away from their childhood friend.
"Sirius, tell me this isn't true," James whispered. Lily had tears in her eyes.
"Mum, Dad—" Harry intervened.
"No, Harry," Lily spoke to him firmly. "We want to hear this from Sirius himself."
Rita's eyes were darting around wildly, and in a flash, she had transformed back into a beetle.
Hermione gasped. "Watch out!" She grabbed Ron's wand and aimed carefully. "Stupefy!" She yelled the first thing that came to her mind. The beetle lay still. Carefully she picked it up and put it back in the jar. The group was silent.
After a long moment, Harry said quietly, "Sirius didn't kill my parents. It was Peter." He waited for his parents' reactions and found only shock. Then he turned around. "Come on," he said. "We have to move on." He led the group, which was in a solemn silence. Sirius bent down and whispered in his ear.
"Thank you, Harry." Harry smiled at his godfather and continued walking.
