Rita Skeeter was overflowing with barely concealed excitement. This was quite the scandal indeed! Better yet, it was a two-tiered scandal, which meant she might even be able to draw it out over two articles if she interviewed enough people. She was already a household name, but this would make her a journalistic hero. There had already been cause for gossip in the initial line up of champions and hostages, but this little complication just made it all the juicier. As she made her way towards Viktor Krum, who had been left alone when Granger had returned to wait for the youngest Weasley boy with Potter, she started mentally cataloguing everyone she needed to interview. It wouldn't do to miss a vital stakeholder.

Most of the original pairings had been rather mundane. The decisions had obviously been informed by who had accompanied whom to the Yule Ball, so there wasn't really anywhere new to go with the Diggory-Chang and Krum-Granger pairings other than to say that the relationships were still apparently going strong or that, to put a nastier spin on it, Granger still had Krum under her thumb. The other two, however, were much more interesting. Apparently there was a reason the organisers hadn't picked Davis and Patil as the other hostages, and she was determined to find out what that reason was. Press coverage of the ball had been denied and wards enacted and so, while she could have snuck in as a beetle, her options had been limited. Students and professors alike had been prohibited from talking to the press about anything that went on during the dance, so reporting on anything but the most major of things would have either brought censure down upon her sources or suspicion upon her. Ergo, she still didn't know what had happened that night other than that The Weird Sisters had performed live, who the champions' dates had been, and that Patil and Potter hadn't enjoyed themselves. This might give her a new, interesting angle on the issue; she was sure it wouldn't be too difficult to obtain statements from the individuals involved now that she officially was on the grounds and had a direction to take it in.

The real kicker, however, wasn't who Potter's intended hostage wasn't; it was who it was.

The youngest Weasley boy.

Oh, how she could spin that story. There were three possible narratives, really. The first was that she had been wrong about Hermione Granger, and that Harry Potter had been the one playing her while he was really in a secret, sordid relationship with their other best friend. The second was that the entire Granger-Potter relationship had merely been a cover for a dalliance that they knew would have seen Weasley and Potter both ostracised had it been found out. Intrigue and homosexuality all rolled up in one neat little story; oh, how the public would eat it up. However, both of those options would, unfortunately, redeem Granger somewhat in the public's eye, and she wasn't yet ready to let up on the girl; Rita was determined that the girl would learn not to mess with her, and she didn't think she'd learned her lesson quite yet. The third, and the one she was personally leaning towards, was that Potter had been so traumatised by his brief but passionate love affair with Granger that he had turned away from girls altogether; taboo and ill-considered, perhaps, but all too understandable, or so she would write. It was, after all, the mistaken folly of a heartbroken boy who was not at all in his right state of mind and who would never have acted the way he did had his precious little ex-girlfriend not hurt him so. She was going to leave making the final decision until she'd found out whatever else she could scavenge up, but it was almost too delectable a treat to pass up.

Of course, the little switch-up was even more interesting. Something had made Potter choose the wrong hostage; perhaps he had been trying to maintain his cover, or perhaps Granger had managed to ensnare him once again in the time between the hostages being selected and Potter bringing her up with him. Yes, the latter sounded better. However much the duplicity of the alternatives appealed to her – who knew the three Gryffindor darlings could act so deliciously Slytherin – nobody wanted to read a smear campaign about their beloved hero. Granger, however, was fair game; however much their society feigned acceptance, almost everybody was almost looking for another example of a mudblood girl behaving despicably and illustrating exactly why purebloods would always be intrinsically superior to them in manner, if not in ability. The fact that Granger was quickly becoming known as the smartest witch of her age only helped; if Rita could bring down the smartest Muggle-borns had to offer, what hope did the rest of them have?

Rita herself wasn't prejudiced, of course; she couldn't care less about the chit's blood status. All she cared about was bringing her back down to size, even if she did have to allow for that awful hair. Blood status only served to ensure that few people would question her assertions, and that those who did would be quickly shushed.

She was anticipating what Krum would have to say on the subject of Potter's mix-up; he couldn't like the fact that somebody else had saved his girlfriend before he could, especially when that somebody was her ex-boyfriend. A few scathing remarks from him about Granger's flightiness or Potter's misguidedness would do quite nicely. She might even be able to incite a challenge out of him; if those two ended up duelling and she reported on it… It would mean that she would have to make comment on his decision too so as to create a sense of fairness and authenticity, of course, but it would be worth it for what it would do for her attack on Granger. As soon as she had one of his greatly coveted but woefully rare statements, she would track down Patil and Davis.

"Viktor Krum! Might I have a word? It will only take a few moments of your time. Given how much time witches and wizards waste per day, I'm sure it won't be a bother."

A friend of his approached as she spoke. She expected him to make a comment to Krum and go on his way, but he did neither as Krum hesitated before nodding once. He was silent, as always. That was no matter; her Quick Quotes Quill could fill in his silences with words so scandalous that it would hardly matter that he had said so little.

"Shall we go somewhere private? A quiet stroll along the bank, perhaps…"

"We stay here."

"It would be easier if we – "

The friend pulled out a wad of parchment and handed it to her. She didn't have to look at it to know what it was; she'd already had to sign a contract the last time she spoke to him, and she imagined it would be the same this time. Drat. She'd been hoping he'd forget in the excitement. His stipulations that she had to report what he said accurately and without embellishment had hindered her writing in the past. Sighing, she skimmed through it, ensuring that it was in fact the same contract, before adding her magical signature to the parchment and handing it to Krum for him to do the same.

"Now we talk," he said once the paper was back in his friend's pocket and her Quick Quotes Quill, instructed and bound to record their conversation accurately, was poised in the air beside them.

"Alright. Mr Krum, is it true that Miss Granger was supposed to be your hostage?"

"I believe so."

"And yet Mr Potter, who reached the hostages first, was the one to bring her back up. Do you know why that is?"

"I assume because they are friends."

"Oh, so you haven't spoken to him about it?"

He hesitated, before saying carefully, "We talked, but not about that."

"What did you talk about, then?"

His gaze was pointed as he said stiffly, "No comment."

"Alright then; something less personal. When you reached the hostages and found only Miss Delacour and Mr Weasley, what did you think? What did you feel?"

"I felt… confused. Neither of them made sense as my hostage. I wasn't sure if there was a – how do you say it? – mix-up or not."

He was being profoundly unhelpful. The problem about one of the champions being an international Quidditch star was that he was used to dealing with reporters and controlling the flow of information, and knew the art of answering only the literal meaning of unwanted questions. He also knew how to use the language barrier and his highly publicised introversion to his benefit; nobody expected him to be particularly verbose, especially with English-speaking reporters, and so he always settled for the minimum amount of information he could get away with giving. It didn't help that he saw her as having insulted his girlfriend and so had a particular grudge against her, or that he probably knew she was angling to do so again. But Rita knew his game, and knowing that there is a game being played is, after all, the first step to winning. It was just a matter of trial and error until she found the right tactic to break through his defences. "Let me paint you a picture, then. You reach the hostages. You didn't know that there would be people involved, but you work it out when you see them there. However, you have no idea who your hostage is supposed to be. You don't really know either of them. But you know you have to make a decision, so you choose Miss Delacour."

"Have you considered being abstract artist? They paint whatever they like. You make good abstract artist."

"What made you pick Miss Delacour?" she pressed, ignoring his interruption for the sake of her point.

He shrugged. "She is a little girl. Where I come from, you save little girls first."

Well, at least she could paint him as a do-gooder. It would contrast more strongly with Granger's, and even Potter's, actions, even if it didn't directly give her new fodder to use against them; Granger had cheated on Potter with Krum, causing a distraught Potter to run into Weasley's comforting arms, before deciding that she once again wanted to ensnare Potter and uncaringly left the upstanding Krum behind. The idea that the young Gryffindor had not only won their idol's affection but also thrown it away like garbage would enrage his legion of fans, and would most likely turn any Bulgarian readers against her. Her readership was primarily British, but if she could take this to an international level…

The hubbub of another return rose up around her, and she peered over the rail to see a wet rag of Weasley-red hair bobbing above the surface. A female merguard emerged from the water next to him and they started making their way to the jetty.

If Krum wouldn't cooperate, maybe he would. She'd heard of his temper and proclivity for envy from Malfoy and Parkinson; if she gave him time to discover what had happened on his own and then came in with empathetic ears at just the right moment, he might be mad enough to not only agree to the interview but to also forget to filter his words and thoughts. A carefully edited and embellished rant from him would more than make up for Krum's quietness. Plan thus set, she went off in search of Patil and Davis in order to bide her time until there was an opening to approach Weasley.

A/N: Thanks again to everyone who has followed, favourited or reviewed this, and to my lovely brother for beta reading this story even when he doesn't have much spare time to do it in.

I had way too much fun writing this. Also, I know that J.K. Rowling has said that the wizarding world is accepting of diverse sexualities. However, while I understand and respect her reasons for saying that, I don't think it fits in with the old-fashioned and patriarchal world she's created.

The story was originally going to end after chapter twelve, but discussion with Lord-Marauder-2013 has prompted the decision to continue after that point. I'm not yet sure whether that will involve an epilogue set in seventh year, more chapters based in fourth year, or a combination of the two. However, I won't be able to concentrate on that until after the uni semester ends, so there will be a bit of a break between the twelfth chapter and whatever ends up following it.

To the guest reviewer: Thanks! It was supposed to mirror some of the narratives surrounding victims of abuse, which seems to have worked.