The Beetle at Bay

The Ministry of Magic issues an Amended Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four

This states that:

Media on the premise of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is subject to approval by the Hogwarts High Inquisitor. This includes, but is not limited to, textbooks, reference materials, and magazines. Any student in possession of unapproved media, may be asked to submit said media for review. Any student with banned material will be subject to disciplinary action.

Hermione positively glowed at the tiny note beneath the advertisements. She folded up her Daily Prophet and scooped more eggs onto her plate. Again, Hermione patted the letter she received with her paper. Ron and Siria exchanged a look.

"Are you—" Siria started, but Hermione did as well and plowed on when Siria stopped. "You're meeting me in the Three Broomsticks around noon, right?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Siria said, "but why aren't we going around today?"

"It's Valentine's Day, Siria, how do you not have a date?" Hermione asked. Ron and Siria looked to Hermione.

"Do you have a date?" Ron asked.

"Not quite like your date with Olive Foster," Hermione said. An air of ice in her reply.

"Wait," Siria cut into their pause, "neither of you are hanging out with me?"

"You're not going around with Hermione?" Ron asked over Hermione's "You didn't make plans with Ron?" The two locked eyes in a moment of shared horror.

"You can hang with me an' Olive," Ron said.

"Nonsense," Hermione said. "You can come with me to see— the village," Hermione quickly adjusted. Siria sighed.

"You know, I have other friends. I think I'll hang with them, 'until noon'," Siria tsked.

As they waited for Filch to check their names, Hermione and Ron took turns urging Siria to third wheel. Hermione even proposed Siria meet with Cassius and Alice, who would join her around noon as well. Ron tried to shift the subject to what Siria dropped when they crossed the grounds, but she ignored him. Siria crossed her arms and stared, absently down the line. Someone waved and caught her attention. Cedric smiled. Siria returned it. "You know, I'll be fine," Siria told them. "I have other friends," Siria stuck out her tongue and joined Cedric, a few clusters of people down the line.

"Mind if I join you?" Siria asked Cedric, Benjamin Wilkins, and Gilbert Snow. Wilkins grinned at Snow.

"Sure," Snow said. "We were just talking about how sorry we were to leave Ced alone."

"We'll leave him in your care," Wilkins said. Siria mirror their smiles, but had her suspicions.

One of Siria's favorite things about Cedric was how like Hermione he was. They talked about Transfiguration on their way to Hogsmeade. Wilkins and Snow were also at N.E.W.T. level and jumped in like they were skipping rope. "I'm telling you," said Snow, "changing your own hair is a lot more work than you let on." He left with Wilkin when two sixth year girls waved to them.

"Let me be honest," Cedric said after he and Siria walked down to the clearing where the Shrieking Shack was visible. "I only came to the village to get out of the castle. My N.E.W.T.s are around the corner and, hard worker though I may be, I need a break."

"What?" Siria gasped in mock surprise. "What kind of Hufflepuff doesn't work hard every single second of their life?"

"I know," he said. "It's like a Gryffindor that doesn't battle basilisks every day, unheard of. I may be ill."

"Let me see," Siria said and placed her wrist against his forehead. "My word!" She pulled her wrist back, as though burned. "Diggory, I don't know how to tell you this…"

"Give it to me straight, Healer Potter-Black," he hung his hand in play sorrow. "I'm not going to make it, am I?"

"Diggory," Siria placed her hand on his shoulder, "you're dying. You've got, maybe a few decades." They laughed.

A bitter smiled crossed Siria's face. "Cedric, if you were dying, what would you do?" she asked. Cedric took a heavy breath.

"Suppose I would want my friends and family to be at peace with it," he said. "Let them know I was accepting it with grace and make sure they would continue on with their lives."

"That's an awfully serious answer," Siria said.

"From you, it's an awfully serious question," he said. "What will you do, if we can't find another way?" Siria shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm tired of living like Death is about to catch me."

Cedric reached for Siria's hand. She eyed it like anything George or Fred offered her these days. He smirked then closed and opened his hand, to beckon hers. She tsked, but held it. Cedric turned her hand to check her watch.

"For the next hour, you're just a girl, dodging her studying and I'm just a boy, doing the same," Cedric said. Siria rolled her eyes, but let him lead the way back to the village. They walked through some of the shops, avoiding choice ones that he frequented with Cho and the craft store Siria visited with Lily Moon.

Just before noon, they squeezed into The Three Broomsticks. Siria squinted around, at the tables. "Hermione did say afternoon," Cedric said.

"Cassius is here though," Siria said. She knew he was, though didn't know how. Cedric and Siria stepped further in. Cassius stood up to flag them over.

"Told you," Siria said as she and Cedric sat down. Cassius grinned at Alice.

"Did you know we were here?" Alice asked. Siria nodded. "Cass swore you were too." She turned to peer through the ribbons of pink, at the door. "Still can't see anyone," she sighed.

Hermione joined with Luna Lovegood, who slightly more believable company than Rita Skeeter. Rita's ringlets were messy and loose. There were gems missing from her glasses and fake nails. Her foundation clumped around the corners of her mouth and eyes. She cocked her head up as she eyed the table. Cedric put his arm around the back of Siria's chair. Siria clenched her jaw; she didn't need to be protected from Rita Skeeter. (B5, 565)

"Cassius, you know why I asked you here," Hermione said, "Siria, I'd like you and Cassius to recount the graveyard to Rita."

"What?" Rita asked. Siria locked eyes with Hermione.

"We did for Lumos," Siria mouthed. Hermione nodded.

"Luna's father has agreed to publish the interview in the Quibbler—" Hermione continued.

"The Quibbler?" asked Rita, "I could manure my garden with the contents of that rag."

"Here's your chance to raise their quality," Hermione said.

"If you think people think they're nutters now, wait until they appear beside Hippocauldrons and Crummy Boar Sneezes," Rita said.

"Crumple-Horned Snorkacks," Luna corrected. [B5, 568]

"Rita, do you want the deal or not?" Hermione asked. Rita paused. She surveyed Hermione.

"You hadn't said anything about a deal, missy," said Rita.

"After the interview is published, on the condition you don't write or say anything that contradicts it or paints it in a poor light, you may," Hermione sighed and looked to Siria, to say she did not want to make this deal. "You may pick your quill back up, and I won't tell anyone about the beetle."

The taloned red nails of Rita Skeeter ripped open her handbag. She held her quill above the parchment. A glint of hunger that turned Siria's stomach flickered in Rita's eyes. Her interview process was completely different than Cedric's or Hermione's. Rita was focused and relentless.

"And their names?" Rita asked. Siria took Hermione's hand and looked to Alice.

"No," Siria said. Cassius looked to Siria, who changed to meet his eye. "Some of them have kids we go to school with."

"P.B.," Cassius said.

"People are more than their parents," Siria argued.

"We are," Alice said. She reached across the table and took Siria's free hand. "P.B., name them. Make the world question and watch them, so they can be caught before someone gets hurt again."

Luna's father expected an article on Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, so the interview was scheduled for the following issue. It was all the better for Siria. The longer the article took to be published, the more time she had to focus on Dumbledore's Army, Occlumency, and procrastinating an unwanted conversation. [B5, 570]

While Siria made little progress in Occlumency, Dumbledore's Army moved onto Dueling. Once a week, Siria held lessons specifically for those still having trouble with the Patronus Charm in the Chamber of Secrets. She paced down the line of thirty some odd other students that had yet to master the Charm, Hermione among them.

"It's the only spell that gives me trouble," Hermione said. "It's ridiculous," she told Siria as the silver-blue curtain dissipated.

"You've got to have a happy enough memory for it," Siria said. "What about when you got a hundred and twenty percent on the Charms final?" Hermione clicked her tongue. Siria placed her lips beside Hermione's ear. "The beetle in the jar?" Hermione rolled her eyes. Siria pulled back and shrugged. "'Mione, you're brilliant, and, as long as you're with me, you don't need to cast a Patronus. I'll cast one strong enough for both of us."

Siria pointed her wand. She closed her eyes and thought about Hermione. "Expecto Patronum!" Siria called as she opened her eyes. The usual stary blue wolf formed from her wand. Another beside it. Siria smiled at Hermione.

"Did you know the Patronus Charm can be used to pass on messages?" Hermione asked. Siria pressed her lips in a pout.

"Well, you have to be able to cast it to pass a message," Siria said. She stared at the two wolves as they dissolved. "Maybe Flitwick could tell me how."

"For academic purposes, of course," Hermione smiled.

"I mean, McGonagall was willing to tell us 'for academic purposes'," Siria said. Hermione shook her head.

"Have you had any luck with the Bridge Summoning Charm?" Hermione asked. "I've got most of the others down, but my bridges are so small or made of rope."

"Braggot," Siria said. "I still can't make a bridge, of anything. Still, Transfiguration is probably the only O.W.L. I'm not too worried about."

"You're joking," Hermione gestured around the Chamber, to the thirty or so others practicing. Siria shrugged.

"Obviously, I'll do okay in the practical, but it's not like they'll be dueling us to see how capable we are against Dark Wizards," Siria said. "Besides, what if the pen and paper part asks things we haven't covered because of all teacher changes? What if something fell through the cracks?"

Myrtle screamed from the ceiling of Chamber. She flew toward Siria, shouting "Umbridge knows!" Siria amplified her voice.

"Cool it!" She shouted to call attention. Siria tapped her throat with her wand and returned her voice. "Myrtle— thank you," she added. Myrtle nodded. She adjusted her ghostly glasses and flew back through the ceiling.

Siria summoned a stool to her and stepped on it, not that she needed any help being seen. "Everyone be calm. An escape route has been prepared for such a thing," Siria said. "Hermione, Ron, open the passage and lead people out. Alice, Cassius, help me clean out. Everyone else, single file line at the feet, okay?"

As people followed her instructions, Astoria hurried up to Siria. "What can I do?" Astoria asked. Siria leaned to Astoria's eye level.

"More than anything, I need you to get Brewer, Greyson, Franklin , and yourself away from here," Siria said. Malfoy headed toward Siria. "Get Malfoy out too," Siria said. "Slytherins'll be in the most trouble with their families if they get caught." Astoria puffed her cheeks out, but sighed and deflated.

"Only because it means you'll worry less," Astoria said. She grabbed Malfoy's wrist as he approached. Malfoy looked to Siria.

"Go!" She told him.

Siria dashed toward the end of the slide. She wrote around the ring of the slide with her finger. "[Close]" Siria whispered in Korean and hoped it worked. The Hedera Meridiem along the walls ravelled into a ball of string at the end of Siria's wand as she ran back to the Chamber.

Alice and Cassius had strunk the blackboard, medicine cabinet, mats, and miscellaneous classroom items down to palm size. They and Siria moved the basilisk remains to the middle of the Chamber. Siria stepped into the stairwell last. She scanned the room, which looked so much like it did when she practiced there last year, and nodded. Siria tucked her wand into her jacket. She gestured, seemingly wildly with her hands, as the passage closed seamlessly.

Most of Dumbledore's Army had escaped from the kitchens by the time Siria climbed out of the trapdoor. She pulled the tile back in place. "[Close]" she wrote. It looked no different than any other.

Hermione was surrounded by house elves. They seated her in the throne-like chair and served her second tea. She smiled at them, but, like the furrow in her brow, it was strained. Her shoulders loosened when she saw Siria.

Ron inhaled another eclair. He waved from Hermione's side. As she, Alice, and Cassius walked over, Siria took the Marauder's Map from her pocket. She placed it on the table. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," she told the Map. Ink broke out and formed the school.

"Umbridge and Filch are in Myrtle's bathroom," Siria said. "She's not going to be able to open the passage though." Alice tugged lightly on the Map to look closer as she leaned over.

"Where do you think the little snake will be?" Alice asked. "Daphne and Bulstrode are in the library. Astoria, Jeanie, Leah and Ren are already walking the grounds…" she dropped to a mutter as she continued to scour the map for Slytherins. Cassius pulled a tray of sandwiches over.

"There's a chance that, whoever it was, is going about their day like usual," said Hermione. She still dropped her nose the parchment, to inspect the Hospital Wing.

"That would mean your jinx didn't work," Siria said.

"Got it!" Alice said. "Edgecombe's in Umbridge's office."

"Fudge is in Dumbledore's," Siria breathed. She sighed in her chair. "They won't get in," Siria said while she focused on Umbridge and Filch, in Myrtle's bathroom. "But it means we have to extra careful in the Room, cut back on lessons, use smaller groups."

"Make sure Edgecombe's punished," Alice added to Siria's list.

"She will be," said Hermione, "if she hasn't already."