Thanks for the reviews, y'all, always loved and appreciated. I'm on a role tonight, another chapter right here, and I figured I'd better just post them as they came. This one's a bit more humorous, I don't really know where that came from. Anyway, featuring one of my favorite characters ever from the series, and yes, I'm aware that there is something wrong with me that I love her so much.
Oh, this was just too delicious. Her monitors had just told her about the newest floo made by Arthur Weasley, newest addition to the Ministry hierarchy. A Weasley reunion, eh? And that was certain to include the newly popular Harry Potter. And she just needed a few more quotes to continue her new biography: The Boy Who Lived Twice. And, she figured, after that perhaps an article on the WEasleby's themselves, and then a delightful expose on Mr. Voldemort, and oh, but didn't this career of biographer pay better than her article for the Daily Prophet?
It was a shame, though, that speech Harry Potter had made. She'd almost been done with her expose on Severus Snape, complete with incontrovertible truth of his long alliance with Dark Wizards. His words, only a few days after the Headmaster's Death, had done a good deal to change his face in the wizarding world. But Rita wasn't terribly upset. Within a year or two Harry's words would fade and she would write that story.
That had been the only statement that Potter had made. Clearing Snape's name and reminding everyone of all of the good that Dumbledore had done. Her books sales had gone down after his little diatribe.
Still, she had no rancor. Potter had sold her millions of copies in the past, and was sure to do so again. She just had to figure out a way to get to that Weasley gathering. . .
"Not going to happen."
Rita turned around, her nose held high. She recognized that voice, her greatest competition in the writing world, though she'd always considered him a bit of a loon. Xeno Lovegood.
"What is not going to happen, Mr. Lovegood?" she asked, inserting as much sweetness as she could into her voice.
"An invite to the Weasley's house," he responded, more on top of things than she'd ever heard him. "You're not going to get one, and they have just as many wards on it now as when Voldemort was around and even a Crumple-Horned Snorak couldn't get in there.
"Au contrair, Mr. Lovegood," Rita said. "Voldemort was only an evil Dark Lord. I am Rita Skeeter."
Lovegood raised one thing, blond eyebrow. His creepy bug eyes bugged out even more. Rita shuddered. He really was quite creepy. Still, somehow she managed to paste a happy smile on her face, spin around once with a trilling "ta-da!" and Disapparate on the spot.
Lovegood had been right about one thing, she realized a moment later, dripping wet in the middle of a lake still half a league from the Weaslety's Burrow. There were definitely a lot of spells on the place.
No matter, she said, though her stinking clothes told a different story. She reached into her obnoxiously (beautifully, in her mind) feathered purse and pulled out a few different vials of Polyjuice Potion.
Hmm. . .she thumbed through them. Albus Dumbledore—she tossed that one back in the lake, it certainly wasn't going to do her any good anymore. Barty Crouch. . .another splash from behind her. Nymphadora Tonks. . .dammit, another perfectly good potion, completely gone to waste. Long fingernails continued to dig through the vials.
Hermione Granger. . .why yes, that one would do just fine. Rita's scarlet lips curled into a smile as she unstoppered the vial. The Granger girl would hardly be invited to a family-only gathering, but she certainly wouldn't be turned away if she just showed up. . .
It was the youngest one who opened the door, the girl, what was her name? Jenny or Ginna or something like that. Rita turned on her QuikNames earring, and the name was immediately repeated into her ear. Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley."
"Hermione, hullo," the girl said, starting in surprise. "I didn't know Mum invited you. Come in."
"She didn't," Rita said, trying to sound like the Granger girl. "I just wanted to stop by. Invited me for what?"
"Dad got promoted," Ginny said nonchalantly. "Mum called the whole family together to celebrate. Didn't Ron tell you?"
"Urm. . .no," Rita said. "You know Ron. Always so forgetful."
"Right. . ." Ginny looked up, with what Rita refused to believe was suspicion in her eyes. "Are you feeling all right?"
Now this was the kind of question that Rita knew how to answer. Charm and finesse, that's what it was about.
"No. . ."she said softly, eyes downcast. "Not really. I mean everything's. . .changed, hasn't it?"
And she knew she had the girl there. Ginny patted Rita's shoulder consoling, but was interrupted in whatever she'd been about to say by a loud "GINEVRA WEASLEY! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT THE OVEN???"
Rita let out a long held breath as Ginny scampered off. She'd never had such difficulty with Polyjuice before. And that was just one girl!
Before she'd had time to completely gather herself, there was a light pop! Over by the fireplace, followed by the presence of two overgrown boys, one with the signature messy black hair and the other even more signature red hair.
"Hermione!" they both said in one voice, coming over to hug her.
"Didn't you just tell us to go ahead without you?" Harry Potter asked in confusion.
"Yeah, you just couldn't put down House-elves: a History of Servitude," Ronald Weasley added.
"Urm. . .yes, it was terribly interesting," Rita said. "Quite possibly one of the most interesting books I'd ever read. But then I realized that I hadn't seen Ginny or. . .erm. . .you mum in a bit, Ron, and I thought I'd drop by."
"Oh, all right," Ron said, shrugging. He sniffed the air, loudly almost. "What's for dinner?"
"How could I possibly know?" Rita asked. "Didn't I just get here, too?"
The two boys shrugged, and walked toward the kitchen, obviously expecting her to follow them. The minute they'd left she opened her bag and took out her Quick Quotes.
"Invisio," she said, and the quill instantly disappeared. She followed into the kitchen.
But, as it turned out, Lovegood hadn't been joking about the amount of security on the place. As Rita entered the kitchen a strange itching took over her entire body. She looked down at herself. What had happened to her breasts?
"What are you doing here?" that insolent little Ginny Weasley asked. Rita smiled. She put a hand to her face. To. . .her face. Not that Granger face anymore.
"Why, I can't imagine how I got here. . ." she said, putting a hand to her head. The two boys exchanged glances.
"Yeah, well, I can sure imagine you getting out," Ronald said, before point a wand at her. Not willing to take chances, Rita spun on her heel and Disapparated. . .
Only to land in the lake again. Really, she thought angrily. Some people had absolutely no tact. That was definitely going into the biography.