Chapter Five:

Rita Skeeter and the Astronomy Tower

A/N: I feel as though I've been neglecting Ron and Hermione a little, so this chapter will be mostly about them, along with their reaction to Ginny and Mnemosynie going missing!

"Ron, come on!" called Hermione over her shoulder, as she navigated in the student-infested corridor. Thirty seconds later, Ron ran up and fell into place next to her, breathing hard. He checked his watch.

"Bloody hell, Hermione! Charms doesn't begin until about a half an hour, where are we going? And slow down, my feet are killing me!"

"You need the exercise!" snapped Hermione, and refused to answer any of his questions. For the first time, Ron noticed her set expression: the same expression she had worn when she had punched Malfoy in the face.

"What is it, Hermione?" he asked, in a calmer tone.

"You'll see," she muttered.

Five minutes later, they were standing in front of the Charms classroom. But, Ron noticed something wrong: the door was closed. Professor Flitwick always left his doors thrown wide open in a welcoming gesture. However, now they were ominously shut. Not to be deterred, Ron raised a hand to the doorknob, but before he could so much as touch it, Hermione slapped his hand away and gave him a glare that could peel paint.

"Don't do anything," she whispered, and then knocked on the door: twice slowly, three times in quick succession, and then twice again slowly. It opened a crack, to allow a view of a sliver of a face and one large, blue, protuberant eye. After taking in the two, and looking up and down the corridor as if to check that there was no one else, the eye disappeared, and the door was opened to allow them in. It was shut as soon as they were in the room, leaving them in thick darkness as their eyes adjusted to the light of a single candle.

Now that he could see properly, Ron saw that the room was indeed the Charms classroom. However, the curtains were pulled over the windows to block out all light, and it was missing the familiar sounds of students having fun. Besides Hermione and him, their were two other people in the room: Neville and Luna, whose faces flickered in the weak light of the candle.

"What's going on?" asked a slightly confused Ron.

"It has to do with Mnemosynie and Ginny," answered Luna, as vague as ever.

Ron's stomach turned over at the sound of the names of his friend and his sister. During the day, he had grown steadily more worried about their absence, and teachers and other students commenting about it were not alleviating his fears.

"What about it?" he asked weakly.

"Mnemosynie and Ginny are not ordinary witches. The fact that they've gone missing will not be over looked, not by the press, and not by the Ministry. And the fact that Mnemosynie is Scrimgeour's niece and that both she and Ginny were in the Last Battle only makes it worse," answered Hermione tersely.

"The Daily Prophet'll be printing an article tomorrow: front-page news, and the Ministry isn't going to ignore it. The best that can happen is that they assign a team of aurors to the school and step the security up a notch," muttered Neville.

"And what would be the worst?" asked Ron, dreading the answer.

"The school is closed down," answered Luna, huge eyes staring unblinkingly at Ron.

Ron sucked in a breath and was quiet before asking his next question, "And what are we going to do about it? I mean, you guys could not have gone to the trouble of arranging a secret meeting without planning to do something about it," he stated, looking from Hermione to Neville to Luna.

Hermione smiled, "Yes, there is something we're going to do about it, and it involves a special guest I invited."

At that moment, someone stepped from the shadows, it was a woman who looked as though she had seen better times: the paint on her long nails was cracked and chipped, her clothes looked a little shabby, and her hair had ripples of gray in them. Despite these facts, however, Ron could clearly see that it was Rita Skeeter, a woman he despised.

"What's she got to do with any of this?" he asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously at Rita.

"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist! I can't do anything, as long as Little-Miss-Perfect over there," she nodded her head stiffly at Hermione, "Keeps my secret from the Ministry."

"But, why do we need Rita Skeeter's help?" asked Ron, ignoring her comment.

"Well, as she works for the Daily Prophet, she says that she can prevent the article from being published for up to another two days, but no more after that," answered Neville, "Its the reason we had to keep the meeting a secret, she's not allowed in Hogwarts, or on the Grounds, she had to sneak inside in her Animagus form."

"But what's the use of delaying the article, it doesn't matter anyway, they'll still print it eventually," said Ron.

"Yes, but it buys time so that the Order can try and find them, or that they can escape, before it causes too much trouble," answered Luna, pleasantly.

For the next few minutes, the foursome, along with Rita Skeeter, finalized their plans. Rita, threatened by Hermione, assured them that the article could be delayed. They all speculated on where Mnemosynie and Ginny had gone, whether they were alright, and lamenting that they could not go out looking of them themselves.

"Alright, guys, I think Rita should go now, class starts in fifteen minutes," Hermione reminded them. Rita promptly turned into a beetle, and Luna went to opened the window a crack to allow her out.

Neville nodded as he opened the heavy curtains to let the sunlight in once more, "We should go and get our stuff for Charms. Personally I didn't get the homework because of what Flitwick said about…"

Ron froze at the sound of the word "homework." He had done it, of course he had! But where had he put it? Suddenly, he remembered, and began mentally bracing himself for the lecture he knew he was about to receive.

"Uh, Hermione?" he muttered, interrupting her speech on whatever she has explaining to Neville, "I think I left my homework at the top of the Astronomy Tower."

"What! Ron, how could you be so irresponsible-."

But Luna, returning from the window, cut her short, "Class starts in ten minutes."

"Oh!" jumped Hermione, "Come on Ron, we'll make a stop at the Common Room, and then go straight to the Astronomy Tower, and don't think you're off the hook!"

Ron winced and followed her out. They reached the Common Room without event, and Ron waited while Hermione ran up to the girls' dormitory to pick up her bag. They quickly set off to the Astronomy Tower, which was closed during the day. Only Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher, and the Head Boy and Girl had the keys to it. And as Ron, the Head Boy, had lost his key long ago, it would make sense to ask the Head Girl, Hermione, for her key.

Muttering about irresponsible boys, Hermione opened the door at the base of the tower. Behind it was a rickety spiraling staircase that led to the top of it. Now muttering about a staff that was too lazy to install an elevator, she started trudging up the stairs, Ron right behind her.

At the top, they quickly found Ron's bag lying next to a telescope, covered in dust. He shook the bag to get rid of the filth, and then swung it over his shoulder, and looked at Hermione, who was staring at the horizon.

Neither of them went down.

After a few seconds, Ron broke the silence, "Uh, Hermione, we're going to be late."

This did not yield the results he expected. Instead of jumping up and speeding down the staircase in her haste not to be late, Hermione did not move at all, instead, her head drooped, and she looked to the ground.

"Ron?" she asked quietly.

"What is it?" he said, concerned. Her expression now was the same one she had had when she learned the meaning of "mudblood" and why it had been directed at her during their second year by Malfoy.

"Do you think I'm...weak?" she asked in a whisper.

"What! Are you crazy?!" asked Ron, trying not to laugh, "You are definitely NOT weak, I mean, you dueled with Lucius Malfoy, a so-called "pureblood," and he's an adult and he was using Dark Magic! You nearly beat him!"

"Nearly," muttered Hermione.

"So? You would have beat him if Bellatrix hadn't come along and helped him!" He saw that she was still not convinced, and said a little more calmly, "Look, Hermione, you're strong. You're clever. You're nice. And I-" he stopped, heart thudding.

"What?" she asked, "You what?"

"And I, well I..." he stuttered, stepping closer to her, trying to find the right words, "I..."

Suddenly, Hermione smiled, and stepped closer, too. She placed a finger on his lips, silencing him, "I know what you mean."

She removed her finger and stood on her toes, after all Ron was the tallest guy in their year...

They missed Charms that day, Hermione decided missing a class or two now and then really didn't hurt. Instead, they stayed on the Astronomy Tower.

Lucius Malfoy watched from behind the tree. He had seen the small black beetle fly over the wall encircling Hogwarts, and now he was waiting for it to return. He knew who the beetle was, and had shrewd idea as to why it had come to Hogwarts. Now all he had to was wait until it played straight into his hands.

Flashback

"Hello, Rita" smiled a thin-lipped boy with sleek blond hair and cruel blue eyes.

The girl, who was facing the other way, jumped and turned around, while trying to block his view of a cauldron she had been hovering over. "H-Hello, Lucius," she muttered, she was sweating.

His lips curled in a mockery of a smile, he knew exactly what was in the cauldron: Animagus Formula. He had seen her studying the instruction page in her Potions textbook many times before.

"My dear Rita, its such a wonderful day, why not be outside, sitting in the shade of a tree, or swimming in the lake? Instead of sitting in this dark, hot Potion's classroom?"

Rita took a deep breath. "I-I need to finish my Potion's p-project," she muttered, shrinking against the wooden table.

Lucius trained his eyes against her nervous face, "Oh, I see. Hmm. Funny, I don't remember a Potions project in sixth year that required us to create an Animagus Formula."

"I…" began Rita, but was saved from responding when Lucius lifted a hand.

"Its alright, I won't tell anyone," he whispered, getting so close to her that she could feel his unnaturally cold breath on the skin of her face, "No, not yet. An illegal Animagus? You might even prove to be useful later."

He stepped back nimbly, pleased to see that her face had gone pale and fear was in her eyes, "Please, please don't tell anyone, I-I don't want to go to Azkaban!"

"Oh, don't worry, my dear, I have no reason to tell anyone, not yet anyway. Just you make sure that I don't get one." He turned to go, but then stopped, his fake smile still decorating his face, "Oh, and I almost forgot to ask! How rude of me. What is to be your Animagus form?"

Rita considered not telling him, or telling him a lie, but the look at his face told her that if she did either one, she would pay, "A b-beetle," she whispered, looking at the ground.

Lucius Malfoy smiled wider, turned around, and walked out of the Potion's classroom.
End of Flashback

Lucius was pulled back from his daydream of many years ago when he saw a beetle fly over the heavily guarded wall. It had markings around its eyes like a pair of glasses. He smiled. It was the one.
He pointed his wand and muttered, "Accio!" and the beetle flew straight into his hand. He closed his fist around the insect, and opened it a crack so it could see him, "Hello Rita, my dear, I haven't seen you in a long time."
The beetle tried to fly out of his hand, but before it could do so, Lucius closed his fist, "No, don't do that, you'll make me mad, and I'll have to squash you, and I don't want to do that."

"Now, listen, Rita, I know the reason why you came here. And I know what you are going to do. But, you see I don't want you to do it, as it will interfere terribly with my plans. You will not go to the Daily Prophet, and you will not delay the article of the two girls that were kidnapped. It will be published in tomorrow's newspaper, and it will be read by the public. And the old fear the Death Eaters inspired in the people will continue!"

With that, he let the beetle go, and watched it fly as fast as it could go, then he started off towards Hogsmeade.

A/N: I think this is my most well-written chapter so far. I looked back and decided I was going way too fast, so the story will progress a little slower. On the other hand, though, I will be striving to get each chapter in the queue for validation as fast as possible. Oh, yeah, one more thing:

IF YOU SEND ME A REVIEW, I WILL WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU WALK UPON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!