Harry Potter and the Aliens

Part 15

The day of the second task had arrived, and Emiko was seated in the teachers' stands, since someone had to keep Sirius calm and the teachers weren't very good at it. Professor Sprout was on Sirius's other side, since Yuki was in the healers' tent with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Sprout was good at calming people down.

Finally the champions came out, and went into the lake. Harry was the last to go in, and it looked like he wasn't doing anything until he took something out of his pocket. "What is that?" Sirius asked.

Emiko focused on Harry's mind, and said, "Gillyweed."

"Smart," Sirius said, as Harry went underwater.

Time passed as the champions stayed underwater, and Fleur failed to retrieve her hostage. Harry was still underwater after the time was up, and Sirius was getting more and more tense. Emiko finally asked, "Do you want me to find out what's taking him so long?"

"No, he finally came back, and the merpeople are with him," Sirius said. "Odd, though; he's got that girl's sister as well as Ron."

Before Emiko could respond, Minerva called, "Emiko, come here please."

Emiko left the stands and ran over. "What's up?" she asked.

Minerva looked slightly embarrassed and said, "None of us can speak Mermish; we were hoping you could translate what they're saying. I think it's about why Mr. Potter took so long."

"I'll try," Emiko said, and went over to the edge of the lake, kneeling to be more at level with the leader of the merpeople. "Can you understand us?" the mermaid asked.

"Yes," Emiko replied in the same language. "What took Harry so long?"

"He was determined to return all the hostages to safety, not just his own," the mermaid said. "Admirable, considering he was running out of time to be underwater. Will you tell the judges that we think he should be given full marks for his bravery?"

"Of course," Emiko said. She turned to Minerva, and said in English, "Minerva-san, she says that Harry was determined to return all the hostages to safety, and that he should be given full marks for his bravery, considering he was running out of time to be underwater."

"We'll discuss it; please thank her," Minerva said. She bowed in the direction of the merpeople, and went to the other judges. They began to speak in low voices as Emiko told the mermaid, "They're discussing it; and Minerva says thank you."

"Tell her she is most welcome, and farewell," the mermaid said.

"I will," Emiko said, and got up, then bowed. The merpeople nodded back, and vanished under the water. Emiko went to the judges, who looked at her, and said, "She said you're welcome, and farewell."

"Thank you, Emiko," Minerva said. "We've decided to give Mr. Potter full marks, despite Karkaroff wanting to take off two points for returning after the time limit."

"Okay," Emiko said, noticing Ludo Bagman giving Karkaroff a dark look. "Is Harry okay?"

"You should ask your aunt," Minerva said. "Sirius basically dragged him off before he could get his marks."

"Looks like they're back," Emiko said, pointing.

Minerva and the other judges looked, and went over. Emiko went over to the healers' tent, and poked her head in. Yuki and Madam Pomfrey were in there, and she asked, "Is everyone okay?"

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey said grouchily. "I will never understand why we have to put the students in danger; this tournament is too dangerous for students."

"I don't know what they were thinking when they set up these tasks," Yuki grumbled. "It's like they WANT the kids to get hurt."

"Well, at least everyone's okay," Emiko said. "That's the important part, right?"

"Yes," Madam Pomfrey said. "I still don't like this, though."

"The champions have five months till the next task, and they'll be told what it is a month prior," Yuki said. "That should be plenty of time to prepare."

"Let's hope," Madam Pomfrey said darkly.

Emiko left at that point, and went back to the stands as Harry was awarded forty-five points for the task.

~XXXX~

In the aftermath of the task, Emiko mainly worked on her healing training, as well as the work she had received from the elementary school she went to with Natalie. She sometimes helped out with the wandless magic classes as well, but mainly did her own studies, along with Kisshu.

Unfortunately, about three weeks after the task, more trouble hit. This time, however, it didn't hit Harry.

They were all at breakfast when owls started flocking to Hermione, and some of them were carrying red envelopes, meaning they were Howlers. "Weird…. Who'd be sending Hermione Howlers?" Kisshu asked.

"Judging by this article, I'd say Harry's fans," Yuki said dryly, handing over a magazine called Witch Weekly that was a day old. Emiko and Kisshu read it, and then looked at the author. "Why would Rita Skeeter want to hurt Hermione?" Emiko asked, puzzled.

"Indirect method of hurting Harry?" Kisshu suggested. "But why would she think Harry and Hermione are together? And why would she be cheating on Harry with that Krum guy anyways? As far as I know, they haven't spoken since he found out I was taking Hermione to the Yule Ball."

"And how would she know about that anyways?" Emiko asked. Luckily Hermione had incinerated the Howlers before they could go off, but unfortunately, one of the envelopes turned out to be worse. Some kind of greenish yellow liquid poured out, and Hermione cried out. Yuki immediately went over and snapped her fingers. The envelope and its contents vanished, and she looked at Hermione's hands, then started healing them.

"Oniichan, I think it's time we paid the mosquito lady a 'visit'," Emiko said. "And then we're going to see Mrs. Weasley."

"Why Mrs. Weasley?" Kisshu asked.

"One of the letters was from her; she must have believed the article since Harry and Hermione are close friends," Emiko said. "Mosquito Lady first, though."

"Alright," Kisshu said. "Do you know where she is?"

Emiko concentrated, then said, "Somewhere in London; let's Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and teleport from there. We're way too far away from London to teleport straight there and still have energy left for revenge."

"Good point, let's go to Minerva's office," Kisshu said. He teleported, followed by Emiko. They landed in Minerva's new office, which used to be Dumbledore's, and Emiko located the tin of Floo powder, then threw some into the fire. She joined hands with Kisshu, and they walked in together as Emiko said clearly, "Diagon Alley!"

A minute later, they landed in the Leaky Cauldron, and Kisshu said, "We may not need to teleport anywhere; Rita's over there." He pointed to a table, and Emiko saw Rita sitting there with some kind of drink, looking pleased.

Emiko smirked, and she and Kisshu picked their way over to Rita's table. She looked up, and squeaked when she saw Kisshu cracking his knuckles. "Um…. hi?" she said nervously.

"Would you care to explain why you're picking on Hermione, and why you think she's cheating on Harry with Krum?" Kisshu asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Uh…" Rita said, then cracked when Kisshu summoned one of his sais. "Okay, fine! I wanted to get some recognition after I nearly got fired, so I made up the whole thing when the reporter assigned to the Triwizard Tournament mentioned that Granger was Viktor Krum's hostage!"

"And what are you going to do to fix this?" Emiko asked.

"Uh…." Rita said. "Tell the editor and staff that I lied and ask them to print an apology article?"

"Good, but we're going with you," Kisshu said. "Now, where's their office?"

"Here in Diagon Alley, I'll show you…." Rita said resignedly.

"No making a break for it, or we WILL hunt you down, and they'll never find your remains," Emiko said warningly.

Rita squeaked and started walking. Emiko and Kisshu followed her to a small office building, and went in with her. The woman at the desk looked up, and said, "Rita, good to see you. What's up?"

"I need to speak to Ms. Hunter, can you let her know?" Rita asked.

"Of course," the woman said. She flicked her wand, and a Patronus in the form of a sparrow shot out of it, headed toward the back of the building. A few minutes later, a stern-looking woman came into the room, and asked, "Rita, what can I do for you?"

Rita gulped, and said, "I lied. Hermione Granger was never with Harry Potter, and she's not with Viktor Krum either. I wanted to get a good story, so when I heard at the Daily Prophet offices that she was Viktor Krum's hostage in the Triwizard Tournament, I made the whole thing up for publicity. I want you to PLEASE post an apology in the next issue, and you can blame me for everything, tell the readers you didn't know I was lying, whatever you have to do, just PLEASE post some kind of apology for this!"

"What exactly brought this on?" Ms. Hunter asked.

"Two of Miss Granger's friends are scarier than You-Know-Who!" Rita wailed. "Please just do it, I'd rather not become a warthog for life."

Ms. Hunter sighed and said, "Alright, we'll print an apology, if only to make the magazine look good. But you're paying for it!"

"Okay…" Rita said gloomily. She looked at Kisshu and Emiko, who gave her evil grins. "Very good," Emiko said. "Oh, and next time you want to make someone look bad, I'd recommend you stick to people outside of Hogwarts. You won't like the results otherwise."

"Got it…." Rita said gloomily. "Can I go now?"

"Oh, fine," Kisshu said. "Just count yourself lucky I didn't turn you into something else; Emiko taught me how."

Rita nervously backed away from them, then edged out the door. Emiko smiled normally at Ms. Hunter, and said, "Thanks for your time, ma'am."

Ms. Hunter was speechless as Emiko and Kisshu left.

Once outside, they looked around, and then Kisshu concentrated. "I think we should be able to teleport to the Weasleys' house from here," he said. "But we'll need help getting back."

"I'm sure Mrs. Weasley has Floo powder on hand," Emiko said. "Besides, you can't teleport through the wards around Hogwarts, remember?"

"Oh right," Kisshu said. He took Emiko's hand and teleported.

They landed outside an interesting-looking house, and Emiko went up to the door and rang the bell. The door was opened a few minutes later by Mrs. Weasley, who asked, "Emiko? And Kisshu? What's wrong?"

"We noticed one of those letters to Hermione this morning was from you, and decided we'd come set the record straight," Emiko said. "Harry and Hermione were never together; they're just friends, and Hermione wasn't with Krum either. The Skeeter woman made up a bunch of lies to get her reputation back, and we just came from forcing her to beg the editor of that magazine to print an apology."

"Oh dear, I didn't know that," Mrs. Weasley said, worried. "I'd better send Hermione an apology."

"We can take it," Kisshu said. "We were also hoping you had some way of getting back to Hogwarts; I can't teleport through the wards there because I don't have magic."

"Of course, we have plenty of Floo powder," Mrs. Weasley said. "Let me just write Hermione an apology, and then I'll send you two back to Hogwarts."

"Thanks," Emiko said. She and Kisshu followed Mrs. Weasley to the kitchen, closing the front door behind them. They waited, looking around the house, and finally Mrs. Weasley finished writing, and folded up the parchment, putting it in an envelope. "Here, please give this to Hermione," she said, handing Emiko the letter. "I'll get the Floo powder."

Emiko took the letter, and watched as Mrs. Weasley took a tin of Floo powder off a shelf, then opened it. "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Emiko said. She took some, and threw it into the fire, walking in with Kisshu as she said, "Hogwarts!"

They landed in Minerva's office a minute later, and Minerva looked up from her desk. "Where WERE you?" she asked. "Yuki's going spare looking for you!"

"Setting some things straight; Rita Skeeter wrote a bunch of lies about Hermione, and we decided we'd set things right," Emiko said. "Witch Weekly should be posting an apology in the next issue, and Rita will hopefully never mess with anyone at Hogwarts again. If she does…. Well, I don't think they'll be finding her remains anytime soon."

"You scare me sometimes," Minerva said, shaking her head. "I called Yuki, she should be here soon."

Sure enough, Yuki came in a minute later and immediately asked, "Where WERE you!? I was worried sick when I couldn't find you after I was done healing Hermione."

"We were making sure that the magazine will post an apology," Emiko said. "We scared Rita out of her wits again, so there should be an apology in the next issue of that magazine. And we went to tell Mrs. Weasley that Hermione and Harry weren't together, since one of the letters this morning was from her. We're supposed to bring this apology letter to Hermione; where is she?"

"Probably at lunch," Minerva said.

"Okay," Kisshu said. "I'm hungry, let's go eat!"

Yuki sighed as the two teleported off.

Kisshu and Emiko landed next to the Gryffindor Table, and sat down to eat. As she filled her plate, Emiko said to Hermione, "Hermione, Mrs. Weasley wrote an apology letter, and we just ensure that Rita's going to post an apology in Witch Weekly too."

Hermione looked up, and Emiko handed her the letter. She smiled slightly and said, "Thanks you two."

"Sure," Kisshu said. "Hey, the next Hogsmeade weekend is this coming weekend; would you like to come with me?"

"I'd like that a lot," Hermione said, blushing slightly.

"Great!" Kisshu said, ignoring Ron glaring at him. "It's a date, then."

I decided, due to a review from I'm a Nerd and Proud, that I'd do a little bit of HermionexKisshu, and see how far it goes. Also, I know that since Hermione didn't go with Krum to the Yule Ball, that she wouldn't really be his hostage, but I couldn't think of anyone else for his hostage, so there you go. If you have ideas for Hermione and Kisshu's trip to Hogsmeade, let me know, or if you have suggestions for the story in general. Thanks for reading, and please REVIEW!