Chapter 4 – the Obese Tapdancer

Umbridge's POV

Umbridge had been waiting impatiently all week for meeting with Skeeter. She'd decided to abandon her signature pink for black business robes with a navy blue dress underneath. She was fortunate that she was neither striking nor beautiful and she could slip into the background in most places without attracting too much attention. Her younger sister Desdemona had been the most beautiful witch in London and struggled always being in the spotlight.. She walked up to the entrance of the pub. Its exterior was a deep emerald green with brightly coloured orange and lime green polka dots. It was often commented upon that it had probably been designed by a drunken toddler. Having been on friendly terms with the owner Zane Gnomber, Umbridge thought that theory wasn't too far from the truth. Mr Gnomber was as eccentric as the Mad Hatter but smarter than Einstein. He was also morally flexible, which was very important when you were organising a meeting to bring down the establishment, which is why Skeeter would have chosen the Obese Tapdancer as the venue.

"Delores, daaarlingk – it is wonderful to see you!" Mr Gnomber, dressed in an orange suit and bright blue top hat came and kissed her enthusiastically on the cheek. "It has been far too long. And you're wearing black? With your beauty, it is a tragedy, ma Cherie, you should wear colour, always."

Delores was glad that she didn't often blush. She looked around the pub which had paintings of chubby scantily clad people doing dance moves. Several disco balls scattered colours of light over the tables which were either purple or blue. There was a band with three cellists and a flautist supporting an enthusiastic although out of key singer, waiters in lime green tuxedos and ball gowns served a variety of bizarre looking cocktails. Umbridge smiled, no one would imagine any sort of business meeting taking place here. There was no sign of Skeeter.

"Zane" Delores said in a breathy voice "I'm Ms Skeeter's guest."

Zane smiled. Rita Skeeter had contributed immensely to his business from all her tips she paid him from passing on gossip and keeping secrets, whatever was required. In his opinion, that was what made her successful, she was willing to go where "respectable" journalists did not. Not that there was such thing as a respectable journalist, but Rita kept him solvent, and so what if some of the things he passed on were slightly fabricated. Everyone was allowed to exaggerate now and then.

"Oh Delores, what a wonderful catch up it will be. I have put you in our special room." He led Umbridge to a room out the back which was clearly protected by many spells and was also protected by muggle locks and codes. Unlike the main pub it was decked out in comfortable black leather chairs with a kitchenette. It was not luxurious but practical. Delores knew that many a business deal had taken place in this room. She had been involved in a few of them herself, well she'd watched Fudge conduct them.

"This is wonderful, Zane" Delores gushed. She slipped ten galleons into Gnomber's hand which he winked and pocketed

"Don't worry my dear, I never saw you here. Enjoy your meeting with the delightful Ms Skeeter."

Rita Skeeter smiled when she saw Umbridge. The smile almost reached her eyes.

"Delores, it's lovely to see you, please take a seat. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Coffee please, trim with two sugars."

Skeeter nodded and clicked her fingers. Two coffees appeared on the table along with a variety of fruit and vegetables.

"I'll cut to the chase. I'm uh irritated with how things have turned out for me. I imagine you have similar sentiments."

Umbridge did not respond. She did not trust anyone as a rule of thumb and there was a still a slight chance Skeeter wanted to trap her.

"If you do not believe me, read this letter. It's from the Daily Prophet, assuring me that I will never work for them again, nor will I work for any other newspaper in the country. That attitude comes straight from the Ministry. I'm a wee bit sick of the Ministry doing this and I think it's time I controlled the Ministry."

Umbridge's eyes narrowed into a scowl. "You are not going to be controlling me. That I can assure you, you're just a journalist." She said the last word as an insult.

Skeeter scowled back she was about to give a scathing answer, but Umbridge was too important to insult. "Sheath your claws. I have a plan which will work far better than making you Minister of Magic, no offence."

Umbridge smiled "well that's fortunate, because I would have rejected your offer. What are you suggesting?"

"That we bring back Fudge."

Umbridge almost snorted her coffee through her nose. "I think I misheard you."

"Think about it. He's easy to bend. He's power hungry and incompetent. He knows he's incompetent but won't admit it. He is scared of powerful witches and wizards and pushes them away instead relying on people he believes are loyal but who are less talented than he. You know this, you've worked under him. He trusted you."

Umbridge nodded thoughtfully. Fudge was an odious little man, but there was no way she would ever be elected Minister. Not while Kingsley and his pet, Potter were flavour of the month. He could be controlled. She could have him wrapped around her little finger in no time.

"It won't be easy" Umbridge commented quietly.

"No, it won't" Skeeter agreed.

"How do we do it?" Umbridge was an implementer, not a planner. She had persistence and cunning, but not ingenuity. That was where Skeeter excelled.

"We need to drag Kingsley's reputation through the trash. We need to make Fudge seem like a responsible and altruistic statesman."

Umbridge almost snorted her coffee through her mouth for the second time. "I am not sure what one of those will be more difficult."

Skeeter smiled. She loved a good misanthrope. This partnership could work very well. "We'll both work on that. I think we can start with Kingsley, delving into his past. But we can't delve too hard because Granger and Kingsley's other pet Aaron MacDonald will find out, mark my words."

"Really Rita, Granger is just a child. I hardly doubt she can be of any harm. And I haven't heard of MacDonald, so he can't be very important."

"That's your weakness Delores, you underestimate people, Granger basically brought down Voldemort."

"No, she didn't. She was Potter's sidekick."

"Trust me, Granger needs to be watched. Kingsley will be relying on her more and more, especially when she's finished at Hogwarts, mark my words. Potter, too, but Granger has the stronger work ethic and drive. Potter is idealistic and kind first and passionate for the light second. Granger is passionate about justice and fiercely protective of her friends first and doesn't suffer fools. And as for MacDonald, Kingsley trusts him completely and Aaron follows Kingsley around like a puppy. There are a whole generation of young ones, Delores, that are coming through. They are going to have warped, immature and idealistic world views because of the war and we need to get in fast before they become too powerful."

Umbridge sipped her coffee and marvelled at how Skeeter had a knack for seeing how things were likely to pan out.

XXX

Draco's POV

The Slytherin common room was so subdued now. It was hard living with the stigma of being bad, of having the colour of your school tie determining whether you were part of the light or part of the dark, no matter who you actually were inside, no matter whether you were forced to follow in your family's footsteps. Draco Malfoy was once one of the most powerful students at Hogwarts, and amongst his own house, one of the most liked. Now he was despised by the other three houses and mistrusted by his fellow Slytherins. He oddly sympathised with oddballs like Lupin now, and with Potter and Dumbledore who went through periods of being hated. He sat with Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass and Jamieson Ellery at the back in Herbology. Pansy was much more subdued these days, Daphne's family had been neutral during the war and she worked as hard as she could to make sure the Slytherin families who were neutral and those who fought for the light got on with those who had parents were Death Eaters. Draco had hardly noticed the gentle and quiet Daphne during his time at Hogwarts, but now he appreciated her immensely. He was beginning to realise that kind and gentle didn't necessarily equate to weakness, much like how being loud and dominant didn't necessarily equate to strength.

"I'm not feeling well" Pansy said quietly. She had gone very pale. The plants they were looking at were rather fragrant.

"I'll take her to the sick bay" Daphne said quietly, leading her friend gently by the arm.

"See you in the common room" Draco said quietly, before turning to the nasallitas. He knew they had wonderful healing properties for auto immune diseases but he also wished they didn't smell quite so bad.

"Professor?" Granger raised her hand. Draco rolled her eyes. Why was Granger even back at school? She was the light's princess and could get a fancy job anywhere she liked. The Ministry would have made an exception to its stupid back-to-Hogwarts rule for her.

"Yes Ms Granger?" Professor Sprout said, speaking as though her to her favourite child. Professor Sprout was polite to him, but no more.

"Why don't we make these available for muggles? Auto immune is really rough on a lot of them."

Draco rolled his eyes for the second time in thirty seconds. Could anyone be so stupid? Doing business with muggles didn't work, well most of the time it didn't. Not when it involved exposing muggles to things they didn't have. They were too numerous and they could overpower magical people, probably and use them to provide magical services and see magical people as a commodity. But of course Ms Granger didn't see that side of the world, the real side of the world, that existed outside books and middle class parents. Muggles were useful, though, for providing certain services, as his father and his father before him, had figured out. But then, his father didn't know anything worthwhile either. So many people had died because of him, so many lives had been destroyed, for what? Nothing.

Professor Sprout looked at Granger indulgently. Draco wanted to gag. Honestly, Granger had not street smarts at all.

"Good question, Ms Granger. It could be an option to explore in the future. We are lucky to have a witch so bright as you amongst us."

Draco was in a bad mood for the remainder of the lesson. Ellery must have picked up on it because he packed up his bag very quickly after class. Draco checked his watch. He had a free period next and if he was fast he could get a run in and then half an hour of study before dinner, or he could just skip dinner. That might be best, he could avoid speaking with people.

He was lost in thought leaving the greenhouse, about how on earth he was going to have a successful career, about what would happen to his parents, when suddenly he felt someone punch him in the face.

"You little shit."

Draco looked up to see Vikash Patel, a beefy Ravenclaw glaring at him. He was surrounded by about twenty students of all four houses, most were seniors but a couple looked like first or second years. None of them looked like they wanted to be his friend, to put it mildly.

Draco raised an eyebrow. He was not in the mood for this. And also he kind of deserved to be beaten up, he didn't care. Although he was somewhat confused. He'd faced hostility for the first six weeks of term but he hadn't been hit before.

"What makes me 'a little shit', Patel?" Draco asked, putting air quotes around 'a little shit'.

"A myriad of things" said another Ravenclaw Draco didn't know "but primarily because your useless father has managed to weasel his way out of punishment again."

Draco couldn't help it, he laughed "being let out from house arrest for one afternoon with his wife to see his sick cousin is hardly avoiding punishment. He's had his assets frozen, property taken and is awaiting trial. So perhaps you should get your facts straight."

"My father and mother will never get an afternoon to see family again, because your father and his cronies killed them!" Vikash was choking up with tears as he punched Draco in the face and then in the stomach. Someone else grabbed him and held his arms back while another person kicked him in the shins. He didn't try to fight back, he was too tired, and in a way, agreed with Vikash. Besides he'd been tortured worse by Voldemort and Bellatrix.

Then suddenly, the pain stopped, the people were being pulled off him, magically. The tried to run up against him but were hit by an invisible shield.

"Leave him alone" a voice said quietly but forcefully.

Draco turned around to see Granger wand up, casting the biggest, strongest shield he had ever seen. She looked Vikash in the eye, she looked like she almost crying. He'd seldom seen Granger overly emotional.

Vikash looked at Hermione angrily. "Hermione!"

Granger shook her head. "Hurting him won't bring your family back" she said, sounding tired. "It won't make the pain go away. Malfoy didn't choose his parents, and he's going to be paying for who his parents are for the rest of his life. Trust me, being angry doesn't help."

Draco was pretty sure that Vikash and the others wouldn't listen to such a holier than thou speech and he was also fairly certain that even Granger couldn't hold a shield charm that strong when it was from a distance and not covering her and non-verbal for much longer. But to his amazement Vikash nodded and walked away. The others followed their leader.

Granger walked over to him "you ok?"

Draco's instinct was to say something snarky at her, but then he saw that she had bags under her eyes, her hair was slightly greasy and she was looking very thin. She must have been working hard lately, Draco thought. Now she will be tired from sticking up for me. He decided to swallow his pride.

"Yeah, I'll be fine… Thanks for sticking up for me" he said shyly.

Hermione gave a wry half-smile "you're welcome. I needed to practise my shield charm anyway."

Draco smiled back, grateful she wasn't going to get all mushy on him.

Hermione nodded and started to walk back to the castle. Draco was oddly hurt that she didn't walk with him, but then, she probably thought he didn't want to walk with her.

"Granger" he called to her after she'd walked about ten paces away.

She turned and walked back to him "yes Malfoy?"

"Do you want to get a coffee of something at Hogsmeade sometime?"

Hermione looked surprised.

"As friends, I mean, obviously" he said awkwardly "or at least, not as enemies."

"I'm not your enemy, Malfoy."

"Oh good, great."

Hermione smiled at him. "Hogsmeade sounds great, and if we're going to be meeting up, you should probably call me Hermione."

Draco beamed "well you call me Draco."

"That sounds fair. I'll see you next Hogsmeade, Draco. Meet at the Hogs Head at 10am?"

"Perfect" Draco said, somewhat stunned at what had just occurred.

XXX

Skeeter had been searching through Kingsley's records for two weeks. She'd drunk more polyjuice potion than she ever had. It was making her feel permanently nauseous. But finally she'd managed to get the hair of more and more senior people and she'd finally managed to impersonate one of the junior unspeakables. She had access to the Department of Mysteries files and found Kingsley's full records. Then she'd gone to all his places of employment. She was at the place where he first worked, she'd broken in and read through all the tasks he'd undertaken. Just when she was close to giving up she found something that would completely ruin Kingsley's reputation.

A/N thanks for reading, let me know what you thought.