Finally to my loyal readers; as I was writing this article about Draco Malfoy, I realized he had provided me with several quotes in previous articles. In light of his current reprehensible actions I feel I must return to those columns in the near future and determine his credibility in those as well.
"Wow," Harry said. "She can write a good story. I didn't think she had it in her," He first glanced at Hermione who was scrutinizing every word of the article. He then looked over at Fleur and could feel her relief. If Rita hadn't kept her end of the deal, Harry knew Fleur would have felt guilty.
He glanced up at the head table next and noticed a certain pair of twinkling eyes looking in his direction. A slight nod followed. Harry gazed shifted over to the Slytherin table where voices could be heard from across the Great Hall. For an instant Draco's eyes looked up and met his and a look of pure hatred poured out of them. Harry half expected him to pull out his wand and try to hex him from across the Hall. As Harry continued to glance around the Great Hall, he could see more and more people glaring at Malfoy. It wasn't long before the blond Slytherin stormed out of the Hall.
"Probably going to write his father," Harry thought as his eyes followed the git.
The article in the Daily Prophet did something extremely rare. It surprised Albus Dumbledore. After he finished reading it, he looked over at the Gryffindor Table and noticed Harry and his bonded reading the article with not a bit of surprise. Their body language indicated they had expected it. Albus knew somehow they were responsible for the content but had no idea how they made it happen. When Harry's gaze met his own, he gave the young man the slightest of nods. He then turned his attention to the Slytherin table and could see the commotion going on there. Dumbledore could imagine what was being said. He also knew he would have to once again rein in Severus. He looked over at the Potions Master who was also glaring at the Gryffindor table.
Lucius Malfoy was seething. The Daily Prophet was laid out in front of him. When he first read the article, he immediately started making plans to deal with Rita Skeeter but an owl that had appeared shortly afterwards stopped those plans. The letter was from Skeeter and it contained various secrets of his that she threatened to make public if anything were to happen to her. She had names, places and very accurate description of events, as well as who and how much he'd paid to various people.
"Damn that woman," Lucius thought as he paced the floor. He thought about having Skeeter killed but she'd let him know that if she ended up dead, her notes would find their way into various people's hands, many of them who held grudges against Malfoy. Several times over the next hour that he paced his study he cursed Skeeter's name but in the end, he knew she had the upper hand at the moment. Lucius did not know how Skeeter knew what she knew, but he could not allow the information to be made public. He composed a letter to his son ordering him to keep his head down for the rest of the school year and to stay away from Potter and his friends.
The previous day, Sirius had been more than a little angered about the possible interview with Skeeter, but when he saw the article she had written about the attack he changed his mind. He hadn't believed Rita would live up to her end of the bargain, but the proof was there in front of him. He also decided with the Aurors still investigating Crouch's disappearance and now possibly Malfoy, it would be best if he remained in the Chamber for the near future. He was enjoying the time he got to spend with Lupin and his godson while not having to worry about Dementors and the Ministry.
Owl delivery for the next week brought numerous letters for Gabrielle. Though there were a few that were from people obviously against Veela, the majority were supportive of her.
The bonded were surprised but relieved when no further actions came from Malfoy. He avoided them as much as possible, but each time he did look at them there was pure hatred in his eyes.
With the major hurdle of Skeeter resolved, they finally turned their full attention to preparing for the third task. One afternoon as Fleur and Harry were going over a healing charm Fleur knew, Hermione was studying the map when she said. "That's odd."
"What is?" Remus asked.
"Well Gabrielle and Ginny are in Defense right now, which means Moody should be in the class. See there's Gabrielle," She pointed at the dot sitting next to Ginny Weasley. "But according to the map Moody is in his office. He's been in that same spot every time I've looked at the map."
"Hmmm, let me see the map," Remus took the parchment and started casting a few spells on it. Finally he looked up. "It's got some kind of Confundus Charm on it," He handed it back to Hermione. "Moody probably didn't like the idea of someone spying on him and made the map only see him in his office. When I get a chance, I'll see if I can break his charm."
Hermione turned back to the map and was about to put it away, when she realized something. "Harry, Fleur come look at this," When they joined her at the table, she pointed to a spot on the map. "The map shows the Quidditch field," She waited and Fleur got it right away.
"Zen we can use it for ze third task."
"How? It doesn't show the maze," Harry asked.
"No but presuming the cup is going to be in the center of the maze, I can tell you two which direction you need to be going."
"But that would be cheating," Harry exclaimed.
"Non, it wouldn't. An advantage yes, but not cheating," Fleur replied. "For ze first task you used your broom which is a magical device and you used Gillyweed in the second task."
"But I didn't make the map," Harry argued.
"No but you didn't make your broom either," Hermione replied.
"What about Hermione helping us."
"Myrtle helped us in ze lake, did it feel like cheating?" Fleur replied.
"This is different. Myrtle is a friend..."
"And 'ermione is your bondmate. Do you think she is going to not be concerned about you? Worry about you? She still isn't going to be able to tell you about monsters or even if it's a dead end. She's only going to be able to tell you in what general direction you need to go."
Harry looked between Fleur and Hermione and realized he wasn't going to win the argument. "Okay, fine," He finally agreed.
As the number of days until the final task shrunk, Harry's confidence of being able to do the task rose. The work he and Fleur had put in together learning various spells was paying off. Hermione was busy helping them and preparing for her own end of year exams. Fleur was studying more as well. She'd be taking the French equivalent of the NEWTs shortly after the school year was over.
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