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Chapter 531: The Beetle and Rita Skeeter
🕑 Added 2025-02-23 12:20:12 +0000 UTCFrost-resistant and rolling in the snow?
Harry felt an odd sense of familiarity with Kyle’s description, but he couldn’t quite place it. Just as he was about to ask, a knock came at the door again.
This time, it wasn’t Dumbledore.
“Hagrid, how are you? Everyone in the castle’s talking about you... Oh, I see you’ve got the kettle on. Mind if I have a cup of tea?”
Harry lit up at the sight of the visitor. “Professor Black! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve told you, Harry, you don’t have to call me that outside the castle,” Sirius said with a smile as he entered the hut. “Of course, I came because of the article. I wanted to talk to Professor Dumbledore about it first, but he’s disappeared, and I couldn’t find him anywhere.”
Hagrid’s hut, already cramped with five people inside, now felt impossibly small with Sirius joining. Harry and Ron shifted to the side, squeezing themselves against the wall to make space for him.
But ten minutes later, the knock on the door came again. This time, it wasn’t just one visitor—it was Kanna, accompanied by Cedric, Cho, and the Weasley twins.
With this many people, the hut was too full to fit everyone, so the newcomers had to stand outside in the snow.
Kanna spotted Kyle through the window and waved. “No wonder we couldn’t find you earlier. You got here first.”
“No, I just arrived too,” Kyle explained, stepping to the doorway. “Professor Black and I went to Diagon Alley earlier—before any of you were awake.”
“Diagon Alley?”
“Yeah, to pick something up from Gringotts. We had it planned for the holidays, and today was our free time.”
Kanna nodded, seemingly satisfied with the explanation. She didn’t press further, focusing instead on visiting Hagrid.
Seeing the crowd gathered outside his hut, Hagrid looked overwhelmed. Tears welled up in his eyes—not from sadness this time, but from gratitude.
He had feared that once people learned he was a half-giant, they would shun him. But now, so many students had come to see him, it moved him deeply.
“Thank you,” Hagrid choked out, tears streaming into his beard. “Thank you for still coming to see me…”
“Hagrid, what are you on about?” Fred said with a grin. “Our Care of Magical Creatures professor is a half-blood giant—what could be cooler than that?”
“A pure-blood giant?” George suggested with a raised eyebrow.
“Fair point,” Fred agreed with a chuckle, high-fiving his twin.
“See, Hagrid?” Kyle said reassuringly. “No one here cares about your status.”
“But Dumbledore...” Hagrid muttered uncertainly.
“I’m sure the headmaster won’t dismiss you,” Kyle said, patting Hagrid’s arm.
The group didn’t linger for long, mainly because of the cold. Not everyone could fit inside the hut, and the snow outside was beginning to pile up again. After a while, Hagrid insisted he needed some time alone and shooed everyone back to the castle, despite their protests.
As the students reluctantly turned to leave, Kyle noticed something unusual. A beetle was crawling out from under the open door of the hut, its shiny carapace glinting faintly in the light.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed as he watched it scuttle away.
“Yeah, let’s go back,” Kyle said, stepping away from Hagrid’s hut.
Outside, he walked up to Kanna and said casually, though with a hint of intent, “Good thing the article only mentioned the half-giant detail. If they’d found out about that, things would have been even more of a mess.”
“What thing?” Kanna asked, confused.
“Have you forgotten?” Kyle looked around cautiously, lowering his voice. “It’s not safe to talk about it here. Let’s head back to the castle.”
Though puzzled, Kanna didn’t press further and followed Kyle. It wasn’t until they reached the foyer that she tentatively asked, “You’re not talking about Fluffy, are you? But that was ages ago. It’s impossible anyone found him.”
“You’re right,” Kyle said with a small smile. “No one’s ever going to find Fluffy.”
He reached into his robes and pulled out a small, round bottle, clearly repurposed from a box of multi-flavored beans. He shook it lightly, producing a distinct clink, clink sound.
“Wait… is that… a beetle?” Kanna asked, tilting her head.
“It is,” Kyle confirmed, holding the bottle up. “But not just any beetle.”
He corked the bottle tightly and gave it another shake. The same metallic clink echoed. “Am I right, Madam Rita Skeeter?”
“Rita…” Kanna gasped, her eyes widening. “Are you saying this beetle is Rita Skeeter?”
“It’s just a suspicion for now,” Kyle admitted. “But it’ll be easy enough to confirm. Come with me.”
Kyle led the way to an empty classroom, shutting the door behind them. He placed the bottle containing the beetle on a desk and rummaged through his Mokeskin pouch, pulling out a portable camera and a Bowtruckle.
The Bowtruckle stretched as Kyle placed it on the desk, blinking curiously.
Kanna watched in silence as Kyle uncorked the bottle and gently tipped the beetle out, handing it to the Bowtruckle.
The Bowtruckle’s eyes lit up at the unexpected treat. Though wood lice were its favorite, it wasn’t about to turn down an extra snack. Opening its tiny mouth wide, it moved to bite down on the beetle.
But just as its jaws were about to close, the beetle began to wriggle frantically.
Before their eyes, the beetle’s body started to grow and shift, its form expanding rapidly. Kanna recognized the transformation immediately—it was the process of someone reverting from Animagus form to their original human shape.
Within moments, the beetle was gone, replaced by a woman with curly blond hair and oversized horn-rimmed glasses.
The Bowtruckle, startled and clearly horrified, froze for a moment. Then it looked down at its tiny hands, as if questioning its life choices, before letting out a shrill wail. It dove into Kyle’s pocket, trembling in terror.
Meanwhile...
“Click!”
Kyle pressed the shutter of his camera, capturing the moment perfectly.
“Amazing,” he said with a sly smile, holding up the camera. “The famous Madam Rita Skeeter is actually an unregistered Animagus. Looks like tomorrow’s Daily Prophet front page is already decided.”
“Give that to me!” Rita Skeeter screeched, lunging at Kyle like a madwoman in a desperate attempt to snatch the camera.
But before she could get close, a flick of Kyle’s wand sent her flying backward. She crashed into several tables, sending them toppling in a chaotic clatter.
“Stealing is wrong, Madam Skeeter,” Kyle said calmly, wand still raised.
Before she could even think of retaliating, the surrounding tables and chairs transformed into ropes, which snaked around her, binding her tightly from her feet to her neck. She was left looking like a human-sized cocoon, completely immobilized. Her wand clattered to the floor, kicked aside by one of the enchanted table legs.
“Another unregistered Animagus,” Kanna said with a tone of disgust. “No wonder you know so many wizarding secrets—no one would ever suspect a beetle.”
“She’ll have to answer for her actions sooner or later,” Kyle replied with a smile. “Being an illegal Animagus alone is enough to land her in Azkaban with the Dementors.”
“Give me that camera!” Rita Skeeter shrieked, her voice tinged with panic.
She had never imagined her well-honed trick would fail against a mere student. And now, with the evidence of her Animagus form documented in a photograph, her career—and perhaps her freedom—was on the line.
She could already picture the fallout. If this photo made its way to the Ministry, her illicit use of her Animagus form for espionage would be exposed. Ministry officials, particularly those whose secrets she had pried into, would ensure her downfall. She might even find herself silenced in a dark corner of wizarding society.
Desperate, she shifted tactics. “I know secrets,” she said hoarsely. “Secrets about Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, Ludo Bagman... I can trade them with you for the camera. Just give it to me!”
Kyle arched an eyebrow. “Why would I want to know that? Do I look like I need extra trouble? No thanks.” He shrugged lightly. “So I’d rather just...”
“What do you want, then?” Rita interrupted, growing frantic. “Tell me! What do I have to do for you to give it to me? I can write an article—no, many articles—praising you! You’ll be the hero of Hogwarts!”
Kyle frowned slightly. “You misunderstand me. I don’t want you to write good things about me, and I don’t need anything from you. Besides, Hogwarts students don’t threaten others to make them do things for us. That’s against school rules.”
Kanna glanced sideways, pursing her lips to hide a smile. Strictly speaking, there were no such rules in the Hogwarts handbook—this situation was far beyond the scope of ordinary school discipline. It was squarely in the realm of wizard law.
“But—” Rita tried to protest.
Kyle cut her off. “However, I happen to be in a good mood today, so here’s what I’ll do: I’ll wait until the next issue of The Daily Prophet comes out before deciding whether to publish the photo."
“If I’m still in a good mood then, I might not publish it. Who knows? It all depends.”
“Then I—”
“Enough,” Kyle interrupted again, his tone final. “It’s not up to you—it’s all about how I feel. So, good luck.”
With a flick of his wand, the ropes binding Rita Skeeter unraveled and fell to the floor.
Without sparing her another glance, Kyle grabbed Kanna by the arm and pulled her out of the empty classroom.
