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Chapter 531: The Beetle and Rita Skeeter
Chapter 531: The Beetle and Rita Skeeter
Frost resistance, rolling in the snow?
As Kyle described it, Harry felt a sense of vague familiarity, but for a moment, he couldn't quite place who it was.
Just as he was about to ask, there was another knock on the door.
This time, it wasn't Dumbledore who arrived.
"Hagrid, how are you? Everyone in the castle is talking about you... Oh, I noticed you boiled some water. Could you make me a cup of hot tea?"
Upon seeing the visitor, Harry exclaimed with delight, "Professor Black, why are you here?"
"I've said it many times. Outside the castle, you don't need to address me like that, Harry."
Sirius stepped into the room, "Of course it's because of the newspaper. I was going to ask Professor Dumbledore first, but I couldn't find him."
Hagrid's house was already small, and now with five people inside, it felt even more cramped.
Harry and Ron squeezed to the left, making a little space for Sirius.
However, ten minutes later... Cona also appeared at the door of the cottage, along with Cedric, Cho, and the Weasley brothers.
This time, the cottage was completely full, and they could only stand outside.
Cona immediately spotted Kyle inside the house and waved, "No wonder we couldn't find you. You must have come early."
"No, I just arrived too," Kyle explained. "Before that, Professor Black and I went to Diagon Alley. You guys were still asleep then."
"Diagon Alley?"
"Yeah, we went to Gringotts to get something. We made an appointment during the holiday, and today was the perfect time."
Cona nodded, not asking further. After all, her main purpose for coming was to visit Hagrid.
Seeing this large group gathered at his cottage door, Hagrid started to choke up again, but this time, it wasn't because of sadness.
Hagrid had thought that after learning about his identity, everyone would avoid him, but he never expected so many people to come and visit him.
"Thank you, thank you for daring to come to my..." Two round tears rolled down Hagrid's eyes, slowly soaking into his beard.
"Hagrid, what are you talking about?" Fred said with a mischievous smile, "Our Care of Magical Creatures professor is a half-giant. Isn't that the coolest thing ever?"
"Is he a pure-blood giant?" George raised an eyebrow.
"I can't disagree."
The two brothers high-fived each other.
"See, Hagrid, no one here cares about your identity." Kyle said.
"But Dumbledore..."
"I believe the Headmaster won't fire you either." Kyle patted his arm.
The group didn't stay there for long.
It was simply too cold outside, and with so many people, not everyone could fit inside the house. So, after a while, Hagrid said he wanted to be alone, and he sent them all back to the castle.
Harry and the others didn't want to leave, but Hagrid was insistent, and he pushed them out of the house without further explanation.
However, as they were leaving, Kyle suddenly spotted a beetle crawling out from the open door.
"Yeah, let's head back."
After stepping out of the cottage, Kyle walked beside Cona and casually said, "It's a good thing the newspaper only mentioned the half-giant. They didn't discover that matter, or things would have gotten even more complicated."
"What matter?" Cona asked, puzzled.
"Don't you remember?" Kyle looked around, "It's not safe here. Let's go back to the castle and talk."
Although Cona felt a bit confused, she followed Kyle back to the castle.
It wasn't until they reached the entrance hall that she tentatively said, "You're not talking about Louie, are you? That was so long ago. It's impossible for anyone to find out about him."
"Yeah, you're right. No one could possibly discover Louie."
Kyle took out a Bean Bag that had turned into a Vial and quickly placed it on his shoulder.
"Clink, clink, clink..."
A series of clinking sounds immediately came from the bottle.
"This is... a beetle?"
"It's a beetle, but not just any beetle."
Kyle covered the bottle's mouth and shook it in his hand, and the bottle clinked again.
"Did I get it right? Rita Skeeter."
"Rita..." Cona was startled, "You mean this beetle is Rita Skeeter?"
"It's just a suspicion for now, but a simple test will confirm it... Come with me.
Kyle walked into an empty classroom, placed the bottle to the side, and then opened his Transfiguration lizard-skin bag. He took out a portable camera and a small creature that resembled a plant sprout.
Cona stood beside him, curiously watching as Kyle opened the bottle, took out a beetle, and handed it to the Kelpie.
The Kelpie thought it was getting an extra snack and was delighted, even though it preferred terrapins. It opened its mouth, ready to devour the beetle.
However, the next moment, the beetle began to wriggle, and its body grew larger and larger.
Cona was all too familiar with this scene, as it was the process of an Animagus transforming back into a wizard.
Soon, the empty classroom had an extra person—a woman with curly hair and horn-rimmed glasses.
The Kelpie was terrified. It looked at its hands and then at the sudden appearance of the woman. It yelped and scrambled into Kyle's pocket.
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Meanwhile...
"Click!"
Kyle pressed the camera's shutter.
"What a spectacle! The famous Rita Skeeter, an illegal Animagus," Kyle lifted his head and said with a smile, "It seems the front page of tomorrow's Daily Prophet is already set."
"Damn it, give it to me!" Rita Skeeter went crazy, pouncing to snatch the camera from Kyle's hand.
But the next moment, she flew back even faster, knocking over several tables.
"It's not right to snatch things, Ms. Skeeter," Kyle waved the wand in his hand.
Before Rita Skeeter could get up, the tables and chairs around her transformed into ropes, binding her tightly from her feet to her neck, making her look like a cocoon.
Her wand was also kicked aside by a table leg.
"Another illegal Animagus," Cona said with disgust. "No wonder you know so many wizarding secrets. After all, no one would be on guard against a beetle."
"It's fine. She'll pay for her mistakes," Kyle said with a smile. "An illegal Animagus, that alone is enough to send her to the company of Dementors."
"Give it to me!" Rita Skeeter yelled again.
She never expected that her usually foolproof method would fail in the hands of a student.
It was easy to imagine that once the photo recording her entire Animagus transformation was made public, she would be finished.
Those people... the officials from the Ministry of Magic, if they found out that her Animagus form was a beetle, and that she had used it to secretly gather information, she would be completely ruined. She might even be silently killed.
Therefore, no matter what, she had to get that camera. But she was also aware that she couldn't beat Kyle in a fight, so using force was out of the question.
"I know many secrets, about Fudge, Dolores Umbridge, and Ludo Bagman," Rita Skeeter said in a hoarse voice. "I can trade these for the camera."
"Why would I want to know these secrets? Do I look for trouble when you're bored?" Kyle spread his hands. "So, I'll still..."
"Then tell me, what do I have to do for you to give it to me? I can write reports, many reports praising you!" Rita Skeeter started to panic.
"I think you've misunderstood. I don't need you to speak well of me in the newspaper," Kyle frowned slightly. "Moreover, we students of Hogwarts never threaten others to do our bidding. That's against school rules."
Cona pursed her lips and turned her head away.
To be fair, there was no such rule in the school regulations; this was already within the scope of wizarding law.
"However..."
Kyle continued, "I'm in a good mood now, so I've decided to wait until the next issue of the Daily Prophet is out before considering whether to publish the photo.
"If I'm still in a good mood then, I might not publish it... It's all possible."
"Then..."
Rita Skeeter wanted to say something else, but Kyle interrupted her.
"It has nothing to do with you. I'll just see how my mood is. So, good luck..."
Kyle waved his wand, untied the ropes on Rita Skeeter, and then left the empty classroom with Cona.
(End of Chapter)
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