"Well you know after you beat your first one you just develop a taste for it." Harry answered jokingly. Daphne swatted at his arm in response. "Seriously though, I think I would be good at it. And it would me nice to help make the world a better place."
"Maybe, but you would be working for the Ministry." Daphne reminded him.
"I hadn't thought about that. I'll just have to hope that by the time I graduate someone has replaced Fudge then. I can't imagine anyone worse. What about you?"
"I'd be happy with a lot of things as long as I am not just sitting at home being a bored housewife. That's what is expected of most pureblood females after all. I guess I will eventually have to take over the responsibilities as the head of the Greengrass family from my father, which mostly means guiding our investments and trying to improve our social and political standing, but hopefully that won't happen for a long time. There is one thing I've thought a lot about…"
"What?"
"My father always talks about how becoming an Unspeakable was the best job he ever had. I've thought about following in his footsteps. Plus there is the mystery surrounding the Unspeakables which I have to admit I find quite attractive." Harry smiled and realized that during the conversation neither of them had brought up the fact that they both believed Voldemort was still alive and would eventually find a way to come back. They would both be involved in that war no matter what else they did, so perhaps their plans would never come true. A war was brewing and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
"Don't think about it, Harry." Daphne said after seeing the expression on his face change. "You've got to have something to fight for. A happy future is a good place to start."
"I think my little vacation is over." Harry said sadly. "It's been nice these past few weeks not worrying about the tournament or forcing myself to train all of the time, but there is too much at stake to keep slacking off."
"I'll be right there with you, and so will Hermione if you let her. She's still desperate to find a way to make herself useful, you need to be a good friend and help her find it." Daphne told him. Harry knew she was right, Hermione was a great friend and he owed her that much.
"Ok. From now on you both start training in the Room of Requirement with me. And… I want to go back to my old training method." Harry added, knowing that Daphne would object. Judging by the frown on her face, she was about to.
"I understand." she finally said to Harry's amazement. "But would you do something for me first? Tell Dumbledore about it before you do. I may not exactly trust the old man but he does know more about magic than just about anyone else. I've never heard of anyone else being able to do what you do, and frankly I'm worried about you."
"Aww, you do care." Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Of course I do. I've put far too much time and effort into you to see you kill yourself with some crazy training routine." she said smiling sweetly back at him.
"Fair enough. I will talk to Professor Dumbledore. Happy?"
"Ecstatic." she answered and brought her head up to kiss him. "I wonder where he's been lately anyhow. He hasn't been at meals all week."
"I'm not sure, but Professor Moody has been gone a lot too." Harry thought about it for a moment and wondered what they could be up to. Dumbledore had mentioned that he had important work to do and that Sirius was a part of it, but his godfather had not given him any hints about what he was spending his free time doing or even where he was currently living. Wondering if the Headmaster was even in the castle at the moment Harry pulled the Marauder's Map out of his book bag which was lying next to him. After speaking the code phrase to activate it and tapping the map with his wand Harry began looking for the Professor. He was not in his office or anywhere else on the grounds that Harry could see,
"Harry! Look!" Daphne said excitedly and pointed to a part of the map far from where he had been looking, Looking at the point she was drawing his attention to he saw his name and hers together like he expected them to be. That, however, was not what she was pointing at. Not far from their names was one he did not expect: Rita Skeeter.
Harry's head turned towards where he expected her to be but saw nothing, Slowly, hoping she would not see what he was doing, Harry reached for his wand. He tried not to stare at the spot where he knew she was until the moment he knew he was ready.
"Accio invisibility cloak!" Harry said, pointing his wand towards where the map said Rita Skeeter was. But to his surprise, nothing happened. On the map the dot marked Rita Skeeter was making a rapid retreat. He kept looking, but still saw nothing, "Damn! She was here, she had to be, I thought that would work,"
"Harry, I don't think she was using an invisibility cloak…"
"No, she must not be. It wasn't a disillusionment charm either. We would have been able to see it when she moved, What then?" Harry said, mostly thinking to himself.
"I'm not sure, but I think I know." Daphne said, quickly catching Harry's attention. "I thought I saw something flying off where she was supposed to be. Something small, some type of bug maybe." Harry thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out what it meant.
"There's got to be a minimum size on Animagus forms, right?" Harry said eventually.
"Probably, but remember that Pettigrew is a rat. A rat is a lot smaller than a person, so it might be possible. But I know for a fact that Skeeter isn't registered as an Animagus with the Ministry. That's illegal Harry, and punishable with a big fine and possible time in Azkaban. Maybe more depending on if they've used their form to commit crimes."
"This is what we've been looking for Daphne." Harry said with a mischievous grin on his face. "We can take Skeeter down with this."
"That's one way to look at it, but I think she deserves worse than a fine and a few months in Azkaban for what she's done to us. I'll owl my father and let him know what we found. Don't worry Harry, we'll come up with a good punishment. Her days of attacking us are over." Daphne said with a grin. Harry shrugged and agreed, knowing that his girlfriend had a much better imagination than he did when he came to this type of thing. And he wanted only the worst for Rita Skeeter.
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