Harry didn't think much about the extra mail Hermione had been receiving in the days since the Witch Weekly article. Ginny had some too, but not nearly to the level Hermione was getting. Ginny burnt hers without even opening them, but Hermione insisted on reading every one. "I want to know what they're saying about me," she said, reaching for the letter on top of the stack. "Why? It's all bollocks," Harry pointed out, picking up a discarded letter. "'Harry Potter is too fine a young man to be played around by you, trollop'."
"So you are too fine, but I am okay?" Viktor asked, dropping into an empty seat on Hermione's other side. He smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek; ever since the second task, he seemed bolder in his affections. It was sweet, if Harry didn't think too much about how false Hermione was.
"I mean, look at me," Harry said, mock-posing. Ginny smacked him over the back of the head as she passed, not breaking her conversation with Luna. "Rude!" Suddenly Hermione screamed, jumping to her feet and dropping the letter she was holding. Harry's wand was in his hand before he could even think about it. Her hands were covered in a yellowish-green liquid that smelled strongly of petrol, and was making enormous boils appear on her skin.
"Bubotuber pus!" Viktor exclaimed, sliding down the bench to avoid the nasty liquid. Hermione's hands were entirely covered in boils by now, and she bit her lip against a whimper of pain. "Come, I vill take you to your medivitch."
"I'll clean this up," Harry promised, already vanishing as much of the pus as he could see. Viktor placed an arm around Hermione's shoulders, hurrying her out of the hall. "I warned her not to mess with Skeeter," Ron muttered, still eating despite the chaos. "This is probably just the beginning."
"This has gone too far," Harry muttered, scowling. It was one thing when the articles were just a minor inconvenience he could laugh at; if people were actually getting hurt because of the things Rita was writing about him, that was too much.
"What are you gonna do? Give Skeeter an interview?" Ron asked. "She'd probably stop if you told her who you snogged at the Yule Ball."
That gave Harry an idea. He jumped to his feet, hurrying around the tables until he was by Ginny and Luna at the Ravenclaw table. "Hi," he greeted, squatting down to be at their level. "Luna, your dad runs a magazine, right? The Quibbler?" He was sure she'd talked about it before to him. The blonde girl nodded, smiling. "Would he be willing to run an article for me?"
"I'd have to check what his schedule is like for the next issue — there's supposed to be a fantastic article about the Blibbering Humdinger coming in but I'm sure he'd be happy to publish you. Are you going to tell people to leave Hermione alone?" Luna asked curiously. Harry's answering smirk was purely Slytherin.
"Not quite. I'm going to give him the scoop Rita Skeeter wishes she could have."
.-.-.
It only took an evening for Harry to write an article he was happy with, and he brought it down to Luna the next morning, handing over the rolled up parchment. She unrolled it, reading quickly, her pale eyebrows rising with every line. "This is awfully brave of you, Harry," she commented once she was done. Harry shrugged, ducking his head uncomfortably.
"If people want to be angry, I might as well give them something true to be angry about," he reasoned. And then they'd have to be angry at him, and not the people around him. He could handle hate mail.
"Well, I'm sure Daddy would be happy to run it; I'll send it to him right away. I don't know when the next issue will be released, though."
"That's fine. Thanks so much for this, Luna. And thank your dad, too. I really appreciate this." This was the only way he could be sure his words would go to print exactly as he had written them. Luna smiled.
"Anything for a friend, Harry." She tucked the parchment safely inside her robes.
Harry returned to the Gryffindor table, sitting down next to Neville. "What was that all about?" the taller boy asked, and Harry shot him a quick grin.
"Just giving Rita Skeeter something to really complain about," he replied vaguely. He glanced back at Luna, and then his gaze caught something that made him pause. Ginny was over at the Ravenclaw table too, but she wasn't sat with Luna. She was sat between two Ravenclaw boys in Harry's year, and seemed to be flirting pretty blatantly with one of them. Her hand was on his shoulder as she leaned in close and giggled, and the boy smiled shyly at her. Harry looked at Neville. "Why's Ginny over at the Ravenclaw table?" he asked hesitantly. Neville looked up, eyes casting over to the redhead, and then he looked away, his smile faltering. "Oh. She's got her sights set on Stephen Cornfoot, I expect."
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