Skeeter/Figg

[Aesha Williams]

No: HPFGUIDX 45365

Brian pondered:

> How about the presence of a convicted murderer/Azkaban
> escapee/unregistered animagi in the Hogwarts hospital wing
> conspiring with the Headmaster and a former Death Eater to embark
> upon a course of action contrary to the stated wishes of the
> Minister of Magic?  Rita Skeeter was there at the time!

    Well, I think that RS heard everything, and knows all about Snape being
a death eater (well, I guess that's not news), as well as Sirius being both
a trusted friend of Dumbledore *and* an unregisterd animagus, and heard all
of the argument between Fudge and Dumbledore and the group's subsequent
decision to mobilize against Voldemort and gain secret support in the
ministry. But, this also exactly why I think the truth about Sirius will be
revealed in the OoP (besides the fact that it will have been a secret long
enough!) is because as soon as Rita were to be human again, she would break
the story. I mean, Hermione told her she would keep her as a beetle in the
jar for a year, and see if after that she could stop dragging people through
the mud (obvoiusly not verbatim!). Well, once Hermy let her out, she
wouldn't have to lie to tell all that good stuff that would just rock the
wizarding world- so I think, by the time she's allowed to regain human form,
the truth will already have come out and there'll be no need for her to
report it. Who knows, maybe she'll even become an ally of the group- since
she's an unregistered animagus, and a tiny one at that, she'll be able to
find out all kinds of useful stuff during DE meetings or even if she just
happened to tag along with Draco when he left school on holiday. :)
    As for the thread about the witch in GoF, I think I did think maybe it
was Arabella Figg- but then dismissed that thought, for two reasons: 1, that
Harry would recognize her (of course, I thought she may be taking on another
form on Privet Drive so of course he wouldn't recognize her true form), but
then 2, I thought he would recognize her voice. Because lots of people have
distinctive voices, and if Harry's spent at least a few days per year with
her for the past 10 or 11 years, he might. But who knows, perhaps an ageing
potion does something to your voice as well- because I do think that's why
the aging potion was introduced, in addition to the tournament. I mean, in
CoS, they introduce the Polyjuice Potion but truthfully, I didn't pay much
attention to it until it was in GoF, so maybe that's what's going on here. I
do think Figg is in her late 30's or 40's.
    Since that homework break was a little longer than anticipated- I should
get back to it!

Aesha