Did Rita see Sirius transform?

[Devika <devika@sas.upenn.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52589

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "c_voth312 <divaclv at a...>" 
<divaclv at a...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Devika <devika at s...>" 
> <devika at s...> wrote:
> > On the other hand, Rita might be able to help Sirius in some 
way.  
> > Imagine:  a brilliant article exposing the terrible miscarriage 
of 
> > justice that the Ministry of Magic committed by sentencing an 
> > innocent man to a life term in Azkaban, not to mention the true 
> > culprit behind those twelve (not thirteen) murders.  I think this 
> is 
> > a case where the truth may be far more interesting than fiction, 
> and 
> > Rita does seem to enjoy pointing out errors made by the 
Ministry.  
> 
> Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't have a copy of GoF handy), but I'm 
> pretty sure Sirius' innocence wasn't mentioned during this scene.  
I 
> think she'd take the "story" of the well-respected Albus Dumbledore 
> consorting with criminals and Death Eaters, to say nothing of the 
> giants, werewolves, etc.  Especially since there's been friction 
> between her and Dumbledore--Rita does seem to allow personal 
revenge 
> to factor in her journalism.
> 


Sirius's innocence was not mentioned in the scene.  That was why I 
said later:
"Now if only Rita could somehow be manipulated into learning the 
whole story and writing truthfully about it. That would be 
interesting."

I meant that Rita could only write her article if she knew the whole 
story, and it would be interesting if she could find out somehow.  
Sorry if that wasn't clear.

Finwitch wrote:

<<Hermione *knows* Rita saw Sirius! Everyone knows about Lupin being 
a 
werewolf now, so Hermione might just *tell* her the truth. (Maybe she 
did that while Harry was too numb to notice anything?)

<snip Rita's series of articles>

With Rita's help, Sirius will be cleaned, not only legally, but also 
by public opinion.>>


I say:

That's similar to what I had in mind.  I don't know if Hermione will 
be the one to tell her, but if only someone could make Rita aware of 
the truth and guarantee that she would write accurately about it, 
then it could definitely help Sirius eventually clear his name.  Of 
course, I don't particularly trust Rita Skeeter, so this whole idea 
does seem pretty risky to me.  However, it does have potential.


--Devika, who has a hard time reading the scene in PoA in which 
McGonagall, Fudge, Hagrid, and Flitwick are in the Three Broomsticks 
talking about Sirius's alleged crimes without yelling, "No!  It's not 
true!!" at the book :)