Harry Will Be Accused and Locked up in Azkaban/ His Escape

[aja_1991 <aja_1991@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51004

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "happybean98 <kathleen at h...>" 
<kathleen at h...> wrote:
> I agree with Jim 100% about Sirius and Lupin.  As for Dumbledore, I 
> am certain he will be removed somehow the moment Cornelius Fudge 
> finds out from Rita Skeeter that he is harboring  Sirius Black.. 
Any 
> defense Dumbledore could give would be weakened if not annihilated 
by 
> this turn of events. 

I've noticed several messages in which the release/escape of Rita 
Skeeter from Hermione's jar will be very uncomfortable for Dumbledore 
et al, as Rita will take poison quill in hand and write out the 
information she learned on the ledge in the hospital wing at the end 
of GoF.  The above is an example.

I'm going to take a different approach:  Rita will never write any of 
this, and it's for the very simple reason that Hermione, Harry, and 
Ron (and presumably, Dumbledore as well) all know her unregistered 
Animagus secret.

"But wait!" you say.  "It's been theorized that the heaps of gold and 
acclaim Rita will receive for writing this expose' will allow her to 
retire in luxury for the rest of her days; the small annoyance at her 
secret being revealed and any fines she might pay is a price she 
might be willing to pay."

First, although I don't buy it, Rita might genuinely enjoy writing 
her tabloid articles, and her ability to do so would be diminished if 
everyone kept checking for beetles at every secret 
meeting/conversation.  So she might choose to not write the article, 
preserve her secret, write her nasty stuff about other people and 
events, and assume Hermione wouldn't bother snitching over that 
(probably a good risk on her part).  Like I said, it's possible, but 
I don't think so.

However, in the event the Dumbledore-is-helping-Black article were 
written, it would make for some interesting possibilities of 
counterclaims.

(1) Rita writes her twenty page expose', "Albus Dumbledore Seeks to 
Undermine MoM, Harbors Known Murderers, ex-Death-Eaters".

(2) Dumbledore sends a "Letter to the Editor," or perhaps hundreds of 
individual owls, noting, "One of my students learned some embarassing 
information about Rita Skeeter during the Triwizard Tournament, and 
having seen the personal attack articles Rita has researched in the 
past, made Rita promise not to write such nasty non-fiction articles 
in the future, which she agreed to.  I am pleased to see that Rita is 
complying with the non-fiction portion of her promise, and has turned 
her considerable writing talents to fiction.  I personally found her 
novel quite entertaining and riveting, and am pleased she made me a 
part of it."  In other words, Rita made it up to avoid having the 
embarassing secret exposed.  And really, c'mon... Dumbledore working 
directly with Sirius Black?  Pretty impressive imagination there, 
Rita.

(3) The ball is in Rita's court.
    (a) Rita says that her information is true and tries to point out 
evidence.  "There was a dog there, and I heard them say Sirius is a 
dog Animagus".  Dumbledore reveals her secret.  "There is no proof 
Sirius is an Animagus.  Many animals roam the grounds at Hogwarts, 
and the children had developed a fondness for this one".  I argue 
that public perception is that when choosing between believing the 
Supreme Mugwump and a tabloid writer, the public sides with Albus.  
The nice thing is that people start wondering how accurate her past 
reporting is.  Maybe Harry's not crazy after all...
    (b) Rita says nothing, effectively indicating that the article 
*is* fiction.  It also ends her career as a snoop reporter, as 
everything will be seen as fiction.  This is the opportunity for 
Dumbledore - or better yet, somebody else - to approach Rita about 
using the unnamed secret to the advantage of the good guys.  Wouldn't 
it be nice to have some, uh, fiction articles published about the 
Death Eater meetings with the resurrected Voldemort?  (See movie "Men 
In Black" for further development on this one...).

The big question mark here is Fudge.  In theory, Fudge could say that 
he has found Dumbledore to be a bit batty lately, and that he has 
full confidence that a great deal of Rita's article is based in 
fact.  Then it's Rita+Fudge vs. Dumbledore.  That might get 
interesting.  But I can't see the image-conscious Fudge doing this.  
I daresay he would say nothing.

So given that she'll have a year to work this out in her head before 
being released, during which time she'll likely be "invited" to a 
private chat between Hermione and Dumbledore where this will all be 
hashed out, I think she'll keep this secret to herself.

Either that, or Evil!Hermione Obliviates her the instant she comes 
out of the jar and transforms back to Rita...

aja_1991, delurking to speculate yet again...