A/N: Here's the neter! Which also means the four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the ce to vote on the dire of the story!

  The Yule Ball was fun, but it es with sequences~

  -x-X-x-

  At breakfast the m, Hermios beside him, but not too closely. In fact, in the light of day, the brue muggleborn almost seems a tad self-scious about everything that happehe night before. Frankly, Harry is still processing it all himself. Things… certainly hadn’t goo pn.

  Oh sure, Harry had been fully prepared for the night to end with him and Hermione iogether. Only if she wa of course, but if she did push for it, he definitely wasn’t going to say no, especially not when she was just as beautiful if not more so than he remembered from the inal timeline on this evening.

  However, he definitely hadn’t expected her to take him out to the gardens, find a secluded er, and drop to her knees so she could suck his cock. A walk in the gardens to get away from everyone inside of the Great Hall had sounded like a wonderful idea, but everything else that had happened had been beyond his reing.

  Including Fleur Decour trag them down. He’d known the blonde was watg from the moment she’d stumbled upon them, of course. He’d been well aware of just how much Fleur had been… him ever sihat kiss. Harry fully uood that for her, he’d bee veritable ip, a curiosity that she just couldn’t let go.

  That said, he hadn’t anticipated her leaping into the fray like she had. When she’d found them in that er of the gardens, with Hermione on her knees sug his cock, Harry had expected Fleur to watch or leave in a huff. He hadn’t expected her to try to involve herself ihing.

  Still, all was well that ended well. The Beauxbatons Champion’s attempt at taking trol and trying to assert dominance just because she was a little older (or so she thought) than him and Hermione… had failed pletely when Harry made it clear he wasn’t going to take any of her shit. After that, he’d been magnanimous in allowing Hermio Fleur with them to the Room of Requirement, where the three had… eheir night together.

  And yes, he’d refused to give Fleur the dig she wanted. She got a couple loads of his cum, and she would just have to be happy with that for the time being, because Harry knew full well what would happen once he properly fucked the part vee. She was obsessed now, but that was nothing pared to the sort of possessiveness she’d likely exhibit once she’d gotten more than just a taste of the real deal.

  Perhaps after the Sed Task was over, but for now he was tent to leave her hanging, even after mating his retionship with Hermione and g her virginity. It wasn’t how he’d thought it would happen, but he wasn’t about to deny Hermione when she’d asked him to fuck her silly.

  Now here they all were the m. The Great Hall is retively quiet, and somearsely poputed. Everyone had partied rather hard the night before, and quite a few students had even gotten their hands on alcohol that had no doubt left them with hangalore.

  Some of those students were at breakfast with their heads down, mindlessly eating their food, but just as many seemed to have decided to sleep in instead.

  Fleur was there with a small ti of her fellow Beauxbatons Witches, looking just as put together as ever. If Harry hadn’t known what she experiehe night before, he wouldn’t have thought she got up to any tomfoolery whatsoever. Of course, he could feel her eyes b into the side of his head damn near stantly all the same. Unfortunately for Fleur, he’s not givihe time of day at the moment.

  “Harry… was st night… really okay?”

  Looking at Hermione, Harry doesn’t hesitate to take her hand in his underh the table. Interlog his fingers with hers, he smiles at her.

  “Did you enjoy yourself, ‘Mione?”

  After a beat, Hermioantly nods.

  “Did you have a good time?”

  Another nod, though she also blushes and bites her lower lip. Possibly because of the question, but also possibly because he’s rubbing circles into the back of her hand with his thumb.

  “Do you have as?”

  Hermione fully hesitates at that, and her eyes almost flicker over to where Fleur is sat with her fellow Beauxbatons Witches before she aborts the movement. It takes a long moment for her to decide, but eventually the brue just shakes her head. s.

  Giving her hand a squeeze, Harry chuckles.

  “Then it was more than okay, Hermio erfect. You were perfect. Selfless as well. So really… you have nothing to worry about.”

  Now Hermione is damn near indest, clearly not sure how to take Harry’s praise. Finally, she just ducks her head and smiles.

  “O-Okay.”

  No sooner has that iion e to ahen the m mail starts to flow in oalons of owls. Quite a few of the owls simply circle around the top of the Great Hall for a moment, clearly not seeing the intended recipient for the mail they currently have. Those particur mail owls leave after a bit to return to the owlery.

  But some owls find their quarry… including a rge owl that nds in front of Harry and Hermione and steals a piece of ba while simultaneously holding out its leg for Harry.

  Raising an eyebrow, irely sure who is sending him mail, Harry takes the letter and wordlessly and wandlessly casts a diagnostic charm, making sure it’s not booby-trapped. It’s not, so he casually flicks it open, even as the owl takes o strip of ba and then flies away.

  “Who… who is it from Harry?”

  There’s no ’s not really a letter at all either. Rather, it’s a summons. A time and pd nothing else, but the demand for him to show up is as palpable and obvious as it is unwritten. Harry still knows who it es from immediately though, of course. He’s just not sure what sort of game she thinks she’s pying.

  Giving Hermione an encing smile, Harry shakes his head and tucks the note away.

  “Just something I have to take care of ter, Hermione.”

  Looking unvinced, Hermione frowns.

  “Is it anything I help with?”

  He actually does pte the offer for a moment… but Hermione isn’t ready to be introduced to that side of things just yet. Especially when he doesn’t know quite how this… meeting is going to go. In the end, he just shakes his head again.

  “Not this time, Hermione. But don’t worry… there will be plenty I need your help with soon enough. Especially if we’re going to save the world together.”

  He says that st part quietly, a mere whisper for only Hermione’s ears before pg a kiss on her brow. Then, rising from the table, he gives her a nod.

  “I’ll talk to you ter, alright?”

  “A-Alright…”

  Then, as he’s leaving the Great Hall, Harry finally makes eye tact with Fleur Decour… and smirks. The part vee immediately flushes and averts her gaze, but it’s too te. Harry walks out of the Great Hall with his head held high, knowing full well that Fleur’s friends will have noticed and probably be all a-titter at the exge.

  Meanwhile… he’s gotta decide exactly what he’s going to do with oa Skeeter.

  -x-X-x-

  It’s telling that Rita’s summons told him to meet her in the Forbidden Forest, rather than in the Room of Requirement. Clearly, she’d vinced herself that the Room, and maybe Hogwarts in general, was his seat of power. Demanding a meeting in the Forbidden Forest, removing him from that seat of power… it sent a very particur message, ohat Harry wasn’t sure was iional on Rita’s part.

  But, iional or not, Harry was nothing if not adaptable. And Rita was b under a misception. No, Hogwarts was not the seat of his power. No, meeting in the Forest or the Room didn’t make her any safer one way or the other. Because at the end of the day… Harry’s poithin him. Aook it with him wherever he went.

  Arriving far ahead of time at the meeting spot in the Forbidden Forest, Harry isn’t surprised that Rita is already there, but in her animagus form watg from up in a tree. Obviously, Harry knew about her status as an illegal animagus, and Rita knew Harry knew. But there was a big differeween knowing that someone was a Beetle Animagus and log a Beetle Animagus in the middle of a forest densely poputed with all sorts of wildlife.

  Well, a big difference for a him, he supposed.

  “Rita. I’m here. Do e out so we talk like adults my dear.”

  Harry pauses and waits, as silence falls around him. Really now… she wao py games? He resists the urge to roll his eyes. He also resists the urge to do any number of things to force Rita’s hand. After all, why get his own hands dirty when he’d brought along back up this time around?

  Sending off an unseen signal, Harry remains where he is, knowing full well that Beetle Rita is focused entirely on him and him alone as he stands there in the ter of the clearing. Right up until she isn’t, mostly because her Beetle form is suddenly gently but firmly pinned dowh a rge paw.

  As an invisible Beltrix in HER Animagus Form pins Rita in pce, Harry watches the disguised reporter promptly freak out. First, Rita tries to escape from Bel’s hold, but that’s no good. Then, realizing she’s trapped, she goes still. Harry turns to her and the invisible greyhound and begins walking over.

  “Really Rita. What is this? What are you pying at? What’s yame?”

  He stares down at the shiverile for a long moment before sighing.

  “I suppose I ’t find out so long as you’re still in that form.”

  He snaps his fingers arix lets Beetle Rita go. There’s a brief moment of stillness… and then Rita transforms bato her human form, looking dht harried and frazzled as she gnces back behind her, but still ’t see the invisible greyhound that pinned her in pce so delicately but so firmly. Frankly, she’d gotten lucky. If Harry hadn’t given very exastrus, Beltrix probably would have pulled off a leg or two… and who knows how that would have affected Rita in her human form?

  “You… y-you’re early. Hours e-early!”

  Harry hums as he tilts his head to the side.

  “So are you, Rita. I figured you’d be out here, waiting for me. Probably wanting to make sure I didn’t spell the pce to hell and back before you revealed yourself. Well, you know I haven’t done so now, don’t you? So let’s talk.”

  Rita bites her lower lip for a moment, before cm to her feet. She looks behind her again, and then scowls at him.

  “What was that?”

  Rather than answer her, Harry just shakes his head as Bel prowls along invisibly in the background of this versation.

  “I tell something has you spooked, Rita. Something has you running scared. Why is that? What has made you so… frontational?”

  Rita twitches briefly, befng off to the side.

  “… I was there st night. I followed you and your date out into the gardens. I followed you, your date, and Ms. Decour to the Room.”

  Ah, he should have anticipated that. Though, Rita definitely hadn’t followed them into the Room of Requirement. If she had, he would have detected her. But no, she’d been smart enough to stay off his radar. Still, why was she telling him this?

  “It’s the juiciest gossip I’ve gotten all year. Eveer thahings you’ve told me so far. The Boy-Who-Lived and his slutty muggleborn date getting down and dirty is good enough, but a menage de trois between them and the Beauxbatons Champion? That’s… amazing.”

  Harry’s jaw ches as Rita’s… Rita-ness shihrough. He’d given her way better stories than this one. He’d given her actual sdals, real misdeeds, true injustices. Right now, she was associated with getting the Minister of Magic ousted, for fuck’s sake! A… she was here g that his sex life was juicier?

  He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. That was Rita Skeeter to a fug tee. But he’d really thought she’d been ging for the better these past months.

  Then again… maybe she had.

  “If that’s true, Rita… why did I receive a note from you this m, instead of having my dirty undry bsted across the whole of the Wizarding World without so much as a ‘by your leave’?”

  Rita twitches… looks away… and in that moment, Harry knows he has her. And not just has her measure but has HER.

  “Is there something you want to tell me, Rita? Something you want to fess?”

  The venomous reporter scowls furiously at that, gring daggers at Harry.

  “You… you did this to me. You’re right. I should have had the story written and published by this m, before you could stop me. Instead… instead I felt pelled to talk to you first. To meet with you. You’ve… ged me. I hate it!”

  She even stomps her foot at that st bit, causing Harry to raise his brow in response.

  “Do you really hate it, Rita? Or are you just afraid of what it means?”

  The poisonous blonde woman freezes as Harry steps closer to her. He doesn’t stop, moving right up in front of her and tilting his head to the side sideringly.

  “All your life, you’ve felt invisible, Rita. You didn’t know how to make people aowledge your existeny other way, so you turowards tearing people down. You do everything you to be seen, to be heard, to be aowledged. You crave attention, you demand to be noticed, and you won’t stop until the world notices you, until they truly see you.”

  Rita stares at him with wide eyes, mouth open but nothing ing out.

  “And then I e along and give you some real stories. I give you information that doesn’t just set the world on fire, but also paints you in a better light than most have ever seen you. I helped you go from poison quill reporter to an actual journalist. Your work saw a corrupt Minister of Magic removed from power. It saw an i Lord of an A and Noble House exoed of crimes he didn’t it.”

  Reag out, Harry pces a hand on Rita’s cheek and she instinctively leans into his palm.

  “Rita… you’re not mad at me. You’re scared. But you don’t o be. For the first time in your life, you have another way… a better way. All you have to do… is submit.”

  He’d put this off for far too long anyways. He just hoped Rita could be persuaded… otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to let her leave the Forbidden Forest alive.

  -x-X-x- The Vote: [X] Rita surrenders herself willingly, showing how much she's ged - 87%[ ] Rita 't ge, and won't ge, f Harry to put her down - 13%

  -x-X-x- If you'd like to read more of my work not seen on this website, check out Hentai-Foundry. and QuestionableQuesting. where I have over a thousand stories!

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