Then he let out his breath with a sigh.
"All right," said Flume, "what do you want?"
When Rita Skeeter was intent on a tasty prey, she didn't tend to notice the scurrying ants who constituted the rest of the universe, which was how she almost bumped into the balding young man who'd stepped into her pathway.
"Miss Skeeter," said the man, sounding rather severe and cold for someone whose face looked that young. "Fancy running into you here."
"Out of my way, buster!" snapped Rita, and tried to step around him.
The man in her pathway matched the movement so perfectly that it was like neither of them had moved at all, just stood still while the street shifted around them.
Rita's eyes narrowed. "Who do you think you are?"
"How very foolish," the man said dryly. "It would have been wise to memorize the face of the disguised Death Eater training Harry Potter to be the next Dark Lord. After all," a thin smile, "
Rita took a moment to place the reference.
No, that wasn't important, she had a time and a place and a beetle to be. She'd just received an anonymous tip about Madam Bones making time with one of her younger assistants. That would be worth quite a bonus if she could manage to verify it, Bones was high on the hit list. The tipster had said that Bones and her young assistant were due to eat lunch in a special room at Mary's Place, a very popular room for certain purposes; a room which, she'd found, was secure against all listening devices, but not proof against a beautiful blue beetle nestled up against one wall...
"Out of my
Quirrell pulled up the sleeve of his left robe, showing his left arm. "Observe," said Quirrell, "no Dark Mark. I would like your paper to publish a retraction."
Rita let out an incredulous laugh. Of course the man wasn't a real Death Eater. The paper wouldn't have published it if he was. "Forget it, buster. Now take a hike."
Quirrell stared at her for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"Miss Skeeter," said Quirrell, "I had hoped to find some lever that would prove persuasive. Yet I find that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of simply crushing you."
"It's been tried. Now get out of my way, buster, or I'll find some Aurors and have you arrested for obstruction of journalism."
Quirrell swept her a small bow, and then walked past. "Goodbye, Rita Skeeter," said his voice from behind her.
As Rita bulled on ahead, she noted in the back of her mind that the man was whistling a tune as he walked away.
Like
"Sorry, count me out," said Lee Jordan. "I'm more the giant spider type."
The Boy-Who-Lived had said that he had
And then Harry Potter had launched into a speech that was inspiring, yet vague. A speech to the effect that Fred and George and Lee had tremendous potential if they could just learn to be
"Count us
Lee Jordan gave a regretful grin, and stood up, and left the deserted and Quieted corridor where the four members of the Order of Chaos had met and sat down in a conspiratorial circle.
The three members of the Order of Chaos got down to business.
(It wasn't
"So," said one of the twins, "what's this about?"
"Rita Skeeter," said Harry. "Do you know who she is?"
Fred and George nodded, frowning.