GF24: Rita Skeeter's Scoop – Harry Potter Lexicon

""Never be ashamed,", my ol' dad used ter say, "there's some who'll hold it against you, but they're not worth botherin' with.""
--- Rubeus Hagrid

Past arguments are forgotten, and Hagrid is replaced as Care of Magical Creatures teacher when Rita Skeeter writes a defamatory article about him in the Daily Prophet. Harry, Ron and Hermione try but fail to visit him. They encounter Ludo Bagman in Hogsmeade, where Harry rejects his offer of help with the Tournament. Rita arrives and is verbally assaulted by Harry and Hermione, who then go to Hagrid’s cabin, finding Professor Dumbledore there. Together they persuade Hagrid to return to work.

Interesting facts and notes

Here we see more serious effects of Rita Skeeter's unethical conduct, though not yet to the depths to which the Daily Prophet will begin to sink six months from now, after Rita is silenced.

Ron and Hermione seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement not to discuss their argument. They were being quite friendly to each other, though oddly formal.

It seems that Ron and Hermione have agreed to disagree. Ron is still sore about her going to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum and Harry had found the miniature figure of Krum broken in their dormitory after Boxing Day.

"I knew he couldn't be pure giant, because they're about twenty feet tall. But honestly, all this hysteria about giants. They can't all be horrible … it's the same sort of prejudice that people have towards werewolves … it’s just bigotry, isn’t it?"

Hermione had already thought about what Hagrid might be. Her depth of research on any subject is always amazing.

There was a Hogsmeade visit halfway through January.

Since Hogsmeade visits are on weekends - specifically, Saturdays - this helps date the events of the end of the chapter.

He still had five weeks to work out that egg clue, after all...

Since the second task was scheduled for 24 February - the date by which the golden egg clue needed to be worked out - this further refines the date of this conversation to on or about the 14th of January.

Exceptional character moments

Rita Skeeter's uncritical acceptance of the Slytherins' slanders of Hagrid, some of which could be refuted by anyone who'd taken a couple of years of Care of Magical Creatures.

Hermione being so mad at Rita Skeeter that she storms back to Hagrid's hut, determined to get him to return to his friends and the life of the school.

Memorable lines

"Hagrid, look what I've got for relatives!" Harry said furiously. "Look at the Dursleys!"

"An excellent point," said Professor Dumbledore. "My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat. It was all over the papers, but did Aberforth hide? No, he did not! He held his head high and went about his business as usual! Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been bravery..."