Two days later, Will hurried to Deputy Headmistress Professor McGonagall's office.
"Hey, if it isn't our genius potion maker!"
"Want a couple of sweets?"
Will turned down the sweets the Weasley Brothers offered him. Anyone who knew those two troublemakers knew better than to eat anything they handed out. Do so at your own risk.
The brothers took his refusal in stride.
"What's the rush?"
"Aren't you supposed to be in class? Thinking of skipping? Come to Hogsmeade with us. We need to buy some prank supplies. Filch has had a lucky streak these past couple of days and nearly caught us. We owe him one."
Will shook his head. "I'm not skipping. It is class time, but Professor McGonagall asked me to come to her office right away."
"Professor McGonagall wants you? Oh, you'd better get going, then."
"Could be something important."
"Go on, Will."
"Yeah, don't keep her waiting."
Once the Weasley Brothers heard it was Professor McGonagall's instruction, they hastened to agree that she came first.
Sunlight streamed through the tall windows of Professor McGonagall's office. Inside, Will found her with two visitors.
"Will, you're here. Let me introduce you. This is the well-known journalist Rita Skeeter, and this is Lydon Byrne, our photographer today. Both graduated from Hogwarts."
Will glanced at them, then sat down in the armchair opposite the woman, relaxed and composed.
Rita Skeeter was not particularly attractive. She wore jewel-studded glasses, and her blonde hair was styled in elaborate curls.
Today she wore a poison-green robe, and her smile was a little more sincere than usual. After all, her mysterious patron had offered plenty of Galleons, and the assignment was clear: present a positive, inspiring portrait of an academic prodigy from a Muggle background.
"Well, well, the young genius everyone's talking about!" Skeeter's