I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, J.K. ROWLING DOES.

BARTEMIUS CROUCH Jr. FOUND ALIVE! by Rita Skeeter

Bartemius Crouch Jr., son of Bartemius Crouch Sr. and one of the
Death Eaters responsible for the torture of Frank and Alice
Longbottom, was found in the Crouch home yesterday morning,
very much alive.
Bartemius Crouch Jr. was one of the four torturers responsible
for the attack on the famous aurors, Frank and Alice Longbottom
in 1982. Crouch was given a life long sentence to Azkaban prison,
where he supposedly died a little over a year later. This was found
not to be true, as he was found in his home, under the influence
of the Imperius curse, after receiving an anonymous tip–off.
After being interrogated under veritaserum, it was found that
Crouch had escaped Azkaban after a visit from his mother and
father. During the visit, his mother used polyjuice potion to disguise
herself as her son. She then was able to stay in the prison cell,
allowing Crouch to escape. Bartemius Crouch Jr. has been sent
back to Azkaban, and his father, Bartemius Crouch Sr., has
been accused of helping him escape Azkaban. Bartemius Crouch
Sr.'s trial will take place tomorrow morning.
Story continued on page 4

The news of Bartemius Crouch Jr.'s escape from Azkaban had come out the next week, and hit the wizarding world by storm. People were amazed as well as frightened that someone could fake their own death and escape Azkaban right under the nose of the ministry. Bartemius Crouch Sr. had been sent to Azkaban after his trial, and Harry felt more reassured that Voldemort would not be resurrected.

Neville, on the other hand, looked quite sick after hearing the news that his parent's torturer had escaped. To make it worse, people were starting to stare at him in the hallways after the news about his parents became more well known. Harry tried to comfort him, and eventually people stopped staring, and Neville was back to normal.

Harry had also gotten his place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He felt bad that Neville had to break his wrist, he really did– but he needed a spot on the team. Being on the team also gave him more chances to talk to Fred and George. As it was getting harder and harder to sleep every night knowing Peter Pettigrew was still free, he decided to finally ask the twins about the map one day after practice.

"Hey Harry," said Fred, "How do you like Quidditch so far?"

"I love it! Though I kind of nervous about it... I don't know if I'm good enough yet..."

"Nonsense!" said George. "You're bloody amazing! It's in your blood, too."

"Oh yeah!" said Harry, "Professor McGonagall said that my father played Quidditch... She said that he used to be quite the prankster, too." Of course, McGonagall hadn't said that, but he needed to change the subject to his father.l

"Really?" said Fred, looking interested. "What kind of stuff did he used to do?"

"I don't know, really, McGonagall said she didn't want to give me any ideas. But she did say that him and his friends used to call themselves the Marauders. Had nicknames and everything."

"Wait– did you say they called themselves the Marauders?" piped Fred.

"What kind of Nicknames?" asked George.

"Yup– the Marauders. Pretty cool, huh? There were four of them. They called themselves Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs– my dad was Prongs."

Fred and George looked at him with awe. They looked at each other, and then Fred said,

"Alright, Harry– come with us."

"But why?" asked Harry, trying to sound oblivious.

"Just come– we wanna show you something" said George.

They pulled Harry into the castle and into a deserted classroom. George pulled out the precious piece of parchment from his pocket.

"Okay, normally we would never show anyone..."

"But since you're the son of one of the makers, we feel that you have the right to know."

"Know about what?" asked Harry.

"The Marauder's Map!" chorused the twins.

Harry had received the map from Fred and George, on the condition that he would let them use it whenever they asked. Harry decided it would be best to raise suspicion around the twins first, and guide them towards the right direction to taking care of it. So, on a Thursday night in late September, when everyone had went up to the dormitory, Harry told Fred and George to stay behind to talk to them in private.

"I want to show you both something I saw on the map– it's really odd."

Harry opened the map, given the password, and quickly scanned it for Peter Pettigrew. And sure enough, he was asleep in the first year boy's dorm.

"There! Look at that– who's Peter Pettigrew? I the only first year Gryffindor boys are me, Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus."

Fred and George looked at the map with confusion.

"That's odd..." said George.

"Could it be a ghost, you think? I've never heard of him," said Fred.

"No, no... He's not a ghost. I've seen him on the map alongside Ron a lot, actually. I think that it might be Scabbers."

"Scabbers? Scabbers is a rat, Harry– he wouldn't show up on the map. And Scabbers' name is Scabbers, not Peter Pettigrew," said Fred.

"Yes, I know. I've been thinking that maybe Scabbers isn't really the stupid rat we thought he was... I mean, how old is he? Rats don't live very long, usually..."

George's eyed widened. "You don't think that Scabbers is a person, surely?"

"But what about that Crouch guy! People do creepy stuff like that and hide all the time," said Fred.

"Well, who is this Peter Pettigrew guy?" asked George.

"That's the thing– I did some research in the library. Finally, I looked at some old criminal cases, and I found that Peter Pettigrew is dead. He was murdered."

"Well, then he must be a ghost then! If he's dead, then he can't be disguised as Scabbers, right?" said Fred.

Harry was starting to get frustrated. Convincing the twins that Scabbers was really a criminal animagus who faked his own death to escape Azkaban was harder than he thought.

"No, it isn't a ghost. I asked some other ghosts if there was a ghost here named Peter Pettigrew. And there isn't."

Fred and George still looked unconvinced.

"And also– I mean, with that other guy who broke out of Azkaban– I guess I'm just worried. Everyone thought that he was dead too, and... well, what if this Pettigrew guy is dangerous?" said Harry.

Fred and George looked at each other worriedly, and Fred said,

"Alright, alright. We'll take him to McGonagall tomorrow. But we won't tell her about the map, okay? We'll just say that he's been acting, er– suspicious..."

"No, she'll never believe you. Hmm... I don't know what to do..."

They stood in silence for a couple of seconds, thinking about what to do.

"Well, the only evidence we have that Scabbers isn't really a rat other than the map is the fact that he's lived for so long..." said Fred.

"Maybe, well– is there a way to tell if an animal isn't really an animal?" asked George.

"Well, there's a spell that can force an animals back into their human form, I just don't know what it is, though," said Harry.

"Maybe we can try that on him? I mean, we'll have to ask McGonagall about it... We have her in transfiguration tomorrow, let's ask her about it then," offered George.

The next day, Harry went to his classes as normal. It was a Friday, and therefore meant he had double potions with the Slytherins.

Harry was trying to be nice to Snape. He was respectful, always did the best he could in class. Sometimes, Harry would stay after class to help clean, or to ask questions and act genuinely interested in potions. Snape, though still not treating Harry nicely, per say– could at least hold a conversation with Harry without comparing him to his father.

"Erm... Professor?"

"What, Potter?" snapped Snape.

"I wanted to ask if you if there were any good books in the library on potions."

Snape looked up at Harry and stared. "Why are you interested? Not going to cause more trouble, are you?"

"No, sir... I'm just interested in potions. It my favorite subject..." Harry might have exaggerated there, but he had to get on Snape's good side.

Snape looked suspicious. "Oh really? Why is that?"

"I just think it's cool," said Harry, not able to think of anything else to say.

Suddenly, Harry had an idea. He had no idea what possessed him to do it, because he knew that Snape would get angry with him. "I guess I'm also interested in it because someone told me that my mother had talent in it."

Snape looked away from Harry at that moment to look at papers, and didn't say anything.

"Did you know her at all? I'm just curious to know what she was like–"

"No. No I didn't. Potter, if you want to know more about potions, just go to the library and look at the books, don't ask me, I don't know what books they have now."

Harry took this as a dismissal.

"Alright, sorry to bother you. Thank you sir, see you next week."

Harry trudged back to Gryffindor tower alone. Hagrid had invited him and Ron to his hut again, and Harry said he would meet Ron there and then walk down. But when Harry entered the Gryffindor tower, however– he saw quite a scene in front of him.

Ron, Fred, and George where in the middle of the common room, fighting. A few people were even staring. Ron had Scabbers clutched in his hand, and Fred was trying to grab him.

"Leave Scabbers alone!" yelled Ron.

"Just let me see him! I want to try something!" yelled Fred.

"No! You'll hurt him!" Ron screamed. At that moment, Scabbers had left Ron's grip and was running toward the dorms, but George lunged at him and caught him.

"I got him! Fred, what did McGonagall say to do?"

The next moment, there was a loud bang; and a short, fat man stood in the middle of the Gryffindor common room. Several people screamed and started to run away, but Harry quickly grabbed his wand and pointed it at Pettigrew.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

Pettigrew became stiff as a board and fell forwards, straight on his stomach. Everyone stopped and stared.

"I'm gonna go get someone..." said a fourth year girl. She ran out the portrait hole.

Everyone in the common room was silent and backed up against the wall. A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall came rushing in.

"What on earth–"

She walked over to Pettigrew and knelt down. She used her wand to turn him over and gasped.

"Oh my– no, it can't be..."

She collected herself, stood up, and with a wave of her wand two silver cats pranced their way out of the room.

"Everyone, back up... Now, what on earth happened?"

Ron looked sick. "Scabbers..."

"Scabbers? Your rat, Weasley?"

Fred hastily tried to explain. "We were just practicing the spell you gave us, Professor! We didn't know that the rat was really an animagus, honest–"

Fred was interrupted by the opening of the portrait hole. Professors Dumbledore and Snape came rushing in. Snape looked over at Pettigrew and a sneer appeared on his face.

"What is going on here?" Snape snarled at Harry and the Weasleys.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, looked calm as ever. "Minerva, message all of the staff and tell them to keep the students in their respective dormitories. Contact the ministry as well, tell them to bring aurors. Severus, please stay here and watch over Pettigrew. Students, please go down to the Great Hall and wait there. Misters Fred, George, and Ron Weasley please come with me to my office."

As Harry began to leave with the other students, he could have sworn he saw Dumbledore wink at him.

A few minutes after Harry and the other students arrived in the Great Hall, Hermione came running in.

"Harry! What happened? I was in the library trying to find some good books to help me in charms– then Madam Pince told me to come here. She didn't give me a reason, though! Do you know anything?" Hermione said.

"Er, yeah– um, you know Ron's rat, Scabbers? He turned into a human. Everyone freaked out, Dumbledore and Snape and McGonagall came and everything– and then we were sent here. Dumbledore took Fred and George and Ron, though."

"What? What do you mean the rat turned into a human? That's impossible, Harry– I've read just about every transfiguration book in the library– you can't transfigure an animal into a human..."

"I don't think the rat was transfigured into a human, I think the human had been turned into a rat. Anyway, I don't really know much about it, just what I saw."

Hermione looked completely baffled, and was about to ask more questions when Percy walked in, looking important.

"Alright, quiet! Quiet everyone!

"Now. I have just been told that we will only have to wait in here for another few minutes– they are currently getting the intruder out of the castle. Once they have done that, Professor McGonagall will come and escort us back to Gryffindor tower."

There was a roar of voices coming from the students, wanting to know exactly who the man was and how he got into the tower.

"Quiet, quiet! I don't know anything about who the intruder was or what he was doing, all I know is that they are taking him to the ministry. i'm sure that we will learn more soon enough." yelled Percy.

The next day, many different rumors had spread around the entire school around what had happened. Susan Bones was running around telling people that an evil man had come into the Gryffindor common room via the Floo and immediately tried to strangle Ron.

Ron came down breakfast the morning after the incident looking as though he hadn't slept at all.

"Hey Ron– are you alright?" Harry asked, concerned.

"Scabbers was a man the whole time!" Ron moaned. "I let him sleep in my bed! I had changed clothes in front of him, I–"

"We don't need the details, Ron, we get it," said George, looking equally as tired.

"I just can't believe that I never noticed anything before!" said Percy. "I should have been able to recognize the signs. He lived much longer than any rat should, he showed very un–ratlike behavior at times, he–"

"Don't beat yourself up, Perce. It's not your fault. Not even Mum or Dad noticed anything," said Fred.

"What happened last night, exactly? What did you talk to Dumbledore about?" asked Harry.

"Well," said George soberly, "he just asked us a few questions about Scabbers. How long he's lived, what happened to make him turn into a human, stuff like that."

"But then someone from the ministry came in and told Dumbledore that it was safe to move us all back to the tower, so he let us leave," said Fred.

Ron was silent through the whole conversation. He seemed to be taking it pretty hard.

"Hey Ron, cheer up. At least he was caught before he hurt anyone, or worse," Harry tried.

"I guess," said Ron, pushing his breakfast around with his fork.

PETER PETTIRGREW ALIVE! by Rita Skeeter

Just after we found out the truth about Bartemius Crouch Jr.'s death,
a second man who was claimed dead has been found. Peter Pettigrew
along with 12 muggles were supposedly murdered by the infamous
Sirius Black on November 1st, 1981 following the fall of
He–Who–Must–Not–Be–Named. Pettigrew, however, was found alive
at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on Friday, September
20th. He was an unregistered animagus, and disguised himself as
a rat and was even a pet to one of the students. Headmaster
Albus Dumbledore has declined comment as to how the supposedly
"safe" school was not able to catch the intruder.
Peter Pettigrew's faked death raises some serious– or should I say
sirius– questions about the accusations placed on the famed mass
murderer, Sirius Black. See more on page 6.

Welp, that's it for Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry for how slow this is coming along... But, at least it's finally summer! Hopefully I will be updating more often.

Thank you everyone for all of the reviews! Keep it up, I love reading them!

Feel free to message me with any questions and what–not.

See ya next chapter!