A wicked smile came across the older man's face. "I have the results of Quidditch winners up to 2010." Then his brow furrowed. "Though they might not be accurate, what with Muggle-raised being hired more than they were before, it'll still be a gamble, but some of those results should pay off."
"Do you have the team list, if the teams are the same the results should be too," Sirius said excitedly, bouncing in his recliner. "We can check what was then with what is now and see."
"Yeah, here let me get them," the immortal said, pulling all of his paperwork on future games out. The three men bent over the papers and compared the teams. Most were the same, so they decided to take the chance and do some betting.
Hydrus wrote the Board and waited to see if they would search the room. He figured with the return of the Founders' items, they might be a bit more interested this time.
A week passed when the headline in The Times appeared:
Hidden Room in Hogwarts Found: Thousands of Lost Artifacts Recovered
Things discovered were old spell books, diaries from past students, clothes, jewels, money, antique furniture and school books on subjects not taught at the school in hundreds of years, plus lots and lots of junk. The article went on to tell that with the books found the Hogwarts library was now the biggest school library in all of Europe. Once again parents and alumni converged on the school.
The Ministry of Magic also wanted to claim the treasures and a compromise was invoked. The Department of Mysteries would check each item for curses or unknown spells and remove them for study, and monies and jewels were put in the school vault. All the books were added to the library, and copies went to the Ministry. The article told that with the help of the Hogwarts house elves, the Department of Mysteries sorted through everything rather quickly, though they were still sorting through it hoping to find journals of the Founders.
Lost Journal of Merlin Discovered
Was the second headline. Though there were only a few great feats of magic depicted, the chronicle did tell of Merlin's schooldays and how Slytherin was a great wizard of his times. Too bad Merlin left the school before the historic fight between the two male founders happened. But it was still a great find and also placed in the display with the Founders' item, after it was copied for the library and the Ministry. The students were quoted to say they were happy to have untold stories of years gone by at their fingertips. And with the book-readers they could take those stories wherever they wanted.
The next day an article in The Daily Prophet dampened their mood.
Who is this Mysterious Benefactor? Is He Really Helping or Hindering?
The headline read. The elusive Skeeter had put together all of the anonymously sent notes and The Prophet was now stating that they were all from the same person, including the one about the Death Eaters and Umbridge. Since the letters were unsigned whoever wrote them must be up to no good, was Rita's reasoning.
Barty Crouch was up in arms to find who was writing these missives. He was still in denial that his son was a Death Eater, the Dark Mark notwithstanding. Other families gathered to his side; their voices could be heard arguing with the Minister to do something. However there were no leads.
Hydrus, upon seeing the article, put on his Cloak and went to the Prophet's offices that night. He tried to find where the woman lived, but to no avail. Her address was unlisted and her employee contract was barely legal. He tore apart that office and her desk looking for anything that would lead to the vindictive bitch. He went home unsatisfied, but not without leaving a few pranks behind. He'd have to get his investigators on her case again, now that she had shown herself to the public. He'd have them stake out the newspaper's offices. They'd find her sooner or later.
The next day The Times ran an article on all the good things the man, or woman, had done, including letting families know their loved ones were dead. They waxed on that only a person of good moral fiber would let go of the Founders' artifacts, give closure to families, turn over a criminal and tell where treasure was hidden.
The Quibbler hit closer to home by saying that the mysterious person was part of a conspiracy to make the wizarding world more useful. They waxed poetic that the person was only being truthful and keeping the nargles away. That article was buried in the back pages of the failing paper.
The three papers battled back and forth for a week before it was all old news. Nothing was heard from the DMLE in all that time, so the men relaxed a bit.
It was a good thing that all the notes pointed to someone who attended Hogwarts, barring two. There really was nothing to tie Hydrus to any of it; however, it did make the public question the motives. It was beneficial that The Times wrote articles on all up and coming wizards and witches, never singling out anyone, which kept people from pointing at someone and asking 'where did he come from?'
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