## Chapter 300: Reporter: What's in the truck?
Rita Skeeter was scared witless. She dodged aside in a panic, then instantly reverted to her original form.
While transforming into a small insect made eavesdropping convenient, it left her utterly defenseless.
Once, Rita Skeeter was unexpectedly swallowed after transforming. She didn't even have a chance to see what had eaten her.
Of course, she quickly dispelled the magic, saving herself from becoming digested fecal matter, but the experience of bursting that predator open was so awful that Rita Skeeter still refused to recall any part of it.
Once she was back in human form, she no longer feared that inexplicable bird. Skeeter quickly tidied her golden curls and was about to walk out of the alley, carrying her small handbag.
I'll transform once I'm inside the building.
Skeeter thought to herself.
But before she had taken two steps, she heard a voice from behind her: "Rita Skeeter? I heard you're the Daily Prophet's best reporter, and also the one who loves to spout the most nonsense."
Skeeter raised an eyebrow and spun around sharply. She saw a young Wizard had appeared behind her at some point, and the bird that had landed on the ground a few seconds earlier was gone.
She panicked, realizing her transformation had been witnessed—if her identity as an illegal Animagus was exposed, Skeeter would face not only a hefty fine but also imprisonment.
But then, she thought of the vanished bird, and her eyes suddenly lit up, a smile uncontrollably spreading across her face, which was now filled with excitement.
"Yes, I am certainly the best," Skeeter said proudly. "But my news isn't nonsense; it just exposes the superficial reputations of some people, boy."
"Hmm, digging up other people's secrets, then sensationalizing them by exaggerating facts and fabricating content..."
As Rita Skeeter glared at him, Wade smiled. "But your writing is indeed the best, and it can instantly grab a reader's attention. That's why I specifically came to find you—are you interested in a truly big scoop?"
"What big scoop? An exclusive interview with Wade Grey? Don't tell me you're not—I recognized you at first glance."
Rita Skeeter immediately pulled out a Quick-Quotes Quill and a notebook from somewhere, looking at Wade excitedly:
"To be honest, I've wanted to interview you for a long time, but I just couldn't find an opportunity—are your inventions truly your own? Or is Terence Murray ghostwriting for you? How did you manage to gain the full support of a long-established Alchemist? And..."
The notebook in her hand suddenly burst into flames with a *whoosh*, the intense heat almost singeing Skeeter's hair.
She shrieked and dropped the notebook.
Looking at the smiling young Wizard in front of her, and seeing that his hands were empty, not holding a Wand at all, Skeeter's excited and frivolous expression immediately subsided.
Though young, the Wizard before her was the kind she least wanted to encounter—
He wasn't a brainless fool who could be swayed by empty fame, nor was he a weak commoner she could easily bully, nor was he one of those "good people" who, despite their great abilities, were kind and rule-abiding, and wouldn't retaliate even when offended.
"How did you recognize me?" Wade asked curiously. "My picture shouldn't have been in the newspaper."
"I wanted to find a chance to interview you, so around the start of term last year, I waited outside Flourish and Blotts for several days..."
Rita Skeeter said sheepishly.
At that time, just as she finally identified Wade Grey among the passing students, something else happened outside the bookstore—Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley got into a fight.
It was the first time Malfoy had wrestled with someone on the ground in public, and Skeeter was so excited she lost herself, her Quill practically flying across the page. She even chased after the Malfoy father and son to interview them after they left.
Only after recording this sudden incident and being the first to submit the manuscript to the newspaper did Rita Skeeter remember her original purpose, but by then, she had missed her chance.
"The big scoop I'm talking about isn't about interviewing me." Wade paused, then said, "Are you aware of the recent multi-national investigation into certain Dark Wizards?"
"I've heard a little about it," Rita Skeeter said honestly. "I heard they didn't find much, just caught a few thieves and smugglers, and now they've disbanded."
"I, however, found a group of people stirring up trouble in the shadows. I've already got the whereabouts and appearances of a few of them, and I can confirm the Ministry of Magic knows nothing about them—are you interested in this news?" Wade asked.
Actually, those Werewolves might not be related to the Dark Wizards who kidnapped underage students, but Wade spoke vaguely, guiding Skeeter to think in that direction.
He knew that Skeeter had been warned by the Ministry of Magic many times for her frequent nonsense in the newspaper. If there was an opportunity to make the Ministry of Magic, or even Dumbledore, look bad, she wouldn't let it slip.
Rita Skeeter was a very vengeful woman. In the original plot, because Hermione argued with her, she immediately wrote Hermione as a hussy toying with Harry and Krum's feelings in the newspaper.
Indeed, Rita Skeeter's eyes sparkled, and her mouth stretched into a grin.
She instinctively licked her lips, then deliberately feigned hesitation, saying, "But... reporting this kind of news, the Dark Wizards might retaliate against me..."
"—Then do you want to come with me to check it out? Or should I go find another, more courageous reporter?"
"—I'll go!" Skeeter offered a condition: "In return, you have to give me an exclusive interview afterward."
"Alright!" Wade readily agreed.
...
The ship had already set sail.
There was a buffet on board. Rita Skeeter, wearing a headscarf and dressed as an ordinary housewife, took some food. At Wade's direction, she specifically focused on a few people sitting and eating together.
That table was laden with roasted chicken and lamb. A man with thick eyebrows was cutting a steak, which was probably only rare. When the slightly charred surface was cut open, it revealed raw red meat inside, with juices flowing down, making the plate look as if it were stained with blood.
Skeeter casually glanced at it before retracting her gaze, then walked over to join Wade, quietly asking, "Is it them?"
Wade nodded and said, "There are two more, in the lower deck."
He led Skeeter to the lower deck and found the truck.
The two people in the truck hadn't woken up yet. The cabin was quiet, with only a few staff members in orange uniforms checking the vehicle's restraints.
Rita Skeeter whispered, "What's in the truck? They still have people guarding it even here."
Making up for last night's chapter.
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