To Victor, Witch Weekly was just a gossip magazine, and it didn't have much value. But the other two were completely different…
The Daily Prophet usually reported on current events and advertisements, such as the Gringotts break-in and the job openings for the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. As a result, its very serious and official nature made it the main source of information for the people of the British wizarding world, and its credibility had always been the highest in people's minds.
But at the same time, as an official media outlet not entirely controlled by the Ministry of Magic, the Daily Prophet had always been a thorn in the side of the current Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
Ever since Fudge took office as the Minister for Magic, his desire for power had been constantly expanding. To consolidate his power, he had always wanted to take complete control of the Daily Prophet. There were even rumors that he wanted to bring Gringotts into his sphere of influence as well.
But for a long time, the existence of a special correspondent for the Daily Prophet had prevented Fudge's plan to completely manipulate the public opinion of the British wizarding world from succeeding.
This reporter was Rita Skeeter, the beetle Animagus who loved to exaggerate the truth in the original story and describe the news with all sorts of flowery language.
From the content of the regular Daily Prophet, it was clear that nine times out of ten, her sections were negative news aimed at the Ministry of Magic and Fudge. At the same time, what was interesting was that this news, without exception, had some factual basis.
Of course, it was just a little bit of a basis… When Rita Skeeter wrote a news story, she would use her writing skills to add all sorts of logical assumptions that "people loved" to these facts and expand, imagine, idealize, and dramatize them without cause.
Her main goal was to sell copies and attract attention, without any regard for the truth of the facts, and she would often cause a lot of public pressure and trouble for the subjects of her news.
And the reason why Fudge and the Ministry of Magic had been so helpless against the annoying reporter Rita Skeeter was probably because the little beetle had, through her abilities, obtained some secrets that could ruin certain people or certain institutions. So, she had probably been hovering around here for about a week now, and it was time to have a talk with her!
Thinking this, Victor flashed and instantly grabbed the little beetle that had been lurking around his house and brought her into his room. With a muffled thump, Skeeter, who had transformed back into her human form, fell onto the carpet and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings with a terrified expression.
"Oh! Oh! My goodness! What happened?!!"
She had just been squatting near the possible family address of the Ravenclaw heir she had investigated, as usual, when suddenly her vision went blurry, and she was instantly in a strange room. She thought she had been kidnapped by a dark wizard!
And while the little beetle was in a state of panic, Victor was also carefully observing the queen of the British wizarding world's media in front of him, and he instantly felt his aesthetics had been slightly twisted.
To be honest, Rita Skeeter's overall appearance wasn't ugly, but it looked very strange. She had a strong-jawed face, and her pale blonde hair was styled into an intricate, stiff, and bizarre perm. She wore a pair of jewel-encrusted glasses, and her thick fingers had two-inch-long nails painted a bright red, like a vampire.
Looking at Skeeter, who was still on the floor, Victor first greeted her politely, "Hello, Ms. Skeeter!"
Skeeter immediately turned her head at the sound and saw that the person who had been sought by the entire British media for half a month was sitting right in front of her.
"Oh, Mr. Dreyar, it's an honor to meet you!" Skeeter immediately got up, not caring at all that Victor had abruptly grabbed her, and showed a fake, professional smile.
"Whether you are truly honored to meet me, I think you know yourself," Victor said mockingly, sitting on the bed. Then, with a single hand gesture in front of him, a table, a chair, and a cup of black tea appeared between the two of them. "To be honest, Ms. Skeeter, I'm a bit impressed with your professional abilities!"
"I have cast powerful protective magic on this house and my family, but you were still able to find this area!"
"I have to say, you are much stronger than your colleagues!"
"Thank you for the compliment! But I have to say, no matter how powerful the magic is, it can't completely erase a person's traces of growth, can it?" Skeeter sat down on the chair without any hesitation and took out her dark green Quick-Quotes Quill and notebook that she always carried with her.
Victor didn't stop her from doing so because the fact that he had actively sought out this little beetle meant that he wouldn't mind her wild fabrications.
So, Victor continued calmly, "Ms. Skeeter, I have actively sought you out this time because I want to give you a gift, but at the same time, I would also like to ask you to use your abilities to help me with something."
"I'm all ears…" Skeeter replied with a fake smile. At the same time, her notebook already had a sentence on it: "Victor Dreyar, arrogant and self-satisfied, wants to bribe a reporter with his identity as the Ravenclaw heir."
But Victor ignored it. Instead, he picked up the black tea in front of him, took a sip, and said, "Ms. Skeeter, I can grant you the exclusive right to report on the Ravenclaw legacy, and nothing else. But at the same time, I need you to help me dig up as much history as possible about this person."
With that, he handed her a slip of paper.
Skeeter took the paper and looked at it, and saw a name written on it: Tom Marvolo Riddle. She didn't agree to Victor right away. Instead, she continued to write in her notebook: "Victor Dreyar admits to having a scandalous relationship with a person named Tom Marvolo Riddle."
Then, she continued to ask, "So, Mr. Dreyar, could you tell me what your relationship is with the person on this paper?"
"We have a bit of a relationship, but it's not a very big one," Victor replied nonchalantly. "You actually know him too, but you all call him Voldemort."
As soon as he finished speaking, the proud and confident expression on Skeeter's face suddenly froze. She slowly looked up, showing a stiff smile, "I'm sorry, did you just say that this person named Tom is…"
"Voldemort!"
After hearing Victor's definite answer, cold sweat immediately started to seep from Skeeter's forehead, and she felt a chill run down her spine. As a reporter, especially as a beetle Animagus, she had more or less, intentionally or unintentionally, learned through various channels that Voldemort might still be alive.
Half a month ago, Victor, the Ravenclaw heir, appeared out of nowhere. She had also learned through her investigation that the author of the comic book that was now widely popular among young wizards was actually Victor Dreyar. So, she knew very well what the name Tom Marvolo Riddle represented. It was a complete mockery of the Dark Lord.
Thinking of this, Skeeter immediately stood up from her chair and refused with a trembling voice, "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Dreyar, I can't accept your request!"
With that, she tried to turn around and leave. At this point, she no longer cared about any exclusive interview rights, because her journalist's intuition told her that this seemingly harmless young wizard in front of her was extremely dangerous!
But just as Skeeter was trying to leave Victor's room, she suddenly felt her entire body become immobile, and at the same time, her limbs were completely out of her control, slowly making her sit back down on the chair.
"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. I'm not done talking yet!" Victor said with a smile, picking up the teapot and adding some black tea to Skeeter's cup. The bizarre atmosphere immediately suffocated her.
"Ms. Skeeter, you have already accepted my gift. It's a matter of give and take between people!" Victor said, pointing at the notebook in Skeeter's hand.
"I can't agree to this. The Dark Lord isn't dead. He'll kill me…" Skeeter suddenly revealed the secret that Voldemort wasn't dead, hoping to make Victor back down. But it was clear that she had miscalculated…
Victor's expression didn't even change when he heard this so-called "secret." Instead, he added some more black tea to his cup and slowly said, "To be honest, for a reporter who often butts heads with the Ministry of Magic, Ms. Skeeter, you are a bit too confident."
"With so many secrets hidden in your heart, you should have practiced Occlumency."
"You?!!"
When Skeeter heard Victor say this, her scalp instantly went numb. It was then that she noticed a blue glow flowing in the young wizard's pupils. She was so scared that she shrieked, "How is this possible?! You can perform Legilimency!"
If the shock she felt earlier was from finding out Voldemort's real name, then Skeeter's current mood was one of complete terror. The fact that Victor could perform Legilimency meant that all the secrets she knew were now completely exposed.
Not to mention the fact that she was an illegal Animagus, which could land her three years in Azkaban. She had also offended so many people with her articles, and the Ministry of Magic would definitely add fuel to the fire and increase her sentence during the trial. Coupled with some other secrets she had "accidentally" learned, if these were leaked, some people would definitely try their best to silence her forever.
So, after a long internal struggle, Skeeter asked nervously, with cold sweat all over her forehead, "Mr. Dreyar, can you tell me why you want to investigate his past?"
"You don't need to know the specific reason, but I can tell you that Voldemort's history is very helpful for some things I want to do in the future," Victor replied.
"So now, Ms. Skeeter, are you going to agree to my request, or would you like to dance with the Dementors in Azkaban?"
"Do I have any other choice?"
Skeeter's face was pale. She tried her best to suppress the chill in her heart, then took a deep breath, and reluctantly nodded, "I agree, Mr. Dreyar!"
"It's a pleasure to work with you!"
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