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A previously unknown newspaper appeared almost overnight.
Poisons and Antidotes Daily.
The paper claimed to have first-hand information about the Triwizard Tournament and said it had received formal official authorization.
Then Witch and Poison Publishing, Professor Jerry, and many other writers and respected experts recommended the paper to their readers and fans. More than that, numerous Ministry department heads and senior officials publicly stated that its contents were truthful and reliable.
It was a public endorsement with no attempt at subtlety.
Under that wave of promotion, many wizards seeking the truth bought Poisons and Antidotes Daily and learned what had actually happened.
The Daily Prophet smelled danger, but it was already too busy trying to save itself.
A notice of accusation from the Wizengamot shattered Barnabas Cuffe's last bit of hope.
The Ministry of Magic accused the Daily Prophet of maliciously fabricating false information about the Triwizard Tournament without authorization and reporting it on a large scale, causing extremely harmful effects.
At the same time, Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter was accused of repeatedly inventing false information and seriously damaging the reputations of many wizards. Those wizards had jointly brought Rita Skeeter and the Daily Prophet before the Wizengamot.
Both cases would be tried the following Monday.
With multiple charges combined, Rita Skeeter would face far more than a simple accusation of rumor-mongering if convicted. At the very least, she would be looking at a stay in Azkaban.
Perhaps she would even meet another former celebrity there: Lockhart.
As for the Daily Prophet, it would not necessarily be shut down, but it would have to bear responsibility for poor oversight and pay a large amount of Galleons to seek leniency.
Money to keep disaster away.
"I am innocent! I did not fabricate false information! You have no evidence!"
On Monday, in the Wizengamot courtroom, Rita Skeeter protested loudly. This was her only chance. She absolutely could not allow the charges to stand.
Facing Rita Skeeter's protest, the Ministry's representative for the accusers simply took out a quill.
"Miss Rita Skeeter, do you remember this Quick-Quotes Quill? The one you often used. I believe you recorded many things with it."
"Oh, and would you like to see this as well?"
The Ministry representative produced another piece of evidence.
This one had both image and sound. It was a recording of Rita Skeeter inventing her story.
How was that possible?
They could even produce something like this?
Rita Skeeter's eyes widened in shock.
"These are only a portion of the evidence we possess."
The Ministry representative walked to Rita Skeeter's side. His voice lowered until only she could hear it.
"Miss unregistered Animagus beetle, I also have footage of you transforming."
Rita Skeeter felt the world spin.
Her body went limp, and she collapsed back into the chair, all strength gone.
That was her greatest secret.
Someone had discovered it.
She knew she was finished.
Even putting aside the charges of malicious fabrication and spreading false information, being an unregistered Animagus alone was enough to ruin her.
From the corner of her eye, she happened to notice one of the people seated among the judges.
A familiar, towering figure.
It was Dudley.
He was wearing Wizengamot robes and looking down at Rita Skeeter with a faint, unreadable smile.
His gaze seemed to say, 'I told you we would meet in the Wizengamot, Miss Rita Skeeter.'
What followed was much simpler.
Because it had to face Wizengamot proceedings, the Daily Prophet was forced to suspend publication temporarily. Its public support collapsed, and its image in the minds of many wizards crumbled with it.
Poisons and Antidotes Daily seized the opportunity perfectly. While the Daily Prophet was absent, it moved aggressively to seize that market share.
With Wizard Card strategy articles and Professor Jerry's new serialized novel as its two great weapons, it took only a few short days for the new paper to reach the Daily Prophet's usual sales.
It would not be long before it replaced the Daily Prophet's position.
Soon, Rita Skeeter's sentence was handed down.
As expected, she received ten years in Azkaban and had to compensate the wizards she had maliciously defamed for emotional damages. All property under her name would be auctioned off to repay the debt.
If the Dementors did not drive her mad in Azkaban, she could still leave prison ten years later.
If someone analyzed these events one by one, they would discover that an invisible hand had been guiding everything from the shadows, expanding the matter step by step and pushing public attention to its peak.
It was clear momentum-building.
One blow crushed Rita Skeeter, badly wounded the Daily Prophet, and made Poisons and Antidotes Daily famous at the same time.
In the European wizarding world today, who would dare say they had not heard of Poisons and Antidotes Daily?
After this incident, the Daily Prophet was not completely beyond recovery, but it was badly weakened. Credibility and public trust were things that, once lost, required a very long time and many times the effort to regain.
"Who still reads the Daily Prophet?" became the most popular phrase of the moment.
Those who manipulated public opinion would eventually be swallowed by it.
For Dudley, who was still studying at Hogwarts, the whole affair was only a tiny interlude.
He had never taken Rita Skeeter seriously. What he wanted was the Daily Prophet.
Dealing with a reporter who liked inventing stories was far too simple. This time, he had not even acted personally. He had merely released a little information, and the wizards she had slandered had joined together on their own and pinned her down completely.
Something like a newspaper, which reflected and guided public opinion, had to be firmly held in one's own hands.
Even if the Daily Prophet had not rushed out to court disaster, it would eventually have been absorbed. That had already been part of Dudley's plan.
Rita Skeeter's actions had merely accelerated the process.
There was one week left before the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
The three schools' champions knew nothing about the task and naturally had not prepared for it.
There was no need to worry, however.
Cheating had been a tradition in the Triwizard Tournament since ancient times.
Karkaroff and Madame Maxime did everything they could through their own connections to obtain the first task's subject and reveal it to their champions.
Hogwarts relied on Hagrid to tell them.
Or rather, "tell" was not quite accurate.
He took them straight to see it in person.
The first task of the Triwizard Tournament was:
Dragons.
Inside four enormous iron cages, each one held a fully grown dragon.
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