New chapter! Thanks for all the support!
x
Seeing that Ollivander had finished his work, Bagman cleared his throat, his face full of excitement.
"Since the wands have been checked, we will now proceed to today's final task. Of course, it is also the most important one."
His pitch rose by several degrees.
"Photographs!"
"Where is Miss Rita? Please ask her to come up and take photographs for us."
Bagman said to the nearby Ministry staff member, "A group photograph with the judges and champions. I think it will make an excellent publicity point."
"Mr. Bagman, Miss Rita has already left."
"What?"
Everyone, including the two headmasters, was stunned. Only Dumbledore and Lucius were not surprised.
"I believe the Daily Prophet cannot truthfully report the Triwizard Tournament," Dudley said. "Miss Skeeter always likes adding things of her own invention to her articles."
As he spoke, he glanced at Dumbledore. "I think Professor Dumbledore understands this well. For example, that article about the International Confederation of Wizards conference."
"That article was wonderful," Dumbledore said, still wearing his usual smile. "I especially enjoyed the part where she described me as a rigid old madman."
"..."
After Dumbledore said that, Bagman could hardly have someone bring Rita Skeeter back. That would offend Dumbledore.
He said he enjoyed reading it, but could anyone truly take that as enjoyment?
And Dumbledore would not be the only person offended.
As a department head, Bagman knew more than most people. Hogwarts's other champion, Mr. Dursley, was the youngest member of the Wizengamot. Because Dudley himself disliked a high profile, not many people outside the Ministry knew about it, and there had been no broad publicity.
In a sense, Bagman and Dudley were colleagues.
"But we need someone to take photographs."
Dudley continued as if he had expected this. "I made an appointment with a reporter from The Quibbler for publicity."
In terms of reader attention, The Quibbler was actually more popular than the Daily Prophet in some circles. Having them handle publicity would not necessarily be worse than using the Daily Prophet.
The Daily Prophet often criticized The Quibbler as full of nonsense, but how different was the Prophet itself?
Someone like Rita Skeeter, whose mouth was full of lies, could become its top reporter.
Aside from some fools who blindly believed everything in the Daily Prophet, many people actually knew her articles were full of embellishment. They simply felt that everyone around them believed the Prophet, so even if they disagreed, they found it difficult to say so.
"If Mr. Bagman is not satisfied with that, then the Poisons and Antidotes Daily would also be happy to serve. How about a special Ministry interview for you?"
"Poisons and Antidotes Daily?"
"Under Witch and Poison Publishing."
Bagman's attention was immediately drawn by Dudley's words. If one asked what young people across European magical society were most enthusiastic about right now, the answer was undoubtedly the Wizard Cards and novels published by Witch and Poison Publishing.
"They are planning to start their own newspaper?"
"Yes. Aside from news, it will include a new fiction section with serialized content from the second volume of the adventure series. Of course, it will also include Wizard Card strategies and detailed card character analysis. By the way, do you like Wizard Cards?"
"Who does not? Everyone likes Wizard Cards."
Bagman had now thrown the Daily Prophet to the back of his mind. His thoughts were full of the interview.
"I personally have no objection. What does Mr. Lucius think?"
As an experienced political operator, Bagman decisively threw the question to someone else.
Lucius spoke slowly in his distinctive drawl, looking meaningfully at Dudley.
"Supporting emerging industries is something the Ministry ought to do. I would be happy to hand all Triwizard Tournament coverage to Poisons and Antidotes Daily."
Dudley answered him with an equally meaningful sentence.
"Excellent, Mr. Lucius. Please accept Mr. Carrow's regards. I look forward to our cooperation."
"As do I."
At Hogwarts, during breakfast:
"This is too much. This is far too much!"
An angry shout rang out, frightening the young wizards so badly that they nearly dropped their spoons. Hermione stormed over holding that day's Daily Prophet. The students in her path, intimidated by the fury of the Gryffindor lioness, quickly stepped aside.
Smack!
Hermione reached the members of the disciplinary group and slammed the newspaper onto the table. Her chest rose and fell with anger. She had never hated someone this much before.
"How can she fabricate false content out of nothing?"
"How can she write such nonsense? Does she not know she has to take responsibility for what she writes?"
"I am furious!"
The largest section of the Daily Prophet displayed three headlines in bold, enlarged type.
"A Rude and Vulgar Boy."
"Shocking: A Love Triangle Among Champions."
"The Hogwarts Champion's Unspeakable Secret."
The first article was essentially a smear against Dudley. It was made of absurd descriptions and sweeping criticism, portraying him as a bad seed.
The second headline was more melodramatic. It claimed that Dursley and Potter had finally met their first love at Hogwarts and were inseparable from a girl named Hermione Granger. Yes, according to the article, both brothers had fallen in love with the astonishingly beautiful Miss Granger. In short, it was a love triangle stuffed with every possible soap-opera cliché.
As for the third headline, its contents were even more outrageous. It claimed that the eccentric old madman Dumbledore had been bewitched by the schemer Dursley into establishing many strange organizations at Hogwarts, throwing the entire school into disorder, and that Dursley was planning an even greater conspiracy in the future.
Admittedly, it was certainly outrageous. The process and details had problems, but perhaps she had accidentally said something right.
Although the newspaper claimed to be reporting on the Triwizard Tournament, it did not explain what the tournament was. In terms of actual content, it only mentioned the two Hogwarts champions, Dudley and Harry, especially Dudley. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were barely mentioned.
If you were a reader, you would not even know who the champions from those two schools were.
The newspaper was full of words like possibly, perhaps, and reportedly: vague subjective language that avoided firm claims. Rather than speaking with facts, it was a grand collection of ridiculous speculation. One could say it began with a name and invented everything else.
Rita Skeeter had always done this. Even when she publicly criticized Fudge, the Ministry could do little about her.
After all, one could not forbid others from speculating normally.
Unless you had something to hide.
If you had nothing to hide, why were you so anxious to silence everyone?
That was how Rita Skeeter had built her reputation.
x
x
x
If you're enjoying the story so far, consider supporting me on Patreon ❤️
You'll get weekly early access to chapters, along with some exclusive content:
https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheDevotedReader