Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts (TL) Chapter 639

Chapter 639: Rita Skeeter in action (2 in 1)

As the Christmas season approached, there is a heavy festive atmosphere everywhere, whether it is wizarding society or muggle society, and people’s faces are on the verge of overflowing with joy. And just as the people were preparing for the festive season, journalists from The Sun were sitting together in a conference room, deliberating on New Year’s Day topics.

“Rita,” a short, fat man asked, “how’s your article coming along?”

“It’s already complete,” Rita Skeeter blurted out, pulling a stack of printouts from her crocodile bag, “I’ve dug up an absolute slam dunk.” She glanced at the others in the room and said triumphantly, “There is evidence that the governnt is systematically covering up the damage done to the population by mad cow disease!”

“Is that true.” The short, fat executive said dryly, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty forehead as he accepted Rita’s news article. He flipped through the pages absent-mindedly, looked at them, and then looked up and said in a deep voice, “I’m sorry, Rita, but your article won’t be published.”

“Why?” Rita Skeeter raised her voice, and the pen that kept spinning in her hand ca to a sudden halt.

“There’s no reason. I admit that you are very talented and have been on a winning streak for a while, but …” The man moved his body uneasily and his chair made a heavy creaking sound.

Rita Skeeter watched him carefully for a while.

“Oh—” she stretched her voice, “I understand. Well, I’ll quit.”

The short, stocky man looked at her in both amazent and surprise, his impression of this woman is that she has always had a keen sense of sll, like a tireless hound chasing after its prey, brutal and ferocious. This was an overwhelming complint.

“I thought-”

“Thought what? That I would hold on to it for dear life?” Rita Skeeter scowled, “I have confidence in my professional abilities, even if my efforts on the mad cow disease series went down the drain, I still have confidence that I can find new material. Unlike the rest of them.” She glanced at the corner.

At the long desk, several other journalists glared at her, but Rita Skeeter rely returned a contemptuous look. She had already figured out the routine, and now she is like a fish in water.

Sure enough, the short, fat man showered her with complints.

“That’s wonderful, Rita! I dare to say that recruiting you was the best decision I’ve ever made, so let’s see, what’s the latest hot news …” He struck while the iron was hot and was ready to give her a new assignnt, “What are you going to do for Christmas?”

Rita Skeeter thought for a mont and said, ” I think I’ll take a few days off.” She planned to go to the Ministry of Magic to find Alia Bones to sell her misery; the last few months had worn her out, as she was juggling between her work on the Sun and her participation in the Daily Prophet articles, and it was clear that she had no intention of giving up on either side – it was all mostly fabrication anyway.

She left the small window on the first floor of the house she rented in Muggle society to always remain open, allowing owls to co and go at night.

The short, stocky man blinked, “In that case -”

“How about giving the divorce news on that crown princess?” Rita Skeeter volunteered, ” I am sure I can dig up more eye-catching inside stories.” After months of working together, they knew that when she said ‘investigate’, she had actually ant ‘making up’.

Most of her co-workers were rather impressed by her ability to investigate.

“No!” An exquisitely makeup-ed blonde snapped angrily, “I’ve been in charge of this for a long period of ti, and I can’t just quit halfway.”

“Oh, lissa.” Rita Skeeter looked at her with contempt in his eyes, “After all this ti you haven’t produced any results, maybe you’re not cut out for it.” The ‘lissa’ glared at her furiously, grinding her teeth as if she is ready to swallow her whole and tear her apart.

The short, fat supervisor thought about it for a mont; although lissa wasn’t as efficient as Rita Skeeter, she was nevertheless a capable person under his command, and she couldn’t be completely side-lined. He neither wanted the relationship between the two to be too friendly nor did he want the conflict to beco irreconcilable and interfere with their work.

“Tell you what, Rita,” he said with a final pat on the back, “you can follow up on the whole gun control bill thing.”

Rita Skeeter’s eyes lit up.

However, she did not rush to agree, and asked calmly, “How far can I cover in this?”

“Whatever you want.” The short, stocky man said, “This whole thing is pretty much risk-free now, the new gun control bill is a foregone conclusion, after all the widespread movent to get a gun ban launched by the families of the victims from the shooting earlier in the year has had a deep impact, although it has died down a bit recently … I have received information that the results could be out in the next year or two. ”

“Wait, we could totally get a piece of the pie.” Rita Skeeter said imdiately, nibbling on the pen in her hand like a quill, as inspiration burst forth, “We could do a series of articles around this whole issue.”

There was a cold laugh echoed in the room.

“Excuse ?” Rita Skeeter asked coldly.

lissa gave a mocking smile, as she brushed her hair back until she felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her, then she said nonchalantly, “Do you need to remind you? It’s been nine months since the school shooting, and every news dia outlet has already discussed it from every angle, so it’s not worth wasting our precious Christmas pages.”

The middle-aged fat executive looked hesitant as he turned his head to look at Rita Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter slamd her pen down on the table and wrapped her arm in her other arm, her long, dazzling green fingernails prominently highlighted, “That’s why so people are only worthy of investigating low-level reports such as extramarital affairs, but still have not achieved anything until now. Use your head right now, this is an opportunity! The governnt is preparing a new bill, the people are busy with the New Year, and although it hasn’t been investigated yet, I dare to assert that the campaign to ban handguns will not receive much attention for the next month or two …”

“If at this ti, we can launch a series of exclusive articles over Christmas, linking peace and massacres, New Year and shootings, and making a big deal out of it … the buzz will be reignited, hopefully, it will last until the new bill is introduced, at which point we can absolutely claim that the implentation of the new bill and our hard efforts are inextricably linked.”

She sneered twice at lissa and looked over at the fat man.

“Why do we need to choose Christmas? Because it’s the only way to differentiate ourselves when all the other papers are busy covering Christmas and New Year’s Eve, that’s the differentiator. It allows readers to recognize us at a glance!” She leaned over and stared at the short, middle-aged man, “What do you think, Mr. Editor-in-Chief?”

The editor-in-chief swallowed and said with a stern face, “We’re only an entertainnt paper, if the subject matter gets too serious-”

“You can rest assured about that, I’ll be using a completely new narrative.” Rita Skeeter retracted her body back and said confidently, “And I have my own take and opinion regarding the word ‘entertainnt’ -”

She said sweetly, “The most important thing in a newspaper is sales. Beyond that, the subject matter is not important, the format is not important, the content is not important, even the truth -” she raised an eyebrow and offered an unspoken smile.

There was a round of applause at the door. A woman with a serious face walked in and no one was aware of how much of their discussion she had heard before.

“You’re Rita Skeeter? That na is so hot right now that my ears are getting calloused.”

“You are?” Rita Skeeter asked without moving, catching a faint whiff of nthol smoke, a sll she had only ever caught at the door of that office, which was always closed tight and never once open.

The short, stocky supervisor winked at her desperately and gestured. The woman didn’t answer, but looked Rita Skeeter up and down, “I’ve been away from the office for the last few months, but I’ve been reading an ongoing series of your articles, mocking the governnt to the point of wretchedness – but who made the readers just love that.”

Rita Skeeter asked in a pleasant tone, “So you’re going to give a promotion?”

The short, fat executive glared at her from behind, a shaful betrayal. But Rita Skeeter was ready to climb the corporate ladder, and she stared unblinkingly at the woman who had suddenly appeared, and laughed heartily, “Why not?” She looked at Rita Skeeter with indifference. “My ti is limited, so there is only one interview question, if I want to increase the sales of the newspaper by another twenty thousand copies, what do you suggest I should do?”

Rita Skeeter clenched her fist, “Raise the distinctiveness of the paper.”

“Distinctiveness? Be specific.”

“In that point, we’re already ahead of the ga, like the third page featuring the won’s … but it’s not nearly enough, we have to differentiate ourselves from other papers in every way – even if it’s wrong, it has to be the only one. We can sotis even deliberately go against the flow of our readers, but of course … only a true expert can manage the subtle differences in between.”

The woman narrowed her eyes and asked with interest, “You consider yourself as that true expert?”

“Without a doubt.” Rita Skeeter said cheekily.

There was a mont of silence. The woman nodded towards her, “You’ll be one of our Deputy Chief Editor from now on.”

Rita Skeeter, who had just been promoted, breezed back to her office and ordered her two assistants, “Get all the news that can be found on the Dunblane school mass shootings through this year, now! Including the list of victims, the philosophy and demands of the gun ban campaign groups, the pronouncents of governnt departnts on the matter, the list of governnt drafters of the gun bill, and the rumours that were going around… I want all of them! And – buy a train ticket to Scotland from the local station.”

Two days later, Rita Skeeter arrived in the town where the shooting took place and personally convinced several of the victims’ families to give interviews.

She offered a good deal – The Sun sells enough copies to create hype, plus she promised to publish a series of articles to help them put pressure on the governnt – and the families agreed after little thought.

They also used their connections to get Rita Skeeter to strut her weight around the campus where the shooting took place.

Rita Skeeter interviewed a few random teachers and ca up with no less than 10,000 words of spicy coverage in her head, but she still was not satisfied, wanting to find a tricky enough angle that would be shocking without seeming too out of place in the New Year.

As she walked, her stray gaze fixed on the students. She ca up with a great idea.

“Hey, little guy.” She greeted a boy with a fake kindness, “What’s your na?”

“Andy, Andy Murray.” The young boy who looked to be eight or nine years old said as she eyed him.

“Oh Andy, Andy,” she repeated twice, pulling out her press pass and waving it in front of him, and asking in a pompous manner, “Can I interview you alone?”

“I’ve got to go to tennis practice.” Andy Murray said.

“Just in ti, that’s what I’m here for.” Rita Skeeter lied, glancing quickly at the tennis bag the boy is carrying over his shoulder with a smile, “I spoke to your teacher, and she told you’re very talented.”

“It’s ‘he’.” The boy corrected.

“What?”

“My PE teacher, it’s ‘he’.” The boy emphasized, then shot her a suspicious look.

“I may have misrembered.” Rita Skeeter said apologetically, although there was no hint of anything related to sha that could be found on her face, “So – let’s talk about paying little ball, tennis, geez, that’s a roundabout word.”

The young boy glared at her, displeased with the woman who had appeared out of nowhere and blasphed about tennis.

“Oh, co on, don’t be like that, I just said the wrong word, do you know how much material I read before I ca here?” She gestured at her thick glasses, “When did you first start to play tennis?”

“… Three years old.” The young boy said after a long stand-off.

Rita Skeeter was a little surprised. “So I’ve caught a little genius casually?” She grinned, “Well, I should put you on my watch list for another interview in a few years, what would be a good title? The Birth of a Genius … or The Fall of a Genius? It’s really sothing to look forward to.”

The young boy left indignantly, but Rita Skeeter held his wrist with a death grip. As the argunt was going strong, the teacher from the school appeared.

“What are you doing here! Who are you? Oh, Ms. Skeeter-” the female teacher was surprised.

“It’s ,” Rita Skeeter said in a lighter tone as she released her grip, “I ran into little Andy while I was wandering around the school grounds, but he was in a hurry to get to the gym to play ball … and there was a little misunderstanding. ”

The female teacher looked at her and then at the young boy who is rubbing his wrist and her tone cooled down, “I think that might not be the reason, Andy … Andy wouldn’t have wanted to go to the gym.”

“Why do you say that?” Rita Skeeter froze for a mont, she wasn’t sure what had gone wrong but she quickly thought of the crux of the matter, “Because that shooting happened in the gym?” She looked at Andy with wide eyes and said in disbelief, “He was one of the people who happened to be there?”

“That’s right,” the female teacher said coldly, “Since then Andy usually only goes to the playground to play tennis, and the school is planning to build a new sports centre.”

Rita Skeeter cursed at her blunder in her mind.

“I-” She opened her mouth in an attempt to redy the situation.

“I am sorry, Ms. Skeeter, but please leave the premises or I will have to call security.” The female teacher said in a firm tone.

Rita Skeeter’s face turned blue and white for a mont, and she reached into her crocodile purse several tis, but she gave up the idea of taking out her wand. Her wand had been re-traced because she had been hired by the Ministry of Magic, and any magic she used during the year would be known to the woman sitting in the Minister’s office.

Damn it.

“Well, I’m sorry about that.” She said with a shrug, turning to leave.

As she walked out of the school, Rita Skeeter ntally pondered over various ideas, the information she had gotten so far was more or less the sa, today was just an added bonus. But she always felt that there was sothing missing, what was it? She glanced back over her shoulder, the female teacher was crouching down to gently reassure the young boy, but the boy had a stubborn look on his face.

Tennis ball, little boy … she mused over it.

‘Count yourselves lucky.’ Rita Skeeter said coldly in her mind as she made another ten-hour train trip back to The Sun’s premises, and it didn’t take that long for her to write a one-sheet article in a single stroke.

“… Even after nine months, my new friend Andy still can’t get over his fear and he cried bitterly in front of , confessing his heartbreak at the loss of his playmate and revealing that they had agreed to play tennis together and be friends and rivals forever, but it all ca to naught. His parents couldn’t even deceive him with a well-intentioned lie, as young Andy was a first-hand witness to that tragedy and saw his companion, with whom he had made a lifelong pact, fall before his eyes …”

“I know so will ntion the Hungerford shooting in 1987, and yes, that ti the governnt responded swiftly by announcing a ban on semi-automatic rifles the following year and placing restrictions on the ownership of handguns, but it is far from enough!”

“Are we really going to turn a blind eye to the tragedy that has once again returned after a re nine years, and this ti it is even worse because 16 of the 17 people killed were children? The fact that the killer was in possession of four handguns ‘issued and licensed’ by the governnt at the ti of the murder ans that there are still huge loopholes in the way we regulate firearms and I implore governnt officials who are busy planning holidays or preparing for the New Year’s Eve parade to divide their energy towards the victims and their families who should be celebrating the New Year with as much enthusiasm as you are. Instead, their lives ca to a permanent halt in March 1996.”

“… The only way we can make the right choice is by showing greater determination and courage, with a sense of responsibility … With the encouragent of the journalist, young Andy has regained his vigour once again and stated that he will never give up tennis. Ladies and Gentlen, a great star is rising, and his future is bright, with endless possibilities. But please don’t forget that if we remain indifferent, little Andy will be under threat from guns for days and nights in the years to co …”

In an office, which had been quiet for so ti, a lady’s cigarette was burning quietly.

“Well?” Rita Skeeter asked, narrowing her eyes.

The woman who had a serious look on her face earlier tore off a piece of paper and scribbled quickly, and after a mont she pushed the note and the news release in front of Rita Skeeter. Then she took a deep puff on her cigarette and exhaled a minty smoke ring.

“Your new office is ready.”

————

[Author:]

In case so readers may have doubts, I would like to add the following;

1. This chapter is simply the brief history of Rita Skeeter’s rise to power because her position at the newspaper will play a key role in the subsequent plot, so a chapter is devoted to it (I didn’t think when I wrote it that it would reach approximately 3,120 words).

2. There were several major events has happened in 1996 in British reality: the mad cow disease outbreak, Princess Diana’s divorce, and the Dunblane massacre. Andy Murray was an actual witness and survivor of the shooting at the age of less than nine, in addition to being known for his great achievents in tennis. Of course, the so-called best friend or pact or so other thing was all fabricated by Rita Skeeter, just like she fabricated about Harry in the original.

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