"And with stories like I'm giving you," he continued on to say, "you're going to want to know that everything you print is true. This contract guarantees I give you truthful information, so if any young reporter comes sniffing around looking for lies, you'll walk away smelling like roses. But you've got to stay away from the kid," Lichfield said forcefully. "He deserves to have a private life, even with everything else going public."
Luckily for Lester he had opted not to know certain tiny details about the first story he was going to give her so he could imply heavily and still claim to believe what he was telling was the truth. It could well be true, not that she would particularly care. It was sure to boost circulation either way and any reason for a correction would just expand the scandalous story even more.
Rita looked down at the parchments again, this time seeing the opportunity they held and no doubt weighing it against permanently putting the Boy-Who-Lived tantalizingly out of reach. The girl of his was right though, Lester saw it now. The Boy-Who-Lived had to die.
"And you can guarantee these stories are explosive and accurate?" she asked.
"They're jaw-droppingly shocking, morally outrageous, and completely world-changing," Lester said teasingly. "And every word of it's true. Wouldn't you like to be the one to give the world the real story of Harry Potter?" he asked twirling a Blood Quill between his fingers.
"You're damn right I would," she said, plucking the quill out of his hands and making her mark on both copies of the contract. "Magical signatures alright, since anonymity is an issue?"
"Works for me," he nodded, taking the quill to make his scratch while she signed with her magic. Only blood and magic were needed for the Ministry to Bind anyone if it came to that, so using no names was a nice precaution. When they were done, he called Mipsy again to take his copy to the office.
"So? Tell me everything," Rita prompted, placing the Quick-Quotes Quill back to her lips again.
"You need a new quill," Lester said, plucking it away again and tossing it back at the handbag from whence it came. "Using that one's lazy and makes you look untrustworthy. Use mine," he offered, producing a small quill and ink set.
"Those are horribly mundane," she tsked. "I haven't had to use one since I started out."
"Oh," Lester said, feigning the rediscovery of a long forgotten memory. "That's right; you started as a court reporter, didn't you? I think I read somewhere you covered the trial for Sirius Black."
"If you want to call it that," she dismissed with a wave. "It was over in a flash, everyone knew he was guilty. I'm not quite sure how it even started, I think we were there for something else," the woman said curiously. "You know what they say about Memories, 'To really remember you have to dive in,' and who has time for that?" she asked. "Anyway, it launched my career."
"I'd love to get the memory from you, on behalf of the Family," Lester said. "I'm sure the boy will want to see the man who betrayed his parents taken down for himself one day. And as someone who met him a time or two, I'd be interested in seeing it too," he said honestly. "Actually, that brings to mind another enticing story - that's still connected to the boy," he added quickly lest she get antsy. "I uncovered it when looking into other things and I think it'll really prime the public for what's to come."
Rita looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"If it's suitably salacious, you've got yourself a deal."
"I knew I'd like working with you," he said with a mischievous grin. "But I'm going to need you to do some things for me. It's got to run in tomorrow's Daily Prophet and you have to make sure no one around the individual gets their copies until - say, ten o'clock?"
The corners around her mouth tightened, the woman didn't like making promises.
"I'll see what I can do," Rita said. "But it has to be good."
He nodded.
"Tell me," Lester said conspiratorially. "What do you know about Ida Beeman?"
.....
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