Chapter 199: In the Papers and Holiday Break
Rita stood up and walked to the door, intending to call the others in, but she hesitated for a long moment before finally turning back to ask, "That professor you mentioned, the one who got sent to Azkaban, that was Lockhart, wasn't it? I heard he ran into some trouble recently."
"I thought you weren't going to ask about that." Ethan wasn't particularly surprised; he'd long since figured out that Rita had come to the school for an interview precisely because of Lockhart. "It was indeed Lockhart, and I do know the inside story. But before you hear any of it, you need to think carefully about the consequences of reporting on it." Ethan gave her fair warning.
"I know you probably don't care much about the warnings Cornelius Fudge has sent to various newspapers. After all, you've exposed far more about the private lives of Ministry employees than anyone else. But whether the Daily Prophet dares to print it is another matter entirely. This involves an international scandal, after all. It's not just Fudge who wants to keep the news from spreading; other Ministry officials don't want it getting out either. Otherwise, you wouldn't have had to come to the school to interview me."
"Er, well, that's true. Ever since I got word of it, I've been trying to arrange interviews with a few people in the know, but they all turned me down. And, well, I haven't been able to get any information through other means either. I only found out that a few of you students were involved." Rita hadn't realized her intentions were so transparent, and she stammered a little, clearly embarrassed.
"There you have it. Lockhart really was sent to Azkaban for a reason, and he came very close to being forced to take Veritaserum. So, if you want to dig into this story, you need to consider whether the Ministry might find some random excuse to lock you up and force Veritaserum on you, making you spill all your own hidden secrets."
What Ethan said was a bit of an exaggeration, but at the mention of "Veritaserum," Rita's face paled again. After having her own secret exposed by Ethan moments earlier, she was no longer quite so confident. And it was exactly as Ethan had said: if she were ever caught for something, the people at the Ministry who held grudges against her certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity.
"I don't want to know any more." Rita shook her head quickly. While she certainly craved exclusive news to grab people's attention, she knew perfectly well that if news of her own arrest ever made the papers, the resulting scandal would rival the Lockhart coverage.
"All right, then. Call them back in. There's less than twenty minutes left. It's Fred and George's first interview, so give them plenty of space in the article."
After the others returned, the interview was somewhat more subdued than before, but it went far more smoothly. At the very least, Rita refrained from spouting any more nonsense. The witch kept a cautious eye on Ethan's reactions; whenever she saw him frown or shake his head, she immediately crossed out whatever she had just written.
The wizard photographer Bozo, who had accompanied her, was stunned. He had followed Rita around taking pictures everywhere and had never seen her act this way. The twins were equally astonished by the witch's behavior and deeply curious about how Ethan had managed, in just a few short minutes, to turn this notoriously unruly reporter into a completely different person. But with the witch still present, it was clearly not the time to ask Ethan, so they buried the question for now, intending to ask once the interview was over.
The interview concluded more quickly than expected. Since Rita had primarily come to the school for the Lockhart story, she wasn't especially well prepared with questions about the potion wand and the other topics related to the three of them. As a result, with five minutes still left before half past ten, all of Rita's prepared questions had been answered, including a few related to the Wizarding Cards shop.
"How about we take a few more photographs? I can have Bozo send them to you later, as a small token of appreciation for the interview. What do you think?" Rita actually wanted to leave already, but Professor McGonagall hadn't arrived yet. She looked around and came up with the idea.
"Sure."
"Fine by us."
All three nodded in agreement. For the remaining few minutes, Rita stood off to the side while the three of them struck various poses for Bozo's camera.
*Click!* The shutter snapped, a puff of purple smoke rose, and the interview officially concluded. Professor McGonagall knocked at exactly half past ten. Upon entering, she found Ethan sitting in the middle with a smile, flanked by the twins, who were making faces and goofy gestures beside him.
"Time is up. You three, return to your common room. As for you two, I will escort you out of Hogwarts."
"Yes, Professor."
Before leaving the office, Ethan gave Rita a meaningful glance, reminding her not to forget the day's events and to write a proper article. The witch caught his meaning, tensed slightly, and nodded quickly.
After the three students had left, Professor McGonagall waved her wand, and the five chairs vanished, restoring the office to its previous state. "Let's go."
The three adult wizards walked in silence toward the school gates. Just before reaching their destination, Professor McGonagall said, "They are still students. Please refrain from writing anything negative that might harm them."
The professor had been holding back that comment for a while. From the moment she realized the reporter was Rita Skeeter, she had worried about the interview causing harm. She brought it up now as something of a probing inquiry; she knew Rita well enough to assume her words would carry little weight. Still, she had to make her stance clear and then see if she could use her connections at the newspaper to have any problematic language removed from Rita's article, shielding Ethan and the twins from negative fallout.
But to Professor McGonagall's great surprise, Rita simply nodded and said, "You have my word, Professor."
This reaction only made Professor McGonagall more uneasy, and she resolved to visit the Daily Prophet headquarters to speak with the editor-in-chief before the interview went to print.
Meanwhile, after leaving the office, the twins dragged Ethan into an empty classroom and demanded to know exactly how he had managed to bring about such a change in Rita.
"What did you do during those few minutes we were out of the room? We were actually worried you might get into a fight, so we pressed our ears against the door, but we didn't hear a thing."
"It was nothing, just a bit of financial persuasion. That reporter might look well-off, but the gems on her glasses are fake. A little money was all it took to make her change her tune." Ethan gave them a limited version of events, keeping the most crucial bit of leverage to himself.
"Is that so?" The twins were somewhat doubtful, but with no way to prove otherwise, they let the matter drop.
The paper moved fast. The day after the interview, Rita's article appeared in print. Ethan found the piece tucked away on one of the less prominent pages.
The first thing that caught his eye was a photograph, the final one they had taken. In the picture, Fred and George were making an endless series of faces while Ethan, seated between them, smiled and occasionally glanced over at them. As for the article itself, while it featured Rita's trademark hyperbolic language, it didn't contain a single negative word about any of the three. Ethan was praised as handsome and dashing, caring toward marginalized groups, and full of compassion. The twins were hailed as alchemical prodigies and creative geniuses. It was all positive, glowing praise.
Looking at the photo of Fudge plastered on the front page, Ethan thought, *If this article had included the information about Lockhart, would it be the front page headline right now?*
Still, it was more than enough to satisfy Ethan, except for one small detail: Rita's compliments were so over the top that they made him feel slightly embarrassed.
He closed the newspaper, set it down on the table, and went back to his bowl of porridge.
Perhaps because the article had been so relentlessly positive, Ethan drew a few curious stares when he ran into other students around the castle. Professor McGonagall, in particular, gave him a look of genuine astonishment that left Ethan somewhat puzzled.
But the spectacle was short-lived, as the End-of-Term Feast began. The Great Hall was decked out in Slytherin's colors of green and silver. This year, however, the Slytherins were not quite as jubilant as they had been at the start of last year's feast. They remembered all too well that last year's Great Hall had also been a sea of green and silver at the beginning, only to end up split between red and gold, and green and silver before the banquet was over. As a result, the Slytherins kept their celebrations restrained this time, afraid of celebrating too soon.
As was tradition, Dumbledore, wearing a wizard's hat adorned with silver stars and moons, delivered the opening remarks. His speech covered the usual ground: bidding farewell to the seventh-year graduates and congratulating everyone on completing another year at school.
The announcement of the House points, however, held none of last year's surprises. Slytherin, leading second-place Ravenclaw by more than a hundred points, claimed the House Cup without any dispute.
"Well then, let us all raise our glasses and congratulate Slytherin on winning the House Cup. This marks their eighth consecutive year!"
The old wizard was the first to raise his goblet, leaving the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, who had been hoping for a thrilling reversal like the previous year's, rather disappointed. Still, everyone soon set aside their feelings and threw themselves into enjoying the feast, looking forward to the upcoming holiday.
After their grades were distributed, everyone boarded the Hogwarts Express, heading home for a two-month summer vacation. On the train, most students chattered excitedly, anticipating a wonderful break. There were, however, a few young witches and wizards who were not particularly fond of their summer plans, such as Ron and Harry, who sat across from Ethan.
Harry's unhappiness needed no explanation. Returning to that cage of a home would make anyone miserable. Ron's reasons for being glum were a bit more unusual.
"You're going to Egypt for the holidays?" The twins sat beside Ethan.
"That's right," Fred said, clearly excited at the prospect of seeing Bill after so long. "Actually, Mum and Dad wanted to visit Bill in Egypt over Christmas, but it got pushed back because of everything with Ron. Now that the family's come into some money, we figured we'd all go together. See our big brother and do some sightseeing in Egypt while we're at it."
"Yeah, yeah, you're all going to Egypt, and you're planning on leaving me at home to practice Charms and Transfiguration," Ron grumbled, prodding his fat rat with a sour expression.
"And whose fault is that?" Ginny, sitting next to Hermione, showed Ron no mercy.
"Exactly," Hermione chimed in, firmly on Ginny's side. "You brought this on yourself. And you spent the two weeks between exams and the start of break just messing around instead of practicing. You're still nowhere near ready for second year."
"Alright, alright." Ron waved his hand irritably, nearly knocking Harry's glasses off.
Fred grinned. "If you put in some real practice before we leave, maybe we could put in a good word with Mum."
"Fred's right," George added with an identical grin.
"Really?" Hope rekindled in Ron's eyes.
The twins exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Absolutely."
"Then I'm practicing right now!" Ron, now the proud owner of a new wand, dragged a reluctant Harry out of the compartment, which was already packed with seven people, and went off in search of Neville and the others to get some work done.
"Ah, much roomier." Ginny and Hermione stretched out comfortably, putting a bit more space between them.
The train soon pulled into the station as the friends chatted. After dinner, Ethan sat down with Cyril for a conversation.
"Grandfather, some things are hard to explain properly in letters. Let me tell you more about the verified effects of Professor Snape's new potion." Ethan relayed everything he knew. Some of it he had already mentioned in his letters, but some of it was new information he had recently wheedled out of Snape. Cyril listened intently, nodding now and then.
"So we're off to St. Mungo's tomorrow, then? Fine by me." When Cyril said this, he felt no particular emotion stir inside him. He knew his own condition better than anyone. But of course he would not refuse to try. Expecting nothing was one thing, but what if a miracle happened?
The next morning, they took a car to a broad street in central London. The bustling thoroughfare was crowded with shoppers coming and going. Cyril and Ethan moved slowly through the throng, careful not to get separated. "This is St. Mungo's Hospital," Cyril said, leading Ethan to a weathered old red-brick department store. The dilapidated building stood in stark contrast to the lively shops around it. A faded sign above the door read Purge and Dowse, Ltd. The display windows held mannequins in various poses, all of them shabby and dressed in outdated fashions. A thick layer of dust coated the door, which had a sign reading Closed for Refurbishments.
Cyril stopped in front of one of the windows and looked at the mannequin inside. "I was just here a few days ago to visit Vartan," he told Ethan.
Ethan asked, "How is Mr. Ohajian recovering?"
"Quite well, actually. He says he's remembered a bit more. He should be fully recovered in six months at the most."
"That's wonderful news!" Ethan had been busy with another project lately and hadn't yet found time to study the old wizard's notes. If he could obtain the complete spell directly, it would save him the trouble of piecing it together himself, and that was certainly something to be glad about.
"Well then, let's go." Cyril stepped closer to the window and addressed the particularly ugly mannequin inside. "Hello, we're here to see Vartan Ohajian."
The mannequin nodded slightly and beckoned with its fused fingers. Cyril took Ethan's arm, and they stepped straight through the glass, vanishing from the busy London street.
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