Chapter 131: Another Interview
"Good afternoon, Draco..."
Rita beamed at me with genuine delight. Fair enough, I suppose. I'd won the tournament and already defeated opponents from various schools of magic, and my next duel was against the third-place finisher in the adult division.
Yes, third place, because the first-place adult fighter was considered to be several times stronger than the winner of the senior children's division. So if everything went to plan, I'd have three more fights ahead of me.
Still, I'd already sized up my potential opponents, and the only one I could realistically beat was third place, and even then only if he didn't take me seriously. After all, those men were already forty or fifty years old with decades of experience under their belts.
Even if they'd only started dueling training after finishing school, they had at least twenty years of development compared to my... well, let's round it up to ten. Though I didn't even have ten.
"Good afternoon, Rita. It's good to see you again."
"Good to see you too. I've got some rather interesting questions lined up for you today. Can I count on you not clamming up like certain politicians?"
"Well..."
I gave a helpless shrug.
"...I can't promise that. On the other hand, unlike politicians, I'm not bound by confidentiality agreements. My answers are limited only by the interests of my House, the safety of Britain, and, well, my district."
"I see..."
Rita bit her fountain pen suggestively, then, catching herself, tucked it back into her notebook and prepared to take notes.
"...well, let's hope that even if the questions touch on those matters, you'll still be able to find the words to answer them."
I nodded in agreement.
"Hope is a wonderful feeling."
In my tone, I tried to tease Rita, and judging by the devilish spark in her eyes, she caught it and approved.
"So, the first question isn't about the tournament, but rather your thoughts on Hogwarts and its grounds being guarded by Dementors for the first half of the year. Our newsroom received a great many letters, from students and their parents, from all manner of concerned citizens, and the most flattering comparison was to Azkaban. As for the language used by certain correspondents particularly gifted in the art of profanity..."
Rita shook her head.
"I won't read aloud everything we received, but the next issue of the Prophet, by the way, the Prophet was recently purchased by the Crown, and now this newspaper, like this television channel, answers first and foremost to the Crown and only after that to the Ministry of Magic or any other ministry. So, the next issue of the Prophet will be almost entirely devoted to letters from our readers, outraged by the Ministry of Magic's actions."
"Well..."
Realizing that Rita had finished and I could answer the first question, I smiled faintly, trying to show our viewers that the question was difficult for me. Very difficult.
"...in truth, it is difficult for me to speak about this, perhaps because of my limited life experience, I do not understand what reason there could be to send not Aurors, but Dementors, to guard children. I can only say that even our Quidditch matches were canceled, and I fully support that decision by Headmaster Dumbledore."
"You support it? And on what exactly is that opinion based? Do not misunderstand me; I simply want our viewers to be able to understand your point of view."
"Well, in my opinion, protection by Dementors and by Aurors would be roughly equivalent, except Dementors do not need to be paid..."
I allowed myself a smile, showing that this was a kind of joke.
"...except in my opinion, that is where the advantages end. Perhaps the greatest reason not to send Dementors to a school is that they do not distinguish who to kiss. No, if there is a wizard nearby with a controlling artifact, then yes, but I strongly doubt that there was an Auror with such an artifact standing beside every creature."
I shook my head sadly.
"And now I want to remind you that children, for the most part, are very mischievous, disobedient, and curious about adventures. You know, I will say this... perhaps the Ministry simply does not care about children? No..."
I raised my hand, stopping Rita and thereby showing her that I had not finished the thought.
"...children born in the magical world mostly know what a Dementor is and fear it, but quite a few Muggle-borns enroll at Hogwarts..."
I shook my head.
"...and I must tell you, they can be very, very curious. I personally stopped three first-years who wanted to get a closer look at a Dementor."
Rita went pale.
"I am afraid to even think about how many times other teachers prevented something similar. And the Headmaster reminded everyone almost every week, if not more often, that Dementors were dangerous, that leaving the castle was dangerous..."
I closed my eyes.
"Did someone die?"
"No..."
I smiled faintly, answering Rita's question, as I opened my eyes and looked into the hall.
"...no one died, fortunately. But... returning to your original question, in my opinion, Aurors are better already because the likelihood that they will accidentally kill a child who became interested in what that Auror is doing wandering through the bushes is much lower than the likelihood of an 'accidental' death from meeting a Dementor."
"Well, perhaps the Ministry had no funds..."
Rita made a weak attempt to justify the Ministry. Though it was not even an attempt, just words spoken for form's sake.
Rita, I'll let you in on a secret. My House was prepared to cover the salaries of the Aurors stationed around Hogwarts. We wouldn't have gone bankrupt over it... Other noble families were ready to do the same. Together, we could have paid all our Aurors' salaries for a couple of years within half a year and even hired a mercenary squad on top of that.
"And the Ministry refused?"
"Let me put it this way... We couldn't come to an agreement. The Ministry wanted us to transfer the funds to their coffers, while we wanted to pay the Aurors' wages directly. Well, not entirely directly, but in a way that ensured the entire sum reached them, instead of ending up in the pockets of Ministry officials."
"Um... are you saying they're all bribe-takers?"
"I'm just saying that, for some reason I don't get, they refused a straightforward payment plan that would have cleared up the mutual distrust."
"I see... Then why do you think the Dementors were moved away from Hogwarts now?"
"You, Rita, chose the correct word..."
I nodded.
"...moved away, not removed. And the reason, again in my opinion, is simple: international pressure. No one wants to travel to a place where creatures like Dementors are nearby. That's why, under international pressure, they were moved away and replaced with Aurors and mercenaries."
"I see..."
Rita made several notes in her notebook.
"...and what can you say about what happened at the tournament?"
"What exactly are you referring to? A lot has happened at the tournament..."
"Oh yes, a great deal, but right now I'm more interested in whether it was really necessary to treat your opponent that way."
I smiled.
"Rita, if I hadn't acted that way, the World Dueling Championship would have turned into something incomprehensible. The boy had loaded up on potions, and..."
I pretended to think, though in truth, no one had asked me to keep it secret; I was just drawing out a short pause.
"...well, you know, the fighters at the tournament are watched very, very closely. It's not noticeable, and to be honest, when I first came, I didn't even notice anything like that, but when I helped the organizers install all their runic chains here..."
I shook my head.
Here, it's virtually impossible to step onto the platform after even a simple Pepperup Potion. All the judges would learn of it at once, and all of them would be ready to stop you. But here...
I shook my head sadly.
...here, through bribery, they first found out who would be judging this tournament, then sent mercenaries to their families, and afterward sweetened the pill with the promise of money. If I or others had let such a thing pass, the tournament would have turned into who knows what. Especially since, because of a cruel contract, the judge simply could not remove the boy from the fight, even when he blurted out that he had drunk potions. So that was a harsh but extremely demonstrative method of showing what happens to such individuals, and how.
"And what happened next?"
"Well..."
I shrugged.
"...the mercenaries who threatened the judges' families have already been captured. As far as I know, there were no casualties among the families."
"That is good."
Rita smiled happily.
"And I apologize, but we must take a short break for an advertisement."
"Of course."
I nodded to her, and a jingle immediately sounded, indicating that a commercial break had begun.
"This is not the first time I have interviewed you, and I am amazed..."
Rita looked at me with a smile.
"...you carry yourself much better than some adults. What is the secret?"
"Secret? There is no secret. I'm simply confident enough to talk with such a beautiful girl. And let's be honest, most of the nervousness comes from your slightly provocative behavior..."
"Do you condemn it?"
"No..."
I smiled.
"...rather, I admire it. To balance so precisely on the edge of propriety and not cross that line, one must be a master."
"Thank you."
She smiled at me.
"You're welcome."
I waved it off, and at that moment Rita tensed slightly. Barely noticeable, but noticeable nonetheless.
"On air in five seconds."
But we never mentioned the most important thing. We have an agreement, and you, dear little Rita, love money more than anything. So if someone makes contact with you and reinforces that with a bit of leverage, you're perfectly happy to work for whatever crumbs you're offered.
"So, Draco, we left off at the point where this issue was resolved by the noble families of Britain and the organizers on our side?"
"Yes."
I nodded calmly.
"Though the issue hasn't been fully resolved yet. Right now, the boy's mother, who was so desperate to defend her son that she even tried to set her mercenary on me, is awaiting interrogation. A highly biased interrogation, mind you, but we haven't gotten to it yet..."
I spread my hands helplessly.
"...but we certainly will, and we'll learn exactly what she had in mind and who backed her in this little adventure."
"I see. Well, I think this question..."
"Didn't you think to just hand the poor girl over to the government? She's a woman, or are you a sexist who thinks girls don't have rights?"
It was a shout from the hall, and I cast a glance toward the section it came from.
"Draco, you don't have to answer that..."
"No, Rita..."
I shook my head.
"...I'm ready to answer, but only if the girl who asked that question stands up. Come on now. You were so brave shouting the question, and now you're hiding in the crowd? Don't worry, you won't be removed from the hall. There won't even be any consequences, at least not from my side. I simply want to understand whether there's someone here worth talking to, or whether this was just a cowardly shout."
No one stood up.
"Well, that's what I figured... when it comes to shouting questions like that, sure, we can do that, we're strong women, but when it comes to rising from our seats and meeting the gaze of the person who's going to answer our question..."
I shook my head again, letting my expression show just how disappointed I was.
"Draco, let's talk a bit more about duels. This year, something unprecedented happened. Miss Delacour, your fiancée, by the way, leapfrogged the champions to finish right behind you. What are your thoughts on that?"
"How?" "I can only say that Fleur thought it was interesting, and with my help, she reviewed the tournament rules and realized that, while it's certainly not the norm, no one has ever forbidden such challenges."
"Do you mean to say she knew she would lose?"
"Rita... Fleur and I spar every week, sometimes more often. We have the same teachers, well, now we do. Do you really think she doesn't know she'll lose? She knows it perfectly well, since in all our sparring matches, she's only managed to beat me three times."
I smiled.
"Of course she wanted to defeat me again and gave it her all, which was clear from our duel. In it, she put in more effort than in any other match she'd had, but..."
I tried to smile disarmingly.
"...she didn't succeed. Which means our preparation wasn't in vain."
"Good. And what can you say about your upcoming duel in the tournament's senior age group? How do you assess your chances?"
"Well... let's be honest, I want to win. There's no point in challenging an opponent if you don't want to win. However, I'm fully aware of the difference between us... the difference in experience, strength, and reflexes... I can only say that I'll give it my all."
"Good..."
Rita and I spoke for almost five more hours, and during that time, we discussed a great many questions. The program's ratings were very high, which benefited both of us.
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