A certain Hogwarts rune professor

Chapter 641 Rita Skeeter in Action
Christmas is approaching, whether it is the wizarding society or the Muggle society, there is a strong festive atmosphere everywhere, and the joy on people's faces is about to overflow.And just when the people were preparing to welcome the festival, reporters from the "Sun" were sitting together in a meeting to discuss New Year's issues.

"Rita," a stocky man asked, "how is your manuscript going?"

"It's done," Rita Skeeter exclaimed, pulling out a stack of printer paper from her crocodile bag. Said: "There is evidence that the government is systematically covering up the harm caused by mad cow disease to the people!"

"That's right." The chunky supervisor said dryly, took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweaty forehead, and took Rita's press release.He casually flipped through a few pages, and after reading it, he raised his head and said in a deep voice, "I'm sorry, Rita, but your manuscript will not be published."

"Why?" Skeeter raised the volume, and the pen in his hand stopped abruptly.

"There is no reason. I admit that you are excellent, and you have been winning consecutively during this time, but..." The man moved his body uneasily, and the chair creaked heavily.

Rita Skeeter watched him closely for a while.

"Oh—" she said, drawn out, "I see. All right, I quit."

The chunky man looked at her in amazement, and was very surprised. In his impression, this woman had always had a keen sense of smell, like a tireless hound chasing prey, cruel and vicious.This is a compliment.

"I thought--"

"What do you think? I will hold on to it?" Rita Skeeter curled her lips, "I have confidence in my business ability. Even if my efforts in the mad cow disease series reports are in vain, I have confidence Find new material. Not like the others." She glanced around the corner.

From the long desk, several reporters glared at her, but Rita Skeeter just returned the look with contempt.She has figured out the rules, and now she is at home.

Sure enough, the chunky man complimented her a lot.

"That's great, Rita! I dare say that recruiting you is the most correct decision I've ever made. Let me think about what's hot news recently..." He struck while the iron was hot, preparing to arrange a new task for her, "How are you going to spend Christmas?"

Rita Skeeter thought for a while and said, "I should take a few days off." She planned to go to the Ministry of Magic to find Amelia Bones to sell her badly. The work of the "Sun" and the work of the "Daily Prophet" were also involved. Obviously, she had no intention of giving up on either side—it was all made up anyway.

The second-floor window of the flat she rented in the Muggle community had a small window that was kept open to allow the owls to come and go at night.

The chunky man blinked, "In this case—"

"How about giving me the news about the princess's divorce?" Rita Skeeter volunteered, "I'm sure I can investigate more eye-catching inside stories." ', actually refers to 'fabrication'.

The man was quite moved.

"No!" A blond woman with exquisite make-up said angrily, "I have been in charge of this matter, and I can't give up halfway."

"Oh, Melissa." Skeeter looked at her contemptuously, "It's been a long time since you got a grade, maybe it means you're not suitable for this job." The 'Melissa' stared at her angrily, grinding her teeth for a while, It seemed to swallow her whole and tear her up.

The chunky supervisor thought for a while. Although Melissa was not as efficient as Rita Skeeter, she was also a capable person under his command, so she couldn't be completely sidelined.He neither wanted the relationship between the two to be too good, nor did he want the conflict to become irreconcilable and affect his work.

"Well, Rita," he finally said, "you follow up on the gun bill."

Rita Skeeter's eyes lit up.

But she didn't rush to agree, but asked calmly, "How far can I report?"

"Whatever you want." The short and fat man said, "There is basically no risk in this matter now. The introduction of the new gun control law is a foregone conclusion. After all, the gun ban campaign launched by the families of the victims of the shooting at the beginning of the year has far-reaching effects, although it has subsided a little recently. Son... I got the information, and the results may come out in the next year or two."

"Wait, we can have a piece of the action." Rita Skeeter said immediately, sucking the pen in her hand like a quill, and the inspiration burst out, "We can do a continuous report around this incident."

There was a sneer in the office.

"Excuse me?" Skeeter asked coldly.

Melissa showed a mocking smile, stroked her hair first, and said unhurriedly until she felt that everyone's eyes were on her, "Need I remind everyone? The school shooting has passed nine years ago." It's been a month, and the news media have already discussed it from all angles, and it's not worth wasting precious Christmas space."

The middle-aged executive showed hesitation, and he turned to look at Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter threw the pen on the table, crossed her arms, and her long, dazzling green nails were very conspicuous, "So some people are only worthy of investigating low-level news such as extramarital affairs, but they haven't gained much until now. Use your brain, right now It's an opportunity! The government is preparing a new bill, and the people are busy with the New Year. Although I haven't investigated it yet, I dare say that the movement to ban handguns will not attract much attention in the next month or two..."

"If at this time, if we can launch a series of exclusive reports during the Christmas period, linking peace and massacres, New Year and shootings, and exaggerating it...to re-ignite the heat, it is best to maintain it until the introduction of the new bill, until the At that time, we can fully claim that the implementation of the new law is inseparable from our efforts."

She sneered at Melissa twice, and looked at the man.

"Why Christmas? Because only when other newspapers are busy reporting Christmas and New Year's events can we highlight our differences. This is the difference. Let readers find us at a glance!" She leaned over and stared at Chunky Middle-aged man, "What do you think, Mr. Editor-in-Chief?"

The editor-in-chief swallowed, and said with a straight face: "We are just an entertainment newspaper, if the subject matter is too serious—"

"You can rest assured that I will use a new narrative method." Rita Skeeter retracted her body and said confidently: "And I have my own views on 'entertainment'—"

She said sweetly: "The most important thing for a newspaper is sales volume. Besides, the subject matter is not important, the form is not important, the content is not important, and even the truth—" She raised her eyebrows, showing her understanding smile.

There was a burst of applause at the door.A woman with a serious face walks in, and no one realizes how much she's heard before.

"You are Rita Skeeter? This name is very popular now, and my ears are almost hearing cocoons."

"Are you?" Skeeter asked calmly. She smelled a faint smell of mint smoke. She had only smelled this smell at the door of that office, which was always closed and never opened.

The chunky supervisor winked and mouthed her desperately.The woman didn't answer, but looked Skeeter up and down, "I've been away from the company for a few months, but I've never finished an issue of your article, which mocked the government to the point of embarrassment - but readers love to read it what about this."

Rita Skeeter said flatteringly, "So you're going to give me a promotion?"

The dumpy executive stares from behind, shamefully betrayed.But Skeeter was ready to climb high branches, she stared intently at the woman who appeared suddenly, the woman laughed heartily, "Why not?" She looked at Rita Skeeter indifferently. "My time is limited, so there is only one interview question. If I want to increase the sales of the newspaper by another [-] copies, what advice do you have?"

Skeeter clenched his fists, "Increase the distinction of newspapers."

"Differentiation? Tell me more specifically."

"In fact, we're already ahead, like the girl on Page [-]... but it's not enough, we have to differentiate ourselves from the other papers in every way - even if it's wrong, to be the only one. We sometimes You can even deliberately contradict the reader, of course... Only a real expert can control this subtle difference."

The woman narrowed her eyes and asked with great interest, "Do you think you are that expert?"

"Without a doubt," Skeeter said cheekily.

A moment of silence.The woman nodded to her, "You will be one of the deputy editors from now on."

Rita Skeeter, who had just been promoted, returned to her office in a hurry and ordered two assistants: "Get all the news about the Dunblane school shooting this year, now! Including the list of victims, the anti-gun movement organization The ideas and appeals of the government, the voices of the government departments on this matter, the list of government drafters of the gun bill, rumors that are speculative... I want them all! And - buy me a local ticket to Scotland."

Two days later, Rita Skeeter rushed to the town where the shooting occurred and personally persuaded several family members of the victims to be interviewed.

Her offer was good—the Sun had enough sales to make waves, and she promised to publish a running story that would help them put pressure on the government—and the families agreed with little thought.

They also used their connections to get Rita Skeeter to swagger on campus where the shooting took place.

Rita Skeeter interviewed a few teachers casually, and conceived a spicy report with no less than 1 words in her mind, but she was still not satisfied. She wanted to find a tricky angle that was both shocking and unreasonable. It will appear too disobedient in the New Year.

As she walked, her scattered eyes fixed on those students.She thought of a good idea.

"Hey, little one." She greeted a boy with feigned affection, "What's your name?"

"Andy, Andy Murray," said the little boy she had set her eyes on, who looked only eight or nine years old.

"Oh, Andy, Andy," she repeated twice, took out her press card, waved it in front of him, and asked domineeringly, "Can I interview you alone?"

"I'm still going to play tennis," Andy Murray said.

"Exactly, that's why I'm here." Lita Skeeter lied, glanced quickly at the tennis bag on the boy's shoulder, and smiled: "I talked to your teacher, and she told me You are very talented."

"It's 'he'," the boy corrected.

"what?"

"My physical education teacher is 'he'." The boy emphasized, and then looked at her suspiciously.

"Maybe I remember wrong," said Rita Skeeter, apologetically, though she couldn't find any trace of shame on her face, "so—let's talk about cricket, tennis, my God, It's a mouthful."

The little boy glared at her, displeased with the sudden appearance of a woman profane tennis balls.

"Oh, come on, I just said a wrong word, do you know how many materials I read before I came here?" She pointed to her thick glasses, "When did you start playing tennis?"

"...Three years old." After a long stalemate, the little boy said.

Rita Skeeter was a little surprised. "So I just caught a little genius?" She laughed, "I should put you on my watch list and interview you again in a few years. What title should I choose? The Birth of a Genius... …or the fall of a genius? Excited.”

The little boy left angrily, but Skeeter grabbed his wrist tightly.During the dispute, the teacher from the school appeared.

"What are you doing! Who are you? Oh, Ms. Skeeter—" The female teacher was quite surprised.

"It's me," Skeeter let go, and said in an understatement tone: "I met little Andy when I was wandering around the campus, but he was in a hurry to go to the gymnasium to play... There was a little misunderstanding."

The female teacher looked at her, then at the little boy who was rubbing his wrist, and her attitude calmed down, "I don't think that's the reason, Andy... Andy probably wouldn't want to go to the gym."

"Why do you say that?" Skeeter froze for a moment, she didn't know what went wrong, but quickly thought of the crux of the problem, "Because the shooting happened in the gymnasium?" She stared at Andy with wide eyes , said in disbelief: "Is he one of the witnesses?"

"That's right," the female teacher said coldly: "From then on, Andy usually only goes to the playground to play ball, and the school is planning to build a new fitness center."

Rita Skeeter secretly thought she was wrong.

"I—" She opened her mouth, trying to make amends.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Skeeter, please leave here, or I will call security." The female teacher said forcefully.

Rita Skeeter's face turned blue and white, and she reached into the alligator bag a few times, but she gave up taking out her wand.Because she was employed by the Ministry of Magic, her wand had been re-traceable, and any magic used during the year would be known to the woman sitting in the minister's office.

hateful.

"Well, I'm sorry," she said with a shrug, and turned to leave.

On the way out of the school, Skeeter was thinking about various ideas in his mind. The information he got so far is almost the same, and today is just an extra gain.But she always felt that there was something missing, what exactly was it?She looked back and saw that the female teacher was kneeling down to comfort the little boy softly, but the little boy looked stubborn.

Tennis, little boy... she thought.

"You are lucky." Rita Skeeter said coldly in her heart. She took a train for more than ten hours and returned to the "Sun" station. It didn't take long before she wrote a press release in one go.

"...nine months later, my new friend Andy still couldn't get out of the shadow of fear. He cried bitterly in front of me and confessed that he was heartbroken over the loss of his playmate. He also revealed that they had agreed to play tennis together Competition, becoming forever friends and rivals, but all this came to naught. His parents couldn't even deceive him with a white lie, because little Andy was a witness to the tragedy, and witnessed the promise he had made with himself for the rest of his life. The companion fell before my eyes..."

"I know people will bring up the Hungerford shooting in 1987, yes, the government reacted quickly and banned semi-automatic rifles the next year and put restrictions on handgun ownership, but it wasn't enough!"

"Only in the past nine years, the tragedy has come back again, this time with an even worse nature, because 17 of the 16 victims were children. Are we really going to turn a blind eye? The murderer held four guns 'issued and distributed' by the government at the time of the murder. Pistols, which means there are huge gaps in the way we govern guns, and I implore government officials who are busy planning vacations or preparing for the New Year's Day Parade to focus on the victims and their families who would have It was time to celebrate the New Year like you. But their lives stopped forever in March 1996."

"... We can only make the right choice with greater determination, courage, and sense of responsibility... With the encouragement of the reporter, little Andy has regained his strength. He said that he will never give up tennis, Mr. Ladies and gentlemen, a great star is on the rise, and his future is bright and full of possibilities. But please don't forget, if we continue to do nothing, little Andy will suffer from the future day and night. The gun threat..."

In the office, it has been quiet for a while, and a lady's cigarette is quietly burning.

"How?" asked Rita Skeeter, narrowing her eyes.

The stern-faced woman from earlier tore off a piece of paper, wrote quickly, and a moment later pushed the note and press release in front of Skeeter.Then she took a deep breath on the cigarette and exhaled a peppermint smoke ring.

"Your new office is ready."

　Seeing that some readers have questions, please add clarification:
　　1. A brief summary of the content of this chapter is the history of Rita Skeeter’s superiority, because her position in the newspaper office will play a key role in the subsequent plot, so a chapter is used to describe it (I didn’t expect this plot to be able to write nearly [-] words);
　　2.1996. In [-], several major events happened in Britain: the outbreak of mad cow disease, the divorce of Princess Diana, and the Dunblane school shooting.And Andy Murray, in addition to being well-known for his great achievements in tennis, he was really a witness and survivor of the shooting, and he was less than nine years old that year.Of course, the so-called friends and appointments were made up by Rita Skeeter, just like she made up Harry in the original book.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)