Chapter 121 - Bonus Update~ — The Conversation

"Bad move?" Praeris narrowed her eyes. "Let's hear it."

"They've been spouting nonsense — passing off speculation as official news. That will shake people's trust in their authority." Hermione laid it out with crisp precision. "Remember how I got dirt on Skeeter? If she can attack us, why can't we attack the Ministry?"

Praeris propped her chin on one hand. "They put their own sloppiness on full display. If we just let that slip by—"

Praeris and Hermione said it at the same time: "That would be a terrible waste!"

A smile crossed Praeris's face, faint enough that you might have missed it. "Hermione, you may not know this, but your Professor Brown had some trustworthy contacts in the media world. Certain people, for certain bloody reasons, are more than happy to serve enemies of the Dark Lord."

Too many people had died at Voldemort's hands. Everyone had lost someone.

After Winnie switched allegiance to Dumbledore, she had shifted toward writing and freelance contributing. It dulled her combat ability somewhat, but it opened other doors.

Praeris provided a few names and mailing addresses, careful and measured, indicating that Hermione could have Skeeter reach out to them. There was a strong chance that, profit aside, these people would offer Skeeter's articles generous page space and prime placement.

These were the reliable connections Winnie had passed on to Praeris years ago, back when Praeris had been planning to write articles for extra money.

Not that Skeeter, after all her years in the business, lacked channels of her own.

But newspapers had to eat. They had to make money. When it came down to it, only those with enough hatred for Voldemort and enough bone-deep conviction would be willing to give Hermione's plan every advantage, profit be damned.

Even if these publications weren't as famous or widely read as the Daily Prophet,

"Even if they wouldn't dare publish such an article," Praeris said, unhurried, "they won't breathe a word about receiving a confidential letter, either. For reasons everyone knows well enough."

Hatred. The hatred of losing someone closest to you. A vendetta written in blood.

The people Praeris had chosen all hated Voldemort to their bones. And for that very reason, the list was short, countable on one hand.

"Perfect. That's exactly what we need." Hermione said. "Luna's happy to help us too — her father is the editor of The Quibbler."

With strong backing now secured, Hermione logged off in a whirlwind, itching to slap the Ministry in the face.

Speaking of faces, neither Millicent nor Praeris had been wearing pleasant ones lately. It left Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass with no energy to speak of.

The one thing giving Millicent something to look forward to: she'd be commentating the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match.

Millicent studied the new player roster, muttering under her breath. "Ginny Weasley replacing Harry Potter as the new Seeker... Come to think of it, this is her first match, isn't it? Wonder how she flies."

"Leah says Ginny Weasley's got some real skill," Daphne Greengrass said, pouring the tea. "At the very least she's fierce, always charging in to defend the younger Gryffindors. Hmph. That savage Weasley she-ape."

"Oh? Has little Leah started picking fights with Gryffindors?"

Pansy Parkinson sat straight up, delighted, like an aunt who'd just watched her best friend's baby take its first steps.

Daphne Greengrass let out a scoff and shook her head. "Our good little Leah? Not a chance. She just stands off to the side and half-heartedly calls for a prefect."

"That's a stereotype." Praeris cut in, unable to leave it alone. "You can't talk badly about Leah just because she has a Hufflepuff friend."

Astoria wasn't purely pure-blood, nor was she a pure-blood rebel in any real sense.

More precisely, Astoria had no fixed position on the question of blood status. No lean in either direction.

The girl had said to Praeris once: "Daffy's making things up! I'm good to my friend because we get along, not because of whether she's cool or not. If she were a pure-blood, then my friend would be a pure-blood. If she were a half-blood, then my friend would be a half-blood."

"It just so happens that she's a Muggle-born girl," Leah had said. "That's all."

A different kind of rebel, Praeris thought.

Astoria didn't shape her opinions around what others said. She had no inter-house prejudice, no walls between herself and people from different places.

She moved through the world according to her own senses and her own judgment. Genuinely, stubbornly her own person.

"Her rebellious phase just keeps going and going," Daphne Greengrass said with open displeasure. "Father is practically beside himself over her."

Conversations about Astoria always ended the same way, with Daphne Greengrass complaining.

On the weekend, they watched the match Millicent would be commentating: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.

It was the first time Praeris had ever felt that a Seeker didn't necessarily decide a match.

Millicent said this kind of thing ordinarily didn't happen in non-professional Quidditch.

But as everyone knew, Gryffindor had 3 veteran players suspended and one deeply unreliable new Keeper.

Those 3 turned out to be spectacularly effective at working against their own team. By Millicent's tally, Ron Weasley successfully let 14 Quaffles sail into his own hoops. Sloper swung his bat and clobbered a teammate. Kirke outdid them both, he got so spooked by the opposing players that he fell clean off his broomstick.

In the end, Ginny Weasley caught the Golden Snitch by the thinnest margin imaginable.

The final score was a staggering 240 to 230. The 240 belonged to Hufflepuff.

Hufflepuff had already won long before Ginny Weasley's hand closed around the Snitch. The catch didn't matter at all.

Millicent came off the pitch and drained half a bottle of water in one go. "Why does Slytherin never get this kind of luck? If we played Gryffindor right now, there is no way we'd lose!"

"That she-ape does have some skill, I'll give her that," Daphne Greengrass said, sharp and dry. "Pity Cedric Diggory's about to graduate, he's been training a new Seeker to take over. Otherwise Hufflepuff could have won even more decisively."

Cedric Diggory had always believed in preparing ahead of time. He'd seen no point in waiting until retirement to develop a replacement, so he had trained up a new Seeker named Shabby.

As it happened, with Gryffindor's sweeping roster overhaul, Cedric gave his rookie substitute Seeker Shabby a chance to get some field experience.

Shabby didn't catch the Snitch. Hufflepuff won anyway.

Sometimes timing beats skill. After the Harry Potter Dementor incident, Hufflepuff had once again won by doing almost nothing.

That was the general verdict, at least, which drove the Hufflepuffs absolutely mad.

Monday morning, Praeris got to see what Hermione was truly capable of. The girl had actually convinced every single editor Praeris had named.

Together with The Quibbler, 4 different publications ran Harry Potter's interview in quick succession, each in their own voice, their own style.

➤ Next: Embrace