Hogwarts: Dumbledore reigned over the wizarding world

Chapter 68 Newspaper Interviews and Opportunities

The Mirror of Erised allows one to see one's true desires.

In the mirror, Harry saw a family he had never seen before, his father, his mother, and some people with the same eyes or hair as him, and they smiled at him.

Harry stroked the mirror infatuatedly, as if wanting to hug his family in the mirror.

In the corner, Dumbledore, who was watching all this in secret, wiped his eyes and sobbed, "How touching, Vaughan, did you see it? This poor child..."

Vaughan sneered, "Because he's never met his family. Some old man dumped him on the Dursleys without even a photo!"

Dumbledore pretended not to hear and continued to sob with emotion. It was not until Harry continued to lie in front of the mirror and seemed not to want to leave at all that he raised his hand towards the door. His superb Transfiguration made the floor jump and he imitated footsteps a few times, which scared away Harry who was worried about being caught by the professor.

Vaughn shook his head. "Tsk, you're so cruel, stirring up others' desires and not letting them see enough at once!"

Dumbledore smiled slyly. "Dear Vaughan, didn't you say that before? Everything you see in the Mirror of Erised is false. There is no benefit in dwelling on it."

"That's for you and me, not for a child who has never felt 'love'."

Dumbledore automatically ignored Vaughn's sarcasm and listened to Harry's footsteps hurried away. As he walked further and further away, he lifted the invisibility spell and sighed, "Yes, love. Harry longs for love. Vaughn, as Harry's friend, I think you should..."

"No, I have no interest in training your savior. Although I agreed to help you according to the deal, it doesn't mean I have to follow Harry. I have a lot of things to do and don't have that much time to waste!"

Another attempt failed, but Dumbledore didn't care and took Vaughn to the Mirror of Erised.

The mirror did not reflect their desire!

The two looked at each other in the mirror, staring at each other.

"Vaughn, you really don't want to take a look?"

"I don't. Why don't you look?"

"I've seen it before, it's really great."

"Hehe, last time you said you saw a lot of wool socks, and now you say it's wonderful? I knew you lied to me!"

"I promise I won't lie to you this time, Vaughn, just look..."

The two were in a stalemate when the classroom door opened and Snape floated in like a gliding bat.

He walked between the two of them, but the Mirror of Erised still didn't move.

It's certainly not that it's broken.

If the Mirror of Erised could speak, it would have cursed out loud long ago. How could it have the good of encountering three masters of brain occupation at the same time tonight!

Snape stared at himself in the mirror with lifeless eyes. He replied to Dumbledore in a dry voice, "Potter has returned to Gryffindor and will not come out tonight. Quirrell has not made any unusual moves."

After saying that, he nodded to Vaughn: "Vaughn."

Vaughn also greeted: "Professor!"

Then, the three of them were silent in front of the mirror. Vaughan and Dumbledore looked at each other, and then looked at Snape together.

The burning gaze made it almost impossible for Snape to maintain his expression.

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Severus, would you like to try the magic mirror? Vaughn said that if you dare to look, he will."

Vaughn also smiled and said, "Professor, the principal also said that if you dare to look at him, you dare to look at him. Don't you want to know what's going on in his mind all day long?"

Snape: "...childish!"

Despite saying this, Snape did not move his eyes away.

He looked at himself in the mirror, as if longing for something.

The two foxes, one big and one small, who had been trying to make a joke, looked at each other thoughtfully. Dumbledore suddenly seemed to understand: "Oh - Vaughn, I just remembered that we haven't discussed the wolfsbane potion and the political considerations in detail yet. Can we find a place to talk about it?"

"Okay, Professor, let's go together... Oh, you may not understand, so please wait a moment!"

"Child, how can you say that? Severus has just been in school for too long and can't understand complicated things."

"I'm sorry Albus, I've always been quite straightforward. You know, I'm a straightforward and upright person!"

Snape's face twitched and he stared at the two evil guys with his dark eyes. He didn't look at the magic mirror again until they were gone and the footsteps disappeared.

At a certain moment, his numb face reflected in the mirror suddenly disappeared.

A beautiful face with green eyes quietly emerged, and Snape's skinny hand couldn't help but want to touch it, but retreated when it got close.

Outside the door, Vaughn and Dumbledore, hidden once again by magic, stood quietly against the wall, listening to sobs gradually rising from behind them, which gradually turned into heart-wrenching groans, as if someone was desperately suppressing their pain and sorrow...

After hearing that voice, the two of them surprisingly didn't want to test each other or mock each other anymore.

Just be quiet and listen.

It was not until a long time later that Dumbledore raised his hand and used Transfiguration to imitate his and Vaughn's footsteps, gradually approaching from the other side of the corridor, with vague whispers of debate.

When the simulated footsteps approached the door, Dumbledore lifted the invisibility spell.

Vaughn also spoke in unison, pretending to lose his temper and complaining about the "weak old man" as he walked into the classroom.

To Snape, who had tidied himself up, the two seemed to be having an unpleasant conversation. They didn't even look at him, but glared at each other sternly.

Snape suddenly felt very tired and didn't want to care about the conflict between them. He nodded to the two of them and walked away without saying a word.

Dumbledore tiptoed around, peering inside to make sure Snape had indeed left. Then he sighed, "Love can turn a vicious Death Eater into the most vulnerable child..."

Vaughn rarely refuted him.

In his heart, Snape's love for Lily was very pure, and he didn't want to make any comments about that pure emotion.

To his surprise, Dumbledore, who had been lying to him, stood in front of the mirror and pondered for a moment, then suddenly waved at him: "Come, Vaughan, look at mine."

Seeing Vaughn frown, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't force you to remove the brain blockade. I just want you to see what an old man is thinking."

Vaughn was speechless, but he still walked over and looked at the reflections of Ariana, Aberforth, and Getter Grindelwald, who appeared one after another in the mirror, arms around each other, smiling happily...

The moment they appeared, the old man in front of the mirror, who seemed to be always upright, suddenly drooped his shoulders.

He looked at them infatuatedly, at their friendship and harmony, and was immersed in it, unable to extricate himself!
Turbid tears flowed down.

Dumbledore's voice trembled: "Vaughn... There is no turning back in life. Once a mistake is made, no amount of regret will help... Promise me that you will never let the animal side take over your humanity, okay?"

Vaughan said nothing, and Dumbledore didn't seem to want to hear a reply.

He pulled a slip of paper from his sleeve and said, "Pack up your papers and formulas and send them to this address. I've called some old friends, and tomorrow the newspapers will start promoting you!"

"Go back, kid, let me be alone for a while..."

Vaughan wanted to say something, but he didn't. It takes a lot of courage for an adult to open up. In this respect, he admired Dumbledore very much.

At least he can't do it, nor does he want to do it.

He finally left silently, and when he looked back for the last time...

Dumbledore sat on the ground, leaning against the mirror, muttering something under his breath...

On Christmas Eve, Vaughan hurriedly wrote a paper, sorted out the recipe for the wolfsbane potion, and mailed it to the address given by Dumbledore.

He suffered from insomnia for the rest of the time. He didn't know what he was thinking. His mind was in a strange state. On the one hand, there was an almost completely rational shell of thoughts brought about by the brain occlusion technique, and on the other hand, there was a mess of memories inside the shell.

It was not until the early morning when the sky in the distance turned pale that he managed to fall asleep.

Under the same sky, Rita Skeeter got up early and came to Diagon Alley through the fireplace. However, she did not report to the Daily Prophet newspaper office immediately.

Instead, I walked around the entire street. The morning after Christmas was very quiet, but the paintball paper and various waste left in front of the shops showed how lively it was last night.

A breath of peace...

Damn peace!
Rita Skeeter is very dissatisfied with the current peace in the wizarding world. She is a journalist and has almost no moral integrity. She only likes big news, rather than reporting all day about which wizard recited "Teeth as Sticks" to his noisy Muggle neighbors!
Or maybe a few drunk wizards were performing a magic trick in a Muggle square, but when they were Apparating, they split into two bodies, leaving a bloody scene that scared a group of Muggles unconscious.

"Time to make some news!"

Rita said to herself.

But who should be chosen as the target?
Currently, there are almost no people in the wizarding world who are influential enough to write and fabricate news. At least the people being fabricated must be famous to attract people to watch.

Harry Potter is famous, but what can a little kid who stays in school all day do?

Dumbledore?

Well……

Rita thought about it and came to the newspaper office. As a newspaper with the best sales not only in the English wizarding world but also in the world, the newspaper office operated almost 24 hours a day for the timeliness of news.

News collection, editing, review, planning, distribution to branches, printing and publishing...

All aspects of the work are done in this small building.

Wizards young and old were busy as if they were wound up.

Today seemed even busier; every wizard who passed by seemed eager to fly away on a broomstick. Rita looked at the wizards hurrying past her with a puzzled expression. Just as she was about to ask someone for help, an editor she knew saw her and quickly waved:

"Rita, you're just in time. There's big news, and the editor-in-chief will definitely call a meeting to discuss the interview."

"What's the big news?"

"You haven't read the newspaper yet? Oh, sorry, the newspaper has just been published..." The editor patted his head, quickly took out the sample issue he had kept, and slapped it in front of Rita Skeeter.

Rita's eyes were immediately drawn to the large, bold headline on the front page:
Wolfsbane Potion: The Dawn of the Magical World, or the End of Werewolves?

The accompanying picture is a wolf howling at the moon!
Rita Skeeter quickly read on, and the writer answered her question at the beginning:
"Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to say excitedly that today, December 1991, 12, is a date worthy of being recorded in the History of Modern Magic. Those wizards whose families were broken up by werewolves, those wizards who were afraid to go on vacation in the countryside because of their fear of werewolves, those... today, you can cheer!"

"The Werewolf Virus Has Been Conquered!"

"At the same time, we can also proudly announce the birth of another potion master—the inventor of Wolfsbane Potion, the inventor of the Vaughan Beauty Series of potions, and the potion genius, Vaughan Weasley!"

In a cave in the distant mountains, little Banar stood on a stone at the entrance of the cave, holding high the newspaper brought by an owl.

The bright light outside the cave cast the outline of his figure into the cloudy and tired eyes inside the cave.

Little Banar read aloud with tears in his eyes:
"…Just this morning, the Extraordinary Apothecary Association urgently convened its members to discuss the formula submitted by Mr. Vaughn Weasley. Subsequently, with the personal intervention of the Minister of Magic's Office, the Extraordinary Apothecary Association announced that the Wolfsbane Potion formula was effective!"

"As of the time of this newspaper's publication, the Ministry of Magic has decided to form an interdepartmental joint investigation team and has invited several well-known pharmacists to conduct a final review of Mr. Vaughan Weasley's 'Wolfsbane Potion'."

"Ms. Artemisia from the Minister's Office optimistically told me that the final review is generally just a way of expressing caution. By the time the formula has reached this stage of verification, it's essentially confirmed to be authentic and effective..."

"Ms. Amelia Burns, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, stated in an interview via the fireplace (a remote call via the fireplace) that Mr. Vaughn Weasley's contributions were exceptional. She will submit a report to the Wizengamot, requesting the convening of the Order of Merlin to discuss awarding Mr. Vaughn Weasley the Order of Merlin..."

"...I have had the honor of reading the original paper submitted by Mr. Vaughan Weasley to the Society of Extraordinary Apothecaries and the Ministry of Magic. At the end of the letter, Mr. Weasley made a heartfelt appeal: Dear members of the Society, dear officials of the Ministry of Magic, please choose a suitable occasion. I will then announce the free release of the Wolfsbane Potion formula and discuss with the Society and the Ministry of Magic how to help those who need this potion!"

"Just as I originally intended, I developed it not for Garlon, but for the wandering werewolves hiding in the mountains who are also victims of the werewolf virus."

"The crimes committed by Greyback and his lackeys should not be borne by innocent people!"

Little Banar read aloud, his voice was hoarse and choked, but no one cared. The pairs of eyes in the cave were just listening to the contents of the newspaper.

Light gradually appeared in those eyes, and the commotion grew louder and louder, until finally, someone couldn't help but walk out of the cave.

"Banner, are you telling the truth?"

Banar shook the newspaper. "The report is right here, on the front page. Would the Daily Prophet lie to you? Why would we lie to you?"

The man continued, "Then why did you call us together? Who do you work for?"

"Of course it's Mr. Weasley!" Little Bannell said loudly, his eyes sparkling. "Mr. Weasley knows we have no money and we can't afford potions. Did you see the last part of the report? Mr. Weasley hopes to make the wolfsbane potion free, but it's not easy, so he needs our help!"

The poor werewolf hesitated. He was also a Muggle, but he was an elite before being infected.

He knew there was something wrong.

But when he turned around and saw the pairs of eyes that were shining again in the dark cave, he choked up. After a moment, he shook his head fiercely and asked loudly: "How can we help him?"

Little Banar replied forcefully:
"Gather the werewolves, the more the better. Let's go to Diagon Alley, let's go to the Ministry of Magic, and let those wizards see how many werewolves there are!"

The small conference room in the editorial department of the Daily Prophet newspaper was filled with smoke.

Rita Skeeter, dressed in fancy clothes, sat at the conference table and waved her hand impatiently, fanning the steam from the ears of an old wizard nearby.

At the head of the conference table, the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper, Mr. Barnabas Guffey, combed his thinning hair and distributed the information in his hand to everyone, saying:
"Vaughn Weasley, born on March 1980, 3, is less than 1 years old this year. Gentlemen, I..."

He saw Rita raise a finger as thick as a carrot to signal, paused, and then said again: "Well, and ladies, I think everyone knows what this age represents - it represents news! Topics! And eyeballs!"

"How did a child under 12 achieve his current achievements? How did he develop the Wolfsbane Potion? These are all questions that readers are curious about. There has never been such a young Potions Master before, and I think it will be difficult to find one in the future. Fortunately, some important people have designated us to interview him, and we must seize this opportunity..."

Rita Skeeter ignored the encouraging words that followed, her attention focused on the information the editor-in-chief inadvertently revealed.

She wrote "12 years old," "Potions Master," and "Big Shot" on the parchment, underlining the last line heavily.

Rita, who appears calm on the surface, is actually very excited.

Of course it’s not because a brand new Potions Master was born, but because the “12-year-old Potions Master” is a “big shot”!
She had already begun to conceive of a dark, ugly, and deceptive story of academic fraud in her mind. A child from a pure-blood family was pushed to the forefront by the power behind him. How many compromises and dark deals were hidden in this?

Just thinking about it made Rita tremble with excitement.

As for whether it is true or not... she doesn't care. As long as it can attract attention, it is enough, isn't it?
So when Mr. Barnabas Guffey asked who would like to interview at Hogwarts, Rita Skeeter immediately raised her hand.

"Okay, Rita, I'll leave it to you. You'll set off with the people from the Ministry of Magic this afternoon."

"Ministry of Magic?"

"Yes, the Joint Investigation Team. It's just a formality. I'll give you the ticket later."

Rita narrowed her eyes slightly.

Those eyes gleamed with the greed of having caught prey.

……

Ron slept until dawn. When he opened his eyes, he was startled by the dark circles under Harry's eyes.

He muttered, "How did you get into this state again?"

Although Harry was in a very bad state, he was in high spirits. He whispered about his experience last night.

Ron's sleepy head immediately woke up, and he said in frustration, "Damn it! Why didn't you wake me up when it was such a fun thing to do?"

"You can come tonight. I have to go there anyway to see my parents and family."

Harry said with a hint of showing off.

He always envied the Weasley family for having so many people, even though Ron always looked embarrassed and distressed when he talked about his family.

Ron was also happy for Harry.

Just as the two were planning what time to start tonight, the twins suddenly burst in.

Harry and Ron thought the twins had heard them and were just wondering how to shut up the troublemakers when the twins started shouting, shaking the newspapers in their hands: "Ronnie, look, look, there's a Potions Master in the Weasley family!"

"Still a werewolf savior, Fred."

"That's right, George. The dawn of the wizarding world, and he'll go down in history!"

"This news must be made known to everyone."

“Yes, we subscribed to 100 newspapers!”

They threw their portions to Harry and Ron and ran off cheering. You could still hear them shouting "Weasley's Potions Master" from a long distance away.

Ron was a little confused and subconsciously calculated how much it would cost to order 5 copies of the Daily Prophet at 100 Knuts a copy. The rich man Harry had already picked up the newspaper.

After a quick glance, Harry, a newbie in the wizarding world, asked in confusion, "Wolfsbane Potion? Werewolf?"

Ron's eyes widened, looking terrified. "Don't you know? The scariest monster in the wizarding world, if you encounter a troll, it can at most smash your head. But if you encounter a werewolf... even the slightest scratch from it can infect you and turn you into a monster like it, forcing you to hide in the mountains and forests from then on."

Ever since "helping" Vaughn kill a troll, the troll has become Ron's unit of measurement for monsters.

Harry decided that he didn't want to encounter either a troll or a werewolf.

But with Ron's help, Harry finally understood the meaning of the contents in the newspaper: "So, wolfsbane potion can cure werewolves?"

Ron, who was still reading the report carefully, shook his head. "It says above that at present, it can only keep the werewolf awake during transformation. Vaughn... Vaughn is still developing it..."

The tips of his ears were slightly red with excitement.

Seeing the title "Reverend Mr. Weasley" appearing frequently, he felt inexplicably proud.

"That's great! This is the first time I feel that Vaughn isn't that despicable. Someone should have solved the werewolf problem long ago. My mom has been scaring me with Greyback since I was a kid. For a while, I didn't even dare go out to the bathroom at night!"

Harry felt as if he had discovered something terrible.

I don't dare to go out to the toilet, that is...

He quickly shook his head, afraid that if he continued to think about it, he would no longer be able to look Ron in the face. He said:

"I told you a long time ago that Vaughn is a good man. Look at what he said later. He even wants to make the wolfsbane potion free so that it can help more werewolves!"

Ron grunted and stopped saying bad things about his brother.

When the two walked out of the dormitory and came to the dining hall, they found that the news had been spread throughout Hogwarts by the twins.

Fred and George subscribed to 100 newspapers and distributed them free of charge to all the students who stayed on campus, and sent the remaining copies to some familiar classmates by owl.

The two saw that the remaining students who had stayed in school were almost all gathered around the Slytherin table, asking Vaughn all kinds of questions. The twins held up the fireworks that hadn't been used up yesterday, acting as an atmosphere group in the crowd. Percy put his arm around Vaughn's shoulder and said to everyone:
"Vaughn has been exceptionally skilled in potions since he was young, and I, his older brother, discovered this early on. I lent him my teaching materials... Worried? Never. I supported all his attempts. You can't imagine whose cauldron he used to brew his first potion!"

Percy said mysteriously, but he puffed out his chest, the P badge shining brightly on his chest.

Standing outside the crowd, Ron curled his lips and said to Harry, "Don't listen to Percy's nonsense. Vaughn used his cauldron that day, and he was so angry that he yelled and almost made a hole in the floor."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but criticize Vaughn again: "I always thought Vaughn did it on purpose. When he first started practicing potions, he never used Charlie's cauldron. His relationship with Charlie was better than his relationship with Percy."

　There's one more chapter during the day!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)