Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 36 - The Potter Press
Harry sat nervously next to Hermione at breakfast. When he wasn't touching his food, his girlfriend said, "Come on Harry. You've got to eat!"
"I'm not hungry," he said emphatically.
"The paper's gonna arrive and people will react however they will whether you're hungry or not. At least if people complain, you'll be able to face them on a full stomach," she reasoned.
"But, I, I don't want people to think I'm an arrogant git when they see the paper's name! Are you sure that was such a good idea? Shouldn't we have just called it `The New Daily Prophet' and put `Potter Publications' or something in tiny letters on the last page?"
"Remember Harry, we are trying to actually use your fame for a change," she said. Finally, a bunch of owls swooped into the Great Hall, delivering mail. As Harry watched them, he noticed that a lot of the owls were carrying newspapers. One was dropped down right in front of him and Hermione. As the owner, he didn't have to pay the owl before it left. He unrolled the paper and looked at the results of his efforts.
"The Daily Prophet Replaced by the Potter Press
By Miranda Quirke
Following the incident where former Daily Prophet reporter, Rita Skeeter, printed unkind and untrue statements about himself and his associates, Harry Potter decided that someone has to make sure that newspapers start printing the truth. `I decided to take matters into my own hands when I realized that no one was holding the Daily Prophet accountable for the sensationalized and often false stories that it prints, which unjustly ruin reputations of some while boosting the reputations of others.' Numerous people over the last few years have complained that the Prophet has ruined their relationships and sometimes even their lives by printing lies for the sole purpose of selling newspapers. To justify this allegation, we have interviewed at least one person mentioned in every article that Rita Skeeter has published with this paper for the past six months, and have found evidence that she has lied in every single article. Almost everyone she has interviewed, with the single exception of Minister Fudge, has confirmed that she used a Quick Quotes Quill, a charmed device that makes up answers to questions asked, regardless of what the interviewee has said. In other words, it completely falsifies the interview, making it pointless. Ms. Skeeter is not the only reporter that has done this, but she was the most notorious. Mr. Potter decided that this misinforming of the public must come to an end. Therefore, using some of the money he inherited when his parents met their tragic death, he purchased the `so-called newspaper' and cleaned house… "
He smiled. "Mine, do you realize that this is the first time I read the truth in a wizarding, or probably muggle, newspaper?"
She chuckled, "Yes, Hero. Let's turn to your article, and then I want to read Mrs. Weasley's advise column she insisted on writing."
They flipped through page after page of real news, including the actual story of how Harry ended up in the tournament, how he'd been attacked by Death Eaters since school started, a story about problems in the ministry lately, the section on the muggle world, which even included a summary of British muggle sports news, until they came to the `Hogwarts Happenings' article entitled,
"The Real Harry Potter
By Harry James Potter
I'm sure that many of you recognize my name as the `Boy-Who-Lived' and recognize the scar on my forehead, but most people don't really know anything about me. The first thing you should know is that I don't like the fame. I would much rather have not lost my family and lived a normal life than have what happened all those years ago.
After my parents' deaths, I was taken to be raised by muggles who hated everything magical, including me. They never even told me I was magical. They even tried to stop me from receiving my Hogwarts letter until a wizard was sent to personally deliver it to me. Fortunately, I'm now free of them since they gave up custody of me to my godfather, Sirius Black. When I came into the wizarding world, I was overwhelmed by so many witches and wizards staring at my scar and treating me like a hero for something I don't remember doing. The hero of my story is my mother, a brilliant muggleborn witch named Lily Potter (who invented charms for muggle devices that are advertised in this newspaper). She gave her life for me, and that's what somehow protected me from my attacker. The half-blood (son of muggle Tom Riddle and pureblood witch Merope Gaunt) Tom Marvolo Riddle, who rearranged the letters of his name to `I am Lord Voldemort' which for some reason I don't understand most people fear to speak, even though his made up name has no more power than John Smith) champion of purebloods was really defeated by a muggleborn.
I'm just a normal teenage bloke who does alright in school and has a very wonderful, brilliant girlfriend. Although some people like Draco Malfoy, the son of convicted Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, call her a mudblood in front of dozens of witnesses almost every day, I call Hermione Jean Granger the best thing that ever happened to me. Ever since I learned I was a wizard, people have always been talking about me, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It amazes me how fast the public changes their opinion. Through it all, Hermione has been by my side, helping me to be the best person I can be. I'm very disappointed that so many people believed the lies that Rita Skeeter wrote about her. I was even more surprised at the vicious letters, some of them even cursed, that were sent to her because you believed those lies.
For that reason, the fact that you expect a newspaper to be a trustworthy source of news, I bought the Daily Prophet. Contrary to what some people may say, I didn't get this publication as a way to promote myself. I got it as a way to help other people by not allowing reputations to be ruined for false reasons. I vow to use this newspaper to print the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Harry looked around at the majority of students immersed in his newspaper, some of them glancing at him, and was pleased that most of them, including many Slytherins, seemed to be enjoying it, although he noticed some of them wince. He figured it was when they read Voldemort's name in his article. He looked at Malfoy and saw nothing but rage. The blonde Death-Muncher wannabe was glaring daggers at him, but Harry decided to ignore him, choosing to flip through the rest of the paper to look at the advertisements, including a big one designed by the twins about Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and Lily Potter's Power Supply (where you could order charmed batteries or outlets - anything to stick a plug into, or send in a device that needs charmed communications). The twins had spent days charming a huge supply of power products so that they could send them out as soon as orders came in. They also made sure that their dad agreed not to tell anyone anything in his copy of what he had finally been told was Lily Potter's journal.
He was startled out of his thoughts by Hermione kissing him on the cheek saying, "Thank you for what you said about me in your editorial. No wonder you didn't want me to edit that one. It means a lot to me."
He smiled at the girl beside him. "It's the truth, Mine. You are the best thing that ever happened to me."
She blushed. "Just hurry up and finish your breakfast so I can properly thank you in a broom closet."
Harry put down his fork that had food on it. "I'm done."
-
Throughout the day, many people walked up to him and said something about the paper. Many of them told him that someone they knew, usually a relative, had been a victim of the lies that the prophet had published daily and wished him luck. A few did think he was just promoting himself. The most memorable confrontation was of course Draco Malfoy.
He was walking alone through the hall toward the owlry with a letter of congratulations to Mrs. Weasley and her staff when he heard the familiar drawl, "Hey Potter!"
Harry put up a shield, turned around to see Draco with his two goons, and pulled out his wand. "What do you want?"
"How dare you write about me in your Scarhead Press!"
Harry looked rather smug. "Did I lie?" Draco was silent as his face got pinker. "Your worthless slave of a half-blood father is a convicted Death Eater, and almost everyone has heard you call Hermione, and every other muggleborn you meet, mudblood."
"Slave of a…HOW DARE YOU?!" shouted Draco, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Harry.
His eyes bulged as without a sound his wand, as well as Crabbe's and Goyle's, floated out of his hand into Harry's.
Harry shook his head and smirked at his foe. "Don't pull your wand on me, or I'll have to speak to your head of house about you. That is the truth. Voldemort is a half-blood like me, and Death Eaters like your father are his slaves. His house-elves, if you prefer that term."
Draco, finding himself wandless and angry, actually lost his temper and lunged toward Harry, swinging his fists. Harry smiled as he silently thanked Tonks for his training. Still holding four wands, he ducked under Malfoy's fist, and kicked him in the stomach. The lazy pureblood who had never done exercise in his life was easily winded, and fell to the floor panting as Crabbe and Goyle stood there speechless, looking confused. "Get him!" shouted Malfoy while still gasping.
The two goons slowly approached Harry, who stuffed the wands in his back pocket (setting a shield around them so that they couldn't be grabbed by anyone but himself) and waited for them. Goyle got to him first and clumsily swung his fist at Harry, who easily moved out of the way and punched him in the face, causing a black eye to start forming. Crabbe tried hitting Harry from behind, only to become the victim of a backwards kick in the knee, causing him to fall. Harry turned and quickly punched Goyle in the nose, breaking it and causing him to fall down. With all three down, Harry pulled out his wand and gave them all a horrible case of diarrhea. As he heard their bodily noises, they got up and ran away. Draco didn't even bother to yell a threat at him. Harry shouted through his laughter, "I'll give your wands to Professor Black since you're busy. Oh, and if you try to claim I started this, you'll be in tomorrow's paper!" and continued happily to the owlry, where he told Hedwig what had happened as he tied his letters to her leg. She hooted happily and flew out the window when he was done. He thought to himself that he should go flying as an eagle later today as he watched her flapping her wings.
After taking the confiscated wands to Sirius' office and explaining what had happened, he walked into the common room to see Hermione sitting on a chair by the fire. He immediately walked up to her.
"What took you so long, Harry?" asked his girlfriend. "It should've only taken fifteen minutes, but it's almost been an hour."
Harry smiled. "Well, I ran into Malfoy in the hallway."
After he'd told the tale, Hermione said, "You shouldn't have fought them."
"They pulled their wands on me," said Harry firmly. "I could've done a lot worse to them than I did! They deserved what I did and more!"
"Of course they deserved it, Hero. I just hope there won't be repercussions."
"There won't be. They don't want to be humiliated in the paper."
Hermione looked shocked. "Don't start using the Potter Press the way Rita used the Daily Prophet! To get revenge on people!"
Harry lowered his head. "You're right. We'll print both versions of the story. Mine and theirs. People can decide for themselves who's telling the truth. By the way," he said looking around, "care to spread your wings a bit?"
Hermione looked at his eyes, and then at the screen of her computer. She closed the laptop and whispered so no one heard, "I'll meet you outside my window!"
-
Another week passed by quickly, and Sirius told Harry that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle weren't going to try getting Harry in trouble. The paper was doing well. Some families like the Malfoys cancelled their subscription, but there were a lot of new subscribers to more than make up for it. The twins had gotten a ton of business due to their advertisements, and persuaded Harry and Hermione to let them teach Lee Jordan the power charm so he could work for them after making him sign a contract. Harry and Hermione were given a few things like cell phones to charm per day, but not that many. Hermione had actually taken a leaf out of Fred and George's book and charmed a bunch of communications plugs in advance so that the twins wouldn't have to bother them all the time.
It was a Monday at lunchtime, and Harry and his classmates had just escaped another session with the blast-ended skrewts and were sitting in the Great Hall eating lunch, when a bunch of owls flew into the room, dropping what appeared to be newspapers in front of everyone, causing havoc as drinks spilled and plates were covered. Harry picked up his newspaper off of a treacle tart and scourgified it. He then unrolled and read the paper.
"The Ministry Chronicle - The Only Ministry-Approved Newspaper
Editor - Delores Umbridge
Harry Potter Attempts to Take Over Wizarding News
By Rita Skeeter
In an attempt to gain even more fame for himself, the delusional Boy-Who-Lived has now squandered his parent's hard-earned money to buy himself a newspaper so that no one can print the truth about him. Neither this reporter, nor Minister Fudge, will stand for this! He…"
Harry ripped the paper in frustration, as he noticed Hermione crumbling hers. He struggled to keep his voice down. "I can't believe Fudge would do this!"
"I can," hissed Hermione angrily. "The question is, what are we gonna do about it?"
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