Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
More Important Than Any Broomstick - Chapter 37 - Truth Is Our Only Weapon
"I think the first thing we need to do is have a meeting with Mrs. Weasley to discuss our options," said Harry. "I think that Fudge has been controlling the Daily Prophet for a long time, and I'll bet we could find evidence of it to expose."
"I think we should run a background check on this Delores Umbridge. If she's the editor, she must be in Fudge's pocket," said Hermione. "We should also run an article that points out the fact that most important news stories involve the government, and if the government controls the news, people will only read articles written to make the government look good."
"Well, I'm going to ask Dumbledore if we can have Mrs. Weasley floo here and have dinner with us. I want to use this situation to show what a complete fool Fudge is. Maybe we can write the truth about how he handled the Chamber of Secrets by simply arresting someone who had a bad record, and how he sent Dementors that almost killed me to the school looking to kiss a man who had never had a trial."
"I'll bet there's a lot more we can find on Fudge! He was friends with Lucius Malfoy! I'm sure it'll be easy to expose the lie he'd told after Lucius was arrested," said Hermione. "The only way to fight this pack of lies is with the truth! But if we want to have this in tomorrow's paper, I don't think we can wait until dinner. I think, and I can't believe I'm saying this, you should ask if you can be excused from classes to handle your business affairs and floo over to the Potter Press headquarters. I'll let you copy my notes."
Harry looked uncertain. "Ok, I'll ask, but I'm not sure if he will."
Harry walked up to the head table to see Dumbledore chuckling as though he were reading a comic strip. Harry looked to see he was reading Fudge's interview. The Headmaster noticed Harry and said, "Good morning Mr. Potter. What can I do for you? I expect it has something to do with Minister Fudge's propaganda paper."
"Er, yes sir. I wanted to request that I can miss the rest of my classes today and be allowed to floo to my newspaper's headquarters to help coordinate our response."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a second. "School is supposed to train you for a professional career. Since you already have one as a newspaper owner, I believe that should take priority. Take the rest of the day off of Hogwarts to deal with this crisis, and it is a crisis if the ministry gains control of news. You may floo from my office once lunch is over. Miss Granger is welcome to join you if she wishes. I shall make certain your professors are informed."
Harry walked back to the table and told Hermione what Dumbledore had said. She closed her eyes in deep thought for a few seconds. "This is more important than a few classes. I've already read the chapters we're covering anyway. We have to respond immediately to this."
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Fifteen minutes later, Harry, and then Hermione, stepped out of a fireplace to look, for the first time, at the headquarters of the Potter Press. They were near the entrance to the building, and saw people running back and forth carrying briefcases. Aside from the pace at which the witches and wizards were walking around, the room seemed unremarkable. They saw a circular desk in the center of the room with a blonde-haired witch who looked frazzled as she kept writing memo after memo and enchanting it to become a paper airplane and fly to the recipient.
"Hello," said Harry, "I'd like to speak with Mrs. Weasley."
"So would everyone else," she said without looking up.
"This is important," he said, taking a breath.
"Everyone says its imp….Oh Mr. Potter," she said as she looked up and saw his scar and immediately came to attention. "Sir, I apologize. She should be in her office on the next floor. Would you like me to escort you there?"
"No, but I am curious why you answer people so rudely without even looking at them."
She turned pink while Hermione watched in silence, secretly enjoying watching this rude woman squirm. "Er, sir, ever since the ministry's toilet paper came out," Harry and Hermione both snorted at this, "everybody's been asking to meet with her."
"I can understand how you've gotten frustrated," said Hermione, "but it may be a good idea for you to find out who you're about to be rude to. By the way, I'm Hermione Granger."
"Oh, yes of course. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't," said Harry grinning. "How long have you been working here?"
She looked down, "Five wonderful years, and I'd really like to continue if you'll…"
"You misunderstand me," said Harry, "I'm not threatening to fire you. I want to know if there's proof that Fudge had been controlling the Daily Prophet. If so, I want to publish that proof in tomorrow's paper."
"Oh, um, well let's see. Fudge has been here at least once a week for as long as I've worked here. You could get anybody who works on this floor to verify that. He wasn't very sneaky about it. He was also campaigning before and after his private meetings with the editor."
Harry and Hermione beamed and looked at each other. Harry said, "Could you get four other people that can verify that while we meet with Mrs. Weasley?"
"Of course, sir."
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They found a staircase that they took to the next floor. There were memos flying next to them the whole way. They looked at the different glass doors where people were busily working and finally found the door that said, `Molly Weasley, Editor.' They looked in the room to see her busily writing something on a piece of parchment. She looked worried. Harry knocked at the door and she immediately looked up. She seemed startled, and then relieved to see them. She pointed her wand at the door, which immediately opened.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, walking inside.
"Hello," said Hermione.
"Hello Harry and Hermione," the older witch replied, "Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Dumbledore gave us afternoon off to help deal with the crisis of Fudge trying to take over the media," said Hermione. "He feels this is more important than classes."
"Well, we certainly need all the help we can get. Fudge has actually threatened to fire Arthur if I don't quit!" Upon seeing the worried looks on the children's faces, she continued, "Arthur told me I am absolutely not to quit no matter what happens. I agree with him."
"We need to put that in the paper!" said Harry. "The truth is the only weapon we have in this war!"
"But how can we prove it is the truth?" asked Hermione.
"I've been thinking about that, dears," said Mrs. Weasley. "What if we started storing pensieve memories of every interview, even the memories of the people we interview if they consent? It wouldn't take long to teach them how to do it. We could store them in small vials. We'd need to buy a pensieve to view the memories, but I think it would be worth it. Those are very difficult, though not impossible, to alter. We could also make our reporters agree to be questioned under veritaserum if someone challenges their one of their articles."
Hermione looked at Molly in shock. "Those are both really good ideas!"
"You don't have to seem so surprised about it, Hermione," the redhead said, "I have occasionally come up with a good idea."
Hermione shook her head. "No, it's not that you thought of that. I'm just surprised I didn't think of it."
"We'll do it. Do you have room to store them here, or should we buy another building?" asked Harry.
"Oh," said Mrs. Weasley, "I think I can expand my closet. I don't think anybody should know where they are except us three so that no one can mess with them. I'll just have them turned in to my office. Do you two have any other ideas of what to do about Fudge's Toilet Paper?"
"Well," said Hermione, "First we should do a background check on Fudge's editor, Ms. Umbridge. She's got to be connected to Fudge to have that position."
"Good idea," said Molly, as she took a quill and wrote something on a memo and turned it into a plane that flew away. "I've just assigned someone to do that," she said to answer their unspoken question.
"We want someone else investigating everything Fudge has done for the past five years, such as falsely arresting Hagrid, sending dementors to Hogwarts, and calling Sirius a murderer and sentencing him to the dementor's kiss when he'd never had a trial. The receptionist downstairs should by now have four people beside herself who can verify that Fudge used to visit here at least once a week for the past five years and have private meetings with the editor. Is this the old editor's office?" said Harry.
"No, dear. I saved that office for you. It's the next one down. I've left it exactly as it was."
Hermione smiled. "Great! That means that if there's any evidence of Fudge bribing or pressuring the paper, it'll still be in there!"
While Molly was writing the memo to investigate Fudge, Harry said, "I want this issue to be free, and to go to everyone who got Fudge's paper."
"Come to think of it," said Hermione, "We should find out where the money for that paper came from!"
"I'll bet Bill could use his Gringotts connections to find that out," said Mrs. Weasley.
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Harry and Hermione spent several hours searching through the files of the old editor's office while Mrs. Weasley coordinated the reporters and stories. All stories not related to their response to Fudge's paper were postponed one day. They all had a mandatory meeting where Mrs. Weasley taught them to extract their memories for storage, and informed them that's what they'd be doing from that time onward. Most of the staff, including Harry and Hermione (who'd written articles of their own), worked well into the night. They left just before ten o'clock so that no one could say they broke curfew. Others were planning on working through the night. When they arrived in Dumbledore's office, the Headmaster was sitting behind his desk.
He smiled at them. "Mr. Potter, Miss Granger, I'm glad you made it back. I'm certain that you've prepared a wonderful surprise for Minister Fudge to welcome him into the newspaper business."
Both Harry and Hermione chuckled. "Yes," said Hermione, "you could say that."
"Splendid, then I look forward to tomorrow's edition of the Potter Press."
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The next day at breakfast, everybody received a copy of the Potter Press, while most Slytherins, as well as a handful of others, received a copy of the Ministry Chronicle.
Harry was smiling brightly as he unrolled his copy of the Potter Press.
"Minister Fudge Uses Death Eater Funds to Start His Own Propaganda Newspaper
By Miranda Quirke
Minister Fudge has just started his own `ministry approved' newspaper, called the Ministry Chronicle. `Where would he get the funds to start such a business venture?' one might ask. According to Gringotts' records, he received the majority of the funds from the Malfoy family. Lucius Malfoy, the head of that family is currently serving a life sentence in Azkaban as a convicted Death Eater. Of course, Mr. Malfoy had been a close friend of Minister Fudge, to the point where he was the minister's guest at the Quidditch World Cup a few months ago, where he, along with several others, terrorized muggles before being arrested by Auror Tonks. The Daily Prophet claimed that Tonks was a friend of the minister, although she had never met him before, nor has she spoken with him since, according to an interview conducted with her yesterday. Fudge also claimed he was setting Malfoy up, but there is no evidence of that. According to Tonks, `Minister Fudge was completely shocked when he discovered it was Mr. Malfoy.'
We can only hope that Fudge doesn't fire Tonks because of that interview. He has threatened to fire Arthur Weasley, whose wife Molly is the editor of the Potter Press. We have discovered several underhanded things that Fudge has done in the past few years that would make firing someone a trivial offense.
To begin with, two years ago when students were being petrified at Hogwarts because the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, Fudge did nothing to investigate the crimes. Instead, he arrested Rubeus Hagrid, then gamekeeper (now he's also a professor) at Hogwarts and took him to Azkaban with no trial for months. The reason Hagrid was chosen is simple. He's the person that Tom Riddle, who would later change his name to Voldemort, had framed for the crime fifty years before. This time it was Lucius Malfoy who caused the chamber to be reopened through the use of a dark object created by Voldemort. It was never proven at the time. However, yesterday when the Potter Press purchased a pensieve for our new story verification system (page three), we used the memories of three different witnesses who were present when Malfoy slipped the enchanted object into the belongings of an innocent first-year girl, nearly costing her life and several others as well. The witnesses were Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Molly Weasley. During that crisis, Mr. Malfoy, who at that time was on Hogwarts board of governors, pressured the other governors into signing a petition to remove Headmaster Dumbledore from Hogwarts. The only reason why Hagrid was released is because students uncovered the truth.
Just a few months after that, after Sirius Black, the man falsely accused and imprisoned for twelve years in Azkaban without a trial escaped prison, Fudge sent dementors to Hogwarts against Professor Dumbledore's wishes. First they searched the Hogwarts Express, subjecting all of the students to their vicious effects, but that wasn't enough. During a quidditch match, several of them attacked Gryffindor Seeker Harry Potter in front of hundreds of witnesses, causing him to fall off his broom fifty feet to what would have been his death had Professor Dumbledore not slowed his descent. Did this attack convince Fudge to take away the dementors? Of course not! They'd been given permission to perform the kiss on the escaped innocent man who'd never had a trial, and those dark creatures were determined to do it, and Fudge wanted to let them.
Another time…"
On and on that article went, describing several questionable incidents involving Fudge. It included evidence that the editor of the Daily Prophet had been given their stories by Fudge himself in his own handwriting. The file cabinet in the editor's former office had been full of such evidence. They also had evidence that the editor had been on Fudge's payroll. The next page had the article.
"Minister Fudge Appointed Dolores Umbridge to be the Editor of His Newspaper. Who is She?
By April Vanget
You may find it interesting that the editor of Fudge's newspaper actually works directly for him. She is the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. We interviewed several people who have worked with her during her rapid ascent to this position. All of them had nothing but bad things to say about her, saying she was heartless and cruel, and would step on anybody to advance her career. Some even alleged that she framed them for mistakes so that she'd make them look bad. Sounds like a typical Slytherin to this reporter. What's not typical is the kind of laws she has proposed. She has submitted fifteen separate bills to the Wizengamot suggesting everything from registering to exterminating every sentient magical species beside wizards. These bills have included centaurs, goblins, elves, giants, and several other species. None of the bills have passed because most of the ministry is enlightened enough to not go along with her prejudiced ideas. The funny thing is that anyone else proposing those bills would've been committing political suicide, but apparently she has a great deal of pull with Fudge, who is her sole supporter… "
That article went on, outlining different questionable events from her career. The next page had another interesting article.
"Potter Press challenges Ministry Chronicle to Use Their New Method of Story Verification.
By Hermione Granger
In response to the ridiculous accusations of Fudge's new newspaper, this newspaper has come up with a way to verify the contents of articles. We will be storing the pensieve memories of all reporters of their interviews and investigations. We will also ask all people we interview to supply us with their memory of the described events as well. In addition to this, all of our reporters are required to submit to questioning under veritaserum if the truthfulness of any article they have submitted is still questioned after the accuser has viewed the memory in a pensieve if they find any evidence of memory-tampering."
The rest of the article described the process of extracting memories and viewing them. It also talked about other ways of verifying the truth. The next article was about Fudge trying to steal freedom of the press by owning a newspaper.
Over the course of the day, about three-fourths of the school had gone up to Harry and Hermione complimenting the newspaper. People like Draco Malfoy glared at them, but did nothing. At lunch Harry had received an owl from Mrs. Weasley, stating that Madam Bones had come into the office and viewed many of the pensieve memories to verify their contents, but didn't say why. The next edition of Fudge's Toilet Paper, as Harry and Hermione referred to it as, said that to use such a verification system for their stories would insult the integrity of their reporters.
Over the course of the week, Harry noticed fewer and fewer people receiving the Ministry Chronicle while more and more people were receiving the Potter Press. The next Monday, Harry was surprised to read the headline of his own newspaper.
"Minister Fudge and Chief Undersecretary Umbridge to be Tried by the Wizengamot for Several Questionable Actions."
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