Chapter 0026 - The Rita Skeeter Strikes Back

Tuesday, November 22, 1994

Isabel Fitzgerald's Room

08:57 PM

Percival Ebonwood's POV

I pushed the door open, squinting at the harsh light. "Why did you send the house-elves to wake me up at this ungodly hour?" I asked as I entered the room. "And why are we meeting here and not in the common room? People may get the wrong idea."

Isabel rolled her eyes. "There is a close to zero chance that I would sleep with you, and I'm pretty sure you don't want anyone else to hear about what we're going to be discussing."

"I would sleep with you if there was alcohol and bad decisions were made," Jessica said.

"But you don't drink," Pricilla said.

"I think that was the point," Jenifer said, giving me a pointed look. "I thought we weren't speaking with him."

"It's been a week, and we're here to tell him our decision," Isabel said firmly.

"We're doing that today? I thought we're waiting another week and trying to make him panic," Jenifer said, sounding disappointed.

"You know Percy. He would probably forget us if we didn't talk to him for a week," Jessica said with a chuckle.

"Hey, that only happened once when we were first years. And plus, you didn't even tell me your name. I had to call you Blondie because you refused to tell me," I said as I sat down at the table with the rest of them.

"You should have paid attention when I told you the first time," Jessica said.

"Could you focus back on the reason why we're here?" Isabel interjected.

"Yes, of course," Jessica said. "So who's doing the talking?"

"Isabel should do the talking. She's the one that made this into a big thing," Pricilla suggested.

"It is a big thing. One of our friends is dying, and he didn't tell us," Isabel said. "We have decided to forgive you for not telling us."

"Who's 'we'? Jessica, Pricilla, and I were okay with Percy telling us when he was comfortable," Jenifer said, receiving sharp looks from the other two. "Anyway, continue."

"As I was saying, we have decided to forgive you for not telling us. We understand that it is hard, and we want to let you know that we're here for you. But, we do have some questions for you," Isabel said.

"Thank you, I guess," I said. "Ask whatever you would like."

"What exactly is killing you? Why did you leave your fortune with us? What were you arguing with the Guild representative, and why did she know?" Isabel asked in quick succession.

"A blood curse is killing me. I only found out about it 15 months ago. I don't know what it is doing, but the healers say I'm good as dead within the next five years," I explained. "As to why I left my fortune with you guys, why wouldn't I? I'm the last living heir to the Ebonwood line, and the chances of me settling down and having an heir are really small. I want to be alive to raise my child. You guys have been with me through my highs and lows, and I want to see you guys happy and live a stress-free life. Hopefully, my money could help you do that."

"That's really sweet. I didn't take you for the sentimental type of guy," Pricilla admitted.

"There are things I haven't told you yet," I said. "As to why the guild knew, they were the ones to spot it. They're in charge of trying to figure out what's happening. The reason we were arguing was because she wasn't a Guild member. She was, but she violated the ethos. She is a member of the ex-terrorist group called the 'Cabal'. She didn't like the fact that I left my fortune to half-bloods, and that I should leave it to them so they could further their cause."

"That's horrible. Did you report her? She should be expelled from the Guild," Jessica exclaimed.

"I knew she had bad vibes," Isabel said.

"Yes, I did. The last I heard of her was when she sent me a howler saying that she'd make me pay for humiliating her," I said as Isabel got up and walked towards the window.

I assume it was today's paper. Isabel looked up from it and gave me a funny look. She had a scowl on her face as she sat down. She then looked towards me and asked a question. "Who interviewed you yesterday?"

"Rita Skeeter. I think it went well. We build a good rapport," I said.

"It went well for her, but unfortunately not for you. Listen to what she writes about you.

'Percival Ebonwood is a deeply troubled young man, disillusioned by his arrogance and self-importance, and has a deep hatred for the world. He claims he is as good, if not better, than the other champions. He believes that competing in the under-17's duelling competitions and winning allows him to be ranked higher. Although this is a big achievement, some of the other champions have beaten wizards far above their age. Percival stated that 'he wanted to watch the world burn'. If this does not show how troubled he is and his destructive tendencies, I don't know what will. I wouldn't be surprised if he went on a rampage to quell his anger. After all, he did say he did 'what to kill anybody just because I'm in a bad mood'.

He also has a deep mistrust of the Ministry of Magic and calls the work of thousands of innocents 'bureaucratic bullshit'. These workers help run the country, and for him to call their work 'bureaucratic bullshit' is a disservice to our country. How can someone with such little regard for the work of many towards the prosperity of this great country be allowed to represent us and claim he is the best of us?

The boy saviour also holds 'a little resentment' towards his grandparents, who looked after him after the untimely passing of his parents. He also belittled their work in raising him by insinuating they took in due to a sense of duty instead of love. He says, 'Does it matter?' in regards to their job at raising him. Such an ungrateful brat! The Hogwarts champion also prefers the muggle education system to our great education. Our education has been around for almost 1,000 years and has been refined by some of the greatest educators the world has seen. To say that our education system is inferior is, in Percival's own words, 'I think that tells you enough about that topic'.

In addition to this, his self confidence is nauseating to be around. He is too full of himself and his intelligence. He seems to believe that 'loneliness is often a by-product of a gifted mind' instead of people avoiding him due to his toxic personality. He surrounds himself with yes-men who share his ideas, which only further resonates with him. He has disillusioned himself by believing that intelligence is the only thing people need. When asked if his friends shared the same view, he said, 'I believe so'. 

To further support this point, look no further than his Blood Maleductus cure. From what I understood from my informant's report, he had used his untested and unapproved concoction on 21 subjects. He split the subjects into four phases. Phase one were those who were in their animal form for a prolonged duration of time. Four subjects were in phase one, and all four survived. Phase two were those we transformed recently. Percival had five subjects, but only three survived. Phase three was for those with prolonged symptoms who were showing signs of a transformation. All five subjects survived. Phase four is for those who have just started to show symptoms. One subject lived, while the other died. So, 21 subjects, 17 successes, and 3 failures. And what did he say about the failures? He only mentioned two!

'I had an 85% success rate. And of the three failures, two were preventable. One was allergic to one of the ingredients, and the other died shortly after due to dragon pox. Both were preventable if proper precaution was taken.' The medical negligence is clear, and his healer's licence should be revoked. Notice how he only mentioned two of the three failures. Employees at The Daily Prophet did their own investigation into the mysterious third failure.

It turns out the team of healers working with Percival first underdosed her, and once they realised they overdosed her, she passed due to this error. We asked the mother of the patient, and she said that her daughter was in so much pain that it hurt watching her suffer. When asked if the deaths were worth it, he replies, 'Their deaths helped us progress and further refine our methods. If I went back in time, I would make the same exact decisions I made.' He also believes that 'humans don't live for centuries' is reason enough for his actions.'

And that's just page one. She wrote another two pages about you."

"I'm totally and utterly fucked, aren't I?" I said.

"Fucked is an understatement," Jessica said.

"Is what she said true?" Pricilla asked.

"To a certain extent, I definitely said what she quoted, but that is so out of context," I said.

"That's what Rita Skeeter does," Jenifer said.

"I suggest you contact your lawyer and sue them for deformation," Isabel said.

"I'll do that when I return to my room. Could I borrow the paper?"

"Now get your own," Isabel said. "Aren't you also subscribed to the Daily Prophet?"

"Yes, but... never mind. Could you at least read out the Betting House Predicted Table?" I asked.

"Okay, give me a second," Isabel said, flicking to the relevant page. "Here it is:

'The Betting House prides itself on brining you the best odd. This is our predicted table for the Triwizard Tournament.

Our predicted table:

1. Mister Viktor Krum

2. Miss Florentina Abramovich

3. Hinata Nakamura

4. Mister Michael Cappelli

5. Miss Fleur Delacour

6. Mister Percival Ebonwood

7. Miss Harriet Potter

8. Yuna Kenshin

9. Miss Athaliah Stankov

10. Kaito Yukaghir

11. Miss Kenzie Joelle

12. Mister Cedric Diggory

13. Mister Adrian Bohr

14. Miss Naomi Ward-Prowse

15. Miss Millie Macklemore

16. Mister Nicholas Raine

17. Miss Alexis Castle

18. Miss Andi Larson

Positions are subject to change when new information and data become public. Terms and conditions apply. Remember, when the fun stops, stop. '

That's not actually as bad as I thought. I can't believe Potter is one position lower than you."