Chapter 473: Newspaper (Edited)

The week following the wand test, Rita Skeeter's article on the Triwizard Tournament was finally published in the Daily Prophet.

The article was less a report on the Triwizard Tournament than an exaltation of Fish and an embellished portrait of Harry's personal life.

The front page of the paper was heavily dominated by a picture of Fish and the second page by a picture of Harry, while Fleur and Krum were omitted from the article, and there was no picture at all.

"Nyajajajajajaja, look, Minerva! Fish is in the paper!"

?(?≧?≦?)?

During breakfast, Fish picked up the newly arrived "Daily Prophet", hopped over to Professor McGonagall and proudly showed her the pictures in the paper.

"I see, Fish is great." Professor McGonagall patted Fish's cat head and complimented him on his words.

"Pomona! Fish is in the paper."

?()?

Although the Cat's Head mark last time was related to Fish, there was no mention of Fish in the whole article, not even in a photo.

The previous story of the natural Animagus, which Fish had not seen, did not mention Fish's name, so it was, in fact, Fish's first appearance in the paper.

Fish was very excited to appear in the paper for the first time and was looking for people to share the news with.

As for the details of the story...

Fish didn't care.

Harry, who was in the paper with him, read it all carefully, feeling a heated and uncomfortable sense of embarrassment compared to Fish's excitement and happiness.

Since Rita Skeeter had not been able to interview Fish, the article was written mostly from Harry's point of view, but Rita Skeeter added many things Harry had never said, and the few statements Harry had made were distorted by her.

Throughout the text, Harry felt that he was like the protagonist in a tragic story, but with a darker twist. He wrote the reason Harry successfully signed up as a deliberate use of Fish's simplicity.

Of course, his defeat by Malfoy in a one-on-one duel did not go unnoticed by Skeeter, who used it to question Harry's Champion status and, in the same vein as Ron, to suggest that Dumbledore was looking out for the famous student.

This caused the Hogwarts students, who had calmed down a bit, to glare at Harry again, and the badge Malfoy had created quickly spread throughout the school, with Harry arriving to see it being worn by students at Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

If Rita Skeeter's Harry was a miserable man with a penchant for showing off, Fish was an equally miserable but nearly perfect young wizard, a good student with a reputation among the staff and students of Hogwarts.

Since she was unable to interview Fish, the article is exclusively about him, with side comments from other people, including Harry, about him being handsome, caring, generous, cultured, simple-minded, brave, witty, and peaceful....

Rita Skeeter seemed to want to put all the positive words in the world into Fish's head.

Although most of the assessments are correct, and even many assessments are Harry's own, but.... How can the word "Witty and Peaceful" fall on Fish?!

Also, in this article, in addition to Fish and Harry, and the omitted Fleur and Krum, Skeeter mentions Hermione, Fish's girlfriend.

And Hermione was not given preferential treatment because of her status as Fish's girlfriend, Skeeter described her as an intriguing girl.

In Skeeter's article, Hermione's initial target is not Fish, but Harry, the most famous young wizard, and then, after realizing that Fish is better than her "famous" 'Boy Who Lived', she unhesitatingly turned to Fish, who was still a blank sheet of paper, and became his girlfriend by ingratiating herself to Professor McGonagall.

When Harry saw the contents, he guessed it must have come out of the mouths of those Slytherin girls....

Though he felt sorry for Hermione, and though the article belittled him himself, Harry couldn't help but cheer.

Aside from thinking "I'm not the only one with bad luck," the point was that the story about Hermione had diverted most of the girls' attention away from Harry's situation, and the fact that Cho Chang won't be wearing the badge might have had something to do with it.

The day after the story was published, the three of them received a large number of letters, all filled with cheers for Fish and various small gifts....

Although the newspaper photos didn't inherit Fish's affinity, his good looks, playful cat ears and tragic childhood were enough to make a group of witches get motherly.

Not to mention the fact that Fish looked as handsome as ever in the photo, and his favorite thing to do was peek over the edge of the photo, with his gaze just above his eyes, darting his wide eyes at the person outside the photo.... Harry knew that many Hogwarts girls cut out pictures of Fish and taped them to his bed.

The letters Harry received were varied, from those encouraging him to those consoling him, to, of course, those accusing him of taking advantage of Fish and those saying that Dumbledore shouldn't have given him preferential treatment, but on the whole Harry hardly took it badly, at least much more mildly than the snide comments from Malfoy and the others at school....

Especially after Harry had accidentally glanced at the letters Hermione had received.

The letters Hermione was receiving were full of insults and curses, and some even stuffed the envelopes with bubotuber pus, which would have stained Hermione if Fish hadn't had a good nose.

"Fish is starting to hate that fat aunt nya!"

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Seeing Hermione being attacked over Rita Skeeter's report, Fish couldn't help but frown.

"Fish!"

Gabrielle, who had been with her sister for the past two days, ran over, hugged Fish, and then looked at Hermione, who had been standing near her earlier, with big blue eyes, and shouted, "That bad woman is lying to you! She's not a good person!"

"Hermione is not a bad woman nya!"

?(?ΦДΦ?)?

Fish, who was already annoyed by this, shoved Gabrielle away and jumped straight into the chair, defending his girlfriend with a huff, and taking Harry with him.

"Fish likes Hermione, that's why he wasn't fooled by her! You were fooled by that reporter! Harry isn't a sinister villain either! The handwriting on that note isn't even Harry's."

"Ahem..." Dumbledore, who had also stayed for breakfast in the Great Hall, cleared his throat and stood up to say, "Most of you, who have known Mr. Potter and Miss Granger for several years, should have some idea of who they are. You should all know what kind of people they are, and you should be able to judge for yourselves whether what is written in the papers is true or not."

As headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore's words were authoritative, and the Hogwarts students stood thoughtfully as they listened to them.

Dumbledore said again to Fish, who was still standing in his chair, "You sit down too, Fish, no need to get angry over a news report, didn't Rita Skeeter also portray me as an 'old lunatic'?"

"But..." Fish replied eloquently, "Albus, you're actually a bit of a lunatic, George and Fred said the same thing."

(??ˇ?ˇ??)

Fish once again brought up the twins' words as an argument.

Dumbledore smiled and looked at the puzzled twins.

George and Fred: "..."

No big deal, but we're used to it by now.