Secrets and Revelations

Rose Parkinson looked over the first issue of the Daily Prophet which carried her name as editor and thought 'shit, how do we follow that?' as she knew this edition would change their world.

Nobody ever said pureblood ways made sense, unless you were a wealthy pureblood male but the attack on the Potter's wedding made a mockery of these beliefs and somebody had made a very bad miscalculation.

Purebloods the length and breadth of the country would be sickened by this news, not because a wedding was attacked nor was it the prospect of losing most of the leaders of the magical world that generated these feelings.

No, it was the inclusion of muggles and their technology thus implying that magic wasn't up to the task and anything that showed muggles in a better light than wizards was to be avoided at all costs.

The people involved in this attack had just lost the support of the section of society they propose to represent.

A massive magical photograph that was simply iconic dominated the front page and was worth a thousand words.

A half blood wizard had just been married to a first generation witch by a muggle clergyman with a pureblood and an elf on both sides of the happy couple.

If that wasn't iconic enough the enormous stained glass window behind the wedding party then explodes and everyone can see Winky throw herself between Ginny and the window while heir to one of the most respected pureblood families, Neville Longbottom takes multiple hits from the flying glass.

It was an astonishing picture showing a beautiful scene disintegrating into horrific carnage in the space of a few seconds that could reshape the political landscape of the magical world.

The picture had been magically altered to replay at slow speed and anyone watching it unfold would have a hard time believing the muggle minister was the only fatality from the group so far as Winky and Neville were still unconscious at time of print.

The ministry had also made an unprecedented announcement with the awarding of three Order of Merlin's First Class. The unprecedented part was in the recipients, Daniel Granger – a muggle, Winky – an elf and Drumlok (posthumously) – a goblin.

All had deliberately used their bodies as shields for the protection of others costing the brave goblin his life as he shielded his head of state.

There was also a special gallantry award for the elves that saved so many lives with their shields and rapid evacuation of casualties, each elf would receive a special badge commissioned for the occasion to be worn on their tunics.

The awards were to be presented at a celebratory ministry Christmas Eve Ball.

What the article didn't say as Rose made the decision not to print was that Harry and Hermione had refused awards for ridding the world of Riddle. They both wholeheartedly supported the announced awards as they felt saving lives should be honoured, not taking them.

The new editor had also included excerpts from the muggle press describing the weapon used and what would have happened but for the heavy magical protection.

Rose had already printed twice the normal number of papers but from her office window she could see how busy the newsagent was becoming and decided to print more.

--

Sirius was sitting up in his hospital bed reading the prophet when he noticed Remus throw his paper into the air and let out a loud howl, before turning to his animagus friend and saying "page eight, bottom of third column"

He looked at the suggested spot and read the article that had been relegated to just above the "increase the power of your wand and meet the witch of your dreams" adverts and understood his friend's reaction.

The body of Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf notorious for biting children was found yesterday on the ministry steps. The body had a note attached asking for the reward to be placed in the ministerial St Mungo's fountain.

"We need to get out of here soon, I swore the day that bastard died I would get drunk" said an emotional Remus

"I definitely think a few drinks are in order but we have to remember that we're Hogwarts professors now" answered a serious Sirius

A disbelieving Remus stared at the stranger inhabiting his friends body, "Merlin when did you become responsible Sirius?"

"Ever since I swore never to let Harry down again, he and his wonderful wife are attempting to change the world least I could do is change myself," said a thoughtful Sirius

"You got the harder task then" joked Remus as a pillow left Sirius and smacked the werewolf on the head.

"You're supposed to be the smart one, do you think Hermione is going to let a couple of pranksters baby-sit for them? We need to play it smart to train the next generation of marauders" said Sirius

The laughter coming from the room was a good indicator to the medical staff that these patients were ready to go home.

--

Theo Nott read through the Prophet trying to keep himself from descending into panic.

He had been in Diagon Alley when approached by an acquaintance of his late father and they began to chat.

Theo wasn't stupid and knew he was being asked for information, with Millicent being able to put Potter out of commission so easily he decided that having a foot in both camps while awaiting developments seemed to be the smart policy to adopt.

If questioned he would claim it was nothing more than a friendly chat.

--

Griphook was also sitting in an St Mungo's bed though he had muggle newspapers spread all around him and an assistant from the bank taking notes, he would need to practice writing left handed.

The goblin couldn't believe the amount of information contained in these muggle publications and was recommending to Ragnok that the bank purchased these daily and employ someone to sift through them for profitable opportunities.

He thought it would take him weeks to amass the specific details but here they were in bold headlines right in front of him; make, model and a partial serial number of the device used as well as probable cost and naming illegal suppliers with country's of origin thrown in for good measure.

This would make following the money trail so much easier as only goblins could convert galleons into muggle currency whatever the country.

--

Blaise could see that something was troubling his sister; Claire never was good at hiding her emotions so he decided on the direct approach.

"Ok sis, whatever's eating away at you needs to stop so spill it"

"It's Theo," she said quietly

"WHAT I'll…"

....

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