Chapter 641 Rita Skeeter in Action

Christmas is approaching. Whether it is the wizarding society or the Muggle society, there is a strong festive atmosphere everywhere, and the joy on people's faces is about to overflow. Just as people are preparing to welcome the arrival of the festival, reporters from The Sun are sitting together in a meeting to discuss the New Year's agenda.

"Rita," a short and fat man asked, "How is your manuscript going?"

"It's finished," Rita Skeeter said loudly, taking out a stack of printed paper from her crocodile leather bag, "I dug up absolutely explosive news." She glanced at the others present and said triumphantly, "There is evidence that the government is deliberately covering up the harm caused by mad cow disease to the public!"

"Really?" The short and fat supervisor said dryly, took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty forehead, and took Rita's press release. He flipped through a few pages carelessly, and after reading it, he raised his head and said in a deep voice, "I'm sorry, Rita, but your manuscript will not be published."

"Why?" Skeeter raised his voice, and the pen that was constantly turning in his hand stopped abruptly.

"No reason. I admit that you are excellent and have won many victories recently, but..." The man moved his body uneasily, and the chair creaked heavily.

Rita Skeeter observed him carefully for a while.

"Oh--" she said in a long tone, "I understand. Okay, I quit."

The short and fat man looked at her in surprise and was very surprised. In his impression, this woman has always had a keen sense of smell, like a hound chasing prey tirelessly, cruel and vicious. This is flattery.

"I thought--"

"Thought what? I will hold on to it?" Rita Skeeter curled her lips, "I have confidence in my business ability. Even if my efforts in the mad cow disease series report have been in vain, I am confident that I can find new materials. Unlike others." She glanced at the corner. On

the long desk, several reporters glared at her, but Rita Skeeter just responded with contempt. She has figured out the rules and is now like a fish in water.

Sure enough, the short and fat man praised her highly.

"Great, Rita! I dare say that recruiting you is the best decision I have ever made. Let me think about what is the hot news recently..." He struck while the iron was hot and prepared to assign her a new task. "How are you going to spend Christmas?"

Rita Skeeter thought for a moment and said, "I should take a few days off." She planned to go to the Ministry of Magic to find Amelia Bones to complain. She was exhausted in the past few months. She had to work on the Sun and get involved in the Daily Prophet. Obviously, she didn't intend to give up on either side - it was all fabricated anyway.

There was a small window on the second floor of the apartment she rented in the Muggle society that was always open, so that owls could come in and out at night.

The short and fat man blinked, "In that case -"

"How about giving me the princess' divorce news?" Rita Skeeter volunteered, "I can definitely find out more eye-catching inside information." After working together for a few months, the man knew that when she said "investigate", she actually meant "fabricate".

The man was quite moved.

"No!" said a blonde with delicate makeup angrily, "I have been in charge of this matter, and I can't give up halfway."

"Oh, Melissa." Skeeter looked at her with contempt, "It has been so long and there is no result, maybe it means you are not suitable for this line of work." The 'Melissa' stared at her angrily, gnashing her teeth, as if she wanted to swallow her whole and tear her into pieces. The

short and fat supervisor thought about it. Although Melissa was not as efficient as Rita Skeeter, she was also a capable person under his command, and she couldn't be completely biased. He didn't want the relationship between the two to be too good, but he didn't want the conflict to become irreconcilable and affect the work.

"How about this, Rita," he finally decided, "You go and follow up on the gun bill."

Rita Skeeter's eyes lit up.

But she didn't rush to agree. Instead, she calmly asked, "How much can I report?"

"It's up to you." The short and fat man said, "There is basically no risk now. The introduction of a new gun control bill is a foregone conclusion. After all, the gun ban movement initiated by the families of the victims of the shooting at the beginning of the year has a far-reaching impact. Although it has calmed down recently... I got intelligence that the results may come out in the next one or two years

." "Wait, we can definitely get a share of the pie." Rita Skeeter said immediately, sucking the pen in her hand like a feather pen, and inspiration burst out. "We can do continuous coverage around this incident." A

sneer came from the office.

"I'm sorry?" Skeeter asked coldly.

Melissa showed a mocking smile, first stroked her hair, and until she felt that everyone's eyes were focused on her, she said slowly, "Do you need me to remind everyone? The school shooting has been nine months ago. Various news media have already discussed it from various angles. It is not worth wasting precious Christmas space."

The middle-aged supervisor looked hesitant, and he turned to look at Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter threw the pen on the table, crossed her arms, and her long, dazzling green nails were very conspicuous. "So some people are only qualified to investigate low-level news such as extramarital affairs, but they have not gained anything until now. Use your brain, now is the opportunity! The government is preparing a new bill and people are busy celebrating the New Year. Although there has been no investigation, I dare to assert that the movement to ban handguns will not attract many people's attention in the next one or two months..."

"If at this time, if we can launch a series of exclusive reports during Christmas, linking peace with massacre, New Year with shooting, and exaggerate it... stir up the heat again, and it would be best if we can maintain it until the new bill is introduced. By then, we can completely claim that the implementation of the new bill is inseparable from our efforts."

She sneered at Melissa and looked at the man.

"Why choose Christmas? Because only when other newspapers are busy reporting the Christmas and New Year's celebrations can we highlight our differences, which is differentiation. Let readers find us at a glance!" She leaned over and stared at the short and fat middle-aged man, "What do you think, Mr. Editor-in-Chief?"

The editor-in-chief swallowed his saliva and said with a straight face: "We are just an entertainment newspaper. If the subject matter is too serious-"

"You can rest assured about this. I will adopt a completely new narrative method." Rita Skeeter retracted her body and said confidently: "And I have my own views on 'entertainment'-"

She said sweetly: "The most important thing for a newspaper is sales. Apart from that, the subject matter is not important, the form is not important, the content is not important, and even the truth-" She raised her eyebrows and showed a tacit smile.

There was a round of applause at the door. A woman with a serious face walked in, and no one noticed how much she had heard before.

"Are you Rita Skeeter? This name is very popular now, and my ears are almost callused."

"Who are you?" Skeeter asked calmly. She smelled a faint smell of mint cigarettes, which she had only smelled at the door of that office, which was always closed and never opened.

The short and fat supervisor winked at her and lip-synced desperately. The woman did not answer, but looked Skeeter up and down. "I have been away from the company for several months, but I have never missed an issue of your article, mocking the government to pieces - but who can blame readers for reading this?"

Rita Skeeter said in a flattering tone, "So you are going to give me a promotion?"

The short and fat supervisor stared from behind. This was a shameful betrayal. But Skeeter was ready to climb the ladder. She stared at the woman who suddenly appeared, and the woman laughed heartily. "Why not?" She looked at Rita Skeeter indifferently. "My time is limited, so I only have one interview question. If I want to increase the sales of the newspaper by another 20,000 copies, what suggestions do you have?"

Skeeter clenched his fists, "Improve the newspaper's differentiation."

"Differentiation? Tell me more."

"In fact, we are already ahead, such as the ladies on Page 3... But it is far from enough. We must distinguish ourselves from other newspapers in all aspects - even if it is a mistake, we must be unique. Sometimes we can even deliberately go against the readers. Of course... Only true experts can grasp the subtle differences in between."

The woman narrowed her eyes and asked with interest: "Do you think you are that expert?"

"No doubt." Skeeter said shamelessly.

A moment of silence. The woman nodded at her, "You will be one of the deputy editors in the future."

Rita Skeeter, who had just been promoted, returned to her office in a hurry and ordered two assistants: "Get all the news about the Dunblane school shooting this year, now! Including the list of victims, the ideas and demands of the anti-gun movement organization, the voice of government departments on this matter, the list of government drafters of the gun bill, and the rumors... I want them all! And - buy me a ticket to Scotland."

Two days later, Rita Skeeter rushed to the town where the shooting occurred and personally persuaded several victims' families to be interviewed.

The conditions she offered were very favorable - The Sun's sales were not low, enough to stir up a stir, and she also promised to publish continuous reports to help them put pressure on the government. The families agreed without much thought.

They also used their connections to let Rita Skeeter appear in the school where the shooting occurred.

Rita Skeeter interviewed a few teachers at random, and she had conceived a pungent report of no less than 10,000 words in her mind, but she was still not satisfied. She wanted to find a sufficiently tricky angle that would shock people and not seem too out of place in the New Year.

As she walked, her scattered eyes fixed on the students. She came up with a good idea.

"Hey, little guy." She greeted a boy in a friendly manner, "What's your name?" "

Andy, Andy Murray." The little boy she was targeting said, who looked only eight or nine years old.

"Oh, Andy, Andy," she repeated twice, took out her press card and waved it in front of him, and asked arrogantly: "Can I interview you alone?"

"I still have to play tennis." Andy Murray said.

"Just right, that's why I came here." Rita Skeeter lied, quickly glanced at the tennis bag on the boy's shoulder, and smiled: "I talked to your teacher, and she told me that you are very talented."

"It's 'him'." The boy corrected.

"What?"

"My PE teacher is 'him'." The boy emphasized, and then looked at her with a suspicious look.

"I may have remembered it wrong." Rita Skeeter apologized, although there was no trace of shame on her face. "Then - let's talk about tennis. God, this word is really difficult to pronounce."

The little boy stared at her, dissatisfied with this woman who suddenly appeared and blasphemed tennis.

"Oh, don't be like that, I just said a wrong word. Do you know how much information I read before I came here?" She pointed to her thick glasses, "When did you start to get in touch with tennis?"

"...Three years old." After a long stalemate, the little boy said.

Rita Skeeter was a little surprised. "So I caught a little genius by chance?" She laughed, "I should put you on my watch list and interview you again in a few years. What title should I use? The birth of a genius... or the fall of a genius? It's really exciting." The little boy left

angrily, but his wrist was held tightly by Skeeter. While they were arguing, the teacher from the school appeared.

"What are you doing! Who are you? Oh, Ms. Skeeter--" The female teacher was quite surprised.

"It's me," Skeeter let go of her hand and said in a nonchalant tone, "I met little Andy when I was wandering around the campus, but he was in a hurry to go to the gym to play basketball... There was a little misunderstanding."

The female teacher looked at her, then at the little boy rubbing his wrist, and her attitude became cold, "I don't think this is the reason, Andy... Andy shouldn't want to go to the gym."

"Why do you say that?" Skeeter was stunned for a moment. She didn't know what went wrong, but she soon thought of the key to the problem, "Because the shooting happened in the gym?" She stared at Andy with wide eyes and said in disbelief, "He was one of the witnesses?"

"That's right," the female teacher said coldly, "Since then, Andy usually only goes to the playground to play basketball, and the school is also preparing to build a new fitness center."

Rita Skeeter secretly thought it was a mistake.

"I--" She opened her mouth and tried to make amends.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Skeeter, please leave here, otherwise I will call security." The female teacher said in a tough manner.

Rita Skeeter's face turned pale and blue, and she reached into her crocodile bag several times, but she still gave up taking out her wand. Because she was employed by the Ministry of Magic, her wand was re-traced, and any magic she used in a year would be known to the woman sitting in the Minister's office.

Damn it.

"Well, I'm sorry." She shrugged and turned to leave.

On the way out of the school, Skeeter was thinking about various ideas in her mind. The information she had obtained was almost enough, and today was just an extra gain. But she always felt that something was missing, what was it? She looked back and saw that the female teacher was squatting down and whispering to comfort the little boy, but the little boy looked stubborn.

Tennis, little boy... she thought of it.

"Lucky for you." Rita Skeeter said coldly in her heart. She took a train for more than ten hours and returned to the Sun's station. Not long after, she wrote a press release in one go.

"…Nine months later, my new friend Andy still can't get out of the shadow of fear. He cried bitterly in front of me and admitted that he was heartbroken about the death of his playmate. He also revealed that they had agreed to play tennis together and become eternal friends and rivals, but all of this came to nothing. His parents couldn't even deceive him with a white lie, because little Andy was an eyewitness to the tragedy. He saw with his own eyes the companion with whom he had made a lifelong promise fall before his eyes…"

"I know someone will mention the Hungerford shooting in 1987. Yes, the government responded quickly that time. The following year, it announced a ban on semi-automatic rifles and imposed restrictions on the ownership of handguns. But this is far from enough!"

"Only nine years have passed and the tragedy has struck again. This time it is even worse, because 16 of the 17 victims were children. Are we really going to turn a blind eye? The murderer was holding four pistols that were 'issued and licensed' by the government when he committed the crime. This means that there are still huge loopholes in our gun management methods. I implore government officials who are busy planning vacations or preparing for the New Year's parade to devote their energy to the victims and their families. They should have celebrated the New Year like you. But their lives ended forever in March 1996." "

... Only with greater determination, courage and responsibility can we make the right choice... With the encouragement of reporters, little Andy has regained his spirits. He said that he would never give up tennis. Ladies and gentlemen, a great star is rising. His future is bright and has unlimited possibilities. But please don't forget that if we continue to be indifferent, little Andy will be threatened by guns day and night in the future..."

The office has been quiet for a while, and a lady's cigarette is burning quietly.

"How is it?" Rita Skeeter asked with narrowed eyes.

The woman with a serious face tore off a piece of paper and wrote quickly. After a moment, she pushed the note and the press release in front of Skeeter. Then she took a deep puff of her cigarette and blew out a mint smoke ring.

"Your new office is ready."

Seeing that some readers have questions, I would like to add some explanations:

1. The content of this chapter is simply the history of Rita Skeeter's rise to power. Because her position in the newspaper will play a key role in the subsequent plot, I used a chapter to describe it (when I wrote it, I didn't expect that this plot would be written into nearly 5,000 words);

2. In 1996, several major events happened in the UK: the outbreak of mad cow disease, Princess Diana's divorce, and the Dunblane school shooting. Andy Murray, in addition to being well-known for his great achievements in tennis, is also a witness and survivor of the shooting. He was less than nine years old that year. Of course, the so-called friends and agreements were made up by Rita Skeeter, just like she made up Harry in the original book.