Dumbledore was sitting in the Headmaster’s office, where the Order had been forced to move when Grimmauld Place wouldn’t let them in and Harry was nowhere to be found, drinking his tea when McGonagall burst through the door disrupting the meeting just about to start.

“Albus! Have you seen the Daily Prophet this morning?!” she yells waving it around.

“My dear, I haven’t had a chance yet. I was going to as soon as I finished my tea. Lemon drop?” he asks looking at her confused. It wasn’t like her to be this loud.

“You must read it! Harry is in it!” she said throwing the paper down on the desk and ignoring his question and the clamour when everyone found out that The Boy- Who-Lived was in the newspaper.

Curious, he picked it up. A picture of Harry wearing sunglasses was the first thing he saw. Then he promptly chocked on his tea.

Boy Saviour or Brutalized Scapegoat?

Mauled by Muggles, the survivor of the Killing Curse
reveals the savagery he endured for years at the hands
of his bloodthirsty relatives.

"I NEARLY DIED"

Did Dumbledore know?

By: Rita Skeeter

That’s right! Ladies and Gentleman. This is the story to end all stories. Yesterday I got an owl to come to Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley to talk about the story of the century. When I got there I was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location, but don’t worry readers! I’m perfectly okay. There I met Mr. Potter and he told me we were in a safe house. Here is the Interview that followed:

RS: Hello Mr. Potter. Are you the one that had the story of the century for me?

HP: Yes. I’m sorry for the secrecy but I don’t want anyone to know where I am until I’m ready for it.

(During this time the door behind me opened and Draco Malfoy showed up.)

DM: Sorry I’m late. I had to get some Pain Reliever for you Harry.

(He blushed a little as he said that)

HP: That’s okay Draco. I was perfectly safe here with Ms. Skeeter.

DM: I know, it’s just, with your disability I’m worried for you. The Order may find a way to get here and take you back to those dreaded muggles.

(The easy-going and light atmosphere shocked me readers, considering the legendary fights they got into at Hogwarts.)

RS: What disability is this? Why are you hiding out from the Order? Why are you so friendly with Draco Malfoy? What muggles are Draco talking about?

(Readers, this is where if you are a little squeamish or hate violence, you may want to stop reading. There are some very graphic things going to be said.)

HP: It’s a long story. Contrary to popular belief, I wasn’t raised by a loving family, I was raised by my relatives. They hated that they were forced to look after me, I was treated worse than a house elf. I was beaten and starved and for the first ten years of my life, I lived in a broom closet underneath the stairs.

(Readers I assure you, I was as shocked as you are.)

RS: What about Dumbledore? Did he know about this?

HP: Dumbledore was the one who placed me there. He left me on their front porch step along with a note telling my Aunt that her sister and her husband-in-law where killed and that she had to take me in and raise me as well as raise her son too. At the end of first year and the year after that, I begged him not to let me go back there. He always brushed me aside and told me that I had a vivid imagination or he told me to stop making up lies about my relatives, that they were great people. After a while I just stopped asking and the punishments just got worse. I thought that at least at Hogwarts I’d get a reprieve. That changed my fifth year when Umbridge joined the staff.

RS: What was wrong with Ms. Umbridge? Minister Fudge says she did a great job and that Defence Against the Dark Arts scores where at an all-time high that year.

HP: (Harry snorts here) Umbridge was an evil bitch. Her classes were all theoretical and we learned nothing. We couldn’t complain though or else we would get punished. Her punishments included writing with a blood quill until the saying was permanently scarred on our hands.

(Here he shows me his hand were it says ‘I must not tell lies’)

RS: (I was shocked) Did you know that blood quills are considered Class A Dark Arts torture devices? Why didn’t you tell anyone?

HP: I did tell someone. I told Professor McGonagall. She just told me to keep my head down and not get in trouble. After that, I assume the other kids saw how none of the teachers helped the Boy-Who-Lived and didn’t even bother trying to ask. What’s worse is by the end of the school year, I had been tortured with a blood quill, almost drugged with Veritaserum, and threatened with the Cruciatus Curse.

(I was as shocked as you were readers. The boy who lived had been threaten by a ministry employee with the Cruciatus Curse.)

RS: You still haven’t asked my first two questions yet. What disability was Draco talking about and why are you hiding from the Order?

HP: Well, It’s better if I show you and then explain.

(He then pulls out his wand, points it to his face and says a ‘Finite’. The glamour placed there dissolves and I gasp in shock. Harry Potter’s eyes are a very pale, misty green instead of the vibrant green they had been a second a go.)

RS: You’re blind!

HP: (Harry ducks down a little, almost sheepishly. Draco Malfoy, whom I had forgotten was still there wrapped his arm around Harry’s shoulder as if he were comforting him.) Yeah. This summer, my uncle took things too far and beat me up almost to the point of death. When he finally left, I wrote a note to anyone who could help and then blacked out. I woke up and Draco here, was there to help me out. We moved into the safe house so that I would stay safe from Voldemort as well as keep away from the Order, who would most assuredly force me to go back to my relatives. He’s helped nurse me back to health. A few days ago I got an owl from Gringotts saying that my godfather’s will would happen tomorrow. Draco and I decided to have you come and do an interview before we got accosted in Diagon Alley for being near each other or something stupid like that.

(Readers, after that, I saw Draco Malfoy in a new light. He wasn’t just the spoiled prince we all though he was. He had a heart and he used it to help out our saviour.)

RS: Well, what do you plan to do this year for school? You will be separated due to your different houses.

HP: Well, first I will be getting a familiar so that I am protected without Draco always hovering around me. Next, I’m going to ask for a resort. In first year I was supposed to be in Slytherin, but I talked the hat out of it. Hopefully I’ll get it again so that Draco and I won’t be as easily separated.

RS: (Readers. I have to say I was shocked. Harry Potter, our saviour, a Slytherin?) You were supposed to go to Slytherin? The house full of dark and evil wizards?

HP: (Here, he sighs.) I wish people weren’t so biased towards Slytherins. The Slytherin house is for the cunning and ambitious, not necessarily for evil and dark wizards. Draco here can account for that. We have been rivals since school started. When he got the note I wrote asking for help, he decided to put our rivalry aside and help me. Also, just look at my parents. They were betrayed by a Gryffindor who, contrary to popular belief, was not my godfather Sirius Black, it was Peter Pettigrew that sold my parents out.

(Readers, I have to say I was completely shocked here. How could it not be Sirius Black?)

RS: How could it not be Sirius Black that betrayed them? He was their Secret Keeper.

HP: That’s what they wanted everyone to think. They switched to Peter because no one would be expecting it and the Death Eaters and Voldemort would try to get it from Sirius.

RS: But he must still be guilty of killing off Peter Pettigrew then.

HP: (he shook his head at me) No. He had the intention of killing Peter, he is a Black after all, but he didn’t get a chance to. Peter yelled something off about him betraying my parents and then blew up the street. He then cut off his finger and went down in the sewer with all the other rats.

RS: With all the other rats?

HP: Yeah. Peter Pettigrew is an illegal animagus. His form he used to escape is a rat. Don’t you think it was strange that he was destroyed so badly that all that was left of him was a finger? If you don’t believe me look up the records. Sirius never got a trial.

DM: Thanks for coming Rita.

RS: Thanks for having me.

(Here, readers, Draco did something adorable. He not only helped Harry up, but he also had the gentlest expression on his face as he did so. Draco then guided Harry’s hand to mine to shake and then shook mine himself. I’m sorry ladies for those vying for their affections, but I predict these two bachelors will be dating sooner rather than later.)

Readers, after the interview I went down to the ministry to see Sirius black’s files, because they were available to the public. I was astounded to see that there was no file. If you didn’t already know; when a person is tried, the magic of the trial makes a file for you it then tells if you were found guilty or innocent but it was always there. In order for him not to have a file, it would mean that there wasn’t a trial to begin with. I am shocked readers. How could the Ministry condone sending a head of an Ancient and Noble house to Azkaban without a trial? How could they also condone letting a ministry employee torture students with a Blood Quill? How could they also threaten one of those same students with an unforgivable? Where was Dumbledore throughout all these issues? The wards around Hogwarts shouldn’t even have been able to allow the Dark Artifact into the school, let alone him not know about it. These are the questions I’m faced with after I left my interview with Harry. I assure you readers, I will not rest until I get the answers.