The First Signs of a Storm - Prisoner of Azkaban - Book 1

Chapter 16: BREAKING NEWS!

No One's Point of View

     Britain or - more specifically - wizarding Britain, was in a state of collective gossip. Unexplained theories, potentially genuine rumours and exaggerated, invented tales circled and spread like wildfire from the very heart of the nation to its countryside. Wherever a witch or wizard dwelled, the spark of one topic that had not been talked of since the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named, reignited with as much ferocity as it had done all those years before.
     All over the country, the flames of conspiracy burned. In fact, far and wide across the continent, even going further East and West did the news break out all over the world.
     Underneath the very foundations of Muggle Westminster - the British Ministry of Magic lay hidden. But the atmosphere inside the magical government was tense. And every member of every department, was focussing their attention on the Auror Office, for more than one big reason. The first being the unprecedented escape from the Minsitry-run prison of Azkaban, whose population now missed one, very dangerous prisoner.
     Of course, it was up to the Auror's to track the mass murderer - Sirius Black - but it was proving difficult. There had been nary sound nor sight of the convict in almost two months. And the pressure was mounting for Kingsley Shacklebolt: Head of the Office, who head the investigation. How was he to follow each potential lead when, his team was small (he needed more Aurors he did not have)?

     But nothing could have prepared the Auror Office for the news of one of their best (who'd been killed during the war), was not really dead after all. That had been the bombshell that had swept across the nation, leaving Mr Shacklebolt to collide with the realisation that, if Alex Moody was not dead, it could only mean one thing - Ellestormé was alive too.
     And suddenly, the appetite to apprehend Black had increased tenfold at the sight of the Daily Prophet newspaper one Monday morning in early September, as a delivery owl dropped a copy through the window of his kitchen in his home in outer-city London.

BREAKING NEWS!
Dead Auror is spotted in Kings Cross. Alex Moody sees off mystery witch to school. Full story - Page 2

     Kingsley Shacklebolt's mug of tea crashed to the floor as he grips the paper into his hands, getting to his feet, tearing to the next page, gobsmacked and wide eyed, starving for information.
Like Kingsley Shacklebolt, the dramatised article by Rita Skeeter herself had been delivered to every magical household in the country and - by extension - to the newspapers of the world, who ran the story in their own words. And, as the population sat down over tea and toast, for a single moment, there was a bated breath of unison. As witch, wizard and child exchanged thoughts on what Skeeter had printed.
Just outside of Birmingham, a dark haired witch with a pixie cut, was laughing in glee at the photo of Ellestormé and Alexiandra at Kings Cross plastered on the front page. She was overjoyed.
     Whereas Lucius Malfoy sat in his Manor in Wiltshire, his mind concocting a way to connect with the underage witch. What a prize it would be too, if the Dark Lord should return again. Maybe Draco - his son - could make first contact. They were cousins after all. Although his wife, Narcissa Malfoy, was on the verge of sending a secret letter to her disowned sister. The Black by birth did not wish to see another generation slayed. Not after the atrocities of last time.
Those who remembered the war were stunned, yet elated at Ellestormé's return, although at the present moment, no one knew that it was Storm herself. Except those who had seen her in person. They knew what it meant for the country they called home. The tragic past had been survived and it was exciting for them to guess what would happen next. But the Purebloods tainted with hatred, saw Ellestormé as a way for their fortunes to change. For their Master to rise again.
In Devon, Alexiandra Moody was cursing Rita Skeeter to the high heavens for not keeping her nose to herself, the implosion of her world closing in on her, as Molly Weasley did her best to keep the Ex-Auror from Apparating straight to London to squash the little bug without mercy.