ᵖʳᵒᵘᵈ ᵖᵃʳᵉⁿᵗˢ ; ʰᵃʳᵐⁱᵒⁿᵉ

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter 28 - A Picture's worth...

Wrapped in heavy robes, with their hood pulled up against the freezing November wind in Hogsmead, no one gave the huddled figure a second glance while Voldemort dropped a knut into the pot and took a copy of today's Prophet.

After a lot of thought, Voldemort had made a rather ballsy move and set up home in the Shrieking Shack. Peter had explained its previous use, and Voldemort knew the werewolf in question was currently teaching in Italy - not Hogwarts. Laying out the newspaper, it wasn't exactly difficult to discover what the magical pull had been. While delighted to read about the total cock-up Dumbledore had made of everything, and it looked as if this time he would be taken to task for it too, what really really upset Voldemort was that Tom M Riddle being entered was being treated as almost as big a joke as Martin Miggs name being spat out of that goblet.

This changed everything. There was no way this body's magic could significantly be increased in that short a timeframe, but not competing would see the body lose whatever magic it contained. Since this body was mostly a magical construct, he would be reduced to a wandering spirit once more. Voldemort desperately needed to confirm the continued existence of any remaining horcruxes. Getting access to the diadem inside Hogwarts could be incredibly risky, while recovering the locket from inside the cave would be a right pain in the arse.

Voldemort decided to wait a few days and see what the fallout of this was before making any drastic moves. The entire thing might even yet be cancelled. No, this was not cowardice at what Voldemort might find there - or more terrifyingly not find, merely being cautious with the current situation.

At that moment, a meeting was taking place in the Minister of Magic's office that would kick that caution into touch, and see Voldemort's anger know no bounds.

-oOoOo-

"I want to know what you're playing at, Fudge. It's all over the Ministry that the Dark Lord received a new body last night - and yet you won't let us print that."

Looking at the Editor-in-Chief of the Prophet - and the small team of people he had brought with him to this planned meeting now all crammed into his office - Cornelius actually smiled. He knew these people were going to fall over themselves to accept what he was offering here.

"You publishing that, without any of the other facts, would start a mass panic amongst the witches and wizards of Britain. What I'm offering you here is ALL the facts, and a printing timeline I'm sure you're going to like."

Recognising a sales pitch when he saw one, Barnabas waited to see what the Ministry was selling before making any further comment.

"Tomorrow, I would like you to do a background piece on one Tom M Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort. His squib mother, Merope Gaunt, whose Muggle husband, Tom Riddle, left her when she stopped administering the love potion she enthralled him with. She died giving birth to her son, living only long enough to name the now orphan after his Muggle father. Tom grew up in a Muggle orphanage, before - after turning eleven - being contacted in said orphanage by Albus Dumbledore to attend Hogwarts..." Cornelius had been reading from rather a thick file that he now closed over. "Interested?"

The Editor-in-Chief was well aware the Quibbler had done an exposé piece on Riddle. Here though was a Ministry sanctioned version. Unless that folder was stuffed with Fudge's sandwiches for his lunch, there was clearly a lot more material here for the Prophet to sink its teeth into. Barnabas attempted to play it cool. "And what of his rebirth? How long would you want us to sit on a story that will affect all our lives?"

Fudge could see his fish was hooked, time to reel him in. "My intention here is not to deceive the public, rather to prepare them for the news to come. If your newspaper prints this story tomorrow, it will instantly strip Voldemort of most of his mystique - and fear. That will set them up for a full disclosure of his rebirth the following day."