After reading Rita's article, Karkaroff broke out in a cold sweat.
He wanted to shout at the top of his lungs and announce to everyone in the Great Hall that Rita's article was malicious slander, a blatant smear. He wanted to report her to the Ministry of Magic.
But Karkaroff felt as if his legs had gone weak. He couldn't stand up.
His throat had inexplicably gone hoarse, as though something were blocking it. He couldn't get a single word out.
Because more than eighty-five percent of what Rita had written in the paper was true.
He really had been a Death Eater. He really had felt no remorse. And he really had escaped punishment by selling out his former colleagues.
Most of the article was true. Only two claims were false—
The claim that he had been a core member of the Death Eaters was completely made up. Back then, he had been nothing more than an insignificant lackey who hadn't even managed to become a squad leader.
The other fabricated accusation was the article's claim that Karkaroff had put those two pieces of parchment into the Goblet of Fire.
But Karkaroff knew that now he would be saddled with those two fabricated smears, especially the charges of interfering with the Six-Wizard Tournament and maliciously putting in two slips of paper to target Hogwarts and Harley Potter.
There were so many true things in the article. Who would believe him if he insisted those two were false?
By the simplest logic, with so many other claims proven true, he clearly had both the motive and the means. There was no way to clear his name.
Even if the Ministry of Magic investigated him over this and eventually found no evidence, ordinary warlocks wouldn't believe him.
After all, he had