"What's wrong?" The cameraman looked at Rita Skeeter in confusion. He couldn't understand why she had reacted so strongly to a beetle.
Skeeter shook her head, flustered. "N-nothing..."
She hurriedly put the box away before the cameraman could see the writing on it. Rita Skeeter's heart pounded with dread. That single line had nearly scared her out of her wits.
"I know your secret, bug."
If her secret got out... Rita Skeeter didn't dare think any further. She stumbled away...
A few days later, the Daily Prophet published a lengthy interview by Rita Skeeter under the sprawling headline "Third-Year Completes Potion Transfiguration: Muggle-Born Academic Genius Will Behrens."
The article heaped praise on Will's hard work, extraordinary talent, respect for his teachers, and modesty. It painted him as an almost perfect role model: a boy from a non-magical family who had produced major academic research in just a few years.
Readers could still detect Skeeter's usual touch of exaggeration, but the article's tone was overwhelmingly positive and raised no doubts about Will. Talk among the general public promptly drowned out the academic world's criticism.
The article greatly raised Will's profile among ordinary wizards. Many began to feel curious about—and fond of—the "Muggle genius."
Before long, though, someone published a piece attacking Will and denouncing Skeeter's claims.
At the Leaky Cauldron, old Tom held a copy of the Daily Prophet. The headline read "Academic Genius? Or Hogwarts Hype?" It was written by a reporter named Streeka Attrie.
The article challenged Skeeter on nearly every point. It insinuated that Will's supposed hard work amounted to stealing ideas, while its vicious but veiled remarks suggested that his talent and respect for his teachers were merely ways of flattering people into giving him resources. As for modesty?
Attrie claimed that was nothing but the