Rita Skeeter sat at home, a quill held between her fingertips, with only a few lines written on the parchment spread before her.
"Harry Potter..."
She murmured the name, a meaningful smile curling her lips.
As a journalist who had spent more than twenty years working her way through the Wizarding World, Rita knew very well what sort of news fetched a good price.
Scandals, secrets, the sordid pasts of important people... these were her trademarks.
And now, an enormous windfall had dropped from the sky and landed right in front of her.
A mysterious author had written a book about Harry Potter, and it was selling like hotcakes in the Muggle world.
Not only did the book describe all sorts of details about the Wizarding World, it also exposed the Chosen One's miserable childhood.
Better still, the Ministry of Magic had yet to take any action.
What did that mean?
Rita licked her lips, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
It meant she could write whatever she wanted, and no one would come forward to deny it or stop her.
As for the truth?
She had never cared about that.
What she cared about was sales, fame, and the dumbfounded looks on those wizards' faces when they read her articles.
She had spent two whole days gathering information through every channel she could, even paying a high price to buy a secondhand copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Part One, from a wizard who had visited the Muggle world.
As she looked at the bespectacled boy on the cover, a trace of greed appeared in Rita's eyes.
"My dear Headmaster Dumbledore..." she murmured in a sugary voice, her quill tracing a smooth arc across the parchment. "Just what are you hiding, you venerable old man?"
She paused, then thought of Cornelius Fudge.
That Minister for Magic was terribly petty, and offending him would do her no good.
Still...
Rita narrowed her eyes, weighing the pros and cons.
The main subjects of this article were Harry Potter and Dumbledore. As long as she did not target Fudge himself, the minister probably would not interfere.
After all, Dumbledore's reputation in the Wizarding World was growing, and Fudge might not be entirely comfortable with that.
At that thought, Rita's smile deepened.
She bent over, and her quill began dancing swiftly across the parchment.
It was still early morning when the latest issue of the Daily Prophet reached every subscriber.
Owls flapped through the mist-shrouded streets, dropping rolled-up newspapers onto porches and windowsills.
Many wizards unfolded their newspapers over their morning tea as usual, only to choke on their very first sip.
The front-page headline was so large it almost burst off the page-
"Harry Potter, the Chosen One: eleven years under surveillance."
The subheading read: "Has a book from the Muggle world uncovered a truth even Dumbledore did not know?"
By Rita Skeeter.
The article began as follows:
"An exclusive investigation by this newspaper has discovered that a book entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is currently selling at a frenzied pace in the Muggle world."
"This book records in detail almost every aspect of the famous Harry Potter's life-the boy who defeated 'You-Know-Who'-from infancy to the present day."
"The question is: just who is this author named Allen Vane? How did he obtain this information?"
"If he is a wizard, why did he choose to publish this book in the Muggle world? If he is a Muggle, how did he learn of the Wizarding World's existence?"
"According to the book, the eleven years Harry Potter spent with the Dursley family were far from the peaceful life everyone imagined."
"In fact, our Chosen One was shut in a cupboard under the stairs, dressed in his cousin's old clothes, and subjected to years of verbal humiliation and neglect."
"A boy who defeated the Dark Lord was actually living like a house-elf in the Muggle world."
"I cannot help but ask: who was recording all of this?"
"According to the book, on that night eleven years ago, Hagrid delivered the infant Harry Potter to Number Four, Privet Drive."
"Professor Dumbledore personally arranged all of this, and from that point on, the entire Wizarding World believed Harry was growing up safely in a warm, happy home."
"But the facts prove that throughout those eleven years, someone in the shadows was watching Harry Potter's every meal, every scolding, every lonely night."
"The existence of this book tells us one thing: a pair of eyes has never left Harry Potter since that night. A watcher whom even Dumbledore failed to notice. Who exactly is he? What is his purpose?"
"More unsettling still, this book was not published in the Wizarding World."
"It has sold tens of thousands of copies in the Muggle world. Muggles now know about Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Quidditch... they know almost everything about us. Yet the Ministry of Magic seems unmoved."
"Muggles are reading a book about our world's most closely guarded secrets, and the Ministry of Magic's response is silence?"
"Is this tacit approval, or a dereliction of duty?"
"I have no answer. But I have learned that Harry Potter himself began school this year and is currently attending Hogwarts."
"If the book's contents are true, then it has been less than two months since this boy emerged from his cupboard."
"A boy who ended the war, a boy called the Chosen One, was watched for eleven years, and even Dumbledore, hailed as the greatest wizard of our age, failed to keep him safe."
"I find this deeply distressing."
At the end of the article, Rita Skeeter added one more line, seemingly reluctant to stop:
"I will continue to follow this story. If anyone with information is willing to provide leads, especially regarding the author of this mysterious book, please contact this column by owl. A generous reward awaits."
This single article practically sent the entire Wizarding World into an uproar.
In Diagon Alley, a wizard on his way to Gringotts spotted the Daily Prophet at a newspaper stand on the street.
He merely glanced at it, then found himself unable to take another step.
"Give me a copy," he said urgently.
Once he had the newspaper, he read its contents carefully, then drew in a sharp breath.
"Merlin's beard..." the wizard whispered. "Someone watched that Potter boy from the shadows for eleven years?"
"That's right!" The newsstand owner had clearly read the latest Daily Prophet too. "And recorded everything... wrote it all into a book. It's downright creepy."
"The question is, who is this Allen Vane?"
"How should I know?"
At the Leaky Cauldron, Tom spread a newspaper on the bar, with seven or eight wizards crowded around it.
Everyone was talking in low voices, and the pub buzzed like a hive of startled bees.
"Rita Skeeter really broke a huge story this time," an old wizard in dark red robes said in shock.
"When doesn't she stir up a huge mess?" Another wizard took a sip of Firewhisky. "But this time, she has a point."
"The details in that book are far too specific. If someone hadn't been watching Harry Potter all along, how could they possibly have written it?"
"Could the author himself be the watcher?"
"That Allen Vane fellow? Has anyone heard of him?"
"By the way, have all of you read that book?" a short wizard asked curiously.
The others exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"No, we've only heard that the book is very detailed. We haven't actually read it."
"That book is so popular in the Muggle world that I still haven't managed to buy a copy," the wizard drinking whisky complained.
"But I'll find a way to get one! I really want to see what's in it!"
He set down his glass and added this with firm conviction.