Harry Potter: The Saviour's Awakening

"It says so in Hogwarts, A History," answered Hermione Granger imperiously. "It's the legendary artefact of Godric Gryffindor and since he is one of the founders of Hogwarts, it belongs to the school."

Harry's face remained impassive as he spoke, "Hogwarts, A History is the most biased book I have ever read in my life. I'm pretty sure it was written by a Gryffindor who looked down upon the other three Houses. As for the founders' artefacts, let's ask Smith, shall we? Hey, Smith, what are the laws governing the founding families and Hogwarts?"

Zacharias Smith's eye twitched in annoyance at the Hufflepuff table. He really did not like Potter and he did not appreciate the boy bringing unwanted attention to him in the middle of the Great Hall, but he would be damned if Snape were to start spouting nonsense about seizing founders' artefacts. His family would never agree to that and he knew that Potter wouldn't either.

"The founding families are different and separate entities from Hogwarts," said Smith imperiously. "The descendants of the founders cannot own the castle and similarly, any money and artefacts of the founding families have nothing to do with Hogwarts. This is a school, not a museum."

"And would you be willing to return any artefacts that you have that belong to Helga Hufflepuff?" asked Harry casually.

Smith scowled. "No. Didn't you hear what I just said, Potter? These laws are something that should have been taught to you considering our unique position. You should know them."

"Oh, I certainly know them, but I was asking you to explain it to Professor Snape and Miss Granger here. Long story short - the sword is Potter family property and no one can take it away from us. If you have any doubts about the veracity of that claim, Professor Snape, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore or Lord Smith would be more than happy to explain it to you. I would explain it to you as well, but you never believe anything I say, so it is counterproductive."

Snape's lip curled but he didn't say anything. He thought for sure that he would be able to embarrass Potter by doing this publicly, but it didn't turn out that way. Well, the brat wasn't going anywhere. He would get an opportunity in the future to take that boy down a peg or two. He was a Slytherin; he was nothing if not patient.

...

Unfortunately, Dumbledore was not the only one who was panicking about Harry's new title; word had quickly gotten to the heads of several families of nobility, not to mention the Ministry of Magic as well and someone in the Ministry, who went by the title of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, had decided to do something about it even before the Chief Warlock attempted to do anything.

Rita Skeeter quickly re-read the letter in her hand. It said quite clearly that Harry Potter was lying about what had happened to bolster his own fame after the disastrous article which revealed him to be a Parselmouth. The anonymous person had promised to give her five hundred Galleons if she could make a bad article appear in the Daily Prophet about Potter's involvement in the Chamber of Secrets and his refusal in giving back a priceless artefact such as Gryffindor's sword back to the Ministry where it belonged, not to mention line-theft in saying that he was the future Lord Gryffindor.

Humph ; as if a twelve-year-old boy could defeat a basilisk! Now, what would be the most catching headline? She chuckled.

"Boy-Who-Lived turns Boy-Who-Lied," Rita murmured to herself happily as she looked through the information she had. "Harry Potter - The next Dark Lord? Yes, that's a good secondary headline, or should it be first? Hmm…"

Just as Rita touched the quill, it glowed blue and started spinning. She shrieked; how was there a Portkey in her office? She went to great lengths to ensure that she was not tracked or kidnapped. Merlin knows she had a lot of enemies, especially powerful people so it was essential. When Rita landed, she saw that she was sitting in a very regal looking study. Rich wooden slabs adorning the walls with gold-framed paintings, floor to ceiling windows, and a thick carpet on the marble flooring with a large, richly decorated mahogany desk in front of her - all this made her realise that whoever kidnapped her was very, very wealthy. She was also magically bound and gagged. What was going on here?

"Hello, Rita," said a voice. The dim lighting charms became brighter and she felt her chair turn in the opposite direction. There were two armchairs in front of the large fireplace where she saw, much to her shock, Lord Sirius Black and Harry Potter.

"Nice headline you were going for," said Harry wryly looking at the sheet of parchment. "The Boy-Who-Lies? Catchy."

"Tsk, tsk, you really do play with the big fish, don't you, Rita?" Sirius smirked. "You have written a few articles that I really didn't like. Questioning my sanity, Harry's Parselmouth status, the article about the Potter-Greengrass betrothal…"

"Looks like she is angry, godfather… shall we make her talk?"

Sirius flicked his wand at her and the gag disappeared. "Let go of me!" Rita cried hysterically.

"Hello Rita, welcome to my family's ancestral castle," Harry greeted her with a small smile, though his eyes were an angry shade of blackish-green.

"What do you want? Why did you kidnap me?" snarled Rita. She tried to shift in her seat but screamed painfully.

"That is a darker version of the anti-Animagus ward created by the Black family," said Sirius, sipping from a glass of firewhisky. "We don't want you turning into a water-beetle to escape, do we?"

Rita's face turned pale. How did they know? She swallowed in fear when she realised who Sirius Black was married to.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not calling my wife here," said Sirius as he smirked darkly at her. "But I will call her if the negotiations fail."

"What negotiations?" the reporter asked shakily.

Harry waved his hand and a sheet of parchment floated in front of her. "My godfather and I are now the owners of the Daily Prophet," he explained. "Tomorrow, the Daily Prophet is going to be dissolved to form the new Magical Daily Press. All the employees of the Daily Prophet are going to be assimilated into the new company. Of course, we were wondering what to do with you. If you are willing to work for us, then you'll get all the perks of the job. If you don't, then we could always hand you over to the D.M.L.E."

"Trust me, you have made a lot of enemies in the Wizengamot," said Sirius dangerously. "You have been actively using your Animagus form to spy on people. Let me tell you now that you would get no less than five years in Azkaban for the number of laws that you've broken. Take it from a person who spent ten years in a high-security cell, it's not paradise. I will never recover from my ordeal. It has scarred me forever, changing me as I had to spend ten years reliving my worst memories day after day. You'll probably go insane within a few months of being there. We are giving you a better alternative."

"Which is what?" asked Rita nervously.

"Glad you asked," said Sirius, smiling widely. "This is the contract we want you to sign."

Rita read through the contact and her eyes bulged out of its sockets. "NO! This contact gives me no escape clause! I'll be a lifetime employee and it gives you too much control over me! I can never write what I want and I cannot divulge your secrets."

"Rita, Rita, Rita," purred Harry, coming closer to her, his green eyes glinting dangerously. "Don't think we are not capable of forcing you to do this. We're being nice, you know. Your salary will increase and you get all the perks of the job. Trust me, one way or another we're getting rid of the threat that is you. Don't be an idiot. You can go back to your life without any problems. If you piss us off today, you'll end up next to a Dementor. You have five minutes to make a decision."

Five minutes later, Rita sighed. She knew it was her fault for playing with the big fish. She had forgotten the first rule of nature - there is always someone more powerful than you.

"Where do I sign?"

....

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