Chapter 250: The Power of the Media
Zhang Xu, who was sitting at the dinner table, was carefully reading "Shocked! Hogwarts flowers are ravaged, and the murderer is actually her! 》。
The article pointed to Professor Babling's paper in Magic magazine, and the photos of the bleeding wounds posted in the past few days were accompanied by a photo of the victim's head and name.
Zhang Xu has already read Professor Babuling's paper on "Magic", and it can be said that this paper is the core of this "anti-Ukraine campaign".
The paper not only mentions the identity of the victim, but also deduces the magic used by the murderer from the victim's injuries.
There are still many places that Zhang Xu can't understand about the magic principle, for him, this is like a forensic doctor deducing the tool of the crime from the wound, just look at the conclusion.
At the end of Professor Babling's dissertation, it was determined that this black magic was an improvement on an ancient and vicious black magic, and that the improvement of this black magic must be a wizard who has studied the dark arts very deeply.
When this paper was seen at the end, Zhang Xu had to admire Professor Babling's murder without seeing blood.
The mention at the end of the paper that "the improvement of this black magic must be a wizard who has studied black magic very deeply" is Hongguoguo's attempt to mislead ordinary wizard readers who don't usually read "Magic".
In the eyes of ordinary wizards, "wizards who have studied dark magic very deeply" must be dark wizards. But what they don't know is that research scholars like Professor Babling are also a group of people who have studied the dark arts deeply. Umbridge used to be the latter, but she later embarked on the path of power, and none of the few who could climb to the top of the Ministry of Magic were of low magical ability.
So when readers of the Daily Prophet follow Rita Skeeter's report and find the paper in Magic, they will inevitably think that the caster will be a vicious dark wizard.
Rita Skeeter also did her best in this news, and in the report, she carried out processing of Professor Babling's paper such as stealing concepts, taking quotes out of context, adding oil and vinegar, and seeking to refute rumors.
For example, Professor Babling said in her paper that the victim's wounds were deep in the muscles, and Rita Skeeter said in her report that there could be permanent injuries to the bones.
The paper only mentions the victim's hand injuries, and the report says that only photos that do not cause an indecent impact are provided.
The report also said that it could not prove that the number of victims was only the few mentioned in the paper.
If it weren't for Harry and the others sitting in the cafeteria, and it seemed that they could eat and drink, Zhang Xu would have wanted to prepare incense candles for them after reading the newspaper.
At the end of the report, Rita Skeeter only mentions that the killer is a female professor at Hogwarts, hoping that the Ministry of Magic will take justice as soon as possible. The tone is like a wronged little daughter-in-law, making people look like they are forced not to say the name of the murderer.
On the second page of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter interviewed several of the victims' families, and it can be seen that the victims' families are emotionally unstable.
"Crying without tears, an elderly grandmother asks the Ministry of Magic to give her grandson justice", this is an interview with Neville's grandmother. Zhang Xu could imagine that with the temper of the old lady Longbottom, it was impossible for Neville to shed tears after being injured, and he would only scold the Ministry of Magic for a few hours. It is estimated that this is exactly the case, Rita Skeeter can only say that she is "crying without tears".
"Why did the "savior" who escaped from the mysterious man fall at the hands of the professor", this is an interview with Sirius Black. In the interview, Mr. Black expressed his anger and said that the cell he had spent in Azkaban was waiting for the killer to move in.
"This is the beacon fire before the war began", this time the interview is with Malfoy's mother. Mrs. Malfoy said directly that if the Ministry of Magic does not give a satisfactory result, wait for the Malfoy family to declare war on the Umbridge family.
Three ancient wizarding families put pressure on the Ministry of Magic at the same time, and it is estimated that Fudge is going to cry at this moment.
After reading the relevant reports in the "Daily Prophet", they basically asked the Ministry of Magic to give an explanation.
In the Youth Magazine, the causes and consequences of why students were hurt were reported.
The students in attendance posted about how Harry was punished by Umbridge for telling the truth, and Hannah was punished for defending her boyfriend.
Ron Weasley, who was in the limelight for winning the Triwizard Tournament, also wrote an article describing how Harry and Neville's wounds were difficult to treat, and how many attempts they tried in the common room failed to stop the bleeding from the wounds, and even caused the blood to flow more and more. It's just that Zhang Xu saw a strong Hermione style in this article.
Even what Zhang Xu said in class that day was used by Anthony to cheat the manuscript fee, but fortunately, he didn't write down Zhang Xu's gesture of threatening Umbridge in the end.
In "Singing Against the Tune", the finger is pointed at Umbridge, who uses intelligence from the front line (provided by Luna) to tell how Umbridge harshly reprimands the students in class and tortures them with black magic despite their pain.
In addition, this issue of the magazine also broke out black materials from Umbridge in the past.
In the magazine's usual style, Umbridge was described as the third Dark Lord after Voldemort.
In normal times, readers of "Singing Against the Tune" would only laugh after reading it, and they would have read more exaggerated articles in magazines.
But this time, backed up by the Magic paper, the Daily Prophet report, and the Youth Magazine article, the credibility of "Contradiction" doubled.
"Magic" revealed the incident, "Daily Prophet" publicized the incident and put pressure on the Ministry of Magic, "Youth Magazine" told readers about the cause and effect of the incident, and "Contrarian" revealed the details of the victim's injuries.
With such a set of media combinations, Zhang Xu can't see the possibility that Umbridge can continue to stay at Hogwarts.
"Evil will be punished." Luna, who was sitting next to Zhang Xu, said after reading the "Prophet Daily".
Then Zhang Xu gave Luna a brain meltdown, and then said: "Then you can't risk your life in order to explore evil." Are your hands right? ”
Luna pulled up the sleeves of her robe, stretched out a white flower arm in front of Zhang Xu, and said, "I suddenly got better a few days ago, but I found it suddenly itchy last night." ”
That day, when Luna stretched out her bloody left hand in front of Zhang Xu, she frightened him.
When he learned that Luna was punished by Umbridge for defending herself, Zhang Xu didn't know what to say.
Later, Luna said that she was only deliberately talking back to her in order to expose Umbridge's crimes, and Zhang Xu took her for believing her.
Zhang Xu was worried that the wound treatment was not completed at first, so he never lifted the damage transfer Gu puppet. Last night, he was afraid that Umbridge would wipe his neck if he couldn't stand the blow today, which would affect Harry and them, so he removed the magic on the puppet this morning. He was a little worried about their situation just now, and it seemed that Umbridge was successfully treated in the hospital.
As soon as he had chatted with Luna, the cafeteria suddenly fell silent, and Zhang Xu saw Dumbledore in the professor's chair standing up, as if he was about to announce something.
… It looks like the dividing line that appears for the first time...
A few minutes ago, when Umbridge saw the title and author of the report in the Daily Prophet, he almost fainted.
Because the person who previously published a photo of the injured and bleeding arm in the Daily Prophet was Rita Skeeter.
At first, Umbridge thought that Rita Skeeter did not know the details of the photos. Because according to Rita Skeeter's style, if she knew that these wounded people were from the hands of the Deputy Minister of Magic, she would definitely jump out and attack her as soon as possible.
As a result, for several days, Rita Skeeter was just sensationalizing and did not report the victim's personal information.
Therefore, Umbridge thinks that Rita Skeeter does not know who the person in these photos is, and when he becomes a senior investigator, as long as he controls the flow of information from Hogwarts, he can strangle the matter from the source, and finally write a random investigation report to fool it.
As a result, Rita Skeeter unexpectedly revealed the matter at the same time that the Ministry of Magic appointed Umbridge as the High Inquisitor at Hogwarts.
If you can't see if there is a black hand behind this matter, Umbridge will have received her salary in the Ministry of Magic for so many years.
Although Rita Skeeter mentions Babling's paper in the report, Umbridge remembers that Babling took Harry and Neville away after seeing the picture in the Daily Prophet, which suggests that Babling learned about it later than Rita Skeeter.
And Barburing is notoriously unworldly in academic circles, and it is impossible for her to collude with Rita Skeeter.
So Umbridge ruled out the possibility that Babling was a black hand.
Umbridge looks at Dumbledore, the number one suspect behind the scenes, only to find Dumbledore frowning at a magazine.
Umbridge had many reasons to suspect that Dumbledore was behind it.
However, she immediately disproved the assumption that Dumbledore was the Black Hand, as she did not believe that Dumbledore would work with Rita Skeeter.
While Dumbledore could give instructions to Babling, it was certainly impossible to work so well with Rita Skeeter.
Soon, Umbridge spotted a faint smile on Snape's face, who was also flipping through a magazine.
Umbridge wondered why Snape, who usually had a cold face, was smiling, was he the one behind it, and now he was happy that he had achieved his goal? But he has no grudges with him in the past and no enmity in the near future, why does he harm himself so much?
It occurred to Umbridge that Snape had been coveting his position as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, but Dumbledore had always disagreed.
Now that school has started, if he is driven away, whether it is Dumbledore or the Ministry of Magic, it is impossible to find another Defence Against the Dark Arts professor temporarily, but the Potions professor is easy to find.
Snape and Babling had been colleagues for many years, and if Snape asked Babling for a favor, and it was a happy thing for her, such as brushing papers, she would not generally refuse.
Snape also had papers published in Magic from time to time, and he had a close relationship with the top management of Magic magazine, so it was not a big deal for an academic journal to publish a day late, and it was not surprising that the top management of the magazine agreed to Snape's face.
And it's not unacceptable that Snape and Rita Skeeter know each other.
Now it seems that Snape colluded with Barbling and Rita Skeeter in order to get rid of him and occupy this position. Umbridge discovers the truth.
At this moment, Dumbledore suddenly stood up and said to the students who had just finished breakfast: "Due to some regrettable events recently, Professor Umbridge is suspended from his position as Professor Defence Against the Dark Arts from today, and until the senior investigator sent by the Ministry of Magic investigates this matter, Professor Snape will substitute Professor Snape." ”
The students who read the Daily Prophet today applauded, while those who did not read the newspaper borrowed the newspaper and read it.
Umbridge, on the other hand, glared angrily at Snape's slightly smiling face.
For the rest of the day, everyone at Hogwarts was laughing, including Snape, with the exception of Umbridge.
After only a week of classes, he was hated like this by the teachers and students of the whole school, and Zhang Xu also admired Umbridge.
Umbridge stayed in his dorm room for the whole day and didn't come out.
Outside of Hogwarts, a storm has swept through London's magical society.
The students at Hogwarts learned of this in the Daily Prophet the following day.
On Monday morning, a massive wizarding demonstration broke out in Diagon Alley, with parents of Hogwarts students protesting against Dolores Umbridge, the Deputy Minister of Magic, the designated professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, and the newly appointed Hogwarts Senior Inquisitor Dolores Umbridge for maliciously harming Hogwarts students, demanding that Dolores Umbridge be severely punished by the Ministry of Magic.
At the same time, all the shops in Diagon Alley, except for Gringotts, which opened by goblins, announced that they would not resume business until the Ministry of Magic severely punished Umbridge. Later, the shops in Tumbledown Lane joined the boycott.
The merchants of Diagon Alley and Tumbledown Alley are striking in solidarity with the procession, and should have nothing to do with rumors that the Ministry of Magic will be sending senior commercial investigators to Diagon Alley and Tumbledown Alley next.
Towards noon, the procession marched to the Ministry of Magic through the fireplaces in the shops in Diagon Alley, where they continued to demonstrate around the fountain in the Ministries Hall, demanding severe punishment for Umbridge.
The Ministry of Magic suddenly entered a state of emergency, and the Aurors were all transferred to the periphery of the hall to maintain stability.
It's just that many Aurors also have children who go to Hogwarts, and under their leadership, the Aurors are in a state of fishing.
Then, the Ministry of Magic, who also had children attending Hogwarts, began to leave their jobs behind to join the demonstrators.
For a time, the entire Ministry of Magic entered a state of semi-paralysis.
At the same time, Fudge, the Minister of Magic, who had just been baptized by countless yelling letters, was blocked in his office by Longbottom, Abbott and other people from several ancient wizarding families, demanding an explanation from the Ministry of Magic.
The ancients knew the grass, and the board knew the sincerity.
Just when Fudge was at a loss, two young men stepped forward.
In Fudge's office, Percy Weasley, after obtaining Fudge's acquiescence, persuaded Neville's grandmother, who is also the leader of several families in the palace today, to promise that the Ministry of Magic will definitely come up with a proper solution today, and ask the big guys to let the Minister go to the conference room for a meeting to decide on the specific solution.
Percy persuaded him to leave the office.
At the same time, Percy chatted with Mrs. Longbottom in Fudge's office about his and Neville's happy life at Hogwarts, and stabilized the gang.
At the same time, Cedric Diggory, a new employee of the Ministry of Magic, who received Percy's message quietly, volunteered to come to the hall and persuade the demonstrators under the guise of Percy, Assistant to the Minister of Magic.
Cedric first relied on his elegant demeanor to win the praise of the wizards present.
The mothers of the Hogwarts students were the main participants in today's demonstration, and Cedric's appearance as a killer ensures that she will not be hacked.
When Cedric relayed the promise that the Ministry of Magic would come up with a proper solution today, the demonstrators agreed to wait quietly around the fountain for the results of the Ministry's disposition without affecting the Ministry's work, and asked Cedric if he would have time to have tea with him one day.
The worst incident of the day took place on the outskirts of the city of London.
In the afternoon, Lucius Malfoy and Sirius Black meet on a lawn outside London, where a verbal altercation ensues.
When the Aurors arrived, they found that a nearby house had been burned down by a spell cast by the two during the fight.
After the Aurors arrived, the two said that they were just having a friendly exchange, regretting that they had accidentally burned down someone else's house, and that it would not be Malfoy/Black in the blink of an eye.
Zhang Xu asked his classmates around him to find out that the burned house was Umbridge's home.
After Zhang Xu figured it out, he secretly complained about how these two guys who were protecting calves happened to meet together. If the Aurors hadn't arrived in time, maybe one of the two of them would have hung up yesterday.
However, these are unimportant news for the students, and what they want to see is the outcome of Umbridge's treatment.
Umbridge didn't show up in the professorship in the cafeteria this morning, and it was rumored that the students who had been on the night tour last night saw several Aurors come to Hogwarts late at night and take her away.
The students immediately found what they wanted to see in the front-page headline of today's Daily Prophet: Umbridge was deprived of all public office for deliberately harming students, and was sentenced to two years in prison in Azkaban, and at the same time paid 100 Galleons to each victim.
At the table in the Lion House, a row of red heads looked at the newspaper with an incredulous expression, and then looked at the guy who was wandering around the cafeteria to give money to the victimized students.
As the Daily Prophet reported on the front page, yesterday the Ministry of Magic passed Education Order 24, replacing Dolores Umbridge as Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and Senior Hogwarts Inquisitor.