"Oh, you brought me big news?"

Rita hid her nervousness with a curious smile, but, poorly, her scalp was still numb, and her heart was pounding in her chest.

After a series of events, Amosta Bryan's reputation was surprisingly good, and most people were extremely grateful for Brian's timely action on the night of the Quidditch final, which almost saved many magical civilizations around the world, but there were also some different voices in the praise of merit.

Rita is a well-informed real-time journalist, and she has heard a lot of bad arguments, and some of them are not unreasonable.

Rita looked at Brian tentatively, but the man was unmoved, just quietly watching her.

There was no way, Rita had to pick up the parchment on the table, her fat fingers flexibly unfolded the letter, moved the jeweled glasses, and squinted carefully at the long and somewhat abnormal parchment, and the familiar names on the letter paper made Rita's eyes condense all of a sudden.

"Oh, Merlin's beard!"

Rita, who had been sitting there casually, sat up straight, her thick fingers from the top of the letter all the way to the end, her mouth uncontrollably muttering the name on it, and the detailed information about the distribution of the spoils behind the name.

Amosta looked at Rita with interest as she reacted to the sight.

To be honest, he was a little surprised, he had expected Rita Skeeter to tremble with excitement when she saw this list, but as time went on, Rita's eyebrows rose higher and higher, her lips tightened, and her hands began to tremble, but according to Amosta's judgment, this was not necessarily caused by excitement.

A few candles supported by cheap bronze candlesticks on the table emitted a dim glow, and from time to time a few bright sparks popped out of the steady flame, but they were fleeting.

Rita's gaze wandered back and forth on the parchment, and she looked at it as if she wanted to engrave the message on the paper into her head, until Amosta had finished two glasses of sherry before she removed the parchment from her eyes, and her white face, which was decorated with puffs, was now a little pale.

"I can't believe you, Brian, you have such a thing--"

Rita's exaggerated tone of voice as she spoke was gone, making her voice, which almost came out of her throat, sound less disgusting, and she clutched the corner of the parchment,

"This thing is going to bring down the Ministry of Magic!"

Rita said through gritted teeth.

"Why do you think that?"

Amosta shook his head with a smirk,

"As one of the most famous current affairs reporters for the Daily Prophet, I thought you had seen a little bit of the world, Rita, but I was disappointed by your performance."

"What do you want to do, Brian?"

Rita Skeeter stared at the man opposite, her eyes almost hateful, "You want me to be exposed, you want me to put this thing on the Daily Prophet for everyone to see?" ”

"What if it is?"

Amosta seemed to find Rita's reaction very interesting, and he still looked at the somewhat frizzy Rita Skeeter with interest, and said nonchalantly.

At a certain moment, Rita Skeeter had the urge to leave with her bag, but she knew very well that she would never be able to leave without the permission of the man opposite, especially since she had seen such a terrible thing, of course, Rita didn't think that Brian would kill herself now, so many people outside watched her walk into Brian's box, but he must have some way to make himself speechless, and even, after walking out of the door of the Leaky Cauldron Bar, there was a seemingly reasonable accident.

Amosta Bryan wasn't a moral model that Dumbledore couldn't pick out at all, as anyone who knew a little bit about Bryan knew as well.

"Oh, then you might as well tell the Ministry of Magic that I'm an illegal Animagus, Brian!"

Rita clenched, her eyes cold,

"Maybe I'm lucky that my brain won't be ruined by the disgusting Dementors, and then I'll be able to spend the rest of my life with the gold I've saved all these years when I'm released, and if I get it in the newspaper. Oh, with all due respect, I don't think it's going to make it to the press, but if I insist on doing it, maybe my dream of writing a biography of Albus Dumbledore will be shattered! ”

Looking at the angry Rita Skeeter, Amosta laughed,

"You're so smarter, Rita."

Rita Skeeter, who had been praised, did not look happy at all, and she stood up with a thud, her eyes reflected in the fire, and she was angry that Amosta Blaine was trying to pull her into a deadly trouble,

"Maybe you want to seize power, and you want to replace Cornelius Fudge as Minister of Magic, Brian, but you don't want to use this to drag me into the water—"

Rita gasped a few times and said hatefully,

"I know the faces of those politicians better than you, I know where their limits are, they may not mind the news I make from time to time to make them disgraced, but if it really threatens their position, they don't care about the laws they make themselves!"

"Wisely—"

Amosta clapped his hands and said in admiration,

"But sit down first, I'm not done yet, am I?"

After a little hesitation, Rita Skeeter sat down, not only because she couldn't resist Amosta Blaine's orders, but also because she wanted to see what the hell Blaine was up to.

"This list is pretty much the same as you've already seen, and you can re-transcribe some of it later, and I'll be going to meet with Fudge at the Ministry of Magic tomorrow morning, and I'll tell him you have a list of this, and it's going to be published in the Daily Prophet, don't get excited, listen--"

Amosta made a gesture to interrupt Rita Skeeter, who was about to argue,

"The stakes are high, and it is to be expected that Fudge will personally negotiate with you and convince you not to do so, and that you can follow his instructions and give up publishing the information on the parchment."

Amosta spread out his hand to signal that he was finished.

"That's it?"

Rita opened her mouth in surprise.

"Of course, you can also talk to Fudge about the terms, get yourself some privileges or Galleons or something, you are a very experienced and measured person, I think you must know where the scale is, oh I have to remind you that Fudge will probably ask you if I gave you this list, and at that time, you will have to insist on it. If he asks you where you've gotten the information, you're pretty good at making up stories, Rita, and I'm sure you'll be able to give our Minister of Magic a convincing answer. ”

Rita slowly closed her mouth, her green eyes glinting, she already sensed that Amosta Bryan was probably not trying to bring down the Ministry of Magic with this list, nor was he trying to drive her to a dead end, of course, he was using himself for some other ulterior purpose.

But before she could ask, Amosta finally said lightly with a sense of majesty that matched his identity,

"Keep your curiosity under control, Rita."

Rita's breath was suffocated, and her chest rose and fell rapidly,

"You're asking me for help, aren't you, Brian, but why should I help you?"

"It's good for you, isn't it?"

Amosta said calmly,

"As long as you don't insist on publishing the list and making a promise to Fudge or something, I don't think he will do anything to you, and you do have a soft underbelly in your hands, and if something happens to you in the future, maybe you can get away with it-"

Rita raised her eyebrows, having nothing more to say.

"So, so be it—"

Without waiting for Rita's clear answer, Amosta took a drink of what was left and let out a pleasant sigh,

"Good night, Ms. Rita Skeeter--"

With that, Amosta got up from his chair and, after two steps, touched the doorknob with his hand.

"Wait, Brian!"

The crack in the door opened, and just as Amosta was about to step away, Rita suddenly stopped him. The woman stared at it with great jealousy, hesitated for a while, and then said dryly,

"You've surprised me too, Brian, you have the power to stop you no matter what you want to do, but you've put so much effort into it I mean, this list is certainly not so easy to get your hands on-"

"Hehe--"

Amosta chuckled softly, and he turned away, but his voice reached Rita's ears clearly through the closed door,

"I'm not the Dark Lord, Ms. Rita Skeeter—"

(End of chapter)