Chapter 78: CH 78
As Dumbledore was leaving the journalist who spoke to Harry earlier quickly returned and set up his dicta-quill.
While the man was setting things up quickly with a practiced hand, Harry asked him, "As I'm doing you a favour by participating in this interview, I wonder if I can ask one of you?"
"And what would that be, My Lord," the journalist replied.
"I need you to include, as part of your article, that I had nothing to do with, nor had any idea of, the Notice-Me-Not wards for mail owls on where I was living. And that, even if I didn't receive any mail from the wizarding world, I'd still like to apologise to those within the wizarding world who sent me mail, for not thanking them for their effort.
With an appraising look, the journalist said, "I can do that. If you promise me, where possible, you'll give me exclusives."
Harry snorted in response and said, "Keep writing the truth and you've probably got yourself a deal." Harry then answered a few more questions from the journalist, even though Sirius was giving him funny looks. However, once the journalist recognised the man sitting next to Harry was the so-called infamous Lord Sirius Black, Sirius was also asked questions, which for the most part he was happy to answer.
The interview was interrupted with the return of Cygnus. "Ready to go?"
Harry and Daphne both nodded.
Harry turned to the journalist and said, "Sorry about this. But I invite you to owl me at Hogwarts if there's something you want to ask me. As with this interview, if I'm willing to answer your questions I'll provide you with the answers. If not, I'll tell you so."
"Thank you, My Lord," replied the journalist as he was packing away his dicta-quill. As the four of them made their way back outside Cygnus asked, "Is it wise to talk to journalists?"
"Yes," replied Harry. "By my being willing to talk to them I maintain some level of control over what they write about me. If I refuse to talk to them then they're free to write whatever they want. It was the famous author, Mark Twain, who once said, 'Never pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel'. I think he was right. It's far better to work with them."
"Control them from the inside, you mean? By way of exclusive interviews?" asked Cygnus with a grin.
"Yeah, pretty much," replied Harry with a shrug.
Cygnus turned to Sirius and said, "I told you he was a Slytherin hiding in Ravenclaw." The pained look on Sirius's face made Harry laugh.
"Alright," said Sirius. "Clearly, this is Give-My-Godfather-Indigestion Day. However, we still need to meet Amelia. She has news for Harry."
Harry, wondering what was going on, followed the two Lords down the passageway and into the offices of the DMLE. Inside, both Lords approached the young lady sitting at what was clearly a secretary's desk.
"Good afternoon, Nanine," said Sirius in a pleasant silky-smooth drawl. "Is Madam Bones back from trial yet?"
"Oh, yes, Lord Black," the girl near-tittered. "Let me just check to ensure she's ready for you." And she rose and approached a door just off to the side behind her desk. She gave it two quick raps of her knuckles, listened closely, and then opened the door to duck inside.
Harry looked at Sirius as soon as the girl disappeared behind the door. "Really, Godfather? Already?"
Sirius just gave a little smirk and a slight shrug before he said, "I can't have my godson doing better than me with the ladies. It just wouldn't be proper."
A few moments later, she was back and holding the door open.
"Director Bones will see you now," she said with a coy look towards Sirius.
Again, the two Lords led the four through. They walked into Amelia's inner office.
After finishing their short meeting with Amelia she allowed them to use her personal office fireplace to floo directly to Greengrass Estate. Harry was one of the first, after Daphne, to collapse into one of the available sofas. "So, there is a bloody prophecy with my name on it," he grouched. "But, who the hell is TMR?"
"Alright," said Sirius. "APWBD is clearly Dumbledore; he's the one who heard the prophecy. SPT is supposed to be Sibyl Patricia Trelawney; she's the Professor of Divination at Hogwarts. HJP is Harry James Potter; so TMR has to be the other person. I'll see what I can track down and even give my Aunt Cassiopeia a call. She's in her late seventies but still has her 'little black book'. It may provide us with some information."
"Is there any way we can acquire a list of past students of Hogwarts?" asked Harry. "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard to then go through the names to see if there's someone, or multiple someones, who have those initials."
"Good idea," said Cygnus. "I'll speak to old Professor Tofty at the Ministry. He has the records of all past and current Hogwarts students in his files. It'll be a nightmare to go through all those files, though."
"Well, I'd guess that the records would be in alphabetical order," said Harry. "Start with only going through those whose surnames begin or began with the letter 'R' first."
With a slight wince, Cygnus said, "Of course." In a tone that said he knew he should have considered that.
The initials seemed familiar to Harry. He was going through the names of all the students he knew, all the wizards and witches he had met and who had told him their names, every Daily Prophet he had read. However, it didn't come to him.
'If anyone can figure out who those initials belonged to without months slogging through records they should get a medal,' thought Harry. 'Something to rewar...'
Harry suddenly shot forward in his seat until he was sitting on the edge of it. The others saw a look of shock on his face.
"Harry?" asked Sirius. "What is it?"
"TMR," replied Harry softly. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. Slytherin House. Head Boy in 1945. Earned a special award from Hogwarts for services to the school in 1943. Headmaster Dippet awarded it to him. He earned it for identifying Hagrid as the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets back then. "A young Fourth Year Ravenclaw student by the name of Myrtle Malone was killed in the second floor girl's toilets."
"Wha?" said Sirius, obviously confused. "How do you know that?"
"I went for a wander through the castle a few days ago," explained Harry. "It was a free period and I both wanted to start to make a move on mapping the castle and burn off some energy. I walked into what I found to be the Hogwarts Trophy Room on the third floor.
"In the trophy room I found a cutting from the Daily Prophet that had an article on the story. It was in a picture frame directly above a small glass case that had the award. On another wall was a large wooden board that contained the list of names of the Head Boy and Head Girl for each year dating back to the beginning of the century. Riddle's name was there as Head Boy for 1945."
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