Dark Lord Dumbledore

"Harry Potter!"

Chad turned to find Arielle Aumont walking towards him with a determined gait, already planning to make his morning more difficult. He had just sat down to eat his breakfast and was still half asleep.

He purposely distanced himself from the Beauxbatons delegation at the feast last night so he would not have to deal with the snootiness of the males, or the questions from the woman now in front of him.

"Yes?" Chad replied blandly to the French beauty.

"So you are him, how come you didn't tell me you were THE Harry Potter?" She asked, miffed at his lack of enthusiasm.

"Its more fun this way. Besides, your friends tainted my opinion of your school, so I wanted to have some fun. You made things rather boring by stepping in to save them."

Arielle couldn't help but roll her eyes at his response, the boy's ego was greater than that of a wizard ten times his age.

"I must say, the rumours surrounding you did not prepare me for meeting you in person. The poor little boy that returned to the wizarding world only three years ago portrayed in the newspapers is a far cry from the real you standing in front of me." She said, the unasked question all but asked.

"I told you I had a reporter friend, she has done wonders for my public image. Not to mention attacking my enemies."

"Enemies? You mean that half-giant responsible for your disappearance for ten years?"

"Hagrid? As if he was behind it, the man is as much a victim as I was. No, I meant Albus Dumbledore. Surely you heard of his trial and loss of positions?" Chad replied, unsure why he was even bothering to respond to this girl's curiosity.

It could have something to do with her large b.r.e.a.s.ts, they were quite mesmerising first thing in the morning, but not enough for him to reveal anything not publically known. Or that he wanted to be broadcast in French noble cliques.

Before Arielle could further milk Chad for answers, Lilith flew down with a screech that made those aware of her reputation shudder in fear.

Dropping the morning paper in front of him and giving a peck for not visiting her more often, Chad could only pet his snowy owl and feed her some bacon as an apology.

A collective gasp was heard throughout the Hall, as those also subscribed to the Daily Prophet opened their copies. This seized Chad's attention and caused him to receive a light battering of Lilith's wing for ignoring her again.

Amused at the bird's antics, he resumed patting her as he opened the paper with his free hand. The headline on the front page soon explained what had everyone gasping in shock.

"What did I tell you, Rita Skeeter knows how to stick it those she doesn't like!" Chad said as he showed Arielle the paper.

"Oh, mon Dieu!"

He couldn't help but mentally pat himself on the back for his idea to brainwash the once hated reporter into an ally, she was worth her weight in gold.

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"Curse that woman!" Yelled an enraged Dumbledore.

He swiped the remains of his breakfast off the table with his arm, frustration overriding his control as expensive tableware smashed to the ground, spilling their contents everywhere.

Such was his fury that he didn't even bother to repair them, instead choosing to banish them into oblivion. The Galleons needed to replace them would be more than the Weasleys would earn in months.

It had become something of a trend for the Leader of the Light to lose his usual calm demeanour as he broke his fast, and just like all the times before, the cause had been the morning Daily Prophet.

The headline on the front page was something that would take years for his reputation to recover from, let alone fix completely. What made matters worse, was that there were elements of truth in the article that could be verified by the few witnesses he had not purged.

GRINDELWALD'S GIRLFRIEND: WHY THE LEADER OF LIGHT NEVER MARRIED!

And it seems as though Rita Skeeter had managed to interview two of them. Both his brother, Aberforth, and Bathilda Bagshot, his childhood neighbour and Gellert's great-aunt had both spilled the beans to the now highly acclaimed reporter and future Lady of House Black.

'Damn that wretched woman and her poisonous quill! It seems she needs to experience the consequences of opposing me, a few years in Azkaban for being an unregistered Animagus should do the trick!' Albus thought menacingly, a cruel smile overtaking his usual genial bearing.

What really annoyed him though, was that Rita had used her position at the Daily Prophet to advertise her book! The article was the equivalent to a book's blurb, and then directing her readers to Flourish and Blotts if they wished to read the full story!

The fact that he needed to pay the woman slandering him to find out what the full details of said defamation were made him press harder than necessary as he penned the anonymous tip to the Head of the DMLE concerning Skeeter's illegal beetle form.

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Amelia Bones needed to suppress the laughter that threatened to escape as she read the familiar flowing script of the 'anonymous' letter informing her of an unregistered Animagus.

Did Dumbledore forget that she often saw his handwriting in an official capacity thanks to his former positions of office?

Either way, it was clear to her that the man was clearly angry when he penned this letter. He had even nearly managed to poke through the thick parchment in some places!

What sealed the identity of the author was also the timing, she had also read this morning's Prophet and had been tempted to buy the infuriating woman's book. Maybe she could get Skeeter to send her a copy for free now that they had a working relationship.

When they sat down together to go over her story concerning the robbery at Hogwarts, Skeeter had proposed to continue the 'partnership' in return for a small favour. It seems the woman knew this would happen eventually and had prepared for it well.

How Rita managed to get her name onto the Animagus register without everyone knowing was suspicious in itself, since there were only a total of seven known registered Animagi in the twentieth century.

But since she was technically registered, Amelia had agreed to keep it quiet in return for help in their investigations. Knowing there was a reporter that could turn into a beetle to overhear conversations would damage her information gathering abilities.

Luckily, no law required announcing that an Animagus had registered, and having the woman owe her a favour was well worth not starting rumours out of revenge about how the journalist got her scoops.

Throwing the self-righteous old fool's letter into the trash, Amelia couldn't help but let a burst of laughter slip out as she thought what Dumbledore's face would look like as he eagerly waited for news or Rita Skeeter's arrest.

"Everything alright boss?" Asked Trainee Tonks, investigating the strange noise she heard from the open door of her bosses office.

Madam Bones just stared at her with her patented frosty glare until the nervous teenager's hair turned to blush pink in embarrassment. Taking the hint, the trainee backed out, closing the door as she went.

'I must be hearing things, there is no way the boss would be laughing.' Tonks thought as she went back to her desk, 'best to forget all about this, Moody might make me work harder if he hears I was causing trouble.'

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Throughout Magical Britain, those that had a subscription to the Daily Prophet were either delighted, shocked, appalled, sad, furious or a mixture of them.

But the one emotion everyone that read Skeeter's article universally felt was curiosity. Just what did she write in her book?

Flourish and Blotts received a tidal wave of customers that just could not resist satisfying their curiosity, even Gilderoy Lockhart's book signing didn't attract half as many witches and wizards as Rita's new book did.

If it was one thing the wizarding world thrived on, it was gossip. Harry Potter had been on the receiving end of public opinion fueled by gossip his whole life in the original timeline, going from hero to villain, and then back more times than a sane person could imagine.

But this was wizards we were talking about, and one thing that was rarely attributed to the magical humans of this world was sanity. Chad had been well aware of this and had suggested Skeeter wait until they had a large stockpile of books before releasing it.

Gellert Grindelwald was a worldwide Dark Lord, unlike Voldemort who barely spread his influence out of Britain. And if there was one thing the public would flock to read, it was the sordid past of two of the most famous wizards of this century.

By the end of the first day of the book being sold, it had already eclipsed any of Lockharts fantasy novels disguised as non-fiction. By the second, it had outdone all of his stories combined.

Rita Skeeter had set the wizarding world aflame with the hottest gossip it had seen other than the emergence of a new Dark Lord.

And she had profited massively from it.