Chapter 102: Prince
Next morning, the special edition of Daily Prophet was released. Even Wizards who didn't read the newspaper bought it for that day, Every Wizard and Witch knew that today's paper covered the whole story behind the Pius scandal. Even though the paper covered many details of the news before, most of them were just speculations and guesses on their part, but today's news covered the whole story told by one of the victims and the one who defeated Pius alone.
The whole front page of the newspaper started with the eye-catching title of the article, which read 'The Prince of the Black Family.' Writers and editors after deciding for a long while finally decided on the title and just as from the title of the article you would expect, nothing much was written about the incident. The moving picture of Fudge giving Draco the order of Merlin award was the main picture in the article.
The whole article showed Draco in a luxurious manner than a hero who defeated Pius, the article did indeed mention what happened in the whole situation, but all of those were described in a single paragraph just giving a gist of what happened. Rather the whole article was filled about Draco's personal life, which some people were very interested in after him being in the news for a long while now. The article mentioned about him growing up in one of the richest wizarding family in Britain, the Malfoy family and later acquiring the Black Manor as well. With Sirius in prison, no one had any doubt that Draco was the true owner of the Black family.
The article then began describing the total worth of all of Draco's Property, including his potions and items he got for free, coming to the conclusion that Draco was one of the wealthiest people in the whole of Britain's wizarding community. After reading the article, many people couldn't help but feel that the title really suited Draco. The genius boy who grew up rich in a noble family, really made it seem like, he was living a life of Prince from a fairy tale.
Many people after reading that Draco had the help of some aurors started trying to ruin his name but before the countless people who supported him became immense, those people didn't have much chance. Wizards are very simple as they move along with the wind, one time when the media outcry for Draco being a potential Dark Lord was out, many people believed so and wanted him to surrender but now when the same Draco defeated a person who seemed like a huge threat to the community, Draco became a Prince. Not a hero but a simple Prince, he didn't battle alone neither did he came from a humble beginning where he fought his way to rest above everyone else, he was just a Prince who grew up with a golden spoon in his mouth and was very talented in using his resources.
Even though the news portrayed him in a bad way, including his good deed but making it seem like it was normal, people's mentality didn't saw Draco in a bad light instead he became super popular, especially among young girls. With his handsome good looks, noble standing and being a brave fighter, Draco became the knight in shining armors the girl would dream about, but unlike the dream, Draco was more of a real deal.
The word Prince became the known title for Draco, some people like the media used it to make it seem like his deeds weren't worthy enough to be appreciated too much, some used it sarcastically to make it seem like he was just a rich brat doing whatever he wanted to gain fame and attention, especially in that scene where he could've just waited for the trained aurors to do their job, instead of jumping in and bothering them, and some people used the word as a way to show their respect to Draco for his effort and strength.
The news blew up quick like wildfire, to the point where the Daily Prophet had to reprint the issues just after a couple of hours of releasing it. The whole British community was talking about it and everyone had their own different opinion. Draco especially gained some fame among the half-bloods and muggle born wizards, where they figured Draco didn't really hate them like other pure-bloods did and thought he could help bring an end to the discrimination in the future. The news mentioned Harry in a short sentence were they wrote how busy the savior was in hiding and being protected by Dumbledore, but people didn't even bother remembering Harry in this incident.
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Draco who finished reading the newspaper closed it and threw it on the ground. He had anticipated some bad things but he'd never expected the Daily Prophet to change the whole situation to focus more on his financial side. Even though they made it seem like, they were neither against him nor with him, the different sudden arguments bought up a whole new side to the story which Draco wasn't sure was even possible.
"So is our Prince upset with the article?" Theodore who had come to visit him said sarcastically.
"Shut up." Draco said annoyed, "I never felt that they could turn the situation into me showing off my wealth."
"Well, what do you expect from an article written by Rita." Theodore said, "You should be happy since the whole article is about you, even Fudge doesn't have a full paragraph in this article."
"Well, I never expected them to only copy a quote from you. Especially, since you're a victim, I thought they would be very interested in what you had to say." Draco snickered, the whole article only had one line where Theodore was even mentioned, even when they conducted a similar interview with him.
"Don't worry, I am not fame hungry like you." Theodore said rolling his eyes, "So have Pansy and Daphne visited yet?"
"Not yet." Draco shook his head, "I heard that their parents didn't let them since they figured I needed some time to rest, but they did send me a howler yesterday."
"Haha.. what did it say?"
"I didn't bother reading it," Draco said laying back, "We are going to meet tomorrow anyway so what's the big deal."
"What's tomorrow?"
"Oh! did I forget to tell you that we are going shopping tomorrow." Draco said throwing a letter towards Theodore.
Theodore caught the letter and opened it, The letter told them to catch the Hogwarts Express as usual from King's Cross station on September first. There was also a list of the new books they'd need for the coming year.
SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS WILL REQUIRE:
The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2by Miranda Goshawk
Break with a Banshee by Gilderoy Lockhart
Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Holidays with Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart
43 Travels with Trolls by Gilderoy Lockhart
Voyages with Vampires by Gilderoy Lockhart
Wanderings with Werewolves by Gilderoy Lockhart
Year with the Yeti by Gilderoy Lockhart
"What's up with all these Lockhart's books?" Theodore asked folding the letter back again, "Is our new teacher a fanatic of Lockhart or something."
"Who knows!" Draco said, due to all the drama he had actually forgotten about Lockhart. Draco was thankful that he had decided to go to Drumstrang as an exchange student this year, so apart from a few months, Draco didn't have to face all the craziness of Lockhart.
Talking about the exchange student program, Draco had already received a permission letter from the Ministry along with the agreement of Igar, due to Lucius intervening in the matter all the documents were ready, now all he needed was the permission of Dumbledore and he could go to Durmstrang without any problem. He mentioned the topic and sent the documents regarding the school visit to Dumbledore when he sent the letter back to him the other day, but he still hadn't received a reply back from him, on the topic.
"Why are you dozing off?" Theodore asked snapping his fingers near Draco's face. "Now that I think about it, isn't Lockhart very similar to you."
Draco snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at Theodore annoyed "What do you mean?"
"Well, both of you are famous for doing heroic deeds that no one had witnessed, both of you are fame hungry." Theodore said mocking Draco, "The only difference is that, you haven't written a book about it or else you would be called the second Lockhart."
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