章 26: A Media Frenzy
He signed the contracts with the Daily Prophet, but Evan underestimated the influence of the Daily Prophet, when he sat down to eat some toast the next morning, he saw a flock of owls flying towards the Great Hall.
"Look!"
No one knew who shouted as all the students looked up and witnessed a fantastic scene.
Countless owls poured into the Great Hall, covering almost the entire ceiling.
"Great Hall of Hogwarts, Evan Masson."
Evan saw his name and address on an envelope, furrowed his brow, and took it, but soon three, four, five owls fluttered beside him, stepping on butter, knocking over salt, each eager to deliver their letter first.
"What's happening?" Colin asked curiously.
No one answered, and then seven more owls flew in, but this time they were looking for Harry.
"I think I know what's going on, guys, look at this!" exclaimed Hermione excitedly, taking a package from the owls. But before she could open the package, more than ten owls swooped in and surrounded her instantly.
Evan opened the package Hermione handed him, it contained the latest edition of the Daily Prophet. The article about Harry's mother was on the cover alongside other articles by the editor and Bathilda Bagshot.
Photos and novels by Lockhart filled the entertainment section and the novel section. Hermione's two articles occupied a space below Rita Skeeter's article.
"These are letters from people who read our articles."
"The letter I'm holding was sent by a witch over 50, thanking Hermione for her efforts to keep underage wizards safe, as she lost her daughter in a flying accident when her daughter was eight. Many of the letters came from Muggle-born wizards, thanking her for saying what they always wanted to say.
Unlike the gratitude Hermione received, Harry received much more poignant thanks. People used some beautiful yet exaggerated statements to express their sorrow for Harry's unfortunate life.
As for Evan, he received more criticism.
People complained about some things he had written, like how Voldemort failed, what Lily's last spell was, and who the black-haired boy in the locket was.
One man said they had the right to know the truth.
Ron opened one of Evan's letters and muttered, "What does he want to know, why not ask He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named directly?"
"Look, this woman suggests you go to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries," said Colin, "Could she be a follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"
In fact, the professors were more stressed than Evan.
Almost all the professors received a large number of letters, including Dumbledore and McGonagall, the readers who read Evan's article expected the professors to take better care of Harry.
Faced with a never-ending stream of owls, they were overwhelmed.
Professor Snape cast a spell that made all the owls fly away.
Unlike Snape, who was angry, Lockhart was extremely excited. Lockhart received the most letters, putting them all in a special pocket so he could respond to his admirers in his free time.
Nevertheless, Evan's articles had an unexpected outcome.
Many older wizards were surprised that young wizards could write so well, but most people believe that what they say makes a lot of sense, even if in some places the wording is not precise considering the age of some, the flaw is insignificant.
The good news in all of this is that the editor of the Daily Prophet said he was willing to reprint the articles of Evan, Hermione, and Lockhart for a while, with the advantage he had gained so far, Evan managed to print around 800 follow-up newspapers per issue.
Everything was going well, and Hogwarts' magical newspaper became part of the daily life of some wizards; the newspaper was receiving increasing contributions and generating modest profits. Professors and students got used to the countless owls that rained down during breakfast every Wednesday.
Due to the small amount of money he earned, Evan bought some herbs for himself and bought Hermione a new quill. The rest of the money was spent on Fred and George's research.
With a steady supply of materials, the twins achieved excellent results.
In addition to the magical fireworks, they also developed Extendable Ears, Self-Writing Quill, Blood-Flavored Toffees, and Thunderous Tongue Toffees.
These inventions were brilliant but fraught with danger.
Fred and George received many orders, and many young wizards expressed excitement over their new product. However, Percy and Hermione did not allow them to turn others into guinea pigs, leading the twins to almost live in the school's infirmary.
Hogwarts' nurse, Madam Poppy Pomfrey, was irate, even without Fred and George, she was busy every day.
By October, the weather turned cold.
Ginny and Evan, who had recently been ill, showed no mercy toward Percy, who forced them to take some of Madam Poppy Pomfrey's Invigorating Potion, causing steam to come out of their ears for hours.
Their cold, manuscript revisions, and increasing schoolwork greatly reduced Evan's focus on the Chamber of Secrets.
Fortunately, Ginny had not shown any abnormality, she had been going to the library every night to help Hermione edit the manuscripts, so she shouldn't have had time to open the Chamber, or had not been influenced by Tom Riddle.
Evan found time to talk to her about the diary, but Ginny said she had never seen a black diary.
This surprised Evan, if Ginny didn't have Tom Riddle's diary, who did? Hadn't Lucius Malfoy given it to her, perhaps crossing it over produced more than just a simple butterfly effect wave?
But anyway, the plot had shifted, Evan's most significant advantage had vanished!
After worrying about it for a while, Evan cleared his mind and decided to think about it another time.
Hopefully, Tom Riddle doesn't show up looking for a way to destroy the Horcruxes. It's not my problem, so Dumbledore should worry about that.
.....
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