The Slytherin Prince

³⁵| The Beetle {Part 2}

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The Slytherin Prince

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"Thoughts"

Letter

"~Parseltongue~"

":Deathtongue:"

~~~ Hadrian's POV ~~~

~~~ August 6, 1990 ~~~

I looked towards the corner that I felt the presence of someone who I couldn't see. The presence felt oily and extremely inquisitive as if her very aura oozed curiosity, which I guessed was what made her such a famous and decorated journalist in the Wizarding community.

In the dusty corner of the room a beetle flew from the window sill to the centre of the room and where there was once a beetle now stood a beautiful blonde woman.

She had a jawline that looked like it could cut diamond and cheekbones that looked they could cut off the fingers of anybody who dared touch her. Her lips were painted a blood red and her Grey eyes were dazzling. Her bejewelled glasses caught the dim light as she cocked her head and asked "How did you know?".

I chuckled lightly and replied, "I could feel your presence, you can hide yourself in plain sight from everyone Rita, but no one can hide their magic".

She smiled slightly as she sat on one of the old and squeaky chairs and looked at everyone gathered one by one. "So why have you called me here, Harry Potter?"."Well informed as always Rita," I said as I chuckled lightly. "But, my name is Hadrian Alexander Potter-Black or Lord Slytherin to others". The shock was prominent on her face for only a moment before she schooled it into neutrality. "Yes I am Harry Potter and The Boy-Who-Lived to the masses but I am so much more. I have called you here to make you an offer".

She nodded curiously for me to go on. "As I think you know, the Ministry of Magic hold the majority shares in The Daily Prophet. That is where you are wrong, the Ministry used to hold majority shares in the Prophet, as of now the current owner of the Daily Prophet is me" I said as I handed over the official paperwork that Griphook had given me earlier.

This time she couldn't mask the shock that coloured her features, "How?" she breathed. "No one has ever been able to do this, the Prophet has been firmly in the Ministry's clutches for decades, How?", she whispered.

I chuckled, "With careful manipulations, and money of course," I said airily.

She just shook her head and poked towards Aunt Amelia, "Aren't you firmly in Dumbledore's pocket Ms Bones, what are you doing with these lot" she said jerking her head towards Uncle Lucius and Nana. "I'll have you know, I'm not in anybody's pocket and only on the side of justice. And these two are good people who are portrayed as villains by Dumbledore" she said with forced calm.

Rita just raised her eyebrows inquisitively at her tone, but just looked at me and said, "What is this offer you have for me?".

"By now you would have understood that you work for me, and thus you might think you have to write what I would like to see, like what you have been doing for Fudge. But that is not what I want, I want you to write only the truth and no wild exploration and theories, you can keep that for the Witch Weekly gossip edition. And I want you to stop using the Dark and Evil interchangeably".

I looked at her hard until she nodded. "I want no one to know of the change in ownership of the Prophet, the Ministry think they still own it and I want them to think that way until I want it otherwise, understand Ms Skeeter?", she nodded again, more shaken this time.

After getting Rita to sign a binding contract in blood to keep all the information to herself and to only report the truth when it came to important information, I also informed her what exactly she must write about my return to the Wizarding World.

"You will write that a Pureblooded Lord of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House returned to claim the Lordship of the long-dormant Slytherin family, but that nothing was known about him, only that his magic was so powerful it made the walls of the Ministry tremble" I said smirking. This time she nodded confidently, her mind already working to make the given information as dramatic as possible.

She was also instructed to inform the public of the return of the Walburga Black and the alliance between the newly forged Lord Slytherin, Walburga Black, Lord Malloy and extremely surprisingly Lady Bones.

By the time I was done giving her information on how I wanted the news to be delivered to the masses, I noticed her frowning slightly and immediately guessed the reason behind her worry. "You are wondering why I am dictating what I want you to write on the Daily Prophet after getting you to sign a contract to report the truth and telling you that I won't tell you how to report the incidents?" I asked smiling a little.

I chuckled when she just nodded mutely."I asked you to sign the contract so that you would not write lies and over-exaggerations of my return to the Wizarding world and proclaim me as the nest Dark Lord...or such nonsense. But what I have just instructed you to write is neither. It is the truth, not the complete truth, of course, as I don't want my identity revealed until I take my seats in the Wizengamot at the upcoming session", I explained. She nodded as her doubts were cleared.

She looked at me again and asked one last question, "What do you intend to do once you establish yourself in the Wizengamot?". "Destroy Albus Dumbledore and Voldemort," I said, my face carefully blank. She grinned wickedly, "Things are going to get a lot more interesting around here," she said before strutting out the door as her high heels clacked hypnotically.

"Yes, things were definitely going to get interesting".