Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass: The Love Contract

Chapter 12

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

"Parseltongue"

Writing/Reading

"YELLING"

To say that the outcry of the citizens of Magical Britain over Cuffe's article about Sirius Black would be upsetting, was an understatement. Hundreds, if not thousands of letters, among them being several Howlers, managed to make their way into Cornelius Fudge's office, which technically shouldn't have been possible. The Minister had a special ward that was supposed to prevent negative letters and Howlers from getting through to him via the standard magical correspondence system, which was why he suspected that someone in his staff was making sure that the letters got through. Each of the letters said nearly the same message.

How dare you not listen to the Boy-Who-Lived?!

Is Harry Potter being honest about Sirius Black?!

Is it true that Sirius Black is innocent?! Is anything being done to prove it?!

Is Sirius Black going to receive a trial?!

'A trial?! I can't afford to allow Black a trial!' Fudge thought to himself, as he paced in his office. 'If Black is given a trial, I'll be blamed for the fact that he was chucked into Azkaban in the first place, even though I had nothing to do with his incarceration!

'No, there is no way in Merlin's name, that Sirius Black will be given a chance to prove his innocence because he is not innocent!' Fudge's thoughts continued, working overdrive in his exasperation. 'The man was a secret Death Eater, he was the Potter's Secret Keeper, thus he turned them over to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, killed those Muggles, and destroyed Peter Pettigrew, and that's that!'

Unfortunately for Fudge, the article was throwing everything he said, into question. He had immediately tried to smooth things over by giving a statement reaffirming Black's guilt, but even that didn't work out as he had hoped. The general populace was still demanding to know the truth about how Black was incarcerated, and if he had indeed received a trial. Fudge turned to glare at the Daily Prophet article that started the whole issue for him, as he picked it up and read it for the tenth time.

Sirius Black, A Guilty Man, or An Innocent Victim of A Crime He never Committed? Minister of Magic Covering Up The Truth and Refusing to Listen to the Boy-Who-Lived When The True Culprit Was Discovered!

By Barnabas Cuffe, Editor-In-Chief

Expecting my day to be another rather dull one, I was not expecting to receive a visit from Lord Cyrus and Lady Elizabeth Greengrass, as well as their eldest daughter, Heiress Daphne Greengrass, but also the Boy-Who-Lived, and Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, Harry Potter himself. As such, I did not expect to be given such a fantastical story to release in this edition of the Daily Prophet, and I, myself, am still having a hard time believing it. Immediately after the interview began, Harry Potter went into great detail about what happened the previous Hogwarts year, in regards to the escaped fugitive, Sirius Black, the last direct living male heir of the Ancient and Noble House of Black. Furthermore, Harry Potter had even revealed to me how Black was given a serious miscarriage of justice, both on November 1st, 1981, and just recently on June 7th, 1994.

Heir Potter, accompanied by his two best friends, Ronald Bilius Weasley, the sixth and youngest son of the Noble House of Weasley, and Muggleborn Hermione Granger, all Gryffindor Third Years at the time with Heir Potter, found himself in the Shrieking Shack, a decrepit house on the edge of Hogsmeade Village just outside of Hogwarts, with the convict Sirius Back himself. Heir Potter explained how he and his friends had tried to fight Black to make sure he couldn't use a wand to harm them, until Remus Lupin, the Defense Against the Dark Art professor at the time and a werewolf, came, in and disarmed the Potter heir of the wand he had. Potter then explained how Lupin began to calm Black down enough, so that they could explain the true events that transpired, on November first, nineteen eighty-one, a story that Heir Potter, and myself, could hardly believe. I can assure you, readers, that this story is true, and I have no doubt, that when you read what happened, you will be demanding answers for what's happened.