Topic 3 ~ Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

[WhittyLeah]

Welcome to the third drabble thread in Remus's Reflections. This is the place you post drabbles about the topic posted. The topic is something both important and significant to the world around us and to the Harry Potter-verse.

Please keep drabbles under a PG-13 rating and remember that everyone doesn't have the same views, so be respectful.

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This thread's topic is: The Effects of the Media.

Thank you, Laurskii, for the topic idea!

Happy drabbling!

[MrsRuebeusHagridDursley]

Name: MrsRuebeusHagridDursley
House: Hufflepuff!
Title: Extra, Extra, Read all about it! The Paper's Lying and I'm Gonna Shout it!
Warnings: DH spoilers
Word count: Something like 433 after I chopped it up

Extra, extra, read all about it!

“Read all about what?” Ginny muttered under her breath, tossing the latest Daily Prophet aside. “Lies? What never happened?”

“Go away!” shrieked her mother. Ginny heard the front door slam and her mother came into the kitchen, grumbling. “Pack of wolves, they are. Honestly.”

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Ever since Voldemort’s downfall the papers had been abuzz with stories. Most of them complete lies. There were stories saying that Harry had survived only because he had Horcruxes of his own. Some insisted that Harry had defeated Voldemort by feeding him to the Giant Squid. And Rita Skeeter was back. She had a story a day about Harry. And they, sadly, were up to her usual quality.

Even sadder was the fact that the public believed them.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Through the door Ginny could here the mob of reporters shouting.

“Is it true that Potter has fourteen Horcruxes? Who did you kill to make those Horcruxes, Harry?”

“How did you get the Giant Squid working for you, Harry?”

“Is it true you killed house elves for your cause, Potter?”

Ginny’s mother flew back through the kitchen in a rage. Ginny heard her open the door and instantly the bombardment of questions began.

“Mrs. Weasley, how do you feel about your daughter being romantically involved with such a dangerous boy?”

“Mrs. Weasley, why are you allowing the murderous Harry Potter to live in your home? Did he threaten your family?”

“He is not a murderer or one to threaten people! He just saved all your bloody lives, and you should be grateful!”

Ginny heard someone mutter to their partner, “Write this down, ‘Harry Potter threatens to bloody up the Weasley family if they don’t agree to keep him in their home.”

Mrs. Weasley slammed the door and marched back through the kitchen, just to run straight into Harry on the stairs.

“Mrs. Weasley,” he said in a rush, “I’m gonna go, I can’t make you do this for me, I’ll just go right through them and-”

“Nonsense, Harry,” said Mrs. Weasley, “It’s fine...”

Ginny let the rest of the conversation fall out of her mind, let the roar of the reporters outside become a din.

“Why are you Weasley’s caring for the boy responsible for Fred’s death?”

“Harry Potter is inside this house, hiding from the world with a terrible secret...”

Extra, extra, read all about it!

Ginny blocked out the world, repeating inside her head her own mantra: Extra, extra, read all about it! The paper’s lying and I’m gonna shout it!

I hope that was alright!

~Morgan


5 points to Hufflepuff. Interesting. I never thought they'd keep it up even after the war, but I guess those sorts of things just don't go away. *glares at Rita skeeter*

[Cwiddy]

Name: Cwiddy
House: Hufflepuff
Title: Biased Report
Warnings: None
Word count: 223

Hermione slammed the newspaper shut. “When is there going to be a neutral paper that only writes the truth!” she exclaimed as she glared across the room at Ron.

“What do you want me to do about it? Last time we had these problems we weren’t on the run from the government that is under the control of the Death Eaters. I wish you could just call up someone to tell them the truth, but would that really help us?” Ron said as he picked up the paper that Hermione just threw down.

“What are they writing now? More lies about Harry, or more untruths about Muggleborns?” Ron asked of Hermione.

“Both. I wonder if there is an underground newspaper like Potterwatch is on the radio?” asked Harry as he entered the room.

“I believe that there are flyers that occasionally make it into print, but it is a bit too risky, as it would be easier to trace the newspaper. It would also give evidence against the readers, leaving something solid behind,” Ron pointed out.

“I guess you are right. At least there is Potterwatch getting some real news out to those willing to listen,” Harry said with a sigh.

“Hopefully someday the truth will be told Harry, by someone who is not under the control of the government,” Hermione also sighed.

[Pheonix Tears]

Name: Pheonix Tears
House: Hufflepuff
Title: On The Pulse. (I'm rubbish at titles.)
Warnings: None
Word count: 339

The Wizarding world is in mourning. The great Harry Potter has, at the age of 76, sadly passed away.

Harry looked down from his newspaper. “Ginny?”

She popped her head round the kitchen door. “Yes?”

“I’m dead again.”

“Oh for goodness sake.” She walked over and scanned the newspaper article quickly. “Not again! After all that trouble the last time, having to get a printed apology and all the public appearances you had to make. I’ll call Hermione.”

Harry put a restraining hand on Ginny’s arm. “Couldn’t we just wait? It’s quite nice being dead, I don’t get harassed nearly as much.”

“You only like it because they’ve said you died from ‘a heroic tussle with the latest breed of Mrydles,’” she quoted from the paper.

“Well that as well, but think about it, I can walk down the street without being stared at and having people gawping at me,” he tried reasoning with his wife unsuccessfully.

“And how will your fans feel? You’re a celebrity, Harry, you’re famous, and I know you didn’t ask to be, but you are, and you can’t change it. Saying you’re dead when you aren’t, is horrible.”

He bowed his head. “You’re right.”

“So I’ll ring Hermione then?” She gestured to the telephone, which Harry had insisted they install all those years ago.

He nodded and then touched his neck.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking I’ve still got a pulse. It’s always good to check you’re still alive, especially if the newspapers say that your ‘loving and devoted wife was with him when he said goodbye.’ For all I know, you could be thinking of killing me with that knife in your hand right now, and an interview in all the glossy magazines,” he joked.

She smiled. “Shut up baldy, I’m trying to get my exclusive.”

At the age of 63, Harry Potter had gone bald. It had made headlines around the world. Harry’s public response was that ‘it had obviously been a very slow news day.’ Of course, they misquoted him completely.

kehribar: Great drabble! Ten points to Hufflepuff.

[Elmindreda]

Name: Elmindreda
House: Gryffindor
Title: No Comment
Warnings: DH Spoilers
Word count: 495

I have dreaded this day ever since I heard about there being plans for the celebration. Some part of me knew it was the right thing to do, if only because not doing it would be wrong. Before this time, I never doubted the rightness of memorial celebrations. I had to live through an event that became the reason for such celebration to fully understand one simple fact. Sometimes the best way to honor someone’s memory is to let that memory rest. Some things are better left alone.

The main reason I wish I could avoid going to the celebration to commemorate the first anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts is… No, there is no one reason. One would think I would be used to attention and questioning since long before the end of the war. I have learned how to bear with all sorts of questions, I managed to answer them all, truthfully enough while respecting things that should not be dredged up. Except one question. Or rather, a number of questions along the same lines.

“Harry, you’ve been said to claim that Severus Snape remained loyal to Dumbledore. How does Dumbledore’s murder fit in this story?”

“Harry, the readers want to know the true story behind your final battle with He Who Must Not Be Named. What role did the by-then-ex-Headmaster Snape play in it?”

And worse…

“Harry, everyone who knows you said that you and Snape have been sworn enemies ever since your first day at Hogwarts. Moreover, you’ve been said to repeatedly claim your being confident in Snape’s loyalty to You-Know-Who. What was is that made you rethink his allegiances and believe that the so-many-times-turned traitor turned against his master after all?”

I had to summon every shred of my self-control to stop myself from snatching Skeeter’s blasted quill and flinging out the window.

“No comment,” was all I said, and refused to answer any more questions that day.

It’s been a year now, and I know I will be asked questions again. Especially after the name ‘Severus Snape’ is called second in the list of people whose memory the gathering will honor, right after ‘Albus Dumbledore’.

I am completely at a loss. What should I do? Just another ‘no comment’ and get it over with? Say to myself, ‘I don’t give a damn what they write about him, and neither would he’? Well, he would not, most likely. The trouble is… I do.

The next day, I eye the poised quills rather hopelessly, knowing that whatever truth I will say, the quills and their owners will turn it into whatever lie works best to suit their needs, bring them fame, sell their papers… Suddenly, I am struck with an idea. If I’m forced to play, I’ll just have to beat them at their own game.

“Severus Snape saved my life.”

As an answer, it is, technically, a lie. But it is the closest I will ever get to the truth.

kehribar: Five points to the Gryffs!