The Daily Prophet didn't become the premier newspaper of the wizarding world for nothing; their nose for news was incredibly sharp.
Hogwarts sits right next to the Forbidden Forest, so a student getting injured now and then is unavoidable. But a student vanishing mysteriously without even a corpse left behind? Now that is juicy news.
Enter Rita Skeeter. The reporter showed up wearing a tight green pencil skirt with her hair done up in stiff, elaborate curls.
She probably wasn't ugly, but she sure knew how to dress ugly. She thought of herself as a fashion icon, but in Rey's eyes, she was nothing short of hot garbage.
The woman was obnoxious, chattering endlessly until your ears felt like they were bleeding. She took the liberty of filling in the blanks of Rey's disappearance with her own wild imagination, fabricating a story about a ferocious beast in the Forbidden Forest that specialized in kidnapping children.
According to her, this beast snatched Rey because it had lost its own offspring and decided to raise him as its cub...
It was a bizarre story and a ridiculous theory. But in the wizarding world, where the boundaries of magic are endless, the more absurd the story, the better it sold. She wrote it up with maximum sensationalism.
Rey had actually prepared a script for the sudden interview. He planned to say he had lost his memory of the last few months and that Firenze the Centaur had saved him.
If she wanted to verify it, she was welcome to go into the Forbidden Forest and ask Firenze herself.
Rey was banking on the fact that she wouldn't dare enter the forest.
However, Rita Skeeter didn't play by the rules.
The closing remarks in her article read: "Poor first-year student Rey MacFusty was so terrified by the beast that he lost his memory. Heaven knows how much luck he used up just to escape the Forbidden Forest alive. If you want to know exactly what kind of beast it is, please keep reading The Daily Prophet."
Faced with this grossly distorted report, Rey wasn't exactly thrilled, but he was happy enough with the outcome.
"Oh, Merlin. This is absolutely preposterous. How can they allow her to slander you like this?"
At the long table in the Great Hall, students were eating dinner in small groups. Agnes Greengrass held a copy of The Daily Prophet, looking incredulous and angry.
"What else can we do? Tell them the truth?"
Rey didn't look angry at all. He asked the rhetorical question lightly, then scooped a spoonful of dessert into his mouth.
"Well... but still. At the very least, it shouldn't be this kind of slander," Agnes replied helplessly.
It was exactly as Rey said. What else? What could they do?
If he actually told the truth, it probably wouldn't take a day before he was invited to the Ministry of Magic for "tea." Even Dumbledore might not be able to stop them then.
"Hey, Cub."
Penelope Clearwater sat down next to Agnes and tilted her head to greet Rey on the other side. "Cub"—that was the nickname that had started floating around after the article came out.
"Did a beast really catch you to be its baby?"
Riobo Besai, the student Doric had grilled in class, sat opposite Rey and asked with wide-eyed curiosity.
Besai wasn't tall and was very thin, which made his eyes look huge. He looked intensely focused as he asked Rey.
Clearly, he believed every word printed in The Daily Prophet.
Faced with Besai's serious question, Rey didn't know how to respond other than offering an awkward smile.
"Hey. Welcome back."
Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff sat diagonally across from Rey and offered a warm greeting.
"Thanks! It feels really good to be back," Rey sighed in response.
Cedric didn't ask any questions about the disappearance. Since Rey hadn't clarified the newspaper report, Cedric felt there was no need to pry.
"By the way, have you guys noticed that all the food at Hogwarts lately has a faint taste of grass?" Cedric remarked after swallowing a bite of food.
Without the prompt, no one had really noticed the subtle change. But as soon as Cedric mentioned it, Rey and the others felt like they could taste a strong grassy aroma.
"A little grass flavor isn't bad. I actually really like this cake..."
---
Life at school was very laid-back. A few classmates chatting about the subtle changes in Hogwarts' food—those days went on for three days.
In those three days, there was only one Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
Professor Cabor Doric's behavior was entirely too normal. He didn't give Rey a hard time; in fact, he barely spared Rey a glance, acting as if Rey were just another ordinary student.
This surprised Rey a little, but after thinking carefully about Dumbledore's words, it made sense.
"Just act as if nothing happened. I will handle everything."
That was exactly what Dumbledore had said.
But handling this matter wasn't as simple as it sounded.
Doric was a professor invited by Dumbledore himself. After Rey went missing, Dumbledore had investigated him following Agnes's report.
That personal investigation had proven that Doric was not a vampire.
But now, the information Rey provided was the exact opposite. There were too many factors to weigh here.
The best solution would be for Doric to reveal his identity as a vampire himself.
But forcing Doric to expose himself was incredibly difficult. After all, if he could pass the verification once, he could pass it a second time.
However, Dumbledore was the authority at Hogwarts. Since he had said he would handle it, he must have preparations in place. Everything should be under his control.
Besides, with so many students around, Cabor Doric wouldn't be stupid enough to suddenly attack Rey.
That said, Doric's calmness gave Rey the nagging feeling that the man was executing some kind of plan or conspiracy.
---
Unlike Cabor Doric, who was distancing himself from Rey, the two Ministry Aurors had proactively made contact.
The two Aurors had come to ask Rey some details about the attack, but they skirted around the important parts. Whenever the conversation touched on Cabor Doric being the attacker, they would just smile awkwardly.
Rey didn't mind. As long as Dumbledore believed him, that was enough.
The Auror named Dorsey seemed to have been assigned to protect Rey. Whenever Rey was outside the dormitory, he could see Dorsey watching from a distance.
As for the older Auror, Turner—Rey hadn't seen him since that initial questioning, and he had no idea what the man was up to.
---
Night fell. When everyone else was asleep, Rey and Agnes were still sitting in the Ravenclaw common room.
This situation was too dangerous, and Rey originally hadn't intended to let Agnes get involved. But he couldn't withstand the girl's pestering, so he reluctantly agreed to let her listen in.
After all, she had pointed the finger at Cabor Doric, which would inevitably draw his hatred. They had to be on guard.
The two of them sat on the sofa in the common room, each holding a book.
Agnes was naturally reading some advanced academic text, while the book in Rey's hands was much simpler—it was about basic magical exercises.
His magical foundation had been completely shattered. To cast magic again, he needed to find the key method.
Just as they were both absentmindedly looking at their books, Helena's transparent figure drifted through the common room window and arrived in front of Rey.
Helena's arrival immediately caught their attention. They were sitting there specifically waiting for her.
Agnes had already cast a small Muffliato charm around them. That way, no matter how loudly the three of them spoke in the common room, no one else would hear a thing.
---
Sitting and waiting for death wasn't Rey's style.
Know the enemy and know yourself, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. That was the outcome he wanted.
If someone wanted to harm Rey, Helena was naturally the first to object. Her status as a ghost made her the perfect surveillance tool.
Floating in the air or hiding inside walls—as long as she didn't reveal her transparent form, she was incredibly difficult to detect.
"I found that Wizard Auror," Helena said, sitting on the sofa opposite Rey.
"Where?" Agnes asked immediately.
Where was the Auror named Turner? What was he doing? These were the questions everyone was concerned about.
"He's been in the Forbidden Forest this whole time. He only just returned to Doric's office a moment ago."