Seeing the intriguing headline, Jon couldn't help but grow more interested in the article.
The author was Barnabas Cuffe. If Jon remembered correctly, he was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Prophet... Apparently, the editor-in-chief himself had taken up the pen to smear Harry Potter, yet had deliberately tucked the piece away in a discreet corner of the paper.
Interesting.
Jon continued reading the article.
"Harry Potter: Narcissist? Delusional? Or Murderer?"
Rumors about the "Boy Who Lived" were spreading through the wizarding world like wildfire!
Now, The Daily Prophet had uncovered several disturbing facts about him—details that Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had long gone to great lengths to conceal—and was finally making them public!
"Potter speaks Parseltongue," revealed an anonymous fifth-year Slytherin student in an interview. "Over two years ago, many students were attacked. Most people believed Potter was behind it, because everyone saw him, during a Duelling Club session, angrily summon a snake to attack another boy. But all of that was covered up."
"He also befriends werewolves and giants, and bullies students from other houses. We wouldn't be surprised if he did something terrible!" added Mr. Draco Malfoy, a fifth-year Slytherin student, during his interview.
Parseltongue—the ability to communicate with snakes—has long been regarded as a form of Dark Magic. An anonymous member of the Dark Force Defence League stated that any wizard capable of speaking Parseltongue is extremely dangerous, and those who associate with dark creatures such as werewolves and giants are often prone to violence.
Furthermore, a Potions professor at Hogwarts, who requested anonymity, added: "Potter may have inherited certain traits from his father... James Potter, during his lifetime, was an infamously violent Hogwarts graduate who enjoyed bullying other students!"
At the same time, Harry Potter has shown clear signs of aggression toward Muggles.
Madam Mafalda Hopkirk of the Ministry of Magic's Misuse of Magic Department mentioned that, both three years ago and two years ago, Potter had repeatedly used magic outside of school, each time targeting his Muggle relatives.
It can be said that Harry Potter has displayed severe violent tendencies on multiple occasions.
Yet under Albus Dumbledore's protection, none of these offenses were ever punished. Instead, Potter was glorified as a "savior."
Encouraged by Dumbledore, Harry Potter seems to have wandered further and further down this path.
For example, just over two weeks ago, he made the laughable claim that the Dark Lord—He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named—had returned.
Everyone knows Harry Potter's fame is inseparable from that very Dark Lord. We have reason to believe that he fabricated this shocking news to attract attention, fearing his popularity was beginning to fade.
However, many people have overlooked one very important—and terrifying—fact.
During the Triwizard Tournament, every Hogwarts student witnessed Harry Potter enter the maze alongside another student, Jon Hart. But when they came out, only Potter returned—carrying Mr. Hart's body.
Any rational observer would recognize Potter as the prime suspect in this murder. Yet the shameless Dumbledore once again covered for him, even barring Ministry officials from examining Jon Hart's corpse.
What exactly is Dumbledore's motive?
When will Potter's identity as a murderer finally be exposed?
And are the other Hogwarts students truly safe?
We'll discuss this matter further in our next issue.
...
It was quite a long article, but Jon read it all with remarkable patience.
He had to admit—Editor-in-Chief Barnabas Cuffe was skilled at his craft. The article was logically coherent, leaving almost no flaws from start to finish. Had Jon been Cornelius Fudge, he might've given the man a medal.
Fudge, too, was no simple fool. By using such a strategy to discredit both Dumbledore and Harry Potter at once, he effectively stripped their words of all credibility.
Clearly, the Minister of Magic had a knack for politics. Unfortunately, in the wizarding world, petty cunning like that meant little in the grand scheme of things.
Jon scanned through the remaining pages of The Daily Prophet, spending several minutes looking for more—yet there were no other articles about Dumbledore or Harry.
Nor did he find any familiar Death Eater names.
Finally, Jon glanced at the date, then tossed the newspaper into the trash bin.
It was July 15, 1995—his fourteenth birthday.
Sadly, this birthday wasn't as lively as those before. At least there weren't many owls delivering gifts... After all, he was now Christopher Patrick, not Jon Hart.
In the entire world, only two people still knew that Jon Hart was alive.
He got out of bed and sat by the window, watching the morning sun as he thought about what came next after turning fourteen.
Voldemort had returned, and the Death Eaters had regrouped. At the same time, the Order of the Phoenix had been reestablished.
The tension between the two sides was escalating rapidly—yet the Ministry of Magic and much of the wizarding world remained completely in the dark.
If the entire wizarding world were to unite with the Order of the Phoenix now, they might still have a chance to crush Voldemort and the Death Eaters before they could fully rise again.
But Fudge was determined to bury his head in the sand. Surrounded by loyalists like Umbridge, he and his followers clung desperately to power by suppressing Dumbledore.
Once Voldemort gathered enough forces, both the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix would find themselves at a severe disadvantage, gradually infiltrated and undermined from within.
After all, Voldemort's ideology was, to some degree, supported by many pure-blood wizards.
In the end, everything would hinge on Dumbledore's plan. He had devised a complete strategy to destroy Voldemort himself—once Voldemort was gone, the loosely bound Death Eaters would crumble on their own.
However, such a plan would come at a steep price. In the original story, most members of the Order of the Phoenix—and many Hogwarts students—had perished.
The sooner Voldemort was exposed to the public, the fewer lives would be lost.
If it were the old Jon, he would never have dared to get involved. One careless move could bring disaster to his doorstep—perhaps even a Dark Mark over his own roof.
But things were different now. Now, with his pure-blood identity and his parents safely hidden, Jon had nothing left to fear.