A previously unknown newspaper, the Poison and Antidote Daily, burst onto the scene.
This paper claimed to have first-hand information on the Triwizard Tournament and said it had been officially sanctioned by the Ministry.
Following this, the Witches and Potions Publishing House, along with Professor Jerry and numerous other authors and masters, recommended the paper to their readers and fans. What's more, many heads of departments and high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Magic openly vouched for the paper's accuracy.
This blatant public endorsement was a powerful wave of promotion. With it, many wizards seeking the truth eagerly bought the Poison and Antidote Daily and finally learned what was actually going on.
The Daily Prophet caught a whiff of the danger, but it was already too late—they were in a mess of their own making. A summons from the Wizengamot shattered the last shred of hope for their editor-in-chief, Barnabas Cuffe.
The Ministry of Magic was suing the Daily Prophet for maliciously fabricating false information about the Triwizard Tournament without authorization and extensively reporting on it, which had caused a terrible stir. At the same time, Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter was being sued by several wizards who had been harmed by her repeated lies. Both cases were set to be heard by the Wizengamot the following Monday.
With multiple charges stacked against her, if found guilty, Rita Skeeter would face more than just a simple charge of slander. She was looking at a nice, long stay in Azkaban, where she might even run into another former celebrity: Gilderoy Lockhart.
As for the Daily Prophet, while it wouldn't be shut down, it would definitely be held accountable for its poor oversight and would have to pay a hefty sum of Galleons to seek forgiveness.
"I'm innocent! I didn't fabricate any false information! You have no proof!" Rita Skeeter yelled in the Wizengamot courtroom on Monday. This was her only chance; she couldn't afford to be found guilty.
In response to Skeeter's protest, the Ministry of Magic's representative for the prosecution simply pulled out a quill. "Ms. Skeeter, do you remember this quick-quotes quill? The one you use so often? You must have recorded a lot of things with it..."
"Oh, and would you care to see this?" The Ministry's representative then produced another piece of evidence, one with both images and sound: the very scene of Rita Skeeter fabricating her stories.
How could this be?! She had no idea they could even get something like this. Rita Skeeter's eyes bugged out like a horny toad's.
"This is just some of the evidence we've gathered," the representative said, leaning closer to Skeeter and whispering in her ear. "And I have footage of your unregistered Animagus form, Ms. Beetle."
CRASH!
Rita Skeeter felt her head spin, and her body went limp in the chair. Her biggest secret had been exposed. She knew she was done for. Even if she beat the charges of malicious fabrication and spreading false information, the single crime of being an unregistered Animagus was enough to land her in hot water.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar, towering figure sitting among the judges. It was Dudley, wearing the robes of a Wizengamot member, looking down at her with a smirk. His gaze seemed to say, "I told you we would meet again in the Wizengamot, Ms. Skeeter."
From there, things went smoothly. Because it was facing a Wizengamot trial, the Daily Prophet had to temporarily halt its publication. As a result, its readership plummeted, and its reputation with many wizards was shattered.
The Poison and Antidote Daily seized the opportunity, capitalizing on the Prophet's absence to grab a crazy amount of market share. Combined with the allure of a new wizard card game and Professor Jerry's latest book serial, it achieved the Daily Prophet's typical sales in just a few days. It wouldn't be long before it took the Prophet's place entirely.
Soon after, Rita Skeeter's sentence was handed down. As expected, she was given ten years in Azkaban and was ordered to pay damages to the wizards she had slandered. All her assets would be auctioned off to pay her debts. If the Dementors didn't drive her mad, she might even be released in ten years.
If one were to analyze all these events, they would notice the subtle, invisible hand pulling the strings behind the scenes, escalating the situation step by step and pushing the public's attention to its peak.
This was a classic case of building momentum.
It crushed Rita Skeeter, crippled the Daily Prophet, and at the same time, made the Poison and Antidote Daily famous. Nowadays, who in the European wizarding world hasn't heard of the Poison and Antidote Daily?
After this incident, while not permanently out of commission, the Daily Prophet was gravely wounded. Once you lose public trust and support, it takes a long time and a tremendous amount of effort to win it back.
"No reputable wizard reads the Daily Prophet anymore" became the most popular phrase of the day.
Those who try to manipulate the media will eventually suffer the consequences.
For Dudley, who was still a student at Hogwarts, this entire affair was just a minor distraction. He had never taken Rita Skeeter seriously; he only ever wanted control of the Daily Prophet. Dealing with a lying reporter was child's play for him. He didn't even have to lift a finger this time; he simply dropped a few hints, and the wizards she had slandered banded together to put an end to her.
A medium that reflects and guides public opinion, like a newspaper, must be firmly in one's own hands.
If the Daily Prophet hadn't chosen to make a mess of things, it would have been taken over sooner or later anyway; that was always part of Dudley's plan. Rita Skeeter's actions simply sped up the process.
There was now only one week left until the first task of the Triwizard Tournament.
The three champions had no idea what the task would entail, and therefore, they were all unprepared.
But there was no need to worry; cheating had been a long-standing tradition of the Triwizard Tournament.
Karkaroff and Madame Maxime were using all their connections to get the details of the first task and leak them to their champions. At Hogwarts, Hagrid was the one who revealed the information to them—or rather, "revealed" isn't quite the right word. He took them straight to a live demonstration.
The first task of the Triwizard Tournament was dragons. In four massive iron cages, a fully-grown dragon was housed in each.