Every spell he cast.
That shining figure in the air.
Moments that even the people involved might not have been able to catch themselves had, somehow, been secretly and completely recorded.
It was fair to say that aside from the opening conversation with Barty Crouch Jr., everything else had truly been made public.
And the vivid writing, the way it described everything so clearly, did not just make readers feel as though they were there in person. It also stirred them up, thrilled them, drove them into a frenzy.
Just look at Pansy and Astoria, their heads practically pressed together.
They gasped every time Draco was thrown into danger, and bristled at Ginny's little movements, the ones she had clearly thought no one would notice.
It even made Draco suspect that if he threw the article away right now, Pansy and the others might protest on the spot and accuse him of feeling guilty.
Still, whoever had managed to record all of this had to be an experienced professional.
Without enough skill and experience, there was no way anyone could have captured things in such painstaking detail.
'It couldn't have been the Weasleys. Xenophilius Lovegood can be ruled out too, since he wasn't even there later on. As for the Death Eaters... it definitely wasn't them.'
Just as Draco was thinking back over who had been present and who fit that description, Fleur Delacour, who had evidently expected this reaction long ago, slowly pulled another article from beneath her robes.
And with that movement, the long legs hidden under her robe were briefly revealed.
"What you're holding is the news from our side. The one in my hand is from the biggest local publisher here. And this one..."
They had thought that was the end of it, but to the strange, stunned looks from Pansy and the others, Fleur pulled out yet another report with the same content but a different headline.
With every sheet of parchment she placed on the table, Draco and the others looked more astonished.
Because just as Fleur had said, these newspapers were all from different countries.
And every single one of them had run it on the front page...
...
"So that means everyone already knows about what happened with you, Draco?!"
Pansy only realized it after a moment. Once it finally sank in, she did not know whether to be delighted or worried that things had become too high-profile, so all she could do was let out a soft cry.
That was right.
The first thing anyone would think, once the story broke, was that Draco's fame would spread through the entire wizarding world in an instant. His name and talent would no longer be limited to the small British wizarding world.
A genius wizard who fought Death Eaters alone.
A monster invincible on a Broomstick.
It probably would not be long before titles like those were attached to Draco.
But at the same time, while Draco's talent and potential were certainly worth celebrating, it also meant he had officially stepped into everyone's sight.
And danger would naturally follow...
"Look at this. The first one to report it was your own Daily Prophet."
"That reporter!"
"Rita Skeeter. So it was her."
"But how... how did she pull it off?"
"I really didn't notice she was there."
The main reason Pansy remembered that reporter was because of all the gossip she had written about Harry Potter during the Triwizard Tournament.
Back then, even Pansy, who knew the truth of the matter, had nearly been taken in by the nonsense in Rita Skeeter's articles.
And now she had somehow managed to record everything from the battlefield, and had even done it without anyone noticing.
Never mind where her information had come from, or how she had shown up at the scene at exactly the right time.
Just the fact that she had been able to hide herself under the noses of people like Barty Crouch Jr., Lucius Malfoy, Remus Lupin, and even Draco was enough to prove that she was no ordinary witch.
The Daily Prophet's star reporter. The most controversial journalist around. The elusive, mysterious witch who always got her hands on confidential information.
Perhaps that was why all those labels had ended up attached to Rita Skeeter alone...
Leaving aside how Rita Skeeter had managed it, Draco, who was leafing through the newspapers spread across the table, suddenly noticed something odd.
"Hm?"
"So you've noticed it too. After all, I wasn't bored enough to buy newspapers from that many countries for no reason."
Whether it was because Draco had so quickly grasped what she was trying to show him, or because she had once again found herself looking at that irresistibly serious side profile of his, Fleur, with her Veela blood, suddenly gave him a bright, radiant smile.
"Fox..."
Pansy muttered the word under her breath, still wary of Fleur.
If not for Draco's serious expression, and the fact that she knew this had to be important, she never would have allowed him to keep sitting here with such a dangerous woman...
...
As if he had sensed Pansy's unease beside him, Draco rested a hand on top of her head while looking seriously at Fleur Delacour across from him, as though he had not even noticed the long legs she had intentionally crossed and swung.
And notably, the moment his hand came down, the irritation in Pansy melted away. After giving his palm an adorable little nuzzle, the girl wore a dazed, satisfied expression...
"You mean the person spreading this news wasn't acting on Rita Skeeter's behalf. That makes sense. She doesn't have enough influence to spread something across the entire wizarding world that quickly."
Seeing how quiet Pansy had become, Fleur felt no sense of victory. Instead, a strange dissatisfaction rose inside her.
"...That's right. I noticed from the start that something about this was off, so I spent a little time looking into it."
A little time?
Astoria glanced at the parchment that nearly covered the whole table. Faced with such an unconvincing line, she rolled her eyes in an adorably exasperated way.
Leaving aside why Fleur would bother investigating something like this in the first place, that action alone was enough to show just how much she cared about Draco. And it was clearly far more than just a little time.
Only...
'Since when?'
While Astoria looked back and forth between Draco and Fleur in suspicion, Fleur bluntly revealed the information she had uncovered.
"That person is your father, Lucius Malfoy."
Fleur had originally thought she would see shock on Draco's face, or at least on the faces of the others. But to her surprise, Draco looked perfectly calm.
As if he had already guessed why Lucius Malfoy would do something like this...