Later that night, Daisy was perched on the island with John sitting on the stool in front of her, leaning against her with his arms crossed. She had a mug of tea in hand, though Remus had spiked it with a bit of whisky when their parents weren't looking. Nilsson sat at the dining room table with her parents, Lucy, Teddy, Victoire, Kelly, Harry, Percy and Audrey. Her brothers sat on stools to the left of Daisy and John, while the rest of her team milled around the table. Toby was on the other side of Daisy, sitting on the counter as well. George stood behind Iris and Oliver.

While this was probably not the family meeting Nilsson had in mind, there was a reason for everyone's presence, well, most everyone's. Lucy was obvious. Percy insisted on coming, as someone who worked in the Ministry. He had wanted to owl Hermione, feeling that having the weight of the Minister for Magic behind them would be beneficial but Oliver and Iris had talked him out of it, calling it overkill. Harry was there out of concern for his cousin and in case he and Teddy could lend their skills or connections. Victoire had, naturally, insisted on following Teddy. George, well, he said he was there for support, but Daisy suspected he had a few ideas for how to deal with the malcontent reporter. The rest were there for moral support. Nilsson looked around nervously as the various people chatted with each other, a hum filling the apartment. He cleared his throat.

"As you are all aware, we are here tonight to discuss the Edith Shortbrush articles," he said loudly, causing everyone to quiet down. "While most of the articles have been relatively harmless, this latest one could lead to an inquiry. While I've no doubt that Daisy would be cleared, it would potentially put her on the bench for a month or two."

"Which is a load of bollocks, if you ask me," Campbell shouted. Nilsson put his hand up to silence the beater.

"I know, but that is out of our control. I spoke with Coach Weathers today. He seems confused. Doesn't really want to believe that Daisy had anything to do with Hardwick's attack - if that is truly what injured him - but he had yet to see any evidence to prove she didn't have anything to do with it. I told him that I would gladly provide a number of witnesses if he would like that puts Daisy in her apartment all night and Hardwick leaving unharmed," Nilssson said. The room was silent as he spoke. "He accepted, so I will be speaking with several others who were at the party, if you could give me their names and contact information." He looked at John, Daisy and her brothers. They nodded silently.

Nilsson looked back at the table.

"Now… we need to figure out what to do with Ms. Shortbrush," Nilsson said.

"File a defamation suit, of course," Percy said. "It'll ruin her and The Prophet."

"That'll take years," Audrey said. "And they never stopped Rita Skeeter."

"I've already sent a complaint to The Daily Prophet. Perhaps if we all do - get others to - in the short-term we might get her fired?" Nilsson said.

"That might work, if you can get enough," Lucy said, thinking. "We had a freelance writer sacked that way. Had a few hundred complaint letters come in over one horrid article."

"Do you know this Edith Shortbrush?" Teddy asked. Daisy laughed softly and rolled her eyes. That was one of the first things she had asked her cousin.

"No, I've never heard of her. Not in media, nor from Hogwarts. The first time I had heard about her was when she wrote that first article about Daisy and Nigel," she said, her eyes wide behind her glasses. "I did ask around about her today - no one in current affairs has seen her. But apparently she was hired this year."

"Did you talk to the gossip department?" Victoire asked. "They'd be most likely to know her." Lucy shook her head.

"I'm planning to go down tomorrow. They were all gone for the day by the time I got there today," she said.

"Can't we just go to her office?" Remus said. Everyone looked at him. Daisy had to admit, it was a simple, but solid plan. They should just go have a sit down with her at the Prophet's offices in Diagon Alley.

"I've sent about five owls to the Prophet over the past few weeks to set up a meeting, but they've gone unreturned," Iris said, slightly pink. "Either they never got them or they are choosing to protect her."

"But what if we just go there?" Teddy asked. "Surely we could push our way into see her. Or maybe she's at the Ministry? Some reporters have desks there."

"We could check that out tomorrow," Harry offered.

"And what are we going to say to her once we have her?" Daisy asked. "I highly doubt she's someone that listens to reason."

"Daisy makes a valid point. I say we focus on the Prophet. Harry, don't you know the editor-in-chief?" Percy asked. Harry shook his head no slowly. "This is why I wanted Hermione here. She could have called her into her office and all this would be over."

"We do not need to drag Aunt Hermione into this," Daisy said, rolling her eyes. "Surely between us we can figure this out." John turned and looked at her, squeezing her knee in support.

They talked for about another hour, finally deciding the best thing was to contact the editor of The Prophet and file complaints against the reporter. Daisy wasn't completely happy - she wanted to track down the reporter and give her a piece of her mind - but it was the best course of action for the time being. The family and team left and soon it was just the triplets, Daisy, John, Lucy, Kelly, Teddy, Victoire and Uncle George left at the apartment. Remus pulled out the good whisky and gave everyone a glass as they sat around the living room. Daisy was silently fuming. Nilsson had told them to get some rest - the Falcons' coach would be coming to the stadium the next day to speak to everyone on the team who had been at the party and get their side of the story.

"Well, the good news is, Dad didn't say anything about you and Kingfisher," Remus said, smiling. Daisy sighed and looked over at the beater who was sitting next to her, his arm around her.

"I'm sure he wanted to. Daisy's still his little pixie," George said, grinning. Daisy looked over at her uncle.

"Why are you still here, Uncle George?" she asked. He held his glass up.

"I just wanted some of the triplets' good whisky," he said with a grin. Daisy narrowed her eyes at him. He had the twinkle in his eye that he only got when he was scheming. "So I take it you lot are going to come up with your own plan, are you?"

"We need to find out who this Edith Shortbrush is," Kelly said.

"And then what?" Lucy asked.

"Rip her head off," Daisy said, garnering glares from most of the group. "Right then… just… threaten her." More glares. "Fine. Just find out why she seems hell-bent on ruining me."

"I've got a few ideas for you," George said grinning. "Few new things I've been wanting to test…"

"Okay, so we know that Hardwick is her source. Perhaps if we follow him, he'll lead us to her," Teddy said reasonably, grinning at his uncle. As much as they all would love to hex or jinx the reporter, they should probably stick to something that wouldn't further aggravate her.

"He's not going to just run off to meet her anytime," Jamie said.

"No… but I can follow after hours," Teddy said. "I am an auror after all. It's what I do."

"Will that get you in trouble with work?" Victoire asked.

"Not as long as it's after work," he said.

"Okay, then Teddy will follow Hardwick. I'll go with you," Daisy said.

"Absolutely not. The last thing you need is for her to get wind of you following him," John said. Daisy frowned at him.

"No one would know it's me. Metamorphmagus, remember?" she retorted.

"I'll work my contacts with The Prophet," Lucy said before they got into an argument. "Teddy will follow Hardwick. Once we find her, we'll reconvene and decide what to do."

"Sounds like a plan," Remus said.

A couple days later, Lucy rushed into the flat just as Daisy was getting settled on the sofa, John bringing her an ice pack. She had taken a tumble off her broom and bruised her knee.

"You're going to love this!" Lucy shouted as she stopped in the living room, her face lit up and taking on an almost maniacal look. It reminded her of when her dad had come up with a new play.

"Out with it," Daisy said, grimacing slightly as John gently placed the pack on her knee, then sat next to her, pulling her feet into his lap. Lucy pulled a copy of Witch Weekly out of her purse and opened it, holding it open to a spread. It was full of photos of the after party, along with some of her from matches and Hardwick. Daisy wasn't even aware that anyone had been taking photos.

"The sports writers started digging into Hardwick's story as soon as the Prophet article came out and managed to rip it to shreds," she shouted, gleefully. Daisy sat up as John reached for the magazine and handed it to her. Daisy read through the article silently, her brow furrowed.

"But.. we were never contacted by them… how did they manage that?" John asked.

"One of them was at the party - granted he had to recuse himself from writing the story - but he put the other writers in contact with other players that were there. Had three reporters working on it so they could get it out by this issue. It's thorough and well investigated, so there's no way Evil can fire back at them," she said, practically squealing. "It hit the stands this morning and according to my friend at the Prophet, they're already receiving tons of complaints from fans and players."

Daisy looked up at her cousin and boyfriend, a small smile on her face.

"Looks as though we might not have to worry about that inquiry if Weathers reads this," she said hopefully. "Though it means we'll probably get another week or so of reporters hounding us outside the stadium."

"I think it's a small price to pay if it gets the truth out there," John said. Daisy nodded silently.

"But it's not going to stop her. She won't get fired, though she may get yelled at," Daisy said forlornly. "They kept Rita Skeeter on for how many years even with all the shite she wrote?"

"Yea, but there's a new editor at the Prophet and word is, she doesn't put up with trash for too long," Lucy countered. "Er, well… might not fire her right away, but if she keeps coming after you like she has, her days will be numbered."

"Well, I guess I'll take a victory where we can. But I still think we should find out who she is and why she seems to hate me so much," Daisy said. "I feel like getting fired won't stop her."

"I'm still doing what I can to find out about her on my end, but so far no luck. Even my friend at the Prophet says she's never seen her. She writes from home and sends her articles in via owl. Says it's something to do with some medical condition," Lucy said, scrunching her nose in disgust. "Probably a lie."

John studied Daisy, who was reading the article again, frowning slightly. Sure the article was a win for them, but he worried about what the reporter might do if cornered. And he knew that Daisy was going to continue worrying about it. Part of him hoped that if the articles stopped, she would forget about it and move on. The other part of him knew Daisy wouldn't let it go until she knew everything.

"At least Teddy's still following Hardwick. Hopefully he's got something for us soon," Daisy said as she handed the magazine to John and lay back on the sofa. "As for me… well, we've got matches to focus on. Snitches don't catch themselves."

And things are not over with Evil Shortbrush, it would appear... I have officially gotten at least part of all the remaining chapters written, so just... finishing them and making sure I like how it goes. Starting on the next one has helped a bit in that I now know how to resolve one of the plotlines...

As aways, thank you for reading! And thanks to new follower/fave Sgt. Shenanigans (love that name, btw)!