A/N: Thank you for all the follows, favourites and reviews once again and apologies for the really long wait in between updates.

As before, any writing in italics is a character's thoughts and any underlined writing is from a newspaper article.

To my reviewers:

The Princess of Pink - Thanks for the review and they're both great guesses! In this chapter there's neither another Howler nor hate mail but keep an eye out as one/both of these may occur in the future!

Yaw613 - Thank you for the review! I'm afraid this chapter took a while to be ready though I hope you still enjoy it!

FlowerChild23 - You're right - it will get out one way or another!

LambdaOfTheDead - Merci encore pour ta revue! Ça me plaît que des gens aiment mon fic! Il sera probablement quelques temps jusqu'à la vérité sera annoncée au sujet de comment Rose a envoyé une beuglante à Poudlard, mais j'espère que tu aimera tous le drame que se passera avant ça!

arapyanime - She does, doesn't she!

lilyflower50 - Thanks for the review! I'm not going to comment yet about Albus wanting Harry abused as I might end up giving something away, though I love hearing what my readers have to say so please keep reviewing and you may get little hints along the way!

leafpool310 - Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like it so far!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

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Chapter 9, Fumbling Dumbledore

Wednesday 4th November 1981,

7:45am

Sitting alone at his battered wooden table a man, who appeared to be in his 40s due to the grey streaks in his hair and now permanent furrowed eyebrows and stress lines on his face, was nursing his cup of tea. The man was having his daily morning cup of tea and contemplating how his life could have turned so downhill in only a matter of days when he heard a tapping at the window. He looked up and sighed, before standing up and letting the owl in. The owl, a tawny brown colour, rested on the table and held out his leg to be relieved of the day's Daily Prophet. The man, Remus Lupin, thanked the owl and gave it a few owl treats before it flew out of the window. Remus then sat back down on his rickety chair and unrolled the paper to find the following glaring up at him:

FUMBLING DUMBLEDORE PLACES HARRY POTTER WITH ABUSIVE MUGGLES

Remus' eyes widened in shock and he continued reading to see what the rest of the article had to say.

It has just been revealed through an inside source that yesterday evening was highly eventful for Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, for he received a Howler. Yes, you read that correctly, Albus Dumbledore received a Howler during dinner in front of the entire population of Hogwarts. This Howler was from one of the two sisters of Lily Potter, deceased mother of The Boy-Who-Lived, who, as I am sure you will all remember, died along with her husband James Potter at the hand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named on Halloween night, when her baby son Harry Potter miraculously lived.

The Evans sister who sent the Howler (whose name this reporter does not yet have, though those of us at the Prophet will be sure to keep our loyal readers informed as soon as we know more) claimed that Albus Dumbledore did not inform her of her sister's death and that he left Harry Potter on the doorstep of her other sister, Petunia, who appears to be a muggle. Evans also claimed that once she discovered what had happened to Lily and James Potter she visited Petunia's house and found little Harry abused and neglected. That's right, she found our saviour, The Boy-Who-Lived living on a springy mattress in the cupboard under the stairs, with signs of physical abuse including the mark of an adult's handprint of his little face. This reporter is totally and utterly appalled that anybody would treat a child in this manner, let alone an orphaned baby who happens to be The Boy-Who-Lived.

But, my dear readers, this is far from all that was revealed last night. Not only did Albus Dumbledore not inform Evans of her sister's death and leave Harry Potter with abusive muggles, he also lied to Petunia stating that Evans had refused guardianship of young Mr Potter, when in fact Evans was not offered guardianship at all! Evans referred to Dumbledore as a "manipulative, lying old bastard" and, was in my opinion, quite rightly furious with the man. How could this man, viewed as Leader of the Light and head of the resistance against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named appear to be so kind and gentle when he is in fact so manipulative? Can we continue to trust this man as the Headmaster of Britain's only wizarding school? To allow him to control the education of our magical children? That is up to you to decide, my dear readers, but perhaps you will want to read the article below first.

Your newest reporter, Rita Skeeter.

Remus looked up in horror at the description of Harry's previous living conditions and felt the fury of the wolf deep inside him that Dumbledore, who they all thought they could trust, had lied and manipulated them. Remus was appalled at how both Dumbledore and Petunia had acted, though he was very glad that Rose had discovered the situation so quickly. He knew that she would take good care of Harry and decided that he would try to make contact with her once he'd read the following article

DUMBLEDORE'S REPUTATION BLACKENS

In addition to the above article, the Howler that Evans sent to Albus Dumbledore contained further very interesting information, this time regarding Sirius Black, who I am sure you will remember has been arrested for betraying the Potters to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, participating in Death Eater activity, and for murdering 13 people, 1 wizard, Peter Pettigrew, and 12 muggles.

BUT, in her Howler, Evans claimed that Black was not a Death Eater at all and did not betray the Potters to You-Know-Who. She even went so far as to claim that Peter Pettigrew was the real Secret Keeper of the Potters' hidden location before their deaths and that he betrayed them to You-Know-Who. Evans said "Sirius was the decoy, not the actual Secret Keeper. Sirius is completely innocent, he would never betray Lily and James." To me this sounds as though Evans has unwavering faith in Black's innocence and she states that her sister, Lily Potter told her before her death that Peter Pettigrew was the true Secret Keeper. This reporter was shocked by this claim, and is sure that many of our dear readers will be equally as shocked too.

However, what this reporter found even more surprising was Evans' claim that Albus Dumbledore knew the whole time that Black is innocent and that Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper. This reporter was reluctant to believe such an apparently far-fetched statement until she saw evidence of Dumbledore's appearance at the time this claim was announced. Albus Dumbledore's face visibly paled, his mouth hung open in shock and he remained unresponsive to any attempt to gain his attention until Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, shouted his name for the fourth time. His hands were twitching and the entire time and he did not make any attempt to deny any of the accusations aimed at him. To this reporter, he looked like a guilty man whose crimes had just been announced to the entire Wizarding world, which yet again made me question if this man should be in charge of the education of Britain's magical children? Though of course this is for you, our loyal readers to decide.

Be sure to pick up tomorrow's edition of the Daily Prophet where we promise to have more information regarding the mysterious Evans sister, the true colours of Albus Dumbledore, and the potential innocence of Black participating in Death Eater activities and betraying the Potters to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

Rita Skeeter.

Remus found that he was suffering from something very unusual for him. Speechlessness. After having witnessed all of the silly, funny, immature and alright, downright idiotic things that the Marauders had collectively got up to, it was really very rare that Remus was speechless. And boy, was he well and truly speechless at this shocking turn of events. He was utterly horrified how badly Harry had been treated and how much Albus Dumbledore, the man he looks - no looked - up to like a grandfather had lied to him, and to them all. Albus had always seemed so easy going, so mild. Hell, he'd accepted an 11 year old werewolf into his school without blinking twice! From then on Remus had always had the upmost respect for and trust in the man who gave him a chance at a normal life. It was for that reason that Remus was so shocked by what the Daily Prophet claimed. He just couldn't believe that Dumbledore - for he is Dumbledore now, not dear, kindly Albus - had placed Harry with Petunia and not Rose. Dumbledore had eventually given in to Remus' questioning about the whereabouts of his best friends' son and Dumbledore had said that Harry was with Lily's sister, to be brought up in the Muggle world. He stated that such fame would not be good for a young boy and would get to any wise man's head and he therefore stressed how Harry absolutely must be brought up in the Muggle world and that Remus must not have any contact with Harry whatsoever until Dumbledore gave him the go-ahead in many years to come. Remus had thought at the time how Dumbledore had appeared oddly forceful in this demand - for it was certainly not a command - and now he understood why. Because he would have contacted Rose, who would have had no idea what he was talking about. Oh the stupid, manipulative man! And now he didn't know what to believe either - was Sirius the Secret Keeper or was Peter? Either way one of them betrayed James, Lily, Harry, himself, and everyone else on the side of the Light. A week ago Remus would have sworn on his magic that neither Sirius nor Peter was the traitor that that had been betraying their actions, plans and thoughts to the Death Eaters, but now he sadly had to admit that it had to have been one of them. For the moment he would believe Rose's side, that Sirius is innocence, for it would certainly be nice to have some hope of seeing of one his three best friends alive and loyal, though he needed evidence. Remus would never again believe a man's word just for the sake of it after how Alb- no Dumbledore had treated him and his trust. He was simply appalled, there was no other word for it.

It certainly sounds like he needs to contact Rose and find out the whole story from her, accompanied by evidence of course. With that, Remus got up and walked into his bedroom to retrieve his parchment, quill and ink to write to Rose to suggest meeting up with her and Harry. Oh, little baby Harry, how he missed seeing him so much. Harry always seemed to brighten up his week and Remus certainly noticed his own solitude once the Potters had gone into hiding and he was of course unable to see them again. Oh how he couldn't wait to see little Harry again!

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A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It would be great to hear your thoughts about it, or what could happen next! How do you think the Daily Prophet knew about the Howler? Did Dumbledore's anti-owl ward not work? How do you think Dumbledore will react now that the whole Wizarding world knows about his lies and manipulation? And there's still the question of whether Rose is really a Muggle or not, and if so then how did she send a Howler?

It would be great to hear your thoughts!