Chapter 285: Preset Countermeasures

"We can't do nothing and watch the Death Eaters spread rumors," Harry mused. "But what can we do..."

"I think we can return the book to Hermione first," Luo En said. "Return it to her before Herbology class, and by the way, ask her to help come up with ideas."

"That works too," Harry nodded. The relationship between them and Hermione is a bit subtle now, but asking her to use her brain is still no problem.

In Herbology class, Hermione was clearly a bit absent-minded. As soon as class ended, she ran to Harry and Luo En and said seriously: "I think your worries are not unreasonable. For this, I thought of a few ways."

Harry and Luo En looked at each other in surprise; Hermione's head was indeed very bright.

"First, we can guess, where are the Death Eaters preparing to spread rumors from?" Hermione said confidently. "In terms of credibility, the Daily Prophet is undoubtedly the best. Therefore, if they hold some ambiguous evidence, they will definitely publish it in the Daily Prophet; but if they have no evidence and just have a logically self-consistent ghost story, perhaps they will choose The Quibbler."

"In this way, no matter which method they prepare to adopt, we can use the other side to counter," Harry nodded in deep agreement. "Whether it's evidence or ghost stories, we have both."

"Then we have to see what rumors the Death Eaters are preparing to use to attack Deng Buliduo. Perhaps we can try to guide the nature of the matter to a place that is not very serious," Hermione continued to say her suggestions. "For example, if the Death Eaters claim that Deng Buliduo founded the Order of the Phoenix because he wanted to rule Muggles, we can say that he just wanted to be Minister for Magic."

"If that rumor is really hard to deal with, we will throw out more explosive news and shift the public's attention elsewhere," Harry added. "This is also a very useful trick."

"Yes," Hermione agreed. "I have another idea. If the Death Eaters' rumor itself has some loopholes, then we can immediately deny it and expose their conspiracy. In this way, even if they find some new way to smear Deng Buliduo later, it won't be so easy for everyone to believe."

After a brief silence, Harry nodded and said: "Very detailed suggestions, thank you, Hermione."

"There is one more thing," Hermione smiled. "Lu Na, her father is the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler. You can start from Lu Na's relationship and communicate with The Quibbler."

Luo En's expression was clearly a bit unnatural, but he didn't say anything. Harry watched Hermione leave. He didn't tell Luo En or Hermione about the entanglement between Donald and China—that wouldn't help anything and would just make things chaotic.

"Let me calculate which people I need to contact," Harry said while walking, counting on his fingers. "First must be Sirius, second, it's best to let Sirius contact Aberforth. Even if he is unwilling to tell the truth, at least he must make up a lie without loopholes."

"About Aurelius?" Luo En asked.

"Yes," Harry was also a bit curious at this time. If Aberforth didn't want to admit the goat matter, how would he make up the story?

"Oh right, also Lu Na and her father," Harry continued to calculate. "Actually, it's best if I contact Rita Skeeter again. If we need to publish any explosive news, we must find her as soon as possible."

Early Wednesday morning, Sirius's reply and the new issue of the "Daily Prophet" flew in front of Harry. Sirius hoped to talk to him first and let him come to the edge of the Forbidden Forest at noon. And Luo En began to read the newspaper. Judging from the speed of the column serialization, it would take four or five more days for the content of that book to be fully published in the newspaper, and the Death Eaters' next move would also be about to be launched.

Harry suddenly felt that the situation was not so urgent. Four or five days, this covered the next weekend and the two meetings to be held on the weekend. He could listen to what rumors they were preparing to spread at the Death Eaters' meeting, and he could also let Aberforth prepare at the Order of the Phoenix meeting.

At noon, Harry hurriedly came to the edge of the Forbidden Forest after lunch. Sirius in dog form was squatting on a fallen tree trunk, his jet-black, shiny fur reflecting the sunlight, looking very handsome.

After he took Harry into the forest for a while, he suddenly turned back into his godfather wearing a long trench coat, and then, Sirius asked seriously: "Harry, I also read the book you mentioned. What angle do you think the Death Eaters will start from?"

"Undoubtedly, the setup provided by the White House is Aurelius," Harry said. "However, Zhang Qiu investigated and found that although Aurelius's background is bizarre, it is difficult to cause any damage to Albus's reputation, so I think they might be more likely to make an issue of Grindelwald."

"Make an issue of Grindelwald?" Sirius stroked his chin and said. "However, even if Grindelwald's matter is exposed, it wouldn't matter. People in the Order of the Phoenix have long known those things, no matter how the Death Eaters arrange it, they can't hit them."

The Order of the Phoenix is more determined than Harry thought, which is good news.

"I think Aurelius is a very sinister move by the Death Eaters. They just want to see that for the sake of Albus Deng Buliduo's reputation, we have to force Aberforth to say things he has always been unwilling to mention," Sirius said. "Compared to Albus who has passed away, Aberforth, who is still active in the Order of the Phoenix, is actually more important. Think about it, if the Order of the Phoenix forces an organization elder to expose his own privacy, can we still have this kind of unity and cohesion? Aren't we breaking the justice we have been adhering to?"

"Yeah, I didn't notice these before," Harry humbly accepted the teaching. "As expected of my godfather, he saw through the conspiracy behind this at a glance."

"This is not a conspiracy, but an open plot," Sirius said seriously. "They will definitely fabricate a dirty, obscene, and sarcastic rumor that smears Albus. At this time, if Aberforth doesn't stand up to clarify, he will become a wretched person who does dirty things but dares not admit it. Along with him, Deng Buliduo will also become a hypocrite who shields his brother."

"The Death Eaters have already abandoned honor; they themselves know that Voldemort is a selfish and cruel dictator. If you want to say who is more annoying than such a person, it is a dictator who is full of lies, hypocritical, and at the same time selfish and indifferent," Sirius analyzed. "Their rumors will definitely be committed to portraying Deng Buliduo as such a person."

"And we can't stop the release of rumors in advance," Harry said with some distress. "That would be exactly what they want."

"Yeah, very tricky," Sirius frowned with dissatisfaction.

"Let's first try to see if we can find loopholes in logic or evidence to make the rumors collapse on their own," Harry summarized the suggestions Hermione made. "If that doesn't work, then either guide the public opinion caused by the rumors as much as possible, or throw out another explosive news to shift everyone's attention."

"Do you know any explosive news?" Sirius asked. "I think the public who has experienced the TARDIS explosion might not shift their attention so easily."

After a lot of racking his brains, Harry suddenly became enlightened, and he hurriedly said: "We almost forgot, the Death Eaters are smearing Deng Buliduo to make the people in the Order of the Phoenix waver, so that they can infiltrate. Therefore, whether it is guiding the direction of the rumors or explosive news, it only needs to be aimed at the Order of the Phoenix, and it doesn't necessarily have to convince the outside public."

"That is to say, explosive news can be directly used with the diary," Sirius nodded. "And the direction of rumor guidance..."

"Everyone uniting around Deng Buliduo was originally to counter the Death Eaters, so even if they spread rumors and smear, saying how chaotic Deng Buliduo's private life is, we actually don't need to care," Harry said. "The only important thing is not to let everyone think Deng Buliduo is hypocritical, and not to let the people in the Order of the Phoenix think Deng Buliduo founded the Order of the Phoenix for the sake of power and profit."

"If the Death Eaters don't understand this truth," Sirius suddenly revealed a wicked smile, "we can directly lead the topic to Deng Buliduo's private life. In this way, no matter how the Death Eaters use their imagination, it won't cause any impact on the Order of the Phoenix."

If they really let the rumors attack Deng Buliduo's private life, although the members of the Order of the Phoenix might laugh it off, how would the outside public discuss it? Harry felt a faint uneasiness in his heart.

Harry, who has experienced many storms, not only thinks about the movements of the Death Eaters when considering problems, but he also knows that foreign forces are eyeing the British Wizarding World, ready to interfere in internal magical affairs at any time. And the White House has already handed over their attitude, which is that although they don't directly start spreading rumors, they also try hard to guide the topic in that direction, and then let the Death Eaters use it.

William hopes to find a way to buy off the members of the Order of the Phoenix after they lose their faith. This is a very interesting question. Will the bought-off members of the Order of the Phoenix turn to the Death Eaters, or will they turn to the Magical Congress? Clearly, the benefits and difficulty of buying off the latter are far better than the former. Now, Harry must think about another thing, and that is what Yanayev will do.

On the surface, whether Deng Buliduo's reputation is good or bad has no direct relationship with the Kremlin, but they might notice the White House's actions, which also seems reasonable. It's just that Harry clearly realized that Yanayev's ultimate goal is to eliminate the deterrence of powerful wizards and guide the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters to engage in a chaotic war on the European continent. Then, if a bought-off member of the Order of the Phoenix lets the ring fall into their hands...

Or even more extreme, he directly mounts the ring on a spacecraft and launches it into deep space. Voldemort completely loses hope of resurrection, and the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters also lose their cards to check and balance each other. Everything will develop as Yanayev expects.

Thinking of this, Harry revealed a cold smile. The ring has been destroyed. If Yanayev really does this, then while he gains nothing, he will also lose the last British wizard willing to be pro-Soviet. ===== CHAPTER 286 =====