HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN

HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN
Newspaper article information
Author	Rita Skeeter
Newspaper	The Quibbler
Date of publication	23 March 1996
Accompanying photographs	Harry Potter's face, "grinning sheepishly"
Subject	An interview with Harry Potter regarding his account of the return of Lord Voldemort, in contrast to the lies printed by the Daily Prophet

Dolores Umbridge: "Why have you got all these letters, Mr Potter?"

Harry Potter: "People have written to me because I gave an interview. About what happened to me last June."

Dolores Umbridge: "An interview? What do you mean?"

Harry Potter: "It means that someone asked me questions and I answered them-"

Dolores Umbridge: "When did you do this?"

Harry Potter: "Last Hogsmeade weekend."

Dolores Umbridge: "There will be no more Hogsmeade trips for you, Mr Potter."

— Harry Potter and Dolores Umbridge talking about the interview

HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN was an article regarding an interview granted to Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter on 14 February 1996 during a Hogsmeade weekend. The main topic of the interview was the story that Harry had to tell the world about the return of Lord Voldemort.

Background

Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry of Magic spy in Hogwarts

After the return of Lord Voldemort in 1995, both Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore were victims of a campaign from the Ministry of Magic to discredit them. The then Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, installed a series of Educational Decrees for its influence at Hogwarts as he believed that Dumbledore was forming an army with students to overthrow the Ministry. For that reason, he named Dolores Umbridge as a Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, to have a spy in the school, and soon gave her more power and authority, naming her Hogwarts High Inquisitor. Umbridge, acting on the Minister's orders, denied the return of Lord Voldemort and claimed that Cedric Diggory's death, caused by Voldemort, was a 'terrible accident'. She cruelly punished Harry several times, because he wanted everyone in the school and in the wizarding world to know the truth.

"As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie."

— Dolores Umbridge in her first Defence Against the Dark Arts's lesson for fifth-years

Rita Skeeter, author of the interview

Knowing that the Ministry would not stop its campaign, Hermione Granger decided to remove Rita Skeeter out of her forced retirement on Valentine's Day to make her interview Harry, who came to The Three Broomsticks after a disastrous date with Cho Chang in Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. In the interview Harry told everything to Rita, and even gave the names of the Death Eaters who appeared in Little Hangleton graveyard before his duel with Lord Voldemort. Rita said that the Daily Prophet would not publish the interview as it was influenced by the Ministry; that was why Luna Lovegood was with them, so that the interview would be published in the journal of her father, The Quibbler. When the interview was posted on 23 March 1996, Harry received a free copy of The Quibbler and began to receive owl post from different wizards and witches, some of whom told him that they believed him, others said that he was mad, and still others said that while they did not think he was crazy, they did not believe in the return of Lord Voldemort.

Harry Potter in his fifth year, the year in which he gave the interview

Seeing a commotion in the part of the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall where Harry was, Dolores Umbridge went over and learning of the interview, banned future trips to Hogsmeade for Harry, and shortly thereafter established the Educational Decree Number 27, which said that anyone caught in possession of a copy of The Quibbler would be expelled.

"If she could have done one thing to make absolutely sure that every single person in this school will read your interview, it was banning it!"

— Hermione Granger

As Hermione had predicted, the whole school sneakily read the interview, and some, like Seamus Finnigan, mailed it to relatives so they could read it. Due to the boldness of Harry in giving the interview, some teachers such as Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout gave him several house points for easy achievements.

The Quibbler reprinted the issue due to its success, and then when the Ministry had to accept that Voldemort had returned due to the duel between Albus Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort in the Ministry after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, where Voldemort was seen by Fudge and a pair of Aurors, even they seemed to be proud of Harry for speaking out. Xenophilius Lovegood sold the interview to the Daily Prophet to pay for a holiday to Sweden alongside Luna to find the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. The Daily Prophet published it as an unpublished interview saying that Harry was "the only innocent voice that never changed its position on the issue when everyone's back was turned".

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (First appearance)
• Pottermore
• LEGO Harry Potter
• The Harry Potter Wizarding Almanac