Percy Jackson and the Department of Mysteries

19) BREAKING NEWS: This Chapter Contains Breaking News

"Lunch," Mrs. Weasley walked in, saving us from the silent sadness of Sirius's brother.

I turned and saw her holding her hand in front of her, a huge tray with sandwiches balancing on its tip. Her face was still red with anger, and I moved towards her hesitantly, leaving Harry to stand with Sirius as the others moved with me.

Before I grabbed a sandwich, Mrs. Weasley handed me a copy of the paper, "I'm not sure why you want to read that, it's all nothing but rubbish."

"Yeah, I know, half of the rubbish is about me at this point," I said. "Just want to see some specific rubbish."

And there it was.

On the first page, a picture of the previous night's graffiti was sitting on the front cover. Above it, a headline. RIPTIDE STRIKES AGAIN: CRIMINAL DEFILES GRINGOTTS. I grinned.

"I made front page news!" I cheered, Ron peering over me shoulder.

"You're Riptide?" He cried.

"Well, that really should have been obvious," I shrugged.

"That's what Dumbledore's been having you do?" Ginny didn't look impressed.

"It's not about the paint, or even the message at this point," I said, staring down at the picture. "It's about the messenger."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ginny asked.

Realization exploded in Ron's eyes. He'd learned a lot since the year before, having to deal with the quest. He'd learned more about strategy and taking the heat off of someone than he ever should have.

"You're taking the attention off of Harry," he said quietly, glancing back to make sure our friend couldn't hear. "You're making yourself the face of this war."

"Why?" Hermione demanded.

"Because I already know what it's like to be the face of a war, I don't want Harry to know what that's like, too. I at least want to give him a chance," I said quietly. "Plus, I become a problem for the other side. I become a figure for the people to look at; I'm the one with answers, I'm the leader, I'm the fighter. I take the eyes off of Harry. Everyone's eyes."

Everyone went a little quiet.

"That's not right, you're just a child," Mrs. Weasley said, looking worried.

"So is Harry," I shrugged. "And am I really just a child? I'm going to lead a war soon, if I don't die before then. I've fought gods and monsters and men, and I'll fight more. I've lost and I've won, I've lived and I've died. I'm perfectly capable of handling this, and I'm really the only option." I looked down at the picture again. Once I fall, they'll rise from the ashes, stronger than before. But I couldn't say that. Dumbledore thought I was going to die in the war. He didn't say that, but I could tell. He would put my body on a pedestal and say, this crazy Muggleborn fought for his beliefs, fought for life, fought for what is and always has been right. What are you doing sitting around? Get up and fight! And it would be a powerful speech. I was happy with it, as long as Harry didn't have to feel this pressure.

I turned down to look at the article, and read.

Gringotts bank was targeted by Riptide, a vandal who has focused on other structures, and has used Muggle paints to mutilate the building.

The owner of Potage's Cauldron Shop, Cosima Potage, looked out her window the evening of the attack when she heard hissing noises, and saw Riptide using canisters of paints to scar Gringotts. "I thought it was an animal of some sort," said Potage, referring to the hissing coming from the Muggle pain canisters. "I looked out and saw it was him — and I, well, I fainted." Potage had read in a previous article about how Riptide was potentially dangerous, and was reasonably terrified for her life.

Potage called the Aurors and they came to the scene, though the damage to Gringotts had already been done. Riptide naively believes that the Death Eaters have returned to wreak havoc on our lives, but the Ministry assures that there is no need to be worried.

The Aurors gave chase to Riptide, but were under orders not to kill. One of the Aurors, Zinnia McNully, ignored the order and attempted to kill Riptide. "She just... attacked," Auror Julius Watson explained. "Maybe the fear from what she read got to her — the idea that He could be back was just to great, or maybe it was something else. Whatever it was, she snapped. She shot a fire spell at him (Riptide), and the rest of us were confused. She proceeded to cause extensive damage to Diagon Alley as she chased after Riptide, and then she attacked us. While we were dazed, she attempted to use the killing curse on Riptide. He's clearly just a kid, so I definitely wasn't gonna let her kill him. We dealt with Zinnia and the boy got away."

When asked if they had any suspicions of who caused the damage, Rookie Auror Kelly Brown said, "Oh, it's got to be Perseus Jackson, that kid from the Triwizard Tournament. I'm not entirely sure what's up with him, but he's always seemed kind of strange. My cousin's in Hogwarts, and she says he has a tendency to get in trouble. Says he's a good kid, though. Only does what he thinks is right. She says that when that other champion died, he was really messed up about it. They were really close. Brothers, almost."

Pansy Parkinson, a peer in Jackson's year, had other things to say, "He's loads of trouble. Has this way with the teachers, making them think he's some sort of saint or something. Really, he's just kind of... rude. He's sarcastic with everyone, and I doubt he's got anything going through his head. I bet when Diggory died, he lost what few marbles he had left. Came up with some crazed story to explain what he saw, and Dumbledore ate it right up." She paused to think for a moment. "You know... I wouldn't be surprised if he really was Riptide. He's definitely capable of it, and I've heard him and his friend mention Riptide a few times. He really does believe He's coming back, too. You should've seen the look on his face when they came out of the maze. It almost made me believe it."

Perseus Jackson has been on the Ministry's radar since the explosion in Knockturn Alley, which caused no injuries but did damage several stores. They believe that he is Riptide, but don't have any conclusive proof.

If you have any information regarding Riptide, contact the Aurors. If you have any information regarding Perseus Jackson, contact The Daily Prophet.

I grinned, "They're not really talking about what I want them to talk about, but they will."

Hermione, who had been reading over my shoulder, asked, "About how much of that is true?"

"Uhhh, a lot of it, actually," I shrugged. "The stuff Pansy said is complete bullshit, and they're making me out to be some traumatized idiot, but everything else was probably pretty accurate. Save for the whole account from the Auror guy's account, but that's fine." It was fine. In fact, it seemed like I was being played as more innocent in this article, instead of a villain. Yes, I'd defiled Gringotts, but I was also traumatized, and then someone tried to kill me. And I was just a kid again, but that really wasn't that bad, especially 'cause the Auror had been lying out of his ass for a lot of that.

Mrs. Weasley sighed, then called over to Sirius and Harry, "Hurry up, you two, or there won't be any food left."

Tomorrow we go to my grandpa's for early Christmas with him cause it's his bday. Fun times. I also broke the present I got my sister, but I have a backup gift for her. Also, I need to get a different gift for someone ~maybe~ . He's got a habit of hurting himself, and I got him a knife. I know this knife is dangerous because I nearly killed myself with it (well, cut my hand and/or foot with it. My dumb self pressed the button and then dropped it, and it would have hit my foot if I hadn't caught it, but catching knives isn't a good idea either. This would've been at work. That would've sucked very much.) It'll be fine. We ran out of shampoo so I had to use the shitty shampoo in our basement. My hair, my oh so problematic hair, didn't really take it well. For a while it felt like I hadn't washed the conditioner out of my hair right, but it was as if I'd used the whole bottle of conditioner. It got super tangled for no reason, and it got flat. My hair isn't normally flat, it usually fans out around my head in a way that rivals Hermione's, but no. It was flat. I am not flat. How dare my hair.

Anyway, I hope you guys have had a fantastic Wednesday, and I'll see you Friday CT. Love ya!