Chapter 172: Chap.169 - The Newspaper

[A/N: So, I postponed this a bit because I don't really like this kind of drama, but the bandage still needs to be pulled off, so the next chapters might be a little dramatic. Sorry about that to anyone who doesn't like it.]

On Friday morning, a night's sleep wasn't enough to dampen the Gryffindors' excitement, although as Rigel walked past his classmates, they cast glances of obvious irritation at him.

Apparently, his escape had angered many of them, although he couldn't say whether it was purely because he had run away or because of the way he had run away. Fortunately, no one seemed truly angry, the fact that he and Harry had led Gryffindor to victory, especially against Slytherin, was evidently reason enough to put those grudges aside.

However, Rigel's friends were not so understanding, complaining all the way to the great hall about almost having blinded them.

Hermione was an exception, she was giving him short, direct answers and didn't even want to talk to him, leaving Rigel speechless. Even Ron let it go, why was this little girl so focused on it?

Well, he just let her calm down naturally.

While they were having breakfast, the owls began to enter carrying packages. At first, this sudden movement of dozens of owls flying overhead seemed a little disorganized, but after months, it began to become the norm.

Rigel was a little surprised when Nero brought him a newspaper with a letter. Rigel didn't subscribe to the newspaper, but Calypso did, so when there was interesting news, she would still send Nero the day's paper for him.

Rigel picked up the letter first and opened it. Initially, Calypso followed the routine, talking a little about herself and saying some sappy things. Rigel had practically learned to ignore that and moved on to the relevant content.

[...you'd better take a look at the newspaper.]

That was pretty much it, no further information, just a direct recommendation, but the way it was written confused Rigel, he put the letter aside and opened the newspaper.

Right on the first page, Rigel saw what Calypso wanted him to see.

The story was about the previous day's game.

[Potter and Black, new aces of Gryffindor.]

It seemed like a fairly ordinary title, but after reading a bit, Rigel frowned slightly.

Initially, it was clear that the narrative illustrated the previous day's game, but the second half of the article focused almost entirely on Rigel.

[...despite his brilliant performance, is Rigel Black just another ordinary Gryffindor? The Black name reappears in Gryffindor, but the past has made clear what happened the last time a Black joined this house. Is this another attempt to deceive the naive in order to get closer to the circle of the defender of light, Albus Dumbledore? Son of Rodolphus and Bellatrix Lestrange, known Death Eaters, even his cousin being Sirius Black himself, the traitor responsible for the death of the Potters, the way Rigel Black approaches the 'Boy Who Lived' leaves the question open whether history will repeat itself... will he be the next Dark Lord?]

When Rigel finished reading, his irritation was clearly expressed on his face. He searched for the author of the article, and the name Rita Skeeter soon became apparent, he had expected it.

Rigel took a deep breath, feeling his irritation growing. He hadn't expected this, although he wasn't afraid of the past, wizards were a bunch of individuals easily influenced by newspapers.

Rigel raised his head and looked around. As expected, he saw several people whispering and looking at him. When they saw him looking, they quickly looked away and went back to eating.

Rigel almost groaned internally, of course, that damn beetle!

Even so, Rigel wasn't too worried, it had become clear from the numerous times Harry was ostracized at school that wizards had the memory of goldfish, they'd point the finger at you for a while, but the novelty would soon wear off and they'd let it go.

Of course, Rigel's situation wasn't really like the ones Harry went through, Harry could prove he wasn't guilty and even act like a hero at the last moment, but Rigel couldn't change who his family was.

However, he is a Quidditch player, he's practically like a 'football star', humans are strange creatures, his past positive deeds didn't erase a 'mistake' in the moment, but a future deed had that power, even more so when he represented a collective, in this case being Gryffindor.

Just like when Harry became the Triwizard Tournament champion, most people ignored him, acting as if he had done it to steal Cedric's glory, but the moment he passed the first task, everyone let it go.

Even so, he would still have to endure this situation until the next game.

He couldn't ask the newspaper to publish a retraction about it, could he? Well, that's not a bad idea, threatening Rita with her illegal Animagus form is a good backup option. If winning a game didn't work out, he could try that, but for now, he needed to deal with a more immediate problem.

Among his 'friends', only Ron received the newspaper. He had no idea why that boy liked to read newspapers, but in any case, he hadn't read one yet, currently stuffing himself with bread and sausage.

"What's the problem, Rigel?" Dean was the first to notice that something was wrong, especially with the increasing number of stares around them.

Rigel looked at him, then at the other boys who raised their heads to look at him, even Hermione, who wasn't very far away, seemed interested.

Rigel knew he couldn't hide it, so he simply spoke. "Looks like I'm going to have a tough time coming up." He said, handing the newspaper to Dean.

Dean looked a little confused, picked up the newspaper and opened it, while Seamus, who was next to him, quickly dropped his food and moved closer to read.

On the other side of the table, Harry, Ron, and Neville had already picked up Ron's newspaper. Hermione seemed to want to approach and read it, but whatever it was, she wasn't willing to put it aside to satisfy her curiosity. Even so, she pricked up her ears, wanting to understand what was happening.

"Hey! You're on the front cover!" Seamus shouted excitedly, clearly without having read it yet, but soon everyone focused on reading and the excitement quickly faded.

Primarily Harry and Neville, Rigel was looking directly at the two of them as they read.

Harry looked confused, clearly not knowing much about his parents' death, while Neville, on the other hand, paled upon seeing Bellatrix Lestrange's name, he began to tremble rapidly.

Harry lifted his head, looking at Rigel with confusion and doubt. "Rigel, is this true?"

"That my parents were Death Eaters and my cousin helped cause your parents' deaths? At least that's what's public knowledge." Rigel shrugged. "I didn't know either of them, I was raised by my grandmother."

This greatly relieved Harry, although it didn't completely satisfy him, at the very least, Rigel didn't seem like the crazy Death Eater the news report made him out to be.

Neville stood up, almost tripping as he ran out. No one quite understood why he was acting this way, except for Rigel, who made him sigh, he wanted to avoid this.

"I'm sorry Harry, I really can't change what my relatives did, but they are who they are, and I am who I am." Rigel said to Harry before getting up and running after Neville.

Hermione also ran after Rigel soon after, she didn't quite know what was happening, but from their words, it seemed like it wasn't good. She wanted to comfort Rigel as he had comforted her, and as for her anger towards Calypso, she selectively forgot.

Rigel noticed Hermione following him, but he didn't pay much attention to it, using the compass to find Neville's position. He felt a bit strange, he hadn't imagined that the first time he would run after someone for having hurt their feelings, it would be because of Neville.

Setting aside the strangeness of the situation, he continued to run.