Veracity - ✔️

Eight

"A river cuts through a rock
not because of its power,
but its persistence."
- Unknown

Flawless. Athene eyed the pile of freshly printed articles that sat on her desk. The article took up the entire page with only a single picture of Umbridge at the top. It was the longest article that she had written and by far the most controversial. Athene was exceptionally proud.

With trembling arms, Athene hauled the stack of papers through her apartment, down the stairs, and dropped them onto the counter of Epeolatry. It was early, the sun had hardly risen above the horizon, but there was already a line forming outside of her locked door. Veracity had gained notoriety throughout the Wizarding Community since her last article had taken it by storm. Margarete had taken delight in informing the general public where, when, and how to get a pamphlet. When Athene had let it slip that a new article would be released that morning, she knew the mistake she had made almost immediately.

She had promised herself that she would not open her doors until precisely 10 a.m. But just sitting there and watching the people anxiously wait for her to unlock her doors was one of the most tempting things she'd ever witnessed. Athene had never felt such an urge for public satisfaction until she began writing. The author now lived for the public response that came from her articles. She loved the ripples that her writing caused in the Wizarding Community. It was a high that she never wanted to come down from.

Athene caved at 9:17 and opened her doors. By that time, there had to have been at least two dozen people waiting in line. They all filtered into her store, and most of them made a beeline to her counter. Each customer took one or two copies without even glancing at the title before rushing back out of her shop. It was organized chaos.

The last person in line was ironically the last person Athene wanted to see. Rita Skeeter was dressed entirely in different shades of purple. She looked so out of place in the old-looking bookstore with her nose turned up in distaste, and her glasses perched on the end of her long nose. Athene had managed to avoid her aunt during the summer, but with her newsletter gaining ranks in public opinion, she figured that a visit from Rita was unavoidable.

The two women said nothing as Rita's heels clicked against the floorboards. Athene watched closely as one of Rita's perfectly manicured hand reached out and plucked one of the last copies off of the counter. Rita's beady eyes scanned the words for a brief second before they snapped up on her niece. "Athene." There was no fake niceness in her voice this time. "You're treading on dangerous grounds."

"Whatever do you mean, Rita?"

"I raised you to be a good girl," Rita stuck a finger in Athene's face. "Not this, this arrogant, lying cheater. You better watch yourself, Athene. You aren't cut out to win this battle."

"I wasn't aware that there had to be a battle, Rita. All I'm doing is writing the truth."

"Do you really think that's what this is about?" Rita scoffed and shook her head. "You really are dumber than I thought you were." Athene remained silent as her aunt fumed. She could almost see the smoke billowing from Rita's ears. "This won't go over well with the Daily Prophet. This is my job, Athene."

"If you're here to scare me away from my newsletter," Athene straightened herself, "then you best be on your way. I'm standing up for my beliefs, and I am writing what the public deserves to hear. Unlike you, I actually care about the truth."

"Well, I never," Rita hiked up her skirt and snarled, "You better watch your back, Athene, lest you become the subject of one of the Daily Prophet's revealing articles." Athene watched as Rita retreated out the door just the way she came. Rita was already worked up, but it didn't help that Enya was walking through the doors just as she was headed out. "Get out of my way, you traitorous skim."

Enya uncharacteristically stepped away from the raging woman and allowed her to leave without any snarky comments. She only stared after the strangely dressed woman in awe, "Well, that took longer than I expected it to."

The pair laughed, "I was so sure that she would come in after my first article was published and completely destroyed what she wrote."

"What did she even say?" Enya hopped up on the counter and pulled the very last copy of Veracity into her hands.

"She rattled on about me not being prepared to fight this battle and that I ought to watch myself." Enya nodded her head, but she wasn't paying attention to the conversation anymore. She was wrapped up in the life and times Dolores Umbridge. "What do you think?"

There was a frown on Enya's face that Athene supposed was because of Dolores' horrendous acts during her time in the Ministry. But, when she opened her mouth to speak, Athene wasn't so sure. "Where did you even get this information?"

"It says it down there," Athene pointed towards the bottom of the article, "that I interviewed Umbridge and some students at Hogwarts. I got everything about her past from the Ministry's records."

"You really shouldn't be writing things like this, Athene," Enya crumpled the paper and tossed it in the rubbish bin. "This isn't appropriate."

"It's the truth," Athene tilted her head to the side. She could not figure out what was going through her best friend's head. Enya had been the one that pushed her to start writing articles. Now, she was telling her not to tell the truth.

"You're starting to sound like the Wicked Witch of the West, Athene." The reference to their favorite movie did nothing to squash the unease that now filled her veins. Being like her aunt was the last thing she wanted to do. She had lived her whole life swearing that she would be kind, courteous, and generous to all she met, and these articles were the exact opposite.

These thoughts kept her mind working long after Enya left the store. She couldn't help but think there was a bit of truth to Enya's words. The fear of turning out just like her aunt ran deep through Athene's mind, but the fear wasn't enough for her to stop writing the truth. Dumbledore had insisted that she fill this job: according to him, no one else could do this. The Order and the Wizarding World deserved the truth, and if that hurts people's feelings, well, that was a risk that she would have to deal with.

Author's Note:
Do you think that Athene is turning into her aunt? Please comment what you think and be sure to vote if you liked this chapter!