"I'm not getting anywhere!" Hermione said with a frustrated sigh as she threw her quill down on the desk in front of her.

Over a week had passed since she had identified the nine elements needed for the ritual, with Harry's help of course. She had kept the items Harry had conjured for further study so she now had all that was needed to perform the ritual except a sample of gold. She thought that she could probably just use a galleon if she needed to study the gold but worried that it might have protective charms placed on it that could disrupt her analysis. The only piece of gold in her possession was a thin bracelet given to her by her mother after she had gotten top marks in first year. It was one of Hermione's most treasured possessions.

The problem Hermione now faced was much more complicated than she had assumed it would be. Each element had a rune that corresponded with it and the book she had found informed her that using the wrong rune or element would end in disaster for the person attempting it. With nine runes and nine elements it meant that there were literally hundreds of thousands of different ways they could be arranged. Those two facts meant trial and error was definitely not the right way to figure out the answer to this puzzle. She truly believed she had access to all of the information she needed, but it would still take a lot of work to finish it. 'And what for?' she sometimes wondered. She still had no idea what the ritual was for or at what price the benefits would come, and she was not foolish enough to think that there would be no consequences from the ritual. All rituals involved some element of sacrifice, usually connected whatever benefit the ritual provided. For instance, one of the rituals listed in her book would make a wizard immune to the effects of fire and heat but much more vulnerable to cold. Another ritual enabled its user to breathe underwater, but only after sacrificing the ability to breathe air.

The author of her book had speculated what the ritual was used for, but it was quite clear he had no idea either. The one thing he was sure of, although Hermione was not convinced, was that it would give its user access to a kind of magic no one else had. That statement was vague enough to mean anything though. She pondered those things for a little while longer before closing the book and deciding to end her research for the day. She was spending a lot of time on this project and worried that her friends would start to wonder what she was doing with her time. Her friends, however, were not at all surprised by her behavior. It was actually quite typical for their bushy haired friends to disappear for hours at a time when she was trying to learn something new. And so, despite Hermione's worries, they had no idea anything strange was going on.

Harry, meanwhile, had his own puzzle to solve.

He had found that Neville was very insecure about his abilities as a wizard and as a result did not learn well in classroom settings where other people were watching and judging him. His atrocious performance in Potions was mainly due to Professor Snape's hostile attitude towards him. Once he was removed from the classroom and learning from a tutor in one on one sessions he began to rapidly improve. Many people in the school had assumed that Neville was an idiot due to his poor grades, but Harry was discovering that was far from true. Neville was actually a quite intelligent young man who desperately wanted to improve himself but had always been too shy and uncertain of himself to ask for help. During the course of the year Harry's friendship had broken through those boundaries and was starting to have a positive effect on him. Underneath it all Neville was honest, hard working, and a loyal friend. It made Harry wonder why the Sorting Hat had chosen to put him into Gryffindor and not Hufflepuff where he might have fit in better. But then again, perhaps Neville's brave side was just waiting for a chance to show itself.

As Neville improved his magical problems became more obvious. He was shockingly inconsistent in casting spells for reasons that Harry was unable to identify. Neville could cast the same spell ten times, with perfect wand movements and incantations, and only get the spell to work six or seven of those times. After one such unexplained failure Harry motioned for Neville to stop casting and then began pacing back and forth in front of his confused friend.

"This doesn't make sense, Neville. You're not doing anything wrong that I can see, so it's got to be something else." Harry explained as he paced. "The only time I've seen anything like it was in second year when Ron was trying to use a broken wand. Wait a minute, your wand isn't broken is it?"

"I don't think so, Harry." Neville answered, but began inspecting it anyway. Neither of them could find any cracks or blemished on the wand however.

"No, I guess that would have been too simple." Harry said with a disappointed frown.

"Harry, do you think it matters that I'm using my dad's wand?" Neville asked uncertainly. "Gran always said he was a powerful wizard and his wand had to be just as powerful, so that can't be it right? Harry's jaw dropped open in shock. He had never even thought to ask Neville if he was using a wand that had chosen him, he just assumed Neville had. The Weasley's re-used wands because they could not afford to buy new ones for all of their children and he knew the Longbottoms would not have that problem.

"Of course it matters Neville!" Harry replied. "You can't just use any wand you want to, the wand has to pick you."

"What are you talking about?" Neville, who had never been to Ollivander's and thus never heard his speech about wands picking wizards, asked.

"Neville, if I were to use the wand you are using I could probably not do too much better than you are doing. That wand is not a good match for you, even though it was your dad's. Your grandmother really should have known better than to insist you use that wand, it's been holding you back all this time."

"So I need a new wand?"

"Not just any wand." Harry said. "You need a wand that is suited just for you. Ollivander's has thousands of wands, I'm sure you will be able to find one there that will react to you better than the one you have now."

"But Gran said my dad's wand was powerful."

"I'm sure it was. But only when he was using it." Harry explained. "Somewhere out there is a wand that will be as special to you as mine is to me."

"Why is yours so special?" Neville asked. Harry hesitated for a moment, uncertain if he wanted to tell Neville how his wand was connected to Voldemort's. Truthfully the connection worried him, and it didn't help that his dreams were now filled of strange visions of the Dark Lord that made no sense to him. But Neville was an ally, and he deserved to know what was going on.

"When I got my wand Ollivander told me that the phoenix who provided the feather for its core only gave one other feather." Harry said. "And that wand belongs to Voldemort." It was Neville's turn to be shocked, but before he could ask any questions Harry continued speaking. "I don't know what it means. Maybe nothing, but I don't think so. I think I have more in common with Voldemort than I'd like, but I won't turn out like he did."

"I never thought you would, Harry." Neville reassured him. "It's just... a surprise I guess."

"I know what you mean." Harry answered with a little laugh. "Some times I just get this weird feeling, like there is something I can't see pulling me and Voldemort together. I wish it weren't true, but it is. That's why I'm doing all this, Neville. Voldemort isn't done trying to kill me, and I need to be ready for the next time." Neville nodded in agreement, secretly thankful that it wasn't him Voldemort was after. He had no idea how close he had come to being the target of the Dark Lord's wrath.

"Don't worry, Harry. I'll be there to help." Neville assured him. "But it would be nice if I could get a new wand first. How do you do that anyway?"

"Well Ron was able to get one after he broke his..."

"I am not breaking my dad's wand, Harry." Neville said. "No way."

"I don't think you'll have to. Just go to Ollivander's in Diagon Alley the next time you get the chance. I've heard that you're not allowed to have two wands, but since you never got a wand to begin with I don't think it will matter. After all that is your dad's wand and he's still alive." Harry winced as soon as he said it, hoping he had not offended his friend. But Neville just nodded and did not seem to blame Harry for bringing up the sensitive subject of his parents.

"That won't be until summer." Neville said. "And then I'll have to convince my Gran to let me get a new one. She won't like it."

"If you don't think she'll let you, then don't tell her." Harry recommended. "I'll give you the money to buy a new wand if you need it."

"Harry, you don't have to do that..."

"Maybe not, but I've got the money to spare and I'd like my friend to be able to protect himself." Harry answered. "I'll give you the galleons when we get back to the dorms, no arguing. Consider it a birthday present."

"But my birthday isn't until July."

"An early birthday present then." Harry said with a grin which grew into a smile when Neville nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do now?" Neville asked. "I'm not going to get much better until I get a new wand after all."

"How about we start working on Potions?" Harry suggested. "I haven't spent much time studying that this year so we'll be learning most of the material for the first time together, plus you don't need a wand to do it. Besides, don't you want to see the look on Snape's face when you get an O on your exams?"

"That would be pretty funny." Neville agreed with a laugh. "Alright, we'll do Potions." Harry smiled and congratulated himself for coming up with a good solution to their problem. He couldn't wait for the day when Snape's two least favorite students did better than his beloved Slytherins in his class. Harry was definitely going to enjoy that victory.

Nearly a week later Harry and Daphne were making their way to the owlery so that Harry could mail off a response to Sirius's last letter. Harry's godfather had the good sense to stay hidden even though the decree that said he should be given the Dementor's Kiss upon capture had been lifted. Fudge was still the Minister of Magic and even though it appeared he was on his way out there was no telling what kind of damage he could do on his way down. Although Sirius's letters never said exactly where he was Harry got the impression that he had found a safe house to stay in and was probably getting help from someone, probably Remus. Harry just hoped his godfather was happy and recovering from his stay in Azkaban.

"Fudge's hearing is scheduled for June 25, and if that happens we'll have a new Minister by the first week of July." Daphne said confidently. They, like many other wizards and witches in Great Britain, had been discussing the downfall of Minister Fudge. It was the most exciting political scandal in decades.

"Good. Surely his replacement will be an improvement, no matter who it is." Harry responded.

"We can only hope. Sadly, there are worse politicians out there. Fudge, for the most part, was just an idiot and not actively evil."

"Tell Sirius that." Harry answered, to which Daphne shrugged.

"Well I did say 'for the most part'. He definitely could be evil when he wanted to be." Daphne said. "You know, you could always let it slip who you want to see replace Fudge when Skeeter happens to be listening. Take advantage of the fame that comes with being The-Boy-Who-Lived."

"Would it help? I thought everyone hated me and thought I was going to be the next Dark Lord."

"No, that was last week. They like you this week." Daphne answered with a grin.

"Oh, goody." Harry said sarcastically. "I don't even know who I would support anyway. Any suggestions?"

"I'll think about it." Daphne answered. "I'm leaning towards Rufus Scrimgeour or Amelia Bones though, mostly because they both come from the law enforcement side and would probably increase funding for the Aurors. Bones seems pretty honest, but I'm not so sure about Scrimgeour."

"Bones... is she related to Susan Bones from Hufflepuff?" Harry asked.

"It's her aunt, I think." Daphne answered.

"Oh, well she seems nice enough." Harry responded.

"Harry you can't base your decision on that!" Daphne laughed. "We're going to have to teach you this whole politics thing aren't we?"

"I'd rather not be involved in it."

"You don't have a choice, you already are. You are going to have to face the fact that people care what you think. That gives you influence and influence is power. Use it to your advantage." Daphne advised. Harry shrugged, knowing he had been caught in another 'how to act like a Slytherin lesson from his girlfriend. He didn't mind though, in fact it was probably good for him. By this time they had reached the Owlery and upon Harry's entrance Hedwig flew down to meet her owner.

"Hello, girl." Harry said as he stroked the owl's feathers. "Take this to Sirius, OK? Thank you Hedwig." The owl hooted softly at him before flying off carrying Harry's letter. Neither Harry nor Daphne had noticed that they were not alone in the Owlery until after Hedwig was gone.

"So, helping an escaped convict are you?" Draco Malfoy called from the entrance to the Owlery. Harry turned to look at him and frowned, Draco must have gotten there right after he and Daphne did and heard at least part of their conversation.

"He's not a convict, Malfoy." Harry answered. "To be a convict you need to actually be given a trial first." Draco shrugged as if this didn't matter.

"Whatever. It's still a crime to be helping him, perhaps I should turn you into the Aurors." he suggested. Harry frowned angrily but was surprised when Daphne started laughing.

"Draco, haven't you been paying attention?" she asked. "No one would care even if you did tell them. Sirius Black is innocent, and Minister Fudge will soon be forced out because of it. Harry would probably get a medal for helping the poor, innocent, man." Draco scowled at her statement, but suspected she was right.

"What's with you this year, Malfoy?" Harry asked. "You haven't been going out of your way to make my life miserable."

"Maybe I have better things to do. Didn't that ever cross your little mind, Potter?" Draco said angrily, although he was beginning to look uncomfortable.

"Perhaps, but I don't think that's it." Harry responded. "Strange how everything changed after I saved your life, isn't it? Dumbledore told me what Pureblood tradition requires in a situation like that. You're a good Pureblood, aren't you Draco?"

By this point Draco's face had turned red, although Harry could not tell if it was because of embarrassment or anger. Harry was surprised when Daphne put her hand on his arm and gave him a small shake of her head.

"Of course he is, Harry." Daphne said. "What did your father say when he found out you had sworn an oath to support Harry?" Draco flinched a little when she asked that and Daphne assumed that Lucius Malfoy's reaction had not been a happy one. She was absolutely correct. Draco had sworn the traditional oath as his education on pureblooded culture had demanded of him but his father was furious when he found that out. Lucius did not suggest that Draco should not have sworn the oath because his beliefs would have demanded he do the same thing in such a situation, he instead told his son that he should have died instead of accepting help from Harry Potter. Draco suspected that when he went home for the summer he would be receiving some of his father's special brand of punishment in the form of the Cruciatus curse.

"I did what I had to." Draco replied, not really answering the question. "This changes nothing, Potter. I still despise you, and one day I will be free of this silly oath."

"One of us would have to be dead for that to happen." Harry answered. "Believe it or not, I don't hate you Malfoy. If I did I would have let you die. We don't have to be enemies, we only will be if you force that to happen."

"We can't change what we are." Draco answered. "I am a Malfoy, you are a Potter. That is all that needs be said." With that he turned and walked out of the Owlery, leaving Harry and Daphne alone once again. Harry frowned and wondered if Malfoy really did believe that his fate in life had already been determined. Harry certainly didn't.

"What do you think will happen to him?" Harry asked a few moments later.

"I don't know, Harry." Daphne answered. "He's still trying to be his father. There's no hope for him unless that changes." Harry nodded in silent agreement with her. He no longer felt angry towards his former rival, he just felt pity. He wondered what would have happened to the boy if he had grown up away from the influence of Lucius Malfoy, perhaps he could have even been likeable. Harry took Daphne's hand as they walked out of the Owlery, but his brief conversation with Malfoy stayed on his mind for the rest of the day. In the end, he simply found himself hoping that the Slytherin would not follow his father's footsteps and force them to become enemies. He would prefer not to have to kill him.

Finally, after many weeks of studying, Hermione had a breakthrough. She had known that the creator of this ritual was a Greek wizard who had lived over 2,000 years ago and so many of the clues he left behind might only be recognizable to those familiar with his culture. So she began reading everything she could on the ancient Greek wizards and the society they had built. Her efforts paid off when she found a clue she had not even noticed before that identified which element corresponded to one of the runes. After that four of the others were easy to determine, although the last four were still a bit of a mystery to her. Despite that she felt closer to solving the Riddle of Heron than she ever had before and now thought it could be finished in a few weeks if she was lucky.

Happy with her progress, Hermione decided to take a break for the rest of the night. She was in the Room of Requirement and knew Harry and Neville would be coming in soon to practice Potions anyway. As she carefully closed the book she noticed that the page just inside the front cover had become unstuck. Destroying a book was unforgivable as far as she was concerned and immediately began trying to repair it. It was then that she noticed what she had assumed was one page was in fact two pages stuck together. Very carefully, she began to pull the two pages apart, She was quite excited because she hoped the first page would have the name of the author and when the book was written. She moved slowly so that none of the pages would be torn and after several minutes she was able to pull the pages apart far enough to notice a design on one of them. As she continued pulling more of the page was uncovered and she realized that the design looked very familiar.

The drawing on the first page was very similar to the crest used for Slytherin house, although this one did not contain any mention of Hogwarts. For a moment she thought that perhaps it was just an older version of the Slytherin symbol, but then remembered a fact from 'Hogwarts" A History' that it had not been changed since the school's opening, No, she realized, this wasn't a school crest. It was a family crest, meaning that the book she had been obsessed with was written by someone from Salazar Slytherin's family. Considering the age of the book, it could have even been written by Salazar Slytherin himself.

Hermione closed the book, unsure of what to do now. Did it even matter that the book was written by a Slytherin? She wasn't sure, although it certainly would explain the author's extensive knowledge on dark rituals. Hermione closed the book and went back to her chair to sit down and think about this new fact. As soon as she sat down though she heard the noise of the door being opened and two voices that she recognized as Harry and Neville talking, She briefly thought that perhaps she should hide the book, but realized there was no time to do that,

"Hey Hermione. What are you doing here?" Harry asked when he noticed her. "Did you want to help us out with our Potions?"

"Uhh, sure Harry." Hermione answered. "Actually, there was something I needed to talk to you about."

"What is it? Is everything OK?" Harry asked.

"You see I found this book." Hermione said and turned to point at the book on rituals she had been using. To her surprise though the book had disappeared along with the stand it had been laying on. She realized the room must have hidden it went she thought about hiding it as Harry and Neville came in. Hermione looked back at her friends who were now waiting for her to finish.

"It's probably nothing." Hermione finally said. "Just forget I said anything."

"Are you sure you're OK?" Harry asked, the concern for his friend evident in his voice.

"Sure, Harry. I've just had a lot on my mind lately" Hermione answered. It was just a book after all, wasn't it? And the book wasn't talking to her or trying to get her to do anything, so it wasn't evil in of itself. Besides the ritual, even if she did try it, wasn't the work of Slytherin. He was just trying to figure it out, and he clearly didn't even know as much about it as she did. No, there was no reason to worry and if she told Harry that is surely all he would do, It wouldn't even matter if she couldn't figure out the last four runes.

"OK. So how about helping us with Potions?" Harry asked, unaware of his friends train of thought.

"Sounds fun, Harry." Hermione replied as they began working.

And so the weeks passed and the end of the school year drew nearer, and with it the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.

At Hogwarts the students soon became too worried about their OWLs, NEWTs, and regular end of year exams to spend much time gossiping about either the tournament or its participants. That did not mean the majority of them suddenly decided to forget all of the negative rumors that had been started regarding Harry, just that they were mainly ignored in favor of other topics. For most of them it had been a typical year, despite the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament.

The rest of the British wizarding world was still obsessed with the political drama surrounding Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge. As the days went by it became clearer and clearer that he would not survive the hearing unless he had some huge surprise waiting, which he did not. Rita Skeeter had not let up in her attacks on Fudge, and Harry and Daphne were happy to let her continue to do so as long as she was still useful to them. There had still been no sign of either Peter Pettigrew or Barty Crouch Junior, despite all of Dumbledore and the Ministry's efforts. Whatever they were up to, they were being quiet about it. That fact worried Harry and Dumbledore more than if they had been making visible and obvious moves.

Harry, Daphne, Hermione, and Neville all continued training themselves whenever they had time to. For Harry, this meant he was able to complete about three of his special training sessions every week. By the end of the year it was obvious to all of them that Harry had vastly improved over where he was at when the school year began. The most surprising development however belonged to Neville. Once away from Professor Snape's influence he had developed a true love and talent for potions. His interest in the subject had drastically increased after Hermione pointed out that most Potions ingredients were plants, and Neville was truly a prodigy when it came to Herbology, Realizing how closely linked the two subjects were, Neville immediately dedicated himself to learning the properties of his beloved plants and how they could be used in various potions. Snape still harassed him during class, but he had fewer and fewer legitimate reasons to do so.

By the end of the year the four of them had developed close friendships with each other. Even Hermione and Daphne, who had both initially been wary of the other girl, had grown to respect and like each other. Harry thought that despite all that had gone wrong in the year he had still enjoyed it much more than any of the previous ones, a fact he would not have expected to be true at the beginning of the year.

'Now,' Harry thought, 'I only have to get through one more task and the year will be over.' He had no idea how difficult that would be.

It was a week before the end of the year and Hermione was once again in the Room of Requirement trying to solve the Riddle of Heron. A month before she had identified another connection between a rune and an element leaving only three more to find. She had narrowed it down far enough that if she found one more she would easily be able to determine the other two.

The work had been complicated and exhausting, causing her to study subjects she had not even considered before. She had enjoyed the experience however and was glad she had gone through with it, even if she had no idea what to do with the information. She had struggled with the decision but decided that the risks were not worth going through with the ritual. In fact she was a little ashamed of herself for even considering it. Hermione knew she could find other ways to improve, besides it was not important to rush things.

"YES!" Hermione suddenly yelled, surprising even herself with how loud it came out. She had figured out another piece of the puzzle, but it was the key piece. At last she had identified in what configuration all nine elements and runes should be used. Hermione's face broke out into a huge smile at what she considered the greatest accomplishment of her life so far. Of course she could not prove it was right since she wasn't willing to go through with the ritual, but she was certain it was correct.

"Perhaps I should tell Harry." Hermione considered, There was no reason not to, was there? Of course Harry did have a lot on his mind with the final task only days away... She would wait, Hermione decided. After the year was over and everything had calmed down she would tell him everything. She only hoped he wouldn't be too mad at her for not telling him earlier.