The Riddle of Heron

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.

....

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