Harry Potter And The Unexpected Friend

In the days that followed the most popular topic for conversation in the wizarding world was Rita Skeeter's article and the accusations it contained. Minister Fudge immediately called a press conference to deny everything, but the suspicions remained. It did not help his cause that the Daily Prophet, which had seen its sales soar after Skeeter's initial article, refused to back down from their position. Rumors circulated concerning the identity of the unnamed Auror who had agreed to testify against Minister Fudge, but all the paper would say of him was that he was currently living at a safe house under powerful wards for his own protection.

Fudge's political enemies saw his weakened position and took advantage of it by calling for the Minister to resign. Fudge, of course, refused and insisted that he was innocent. When it was clear that Minister Fudge was not going to leave his post willingly, his rivals then began demanding that he be brought before the Wizengamot and forced to answer their questions. Fudge tried to fight this request as well but it soon became clear he would eventually have to face the Wizengamot. The only tactic he had left at that point was to stall by saying that he needed time to prepare his defense. Reluctantly, his enemies agreed to give him some time and negotiations began to determine when the hearing would be held. After a few days Fudge and his aides suggested that June 24 would be the earliest they could be ready. They hoped that no one would realize that June 24 was also the day that the third task of the Triwizard Tournament was to be held, an event that would surely draw attention away from the hearing. Unfortunately for Fudge, his rivals realized what he was trying to do and decided that the best day for them would be June 25. Fudge had little choice but to bitterly accept this date.

And so the date was agreed upon. The general mood of the public was that it would be Fudge's last day in office. With that in mind several people began to campaign to be the next Minister of Magic. Current head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Amelia Bones gained a lot of support when she went against Minister Fudge's demands and struck down the decree that Sirius Black should immediately receive the Dementor's Kiss upon capture. Minister Fudge's furious reaction to her disobedience did not help him win any supporters. A plethora of other names were also suggested, although with a few months left none had really become a favorite to win the position if it did become available.

Harry, meanwhile, could not have been happier with how things had developed. Not only did it mean that Sirius could finally receive justice but it gave the Daily Prophet something else to spend its time on and there was a good chance that Minister Fudge, whom he did not like, would soon be replaced. He could not help but laugh when he realized that none of it would be possible if he had not tricked Rita Skeeter into doing what he wanted her to do. 'That wasn't very Gryffindor of me, was it?' he thought with a grin.

...

Days later Hermione sat alone in the Room of Requirement reading the book she had found. Due to its age and condition she did not dare move it in fears that it would be destroyed. She had the strong feeling that this book had been the result of a lifetime of work by its author and was truly one of a kind. She had never heard of it before and upon further searching could find no references to it anywhere else. Hermione wondered how long it had been sitting in the Room of Requirement apparently forgotten to all and who had been the last to read it. Perhaps it had been here since the four founders built the castle, she did not know.

Slowly she had become more accustomed to reading the ancient text and could now understand what was being said in almost all instances. What she found was that, unlike the Ministry of Magic, the author did not consider all rituals dark or evil in nature. What they had in common was some benefit being provided as a result of a sacrifice. Sacrifice, she realized, was the one thing that all rituals had in common. That did not mean, however, that an animal or person had to die for all of the sacrifices (although that was the case in many of them). Sometimes the sacrifice required was a prized possession or even a body part. She had been excited to find a ritual that would increase a witch's intelligence until she found that it would require sacrificing her virginity to a goblin under a full moon. She quickly decided that she was not interested in that one. Hermione found it all quite fascinating and found herself questioning the Ministry's stance that all rituals were dark. Not all of them included harming others or would affect a person's morals or sanity, so why lump them all together?

The book ended with notes on a ritual that she surprisingly recognized: The Ritual of Heron. However in modern times it had become known as the Riddle of Heron. It was famous because no one knew what it was or how to do it and yet every century or so a new wizard would claim to have figured it out, only to be disappointed when his ideas didn't work. Over two thousand years ago the ritual's creator had left a series of cryptic notes that had long since fascinated those who read them. The intriguing part of this book was that the author insisted to that he had found notes on the ritual from the creator that others had overlooked. Using this he pieced together much more of the instructions than anyone else ever had (assuming his notes were real of course). The author, however, had eventually reached a point from which he could go no further.

Hermione had always loved both riddles and challenge and began closely studying the author's work on the subject. She found herself agreeing with his conclusions on the hints left by the creator. The ritual would need nine different materials and nine different runes, not the seven or eight of each that modern wizards thought necessary. The book's author was convinced he had determined which nine runes would be needed but he could not figure out which nine materials were necessary. Hermione was very interested to find that the hints tied in with her research on permanent conjuration when she read that one of the materials could not be conjured and the eight others could only be done so with great difficulty. The author believed that four of the nine materials were gold, silver, bronze, and copper while he suspected that one of the others was a liquid of some kind.

Hermione suspected she could narrow down the search for the five missing materials through her research, although she had no plans on actually going through with the ritual. It was much too dangerous, after all no one knew what it did or what sacrifice it would require. Besides, she told herself, she was only working on it to satisfy her curiosity. There was no way she was going to attempt any of the rituals, even the ones she didn't consider dark. A ritual that was done incorrectly could have horrible consequences and so it was far too risky.

"This is nothing more than an intellectual exercise." she reassured herself as she reached for a roll of parchment to begin her own notes. "Nothing more."

....

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