"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.
....
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