Return of the Heirs

Harry Potter and the Return of the Heirs By J.C. Vascardi

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. No money is being made on this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things about this story that I own are the storylines, places and characters that are not featured in the books.

• • • Chapter Sixteen * * *

Draco was sitting in the Slytherin common room doing his Arithmancy homework. He was focusing so hard on it that he didn't notice Pansy coming up to the table until she laid her hand on his shoulder.

Draco looked up and asked, "Is there something you wanted, Pansy?"

"Isn't there something you want to ask me?" Pansy asked in response.

Draco had the grace to take a few seconds before answering with, "No, there isn't."

"Oh come on, Draco darling, I know you want to ask me something so just do it already."

"Okay," Draco said, hoping what he was about to ask would work even though he knew it probably wouldn't. "Could you please leave me alone?"

"Draco, that's not what you want to ask me and we both know it."

Draco closed his Arithmancy book, stood up and said, "Pansy, if you are referring to the fact that you think I should ask you to the Halloween Ball, that isn't going to happen. I'm gay, remember?"

"You keep saying that," Pansy said, "but I don't believe you. Come on, Draco, just stop playing hard to get and ask me. I know you want to."

"Actually, I don't," Draco drawled. "You are the last person in the world I would ever want to ask out on a date."

"Oh Draco you know you want me."

"No, Pansy, I don't want you."

"Give me one good reason why you don't want me."

"Okay, you're a girl!" Draco exclaimed.

"I said a good reason."

"That is a good reason, Pansy," Draco said, "because in case you've missed it the other million times I've said it, I'm gay!"

The other Slytherin students in the common room had by now stopped what they were doing to watch Pansy and Draco. Draco suddenly realized that he'd never actually given Pansy any proof that he was gay. He'd said it millions of times to her, but he had never given her any kind of tangible proof. Of course, he was a Malfoy, raised to think that his word was good enough and according to Rule #129 in the Malfoy Code of Conduct, it should be, but Draco had realized quite a while ago that almost all of those rules were complete nonsense.

It was at that moment that Blaise walked into the room and Draco sent up a silent thank you to the Gods. Sidestepping Pansy, Draco walked over to Blaise and threw his arms around him as he kissed him on the lips for everyone to see. The only person in the room to react was Pansy because she couldn't believe what was happening.

"Draco what are you doing?" she asked.

As the kiss ended, Draco looked at Blaise, sending him a silent plea to play along, to which Blaise nodded imperceptibly.

"Pansy, what did it look like?" Draco asked.

"It looked like you were kissing Blaise, but that doesn't make any sense, because you're supposed to be kissing me."

"Pansy, for the last time, I have no desire to kiss you because I don't like you. I'm gay."

"I demand that you stop saying that and do what we both know you want to do and ask me to the dance!"

"I'm a Malfoy, Pansy," Draco drawled. "Malfoys don't give in to demands, they make them. Now, I demand that you shut your mouth and leave me alone with my boyfriend."

"Blaise is not your boyfriend, Draco," Pansy said. "He can't possibly be your boyfriend because I'm the one you want. I'm the only one you'll ever want and it's time you accept that."

"No, Pansy, it's time you accept that Draco doesn't want you."

"Blaise, I'm talking to Draco, this doesn't concern you," Pansy said coldly.

"I'm warning you Pansy, don't talk to my boyfriend that way," Draco said as the patented Malfoy death glare slid into place on his face.

Pansy was shocked for a minute because while she had seen Draco give the Malfoy death glare to many people over the years, he had never given it to her. She wasn't going to let that stop her though, because she knew that Draco was destined to be hers and she was not going to rest until he was.

"Draco, darling, just ask me to the ball already and end this foolishness."

"The only foolishness going on here, Pansy is yours," Blaise said. "In case you haven't noticed, everyone in the room is listening to this conversation and I'm sure they're all thinking that you're a complete and total idiot to continue thinking that Draco is going to ask you to the dance despite all the evidence to the contrary."

"What evidence to the contrary?" Pansy asked. "I haven't seen any evidence to the contrary. The only thing I've seen is Draco playing hard to get by trying to make me think that he's gay, which I know he isn't."

Draco knew that he was about to break Rule #100 in the Malfoy Code of Conduct, which stated that what Malfoys did in the privacy of their bedrooms should remain private, but he didn't care. He was determined to get Pansy off his back and he was willing to take drastic measures to do so. Looking around the room, Draco noticed Adrian Pucey standing in the doorway to the private room given to the Head Boy or Head Girl if they were in Slytherin.

`Perfect', Draco thought, as he asked, "Pucey could you come over here?"

Adrian didn't know why Draco was calling him over, but he was curious, so he obliged.

"Yes?" Adrian asked.

"Pansy seems to be having trouble grasping the fact that I'm gay," Draco drawled. "I've tried telling her and I've tried kissing Blaise in front of her, but she still refuses to believe me," then lowering his voice to almost a whisper so that the rest of the room wouldn't overhear him, "So, I want you to cast the Virginitas charm on me, Pucey."

The Virginitas charm was an ancient charm used mostly by some of the pureblood families on perspective mates to determine if they were virgins. Not every family cared, but some wanted to insure that anyone marrying into their family was a virgin. If a person is a virgin, the charm caused a white aura to surround them. If not, a blue aura enveloped the person and if the person they lost their virginity to happened to be in the room, the charm would make that known.

"Perhaps we should go someplace a bit more private first?" Adrian suggested in a low voice. "We can use my room if you want so everybody doesn't know your private business."

"Thank you, Pucey," Draco said, which was exactly why he had asked Pucey to do this in the first place.

Blaise, Draco, and Pansy followed Adrian into his private room, at which point he locked the door and cast a silencing charm so that nobody outside would hear the conversation.

"Are you sure about this, Malfoy?" Adrian asked.

"I'm positive," answered Draco.

Adrian nodded as he pointed his wand at Draco and said, "Virginitas!"

Almost immediately a blue aura surrounded Draco, signifying that he was not, in fact, a virgin. Within seconds a blue line extended out from Draco's aura and went over to Blaise, and surrounded him in blue as well, signifying he was the one who had taken Draco's virginity.

"Still don't believe that I'm gay, Pansy?" Draco asked with a smug expression on his face. "The Virginitas charm does not lie and you now have proof that I've had sex with Blaise. Now, the question is, why would I do that if I wanted you? And before you ask, no, Blaise did not use the Imperius curse on me, I was very much so a willing participant the multiple times that we did it."

"I don't believe you," Pansy said. "You want me Draco, I know you do. If you had sex with Blaise, then it must be because he forced himself on you."

"Now wait just a bloody minute here!" Blaise shouted. "Pansy I have never forced myself on anyone and I highly resent that you would even suggest that I did!"

"It's the only explanation that makes any sense," Pansy said. "Draco and I are destined to be together, so there is no way that he would ever have sex with anyone other than me unless he was forced to."

"You are seriously diluted if you believe that, Pansy," Blaise said. "I have never forced myself on Draco. I mean, think about it Pansy, do you honestly think that I am stupid enough to force myself on him? Pansy you and I both know that nobody forces Draco Malfoy to do anything and if I had forced myself on him, you bloody well know that I would not have my bits intact right now. Which I assure you, I do."

Pansy remained quiet as she thought about that statement. After a minute she said, "I still don't believe that Draco would have sex with you willingly."

Adrian could see that this situation had the potential to get out of control at any minute, so he decided it was time for an even more drastic measure than the Virginitas charm.

"Pansy, since you don't believe that Draco is telling you the truth about being gay and you don't believe that Blaise is telling the truth when he says that he did not force himself on Draco, perhaps you would believe it if I question them with Veritaserum?"

"You have some?" Draco asked.

"Of course," Adrian said. "Do you think I would have asked if I didn't?"

The truth of the matter was that Professor Snape brewed a batch of Veritaserum and gave several vials of it to Adrian, figuring that it would be useful to him in his job as Head Boy to insure that if he had to question anyone, that they would be telling the truth. Technically, Professor Snape shouldn't have done it, but everyone in the castle knows that he gives preferential treatment to those in his house.

Adrian walked over to the large wardrobe in the corner of the room, opened it, and then pulled a potion vial from a rack on one of the shelves.

Draco was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea or not, because depending on how Adrian worded the questions, the potion might force him to reveal the fact that he had a major crush on Harry and that was the last thing he wanted Pansy to know. Draco knew that Blaise already suspected it and he knew that Adrian's family was neutral in the war, so he wasn't concerned about them knowing, but he knew that Pansy intended to willingly accept the Mark after graduation.

He was also desperate for Pansy's constant attempts to get into his pants to stop though, so, however un-Slytherin it may have been, Draco was willing to be brave, take the risk and drink the Veritaserum.

"Why don't you two sit down on the bed?" Adrian asked as he pushed his desk chair over so that he could sit right in front of them.

Draco and Blaise nodded before they sat down on Adrian's bed, as Adrian uncorked the Veritaserum and carefully put three drops of the potion into both Draco and Blaise's mouths. With Adrian standing in front of him, Pansy didn't see the look that Draco gave Adrian, but Adrian caught it and understood the silent question that the younger boy was asking.

Turning towards Pansy, Adrian raised his wand and said, "Silencio!"

Pansy looked stricken, to which Adrian just grinned and said, "I think it best that I be the only one who can ask the questions. I'm sure you understand, Pansy. If not, well, then I can always give you detention with Filch for interfering in official Head Boy business and you know that Professor Snape will believe me over you."

Pansy continued to look stricken, but she did know that Adrian was right. Adrian was the first Slytherin named Head Boy in the last several years, so as far as Professor Snape was concerned, he could do no wrong after he had brought the honor back to Slytherin house where it belonged.

Adrian sat down across from Blaise and Draco and waited a few minutes for their eyes to glaze over, signifying that the potion had kicked in. When it did, Adrian asked, "Draco, are you gay?"

"Yes," Draco answered.

"Draco, have you had sex with Blaise?"

"Yes," Draco answered again.

"Draco, have you ever wanted to have sex with Pansy?"

"No," Draco answered almost immediately.

"Hmm, Blaise, have you had sex with Draco?"

"Yes," Blaise answered.

"Did you ever force yourself on Draco?"

"No."

Standing up to face Pansy, Adrian said, "Well, there you have it Pansy. Draco said he was gay under the influence of Veritaserum and Blaise said that he did not force himself on Draco. So, that should be enough for you. The silencing spell will wear off in a few minutes."

Adrian then unlocked his door, pushed Pansy out of the room before he closed and re-locked it. Turning to the boys still sitting on his bed, Adrian grinned and said, "You know, I may be the Head Boy, but I'm still a Slytherin. As such, I should probably find a way to use this situation to my advantage."

Ryan, Nick, Hermione, and Harry were all sitting in the common room of Rowena's quarters. Ryan asked Hermione and Harry to drop by in order to inform them about the clues they'd discovered in the `Tome of the Founders'.

"Maybe we should tell Professor Dumbledore," Hermione said. "He was on staff here when Tom Riddle first came to school here, so he might know more about this Ariana Riddle."

"Yes, that's true," agreed Nick.

"Well, it's certainly possible," mused Harry. "The man usually does seem to know everything. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he already knows that Ryan is Ravenclaw's heir."

"That is entirely possible," Rowena interjected. "As Headmaster of Hogwarts, he would also be in control of the castle wards. As such, the castle keeps him very well informed about what goes on within its walls, almost as if he were omnipresent."

"So, Dumbledore knows everything that goes on in this castle?" Ryan asked.

"Well, within reason," clarified Rowena. "For example the castle will not inform him about every conversation that takes place within its walls. He also doesn't know what every single person is doing at every single second of the day, but the castle will give him a general idea of what's been happening. So, you may notice that he asks questions and while he may present the façade of already knowing the answers, in truth, he probably doesn't, because the castle has only told him so much and he still needs to fill in the blanks."

"Hmm, well, it's nice to know that he really isn't omnipresent and omniscient," Nick commented. "I'm sure that there's a lot that goes on in this castle that people would not want the headmaster to know about. Not necessarily because it's against the rules, but because it's of an extremely private nature."

"Yes, I'm sure that's true," agreed Ryan. "I know for a fact that being professors at this school hasn't stopped Matt and Oliver from going at it, so I'm sure they'd both shudder to think that Professor Dumbledore could see them doing it. I just hope they've learned to use silencing charms."

"For the sake of every professor whose quarters is anywhere near theirs', I'd have to agree," Nick said as everyone laughed.

After a few moments, they calmed down and Hermione asked, "So, should we go and see Professor Dumbledore?"

"I think we should," Nick responded. "I mean he might not know anything, but then again, he could have the key to everything if we tell him what we know. He's a very, um, experienced man."

Nick was, of course, going to say old, but thought better of it.

"Rowena, now that Brendan was able to visit you here, can I assume that you are capable of leaving your quarters?"

"Well, that depends, Ryan," answered Rowena. "Are there any portraits in his office?"

"Oh yeah," Harry said immediately. "There are several portraits of the past Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts. I never counted how many exactly, but there's a ton of them. I'd guess about a hundred at least."

"Then I can visit his office, yes," said Rowena with a smile. "I just need to have a general idea of where it is."

"Well it's one of the towers," Hermione said. "The entrance is guarded by a statue of a gargoyle. Harry can probably show you on the Marauder's Map."

"No need for that," Rowena said. "I know which tower you're referring to. That particular tower was originally the Astronomy Tower for the first few years that Hogwarts was open until we built a taller one. We then turned that tower into a large guest suite for important guests. Let me guess, you speak a password to the gargoyle, it jumps aside, and then there's a staircase beyond which moves, correct?"

"Yes, that's right," confirmed Harry.

"Helga charmed that," Rowena said. "She was always very proud of it."

Meanwhile, back at Voldemort's lair, still chained to the wall was Voldemort's black-haired, dark-eyed, teenage prisoner. Unknown to him, two days had passed since Voldemort's last visit. He knew though that at some point, Voldemort would be coming to see him with food and drink.

The boy did once manage to figure out that Voldemort seemed to bring him food every third visit he made to his cell. So, assuming that Voldemort visited every day, the boy ate twice a week.

Never enough food to really satisfy my hunger,' the boy thought. I suppose he only feeds me enough to ensure I don't die, although I wish he would stop that because death would be more than welcome at this point.'

The cell door opened and Voldemort walked into the room, followed by a house-elf carrying a tray with a cup of water, a bowl of broth, and a few small strips of bread.

"I don't know why, since you never show me the proper respect," Voldemort hissed, "but I'm going to be nice and let you sit down this time."

Raising his wand, Voldemort unlocked the manacles on the boys' wrists and he immediately fell to the ground, as his legs and feet were extremely numb.

Voldemort conjured a table and chairs in the center of the room, and laughed as the boy began crawling towards it. He was getting dirtier from the dirt on the floor and his robe ripped when it caught on a loose brick in the floor with a jagged edge.

Voldemort laughed cruelly and said, "I should have done this sooner. Watching you suffer is so entertaining!"

The boy finally managed to get to the table and pull himself up into one of the chairs with great difficulty. It was the most he had moved in quite awhile and all of his muscles were extremely weak. The house-elf looked rather sad as it set the tray on the table in front of the boy, but it dared not say anything in front of Voldemort.

"Now, eat up, boy," said Voldemort coldly. "We wouldn't want you to starve to death."

The boy considered not eating so that he could perhaps speed up his release from this torture by his own death, but he knew from experience that Voldemort would not allow him to not eat. The boy had tried it a few times before and Voldemort only got mad and then forced him to eat.

The boy picked up a piece of the bread and with great difficulty brought it up to his mouth. As the boy repeated the process, it got easier, as his muscles adjusted to the use. He soon finished eating the strips of bread and then grabbed the cup of water with both hands. The boy shakily brought the cup to his lips and drank, only about half of it making it into his mouth, as the rest dripped out of the corners of his mouth.

For some unknown reason, this made Voldemort angry, "Idiot boy! You have to drink every last drop of that water!" turning to the house-elf, he said, "You! Get this fool boy another glass of water from the jug outside and be quick about it!"

The house-elf bowed before it popped out of the room, only to pop back in a second later with another glass of water. This time, however, the elf had added a straw to the cup, so the boy could drink the water with minimal amounts escaping his mouth.

Voldemort chuckled and said, "Good thinking, you stupid little whelp. Just for that, I won't use the Cruciatus on you today. I'll just use it twice on one of the other house-elves instead."

The boy drank his water and the house-elf then began to feed the boy spoonfuls of the broth. If Voldemort was angry that the house-elf was helping the boy, he didn't say anything. Once the broth was gone, the house-elf grabbed the empty tray from the table and left.

"I should have my head examined for being so nice to you, boy," Voldemort said as he used his wand to move one of the other chairs to a corner of the room and then transfigured it into a bed. "Although, I suppose it can't hurt to give you a few creature comforts. It's not like they're going to help you at all."

The boy slid out of his chair and began to slowly crawl over to the bed. Apparently, Voldemort didn't think he was moving fast enough, or he just wanted to cause him more pain, so he conjured a whip and began to lash the boy repeatedly, adding to the already numerous scratches and bruises on his body.

Voldemort laughed as the boy curled up into a ball on the floor, with his legs and arms blocking his face.

That didn't stop Voldemort from continuing to whip him for several more minutes though. When he finally did stop, the boy stayed in the position he was in, too afraid to move.

"It's good that you fear me, boy," Voldemort hissed as he banished the whip and pointed his wand at the quivering boy. "I shall have to reward you for that. Crucio!"

Voldemort held the spell for a few seconds, as the boy, whose throat was now less dry from having recently ingested liquid, managed to scream in agony, softly, but still what could only be described as screaming. Voldemort then called the house-elf back in and told it to tend to the boy's injuries so that `his guest' wouldn't bleed to death and then swept out of the room, laughing cruelly.

The elf managed to calm the boy down and then helped him to the bed where it began to clean and dress the open wounds. Once that was done, the elf helped the boy to take off his robe and then tucked him into the bed. The elf folded the robe and placed it on the table before leaving. If anyone had been in the room to look at it, they would have seen the silver-trimmed green patch with a snake in the shape of an `S' embroidered on the black robe.

Later that day, after classes were over for the day, Harry, Hermione, Ryan, and Nick carefully made their way to Dumbledore's office. Harry and Hermione were under Harry's cloak and Nick and Ryan were under Ryan's cloak. Keeping a watchful eye on the Marauder's Map, Harry knew that Ryan and Nick were right behind them. There was also no sign of any professors, Mr. Filch, or Mrs. Norris and Professor Dumbledore was alone in his office.

Arriving at the gargoyle, Harry whispered, "Dumbledore's password is always some kind of sweet, sometimes a Wizard sweet other times a Muggle sweet, so start naming everything you can think of."

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans," Hermione whispered.

"Acid Pops," Nick whispered.

"Chocolate Frogs," Ryan whispered.

"Cockroach Clusters," Harry whispered.

This continued for several minutes, as the four students first tried every kind of Wizard candy they could think of without any success. Raised by Muggles, Harry and Hermione had a much better knowledge of Muggle sweets than Ryan did or Nick did, and they began naming off everything they could think of.

Harry tried Lemon Drops', Sherbet Lemon', Skittles', and Peanut Brittle' without any success. Hermione tried Sweet Tarts', Nerds', and Kit Kat' without any luck. Harry and Hermione were beginning to get a bit frustrated to be honest, when finally the gargoyle jumped aside when Harry said M&Ms'.

The four teens sighed in relief as they stepped forward onto the moving staircase as the gargoyle moved back into position. Reaching the doors at the top of the stairs, Harry and Ryan removed their cloaks from themselves and their companions and were just about to knock on the door when Dumbledore's voice said, "Come in."

Harry opened the door and the four students walked into Dumbledore's office, which hadn't really changed much since Harry was last in the room.

Dumbledore smiled at the group and conjured four comfortable chairs in front of his desk and said, "I was wondering when you four would get up here. Had some trouble with the password did you?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said as the four of them sat down. "I take it you've been eating M&Ms lately?"

"Yes, Harry, I have," Dumbledore said with a smile. "They're really quite good. I know that some wizards would think I was crazy to say it, but I've got to give the Muggles credit, they really do know their candy. Tea, lemon drops, M&Ms anyone?"

The frustrating time spent trying to guess the password had left the four students' nerves a bit frazzled, so they all accepted Dumbledore's offer of tea. The headmaster smiled and conjured tea for everyone. Once everyone's tea was just the way he or she liked it, Dumbledore asked, "So, what brings you to my office?"

"Well, Professor," Ryan said, "it's in regards to the heirs."

"Ah, yes, I've been thinking about that quite a bit since the Sorting Hat mentioned it," Dumbledore said as he took a sip of his tea.

"Well, sir, we know who one of them is," said Hermione. "And we have clues as to the identities of two others."

"Do you now?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes twinkling. "And who is the heir that you know?"

"That would be me, sir," Ryan answered. "I'm the twenty-third great-grandson of Rowena Fiona Ravenclaw."

Dumbledore smiled and looked at Ryan over the top of his half-moon spectacles, "And how did you come to this conclusion, if I may ask?"

"Professor Weasley gave Hermione and me permission to research in the Restricted Section. We found an old book about noteworthy witches and wizards of the 15th and 16th centuries. I found an entry for an Edmund Cromnvell who married a Fiona Ravenclaw in the 1400's."

"To make a long story short, Ryan found my quarters and I assure you, if he wasn't my heir he wouldn't have been able to find them."

Dumbledore turned behind him to look at the empty portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black, who was currently at his portrait at Grimmauld Place, to see the face that was now familiar to the teenagers in the room as that of Rowena Ravenclaw.

"Professor Dumbledore, I take it?" Rowena asked. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Rowena Ravenclaw."

"It is truly a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Ravenclaw," Dumbledore said. "I must admit that I was unaware that any portraits of the founders existed in this castle."

"Please call me Rowena. As for the portraits, well, the only portraits of the founders are in our private quarters near the houses we founded. Very powerful magic protects the quarters of each founder and only an heir can get past the magic and allow others to do so. By finding my quarters, Ryan has also freed me to be able to visit other portraits."

"So, you have in a sense been a prisoner of your own magic since your death I take it?"

"Yes, unfortunately, it was an unforeseen side effect of the spells that we had used to protect our quarters. We made the magic strong enough that nobody but our heir could get in or out, we just didn't take into consideration the fact that it was powerful enough to prevent our portraits from leaving our quarters. At any rate, when Ryan found my quarters, the magic loosened its grip, so to speak, enough for me to be able to leave them and I must admit that after over a thousand years, it really is quite nice to have some different scenery."

"Now, Hermione, you said you had clues to the identities of the other founders' heirs?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, sir," confirmed Hermione. "In her quarters, Rowena has her own private library and there's a book written by the founders which lists all of their heirs. Unfortunately, the preservation charms that Rowena cast before she died didn't take into consideration the fact that it would take over a millennium for her quarters to be found."

Dumbledore nodded and said, "I assume some form of restoration charm has been cast?"

"Yes," Rowena confirmed, "I taught Ryan, Hermione, Harry, and three of their friends how to simultaneously cast a spell, as I did not believe that Ryan would have been strong enough at his age to cast the Mass-Book Restoration charm by himself considering the vast number of books and scrolls in my library."

"The charm was cast a few weeks ago," Harry said. "The night we cast the charm, Rowena speculated that it would take a little over six weeks to fully restore her collection, so that would be the first or second week of November."

"I take it, however, that the book with the heirs' names has restored enough to give you some clues nonetheless?"

"Yes, sir," Ryan said. "We have clues for the heirs of Slytherin and Hufflepuff."

"And what is this clue for Slytherin's heir?" Dumbledore asked.

"Before we get into that, Professor," Rowena interjected, "I thought you would like to know that the Sorting Hat has been lying all these years."

"What? I lie?" the Sorting Hat asked as it perked up on its shelf when it heard itself being talked about.

"Yes, Sorting Hat," Rowena answered. "And don't even try to argue with me because I'm sure that you recognize my voice."

"Rowena Ravenclaw," the Sorting Hat said.

"That is correct, Hat," Rowena said. "And yes, you have been lying for many, many years now. I don't blame you though, because it must have been Godric who changed your memories after the other founders and I passed away, but all these years you've been making Salazar Slytherin out to be a Muggle-hating monster, when in reality nothing could be further from the truth."

Rowena then explained the truth to Dumbledore and informed him of a spell which she thought would counteract the charms that Godric must have used to give the hat false memories and to block the real ones. Pulling out his wand, Dumbledore tried the spell, and it indeed worked.

"Oh dear," the Sorting Hat said as the false memories disappeared and the memories that Godric had locked away came back to the ancient hat. "I feel quite ashamed that I could have ever spoken so badly of Salazar."

"Its okay, Sorting Hat," Rowena said. "You can hardly be blamed for your former owner's actions."

"Well, now that we have that settled, what was the clue for Slytherin's heir?" Dumbledore asked.

"Just before Tom Riddle's name there was another name listed," Ryan said. "Ariana Merope Riddle, born June 23, 1925, age 71. There was no death date, so whoever this Ariana is, we figure she must be alive."

"Hmm, yes, I've heard the name before," Dumbledore said. "She was on our list of perspective students right up until the time when she would have turned eleven, at which point her name was crossed off the list with blue ink, signifying that she had been enrolled at Beauxbatons Academy in France."

"So, Ariana Riddle attended Beauxbatons?" Hermione asked.

"To the best of my knowledge, yes, she did," Dumbledore confirmed. "I can fire-call Madame Maxime to confirm, but first, what was the clue you found for the Hufflepuff heir?"

"Well, the last name that could be read started with a `Z'," Nick said.

"There was also a listing for a Cedric Jeremiah Dig in the book," Ryan added. "Professor Weasley was with Nick and me when we saw the clue and he said that he thought that was possibly Cedric Diggory."

Pulling a book from a nearby shelf, Dumbledore asked, "Did it list any dates?"

"Yes," Ryan said. "It said born on September 17, 1977 and died on June 24, 1995, age 17."

"That is indeed Cedric Diggory then," Dumbledore said as he began flipping through the book. "Now, let me see here, if memory serves, Mr. Diggory has a relative who attends Hogwarts. Ah, yes, here we are. Mr. Diggory's mother, Hannah Diggory, is the younger sister of one Isaiah Smith, father of sixth-year Hufflepuff student, Zacharias Smith."

To be continued...

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