A/N: I'm really sorry about the wait, not to mention the major technical problems I had uploading a stupid author's note (and further ones that made me re-write the chapter 2 bloody f*cking times!), but finally now I can give you all the next chapter.
There's only a few more left, everything is gonna come into focus now, it'll all sort-of make sense at the end, and it definitely will not be a happy-go-lucky ending either.
Anyways, Read and Review!
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After Harry's proclamation the night before that he would beat Voldemort without resorting to the dark arts, he got straight to work; and the first thing he needed to figure out was that godforsaken riddle.
He knew what the dates meant, he knew a few of the abbreviations, he had even written it all down, along with what he still had to figure out.
My birthdate…the date Voldemort attacked me…the night we are prophesized to fight again. Three lines that divide the rectangle into four section; two of each pertaining to me and Voldemort. Logically, they should stand for the same thing.
My first triangle is…
GH12 -- probably Godric's Hollow 12...where I lived when I was a year old, where my parents were killed and I became famous.
101 -- most likely it means fear, some kind of fear of mine…
09 -- no idea
3 -- no bloody clue
My second triangle…
S -- stands for sacrifice most likely, the next line meaning who does the sacrificing…
DD -- Dumbledore. I just can't think of any other possibility…I don't wanna believe it, but it has to be true.
GGS -- Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Now, according to Arithmetic Theories, this should be the acquisition I acquire for the sacrifice, but I already have it, and there was no sacrifice! What does it mean?
VTMR -- The 'TMR' has to mean 'Tom Marvolo Riddle'. 'V' probably stands for 'Vanquish'.
So literally, my second triangle says…
Dumbledore's sacrifice grants me the Godric Gryffindor Sword, and I use that to vanquish Voldemort.
This means that this is the action; the first triangle has to be the place. I know the part about Godric's Hollow, I know the part about fear -- probably just means Voldemort -- the '09' and '3' must have some kind of location significance…
I dunno…damn it! None of this makes sense with that bloody sacrifice thing! Shit! Maybe dissecting Voldemort's side would help…
If only I had paid more attention in Arithmancy class maybe I would remember…hold it…memory…
"Hermione!"
Hermione, who was snoozing quietly next to him, woke up with a start. "Mmm…Harry…what is it?"
"Hermione, do you remember a few days ago when we talked to that Theory keeper, and she acted all weird and stuff?"
Hermione, still in the process of waking up, nodded her head slowly, oblivious of the stray paper that was stuck to her forehead.
"You trust me, don't you?"
Hermione removed the paper and looked at him quizzically. "Of course I do Harry, I love you. What kind of silly question is that?"
Harry took a deep breath and pulled out his wand. "Okay, then trust me on this, I have an idea. I'm going to erase your memory partially of information pertaining to the riddle; and I want to test a theory. I'll restore your memory, of course."
Hermione looked a little scared, but slowly nodded her head, clenching one hand in a fist to hide the fact that it was shaking. "O-okay Harry, I trust you."
He smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss, pressing his chapped lips against hers. He leaned back, concentrated, and tapped Hermione on the head, whispering, "Obliviate,"
He had to concentrate very carefully to make sure that he did not mess up the spell, and destroy Hermione's memory, turning her into another Lockheart. Luckily, he had been taught the practical uses and theories for the spell many times, and did not have much trouble casting the spell effectively.
Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head once and looked back at Harry, her memory gone. "Hi Harry…what were we talking about again?"
Harry looked deep into her eyes as he said, "We were talking about the Arithmetic Theory,"
Hermione's eyes glazed for a moment before she said, "What are you talking about? What theory?"
Harry sighed, looking down at his hands. It was all beginning to make sense now…but he had to be for sure. "You know Hermione, the one about me and Voldemort, about our imminent battle and everything?"
Hermione looked at him quizzically, "What in the name of Merlin are you talking about Harry?" she asked, her tone flat, eyes swimming around the room, seemingly unable to focus on Harry in front of her.
Harry sighed, knowing his thesis to be correct. He tapped Hermione on the head again, restoring her memories. "Harry! What happened? Did you find out what you needed? Harry…"
She saw his downcast look and grabbed one of his hands, trying to get a look into his eyes. "Tell me what's wrong…"
But Harry wasn't there to answer at the moment, he was back in the Ministry of Magic, remembering his last trip there on a 'research mission'…
Upon arriving at the office doors to the Department that rivaled The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office in terms of size and importance, Harry and Hermione were greeted by a young witch with a smile. "Hello, how may I help you today?" She asked them warmly.
Hermione took the initiative. "Hi, we are doing research on a riddle from a few years back - nineteen eighty, to be exact - and were hoping that you might be able to help us with it?"
The witch smiled and nodded. "Sure, we have an archive of every riddle ever recorded for the past four hundred and seventy-two years. If you will give me the first three digits of your poem, I'll be able to find it for you."
Hermione did so and the witch disappeared for a moment before coming back. "The riddle you requested information for is already in your position, yes?"
Hermione nodded.
"I am sorry, but there is no further information on the riddle other than that which is written down." The woman blinked a few times as if trying to refocus her eyes, and continued. "The riddle has been translated many times and it is most certainly correct," She said in a flat tone, answering a question neither of them had asked or had planned on asking. "that is all of the information I can offer. Good-bye."
The woman twitched a little as her eyes swam around the room; Harry and Hermione took this as their cue to leave, and they did.
"That was…" Harry began, but was interrupted by Hermione.
"Utterly useless! And…strange."
There was really no debating it now, it had to be true. But what did it mean?
"Hermione, do you remember that day when we visited the Department of Mysteries on a 'research mission' a few weeks back?"
Hermion, momentarily surprised by the shift in subject, nodded her head. "Er…yeah Harry, what about it?"
"She was memory charmed Hermione…that's why I just did that to you, and it proved me right. The witch was memory charmed, and I doubt you need two guesses as to who did it."
Hermione's eyes grew wide, "Voldemort…"
Harry nodded. "Yeah…but that's not even the strange part about it. The question is why? What could that lady have possibly know that we did not? There couldn't have been much, certainly not enough to elicit her memory being wiped, so then, what was it, ya think?"
Hermione's eyebrows were scrunched together in thought, contemplating the situation. "What if…what if…well, what would have happened, if she wasn't memory charmed? She would have gone to the backroom, brought out the riddle, and then --"
"Wait a minute," Harry cut her off, an idea striking him. "What if she was memory charmed because…if she did go back there…she wouldn't have found the riddle?"
Hermione looked at him quizzically. "Huh? What do you mean Harry? They have a record of every recorded Arithmetic Theory, the only way she couldn't have found it would be if it was…" she gasped, looking at Harry, his meaning clear.
Harry nodded his head. "Unless…it wasn't real. Unless, the riddle was a faux, a fake, intended to get me to walk to Voldemort. Unless the riddle was nothing more than a trap."
Hermione gasped again, but knew what Harry said to be true, they could both just…feel it.
"Well, Harry, actually…this could be a good thing, a very good thing."
Harry looked at Hermione as if she'd grown a second head. "Okay, just hear me out," she said. "Voldemort did this to trap you, right? He probably set this up after the Department of Mysteries last year, he created the riddle -- which would explain the inconsistencies, Tom Marvolo Riddle never took Arithmancy -- made sure it fell into our professor's hands, and that she thought it was an old Theory, so it found it's way to us, he knew we would crack it, because it wasn't very difficult; that's another inconsistency we should have picked up -- what made us think that two Hogwarts students could so easily figure out a riddle that baffled Ministry experts for years? And then there was the 'DD' instead of 'AD', the use of a muggle symbolism that he knew we would catch, but there are no muggle symbolisms in Arithmetic Theories, the list goes on and on.
"But, what Voldemort doesn't know is that we figured him out. And why would he think that we could? He fooled us in first year, in fourth, and in fifth, so why not in sixth? But we got him this time, and we know the when and where, so now he's the one that's gonna get set up."
Hermione grinned at him, grabbing Harry's hand. "Come on, let's go tell Dumbledore, then we can figure everything out from there."
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"…and that's about it."
Harry and Hermione were both sitting in Dumbledore's office, finishing with their story about what they had discovered.
Dumbledore smiled at them, eyes twinkling, "Very, very good job, Harry, Hermione. You two may have just given us the knockout punch we need to destroy Lord Voldemort. We must plan this very carefully, and in utmost secrecy. Tell only those that you trust, and we will have a meeting to discuss tactics in three days time. Be weary, very weary Harry. We do not want to make the same mistake your parents did. A traitor could spell the end of us all."
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A/N: Finally, you guys have no idea how infuriating that chapter was to write, my computer kept closing my Microsoft Works program in the middle of it and I would have to start over, I ended up having to save the damn thing after every paragraph to make sure I didn't lose it all.
I know the resolution of the riddle was not what everybody was hoping for, but not something many of you were expecting either, and that's what I was going for.
Next chapter will be 'the meeting' where they will discuss tactics and decide how best to trap Voldemort and bring him down. After that we'll have the actual final battle, and a closing chapter. So probably only three more left!
Read and Review!
Sora