It was Friday before they found anything useful in the prophet archives. They knew, of course, that the prophet was a daily paper, but until they started searching through the papers, they hadn't realised how many papers there would be to look through.
To say that they hadn't found anything at all would be wrong. They had, in fact, found two things that they felt were note-worthy, if not exactly helpful.
The first was the absence of a single copy of the prophet. They had found this relatively early on, as it was one of the earlier copies in the year. To further the mystery, the paper in question was the one that was supposed to contain the details of the selected champions.
"Why do you think it's missing?" asked Matt, staring blankly at the space where the paper should have been.
"I don't know," responded Ali, "Maybe it had something in it that they didn't want students to know about?"
James smiled at his friend's eagerness to find a conspiracy theory. "Or maybe they're keeping it somewhere else – after all, it should have an article about quite an important piece of the school's history."
"Pssh."
The other wasn't an article in the prophet at all. It was an article from some sort of gossip magazine, which had been torn out, and placed between two papers. Given that the piece stood out so much, the three friends were confused before they even began to read it, but that was nothing compared to how they felt once they had.
"What?" spluttered James, eyes skimming the piece again, "Just, what?" However, his eyes alighted on the author's name at the bottom, and sighed in relief. "It's okay, we can discount it. It's by Rita Skeeter."
What followed was a long, and painstaking conversation, where James tried to explain to his friends the numerous reasons why nothing Skeeter wrote could ever be trusted. However, Ali was not willing to discredit the article in its entirety.
"Look, I'm not saying that there was anything going on between your dad and your aunt. It's just – well, even the most fanciful tales have some grounding in truth."
James opened his mouth to respond hotly, but Matt cut him off. "She's right you know. Muggles don't believe in magic, not really, but look at all the books there are about it."
On Friday however, they found two things which aroused their suspicion. One was another missing paper – this one for the twenty-fourth of June. They would have attributed it to having been removed to be kept somewhere else, but that didn't make sense given that the papers released on the days of the First and Second Tasks had been present.
The other was something completely unexpected. In the paper for the twenty-fifth of June, they were expecting some sort of announcement about the winner of the tri-wizard cup. Instead, they found a sombre article which dominated the front page.
"The Tri-Wizard Tournament reached its conclusion yesterday evening. However, critics of the decision to reinstate this ancient competition have been proven correct.
"Contrary to the promises of increased safety for the participants, the tournament concluded with the death of one of the participants. Yesterday, Harry Potter, the controversial fourth champion, emerged from the maze clutching the lifeless body of his fellow Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory.
"This begs the question: was the task simply too dangerous, or did the pressure of the competition push a boy, who was clearly too young to participate, too far?
"Yet in a further twist, Albus Dumbledore, a well-known advocate of Potter, confided to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, that the murder was on the command of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Critics of Dumbledore can now confirm their beliefs that the man wishes to find adversaries everywhere, and that he will stoop to unbounded lows to protect Potter.
"Dumbledore goes on to claim that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned, that many who were accused, and cleared, of being his followers have returned to him, and that Potter was present for the return, yet remained unscathed. (for further details of these claims, see page nine) Has Dumbledore accepted this story on word of a fourteen year-old boy wishing to cover up his own actions, or has the story been concocted between the two? (article continues overleaf)"
The three friends sat in silence. No matter how many times they reread the article, the words remained the same. The paper lay innocuously on the table, taunting James with its words.
James, for his part, had no words to express the confusion he was feeling. On the one hand, he refused to accept the accusation that his father was a liar, but on the other hand, he couldn't wrap his head around the idea that his father was present for the return of Voldemort, and that he escaped unharmed.
There was only one thing that he was certain of: his father was not a killer.
"What, er," began Matt in a vague attempt at breaking the awkwardness, "Did you know about any of this?"
One look at James' face told him all that he needed to know. Ignoring her friend's obvious irritation, Ali carried on.
"But had any of your family ever indicated any sort of link to Riddle?" she asked, refusing to let the issue drop.
"No!" snapped James. He took a deep breath, and pinched the bridge of his nose, as he willed himself to calm down – his friends were just trying to help him. "No more so than anyone else who was alive at the same time as him."
The three sat in silence for what felt like hours before Ali voiced the conclusion that they couldn't fail but reach.
"I think there is. A sort of link, I mean. Between Riddle and your dad, at least…"