Hufflepuff boy - Cedric Diggory x male oc x Viktor Krum

73

"Well, there you are. Those are the Deathly Hallows." Mr. Lovegood said.

"Sorry... I still don't really understand..." Harry said.

Mr. Lovegood turns and, taking a quill and parchment, draws a straight vertical line. "The Elder Wand..." He then adds a circle on top of the line. "The Resurrection Stone..." He then encloses both in a triangle. "The Cloak of Invisibility. Together... they make the Deathly Hallows. Together... they make one master of Death."

The four stare at the symbol.

"Mr. Lovegood, does the Peverell family have anything to do with the Deathly Hallows?" Hermione asked, turning to the three. "That was the name on the grave with the mark on it in Godric's Hollow. Ignotus Peverell."

"Ignotus and his brothers Cadmus and Antioch are thought to be the original owners of the Hallows and therefore the inspiration for the story." Mr. Lovegood's focus abruptly wavers, sadness in his eyes, then he blinks, eyeing the tea kettle. "Ah, but your tea's grown cold. Excuse me, I'll be right back."

Ron speaks as Mr. Lovegood leaves the room. "Let's get out of here once he's back. I'm not touching this stuff, hot or cold."

Harry seems lost in thought. "Which one would you choose if you could? Of the Deathly Hallows?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Hermione asked.

All three of them speak at once. Ron said the wand, Hermione said the cloak while Harry said the stone. Cayden said nothing because he's not interested in power, hiding, and be immortal.

"You're supposed to say the Cloak, but who wants to spend all day being invisible. Dead boring if you ask me. But an unbeatable wand!" Ron said.

"Its owner grew drunk with power and was murdered." Hermione said.

"Yeah, but imagine what a short wicked life you'd lead." Ron said.

Hermione rolls her eyes. "Why the Stone, Harry?"

"Well, you could bring people back, couldn't you? Mad-Eye. Dumbledore. Anybody." Harry said.

"But according to the story they don't want to come back. It's all rubbish anyway. There's no such thing as the Deathly Hallows." Hermione gently said.

"But we have one. The Invisibility Cloak and ring our father left us." Harry said, pointing to the ring around Cayden's left finger.

"There have always been Cloaks--"

"Not like Harry's. I've seen a fair few. Dad used to bring home the ones the Ministry confiscated from petty thieves and the like. They always got holes or tears. Harry's is different. It's perfect." Ron said, before pointing to Cayden's ring as well. "And his is perfect as well."

"And I think I've actually held the Resurrection Stone in my hands, that night in Dumbledore's office when he showed me the ring he'd destroyed, the Horcrux. It had a symbol on it. Now I think it was the mark of the Hallows." Harry said, and the four of them stand silently when Mr. Lovegood returns.

"Mr Lovegood. Thank you, sir--"

"You forgot the water." Ron said, cutting Hermione's words short.

"The water?" Mr. Lovegood asked.

"For the tea." Ron said.

"Did, didn't I? How silly of me." Mr. Lovegood said.

"No matter, sir. We really ought to be go--"

"No, you mustn't--"

"Sir?" Harry questioned.

"You're my only hope. They were angry, you see, about what I'd been writing, so they took her. They took my Luna..." Mr. Lovegood said, eyes finding Cayden and Harry. "But it's really you both that they want..."

"Who took her, sir?" Cayden asked.

Hermione eyes the printing press. A copy of the Quibbler lies stuck under a roller. She reaches out, pulls it free, the ink streaking over the cover, over Cayden and Harry's face and the blazing headline: Undesirable number #1.

"Him. Surely you call him You-Know-Who. But his real name of course is... Voldemort." Mr. Lovegood said without flinching.

"Nooo!" Ron exclaimed.

Instantly, out the window, figures on broomsticks appear in the sky, jetting directly towards the house. As Cayden, Harry, Ron and Hermione hit the floor, ropes of light ricochet off the windowsill. The printing press explodes, raining Quibblers everywhere, like a flock of doves, smoking with flames.

Mr. Lovegood waves madly from the window. "Stop! I've got them--" He was blasted off his feet by a Stunning Spell so great the chain around his neck flies across the room and settles at Harry's feet.

Harry glances down, watches the symbol of the Deathly Hallows dissolve like mercury, then looks up, and sees Mr. Lovegood streak out the door.

"Ron! Harry! Take my hand!" Hermione calls out to them.

Harry and Ron begin to crawl on their knees towards Hermione when another volley of spells ricochet about the room and strike the Gurdyroot teapot. As Hermione watches, it flies into the air, tumbling end over end towards the Erumpent Horn. Harry's hand closes on hers, Ron reaches out and the teapot strikes the Erumpent Horn.

There is a colossal explosion. The second floor of the black cylinder ruptures. Quibblers belch into the air like confetti as Mr. Lovegood narrowly escapes and the Death Eaters are engulfed and Cayden, Harry, Ron and Hermione tumble and roll to their feet, barely visible in the darkness.

"That treacherous old bleeder! Is there no one we can trust!" Ron exclaimed.

"They've kidnapped Luna because he supported us. He was just desperate." Harry said softly.

Ron says nothing, then spits, clearing the grit from his teeth and peers towards the river. Unlike the raging force it was the last time they were here, it is little more than a trickle now. The trees are eerily quiet.

"I'll do the enchantments." Ron said, taking out his wand when Hermione raises her hand, stopping him. Her eyes rise and her breath catches. Ron, Harry and Cayden look. Clinging to the branches of the trees above, almost as if a part of the trees themselves are Snatchers.

A wand blooms above, illuminates the face of Scabior. Hermione's red scarf, now faded and filthy, dangles from his neck. He presses it to his grimy nose, inhales and grins. "Hello, beautiful."

≪ °❈° ≫

Cayden, Harry, Ron and Hermione dash through the trees.

Hermione, swift as the wind, flickers through the trees as Scabior pursues her.

Harry slashes through the river, looks up, and sees a Snatcher leap across the divide from one tree to another.

Ron pounds through thick brush, over a fallen tree.

Cayden glance behind him at the close Snatcher behind him, he quickly points his wand to his face, muttering. "Mutatio facies." He felt his appearance change and leans his face down to his wand, kissing it. "I'm sorry, baby." He said, snapping his wand in half and throws it in front of him as the Snatcher tackles him.