Battle of the Ages

Chapter Ten: Miss Jackson

After Hermione's welcoming, we decided that we need to visit Luna's father. We packed up camp in the morning and appeared on his front porch. The moment I knock on the door, a man peaks his head out the door. With his long blonde hair, he reminds he much of my fellow Ravenclaw.

"Harry Potter," he gasps. "Come in. Come in."

All of us enter his home and sit down on the couch.

"Where's Luna?" I ask.

"She's down by the bank. Should be joining us shortly."

Something about the way he said that puts me on edge. However, I can't put my finger on why.

"We're here about the charm you had around your neck," Harry put bluntly.

"This?" Mr. Lovegood pulls out charm which is a triangle with a circle and line in the center. "It's the Deathly Hallows."

"What is that?"

"Have you heard of the Tale of the Three Brothers?"

Hermione and Harry shake their heads while I reply with "Which one?" They all look at me. "What? I know a couple stories involving three brothers."

"You have a copy of Beetle the Bard, correct Miss Granger?" Mr. Lovegood asks.

"Yes sir. Hold on one second."

She pulls out the book from her bag and begins reading once she finds the story.

"'There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight when they came to a river too deep to ford and too treacherous to swim. Learned in the magical arts, the brothers conjured a bridge and proceed to cross.

Feeling cheated of his due, Death appeared and cunningly pretended to congratulate them and award them with gifts of their own choosing. The eldest brother, a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence, and so Death took a branch from a nearby tree and fashioned the Elder Wand.

The second brother, an arrogant man, choose to further humiliate death, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death took a stone from the riverbank and crafted the Resurrection Stone. The third and youngest brother, who was the most humble and wise, did not trust Death and asked for something to enable him to go forth without Death being able to follow. So Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Invisibility Cloak.

The three brothers took their prizes and soon went their separate ways. The eldest brother sought out a duel with a wizard with whom he had quarreled. Handily defeating and killing him with the power of the Elder wand, the eldest brother boasted of this wand taken from Death and his own invincibility.

That night another wizard crept upon the eldest brother while he slept, stole the wand, and slit his throat for good measure. And so Death took the first brother.

The second brother returned to his own home, and taking the stone given to him by Death, turned it thrice in his hand. To his astonishment, the figure of a girl he had hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet she was not wholly alive and remained silent, cold, and distanced from her would be suitor. Driven mad with hopeless longing, he killed himself so as to truly be with her. And so Death took the second brother.

Although Death searched for the youngest brother for many years, he never succeeded and it was only when the third brother and reached a great age that he took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. He then greeted Death as an old friend and they departed this life as equals.'"

"How do they relate?" I ask. The writer pulls out a piece of paper and quill before drawing a line.

"The Elder Wand." He draws a circle at the bottom half. "The Resurrection Stone." And finally a triangle around the two. "The Invisibility Cloak."

Before I could comprehend anything else, the place starts getting attacked. The four of us dive under the table and I use shadowjump to get us out of this mess.