Ethereal ✭Fred Weasley✭

106.

"Sophia. We need to talk to you for a moment."

The Great Hall was filled once again with people seeking medical attention and reuniting family and friends. But the air was much more relieved and maybe even cheerful than before. There was no looming threat of Death Eaters in the hills or Voldemort appearing and killing anyone he sees. And Sophia sat with the rest of the Weasleys' who were trying their best to find light in the situation when Harry, Ron and Hermione appeared with rather serious looks. Fred sullenly lifted his head from her lap and let her stand from the bench he laid  on, watching her leave reluctantly.

Sophia followed the trio out of the hall and towards the bridge that connected the castle to the hills. Parts of the stone had crumbled and fallen into the rocky crevice that lay under the bridge, but it was still holding itself up despite its damage. Fires still flickered among debris but were on their way to burning themselves out. The bodies had thankfully all been moved and Azkaban's new prisoners had already been shifted off by the new Ministry that had momentarily been put in place by Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"This will probably sound a little... strange," Hermione started as the four of them stopped at the halfway point of the bridge. "I suppose I'd better ask if you've heard of the Tale of Three Brothers."

"Yeah I've heard of it," Sophia nodded, her eyes jumping from Hermione to Harry and Ron in suspicion. "Used to read it all the time when I was younger. My dad would..."

The trio now felt awkward as Sophia's face visibly dropped into a prominent frown. They had wanted to comfort the girl for the loss of her father, but found it too close to the time of his death to even mention his name. Hermione had hated being the one to show her his body but wanted to take the position of one of her closest friends seriously. A true friend wouldn't let her continue the agony of worry in the whereabouts of her father, eventually leading to finding his body abruptly. Hermione could then be sure she was there for her when she most needed someone.

"Well you know about the three objects the brothers were given then," Ron continued to avoid further awkwardness. "The wand, the cloak and the stone right?"

"Yeah," she said. "And that Dumbledore had the Elder wand."

"You knew?" Harry asked in surprise.

Sophia pursed her lips together before nodding again. In truth, Remus had been the one to tell her of this. Not many people knew that Dumbledore carried the most powerful wand of all time. Only the very few in the Order of the Phoenix and apparently, Harry, Hermione and Ron. If the entire Wizarding world were to know that such a thing existed and was in the hands of who they saw as some crazy old man, there would be absolute chaos. The Ministry would want it in their possession and there were bound to be millions of people, like Voldemort, who seeked such power for the wrong reasons.

"Anyway-" Hermione spoke up again. "-Voldemort took the Elder wand from Dumbledore's tomb. He thought he could use it freely but realised that wands actually work their best when they belong to the user. And you have to disarm the previous owner in order to physically own a new wand."

"Right," Sophia replied.

"So Voldemort thought that since Snape killed Dumbledore, he would then own the Elder wand," Harry continued. "But he was wrong. Snape never disarmed Dumbledore. I was there."

"And that's how he lost today then wasn't it? The wand didn't actually answer to him," she helped and the three nodded in agreement.

"Draco was the one who disarmed Dumbledore," Harry informed. "I watched him do it. So the Elder wand would have answered to him. And when we were at the Malfoy Manor, you were the one who disarmed Draco weren't you?"