𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 || h.potter

fifty-seven || year 7 ✔️

"Well, there's no real reason to go on unless one is familiar with the tale." said Lovegood. "Why don't you read it aloud, Miss...?"

"Granger. Well... all right." Hermione opens the door, and began to read.  "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road at twilight --"

"Midnight. Mum always said midnight." cut Ron, Hermione and Amelia glares at the ginger. "But twilight's fine. Better actually."

"In time, the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass..." Hermione continues. "But being learned in the magical arts, the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.

It was Death and he felt cheated, for travelers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He granted each brother a wish for their cleverness. The oldest, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence. So Death fashioned one from an elder tree on the banks of the river

The second brother, who was an arrogant man, asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death plucked a stone from the river. Finally Death turned to the third brother. A humble man, he asked for something that would make him disappear. And so it was that Death handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility. Death then stepped aside and the brothers went their separate ways...

The first brother traveled to a distant village where, with Elder Wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he had once quarreled. Proceeding to an Inn, he bragged of his invincibility. But that very night...another wizard crept upon him as he lay sleeping. He took the Elder Wand... and slit the brother's throat for good measure. And so Death took the first brother for his own...

Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his home, where he took out the stone and turned it thrice in hand. To his delight, the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet soon she turned sad and cold, for she did not belong in the mortal world. Driven mad with hopeless longing, the second brother killed himself so as to join her. And so Death took the second brother...

As for the third brother, Death searched for many years but was never able to find him. Only when he had attained a great age did the youngest brother shed the Cloak of Invisibility and give it to his son. He then greeted Death as an old friend and went with him gladly, departing this life as equals..."

Amelia nods, remembering the story that she read at the Dale Manor when she was seven.
Xenophilius Lovegood staring out the window. The sun has nearly vanished over the lip of the hill.

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

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

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

The quartet stare at the symbol.

"Mr. Lovegood, does the Peverell family have anything to do with the Deathly Hallows?" asked Hermione, off to the other three confusion, Hermione turns to them. "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."  Lovegood's focus abruptly wavers, sadness in his eyes, then he blinks, eyes the tea kettle.