The Elder Wand
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and all the characters in it belong to J.K. Rowling. This story is a work of imagination and is directed solely at readers of this website. No infringement of any rights is intended and no criticism of J.K. Rowling or her work should be considered to be stated or implied.
Author's note: Sorry for the delay in updating. Blame the Olympics and pressure of work. At least that's my excuse. Please review.
Part 8. The Master of Death
Harry and Hermione spent the next few hours discussing what they had learnt from Anticious and trying to think of what they should do next. At first, Hermione remained sceptical and wasn't convinced that they could trust his information since she had found no reference to Factoris in any of her previous research on the Peverell family. She therefore insisted on returning to the library, much to Harry's annoyance, as he considered that they were just wasting valuable time. Finally, however, in a book entitled 'Great Wizarding Families Through the Ages,' Hermione found a paragraph that described how Peregrin Peverell, father of Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus, had brought new magical ideas back to England when he returned from travelling in Africa with his faithful servant, Factoris.
That was enough to satisfy her completely and with Hermione now as convinced as Harry that they could trust the information from Anticious, the two of them returned to the Gryffindor common room to consider how this new knowledge could help them. The Fat Lady had relented and whispered the current password in Hermione's ear as she left the previous morning and so they could now come and go as they pleased.
"Well, we can at least dismiss 'Beedle the Bard,'" Harry said after a while, "and it makes a lot more sense that one person was responsible for making the Hallows."
"But it doesn't really get us any further in trying to negate the potential danger of the Elder Wand, does it?" Hermione countered.
They sat silently for a while, both churning over thoughts in their minds.
"How much do you know about African magic?" Harry eventually asked.
"Not much. I know that the first ever recorded trace evidence of magic was found in Africa and that some of the darkest magic ever practiced originated there. But you're right, that's where we have to start. I need to go back to the library and see what more I can find out."
"OK," Harry agreed reluctantly, not wishing to spend another minute in the library. "What can I do to help?"
"Why don't you send an owl to Ron and keep him up to date. I know that he doesn't agree with us over the Elder Wand, but you know how he hates to feel left out. You never know, he might change his mind and come back to help. It has happened before, after all," Hermione said with a grin.
Harry was relieved that Hermione didn't want him to go to the library with her. The thought of spending more time trying to read through material that he found incredibly boring and didn't really understand was not particularly appealing. He was also starting to find it difficult to concentrate when Hermione was around. Since Voldemort had been vanquished, Harry was becoming more and more aware of Hermione's physical presence. He found himself stealing hidden glances at her, acutely conscious of the curves of her figure, the softness of her voice, the smoothness of her skin and the bushy, brown curls of her hair. Harry had realised that Hermione was a very attractive girl quite a long time ago - since he first saw her descending the stairs before the Yule Ball to be precise. Not conventionally beautiful, like Cho Chang or Ginny, but, to Harry's eyes, she had a tranquil, understated beauty that he found particularly appealing. Did that make him shallow, only being interested in women because of their appearance? He didn't think so, since he had always valued Hermione's other qualities - her intelligence, her trust and her integrity - more highly than the way that she looked and his high regard for her had never wavered, even during the past two years when he had been besotted with Ginny. Harry could remember that his dependence on Hermione and his attraction towards her had grown during their fifth year at Hogwarts, particularly after his brief flirtation with Cho, but by that time he had become acutely aware of Ron's feelings towards her and the jealousy that he could manifest if he considered that he was being ignored. Then things had changed and Harry had become obsessed with Ginny and had started to feel increasingly annoyed by what he perceived as Hermione's sudden reluctance to accept his point of view. But Harry was now convinced that Voldemort had been behind that. He was sure that Voldemort had gained a hold over Ginny and caused her to entrap him in some way but he also believed that Voldemort had used the personal connection that he and Harry shared to implant negative thoughts about Hermione. Now that he was free of that influence, Harry realised that he wanted to change the nature of their friendship but he was filled with uncertainties.
When they were walking back to the Burrow after the visit to Xenophilius Lovegood, Ron had indicated that he had abandoned any hopes for a relationship with Hermione. But could Harry really rely on that and how would Ron feel if Harry and Hermione became a couple? Would all of the old jealousy resurface? Ron had always been Harry's best male friend and he didn't want to damage that bond. Then, what about Ginny? Harry knew that she had always liked him and, although he now realised that his feelings for her had been false, how would Ginny react to rejection? Would that drive a wedge between him and the rest of the Weasleys, his surrogate family and his main support network in the wizarding world? Most importantly, what were Hermione's feelings? She and Ron had always seemed an unlikely couple to Harry but he was sure that Hermione liked Ron. Why else would she have put up with some of the abuse that she had suffered at his hands over the years? What if she didn't return Harry's feelings? If he got things wrong, he could damage their friendship irrevocably and he couldn't afford to risk that.
The fate of the Elder Wand slipped from Harry's mind as he worried about these issues but, as Hermione had suggested, he took the time to write a brief note to Ron on a piece of parchment and carried it up to the Owlery to send off to the Burrow. In the note, he described their discussion with Anticious and what they had learned about the history of the Deathly Hallows. He also asked Ron to let him know what his plans were and whether he would have the time to join them. Harry really hoped that he would. The three of them had been through far too much together for Harry not to want Ron to be involved in what he hoped would be the final act. After sending the note, Harry realised that it was now early evening and, feeling rather guilty about his inactivity, he made his way over to the library to meet up with Hermione. However, he was surprised to find that the room was completely empty when he arrived and that there was no sign of Hermione anywhere nearby. But she didn't prove to be too hard to track down. Harry found her curled up in an armchair next to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, engrossed in a very ancient and ornate book that was thicker than any he had ever seen.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Oh, I couldn't find too much in the library, just this book on African legends, and so I decided that I would bring it back here and read it in comfort," Hermione replied distractedly, not lifting her eyes from the page that she was studying.
Harry meandered over to the armchair opposite her and slumped down, draping one leg over an arm of the chair and sighing loudly.
"So, what have you found out?"
Hermione carried on reading, her index finger tracing the lines of text as she went. When she got to the bottom of the page, she looked up for the first time.
"Well, it's quite fascinating really. Just as Anticious said, there are plenty of stories about the wizard equivalents of the Three Fates but they had different names. The stories also shed some light on where the symbols for the Deathly Hallows originate. In the legends, the spinner was called Kuzaliwa and she was represented by a circle - an infinite number of possibilities radiating out from a central point at the beginning of life; the weaver was called Maisha and she was represented by an equilateral triangle - indicating how our life choices gradually narrow down to a single point over time; and the cutter was called Kifo, represented by a straight line - a life coming to its end. That is probably where Factoris got the idea for the three items that he was going to create."
Hermione paused, looking back down at the book.
"There is one legend that you might find quite interesting."
Her eyes briefly scanned the page to locate the passage that she was searching for and, giving a little cough to clear her throat, she began to read.
"There was once a very powerful wizard whose wife unfortunately died while she was still quite young. Grief stricken, the wizard searched for and found the halls where the Three Sisters of Fate resided. There, he came across Kuzaliwa, wandering alone in the gardens and, taking her unawares, he placed an enchantment on her and instructed her to bring his wife back to life. Kuzawila was compelled by the enchantment to obey and she fulfilled the wizard's wish and resurrected his wife. However, the woman came back as only a shadow of herself and she was miserable and listless. Maisha and Kifo came across the three of them and removed the enchantment from Kuzaliwa, while subduing the wizard. Kifo laughed at the wizard and told him that matters of destiny could only properly be adjudicated by the three sisters working together and so Kuzawila was never going to be able to restore his wife properly to life without the assistance of the other two sisters. She told him that he could only have achieved what he desired by cooperation and agreement, rather than by trying to use force and guile. The three sisters therefore sent the wizard's wife back to the place of the dead and, since the wizard had been so keen to be reunited with her, Kifo cut the threads of his life much earlier than had been his original destiny and he was forced to return with his wife to the place of the dead as punishment for his misdeed."
Hermione stopped reading and looked up at Harry.
"You see, that fits in with the story of the Deathly Hallows. Cadmus couldn't bring his love properly back to life, just like the wizard in the legend, because he wasn't master of all three of the Hallows."
Hermione paused, looking expectantly at Harry, as if anticipating that a sudden realisation must dawn on him. Harry however stared back blankly, unsure of what Hermione was wanting from him.
"Don't you see," she eventually continued, frustration evident in her voice. "That wouldn't apply to you. You are the rightful master of all three Hallows, so you should be able to bring people back to life properly using the Resurrection Stone."
Harry still said nothing. For once he was lost and couldn't follow Hermione's reasoning. He didn't understand why any of this was particularly important.
"Look, your original idea was that if you died a natural death as the owner of the Elder Wand, then it would lose its' power."
Harry nodded vacantly.
"It wouldn't actually lose anything really; not in the physical sense," Hermione went on, "but since nobody could take it off you any more, you would remain the rightful owner, even though you were dead."
"Yeah, that's about it really," Harry finally found that here was an idea that he could comprehend and agree with. "Nobody could use it any longer, so, in effect, it would have lost its power."
"But waiting for that to happen is too risky," Hermione pressed on remorselessly. "We need to speed things up, so what if we were to arrange for someone to take the wand off of you, knowing that they were just about to die?"
Harry looked puzzled.
"What are the chances of that? Surely, that would be even more risky. Firstly, how could you be sure that the person wouldn't recover from whatever health problem that they had or that someone else might not take the wand from them before they died?"
A sudden realisation came to Harry, an idea that shocked him. He couldn't believe that Hermione could even be contemplating such a thing.
"That is, unless you planned to kill them," he answered his own question almost in a whisper. "That's murder, Hermione. I don't want any part of that." Harry's voice rose almost to a shout.
"Don't be silly, Harry. I would never suggest such a thing. How could you even think it? But what if the person was already dead? You're the 'Master of Death', Harry. You could bring a dead person back to life again with the Resurrection Stone and they could take the wand from you. Then, I'm sure that by changing the direction in which you rotate the stone you could reverse the process," Hermione said triumphantly. "With their agreement of course," she added hastily.
"But who would agree to something like that and who could we trust to stick to their part of the bargain?" Harry asked.
"Dumbledore!" they both cried in unison.
"But what if it didn't work? What if rotating the stone backwards didn't reverse the process?" Harry could still see massive flaws in the suggestion.
"I am positive that it will. All of the legends that I have read point to the fact that bringing a person back from the dead is the difficult part. Reversing the process is pretty easy, provided that all of the Fates agree. In any case, if it didn't work nobody apart from the three of us would know. Everyone would still think that Dumbledore is dead and he could remain hidden somewhere safe. Nobody would know that he was now the master of the Elder Wand and Dumbledore is much older than you, Harry, and a far more powerful wizard, so there is far less likelihood of someone taking the wand from him before he died for a second time."
Harry had to admit that, when Hermione explained it in those terms, it did seem like a better option, although he still felt very uneasy about the whole idea.
"But if Dumbledore had taken the Elder Wand from me, I wouldn't be 'Master of Death' anymore," Harry reasoned. "I couldn't reverse the process."
"I've already thought about that," Hermione responded enthusiastically. "There is another African legend that says that because the sisters could only control destiny if they constantly worked together, then they were never able to get any rest. Therefore, it was decreed that they could occasionally give permission for another god or goddess to take over their powers for a short while, although the sisters could take control back whenever they wished and only one of them could be substituted at any one time. It's likely therefore that the same thing will apply to the Hallows. Dumbledore should be able to give you permission to take over control of the wand for a short time. Of course, if I'm right, that means that even after he is dead, Dumbledore's portrait would still be able to give his permission for someone else to use the Elder Wand, which could be a problem."
Harry, who was still trying desperately to determine why he felt such a strong sense of unease, wasn't particularly concerned about this new issue that Hermione had raised.
"I don't think that's very likely, is it? Dumbledore isn't stupid and, anyway, we could hide the wand so that even if Dumbledore ever gave someone his permission to use it, they wouldn't have much chance of ever finding it."
Hermione seemed satisfied with this, but as Harry continued to ponder the idea, he realised that there was a major issue that Hermione clearly wasn't aware of.
"There's one big problem," he said sheepishly. "I don't have the Resurrection Stone anymore."
"What?" Hermione's voice came out almost as a squeak; she was so surprised by this completely unexpected revelation.
"I dropped it in the Forbidden Forest, when I was sure that I wouldn't have any further need of it," Harry confessed.
"Can you remember roughly where you dropped it?"
"I think so."
"Well, in that case, we will have to go and find it, won't we?" Hermione said, recovering her composure. "It's too late now; it will be better to do it in the daylight. First thing tomorrow, we will go and find the stone and then we'll put our plan to Dumbledore. What do you say?"
Harry nodded uncertainly. He still had a bad feeling about the whole situation but he couldn't really explain why and he couldn't think of any better ideas. With their plans for the next day decided, the pair went down to the almost deserted Great Hall for their evening meal and then returned to the Gryffindor common room for, what seemed to be becoming, their ritual evening together in front of the fireside, chatting about whatever occurred to them over mugs of hot chocolate. Harry found that he could really relax in Hermione's company, even though she was as edgy and mildly neurotic as ever. These personality traits seemed to balance his more laid back and sometimes careless approach perfectly and Harry felt completely at ease, letting Hermione do the majority of the talking and mostly being happy just to listen to the familiar and reassuring pitch of her voice. Their Muggle upbringing was always a reassuring source of unity and they understood each other very well. It was true that Hermione didn't share Harry's obsession with sports but, even here, she had watched enough Quidditch to be able to hold her own in any discussion that might wander in this direction. Their disagreements were mild, having none of the venom of Hermione and Ron's arguments and, surprisingly, they laughed a lot together. Harry couldn't remember a time when he had felt happier than he had during these past few days spent virtually alone with Hermione and he was disappointed to think that their time together would not last for too much longer. He thought that Hermione also seemed content, although he couldn't be sure if she was just humouring him, as he believed that she probably had done many times before.
When it was time for them to go to bed, they parted, as usual, at the division of the dormitory stairs. As Hermione methodically went through their proposed timetable for the next day for one last time, stressing that Harry should get an alarm call and not just rely on waking up at the correct hour. Harry found that his eyes were fixated on the movement of Hermione's lips. Harry noticed for the first time that, although Hermione had a fairly small mouth, her lips were full and an inviting light pink colour. They looked soft and moist as they alternately parted and came back together and Harry, in an almost trance-like state, found that he was longing to kiss them. He moved his gaze upwards, taking in the whole of Hermione's face, looking for any hint that she might be receptive to such an idea; a slight movement towards him, a gentle tilting of the head, perhaps - but there was nothing; no sign to offer him any encouragement.
"Harry, is something the matter? Are you all right?" Hermione's worried voice penetrated his thoughts. "You weren't listening to a word that I was saying, were you?"
"S…sorry…sorry, I was miles away," Harry stammered, reddening. "I'm just so tired."
"Well, get some sleep then and I'll see you in the morning."
Hermione leaned forward, stretching up on her toes to kiss Harry quickly on the cheek, before turning and heading up the girls' staircase. She left Harry slouching on the bottom step of the boys' staircase, watching her go, feeling foolish and more of a coward than he had ever felt when facing Voldemort.