Chapter twenty-nice; The Deathly Hallows

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Olivia's first impression when it came to the Lovegood property was 'Luna'. The single house on the top of a hill was covered with all sorts of odd things the four had never seen before. The house was completely her. It was her style, with wind chimes and signs everywhere.

The four gave each other glances while stood in a line together. It seemed they were all thinking the exact same when they smiled simultaneously and spoke the same word, "Luna."

Olivia shook her head to herself with a smile as Harry stepped forwards first to move. The three followed after him as he ascended the small steps to reach the wooden door of the home, he knocked a few times before stepping back down to the first stair.

The top half of the door opened and a middle aged man with long, white hair hastily poked his head out from the shadows. Olivia exchanged a side-eyed glance with Hermione, her brow arching absentmindedly.

The man, who Olivia presumed to be Luna's father looked a disheveled mess and he stuttered over his words, "What is it? Who are you? What do you want?"

In front of her, Harry cleared his throat, "Hello, Mr. Lovegood? I'm Harry Potter," Olivia couldn't help but notice Xenophilius' face light up when Harry told him his name, "we met a few months ago, I was wondering if we could come in?"

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Olivia sat besides Harry on Xenophilius' sofa while analysing him carefully. He seemed overly jittery and jumped at every little sound, proving curious to her. The man poured them all a cup of tea each, his hands shaking noticeably while doing so.

The tension that had built in the room was palpable and Hermione clearing her throat did nothing to help the cause, "Where's Luna?"

"She'll be along." Xenophilius laughed nervously, turning around to check the stairs behind him before turning back to Harry, "So how can I help you Mr. Potter?"

Harry edged forwards to be closer to Xenophilius and clasped his hands together, "Well actually it was about something that you were wearing around your neck and the wedding." He told him, "A symbol."

Olivia watched Xenophilius warily. The man looked beyond the phrase 'worse for wear' and to her, looked to be having some form of mental breakdown.

He reached for his neck and picked up something on a chain, holding up to for them to see in his hand, "You mean this?" He asked. Olivia recognised the thing on the chain to by a symbol, the one she had been drawing some time ago.

"Yes." Harry said while reaching for it, "That exactly, what we wondered is—"

"—What is it?" Olivia interrupted quickly, leaning her elbows on to her knees to look past Harry, "What is that?"

"What is it?" Xenophilius repeated, "Well its the sign of the Deathly Hallows of course."

Immediately Harry, Ron and Hermione echoed their confusion at the same time, "The what?"

"The Deathly Hallows?" Olivia asked blankly, staring right at Xenophilius. When he nodded she blinked quickly in exasperation, "Ha-hang on. I've heard of that before, there's a story about it isn't there?"

Xenophilius nodded again, "I assume you're all familiar with the tale of The Deathly Hallows?"

"Yes." Hermione, Ron and Olivia replied.

Harry shook his head at the same time, "No."

Xenophilius looked stuck for some minutes before Hermione came to his aid, rutting through her bag, "I have it in here." She told them, pulling out a book and opening it, "There were once three brothers, who were travelling along a lonely winding road at twilight—"

"—Midnight." Ron interrupted, "mum always said midnight." When he looked to see them staring blankly he sided with Hermione, "Twilight is fine, better actually."

Olivia rubbed her hands together and rolled her eyes to herself, "Arse kisser."

Hermione started again from the beginning, "There were once three brothers, who were travelling along a lonely winding road at twilight. In time the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass but the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge.
Before they could cross however they
found their path blocked by a hooded figure. It was Death, and he felt cheated. Cheated, because travellers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers on their magic and said that each had earned a prize for being clever enough to evade him,"

"The oldest asked for a wand, more powerful than any in existence so death fashioned him a wand from the elder tree that stood nearby. The second brother decided he wanted to humiliate death
even further and asked for the power to recall loved ones from their graves,
So Death picked a stone from the river
and offered it to him. Finally, Death turned to the third brother; a humble man, who asked for something that allowed him to go from that place without being followed by death. And so it was that death reluctantly handed over his own cloak of invisibility."

"The first brother travelled to a distant village with the elder wand in his hand
he killed a wizard with whom he once had quarrels. Drunk with the power that
the elder wand had given him he bragged about it, but that night another wizard stole the wand and slit the brothers throat for good measure. And so Death took the first brother for his own."

"The second brother journeyed home,
where he took the stone and turned it thrice in his hand. To his delight the girl he once wanted to marry before her untimely death appeared before him.
But soon she turned sad and cold
because she did not belong to 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 the youngest brother shed the cloak of invisibility and gave it to his son he then greeted Death as a old friend and went with him gladly departing this life as equals."

Olivia rubbed her face once Hermione closed the book. The story of the Deathly Hallows made sense to her. After all, she knew the tale but always thought it to be an old wives tale. She never once considered the story to be true. Her mind had formed a mental block, however, and she was struggling to see past what the Deathly Hallows had to do with anything they were involved in at that moment.

One quick glance at Harry told Olivia he was just as baffled as her. Sighing loudly, Olivia clasped her hands together, "I'm sorry to be a pain, but I really can't see what this has to do with anything. How do the Deathly Hallows go together to form that symbol, and why was I inking it into my wrist for a good week?"

Xenophilius looked eagerly to Olivia, his eyes widening, "You're a Seer aren't you?"

"Well.. no." Olivia told him bluntly, "Not really, but that has nothing to do with this."

Xenophilius Lovegood scooted to the edge of his chair, "You've seen the Deathly Hallows before, which means you will, if not already, come into contact with the three that make them."

Olivia's eyes narrowed to slits, "You mean the Cloak of Invisibility, The Resurrection Stone and The Elder Wand?" Seeing the old man nod his head enthusiastically, Olivia shook hers, "No. There's absolutely no way. The Resurrection Stone is missing and Vo—" Harry shoved his elbow forcefully into Olivia's ribcage to prevent her from saying the name. The last thing the four needed was to be fleeing a mans home after breaking the taboo on Voldemort's name.

With a scowl aimed in Harry's direction Olivia corrected herself, "He-who-must-not-be-named wants the Elder Wand."

"It does not matter." Xenophilius informed her while scrambling for parchment and a pen. The four stood up to follow him, "The Elder Wand," He drew a single, straight line down the paper, "the most powerful wand ever made. The Resurrection Stone," He drew a circle around the line and Olivia edged forwards in her seat while connecting the dots, "The Cloak of Invisibility." He finally drew a large triangle around the circle, "Together, they make the Deathly Hallows, together they make one master of death."

Olivia pointed to the paper, "So that's what he wants. He wants to be the master of death?"

Xenophilius shrugged his shoulders, "How else would you take over the Wizarding World?"

Olivia shook her head and turned away from Xenophilius with her eyes closed. She raked her hands through her hair in exasperation, "I don't understand. It's not working in my head."

"That mark was on the grave in Godric's Hollow." Hermione told both Harry and Olivia, "Mr. Lovegood, does the Peverill family have anything to do with the Deathly Hallows?"

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, Olivia nodded towards Hermione whole holding her chin in her hand. She turned to Xenophilius as he started to stutter and pushed through them to his kitchen, "Yes-er, excuse me. Ignotus and his brothers; Cadmus and Antioch were the original owner of the Hallows and therefore the inspiration for the story— your tea has gone cold," He suddenly sidetracked while looking to Olivia. She shuddered quite violently, her neck jolting to the side as the base of her spine tingled. It caused Xenophilius to scurry down the stairs to the kitchen quicker, "don't go, I'll be right back."

Olivia bent forwards to ensure Xenophilius was out of ears shot before she spoke to the three and when she was sure he was she looked to them with wide eyes, "Right, we've got to get out of this clusterfuck. I've got a bed feeling about the next five minutes of our lives."

Ron's eyes widened, "A bad feeling? As in a bad feeling you used to get before—"

"—Yes Ron." Olivia told him while nodding slowly, "A very bad feeling. We've got what we wanted from this, so I suggest we leave."

Harry nodded sharpish, "Yeah she's right, let's get out of here."

They grabbed their bags and heading down the spiral staircase and into the kitchen. Xenophilius was stood with his back towards them, staring out of his window plainly.

Hermione edged forwards first, "Thank you, Sir."

"You forgot the water." Ron mentioned.

Xenophilius turned around with a confused frown on his face. His entire demeanour was off, Olivia could sense there wasn't something right about him. It was either that or she was giving a poor judgement on character. The older wizard stuttered, "What?"

"For the tea." Ron told him slowly, confusion etched into his facial expression.

"For-for t-the tea—" The man stuttered, breaking out into fits of laugher. Olivia gripped her wand as he passed them to the water basin on the other side of the room, "The water, how silly of me."

Olivia leaned closer towards Harry, "He's acting a lunatic."

"It's no matter," Hermione told him politely, "We should be going soon anyways."

"No not yet!" Xenophilius shouted as plates clattered together. His sudden outburst caused Hermione, Ron and Harry to jump back, leaving Olivia to stand in front of them with her wand aimed up in the direction of Xenophilius' face as he ran to them desperately.

The older wizard looked to Olivia's wand wide eyed. She faced Xenophilius with a straight face and a single arched brow, "One more step." She warned, "I dare you."

He stepped back minutely but instead of looking to Olivia, looked pleadingly to Harry, "Please, you are my only hope." He told them, his hands shaking, "They were angry, you see, because of what I've been writing. So they took her."

"They," Olivia repeated while re adjusting the grip on her wand, "took Luna? They, who the heck is they?"

Xenophilius looked from Olivia to Harry, his anxious demeanour had disappeared completely, as if it had been switched off manually. His eyes turned from pleading to manic in a matter of seconds and Olivia forced herself from the shudders that threatened to overcome her body. The only way Olivia could explain Xenophilius' sudden change would be to suggest he was possessed.

He tried his luck and stepped closer towards both her and Harry, the girls wand now hovering over his chest. When Olivia saw him reach out to Harry she clenched her jaw tightly and hardened her stare. Xenophilius doubted his move and lowered his hand but made no effort to step backwards, he instead looked them square in the eyes, "But its really you they want."

"Who took her, Sir?" Harry asked.

With no remorse, Lovegood answered,
"Voldemort."

The sound of distant whirls and screams carried by the wind filled their ears and in a second, Xenophilius had ran for his door he had previously been blocking.

Olivia's eyes widened in shock as Harry pushed down on her shoulders, forcing her to the floor. Xenophilius Lovegood had just broken the taboo on his name and his home was paying the price. Death Eaters, under instruction of Lord Voldemort, had kidnapped Luna and the only way of getting his daughter back was to somehow fetch Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort.

It was why glass was shattering everywhere and piercing the skin on the back of Olivia's hand while she shielded her head. It was why black smoke, belonging to Death Eaters, was encasing the Lovegood house. It was why they faced danger once more after foolishly trusting another man.

"Olivia, come on!" Harry shouted over the chaos, latching on to her left hand and proceeding to crawl across the floor. She followed him, keeping as low to the ground as she could while dragging herself with her elbows over to Hermione and Ron.

The sound of spells colliding with the house and its items inside filled her already ringing ears as things shattered all around them. With her heart in her mouth, Olivia reached past the kitchen table with her free arm to latch on to Ron's hand. He and Hermione were only inches from she and Harry, yet it felt like they were a mile away.

Hermione let out an involuntary yelp as a glass vase fell to the ground in between them, scattering glass everywhere. Olivia felt a small stinging sensation on her left cheekbone after the clatter and knew of the damage instantly. With the glass piercing their skin Harry had barely managed to get his and Olivia's free hands on to Hermione's own, while Ron and Olivia pushed the final way to get their intertwined hands on to the pile.

A second before the house collapsed in on itself the four had managed to apparate, narrowly escaping.

For now.

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In such a terrible person for not updating.

I'll edit tomorrow.