Long chapter to make up for the lack of updating lately, sorry for that. enjoy!
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"We're all packed, then?" asked Ron, still trying to enter Hermione's good graces again. She'd packed up her things and he offered to carry her bag, which she refused.
"Yes, Ronald," she spoke pointedly and moved away from him.
"Still no luck, there, mate?" said George, trying his best to hold in his laughter.
Ron pursed his lips, "No."
"You mean your little voting attempt from before didn't make her swoon?" George squeezed his shoulder and shook it playfully.
"Here's what you want to do," Fred set an arm around his shoulders and leaned in to speak lower so Hermione doesn't hear. "You'll need some rope, twigs and honey. You roll around in leaves-"
Sarah slapped his arm, resulted in Fred chortling. "Ignore him, Ron," she glared at Fred for a second. "She'll forgive you, just persevere in your apologizing, eventually she'll know you mean it."
"Thanks," he mumbled half-heartedly, fumbling with the straps of his own bag. He zipped it and followed Harry who gestured for them to gather around him.
"You had the opportunity to offer advice to your younger brother and you blew it, hope you're happy," Sarah reprimanded Fred, throwing her own bag over her shoulder.
"You mean about that or in general?" he asked with a flirty grin.
She deadpanned him instantly and he tugged on her hand to bring her against his chest, "Because in general I can't really complain."
"Dial it down, Weasley, we need to go." Sarah patted his back and ushered him towards Harry and the others. "What do you suppose the Lovegoods' house looks like? I see a giant colorful flying balloon, next to a garden filled with weird creatures," ventured Fred with a childish excitement to his voice.
It made her smile fondly, "I think it's just a regular house, Freddie."
"If that's the case I will be fairly disappointed," he bowed his head as he spoke to make his point, looked back at her, with creases at the corner of his eyes. They exchanged that smile before joining the others fully, how she could still have the will to smile like that is something she will never understand, but something she will spend her whole life trying to put into words.
"I don't know the exact location, only the whereabouts, so we'll need to walk a bit," Harry informed them all, putting his hand in the middle for everyone to grab onto.
George tutted then, "That's my deal-breaker I'm afraid, I will require constant levitation."
Everybody snorted, Fred squeezed his shoulder while chuckling. "Okay, come on," Harry dipped his head to get them to grab his hand. As soon as everyone did, the world turned upside down, they Sarah felt as though she was moving somewhat unnaturally through space and time.
Her feet touched the ground shortly after those odd and familiar feelings of Apparition. In the distance she observed a singular house, standing tall in the vast golden meadow, just up a hill.
Yet again, although there was nothing to smile about, she did, "Fairly disappointed, I presume?"
"Completely, yeah," Fred grimaced, "It's just a house."
"Maybe it'll be more colorful inside," she tried to reassure him, tugging on his arm to follow everyone else who'd walked up in front of them.
Harry was trying to talk Hermione out of being mad at Ron, unsuccessfully. And Sarah understood. As mad as Ron had been, it would have taken a single second for him to stop and think about it, think about abandoning his best friends at their worst. Jealousy got the best of him and it happens, but Sarah also kept thinking that were the roles reversed, and it had been Hermione who'd left, she wasn't sure they would have been as lenient, although she hoped.
They approached the door and Hermione knocked. Not long after, Luna's father, Xenophilius Lovegood appeared at the slim opening of the door. He had white hair just like Luna, that enchanting and dreamy aura about him, Sarah actually saw a lot of Luna in him.
"Who are you? What do you want?" he mumbled, his mouth was practically touching the wooden door. Once a bit of light got to him, Sarah noticed he actually had hollow eyes and mismatched socks, something sad in his gaze.
Hermione stepped away, letting Harry through.
"I'm Harry Potter," he waved briefly as he climbed up the remaining stairs. "We met a few months ago."
"Ah," Mr Lovegood nodded, "Yes. Lovely wedding that was, until the...um, unexpected drop ins."
Fred clenched his jaw looking down, twiddling the fabric of his pocket between his index and thumb bitterly, he wasn't exactly enjoying going back to those few weeks.
Luna's father invited them all inside, Fred still deep in his thoughts before Sarah pulled him out of them, "Look."
She rested her hand on his shoulder and pointed at a tall green bush to their left, right by the entrance of the house. It had floating orange fruits that looked like balloons. "Dirigible plums," she said, beaming. "It's not the entire house but there is a sort of colorful balloon."
Fred's feet planted into place and he stared at those plums for longer than necessary, he was seeing much more than those floating plums. He became overwhelmed by a new wave of feelings that demanded to be expressed somehow. So he rested his forehead against hers for a second, tilted his head so their noses touched. They were risking going to the Lovegoods, one more second wouldn't hurt.
"It's just plums, Weasley," she chuckled, but definitely not complaining.
Fred didn't respond to that. He pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips over her cheek, sealing a deeply meaningful and intimate kiss on her skin. "It's not just plums. Definitely not just plums."
"Whenever you're done with the sappiness," George had appeared under the doorframe and mocked them teasingly, "There's tea made." He looked over his shoulder and leaned in to whisper, "Don't drink it. It's terrible. I think he's mixed up the salt and sugar."
"That's why you interrupted our moment? To tell us your tea's all salty?" grumbled Fred, a deep frown accompanying his scolding tone.
George nodded without a single once of shame, "Also there's some story about to start, figured at least Sarah was interested in hearing about it."
Fred's shoulders dropped with a long huff that Sarah took for utter frustration at his twin. "It's okay, George," she said with a nod and after a last glance, he walked away.
"Is there something wrong?" she immediately asked Fred as soon as they were alone again, her hands redirecting his eyes towards her, "You don't usually get like this unless there's something going on."
"Nothing's going on, I promise," he whispered sincerely, "I mean, nothing aside from what is actually going on."
"But you'd tell me, right? If there were."
"Of course," his answer flew out without a shred of hesitation. "I just-" he ran his thumb over her cheek, his eyes flickering toward every detail of her face before meeting her eyes once again. "I just needed a moment."
George had been right, Sarah indeed wanted to hear what they were talking about inside, but right now Fred mattered more. She froze to allow him to take the time he needed. She often forgot how draining it can all be. To move from a danger to another, stumble over pieces of your heart because every time it finally heals, something else breaks it. She had built some sort of immunity to it, to the atrocity of all that's happening around them, she would go as far as to dare to say she was used to it and it didn't shock her anymore. It wasn't the same for Fred, she needed to remember that.
"Thank you," he murmured, coming back to himself, the air was getting in and out easier.
She managed a small smile and took his hands in hers, pressed a kiss on both, "Better?"
Fred nodded and readied to step inside, let her walk in first before closing the door after him.
"Yes."
"No."
She heard meddled voices as she searched for a seat next to Ron, Fred next to George facing her.
"What?" asked Sarah.
"The Tale of the Three Brothers," Hermione reiterated for her.
"Right," she nodded, her eyes flickering towards Xenophilius who was showing off his medallion with that mark they keep seeing. As if Selena read her thoughts, she filled in the blanks by whispering to her, "Something called the Deathly Hallows."
Sarah smiled gratefully while Hermione opened her bag and dived in to search for her book, the book Dumbledore left to her. Strange how all the pieces added up.
Hermione flipped the paged after checking the exact page on the front, and started reading. Sarah laid back on the couch with her legs crossed, listening intently, trying to find any possible hidden clues in this story. "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely, winding road. At twilight-"
"Midnight," Ron chimed in, interrupting Hermione and making her glare at him. "Mum always said midnight, remember that?" he asked his brothers.
George and Fred didn't try to hide their irritation as they both said pointedly, "Ron, honestly, just shut up."
"Twilight's fine, better actually," he quickly followed up defensively, plopping in his seat next to Sarah.
"I told you to keep apologizing, not give her reasons to be even more mad at you," she hissed.
Ron merely sighed. "Do you want to read it?" asked Hermione, holding up the book.
"No," he shook his head, "It's fine."
After that, she started over. "There were once three brothers who were traveling along a lonely winding road at twilight. In time, the brothers reached a river too treacherous to pass. But being learned in the magical arts, 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 travelers would normally drown 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 having been clever enough to evade him."
"The oldest asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence. So, death fashioned him one from an 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 the grave. So, death plucked a stone from the river and offered it to him. Finally, death turned to the third brother. A humble man, he asked for something that would allow him to go forth 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 traveled to a distant village where, with the elder wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he had once quarreled. Drunk with the power the elder wand had given him, he bragged of his invincibility. But that night, another wizard stole the wand and slit the brother's throat in good measure. And so death took the first brother for his own. The second brother returned to his home where he took the stone and turned it thrice in hand. To his delight, the girl he had once hoped to marry before he 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 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 his life as equals."
"So there you have it," said Xenophilius once Hermione had finished her story, "Those are the Deathly Hallows."
"I'm sorry sir, but I still don't quite understand," Harry confessed.
"Does anyone have any parchment?" asked Xenophilius around the room, as expected the boys all shook their heads.
"I do," Sarah leaned forward again and asked Ron to grab onto one side of her bag so she could reach inside it.
She thought she'd taken the spare parchments but when she pulled out her arm, she was holding the manuscript. She handed it to Harry to hold for a moment and dived back in, this time getting out what she had been searching for and gave it to Xenophilius.
"Right, thank you. Mr Potter," Xenophilius set the parchment on the table before him and took his quill that was resting nearby. He drew a straight line, "The elder wand, the most powerful wand ever made," afterwards he drew a circle so the line would cut right in its center, "The Resurrection stone," and finally, the triangle, keeping it all together, "The cloak of invisibility. Together they make the Deathly Hallows. Together they make one master of death."
Sarah locked eyes with Fred from across the room, being as intrigued, worried and surprised by this as she was.
"That mark was on a grave in Godric's Hollow," stated Hermione. "Peverell. Does he have something to do with the Deathly Hallows?"
"Yes," Xenophilius answered, "Ignotus and his brothers, Cadmus and Antioch are thought to be the original owners of the Hallows and therefore the inspiration for the story." He had become quite fidgety, not staying in one place too long, only when he spotted what Harry was holding did he stop and sit back down.
"Where did you get that?" he pointed at the stack of parchments bound together.
Harry looked down to see he was holding the manuscript but since it wasn't his own, he turned to Sarah instead. She instinctively took it and tightened her grip on it, "Why?"
"I have never seen a copy of that, is it complete?" Luna's father asked with pure fascination.
"You answer my question first. Why such an interest?" she blurted defensively.
"Sarah," Harry muttered as a bit of a warning that she ignored.
Xenophilius remained silent for a few seconds before speaking again, "There have been talks about this book for centuries. Extracts used to be sent out to the papers when I was a little boy, never the complete work. Have you read it?"
Sarah just nodded at that, not quite sure what to make of this story of his. But he'd given them information about the Deathly Hallows, maybe he could enlighten her on this as well.
"Does it mention an author?"
"No, it doesn't. It has a strange pattern of wording, old English and modern. I've never read anything like it and I've ready my fair share of books," she gave in to his interest, expressing her thoughts about it.
"We second that," mused Fred and George in synch.
"It had the habit of doing that when I was a boy, too. I had grown rather keen on the story, really. Follow me."
He stood up and ushered the whole group towards the kitchen, talking rather excitedly while they gathered around him. "So, I went looking for old papers from archives to see if I couldn't perhaps spot any other fragment somewhere else." He ruffled through some shelves and cupboards, "I know I have it somewhere here..."
Sarah felt a hand on the small of her back, a glance at her feet sufficed to see it was Fred but he didn't say anything, he was just telling her he was here. Xenophilius pulled out an ancient looking box that he blew over, getting the dust off of it.
"Here," he handed it to Sarah, "I've collected the paragraphs from my younger years and in there," he pointed at an old, browned at the edges and ragged envelope, "Are the clippings from old papers, some of them dating back centuries ago."
She let the manuscript on the table and lifted the top of the box. Her jaw almost dropped to have landed on so much information at once. She read a few recent clippings that she recognized being passages from the book, but quickly moved on to that envelope. She opened it slowly and handled the thin pages with care, aware of their age. She was perhaps touching History, she ought to be careful.
It took her eyes a while to get used to the brownish layout and often smudged ink. But she did manage to read some words, "This isn't the same writing. These are all in a vernacular suited for the time. It can't be the same author."
"But it is," Xenophilius nodded at her confidently.
"How do you know—" she set the clipping down next to the story and Fred flipped a few pages of the parchment and brought the clipping on the page.
"Look at that," he tapped two words, one on the manuscript and the other on the clipping.
He let Sarah fill in the blank herself, "The 't's."
"Precisely," Xenophilius nodded at her.
"What about them?" Harry inquired, leaning to his left to look at the clippings as well.
"I haven't seen someone who does the letter this way until the book and it's the same here. Normally one draws a line but I've never seen a loop made before. But it doesn't make any sense, how could this be the same author? It's centuries apart," she remarked, timidly asking herself if there was another explanation. A crazy explanation. She sent a glance to her right, "What are the odds you're right, George?"
Only he knew what it was about, Selena and Fred furrowed their eyebrows in confusion.
"It would be mental, completely mental, I was joking, Sarah," he cautioned, shaking his head dismissively.
"I know, but what if?"
"No! You didn't even believe it."
"But I do, now."
"Absolutely not."
"It would make sense."
"In what world would that make sense?"
"In ours, George. Back me up, please."
"Could someone tell us what's going on?" blurted Fred.
George and Sarah grew quiet all of a sudden and stared at each other. After a long pause, Sarah looked at all of them, "What if..."
George shot her a warning look, even he was aware of how stupid it sounded, but it was useless. When Sarah put her mind to something, it rarely ended in her dropping the matter. He was also aware of that.
"We're talking here about a master of death, what if there's such a thing as a master of time as well?" said Sarah cryptically.
"Meaning?" wondered Xenophilius.
"I mean would it be possible to have this author be a—" she gulped, still hesitant when she said, "Time traveler?"
There was a long silence after she said that, she searched for support in her friends, but not having found a shred of it, she turned to Fred's eyes, he tried to say something, make up some semblance of an answer to support her, but he stared at her like a deer in headlights.
She felt her throat close up from embarrassment but when she turned back to Xenophilius, he had a complicit smile on his face, "I have been thinking that myself since the very start."
Her chest sparked up with hope, until she realized that the only person agreeing with her on this was standing with mismatched socks, no trousers on, uncombed hair, drinking tea that has salt instead of sugar. The closest one could get to the definition of a lunatic.
"You see," he leaned forward on his seat, "I have always been passionate about odd stories, and I had taken interest in this one but not only. There was another character I fancied. Rebekah O'Conry."
"What about her?" Sarah asked, this name sounding vaguely familiar.
"She was Ignotus' wife, a witch herself but they lived at a time witchcraft was frowned upon when it came to women. A wizard was showered with respect, whereas witches with nothing but disdain."
"Figures," scowled the three girls.
"Witches got recognition much later in History. If the Peverell family lived around the 1200, it won't happen for at least a few centuries," Hermione noted.
Selena huffed at that with a dramatic eye-roll, "The Muggle and Wizarding world worked together that one."
"Oh, Godric," Sarah cackled. "Could you imagine how the Purists will react if they find out wizards and Muggles agree fully on discrediting women?"
"That's incredibly sad," sighed out Fred, looking between the three of them incredulously, a slight naive look on his face like that sort of thought had never crossed his mind and he was troubled now that it did.
"Yeah, we know," Sarah told him, "And as much as I enjoy discussing the history of women, I'd like to know more about this Rebekah. She was his wife, you say?" She directed her attention back to Xenophilius.
"Yes, well, it is believed. There is no way of being certain—"
"But we can guess Ignotus had a wife, since he passes on the cloak to his son by the end of the story," said Sarah in a wobbly voice, something about this finding was making her heart race.
"R and I," Fred whispered against her ear, Sarah turned to him with a shocked expression, she had blocked Xenophilius' narrating for a few seconds while the pieces fell into place.
"Ignotus was wise, Rebekah was a nonconformist, but somehow two sides of the same coin, completing
in what the other was lacking, a love story my Luna has always adored. There were ballads written about how their love surpassed even time. It all went well for them until they grew old, well into hundreds of years old, but unlike Ignotus, Rebekah refused the idea of it. It all took a turn for the sour, then, the O'Conry's fate. And the particularity of this manuscript is that it is rumored to be written throughout the centuries, parts always added or rewritten by Rebekah and her sister—"
"Dorothea," Sarah interrupted him once again, this time remembering why it was such a familiar story. Of course. How could she have been so oblivious to it?
"Yes!" Mr Lovegood exclaimed cheerfully, "So you do know them! Fascinating story those two have. Naturally then you know about Rebekah being a Protector like yourself."
"Yes, she—" Sarah missed a beat, paused, her heart coming to a full on stop. "Mr Lovegood. How did you become aware of that?"
"I—" his gaze tore away from hers, "Would you look at that? Your tea's gotten cold, let me just put on some more."
"Sir?" Harry's eyes followed him as he flew across the room to pick up the teapot.
"Thank you for having us, Mr Lovegood, but we really ought to be going now," Sarah tried summoning the most calm voice she could and exchanged uneasy looks with everyone. Fred's grip on his wand tightened and although he could trap her in his arms and Disapparate from here, his eyes focused solely on her.
Xenophilius blocked the door and locked it, "You're my only hope," he mumbled tearfully.
No one dared to move a whisker, too afraid of what it meant. They thought they had entered the house of an ally, and now they realized they had been grossly mistaken.
"They were angry you see, because of what I've been writing." His limbs were shaking, "They took her. They took my Luna."
He slowly paced towards Harry and grabbed onto Sarah arm briskly, "But it's really you they want, just the two of you."
Sarah forcefully seized Xenophilius' wrist to make him let go of her with no use. "Please," he begged, a single tear falling down his cheek.
Crazy how much can happen in a second.
They all dropped to the ground as soon as they heard the glasses shatter. They all crawled to one another and Disapparated into the woods.
"He sold us!" screamed Ron, "That git!"
"Voldemort's gotten to him!" shouted Harry in despair.
"They took his daughter, he was hopeless," Sarah tried to reason with them a bit out of breath, a small red mark on her wrist was forming from how tightly Xenophilius had held her.
"Harry! I've told you!" Ron yelled out, "The name's Taboo! We can't say it anymore! We have to set up the protective charms immediately—"
He didn't have time to finish that, Snatchers surrounded them at once.
"Hi beautiful," one of them grinned evilly at Hermione. Sarah recognized him to be the one who had trapped Fred that August night. He wasn't a Death Eater, that's why no one knew him then.
They didn't waste a second, they started running through the trees, cracking twigs and crushing leaves with every step, trying their best not to trip while sending defensive spells back as often as they could.
The first they got was Ron, then one by one they all dropped, when Sarah looked back she was standing alone with Harry and Hermione, nothing was to be done now.
Though not according to Hermione, she jinxed Harry and Sarah, Harry's face was disfigured and when she rolled up her own sleeve, her mark looked like nothing more than a regular bruise.
Two men came behind each of them and jinxed their hands behind their backs, George and Ron were pushed to the ground, their feet tied by iron chains.
Fred had elbowed one of them in the nose when he saw Sarah being grabbed but it took a flick of a wand to immobilise him. He let out a raucous groan, "Don't touch her or I swear—"
The one holding him poked his neck with his wand to cut him off, "Or you'll what?"
"Don't!" yelled out Sarah, struggling out of the hands poking her arms, definitely leaving a bruise.
"I'll kill you," gritted Fred at him, there was an urge is strength coursing through him, he managed to loosen the spell that prevented him to fight back but before he could do something about it, the Snatcher kneed him in the stomach.
She almost screamed his name but instead some sort of an angry plea came out. Bless you Selena, she thought when she saw his hair, George's and Ron's were all black, not a tint of red, hence unrecognizable.
"That's a warning," said the Snatcher to Fred who was doubled over and wheezing.
"Aren't we blessed?" he clapped his hands, each of his partners had seized one of Sarah's friends. He passed each of them in turns, asked for their names. Everyone said the first names that came to mind, those they knew wouldn't be on that list.
Something in his gaze made her stomach turn, he stared at Hermione and Selena in the same way. "You'll have to excuse us, but it has been quite a while since we've seen such beautiful women."
Sarah, Selena and Hermione instantly reacted to that, struggled with everything they had, the others fighting off the tight holds as well, shouting and grunting to leave them alone. That earned everyone a curse to their abdomen, a curse that stung greatly and turned their noise into sharp breaths of pain.
"Easy, boys." The Snatcher's eyes zeroed on Sarah as he slowly walked towards her, her heart speeding up with fear at each step. "We don't want to harm such pretty faces."
"And I remember this one. I know you." He pushed some of her hair back and breathed in deeply her scent. She tried backing away from him, she couldn't, of course. Her chin quivered, it felt like a crawler on her spine. She would choose a kick to her stomach any day over this.
Fred got another curse when he threw his head back and broke the nose of the one holding him. Sarah turned to only thing she knew, fighting back, "Leader of scum, huh?" she put up that bravado she wore all too well but she was terrifyingly scratching the back of her hand behind her back, praying she'll get him to back away from her. "That seems like something to take quite the pride on."
"Easy there, sweetheart." He grabbed her jaw with such a brutal force that it made her bite her tongue. She muffled a low whimper of pain that broke Fred's heart.
She stepped on the man's foot, wiping the sick smile off his face. "Don't touch me, you vacuous, insipid bastard."
With all the force she had, she lunged on her left foot and hit down his gut not once, but twice, each time with more strength, her left foot keeping him standing until she let go and he dropped to the ground.
He stayed curled up and gasping for air for a handful of minutes, the Snatcher holding Sarah kept asking him if he was okay.
"Enough playing around!" he growled furiously as he stood with anything but ease. "We're not taking these to the Ministry." When he spoke this time, he was at arms length from her, which made her breathe a little easier. He knew who she was, he must suspect Harry is either among them, or at a place known by them.
"Let's go," he ordered. Her inner calm lasted less than a minute, she was back to the fear drilling in her stomach when he grabbed her collar to get her away from the other Snatcher. "I'll take care of this one. You'll play nice, won't you?"
She considered spitting on him but she doubted that would do any good right now. "You play nice, your boyfriend doesn't get hurt. But you know the rules, by now, don't you?"
Sarah sent Fred a small glance and mouthed, "It's okay," before she got shoved forward. It wasn't okay, she knew that. He knew as well.
"Where we going, boss?"
The Snatcher that definitely altered the fabric of Sarah's coat by pulling on it so harshly answered him, "Malfoy Manor."
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also 6k reads?? completely mental! I'll be honest with you, writing right now is pretty much everything I think about, I love it, and I love sharing the content with you guys, thank you so much for the love.
for the last couple weeks i've been working on my next story, although I don't want this one to end, I really don't. I find it troublesome to let go of things, maybe i'll just keep it going. (would you follow it if i did? haha)
anyway,
lots of love,
s