"c'mon," harry turned towards the church, signaling that they could cross the road and head to their destination.
the singing grew louder as hermione quietly pushed the kissing gate open, reminding them all of holidays at hogwarts.
"look at this, it's an abbott, could be some long lost relation of hannah's!"
"keep your voice down," hermione begged, glancing behind her to see maddy staring at a tree.
they waded deeper and deeper into the graveyard, leaving tracks in the snow and squinting at the areas around them to make sure no one was following them while they looked for the corresponding headstones.
"guys, here," hermione waved them over.
"is it-"
"no, but look!"
harry and maddy both crouched down, reading the words kendra dumbledore, her dates of birth and date, and a quotation:
where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
"are you sure he never mentioned-"
"no, let's keep looking," harry walked away.
moments later, hermione called out again, but was just mistaken.
"come back a moment," maddy mumbled, and hermione quickly complied, but harry seemed to be annoyed.
"what?"
"look," she pointed out the symbol.
"that's the mark in the book!" hermione exclaimed.
"yeah--it could be."
"it says ig--ignotus, i think," hermione lit her wand and pointed at the headstone.
"i'm going to keep looking for my parents, alright?" harry once again left them, trudging around the graveyard alone.
"i was actually born here," maddy fidgeted with her jumper, "i just never told anyone."
"why?"
"i'm related to salazar, and you-know-who, someway. i-it'd be kind of odd to say i'm from a place that has godric in its name. godric gryffindor and salazar slytherin weren't great friends, you know?" she lowly chuckled.
"are their tombstones here?"
"i doubt it," maddy glanced around, sighing and jumping up to her feet. "let's help harry before he goes even more crazy."
after looking in the dark for a couple of minutes, hermione's voice broke the silence, and the other two instantly knew she had found where harry's parents were buried by the tone of her voice.
james potter, born 27 march 1960, died 31 october 1981
lily potter, born 30 january 1960, died 31 october 1981
the last enemy that should be destroyed is death
harry slowly read the last phrase out loud, panicking as he carefully looked at maddy, who quickly understood.
"why is that there?"
"it doesn't mean defeating death in the way the death-eaters mean it, harry. it means, you know, living beyond death. living after death."
maddy made a wreath of christmas roses blossom before them as harry began to cry. the boy caught it, placing the wreath on his parents' wreath.
the girls had both taken a hand of harry's, gripping it tightly, receiving the same pressure.
they sat in silence for a couple moments, and harry finally stood up, wrapping his arms around the two girls and heading out of the graveyard, but hermione stopped them when they reached the grave of the unknown abbott.
"what's wrong?"
"there's someone there. someone watching us. i can tell. there, over by the bushes."
"are you sure?" harry gazed over to where hermione was talking about.
"i saw something move. i could have sworn i did-"
"we look like muggles," maddy pointed out.
"muggles who've just been laying flowers on his parents' grave! harry, mads, i'm sure there's someone over there!"
"it's a cat," harry said after a second or two, "or a bird."
"we'd be dead by now if it was a death-eater."
"exactly, but let's get out of here, and we can put the cloak back on."
hermione quickly lead them down the dark street leading out of the village.
"how are we going to find bathilda's house?"
"good question," maddy murmured.
"harry? what do you think? harry?"
she tugged on his arm, but he sped forwards, dragging the two girls with him and almost causing them to slip.
"harry-"
"look, look at it."
"we don't--oh!"
there stood a cottage, covered in dark ivy and snow, a large hedge in the front and the right side of the top floor had seemed to been blown apart.
"i wonder why nobody's ever rebuilt it?" hermione whispered.
"maybe you can't rebuild? maybe it's like the injuries from dark magic and you can't repair the damage?"
"you're not going to go inside?" hermione started when harry grasped the gate. "it looks unsafe, it might--oh, hey, look!"
a sign had risen out from the ground. on the wood, it said:
on this spot, on the night of 31 october, 1981, lily and james potter lost their lives. their son, harry, remains the only wizard ever to have survived the killing curse. this house, invisible to muggles, has been left in its ruined state as a monument to the potters and as a reminder of the violence that tore apart their family.
around that, there were a bunch of carved initials, signed names, scribbles, and even some messages.
maddy looked closely, noticing a message asking about what truly happened to the taylor's.
could she even answer that question properly?
"they shouldn't have written on that sign!"
"it's brilliant. im glad they did," harry beamed. he paused as a figure hobbled towards them, freezing in the middle of the road, not too far from the trio.
out of nowhere, the lady raised her gloved hand and beckoned.
"how does she know?"
the woman repeated her actions, except more vigorously, so harry obeyed.
"are you bathilda?" he asked, causing hermoine to gasp and jump.
she nodded and once again, beckoned them over.
beneath the cloak, harry raised his eyebrows at the two girls, who each gave him a nod in return.
they cautiously stepped forwards, and the woman hobbled off, leading them last several cottages before finally turning at a gate.
the gryffindors wrinkled their noses, not knowing if it were the lady or the house that smelt bad. harry took the cloak off and bathilda peered into his face.
"bathilda?" harry repeated, and she replied with a nod, shuffling into another room.
"i'm not so sure about this."
"look at the size of her; i know we can overpower her if we had to. listen, i should have told you two, i knew she wasn't all there. muriel called her 'gaga'."
"come!" bathilda called out.
hermione jumped and clutched their arms.
"it's okay," harry said reassuringly.
bathilda was tottering around the place lighting candles, but it was still very dark, and not to mention, extremely dirty.
"let me do that," harry offered, taking the matches from her. "miss bagshot?" he spoke up while hermione and maddy were helping light the fire. "who is this?"
no response.
"miss bagshot?" he advanced.
still, nothing.
"who is this person?" he showed her the photograph.
she only peered up at the boy and the picture, but didn't open her mouth.
"do you know who this is? this man? do you know him? what's he called?" harry repeated, slower and louder than before. "who is this man?"
"harry, what are you doing?"
"this picture, it's the thief, the thief that stole from gregorovitch! please! who is this?"
maddy slowly got up and moved hermione a few steps away from bathilda.
"why did you ask us to come with you, miss bagshot?"
"was there something you wanted to tell us?"
giving no sign that she heard either of the girls, she shuffled closer to harry. with a little jerk of the head, she looked back into the hall.
"you want us to leave?"
she repeated the gesture, pointing at harry, then herself, then the ceiling.
"i think she wants me to go upstairs with her."
"alright," hermione moved forward, but maddy stopped her.
"i think she wants him to go with her, alone."
the bright witch went to argue, but maddy gave her a look, making her shut her mouth.
"it'll be okay," maddy reassured when the other two left.
the two stood in silence until a loud noise was heard.
"harry!"
no response.
they shared a look and ran up the stairs, finding nagini wrapped around harry.
without thinking, maddy flung the snake as far as possible, helping harry up when the coast was clear.
or so she thought.
harry noticed the snake slithering back and raised his wand, but his scar seared more painfully than it ever had before.
"he's coming! maddy, hermione, he's coming!"
as he yelled, the snake fell and hissed loudly. everything was chaos.
harry attempted to get the girls out safely, struggling due to nagini. before he got the chance, maddy flicked her hand, whatever spell she casted flying around the room and causing almost everything to explode.
harry took the opportunity and grabbed onto their hands, jumping on the furniture then out a smashed window, hermione's scream reverberating through the night as they twisted in mid-air.
word count- 1487
date written- december 5, 2020
sorry about the ending, it's just that maddy is powerful and there's a lot of books that downgrade(or whatever the word is) their characters, so i didn't want to do that.