A Hallow and A Horcrux

Task for Beater 1 (me): The Gaunt Ring

For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Practice Round for Puddlemere United.

Prompts:

(word) freedom

(quote) "All that is gold does not glitter" ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Word Count without A/N's: 1,096

She was bleeding, bruised, and broken—practically waiting for her death.

"Euryale," begged Cadmus Peverell. "Love, please stay with me."

"Cadmus, dear," Euryale gasped. "Don't mourn me."

"I was so stupid," Cadmus sobbed. "I shouldn't have left you at home—I didn't know someone was out for us."

"Don't live under regret forever, dear." Euryale said. "Accept the fact that I'm going to a better place now."

With that, she took her final breath and closed her eyes for the last time.

Cadmus held her and wept. He was so stupid, so, so, stupid, all he wanted was for his loving wife to come back to him.

So, when he and his two brothers managed to cross that bridge, and Death, known by some as Thanatos, appeared in front of them, asking them what they truly wished for, Cadmus said he wanted to resurrect his wife from the Dead.

Death fetched a black stone from a nearby lake and gave it to him, instructing him to turn it over in his hand three times for the power to work.

Cadmus Peverell returned home and did what Death told him, and in minutes, Euryale stood before him.

"Euryale, my love…" Cadmus rasped. He reached out to touch her, but all he could touch was air.

"Cadmus, dear." She said softly. "You should not have done this. I was happy in the world of the dead."

"But now we can be together!" Cadmus insisted.

"Oh, dear, don't you see?" Euryale shook her head. "You cannot truly bring a person back from the dead, only partially." She reached out to kiss Cadmus on the cheek before drifting off, but Cadmus didn't feel the kiss, not at all.

Things weren't going well for Cadmus. Euryale was being cold, distant, as if she wasn't part of this world anymore.

"Euryale, my love." Cadmus said to her one day. "I love you, and I truly want to be with you, fully and not partially. And if this is what I have to do, so be it."

"Cadmus, what are you—" She gasped.

Cadmus drew his knife and stabbed himself in the heart. When he came to the world of the dead, Euryale was furious when she heard what Cadmus had done, but eventually she forgave him and they lived happily ever after in the world of the dead. Cadmus finally had his freedom. (1).

Now, why tell you that story? You see, the Resurrection Stone that brought Euryale back for some time was passed down generation after generation. This stone was placed into a golden setting and was made a ring.

This very ring ended up in the possession of the Gaunts. Marvolo Gaunt was proud to wear this ring, he loved it so much, even more than his own daughter.

"See this? See this? Know what it is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family, that's how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way! Know how much I've been offered for this, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved on the stone?" Marvolo had spat at that Muggle-loving fool, Bob Ogden.

Marvolo had not known the true power this ring had. He did not know about the Resurrection Stone. This could be a rather good thing, Marvolo wasn't the ideal person to put that in the hands of.

The ring was passed to the hands of his son, Morfin Gaunt. His daughter, Merope, was seen by the Gaunt family as trash, and she would eventually go on and give birth to the darkest wizard ever known besides Grindelwald.

Morfin wore this ring for some time, before it was stolen from him by one Tom Riddle. Ruthless at what he can do, Tom framed Morfin for the Riddle family murder, and Morfin ended up in Azkaban. His father Marvolo had died a while past; he had been in Azkaban for six months and wasn't able to cope.

What of the ring, you may ask? Tom Riddle dutifully wore the Gaunt Family Ring. Eventually when Tom found out about Horcruxes, he had enchanted the ring and made it his Horcrux, using the very murder he framed his uncle for.

Tom felt the thrill in his veins as he raised his wand at his parents. "Avada Kedavra!"

Tom, now known as Lord Voldemort, knew that if his Horcruxes were killed, he would be mortal again. He placed a powerful curse on the Gaunt Ring, one that would ensure no one destroyed it and placed it in a box located in the Gaunt shack, which was currently abandoned. He placed protective wards around the place, and no one went near the ring.

For now.

More than fifty years later, Albus Dumbledore was looking into Voldemort's obsession with Horcruxes. He knew that all the Horcruxes would have to be destroyed so Voldemort wouldn't be immortal any longer.

He managed to get through the magical wards around it, and discovered the box with the ring in it.

Dumbledore examined the ring. He turned it around. "The Resurrection Stone," He murmured. Dumbledore had searched for it for a long time. He knew if he wasn't careful he'd end up like Cadmus Peverell, but he knew that the stone had limitations. He was going to tread very carefully.

He wanted to revive Ariana, his sister. Oh, poor, sweet, Ariana. It had been Aberforth that took care of her, Albus was too busy with his own ambitions and he sorely regretted it. He just wanted to tell her he was sorry.

But alas, all that is gold does not glitter. He slipped the ring on his finger, a mistake he would sorely regret. The deadly curse Tom Riddle had put on it was enacted. Dumbledore had about a year to live.

When he got back to Hogwarts, he immediately destroyed the Stone as a Horcrux, but that did not stop the curse from fatally spreading.

He knew he didn't have a long time to live. That was why he had told Severus to kill him, he knew Draco Malfoy wasn't capable and he'd rather die a quick and painless death to Avada Kedavra, than a slow and painful one.

Before he died though, he placed the Resurrection Stone in the Snitch with the words "I open at the close" to be given to Harry Potter.

After the Resurrection Stone's last chance, it would disappear under the Forbidden Forest forevermore.

The Gaunt Ring, also a Hallow, was something not many people knew about. And it would be kept that way.

A/N: What did you think? Is it any good or does it make you want to kick me off Puddlemere?

Footnotes: two, one for each prompt used.

Please R&R :)

-Ana