This was a story for a challenge I wrote close to a year ago that I just found again. The challenge was to write a story about how the wand changed hands from one owner to another, but could not involve Harry. Enjoy, and be gentle!
Arcus and Livius were brothers and Questers, who had been pursuing the Hallows for13 years. They had tracked ownership of one particular Hallow, the Deathstick, to a man named Barnabas Deverill. Now all they had to do was find him. They already had a fool proof plan to gain possession of the wand. But they hit a snag.
"He's dead." The landlord of the village tavern told them when they asked about Deverill. "He was found stone cold in his house 3 days ago."
"His wand was missing," was the surprised response of Deverill's widow when they asked. The brothers thanked her and went on their way.
"Now what?" Arcus asked his bother. Livius had no idea.
That night they camped by a stream. Livius lay down to sleep, and he began to dream. There was a voice, calling his name. "Livius. Livius. Livius. Livius." When he awoke, he yelled at his brother for disturbing his rest by calling out his name. Arcus denied the accusations.
They discussed what to do about the wand. Arcus suggested that they pick a direction and walk in it. The wand couldn't have gotten far. So they picked a direction by tossing a die, and set off, each knowing in his heart that they were likely going in the wrong direction.
That night, Livius' dreams were again plagued by the voice. "Livius. Livius. Livius" it moaned. "To the east, Livius. To the east." When Livius woke up that morning, he asked Arcus what he had meant by 'To the east'. Again Arcus said that he had nothing to do with the voice. But he suggested that they should go to the east anyway. Any direction was as good as any. Livius agreed, and they changed direction and went to the east.
Again that night, he dreamed. "To the north and east, Livius. Come to me."
For four days the brothers followed the voice in Livius' dreams. It only gave directions now, having caught the brothers' attention. And on the fifth night it spoke again. "Livius, you must save me! He means to bury me!" And Livius asked, for the first time in his nights of dreaming, "Who are you?" "I am the Wand of Destiny, the Deathstick, the Elder Wand! Save me, claim me, Livius, and I shall serve you!" When Livius awoke that morning, he knew that they would find the wand that day, and he knew what he had to do.
They set off quietly in the direction that the wand had indicated. They stopped outside a small clearing. Arcus hid in the bushes, and Livius continued. There was a man in the clearing, digging a hole. It was five feet deep already.
"Hello good sir," Livius called out. "What is your name?"
"Loxias," the man told him, without ceasing his digging.
"Loxias," Livius repeated. "I hear you possess the Elder Wand, Loxias." Loxias stopped his digging, and stared at Livius in shock.
"Who told you that?" he gasped.
"Never you mind," Livius told him, "that's not important. What is important is that I want the wand."
Loxias clambered out of his hole.
"No!" he yelled. "The wand is too dangerous! It must be buried, so that its evil will be contained for eternity!"
"Why don't you let me deal with it instead?" Livius asked, and he gave Arcus a signal. An arrow flew through the air and struck Loxias between the eyes, killing him instantly. Arcus emerged from the bushes, holding a strung bow in his hand. He went to the body and searched it. He found the wand and held it up, gazing at it with adoring eyes.
"The Elder Wand, Livius! We own the Deathstick! We will be invincible!"
"No, Arcus. I will be invincible," Livius told his brother as he stabbed him through the heart.
"Thank you for leading me to you," he whispered to the wand as he removed it from his brother's limp hands. "You won't regret it." And he left the clearing, not looking back.