For the Snakes and Ladders challenge.
Also for the As Strong As we Are United Competition, with the prompt gentle.
I'm not JKR and don't own the characters. Word Count: 320
It had been a long time since Ignotus had seen his brothers. Victims of their own folly, Death had come for them early - trapped them by the cleverness of their own inventions. The oldest killed not only himself, but a succession of people that didn't seem like it would be ending any time soon. An unbeatable wand - one always eventually beaten, if only because opportunity knocked so often. Death had laughed and snatched him up and Ignotus did not miss him - he only wished Death had taken the folly that killed him as well.
The middle brother lived long enough to get married and have children, but his presence was hardly more than the ghostly image of his dead fiancee. His children never knew him, not really, and he lived in a fog. The stone, Ignotus understood, had been passed down to children and grandchildren, but its powers had not been revealed.
Now, Ignotus knew, it was his own turn. He lay down in bed an old man, and his son sat diligently at his bedside. "Bring me my cloak, Jonathan."
The son willingly obeyed, and carried it in his arms to Ignotus's side. "Here it is, father."
With much effort, he sat up in bed and gently wrapped the cloak around Jonathan's shoulders, parts of him disappearing in the process. "Keep this cloak safe, son, for it is your own safety."
"I will," he said, placing a solemn kiss on his father's forehead.
Ignotus smiled his last smile and lay back down "Thank you."
(Later as he walked side by side with Death, in an afterlife he couldn't properly explain if he tried, he kept an eye on his precious cloak, his life's work, and smiled as it saved a boy with messy hair and round glasses time after time. This was a boy - a man - he was proud to call his descendant.)