A/N: I'm very sorry it has taken so long to post this chapter. Unfortunately I am not a billion dollar author and have to actually work a real job for a living so at times real life gets in the way. Thanks to everyone who has stuck with me and I'll post again as soon as I can. As always read/review/enjoy.
Chapter 18: Deathly Hallows
He awoke the next morning and wiped the sleep away from his eyes. He reached over and grabbed his glasses and turned to look for Hermione but she wasn't there. Hearing nothing he immediately feared the worst and jumped out of bed and went into main room. He still didn't see Hermione but on the table he noticed a note and instantly recognized the looping handwriting of Hermione. He walked over and read, 'Harry I went to the market real quick. I took a bit of polyjuice potion that should last me just under an hour so if I'm not back by 10 come look for me and get yourself out. Hermione.' He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was just a few minutes before 10. His heart still beating a bit faster than normal he went back into the bedroom to begin to gather everything up just in case he needed to make a quick getaway.
He was just about to tie up the bag and head out the door when he heard the front door open and he ran out wand drawn. When he saw Hermione with an armful of bags he quickly dropped his guard and walked over to help her. "You can't do that to me Hermione," he mentioned as he took the groceries from her.
"Well I was going to wait until you got up but I didn't know if that was ever going to happen," she teased.
"Give me a break, we've been sleeping in a tent for the last four months. It was nice to have four walls and a bed," he replied.
"Oh and here I thought it was because you were sleeping next to me," she said with a grin.
"Well I suppose that might have had something to do with it," he replied as he set the groceries down and leaned over to give her a peck.
For the rest of that day they relaxed and enjoyed the relief of feeling slightly normal for a change. Hermione made them three delicious meals and they spent large chunks of the day just relaxing on the sofa looking at old photographs which brought about old stories of their lives both together and separate. They steered clear of Harry's old room but for the most part they lived normally that first day in the Potter home, something they both hadn't realized they desperately needed.
The next day though it was back to work. After another nice breakfast they went to work at turning the house over, looking for anything that may have been left for them by Dumbledore. They dug around the vegetable patch in the back yard, they searched through all the cupboards in the kitchen, they even dared a trip back into Harry's old room to look through all the drawers of his old dresser. Finding nothing they headed back downstairs and Hermione headed for his parents room to look in there. Harry meanwhile headed for the study. After looking through the many bookshelves he sat down at the enormous oak desk that backed up against the window and began to pull out the drawers. The bottom drawer turned out to be full of files and as he began to rifle through them he came upon one labeled 'Invisibility Cloak.'
He pulled it out, set it on the desk and opened it up. Inside he found pages and pages of handwritten notes that must have been from his father about his invisibility cloak. After reading for a bit Harry got up and went into the bedroom to grab the cloak. "Going somewhere?" Hermione asked as she looked up from the drawers she was searching through.
"No I just found some notes my dad wrote about this cloak and I wanted to try a few things," he replied.
Hermione looked at him curiously and followed him back into the office. For a moment she looked over his shoulder while he looked again at the notes before noticing the files herself and bending down for a closer look. Harry continued pouring over the notes until… "Incendio," he yelled, pointing his wand at the cloak. Hermione jumped back in fight but nothing happened to the cloak. "Expulso," Harry cried again pointing directly at the cloak which remained completely intact.
"Harry what are you doing?" Hermione asked.
"It's indestructible," he replied. "I never realized that before."
Hermione just shook her head and went back to the files while Harry read on. After a few more minutes he noticed something else, "Hermione what was the name of the book that Dumbledore left you again?" he asked.
"The Tales of Beedle the Bard," she answered. "Why?"
"Is there a story in it called "The Tale of the Three Brothers"?" he pressed.
"Yeah, it's about these three brothers that meet death and are each given something as a reward for escaping death," she stated. "It's a bit creepy really."
"What do they get as a reward?" Harry asked.
"Well the first brother asks for an indestructible wand, the second asks for a way to bring people back from the dead so he gets a stone and the third asks for a way to hide from death so he gets a…" her eyes widened and she trailed off.
"He gets a cloak doesn't he?" Harry questioned. "One that makes him invisible."
"Well yes but Harry it's just a children's story. One that's made up to teach children that they need to be careful."
"But Hermione think about it. In all our years in the magical world have you ever seen or even heard of another cloak like this one?" he asked.
"Well I mean there are other invisibility cloaks though they are quite rare. And now that you mention it those do supposedly last only a few years before they wear out," she mentioned.
"Exactly," Harry said excitedly. "My dad had this when he was our age and think about it. In the seven years we've been using it we've never been spotted under it even once."
"Well yes but what does that have to do with anything?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione what do we know Riddle is looking for?"
"A wand that can beat yours," she replied.
"An indestructible wand," he corrected. "He's looking for a wand that can't be beaten. Here look what my Dad wrote here," he exclaimed, magically widening the chair so that Hermione could sit beside him. "He calls them 'The Deathly Hallows,' something people have come up with after reading that story. Apparently people believe that if someone can reunite the three objects from the story they will be the master of death."
Hermione flipped through the pages Harry had been reading. "He thinks this might be the cloak from the story. He thinks it might be real," she said, scratching her head.
"It is real Hermione," Harry said exasperatedly. "There is no other explanation for this cloak. Come on you're the logical one. Is there any logical explanation as to why this cloak still works, is indestructible, doesn't even have a tear on it?"
She thought about it for a few moments before acknowledging, "Well no, logically I suppose there's not but there also is no logical reason to believe the story is real. I mean how could someone literally meet death?" she asked.
"Maybe they didn't really meet death but I'd bet my wand that these brothers are real, that these things exist, that one of them is sitting right there and that Riddle is looking for another."
Again she sat pondering something for a few moments before replying, "I've read about a wand people called the most powerful wand ever made. Supposedly it was made of elder, the wand in the book is made from elder," she said as more and more dawned on her. "It goes back centuries. It was passed down and taken by force for ages but it's location and owner sort of got lost in the shuffle during the Goblin Rebellion and no one has seen or heard from it since."
"But Riddle is looking for it now and he thinks that Gregorovich had it but now that thief has it," Harry insisted.
"But Harry what about the stone, where could that possibly…" she began to ask but at that moment Harry's snitch came buzzing into the room.
They both realized it at the same moment and looked at each other mesmerized before saying together, "I open at the close."
"It's in there Hermione, I know it is," Harry said as he snatched the snitch as it flew by them.
"But Harry if this is all true then it means that Riddle is after the cloak too. Why haven't you had any visions about it?"
"I don't' know, maybe he's just worried about one at a time, maybe he doesn't know about the other two, maybe he's just looking for a really powerful wand, I don't know. But we have to find it before he does."
"But the horcruxes," Hermione mentioned.
"I know Hermione, I know. Looks like we've got our work cut out for us," he said, shaking his head.
"Oh gee and here I thought we'd be staying in five star hotels and finding things every other day," Hermione said grinning.
"Well at least this place is better than the tent," Harry said smiling.
"Yes well the shower is a definite plus," she stated. "Speaking of which I do believe I'll go take one right now."
"Have fun," Harry said as she got up and headed out the door. Harry continued to read through his dad's notes when a few moments later he heard the door open again. He looked up and saw Hermione's arm reach in and drop a brassiere and knickers onto the floor. Listening to her giggle as she ran through the living room and into the bathroom where he heard the door closed Harry blushed while shaking his head. There was still so much he didn't know about his bushy haired friend.