A flash of green, followed by an eerie silence, only to be broken by the sound of even footsteps echoing throughout Potter Manor. A tall figure dressed completely in black, from their dragon hide boots to the black sash tying their silver hair back, confidently navigated their way to the main staircase of the manor.
"Charlus! Get your old arse down here, we need to talk! NOW!" the figure called out in a demanding voice, knowing that their sonorous charm was enough to wake the sleeping Potter's.
It was only a few minutes later that a tired Dorea Potter made her way down the staircase dressed in an expensive silk night dress. "Arcturus, dear brother, as good as it is to see you, I have to ask why you have woken us up at two in the morning?"
"Dorea!" Arcturus called out softly, "I apologize for disturbing your sleep, but this is a discussion that cannot wait. Something has recently come to my attention and I find that it would be best to discuss this while it is still fresh in my mind."
"Well whatever this is, it must be quite serious if it has gotten you so worked up," Dorea observed before yawning and rubbing her eyes in order to wake herself up.
Arcturus looked upon his slightly disheveled sister with fondness. Dorea was one of the very few people in the world who could break through his icy façade. All it took was one look from his little sister, and he would melt like a Fortescue ice cream in the heat of July. To the world Arcturus was the formidable Lord Black, a man who no one ever dared to cross, and a man with power and influence that stretched far beyond the shores of Magical Britain. There were very few who knew the man behind the mask, and they consisted of his baby sisters Dorea and Cassiopeia, his dearly departed wife Melania, and his brother in arms Charlus.
With the thought of Charlus, Arcturus looked back at his sister and asked, "Where's your idiot of a husband?"
Dorea fought back a smile and checked the top of the staircase before answering, "I had to put a timed locking charm on our bedroom door after I left, because I believe he said, 'I'm going to curse the bloody prick so bad that he'll need to use a cane for the rest of his life like Malfoy, for waking me up at such an ungodly hour,'."
"Yeah, and I still might! It depends on whether or not this conversation is as important as he's making it out to be," Charlus retorted as he made his way down the staircase in a night robe that matched Dorea's.
Arcturus could not help but smirk at the matching couple, knowing full well that it was Dorea's idea to buy the matching clothing and Charlus was too afraid to refuse to wear it.
"Despite the fact I'm still angry at you Arcturus, it's always good to see you brother," Charlus continued as he approached Arcturus with a big smile on his face and pulled him into a hug.
"It is always good to see you too Charlus," Arcturus responded as the corners of his lips quirked upwards into a small smile, "unfortunately this is not a social call, and there is some worrying news that I have come across."
A serious look immediately came across all of their faces, and Dorea led them into a small study that came off of one of the main halls in the manor.
"What is it Arcturus?" Charlus immediately asked as they sat, with Dorea beside her husband and Arcturus sitting across the couple.
"I had a meeting with Lord Whitehall this evening about some of the money he owes me for the investment I made in his potion distributing company, and for the protection of some of his assets," Arcturus began, "the meeting went as usual with him planning on paying me back next week, and him expressing his worry of disappearing shipments and workers gone missing in the Mediterranean area. The man has a promising business, but he really is a bit daft," he added.
This got a laugh out of both Charlus and Dorea. "As interesting as his business is, I don't see what the issue is here Arcturus?" Charlus questioned.
"The interesting bit is what came after," Arcturus continued, "at the end of our meeting, the idiot had too much of the cheap fire whiskey I leave around, and he started bumbling his thanks to me. Just as he was about to leave he started prattling on about how his future was looking bright and how some 'influential' lord was looking to support his business. Naturally I asked who it was, to see what type of competition I would have."
"And what did he say to that?"
"He said he didn't know who."
"That makes no sense, how could he not know who?" Dorea asked with a confused look on her face.
"That's what I told the prick, he told me, 'you know who,' as if I would know what he was talking about. I told him to stop being a vague moron, and he told me that this unnamed lord came to his home over the summer and expressed interest in a, 'promising business run by a pureblood,' and how he would like his support in future endeavors."
"That is…interesting," Charlus pondered to himself.
"Indeed. I quickly sent Lord Whitehall on his way, and asked my various sources to look into this unknown lord."
"And what did they find?" prodded Dorea as she unconsciously moved to sit at the edge of her seat.
"Nothing good," Arcturus answered with a shake of his head. "Apparently this lord visited many of the traditionalist and neutral pureblood families over the summer. What my sources were able to find in the few hours that they were out, was that he expressed interest in the various businesses they owned and was looking for their support in the future. He told many of the families to keep his visit private as he was only looking to speak to 'influential' and 'promising' families, and even managed to get some of them to swear an oath of secrecy."
"Fuck…" Charlus muttered under his breath as he summoned a glass of whiskey, "did your sources manage to find what his actual goals are or who exactly he was meeting with?"
"I'll keep my sources looking into it, but they didn't find much. It looks like many of the families did keep this meeting private for whatever reason, and none are willing to speak about the visit. The only information we have is because my sources were able to find a few notes about this lord requesting the meeting that weren't destroyed, and the whispers about some man who has been enquiring into the status of various different pureblood businesses and organizations."
"What is the matter love?" Dorea whispered into her husband's ear as she rubbed soothing circles on his back.
"The fucking matter is we might have another dark lord upstart," Arcturus grounded out through his teeth as he poured himself a glass of whiskey as well.
Charlus stiffened at this, before he looked up at his friend, "Are you sure about this Arcturus? Perhaps he is looking to start a new pureblood political movement, maybe he's looking to revive the Dark faction, or he might be a foreign pureblood looking to heavily invest in our businesses?" he added getting more and more desperate with each explanation.
"It is possible Charlus, but we can't rule out the possibility especially when some of the signs are there."
"How could it be such a problem, if barely anybody knows the man. We don't even know if he has support," Dorea stated.
"That's what makes him so much more dangerous if he indeed is a dark lord, love. We currently don't know who is supporting him, who is against him, what his goals are, what he is capable of; right now he is working in the shadows."
"And the shadows are every dark lords best friend…" Arcturus mumbled to himself as he started to fall back into his memories of the war against Grindelwald.
"What else did your sources find?" Dorea's voice broke Arcturus out of his past.
"Well, they did find that he did not approach either of us, the Greengrass family, the Longbottom's, the Bones', or the Bode's…"
"The family's that led the British fight against Grindelwald…" Charlus spoke slowly as if he was figuring out a puzzle, "I fear that you are right Arcturus," he concluded.
"That is the main reason I believe he is an up and coming dark lord, he's been trying is best to keep his existence away from the powerful families who know all too well what another dark lord would cost the Wizarding World."
"It seems that the man is quite crafty, which is very worrying," pondered Charlus. "I bet even the old bastard Dumbledore in all his holiness doesn't know of this man's existence."
"Which is the one good thing that I've learnt today," Arcturus scoffed, "the moment that fruity prick gets wind of this shit, everything will only get much more complicated."
"How does James feel about the old man?" Arcturus continued.
"He has never shown any distaste towards his headmaster, but he does know our attitude towards him," Dorea answered.
"And what of Sirius?"
"You could always ask your grandson yourself."
A look of sadness quickly flashed across his eyes before it disappeared, "The boy has shown time and time again that he wants nothing to do with me or his family. He fails to acknowledge the importance of blood, and his stubbornness prevents any attempt to speak with him."
Dorea looked at her brother with understanding, she knew firsthand the amount of dislike Sirius held towards their family. "Sirius is like James," she eventually responded.
"And what of this new boy, Peverell?"
"We know very little of the boy, and were hoping that James and Sirius would bring him home for the holidays."
"Well, the sooner we speak to them the better, because the last thing we need is to have to deal with Dumbledore's manipulations on top of a rising dark idiot."
"If we manage to get the three boys here over the holidays, I will invite you over to speak to them."
"That sounds agreeable. Hopefully this is all for nought, and we are all just being paranoid."
"I will start using my own connections to try and gather more information, Arcturus let me know if your sources find anything of note." Charlus instructed.
"Without a doubt Charlus. If worse comes too worse, we've already fought one dark army together, why not fight another eh?"
Charlus chuckled at his friend's dark humour, "Well, thanks to your information, at least this time we'll know if it's coming ahead of time."
"Don't thank me, thank that buffoon Whitehall for being a closet alcoholic who can't keep his lips shut," he shot back with a wry smile. "It was lovely to see you again Dorea, Charlus," Arcturus continued as he kissed his sister on the cheek, "but I think it would be best to sleep on this and wait to see if any new information can be dug up."
With that, Arcturus swiftly returned home through the floo, leaving behind a worried Dorea, and a man who was praying to whatever gods were listening that he would not have to live through the horrors of another war.
"Hey, Peverell! Mind if I take a seat here?"
"Sure Frank, wasn't saving the seat for anybody," Harry called back moving his bag over to make some more room for Frank.
"You sure? I wouldn't be surprised if you were saving it for some bird," he teased.
"Ughhhh!" Harry moaned as he smacked his head against his desk, "Can you guys just give it up already. Why can't you and the four idiots just leave me alone," he whined.
"Well it's not every day that Emmeline Vance just comes up to a guy and is basically just begging to be asked out to Hogsmeade."
"Why is she such a big deal? I mean sure she's fit and all…"
"The big deal is that she's arguably the most attractive witch in the school, and she's a seventh year, and she gave you permission to call her Emmy!" he exclaimed.
"Who's arguably the most attractive witch, Franky?" came the sweet voice of Alice from behind them.
"Oh, ummm-ugh nobody, love, I only have my eyes on you," Frank winked at his girlfriend.
"Good answer sweetie," she responded with a pat on his cheek, before she made her way to the front of the classroom putting an extra sway in her hips.
Harry burst out laughing, until Frank hit him over the head, "Ow! That bloody hurt!" he complained. "Why aren't you sitting with her?"
"She likes to sit with her friend Megan Jones in transfiguration. Apparently Megan's family comes from a long line of transfiguration masters, and she sits with Megan to get help with her theory."
"You not good enough to help her?"
"Hmm, well, I'm good enough to get an EE on the OWLs this year, but Alice struggles with the theory a little, which is why she gets help from Megan. She wants to be an auror, so she needs the extra bit of help that I can't give."
Harry remembered that both of Neville's parents were apparently some of the greatest aurors of their generation, so he asked, "You want to be an auror too?"
"That's the plan right now, except my Uncle Algie doesn't agree," Frank chuckled at the thought of his eccentric uncle.
"Why not?"
"He works in the Department of Mysteries and says that aurors are a bunch of pussy's who couldn't beat a properly trained toddler even if they tried."
"Sounds like quite the character," Harry remembered Neville saying something similar about Algie.
"Yeah, he's a bit insane. Throws hexes at me whenever I see him, telling me that I never know who's going to attack, and to always have, 'Constant Vigilance.' Despite the fact he's family, working with him would be the last thing I would ever want to do."
Harry was a little shocked at Algie's use of 'Constant Vigilance,' maybe Moody learnt the phrase from him at one point. "Wow, um yeah. I don't blame you," Harry could sympathise with Frank a little on this, because the last place he would ever want to work would be Grunnings with Uncle Vernon.
"Yeah, my mum is a little insane in her own way as well. Algie's got his paranoia, and mum's got her overbearing mother-hen attitude. I'm fairly certain it's just a by-product of the war against Grindelwald."
"War against Grindelwald?" Harry asked slightly curious. All he knew was that the war took place alongside muggle WWII, and that Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald in one of the greatest duels of all time. He thought it was mostly just Germany, Bulgaria, and the former Yugoslavian countries that were involved.
"Right…you grew up mostly in the Americas, I forgot. The repercussions of the war probably didn't affect you guys that much, seeing as South America didn't get involved and North America only joined in at the tail end of the war. Well, when the Dark Lord Grindelwald started to gain power in Germany and Southern Europe many of the Western and Northern Europe countries decided to get involved. France, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, all rallied against Grindelwald's forces with the help of the ICW. Magical Britain, as incompetent as ever, refused to get involved in the hopes that Grindelwald would leave us alone. As his forces started to defeat and gain ground on the countries allied with the ICW, the ICW called for help from Magical Britain and from Dumbledore specifically. Once again they were ignored, which is why some families decided to take matters into their own hands. The houses Potter, Black, Bones, Greengrass, Bode, Longbottom, all went out to join the war effort. In fact, Charlus Potter and Arcturus Black almost singlehandedly pushed back Grindelwald's army. Even Grindelwald avoided the two men at all costs, and eventually Magical Britain joined the war and Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald shortly after. The war was very costly and led to the extinction of many houses around Europe, even a few in Britain disappeared because of it."
"I had no idea…" Harry trailed off, as he was totally gobsmacked. Harry new that WWII was costly for the muggles, but he had no idea how terrible it was for the magical population as well.
"It's not really surprising," Frank shrugged his shoulders. "A lot of the older population that took part in the war don't want to talk about it or remember it, and the ministry pretends the war never happened because they don't want to acknowledge their own inaction."
"So that's why there are no books about it, and why it's not taught in history," Harry said out loud, but mostly to himself. This explained why even in his original time there were no books about Grindelwald, and why there were no books about the first war against Voldemort. Since nobody wanted to talk about it and the ministry didn't want to accept what happened, this left the general population uneducated and allowed the same cycle of bullshit to continue. Even The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts barely skimmed through the various dark lords in history, and half of the book was a fictional biography of his life!
"It does explain why there are no books, and after your first class a few days ago I think it's pretty obvious why we aren't taught it in history," Frank concluded with a knowing smirk.
"Binns." Harry simply said.
"Got it in one Mr. Peverell," Frank replied causing both boys to start laughing.
Their laughter was quickly cut short with the arrival of the stern looking Professor McGonagall. "Wands away for the moment, I want everyone's full attention," she called out to the class. "This year is your OWL year, the year that will separate those who will continue on with my class for the next two years and those who will not be accepted back. Transfiguration is an art that is vital to the everyday witch and wizard's life, and I expect all of you to at least get an acceptable and to push for an exceeds expectations. I take every failure personally, and the last thing any of you want is to personally insult me," McGonagall warned.
She then spent the next half an hour explaining the OWL examinations and what the course would be covering that year. "Your task today is to take the block of wood in front of you and transfigure it into a rabbit, you will then transfigure the rabbit into a porcupine, and finally you will transfigure the porcupine into a pin cushion. The exercise is meant to test your animate to inanimate, inanimate to animate, and animal to animal transfiguration."
Everyone immediately set off to work, trying their best to remember the various techniques to transfiguration after having an entire summer off. Harry was genuinely excited for Transfiguration this year, despite already taking OWL level transfiguration. Ever since he returned from his conversation with Death and the Horcrux was removed, Harry found that transfiguration came much easier to him.
Transfiguration was the perfect area in magic for Harry to practice his control on power, and to improve his finesse. It was still a work in progress, but Harry was happy with the fact that his transfigurations were becoming more and more detailed with less power being used. Harry found that finesse gave detail, while power gave the size and duration of the transfiguration. Obviously it was more complex than that, but those were his two golden rules.
"Mr. Potter," the sharp tone of McGonagall cut through the classroom. Harry quickly looked up expecting to be chastised from his head of house as usual, "I appreciate your enthusiasm for the art of transfiguration, however I would appreciate it if you managed to stay on task and not distract those around you."
"Yes ma'am!" James responded with an army solute. Harry let go a sigh of relief at the fact she was calling him out, as he remembered that he no longer was a Potter but a Peverell.
The class started laughing, and Harry looked over to see what was causing the outburst. James had transfigured Sirius' porcupine to have a long curtain of greasy black hair that looked frighteningly similar to a particular Slytherin 5th year. Harry also started to laugh, but not at what James transfigured, but at the furious expression on Lily's beet red face.
"You think Lily is going to pass out?" Frank laughed out while nudging Harry in the side.
"Possibly, that or steam is going to start coming out of her ears," Harry joked back.
"How long do you think it will take for them to finally get together?" Frank asked.
Harry was rather shocked that Frank actually thought that they would end up together, "Why do you say that?"
"Well it's pretty obvious that James is smitten with her. But what most people don't realize, or see, is that Lily actually secretly admires James. You can sometimes see it in her eyes when James does something complex effortlessly in class, or when he's helping some of the younger years in the different houses. Even though she doesn't show it, she actually finds some of what he does quite funny."
"Since when were you a relationship God?" Harry asked slightly shocked.
"Heh, I'm not really. Me and Alice have kind of put this theory together from what we both know about Lily. The only thing that is really holding her back is how hard she clings on to her childhood friendship with Severus. It's the main reason she looks harshly at everything James does."
"So what's your guess?"
"It's really hard to say. I guess it all comes down to how long it takes her to realize what Severus has become. He wasn't always like he is now, but over the last few years he's become a cruel person who hates everyone that he doesn't see as smart as himself."
From the experiences that Harry had with the future Snape, he found that to be quite an accurate description of the man. "I guess we'll see what happens," Harry said, inwardly smirking knowing that in just under two years his parents would find their love.
The rest of the class seemed to fly by, with Harry experimenting different transfigurations with different levels of power an finesse. Near the end of class Harry attempted to switch his porcupine back into a rabbit at full power and was shocked by the result. As he finished picturing the pure white rabbit in his mind's eye, Harry released his magic and saw every single student's transfiguration in the room turn into the white rabbit he imagined.
With that, McGonagall ended the class and called Harry to stay behind.
"I was observing you during class Mr. Peverell, you seem to be quite talented in transfiguration."
"Oh, umm thank you professor," Harry said in a nervous tone.
"I found it quite interesting how you were experimenting with various levels of control and power with your transfigurations. Very few students come to this realization, only those who have a natural affinity for the subject such as Mr. Black and Miss Jones. Even fewer truly understand the technique behind this, such as myself, the headmaster, and young Mr. Potter. I was wondering if you could explain the method behind your experiments?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry tugged at his collar nervously, "To be honest professor I'm not really sure. My magic seems to flow like a river, and I've found that transfiguration comes easier to me when I control the flow of my magic. For me, it is just the balance between finesse and power."
"Ah, well it seems that you have an affinity for the subject like Mr. Black. I am expecting good things from you this year, make sure you keep up with your theory because I will be disappointed with anything less than an O."
"Thank you professor," Harry replied with a little pride in his voice. It felt good knowing he was naturally skilled in a subject, and receiving praise from a professor.
"You may leave for lunch now Mr. Peverell," McGonagall said dismissing him. "Oh, and do try to avoid transfiguring all of the objects in the room next class," she finished with a small smile on her lips.
"Alright Bella, control yourself, no need to be nervous, and for Merlin's sake hold that tongue of yours!" she mumbled under her breath in order to coach herself as she slowly approached the group of Slytherin boys in the common room.
"Looky, looky Rodolphus," came the sickening voice of Rabastan, "looks who's come crawling back to us already."
"I'm not crawling you halfwit," Bellatrix shot back, "no proper pureblood, especially one from the Most Ancient House of Black, crawls." All it took was one sentence, and these idiots were already on her nerves. She honestly had no idea how she was going to survive these coming months of intelligence gathering.
"Yes Rabastan, there is no way such a fine lady like Bellatrix could possible crawl. Only animals crawl," Rabastan drawled.
"Which is why the mudbloods are always crawling everywhere. They're no better than animals," sneered Lucius. This was followed by laughter from the boys, as they all started shouting out the various things they'd like to do to the muggles and muggleborn.
It was obvious to Bellatrix that this was a rehearsed set of statements that they came up with, but she let them have their fun.
"So you all would fuck animals?" she suddenly said.
The laughter suddenly stopped, "Now why would you say that?" asked Thorfinn Rowle with a slight edge to his voice.
Bellatrix cursed her stupid tongue, "Well, you were all talking about what you'd love to do with your 'wands' to the muggleborn, and didn't you just say the muggleborn were as good as animals?"
"The dirty mudbloods are fucking worthless!" Rabastan spat out, literally. "We're purebloods, magic belongs to us, we can do whatever the fuck we want, Black!"
"Easy, easy Rabastan," Rodolphus calmed his brother down, "I'm sure Bellatrix was only jesting. We all know how sharp a tongue she has. Besides it isn't proper to speak in such a way in front of a pureblood lady."
"It truly is unbecoming," Lucius' smooth voice cut in.
"You want to know what's unbecoming," grumbled Rowle, "the way Vance acted at dinner last night was unbecoming."
"Yes, such a waste of a beautiful pureblood. Throwing herself at that Potter clone," Lucius replied with disgust.
"It's pathetic really," laughed out Rodolphus, "the boy is the product of two squibs. The thought of two squibs mating almost makes me want to throw up."
"But he comes from an Ancient and Most Noble House?!" exclaimed Bellatrix.
Rodolphus gave her a condescending glare, "I don't care what house he comes from, he's weak and comes from parents who don't have enough magic to cast lumos."
"Besides, the Peverell house doesn't even hold power anymore," Lucius added, "the lordship and manor were passed onto the Potters, all that's left of that house is a long and old name."
"The Peverell's are one of the oldest families in the magical world, they were even said to rival Merlin in terms of power. How can you write the boy off when History shows otherwise?" Bellatrix questioned.
"Sounds like Vance has some competition, I wonder which one of them is going to pull their skirt off first," mocked Rabastan, "I'd get a better hold on your future wife Rodolphus."
"Easy now Bellatrix," Rodolphus waved her down, as he heard a growl escape from her throat at his brother's words. "The past is the past, what we care about is the future. And right now, us, right here right now, are the future of the magical world."
The anger vanished from Bellatrix's mind, and she perked up after hearing this. She was finally making some headway, now she just needed to prod further, "what makes you say that Ruddy?"
Rodolphus flinched at the hated nickname, and was slightly angered by her scepticism, "we are the future because we have been told we are the future. Change is coming to the magical world, and the purebloods will come out on top."
"Haven't we been saying this for years?" Bellatrix dramatically waved her hand as if she was dismissing what they were saying. All she had to do is egg them on a little longer and she'd get some useful information.
"Oh we have," he replied as an evil smirk started to spread across his face, "but now we have the way, the power, and the plan."
"I'm not very impressed, these are all vague statements that have no evidence."
"You want evidence!" snarled Rabastan as he finally burst from Bellatrix's attitude. "Our Lord is the evidence. He will bring in a new era for the purebloods, and nobody can stop him. He is the most powerf-mmphh…" Rabastan was cut off as his brother shoved cushion into his mouth.
"Rabastan you know we are not supposed to speak of these things in public," he whispered harshly into his brother's ear, while his hands were clamped tightly onto his shoulders.
"What Lord are you talking about?" Bellatrix asked, hoping she could push a little further.
"Enough Bellatrix!" Rodolphus snapped. "Leave now, I have no more patience for your questions. I won't answer anything until I see more respect from you, and until I can trust you."
"Alright Rodolphus have it your way," Bellatrix responded as she got up from her seat, "I wish you a good rest of the day," she finished with a curtsy.
As she walked away from the Slytherin boys, she was quite pleased with herself and the information she managed to manipulate out of them. But if she wanted anything substantial, it was going to be a long and trying road to gain their trust.
"Merlin! I forgot how many books there were in this place," Harry mumbled to himself as he searched through the various shelves in the Hogwarts library. He had spent the last three hours after dinner in the library searching for books on controlling magic and directing its flow. Thus far he came up empty, and was starting to get frustrated.
"I think you might be looking in the wrong section Harry Peverell," a light voice floated into his ears.
Harry quickly spun around and came face to face with a blonde haired Ravenclaw boy who looked slightly familiar.
"What you seek is not normally found here," he continued with his soft voice. The boy then nodded his head to the side, and Harry turned to see that he was leading him to the Restricted Section.
"Ah, right I forgot that we are given permission to go there this year," Harry said mostly to himself. In his time, only people given special permission from the professors were ever allowed to enter the Restricted Section, not like that ever stopped him and his invisibility cloak.
Harry continued to follow the strange boy into the Restricted Section and past various bookcases, until they reached a far corner of the section, which had one very large bookcase that almost stretched from the floor to the ceiling.
As Harry searched the shelves, he was shocked to find several different books on controlling, channelling, and directing one's magic. Harry climbed one of the library ladders and was grabbing as many of the books as his bag could carry.
Just as Harry grabbed a particular old tome about how power affects different spells, another book caught his eye. It seemed to stick out amongst the various old tomes that were found on the bookcase. It was a rather worn book that was unusually small, almost the size of a pocket book, and had a silvery title that seemed to glow in the dark, Intent: The Power Behind Magic and Its Role in the Battle of Light and Dark.
Harry leaned over the ladder and grabbed the small book, putting it into the pocket of his robes. As he stepped off of the ladder, he was surprised to find that the Ravenclaw boy was still there with him.
"You seek the trinity," his dreamy voice stated.
"What?" Harry questioned the boy.
"You seek the trinity," the boy pointed at Harry's chest. Harry looked down to see that the necklace he picked up in the Peverell vault had fallen out of his shirt as he leaned over the ladder. "You seek the hallows, the legacy of the brothers, you seek death," he continued in his dream-like voice.
"I uh don't know what you are talking about," Harry lied as he started to feel uncomfortable.
"No, you know what I'm saying. It's okay, I seek them too," he replied as he took out a necklace from under his robes that was very similar to the one Harry was wearing. "No need to be afraid Harry Peverell, it's alright to seek them. You are the rightful owner of the trinity after all."
"H-how do you know this?"
"My family has been searching for the hollows for centuries. We know they don't belong to us, but it is the thrill of the hunt that we enjoy. That's why we joined the Order of the Trinity."
"The Order of the Trinity?"
"Yes, it's an ancient organization whose goal was to unite the hallows. It's where I got this nice necklace from."
"Well, I guess I do seek the trinity, seeing as they are rightfully mine…"
"It will be an honour to help a Peverell unite them, I'll finally be fulfilling the goal of the order," he said excitedly.
"Yeah, umm sure. I guess we can work together to find them," Harry replied trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
"That's exciting, it will almost be like having a friend," he said as a smile crossed his face.
A pang of sadness hit Harry in his chest, as he knew exactly how it felt like not having friends. "Well, how about we become friends then," Harry said trying to make the boy feel better.
"That would be nice," the boy responded in his soft voice as his eyes started to get a little misty.
"I do have a question though," the boy nodded for Harry to go on, "how did you know what books I was looking for?"
"Well its simple really, I saw an infestation of Wrackspurt's in one corner of the library and I went to investigate. I saw you mumbling under your breath about something and I asked them what was wrong, so they told me what you were looking for," he finished while gazing off into the distance.
"I'm sorry but what was your name again?" Harry asked, as he was fairly certain he knew who he was speaking too now.
"I never told you my name Harry Peverell, it's Xenophilius Lovegood, and I'm your partner in your quest to master Death."
AN
I'm back! I apologize for the long wait for the update, but University and exams truly are a bitch! The next few updates should be coming fairly soon, as I don't expect to be as busy as I have been the past month.
Feel free to review, and ask any questions you have about the story.