Chapter 36
After Miles's clever use of a sticking spell on the sides of the pipe they had slid down, the teenagers, Draco, and Harry were able to climb up and out of the Chamber. After a heated argument over whether or not to leave the unconscious Grindelwald down in the Chamber (Draco had quite liked the idea of leaving him down there to rot), a rather reluctant agreement was reached to carry him out with them. Meanwhile, Landry was trying to figure out what to do. She kept repeating the prophecy over and over in her head.
"The daughter of Death will come into the light. The symbol of her linage will shine brighter than the stars, and she will be faced with a deathly challenge. She will find the stone her ancestor made, and the balance of life and death will be tampered with. Only she has the ability to realign the realms and disassemble the tools that are said to be her master. Only she can right the wrong the imbalances caused."
The first part of the prophecy had already come to pass, of course. Landry had 'come into the light,' and she had discovered that she was the descendant of Death because of her Patronus, a 'symbol of her lineage' that definitely shone 'brighter than the stars.' She found the resurrection stone, which was made by Death, and she had accidentally caused 'the balance of life and death' to be 'tampered with,' though she had received some help in doing that from Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Yes, the first part of the prophecy seemed completely clear to Landry. The second part was not as easily deciphered. The first sentence of the second half seemed straightforward enough. Only Landry could send all of the resurrected people back to their rightful realm, and then destroy the Hallows. But she had no idea what the last part meant. How was Landry going to 'right the wrong the imbalances caused' if she couldn't figure out what that meant. Landry sighed worriedly.
"What's wrong, Babe?" asked Miles, walking over to her. "Besides the war, I mean," he added.
"This prophecy. I can't figure out the last part," Landry said, laying her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.
"Tell me what it is, I can help you," Miles said hopefully.
"Only she has the ability to realign the realms and disassemble the tools that are said to be her master," Landry recited. "I know what that means. I'm supposed to send all of the resurrected people back to where they belong, then destroy the Hallows."
"Right, what's next?" Miles questioned.
"Only she can right the wrong the imbalances caused," Landry finished. "I have no clue about that one."
Miles furrowed his brow in thought. "Well, I think the 'imbalances' are the people who were resurrected," he stated.
"That's what I was thinking, too," Landry agreed. "But there are tons of people who were resurrected. They've probably all done things that could be considered wrong."
"Well, this prophecy is kind of only about you, right?" Miles asked.
"I guess so," Landry replied.
"So the only people that you resurrected were Dumbledore and Grindelwald," Miles pointed out.
Landry looked at him in amazement. "You're right! That would make sense, too, because they spent so much time together as teenagers, they've probably made some joint mistakes!"
"Yes!" Miles cried excitedly.
Landry threw her arms around Miles. "Thank you," she said.
"Of course," Miles replied.
"I still don't know exactly what it means, though," Landry realized, her spirits falling.
"But you're a lot closer now! I know you can figure it out, Love," Miles comforted.
"Well, at least we know one thing. We have to get the Hallows so I can 'disassemble' them," Landry said, with a sudden surge of determination coursing through her.
"We've got the wand now! And we know exactly where the cloak is," said Miles.
"Technically Delphi has the wand, though we have it physically. And although we know where the cloak is, it won't be easy to get to it. Plus we still need the stone," Landry pointed out.
"The stone that Voldemort has," Miles stated nervously.
"Right," Landry replied.
"What are we waiting for, then? Let's go hunt us some Voldy!" exclaimed Genevieve. Landry turned to her friend in surprise. She hadn't realized that Genevieve had been listening to her conversation with Miles. Upon turning to face the rest of the room, Landry discovered that Genevieve had not been the only eavesdropper. All eyes were Landry.
"Alright, let's…'hunt some Voldy,'" laughed Landry.
"What should we do with Grindeldork?" Scorpius asked, gesturing towards the still unconscious blonde who was laying haphazardly on the floor.
"We'll put him in these," Harry said, pulling out a pair of magic-blocking handcuffs.
"Woah! Where did you get those, Dad?" Albus asked in awe.
"I'm an Auror," Harry said.
"Oh. Right," replied Albus sheepishly.
"Where are we gonna put him?" Genevieve wondered.
"In a broom closet. Hanging by his feet. Because that way, even if he does escape, all of the blood will have rushed to his head and he won't be able to walk anyways," Miles suggested.
Landry stared at her boyfriend with an expression that was half impressed and half terrified. "Are you quite sure that you're not going to turn evil on me?" she asked.
"I'm just saying, it's the smartest place to put him!"
While Draco and Harry went off, with Grindelwald in tow, to find the nearest broom closet, Landry was still trying to figure out how she could obtain all of the Hallows, and how she was going to destroy them. Could the Elder Wand just be snapped in half like a normal wand? Landry did not think so, because if that were the case, surely someone else would've done it by now. She tried to remember the story of The Three Brothers that she had read back in third year for a class assignment. It had been one of many stories in 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' and she hadn't thought much of it at the time. There was no way Landry could've know its significance. She tried to remember how Death had made the Hallows. They were all part of a trick, she recalled. The Peverell brothers had been wizards, and they had conjured up a bridge so they could safely cross a dangerous river. Death had felt cheated, because travelers usually drowned in the river and became his. But instead of scaring the brothers, Death had pretended to congratulate them, and offered them any gift they wanted. He knew that humans were selfish and greedy, and assumed that any gift they would select would lead to their demise. For the eldest two brothers, he was right. The first brother wished for the most powerful wand in the world. Death had taken a branch from a nearby elder tree and, by adding a thestral tail hair and some of his own magic, made it into the Elder Wand. Landry wondered if she could somehow extract the magic of her ancestor out of the wand, and whether or not she would have to win it from Delphi in order to do this. She was, after all, meant to 'disassemble' the Hallows. Next, Landry thought of the second brother and his wish. He had wished for a stone that could bring people back from the dead, so that he could be reunited with the love of his life, who had died tragically young. Death had taken an ordinary pebble from the river and had, once again, put some of his own magic into it to make it extraordinary. This seemed similar to the wand in how it could potentially be unmade. These two brothers had both died because of their Hallows. The third brother, however, had been very clever, and wished for a gift that would protect him from Death. Death had, reluctantly, given him a piece of his own invisibility cloak. Landry was not sure how she would go about destroying the cloak, though it was somewhat unclear to her whether she would have to, as the cloak had never caused any harm. But before she could even think about doing this, she had to get the Hallows.
Landry's train of thought was interrupted when she found herself knocked off her feet. The castle had lurched, worse than it had in the battle up to this point. Echoes of screams could be heard from all throughout Hogwarts. Through her disorientation, Landry rose to her feet, brushed the fallen crumbs of stone off of her clothes, and looked around to assess the damage. Her friends were collapsed around her, each of them beginning to recompose themselves. "Is everyone okay?" she asked nervously.
"I think so," said Miles, as he plucked a chunk of castle out of his hair.
"We're good," said Genevieve, who was helping Albus and Scorpius up from the ground.
"We'd better go see what happened," Landry said.
"Yeah, we need to find my dad as well, and Scorp's dad," Albus pointed out.
The teenagers filed cautiously out of the bathroom that housed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. With their wands up, they started down the corridor. Almost immediately, they ran into Draco and Harry.
"Oh thank goodness!" Draco cried, embracing his son.
"Are you all okay? Is anyone hurt?" Harry asked.
"We're fine," Genevieve assured him.
"Do either of you know what happened?" questioned Albus.
"I do," said Pippa, who suddenly appeared in a spot that had been empty just moments ago. She dashed down the hallway with the invisibility cloak trailing behind her.
"Pippa?" gasped Landry. "How…why…the cloak!" she sputtered.
"The Death Eaters were blasting through everyone's traps way too easily, especially after they figured out our decoy cloak plan" Pippa defended. "I had to make sure they didn't find the real cloak."
"Okay, fine, but how did you get through our trap?" Landry asked, flabbergasted.
Pippa gave Landry a confused look. "You guys gave me the countercurses, silly!"
Landry ignored her embarrassment. "Whatever. Tell us what happened when the castle shook a few minutes ago!"
Pippa's face suddenly fell. "The Death Eaters knocked down Gryffindor tower. They ran away after it happened, Voldemort must've called them back to him. But the tower is completely destroyed. A lot of people were fighting up there…including…" she trailed off, clearly not wanting to say what she had to say, but words weren't needed. Landry could tell what had happened from her sister's expression.
"Who?" asked Landry, softly.
"McGonagall," Pippa replied, a single tear rolling down her cheek.