Hello everyone, I've missed you all.

Glad everyone is still sticking around. Your reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated and feed the book bunnies.

So the Hallows have been brought in. I'm glad you all liked that and weighed in on your own feelings of Voldemort probably having been interested in them LONG before his resurrection. Sure he may not have realized the ring held the stone-or if he did either didn't have anyone whom he wished to call back from the grave or saw the stone worthless in his quest because he cares little for those dead or alive-but he surely had to have been interested in the tales related to the Elder Wand, a wand unbeatable and the most powerful.

Given his ego, he would probably see it as a case of the 'greatest' wizard such as he deserving the greatest wand and less about beating Death.

His lack of interest in finding the cloak or stone makes me think he wasn't one to believe the Hallows let you master death and rather just believed the Elder Wand to be the most powerful wand made by the most skilled wizard hands, something to give him more of an edge and further increase his reign of tyranny.

However our heroes don't know any of this about him, so here's them throwing out their own theories and such XD

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter 124: Obvious Answer is Obvious

It was on a dreary and rainy day that Severus and his friends found themselves hunkered down at a table in the quietest, most secluded part of the library. Books laden the overburdened table, disorderedly stacks of papers filling every available space.

"Okay, so this is the seventh book on genealogy I've found," Davis declared, rubbing tiredly at his brow, "And it doesn't mention the Gaunts either."

Nesme thumbed through a stack of papers, "Some of the books provided to the library are hand selected by the Board of Governors. I think the majority of lineage records selected revolve around those actually attending the school at some point or another. None of my step father's family is listed here and he never went to Hogwarts."

"And neither did any of the Gaunts as far as we know," Severus sighed, "Aside from Tom Riddle, but the Board of Governors had no clue who was related to since he came from an orphanage."

"It looks like this is going to be harder than we thought," Lily mused, "Are there any older records, ones from perhaps the earlier eras of Hogwarts. The Marvolo Gaunt claimed that his family could be traced straight back to Salazar Slytherin; maybe books on the founders themselves would include family lineage."

Davis heaved himself to his feet, "I'll see what I can drudge up."

He disappeared among the many rows and shelves of books.

"Mary's lucky," Nesme pouted, "She doesn't have to do this because she's got Head Girl duties. This is worse than homework."

Severus bit out a laugh, "Mary? Lucky? You forget that she has to do her duties with Potter, who I'm sure is talking her head off about how great he is."

"Or blathering on about Quidditch," Lily said.

Severus grinned, "Or getting his swell head stuck in doorways so she has to butter him out."

Lily tried incredibly hard not to laugh, but it was harder than she thought, an elephant like sputter of air escaping from her pursed lips and drawing the disapproving eye of Madam Pince as the woman skulked behind the bookshelves.

"Not funny," Lily scolded Severus unconvincingly, "You're going to get me kicked out if you keep this up."

Severus smirked, "Not my fault that you're finally coming around to my comedic wit."

Lily flicked a balled up piece of paper at him, "Shut up and get back to searching."

"Why are we doing this anyway?" Nesme questioned, "I thought the Three Brothers tale was a children's story. Do you actually plan to find some connection to it through Gaunt just because he had the symbol etched into his house's walls?"

"It was also on the Gaunt ring," Severus pointed out, "And I highly doubt Marvolo or his son craved it there; an heirloom passed down through their bloodline would be too precious to deface."

"So you think that proves they're related to the brothers from a children's book?" Nesme asked skeptically.

Severus waved his hands, "Possibly, yes. Hear me out; while the tale itself is probably fictional in its narrative, the general plot could be derived from actual truth. Maybe the personification of Death itself didn't really appear and bestow any fantastical gifts on anyone…but that doesn't mean those items didn't exist."

Nesme tilted her head curiously, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," Lily took over for her boyfriend, having already thoroughly been over this theory together before calling the others, "The brothers from the story were wizards; powerful ones at that if the story holds any grain of truth. Powerful wizards throughout history have created or developed items and spells that others have never managed to recreate."

"Flamel is the only wizard in existence to have made a philosopher's stone," Severus stated.

Lily nodded, "So would it really be so hard to believe that maybe at one point in time, three immensely powerful and talented brothers used their magic to make items capable of doing what no other item could do?"

"Take the youngest brother's cloak, for example," Severus said, drawing a triangle on a scrap piece of paper, "While rare, invisibility cloaks are not unheard of nor impossible to make. The basic ones are just traveling cloaks enchanted with the strongest disillusionment charms. But the best and longest lasting ones must be woven from the hair of a Demiguise."

Severus tapped the triangle, "It wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to say that, rather than being the cloak of Death itself, the youngest brother crafted the cloak skillfully, producing the most effective one in existence, possibly spending years perfecting it to make it better than the rest. Maybe he even found a method of keeping it from ever wearing out; the tale says he passed it down to his son. Most cloaks do not last through generations."

Severus drew a circle on the paper, "Then there's the stone. Like we already said, Flamel has already accomplished the impossible feat of making a stone that prolongs his life indefinitely. So what's to say the middle brother from the tale didn't somehow make a stone that allowed him to pulled one's spirit back into the realm of the living? And him being driven mad by it; many witches and wizards have fallen to their creations and experiments throughout time."

"We have an entire island of Quintapeds because of a supposed failed transfiguration on one clan of wizards by another clan according to legend," he reminded the others, "So it isn't unlikely that a brilliant wizard made something so incredibly powerful that it was his undoing."

"And you think the eldest brother might have made the Elder Wand?" Nesme guessed.

Severus nodded, "He could have been well versed in wandlore. Maybe he found a core for his wand that strengthened it far beyond other wands. One of the most likely candidates would be thestral hair…since only those who witness someone die can even see it. That would surely be a wand capable of withstanding death. And only a truly skilled wandsmith could ever properly use it for the core of a wand."

"Okay, so let's say these theories are right," Nemse said diplomatically, "There's still a flaw in this. Namely that the middle brother died. I could understand us looking into what family has the cloak since that actually has mention of being passed down to the youngest brother's son, but the stone belonged to someone who died without an heir."

"Not necessarily true," Severus deflected.

Nesme cocked a brow, "The person he killed himself over was his fiancé, as in never married."

Severus wagged a finger at her, "You don't need to be married to have a child, Nesme."

At Nesme's surprised and intrigued look, Lily jumped in, "The tale doesn't say what killed the middle brother's lover. Only that she died. She could have passed from childbirth."

"There is also the chance this wasn't his first engagement or intended marriage," Severus added, "The ages of the brothers are never stated, nor their backgrounds or pasts. He could have had a child from a previous marriage, a child from a mistress, or even married someone else and started a family with them after his fiancé died even if he never got over his fiancé."

"Let's not forget the possibility that details of history were altered to better fit the story," Severus went on, "In reality, the middle brother could have married his love and lost her during or after she bore him an heir. The story might have rewrote her as his fiancé because losing her before he could claim her as his wife sounds more tragically romantic."

Severus sat back and stretched, feeling his back pop from having sat so long, "Now, I don't expect to find the wand by tracing bloodlines. If the legend holds any truth, then the wand probably has passed down from wizard to wizard through a long line of theft and bloodshed rather than familiar ties. That one is our wildcard and Merlin help us if we ever intend to find it."

"But the other two are possible to find if they actually exist, which is why we need to find them before You-Know-Who does," Severus finished.

"And you definitely think he believes or knows about the Deathly Hallows?" Nesme asked.

Severus nodded gravely, "Tom was hungry not only for power but for knowledge as well. He sought any information that could be useful to him. I have no doubt that seeing the symbols of Marvolo's ring etched all over the walls of the Gaunt house peaked his interest in their fascination with it. Add to the fact that Grindelwald was known for the symbol and Riddle would surely be curious to know the meaning behind it."

Severus steepled his fingers, expression solemn, "With his desire to live forever—unopposed and unchallenged, at that—having items that would make him a master of death would be sorely tempting."

"How so?" Nesme asked, "He's got Horcruxes to extend his life already."

"The horcruxes are his failsafe if he should die," Severus explained, "However, the Deathly Hallows would supposedly prevent him from dying at all, especially a wand that cannot be beaten in combat."

"Heads up," Davis warned as he emerged from behind a nearby bookshelf. He slammed a massively oversized, dusty tome onto the table, drawing a hissing shush of Madam Pince from somewhere in the library.

Davis looked around warily as the hiss died down, "I swear that woman is everywhere."

"What did you find, Davis?" Severus inquired.

Davis sighed, "I had to use the pass to the restricted section that Professor Binns gave me—I'd been saving it to look up 'Fifteenth-Century Fiends' for an extra credit essay in History of Magic—but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"I probably could have got the book for you without you sacrificing that pass," Severus pointed out, "I'm a prefect."

Davis blinked, dismay overtaking his face, "That hadn't occurred to me."

He narrowed his eyes at Severus, "You're going to have to pay be back by getting the book I want. 'Fifteenth-Century Fiends'. Don't forget it."

He patted the book he'd brought them, "This here is supposedly the most in-depth and accurate record of the infamously controversial founder of our school; Salazar Slytherin. It's kept in the restricted section apparently because it doesn't sugar coat Slytherin's prejudice of muggles and his less than kind outlook on other magical beings. It's not accessible to most students since the school wants to downplay blood purity obsessions when it comes to that House so as to prevent so much in-school rivalry."

Severus snorted, "If they wanted to prevent Slytherin house from being labeled dark, they probably shouldn't have left it named after an infamous anti-muggle bigot. And…I don't know, not allow the Sorting Hat to sort students into Slytherin based almost exclusively on their blood purity ideals."

"Well he did help found the school," Lily pointed out, "The other founders probably felt it was only fair his contributions be recognized the same way and amount that theirs were."

"Still, the Sorting Hat is known to take into consideration the wants of the students during sorting," Severus stated, "So if all the pure blood bigots raise their kids thinking Salazar had the right idea, then of course the majority of them are going to lean towards Slytherin. I'm just saying the hat and the stupid name essentially helped ensure that house would be made primarily of muggle hating dark wizards."

"I mean, look at how I ended up in there!" Severus exclaimed. He lowered his voice, imitating the raspy drone of the Sorting Hat, "What's this? Beaten by muggles, eh? Well surely putting you in the house that hates muggles won't help turn your trauma into hate, right?"

Lily patted his hand, sympathy shining in her eyes, "It does seem like Hogwarts could go with some changes moving forward. You aren't the only Slytherin who felt pressured to behave a certain way or was manipulated by your older housemates into joining a bad crowd on false promises of helping you."

"She's right," Nesme agreed, "Plenty of first years enter the school relatively unsure of where they stand. Getting blacklisted as bad people the moment they're sorted into Slytherin sort of leaves them without anyone but folks like Malfoy and Rosier to turn to for a sense of belonging. Judging a person before you get to know them seems to just shoehorn people into the very categories people jumped to conclusions about them on."

Severus sighed, "It's little comfort to know after the fact that my housemates were using me all those years. And people in other houses suddenly respecting me rings quite hollow when it took me literally being on the brink of death—twice I might add—for them to consider treating me like a person."

Lily wrapped her arms around Severus, resting her head on his shoulder up in the crook of his neck.

"Ah, well," Severus said with a weary shrug, "What do you have for us Davis?"

"Right," Davis said, opening the book and thumbing through the index, "There should be some sort of family tree in here. Got to love magic; most family lineage maps are enchanted to update with new additions to the bloodline long after the books themselves are published. Ingenious, really—"

Severus waved his hand impatiently, "The tree, Davis?"

Davis flushed, grinning sheepishly, "Right…sorry. I guess my Ravenclaw is showing. Anyway, let's see here…lineage…lineage…ah! Here we go, page 2234—wow this is a lengthy book."

Flipping to the correct page and inadvertently sending a cloud of cough inducing dust into the air, Davis—in between hacking wheezes and sneezing—proudly presented the group with a rather extensive-looking diagram.

"Voila," he said with flourish, "The Slytherin Family's bloodline."

"Let's see," Severus hummed, "It looks like Salazar's son was named Castillain and he married a woman named Delia Rue."

Davis traced the line beneath Rhea and Castillian for children and grandchildren, "They had Antonio Slytherin…married to a Juleka Howle…had two sons, Alonso and Frias…Alonso died without children, Frias had kids…blah, blah, blah…"

"It looks like the family line was mainly male heirs," Davis noted, scrutinizing the page, "Slytherin carries on as the main surname in this family for quite some time..."

He tapped one name in particular, "Ending with the marriage of Oliveria Slytherin to Valerius Matthias Gaunt."

"And so the Gaunt family's claims of being descended from Slytherin ring true," Nesme said.

"Never mind that," Severus said dismissively, "We surmised as much already. This doesn't help us figure out if the brother's were apart of the Gaunt's line."

"What I want to know is who Rhea Peverell's father was," Davis said, pointing to a woman who married Slytherin's great, great, great, great, great grandson, "That name sounds so familiar, but her side of the family is not listed here."

As if hearing Davis's query, the book answered. Everyone watched in amazement as glowing yellow lines appeared at one of the corners before fading, the lines now dark.

Curiously, Severus reached out to trace one of the lines. He drew back with a hiss of surprise and pain, a thin slit on the pad of his finger.

"A papercut?" Severus wondered aloud, looking to his friends in confusion.

Lily prodded the line on the page with the tip of her quill, "Sev…look."

What they once thought was drawn-on outlines of a square were in fact seams to the paper.

In wonderment, the others watched as Lily unfolded a segment of paper that definitely had not been there before.

"It's more of the family tree," Severus murmured in amazement, "Or at least Rhea's side."

Lily peered down at the extended page, "It says here that Rhea's father was named Cadmus Peverell and he had two brothers, Antioch and Ignotus."

"Cadmus was the middle child," Severus noted, looking over the dates next to each name, "Lived to be at least late twenties to early thirties before dying."

He paused, swallowing, "And by the looks of it, the youngest was Ignotus who lived to be very old…while the eldest brother Antioch died with no heirs."

Lily inhaled sharply, "They'd fit the timeline of the Three Brother's lives."

"Do you think it could be coincidence?" Nesme asked.

"I don't think so," Davis whispered, eyes transfixed on the page.

Severus stared at Davis in concern, "You look a bit peaky there, Davis."

"The Peverell Brothers are mentioned in one of our books for History of Magic," Davis murmured, "In third year, I think. I hadn't thought of them in years but…"

Davis rummaged through the stacks of books on their table in a determined search. While the others looked on in concern and befuddlement, Davis pushed heavy tomes aside and shuffled loose papers out of the way, more than once knocking several books to the floor.

"Davis, be careful," Nesme hissed, "You'll have Pince breathing down our backs."

"Found it," Davis said suddenly, holding up a book, "Third year History of Magic textbook; History Before Hogwarts."

Setting the book down, Davis went through the pages at a furious pace, clearly looking for something.

"There," he declared, "The Peverells: Murder, Madness, and Mystery."

"The Peverells were once a very powerful wizarding family," Davis explained, "And none more so than brothers Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus. Masterful wizards in their own right, it was considered a tragedy when Antioch was found murdered in his bed."

Davis looked gravely at his friend, "The killer was never found."

"And so Death claimed the first brother," Severus recited solemnly.

"I think I know what madness the book talks about," Lily said softly.

Davis nodded, "The middle brother became a recluse over the coming months. Many thought it was grief from the death of his brother."

"Or because he was hiding the spirit of his lover in his home," Nesme theorized ominously.

Davis grimaced with a slight nod, "He committed suicide before the year was up, leaving behind a daughter from his late wife."

"Rhea," Lily stated, "Who married Slytherin's descendant. And the late wife must have been the lover he killed himself over."

"And Death did take the second brother for himself," Severus intoned.

Nesme leaned over Davis shoulder to get a better glimpse of the book he held, "What about the last brother."

Davis shrugged, but his expression said he was anything but flippant about the discussion, "No one can say. He fell out of the spotlight not long after his brothers' deaths and wasn't heard of for years. Many assumed he had died, no one knew what became of him. It was only after a son of his announced Ignotus's death many years later that anyone even realized he'd been alive all that time."

"Death searched many years for the youngest brother but was unable to find him," Severus said, "It was only after Ignotus grew to a very old age that he revealed himself, passed on the cloak, and greeted Death as an old friend."

"There's more," Davis informed them, "Historians alleged that Antioch was a profound wandsmith."

Severus sighed, "Well, I for one think this all but confirms our suspicions. Cadmus was the brother fabled to have the stone and it is through his daughter that the Gaunts are linked to the Peverell family. And the Gaunts probably knew then what the Deathly Hallows symbol meant; it's possible they inherited the stone."

"Meaning we have an idea of where to look for one Hallow," Lily said, "but what about the other two? There is no way we can find the wand if it's believed to have been passed from wizard to wizard through a series of thefts and murders."

Severus nodded, "The wand should prove the most elusive; let us hope Riddle finds it just as hard to find. But the cloak was given to Ignotus's son and it is quite common for heirlooms to be kept in a family for centuries."

"So we're looking for an invisibility cloak that is strong enough to shield one from Death itself," Nesme scoffed, slumping down in her chair, "And somehow lasted generation after generation. How do we go about doing that?"

"Uh guys?" Lily said, alarm ringing clear in her voice, "You might want to look at this."

The others crowded round the book on the Founders, over the page containing the Slytherin family tree.

Lily was staring hard at the segment of the Peverell family. They'd ignored most of it aside from the brothers's names, being more focused on proving the connection between the Gaunts and middle brother who held the stone. But clearly they'd missed something important if Lily's face was any indication.

"Look at Ignotus's granddaughter," Lily whispered, "See who she married?"

Severus acquiesced, glancing down at the name under Lily's pointing finger. When his eyes fell on the name, he froze.

"No…" he said in quiet disbelief.

Lolanthe Peverell. Married to Hardwin Potter.

"It's can't be," Severus muttered, tracing down the family tree.

Abraham Potter…Charlus Potter…

"Can it really be that simple?"

Fleamont Potter…James Potter.

"You're kidding me!" Severus shouted, causing Madam Pince to descend upon their table like a hawk unto a stream of fish, sending the quartet racing from the library with their notes and books clutched tightly in their arms.

A few of you have wondered why Potter's cloaked hadn't occurred to them. Well frankly, I don't think James himself realizes how old the cloak is or how important it is, otherwise he wouldn't be dragging it around for careless pranks. It's possible he doesn't realize how old it is, thinking it's something his father made and gave to him while it's enchantments were still strong. Pretty sure if he knew the cloak was several generations old and somehow outlasting all other invisibility cloaks in a way even the most expensive invisibility cloaks cannot, he would probably have bragged his ass off and then the cloak wouldn't have been such a secret in the canon series.

so I figure Severus and the others had no reason to see the cloak as anything other than a run of the mill normal invisibility cloak and not a super powerful, fabled object of Death Mastering wonder.

Confused the fuck out of myself while trying to write a family tree. That's the vaguest thing to look up; most sights just say "many generations" and then connect the Peverell and Slytherin families with the simple title "the Gaunt family" without explaining who might of married who and how far down a descendant that were to Cadamus or Salazar. So I pulled it out of my ass. Hope you enjoyed.

Review please :)