Harry was able to get the permission he needed to go to Hogwarts. Ron's absence was the basis he used to make the argument to go there, but of course revealing the nature of the Hallows was not possible. Outside of him and his friends, wizards and witches still believed the Hallows to be the stuff of fairy tales. As he, Hermione, and Ginny Apparated to Hogsmeade, Harry knew that they would have to rely only on themselves.

As they made their way over to the grounds of Hogwarts, which was still under reconstruction under the supervision of Professor McGonagall, Harry's primary concern was the Resurrection Stone. The Elder Wand, to his knowledge, was safe in Professor Dumbledore's tomb, and no one had reported that the tomb was desecrated. The Stone, however, was likely still somewhere on the floor of the Forbidden Forest.

When the three of them arrived at the entrance to the forest, they stopped to plan their approach.

"Searching the forest is going to take a long time," Harry said. "I don't quite remember where I dropped the Stone that night."

"Why don't we try the simplest solution first?" Ginny asked. "Accio Resurrection Stone." She held her wand and her focus for a few seconds, but when it became clear the Stone wouldn't respond, she lowered her wand. "Guess I should have realized it wouldn't be that easy."

"It's alright," Harry said. "I would've tried that first, too. I believe Professor Dumbledore enchanted the Hallows so they couldn't fall into the wrong hands."

"The forest is huge," Ginny said. "We'll never find the Stone in there, even if it's in there to begin with. Hermione, Ginny, do you have any ideas?"

"I only have one idea," Ginny said, "and it's unlikely to work at best, but still more likely than manually searching the forest."

"What's your idea?" Harry asked.

"Summoning the Stone with an ordinary wand may not work, but Harry, you might be able to do so with the Elder Wand. If Professor Dumbledore really made them impossible to summon, he likely would have wanted a failsafe in case one of the Hallows was lost. Perhaps using the Elder Wand was that failsafe."

"If we're going to try that, I need possession of the Elder Wand," Harry said. "If anyone disarms me when that happens, then all hope to break the cycle is lost."

"Harry, it's just the three of us here," Hermione said. "I don't think there's any real danger in trying. You'll likely only need to wield the Elder Wand for a moment. Once we have the Stone, we can reseal it in the tomb."

Harry still felt wary about the plan, but it was certainly worth trying if it meant avoiding a manual search of the entire forest. "Fine. Follow me, and keep close."

The three of them made their way toward Albus Dumbledore's tomb. The enchantments on the tomb were powerful, but Hermione had been involved in creating them, so she would know how to break them as well. Still, Harry couldn't help but feel that something about this wasn't right. He chalked it up to nerves alone and pressed forward.

When they arrived at the tomb, Hermione beckoned for Harry and Ginny to step back. For a few minutes, she began casting enchantment after enchantment. No visible change was made to the tomb, but once she was finished, she cast one last spell that unsealed the tomb and revealed Professor Dumbledore's corpse beneath. Entwined in his dead hands was the Elder Wand.

"Let's make this quick," Harry said. Picking up the Wand, he felt a certain heft in his hand that he never felt with his own wand. He raised it up and said "Accio Resurrection Stone." He concentrated as hard as he could and held up the Elder Wand for a full minute. Finally, the Resurrection Stone came flying at him. Before he could react, it hit him in the nose.

"Blimey!" Harry shouted as he dropped the Elder Wand and held his nose. "I think it's broken."

"Lower your hands," Hermione said. Harry's nose was disturbingly off-center, but she pointed her wand at him and said "Reparo." Harry's nose cracked back into place, and it stopped bleeding, but it still hurt.

"So is the Resurrection Stone the master of death now?" Ginny asked.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. Hermione chuckled as well.

"I don't think that's how it works," Harry said. "I summoned the Stone myself. We need to get this Wand back into the tomb now."

Just as Harry was picking up the Elder Wand, someone suddenly appeared. "Expelliarmus," said a voice. Harry was thrown backwards, the Elder Wand falling out of his hand.

"What the…" he said, getting to his feet. "Ron? What are you doing here?"

"Doing what you should have done," Ron said. Harry could see that the Invisibility Cloak was covering Ron's arm. He had the Elder Wand and the Resurrection Stone in hand as well. "I suppose this makes me the Master of Death now, doesn't it?"

"Wait, you had the Cloak?" Harry asked. "But how did you…?" He suddenly turned to Ginny, who had stepped far away from Harry. "Ginny? Don't tell me…"

"I'm sorry," she said, tears streaming down her face. "Ron and I...we heard what you told us about the Stone, that it could bring souls back from the dead. And then Ron said if the Stone alone could do that, what could we do with all three Hallows. What if...what if we could bring them back?"

"Bring…" Harry repeated, trying to piece it together. "Do you actually believe you can bring Fred back?"

"Not likely," Ron said, "but at least we'd have a chance. Ginny and I couldn't believe that you wouldn't have at least tried. And it's not just Fred. Professor Lupin, Tonks, Lavender, your parents. You had the opportunity to try to bring everyone back, and you didn't take it. Well, now I have a chance to try."

"Ron, you must be starkers," Harry said. "That's not how the Hallows work. There is no magic that can bring someone back from the dead. None at all."

"How many times did Professor Dumbledore push the boundaries of what was possible?" Ron asked. "Blimey, how many times did Lord Voldemort push the boundaries? Obviously what he did was unforgivable, but is it really so bad for me to want to bring back the loved ones we lost? Harry...you could finally meet your parents. We could bring Sirius back, too. Don't tell me you never wanted to try it."

"Try it? Ron, of course I wanted to try it! I've wanted to meet my parents for as long as I can remember. Not a day goes by where I don't wish to have Sirius back. But Ron...what you're trying to do is impossible."

"You don't know that!" Ron yelled. "With all three Hallows...maybe it's possible."

Harry lifted his wand and pointed it at Ron. Suddenly, it flew out of his hands, into the air, and landed in Ginny's. She pointed her wand at Harry and Harry's wand at Hermione.

"Ginny…" Harry said. "You're siding with Ron?"

"We talked about it," Ginny said, "long before the two of us even got married. I wasn't sure at first, but it was clear you didn't want to make the effort, and he did. I didn't want to have to choose between my husband and my brother, but Harry, you don't understand. You can't even remember your parents, and you only really knew Sirius for two years, mainly as pen pals. Ron and I...we've known Fred for as long as we can remember. George is so depressed that he can barely keep the joke shop running. If there's even a fraction of a chance that we can bring Fred back...we have to try."

Harry backed away from Ron and Ginny and stood at Hermione's side. With no other ideas or other options, he had to concede.

"Clearly, I can't stop you," Harry said. "The Elder Wand belongs to Ron now. Please, just let Hermione and me go, and let me at least have my wand back. We won't stop you."

"Harry, are you mad?" Hermione asked. "This is going to end in disaster."

"Let them try," Harry said, "but if I'm right, and this doesn't work, then you need to put everything back to where it was. The legacy of the Hallows is not in becoming master over death, but in accepting death. Your plan is not going to work."

"Ron and I will be the judge of that," Ginny said. "We'll let you go, but don't try to follow us." With that, Ginny hurled Harry's wand as far away as possible. Harry and Hermione sprinted towards it, but as soon as Harry picked it up off the ground, Ron and Ginny were gone. Harry curled up on the ground and screamed. Hermione crouched down to console him.

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said. "I had no idea Ginny was helping Ron this whole time."

"It's my fault. I trusted Ginny with all this information. I had no idea she was planning to betray me the whole time. What kind of an Auror am I?"

"An Auror who trusts his wife," Hermione said, "which I reckon are most all of them. They blindsided both of us."

"If they really think they can bring back Fred, they're in for it. Bringing souls back with that Stone won't work. They're not like ghosts, trying to cling to the mortal world. They've accepted their deaths, and they don't appreciate being summoned back."

"Tell me what it was like," Hermione said, "to see the souls of everyone you loved in that forest."

"They were there to support me," Harry said, "but it was clear that they weren't coming back for good. The memories of them stayed with me for as long as I faced Voldemort, but no longer. After Voldemort cast his Killing Curse, I came face to face with Professor Dumbledore, and the horcrux latched onto my soul was destroyed. Without the horcrux there, I don't know if I would've even survived."

Hermione pursed her lips. "Ron and Ginny are making a terrible mistake. I wish we could've done more to stop them."

"They took us by surprise," Harry said. "They outplayed us. But Hermione, they're not villains. They're grieving Fred, and their grief is clouding their judgment. When they realize what they want isn't possible, I think they'll be back to apologize."

"I hope so," Hermione said. "But there's still one piece of the puzzle still missing. Who cast the Imperius Curse on me? Because we haven't figured that out yet, and that wizard or witch could still be out there."

"Maybe it was Ginny," Harry said.

"Hang on...Ginny?" Hermione said. "Why would she risk casting an Unforgivable Curse?"

"The same reason we did," Harry said. "Because we thought it was necessary. Placing you under that Curse was what started this whole thing. It's the only reason I can think of that she didn't overreact when you came onto me that night."

"In many ways, I hope you're wrong," Hermione said, "but in a few ways, I hope you're right. Otherwise, there's still someone out there who might come after us."

"Whether or not that's true," Harry said, "we need to go after Ron and Ginny before they try something they can't undo."

Harry and Hermione rose and ran in the direction they saw Ron and Ginny run earlier. The two of them desperately hoped that they would find Ron and Ginny in time to stop them from causing irreparable damage. No one knew for sure what magic would come of using all three Hallows together. All Harry and Hermione could hope was that, whatever magic it turned out to be, that the damage it caused could be fixed. Otherwise...Harry couldn't even bear to think about the alternative. All he could do was find his wife and best friend before it was too late.