A few minutes later they were back with the tent. Harry had told them what they had done while they were gone.
"Tracey? Trace!" Harry called.
"Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine, actually it's more than fine."
Then he showed her the two people.
Tracey was furious at both of them.
"You two, complete awful Weasley and Granger! You two had been gone for weeks and you say hey?"
Then she looked at Harry. "Where's my wand Harry? Where's my wand?"
"I don't know."
"Harry Potter you give me my wand!"
"I don't have it!" he said and put it in his pocket.
"How come he's got your wand?" Hermione asked.
"It doesn't matter why he's got my wand!" Then she looked down. Then looked at Harry.
"What is that? You destroyed it! And how is you just happen to have the sword of Gryffindor?"
The three of them looked at each other.
"It's a bit of a long story." Harry said.
"Don't you two think this is change of anything."
"Of course not. I just destroyed a bloody horcrux!" Ron said.
"When we realized what we did we tried to find you but didn't know where you would have gone." Hermione said.
"Yeah how did you find us?" Harry asked.
"It was dark out and we had no idea where we were when I felt something in my deluminater." Ron said.
"Which would be what?" Tracey asked.
"Both you're name. Harry and Tracey." he said.
They stood there quietly for a few minutes. Then Harry said something.
"Right, why don't we get changed into something dry and sped the night here." Harry said.
The other three nodded and went inside.
A few hours later Hermione was on her shift and Harry, Ron and Tracey were sitting inside.
"How long are you gonna take to forgive me?" Ron asked.
"I'm fine with it, Trace on the other hand. She may might not have as bad of a temper then me but she can still hold a grudge sometimes." Harry said trying not to laugh.
Then he gave in and the three of them started to chuckle.
"Bloody hell, you need a wand don't you?" Ron asked looking at Harry.
"Yeah." he said.
"I've got one here." He then handed it to him. "Ten inches."
Harry putted the wand at the fire.
"Ingoshio." Then the fire got enormous and the three of them jumped.
"Reduco!" he yelled.
"What's going on in there?" Hermione asked.
"Nothing!" Harry said and put the wand in his pocket.
"We need to talk." Hermione said.
"Alright then." Ron said.
"I want to see Xenophilius Lovegood." Hermione said.
"Why?" Tracey asked.
"You see this mark? It's on the book again."
Then she shut the book.
"Look, I have no idea where the next horcrux is and neither do you."
"It was on his necklace to. The one he was wearing at the wedding." Harry said.
"Let's make a vote, all those in favor?" Ron said.
The three of them looked at him.
"Let's just do it." Tracey said.
"Alright." Harry said.
So they packed everything up and then apperated to Mr. Lovegood.
When they got there they looked at the door.
"Luna." Hermione said.
"Luna." the other three said.
When they got there they knocked on the door.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Xenophilius said.
Then Harry walked up to the door.
"Hello, Mr. Lovegood," said Harry, holding out his hand,
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
"And I'm Tracey, Tracey Potter."
Xenophilius did not take Harry's hand, although the eye that was not pointing inward at his nose slid straight to the scar on Harry's forehead.
"Can we come in?" Harry said.
So he opened the door and got them some tea.
They picked it up and sat down.
"Where's Luna?" Hermione asked.
"Luna? She'll be along soon." he said.
"Now," he remove a tottering pile of papers from an armchair and sat down, his Wellingtoned legs crossed, "how may I help you, Mr. Potter?"
"Well," said Harry, glancing at Hermione, who nodded encouragingly, "it's about that symbol you were wearing around your neck at Bill and Fleur's wedding, Mr. Lovegood. We wondered what it meant."
Xenophilius raised his eyebrows.
"Are you referring to the sign of the Deathly Hallows?"
Harry turned to look at Tracey, Ron and Hermione. None of them seemed to have understood what Xenophilius had said either.
"The Deathly Hallows?" Tracey asked.
"That's right," said Xenophilius. "You haven't heard of them? I'm not surprised. Very, very few wizards believe. Witness that knuckle-headed young man at your brother's wedding," he nodded at Ron,
"who attacked me for sporting the symbol of a well-known Dark wizard! Such ignorance. There is nothing Dark about the Hallows – at least not in that crude sense. One simply uses the symbol to reveal oneself to other believers, in the hope that they might help one with the Quest."
He stirred several lumps of sugar into his Gurdyroot infusion and drank some.
"I'm sorry," said Harry, "I still don't really understand."
To be polite, he took a sip from his cup too
"Well, you see, believers seek the Deathly Hallows," said Xenophilius, smacking his lips in apparent appreciation of the Gurdyroot infusion.
"But what are the Deathly Hallows?" asked Hermione.
Xenophilius set aside his empty teacup.
"I assume that you are familiar with 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'?"
"Yes." They all said. Xenophilius nodded gravely.
"Well, you all know the whole thing starts with 'The Tale of the Three Brothers'... I have a copy somewhere . . ."
He glanced vaguely around the room, at the piles of parchment and books, but Hermione said, "I've got a copy, Mr. Lovegood, I've got it right here."
And she pulled out The Tales of Beedle the Bard from the small, beaded bag.
"The original?" inquired Xenophilius sharply, and when she nodded, he said, "Well then, why don't you read it out aloud? Much the best way to make sure we all understand."
"Er. . . all right," said Hermione nervously. She opened the book, and Harry saw that the symbol they were investigating headed the top of the page as she gave a little cough, and began to read.
"There were once three brothers who were travelling along a lonely, winding road at twilight –'"
"Midnight, our mum always told us," said Ron, who had stretched out, arms behind his head, to listen. Hermione shot him a look of annoyance.
"Sorry, I just think it's a bit spookier if it's midnight!" said Ron.
"Yeah, because we really need a bit more fear in our lives," said Harry before he could stop himself.
Xenophilius did not seem to be paying much attention, but was staring out of the window at the sky.
"Go on, Hermione."
"In time, the brothers reached a river too deep to wade through and too dangerous to swim across. However, these brothers were learned in the magical arts, and so they simply waved their wands and made a bridge appear across the treacherous water. They were halfway across it when they found their path blocked by a hooded figure.
"'And Death spoke to them –'"
"Sorry," interjected Tracey, "but Death spoke to them?"
"It's a fairy tale, Tracey!"
"Right, sorry. Go on."
"'And Death spoke to them. He was angry that he had been cheated out of the three new victims, for travellers usually drowned in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers upon their magic, and said that each had earned a prize for having been clever enough to evade him.
"'So the oldest brother, who was a combative man, asked for a wand more powerful than any in existence: a wand that must always win duels for its owner, a wand worthy of a wizard who had conquered Death! So Death crossed to an elder tree on the banks of the river, fashioned a wand from a branch that hung there, and gave it to the oldest brother.
"'Then the second brother, who was an arrogant man, decided that he wanted to humiliate Death still further, and asked for the power to recall others from Death. So Death picked up a stone from the riverbank and gave it to the second brother, and told him that the stone would have the power to bring back the dead.
"'And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.'"
"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Harry interrupted again.
"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking . . . sorry, Hermione."
"'Then Death stood aside and allowed the three brothers to continue on their way, and they did so talking with wonder of the adventure they had had and admiring Death's gifts.
"'In due course the brothers separated, each for his own destination.
"'The first brother travelled on for a week more, and reaching a distant village, sought out a fellow wizard with whom he had a quarrel. Naturally, with the Elder Wand as his weapon, he could not fail to win the duel that followed. Leaving his enemy dead upon the floor the oldest brother proceeded to an inn, where he boasted loudly of the powerful wand he had snatched from Death himself, and of how it made him invincible.
"'That very night, another wizard crept upon the oldest brother as he lay, wine-sodden upon his bed. The thief took the wand and for good measure, slit the oldest brother's throat.
"'And so Death took the first brother for his own.
"'Meanwhile, the second brother journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone. Here he took out the stone that had the power to recall the dead, and turned it thrice in his hand. To his amazement and his delight, the figure of the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death, appeared at once before him.
"'Yet she was sad and cold, separated from him as by a veil. Though she had returned to the mortal world, she did not truly belong there and suffered. Finally the second brother, driven mad with hopeless longing, killed himself so as to truly join her.
"'And so Death took the second brother from his own.
"'But though Death searched for the third brother for many years, he was never able to find him. It was only when he had attained a great age that the youngest brother finally took off the Cloak of Invisibility and gave it to his son. And then he greeted Death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, and, equals, they departed this life.'"
Hermione closed the book. It was a moment or two before Xenophilius seemed to realize that she had stopped reading; then he withdrew his gaze from the window and said:
"Well, there you are."
"Sorry?" said Hermione, sounding confused.
He picked up a quill from a packed table at his elbow, and pulled a torn piece of parchment from between more books.
"The Elder Wand," he said, and drew a straight vertical line upon the parchment.
"The Resurrection Stone," he said, and added a circle on top of the line.
"The Cloak of Invisibility," he finished, enclosing both line and circle in a triangle, to make the symbols that so intrigued Hermione.
"Together," he said, "the Deathly Hallows."
"Mr. Lovegood, does the Deathly Hallows have anything to do with the Peverill brothers?" Tracey asked.
"Yes, Ignotus, and his brothers Cadmus and Antioch were the original owner of the hallows ... and therefore inspiration for the story." Xenophilius.
"Your tea has gone cold." Harry said.
"Don't go I'll be right back?" Xenophilius said.
"Let's get out of here. I have more of this brndy pi? I will not." Ron said.
"Thank you for ..." Hermione said.
"You forgot the water." Tracey said.
"Water?"
"In the tea." Ron said.
"How silly of me." he said.
"You do not have to, we should be going any way." Tracey said.
"No, you do not!" Xenophilius.
"Sir?" Harry said.
"You are my only hope. They were angry, you see, because of what I've been writing. so they took ... took my children."
"Who took her, sir?"
"Voldemort."
Then snatchers appeared out of nowhere.
So the four of them held hands and ended up on a different place.