Harry sat in front of the tent as it is his turn to take the watch. The days have been very dull for Harry. They have been stuck up in the forest without having any idea what to do next. Hermione rarely spoke and they are not even discussing much about the Horcruxes also. All the attempts Harry made to cheer her up not at all worked. They went to almost all the places they know and they are now repeating the places where they stayed previously. The book they got from Godric's Hollow about the life of Dumbledore did nothing but deflating their spirit and creating doubts about Dumbledore.
Harry felt as if they are still more miserable than the time they were wearing the locket. He kept trying to find the password of potterwatch whenever Hermione is not watching. He doesn't want to explain where he got all these information. As he lost in his thoughts he saw Hermione coming from the tent and stood before him twisting the book in her hands. She always does that when she has a plan and she is unsure about that.
"What is it Hermione?" Harry asked with raised eyebrows.
"I want to see Xenophilius Lovegood."
Harry completely caught off guarded by her reply stared at her with bewildered expression.
"Why?"
Hermione thrust her Beedle the Bard copy into his hands and showed the Grindelwald mark.
"This mark is appearing constantly wherever we go Harry. Mr. Lovegood was wearing this symbol at Bill's wedding and I think he knows something about this mark other than it being Grindelweld mark. We have to meet him and seek out about this symbol."
"Hermione, we don't want another Godric's Hollow. We talked ourselves into it and you have seen the result of it."
Hermione quickly said, "It won't be another Godric's Hollow Harry, at that time they were expecting us to go there sooner or later. Now nobody will think we would be going to Mr. Lovegood. They can't catch us off guard."
Harry knowing that she made up her mind gave up the argument. She even has some good points. And he is tired of sitting idly on the watch without having anything to continue their search.
"Do you know where they live?"
Bill is teaching Ron all the defensive and offensive spells he knows. He will never say it out loud that he always thought that Ron is a slow learner when compared to all his other siblings. But now seeing Ron who is mastering all the spells with ease and more quickly than Bill's first time, he was shocked. What he learned from this experience is whenever Ron puts his mind on something he is the fastest learner than all his siblings including him.
Bill watched Ron as he is mastering the last spell he taught him. He recalled the past few days where Ron learned all the spells quickly and effectively. He even learned some curse breaking techniques. Today is the last day for his training.
Ron sat in front of him fidgeting. By the look on his face he is still deciding whether to ask him or not.
"You can ask me anything Ron." Bill assured him looking straight into his eyes.
Ron making up his mind asked, "Bill you worked in Gringots, right?"
Not expecting that kind of question Bill nodded his head.
"You have goblin friends who are still working there." It was not a question merely a statement. Bill nodded his head in affirmation again.
Without beating around the bush Ron asked directly, "I want the details of all the transactions of the deatheaters and what do they have in their vaults? I want all the information."
Bill's jaw dropped to the ground as soon as he heard Ron.
"You can't have all those details Ron. They will never give you those details. All the vaults will be under full security they don't want to have any bleach in their security systems with you-know-who controlling the ministry."
"I don't want to know about the security measures or anything. I just want to know which deatheater's vault is having highest security and what do they have in their vaults. Can you get me the information?"
Bill watched Ron as if he suddenly grown another head, "I can get the information but it will take some time. Till then what you want to do?"
"I want to do some research; do you still have your books of curse breaking?"
Harry sat in front of the tent while Hermione put the protective enchantments around the tent. They just escaped from the deatheaters and Harry still can't believe it is Mr. Lovegood who sold them.
Harry and Hermione reached Mr. Lovegood's house after searching for a long time. They just started with a small hunch that it is nearer to Burrow and with great difficulty they found the house and now they are standing in front of the house and reading the hand painted insane boards.
Hermione knocked the front door and a nervously looking Xenophilius Lovegood opened the door.
Not wasting much time on the pleasantries Hermione came to the point straight away after asking about Luna. Mr. Lovegood told them that Luna is fishing for some freshwater Plimpies. And he explained all about the story of three brothers and deathly hollows.
After hearing everything from Mr. Lovegood, Harry and Hermione went to see Luna's room. Hermione immediately suspected that something was off with the room it didn't looked like it was been used recently.
Harry to confirm his suspicions immediately asked Mr. Lovegood about Luna with much intensity. Harry was shocked by the news of Luna's kidnap. Even more shocked by knowing Mr. Lovegood has sold them to death eaters.
Hermione with her quick thinking saved both of them along with Luna's father by showing him to the death eaters while escaping.
Harry recalling the events felt like it was another Godric's Hollow but without confrontation with Nagini or You-know-who himself. They came out of this unscathed. Harry couldn't help himself thinking that the Hollow's are true. He can easily connect the dots between them. His trail of thought is interrupted by Hermione who sat in front of him.
"You were right Harry; it turned out to be another Godric's Hollow after all. I should have listened to you."
Harry knowing that she still felt guilty for breaking his wand even though it saved his life, he said consolingly,
"Don't feel bad Hermione, now we know about Deathly Hollows, we got something to move on."
Hermione looked shocked, "Harry, don't tell me you believe in the crap of Deathly Hollows. It is just a fairy tale, there are nothing like Deathly Hollows."
"But Hermione everything connects perfectly, we studied in history remember wand of death, the death stick all we learned is about the same wand. The person I saw in my dream was Grindelwald, he was the one who stole the elder wand and was defeated by Dumbledore making him the master of elder wand. The invisibility clock which was taken by Dumbledore from my dad is also a Hollow Hermione. My invisibility clock is very old but it still fits us perfectly and it is still appears as new and the summoning charm doesn't work on that. And the snitch he has given me must be having the Resurrection stone; you see it reads, 'I open at the close'. It might be some hunch to the password and I think Dumbledore wants us to work through that, so that we can talk to him directly even though he is dead we can still bring him back. Think about it Hermione." Harry explained everything with positive glint in his eyes which was very rare for him.
Hermione looked unsurely at him, "I don't think that is the case Harry, he wants us to find Horcruxes and destroy them, that is our mission, we must not get deviate from the actual mission."
Harry who got the idea of the Hollows deep in his mind was not ready to listen to any logic. He made up his mind that the elder wand is the only way to finish you-know-who. He just ended the discussion there. He hated himself for getting into argument with Hermione. He wants her to see him in a different light but he never actually had much experience in that matter since the two girls he ever fancied were also fancied him and one girl made move by kissing him and for the other girl he did the kissing. He groaned loudly and made up his mind. He will make a move within a week.
Ron has been reading all the books he found in his brother's house. He didn't find much useful information in any of the books except for the fact that all the dark artifacts can be destroyed by fiendfire but it is highly impractical to use since it cannot be controlled. He wondered what will be the Hermione's reaction when she sees him with all these books. He quickly closed the books and tried to think of something else. It is too much him to even think about the only girl he ever loved and the way he royally botched up.
He is a master strategist in chess. He was always able to read his opponents next move when it comes to chess. He applied the same logic here. He imagined himself in the place of You-know-who and he kept one of his Horcrux in a cave with full of protective and other deadly traps for whoever tries to get them. He gave his other Horcrux to one of his loyal servant. He doesn't know how Dumbledore got Gaunt's ring so that is out insufficient data. His gut feeling telling him that he might have kept one Horcrux in Gringot's but since if he kept that in his vault it is a direct give away, if he has his own vault i.e, then that leaves he must have kept another one in his most trusted follower. He has to wait for that until Bill get's the information.
One more thing that is pestering his mind was the You-know-who's last visit to Hogwarts where je went to meet Dumbledore for the position of DADA teacher. Ron knows that any good chess player won't waste any moves unnecessarily. You-know-who knows that Dumbledore will never give him the position of DADA professor but yet he went to Hogwarts to ask for that position. This is not adding up to his chess logic.
He felt like he is missing something here but he is not able to grasp what is missing? He never gave this much thought to these details since Harry and Hermione are always the ones who got the ideas and he usually just follows them. This is the first time he got to do things on his own. He always was under the shadow of Harry or Hermione and now he is feeling the heat.
"Ron, Ron where are you?" Bill is shouting from the downstairs. Ron glad for the destruction hurriedly went downstairs. He never knew thinking out of his comfort zone will be this much exhausting.
As soon as he reached downstairs, Bill excitedly told, "Ron, I got all the information you asked, at this moment only Lestrange's vault is the only vault with highest security than any other death eaters vaults. It is protected under many enchantments. And at the beginning of the term they kept the sword of Gryffindor and that is a fake one but they don't know about that. But the security was tighter much premier to that. It seems that Goblin's have difference in opinion about you-know-who. I got all the information very easily then I originally thought." Bill raised his head proudly for his accomplishment.
Ron listened everything intently he is confused about the Gryffindor's sword. He definitely knows that the sword that Harry and he found was the original sword since it destroyed the locket. He never has much time or circumstances to process about the silver dove which he followed that means somebody are definitely helping them and they might even know about Horcruxes or Dumbledore must have arranged this to happen. He can never put anything past to that old wizard.
"What do you mean by fake sword?"
"Well it seems that somebody tried to steal the that sword from Snape's office at the beginning of the term and Snape transferred the sword from Hogwarts to Gringots and that to into Lestrange's vault and it turned out to be fake one but the Goblins didn't tell him that"
That definitely adds up to the situation. Dumbledore didn't trust Snape enough to keep the original sword in his office. He must have removed the original one with a fake one before his death.
Ron's mind is reeling with all the possibilities and he finally asked, "I you don't mind I want one more favor from you Bill."
Bill gulped, last time Ron asked this it was highly dangerous and illegal but by the look on Ron's face it is much more bigger than that, "what is it Ron?" Bill asked him fearing for the worst.
"I want break into Gringots and before that I want to go to Hogwarts."
"Bloody hell." Bill slumped into the sofa beside him.