Harry found Tyler sitting in a chair, looking out of the window at the street below. Harry stood for a moment, trying to get a glimpse of his hands. Tyler eventually noticed Harry, and smirked at him.
"It's strange, isn't it?" Tyler asked, motioning to the street below, "We can see them, they can't see us. It's actually a little creepy if you think about it."
Harry had thought of this, especially considering James' long lasting crush on the muggle girl next door. Harry had caught him spying with the Omnioculars from his first Quidditch World Cup while she was sunbathing last summer. This had been nothing, however, compared to when the girl herself had caught him, a few weeks later. Harry heard the screaming from his bedroom, and thought to himself, If that girl was a witch we'd be seeing some really serious accidental magic. He smiled, thinking about it, which seemed to perplex Tyler, based solely on the look Harry saw on his face. He nodded and sat down, "I'm just hoping James doesn't realize that the muggles can't see him from here. I'll have to make a Marauder's Map for my house."
"A what?" Tyler asked, confused.
"Nevermind that," Harry said, it wouldn't do to get caught up in a conversation about his father's friends. "I actually needed to talk to you about something."
"Alright, shoot." Tyler said, turning the chair around to face him.
"Well, you know I had a bit of an.. altercation with our little imposter." Tyler nodded. "Well, afterward, we found out some new information about how he's accomplishing all of these incredible feats." Harry paused, Tyler was nodding, a bit more slowly now. "You see, my old headmasters believe he's using some special rings. I didn't really believe it at first, but then I saw one of the twins wearing one."
Tyler stopped him, "I'm sorry, the twins have what?" His face was lit up.
"Yeah, he said he found it in his things, just after the attack on Hogwarts." Harry responded.
"This is incredible." Tyler said, excitement clear on his face. "We've got to talk to them right now."
"Now, hold on." Harry said, "You need to explain all of this to me, before we talk to them."
Tyler told much the same story that Dumbledore had, except he knew exactly who had the rings. After Tyler finished his story, he finished, "Was there anything else you needed to know?"
"Just one thing," Harry said, "What do the numbers mean?"
Tyler laughed, "Well, they're the order they were made in. Also, it's kind of like a power indicator, the higher the number, the more powerful the ring is."
This seemed like a positive turn of events, considering the twins had the sixth ring, which should theoretically be the second most powerful. It made sense, controlling the weather seemed pretty intense. Then he remembered that there were seven. "One more thing, who has the seventh ring?" Harry asked, curious. Tyler smirked at him, and pulled a chain from around his neck, hanging from it were two rings. One was a wedding band, Harry hadn't noticed that he wasn't wearing it on his hand anymore, had Tyler given up on finding his wife? Harry didn't ponder this for long, though, and found his eyes drawn to the other ring, which was incredible, even compared to the two that Harry had already seen. It had six small stones set around a much larger, pearl-like gem that seemed to glow. Harry saw the numeral VII on the side of the band. "So, what does this one do?"
"Well, everything." Tyler said, before correcting himself, "Everything that the others can do, anyway." Harry couldn't believe this, if he had this kind of power, how had they been forced out of their country and on the run. He asked Tyler this, and a sad look crossed his face. "The power in this ring, while it may tip the balance in our favor if I use it, is too great to wield for an extended period. The last time it was truly used, the person, my grandfather, had his entire magical core burned out. It made him a squib. It has only been worn once since that day."
"So you can't control it?" Harry asked.
"Oh, I'm sure I could, but it would likely take all of my magic." Tyler said, "It'll be our last resort, if we can't stop him by other means. Now, let's go talk to the twins."
"Hi, Mr. T." Ian said as he walked into Harry's office and saw his father's friend sitting in one of the large chairs, usually reserved for himself or Ryan. "Ryan's off somewhere, probably in the middle of a make-out session with one of the Ravenclaw girls that follows him around everywhere. What'd y'all need?"
"Well, Ian, we were just wondering how much you know about that ring you're wearing." Tyler said. "Have you noticed anything different since you started wearing it?"
Ian looked more confused than he had when Harry had asked to see it, he touched the ring with his left hand, "This thing? It's just a ring, I'm not even sure where I got it. What's with all the questions about it?"
Tyler spoke again, completely serious, "That ring was your dad's." Ian looked shocked for a moment, then looked down at the ring again. When he had looked at it for a while without speaking, Tyler continued, "He had it on during the attack."
"Wait, what?" Ian asked, his face as white as a ghost. "He couldn't have, I found it in my bag like the day after that happened, how could he have gotten it there?"
"That's actually what I'm trying to find out," Tyler said, "Because I saw him with the ring on, after he was hit. Then when Harry brought his, um, body back to the house, it was gone. I thought it was lost, but then Harry told me you had it." Ian's face was even more white than before at this news, "Needless to say, I was very surprised to hear that the ring had found its way into your possession. Pleasantly surprised, that is."
"What's so important about this ring?" Ian said, louder than Harry had expected. Harry could've sworn he heard thunder outside the castle when he spoke. "My dad is dead, and instead of trying to find out who is truly behind it, all you two are worried about is a damned ring!" He slammed his hand down on the desk at the last word, and the room lit up with electricity. After a moment, Harry realized it was because lightning had struck his desk, splitting it almost entirely in two. Ian was looking down at his hand, which was still crackling with the power of electricity.
The three of them were completely silent for a moment, before Ian started laughing softly. "I guess that explains it." Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So, my dad had some sort of power ring, I guess you and Mr. Findlay each have one?" Tyler nodded, before Ian continued, "Let me guess, we're trying to get them to a volcano and destroy them? Hopefully we can get past that damned eye." Harry was confused, and looked to Tyler who was chuckling to himself also.
"Actually, we can't destroy them, because we have to assume the other five are already in the hands of the darkness." Tyler said, even through his laughter. He noticed Harry's confused look and explained, "It's a movie and book series, Lord of the Rings. A Hobbit, a short humanoid species that lives in hollowed out hills, purely fictional of course, has to bring a ring that turns him invisible to a volcano to destroy it. That's not important though, what is important is that we now know that your dad, somehow, got the ring to you, Ian, which gives us a real chance."
"A real chance at what?" Ian asked.
"Winning." Tyler said, "Until I heard that the ring may still be on the right side, I had almost given up completely." He was still grinning like a madman.
"But if there are six others, and I only have one, how am I supposed to win?" Ian said, clearly remembering Tyler's earlier comment.
"Well, on top of the fact that yours is nearly the strongest, we also have this." He pulled the chain from around his neck, showing the ring on it.
"Oh yeah, you have one too. What does yours do?" Ian asked, leaning in to get a better look at the ring hanging from Tyler's neck.
"Well, everything that the others do, and according to legend even more, but I've never worn it." Tyler said. He explained the consequences of using the seventh ring, which brought back the same white faced expression from Ian.
"So, I'm alone?" Ian asked.
Harry finally spoke up, "No, you aren't." The other two looked at him, maybe they had forgotten he was there. "As it turns out, I have in my possession a few very powerful, almost mythologically powerful, in fact, artifacts."
"Really? What are they?" Ian asked, clearly skeptical.
"Well, have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?" Ian and Tyler both seemed much more intrigued now.
"Well, yeah, but those aren't real, are they?" Tyler asked.
"As it turns out, yes." Harry said, glad to finally be involved in the conversation again.
"And you have them?" Ian asked. Harry nodded, smirking. "That's sick."
"Sick?" Harry asked, knowing exactly what it meant, but he knew it annoyed the American children when he asked about their slang.
"C'mon Professor, I'm not explaining it again." Ian said, "Can I see them?"
"Well, I only have one of them with me." Harry said, moving to open the magically sealed compartment on the desk top. "There's a story that goes along with this one though, just like the others I guess. This wand, the elder wand, once belonged to Albus Dumbledore. It was even buried with him, but Voldemort stole it from his grave, and attempted to use it to finish me off. But, through a plan made by Dumbledore, it was loyal to me instead." He pulled the wand out of the compartment, "After Voldemort fell, I tried to destroy it. I thought it was too dangerous for it to still exist. But after I snapped it in half and threw it away, I woke up the next day to find it in my robes, alongside my normal wand. I tried quite a few times after that, to dispose of it. No luck, it always just reappeared. So I kept it, hidden of course, I'll be moving it tomorrow, considering my desk will need to be replaced."
"Sorry about that," said Ian, abashed.
"It's fine, I'm more worried about you having another outburst with the ring on. That could end poorly for everyone around you." Harry said, serious once again. "Would you consider using a chain, until you can control it, at least." Ian nodded, and pulled the ring off.
"I was planning on it." Ian said, "but how am I going to learn to control it."
Tyler had been waiting for this question, "I'm going to teach you, obviously."
A few minutes later, they had agreed to have lessons in the room of requirement every Tuesday and Thursday. Ian and Tyler had both departed, and Harry was left, holding the elder wand and wondering if he was actually going to be forced to use it.
I'm sorry for the wait, but my job has gotten a bit more hectic recently so I'm stretched to even check my emails, much less upload. I will try to get them up as often as possible though. I also couldn't think of a good title for this chapter, so any suggestions would be appreciated. As always, thanks for reading, I look forward to your feedback.