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As if she has to doubt I'll do so, he mused to himself when she pulled away from him, her gaze set on the shrine, overgrown and decrepit as it was; a common trait, in recent times. Elaine had a degree of interest in it to be certain, but he could see some semblance of recognition in those eyes of hers as well. He wasn't sure why that'd be, but he'd not ask until she had done her little inspection just so that he didn't break her from her train of thought.

Maybe it's some old deity or something pagan, he thought as he trailed after her, quiet and watchful. I think the Purebloods used to keep to old deities… maybe even death, but I don't think that's the case. The whole thing's a touch too friendly-looking for it to be related to the Hallows, I'd reckon.

And reckon, he did. It was a well-carved little shrine, made from stone with no small amount of plantlife having grown over it. He'd been tempted to clean it the same as he'd cleaned the path, but aside from minor touch-ups, he didn't dare touch it. He didn't know where the shrine ended and where the weeds began. Elaine, he hoped, would be able to tell.

His gaze went back to her as she shifted around the shrine, her hands outstretched and running along the material, her eyes inquisitive and one brow, perfectly plucked into sharpness as it was, raised. The shrine had seemed to captivate her, and then, with a wave of her hand and a near gasp from Harry, much of the weeds and like were banished from it, revealing stone of varying colours.

It didn't end there. He hadn't expected there to be carvings in the wood, but there were. Fruit, he thought some of the shapes were, and others still were vegetables or nuts, and there even seemed to be a few items he couldn't recognise all that easily. Each was carved into the slab of stone with delicacy; the only weeds that remained were those that made a sort of crown at the top of the shrine, and those that formed a perimeter at the bottom of it.

Mayhaps the original form, he suspected… that or Elaine had simply thought it looked nice. Either made sense, the latter especially since she oft preferred her way of things to the natural order of them.

"I believe I've come to a satisfactory conclusion," Elaine said suddenly, stepping back from the shrine and setting her eyes back on him. "I'll admit there's a very minor chance that I'm not entirely right, outlandish as it is — the harvest. The many depictions of the bounty the earth provides and the bowl atop the shrine gives me no small amount of certainty in reaching this end. Enough so that we needn't even invite Corene to inspect it."

He nodded a few times to himself. It was vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't so much as remember the proper name of the deity or like that this was meant to offer unto.

"Think there's anything hidden around here then? Would that make sense, or would it be foolhardy and a waste of time?"

"Nothing's ever too great a waste of time, not for us," And from there, Elaine put her hand in his and led him in a slow circle around the shrine's immediate vicinity. Each sought out a secret of the shrine, a crack maybe, or a lever, even a hatchway would do. Something to let them know that this was the place they were seeking wherein knowledge could be found.

Nothing. At least, nothing obvious. So far as either of them could tell, the place was completely as it seemed; boring and dedicated to a deity that few if any still kept. Harry nearly snickered, but he refrained from doing so, the thought simply rattling around in his mind.

Would Mort' the old girl want a shrine?

Something told him no.

"I didn't see anything."

Elaine glanced at him. "I'd not think so. I've already walked its perimeter. Had I missed it, I'd be surprised," she looked down at their hands, connected as they were, and then she stepped away from the shrine, pulling him with her. "I've felt a hint of magic, and whilst I ensured our safety, I do so wonder if there's anything else that's tucked away so wonderfully."

"Anything else? You think that bit of magic's important?" Harry took his wand out at nearly the same exact time as she did, each pointing it at or around the shrine.

"I think it needs examining," Elaine then waved her wand over the entirety of the shrine in a quick, elaborate manner, and pulled it back with a wisp of light trailing after her. "A whisper of more. How curious."

Harry furrowed his brow and did as she did, mimicking the old spell she'd taught him months and months ago; he'd hated it at the time, just as he'd hated learning any manner of spell that'd not prove too helpful in a fight… but he'd come to learn how the spell could be so useful since then. Especially when it came to all of their little adventures.

Sure enough, she was right. It'd taken that rather elaborate charm to detect — meaning it was an old magic — but it was there. He'd been an idiot to miss it.

"What do you suppose it is?" he asked when he dropped his wand, the same wisp trailing after his that'd trailed after hers.

"I suspect we'll soon find out."

Harry snorted, stepped forward, and waved his wand. This time, a pale light came out in the shape of a cone — this was another spell Elaine had made him learn — and sure enough, after minutes of waiting, a shimmer was seen. One that went down into the earth, and formed a square at the very base of the shrine.

"A trap?" he asked, gauging Elaine's reaction.

"Or a door to the depths which we seek, lover," she turned to him. "I hope a hole won't worry you."

He gave her a knowing look, one with a touch of amusement therein, and then he stuck forth his wand and lifted it. The dirt, rocks and other materials compacted atop the hatch, were done away with in seconds, leaving a near foot space between the surface and where the door itself truly was. He reckoned then and there that the door and wheresoever it led were created longer ago than he'd originally thought. He didn't believe there was any other reason it'd be so deep in the earth when compared to the typical surface.

"It's stone," he said as he drew closer to it, observing the 'door' as they'd called it; the thing was little more than a stone outline. There wasn't so much as a handle, only a perfect square cut around it, where a lid of some sort seemed to rest. "I don't see any signs of magic or the like. Not beyond that. Thoughts?"

"I think that we'll soon find out where this leads."

"You know what I meant."

Elaine brushed past him, a smirk on her face. "I do," she said before she tapped the tip of her wand to the stone square. "They wanted no chance for Muggles to manage this."

"What makes you say Muggles specifically?" Harry asked, his feet right at the very edge of the hole and his eyes on the very same thing as Elaine traced her wand through the crack.

"It seems a potion or something of that ilk was used to bond the stone so that it won't release sans a counter-potion," At that, Elaine stepped back and cocked her head to one side, her gaze fixed on the square cut-out. "It's an old solution, and one that's far less secure than the anti-Muggle magic already put on the boundaries of this property. One can only suppose the depths were seen worthy of having their own additional protection."

"That could mean there's something there for us."

"It could," Elaine agreed, and then she stepped further back, her hands smoothing her clothing out as she did so. "I'll return in a moment, mayhaps a bit longer if my store is empty of the potion required. Don't try and venture on without me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Harry promised.

That seemed to appease her well enough, for with a smile and a kiss on either of his cheeks… and then his nose… and then his lips a fair few times… and finally a few rapid pecks on his neck, she took her leave. She was gone in the blink of an… no she wasn't. Harry watched, his eyes squinting as he saw a streak of something wispy, like smoke, zooming through the air.

It'd be nothing, he would think, but this 'smoke' seemed to move with a mind of its own. He watched as it circled him a few times, going in rings around him, before it finally departed in the direction of his and Elaine's home. He'd have to get her to teach him the spell, whatever it was; he quite fancied the idea of literally flying rather than immediate transportation. There wasn't anything kind to be said of apparating somewhere, and even the Floo wasn't all that great.

Harry shook his head as the remnants of her trail vanished, and from there he gazed back down at the hole in the ground. He hoped, prayed, desired, anything really, that what they sought was there, in those depths. It'd been a long time coming, and what remained of their journey had to be nearing a close.

Grindelwald, Hogwarts, the Hallows, Slytherin's Study, he'd learned so much, and yet, there was still much more left for him to piece together. In a way, Harry felt like he had a puzzle with nearly every piece so as to put it together, but he was missing four of the centrepieces. He could give himself a solid frame of reference, but in the case of the Hallows and Peverells especially, he knew he was missing something.

He supposed he'd find out soon enough what that missing something was.

He hoped.


When Elaine finally returned, Harry was seated on a little bench he'd transfigured from a fallen log of wood, his eyes fixed on the woods that surrounded them. Nature was rather beautiful in its peace and vibrancy, it was something he wished he could observe more often; the strange, queer peace that came with it was oddly invigorating in a way one couldn't predict until they were sitting there.

It had a similar effect to that of watching the ocean in its endless dance as it lapped at the shoreline. Those druids of old had a reason for their love of the woods and the creatures that inhabited it… maybe he'd go and find some real old Purebloods and dance around a tree with them one of these days.

"Day-dreaming?"

He yawned and made to stand, his hand covering his mouth as he did so. "I suppose I am. It's quite nice here, you know," he gestured over to a large tree in the distance, one that towered over many of the others and that had a large, powerful and secure trunk to it. "One day, I think I'd quite like to build something of a treehouse in that."

Elaine snorted, a brow raised as she peered between him and the aforementioned tree. "Rustic, but not unpleasant — I'd say you're a few too many years old to desire a treehouse all the same, lover. We've mor—"

Harry laughed and spoke, interrupting Elaine as he waved away her words. "Not for me," he said. "I'd use it too, the same as you, I figure. I meant for children. Eventually. It'd be a nice little place for them to adventure, and it'd be on our land. We'd be able to keep them safe and let them explore to their heart's content."

"Children." Elaine's response was a simple, one word answer that sounded mystified.

He nodded, shrugging. "Yeah. We'll have children one day, you've said as much yourself. I don't think it's poor of me to start planning for that day when it comes, do you?"

In an instant, Elaine shook her head to indicate no, she didn't have a problem with that. In fact, she shook her head so emphatically that it dispelled all notions of her having an issue with him thinking of their future children.

"Put as much thought to our future children as you'd like. I'll ensure they come to fruition as soon as you desire them to — upon Grindelwald's death, I think was what you last said," Elaine nodded when Harry blinked. "I've not forgotten. Nor will I."

I didn't expect you would, he nearly said, but instead, he shook his head with a fond sort of smile on his face. He didn't mind, and he hadn't forgotten either. Maybe it was especially queer of him to say, but after all that'd happened between them, after everything they'd seen and done and how much she'd changed along the way, he didn't mind the thought of having children with her.

Elaine would make for a wonderful mother, was all that his mind said when it broached the subject with itself. As for what he knew, she'd be protective to the utmost, and if there was any person that could ensure the safety of another beside himself that still drew breath, it was her.

My kids might go to Hogwarts with my parents… assuming I've not messed that up already.

He hadn't a clue as to how that'd work out.

When he blinked some semblance of sentient thought back from his ramblings, he saw Elaine crouched, leaning over in a manner that was definitely meant to be provocative to him, pouring the liquid down and inside of the crack. She traced around the entire edge of the seal, and once completed, she stood back and watched, patient as any person had ever been before.

"Give it five minutes, and then we'll need only lift the stone from where it lies," Elaine came over to where he was, pushed him back upon the bench he'd transfigured, and popped into his lap shortly thereafter. Her intentions were clear as she wiggled around and made herself comfortable astride him. "In those five minutes, why don't we discuss the official ceremony for our marriage?"

He blinked as he'd done earlier, only this time, it was with a semblance of dread.

That dread wasn't in regards to the service itself, never, but rather the ceremony, pomp and chance of attack there'd be on account of it. The thought of those he cared for; Aster, Sarah, Corene and the like, getting hurt on his behalf, wasn't something he wanted to come to fruition.

It'd be his fault. Him and Elaine, but mostly his, he figured.

"What about it?"

"I wish to hold both a public and private service," Elaine said in an instant, as if she'd been waiting to hear his response for the go-ahead. "In the old manor we've found and partially repaired in the loosest meaning of the word, I would hold a public ceremony. We would need a secondary ward to ensure no errant guests, and it'd be necessary to work heavily upon the estate, but it'd show that we're 'inviting' well beyond what's oft expected of a Minister."

"So give them a 'peek' into our life even if it's only the sort of peek we want them to see?" Harry asked, furrowing his brows; it wasn't so much as the plan, it seemed smart enough, but the fact that she thought it was required.

Most seemed to have a party at a venue, and others still simply invited guests to their home. Elaine was cautious and covetous when it came to their lands.

"In a sense. We'd not be fooling them either, simply alleviating a few items that might give cause for concern if found by a person we'd wish not to find them," Elaine leaned forward once those words had been said, and she put her head on his shoulder, her arms wrapping around him in the meantime. "You needn't worry of the ceremony and invitations lest you wish for certain persons to be invited. I'll see to it with Corene and Daphne."

That works for me.

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Elaine popped off from him, coming to a standing position before him and the bench, her hands smoothing her clothes and her wand making them return to a state of immaculateness a few seconds later. With her eyes, she pointed to the hole and with her wand, she hefted the tile up and away, to the ground beside it.

When nothing popped out at them and no spell went off so far as he could tell, he figured everything was fine as they'd thought, and so he stood up. In a few steps, he was by her side, and in a few more, the two found themselves standing at the edge of the hole that led down a ladder; a stone ladder carved into the very earth.

"I wonder if it's another tomb."

"Mayhaps a vault," Elaine countered as she sent a ball of light down and into the hole, illuminating much of what they had a line of sight on. "Be it for the deity they prayed to, or protection of their own stores."

"I suppose we'll soon find out," Harry brushed past her, giving Elaine a light pat on the rear as he did so; he couldn't help himself. "I'll go and make sure it's safe, and before you decline, you usually do this."

Elaine huffed and folded her arms at him. "If only to allow you your chance to show off for me, fine."

Harry grinned up at her, toothy and happy, and then he descended the ladder.


Upon descending, he came to see a large, cavernous cave open up before him. It was far larger than he'd thought upon viewing at the top of the hole, and less smooth-looking than the ladder down would have implied. It nearly seemed as if it were hand-carved from the ground, but he didn't reckon that'd be the case. It would have taken years to do, maybe longer… the only conclusion he could reach was that the person who'd made this originally hadn't sophisticated magic, or simply didn't know the right spells.

Either way, the place was — mostly — safe, the only issues being the occasional jagged or sharp edge that one needed to watch out for lest they partially impale themselves. In other words, when it came to his and Elaine's safety, it was like their earlier stroll in the woods, and he conveyed as much to her; he also watched her climb down as well. The pants she'd worn were tight enough to offer him a fair view and she'd not have it any other way, he knew.

With a soft 'plop' sound, she deftly jumped from the ladder to land before him, a certain eagerness about her that was oft the case whensoever they explored something.

"I'm hopeful," he said to her, gesturing to the little expanse that lay before them.

Elaine looked past him, to the various side tunnels that existed, few in number as they were, and then she nodded. "I'm of the same opinion. There's something here that'll aid us, the question of whether or not we'll see it is the one I have."

He agreed with her. For all they knew, they could be walking right past some hidden troves in the walls, buried and stashed and kept hidden for centuries. One could only wonder how often that'd happened back in the other places they'd ventured too. Harry figured it was a common enough occurrence lest one spent months upon months of their time investigating the place.

It could be likened to finding a needle in a haystack, in Muggle terms.

"This place doesn't seem all that large, at least. There's only two little off-shoot tunnels… fancy going down those first or looking through this?"

Elaine took a cursory glance around at their surroundings, and raised her nose, unimpressed. "We'll do so before we leave. My interest lies in those places kept furthest from the entrance. Mayhaps they're a sort of tomb or old place of worship — druidic ceremonies might once have been practised here."

"That'd be a sight to see," he replied, his comment off-handed as he pictured the typical 'scene' one might upon hearing of druids; Magicals with paint, naked, dancing wards and spells alike whilst chanting incantations… it was a funny picture, but just that.

He didn't so much as know one family that kept to those oldest of ways, for he reckoned if they were even semi-known, Elaine would have spoken of them. If she didn't, he could always ask another.

"One could say whatever they'd like, but it must be remembered that those who fashioned themselves as protectors of the woods were oft powerful. It's from them the first Muggle-repelling charms were created so as to keep the ever-expansive Muggles from destroying the forests of old," Elaine started off, her voice echoing the further she grew from him, and her eyes set ahead of herself. "Join me on the left."

He cocked his head as he made to follow after her, curious as to what had made her choose the left side, and if there was a real reason or if it was a preference. With most people, he figured a preference was more than likely, but with Elaine, maybe there was a specific reason; few knew history to the detail that she did.

Harry followed after her silently, his wand still by his side as he used the light from her Lumos to navigate instead of blinding them each with a spell of his own. As he'd thought, his initial viewing had been quite correct; the place was jagged and uneven, and only partially flattened where one expected to walk. It was crude indeed, and showed a lack of understanding or perhaps skill when it came to the wielding of magic.

It made him wonder if this was even Peverell in the first place, or from those who had settled the land before the family whose ancestry he'd taken for his own.

"Interesting, and not remotely what I'd expected," Elaine said as she took the first glance around the corner up and to their left. "Come to my side, but don't enter. I wish to ensure all's as it seems to be and that this isn't a trap of some kind."

"I didn't sense any."

"Nor have I," Elaine answered as her arm stuck out from her side, ensuring that he didn't pass her when he came to stand by her side. "But that needn't mean the place is safe. Tombs in Egypt have proven especially dangerous for Magicals, for we rely on magic to see us to safety and forget that Muggles oft served under our predecessors."

When he thought back to their time in Belarus, at the place where Grindelwald had stowed away a portion of himself, he thought about the Muggle traps that'd been left behind for any adventurers. Many had such destructive capabilities that one's life would be over the moment they were activated… but these ones wouldn't be of a similar type. These would be ancient traps, pressure plates and the pitfalls, and mayhaps others of a nature that wasn't nearly so popular as the first two.

In truth, he didn't think they were very dangerous so long as he and Elaine could ascertain their safety; a physical barrier, maybe, or one of a more magical type. They could even go so far as to reinforce the structure should there be a hidden means to collapse the place.

"What're you thinking?" he finally asked when he finished going through the dozens of ways this could go bad, and the dozens of ways he could counter those very happenings.

"I desire to take a closer look at those stone-made crates so as to see their contents. There's no magic so far as I could tell, and whilst I very much doubt that'll change, the contents therein could still be most useful — Tomes aren't magical and yet, without them, we're without knowledge," she turned to him, and then with her eyes, pointed to the ladder. "I'll not cause any harm here, but your safety should be guaranteed before I meddle."

"And what about yours?"

There was an answering smile as her thumb rolled the ring she always wore betwixt her various fingers at the same time she reached out to hold one of his hands, "I'll be beyond safe," she leaned forward to press a soft, gentle, not at all like herself kiss to his lips. "Won't you go and climb, lover?"

He nearly did, if only on account of her sweetness… but he didn't. He couldn't. How could he call himself a bloke if he was willing to let Elaine do everything that was dangerous while he peered in from above or from out behind her? There wasn't any way he could always let her take the dangerous task time and time again, and so he shook his head.

"I'll stay," he said with a shrug as he took his own wand out. "Besides. If you're this confident it'll all be fine, I'm confident of the same. Worst case, you'll have to keep me in bed and feed me potions for a week, yeah? Sounds like a bit of a holiday to me."

"It would ensure any witches that fancy a chance at you before our ceremonies are complete would stay well away from you," Elaine said, more to herself than to him, her weight shifting to one side as her hip cocked out. Her head followed suit as a thought went through her mind, or rather, a series of thoughts; it was almost like she was conversing with herself until she clapped her hands together and spoke again. "Do as I say, when I say it, and you'll remain here with me if that's what you'd truly prefer to do."

"I don't suppose you'll allow me to do as I like instead of wh—"

"No."

"And I can't cha—"

"No, my mind shan't change," Elaine rolled her eyes and straightened her posture, a certain degree of her professionalism showing when she fixed him with a stare. "I'll never joke about your security. You're to be with me for time unending, and if that's to happen, I can't lose you before we've so much as hit the age of twenty."

I suppose if she means all that 'in perpetuity' and 'for all of eternity' type stuff, she raises a fair point.

Harry blinked at her. "I suppose that's fair, but you'll not simply encase me in layer after layer of shield and charm as you've done in the past, will you? I have to say, it's not especially comfortable, and I'm not sure just how good it'll a—"

For the third time in their little game of back and forth, Elaine interrupted him, but this time, not with words.

She leaned forward, grabbed his shirt with a hand, and pulled him to her. Unlike the earlier kiss they'd shared, this one was decidedly more aggressive and in-line with her typical affection. It lasted until the pair had to separate for the sake of breathing, and then, with a smile and rosy cheeks, she said something in a soft, sweet tone of voice.

"I had something else in mind," she leaned forward, her breath splashing against his ear and down his neck when she sang a final word into his ear. "Lover~"

And Merlin, did she.


Harry blinked as he looked down at himself. In a way, he supposed he wasn't completely encased this time around… but it still wasn't quite what he'd had in mind. He had a few layers of clothing wrapped around him, each with runic enchantments that ran down them — she'd gotten them when she'd gone to get the salve to dissolve the hatch; he should've known there'd been an ulterior motive for the time it'd taken her.

After he'd been dressed up and occasionally 'accidentally' groped by Elaine who snickered upon doing so, she'd layered a duo of charms on his person. Apparently, they were meant to augment and work in tandem with the clothes she'd given him, and neither had been a spell he was all that familiar with; he recognised one would make his clothing functionally impenetrable.

That didn't help if he fell hundreds of feet into the earth atop a bed of that jagged stone… then again, he'd probably be able to stop that fall, assuming Elaine didn't do so first.

"Wonderful," Elaine said when she withdrew to look him over, a smile on her face as she looked up at him and down and over again. "I'm quite certain you'll be safe now, my love," she pulled him close, levitating him with a wave of her hand as she used her other hand to smooth her own clothing over. "I take it you enjoyed your show too."

He thought back to the few seconds ago when they'd been changing, and he grinned, a dorkish chuckle coming from him.

"Yeah."

"I thought as much," Elaine gestured with her hand for him to come closer, and so he did, his feet brushing the ground as she kept him closer with a wide-open smile on her face, toothy and happy. "You're like a toy."

He snorted. "We'll see tonight if you say the same."

"A challenge?" she raised a brow, her smile growing wider as she licked her lips. "Wonderful. I'll goad you more often, lover."

I should've known, he thought as she peppered his face with kisses, pulling back only when she was satisfied.

"You're ready, aren't you?" she asked with a smile, satisfied and happy-seeming, one hip cocked to the side.

He nodded. "I'm good. At least I can move this time around. You've not entirely encased me in stone and the like," he wiggled his arms as a show of what he meant, and sure enough, as he bid them to, they moved.

Elaine seemed to find it amusing as she snickered and ran a hand up his multi-layered arm. "A worthwhile price to pay if it means you're able to join me, wouldn't you say?" she withdrew her hand and gestured down to her own body, the clothing and runic symbols very similar. "I'm wearing it as well, lest you've not noticed — I know where your eyes watched whilst I changed."

Harry shrugged. It was obvious he'd look her over if she'd be changing in front of him. Thus, he looked past her, to the little alcove at large. Like their earlier review of the place, it was jagged in parts but herein, softer than the main portion they'd seen earlier. There were crates as well, stone-made and heavy, with the lid so shut one could barely see the outline of where it could be lifted from.

He took the first step before Elaine could prevent him from doing so, his foot landing beyond the archway of the cavern and… there was nothing. No trap went off, no flash of light or dormant magic, simply an echo was all that came from his loud, heel-forward step.

"Nothing."

"I'd certainly hope," Elaine's response came as she joined him, staying by his shoulder. "Ah, it'd seem there's a third — look behind the larger crate on the left."

Harry did just that and sure enough, as she'd said, there was another crate. This one wasn't nearly as large as the two they'd seen from the exterior, but it was a crate all the same. He squinted his eyes and peered beyond that, rising to the tips of his toes for a better vantage point, and it was after his doing of the latter action that he took notice of something that it seemed had evaded Elaine.

"There's something broken behind that crate you've just pointed out," Harry raised a finger and pointed beyond the crate, to where a few bits of broken-up stone could be seen. It could have been a large crate at one time, but all that remained was a good-sized pile of rubble. "Fancy a peek at that first? It could give us an idea as to what's inside of them."

Elaine's eyes went beyond the crate she'd pointed out moments earlier, and to the one that he'd just spoken of. There was a semblance of interest, but her curiosity seemed to remain focused on those of which were still closed and sealed; untouched, seemingly.

"Fine, you open one of them while I take a peek to see what's been left behind," Harry moved past her then, his wand in his hand as it'd been a good few times earlier by this point of the day, and extended out, to the rubble beyond.

It took him a second, if that, for the various pieces of stone rubble to be pushed to one side or the other, and with that accomplished, he was granted the sight of what it'd been hiding away. First, he noticed glasswork. It was well-destroyed, but even now, shined under the light they kept cast for vision. Beyond that, he noticed some especially withered parchment. Whatever had been written on it at one point in time was far from legible, but it remained, the occasional letter — of a Latin-based Alphabet — was visible.

And that was all. It wasn't quite disappointing, he'd say, but there was much to be desired. Still, he'd accomplished his desire and hoped it acted as a clue of sorts for them, and based on how quickly Elaine flipped open the lid of the crate nearest to it, he imagined that was proven true. Her interest had piqued, or so it seemed to have been.

"Well?" he asked after a second's time, his eyes peering at the newly-opened crate. "Anything of note, or more glass and ripped parchment?"

Elaine edged closer to it with slow, graceful steps as her eyes focused exclusively on the crate before them. She spoke a few seconds later, her eyes still fixed on the open crate as words came free of her mouth. "Potions of a type I'm unfamiliar with sans the books of old," her voice was quiet as her hand outstretched and flicked up, one such potion rising from the crate with so gentle a touch it seldom moved as ten seconds passed by. "I wish to be especially cautious whilst touching this. One can seldom tell if a potion's so unstable."

He watched as it grew nearer to her person, and it was when it was right before her that she moved closer to it. Enough so that her eyes were mere inches from the glass bottle; he wasn't an expert either, but the glasswork and differences between the other bottles he saw told them this was the epitome of handmade. As for those other bottles in the crate she'd opened, he counter eleven more. All of them were larger than the potions of the current age, and the glass work was far less uniformed than most any other he'd seen before.

"Save them for later?"

She glanced at him, past the potion. "We could," she said with a nod, her eyes going back to the potion. "Or, we could wait and review each before we move to the next crate. We'll do as you prefer, lover. You're the Peverell, after all."

Harry rolled his eyes at her tone, and he couldn't help but snicker for a fleeting few seconds. She'd known for a very long time, he supposed, but even now he remembered how she'd only said as much when he'd 'come clean' with her, after their agreement when it came to lying. There was a bit more to be told to her, perhaps, and in time, he'd do so… he just needed more time, and Grindelwald to be well and truly dead by the time that came around.

"The next crate, then," he said with a nod, and so it was. Elaine and Harry each flipped open the next crate, their magic working together with a hand each as their other hands clasped around one another.

It almost felt like their magic joined as it left their bodies, connected as they were in more than just the physical sense of the word. From his earliest memories with magic to those as of this very moment, he had yet to feel the connection he shared with Elaine, with any other individual; that connection in their mind, her feelings, the visions he'd see and the way their magic interacted had convinced him after so very long a time.

They were truly meant for one another.

"Parchment," Elaine observed after edging forward. "Some seem to be legible, others could be made so."

That was… astounding, to say the least. He'd have thought all the parchments would be destroyed or without use or purpose. For the opposite to be true meant there was a chance other information in the area could be utilised as well.

"Any idea what it's in regards to?" he couldn't help but ask as he took the few small steps forward required to stand by her side and peer down into the crate alongside her.

"Magic," Elaine simply said in reply. "This topmost piece seems to be explaining a type of ward schematic, though without thoroughly investigating it, I daren't speak conclusively as to what the ward might do. There's a chance it's in regards to the concealing magic of the property, and there's a chance it's not so much as partially related."

Harry nodded a few times to himself, and then he turned, flipped forward his satchel and held it open whilst looking at Elaine. "Throw them in," he said to her, patting the bag. "We'll transport them home and review them together, in the basement where it's safe."

Elaine seemed torn to deny herself the chance of immediately reading the wards, but after a few seconds' time, she relented and plucked one by one the parchments from the crate in question. The care she used while floating one after the other into the crate was especially soft and the actions as a result, especially so.

It took nearly three minutes or thereabouts for the couple to be finished their transferring of the parchment into his satchel; for the safety of it, he'd applied no small amount of charms to act as cushions and prevent any rips, tears or piercings that might happen before they returned home.

He was nearly tempted into bringing the whole satchel up and out of the hole; and more tempted still to apparate home, drop it off, and return here.

But he didn't do that. Instead, he made sure the satchel was firmly shut and the charms he'd applied, functional, and then the couple moved to the third and final crate of the room, the one that was nearest to the entrance and somehow, the one they'd saved for last. That broken crate was the one to blame.

And so, with a flip of their hands, they opened it as they'd done to the others, and thrice more did they do so on the opposite side of the cave.

The contents were marvellous and one, so very confusing.


Nearly an hour later from the time of their opening that final crate on the left, the pair found themselves at Peverell Manor proper, and in the basement as they'd said they'd be. It was the least important portion of their home and a place safe from the elements of the outside world, and that latter bit was especially important when it came to observing the many items they'd found.

The potions from the first crate were joined by more from another crate on the opposite side they'd opened, the parchments they possessed had also double in size on account of a second crate on that aforementioned opposite side, in another was a tome — it'd been all by its lonesome.

In the final crate, the one that'd most baffled the young lovers, was a key. It'd been in a position similar to the tome, meaning it was all by itself in the crate. The key was large and made of brass or copper, or something of that colouring he knew not, but it couldn't be used on the tome as he'd initially thought.

There wasn't a keyhole on the thing.

Thus, that left Elaine and Harry glancing at one another, each silent, each understanding the other.

"There's something we can open nearby, I'd say."

One brow of Elaine's went up at his words. "There is," she agreed. "I propose we comb the entirety of the property, underground as well as the trees if need be. Mayhaps there's more secrets that remain hidden even now. We'll not know the property nearly as well as a family with centuries of lost knowledge thereon."

Reckon she's right, he said to himself. I wish they could've been more helpful… and maybe I should apologise for stealing their home and ancestry. That could help.

Not for the first time he wondered what the true Peverells thought, and then, that thought went away when Elaine flicked open the tome so as to review the contents thereof. He peered at it with just about the same interest that Elaine had in her eyes, and together, the two read aloud the first line.

It was Latin, and roughly translated, went along the lines of; 'Spells of the Romans'

"Think there's anything useful inside?"

Elaine did something very unlike herself when the action wasn't done in teasing; she shrugged. "We'll soon find out, lover," she sat down and leaned into his side. "Read with me."

And like he always did when it came to the siren's song she could sing, he joined her.