Chapter 16: The Elder Wand

There was a knock on the door. Tom and Lily looked up from their dinner in surprise, not expecting any guests. A couple years had passed since they'd graduated from Hogwarts, and the two of them were happily engaged and living together in the small but cozy home they rented together in Godric's Hollow. Life was simple and happy. They were often visited by their many close friends and family members, never requiring them to announce their visits in advance. Their favorite people were always welcome. But what was worrying to them in this particular instance was the urgency of the knock. It came in loud, and Tom counted at least five knocks in quick succession.

Tom got up and took a quick look through the peephole, seeing a familiar face on the other side of the door before opening it to greet his surprise guest. "Uncle Morfin! What a surprise. Would you like to come in?"

His uncle nodded and walked past Tom, into the house. It was then that Tom noticed the worried expression on his uncle's face.

"Lily, Uncle Morfin is here," Tom called to the kitchen.

"What a nice surprise," Lily said as she walked into the sitting room. "We were just about to have dinner, would you like to join us?"

Uncle Morfin shook his head. It was out of character for him to be this speechless. "I'm sorry to bother you both. I won't stay long, but I have something important to tell you," he said.

"Is something wrong?" Tom asked.

Uncle Morfin had sadness in his eyes as he said, "Why don't we have a seat?"

They sat, Tom feeling like he had a pit in his stomach. He'd never known his uncle to seem so concerned.

"I hoped I'd never have to tell you this part of our family heritage," Uncle Morfin said. "But perhaps it was irresponsible of me not to. At any rate, I have to tell you now. You need to know."

"Uncle Morfin, you're scaring me," said Tom. Lily gripped his hand and squeezed, her face also riddled with worry.

"I know, Tom, I'm sorry," said Uncle Morfin. "There are evil forces at work. Whispers of someone seeking great power. Someone searching for those who have Slytherin's blood running through their veins."

"Like you and Tom?" Lily asked. "What would someone like that want with Slytherin's descendants?"

"That's what people are wondering," said Uncle Morfin. "The ones asking questions won't say what they want with us, but I know exactly what they're after. They want the Elder Wand."

"I don't understand," said Tom. "What's the Elder Wand, and why would anyone need us to get it? Is it another family heirloom?"

"In a sense," said Uncle Morfin. "The Elder Wand is a wand that Salazar Slytherin had specially made. It was crafted from the wood of an enchanted elder tree, and has a Thestral hair at its core. It's said to be the most powerful wand in existence. In the wrong hands, it could be devastating for all of humanity." A shiver went up Tom's spine.

"Where is it now?" asked Lily.

"Slytherin recognized that it had the power to do a lot of good for the world, but could easily become a weapon of mass destruction as well," Uncle Morfin said. "So, he hid it away, in a cave on a cliff overlooking the sea. And he made it so that only one of his direct descendants would be able to get it."

Tom paused for a minute, trying to process everything he was hearing. "So, someone wants the Elder Wand, and they need someone with Slytherin's blood, someone like us, to get it?"

Uncle Morfin nodded. "Exactly. Someone intends to find one of Slytherin's heirs, take them to the cave by the sea, and drain their lifeforce to get the Elder Wand. For that is the price of freeing the Elder Wand; one of Slytherin's descendants must pay with their life."

Lily gasped. "Why?" she demanded. "Why would Slytherin have done that?"

"It is said that it was his way of ensuring that the wand was only to be used when the world needed it most," Uncle Morfin explained. "Only one of his descendants who had no intention to use it for themselves could get it. They would make the decision to give their life so that another could wield it, and save humanity. It would have to be a situation so dire that it was worth the sacrifice."

"But now… Now there's someone looking to force one of Slytherin's descendents to make the sacrifice. To get the Elder Wand for themselves," said Tom.

"Yes," Uncle Morfin said, his expression somber.

"Who is it?" Lily asked. "Who is this person who's after the Elder Wand?"

Uncle Morfin shook his head. "No one knows. Whoever it is has already amassed a group of followers. They've sent their minions out into the world to try and track down information for them. The ones asking questions refuse to give up anything about their master's identity."

"What a coward," Lily muttered.

"I agree with you there," said Uncle Morfin. "Though something tells me they might start feeling a little braver if they had the Elder Wand in their hands."

"So, we're in danger," said Tom. "Us and anyone else who descends from Slytherin, whether they know it or not. And if this person gets their hands on any of us, everyone else will be in danger, too."

"I'm so sorry, Tom," Uncle Morfin said. "I came as soon as I found out that folks were looking into this. I never expected something like this to happen, I didn't even think many people knew about the Elder Wand. But lineage can be hard to track through a thousand years. The Gaunts are one of the few families who can, and they've been bragging about it for generations. We've got a target on our backs."

"Tom's lineage may be a bit harder to track," Lily said hopefully. She ran her thumb over Tom's hand in a soothing gesture. "Given that he didn't even know about his own heritage for most of his life."

"I can only hope that that's true," said Uncle Morfin. But Tom knew as well as anyone that if Lily had been able to track his family ties back to the Gaunts, anyone else could as well if they were determined enough.

Tom and Lily locked eyes, and Tom knew they were both thinking the same thing. What would all of this mean for their unborn child?

Harry's head was spinning. He barely noticed when the memory ended and his consciousness returned to the Room of Requirement, the journal gripped tightly in his hands. His whole world felt like it was turning upside down. Everything he thought he knew about his parentage, which wasn't much to begin with, was a lie. His biological father was not James Potter, but Tom. The fact remained that Harry had no idea why James's name was the one on his birth certificate, why his parents felt the need to keep Tom a secret from their son. And how many people knew about this? Did Aunt Petunia? Did Uncle Severus?

As if all of that wasn't enough to process, Harry now knew why Tom had said that he was in danger. Not only that, but the rest of the world would be too if this unknown evil got their hands on that wand. He needed to tell someone else about this, as it was all too much to keep contained in his head alone.

Ron and Hermione were working on their homework in the Gryffindor Common Room when Harry found them. Or, at least, Hermione was working on homework while Ron doodled in the margins of his textbooks. But they both stopped what they were doing as Harry ran up to them, his breathing heavy. He'd hurried over from the Room of Requirement as fast as he could.

"What happened to you?" Ron asked.

"Did you watch the next memory?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, still feeling like he was in a daze. "We need to talk. Somewhere private," he said.

"Our dormitory should be empty, the others are out," Ron said quickly.

"Let's go," said Harry. Ron and Hermione exchanged glances as they scooped up their books and notes and followed Harry up to the fifth year boys' dorm.

Harry closed the door behind them as Ron and Hermione sat on Ron's bed. He then sat down on his own bed, facing his friends, and took a deep breath, not sure where to begin.

"Tom is my father," Harry blurted out. His friends' eyes widened in shock.

"What?" said Ron.

"How?" said Hermione.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "I don't know why they lied to everyone about it. I'm sure another memory will explain it, but I can hardly believe it. I never really knew my parents, but now I suddenly feel like a different person. Like I didn't understand how much of my sense of self came from being James and Lily's son."

Hermione nodded sympathetically. "Everyone wants to know their own story, Harry. Especially if stories are all you have of your parents."

"Yeah, mate, this is huge," Ron agreed. "Anyone would feel shaken up about news like that."

"Yeah, well, that's not the only news," said Harry. He told his friends the story of the Elder Wand. About how it was the most powerful wand in existence, that Salazar Slytherin had hidden it in a cave somewhere, and only one of his heirs could retrieve it, but it would require giving up their own life. Then he told them about the evil forces at work, the followers of the one who seeked the Elder Wand for their own selfish purposes. The one who sought to find one of Slytherin's descendents and force them to make the sacrifice so they could get their hands on the ultimate magical weapon.

"Blimey, Harry," Ron said when he was finished. "It's got to be Voldemort, doesn't it? The one who's after the wand."

"That's what I'm thinking, too," said Harry. It made the most sense. Voldemort famously sought immense power, and had a large group of followers. Not to mention that this could finally be the explanation of why he'd killed Harry's parents, if James could still be called his parent. Perhaps Voldemort had found out about Harry's true paternity and had come for him, but James and Lily had gotten in his way. Of course, how Harry had managed to escape his clutches still remained a mystery.

Hermione seemed to be lost in thought. "So, if you have to be Slytherin's descendent to get the wand, and if your biological father is a member of the Gaunt family, who are known for being descended from Slytherin… Then that means…"

"Someone could use me to get the Elder Wand," Harry confirmed.

Hermione took a deep breath. "And someone, be it Voldemort or whoever else, clearly knows this. You've been the target of multiple dementor attacks over the past few months, and after the first one Tom suddenly showed up for the first time ever to warn you that you were in danger. They're not going to stop until they have you, Harry."

"Bloody hell, Hermione. How's that supposed to help him feel any better?" Ron asked.

"It's not," said Hermione. "Harry, you're practically a sitting duck if you stay here. We should leave the school, go into hiding. Find whoever it is that's after the wand and defeat them before it's too late. I'll start packing, what do we need? Food, of course, that's obvious, and we'll need shelter. Is there anywhere in Hogwarts where we could get an old tent or something? Maybe we could try the Room of Requirement, it could get us the supplies we need. I'll need to make a list…"

"Hermione, slow down," Ron cut in.

"He can't stay here!" Hermione insisted. "It's not safe, he's in danger."

"If I could weigh in," Harry said. "I don't want to run. I'd rather face this threat head on."

"We don't know what we're dealing with here, Harry," said Hermione. "You could die. And then everything would get worse from there! We're dealing with a situation where dying would only be the beginning of the end."

"It's got to be Voldemort that we're dealing with, doesn't it?" said Ron. "Who else fits the profile?"

"Well, Voldemort is the most evil dark wizard in all of history, isn't he?" Hermione pointed out. "We shouldn't underestimate him."

"He never shows up, though, does he?" said Harry. "He always sends in his followers to do his dirty work, and we've always managed to handle them in the past."

"That's true," Ron said with a grin. "Remember what happened in our first year?"

Hermione finally cracked a smile. "When Professor Quirrell ended up being one of Voldemort's followers who was secretly trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone for his 'master?'"

"And somehow we ended up having to be the ones to deal with that because nobody would take us seriously when we tried to warn them," Harry said.

"Yeah, and then all of those protections the professors put in place to protect the stupid thing only ended up getting in our way when we tried to go after him," said Ron.

"That's true, they did nothing at all to stop Quirrell," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Of course they didn't stop us, either, and we were only first years."

"And then in our second year, Voldemort somehow convinced a giant spider in the Forbidden Forest to do his bidding," Harry reminded them.

Ron shuddered. "Why did it have to be spiders? I still have nightmares about that monster."

"If you think it was tough for you, imagine being Ginny," said Hermione. "She's the one who was kidnapped by the spiders to lure us out to the forest so they could try to capture us, too."

"She was unconscious the whole time, what's she got to be scared of?" said Ron.

"Somehow we ended up being the ones to deal with all of that, too," said Harry. "And that was after we tried to get Professor Lockheart to help and he tried to wipe our memories instead."

"I still can't believe he was a complete fraud the whole time," Hermione pouted.

"Not one of your better crushes," Ron muttered.

"I did not have a crush on him!" Hermione insisted, though she was blushing.

Ron's jaw suddenly set in an angry expression. "I'd never felt more violated than I had in our third year," he said.

"Me neither, actually," said Harry. "How were we supposed to know that your dumb rat was one of Voldemort's followers in disguise?"

"Ugh, he was spying on us on Voldemort's behalf for years!" Hermione exclaimed. "I've never been so mad at a rodent."

"He'd still be spying on us if Fred and George hadn't found the Marauder's Map," said Harry.

"I still remember the looks on their faces when they asked me why some man named 'Peter Pettigrew' was hanging around in our room all the time," Ron said with a laugh.

"To be fair, we were pretty freaked out about it too, at the time," said Harry.

"I still am," Hermione said with a shiver. "I feel like I can never trust an animal again."

Harry sighed. "And then there was… last year." Ron and Hermione's smiles faded as they looked at Harry sympathetically. "The Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort's followers tricked the Goblet of Fire into entering me, even though all of the school champions had already been picked."

"I still can't believe they forced you to compete. It was completely unfair, all of the other contestants were seventh years," said Hermione.

"I can't believe the first task was stealing an egg from a dragon," said Ron. "It's like they were actively trying to kill you all."

"It certainly felt that way," Harry muttered. "They made me face a dragon, then they made me face all the mermaids in the Black Lake, who are extremely vicious, by the way. I could have drowned or been skewered by their spears."

"The whole thing is a totally barbaric tradition," Hermione said. "There's a reason they stopped holding it. Whoever decided to revive the tournament should be ashamed of themselves. Cedric's blood is on their hands."

Harry nodded, inclined to agree, but he didn't know if he would ever stop blaming himself, at least in part, for Cedric Diggory's death. He'd been the real Hogwarts champion, smart, talented, and beloved by many. Unbeknownst to Harry at the time, Voldemort's followers had been working behind the scenes during the final task. All champions were to navigate a vast and dangerous maze, with the trophy in the center. The first person to make it to the trophy won the tournament. But it had been stacked in Harry's favor, with Voldemort's followers sabotaging his competition at every turn. All of this was done with the goal of getting Harry to touch the trophy, which they'd secretly enchanted to make it a portkey that would whisk him away and bring him right into Voldemort's clutches. Despite this, they had underestimated the resourcefulness of Cedric Digory. He made it to the trophy first, and he alone had been delivered to where Voldemort's followers gathered, waiting for Harry. When the wrong boy showed up, they'd simply killed him and walked away from their defeat. It was such a senseless loss of life, and Harry had lived every day since knowing that it was supposed to be him instead.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione said gently. "I shouldn't have brought him up, I wasn't thinking. I know we haven't talked much about what happened."

"It's okay," Harry said. "We should feel okay talking about him. Honor his memory." He wanted to be okay talking about Cedric. And hopefully someday he would be.

"You were right though, Harry," Ron said, getting back around to Harry's original point. "Voldemort never bothered to show up for any of those incidents, and his followers were never a match for us."

"That's true enough," Hermione conceded. "But I do think he's becoming more desperate. If this is him trying to get the wand, using dementors is taking things a step further. Everyone knows they're under Ministry control, so if he's stealing them out from under the Ministry's nose, he's getting bolder."

"Bolder, and yet still not gutsy enough to face me himself," said Harry. "And I think that trying to get to me here at Hogwarts has been a big part of his mistake. This is our home turf. Despite everything that's been going on here this year, I still think Hogwarts is the safest place for me if Voldemort is after me."

Hermione nodded. "Okay, you may have a point. Can I still pack a bag in case we need to leave at a moment's notice?"

Ron shrugged. "Fine by me," he said. "You know, Harry, we've been ignoring the coolest thing about all of this."

"The cool part?" Harry repeated.

"Yeah, you're the descendent of one of the four Hogwarts founders. That's wicked, even if it is the kind of weird one," said Ron.

Harry smiled. Ron was right, being related to a founder was actually pretty cool. Harry pulled out the locket, his family heirloom, and slipped it over his head and around his neck, tucking it beneath his shirt for safekeeping.