Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes and Whatnot

We sat around the living room once more, and Bill started talking.

“I’ve been moving the family out of the Burrow, Ron. The Death Eaters know you’re with Harry, so we’re bound to be targeted. It was only a matter of time, really.”

“Where are they all?” Ron asked.

“I moved them to Aunt Muriel’s, she’s got plenty of space. Put a Fidelius Charm on her house, Dad’s Secret-Keeper. None of us can go to work, but the family’s all there and safe. It was lucky that Ginny was on holiday. If she’d been at Hogwarts, they could have taken her before we reached her. Now we know she’s safe too.”

Harry came back in the door then.

“Once Ollivander and Griphook are well enough, we’ll move them to Muriel’s too. There isn’t much room here, but she’s got plenty. Griphook’s legs are on the mend, Fleur’s given him Skele-Gro; we could probably move them in an hour or – “

“No,” said Harry and Bill looked at him, startled. “I need both of them here. I need to talk to them. It’s important.”

He sounded authoritative. We all looked at him, confused.

“I’m going to wash,” he looked down at his hands. “Then I’ll need to see them, straightaway.”

Once Harry left the room, Bill turned to us again.

“What exactly happened? Where were you that you come back with a sick wandmaker, an injured goblin, and a dead house-elf?”

I just shook my head as Ron said, “We can’t tell you Bill.”

Bill sighed and wiped a hand over his face.

He and Fleur went to the stairs when Harry came back, and we could hear them trying to get information out of him, too. The three of us went to the doorway, and stood, waiting.

“All right” Bill said. “Who do you want to talk to first?”

“Griphook, I’ll speak to Griphook first” Harry said.

“Up here, then” Bill lead the way.

Harry went a few steps before looking back and saying, “I need you three as well!”

Feeling relieved that we had a new plan, even if I didn’t know it yet, I followed Harry up the stairs, with Ron helping Hermione behind me. Bill led us into a little room with a beautiful view of the sea. Hermione sat in the chair by the dressing table, Ron on the arm. Harry stood with his back to the window, and I leaned against the wall opposite the bed.

Bill came back, carrying Griphook, and laid him on the bed. The goblin grunted a thanks and Bill left, closing the door behind him.

“I’m sorry to take you out of your bed,” said Harry. “How are your legs?”

“Painful,” said Griphook. “But mending”

“You probably don’t remember – “ Harry began.

“ – that I was the goblin who showed you to your vault, the very first time you ever visited Gringotts?” said Griphook. “I remember, Harry Potter. Even amongst goblins, you are very famous”

They looked at each other, seeming to size the other up.

“You buried the elf,” Griphook was speaking again. “I watched you from the window of the bedroom next door”

“Yes”

“You are a very unusual wizard, Harry Potter”

“In what way?”

“You dug the grave”

“So?”

Griphook didn’t answer. I couldn’t tell if he liked that Harry had dug the grave, or not.

“Griphook, I need to ask – “

“You also rescued a goblin”

“What?”

“You brought me here. Saved me”

“Well, I take it you’re not sorry?”

“No, Harry Potter, but you are a very odd wizard”

“Right. Well, I need some help, Griphook, and you can give it to me”

When the goblin made no answer, Harry went on.

“I need to break into a Gringotts vault”

What? We all stared at him.

“Break into a Gringotts vault? It is impossible”

“No, it isn’t” said Ron. “It’s been done”

“Yeah,” said Harry. “The same day I first met you, Griphook. My birthday, seven years ago.”

“The vault in question was empty at the time,” we could tell he was offended by the idea of Gringotts being broken into despite having left it. “Its protection was minimal”

“Well, the vault we need to get into isn’t empty, and I’m guessing its protection will be pretty powerful,” said Harry. “It belongs to the Lestranges”

Shocked again, Ron, Hermione, and I looked at each other.

“You have no chance,” Griphook said flatly. “No chance at all. If you seek beneath our floors, a treasure that was never yours – “

“Thief, you have been warned, beware – yeah, I know, I remember” said Harry. “But I’m not trying to get myself any treasure, I’m not trying to take anything for personal gain. Can you believe that?”

“If there was a wizard of whom I would believe that they did not seek personal gain,” said Griphook after studying Harry for a minute, “it would be you, Harry Potter. Goblins and elves are not used to the protection or the respect that you have shown this night. Not from wand-carriers”

“Wand-carriers” repeated Harry.

“The right to carry a wand,” the goblin spoke quietly, “has long been contested between wizards and goblins”

“Well, goblins can do magic without wands” said Ron.

“That is immaterial! Wizards refuse to share the secrets of wandlore with other magical beings, they deny us the possibility of extending our powers”

“Well, goblins don’t share any of their magic either,” said Ron. “You won’t tell us how to make swords and armor the way you do. Goblins know how to work metal in a way wizards have never – “

“Shut up Ron” I hissed, noticing Griphook’s expression.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Harry. “This isn’t about wizards versus goblins or any other sort of magical creature – “

Griphook laughed. “But it is, it is about precisely that! As the Dark Lord becomes ever more powerful, your race is set still more firmly above mine! Gringotts falls under Wizarding rule, house-elves are slaughtered, and who amongst the wand-carriers protests?”

“We do!” said Hermione.

“Yes, we protest” I said.

“And I’m hunted quite as much as any goblin or elf, Griphook! I’m a Mudblood!” cried Hermione.

“Don’t call yourself – “ muttered Ron.

“Why shouldn’t I? Mudblood, and proud of it! I’ve got no higher position under this new order than you have, Griphook! It was me they chose to torture, back at the Malfoys’!”

I flinched, trying to banish the terrible images and screams that flooded my brain.

“Did you know that it was Harry who set Dobby free? Did you know that we’ve wanted elves to be freed for years? You can’t want You-Know-Who defeated more than we do, Griphook!”

The goblin studied her much in the same way he had Harry.

“What do you seek within the Lestranges vault?” he asked suddenly. “The sword that lies inside it is a fake. This is the real one.” He looked down at the sword he was still carrying. “I think that you already know this. You asked me to lie for you back there.”

“But the fake sword isn’t the only thing in that vault is it?” asked Harry. “Perhaps you’ve seen the other things in there?”

“It is against our code to speak of the secrets of Gringotts. We are the guardians of fabulous treasures. We have a duty to the objects placed in our care, which were, so often, wrought by our fingers.”

He stroked the sword, and looked round at all of us.

“So young,” he said, “to be fighting so many”

“Will you help us?” said Harry. “We haven’t got a hope of breaking in without a goblin’s help. You’re our one chance”

“I shall…think about it”

“Thank you” said Harry.

“I think,” he said, settling down into the pillows, “that the Skele-Gro has finished its work. I may be able to sleep at last. Forgive me…”

“Yeah, of course” said Harry, and he took the sword of Gryffindor from beside the goblin before leaving.

“Little git,” whispered Ron once we were outside the closed door. “He’s enjoying keeping us hanging”

“It doesn’t matter Ron” I said as Hermione pulled Harry away from the door to the middle of the landing.

“Harry,” she said, “are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Are you saying there’s a Horcrux in the Lestrange’s vault?”

“Yes, Bellatrix was terrified when she thought we’d been in there, she was beside herself. Why? What did she think we’d seen, what else did she think we might have taken? Something she was petrified You-Know-Who would find out about.”

“But I thought we were looking for places You-Know-Who’s been, places he’s done something important?” said Ron. “Was he ever inside the Lestranges’ vault?”

“Let’s think outside the box now, Ron, he didn’t have all that many important places” I said.

“I don’t know whether he was ever inside Gringotts” said Harry. “He never had gold there when he was younger, because nobody left him anything. He would have seen the bank from the outside, though, the first time he ever went to Diagon Alley.”

“I think he would have envied anyone who had a key to a Gringotts vault. I think he’d have seen it as a real symbol of belonging to the Wizarding world. And don’t forget, he trusted Bellatrix and her husband. They were his most devoted servants before he fell, and they went looking for him after he vanished. He said it the night he came back, I heard him.”

Harry rubbed his scar.

“I don’t think he told Bellatrix it was a Horcrux, though. He never told Lucius Malfoy the truth about the diary. He probably told her it was a treasured possession and asked her to place it in her vault. The safest place in the world for anything you want to hide, Hagrid told me…except for Hogwarts”

“You really understand him” Ron said, shaking his head.

“Bits of him. Bits…I just wish I’d understood Dumbledore as much. But we’ll see. Come on – Ollivander now”

We followed, slightly awed. Harry knocked on the door opposite the one we just exited.

“Come in!” called a feeble voice.

The wandmaker was lying in the bed in the corner. He looked terrible, he had been in that cellar for a long time, probably tortured quite a bit as well.

“Mr. Ollivander, I’m sorry to disturb you” Harry said.

“My dear boy,” said Mr. Ollivander, his voice sounding weak, “You rescued us. I thought we would dies in that plce. I can never thank you…never thank you…enough”

“We were glad to do it. Mr. Ollivander, I need some help”

First, he asked whether it was possible to mend his wand. Unfortunately, as we had all known, it could not. It was far too damaged. Then, he asked for Mr. Ollivander to identify the wands he had taken from the Malfoys’.

The first was Bellatrix Lestrange’s. The second was Narcissa Malfoy’s. Harry handed him the last one.

“Hawthorn and unicorn hair. Ten inches precisely. Reasonably springy. This was the wand of Draco Malfoy.”

“Was?” asked Harry. “Isn’t it still his?”

“Perhaps not. If you took it – “

“ – I did – “

“ – then it may be yours. Of course, the manner of taking matters. Much also depends upon the wand itself. In general, however, where a wand has been won, its allegiance will change”

“You talk about wands like they’ve got feelings,” said Harry, “like they can think for themselves”

“The wand chooses the wizard. That much has always been clear to those of us who have studied wandlore”

“A person can still use a wand that hasn’t chosen them, though?” asked Harry.

“Oh yes, if you are any wizard at all you will be able to channel your magic through almost any instrument. The best results, however, must always come where there is the strongest affinity between wizard and wand. These connections are complex. An initial attraction, and then a mutual request for experience, the wand learing from the wizard, the wizard from the wand”

“I took this wand from Draco Malfoy by force. Can I use it safely?”

“I think so. Subtle laws govern wand ownership, but the conquered wand will usually bend its will to its new master”

“Should I use this one?” asked Ron, pulling another wand from his pocket.

“Chesnut and dragon heartstring. Nine-and-a-quarter inches. Brittle. I was forced to make this shortly after my kidnapping, for Peter Pettigrew. Yes, if you won it, it is more likely to do your bidding, and do it well, than another wand”

So that’s how they escaped. Why Lucius had sent Wormtail down there, I don’t know, but it worked out for us.

“And this holds true for all wands, does it?” asked Harry.

“I think so,” said Ollivander, watching Harry curiously. “You ask deep questions, Mr. Potter. Wandlore is a complex and mysterious branch of magic”

“So, it isn’t necessary to kill the previous owner to take true possession of a wand?”

“Necessary? No, I should not say that it is necessary to kill”

“There are legends, though. Legends about a wand – or wands – that have passed from hand to hand by murder”

Ollivander was turning pale as he whispered, “Only one wand I think”

“And You-Know-Who is interested in it, isn’t he?”

“I – how?” croaked Ollivander. “How do you know this?”

“He wanted you to tell him how to overcome the connection between our wands”

Ollivander was looking more terrified by the minute.

“He tortured me, you must understand that! The Cruciatus Curse, I – I had no choice but to tell him what I knew, what I guessed!”

“I understand,” said Harry. “You told him about the twin cores? You said he just had to borrow another wizard’s wand?”

Ollivander nodded slowly, fear still showing plainly on his face.

“But it didn’t work. Mine still beat the borrowed wand. Do you know why that is?”

“I had…never heard of such a thing. Your wand performed something unique that night. The connection of the twin cores is incredibly rare, yet why your wand should have snapped the borrowed wand, I do not know…”

“We were talking about the other wand, the wand that changes hands by murder. When You-Know-Who realized my wand had done something strange, he came back and asked about that other wand, didn’t he?”

“How do you know this?”

When Harry didn’t answer, Ollivander whispered, “Yes, he asked. He wanted to know everything I could tell him about the wand variously known as the Deathstick, the Wand of Destiny, or the Elder Wand”

I glanced at Ron and Hermione. Hermione looked shocked.

“The Dark Lord,” Ollivander continued, “had always been happy with the wand I made him – yew and phoenix feather, thirteen-and-a-half inches – until he discovered the connection of the twin cores. Now he seeks another, more powerful wand, as the noly way to conquer yours. But the Dark Lord no longer seeks the Elder Wand only for your destruction, Mr. Potter. He is determined to possess it because he believes it will make him truly invulnerable”

“And will it?”

“The owner of the Elder Wand must always fear attack, but the idea of the Dark Lord in possession of the Deathstick is, I must admit…formidable”

“Mr. Ollivander, you told You-Know-Who that Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand, didn’t you?”

He turned pale again, staring at Harry, “But how – how do you - ?”

“Never mind how I know it. You told You-Know-Who that Gregorovitch had the wand?”

“It was a rumor. A rumor, years and years ago, long before you were born! I believe Gregorovitch himself started it. You can see how good it would be for business: that he was studying and duplicating the qualities of the Elder Wand!”

“Yes, I can see that,” Harry said, standing up. “Mr. Ollivander, one last thing, and then we’ll let you get some rest. What do you know about the Deathly Hallows?”

“The – the what?”

“The Deathly Hallows”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Is this still something to do with wands?”

Ollivander’s face showed that he was telling the truth, he really had no idea what Harry was talking about.

“Thank you,” said Harry. “Thank you very much. We’ll leave you to get some rest now”

We followed Harry back down the stairs, seeing Bill, Fleur, Luna, and Dean all sitting round the dining room table. Harry nodded to them, but kept walking out into the garden, so we kept following.

“Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand a long time ago,” he said, turning to face us. “I saw You-Know-Who trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Gregorovitch didn’t have it anymore: It was stolen from him by Grindelwald. How Grindelwald found out that Gregorovitch had it, I don’t know – but if Gregorovitch was stupid enough to spread the runor, it can’t have been that difficult. And Grindelwald used the Elder Wand to become more powerful. And at the height of his power, when Dumbledore knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Grindelwald and beat him, and took the Elder Wand”

My jaw dropped open as Ron exclaimed, “Dumbledore had the Elder Wand? But then – where is it now?”

“At Hogwarts” said Harry, looking pained, I was pretty sure it was his scar again.

“But then, let’s go! Harry, let’s go and get it before he does!” Ron said.

“It’s too late for that,” Harry clutched his head. “He knows where it is. He’s there now”

“What?!” I said.

“Harry!” Ron sounded furious. “How long have you known this – why have we been wasting time? Why did you talk to Griphook first? We could have gone – we could still go – “

“No,” Harry said, falling to his knees. “Hermione’s right. Dumbledore didn’t want me to have it. He didn’t want me to take it. He wanted me to get the Horcruxes”

“The unbeatable wand, Harry!” Ron moaned.

“I’m not supposed to…I’m supposed to get the Horcruxes…”

Then, he seemed to black out. Hermione gasped.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Probably his scar” I said.

“I can’t believe he – argh – why didn’t he tell us?” Ron said.

“Ron, would he have been able to defeat You-Know-Who when his Horcruxes still remained? Even with the Elder Wand?”

“Well, maybe!”

“It doesn’t matter now. Come on, let’s get him inside”