Another Year at Hogwarts

I opened my eyes and was greeted by the bright rays of the sun beaming through the one window in Luna’s room. I groaned as I closed my eyes and snuggled my face against the pillow I had my head on.

“Are you awake, yet?”

My eyes snapped open and I jolt up in surprise. I looked before me and saw Draco sitting on the bed with only his turtleneck shirt on. As I looked down to where I was just lying, I found his jacket folded up as a pillow for me.

“Had a good night sleep?” Draco asked. “You must have been tired. It’s nearly noon.”

“How are you feeling?” I asked. “How’s your arm?”

“Better,” Draco said as he looked to his left shoulder. His shirt still had the rip in it, and his bare skin was showing.

“I can go ask Mr. Lovegood if he has any dittany—”

“I don’t need it,” Draco sighed as he looked away from me and down at his hands.

“Here, let me mend your shirt,” I offered.

“We need to get back,” he said as he started to throw the covers off himself. “Come on, let’s get going.”

“What are you planning to do?” I asked as he stood up. “You’re too weak to Apparate right now.”

“Come on,” Draco said as he grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door.

“Draco!” I exclaimed as he opened the door and walked out. I hurried after him and went down the stairs after him.

“Draco, wait!” I exclaimed.

I quickly reached out and grabbed onto Draco’s arm, but he continued onwards, dragging me down the stairs with him.

“Draco!” I yelled as we reached the second floor of the house.

“Is there something wrong?” Xenophilus asked as he turned from his desk.

“Mr. Lovegood!” I gasped. “Sorry for the noise. Um…”

“Thank you for your hospitality,” Draco suddenly said to my surprise. “We really must be going now.”

“Are you sure you are well enough travel?” Xenophilus questioned.

“Yes,” Draco replied before I could say otherwise.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, and everyone in the room froze.

Xenophilus slowly got up from his seat and headed towards the stairs. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he said as he descended the stairs into the kitchen.

“Draco, stay here a moment,” I said as I quiet followed Xenophilus downstairs.

I descended the spiraling staircase and down into the colorful kitchen below. I did my best and hid in the shadows of the staircase as I peered to the front door. I felt my heart stop the moment I saw them in the doorway: Hermione, Ron and Harry.

“Can we come in?” Harry asked.

I quickly and quietly went back up the stairs as Xenophilus nodded and allowed Harry and the others into the house.

“We have to get out of here,” I whispered to Draco as I reached the sitting room floor.

“What’s going on?” he asked as I grabbed his arm and headed up the stairs to Luna’s bedroom.

“Potter’s here,” I said.

“What?” Draco gasped. He my arm and stopped me midway on the stairs. “Potter’s here? We have to call the Dark Lord then!”

“We can’t!” I exclaimed.

“And why not?”

“Just listen to yourself!” I snapped. “You’re not like all the other Death Eaters. I know that you’re not like them. You care! I also know that you don’t want to be blamed for the death of Potter, so let’s just go.”

“If the Dark Lord finds out—”

“He won’t!” I assumed. “Now, come on. We have to get out of here before Potter and them sees us,” I said as I tugged Draco upstairs.

“Wait!” Draco demanded. “Let’s at least listen to what they talk about.”

“But—”

“It’s either that,” Draco interjected, “or I call the Dark Lord.”

I sighed heavily as I sat down at the top of the stairs. Draco then came up and sat down beside me just as Harry and the others came into the sitting room.

“This…this is a lovely home you have,” I heard Hermione comment as she, Ron, Harry and Xenophilus came to the second floor.

“Um…well…sit down. Don’t mind the mess,” Xenophilus said ignoring Hermione’s compliment.

“Um…we—we were wondering if you could help us with something, Mr. Lovegood,” Harry began.

“Help? Hm…help you, huh. Well…helping Harry Potter… Well, that’s rather dangerous, isn’t it?” Xenophilus replied with a nervous laugh.

“Aren’t you the one who keeps telling everyone it’s their first duty to help Harry in that magazine of yours?” Ron questioned.

“Well…I’m afraid that I might not be much help for you three,” Xenophilus hesitantly replied.

“Where’s Luna?” Hermione questioned as she looked around the room.

“Luna?” Xenophilus gasped. His fingers nervously intertwined together as he said,
“Um…L—Luna, she…she’ll be along.”

“Anyways, we’re here to ask—” Hermione suddenly stopped. “Is that an Erumpent horn? Those things are dangerous and can cause large explosions!” Hermione warned. “You should probably get rid of it.”

“No!” Xenophilus replied. “It’s not an Erumpent horn. It belongs to a Crumble-Horned Snorkack.”

“‘Crumble-Horned Snorkack’?” Ron repeated.

“Yes,” Xenophilus said as he got up from his seat and walked around the room nervously. “They’re magical creatures that are said to live in Sweden. They…they’re hard to find… I made an expedition to Sweden in search of these creatures one summer… Unfortunately, I came back empty handed… I…I bought this for Luna as a present,” Xenophilus went on to say.

There was then an awkward silence in the room, before the sipping of tea was heard.

“So…where did you say Luna was?” Harry asked.

“Luna? Oh…she, uh…she’s probably out in the garden,” Xenophilus answered. “I’ll—I’ll go get her.” With that, Xenophilus descended the stairs and dashed out the front door.

“What a coward!” Ron burst out the moment the front door was heard closing. “Luna’s got ten times his guts!”

“He’s probably just afraid, Ron,” Harry suggested. “Afraid of what might happen to him and Luna if Death Eaters find out that I was here.”

“Well, I agree with Ron,” Hermione said. “He’s an awful old hypocrite! He tells everyone else to help you, yet he doesn’t!”

“Well, we need him, so, we’ll just have to put up with it,” Harry said.

The front door was then heard again, and Xenophilus started up the stairs. As he came into the room Harry, Ron and Hermione were in, he asked, “Well, Mr. Potter, what can I help you with?”

“Well, it’s about the necklace you were wearing at the wedding a few months back,” Harry explained. “It looked like…um…some kind of symbol…”

“Do you mean this?” Xenophilus was heard saying.

“Yes!” Harry suddenly exclaimed.

“This symbol…it is to identify those who believe and or seek the Deathly Hallows,” Xenophilus explained.

“Do you know what they’re talking about?” Draco whispered to me.

“The Deathly Hallows?” I replied while glancing at Draco for a second.

“Yes. Do you know what it is?” Draco asked.

“Just…just listen,” I said as I turned my attention away from Draco and back to Harry and the others.

“The Deathly Hallows?” Ron questioned.

“Yes. You’re all familiar with ‘The Tale of the Three Brothers’…correct?” Xenophilus asked.

“Yes,” Hermione and Ron answered in unison, but Harry shook his head and said that he didn’t know what the story was about.

“I have the story here,” Hermione said as she rummaged through her bag. I heard her flipping through a book before beginning to read the story aloud.

“I’ve heard this story before,” Draco whispered to me. “It’s the tale about the three brothers who cheated Death, correct?”

“Yes,” I replied while turning to Draco. “The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility.”

“Why would Potter want to know about the Deathly Hallows, then?” Draco wondered to himself. His head then jolt up and he turned his attention to me. “Is Potter trying to obtain all three items?

“I—I don’t know,” I said shaking my head.

“Well, if Potter’s planning to go against the Dark Lord, being the master of death would be only way he could survive, right?”

“I—I guess…”

“…those are the Deathly Hallows,” Xenophilus said as Hermione finished reading the story.

“I—I still don’t quite understand, sir,” Harry said.

Draco and I pressed ourselves against the door to Luna’s room as we saw Xenophilus pass the bottom of the stairs, followed by Harry, Hermione and Ron. We saw Xenophilus grab a piece of parchment and began to draw something on it, while explaining to Harry and the others the significance of the symbol and its connection to the Deathly Hallows.

“That…that mark,” Hermione said as she took a step closer to the piece of parchment Xenophilus had drawn the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on, “was on a grave in Godric’s Hollow…” She then asked Xenophilus, “Mr. Lovegood, does the Peverell Family have anything to do with the Deathly Hallows?”

Xenophilus, for a moment, glanced up the stairs and met my gaze. He quickly diverted his eyes and walked pass the trio as he explained the Peverell brothers were thought to be the original owners of the Deathly Hallows.

“Draco, I think it’s time we’ve left,” I whispered, knowing exactly what was going to happen in the next few moments.

“We can’t leave just yet,” Draco whispered back just as Xenophilus headed down into the kitchen.

“No, I honestly believe it’s time we’ve left,” I said as Harry, Hermione and Ron began walking around the room.

“What do you think is upstairs?” Hermione was heard asking.

“Luna’s room?” Ron suggested.

“You two keep watch,” Harry said. “I’m going to go have a quick look. Something doesn’t seem right…”

“All right,” Ron agreed.

“Shoot,” Draco whispered as he and I quickly got up and snuck into Luna’s room. “We need to hide.”

“Over there!” I exclaimed while pointing to a large dressing in the far back of the room.

The two of us quickly ducked behind the large dresser just in time because Harry had just walked into the room. We both crouched down and pressed ourselves as close to the wall as we could.

“He’s coming this way,” I whispered to Draco.

“Well, I knew we couldn’t avoid them forever,” Draco said as he pulled out his wand.

“Harry!” Hermione suddenly called from downstairs. “You should come down here!”

For a moment, Harry didn’t move. But then, I heard him sigh as he turned around and headed back downstairs.

“That was close,” I sighed.

“Too close…” added Draco.

I then turned to him and stared at him sternly before asking, “Can we leave now?”

“And how exactly are you planning to do that?” he questioned. “I can’t Apparate, remember? Then again…” Draco said as he looked around the room, “there is a window.”

My eyes widened. “You’re not suggesting we jump out of it, are you?”

“Why? You scared?”

“I don’t like heights,” I replied.

Before Draco could say, there was a large explosion heard from beneath us. The ground below us shifted, and Draco and I rushed to get to the other side of the room. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough, and the ground fell beneath me. I let out a terrified scream as I began to fall through the hole in the ground.

“VICTORIA!” Draco shouted as he hurried back and grabbed onto my hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked dangling in the air.

“What the hell do you mean?” Draco shouted. “I’m obviously saving you.”

“You’re arm—”

“My arm’s fine! Now come on, pull yourself up!” Draco ordered.

I quickly did my best to pull myself up because I could hear Harry and the others coming back up the stairs. Draco and I then rushed to the other side of Luna’s room and stayed there and listened to Hermione, Harry and Ron below us.

“That bloody little a—” Ron began.

“We have to get out of here,” Harry interrupted. “If not—”

Harry didn’t get to finish his sentence, because of the loud thud that came from downstairs. The trio quickly went and hid behind some books as Xenophilus argued with someone downstairs. Then suddenly, the arguing stopped and Xenophilus’ scream was heard echoing throughout the house.

“Hermione!” Harry exclaimed as he reached out and took hold of her arm before she could reach the stairs. “You can’t.”

“They’re torturing him, Harry!” Hermione exclaimed.

“We have to get out of here,” Harry reminded.

“Stop Selwyn!” someone from the first floor ordered over Xenophilus’ scream. “There are other people in the house.”

“Other people?” the man named Selwyn asked.

“Yeah. Looks like Potter might actually be here after all.”

“Head upstairs and bring me down Harry Potter,” Selwyn ordered. “But if this is a plot—a trick, if you have people waiting up there to ambush us, we’ll see if we can spare a bit of your daughter for you to bury.”

“Hermione,” Ron whispered.

“I know,” she said.

Just as Xenophilus came up the stairs, Ron grabbed him from behind, and Hermione quickly pointed her wand at him and wiped his memory. Harry and Ron quickly moved Xenophilus aside as Hermione blasted a whole through the floor.

“Come on, then!” Hermione shouted as she jumped through the hole onto the first floor. Harry and Ron quickly followed. It was only a few moments later that two Death Eaters came onto the second floor.

“Damn it!” the older man with gray hair shouted.

“Travers and Selwyn,” Draco whispered.

“You know them?” I asked.

“They’re Death Eaters,” Draco replied.

“There are still other people here,” the older gentleman said as he looked around. He then walked over to Xenophilus and grabbed him by his white hair and demanded to know who else was in the house.

“Up…upstairs,” Xenophilus weakly answered.

“Selwyn,” Travers said.

Draco and I then heard someone coming up the stairs, and we didn’t care to move from where we were. The door then opened, and there stood Selwyn.

“Well, well, well,” the man laughed, “if it isn’t young Draco and little miss Victoria.”