CHAPTER ONE-HUNDRED AND ONE;

TREACHEROUS OLD BLEEDER.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

"I'm sorry," said Cassie before she could stop herself, "you mean to tell us that a.. child's fable... is the origin of the.. Deathly Hallows?"

"Not the origin of," corrected Xenophelius, "it is the Deathly Hallows, to put it plainly."

Hermione, who had just tucked away her copy of Beetle the Bard after reading out the The Tale of the Three Brothers, hesitated. "Sorry?" she asked. "How do you mean?"

   Xenophelius picked up a torn piece of parchment and procured a quill from the clutter on the coffee table before them. Upon the parchment, he drew a single, vertical line.

   "The Elder Wand," he narrated, then added a circle atop the line and said, "The Resurrection Stone," then enclosed both the line and the circle with a triangle, to make the symbol that so intrigued Hermione. "Together," he said, "the Deathly Hallows."

   "But there's no mention of the Deathly Hallows in the story," said Hermione, befuddled.

   "Well, of course not," said Xenophelius smugly. "That is a children's tale, told to amuse rather than to instruct. Those of us who understand the matters, however, recognize that the ancient story refers to three objects, or Hallows, which, if united, will make the possessor the master of Death."

   "Sounds grim," Cassie said under her breath, meeting Ron's eyes and shifting her weight in the armchair she sat in. "When you say 'master of Death–'"

   "Master," said Xenophelius, waving a hand. "Or Conqueror, or Vanquisher. Whichever term you prefer." He paused and glanced out the window. The sun was low in the sky already and dusk faded into the living room they sat in. "Luna ought to have enough Plimpies soon," he said quietly.

   "And you believe these exist?" said Hermione, sharing a glance with Harry. "The way you spoke about them implied that one really can.. be the 'Master of Death."

   "Oh." He blinked. "Of course."

   "But," she protested, "how could you possibly believe—?"

   "Luna has told me all about you, young lady," said Xenophelius. "You are, I gather, not unintelligent, but painfully limited. Narrow. Close-minded."

   "Mr. Lovegood," said Cassie, trying to nudge them back on the right track, "I think what Hermione meant was—"

   "And you," said Xenophelius, turning on Cassie. His light eyes were glossy as he stared her down. "Luna speaks highly of you, Cassiopeia. Named after the constellation, I take it, as all Black descendants are. You're unlike the rest of them, though, I can tell; pure Gryffindor, through-and-through. I imagine Luna would be proud of you."

Cassie's lips parted, her expression perfectly blank-faced as she gazed upon Xenophelius. She took a short moment of thought before Hermione spoke again.

"Mr. Lovegood, there are obviously—"

"She would be proud?" Cassie asked, her glance not having moved from Xenophelius. He had the grace to look slightly confused, so she clarified, "You said Luna would be proud of me. Why is she not proud of me, in present tense?"

"Cassie," said Hermione in a hushed voice, "it's hardly the time for a grammar lesson–"

"It's not a grammar lesson," said Cassie calmly, still keeping her eyes on Luna's father. "Just asking for clarification, yeah?"

   "I've no idea what you mean," said Xenophelius with a nervous laugh. "I just.. meant – she is proud of having a friend like you, is all—"

   "You said Luna was gathering Plimpies, Mr. Lovegood."

   "I– That, I did—"

   "It's been hours since we arrived and you went to fetch her." Cassie raised her eyebrows, tilting her head in the slightest. "How long does it take to fish for Plimpies?"

"Young girl, I—"

"And her room," Cassie continued breezily, ignoring him. "It's dusty, I saw it when we came up here. Everything in her room's covered in a film of dust; why would such a thing happen, if she were here and living in her room? You deflect our questions when we ask about her. Where is she?"

"Cassie–" began Hermione worriedly, but Cassie shot her a glance that shut her down immediately.

"Mr. Lovegood, I don't think you've been lying to us this entire time," said Cassie, shaking her head, "but I think you haven't been entirely truthful as to where your daughter is."

   He had paled considerably. "M-my daughter will be returning s—"

   "I don't believe you." Cassie leaned in. "I'll ask again: Xenophelius, where is Luna?"

   After a moment's silence, in which Xenophelius had swallowed nervously and opened his mouth to reply, the oven from downstairs dinged; he was saved by the bell. He jumped up as suddenly as if his arse had been stung and muttered something about the dinner being ready.

   Cassie stood as well, drawing her wand and gearing up to follow him downstairs, when Hermione placed a hand on her arm. "Cassie, what are you doing?"

   "I don't trust him, Hermione," she said, her voice low. "He's been lying to us this whole time, can't you see? I just—"

"Lay off the old bloke," said Ron in a quiet voice. "The war's been stressful on us all, yeah?"

Cassie looked between Ron, who was giving her a sympathetic, tight-lipped smile, and Hermione, who begrudgingly seemed to agree with Ron. Harry caught Cassie's eyes, his own filled with curiosity.

"Harry?" she asked quietly.

"I noticed it too," he said. "Luna's bedroom. And he only set the tea out for five people, not six."

"See?" said Cassie. "He's hiding something—"

   The printing press, that Cassie had forgotten about, gave a great bang and numerous Quibblers came streaming across the floor from beneath the tablecloth. Hermione stooped down and picked up one of the magazines.

   She paled. "Look at this."

   The front of The Quibbler carried a picture of Harry, captioned with the words Undesirable Number One and subtitled with the reward money.

   "The Quibbler's going for a new angle, then?" Harry himself asked coldly, dropping the magazine. "Bet that's what he was doing in the garden – sending an owl to the Ministry."

   A shattering noise came from behind and the four of them spun, drawing their wands; Mr. Lovegood stood at the top of the stairs, a broken glass tray at his feet; cracked and dripping bowls of soup at his feet. He licked his lips.

   "What the hell is this?" said Cassie, gesturing with her wand to the many Quibblers strewn across the floor.

   Xenophelius swallowed. "They took my Luna," he whispered finally. "Because of what I've been writing — they took my Luna and I don't know where she is, what they've done to her. But they might give her back to me if I– if I—"

   "If you hand over Harry?" suggested Hermione, her eyes narrowed.

Luna's father licked his lips. "And Cassiopeia," he admitted softly.

   "No deal," said Ron flatly. "Get out of the way, we're leaving."

   Xenophelius looked ghastly as he jumped in front of the staircase, arms spread to keep them from slipping past him. "They will be here at any moment, you must not leave – I must save Luna, I cannot lose her — you must not leave."

"Get out of the way," said Cassie, leveling her wand arm. "We aren't afraid of hurting you."

Just as Harry placed a hand atop Cassie's wand arm, Hermione screamed, "DOWN!" as Xenophelius had drawn his wand and tried to hit them with a Stunning Spell — it soared over their heads and collided with the Erumpent horn on his wall, resulting in a colossal explosion. The sound of it nearly burst Cassie's eardrums. Fragments of wood and paper and rubble flew in all directions.

Cassie flew back, landing roughly on her back, the action knocking the air directly from her lungs and rendering her coughing on the floor for breath. She tried to raise herself, but she could neither see nor breathe due to the dust. She began to crawl, still on her stomach, toward the last place she had seen Harry, when someone seized her shoulder and dragged her upwards.

She gave a shout of protest, the dust still too thick for her to see who her ambusher was. It took her a beat, but her senses cleared enough to struggle against their grip; they held strong, though, and she could barely wriggle around, much less break out.

"Look!" cried the voice of Xenophelius Lovegood from next to Cassie, thrusting her down the stairs. "Look, I tell you, they're just upstairs—"

Another collapse cut him off, and the stairs caved in upon themselves just behind Cassie — she tripped and stumbled over to land on the floor. The debris from the second crash blocked the entryway to the second floor.

"Nutter!" said one of the Death Eaters. "He's abs—" He caught sight of Cassie and his eyes widened, bushy and dusty eyebrows jumping up on his forehead. "Oi, who's this?"

"It's Black!" wailed Xenophelius. "It's her, I swear to you!"

   A wand was pointed in her face and after a faint wave of it, the white dust covering her like a statue vanished, leaving Cassie, wide-eyed and caught like a deer in headlights.

   "Well!" exclaimed one of the Death Eaters kneeling before her and propping his wand beneath her chin. "The rumors are true. Look at that, Selwyn. It seems she lives."

   "I told you!" said the wizard called Selwyn, gleeful. "When that breakout happened at Hogwarts, I told—"

   "I want my daughter!" cried Xenophelius, tears streaking the dust coating his face. "Give me my daughter; I have Potter and the rest of his friends up there!"

   Cassie was still being held at wandpoint by the so far unnamed wizard, who eyed her with a mix of curiosity, craving, and amusement.

   "Yeah?" said Selwyn. "Go and get 'em for us, and we'll give you back your precious Luna. But listen, old man, if you've got a buddy up there and you're planning on ambushing us, we'll make sure there's enough left of your daughter for you to bury."

   Lovegood gave another wail and began to magic his way through the rubble on the stairs, small sniffles coming from his direction every once in a while.

   Meanwhile, the Death Eaters — four, in total — circled Cassie, all smirking down upon her in a way that made her feel like she had a very low chance of making it out of the Lovegood's home safely. One of the Death Eaters dug his wand into her shoulder painfully. When she gave a hmph of disapproval and pulled her shoulder back, he raised his eyebrows.

   "Oh, she thinks she's in charge," he said teasingly and with the faint air of humoring her. He raised his hands, mock-defensively. "Go on, then. Show us who's boss, Black."

   Cassie narrowed her eyes on the one that had provoked her. Her mind flickered to the wand still sitting in her back pocket, unable to be seen by the Death Eaters – but four against one? She had a better chance of defeating a three-headed dog. And she had never had much practice with wandless magic..

   "Go on!" repeated Selwyn. "She's cute when she's angry, yeah? All grim-faced like she could beat us, or sumthin'—"

   "I'm almost through!" said Lovegood, recapturing the Death Eaters' attention. They crowded the bottom of the staircase, leaving Cassie alone on the floor. She didn't dare try to run.

   Just as Xenophelius and the Death Eaters gave a shout of delight, yet another explosion rent the air and the ceiling gave through — Cassie had barely a split second to register it before a rushed hand took hold of her shoulder and Disapparated her away.

   When she landed, she spun, holding her wand out to whomever had taken her, before she realized it was only Hermione and Harry. Cassie exhaled a faint sigh of relief, dropping her wand as Hermione wasted no time before beginning the safety charms.

   "That treacherous old bleeder!" said Ron angrily, emerging from beneath the Invisibility Cloak and tossing it to Harry. "Hermione, you're a total genius, I can't believe we got out of that!"

   "I hope they don't kill him," moaned Hermione between her enchantments. "It's why I wanted them to get a glimpse of Harry before we left, so they knew he wasn't lying!"

   "Why hide me, then?" asked Ron.

   "You're supposed to be in bed with spattergroit, Ron! They've kidnapped Luna because her father supported Harry — what would happen to your family if they knew you're with him?"

   "And what about your mum and dad?"

   "They're in Australia. Should be alright, they don't know anything."

   "You're brilliant," said Cassie, rubbing her eyes. "Really brilliant, Hermione."

   "Seconded," said Ron, and Harry agreed with fervent nodding.

   "What about Luna?" asked Hermione, who had become solemn at once.

   "Well," said Ron, "if they're telling the truth and she's still alive—"

   "Don't say that!" squealed Hermione. "She must be alive, she must!"

   "Then she'll be in Azkaban, I expect," said Ron. "Whether she survives the place, though..."

   "She will," said Harry forcefully; Cassie was hiding her face into his chest, fighting off the stinging of her eyes. Luna could not be dead. Cassie wouldn't allow it.

"I hope you're right, Harry," she whispered into his chest, shutting her eyes. "I really do."