The stone on the desk looked innocuous enough, Sirius thought. Dark and oval shaped, it didn't look anything special.
He looked across the desk at Dumbledore who stared at the stone with so much longing that it gave Sirius the creeps. His gaze quickly resettled on Bertie to his right who wore a grim expression.
"You're telling me this is the Resurrection Stone out of some old children's tale of the Hallows?" Sirius said sceptically.
"The Hallows are very real." Dumbledore said, lifting his gaze from the stone for the first time since they'd entered Bertie's office.
The small cramped space didn't scream 'office of the Head of the DOM,' instead it seemed more suited for a researcher who preferred books to people. Every inch of wall space was covered in bookshelves stacked high and deep with books and journals. The desk was small with hardly any wood showing under the mountain of parchment and more books; two plain chairs took up the available floor space in front, a comfortable worn leather office chair took up the space behind. It suited Bertie.
Bertie sighed heavily and nodded in agreement with Dumbledore. "The story of the Peverells is quite based in truth, Sirius." He sank down into his chair, looking old. "You know it?"
"It was Regulus's favourite story. He wanted another brother so we'd make three. Mother laughed at him." Sirius said in a clipped tone. He had read the story for nights on end to his little brother and they had played at being the brothers or Sirius had played at being Death and Regulus had played at being the hero Ignotus who managed to hide from him.
"Three brothers came to surging river created by Death as a trap for the unwary traveller. They worked together and used their magic to build a bridge to cross it." Bertie began the tale anyway. "Death appeared and congratulated them, offering them each a gift for their ingenuity but wanting in truth to trap them into giving up the lives he felt they had cheated him out of collecting."
"The eldest brother Antioch asked for a powerful wand," Dumbledore chimed in, "so Death went to an Elder tree and snapped off a branch fashioning it into a wand. He gave this wand to Antioch and Antioch went on his way."
"The second brother Cadmus had just lost his sweetheart to a plague and asked for a way to return the dead to life. Death picked a stone from the river bank and made it into a portal allowing the owner to bring back the shades of those who had died." Bertie recited.
"And the younger brother, Ignotus, asked to be allowed to leave without Death following him." Sirius said, impatiently. "Death gave him his own cloak of invisibility. Antioch was arrogant, boasted about his wand and immediately got killed by a thief who stole it from him; Cadmus brought his sweetheart to life again only not, realised the difference and committed suicide; Ignotus hid from Death under his cloak and lived a long life until he willingly went to Death." He pointed at the stone. "You really think this is the Stone."
"See this etching." Bertie pointed with his wand at the strange marking on the Stone. "It is the mark of a Hallow." He gestured tiredly. "Regardless of the story, it is likely that the Peverells were powerful wizards capable of creating wonderful artefacts; the artefacts themselves are real even if the story of Death gifting them to the brothers is a child's tale."
"OK." Sirius rubbed his forehead tiredly. "So it's a Hallow. It can call the dead back…" he blanched as he suddenly realised; James, Lily, Regulus even – all could be called back by the small innocuous stone on the desk.
"And there you see why it is such a temptation." Dumbledore said gravely. "Who would not wish for a moment to talk once again with a loved one? To spend time in their presence and ask for forgiveness…"
Sirius glanced over at Dumbledore whose gaze was once again affixed to the stone. Sirius shared a concerned look with Bertie.
"Clearly, Lawrence realised the stone was the Hallow." Bertie sighed heavily. "I should have spoken with him more when he said he needed more time to work out how to separate the stone from the ring setting."
"How is he?" asked Sirius.
"We amputated his wand arm." Bertie said succinctly. "Unfortunately, the curse is such that cutting away the dead flesh is irrelevant. He will die within a matter of weeks."
"We may be able to prolong that," Dumbledore said dragging his eyes away from the stone, "I will speak to Severus. There may be potions…"
"I'm not sure prolonging his life would be a gift." Bertie snapped.
Dumbledore blinked at Bertie. "We should offer Lawrence the choice, surely?"
Bertie nodded grimly.
"It wasn't your fault, Bertie." Sirius said firmly. "He knew the curse was on the ring and he put it on anyway."
"I'm afraid I could have fallen into the same trap as poor Lawrence. I feel blessed that until today I haven't had time to see the ring for myself." Dumbledore confessed as he transfigured one of the chairs into a chintzy armchair and sat down.
Sirius suspected Lawrence had known Dumbledore would know what the stone was and that had spurred his hasty action. "I suspect he wished to bring his daughter back."
"It's a very dangerous artefact." Bertie agreed, leaning back. "At least that damnable ring has been destroyed."
Sirius nodded. He'd watched it melt and be eaten away in the furnace. There were two possible horcruxes left: one at Hogwarts and one potentially at Godric's Hollow. "Do Bill and Caro know what's happened?"
Bertie shook his head. "They're still at Godric's Hollow trying to make the house stable enough to enter. There's a great deal of dark magic seeped into the building. They have to cleanse it before they can deal with the structural issues. And they have to do all of it working under an illusion to ensure the tourists that stop by don't realise what's happening."
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