Weird, this post somehow got deleted. Thank goodness for Google's cache!


Chapter 21: The Tale of the Three Brothers

OK, interesting. The trio get the story of the Deathly Hallows (three artifacts that make one master of Death) from a not-entirely reliable source in Xenophilius Lovegood. Things certainly go bad when Lovegood tries to sell them out, but Hermione gets them out of the jam. I’m guessing she put Ron under the cloak since he’s supposed to be back home sick with spattergroit, and let Harry be glimpsed so Xenophlilius and Luna wouldn’t be killed.

Speaking of which: oh, Luna. Her bedroom “friends” mural is just the saddest thing I’ve ever read, and the idea of her in Death Eater custody is horrifying. Poor Luna.

I’m sure you’ve all read the “wand –> wang” thing on the internet; well, page 415 provides something simply beautiful:

“Only if you shouted about it,” argued Ron. “Only if you were prat enough to go dancing around, waving it over your head, and singing, ‘I’ve got an unbeatable wang, come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.’ As long as you kept your trap shut–”

“Yes, but could you keep your trap shut?” said Hermione, looking skeptical. “You know, the only true thing he said to us was that there have been stories about extra-powerful wangs for hundreds of years.”

“There have?” asked Harry.

Hermione looked exasperated: The expression was so endearingly familiar that Harry and Ron grinned at each other.

“The Deathstick, the Wang of Destiny, they crop up under different names through the centuries, usually in the possession of some Dark wizard who’s boasting about them. Professor Binns mentioned some of them, but — oh, it’s all nonsense. Wangs are only as powerful as the wizards who use them. Some wizards just like to boast that theirs are bigger and better than other people’s.”

Wangery aside, it’s certainly thought provoking that Harry (a) has an invisibility cloak, (b) once came in contact with a stone that could grant life, and (c) had a wand that did something highly out of the ordinary. I’m not making any predictions other than that Harry, who has lost so many people, will find the story of the Deathly Hallows hard to resist.

No spoilers for later chapters in the comments!