The Deathly Hallows

Besides the gifts Harry, Ron, and the twins had wanted, Mia had also prepared a set of study tools for Hermione.

A dragon-shaped pendant for Draco and blue cufflinks for Theodore.

A complete set of Quidditch maintenance tools for Cedric.

In gratitude for Narcissa's care and Mrs. Molly's sweater, Mia also sent them a set of beauty potions.

Besides those, she had prepared gifts for the professors too.

The dungeon

Snape looked at the unexpected gift and Hedwig, who belonged to Harry, genuinely puzzled.

He picked up the gift and saw that it was from Mia.

Mia had given Snape half the blood the unicorn had given her. Snape chuckled silently, put the gift away, and continued marking homework. Though his face gave nothing away, he was noticeably less strict in his marking.

Professor McGonagall held a felt cat made to look like her Animagus form. "That child," she said with a fond smile.

Professor Dumbledore received candy and wool socks. Dumbledore said they were just what he liked.

Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, Madam Hooch, and even Professor Binns received gifts. Only Quirrell did not.

Poor Hedwig had to deliver Mia's gifts as well as Harry's. Once she was done, she nestled in Mia's arms and refused to leave.

"I know, I know. Thanks for all your hard work, Hedwig." Mia helplessly comforted the little creature as she sought affection, while Luna watched her disdainfully from the side.

"Hoot! Hoot!"

"All right, all right, we're sorry. Be good, and I'll give you something tasty." Mia hurriedly took out Hedwig's gift and hung the pretty little Hedwig pendant around her neck. It, too, was engraved with ancient runes.

"Hoot, hoot."

"It'll protect you and Luna."

Ever since she had encountered Ancient Runes, Mia had been especially fascinated by the ancient script. The characters possessed magic, and engraving them on alchemical creations could give those creations additional effects. But Mia was still a beginner and knew little.

With Harry's safety in mind, she had taken a long time to make the bracelet, ruining many attempts along the way.

Runic Ancient Runes were a magical runic script used to record ancient magic. If you mastered them all, you could piece together any ancient magic using them.

Ancient magic was difficult to control, prone to unpredictable mutations, and obscure and difficult to learn.

Runic Ancient Runes were a third-year elective at Hogwarts. Mia had taken a particular interest in them while studying ahead. Individual runic letters each held power, but to truly unleash ancient magic, one first had to combine the letters into ancient runes, then combine the runes into a spell. They had to be arranged correctly to produce the desired effect.

It was no easier than learning oracle bone script.

Another obscure and difficult subject was alchemy, which was also among Mia's areas of study. The Philosopher's Stone, for example, was an alchemical creation. Alchemy was considered a mysterious art devoted to pursuing the Philosopher's Stone, turning stones into gold, and achieving immortality. These were subjects covered in the sixth and seventh years.

Those two disciplines would be the key to whether Harry and the others could emerge unharmed from the coming wizarding war, as well as the key to Mia's later research and experiments.

Gryffindor Common Room, night

Harry was showing off the Invisibility Cloak. Mia studied the accompanying letter and said thoughtfully, "This Invisibility Cloak is one of the three Deathly Hallows."

"What are the Deathly Hallows?"

"Have you read The Tales of Beedle the Bard?"

"I have, but wasn't that just a story?" Ron replied.

The story of the Deathly Hallows went roughly like this.

Three wizard brothers used their magical skills to evade death. Death appeared and gave the three brothers an Elder Wand, a Resurrection Stone, and an Invisibility Cloak, respectively.

The eldest brother, who received the Elder Wand, became arrogant and overbearing. A wizard killed him at an inn, and Death took his soul. The Elder Wand's whereabouts became unknown.

The second brother took the Resurrection Stone home and used it to bring his beloved back to life, only to find that things did not turn out as he had wished. In despair, he chose to kill himself, and Death got his way once again.

After receiving the Invisibility Cloak, the humble youngest brother kept a low profile. When he grew old, he passed the cloak to his son and calmly followed Death from the world.

"The story of the Deathly Hallows was first told by Beedle the Bard, then passed from one wizarding family to another as a tale. Few wizards realize that the Deathly Hallows are real objects."

"The Deathly Hallows are the Invisibility Cloak, which Harry has right there. It's a cloak that can make someone truly and completely invisible. Its effect is permanent, keeping the wearer invisible, and no spell can break it."

"Merlin's underpants, that's amazing." Ron carefully touched the cloak.

"Since it says this is being returned to its rightful owner, that means it once belonged to our parents. But Mum was just an ordinary person before she entered Hogwarts, so it must have belonged to our father, James Potter."

"?" Harry didn't quite understand.

"Harry, the Potter family was once a great family in the wizarding world. Hair-care products were among their businesses. You could say that all the wizarding world's hair-care products are patented by the Potter Family. Otherwise, where would all our wealth have come from?"

"I had no idea your family was so impressive!" Ron hadn't expected his mate to come from such an incredible background.

"How do you know that?" Harry couldn't understand why he alone was completely in the dark.

"Here, see for yourself." As she spoke, she casually picked up a bottle of shampoo. On it were the words: patented by the Potter family.

"..." It had been right under his nose.

"Back to the point. The other two Deathly Hallows are the Elder Wand, which Grindelwald, a former Dark Lord, once used, and the Resurrection Stone, which is rumored to be able to bring the dead back to life, though that probably isn't reliable." Mia took a sip of water.

"How do you know so much?" Ron was certain that even Hermione might not know all this.

"Read more books, dear." Could Mia tell them that she knew all this from her scant knowledge of HP and from reading books? Of course not.

"Oh, right, now that we have the Invisibility Cloak, won't sneaking around at night be a piece of cake?" Mia said eagerly.

"That's right. Let's try it out."

Obviously, it was difficult to fit three people under one cloak.