Chapter 18: The Deathly Hallows

On Christmas Eve, Harry thought that tomorrow he would enjoy a rich meal and great fun, so he went to bed early. When he woke up the next morning, he saw a small pile of gift packages at the foot of his bed at a glance.

"Merry Christmas," Harry climbed out of bed and put on his morning robe. Luo En said to him with sleepy eyes.

"Merry Christmas," Harry said while starting to unwrap the gifts.

Hagrid sent him an owl whistle, Hermione sent him a box of candy, Luo En's mother sent him a sweater, and Sir Tang Nade sent him a set of books, which was "The Lord of the Rings" written by Tolkien; perhaps this was the most "magical" thing he could find. Eve also sent a gift, which was the trilogy of Gorky's "Childhood," "In the World," and "My Universities," perhaps because he mentioned that Luo En liked that "How the Steel Was Tempered" very much when he wrote the letter last time.

"So many wonderful Muggle novels!" Luo En said with envy. "Can I borrow them?"

"Of course, as long as you can read them," Harry had read too much Slavic literature when he was a child, and he was tired of it as soon as he saw these now.

"What about your last gift, who sent it?" Luo En asked while chewing the frog candy Hermione sent.

"Let me see, there is no signature here, it just says it's my father's legacy," Harry said while unwrapping the package. It was an Invisibility Cloak.

"Wow, Invisibility Cloak," Luo En envied again. "This thing is expensive, I dream of having one."

He paused, then said: "Yours must be a high-end one made of Demiguise fur, because ordinary Invisibility Cloaks start to fade in less than two years, but this was left by your father, it's at least several decades old."

"Put it on and see," Luo En urged.

Harry draped the cloak over his shoulders, then looked in the mirror. He found that his body had completely disappeared. No matter from which angle he looked, there was only a lonely floating head. This feeling was quite wonderful.

When he looked closely at his appearance in the mirror, he found that the effect of this garment was perfect. This was a true invisibility, unlike Zhang Qiu's talisman, which would reveal some looming outlines when moving. Even if Harry walked around wearing the cloak, even if he clearly felt the fabric fluttering, it still had no effect on his invisibility effect.

"I can't help but wonder," Harry said, "if Demiguise fur has this effect, how do people catch them?"

"I don't know about that," Luo En scratched his head. "Maybe it's traps, or some detection magic."

Harry was silent, and a possibility quietly climbed into his heart. What if this wasn't just an ordinary invisibility cloak? What if this was the invisibility cloak that Death gave to the three brothers in the legend?

He didn't tell Luo En this guess, nor did he intend to tell anyone about this matter. Just like the first owner of the invisibility cloak in the story of the three brothers, he wanted to hold this gift from Death low-key.

Of course, holding it low-key didn't mean knowing nothing. After lunch, Harry told Luo En he was going to the library and left the dormitory alone.

Harry didn't bring the Invisibility Cloak. He walked through the corridors calmly until he reached the door of Professor Binsi's office.

With the successful experience of Nicolas Flamel, Harry began to like this ghost professor who knew everything but kept his mouth shut.

"Merry Christmas, Professor Binsi," Harry said. "I came specifically to give you a Christmas gift."

"Oh, oh?" Year after year, almost no one remembered this poor person who had lost his body, and even the Christmas gifts he received after his death could be counted on one hand.

Professor Binsi's transparent body slowly came to Harry's front, and his gloomy eyes focused on the "Lord of the Rings" in his hand. Harry couldn't help but shiver.

"Thank you, Harry," the professor said. "It's really great that you are willing to give me a set of books. Students sometimes give me candy or tea leaves, and I can't eat those things at all."

"Yes, this is a set of, uh," Harry said nervously, preparing the rhetoric, "the history of another world imagined by people, I hope you will like it."

"That would be really great," Binsi said with thanks in the dullest tone. Harry could see from his expression that this gift of borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha made this ghost professor very happy.

"By the way, Professor Binsi, I don't know if you mind," Harry carefully took out the "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" he borrowed from Luo En, "providing an answer for some of my boring guesses?"

"You say it, child," Professor Binsi said. "As long as I know."

"You see, Professor, this is a fairy tale book, and my favorite is 'Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump'," Harry asked around, "I would like to ask, is there really a Babbitty Rabbitty in history?"

Harry felt that in these stories, asking directly about the three brothers was the most stupid, and the hopping pot and hairy heart were also easy to arouse Binsi's disgust, so he chose to start with the kind and cute Babbitty.

Before coming, Harry specifically drank a few cups of strong tea, ready to have a long talk with Professor Binsi. Unexpectedly, Binsi gave him a surprise as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Oh, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I once studied this book with Deng Buliduo. Beedle was a bard living in the 15th century, and his stories actually all came from real characters," he said in a low voice. "The Babbitty Rabbitty you like most is actually the French witch Lisette de Lapin..."

The story of Babbitty had already been mentioned in Deng Buliduo's annotations. Harry tried his best to pretend to be interested. He was looking forward to Binsi continuing to tell the story of the three brothers after that.

"... That is Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump. As for the hopping pot, we believe its prototype came from Linfred of Stinchcombe, who was a potion master who enthusiastically helped his Muggle neighbors..."

Harry's breathing became rapid suddenly. This was definitely an unexpected harvest for him today. Before this, he had never thought that his ancestor would be the owner of the hopping pot.

"... Speaking of the Warlock's Hairy Heart, we unanimously believe that Beedle wrote it by referring to Horcruxes. Splitting a part of one's own body is a stupid act, and it will make a person's personality turn bad. From the era Beedle lived in and the corresponding great wizards, it is very likely that he was alluding to Salazar Slytherin. Please note that this is just our private guess. Salazar might have used improper magic, leading to a change in his temperament, which is why he parted ways with the other three founders..."

The conflict in philosophy between Slytherin and the other three was not a secret, and Harry had read it many times in the school history. However, what made him feel interesting was that the professor actually guessed that Salazar used the wrong magic; could it be that he also had a hairy heart?

"... The Fountain of Fair Fortune might have been created based on Felix Felicis. Felix Felicis doesn't bring good luck to people, but improves their abilities, which also fits the moral of the Fountain of Fair Fortune, that is, happiness ultimately comes from one's own efforts..."

Felix Felicis? Harry secretly noted this thing down; perhaps it was an extremely profound potion.

"... As for the legend of the three brothers, we unanimously believe that this refers to the Peverell family. The most likely situation is that the three Peverell brothers didn't meet Death; they made those three magical items themselves. But what is puzzling is that such a powerful family disappeared in history very quickly. None of the three brothers left any male descendants who could inherit the surname, so the Peverell family is one of the earliest pure-blood families to disappear."

"This is very strange, isn't it?" Harry asked eagerly. "The book clearly mentions that the third brother gave the invisibility cloak to his son before he died; he should have left descendants."

"Oh, that's because his son only gave birth to one daughter," Professor Binsi said. "We can still find the tombstone of Ignotus Peverell in Godric's Hollow to this day. His granddaughter Iolanthe Peverell married Hardwin Potter, and the Peverell surname died out."

Hearing the word Potter from the professor's mouth again, Harry felt that his whole body, even his blood vessels, were trembling. The Potter family was the matrilineal descendant of Peverell, and the invisibility cloak was passed down from generation to generation until his father—and then transferred to him through the hands of someone unknown.

Professor Binsi was immersed in history, and he seemed indifferent to the fact that the student in front of him also happened to be named Potter, but continued to say that Slytherin was also a surname that had died out.

When Harry came out of Professor Binsi's office, his mind had been completely occupied by the Invisibility Cloak. In legend, the three gifts of the three brothers combined could even defeat Death, so they were also collectively known as the Deathly Hallows.

Now, as a descendant of Ignotus Peverell, the invisibility cloak had come into his hands without any effort. The Elder Wand was traceable; Harry remembered that book of textual research. Only the Resurrection Stone remained...

Deathly Hallows... Master of Death... these words, whether true or false, lingered in his heart. Harry was almost about to be overwhelmed by the ambition that had nowhere to be placed.

When he came back to his senses from his reverie, he found himself standing at the entrance of the library.

"Perhaps I should be more pragmatic," Harry said to himself. "First understand the Potions matter. I'm not even very proficient in the Draught of Peace now, how can I ensure that I can do well when I get to key potions like Felix Felicis in the future?"

Thinking this way, he paced into the library. He didn't go to find the "The Study of the Elder Wand" he had seen once, but wandered around and took a copy of "Advanced Potion-Making." What surprised him was that it happened to have the production method of Felix Felicis written on it.

Felix Felicis was worthy of being a top-notch potion; it took half a year of brewing to get a small bottle. Harry was dizzy from the complicated steps, soon put the book back on the shelf, and instead went back to play chess with Luo En. ===== CHAPTER 19 =====