A dark forest bordered the land that the Egan family had owned for many generations. It was the only spread of trees that could be seen from miles on the flat terrain. The Hallows, as it was called, frightened young Maisie, a small girl that lived right within seeing distance of them.
Unlike everyone else, she called it "The Deathly Hallows". She hated everything about the Deathly Hallows; the dark and threatening trees, the gloominess that clung to the air, the feeling of darkness and death that washed over the area; even the name itself. She didn’t want anything to do with it. The thought of that forest made her shudder in fear. Looking at those horrid trees made her want to cry; so every night before she went to sleep, Maisie asked her governess to draw the curtains in her bed chamber so she would not wake up in the middle of the night and see the Hallows.
One night, in the middle of October, Maisie laid in her large bed, listening to the wind howling amongst the oaks and maples of the Deathly Hallows. The howling sounded like someone's moaning, groaning, crying, and screaming all rolled into one. The noise was almost unbearable to listen to in the ears of a young girl who was easily scared. The only light offered in the room was from a single candlestick. Unfortunately, that very candlestick casted ghostly shadows in every piece of furniture of the large chamber. The sight of things frightened her.
“I need to get out of here,” the girl whimpered. She immediately thought of her sister, Cassandra, who had a bed chamber on the other side of the manor. Lucky for Cassandra, her windows did not look out into the Deathly Hallows.
“Cassandra! Cassandra!” Maisie shouted as she ran down the stone corridors. The girl ran as if an evil specter that lived in the Deathly Hallows was chasing after her.
When Maisie got to the end of the corridor, she turned to a large oak door and began to beat on it frantically. “Cassandra! Cassie! Cassie!”
“What do you want!” a voice with a heavy Scottish accent shouted from the other side.
“I want to you open up the bloody door!” Maisie answered back.
She could hear cursing from the room before Cassandra opened it. She was a statuesque woman of eighteen with long red hair and tired looking hazel eyes. Maisie loved her sister dearly and was upset to even think about the fact that she would be leaving in a fortnight to marry a fellow named Trelawney.
‘You know, I would really appreciate it if you didn’t curse. It's not very ladylike,” Cassandra corrected her little sister. “I want you to apologize before you come in this room.”
Maisie composed herself and said through gritted teeth, “I am sorry, Cassandra.”
“That’s better. Come in.” her sister said promptly, ushering her in.
Cassandra’s bed chamber was about the same size as Maisie’s, along with heavy oak furniture and a stone fireplace that had a crackling fire burning as she entered. One wall had several large windows that looked out into a series of plains and rivers that ran through the Egan's property.
It's not fair that Cassandra gets the room with the view that doesn’t look into the Deathly Hallows, Maisie thought angrily as she jumped into a large armchair that was situated in front of the fireplace. Cassandra took the other chair that faced her sister.
She looked Maisie in the eye and in a calm voice asked, “Maisie, why did you come here? Is something bothering you?"
Maisie ignored her for the moment and crossed her arms, staring into the fire.
Cassandra sighed and asked, "Is it because I'm going to leave home to marry Aldous Trelawney? You know I am going to visit here every once in a while after the wedding.”
Maisie didn’t answer. She simply kept staring into the fire, concentrating on the log that was being reduced to charcoal and ash.
If I tell her, then she is going to laugh at me, Maisie thought. Cassie is the sort of woman who thinks that there shouldn’t be fear.
“Cassie, if I tell you why, will you please not laugh?” Maisie begged her.
“I promise,” she said casually, not taking an eye off her sister sitting across from her.
The young girl sighed before replying, “The Hallows scare me.”
“Is that so?” Cassie asked.
“Yes. I don’t know why. They scare me; they really do. I don’t want to stay in that room if I have to sleep near that window at night!”
Maisie ran to Cassandra and buried her face in her sister's lap.
Cassandra extended a hand and stroked her sister's thick, curly hair. “There, there,” she crooned softly. “But I must tell you, you can’t go on living life if you don’t know your enemy all that well. Do you know why the Hallows were even planted on our land?”
Maisie sniffed and looked up at her older sister before she resumed the story.
“Mum told me this story when I was a child. I had asked her why the Hallows were there, so she told me on a night just like this one.”
“About a thousand years ago, before the founding of Hogwarts; one of the founders, Rowena Ravenclaw, had a sister who was promised in marriage. The sister’s name was Rosalind, and she was to marry William Egan.”
“Our ancestor,” gasped Maisie. She was now sitting on the edge of her chair, listening to every word that Cassandra said.
“Yes. Rosalind Ravenclaw was to marry William Egan. One of the wedding gifts that was given to Rosalind and William were saplings of trees given by the bride's family. After the wedding, William had the saplings planted on the estate. Before long, the saplings grew into a magnificent forest that was called the "Hallows". Or, as you call it, the "Deathly Hallows"."
“Why did Rosalind’s family give her trees?” asked a puzzled Maisie. "This was the family of Rowena Ravenclaw for Merlin’s sake! Wouldn’t they have given their child books and fine quills and parchment to write brilliant ideas, adventurous epics, and romantic poetry on? Why would they give Rosalind trees?"
“No one really knows for sure. One legend states that it was because Rosalind’s mother wanted her daughter to remember the greatly wooded lands that surrounded her childhood home. Another version of the tale is that it was Rowena’s idea to give her sister beautiful trees for her to sit and read under just as they had done when they were little girls. Either way, Rosalind and her husband were given trees that later became known as the "Hallows". But that is not the end of the tale.”
“Years later, Rowena Ravenclaw came to her sister’s manor house and asked her for a favor. She had with her a tiara crafted by goblins.”
"Please help me keep this tiara in a safe place," Rowena begged her older sister. "A Seer has told me that years after my death, an evil man shall find the tiara and use it as a tool for purposes that will destroy the Wizarding world forever. We must hide the tiara, Rosalind, or else horrible things will happen to future generations."
"Where shall we hide the tiara?" asked Rosalind.
"Rosie, do you remember the grove of trees that your husband planted? The one given by our family as a wedding present? We shall conceal the tiara there. We will hide the tiara somewhere in that forest and warn people to never go into the Hallows because there is a spirit there that will murder those who dare go in. Did you not say that a man died in those forests?"
“What? A man really died in the Hallows?” Maisie yelped. She was jumping out of her seat and starting to panic.
“No!” yelled Cassandra. “Can’t you just sit down? And be quiet, I think you woke up the entire manor with your screaming. So, be quiet or else I am going to stop this story and send you back to your room. Now, where was I?”
“You were telling how Rowena was trying to persuade Rosalind to hide the tiara,” Maisie said.
“Right, thank you.” Cassie replied.
“And so, Rosalind said," she continued.
"Rowena, that man who died there was a poacher. His death was not planned out in any way. He died by being stabbed by his own knife, remember? Honestly, I thought you were smarter than that, baby sister!"
"But Rosie," Rowena pleaded, "this is serious. If we don’t hide this tiara, terrible things will happen to the future--- To your own children, and their children, and their children!"
“It took Rowena a long time to convince Rosalind to finally help her hide the tiara. The following morning, William sent workmen to the Hallows to build a mausoleum in a clearing in the center of the Hollows. When that was done, Rowena placed the tiara inside it before William sealed the door shut. And that was that for several hundred years.”
“Whatever happened to Rowena Ravenclaw’s tiara?” asked Maisie. “Is it still in the mausoleum?”
“The tiara was removed from its vault sometime in the mid-to-late eighteenth century when our great-grandfather had the mausoleum opened up for the first time in centuries. He gave the tiara away to a man called Weasley as a present for getting rid of dragons that were ravaging the property. Whether or not they still have the tiara, I do not know,” Cassandra answered bitterly. “I wish I did because of something that happened in my sixth year at Hogwarts.”
Maisie instantly perked up at the thought of something terrible that had happened to Cassandra.
“What was it?” she asked her older sister.
Cassandra shook her head and then stood up. She walked over to one of the windows and looked out into the distance. “I can’t really put my finger on it, but I had a vision one night. It was in the Ravenclaw common room; while I was reading this book about Ancient Runes. My mind went blank and I... I saw something...”
“What was it?” interrogated little Maisie.
“I saw a terrible battle taking place in the Hallows. There was a man... but he didn’t look like a man. He looked quite ghostly, with red eyes filled with hate and a face that resembled a snakes. And a boy. Or a young man. I don’t know. Either way, this young man had dark hair and green eyes; like yours, Maisie. A scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt." Cassandra paused for a moment, lost in her own thoughts. That was all that I could remember of the two. They were engaged in a brutal battle in the Hallows. There was fire in the trees. And I saw a whole variety of things. People screaming. People being murdered. Dark hooded figures. Dementors. A tiara shattered by a burst of dark red light. And then... everything went black.
“When I finally came around, I was in the hospital wing. My old friend, Abigail Macmillan, was there with some other girls. They looked really worried and I asked them why. They told me I had gotten into a fit or something and was shouting out a strange passage. According to Abigail, it went like this:
Along with effects of Godric, Helga, and Salazar
falls into the wrong hands. Thou art is cursed.,
with the blood of evil.
The Deathly Hallows shall serve for judgment.
A young man, born as the seventh month dies, will have to fight
the epitome of evil.
Only then shall peace be restored,
But at the cost of blood."
Cassandra broke away from the window and wrapped her arms around her body as if it was freezing in the room.
“Maisie, you are not the only scared girl that lurks here. I, too, am terrified, but for something I can see that no one else can. About what is going to happen to this world? Those trees that were given to Rosalind for her wedding--- that was meant to be happy and they are now going to serve as the setting for a struggle between good and evil that only the Muggle poet, John Milton, could have imagined.”
Maisie simply stared at her sister. She knew it wasn’t right; her governess had warned her repeatedly to never stare at people. But tonight, she couldn’t help but stare. She knew that Cassandra was a Seer; she had known it for many years; even when Cassandra began experiencing visions at a young age. However, her earlier visions were different. The one that Cassandra just told her about was dangerous. It scared her like it did to the one who had first seen it.
“Do Mother and Father know about this?” Maisie finally asked.
Cassandra shook her head. “No, and I’d rather not tell them either. Not until the time is right. Now, onto other matters. Would you prefer to sleep on the settee tonight, Maisie?”
Maisie decided to never sleep in her old bedroom again. Just the thought of having to look into those grove of trees that held so much doom, simply terrified her.