Peverell Family

• Iolanthe Peverell

Peverell Brothers

"The Tale of the Three Brothers" as quoted in Chapter 21 of the Deathly Hallows gives us the most truly cannon information on the three brothers.¹ It does not give us any real indication of how old the brothers were when the artefacts were either made or acquired, but if you read carefully, there are some clues about their lives.

• The first brother is described as dying within a few weeks. He "travelled on for a week or more" before reaching the village in which he died.²

• The second brother "journeyed to his own home, where he lived alone."³ The wording is technically ambiguous, bit implies that he summoned the shade of "the girl he had once hoped to marry, before her untimely death"⁴ immediately on arriving home. It concludes that he was "finally" driven to despair, implying time has passed. It seems to me unlikely though that a man obsessed with the stone in this way would marry and have children. Interestingly, the editor at the lexicon seems to agree.⁵ Yes, I know that the Gaunts claim to be descendants,⁶ I am not however the first to realise that the ring is not precisely proof.⁷

• "Death searched for the third brother for many years," ... "he had attained a great age" and had a son.⁸ Cannon sources tell us that the Potter family would descend from a granddaughter (of some number of generations) of this brother. I know it flies in the face of accepted interpretation, but I insist that if the Gaunts are true decedents of the Peverells at all, and not false claimants, then they must also descend from this brother. I believe that the third brother alone lived to raise a family.

The Deathly Hallows

The three brothers are said to have left three artefacts, a wand, a stone, and an invisibility cloak. While the invisibility cloak figures across all seven books, it is really only in the last book that we truly encounter the other two. Again, information is inconclusive. I forget which fanfiction author I first encountered the idea in, but I see merit in considering that these artefacts may not be as simple as they first appear. That author had Harry, some time after the Battle of Hogwarts, ask, would his parents have been so accepting, almost encouraging, if they had truly been present on his walk into the forest? Was the stone presenting him with false images of those he loved to lead him towards suicide?

More recently I came across another work that may be going in a similar direction.

Dumbledore looked up at Mrs. Weasley suddenly. Harry saw the movement. "Expelliarmus!"

A half dozen other spells flashed around the room. With the grace of a Seeker, Harry grabbed the wand that flew towards him. Dumbledore was hit by two red spells that threw him off his seat and he crashed into a wall. There was a stunned silence. The wand in his off-hand thrummed. It was power. It was power and it felt unclean. Without thinking he grabbed the wand in both hands.

"Harry, no!" Sirius had tried to stop him.

Harry took the wand and snapped it over his knee.

There was a pulse of magic in the room that threw him back into the door frame. He heard Daphne and Hermione give out a scream and all the plates, glasses, pots and pans on the walls either shattered or fell to the floor.⁹

A wand that feels of "unclean power." This story is still in progress, it remains to be seen where the author will go with the concept, but the idea is certainly suggestive. A wand that corrupts its user does sound like something that might have been given to that eldest brother by a figure claiming to be death, jealous of their continued existence.

Countering this idea is the Potter family's long association with the cloak, which does not seem to have harmed them, and does seem to be beneficial. Perhaps the difference lies in that the stone and the wand were crafted on the spot for the brothers, whereas the cloak was a pre-existing artefact given them by "Death." Perhaps the difference lies in that the first two requests were essentially selfish and prideful ones, whereas the third brother acted in humility.¹⁰