He gazed out at the mass of people, all dressed in different costumes.

Within the mass that was the Harry Potter Fandom Convention, true glory awaited one person. Axel knew that it was going to be him. He had dressed as Harry Potter. It was an easy if not terribly inventive costume. His friend Frederick had dressed as Professor Quirrell, complete with a purple silk turban. If Frederick pressed a button, the back of the turban fell away and Lord Voldemort would be looking out at you.

Axel knew that somewhere within this sea of people, the three Deathly Hallows were hidden. He would have to use all of his cunning to find them. He looked at Frederick and nodded. “Tell me what I need to do. What’s the first clue?”

Frederick looked at the paper that had been included with every admittance to the convention. It was made to look like a scroll that came from Hogwarts. “It reads ‘Fear not gentle hero, true glory awaits. The first Hallow can be found, hiding at the Gates’.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Axel said.

“Fucked if I know. I just came for the limited edition Funko Pops.”

Axel thought hard. “There are no fucking gates here!” He said.

“Yes there are,” Frederick said. “Look.” He pointed out the window and they saw a group of Death Eaters swarming around the grounds. “No, Axe, look lower.”

Axel did and saw what looked like rails that ran in the ground along the edge of the grass. “What the fuck is that?”

“Drainage gates.” Frederick said.

Axel and Frederick ran outside towards them, but their path was blocked by a band of Dementors. “You’re not getting my soul, you bitches!” Axel yelled. He held out his wand and made sure to swish and flick it in the proper way. “Expecto Patronum!” He yelled. When the tip of his wand lit up, thanks to the batteries inside, the Death Eaters fled and their path ahead was clear.

“That’s some quick-thinking sir.” Frederick said.

“I know.” Axel said. “Let’s get looking.”

They began to scour the drainage gates and they were just about ready to admit defeat when Axel spotted something. Dangling from a gate rail, there was a small silver chain so thin that he had almost missed it. He pulled the chain up and there was a small black stone. “The resurrection stone.” Axel whispered. He pocketed it. “What is the second clue?”

“’Be brave, gentle hero, for it is forbidden. You will find the second Hallow in darkness where it’s been hidden.’” Frederick said.

Axel let out a sigh. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“I told you, I don’t know.” Frederick said. “I just came for the wands.”

Looking around outside, Axel looked for anything that would be dark. His first thought was the dark hoods of the people dressed up as Death Eaters, but that seemed unlikely. He had no idea what to look for.

“Axe, what about here?” Frederick said pointing to the map.

Looking at it, Axel saw that they had made a dark forest not too far away from where they were. They approached the small copse of trees, complete with a sign that read ‘The Dark Forest’. Entering the Dark Forest, their way was stopped by a group of three people dressed up as Aragogg the Acromantula. It came towards them hissing.

“Not today fuckers!” Axel cried. He brandished his wand, flicked it the right way and said “Incendio!”

The trio playing Aragogg stomped away as quickly as they could. “Asshole!” they said.

“Go fuck yourselves!” Axel shot back.

“Do you have to be so volatile?” Frederick asked. “You’d probably have more friends if you were nicer.”

“Whatever, let’s look for the Hallow. Which one do you think it is?”

“I would assume that the Elder Wand would be last. We’re probably looking for the Invisibility Cloak!” Frederick said.

“Why would the cloak be in the fucking Dark Forest?” Axel asked.

“How should I know? Can we look for it now?”

They began to look at the different trees within the small circle that was the stand-in for The Dark Forest. They had gone all out and even added fake spiders along the trunks of the trees with lights and music to add atmosphere. Axel looked for the cloak amongst the trees, but there weren’t that many of them. Axel looked in the leaves and along the trunks and saw nothing.

Turning to Frederick, Axel said “I don’t see any fucking cloak anywhere.”

However, it was Lord Voldemort that looked back at him. Frederick had turned around so that Axel was addressing the back of his head. “We meet at last, Axel Rose as it was fated we might.”

“Dude, seriously? Voldemort’s mouth isn’t even moving.”

Frederick let out a groan and turned around. “You have no imagination. Listen, here’s the thing. I already have the cloak.”

“What the fuck?” Axel said. “You could have said something.”

“It was wrapped around a tree that you walked past.” Frederick said. “I just wanted you to feel like you’ve contributed.”

“Thanks asshole.”

“See,” Frederick said. “This is why you don’t have friends.”

“What’s the next clue?” Axel said.

Frederick looked down at his sheet, but never got the chance to read it out loud. The lights in the forest went dark and so did the canned music. A strange mist had begun to form within the trees and Frederick looked really worried.

“Think of a happy memory.” Frederick whispered.

“The fuck?” Axel said softly.

A Dementor had glided into the copse of trees. Axel would have thought that this was just another person in a costume, but there was one thing that made him think otherwise: the Dementor didn’t touch the ground. It let out a wheezing breath that sent shivers down Axel’s spine and held out one grey skinned hand towards them as it glided closer.

“Shit!” Axel said.