Daoimear de Dán: Inné agus Inniu

Author's Note: This story was begun before OotP was written, and although I've incorporated characters and details from the fifth (and possibly sixth and seventh) books, this is an essentially pre-OotP canon story. I hope that this isn't too confusing, especially given the nearly two-year gap between this and the last chapter. Thanks for sticking with it!

Chapter Five - Following In Their Footsteps

For all her facade of being thoroughly not bothered, Katerina's false dream had made itself at home in Maura's subconscious and was festering in her brain like an open and infected wound. Maura didn't change (Katerina was right about that), and so when faced with a recurring dream that her beloved, adored George hadn't loved her after all, the once and future Mrs Richards battened down the hatches and prepared to withdraw from the world entirely.

For all that they cared about her, Maura's friends were too distracted by searching for Katerina and otherwise continuing life to notice immediately that something was wrong with her. She had always been prone to silence every now and then, so it was hardly unusual for her to sit at dinner and not say a word.

Every day, Maura woke up just before lunchtime. She got dressed, she ate. She hunted down her old friend without success. She ate, she got undressed, she went to sleep. She dreamed of George and of Lily Potter. She dreamed of love and death and sadness. It should have been business as usual, but with this new dream, there was nothing usual or tolerable about it. Only the thought of finding Katerina and the things she'd do to her kept her from staying in bed. A week after the Gramo-grams had arrived, an owl knocked on her window while she was still fast asleep. She woke slowly and angrily, but the contents of the letter had her out of bed like a shot.

***

One week after they had started looking for Katerina, a tapping on the window roused Harry from his sleep. Given that he was meant to be up in half an hour anyway, he sat up and rubbed the bits from his eyes. Beside him Hermione slept on, exhausted from a day cooped up reading. As quietly as he could, he slid out of bed and went over to the window, tripping over one of his boots as he did. He opened the window and a tiny owl flew in, dropped a note in his hand and flew right out again. He closed the window and headed across the room, tripping over the boot again.

Hermione shifted slightly in her sleep. Harry opened the note, read it and allowed himself an eyebrow quirk at the contents. He knew that Hermione would probably want to be woken up for this, but she looked so tired... Harry couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead he grabbed some clothes, put his shoes on and left the house as quickly as he could.

***

Harry arrived at the bar within five minutes of receiving the owl, but found Maura already there, in a chair leaned up against one of the weapons cabinets.

"What do we have?" he asked, slumping into a chair. Maura shrugged and yawned widely. She'd put on an un-ironed t-shirt and her jeans had coffee stains down them. Although Harry noticed her utterly dishevelled state, she didn't seem to be in the mood to care about it.

"I just got a note to say that there's some information come to light and that I should come here," she told him in a rough, tired bark of a voice.

"Same here." Harry sat down in the chair next to her. "I wonder what it is?"

"No idea, but I'm sure it's something to do with the ex-best friend from hell."

"Mr Potter?"

"Yes?" Harry turned around and found one of the Order's intelligence people stood there looking a little nervous. "You're Dung Fletcher's cousin, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir. Rodney, sir."

"That's right," Harry said, flashing him a reassuring smile. "What do you have?"

"Well sir, we thought to look through some information about landlords in London... That's where we think she is, after all. Records we have are sketchy, things change so quickly, but-"

"What did you find?"

"Well Mr Potter, er, sir, we've got an address for her."

"You do? Why aren't we there right now?" Maura demanded. She jumped up and began shoving various weapons from the cabinet into her pockets.

"We're trying to verify it right now."

"Verify my arse," she said with a scowl. "We can verify it by going there, finding her there and kicking her in the head a few times."

"Oh, we're sure it's the right Katerina," said Rodney. "We're just verifying that you won't die should you decide to drop in to pay a visit."

"Booby traps and other such nasty things." Harry understood perfectly. Maura just continued to scowl at them.

"Hurry up then." She did not stop stocking up on weaponry, but did slow down and take it a little easier.

"We thought it was something you'd want to know," Rodney tried to explain why they'd been dragged from their beds. "We'll owl you both when we're confident about it."

"Right. I'm going back home to get some breakfast," Harry said. "Want some, Maura?"

"Never let it be said I ever refused free food."

***

"You could have woken me up," Hermione said rather sharply, on Harry's return home. "I wouldn't have minded."

"You were sound asleep. I didn't want to wake you up. Is that bacon frying?"

"Yes it is. Morning Maura." Hermione sighed, and put some more rashers in the frying pan.

"Morning, Daddy!" Richard shouted loudly as he came flying down the stairs, already in his school robes. "Hello, Auntie Maura!"

"Hey kid, how's it going?" Maura managed a smile for the kid, but it wasn't sincere.

"We have Quidditch today at school," Richard told her excitedly, clambering up onto a chair at the kitchen table. "Can I walk to school on my own today?"

Harry looked over at Hermione and shook his head.

"Not today sweetheart," she replied. "Perhaps tomorrow."

"All right." The boy sounded rather disappointed but had learned already not to object when his mother was in this sort of mood.

"Well, I'll take Ritchie to school," said Hermione. "When I get back we can talk about what's going on."

Harry nodded, feeling that his wife was put out at being left out. He'd only done it so she hadn't had to get up early! He sighed. Nothing ever satisfied that woman, he thought with frustration.

"More tomatoes, Maura?" Hermione asked.

"Won't say no," Maura replied, scoffing down her breakfast eagerly.

"Don't you eat at home?" Hermione asked with a wry smile. Maura shook her head.

"Nope."

They had barely finished breakfast when two owls arrived, one for Harry and one for Maura. She opened hers and read it before Harry had even broken the seal on his.

"We can go in," she announced, clutching a Portkey that would take her to the address. Harry grabbed his coat.

"I have to take Richard to school," Hermione pointed out rather curtly.

"Well..." Harry paused. "We'll go down there and... meet you back at HQ."

"All right," she replied, somewhat uncertainly. Before she could say anything else, Harry had Apparated away and Maura's Portkey had spirited her away. Only Hermione and Richard remained there in the Potters' kitchen.

"Ready for school, Ritchie?" asked Hermione. Her son smiled and ran to get his bag.

***

As she watched, Katerina rather thought that this latest dastardly plan was working well. Her new enchanted mirror was set up to view her living room courtesy of a large, grotesque faux-Art Nouveau mirror she'd put up on the wall. Katerina herself watched in a little mirror linked to it, and she allowed herself a smirk as Harry and Maura burst into her flat and began to look around.

"Don't break anything," she muttered at the mirror, although they couldn't hear her. She stuffed the mirror into her bag and with a shove of the heavy metal gates, headed up the driveway to Connaught Manor.

***

The sun was well and truly risen when Harry and Maura managed to break Katerina's front door open, and it cast an eerie glow across the dark, poky flat.

The flat was spotlessly clean and tidy- obsessively so. A worn blue sofa was pushed against one wall, opposite which was a large bookcase stuffed with all manner of books. The third wall was taken up with a large, gaudy shrine. Said shrine was the only clue that this was no ordinary threadbare flat.

Harry and Maura went inside a little cautiously, not knowing quite what they would find. After a moment, they realised that the flat was devoid of life and so began to look around. Maura flicked the lights on and headed over to the bookcase.

"She always was a bit of a reader. Not in Hermione's league, but still..." She ran her hand over some of the spines. Muggle mythology books and magical books sat side by side on the shelves. Some of the titles were notoriously outlawed in Magical Britain.

"How did she get hold of these?" Maura wondered out loud. Harry shrugged, distracted by his own investigations.

"I don't like to think," he replied, reaching the shrine. "Take a look at this!"

Maura came over and sighed heavily.

"I know that one's Seth... that's Loki, I think? This old girl here, she's the Morrigan."

Maura identified a few of them with her surprisingly wide knowledge of myths and legends.

"All dark gods, right?" Harry remarked. Maura nodded.

"Pretty much. I don't recognise a few of them."

"Suffice to say that Katerina is something of a polytheist," he said, picking up a bronze icon of a three-headed woman.

"Suffice to say that she's taken many avenues to get some power behind her," Maura snarled. "Let's get some pictures so we can get Hermione to check it all out."

Harry pulled out his camera from his bag and began taking pictures of the shrine. Then he began taking pictures of the books stuffed onto the shelves.

"Do any of these look very rare or important to you?" she asked. He shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. Hermione would."

"Any of these stand out?" she asked. Harry looked again at the books. He grabbed at an incredibly old looking book at the end of one shelf and looked at it.

"This might be."

"Take it then. Can't risk losing it, really." Maura paused long enough for Harry to take the book and slide it into his bag.

"All done?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

Maura grabbed the standing lamp and pulled it, ignoring the sparks that flew when it was pulled from the electrical socket. She held it aloft and slammed it into the bookcase with an almighty crash. Books went flying across the room. She slammed the lamp into it again, this time knocking the entire unit over. She neatly hopped out of the way as it collided with the floor. She then smashed the large, tasteless gilt-framed mirror.

"Are you finished?" he asked calmly. She put the lamp back down.

"Yeah."

"Not going to destroy that as well?" he asked, pointing to the shrine. She shook her head.

"I've got enough bad luck without pissing off some gods, you know?"

"Fair enough." Harry held the door open for her.

"I mean, I don't want to go overboard now, do I?" she asked with a grin, slamming the front door behind her.

***

The lock broke with ease, allowing Katerina entry into Maura's house. Were she not there for a specific purpose she might've lingered, looking through the place Maura called home. However, she did have a specific purpose and nothing would get in the way of that. Through all her surveillance she hadn't managed to find out exactly where Maura kept what she was looking for, but knew that it was likely to be somewhere in her bedroom.

She headed through the kitchen and the rest of the ground floor without paying attention to the house at all. As she headed up the stairs she noted with disgust the 'family' photographs covering the walls. She had a good idea where Maura's bedroom was from her external spying, and walked down the hallway towards the master bedroom. She opened the door, a little unsure as to what she would find in the room of an infamous slob.

Katerina was not unduly surprised to find that Maura's room was a total mess. Clothes were thrown here and there, coffee cups and glasses were dotted around the room while papers and books covered the desk and some of the floor. A dirty pair of boots had been thrown and had landed under the window. The bed had not been remade that morning and the pillows were scattered across the bed as if Maura had thrown them around in her sleep. Maura had not disappointed her on the messy room front.

"Where do you keep it, Kennealy?"

She rummaged through the wardrobe, searching but not finding. Maura wouldn't keep it anywhere else in the house, so where could it be? She looked through the chest of drawers, under the desk, even under the papers on the desk. She couldn't see anything useful at all and sat down on the bed feeling rather dejected. The bed was quite high and Katerina's short legs swung a little off the floor. She felt her foot swing back but not come into contact with the bed frame. She leapt off the bed and pushed the duvet away, and looked underneath.

It was surprisingly tidy under Maura's bed. A couple of boxes of clothes and exactly what Katerina had been looking for.

The Sword of Ulster was lying on the floor under Maura's bed as if it had been carelessly thrown there. Katerina reached under the bed and grabbed at it, noting how clean and polished Maura kept the sword and its scabbard. She put the bed back as it had been and left the room swiftly.

She ran down the stairs and out of the house, closing the kitchen door behind her, hoping Maura wouldn't notice the lock for some time. As she walked briskly down the driveway, she pulled the mirror out of her bag to see if Maura was still at her flat.

As she'd expected, Maura had done a real number on the place- even the mirror, so Katerina could see only a little of the room through what fragments were left in place.

Assuming that Maura and Harry had left, she continued rapidly down the driveway until off Maura's property- Katerina knew enough to know that using magic on the land would alert Harry Potter and his friends- and once off Maura's property used her newfound teleporting skills to get far, far away.

***

Back at Order headquarters, Harry and Maura were briefing everyone else as to what they had found. As they were winding up and Hermione was examining the book, One of Sirius' deputies, a witch called Rachael, burst in.

"Someone was on the Connaught Manor site earlier today," she announced without bothering with any kind of preamble.

"What?" Maura asked, back on edge after managing to relax a little. She moved towards the weapons cabinet.

"Someone passed through the wards, but before we picked up on it they'd gone," Rachael explained. Sirius did not look pleased.

"How was the alarm not raised earlier?" he demanded. She looked rather embarrassed.

"We don't think it was a magical person, Sir."

"Could it have been someone from the village?" asked Hermione. "Wasn't there a problem when the wards first went up with the locals walking along the cliffs and they inadvertently brought the entire order to Galway?"

"That is why the wards were changed there," Harry added.

"Well, Mr Potter," Rachael said a little nervously. "The little information we have at the moment indicates that whoever it was entered the house. The house wards were tripped as well... we think."

"It was a distraction," Ron said suddenly. All eyes turned on him. "Don't you think it's a little strange that we found her address on the same day that someone breaks into Maura's house?"

"It's possible," said Sirius, "but why?"

"No idea," Maura replied. "Well, I mean she hates me, but I can't think of anything more specific."

"We should check it out," Harry said. "If she's taken anything, we need to know about it."

"Let's go and see what she's done," growled Maura. "If she's trashed my house, well, we won't be able to tell the difference. I'll Floo from upstairs and meet you all there."

***

"I can't see anything out of place," she said once they were all congregated in her front room. For everyone else, it was difficult to see how Maura could tell- it was as messy as the rest of the house.

"Ron, check all the locks on all the doors and windows, would you?" asked Harry. Ron nodded and disappeared out of the room.

"Is there anything she might have wanted in particular?" Hermione asked her.

"What, aside from everything that might possibly have something to do with George? Nothing at all," Maura said in a very dry voice.

"What kind of things do you mean?" Sirius asked. She paused and thought for a moment.

"There's not much, really. I mean, there's a few photos, but Deirdre's got most of them at school. There's his old Liverpool footie shirt, the sword of-" She stopped abruptly. "If that silly blonde tart has nicked my sword, I'll kill her."

"I thought you were going to kill her anyway?" Harry asked in a joking voice, trying to lighten Maura's sudden darker mood. It did not work. Her eyes seemed to darken.

"I'll kill her more."

"She broke the lock on the kitchen door," Ron announced as he came back in. Maura did not reply because she was already bounding up the stairs. They heard her feet pound against the floor, stop and then there came an enraged yell. It sounded like a bear being garrotted.

"I think," said Hermione, "that Katerina has stolen her sword."

Maura reappeared a few moments later, her face red with anger.

"I'll kill her more, I'll kill her more," she muttered over and over. "She's nicked it. She's nicked my bloody sword, I will kill her more."

"What could she possibly want with it?" Sirius asked her. The question brought Maura back to the world a little.

"No idea. Probably part of her insane scheme to get back at me and destroy my life and those of the people I care about. And she probably wants to run me through with it."

"We'll find her," Harry told her in his most reassuring tone. Although it was effective enough to calm Ministry workers, old ladies and journalists, it didn't work on stone-cold Maura.

"No we won't. I bet we fell for some intricately constructed plan of hers. I've got a fiver that says we go to her flat and find that she's scarpered."

"Maura-" Sirius began, but she cut him off.

"No. Come on, let's go. Someone conjure a Portkey for me and I'll meet you there."

She glared at her concerned friends until Harry relented and used a mug to conjure a Portkey for her.

"There you go," he said. Maura felt the tug behind her bellybutton and closed her eyes.

***

The other three, with their Apparating skills, were already outside Katerina's door when Maura arrived, Martin Miggs mug in hand.

"The door is open," Ron told her. Maura pushed it open with her boot.

"I win," she said coldly. The room looked much as it had when she and Harry left it less than two hours before, with one important difference.

"The icons are gone," Harry realised. The shrine had been dismantled and now all that remained was the table.

"Some of the books too," Maura added. Hermione began reading titles and only removed one book.

"It looks to me like she's taken anything rare or really useful," she said solemnly. "Except the one you took earlier."

"Told you," Maura said with grim triumph, "and now we've got no idea where she is. It's just like yesterday, only now she's got my bloody sword."

"Come on, let's head back to HQ," said Hermione. "Nothing more to see here."

"We'll send a team down here to check through everything thoroughly," Sirius told them. "We might yet find some clues."

"No," said Maura sadly. "You won't."

***

Maura was still sulking at home a few hours later. Most of it was anger at Katerina for having stolen the sword, but she was also fuming at herself for falling into the trap. She put some music on to try and calm her frayed nerves, but although she had a fondness for traditional Irish music at the moment, the tin whistles, pipes and mandolins were only making it worse. She threw one of her boots at the player, which had the desired effect of making it stop. Somewhere in her mind she vaguely realised that there were better ways of turning the music off, but she didn't much care.

For a long time the only sound in the house was of the grandfather clock in the hallway ticking. Maura curled up on the sofa and just existed. She did not speak or move, and the only sign of life was the steady rise and fall of her chest as she continued to breathe. The ticking and her breathing found a common rhythm and she felt herself transcending into a sort of meditation as she ceased to think at all.

The phone was ringing. Shattering the silence, the sound made Maura's blood run cold. Nobody tried to contact her on the phone unless it was an emergency call from one of the few Muggles she still knew. The last time that phone had rung was around Christmas eight years ago when George's sister Anne Marie was involved in a car crash. It even took Maura a moment to locate the phone under a pile of clothes. She picked it up with uncharacteristically shaky hands.

"Hello?"

"Kennealy..." Katerina's voice was viciously sing-song.

"Katerina," she growled, "give me one reason why I shouldn't put the phone down on you right about now?"

"There isn't one, but I know you won't."

"What do you want?"

"Where should I begin?"

"Wherever you bloody well like. What do you want?"

"We can't all have what we want."

"Tell me about it."

"Ah, are you lonely?" Katerina purred down the phone in a curious babyish voice that made Maura want to stab something.

"Nope, not really. Plenty of pals nowadays, you know. It's not like the old days when I used to have to slum it with you." Maura's lips curled up in a slightly cruel smile as she heard Katerina snarl angrily. "And while you're on the phone, I want my bloody sword back."

"You stole one of my books. Tit for tat."

"I'll swap you."

"I don't think so."

"Look, I'm bored of this pointless, witless bantering, so if we could please proverbially cut to the proverbial chase. Proverbially speaking, of course."

"I want you to suffer," Katerina said shortly. "I want to make you suffer like I did. I want to rip your heart out while it's still beating."

"Yeah?" Maura drawled. "I want it to stop raining, I want to know what happened to Shergar and the Amber Room and I want Led Zeppelin to get back together. We can't have everything we want. After all, life's a bitch and so am I."

Maura slammed the phone down and ripped the cord out of the socket, which came away from the wall in a burst of breaking plaster. Trembling as she worked to rein in her rage, she reached for a sheet of paper to send Harry an owl.

***

"She mentioned something about that book we took from her flat," Maura recounted to Harry and the Order at HQ only a short time after the phone call.

"It must be quite important to her," Tonks said as she made a note of it.

"We've got our people checking it out right now," said Kingsley. "Once they're satisfied it's safe, we'll get Hermione and the other brains to try and ascertain its importance."

"In the meantime, we'll carry on as we have been," said Sirius. "Surveillance in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. If she shows her face there, we'll see her."

Hermione came running in from the Reading Room.

"I think this might be more serious than we thought," she said, out of breath from running.

"How so?" Sirius asked. They were all concerned by Hermione's panicked expression. She slumped into a chair and opened the book.

"These pages were marked. Judging by spine damage, it's been held open at these pages for some time."

"But what does that mean?" Harry demanded. She shot him a dirty look.

"I was about to tell you. These pages make brief mention of an ancient and powerful amulet used in ancient times as a vessel for dark and questionable magic. So dark and powerful in fact, that the book won't tell us what. It's an amulet without a name."

The members of the Order of the Phoenix were experienced enough in the ways of magic to know that nothing kept nameless could be a good thing.

"What would Katerina want with a magical amulet?" asked Tonks.

"How did she even find out about it?" Sirius added.

"I don't know," Hermione retorted. "It's only two pages of this book. But, the book's frontispiece says it was printed in Massachusetts in 1809. So at least it's quite new, by our standards. If I can find out the source for this book I might be able to find out something more about the amulet. As it is... I only know that we might need to be very worried indeed."

With that, Hermione grabbed the book back and swept out of the room without a second glance at anyone.

"Harry, go to the Ministry and ask for access to the oldest Archives," said Sirius. "We may need it."

"Will do. Coming, Maura?"

"If you like."

***

Hermione's mug was empty again. To her, it felt like the damn thing was always empty, but after thirty-one hours in the library, it had all begun to swim together into one lump of nonsense in her head.

Around her, books lay used and discarded- the fruits of the Order's centuries-old library increasingly exhausted. At the thirty-second hour, Ron came in.

"Do you want some food, Hermione? Tea's up."

"Later."

"You said that yesterday. You need to eat. I can't believe you're still awake."

"I'm all right."

"Are you drinking Enervating Hot Chocolate?" he asked, examining her cup.

"One cup an hour."

"Hermione..." Ron tucked the empty mug under his arm. "You're not supposed to drink more than eight cups a day!"

"Oh come on, Ron," she scoffed. "I drink ten cups of the stuff on a good day."

"Well, you're not having any more now. I have spoken."

"How terrifically forthright of you, Ron."

"You're going to beat me in the head if I don't give back your mug, right?"

"Right."

For a moment, he looked like he was about to cave.

"No deal, Hermione. Have some sleep instead."

"I've got reading to do."

"No, you don't. There's plenty of other clever people to do reading while you sleep. The world doesn't turn because you say so."

Ron now pulled her up from the chair.

"Ron!"

"Sleep."

She bitched and moaned as Ron dragged her out of the library and into one of the rest-rooms. She complained as he pushed her onto the bed and pulled her covers over her, but Hermione was asleep before he'd even left the room.

***

In the deepest depths of the Ministry archives, one light flickered, the only illumination for Harry and Maura as they trawled through document after document in search of whatever might possibly be useful.

"Hey, this is about me!" Maura flipped a sheet of parchment over to Harry. Harry was almost buried under parchments and didn't exactly rush to read it.

"What is it?" he asked, still not looking.

"It's about me."

"There must be scads of things here about you."

"This is about me before I turned up at Hogwarts all those years ago."

"Really?" This was interesting enough for Harry to pick up the parchment. It was a fairly minor Ministry report dated 1997, but it was about Maura and George.

"The defeat of the Old Enemy, who we had been monitoring closely before the return of You-Know-Who, took place in Northern Ireland last week. The prophecies found recently were proved true. The Heir of Maeve (a title previously held by Lily Potter, deceased witch) is a Muggle, but she acquitted herself well. Unfortunately, the Heir of Ulster was killed in battle. The heirs were married the previous day as part of the prophecy. We will continue to monitor the Heir's Guardians for anything that might affect the magical remit."

"Well..." Harry paused for a moment. "That's new and useful information."

"Don't be a git, Potter. I didn't know I was being watched by you lot too."

"Where the Ministry doesn't get, the Order surely will."

"Yeah. I just... Actually no, I'm pissed off! Why didn't I get some help from you magical people? It might have come in bloody useful! Maybe Geo-"

She didn't finish what she was going to say, and Harry didn't need her to.

"Maura..." His voice soft and affectionate. "...we were in Hell ourselves. You saw for yourself when you arrived at Hogwarts. The Ministry was in such a mess in those days. I wouldn't be surprised if nobody ever even read this report. I'm sorry, really I am, but... please understand."

"Oh, I understand. Really. I just... Never mind. Keep reading, Potter."

"I will."

***

Hermione and the Order's researchers continued working hard, and found themselves trawling through books both magical and not from centuries of the printing press to find the source of Katerina's book.

Harry and Maura continued trying to track her down, but after stealing the sword, Katerina had hidden herself away from the magical world. Other Order members helped where they could, and at one point Remus Lupin made an appearance. He was the only person who didn't say a thing about Katerina.

"Are you coming to do your self-defence lesson this year?" he asked Maura. She looked at him as if the words hadn't made sense in a language she knew. Finally, the babelfish in her ear did its work.

"Oh, I don't think so."

"Why not?" Harry had looked up from his work. "You should do something to distract you from all this nonsense."

"I don't feel like it."

"The students have been asking me for weeks now," Remus told her. "They can't wait for the opportunity to knock seven bells out of each other."

"That's not what it's for," Maura snapped. He smiled patiently.

"I know that. They'll only know that if you come and teach them."

"Fine. When?"

"How's Friday for you?"

"Only if we've got no leads," she agreed rather grudgingly. In the back of her mind, her everyday self was glad of it - she looked forward to trying to teach magical children how to defend themselves without magic. "And Harry has to come too."

Remus now grinned and said, "Excellent! See you then."

*

The air at Hogwarts was charged with excitement as most of the school prepared to meet not one but two heroes of the Second Voldemort War. Somehow the news that Harry Potter would be accompanying his friend Maura Richards had got onto the grapevine and now everyone knew. Even Percy, Robert and Danita were rather excited- they didn't see as much of Harry and Maura as the Potter girls, Rain, Deirdre and Paul did. The latter group had a very different opinion on the event.

"She's going to be just... awful!" Deirdre sighed unhappily. "I hope Madam Pomfrey has stocked up on Skele-Gro and bandages."

"I love your mum," Daisy told her airily, waving a sliver of toast in the air. "She's funny."

"She won't get too out of control with Uncle Harry there," Rain called down the table to Deirdre.

"Don't bank on it, Rainykins," said Kit. "Mum says he eggs her on."

"Not where students are concerned," Ella now cut in, ever sensible.

"And anyway," added Paul, "Professor Lupin will be there."

"I tell you what though," said Daisy with a glint in her eye. "Wouldn't it be fun to see your mum paired up with Marianna Bulstrode-Turner?"

Deirdre said nothing, but her hopeful smirk gave her away.

***

Traditionally, the seventh years' class with Maura was the last of the day, and Deirdre knew her mother would be bored of teaching half-nelsons to thirteen-year-olds and now wanted to let rip. It was therefore with a great sense of dread that she left Potions and trailed after the rest of her class as they bounded towards the Great Hall.

The tables had been pushed to the side of the room, except the hefty Head Table which remained exactly where it always was. Maura Richards was currently sat on it, legs swinging as if she were a little girl instead of a renowned warrior. She winked at her daughter as she saw her enter, but displayed no other sign that this student was any different to the rest- her egalitarian policy that they were all fair game was already in play.

"Hello Deirdre," Harry said warmly. She turned around and smiled brightly.

"Hello Uncle Harry! I mean Harry- I mean Professor Potter-"

"Relax. Don't worry."

"Has she killed anyone yet?" she asked him. He smiled.

"No. She's been very well behaved."

"All right!" Maura's voice echoed throughout the hall and the seventh year students fell silent immediately, such was this woman's legend. Not least because they'd had a lesson once a year with her for seven years now and had seen her in action closer than they might have liked.

"You may know," she said, now actually standing on the Head Table, "that I like to give the seventh years a bit of a free rein, given that you're all meant to know what you're doing by now. I am afraid to tell you that this is absolutely true. Pair up and I'll give you some scenarios and situations to deal with."

The class began quickly and Deirdre paired up with Jackson. Across the room several Slytherins had stopped their exercises. Deirdre did not want to be around when her mother noticed...

"OI!" Maura's voice ripped through the hall and almost everyone stopped, holding their breath and praying that she wasn't shouting at them. She strode past everyone until she was standing over the Slytherin girls.

"A bit tired are we, ladies? Feeling weary?" Maura's tone was dry and unforgiving. Everyone else heaved a sigh of relief and went back to what they were doing, all keeping an ear on what Maura was saying.

Marianna muttered something to Eustacia, who snickered delicately. Maura went pale and eyes narrowed.

"Get up," she ordered them coldly. They didn't move. Maura spun her sword on its point for a moment. "Why have you stopped?"

"We," said Eustacia haughtily, "do not need your pointless lessons. We do not need to learn anything from a Muggle."

While most of the people in the hall reacted to this in an offended manner, Maura did not react at all.

"Up for the Most Cliché Slytherin Award, are we? Quite breathtaking arrogance really, dontcha think, Harry?"

"Yes I do."

"So, what's your name, kid?" she asked. Eustacia bristled at being called a kid.

"Eustacia Thompson."

"And you?"

"Marianna Bulstrode-Turner."

"So the two of you are walking down Hogsmeade High Street. Someone runs up and tries to take your delicate little handbag. What do you do?"

"Stun them of course," retorted Marianna. Maura smirked.

"Where do you keep your wand?"

"In my-" Marianna stopped. "Bag."

Eustacia still smirked.

"All right try this," said Maura. "You're wandering along, minding your own business, listening to the trees and the birds and nature all around. You feel something brush against you but you pay it no mind. Fifteen minutes later your purse and wand are gone and the thief is long gone. Then what?"

Eustacia's smirk disappeared.

"Get up," Maura said, eyes flashing angrily, "and don't ever think you know it all."

She stalked away, but they only moved to get up slowly. Harry now turned on them coldly.

"Do as she says. She's a Muggle, but at this precise moment she is also your professor. Now!"

Even Eustacia did not dare contradict Harry Potter and both girls leapt into action.

The class continued without further incident. Ten minutes before the end, Maura stopped them all.

"You've all done well. You'll all get at least an E. Some of you will get Os."

"Can we see a real duel?" someone asked. "You and Harry Potter? With swords?"

Murmurs of approval spread through the assembled students. Maura quirked an eyebrow at Harry, who nodded.

"Right. Stand back against the walls," Harry instructed. They all moved back and sat on the tables pushed against the walls. Some students went and sat on the Head Table.

"Got a sword, Potter?" Maura asked. He pulled from his bag the sword of Godric Gryffindor, rubies glittering.

"Show off," she said, twirling her plain practice sword.

"You'll get your sword back," he promised her.

"Too bloody right I will!" She paused. "Any rules?"

"No killing."

"That's a good one. Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Excellent! En guard!"

The duel began. Both were experts and the rapid clatter of clashing swords filled the room as they ranged back and forth.

"Come on Harry, let go a bit," she said. "I'm not Ron."

"I don't want to hurt you," he retorted. She twirled before parrying a shot.

"Now who's the show off?" he asked. Daisy turned to Deirdre.

"Do they always talk?"

"Yeah. Putting the other off is pretty much the only way they can win. This could go on for hours."

"So how's Hermione?" Maura asked as she retreated back across the hall.

"She's fine."

"Good. Ritchie?"

"Also fine."

"You're getting better at avoiding Hermione taunts."

"You give me plenty of practice."

"It's for your own good, son."

"Says you," he said, twisting quite awkwardly to avoid her sword.

"I do say so."

"So how are you, Richards?"

"Triffic son, triffic."

"You sound very cockney today. Getting tired of the Irish?" He dodged her sword as she thrust with force and she staggered forward slightly with the momentum. He tapped her on the back.

"Hit a nerve?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Not even close. You'll have to do better than that."

"I forgot that you're made of ice."

"Shouldn't ever forget that, mate."

"Well, you've been acting pretty fluffy and warm lately."

"Erroneous information."

"So why haven't you managed to kick my arse yet?"

"Haven't been trying."

"Me neither."

"No holding back?" she asked him. He nodded.

"No holding back."

They stepped back and paused for a moment and when the duel resumed, it had cranked up a few notches and had the entire seventh year transfixed. Even Deirdre, who had seen the two of them duel many times before, watched open mouthed. Was this a hint of what had defeated Voldemort? She shuddered.

Swords clashed, glinting in the afternoon sun streaming through the windows. Harry and Maura's duel took them the length and breadth of the hall, barely keeping them hemmed in as students dodged out of the way. Maura leapt up onto the Head Table to avoid Harry's sword. Completely disregarding the students sitting on the table, she ran down it, swinging her sword at Harry as he gave chase. In order to get out of her way, Marianna fell backwards of the table and onto the floor. She squealed loudly but in the midst of the duel nobody, not even Eustacia, noticed her plight.

When she reached the end of the table Maura went to dodge Harry's sword and tumbled off in the process. The room went quiet and Harry stood over her.

"Finished?"

"Not yet," she said, rolling away from the blade. She jumped to her feet and the duel went on.

***

Professor Lupin could hear the clatter of swords as he approached the Great Hall and he sighed. Who had she challenged this time? He checked his watch and realised that it was almost dinner time. He opened the door and went most cautiously inside, not knowing what to expect inside. Pleasantly surprised to see Maura duelling an equal, he watched for a moment. Then finally he called out to them:

"Can we have our Great Hall back now please?"

Harry and Maura's swords froze midair and Harry looked over at Lupin. Both he and Maura were out of breath and beginning to look tired. Harry then turned to her.

"Call it a draw?" he asked. She nodded, lowered her sword and held her hand out. He took her hand and shook it warmly. Applause broke out amongst the seventh years. Maura grinned and curtsied to them. Marianna now took the opportunity to highlight her injury.

"Professor! Look, Professor! Look what she did to me?"

"Marianna fell off the table, sir," said Sarah-Louise Forbes, a Hufflepuff friend of Deirdre's. Lupin looked at Marianna, who was holding her wrist most over-dramatically, then at the wide, honest eyes of the Hufflepuff.

"Miss Bulstrode-Turner?" he asked in a bright tone. She said nothing.

"We all saw her fall," Dagmar Lytton told the professor. "It was quite the stunt."

Murmurs of agreement spread throughout the hall, although truthfully many of them couldn't possibly have seen Marianna fall.

"Can I go to the hospital wing now?" she asked sulkily.

"In a minute," Lupin said sternly. "I would advise you to think twice about accusing a visitor to this school of causing you injury. A poor show, Miss Bulstrode, a very poor show. I'll have to speak to your Head of House about this. You can go now."

He watched as she stomped out of the hall before turning to Harry and Maura.

"Can we have the hall back now? It's dinner time and I for one, am starving."

***

Harry and Maura got back to Harry's Bar after the defence lessons to find Hermione pacing up and down the length of the bar.

"Where have you been?" she shrieked, surprising even herself by it.

"Remus invited us to eat at the school and we thought it would be rude to say no," Harry snapped back. He was tired and knew he had more work to catch up on after taking most of the day off.

"Well, while you were playing at Robin Hood..." Hermione's manner turned from shrill to sneering. "...I found our mystery amulet."

"Come on then!" Maura took Hermione's arm and began tugging her towards the store room. Hermione allowed herself to be dragged, and then took the lead into one of the smaller offices. The desk was taken up entirely by one book. The pages were made of animal skins, not paper and it had been handwritten by ancient scribes, not printed by machine.

"This passage here tells of a great and terrible talisman. A wizard summoned the great powers from the civilisations of the world and harnessed their darkness within the amulet... the translation's a bit tricky, but I'll go with amulet for now. Anyway, it seems that it was intended to be a positive thing - Pandora's Box in reverse."

"Shutting the badness away?" Maura asked. Hermione nodded tensely.

"It's not much, but it's a start. There's also, luckily, an illustration."

"Don't they usually turn out to be complete nonsense?" Harry cut in. She sighed.

"Maybe, but when you have nothing, something is better than nothing."

"What can the amulet do?" Maura asked.

"That's the thing. According to this, it might be End Of The World stuff."

"I'll call the Order in," said Harry. "We must find it before she does."

*

"Any luck tracking Sirius down? Anybody?" Harry asked. The current Order Circle had been summoned on his instructions, and only one member was missing.

"He went undercover in Salem," said Kingsley, "to ask a few discreet questions about Katerina. We're still waiting for him to get back to us."

"Well, until he gets back there's not much we can do about it. What do you know?" asked Remus, sitting down with a strong cup of coffee. He seemed a little relieved to be away from school for awhile, but undoubtedly tired.

"Well, it appears..." Hermione spoke slowly as she continued to read. "The amulet has the power to bring people back from the dead with no strings attached, no problems. For starters."

"If someone worked out how to use it in that way, they could bring back all sorts of... bad people!" exclaimed Tonks, hands waving manically.

"Or even an army of bad people," added Kingsley more solemnly.

Loud debate began as the Order began to discuss exactly what Katerina might choose to do with the amulet.

"She doesn't want to build an army," came a quiet, stony voice. Silence fell and the whole group turned to look at Maura, sat with her feet up on the table.

"She doesn't want to take over the world," she continued. "She wants revenge."

"You really think she's gone to all this trouble just for revenge?" asked Snape. Maura fixed him with her icy blue eyes and nodded slowly.

"She wants revenge. Oh, she might have a go at taking over the world, but first she'll want revenge. She doesn't want an army, she doesn't want any evildoers. She wants George."

"You really think it's that personal?" asked Lupin. Maura sighed.

"Do you think she'd spend so long spying on our children if she wanted to take over the world?" she replied.

"I don't think so," Harry agreed. Maura jumped up.

"I think it's time for me to have a word with my bloody Guardians. Again."

***

Maura had never really got to know Patricia's replacement Guardian. In the decade since Patricia died, Maura hadn't needed to call on her Guardians that often and found herself still referring to them in her mind as 'Patricia and Clara' rather than 'Clara and Lizzie." Lizzie was apparently Clara's younger sister and well educated in the ways of being a Guardian.

Not that this mattered at ten past eleven at night when she was slamming her fist against their front door. All the lights were off.

"Oi! Wakey wakey! Rise and naffing shine!"

An upstairs light came on. She continued to bang on the door. The landing light came on, then after a moment the hallway light. Then there was sound of the key in the lock. The door opened and Lizzie stood there wrapped in a pink Marks & Spencer dressing gown.

"Is it urgent?" she asked. Maura pushed past her.

"Yes, it is, hence all the banging and shouting."

"I thought it was just your usual manner of greeting. I'll go and get Clara."

Lizzie glared at her and disappeared upstairs. Maura went into the living room and made herself comfortable. A moment or two later, Clara followed Lizzie down the stairs.

"Maura? What's going on?" Clara fixed her with a steely glare surely learned from Patricia.

"I want to know why you didn't warn me what Katerina's been up to."

"Katerina?" Lizzie asked. Clara silenced her with a look, which would've had Maura smirking if she weren't so angry.

"What do you mean?" Clara asked, as if she'd never heard the name before.

"I mean that Katerina seems to have spent the last decade or so plotting her revenge against me and is probably planning to take over the world. She's been spying on me, my friends and our children and I want to know why you, as my apparent Guardians, didn't think to keep an eye on her. When I first asked you, you said you'd stopped watching her about ten years ago. Why didn't you keep watching her?"

"Why didn't you?" Lizzie snapped back so harshly Maura was reminded why she wasn't fond of this particular Guardian.

"When I last saw her, my husband had just died, my best friend had just turned her back on me and I had to deal with the fact that I was an eighteen-year-old pregnant widow. It wasn't exactly my first priority," she snarled back.

"Stop it, both of you," said Clara in a firm but tired sounding voice. She sat down opposite Maura and pointed for Lizzie to sit down as well.

"We did keep an eye on her," Clara admitted. "At first. My grandmother insisted we did after what Katerina said to you after the battles. But... our influence only stretches so far. We know she went to America a couple of years after your formed your Diamond and it seemed to us that she just... went. We don't have eyes and ears across the world, Maura. We... It was Patricia who made me watch Katerina and she didn't seem any sort of threat to me."

"Well deduced, Holmes," growled Maura. Lizzie snorted.

"I'm sure you're being dramatic," she said. Maura fixed her with one of her iciest blue stares. She pulled the picture of the amulet out of the back pocket of her jeans and threw it at Lizzie.

"That is how dramatic I'm being."

Clara picked up the picture and studied it closely for a minute.

"Grandmother..." she mumbled, "...she..."

"What?" Maura demanded. "What did Patricia do or say about that picture?"

"She once told me about a talisman, I think she called it an amulet..." Clara said, now getting up and beginning to rifle through the bookcase. "I remember... I'm sure I remember her telling me about an amulet without a name."

She continued to go through the shelves for a minute before grabbing a diary.

"What's that?" Maura asked.

"All Guardians keep a diary dealing with the Heirs," said Lizzie. Clara flicked through for a moment.

"Here it is!" she said, flicking through. "My grandmother wrote that... Lily Evans took the nameless amulet for safekeeping in the Hall of the Dead."

"So..." Maura said, calming down a bit. "...We know where it is?"

"Not right now," Clara said, reading. "There were... instructions..."

"What instructions?" interrupted Lizzie. Clara glared at her.

"I'm reading! Give me a minute, would you? There were instructions which were placed in safekeeping in a vault..."

"Not at Gringotts?" asked Maura. Clara nodded.

"How did you know that? I've never heard of it before."

"Wizard bank. Which vault? Do we have a key?"

"Vault 2503... and the key was given to... the Order of the Phoenix."

"Really?" Maura asked. "But they don't know anything about the amulet."

"I would have thought, Maura, that my grandmother asked them to look after the key but didn't tell them what it was for."

"Well, I'll get back to them and see what it's about," she suggested, pointing to the diary. "And... I should ask, you have been keeping an eye on you-know-what, right?"

"Of course. The Guardians have been watching over it much longer than you or I have walked the earth."

"Right. Well, good night," Maura said, shooting a smile at Clara before leaving the house.

***

"That's very lucky," said Hermione. "We might finally have a head start on Katerina."

Maura had given her news to the rest of the Diamond, for they were the only ones left at the Order HQ by the time she got back.

"Maybe," said Ron. "But maybe not."

"Don't be so pessimistic," said Harry. "A lead is a lead."

"Have we got a reply from our owl to Dumbledore?" asked Hermione, still scribbling in a notepad.

"You may have, Miss Granger."

They all looked up to see the retired headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore walking in. He looked quite frail, but his blue eyes were still twinkling and his smile was warm.

"Hello Professor!" Hermione jumped up and ran over to hug her old teacher. It always warmed her heart to hear him still call her Miss Granger, as if he alone understood what she had given up when she got married so very young.

"You all look well," he said, taking the chair at the head of the table, "and all doing very well."

"Thank you, Sir," said Ron, a slight colour coming to his ears. Even all these years after leaving school, it made them all proud to hear such words from this man whose respect they wanted. Maura's cheeks went a little pink when Dumbledore smiled kindly at her.

"We need to ask you about a key given to the Order by the Heir of Maeve's Guardians. A key to-" Harry began, but Dumbledore finished:

"A Gringotts vault. I thought you might when I received the owl about this mysterious amulet."

"Do you know where the key is?"

"It is being kept safe in the Order chamber at Hogwarts."

"Oh."

"Unfortunately, we cannot get into Gringotts until the morning now," Dumbledore said. "So I would advise you all go home and get some sleep."

"That's a good idea," said Ron with a yawn. "My wife will think I've forgotten where I live."

"Let's meet at Madam Sinta's first thing tomorrow morning," suggested Hermione. "So we can go straight to the bank."

"A fine idea," agreed Dumbledore. "I will call on Professor McGonagall to get the key and meet you there. I'm very partial to Madam Sinta's Enervating Hot Chocolate."

*

If anyone sipping hot beverages at Madam Sinta's that morning thought that seeing the retired head of Hogwarts and the Diamond sat drinking hot chocolate was odd, nobody said so. The five at the table said very little of consequence until the clock struck nine - Gringotts opening time.

They strode down Diagon Alley and received a cordial if not entirely warm reception at the bank. The Order's vault was one of the deepest, and Dumbledore went in and came out with a tiny velvet pouch.

"Vault 2503, please," he instructed the goblin, who actually looked surprised - that was a deep, deep vault. The Philosopher's Stone had been in 713, and Harry had thought that was deep enough. The ride to the vault was rough, rapid and unpleasant, but when they got there it turned out to be a tiny vault that only required the key.

The goblin, Lodbrok, smirked.

"Reputation and fear are often security enough," he told them. Inside the vault was a small leather-bound notebook which Harry took.

"I suppose this is it?" he asked. The others, having no real idea, just nodded. Then, they were off again, back towards the surface and the fresh air.

*

The book turned out to be addressed to Maura, in a manner of speaking:

Dear Heir,

If you're reading this, I suppose someone has found where we hid that bloody amulet. I've written these instructions, although they're really more like clues. I'm sorry I can't be direct but... well, you might not be the heir, might you? Good luck and may the road rise to meet you.

L.E.

Maura shrugged, trying to hide how she felt at seeing Harry's mother's handwriting. The instructions were convoluted in the extreme, and in the end Hermione took the book and holed herself away with the Order's best and brightest code breaker to at least find out what part of the world it was in.

Untold cups of Enervating Hot Chocolate later, Hermione reappeared.

"Where is it?" Harry had been on tenterhooks since he'd seen his mother's handwriting - somehow her having been the heir had only been a vague historical fact until then.

"Alexandria. Egypt."

"Oh good," said Ron. "We can visit Bill while we're there."

"I'll arrange for the necessary Portkeys," Harry told them. "We'll leave as soon as we can."

***

Alexandria, Egypt

Hermione wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to her travelling companions. It was the middle of the morning when they arrived and it was already too hot for her.

"Do you have your instructions, Maura?" she asked. The other woman nodded curtly.

"Yep. Can we hurry up and get out of the sun? I've got alabaster skin, I'll have you know."

"As does Ron," Harry cracked. "I think he's already got sunburn and we've only been here five minutes."

"Shut up, Potter."

"Shut up all of you," Hermione said, cutting the bickering off immediately. It was far too hot for them to be arguing about anything. "We'll get a taxi to Bill's house first of all. I'm sure he'll be able to help."

Hermione hailed a cab and they clambered in. Using her fairly limited knowledge of Arabic, she was able to direct the driver to Bill Weasley's home.

Bill's home was the top flat in a fairly grotty looking apartment block. Although he was well paid by Gringotts for his extensive work as a curse-breaker and general tomb raider, it didn't show from his address.

"Are you sure this is it?" Ron asked as they waited for the doorbell to be answered. "He lived somewhere much nicer when we visited."

"Ron, you last visited when you were thirteen," Harry reminded him, "and he was living in Cairo at the time."

The door opened and a smart-looking Bill opened the door.

"Hello!" He seemed surprised but greeted them amiably enough. "Come in, won't you?"

Inside, the flat was much, much nicer. Modern furniture jostled for space with various antiques and bits and pieces of Egyptian art-work. It was also immaculately tidy.

"I'd offer you tea, but I'm off to a meeting with the boss goblin at Gringotts in a minute," he told them.

"We can't stay anyway," Ron told his brother. "We're looking for a place-"

"Here," interrupted Hermione, handing Bill the first part of Maura's instructions- the map of Alexandria and its outskirts that she had been able to construct from the first clues.

"I don't know it, although... it looks like this bit..." He pointed to the entrance of the tunnel complex. "...isn't far from the wizarding quarter of the city. I can show you before my meeting."

Bill grabbed a rolled up carpet and motioned for them to follow him. He led them out of the flat and up onto the roof of the building. He unrolled the carpet, which hovered a few inches off the ground.

"You've got a flying carpet!" Maura said in awe. Bill nodded.

"Oh, they're not illegal here. Prime mode of wizard transportation in a country that never had huge supplies of wood, isn't it? Get on, it'll take all five of us."

"Won't Muggles see?" asked Hermione, looking down on the busy city below.

"Charmed not to, just like broomsticks," Bill said. "Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, please no smoking and no food or drink. Unless you offer me some, of course."

Bill grinned as they each got onto the carpet. The five of them easily fitted onto it as Bill said they would. He steered it upwards a little and to the right.

"We're very high up," said Hermione rather anxiously, looking down at the streets below. Harry held her arm and squeezed it reassuringly.

"It's fine," he reassured her. They sat in relative silence as Bill flew the carpet over Alexandria. As they began to reach the outskirts of town, he manoeuvred it downwards to another rooftop.

"Everybody off," he said cheerfully. They got off the carpet and he rolled it up. By the stairs down, a bored looking clerk sat in a little booth.

"Afternoon Salah," Bill called out with a smile. The young wizard returned it.

"Hello Bill," he said, taking the carpet and storing it in the booth. "Long or short term parking?"

"Short term. Only here to see the boss."

"Right," Salah tore off a little pink ticket from a book and handed it to Bill. "Have a good afternoon."

Bill led the four down the stairs around the side of the building. At the bottom, they found the Alexandrian equivalent of Diagon Alley.

"This place has been here even longer than Diagon Alley," he told them, perhaps guessing what they were thinking, "but they do have a branch of Flourish and Blotts now. And there's a Starbucks."

He led them through the wizard quarter, each of them marvelling at the similarities and differences between this place and Diagon Alley. At the very edge of the shopping district stood the imposing grey stone building that housed the Alexandrian branch of Gringotts.

"I'll leave you here... See that outcropping?" He pointed towards a rocky area some distance away in the wilderness of sand, far from the buildings of the city.

"We see it," Harry said. Bill nodded.

"That's what's marked on your map. You should be warned that it's a lot further away than it looks. Either hire a car or buy a lot of water and a hat. I have to go now. Good seeing you all. Ron, tell Mum I said hello and that I'm eating properly."

"Will do," said Ron. Bill grinned at them all one last time before disappearing into Gringotts.

"What do we do?" Harry asked. "Rent a car?"

"I'm not sure we should," Ron said. "That involves paperwork. We don't want anyone to know where we're going or even that we've been here."

"Probably not," Hermione said, "but it looks rather a long way away."

"Camels?" suggested Maura with a grin.

"How much money do we have with us?" Harry asked. Hermione checked her bag.

"Not a great deal. I'd say we'd just go to the bank, but we don't want anyone knowing we're here."

"Right, because we don't stick out at all as it is," Ron said dryly.

"Do we have enough money with us for two camels?" Harry asked. "We can share."

"Whatever," Maura said. "I just want to get this over and done with."

***

Fifteen minutes later, Hermione's Arabic had got them two camels for a fairly reasonable price, although not being conversant in camel rentals, they weren't sure how reasonable the price actually was. They loaded up on bottles of Evian available at the wizard supermarket, and were soon on their way towards the mysterious rock formation.

Bill had been correct- it was much further away than it looked. As they rode towards it, Maura began to read the instructions she'd been presented with before coming to Egypt.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked, as curious as ever. Maura sighed, having trouble with the detailed yet cryptic wording.

"I think we have to look for a pink rock, but I've never heard of rocks being pink, so I might be wrong."

"There's such a thing as red granite here in Egypt," Ron said suddenly, as if the remembrance of knowledge had jolted his head.

"There is? How do you know that?"

"It came up once when we were studying Egyptian rituals at Nostradamus. I think it's quarried much further South than here, although I could be wrong. That needle thing in London is made out of it."

"What needle thing?" Maura asked. From her position on Harry's lap on the other camel, Hermione sighed.

"You've never heard of Cleopatra's Needle? Or seen it?"

"No."

"And you call yourself a Londoner?" Hermione asked. Maura nodded.

"Yeah. But unless it was on Kilburn High Road, I wouldn't know anything about it. Tourist attraction, is it?"

"Somewhat," Hermione said. Maura laughed.

"There you go. I'm not a tourist in London, am I?"

"This is an odd conversation to be having here," Harry said. The rocks finally seemed be getting closer.

***

After riding for what felt like another hour but was more likely around half an hour, they found themselves at the rocky outcropping. It was a strange place. The huge rocks jutted out of the earth and went about forty feet upwards. It looked like a natural formation, but the perfect circle formed by the rocks suggested that it was rather more man-made. Leaving the camels, the four climbed over the rocks into the centre of the circle.

"Does this remind anyone else of Stonehenge?" Ron asked. Hermione nodded.

"Pink rock, people," Maura reminded them. "A pink rock."

"Over here," Harry called to them. Hidden away from immediate view, a chunk of pink rock was set into a fairly ordinary rock. Without preamble, Maura grabbed hold of the rock, which turned fifty degrees to the right. A low rumbling was heard somewhere below and the four felt the sands shift underfoot. After a moment, the sand and rock in front of them moved to reveal a small opening in the ground.

"How did you know to do that?" Hermione asked, poring over Maura's instructions. "It isn't written down here."

"I don't know," Maura shrugged nonchalantly. "Let's go."

The other three hung back for a moment rather cautiously as Maura barrelled on down into the ground. Her head popped back up again.

"There are steps. Come on, will you?" she said, rolling her eyes at them. Harry followed her before Hermione and Ron went last.

"Will people not see the hole in the ground?" asked Ron. Maura pulled her Maglite out of her khaki trouser pocket and examined the passageway more thoroughly. A pink rock, just like the one up above was set into the wall. She turned it fifty degrees to the left. Above them, the rock closed over the opening.

"An educated guess," she explained. Hermione turned the rock fifty degrees right. The opening was revealed once more. She turned it to the left to close it.

"Just checking," she explained. "I have no desire to be trapped down here."

"Where do we go now?" Harry asked. Ahead of them loomed three equally dark, equally dank looking passageways. Hermione examined the instructions carefully.

"I think we take the middle passageway," she said. "We have to find the Hall of the Dead."

"Which is what?" Ron asked, looking rather nervous. "Just, you know, for reference."

Hermione cleared her throat and began, "As far as I can tell, it's where the Ptolemaic wizards hid the bodies of important figures. There are also several powerful magical objects hidden here because we're in a magical black spot. Hence our torches," she held up her own Maglite.

"There are some trials along the way, right?" Maura asked. Hermione nodded.

"As far as I can tell. It doesn't say what they are, though."

"Wouldn't be trials then, would they?" asked Ron. Hermione smacked him on the arm.

"Behave, children," Harry chided gently. "I think we've got a long day ahead of us."

"Middle passageway? I think the middle passageway," said Maura quite confidently. The other three nodded and they made their way down the passage.

Narrow, low, dark and dank, the passage was not the nicest place in the world to be. Tall Ron was forced to stoop and soon found he had backache.

"I'm getting too old for this saving the world lark," he grumbled. Their footsteps echoed down the passageway, creating eerie, unnerving sounds. Harry had been periodically checking the compass that was a part of his watch, but found that it was being driven haywire.

"What? I don't understand. It's acting like we're walking through a magnet or something?"

"The way I see it, the wizards who constructed this whole place," Hermione told him, "built in a lot of tricks to put people off. Maybe that's one of them."

"Isn't this a black spot?" Ron asked. "If they were wizards, how did they do anything?"

"Oh honestly Ron," Hermione said with a sigh. "They didn't have to use magic."

The passageway came to an end at a small cave. Checking Maura's instructions again, Hermione nodded.

"We should see a stone Sphinx with a riddle," she told them.

"There's nothing here," Harry replied after a cursory search with his torchlight.

"What's this?" asked Maura, who had been rather quiet since they had begun their journey through the tunnels. She pointed her torchlight towards the opposite end of the cave. A pile of rubble marked the start of yet another passageway, this time even narrower and even lower. Kneeling down to examine the rubble, Harry found the distinctive carved stone nose and chin of a Sphinx.

The four shared a worried look. Who had been down here already? Who, importantly, had been in a magical black spot with enough power to reduce a special stone sphinx to little more than a pile of rocks?

"Someone didn't like the riddle, I suppose," Maura cracked feebly. Harry continued to search through the rubble.

"Nothing here. I suppose all we can do is continue down the passageway," he said. The other three, still looking shaken at the new possibilities of what awaited them, just nodded.

***

It took them another hour or so to reach the first cavern and the entrance to the fabled golden pathway. They paused to drink some water.

"You know, I have a feeling that it didn't matter which passageway we took before," said Ron pointing to the other two passageways that led into the cavern. Harry nodded.

"That would be typical. What's this?" asked Maura, running her hand over a red mark on the wall of the passageway they'd just come down.

"Looks like lipstick to me," said Hermione, rubbing the edge of it. "L, J&S?"

Harry blanched.

"Did you say that the person who hid the amulet in the first place was another Heir of Maeve?" he asked Maura. She nodded. Hermione, seeing Harry's expression, guessed what he was thinking.

"Lily did write that note in the book."

"James and Sirius," he added. "They all came here. Like us now."

"We should've told Sirius about our little jaunt," Maura said. "He might have given us some advice."

"We're still waiting for him to return from bloody Salem," grumbled Hermione.

"Do you suppose that they destroyed the Sphinx?" Ron asked. Harry glared at him. Before an argument could break out, Hermione stepped in.

"No. The instructions would have changed. I have a feeling that someone has been here since Lily but before us. Someone that wasn't meant to be."

"No..." Maura said, punctuating it with a sad, heavy sigh.

"It might be OK," Hermione said, pushing false cheer into her voice. "It doesn't mean they found what they were looking for."

"Don't say 'they', Hermione," Maura snapped. "Call her Katerina. It's her name, after all."

"We don't know it's Katerina we're looking for," Harry said reasonably. Maura just snorted derisively.

"I know it is. After finding that stuff at her flat, I'd say she's got enough know-how and power to get down here."

"Look," Ron cut in. "I would really like to get home to my wife and children within the next few months, so if we could hurry this up? We must nearly be there."

"I think so," Hermione said, glancing over the instructions again. "We follow the gold." Before anyone could add anything else or object, she was off, following the glittering nuggets of gold.

***

As it had been over thirty years ago, it took the group about half an hour to reach the end of the passage of gold and arrive at the Hall of the Dead. Had Sirius been with them, he wouldn't have noticed anything different since his last visit. The gold was as glittering, the murals as bright as they had been. This time, however, the group knew more about their surroundings courtesy of Hermione Granger, writer and historian extraordinaire.

"What does the writing on the archway say, Rune Girl?" Ron asked. Hermione glared at him for the 'Rune Girl' remark but translated it just the same.

"It's in ancient hieroglyphics," she said. "It says that this is the Hall of the Dead and that only those wishing no harm should cross the threshold into the Hall."

"Is that us?" Maura asked. Hermione nodded and stepped onto the gold tiles.

"This is a statue of Nephthys," she said of the statue guarding the entrance. "She's the guardian of the dead. I didn't think she was worshipped this far north, but you learn something new everyday."

Harry, Ron and Maura listened with a little amusement as Hermione pointed out this, that and the other in great detail. Within a couple of minutes she identified the tomb of the first Ptolemaic Pharaoh, the statues of Isis, Horus and Osiris and the materials used to make each. Then, as Lily Evans had done so many years ago, Hermione found a red granite sarcophagus.

"You should all come and see this," she said breathlessly. "It's Alexander the Great. The Alexander."

"How many Alexander the Greats are there?" Ron asked, fairly unimpressed.

"Don't you understand, Ron?" she asked. "This room has just contradicted thousands of years of history."

"You might want to look at this one then, Hermione," Harry called, standing at the sarcophagus-for-two not so far away. He had a fairly good knowledge of runes thanks to spending so many years with Hermione, and had an idea of who was inside. Hermione understood straightaway.

"Who is it?" Maura asked.

"Antony and Cleopatra," Hermione said, tracing the runes with her finger. "It says that this is the last resting place of Queen Cleopatra XIV and her husband, General Marcus Antonius of Rome."

Maura, Ron and Harry looked suitably impressed, just as James and Sirius had done so long ago.

"Where is the tomb we're looking for?" Harry asked, right back to business. "Does it say in those instructions of yours, Maura?"

"I'm reading... I'm reading... Says something about Lapis Lazuli... The tomb of the wizard is made of black granite and Lapis Lazuli."

Maura frowned. These ridiculous instructions weren't her sort of thing. She was only glad that Hermione the Brain was with her on this mission, otherwise she might have been down here a long, long time. She began wandering around fairly aimlessly, listening to Hermione talk.

"He must have been very, very important," Hermione said, fully in her historian mode now. "Lapis Lazuli was highly sought after in ancient times and-"

"Hermione, love?" Harry interrupted. "Can you tell us all your facts when we're out of here?"

Hermione looked a little hurt, but nodded. They searched through the Hall.

"I'd say she found what she was after," said Maura, staring into a dark corner of the hall.

Her friends ran over to where she was standing over a black granite sarcophagus, hidden away in a corner. The lid was smashed into two pieces which now lay haphazardly, one piece on the floor, one piece leaning on the stone catafalque. Feeling rather nervous about the whole situation, Harry peered inside the coffin.

"His right arm has been broken. Recently, I mean," he said. Hermione took the instructions from Maura and began reading through the end.

"It says that the amulet was placed under the right hand," she told him. "Katerina must have been impatient."

"That doesn't sound like her," Maura said. "Then again, tomb raiding didn't used to be her style either, so what do I know?"

Hermione looked greatly troubled now.

"We're too late to protect the amulet," she said. "If Katerina does have it, it's only a matter of time before she works out exactly how to use it."

***

It took them some time longer to get back out, due to their fatigue and the dispirited feeling of failure they each now had to face. Finally, they arrived back on the surface and rode the camels back to Alexandria. They didn't wait around to see Bill again, instead choosing to Portkey straight back to England. Once there, they headed to Ruairi House, where Harry began cooking and Hermione delved right into her library.

"It's gone?" Maura's Guardian Clara looked most distressed. She had arrived at the house after Maura contacted her to say she was back in Britain. On her question, Maura just nodded glumly.

"What can we do?" she asked. Clara shook her head.

"I don't know. It's never come up before. Last time, we were sure it would be safe there, but... I don't even understand how she discovered the whereabouts of the Hall."

"We don't know who or what she has on her side," Ron explained. "The kind of stuff Harry and Maura found at Katerina's flat was a bit disturbing."

"I should get back to London. I can contact the rest of the Guardians' Circle and see what we can do. Maura, you should speak to the Order of the Phoenix as well."

"That's what we're here for," Ron, a member of the Order, said with a grin. Clara did not return it.

"I meant that you should call a meeting of the Order. If Katerina is able to channel the powers of the amulet, you'll need all the help you can get."

Without another word, Clara stepped into the fire, threw some Floo powder in and disappeared back to London. Ron got up from his seat.

"I'll owl Dumbledore," he told Maura before heading upstairs to Harry's little owlery. Maura sat alone in the living room as Harry cooked, Hermione read and Ron wrote. She thought of Katerina as she remembered her: a sweet, kind girl with a delicate smile and a fear of spiders, snakes and Jack Russell dogs. She thought of Katerina as she had been the last time they saw each other: red-eyed, heart-broken, betrayed and angry. This, Maura realised, was all her fault.

***

After eating a rather rushed dinner of bacon, eggs and baked beans, the Diamond sat down to discuss the amulet, Hermione's findings and the implications:

"From what I've been able to ascertain from all the books, the amulet was forged in Ireland in about 44 BC. It was made at Tara, the old seat of the High Kings of Ireland by an Egyptian priest who had travelled there to teach, to learn and to harness the magic there to make his amulet."

"What was his name?" Maura asked.

"I haven't found a name yet, although I'm sure with a bit more digging I can find it."

"Is it easily destructible?" Ron asked. Hermione bit her lip.

"I don't think so. From what I've found so far, the amulet was made using precious metals mined in Greece, although it doesn't say what metals. It had gemstones from Babylon set into it and was made, quite specifically, on the Roman feast day honouring Jupiter, chief amongst gods."

"So," Harry started, "it's a pretty powerful thing?"

"From what I've been able to deduce from all those books and in the last half an hour since returning home, and let's remember I haven't slept in two days," Hermione said, "if the person with the amulet knows how, it can harness the ancient magic we barely touched when we borrowed some of it seventeen years ago. It can also bring people back from the dead if you know how. That's what we assumed she wanted it for."

"Do you suppose she knows how?" Maura asked. Sharp-eyed Harry noticed that Maura's hands were shaking slightly, a sure sign of the woman's underlying anger and fear. Hermione shook her head.

"I haven't found anything written about how to use it. Everything I've read so far is very, very vague indeed. If it is as powerful as I'm led to believe, nobody would be stupid enough to write a User Manual. But... that doesn't mean she can't find out. We should talk to the Order. They've been looking after it for centuries, they should know more than us."

"Dumbledore said he'd owl us back when he'd contacted the rest of the Order," Ron told them.

"Well, we're probably off to Hogwarts. No sleep for us anytime soon."

"Well, I refuse to sit around with sand in my shoes any longer," Hermione said, rising to her feet. "I'm going to have a shower before I do anything else."

***

To be continued...