The Curse-breaker's Sister

The Curse-breaker's Sister

Chapter 9

With breakfast out of the way, they completed the translation work on the icons. Draco was still unsure about the cuneiform, but had some ideas on how to figure it out.

"You want to go to Mesopotamia, now?" Ginny asked, her voice incredulous.

"Yes, I do. Think about it. We could kill two birds with one stone. We could go to the Ziggurat of Sîn and see if Bill is there. And while we are in Mesopotamia, we can find out about the form of cuneiform we are dealing with, and be able to learn more about the temple of Ningal, too."

Ginny considered his points briefly and then agreed to go. "I'll start packing. Do you have everything you need?"

"I'll send for some of my thins."

Ginny walked off to pack while Draco borrowed her owl to send a message to Hodgey. A few moments later, the belongings he requested appeared at Bill's cottage with an echoing pop. A note written in Hodgey's scratchy scrawl was attached to one of the trunks.

Draco read the note quickly and shoved it in his pocket when Ginny came back into the room. The Goblins had been at the Malfoy Manor when Hodgey received Draco's note. They had tried to follow the owl, but Hodgey had sent it elsewhere. The need for Draco to leave the country had just doubled.

Ginny eyed the pile of trunks, bags, and books now occupying the coffee table in Bill's den. "That's a lot of stuff to take with us. Are you sure you need it all?"

"My house-elf was a little zealous in his packing. It will only take me a few minutes to pick out what I really need. Besides, we could shrink it if we want to, but I don't think we'll need it all."

"Well, I'm all packed. How long do you think we'll be gone for? I need to make arrangements for Pig."

Draco blanched. Hodgey had sent Pig off somewhere using house-elf magic and he wasn't sure when - or if - he'd return. "Oh, a day, maybe two at the most."

Ginny nodded. "Okay, then. I'm just going to send my Mum a note with Pig to let her know I'll be gone for a few days and tell her to keep Pig with her until I return."

Pig chose that exact moment to swoop into the room. Draco decided not to mention that he'd surreptitiously borrowed the hyper bird. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. He winced at the thought. His list of lies was getting longer.

Ginny was now tying a roll of parchment to Pig's proffered leg. "Take this to Mum, Pig, and stay with her until I get back. Okay?" She ruffled his feathers affectionately. He returned the gesture with a nip on her finger and flew out the window.

"What did you tell your mother?" asked Draco.

"That I was going to Mesopotamia to pick up material for my work."

"You don't think she'll suspect anything?"

Ginny shook her head no. "I doubt it. Like the rest of my family, she thinks I'm a good little daughter and stopped looking for Bill months ago."

"That's good, then. Are you ready?"

"I'm ready. My bags are packed." Ginny had packed everything she thought they could possibly need.

Her knowledge of Mesopotamia could fit into a teaspoon. She did know that it was hot, and so she had packed light, cotton robes to wear and had put on sturdy, but comfortable boots. She'd also packed the tablet, the maps they drew, all of their notes, a magical first aid kit and as an afterthought, tossed in two protective amulets she'd made.

Ginny had hidden them carefully in the folds of her spare robe. She wasn't sure if they'd need them, but just in case things got dangerous, she had brought them along. She wouldn't mention them to Draco unless it was absolutely necessary. Ginny remembered how her face had flushed when she first decided to pack the amulets. She'd been having protective thoughts about Draco Malfoy and didn't want him to know it. The thoughts had surprised her and had taken her off guard. Ginny wasn't used to caring for people that weren't family and wasn't sure what this meant.

"Earth to Ginny...Come in Ginny?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

"Where were you just now?"

"Sorry, I was just going over everything I'd packed in my head. Wanted to make sure I had everything."

"Do you?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm ready."

Draco shrunk their luggage and placed the bite-sized bags in his pockets. The only thing that remained normal-sized was the amber tablet. Ginny had wrapped it up in a blanket she'd found in Bill's linen closet and was carrying it in a backpack.

They Apparated to London, appearing amidst the hustle and bustle of England's busiest Portkey station. It was illegal, and dangerous, to Apparate across continents. Draco didn't trust himself to do it anyway and take the both of them to Mesopotamia without getting splinched.

He offered to pay for the Portkeys, but Ginny wouldn't let him. "We've not even discussed how much I'm paying you for this. The least you can do is let me pay for the Portkey."

The gentleman inside Draco was about to argue with her, but then he spotted two Goblins, an uncommon sight outside of Gringotts, walking quickly through the station. They were in the company of two Aurors. "Okay, Gin, fine with me." If he stood around arguing, he might be spotted.

Ginny lined up to purchase the Portkeys and Draco ducked out of the central foyer and down a shadowy corridor. When Ginny returned, Draco was nowhere to be found.

Bloody Slytherin git, she thought. But then she saw him, standing behind a large, potted plant and chastised herself for immediately thinking the worst. She started walking toward Draco.

Draco had cast a quick Disillusionment Charm on himself and then taken up a post beside an ugly potted palm tree. The Aurors walked by him and he could hear them talking to each other.

"We traced the owl back to Bill Weasley's place. Found some of Malfoy's things there. We think he's been hiding out since we put a trace on him last week."

"Why do the Goblins think he'd be here?" asked the second Auror.

The first Auror shrugged. "Dunno. They probably think he's trying to leave the country and is dumb enough to buy a public Portkey in order to do so. Who knows what those Goblin minds think."

The Aurors wandered off and Draco spied Ginny, who appeared to be looking for him. He tapped his head with his wand, removing the Disillusionment Charm. Ginny spotted him the moment he did so.

"Draco!" Ginny ran over to him, slightly out of breath. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Oh no, I wasn't lost. Just nipped to the loo. Got the Portkeys?"

"Yes, here," she said, and handed him a rubber chicken. "I've got one, too. They are set to go off at ten past eleven. We've got about one..." Ginny felt the familiar tug around her navel, "...minute!"

They were standing in an outdoor pavilion made of a beige coloured stone. The entire landscape was the same color from the sand on the ground to the taupe coloured buildings in the distance. Even the dusty looking robes worn by the locals were beige.

"What a drab place," Ginny whispered so only Draco could here.

"Wait until you see it at night," he told her. "Or after it rains! That's when the place brightens up. Come on," he said, taking her elbow. "Let's find somewhere to stay."

"I thought we were going to go to the ziggurat and find Bill..."

"We will, Ginny, don't worry. I think it's best that we set up headquarters first. Some sort of base-camp for us to work from."

"Okay, we set up headquarters," Ginny conceded. "But then we find the ziggurat."

Draco found them a moderately priced room in a sprawling, ten-story hotel. The concierge boasted about the hotel's amenities but they weren't really interested in the many saunas, swimming pools and café's the hotel had to offer. They dropped their belongs off and then Draco gave Ginny a tour of Modern Day Ur.

"Ur is really amazing, Gin," Draco told her. "The Muggles have no clue it even exists. The entire city-state is unplottable. Ur itself is home to the wizarding world's Treasure Collecting elite."

Ginny looked around at the drab, dirty people that filled the streets and the storefronts. "They don't look very elite to me."

"The gap between the Urrian rich and poor is huge. You either have money, or you don't. The people in this part of the town don't."

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"Oh, I just thought we'd take a walk before dinner. I know of this great little restaurant."

"But I thought you said-"

Draco cut her off. "Yes, I did say we would look for Bill, and we will, after we've got some food in our stomachs. There are some libraries I want to check out while we're here. We might be able to find out some information on the incantation. See that building over there... with the three spires and the golden entrance?"

Ginny looked in the direction he was pointing at and saw the building he was talking about. It was bigger then Hogwarts and made of the same, sandy colored stone as everything else she'd seen so far.

"That's one of the libraries I'm talking about. Wait till you see the inside!"

They walked further down the sidewalk until Draco led them into a tiny, roadside café. Their meal consisted of local delicacies - spicy breadsticks, a sweet, sticky fruit beverage served over shaved ice and shish kebabs. Over dinner they chatted about their plan of action for the next day and many other things that popped up.

Draco, without realizing what he was doing, steered the conversation onto the topic of the past and Ginny found herself talking more about her failed relationship with Hugh.

"Have you dated anyone sice?" Draco asked her over dessert.

"No." There was no explanation, no back-story, just a simple answer.

"Don't you miss it, though?"

Ginny snorted. "Miss what? Being bossed around, told what to wear, where to go, how to talk and what to say? No, I do not miss it."

"What about the good stuff?" Draco pressed the subject. "Somebody to wake up in bed with on Sunday mornings, somebody to hold hands with as you stroll through the park, somebody to kiss."

She shook her head 'no' once again. "None of that really interests me," she told him honestly. "I found it all rather boring."

"Even kissing?" Draco asked, eyebrows raised.

"Even kissing." Ginny turned back to her dessert and missed Draco's incredulous look.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence while Ginny ate her strawberry mousse and Draco wondered if Ginny would be bored with kissing him.

They returned to the hotel a few hours later, having walked the long way home. Along the way, Draco pointed out the libraries they could visit tomorrow and in the distance, nestled between two hills, the Ziggurat of Sîn. Once in the hotel room, they flipped a Galleon for the bed. Draco won the coin toss, but ever the gentlemen, he gave the bed to Ginny and took the couch for himself. They turned in for the night, promising to get an early start in the morning.

"Good night," Ginny said quietly after the lamps were turned out.

"Sleep well, Gin," Draco replied. Then, a few moments later he said, "I hope you don't snore!"

There was no answer. Ginny was already asleep.