Of Girls and Goddesses

Of Girls and Goddesses

Chapter III

When Harry and Luna arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had already gotten a table and ordered drinks. Harry and Luna joined them, putting down their packages. Harry ordered a butterbeer for himself and a gillywater with onion for Luna. Hermione began to talk at once about the classes she would be taking when the term started, and Harry was grateful to her for getting the conversation going, as Ron and Ginny had appeared very cool when Harry and Luna had arrived. Speculating on who the new Dark Arts teacher would be and what the other teachers had planned for them took up all of the time until they were ready to order their food. When it arrived, they simply ate, with Luna occasionally talking a bit more about her holiday in Sweden, which led Hermione to tell them a bit about her own holiday. Harry knew a bit about Majorca, because his aunt and uncle had once considered buying a vacation home there.

When the meal was over, and the checks came, Harry took Luna's as well as his own, which caused Ron and Ginny to give him another odd look. They were distracted, however, when Luna stood up, and began to gather up her parcels.

"I have to get back to the Quibbler office. Daddy will wonder where I've been. It's been nice seeing you all. Thanks for lunch, Harry." She kissed his cheek, shifted the parcels across her arm, and left without looking back. Nervously, Harry reached for the rest of his butterbeer.

Ron watched Luna as she left, then turned to Harry. "So what's up with you and Loony?"

"Nothing is up," Harry said, irritated, "and stop calling her Loony. She's our friend. She risked just as much going to the Ministry as the rest of us did."

"It just seems a bit odd to hear that you've been seeing her and giving her gifts when you hadn't mentioned any of that to any of us," Hermione intervened. "We're just surprised, that's all. It's not that we don't consider her a friend."

"I ran into her by accident near the Burrow. It wasn't anything planned. So I saw something I thought she'd like and gave it to her. It's no big deal," Harry told Hermione.

Ginny got up and went to the ladies room. When she had gotten out of earshot, Ron spoke more freely. "It's just not like you, Harry. I don't get it. You were apparently with Luna last week, then you were kissing my sister at the Burrow, and now you ditched Ginny to spend more time with Luna Lovegood. What's gotten into you?"

"Harry was kissing Ginny?" Hermione asked, startled.

"No, Ginny kissed me. I think she still likes me," Harry said, making the understatement of the year, as he fiddled with the salt cellar.

"Well, of course she does," Ron answered. " She always has. Everyone knows that. Don't you like her?"

"Of course. There's no one like Ginny. I'm just not sure if I should get involved with anyone right now. We're probably on the verge of a war, you know, and a lot of what's going to happen centers on me. I'm not very good with girls under normal conditions. I certainly don't know if I want to get too involved with any of them right now."

Ron looked upset. "So why is it different with Luna?"

"Luna's just a good listener. There's something very peaceful about being with Luna. Maybe it's because she's always so calm. I feel better when I talk to her about certain things, but she's not my girlfriend," Harry answered, digging in his moneybag for money to pay the checks.

"You don't seem to mind it when Luna kisses you," Hermione observed.

"It wasn't the same type of kiss, believe me. You kissed me on the cheek like that once, and no one still thinks that you're my girlfriend. At least I hope they don't," Harry answered, looking at Ron slyly. Ron's ears turned bright red.

Not noticing Ron's embarrassment, Hermione started to answer Harry, but then stopped when she saw Ginny coming back to the table. "Well, you seem to have upset Ginny at any rate. I think you should talk to her about it."

"Fine. I will." Harry left his money on the table, and got up and met Ginny halfway across the room.

"Ginny, I think Hermione and Ron want to be alone for awhile, and we need to talk. Would you take a walk with me?"

"If you like." Ginny shrugged and followed him out into the backyard, and watched Harry tap the third brick from the left above the trash bin with his wand. They stood back as the archway into Diagon Alley opened once more.

"Do you feel like dessert?" Harry asked Ginny awkwardly. "We could get an ice cream."

Ginny shrugged again and they went to Florean Fortescue's. Harry got sundaes, and they went to sit at a table outside the ice cream parlor.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Ginny asked him, staring into her sundae.

"Ron thinks it bothers you that Luna and I are still friends. I don't want you to think there's more to it than there is. Luna is your friend, too, and I don't want her to lose you just because I want to keep her part of the group now."

"Is that all she is?" Ginny looked at Harry carefully, knowing he could not lie convincingly.

"Look, Ginny, I like to talk to Luna. She gives me a different perspective on things. She's had a rough life, you know, and I think we give her a purpose. She needs friends. The people in her own house don't even treat her well. What's wrong with me being nice to her? She risked her life to help us last June, and it wasn't even her fight. She made it her fight, though, and now the Death Eaters probably see her as an enemy. We knew what we were getting into. She didn't even know Sirius. Can't you give her a break?"

Ginny stirred her sundae into soup. "I just can't stand seeing her hold your hand or kiss you. I know I shouldn't be jealous. I mean, Luna Lovegood, honestly! Who could be jealous of her, but I don't understand why you can talk to her when you can't talk to me."

"It's just different with Luna, that's all!" Harry said. "Maybe you're just too close to the situation to give me an impartial opinion sometimes."

"Then you admit I'm closer to you than she is? Harry, you meant it when you said you care, didn't you?"

"It's never been a question of me not caring. It's a question of me not knowing what's going to happen next. I just have a lot on my mind, Ginny. I'm not ready to make any personal decisions. It's nothing against you as a girl. Try and understand that. We just wouldn't work out the way things are right now."

"Well, when you're ready, let me know. I'll be here." Ginny leaned over and kissed Harry on the mouth, and he wondered what it would be like to get to the point where he could think about a future beyond Voldemort.

That's twice that two girls have kissed me in the same day, Harry thought, and the two girls couldn't be more different. Ginny was fire, passionate and determined. She challenged him, and tied his mind in knots. Luna was as cool as falling snow, but there was something peaceful about her that comforted him. She was challenging in her own way. Of course Luna had never even implied that she loved him, or was even capable of loving him, Harry realized. He couldn't remember ever being truly loved, and the idea intrigued him, but still frightened him at the same time.

Ron and Hermione approached them, and Harry was amused to see that they were holding hands. "We're going to Quality Quidditch Supplies," Ron said happily. "With Umbridge gone, you'll be back on the team. If Ginny switches to chaser, we'll be unbeatable!"

"You hope," Harry said, smiling, "but I think that's a good idea. I need some more handle polish." He looked at Ginny. "My dad was a chaser before he became a seeker. The two positions require a lot of the same skills. I think the change will be fairly easy for you."

"I hope Jack Sloper practiced over the summer," Ginny replied. "If he isn't any better, we'll have to replace him. Who do you think will be captain? McGonagall gets to choose the captain, as our head of house, doesn't she?"

Hermione sighed, and resigned herself to an afternoon of Quidditch talk, as they started off to Quality Quidditch.

On September 1^st there was the usual mad rush to get everything together and get to the train on time, but for Harry it was a relief to go through the barrier onto platform nine and three-quarters. As much as he liked the Burrow, Harry felt like going to Hogwarts was truly going home. Mrs. Weasley hugged and kissed them all, including Harry and Hermione, and made Ron promise to send her an owl when they had arrived at school. They got the luggage onto the train with no problems, but when Hermione, Ron and Ginny headed off to the prefects carriage, their silver badges shining, Harry felt a bit let down. He cheered up when he ran into Luna and Neville, and they went to look for a carriage together. Neville didn't seem to be as unnerved by Luna anymore, which made Harry very happy.

"Did you get a new wand, Neville?" Luna asked him.

"Oh, yeah," Harry said, remembering. "What happened with that? Was your grandmother angry that the other one got broken?"

"Actually," Neville said happily, "she was proud of me! She was shocked that I faced Bellatrix Lestrange! She's really looking at me differently. She took me for a new wand right away. It's made of oak and has a unicorn tail hair in it." He took it out and showed it to them, and it looked wonderful. His old one had been chipped and scratched, but this one was smooth and highly polished.

"Good for you, Neville," Luna said. "I'll bet you do much better with that one. It looks like it suits you more than your old one did."

"I hope so."

The witch came by with the food cart, and Harry bought them a lot of Chocolate Frogs and Every Flavor Beans to share. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans were a much better value with Luna around, because she would eat any of them, even the unusual ones like sardine and sprouts. Harry was even lucky enough to get an extremely rare Chocolate Frog card of the Egyptian wizard, Ptolemy I.

"Cool," Harry exclaimed as he read it, startling Hedwig, who had been sleeping peacefully in her cage. "Did you know he was an ancestor of Cleopatra?"

"Yes," Luna replied, with the hint of a smile on her face. "Not all of us sleep in Professor Binn's class. Ronald is going to be jealous. He's wanted that one for ages. When I was about eight, I remember Cedric Diggory got that one, and when he showed it to Ron, Ron was so upset he almost cried. I wonder what happened to it?"

Harry looked at Luna, and realized that it was the first time he had heard Cedric's name mentioned without getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. Maybe listening to a few happy memories of Cedric would have helped him long ago. He looked at the card again. "It says Ptolemy was the last known guardian of the scroll of Thoth. What is that?"

"The scroll of Thoth contained the magic words from which Isis raised Osirus from the dead and granted him eternal life," Luna answered. "It was named after Thoth because he represented wisdom, knowledge, learning and teaching. All of those things were necessary to perfect the spell. Thoth was the guide of scribes, and all scribes made a libation to Thoth before writing anything important. I read about the scroll when I was studying Egyptian in Ancient Runes. The scroll was protected by the priests of the temple of Isis in Karnak, until the Intermediate period, and then it supposedly disappeared, and reappeared several times, but it disappeared for the last time about 300 BC and no one knows where it is now."

"That's just a story, isn't it?" Neville asked. "I mean, according to everything I've heard, no spell can really raise the dead, and Isis was supposedly a goddess. There aren't real goddesses, are there?"

"Maybe she was just a very powerful witch, and a cult grew up around her, and she became a goddess of legend," Luna mused. "A lot of witches and wizards were favorites of royalty in different times. Maybe that's what happened with Isis. There were seers at the Roman court and in Ancient Greece. They had shrines at Delphi and Dodona where they used to predict. And as late as the latter part of the 16^th century, King Stephen of Poland kept a sorcerer in his court."

Harry began to understand why Luna was in Ravenclaw. She might be eccentric, but she was actually as smart as Hermione, and just as good at giving relevant information.

Ginny and Colin stopped by on patrol. Harry congratulated Colin on making prefect, and the younger boy beamed, but they didn't stay long. Hermione and Ron stopped by as well, and Ron was suitably envious of the Chocolate Frog card. "He had it lucky, didn't he?" Ron said, enviously. "Alexander conquered Egypt, then died, and then his lieutenants gave it to Ptolemy to run. It'd be nice to be an instant king, especially if you weren't even native to the country."

"I've heard he was a good business man," Hermione shrugged. "The Ptolemy dynasty guaranteed stability at least, and did everything they could to keep the country running. The Egyptians were second class citizens in their own country, but a lot of them did manage to gain some power in their posts." In spite of the chance to see a genuine Ptolemy Chocolate Frog card, though, Hermione was more interested in describing how subdued Draco Malfoy had been at the prefects meeting.

"I think his father being sent to Azkaban is starting to get to him. He wasn't nearly as rude to me as he usually is," Hermione confided.

"Maybe the idea of the Dark Lord being a half blood is what's changing his mind," Luna offered, reaching out to take a funny looking gray bean that no one else would touch.

Hermione looked impressed. "You know, that could be it. If the diehard purebloods are beginning to wonder about that, it could cause some real dissension in the Dark Lord's ranks."

"That would help," Harry admitted, "and I can use all the help I can get. It could be that, and it could also be the fact that some of his biggest supporters are back in Azkaban. The fact that they got arrested because of a group of teenagers and a resurrected Order of the Phoenix can't hurt. Maybe we look more powerful than we are."

"Maybe we are more powerful than some of us think we are," Luna added serenely.

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, keep thinking that, Luna." With one more longing look at the Ptolemy card, Ron left, and Hermione followed.

"What is that?" Neville asked Luna, in an awed voice, eyeing the bean pile cautiously, as she helped herself to another gray one.

"It's pepper. Do you want to try one? They're not bad once you get used to them. Whenever anyone passes out candy in Ravenclaw, they always give me those, if they give me anything at all. Sometimes they miss me."

"No. Thanks, though," Neville shuddered.

Harry frowned. Something was going to have to be done about Luna's Ravenclaw housemates. He wasn't going to stand for her being persecuted for another year, not after what she had done for him last June. If she hadn't come up with the idea of flying the thestrals to London, he would probably have had a nervous breakdown. Of course, if they hadn't gotten to London, Sirius might still be alive, but that wasn't Luna's fault. That was his fault. She had just been trying to help. He would have to think of a way to help her. Too bad no spell could raise the dead. If he could have parted the veil and somehow brought Sirius back, he certainly would have.

As Harry ate chocolate and talked with his friends about Egypt, Voldemort actually was on the other side of the world in Egypt. He was looking down at a muggle archeologist, who had worked on the joint excavation sponsored by the Cairo and British museums the previous year.

Kalifa Ibrahim had grown up with stories of the gods and goddesses of his homeland. He knew the story of each pharaoh, and of the wonders and cruelty they had been capable of. He had often looked at the pyramids and thought of the slaves that had built such miraculous structures and the pain they must have endured in their lives. Idly, he had sometimes wondered if he could have borne such pain. He knew know that he couldn't. Voldemort seldom wasted the Cruciatus curse on a muggle, but it amused him to do so now. The young man's pain had slowly ascended from being tolerable to being unbearable. He wished he could just die and get it over with, but that wasn't happening. The agony intensified, and Kalifa. Who was losing his voice from screaming, squealed like a butchered pig. When he was finally certain the young man was about to go mad, Voldemort ended the curse.

"Tell me again," Voldemort said.

"I've told you a dozen times. Everything we found at the temple site has been divided up. Some of it has gone straight to Cairo, and some of it is going to be loaned to the British museum."

"But the casket? Where is the casket?" Voldemort held out his hands. "About this long, and about this high. It was made of gold. The seal was unbroken. Did they open the casket?"

"I don't know," Kalifa gasped in a raspy voice. "I was treating fragile items, so that they could be moved. I worked preserving fabrics mostly, and I strung beads where the thread had disintegrated. They gave me pictures of how the beads were lying when they were found and I reconstructed the necklaces from that. I saw a few chests, but most of them were wooden and decorated with jewels. The wood had sometimes shrunk and the jewels were falling out. That's what I did. If the chest you're looking for was just gold, I wouldn't have seen it."

Voldemort thought for a moment, and then with a sigh, waved his wand, and said "Avada Kedavra," very calmly. There was a flash of green light and the young man fell back onto the floor of his hut. Voldemort turned to Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been standing silently behind him, enjoying the spectacle. "I need to think. We will stay here, tonight. We will leave in the morning and start looking for the next one. We're going to keep looking until we get an answer. Get him out of here," Voldemort said, indicating the body on the floor, " but I don't want him to be found. It's very important that he not be found right now. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, master. I will see to it," Bellatrix answered.

"You had better," Voldemort answered. "I want that casket. I want the scroll inside it. I don't know why it was returned to the temple after so many years, and I don't know how the temple came to be lost again, but I do know how much I want that scroll. With the scroll of Thoth, I cannot be defeated, by anyone. I will have eternal life."

He left the room and Bellatrix used to her wand to levitate the young man's limp body, and took it out into the night. Under the stars of Egypt, she transfigured it into a piece of pottery, and apparating into the city of Cairo she slid it onto the shelf in an antique shop, among several other similar pots. "You wanted to serve science. You were loyal to your museum," Bellatrix whispered to the pot. "Maybe you will wind up in a museum yourself."

She did not expect anyone to notice right away that the young archeologist was missing, and she certainly didn't expect anyone to make much fuss over it. Bellatrix did not realize that Voldemort was not the only one curious about what had been found in the temple at Karnak. There was someone else concerned about that site, and not because he wanted to increase his knowledge of the past. Albus Dumbledore already knew quite a lot about ancient history. The sensational find was of concern to him for other reasons, and unlike most wizards, Albus Dumbledore made it a habit to read muggle papers from all over the world. Missing muggles interested him very much.