Of Girls and Goddesses

Of Girls and Goddesses

Chapter V

For several days, Professor Croaker was the talk of Hogwarts. He was still scandalizing most of Slytherin house with his muggle clothes. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron had, of course, seen him at the World Cup in muggle clothes, but hadn't realized he dressed like that on a regular basis. Most of the students however, were so relieved to have a proper Dark Arts teacher after the disaster that had been Umbridge that they didn't care how he dressed. Many of the students found him fascinating. Quite a few of the older girls were very taken with his blue eyes, thick, brown hair and easy smile.

At breakfast on the morning of their third day at school, Ron's disgust was plainly evident. The Gryffindor sixth years were still having Care of Magical Creatures with the Slytherins. They were having their first joint lesson that morning. To Harry's delight, they were having Charms with the Ravenclaws that afternoon. He had gotten an idea, and hoped it would work.

When they arrived at the door of Flitwick's classroom, he edged away from Ron and Hermione, and toward a very pretty girl with long, dark hair.

"Padma? Can I talk to you?"

Padma Patil looked up, surprised. "About what?"

"I know we haven't always gotten along, but I need your help with something. I have to talk to Flitwick after class. Will you stay behind and listen as well?"

She shrugged. "I suppose I could spare you a few minutes."

"Thank you," Harry told her sincerely.

Padma watched Harry all through class, her curiosity getting the better of her. When the class finally ended, and Harry approached tiny Professor Flitwick, she followed him.

"Professor Flitwick? Can I speak to you for a moment? I need some help with something."

"Certainly, Mr. Potter. What is it? Do you need help as well, Miss Patil?"

"Padma is here because I asked her to be," Harry said. "You're the head of Ravenclaw, and she's a prefect. You two may be in a position to do something very important for me," Harry told the old wizard. "I want to know if anything can be done to protect Luna Lovegood this year. The other Ravenclaws have been taking her things and making fun of her for years. I don't like it. Last year when half the school thought I was either a liar, or totally out of my mind, she supported me. She faced Death Eaters in support of me last June. Isn't there anything that can be done to make her time here a little more bearable?"

Flitwick regarded Harry sadly. "I know that Miss Lovegood has gotten singled out in an unkind way on occasion, but I cannot regulate popularity."

"There's a difference between being popular and being abused," Harry said firmly. "No one should be able to hide her belongings just because she isn't popular. She doesn't care about being popular. She's comfortable with who she is, even if she is a bit different. That doesn't excuse theft and persecution."

Padma looked at Harry in awe. "Then it WAS Luna who went with you to the Ministry of Magic? She was the sixth student there? She actually helped fight the Dark Lord?"

"Yes! She fought at my side. She's as bright as any other student in Ravenclaw, and has a better sense of right and wrong than a lot of them," Harry said firmly. "Will you help me? She's my friend. She's special to me, and I will not see her harassed anymore. I'll find out who is behind it, no matter what it takes, and I'll see it stopped, no matter what I have to do. It would be easier if I had your support, but with it or without it, Luna is going to be safe this year. If anyone doesn't like her, that's fine. They can ignore her, but if anyone hurts her, I'll consider that person an enemy of mine."

Padma and Flitwick looked impressed at Harry's seriousness.

"Well," Padma said thoughtfully, "I have a pretty good idea of who was hiding her stuff. I can try to reason with them."

"And I will try to stress tolerance to the students. Many brilliant minds are eccentric minds. Ravenclaw has seen such people before," Flitwick acknowledged. "Perhaps things have gone too far in Miss Lovegood's case."

"Thank you," Harry said sincerely. "I really appreciate the help. If you can do anything for her, I'll owe you both a big favor." He smiled at them wistfully, and left the room.

Padma looked after him, awestruck once more. "Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood! Who would have thought it?"

"Who indeed?" Flitwick said thoughtfully. "Who indeed?"

Padma left too, and Professor Flitwick sat down to consider the matter. He had never thought of such a thing, but it made sense to him. Both of these students had suffered in childhood, and understood loss. They both were intelligent and had a great capacity and need for affection. They both needed loyal friends. He began to think about how he would approach the girls in his house about the matter.

Dumbledore called Harry to his office a few weeks into the school term to discuss the situation with Voldemort. Harry was pleased that Dumbledore was being more open with him.

"Has the Order figured out a way that I can kill him?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore flinched at the casual way in with which Harry brought up the subject of murder, especially considering he had said at the end of the previous year that he did not think he could kill. Dumbledore realized, however, that it couldn't be helped. He realized how heavily the prophecy must have been weighing on Harry's mind.

"Not yet, but there have been other interesting developments." The headmaster leaned back in his chair, and linked his long fingers. "Have you ever heard of the temples of Karnak, in Luxor, Egypt?"

"Yes," Harry said, "we were talking about it at the Burrow. Mr. Weasley took his family to Egypt a couple of years ago. They were saying they wished they'd been there when the latest temple was discovered."

"That particular temple at Karnak was dedicated to Isis. Do you know who she was?"

"An Egyptian goddess who supposedly raised Osiris from the dead, using a spell that made him immortal," Harry answered.

"Isis, a faithful queen, was the wife of Osiris. Set, out of jealousy, killed Osiris, and cut his body into pieces, which he scattered over the earth. Isis refused to accept the death of Osiris. She looked for the pieces, and yes, she raised Osiris from the dead. He became the Egyptian god of the dead."

"Set sounds like a Death Eater," Harry commented.

"Interesting analogy," Dumbledore said, with a wry smile. "Remember this, Harry, for it is very important. Set was not always evil. He did not start out that way, just as the Death Eaters were once respectable wizards. Set was originally a desert and storm god, and was once greatly admired. He was supposedly jealous because no one appreciated the necessity of his work. Hard times are as necessary as good times. We learn best from being challenged, and breaking down is as natural as building up. He was the husband of Nephthys, sister of Isis, who helped Isis raise Osirus from the dead."

Harry frowned. "How could Isis trust her sister for help, if it was her brother-in-law who had caused the whole mess in the first place?"

" Set was difficult, no doubt, for Nephthys to love, but she did love him, for she saw that life and death were both important," Dumbledore answered. "Death and rebirth are constant in nature. To the Egyptians, the fact that Osiris triumphed over death gave them hope that other human beings could also do so. Set showed us, actually, that good cannot really die. Our current incarnations are temporary, and our spirits cannot be destroyed, but the people took the lesson too literally. Isis realized that the power of immortality could be dangerous in the wrong hands, but she could not bear to destroy the spell that she devoted so much of her life and power to devise."

"The scroll of Thoth," Harry said, thinking he would have to remember to thank Luna for the history lesson on the train.

"Correct. With a little help, she placed the scroll into an enchanted casket. The scroll was given into the keeping of the priests and priestesses of the temple at Karnak. A curse had been put on the casket promising eternal punishment to anyone who opened it, and the priests respected that. It was not always kept at Karnak. When Amenhotep VI became pharaoh, he felt the clergy had too much power. He tried to overthrow them by revolutionizing Egypt's religion. Instead of many gods, he tried to promote the worship of one god he called the Aten, source of all life. He even changed his name to Akhenaten, which means 'seviceable-to-the-Aten' and called his new capital Akheten. He directed his agents to remove the name and image of the old gods from the temples and tombs. The priests and priestesses of Isis were among those under siege, and the scroll was taken from the temple of Isis and hidden elsewhere. It was moved many times."

"The new religion didn't work out, did it?" Harry asked.

"No. The religious revolution failed, and when he died, it was Akhenaten's turn to have his name chipped out, and his city fell to ruins. Kings came and went, invaders came and went, but none ever had control of the scroll, until it was found in western Egypt by Ptolemy I. He did not believe in it, but could not bring himself to destroy it, either. He returned it to the temple at Karnak, which was by then falling into disrepair. It was buried there, hidden there, and forgotten by almost everyone, but not quite everyone."

Dumbledore picked up a newspaper clipping. "You know that I keep up with muggle news. What do you make of this?"

Harry took the newspaper and began to read. The story was about a supposed curse on those who had excavated the temple of Isis. According to the article, five of the Egyptian archeologists who had worked on the site had vanished without a trace.

"What has this to do with me?" Harry asked, confused.

"I believe Voldemort is responsible for those muggles vanishing. He is looking for the scroll of Thoth. He probably killed them trying to get information on the whereabouts of the scroll," Dumbledore said calmly. "He failed to get the elixir of life. The scroll would seem like a logical next step for him on the path to immortality."

Harry was horrified. "You believe he's looking for it? How do you know he hasn't found it?"

"Because he is still looking for it. Do you know what a security camera is?"

"Of course. It watches a muggle building for intruders, and takes pictures."

"The Cairo museum got most of the artifacts from the temple. The remaining vestments of the priests and priestesses, equipment, and things like that. Someone broke into the museum on four successive nights. No alarms sounded. Nothing was damaged or taken. Two figures appeared on the muggle tape, though. They appeared, searched for something, and disappeared. The muggle journalists, with their keen imaginations are wondering if those figures were ghosts."

Dumbledore handed Harry another clipping that told the story of the mysterious images on the museum's security camera. The blurry picture from the camera was not so blurry that he couldn't recognize the two figures. It was, to Harry's horror, a picture of Bellatrix Lestrange, with Voldemort standing behind her "The muggles obviously mistook the robes Bellatrix is wearing for one of the meliyas Egyptian women wear," Dumbledore said calmly, "but this is definitely not a picture of ghosts."

"But if nothing was taken, where is the scroll? If he didn't get it from the excavators, and didn't get it at the museum, what happened to it?" Harry asked.

"The dig at Karnak was a joint venture," Dumbledore answered, "between the Cairo Museum and the British Museum. They have a long history of working together. If the scroll is not in Egypt, it is either on its way to London, or already here. I fear our own muggle scientists are in danger now. The scroll must, I regret to say, be destroyed at last."

"Can you get anyone to believe you?"

"I'm going to try. I have already appealed for help and gotten a few favorable responses. I will keep you informed as to my progress." The headmaster dismissed Harry, who went off to find his friends. He arranged for Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and Neville to meet him down by the lake after dinner, and told them the whole story.

Hermione thought it was ridiculous. "Gods! Goddesses! Immortality spells! I don't believe a word of it. No spell can raise the dead."

"You're lucky you're not IN Egypt," Luna told her calmly. "The spirits of the ancient Egyptians still live in those hills. They would consider what you just said a sacrilege!"

"Oh, Luna," Hermione sighed, "every time I think we've turned a corner, you come up with something else that makes me absolutely crazy. They don't even believe in these things IN Egypt anymore! It's a Muslim country!"

Luna looked at Hermione, clearly irritated. 'That doesn't mean the ancient gods and goddesses have become powerless or that no one remembers them!" An odd look came over Luna's face, and she began to speak slowly:

Hermione stared at her. "Luna, have you gone completely mad this time? What ARE you talking about?"

Luna blinked slowly, and then stared at Hermione as if she had never seen her before.

Ron looked uncomfortable. "You haven't been there, Hermione. It's an odd place. The past is all around you, and you can really feel it."

Ginny agreed with Ron. "You wouldn't believe some of the stuff those Egyptian wizards could do. Mum wouldn't even let me in some of the tombs Bill took us to."

Hermione didn't back down. "I think Voldemort has to be stopped, if he's killing muggles just to get at this old scroll. If he finds it and tries to use it, though, he's going to make a big fat fool of himself, and I think it will serve him right. He must be pretty desperate at this point, to be putting stock in legends like that."

She stomped off, and Ron and Ginny looked at Harry.

"We'll try to talk to her again," Ginny assured him. "She doesn't understand."

They followed Hermione, and Neville followed them. Harry looked at Luna in desperation. "If Dumbledore thinks there's something going on, I have to believe him. If I can't trust Dumbledore, who can I trust?"

"I trust both of you," Luna said serenely, sitting down by the lake. "By the way, I know what you did."

"What do you mean?" Harry sat down next to her, knowing full well what she meant.

"You went to Professor Flitwick, and you talked to Padma Patil about my things. You shouldn't have bothered, Harry. Everything comes back eventually."

"I'm not going to let anyone torment one of my best friends," Harry said firmly.

"That's sweet of you, Harry. Thank you." Luna kissed him casually on the cheek. Harry, on impulse, turned his head and kissed her back on the mouth. Her lips were soft and she tasted like candy floss. He drew away, embarrassed and got up. Luna didn't say a word about what he had done, but they walked back to the castle hand in hand.

In spite of his genuine concern and liking for Luna, Harry didn't see her much in the next few weeks. He made sure to stop and speak to her whenever he did see her, whether it was in the dining hall, or in the corridors. Harry Potter's odd friendship with Luna Lovegood was soon very well known, but it confused a lot of people, especially when they saw how much time he was spending with Ginny Weasley. Most of the girls at Hogwarts found the idea of simply being friends with a boy unusual, and of course, Ginny's crush on Harry was well known.

Besides, they had Quidditch in common. Ron had been made team captain, and he had them practicing as much as possible. That put Harry and Ginny together a lot, and gave them something to talk about. When they were not practicing Quidditch, Ron was spending a lot of time alone with Hermione, which meant that Harry and Ginny often found themselves studying together in the common room, or in the library. Harry was trying anything to keep his mind occupied, until Dumbledore came up with some more information about what Voldemort was doing. Of course, Ginny had to spend a lot of time with Colin Creevey, due to their prefect duties, and Neville Longbottom often joined them in studying, but Ginny honestly thought things between her and Harry were going better.

She began to regret being so dramatic with him over the summer, and she was able to forgive him much of what he had said to her in the garden at the Burrow. She had come on too strongly, she decided, at a time when he was grieving and worried. Easy does it, she thought. He was now not only facing Voldemort. He had to consider what he would do if he wound up facing a Voldemort who was messing about with immortality spells, and might need to be trapped and held somewhere forever. Harry didn't need any more pressure.

Harry's friendship with Luna wasn't bothering her so much, especially since Neville was proving to be a good friend to Ginny in many ways. He was helping her a lot with her Herbology, and Ginny was grateful. He came from a well-off, pureblood family, which meant he was able to buy books and sweets, and other things, which he shared generously. Ginny was especially touched when Neville, who had been helping Professor Sprout make oil of roses for Snape to use in relaxation potions, brought her a large bunch of leftover flowers. She had not forgotten how kind he had been, asking her to the Yule ball when she had despaired of being able to go, and how brave he had been trying to stop the Inquisitorial squad from taking her away the previous June. Yes, Ginny could now see that having friendships with members of the opposite sex could be a comforting thing.

She was sitting with Harry, Ron and Hermione in the common room admiring her beautiful yellow flowers, when Neville came up to them very excited.

"What are you all doing over the Christmas holidays?" Neville asked.

"Why?" Ron asked. "That's almost two months away!"

Neville grinned. "I've been doing much better in my classes since I got my new wand. My gran is so pleased with how my work has been going, she told me I could have a Christmas party at the manor. I was wondering if you all would like to come for the holidays."

He looked so hopeful, that Harry said quickly, "I'd like to go to your place for Christmas, Neville. I don't have any other plans yet."

Neville's round face lit up. "Would you really? What about the rest of you...would you come?"

"Of course we will," Hermione said, giving Ron a dirty look, and kicking him under the table.

Ron looked at Hermione, and also agreed quickly to spend Christmas with Neville.

Ginny looked at Neville, so eager, and thought about how hard it must be for him to spend his holidays with his formidable grandmother, and great-aunts and uncles. The idea that having a visit to parents who couldn't even recognize him was the highlight of his holiday tore her heart.

"I'll come, if mum says it's all right," Ginny told Neville at once.

He looked at her, and grinned even more broadly. " I'll go write Gran right away, and tell her." He hesitated. "Would you mind if I asked Luna Lovegood for Christmas as well? Her dad and my dad were good friends, and Gran is always asking how the Lovegoods are doing. I think she'd like to see Luna."

When no one objected, Neville hurried off.

"Oh, great," Ron sighed. "Christmas with Neville and old lady Longbottom. What fun! Why did you have to sound so eager, Ginny?"

"I think it was nice of her," Harry said to Ron. He felt a great affinity for Neville, after hearing some of the things Dumbledore had told him about the other boy. "Good for you, Gin!"

Ginny smiled at him.

"Well, she always was good at picking up strays," Ron grumbled. "Mum will let us go, too, I know she will. She's always felt sorry for Neville. She'll think it's nice that he's finally getting to have a bit of fun. She and dad wanted to go to France to talk to Fleur's parents about the wedding anyway. If we don't go home, they'll be able to do that."

"It might not be so bad with Neville," Ginny said slyly to Ron. "The food ought to be good."

"It better be. If I'm going to have the pants bored off me in that old manor, I should at least expect to be fed well."

Hermione kicked him again. "Be nice."

"I am nice," Ron replied.

"Then be nicer," Hermione said. "The Longbottom family probably has a very interesting home. I wonder if it's as old as the Black house?"

"I hope it's at least cleaner, and it better be a lot less creepy," Ron sighed. "If I see a single doxy, I'm leaving."