The Servants of Egypt

Chapter Five

The drama going on in Egypt had generated quite a lot of wizarding mail that day.

Olivia Malfoy had received another message from her mother. All of the Dark Wizards she had contacted about the smuggling scheme denied knowing the whereabouts of Draco Malfoy. Indeed, they were just as anxious as Pansy was. Having their smuggling route disrupted was a problem. Pansy also wanted to know if Jim Potter was proving useful.

Olivia wrote back to her mother:

Dear Mum,

If the wizarding world is not involved in Dad's disappearance, then my bet is on either the Department of Antiquities here in Egypt, or on Muggle smugglers. I will keep looking. Potter is proving very useful, and is very cute besides. If I have to have a shadow, I could do worse.

I'll keep in touch.

Love,

Olivia

Jim Potter had received an owl from his mother. The letter contained an Ankh pendant on a heavy chain. She told him it had been blessed by Isis herself and would protect him on his journey through Egypt.

Luna asked him never to take it off, and told Jimmy if he became aware of any strange happenings related to the pendant, or that could be attributed to interference from the ancient witches, to contact her at once. She asked him to be careful, and especially to be careful about getting too involved with Olivia Malfoy. That annoyed him, but he put on the chain.

Harry Potter had gotten an answer from Bill Weasley about Ushabti statues:

Dear Harry,

Ushabti are half-mummy figures, and very common. They are usually made of stone, faience or wood, and most vary from about five to eight inches tall. Ancient Egyptians called them "the Answerers." They were put into tombs to accompany and serve the dead in the afterlife. The Ushabti spell is usually written on the figure itself, or on the coffin that comes with it. Supposedly if you work the spell, the figure comes to life and does whatever work is required.

I don't know why anyone would start stealing them. I've heard rumors that interest in the Ushabti spell really jumped in the last couple of years. If someone is trying to work them, that could be dangerous. Tell Clark and Jimmy to be careful. I'll try to get hold of a few of the people I used to work with and see if they'll help, but Clark probably knows all of them already. A lot of the people I knew when I was there are long gone.

I didn't know old Draco had a daughter. If Jimmy's going to have to spend a lot of time with her, I hope she takes after Draco and not after Pansy. You know what I mean! Wish him and Clark good luck for me.

Other family news: Yvon got a letter from Beauxbatons, and one from Hogwarts. We haven't decided yet what we are going to do.

Love to everyone,
Bill

Clark Croaker had left a message for Jim at the hotel that he would like to have dinner with Jim and Olivia the following day, and asked Jim to let him know as soon as possible in the morning. Jim decided he would ask Olivia right away if she were ready to meet Clark yet.

He grabbed a jacket, so he would be ready when night came, and went back to the Nile Hilton. Olivia was waiting for him, and they discussed their messages. Jim agreed with Olivia about the Dark Wizards. If they were telling the truth, no sure thing, but possible, then someone else was now involved with the statues. She agreed to go out with Jim and Clark Croaker the following evening, but asked to meet in someplace noisy, where they could talk without being overheard.

Jim, thinking about it, remembered the Sheraton on Gezira Island, which he had once heard his Uncle Bill mention. He left a return message for Croaker, suggesting Rumours, which was a rather eclectic place from what Uncle Bill had said.

They took a taxi to the Coptic Museum, unsure of the exact coordinates required for Apparition. They were lucky enough to get a taxi with a working meter, which meant they did not have to negotiate. They arrived at the museum about two.

Olivia found the museum, a link between ancient and Islamic Egypt charming. It was organized by medium: stonework, metalwork, tapestries and manuscripts were found on the left side of the entrance. They decided to come back when they had more time to see the glassware, pottery and woodwork on the right side. They also decided to come back another day and see the Hanging Church they had walked past when the museum closed. It also closed at four. It was a most impressive structure. Originally built in the 9^th century atop the gatehouse of a Roman fortress, it had been rebuilt several times, and they happily speculated on which parts were original. Most of the buildings in the area had closed to tourists, but they continued to walk, looking at the impressive facades, and talking.

She told him about all the different places she had lived in as a child. The Malfoys had traveled a lot, out of necessity, apparently. She described landmarks she remembered in Lucerne, Salzburg, Budapest, and Nice. Jim told her about London, and about his Uncle Neville's house, where he had spent so many happy days. He told her about his brothers and his sisters, hoping he was doing justice to Kiya's artistic nature and Lily's sense of humor. She laughed when he described his uncles, Fred and George, and their joke shop, which she had heard of. She was delighted to hear the names of all of his adopted cousins, and soon knew which part of the family each one came from.

Olivia talked to him about Durmstrang, until he could picture in his mind the students in their blood red cloaks and their fur capes. Jim told her about Hogwarts, with it's many secret passages and switching staircases. They compared stories about their schools, and the lakes and mountains that had surrounded them.

By the time they reached the floating restaurant, they felt they knew each other very well. They had fun looking over the display of fresh fish on ice. Olivia chose calamari and Jim chose shellfish, and they loaded up on the Middle Eastern salads and the delicious bread, which had been baked on the premises in a baladi oven.

When they were ready to leave, he offered to take her to the casino at her hotel, in spite of the dreadful odds at the blackjack and roulette tables. He knew they would be crowded until the early hours. She declined.

"We should get up early and do something touristy tomorrow," Olivia said with a smile. "What about the Pyramids? I'd love to go to Giza, before it gets too hot. The pyramids open at eight, so we should leave about seven. When I asked at the desk, they told me it takes about 45 minutes to get to Giza, if you take a taxi from downtown. "

"You're on! But we have to go to Memphis, too."

"Don't you mean Mennofer?" Olivia teased him, and Jim had to admit she had him there. Mennofer was the ancient Egyptian name. Memphis was the later Greek. They plotted their coordinates, and returned to the Nile Hilton, arriving in a secluded corner.

Jim looked around. "Good aim."

"You, too."

"Olivia, can I kiss you goodnight? I promise no groping," Jim said, making a joke out of it, in case she would be insulted.

She paused, looking at him appraisingly, and nodded. He leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers. Then she was gone. He sighed as he made his way to the desk to ask about getting a taxi in the morning, and again as he went back to his own hotel.

***

Draco Malfoy finally had a plan in mind. The last time his captors had appeared. They threw him some bottled water, and a bit of food, and warned him that his stubbornness would be the death of him. He had agreed to animate Ushabti for them, and requested a cauldron. He had also given them a list of ingredients, hoping like hell that the time he'd spent down in old Snape's dungeon would prove useful to him now. From their perch above his head, they scrambled to write down everything he said. He lacked the Egyptian names for some of the herbs and roots, but that was good. If they had to get them translated, it would take more time, and time was what he needed. The salamander blood, in particular, had confused them.

When he warned them that the potion took time to mature, they had frowned, but since he seemed to be cooperating at last, they had given him extra food and an extra blanket before leaving him alone in the tomb. He heard them walking around above his head, but managed a smile. Things were looking up. He was surviving. He curled up in his blanket and fell asleep in between his silent neighbors in their decorated coffins.

***

Morning found Olivia and Jim racing through Cairo in a taxi. The taxi driver was proving everything that either had ever heard about driving in Cairo. Olivia gasped as they hit a pothole. Jim put a steadying arm around her shoulders, and she leaned against his shoulder. The taxi driver shrugged.

"Maareish," their driver told them, which they knew meant "it can't be helped." The ride continued in fits and stops.

Cairo streets definitely brought out the aggressive side of drivers, but they were both anxious to see the monuments that were most closely identified with Egypt. They finally got past the worst of the snarled traffic. Jim had not been to Giza in many years, and was especially anxious to revisit Khufu's pyramid, also known as the Cheops pyramid, the only remaining one of the ancient world's famous seven wonders.

Olivia commented on the modest north entrance, and Jim told her what his mother had told him long ago. This was not the ancient entrance, but the one that had been made when Caliph Ma'mun had breached the pyramid in the 9^th century. They went through the curving passage and had to bend over, practically crawling as they went through the long corridor that led to the so-called Queen's chamber, then to the grand gallery that led to the king's burial chamber, a pink granite room. In one corner stood a badly damaged sarcophagus. At least the rooms had high enough ceilings for them to be able to stand upright. They discussed some of the fanciful theories that had sprung up about the pyramid. Olivia was a bit disappointed that the rooms were without decoration.

Outside the pyramid, they stopped at the boat pits, two of which had been found to hold cedar boats. They took a look at the three small, neighboring pyramids that had belonged to Khufu's queens or sisters. They kept going around until they came to the Solar Boat Museum, where, thanks to Clark Croaker's connections they got a good look at a dismantled boat, Then they decided to go see Khafare's pyramid, which also had boat pits, but no boats. They went to the Valley Temple, a building made of red granite, alabaster and limestone, which had spaces for statues that Jim had seen with his Great-uncle Clark at their new home in the Cairo Museum.

Often called the Red Pyramid, because of its red Aswan granite casing, Menkaure's 4^th Dynasty Pyramid was the smallest of the group, and they found the remains of the mortuary temple there a pleasant place to wander about. Though there were two entrances, no one was allowed inside. Supposedly there was another empty sarcophagus in the undecorated burial chamber.

"Someday I'll bring you back at sunset, or at dawn," Jim told Olivia, "and we'll rent horses from the stables. We can go from Giza to Saqqara. It will be a wonderful ride."

"What? No camels?" Olivia answered, smiling.

"Well, we could rent camels, but believe me, horses are more comfortable, and a lot less expensive."

His mention of money made Olivia a bit embarrassed. Jim had paid for the taxi, all of their admission fees, and for the bottled water they had bought from the vendors that wandered about the site. He honestly didn't seem to care about money, although he didn't act like she thought a rich man would act. It was one thing to tell her mother she was using him, but quite another thing to feel comfortable doing it. However, he honestly seemed to enjoy her company and acted like he truly wanted to help her.

She was also uncomfortable with the casual way he spoke of things he wanted to do with her in the future. She had hoped to find her father soon, and get out of Egypt. If she did, would she ever see Jim Potter again?

Olivia liked the Great Sphinx best. Called "Abu 'I-Hol" in Arabic, the father of terror, it had a mysterious beauty, in spite of the missing nose, which had been shot off by the Turkish and French troops that had once used it for target practice. Nearly everyone Jim knew loved the Great Sphinx. He and Olivia both knew several stories about the sphinx, and Jim told Olivia about his father's experience with a sphinx in the Triwizard Tournament. They were both happy to see it, and worried together over the threat it was under from improper restoration, pollution and rising ground water.

They were both hungry and thirsty, even though they had gone through several bottles of water. The day was getting hotter and their shirts were beginning to stick to their backs. They decided to go back to the foot of the pyramids to eat lunch at the Mena House Hotel. In the coffee shop there they could continue to look at the pyramids as they ate. The view was spectacular.

Since Olivia had promised Jim to go to Memphis, they hired a car after lunch, in spite of the heat. They found Sahure's pyramid unimpressive, and didn't mind that it was closed.

"An earthquake in 1992 made it unstable," Jim told Olivia. She shrugged, and they went to the mortuary temple. She was frustrated by the fact that the carved scenes that had once graced the causeway had been removed.

"Now you know why I hate smuggling. When things disappear, or have to be removed so they don't disappear, it's disappointing." Jim said lightly.

She nodded, but felt she had to point out that many of the monuments in Memphis had been stripped of their stone in ancient times. The museum enclosure was more interesting, especially the colossal limestone statue of Ramses II, and the sculpture garden.

They found there were several stalls set up selling replicas of Egyptian artifacts to tourists, and at each one Olivia asked about Ushabti and her father.

As they walked away, having covered them all, the proprietor of one of the stalls, an older man with purely bedouin features, deeply bronzed skin and piercing eyes, turned to another. "That was the woman Ahmed warned us about. We must send word to him. We must tell him she came here and specifically asked about Ushabti and about her father. She had definitely asked too many times in too many places now. She must be stopped."

The other man watched Olivia and Jim walking away, and paid more attention to the gentle swing of the blonde woman's hips than to her companion.

"What will happen to her?"

His friend laughed a rather cold laugh. "I think that should be obvious."

The second man finally looked at Jim's retreating back and shrugged. "What about the young man? Two are more difficult than one."

The older man shrugged. "If he stays with her, they will both meet the same fate. I have no doubt."

Jim and Oliva found a secluded area and Apparated back to the Nile Hilton to get ready for dinner. They wound up in the same spot they had the night before, and Jim managed to get another goodbye kiss, which lasted a bit longer than the previous one. Olivia smiled, brushing her hand against his cheek.

"I had a wonderful day. I hope the night goes as well," she said with a shake of her head. "I don't know if Professor Croaker will like me very much."

"He doesn't have to like you. He just has to help you, and he will," Jim promised. "I will see to it."

Clark Croaker had been prepared not to like the blonde girl, who looked so much like her father, but in spite of himself he found that he did. She was calm, intelligent, and seemed to be genuinely concerned about the Ushabti. Her voice was almost musical, and she was also very beautiful. She had worn a black jersey dress with a scoop neck and three-quarter sleeves, which set off her lightly tanned skin to perfection, and her freshly washed hair was swept back onto her head with silver barrettes.

Croaker was very surprised that she had actually seen an animated Ushabti.

"I hope when we get whoever is selling them, that they have kept a list of customers. We will have to confiscate them and deactivate them," Clark said as they ate French food at Rumours, and waited for the piano player to come on.

"I'll give you ours whenever you want it," Olivia said firmly. "It gives me a creepy feeling every time I see it. I'm not sure if I should ask my mother to send it by owl, though. I don't want the silly thing floating around."

"I can't blame you for that," Croaker admitted.

In a hushed voice, Olivia began to beg with him in earnest not to blame her father for his minor role in the matter. Croaker was again impressed by her genuine devotion to her father. No matter what Draco and Pansy Malfoy had been like individually or in tandem, they had apparently managed to raise an extraordinary child in difficult circumstances.

When the entertainment started, and they all relaxed a bit, it became clear to Clark Croaker that his adopted grand-nephew and the gray-eyed girl were getting fond of each other, and quickly. He watched them instead of watching the singers, and realized that they seemed totally at ease with each other. When Jim bent over to whisper something in her ear, she smiled in a way she had not smiled all during their long discussion. The sight of the dark head bent over the light one reminded him of an another unusual pair of friends he had seen long ago, friends who had eventually become lovers.

Clark Croaker sighed, concerned. His adopted nephew was an adult in the wizarding world, and it was not his place to tell Jim how to feel about any girl, but if this continued, he hoped Jim's father, Harry, would be able to stand it. Harry was good, Clark knew, at holding a grudge.

Clark was not so worried about Luna's reaction, should Jim and Olivia's Egyptian adventure turn out to be more than a fling. Luna was able to take a lot more on faith than Harry was, and always had been. It had also always been easier for Luna to reach out to others.

Croaker was sipping his drink, and wondering how all of this was going to turn out, when a small boy of about ten years, wearing a brown galabia, appeared out of nowhere, and stood at Olivia's side.

"You must go to Luxor. You must go to the Old Winter Palace and wait for instructions." The child looked from Olivia over to Clark Croaker. "You may not go. You go, you get nothing."

The child turned and disappeared between the crowded tables.

"Wait!" Olivia called out, and Jim rose, craning his neck, but the boy had vanished.