Charms and Curses

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The two of them set out straightaway for the square tower that was Cleopatra's mausoleum. Intrepidly walking up to the building, Bill cast the traditional entrance spell and waited. The ancient gates, unopened for so many centuries, heaved and groaned as they parted to allow them entrance. Both wary, not knowing exactly what to expect, Bill and Fleur walked in.

As soon as they had stepped inside, the gates banged shut behind them, sealing them in. Alarmed, Fleur immediately shouted "Lumos!" and turned to inspect the gate. Inscribed on the stone, glowing a livid red, were a row of hieroglyphics.

"You 'ave entered grounds sacred to ze queen. Ze ones not chosen shall remain entombed forevermore wis 'er Royal Majesty." Bill's eyes widened.

"What is this thing about 'chosen' or 'not chosen'? If I recall correctly, that prophecy of yours mentioned something of the sort as well." He asked as they walked inward and reached a fork in the corridor.

"Oui. Only ze chosen ones will leave wis ze treasure. Anyone else, well, I suppose zat zey will just be trapped in 'ere until ze sun sets and zen be buried alive in sand." Fleur said softly, "Per'aps we shall die today."

"Perhaps we shall." Bill agreed, looking at his new 'bride'. She was transfiguring her dress and sandals into Muggle khaki shorts, a denim vest and a sturdy pair of boots. Shifting her knapsack from one shoulder to the other, she quickly braided her long golden hair and pinned it up, out of the way. All of the sudden, she turned to face him, and he was surprised to see that her eyes were full of tears.

"Bill," she walked up to him, until she was standing right in front of him, "Eef indeed we are to die today, I 'ope zat you know somesing important." She paused for a moment before continuing softly and in a voice full of sincerity, "Eef we are to die, I..I can't sink of a better way to die zan as your bride." Leaning forward, she brushed her lips lightly across his, a bittersweet kiss as if of farewell. "Now, we shall split up, I will go right, you will go left, and let's 'ope zat one of us shall find ze treasure." Done saying what she had to say, she started down her path, looking back at him over her shoulder and whispering, "Bonne chance, Bill."

Bill watched her go, watched her elegant blonde head becoming smaller and smaller as she walked forward into the darkness. As she disappeared around a corner, he felt a single tear slowly trail down his cheek. Then, wiping it away determinedly, he turned around and headed down his own path in the opposite direction.

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Fleur walked forward, Lumos spell still in place for light. The corridor twisted and turned, meandering snakelike through the tower. At long last, after two hours of continuous walking, she reached a narrow door. To her surprise, it was unlocked. She opened it up, and gasped.

She was surrounded by mirrors on all sides. The room was in the shape of a dodecagon, and the floor, the walls, the ceiling..all were mirrored surfaces, and there were even balls made of mirrors hanging from the ceiling. The effect was dizzying, and Fleur found, to her dismay, that with so many mirrors, she could not see where was a door onwards and not just a reflection.

Taking a calming breath, she thought hard for a few moments, then whispered "Nox." The room was then enclosed in darkness, and Fleur put one hand to the wall, feeling in the darkness for a door.

Finally finding it, she continued onward, opening the door with a charm and walking forward, once again using the "Lumos" spell. Not a moment too soon, either, for the door led to a great precipice, and she was inches from the edge. Quickly pulling the portable Gringotts broomstick that Bill had given her from her knapsack, she kicked off, hoping wholeheartedly that her broom skills were good enough to make it across the yawning abyss.

The journey was only a few minutes, but to her, it seemed agonizingly slow. Finally, she saw solid ground under her feet and touched down, immensely relieved. Quickly, she continued on her way.

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Bill, after watching his bride walk away...away from him, continued on his way. He, too, walked down a twisted, serpentine path before reaching a door. However, it was locked securely, and only after five different opening charms of various levels had been tried had the door swung open.

And immediately, Bill saw snakes, covering the floor of the room so thickly that not an inch of the stone was seen. Asps. Venomous. The same type of snake as had killed Cleopatra. Immediately jumping on his broomstick, he started to fly through the long, hall-like room.

The snakes, though, were even more sinister than he had expected. A moment after he was airbourne, he felt something dragging at the end of his broomstick, and saw, to his horror, that half of the snakes, in a chain formation with each snake's tail wrapped around the head of the snake below it, was hanging on to his broom, not letting him fly forward, and the snake at the very top had bared its dripping fangs. Now that the ground was partially cleared, he saw, strewn here and there, skeletons of others who had perished here.

Whipping out his wand, he pointed at the snake chain and shouted "Boreas Arcticus!" The cold-blooded reptiles shrank away from the blast of winter wind that he shot at them, and he was free to fly on. Just to make sure, he kept his wand, and the spell, pointed at the ground, sending the snakes slithering away from the cold.

Passing through that room at last, he slammed the door behind him, and stepped forward into the next room. At first, nothing, but then, an inch in front of his nose, a silvery blur, quickly followed by a metallic clang against the opposite wall. Knives flying across the room! Now how was he to cross? Finally, with a wry smile on his face, he transfigured his clothing into a full suit of chain-mail armor, complete with helmet, and moved forward, knives clanging against him at every step.

Managing to cross unharmed, he opened the next door to reveal total darkness, and a moment later, all former spells vanished as he fell to the ground, unconscious. When he hit the ground, the room was suddenly bathed in light, to reveal a circular room with a raised table on which lay a man in Roman armor and a woman in a linen dress. On either side, leaning against the table, were two younger women in the garb of handmaidens. This table was in front of an elaborate golden throne, with five steps leading up to it. Sitting on the throne, kohl-outlined eyes gleaming eerily, wearing a crown and holding the crooked scepter showing her to be royalty, was a silvery spirit. A woman, the same as the one lying on the table. Cleopatra's ghost waved one thin, imperious hand, and watched with a smile as chains shot out from the wall to wrap around Bill's arms and legs.

Meanwhile, Fleur, just about to walk into a next room, suddenly froze, filled with an inexplicable but unrelenting sense of dread. A moment later, her broomstick was out once again, and this time, without hesitation, she kicked off and flew like a bullet back in the direction that she had come from.

Her grandmother Angelique Thericault Chapelle was a veela, and had told her all about certain veela characteristics that she might notice, besides the obvious beauty. Now, one thing that she had learnt from Grandmére Angelique flashed in her brain like a lightning bolt.

Veela had certain empathic abilities, and ones with veela blood would be able to pick up on the feelings of people around them. However, this ability would only work on people within a certain distance. She would not be able to sense anything from people if they were not standing next to her, with one exception.

For the rare veela who had found her soulmate, she would be able to sense him no matter where he was. And now, she sensed danger. This, and the realization of what caused her to sense it in the first place, made her head spin for a moment, but she sped onward, not even noticing the precipice and the mirrors this time. Bill was in danger, and she had to find him.

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