Chapter 1: Before

It is said that challenges are the core to our ability to grow. If that was true the Katyanna McCullough had grown more than some people twice her age, and showed no sign of stopping or even slowing down. By age five her parents had divorced, which would have been hard for anyone growing up. But for young Kat it was doubly difficult. Kat's mother was a witch while her father hadn't a drop of magic in his body. They were still happily married when Kat was born and in fact did not separate until she was three. Kat had spent every spring and summer with her father in York and the fall and winter with her mother in London. Her parents, when she was old enough to start asking questions about why mommy and daddy didn't live together, sat her down and explained everything to her very calmly.

"You see, Kat…sometimes people who fall in love can also fall out of love. And that's what happened with Mommy and me."

"So, Mommy didn't put a spell on you?"

"Not with actual magic, no. Just by being who she was."

"Daddy and I really did love each other, pumpkin. And we're still friends—but we're not married anymore."

At eight years old, Kat was already very perceptive, even solemn at times. "Was it a mistake?"

The two parents had exchanged looks and then smiled a little. No, it hadn't been a mistake, but that didn't change the fact that it was over. Kat had begun to understand more and more as she grew up, but though she understood it, she made a silent vow to never let something like that happen to her, when she gave her heart, she would be sure. She wouldn't let it be revoked so easily. She also promised herself that she wouldn't be the sad little girl whose parents separated. It hadn't been easy, but Kat had grown into a confident if headstrong girl. And when she turned 11 she received her admission letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Her parents had both been thrilled. Her father took her to London to get her wand and broom while her mother took her the following weekend to purchase her school supplies and robes.

15 June 1993

Moscow, Russia

"Message."

The Voice echoed down the dark tunnel to the chamber where a now full-grown Kat was working. She squinted as she looked over her shoulder. The light at the end of the tunnel was so far from her that it looked like no more than a speck from where she stood.

Following her graduation from Hogwarts, Katyanna had gone to work for Gringotts, the wizard Bank as a curse breaker. She loved her job, which took her all over the world. It was dangerous and exciting and challenging every day. In the short years since her graduation she had risen as one of the best curse breakers in England and as such was given several assignments that others would give their right eye for.

"I'll get it in a minute, leave it there." She called back in Russian. Very few of the people she was working with on this assignment spoke English and her Russian had been patchy at best in the beginning, but now, three weeks into the assignment she was speaking fluently enough to get by, even if her accent was still very foreign. There was a grunt and then the scuffing sound of shoes on the rubble covered floor as the man made his way down the corridor.

"I said leave it, I'll get it."

"Urgent. Goblins no like to wait." He called back in broken English, stumbling twice on rubble on his way down the corridor. Kat looked back at the task behind her and grumbled before pulling herself out and moving to meet him half way down the tunnel. She withdrew a couple of coins and handed them to him in exchange for the message before brusquely motioning him out of the corridor. "Not stable. Here, go have vodka."

'Go have vodka' had been one of the first phrases she had learned, mostly out of hearing it so much. People were, it seemed, constantly asking or telling her to have vodka, then another, and another. It became difficult to go out without being pushed into at least three or four drinks, so rather than spend her entire trip drunk off her ass; Kat had engineered a spell to turn the pungent alcohol to mild, lemon flavored water. This both solved her problem and made it worse. Yes, now she could drink almost endlessly the clear liquid that was the lifeblood of this frozen country, but everyone saw it and took that as a challenge. Some wanted to out-drink her, others wanted to see how much it would really take to get her under. Kat had grown so tired of it that she was now spending almost all her time working.

When she had taken this assignment, she had expected more, but it was turning out to be very dull, dirty and tedious work. The assignment was to break the curses enfolding a door suspected to lead to Rasputin's library. Rasputin was one of the most famed wizards of his time, he was the wizard who had protected and served the Romanov dynasty until his death. His death was still a mystery and the potential treasures and secrets that could be hidden in his library were worth the risks Kat was taking. The door itself was barely visible, there were two large boulders blocking it from floor to ceiling of the tiny room. The boulders couldn't be moved by physical means, all of those had been tried, which led Kat to believe that they were tied to a spell holding the door shut.

The messenger took the coins and handed over the sealed message gladly before making his way hastily back down the rubble filled corridor. Once he was gone, Kat broke the seal on the letter and moved into the glow of the lamp until she could see better.

Agent Katyanna McCullough,

You are being immediately reassigned to sector 2897 to assist Agent 946. Your port-key is enclosed and will depart at sunrise in two days. Further information will be given to you upon arrival.

Grimknock Liech

Head of Dispatch

Two days the letter said. Kat was so furious she almost dropped the small bent spoon that was meant to be her port-key. She shoved both the spoon and the letter into her pocket and turned back to the door before her. She had slaved over this assignment, breaking curse after curse, through barrier after barrier. There was no way she was going to let someone else come in, do the last bit of work and get the credit for the find she had worked so hard on. Shoving her sleeves up, Kat brandished her wand and walked back to the door.

15 June 1993

Abu Sur, Egypt

Thousands of miles away, Gringotts agent 946-also known as William Arthur Weasley was crouched before a wall of hieroglyphics with his wand in one hand and an aged scroll in the other. Hieroglyphic runes ought to be a subject all their own, he thought to himself not for the first time since starting this assignment. He had thought himself quite well prepared for the mission in Egypt he had been assigned. But now, weeks after working on the same tomb he was beginning to doubt himself slightly and his employers at Gringotts were getting frustrated with his failure to produce treasure in what they deemed was an adequate amount of time.

"Lumos." The tip of his wand glowed as he directed it to the scroll. His wand gave off more light than the meager oil lamps could produce. Squinting, he looked from the hieroglyph on the wall and the one depicted on the scroll.

"Ha! That's it, right here! You see on this rune the—" His words trailed off as he realized everyone else had already left the tomb for lunch. Shrugging off the temporary awkwardness, he set the scroll down and stepped back, muttering under his breath as he worked the weavings of the spell that was keeping them from moving forward in the tomb. If he could just break through that barrier, he was sure they would be able to find the information they needed in the next room to move to the main treasure cache in the center of the tomb.

"Message!"

Bill wiped the sweat from his brow and glared back at the man hobbling toward him, letter in hand.

"I'm in the middle of this, hold it, and I'll read in a minute."

The man stammered that it was important, but the look on Bill's face must have been enough to clue him in to the fact that they were getting close, because the man nodded and backed toward the entrance as quickly as he could without tripping over his own feet. Bill turned back to the curse he was enfolded in and continued carefully working at it. The motions of his wand were so slight that the untrained eye would not have even seen it moving, but every small twitch broke a strand of the intricate spell. It was getting weaker, Bill grinned in satisfaction at the progress that had come from deciphering one small rune. He had to hand it to the ancient Egyptians they were thorough. They didn't want anyone, muggle or otherwise to ever disturb their resting places and they had warded them accordingly.

In Russia, Kat was working around the clock. She hadn't stopped for a single break since receiving the letter that she was being reassigned. When she had first arrived at the site she had been more than doubtful that this place would hold anything of real value, but whether from the rush she was now in, or the adrenaline surging through her veins, she couldn't help but feel sure of what lay behind the myriad of traps and curses around her.

"Just one—more—" Apparently, her 'one more' had more of an affect than she had counted on. The two large boulders blocking the door suddenly rolled out of the way, revealing a more intricate door than she had been able to see through the narrow crack. The door that was now fully visible was breathtaking. The wood was dark and aged, but clearly still strong, banded with black iron that swirled in almost runic patterns and was studded with gems. The handle was, in contrast to the blackened iron, pure silver, enchanted by the looks of it, and gleamed brightly despite the dust and age-rust that should have been coating it.

Kat gazed at the door in astonishment, it was beautiful but more than that, it left her with no doubt as to where it led. She looked down at her pocket watch. It was nearly midnight, which meant her time was quickly running out. A fool would have reached right out and grabbed the handle. That fool would also be dead. Kat however, was no fool. She carefully paced before the door for several minutes; examining every inch of it she could from a distance before comparing several runes in her books. The runes told her very little, what was written on the door was either gibberish or a riddle, either way she could make almost none of it out. Kat paused and looked at the multiple colored gems on the door, her eyes widening. Could it really be so simple? Colors…colors then birthstones of the last of the Romanovs. Which would be first, the colored stones or the birthstones? Kat sat for what seemed like a very long time puzzling over it before coming to her decision and standing. There would be no way to tell, there was no secret answer written anywhere. If she guessed correctly, she would have accessed one of the most valuable libraries since Alexandria, Egypt. If she guessed wrong, she would be dead and another would come to take her place. But she would rather die trying than allow fear to keep her from her goal. Reaching out she pulled the first gemstone from its slot and began rotating them.

It was just past nightfall when Bill finally walked out of the tomb. No one worked on the Egyptian tombs at night, as it seemed there were curses that cropped up as the sun set no matter what any of the curse breakers tried to do. So instead of fighting with them and wasting their energy, they worked during the day and left before the moon rose. Desert days were burn-your-skin-off hot, but he nights were what Bill loved. The temperature dropped rapidly at night, leaving a wind across the dunes and cool air across still sun-warmed sand.

Stripping off his shirt, Bill went to the well and drew up some water to wash as best he could before walking toward the camp where his group's tents were gathered. There were anti-muggle charms over the area both around the tomb and around their camp but Bill checked them all before heading toward the others.

Sitting by the fire, stirring dinner in a worn cauldron was the man who had approached Bill earlier that day with a message. As Bill joined them he hastily handed over two separate envelops, which Bill took with thanks back to his own tent along with his supper. Normally he would sit with the other curse-breakers and agents, but tonight he was beyond exhausted. He closed the flap to his tent behind him and kicked off his boots by the door. The tent was, as most wizards' tents were, quite spacious. He had purchased it nearly a year ago, and because of his fervor for missions, it was more his home than just a tent. He dropped his letters in his well-worn chair and changed out of his dirt and sand encrusted clothes and into a pair of loose wrap-like pants before sitting down and eating his supper. The lentil and vegetable concoction was a staple of their meals of late. It was easy to cook and filling as well as nutritious. After finishing it he picked up his letters and broke the seal on the first one, from Gringotts, that inevitably had something to do with his assignment.

Agent William Weasley,

Your leave has been granted. Your replacement will arrive in two days' time.

Grimknock Liech

Head of Dispatch

Bill looked at the note in puzzlement and turned it over, wondering if there was more, or if he had missed some information, but no, that was all there was. Leave? He hadn't requested leave. Setting the puzzling communiqué down he picked up the other letter and opened it. This one was from home, from his family. As he removed the letter, several other papers fell from the envelope; he set those aside and read the first one, an explanatory note from his father.

Dear Son,

I'm sure you've read the news by now, we'll be arriving in Cairo at the week's end and can't wait to see you, your mother and Ginny especially. Our port should drop us in an alley just off the market near the South entrance—

Bill scanned the rest of the letter quickly and then shook his head in puzzlement before picking up a still-untouched copy of the Daily prophet. After reading the news along with the other letters sent by his family everything started falling in place. His father had won a fortune in Galleon's from the Prophet, and they were coming to visit him in Egypt, but rather than owl him to request the time off, Fred and George had forged the letter themselves. They were lucky they hadn't gotten caught or worse. He was lucky they hadn't gotten caught. But if he was granted leave, who was going to unlock the tomb…? He had been under the impression that his employers, greedy for treasure had been losing their tempers with waiting as it was. Bill rubbed his eyes and shook his head, setting the lot of it aside. It had been a long day and he was tired, this could wait until morning. Perhaps, if he were lucky it would all make sense then. Exhausted and confused, Bill Weasley fell into bed, wand in hand, his blankets cast haphazardly over one leg.

15 June 1993

2:45 AM

Moscow, Russia

Sleep was nowhere in sight for Katyanna. She was drenched in sweat despite the icy cold wind that was coming at her from the entrance. Kat had two stones in her hands, both garnets, each slightly different. She looked at the two remaining empty slots before her in the door. This was the last move, if she placed them right, the door would open. If she placed them wrong, she'd be dead. She closed her eyes and rolled the gems around in her hands for a moment before reaching out and placing them in the slots. The reaction was instantaneous, a resonating click followed by at least half a dozen more similar sounds and the door slid open from its nook with a creak. Kat blinked at the now open door and paused to memorize the pattern of the gems before reaching out and pushing the door the rest of the way open. Before her lay a dark, cavern like room. The seal had been strong, and the dusty smell escaped quickly now that it was broken. Testing the entrance for a last line of curses or spells, Kat wedged a large, heavy rock between the door and the frame as a precaution. Too many excited witches and wizards had been trapped in tombs or towers from not following the same, simple precaution.

"Lumos."

Once she was sure the door wouldn't close on her, she walked into the room and looked around. The room was large, supported by columns in a circle around the room. It looked as though the room had been hollowed out from the ground itself. The walls were lined with hundreds of books, more books stood in stacks around the columns along with jars filled with scrolls. Between two columns stood a tall, heavy desk, laden down with papers, bottles of ink and other such items. There was a heavy, fur lined cloak thrown over the arm of the chair and judging by the thick dust laying over everything in the room, Kat suspected it must have belonged to Rasputin himself.

Kat spent her remaining time exploring the room and discovered that there was a door on the opposite side of the room, hidden behind a curtain that revealed a long tunnel. If her suspicions were correct, it would lead to the palace. She paused from her exploration long enough to leave the room and fill out a formal report. She ate breakfast and sent the report off, feeling better than she had in days. Once the discovery was made it was assigned and any other curse breaker could be assigned to take her place, but now that the discovery was unlocked, it was hers forever. Or at least, the claim was hers. She was the witch who unlocked Rasputin's library. The response to her discovery came later in the afternoon, while she was exploring the vast library.

As was traditional, she was to be allowed a cut of the treasure from the site. She had already started setting aside her choices from the room. There were several thick books along with scrolls, a small case of potions and a chest. The chest was full of the only real treasure she had chosen, and all of what she chose was based on the research she had done. She chose items such as the amulet given to the youngest Romanov child Alexi to protect him both from falls and from the disease that would later kill him. Books that held Rasputin's potions and incantations, and scrolls that held more. She carefully calculated the percentage of what she had chosen in regard to what she had to leave. But even though she was taken less than was her due, she was more than content. The treasures she had chosen may not all glimmer and shine, but they were more valuable she suspected than her goblin employers would realize.

It was nearly time for her port-key to depart, Kat wrapped each of her treasures carefully and placed them in the trunk she had sent for. Once it was all inside, she sealed it both by natural means and with magic and sent it off to be delivered at her home in England. The sky outside was steadily turning from darkness to the pale peach of morning. She checked her pack; her things were all inside, over her shoulder was a long cylindrical parcel that held her tent. After checking the letter once more she put it away keeping her wand in one hand and the port-key in the other. As the dawn's light crept over the horizon she vanished with a resounding pop.