A/N: I know I'm gonna write some things in this story that may appear to be inconsistencies, when really it's just before Harry Potter's time. First and foremost, this is before Bill ever met Fleur, so he's allowed to have some fun. Also, this is before Quirrell got corrupted by Voldemort, so he's not a bad guy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

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The hot Egyptian sun was setting as two figures walked in silence across the stone and sand. The Muslim's evening prayers were rising around them, but the two figures, one of whom was particularly short, paid no heed.

The taller of the two was dressed very peculiarly indeed. His long red hair hung down over a thin white cloak. He and the short figure, who was wrapped completely in bandages, giving him the appearance of a rather short mummy, reached their destination. A great stone sphynx loomed over them, and they descended some sandy steps to come to a standstill in front of a solid wall.

"The door's not here," came a muffled voice from behind the bandages.

"Give it a moment," said the red-haired man, reaching into the folds of his cloak and withdrawing an ancient looking scroll.

The short figure was irritably taking off his bandages. Beneath them, anyone would've been shocked to see, was not a short man as was expected; the creature before them had an ugly face and clawed hands. A goblin. The man, however, paid no heed to his companion and was unsurprised to see that it was not, in fact, human.

The goblin peered over at the scroll the wizard was reading hurriedly and studied the text before saying, "That's not Egyptian."

"No," said the wizard, who was reading it hurriedly as if committing it to memory. "This tomb was built while the Israelites were enslaved. This is Hebrew." He rolled up the scroll again and looked expectantly at the setting sun.

The man and the goblin stood in silence as the last rays of sun disappeared over the horizon. The Goblin reached into a small knapsack and withdrew a torch disproportional to the knapsack from which it came. The man drew out a thin wand and muttered an incantation. As he spoke, flames flew up from the torch, illuminating what was unmistakably an entranceway.

The wizard pushed forward eagerly, and the goblin followed with a look of greed in his beady eyes.

The entranceway led them down a set of dark stone steps and when they reached the bottom, they came to a wall, but it was unlike any wall either of them had ever seen. It was as if there was a pool that was confused as to which way was up, and so it appeared that the man and goblin were standing sideways looking down at the pool. It was also a dark crimson red.

The goblin took a step forward and stuck his finger into the red liquid, withdrew it and stuck it in his mouth. "Blood," he said.

The man nodded. "I take it you won't be coming any farther."

The goblin agreed. "I trust you, Weasley. Just return with the Heart of the Nile."

Bill Weasley removed his cloak and handed it to the goblin, revealing a maroon long-sleeved shirt tucked into dark green pants which covered most of his dragon-hide boots. He pulled a hairband from his wrist and tied his long red hair into a ponytail. Bill reached into his own knapsack and took out his wand. The goblin's hand twitched as if he expected to have to hold the wand as well. Bill noticed, but pretended not to.

He took a step closer to the wall of blood and in another step, half submerged himself in it. Then, his center of gravity fell and Bill landed into the wall of blood as if diving into it. When he resurfaced for air, his gravity remained distorted and he looked up at the goblin.

"I hope it's not to deep... or, uh, far," and he dived once more. He held his breath, swimming through the blood until he reached the bottom and burst through what might have been a surface, except Bill's buoyancy was trying to bring him back to the other surface. Bill struggled to pull himself out of the blood, until finally his gravity returned to normal and he fell forward onto the stone floor.

There were two unlit torches bracketed on the wall. Bill took one and lit it, then proceeded through a small doorway leading away from the blood. As he approached, Bill heard the unmistakeable sound of croaking. He held his torch high, illuminating the path ahead of him. Every last inch of the corridor was covered with toads; toads leaping from one side of the hall to the next, toads looking down at Bill from the ceiling, giant toads occasionally snagging smaller toads with their toad-tongues. Toads.

Bill was gonna be sick.

Undoubtedly poisonous, Bill eyed the toads cautiously and he checked over all his clothes. His robes were magically imperviused, so nothing to worry about there. If a toad hopped at him, the magic would send them careening the other direction. Bill pulled the hood over his head and continued onward. His dragon hide boots crushed the toads in his path, but his imperviused robes protected him.

But once Bill was past the toads, he still didn't dare remove his cloak. Ahead was the unmistakeable sound of vicious bugs. Peering closely, Bill saw a hallway filled with gnats and flies, just as with the toads before. His robes and dragon hide boots would offer the same protection here.

Bill began to wonder if there was anything that would actually prove to be an obstacle standing between him and the Heart of the Nile, a magical diamond that defies Gamps Law of Elemental Transfiguration. It could produce unlimited amounts of any kind of food and drink imaginable. It was said to have created the Nile River itself.

Not that Bill cared about about any of that, but Gringotts Wizarding Bank would put the price of that diamond at 500,000 Galleons.

A great huffing sound tore Bill out of his thoughts. He cursed himself. He'd let his mind wander, let his guard down. Standing ahead of him, in the next antechamber was a great Bull, unlike any bull Bill had ever seen. It reeked of death. It's flesh seemed to be dripping from it's body in great globs. It's back was ripped open so that it's spine was exposed. Bill knew he was dealing with powerful dark magic; it was a Bull Inferius.

The bull charged Bill, but Bill was too quick for a freaking dead steak to best him. He dived aside and took a stance to defend himself. The Bull roared again and charged. This time, Bill had his wand out. "Inflammare!" he shouted. The bull burst into flames and Bill dodged it as it ran right past him, the heat from the flames singing Bill's robes. The bull lost control and smashed headfirst into the alabaster wall. The curse was broken, and the Inferius bull died. Bill silently congratulated himself, and moved on, thinking it had been the worst.

Ahead, Bill came to a pool, not like the pool of blood as before, but a simple waist deep pool that covered the whole hallway before him. Not trusting it, Bill tried to levitate himself over the pool. It didn't work. Taking a bit of a risk with the limited protections offered by the robes and boots, Bill waded into the pool. He didn't immediately feel any thing in the pool, although he was expecting to meet some manner of dark creature at any moment. He did not, and made it through to the other side safely. He thought he was unharmed, but was wrong.

His feet had suddenly become sore, and Bill took a moment to sit down and take his boots off. Then Bill saw the effects of the pool. Great boils, blisters and sores were erupting on his feet, ankles and legs as he had walked across the pool. The substance in the pool, whatever it had been, was not harmless. Thinking quickly, Bill reached into his bag and pulled out a potion. It cured most common ails and illnesses, and Bill hoped it wasn't too modern for the ancient magic of the pool. It wasn't, and his legs became normal once more. He stood. He felt fine.

Moving on, Bill came across an enchantment he recognized. Just like the Great Hall at Hogwarts, the antechamber before him had been enchanted to look like it opened upward to the heavens. However, Bill was quite certain he'd never seen the Great Hall hail before. Hailstones the size of Bludgers were falling from the ceiling and shattering into bits of ice on the floor below. Half the danger was slipping on the already fallen hail, even if Bill managed to avoid the falling hail. However, Bill knew how to stop this particular obstacle. "Finite incantatem!" he said, joyously, and proceeded through the now clear antechamber.

Thinking he'd outdone himself, Bill was congratulating his own prowess when a hail stone fell and shattered directly in front of him. Oh. Turns out the enchantment was impervius to finite incantatem. Oops. Bill rushed into a sprint as more hailstones came falling around him. A pretty hard one knocked into his shoulder, but Bill pressed onward, exiting the antechamber before more damage was sustained.

Bill had just caught his breath when a sharp pain struck his wrist. Bill swatted at it. It was a rather large bug that Bill recognized as a locust. It had apparently gone for the blood that was now drying on Bill robes. Bill paused. Something unnerved him about the bug, although he wasn't sure what. Then he realized; his robes had not imperviused the locust off.

Just as that chilling through struck him, Bill heard the rustling and humming of a thousand more locusts flying toward him and the blood on his robes that attracted them. Thinking fast, Bill cried, "Inflammare!" The locusts flying at him found themselves instead flying at a barrier of flames and Bill, rather than being torn apart by carnivorous locusts, was instead pelted by charred locust carapaces. Bill smirked. This cursebreaker stuff was too easy. He took one step forward and instantly, the torch went out.

It was like stepping into a room where someone had dropped Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. It was so dark, Bill couldn't see his hand mere centimeters from his face. Forcing himself not to panic, Bill dug into his bag and found what he was looking for. "Lumos," he whispered and a shriveled, darkened hand illuminated the hall around him. A hand of glory. Bill strode forward and found another archway with a door. Unlike the archway entering the tomb, however, this one was made of wood. Bill stepped up to it and examined it.

Then, a feeling of absolute dread struck him from nowhere and Bill was suddenly terrified. This was truly the worst obstacle that Bill had to face. It was like a reverse Legilimens. Somehow, what was about to happen just presented itself to Bill. He knew what the final obstacle was. He had to present a blood offering to this wooden archway or he would die. Bill didn't know how he knew this, he just did. Death had simply made itself clear to him. It was coming for him, drawing ever nearer.

Bill tried to keep his mind off the death that he sensed nearing (he tried very hard not to think "my death") and concentrate on the archway. A blood offering... a blood offering. Then it occurred to Bill, the idea so obvious that Bill almost laughed. He ripped his cloak off, still soaked with blood and pressed it against the wooden archway. The fear passed and the door opened. Bill took a moment to catch his breath. The mounting fear of death coming for him was all that he'd thought of. It was more than enough to distract him from realizing he was soaked in blood.

He realized as he stepped through the wooden archway that this antechamber would be the last. The whole thing was wide and tall, the ceiling being supported by two massive wooden pillars. And between the two pillars, set on a raised pedestal, was a diamond in the perfect shape of an eye. The Heart of the Nile.

Bill proceeded cautiously. In his experience, the worst curse was the final one. However, nothing happened as he approached the pedestal. Nearer and nearer he came, until he was there. He took the diamond in his hands and waited, poised on his toes, for whatever would happen next. Nothing did.

Relaxing only slightly, Bill turned and hurried back the way he came. Then, he heard a loud hissing noise. Bill spun, shoved the diamond in his bag and drew his wand. He could see nothing except for the two wooden pillars. Then Bill saw something that hadn't been there before. The two pillars were no longer supporting the ceiling; a large fire had started at the cap of the pillars and was making it's way downward. However, the pillars did not burn, but the fire transfigured them into something big and scaly. As the fire reached the floor, the pillars were gone, and in their place were two massive snakes.

But Bill was gone.

As soon as he'd realized what was happening, he'd sprinted. He sprinted through the falling hail and across the cursed pool before the snakes had even transfigured completely. He kept racing past the other curses, most of which weren't a problem having been broken on Bill's way in, but the snakes were following quickly.

Bill made it past the bugs and frogs and came to the pool of blood. He leaped in and immediately was carried to the surface by his own buoyancy and forced his way out of the blood to correct his gravity. The goblin was waiting on him. "Well?"

"Come on!" said Bill, pushing him up the stairs to the exit. The goblin, however, wouldn't be swayed.

"Have you got it?" he asked, irritably.

"Yes, now move!" shouted Bill, and then, he head an explosive splash behind him that told him the snakes had broken through the wall of blood.

The goblin made it through the door first, and as soon as Bill came behind, the goblin slammed the door, which vanished instantly. Bill and the goblin thought they heard the muffled thump of two giant serpentine bodies crashing into an indestructible wall.

The goblin acted as if his life had never been in danger, choosing instead to focus on the results of the assignment. "Did you get it?"

Bill reached into his bag and withdrew the eye-shaped diamond. "The Heart of the Nile. Extraordinary magical properties and worth five-hundred thousand Galleons."

The goblin nodded. "Very good, Weasley. To Basik Alley, then."

"First," said Bill, and he squeezed the diamond and a large, salted sandwich appeared in his hand. Bill took a bite and nodded, approvingly. "Not bad. Not as good as Mum's, though."