Chapter One: Adventure in the Desert
I see a tree standing in a desert. The desert sand is brown and orange. The sun gleams down yellow rays from the blue sky overhead. The air is hot and arid. A breeze flows from the direction of the rising sun. It is cool and fragrant with roses. The tree is waving in the distance. It seems like a mirage. The tree is tall, like an oak, and has branches that spread out like wings into the sky. There are no leaves on the branches. The wood is brown and red tint. The sand is hot under my sandals. I am wearing a white lungi. There is a camel obediently following behind me. The camel has big brown eyes, and his hump bounces with every step. His fur is whitish. He makes hissing noises every time he breathes. There is barely any fat on him. He is skinny and there are dark purple circles under his oval eyes. His black nose is wrinkled and dry. He hoots with pain and exhaustion.
I am sweating, while wearing a white cloth around my head. The sun is hot. I take a water bottle from my waist and bring it to my mouth. The water bottle is made of leather. It is a sack, half filled with warm water. I take a few sips, and feel the water rushing down my gullet. I slow down, take another sip and swirl it around my mouth. Then I put the green cap back on the round water bottle. I feel the texture, smooth, dry, black snake skin. I put it back on my waist, attaching it to a metal hook on my belt. Then I pull out a sandwich bag filled with dates. I take one brown date out and smell it. The sugar scent makes me reel with happiness. I put it in my mouth and slowly chew it, letting the sugar taste fill my emptiness. The desert is vast and expansive. It is not flat, the sand rolls into small hills and valleys. There is nothing out here. I am lost. I take out a compass, and see the needle rotating wildly. Where am I?
I hear the sound of a jeep roaring in the distance. I look behind me, and see a green army van coming towards me. I stop and turn, waiting. The camel stops with me. We look hopefully at the green army van coming towards us. It's black rubber tires gleam in the sunshine, creating tracks in the sand. In the van, there is a black man dressed in green army clothes. He wears sunglasses, and is smoking a blunt. Smiling widely, he gestures me into the van as he comes to a stop. I lead the camel to the back, and put him in the open box. Then in the two seater van, I take the second seat, after putting aside a half eaten sandwich into the glove box. The glove box has a paper with the words "Wanted: Harry Potter, Reward: 100 000 galleons" on it. The interior is white leapord cloth, smooth and cool. The air conditioner is on full blast, and for a few minutes the only sound in the van is the rushing cool air from the two small vents on either side of the jeep. The man passes me the blunt. I examine it. It is a rolled tobaco leaf, green and black, and filled with marijuana. The smell is exquisite and delicious. There is a black paper strip rolled on it, to keep the blunt together. The end of it is lit, a red hot fire, slowly burning. Smoke fills the van. I breathe in the smoke, the smell is dry and stinky fragrant. My head spins. I put the blunt to my lips and breathe slowly from my belly, taking my fill of the hot smoke. It has a delicious apple taste. I hand it back to the black man who saved me, and take out my water bottle. I feel my eyes tingle and burn slightly, and I know immediately they are turning red. I let the smoke out slowly. The grey smoke streams out of my mouth, almost like a waterfall. I open the bottle cap and take a sip of water. It rushes down my throat, ridding me of the smoke taste, yet the apple taste remains, subtle and indistinct. I take out my bag of dates and offer it to him. He grabs two, and pops them in his mouth. His lips are reddish, swollen. He passes the blunt back. I take another hit. He starts the radio. The circular button on the dashboard has ridges all around it. He rolls the button, trying to find the station he wants. The white stick in the row of stations moves slowly to the right, finally landing somewhere in the middle. Then he turns up the volume with a smaller circular button, and the sound of slow soft music fills the van. Classical mozart music, it's notes creating a unique spiral into the beauty of infinity. I close my eyes. Smoking marijuana, riding in the van. Soon the blunt is finished. He lights it out on an ash tray. Then he takes out a joint, a white tightly rolled joint. He passes it to me, and says, "Save it." I nod. His voice is deep and confident.
"You have wand?" He asks, his hands tightly gripping the brown steering wheel. I shake my head slowly, and feel the joint resting in the palm of my hand. I take it to my nose and smell the pot inside. The scent is like kissing a woman that's not your wife, drinking your first cup of coffee, asking a girl out on a date and her saying yes, graduating from Hogwarts, playing chess with friends on a winter evening. Wonderful, I lean back into the white cushion seats. Closing my eyes, letting the music drown me, I am lulled into a semi sleep brought on by the marijuana. Images pass rapidly before my closed eyelids, of my time at Hogwarts, of the war, of running away. Again I wonder if I made the right choice. Just walking away from it all after Dumbledore's death. Again I wonder.
He grunts in response, and says, "Death eaters snooping in pyramids these days."
"I need a wand."
"They are banned. Hard to get."
Sighing, I say, "Will have to do without one, then. Take me to them."
Soon we come to a descending slope. The valley of Olg lies beneath us, waiting like a lair of serpents. There are pyramids rising to meet the sky, its sharp point touching the heavens. Some are made of white marble, others sandy rock, others out of black stone. Thousands upon thousands in a field of pyramids, all of different heights, different beauties. The proud magical race of Egypt, long ago in their great splendour created the ten thousand pyramids today, each stashed with secrets and treasure. And traps.
The man stops the jeep. We get out and shut the door with a bang that echoes. The sand feels like burning coals to my thin chappals. We start walking, and immediately I see a group of wizards in black cloaks. They are in a circle around a small black pyramid, chanting something, hands joined. Skull masks white like bone on pureblood faces, reflecting the sun. A purple light glows around them. They are raising the black pyramid into the air. There are yellow spirales slowly forming on the pyramid. And then dissapearing. At the base of the pyramid, snakes tethered into the deep ground are pulled out and hiss at the death eaters. They are black snakes with red eyes. Their fangs protude outward, dripping wet with poison. But the purple light protects the death eaters. The snakes can't get past the shield of purple covering the pyramid.
"How long have they been doing that for?"
"Everyday, two months."
"We need to stop them."
"Go kill," says the man, handing me a knife. It has a small blade, a leather handle. A kitchen knife is all I have to take on twenty or so death eaters. I nod, and crouch down to the burning sand, and start crawling toward them, hoping for luck. I take cover behind a white marble pyramid that gleams too brightly for comfort. There are death eater guards walking around, with wands out.
They walk in pairs, on the look out for intruders. I am stoned out of my mind, holding the kitchen knife tightly with sweaty palms. My body is loose and relaxed, and I am grinning like a maniac. I pull out my water bottle from the waist band hook and bury it in the sand, with only it's lid sticking out. Then I take my bag out filled with dates. Only three left. I eat it one by one and mentally prepare, visualizing the scenario. Walk to the two death eaters on guard, kill them, take their wands, and simply attack. I recall the lesson on duelling that I spent six hundred galleons on in China. "Attack in 3 seconds!" was the golden rule.
My breathing is calm and relaxed. I feel the high coming on, first through my toes and then slowly rising upward through my body like a snake wrapping itself around me. I grip the knife, and look straight into the sun for three seconds until I am almost blinded. I shut my eyes and see the light beneath my eyelids, a orange yellow ball of light floating in blackness. When it fades, I open my eyes and know I am in my flow. I can feel it, the spells running in my mind, the moves I learnt in China. Now I have to find a pair of wandering death eaters. I peek out and start looking, first at the ritualists trying to raise the black pyramid. There, two pyramids to the left, two women in black cloaks and skull masks wait, standing and watching with guarded eyes. Women are always easier to take out then men. They're less agressive and easier to surprise. I sneak down the row of pyramids, keeping out of their view. Whenever I don't have cover, I have to run fast. They don't notice me, and soon I am only a few feet away from them, hiding on the other side of a huge pyramid made of a substance that looks like wood. Sneaking around this pyramid is relatively easy. But my whole body is tingling with pleasure as the high reaches its peak. I charge into them, and they are surprised. I grab one woman's hand holding the wand and twist, thrust my knife into her stomach. Death eaters, I have to remind myself. In my state of flow I am totally perfect, a dancer running through his moves. Unconsciously I fight, almost like I am living in a dream. The conscious mind thinks slow, and reflexes save lives. I fight out of reflex, in a state of flux.
The other woman is quick, she raises her wand immediately and shouts a stunner. It hits me in the chest, the red light seeping into my body like a cold icy hand. I fall back, and quickly get to my feet. Stunners don't work as good on a man who's stoned like I am. Red eyes more crimson than Lord Voldemort unnerves them, perhaps, because I run up to her before she shouts another spell and back hand her. The mask cracks like biscuit, revealing the face of Hermione Granger.
"Hermione? What the-"
"Crucio!" she shouts, and I fall to my knees in pain. My body shudders, my mind shivers, the pain drowns me. I grab her knee and pull her to the sand, her red lips only a few centimeters from mine. I kiss her, letting her fall into my arms. It surprises her, giving me enough time to grab her wand from her.
"Hermione, why are you here?" I ask, but she doesn't respond. She looks at me, scared, frustrated, perhaps angry.
"Harry..."
I raise her left sleeve and see the mark. The snake protruding out of the skull signifying the immortality of Lord Voldemort, coming out of the grasp of death itself. Why did she do it? My heart is breaking, I feel shocked and confused. Why would she turn, I simply cannot understand this new development, and the high is pulling me into a new perspective. I am frozen still, just looking into her brown eyes. "Stupefy," I say, letting her fall to the sand. Then I turn to the other woman, who's on the sand bleeding. Her wand lies out of her grasp, a few feet away from her. Did I drop it? I don't remember anymore. I am too shocked by Hermione's presence to do anything other than my original plan. I stun her, and grab her wand. Two wands in my palms, I look around for more death eaters. I know they're hiding somewhere here, pairs of them roaming around the pyramids. Have they heard the commotion. Do they know Harry Potter is here?
I have to act fast before the ritualists complete whatever they're doing. The purple light is thicker in consistency and I can hear a shrill piercing whistling sound. The sound of a ritual being completed. I point my wands toward them, and shout, "Avada Kedavra!" A wall of sand conjured blocks my green light. Who did it? Who's there? Where? I look around totally out of my flow, out of my element. Now I am in dangerous territory, with sharks all around me, in new waters, a baby fish in an ocean of predators. Betrayed by my most trusted friend, I must go away to safety.