I'd like to thank fredfred and InquisitorCOC for beta-reading.

Chapter 6: The Hunt

Valley of the Kings, Egypt, June 26th, 1996

Petunia Evans woke up, as usual, before her alarm clock was set to go off. Sirius's left arm was wrapped loosely around her waist, his hand resting on her stomach. She could feel his breath on the nape of her neck, and his body pressing into her back.

That, too, wasn't unusual any more. Hadn't been for months. She smiled and closed her eyes, savouring the moment, half-dozing in Sirius's arms.

She must have actually dozed off, she realised a few minutes later when her - wind-up, of course - alarm clock went off. She tried to reach over to the nightstand, but Sirius, half-awake, tightened his grip on her waist, holding her in place.

"Blasted thing!" she heard him mutter, followed by a muttered syllable, and the noise from the clock disappeared. It was still rattling away, she noticed, but no sound reached her. "There!" Sirius announced, and she didn't have to turn and look at him to know that he was wearing that satisfied smirk of his as if he had just stopped a thief in Magical Alexandria's bazaar. Which he had done in his animagus form, she remembered, and had caused such a panic, he hadn't dared to show up as Padfoot in public since then - there was still a bounty out on that 'stray Grim'.

"We still have to get up," she told him.

He huffed. "Not right now, we don't," he said, then nuzzled her neck.

Once more she closed her eyes, sighing as she shivered. He was right, she knew - they had time to spare. And no reason not to.

"Harry will be so smug," she told him half an hour later, as they were finally getting ready for breakfast. "He's been trying to play matchmaker for ages."

She heard him chuckle as he slipped on his duelling robes. Despite her prodding, despite his experiences, he preferred his duelling robes - 'dragon leather with Acromantula silk lining' - to proper desert robes, much less muggle desert clothes, for 'work'. He was as stubborn as herself. Which was a good thing, she added to herself - other men wouldn't have kept pursuing her. And very few wizards would have courted a squib in the first place.

"Don't frown!"

"What?" She looked at him.

"You were frowning." He shook his head. "This is a good day! You've finished your translations, we have what we came for and, after almost a year, we'll finally be going back to Britain to see Harry again. No frowning!"

She rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help smiling. A little. Which had been his goal, of course. But things weren't as rosy as he claimed. They had the information from the ritual place Voldemort had used for his resurrection, or whatever you called it when a dark wizard's shade regained a body. And all the information from the tombs of the court wizard and high priest who had executed the Nameless Necromancer for their pharaoh. And they were returning to Britain, although that would take a day even if everything went perfectly - which it never did. The Ottomans controlling Magical Egypt were notoriously bad at handling the paperwork in an efficient manner, even when bribed - the consequence of using the country as a dumping ground for unwanted and inept servants of the Sublime Porte.

But she didn't know if what they had would be enough for Dumbledore to find a way to defeat Voldemort. To kill him and make it stick. She didn't say that, though. She didn't have to say it - Sirius was well aware of it already. Which is why he was acting so cheerfully.

She put a hand on his shoulder when he sat on the bed to put on his boots, shaking them out beforehand, as she had taught him, even though their tent was warded against insects. He reached up to squeeze her hand for a moment, before pulling on his second boot - dragon leather, too, of course.

"It'll work out," he said.

She hoped he was right.

But she feared he was wrong.

Cokeworth, Midlands, Britain, July 10th, 1996

"Hello, Petunia!"

"Hello, Hermione." Petunia stepped aside and let Hermione enter the house - through the back door. Unlike last summer, the witch didn't use the Floo Network any more to travel to Cokeworth but instead apparated into the shed in the garden. Apparently, Dumbledore had pulled a few strings to let her get her Apparition license as soon as she turned sixteen last year.

That the Headmaster had also arranged to have Harry and Ron trained in Apparition, 'just in case', Petunia considered a mixed blessing. It might save Harry if he found himself in danger - but it also allowed him much more freedom to get into trouble. Neither Harry nor Ron apparated in front of her, but she didn't think for a second that they weren't abusing it behind her back. She knew her nephew and his friends too well. Just like she had noticed that Hermione was wearing more fashionable clothes than last year and was wearing makeup now. Her hair was still a mess, but it looked decent enough if pulled into a ponytail. And her front teeth were noticeably less prominent.

"Harry! Hermione's here!"

Ten seconds later, Harry rushed down the stairs. Hermione met him in the hallway with a hug that quickly changed to a kiss. Petunia shook her head - teenagers!

"Don't give us that look!" Harry complained as soon as Hermione let him breathe again. "I know what you and Sirius are doing!"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Are you spying on us?"

"What?" He blushed. "Of course not!" He shook his head for emphasis - he needed a new haircut, Petunia noted. "But you're a pretty woman, he's an attractive man, you aren't old… it's obvious! Simple deduction!"

Hermione, instead of laughing at Harry's attempts to defend himself, supported her boyfriend loyally. "You're also working in a high-risk profession. Studies have shown that such occupations often correlate with higher levels of sexual activity during down times."

Was the little witch smirking? Petunia narrowed her eyes. "Oh? Is that why both of you want to become Curse-Breakers?"

That had both of them still blushing when Petunia brought tea and a few scones up to Harry's room a little later. Her nephew managed to glare at her, though Petunia simply smirked at him. He had had a lot of fun teasing her about 'finally' dating Sirius, and turnabout was simply fair play, after all.

"When do you expect Ron?" she asked as she stepped out of his room.

"In about an hour," Harry said. "He has to do a few chores first."

And he likely didn't want to interrupt their 'couple time', Petunia thought. At least there didn't seem to be any strain on the trio's friendship due to two of them dating. None that she could see, anyway. "Is he still dating, what's her name, Lavender?" Another poor girl stuck with a flower name, she thought to herself.

"Well… they haven't broken up, but they haven't gone on a date since school ended," Harry said. "That's a bad sign."

Hermione huffed. "It's not even been two weeks. And her parents might not want her to go on dates, what with Voldemort having returned."

And especially not with one of Harry's best friends, Petunia thought. Voldemort had been focusing on subverting the Wizengamot and the Ministry, but there had been several terror attacks on muggleborn families since his return.

"That's still a bad sign," Harry said.

"Well, do you expect her to sneak out of her home to go on a date with Ron?" Hermione asked him.

"Yes, actually. Have you forgotten her barnacle impression when she first started dating 'Won-Won'?" Harry shook his head. "It's a wonder that his arm is still working."

"She wasn't that bad," Hermione said.

"But she came close."

"So you want me to keep my distance?" Hermione asked, smirking at him.

"That's different!" Harry said.

Petunia closed the door, smiling to herself. Harry was happy. And would hopefully learn that Bill's advice about girls shouldn't be followed.

Hogwarts, August 15th, 1996

Dumbledore looked tired, Petunia thought as soon as she looked at him upon entering his office. Not exhausted, certainly not haggard, but tired. Like some professors she had known after finishing a book project involving too many late nights.

"I imagine that you already suspect the reason for which I have called you to my office," he began as soon as she and Sirius had taken their seats.

"You've analysed the texts we gathered," she said.

He smiled as if she were a student answering a question in class. "Indeed. And you have, again, my thanks for translating them. My Old Egyptian is a little rusty." He laughed softly, but Petunia wouldn't put it past him to actually know at least some Old Egyptian.

"It's my job," she said. She had published a few articles about the nuances of translating Old Egyptian. Not that she thought any wizard or witch other than Hermione - and Harry, of course - had read them.

"And you're an obvious expert in the field."

"In many fields," Sirius interjected.

"Indeed." Dumbledore smiled at both of them

Petunia simply wanted him to get to the point instead of flattering her.

"Well, let me start with the good news. I have finished my analysis of the texts, and I believe that I found a way to defeat Voldemort despite his Horcruxes."

"You mean kill him despite his Horcruxes," Sirius said. "That he can be defeated Harry has proven twice already."

"And Lily," Petunia added.

"Technically, both are true. The ancient Egyptian wizards and priests, who were, essentially, wizards as well, but I digress, found a way to join the soul - all of it, no matter if part of it had been hidden in an object - with a prepared vessel, effectively trapping the soul in the vessel. Destroying the vessel would then kill the one trapped in this manner."

Petunia pressed her lips together. That sounded like it would destroy a soul. And that was pretty much the darkest of the Dark Arts, as far as she knew. Although if any one person deserved such a fate, then it would be Voldemort.

"We're going to destroy a soul?" Sirius had understood it as well, of course - his family had a long history of using the Dark Arts.

Dumbledore took a deep breath. "I cannot confirm or deny that with any degree of certainty. No muggle or wizard has ever been able to determine where souls go after death; all the research done by wizards since time immemorial has only revealed that there is an afterlife, nothing more. If such a vessel is destroyed, then the trapped soul could pass on - or fade from existence. Without a means to call souls back from the afterlife, it would be impossible to prove one way or the other. And such a means does not exist."

"What about the Resurrection Stone?" Sirius asked. "One of the three Deathly Hallows."

"That's just a legend," Petunia said.

The Headmaster chuckled. "I can assure you that the three Deathly Hallows exist. I have seen two of them, during my lifetime - although both under circumstances I would rather not repeat. But," he went on, cutting off Sirius, "I do not think that even the Resurrection Stone has the power to call back souls from the afterlife. I do not doubt that it is a very powerful artefact, but to conquer Death?" He shook his head. "Neither of the two other Deathly Hallows can do that, despite the claims in their legends. While this is essentially speculation, I think it is likely that what the Resurrection Stone does is access the minds of the living - all of the living - to simulate the return of a soul."

"So we'd be talking to the popular view of the recalled soul, not the actual soul?" Petunia asked. In many cases, that would result in some hilariously inaccurate information, she thought.

"Indeed. But as I said already, it is mere speculation. And irrelevant to our current situation, I might add." Dumbledore sighed. "Which brings me to the bad news I have to impart: The ritual the high priest and court wizard used to trap the Nameless Necromancer requires a piece of the split soul. Not a connection to it, but the actual soul."

Which meant Harry's scar wouldn't be enough, Petunia thought with relief. "So, you need us to find one of his Horcruxes."

"Exactly, Miss Evans. A task, I believe, for which you are uniquely suited thanks to your talents and experience."

Petunia snorted at the flattery the Headmaster heaped upon her, the squib. But she nodded. "The Room of Requirement, I suppose. Why else would he have gone to the trouble of cursing and hiding it?"

She was delighted to see Dumbledore's eyebrows rise in apparent surprise before he nodded with his usual slightly patronising smile. "Indeed. His ego would have found the idea of hiding his most valuable secret and his greatest weakness under my very nose irresistible."

"Shouldn't be a problem then," Sirius said, grinning widely.

Dumbledore sighed and his smile turned rather wry. "I fear that that would be a too optimistic view of the task ahead. Let me show you." He stood and gestured to them to follow him.

Ten minutes later, they were in the lower levels of the dungeons - and Petunia would have another talk with Harry about his description of the location as 'easily accessible' - staring at a massive door that had appeared out of nowhere.

"The Room of Requirement," Dumbledore announced before opening the door with a flick of his wand.

Petunia drew a hissing breath, almost a gasp. Harry hadn't been lying - it was 'as large as the Great Hall, and full of stuff'.

Dumbledore chuckled wryly. "When I first laid eyes on it, I was tempted to write a letter to Thaumaturgy Monthly, claiming that I had finally discovered where vanished items go when they disappear."

Sirius laughed, but it sounded forced. Petunia didn't even bother. This would take months to sort through.

That Bill would have to do the lion's share of the work was a small consolation.

Hogwarts, September 5th, 1996

"What's that?" Bill asked, pointing ahead.

"Either a very fancy chamber pot," Petunia replied, "or a cauldron after Neville tried an experiment." She hadn't believed Harry's tales until she had seen the aftermath of a Potions lessons herself.

"Whatever it is, it got a curse on it," Bill said.

"Like half the things in here." Petunia snorted. It looked as if someone - possibly the elves - had been using the room as a dumping ground for all the cursed and broken magical items and relics of spell mishaps that had been produced in the school. Fortunately, the curses were usually harmless - relatively harmless - and easy to deal with, and the broken items could be a little tricky but were generally easy to handle.

It was just that there were so many of them.

"I'll go fetch some water and the sandwiches," she told Bill, straightening from where she had looked - looked, not touched - at a stack of books which had turned out to be muggle novels. The Biggles series, first printing.

She grabbed a bundle of school robes and walked towards the entrance, where their 'base camp', as Sirius liked to call the three tents they had put up, was located. Since the room changed according to the wishes of whoever entered it first, they had to maintain a constant presence in it, or all their work might end up undone by a careless wish for a library or a bathroom. It wasn't likely, but better safe than sorry.

"What do you have there?" Sirius asked.

"School robes," she told him. "Bill removed the spells on them, so they won't try to strangle you if you get too close."

He shook his head. "I'll clean them later. Just have to finish sorting through those magazines here. Some could be valuable."

Petunia doubted that, but if he needed an excuse to look through them, she wouldn't argue. Her curiosity often got the better of her as well. If this room had been filled from the back to the front as the centuries passed, then this was an archaeologist's dream - provided they were interested in Hogwarts history. Perhaps 'Hogwarts: The Untold History'?

She snorted and was about to mention this to Sirius when the door to the dungeons opened and a head appeared, peering inside.

"Harry?"

He flinched at her voice but quickly recovered. "Auntie! There you are! We were looking for you."

"Of course you were." Petunia frowned as Harry led Ron and Hermione inside.

"We were," he insisted as his friends nodded. "We're here to help you!"

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "The last time you were here, all of you ended up cursed and in the infirmary."

"That's not… I mean, yes, but things have changed," Harry said, and Petunia made a mental note to tell Dumbledore that her nephew had probably managed to break into the 'sealed room' with his friends at least once.

"You have taken your N.E.W.T.s and become full-fledged Curse-Breakers while I wasn't looking?" Petunia asked in her best sarcastic tone.

Harry frowned at her. "No, but we've taken our O.W.L.s!"

"And we studied hard during the summer," Hermione said. "We can be useful - most of the curses in the room are really basic and weak ones. Or so I would guess," she quickly added.

Petunia sighed. They had been in here before. And no one had noticed.

Harry took over again: "We'll stay safe, Auntie, I promise. And we'll obey your orders. But you might need me when you find the Horcrux. I'm immune to Voldemort's curses, remember?"

"And you'll need us to keep Harry from becoming bored and getting into trouble." Ron nodded earnestly. "I've been assisting Bill with the wards at The Burrow. I know how to help him."

"Please, Auntie."

If she sent them away, they would probably sneak in at night. And it was true that the spells and curses they had discovered so far weren't really dangerous. And it was better to keep them here, where she could keep an eye on them.

So Petunia reluctantly nodded. And smiled when Harry hugged her.

London, No 12 Grimmauld Place, September 28th, 1996

"I feel slightly guilty," Petunia said as she stepped out of the fireplace in the entrance hall of Sirius's home.

"Why?" Sirius asked, cleaning the soot off her clothes before doing the same to his own robes.

"I've been running Bill ragged sorting through that monstrous magical landfill, but I'm having a fancy dinner with you." She was doing what she could to help, but she wasn't a Curse-Breaker. She wasn't even a witch. All she could do was the sort through the mess ahead of him, spot traps and other things out of the ordinary - or whatever passed for ordinary in a school of magic - and look for the sort of grandiose-looking artefact Dumbledore was certain would appeal to Voldemort's ego. So far, they hadn't had any success - even though all the junk they had found this week dated back to the nineteenth century, in her estimation, and the further they got into the room, the older the things they saw looked.

He chuckled at her description of the Room of Requirement, shaking his head. "You've got no reason to feel guilty. He's being paid very generously for this, after all." Out of Sirius's pocket, Petunia knew. "And someone has to keep watch inside the room. We did it often enough. Fleur's going to keep him company anyway. More importantly, this is a family dinner," Sirius continued. "All the Blacks are attending - you, me and Andromeda's family."

"I'm not a Black," she said in a flat voice.

"That's a technicality which I'm happily ignoring. Otherwise, I would have been forced to invite Narcissa as well, and her horrible spawn." Sirius shuddered.

"Harry said Malfoy's changed for the better," Petunia pointed out. Although his exact words, 'not quite as bigoted as before, but still as pathetic and arrogant', were not quite as positive.

Sirius scoffed. "Besides, Narcissa's been hinting at the need for me to find a 'proper wife', by which she means a 'proper pureblood wife'."

Petunia buried whatever empathy she might have had for the witch.

"I'm just glad that she's apparently not interested. I wouldn't have put it past her, no matter how embarrassingly ludicrous the entire notion is." He shook his head. "No, this is just a nice, private family gathering."

"Which is why you bought me new robes." Robes that made the ones she had worn to the Yule Ball look casual and cheap.

"Yes." He grinned.

She sighed, but smiled, and then went to her 'guest room' to get changed.

"...and then Sirius came running, arms flailing, pursued by an animated ottoman - the stool," Andromeda said, chuckling. "His parents were torn between anger at their party being interrupted, and pride at such an obviously strong display of accidental magic."

"I remember that. They had to praise me at the party, and I got to eat three desserts!" Sirius grinned. "They never found out that I had asked Uncle Alphard to animate the thing."

Petunia forced herself to laugh with the others even though she didn't really feel like laughing. Sirius's cousin Andromeda Tonks was a beautiful, elegant witch with all the grace of a pureblood princess, a sharp wit and none of the arrogance Lena Kraft often displayed. Her husband Ted was an affable and intelligent muggleborn with a great sense of - often self-deprecating - humour. And their daughter Nymphadora - who had been quick to point out that she hated her name - was an energetic, funny and delightfully direct witch who worked as an Auror for the Ministry. And she was a metamorphmagus, one of the rarest talents known in the magical world.

They were all so friendly and nice, Petunia couldn't even hate them for constantly reminding that she was but a squib with all their stories from when they were growing up as a witch or wizard. She took another sip of the excellent wine. Well, the evening couldn't last forever.

"I heard you're working as a Curse-Breaker in Hogwarts this year," Andromeda said.

Petunia suppressed a wince. "I'm an archaeologist, not a Curse-Breaker," she corrected the witch.

"And a tomb raider," Sirius cut in, beaming at her. "The best in Egypt."

Petunia shot him a smile before she went on: "But yes, I'm examining the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts. My nephew and his friends managed to rediscover it recently." Or stumble upon it - Harry had been a little vague about those details. "It's a fascinating collection of relics from Hogwarts history."

"And it has more traps and curses than this place ever had," Sirius added.

"Most are not actual traps," she corrected him, "just miscast spells or broken items interacting in an unplanned and dangerous manner. Bill, our Curse-Breaker, hasn't had any trouble so far."

"There's just so much of it," Sirius said. "Imagine the Great Hall, and then fill it with junk!"

"That's a little bit of hyperbole, but there are more relics, items and artefacts that I've seen in any one tomb in my career," Petunia said. "Much less gold, of course," she added, "Which is a good thing, or Gringotts would probably try to dig a tunnel to the other end of the room, and start plundering it."

That set off another round of laughter.

"I'll be at Hogwarts too," Tonks mentioned, "at least officially. Dumbledore has pulled a few strings and has me assigned as security to the school. I can pass as any student, any age, any gender, after all."

"Or as any teacher. Like Snape!" Sirius said.

"Ugh." Tonks shuddered, and for a moment, her face seemed to deform as if she were a cartoon character.

"Officially, you said?" Petunia looked at her.

"Well, yes. Keeping the Boy-Who-Lived safe and all." Tonks shrugged. "But Dumbledore told me that I'd be mainly doing other missions for him. Secret ones."

That made sense, given her talent. Petunia was still annoyed that Dumbledore arranged a bodyguard for Harry without consulting her, even if it was just a cover for one of his agents. The Headmaster was playing his cards a little too close to his chest, in her opinion.

"But that's secret, as I said," Tonks grinned.

Petunia smiled, showing her teeth a little. She knew about keeping secrets - probably better than this witch. "I fully understand. You wouldn't believe what underhanded means some Curse-Breakers would try to beat a rival to a tomb."

"Oh?" Ted leaned forward "Do tell!"

Andromeda and Sirius joined in, and Petunia told them a few choice stories from her past encounters with unscrupulous rivals. Not Lockhart, of course - that was too personal. But Lena Kraft's attempt to anticipate her and Bill's route, thinking they would take the most direct path? That was a good story. Especially since the stupid pureblood princess had stumbled upon a lesser grave by accident and spent a week dodging traps and curses, only to discover that the buried wizard had spent all of his wealth on his grave, leaving no treasure inside it.

Which reminded her of the time when she and Bill had encountered a decoy grave, and she had discovered the real one by accidentally falling through a hole in the roof. Embarrassing and dangerous at the time, but funny in hindsight.

Which prompted Tonks to tell a few embarrassing stories herself - she was apparently rather clumsy.

By the time the Tonkses were leaving, Petunia was surprised at how late it was.

Hogwarts, January 10th, 1997

"That's the last one," Sirius said as he pointed at the dented suit of armour in the farthest corner of the room.

Petunia nodded. She turned to Bill.

Her partner slowly shook his head. "It's not cursed. No spells on it at all."

Petunia sighed. "It's official, then. There weren't any Horcruxes in the room." At least Harry and his friends hadn't gotten hurt during the search. They had, instead, learned a lot, or so she hoped. Possibly even some caution. "I'll go and tell Dumbledore."

"I'll come as well," Sirius said.

The Headmaster was, as expected on a Friday morning when there wasn't a Wizengamot session, in his office.

"I take it that there was no Horcrux in the Room of Requirement."

Of course, he had been aware of their progress, or continuing lack thereof. Petunia nodded. "You'd be right. We've combed through the room, we've handled every item and we looked for disillusioned or otherwise hidden items twice - there wasn't a Horcrux in there to find."

Dumbledore folded his hands. "It seems that the room's brilliant design has aided our enemy. I fear that Voldemort wished for a safe place to hide his soul anchor, and the room provided, creating a chamber which his enemies will not be able to enter as long as they mean him harm. Quite the setback."

"Or," Petunia said, "he took the Horcrux out of the room when he was possessing Quirrell."

Dumbledore inclined his head. "That is also a possibility. Even a likely one. But, unfortunately, neither possibility leaves us with a lead to its location."

"But we need one for the ritual!" Sirius clenched his teeth.

"Indeed we do. I think I know where he might have hidden one," the Headmaster said, "although it is, again, based on his character - his urge to prove himself not just more powerful, but also more cunning than anyone else, thus reaffirming his coveted ancestry."

"Well, it's not as if we have a better lead, do we?" Sirius said with an exaggerated shrug. "It's better than doing nothing."

Petunia shared his reasoning but elbowed him for his attitude anyway.

Dumbledore didn't seem to be too offended, though - he chuckled and continued: "I expect him to seek out important, famous locations - places with historical significance, and with magic, of course. Like Hogwarts. And given his now obvious ties to Egypt, I think there is one location that would fit which is not under constant observation."

Petunia closed her eyes and groaned. "Are you talking about the Necropolis of Osiris?"

He beamed at her. "Yes, I am."

She took a deep breath. 'Grave Robber Central', as one of her colleagues called it. Where green Curse-Breakers went to gawk. And where cocky wizards ended up killed by traps and curses more experienced Curse-Breakers had bypassed or temporarily disabled on their way to the grave chambers. The city of the dead wizards in more than one sense of the word. "All the famous graves have been ransacked long ago," she said.

"Exactly. Which would have allowed him to hide his Horcrux in one of them without having to actually break into an unexplored one."

"Or find one," Petunia said. There was more to being a tomb raider than being good with your wand. You couldn't break curses in a grave you never found in the first place.

"Yes. Once more, the appeal of hiding a Horcrux in plain sight, so to speak, would have been irresistible."

Petunia hoped that the Headmaster was correct this time. The blood wards wouldn't last forever. And Voldemort's power in Britain was growing.

Necropolis of Osiris, Egypt, January 15th, 1997

"Merlin's arse!" Sirius exclaimed.

"C'est impressionnant." Fleur nodded, her expression belying her calmer words.

Petunia smiled as she exchanged a glance with Bill. The first time one saw the Necropolis where most of the ancient Egyptian wizards were buried, one couldn't help feeling impressed. It was a gigantic cavern - the first documented use of an Extension Charm on that scale - filled with buildings serving as tombs and illuminated by lighting charms placed on the ceiling as if they were stars in the night sky; a literal city of the dead. Where in a real Egyptian city the temples and palaces would have dominated the other buildings, grandiose mausoleums rose above the smaller graves and crypts here. It was a sight to behold, indeed.

But after the third or fourth visit, it started to look like any other city, just devoid of people. And that nonchalance could be deadly. The city wasn't empty - it was populated by ghosts, mummies and other creatures attracted by death and decay, many of them not bound to a grave.

Many of them the remains of a careless or unlucky grave robber or a too cocky or inept Curse-Breaker.

She shook her head. They had a mission here. She pointed at the largest mausoleum, in the exact centre of the cavern. "That's the grave of Menes the Mage." Not to be confused with Menes the King. "According to the legend - and supported by the archaeological evidence, as far as the grave robbers left anything to be found - he planned and created the Necropolis. He might even have been an early pharaoh, the records were jumbled when the history of the world was purged of magic in the eighteenth century." A crime against humanity, in her opinion. "This was his city, his legacy. It is said that he was respected so much, no one dared to build a grander mausoleum than his."

"Which means his grave would be the first pick for Voldemort," Sirius said.

She frowned at the interruption but nodded. "Yes."

"So let's fly over and check it out," Bill said, pulling their carpets out of his enchanted pocket. "No need to walk through streets strewn with vermin and worse." It would have been faster if they could apparate, Petunia knew, but that sort of magical travel was blocked inside the cavern - the Ottomans had put the wards up in a futile attempt to stop grave robbers.

A few minutes later, they stepped off the carpets in front of the looming building. "Looks like a temple," Sirius said.

"That's by design," Petunia explained. "Temples were the most impressive buildings of his time, so his grave was built in the same style." She nodded at Bill. "Open the doors, please."

"Alright, let's see… ah, basic Locking Spell. Probably a visitor." Bill flicked his wand, and the gate swung open, revealing a dark interior. Petunia stepped inside without hesitation and flicked her headlight on as the others cast Wand-Lighting Charms. "He'll have hidden his Horcrux in a location where it can't be easily detected by a new Curse-Breaker checking the grave out."

She looked around. Usually, well-preserved parts of a grave indicated spells. But this grave had been serving as a sort of tourist attraction, so who knew how often someone had cast a mending charm or cleaning charm to inspect a particular painting on the wall? Or, she added as she saw a part of the wall that looked as if it had been treated with a sandblaster, had deliberately destroyed them.

"Entrance walls look solid," Bill announced.

But Petunia's attention was caught by the abraded sections of the walls. They formed a pattern. They were usually found next to near-pristine parts - under a layer of dust. And those parts were arranged according to a pattern too. She used her Omnioculars, mentally tracking the different areas. Here, and here. But not here. Nor there. Proximity wasn't a factor - they didn't spread. They alternated.

She stepped into the middle of the grave, where the Sarcophagus had once been set down. This was the centre. The most important place of the entire mausoleum - and arguably, of the entire city. If Voldemort wanted to hide a Horcrux, he'd do it here. And in a way that was both undetectable by the usual spells as well as a clever insult.

She slowly rotated herself all the way around. The pattern was the answer. She knew it. Alternating areas, raising from the floor to the ceiling… The ceiling!

She cursed once she had the answer. "Hieroglyphs! The bastard created a giant hieroglyph of a snake by vandalising the wall paintings and the floor! It's only visible from the ceiling!"

"What?" Bill joined her, then looked around and up. "You're right."

Fleur looked lost for a moment, then she changed and flew to the ceiling. "You're right!" she yelled down.

"A snake!" Sirius muttered. "Figures."

Petunia ignored him. She walked a few steps to the right, then forward. "Am I standing on its head?" she yelled up. At Fleur.

"Yes."

Petunia nodded. "We'll have to dig here. But carefully - there'll be curses."

Two hours and half a dozen curses later, they were staring at an ornate box which had been buried in the middle of a stone block. Petunia bent down, careful to avoid touching it, and studied it through her Omnioculars. "It's an imitation," she announced. "Nineteenth century, one of many fakes sold to gullible travellers."

"Figures," repeated Sirius.

"And it has a very powerful curse on it. Haven't seen that before," Bill said. "It will take a while to deal with it."

"Get going then," Petunia said. She wanted to leave the Necropolis before someone else stumbled on to them.

Two hours later, Bill was still working. Petunia stepped to the entrance and looked down at the City of the Dead. It looked both peaceful and tragic from here. All those graves and all of them plundered. The dreams of the dead defiled and destroyed.

She snorted. She plundered graves for Gringotts herself. But her targets were at least challenging. The hundreds of small graves below her, though… they were just pathetic. A slum of graves.

She turned her head when she heard steps behind her. Sirius.

"How's Bill doing?" she asked.

"He says he is close. He still doesn't know what the spell does if he's triggered, but he's close."

"He said that an hour ago," Petunia said.

Sirius chuckled. "He'll have to be right sooner or later."

Petunia laughed, then let her gaze sweep over the city again. Wait… She pulled out her Omnioculars. Yes. There was someone moving down there. A grave robber? No, the figure was moving in a shambling gait. She adjusted the lenses. A mummy! And it was moving towards the mausoleum.

And it wasn't the only one, she realised with a gasp.

She rushed inside. "Bill! Fleur!"

Bill beamed at her. "I've removed the spell!" His smile vanished when he saw her expression.

"Half the city's dead are marching towards our position! We need to leave now!"

"I knew this was too easy!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You didn't say anything!" she shot back.

"I didn't want to be Remus. He was the one who always said it would never work when we were planning something."

"Get the carpet out!" she yelled as she dashed to the hole in the floor. "They can't fly!"

She dropped on to her stomach and reached down into the hole, holding her breath as she grabbed the box in her hand. Nothing happened. No curse struck her down. She jumped up and sprinted back. The others were already on the carpets with their wands out.

She climbed on Sirius's. "Go!"

The first mummies - and other undead monsters - were reaching the top of the stairs leading to the entrance when they flew through the mausoleum's gate. Petunia, in the process of stuffing the box into her backpack, almost slid off the carpet when Sirius suddenly pulled up.

"What are you doing?" she yelled.

"We've got company!" he answered, pointing ahead. "We need altitude to manoeuvre!"

She followed his arm with her eyes and cursed.

Mummified harpies! Dozens of them.

She drew her shotgun out of the sheath on her backpack and leaned against Sirius's shoulder to steady herself. This would be nasty.

Then the harpies were upon them, their screeches filling the air. Petunia shot the first, buckshot tearing through its chest and wing, sending it spiralling down to crash. She racked the slide and shot the next, then barely managed to duck in time to avoid the claws of a third taking her face off.

Sirius blew one of the monsters up with a Reductor Curse - or so she thought - then pushed two more away with another spell she didn't recognise as she turned around and shot another trying to get a grip on the carpet. One more dived at her, and while she managed to block its attack, it cost her her shotgun, which was torn from her hands and sent falling to the street below.

She drew one of her Glocks in a smooth motion, firing at another harpy trying to gain altitude next to them. Four shots and three hits later, it started to fly erratically, half its head gone. She looked for another target, just in time to see Bill and Fleur's carpet being torn apart by harpies attacking it from below. Bill managed to destroy them, but it was too late to save the carpet - it started to unravel and lose altitude.

Fleur changed and grabbed Bill with her bird's feet, just before the carpet collapsed completely and fell to the ground like a brick, its magic gone. But the transformed Veela was struggling to keep both of them in the air - she couldn't fight any more.

Bill could, though. He blew apart another undead harpy.

"We need to help them!" Petunia yelled to Sirius. "They can't last long!"

Sirius cursed but turned the carpet around. Petunia shot another harpy down, then reloaded. Where were the rest of the monsters?

A claw ripping through their carpet from below answered that. Petunia cursed and leaned over the edge of the carpet, leading with her gun. Two harpies were trying to slash the carpet apart.

She emptied her magazine into them, shooting both down, and was about to pull herself up again when something heavy hit her shoulder and she was pushed over the edge of the carpet, twenty yards above the ground.

Screaming, she flailed around, managing to grab ahold of the harpy who had rammed her before it could get clear. Unlike Fleur, the harpy wasn't strong enough to keep aloft with her hanging from its leg, but they weren't falling - just rapidly descending.

Onto a street filled with mummies and other monsters.

Petunia cursed, pushed her gun into her holster, grabbed the legs of the harpy with both hands and swung her legs back and forth as if she were hanging from a horizontal bar. The claws scratched her arms, but she didn't care. If she ended up on the street she was dead. When her legs swung forwards again, she let go of the monster and arched her body.

She had timed it right and landed on the roof of the closest grave, feet first. She slid two yards, ripping up the skin of her right calf, and almost fell off the roof on the other side before she could stop. And the mummies were already reaching for her.

She rolled over her shoulder and stood, drawing her guns and reloading as she looked around. The next roof was too far away to jump. She was trapped. And the first bandaged hands were starting to appear at the edge of the roof. Where were the others?

Fleur was near the exit, still carrying Bill. And Sirius… Sirius was flying towards her on a broom!

She shot the first mummy to climb up in the head, kicked the next in the face, sending it tumbling down, and shot a third. More were climbing - more than she had bullets left - but Sirius was almost there.

Then the entire building shook under her feet. And again. Sirius was still coming. Petunia clenched her teeth, almost losing her balance when the building shook a third time. Two mummies which had reached the roof fell down again - and the building started to collapse.

Yelling, Petunia dropped her guns and sprinted towards Sirius over the tilting roof, jumping and reaching for his outstretched hand a second before the building disappeared in a cloud of dust around a huge four-legged creature.

For a moment, she thought she wouldn't make it. Then his hand closed around hers, and she swung around, hooking a leg over the broom's shaft before pulling herself up behind him.

Trembling, she latched on to him as he steered the broom into a wide turn towards the exit, where Bill and Fleur were waiting, wands drawn.

"Bloody hell, love!" she heard Sirius curse. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

"Not planning to," she managed to answer before she started to shake so much, she couldn't talk any more.

Five minutes later, they were outside the warded area. A moment later, they were back at their camp.

Tending to their wounds took longer but allowed Petunia and the others to calm down and recover from their close brush with death.

"This is it," Petunia announced as she put the box on the table. "Bill?"

He flicked his wand, then frowned and did it again, casting several spells. "There's a locking charm. A powerful one, but that's it," he finally announced. "I don't see anything else."

Petunia felt as if a ball of ice were forming in her stomach. "Are you certain?"

He nodded.

"Open it!" she spat through clenched teeth.

It was empty. There was no Horcrux.