PM7

Harry was exhausted.

It was his first thought as he returned to consciousness. And it was the last thing he wanted to think as he tried to go back to sleep, but sleep did not come. Harry felt himself become more and more awake. Finally he opened his eyes.

Harry stared dumbfounded up at the ceiling for several moments. He had been expecting the stone arches of the Hogwarts Infirmary above him. Instead he was greeted by a flat, ice blue ceiling. Where was he?

Blinking up at the ceiling, Harry eventually recognized his own bedroom. Embarrassment should have come when he could not recognize his own room, but embarrassment took energy. Energy he didn't have.

Harry was exhausted.

The young wizard was content to lay there. His exhaustion made movement impossible even as he tried to fall back asleep. The time he spent in that catatonic state was infinite, endless. Harry could have stayed like that forever.

"Harry." a voice said from the doorway.

Slowly, the boy turned his head to see Sirius standing in the doorway. As he watched, Sirius approached and sat in a chair that had been moved next to the bed.

"What happened?" Harry forced himself to ask.

Sirius struggled over what to say. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish on a dock, grasping for threads of conversation. Sirius stopped and sighed. The older wizard attempted to answer Harry's question again, and this time it worked.

"You and Shadi were in your Soul Room" Sirius began. "Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes in your scar started bleeding."

Sirius took a deep breath before continuing. "I called your Healer immediately. She made it just in time. Shadi was suddenly thrown across the room and you…"

Sirius broke off with a sob, but continued "you stopped breathing. Your Healer said you were dead for a moment.

"We're not sure why. Lots of theories were thrown around between the Healer and Shadi, but they can't be sure. Their best guess is That Thing latched onto… Shadi called it your Ba, your life force."

Harry remained silent afterward, but Sirius seemed to understand. He sat quietly by Harry's bed until his Godson fell asleep.

While Harry was recovering, his owls returned. Harry welcomed Hedwig home with joy, even as she scolded him over his state. Once he looked properly abashed over his actions, Hedwig presented her boy with the package tied to her leg.

"That is a very special bird." Sirius remarked fighting to keep his laughter at bay.

"She's Brilliant." Harry agreed while stroking her feathers.

Horus hooted at them for attention.

"You're brilliant too." Harry said.

After Harry took the parcels from both birds they flew off to explore their new surroundings.

"I've been thinking." Sirius began.

"That is a very dangerous thing to do" Harry joked.

Sirius stuck his tongue out at his godson, and continued on pretending that he hadn't been interrupted. "I've been thinking. You really don't need two birds, and I know how much you love Hedwig, perhaps you should think about what you are going to do with Horus."

"I'll give him to Ron." Harry stated absently while he reached for the first letter. It was Ron's, and Harry giggled to himself over the funny little coincidence.

Ron was glad to hear Harry was ok, and wanted to know all about Harry's time in Egypt. The redhead's excitement was evident as he shared all he had done in Egypt, and wanted to know how it compared to Harry's own experiences.

Hermione's letter was the next item Harry read. It took her twice as many words to express her relief over Harry's safety, and when finished she delved into comparing their schooling. Hermione wanted to know everything Harry was learning and how he was doing so she could compare it to her own experiences.

Harry smiled ruefully as he set aside her letter with Ron's. He made a mental note to write them both back after he had a nap. One piece of mail remained to get through, a package containing his album, cloak, and wand. Harry touched each item tenderly. His treasures had been in the floor of the Dursley's home, and he was sure he would never see them again. Smiling, he put the box aside to take his nap.

With Harry recovering from the safety of his own bed, Sirius Black could no longer put off the paperwork piling up on his desk. Gringotts audits continued to flow in and Sirius' procrastination was becoming a mess.

It wasn't the reports themselves that Sirius had the problem with. The Goblins wrote neat, concise reports of the different Black vaults following a rigid and easy to understand format. Accounts were listed with vault monies tallied followed by descriptions of other items within the vault. With the more magical artifacts, an explanation of the enchantments along with the legality of the item (in Britain and Egypt) were provided. The language was plain and easy to read, so again there should have been no problem. No, the problem was it was paperwork.

The way Sirius avoided paperwork changed that day. He was going through the family vaults when he found it. A cup. A gold cup engraved with badgers with a soul piece inside it was stored in Bellatrix's Vault. The goblins offered to destroy the Horicrux (free of charge) as the object was absolutely foul.

Sirius took the goblins up on their offer and attacked his paperwork with renewed vigor over the destruction of another Horicrux. He also wondered how many more were out there if three had been destroyed already. The wizard sent the goblins a request to look into the problem discretely.

Harry sent letters back to his friends in Britain. One letter was sent to Ron, and told him about the Tombs Harry had seen and the people he met. He wrote Hermione to tell her where he was going to school and the classes he was taking. A third, more general note was sent addressed to the rest of the Griffindors wishing them well, and promising that he was too.

Responses returned faster than before. Harry received all the expected notes from his friends and classmates, but with them came an extra letter addressed to Sirius.

As it turned out, Sirius's old friend, Remus was the new Defense teacher at Hogwarts. Sirius was thrilled to hear from Remus and glad he was doing so well.

Harry remembered Remus from Sirius's tales of the Marauders. He asked Sirius if Remus could visit. Unsure, Sirius promised to ask.

When Harry sent letters back again, a letter from Sirius went too.

Finally Harry's Healer declared him healthy. He celebrated getting off bed rest even if he had to go to school again. To prevent the muggles from asking questions, Sirius had told the school Harry had contracted meningitis, and had to be hospitalized. Harry's Healer had even drawn up paperwork to make it seem true.

Harry's classmates had noticed his absence, and many looked like they wanted to approach him about it. No one did, which Harry was grateful for. One of Harry's teachers must have told the students what had happened, because word began to spread about why Harry had been out. Once it got around that he had been sick, the students stopped giving him funny looks. Harry straightened up after that, relieved with the feeling of being watched gone.

That afternoon was the first time Shadi and Harry had sat down together since going after the Horicrux. He was anxious to hear how Shadi felt he had done. After all, Harry had been useless when Shadi had fought the Shadow Monster. And he had fainted at the end.

As if he anticipated his student's nerves, Shadi sat Harry down at the start of the lesson.

"First off" Shadi began, "You did very well on your first foray into Shadow Magic."

Surprised, Harry looked at his tutor. Shadi though he had done well?

"But I…" Harry started, before trailing off. He couldn't comprehend what his teacher had said.

"You are a natural, Harry." Shadi assured him.

"Everything went wrong. Really, really wrong. But you, you kept it together. There are wizards out there with twice, no, three times your experience that couldn't do that. I want you to remember that, Harry."

Harry's face was tomato red as he smiled shyly at Shadi.

"I did good?"

"You did excellently." Shadi assured "Far better than I would expect from a Mage of your age, or of your experience level. And you are naturally talented. You picked up the skill much faster than I was expecting."

As he was speaking, the Egyptian drew a cloth wrapped bundle. It made a heavy clunk when placed on the table. As he unwrapped the cloth, Shadi began to speak again.

"For example, Harry, what made you summon a sword to fight the monster?"

But the boy could not answer. Before him on the table lay the Sword of Gryffindor. Its blade gleamed brightly and the pommel stone seemed to wink conspiratorially at him.

"You summoned this sword to you both corporeal and immaterial from within the Horicrux. That is a feat that I, a master of the Art, did not know was possible. And you did it intuitively.

"To summon an object through the Shadows is a difficult task. To create a blade from Shadow is another difficult task. To do both simultaneously… incredible, Harry, absolutely incredible.

"Which brings me back to my question, why this blade?"

Harry blinked at his teacher, cheeks still pink. Shadi just waited patiently for him to speak.

"I, because…" Harry started a couple of times as he tried to compose his thoughts.

"It had to be that sword" he finally blurted out.

Shadi raised a brow, intrigued.

"Oh?" he asked.

"That is the sword that killed the basilisk." Harry elaborated.

Still perplexed, Shadi asked "what basilisk?"

Harry took a deep breath and began to recount his tale. About learning he could talk to snakes, and hearing things in the walls. About students being petrified and mysterious writing on the walls. And about the monster in the Chamber beneath the school.

Shadi listened to Harry talk in silence. He barely moved a muscle transfixed by the story. After Harry finished his account, Shadi thanked the boy and dismissed him.

Harry packed up his things and retreated to his house room. At school that morning he had won a duel, and had received one of his opponent's cards as a prize, a time seal. He had almost lost when the card had been used on him, but now it was his. He had to see where it would fit in his own deck!

Harry jumped when he heard raised voices from her godfather's study. The voices fell just as quickly as they had risen and the boy went back to playing with his cards.

Harry began to look forward to Christmas shortly thereafter. He was surprised to find that not many of his piers celebrated the holiday, and those that did celebrated did so in January! Harry felt a little weird getting excited over a holiday that no one else celebrated with him. He, Hermione, and Ron were exchanging presents by mail that year, but it just wasn't the same. There was also a package from the Weasley Matriarch with a sweater for both Harry and Sirius. The Gray formless sweater had a dark blue "S" across its middle and Harry insisted his guardian put it on even as Harry pulled on his own.

Although the Ishtars did not celebrate Christmas themselves, Ishizu gave Harry a present: a new journal. The book was practical, as Harry had already filled the Dream Journal his tutor had given him on their first lesson, but he received the present with a smile. Even though the book was practical it was beautiful. Where the old journal was bound in blue, this journal was red leather with gold suns and stars pressed into the cover. An expansion charm had been placed on it to give Harry more room to write.

In Harry's next lesson with the Seer, the pair sat down to look through Harry's old journal. Harry was surprised to see just how short his early entries were, and how far apart they were recorded. There were times when Harry had not recorded a dream in days before the next paragraph was written. Ishizu promised Harry that was normal, but he was still reveling in how different his writing had become he didn't notice at first when Ishizu stopped on a certain page. Eventually Harry noticed that his teacher had not turned the page in quite some time. Harry's looked to see what Ishizu was reading.

The entry was long and detailed for an early dream, although the dream itself was short. In the dream, Harry stood before a man. The man had black-purple spiked hair and blond bangs, and wore an Egyptian shendit and lots of jewelry. Harry would then bow down before the man and say "I am you servant, O Pharaoh. Command me as you see fit."

Then Harry woke up.

"I have that dream again." Harry commented bringing Ishizu out of her daze.

The Seer passed the book over to Harry and he began flipping through for the next time the man was mentioned before passing it back to his tutor.

"See, here I dreamed of him again."

Ishizu read through the next entry carefully. New details of the dream had been recorded. Harry and his Pharaoh were not alone, though Harry could not make out another face. They stood in a room surrounded by Egyptian artifacts, the walls covered in tales of the Pharaoh's greatness.

"How often is this dream?" She asked.

Harry thought for a moment.

"Once every couple of weeks?" He guessed. "Why does it matter, He's a hallucination, right."

"Hallucination?" Ishizu asked.

"Yeah, I saw him the first time when Sirius and I were in England, but then Shadi brought me to you so I must have just imagined him."

"Shadi brought you to me, but only from as far away as Alexandria. You were already in Egypt when you were picked up by Shadi."

"Oh!" Harry exclaimed.

"I think we should think on what this reoccurring dream may mean, and you should ask Sirius how you came to be in Egypt."

After the lesson was done, Harry sought out his Godfather as Ishizu had instructed.

"Yes, he's real. He came looking for us, though I don't know how he knew we needed help. He offered me a chance to get help you, and then we weren't in England anymore. I don't have a better way of describing what happened. There was no apparition, no portkey, nothing. Then he was gone, and I though he had lied to us. Then Shadi was there. So yes, Harry, he is real."

That was the end of the discussion. Harry though about the man in his dreams, a real man who helped him. Who was he? Why was he helping? Harry guessed he was going to return the favor, but when and how were still unknown.

Harry's next lesson with Shadi was a field trip. Shadi took Harry back to the tombs, and led the way to a small tomb Harry had never noticed before. The Egyptian led Harry though the tomb, it's cool, narrow hallways winding down into a maze of offshoots. Harry was glad Shadi was leading, sure that he would have lost his way if he tried to navigate the path alone. The slow pace the took allowed the boy a look around. On the walls were hieroglyphic scenes like the ones he had seen in the other tombs, but then…

Was that Kuriboh?

And there, that looked like a Summoned Skull.

"The Ancient Egyptians of this period fought their duels using a cross between the Duel Monsters game we play today and Shadow Magic." Shadi explained when he noticed Harry stop. "The Inventor of the card game, Maxamillion Pegasus, spent quite some time here. He desired to learn about the way this court fought, and wanted to learn Shadow Magic, but he failed to master even the basics.

"Should you meet him, be careful. He stole a Millennium Item, the eye, and I fear what it has done to him. The Items are volitile, and take very special people to use them."

As he spoke, Shadi clutched his key tightly to his chest. Harry wondered if that was one of the Millennium Items he was talking about. Remembering the eye on Ishizu's necklace, and Marik's wand, he wondered if they were also these Items.

Before Harry could ask, Shadi started walking again. Harry scurried down the hall after him.

The next room they entered was a grand chamber with full wall illustrations of the Duels the Egyptians were fighting, and there in the center standing out from the rest was…

"That's him!" Harry exclaimed.

The section of Tablet before them was of another Duel. Standing in the center were two men, the man from Harry's dream and another who was dressed as some type of priest. Above them fought the Dark Magician and a Blue Eyes White Dragon. Still farther up the tablet were three boxes surrounding an inverted pyramid. The boxes depicted a demon, a griffon, and another dragon.

"The Pharaoh." Shadi agreed. "He was a master Dueler. The Spells he used to fight are rooted in Shadow Magic."

"Could I do that then?" Harry asked.

"When I'm done teaching you, should you feel the need, you will have the knowledge of how to do what you see here."

Harry nodded and continued to study the illustration. Eventually another question came to mind.

"What was his name?"

"Alas," Shadi lamented, "the name of the Pharaoh has been lost to time."

He gestured to the lower corner of the panel where a part of the stone had been scratched off.

With one last look, the pair turned and proceeded back the way they had come. It was later than Harry anticipated when they arrived back at the house. Odion and Marik were already waiting.

"What took you?" Marik demanded, glaring at Shadi.

Harry rolled his eyes. Marik's behavior was all too familiar. Marik may be his friend, but that didn't mean he approved of his attitude.

"We went to see a tomb." Harry explained.

Marik stiffened at the explanation the wizard boy noted with confusion. What would possibly be so bad about a tomb?

"What tomb?" Marik demanded through his teeth.

"It was brilliant!" Harry lit up with excitement. "The pictographs had monsters on them, like the ones on our Duel Monster cards! Because the game is based off one the ancient Egyptians played. And they fought with Shadow Magic, like Shadi is teaching me."

Marik had remained frozen through Harry's excited description. His rigid stance was awkward and a bit unnerving.

Then Marik lunged at Shadi with a blood curdling scream.

Just as quickly, Odion cast a stunner at his brother.

Marik slumped atop Shadi. The other Egyptian scrambled up and away from the boy. His face was red, the claw marks clearly visible. Blood was already beading up from the wounds.

"What is going on?" Sirius exclaimed from the doorway. He had heard the scream and had come running.

Both Odion and Shadi looked over at the unconscious boy guiltily. Shadi's face was really bleeding by then, one drop already slipping down the older man's face. The blood and guilt made for a bazaar combination. Harry wondered why Shadi was guilty, as he has been the one attacked.

"The story is a long one. May we move to a more comfortable location to have this conversation?" Odion asked as he carefully picked up his brother.

"We can do that" Sirius agreed.

He led the group through the house to the Lounge. Sirius helped Shadi clean up the small cuts while Odion situated his brother comfortably on the couch. When everyone was seated, Odion began.

"It starts with our father." Odion began. "He was abusive to all of us, but to Marik especially. In response, Marik wanted nothing to do with the family occupation of tomb keeping. It angered our father who wanted Marik to become Head Tomb keeper. And so he forced the position on Marik before he was ten.

"It is not a pleasant process, the ceremony to become a tomb keeper, but the ceremony for Head tomb keeper is even worse. For Marik, who did not want it, it was torture. And our father knew this."

Here Odion broke off. He gazed sorrowfully at his younger brother. Marik looked almost angelic in his relaxed state. It was hard to believe that this was the same boy who had attacked Shadi not ten minutes before.

"That's horrible." Sirius agreed. "But I don't see how this explains why Marik just attacked Shadi."

"Oh, but it does." Shadi said, sounding miserable.

Odion nodded at Shadi. "He's right. During the ceremony, something went wrong and Marik … broke. He attacked and killed Father, but not as the Marik you know. He was crazy. And afterwards, Marik knew nothing of what he had done. He believes that Shadi killed his father and we can't explain to him that this is not the case."

"He means that literally." Shadi added.

"Yes." Odion nodded "Every time we try to talk about it, every time we try to talk about anything related to that night, he goes crazy again. Even topics regarding that night can set him off.

"Including mentioning the Pharaoh's tomb, apparently." Odion glanced towards Harry as he said that.

With a deep breath, Odion continued. "With Harry now associated with the Pharaoh, it may be best I not bring Marik to our lessons anymore. I will also understand if you feel the need to get another teacher."

"No" Sirius's response was immediate.

"No" He repeated. "I don't think it will be necessary. Marik and Harry are friends, and even with the association your brother didn't attack Harry. I think, with supervision they he can still come over. We'll take a chance and see how it goes."

Odion agreed with visible relief.

However he decided to forgo class for the day in favor of taking his brother home. Sirius escorted Odion to the door, Shadi following after.

Harry retreated to his room. He had a lot to think about.

Harry thought a lot over the next few weeks. He did not know what to do with this new information. On one hand, Harry could see how similar his and Marik's childhoods were. Uncle Vernon and Marik's father were similar men. Marik must have had it so much worse, his own father…

But Harry could not understand how Marik would do that to Shadi. That there was another person in Marik's head was something Harry just did not grasp.

The next time the two boys met was awkward. Harry was still confused on how to treat Marik. The adults' kept a close eye on the boys, and asked them to play indoors. Harry could tell Marik was confused by everyone's weird behavior, but he did not ask. The boys' play was awkward and their conversation stilted. Both were glad when Odion called them to their lesson. As the weeks passed, conversation and play went back to normal. The adults relaxed their overprotective hovering and finally, the boys were allowed to play outside again.

The first thing Harry did was insist on tag. Marik was eager to play. The boys' game took them farther and farther from the house. Once they were out of hearing range, Harry stopped.

"What are you stopping for?" Marik asked.

Harry faced Marik. With a deep breath, Harry began. "My uncle wasn't very nice. He locked me in the cupboard and would hit me for accidental magic."

Marik paled. He began to stutter, but Harry shook his head. Marik listened.

"Last summer my uncle beat me so badly I almost died. That's why I am in Egypt with Sirius."

Marik sunk to the ground, shock written all over his features.

"My … my father-" Marik stuttered.

"I know." Harry interrupted looking away. "Odion was talking to Sirius. I heard.

"Thing is, Sirius didn't save me. It's easier to say that he did, but it's a lie. The Pharaoh did. And I know you don't like him, but I owe him a Life Debt. So I'd appreciate it if you could at least consider that maybe he isn't all bad. Can you do that?"

Harry looked back at Marik. His friend still sat where his legs gave out. The crazy was clear to see in every feature. Other Marik was wilder, in the way he held himself and the way he starred back at Harry. Even his hair looked a bit wilder.

Harry held the other boy's gaze for several moments. It was Marik who looked away first.

"I won't like him." Marik stated.

"I'm not asking you to."

"I won't serve him."

"I'm not asking that, either."

"Then what do you want?" Marik demanded.

"I want you to trust me on this. He's not what you think. And, and we're gonna end up fighting if things stay the way they are.

"I don't want to fight you. You're my friend."

The crazy look in Marik's eyes seemed to lessen. He frowned as he searched Harry's face for truth. Finally Marik nodded.

"I don't trust him, but I won't do anything about it now. I reserve the right to laugh in your face when I am right."

"Deal." Harry said, grinning brightly.

He held out his hand to Marik. The Egyptian boy looked at the offered hand. The rest of the crazy left his face as the boys shook hands.

And with that the game of tag began again.

As the end of the school year drew near, Harry's teachers began preparing the students for the end of year exam. All Harry's classmates buckled down to study for the big test. It was like everyone had become Hermione. Harry even wrote his friends about this strange behavior.

Hermione's response was an essay.

A three and a half meter long essay with separate parchment for footnotes and bibliography.

Harry knew Hermione had researched the differences between their schools, both she and Ron had written him about her most recent research project. But knowing she was researching and receiving her Final Paper on the subject were two very different things. Sirius's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw what the girl had written.

Harry had merely sighed and begun to read.

According to Hermione's letter, everything about the contrast of education systems between Egypt and Britain was fascinating. The Egyptian's insistence on a balance between muggle and magical education? Fascinating. That systems biggest critique being a lack of in-depth theory? Fascinating! Hogwarts being the prototype of a theory heavy curriculum? You better believe it was fascinating.

Hermione could see the merits to both systems. The Egyptians taught a wider variety of subjects, but could not go into great detail because of how much was covered. On the other hand, Hogwarts didn't have the subjects and so the students' weren't learning even the basics of those subjects.

Hermione wondered if she should take remedial courses in muggle subjects over the summer. Keeping up with her muggle education seemed to be important according to the Egyptians.

Harry stopped reading and rubbed his eyes. He estimated he was about a quarter of the way through Hermione's letter-essay. Fortunately it was neither the longest nor the most complex essay Hermione had force him to read. Looking at the remaining three quarters, Harry did not feel fortunate.

Harry had nothing else to do but continue to read. He did so with another sigh.

Hermione began detailing specific differences once she finished her overview. Each example had a heading and reference to the bibliography sheet. Harry found the answer to his original question under the heading "benchmarks".

The test Harry was about to take was called the EA-3, or more commonly, the Apprenticeship Exam. The test got its common name from a tradition of Master wizards looking for their apprentices among the students who did outstanding on the test. Students who otherwise would be quitting school (with 13 being the age at which school became optional, and having no money for further education) worked hard to try for a good apprenticeship instead.

Harry was surprised to see how important the exam was. He wondered why no one had told him why at school. But in the end it did not matter. Both Shadow Magic with Shadi and Divination with Ishizu were technically classified as apprenticeships. Harry had no reason to worry about his exam grade if he would reap no benefit from it. Especially since the test had no bearing on his grade.

As the exam loomed ever closer, Harry watched his classmates become overly stressed while he remained calm. It was surreal.

Finally the day of the test arrived. Harry found himself still relaxed even as he took the test. It was not an easy test, but Harry did not worry about which or how many answers he had right. It didn't count towards anything.

Exiting the exam, Harry found himself looking forward to the summer. Remus had accepted Sirius's invitation to visit, and would be arriving soon. He intended to stay for the whole summer which Harry was excited about. Harry was hoping that there would be more stories of his parents from their old friend. And he wanted to meet a werewolf, because that was so cool.