Chapter seven: a warm welcome.

They arrived midmorning. One, a young man with messy dark hair, green eyes, glasses, and a distinct lighting shaped scar on his forehead. He perfectly matched the description the man had been given.

He had not been told about the second, a tall, slim woman with long red hair. But that didn't matter in the slightest. She would simply be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The two British wizards had arrived at the Cairo international airport two hours previously. Dietrich had told him they might use muggle transportation, so this did nothing to surprise him. They had now stopped in a busy square, near the airport. They were sitting together at a café, looking out on the crowds of people moving about, encircling the large fountain in the square's center.

The man turned from the window, he had been observing the couple for the last half-hour and seen nothing that jeopardized their mission. Sitting around a large table in the room's center was a dozen or so men. They all wore long dark cloaks.

"Target sighted," said the man. He wore a white suit and his name was Eric Goler. He spoke with a light German accent. "Kill the man, you may take the woman alive, but only if it is convenient. Dispatch any muggles who get in your way.

The men nodded and, as one, stood. They filed out of the room, pulling their hoods and masks over their faces.

Goler looked back out at the couple. It appeared they were waiting for someone. A shame they would never meet them.

Before leaving for the airport, they had stopped at Ginny's small apartment in Patan. While Ginny showered, getting the worst of the blood of her face, and packed a small suitcase, Harry had sent an owl ahead to Egypt.

The flight had been uneventful. Ginny had been fascinated by the plane, airport, and other muggle technology, but still talked to Harry as little as possible.

She sat across from him now. Like Harry, she had changed into muggle clothing, jeans and a dark red T-shirt. They had been waiting at the café for over half an hour. Admittedly, they still had another quarter of an hour before they were scheduled to meet Harry's contact.

Harry had ordered drinks simply because it would draw attention if he hadn't, but he still hadn't touched his. Instead he kept glancing at the, now bent and creased, letter in his hand.

Harry

You're right. Dietrich had hired me, but it's nothing personal. He's hired every digger and archeologist in Cairo; I suspect most of them are under the imperious curse, now that I think of it. Tanis is a tight excavation, but I should be able to get you inside.

I'm glad you found Ginny, we've been wondering where she got to. It'll be good to see the two of you again. Me or Fleur will meet you at the fountain of the centaur at noon.

Bill

Harry looked up from his letter as a native man was thrown past him to collide with a nearby table. Somebody screamed. There were more flashes of light, green light, dead muggles collapsing to the dusty ground. Harry saw them striding across the square toward him and Ginny, who was already reaching for her wand. Three men dressed in long black robes, their faces completely hidden behind black cloth masks.

Death Eaters.

Harry threw himself away as his table exploded in a blast of blue flames. He saw Ginny sprinting toward the Death Eaters, wand out. She had already hit one of them with a curse that had splayed on his back, writhing. Harry couldn't tell quite what it had done to him, as the Death Eater's face was still covered.

A spell sped over Ginny's head, shattering a shop front behind her. Getting to his feet, Harry sent off a stunning spell, hitting on of the Death Eaters. The third focused on Harry. Harry dodged as the pavement beside him ruptured, a sliver of concrete cutting his cheek.

It occurred to Harry that if this had happened in London, the Ministry would be dealing out several hundred mind wipes, it was likely that the Egyptian ministry would want to do something along those lines. Harry decided it would be best to end this battle as quickly as possible and be long gone by the time the Egyptian aurors arrived.

Harry counterattacked with two spells of his own, neither of which connected. The Death Eater, however, had made a mistake in shifting his attention from Ginny. She slammed into him, ramming him with her shoulder. The Death Eater fell backward into the fountain, where Ginny stunned him.

Harry ran to her. Ginny stood still, breathing heavily, but unharmed. "This is why I left England." She sighed

"We need to get out of here. There's probably more."

"But Bill…"

"We'll find him." Harry grabbed Ginny's arm and, pulling her behind him, sprinted down a narrow street.

Merchants and tourists alike stared at them, while quickly ducking back into doorways and shadowy stalls. Harry heard one of them distinctly mutter, "Americans."

With a series of loud pops, Death Eaters appeared all around them. Harry ducked as multicolored spells soared over his head. He counted six; there were probably more hiding around the-

A seventh Death Eater nailed Harry in the back with a spell. He was knocked off his feet, skinning his elbows. He rolled beneath a rusted automobile, conveniently parked nearby.

He saw Ginny turn to face the way they had come; she had dispatched five Death Eaters, lying at her feet. The few still standing scrambled away, ducking into cover where they could have a view of the upcoming confrontation.

A single Death Eater strode down the street, his metallic mask emotionless. By the way his fellows had darted away, Harry got the expression that this was a man to be feared, even by his own kind.

The single Death Eater made a small, downward motion with his wand, saying nothing. Ginny screamed, blood spurting from long cut that had appeared across her chest, as if she had sliced by an invisible sword. This spell seemed vaguely familiar to Harry, but he didn't stop to think about it.

As Harry rolled from his hiding place he saw Ginny stumble down a nearby alley, clutching her wound. A lone Death Eater slipped from his hiding place to follow her.

Harry had every intention of continuing after them, but instead he found himself faced with the single Death Eater who had wounded Ginny. The Death Eater gave a slight bow, and stepped backward, raising his wand in flawless dueling position.

I don't have time for this, Harry thought, raising his wand.

"Expelliarmus!" the Death Eater was thrown backward from the force of the spell, slamming into a wall. His wand clattered to ground a few yards away from him, snapped cleanly in two.

Ignoring the gasps of the watching Death Eaters, Harry sprinted down the alley after Ginny.

Ginny coughed, tasting her own blood. The slash hurt more than she would care to admit it probably didn't help that she was trying to run. A jet of red light hit the wall of the alley, making a small crater.

Ginny ducked into a nearby doorway, readying her wand for when the Death Eater followed her. She was in a dimly lit room, toward the rear of a factory. The room was filled with baskets. Several hundred identical white wicker baskets. Large enough to fit here comfortably…

Ginny was about to climb into one of the baskets, when the Death Eater turned into the room. She raised her wand, but not fast enough.

"Stupefy!"

So that's what it feels like, Ginny thought as she fell backward, her wand slipping from her grip, immobilized.

Harry ran down the alleyway, ignoring the two Death Eaters following him. They were much more reluctant than before, after seeing what Harry had done to the last one to start a duel with him. This suited Harry fine.

He rounded the doorway in time to find the Death Eater who had stunned Ginny speaking quickly to two men who, while wearing dark colors, were not in the long black masked costumes of Death Eaters.

Harry saw a string of red hair hanging from beneath the basket's lid, as the two men quickly ducked through a curtain and out of the storage room. The Death Eater turned to face Harry brandishing his wand, but Harry was ready.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry threw himself to the ground as one of the Death Eaters behind him attempted the killing curse. The jet of green light flew over Harry's head to hit the Death Eater opposite, who crumpled to the floor, stone dead.

Levicorpus, Harry thought. The Death Eater who had just killed his comrade was lifted into the air, held from his ankle by some invisible force.

Darting around his hanging comrade, the last Death Eater slashed at Harry with the silver knife he held in his left hand, cutting across Harry's arm. Harry darted backward, and the Death Eater's next swipe only finished off several of the surrounding baskets.

Harry's jinx hit the Death Eater straight on. The man doubled over in pain as his front teeth began to grow to tremendous proportions, tearing through his mask. Harry ran past him and sprinted down the alley. As an afterthought he whispered "Liberacorpus" pointing his wand back over his shoulder. He smiled grimly as he heard the loud clunk of a Death Eater falling on his head.

Harry turned the corner to find himself at a loading dock. One of the men who had taken the basket with Ginny inside was climbing into the passenger seat of a small delivery truck. The other man, in the driver's seat, gunned the engine. The truck roared forward, directly at Harry.

The man in the passenger's seat leaned out the window, shooting curses toward Harry, who ducked back around the corner as the stone wall around him shattered.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, jumping from behind the wall. His spell hit the man in the passenger's seat, who slumped, dropping his wand out the window.

The truck swerved trying to run Harry over; Harry dodged to the side, leveling his wand once again.

"Petrificus Totalus" Harry shouted, hitting the driver. But as the man stiffened, his foot pressed down on the accelerator even harder. Harry could only watch as the truck speed past him to collide head on with a stone wall, crumpling on impact and swiftly consumed in a ball of flame as the engine ignited.

There was no doubt that the two men were dead. Nobody could have survived that crash.

Nobody.