Sick, sick, sick….is feeling miserable and cold.

This story is set back in the timeline of The Mummy Returns, so here's a basic rundown of the Harry Potter timeline in relation to this chapter.
1922: Harry Potter is born to Lily and James Potter.
1923: Harry is a year old and his parents are murdered by Voldemort.
1927: Harry is five and goes to Egypt with his distasteful relatives and becomes Kedar.
1933: Harry turns eleven and starts Hogwarts.

ShadeDancer

Disclaimer: Not even in my dreams do I own Harry Potter…believe me, I've tried, but the thought of lawsuits deters all such dreams. I also don't own anything recognizable from either the Mummy or the Mummy Returns.

Chapter 7: Secrets Revealed

"William" Evy cried out happily, rising from the table they sat at in a little café in London.

Kedar and Ardeth sat with her, dressed in clothing more appropriate to England than their own desert attire. Only the occasional bodily shift made it apparent that the two men were uncomfortable in their new outfits and the lack of weapons they wore. The clothes they wore did not allow for as much freedom of movement as they were used to and would never stand up under the harsh desert conditions. Neither Kedar and Ardeth understood why they had to wear such clothing, one look at them would tell anyone that they were foreign to England.

"Hello Evelyn" William inclined his head with a cheerful smile as he sat down "are you going to make the introductions?"

"William," Evy was playing the part of hostess perfectly "I would like to introduce to you Ardeth Bey and his son Kedar. Ardeth, Kedar, this is William Weasley. William does translation work and studies ancient curses for the museum in his spare time."

"Call me Bill" the redhead insisted "only Evelyn and the museum directors call me William anymore."

Ardeth and Kedar shook hands with Bill and listened as he and Evy exchanged some polite talk while they waited for their tea to arrive. Only after the tea arrived, hastily deposited by their waitress who couldn't stop staring at Ardeth and Kedar, did the talk turn more personal.

"If you don't mind me asking" Bill began "may I know a bit about your tattoos? I'm not familiar with their meaning."

"They are our tribal marks" Ardeth simply said, not seeing the need to explain farther.

Seeing Bill's slightly crestfallen look Evy elaborated slightly "they are of a desert tribe in Egypt that prefer to keep to themselves."

"Then what brings you here" Bill was curious now.

It was Kedar's turn to speak up "Evy thought you might be able to help us with this."

As he spoke, Kedar had slipped his letter from the bag at his feet and slid it across the table to Bill. As the letter became visible Kedar watched as Bill's eyes widened in recognition before closing off. He did know what it was about.

"So you know what this is about" Kedar spoke softly as Bill reached for the letter "can you help us?"

Bill picked up the letter, his eyes fixated upon the writing scripted in green ink across the front "this is Harry Potter's letter."

Kedar frowned "that was once my name. What does it mean to you?"

Ardeth looked on more closely now, hand straying to either the pistol or knife Kedar knew his father had upon him despite all Evy's protests that weapons would not be needed.

Bill looked shocked "you don't know? You don't know that you're famous in our world?"

Seeing Kedar's negative reply Bill sighed and closed his eyes "perhaps we should go somewhere less open to talk."

Everyone agreed and they left the café, walking down the streets of London in near silence. Evy, Kedar, and Ardeth were all wonder what knowledge Bill held of Kedar while Bill was trying to figure out how to say what needed to be said. At last the quartet arrived at a little park that was nearly deserted, most of the children having headed home for the day already.

Seeing the expectant faces turned towards him, Bill began his tale:

"From your letter Kedar, Harry, you know that you are a wizard. Some witches and wizards do live among the non-magical people, muggles we call them, but for those who don't we have our own separate world that exists amongst what you see around you. We have schools and shopping areas; we even have our own government, the Ministry of Magic. Years ago a wizard arose who did not like the fact that we were allowing muggleborns, witches and wizards born into non-magical families, to become a part of our world and attend our schools. He gained a following and a bloody war ensued; our world facing dark times in which you were afraid to trust anyone, sometimes even your own family. Then on Halloween nearly ten years ago this Dark Lord attacked the home of two of his greatest enemies and killed them. He then turned to their year old son and uttered the words to the Killing curse, a curse that is unstoppable, but the child didn't die. Instead the curse rebounded upon the Dark Lord and killed him, leaving the child with only a scar; the child, you Harry, became known as the Boy-Who-Lived. You're famous in our world; you are the only person to have ever survived the Killing curse."

As Bill had been speaking Kedar had fallen into a trance like state, the memory of distant screams filling his head and a sickly green light flashing across his vision. In the beginning, before he had been able to control his Sight, such visions had come often to him. Almost absently Kedar reached up and brushed a finger along the scar upon his forehead; he had nearly forgotten that it was ever there as he didn't often look in a mirror and the scar had basically faded to nothing, what with his desert tanned skin.

"What was his name" Kedar asked, brushing the memories away as he would sand after a sandstorm.

Bill grew nervous "we don't like to say the name, we call him You-Know-Who."

Great Kedar thought, You-Know-Who and the Boy-Who-Lived, couldn't they be more original "can you write it then. I would like to know it."

Bill sighed, cast about him for a moment, and then uttered "Voldemort" quickly.

"Voldemort" Kedar repeated, ignoring Bill's flinch "what kind of name is that?"

But Bill had no more to tell on the subject of Voldemort and suggested that Kedar read some books on what had happened or talk to the Headmaster of Hogwarts for more information. That turned the talk to Hogwarts and Bill promised to meet with them at a restaurant the next morning to take Kedar for his school things. At the last moment Evy had enough sense to elicit a promise for silence from Bill before the wizard disappeared into thin air with a resounding crack. Kedar, Ardeth, and Evy exchanged glances before leaving the park to head back to the O'Connell residence, being able to disappear like that sure would come in handy considering some of the messes they somehow wound up in.

… … … … …

"Welcome to Diagon Alley" Bill was saying as he tapped the appropriate brick to allow them through from the Leaky Cauldron "we'll be able to get everything you need here."

It was unlike anything Kedar had ever seen. Not even the greatest of Egypt's marketplace could compare to this. The things sold in these shops—most Kedar had never seen their like before, and he had seen many things in his travels of the desert. Another thing Kedar had never seen before was the money these people were using. It was nothing like the bartering system or gold that passed from hand-to-hand in the desert, nor the complicated system of English money Evy had explained to him a few days ago. Thankfully Bill had warned them ahead of time that the money was different and that there was a bank where they could exchange money and jewels for wizarding coins. They arrived at Gringotts, the wizarding bank, and Bill ushered them towards an available Goblin at the currency exchange desk.

"Yes" the Goblin appeared to be purposely trying to intimidate them, but Kedar and Ardeth had faced worse in the form of Imhotep and his servants.

"We would like to exchange these for Galleons" Kedar place a few jeweled scarabs upon the counter carefully, his tongue slipping a bit on the unfamiliar word.

The Goblin's eyes widened as he tentatively touched on of the jeweled scarabs "the scarabs are still inside? They aren't just the outer shells?"

"The scarabs are still inside" Ardeth spoke up, causing the Goblin to jerk back quickly "and they will not be getting out, not even the touch of the sacred sands of Egypt will release them from their bonds anymore."

By the time Kedar and Ardeth were done speaking with the Goblins, they had walked away with more wizarding money than they had ever expected to. The Goblins had also expressed their pleasure in doing further business with the Medjai and to see if they would perhaps be willing to work with some of the Gringotts cursebreakers in Egypt. Ardeth had been noncommittal in his reply; they would have to learn more about the wizarding world and speak with the other Commanders before making any decisions. After leaving Gringotts, Bill led them through Diagon Alley to pick up the supplies Kedar would need to take with him to Hogwarts. The hardest part of the shopping had been getting the robes and a few sets of British style clothing for Kedar; to the young Medjai the clothes were too restricting and he would rather wear his desert clothing. Kedar had also been miffed at the amulet Bill had ordered crafted by the Goblins to hide his Medjai marks, but he also understood the value of keeping silent on the fact he was a Medjai; very few knew of the existence of the Medjai people and they hoped to keep it that way.

Their last stop of the day was for Kedar's wand as Kedar adamantly refused to have any familiar other than Ra. The moment Kedar stepped into the shop, he could smell the various woods used in the wand crafting, could feel the power radiating from the wands and knew that one of the wands in this shop would belong to him. This would also be the first test of the strength of the concealing amulet, to see if it could hold up against revealing wards and the senses of the wandmaker, Mr. Ollivander. Ollivander stepped from the shadows after the three had stood around waiting for a moment, causing Bill to shift slightly in surprise. Kedar and Ardeth held themselves in check though and did not show that they had been startled in any way; in the desert you survived by not allowing yourself to be surprised.

"Harry Potter" the old man's voice was dry "I was wondering when I would be seeing you. You have your mother's eyes. And that is where—I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Had I known what it was going into the world to do—but there is no hoping the past."

Kedar had held still as the old man had reached out as if to touch the scar upon his forehead, but now felt compelled to reply "one cannot know what results an action will bring. Fate works mysteriously. There is no point in second guessing the past in hopes of changing the present or even the future."

"You speak with more wisdom than others your age" Ollivander commented as he idly pulled out a tape measure "let us measure you for your wand. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two trees or creatures that donate the cores are the same. You will never get as good results with another's wand as you would your own. Let's try this one, Maple and unicorn hair."

The annoying tape measure finally fell to the floor and Kedar accepted the wand from the old man and waved it as Ollivander had indicated. Nothing. It was immediately snatched from his fingers and replaced by another. Wand after wand passed through Kedar's hands, but none were right though he did seem to get more favorable results from the one wand he had tried with a phoenix feather core. Kedar was beginning to wonder if there really was a wand here for him and if he could find a wandmaker in Cairo, he might have more luck with one there.

"I wonder" Ollivander mused suddenly, digging around for a very dust box "why not try something a bit different, something from afar. I once got a wand from a traveling wandmaker in trade for some English oak and unicorn hairs. I gave up trying to find an owner for it here in England as the wand had no reaction to anyone, not even the slightest of sparks, and I surmised that it would not suit anyone of our culture. But you are unusual, Mr. Potter, and just perhaps—give it a wave."

The moment Harry's hand closed about the wand he felt the warmth of the desert fill the room around them, hot and harsh in its acceptance. It was a familiar comfort.

"Congratulations Mr. Potter" Ollivander wrapped the wand up "11 ½ inches, phoenix feather core, made from the Persea tree."

The Persea tree. Harry allowed a ghost of a smile to cross his lips at that. It was a tree that was rare, yet native to the desert. One actually grew just inside the walls of the training compound where he and Ardeth often lived throughout the year. According to Egyptian legend the tree held great solar meaning and was protected by the great cat Heliopolis. The cat was also one of the forms of the Sun God Ra, and the core of his wand was that of a bird of fire. It was the perfect wand for a child of the desert.

After paying and thanking Mr. Ollivander, Harry and Ardeth allowed Bill to escort them out to muggle London where they hailed a taxi to take them back to the O'Connell's mansion; they would be staying there for the next two weeks until Kedar started at Hogwarts, it was foolish to journey back to Egypt for such a short time even though Kedar longed to feel the blistering sand beneath his feet. Evy was sure to be pacing excitedly about her home, dying to hear what they had seen as well as get a hold of Kedar's books. Kedar also realized he would be doing a lot of reading himself over the next few days, he was not going to go into this new world unprepared and unarmed with knowledge that might save his life.


Hope you all enjoyed. Wanders off to down a bottle of cold medicine.

Peppymint I won't let Dumbledore separate Kedar and Ardeth…nope, nope…

Jellical cat: things from the Mummy Returns will pop up later on in the story…possibly even a mummified friend that doesn't know the meaning of stay dead.

NamelessHeretic: can you imagine the destruction should Tommy-boy ever get his hands upon either the Book of the Dead or the Book of the Living. Grins.

Delta T: (if you're still reading.) As evinced by this chapter, this story is indeed HP fanfiction, I merely needed to run through the plot of the Mummy Returns so the background information is there and things don't get totally confusing later.


Posted On: October 28, 2005