Newt promptly took over the ardous task of securing transportation across the desert. Namely because he knew animals and he planned to get the surliest ones he could find. Most people were happy to get rid of them, unaware of his effect on creatures.

Considering Jonathan was having absolutely no luck of it, he happily handed the task over to Newt.

It took all of thirty minutes for the ornery camels Newt had managed to acquire to become far more docile and pleasant. Needless to say any complaints Rick or the others had to his presence or Melody's died at that. They still didn't like the warden though...there was nothing Newt could do about that, not that he tried overly hard.

Though he would admit to stumbling a bit when he saw what Melody and Evelyn came out in. Evelyn shared a secret, feminine smirk with Melody at his reaction. Especially since Rick had a similar reaction to her new outfit.

Newt helped Melody onto his camel, which had two humps instead of one. It was far from the most pleasant thing to ride, but a few charms on the saddle took care of the worst of it.

Though he had to kick himself discreetly when Melody asked him why he didn't simply buy four camels and then cast a minor perception charm so that the others believed they were riding camels as well. It would have been far more pleasant overall.

It was tricky enough to stop and feed the animals in his case, and Melody felt absolutely no issue with using a few charms to discreetly hide the fact he was inside his case while she rode on the camel.

Or to let her get a break from riding for a few hours to nap inside the case. Considering they had been giving friendly, slightly evasive answers about themselves, it was better than nothing.

To the great relief of Newt and Melody, they soon found themselves at the borders of the cursed city.

So did the other party lead by Beni. Melody didn't know what he was talking about when they said something about a bet, but she found it amusing regardless.

Melody took out her camera and started taking picture upon picture. Though the second they split up from the others she was so bringing out her camera phone...it could take a lot more and had better quality. Besides, she could zoom on it without having to get too close.

Newt looked at the excited expression of Melody as she started taking pictures, while happily discussing Egyptian history and rituals with Evelyn. He smiled... he was finally seeing the vibrant woman that had been hiding under the slightly skittish girl he had come to know and love.

Though it certainly wasn't helping his rising feelings for her when Melody insisted on cuddling against him in human form! Every time he woke up with his arm trapped in between the two soft mounds on her chest with her laying against him with a content smile on her face, he kept wondering what she would look like if they were more than just friends.

It was highly improper of him...goodness knows Mother certainly would make no bones of how she felt about the matter.

But his mother wasn't here, and neither was Theseus.

Newt's resolve on the matter died when he realized she was practically laying against him in the cool morning light.

To hell with propriety...he was going to do something about these feelings once this particular mess was over. It was about high time he did!

Though she really wasn't helping when she somehow managed to find liquor and became a bit of a giggly drunk.

"Why is your hair so curly?" she asked, giggling slightly as she pulled at it.

"I blame my father for that," admitted Newt with a smile.

Later that night...

Newt followed a half-asleep Melody deep, deep into the ruins. He could tell by her eyes that she was neither awake or aware of her actions. Something was calling her.

He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing considering the location they were at.

Following close enough that he could keep up with her, but not so much that the desire to grab her and shake her awake would be overwhelming, Newt kept even pace with Melody.

Only to have a near heart attack when he found her heading to an area Evelyn had happily described as an unofficial "archway to the land of the dead" when she had seen it. Part of the top arch had been damaged, but the heiroglyphs were still visible enough for her to determine what it was. It was considered a bad omen to pass through it, so the group had detoured to take another path to avoid misfortune. That and it had given them all a bad feeling.

Seeing Melody not only head for it, but walk under it made Newt only second guess himself for a few seconds before he hurriedly followed after her.

By this point he was well and truly alarmed, and he grabbed her hand the moment it was within reach.

This proved to be a very smart move, though she did not awaken when he did so. The moment his hand latched on to hers, he became very aware that they were not alone.

And that the things around them were not only decidedly unfriendly to the living, but would have torn his soul apart the moment he became aware of them. Melody, for some unknown reason seemed either immune or protected from their ill intent, but Newt had no such protection.

He kept his silence, not wanting to draw the attention of the things following them, but he was well and truly worried for Melody at this point.

When she finally stopped, it took Newt a few moments to register who they were standing before and he immediately did everything in his power not to draw it's attention.

What in the name of Merlin was Anubis doing here?

Newt could not hear what the god was saying, and he had zero doubts this was the genuine article. It wasn't for his ears to hear.

However he did take note when the scenery changed and they were brought before what he could only assume was Osiris (thank you Evelyn for your impromptu lessons on Egyptian mythology and the chief gods therein on the trip to the ruins).

Newt wisely kept his mouth shut and did not let go of Melody's hand. He knew instinctively that doing so was a horrible idea and that he would never make it out of this if he did.

When he felt a cat rub up against him, Newt bent down slightly to stroke it's fur, but kept a firm grip on Melody's hand.

Pleased by the attention, the feline jumped onto his shoulder which allowed him to properly lavish it with affection, much like any other cat would demand. He got the same sort of reception from the number of Kneazles and strays he tended to pick up that deigned to allow him to keep them.

Finally the other gods deigned to notice him, which did not help his mellow. However the cat on his shoulders wasn't about to let such a thing stop his petting, so he used it as a shield for his poor nerves which were quite shot at the moment.

For some unknown reason, Newt could finally hear the words spoken to Melody.

From what he could understand, they were offering her wealth, fame, power or anything else she could demand...but he would not be included in the bargain.

Newt knew he did not belong here or have the same implicit permissions Melody did, and that the odds of him making it out of this particular mess were very low. He was only being tolerated because he had not yet let go of Melody's hand.

Melody gave him a long gaze, and there was a sort of ancient wisdom behind her eyes that he had seen once or twice and accepted. She was an old soul in a young body, as he had known from the start. However when she was around him that tired gaze would soften considerably to something far more alive and playful.

"Power without purpose is meaningless. Wealth and fame have never interested me in the least. I see no reason to take on such a burden simply because you found the previous protector highly unsatisfactory," she replied. "Nothing you could offer me right now would be worth what Newt means to me."

That caused Newt to flush, and hope spring in his chest that his affections towards her would be returned.

Suddenly the cat on his shoulders jumped off...and became a woman.

Newt's eyes widened at that, before he had to fight the urge to chuckle. Of course he would attract the attentions of another female animagus. He did note with some interest that she held decidedly lion-like features, as opposed to the Egyptian Mau form she held earlier.

"I like him. His feelings towards her are strong and true. He was brave enough to face the realms of the dead in spite of the fact he had no idea whether he would survive or not despite the fact his feelings towards the Lady have yet to be returned or properly acknowledged."

The stare down from the gods around him were highly disconcerting and far worse than what his mother would give him if she ever learned he had been sharing the same bed as Melody before they were properly married. It felt (and he was very certain that was exactly what was happening) as though they were peering into his very soul to find faults and a reason to kill him on the spot.

Fortunately for his continued existence, they found nothing. Or at least whatever faults they did find were not sufficient reason to kill him anyway.

Newt wasn't entirely certain what happened after that, as he blacked out shortly after the feline-animagus smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead. All he knew was that he woke up leaning against the archway with Melody standing over him bemused.

"Come on Newt... I think you could use a long rest after that," she said.

"What just happened?" he asked. He wasn't sure if that was some sort of bizarre dream or what.

"Some places are closer to the realms belonging to the gods, or at least one set in particular. Hamunaptra happens to be very close to the realms of the dead, and because of something that happened to me I happen to have an affinity for it. Since I haven't tried to exploit that affinity, and because a certain someone is going to be woken up, the gods of the dead decided to test whether I could handle the responsibility. I wasn't expecting you to follow me though," she admitted, rubbing her right shoulder a bit.

Newt honed in on that, and noticed she was trying to cover something up.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked in open concern.

She sighed, and revealed an odd tattoo on her shoulder.

"It's the sacred mark of the tomb keepers. Basically when the people who attacked camp earlier see it, it's supposed to symbolize that I am one of them or something to that effect. Or at least an ally to their particular cause anyway. On an unrelated note, none of the curses on the gold in the treasury will effect us and they have no issue with us raiding all the scrolls and papyrus so that the knowledge contained isn't lost."

Becoming the new guardian of the Book of the Dead and the Book of the Living was annoying, but so long as she never abused the power contained within, she (and to a lesser extent Newt) were given immunity to death curses.

She also wasn't going to chance seeing how much protection she held against Imhotep, at least not straightaway as that was just tempting things. Besides, her status had yet to fully settle in.

Newt only found out what Bastet (as Evelyn bemusedly explained the odd feline-animagus woman was) had given him as a 'reward' for his foolish stunt in following Melody shortly after they hid inside the case when Imhotep was woken up by Evelyn.

He could understand his creatures. Not in a general 'feeling' towards what they wanted or needed, but actually hear their thoughts and communicate with them.

It was rather surprising for everyone save for Melody, who found the entire situation somewhat hilarious. On an unrelated note, every feline in his case became extra affectionate and responsive towards him. Which also included the nundu, to his consernation. At least that particular creature didn't insist on becoming a lap cat like every other feline.

Which made sense. Bastet was a feline goddess who could also take the form of a lioness. She was particularly fond of Melody, which was also quite understandable as his beloved dragoness had been a Gryffindor.

Though it took him several hours before Imhotep and his new minion left to discover a new addition to the case. He wasn't sure where the snowy owl had come from, but it's presence made Melody absolutely delighted to the point she had squealed when she saw it.

(He would only find out much later, when they left for Sudan, that the owl in question was Melody's first familiar...the same one who had been lost in defense of her human mistress during the war.)

Newt couldn't help but stare at the vast treasury. It was more gold than he had ever seen in his life. And with Imhotep after the fools who opened the chest and borrowed (in the words of a vindictively amused Melody) the Book of the Dead, they were free to raid the place.

"Are you sure it's alright for us to take this?"

"Contrary to popular belief at the time, you can't actually take the gold with you. The gods would acknowledge the fact that the deceased had a lavish lifestyle in life and adjust their afterlife accordingly, but the gold had no actual impact beyond that once they were judged. Besides, have you ever seen the Bloody Baron or Sir Nickolas concerned over the state of their vaults?" she said bemused.

It took him a moment to realize she meant Nearly Headless Nick, before he chuckled himself.

"You have a point."

"And this far out in the desert, the only thing the tribes would concern themselves over would be water and food, not some shiny trinket that did nothing but look pretty. The Medjai were more interested in keeping Imhotep asleep than they were about the gold," she said.

The leader of the group that had stormed the camp several days ago had taken one look at the tattoo on her shoulder and given her a look of wary respect. They also didn't try to chase them off in the least, which was surprising.

"Still. What are we going to do with all this?"

"Piss off the goblins by raiding this place first and insuring none of the mundanes gets their hands on the cursed stuff, which we can give to any number of Grindlewald's bunch of idiots if we run into them," deadpanned Melody. "Gold is dead weight and it's doing no use laying around here. Think of it as a way to pay for the upkeep of your creatures...meat is expensive and this would pay for it several times over so we never have to use one of our creatures to pay for it. Besides, if I recall correctly some idiot hits the 'switch' that makes the entire ruins disappear after this little venture, so we might as well take as much as we can carry."

Newt's unease suddenly turned speculative. Then an impish gleam appeared on his face as he gave her a Look.

"You just want a massive hoard for yourself," he said teasingly.

It was a well known fact dragons loved gold. There were countless stories of them hoarding it, as well as kidnapping princesses.

Melody's eyes sparkled with amused delight.

"There is that. Now the bigger question is where do we put this? I mean gold doesn't rust, but it seems silly to have it take up space in one of the empty habitats."

Newt eyed the gold, then Melody and an amused grin appeared on his face.

"I have an idea... You get the first piles ready and I'll get the space prepared inside the case."

What Melody found when she started to levitate large piles of gold into the case had her almost drop said gold from laughing outright.

Newt had made a cave, but not just any cave.

He had made a dragon cave fit for a proper hoard that was big enough for the 'average dragon size' of Maleficent, since she could only turn into the full size outside the case. It was charmed in such a way to add an expansion charm automatically whenever there was a new addition of treasure. Considering the amount of gold in the place, it was almost certain that there would still be some spilling out.

It made her only more fond of the rather ridiculous Mythozoologist.

They couldn't quite get all the gold in before Imhotep came within Melody's range, but they at least secured every scrap of papyrus and scroll in the place and had it slated in a special section of the library all it's own. She would have time to sort through it to find what was safe to share with the mundanes and which ones she would barter over with the magical Egyptologists to be shared with the rest of the world later.

Once they were certain Imhotep would be distracted (and got rid of his minions), Newt and Melody moved doubletime in removing gold from the place.

Much to his dismay, Newt realized they would have to leave some of it inside the ocean feature of the case...fortunately gold was one of the rare metals that did not rust in salt water. The few creatures in that area inspected the treasure briefly before ignoring it.

Melody felt when someone managed to summon Anubis long enough to deal with Imhotep. Fortunately they had more or less removed all the good stuff, leaving only the most bulky and minor pieces behind. There was no way in hell she was taking the statues...they were far too bulky and hard to sell off to bother with. And they had taken more than enough coins that a few batches of the stuff could be reasonably left behind.

Stealing everything was not worth their lives, and she had little doubt that the scarabs (Newt had taken one look at the things and promptly deemed them self-sufficient enough that he wanted nothing to do with them) would swarm the treasure chamber once the place was closed off.

Melody guided Newt out of the case, where he promptly found and charmed a few camels over to his side.

Melody snuck into the death chamber, and promptly swiped the Book of the Living when everyone was distracted, leaving a copy no one would detect in it's place. It had all the same spells, but it held none of the same powers as the actual thing such as control over the dead. At most one could summon Anubis.

The Book of the Dead was trickier, but she managed to make a fake that held it's "charge" enough to summon Imhotep one last time (the curse that made him go after certain people was attached to the chest with the sacred jars) and one normal ressurection.

She knew from her history that Imhotep appeared one last time after he was put down, and that her great-grandmother Evelyn required the resurrection spell in order to fully reconnect with her past life as Nefertiti.

Of course she fully planned to insure that she would be on hand with the actual book to insure it took, but other than that she was washing her hands of the matter.

Melody watched bemused as her great-grandparents left on their own camels.

"How long do you think it'll take them to realize that Beni inadvertantly paid for both their wedding and their honeymoon?"

"Not very," said Newt amused.

"I've had enough of Egypt for a while," said Melody.

"Agreed," said Newt.

He had quite enough of mummies and curses, thank you.