AN: When characters speech is in italics, that means they are speaking another language other than English.
July 8, 1988
Upon waking up, Harry was instantly dragged to a loaded table and told to stuff his face. Farid had said to feed him well, and Sirius and Remus were going to make sure of it. For the first time in his life, Harry Potter was sick of food. He had a large breakfast, a sizeable brunch, and a full course lunch, with plenty of snacks in between. Harry could almost see himself transforming into Dudley in the space of one morning. Thankfully, the trio left for Farid's house after lunch and so Harry had the chance to rest from the feed-Harry frenzy that Sirius and Remus were caught in.
This time, Farid opened the door before they knocked, and quickly ushered them to the detached room that they had been in the day before. Waiting there was a short, heavily tanned man surrounded by ancient looking books. Beside him was Hakim, the healer who had first demanded that Harry see Farid.
"This is my colleague, Adam, and you know Hakim. I apologize, but we should begin as soon as possible; there are tea and snacks on the table there." Farid gestured to the coffee table. "This may take a while, so prepare to wait. Hakim, let's begin."
So saying, Harry's manhandling began. First Hakim did a few diagnostic spells to make sure that Harry was physically healthy and strong (he was, aside from the cursed scar), then he was asked to bathe (he was taken into the main house for that) and dress himself in pale robes (undyed cotton). This was because he had to go through a cleansing ceremony that would help to further weaken the soul piece, and any magical trace on his clothing would get in the way. The cleansing involved him standing still while Adam walked around him chanting and waving around burning herbs. When he asked, Harry was told that showy magic (all the wand waving, booms and lights) was in fact very low level magic. The more powerful a wizard, the less obvious their magic (because the wizard learned control and subtlety) unless they wanted to show off. If Harry (or anyone really) were to commit themselves to magical study, he would start to develop an ability to sense magic and so would not be as bored when performing or witnessing rituals.
After the cleansing, Farid took seven drops of Harry's blood, one for each chakra, before repeating the last part of the same protection ritual that James and Lily had performed years ago. This involved using the blood (diluted with a pre-brewed elixir) to draw tiny runes on his chakra points. Hopefully, this would strengthen the protection and further weaken the soul piece's connection to Harry. Finally, Hakim asked Harry to lie down in the middle of the ritual circle before feeding him three drops of scorpion venom. The five men then held their breath and watched closely for any signs of change.
Within ten seconds Harry's heart stopped, and moments later dark fog came out of his scar. This was followed by black tinted blood. Hakim immediately gave Harry the antidote for the venom, waited thirty seconds, and cast a spell that kick started Harry's heart. The sound of the first beat was unusually loud, but it brought relief to all their faces. Unfortunately, that relief was short lived – Harry was not waking up.
"What's happening? Why is he not waking up?" Sirius's panicked shouting didn't stop him from trying to get to Harry, and Remus wasn't controlling himself much better. Rather than shout, he quietly made his way to Hakim's side as the healer cast diagnostic charms over Harry.
"Mr. Black, you are not helping. Please stay back as Hakim does his work." Adam was holding Sirius back, with Farid's help, but all three of them were wearing worried frowns and had most of their attention on Harry.
Finally, Hakim sat back and put his wand away. "He's in a coma. The venom stopped his heart, which means that blood flow to his brain was cut off for two minutes. That is very dangerous for young minds, but especially young magical minds as the brain is the organ that controls our magic and keeps it from causing havoc to our bodies. As such, magical children are particularly sensitive to any mental trauma. It is another reason why it was so important to do this, but now Harry's brain is doing its best to heal any damage done to its control of magic. Simply put, he's in a healing coma indefinitely, though the longer he stays in the coma, the less chance he has of waking up." This was all said in Arabic, which Adam then translated for Sirius and Remus.
Sirius sagged and fell onto the couch; he had Harry for a month and he already broke him.
"Sirius, we both- we all agreed that Harry had no choice but to go through with this. He didn't want to put his soul, his magic, and his mental wellbeing at risk by putting this off." Remus was trying to convince himself as well as Sirius that they were not wholly to blame for this latest disaster. "Hakim, how long before… how long do you give him to wake up?"
"I will be worried if he does not wake up in three days, extremely worried if he does not wake up in a week. I hope he does, and he is strong and driven, with his mother's protection – remnants of it are still there, by the way – he has a good chance of waking up within three days. In the meantime, he should stay in the hospital under supervision."
Sirius shook himself and got to his feet with a determined expression. Moony was right, this was not the time to wallow in guilt. It seemed like every time he did, it ended in disaster. When he heard that his brother, Regulus, had died, he had gotten drunk and attacked any death eater he could find, which got both him and James (who had gone along with him to watch his back) suspended from the Auror department. When James and Lily died, he had gone after Peter and ended up in Azkaban. Not this time. This time, he will control himself, he will force himself to think logically about what is best for Harry. "Yes, we'll take him to the hospital. What else does he need?"
"The hospital staff will be able to feed him so that his body stays strong, and I will check on him regularly as I am currently his primary healer." Hakim got up and moved to put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Don't give up hope, he has a good chance of waking up."
Hakim arranged a private hospital room for Harry as well as a cot so that Remus and Sirius could take turns keeping an eye on him. One of the hospital nurses came by every six hours to feed Harry nutrient potions. The feeding was accomplished by opening Harry's jaw and controlling a small portion of the potion so that it made its way to Harry's stomach, at which point his body digested it and absorbed the nutrients. They did the same with water, though more often.
Luckily, Sirius and Remus only had to worry for a day and a half before Harry woke up, though he was very groggy when he did. He did have to stay in the hospital for an extra day because Hakim wanted to make sure he was fully recovered, but he was given a clean bill of health soon after and his file was ready for their meeting with their immigration official. Thankfully, Remus had been so worried about Harry, he had not thought to cancel their appointment which meant that they could start filing their paperwork that much sooner.
July 12, 1988
Their meeting with their immigration official took place on a Tuesday morning. The Egyptian Department of International Affairs divided immigrant candidates into three groups: career, economic, and family. Career immigrants are those wishing to move to Egypt to study or because their employers asked them to – most of these immigrants are in some way tied to Gringotts or to the Library. Family immigrants are those who move to Egypt because they have close family there, or they inherited (not purchased) Egyptian property. Economic immigrants are those moving to Egypt with enough wealth to support themselves and their dependents without needing to worry about finding work. Sirius belonged to the last group of immigrants – he had enough galleons that he didn't need to work (nor would any of his decedents for several generations). Though Harry was Sirius's ward, he also had enough money to live on, though not as much as Sirius. Remus was a career immigrant; Sirius was 'employing' him as a nanny/tutor for Harry.
Harry, Sirius, and Remus were dressed in new wizarding robes that allowed them to blend in well with the residents of Hekaniewt when they made their way to the Egyptian Ministry of Magic. Hekaniewt grew around its main street, which served as a wide line the divided the city more or less in half. On one end of the main street was the Library, while the Ministry took the other end. In between the two were Gringotts, the hospital, and buildings that housed the headquarters of the various guilds that required their masters' students to study in Hekaniewt. Remus had booked the trio into a hotel that was a fifteen-minute walk from the ministry, so it did not take them long to get there.
The meeting started off well, with Elias (the immigration officer) collecting the paperwork that Remus had gathered ahead of time. This included education records, legal history, financial statements, and a general biography for each of them. They also handed over their health checks and a report from Farid and Adam about Harry's scar. Then the interview really started.
"Mr. Black, here it says you wrongfully spent six years in Azkaban. Can you tell me about that?" The story didn't take all that long to tell, though Elias was very interested in Sirius's status as an animagus as well as his previous occupation as an auror – most animagi were scholars or held masteries that made them over-qualified and uninterested in working for the auror office.
"Mr. Lupin, you suffer from lycanthropy. Should you be granted citizenship, how will you insure that no harm will come to others due to your condition?" The idea of using animagi to guard werewolves and keep them occupied during the full moon was new to Elias and he sent a note to the Department of Magical Fellowship (which "endeavored to improve relations between wizards and other magicals through diplomacy, understanding, and education") regarding this new method.
"Mr. Black, you are claiming that Mr. Lupin is your employee?" A great deal more paperwork followed to insure proper documentation of everything.
"Mr. Black, do you have documents proving your guardianship of Mr. Potter?" They had forgotten to pass those over, but Sirius was more than happy to drag them out. "Should anything unfortunate happen, do you have a will that explicitly states who Mr. Potter is to go to?" No, he didn't, but he'll file one with the goblins as soon as possible.
Finally, after several hours of torcher by paperwork, Elias organized everything into two files; one for Remus and one for Sirius and Harry. Crossing his arms on the desk, Elis leaned forward slightly with a serious look on his face. "When we first received your inquiry, Mr. Lupin, we were surprised that Harry Potter and his guardians would wish to leave Britain. However, thinking it through, it quickly became obvious that it is to Mr. Potter's benefit to leave. The report filed regarding the cursed scar only made it more obvious that Mr. Potter is best served by being near experts that are able to deal with any unforeseen issue that resulted from his unfortunate history. For that reason, we have decided to fast track your applications. However, please be advised that as citizens you are expected to follow our laws and do your best to integrate yourself in our community." Elias smiled and handed over three parchments that were signed and stamped by the Egyptian minister of magic.
Sirius grinned in relief and hugged a grinning Harry while Remus collected the parchments. They were now officially Egyptian citizens, meaning that neither the British ministry nor Dumbledore could coerce them to go back to the UK.
The trio celebrated their new citizenships by having dinner out and then seeing another play at the theater. When they got home, they set about making a list of requirements for their new house. Remus had made an appointment with the real-estate agent for July 15, and she had wanted him to make a such a list. They quickly decided on three to four bedrooms, a study/library/den, and a decent yard. Other than their new home having a homey feel and nearby children Harry's age, they didn't really care for much else, and money was not an issue.
When they did meet up with Aziza (the real-estate agent) a few days later, she was quick to let them know that they had a lot of options. They saw five homes that same day (three houses and two large apartments), and they fell in love with the fourth one they saw. It was only a few minutes past Farid's house, and was surrounded by families with children around Harry's age as well as older couples and a few students who roomed together to save on rent. It only had three rooms, but they were large, and it had both a study and a separate library. Harry really liked it because he had been able to meet a boy his age who spoke a little English who lived only a few doors down. They happily moved in a week later.