Chapter Twenty-Nine: Murphy's Law

Walking was still a problem for Harry, even hours after breaking camp.

He was still walking like a new-born foal, teetering behind the group, just so managing to keep up.

Daphne was the same. Thomas hovered by her side constantly.

Harry had refused Bills offer for help because Harry could see clearly that Bill wasn't totally recovered either.

Alice had promised to keep an eye on him for Bill and walked slowly next to Harry.

She had offered her support a dozen times but Harry's teenage-pride didn't let him.

He could do this.

Luna was not far away, Pumpkin sitting on her head.

"I still don't get what the Snidgets were doing here." He wondered loudly.

Luna shrugged. "I guess they felt save here." She said scratching the tiny birds puffed up chest gently.

"Save? How? And how did they survive anyway?" Harry wondered.

"Well, here nobody was hunting them for the pleasure of it." Luna said with a shrug.

"Or for the profit of it." Alice piped in.

"Profit?" Harry asked.

"Didn't you know? Snidgets were somewhat of a status symbol back in the 13th century or so. Holding them as pets was something reserved for those of power and status. Also their feathers were sold for high prices. It was crazy. It's part of the reason they were, or are, nearly extinct in Europe." She explained.

"That's horrible." Harry agreed.

"But how did they survive? There was nothing in the cave that could explain it." Harry asked.

"Maybe they keep flying out to find food and water." Alice suggested.

"Yeah, maybe. But why is this one still with you? Why did he abandon his flock?" he wondered.

Luna smiled her brilliant, if somewhat serene, smile at him.

"I don't know. He says he likes me. I like him too. Plus, we have apple-juice. He likes it."

Harry made a mental note to sit down with Luna once this all was over and have a long talk with her about all these ghosts and spirits she could see and animals she apparently could talk to. Providing they made it out of here alive.

"So…how is our mission going?" Harry asked Alice.

The Duelist sighed.

"The good news is we have enough provisions to stay down here for two more months…"

"This isn't going to take two months, right? School starts in about a month!" Harry interrupted her.

Alice shrugged. "We thought it wouldn't take long at first. But now…There is no telling when we'll reach the end to this and what the end will look like. This is bigger than we thought. We thought it would be another cursed temple-side or something like that. We didn't expect to find the burial place of one of the most powerful and destructive weapons of all time and having to go through so many challenges and trials to get it. We're used to besting obstacles but usually we're not cut off from the world and even though it often is dangerous it can't compare to this. So, coming back to you question: the mission is going slowly."

Harry nodded.

"How are you feeling?" Alice asked him.

Harry shrugged. "Bodily I feel sore and exhausted but my magical core is almost completely recovered. Mentally I still feel like wrapped in cotton but Rashid said it should fade soon enough. I am hungry though."

"You just had a big breakfast." Alice said with a slight laugh.

"I'm a growing boy!" Harry protested. "I need my food. Besides, all the exhausting work we had to do while all of you took a nap was excruciatingly exhausting!" he moaned.

"'Nap' my ass." Alice replied and nudged him in the side.

"Yeah well at least you didn't have to lift a….three-hundred pound rock all by yourself!" Harry exaggerated.

"Hey, what am I? Invisible?" Luna asked.

"And I?" Daphne asked too.

"You don't get to talk; you fell asleep on the thing! Admit it; I did most of the heavy lifting!" Harry said grinningly.

"I'm sure a growing boy like you could handle it." Alice said comfortingly.

A bit more serious Harry asked: "Do you ever get used to it? These cursed places I mean? The challenges, the adrenalin, the uncertainty of what's ahead?"

Alice shook her head. "No you don't. It would take the fun out of the job. I remember a job I once did with Bill in Egypt a year or so ago. It was my first mission in Egypt and my first time inside a pyramid. It was totally new for me and I triggered all kind of booby traps on accident and nearly got us killed. You never get used to it but you learn to live with it and expect it."

"Always ready to expect the worst? Isn't that a bit paranoid? Murphy's law, everything that can go wrong will go wrong?" Harry asked skeptically with a slight smile.

She looked down, somberly.

"Murphy's Law is maybe bullshit to the muggles but wizards are dealing with supernatural forces that we do not control. We borrow part of this energy and bend it to our will but we do not control it and have to give it back eventually. Mistakes can happen. Murphy's Law states that everything that goes will go wrong, worst case scenario, but only will do so because of human failure and not because of some divine intervention. When we die on our job it's not because of rotten luck or mean priests who cursed their king's grave a billion years ago to protect it form robbers but because we weren't careful enough, didn't check something twice, misinterpreted something and so on. Because we weren't good enough."

"So it's about perfection?" Harry asked.

Alice shook her head.

"Nothing and nobody is perfect. If people could be perfect nobody would have come up with Murphy's Law in the first place. No, it's about something else."

Harry didn't know what to say.

Alice continued. "It's when the worst case occurs, when we are most terrified and on our own that it reveals to us who we are. When you are scared there are two possible reactions your body will decide between. Fight or Flight. I'm sure you heard that before."

Harry nodded.

"We all are the fight type. It's already anchored somewhere in our gens I guess. Once we realize that we train our bodies and minds further for the fight, because we know that we can, and will, make mistakes that can endanger not just our life but others as well."

Harry bit down on his lower lip, chewing it through.

Alice words made sense.

It wasn't paranoia, it were preventive measures.

Though the border to actual paranoia was a thin one.

He told Alice that in all honestly and she laughed.

"You should try to avoid meeting Mad Eye Moody."

Harry grinned. "CONSTANT VIGILLANCE!" he shouted so loudly the whole group jumped in fright.

"Merlin Harry, don't do that!" Atticus said, a hand pressed over his heart.

Harry laughed hysterically and only when he managed to calm down he said sniggering: "Too late. He was there when they took Sirius and Pettigrew into for questioning. Though I didn't get to speak to him. He shouted a bit at Fudge but that was it." He explained.

Alice shook her head amused.

"The point is: the reason we learn and the reason we take so many experts from different fields is to prevent the worst from happening."

"But you can't always do that, right?" Harry asked.

"No. But if we are trained and prepared, then maybe we can keep the damage to a minimum." Alice said.

"You mean a low body-count?" Luna asked.

"Depends on the situation." Alice admitted.

"Could you lighten up a bit back there?" Bill asked annoyed.

"Yeah, all your talking makes me anxious and uncomfortable!" Thomas added.

"What? Can't handle some deep philosophical thinking?" Alice asked challenging.

"I can handle it; I just don't want any pessimism around me." Thomas replied irritated.

"I keep thinking the ground will break any moment away or the roof will come down of an invisible monster jumps on us!" Bill added.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you." Alice assured him.

There was a collective laugh going through the group.

Harry shook his head.

He loved this about his friends. No matter how serious they were, they always managed to find a reason to laugh and that was probably what kept them all sane down here.

He made another step forward but stumbled and twisted his foot.

He just so managed not to fall.

"Oh man, what is it now?" he wondered annoyed.

Looking down he saw that he had just stepped into a small hole in a ground.

"Damn it." He muttered as he tried to pull his foot out of the hole.

"That was close. I could have broken my foot." he said to himself as he turned and wriggled with his foot, trying to get it out of the hole.

Luna who had stopped a step before him turned around and smiled.

"Maybe the worst case scenario really doesn't have to happen all the time." She said.

Alice, who had walked on ahead, turned mid-walk and said: "As I said, depends on the situation. But human failure is unavoidable."

"Help me out, will you?" Harry asked Luna.

He grabbed her shoulder to stabilize himself as he yanked at his foot.

Finally it came free.

"HA-HA!" Harry exclaimed gleefully.

"Congratulation, you managed to free yourself from a deadly hole, now could we please keep going?" Eric asked from where they had stopped to observe Harrys attempts on freeing himself.

"Yeah yeah grumpy, no need to rush it and yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking." Harry muttered.

Bill laughed loudly.

Harry grinned.

Daphne chuckled.

Next to him Luna frowned and tilted her head to the side.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"Heard wha…" Harry asked but never finished his sentence because just then there was a loud crack and Harry had time to register the crack under and his astonishment about how the ground have disappeared so quickly from under his feet before he already felt gravity taking a hold of him and dragging him down.

"HARRY! … LUNA!" he could faintly hear Bill's horrified shout as they plunged into complete darkness.

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AN: Poor Harry never catches a break. He really is unlucky! Also I just read up a bit about Murphy's Law so please don't come and give me ten pages long lectures about what the law actually means and what not, please! I just thought it fitted quite nice in the context.

Also thanks for the reviews and suggestions.

I don't really have a Beta and I try to find mistakes by reading and re-reading the chapters before putting them up but sometimes they just evade me, those nasty little buggers.

Love,

Kate