Standard disclaimers apply. HP stuff isn't mine. Stuff that isn't JKRs can be blamed on me. Twisted ideas are also mine.

Bill Weasley groaned. He could feel every bone in his body, every aching inch of his skin, every twitching muscle. Something wet was pressed against his forehead. He wouldn't have minded that, except it smelled faintly of wet camel. Voices spoke in low tones somewhere in the vicinity of his feet. He couldn't make out their words and he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to move his head again, so looking at them was out of the question. His head felt like it had been encased in lead and filled with cotton. It was a singularly unpleasant experience. Gentle hands touched his temples and he felt a wonderful coolness spread over his body as the pain eased. Without the pain he could sense things more clearly. From the echoes he was in a larger room, lying on a wooden table. There were two people talking in a corner and someone was pressing the cool but smelly whatever against his forehead. And he was naked. Ok so there was a cloth of some sort draped modestly over his torso, but still! Bill's eyes snapped open. The glare from the sun made him wince. He put a hand up to shade his eyes and found he was looking at a lioness. Bill did what anyone would have done in that situation. He screamed.

He rolled off the table, losing the cloth in his haste. The man in the corner and the boy he'd been conversing with stopped and turned to stare at him. Quickly they began making placating noises and speaking in soft words. Why weren't they worried about the presence of a lioness! Bill turned around. The lioness was gone. A woman in her early forties stood on the opposite side of the table, a single eyebrow arched. Bill had a quick mind, so he added two and two together. An Animagus. He blushed furiously and snatched the cloth from the floor and quickly wound it around his hips.

"Sorry about that," he said, "You frightened me," The woman frowned, trying to understand Bill. She said something to the man in the corner who answered back. The young boy ran from the room abruptly. Bill decided the best thing to do would be to try and find his wand, and then try a translation spell. The woman said something to him again and then did the most interesting transfiguration Bill had ever seen. Her head and neck transformed into that of a lioness while the rest of her body remained human. The merge of human and animal was hidden behind her gold collar. Bill wasn't entirely sure he wanted to see what was underneath. He gaped openly at her as she collected her things into a neat satchel. She nodded to the man in the corner and then swept from the room.

The man wore a leopard skin over a linen tunic. He'd shaved all his hair off and sported a deep tan. The man started speaking to Bill, obviously trying to get him to do something from the way her was gesturing. Bill finally got the idea that the man wanted him to sit on the table. Bill did so, but then began trying to ask about his wand. He wasn't sure what would happen if he tried to use Accio. If the want was locked someplace, it could be severely damaged. The man frowned as he tried to understand what Bill was saying. They spent a few minutes talking at one another when the boy raced back into the room, a bundle clutched to his chest.

"There are my clothes!" Bill exclaimed and thanked the boy. The boy seemed to understand the meaning of the words even if he didn't understand them. Bill put his clothes on as the man and boy spoke to one another. Bill searched his pockets and found his wand. Now he needed to think of an appropriate translation spell. Ancient Egyptian was a fairly dead language, but he knew enough about it to understand that that was the language they were speaking. There were some pockets of Egypt where the society had changed little with time and where they spoke the ancient language still. But more frequently they spoke the Coptic Egyptian, which is what Bill had learned to read the curses on tombs. Or get the gist. He had a decent grasp of the writing since he had to read so many curses, but he was sure his accent was way off. Bill tried some Coptic. No response. He tried some Latin.

"Salve!"

Now got odd looks, but no answer. Wait a second! Hadn't he been tripping over his translation spellbook for weeks now? He'd kept meaning to put it back on the shelf, but he'd always forgotten. Bill found his equipment sack and began pawing through the contents. Eventually he realized he had an audience. The man and the boy were watching him with interest as he continued to pull items from the bag. On the table he now had, a magical compass, his miniaturized boom, his emergency tent, several maps of Egypt, a few protective talismans, a Never-Burn-Up torch, a few official scrolls from Gringotts proving he was allowed to break curses, a treasure sack,  a Who's Who of ancient Gods and Monsters, the Cornucopia, a bottle of water and, yes, the translation book.

"Found it!" he told the man and boy, who looked at him quizzically. The boy poked the cornucopia and an apple rolled out. He laughed and began gesturing wildly to the older man who nodded. Bill began flipping though the index of the book.

"Ah!" he said, "A spell for when the Sphinx in question only speaks Ancient Egyptian, or when confronted by an Egyptian ghost. Bill pointed his wand at himself and uttered the spell, "Translatorum Egyptus!" Bill turned to the man and boy.

"Can you understand me now?"

"Ah! He speaks our language now! You are correct! He must have magic!" The man said.

"Where are you from?" The boy asked, "And why didn't you do this before? Why did you wait?"

"Yes," the man said," I would like to know those things too,"

"Well when you took my clothes, you took my wand," Bill explained, " and I only just remembered I had that handy translation book,"

"A wand! You must be a doctor then!" the boy said cheerily.

"Er, no I'm not a doctor," Bill told him.

"But only doctors have wands,"  the boy looked confused.

"That is true. And I see your wand is not a normal one either," the man held out his hand and after a moment, Bill handed his wand to him.

"What do you mean it's not normal?" Bill asked. All the wands he'd ever seen had been made the same way; Wooden casing and magical core. Though he'd heard of elaborate metal and wooden wands, he'd never seen one as they were both expensive and hard to control.

"Wands are made of Hippo tusk, everyone knows that," the boy stated.

"Now, now. Perhaps they do not have hippos where this man comes from, Menmaatre," The man handed Bill's wand back to him.

"Well, we don't have hippos where I come from, you are correct about that. Where I come from we put a magical core in wood. The core of my wand is a dragon heartstring for instance,"

"What's a dragon?" the boy asked.

"You don't have them here. Be glad of it. They are giant lizards that breathe fire and have very bad tempers," Bill explained as the boy's eyes grew wider. "They're huge too. The smallest is many times your size or mine. Most are bigger than houses. The biggest couldn't fit his head in this room,"

"I think I like our wands better. Hippos aren't nearly as frightening," the boy said sincerely. Bill chuckled.

"Very true. Very true. But I'm not sure their temper is any better," Bill winked. The boy laughed.

"Menmaatre, why don't you go see if the others need you assistance. You will have time to speak with our guest later,"

"Ok," the boy said grumpily, shuffling his feet as he left.

            "You appeared in the midst of our morning prayers in a great beam of light. You caused quite a stir," the man said as he watched Bill repack his case.

            I did? I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to, really. Would you believe that I really don't even know where I am? All I remember is talking to a Sphinx and she completed the spell and I woke up here. I think it was a portkey of some type. You don't happen to know anything about it, do you…?"

            "I am called Ptahhotep. I am the Chief Priest of Ptah. You are in the God's temple in the city of Mennefer,"

"Mennefer?" Bill blinked as he did a quick name translation. He was in Memphis? A shocked Bill looked at the priest, "I was more than two hundred Kilometers from here before I blacked out,"

            "You mentioned you were speaking with a Sphinx? A dangerous task to be sure,"

            "Yes I was. In fact I was at a place called the Temple of the waiting Sphinx,"

            "I have not heard of such a place. What God lives there?"

            "Uh, I don't think any god lived there. There was a mechanical sphinx in it though," Bill sighed when he saw the confused look on the priest's face, "Never mind. Well at least she didn't kill me. I have to get back to Gringotts and face the goblins. At least I'm fairly close to Cairo. No sense in drawing out the inevitable, right?" Bill flashed a crooked smile and began walking towards what he thought was a door outside.  "Thank you for your help. Can I pay you for your kindness?" Bill mentally reviewed the number of galleons he had in his purse. He would give all of it to the man, he felt so lucky to be alive.

            "Goblins? What is a Goblins? And where is Gringotts? I have not heard of that town before? Who is your patron God?" The man followed Bill outside.

            "You don't have Gringotts here? Well I suppose not everyone uses the goblins to keep their money safe. But I was sure that Men...ne….fer….Oh my," Bill had been about to say he'd been sure there was a branch near Memphis, but the words died in his throat.

            "What?" The priest asked. The stranger was staring out onto the city in a most peculiar way.

            "Oh, boy," Bill swallowed. This was a balcony courtyard in a massive temple complex. The temple was built on the rise towards Mt. Rahina. From here he had a clear vantage point for miles around. Small reed boats drifted on the shimmering Nile in the distance. At the river's edge and even further away, across the river, huge farms were being worked. More men worked the shoufas which drew water from the river. The buildings were all white washed and they shone in the desert sun. An old white stone wall enclosed much of what looked like older city, but the city had outgrown this boundary and spread for miles beyond it. Hundreds of people bustled in the market below his high temple vantage point. He was close enough to hear the din of merchants, performers, tradesmen, annoyed camels, even more annoyed camel owners. The buildings were all made of mud bricks and some stone. There were no cars, no street lights, no modern clothing, no telephone wires, no tourist stops. The sculptures were all intact and the paint fresh and vibrant.

            "Are you ok?" the priest asked.

            "No," Bill answered truthfully as he gazed around, feeling oddly detached.

To the south west were the pyramids and the massively sprawling necropolis. But he'd never seen any of it like this. He could see to Saqqara. The great stepped pyramid was beginning to show it's millennium of wear, but it was almost wholly intact. It stood, a giant crouched in the distance, looming over its smaller, though younger brethren. In Dashur, the bent pyramid gleamed in the sun next to its more regularly formed kin.

"Perhaps you should sit. You shouldn't have stepped into the midday sun," Ptahhotep cautioned, taking Bill's elbow. Bill didn't hear him.

The translation spell, the long portkey journey, the amazing ability of the animagus. Hesitantly, Bill pulled out the now quite battered Map of Egypt. He wanted to see where he was. He groaned as he read what the map had to say; Where is not as important as When. So take a wild guess genius.

            "Odd, fellow," the priest said to another of his order as the man joined them on the balcony, "I wonder if all this fainting is natural,"

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I did a ton of research on this. It was fun though and I am really loving how it is all fitting together so nicely! Some notes for you all since I want to point out important things. Ok so I might think they're important and of interest but you might already be hitting the review button, so who am I to argue, eh? That was a hint!

So, you ask, WHEN is Bill Weasley, our fiery haired hero?

Bill is in the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. Circa 1300 BC.  It's the 23rd year of the reign of Pharoah Horemheb, the last King in the 18th dynasty. Sadly he's gonna die in five years. But don't tell him that! (psst! He was the military commander for king Tut and he's followed in the line of kings by Ramesses I)

Notes on names and places:

Mennefer- "the good place". (A name for Memphis, the sometimes capital of Egypt) It was well known for its shining white walls when it was a fort and is seen as the symbolic joining of Upper and Lower Egypt. Another name was Ankh-tawy, "That which binds the two lands." Memphis was huge and lasted for three thousand years. It's next to Saqqara and Dahshur (Lots of Pyramids).  Ptah was also the main god of the city. This is the Capitol during Horemheb's reign.

Menmaatre = "Eternal is the Justice of Re"

Ptahhotep= "Ptah is at peace"

Notes on Magic:

The Egyptians had "wands" made of carved Hippo teeth. They served as both knives and they were thought to have magical properties. They were usually used by healers. I'm thinking that the modern design of the wand with the wooden casing and magical core has yet to develop. They're gonna be perplexed by Bill's wand.

Gringotts doesn't exist yet and Goblins don't live in Egypt. Dragons also don't live in Egypt.

The Egyptians were amazing Transfiguration artists. (well in my mind) They are the ones that invented the Animagus transformation. (In my mind McGonagall is a traditionalist for choosing a tabby cat transformation. I think Animagi can choose their forms) My theory on this is that because they didn't use wands to direct their magic, their work is more linked to the will and concentration of the wizard in question. McGonagall, Sirius and Pettigrew do not need wands to do their transformations. This leads me to believe that a fairly wandless society would create a transfiguration technique that wouldn't need one. I also think that Most Egyptian Magic is fairly brute force by the modern standards since they do not have wands to direct delicate operations. It also requires lots of willpower, something I see transfiguration as needing.

The lionheaded animagus. In my mind the ability to partially transform is a widely lost art. Lack of the knowledge of the technique and lack of interest. However in Egypt it would be considered the ultimate in devotion to a chosen God and the pinnacle of transfiguration skills. No one ever mistakes the Mage-priests for the Gods. (except tourists! Yes, Egypt had tourists. People have come to see the pyramids since they were built) But only the Higher up priests and priestesses are allowed to perform the Gods head Animagus transformation (if they can, since not all of them are wizards and witches) and certain ordained warriors in the Pharoah's army.

The lionheaded animagus is a Preistess of Sekhmet, who was a goddess of death and destruction and disease and the wrath of Re. She was often invoked as a healer since she had control over sickness and disease.

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