The Casting Stone 8
Welcome to a new chapter – and a new presidency! For those of you who are upset, please – they're all the same. For those of you who are happy, please – they're all the same. This is my, let's see, eighth presidency, and the sun and moon still rise and set, the tides still roll in and out, and seasoned politicians still run about squawking & manipulating the laws they're hired by us to make and 'defend'. If you like fantasy literature, try reading the Federal Register.
Remus is taken through the gate by the servant of the Lord of the Northern Sky, and learns where to find the hidden island. Callum arrives, much to Sirius' displeasure….
***
Remus was walking slowly across cold
sand. The sky was unnaturally dark, and
a thick fog surrounded him. He wasn't
sure why he was barefoot, but it didn't seem to matter. He could feel that just beyond him in the
fog, out of his reach, something was moving with him, but nothing came forward
to where he could see or touch it. Only the sand on the dark ground was visible
through the mists. There was a cold,
dry, dusty smell to this place where he walked that made him think of something
old and closed that had finally been opened to air. The fog churned, but he heard nothing, and felt no wind, only the
dank sense of the precipitation of the fog.
He seemed to walk for a long time.
Remus' companions never appeared, but they remained with him. His werewolf senses quickly compensated for
his human instincts – not allowing his imagination to believe anything else but
what he saw and felt and smelt around him. The wolf was curious, but unafraid, so Remus simply moved on and ignored
the spirits who followed.
The fog began to slowly dissipate,
sinking back into the sands he walked across without a sound. Slowly he started to feel the winds that
churned the clouds now visible twilight sky above him. Remus stopped for a
moment. It was too dark to see very far
into the desert, but the sense of presence he had felt before was gone. That made his senses pick up; either they
had gone, or they had succeeded in hiding themselves from him. Remus glanced back over his shoulder, then
turned to start walking forward again in the direction he had been moving.
He continued to walk across the sands,
only now his eyes started to adjust as the landscape became clearer and the
clouds above him seemed to roll back and vanish over the hills he saw in the
distance to his left. It was night,
wherever he was, and the moonless sky was covered with more stars than Remus
had ever seen in his life. They seemed
almost on top of him. He glanced up for
a moment, but when he looked back down he was suddenly standing at the foot of
a gigantic statue of a standing figure. He felt he should have been startled at its sudden appearance, but just
turned and walked slowly back a few steps to get a good look at it. He seemed now to be moving as if underwater;
everything was thick and heavy, but with little real resistance.
Remus suddenly became aware that he
could hear again, as he noticed four gigantic cauldrons of fire spaced out
evenly around the statue, flooding the sand with light and crackling as they
burned. He could make out the various
sounds that made up the fire's soft 'whoosh'; the crackling of fuel being lit,
molecule by molecule, the hiss of air being pushed aside, the faint metallic
undertone of the cauldrons actually resonating from the fire churning within
them.
In addition to the fires, he could now
hear the winds. They sounded very
violent and powerful, but Remus only felt a light breeze that barely stirred
the sand around him. He looked up at the statue. It was made of a black stone, and had been smoothed and polished
with such precision that its surface seemed like glass. The figure was that of a man, but he had the
head of an animal. Remus stared at it for a few moments; the ears were long and
square and it had a long flat muzzle. The eyes, he noted, were carved to be closed, not open. The polished
black surface of the figure reflected the flames of the fires around it, bright
yellow and red streaks that moved and danced, seeming to animate the
figure. Remus thought it looked as if
the figure was breathing; slow, deep breaths of someone in a deep enchanted
sleep.
A new sense of presence came to him as
he stood there, unmoving, in front of the statue. Two wolves walked out of the darkness and came to stand at the
base of the statue on either side, looking at him. Remus instantly could tell
that they were not real wolves…. He
looked back up to the sky. He had seen
no moon at all before; was it hidden? Would he transform? The
werewolves seemed to notice his agitation and he looked back at them, as they
seemed to quietly laugh at him. The one
on the right, with odd brown fur and a wilder look than his companion, gave a
growling bark, then moved away back into the darkness. Remus looked at the
older, darker wolf who remained. This wolf had a broken, twisted look to it, as
if the person who lived inside of him was harmed or deformed in some way. It gazed
at Remus quietly for a few moments.
Welcome.
Remus blinked at the odd sensation of
hearing a voice in his head.
"Hello?"
His voice sounded distant and muffled to
his own ears, and all he could hear clearly all of a sudden was his own heart
beating. Remus found himself hypnotized
by the rhythm. He knew his heartbeat to be slower and stronger than that of
ordinary men. The sound was slowly
overwhelmed by the physical sensation of his blood rushing through him in time
to those slow and steady throbs; of his curse racing and filling every part of
his body and soul. He had to close his
eyes for a moment to focus.
He jumped and his eyes flew open when
something colder and darker than he had ever felt in his life brushed his
cheek. The other wolf had also vanished, and Remus was once again standing
right up next to the odd statue. This
time his attention was drawn to the writing on the base. Had he not seen that before? Carved into the rock was a short verse;
something white had been rubbed into the cuts to make them standout against the
almost unreal darkness of the stone itself. Remus stared at the inscription; he
knew it was Egyptian hieroglyphs, but couldn't hope to understand what they
said.
Suddenly he felt the sand start to shift
beneath his feet. Startled, he tried to
step away, but the sand began falling faster into an unseen hole, taking him
with it. He was pulled under the
surface within seconds, choking as everything went black and sand filled his
nose and mouth. He struggled, lashing out
and twisting, trying to somehow escape. Almost as quickly as the sand had drowned him, however, he found himself
falling onto ground in the open air. Remus spat out the sand and dust, shaking his head to get sand out of
his hair and eyes, and hearing himself snarl and growl like he hadn't in
years.
He finally looked up, and saw that he
was again in the middle of the vast desert, but the statue had vanished. He lay on the cold sand, and the impossibly
bright stars shone over him. As he
stood to start walking again, the sands around him suddenly roared to life with
an intense blue fire. Remus felt the
panic of the familiar nightmare start, and he stared around him, expecting to
find the hooded figures there, waiting for him. He started to feel a burning ache in his arms and legs; but still
he saw no moon.
In an instant he was pulled into the air
by some force, which was bitterly cold but oddly gentle. He looked back down at the ground, still
expecting to see his accusers and pursuers, but in fact what he saw was that
the fire was not a circle, but a collection of oddly spaced small fires. They
burned without a sound for a few moments, and then another small fire burst
into life, almost exactly in the centre of three of the other fires.
After that happened, Remus was dropped back down to earth, only the landscape blurred and shifted as he drew nearer the ground. For a moment it looked as if there was no longer anything solid left in the universe, but Remus' foot came down again on sand. This time, however, he was on a beach, and he heard the waves crashing behind him and now he felt the intense cold and fury of the winds that whipped around him. Remus glanced back out at the water, as he instinctively moved closer to the trees to avoid the waves smashing the shoreline. There were three tall outcrops of rock rising from the ocean floor about 200 yards from the water's edge. They seemed oddly still and silent guardians, facing the raging sea but never moving. The one in the centre was taller than its companions, and seemed to come to a point at the top. Remus raised his hands and turned his face away as a wave suddenly hit very near to him, soaking his legs and covering him with slightly stinging salt water. When he opened his eyes again, he saw, standing at what looked to be a path's entrance through the trees, the odd young American Muggle who had been distracting them.
The young man looked as dangerous and untamed as ever, only this time he said nothing, just smiled at Remus, then vanished. Remus turned to follow him, but felt himself again growing immensely tired, and closed his eyes, falling into nothingness.
***
Remus slowly woke up, feeling rested but uncertain as to where he was. The light was wrong; the window was at the foot of their bed. But Katie was curled up behind him as usual, her cheek warm against his shoulder. Remus rolled over onto his back, shifting to pull Katie onto his chest and finally opened his eyes. Greece, that's right….
He suddenly sat bolt upright, waking up Katie in the process.
"Katie! What day is it?"
Katie shushed him as she moved to sit up on her knees in front of him and look at him closely.
"It's just the next morning, love. How are you feeling? It gave us a bit a shock when we all woke up and couldn't get you to wake up, but you seemed fine, just asleep. Did you dream?"
"Yes. That guardian spirit showed me things. Hurry, get up. We need to write all of this down."
He pushed her gently off the bed and stood up quickly himself. "I'm going to get Draco and Sirius. A lot of this is something I think they'll understand." He dressed quickly, trying to be careful not to think about anything but the dream images he could still see plainly.
"Ahem!"
Remus stopped as he opened their bedroom door and looked down at Katie. He was very surprised to see she had tears in her eyes.
"I'm fine, Katie, really."
She nodded, but didn't say anything, although the tears became a little more pronounced. Remus closed the door again and took her in his arms. "Shush. Don't. Just another typical day for us, right? Please don't be mad at me."
"Why on earth would I be mad at you, Remus?" she said in a miserable tone he hadn't heard in years. Suddenly he remembered what had happened just before he passed out. He pulled back to look at her carefully.
"What did you see when the spirit turned to you?"
Katie shook her head and wiped her eyes, moving to open the door herself. Remus grabbed her hand, though, a bit too quickly. He could start to feel the moon creeping up on him, knowing that in four days it would be full again.
"Sorry – sorry; you startled me. What did you see, please, love."
Katie squeezed his hand and smiled slightly. "Later, I promise. I never keep things from you, you know that. I just had a scare, but that's all. Really. Now, go get the others and I'll collect what we need downstairs."
Katie moved too fast for him to stop her and carry on their conversation. Sighing, he padded down the hallway to Draco's room, but noticed that the door was open. He glanced inside, but there was no sign of Draco, so he assumed he must already be downstairs, or out running again. Damn it; he better be in the kitchen. Remus was just turning the corner of the hallway when he ran right into Sirius.
"Moony! Are you alright?"
"Yes, but come downstairs right now I…."
"What happened? Has Katie had a good look at you? Why didn't you…."
"Padfoot, please. I'm fine, and Katie's allowed me to get up hasn't she?"
Sirius just looked at him with a scowl, but nodded and indicated they should go downstairs. Remus didn't say anything else, nor did he miss Sirius making a beeline for Katie the moment he saw her and start quizzing her in low tones. Remus pointedly ignored them as he went into the kitchen looking for Draco.
Thankfully, Draco was sitting there, reading something and feeding the griffins pieces of fruit. Much to Remus' surprise, Harry sat across from Draco reading the Daily Prophet the Ministry owl brought to their house each morning. Both of the young men looked up at Remus when he entered and stood.
"Remus!"
"Professor, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Draco, come with me this instant. The guardian took me through the gate and I need you to help me understand what I saw before I forget it."
Remus didn't miss the glare Harry gave Draco at that comment, but he didn't say anything, just stood aside as Draco moved past him, followed by the griffins. Remus stayed where he was a moment and raised an eyebrow at Harry, giving him a smile.
"Coming?"
Harry nodded and followed Remus into the large common room where they had set up their work.
Remus took up a drawing pencil and started to sketch the images from the base of the statue as he told them what had happened. He didn't look up while he spoke, concentrating more on making sure he wrote what he remembered as closely as possible. It was, thankful, a very short set of figures, but they would be in trouble if this was an important incantation and he got it wrong. He finished recounting the dream and just continued to work on his sketch. It was some time before he noticed that nobody seemed to have moved or spoken since he'd finished. Surprised, he looked up. Katie was staring at him with an odd expression, and Sirius was looking at Katie with a very concerned look. Harry was also looking odd, but Draco was busy flipping through one of the large stack of books he'd accumulated.
"What?"
Nobody said anything, and Katie finally looked away, going to see what Draco was doing. Sirius came to stand next to Remus and looked at the drawing he had made.
"Sirius, that's the best I can do. Can you read that? Does it mean anything?"
Sirius still didn't speak, but sat down next to Remus and took the piece of paper. He studied it in silence for a while, then nodded.
"It's a guardian curse. I'll write it out, rather than risk saying it out loud."
Sirius reached over and took the pencil from Remus, then scrawled out the translation of the glyphs along the bottom of the paper.
O
all people who enter this tomb, who will make evil against this tomb and
destroy it, may the crocodile be against them on water, and snakes against them
on land. May the hippopotamus be
against them on water, the scorpion against them on land. I am the Lord of the Northern Sky, and I
will make it so.
"How charming."
Sirius did manage a small smile and looked at Remus out of the corner of his eye. "Quite. But bloody effective. I'd check your shoes carefully next time you put them on." Sirius held the paper out to Harry, who finally moved to stand next to Sirius, but still said nothing.
Draco and Katie walked back over, and Draco laid a book down on the table and opened it to the spot he had marked.
"Remus, is this what you saw?"
The illustration was unmistakeably the same as the strange statue. Remus nodded and Draco gave a thin smile.
"Well, this just gets better. That is Set. He is reportedly the Lord of the Northern Sky, and he is definitely the dark lord of the Egyptians. You must have found the tomb of the wizard Set gained his reputation from. Or, perhaps, a shrine built to him."
"Sirius?"
"What, Remus?"
"In your little tale of the Casting Stone, exactly who was responsible for making it?"
Sirius shook his head. "I've no idea. But it certainly is starting to look like Set had something to do with it."
"It certainly does. But that makes this all the more interesting."
Harry finally spoke.
"Remus, please tell me how determining we are now looking for something that might have been created by one of the most powerful dark wizards in the history of the earth is simply 'interesting'"
Remus smiled at him.
"Harry, dark magic is deceptive magic, correct?"
"Yes."
"And dark magic is not something that is 'shared', correct?"
"Hardly."
Now Sirius piped up. "Harry, what Remus is getting at, and what I think you'll appreciate, is that we are now following Peter into an elaborate trap. A 'wild goose chase' that could result in something particularly nasty for whoever manages to figure the whole thing out. But, most importantly, it will have a lesson. Correct, Professor?"
"Correct. Being one step behind Peter in all of this should have a benefit."
Before Harry could get out what, by the expression on his face was likely to be a rather blunt and aggravated comment, Liz walked in and joined them. She seemed a little surprised to see them all in a cluster at the table, but just smiled at Remus.
"It would seem I missed all of the excitement by lounging in the shower."
***
About 11 Liz took a rather nervous Sirius and an amused Harry with her into town to collect Callum. Sirius was uncharacteristically non-decisive all morning; first he was absolutely going with Liz, then he was absolutely staying at the house. Remus did feel a little sorry for him, knowing that this turn of events really was bothering Sirius, but he didn't lift a finger to stop Katie and Liz from completely needling him over his being an ass. Harry seemed to enjoy watching Sirius get picked apart by the women and also remained mute, even when he was asked for support.
After they left, Remus took Katie for a stroll down to the beach so they could talk about things. Like what you saw, and why you and Sirius looked so off-put by my dream. Draco disappeared for a run, after giving in to Katie's insistence that he absolutely coat himself in a sun-screen she brewed. We are getting a little pink and peeling, I'll admit. Remus drank his own potion while Katie fussed at Draco for being careless and thought about Malcolm getting talked to in a similar tone of voice when he tracked dirt into the house or had dipped Hedwig's tail feathers in purple ink while she slept. My own mother had that tone; and Katie didn't get it until Malcolm came along. Wonder if its some hormonal change women get after they have children. That thought made him snigger a bit, but he declined to explain to Katie what was so funny, as he didn't need her getting cross with him.
They sat down in the sand together, Remus holding Katie against him as they gazed out at the peaceful ocean. It stood in strong contrast to the violent churning sea from Remus' dream, but that island had been near here. They had marked on Sirius' map exactly where they suspected it was after Remus explained everything to them. Now all that was left was to get the boat and set out.
"Katie?"
"What?"
"You know what. Out with it."
"Remus, the spirit appeared before me as a man with what I thought was a wolf's head. After talking to Sirius, however, we decided that what I saw was probably Apnu. That's an Egyptian figure with a jackal's head."
"Anubis"
"Same thing. He was supposed to be an aide to Set in the Underworld, so it fits. But, at the time, of course it…surprised me."
Remus said nothing for a while, and quietly stroked at Katie's dark hair. Katie kept her own gaze on the water, but moved closer to him.
"Katie…."
"Remus, stop. It wasn't the figure so much, it was what I felt. Did you hear it? Harry said he could hear whispers, but I assure you it was not whispering inside that circle. The voice was horrible. It sounded like something rotten and decaying was speaking."
"I heard it whispering, too. I heard it threaten Malcolm and Roarke. And you."
"It wasn't me so much as the children. Its words were simple, but what it made me feel wasn't."
She stopped. Remus knew her too well to think this was the end of it, so he just waited. Finally she started again.
"It made me very frightened for the children. It made me feel that something was going to happen to them, and that I would be powerless to stop it…."
She turned now to hold him and started crying. "We won't get home fast enough, Remus, love."
Katie did stop talking, but she didn't move from where she was for a long time. Remus stared past her and tried to calm himself down. He still had occasional panic attacks and would wake up at night wracked with guilt over ever allowing himself to have a child in the first place. Let alone two. What was I thinking? He tried to stop thinking about it, but the wolf was close now with the moon nearly full, and he was very agitated. Such an unsuitable parent. Such a selfish thing to do. But could I see my life without Malcolm now? Never. And Roarke; will she be like her brother? What will it be like watching her grow and change? What will it be like for them, living with the curse?
Katie finally sat back and looked at him. He could see in her clouded expression and the firm set to her jaw that he must have a look on his face she didn't like. Katie hated to hear any complaints or cries of self-pity from him on this subject. She, very rightly, pointed out that many children were doomed to have terrible parents who never even bothered to love them, so Remus was miles ahead of them to start.
"Malcolm and Roakre are damned lucky, Remus, and you know it."
"Yes."
"But do you believe it?"
"Yes."
Katie scowled. "Don't you dare humour me, Remus Lupin. We will go on, just as we always have. How do you think it makes me feel to see you do this? Am I some twit who doesn't get it?"
"Katie, you are the only one in my entire life who does 'get it'."
"Then treat me like that. I am not going to have this stupid discussion again."
"No; best we don't.""
"I love you, you big git."
"Lucky for me. I love you too, you stubborn cow." They both started to giggle, finally feeling the awful tension of the morning slightly loosen as they teased each other. Katie leaned forward to kiss Remus very deliberately and very intently before she sat back and turned again to sit against his chest.
"Ever wonder what it would be like if we were just some Muggles who worked as chartered accountants or something?"
"Yes. We'd go utterly mad."
"Tragic. Why do you think those wolves were there?"
"I've no idea just yet. Probably because of my own issues, Katie, love."
"Hmmm. Well, the fact that you saw that bloody Muggle again isn't lost on me. I still want to find him. I'm actually hoping Draco sees him again, so we can go and…."
"Absolutely not."
Katie gave him a soft poke in the ribs with her elbow. "Watch it."
"We'll keep an eye out, but that's it."
"Stop being such a bore, Remus."
Remus shut up about it at that. And how often in my life have I heard that phrase? My penance for being the voice of reason surrounded by so many hot heads.
***
"Oh, Remus, for gods sake, we'll be fine."
Remus glared at Sirius and Peter.
"Right. Exactly how are you going to get into the Slytherin dorm? They're on the watch for us, you know."
Peter was uncharacteristically vocal that night. He was angrier than Sirius and Remus put together over what had happened that afternoon at the Quidditch game.
"That door we found on the second floor? I saw Lucius coming out of it last week. I think it goes right down there!"
Remus sighed and shook his head at Peter. "So you saw an upperclassman coming out of a strange door. We see that all the time, Peter. For all you know that door leads to Dumbledore's office. Explain to him what you're doing up at this hour sneaking around."
Peter just huffed and made to leave their rooms in the tower. "Stop being such a bore, Remus. Are all you lot so stuffy? Some dark creature."
Sirius laughed and bounded down out of the fourth year's dorm behind Peter, strangely willing to let Peter, probably for the first time in their lives, take the lead. Remus was furious, both at being ignored and at Peter making a joke about the wolf. It's not funny, Peter. You have no idea what the wolf would like to do to you.
***
Remus finally turned from staring out at the ocean when he heard footsteps on the stone stairs carved from the rock face behind him and Katie. Harry and Draco were coming down, and looked, oddly, rather amused. Usually one or the other; never both at the same time.
"Harry. I take it you've collected Callum?"
"Well, we've met him. He's gone with Liz and Sirius to collect the boat he's got for us. They will be sailing down here to our little dock and should appear soon."
Katie looked up at Harry.
"What is it? Why do you have that look, Mr. Potter?"
"Wait until you get a load of Callum. Sirius hates him."
Remus huffed and stretched his legs, leaning back to rest on his elbows in the sand. "Harry, he's just met him. How can he possibly hate him?"
"Wait for it."
Remus was about to say something else when he noticed Draco giving him an odd look.
"What, Draco?"
"Um, Sir, is that a tattoo on your ankle?"
Remus glanced down at his leg, and the old mark there. He was barefoot, so the tattoo that was normally concealed was in fact showing for once. Katie chuckled and nodded at Draco. Draco seemed to struggle a bit, and he and Harry looked at each other. Remus didn't blink. Finally Draco spoke, in overly polite tones.
"Forgive me, Sir, but you hardly strike me as the type…."
"Let me guess," cut in Harry, "This has something to do with Sirius."
Remus smiled. "Not exactly. Your father talked me into this."
Draco laughed slightly and leaned over to look more closely at Remus' ankle.
"What is that exactly?"
"A laurel wreath. For victory."
"My dad talked you into that?"
"Well, we wanted to match."
"Match?!"
Remus had to smile now. "Yes. We all got one. This is what we all managed to agree on, eventually."
Katie rolled her eyes and slapped him lightly on the arm. "Stop torturing him. Tell him the whole story from your sordid youth. Of course it involves Sirius, Harry."
"Harry, when we all first graduated, Sirius went to live in London, as you know. He lived in this flat right in the middle of Muggle London, surrounded by all sorts of interesting characters, which is exactly what he wanted. James and I were in Godric's Hollow, and your mum lived with her parents until she and your dad got married about a year later. However, we spent many a night with Sirius in London. That was how we would blow off steam and try to relax and just forget, for a little while, what was happening."
"Across from Sirius' flat was a tattoo parlour. The chap who ran the place was entranced by Sirius' motorbike, and they used to chat about it. The man told Sirius he needed a good tattoo to go with it. James and I never thought much about it, until one night when we got back from the pub. We had been, well, unwinding a bit. Your parents were getting married in four days and Sirius was making a lot of noise about 'our last days'. Silly, considering everything, but we were 19, so what can I say?"
"The tattoo parlour happened to be open when we got back, and Sirius demanded we go say hello to his favourite Muggle. We got back on the subject of Sirius getting a tattoo, and it became clear that that was exactly what he intended to do. Well, as you can imagine, he made a lot of bluster about getting some naked femme fatal painted on his backside, but we managed to talk him down by agreeing to all get the same tattoo. We had no intention of following through on it, once Sirius got something small and innocuous on himself and the whole idea out of his system, but we got rather carried away."
"I suggested the laurel wreath, and suddenly it all became strangely serious and important. So we all did it. And may I say it hurt like hell."
Draco laughed as Remus finished. "I am very surprised at this. So, Black has the same mark?"
"Yes. As did James. I suppose I could have removed it easily a long time ago, but…. But it seemed to want to stay there. So there you are."
"What did my mum say?" asked Harry quietly. Remus shook his head.
"Nothing that bears repeating. And she was glad it hurt."
Katie leaned close to whisper in his ear. "Well, that's certainly an abbreviated version of that night, love."
Remus was about to whisper back that she best keep her stories to herself, when he suddenly saw a boat coming round the far left corner of the little bay their house looked over. He stood up quickly and walked out onto the dock, followed by the others. The boat came alongside, and a man jumped off quickly to secure ropes to the dock.
"Would you mind?" he called, throwing one of the ropes he held towards Remus and indicating the tie at Remus' feet. Remus bent down to wrap the rope around the tie, and then looked up to see Sirius standing next to him with a very dark expression.
"Padfoot? What is it?"
"Nothing. Go say hallo to Liz's chum, won't you?"
Sirius stormed off to talk to Katie, as Remus now turned to get a better look at their new companion. He realized why Sirius was so upset; Callum was, hands down, the most attractive man Remus had ever seen in his life. His smile made Sirius' most wild look seem tame in comparison. Considering that Sirius was prone to feeling aged and unsuitable for Liz, this was not a welcome sight at all. Okay, maybe Harry wasn't jumping to conclusions. Sirius probably does hate this man. Oblivious to the fuss he was causing, Callum jumped forward and shook Remus' hand.
"You must be Remus, right? I…" Callum trailed off and looked at Remus rather intently. Remus felt a momentary twinge. Oh, no. Don't let Callum be one of those Muggles who feel unsettled by me. But that didn't seem to be the case, as Callum still held his hand tightly.
"You look familiar. Have we met?"
"No, I doubt it. I just look like one of those people everyone thinks they've met."
Liz appeared next to Callum.
"Ah, you've met Remus. And this," she waved her hand, "is his wife, Katie. It's too bad you can't see their little boy, as he's utterly adorable."
"Really? Liz never had a high opinion of children, so if she says that, yours must be a knockout."
"Shut up, Callum. They also just had a daughter, who will no doubt be splendid as well."
"Oh, congratulations. Taking a little time off to get reacquainted and just be alone, are you? Kids are great, but a bit of a damper on serious romance, I suspect."
Remus resisted the urge to punch the man in the face, knowing he meant nothing by the comment and couldn't possibly understand how hurtful it was. Still, Katie looked as if she might do it herself and he wouldn't stop her. He was a little disappointed when Katie controlled her instincts and just smiled.
"Oh yes, absolutely."
Liz grabbed Callum by the arm and steered him towards the shore. "Come meet Draco, Callum." She gave Katie an apologetic look and rolled her eyes.
"Wow, where do these people get these funky names, Lizzy?"
Lizzy?
Once Callum had been introduced to Draco, they all went up to the house. Remus noted that Sirius took Liz by the arm and stayed right up next to her while Callum chatted on about how thrilled he was to finally meet everyone. They reached the top of the stone steps when Draco's griffins suddenly came bounding out of the house towards them. Remus watched Callum carefully to see what would happen.
"Oh, hey, nice puppies."
Draco gave Remus a very amused glance as he bent over to pick up the griffins. "Well," he whispered, "at least we can confirm he's a total Muggle."
"You doubted it?"
"I never quite know what to expect from Liz. How long do you reckon before Black simply smacks him?"
"If he keeps it up, it might be a tie between when Sirius smacks him and when my wife does."
Draco looked at Katie, who still had a rather clouded look to her face.
"Well, well. This is all getting very interesting."
A/N: The curse on the statue of Set is in fact an actual curse from an Egyptian tomb. 'Mummy's Curses' were the invention primarily of the press at the time of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb. The fact is that any number of curses were written on tomb walls, but just as many tombs have no such writings. The intent was to keep looters out, as the Egyptians felt very strongly that if a tomb was altered in any way, the soul of the dead person would not be able to find it's body, and be doomed to roam the earth. Powerful, if you believe each soul is eternal.