[A/N]: So, this is the Mistress Potter rewrite. I call this a rewrite, but to be honest, I hesitate to do so, because in rewriting, this story has become something entirely different from Mistress Potter. More or less, the only similarity they can actually claim is Jessamine (Essa) Potter's name—even her personality has turned out vastly different, and probably closer to her canon counterpart this time.

I'm a lot happier with what's been written so far though, and I hope everyone enjoys this new story!

Updates will be weekly until Chapter Four, after which we'll see as we go. Most likely will be sporadic following that.

Tags: MoD, Fem, OP Harry. Rated T for language and non-graphic gore.

—

Commence Part I: Origin.

October 31st, 2001

"I'm off, love," Essa said, swooping down as she passed through the kitchen to press a kiss on Daphne's mouth. She grinned at the taste of bacon and pancakes. "Yum."

Daphne swatted her away. "Stop stealing my breakfast."

"But it's so delicious," Essa whispered into Daphne's ear, delighting at the gentle flush that suffused her lover's cheeks.

"Is it?" Daphne said, her bright blue eyes alight with humour. She tugged her down for another long, languid kiss. Essa groaned as Daphne traced a hand down her midriff and wandered closer to the waist of her pants. Giving her a last lick, Daphne peeled away, her breathing heavy. Her voice was husky in a way that sent a thrill straight through Essa's belly. "Was that good?"

"Fantastic," Essa managed. "Delicious bacon."

Daphne huffed and gave her a playful glare. "Come back safe."

"We're just doing a survey today, so don't worry," Essa replied. "Just two wizards, a witch and a goblin in a desert—there's a joke in there somewhere, I'm sure of it—"

"Spare my ears from it," Daphne interrupted.

"Luckily for you," Essa said, stealing another kiss, "I haven't thought of the joke yet. So it'll have to wait until tonight, then you can hear all about it…"

"Gods, you're terrible," Daphne said, throwing her head back in laughter. Essa admired the pale column of skin that revealed to her, light blue veins running underneath that she wanted to trace with her tongue and— "Love, you're running late."

"Bollocks," Essa muttered.

"Go," she said, smirking. "I'll be here when you get back."

They shared another kiss before Essa pulled away, dancing back a couple of steps lest she be tempted again. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

Essa felt that giddy feeling that always accompanied those three words leaving Daphne's lips. A ridiculous, bubbly happiness that built in her chest and shot through her veins. She was still grinning when she went into the Floo and emerged a moment later in the Ministry of Magic's Atrium.

"Good morning, eh?"

"Shut it, Weasley," Essa said.

"Ah, young love," Bill said as he fell in step next to her. "When Fleur and I first moved in together, we used to have fantastic morn—"

"All right, old man," Essa said. "I do not want to know anything about what you and Fleur get up to. Just update me on the site."

"Prude," Bill said with an easy grin.

"Bill."

"All right, all right," he said. "Clawtear is already on-site with Lynx—took a Gringotts Portkey. They're waiting for us before they start the survey. Judging from appearance alone, though, it's a good one. Clawtear's confident the tomb was built by one of the more powerful magicians, perhaps even Hager himself."

"Hager? You mean—this could be it? The tomb?" Essa said excitedly. Hager had been a notorious magician of Ancient Egypt, known for his vast necromantic skill and his boasted ability to traverse the realm of the dead. He had become something of a legend in Curse-Breaker circles, for rumour had it that he had built himself a tomb in which he could forever rest, layering it with spells, curses and enchantments to protect his legacy from thieves—not that it had been necessary. His reputation had been such that no thief even dared to step within vicinity of his tomb; by the time the terror of his legend had faded to mere wariness centuries later, his tomb had been buried beneath the desert's shifting sands. Finding Hager's tomb was the dream of many a Curse-Breaker—Essa could scarcely imagine the treasures and the knowledge it likely contained—if, even, it existed.

"Maybe," Bill said. He sent her a warning look. "But remember, Essa—if this is Hager's tomb… it's going to be dangerous. Clawtear wants to approach this carefully."

She sobered slightly. "Of course," she said. "Still, Hager's tomb. Can you imagine?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself," he said, but she spotted a small smile curve his lips. "It might be Hager's tomb. We're not sure yet."

They arrived at the Portkey desk and after a tedious bit of 'You're Jessamine Potter!' they each had a finger laid on an squashed up Coca-Cola can. "It was ever such a pleasure, Miss Potter!" the Portkey manager squeaked. "Your Portkey will leave in five seconds—do come back round this way, won't you? My friends would be so—"

The hook around Essa's navel was sudden, jolting and nauseating. They spiralled through space, twisting and turning this way and that until the world was a blur of colours and dizziness. The air was ripped from her lungs until—

Her feet slammed down firmly onto solid ground. "Never gets better, does it?" Essa gasped.

Bill shuddered, a green tinge to his face. "Never," he agreed. "International Portkeys are the absolute worst."

"Bill Weasley and Jessamine Potter?" an Egyptian witch said boredly from the side, her English accented with the hard sibilance and rolling 'r's of her mother tongue. "Identification, please."

"How is Victoire?" Essa said as the witch checked their forms. "Last I heard, she was just learning her swears."

"Thanks to George," Bill grumbled. "She's great. Called me an 'arse' the other day, actually, when I wouldn't let her get on her toy broomstick."

Essa laughed. "Smart girl."

"She's got her mother's spirit," he said, exasperated but fond.

"And Fleur?"

"She's getting to that point where she wants kale topped with tomato sauce and pumpkin juice."

Essa wrinkled her nose. "Gods."

"Yeah." Then he frowned. "She's been complaining about pains in her chest too, actually. Not really sure what that's about."

"Daph could have a look," Essa offered.

"Could she? That'd be really great," Bill said, looking relieved. "We've been meaning to go to the Healer but both of us have been absolutely swamped at Gringotts—especially with this find."

"Go through," the Egyptian witch said dully.

"Thanks," Essa muttered. "You'll Apparate? I haven't been there yet."

"Sure," Bill said, and extended his elbow to her as they drew closer to the Apparition point.

"But really, Daphne would be more than happy to have a look at Fleur. Mind, she'll tell you that you should still go to the Healers because she isn't technically fully qualified and whatnot," Essa said. "But don't believe that rubbish; she's brilliant." This was said with a proud beam. Daphne was due to graduate in two months, and was the top of her Healer class.

"It'd be a huge relief to me and Fleur," Bill said. "Thank you, Essa, really."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Thank Daphne after I ask her. I'm just the eye candy on her arm."

Bill snorted. "Brace yourself."

"I hate Side-Along," Essa grumbled, and squeezed her eyes shut.

The Apparition was almost as bad as the Portkey. Essa arrived at the beginnings of a campsite with bile rising in the back of her throat, eyes squeezed shut in a valiant effort to suppress the urge to vomit. When at last the nausea subsided, Essa opened her eyes to see the sloping, wavy hills of the desert, Cairo on the northern horizon, a mere strip of uneven grey in the distance. The desert's sun was scorching, unforgivingly hot on her skin, reddening it within seconds of exposure. The heat rose from the pale sands, distorting the atmosphere, boiling the very air itself. Sweat budded on her forehead. Much as she loved her job, a lot of it was based in Egypt, the weather of which she could do without.

"Took you long enough," Clawtear shouted. The goblin stomped up to Essa and Bill, looking distinctly annoyed. "Are you two going to stand around all day? Come on."

Essa exchanged an amused look with Bill, and followed after the goblin. Lynx had pitched a shade and conjured a chair in which he was now lounging. Upon their approach, he glanced up with a lazy smile. "Finally," Lynx said. "Thought to grace us with your presence at last, eh, Saviour?"

"Fuck off," Essa said with a fierce scowl.

He snickered. "She's feisty, ladies and gentlemen."

Essa twitched, fighting the urge to knock him off his blasted chair, face-first into the sand. Bill nudged her sharply in the ribs. She took a breath. "Where is it?" she said with as much professional dignity as she could muster.

"Over there," Lynx said, giving a vague wave in an easterly direction. His feet didn't so much as twitch.

"I'll show you," Bill said with a roll of his eyes. She followed him, and as they drew closer, Essa began to see a slight shimmer in the air, the tell-tale distortion that belonged to the standard proximity wards set up by Curse-Breakers around a site which kept most prying eyes from it. She practically vibrated with excitement, struggling to match her pace with Bill's and not run ahead of him. At last, they arrived, and the wards washed over her as though passing through a vacuum. She saw it then, half-buried in the sands still, yet the surface that had been uncovered was immense in its vastness. It seemed to stretch at least fifty feet from where she stood, a wall of smooth, pale stone. Her surprise rose next, for the tomb seemed to be built underground, burrowing into the earth, instead of stacked to the skies. Right before her, there was a false door, painted onto the structure in red tinges.

"Either there is something special about this tomb," Essa said, kneeling down before the stone entrance, "or Hager was much older than we thought." Her eyes narrowed as she read the markings etched around the entrance, all carved painstakingly in echoes of an elegant hand. Now the hieroglyphs were worn and faded from time, chafed into smoothness by nature's forces. Nevertheless…

The hairs on her arm stood.

"Both, I'd wager, if it is Hager's tomb," Bill said, oblivious to Essa's sudden unease. He pointed at the frame of the false door. "See how it curves? Supposedly, Hager lived around 2000BC. But this false door is one of the earliest versions—at least 2700BC. It was well out of fashion by the time Hager lived—theoretically, he could have been one to favour tradition, I suppose, but…"

"It doesn't sit right," Essa agreed.

"No," Bill said. "It doesn't."

"Where is the real entrance?"

"On the far side, over there," Bill said, pointing. "We'll have to do a bit of digging before we can get a good look at what nasty surprises are in store for us…"

"Well, then," Essa said, standing on sore knees. "Let's get started, shall we?"

—

Their excavation progressed quickly, especially since even Clawtear deigned to help. The goblins didn't usually bother with labour, but the possibility of having found Hager's tomb made it too enticing a prospect for even the snootiest of goblins to stay away from. It helped, having a goblin dig. Even with spells, witches and wizards could never quite get the knack of burrowing into the earth that goblins, subterranean creatures that they were, simply had.

"Don't get too close," Clawtear said as they at last found the ridge that indicated the door's frame. "This could be dangerous."

"Didn't know you cared, Clawtear," Bill said.

"If you die, I have to do paperwork," Clawtear said flatly.

"He cares," Bill whispered, eliciting a snort from Essa.

They struck gold when they uncovered a few more inches. "Is that?" Essa said excitedly. She almost reached out to trace her fingers along the image—the Was scepter, encircled by Ouroboros—before she remembered herself.

"Hager's symbol," Bill said, eyes wide with awe.

"Excellent," Clawtear said with a vicious smile. His eyes gleamed with undisguised greed.

Lynx moved a heapful of sand out of the way with a look of supreme boredom. "When I decided to be a Curse-Breaker," he said huffily, "I thought there'd be less digging. More… excitement."

"Excitement?" Essa said incredulously. "This is Hager's tomb! It's a bloody legend, and we found it."

"We're still digging," Lynx complained.

"Oh—just shut it and work."

He muttered something under his breath about 'arrogant Saviours', which Essa ignored. She and Bill admired the symbol for a few moments longer before returning to their digging. The silence between them ran like a live wire, excitement thrumming so high in the air that it was a wonder they managed to control their spells well enough to work. It was punctuated only occasionally by banter, which sometimes (once) even successfully drew Clawtear in. The goblin's sense of humour, when he deigned to share it, was as sharp as his teeth. They paused for a break only after they'd uncovered more than two thirds of the door—even the sheer thrill of finding Hager's tomb had to give way to the intensity of the Egyptian heat. There were hieroglyphs etched into the door's surface, which Essa knelt before and again made a study.

"They're not spells," Essa noted with a frown.

"Odd," Bill said.

Lynx peered at the markings too. "They're names," he said after a moment. "Names of pharoahs."

He was right, Essa realised. The very oldest was positioned on the upper left corner, encircled in a cartouche to signify the pharaoh's name, and the script worked left to right. Her eyes skimmed all the way to the bottom-most name that was visible. "What on earth?"

"What?" Bill said.

"Look," she said quietly, pointing. "Hatshepsut Khnemet-Amun."

"That can't be right," Lynx said, even his bored mask flickering beneath this observation.

"What's wrong with it?" Bill said, confused.

"Hatshepsut ruled in the 18th Dynasty," Essa replied. "Around 1400BC." She scraped away at the sand underneath with her wand, uncovering another line. "And look. That's Rameses III."

"A spell," Clawtear said derisively, but Essa thought she heard a sliver of uncertainty wedged into his gravelly voice. "An old spell to update the door with the rulers of Egypt. Nothing more."

"Is it just me," Lynx said suddenly, "or are we… sinking?"

"What?" Essa looked down, and gasped in horror. She was ankle-deep in the sand, and when she tried to pull her legs free, she nearly fell to the side completely. Bill was in the same position, his scarred face twisted with shock and fear as the desert drew him in. He lost his balance and— "Bill!" she shrieked. Cold, raw terror shot through her veins as he began to fall straight toward the entrance, throwing out his hand instinctively to hold onto something.

Bill's eyes widened. His hand was about to touch the door—

"ACCIO!" Essa screamed, her wand snapping out a clumsy flare of magic in her desperation. His hand stopped, a mere inch from the door's surface, and they both loosed a shaky breath. "Fuck."

"Thanks, Essa," Bill said, his face completely bloodless.

"Don't thank me ye—" Her words lurched into a shrill scream as suddenly, she was free-falling through the air, the desert swallowing her whole. The air roared around her ears, and she felt cold certainty that she was about to di—

The breath was knocked entirely from her lungs by the impact. Every bone in her body rattled, and her scream ended in a choked, broken gasp. She blacked out, for how long she was not sure. Pain. A flare of heat in her ribs. Broken bones. Her fingers reached blindly for her wand, but found only dusty stone. It was complete darkness around her. "L-L-" She took a shuddering breath that wracked her body with pain. "L-L-Lumos."

A dim glow to her left. She turned her chin just an inch. There. It was close. She stretched her arm, grunting in pain as she did so. She felt her fingertips brush warm wood. A little further. Her fingers slipped.

"Accio," she managed, sighing in relief when her hand curled tight around her beloved wand. She drew it up to her ribs. "Episkey," she coughed. Another flare of white-hot pain. A loud crack. The bone snapped back into place and she gasped for air, feeling the burn of its relief in her chest. She rolled to her side. She coughed again, dust and blood spitting out from her lips. Her mouth was sweet, tanged with the taste. Not good. "Anyone? Bill?"

Silence.

"Clawtear?"

A grunt.

Essa pushed herself up to her knees and rose unsteadily. She felt as though her entire body was bruised. Blood ran warm and sticky down one side of her face. "Fuck," she groaned, almost toppling over again. "Lumos maxima."

The light on the tip of her wand flared brighter. She caught a figure to her left, shifting in the shadows, and stumbled her way over there. "Clawtear?"

"P-Potter?"

It was Lynx, his dark hair painted white with dust, a massive cut running from temple to jaw. Essa bent over him, sweeping a critical eye over him. Blood pooled out under his leg, and when she peeled back the hem of his pants, she hissed in sympathy.

"What is it?" he panted. The vein in his neck throbbed from pain.

"Broken ankle," she said simply, deciding not to mention that the bone was sticking out.

"Fix it," Lynx spat.

"It'll hurt."

"I'm not a whiny cunt about to cry if it hurts a l—FUUUUCK!"

"I told you," Essa murmured. It was entirely the wrong time for it, but she could not help the small, satisfied smirk that flitted across her expression at Lynx's agonised look.

"Where are the others?" he said, managing to sit up after a minute.

"Not sure," Essa said with a sharp twist of anxiety.

"Where are we?"

"Not sure," she said again. "But… if I had to guess, I'd say we're in Hager's tomb."

Lynx swore.

"Can you walk?" Essa said.

"Yeah," he muttered. She helped him up, seizing onto him even when he tried to reject her help.

"Don't be an idiot," she hissed. "We don't have time for this. We need to find the others before we're even more fucked than we are already."

"Shut up, Potter," Lynx said, but he let her help him up, and even accepted it when she slung his arm over her shoulder. "There's a door over there." He jerked his chin to his right.

"I see it," Essa said, and they hobbled over, with only the wobbling light from Essa's wand to guide them. The chamber they were in was empty and bare, even the walls devoid of any markings or décor. The next room, however, was a much different beast entirely. Fat, towering pillars reached higher than the ceilings of Great Hall at Hogwarts. The columns and walls were lavishly painted, and all over, Essa saw Hager's motif over and over again, simply repeating itself. The Ouroboros twined the length of the walls, one snake consuming the tail of the next, and on and on it went, a great circle looping around the room. And at the end, a throne placed on a dais, with twin braziers, unlit, on either side. "How's this for excitement, Lynx?"

He sniffed, looking around with a wary eye. She caught the glimmer of fear, burning strong within, but held her tongue. "This place is... creepy."

"You've been in dozens of tombs," Essa said. "Surely you've seen stranger things?"

"Well, yes," he said. "But… doesn't it feel like they're watching you?"

It did, actually. Every nerve in her body was alive right now, prickling with tension and fear. The very air seemed to sing a warning—that something was not right, something was strange…

"Let's keep going," Essa said quietly.

Lynx nodded, a touch too eager. They left the room behind, occasionally stopping to check for traps, wards—anything. They found several spells, but they were non-offensive in nature, and, Essa suspected, more for keeping the place preserved. Everything in these rooms looked as though they'd been painted and carved just a week ago, instead of a millennia. It was by far the best preserved tomb she'd been in. Judging from the look of awe that flickered over his face each time they entered a new room, Lynx felt the same way. Still, the uneasy feeling she had only grew stronger. No spells. No wards. No protections. And there were too many rooms—far too many. Not to mention they'd been walking for what felt like an hour and still had yet to find the burial chamber. It felt more like a palace than a tomb.

"It's not right," Essa murmured. "Where are the traps? Where are the wards?"

"It's an easy job," Lynx said, and despite his apparent bravado, his unease shone through.

"Hager's tomb? I doubt it."

"I—did you hear that?" Lynx said suddenly.

Essa quieted, listening hard for any noise. She heard the echo of their breathing mostly, then—footsteps, shuffling and uneven.

"Hide," Lynx hissed, tugging sharply on her arm.

"It could be the others," she argued.

"It could be a mummy," Lynx shot back. "Inferi, I don't know. Hide, you idiot!"

Reluctantly, Essa ducked behind a pillar, settling in in an alcove with Lynx. Their breathing was harsh in the silence. The footsteps grew louder. But there was light too, she realised—light from a Lumos, and therefore, it was no Inferius or mummy. She darted out, ignoring Lynx's half-whispered shout of, "Potter!"

It was Bill and Clawtear.

"Thank Merlin," she said, her relief washing over her, so intense that she nearly stumbled. Bill's expression was awash with the same relief, and they lunged for each other in the same breath, clasping each other in a tight embrace. "I thought—I was so worried—"

"I thought too," Bill muttered.

"How bloody touching," Lynx said, sticking his head out with a sour expression on his face.

"You got stuck with him?" Bill said.

"Yeah," Essa mumbled irritably.

"Enough chatter," Clawtear snapped. "Have you two found anything interesting?"

"We found a throne room back there," Essa said.

"A throne room?" Bill said, eyebrow arched.

"Yeah. What did you two find?"

"A lot of empty rooms, like this one," Bill said. "You noticed how the paintings are all—"

"Preserved? Yes, I did."

"Did you actually look at them?"

"No," Essa admitted. "We noticed Hager's symbol in the throne room, but beyond that, we were more focused on finding you two."

"Essa," Bill said, an anxious look in his eye. "Each room is dedicated to a different pharaoh. I think we came from the later ages—the room we crashed into was dedicated to Cleopatra VII. The walls were painted with images of her reign—how she rose to power, how eventually, Egypt fell under her rule. This one—this one is one of the pharaohs from mid-2000 BC, I forget which… Either way, it's not possible, Essa, no magic can create a new room for each pharaoh and record their history in the walls like this—not without someone actually directing the magic."

A cold trickle of fear began to work into her mind, and this time, it would not be so easily uprooted. It hooked into her brain, whispering and murmuring—realisation struck like an awful bolt of lightning. "Shit," she breathed.

"What?" Bill said.

"You're right," Essa said through numb lips. "No magic can do this without someone directing it. Hager didn't build this place to die in—he built it to live in."

"Are you saying he's been alive all this time?" Lynx said, pale and disbelieving.

"That's why there are no protections—nobody puts lethal wards inside their home," Essa said.

"That's not possible," Clawtear said, his eyes narrowed. "A wizard's trick—"

"It's possible," Essa said flatly. Her voice darkened. "There are ways of achieving immortality—dark magic, very dark magic."

"We need to go," Bill said grimly.

"How?" Lynx demanded. He looked sweaty, and Essa suddenly noticed how terribly close to passing out he looked. "There's no exit—we fell in, remember?"

"Sit down," Essa said sharply when he swayed. "Fuck, Lynx, sit down." He opened his mouth to retort, but whatever he was going to say was lost when his eyes rolled up in his skull and he crumpled. Essa darted forwards, just managing to stop his head from cracking against the ground.

"What's wrong with him?" Bill said.

"Don't know," she muttered, kneeling over him. No wounds that she could tell of and yet… "He's running a fever."

"We should leave him," Clawtear said.

"We're not leaving him," Essa snarled. She turned to Bill. "Have you got any Fever Reducers on you?"

He dug in his pockets, and eventually pulled out a red sweet. She stared at him. "Look, it's all I've got, yeah?" he said defensively. "Besides, the twins might have made this for pranks, but it's pretty effective."

"Fine," Essa said, and shoved the sweet into Lynx's mouth. "It's not working."

"Let me have a look," Bill said. She moved aside to allow him room. Essa fell back into a sitting position as he worked, feeling her exhaustion crawl through her. Clawtear stood nearby, looking deeply frustrated. And… was it her imagination, or did he look faint too?

"Clawtear?" she said cautiously.

"What?" the goblin snapped. Yet there was a definite slur to his voice, one which alarmed Essa into motion immediately. She reached for him. "Don't touch me, human."

"Bill," she called.

"What?" was the absent reply.

Clawtear collapsed. "Shit," Essa spat. "Bill, Clawtear is down too. How are you feeling? Bill?" She glanced over, and her heart dropped straight to her gut. Bill was slumped over Lynx's form, both limp. She made her way over, but even as she crawled, she could feel the weakness seize her legs, her arms, and her head was so woozy…

She only had another moment of clear consciousness, long enough to fear.

—

"It is good to meet you."

Essa lifted her head groggily. The world was a blur of colours around her, light and shadow blending in strange, impossible swirls. "What?" she mumbled.

"I have waited for a long time," the voice said. It was strangely accented, as though it was a blend from dozens of places in the world. A shadow loomed over her. She could make out no features in his face, only dark shadows where his eyes were. A hand pressed over her forehead.

"Who are you?" she whispered. She tried to move, but her limps would not obey. She felt… so terribly weak. As though even the slightest movement ripped energy from her and threatened to send her spiralling back into the dark of the unconscious mind. "What's happening to me?" Panic echoed in her voice. Even that was vague, scattered.

"I am Hager," the voice said. "And you are dying."

Dying. Her mind wavered, loosening its grip on lucidity. "I feel like I'm dying," she mumbled.

"Let go."

She lost her grip.

—

[A/N]: Another one, yes, I know. But this one is more of a plug. I recently started a blog!

It's called Em's Scribblings—right now, it's still pretty empty, but I'm planning on a flash fiction series called the Diary of A Wimpy Cat, which is a series of short diary-like entries written from the perspective of a (my) cat. I'm planning to include fanfiction content as well, but I'm not entirely sure what shape that will take yet. If there is a decent enough following from my fanfiction works, I may start posting fic updates/news there.

But anyway, if any of you decide to take the time to check it out, I'd appreciate it lots! Though, like I said, it's still pretty empty.

Link: emscribblings . wordpress . com