Disclaimer: This story contains settings, situations, and characters created and owned by JK Rowling. Plot and everything else you don't recognize is inarguably mine. One scene is based on Salem's Tails: The King of Cats, and another has characters taken from The Mummy Returns. No money is being made, therefore no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: I had a lot (and I mean A LOT) of fun writing this chapter. Hope you enjoy it as well!

Enchantments: Chapter Four

Pompous ass, Hermione thought, wishing she could burn a hole into Draco's back with her glare, as he swept past her and into the museum. It wasn't that she actually valued his opinion, but his taunt had hit a nerve. She had heard Parvati and Padma talking last week, about her. "Hermione Granger, for example, doesn't mind her looks at all"… "She really ought to be more fashionable"… "You know, if she just put on some makeup and combed her hair once in a while, she'd be all right"… "Well, she's probably too preoccupied studying to care about that"…

"Hermione, are you okay?"

The sound of Ron's concerned voice jerked Hermione out of her trance. She blinked, then smiled weakly. "Of course I'm okay. Why shouldn't I be?"

"You aren't going in," Harry pointed out. The other students were already inside the building.

"I was waiting for you guys," she said hurriedly, grabbing their hands and pulling them up the steps.

As soon as she had passed through the open glass doors, Hermione forgot all about Malfoy's stinging insult, and Parvati and Padma's conversation. The museum's lobby was so beautiful it took her breath away. She could see her reflection in the polished marble floor that was as smooth as glass. A spiraling staircase, also made of marble, curved up from one corner of the lobby to the second floor. In the center was an exquisite fountain, sparkling and bubbling merrily. The walls were decorated with strange symbols--- hieroglyphics, the Egyptians' picture-writing system.

"Wicked!" breathed Ron. Every student was visibly awed--- except for Draco, who just looked bored.

"Honestly, what is the big deal? Our living room is nicer than this," he drawled, earning a glare from Cheops, who had already decided he didn't like the blonde-haired boy very much.

"If you don't like it, Malfoy," said Harry coldly, "why don't you just go home?"

"At least I have somewhere to go home to, Potter."

A pained look flashed in Harry's green eyes, and he pressed his lips tightly together. Hermione's blood boiled, wondering why Draco had to exploit other people's weaknesses for his own twisted amusement, and she raised her hand to slap him.

At that moment, however, screams emanated from a hallway marked "Statues." Hermione's jaw dropped open, as did Harry's, Ron's, and pretty much everyone else's, as several creatures raced out of the hallway. They resembled jackals, except that they were standing on two feet and carrying battle axes in their paws. They were obviously carved from stone, but their snarls, growls, roars, and the way they stood in the lobby, baring their sharp fangs left no one in doubt that they were very much alive.

The students were too petrified to move or even make a sound. Four wizards, dressed in dark blue robes with golden badges emblazoned with the words Museum Guards on their chests, came running just as one of the creatures raised its axe and brought it down on Seamus Finnigan.

"Fazad kharam, ithinuil oblis!" a wizard cried. The creatures immediately froze, the battle axe stopping just a few inches from Seamus' head. The Irish boy looked like he was about to faint.

"Terribly sorry about that," one of the wizards apologized to the shocked group. "Some blithering idiot read the incantation out loud and set the statues of Anubis' warriors on the loose. It's happened a thousand times. Last time one of the warriors actually got out of the museum and terrorized Shadrack. It was sheer pandemonium, I tell you. Damn nosy tourists!" He turned to Cheops. "This is the Hogwarts group, eh? Well, let them feel free to look around, but don't let them read anything out loud!" The wizard hurried back to his companions, who were diligently levitating the statues back to their respective places in the hallway.

After making sure Seamus was all right, Cheops led a somewhat shaken group of students into an alcove that was full of jars. They were chipped and cracked, but neatly shelved, and the picture-writing on them was still cheery and bright after more than five thousand years.

Neville stood on tiptoe and examined a tall jar that was decorated with tiny Sphinxes. "Too bad we can't understand hieroglyphics, though," he said regretfully, squinting at the squiggly symbols etched near the bottom.

A brilliant idea occurred to Hermione. "Oh, but we can," she said, taking out her wand. "Etarnas!"

"Wow!" exclaimed Neville as the Translating Charm worked its magic, rearranging the symbols until they formed letters from the English alphabet.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked.

"Let's see… Whosoever reads this shall be forever plagued by sorrow and misfortune…" Neville gasped as he realized what he had just read out loud.

"By the way, it would be best if you did not read anything," Cheops said cheerfully as he stood at the entrance of the alcove, watching the students with folded arms. "Some jars have very powerful curses inscribed on them. You don't want to be haunted by bad luck for all eternity, do you?" He chuckled lightly, unaware of what had just occurred.

Neville looked like he was about to burst into tears.