Chapter 1: A Retching Sigh
Walking down the cold, hardwood steps of the staircase, Ginny
wrapped the robe around her tightly promising herself to win the Witch's Weekly
Lottery and move to Cairo. Ginny sat down at the small bistro table, holding
her tea with two hands in a feeble attempt to warm them. Across from her, sat
Oliver Wood: world famous Quidditch player, Gryffindor, and Ginny's object of
affection. As usual, his face was blocked by the Daily Prophet as he scanned
through the sports section but something caught Ginny's eye. On the front page,
a picture of her favorite piece of architecture, the Stonehenge, was on display
and the word "destroyed" caught her eye. In astonishment, Ginny snatched
the paper out of her husband's hands, anxiously scanning the front page.
Ginny read over the article, occasionally reading bits of it out loud to a bemused
Oliver, who Ginny later suspected only listened for her benefit- his attention
span was comparable to a tomato unless a snitch was mentioned. There was little
concrete information to be had; no suspects and no reason for the destruction
of a world wonder, just a few hastily strung together Muggle theories and a
promise to keep the prophet readers updated on this terrible event. Ginny put
the paper down and looked out the window, eyes glazed in thought.
"Earth to Ginny, come in Ginny?" Ginny looked up at Oliver, surprised
to hear his voice. "You've been staring out the window for five minutes,
now. What's on your mind?"
"It's this article on Stonehenge; somebody's smashed all the stones in
the outer circle."
"The paper said some Muggle cult might have done it."
Ginny huffed, "They were all destroyed at the exact same time. That's a
physical impossibility unless you're armed with a wand. Whoever is behind it
is definitely a wizard."
There was a short pause as Oliver looked down at his cup of tea, "So I
suppose that changes our vacation plans..." Oliver said trying to cover
up his enthusiasm. He adored his wife, but her obsession with a load of rocks
had always made him wonder.
"This isn't funny, Oliver. Stonehenge dates back centuries. It's probably
the greatest wonder of the world, and now, look, it's destroyed," Ginny
responded, shoving the front page of the paper in his direction.
Oliver tried to muster up an interest in the picture but could not. Already
his mind was making new vacation plans, plans that involved watching the Quidditch
World Cup in Luxembourg.
"Argh," Oliver sighed, getting up and walking over to Ginny. "I
need to get to work. We got a new one on the team. Creevy is his name, says
he knew you from school."
Ginny nodded absently, still lost in thought, as he kissed her on her forehead
and Apparated with a pop. Realizing that close to nothing was going to be accomplished
from the kitchen, Ginny got up and dressed herself, preparing to make her appearance
at the Archeology Department in the Ministry of Magic.
Ginny was a Junior Archeologist with the Ministry. She enjoyed her job - when
she was allowed to do it. Lately she spent more time running errands for her
boss, Adrian Pucey, than she did working on site. When she was allowed to work,
it was only the most basic of the jobs available. Ginny was only a Junior, so
logically, she would not get to work on the bigger, more important (and exciting)
jobs, but it hadn't always been that way.
Her former boss, Fobellis Blunder, had taken her under his wing and allowed
her to work alongside him, honing her archeology skills. Unfortunately, Fobellis
had died recently in a terrible accident involving a rather large chunk of rock,
and his replacement was not as kind. Her love of all things Archeology (or as
Oliver put it, with piles of stones) kept her working, despite this. She wouldn't
be a Junior forever and she looked forward to the day when she would be in charge
of her own sites and make her own discoveries.
Upon entering her usually calm office, Ginny found it filled with middle-aged
witches and wizards complaining about their new boss as they took their twenty-third
coffee break before noon. But Ginny knew something was up when everyone in the
office was acting like they had taken more than their fair share of Pepper-Up
Potion. She approached one of her more friendly co-workers for a heads-up.
"Ginny! I was wondering when you'd get here. Tell me, what do you
think of all this Stonehenge business? Fantastic that we're being allowed
to investigate, don't you think?" Cenwig Tunwulf said to Ginny excitedly.
Cenwig, a middle-aged wizard with a dress style rivaling that of Gilderoy Lockhart,
was the office gossip and existed in a perpetual state of giddiness. "Do
you think Pucey will let us get our hands on anything?"
"I only know what I read about in this mornings Prophet," said Ginny,
wishing Cenwig had skipped the last ten cups of coffee. "And I don't
know about you, but I'll be lucky if I'm allowed to carry Pucey's
tool box."
Cenwig and Ginny shared a laugh. Adrian's treatment of Ginny did not go
unnoticed amongst her co-workers. None of them were treated with the respect
they deserved, but for some unknown reason, he treated Ginny worse. Office opinion
was that Pucey never forgave her for turning him down for a date within his
first few hours on the job. Ginny thought he might have some Slytherin tendencies
left over from Hogwarts and he was taking them out on her, the nearest Gryffindor.
"Who do you think did it?" asked Cenwig.
"I'm not sure," answered Ginny. "I guess we won't
know 'til we get a look at it. I'll tell you one thing, though,
it definitely wasn't that Muggle cult they talked about in the Prophet.
The only way all those stones were knocked down like that was with magic."
"Who died and made you the expert around here, Weasley?" said a
snotty, sneering voice belonging to Adrian Pucey.
Cenwig rolled his eyes; the rest of the office went quiet. Ginny struggled not
to let her true feelings show on her face and bid Pucey a some-what cordial
'good morning.' Pucey ignored her and continued speaking, this time
to the entire office, in the same, snooty tones.
"As you all know, the Ministry would like us to investigate the damage
done at Stonehenge last night. As Miss Weasley has so kindly pointed out to
us, responsibility lies not, as the Daily Prophet suggests, in the hands of
a Muggle cult, but instead with a group of wizards. It is our job today to discover
as much as possible about what went on while leading the Muggles on the scene
to believe that we are just another group of archeologists, concerned only with
the restoration of this world wonder.
"Tunwulf, DeWay, Bowie, you will be working with me at the Main Site.
Bridgewick, Manthium, you will be co-coordinating our efforts with the Muggle
teams. Coincidentally, you will also be in charge of bringing me coffee. Four
words for you: black with two sugars."
Ginny mentally ticked off the names of her co-workers. Tunwulf, DeWay, Bowie
would be in on the main dig, lucky buggers. Bridgewick and Manthium were obviously
being punished for something and had been relegated to coffee duty. The only
other member of the Archeology Department in the Ministry of Magic was...
"And that leaves you, Weasley. You will not be apart of this excavation,
instead, you are to go to Glastonbury and complete a dig started by that dunderhead
Blunder last month. I took the liberty of placing the necessary files on your
desk, you have three days to complete the dig and I expect your report on my
desk no later then Friday at 9am. Are we clear?"
Even if she wasn't 100% clear, Ginny would not have been able to ask him
a question. Pucey spun around and marched right back out of the office. There
was a collective sigh of relief as the door closed behind him on his way out
and the tension level in the room dropped visibly. Everyone mumbled their condolences
to Bridgewick, Manthium and even Ginny, for missing out on what was sure to
be the chance of a lifetime.
This would be the first time archeologists – wizard or Muggle - would
have the opportunity to explore underneath Stonehenge. Until now, such a task
was impossible without disturbing the 26-ton sarsen stones arranged on the surface.
Legend had it that King Arthur was buried under Stonehenge and to be in on such
an excavation… Ginny sighed and a wave of envy washed over her but it
only lasted for a moment. Wasn't it just this morning that she was wishing
to be in charge of her own dig? To make her own discoveries? Opportunity had
just knocked and she'd be foolish not to make the most of this chance.
Tanks says: The Chapter Title is an Anagram. If you can unscramble it, you'll have a hint for the next chapter:)