Disclaimer: All Harry Potter people, places, things, or ideas (all Harry Potter nouns) belong to J. K. Rowlings.
Chapter 4: My heart did break.
Minerva headed to the study followed by Poppy and Xiomara. When she reached the scroll, she wrote out the first and last letters of every other word: p, m, o, w, n, a, y, p, a, m, l, i, n, d, s, a, and r. She was planning to write out all the odd letters beginning with p, but then realized that the sequence would have mostly consonants and the other mostly vowels. Staring at it, she finally recognized that the pattern was based on the last and then the first letter of every other word without counting the lone 'a,' making the answer to the code: Mona Lisa.
"Mona Lisa," she said aloud.
A bright flash came from the scroll and a small jade box with several drawers appeared along with another scroll. This time the message was in standard English and used an old pet name of hers toward its end:
Minerva, my love,
I know that only you could have solved the riddle. Here is the explanation that I owe you. If the vial is glowing, then it now contains my essence. The way the spell works, at the moment of death, the essence or soul of the person is transported into a preservation potion while the body is duplicated. The new version of the body appears in a place designated by the person before death, but the body is asleep until the essence is poured into it through the mouth. Though the painting is now animated, it will return to its dormant state if you can put my essence into my body. If things work as I hope they will, we will see each other again.
Until I see you again Tabby,
Albus
Poppy and Xiomara stared at Minerva with puzzled curiosity. "Minerva, do you realize that he may have set this up so as to occupy you while you work through your grief?" Poppy suggested.
Minerva shook her head. "I don't believe so. I was doubtful at first, but now I see that this could actually work," she paused and picked up the box. "However, I haven't the slightest clue how to solve this or even what it is. It could take days before I figure this out."
Xiomara extended her hand. "May I see it, Min?" Minerva handed it to her.
The flying instructor began to fiddle with it, pushing the various compartments. "It's a Chinese puzzle box and things need to be pressed in a particular sequence."
As she set the box down on the desk after causing one of the compartments to open, a rolled piece of parchment shot out of the drawer and circled the room until it found Minerva's hand. While she and Xiomara had worked with the puzzle box, Poppy had been studying the glowing vial. She cast a spell on it to check its status and then a deep frown appeared on her face.
"He was wrong," was all she said at first. The other two raised their eyebrows in a similar fashion.
"What do you mean, Poppy?" Minerva asked with concern flashing in her emerald eyes.
"How brightly was this glowing when you first discovered it?" she inquired, pointing to the vial.
The Headmistress eyed the vial for a moment. "I suppose it has dimmed a bit, but I do not see what this has to do with-"
The medwitch cut her off. "The potion is degrading at a faster rate than he had anticipated. Basically instead of four months since his death you only had two months."
Colour seemed to drain from Minerva's face as she glanced at the vial again. "That means I only have three weeks!" she exclaimed. Then she turned her attention back to the scroll. "Perhaps this will shed some light on the situation." She read it aloud:
"Tabby,
"I am so sorry that I have miscalculated the duration of the potion. I hope you have solved this one in time. My guess is that you have employed Poppy and Xiomara to help you by now, since I do recall that Xiomara has a knack for puzzles. The next one will appear as you finish this note, and fortunately it is the last one. I need to give you a hint though: to solve it, your other form suits you better.
"I love you always,
Albus"
Just as the parchment had said, another puzzle appeared. It was a small round disk with a diameter of eight inches. It was sectioned by four raised coloured buttons. "Mara, do you know what this is? The green button keeps blinking but I can't press it."
The other witch scrutinized it and then nodded. "It's like something muggles used to call 'Simon.' About five years ago I kept having to confiscate these from students during flying lessons. The green button keeps blinking because you are supposed to press it. Once you do that, it will blink again but then another button will blink until the buttons end up creating a long pattern."
"But I don't understand what the parchment was referring to by your other form. It might be the reason that you have trouble pressing the button," Poppy mentioned.
Minerva studied the device and noted how small it was. Then she looked up at the others. "I think I understand now. My other form is my animagus form. Let's see if that works," she suggested.
Transforming into a cat, she pressed the blinking button. She jumped back in surprise when it made a sound and then another button was added to the blinking sequence. With her excellent memory, Minerva passed it, ending up with a sequence using twenty-five colours. Another piece of parchment appeared:
Congratulations my dear,
I knew you could do it. Now it is time that I revealed the location. I am in a Valley in the land that once revered your other form. You would have to be swimming in the Nile not to know where this is. You will be able to find where I am when you arrive.
My deepest love,
Albus
P.S. You hold my heart in the palm of your hand.
Minerva sat back in the desk chair and sighed. We are so close, but I am so sick of these riddles! She ran her hands through her hair and tried to think of what type of valley he meant and why it was capitalized. In the back of her mind she began to recall the conversation from that night from what seemed like another lifetime ago.
Poppy and Xiomara had started walking toward the door. "Minerva, perhaps it's time to rest for a while. We will be around if you need us, but you've tried to do a great many things and the sudden need to rush is not good for you."
"Thank you for your concern, Poppy, but I will be fine. Both of you, thank you for your help," Minerva remarked.
She made herself a cup of tea and ordered a few biscuits as she attempted to solve the final riddle. What on earth does he mean by saying that I'll know where to find him when I arrive? Why did he capitalize 'Valley?' I have this nagging feeling that the answer is right under my nose, but I am simply too tired at the moment to figure it out, she mused.
Placing her hand on her abdomen, she whispered "Little one, I truly hope that we are able to find your father. I am not sure what is to be done now though. We only have three weeks and I feel as if each second slipping by is brining me closer to being one second too late to help him. I don't know where to go from here."
Almost as if in response her stomach growled. She smiled and glanced at the cuckoo clock. "I suppose my answer is to take a break for dinner."
Minerva was in a quiet, contemplative mood all through the evening meal. Flitwick was seated on her left and leaned over to her. "Are you alright Minerva? You've been awfully quiet this evening. You look as if you have something on your mind."
She turned to her colleague. "Thank you Filius, but I am alright. I was thinking of something, a riddle."
"Well, I know you will solve it, whatever it is. It takes patience for the sands of time to run through an hour glass," he remarked.
She smiled and nodded. "I just need to rest a bit and then it will seem clearer."
At the end of the meal, Minerva returned to the pile of profiles from wizards and witches vying for the position of Transfiguration professor. It was only 8:30 when she decided to turn in for the evening. Using the floo network to reach her old rooms, she prepared for bed and was quickly asleep.
For the second time in a few weeks Minerva woke in the middle of the night and sat up straight in her bed. Filius unwittingly gave me a hint by mentioning sand. I don't know why I did not think of it immediately but there is only one place Albus could be. I should have remembered the comment he made about swimming in the Nile during our chess game. The Ancient Egyptians used to worship cats and the 'Valley' he was referring to has to be the Valley of the Kings. I think I can apparate there shortly, she realized.
Dressing quickly, she packed the glowing vial and a few necessities in a carpetbag and sauntered off of the school's grounds in order to apparate. Actually arriving in Egypt was not the problem. Apparating to the Valley of the Kings would prove to be another situation entirely. She had managed to apparate to day-lit Luxor and was immediately stopped by two men in white robes before she could venture further. She was wondering if she would need a language translation spell when one of the men spoke.
"Madame, excuse me, but was your intention to apparate to the Valley of the Kings?" the man on her left asked in English.
She was unsure whether or not these men were trustworthy and the man on the right seemed to sense her discomfort. "We offer our apologies for not explaining who we are. We are a new branch of the Egyptian Ministry of Magic, called to protect the archaeological sites. We cannot allow apparition directly onto sites because too many wizards and witches who arrive here as tourists may cause permanent damage."
"However," the other one continued, "we are willing to allow access to someone who has a legitimate reason."
Minerva decided to be as vague as possible. "I am looking for a friend of mine who might be there. I need to see him for personal reasons and it is imperative that I find him as soon as possible."
While the men took a step back to deliberate, she searched her bag to be sure that the vial was still intact. As she fingered it, her thumb brushed something on the bottom that she had not yet noticed. A small round object fell off the bottom and onto her hands. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity after she had placed the vial back into her back and began to examine the object. It was a small blue scarab.
She looked up when the others turned back to her. "We are sorry, but we need a clearer reason to allow you access."
Minerva paused in thought, not wanting to tell them anything. Then she remembered the scarab in her hands. "Will this do?" she asked as she held it up.
The two men looked at the scarab and then back to each other. "She is here for him. Let her pass."
They both took hold of a shepherd's crook and indicated that Minerva was to do the same. She soon realized that it was a portkey and within minutes the vortex they had been sucked into released them in the middle of a desert with mountains.
"We will wait here and collect you when you have found him," one man said.
She stepped away from them and sighed, looking at the landscape. "Albus, how am I supposed to know where you are?" she whispered.
Suddenly the scarab in her hand felt warm and she glanced down at it to find it emitting a blue light. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity and as it would glow brighter when she walked in one direction, but dim when she changed directions. This reminds me of a children's game where they tell each other you are getting warming or colder when one of them is trying to find a hidden object, she deduced. Then she smiled fondly. It's just like you to use another game to lead me to you.
She decided to walk in the direction that the scarab glowed brightest. At last she found a small cave. Ducking to enter, she noticed that the scarab was so bright she did not even need to use her wand to light her way. A few corridors and corners later, the scarab led her to a room with an open sarcophagus.
As she passed through the doorway, two candles on stands that looked as if they had been borrowed from Hogwarts lit themselves. She placed the scarab in the pocket of her robes and rushed over to it. Gasping when she peered into it, she reached out and touched the face of Albus Dumbledore. He was as still as death, but not as cold.
She reached back into her bag and removed the vial, which appeared to be dimming again. Then she uncorked it and placed a hand behind Albus' head as she attempted to pour it down his throat. After it was empty she replaced the vial in her bag and watched Albus expectantly, looking for some result. His chest began to rise and fall as he started breathing.
However, Minerva's happiness was diminished when she realized that she could not revive him. Your body is as warm as a regular human's and you are breathing again, but you are still not awake. What did I do wrong? What have I done? I have to get you back to Poppy as soon as possible, she realized as she tried to hold back her tears.
She levitated him from the sarcophagus and out to where the two men waited. "Can I apparate back to my home from here?" she asked them.
"Yes. In fact we would prefer that you would. It would be far too complicated to explain your friend's presence in his current condition back in the city," one of the men replied.
Soon she was back in familiar landscape and heading quickly to the castle after having cast and invisibility charm over Albus so as not to attract unwanted attention. It was just past dawn when she arrived at the infirmary. Poppy jumped up when Minerva entered and looked at her curiously when she lowered an unseen form onto one of the beds.
The medwitch gasped as Minerva lifted the invisibility charm. "You actually found him. I didn't think you would really do it," she admitted. "Where was he?"
"I found him in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and I used the potion, but he…" she could barely choke out the words. "Poppy, he didn't wake up and I don't know what to do!"
(In the previous chapter Canterbury Tales should have been Beowulf. My thanks to Leta McGotor, Little Morgsi, A. Elyk, Lia06, Lady Jolly, Becca(), excessivelyperky, SherbetKitty, girl from Iceland(), Zoeteproet, HMS Frivolities and Felines, ParadoxofInfinity, JoolsFan, roniponi333, Isabelle(), and Lady Epur for reviews :D).