Chapter 15

Harry hummed as he walked towards the pyramid. Hedwig was quiet for now, cradled in his arms. He glanced over to the Curse Breaker he had cast the Imperius Curse over.

"Show me the dark object you found," he said.

Robotically, the Curse Breaker walked into the pyramid, Harry following him. They went through the maze before coming into a chamber. The Curse Breaker pointed across the room to a small brown box, his eyes dazed.

"Stay here," Harry said.

Harry walked across the chamber and knelt down. He set Hedwig down gently. The black cat sniffed at a few objects before walking over to a vase to sniff it as well. Her legs seemed slightly stiff, but Hedwig didn't seem to be in too much pain, at least not now. Harry touched the small brown box and opened it, tearing through all the wards and protection charms on it. The object within was a circlet. It was silver, set with onyx stones, but there was an empty space that indicated a missing jewel. Harry lifted it out carefully, aware of the strange dark magic that surrounded the circlet. There was a small rolled up piece of parchment in the box as well. Harry took it out and carefully unrolled the fragile ancient parchment. It was written in hieroglyphics.

"How interesting..." Harry muttered, studying the hieroglyphs.

He looked at the circlet and traced his finger around the empty space. Then he tucked the circlet and parchment into his pocket. He motioned for Hedwig to come over and when she was close enough, he scooped her into his arms carefully. Hedwig meowed, shifting in his hold. Harry could feel that she was distressed, the anxiety rolling off Hedwig in waves. He stroked her pelt gently, hoping to soothe the cat, but he soon felt something wet on his hand and looked down to see blood and fur staining his hand. Harry cursed under his breath before he began gently probing at Hedwig's pelt, making the cat squirm in pain. Blood was leaking out of Hedwig's pores, soaking the black pelt.

"We're running out of time," Harry muttered.

The Curse Breaker led Harry back out the pyramid. Harry pointed his finger at the Curse Breaker.

"Your work here is done," he said.

In a green flash, the Curse Breaker collapsed to the ground, dead. The next second, the dead body was lit up in fire, burning all traces Harry was there. And then he was gone.

Alex, Hermione, and Ginny landed in Egypt.

"Should've dressed lighter," Ginny grumbled.

"Let's go," Alex said, ignoring Ginny's complaining. "We have a lot of ground to cover. You two know Harry's magical signature, right?"

"I don't know it as well as you do, but I do know what it feels like," Hermione said.

"I didn't know him personally like you two, but I do remember what it felt like back in America." Ginny said.

"Good," Alex said. "There are three pyramids where we landed. We'll each take one. Search for anything Harry may have taken or if he left any magical signature behind. From what I can tell, these pyramids don't have any wards that prevent Apparation."

The three split up, Apparating to the three pyramids. Alex appeared at the entrance of the Pyramid of Menkaure, the smallest of the three Pyramids of Giza. Immediately, he could feel his twin's magical signature; it was faint but present enough to indicate Harry had definitely come here. Alex looked down and frowned before bending down and touching the sand. He dug a little; there was a light gray substance mixed in with the sand. Alex wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't been looking carefully. He gathered some of the substance in his hand and let it fall back to the sand, mixing the substance together with the sand further.

"Ashes," Alex muttered.

Alex stood up and entered the pyramid. He followed his twin's magic signature through the maze that was the pyramid until he came into a large chamber. He looked around. The chamber was relatively empty save for a few vases, chests, and boxes. He peeked into some vases to see necklaces and bracelets. His eyes caught a small brown box. Harry's magic was all over it with some remnants of protection charms and wards. Alex knelt down and opened the box. It was empty, but he could feel very faint traces of strange dark magic, much like the pendant...but something didn't feel right.

"Alex, find anything?" Ginny asked from behind him.

"He was here," Alex said, standing up and turning to face the redhead. "He took something from this box. It has a similar dark magic energy as the pendant. What about you?"

"I felt his magical signature in the Pyramid of Khufu, but it was very faint. From what I could tell, he didn't take anything and he didn't stay there for long." Ginny said.

"Hey guys," Hermione said as she came through the entrance of the chamber.

"What did you find?" Alex asked.

"Harry was in the pyramid I checked, the Pyramid of Kaufre. He took something, but I didn't sense any strange dark magic." Hermione said.

"He took something from here as well...I can feel traces of a magical signature," Alex said, turning his attention back to the box.

"The circlet?" Hermione asked.

"That is most likely," Alex said. "The strange dark magic I felt from the pendant, it is similar to what was found in this box, but it doesn't feel quite right...like something is missing."

"The circlet could've been broken in half," Ginny suggested.

"No, something as valuable as that circlet and with its history, it is unlikely they'd cut it in half. No, they're more likely to separate something from the circlet, something that can easily be put back in."

Hermione snapped her fingers.

"The jewel! That red jewel!" she exclaimed. "Maybe that's what's missing!"

"Perhaps so," Alex said. "If that's the case, we'll have to look for it and get it before Harry does. That way, he'll have no choice but to come to us."

"That sounds like a plan," Ginny said, nodding thoughtfully. "It'll be dangerous though; Harry isn't exactly one of those people you want to mess with."

"But if we do find it, we'll be one step ahead of Harry. He'll have no choice but to come to us and explain everything if he wants the jewel," Hermione said. "If it works, it'll be worth the risk."

"Yeah, just don't forget we're also racing against the Aurors from both the Ministry and the Magic Congress to find Harry," Ginny said. "We don't have a lot of time to find Harry."

"Then we better hurry," Hermione said. "Where to next, Alex?"

"That book I read back at Grimmauld Place, it spoke of several places that were common to hide dark artifacts. There were a lot of countries, but Egypt is a big one." Alex said. "If the circlet Harry's after has been separated from its jewel, this entire hunt will take much longer for us as well as Harry and we have very limited time."

"But we don't know where Harry could be headed to next," Ginny said. "It could be anywhere in the world. What if he's in China or somewhere else now?"

"Then we'll just have to keep searching for him. There is another place in Egypt that could possibly be hiding one of the objects Harry's looking for," Alex said.

"I know it." Hermione said. "The Lighthouse of Alexandria. It's one of the seven wonders, like the pyramids. Do you think that has a connection?"

"No, that's too obvious," Alex said. "It would be good to check the seven wonders just in case, but I doubt these artifacts would be hidden in those places. Anyone would find them. We'll go to the Lighthouse and then decide where to go from there."

"If there was anything in there, Harry probably already took it," Ginny said, sighing.

"We should still check," Hermione said. "It can't hurt, right?"

"No, it wouldn't hurt to check," Alex agreed, taking out his portkey.

They linked arms and then they were gone.