Chapter Playlist:
Get Ready by The Danger Twins
Holding On To Hell by Gin Wigmore
Smoke & Mirrors by Agnes Obel
Nothing Is As It Seems by Hidden Citizens, Ruelle
Chapter 2: in the library
The next morning, Ginny returned to work refreshed and well-rested. With her work completed on the Nepaldig, she was getting excited to have Harry on-board to help with their next research for Shambhala.
As she walked up the stairs to her office, Ariadne Greycombe fell into step beside her.
"I read your report on your Shambhala project, Weasley," Ariadne commented.
Ginny raised an eyebrow questioningly. She had expected Ariadne to read it—however, usually, Ariadne didn't bother to communicate with her regarding her work afterwards.
"Is that the real story?" Ariadne asked.
"Erm, what?" Ginny asked, confused.
"Is what you wrote truly what happened in those sky caves?"
Ginny licked her lip nervously and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, it is what really happened."
Ginny had left no detail out—except for that of the strange laughter and the feeling of being followed. It wasn't exactly empirical for her to include it, and there was no reason to worry anyone else, besides the team who had experienced it. They had all agreed that they wouldn't include it in their reports, either.
"It seemed like something was… missing," Ariadne hinted. "Like you'd left a few details out."
Ginny frowned. "No, that was it," she maintained. "I mean, the place was a little creepy, the further we got in, and none of my photographs turned out, for some reason, but I think it was just the presence of the past ritual use we found that contributed to all of that."
Ariadne nodded, but didn't look like she entirely believed Ginny. She seemed to let it go, anyway, however, and continued for a few moments before she told Ginny, "I have Potter set to co-lead with you for your next project."
"I'd figured, what with him being in my office and all," Ginny replied acerbically. "Never mind the fact that I worked hard to have my own office."
"We weren't anticipating his employment application," Ariadne shrugged. "But you can't exactly say no to the saviour of the wizarding world, and you two went to school together, so I thought your office share would be the most logical."
Ginny couldn't fault the logic, though she knew Harry would hate to hear that they'd only hired him on because of his fame. It was part of the reason he had quit the Aurors after a year and gone to curse-breaking school with her when she'd graduated—he didn't think his fame would affect him in this field.
She wouldn't share this knowledge with Harry, of course.
Finally, Ariadne and Ginny arrived at their floor and nodded briskly at each other. Ginny could never shake that Ariadne blamed her for Seneca's fate, but Ariadne had never said anything quite to that effect. Still, it lingered over Ginny like a raincloud whenever she had to speak with her supervisor, and so she avoided her at all costs most of the time.
Ginny entered her office to find it empty. She looked at her wristwatch. Ah, habitually late Potter, striking again.
She chuckled to herself as she grabbed one of the books off his desk and began to dig into it. She supposed it could give her some more information about the area that they'd be exploring while she waited for Harry to show up.
She was just beginning to get to the meat of the first chapter when Harry hurried in, looking worried about his late arrival.
"Alright?" she asked.
He jumped, and Ginny grinned.
"Sorry, I didn't see you. And yeah, I'm alright. You?"
"Yeah, thanks," she said. "Just nicked this book off your desk to keep myself busy until you got here."
He grinned. "Sorry, I couldn't find my shoe this morning."
"Just the one?"
"Yeah," he chuckled. "I couldn't exactly walk into work with only one shoe, could I?"
"You certainly could," Ginny joked. "But you'd get some strange looks."
Harry shook his head at her, taking off his blazer and beginning to unpack his work bag. "So, learned anything interesting in that book so far?"
"Not really, but it is only the first chapter."
"Yeah, a lot of the information about the gates is kind of hit and miss, as well. I always have to figure out what is most likely to be true, based off all the sources I've read."
"Oh, the trouble with dealing in myth and legend," Ginny bemoaned. "At least we get paid to read."
"True," Harry said. "At school, I didn't get paid for any of my research."
"At school, they didn't want you researching what you were actually interested in," Ginny replied. "They might have paid you not to research."
"I should have asked for compensation, then," Harry grinned. "Maybe I'd be a few galleons richer."
Ginny just shook her head and continued to read, occasionally breaking off, mid-sentence, to ask Harry a question. He was quite knowledgeable, as he should have been, about anything she asked.
When they went to lunch, Ginny asked, "So, would you like for me to introduce you to the team I've been working with most recently after we eat?"
Harry nodded. "If they're willing to continue, after the sky caves."
"I'm pretty sure they will," she told him, thinking of Cicero and the trainee, Emma. Balthasar, though, she wasn't sure about. He scared easily—though it could be a good way to build up his resilience in the field. "I'll bring you round to their desks after we lunch."
Harry nodded. "I know this probably should have been something I asked when I signed on for the job, but how exactly does funding work around here?"
Ginny sighed. "Well, here, it really is best to have as much information before you ask they fund any sort of expedition. Their coffers are deep, but they hold onto it unless they really believe we'll find something of note or something that will bring more money in. Because of this, we have to present our hypothesis to the board and go over the budget for the expedition and go through why each item in the budget is necessary and the cheapest possible amount that can be paid for those items."
"I can't say I blame them. If I had asked for money every time I thought I would find something cool, no one would ever hire me again."
Ginny laughed. "Same. There's one wizard who has really thought he was close to finding the Holy Grail about six times since I've been working here. They don't let him lead projects anymore, needless to say."
Harry shook his head. "Poor bloke."
Ginny agreed and prayed that she would never reach that point with the Society. She couldn't afford that—each successful project of hers gave her a small raise, in both pay and standing. She liked being good at her job. This latest failure wouldn't knock her down, but if she headed up another project that failed, it definitely would.
They got in line for food, and Ginny was sad to see egg salad on the rotation. Oh well, what was one to do if they repeatedly forgot their lunch?
After lunch, Ginny took Harry round to Cicero's desk, and Emma and Balthasar's cubicles.
"So that's the way the pecking order goes, then?" Harry asked. "Interns and new curse-breakers get cubicles in these little pods, the scholars get desks in the scholar room, and head-curse-breakers get their own offices?"
"Just about," Ginny told him. "The new curse-breakers don't bring a lot of income in while they're in training, until they actually work on a project or excavation. The only other work for them besides training on-site is to help the team-leads curate their exhibit and do any reports that are too menial."
Harry chuckled. "Menial?"
"Oh, you know, boring vases and the like. Finds that aren't exactly magical findings but are still important to the big picture."
He nodded. They walked back to Ginny's office, talking nonchalantly about the society and who was who there. As they sat at their respective desks, they transitioned to discussing the Gates of Alexander further.
"It's strange, really, everything surrounding this particular myth. There are so many Muggle cultures that have mythos about them. The Gog and Magog stories, in particular, are interesting, if a little… racist?" Ginny noted.
Harry nodded. "Yes. The Muggles have a few religions that all stem from a particular ancestor, and so they share quite a bit of similarities in their earlier stories, like this one."
Ginny nodded her understanding at him. "Are there any sources that have hinted anything magical?"
"I've only found two so far that are magical, regarding the gates. But there are quite a few that I had to do some deep digging for about Alexander being a wizard. I actually dug them up out on the continent before I applied for the job here."
"Interesting. I wonder if we might be able to work on both projects at once. It could be interesting."
Harry shrugged. "Especially as those are both somewhat near each other, geographically."
Ginny raised an eyebrow. "If you mean they're both in western Asia, then yes, they're somewhat near each other."
Harry let out a dry chuckle, shaking his head at her.
They called it a day soon after and as they were leaving through the front door, Harry asked, "Hey, would you want to get a drink? I've been craving a good ale."
Ginny thought about it, and how strangely empty her flat had felt the night before. "Sure, that would be great. I could go for a drink, too, I think."
As long as she controlled her hormones, she thought to herself. She couldn't get so drunk that she wouldn't control her urges around Harry.
They ended up going to a new pub in Diagon Alley that Ginny had never visited. Harry confessed to her that he had only known about it because one of their classmates, Justin, had opened it up and kept asking Harry to visit every time he ran into him.
"Justin, a pub owner?" Ginny asked. "I can't say I saw that coming."
Harry shrugged. "I think he's more into the business side of it than the actual bar part."
As they arrived, they noticed that it might be the swankiest pub either of them had ever visited—Ginny wasn't sure she could even really call it a pub. It was maybe an upscale bar, more like.
"This actually does seem like Justin," Ginny recanted. "It's got his name—and maybe Ernie's, too—all over it."
Harry nodded and they walked toward a booth in a back corner.
Ginny could hear her business heels clacking against the marble floors and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes—of course Justin Finch-Fletchley would have marble floors in a fucking pub. They settled into the velvet-upholstered seats, and even though Ginny felt like it was much too fancy for the likes of her, she had to admit that she was quite comfy.
She brushed some of her hair behind her shoulder and pushed up her sleeves as she turned her gaze towards Harry, who was staring about in utter confusion.
"So," she said. "Tell me more about these gates. I know we've been studying them every day, but I want to know what make them so legendary. Why are we studying them? What are we hoping to gain if we make a trip out there to Russia?"
Harry grinned. "There's lots of legends, of course. There's one tale of the legendary Holy Grail being hidden out there, and one about the lost Ark of the Covenant. Of course, these are just things Muggles like to look for generally—wizards aren't as interested in the Muggle religious artefacts that have supposedly been lost to time, but I still think it's interesting. There's also the tale of some of Merlin's relics being out there, what with wizards participating in the Crusades."
Ginny nodded. "Is there any basis for any of these theories?"
Harry shrugged as a waiter came by. "I'd like to see. I think that all of those could be rather far-fetched, as Alexander the Great would have built the gates long before any of these relics would have come into play."
"Hello, what can I get started for you today?" the waiter asked.
"Can I get an ale, please?" Harry asked.
"Any particular flavour?"
"Erm, what flavours have you got?"
The waiter began to name all the flavours they had, and Ginny couldn't help but silently chuckle at the look of growing anxiety on Harry's face.
"Why don't you get the apple-peach one, Harry? You like both of those flavours, right?"
Harry nodded and the waiter wrote it down before turning to Ginny.
"If I could get a Moscow Mule," Ginny decided. She turned to Harry as the waiter left. "In honour of our project, of course."
"Of course," he agreed, smirking a bit.
She thought she liked the way Harry's face looked like with a smirk on it. She hadn't seen it many times in their lives—it wasn't the most Harry-ish expression—but she thought it was attractive on him. As long as he didn't make a habit of it, of course.
"So, we don't know what we're looking for," Ginny surmised, continuing their discussion. "And we don't know if we'll find anything."
"Pretty much," Harry agreed.
Ginny shook her head, and as she did so some of her fringe fell into her eyes. "We're going to have to research the hell out of this to get the funding."
"That's why I've come to the best," he grinned, raising his eyebrows at her.
"You've forgotten Hermione exists, then," Ginny told him, raising an eyebrow, smiling despite herself.
Harry waved a hand. "Nah. Hermione's great at research, but she doesn't take enough stock in the crazy possibilities like you do. I remember in my fifth year, you said something that has stuck with me ever since."
"What's that?" Ginny asked, trying to remember that far back.
"You said, 'Anything is possible, if you've got enough nerve.'"
Ginny smiled, face lighting up fondly at the memory. "I did say that, didn't I?" she remembered now, she'd been thinking of Fred and George at the time, and had been picturing their daring escape from Hogwarts amidst Umbridge's rule. Merlin, she missed Fred…
"You did," Harry agreed. "And I think about it a lot now. You were right of course—"
"I always am," Ginny told him, unable to stop herself from interrupting.
"Yes, of course you are," Harry told her, lips twitching. "But it's driven my career a lot. It always makes me think—how can I make this successful? What is the best thing I could find here? What is the worst? I always decide the journey is worth it, too."
Ginny smiled again. "Well, I am glad to be along this time. I've no clue what awaits us at these gates, once we even find them, but it will be interesting to find out."
"That's the spirit!" Harry agreed as their drinks arrived.
H&G
The next few weeks passed in a blur of research. Cicero joined their team, and soon the three of them were researching in the society's library, rather than Harry and Ginny's office.
The library was one of Ginny's favourite rooms in the manor house that the Magical Historical Society inhabited. It wasn't for the same reason that Hermione would love the library, but rather the way the library looked and felt. The library was on the third, and top, floor of the manor, and looked out onto resplendent gardens that had been restored when the Society had bought the manor house.
There were a treasure trove collection of little alcoves, as well, that Ginny loved to do her research in. There was a particular table that she absolutely adored in a secluded corner next to a large window that overlooked the fountain in the back garden.
When she needed to think something through, she would just look out the window at passerby, and the way that the water would flow from the fountainhead into an arch and then down into the water at the base, where it would splash and bubble in such a way… On nicer days, she would even prop the window open and listen to the bubbling of the water as she let the breeze blow through her hair and cool her skin.
It made her feel free, and like she might be out adventuring again soon.
One such day, Ginny had propped the window open partway through the afternoon as she sat with a stack of books, her quill, and her parchment, and took notes next to Harry and Cicero, who were doing the same thing. The next morning, they planned on going over their notes and putting it into one document of their findings.
Today, though, was all research. She could tell that Harry was getting antsy by the way he was shifting about in his seat and the way he kept glancing at the exit route.
"Dreaming of freedom?" she asked him.
"No, not at all," Harry protested.
Cicero's eyes glanced up from his own reading for a moment before he rolled his eyes and looked back to where his finger was tracing along the page.
"Go on, Harry," she told him. "You can get out of here. You've put in enough work today to get a longer evening off."
"You sure?" he asked, eyebrows raising above his glasses.
"Yeah, for sure," she agreed.
"Thanks!" Harry's smile lit up his face and Ginny's heart skipped a few beats. "It's such a nice day; I was thinking I'd get a fly in."
Ginny did feel envious—when was the last time she'd gone flying? she wondered—but she knew she had to finish at least a few more chapters of research to feel satisfied with herself. "Do a few stunts for me," she told Harry.
He nodded, smiling, as he performed a quick ink-drying charm on his parchment and began to pack up his bag. He waved excitedly as he left, practically skipping towards the exit of the library.
"Somebody's smitten," Cicero smirked at her, looking up from his reading once again.
"I've no idea what you're on about," Ginny replied airily, avoiding his eye.
"Sure," Cicero agreed sarcastically. "And I'm Alexander the Great's grandson."
"You could be," Ginny joked.
Cicero shook his head. "I'll be finishing up soon, too," he told her. "I've got plans tonight."
"Oh yeah?" Ginny asked. "Hot date?"
"Something like that," Cicero grinned.
"Ooh la, la," teased Ginny. "Who's the lucky witch? Or wizard?"
Cicero's face turned pink. "Wizard," he said, smiling shyly. "It's a bloke I met at Flourish and Blott's this last weekend."
"Well good luck," Ginny told him, smiling widely. Cicero didn't go out often and was in relationships even more seldomly than he dated. "I want all the dirty details tomorrow morning."
His face turned a darker shade of pink and Ginny giggled. "All of them, you hear me?"
He nodded, grinning. They both went back to their reading, but within a half-hour, Cicero was packing his own bag.
Ginny was still only through a portion of what she'd wanted to get done, so she began to mentally prepare herself for a long night. As she looked down at her watch, she realized she could do with a quick break, as well. She stood from her spot, dried her ink, and marked her place in the book she was working through.
"I think I need a quick walk and some food before I get back to it," Ginny told Cicero as he looked at her questioningly.
He nodded and they left the library together. She walked with Cicero out the front door, and they waved goodbye as he walked towards the Apparition point and she took off towards the back garden. She loved walking through them when she needed a break from research. It sort of reminded her of a fairytale version of Hogwarts—sort of what she'd envisioned when she'd been a little girl and she hadn't realized just how old the castle truly was.
She was sure that the castle had more secrets than she'd have been able to learn and would almost have loved a chance to go back and explore the place again, as an adult and capable curse-breaker. The only place she would avoid would be the Chamber of Secrets—which was, admittedly, the most interesting place in the castle. One that most curse-breakers would have loved to explore and discover the secrets that laid beneath the castle.
Shaking her head, Ginny tried to work through what she'd been reading about the Gates of Alexander that day. She still wasn't getting a clear idea about it—she almost felt like they were chasing myths. And not in the interesting, concrete way, but in the way that someone would chase something that most likely didn't exist.
Like the Deathly Hallows—just children's stories.
Still, she didn't want to let Harry down, and she trusted his instincts. His year with the Aurors had helped hone his instincts, and by the time they'd gone to curse-breaking school together, they were as sharp as a dagger.
She meandered for another twenty minutes before she began to head to the canteen in search of sustenance. When she got to the canteen, it was as she had feared—leftover sandwiches from lunch. Bravely, she ate the sandwich for a second time before she went back to the library and settled into her favourite alcove for the next several hours.
She watched the sun set through the window for a few minutes before she put her nose back to the grindstone and began to read.
Ginny was just starting to nod off when she woke up suddenly, the uncanny sensation of being watched filling her with icy fear. She glanced around quickly, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't see anything.
Shaking her head, she looked down at the drool stain that now marred the page of the book she'd been reading when she fell asleep. Disgusting, Weasley, she told herself.
Picking up from where she last remembered, Ginny began to read.
"Alexander's Gates are the subject of many worldwide speculations. Some have guessed that they could be the resting place of the Holy Grail, said to have the power to heal all wounds and to grant immortality and happiness. Others have said that the Gates could be home to the lost Ark of the Covenant from the Abrahamic religions, though there's no basis for this, or even that the Gates of Alexander ever existed…"
The hairs on the back of Ginny's neck were standing up, a chill making its way down her spine. She glanced around again quickly, still seeing nothing.
You're losing it, Ginny told herself. Now fucking read and you can go home.
She returned to her reading for the umpteenth time, but she just couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Finally, Ginny gave up and began to pack her things. Tonight was a lost cause, she decided.
As she stood up from her alcove window seat and wedged herself out from the table, Ginny thought she saw something flash out of the corner of her eye, disappearing around the stacks.
Frowning, she walked toward the exit, avoiding the part of the carpet beneath her feet that she knew would squeak. She tried to convince herself that her mind was playing tricks on her—that was the only explanation, after all. The wizarding world didn't get haunted in the same way Muggles thought happened, with ghosts, so there really was nothing for her to fear, she told herself.
"Nothing to fear at all," she whispered to herself aloud.
It was then that she heard a small, familiar, giggle from behind the next set of stacks. She hurried her gait, rushing to see who was on the other side, working late.
She saw a flash of red hair similar to her own disappear around the next corner.
What in the bloody hell? Ginny wondered. No one else at the Magical Historical Society had the same shade of red hair as she did—except Bill, but he'd cut it close to his head since Victoire had been a baby and tugged on it incessantly. And, she reminded herself, Bill was out in assignment in South America.
She was running now, after that flash of red hair, but when she turned the corner around the stacks there was nothing there. Panting, she jogged out of the library, looking about wildly for anything out of the ordinary.
As Ginny stepped out into the corridor, the library door slammed shut behind her. Her heart was pounding in her ears and she felt she might be sick.
Against her better judgment, Ginny tried to doorknob, jiggling it, and found that it was locked. She didn't want back into the library badly enough to spell it open, so she decided to just leave for the night. She prayed to Merlin that whatever paranoia was overtaking her wouldn't follow her home to her flat.
She forced herself to walk calmly out of the manor house and to the Apparition point. When she was home, Ginny warded her flat, as she'd done her last two years at Hogwarts to her dorm room. She felt safer now, nestled into her comfy bed and protected by several protective wards.
She put her books away for the night, tired of them. Instead, she just burrowed deep into her covers and drifted off into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were filled with visions of the sky caves intermingled with images of the Parisian catacombs and the Chamber of Secrets. Harry was there, too, laughing at her, and then telling her something very serious that she couldn't hear. His voice sounded like he was on the surface and she was deep, deep underwater in an endless lake.
She woke up in her bed, drenched in sweat.
Gross, she thought as she rolled out of her bed, her nightclothes sticking to her body like she'd gone for a swim.
She needed a nice warm bath, she decided.
Ginny made her way to the loo and began to run the tap, filling the tub almost to the brim with steaming hot water. She stepped into it, almost imagining herself a lobster being dropped into a boiling pot. How morbid.
As she sat in the bath, Ginny wished that she'd have thought to make tea before she'd gotten in. Some nice, warm tea would really hit the spot right about now.
She remembered a night that had been similar, years ago now. It had been the night before she'd started the excavation of the Parisian catacombs. What a nightmare that excavation had turned out to be, Ginny reflected. Had her bad dreams that night been some sort of omen? She wondered not for the first time.
She prayed that these strange dreams weren't an omen. Most likely, she reasoned, they were just a product of the strange paranoia that had taken her over in the library at the Society. It didn't mean anything but that her mind was processing what she'd felt that evening.
That was all, Ginny reassured herself.
After she got out of the bath, Ginny made herself her desperately needed tea, changed her bedsheets, and sat back down on the bed. She sipped at it pensively, knowing that sleep would not come easy. Would she be too exhausted if she stayed up the rest of the night and all the next day? As she glanced at the clock, she discovered that it was half-four. She figured she might as well just stay awake.
She climbed out of the bed carefully with her tea and made her way to the living room, taking a seat at her sofa and spreading her research out around her. What could she learn about the Gates of Alexander tonight?
H&G
When she returned to work the next morning, Ginny was intensely aware that the experience she'd had the evening before in the library was still lingering within her psyche. She reckoned it wouldn't bother her quite so much if so many strange, creepy things hadn't happened to her throughout her short life.
Still, she was determined to ignore the worry in the back of her mind. When she got to her office, Harry was already there, sipping on his morning coffee.
"Good morning," he told her a little groggily.
"Morning," she replied. "Almost feel human with that caffeine?"
He smiled at her cheekily. "Almost, but it'll take one more cup to feel completely human."
She laughed. "That's how I feel without my morning tea."
"You always were a tea addict," Harry said. "How was your night?"
Ginny wondered how she should reply. Should she be honest?
"It was good. I kept falling asleep in the library, though, so I left a lot later than intended. And then I couldn't fall back asleep at home."
"I hate that," Harry commiserated.
"Yeah, me too," Ginny said. "How was your fly?"
His face lit up, eyes widening with a child-like joy. "It was great! I haven't had that much fun in ages."
Ginny smiled wistfully, remembering the last time she'd had a good fly. It had been far too long. She loved her career, but sometimes she really let it take over her life. She wondered if Bill had been that way, as well, before he'd met Fleur, and before the war had begun.
"I'm jealous," she told Harry. "I'll have to go with you sometime."
"You should," he grinned. "We could race and try to out-perform each other."
"You know I'll beat you every single time, Potter."
"You wish, Weasley."
They were each grinning at each other now, and Ginny could feel that her cheeks were a little warm at his attention. She couldn't help it—Harry Potter brought out her competitive side. He also brought out her flirtatious side. She liked to call it 'Slag Ginny.'
Ginny heard a throat clearing from the door to their office that was eerily reminiscent of the former High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. She jumped a little, still spooked from the night before, half expecting to see Umbridge standing in her doorway, staring at them malevolently.
Luckily, it only turned out to be Cicero, looking a bit impatient as he pushed his square-shaped glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"Good morning, Cicero," Ginny greeted wryly. "How was your hot date last night?"
Cicero only shook his head. "Don't ask me about it."
"That bad?" Harry asked, frowning sympathetically.
Cicero shook his head. "Well, apparently he… oh, never mind."
Ginny raised an eyebrow curiously but didn't prod him further. If he wanted to talk about it, he would, given time. Instead, she only said, "If you need me to hex someone, let me know."
Cicero smiled sheepishly and said, "Thanks. I'll let you know."
Ginny nodded, grinning at her friend.
Harry asked, "Well, shall we get to the library and get researching?"
Her heart leapt up into her throat as she remembered the night before when she had been in the library alone. She wasn't certain that she wanted to return quite yet, but it was a dreary, drizzly day outside, so she couldn't very well suggest that they take advantage of the weather and study outside in the garden.
"Why don't we go on a field trip?" she asked before she even had an idea of where they could go.
"What do you have in mind?" Harry asked.
"Er," Ginny thought quickly. Where could they go that would actually aid them in their study of Alexander's gates? "Hogwarts," she said, unthinkingly.
"Hogwarts?" Cicero asked, Harry quickly echoing his question.
"Well, yeah. They might have a book or two on the subject."
"I don't see why we couldn't just owl the Headmistress and ask if they have anything there about the gates before we went barging into a school filled with children," reasoned Cicero.
Ginny thought of how he called the students of Hogwarts children, and how she had never fully gotten to experience being a child at Hogwarts. Neither had Harry—if anything, Hogwarts had sped up his maturation from what it should have been. What would it have been like be able to be a child at Hogwarts?
Shaking her head of the thought, Ginny replied, "You're probably right. I just feel like I need to get out and do something. We've been researching and cooped up for over a month now, just reading constantly."
"The glamourous side of curse-breaking no one tells you about," Harry said sarcastically. "It would be nice to go and do something productive. I feel like we've been going nowhere with our research."
Ginny nodded her agreement at him, trying to think of where they could possibly go.
"We should just take a little vacation to the south of France," she joked. "Go tan on the shore of the riviera."
Cicero only shook his head at her. "It's too bad that it's too soon to do a preliminary trip to the area. It could be useful for us to go there and experience it before we even dig up anything or explore anything."
Harry nodded. "I've got an idea… Why don't we go to one of the wizarding museums about King Arthur and Merlin? I know there's a few in Britain, alone."
Cicero narrowed his eyes. "What would be the point of that?"
"Well, I mentioned before that the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant are both purported to possibly reside behind the gates? What if we did research and—"
"Tied some lost Arthurian relic to the gates, blaming it on the Crusades or Arthur's knights?" Ginny interrupted.
Harry nodded excitedly. "Now, I know making up some bullshit could be disastrous, but it also could get us where we need to go to make the discovery we need."
"I agree," said Ginny. "After all, if we can't tie together our research, the Society isn't likely to fund any type of exploratory expedition."
"If we say we're going after the Holy Grail, they'll make us bring Michaelson along with us," Cicero warned them.
Ginny nodded. "I hear that. No Holy Grail talk, whatsoever. Any hint of the Grail, and we will be done for."
"Well, let's get our arses moving," Harry decided. "We're off to the museum!"
Ginny decided to leave her books and notes in her office, locking the door behind them as she grabbed her bag and they headed to the Apparition point. Somehow, Cicero had known the coordinates of the largest Arthurian museum already—Ginny would have thought it entirely too convenient if she hadn't known how much Cicero loved museums, and Merlin-themed ones, in particular.
They popped out of existence, and then rematerialized in the foyer of a castle that reminded Ginny eerily of Hogwarts.
"Is this supposed to be a recreation of Camelot?" Ginny asked.
Cicero nodded. "Yes, this is what a select group of scholars thought it may look like based off of reference texts and popular architecture at the time."
Ginny nodded her understanding and they followed a sign that led to a more modern-looking check-in area. Harry presented the number of Galleons needed for three adults visiting and they were each given an ink stamp on their hands.
"It will disappear once you leave the premises," the reception witch explained. "So, make sure that you let us know if you temporarily need to leave for any reason and we will present you with a different stamp."
They all nodded, and she gestured for them to enter a large set of doors to their right. "Through these doors, you will find the rest of the museum. If at any point you need help locating an exhibit or a lavatory, each area will have a map that you can touch with your wand and say the words for what you need, and it will highlight your path."
"Fancy," Harry muttered. "Too bad the Triwizard Maze in the Third Task didn't have that."
Ginny chuckled darkly. "Well, you didn't pay for that experience, so you didn't get all the niceties."
She noticed Cicero shaking his head and so she nodded at him. He gestured for them all to continue through the doors.
Ginny pushed the heavy oak doors open and felt as if she had stepped into another world. They were on a long bridge that seemed like a viaduct similar to the one at Hogwarts, and Ginny could see the whole of the castle somehow—she suspected that magic was at play here but didn't think too much more of it. They began to walk the bridge and Ginny couldn't stop herself from noticing the many similarities this Camelot shared with Hogwarts.
"It kind of looks like Hogwarts," Harry said.
"I was just thinking that," Ginny told them.
"I think the people who designed this one probably built this with that in mind, since Hogwarts was built around the same time," informed Cicero.
"It was?" asked Ginny. "I thought the founders lived about five hundred years after Merlin."
"That's a common misconception," Cicero said. "Merlin was actually a Hogwarts student. He was a Slytherin, in fact."
"That's interesting," Harry said in a tone that didn't convince Ginny he was being sincere.
Cicero nodded eagerly. "Legend states that Camelot was actually modeled a bit after Hogwarts, as well. Hence, er, this," he gestured grandly at the view of the castle in front of them.
Ginny wondered what they would find when they walked through the wrought-iron gate at the end of the bridge—a courtyard? Given her knowledge of medieval architecture (admittedly, not much) and her knowledge of Hogwarts (more than she'd have liked), she figured that must be it.
She was proven correct when they approached the gate and it began to open, revealing a medieval era courtyard, complete with piles of hay, horses, banners proclaiming the royal family crest (Pendragon—an image of two golden dragons, with the words draco somnit et expectat), and workers going about their 'daily lives,' as servants of the castle.
"I didn't realize this was an immersive experience," Ginny said.
"Oh, yes, that's what this particular museum is known for. There are multiple immersive exhibits, along with some of the traditional ones, as well."
Harry and Ginny traded a look. It shouldn't have made her feel this uncomfortable, but the thought of people watching her set her on edge. She tried to shake the feeling—she was being paranoid and had no reason to be. The war was over, and she had to assume that her experiences the night before at the Society had been some sort of dream or hallucination. There was nothing to worry about, Ginny assured herself.
Forcing herself to focus on what was going on around her, rather than her anxieties, Ginny looked around at their dress (not too different from what most witches and wizards wore now) and the different bits of historical elements that the curators of the museum had gathered.
"Do you think some of the Society's artefacts are in this museum?" she asked.
"There are quite a few, actually," Cicero said. "Michaelson has found a lot of Arthurian relics in his hunt for the Grail."
Ginny shook her head at the thought of her hairbrained fellow curse-breaker, as obsessed with finding the Holy Grail as others were with finding the Philosopher's Stone.
"Of course, he did," Ginny muttered.
They all shared a chuckle and moved to open the large set of double doors that would take them into the entrance hall.