The Horcrux

After dozens of minutes of silently flying over the Egyptian desert, Salim finally descended towards the ground. They were standing infront of a large rockface with four large statues of a seated man on either sides of a large entrance.
"Where are we?" asked Ginny.

"What do you mean, where are we? Don't they teach you anything at Hogwart? This is the Temple of Ramses II, one of the greatest pharaohs and wizards to ever live!"

"He was a wizard?" asked Harry.

"Yes, and a direct ancestor of Salazar Slytherin." responded Salim.

"I didn't realize that the Slytherin line extended that far back," Harry said in a surprised voice.

"They were not called Slytherins at that time ofcourse, but they still shared common traits."

"Like speaking parseltongue?" asked Harry.

"Yes, Ramses II never went anywhere without a snake coiled around his arm or waist." responded Salim.

"Amazing!" said Harry.

"Don't look so shocked. Greatness comes from greatness. You would do well to remember that." he said reproachfully.

"Now, I will only lead you to where I left..him, and then we must part ways."

"Left who?" asked Ginny, looking somewhat annoyed that Harry had been so secretive about their excursion.

"Voldemort," Harry said, ignoring the gasp that escaped Salim's mouth.

"You mean that Voldemort was here???" said a shocked Ginny.

"Yes, according to Salim."

"I didn't not say that! You're assuming too much," said Salim.

"You told me that he asked you to escort him inside," responded Harry.

"I said that a suspicious looking man asked me to escort him inside. You assumed it was he who must not be named."

"A suspicious looking man with a snakelike face you said, or was that a lie?" responded Harry, now somewhat annoyed.

"Now listen here! Salim does not lie in his business dealings. It is true that he had a snakelike face, but that is as much as he revealed to me. He didn't tell me his name or why he wanted to visit the temple. Not that I would have asked anyways; especially considering how much he paid me."

"That sounds a lot like Voldemort to me," responded Harry.

"Well..."

"Will you two let it go!" shouted Ginny. Both Harry and Salim turned to look at her, as if noticing her for the first time.

"Ofcourse..sorry. Let's enter then," Salim said as he led them inside.

They travelled through corridors covered with hieroglyphics, using their wands to light the way. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Salim stoped infront of a statue of a large snake.

"This is where he and I parted ways, and sadly where I part company with you," said Salim.

"Right, thanks for everything Salim," responded Harry, his eyes transfixed on the snake.

"Ahem.." said Salim, after a moment's pause.

"Oh that's right, the payment! Sorry, that I almost forgot," said Harry as he pulled a large purse filled with galleons out of his robes and handed it to Salim. "It's all there."

For the first time that night, Salim had a genuine look of happiness in his eyes. "Excellent, excellent! It's a pleasure to do business with you. Keep in touch," and with that he turned around and headed back the way they came.

"Can't say that I'm not glad he's gone," said Ginny after he disappeared down the corridor.

"I don't like him much either, but he has been a tremendous help," said Harry.

"Do you really think that Voldemort placed a Horcrux here?" asked Ginny.

"I believed there was a good chance of that when Salim told me his story about escorting a snakelike man here nearly 20 years ago. Now that I know that Voldemort is a direct descendent of Ramses II, I'm positive that he placed a Horcrux here. The only question now is where he put it?" Harry said as he ran a hand along the statue of the snake.

"Maybe you're suppose to push the statue?" said Ginny.

"No, I doubt that." responded Harry.

"Why not?"

"Because Voldemort would not make it that easy for others to find his Horcrux. It has to be a spell or..." he broke off, as he walked around the statue to examine it further.

Harry tried casting a few spells on the statue to see if it would move, or if he could damage it, but failed. However, now he was absolutely sure that Voldemort or atleast some wizard had tampered with this statue.

"Why don't you try speaking to it in parseltongue?" said Ginny.

"Great idea Ginny! That must be it."

"Open," he said in parseltongue, but nothing happened.

"I command you to open!" he said loudly, but still nothing.

"Hmm...I wonder what sort of command...wait that's right! I almost forgot about the blood," he said.

"Blood? What blood?" asked Ginny.

"It's been so long since the last time I retrieved a Horcrux that I forgot about the blood sacrifice. I have to spill some of my blood onto it to activate it." he responded as he took out a small dagger from inside his robes.

"Ok, but be careful," warned Ginny.

"Don't worry, I'll only make a small cut," Harry said as he carefully slid the blade against his palm, causing blood to trickle down his forearm. He then rubbed some of the blood ontop of the snake statue's head and stepped back.

"I command you to open!" he said and the snake sprung to life, immediately lunging itself at Harry, with it's fangs bared.