A/N: I would just like to say that I am not an archaeologist and no nothing about translating hieroglyphs. My theories are pure speculation and most likely make no sense in the real world. I would once again like to acknowledge my fantastic beta for all her help with this chapter.

Exiting the office of another researcher, Hermione made her way to visit the curator. She had sent Sarah home; the emotional upheaval had left her spent. She still hadn't had any luck in her search for the amulet and was hoping the mysterious Daniel would have found something by now. Walking through the aisles to the back of the room, she could hear Dr. Jackson's voice in the distance.

"-basement of a museum looking at what appears to be an Egyptian burial jar...Which may not seem out of the ordinary in a museum, granted, but there's something else besides the usual hieroglyphs...There's a second set of markings. They're Goa'uld symbols...I'm sure...I'll call him now..."

As she got closer, Hermione could see that Dr. Jackson was making a new call on his mobile. He was too engrossed to notice her presence, and she paused at the base of the aisle to wait, just out of his line of sight, for him to finish.

"Pick up. Pic-Jack it's Daniel...I'm still in Chicago...Listen could you put Teal'c on...I've found a burial jar with Goa'uld symbols and I want to confirm the translation with him...Alright..."

As she watched, Daniel lifted a canopic jar into view, startling Hermione. It looked like the destroyed Osiris jar. How on Earth had he got his hands on it?

"Right, um listen, I need a little help with a translation. I've got a line here that reads, uh, Ha koor kra terah chee...Right...Okay thank you...No thanks, I think I can take it from here...Uh don't wait, wait."

Rooted to the spot in shock, Hermione's thoughts raced, stumbling over themselves as she processed what she was hearing.

How could he know-

Oh my God-

Did he-

How-

Snapping out of her shocked state, Hermione stepped back into the shadows as Daniel wrote something down and began to make yet another call.

"Sam, it's me again...I did...Look I'm getting a flight back tonight. We need to get the jar tested. Teal'c confirmed what I have translated and it doesn't sound that good. I'm not sure..."

How did he know how to translate those symbols? She had looked for any hint of a way to translate that writing. How could he know it, let alone be able to speak it fluently?

Daniel hung up the phone and quickly gathered the papers on the desk and the jar. Hermione stayed in the shadows, hoping to avoid being seen. Silently thanking her years of eavesdropping with Harry, Ron, and the twins, she was able to remain hidden until Dr. Jackson left. Once he was out of sight, she made her way over to the desk and began hunting through what he had left there.

She was very confused and hoped to find some answers. All she found was a notebook with the top sheet torn off. Studying it closely, she could just make out the impressions from the writing on the previous sheet of paper. Carefully Hermione took out a pencil and rubbed it across the page, revealing the strange symbols and a translation beneath.

She picked up the notebook and made her way back through the stacks to the front desk, where the curator was busy with paperwork.

"Excuse me," she began anxiously, "but do you know where Dr. Jackson found the jar that he just left with?"

"The Isis jar?" the curator replied. "It was with a bunch of other artifacts that went missing from the Stevart expedition. We've only had it a couple of days. Dr. Jackson seemed real interested in it."

Discovering that it had been another jar for the goddess Isis gave Hermione pause. Before she rushed back to her lab, she remembered the amulet Sarah was worried over, and inquired about that as well. Finding that Steven Rayner had it increased her unease with the whole situation, since she had already questioned him. Why had he lied to her?

She marched straight back to Steven's lab to re-question him, but found the door locked up for the night. Letting out a groan of frustration, Hermione kicked the door. She was so confused and she hated that. Determined to find some answers, she made her way back to her workspace and settled down to begin working out the puzzle she had stumbled upon.

Pulling out the notebook, she began to re-study the inscriptions on the chambers walls. As the hours ticked by into the early morning, she couldn't shake a feeling of unease; something about the whole collection was off. From the deaths, which she knew could not actually be from a curse, to the obscure writing that Dr. Jackson somehow knew and Steven's erratic behavior she felt like she was caught up in a conspiracy. Taking a deep breath to focus herself, she tried to relax.

The symbols were just like the ones from the pictures she had of the Osiris jar. Something was bothering her about the writing though: it was similar to early dynastic hieroglyphics, but not quite. Remembering the conversation she had overheard, she quickly wrote out what she could remember and compared the translated text with the pronunciation. As she stared at the paper she experienced a sudden moment of clarity. The language Daniel had been speaking was Ancient Egyptian; it was just a different vowel use than the generally accepted attempts scientists had given the language.

She knew some of the symbols were variations of hieroglyphics from the early dynasties, and this just proved her theory was correct. Using the translation of Daniel's and her own experiment in using variations for similar shapes, she tried to glean more from the images from the temple walls. Pulling out texts to cross-reference the names mentioned and mostly using guesswork, the story that began to emerge from the symbols was startling. It told of the punishment of Isis and Osiris by Ra - a common myth of the time, but this version told of a secret plan to escape their faith. Something hidden in the temple would allow them the ultimate revenge against Ra.

The translation was still incomplete, but she was at a dead end. Shifting gears, Hermione used her laptop to look up Dr. Jackson. Finding mention in his past papers about the origin of Egyptian civilization being much older than currently theorized made her wonder if there was a connection between her studies of the Stevart expedition and his theories. She tried to find something more recent, but Dr. Jackson had not had any academic works published in the last five years. After another hour passed, she could only find that at present he was employed by the Air Force, which again left her wondering what was going on. None of this was making any sense.

The sun was rising when she was startled out of her thoughts by the appearance of Dr. Rayner, who knocked on the door of her office and walked in without waiting for an invite. He looked surprised at finding her already in, but covered it quickly with a charming smile.

"Hermione, I didn't know you were already in. Did you pull an all-nighter?" he asked with faked concern.

"Yes, but I was just finishing up," she said, trying to clean up her mess. "Was there a reason you dropped by, Steven?"

"Well, uh, I just was looking for an extra copy of the expedition log."

She did not quite believe his explanation, but let it pass for the moment. "I don't believe I have one. I went to talk to the curator last night and she told me that you had checked out the amulet Sarah's been looking for."

"There must be some mistake in the records," he said, dismissing the question. Coming over to help her pack and glancing at her notes, he changed the subject. "Have you made any more progress with your translations? It looks like you've had a productive night."

Not trusting his motives in asking, she lied, "Not really. I thought I was on to something, but it didn't work out. I'm sorry, Steven, but I need to get back to my hotel and clean up a bit."

"Alright," he said, clearly disappointed at the lack of information forthcoming from Hermione. "Do you want to have lunch later? I could help you brainstorm some of your theories."

Gathering up papers and her laptop, she waited until they had walked out the door and locked it behind them before replying, "Maybe."

Seeing his dissatisfaction with her answer, she yawned pointedly. She did not want him to push the issue and hoped he would take the hint.

It worked, and Steven soon departed. Trying not to run, she sped away, feeling her old sense of paranoia settling in. She preferred to think of it as an excess of caution, and during the war it had kept her alive more than once. Making sure no one was following, she went back to the museum to double-check Steven's story with the curator. Even thought she was exhausted, Hermione searched through the paperwork and confirmed Steven had signed out the amulet. Why was Steven trying to conceal the fact that he had it?

Arriving at her hotel, she quickly showered and fell into bed. Sleep continued to elude her as her brain refused to shut down. What was going on?

Daniel arrived in the briefing room to find Major Samantha Carter and General Hammond already waiting for him. Quickly passing out pictures of the jar, he began his debriefing with the usual background information.

"During the ritual of mummification, the ancient Egyptians would remove the vital organs of a deceased and place them in jars, which would then be buried with the sarcophagus so that they could be accessed in the afterlife," he explained.

General Hammond gave Daniel one of his piercing gazes. "Is that what we're looking at here?"

Shaking his head in the negative, Daniel continued, "That's what I thought at first, but according to the record of the original expedition, no sarcophagus was found. Uh, the hieroglyphs identify the jar as belonging to Isis, who is the Egyptian mother goddess."

"The Goa'uld?" interjected Sam.

"It's possible," replied Daniel. "You see, Isis was the consort of Osiris, supposedly the first Pharaoh of Egypt. Now according to legend, he was placed in a magic box and dumped in to the Nile by his brother Seth."

"Now that name I recognize," said Hammond.

"The Goa'uld symbols indicate that Isis and Osiris suffered some sort of punishment, or banishment," continued Daniel, flipping through his notes.

"Where to?" asked Sam.

"I have no idea."

Turning his attention onto Sam, General Hammond gave her an order. "Major, I want the contents analyzed."

"Yes sir."

"Uh, no, I'd be careful if I were you. For all we know it could be some sort of Goa'uld booby trap left behind by Osiris as a means revenge. Also, it's, uh... It's cursed," warned Daniel.

"Thanks for the warning," said a cautious Sam.

"General. There's something else. The inventory of the Stevart Expedition lists two jars."

Daniel could see that Hammond disliked his news deeply, "Can you find the other one?"

"Well, I can try. I was gonna head back to Chicago tonight."

It was still early when Hermione left her hotel to head back to the university. She had had almost no sleep, and it showed. Yawning, she made sure to stop for coffee before heading to her assigned lab. Pulling out her work, she settled down and spent the rest of the day continuing her research. Something was missing; she could feel it, but whatever it was continued to elude her.

At about four in the afternoon she decided to pack up for the day. She couldn't concentrate anymore, hunger and fatigue dragging her down. She made her way to the faculty dining hall for an early dinner. Just as she was crossing the main quad, Dr. Rayner appeared and repeated his invitation from earlier to accompany him for a meal. Too tired to come up with an excuse, Hermione let herself be led into the hall.

As they ate, she once again inwardly questioned Dr. Rayner's motives in asking her to accompany him for a meal. He was hiding things and seemed to be feeling her out about any progress in her work. Shaking her head, Hermione tried to focus back on the conversation. Her sluggish brain was in all likelihood conjuring feelings of paranoia when there really was nothing to worry about. Dr. Rayner was someone in her own field and working on the same project. What else would two virtual strangers talk about? He was just being welcoming. What else could he want? Hermione knew she was attractive enough to be of interest to him but she could tell his mind wasn't on that subject. From some of Sarah's gossip it sounded like he preferred to get closer to the student body.

She told him about her work while giving away little of her progress. Her questions about his work were met with the same guarded responses. The conversation was strained, and as soon as she was finished eating she tried to make her escape, but once again found herself being escorted by Dr. Rayner, this time to the parking lot. After making sure she was alert enough to drive, he parted ways with her to get a few more hours' work done for the day.

Caught in rush hour traffic, Hermione tried not to let her tired body distract her. Blasting the radio in the hope of keeping awake she tried to focus on the road and not get lost in her head. She smiled as a classic song began playing, reminding her painfully of her father playing the same song when she was little. In an attempt to pry her away from her books for a few hours he would have her help when he was repairing the car. During the summer she would help pass him tools, change the oil or clean the vehicle. Holding back a sob, she remembered the last time she had even spoken to her parents.

It had been before Christmas. Her parents had made plans to visit, but canceled at the last minute. It had become a long-standing tradition for her to travel to France for the holiday season and they would take the tunnel to meet her there. Harry and the Weasleys would also come to stay with the Delacours, who would host them all at their country manor for several days. Her parents had always come to see her, even if they could only get away for a day, but this year had been different. Their feelings toward magic had somewhat soured, to say the least, when she had been exiled, but they knew she still had friends in the magical community.

This past year though, they had fought more than ever, not just about magic, but also her recent decision to take a faculty position at the University of Cairo. They feared that a western woman living alone in Egypt was a bad idea. It had been another blow to their already fragile relationship. Most of their communication was through email nowadays.

Over the years she had got to know lots of Fleur's relatives and had remained close when she lived in Paris. The Weasley matriarch had also continued to treat her as another child; Harry's adoptive status had become official when he had married Ginny four years earlier. She remembered that occasion very well. Her friends had petitioned the Ministry to allow her back into the country for the event, but their request had been denied. Despite their initial plans to hold the wedding at The Burrow, Harry and Ginny had made other arrangements so that she could be with them on their special day: using some of the Black family wealth and a bit of magic, they had been able to rent a charter boat for the ceremony and held it off the coast so she could attend without breaking any laws.

It had been a beautiful ceremony, and a chance to see many old friends, who she had not had the opportunity to be with since the final battle. The day had been both heartwarming and bittersweet, once again reminding her that she was an outsider even among friends.