I'd like to thank fredfred and InquisitorCOC for beta-reading.

Chapter 5: The Search

Hogwarts, July 1st, 1995

Petunia Evans wanted to hit someone - or shoot them - when she entered the Headmaster's office. It had been seven days since Harry had collapsed in the champion's tent, blood gushing out of his scar. Seven days since he had told Dumbledore what he had seen in his 'vision'. The Headmaster had even had Harry give him a copy of his memories before Harry had even been released from the infirmary. And he hadn't talked to her or Harry at all since then. She was sick and tired of being kept in the dark just because she was a squib!

So she didn't take a seat when Dumbledore offered but stood in front of his desk with her arms crossed under her chest, staring at him. "You said that you knew more about what happened to Harry."

He nodded, his polite smile not changing in the slightest in response to her rudeness. "Indeed, I did - and I do know more. You might want to sit down, though. This will take a while to discuss."

"Discuss?" She scoffed. She didn't want to be polite. She didn't want to be reasonable. She didn't want to discuss anything. She wanted to lash out at whoever had hurt Harry. She wanted to take Harry and get him far away from everyone who wanted to hurt him.

But Petunia had learned early on, even before Lily had gone to Hogwarts and she hadn't, that the world didn't often care about what she wanted. So she glared at the old wizard and took her seat.

He had the grace not to gloat. He took a lemon sherbet from his bowl, fed another to his phoenix, then sighed. "As you have no doubt deduced, Harry has had a vision of Voldemort."

"That was obvious," she spat. Harry had told her so, after all.

"Yes." He leaned back. "It is his scar. It forms a connection between them."

She felt her stomach clench. She had suspected that, but to have it confirmed. "How?"

"I do not know the exact details. I think that when Lily's protection defended Harry on that fateful day, it interacted with Voldemort's Killing Curse, and the scar was an unintended result."

"Accidental dark magic?" That sounded very far-fetched.

"That description might be more accurate than you think," he said. "In that instant, when Voldemort's body died, his soul was torn out of him - struck by his own Killing Curse."

"No one saw what happened," she said. "No one but Harry, who doesn't remember."

"This is true, but I and others have spent considerable time trying to reconstruct and understand what happened to Harry and Voldemort. Even though the Killing Curse is not as powerful as many think - its tactical use is actually rather limited - a defence against it would still be seen as one of the most impressive magical achievements."

She snorted. She knew all about academics and their ambitions. She was one herself, after all. Some things were the same for muggles and wizards. And squibs.

"So, while I do not know exactly what happened, I think I have a very good idea of the events that led to Harry's scar." He nodded slowly.

"That's nice," she said, clenching her teeth for a moment, "but does that include knowing how to get rid of it?"

His sigh and the way his smile slipped told her the answer before he spoke. "I am afraid it does not - or not yet. This is where you come in."

She blinked at him. She was a squib; she couldn't do magic. Why would… "Egypt. The answer's in Egypt." The ancient Egyptians had been obsessed with life after death - or immortality. And she was an expert on ancient Magical Egypt.

"Yes. Thanks to Harry's memory, I have been able to determine that Voldemort has gained a new body through an ancient Egyptian ritual." He pressed his lips together in obvious distaste; it was the first time she saw him display such an emotion. "A rather gruesome and very dark ritual."

"That's par for the course for most ancient Egyptian magic rituals," she said. "'A life for a life'."

"Quite." He took a deep breath. "The ritual took place in Egypt. It seems that Voldemort used the sabotage of the Triwizard Tournament merely to ensure that my attention was fixed on Britain and on protecting Harry while he prepared his resurrection in Egypt." He shook his head. "Although I doubt that I would have paid any attention to Egypt even without this ruse - Voldemort might have been a little too clever for his own good. However, after looking into matters, I am certain that the key to defeating Voldemort for good is to be found in Egypt as well." He looked at her for a moment, then nodded. "Do you know what a Horcrux is?"

"It's a soul anchor. It's meant to keep the soul from entering the afterlife after death, allowing the wizard to possess another body instead." She shrugged in response to his stare. "I don't know how one creates one, or how they work - the Egyptians didn't write that information on the walls of their tombs - but it was mentioned in several texts. Esoteric texts Gringotts had acquired in their search for clues about graves."

"I see." He shook his head. "To think that their greed might be both our doom and our salvation… But I digress. A Horcrux is created through a foul ritual involving human sacrifice. It splits off part of your soul and plants it into a vessel - the soul anchor. As long as that anchor exists, you cannot kill the wizard who created it. You can destroy whatever body he inhabits, as often as you want, but his soul will not fade from this plane of existence, allowing him various ways to gain another body."

She shuddered. And such a madman was tied to Harry!

"The ancient Egyptians had ways to deal with Horcruxes. Unfortunately, they decided to erase that knowledge along with the knowledge to create Horcruxes - and were a little more successful at erasing the former than the latter."

Erase… She blinked. "The Nameless Necromancer! He was executed for trying to live forever, according to the hieroglyphs in his grave. His name was erased from history."

His eyes widened. "That would fit with the creation of a Horcrux. He might even be the one who invented soul anchors."

"I discovered his grave. I have all the information that we found there." She winced. "Except for what we burned along with the mummy into which they had bound his soul." If she had destroyed the key to defeating Voldemort...

"If you could deliver a copy to me, that would be most useful." Dumbledore smiled at her.

She nodded, even though she didn't share his opinion - she had translated all of the texts she had found in the tomb for her article in British Archaeology, after all.

His expression grew serious again. "You see, Voldemort has not just recreated or rediscovered the secret of soul anchors - he improved them. He has created more than one."

"Are you certain?" She was no expert, but that sounded really bad. Splitting your soul several times?

He nodded. "I destroyed one soul anchor already." He shook his head. "I wish I had not been so hasty, but I assumed it would end his existence. As you know, I was proven wrong by Harry's vision." His phoenix trilled and leapt from its perch, landing on his shoulder. "Thank you, Fawkes." He patted the bird's head, then looked at her. "Miss Evans, I know I am asking a lot of you, but I need you to return to the Valley of Kings and find out whatever you can about Horcruxes and the ritual that Voldemort used to regain a body. We need to find their secrets, their weaknesses, in order to have a chance of defeating him."

Cokeworth, Midlands, Britain, July 11th, 1995

"... and that is why I need to return to Egypt as soon as Harry's safe," Petunia finished, leaning back in her favourite armchair in her living room.

"The whole plot to force him into the tournament and sabotage it was a diversion?" Sirius scowled and gripped his cup. "And Harry's connected to Voldemort?"

"That is what Dumbledore told me," she confirmed. Sirius had seen Harry's vision as well, after all - and how his scar had bled.

He muttered several curses under his breath. "What a bloody mess. It's bad enough that the country's going mad with fear over his return, but this…" He shook his head and put his cup down. She reached over and refilled it. He snorted. "Did you know that Fudge tried to deny Voldemort's return when Dumbledore warned the Ministry? Claimed that it was just an attempt to undermine him."

"He's a fool." Which was probably why he had been elected as Minister for Magic - a fool was easily manipulated, after all.

"He might have succeeded, too, if not for dear Narcissa." Sirius chuckled. "She jumped on this as 'proof' that Lucius was put under the Imperius Curse. And with the Malfoy gold at work, Fudge soon changed his views. They're increasing Auror and Hit-Wizard recruitment and there's talk of investigating the Ministry to ferret out spies. That won't happen, of course - or will do more harm than good if they're using Crouch's rule book."

She nodded in agreement. "Have they found him yet?"

"No. They found his house-elf - dead. And signs that he had kept someone imprisoned for a long time in his own house." Sirius shook his head. "He must have gone crazy even before Voldemort got to him. He was the one who sent me to Azkaban without a trial, you know."

She did know that - he had told her numerous times.

"So, you'll wait until Harry's safe at Hogwarts, and then head to Egypt?" he asked.

"Yes." Lily's blood protection would be renewed by then. That should help keep out any more visions, too - even though Dumbledore seemed to consider that a drawback. And Voldemort would be out of Egypt by then, and back in England.

He nodded. "I'll come with you, then."

"What?" She stared at him.

"I can't do anything useful here." He scowled. "I can't stand the Wizengamot. It's made up of traitors, idiots and vultures. Andromeda can be my proxy in the Wizengamot. That should ruffle their bigoted feathers!" He laughed. "Harry will be safe at Hogwarts - Dumbledore is restructuring its wards against Voldemort. And Voldemort never dared face the Headmaster in the last war."

She knew that. Had told herself that numerous times to convince herself that she could leave Harry at Hogwarts and go to Egypt.

"But you! You need a bodyguard!" Sirius exclaimed.

She glared at him. "Because I'm a squib?"

He flinched but recovered quickly. "No, no! Because you'll be doing your research and Bill will be doing his Curse-Breaking. And I'll be your bodyguard!"

She pressed her lips together. How arrogant of him to assume that he could tell her what to do! On the other hand, she knew how it hurt to feel useless when Harry was in danger. And the Death Eaters had been active in Egypt before.

"I've seen you kill Death Eaters, Petunia," he added.

She slowly nodded. "Alright. But you'll listen to me in the field. This won't be the same as Grimmauld Place."

"Of course. " He smiled at her. "I've always wanted to see Egypt."

"Pretty much all you'll see will be sand, rocks and dusty tombs."

His grin didn't waver. "I spent a dozen years staring at the walls of my cell. It'll be a nice change."

She didn't want to comment on that. She could have said something about the talk they had, which had been interrupted by Harry's visions, but she didn't. "So, there are a few things you should take with you to Egypt. Things that will make your life easier there." And hers. She hated dealing with green Curse-Breakers who had forgotten to use sun blocker.

Cokeworth, Midlands, Britain, July 19th, 1995

"Hi, Petunia!"

"Hello, Petunia!"

"Hello, Ron, Hermione." Petunia smiled at the two teenagers who had just stepped out of the fireplace, then nodded towards the stairs. "Harry's in his room."

"Thanks!"

"Thank you, Petunia!"

Petunia watched the two dash up the stairs and loudly greet Harry. It was nice that her nephew had such good friends that they would visit almost every day while he was basically confined to the house so he wouldn't leave the range of the blood protection.

If only his friends weren't also the greatest troublemakers she had ever known. She didn't think Harry would be foolish enough to sneak out of the house for some adventure with them, but she knew they were planning something - the way Hermione tried to talk to her about her latest article in British Archaeology each time Petunia set foot in Harry's room while the two boys acted as if they were doing their homework proved that beyond a doubt.

She could just hope that whatever it was, it wouldn't destroy parts of Hogwarts. Well, she wouldn't mind if Snape's quarters were destroyed. But at least for the next hour or so, their plotting would be put on hold. "Harry! Ron! Hermione! Lunch's ready!"

Ten minutes later, everyone was eating. "So, what are you doing upstairs? I don't usually need to repeat myself twice before you join me at the table." Petunia looked at Harry, who was trying to act innocent.

"Just homework, Auntie."

"Really?" She raised her eyebrows. "You've been doing homework for a week. Maybe I should talk to your teachers; this isn't much of a vacation if you have to work so hard."

"We're actually studying ahead," Hermione said, smiling brightly.

Petunia might have believed her if Harry and Ron hadn't been a little slow in nodding in agreement. And if she didn't know them so well. "Oh? What are you studying?"

"A bit of everything," the girl went on. "We want to be well-prepared when we return to Hogwarts."

"It will give us more time for Quidditch training," Ron added. "I'm planning to try for a spot on the team this year."

"Yes, we need to replace Oliver Wood. He was our captain and Keeper," Harry said.

And, from what Harry had told and written her, a veritable fanatic about the sport. "I see," Petunia said. She waited a bit and watched them. Ron grew visibly nervous and if Harry tried even harder to behave innocently he'd start whistling. And Hermione was glaring at them.

Petunia shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"Why not?" Ron blurted out, then suddenly winced - Hermione probably had kicked his shin under the table, judging by her glare.

"We're not planning anything bad," Harry told her. "Not really bad."

"Do tell."

"Just another little expedition. At Hogwarts. We won't leave the castle, don't worry," he went on.

"Yes." Ron nodded. "Another legend to verify."

"It's not a legend," Hermione spoke up. "The Room of Requirement is documented in 'Hogwarts: A History'. It's just that its location has been lost - not even the elves have been able to find it for several decades. Rediscovering it will be a great achievement!"

Well, that didn't sound too bad.

Devon, Ottery St Catchpole, July 31st, 1995

Petunia watched the kids race around the Quidditch pitch at The Burrow and shook her head. She would never have thought that Harry and his friends would ever forego a chance to play Quidditch in favour of another sport. Well, Harry wasn't actually racing, but trying to teach Hermione how to fly his Firebolt. That he let anyone else touch, much less fly, his prized broom was unexpected, but Hermione not telling him off and going to read a book, given her issues with flying higher than ten or twenty feet? That was startling. Although, Petunia thought as she watched Harry use a rather hands-on teaching style - his hands on Hermione's - perhaps not so startling. She shook her head again. So much for 'not messing up a friendship'.

"It's all Fleur's fault!" "Yes!"

She turned around and saw Ginny and Luna standing behind her, both wearing deep scowls on their faces as they glared at the pitch.

"What's her fault?" Petunia asked.

"She told them about broom racing!" Ginny exclaimed. "And now all the stupid boys want to race each other instead of playing Quidditch!"

"Yes!" Luna said, nodding several times. "It's the first documented lingering effect of the Veela allure. Fleur's not even here, but they are still at it."

Petunia knew better than to try and tell Luna there wasn't such a thing as a 'Veela allure'. "You don't like racing?" Usually, the two girls would be in the air as well - Ginny loved flying, and Luna loved following Ginny.

"It's stupid," Ginny said.

"It's not Quidditch," Luna added.

"It's French." Ginny sniffed.

"You don't like Fleur?" Petunia could understand that. Beautiful, talented, rich and now famous thanks to having won the Triwizard Tournament - the Veela was simply too perfect. Especially when young, insecure teenage witches compared themselves to her. Or older squibs.

Ginny's huff answered that.

"She's ensnared Bill," Luna explained. "Caught him in her allure until he lost his mind and proposed to her. And it won't last; she's a bird and birds are flighty."

"The worst part is that he'll be visiting us even less often!" Ginny added. "He's already spent weeks in France this summer, meeting her family, instead of being with us." She looked at Petunia and frowned. "Aren't you concerned that he'll dump you for her?"

"No," Petunia lied.

"Harry said you'll be splitting up," Luna piped up.

"What?" Petunia frowned. What had Harry said?

"Yes. He said you'd soon pair up with Sirius, and Bill with Fleur. Or was it after Bill and Fleur?" Luna scrunched her nose as she tried to remember.

Her nephew obviously had a very fertile imagination, Petunia realised. And far too loose lips.

Cokeworth, Midlands, Britain, August 15th, 1995

"Snape." Petunia didn't bother to hide her distaste as she stared at the man on her doorstep.

"Petunia." The wizard made a point of looking her over, then sneered at her in that arrogant manner of his she so loathed.

She clenched her teeth and didn't slam the door in his face. "What do you want?"

"I'm here to deliver the potions you asked Dumbledore for," he replied with the air of a man forced to dig through a dung heap with his bare hands by circumstances beyond his control. He handed her a small package.

Petunia took the potions, cursing herself for not realising that Dumbledore would have had his Potions Master brew them instead of buying them and the Headmaster for sending Snape to her. "Thank you." She nodded at him.

He scoffed, not even bothering to reply, and she was about to close the door when she heard the fireplace in the living room flare up, followed by Sirius's voice. "Petunia? Harry? Ah, there you a… Snape!" He snarled at the other wizard.

"Black!" Snape glared at Sirius.

"What are you doing here? Apart from stinking up the place?" Sirius sniffed the air, then grimaced. "Have you washed your hair since we stopped pelting you with Paint-Splashing Hexes every few weeks in fifth year?"

Was that a vein throbbing in Snape's temple? Petunia knew she should intervene, but she couldn't help but watch the developing row.

"I was delivering potions to the squib so she doesn't die from her lack of magic on whatever errand she's doing for Dumbledore," Snape spat. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm visiting a friend," Sirius replied. "Not something you'd be familiar with. Unless you count your wand."

Snape was clenching his teeth. "I see," he said after a moment, his usual sneer firmly in place. "You couldn't have the witch so you're settling for the squib? Hoping she'll overlook your many, many faults because you're a wizard?"

Petunia froze for a moment, overcome with anger and shock, as Sirius whipped his wand out, matching Snape. But then, while the two wizards were staring at each other over their wands, she lashed out, slamming her fist into Snape's face.

He staggered back, blood running down his face from his hopefully broken nose, and she slammed the door shut.

Sirius gaped at her.

"What?" she spat.

"That was wonderful! I love you!"

Eastern Sahara, Egypt, September 4th, 1995

"I must say, just seeing you in your working clothes was worth coming along on this expedition."

Petunia couldn't help feeling rather pleased with Sirius's flattery. It almost made up for the humbling effect that travelling with Fleur, who was wearing tightly-cut duellist robes, had on any normal woman. On the other hand, she might have just grown used to someone sneaking glances at her shorts-covered rear while she was working. And Bill now only had eyes for his fiancée.

She snorted and shook her head at Sirius, who grinned at her, then refocused on the half-broken pillar they had discovered in the ruins of an old caravan town dating back to a time when even wizards had had to walk like normal people. Or squibs. She was familiar with the hieroglyphs, but the way they were arranged on the pillar didn't make any sense. The directions were all wrong. Perhaps… She consulted her map and her notes. "Sirius!"

"Yes?"

"Levitate the pillar and turn it clockwise, forty-five degrees."

He did as he was told without any backchat. Other than flirting, of course. "Done."

"Good." She checked the directions again. The direction to Theben was correct now, but the Temple of Anubis wasn't found in that direction, and much farther away. Although… Hadn't there been rumours of an older temple of Anubis? The Dean at Cambridge had dismissed it as a myth, but if wizards were involved… And Anubis was the Egyptian god of mummification and the afterlife. It fit her notes. That would mean that the possible ritual site they were looking for was fifty miles to the west.

Fifty miles through the desert, without any decent landmarks, and with her GPS not working due to magical interference. Joy. At least they would be able to easily apparate back to this spot if they got lost. She stood up, ducking so she didn't hit her head on the pole holding up the sunshade above her, and yelled: "Bill! Stop flirting with Fleur and get back here. We'll be moving out in five minutes!"

Bill was frowning at her when he reached her a minute later. "You never tell Sirius to stop flirting."

"I don't have to," she replied. Besides, Sirius was helping her and not trying to find a spot for snogging Fleur. "I think I found our ritual location." She pointed westwards. "We'll have to fly straight on this heading for fifty miles, though."

Bill grimaced as he studied the horizon. "We better hurry, then. If it gets windy we'll be blown off course. Literally."

"That's why I said to hurry," Petunia replied, stowing the last of her gear in her enchanted backpack.

"See," Sirius cut in as he stowed the sunshade in his pocket, "that's why brooms are superior: much less likely to be blown away than carpets."

"Depending on the wind's direction, that's not actually true," Fleur pointed out. "But brooms are faster."

"And less comfortable," Petunia said. She'd rather sit on a carpet than ride behind Sirius or Bill on a broom as if she were a biker groupie. And, what was most important, carpets wouldn't go out of control as easily as brooms, should she be left alone on one. "Flying carpets were only banned in Britain because certain families with interests in broom manufacturing bribed the Ministry. Let's go!"

She climbed on the first carpet, followed by Sirius, while Bill and Fleur took the second.

"Next time, I'm bringing my flying bike," Sirius declared after they had finally found a spot that matched Harry's vision. "Much more comfortable, much faster and much cooler!"

Petunia didn't answer him - her attention was focused on the stone circle below them, parts of it already covered by the encroaching sand. She could see the spots where the seven sacrifices had been held, their blood trails on the stones and the altar in the centre, but not the sarcophagus from which Voldemort had risen at the end.

"Get us lower," she said. "I need to check the altar." It was the only thing with hieroglyphs, and she hadn't been able to see them clearly enough in the Headmaster's Pensieve.

As soon as the carpet was hovering a yard above the ground, she jumped down and walked to the altar. They had moved the sarcophagus, but hadn't bothered to wipe the traces of the sacrificial gifts from the altar? Nor the blood from the floor? From what she had been able to tell, the sarcophagus hadn't been anything special - fine for a well-off scribe or lower-ranking priest, but certainly not for a wizard or high priest, much less a pharaoh. So why had it disappeared? Or rather, who had taken it?

Grave robbers would have taken the altar - it was much more valuable thanks to its rarity. And if the Death Eaters had wanted to vanish their traces, they would have done a better job. That left… "Damn! Watch out for Sandwalkers!" she yelled as she sprinted back to the carpet.

Bill cursed and drew his wand, but Fleur and Sirius were slower to react - they weren't familiar with the creatures.

"Sandwalkers?" the Veela asked.

"Man-eating dog-sized bugs that love to lay eggs in stone caves - or coffins which they bury in the sand!" Petunia yelled. She was halfway to the carpet when a dozen of the monsters emerged from the sand surrounding the stone circle, heading her way. And more were swarming towards Fleur and Bill.

She drew her Glocks and started to shoot at the closer of the two monsters between her and Sirius. Half her shots bounced off the insect's tough carapace, but half didn't, hitting the vulnerable eyes and the softer parts of its head. It collapsed as green ichor spurted from its wounds.

Petunia switched targets, but the second one was too close. And the others were right behind her. She had no choice. She kept firing as she dashed forward, then holstered one Glock and jumped over the snapping mandibles, pushing off the Sandwalker's back with one hand into a forward flip and touching down running.

Sirius was staring at her.

"Get the carpet moving!" she yelled. "They can't fly! Now!" she added, as he hesitated.

He obeyed, and the carpet started to rise as she closed in on it - as did three more monsters. This would be close. She jumped again, her hand grabbing the tassels lining the carpet's front edge, and tucked her legs up just in time to evade the closest monster's charge. She slammed both feet into it on the backswing, toppling it over, then fired three more shots into it as she swung around and pulled herself on to the still rising carpet.

Bill's carpet was already higher than they were, and Fleur… had transformed into her bird form and was now hovering above the gathered monsters as if taunting them - and gathering fire in her claws.

It took several fireballs to kill the Sandwalkers, and the stench was terrible - so terrible that Petunia asked Sirius for a Bubble-Head Charm and ignored Bill's smirk - but an hour later, they were on the way back to the lost oasis with the altar.

Valley of the Kings, Egypt, November 9th, 1995

Dear Auntie,

First, I'm fine. I'll be out of the infirmary in another day. Don't listen to whatever you might hear from the teachers - it was really not as dangerous as they think it was…

Petunia lowered the letter she had just started to read, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Harry might mean well, but his 'reassuring letters' would be the death of her one of these days.

She quickly read on, growing angrier with each sentence - at Harry, at his friends, at the teachers, who hadn't seen fit to send a letter, and at herself. Yes, the famous Room of Requirement had been lost for several decades. Or, to be precise, it had been lost since Voldemort's last visit to the castle, when he had cursed the post of the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. If not for Lily's blood protection and the fact that Harry was a Parselmouth, he and his friends would have died when they triggered the curses guarding the room!

But between Harry telling the conjured snakes to attack the other guard animals, his protection repelling the Withering Curses and Ron conjuring stone tents and walls to shield them against the fire lashes striking at them from all angles, Hermione had managed to solve whatever condition Voldemort had placed on his defences to make them last inside Hogwarts' wards and unraveled the whole scheme, revealing the Room of Requirement. In other words, they had been very, very lucky.

Of course, Harry had a different opinion.

It went as planned, Auntie. As we had speculated, Mum's protection works against any curses, as long as they are or were cast by Voldemort. That means we only had to worry about guards like animals or golems, and Sirius and Remus taught us how to deal with those when we were training for the tasks last year. So, it was really not that dangerous. Not any more than what you do each day, at least.

And wasn't that reassuring!

And it was worth it, Auntie! The room's like a treasure chamber - full of stuff! Furniture, books, toys, trunks, jewellery - anything you can imagine, in a room as large as the Great Hall. Or almost as large. And there are cursed items too - but weak curses. Student stuff. Nothing Pomfrey couldn't handle. I got a deboned hand, Ron got a deboned foot when he came to my aid and Hermione was hit by a Boiling Hex when she covered our retreat from the cursed training dummy. It's all fixed now.

"'It's all fixed now'? And that's supposed to make it better?"

Apparently, Sirius had reached the same part in his letter. She quickly finished reading the rest of the letter - mostly, Harry gushing about Hermione's research and complaining that they hadn't been allowed to claim the entire room as theirs - and walked over to Sirius.

"They're all alive, despite their best efforts," she told him.

"And I told him about the Marauders! We never did things like this!" Sirius shook his head. "What were they thinking?"

"They weren't." Not even Hermione - the girl could act as if she were a good, obedient girl, but she was cut from the same cloth as Harry and Ron. Reckless Gryffindors, all of them. "Let's go find Bill - he'll have received a letter from Ron - and a bottle of Ogden's Finest."

"Good idea!" Sirius said. "I'll have words with Moony once we're back. To let the kids endanger themselves like that!"

"Do you really think he could have stopped them?" Petunia snorted. "Check the date; they didn't pick the seventh by accident for their adventure."

Sirius blinked, then stared at her. "The night of the full… They know? You know?"

Petunia shook her head at him. "Of course they know." Hermione had figured it out three months into Lupin's first year as a teacher.

"Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'. Let's get that bottle."

They found Bill staring at his letter and shaking his head while Fleur was giggling. This was odd - he should have been used to such letters by now. Ron usually, and probably wisely, didn't bother with too many hair-raising details in his letters.

"What's wrong?" Petunia asked. "Ron is fine, isn't he?"

"Ah, it's not about Ron. Not that what he did is OK, of course. This is a letter from Ginny."

"Yes?"

"She wants my help in telling Mum that she and Luna are a couple. And I don't know if she's serious, or if this is just another attempt to make me visit The Burrow."

Petunia knew she couldn't help him with that - she didn't know the answer either. "Come on," she said, "let's get a drink."

"I don't know if I should finish this or not," Sirius said two hours later, eyeing the half-full bottle on Petunia's table after Bill and Fleur had retired to their tent. "I'll suffer tomorrow, but it should let me sleep without having nightmares of Harry dying."

She shook her head. "It won't help with nightmares." Not in her experience. "You'd be suffering for nothing tomorrow."

He sighed and leaned back in his seat. "How do you stand it?"

She shrugged. "Having a breakdown is not acceptable." Especially not in the middle of the camp. Too many Curse-Breakers were jealous of 'the squib' and would use the opportunity to ruin her. Like that Prussian pureblood princess, Lena Kraft.

"That's it? Failure is not allowed so it won't happen?" He laughed.

"It's worked for me so far." Even when she had been at her lowest, shortly after Lockhart had dumped her. "I don't give up."

"Yes." He nodded, watching her.

After a moment, she looked at him. "What?"

"You're a very strong woman. Stronger than anyone I've ever met."

She snorted. He had known Lily, hadn't he?

"I'm serious."

She had heard the pun before and laughed.

"No, I mean, I'm being honest." He stood and walked towards her, reaching for her hand as he stood in front of her.

"You're drunk," she said.

"No. Not like you think," he said.

She let him pull her up.

"And you're not that drunk either. You wouldn't let yourself get that far."

She nodded. He hadn't let go of her hand.

"So…" He tilted his head. "Don't blame the whisky."

"I won't," she said just before his lips met hers.

Valley of the Kings, Egypt, April 3rd, 1996

"Why is it that this tomb hasn't been disturbed for millennia, but a few hours after we uncover it, half the scum of Egypt find it as well?" Sirius yelled before sending another curse at the broken wall behind which the closest grave robbers were hiding.

"Someone sold us out," Petunia answered as she reloaded her rifle, ducking her head as another yellowish curse splashed against the pillar in front of her, leaving sizzling, steaming spots on the floor. Acid, she realised.

"Damned goblins!" he yelled.

It wouldn't have been Ripclaw, Petunia knew. He had too much to lose, and she and Bill were his best team. But Ripclaw was a goblin in a camp of Curse-Breakers - all of whom would have been able to get past his wards to sneak a glance at his records. "It was probably a wizard!"

"Yeah," Bill agreed.

"Don't talk, crack those wards!" she yelled back. "We can't hold them off forever."

Not even with Fleur in the air, raining down fireballs on anyone she could see - unfortunately, what with it being the middle of the night, that wasn't that many.

Petunia took a deep breath and rolled to the side, catching a robed, masked wizard in the open between two rocks. She fired two long bursts at him, then a third after his shield had shattered under the impact of over a dozen FMJs. He fell down a foot from the rock and rolled a yard before coming to a rest in a growing pool of blood. She barely escaped the retaliation from the man's friends, though - a few drops of acid from another of those curses splattered against her arm.

She hissed in pain as her skin felt like it were burning and grabbed a vial from her pouch, emptying it over her arm. The burning sensation and all pain disappeared at once. Snape was a horrible excuse for a human being, but he was a great potioneer.

A scream to her left told her that Fleur had nailed another one - those whom Sirius hit usually didn't suffer as long. Not that she cared about the scum attacking her - whether they were working for the Dark Lord or themselves. Dumbledore needed the information in this tomb to defeat Voldemort, and Petunia would happily kill anyone who tried to stop her from doing what she could to save Harry.

She saw movement to her side - more people trying to flank them. Amateurs. Coming from that direction, they were easily visible against the night sky. She emptied a magazine into the first one, then threw a grenade to get the second.

She didn't see if her grenade had landed close enough, but it didn't matter - Fleur, apparently lacking more targets, covered the area in fireballs. And Sirius stabbed his wand in the air, which she knew meant he was reapplying the jinxes that countered disillusionment charms and Invisibility Cloaks. They had a short range, but in this battle it was enough.

She changed position, popping up behind a fallen statue, looking for enemies. Nothing. She ducked. No spells flying at her. Had they given up? "Fleur? Can you see them?"

"Non! Oui! Ils chargent!"

Petunia cursed, rolled to the side, and came up to the sight of a dozen robed figures running towards them. She started firing, but they were protected by Shield Charms, and she went through most of an entire magazine for her rifle just to kill one of them. Sirius had more success, nailing two with quick curses, and Fleur roasted another two with fireballs from above before she had to veer off to evade the curses sent at her.

But their enemies came on, closing in. Petunia fired a few more shots, then dropped down, shouting: "Take cover!" as she reached for the small switch near her.

A second later the Claymore mines went off, and thick smoke covered the entire area. Petunia waited until it cleared up a little, then jumped up, rifle raised. No one was charging at her any longer. Bodies were strewn across the ruins. She saw one wizard staring at the stumps of his arms as he died and shot another who could still wield a wand.

"I don't see any markers any more," Sirius said, standing as well. "I think they've had enough."

Petunia nodded. Bill would take a little longer to break the wards, but the tomb was theirs. And with it, so she hoped, the information they needed to defeat Voldemort.