The international portkey station for England is located in Dover. It's a busy crowed place even at the arse crack of morning they arrived. Despite the crowds and noise it was also the only sterile place they had visited in the wizarding world.
The collected Weasley family had a rope to themselves. Something about a rope only being able to take a maximum of 13 average adult wizards and with them it was already at the maximum. Even with that simplification checking ten Weasleys and two Tonks in on time wasn't easy. The twins had somehow managed to obtain and pack potions ingredients. Hermione ended up registered as Catherine A. Weasley which made Tonks look at her strangely for a week. Scabbers set off an alarm in both Dover and Cairo which meant he had to be quarantined for the first week.
In contrast to the sterile environment of the Dover International Portkey Station, the Cairo International Portkey Station was welcome chaos. Freight portkeys were misrouted to the passenger station, a goblin team with mining equipment landed in middle of terminal 1, three turbaned wizards with five startled camel a piece landed between the arriving Weasley family and Bill.
Once they made their way to him he explained, "Cairo is the interchange point for Europe to Africa, because of the length of the trip you have to change ropes midway. Whereas Dover only handles traffic directly in and outbound to England. If you'd stopped at the European central interchange in Paris rather than just routing through it would have been just as chaotic.
He took them through the busy, dust hot wizarding quarter of the city to a squat house. "I've arranged for you to stay here. I know it's more work for mum but I thought it would easier with so many."
The first day after they arrived Harry was shaken awake at dawn by Mrs Weasley. When he stumbled downstairs he found Mr Weasley yawning it to his tea, Tonks sipping a steaming mug of ginger tea looking slightly green and Charlie taking over cooking breakfast. Mrs Weasley apologetically handed him a cup of milky tea, "Nothing more until after you see the Healer." she said trying to straighten his hair. Crookshanks, wound his way around Harry's ankles purring loudly as Harry drank his tea trying force himself awake.
His tea finished, Harry washed his mug up and found himself caught in one of Mr Weasley's rare but coveted hugs. "Good luck," He said kissing the top of Harry's head, "Charlie, Dora, and I can manage the kids for a day, Molly." Mr Weasley smiled at his wife and kissed her on the cheek.
Mrs Weasley wrapped Harry in a firm embrace and there was a horribly constricting feeling as they aparated to the hospital.
-Break here -
The hospital was much like St Mungo's, organised chaos. Harry and Mrs Weasley were quickly sent to a private room. A whirlwind of healers and mediwitches and people in bright blue robes who called themselves specialist visited; he was given potions and more diagnostic spells were run on him in single visit from one mediwitch than in every other healer's visit to date. The assortment of healers, mediwitches and specialists tried to keep him informed about what they were doing and why but most of their explanations went over his head and some scared Mrs Weasley making her gentle arm over his shoulders grasp tighter.
Harry was relieved to be given a sedative potion, so they could move on to the more invasive procedures necessary to cleanse the dark magic left in his scar.
He woke to sunset, his hair being gently combed through by Mrs Weasley, feeling oddly light and exhausted. Once he'd walked to the bathroom unassisted and ravenously devoured the biscuits and tea given to him by a mediwitch they were allowed to go home.
Mrs Weasley wasted no time apartating them back to the rented house and tucking Harry into bed. He heard the cheers as she declared the procedure a success but couldn't keep his eyes open slipping in to sleep to the rhythmic purring of their cat.
His dreams were muddled. He was in his and Ron's room at the Burrow reading to wand light before Mrs Weasley pushed the door open, shook her head once, gave him time to put his book and wand down then tucked them both in and kissed their heads before leaving. A memory rather than a dream with the sense that something foreign but familiar was approving. At Charlie and Tonk's falling asleep on the pushed together bed with Ron, Luna, Ginny and Hermione, then in the girls room at the Burrow, on the couches in Gryffindor house on Halloween, at Tonk and Charlie's wedding. In the rental house his hair smoothed down by Mrs Weasley, hearing her murmur, "Sleep well, my sweet boy" and kiss his head. She stroked Crooks sleeping on his side and at the same time the foreign presence ruffled his hair. Harry could feel the presence following Mrs Weasley round the room as she tucked Ron, Ginny, Luna and Hermione in and following her out.
Mr Weasley, Percy, Charlie and Tonks would only be staying in Egypt for the first two weeks, after that Mr Weasley, Charlie and Tonks would be returning to work and Percy to his summer of politics training with Grandmother Weasley. Harry was required to visit his healers every week for the first four weeks after the procedure and be within floo or aparation distance of the hospital for a fortnight after the procedure just in case. While at every visit it was confirmed that he was progressing better than expected and Harry had never felt better, Mrs Weasely kept them within Cairo proper for the fortnight.
Bill had taken Percy with him to work to see some interesting tombs before he had to leave and Charlie and Tonks disappeared for a day to visit a sanctuary a friend of Charlie's worked at and again to visit a Black relative or business interest, Tonks had been evasive on the subject. Other than that they had stuck to museums and the wizarding shopping area, where Luna, Hermione and Percy had been delighted to find a second hand bookshop and even more delighted to find Arabic primers and for Bill to teach them a translation spell.
The only blight on their holiday was the photo of the entire family the Daily Prophet wanted. Upon hearing that they had brought all the family pets it had been decided that they would all also have to be present. The photo had been delayed a week until Scabbers was released from quarantine and a further few days when Harry had out grown his photo clothes. The photographer didn't work Fridays so the day of the shoot was the last day Mr Weasley, Percy, Charlie and Tonks would be in Egypt and the photographer had ideas.
For the photograph, it was declared, Scabbers could not be in his cage but must be held like a beloved family pet. A pitched but silent battle was held between the younger Weasleys as to which person would have to hold the rat. During which time Crookshanks, Hedwig and Hermes surrounded the rodent. The unconscious rodent was easier to photograph but the baleful glaring in its direction by the other pets ruined the first four photos.
The twins were determined that Percy would not forget them while away, in three photos Percy's robes, hair or skin flashed between the colours of the rainbow. Ron, Harry, Ginny, Luna and Hermione were also not to be forgotten too far away to owl. The girls kept finding reasons to get a hug which Tonks and Mr Weasley always extended to Ron and Harry. The photo where Tonks grew her arms long enough to hug them entire family was cute and looked very good on Mr and Mrs Weasley's bedroom wall but wasn't what the Prophet wanted.
The final photo that satisfied the photographer he had met the Prophet's requirements was taken at 4pm having been at the shoot since 11am. The photographer smiled as he left, "I will deliver the developed photos to your house on Tuesday, Mrs Weasley for you approve the ones sent to the newspaper. I hope you will be interested in some of the other pictures for yourself."
Wand light and soft voices woke them. Harry and Hermione were alert as immediately as Crooks, recognising Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins and sitting up without urgency. Ginny and Luna had to blink owlishly awake both trying to draw Hermione or at least the covers back before waking properly. Harry roughly shook Ron until he stirred and was convinced to wake.
Percy, Charlie and the twins arranged themselves on available patches of beds while Bill stood and waited until they were all looking at him. "I asked mum and dad, they came to Egypt because this is where the only specialist in the dark magic affecting Harry is. Harry and mum would have come even if they hadn't won the prize draw." He said, then seeming to realise how it sounded hurried to add, "This isn't an accusation or some kind of intervention saying we don't want you. It clarified in my mind how vulnerable you and Lu are without a family."
"I have my dad." Luna said offended on her fathers behalf.
"You do and we won't ever take that away from you." Bill replied putting the metal bowl he'd been holding down on the nearest bed. "Binn's won't have told you this and even if he had it's Binn's." Cutting himself off Bill continued. "Traditionally fostering is done outside the family as a way of weakening the family and never for any other reason. Grandmother pushed mum and dad to get you adopted or to do the ritual I'm about to suggest to make this an in family fostering." He sighed. "I'm explaining this badly." He gestured at Percy and Charlie to take over.
"We want to make you and Harry our blood brother and sister." Charlie said. "Blood brothers keep their parents and family lineage. They join each others families to magic but not to inheritance."
Luna nodded and blushed burying her face in their cats fur. "Why?" Hermione asked.
"Magically raised children are generally strong and healthier than their muggle raised counterparts for multitude of reasons," Percy explained, "but even when you filter for background, abuse and neglect magically raised children are still on average healthier. Mum and dad's magic, and Bill and Charlie's now they're adults, looks after us. It makes that slightly too high fall fine, it gives us something to draw on when dragon-fever saps the last of our magical reserves, it moulds and shapes our magic and helps us fight back against magic attacking us. If we make Luna and Harry our blood brothers because they are raised in the same house as us we can extend that protection over them."
"Oh," Harry asked, "What are the negatives?"
"Very few. You can't betray your family and its less than an adoption. Most families want to make their children, theirs." Charlie shrugged, "Its a very popular ritual between kids at Hogwarts."
"Alicia, Angelina and Katie are blood sisters." Fred said while George picked up the bowl Bill had set down and passed it over. "Are you going to lead brother."
"It's simple and in the common tongue. You each prick your finger with this knife" Bill demonstrated, "and say I give this freely, then hand it to the next person." He handed the bowl and knife back to George.
The bowl passed quickly round the group and back to Bill, "Then you dip your pricked finger into the blood and say I take these people as my blood family and pass the bowl on." He passed to George.
As the last person, Harry, dipped his finger into the bowl saying, "I take these people as my blood family," there was a flash of green light in the bowl and their bloody fingers, the blood on their fingers was drawn into the skin and the pricks healed.
"And it even does the clean up for us." Bill smiled. "Welcome to the family little brother. I'll see you in the morning." He collected the now clean bowl from Harry's lap and herded the older Weasleys out of the room.
A/N:
It may be obvious but I found writing this chapter a real struggle, if it hadn't been plot necessary I would have kept them in England but it was so here you are. I don't know enough about the history of Egypt and the current culture to write a culturally sensitive on take magic and anything I wrote made me cringe when I read it back. For that reason the hospital doesn't have a name because I just don't know enough to give it an appropriate name and I'm skipping on showing of the touristy stuff. If anyone does know enough and wants to talk to me I would really like to at least be able string together a couple of paragraphs of what we saw on holiday and name the hospital Harry saw a lot.
I really appreciate all your comments.