APLR - 5

Disclaimer: No money earned and NOT MINE

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AN: Harry's Bi. He'd dated Ginny before they ended on amicable terms. It wasn't a nasty break-up but it was what it was.

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Harry got the fire going that night and boiled some water for tea. Today was just another day to him after all he had seen during the wizarding war but he knew that it was slightly more than traumatic for his cousins. Not saying that Evy couldn't handle what they had seen but he saw what the other two didn't. The scarab shell and wall. He'd followed the guard's footprint's back to the wall and had done naught but shaken his head at the guard's foolishness.

"What do you suppose killed him?" Evy asked glumly as she poked at the fire with a stick.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Jon asked as Rick walked up to the fire. Harry immediately noticed that Rick seemed hesitant to tell so he motioned for him to step into the shadows.

"Rick, what is it?"

"It seems that our American brethren had a little misfortune of their own today. Three of their diggers were, uh, melted." he said glumly.

Harry sighed, "The statue of Anubis?"

"Yeah."

Harry paused, "Maybe that's what caused the sarcophagus to fall."

"Maybe, any ideas?"

"You'd like for me to tell them what happened?" he asked as he looked at the older man.

"Would you?"

Harry nodded and the two went over to the fire.

"What's going on?" Evy asked.

"The Americans had their own misfortune today. They found a booby trap and a few of their diggers were killed." he said.

"What?" Evy asked.

"How?" Jon asked.

"Pressurized salt acid. You can imagine what happened for yourselves." he said as Evy shivered and Rick picked up his thin blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled gratefully at Rick.

"Maybe this place really is cursed." Jonathan mumbled as he began to rummage through the warden's bag as the wind picked up and blew spookily, the two men pausing for a moment.

Harry sighed inside, the two men called themselves men and they got frightened at a little wind? He'd only be respectfully frightened if that wind brought with it Dementors.

"Oh, for goodness sake you two!" Evelyn reprimanded softly even though she pulled the blanket a bit more snug around herself.

"Don't believe in curses, eh?" Rick asked her, slightly teasing, through a fleeting smile.

"No, I don't, I believe if I can see it, and I can touch it, then it's real, that's what I believe." she said firmly while Harry had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"I believe in being prepared." Rick retorted as he cocked his shotgun with one hand.

"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in, shall we?" Jon asked before he winced as he hit something and Rick pointed his shot gun as Evy gasped in surprise.

"What is it?"

"A broken bottle…" he said as he drew it out and read the label in the firelight. "Glen Livet – twelve years old, well, he may have been a stinky fellow, but he had good taste." Jonathan commented as he took a sip of the drink.

"What about you Harry?" Rick asked, having caught the slight roll of his eyes.

"Curses are curses. The Gods must be respect-" he said before he frowned slightly as he heard a noise that suspiciously sounded like horses. He knew for a fact that the horses the Americans had were tied up for the night and when he turned to Rick he knew that the other man had noticed it as well.

They all stood before Rick turned to them, handing a rifle to Evelyn, who looked down at it, baffled – then back to Rick, who was walking away.

"Take this – stay here." Rick ordered her, before walking off towards the American encampment.

"Wait, wait, wait for me, wait." Evelyn demanded as she started to follow Rick.

Jonathan followed her, lecturing. "Evy, excuse me, didn't the man say stay here, Evy."

Harry sighed as he quietly apparated to the American encampment to see the Medjai attacking the encampment. He frowned for a moment, as most tribes valued water and not gold and he knew for a fact that there was gold underneath them.

He tried to stay out of the way before he was attacked by a Medjai. He then pulled out his blades and joined in, for once thankful that he wasn't wearing robes, rather a plain shirt and trouser set so the Americans wouldn't have cause to shoot at him.

He kept close to his family, throwing a skean as a Medjai went after Evy. He put her to his back so he not only knew that his back was safe but that his cousin was safe as well.

He wasn't prepared when Ardeth went after Jonathan, although thankfully Rick helped him out.

The fighting stopped when Rick had lit a stick of dynamite and the leader of the Medjai paused, everyone did.

"Enough! Yallah!" he yelled out. "We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die." He said before he turned and swung up on a horse led by another Medjai. "You have one day! Yallah! Nimshi!" he yelled out before he and the rest of the Medjai left.

The Americans stood by in almost shock as Rick took the wick out of the stick of dynamite and threw it down on the ground before he made his way over to where Harry and Evy were.

Harry had a bruise rapidly forming over his wrist where a stronger man had hit it with the flat of his blade. It was throbbing and near him was Evelyn who had fallen when she'd shot off a round into a Medjai.

He winced as he tore his shirt and used a long strip of it to wrap his wrist as Rick gently helped Evy up and whispered softly to her before Daniels (one of the Americans) broke the silence.

"That proves it! Ol' Seti's treasure's gotta be under this sand! For them to protect it like this, you know there's treasure down there!"

Harry shook his head, "No. They live for water not gold. Besides, what use is gold if you die of thirst? They know that. No, there is another reason for them to be guarding this place." he said to silence before a half-shaved Burns walked over to the three of them.

"Maybe, just at night, we could - uh- team up. Combine forces, hmm?"

Harry smirked as he saw the way they obviously tried to hide their fears.

An hour later, Evy was drunk, Jonathan was sleeping, and Harry was looking up at the stars. Rick, meantime, was trying to teach Evy how to box and it was then that Harry could all but see the sparks flying between the two. It was then that he decided to sleep.

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