"So then, the twins tried to lock Percy in the tomb. Dad and I were deep in conversation over the intricacies of moving limestone in the construction of the pyramids. We didn't realize Percy was missing until we all got in the car and started to drive away." Bill looked chagrined at Percy. Percy glowered back as he sat polishing his badge unamused by the retelling of the story.
"We drove away when I saw him running in the rear view. I yelled for Bill to hit the brakes of the automobile. Well, Percy didn't stop running and he smacked full steam into the shoe, er I mean boot, no shoe of the automobile. Anyway, he fell flat on his back." Ron laughed clutching his side as Scabbers bounced on his shoulder. Their Dad looked sheepishly at Percy. Bill winked at Ginny as he passed the parsnips. He had a devious look on his face that no one else seemed to notice.
"To be fair Perc, there are a lot of us. It's hard to keep us all straight at times." Bill said with a face full of seriousness.
"Funny, I don't seem to recall anyone else stuffed into a sarcophagus," Percy grumbled. He polished his badge with more vigor causing Ron to laugh harder. Muffled sounds of their Mum's screams from the back room carried over the ruckus at the dinner table.
"Ah! That felt wonderful. It is never boring with you five is it?" Bill said wiping his eyes with his napkin.
"Come on now off to bed. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow." Mum came out from the backroom followed by two morose identical redheads grumbling in her wake. "Ginny you go wash up first."
Ginny smiled sweetly at her Mum as she rose from the table. Her Mum looked quizzically at her sudden docile demeanor but was distracted by Percy's laments on being put upon by the twins time and time again. The flat settled as everyone readied for bed, exhausted after a day of climbing and digging around the tombs.
"Mum, you and Dad look knackered. Go to sleep. I can straighten everything here," said Bill.
"Are you sure dear?" Mum replied between yawns. Bill looked at her with a bemused expression before shooing her away from the kitchen. He flicked his wand as the plates and silverware began to wash themselves in his small sink. The food flew into small containers which he put under preservation charms. "Well alright dear, you do look as if you have everything under control. Don't forget to lock up."
"I know Mum."
"And make sure Ginny has an extra blanket."
"Yes, Mum."
"And..."
"Goodnight Mum."
"Alright." Molly yawn again turning towards the back room.
"All of you. Bed now. Before I slip you sleeping potions in your tea." Bill's voice lost it's playful air taking on his old Head Boy authoritarian tone.
Bill gave Ginny the extra blanket. Leaning in closer he whispered, "Tonight. Midnight. Meet me on the balcony so we can apparate to the tomb. Try to stay awake if you can."
Ginny wrapped her arms tight around Bill's neck pulling him into a strong hug. She laid down on the sleepaway bed transfigured from the couch too excited to sleep. She watched the second hand move slower and slower on the grandfather clock in Bill's living room. She played a game with the clock willing it to move faster. Before she knew it her eyes were getting heavier and heavier.
"Hello, Ginny. I have been waiting for you." Harry stood outside of Myrtle's bathroom. His emerald green eyes shone in the dim light. He held his hand out waiting for her to place her in it. Ginny silently complied with his request as she brought her into the bathroom. The faucet made of snakes started to move and spoke to them.
"Enter here." Hissed the faucet in a language only the two of them could understand. She was surrounded by her peers, Beryl, Mira, Xenia, and Adelaide. They hollered at her as floating heads above the stalls. Colin snapped her picture. She tried to hide her face in Harry's back but he transformed into Tom.
"I've been waiting for you," hissed Tom.
Ginny woke with a start. Her heart pounded as Tom's voice bounced through her head.
"Ginny, come on we need to get going I've been waiting for you." Bill was standing over her prone form gently shaking her shoulders. She opened her eyes and saw him smiling at her. "Let's go Ginners, we've got a lot of ground to cover."
They walked outside to the balcony and Bill held his arm out for Ginny. She grabbed his strong muscular forearm and felt the familiar pull as they spun off into the night. They landed in a pitch black room where the ground was hard. Ginny lost her footing and started to fall but Bill's sturdy arms kept her upright.
"Here we are. We are deep inside the Temple of Kom Omba, a part that is closed to the public. Do you see that relief on the side?" Bill pointed to his left with his illuminated wand. Light erupted flooding the wall. Ginny saw a giant snake sitting on the head of a lion. Something about it felt so familiar and so foreign at the same time. She felt helpless and powerful. Something about the lion-headed woman transfixed Ginny as she walked to get a closer look. She held her hand out drawn to the wall like she needed to touch the feet of the Lioness.
"Wh-who is she?" Ginny asked.
"That is Sekhmet."
"Who is she?" Ginny asked again.
"That is a much longer story. Come with me. We need to go deeper in the tomb. To understand Sekhmet you need to understand her creator."
They walked deeper into the tomb. Bill's wand the only source of light. The reliefs changed as they followed the tail of a giant cobra. They stood in front of a relief where a Sekhmet rose above a straight line. A man with the face of a bird was below fighting the giant snake. The snake appeared to be winning.
"Here we are. Do you see that man? That is Sekhmet's father. His name is Ra. He is the sun god, the creator. Do you see how they share crowns?"
Ginny looked above Sekhmet's head. She bore a crown of an elaborate cobra encircling a golden disk. The disk shone against Bill's wand as if it were the sun itself.
"Why are they separated?"
"The snake. Apep, the opposite force of Ra. He is Ra's greatest enemy, the God of chaos. He lived in the underworld. Every night, Ra descends below the horizontal line to fight Apep. When Apep completely swallows Ra it creates nighttime."
"But how does the light come back? How do we get the morning to return?"
"Well you see, Apep never completely succeeded in swallowing Ra. Something always happens. Sekhmet, the powerful one, the warrior goddess, stands guard. And she is a part of Ra, his daughter. She stays fierce. A strong believer that morning will always come."
Ginny looked closer at Sekhmet. Her heart beat faster as her eyes memorized Sekhmet waiting patiently for Ra to ascend out of the darkness.
"We have darkness behind us. You won't remember, but the first war, it was hard Ginny. I remember Uncle Gideon and Fabien. I remember one night crawling out of bed, I must have been about eleven, and Mum was fighting with them. She wanted them to let her join the resistance. They putting their foot down saying her job was to protect us, to be the best Mum she could be. They made her promise through tears of anger that she would always put us first. Their funeral was within a fortnight. Mum didn't leave bed for a few weeks," Bill took a deep breath before continuing. "Not until she found out she was pregnant with you."
"Those were dark days. The war reached our safe and happy home. I spent a few weeks with nightmares that it was Mum who died instead of Uncle Gideon and Fabien. I never told Mum what I dreamt of, just that I was scared. Mum wasn't the same. She took her promise to her brother's seriously and started hovering over us a lot more. There was no more talk in the house about the resistance. No more dinners with resistance members or strangers coming to our door for help in the middle of the night. The dark days ended about a year after that. You were born and a few months later the "Boy Who Lived" happened." Bill stopped talking. He looked down at Ginny and saw her watching him with eyes as wide as Sekhmet's Sun Disk.
"And then things were light again. By the time I came home for my first Christmas at Hogwarts goodness was restored. Mum relaxed a little more each year. Life went on and continued. Things were good. And then I got a letter from Dad back in May about what happened." Ginny squirmed beneath Bill's penetrating gaze. Her stomach flipped knowing what was in that letter. Guilt overtook her as she looked down at her feet.
"We are on the verge of dark days ahead. Night is coming. I am not sure what happened to you down in that chamber, why you were chosen, or how Harry saved you. But I am so grateful you are safe Ginny. Your birth and Harry's loss brought our family out of the darkness. Night ended." Bill took in a deep breath. "You need to have faith. You need to trust as you stand on the horizon of night and darkness that morning is coming. Ra will defeat Apep. Even when hope is lost, even when the snake devours the god, you need to have faith. Sekhmet is one of the strongest goddesses. She is a healer and brings fertility. The goddess of war and fire. There is a reason she is represented by a lioness. If there was ever a goddess to represent a fire-filled Weasley woman, it is Sekhmet."
Ginny's arms prickled with goosebumps. She felt stronger, more fortified as Bill turned and started to walk away from the tomb. Her mind raced with images of Gods defeating snakes down in the underworld. Of strong lionesses standing guard never losing hope.
They apparated in contemplative silence back to the apartment. They landed on Bill's balcony a little after one in the morning. Ginny's head continued to swirl as she tried to take in everything Bill had said to her earlier. Could she be as brave and strong as Sekhmet? Could she stand on the edge of darkness and have faith that morning would rise again? She thought of her parents, everything she loved, being plunged into the depth of despair entering the underworld. Was that really happening again? Were Voldemort and the first war really coming back?
Ginny looked up at Bill on the small balcony. He reheated two mugs of tea with his wand. He looked older than a twenty-three-year-old should. His eyes were strained and lined with dark circles. His shoulders were pinched obviously carrying apprehension and tension. He settled down into the chair next to her and breathed in a deep whiff of his freshly brewed tea. The light with the moon shone on his face washing it in the light. He looked up with his eyes closed towards the moon with a serene look on his face.
"Ra must be fighting hard tonight. It's a full moon. I love full moons."
Ginny drank her tea in silence and gently put the empty mug back on the table.
"Thank you, Bill. Thank you for showing me Sekhmet." Their eyes met in the moonlight. He smiled broadly at her. His shoulders fell back as he breathed in a deep contented breath.
"Goodnight Ginny. I am going to stay up a little while longer."
Ginny crawled in through the window and made her way through the dark room to the couch. She huddled under her blankets pulling them tight around her shoulders. Ginny breathed in a deep breath falling asleep. Forgetting to set a silencing charm.
