Albus Dumbledore and the Everlasting Flame

Disclaimer: this is a work of fan fiction based on worlds created by JK Rowling

"The art of telling a good story is to create the illusion that the reader is joining the action midway through"

Chapter 20 – Thomas' Tutankhamen Tomb Tale

Fawkes deposited Albus, Mars and Victoria within sight of the Pyramids of Giza. The giant yellow forms cast triangular shadows on the Egyptian desert in the early morning sunlight. Already a slight breeze was whipping up sand into their faces.

'Stay with us, Fawkes,' Albus said. The phoenix sang a soft melody as it flew a few feet in the air above the three twelve year-olds. Albus took hold of his wand and led the way toward the greatest of the Pyramids, the one he had identified in Thomas' Guide Map three months ago. The trio had to lift the hems of their robes up to cover their faces from the bite of the sand. In turn, the sand whipped painfully against their slender white legs. It was a harsh compromise; sand on the leg was better than sand in the eye.

They were made to feel dreadfully small underneath the giant pyramid. It had been the Pyramid of Tutankhamen, the Pharaoh whose Chief Vizier had borne the name Imhotep. Albus knew this from his readings on Egyptian magic and history. It had been alarming the number of times that Imhotep's name had come up in Albus' extensive research. The dark wizard that had nearly succeeded in being reborn last year had been one of the most influential of all Egyptian wizards, and Albus hardly doubted that he was the greatest dark wizard ever. For this reason, being back in Egypt did not fill Albus with much hope or comfort; especially in the knowledge that the Grundelwald brothers, Admiral Scholtz and Phineas Nigellus would surely be around.

But none of Albus' feared enemies made a sudden attack out of thin air, nor did Imhotep rise from any of the swirling dust spirals. Albus, Mars and Victoria trudged up the side of the great pyramid, making their way to a small but conspicuous black entrance about mid-way up the massive structure.

They arrived at the entrance sweating and panting heavily, for the sun had risen to half of its full height and was baking down in a most un-English fashion. Coming from a brisk Hogwarts winter, none of the three were prepared for the sweltering African heat. All three stepped quickly into the shadows of the entrance, grateful to have escaped the heat.

'Will you escort us to Thomas?' Albus asked of Fawkes. 'We would prefer not to get lost in here.'

Fawkes chirped assent and flew off ahead of them. The trio lit their wands and followed, eyes darting from side to side in search of imminent danger. But as with their climb up the side of the pyramid, there seemed to be nothing obstructing their way. In fact, Albus observed a number of objects that looked like they had formerly been obstacles, but had since been defused. There were barrier stones tossed to the side, skeletons carrying shields and spears lying dormant on the stairwell, dead asps and broken traps. Clearly someone had been through there before them and successfully negotiated all the magical obstacles. Albus started to wonder why Thomas, who must have made it this far in, had failed to get out again.

After walking for what felt like hours, the trio came to a long, low chamber with torches burning in the brackets on the walls on either side. At the end of the chamber there appeared to be the back of a tawny coloured beast. It was looking away from them, into the room beyond the chamber. Fawkes came to a stop, landed on Albus' shoulder and gave a soft chirp as if to urge him forward.

Gulping heavily, for Albus could have sworn that this was a lion up ahead (he knew what lions looked like from the Gryffindor coat of arms), he led the other two forward. When he was within a stride or two of the lion, he gave a soft cough to gain its attention. He could feel the hand holding his wand shaking.

The lion turned its head to look at who had disturbed it. To Albus' surprise the lion had a man's face. He immediately recognized the creature for what it was.

'A sphinx,' Albus murmured; for Mars and Victoria's benefits.

'That is what I am named,' said the sphinx in a gruff voice. 'You have come to join he who has suffered here for three score and a dozen days.'

Albus quickly counted the days and realized that Thomas had been in this chamber for eighty-four days! He must have spent a week negotiating the magical obstacles on the way down to the inner chamber and since then had been trapped inside the pyramid by the sphinx! How far behind Anastacia Volkova and Jannes Grundelwald had Thomas fallen in that time?

'Do you wish to pass?' inquired the sphinx mildly. 'I have no qualms letting you by, but I will not permit you passage back … lest you solve my riddle.'

'Albus,' Victoria said tremulously, 'can we turn back?'

Mars did not voice the same concern, but his pallid look indicated that he, too, was not in favour of joining Thomas if the sixth year had been unable to solve the sphinx' riddle for eighty-four days.

'No, we came here to help him,' Albus said firmly. 'Besides, Fawkes can disapparate us out of this chamber.'

'Alas, bold youngster,' said the sphinx, shaking its proud head, 'even a phoenix falls under my powers of entrapment.'

Albus gritted his teeth. Way back or no way back, he had been sent by his father to help Thomas and he would not be turning back now.

'We go through,' Albus said. 'Please permit us to pass, o sphinx.'

'To your own end,' said the sphinx in a friendly fashion, and stepped aside to let the trio pass. Fawkes hovered in mid-air but did not join them. Albus could understand his phoenix's reluctance. Fawkes could go anywhere on the planet without restraint, but within the spell of a sphinx he would be no more powerful than a bird in a cage.

'Albus!' cried Thomas from within the heart of the chamber. Albus did not have time to take in his surrounds, because the burly sixth year ran up and gave him a tremendous hug. When he stepped back, Albus saw that Thomas had sprouted an eight-four day beard and his sandy blonde hair was a dirty, matted brown.

'Have you truly been here for eighty-four days?' asked Albus breathlessly.

'I have,' Thomas said, 'but do not be as alarmed as I expect you are. These days have been more productive than you might expect. Take a look around!'

Thomas signaled the interior of the chamber with a sweep of his hand. It was a vast and handsome tomb, with three enormous golden sarcophagi in the centre of the room. The walls were decorated with pastel coloured decorations stretching from floor to ceiling and corner to corner of every wall. There were round pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling, and these too were painted with hieroglyphics in the colourful tradition of the Egyptians. More impressively, the floor of the tomb was covered almost entirely with treasures. There were vast chests of gold and jewels, vases of every imaginable size and shape, staffs beset with jewels and much more on which the eye could feast. It was dazzling; almost as spectacular as the golden city of Heliopolis that Archaeon had taken Albus and Aberforth to two summers ago. Albus spotted an area where Thomas had cleared a place for sleeping, and a well-used golden throne on which he must have spent considerable hours sitting and pondering the sphinx's riddle.

'How did you survive this much time without eating?' Victoria asked. She wore a look of intense concern on her pretty face.

'I did not have to survive,' Thomas said, smiling. 'The sphinx has been kind enough to bring me food and water every day. He said it was something to do with the rules of the Triwizard Tournament; no captive in Tutankhamen's tomb was permitted to die of starvation or thirst.'

'So this is Tutankhamen's tomb,' Albus said. 'I thought it must be, with all this gold.'

'Remarkable, isn't it,' Thomas said, grinning as though the treasure were his own.

'Have either Anastacia or Jannes come here?' Albus asked. 'I would have thought, in eighty-four days of the Tournament, that the clues in their Guides should have led them here.'

'Oh, ho ho,' Thomas said, throwing his hands up with mock amusement. 'I came here with Anastacia, but she tricked me into passing the sphinx alone. When I failed to come out again within an hour of hearing the riddle, she left me here, trapped and alone.'

'I thought those Russians looked evil!' Mars cried, slapping a fist into his hand. 'Weren't you interested in her?'

'I was,' Thomas said, shaking his head sadly. 'Apparently winning is of greater importance to her than I imagined. I never once thought she would abandon me to my fate that early in the Task.'

'What of Grundelwald?' Albus asked. 'Surely he has been here?'

'The German of which you speak indeed here did come,' said the sphinx, who had been listening to the students' conversation, 'and I forbade him entry.'

'Why?' asked Albus. 'Surely you cannot choose to permit one Champion entry into the chamber and refuse another?'

'That is the truth,' said the sphinx, 'the rules, however, also state that no death may occur within this chamber during the Tournament. I saw in the eyes of the German the will to murder your companion. I forbade him entry until such a time as your companion deciphers my riddle.'

'So, Thomas, how come you failed to solve the riddle in eighty-four days?' asked Albus, himself wondering how he and his friends were going to escape this tomb.

'I admit I ought to have figured it out by now,' Thomas said, 'but I have never been one for riddles. I rather hoped I'd have the use of the Orb of Duality if I ever encountered a riddle, but alas, we know in the hands of whom that object now lies. I cursed my luck at first to get a riddle so early in the Third Task, but it seems as though it was to my advantage.'

'What do you mean?' asked Albus, completely baffled as to how being trapped in a chamber while his opponents gained valuable time on him was of any benefit to Thomas.

'It is something of a story,' Thomas said. 'Take a seat on one of Tutankhamen's numerous thrones, and I will tell you.' Thomas made himself comfortable on his golden throne, and Albus, Mars and Victoria did the same on some of the other shiny seats located at the feet of the three sarcophagi in the middle of the vast chamber. Thomas began to speak, his blue eyes alight with the adventure he'd had. 'I took a week to negotiate the magical obstacles into this pyramid; for as you will have seen on your way down, they were many. The most difficult to defeat with the Inferi; they are very difficult to kill unless you can kill the wizard responsible for creating them. Seeing as I was unable to kill one of the Triwizard Tournament organizers, I had to settle for using the best spells I could manage. Avada Kedavra did not work, I might add. Nevertheless, I succeeded in making my way into this central chamber, where I have been trapped by the sphinx's riddle since. At first I was devastated; not only because Anastacia had abandoned me, but because I could see myself remaining here until the end of the Tournament and coming last in the competition. It took me a week to overcome my sorrows, but overcome them I did, when Jannes Grundelwald tried to get past the sphinx. I realized that being in here was significant for two reasons: in here, Jannes could not kill me, nor could he steal my Guide. In here, I was safe from my enemies.'

'That is all very well,' Albus said, 'but they will have been getting ever closer to the Everlasting Flame while you are trapped here.'

'You speak too hastily,' Thomas said, smiling genially. 'There is more to this place than meets the eye. After my first week of self-inflicted apathy, I looked around and realized that the paint looked remarkably fresh. I suspected that the hieroglyphics on the walls were not the original ones; in fact, I became convinced that the Triwizard Tournament organizers magically enchanted these hieroglyphics to cover the ancient originals. They had hidden codes within this chamber for me to unravel! What was more exciting was, when I opened my magical Guide to look at the Map, parts of the Map seemed to correspond with the hieroglyphics on the walls. The walls of Tutankhamen's Tomb are part of the Map that leads to the Everlasting Flame!'

Albus could feel his heart beating loudly in his chest. He was beginning to realize the significance of Thomas being in here, and Jannes Grundelwald being out there.

'Needless to say,' Thomas went on, 'I still had a problem. I have no knowledge of hieroglyphics and you were not here to help me. So, I started to teach myself the language of the Egyptians.'

'You taught yourself?' Victoria gasped.

'Indeed I did,' Thomas said, grinning almost sheepishly. 'When you have endless days to fill with nothing else to do, you can put your mind to anything. Besides, my old friend the sphinx had a habit of dropping clues every once in a while.'

'I too have a soul,' said the sphinx from the doorway, 'and thus I pitied your companion, for long into the nights did he struggle with the vagaries of this ancient scrawl.'

'So with the sphinx's help, and my own labours,' Thomas continued, 'I began to understand the text on the walls. Once I had learned the language, it took me several days to read and understand everything in this massive chamber, for there are thousands of lines of hieroglyphics.'

'What did they say?' asked Albus, overeager to reach the end of the story.

'I could not repeat it all,' Thomas said, 'but I have remembered the most important things. I learned that the Everlasting Flame lies in the seventh chamber of a Temple somewhere in the south of Egypt …'

'The Temple of Ast, of Isis,' Albus said excitedly. 'I saw it in my dream this morning.'

'You saw what?' Mars and Victoria said at once.

'Oh, it was as the Orb of Duality said!' Thomas cried, almost disappointed but in the same moment delighted that Albus had solved what had clearly been a troubling mystery to him. 'That was the one thing I could not decipher from the walls or my Map, the whereabouts of this Temple. But now we know, so that makes all the difference. Anyway, to continue with my tale, I also learned from my inquiries that there will be seven challenges of increasing difficulty at the doorsteps of each of these chambers, and within each chamber will be something to aid my passage into the next chamber. But, perhaps the most dramatic thing I learned is this …'

'What?' Albus cried. 'Tell us, Thomas!'

'Patience, little chap,' Thomas said, grinning. 'I discovered that the tomb of Tutankhamen is the final step before the Temple … of Ast … in attaining the Everlasting Flame. You see, when I first started this Third Task, I thought that I would have to solve all hundred riddles and clues to reach the Everlasting Flame. But now I have discovered that I chanced upon the second-to-last obstacle on the way to the Flame! For eighty-four days I have been sitting one step away from eternal glory, but unable to escape.'

'How long have you known this?' Albus asked. 'How long have you been sitting here trying to solve the sphinx's riddle so that you can go off and win the Tournament?'

'I only learned it last night,' Thomas said. 'I was actually going to commence putting all my energies into this riddle today, and I never expected to receive help. I suppose you are the help that your father promised I would receive at some unknown time or place.'

'It took you eighty-four days to work that out?' cried Albus.

'Yes,' Thomas said, frowning. 'It takes a long time to learn a new language, and even longer to read the four walls and sixteen pillars of an extremely large chamber!'

'Ah, I see,' Albus said, at last understanding why Thomas had been so long inside the chamber. And what fortune that, by being in here, Thomas was effectively blocking Jannes Grundelwald, Anastacia Volkova, Admiral Scholtz, Phineas Nigellus and all the others from the second-to-last clue on the way to the Everlasting Flame. He came to a realization, and said it before anyone else could speak. 'I hope you all realize that when we solve the sphinx's riddle and leave, then we will be leaving these clues open for discovery by our enemies? As soon as we leave here, they too can come in here and find out about the seven chambers in the Temple of Ast.'

'Yes, of that I am aware,' Thomas said, 'but you are forgetting the small matter of solving the sphinx's riddle. First we have to overcome that obstacle. I hope that one of you three has a sharper brain when it comes to riddles than I.'

'I am good at chess,' Mars volunteered, 'but I doubt that is of any use.'

'It may well be,' Albus said, smiling at his friends, 'but I have a liking for this sort of thing. O sphinx, would you care to tell us three the riddle so that we may solve it and leave this chamber?'

The sphinx gave a small growl of disapproval under its breath, but shuffled into a position of graceful repose and cleared its throat to speak.

'Not easily traversed was the path you entered by

You spiraled down into chambers of death's repose

A path outward leads but you are forbidden entry

Until solve you riddle on my sharpened tongue'

There was a still silence after the sphinx had spoken.

'Is that it?' Mars said. He had an incredulous look on his freckled face. He gave up almost immediately, slumping back in his throne and crying, 'we are doomed to stay here until Tournament's end, maybe even longer!'

'Four heads are better than one,' Victoria said, but she did not look confident in the slightest.

'What do you think, Albus?' asked Thomas. 'I have given it plenty of thought in the long nights when I could not fall asleep for thinking of it, but I have come no closer to a solution.'

Albus had had a clever little idea.

'O sphinx, I am acquainted with a great and noble being,' Albus said, 'he who was once called Bucephalus, who rode with men before the ages of empires, and after, he who is man and horse in one. He is truly great, but even he bows before you. Will you grant us passage on account of his words of greeting?'

'No,' said the sphinx, growling loudly this time. 'I do not bow to the will of any creature, and I have outlived even he that rides with men and was once Bucephalus. I outlived him before the ages of man and will outlive him hereafter. Do not play games with me. You have no choice but to solve the riddle.'

'Oh, we truly are doomed,' Victoria said weakly.

'Alas, Albus, I tried that trick myself,' Thomas said. 'The sphinx does not seem to think very highly of Professor Equus.'

'I hope your father comes for us at the end of the Tournament,' Mars said. He held his head in his hands.

'Will everyone stop speaking?' Albus said sharply. 'I need to be alone with my thoughts for a time.'

Albus walked away from the other three, traversing the full length of the vast chamber as he contemplated the words of the sphinx. He was a touch embarrassed at being rejected by the sphinx regarding his acquaintance with Professor Equus. He had, for a moment, believed that referring to the great horse man would earn him favour with the sphinx. But now he had a riddle to solve, and Albus liked riddles.

'Not easily traversed was the path I entered by,' Albus said to himself. 'Well that much is obvious to Thomas, I suppose. He had a difficult time entering it, but we did not. I wonder if that makes any difference. We spiraled down into chambers of death's repose … yes; we did spiral down into chambers. The first chamber was the one with the torch brackets, and this is the second chamber. No wait; the first chamber did not have death in it, did it? There was no sarcophagus in there, not that I remember! I wonder if there is a second chamber in here … A path outward leads but you are forbidden entry until you solve the riddle on my sharpened tongue … That is quite logical I suppose. A path outward leads. Hold it; is the sphinx referring to the path we came in by? Or is he referring to another path?'

Albus was running back to the sphinx before he even knew his legs were moving. He arrived, breathless and panting, at the feet of the tawny man-headed lion.

'I have the answer to your riddle,' he cried.

'Take care, little human,' said the sphinx, 'for I permit answers only three. Fail to answer correctly by your third attempt and I will eat you.'

'Albus, be careful!' cried Thomas, coming up to stand beside him. Victoria and Mars joined them, Victoria clutching Albus' hand.

'Are you sure you know the answer?' Victoria said.

'I think I do,' Albus said. He took a moment to calm himself, a few deep breaths allowing him to compose the words to his answer in what he thought the correct manner was. When he was ready, he looked up at the ferocious sphinx and said, 'there is more than one chamber of "death's repose" down here. We are only in the first. There is a path outward that leads to the second chamber and to another exit. I know this because I read in a book about Egyptian pyramids that most Pharaohs liked to have two or three tombs, or escape routes for their royalty. So, the way we came in is not the way out. The way out is through the second chamber.'

Mars, Victoria and Thomas gazed back and forth from the sphinx to Albus, their eyes warm with respect for him and fearful of the sphinx's response. The sphinx took several moments to contemplate Albus's reply.

'That was a long and complex answer to a simple but deceptive riddle,' the sphinx said. 'The longer your answer, the more likely it is that you will state something that is incorrect and thereby render your answer void. However, I have searched your words and discovered nothing but truth. There is a second chamber beyond the first at the very far end, the entrance to which will now be unveiled. You have solved the riddle. You are free to go.'

Thomas and Mars whooped, Victoria screamed with delight and Albus felt himself fall into three simultaneous hugs.

'Give me some air to breathe!' he gasped, pulling away from the other three. 'Now, what are we waiting for? I am already growing tired of being in an underground tomb. Let us get out of here before the sphinx decides to conjure up another riddle.'

The sphinx neither agreed nor disagreed with this statement, so the four made a dash for the far end of the chamber. True to the sphinx's word, there was now a doorway where before there had been nothing but wall. The four hurtled through into another, smaller chamber where yet more treasure and another four sarcophagi lay. Beyond that there was a passage that led sharply upwards and at an angle away from the tombs. It carried on for miles, was lit only by the light of their wands, and was strangely devoid of obstacles.

'I think the sphinx has disabled the magic to let us pass,' Thomas said wisely at one point, 'for surely treasures of such impressive nature would have been stolen by now if they were not protected by powerful magic.'

The four tired travelers finally emerged at the foot of another, smaller pyramid almost a mile away from Tutankhamen's resting place. Thomas had to cover his eyes; such was the brightness that greeted them. He had not seen sunlight for almost three months and was white as a sheet. The other three sank against the base of the pyramid, exhausted by their seemingly endless journey. As they did so, the exit by which they came seemed to sink into the sand and disappeared.

'Oh well,' Albus remarked, 'there goes a treasure I would love to have sampled.'

'There will come a time,' Thomas said, sinking down to his haunches like the others. 'I have another treasure in mind at this time, however … an Everlasting one!'

Albus let out a hearty laugh, the first he'd given in months. The world looked much brighter in the African sun!

Author's Note – I can now confirm that there are a minimum of three chapters left, maybe four. We are coming to the end of a very long, rewarding adventure for Albus, but much darkness lurks ahead … your loyal Grandson of Dumbledore.