The International Portkey left at eleven o'clock in the morning, and the whole group arrived a few seconds later in Egypt, which was noon in its local time. Bill was waiting to meet them, and after everyone had gotten to their feet and picked up their luggage (which had been shrunk to the size of backpacks and handbags for easy carrying), left the Atrium of the Egyptian Ministry of Magic. Bill had helped arrange for rooms at an inn located in the wizarding part of Cairo, and the group went to get settled in them and then eat lunch. Alex, Ron, and Neville were sharing a room. Beth was sharing a room with Cara and Vera, while Ginny, Luna, Leah, and Esther were sharing another, which had been set up with two pairs of bunk beds. David, Adam, and Jonas were in a fourth room, and the Weasley twins, Ivan, and Percy were in a fifth, which had also been set up bunk beds. Of the adults, Sirius and Mr. Lovegood had to share a room, while the two sets of parents had rooms of their own.

Once everyone had gotten their things settled in the rooms, they went downstairs for lunch. After that, Bill took everyone for a tour around the wizarding section of Cairo. "We'll go see some of the tombs tomorrow," he said. "It's best that we have a full day to do so."

"Oh good, we can pose in front of one of the pyramids for the photo shoot that the Daily Prophet wants to do in conjunction with the article on my winning the prize," Mr. Weasley said.

"Our picture's going to be in the paper?" Percy asked, looking interested. "I'd better polish my Head Boy badge tonight so I can wear it for the photo." He had received a letter from Hogwarts yesterday, notifying him that he had been named Head Boy, and the badge had been included. The news had pleased him immensely (and delighted his mother, who was proud to have a second Head Boy in the family) and he couldn't help boasting a bit about it. His twin brothers had then started teasing him about it, but as they weren't malicious about it, he had taken it in stride and ignored them.

Ron rolled his eyes and Fred asked, "It's not enough that you've been telling everyone you know about being Head Boy, but now you want everyone that reads the Daily Prophet to know too, Percy?"

"Hey, being Head Boy is a great thing," Vera said in defense of her boyfriend. "I hope I get named Head Girl next year."

"And it's not like being Head Boy automatically makes you uncool or something," Sirius added. "Prongs, that is James Potter, was Head Boy, and you know how he was. And your brother Bill was Head Boy too, and he's a cool guy."

Considering that Bill currently had long hair pulled back in a ponytail, was wearing an earring and pretty casual clothing, Sirius had a point. The oldest Weasley son had been pretty laid back for as long as Alex had known him, though he also had a sense of responsibility and helped others, which was part of the reason he had been a prefect and Head Boy in the first place.

"All right, Fred, leave Percy alone about being Head Boy," Mrs. Weasley said. "Let's focus on enjoying our excursion."

The group explored various shops, and they bought a few souvenirs. Adam, Leah, and Esther bought a cat statuette and a bracelet made in the Egyptian style for their mother. Ron bought a few items, three of which were a Pocket Sneakascope, a packet of lotus seeds, and a book about hieroglyphics. "Here," he said, handing them to Alex, Neville, and Beth respectively. "Early birthday presents for you guys."

"Oh Ron," Ginny said, making a face. "Couldn't you have bought them secretly and then given them to our friends on their actual birthdays?"

"Oh, I didn't think about that," he responded, turning red.

"It doesn't matter," Neville said quickly. "It's not like we haven't given each other early presents before. A few years back, Alex couldn't wait until my birthday, and since Gran and I happened to be in Diagon Alley the same time he was buying my gift, he gave it to me then and there. And once he did that, Beth had to do the same."

"And remember that time we were eight?" Beth asked. "We were going to wait until Christmas Day to open all our presents, but as soon as the four of us exchanged presents, we opened them then and there instead of putting them under the Christmas tree like we were supposed to."

Alex chuckled at the memory. "Our parents, and your grandmother in your case, Neville, were annoyed at us for that, but there wasn't much they could do except to put a spell that prevented us from opening the rest of our presents early. Which reminds me, we should probably pick out some stuff to give Hermione for her birthday in September."

"Er, I already did," Ron admitted, holding up an amber pendant on a sterling silver chain. A scarab was encased in the amber. "I hope Hermione likes it."

"That's pretty," Beth remarked. "I think Hermione will like it, especially since it's very Egyptian."

Alex and Neville exchanged significant looks, since most guys normally did not buy their female friends jewelry unless they either had more than platonic feelings towards her or she had specifically requested it as a present. They didn't say anything, however, and instead picked out a book about Egyptian wizards and a stationery set that had papyrus paper instead of parchment to give to Hermione. Beth browsed two stores before deciding on a silver and amber pin in the shape of an Ancient Egyptian-style cat (to go with Ron's necklace) for their friend.

After the tour and shopping, the group had dinner at a restaurant, then headed back for the inn, where they went to bed not long after. The next morning, Charlie arrived after breakfast, he having taken a couple of weeks off from his job so that he could join his family on the holiday. The rest of the Weasleys greeted him happily, and he congratulated Percy on becoming Head Boy.

When that over with, Bill took the group out to see the tombs. The Weasley family posed in front of one of the pyramids for the photo that was going to appear in the Daily Prophet. As Percy had said that he was going to do, he wore his Head Badge, which was pinned to the fez that he had bought yesterday and was now wearing jauntily on top of his neat hair.

After the quick photo shoot, they toured the various tombs and pyramids, both the ones open to Muggles and the sections that were spelled so that only witches and wizards could visit. They learned quite a bit about the ancient Egyptians, Muggle and magical alike, which was all rather fascinating. Alex couldn't believe some of the curses that the old Egyptian wizards had put on the tombs. In fact, one of them contained mutant skeletons of Muggles that had broken in and had grown extra heads and other horrible things. Jonas and Esther were not allowed in that one. Actually, the Ravenclaw quintet wasn't allowed in that one either, but they snuck in when Mr. Lovegood was busy explaining to Esther about some magical creature that supposedly was found in the Nile River.

"Really?" Ana groaned when the adults caught them. "After we specifically forbid you in from entering, you five have to sneak in."

"We're not little kids anymore," David retorted. "What's in here doesn't scare us."

"Besides, we're only a year younger than the Gryffindor quintet," Ginny pointed out. "If they can see this tomb, then why can't we?"

"It doesn't work like that," Stephan said. "A one year age difference is no excuse. With that logic, you could argue that if they are of age at seventeen, why couldn't you be at sixteen. That's still not going to get you out of trouble if you were caught doing magic outside of school."

"It's too late now," Sirius pointed out. "They've already snuck in and explored the tomb. And since we are on holiday, there's not much point in punishing them now."

"I suppose," said Mrs. Weasley, looking resigned. "I hope Mrs. Rosenberg doesn't get upset that Leah and Adam saw this tomb. But you five will go without dessert tonight as punishment for sneaking in when we told you not to enter."

A week later, the headlines of the Daily Prophet were of a mass escape from Azkaban. From what the articles said, Peter Pettigrew had apparently discovered the spell on his cell that prevented him from turning into his Animagus form had worn off the day before the spell was due to be renewed. He had obviously turned into a rat and escaped his cell. After that, it wasn't certain what he did exactly, but the most logical was that he had used his rat form to get a hold of the keys to the various cells and the wand of the Auror John Dawlish (who was stationed at Azkaban for a few days so that he could renew the spell). Dawlish missed his wand when he came off of his break, but before he could do more than began searching for it, he was Stunned.

Apparently Pettigrew used the keys to free Lucius Malfoy, along with Mr. Nott, the Carrow siblings, Mr. Crabbe, Mr. Goyle, Walden Macnair (who had all been sentenced two weeks prior at their trials), and Antonin Dolohov, Augutus Rookwood, and Mulciber (Death Eaters convicted during the war against Voldemort or immediately after.) For some strange reason, Rabastan Lestrange was also one of the escapees, but his brother Rodolphus and sister-in-law Bellatrix weren't. The prevailing theory was that Bellatrix had gone insane from her time in Azkaban and wouldn't be of much use to the others, and if they had freed Rodolphus, he no doubt would have insisted that his wife be freed as well.

The only thing that had been confirmed was that the recently incarcerated Death Eaters had not had contacted their family members, though Malfoy Manor (Draco and Narcissa had moved to one of the Black properties) had mysteriously vanished. Or to be more precise, the knowledge of the exact location had vanished. Speculation was that Malfoy Manor had been put under the Fidelius Charm and the escaped Death Eaters were hiding out there.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked distinctly worried when they read the articles, and Sirius and Stephan muttered about renewing or updating the protective spells on their homes when they returned from the trip. "At least the Death Eaters don't know about your real identity," Ana comforted Alex in private later. "That was one of the questions, if Wormtail knew where Harry Potter was, that Amelia Bones asked when she was questioning him under Veritserum."

Alex shuddered. "Thank Merlin 'Scabbers' was either asleep or not present the very few times my real identity came up around my friends. If he or the other Death Eaters knew, they could try to sneak into Hogwarts and kidnap me."

"Then it's a good thing they don't. But after what happened in your first two years at Hogwarts, they might still want to get revenge on you. Or your friends. So please be very careful and don't do anything rash. Also, your father and I will make protective charms for everyone in the family and our friends to wear. And turn them into modified Portkeys so that if one of you should get captured, you can use it to immediately escape."

"And maybe it would be wise if you and Beth didn't visit Hogsmeade this year," Stephan added.

"What?!" Beth burst out. "You're not going to sign the permission slips for us? NO! Me and Alex have been wanting to go to Hogsmeade for ages!"

Ana exchanged looks with her husband. "We can only protect our children so much, Stephan," she pointed out. "And if we denied them, they're liable to use one of the secret passages and the Invisibility Cloak and sneak out anyway."

"True," admitted Stephan. "And it is the Roma way to love and cherish our children, but to also teach them to be strong and independent. All right, Beth and Alex, we'll sign the permission slips for you two, but you must promise to be extremely careful and to not let your guard down."

"So 'constant vigilance', as Mad-Eye Moody would say," said Alex, having heard stories about the Auror from Aunt Maria and Uncle Tobias, as well as Sirius's cousin Nymphadora Tonks, who was in her third year of Auror training.

"Exactly. Don't be like Auror Dawlish, who was stupid enough to not keep his wand on him while taking a break, thereby enabling Wormtail to steal it. I'm surprised he was only fined and suspended without pay for a month, not transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office."

Alex and Beth chuckled at that last, for the centaurs were so isolationist that the phrase 'being transferred to the Centaur Liaison Office' was an euphemism in the British Ministry of Magic for being sacked. Ana shook her head. "I suppose Minister Fudge decided to make allowances for him. Anyway, the two of you can return to your friends, but please be vigilant, all right?"

"We will, Mum," the two promised and then left the room.