Bill was outraged when he arrived for visiting hours and Aoife had filled him in on what had happened.

"I shouldn't have left," He said bitterly, "I should have known they would come after the Eye."

"Yeah, they're fairly stupid like that," Aoife shrugged, trying to keep the mood light when Bill was so obviously annoyed, "I mean, what the feck was he planning to do in the middle of a hospital?"

Bill shook his head, the annoyance written across his features as sure as if he had stamped it across his forehead, "Volez wouldn't let that stop them."

"Then they really are thick as champ," She said, "But that's not the important thing here, Bill! I've found the second Eye!"

"And Harpham has no idea what it is?" Bill frowned.

"Not a clue. He just thinks it's a piece of tat."

"But he wouldn't give it to you?"

"He was 'loathe to part' with it, for fecks sake. It's very sentimental, apparently."

"So what do we do? Do we tell him what it is, then ask if we can borrow it?"

Aoife snorted aloud even as she sat up in the bed. Her hand was still stinging but at least the murtlap essence had taken away the worst of the pain, "Absolutely not! Do you think he'll just let us tootle off to the desert with it?"

"But if he can help…he's got so much more experience than we do."

She shook her head stubbornly, "No."

"Well, do you have any better ideas?" Bill looked at her and his eyebrows suddenly knitted together, "Aoife, no."

"What?" She asked in her most innocent voice.

"We are not stealing it," He crossed his arms, "Absolutely not."

"But we'd not be stealing it," She insisted, "Stealing implies we're going to keep it. We just want to find a millennia old city with it and then give it back. There's nothing wrong with that!"

"You really think so?"

"Well, nothing too wrong with it," She sighed, "Bill, if we tell Harpham everything, he goes to Goghol. Suddenly this is a Gringotts matter. They take over, they put Harpham on it and Dumbledore doesn't get whatever he wants."

He was eying her now shrewdly, "And that's really why you don't want him involved? Dumbledore's sake?"

"Yes," Her stomach twisted in knots as she lied. All she could think of was what Erik had told her, Beware other Curse Breakers…

But she trusted Bill. Why?

Bill shook his head and looked out the window for a long time, deep in thought. He sighed deeply, "Let me see if I can borrow the Eye from Harpham. I promise I won't tell him why we want it. If he really won't give it to us," He paused, "We'll see what our options are."

"Deal," Aoife settled back in the bed and exhaled deeply.

She was kept in the Mustashfaa for a few days for 'observation'. A few days of terminal boredom that was broken up only by the occasional appearances of the healers with her potion. It was, as she had expected, absolutely fecking revolting. Still, given that it was a mixture of her regular medicine plus whatever was needed for the burn, she shouldn't complain. She had definitely cooked worse.

Barcroft had visited on her first morning and he had brought her grapes. He had seemed surprised to hear of Harpham's visit but despite his best efforts, Aoife would not tell him what had happened. To this he could only shake his head and scowl but then she was well used to that reaction in general.

With little to do outside of the visits, Aoife took to amusing herself. None of her fellow wardmates were inclined to chat, so she invented a game; see how many of the grapes she could get into the cups of her fellow patients without magic. Her best so far was four, but the selfish fecker across the way had gone for a drink just as she had thrown the perfect grape and it had hit him in the eye instead. The healer had not been impressed.

Bill was there at every visiting time. She found herself looking forward to his visits far more than she had thought she would. Time seemed to slow down the closer it came to the doors opening and then speed up like a hippogriff with its tail on fire when he was here. She told herself it was just because she was bored, that she needed the distraction.

It also helped that he brought the papers.

It was her third day in the ward, and Aoife was now sitting up comfortably at least. Her hand no longer looked like she had punched a wasps nest and the skin was starting to grow over the burn, shiny and new. She had the day's Daily Prophet propped up on her knees as she read the back page.

"I see the Harpies crushed the Cannons," She said. Reading on through the article, she gave a snort, "Feck me, their seeker flew into a telephone pole. Didn't they pay a fortune for him?"

She looked up. Bill was staring out the window, as if his mind was thousands of miles away.

Aoife frowned, "What's up?"

"I got an owl from home."

Her heart suddenly went cold. She was not sure why and yet it did, "What's up? Something serious?"

"My dad is facing an inquiry at work," She could see the stress in his eyes, "He enchanted a muggle car, without the Ministry knowing. My youngest brother, Ron? He and Harry Potter flew it to Hogwarts yesterday. They were seen by a lot of muggles. Did you not read about it in the paper?"

"Oh, I don't read the front page of the Prophet ever. It's just the sports pages I'm interested in," She was frowning now, "Why did they fly the car to Hogwarts? Train not fast enough?"

He shook his head, "I don't know. I just know my dad's looking at a fine, and my parents aren't exactly rolling in gold at the minute. Worst case scenario, he'll be fired, and he has no chance of getting decent employment with this hanging over his head."

She considered it for a moment, "That's not brilliant."

"No it's not. Especially not with five of us still at Hogwarts. That's a lot of books and uniforms still to buy."

"I'm sorry," she said softly. She could think of little else to say, "Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you sure? I could enchant a bus to fly and crash it into Big Ben. That would take the heat off your dad at least."

Bill gave a laugh, and it was a genuine laugh that sent a warm feeling through her chest.

"It's okay, but thank you," Bill froze abruptly. Aoife's hand had come out to touch his. Just as quickly, she pulled it back.

The heat gone into her cheeks. She was sure she had gone as red as Bill and Aoife coughed, "Do you want to play my game? Take your mind off it?"

"The grape game?"

"Yup! I'm getting good at it now! If only that fecker over there," She pointed to the elderly man who was sitting sleeping across from her, raising her voice, "Would stop putting his book in front of his cup, it would be a lot simpler!"

He gave a wheezy laugh without opening his eyes, "I can't make it too easy for you now!"

"Typical, just because he won the last one he thinks he's an all-star now."

Bill chuckled, "You're keeping yourself busy anyway."

"Sort of," She looked down at the small stack of Daily Prophets, "I've done all the crosswords, solved the numbers puzzle and worked out the mystery word of the day. The word is 'arse'"

"I doubt that's the Daily Prophet's word of the day," Bill laughed, "Well, if it helps, I've been doing some reading on the cousins."

"And?" She leant in eagerly.

"Nothing yet," She sat back in disappointment, "I'm trying to find any relations of Asim and Ankhtifi who it might mean but no joy yet. There's barely any writing on them, other than what we've already found."

"Class," Aoife sighed, "And what about the Eye?"

Bill hesitated, "Harpham told me the same as you, he doesn't want to give it to anyone as it was very important to his mentor. I even tried speaking to his mentor, but he's long gone out of Egypt, no chance he's gotten my owl yet."

"What I don't understand is how he got it," Aoife frowned, "Where did his mentor get it from?"

"I don't know," Bill shrugged, "Hopefully he'll let us know with his return owls."

"So, we move on to plan B?"

"No, we don't."

"Relax Bill, I get out today, I'll ask Harpham again, beg if I have to. I wonder if he needs a lawn cut or windows cleaned."

Bill snorted but he still looked worried.

"Your da will be okay Bill," She said with none of her usual cheeriness, "If he's even half the man you are, they'll have to let him go."

"Thanks Aoife," Bill smiled, "It means a lot."

There was something about his smile, Aoife felt the heat build in her cheeks once again as her heart started to beat a little faster, "Well, don't get used to it. I'm still annoyed you wrecked my library."

Bill could only laugh.

It wasn't until the evening that the healers were finally happy with the burn's condition. Even she had to admit they had done a good job. If it weren't for a few scars on her hand it would have been impossible to tell there had been a burn at all. Of course, when she reached the front desk, there was the same smiling witch who sat ready to take her payment. It was not as bad as she been expecting but it was still pretty much the last of her gold. Not even Aoife dared to hand over fake gold to the Mustashfaa.

"Thank you very much," Said the receptionist without missing so much as a beat, "And I hope-"

"Yes, yes, I hope to see you soon too," Aoife cut across her, "In fact, I might go burp at a hippogriff just so I can see you sooner."

The witch bowed her head, "Have a pleasant day."

Bill was not there to greet her. He had sent her an owl that morning to say he was on to something regarding the cousins and that he would see her later. She could only assume he was at the Maktaba Man Alsahara and she was no rush back to the library.

Her thoughts were instead focused on the second Eye. Bill had made as much progress on getting it as magic-kind had on inventing a moon-capable broom. So that was going to have to be her job then.

With that in mind, she headed for Gringotts.

It was hard not to run, to shout and to just revel in being free again. Aoife took the longest route across muggle Cairo and into the Bazaar that she could. She was busy enjoying the noise of the busy streets and the aroma of the spices. Here was even noisier than the main streets; magnified by the tall and narrow alleyways. She caught sight of the obelisk that sat in the centre of the market square.

Yet she could not keep her mind from dwelling on earlier in the day, when Bill had poured his heart out to her. When she had gone to take his hand. She had not thought about it, not planned it in any way. It had just seemed, natural. She shook her head. His dad would be fine, she told herself, flying a magical car wasn't the worst thing in the world. Certainly seemed flashy though, so much for Harry Potter being humble.

Just outside Gringotts was the last person she wanted to see. Magnus Persom was coming out of the door as she was heading in. A smirk crossed his long, angled face,

"Well, well, they've let you out, have they?"

"Yup," said Aoife without really thinking about it, "Out early for good behaviour."

"What sort of dragon put you in hospital this time?"

"The most dangerous type, the mind-your-own-fecking-business dragon."

His smirk slipped a little, "You need to watch your mouth. What are you even doing here anyway?"

"I work here, dumbass."

"This late at night?"

"I have some stuff to catch up. See you later, Magnus," She pushed past him.

"Be careful, Aoife," He said to her retreating back, "If you put so much as put a toe out of line, I'll be the first in Goghol's office."

At the front desk was Robby, and he let her pass with only the usual scowl in greeting.

"Did you miss me?" She asked but got no answer in reply. Likewise at security, her attempts to make the guard, Bobby this time, laugh were met with only a stony silence.

The Pit was entirely deserted. It was getting late, and her fellow Curse Breakers had gone home for the day. Not even Goghol was in his office, though the only evidence he had gone home was that she could not see his briefcase sitting beside his desk.

She stopped by her own desk and saw there were two notes; one was from Barcroft asking her to see him when next she was back. The other was from Magnus Persom asking if she had burned herself with another dragon. Funny man. She walked straight over to his desk and, using her wand, drew a very rude symbol into the wood.

Already she suspected this was going to be a pointless trip, but she had to try regardless. Harpham's office was on the same level as Goghol's, no working amongst the dirty rank and file for Gringott's top Curse Breaker. She knocked smartly on the wooden door but there was no answer.

"Tobias?" She called but she was met with silence.

She tried the door, it was locked.

She should come back tomorrow, she knew that. Come back tomorrow and try ask Harpham again, try to convince him without telling why that necklace was so important. How could she tell him though? Without him taking over the project?

She examined the door.

When she had been in her Sixth Year at Hogwarts, there had been a craze going around where students attempted to get into teachers' offices and leave them a little note. She should know, she was the one who started it.

Flitwick's had been boring. He always left his door open so that was no fun. Filch's had been easy enough, a simple unlocking spell had solved that. Snape's office had been locked down like a Gringotts vault and he always knew when she had been trying as well. She shuddered at the memory, of the solid month of detentions that had awaited her each time, not to mention the points she had cost Ravenclaw.

She turned her focus back on the door and pulled out her wand. The office was abandoned, she was confident she was alone.

"Alohomora," She whispered.

The door did not budge.

Yup, fair enough. She didn't expect that one to work.

"Cistem Aperio," She tried but no luck there either.

She was sorely tempted just to blow the door out of the way.

Hmm, what had worked on Sinistra's door…

"Dissendium."

Nope. The door was still stubbornly locked.

"Partis Temporus?"

Nothing happened. Would Harpham notice if she burned the door down?

"Bugger it," She paced in front of the door, tapping her lip with her wand tip. Harpham was a clever man, as if that wasn't obvious. If none of the obvious spells were going to work then he had to have done something else, something that a wizard or witch wouldn't think to use but would stop any prying goblins as well.

Oh!

She clicked her fingers.

Oh, that was good.

Aoife pointed her wand at her throat, pictured Harpham and said, "Simulare."

She cleared her throat; the sound that met her ears was deep and posh sounding.

Licking her lips, Aoife said as confidently as she could manage, "Open."

The door clicked.

Aoife gave the air a pleased little punch and ducked inside. Harpham's broad desk was there, scattered with books and loose reports. There was a fine eagle-feathered quill sitting in a brass holder and a fine ink blotter. She sat in the large leather chair and spun on the spot, then put her feet up on the desk, just entertaining the idea of being Gringotts top Curse Breaker. As if that was ever going to happen.

The desk he had left unlocked, obviously he hadn't thought of anyone getting past his door. The top drawer was filled with reports, she moved aside one about a recent visit to Luxor and there it was, staring up unblinking at her.

The second Eye of Ra.

She hesitated, then picked it up. It felt warm, heavy, just like the first had. She grabbed a piece of loose parchment on the desk, picked up the fine quill and hurriedly wrote;

"Hi Toby, thanks for letting me borrow your necklace! I'll have it back to you as soon as I can. Big fan of your work,

Aoife."

That would do. She knew there would be hell to pay, that if Harpham reported her to Goghol then that was her finished with Gringotts. Ah well, maybe she would go into magical tourism, or dragon taming, that seemed like great fun! She strongly suspected he would not report her though, if only because it would mean admitting she had broken into his office.

As she made her way back across the pit though, a figure came through the door. Her heart sank. It was Roger Barcroft.
"Aoife," He frowned, "What are you doing here?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" She rolled her eyes, though her hand was in her pocket, safely around the eye, "I. Work. Here."

"It's a bit late for you, no?" He raised his eyebrows, thick arms crossed.

"Honestly, you'd think I was a workshy lout or something."

"You've not answered my question."

"I was checking on something, okay?"

"Something that couldn't wait until morning?"

"Well, it would have been a lot more awkward during the day," Aoife smiled at the thought of trying to steal the Eye with Harpham sitting at his desk.

Barcroft shook his head, the rebuke clear in his voice, "Watch yourself Aoife. Goghol knows you were in the Mustashfaa. He doesn't know why but he's paying very close attention. Any excuse you give him, and you're gone."

"Duly noted, Roger," She gave him a reassuring smile, "I'm fine, don't you worry."

He sighed and shook his head but let her past without another word.

It was only when she was back in the cool, dark safe space of her apartment that Aoife pulled out the two Eyes and examined them. They were almost identical; except for the two great jewels in their centre. When they caught the light, the whole room shone as if lit by a great golden chandelier.

"Good gracious," Whispered the Knight in the painting. The dragon too was looking on with interest, "They are incredible."

"Aren't they just," Aoife ran her fingers over the surface of the Eye. She could feel the engraving beneath her fingertips, "They're history. They're living history. I never thought I would hold them."

She thought of him and she felt her stomach clench.

There was a knock at the door.

"Aoife!" It was Bill's voice, high and trembling with excitement, "Aoife! Are you there!"

"Come in," She had whipped the Eyes back into her pocket but pulled them out again as Bill entered. His eyes were wild and there was delight etched in his face.

"You got them!" He had stopped dead at the sight of the two Eyes in Aoife's hands, "Harpham gave you his?"

"Something like that," She said a little evasively, "What's got you in such a good mood? You look like you're going to wet yourself."

In answer, Bill pulled a piece of parchment out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was copied from a very old and very dusty book.

"Although the Nile is by far the most important river of the ancient Kingdom, there were others of great value to the Pharaohs. There existed two similar rivers that have long since dried up but would have been well known; Seshat was slow and winding, bringing trade from the coast while Moros was known for its magical properties and for reversing its flow in the presence of the full moon. Where these two met is believed to have been a centre of great magic. What is curious is that although the Seshat is often known as a daughter of the Mediterranean, the Moros was a child of the Mediterranean's sister, the Red Sea, as it is to here that it flowed."

Aoife looked up at Bill blankly, "Great? I always loved rivers too."

Bill shook his head in disbelief, "Don't you see the connection? If the Med is the sister of the Red Sea and the Seshat is a child of the Med, what does that make the Moros?"

It clicked in her mind as if someone had flicked a switch and she stared at the grinning man before her, "Bill, that's brilliant."

He nodded eagerly, "It makes the Seshat and the Moros cousins! So where those two rivers meet is where Isetba is hiding! It makes perfect sense as a location for a city, so close to two major rivers!"

"Do you know where it is?" She knew her own voice was growing as excited as his.

"I do," He nodded then, for the first time, he hesitated, "Should we tell Dumbledore?"

Aoife considered this, "I guess we should. He is paying after all."

"Still, I don't think he would mind us exploring it for him. He's so far away! Think of what we might find!"

"That's true," Aoife frowned, now looking at the candle which burned on her table, looking without seeing. She felt that crushing darkness in her chest and felt her breath start to quicken ever so slightly, "Bill, are you sure? It could be dangerous."

Bill frowned at her, "No more dangerous than anything else we've done surely?"

"I don't know…"

"Aoife," His frown had moulded into a look of concern, "You've gone very pale."

"Probably just tired," She tried to shrug it off but even to her own ear, her voice sounded off.

"Are you sure everything's okay? Don't you want to explore Isetba? We'd be the first Curse Breakers to find it! The first to uncover its secrets!"

Aoife did not answer, she was still looking at the fire, her teeth clenching hard.

"We'll be fine," Bill smiled encouragingly at her, "There's nothing in Isetba that we can't handle! The only thing is I don't know how to apparate there."

She took a deep breath. Isetba was potentially the greatest find in Egyptian history. She had to go. She had to see it out. She couldn't let anyone else get there first Not even Bill.

Especially not Bill.

Aoife forced herself to pull a face, "I take it that means more walking through the desert?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Fecking delightful," She groaned, "Can we keep away from the weird hermits this time please?"