Chapter Twelve

The Myth in Question

Harry and Charles waited in a secondary lobby of St. Mungo's until finally a nurse escorted them to a common ward in the LE section of the hospital.

"They're quite all right," she said with a smile. "They're a bit malnourished and lost some weight from eating so much transfigured food, but a week or two of vitamin potions will put them right as rain again! Technically they're released, at least from hospital. They're not wanted for anything, are they?"

"No, not really," Harry said.

"Mr. Heron seems awfully anxious to get back to Canada. He says he's late for school," the nurse explained.

"I'll bet he is," Harry agreed, and they walked in to find the two men sitting on the very edge of their cots as if quite ready to get out of there.

"Ah! Auror Potter, Auror Willowby," Rhett said, immediately alert when they came in. "I hope you don't mind my saying so, but I'm quite anxious to get home. I have discovered I am very late for school and need to check in with Fishanwish immediately, as well as to relieve my neighbor of her mail running duties."

"We had to be sure you didn't bring some sort of exotic virus home while you two were traipsing in that smuggler's cave," Harry said. "Speaking of which, didn't you remove a few magic devices out of there?"

"Never fear, Auror Potter. My smuggler days are long over, and I have every intention of registering them the moment I get to Canada," Rhett assured him. "I have with me a legal form that Mr. Trench signed giving me his permission to remove them, and I have agreed to formally purchase them once they're appraised. I gather that your laws here are similar to ours in that someone charged with smuggling will not be allowed to handle Magical Items for some time after he's on parole."

"You got that right," Harry agreed. "Did you keep anything you need to register, Roy?"

"The only thing I have interest in is the medallion, and Rhett is taking it with him to give it a thorough once over in case there are some hidden curses involved. I wouldn't be surprised if there was, considering the history. Do you want to know what medallion I am talking about, Harry? You'll find it quite exciting," Lockhart said.

"I'm sure I don't know, do tell," Harry said in a tone that made Charles wonder if Lockhart would pick up his lack of enthusiasm.

"It is none other than the famous medallion from my book, Year With a Yeti! Do you remember?"

"Uh... I studied it in school, right?" Harry guessed.

"Yes, of course you did! I may have embellished it a bit by making the medallion gold instead of jade, and it is delicately carved instead of filigreed with an onyx marble at the middle rather than a diamond. But other than that, it's the same exact medallion with almost the same purpose! It is a key to something spectacular! A sealed vessel with ancient carvings!" Roy explained excitedly, completely ignoring the faces that Rhett was making in an effort to get him to shut up.

"I see. And where is that located?" Harry inquired, despite knowing the answer.

"No one knows! That's what makes it so exciting," Roy said, and Harry simply gazed at him evenly. "My once friend Emil Trench has been simply years looking for it to no avail, but I have promised him, come rain, or shine, or the deepest snow on the highest peaks of the Himalayas, I shall find it for him to make amends! I may even get a great deal of book material out of it. Come to think of it, the adventure we've had the last couple of weeks is already good enough for several chapters at least."

"Roy..."

"Well, I think I'll be going now. I do have students waiting," Rhett interrupted loudly, clapping Roy on the back and then doing the same to Harry and Charles. "Good luck if you're going to attempt to talk him out of it! I have already given up trying. I'll be on my way so that I don't have to hear that conversation again."

"I don't blame you," Charles offered as Rhett made a quick exit.

"I'm sure he'll be in touch. He's committed now, and I really don't think he wants to leave this mystery unsolved anymore than I do," Roy reasoned. "He probably wanted to go home for a change... come to think of it, I should do the same. I didn't bring enough outfits with me on that track, having no idea that we were going to be entrapped for so long... but I forgive Rhett for not knowing the door would close so quickly! We all make mistakes sometimes, even hired bodyguards. Perhaps you can come next time as well, Charles. There's always safety in numbers."

"How about you don't get involved in anything that's going to get one of my Aurors killed? Or anyone else for that matter," Harry suggested flatly.

"Oh, don't worry, Harry. I never make the same mistake more than once... at least not anything that I have documented in one of my books. Speaking of which, I believe I'll head home for a nice long bath before I put quill to parchment. After all, I have so much to catch up on! I shall be in touch, Charles! Ta!" Roy said, ducking out of the room.

Harry sighed. Then he glanced at Charles.

"You are going to stay away from him, right?" Harry asked him seriously.

"I haven't made up my mind yet," Charles admitted, looking out the door after Roy. Harry's expression told Charles just how unhappy he was with that answer. "Yes, I know he's a bit of a cyclone, and his recklessness is always getting him into one scrape after the next. Still, I often wonder if he's doing it as a form of self punishment. I mean... his heart's in the right place, trying to correct his past mistakes. It's not his fault he's completely incompetent as a wizard, is it?"

"Yes it is," Harry said flatly. "You have no reason to feel sorry for him."

"You're right, I probably don't," Charles said. "Despite that, I still kinda do."

"Charles, how would you like double shifts during the winter holidays?" Harry threatened.

"Oh, come on, Harry, you wouldn't do that. Admit it, you kinda like him too now that he's reformed an' all, right?" Charles coaxed.

"Absolutely positively not," Harry said seriously. "And if ever gets any of his 'hired help' hurt, we are definitely going toe to toe. Considering his age and magical ability, I wouldn't bet on his chances."

"Would you go with a standard Wizard Duel, or magic-free hand to hand with Marquis of Queensbury rules, just to make things more fair?" Charles teased him.

"If he gets you killed, I'll be doing both," Harry swore.

"Thanks, boss," Charles grinned, and the two of them went back to the office.

Later that evening, Severus returned to the Headmaster's Study to find Harry, Lucky, and Dale having tea with Jennifer.

"I take it your presence here means that your mission was successful," Severus said.

"Piece of cake," Lucky said smugly, while pointedly handing him one.

"I had Lucky waiting in the wizard's hut in case we needed backup, and we did, of course. Without the key to keep the door open, the door swings shut unless someone continuously meditates near a magic statue," Harry summarized.

"Naw, the statue wasn't magical, it had nothing to do with it," Lucky informed Harry. "Its purpose was only to mark the spot and let visiting monks know which mudra opened the door. The area was sacred to different religions, so a sect of magically blessed monks made that gate to protect the inner sanctum. I think it was used both as a pilgrim site as well as a refuge in times of need. I don't think Roy and Rhett were the first ones to make use of that clean water source or even the latrines further down the stream, either; it was likely set up that way in case anyone had to hide there for a long period of time. They also carved elaborate wards in between the religious figures... more elaborate than the magic wards we use today. But if you've studied ancient runes at all, you can easily start picking them out nestled between the local script... only people unfamiliar with the characters would mistake them for more than just elaborate script."

"So you got something out of your Ancient Runes classes after all?" Severus inquired.

"Apparently," Lucky acknowledged with a grin. "Also, I learned enough about Ancient Magic from you to know that it'd be more effort than it's worth tryin' to dispel it, that'd be as futile as trying to negate some of the security the founders put on this place. The best thing to do would to put a modern gate across the cavern outside of the original one to safeguard it, or at least add a ward and a warning sign so that nobody else gets trapped in there accidentally."

"All of those recommendations will have to go through the foreign office, since we only have written permission to remove Mr. Trench's stash from that cavern. It was easy to prove that none of those items were originally from that cave, although they had as many questions about their legality as we did," Harry explained. "That said, they were more than willing to give us permission to confiscate them since they really don't have the resources we do to test and research each one. All we need to do is to give them full reports on our findings in case they want to recall one of them, including the tests that Rhett is going to conduct on that medallion, of course."

"I'm not so sure you should've let Rhett have that thing. It might have been better to keep everything together and let the legals sort all of that out," Lucky said.

"Actually, that particular item seemed to be legal," Harry explained. "Trench had legitimate paperwork filed with the Artifacts Department, and his counselor gave him the proper forms to transfer ownership to Roy Lockhart while he was in the Tower. Apparently it's his prized possession, and since he knew he wasn't going to be able to handle it himself when he got out, he leased it to Lockhart for safe keeping... you know, it's one of those Heirloom contracts where he only has partial ownership of the item and can only sell it back to the original holder."

"Was anything else in that stash registered?" Severus asked suspiciously.

"Some of the boxes were hexed so we haven't gone through them all yet. So far, nothing else has been registered. I think the rest were items he was planning to resell," Harry explained.

"So what's so special about that medallion that he was willing to let Roy and Rhett have it rather than let it get in anyone else's hands?" Lucky asked curiously.

"Apparently it's a medallion from one of Lockhart's books. In the book, he highly exaggerated its appearance," Harry explained.

"I'm shocked," Severus said expressionlessly.

"From what I learned from Hermione, the medallion is supposedly a key to something... and if the book wasn't exaggerating, it's believed to be the key to opening Pandora's Box."

"Oh, honestly!" Jennifer said with exasperation. "Even if was a key, I have a hard time believing it opens Pandora's Box, especially since it probably wasn't even a box, but a locked jar."

"You mean it's not a myth?" Harry asked curiously. "I mean, it sounds like you believe it's a real thing."

"I'm sure it did exist at some point, although what might have been inside that container is quite up for debate," Jennifer replied. "You see, jars, urns, and other storage containers were common magic items in ancient times for many different purposes, so I find its existence quite plausible. More than likely, it became a remembered legend because something must have happened that exposed it in front of so many people that its magical properties couldn't be denied. As to what that was, no one is certain. Many books on charmed and cursed vessels have theorized possible answers, but I'm wondering if it wasn't being used as a memory vessel, containing lots of bad memories along with one good memory... that would stand for "Hope" you see."

"But if all it had were memories that have experienced only by whoever opened the thing, it wouldn't have caused a major event," Lucky pointed out.

"I suppose it depends on what the memories were about and who happened to open it. Pandora may have been based on a real person, like a daughter of a very well known leader either political or spiritual," Jennifer conjectured. "Perhaps the girl's parents were alarmed enough that they made quite a stir... or perhaps there was a scandal involving whoever gave her that jar. The gift also could have been malignant in nature, with intentionally traumatizing memories."

"Jennifer, while I'm certain the jar existed if the evidence is as far reaching as you say, I must point out that we have very unreliable source material," Severus pointed out. "We don't really know what that key is for... or if it is really a key at all. We are talking about a medallion that Harry had the misfortune of reading about in one of Lockhart's books, which we know for a fact are all disingenuous."

"Right... so the first course of action is to talk to them to find out more about it. I don't suppose there's a chance that I might have a peek at that medallion?" Jennifer asked with an alluring smile.

"Rhett already took it back with him to Canada so he could have a look at it," Harry explained. Jennifer pouted. "But I will find out for certain if it's Pandora's Box is what they're really after and I'll let you know what I find out."

"Thank you, Harry," Jennifer said.

Not long after their guests left, Severus helped Jennifer secure the Headmaster's Study for the night, then they stepped through the nursery door to check on Serendipity on their way to their rooms. When Severus attempted to walk through Jennifer's sitting room to the bedroom, he noticed that she had paused by her desk. He turned with a knowing sigh when he saw her pulling out several books and even thumbing through one.

"Isn't it a bit premature to start researching an item when we don't even know Pandora's Box is what they're truly after, Jennifer?" Severus chided her.

"I'm playing a hunch," Jennifer explained, flipping through the book in her hand. "These particular volumes are old enough that they were written before Roy was Obliterated, so Emil Trench would have still been a licensed Items Expert at that point. If Pandora's Box was his intellectual obsession, his name should be mentioned in one of these either in association with the item or in the footnotes," she said.

Severus stepped over, glancing over her shoulder and noticed from the binding that it was a book on cursed objects.

"Here we are, Pandora's Pithos," Jennifer read. "'Reputably a large ceramic jar carved with magical enchantments and an ornate jade lid with a cursed lock to keep out would be thieves. No one is certain what sort of curse it actually held due to differing accounts by unreliable sources. Some experts still dispute the widely believed fact that the container was a Pithos, and may have been a box after all.' Wait, what? Oh, it says 'See Page 134.'"

"Jennifer, since this is obviously going to take some extensive research, perhaps it should be left for another day?" Severus suggested tiredly.

"Ah ha! I found him... Emil Nimbus Trench... he's on page 134," she explained. Severus let out a silent sigh. "Emil Trench is a renowned Magical Anthropologist who specializes in trade routes of the ancient world and how trading helped develop wizard societies along the Mediterranean and into Europe. He often acts as a consultant on excavation digs involving trading outposts and ships, and is well known for his work involving Pandora's Box, writing several papers on the subject of how Pandora's cursed gift was likely to have been foreign in origin.'"

"You're not going to get into that tonight, are you?" Severus asked flatly.

"No, I have a better idea. I think I'll show this to Hermione," Jennifer said with a wicked smile.

"You're going to have the entire staff involved before I get back, aren't you?" Severus accused suspiciously.

"Not at all, Severus. Besides, I don't consider this getting involved," Jennifer said. Severus squinted at her. "I am simply researching it in case they decide to consult me due to my expertise in cursed items. Since that possibility is highly likely, I would like to prepare for that eventuality," she explained.

"Yes, well, I suppose that does make sense, although the fact that you've already taken an interest always increases the likelihood that the rest of the family gets dragged into it," Severus said.

"Members of the family have already been dragged into it," Jennifer pointed out. "Which is just another reason to keep up on what's going on in case we're forced to charge in to the rescue down the line." Severus sighed.

"Yes, alright. I suppose that isn't much different than what I do when I suspect that one of ours is getting over their heads into something," Severus mused. Jennifer smiled and got up.

"Advising about one's expertise is just an extended form of teaching, really," Jennifer replied.

"True enough," Severus said, then grew thoughtful. "You know, Jennifer, you and others are always commenting on how much I have improved at being a Headmaster over the years, but it's plain to me that you have grown as well."

"Thank you very much," Jennifer said, wrapping her arm around his. "But I still hold no candle to you at this job."

"Perhaps, but the jobs you hold are just as important as mine," Severus assured her. She smiled and leaned on his arm for a moment as they stepped into the other room.