A/N: Welcome to the second to last chapter of this work. It's taken me some time to wrap this up in a way that does the story justice. I'm sure you've all heard this countless times before, but having children really sucks up every ounce of personal time. Most of the time i just try to savor the few hours of peace and quiet when the opportunity presents itself...or catch up on sleep. But that's enough excuses. As always, please enjoy, and as a copyright reminder, i don't own HP and make no coin from this tale.

"Why let us pass unhindered if he can utilize magic?" the French Inspector asked as the group inched their way through the next gate. "Why not ward the only bottleneck in this whole place and just be done with it?"

The others shot her worried glances as Hermione continued to lay bare her thoughts, though they went mostly unseen in the poorly lit tunnel leading up to the main chamber.

"Hermione," Tonks started, carefully stepping over a fallen gate defender. "Are you trying to give the guy ideas? We still don't know if he's bugged one of us, and here you are throwing around suggestions on the best way to off us all."

She rolled her eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. Voldemort may be a mass murdering villain-,"

She was a master at stating the obvious as they navigated over and around the dozens of dead creatures that lay dead at their feet.

"-but he is also extremely intelligent. Enough so that I can confidently say that he would have thought of the very things I just mentioned."

"Perhaps he feels confident enough to toy with us, like a cat does with a mouse." Tonks chimed in.

"Are you comparing Voldemort to a cat?" Harry asked, entirely unable to help himself. "What kind of a cat would he be though?"

"Tabby?" she mused, playing along. "Oh, I've got it! A sphynx cat."

Harry laughed and ahead, Fahid ground his teeth.

"Quiet!" he snapped. "There may yet be someone within this place that could wish us harm."

The trio kept their mouths shut after that, any further attempt at some levity in the face of certain doom squashed by the bitter older wizard who, according to Harry, had had his sense of humor surgically removed.

Tonks had snorted at that. A snort that echoed in the confined space and earned her a withering glare from the Egyptians who were trying to act professional throughout this whole ordeal.

Several minutes passed and another minor god was found slain at the hands of their common enemy. The two ancient Egyptian youngsters took the sight the hardest, whispering prayers in ancient Egyptian. The group emerged at the other end in good order, somewhat relieved but also more on edge.

There was only one gate left before they'd attempt to board Ra's Atet. It was their only option at survival. Why was it then that it felt like they were marching to their doom?

oOo

As with the previous two that came before it, the last gate was overcome unchallenged. They'd made it to the twelfth and final piece of the Duat. Fahid had opted to fly instead of walk, to conserve time and avoid needlessly carrying the literal dead weight accompanying them.

The stop at the unnamed settlement where they'd met Sabef and Maia had been both fortuitous and an inconvenience.

They hadn't required the teen's help in the slightest. But had they not spent those two days within the well-hidden village and instead moved on to the gate right away, the Dark Lord would have encountered them in front of the ninth gate and slain them all.

So while he didn't owe them anything, Fahid also didn't want to abandon those two on the side of the road like unwanted pets. These two could not return to their village, just as they themselves could not. But unlike them, these two souls could also not leave the Duat on Ra's vessel.

The only logical destination, then, was to place them at the feet of Anubis. Facing the weighing of the heart's ceremony was not something he could force them to do, but should they ever wish to break the monotonous existence of this purgatory they'd be able to do so with relative ease.

The final leg from the gate to their current location had taken some six hours, but eventually the sharp, scraggily peaks of an unnatural looking mountain range started to emerge from the green haze. It would be another three hours yet before Ra entered this part of the Duat again. With any luck, enough time to locate the entrance to the field of reeds and bid their new acquaintances fare well.

He noticed that the others were equally interested in the change of scenery. The Major checked that the anti-detection charms on the carpet were properly functioning. Though the English dark lord's movements had been plain as day, the Major couldn't even begin to guess at his end game. Was he already on the Atet? Or was he waiting for them here, near the base of these mountains; ready to ambush them?

On and on they flew, eyes peeled, scanning for anything and everything seemingly out of the ordinary. Plains covered with tall, swaying grasses gave way to the foothills of the nameless mountain range looming high above, seemingly insurmountable. The fog here seemed less potent somehow, allowing them to gaze up at the barren slopes, the peaks hidden by menacing storm clouds.

"There's nothing here." The Hare muttered, scanning to the north and south of where they hovered. Fahid though was not surprised. Ra's light animated the souls of the departed here, and also acted as their guides through the Duat. Living, breathing outsiders that they were, it was easy to deviate from the set path the Atet took day in and out. No compass functioned here, after all. They would either have to move north, or south depending on where the fabled barge would emerge.

Which meant that they would likely not make the attempt today after all.

"We're landing." He stated, selecting a rougher area of ground that would hide them better than the gently sloping foothills would. A stream had created a narrow washed out channel that ate into the soft earth. He chose a ledge some ways up from the water, where it would be easy to climb and scan the surrounding landscape.

"We will wait for Ra to grace us with his presence, then close on the exact spot where he will pass over into the mortal realm."

He offered up the explanation freely, knowing they would just ask soon regardless. Their incessant need to question his reasoning was vexing, but he could understand that they weren't his subordinates, and couldn't be treated as such. He sighed. It would have been much easier if he could have continued treating them as proper prisoners. Regrettably, he did not have that luxury here. They'd need to work together if they had any chance of returning.

"We're going today then?" the Auror asked, her hair shifting to a darker green. A color usually correlated with emotion, he'd found. Green was, perhaps, fear or trepidation?

"No. For one, our two guides will need a proper sendoff. I do not wish to leave them here. More importantly, however, is that we must find the best possible location before an attempt to board Ra's ship can be made.

Fahid had given the boarding a great deal of thought at this stage. With only an hour in each section of the Duat, and their average time to cross in the carpet measured in hours, the Atet would be moving at tremendous speeds. Any chance of intercepting would be measured in seconds rather than minutes.

"This will be a risky gambit, even without the British Dark lord's interference." He raised his arms, hands held flat to represent the carpet, and the other the solar ship. "The Atet will be moving at many kilometer per hour. Perhaps as fast as a commercial jetliner. The only way this will work is to fly directly over top, as high as possible," the one hand came down fast, smacking the top of the other. "-then dive just before it will overtake us."

The others nodded, though he could tell that the boy understood perfectly what he was saying. The Auror too. They would have broom flying experience, and possibly follow the European broom sports. Though not of interest to him, the activity required a good understanding of mathematics and physics.

"Whatever difference in speed between the rug and Ra's ship would have to be kept to a minimum, otherwise our landing would be considered more of a crash." He concluded.

Tonks exhaled, running her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Crikey."

Fahid nodded. He hadn't even mentioned the possibility of them encountering the Serpent God, Apep.

"That rug of yours." Potter began, pursing his lips. "-what is its top speed?"

A memory of a much younger, more reckless boy sneaking out of the house to find an answer to that very question suddenly surfaced. The smell of the sea, and the wind whipping his clothes. That same wind drowned out his joyous laughter.

"Perhaps two hundred sixty kilometers an hour. More if the safety charms are overridden. Though I cannot tell you what would happen should we attempt it."

"You'd risk your family's heirloom?" the young French witch asked.

His response was a weak chuckle. "What good is an heirloom if I cannot hand it down to my children?"

oOo

"I'm telling you, its tracking north, not south." Tonks said, gazing at Ra's splendor with her binoculars. Harry, standing right beside her, shook his head, lowering his own field glasses.

"Ten francs says he's going south."

She held out her hand, never taking her eyes off the bright spot that came into view a mere minutes ago. "You're on."

Hermione rolled her eyes but was more interested in observing as Fahid explained to Sabef and Maia that they would be parting ways soon. With the language barrier and the fact that one could only interact with them for a single hour in the day, the thought of them splitting wasn't a heart wrenching moment. They were good kids, but still practically strangers.

It would be another twenty minutes before Harry begrudgingly handed over a bank note to the smug looking metamorph, who stuffed the bill into her rapidly expanded bust with much gloating.

They hopped onto the rug and started their journey north.

"There! Look!" Hermione shouted over the wind, her hair whipped back and forth. Indeed, ahead lay a temple that would not look out of place in Egypt, save for perhaps its condition. The imposing walls, tall and angular, looked to have risen from the nearly colorless sand it rested upon. In fact, there seemed to be a small collection of dunes here, forming a perfect circle clearly visible from the air. The light of the sun shone on its richly detailed front façade; the details almost impossible to make out due to the extreme contrast of the slate gray mountains looming behind. Sturdy columns creating an imposing entrance.

The entire area exuded an otherworldly presence. It was the start of something new, as most thresholds were. Fahid set the carpet down on the vast, stone paved courtyard. Ra was getting closer, but there was still time to attempt a climb. While the Duat as a whole had made her feel uneasy, this place was practically making Hermione's skin tingle, and not in a pleasant way.

Their two guides stepped off, then turned and bowed deeply, along with what she assumed were words expressing gratitude. The Major inclined his head and responded. Without much thought, she waved at them, and the others soon followed. Fahid told them how to say; fare well', which she, Harry and Tonks clumsily repeated. The two teens smiled, holding hands, and watched as the rug ascended, never to return again.

She watched as the two turned into specks, followed shortly by the temple itself. Higher and higher they climbed. Hermione felt the pressure build in her ears, then release with a pop. Once, then again. The ground at this point was simply a featureless mosaic of colors. Even the mountains had begun to lose some of their definition.

"We're getting close!" the Major yelled, and her hand found Harry's, squeezing tight. It was an odd thing to observe something as bright as the sun sit lower than them, and visibly move. Harry too was craning his neck, looking at now rapidly brightening object. He looked tense.

Suddenly, and without warning, the carpet lurched forward, gaining speed, but not diving. The only other time it had moved off the line so quickly was on the first day riding it, when they'd fled first from Major Al Hamani, and then when he'd saved them, from Voldemort.

Yet despite their high speed, the Atet was still gained very rapidly. The major was mostly looking behind him and down, over the left-hand side of the front corner. How he was calculating his decent window she knew not, but already Hermione was bracing herself for that highly unpleasant lurch and freefalling sensation.

She'd never liked roller coasters, and this was bound to be worse than all of them combined. Her heart was beating fast now, enough where she heard her own pulse in her ears over the screaming wind biting against every square centimeter of her exposed flesh.

Then, it came. She screamed, entirely unable to help herself. Beside her, Harry whooped, and Tonks actually had the gall to laugh. The charms were keeping them stuck to the thin fabric, when the brutal headwind was trying its best to rip them off it.

The carpet spiraled slowly, allowing its operator to re-acquire their swiftly moving landing platform. It still looked so fast, despite their breakneck fall.

"Up!" Harry suddenly found himself yelling. "we're trading too much elevation. You won't be able to pull out of the dive innnnn-" he was cut off as Fahid did just that, beginning to pull out of the dive in a bone crushing arc. He'd flipped the carpet back around facing the mountains, Ra now directly behind and only a scant few hundred meters away from them.

In the last second, she'd been able to see a large, square sail and a light honey colored wooden deck despite the radiant light. Now, she was unable to even lift her head as the gee forces pressed her face into the richly dyed fibers.

A massive jolt multiplied the already immense pressure on her body, though only for a second. It was quickly followed by a fall, the same wooden deck she'd seen now encompassing her entire vision. It was the last thing she saw before the world went black.

oOo

He blinked once, twice, a dozen times in an effort to make the blurriness subside. His body hurt seemingly everywhere, though it was more pronounced in his leg and, strangely enough, head and arms, the latter of which felt oddly sluggish and tingly.

A strange creaking and the sound of his own pulse throbbing in his ears were the only sounds around.

His eyes itched for some odd reason and couldn't immediately make sense of what they were seeing. A blue orb with a faint curvature greeted him. Suddenly, his odd position made sense. He was inverted, arms hanging limply past his head, left leg tucked in while his right was extended, and supporting his full weight from the feel of it.

"Urghh, shit." He muttered, looking down, not up at his leg, but at the fibrous rope that had wrapped itself around the appendage, saving him from certain death.

Testing his strength, he scrunched up, able to get his very sensitive hands to grasp the rope. Pulling up, Harry was able to wrap his forearms around the rope for greater purchase, then used the other to undo his trapped leg. It was hard work, but after a bit he was free.

Then, he looked up. It was a mistake. Above was nothing but light, all encompassing. But below, the rope ended, limply dangling, moving only when he adjusted himself.

Something above was supporting his weight. And he couldn't stay like this indefinitely. Choosing to climb, he wrapped his left leg around the rope, using the friction of his pants and feet to mostly support his weight, allowing his arms to grasp higher. It was slow going, and he had no way of knowing where this rope ended.

Then he bumped his head on something to the side and above of him. Groping blindly, it felt like an angled surface, warm to the touch. Looking in that direction was ill advised though, the light still a problem. Was this the source? He closed his eyes, but that only helped marginally. The surface felt somewhat rough, enough for him to use his boots on, and the Hare walked up its nearly vertical slope, hands still firmly grasping the rope.

Finally, it terminated, pinched along the edge of his vertical walking surface. He grasped what appeared to be ledge, first with one hand, then the other, and clawed his way up with a grunt, arms trembling from the exertion.

Rolling over, he lay flat on his back, content with simply catching his breath for a minute.

The light had finally ebbed, but the warmth of the material was still seeping into his back. A peek confirmed that he was resting on massive, roughly hewn wooden planks, though it would take his eyes at least another minute before he could look at anything. Like walking indoors after spending the day outside in the snow.

With a groan of displeasure, he rolled over, and right over the other edge, onto the hard, unforgiving wood below. Nothing felt broken, though it was hard to tell with any real certainty. Pushing himself up, the discomfort quickly shifted into the background of his mind. The reason stood in front of him, rising above what he now knew to be the deck of a ship by at least two meters, if not more.

The body was muscle packed and human but had the head of a... Falcon? 'It' wore an ornamental head dress whose magnificent center piece radiated pure light and warmth. Simply gazing up left his face feeling warm, the heat seeping into his skin something akin to looking at the sky on a hot summer's day.

It was glorious.

Belatedly, he saw the cobra perched atop the head piece. It did not move, save for its tongue, probing the air, sniffing. Harry briefly wondered how he wasn't blind from gazing at such a display, his retinas surely should have burnt out.

The falcon headed creature was not facing him directly, but simply standing at rigid attention, staring out at nothing. Rising, his body reminded him of its many ails by flooding his synapses with pain signals. But he was up, and for the first time, he could see just where he was.

The bow of a ship. A massive ship. It was constructed entirely of wood, cedar to be exact, if his nose wasn't deceiving him. The scale of it was absolutely staggering. For one, the gunwale he'd just fallen from was nearly as tall as he was. Perhaps a meter and a half, and a solid fifty centimeters thick.

The forward deck was large enough to fit a full-sized tennis field, followed by a square structure placed atop the deck, perhaps four to five meters in height. Above that rose a single, massive mast, held in place by rigging as thick as a man's leg. The sail, white linen, spanned a good seventy meters in width and was perhaps half that in height.

It was pure white, save for a single blemish near the lower half of the sail. Was that where they'd hit? That made sense. It was the largest part of the ship, and the best place to impact with a combined difference that was measured in automobile speeds. The fabric had likely slowed them down more gradually, though the inevitable rebound would have still been ugly.

Even uglier if that rope hadn't snagged his leg on the way down,' he thought, tracking it to where it was secured to the mast.

Was that what had indeed happened? His position near the front of the vessel strengthened the theory, but he couldn't be sure. Where were the others then? Had they fallen, like he?

Worry settled in his gut as he searched for his Inspector. There were others, but they stood with unnatural stillness, like his avian friend over here. Come to think of it, didn't Ra have the head of a bird? Harry glanced over, his search for Hermione and Tonks momentarily forgotten.

Merde, this was Ra. The sun god. The holiest of deities worshipped by the ancient Egyptians. The shock subsided quickly though. He needed to find Hermione. With that thought in mind, he made towards the portside beam, quickly finding himself on the long, narrow stretch of deck between the gun whale and the wooden walls of the superstructure. There were no identifiable doors leading into the boxy interior, so he continued towards the rear.

Pressed against the wall, he slowed his advance with only a few meters left. Peeking around the corner, he bit back a curse.

A woman, back turned, was chanting in the middle of the aft deck, standing in what looked to be a runic array made from red paint, or possibly blood. Yes, that was more than likely.

She had long, black hair that reached the small of her back, and was garbed in white ceremonial attire. Something about her was familiar. But what? Where had he seen her before?

She was chanting in a foreign language, using a brush to apply pictographs and symbols along the outer edge of the array. Performing the task soon presented him with a better angle, and at once his heart turned to ice.

Morgan Le Fay. It was her!

Then he noticed the others. Three bodies, prone or on their side. And one, tied up and gagged, with a shock of light brown hair.

Hermione.

She was alive!

He refocused on Le Fay. If she was sufficiently distracted, he could maybe get the drop on her. Pulling his pistol, he inhaled slowly in preparation to take the shot, but was stopped from doing so by a faint; 'psst' from above.

A tangled mess of pink hair greeted him, and he sighed in relief. Tonks gestured for him to turn back, pointing at the thick ropes secured to the hull that supported the mast. He did just that, and climbed them up to her elevated hiding spot atop the boxy superstructure.

"Tonks!" He whispered. "It's extremely good to see you."

"Back atcha, stud." She winked, before turning serious. "I stopped you just in the nick of time, from the looks of it."

He shifted, now crouched next to the mast, with her a few feet away. "How so?"

"Well, it looked to me like you were about to shoot her, which wouldn't have done you any good. The two Egyptians tried that when they encountered her. She has her magic, just like Voldemort. And projectile deflection enchantments, too boot."

"Are they alive?" he couldn't help but ask. While no friends, Fahid, Hassan, and even Saddah had all helped them. Tonks shook her head, and he closed his eyes in sadness.

"I gotta say, I did not expect to see you again. Where the blazes did you go?"

The hare rubbed his stubble. There would be time to mourn later. "I was thrown clear of the ship when we hit, but my leg became tangled in a rope. I only woke up fifteen minutes ago."

She whistled slowly. "Bloody hell, Harry. You've got more luck than brains and looks combined. And you have plenty of both of those."

He snorted at the attempt to lighten the mood.

"So, what's the plan? If Le Fay has her magic, then we're in the same boat as when Voldemort was our problem. No pun intended. Besides, how did she even get here?"

The Auror nodded. "Physically overpowering her is our best bet. Get that wand out of her hands, and then tie her up nice and good. I don't know if she has ritually increased strength, but I'm liking the odds a lot more now that you're here."

He nodded. Any idea what she has planned with that array? And if she's in league with Voldemort?"

Again, she shook her head. "Fraid not. But I haven't seen Voldemort around either. Maybe she bumped him off, yeah?"

"That would be one heck of a silver lining." He agreed, before turning in the general direction of where Le Fay was doing whatever she was doing.

"So what's the plan here? We sneak up on her and rough her up like a pair of thugs?"

Tonks chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much. I'm thinking we approach from either side of the box we're sitting on and sneak up on her at the next opportunity. Simple enough."

Harry couldn't come up with a better idea shy of picking up a plank and giving her a mighty wallop, so he nodded in agreement.

"Lets do it, then."

Her concentration nearly broke when the Simularium saw him emerge from the bow of the ship. He'd seemingly appeared from nowhere. She observed his movements through its eyes, focusing on the ritual whilst simultaneously thinking of a plan to delay him. She could not stop now.

The boy made his way along the side of the Atet, and was now directly observing her, when she was forced to act. There was a lull in the chanting, and she could dedicate more of herself to her imminent chat with him.

Through her mind's eye, he glanced up, a pair of bright green orbs locking with hers. Gesturing towards the rigging, he nodded, then joined her construct on the roof of the ship.

She led him on, plotting and scheming. Offering suggestions. They agreed on a plan of attack. The ritual would tie her up for another ten minutes at least.

Le Fay considered ending it here, but over the span of several millennia, the Witch had picked up a flair for the dramatic. Besides, she wasn't overly concerned. He only had a pistol on him, and the amulet would shield her from harm should he manage to get off a shot.

They split, and her Simularium took the starboard side. She saw him peeking around the corner. Le Fay had already positioned herself again, facing away and thus enticing him to act. She gave the signal and he moved, awkwardly but with little noise.

The other girl, bound, noticed him for the first time and began to struggle, her eyes wide and pleading. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten. The ancient with locked eyes with her captives, brown meeting violet, and she smirked.

Behind her, the Auror raised her MP-5, then readjusted her aim.

A single shot rang out, followed by a thump.

Then and only then did she turn to face the wounded Hare.

"Hello, Harry." Le Fay said with a malicious smile.