QLFC S11 R5, Catapults Keeper, prompt: Great Pyramid of Giza – Egypt
Word count: 2995 words (Gdocs)
A/N inspired by EndofthePage's story 'On Holiday', but of course this can stand alone :)
Warnings: suppressed memories (Percy does not remember ever visiting the Great Pyramid due to the trauma of being locked in it). Anxiety. Claustrophobia. Panic attacks. Falling down. Mentions of blood.
Fred lives AU (though he's not really in here)… it just happened :)
Many thanks to Lily, Queenie, Bea, Sky for beta'ing!
Many special thanks to Queenie for sharing with me her knowledge about Ancient Egypt and Pyramids and being so amazing!
The Great Pyramid of Giza.
Oliver's words produced a discordant sound in Percy's ears, like a violin with a broken string. Percy put down his teacup with an audible clink, and he looked around—they were in their living room, and everything was in its place.
"Before you say anything—I know, I know pyramids are nothing new to you," Oliver said. "Merlin knows how bored I was when your brothers kept telling me about them back at Hogwarts… Why did I never hear about it from you, by the way?"
Caught off guard, Percy was unable to find a better reply than "I-I didn't think you cared about Egypt."
An affronted look crossed Oliver's features. "You know I love hearing you say things." Then, with a suggestive wink, he added, "But we were otherwise busy, so I forgive you."
"Oliver!" Percy flushed, the heat in his face wiping away any concern for a moment.
"What? We were too busy, you studying and me playing Quidditch. Right?"
Percy shook his head, smiling. "You're impossible."
Oliver laughed. "Anyway, my teammates, wanting to be sure I wouldn't ruin their off-season with extra practices—can you believe their nerve?—gifted us a tour of the Giza plateau next month, and I thought you'd be excited at the idea since you dragged me all the way to Turkey just to propose to me in the Temple of Artemis."
"And you liked it so much that you wanted—no, demanded—to go to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon on our honeymoon." Percy pressed his thumb to his wedding band. "Not that I'd ever complain. I'm just—"
—uncomfortable. He had a bad feeling, but the Great Pyramid was the only one of the Seven Wonders that Muggles could visit, so it couldn't be dangerous.
"I'm down with that," Percy said, his mind going over his next moves: asking for leave, applying for an international Portkey, researching ancient and modern Egypt—the list was long, which was just what he needed to get his head straight. "I'll take care of everything. You just focus on your last games. Is that okay?"
"I was counting on it!"
…..
By the time they went to the Ministry to receive their official Portkey to Egypt, everything was in order.
Grabbing one end of the Portkey-turned sock, Percy smiled, satisfied; his brain had finally stopped buzzing. Taking hold of the other end of the sock, Oliver grinned back at him.
A hook grabbed Percy's navel and his body was pulled forward as everything spun around him. When his feet hit the ground again—uneven, sandy ground—he heard Oliver suck in a breath. Percy looked up. The pyramids of Giza towered over the desert in front of them—enormous, majestic, hypnotic.
Percy felt dizzy—whether from the magical travel or the Great Pyramid's dimensions, he couldn't say. His gaze swept over the Great Sphinx in the distance and the Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, thinking that the architects possessing magic had been facilitated, but the Muggle architects had been no less capable. There were no differences between the monuments built with the help of magic and those built without it, the blocks put into place with equal accuracy.
"The resting places of the Pharaohs," Percy whispered, pervaded by a sense of reverence.
Oliver said nothing, but his eyes were wide with wonder.
They had both been to more beautiful, ornate places—after all, the Egyptians had probably not cared so much to create works of art as to build safe places where the royal mummies could rest undisturbed, millennium after millennium—and yet, here Percy and Oliver were, standing in awe under the burning sun, admiring the size, the solidity, the regularity of those four-thousand-year-old buildings.
Percy brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the intense light. Everything was so yellow and bright and crowded where he expected darkness and loneliness, for some reason. The discordant sound came back—a buzzing in his ears, like the whine of a persistent fly. He waved his hand as if to shoo it away, only to blink and see—
Blackness. There was only him here, and him alone, and his hands were bleeding—
"—right, Percy?" A familiar strong arm—Oliver's—wrapped around his waist, preventing him from collapsing, a lifeline pulling him back from the blackness. "Are you alright?" Oliver asked. "You blanked out for a second. Do you need something? Water?"
Percy nodded, realising his delayed reaction only when something rigid—a water bottle—was pressed into his hand.
"No, I-I meant I'm alright." Percy gave the bottle back to Oliver. "I'm alright now."
Oliver scrutinised Percy's face, only relaxing when Percy squeezed his arm.
"Come on," Percy said, "let's explore this Wonder."
As they made their way towards the Great Pyramid in silence to save their breaths, Percy mentally went over his and Oliver's next appointments—no, he had not forgotten anything—and some facts about the Great Pyramid to keep his mind busy.
Made for Pharaoh Khufu (the Greek 'Cheops'), the Great Pyramid was the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, its base was about 230 metres square, its current height 137 metres, and—and Percy had no reason not to be fine. The last one was a fact too, and he willed his brain to stop looking for a threat.
"Did you know," Percy said as they finally entered the Great Pyramid's shadow, "that the Giza pyramids were built in alignment with the stars?"
"Oh?"
"Yes. And the three main pyramids here—Khufu's, Khafre's and Menkaure's—represent the three stars of Orion's belt."
"Don't tell me that the Blacks are behind the pyramids too!"
"Probably not. But it would make for an interesting story…" he mused. "And, oh! Imagine if they actually were, and their family motto has been grossly distorted over the millennia. You see, Egyptian High Priests were expected to be ritually pure, which involved bathing several times a day, among other things."
"Honestly, I wouldn't say no to a bath or several right now. Not even when playing Quidditch do I sweat so much," Oliver replied, only half-jokingly.
"I know, right?" Unfortunately, there were too many Muggles around to draw out his wand and cast a refrigerating spell. "Thank Merlin we are almost there," Percy said.
…..
Before entering the Great Pyramid, they were given an emergency Portkey—a safety measure, they were told, implemented a few years ago after a kid got locked in the pyramid. "Poor thing was trembling all over when they found him."
Percy's breath caught in his throat, but he told himself he was just tired from walking in the blazing heat; they both were, if Oliver's reddened skin was any indication.
"Witches and wizards can access more chambers than Muggles, but if you're not certified Curse-Breakers," the guard instructed, "you are not allowed to use magic anywhere inside the Pyramid; it interferes with the internal energy of the building, not to mention the risks of a Muggle spotting it. So please be careful. Well, enjoy your visit." The guard handed them a map of the interior of the Pyramid.
Oliver insisted Percy go in first. "So I can catch you if you feel ill again," he said with a wink.
Percy huffed and stepped inside; then, he turned to check on Oliver, who gave him a thumbs up.
…..
The Egyptians certainly cared a whole lot about the inviolability of their kings and queens, Percy thought, as, hunched over, they slowly made their way through the ascending passageway.
Everything had been maintained, where possible, the way their original constructors had intended it, including winding one-metre-high corridors and, apparently, lack of fresh air.
While the reason for such an elaborate system of passageways inside the pyramids was a matter of debate, Percy had always liked to think it had been done to mislead any future graverobbers as to the real location of the Pharaoh's resting place. That was what Bill had advised him to do when Percy, at six years old, had proudly announced he would become a pyramid architect, wanting to impress his Egypt-loving big brother.
But that was before—
Darkness, rough stones hurting his hands as he banged against them—
With his mind screeching to a halt, his body stopped, too. He turned back to look at Oliver, best as he could in his hunched position.
"Percy?" Oliver sounded as out of breath as Percy felt.
"I just wanted to see if you were fine." Whether for Oliver's sake or his own, he wouldn't know. "If you were… there."
"I wouldn't let you go that easily. We promised each other forever, remember?" Oliver held out his left hand, showing off his wedding ring. "I'm fine, don't worry."
Percy turned forward but couldn't move.
"Go on, love," said Oliver. "We're in the way here, but according to the map, the next corridor is larger. Or higher. Hopefully both."
"The Grand Gallery!" Percy exclaimed. How could he have forgotten? "It's 8 metres high."
"Thank Godric!"
But that was still far ahead, and the walls were shrinking around Percy now. He tried to ignore the stones above his head, stones that absolutely would not fall and crush him—Focus, Percy! he scolded himself. Recite some facts!
"The Great Pyramid contains about 2.3 million blocks," he muttered, "each weighing an average of 2.5 tons—" No, stop! Halt! Abort that thought!
Fear welled up within him, and suddenly, his lungs were rejecting the air, which felt hot—too hot—and dusty. He gasped. "I cannot go out…"
"Percy?" Oliver's voice came to him as if through water. "Hey, this pyramid has stood for what? 10,000 years?"
"4,600 y-years," he replied automatically.
"My point is, this thing was built to endure forever," Oliver said, putting a hand on Percy's back. "Breathe for me, love."
Percy took one breath, then another, grimacing at the stuffy air. Oliver is here, he told himself, forcing himself to calm down.
The scene felt familiar—the burning lungs, the overworking heart, the spasming throat—and yet, he couldn't place it, his mind playing catch with an elusive thought. He hated not being able to control his mind.
"Do you feel like going on?" Oliver asked.
"Yes, yes, I want to." He could do that. Slowly, he put one shaky foot in front of the other.
…..
Coming into the Grand Gallery from the ascending passageway was… something else. The steep climb up leading to the King's Chamber was like a stairway to heaven—which maybe it was. A horizontal passage led to the Queen's chamber. A well led down into darkness.
Oliver brought them both slightly away from the place of passage. "Ah, finally we can take a break," he said, stretching himself. "How are you?"
Now that he could straighten up, the relief to Percy's back was immediate, but his lungs still struggled to work, and his heart was banging against his chest wall as if wanting to escape it. Not wanting to worry Oliver, he smiled. "I'm fine."
Oliver nodded, satisfied. "Merlin, that was some good workout, not so different from bending over a broomstick." A glint entered his eyes. "I'm bringing my teammates here before next season. It'll do them good."
Percy let out an amused snort, but his mind was elsewhere, his eyes transfixed on the well shaft nearby—a symbol of the underworld according to some.
He tensed up.
"What is it?" Oliver asked. Then, following his gaze. "What's down there?"
Just like that, Percy found himself thrown into a recollection he had no memory of.
"Hey, Perce, check this out," came Fred's voice, immediately followed by George's: "Yeah, you're the brains. Tell us, what is that down there?"
It could refer to anything.
The question bounced in his head until the words overlapped into an unorganised ensemble of sounds which made his head spin.
Despite his arms feeling like they weighed a ton each, he managed to bring them up and plant his forearms against the wall, dropping his head on them.
When his closed fists touched those warm, rough stones, he was trapped back in the recollection—this time, he recognised his whereabouts and trembled.
"There is nothing down there," Percy stated, annoyed. "That's a shaft leading to the underground of the Pyramid. Or perhaps an escape route for the workers who—"
"An escape route sounds exactly what we're looking for," said the twins.
Oliver's voice joined the twins' unexpectedly: "That's it."
Brought back to the present, Percy flinched, his chest constricting so tightly that he felt like dying.
There it was, the rejection, the last moment he'd ever get to call Oliver his. But Oliver would never leave. Or would he? His brothers had.
"We're leaving," his husband said.
Uh?
Oliver's arm wrapped around his waist, and Percy felt a familiar hook yanking his body forward. With the ground literally falling away beneath him under the effect of the Portkey travel, the answer to the question What's down there? echoed in his mind.
"It's you."
A push to his back—Percy felt his stomach drop before realising he was falling, falling down. Everything went dark.
…..
The light bathing him was so unexpected that it caused spots dancing in his vision. All he could hear was the blood sloshing as his heartbeat raced.
His stomach churned at the realisation that Oliver had brought them out of the pyramid. Percy had ruined their holiday.
"S-sorry," he rasped out, gasping desperately.
When two arms wrapped around him from behind, Percy's body tensed instinctively, but his heart knew there was nothing to fear.
Oliver's voice made its way through the noise in Percy's head, his breath tickling Percy's neck. "Don't speak. Try to breathe for me. Like this—" Oliver breathed in, held it in for a few seconds and let it out slowly. "Deep and slow."
Oliver lowered both of their bodies so that they were sitting down. "You breathe, I'll count. In—1, 2, good. Out—1, 2, 3. In—you're doing great, love. Out—"
Percy's breath came in short gasps at first, but with Oliver's solid chest pressed against his back, rising and falling at every breath, Percy found it increasingly easier to copy him until they were breathing in sync.
Being outside in the open also helped—the air was fresh and there was a light breeze.
Percy inhaled and exhaled a couple of times more, but he felt fine, relaxed, as he turned in Oliver's embrace to be able to see him.
Oliver loosened his hold on Percy. "Merlin! Percy, you scared me to death." He deflated, dropping his head against Percy's shoulder. "You went unresponsive, stopped breathing…"
"Oliver…" His heart aching, Percy pressed a kiss to Oliver's temple. "I'm sorry."
"Not your fault. I just didn't know what to do…"
"But I am sorry!" Percy repeated. "We came all the way here and we didn't even see the King's Chamber and I've upset you—"
"Don't!" Oliver's head whipped up. "Don't you dare, Percy. None of it is your fault. If anything, I am at fault for proposing this tour and causing your—I'm sorry."
"How can you even think that? It's quite the opposite. I let myself go because you were there. Because I don't have to worry about failing at things with you." Sure, for a moment, he had thought Oliver might leave him, but that was his mind betraying him; his heart knew he was safe with Oliver. "I knew you would catch me."
"Always, love. I just wish—" Oliver sighed. "You don't have to talk about it of course, but if you wanted to—"
"I—" Percy's words got lost on their way from his brain to his mouth, but he did want to tell Oliver. "I don't know how."
Gently, Oliver asked, "It wasn't simple claustrophobia, was it?"
Percy shook his head. He couldn't remember everything yet, but he could put together a few key facts.
"It was—well—the twins being their usual selves," he muttered. "We visited the Great Pyramid—we did and I forgot. Anyway, Ginny stumbled on our way out. While Mum was fussing over her bruised knee, the twins thought it would be funny to lock me inside… They pushed me down a shaft—I only remember hurting all over. I had completely blocked it out. Until now."
Oliver's arms wrapped around Percy with almost too much strength. Percy just felt safer and got the strength to whisper, "I think I flashed back to it during the War, when I couldn't stand to see Fred so close to that wall—now I know why… Well, at least he's alive."
Visibly trying to control himself, Oliver said, "Don't! I won't let you think that it's good that they almost killed you. Just because a broken bone grows back stronger, it doesn't mean you have to take a Bludger to your body on a regular basis." Oliver gritted his teeth. "Godric! I'm so angry that—that—argh! But I'll take my revenge on your brothers during the next Quidditch game at the Burrow. If they'd cost me you—" His voice trailed off.
Percy took Oliver's hand. "I'm here, beloved."
"You almost weren't." Oliver's thumb came to rest on Percy's pulse point.
Rubbing circles on the back of Oliver's hand, Percy said, "You'll have to thank Bill. He reminded everyone that there are no hieroglyphs inside the Great Pyramid, so I couldn't have stayed behind to study them, as the twins claimed."
"I will."
After some minutes of silence, Oliver said, "You know I love you, right?"
Percy nodded. "I love you too." Looking over at the Great Pyramid, he bit his lip. "I'm kind of sorry we didn't finish our visit, though."
Oliver tilted his head. "All things considered, I am not."
"What?" Percy frowned. "But I thought—"
Smiling, Oliver said, "Let's put it this way. After visiting three of the Seven Wonders, you're still the most wondrous thing I've ever seen. And I have no doubt it'll stay that way. This—" He raised their linked hands. "—is forever."
"Forever." Squeezing Oliver's hand, Percy whispered, "My love for you will outlast even the pyramids."