~oo00oo~

Chapter 15

Sickness, Alexandria

_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ

8 February 1985

I had conflicting memories about Alexandria.

My older self could remember it in it's bourgeois heyday back in the 1960s, back when Alexandria was the beacon of Mediterranean culture. Millions of Cairenes would descend on Alexandria in the summer, much like those of New York descend on the Hamptons. The beaches in an Alexandrian summer would be so packed with men strutting in tiny bikinis and women under umbrella shade that barely any sand could be found. People here would speak French, just as much as Arabic.

My future self compared Alexandria more to Venice than to the Hamptons. As like the fabled Italian city, Alexandria was a place of waterways. So far out into the waters was it built that by the time of Willow Harrison, the city had invested in massive infrastructure for water and sewage to literally stay afloat. And the New Library of Alexandria was a glass structure hidden away, but no less tempting than the one that had been lost. Millions of works and enough space for thousands to study at once.

Stepping into Alexandria though, gave me a perspective of my own. It seemed we had stepped into a slum. Overcrowding in the streets, with shops or stalls, even the odd donkey pulled cart added to the picture and the smell. The near ever present smell of cigarette smoke that I had needed to become reacquainted with in England had nothing on the smell of, what must be, the raw sewage from all of Alexandria sluicing it's way into disturbing puddles. As we attempted to slip through a seemingly never ending market to get to our first destination, we narrowly avoided stagnant pools of fetid water.

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I decided we absolutely had to go to Alexandria.

We finally made our way through the madness to the Corniche, here at least there was enough room and a breeze to waft away the putrid smells.

Harry and I, holding hands again and looking a bit flustered from our adventure through the market, blinked at the sunlight and fresher air. I let out a breath and squeezed his hand while I smiled at him, hoping to reassure. When I got a little smile in return we started down the walkway along the waters of the Eastern Harbor.

The Citadel of Qaitbay was an imposing structure, beautifully designed, at the entrance of the Eastern Harbor on the north eastern point of Pharos Island. Built in the late 1400s it was situated exactly where the famed Lighthouse of Alexandria once stood to help all those coming to visit "The Bride of the Mediterranean'' navigate the rocky harbor. The Citadel was built using the very stones of the Lighthouse that had been brought down by earthquakes. Over its many years the fortress had been bombarded by various militaries, including the British.

"It looks just like a fort at home, but brighter."

Harry was correct. The bright granite brick construction looked incredibly modern compared to everything else we had been introduced to on our trip thus far. There was a reason for that though.

"During the British bombardment we destroyed enough of it that it needed to be reconstructed. According to the guide book, it isn't exactly the same as it was when built in the 15th century. And most of our big fortresses were probably built around the same time."

"So it was a lighthouse and then a fort and then we broke their fort and they rebuilt the fort?"

"Pretty much. There was a museum built inside it that we will take a look at too. And last year it just underwent this huge restoration project. Sort of like the old stately homes do. A good clean and some fixing of things and it was lovely, but it was a rather large area to do."

"Huh, okay."

As lovely as the fortress and it's museum were, I was eager to see the Library of Alexandria.

The Library that would be built decades from now was an interesting delight for academic non magical people and subjects. The original Library was burned, rebuilt, destroyed, rebuilt, etc over many years. Eventually though, all that was truly left were the magical portions of the old Library and the Academy of Magics. They had been saved by intrepid magical scholars and then quietly made invisible to hide from potential political problems. The Academy still hosted a few lectures, but was more of a museum to the magical history of Alexandria these days.

I had us scheduled for a tour through the buildings before lunch.

One entered the complex that housed the Great Library and its Mouseion through a small shop near the Corniche that people without enough magical ability would be unable to see. The complex could not be reached simply by walking up to its invisible border because of the enchantments. Instead tour shops like these connected to each hidden magical site in the area around Alexandria with what was in essence a floo system.

When we stumbled out we were met with an entrance hall of more than 24 meters in height, with columns and statues that were more reminiscent of the Greeks than the Egyptians. Our tickets and tour paid for at the shop, we shuffled our way over to the young woman already entreating a group of people to her.

"Welcome," she said in perfect English. I pointed out the box attached to her hip for Harry. I had seen these at the travel agency office back home. What looked like jewelry the woman wore was actually magical and connected to the box it caused it to seem like we were all communicating in the same language. Very useful for a tour, bit awkward for a tourist.

"Today's tour includes a walk through the larger parts of the Great Library of Alexandria before we look in on the Academy. Please follow closely together."

Harry and I followed the fifteen or so other people as she guided us down the entrance hall and off into a side corridor.

"The Library dates back to the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Owing to the Ptolemaic kings' aggressive and well funded policies for acquiring texts, it quickly grew. This policy included works from all places, in all languages, and did not differentiate between magical or non magical."

Here she stopped to open large ornate doors. Golden in their appearance, it was probably bronze and depicted scholars reading in relaxed poses.

"At the best estimates for that time the Library housed nearly three hundred thousand scrolls, a rough equivalent being approximately one hundred thousand books."

She brought us through the doors and into a room filled with what seemed to be rows and rows of boxy shelving units without end. It created the look of open crates stacked on their side on top of each other. Many appeared to have scrolls in them, but it was obvious there should have been so much more.

"During this height of the ancient Library there were well over one hundred full time scholars in residence, studying and advancing every subject as well as teaching others. A large number of influential and important scholars worked within the Library during the third and second centuries BC."

As she reached the center of the room she smiled at all of us and motioned that we should come in further.

"It was in part because of our Great Library, that Alexandria became regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning. Please take a few minutes to enjoy the displays here in the Golden Room."

We explored the area, taking in the displays of scholars hard at work over scrolls. Harry went over to try and read some of the scrolls laid out in cases. The plaque next to them mentioned that it was often the policy to keep originals of a work and send back copies to the owner.

"Eventually a library within the Serapeum was established as a daughter library during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes. Whether this new daughter library was due to politics, the continued growth of the library and its scholars, or due to the constant threat the Great Library faced, is still in question today. Moving on down this hall we will see the Silver Room."

We moved out of the scroll room and continued down another few hallways. Admiring the displays of art on the walls, doorways on one side continuously led to a large interior library where modern scholars were studying.

"Contrary to the widespread belief of modern non magical people, the Library of Alexandria was not burned and destroyed only one time. The decline of the Library was actually a gradual happening over several centuries, beginning with the purging of intellectuals from Alexandria. Then repeated fires, attacks, and earthquakes that caused significant damage to the collection and the buildings themselves."

She stopped in a small alcove, though it was only small compared to the vastness of the other rooms. All along the floor and reaching up towards the curved, ornate ceiling were runes that had been deeply carved into the stone. Each runic symbol had been traced in some type of metal that seemed to shimmer and move.

"Finally, during the latter half of the 250s AD, the magical scholars' plan to protect the knowledge was started. The runic inscriptions that you can see embellished in this area are a part of the original plans to hide away the Great Library and the Academy. When the next attack happened they invoked the magic and the world lost what was left of it's greatest library and Mouseion. This was in the 270s AD during the Palmyrene invasion and the imperial counterattack."

She gave us some time to marvel at the runes which were made up of many different written languages before moving us onward.

"The Serapeum survived for a time afterwards, but was eventually a simple meeting place and not a place of great knowledge and learning."

The new double doors that she had led us to were just as ornate as the last, but they were done in a silver color and the scholars etched into it here were animated enough to move through what they were reading. As she opened the door there was an obvious sparkle of magic, colors swirling through the air, and a pleasant hum. This hall was obviously for ancient magical knowledge gathered during the height of the Library's time.

"The native Egyptians in the lower classes did not use wands for everyday magic," she continued as she led the tour into the Silver Room. "It was priests that performed magic, often on behalf of the dead. The temple trained those with the magical ability in healing and protecting against illness. Almost all of the magic was done with the use of rituals and amulets, the power they derived from the chanted, spoken, and written word was greater than many other magical cultures across the globe."

She led us to a display in the room depicting many different styles of art.

"With the introduction of additional magical knowledge, from the cultures of the Greeks and Romans especially, the magics of the area continuously evolved. Staves began to become more common in the Greco-Roman civilizations, influencing how the Egyptians adapted that knowledge with their own understandings."

The display showed obvious hieratic Egyptians using staves of Roman origin, some of them had Roman hairstyles. All the figures held a staff of some kind, but some of the staves were decorated. The plaque described each staff. The common ivy vine staff of the Romans. The more elaborate Grecian staff called a thyrsus. But there were also kerukeion among them and it was interesting to read about those given what I knew about British issues with snakes.

"This can be best seen today in Alexandria in the still standing catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa where there is a perfect and harmonious blending of the three distinct styles. Built during the age of the Antonine emperors in the second century AD and serving as a place of burial for the Pharaonic funerary cult. The labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that cover multiple floors happened over time, developing the necropolis into a rare fusion of Hellenistic, Egyptian, and early Imperial Roman architecture. It even includes a large Roman styled banquet room where memorial feasts would be conducted by the relatives of the deceased."

Harry wanted to move on to the next display as our guide continued her talk from nearer the center of the room. But I was too engrossed in the revelations about snakes laid out before me for anyone to read. He eventually managed to pull me onward to the next display.

"There was a wonderful synthesis between the Greeks who came to Alexandria and were very open minded about the local gods. The Greeks, Romans, and Jews made up the majority of the people living in Alexandria at the peak of its classical era. But there were also many thousands of Egyptians, Persians, Syrians, Moroccans, Turks, and many Asiatics. Because of its port and prominence in the Mediterranean, Alexandria was a melting pot of people from all over the ancient world. Next we will move on to the Academy of Magic, which was once known as the Mouseion because it was dedicated to the studies under all the Muses."

After a significant pause to take in all the displays of the Silver Room, our guide led us back to the halls of the library before ushering us out of large doors to the outside. In front of us was a garden paradise of animated topiary and statuary that were taking note of us in the afternoon sunlight. The light gravel path led the way to another building that was a part of the same complex.

"While some of the statues here on display were an original part of the complex's design, many have been added over the centuries since we took the pains to hide from the outside world. Upon learning about our effective measures to safeguard learning in Alexandria," she said as we walked down the path, "scholars began to make their way back to this once prominent place of learning."

She stopped beside the statue of a beautiful woman cast in bronze. The statute was on a pedestal, but the woman was quite tall on her own. She had a veil over her head and there was a reddish hue to the folds of her dress.

"This statue is of the goddess Lakshmi and was created by an unknown artist during the Gupta Empire in the third century AD."

The goddess waved at us and we, mostly the small children, waved in return.

"Lakshmi's iconography and statues have been found in Hindu temples throughout Southeast Asia, estimated to be as early as 150 AD. Many archeologists believe that she was recognized and revered even earlier than that time."

Nodding along, the goddess Lakshmi smiled down at us as two more of her arms made themselves known. The children renewed their waving.

"The statue of the goddess you see before you was brought with a scholar early in the fourth century AD, just over sixty years since the Great Library closed itself off. He believed war would soon break out in his native lands and wished to find a safe haven for this Lakshmi to rest. When the scholar eventually sought to return, the magics woven into the statue prevented its removal. It is only Lakshmi that can decide if she will move, no other can decide it for her."

I laughed a bit as Harry and I waved farewell to the statue and made our way up the stairs of the academy after a quick picture. Our guide stopped at enormous brass doors with great rings in the center and turned to address us.

"The Academy of Magic now serves in a mostly research position with scholars from all over the world coming here to explore and create with magic. In the days before the complex was hidden away from the world, the whole complex was sometimes referred to as the Mouseion of Alexandria and included the Great Library.

"In its original meaning a 'mouseion' was any place that was dedicated to the Muses. This was often the study of music or poetry, but was eventually associated with academies of learning such as with those led by Plato and Aristotle.

"The Ptolemies established the Mouseion with the intent of bringing together the best and brightest scholars in the Hellenistic world while collecting all of the world's written works. While it did not imply a study of music or poetry for the Ptolemies, such things were still studied here and many scholars have brought works of art with them. The word 'museum' often used to mean a collection of art comes from this earlier form of use.

"As we make our way through the great halls of the Academy of Magic we must remember that this floor is still in use for scholars of magic. There are several lectures open to the public in these halls every day, tickets can be purchased through the normal vendors a day in advance. On the upper level we will explore more of the history of the Academy."

There were a few lecture halls in use that Harry and I peeked our heads inside, and one which looked like a laboratory with several scholars at work. When we reached the second floor it sprawled out before us with displays of magic throughout history. There were moments of change in the use or practice of magic within the Mediterranean. A long display created by a number of scholars who came from far away to study, showed how magic was incorporated into everyday life back in their homelands.

All told, the lengthy tour was exactly what I had been hoping for when setting our sights on Alexandria. I felt hopeful that the depressing and odorous stumble we had upon arrival would not inhibit our trip further.

At the end of the tour we were shown to the massive gift shop. I explained to Harry that it would probably be wise to use his allowance here for today. We had another significant stop on our day tour of Alexandria, but it was less likely to have interesting shopping available. Though the books on offer were interesting, there was not anything specific about snakes. When I asked the shopkeep they told me I would be better off finding a book store specific to such a topic. I planned to write a letter or two to the store they recommended later.

When Harry had finished finding something to spend his allowance on, we moved to the small café for lunch. I had originally planned for us to dine on street food in Alexandria this afternoon and evening, but our unfortunate introduction to the city made me feel the food was less than safe for a developing child. The kofta and falafel were tasty and filling, if they weren't exactly what I had wanted to soothe our hunger that afternoon. It felt more like mall food than authentic cuisine.

We were going to push through the mid afternoon nap that seemed so common in Egypt, but Harry was tired and it wouldn't matter to the itinerary that much. I asked one of the café workers about somewhere we could use the suitcase without being bothered. Apparently, there was a small place in the complex that could be rented for a short period of time. As Harry and I laid down for what should have been just a few hours rest, I could not have known what things were going to be like when we awoke.

_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ

8 February 1985

"Gramma Bella?" came a far off voice. "Please, Gramma, please wake up," there were sniffles and it jolted me.

I couldn't manage more than a groan, but there was tiny crying happening so close to my face that I had to try and open my eyes. Finally succeeding in the immense task I was able to see watery green eyes staring at me in fear. That sight shot me awake much faster, sitting up and taking in a gasping deep breath I suddenly found myself with a sobbing four year old flung into my arms. I couldn't really make out what he was saying, but my little clock on the bedside alerted me that we had slept for nearly four hours. Or perhaps just I had slept that long.

"It's alright Harry, I guess I was just more tired than I thought," I ran my fingers through his hair. "The next few days will just be one oasis after another so it won't be quite as compact as this. I'm sure it will be fine. It's okay," I said as I looked down at the snuffling bundle in my arms. He had on one of his charms that turned his hair a bright red, but his eyes were still his mother's green.

"Was worried," he whimpered. "Somebody knocked at the case, but I couldn't get you to wake."

Oh dear, we had stayed past our siesta time. There was sure to be a fine.

"That's okay. I must have needed the sleep. I'll go up and talk to them, we probably have to pay extra for staying longer. That's all, nothing to worry about."

I went to put on more appropriate clothing and a disguise, but noticed my reflection in the mirror. "Oh my, what?" I carefully pulled a strand of hair closer to my eyes to inspect it. My hair was bright red.

The same bright red as Harry's hair. If it was accidental magic while he was upset, I wanted to handle this very carefully. If it was because we were using the Fabulousa charms so much, things could be worse.

"Harry? How long has our hair been like this?"

"I woke up and my hair was red, but I thought it was okay. And then I went and got some snacks cause you said I could and you were still asleep. And then when I was eating the suitcase knocked and I went to see you cause you needed to wake up. And I couldn't get you to wake up but your hair was red like my hair and you weren't waking up and there were people knocking, but they left while I tried to wake you up."

He said it all in quite a rush with sniffles saved for the end. That didn't sound like accidental magic, more like something that happened to us at the same time. It crossed my mind that perhaps there was a ward over the place of rest in the complex that would identify people who over stayed.

Since it didn't seem to be doing either of us any harm I got dressed, but forewent the charm to change my appearance. Instead I wore bagger clothing, shoes with lifts, and some thick plastic sunglasses. After setting Harry back up in the kitchen with his snack, which I complimented him on getting when he was hungry, I checked the security of the suitcase and exited out into the complex.

The man at the desk was definitely laughing at me. He kept trying to hide it behind his hand, badly, before giving up. By the time I had actually reached the desk it was a lost battle.

"Sorry, sorry. We get one or two every week with the problem," he paused to laugh again.

"And just what is the problem?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Ah, in the old days it was often dates or silver. These days the old camels usually carry tourists. You, my lady, have a deshret lice infestation."

I could actually feel my face fall. Lice? I have lice, Harry has lice, the lice are now probably all over the interior of the suitcase. Shit.

"Deshret?" I asked in the hopes of getting more information.

When I made my way back down to the kitchen in the suitcase, Harry was already starting to fall asleep again. According to the information packet that the complex provided to the afflicted free of charge, the need to sleep is a side effect of the deshret lice.

The lice drains magic and turns hair different vibrant colors. Usually beginning with a startlingly bright red. The draining of magic can cause a significant increase in hunger and tiredness to replenish the magic the lice are taking. Though camels are not magical creatures, the deshret lice have adapted enough to at least hitch rides with them. They need to eventually find a source of magical nourishment though or they die. Because only those with significant enough magic will attract the lice, those camel riding magically inclined tourists will often find their way to magical sites in Egypt. The local magical government ensures that each of the major places know what to look for and have the standard healing packet available for the tourists to use. Apparently, brightly colored tourists might break the Statute of Secrecy and they don't want lice to be the reason.

Harry and I both took our potions for the lice and then used the special shampoo we had been given before turning in for some more rest. The pamphlet was very clear that the lice would be in our hair or the hair of someone or some animal we had come into close contact with and we needn't worry over the suitcase being riddled with lice. There was a short recommended quarantine time, but since we were so tired touring wouldn't be any fun anyway.

_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ

9 February 1985

Waking up in the middle of the next afternoon to find my hair a lavender color was both annoying and amusing. I showered and used the special shampoo again before heading towards the kitchen. Even though Harry and I were both tired we would still need to take our regular potions. I made us a light brunch and laid out the potions before going to his room.

It had taken a while, but Harry's room in the suitcase had finally started to feel like his own. He had a few of the books we had taken in his bookshelf along with a few mementos. His little moon was a soft light on his bedside table where a couple of magazines we'd picked up in Greece were laying. I could tell that his hair had changed color too, but I wasn't worried. The information I was given said that was common even as the lice died off.

I woke him gently and then, when I was sure he was up and moving, I started to clean up around one of our spare rooms. It wasn't really a spare bedroom, though it could be used as such, we hadn't really used it or decorated it much at all. Little things seemed to have accumulated in the interim. It was a perfect room for a traveling lab, but since Harry was going to keep this case as he got older I wasn't entirely comfortable adding a permanent lab yet. Instead I had a lab in a box.

The lab in a box included the most commonly used equipment and materials, even a work table to put things on popped out of the box. It also came with recipe cards that the lab could carry out by itself. If one needed a Pepperup potion, but was too ill to make it, then the recipe card was set in the proper place and the lab made the potion without needing any guidance from the witch or wizard. When it was through it cleaned itself and bottled the potion. It wouldn't do anything nearly as good as a person with my capabilities could make, but it would be fine enough work for every day type needs.

When I had it all laid out I started it working on the potion to develop animated photos. It was a multiple step process, but I was hungry and this first step would take awhile before the next step needed setting up. I made my way back to the kitchen where Harry was already eating after having taken his potions. His hair was more of a mauve color.

We ate in relative silence, but I could tell he was still anxious about not being able to wake me yesterday. I needed to do something that would smooth things over, as well as give him another resource to call on if I was ever out of commission. There was an obvious choice.

"Harry do you remember how we talked about Clinkscale being a kind of godfather to you now?"

"Yeah, and that's why I can go into the big caverns and do stuff with the other goblins cause my many greats gramma was a child of the halls."

This was very reassuring. Not just that Harry remembered important facts like that, but also because he was comfortable enough to be the motor mouth child that I could sometimes see in him. I was lucky to understand him, he could go so fast.

"Yes, that's right. He and I are always in touch even when we are way out here in Egypt. He's having a whole bunch of fun putting things together for you so it's set up when we get home."

"Okay," Harry said as he took a bigger bite of toast and jam.

"I have my post box on my desk. All you have to do is write him a letter, seal it up, and then put it in the post box. Once you close the lid it goes off to London. He can respond the same way. It's not instant, like a telephone, but it is safe and fast."

Harry was still working on his too big bite, but chewed and swallowed fast enough to say, "Okay, should I write him today?"

He had misunderstood where I was going, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It would be good for Harry to continue to build a trusting relationship with Clinkscale. That would make things easier on him when it came time to remove the soul leech.

"If you are feeling up to it you can start a draft telling him about all the things we've done so far. But if you are ever worried or if I get sick and can't help, you can always send a letter to Clinkscale. Okay?"

"Okay," came a slightly sheepish reply. "I think I can write a little."

"Good, don't push yourself though. I'm going to start developing the photos that we've taken so far in one of the spare rooms. It'll take a bit to set up, but then it's just a bunch of waiting. I might take a nap. You can always come in and wake me if you need me though."

After breakfast Harry went out to the stone table in the garden with his little stationery and quill set to write his goblin godfather a letter about his holiday. I went back to the temporary potions lab to continue my work on the photos.

The potions I had set up earlier were going well, so I set myself to unloading my camera. Unlike my other big expenses, I did not need to be talked into this or reassured that it was helpful and necessary. I was never going to be able to fumble my way through any of the cameras now on market, but I also knew it would be important to both myself and Harry for us to have physical proof of our memories. I had to ask Clinkscale for help finding someone to make what I wanted, but he knew someone in the Nation that could help and it all worked out.

The camera was designed specifically for me, accustomed to the latest technological advancements that had become so ordinary that I hardly thought about them. It was only in their absence that it was noticeable. Although it resembled a costly non magical camera of this time, the device had been enhanced with multiple magical features to make it more familiar and user friendly for me.

In order to not get robbed for pulling out a super expensive looking camera, there was a little button on it that would turn on or off a small notice-me-not type spell. It basically made the camera less interesting to people. There was also a special strap that would probably not be of any use to anyone else. It took real pictures of myself and Harry, even in our disguises it should show us as we are underneath the magical charms from Fabulousa.

The crafter who had been brought on to make the camera was very impressed with their charms. He was able to link the magic of the charms to the camera through the small attachment. As long as the attachment, just a looped cloth strap, was keyed to the charms and on the camera the pictures would show us as ourselves. He warned that the enchantment on the strap would only last about a month, but that worked out well for us.

Honestly, one of the biggest and most obvious differences was not having to look through a view finder. I'm not entirely sure how people managed to take good pictures at all if they were just squinting through tiny boxes and hoping for the best. Instead a display shows up just after the picture is taken and I can delete the photo if it isn't up to my standards. The image on the display doesn't have the animation on it, but I still thought this was a huge step up.

The last big difference is the film collection. In the magical world they are still behind the times in terms of immediate photo production. The Polaroid cameras of the seventies never caught on enough for the magical world as the image couldn't also contain the animation. Perhaps that would change in the upcoming decades, but the non magical communities would start moving away from hardcopies of their photos at the same time.

For my camera there was what amounted to an infinite void with a massive stock of film which was used every time I took a picture. I could probably go a few decades without reloading it. When the image was approved, the film moved to a different part of the camera where it was stacked with all of the other pictures like a deck of cards. All I needed to do now was take out the decks from the right part of the space expanded camera and develop the film in the animation potion.

The potion was still finishing its last simmer by the time I had removed the small wrapped packets of film and set up the developing trays. I snapped the camera closed and made sure that everything was working properly. Then I had a sweet idea.

I walked through the little house and out into the flower garden. I could just see Harry, diligently working on his letter, the quill being brushed along his jaw as he tried to figure out what to write next. I crouched down a bit and hoped he was too absorbed to notice. I snapped a few pictures of him before he caught me. We both laughed as I ran away.

The packs would collect automatically after fifty pictures were stacked, though I could force it to do that with fewer, and were wrapped in a gossamer web that helped in developing the pictures. In a special bag I had the pictures from Greece ready to go, I had wanted to try and keep each country separate in their decks. I honestly had tried to take fewer pictures after seeing how many our eight or so days in Greece had generated. With the eleven packs from Greece and the six packs from our trip in Egypt thus far, I doubt that I will ever be able to break the habit of the digital photographer. Granted the last pack from Greece probably only held twenty and the last pack from Egypt only held the pictures I had just taken in the garden.

I was definitely going to need more of the developing solution.

The process for developing film in the non magical world is extremely complicated and fragile. Or it seems that way to me at least. For magical film it is infinitely easier. There are four standard picture sizes and trays that accommodate them, though one could get a tray custom made for something larger or smaller. Each tray has two places in it, one to put the developing solution and the packets of film and one where the photographs will appear when finished. There is no need to adjust light, no washing, no fixing, no projecting to make a print. Magic was wonderful.

The amount of potion made was set to the fifty pack amount that was standard for magical cameras, they would go in to the tray together. Because of my apparent obsession with taking photographs, I would need to make the developing solution sixteen times if I wanted to just do one size. If I wanted to do something larger or smaller I would have to develop a whole pack over again in that size. It was the only real downfall of the system, the packs stayed together forever. I had enough ingredients to make the solution ten times without a problem, but after that I would have to find supplies somewhere. I knew I would be taking pictures, but I did assume that I would only start developing them later down the line.

The developing solution didn't take long to make and soon I had the wallet sized and medium sized images for the first part of Greece setting in their trays. I started another batch of the solution on my lab in a box before seeking out Harry. I wasn't feeling quite as tired anymore and hoped he was doing well too.

"Gramma Bella, did you know that 'deshret' means red?" Harry asked from the couch in the living room. "It says so in the pamphlet."

"Well, I think it specifically means red crown," I said as I pointed to my now blueish hair. "The Red Crown was what the rulers of Lower Egypt wore and the White Crown was for Upper Egypt. When they came together the rulers wore the double crown." I pointed out the picture on the front of the pamphlet of the double crown. "Though your crown looks a bit of bright pink candy floss at the moment."

Harry's eyes went wide with amusement and he was off to the mirror to check his new color, a bright difference to the mauve of a few hours ago.

I gathered up all the pieces of parchment that had winged off the coffee table in his haste and set them to rights before heading back to the lab. His handwriting was definitely improving. It was yet another part of his behavior that hadn't made much sense previously. Harry could read, and read well, but his handwriting was atrocious. Even with a pen or crayon his handwriting was more like the age he actually was, instead of the level he was at with his reading skills. In the beginning I had attributed his high skill levels to the horcrux leaking the knowledge into him.

Instead there was a much more simple reason for it. A much sadder reason. Petunia read bedtime stories to Dudley, every night without fail. Harry wanted this in the way that any child would yearn for such tenderness, but he knew his aunt would rather hurt him than indulge him. He would listen to the stories until he had them memorized, then he would tell himself the story in his cupboard before going to sleep. When he was stable enough to walk and clean, he was set to clean his cousin's room as well. The temptation of the story books was too much and he would steal them away whenever he thought he could without getting caught. He guessed that he had started doing that a year ago or more now.

Once he'd figured out how to read those stories, he learned to read from the other books that the Dursleys had hoped would encourage Dudley. Then he moved on to magazines that Petunia kept in nearly every part of the house. The living room, the den, even the laundry room. Whenever he felt he could get through a story, chapter, or article without stumbling he would pretend someone was reading them to or with him.

I think that I will never be certain if this was better than what I had assumed was happening with the horcrux.

Harry memorized and read better than his age because he wanted to craft fantasies of someone who would love him enough to read to him, but he had no need to write anything out so his writing skills were only slightly above average for his age.

"I wanna picture!" a giggling, pink haired little boy jumped back into view. He was the epitome of innocent joy in that moment and reminded me of Nymphadora Tonks. He also seemed to have picked up my photography habits.

We raced through the house, laughing all the way, and got the camera set. Harry gave silly poses for me and I snapped half a dozen pink haired Harry pictures.

"That was fun," he said breathlessly. "Is this how photos are made?"

"Yes, this one is making the solution that the film goes into and these trays are creating the final product. Look, some of our Greece ones are already done. I put one packet in the small and one in the regular size. Let me know if you want one in a different size. I've got the big tray here, but I can't think of one to put into it."

Harry thought about it for a moment before looking up at me with a sparkle that was best reserved for James Potter's maddeningly creative pranks. Dear me, I'm in for it.

"We could put the ones you just took in it! And the garden one from earlier! And–And we could send them to Master Clinkscale so he can see the funny colors too."

Nearly the size of a sheet of printer paper the photos would be quite the surprise for Clinkscale, especially as I hadn't written him about the delay in our trip.

Harry and I went about putting the developing solution into the right side of the large tray and then we added the packets for the pictures I had taken today as well as the ones from the end of Greece that weren't the full fifty count. He asked so many questions about the process that I ended up teaching him how the whole thing worked, beginning to end.

By the time we finished we were replacing the small trays with a new batch and then taking out our new large photographs. He looked so happy in them it was ridiculous. The last ones from Greece were a few I had snapped at the Pegasus Races and on the White Swan. I wanted a copy of them for ourselves so I reset the smaller tray and put the packets back in for another round while Harry was looking through everything.

"It's important, you know, to put the names of the people on the back and where it was and what the date was. That's so when you tell the stories later you have it to remind you of little things. Or so when your great-great-great grandkids find them stuffed in a box somewhere they know what's going on in the picture."

"We should definitely do that then."

"That's fine, but first we should write our letters to Master Clinkscale."

"You're writing him too?"

"Oh, yes. We have a lot to discuss."

We moved everything to the kitchen table to spread out our assorted papers and the pictures. Harry set about rewriting his draft to Master Clinkscale, occasionally flipping through some of the photos. I went through the post box and tasked myself with finishing things that should have been done yesterday.

During the war I set up safe houses for my group of agents amongst the madness. I thought it best if there was a way that could not be traced by magical or muggle means when acquiring these safe houses. This led me to using the money given to me by the Order in a way that would definitely be described as laundering. But instead of drug dealers hiding their finances, I was an intelligence officer laying false trails and hiding true ones so that my people could be pulled out to a safe location.

Lily had been feeling left out, I think. She was an amazing scholar. Crafty and innovative and an absolute powerhouse. There were numerous times that she was on what would be called the front line, fighting Death Eaters. Fighting Voldemort. But she felt as though she weren't helping enough. That's when I introduced her to money laundering. Not exactly what a nice older lady is supposed to introduce a smart high class woman to, but neither of us was much for what society thought we were supposed to be doing.

The safe houses, and other things, that she had bought and concealed with the money out of the Potter vault were well and truly hidden. Except, of course, from me. The few things we had done together and the few places I had introduced her to, meant that I could pull on several different threads and the goblins could unravel the whole operation.

The letter I had received from Master Clinkscale expounded on the things that Gringotts was available to do for us. Gringotts Bank had gotten around various laws and treaties by having their non magical human kin build a banking system of their own outside of the magical world. It was not an ordinary bank, the likes of myself and many others would never even know of its existence. No this bank served a special purpose for the magical community in transactions between the two worlds.

It was doing the same high end services as the muggle banking sector, but it also provided more in depth falsification of data. This wasn't just for the business fronts that they created. No, they also ensured that people could become new people. Through these services people who had no records in the muggle world, like the daughter of a pureblood family, could obtain enough documentation to pass as a person born into the muggle world. They also assisted those who were, in effect, immortal. For example, if a vampire wished to stay on the non magical side they would draw up a convincing amount of paperwork for them to be able to live a muggle life several times. They had even started to ready themselves for the digital age, since people would now need a digital footprint.

He was rather upset that the Potters would go outside of the bank in order to create false money trails and hide things. I was able to calm him by reminding him that Lily was a muggleborn. Even if she wasn't, I was the daughter of a pureblood family that continued to have extensive contact with the magical world and still had no idea that these services existed. I then pushed that Lily and I had been even more paranoid during the war, there didn't seem to be anyone we could trust enough. I understood having things done in a completely muggle way, even if she had known that this service – which is not listed in the book – existed, just because of the paranoia.

I had told Master Clinkscale that it was curious, though, that she was able to continue this even that late into the war. She would have been in hiding. She and James barely left the house at that point and they didn't come out to fight at all after that. We knew that Albus cleared out the money that was then laundered and that same system bought the house on Wisteria Walk. Was it possible that Albus had worked on this system during the war to buy and hide other properties? The team was looking into that, but I didn't know if we would have a satisfactory answer any time soon.

In the mean time, there were homes all over Europe, Oceania, and the Americas for Harry to hide away in or use as he saw fit because they had all been bought with Potter money. It seemed that the Potter fortune had basically bankrolled our entire side of the war effort. Harry would be able to buy plots on the moon when the time came, that's how massive the Potter fortune was.

I was still getting updates on all of the things Lily had done with that money and how Avira and Master Rayner's assistants were making everything habitable and safe. Those houses would make for good escapes, but I was also hoping that we could use them for Harry's tutoring sessions. The reports said they had not found any signs that anyone had been to the havens since they were purchased and stocked years ago. The preservation charms that had failed were still being studied, but I felt sure that they would have fallen on 31 October 1981.

The other thing of great importance that we were talking about was the twist. It really was supposed to be such a simple thing to have the family tree drawn up. I wanted several generations because I honestly didn't know enough about Lily's family to fill in the blanks. I also thought something that stretched from floor to ceiling would look nice in Harry's new room. It was all because the important part to me was making sure that Lily's muggle family showed up that this even happened.

On the great family tapestries that adorn the old pureblood family houses it is the breath of magic that updates when there is a new child and later on it will add the name of that child. The breath of magic is an old saying due to the invoking of old magic on many heirlooms, properties, and tapestries. When a magical baby is born, the very first breath it takes afterwards asserts that baby is a magical descendant of the family line. When that breath is taken after their birth, wand waving magical or squib, the tapestry shows that there is a new addition. There is quite a bit of argument over why it takes longer with a name when so many parents already have one picked out. I think that it's because the child needs to know their own name. But there are those who think it's because magic is waiting to make sure that the babe will live.

Muggles, those with such a low level of magic they couldn't connect with anything in the magical world, do not show up on the family tapestries. They do not have the breath of magic to give to the tapestry. They also don't appear in the Gringotts Archive unless a muggleborn should do an extensive tree on their own accord which would include muggles. To my knowledge, and apparently to the knowledge of the whole Goblin Nation, it has never before happened that a child born to a magical pureblood family has such low magical abilities that they would register as a muggle babe instead of a magical one. A muggleborn might have two muggle parents and a muggle sibling, but for a many generations magical family to have a child that does not even qualify as a squib in its level of magic has never been heard to happen.

Havoc was happening under Gringotts Bank. Master Clinkscale appeared to be enjoying it.

I had read many fanfictions in my future time where Harry Potter was Lord Potter Peverell Black Slytherin Gryffindor etc. Sometimes those were fun to read in all their tropey goodness. But people weren't really Lords any more, though their family lineage would get them a voting seat on the Wizengamot. Most purebloods were related to each other, far more comfortably than many would care for, just like how the nonmagical royal families of the world intermarried. That meant that if enough people died out, then the title could be claimed by a small pool of wixen. But it wouldn't really be worth as much as it had been two hundred years ago, so why bother? There was really no incentive to try to claim things any more except for money, and the great houses usually fell on hard times long before they died out enough for some minor cadet branch to try applying for heirship. No one would think highly of anyone who went out of their way to claim the heirship of Gryffindor by way of the Ministry clerks and the tests at Gringotts.

I wrote out a draft to Clinkscale that was little more than a bullet list of things to go over. I needed to be updated on the safe houses, the lineage issues, the search for appropriate tutors, and the Dursleys. It had been long enough that the letter would be visible to Petunia by now, it was charmed to alert Gringotts once it had been opened. I also wanted to make sure he didn't fret over a little lice. We would be up and moving tomorrow. Our scheduled time at the oases of Egypt would be a little shorter, but we would still have a great deal of time to take in the magical community of Siwa.

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―==(oIo)==―
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10 February 1985

After we had written and mailed our final drafts with the photos to Clinkscale, we had gone through all of the photos so far and written a description on the back. I had Harry pull out any of the ones he really liked so that we could have them framed. I didn't want to be the woman who lived with her whole life hidden in storage bins anymore.

Avira was making most of my home muggle friendly as I needed to maintain my cover, but everywhere we could there would be little bits of my past decorating the home. Pictures and tchotchkes displayed with pride. Photos that had only been in albums were framed and hanging. I had lost a great deal in the fire, but there was still some left of my time with her and now I was going to bring it out. To me, this change was as huge as the changes made for Harry.

I wanted Harry to be a part of that process. I had seen the inside of the Dursley home, with it's hundreds of pictures of Dudley. There was not a single photo of Harry on their walls. I wanted to change that for him, just as I was changing it for myself. I was certain that over the years there would be new pictures and choosing which one to take down so the new one could go up would be difficult, but for now he needed to know how important and loved he was in every way that I could manage.

We had exhausted our supplies for making the potion to develop animated photos, but we had a good number of prints ready and our next stop would bring us directly into a magical district. Hopefully, it would be easy to find good quality ingredients in Siwa. The magical Siwa people had split off early from the non magical due to some type of war according to our guide book. There was a note that it was possible that it was done not after a conflict, but before the conflict. This was due to the magical population of Siwa being internationally recognized as having the highest capabilities in divination in the world.

With our hair back to its normal color and the quarantine period observed, we could finally get moving. I still wanted to see one more place in Alexandria, the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa. We were originally scheduled to see it, but I wanted to see it even more after our tour through the Great Library where the guide and displays mentioned it.

After making a generous donation to the Library and Academy, Harry and I made our way back out into Alexandria. It made me wonder again about the conflicting knowledge I had of this city. I had caught a headline on one of the muggle newspapers that there was some sort of friction between America and Egypt about some kind of plans for infrastructure at the moment, but I was otherwise clueless as to why the city was so different.

In order to avoid any unpleasantness and to speed our way, we took the Carriage out to the necropolis directly. There were small tours of people going into the catacombs and we joined the precession down circular stairs into the bedrock of Alexandria. As we reached the rotunda at the end of the stairs we read from our tour books about this remarkable place.

While we learned about the Mound of Shards discovery in 1900 and the Roman banquet hall where relatives and friends of the deceased would commune with their dead, something interesting was happening on the walls. It wasn't really noticeable at first, but then Harry gasped.

All along the walls were snakes, not surprising given they are extremely prevalent in all three of the cultures that are present in the catacombs. But the carved agathodaemons in the form of snakes on either side of the entrance to the inner tomb were taking exception to Harry. They carried the Roman caduceus and a Greek thyrsus, above them were shields with gorgon heads. They were not moving or making noise, but they were starting to magically brighten.

It was possible that they were just reacting to someone with a great deal of magic, but I was more of the mind that they wanted to talk to a parselmouth. I pulled Harry off to the side and motioned for him to quiet down and make it seem as though nothing was different. People were taking pictures next to the statues and carvings while we waited back towards the stairs. By the time the area was clear I had made my decision.

The whole reason that Harry did not already have a pet snake was because I did not want him to feel heartbroken when he could no longer speak to his friend after the soul leech was removed. I also couldn't give away the fact that I knew he could speak to snakes. This seemed like a way to introduce the fact that Harry could speak parseltongue without being emotionally damaging. It was unlikely that they would hurt him, if they were trying to protect the entrance because of the leech they would just make us leave.

"Alright, little one. Looks like everyone is far enough off and the next group hasn't even gotten to the first part of the tour yet. Let's see what this is all about. You'll need to take a bit of a lead, they are very old and might not be strong enough to recognize my magic."

Harry nodded and moved closer to one of the agathodaemons, I kept him from touching it though so he said hello to it instead. Or at least I think it was hello as it was said in parseltongue. His little hello had quite the effect on all the magic in the area. More of it poured into the snake in front of him and eventually it hissed back at Harry.

As Harry hissed a bit with his new friend I had to interrupt to make sure he knew I couldn't understand them.

"I think you have an ability like mine," Harry looked up at me with the interruption. "You know how I talk to the cats and can hear what they're saying? You're doing that with the snake right now. I can't hear anything other than hissing. Could you tell me what's going on? Are they upset?"

"No, no, no everything is fine. He says that I'm a Speaker and they haven't had one in a long time. I told him I was visiting with my grandmother and that we were taking a tour of the tomb."

There was shuffling noise from behind us. Our time had run out, the next tour was coming in.

"Tell him real quick that we can't be seen doing magical things in front of other people, but we will try and let you say good bye on our way out. Then get in the middle so I can take a picture, okay?"

"Right," Harry said as he whispered quickly to the serpent before hopping into the middle of the pillars. It might have been my imagination, but it seemed like the carvings were more impressive than they had been minutes ago.

A little bit of magic followed us into every tomb, but the carvings didn't move or hiss at Harry. I wasn't entirely certain that it was because he had asked them. It was old magic after all.

On our way back out we lingered long enough to have another few minutes of parseltongue. Harry enjoyed getting to know all the different snakes in the area a little more and insisted that we take pictures of him with each of his new friends.

We were originally going to go along the beach and follow the road from Alexandria to the Siwa Oasis, but with how things had become shifted due to the deshret we were now going to have the Carriage take us by the straightest route possible. The Carriage couldn't go over water and had difficulties with mountains without roads, but had no issue with deserts. As such instead of a three hour plus drive in the Carriage, we would now only have a little more than an hour drive.

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―==(oIo)==―
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Author's Note:

A nice bonus chapter in celebration of my 20th anniversary of having an account on here. Next chapter is set for 5/20