Dear Albus,
You will be delighted to hear that our mutual friend has decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of his to wander the world exploring. He says he hasn't felt so alive since the days he was travelling around the world as a liaison to the ICW. I personally think it's more likely that the energy of the youngsters has rubbed off on him. He has decided to leave within the next several days, so if you wish to write him before he departs, I suggest you do so soon.
Speaking of my charges, you'll be delighted to know that under the tutelage of our friend, they have both gotten their OWL equivalents in charms and herbology, though our girl got a charms NEWT equivalent, much to everyone's surprise and delight. I look forward to seeing how they do next year. Have you found a new tutor for them? If not, I have a few friends of my own I could contact, so do let me know what your thoughts are.
My neighbours are currently off exploring Egypt. Originally, I think the plan was for them to stick with the Muggle areas, but once the children got ahold of some books from the library and realized many areas were hidden from Muggle view, they convinced their parents to take them to some of the magical places, too. I can't wait to hear their stories when they get back, however, I am most certainly enjoying the current peace and quiet along with the company of Bedlam.
Many regards,
BB
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
Valeria sighed as they entered the grand gallery of the Pyramid of Netjerikhet. When she and Bertram had announced to the children that they were going to Egypt after their impressive ECHIDNA results arrived, they had gotten incredibly excited. Within hours, the itinerary she had been planning was blown to pieces by the two excited siblings. Riverboats down the Nile had been replaced with carpet rides above the magical wildlife reserves. Shopping trips at tourist traps had been replaced with tours of the magical suuks. And even her trip to see the great pyramids had been replaced with, as Mia put it, "One of the only remaining pyramids with active curses that were still being broken." The only thing she managed to hold onto was a trip to the Museum of Egyptian History, but only because they had a magical section. Maybe next year they'd go somewhere with a little less magic and a bit more muggle. Somewhere new, like Dubai, perhaps.
Alas, for now, she and Bertram just had to survive the "Trundling through the Tombs Tour," and then they'd be able to rest in their hotel before a nice trip to the museum. The high point for her was that the children seemed to have met a friend. They were currently trailing behind the group, talking with Ron Weasley, a rather shaggy looking boy with bright red hair who was visiting with his family. Apparently, they had won the lottery or something back home and had come to visit family here in Egypt. The father of the family, a wizard named Arthur, had been pestering both her and her husband with questions about muggle things since the tour began. It was beginning to grate on her nerves, but it was a welcome distraction from some of the tales the tour guide was regaling the group with.
"And here, you can still see the still drying blood of Wally the Witless, one of the early explorers of the tomb who was the first to stumble into this time-suppressed chamber that contained no less than ten lions, five cockatrices, three griffins, and a single serpopard. Time in rooms like these only flows when a wizard or witch enters, so the animals survived for many centuries without food because it was the blink of an eye to them. After Wally's noble sacrifice, future cursebreakers learned how to test for rooms like this. They aren't very common, as the expense of such powerful time magic remains nearly unfathomable, but there have been several such rooms scattered throughout various tombs, usually guarding places of great importance."
Valeria felt a little woozy looking at the still-fresh blood of a man who had died centuries ago, but her children were pointing and laughing excitedly. Ahh, to be young again. Hopefully, there weren't too many more stories of horrible doom. Was it too much to ask for there to be at least a couple of magical love stories with happy endings for once?
~~~~~~~~~~ S ~~~~~~~~~~
"My brother Bill is one of the cursebreakers working here. He's super cool!" A very excited Ron Weasley was trying to show off to his new friends. It was exciting for the boy to meet new people his age since he spent most of the year with the same people, whether at Hogwarts or not.
"Wow, Ron. That's amazing! Has he taught you any of his tricks?" Mia, of course, always wanted knowledge and was disappointed with the boy's answer.
"Well, not really. He left home before I was allowed to have a wand, so he never taught me anything. Fred and George have passed on a couple of spells, but they aren't the cool ones. Bill is working on this tomb at the moment, though, so maybe we'll be able to see him when we get to the end of the tour. I'm sure he'd be willing to teach you a few charms if I asked."
"That would be awesome, Ron!" Jamie was always in favor of learning cool new magic, and even though he wasn't as good as his sister at charms, that didn't mean he was willing to pass up on learning from a real cursebreaker. And he must be a top-notch one if he was working on a tomb like this one.
The children continued to chatter among themselves as they walked through the tombs, pointing excitedly at all the interesting things, nodding along with the stories of horrible deaths, and sharing stories of their homelands.
"You mean that, since you guys passed those ECHINDA things, you can now use your wands outside of school?! I'm so jealous! I have to wait three more years before I can take my OWLs, and even then, I can't use magic freely until I'm seventeen! Maybe I can convince Mum that I should move to Australia…"
The two siblings laughed before Jamie spoke up. "Well, you're welcome to come visit any time, but these tests aren't very much fun. We studied for them all year, and I still only got a four. Mia here, though, blew everyone's expectations out of the water. She got a five, which is an absolutely amazing score for her age, or any age, for that matter."
Mia blushed as Jamie bragged about her score before Ron said, "Is a five good?"
Remembering a book she had found in their local magical library, Mia explained, "Well, based on what I read in Working Overseas as a Wizard, a five is about the equivalent of an acceptable on a NEWT in Britain."
Ron's jaw dropped, "So, you're my age, and you're telling me that you've passed your NEWTs already?"
Mia felt a blush beginning to creep over her face. "Well, we haven't taken formal classes in any branches of magic besides herbology and charms, so I'm sure we're way behind you in other areas." Before Mia's blush could overtake her face, they reached the final room of the tour, and, glad for the distraction, she gestured at the group of cursebreakers that were working on opening the next door. "Is one of them your brother?"
Ron pointed at one of the cursebreakers at the front of the line, who also happened to have bright red hair. "That's my brother there," Ron proudly said.
As they approached the cursebreakers with their tour group, there was a great flash of light as one of the many wards on the next chamber fell, causing a gasp to ripple through the crowd as they oohed and ahhed over the dissipating magic. The tour guide spoke for a while about all the progress that had been made over the past ten years before moving the group along to investigate a side room. The Grangers and the Weasleys, however, hung back to talk with Bill about his work.
"BILL! It's so good to see you!" A red-haired woman who could only be Ron's mother ran up and started smothering her son with hugs, much to his embarrassment, as his co-workers snickered at the effusive greeting.
"It's good to see you too, Mum." He awkwardly patted her on the back until she released him and gave him the opportunity to move away from the other cursebreakers toward the rest of the ginger wizards.
Family greetings were exchanged, the Grangers were introduced, and Bill was bombarded with questions from the whole group about the work he was doing.
"Well, usually, it's a lot less flashy and more dangerous than what we were working on today, but we try to save the entertaining wards for tour groups. We've actually been focusing on the side rooms more than opening the next chamber. Want me to show you the one we are still working on?"
All the children chorused together, "Definitely!", though the parents were a bit more concerned with safety. After Bill assured them that it would be safe as long as everyone kept their hands to themselves, the eldest Weasley led them to a plain wall, and, with a wave of his wand, revealed a large number of hieroglyphs arranged in what looked like a runic pattern.
Jamie perked up at this, having had a fascination with runes ever since his encounter with them on the floating platform at Santa's workshop. "That's cool! Have they made runic clusters with hieroglyphs? I didn't know you could do that."
Bill chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm. "Well, did you think that only old English druids figured out how to channel magic with writing? Most old magic places have their own sets of characters that serve the same purpose as the 'runes' that were popularized by the British during the colonial era. Most of the world now uses the Futhark runes, but that doesn't mean that other runic sets aren't magical. In fact, many Runic Masters argue that the variety found in older languages might be better suited for specialized enchantments than the commonly used Futhark runes. Now, here's how we open this door." Bill reached up with his wand, "We just have to connect the right combination of hieroglyphs to open it. We start up here with the Lock glyph…"
Jamie watched in rapt attention as Bill connected a complex series of hieroglyphs, explaining each one along the way, before he reached the last one, and the wall slid up, revealing a room full of treasure.
Bill led everyone in, and they were all shocked at the piles of gold, jewels, dyed silks, spices, and other very valuable things that looked like they had just been stored yesterday. "Those hieroglyphs on the outside of the room also keep a powerful stasis spell on the room, as well as a few other nasty surprises for people who try to force their way in. While we've got all the curses that would attack intruders, a few passive anti-theft spells are still in place. As long as no one takes anything, they won't activate."
After spending some time in the room, Bill led them out, and they rejoined their tour group, promising to meet again before they all returned home.
~~~~~~~~~~ Y ~~~~~~~~~~
Valeria was glad the tour was finally over. The two-headed skeletons made her squeamish, and while being out from under the hot sun was nice, there was so little airflow in the pyramid that she was all hot and sticky. Her two children and the red-haired teenager still walking slightly behind everyone else, talking animatedly. She could see the entrance up ahead, and with it, a slight breeze finally came her way. A nice cold shower back at the hotel before a nice calm trip to the museum was finally a dream within reach! Looking back at the teenagers to let them know it was time to say goodbye, a bright purple light surrounded them just as they crossed the threshold, and then they vanished. Slowly, Valeria turned around to face Arthur Weasley, who was still animatedly discussing the function of a rubber duck with Bertram. "Oh, Mr. Weasley, I seem to have encountered a problem a wizard like yourself might be able to help me with."
Bertram and Arthur stopped talking and turned to face Valeria before the red-haired wizard spoke. "Of course, Mrs. Granger, what can I help you with?"
Valeria smiled sweetly at him. "My two children, along with Ronald, just disappeared as they passed through the exit, and I'm trying very hard to pretend this is a normal occurrence when exiting wizarding tombs. Is it?"