Quidditch League, Round 5, Kestrals, Chaser 3. Lighthouse of Alexandria – Egypt. Optional prompts: [spell] Aparecium (Description: Reveals secret messages or any other hidden markings.), [action] winking, [dialogue] "I don't think that's how it's supposed to work."

Word count: 1542

Betas: Thank you for all the help I have received on this story: 2D, Piper, Zoomie, Moon, and Sable_Supernova.

Charlie swooped down, dipping his beige hat into the slow-running lake. He had been to Egypt quite a few years ago, but it felt even hotter now with all the activity. As much as he wanted to ask for a break – a long, relaxing break that lasted until tomorrow – he knew he couldn't. They were here to rescue a small dragon, but they didn't know its exact age or how long it had been here. All they knew from the intel received was that it was alone and scared.

He looked at his sweaty reflection in the sea, his face redder than his hair. An almost perfect picture of a tomato.

When he came here years before, he and his family went sightseeing and enjoyed their surroundings. Now, though, he was walking miles and miles across the arid country with few breaks. But he would rather be this sweaty mess, dehydrated and relishing every drop of water, than risk the baby dragon's well-being.

"How much further?" Charlie asked. He plopped his hat back on and enjoyed the coolness of the water. While it was still sweltering, it was getting relatively late; they had been walking since before sunrise this morning, and he wanted to get there before sunset. Nighttime and darkness made it more challenging to communicate and coax the dragon to come with them.

Luna, a girl with long, flowing blonde hair who looked as cool as a cucumber, looked up at him after filling the water bottles and waving her wand to purify them. "We've just entered Alexandria."

"What does that mean?"

"This body of water is what separates us from the Lighthouse."

Charlie splashed water over his face as he waited for her to continue and say the rest of the plan but stood back up when she didn't. "How are we going to get there?"

"We'll walk, of course," Luna said simply, as though it was apparent.

"I don't think that's how it works; we can't walk on water."

There's a bridge," she said, pointing north. "My father wrote about it in one of his books. It's just for us wizards.

"Us wizards?" he questions.

Luna dropped him a wink, "Yes, Charlie. Us wizards."

Charlie ran a hand over his forehead, ignoring the wink for now. He sure hoped she had accurate information; while he usually loved exploring, he was exhausted after five hours straight. "Where is this bridge?"

"Follow me," she said airily and began walking beside the lake.

As he followed her, he noticed the lake getting bigger and bigger and realised it linked quickly to the sea. Within ten minutes, a lighthouse came into view. It was a tall, square stone building with three tiers, different from the traditional round ones he was used to in this area. It was on its own little island and stood taller than any building he had ever seen.

"Let me guess," he started, matching Luna's stride. "The dragon is rumoured to be on the top floor?"

Luna smiled at him. "Perhaps." She looked around thoroughly, and Charlie did so, too, before pulling out her wand.

Then, with a wink at him, she lowered her wand. "Unless you wanted the honour?"

Having no idea what the 'honour' would be, he grinned. "And deprive you, my lady?" he said, returning the wink.

"Aparecium," she spoke, clearly and controlled. It was the most focused he had ever seen her.

First, a marking on the floor appeared, showing the symbol of a bridge. Charlie stepped forward, watching as a bright white light lit up and circled around. It spun around him first, and he felt the magic tingling through his soul before circling Luna.

Then nothing.

"Let's walk," Luna said after a minute, but he could see her hesitation.

"Luna," he said, "perhaps we should try a different way."

"Have faith."

"I don't think that's how it's supposed to work. I don't think we are supposed to walk on an imaginary bridge," he advised, and upon her halting, bent down to read the inscription. It wasn't in English or Arabic, which he would have expected. However, it was in ancient runes, and thankfully, he got an O in that for NEWTS. He could decipher that it spoke about the lighthouse and how it was available for all, but the secret entrance was for only those worthy enough to see through the darkness.

They had to do either the reveal spell again or the Lumos spell. He looked up at Luna, who literally looked like a light, and decided to try that one first. "Cast Lumos, Luna."

"It's not dark yet."

Charlie stood up. "It should show us the bridge."

With a small shrug of her shoulders, she cast Lumos, and the bridge came into view in the light of her wand. Once the light touched the bridge, the grey stone became apparent instantly, and the bridge became solid for them. There were no obvious markings on the bridge; it was plain, sturdy, and practical.

"Lumos," Charlie also cast to ensure proper coverage. The bridge appeared to be made of the same stone as the lighthouse. It seemed strong and rarely used.

"When was the bridge made?" he inquired, knowing that if anyone would know or have a theory, it would be Luna.

"Rumour has it that it was made at the same time as the lighthouse and that both were hidden from muggles and non-magical folk for hundreds of years."

"I heard that it was built in ancient Egypt by the Ptolemaic Kingdom?"

"It was built long before then, but that was when the lighthouse itself was revealed to muggles—some say it was human error, but I believe some smaller creatures were involved, which made it visible. That's when the Ptolemaic took credit." Luna looked over the edge of the bridge for a moment before looking back. "I believe that it became one of the seven wonders because of its sudden appearance."

Charlie nodded along but moved his attention to the top of the lighthouse. The light at the top was bright and strong, but no shadows or additional light source was apparent. If the baby dragon was up there, it wasn't currently flying around or even making significant movements. That was concerning.

Despite already feeling the effects of the heat and the hot sun continuing to beat down on them, he quickened his pace. His wand pointed down to the bridge, and his eyes switched from the top of the tower to where his feet were stepping. His feet were almost tripping over themselves due to the exhaustion, but he ignored it and carried on. He must find that dragon.

Luna overtook him when they were going up the stairs – the hundreds of never-ending stairs. He could barely keep up, and after a few big gulps of water on the way, he finally got to the top.

Luna had got there first and was standing with a weird look on her face.

Was the dragon not there?

Had the dragon been injured?

What was going on?

In the last few steps, Charlie gained his strength and strutted into the room past Luna, only to pause quickly.

There, in front of them, were two tiny red baby dragons. They appeared to be sleeping, but Charlie knew better. They needed feeding immediately. He didn't hesitate to grab resources out of his bag and bottle-feed the first one—he had only brought one bottle with him, needing to travel light.

"Luna, you must find a way to reverse the apparition restriction here. They need immediate help."

He turned back to the dragons, tipping water gently on the dragon he wasn't feeding.

"It's okay. I'm here now," he said gently. He continued to talk to them as he did his best to nurse them to health.

While he would have liked to give the first two full bottles, he switched to the second one after just one. He had two to look after; that was a lot of responsibility, and it might have been more work than he was equipped for.

Twenty minutes later, Luna returned. "We can fly."

He looked at her like she had gone crazy. "How is that supposed to work?"

Luna looked out of the lighthouse window. "I borrowed something from Harry, thinking we might need to hide the dragon on the walk back. We can cover ourselves and the dragons on one broom."

"Do we have a broom?"

Luna nodded and reached into her extendable bag. No wonder she was so chill the whole time; she wasn't carrying as much weight as him. He hadn't even considered it, knowing they were going into muggle territory, but some of the dragon food doesn't last with the charm.

He looked over the two innocent dragons and knew that Luna was right; that would be the best way. If they are spotted by any muggles, though, it would be disastrous.

"We'll leave at nightfall," he decided. That would give him another hour to prepare the dragons and give them the most extensive coverage they could have.

Charlie settled down on the floor between the two dragons, reaching out to offer comfort as they waited. He just hoped they'd made it to them in time.