Chapter 144

The Tomb Raiders

Note from J.M. Jackson: So, this chapter is an important one, and again, canon has gone completely out the window. I'm going to divulge a little secret with the writing: When I'm writing, I honestly don't plan any of it. I don't make notes, I don't decide what's going to happen. I sit down at my laptop, and I let the story tell me how it wants to go, so I won't lie, when I first wrote this chapter, I was surprised as well. Dododum and I both hope you enjoy this chapter, and the others that will follow it.

Lily pulled her jacket closed tightly as the wind blew harshly against her. She hated the weather, but at the same time, she knew it would be a good cover for what they were doing. As she stood next to Ginny, she smiled softly at her.

"Think we'll find it easily?" Ginny asked.

"Not likely. Let's face it, if Slytherin wanted his tomb to be known, everyone would know where it was. Merlin was likely the same way, if he learnt from Slytherin. He likely put a lot of protections on it. I'm just hoping we can find something," Lily replied.

"If anyone can, it's you," Ginny assured her, as they walked along the bottom of the hill, looking around, trying to sense any trace of magic.

"We just need to be patient," Hermione said, as she and Fleur walked alongside Lily and Ginny.

"Zere has to be some kind of clue here, to tell us where to go," Fleur said, her ponytail blowing wildly behind her, rubbing her gloved hands together.

"What do you think we'll find in there?" Ginny asked.

"Well, if Muggle movies are anything to go by, Merlin's Staff of power, or some sort of magical item, or even a powerful weapon. Everyone has different stories about Merlin," Hermione said. "I love some of the old movies; my mum and dad…" her voice trailed off. Lily understood why and put a hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"We're going to win, Hermione, and then we'll find your parents and bring them home," Lily assured her. "You are one of the strongest people I've ever known," she added, with a small smile.

"They're safe; that's what matters," Hermione replied. Lily could see she was fighting back tears. "I just… it's been harder than I've admitted."

"We know. It's not easy to hide things from us, not when we're all living together in the same house," Lily pointed out. "Besides, we knew you'd tell us eventually, and we suspected we knew what the problem was. We just didn't want to force you to tell us how you were feeling."

"I appreciate that," Hermione smiled softly at Lily.

"We're all here for you," Lily assured her.

"I think I found something," Ginny called out. Lily turned and led the group over to where she was standing, in front of a large rock. Fawkes was there as well, sitting on the rock. "Well, I think Fawkes found something," Ginny corrected, as she began to pet Fawkes.

"A rock?" Lily asked. She then shook her head. "No, I'm sensing something similar to when we were at the cavern."

"What, when you were with Dumbledore?" Hermione asked. Lily nodded in confirmation.

"From what Dumbledore told us, we were able to sense traces of magic. I know not everyone can, but I think we can," Lily explained.

"There's a lot you two can do, given your bond and strength," Hermione pointed out. "I'm not surprised you can sense where magic is."

"We can't do it as well as Dumbledore did," Ginny said.

"But this is sufficient for what we need. I'll summon the others," Hermione said. As she got out her mobile phone, Lily looked at the rock again, just as Fawkes began to hover above it.

"Okay, so how do we open it?" Ginny asked.

"I'm guessing there's going to be some kind of spell," Lily replied, studying the rock. "I mean, I know there's a lot of movies and books that show about finding tombs, mostly that Tomb Raider game that Uncle Sirius got me for Christmas last year."

"Good game," Ginny smiled, as Ron, Lavender, Draco, Pansy, Sirius, and Remus apparated near to them.

"Hermione said you found something," Sirius said, as Remus began looking at the rock, studying it as well.

"There's any number of ways this could be a door, so let me try a few spells," Remus said, starting to aim his wand at the rock.

As Lily watched, the rock began to glow, and shift form until it resembled a doorway, which was lit up now by old fashioned torch scones, the flames burning brightly, but there didn't seem to be any heat, which confused Lily.

She looked inside the doorway, seeing a staircase heading down. "That was quick," Lily commented.

"I've studied some of the ancient tombs, when I was younger, belonging to witches and wizards of some renown, they usually used a hidden doorway, to keep their tombs from being found by muggles," Remus said, as Sirius picked up one of the torches, holding it and pointing it downwards.

"I'll go first," Sirius said, stepping through the doorway and onto the staircase. "Wait for me to call up for you," he added firmly, before walking down the stairs out of sight. What felt like forever passed, when it wasn't even thirty seconds before Sirius called up, giving the all clear.

Lily led the rest of the group down the staircase, and as Remus entered last, the doorway began to vanish.

"Don't worry, it'll open again when we want to come out," Remus assured the group. "We don't want to leave it open, do we?" he asked, as Fawkes flew besides Ginny.

"Fawkes, is there any danger down here?" Ginny asked softly, looking at the Phoenix, who then flew down the stairs, and throughout what looked like a massive entrance hall. As he did, Ron pulled out the Deluminator that Dumbledore had given him, and clicked it, sending balls of light around the hall.

"I didn't know it could do that," Lily said, impressed.

"Yeah, it can hold light from any source, and I can use that light whenever and wherever I want to," Ron replied. "I spent some time learning how to use it. It's bloody brilliant."

"Sounds it. Dumbledore really was a genius," Hermione commented, smiling. "I know he made it himself, from what Minister Scrimgeour said, and not many wizards can make something like that."

"Maybe he knew we'd need something like this on our quest," Ron mused, as the group began to spread out around the hall.

"Probably," Lily agreed. "Alright, let's look around, and see if there's another doorway or something. I doubt this is what we're looking for."

"Probably not," Remus agreed. "Draco, have you heard of any tombs like this?"

"My father told me of a few and said one day he'd want a tomb that was big, but we never really spoke about it," Draco replied. "I never really put much thought into it; when we're dead, I don't think we're going to be too worried about our bodies."

"That's practical thinking," Sirius complimented. "Some people are vain, however, and want to be remembered in the most ostentatious way possible."

"Then there's people who'll be remembered for their deeds and actions," Lily said. "Like you, Draco, you'll be known as one of the heroes who stopped Riddle."

"Once we stop him, I'll gladly take that accolade, as long as you remember you're the girl who lived and who led us to victory," Draco smirked, causing Lily to blush at the compliment.

"Well, that's one way to make her go shy," Ginny chuckled, holding Lily's hand as the two of them looked at the images on the wall. They were engraved in the rock face, showing what looked like different battles. "Where's Professor Binns when you need him?" Ginny laughed softly.

"I'm not Binns, but I'll have a look," Sirius said, looking at the images. "You know, I think this is showing the battle of Hastings, a muggle battle, or so I thought, that happened in 1066."

"That was a muggle battle though," Hermione said.

"As far as we know. These images show that Merlin was supporting some of the muggles, but if that's true, then history has forgotten it," Sirius replied.

"That doesn't surprise me, Padfoot," Remus commented, looking at the image. "It was long before the statute of secrecy, so it wasn't illegal to help muggles."

"But the British lost the battle, so if he helped, it didn't help much," Hermione said. Lily frowned.

"Unless Merlin was helping the Normans," Lily said.

"Why would he do that?" Draco asked. "He was at Hogwarts, so he was from the UK."

"Actually, the UK didn't form until 1801," Hermione responded instantly.

"Right, so it's not just magical history that Hermione knows like the back of her hand," Ron commented, smirking.

"Yeah, we're lucky to have you Hermione," Pansy said, smiling.

"Thanks Pansy," Hermione replied, blushing as she looked at the image. "This still leaves a lot of questions, right?"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Draco agreed. "Look at these images, they show two different stories. If I had to guess, one of them is the country on fire, and in the other, the other is unified; you can tell by the people holding hands."

"Yeah, I think you're right kid," Sirius agreed, looking at the images. "But the one of the country on fire doesn't make sense; I mean, unless he could see the future and saw the Great Fire of London."

"No, I think it's more widespread than London. You can tell from the full image that it's the entire country," Remus said. Lily looked at the picture; Remus was right, it was an exceptional image that almost looked like it was on a canvas instead of a rock wall. It showed different cities around the country, including London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and even Leicester. Each one was labelled, with symbols representing the cities. Each city in the image was on fire.

"As interesting as this is, how does this link to a Horcrux?" Lily asked.

"I don't know, but there has to be something here, maybe a symbol of something important to Merlin?" Lavender suggested.

"It's possible, but what could he have that's important?" Pansy asked.

"I might know that," Draco replied. "Look at all the images; what does every picture Merlin's featured in have in common?"

Lily took a look at the images, and realised what Draco was referring to. "His Staff. He has it in every image."

"And in every legend of Merlin the muggles have, Merlin had a staff that was the source of his power," Hermione added.

"Does that mean his Staff was his wand?" Ron asked, frowning.

"Maybe. It could be he wanted to be theatrical and made a wand into his staff, or people just assumed it was his Staff that was the source of his magic, but he was using his wand instead," Sirius replied, looking around for any sign of a door.

"When we've won this war, maybe the ministry should send people down here to research," Ginny suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Remus smiled. "I'd actually volunteer to lead it."

"Rufus might agree with that," Lily grinned. "I think you'd be brilliant at research, though I think Aunt Angeline would want you to be near home to help with my siblings."

"Don't worry, I'll be home every night," Remus assured her. "She's with her mother and a muggle doctor today, having another scan. So far, everything's going well, and the babies are due in April."

"I don't know about you Moony, but I'm nervous as hell," Sirius said, chuckling.

"You'll be brilliant, Uncle Sirius, you already raised me brilliantly, didn't you?" Lily asked.

"Yes, but I'll make sure they're not as stubborn," Sirius teased. Lily laughed at that.

"Yeah, if they're anything like you and Uncle Remus, no bloody chance of that. Plus, I'll be there to teach them," Lily smirked. "You got names picked yet?"

"Actually, Angeline and I thought that if we have a boy, we want to go with James, after your dad. He was my best friend when we were kids," Remus said. "After all, Padfoot and I were lovers, and two Sirius's in the house would be too many."

"And for our son, if we have a son, Angeline and I agreed on Alfie, after my Uncle Alphard," Sirius said. "As for if we have daughters, we have two names. One is Emmeline, after Angeline's sister."

"And the other is for the greatest cousin she could have; we'll name her Lily."

Lily felt tears welling up in her eyes at that. "Seriously?" Lily asked weakly.

"Of course; plus, we've discussed Godparents. We agree that Draco, Ron, we want you to be Godfather to our kids, and Lily, Ginny, we want you to be Godmothers," Sirius said.

All four of them froze at that; Lily felt tears welling up in her eyes. She could see tears welling up in Ginny's eyes as well, with Ron and Draco with their mouths agape.

"Okay, I really wish I had a camera," Lavender said. A flash of light filled the room, with Hermione smirking, holding a camera.

"I'm into history, I wanted to take a few snaps," Hermione said, chuckling.

"Make sure we get multiple copies of that," Sirius said, laughing. "Lily bud, of course we want you as godparent; look at you, and how amazing you are. The same with you Ginny, and you Draco and Ron. All of you have done so much and proven that you are the ones we want taking care of our kids if anything bad ever happened to us."

"Uncle Sirius, this… it means a lot," Lily said, embracing him with a hug. "I won't ever let you down."

"I know you won't; hell, we know you won't," Sirius said, smiling at her. "We've always believed in you."

"Even when I did something stupid, like trying to read Riddle's mind?" Lily asked.

"Even then," Sirius confirmed, chuckling.

"I appreciate that," Lily told him, fighting back the tears.

"I… um… as much as I love the sweet moment," Draco began, "And I really do, we… well, I don't think we're alone," he finished, pointing to the far end of the hall area. Lily turned and looked, as did the rest of the group, seeing what Draco did; a man who was looking at them.

It was an old man, with a long beard, and robes that looked like they would be at home in the renaissance period; flowing blue with white stars, whilst he was holding a staff with an orb on the end, which he was holding onto.

Sirius was the first to react, drawing his wand and aiming it at the man. "Who are you?" Sirius demanded.

"Be at peace, Sirius Orion Black," the man said, smiling. "I am here as a friend," he added, walking towards the images on the wall. "I never liked these images; they never tell the full story, do they?"

"No, I guess they wouldn't," Hermione was looking at the man with reverence.

"Hermione?" Lily asked, frowning as he looked at her. "You know him?"

"Not… not personally," Hermione replied. "He… I… it can't be."

"I assure you, Hermione Jean Granger, that it is," the man replied, with a kind smile at her. "I know this is hard to believe, but there are weirder things that have happened."

"Are you really who you appear to me?" Lily asked, as she figured out why Hermione was so dumbfounded. "I mean, how is this real?"

"I believe you asked the same kind of question when you were eleven, did you not?" the man asked. "And before you ask how I know so much, it is a part of my gifts, young Lily."

"You really are him," Lily said softly, her eyes wide in shock and surprise. "You're Merlin!"