Chapter 213: Snape Again, and the Lost Pyramid
As Ethan and Cyril soared toward their final destination, their hearts pounding with excitement, Gis and his weary band, having traveled through half the night, finally made contact with Isaac.
"Who were all those people? They looked like Ministry wizards. And why are you alone? Where are the targets?" The moment he saw Isaac, Gis fired off a rapid series of questions.
Though they had not flown particularly fast, their broomsticks were still considerably swifter than a flying carpet. They had located the town Isaac described well before dawn. But as they prepared to enter, they had spotted other wizards, many of them, moving about. They had been forced to hang back at a safe distance, watching the shadowy figures flit through the town, afraid to show themselves. Only after everyone else had departed, leaving Isaac alone, did they dare to slip past the innkeeper, who had been magically put into a deep sleep, and make their way upstairs.
Isaac glanced at Saphir and the other unfamiliar faces before answering. "They were Ministry officials. Last night, I needed an excuse to go out and send you a message. Some Muggles got the wrong idea and decided to try to rob me for my extension charm bag..."
"Mugged by Muggles?" Saphir cut him off, his voice dripping with scorn.
"Who are you?" Isaac demanded, barely containing his irritation.
"The name wouldn't mean anything to you. Go on, finish your little tale of woe," Saphir sneered, his contempt undisguised.
"Let him finish. I'll explain about us afterward." Gis stepped between Isaac and Saphir, giving Isaac a meaningful look.
Swallowing his fatigue and the humiliation of the all-night interrogation, Isaac recounted the events. After Ethan and the others had departed, Nadim, acting on Cyril's instructions and eager to contain the situation, had immediately reported the incident to the Egyptian Ministry. A breach of the Statute of Secrecy, exposing Muggles to magic, was a serious matter. The duty officer quickly alerted the relevant departments, and within an hour, Aurors, Obliviators, and other personnel, all dragged from their homes and beds, had descended upon the town. Their mood was understandably foul. Nobody enjoyed being summoned for unexpected overtime.
They had poured out of a hidden Floo connection in the town and launched an investigation. The facts were simple enough, but waking the stunned Muggles proved unexpectedly difficult. Isaac's Stunners, calibrated for use on dragons and amplified by his anger, were exceptionally powerful. Standard revival methods failed. The Ministry had been forced to call in a Healer. Using Veritaserum and other methods, they had quickly confirmed Isaac's account. Yet, fueled by irritation at the late-night disruption, they had dragged out the questioning and paperwork for most of the night.
Only after the Obliviators and the last of the Ministry officials had departed did Isaac finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"So, you have no idea where the two Shafiqs have gone?" Gis's tone was far from pleased after hearing the story. He'd rushed here expecting to finally corner his targets and complete his mission. Instead, this was the result.
"No. They didn't tell me where they were going before they left. They just told me to return to Semkhet once the Ministry was finished with me." Isaac was equally frustrated.
"Useless!" Gis spat.
"Me?! Useless?!" The accusation, piled on top of a sleepless night of interrogation, finally made Isaac's pent-up anger snap. "If I hadn't been trying to get word to you, would I have been interrogated by the Ministry in the first place? And this is the second time I've had to send word! If you had arrived in time after the first message, I wouldn't have needed to send a second! So tell me, who's really useless here?!"
"You can sort out who's more useless among yourselves later," Saphir cut in, clearly enjoying stirring things up. "But this situation needs to be resolved. We didn't wait all night for nothing."
"Well, well. Isn't this an old friend?" Saphir's gaze suddenly landed on a figure entering the inn.
"Saphir?! What are you doing here?" Nadim stared in shock at the man he hadn't seen in over a decade, who had just seen off the last of the Ministry officials, a friendly Obliviator.
"Why shouldn't I be here?" Ignoring the hostile glares from Gis's group and Isaac, Saphir sauntered toward Nadim.
Nadim held up a hand when Saphir was still two meters away. "That's close enough. Stay back."
"You wound me," Saphir said with mock sadness.
"Drop the act. I haven't forgotten your reputation, 'Poison Wizard.' Any closer and I wouldn't trust my own defenses." Nadim wasn't buying it. "I'd heard you'd gone into hiding. Looks like it was true. If you'd aged at all, I might not have recognized you."
"Let's talk somewhere else." Glancing at the unfamiliar faces behind Saphir, and then at Isaac, who was staring at him in obvious surprise, Nadim opened the door to an empty room.
"Who is he?" Sensing that the situation had taken an unexpected turn, and conscious of Laval's mocking gaze, Gis set aside his argument with Isaac.
"A local wizard who Cyril hired as a translator and guide. It seems they know each other?" Ultimately, Isaac knew that his own actions in Stunning the Muggles were the primary reason Cyril and Ethan had slipped his surveillance. He was in no position to argue with Gis.
"Looks like he's not innocent either," Gis muttered. He glanced at the remaining three members of Saphir's group and explained to Isaac in a low voice, "We ran into them at the inn in Semkhet. They were the ones who found that Wizarding Card you left under the table. They said they have some old scores to settle with the Shafiq family. When they heard from the innkeeper that we were also looking for them, they approached us about joining forces. They're a bad lot, wanted fugitives on the run from multiple countries. Robbery, murder, the usual."
"And you're willing to work with them? Aren't you worried they'll turn on us?"
"That's a problem for after the Shafiqs are dealt with. They're not stupid enough to cause trouble before then. There are only four of them. Experienced, yes, but taking on four adult wizards and a kid is still a risk. Same for us. Seven against four gives us good odds, but it's not a sure thing, and we don't want any of our own getting hurt if they fight back desperately. With their help, we're much more likely to come through this unscathed."
Just then, Saphir and Nadim emerged from the room. Only one of them was smiling.
"Do any of you have a way to track down those two?" Saphir asked, a smile playing on his lips. "No? Then you'll come with us. Ziyad has a way to find them." He glanced around the room, his eyes finally settling on the stone-faced Nadim.
"Ziyad?"
"An old name of his. What did he tell you to call him?" Saphir asked, feigning helpfulness in response to Isaac's confusion.
"Nadim." Isaac glanced at his expression and said nothing more.
"Let's go. Take a Wideye Potion or something and let's move." Saphir had effectively taken command of the expanded group.
After they'd cleared the town, Nadim began to cast the Summoning Charm for his flying carpet. "Accio Nadim's flying carpet!" he bellowed, wand raised. Nothing happened. "Accio Nadim's flying carpet!" The second attempt had the same result.
"There's no point. The carpet is currently in use. I can't summon it. But I have a general sense of its direction. Let's go." Nadim closed his eyes, concentrating on the faint magical echo the spell had provided.
"Move out!" The ten wizards climbed onto their brooms. Isaac produced one from his own bag as well.
"I don't have a broom. I'll stay behind," Nadim said, trying to extricate himself.
"I don't think so. Gis, you'll ride double with Ziyad." Saphir's smile was thin and cold.
Nadim stood frozen for a long moment, staring at Saphir. Finally, reluctantly, he climbed onto the back of Gis's broom. Gis's expression darkened at Saphir's commanding tone, but he said nothing.
"That's better. Let's fly!" Saphir nodded in satisfaction, and his group of four took to the air first. The others waited for Gis's order.
"We're going too." Though deeply reluctant, Gis had his mission. He pointed his broom in the direction Nadim indicated and took off.
"I thought I felt the carpet wobble a moment ago. Was I imagining it?" Ethan asked as they neared their destination.
"I felt it too," Mael said.
"Same here."
"Someone's trying to summon the flying carpet," Cyril said. His first thought was of its owner. *Probably Nadim. I wonder why he's trying to call it back.*
*Let's hope it doesn't mean trouble.* Cyril offered a silent prayer and became more vigilant.
Checking his positioning device, Cyril announced, "We're almost there. Prepare to land."
"Wait. I see two people down there. Let me check." Before descending, Cyril spotted two dark specks. Peering through his Omnioculars, he identified the figures. "Professor Snape? And another wizard, an older one."
They descended slightly and dropped their Disillusionment Charms.
"Professor!" Ethan called out to the figure on the ground.
"We meet again." Snape hadn't mentioned his destination when they'd parted the night before, and running into him here, in the middle of this vast desert, seemed like an improbable coincidence.
"Where are you headed?" Snape asked quickly as they stepped off the carpet.
"This is where we're headed. And you, Professor?"
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? This is my destination as well."
"What?!" Cyril could hardly believe it. They were heading to the same place. It was a coincidence neither of them could have predicted.
Before any digging began, Cyril and Snape sat down for a frank discussion.
"You're looking for a pyramid connected to your ancestor? I'm looking for one too. Legend says it contains the Book of the Dead, which holds the secret to bringing the dead back to life."
Cyril and Ethan exchanged a look. "The pyramid we're looking for also holds the Book of the Dead. And it may be connected to our ancestor."
"I want the knowledge within that book, the secret of resurrection. Nothing else." Since their goals aligned and Snape had a good relationship with Ethan, he made his modest request.
"We're also interested in the knowledge it contains. In that case, we'll share any knowledge we recover. We can either distribute any physical artifacts as needed or hold them jointly for you and Ethan to study together once you're back at school. What do you say to that, Professor Snape?"
"Acceptable." Their goals didn't conflict, so Snape had no objections to this arrangement.
Cyril then offered another suggestion. "Good. Then we have an accord. Shall we share our information?"
"Very well." Snape nodded.
"Here is what I know..." Snape began. As Ethan and Cyril listened, their astonishment grew. The information Snape possessed was nearly as extensive as their own, and much of it overlapped. The Shafiq family's knowledge was the result of generations of effort. Snape, as far as Ethan knew, had gathered his information entirely on his own.
When Snape mentioned a piece of new information that sounded familiar, Cyril asked, "Where did you get that? We have something almost identical. Was it from the Innes family?"
"You as well. Some of this I've pieced together over the years from books at Hogwarts and elsewhere. Some I found on my trips to Egypt. And yes, some came from the Innes family."
Ethan explained, "At St. Mungo's, Rani Innes gave us some rubbings for my small part in the Black Lizard Healing Potion."
"Then we received the same materials. Mine were a gift from Warick Innes, Rani Innes's son. We're on good terms. Knowing my interest in Egyptian antiquities, he gave me these items that had sat in his family for years without yielding any results."
Hearing this, Cyril felt a surge of relief at his decision to press on. Had they delayed, Snape might well have beaten them to the pyramid's contents.
Pooling their information allowed them to narrow the search area to a location just five hundred meters from their current position. After brief introductions, the seven of them set off toward their final target.
This time, the search was simple. In under ten minutes, they confirmed the presence of an enormous structure buried beneath their feet, spanning over a thousand square meters.
"Start digging!" All of them were visibly thrilled as spell after spell flew from their wands.
The damaged tip of a stone pyramidion was the first to emerge. Noé and the others shouted, "It really is a pyramid! We're rich!" Thoughts of the fabled treasures buried with the pharaohs spurred them on to even greater efforts.
"Finally. We're about to find it," Cyril murmured, his expression a complex mix of emotions.
Seeing the exposed stone tip, Snape's eyes blazed with an intensity Ethan had never seen before. His lips moved silently, and his wand movements became even more resolute.
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