Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 78: Amenhotep
"Expecto Patronum!"
The white stag flew across the corridor and charged at the creature. This one seemed to disintegrate into small black particles when it was touched by the powerful charm.
"It works!" V exclaimed.
"W-wait… why do you sound surprised?" Harry asked.
"I just wasn't very sure if this creature was actually the one I read about," V responded.
Harry moved his hand, and the white stag turned around, charging at the other creature behind him.
"By the way, your Patronus feels more powerful," V said. "Did you get any new happy memories to use?" His tone turned more teasing.
"Mmm…" Harry brought the Patronus back to him. "There are more of those things inside the walls."
"Indeed. Many of them," V told him.
"How many can you detect?"
"Thirty-two," V responded after taking a few seconds to think. "But this place seems to be extremely big, and my senses are limited down here."
"So, more than that." Harry sounded annoyed. "We still need to find the exit."
His green eyes shifted to another part of the corridor where a black substance was starting to seep in.
"We'd better hurry, then. Magic is not unlimited," V told him.
Harry placed his hand on top of the white stag he had created, and it looked back at him.
"Expecto… Arma."
The light stag transformed into a long spear, and Harry grasped its shaft.
"Celeritas Maxima." He felt a massive surge of energy coursing through his body.
Harry then took just five seconds to take a deep breath and focus. He gripped the light spear and looked ahead. "Okay, let's get out of here."
His feet lifted from the ground with such force that they broke apart the stone floor.
One of those shadows tried to get in his way and was immediately pierced by the Patronus weapon, turning the creature into dark particles.
"V, try to find the chamber where the sorcerer is. It must have a much more intense signal." Harry reached a bifurcation and kept going through the labyrinth.
"Yes, no matter how big this is, it cannot be endless. I'll find the correct way," V said.
More shadows appeared from the walls. Harry didn't give them time to completely form and they were all taken down immediately.
He was moving many times faster than the best Olympic runner, taking turns, changing directions, and killing those creatures.
The improved version of the physical enchantment he had used also had an effect on his mind, allowing him to process information much faster.
"Go right!" V shouted. He had finally found a trace of a different source of magic in this massive labyrinth.
From then on, Harry just followed V's directions, taking turns when he told him to.
Three doorways were now in front of him.
"Straight ahead!" V said.
By this point, even Harry could feel it clearly. The magic was ancient and corrupted, much more so than the rest of the tomb.
Two more of those shadows tried to get in his way one last time. After getting rid of them, Harry crossed a much larger doorway and could finally see a different landscape than the same damn corridor he had been seeing for hours.
He was now in a massive chamber decorated with golden pillars and symbols written on the walls.
On the other side of the chamber was a human-looking skeleton, sitting on a throne with a crown on its head.
"That must be…" Harry muttered.
"The Great Egyptian Sorcerer, Amenhotep," V added.
"Was he really human? It's huge," Harry commented as he stared at the massive skeleton.
Amenhotep appeared to be over ten feet tall. The skeleton itself was also strange, since the bones were completely gold. It gave him a very inhuman appearance.
"Who knows what kind of rituals he put his body through? They had very loose morals back then, and human sacrifices were a common thing," V said.
Harry's eyes went to the crown placed over his head. "That's what Lady Rose wants… Amenhotep's crown."
"Are you going to just climb up on the skeleton and take it?" V asked.
"Do I look stupid to you?" Harry pointed at the ground. "Look at those symbols engraved around the throne. What do you think they are for?"
"Mmm… I only recognize a few of the runes on there. Hard to guess the effects with just that. But you should break them before getting closer."
Harry looked around the chamber. "Do you feel anything else? There could be more hidden traps."
"No. The only magical signature in here is coming from that skeleton," V said.
"Yeah… that's what I thought. Isn't it weird? Why is the main chamber of the tomb the least protected?" Harry began to ponder.
"If you put it like that…"
"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter. I just have to grab that crown, and then I can use a portal to escape." Harry pointed his finger at the piece of floor before the skeleton, the one containing all the symbols.
"Reducto."
His spell blew up a large chunk of the floor, breaking the runic array's integrity.
"Was that enough?" Harry didn't have to wait long to see the effects.
While the rest of the runes lost their brightness and became completely black, something changed on the throne.
It hadn't been obvious at first, but the runes had been maintaining some kind of translucent layer on top of the skeleton, and now it was gone.
"That looked like… a ward," Harry said. He was a bit confused, because that would be a very ineffective way to protect a treasure.
After all, it was very easy to damage the runes and deactivate the protection.
"Yes, but… what if that runic array wasn't meant to stop thieves?" V asked.
"You mean…" Harry stopped talking when he realized that the skeleton had started moving.
It appeared that Amenhotep wasn't completely dead.
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find characters images to view for free in Collections/Time Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix