Eye of the Storm

The story behind this piece of fiction is my own work and so is the original character(s) – the characters and locations you recognise from JK Rowling however are not owned by me and are only borrowed for use in this fiction and I am earning no money from writing or publishing this – I write this purely for my own entertainment and yours and because I love the originals they are based upon so much.

~*~ HK ~*~

The Eye of the Storm

Chapter 2

Lucius was researching the tiny statue, one thing kept coming up was the Cairo Museum, which is where the statue appeared to have come from – it seemed to be a cheap souvenir that muggles would buy. The museum was situated in Cairo, Egypt, so there seemed only one thing to do, he needed to go there and seek whatever answers he could, right there at the source of the mirror, the original home of Tempest, the sellers of the tiny statue and hopefully there he would find her.

The house elves prepared the things that their master required for his trip and packed them into a large trunk. Once Lucius was happy that everything had been packed he closed and locked the trunk before picking up his wand and shrinking the large, heavy wooden trunk to the size of a box of matches – picking it up he placed the now tiny trunk into his robe pocket and then disapparated to the Ministry of Magic. From any Ministry of Magic around the world a witch or wizard could legally disapparate to any other Ministry of Magic – it was illegal to travel internationally without going through the Ministry for magical passport checks – so from the London Ministry Lucius travelled directly to the Ministry in Egypt.

When he arrived Lucius checked in with the Egyptian Ministry – as was the law. He was delighted to see the young customs witch – who had been smiling flirtatiously with him – blanch and go pale when she checked his magical passport and saw his name. It was always gratifying to see that lesser wizards and witches feared the name of Malfoy.

Once the formalities had been dispensed with Lucius went to the apparition/disapparation points – luckily all Ministry buildings around the world were identical, making it easier for a visiting wizard or witch feel at home and enable them to find their way around without difficulty. Leaving the Ministry Lucius apparated to his own apartment, which had been prepared for his arrival by his house elves once he had notified them of his impending arrival.

Lucius of course had homes all everywhere in the world he might wish to travel. Apart from France – his father had a house in Paris until the revolution, when he had decided that the muggles there were crazier than most and had therefore sold his house and never returned.

Lucius settled into his apartment and ate a light lunch. Deciding to take a walk he changed into traditional Egyptian robes so that he might blend in, the robes with their usual head covering hiding his hair, which being so fair would stand out immensely and make him appear to be a tourist, it was much better to blend in and appear to be a native. Besides which, he despised tourists – to him they were the worst kind of muggle, sunburned and talking too loudly to compensate for their lack of knowledge of any language besides their own. He found them ignorant and insipid.

Lucius wandered through the city watching but not interacting with the muggles in the market. Checking that he was not being watched, Lucius ducked into an alley and tapped on one of the bricks. Just like back in London and the leaky cauldron – the bricks rolled back into the wall to create an archway, which Lucius stepped through – the wall closing behind him. Lucius was standing in the Egyptian equivalent of Diagon Alley.

There were a few items here in Egypt that he knew were not available in England – many of which were actually illegal in England. After making his purchases Lucius walked purposefully to the end of the Alley and down some steps into the darker alley beyond. Lucius bought many items of dark magic from here – he would find a way to get these items home to Malfoy Manor later. Some of the items he had bought would definitely not be available for sale legally in England.

Going back to his apartment with his purchases, Lucius relished the feel of the cool interior – muggles had their air conditioning, but wizards just used a magical climate control. Out-side it was dusty and dry, the heat clinging to his skin and making him feel sweaty and clammy, the dust and sand sticking to his overheated flesh to make him feel dirty and tired.

Walking into his bathroom he stripped off his clothes and waved his hand, the whole room was enveloped in rain – a muggle equivalent would probably be a shower or wet room, which they had a way of creating using their technology, but a wizard just literally made it rain indoors. Massaging shampoo through his long hair, Lucius made the strength of the rain more powerful, luxuriating in the freshness that the water was washing over his skin. The grime of the streets washed away leaving him feeling cleansed and refreshed.

Wrapping himself in a huge soft robe he padded through into the bedroom, his bare feet leaving wet footprints on the solid wooden floor. The elves his left him a tray with a jug of icy cold orange juice and a glass – he poured himself a glass and wandered over to the window as he drink it. Watching as the sun sank lower over the pyramids. Tonight when it was cooler and dark, and the muggles slept, Lucius decided his would then go to the Cairo Museum to see if he could find any clues as to where Tempest might be.

Finishing his juice and putting the glass back on the tray, Lucius went to lie down for a while – tonight he would be busy so he should rest now. Lying on his bed he closed his eyes, for the first time since the death of Tempest he slept peacefully, soundly and without dreams.

~*~*~

By the time Lucius woke it was late at night, the streets were pretty deserted – most of the tourists believed it to be unsafe to wander the streets at night. Lucius dressed once more in his native costume and hid his wand within the light linen robes he wore. Covering his head and hair once more he was ready to go out and see what he could find. He was feeling rather optimistic, having had a dreamless sleep for the first time in ages he felt that this could be a good sign – maybe he was closer to Tempest than he realised…

Walking through the shadows Lucius arrived at the museum quickly and with only one minor incident – where a drunken tourist who had braved the night tried to waylay him and was staggering in the street, Lucius who had no time for muggles when they were sober found this one irritating. Checking around him and finding no-one else in the street he slipped his wand from within his robes and raised it “Stupefy!” he hissed and the man was struck dumb, he had no idea who or where he was – Lucius told the man to go back to his hotel and walked away. He could have just killed the man – but a dead tourist would raise questions and if the Ministry suspected it to be a magical death they would look immediately who the visiting witches and wizards were – Lucius could not afford to be delayed by their bureaucracy and dithering.

Arriving at the rear entrance to the museum Lucius magically opened the door – muggle security might keep them out, but it was no match for magic. Inside the imposing building Lucius stood still for a moment – he felt more at home in older buildings, newer properties felt empty, they were so devoid of history and the feelings time imprints into the fabric of the stone.

Glancing around he made his way to the front of the building, although he was disguised and doubted anyone could recognise him, he sent a magical jolt into the security cameras, and it was similar to static electricity and it knocked the cameras offline – from now on they would only record images that resembled interference. He almost laughed aloud at the thought of the stupid muggles trying to figure out what happened and in the end they would need to replace the cameras – they would never work properly again.

In the front entrance of the museum he saw the gift shop and looked around for the same statue he had found on his doorstep. When he found the same little figures he looked on the shelves to see if there was anything to give him a clue, nothing stood out to him, and the little figures stood in their perfect little neat rows on the glass shelves. Annoyed he turned to look around the rest of the shop and then he noticed one of the Isis statues standing on the counter where purchases would be made. This statue stood alone on the counter and was standing on a small piece of parchment; Lucius moved the statue and picked up the piece of parchment. On the parchment it said two words “Follow Me…” at the bottom of the slip it bore a tiny mark, like a paw print.

Hearing a noise behind him, Lucius turned and saw a black cat vanish around the corner of the door. Dropping the parchment he dashed out of the gift shop and followed the cat.

The cat led Lucius through doors and corridors within the museum, the entire time the cat never showed whether it knew her was following it. The further he followed he found the cat was leading him into a darker and closed off part of the building – the public obviously never came to this section. After a while he realised that they were moving lower and lower, each time they got to some stairs they went down. Eventually they reached a part of the building that had no electrical lighting, ahead of them the corridor was in darkness – until the cat passed a torch on the wall, each torch lit on its own as the cat passed, the corridor slowly being bathed in the warm glow of firelight. The section of the building was made totally of stone and the walls were carved and painted with hieroglyphs. It crossed his mind that he now seemed to be inside a pyramid. Could they really have walked that far beneath the city?

Suddenly the cat sped up and ran down the corridor and around the corner – it was as thought the creature had now realised that Lucius was following. Hurrying after the cat Lucius turned the same corner the cat had and saw that it was sitting in a dead end. Approaching it slowly, Lucius whispered “Tempest?” The floor seemed to give way beneath him and Lucius found himself sliding – almost falling down deeper and deeper into a dark pit. He came to a stop with a bone jarring thud. Above him he could see the lights from the corridor, and a small black face peering down at him. His vision was starting swim and he was dizzy. Calling out again to the cat “Tempest, please…” above him the cat seemed to shakes its head and then it walked away. Lucius felt like he was falling into the darkness again – the light above him seemed to be getting further away as he slipped into darkness.