16Title: Umm al-Dunya
Author: Captain Cranium
Summary: In the summer after Fifth Year, Bill Weasley offers to take Harry to see an Egyptian wizard who may be able to help him tilt the balance of fate and alter the Prophecy. No Pairings.
AN: Note that this story treats as canon the 7 books. I may draw on concepts from Pottermore and allied sites, but anything I don't explicitly mention isn't canon for the purposes of this story. Don't leave me reviews telling me how I'm representing African magic wrong.
The best thing that could be said about the day was that it wasn't raining any more. It had been raining for the last three days - a light, non-stop drizzle descending from uniform grey clouds that stretched out as far as the eye could see. An unseasonably cold summer was what the Muggle news was calling it, but Harry Potter knew it for what it was - the Dementors were breeding.
It had been three days since he had been cooped up inside Number Four Privet Drive. There was finally a break in the rain and Harry was eager to get out of the house and stretch his legs.
"Where are you going, boy?" Aunt Petunia came out of the kitchen as he jogged down the stairs.
"Out," he said shortly, not looking at her. His relatives were largely ignoring him this summer, and that was fine by him.
She glared at him. "Make sure you're back to help fix dinner," she sniffed and turned around abruptly to head back into the kitchen. Harry glanced at his watch. It was only noon - there was plenty of time until dinner. It was unusual for his Aunt to be this generous. He opened the door and stepped outside.
A damp chill hung in the air that would have been more seasonable in late March or early April than in the middle of July. The sun struggled in vain to fight through the dull haze that hung over Little Whinging. The Muggle meteorologists on the telly were losing their minds about it - all the weather patterns suggested the UK should have had a nice, hot summer this year, but instead all their nice, warm weather fronts seemed to evaporate right as they hit the country. When the news anchors weren't talking about the rash of freak accidents across the country that Harry figured were the result of Death Eater attacks, they were talking about the record losses hitting the agricultural industry because of this cold snap.
He was glad he had thought to bring a jumper with him - the one Mrs Weasley had gifted him last Christmas - and he pulled it on as he headed down Privet Drive and towards Magnolia Road. His eyes darted around warily, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. He wasn't quite sure how far the blood wards around Privet Drive extended, but he figured his minders from the Order of the Phoenix would let him know if he was straying too far.
"Oh, thank Merlin." A lanky, red-haired man stepped out of nowhere and fell in step with Harry. "I was beginning to wonder if I would ever catch you."
In an instant, Harry's wand was out and pointed at the man's throat. "Who are you?"
"Mind the Muggles," hissed the man, and indeed, a Muggle couple walking towards them on the footpath gave them an odd stare and slowed down. "Relax, it's just me - Bill."
"How do I know you're not a Death-Eater under Polyjuice?" asked Harry suspiciously. His wand did not waver.
"Good," Bill nodded approvingly. "You have the right instincts. Here, the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at Number 12 Grimmauld Place."
Harry lowered his wand, knowing that there was no way a Death-Eater could have uttered those words - except maybe for Snape.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, tucking his wand into his back pocket and resuming his walk. The Muggles shared a relieved look with each other and the man - Harry thought it looked like the bachelor who lived at Number Eight - gave Harry a dirty look.
"I volunteered for guard duty today. I took Mundugus's shift - he was more than happy to take my gallon and get sloshed at the Leaky instead of sitting out here in the damp," said Bill.
He gave a pleasant nod the the Muggle couple as they nervously edged past them. The girl's gaze lingered on Bill for just a moment longer than it had to. Bill was dressed in a slightly too small t-shirt that showed off his physique. He projected an air of casual confidence as he walked, hands stuck in his pockets and a lazy smile plastered across his face.
"They still have Mundungus on guard rotation after last year?" asked Harry incredulously.
Bill gave him an apologetic look. "There aren't that many people in the Order, Harry, and there's a lot of work to go around. You-Know-Who's become more active. It's starting to feel more and more like the first war. Supposedly Dumbledore gave him a stern talking to and extracted some oaths from him. Dung wasn't too happy about it, but he can't skive off any more."
"I'm not sure how much help he would be if something did happen," said Harry shortly.
"Not much," agreed Bill, "but at least he can get help quickly."
They reached the playground on Magnolia Road and Harry slowed down. Scattered groups of Muggles hung around - more people than just him had had the idea of taking advantage of the respite in the rain, though it was muddy and unpleasant. Harry edged his way towards a bench and, after a surreptitious drying charm from Bill, they sat down.
"Why did you want to see me?" asked Harry finally.
"Well, first, I wanted to see how you were doing. After, you know, Sirius..."
"I'd rather not talk about it, thanks," said Harry shortly.
Bill frowned but he didn't press the subject, which made Harry glad. He definitely wasn't ready to talk about Sirius, and definitely not to the Weasley sibling he knew the least.
"Sirius was a good man," said Bill. "I swung by Headquarters a few times last year to share a Firewhiskey with him... thought I might cheer him up, you know. He... he loved you very much. I'm sure he told you as much, but I wanted to let you know as well. He thought you were the greatest thing in the world."
"If I were so great, I wouldn't have gotten him killed," muttered Harry.
Bill gave him a look. "You didn't kill him," he said quietly. "You risked your life trying to save him. Even if you had the wrong information - that's what it boils down to. It's not my place, but to me it seems like you cared for him as much as he cared for you."
Harry didn't say anything but deep down in his heart, he felt a little lighter.
"The other reason I'm here," continued Bill, "is a bit unofficial - nothing to do with the Order, you understand. Actually, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it to anyone, not even Dumbledore. I wanted to talk to you about the Prophecy."
Instantly, Harry was on his guard. His hand went for his wand. "What?"
Bill gave him a careful look. "You don't need to tell me what's in it," he said, "I just need to know - do you know the contents?"
Harry deliberated - the fact that the Prophecy existed was public knowledge within the Order of the Phoenix. Whether they knew that he knew - he wasn't certain about that.
"What if I did?" he settled for asking.
"Would you change it if you could?"
"Change the Prophecy?" asked Harry disbelievingly.
"Yes," said Bill. "Not the text, more like ... fate's directive that's described by the text of the Prophecy. You know, slightly stack the cards in your favour." He ran his hand through his hair. "Does that make sense? Sorry, I was dragon dung at Divination."
Harry snorted. "Everyone is dragon dung at Divination. I don't know - I'd have to think about it. I don't... I don't like the Prophecy, but if that's the only way to defeat Volde..."
"Don't tell me any of that," said Bill loudly. He looked over his shoulder to make sure they were alone and dropped his voice. "Listen, my family owes you quite a bit, Harry - first with Ginny and then with Dad last year - so I wanted to bring you this option, maybe help you out a bit. There's a guy in Egypt - it's not easy to get access to him, but if I cash in a couple of large favours, I might be able to do it. It's said that for a price, he can change fate itself. I don't know what that means, really, but if you wanted to, I could get you an audience with him. I can't promise you anything, but maybe he can help change your odds..."
"All right," said Harry slowly. "Can I think about it? I could owl you..."
"Sorry Harry," said Bill apologetically. "But there really isn't time. Dumbledore wants you at the Burrow in two weeks. I'll have to arrange the audience, get an international portkey and sneak you out before then."
"Sneak?" asked Harry.
Bill gave him a guilty look. "Ah, see, I ran this by Dumbledore, and he's not too keen on the whole thing..."
"Then why do you think it's a good idea?"
Bill ran his hand through his hair. "It's complicated," he said. "How much do you know about the different kinds of magic in the world?"
Harry frowned. "Do you mean subjects like Charms, Transfiguration…?"
"No," said Bill. "I mean there's European magic, like the stuff we learn at Hogwarts, but then there's also American magic, African magic, Arabian magic, etc."
"Oh," said Harry. "I don't know anything about those."
"I didn't either," admitted Bill. "Not until I went to Egypt at least. We don't really talk about foreign magic at Hogwarts. You see, every culture specializes in different kinds of magic. For example, all wizards and witches can do some variation of Charms, but European magic is particularly proficient at Charms. No one's quite sure if it's because of the nature of our wizards or our culture or the land..."
"It's probably not the wizard," said Harry, biting his lip. "I mean, the Patil twins are Indian but they're as good at magic as the rest of us."
"True," agreed Bill. "There is speculation that on average an Indian wizard will be worse at Charms than an European... just like on average they'll be shorter than native Englishmen, but it's just speculation."
"What about culture?" asked Harry. "I mean, if we have a better Cheering Charm than them, can't they just learn it from us?"
Bill shook his head. "Our Cheering Charm is attuned to the focus we use for our magic - our wands." He gestured towards Harry's Holly and Phoenix feather wand which was sticking out of his back pocket. "The Patils can do a Cheering Charm just fine because they grew up here and use our kinds of wands. The Indians use wands for some of their magic - but they didn't really get into wands until we had colonized them. They used to use their bodies for their magic - yoga forms were a big part of it. Even now, the wandlore they have is pretty rudimentary. India has different kinds of wand wood and magical animal cores, and the land has a different ambient magic, which shapes the magic of their witches and wizards differently from us who grew up in Britain. The difference between Indian and British magic is kind of like the difference between English Breakfast and Irish Breakfast tea. They're both teas, but you can tell that they're different."
Harry paused, trying to process all that information. "I think that makes sense," he said. "So what are the Indians good at?"
Bill shrugged. "Parselmouths are a dime a dozen in India," he said. "I read a theory once - it's probably bogus - that Salazar Slytherin either was or was descended from an Indian wizard who managed trans-continental apparation. And they have a very strong culture around Astrology. Indian diviners - they're called najoomis - can look at the stars and answer specific questions about who you're going to marry and when you're going to die."
"And the Egyptians?" asked Harry.
Bill's eyes gleamed. "Egypt is much more interesting than India," he said. "It's the location, really. They call their land Umm al-dunya - Mother of the World. They're in Africa, so you get quite a bit of African magic, especially in the south of the country, but it's population is mostly Arab and Arabic-speaking so that's the strongest influence. One of the world's first civilizations grew up in Egypt, and since then, they've been ruled by the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Persians, the Arabs, the Turks, and obviously, the English and the French. Each of them left their mark on Egyptian wizarding community. Nowhere else in the world will you find magic more beautiful and complex than in Egypt." Bill shivered. "You know, you can practically feel the magic coursing through the Nile when you stand next to it. They call it the Ma'at. If we have time, I'll take you there."
"Wow," said Harry, impressed. "So you think this guy knows something Dumbledore doesn't? Why doesn't Dumbledore want to talk to him?"
Bill winced. "Ah, you see, you have to think about when Dumbledore was born."
Harry scrunched his face. Dumbledore was starting to grey when Tom Riddle was going to school in the 1940's... "1900?"
"Close," said Bill with a grin. "More like 1881. So back when he was a student at Hogwarts, Britain still had an Empire and Queen Victoria was in power. Back then, the sun never set on the British Empire. In fact, we invaded Egypt the year after Dumbledore was born - in 1882. People from those days had certain ideas about British magical superiority over their subjects."
"You think it's a pride thing?" asked Harry.
Bill shrugged. "I can't say," he said. "It could be. Maybe there's something he knows that I don't - and if there is, he didn't explain it to me. Or maybe there's something in the contents of the Prophecy that would make it a bad idea... but if you know its contents, you can make that decision as well. Or maybe he doesn't want to risk transporting you to Egypt, but honestly I think that should be your decision as well. If you decide to do this, I'll do everything in my power to get you there and back safely and protect you while we're there. You have my word."
Harry thought for a moment, watching a Muggle child splash in the mud with a big, shaggy dog that looked like a grim. The dog looked up and locked eyes with him for a second and barked before returning to play with the child. His heart hurt and his eyes began to swell with tears. If not for the Prophecy, Sirius would be alive. His parents would be alive.
"All right," he said, eyes glistening. "Let's do it."
AN: This is the start of a short-ish story I want to write, but before I write the full story, I am posting this initial chapter to gauge interest. The story will encompass Harry's trip to Egypt. It will mostly be an exercise in world-building with a small plot that I hope to make interesting. It will probably end up somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 words. Bill, Harry and a couple of OCs will be the only characters and, as the summary says, there will be no pairings.
If you're interested, shoot me a review and give this a follow! If there's enough interest I'll try and crank out the story soon!
