The morning sun in Egypt didn't just rise; it announced itself with a heavy, golden fist. The air inside the villa was still cool, but the atmosphere around the breakfast table was thick with a different kind of tension. Bill Weasley, looking every bit the cool older brother in his dragon-hide boots and ponytail, dropped a weathered leather pouch onto the wooden table. The clink of heavy metal inside was unmistakable.
"The Gringotts branch in Cairo processed the Kelpie quickly," Bill said, leaning back with a cup of strong, dark coffee. "They were glad to have it off the river. This is the bounty—four hundred Galleons in total. It's a bit less than what the Ministry would pay back in London, but the local economy here operates on a different scale. Still, it's a tidy sum."
The pouch was passed around, finally landing in front of Ron. His eyes were wide, nearly the size of the coins themselves. He had spent his life hearing about Galleons, but holding a handful of them was a different story entirely. For a fleeting second, you could see the gears turning in his head—new chess sets, a broom that wasn't held together by charms, maybe even a decent robe.
But before Ron could even loosen the drawstring, George reached across the table and plucked the bag from his fingers.
"Don't get too attached, ickle Ronnie," George said, his voice unusually firm. He slid the pouch across the table, stopping it directly in front of Allen.
"This belongs to Allen," Fred added, nodding in agreement. "We were the ones who dragged everyone into that mess with the 'sea serpent' prank. Allen was the one who actually did the heavy lifting. And more importantly..." He paused, his expression turning somber. "He's the one who lost a top-of-the-line Neptune because of our stupidity."
Ron looked at the gold, then at Allen, and finally at his brothers. The brief flash of greed vanished, replaced by a deep, red-eared flush of embarrassment. "Right," Ron muttered, his voice cracking slightly. "They're right. It's yours, Allen. It wouldn't be right otherwise."
Allen looked at the pouch. Four hundred Galleons was a lot of money, even for a wizard from a well-off background, but he saw the way the Weasleys were looking at him. If he took it and tucked it away into his storage space, it would create a wall between them for the rest of the trip.
"Tell you what," Allen said, pushing the bag into the center of the table. "I'm not taking this as 'reimbursement.' Let's call this the Official Weasley-Allen Summer Expedition Fund. This pays for the street food, the souvenirs, the camel rides, and whatever weird Egyptian delicacies we find. I don't want to be the only one eating grilled lamb while you lot are stuck with your mum's corned beef sandwiches."
The tension broke instantly. Mrs. Weasley beamed at Allen, her eyes misty with appreciation for his tact, while the twins let out a synchronized cheer.
"Spoken like a true philanthropist!" Fred cried.
"To the Pyramids!" George added.
Stepping outside was like walking into a furnace. The humidity of the previous night's storm had vanished, replaced by a dry, soul-sucking heat that seemed to vibrate off the sand. It was hard to believe that just hours ago, lightning had been tearing through the sky and a monster had been trying to drown them. The Muggles wandering nearby in their sun hats and khaki shorts remained blissfully ignorant of the magical war that had played out on their riverbank.
To the Muggle world, the Pyramids were a mystery of engineering—thousand-ton blocks of limestone and granite fitted together so precisely that a blade couldn't pass between them. Without mortar, without modern cranes, and without electricity, the Muggles had spent centuries coming up with theories involving alien architects or the sheer, brutal force of a hundred thousand slaves.
But as Allen stood in the shadow of the Great Pyramid, looking up at the glittering limestone casing that still clung to the peak, he knew the truth was far more interesting. Ancient Egyptian sorcerers weren't just priests; they were the ultimate researchers. They had used the Pharaoh's bottomless resources to turn the entire nation into a laboratory for high-level Transfiguration and Arithmancy. The Pyramids weren't just tombs; they were massive magical batteries.
"If you idiots hadn't insisted on this 'cultural experience,' I could be sitting in a climate-controlled cafe right now instead of eating sand!"
The voice belonged to a woman in her thirties, dressed in expensive white linens, who was scoffing at a group of tourists. She looked at the towering monument with pure disdain. "It's a pile of stone graves. Honestly, the things people find impressive."
"Ignorant Muggle," George muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing as the woman brushed past them, nearly knocking Percy over.
Allen noticed a subtle movement beneath George's sun-cloak. The tip of a wand poked out for a split second, followed by a faint, silver spark.
"What was that?" Allen whispered, leaning in. "Please tell me you didn't just curse a civilian."
"Nothing dangerous," Fred whispered back, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Just a little 'Tripping Jinx' flavored with a bit of 'Bad Luck' essence. She'll find her shoelaces untying themselves every ten minutes for the next three days."
"Careful," Allen warned, though he struggled to hide a smirk. "Mr. Weasley is the head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. If he catches you lot terrorizing the locals, 'Bad Luck' will be the least of your problems."
"This way, everyone! Keep up!" Bill called out, leading them away from the main tourist entrance.
While the Muggles queued up for the narrow, official tunnels, Bill led them around to a pile of collapsed rubble on the far side of the structure. He tapped a specific, unremarkable stone with his wand, and the air shimmered.
"A Muggle-Repelling Charm," Bill explained, showing a small, gold-stamped parchment to a guard dressed in traditional blue robes who seemed to materialize out of the heat haze. "Standard Gringotts security. The Muggles see a dangerous rockfall; we see the back door."
The transition from the desert heat to the interior of the Pyramid was jarring. One moment, Allen was squinting against the glare; the next, he was stepping into a square opening that led into a cool, damp stone chamber. The air smelled of old dust, cedar oil, and something metallic.
"Stay close," Bill warned, his voice echoing off the limestone walls. "These passages weren't designed for tours. They're a maze of dead ends, pit traps, and rooms that fold in on themselves if you breathe the wrong way."
Bill's eyes lingered on the twins, but Percy was the one who stepped up. "Don't worry, Bill. I'll ensure they maintain proper decorum. I've memorized the basic layout from Sites of Historical Sorcery."
Fred and George pulled identical faces behind Percy's back. Allen sighed; if Percy hadn't said anything, the twins might have behaved out of respect for Bill. Now, they were definitely going to spend the next hour trying to lose Percy in a cursed hallway.
The group began to descend a sloping tunnel. The walls were made of massive granite slabs, cold to the touch and slick with a fine layer of condensation. Bill led the way, his wand tip glowing with a soft Lumos, illuminating the sandy floor.
"Notice the change in material," Mr. Weasley remarked, trailing his hand along the ceiling. "The outer casing is limestone, but the structural core is pure granite. It's better for holding a charge."
Allen followed suit, reaching up to touch the smooth, dark stone above him. The moment his palm made contact, his entire body went rigid. It wasn't an electric shock, but a sudden, violent surge of information.
[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED: Save the Trapped Soul.] [Objective: Identify and liberate the consciousness bound within the Pyramid's inner sanctum.] [Time Limit: 30 Days.] [Reward: 1x Premium Lottery Draw.]
Allen blinked, his heart hammering against his ribs. Before he could even process the first notification, a second chime echoed in his mind.
[EMERGENCY QUEST ACTIVATED: Find the Pyramid Energy Stone.] [Objective: Locate the central power source of the Pharaoh's tomb.] [Time Limit: 30 Days.] [Reward: 1x Premium Lottery Draw.]
The System, which usually remained a silent observer of his daily life, had suddenly gone into overdrive. Thirty days? That was exactly the length of their stay in Egypt. It was almost as if the System was tailoring its demands to his itinerary, or perhaps, it was simply waiting for him to step into a place of high enough magical density to trigger these dormant objectives.
Two high-difficulty tasks. One month. And he was currently trapped in a maze with a family that thought they were on a simple sightseeing trip.
"Bill," Allen said, quickening his pace to walk alongside the eldest Weasley brother. "I was reading some old scrolls back at Hogwarts... have you ever heard of something called a 'Pyramid Energy Stone'?"
Bill stopped, his wand light flickering across Allen's face. He looked genuinely impressed. "You've been doing your homework, haven't you? Most kids your age just want to see the mummies."
"It's more than a legend," Bill continued, his voice dropping to a low, conspiratorial tone. "The ancient sorcerers didn't just preserve the Pharaohs for vanity. They believed in a physical resurrection. To do that, the body had to remain 'perfectly static' for thousands of years. The Energy Stone is the heart of the Pyramid. It creates a localized field of stasis—it dehydrates the air, prevents bacterial growth, and keeps the magical aura of the tomb from leaking out."
"Even Muggle scientists have seen the effects," Mr. Weasley chimed in, sounding delighted. "They don't understand the 'why,' of course, but they've noted that organic matter inside these chambers decomposes at a fraction of the normal rate. It's fascinating!"
Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a tarnished copper Knut, its surface green with age and grime. He handed it to Allen with a wink.
"Keep hold of that for the tour, Allen," Mr. Weasley said. "By the time we walk back out into the sun, you might find that the 'energy' of this place has scrubbed it clean. It's the simplest way to see the Stone's influence at work."