Startled by the sudden commotion, Malfoy and Harry exchanged bewildered glances.
"Ahem… perhaps it's just a stray that wandered in," Cassandra offered, feigning composure. She looked at Harry and Malfoy with undisguised disdain, "Honestly, look how frightened you are! Don't embarrass your teacher like this."
"Cassandra, this is the middle of the Libyan desert! Where would a stray cat even come from?" Harry pointed out.
Cassandra shot him a glare. Do you think I don't know that? This is clearly something sinister! I was speaking for its benefit, you idiot!
While the three of them were practically paralyzed by the feline sound... Tom had already started towards it.
"Hurry and follow," Nagini prompted, before gliding after Tom.
Hearing her words, the trio hurried to catch up.
Rounding the corner, they found Tom crouched low to the ground. A reddish-brown cat with a pointed snout and long ears sat before him.
Malfoy's eyes widened. "A cat?" he blurted out, surprised.
The cat's yellow eyes flicked towards him.
"It's an Abyssinian. Wizards and Muggles in this region sometimes keep them as pets," Cassandra identified the breed. "Perhaps it was brought here, then got lost?"
A strange expression stole across Harry's face. "Didn't this place just rise from the sand? Were there people here before us?"
"…"
It did seem they were the first to enter. Malfoy and Cassandra exchanged uneasy looks.
"Meow~"
The cat ignored their unease and darted deeper into the passage.
"Let's see where it's going," Tom said, rising to his feet and following after it.
Reassured by their teacher's presence, Harry and the others trailed behind.
...
The group followed the cat through a maze of corridors until they reached the heart of the ruined structure.
"Merlin's beard, what is this?!" Malfoy exclaimed.
Before them stood a colossal, dilapidated statue. Its head was missing, obscuring its original form, yet it radiated an awe-inspiring power. One of its hands hung limp, while the other was raised in a fist, clutching a small, glowing object. It appeared to be an ancient mirror!
They were standing in a vast, ruined hall.
"Meow~"
The familiar meow drew their attention; the cat had somehow scaled the statue's hand and was now beside the mirror.
As they watched, the cat licked the mirror, which immediately erupted in a blinding white light, illuminating the entire temple as if it were daytime!
...
"Hmm..."
When Cassandra opened her eyes, she was back in the desert!
Panicked, she frantically looked around until she found Tom standing at the foot of a dune, gazing at the horizon.
Looking up, Cassandra realized it was nearly evening; the endless sea of sand was bathed in an orange-red glow beneath the dusky sky.
With some effort, she climbed the dune and stood beside Tom. Soon, the others joined them.
"Tom?" Nagini called out, her voice questioning. Tom was, after all, their anchor. Their eyes reflected the same sentiment.
"I woke up a little before you all. I've been standing here for half an hour," Tom replied, sounding slightly irritated. "And that cursed sun hasn't moved in all that time."
"What?!"
The others followed his gaze and saw the orange-red sun, half-submerged on the horizon. It did seem frozen in place!
"So, what do we do now?"
"We could fly on the Magic Carpet in one direction and hope we find the others," Cassandra suggested. Nagini nodded in agreement.
Harry and Malfoy, ever the faithful devotees of power, lacked the others' ability to devise a plan. Since they were at a loss, they would follow their master's lead.
"This place has an… unsettling feel. Besides us and the sand, there's one other thing here," Tom said, turning his head in another direction.
Following his gaze, Cassandra could just make out a golden, pointed shape in the distance. "Is that… a pyramid?"
"Get the Magic Carpet. Let's take a look."
...
Beneath the fading light, a colossal pyramid rose from the endless sea of sand.
Before its towering form stood two magnificent statues, vaguely resembling the Sphinx, but, upon closer inspection, they were reclining cats!
The Magic Carpet descended a short distance from the pyramid.
Landing on the soft, yellow sand, they stowed the carpet away and approached the pyramid.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Malfoy muttered, shivering as he gazed up at the pyramid.
As they drew closer, they saw a massive stone gate, ten or twenty meters high, between the two cat statues.
The gate stood wide open.
A large group of cats, each of a different color, emerged in orderly ranks, lining up in two rows as if to welcome the group.
Then, three more cats appeared, the leader being the reddish-brown Abyssinian.
As the three cats approached, something unexpected happened: they began to speak in human language. "The great Bastet has instructed us to welcome the esteemed Pharaoh. We have been waiting for a long time."
"Pharaoh? Who's that?" Harry and Malfoy exchanged bewildered glances.
"Why, it is you, Your Majesty the Pharaoh."
The three cats approached Malfoy and lowered their heads in reverence. The cats lining the sides followed suit.
"I'm the Pharaoh?!"
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