FicWad

This story is set back in the timeline of The Mummy Returns, so here's a basic rundown of the Harry Potter timeline in relation to this chapter.

1922: Harry Potter is born to Lily and James Potter.
1923: Harry is a year old and his parents are murdered by Voldemort.
1927: Harry is five and goes to Egypt with his distasteful relatives and becomes Kedar.
1933: Harry turns eleven and starts Hogwarts.
1936: Harry's fourth year at Hogwarts, current year.

Disclaimer: Not even in my dreams do I own Harry Potter...believe me, I've tried, but the thought of lawsuits deters all such dreams. I also don't own anything recognizable from either the Mummy or the Mummy Returns.



"Kedar!" Alex's soft call drew him away from opening the Fat Lady's portrait, "over here, come this way."

Kedar immediately changed directions to head towards Alex, wondering why his friend wasn't waiting for him inside the Gryffindor common room. Surprisingly Hermione was crouched in the shadows behind him and Kedar began to feel a prickle of unease across the back of his neck.

"What is it?" Kedar crouched next to his friends, noting the absence of Ron.

"Not out here," Hermione whispered, "the classroom down the hall. We have food."

Kedar raised one eyebrow in slight amusement as he followed along, waiting until they had all grabbed a plate of food before giving Alex a pointed look. Ron was still no where in sight and there were only three plates of food. Alex returned the look briefly before looking away, unable to hold Kedar's pointed gaze.

"Some people-" Hermione started to speak, but then shook her head and looked at Alex for him to continue.

"There are some people in Gryffindor who aren't happy that your name came out of the Goblet tonight. It's mainly because you're underage and still managed to get in the tournament when none of the legal house member did-that it's a Hufflepuff who is legitimately representing our school. They'll have cooled down by morning."

Kedar nodded, understanding and even accepting these feelings, but he knew that wasn't why his friends had stopped him from entering the common room.

"And Ron?"

Hermione winced, "we tried to tell him that you didn't enter your name into the Goblet, but-"

"But he didn't listen to you," Kedar finished what Hermione was loathe to say, "and he believes I betrayed him because he thinks I refused to help him try and get his name in because I wanted the glory for myself."

Kedar's mind flashed briefly back to when he had helped Ron translate his Divination homework in the common room, remembered how Mercury had been so distant from the other planets and realized that the prediction had just come to pass. If Kedar remembered the positioning of the other planets the betrayal would be brief, but it bothered him even more so now that he hadn't been able to read what consequences would come of the betrayal; if they were all lucky it would be nothing more than a tarnished friendship, but it could also be so much more. Accepting that there was no way to fix or anticipate the consequences, Kedar turned back to his two friends in the room.

"Well, hiding in here isn't going to do me any good or change things," Kedar said, "I'm bound to compete despite the fact that I did not enter myself into the competition. People will accept it or not, but they cannot change it. I cannot change it. Let's head back to the dorms and get some rest. We'll take things as they come in the morning."

Hermione and Alex nodded, glad that Kedar had taken their news so well since they hadn't know what to expect from their enigmatic friend. Even Alex who had known Kedar for years couldn't honestly say how his Medjai friend would react to different circumstances at times. Silently the three made their way back to the portrait of the Fat Lady, an aura of close friendship surrounding them that had just grown infinitesimally stronger in light of the current absence of one friend. Yet it still came as a slight shock to the other two as Kedar turned to them briefly before he whispered the password the guardian portrait of Gryffindor house.

"Thank you."

~~ ~~ ~*~

Kedar found himself up early the next morning, admitting only to himself that it was because he couldn't sleep and was beginning to feel enclosed by the stone walls of Hogwarts castle. Swinging out of bed and quickly pulling on a clean set of clothes, Kedar gave a soft whistle designed to wake Horus but not his roommates. With a small noise the desert-bred bird blearily opened one eye before closing it again in defiance. Kedar gave a small chuckle.

"Come on handsome," he whispered softly, "it's time to send you off. I know its cold outside, but soon you'll be flying above the sand and your feathers will be warm again."

Horus shook out his wings with a bit more willingness and made the short glide from his perch onto Kedar's proffered arm, burrowing into the warmth of Kedar's cloak as they traversed the chilled halls of Hogwarts and out into the even colder air of the early morning. Casting a quick warming charm at the feel of the frigid air, Kedar walked quickly to a pile of rocks that were jumbled at the foot of a large tree near the lake. Over the years he had often made his way to this reclusive pile of rocks when he needed a place to sit without being disturbed; it was a spot most Hogwarts students considered to be too far from the school to be a good hangout and the rocks looked deceptively uncomfortable from a distance. Kedar wasn't the only student who had ever claimed the rocks as their refuge though, at some point in the far or near past someone had placed charms over the rocks to keep them pleasantly temperate no matter the weather outside; Kedar didn't think the person was a current student for he had never seen anyone else make their way down here. Gratefully crawling into a moss-lined hollow, he wasn't sure if it had been formed naturally or with the aid of magic, Kedar pulled a scrap of parchment from his cloak along with a self-inking quill.

e sands have shifted from beneath my feet,'/Kedar wrote, 'I am bound to participate in a tournament that I did not enter into. Even with your warning there was nothing I could do to prevent this from happening. I hesitate to send this, for I know it will bring you to my side, but I cannot keep this from you. Be careful father, even this far from our home I can sense something is coming.'/

Without giving himself time to reconsider the wisdom of his letter, Kedar rolled the parchment so that he could slip it into Horus' message tube before tying it securely to the falcon's leg.

"Fly swifly Horus," Kedar stroked the bird's plumage before giving him a helping launch into the air, "fly safe and true."

Horus circled once, letting lose a shrill cry before flying unerringly towards home, leaving Kedar to stand there watching the sky. Then, the sudden splash that sounded out on the lake had Kedar's head whipping around so sharply that he heard his neck crack.

Quickly skimming his eyes across the surface of the lake, Kedar was rewarded by seeing Viktors sopping head break above the water as the Durmstrang student swam in the waters near the ship bobbing upon Hogwarts Lake. For a moment he had feared the squid had decided to emerge and grab some other hapless early riser and that he would find himself feeling obligated to jump into the frigid waters to help. Instead he merely waved off Viktor as the other boy motioned for him to join him; there was no way he was setting foot into the lake when it was this cold unless he had no other options available to him. And yet what Viktor was doing had value to it, reminding Kedar of the other reason he had come outside this morning: to train.

~~ ~~ ~*~

"Hey Potter!"

Kedar took a deep breath at hearing Malfoy calling out to him as they waited for their Care of Magical Creatures class to start; he had hoped that just this once he could get through a day without the blond aristocrat trying to start something. He was already fed up with Ron glowering jealously at him and yelling at him after breakfast that morning because the stubborn red-head couldn't get it through his thick head that he hadn't entered himself into the Tournament. He didn't mind the rest of the school at least partially believing he had entered himself, most of them didn't know him at all, but Ron he had considered to be a friend. Kedar turned to face Draco with an impassive face.

"Is there something you want Malfoy?" Kedar easily kept his voice even.

"Actually there was," Draco's sneer was firmly in place, "I was wonder how long you thought you'd last Potter, so that I could start taking bets. Ten minutes into the first task? Or will you not even make it that far? Are you going to go running home scared to your mummy? Oh, wait, I forgot that you don't have one."

"Cute Malfoy, real cute, but you've done that one before." Kedar rolled his eyes and began to turn away, "I'm guessing that you're congratulating yourself for being so very witty right about now. Don't hurt yourself trying to think of new ways to compliment yourself; I don't know what I would do without your futile attempts to amuse me."

"Oh, but that's not all Potter," Draco's voice had Kedar resignedly turning back to face the young heir to the Malfoy name, he knew Draco had no qualms about hexing him from behind if given the chance, "I also wanted to get your opinion of this. We spent all night working on them and would hate for you to not be one of the first to see."

Draco was now pointing proudly towards a button he was wearing on his robes, something Kedar had dismissed as another one of the vain Slytherin's way of showing off his wealth but now he noticed that others wore one as well. With a whispered word they all activated them and the buttons lit up so that luminous red letters spelled out the words Support CEDRIC DIGGORY-The REAL Hogwarts Champion.

"Do you like it Potter," Malfoy continued his taunt, obviously looking to get a rise out of Kedar, "and this isn't all they do-look!"

Draco pushed the button into his chest and the message upon it changed so that the letters glowed green, this time reading POTTER STINKS!

"So what do you think?"

Malfoy wasn't going to let the subject drop and Kedar was suddenly sick of it all, sick of Malfoy always trying to taunt him, and decided that it was time to show that he wasn't nearly as mild-mannered and passive as they believed him to be. Without uttering a word Kedar walked right up to Draco and deftly unpinned the button from the Slytherin's robes, walking a few feet away to the clearing's edge where he stuck the offending pin to the trunk of a gnarled tree. Then, Kedar turned and began to walk back the way he had just come.

"What the hell was that for Potter!" Draco yelled as he went to retrieve the pin, just as Kedar had predicted he would. "Why the-/argh/!"

The moment Kedar knew Draco had reached the tree the young Medjai had whirled around and sent a small throwing knife flying through the air to split the pin in half. It was extremely satisfying to see the pin crack and the magic making it function die so that the glowing letters faded into dormancy, but even more satisfying was the look on Malfoy's face and the frantic motions of the other Slytherins as they tried to unpin their buttons from their robes with fingers made clumsy by fear.

"I have no problem with you supporting Cedric," Kedar's voice was loud in the quiet as everyone, even his own housemates, stared at him in shock, "in fact I encourage it, but I did not enter myself into this competition and will not stand by and let you harass me because of it. Any pin that I see flash POTTER STINKS will be destroyed."

As Kedar walked back towards the tree to retrieve his knife he almost seemed to glide across the grass, people moving back away from him. Kedar knew he would probably regret this little stunt later, but at that moment he couldn't bring himself to care. With a practiced twist Kedar wrenched the knife free of the tree and openly tucked it away so that everyone could see that it wasn't in his hands anymore before he began walking out of the clearing to skip class.

"Just you wait Potter!" Malfoy foolishly started back up as Kedar drew near to pass him, "my father will hear of this! He'll see you expelled!"

Kedar stopped, his face impassive and his voice revealing nothing, making him appear all the more dangerous after what he had just done.

"I've had enough of you Malfoy," he said, "I would have thought Moody's bit of transfiguration would have taught you a lesson, but I see it hasn't. Someday you're going to pick the wrong fight and your father won't be there to bail you out."

Then without another word Kedar disappeared deeper into the forest. He would deal with the repercussions of his actions when he emerged later, but for now he needed to calm down and re-find his center before he did something he would truly regret. He just hoped Ardeth wasn't disappointed with his actions when his father heard. He had no doubt that the school would at the very least request a conference with his father and he didn't even want to think of the detentions he would have to serve, but he knew they wouldn't be able to expel him thanks to one of Hogwart's older laws stating that students could carry blades as long as another student wasn't deliberately injured by it. Suddenly Kedar regretted sending Horus off so early that morning.



The darkly-feathered owl bearing a note stamped with the crest of Hogwarts swooped down upon Ardeth, narrowly missing getting knifed, and dropped its burden before quickly winging away in fear. Sighing at his twitchiness, Ardeth bent down to retrieve the letter from the softly carpeted floor.

"What's that?" Rick O'Connell looked up from where he was bent over the boot-shod foot he had propped up on his right knee, the knife casually resting there gleaming with a freshly-sharpened tinge.

"It appears to be a letter from Hogwarts," Ardeth idly flicked the seal off the letter and into the fire he had been standing as close to as possible, damning the English weather for being so cold, "first Kedar's note and now this letter, it seems the instinct driving me to come to England was correct."

"Well, what's it say?" Rick stood and moved next to his friend, "Should I expect one too? Because if Kedar has gotten Alex in trouble Evy will have our heads."

Ardeth raised an eyebrow at Rick before turning his attention to the brief letter, "your son is quite capable of getting into his own trouble without the help of mine, and what do you mean by our heads?"

Rick grinned shamelessly, "Evy refuses to believe anything bad about Kedar so in her mind that obviously leaves me as the one to blame, and if I'm going down then you are as well my friend."

Ardeth repressed a snort, he knew all too well that Evy had a temper after being on the receiving end of her ire himself, "well, my friend, it seems you have nothing to fear this time. Kedar is the only one in trouble here and I have been asked to attend some parent-teacher conference tomorrow. How nice, they even provided me with a portkey for transportation and say that someone shall meet me at the gates."

"What did Kedar do?"

"It does not say," Ardeth was slightly displeased at that, "so I do not know what to expect."

Rick shrugged, "don't worry about it too much. It can't be too bad with Kedar, that boy knows how to cover his tracks well. Remember Budapest?"

Ardeth groaned and decided to help himself to Rick's liquor cabinet, "now I know I should be worried."

~~ ~~ ~*~

Ardeth felt like retching when the portkey dropped him off at the finely wrought gates of Hogwarts mid-Saturday morning; he felt as if he had been jerked around every which way and was surprised that he had been able to keep his feet. As promised, there was someone waiting at the gates to meet him. She was a stern-looking woman who didn't look like she would stand for nonsense, her black cape and pointed black hat kept in pristine condition. She reminded Ardeth of the stereotypical witch you read about in books, dressed as she was. Idly he reached up to make sure his own desert-style headpiece stayed in place, that the tribal tattoos across his forehead were still covered-there was nothing he could do about the ones on his cheeks but they were less likely to draw comment than his others.

"Mr. Bey," she nodded stiffly to him after a quick appraisal, "I am Professor McGonagall, Kedar's Head of House. The Headmaster has asked me to show you the way to his office."

"Ms. McGonagall," Ardeth nodded in return, "perhaps as we walk you could inform me as to what this is all about. I would like to have some idea on why I have been called here today. What has my son done?"

"That is for you and the Headmaster to discuss," the woman replied primly, "he will inform you of what has happened."

"I would like to speak with Kedar beforehand," Ardeth's eyes narrowed infinitesimally at the woman's refusal to tell him why he had been called to the school, surely as Kedar's Head of House she had to know what was going on.

"Mr. Potter is already at the Headmaster's office, along with the others," McGonagall led him up a set of stairs and into the school, her words ensuring the rest of the walk would be completed in silence because she wasn't going to be forthcoming, "you may speak with him after the conference."

Respecting the silence, Ardeth turned his attention to studying the route they were taking through the school. He knew his son well, if Kedar had been caught in any sort of trouble, it had to have been something big enough that he couldn't wiggle his way out of it and that meant being ready with escape routes despite the fact that he doubted they would be necessary; if Kedar was in the sort of trouble that needed escape routes Ardeth doubted he would be going to a parent-teacher conference, looking for them was the only thing keeping him from demanded answers from McGonagall in a more forcible manner though.

At last they arrived at an ugly stone gargoyle that hid a set of revolving steps leading to the Headmaster's office, which McGonagall left him to enter on his own. Immediately upon entering the room, Ardeth took in the surroundings he was going to be caught in and took a moment to observe the room's two occupants before anyone said anything. The older man behind the desk, Ardeth recognized him as the Headmaster from a chocolate frog card Kedar had shown him, had a twinkling jovial look about him that Ardeth was sure had to be at least partially affected. The second man held himself regally aloof, a slight twist to his lips showing his displeasure and lending a hint of cruelty to what was a handsome countenance. Kedar was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah, Mr. Bey," the Headmaster's voice was as jovial as his looks, "I'm glad you could join us. I am Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and this is Lucius Malfoy. Please have a seat. Might I offer you some tea, or perhaps a lemon drop?"

Ardeth declined the proffered seat, choosing to stand as Malfoy had; he had heard Kedar mention the Malfoy name before, "I do not require any refreshments. What I do want to know is why I have been called here today."

The Headmaster's jovial twinkle died to a smolder as he turned serious, "there has been a slight altercation with another student. Mr. Potter-"

"Mr. Potter," Lucius Malfoy interrupted the Headmaster, obviously not thinking the Headmaster was up to explaining things properly, "threatened another student with a knife! My son-"

Ardeth relaxed infinitesimally, they had been prepared in case something like this had ever come up and knew the school law was on their side.

"Is the student dead?" Ardeth interrupted Lucius before his version of the explanation could turn into an injured rant as the man sneered down upon him, eyes raking in contempt over his desert-style clothes and the cloak that proclaimed him Chieftain of the Medjai.

"No, but-" Lucius sputtered, thrown by the question and obviously unused to being interrupted.

"Then I must congratulate my son on his restraint and lack of aggression. He obviously meant your son no true harm if he is still alive."

Now even the Headmaster appeared surprised, "you are telling me that you knew your son carried a knife upon him at school and are not worried about this?"

"I had been a little doubtful at the beginning since we did not know how your culture handled such things," Ardeth admitted, "but we read through the laws of your school and there is one that states that a student may carry a personal blade upon them as long as another student wasn't deliberately injured by it. I know my son and trust his discretion; I doubt your son got so much as a scratch upon him."

"I wish to see proof of this law," Lucius demanded, pulling his body even more upright in indignation.

"I believe I would like to see where you found this law as well," the Headmaster stood and moved around his desk so he was standing between the two men without it appearing to be deliberate.

Ardeth inclined his head, "if you have a copy of Hogwarts' Laws and Subsequent Codices, I will be happy to show you. I also request that Kedar and the injured party be present so that we can smooth this matter over quickly."

Of course things didn't go as smoothly as Ardeth would have liked. Things immediately heated up when Kedar and Lucius Malfoy's son were brought into the office, Draco whining on about how unsafe he felt in Kedar's presence. In Ardeth's opinion it just served to further show that the Malfoy brat had no honor or backbone and had to run to his father whenever he found himself in a situation he couldn't control. In the end the Headmaster managed to get the Malfoy's to acknowledge that the law on knife possession was still applicable, but the Headmaster was still not comfortable with Kedar carrying the knife since he believed a child of Kedar's years shouldn't be in possession of a weapon and reserved the right as Headmaster to make amendments to Hogwarts law. To Ardeth and Kedar's displeasure Dumbledore's amendment turned out to be that Kedar could still carry his knife, but a spell would be placed upon it so that he couldn't draw it from its sheathe.

"But what good will that do me, Headmaster," Kedar pointed out, "if I cannot draw my knife when I should need it?"

The Headmaster actually looked a little shocked, "why would you think you would need a knife here at Hogwarts? Other students do not carry weapons on them."

"Then what are these wands of yours?" Ardeth interjected, "Surely they are weapons as well, yet the students are allowed to carry them freely."

"Wands are not weapons," Lucius Malfoy explained impatiently as if Ardeth wouldn't be able to understand because he wasn't a wizard, "they are tools that we use to channel our magic with."

"But they can be used to cause harm, can't they?"

Lucius did not deign to reply and the Headmaster regain control of the meeting, "the subject of this meeting is not wands, it is the knife in Mr. Potter's possession. I understand your position on the law, but students in this day and age do not carry knives and Kedar did pull his on another student. Because of the law I do not have to confiscate the knife, but I cannot have Mr. Potter pulling it on the students. It is your choice at this point. Do I seal the knife so that he cannot draw it, or do I confiscate it?"

Kedar exchanged a long glance with his father, closed his eyes for a moment as if making a difficult decision, before he picked his knife up off the Headmaster's desk and held it out, "seal it."

Obliging, the Headmaster sealed the knife within it's sheathe by running his wand at the seam where the sheathe met the handle of the knife before he handed it back so that Kedar could return it to it's hiding place within his robes.

"Now, Mr. Potter," the Headmaster looked at Kedar over his half-moon spectacles, "I must ask you if you have any other knives on you."

Inwardly Kedar smirked, he had expected this and had purposefully left all his other knives back in the dorm, "I don't have any other knives on me, Headmaster, this one is it."

The Headmaster gazed at him a moment longer as if he knew the deception being played, but didn't push the issue as he turned to the Malfoy's, "has the issue been resolved to your satisfaction given the boundaries of the law, Lucius?"

Curtly Lucius nodded though his expression didn't seem to quite agree with his action, "yes, Dumbledore, though I do not see the point in leaving the boy his knife if he cannot draw it."

The last was a sneering barb sent at Kedar, a deliberate insult to his intelligence, but Kedar ignored it and turned to the Headmaster.

"If we are finished here Headmaster, would it be acceptable for me to spend some time with my father?"

Albus mused for a moment before smiling his assent, "I do not see why that can't be arranged, it is a beautiful Saturday after all. If your father would sign this form here, I recommend the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade for lunch. Make sure to be back in time to make this evenings curfew."

Nodding his understanding, Ardeth signed the form and followed Kedar from the school, discreetly slipping his son one of his spare knives the moment they were out of the school and walking freely across the school's wide front lawn towards the distant gates that would lead them to the village.

"Now," Ardeth finally felt free to speak openly to Kedar, "would you please tell me what really happened, with none of their delicate 'there was a slight altercation' speeches."

"Well," Kedar began, "it really only was a slight altercation..."