This chapter is the last of this 'book' of Desert Warrior. Don't worry, a sequel is pending.

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.

ShadeDancer

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.

Chapter 28: By the Gods

Kedar stared back unflinchingly and for a moment Kedar thought he saw something other behind the Dark Lord's eyes before Voldemort turned his attention to the cringing Benny, dismissing Kedar for the moment.

"You have served me remarkably well." Voldemort announced to the cringing man. "I had expected to dispose of you once this was over because your lack of magic, but I believe I shall reward you and rid myself of the girl instead. Fetch her!"

"Right away master." Benny scurried off, coming back moments later dragging an unresisting Fleur along behind him and depositing her at Voldemort's feet.

"Look at her." Voldemort spoke to Kedar as he gazed down at Fleur. "Look at your betrayer. Without her magic none of this would have been possible and it would have taken much more effort to dispose of your companion. Such an easy will to bend. But her usefulness has been served. Girl, pick up the knife and kill yourself."

Too late Kedar realized that Fleur hadn't betrayed them at all, hadn't willingly sent the Killing Curse at Cedric, and that she herself was under the Imperious Curse. He watched in horror as Fleur followed the cruelly uttered command, driving the ceremonial knife deep within her own body. Her body jerked and spasmed as she ripped the knife into her own flesh, blood rushing out to stain her robes. In that last instant before death she returned to herself, her eyes pleading in horror with Kedar even as her life fled. Burning purpose filled Kedar and he prepared to act. This night wasn't lost yet. As long as he was still breathing there was hope.

Voldemort ignored the rapidly cooling body at his feet and turned to Benny again. "Hold out your left arm."

"Master?" Benny whimpered even as he complied, his whimperings turning to shrieks of pain as Voldemort pressed his wand to the shifting flesh there.

When the wand lifted there was a patch of burnt flesh in the image of the dark mark branded into Benny's arm. Voldemort studied his work with pleased eyes.

"You are the first servant of my new regime." Voldemort pressed a skeletal finger into the mark causing it to burn red, laughing as Benny screamed in agony. "Now it is time to welcome back my children, my followers. We shall see who is brave enough to come and worship once again at my feet."

Within moments the sound of apparition filled the graveyard, some arriving with loud cracks and others with soft pops, and Kedar took advantage of Voldemorts distraction to fully slip his bindings. Moving with quiet caution he knelt to check Fleur's pulse, but as he had already known she was dead. Kedar straightened from his crouch so that he and Voldemort would be facing when the Dark Lord turned back to him. It was tempting to attack Voldemort at that moment, but it would have been foolish. He had his knives and he had liberated Fleur's wand when he had checked her pulse, but the knives were a last resort at this point and Kedar could only hope the wand would work for him or he was damned.

Kedar saw a brief moment of surprise in the snake-like eyes before Voldemort let out a humorless chuckle. "It seems you have a few tricks up your sleeve. No matter. My servants have answered; there will be no escape for you."

Voldemort raised his voice so the masked and hooded figures could hear him. "So you have answered my call, answered in time to see the downfall of the Boy-who-lived. But where were you when I really needed you? Where were you while I plotted my return? DID YOU REALLY THINK AN INFANT COULD DESTROY LORD VOLDEMORT! CRUCIO!"

One of the hooded figures fell to the ground, writhing under Voldemort's anger and the others quickly fell to their knees to crawl forward so they could kiss the hem of their Lord's robe. It sickened Kedar as he stood there, biding his time. The Death Eaters crawled away from their master to form a loose circle around Voldemort, Kedar, Fleur's body, Benny, and the snake. Voldemort flicked a dismissive glance at Benny.

"Give the boy his wand and make yourself scarce until summoned."

Kedar was shocked, they were actually going to give him his wand back. It was the foolish move of someone with something to prove—not that he was going to complain or point that out.

"Surprised Potter?" Voldemort asked. "You and I are going to have a duel and I will show my followers that it was only luck and the sacrifice of your mudblood mother that spared you as a child—there is nothing special about you now."

Kedar smirked as Benny handed him his wand. "We shall see. I do not lose easily."

Voldemort threw his head back and gave a hissing laugh. "You amuse me, Potter." The laughter stopped abruptly. "Let's begin. I will instruct you on the proper method of dueling—not that it shall help you any."

"I already know how to duel." Kedarshot back as he fell into a proper opening stance, keeping eye contact even as he gave a slight bow.

He was right not to bow deep as Voldemort immediately shot a blashing hex at him. Kedar quickly threw himself to the side, flinging out a rapid cutting curse that Voldemort barely deflected in time.

"That was pathetic Potter." Voldemort sneered. "Confringio, Sectumsempra, Crucio!"

The cruciatus hit Kedar, dropping him to one knee as he gritted his teeth. He wouldn't cry out.

"Amoveo!" Kedar ground out through the pain, unsure if his shuddering hand had made it through the correct motion. His spell hit and Voldemort's flesh began to peel back from his hands, effectively stopping the cruciatus and allowing Kedar to regain his feet.

"Damu!" He called, pressing his advantage. "Plak! Szakitas! Bakar Kulit!"

Two of the curses hit while Voldemort reversed the peeling flesh on his hand, but it wasn't enough to thwart Voldemort.

"Imperious." The Dark Lord countered, the spell catching Kedar in its chilly grasp. "Bow down to me Potter. Bow at my feet and worship your own death."

Kedar fought it. Voldemort was stronger than Mad-eye, but Kedar was not one to have his will subjugated. "No! I will not!"

The duel raged on, neither opponent giving an inch while the circle of Death Eaters shifted restlessly about them. It was becoming an extremely long battle and Voldemort was quickly becoming tired of Kedar's dodging game.

"Hold still you foolish boy and face death like a man. Crucio!"

"Vedelem!" Kedar shouted back, their spells colliding in mid-air.

With a blinding flash a golden thread of pure magic formed like a thin rope between their two wands, a large bead of the same light vibrating energetically in the middle. Kedar could feel the power shuddering along that beam of light and through his wand. Voldemort's body seemed to jerk and Kedar felt a change in the link holding them together. There was something in that power, something foreign from them both. It was traveling without resistence through the power, heading for him, fleeing Voldemort. It took mere moments for Kedar to register this, Voldemort seemed too intent on other things to notice, and come to a decision as the power splintered free to form a dome around the two of them that separated them from the Death Eaters.

"What have you done Potter!" Voldemort demanded and Kedar thought he could hear fear in the Dark Lord's voice. "What sort of a foolish attempt is this?"

Kedar didn't bother to answer, they both knew it was not his doing, and on instinct he let that foreign power reach him. It touched him, tentative and seeking, then filled him. It was hot like the desert sands yet cool like the water. It was life. It was death. It was the nothingness inbetween. He had felt this power before.

"Imhotep." Kedar croaked softly.

"Medjai." Came the soft reply, an affirmation and acknowledgement.

"How—"

Kedar started to ask, but then he stopped. He knew how. Benny, flesh of the servant. Except while Voldemort might claim Benny as his servant, Imhotep was still Benny's original master and his consciousness had been pulled into the ritual.

The bead of light still hovered at the end of his shaking wand and Kedar knew he had to act soon or run the risk that his wand would fail under the pressure.

"What are you intentions?" Kedar whispered urgently into his own mind to the corner where Imhotep had tucked himself. "You fled one who is now much like you once were in means of power. Do you still seek your love, Anck-su-namun?"

"No." Imhotep's whisper was sad. "Anck-su-namun is lost to me. My desire for power was a desire for her. Ahm Shere proved that to me. Whichever one of you I remain in will have access to my knowledge, my powers. I chose to flee him but will return if you cannot bear my presence. I am caught between the two of you with no other option, only your link to him allowing me to leave him at all."

It didn't take much to make up Kedar's mind, he couldn't allow Voldemort to possess Imhotep's knowledge or abilities. Besides, there was something almost gentle about this melancholy Imhotep and he was reasonably sure he could shield his mind to keep Imhotep separate. And if on the off chance he couldn't—well, Medjai's accepted death as a fact of life and he knew his duty to the tribes.

"I accept you."

Kedar whispered the words aloud, a ritual in its own way, as he shoved his magic along the golden stream spanning between his wand and Voldemorts. The golden bead sped back along the path, only slowing as it met resistence near Voldemort's wand. Kedar was determined though and Imhotep, in a gesture to prove his good will and wishing to help shorten what could become a lengthy power struggle between equally matched individuals, threw his strength with Kedar's to force the bead to make full contact with Voldemort's wand. In that instant it seemed as if the very air around them screamed and a shade formed into being at the end of Voldemort's wand. One after another more shades poured from Voldemort's wand in quick succession due to the overload of power and then James and Lily Potter were there and moving to his side.

"Good job son." The man praised. "You're doing so well. You need to break to connection now though. We'll distract Him but we won't last long without the magic to hold us here."

Kedar nodded, them even being able to provide a distraction was more than he could have hoped for.

"I'm ready." He informed the shades of his biological parents.

"We love you." Lily and James smiled at him. "Good luck."

They floated off towards Voldemort without waiting for him to respond, for which Kedar was grateful. He wasn't sure how he would have replied. The shades—perhaps five or six of them all now told, including Cedric who had asked for his body to be returned to his parents—now encircled Voldemort.

With a wordless prayer to the Gods Kedar broke the connection between the wands, spinning himself to the side and ducking into a roll that brought him to Fleur's body. Chanting a quick charm of weightlessness over Fleur he picked her up and began to run, dodging and using tombstones as shields, thankful her body hadn't started to stiffen awkwardly yet.

"Stop him!" Voldemort shrieked from somewhere behind him. "Kill the boy!"

Kedar snorted. First it had been 'he's mine', but now that he had gotten away it was 'kill the boy'. Kedar leapt on top a tombstone, using his feet to propel himself off and forward before skidding to change course; a spell splashed against the granite stone a moment later and cracked it. Kedar grinned, a humorless flashing of teeth. They wouldn't get him that easily, he had seen his destination—the monument where Cedric had been killed.

Five yards…three…he was there.

"Accio triwizard trophy!"

He fell on top of Cedric, Fleur still in his arms, mentally apologizing despite the fact that both were currently beyond feeling their flesh and then the cup smacked into his hand. There was a familiar jerk behind his navel and he let the magic carry him along until he suddenly found himself surrounded by the noisey spectators back on the overgrown Quidditch field. Now though instead of cheering they were screaming and yelling and hands were trying to pull him away from Fleur and Cedric. Time was running against him, if he didn't act soon it would be too late.

"Are you sure?" Imhotep questioned in his mind. "The consequences that might occur…"

"I'm sure." Kedar thought back fiercely, crying out. "Accio Book!"

He didn't name the Book aloud, he wasn't that foolish, but he threw all his focus into the Book and the safeguards he had erected around it. Under the pressure of his mind and magic they unraveled, finally allowing the Book to be called to his hands and his alone. Kedar suddenly realized then that the hands had stopped tugging at him and he looked up to find a ring of Medjai protectively surrounding him. He should have known Ardeth would have brought more of their people what with the foreboding omens of late.

"Someone get Dumbledore."

"Call the Aurors!"

"Oh, don't let the Diggory's see."

Ardeth nodded down at Kedar. They would keep the people back to give him time to do what he needed. Taking a deep breath Kedar lay Cedric and Fleur out side-by-side, arms crossed over their chests, and opened the Book of the Dead before flipping to the correct pages.

"Hootash naraba oos Veesloo. Ahm kum Ra. Ahm kum Dei. Efday Shokran— Efday Shokran—" Kedar intoned, the words falling easy from his tongue as a foreign power swelled the air around him. "Efday Shokran Ahmenophus!"

Something filled the air around the two bodies lying in front of him and then with a dizzying rush it thrust into the corpses, both the still forms arching convulsively as live was returned to their bodies. Cedric's eyes were wide and his breath was coming in a panting gasp as his lungs tried to remember how to function, but it was Fleur who had Kedar's attention. When Alex had described using this spell for Evy her wounds had healed over as the spell had called for, but in Fleur's case they hadn't. Kedar wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was because the knife had been magical in nature, or because in a sense she had taken her own life despite being under the Imperious, or even because she simply wasn't all human. It didn't matter, what mattered was keeping Fleur from dying again.

Louder cries had gone up the moment Cedric and Fleur had started breathing and suddenly Dumbledore was there, the stricken parents of Cedric and Fleur behind him.

"Kedar my boy." Dumbledore was shocked. "What have you done?!"

Kedar flicked him a dismissive glance and turned to the Delacours. "I have invoked the Gods. When she is healed we will return."

Without another word Kedar bent to his task, using his soul and magic to bind Fleur's fleeting life into her broken body and spread healing warmth into her. Kedar sensed Amisi and Ardeth gather around him and then dimly he sensed the rush as the portkey took him away.

Posted On: March 11, 2009