Disclaimer: I have every intention of being good and asking Santa, but I have a feeling that I am still not going to own any of this any time soon… *pout*

He could feel the sweat trickling down his back as he righted his himself and reached for his water canteen. After a few refreshing swallows Damarion wiped his eyes and looked around the dig site. He was actually quite impressed with how well Muggles had coped without magic. Their technology had come a long way and it was very visible at the small archaeological expedition far into Upper Egypt. Yes, the Arabic workers had proved their worth with their excellent work ethic but the portable cranes and equipment had helped greatly with moving the larger stones and dirt.

Damarion glanced around at the others. Both Liz and Frank were hauling rock. Frank was very useful due to his amazing physical strength while Liz kept instructing the boys with her language skills. TUrning his head Macey could feel a scathing glare overtaking his features as he glanced up towards the Professor. Ripley had even had the audacity to bring along his camping chair and had seated himself overlooking the site with various papyri and scrolls occasionally barking orders down towards Elizabeth. Damn that man.

They had started digging not too far from Amenhotep III tomb and Damarion could just see the hole and the signs of a previous excavation from his position. The overheated blond shook his head once again wondering why he was out here doing manual labour. A Malfoy would never be caught dead to something so plebeian. And just as the thought had taken root, Damarion Macey mentally shook the cobwebs away. Right. That was why he was out here. He had proved to be the coward they'd always claimed him to be and run away. Wiping his brow once more, he concentrated on the present and glanced back at the rather impressive hole they'd managed to excavate in only four days. Still, he knew that Frank was also beginning to loose hope and even Liz had quietly voiced her doubt about the validity of the professor's sources. Damarion was quite sure that if they didn't find anything soon, they would have to either abandon the dig or return to Cairo for more supplies. He briefly wondered how much was left of the Professor's grant before he glanced at the only group not complaining. The hired help were happy as long they were paid and Damarion had a feeling that they'd gladly work even through the cold night as long as there were enough dollars involved.

"Professor Ripley! I think it would be prudent to call a break. We've been working none-stop for the last three hours". Came the rather firm outburst from Liz.

"Come now! We are getting so very close! I can feel it in my bones" Ripley had even managed to climb out of his chair to approach the edge. "Just a few more hauls and we will have made history!" Damarion eyed the man a bit more nervously. He sounded almost obsessed. He'd never seen the man so animated. As a teacher, he had been notoriously famous for his endless lectures, often holding back the students up to half an hour just to make some point about some obscure historic event. The rumour around the Boston campus was that the teacher was slightly mad and would most likely have droned on and on without even noticing if the students were present or not. Another flash hit Draco almost like a bolt. The image of Thaddeus Ripley had suddenly morphed into the ghostly visage of professor Binns. Literally spooked, Damarion was luckily brought back to the present by Liz' abrupt reply.

"I have no doubt professor, but regardless we wouldn't want to suffer from heat stroke and the findings can surely wait another few hours." She then proceeded to shout at the boys who quickly stopped working and walked off to find some shade. Even a blind man could see that the flush of red covering the professor's face had nothing to do with the heat. Macey smirked. Too bad the man didn't speak a work of Arabic!

"God. This heat is suffocating", panted Frank as his walked down the rocky landscape along with Damarion towards the camp.

"At least it's a dry heat"

"Small blessings, if you ask me. Don't know 'bout you, but I'm having a feeling that we could dig down to the Earth's corona and still wouldn't even find so much as a animal bone"

Draco chuckled along with the burly man. Although he had initially agreed with Frank, the unease he had felt the first day still hadn't left him. He spent the evenings in his tent reaffirming to himself that there were no undiscovered tombs left in the Valley of the Kings. But still, to use an Americanism, his Spider senses were tingling. Maybe there was something buried here, something unknown. Damaraion shook his head physically this time.

"Hey! You doin' alright? Heat not getting to yeh?" Frank had already grabbed a water bottle had placed in Draco's hand who gratefully took a couple of sips before clearing his throat.

"No, I'm just wondering about who we are supposed to be digging up. Did the professor inform you of the hidden pharaohs identity?" He was pretty sure that neither Liz nor Frank, along with himself, had any real clue about the Professor's research.

"Well… I tried to riddle some of it out of him when he was drunk on his port the other night but I only found out that it was apparently on of them court magicians under Ramses the Second, or was it Third. Either way, don't think it's riches and gold the professor's after. If we actually find anything, the tomb might hold some of the ancient magic scrolls about the Egyptian burial rituals. Might almost be worth it!"

The unease in Draco's chest suddenly doubled. Although the Pharaoh himself had often been Muggle as far as ancient wizarding history went, the court magician was usually magical. Magic had been an ingrained part of the Egyptian everyday life, and even today the wizarding part of Egypt still followed and preformed several strange rituals in tandem with the flow of the Nile. Most of the magicians in the ancient Egyptian courts had vague elemental abilities, often used to secure a bountiful harvest from the Nile, but several had also boasted precognitive abilities, enabling them to foresee drought, war and even the death of the Pharaoh himself. It was actually one of the main reason why the ancient Egyptians had been so obsessed with life after death and also the justification behind why so many Pharaohs built grand monuments, mausoleums and pyramids in their own honour. The sorcerers were also the reason why the monuments were still in such great condition even after thousands of years. Famous with the ability to curse the land and predict the future the court magicians used their renown to make ensure that the lower echelons of society contributed their labour force towards building the monuments and made sure that once completed, the buildings themselves were covered with wards and hexes to guarantee everlasting glory.

But the real unease for Draco was rooted with burial rituals most Egyptians had undergone. If they were really searching for a Magician then the curses connected to the Tomb and Sarcophagus could be devastatingly strong. And although Draco had learned much about warding after his escape in an attempt to hide his magical signature and backpack, he had no way of knowing the strength of the wards or if he even had the ability to untangle and bring them down. Not to mention that untangling wards without a wand was something only Master warders had any hope of attempting. Draco's mind briefly flashed back to the dumpster were he'd thrown his most precious possession all those years ago. Mentally banging his head he knew the sensible thing would of course be to contact the Egyptian Ministry and get them out here to deactivate the wards and search for cursed items, but that meant exposing himself to scrutiny, something the former Draco Malfoy was very reluctant to do.

Draco sighed and nodded both in reply to Frank and his own thoughts. He would just take it one step at a time. He had no way of knowing if they were even going to find anything. He felt a sudden impulse to steal the professor's papyri and scrolls and check the identity of the sorcerer himself but knew he would restrain himself. He had preformed virtually no magic since his departure from England five years ago and the only magical item he still had was the bottomless backpack that he'd researched so desperately to conceal. No, he was definitely not using magic to commit petty theft.

Soon enough the smell of a cooked meal permeated the air around the camp and Damarion could feel his stomach rumble. The smell had also brought down the workers and a still fuming Professor Ripley along with his camping chair. Frank along with his useful size and strength also had the very handy ability to cook some simple meals and so far away from anything resembling civilization Damarion knew he would greatly appreciate the simply meat and vegetable stew. Shaking his head once more to try and rid himself of the doubt and unease Damarion stepped over to the rest of the expedition and a unoccupied chair and devoured the food handed to him by Frank. Yes, no use worrying. Yet.

AN: Another chappie and quite a bit quicker. This is of course just an intermediate chapter before the grand unveiling! We will of course be meeting someone very special in the next chapter so I hope that you're all paying close attention!