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While I stood there with my arms folded across my chest, scratching my chin thoughtfully, the door to the building opened, and a redheaded guy appeared. Well, not a guy, but already a man! A serious look, hair pulled into a ponytail, wearing leather pants, a shirt, and an English-style robe on top. He's clearly not having fun here, though the dragon-skin high boots are out of place with the image created by the rest of his clothes.
"Oh!" He smiled. Now I saw a necklace of small stones with runes on them and a fang earring in his ear. "Who are you, and where are you going? Oh, yes! You may not know English, um..."
"Max. And I speak English perfectly."
"Bill," he held out his hand to me with a smile. "I'm practicing for the goblins here."
We shook hands.
"If you have any questions, you can ask because I have to hurry."
"I wanted to know, Bill, if there are any excursions for wizards here."
"Well, of course!" He smiled even brighter. "Come in and make yourself comfortable, and the tour here is the same as for Muggles. It starts at the same time, so in a couple of minutes. There's also a ticket office there if you don't have a ticket yet. And since you're asking, there isn't, right?"
"Right."
"Well, that's great. I've to go."
With these words, Bill stepped away from the entrance, letting me pass, and at a brisk pace headed somewhere. Well, let's go see.
The inside of the building was, as I thought, bigger than the outside. After walking through the entrance, I found myself in a large spacious hallway, somewhat reminiscent of Gringotts in London. High ceiling, bright walls, smooth stone floor with a large geometric pattern. But unlike Gringotts, there were no numerous counters, nor were there any goblins. Instead, along the massive columns were large brown couches and armchairs with a large round table at each. In the corners and near the columns were palm trees in large carved stone pots, and under the ceiling, instead of a chandelier, was a large glass dome, letting in light but not the heat of it.
Between each column were two sets of seating and tables, and between them were wooden doors leading in an unknown direction. At the very end of the hall was only one massive wooden counter, behind which stood a fairly ordinary wizard - a local wizard. There were six other wizards sitting in the room, in two groups, talking about something. There was no question that they were wizards. One group was dressed in classic English robes, except they were shorter and more comfortable - obviously for moving in difficult "tactical" conditions. There was nothing to get caught in such robes, no entanglement in the hem, and so on. The other group looked somewhat exotic and clearly belonged to Asian culture, but which one? The question is uncertain. Both Chinese and Japanese motifs could be guessed in the clothes of the two men and women, but no kimonos, qipao, etc., like hieroglyphics, or I would have known where these travelers were from.
Upon reaching the counter, I turned to the man.
"Hello. I was told that I could sign up for a tour of the pyramids here."
"You are right, young man. You don't have a ticket?"
"No, I don't."
"Then you should buy a ticket for five Galleons, and you can enjoy a view of the most interesting and dangerous magical manifestations of one of the most ancient artifact structures."
I did not listen to him for long, but I simply paid the amount due and immediately received a high-quality ticket with a whole bunch of magical seals, signatures, and stamps.
"Here, your ticket. The tour will start in..." The wizard held up his left hand with a regular, or maybe even a magic clock, and looked at it. "In six minutes. You will be in a group with these venerable gentlemen."
The wizard pointed to the two groups sitting on couches on opposite sides of the hall.
"Have a great time."
"Thank you, sir."
I took my ticket and put it in my shoulder bag, the same one that looked like my school bag, and sat down by one of the columns and waited.
Exactly after the specified time, a man dressed in muggle marching clothes in the color of sandy camouflage entered the hall. The luminescent stripes on his clothes stood out, like on a policeman's.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the middle-aged wizard spoke softly, but to the entire room. "Please come up to me."
Both groups, myself included, approached the wizard.
"Good day to you all. Hello, are the amulet interpreters working?"
"Ja."
"Hai."
"Absent, unfortunately." I smiled.
"Great," our guide smiled back at me and handed me a coin with a hole in the middle and a string through it. "Here you go, young man. A spontaneous excursion?"
"You wouldn't believe it. I was just passing by and found this museum! It's a shame to miss it."
"I agree," said the guide with the same smile, and the others smiled, too.
I put the amulet on.
"Let's check it again. Say something for the young man.
"How do you do?" asked the man from the Europeans.
"Worth preparing in advance," said the Asian man.
"Works great," I nodded.
"Then," the wizard guide pulled a long silver chain from his pocket. "Everyone take hold of the chain. This port-key will take us to the enchanted entrance to the pyramid of Cheops."
We all grab the chain.
"Everybody ready? All right. I will now say the command. Portus!"
I was spinning all over the place and around the axis. It seemed like the whole world had gone crazy, and I was the only island of tranquility in it. It lasted literally for a brief moment, and I was happy that we weren't all swept around. There is some kind of noise around, but I still felt bad - my head is spinning, everything is floating.
Suddenly, my body just froze, and I continued to regain consciousness. After a brief moment, I could see what was happening.
Our whole group was standing still, and our guide was standing next to the European man, pointing his wand at his head.
"Obliviate," he said, and the tip of the wand lit up. In a second, the light went out. "Somnus."
The guide went like this over everyone, and I was still lying there. Yeah, I could get the paralysis off me. I guess so. But I wondered what would happen next. The man got to me.
"I'll send you to the customer," the man glanced at his amulet. "They're ready to receive you. Too bad we're not allowed to take trophies."
With that, the man pulled out another coin with a hole and a thread through it and exchanged it for the one he had given out before.
"I'll take the translator," he muttered and pointed his wand at my chest, where the new coin now rested. "Vectis Portus."