Harry awoke and was for a moment disoriented. Looking around his strange surroundings, it took him a moment to remember stumbling out of the bar with the Professor the night before.
"Must have found me a hotel room," Harry shrugged as he pulled back the curtains to look out the window. "Or not . . ." Harry watched in shock as a passenger jet flew by, "where the hell am I now."
Quickly getting dressed, Harry walked out of the room and into the hallway.
"Hello," Henchgirl greeted him cheerfully. "Would you like some breakfast or something to cure a hangover?"
"Breakfast please," Harry nodded. "And I don't have a hangover this morning."
"Ok," Henchgirl smiled cheerfully. "What would you like?"
"Anything is fine," Harry smiled. "Or I can cook if it would be too much trouble."
"You can cook?" Henchgirl smiled, "where did you learn?
"I didn't have the best childhood," Harry shrugged. "But one of the good things to come of it is my skill in cooking."
"Ok," Henchgirl shrugged. "Here you go."
"Wow," Harry picked up a fork and began to eat. "That was fast."
"Cooking is like making Potions," Henchgirl smiled. "After a while you start to learn tricks to make it go easier . . . it also helps that I'm a witch and I can use magic to make things go faster."
"I suppose that makes sense," Harry nodded. "You wouldn't have any books of domestic charms to help with cooking would you?"
"Not with me no," Henchgirl shook her head. "But I'll try to find some."
"Don't bother," Harry smiled. "I'll be able to find something when we touch down."
"Ok," Henchgirl's cheerful attitude returned.
"You haven't seen my watch have you?" Harry rubbed his wrist, "I couldn't find it when I woke up."
"Well," Henchgirl bit her lower lip. "Maybe you should talk to the Professor about that."
"I'll ask him then," Harry stood. "Do you need any help with the dishes?"
In response, Henchgirl waved her wand and caused them to disappear. "Nope."
"Ok," Harry chuckled. "I'll go talk to the Professor then."
"Bye"
Harry walked down the hall and through the door that Henchgirl had indicated.
"Have you seen my watch?" Harry blinked the sleep out of his eyes. "I could have sworn that I put it on the bedside table."
"What?" The Professor looked up, "oh right. It's in that box, and that box over there and some of it's on the table behind you."
"What?" Harry stared in shock at the tiny parts, "why did you take my watch apart?"
"Henchgirl and I wanted to see how it worked," the Professor shook his head. "And right off the bat we saw several places that could be improved upon."
"They said that it was indestructible when I bought it," Harry stared at the small parts in shock. "They said that it could survive anything."
"Yes," the Professor nodded. "Henchgirl is on the floo having a word with them about false advertising."
"What am I supposed to use now?" Harry's shock overrode his anger.
"Henchgirl and I built you a new watch," the Professor held up a watch that bore a strong resemblance to his old watch.
"Thanks," Harry tried it on. "How soon till we get to Egypt?"
"Few hours," the Professor shrugged. "Why?"
"I'm worried that I won't have enough time to do any of the other things that I wanted to do on my vacation."
"You've got plenty of time." The Professor smiled, pointing to Harry's new watch.
"Why?" Harry had to suppress the sudden urge to leap out the nearest open window.
"Because I added in a few features to give you extra time," the Professor smiled. "Pull out the knob on the side and time stops, twist it clockwise and time will go forward at an accelerated rate."
"Why would I want it to go forward?" Harry hated to ask, but he knew that the question would torment him if he didn't.
"It gets you through boring meetings faster," the Professor nodded. "It's the only way I ever got through all those lawsuits."
"What law . . ." Harry bit his tongue, he really didn't want to know. "What I mean to say is, what other features did you build into the watch?"
"Oh, nothing much." The Professor shrugged, "if you turn the knob counter clockwise then time goes backwards."
"Don't you think that it's a bit dangerous to be playing with time and space?" Harry asked, "and don't you think that it's a bit irresponsible to be doing it to get me more vacation time?"
"Danger adds spice to life," the Professor replied. "And to answer your other question, no I don't think that it's irresponsible. If you want to hear about irresponsibility then let me tell you about the time that Hogwarts allowed one of their students to play with space time to get more classes."
"Never mind," Harry smiled weakly. "I withdraw my objections."
"I thought you might," the Professor nodded. "The watch has several other features, and I've taken the liberty of printing out a small booklet for you."
"Thank you," Harry took the booklet. "Have you had a chance to complete that Armor I asked for?"
"Why yes," the Professor nodded. "I just finished it."
"Can I see it?" Harry was getting use to his odd friend's way of looking at the world.
"Of course," the man nodded as he pulled out a black shimmery bodysuit. "It's worn under your clothes like a second skin. The main features are that it's charmed to keep a constant comfortable temperature, to keep you clean without bathing, it hardens when subjected to impact, it's puncture proof, and it also provides quite a bit of spell protection."
"Wow," Harry was impressed. "Anything else?"
"A few other things," the Professor nodded. "For example if you wear it you can't be detected by most magical sweeps, and I've managed to make it self repairing . . . you know, nothing too special."
"Thanks," Harry took the suit. "If you need me, I'll be in my cabin reading."
"Don't forget the user's guide for the suit," the Professor tossed Harry another book. "I doubt you'll be able to figure out how to put it on or take it off without it."
"Thanks," Harry took the other booklet and left the room.
"Hello," Henchgirl smiled as Harry walked out of the room. "I just wanted to thank you."
"What for?"
"For recommending me," Henchgirl smiled. "People have never taken my potion making seriously, they've always thought that I would mess it up."
"No problem," Harry smiled. "I know two people who are really good at making potions, one of them is a greasy git that has the maturity of an angry two year old and the other is you."
"That really makes me feel good about myself," Henchgirl smirked.
"Maybe I should have stopped at no problem," Harry chuckled. "I'm glad I could have been of help."
"If there are any potions I can make for you, just let me know ok?"
"And if you need any ingredients, just come to me." Harry nodded, "or any books."
"Books?" Henchgirl perked up.
"Yes," Harry nodded. "I have quite a few of them, just picked up a new one on weather magic from a strange old man last night."
"Can I see them?"
"Sure," Harry nodded. "I'll just give you my pack and you can pick out what you need."
"Oh thank you," Henchgirl's grin threatened to split her face.
"Don't mention it," Harry shrugged. "That's what friends are for."
IIIIIIIIII
"Professor," Henchgirl rushed into the lab. "Look at this."
"What is it?" The small man looked up at his assistant, "can't you see that I'm in the middle of something?"
"A game of solitaire?" Henchgirl replied sarcastically, "oh how very important."
"I'm busy with matters far above your feeble comprehension," the Professor replied smugly. "So be gone."
"Fine," Henchgirl was enjoying herself. "Then I guess you don't want to see these books filled with rare and interesting charms that Mr. Black lent me?"
"WHAT?" The Professor turned away from his card game, "I demand that you show me."
"No"
"Show me"
"No"
"Show me"
"No"
"Show me"
"No"
"Show me"
"No"
"Please?"
"Ok," Henchgirl nodded. "The best one has to be the book on weather magic, it's much more advanced than anything I've ever seen on the subject."
"Look at this," the Professor held up another book. "I can't believe he has something on this."
"You can't read that, can you?" Henchgirl squinted at the cover, "what language is that anyway?"
"I don't know," the Professor admitted. "But look at the diagrams, they must be on wards of some sort."
"True," Henchgirl nodded. "I think that this one could be improved by a change in the angle of about three degrees."
"I was going to say two and a half," the Professor nodded. "But you do have a point there."
"So," Henchgirl looked around the lab. "Do we have everything we need to make a translator of some sort?"
"I'm not sure," the Professor shrugged. "Why don't we see if Mr. Black would be willing to loan us his glasses?"
"Works for me," Henchgirl nodded. "Let's go."
The two rushed down the hall and began frantically knocking on Harry's door.
"Yes?" Harry blinked at his friends, "what do you need?"
"We were wondering if we could borrow your glasses?" The Professor smiled innocently.
"Why?" Harry was instantly suspicious of the Professor's innocent smile.
"We want to study the charms to see if we can replicate them," Henchgirl shrugged. "We need something to translate the books you lent me."
"Oh," Harry nodded. "I suppose so, just bring them back."
"We shall," the Professor held out his hand.
"What is it?" Henchgirl asked upon seeing the odd look on Harry's face.
"I can see?" Harry looked around in shock, "I'm not using my glasses . . . but I can still see?"
"Hmmm," the Professor frowned. "This is more your area of expertise Henchgirl."
"We'll investigate it later," Henchgirl shrugged. "I doubt I could figure it out and trying would waste valuable research time."
"Right you are," the Professor nodded. "Come, we go."
"Don't forget to bring my glasses back when you're done," Harry called out after them. "I need them to read languages besides English."
"We shall," the Professor called over his shoulder.
"Bye," Henchgirl called over hers.
"Thank you," Harry watched his two friends run off and shook his head in wonder.
IIIIIIIIII
"Mr. Black?" Henchgirl knocking on the door roused Harry from his nap.
"What is it?" Harry staggered towards the door.
"Here are your glasses back," Henchgirl passed the item back. "And we'll be in Alexandria in a few minutes."
"Thanks," Harry accepted the glasses. "Were you able to figure out the charms?"
"Yes," Henchgirl nodded. "And we charmed a large piece of glass with the same translation charm."
"Good," Harry yawned. "What are we doing in Alexandria?"
"We're visiting the library," Henchgirl replied. "There are supposed to be some old designs of machines."
"How old?" Harry asked curiously.
"Old enough that the original language on some of them is Classical Greek," Henchgirl smiled. "I can't wait to get a look at them."
"I hadn't realized," Harry smiled. "Thanks for telling me."
"No problem," Henchgirl nodded. "Thanks for lending us those books, they've been very helpful."
"In what way?" Harry yawned again.
"Well," Henchgirl took a moment to think about the question. "The one that's been the most help so far is the weather magic. It helps out quite a bit in flying the Zeppelin, we can provide tail winds, or help shield it from bad weather, or . . ."
"Or?" Harry asked nervously.
"Or we can use it to make a cloud hide it from the muggles," Henchgirl smiled nervously. "No more reports of UFOs, we can also make it so there's a bank of fog when we arrive."
"UFOs . . ." Harry bit his tongue, "why do we want a thick bank of fog when we arrive?"
"Because it's cool," Henchgirl gave a satisfied nod. "That was my idea."
"O . . . k," Harry took a deep breath. "Is there somewhere I should be, or somewhere I could watch the landing?"
"Sure," Henchgirl nodded. "Follow me."
Henchgirl took Harry to the bridge and they both looked out in wonder as the city approached.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Henchgirl whispered, "the view from so high up."
"Yes," Harry nodded. "It is. I am worried about one thing though."
"What's that?" Henchgirl whispered back.
"The fact that the Professor is steering this thing," Harry replied.
Henchgirl glanced over her shoulder to watch the Professor erratically spinning a large stereotypical ship's wheel.
"Oh," Henchgirl nodded. "Don't worry about that, we set the zeppelin on autopilot before we began our approach."
"Then why is he still steering?"
"He said that there's no point in having a zeppelin if you can't play with it and pretend that you're the captain," Henchgirl shrugged. "I'm just annoyed that he's hogging it and not letting me have any fun."
"I . . . see," Harry shrugged. "Well if there's no danger in all of us dying in a horrible fiery crash, then I don't see any reason to worry about it."
"That's the spirit," Henchgirl nodded.
"We've reached our destination," the Professor announced. "Shall we go down?"
"We're not going to land?" Harry frowned.
"Nope," Henchgirl smiled. "We've got a new invention to try out."
"What new invention?" Harry reminded himself that he hadn't been horribly injured by any of their new inventions in the past.
"It's a stationary transport system," the Professor smiled. "So long as the zeppelin remains stationary, "our system can get us to and from the ground with ease."
"What if the zeppelin moves?" Harry asked, "the wind will push it around if nothing else."
"I wouldn't worry about the wind," the Professor waved off Harry's objection.
"Then what happens if someone ports in or something?" Harry blinked, "couldn't they do something?"
"We've got wards to prevent that," the Professor smiled. "They'll go up as soon as we leave."
"This may sound like a stupid question," Harry licked his lips. "But is your new transport system able to go through wards?"
"No," Henchgirl shook her head. "Not these wards, nothing can get through them."
"Then," Harry frowned in confusion. "If the transport system can't get through wards, how do we get back to the zeppelin?"
"We . . ." the Professor and Henchgirl shared a look. "I guess we don't."
"I see," Harry nodded. "Wouldn't it be better to keep someone on the ship that can raise and lower the wards so that people can port in?"
"I suppose," Henchgirl nodded. "Not it."
"Damn," the Professor frowned. "I expect you to come back and let me have a turn in the library soon Henchgirl."
"And I'll take my turn watching the zeppelin after that," Harry nodded. "It's only fair that we share the responsibility."
"Ok," Henchgirl nodded. "Come on, I'll show you how to get down."
"Ok," Harry nodded. "Let's go."
Henchgirl led Harry down the hallway to a small room with a large ornate silver circle inlaid on the floor.
"This the Portkey Transfer Chamber," Henchgirl smiled proudly, "or PortTrans for short."
"How does it work?" Harry looked down at the strange device.
"It's similar to a portkey," Henchgirl began to lecture. "What it does it turn a small object on your person into a short range portkey, it then activates the portkey and sends you straight down to a safe landing area."
"How does it take you back up?" Harry blinked.
"It remotely activates the Portkey that took you down and causes it to bring you back up," Henchgirl replied. "Some of the drawbacks are that you need a stationary landing area, no ports while the zeppelin is moving, and the fact that the range is so limited."
"Interesting," Harry nodded. "What does it turn into a portkey?"
"Anything you want," Henchgirl smiled. "I wouldn't be surprised if you could turn your hair into a portkey, though we haven't experimented on that."
"Your hair?"
"It's a non living substance that you always have with you," Henchgirl shrugged. "Like I said, we haven't experimented with it yet."
"What should I use as my portkey?" Harry smiled, "and how do I get it to bring me back?"
"Do you have your Zippo on you?" Henchgirl blinked, "because that would be perfect."
"Yes," Harry nodded. "I do."
"Good," Henchgirl nodded. "We've designed the system so that the two devices work well together, and it avoids accidental activation."
"Ok," Harry pulled out his Zippo. "How does it work?"
"To get back," Henchgirl pulled out her own Zippo. "Open the portable floo connection and say the activation phrase."
"What's the activation phrase?"
"Anything you want," Henchgirl shrugged. "What would you like it to be?"
"How about . . ." Harry grinned, "port me up."
"Ok," Henchgirl nodded. "Why did you choose that?"
"Tradition," Harry shrugged. "Remind me to show it to you and the Professor, I think you'd get a kick out of some of the ideas they had in that show."
"Show?" Henchgirl shrugged, "just step in the circle and we'll be on our way."
"Now what?" Harry looked around, "do I have to say an activation phrase?"
"Just a second," Henchgirl spent a few moments fiddling with the controls. "Don's say it until I'm in the circle, the activation phrase is 'port us down' ok?"
"Ok," Harry nodded and waited until his friend was standing next to him. "Port us down."
The port felt similar to a normal portkey, the only difference being that the pulling sensation was in the soles of their feet rather than behind the navel.
The two of them appeared in front of a large ornate fountain in a tiled courtyard.
"Well," Henchgirl looked around. "Here we are."
"Where is here?" Harry asked with a puzzled grin.
"The library of Alexandria," Henchgirl replied.
"Didn't it burn down a few thousand years ago?" Harry frowned as his mind brought up half forgotten lessons from primary school.
"They had to hide it to keep it from being destroyed and I guess that they haven't bothered to unhide it."
"Oh," Harry blinked. "I guess that makes sense."
"Let's go," Henchgirl was bouncing up and down. "I can't wait to start reading about all the ancient devices."
"Ok," Harry trailed behind his perky friend.
Two massive bronze doors marked the entrance to the library and after walking past them, the two friends found themselves under a massive dome.
"Welcome to the library," an old man in a somber robe smiled in greeting. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Where are the engineering texts?" Henchgirl's grin threatened to split her face, "and the potions texts?"
"Right through there in the eastern wing," the old man waved his hand to indicate the direction. "They're clearly marked."
"Thank you," Henchgirl smiled. "I'll meet you in the reading room Mr. Black."
"Ok," Harry replied.
"Can I help you find anything?" The old man turned to Harry.
"Combat spells maybe," Harry shrugged. "Anything that might be useful to know."
"I think I might have an idea of what you're looking for," the old man nodded. "Come with me."
IIIIIIIIII
"Hello my friend," the Professor walked up to the table that Harry had been occupying. "Have you found anything interesting?"
"Few spells that might be useful," Harry nodded. "And a bit of medical magic."
"Excellent," the Professor smiled. "Henchgirl mentioned that she found several ancient engineering texts, do you happen to know where they are?"
"I have them right here," Harry indicated a pile to his left. "I figured you would want to see them so I made sure that they didn't put them back on the shelves."
"Thank you," the Professor gave a wide grin. "Did you have a chance to peruse them?"
"I took a quick look," Harry nodded. "I didn't understand much but it was interesting to learn how long ago they could do some of the things in the texts."
"Isn't it," the Professor agreed.
"Did you have a chance to get any work done while you were on the zeppelin?" Harry smiled.
"Yes, I've managed to complete my latest invention," the Professor held up a small device. "I call it the Hex-Quarter."
"O . . . k," Harry looked at the small item that bore a vague resemblance to a silver cigarette case. "What does it do?"
"Remember how you asked Henchgirl to start work on a device that detects poison?" The Professor asked with a maniacal grin.
"Yes," Harry nodded.
"Well we've done it," the Professor smiled. "And I've also added in several other features, it can detect wards, has several forensic charms, several diagnostic charms, a database of plants and animals, and much much more."
"Wow," Harry was impressed. "How do you use it?"
"Well," the Professor held up the device. "You just open it and tell it what you want it to look for . . . I'll just have it use the poison and diagnostic charms and . . ."
"What?"
"Were you aware that your blood is one of the most poisonous substances known?" The Professor's eyes widened even more, "and that you have both werewolf saliva and vampire blood in your system?"
"Hmmm," Harry nodded. "I'm not sure about the poison, but don't worry about the werewolf and vampire stuff, it's been taken care of."
"I . . . see," the Professor stared down at his display. "Is there . . . I . . . hmmm."
"Excuse me?" A pretty young woman walked up and smiled at the two of them.
"Yes?" Harry looked up.
"Hello," the woman smiled. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation . . . could I talk to you for a second."
"If you like," Harry shrugged.
"I'm the Doctor," she smiled.
"Who?"
"No relation," the Doctor smirked. "I was wondering if I could get a look at your blood? If half the things that your friend said are true then . . . then I think I may be able to learn enough to buy my way back into polite society."
"What do you mean by that?" Harry frowned.
"I graduated in the top ten percent at my school," the woman sighed. "And I decided to become a Healer, I graduated near the top of that too."
"So," Harry shrugged. "I'm not seeing any problems yet."
"The problem is that I wanted to be the best Healer that I could be," the woman gave a bitter laugh. "So I decided to study Muggle techniques, that was a bit harder. But, I was smart and twelve years later I was a Doctor with a couple of specializations."
"I'm still not seeing any problems," Harry blinked.
"The problem is that a pure blood princess like me shouldn't know so much about Muggles," she frowned. "No one would let me treat them because they were worried about being contaminated by the muggle techniques, what's worse is that I couldn't even work in the muggle world."
"Why not?"
"Being a pure blood means that I don't have a background that will stand up to the kind of investigation that most hospitals in the developed world will subject their doctors to."
"So you're here," Harry nodded.
"Living off daddy's money and doing research," the woman nodded. "Hoping to find something that will let me buy my way into a job where I can practice my skills."
"What do you want with me?" Harry decided to get to the point.
"Your friend said that you'd been bitten by a Vampire and a Werewolf," the Doctor's eyes lit up. "He also said that your blood was poisonous and you said not to worry about that."
"I said not to worry about the vampire and the werewolf," Harry corrected. "I'm not sure about the poison."
"I think that I might be able to make a medical breakthrough if you let me study your blood and body," the Doctor was one step away from getting on her knees and begging. "I'll do anything."
"How long do you need?" Harry smirked, "I don't have much time and the time I have is going to be spent traveling."
"I'll go with you," the Doctor replied. "I'll pay my way, I'll do anything."
"Alright," Harry nodded. "If my companions don't have any objections then you may accompany us Ms . . ."
"Just call me Doctor," the woman smiled. "You've already got a Professor and a Henchgirl, why not let your collection grow Mister?"
"Black," Harry smiled.
"I see," the Doctor giggled. "Thank you for having me."