Harry spent the morning going over the various magical texts that had been recovered from his finds. Most of them were nothing spectacular, but one did catch his eye. It was a journal from one of the tombs that dated to the late Roman period. The journal's first pages labeled it as being a copy of a copy of an older document.
"Bit of a whiny bastard," Harry glanced through the first through pages. "Full of himself too."
About half way through the book, he came across something that caught his eye. Putting down the book, Harry made his way to the bridge to meet up with Henchgirl and the Professor.
"Hey Professor," Harry walked into the room and looked around. "Who are all these people?"
"You of course know Director Asim," the Professor smiled. "This is mister Jones, he's a representative from Gringotts bank."
"Nice to meet you," Harry nodded to the man. "Is there some reason you chose to visit?"
"We were hoping that you would be willing to subcontract the treasure recovery," Jones smiled. "That would allow you to move on and the treasure to be recovered much quicker."
"Oh," Harry nodded. "How much do you want?"
"We were thinking that half of your share would be a fair price," Jones suggested.
"Oh," Harry nodded. "No."
"What?" Jones had never been in a negotiation like this.
"No," Harry smiled. "But thanks for the offer."
"What'd you come in here for?" Henchgirl asked with a smile.
"Oh," Harry nodded. "I almost forgot, I just wanted to tell you that I wanted to make a quick stop in Atlantis when we got around to crossing the Atlantic ocean."
"What?" Screamed nearly every person in the room.
"Just that I wanted to make a quick stop in Atlantis," Harry replied. "There's something I'd like to pick up."
"You know where Atlantis is?" Jones asked incredulously, "people have been searching for the lost city's resting place for years?"
"Yep," Harry nodded. "They wouldn't have found it, it's under a charm that prevents you from finding it unless you know the location and the sinking didn't harm the enchantments."
"You mentioned that you wanted to pick something up?" Asim asked, wanting to get the conversation back on track.
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Some guy named Myrddin hid a book that he said contained great power just before he got kicked out and I'd like to see what's in it."
"Myrddin?" Asim asked in shock, "kicked out?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "He said that they kicked him out because they were jealous of his great power, and the official reason was because he was too magically weak, but I think it was because he was a whiny bastard and they just got sick of him."
"What else can you tell us about Myrddin?" Jones demanded.
"Well," Harry paused to think for a moment. "He had bad acne, red hair, and his voice didn't change until he was fifteen." Harry shook his head, god was that diary tedious. "Can't tell you anything about what he was like after his seventeenth birthday though."
"Oh," the men shared a glance.
"Well," Harry yawned. "I'm going to go take a nap."
The Professor and Henchgirl watched in amusement as the men sat frozen in shock.
"Mummy's Brew?" Asim pulled a flask out of his pocket and offered it to Jones.
IIIIIIIIII
"I have a very important report to make," Asim barged into a meeting between his superiors. "I have vital information that you must hear."
"What is it, Asim?" One of them asked.
"This had better be important," another added.
"Mr. Black knows the location of Atlantis," Asim shouted. "And he's planning on visiting it to recover something left behind by Merlin himself."
"WHAT?" The collected group's jaws dropped in shock.
"What did he say?" One of the members managed to recover from their shock.
"He said that the lost city was covered by a ward that would only let those possessing the password to cross." Asim answered quickly, "he added that he didn't think much of Merlin."
"Why not?"
"He said that Merlin was a whiny kid with acne," Asim gulped. "And that his voice didn't change until late in life, he said that he couldn't tell us much about Merlin's life after the age of seventeen."
"Oh," they shared glances.
"Just goes to show how old he really is," one of the older men spoke up. "Asim, I've known you all your life but do you know what I think of when I think of you?"
"No"
"I think of the snot nosed kid who threw a rock through my sitting room window," the old man replied. "Knobby knees and runny nose, not of the man you are now."
IIIIIIIIII
"Mr. Black," the Professor knocked on Harry's door. "Remember that Nundu you saw in the camp?"
"Yeah," Harry nodded. "Why?"
"Well," the Professor smiled. "Do you also remember that device I made to get myself out of that cage?"
"Why do I have a feeling that I'm not going to like the way this conversation is headed?" Harry sighed, "what happened?"
"It's funny you should ask that," the Professor giggled. "Because that invention of mine just happened to have transported the Nundu to one of the unused sections of the Zeppelin."
"WHAT?" Harry's eyes widened in alarm.
"Don't worry," the Professor waved off the concerns. "It's in a section of space outside of normal space, one of my experiments went a little wrong and . . . well I guess it doesn't matter. The important thing is that you figure out what to do with the Nundu."
"Why me?" Harry blinked, "it's your Nundu."
"Well," the Professor took a moment to think about it. "No it's your Nundu, I had it registered as your pet."
"When did you do that?" Harry smirked.
"Just now," the Professor nodded. "When I said it was your pet."
"So you didn't file any paperwork with any government or anything?" Harry asked sarcastically, "you just decided that it was mine?"
"That's it exactly," the Professor nodded.
"Why can't I just say it's your Nundu?" Harry tried to twist his mind around his friend's logic.
"Because it already belongs to you," the Professor nodded. "And switching owners would hurt its feelings so you can't give it to me."
"Oh," Harry sighed. "I see, do we have a way to feed it?"
"I've taken care of it," the Professor nodded. "But Henchgirl and I were talking and we think that you should take a more active role in its care and feeding."
"By Henchgirl and I, you mean just you right?" Harry nodded, "and I'm guessing that by more active role you mean all of it don't you?"
"Well . . . yes," the Professor admitted with a frown.
"Nice try," Harry smirked. "But no."
"Fine," the Professor sulked.
"Go talk to the Doctor," Harry suggested. "And Henchgirl, I'm sure that the Doctor might be able to use the fact that it breathes out Diseases and who knows Nundu . . . droppings might be valuable potions ingredients."
"And getting Henchgirl to check if Nundu droppings are potions ingredients would be a perfect way to trick her into cleaning up after it," the Professor nodded. "Brilliant."
"That wasn't . . . so where do you think we should go next?" Harry figured that it would be best if he avoided that particular conversation.
"I don't have any preferences," the Professor shrugged. "Where would you like to go?"
"India sounds nice," Harry shrugged. "And I've done a bit of reading on Bhutan, sounds like an intersting place to visit."
"Then we shall go to India," the Professor nodded. "There are a few things that Henchgirl and I wanted to look at in India."
"What do you two want to look at in India?" Harry glanced up at the Professor and noticed the odd look in the other man's eye, "Never Mind . . . there are some things that I'd prefer not to know."
"Very well," the Professor nodded. "I shall set a course."
"I guess I'll read through some of these texts we got," Harry shrugged. "Interesting stuff, I've learned more about wards and curses in the last few hours than I have in the past few years."
"Mr. Black?" The Doctor knocked on the door, "is this a good time?"
"Sure," Harry nodded. "What do you need?"
"I'll just be going then," the Professor took his leave.
"I was hoping to get that blood sample," the Doctor replied. "And I wanted to cast a few diagnostic charms."
"Ok," Harry nodded. "Go ahead."
The Doctor pulled out a small syringe and filled it with Harry's blood.
"Is that going to be safe?" Harry winced. "My blood is supposed to be poisonous."
"It should be," the Doctor nodded. "I cast every protection charm I could find on it and then had the Professor and Henchgirl add their charms . . . and the Architect thought it looked fun so he used a bit of goblin magic, and then . . ."
"I get it," Harry nodded. "Need anything else?"
"I'll tell you after I cast the diagnostic charms," the Doctor replied. "Looks like you have a piece of Basilisk fang embedded in one of your bones."
"I got bit by one a few years ago," Harry nodded. "And I was lucky enough to have a phoenix around to cry in the wound."
"That would explain what I'm seeing," the Doctor nodded. "I'd also like a saliva sample, I want to see if you can turn people into werewolves."
"Alright," Harry opened his mouth to allow access.
"One second . . . ok, you can close now."
"Thanks," Harry nodded. "Did you find anything else?"
"Lot's of things," the Doctor nodded. "If you're asking, did I understand most of it then the answer is no. I'll get back to you on that."
"Ask the Professor to tell you about the Nundu," Harry scratched the back of his head. "I was thinking that you might have a use for it's breath."
"I might," the Doctor nodded. "One would reason that if it has the diseases then it also might have the cure for them, thank you."
"No problem," Harry smiled.
Harry passed the time on the trip to India by going over the immense amount of material that had been recovered from the tombs and by the time they arrived, he figured that he must have doubled his knowledge of offensive wards.
"We have arrived my friend," the Professor knocked on Harry's door. "And I have some devices that I think might interest you."
"Oh?" Harry got up, 'what kind of devices?"
"This," the Professor held up a small roll of leather. "Is a set of lock picks. It should be able to open virtually any lock int the world."
"What about magic locks?" Harry examined the item.
"I included a small device that should trick most magical locks into believing that you have the correct passcode," the Professor replied proudly. "It's all in this set of instructions."
"Thanks," Harry nodded. "What else?"
"This belt," the Professor handed over a dragonhide belt. "Has several hidden compartments containing an assortment of potions . . . Henchgirl and the Doctor's idea."
"Thanks," Harry nodded. "It's a great idea."
"Another thing that the doctor asked me to develop is this little thing," the Professor pulled out a small metal plate. "It goes on your arm over the chip of Basilisk fang. The way this works is that it surrounds the chip with a magical field and collects the poison that's being produced . . . a few days and your blood won't be so deadly."
"Why does it collect the poison?" Harry affixed the item onto his arm, "and is there a way to turn it off?"
"Henchgirl and the Doctor tell me that Basilisk Poison is much too useful to be floating around in your blood," the Professor explained. "So they want it collected. To turn off the effect just will it off."
"Will it off?"
"Decide you want it to stop working." The Professor explained. "Two more items."
"Where are they?" Harry smiled.
"There in my lab," the Professor explained. "Come get them when you finish packing."
"Ok," Harry shrugged.
Harry spent the next few minutes packing and then shouldered his pack and went to the Professor's lab.
"What have you got for me Professor?" Harry strolled into the lab with a look of anticipation.
"I have two very important items that I would like you to try out," the Professor was bouncing with anticipation. ""Here's the first one . . . what do you think?"
"I think it looks like a camera," Harry lifted the device to take a closer look, "what does it do?"
"It is a disguised audio recording device," the Professor replied happily, "and here's the other device."
"It looks like a tape recorder," Harry replied in a flat voice, "but I would guess that it's a camera of some sort, isn't it?"
"Yes you're right, it's a sophisticated imagery device." The Professor agreed
AN: A Nundu is the most dangerous thing in the wizarding world, it's a big cat and there's a good description of it in the harry potter lexicon. Myrddin is Merlin, the diary Harry found was from when Merlin was an annoying teenager and not the powerful mage he would later become. Even if you told him that the diary belonged to Merlin he likely wouldn't believe you, the diary is all about some dumb whiny snot nosed kid and not a great mage.