---

(At the British Museum after ten o'clock in the morning. See plot development thread for details!)

Abigail had been looking forward to this day ever since she'd badgered her sister into agreeing to go. She realized that Jonas and Aileen didn't get along (in fact, Aileen had called him some not-so-nice words after their last visit), but that was just how love stories began! The hero and heroine always hated each other at first. Something (or someone, in the case of Abby) had to pull them together and make them see that they were a match.

So this morning, it was her goal to be as chipper and persistent as possible! When they'd arrived at the museum, she'd exclaimed over the impressive entrance and large Greek columns and the images in the frieze. That had gotten a small smile out of Aileen. Once inside, she'd enthused (too loudly, perhaps), that they didn't even have to pay to get in, so muggle money wasn't even an issue! That was one of those times Aileen had sighed and pretended not to know her.

Now, Abby stood in the inner square of the British Museum, gaping at the ceiling like many of the other newcomers. Though the glass roof only showed the gray sky and didn't do anything magical to change it, the view was still breathtaking. Aileen had glanced up once and was now looking off into the distance, indifferent.

So she nudged Jonas and grinned at him, "Hey, do you think that's sort of what the Great Hall ceiling looks like? Without magic?"

Abby fidgeted with the strap of her purse as she chatted. Before she'd left the house with her sister, she had just happened to stop by Aileen's office. Her unlocked office. Because Aileen trusted her, you know. And she had just happened to peek inside and see that Aileen had left an artifact out on her desk. No, it wasn't the stupid old dagger. The stone was small and pyramid shaped, with hieroglyphs carved on the sides. Before Abby had thought it through, she'd picked it up, slipped it into her purse, and decided that she'd just do a little comparing and contrasting at the museum. Aileen wouldn't even know it was missing!

Aileen checked her watch. It was only about fifteen minutes after 10:00. She stood a little bit away from Jonas and Abby in the inner square of the museum, frowning whenever a muggle so much as glanced in her direction. A warding charm of some sort. That's what she needed. Something that would tell the muggles to come no more than five feet from her.

Muggle repellent. Why hadn't they marketed this? She could have used it on the Underground ride that Aileen was convinced Jonas had made her suffer through on purpose!

The jeans. Oh Merlin, everyone was wearing jeans. The ringing devices in their bags. The cameras. The awful sneakers that lit up on the heels. Aileen repressed a sneer.

She was doing this for Abby, Aileen reminded herself as she looked over at her sister. Abby, who had been more interested in sight-seeing and shopping than anything involving excavation during their short trip to Cairo. It's boring! It's dirty! Abby had cried.

So why, why her little sister had her heart set on going to a muggle museum to stare at Egyptian artifacts that she'd already seen in Egypt, was beyond her comprehension.

Perhaps, like the Underground ride, she was doing it just to torture her. Or Jonas had turned her own sister against her. She rolled her eyes. It was possible! Abby was acting especially cheerful and peppy today, and she could only blame Mr. Trevelyan's influence.

Abby certainly didn't get all that good cheer from  her.

At least the trip to Egypt had been beneficial. She'd spoken to a few Cult of the Phoenix scholars in person and gathered more research materials. She was one step closer to figuring out the damn dagger. Of course, she wasn't working fast enough for Jonas, who, she remembered clearly, had taken over a month to locate the dagger and return it to her. With pay. Aileen was only doing this so he wouldn't run and tattle on her.

Unfortunately... he had been right. It killed her to admit it, and she'd spent about a week denying it, but there were just too many signs and too many coincidences pointing to the dagger as the cause. Aileen didn't yet understand why she was unaffected by the curse, but the lack of magic was spreading throughout the wizarding world, and she would not, could not be blamed for it. Aileen had to figure this out herself. She knew she could do it. She just needed time.

Speaking of time! "Abby, would you like to start with the Egypt exhibits first?" Aileen asked after a few minutes of standing around in the square. She wanted to get in, get out, and go home.

click! click! snap! The Nikon D70 in the safe hands of Malcolm Blake were taking various photos inside the museum whilst on assignment for the Times. A chance for stardom & an article on the latest acquistions for London was given to him when Whitby had gotten ill a few days prior. He had thought he would bring the children since they hadn't spent much time with him but when his boss wanted Malcolm exclusive to the scene, the plans fell thru. His Times badge laid against his outfit which was semi professional aside from the sunglasses on the top of his head & the black snazzy boots; the camera clicked thrice & thrice again. His chocolate eyes looked down, scanning through the pictures. Not too shabby... though it was clear he longed for a magical camera instead. Placing his camera back against his chest, he began walking once more.

The chatter of children was a welcomed feeling as he smiled on seeing excitement on their faces. He felt much like him as he considered himself somewhat of a history buff. His siblings often groaned when their brother & father decided it was all in good jest to debate over the debacles of history. That only simply seemed to amplify when it came for Addie (Alfie too) to do History of Magic - arguments over Morgana & the correct spelling of her name had lasted two weeks straight.

He was soon whipping his camera back off his neck, taking more photographs of various people, which would soon accidentally be two blondes & a redhead. He had little idea that it was the Reid girls & Jonas Trevelyan; after all, they looked like your everyday joe schmoes, eh? His watch blipped to state it was time to head towards the Egyptian exhibit. Little would he, much less the wizarding folk amongst him, know that the excitement was only just to begin.

Malcolm soon was walking by Abby, noticing her carefree expression compared to Aileen's "be a dear; go die in a fire" look. Oiy, talk about two differing personas - he snickered all too briefly as he walked on as to avoid a confrontation with Aileen.

So far, even in spite of his early morning visitor, Jonas was quite enjoying 2009.

Most of it had to do with finally fighting his way back onto decent terms with his ex-wife.  It was an immense relief; all of the other problems that were currently complicating his life seemed much less drastic in comparison, despite the fact that he still couldn't use his magic and had probably gotten himself into a few potentially deadly investigations too many.  Even putting up with the unremittingly sour Aileen Reid couldn't dampen his spirits.  He had ignored her irritated looks all morning, whistled as he'd purposely led them onto the Underground car with the biggest crowd, and had been cheerfully trading quips with Abby since they'd begun the walk to the British Museum.

To be honest, he hadn't really cared that much about visiting the Egypt exhibit.  At first, it had been a convenient excuse to join the Reid sisters and attempt to ferret out more information on their brother, but the case against Trevor Reid had nicely come together.  He and the Eleors had put off their next meeting until the following week to give them all a chance to catch up on various projects after the holidays, but it wouldn't be long now until Adon was ready to make the arrest.

Even though at this point anything short of a mention of the Runespoor eggs that Trevor had passed out as favors at the family's Christmas dinner would probably be redundant, there was always a chance that Aileen or Abby could let something useful slip.   And even more than that, it gave him one last chance to gloat.  Whether or not Aileen Reid was really putting her heart and soul into figuring out how to get his magic back again, he imagined that he was going to quite enjoy seeing how the next few weeks unfolded.

Abby nudged him and pointed out the ceiling.  Jonas followed her gaze up to the glass, with the gray clouds mulling overhead.  Wonderful weather for January.  "Yes, I think that's rather like!" he agreed cheerfully, flashing her a lopsided smile.  "Bit more realistic, this one, though.  You'd swear that was really the sky outside."

He didn't regret anything that was about to happen to either of the elder Reid siblings, but he quite liked their Squib sister.  Maybe if they got lucky, the whole family would be implicated and arrested and then Abby could become a ward of the state.

Aileen spoke up impatiently, urging her sister onwards.  She was obviously not happy with this outing one whit, and had been doing her best to urge them onwards since they'd first met.  Jonas frowned at her, letting his forehead crease as he attempted an expression of befuddlement.

"The Egyptian exhibit should still be there in half an hour, you know," he replied, giving her a crooked smile.  There was probably some sort of law against enjoying his work this much.  "You sure you don't want to stop by the cafe to get a tea?  You didn't order anything at that coffee shop earlier."

Even at the first day of 2009, Megan was already busy, having been dragged into London by her parents. For some reason, her parents decided to spend a part of their day in London for the New Year. After visiting her cousins for Christmas before, it seemed as if her parents didn't want to go back just yet. So, she went with parents, seeing as there was nothing better to do back at their home.

Looking around, Megan let out a slight yawn as she followed her parents into the Dana Centre. Her parents wanted to see a musical from there. Even though she was an artist, she did appreciate other forms of expression. Plus, she did sing in Hogwarts' choir as well, so that helped her appreciate it.

While her parents were buying the tickets, Megan noticed that they were going to see a musical that was two hours long. Deciding that she didn't really want to watch a musical for that length of time, she figured that her parents wouldn't mind if she left to do something else.

Telling her parents that she'd be back later, Megan left the centre, and walked around a bit in London. Noticing the British Museum nearby, she walked over to it. It had been a while since the last time she was there, and she figured that maybe they had more interesting exhibits to see.

Walking into the museum, Megan spotted a display booth stating when certain exhibits would open. Recognizing some exhibits that she already saw before, her eyes landed on the Egyptian exhibit that would begin soon. Deciding to go there, she turned on her heel, and started off in the direction of the exhibit.

As she was walking through the square, Megan was surprised when she spotted Professor Reid there. She certainly never pictured her Ancient Runes Professor in the vicinity of a muggle museum. Walking closer to where Professor Reid was, she smiled to her, "Hi Professor Reid." She then noticed Abby, who she remembered seeing just the night before at the New Year's Eve party but forgot if she knew the girl's name. "Hi," she greeted her with a smile. Noticing Jonas, "Hello," she greeted him politely, smiling.

Abby glanced between her sister and Jonas, wishing they'd get over pretending to hate each other already. Her sister was much more dour this morning than she usually was! Abby swore on her goldfish's grave that Aileen laughed out loud, even giggled when she was at home. Sometimes.

And Jonas was either more oblivious than Abby was, or he had annoying Aileen down to an art form. The coffee shop? Great move, Trevelyan!

"No thank you," her sister responded stiffly, tilting her chin up and looking away from them.

Abby hid a smirk and looked at Jonas, "You could have helped her a little bit. It's not easy facing all those scary pound signs. The beeping cash register. You big meanie," she shook her head solemnly. This was said in jest with maybe an inkling of truth.

"Anyway!" Abby hooked her arm with Jonas' and went over to grab her sister. "I think we should check out the Egypt stuff first. I want to see the mummies and the embalming jars and the weird poker thing they stuck up the wizard guy's nose- Sorry!" She said at Aileen's glare, lowering her voice. "The poker thing they stuck up the Egyptian guy's- "

Abby trailed off as Aileen whipped out the museum map and had located the Egyptian Exhibits in record time.

"Look," Abby whispered at Jonas, eyes wide. "She can read the muggle map with no problem-"

"I am perfectly capable of reading a map!" Aileen snapped. "Rooms 62 and 63. Upper level."

As the trio began walking through the square towards the stairs, they heard a voice off to the side: "Hi Professor Reid."

Aileen froze. Abby turned to look, and saw a girl she recognized from the New Year's Eve party last night. "Hi Megan!" She called out, detaching from Jonas' arm and bounding over to wave at her.

Her sister recovered long enough to plaster on a smile, "Hello, Miss Ruiz. How are you? This is my younger sister Abigail-"

"Abby."

"And this is..." Aileen gestured, paused for a second. "Mr. Trevelyan. A... friend." The word seemed to cause her physical pain.

Not friends for long, Abby thought. Soon she'd be calling him a boyfriend. Because Abby said so.

"You should join us!" Abby blurted out with a grin. "We're going to the Egypt Exhibit. Aileen's just a bit obsessed."

Abby didn't have to look at her sister to know she was about ready to kill her. More so because Abby had suggested Aileen was interested in a muggle museum, less so because it was Megan Ruiz. Ruiz, she remembered, was on the good list of students.

"You are certainly welcome to join us if you wish," Aileen said smoothly, then glanced impatiently at the stairs.

Malcolm was still around, rest assured, still taking photographs left & right. His stomach was rumbling for a good fish & chips joint suddenly; why had he not ate more for breakfast? His feet were starting to ache in these danged boots & well, he was also starting to grow annoyed in inner complaining about the situation around him. This was an opportunity to advance, make his name & face known, so really... the sour demeanor needed to leave. Or he'd end up being like the woman (as well as party) he was about to run into.

Normally, Malcolm Blake didn't always pry into the affairs of those around him, however, his eyes widened ever so slightly & ears perked when he overheard Abigail Reid. Did...did that girl just utter "wizard" as well as "Muggle" in the same sentence? He could not believe his luck! Wizarding folk amongst him & his own family tucked an hour away in their own little, mixed wizarding community of Monks Crescent. Malcolm knew full well he couldn't go up to them & be "omigawd! why are you wizard people here!?" It would cause more than just a few confused looks, that much was for certain.

His plan was to divert these thoughts & take photos, possibly hoping to get at least one of the group who seemed to be glued at their position of motionless speed. Engage in conversation, see what their plans were - what harm could that possibly bring? "...'Lo, there. Couldn't help but overhear y'headin' up to see the mummies? There's a new exhibit I'm photoshooting." His eyes looked to Abby with nothing more than a childlike innocence smile. "The mummification process? Tis wicked, if I do say so meself. The Irish have the Bog Men - my da's did research on a few when I was little. If y'think Egyptians were brutal in their methods, cor...what some Bog Men look like make these mummies look like a kids' tale. Y'wouldn't mind if I could get a smash or two?" A pause. "If'n y'don't mind."

---

Smash / smashie - Slang for 'pictures'

An ancient pamphlet of an old werewolf trial sat on a sleek stainless steel table in a quiet, blindingly white, and cold sterilized room. A fleeting moment of light snapped over the old document and a muffled sound of a rolling shutter swallowed up a picture into Torquil’s camera black box-y camera.

“Is that one of the newer ones?” asked a man in a finely pressed museum uniform.

Torquil let his magical camera fall below his face as his thoughts reeled back from photography and onto the topic of his camera, which was hidden in a disillusionment spell as one of those fancy digital slates of metal muggles seemed to be carrying around so much—one of those fancy cameras that Torquil knew absolutely nothing about.

His bottom lip parted from his wirey mustache lip and an expression of embarrassment rested on his face as he tried to gather a response about digital cameras from an empty space of knowledge in his mind. Knowing full well he couldn’t sound intelligent about this, he used his humility and old age as a fallback, “It’s my son’s camera, he let me borrow it today with a little bribing and made me promise not to use any button except “on” “off” and the shutter button.” His short faded brows popped up as he turned his solemn yet satisfied face towards his helpful guide.

The museum employee slowly nodded at the short Irishman and continued, “You’ll probably want to nab some pictures of the Egyptian exhibit, if not for your work then to show off to your kids,” he winked, “am I right Professor?”

Torquil cocked his head to the side, nodded, and cooed out a mumbled, “yeah.” It all seemed to fit together. Torquil always masqueraded as a professor, when he visited the British Museum, and has been doing so for years, since he clearly couldn’t claim he worked for a wizarding newspaper, and he’s picked up a few random muggle facts over the years. One was that ancient Egypt seemed to be a popular subject among muggle children. Another was that these scholarly sorts could research material for themselves or teaching materials for students without someone wanting to see the end results of something like a newspaper article. And another one was that the elder muggles didn’t seem to keep up with many muggle inventions. Yes, it seemed to all come together very well.

The employee smiled contently, “Well you can do that now, Mr. Foley, because I need to leave for a bit, but I can come back and help you look up some information in the library,” The employee gathered up the document and sealed it away with other old papers of its kind, and guided Torquil out of the room, “I’ll come find you again in the exhibit.”

Torquil fingered the dials on his Argus C3 camera, attempting to hide his disappointment. He’d rather continue more research on werewolves, but he supposed he could amuse himself with the exhibit, and he also needed to stay on the employee's good side.

A faint breeze of chattering echoes overcame him as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, letting his camera sling down to his side, as he wandered out into the gaping museum halls.  He navigated his way to the exhibit by way of giant banners plastered across the walls, until he entered the dimly lit room littered golden and wooden artifacts and stone sculptures. It was amazing, but Torquil enjoyed doing research more than reading about it. It had to do with interaction—actively doing something to acquire knowledge.

The wizard reached into his rucksack bag and procured his glasses as well as small thick book bound in a blank black cover. It was just a reference of famous wizards in history, in alphabetical order. Torquil slid on his glasses and leisurely walked through the room. He skimmed the names on the plaque and flipped through the pages of his book, until he reached a mummy in a showcase and compared the name on its plaque to one in his book. “Ehhh,” he squinted his face and looked up from his book, “Now why’d you go and get yourself mummified…” He found it strange a wizard would let someone do such a thing to him, or would it be beneficial for him to have his brains dragged out through his nostrils, “You ancestors are rather strange, sometimes..." he softly sang to himself.

The best part of Jonas's morning so far, second even to watching Aileen fumble with an Oyster card on the Underground, had been abandoning her at the register of the coffee shop after he'd ordered a flat white, tossed his money down on the counter, and then taken off to 'find a table.'  Lattes, foam or non foam, milk types, and drink sizes were confusing even in the best of times, but for wizards, the menu might as well have been written in Ancient Runes.  Jonas made a mental note to change the venue of his next meeting with Eleor from their usual noodle house chain to a coffee shop, just to watch the Israeli Auror squirm a little.

He managed a completely innocent expression as Abby linked her arm with his.  "Well, I thought you lot'd be alright at figuring it out," he replied, perfectly cheerful and straight-faced.  "Could've said if you were having troubles, yeah?"

This was, Jonas thought, a perfectly brilliant idea.  He should come up with reasons to take purebloods out on the town more often, as well as coming up with a way to possibly market tickets without his target audience catching on.  It wasn't even noon, and he already had big plans for the afternoon.  If he could goad Abby into wanting to see more of Muggle London before her sister dragged her back to their home, the entertainment factor was sure to shoot through the roof.  He could already picture dragging Aileen through the street performers at Covent Garden and then trying to lose her on the Egyptian floor at Harrod's.

First, though, was the Egyptian exhibit, and they apparently weren't the only wizards out and about at the museum that day.  The elder Reid sister greeted a girl who had to be one of her students, introducing her to her younger sister and Jonas.  As a friend.  The private investigator beamed.  With any luck, he could use the opportunity to stretch out the misery well into the second school term.

"Yeah, endearing, innit?" he piped in, giving Miss Ruiz a wink.  "Wouldn't mind the lift instead of the steps, though.  I don't think it's too far from here."

It was obviously a busy day at the museum, because another bloke invited himself into their conversation.  For a split second, Jonas did a double take - if it wasn't for the Irish lilt, he would have easily mistaken the man for Katsaros, who had no business stomping around a Muggle museum.  As it was, the resemblance was unsettling.

"Ah," he said, eyeing the man.  "I'd reckon we don't, but I can't imagine the museum'd be very happy if you go about smashing things up.  Shall we?" he asked Aileen and Abigail cheerfully, limping slightly as he started in the direction of the lift.  "Maybe we ought to round up a few more blokes so that you can give us all a proper guided tour, Professor Reid."

Cillian Horace Cuthbert was one of those rare wizards that was born with the ability to see the future. After the second wizarding war and once he had recovered from his coma Cillian had begun to take more notice of his visions. As Christmas break started and his visions of Sasha's 'abduction' faded he began to get new ones. Visions of the museum had taken over, specifically the Egyptian exhibit and even more specifically this date. He had learned long ago not to take his visions lightly and so he was now here wandering the Egyptian exhibit under the pretense of researching the ancient divination artifacts that were on display.

He had no idea why he was there. He had no idea why he was supposed to be there, why here on this specific day but he knew there was something that was drawing him there, some reason that needed his attention. As he walked amoung the rest of the museum visitors Cillian was as unassuming as ever. He easily blended into the crowd not just because of his size but because of his dress and mannerisms. He had no problem blending in to muggle society. If anything it was within the wizarding society that Cillian stood out as if he didn't belong.

He paused in front of a glass case that was displaying a set of pendulum crystals that were used for divination. The crystals were lying next to a beautiful set of jade runes inscribed with hieroglyphs. It made him wonder how many muggles actually believed in things like divination. He knew that there were much more wizards in Egypt hundreds of years ago than there were now, perhaps there had been some kind of actual relationship between them and the muggles, something that wizards over time had covered up.

Megan's memory was definitely acting up, since she couldn't remember Abby's name. Thankfully, right after Abby's greeting, Professor Reid said her sister's name. Yes, Abby it was, and it sounded familiar from the night before. Waving back to Abby, she smiled to Professor Reid. "I'm fine, how about you?" Turning back to Abby with a smile, "Abby, it's good to see you again," she greeted properly.

Turning to Jonas, Megan smiled to him. "Good to meet you Mr. Trevelyan," she said to him. Her knowledge of any wizards or witches was strictly confined to Hogwarts and any gossip that she heard. Being a muggleborn clearly put her out of the loop on so many topics. She nodded to Jonas's comment, "Oh, yes."

With the invitation to join the three of them by both Abby and Professor Reid, Megan smiled. "Thanks for the offer. Sure, I'll come with you," she responded. "I believe the exhibit should be starting about now," she commented to them. Loitering around the front lobby certainly wouldn't get them there any faster.

However, another person came over as well. Megan tilted her head slightly at the bloke, hearing what he said. With the way he talked, she judged that he was probably just a visitor or a journalist, but clearly not a wizard. She was about to respond to the inquiry at hand, but decided not to. So, she stayed silent, and headed off towards the lift.

(I hope it's alright that I'm moving this forward a bit!)


In her rush to get to the exhibit so that they could leave the museum sooner rather than later, Aileen had completely forgotten about Jonas' leg, and she felt a twinge of embarrassment as he directed them past the stairs. The feeling quickly evaporated when he made a joke about her giving a tour, and Aileen rolled her eyes, entering the lift in a stony silence. It seemed that a few other muggles were crowding into the lift, so Aileen crossed her arms and stood as far away from them as she was able, eyeing the belt bags and the large totes critically. Did they not realise how ridiculous they looked?

Finally, the doors to the lift opened, and the group headed towards the Egyptian exhibit. Much to Aileen's dismay, the muggles followed with their cameras and blinking sneakers close behind. Everyone was heading to the same place. Passing the artistic banners, they entered the first room of the exhibit, which was dimly lit with lights positioned over the glittering artifacts. This room was filled with jewelry, small sculptures, papyrus scrolls, and various tools used in the embalming process.

The mummies must be in the next rooms. Aileen watched, amused, as Abby made a beeline for the 'brain hook' tool. Her sister really had a morbid sense of humor. At least Abby was chattering comfortably with Megan, someone she'd met at the New Year's Eve party last night. As she kept an eye on the two teens, the pinched look on her face relaxed a bit. That is, until she realized she was now stuck with Jonas. Because it was so crowded, she didn't yet notice Cillian or any others from the wizarding community. Aileen looked around at the muggles invading the room in droves and decided to pick the lesser of two evils.

She moved to stand next to him as he studied what appeared to be a boomerang with protective imagery inscribed on it. Glancing at the description, the muggles called it an 'apotropaic wand'. It was meant to protect women and children from the dangers of childbirth.

"Funny what they classify as wands, isn't it," Aileen commented in as neutral a voice as she could manage. She just needed to get through this trip. If Jonas purposefully 'lost' her on the Underground the way he'd done in the cafe, she wasn't sure how she'd get back to civilization to murder him in his sleep. A truce was in order. At least for now.

Aileen caught her sister in a fit of giggles over something, and she frowned, watching the girl slink towards the next room. "Abby! Stay with the group, please." She just didn't trust these muggles. This was why she'd steered her away from the photographer who had asked to take a picture earlier. Who knew how those pictures were developed- she certainly didn't. They didn't even move! Pictures that didn't move; that's what detailed drawings were for. Aileen glanced around in suspicion when the muggle tourists whipped out their cell phones and began click-clacking away, taking pictures and doing their odd little thumb dances over the keys. Absolutely mind boggling. Those cellulite phones weren't even a proper size! Mini little tools of muggle catastrophe...

"Well, hurry up then!" Abby called back, disappearing into the crowd. Aileen let out a sigh and began to follow. If her sister wanted to rush through the exhibit, well, that was fine with her!

Abby flitted from artifact to artifact, talking Megan's ear off and asking her a dozen questions without waiting very long to give her time to respond. Questions like: have you been here before, what did you think of the party last night, what did you think of the boys at the party last night, etc. Important stuff. She exclaimed loudly over the brain hook and other fascinating tools, glancing over her shoulder once to see what her older sister was up to. Aha! Aileen was finally talking to Jonas! Her plan was working!

A delighted grin on her face, Abby nudged Megan and started giggling. Whether Megan picked up on the reason for her amusement, she didn't stick around to find out.

Abby decided to duck into the next room to give Aileen time away from the teenagers, but her plan was foiled when Aileen scolded her. She shouted something back and then hurried into the mummy room- the mummy room! Here, there were funerary masks, portraits, and of course, sarcophagi and mummies. The best part of the exhibit.

She stopped by a short redheaded man who was muttering to himself and taking notes. Stifling a snicker, she tried to peer at the pages of his book, but couldn't quite make out his handwriting. She did, however, notice the camera slung over his shoulder. A camera that looked distinctly wizarding-made.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "Oh! Hi," she said, before she could think about what Aileen would say about approaching strange muggles (especially ones with cameras). "Is that an Argus something or other?" Abby asked in an excited whisper. "Not one of those digimon types, right?" Wasn't that what muggles called them?

If she was wrong, he'd probably just look at her like she was a loon, and she got that often enough that the possibility didn't bother her.

In her purse, the tiny pyramid gave a little shake, and let out a low, barely discernible hum...

As the muggles flooded into the room Torquil picked out one of his fountain pens and began to write on the empty spaces of the pages, making little notes for himself. He might as well do something productive while he’s standing around and waiting. Of course, then a strange girlish snicker began to buzz around his head, and he let his eyes rise from his notebook and survey his peripheral vision before he chose to turn and try to find the busybody hovering over him. It took a few twists and turns before the young woman finally revealed herself, “Oh! Hi.”

Torquil twisted his face in confusion, did she know him? He certainly wasn’t sure what she was doing in the first place, or what she was doing with her friend. Then she mentioned his camera, and his face fell into innocent bewilderment and he looked down at his camera—she could what it really was? “Digimon?” Torquil scoffed out of his mouth, before everything was pieced together in his mind and he realized this child greeted him for what he was not who.

His features and tone became soft as he spoke, “Oh no, those are digital, electronic things,” then he hushed his voice, “oh sh-sh-sh, keep your voice down about these things. Can never be too careful among mug—err—in public.” He checked the people around and them and then the mummy, drowning in the the drone and noises of the crowd before he was comfortable and satisfied with the setting. He smiled, rolled back on his heels, and then planted his feet flat on the floor before speaking again, “So what brings you here? I don’t know too many of us that enjoy… such a crowd.” 

Even though his working knowledge of archaeology was limited to fedoras, leather jackets, and random bits of information like X always marking the spot, gigantic rolling boulders becoming a standard feature in ancient tombs, and hiding inside a refrigerator being an acceptable way to survive a nuclear blast, Jonas still enjoyed museums.  As the lift had opened on the first floor, the private investigator had let the crowd exit ahead of him, taking his time as he wandered by the cases and examined the material pottery record of Ancient Kush.

He was not really expecting to find anything of use here.  Whatever the curse was that was affecting him, Jonas doubted that the answer would pop up neatly labeled behind a glass case in the British museum.  Still, he mused, one never knew when something relevant might appear.  One bit of information led to another, and even if the only thing of worth that he gained from this experience was the expression on Aileen Reid's face when he had abandoned her at the counter of Costa Coffee, he'd still consider it a relatively successful day.

He had stopped alongside a display containing some sort of boomerang, and was just puzzling over what the word 'apotropaic' meant when Aileen had stepped up beside him.

"Funny what they classify as wands, isn't it."

Jonas blinked, giving the woman a long glance, his face expressionless.  Whatever their interactions or however much she technically owed him at the moment, she was not one to just make conversation.

"Yeah, I'd probably find a lot more humor in it if I could use me own," he replied.  Now that he'd said it out loud, the meaning seemed much more sharp than he had meant it.  The red-haired man made a face, giving a half-shrug by way of apology.  "I mean yeah, it is," he said evenly, tucking his hands into the pockets of his coat.  "Reckon they don't really know any better, though.  It's not like anyone's seen fit to sit them down and explain the full of it."

Abby had run ahead with her school friend.  Aileen called after her, and then sighed and began to follow.  Resisting the impulse to roll his eyes, Jonas gave the apotropaic device one last look and then matched the Runes professor's pace, bracing himself as best he could to minimize the limp.

"Teenagers, yeah?" he asked nicely, as they followed in the wake of the two girls.  "Might as well tie 'em down and you'd still lose track of 'em.  She's an alright kid, though," he added quietly, lowering his voice.  It was a thought that did bother him, whatever he might think of Abby's older siblings.  "Too bad on her not being able to get into Hogwarts.  She deserves better'n to get locked away somewhere, thinking she's useless because she can't cast spells."

The doorway opened into what was obviously the actual mummy exhibit. Even though it was early, people were already milling about, mixing and intermingling with the well-preserved dead.  Jonas watched the scene for a moment, a hint of bemusement crossing his features at the juxtaposition of life and death, and then slanted Aileen an amused look.

"Just like opening a tomb, innit?" he asked cheerfully, pausing in the doorway.  "Probably a few more blokes around this one, though.  Is this what you lot spend your time doing when you're off in Egypt?"