Chapter 3

Times were tense for Bill Weasley these days. Newly married, country gone horribly awry, half his friends on the run from the government. And here he was, in the middle of Africa to break a centuries old curse that might already have been triggered.

As he followed the one eyed Muggle to the site, where Mokole was already hard at work, he did his best to ignore the looks he was getting. He'd been out among Muggles enough to know how to dress like them these days. So that wasn't it. No he imagined it was his face. Even his guide had taken a few curious looks at the scars. Bill could tell he was itching to ask. But to his credit, he held his tongue and appeared to be doing his best not to stare.

Bill was somewhat curious as to how the young man had lost his eye. He got momentary amusement from the notion that this boy and Mad Eye could trade stories. Then he remembered what had happened to Moody, and the amusement died.

Which of course got him back to brooding on the current situation back home. Fleur had been almost ready to hex the door shut to keep him from leaving. But the order needed allies, and word needed to be spread. So when his old friend and mentor Mokole had contacted him regarding trouble in his village, he'd come. Getting out of the country hadn't been easy though. And he was certain he was being watched. But as an employee of Gringott's bank he'd managed it.

For his part, Xander was almost physically itching with curiosity about this Bill Weasley. And not even about his face. Well that was part of it. But mostly it was the mystery of his presence in the first place. Who was this guy, showing up out of nowhere wanting to talk to the village Shaman?

It had something to do with the curse, Xander was sure of that. Though Bill had refused to say why he was there. When asked, he'd only politely and evasively asked to see Mokole. And more than that the man seemed, uncomfortable in his own skin. Or maybe it was just that the clothes didn't appear to fit properly.

Xander decided to try again. "So, you're English right?"

Bill looked at him curiously. What the hell kind of question was that? "Yes. And you're American. I can't be the first Englishman you've ever met."

Xander snickered. "No, I've met plenty. Probably more than most Americans. Though I suspect that some of them were faking the accent."

Bill laughed. "I've heard some people do that."

"Have you met many Americans?"

"A few. Mostly tourists on holiday. Surprisingly few actually in England though. Most of them were in Egypt. Not so often now though. It's like something's scaring them away or something."

Xander looked at him to see if he was kidding. Could this guy actually not know what was going on in that part of the world?

Bill caught the look. Was something going on in the Muggle world that he should know about? He grinned, hoping that the man would think he was just kidding.

Xander snickered again, playing along. But he wasn't entirely fooled. "Could be. Oh, here we are."

Mokole, the chief watching with concern, was performing what looked like some sort of ritual at the dig site. The very tip of what could be the entrance to a long buried structure could be seen peeking out from the dirt. The diggers had gotten that far before the order to halt had gone out.

Actually they'd have had to stop anyway. There was no way they could build the school if there was some ancient tomb or any other archaeological find there. But of course, that wasn't the issue at hand. They were already reworking the plans to figure out where to put the school. But with the threat of a curse, the entire village was terrified, and even the skeptical Habitat workers were on edge.

Mokole was relieved to see Bill, for several reasons. For one thing, the young wizard was the best curse breaker he'd ever met. And it had not been easy to admit such a thing about a European. But of course it was also those rumors he'd been hearing about the Isles.

It was fortunate that Bill knew his language. That way they could discuss the situation freely, despite the hovering Muggle.

"Bill, I'm glad you could come. With the situation in your homeland, I was not sure you would be available."

"Well I couldn't say no to an old friend." Bill grinned. "Especially with an unknown curse. Those things can be nasty. Plus I'm hoping you can help me out with something."

"Whatever I can do, I will do it."

"When we've done with this I've some things to tell you that I hope you will tell others." Bill said. "But first things first. What seems to be the problem here?"

Mokole explained to Bill that long ago a very powerful Shaman had been buried on this spot, and as was common practice in those days, a curse had been placed on his tomb should the grave ever be disturbed. But unfortunately, the details of the curse had been lost.

"Has anything happened yet?" Bill asked.

"No, not yet. I hope that the workers stopped in time."

Bill nodded thoughtfully and crouched to examine the little bit of the tomb that was visible. Being careful to keep his back to Xander, he pulled out his wand. "Acclaro." But nothing happened. He frowned, and tentatively touched the tip of his wand to the stone.

Finally he turned back to Mokole, an unsatisfied look on his face. "Well there's definitely something there, but I can't be sure what without seeing the entire tomb."

Mokole blanched. His specialty was in healing charms, and helping plants grow. The occasional exorcism. But curses, particularly powerful ones were out of his league. That was why he'd called Bill in the first place.

"But what if the curse has not been triggered, and revealing the tomb does so?"

"Mokole relax. I'll place all necessary protections up before we uncover it. If the curse is triggered I'll know it, and counter it immediately. But we have to know for certain what we're dealing with here, and I have to see the entire tomb to do that. Can you remove the dirt around the structure?"

Mokole look critically at the partially excavated tomb. "I am not so young as I once was, but I believe I am up to the task. My hands have not started shaking with age yet."

"Good. Now, what do we do about the Muggle?"

They both turned to look at Xander, who was still watching, despite not having understood a word either of them had said.

"Hi." he waved.

To be continued...