The Adventures of Harrison O'Brien (HP AU)

Chapter 10: Africa

Harrison had planned to spend the next 3 months in Africa. He had heard from a few people that Egypt was where transfiguration had first been explored and was the home to the master board for said subject. He was also very interested in investigating the pyramids to see if any of the myths were true: he was particularly curious about the true use of them and whether they would still be in operation within a magical community.

He apparated into the Egyptian magical hub, their equivalent of a ministry, to collect his map of apparition points, hotels, restaurants and anything else a tourist may need. It was also the first place he had visited to include floo addresses for information hubs and even ministry workers if you encountered a problem. Harrison was impressed with how well thought out the brochures were and the fact that the tourist map was reminiscent of the Marauders map.

He wondered if his dad or Padfoot had ever been here and taken inspiration from it. The interactive map allowed the user to select specific regions of the country, which would then become enlarged giving a description of every shop or business that tourists were likely to use. It also had the same live location tracking features, though it only tracked the user, not every person in the area.

Harrison decided he was going to start his journey at the centre of Egyptian history: the pyramids. He apparated to the pyramids of Giza first, intending to follow the Nile to other historical locations.

The apparition point took him to the Giza Necropolis where he entertained a no-maj tour. He had noticed some barriers warding no-majs away from a specific area, similar to the ones he had seen in Germany. They led him to a secluded counter with different types of tours. The man behind the counter noticed his interest and began explaining what they all were.

"Welcome, Sir. I see you have found the magical tours. We have 4 tours available today, the first is the same as the no-maj tour, with added knowledge and magical events. The second includes a tour of the local area and one of the three pyramids of your choice, you can see descriptions of the three in detail in this brochure," he gestured to a leaflet, newly resting on the counter, "The third tour is all three of the pyramids and the fourth tour is a 3 week opportunity to be guided around the main magical landmarks, locations and hot-spots covering the majority of Egypt. The fourth tour is only available today as our next group leaves in 2 hours."

"Do you have an itinerary for the fourth tour? I'd like a little more information about the plans, timings and locations if you don't mind."

The pamphlet essentially explained that it was up to the group how long they spent in each place, as long as there was adequate time for the remaining activities. It also mentioned that the tour was very flexible, as you could leave and rejoin the group at different locations if you didn't like the specific location up next or just wanted more time somewhere that others didn't. They had 7 destinations planned: the three pyramids of Giza, two magical museums in Cairo, the Valley of Kings and a magical creature sanctuary.

Harrison was beyond excited for most of the places, especially the sanctuary, though he wasn't too bothered about going to Cairo so he intended to stay in the pyramids for longer and go straight to the Valley of Kings to rejoin the group.

He told the man that he wanted to join the tour and was instructed to meet back there at 1pm for the tour to begin. Instead of waiting around for almost 2 hours he decided to go and grab some lunch before looking around no-maj shops for some souvenirs for his friends.

He was back at the meeting point 20 minutes before they were due to set off. Harrison was still fairly new to social situations and it took him a lot of acting and false confidence to portray himself differently, so he didn't make too much of an effort to get to know his fellow travellers. He could tell they were from all over the globe, some having asian heritage and some looking distinctly scandinavian but some had a little more mystery to their ancestry.