Dawn narrowed his eyes.
Anubis's shadow was still connected to his feet, holding the scales and spear.
He raised his wand.
But after the sunlight shifted across the tent, he suddenly realized his shadow had returned to normal.
He stood in silence for a moment.
Then, with a deep breath, Dawn turned and left without looking back.
.....
The bar was as crowded as ever.
Since he had no way to interrogate anyone there unnoticed, Dawn decided to leave it for now and instead went to search for the tent with the sign [Horus].
The three pyramids covered a vast area, and the number of merchants doing business here was enormous.
It took him a long time to find his target, tucked away in the shaded corner behind the Pyramid of Khafre.
He observed for quite a while, and seeing no customers coming or going, he once again used the Disillusionment Charm, preparing to repeat the same method as before.
But this time, the moment Dawn lifted the flap with a gust of wind and stepped inside, a piercing alarm suddenly rang out from the tent.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!"
Looking up, Dawn saw a small device shaped like a spiral trinket.
It was a Sneakoscope—an object that spun and gave off a shrill alarm whenever untrustworthy or dangerous people were nearby.
"Who's there?"
The sharp sound made the man behind the counter call out warily as his wrist shifted toward his back, reaching for something.
°Expelliarmus°
Dawn struck first. A flash of scarlet sent the man stumbling back two steps, his wand spinning through the air.
"Don't move… I don't want to kill anyone. I just have a question." Dawn kept the Disillusionment Charm in place, his voice deliberately hoarse.
Since he had grown tired of the old man's muddled answers earlier, this time he hadn't used the Imperius Curse. As for ensuring truthfulness—he had his own methods.
Hearing his words, the man behind the counter gave a bitter smile, raised his hands, and showed he posed no threat.
His features were ordinary, but his eyebrows were very light in color, similar to the two Carters Dawn had already met.
Going straight to the point, Dawn said bluntly:
"Last night, I dreamed of Anubis. He tore out my heart and placed it on a scale against a feather."
"I heard the Carter family always deals with curses. So I came here specifically to ask—what exactly is happening to me?"
Specifically?
So the Carter name had that kind of reputation.
The man looked a little speechless.
After a moment of thought, he cautiously asked, "Sir, are you certain this is a curse? Could it be just an ordinary dream?"
"I'm very certain." Dawn's hoarse voice carried no doubt.
The man fell into a long silence.
At last, he said carefully:
"I would never dare lie to you. But I truly have never seen a curse like this before… still, I have heard of a kind of magic that causes nightmares. Could it be because of that?"
A dream?
Impossible.
Dawn thought back to the distorted shadow he had seen in the old man's tent and frowned irritably.
He had come to Egypt to learn about its magic, not to personally experience curses like this.
Looking at the man's honest expression, he pressed further: "The Carter family is old and established. Even if you haven't seen it, have you at least heard of something similar?"
The stranger could hear the growing impatience in Dawn's tone. He almost said something false, but then recalled a case that seemed somewhat related.
"Sir… have you heard of the Grim?"
The Grim?
Dawn immediately thought of Sirius Black's Animagus form.
The man explained:
"In European folklore, black dogs are often seen as omens of death. They're described as ghostly hounds, usually connected to graveyards and disasters."
"And in the field of magical Divination, the Grim is considered an ill omen, a sign that death is approaching."
Dawn remembered how Professor Trelawney had once made the same prediction to Harry in the original tale, and asked, "And what does that have to do with me?"
"Well… perhaps something," the man admitted uncertainly.
"You see, the Grim became a death symbol in Britain because of a series of strange and unexplainable events. The most famous case was the Black Shuck legend from East Anglia.
"They say a massive hound—two meters tall when standing, with pitch-black fur and glowing red eyes—burst into two churches in Suffolk in 1577, killing four people.
"And in the wizarding world, there are rumors of people seeing a black dog only to die shortly afterward. But since no solid proof was ever found, it remains just a legend."
"Some wizards once suggested that the Grim itself might actually be a kind of curse."
Dawn narrowed his eyes.
So in Egypt, Anubis symbolized death, and in Europe, the black dog did the same. The resemblance was hard to ignore.
"What about a solution?" he asked.
Silence again.
Dawn did not push him, waiting patiently.
Finally, the man spoke with a bitter look.
"Sir, as you surely know, among all forms of magic, curses are the most dangerous and the hardest to treat."
Dawn agreed. In the original history, even though Dumbledore's death had been deliberately arranged, the old headmaster had indeed triggered a curse beyond his power to undo when he put on the Gaunt family's ring.
And as far as Dawn knew, even at St. Mungo's Hospital, the Curse Damage ward had the lowest success rate of all.
His mood grew darker at the thought.
The man continued:
"Egypt is full of curses, but most of them are fairly concrete in form.
"For example, three years ago, a wizard who touched a curse had his blood transformed into writhing worms. But after draining the blood and regenerating it, the curse disappeared.
"But a purely symbolic curse, like the Grim… honestly, it can't even be proven to exist, let alone cured."
Dawn frowned. "So you're saying there's no way?"
But to his surprise, after a pause, the man said, "No… I do know of one possibility."
He drew in a breath. "Have you heard of the sacred scarab?"
"Scrub?" Dawn frowned.
"…Not exactly," the man replied awkwardly. "It's a magical creature that once lived in ancient Egypt. They were said to possess a remarkable ability—the power to bear a curse on someone's behalf."
To bear a curse?
Dawn was taken aback. But then he thought of the phoenix, which could be reborn from death. In comparison, this ability seemed within reason.
Still…
"Why have I never heard of it? And why isn't it mentioned in Newt's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them?"
"Because wizards believed they had gone extinct thousands of years ago. With so much time passed, the scraps of records left behind were dismissed as unreliable."
The man quickly added, "But in 1922, when Tutankhamun's tomb was opened, there was an eyewitness account of one inside.
"We even extracted the witness's memory with a Pensieve. It was no lie."
I see…
Understanding dawned on him.
Was this why the Carter family lingered stubbornly in Egypt—hoping to find a sacred scarab that could take on a blood curse in their place?
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