Chapter 47.2- Doom Days

“What?” He asked, and he was not the only one to come short at the name. McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Bagman looked curious, just as curious as he was— when had Bagman even joined them, he wondered.

“That’s impossible” The light skinned one from the ICW poked in, jumping g down to examine the coffin as well. It did indeed look Egyptian in origin. It was a gleaming gold and had one of those things that pharaoh’s used to wear engraved on it along with a face.

“By the gods, how did this get here?”

“A question I should be asking you, Miss Bellona. Last I checked, the ICW had custody of this and had it locked away in custody”

“It should be. Could someone have managed to make another? A replica?”

“Impossible” he refuted.

“What is this, Albus? What’s going on?” McGonagall called down, trying to get the pair that were practically glaring at each other back on topic.

“This is the Sarcophagus of Ra. It’s an Egyptian magical artefact. It creates a barrier capable of absorbing all magic both within and without it to power itself while allowing neither ingress nor egress without permission from its Master. It was used in the original pyramids until the Egyptian’s discovered its knock on effects.”

“What does that mean?” He found himself asking now. A barrier that could do that would be invaluable. He could just think of how many death eaters they could have captured. Even Voldemort would have fallen prey to something like that. Lure him somewhere and trap him with no air. Even that bastard needed to breathe, didn’t he?

“It never stops draining magic. Even by just standing next to it, both Victoria and I are having our reserves drained at a steady pace. But if it were just that, then it would have been manageable. Somehow, when connected to the earth, which it must be to power itself, it has the power to drain even leylines completely dry. The Egyptians outlawed their use and destroyed the bulk of them when they discovered that the natural magic of their nation was dying.” Sirius felt himself pale at the thought. Yeah, defeating Voldemort wasn’t worth that. Not even close.

He could just imagine it. No more energy in the earth meant no more wards, most enchantments would fail instantly, and even more tragically, there would be no more magical births. Even purebloods could not produce magical children when they were cut off from the earth’s magic. No one would be forgetting the example of Julius Periwinkle anytime soon.

“Shouldn’t you get that out of the Hogwarts soil then?” McGonagall asked.

“There’s no need. It’s done its job. This was expertly planted. Probably at least a month or so ago. I was planted right at the intersection of the leylines to ensure it was fed full. This also answers the question of how so many assailants managed to make it in. The wards had been strategically weakened ahead of time. While the fact that there are four massive leylines here means Hogwarts will recover, it will take time.