Professor Harsiesi walked down the great hall of Hogwarts with a kick in his step. He had just gotten an owl from his friends at the dig site in Egypt with the go ahead to take the kids on a very special trip. Granted the entire trip was special and considering how many forms needed to be signed for the trip to get the okay. 

Turning past the final table he took a few moments to enjoy the complete tranquility of the school without students. Of course the place was better when full of children, but without the chaos and chatter it felt like a sober tomb to knowledge. It had been enjoyable to teach this year as a guest professor, but the entire year had been a trial of sorts and it left Harsiesi unsure if he was going to return. 

[i]“Are you ready Professor?”[/i] A voice spoke echoing down the halls. [i]“After all the sands of time wait for few…”[/i] Standing at the center of the hall was the headmaster. He wore his standard robes and a warm smile. 

[i]“Yes I am headmaster. Have you come to see me off?”[/i] Harsiesi asked. He knew the answer was a two part, but didn’t pry. Throughout the year many of the students and other educators had asked for demonstrations of some of the ancient magic he was a practitioner of. He also remembered mentioning he was using a sand portal to travel back to Egypt.

As few used them anymore the headmaster's curiosity combined with the responsibility to see someone out of Hogwarts likely required him to see Harsiesi off. The two made their way to Harsiesi’s office where his messenger bag and several large jars of sand rested on his desk with names of different cities on them. 

[i]“So how does one execute the sand travel Professor?”[/i] The headmaster asked looking at the jars of sand. 

[i]“Rather old fashion really.”[/i] Harsiesi said. [i]“Most of the sand has already been worked on by my friend. In the past these weren’t so much portals as they were escape bags. A merchants would use them to escape barbarians or sudden weather catastrophes.”[/i] Grabbing his bag and then a jar of sand he unscrewed its top. 

[i]“The sand only takes you back to where it was originally taken from. So this sand was collected from Alexandra”[/i] He pointed to the name written in the sand ” Where our trip will start. You simply take the sand and…” Harsiesi held the jar above his head. [i]“Pour it over you. The sand breaks you down with it and by the time it all comes out of the jar you are traveling to the sands origin. Of course there is the itching…”[/i] Harsiesi paused and then quickly put the jar down.

[i]“What itching?”[/i] The headmaster said with a sudden frown while watching his professor take several giant gulps of water from a glass. [i]“Is there some sort of lingering side effects?”[/i] 

Harsiesi laughed and shook his head. [i]“O no it is nothing that sinister. It is just that if you don’t drink water right before you do it feels like a million scarab beetles are crawling all over your body.”[/i] He then put the glass of water down and grabbed the jar once more and with a single motion bought the sand up and poured it out over himself. A moment later the jar fell into a small pool of sand and the professor nowhere to be found. 

[i]“I suppose a house elf will need to clean this up…”[/i] The headmaster muttered.