Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

James Potter and the
Hall of Elders’ Crossing
G
...
K
...
K
...
To the extent that trademarks of the Series (the "Proprietary Rights") are used in the Work,
such use is incidental and not for purposes of source indication
...
Rowling and her
assigns
...
The Work is © 2007 G
...


Table of Contents:
Prologue
1: The Shadow of Legends
2: Arrival of the Alma Alerons
3: The Ghost and the Intruder
4: The Progressive Element
5: The Book of Austramaddux
6: Harry’s Midnight Meeting
7: Broken Loyalty
8: The Grotto Keep
9: The Debate Betrayal
10: Holiday At Grimmauld Place
11: The Three Relics
12: Visum-Ineptio
13: Revelation of the Robe
14: The Hall of Elders’ Crossing
15: The Muggle Spy
16: Disaster of the Merlin Staff
17: Night of the Returning
18: The Tower Assembly
19: Secrets Unveiled
20: Tale of the Traitor
21: The Gift of the Green Box
Afterword

Then I have an ivory chair high to sit upon,
Almost like my father's chair, which is an ivory throne;
There I sit uplift and upright, there I sit alone
...
Grey peeked around the corner and surveyed the corridor
...
Mr
...
He’d never even heard of
swampfire, much less a timeloop charm, but then again, Mr
...
He shuddered
...
“No gates or locks,
neither
...
“We was told exactly where the beacons were placed,
wasn’t we? This section’s clean
...
If you don’ see him, then move
in
...
Grey shuffled his feet
...
I has a
sense about these things
...
”
“Don’t call me Bistle, yeh sodding half-wit,” said the gravely voice, which belonged to a
particularly grizzly goblin in black shirt and trousers
...
Saffron when we’re on the job
...
Yeh’re just a great coward whenever yeh get in an unfamiliar place
...
”
The third figure, a tall, old man with a pointed, white goatee, stepped past Mr
...


“See how Mr
...
Saffron said, following closely and glancing around
...
No sentry, no problems
...
Pink?”
Mr
...
Saffron, frowning massively and watching the mysterious doors
...
None had names or
markings of any kind
...
Pink could be heard counting softly under his breath
...
Grey?” Mr
...
“Nobody likes grey
...
”
The goblin ignored him
...
Pink stopped walking
...
Saffron and
Mr
...

“Can’t be the place, Mr
...
“There’s no doors in this section at all
...
Pink said
...
There was a chip in the corner of one of the tiles
...
Pink grunted
and knelt down
...
He nodded to himself, then hooked his
finger into the hole and gave a tug
...
Pink’s tugging finger
...
It shuddered into
place
...
Mr
...

“How’d yeh know that was there?” Mr
...
Pink
...
Pink responded, shrugging
...
Pink replied
...
Grey is the
heavy hand, and I’m the mapper
...
”
“Yar, yar, I remember,” the goblin grumbled
...
Pink stood aside as Mr
...
He
studied it carefully, squinting and muttering
...
Finally, he reached into a pocket of his black shirt and produced a complicated device
made of dozens of brass loops
...


“Hardly worth the effort, really,” he muttered
...
Only opens when a
predefined set of factors is present
...
Or when the light of the setting sun is reflected from a cracked
mirror onto a goat’s eye
...
Grey hawks a bogey onto a purple newt
...
”
“Is this a good one, then?” Mr
...

The goblin grinned, showing lots of tiny, pointed teeth
...
Pink says, isn’t it? We all knows
what we need to get the job done
...
Carefully, the goblin uncorked the vial and upended the contents onto the floor before the stone
slab
...
Mr
...

Mr
...
” A narrow beam of greenish light
glowed from the end of the tool
...

Mr
...
Seen in the carefully arranged light of Mr
...
The play of light and shadow revealed an
ornate engraving of a grinning skeleton surrounded by dancing, impish shapes
...
The left hand was missing, and Mr
...

“It’s a danse macabre,” Mr
...
“A dance of death
...
Yar, it’s a good one, Grey
...
Pink asked briskly
...
“We just had to know where to grasp
...
Pink
...
He reached
forward and wrapped his hand around the outstretched fist of the skeletal engraving
...
The engraved shape of the door swung inwards, revealing a large, dark space and a
sound of distant, dripping water
...

Saffron’s black shirt
...
Grey shivered as the sweat on his forehead went cold
...
”
“Of course it isn’t,” Mr
...
“It’s the hidden
depository
...
That’s where the chest is
...
”

7

Mr
...
It became apparent by the smell
and the echo of their footsteps that they were in a deep cavern
...
Pink produced his wand and illuminated
it, but it revealed little more than the shiny, wet rock beneath their feet
...
Grey had the sense that they were in a place so deep that it had never known sunlight
...
Mr
...
It glowed like a pillar of silvery light, almost as if it were a
mirage
...

“Air pocket in a cavern under the Atlantic ocean,” Mr
...

“Under…” Mr
...
“I got a bad sense about this
...
I want
to go back, Bistle
...

“What’s in this chest, anyway?” Mr
...
“It better be worth a lot
...
”
“Never yeh mind that,” Mr
...
“It’s more than yeh’ve ever dreamed of
...
No more petty cons and midnight holdups for us
...
”
“But what is it?” Mr
...
“What’s in the chest?”
“Well, yeh’ll just wait and see, won’t yeh?”
Mr
...
“You don’t know, do you?”
Mr
...
“It doesn’t matter what it is, yeh great dummy
...
They’d hardly help us break into the Ministry of Magic if they didn’t have a prize bit
of swag in mind, would they? Mr
...
Why don’t yeh arsk him?”
“I don’t know either,” Mr
...

There was a long moment of silence
...
Grey heard the steady drip of water echoing out of the
darkness
...
Saffron said, “Yeh don’t know neither?”
Mr
...

The goblin frowned
...
Pink said
...
”
The goblin nodded, remembering
...
Let’s go, Mr
...
You’re the mapper
...
Pink replied
...
” He turned and shone his wand ahead
of them
...
Mr
...

“It’s jest a statue, yeh ninny,” Mr
...
“It’s the dragon’s head we were tol’ about
...
Earn your share, Mr
...
”
“I hate that name,” Mr
...
It was taller than he
was, formed eerily from the stalactites and stalagmites of the cavern wall
...
Purple
...
”
He crouched and slipped his hands between the snaggle teeth of the dragon’s upper jaw
...
Grey
was unusually strong, but lifting the dragon’s jaw required every ounce of his formidable power
...
Finally, just as Mr
...
The stalactites that formed the hinge of the jaw had broken
...
Grey heaved the jaw upwards until it
was high enough for the others to scramble through
...

“Just don’t drop the blasted thing on us,” Mr
...
Pink ducked into the
gaping dragon’s jaw
...
Stalactites and
stalagmites surrounded the space like pillars supporting a smooth, domed ceiling
...

“It’s not a chest,” Mr
...

“Nar,” Mr
...
“But it’s the only thing here, isn’t it? Think we can lug it between us?”
Mr
...
They studied the object
for a moment, and then Mr
...
He bent down, grasping the object, and
nodded for the goblin to grasp the other side
...
Clumsily, they carried the object between them, hefting it up the terraces
...
Pink’s wand light
bobbed and jerked, making their shadows leap wildly on the pillared walls
...
Mr
...
When he saw that his companions were out of the way, he released

9

the upper jaw
...
Mr
...

“So what is it?” Mr
...
Grey’s heaving breaths
...
”
“I never said it was worth a fortune,” a voice said from the blackness behind them
...
Funny how many meanings a phrase like that can have, isn’t it?”
Mr
...
Pink turned slowly, almost as if
he’d expected it
...
It was draped in black robes
...
Two more similarly dressed figures emerged from the darkness
...
Pink said
...
”
“Yes,” the voice agreed
...
Fletcher, but you didn’t
...
And now it is too late
...
Saffron cried, throwing up his hands
...
Yeh can’t do this!
We had a deal!”
“Yes we did, my goblin friend
...
Here is your cut
...
Saffron in the face
...
He collapsed backwards, still writhing
...
Grey stood shakily to his feet
...
You shouldn’t have done that to Bistle
...
”
“And we are only doing what we promised,” the voice behind the mask said pleasantly
...
Grey collapsed heavily
...
Pink
...
“At least tell me what it is,” he said
...
”
“Your last question, I am afraid, is none of your business, Mr
...

“As they say: if we told you, we’d have to kill you
...

We promised to take care of you for life, and we intend to fulfill that promise
...
”
A wand appeared, pointing at Mr
...
He hadn’t used the name Fletcher for years
...
He’d tried so hard to be good and honest
...
Sure, all his old friends in the Order would be disappointed in him,

10

but most of them were dead now, anyway
...
Or so he thought
...
They’d used him, and now he was going to
be disposed of
...
He sighed
...
“As for your first question, however, I expect we can answer that
...
And after today, who could you possibly tell? You came looking for a chest of riches because you are a
small man with small aims
...
Fletcher
...
And thanks to you and
your cohorts, we now have everything we need to accomplish those aims
...
What you see here, Mr
...
”
Hopelessness filled Mundungus Fletcher and he fell to his knees
...
He embraced it
...
Shadow of Legends
James Potter moved slowly along the narrow aisles of the train, peering as nonchalantly as he could
into each compartment
...
The last thing
that James wanted anyone to notice was that, despite the bravado he had so recently displayed with his
younger brother Albus on the platform, he was nervous
...
He opened the folding door at the end of the
passenger car and stepped carefully through the passage into the next one
...
They were talking animatedly to one another, already apparently the best of friends despite the fact
that, most likely, they had only just met
...
He quickly looked
away, pretending to peer out the window behind them, toward the station which still sat bustling with
activity
...
If only Rose was a year older
she’d be here with him
...
It would’ve
been nice to have at least one familiar face along with him
...
Ted, a seventh year, had been so quickly
absorbed into a noisy throng of returning friends and classmates that he’d barely had time to wave and wink
at James before disappearing into a crammed compartment from which emanated the thump of music on a
sleek new wireless
...
Being part
Veela, Victoire had never had any problem making friends of either gender, quickly and effortlessly
...

It wasn’t that he was worried about going to Hogwarts exactly
...
He was positively itching with anticipation of his first classes, of learning to use the brand
new wand that he carried proudly in his backpack
...

But that was where his excitement began to melt into cold anxiety
...
The best he, James, could hope for was to match that record
...
He remembered the story,
told to him dozens of times (although never by his own dad) of how the young Harry Potter had won his first
Golden Snitch by virtually jumping off his broom, catching the golden ball in his mouth and nearly
swallowing it
...
When James was four, he found that famed Snitch in a
shoe box in the bottom of the dining room hutch
...
The tiny wings no longer worked, and the golden ball had a thin coat of dust and tarnish
on it, but James was mesmerized by it
...
It seemed both
smaller and larger than he’d imagined, and the weight of it in his small hand was surprising
...
He asked his dad if
he could keep it, stored in the shoebox when he wasn’t playing with it, in his room
...
He pretended the dark corner under his headboard was his Quidditch locker
...

But what if James couldn’t catch the Snitch, as his father had done? What if he wasn’t as good on
the broom? Uncle Ron had said that riding a broom was in the Potter blood as sure as dragons breathed fire,
but what if James proved him wrong? What if he was slow, or clumsy, or fell off? What if he didn’t even
make the team? For the rest of the first years, that would only be a mild disappointment
...
For James, however,
that would mean he already hadn’t measured up to expectations
...
And if he couldn’t even measure up to his dad in terms of something as elemental
as Quidditch, how could he ever hope to live up to the legend of the boy who defeated the Basilisk, won the
Triwizard Cup, united the Deathly Hallows and, oh yeah, put old Moldy Voldy, the darkest and most
dangerous wizard who ever lived, in the ground for good?
The train gave a protracted, noisy lurch
...
James stopped in the corridor, suddenly overcome by a cold certainty that the worst had already
happened, he had already failed miserably even before he’d begun to try
...
There were two boys
inside, neither talking, both looking out the window as Platform Nine and Three Quarters began to slip
slowly past
...
His own
reflection in the glass, lit by the hard morning sun, blotted the view of the crowd outside
...
He scanned the crowd desperately anyway
...
They were just where he’d left them, a tiny knot of people standing still in the milling faces,
like rocks in a stream
...
Uncle Bill and Aunt
Fleur were waving to a point further back on the train, apparently mouthing goodbyes to Victoire
...
Albus stood next to Dad, and
Lily held Mum’s hand, transfixed by the gigantic crimson engine as it chuffed great bursts of steam and hissed
and rang, picking up speed
...
She said something and
Dad turned, looked, and found him
...
Mum wiped her eye with one
hand, held up Lily’s hand with the other, waving it to James
...
They receded backward as if they were on a conveyor belt, more faces, more waving
hands and milling bodies coming between them
...

Several minutes of silence went by as James watched London scroll past the windows
...
He wondered, as he sometimes did, what life was like as a non-magical person, and for once he
envied them, going to their non-magical, less intimidating (or so he thought) schools and jobs
...
One was seated on the same side as him,
closer to the door
...
He was flipping avidly through an
illustrated booklet called Elemental Magic: What to Know for the New Witch and Wizard
...
On the cover, a good-looking teenaged wizard
in school robes was winking as he conjured a series of objects from a trunk
...
James turned his attention to the boy across from him, who was looking at him openly, smiling
...
James blinked at him, and then noticed the box sitting
on the seat next to the boy
...
“You aren’t allergic to cats, are you?” the boy asked James earnestly
...
No,” James replied, “I don’t think so
...
I’ve never had a problem with it
...
He had an American accent that James found a
little amusing
...

When I saw that I could bring a cat, I knew that was what I wanted
...
He has extra toes, see?
One on each paw
...
What’d you bring?”
“I’ve got an owl
...
A big, old barn owl with plenty of miles on
him
...
He says there’s no more useful
animal for a first year, but I think he just wanted me to have one because he had one
...
“So your dad is a wizard, too? Mine isn’t
...
I’m the
first in my family
...
I could hardly believe it! I always
thought magic was the sort of thing that happened at little kids’ birthday parties
...
Stuff like that
...
It’s hard to miss when your first memories are of your grandparents arriving for
Christmas morning via the fireplace,” James answered, watching the boy’s eyes widen
...
It was just life
...
“That’s wild and crazy! Lucky you! Anyway, my name’s Zane
Walker
...
My dad is working in England for the year, though
...
I’ll probably be going to the wizarding school in
America next year, but it looks like it’s Hogwarts for me this year, which is fine by me, although if they try to
give me any more kidneys or fish for breakfast, I think I’ll blow a gasket
...
” He finished in
a rush, and reached across the compartment to shake James’ hand in a gesture that was so guileless and
automatic that James almost laughed
...
“I’m happy to meet you, too, Zane
...
James Potter
...
“Potter
...

James felt a small, familiar surge of pride and satisfaction
...
Zane made a sort of quizzical half-frown, half-grin
...
“Excuse me?”
“What? Oh, sorry,” Zane said, his expression changing to one of bemusement
...
Hard to tell with that accent
...
“And what
accent? You’re the one with the accent!”
“Your last name’s Potter?” This came from the third boy in the compartment
...

“Yes
...
”
“Potter!” Zane said in a fairly ridiculous attempt at an English accent
...

“Are you related to this Harry Potter kid?” said the bigger boy, ignoring Zane
...
Seems like he was a pretty big deal
...
“He’s my dad
...
” This wasn’t technically true, but it always put people at ease
to think they’d gotten a mental glimpse of the great Harry Potter in a candid moment
...
“Wow! Cool
...

Some guy named, umm…” He glanced down at the booklet, scanning it
...

Volda-whatsit or something
...
“But really, now he’s just my dad
...
” But the
other boy had turned his attention to Zane
...
Zane looked baffled for a moment
...
Like me,” said the bigger boy seriously
...

My dad says it’s important to get a handle on the basics straight off
...
He quizzed me on it the whole ride in
...
Anything
...

James raised his eyebrows at Zane, who frowned and shook his head
...
What’s seven times
forty-three?”
The bigger boy rolled his eyes and slumped in his seat
...
”
“I’ve got a new wand,” Zane said, abandoning the bigger boy and turning to dig in his pack
...
Can’t get it to do squat, yet
...
” He turned, flourishing the wand, which was wrapped in yellow cloth
...
“Ralph Deedle
...
It’s made of willow, with a Himalayan yeti whisker core
...
“A what?”

16

“A Himalayan yeti whisker
...
Cost my dad
twenty Galleons
...
” He studied Zane’s and James’ faces in turn
...
“It’s just that I’ve never heard of a Himalayan yeti
...
“Sure! You know what those are
...
I always thought they were imaginary, you know
...
” He
picked up his booklet again and fanned the pages with one hand, gesturing vaguely with the other
...
“Oh, well we thought that was going to be the hard part, didn’t we? I mean, there
don’t seem to be wand merchants on every corner where we come from, which is Surrey
...
No problem! There was a man
right there on the street corner with a little booth
...

“A little booth,” James prodded
...
He was selling maps
...
My dad develops security software
...
Did I mention that? Anyway, he asked for the best, most state of the art wandmaker
...
Only makes a few a year, but keeps them special for people
who really know what they are looking for
...
”
James was trying to keep his face straight
...

“Yeah,” Ralph confirmed
...

“The one with the yeti core,” James confirmed
...
“You know, it starts sounding a little silly when you say it, doesn’t it?” he asked a bit morosely
...
”
He pulled the brown paper off
...
The
end had been whittled to a dull point and painted lime green
...
After a moment, Ralph
looked a bit desperately at James
...
“Well, it’d be a treat for killing vampires with, I’d think
...

Zane straightened and pointed to the door of the compartment
...
”
The old witch that operated the food cart peered into the open door of their compartment
...
He glanced back at James expectantly
...
All I have is an American ten dollar bill
...
“You don’t take American greenbacks, do you?”
She blinked and looked slightly aghast
...
I thought not,” Zane said, wiggling his upturned palm towards James
...
“Wizard money
isn’t like play money, you know,” he said reproachfully, but there was a smile in his voice
...
“Did he just say ‘drat’?”
“Oooh! Look at this!” Zane cried happily
...
Us wizards, I mean
...

Assorted colors of wands were laid out in neat compartments
...
There was a pop and a shower of tiny, purple flowers peppered the front of
Ralph’s tee shirt
...

“Better than I’ve gotten out of my own wand, yet,” Zane said, biting off the end of the wand with
gusto
...
He
opened the box containing his own Chocolate Frog, caught the frog in the air as it leaped out, and bit its head
off
...
‘Harry
Potter, the Boy Who Lived’, ran the caption at the bottom of the card
...

“Here
...
Ralph hardly
noticed
...
“I don’t know for sure,” he said,
looking at it, “but I think these are made out of meringue
...
James found himself in turns either acting as a tour guide
for his two new friends or having their conversation explained to him wherever they centered on Muggle life
and concepts
...
Whenever they weren’t watching it, it seemed that they and their friends were playing games on it,
pretending to drive racing cars or go on adventures or play sports
...
When he asked Ralph why he’d spent so much
time playing sports on the television instead of playing them in real life, Ralph merely rolled his eyes, made an
exasperated noise, and then looked helplessly at Zane
...
You wouldn’t understand
...
He told them
about the unplottable nature of the castle, which meant it couldn’t be found on any map by anyone who
didn’t already know its location
...
He tried, as best he could, to explain Quidditch, which seemed to leave both
of them confused and frustratingly unenthusiastic
...
James tried very patiently to explain that both
wizards and witches rode brooms and that it wasn’t at all ‘a girly thing’
...

Just as evening was beginning to turn the sky a pale purple and silhouette the trees outside the train’s
windows, a tall, older boy with neatly cropped blonde hair knocked sharply on their compartment door
...
“You fellows will want
to be getting your school robes on
...
“We will, will we?” he asked
...
Are you quite sure?” He pronounced the word ‘quite’ with his ridiculous English accent
...

“My name is Steven Metzker
...
Prefect
...
“Walker
...
Happy to meet you Mr
...
”
Steven glanced down at the proffered hand, and then decided, with an apparently great effort, to go
ahead and shake it
...
“There will be a dinner in the Great
Hall promptly upon your arrival on the school grounds
...
I will assume by your
accent, Mr
...
No doubt you’ll catch on fast
...

“No doubt I shall,” Zane said cheerfully
...
Ralph had put his on backwards, making
him look to James like the youngest cleric he’d ever seen
...
Only when James had insisted that it
would be disrespectful to the school and teachers did Zane reluctantly agree to turn it back around
...
He knew
about Hogsmeade Station, had even been there a few times when he was very young, although he had no
memories of it
...
Still, he discovered that none of that had quite prepared him for the grandness and
solemnity of it
...
The sheer bulk of the castle amazed him as it rambled and clumped on
the great rocky hilltop
...
A galaxy of windows dotted
the castle, glowing a warm yellow on the shaded sides, glittering like sunfire on the lit
...

There was one detail he hadn’t expected, however
...
Unlike the ones he and his fellow first years rode in,
it wasn’t lit by a lantern
...
It was pointed away from the lights of Hogwarts,
a larger boat than his own, but still small enough to be nearly lost in the dim shadows at the edge of the lake
...
James thought it looked like a woman
...
In the darkening light, he was almost sure their eyes met, and a totally unexpected
coldness came over him
...
Her skin was dark, her face bony, hard, with high cheeks
and a sharp chin
...
The look on her face
as she watched him watch her wasn’t frightened or angry
...
And then she vanished
...
He shook his head, smiled at himself for being a typically jumpy first year, and then returned
his gaze to the journey ahead
...
James found
himself straggling, threading almost unconsciously to the rear of the group as they climbed the steps into the
brightly lit corridor
...
Filch, whom James recognized by his hair, scowl, and the cat, Mrs
...
Here were the enchanted staircases, even now creaking
and grinding into new positions to the mingled delight and trepidation of the new students
...
As
the students congregated there, conversation faltered to silence
...

The doors creaked and swung inwards, light and sound pouring out through them as they revealed
the Great Hall in all its splendor
...
James looked for Ted, but couldn’t find him in the throng
...
“Welcome to Hogwarts, first years!” he called over the noise of the Hall
...
You’ll be sorted into your houses straight off
...
Please follow me
...

Nervously, the first years began to follow, first in a shuffle, then in a brisk trot, trying to keep up
...
He’d almost forgotten about
the enchanted ceiling
...

The higher he looked, the more the ceiling beams and alcoves retreated into transparency, revealing a
stunning representation of the outside sky
...

“Did he say his name was Longbottom?” Zane said to James out of the corner of his mouth
...
Neville Longbottom
...
“You Brits really have a thing to learn about subtlety
...
” Ralph shushed him as the crowd began to quiet, noticing the first years
lining up along the front of the hall
...
There
was Professor Slughorn, looking just as fat and ridiculously baroque as his parents had described
...
Next to him was the ghostly Professor Binns, then Professor Trelawney, blinking owlishly
behind her gigantic spectacles
...
Several other faces James didn’t recognize were
scattered about: teachers who’d come since his parents’ time and were therefore relatively unfamiliar
...
Finally, at the center of the table, just then standing and raising her arms, was
Minerva McGonagall, the Headmistress
...
” A cheer of
happy acknowledgement went up from the seated students behind James
...
He saw Ted seated, hooting through his cupped hands, surrounded by group of
somehow impossibly handsome and beautiful older boys and girls at the Gryffindor table
...

As the cheers diminished, Professor McGonagall continued
...
Let us hope that this spirit of mutual understanding and unity of
purpose accompanies us throughout the school year
...

James heard scattered scuffling and the marked silences of conspicuous guilty grins
...
James noticed that one of them was Steven Metzker, the prefect they’d encountered on the
train
...
First years, will you please approach the platform? I will be
calling your names individually
...
He knew this ceremony well, having quizzed his parents endlessly about it
...
In truth, he recognized now that his excitement had actually masked a numbing, terrible fear
...
It hadn’t quite hit him until he’d
seen the article in the Daily Prophet several weeks earlier
...
The
article summarized the ongoing biography of Harry Potter, now married to his school sweetheart, Ginny
Weasley, and announced that James, the first-born son of Harry and Ginny Potter, was to be attending his
first year at Hogwarts
...
He could recall
it word for word: We at the Daily Prophet, along with the rest of the magical world, wish young Mr
...


22

What would the Daily Prophet, or the rest of the wizarding world, think of the son of the beloved and
legendary figure if he sat on that chair and the Sorting Hat proclaimed him something other than a
Gryffindor? Back on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, James had confided this very fear to his dad
...

James had pressed his lips together, knowing his dad would say something like that
...

His dad didn’t answer, only pressed his lips together, smiled ruefully and shook his head
...
Try not to be like me in that regard, OK? We
know great witches and wizards from all the houses
...
”
James had nodded, but it hadn’t worked
...
James was to be a Gryffindor, just like Mum and Dad, just like his uncles and aunt, just like
all the heroes and legends he’d been told about since he was a baby, all the way back to Godric Gryffindor
himself, greatest of all the founders of Hogwarts
...
He’d
had a sort of idea during the last few hours
...
He had assumed all
along that he had no choice but to compete with his father and try to fill his enormous shoes
...
But what if there was another
option? What if he simply didn’t try?
James stared ahead, unseeing, as the first students were called to the chair, as the hat was lowered
onto their heads, almost hiding their intensely curious, upturned eyes
...
What if he simply
didn’t try to live up to the giant shadow cast by his dad? Not that he wouldn’t be great in his own way
...
A decidedly, intentionally different way
...

That would be all that mattered
...

He startled, looking up at her as if he’d forgotten she was there
...
He was about to move forward and climb the short flight of steps to the platform
when a noise broke out behind him
...
He was irrationally afraid
that somehow his thoughts had gotten out and betrayed him, that it was the noise of the Gryffindor table
standing, booing him
...
It was the sound of applause, polite and sustained,

23

in response to the calling of his name
...
But they weren’t the ones applauding
...

Most of their heads were turned toward the source of the sound
...
It was
the Slytherin table
...
The entire table was looking at him with pleasant smiles, every one
open, happy, applauding
...
She clapped lightly but confidently, smiling directly at James
...

“Yes
...
“That will be enough
...
Potter here with us this year
...
As he turned and sat down
on the chair, he heard the Headmistress mutter, “So we can finish this and have dinner before the next
equinox
...
He closed his eyes tightly and felt the cool softness of the hat cover his head, slipping down over
his brow
...
James was in the mind of the hat, or perhaps it was the other way
around
...

“Potter, James, yes, I’ve been expecting this one
...

Always difficult, these…,” it mused to itself, as if it enjoyed the challenge
...
Still, good Gryffindor stock, just like the ones before
...
Then he remembered the thought he’d had standing before the dais and he
faltered
...
I don’t have to be a Gryffindor
...

“Slytherin, he thinks!” the hat spoke in his head, considering
...

Like his father
...
Hmm, very unsure of himself is this
one, and that is a first for a Potter
...
Perhaps
Hufflepuff would do him some good…”
Not Hufflepuff, thought James
...
Then they faded and he saw the girl at the Slytherin table, smiling,
applauding
...
Yes, I see it now
...
My initial instincts are correct, as always
...


24

The hat was whipped off his head, and James had actually thought he’d heard the word ‘Slytherin’
still echoing from the walls, actually looked with sudden horror toward the green and silver table to see them
applauding, when he realized it was the table beneath the crimson lion that had jumped up and applauded
...
He leaped from the chair, ran down the steps, and was
enveloped amongst the cheers
...
A seat
near the front opened for him and a voice spoke in his ear as the cheers finally subsided
...
James turned to see Ted give him a
confident nod and a slap on the back before settling back to his seat
...
He didn’t have to follow exactly in his dad’s footsteps, but maybe he could start doing things
deliberately differently tomorrow
...

When Zane’s name was called, he trotted up the steps and plopped on the chair as if he thought it
was going to take him on a roller coaster ride
...

The rest of the first years made their way to the dais and the house tables filled out appreciably
...
He seemed to shrink a bit under the hat as
it thought for a surprisingly long time
...
He had been sure that at least one, if not both, of his new friends would end up
seated next to him at the Gryffindor table
...
Of course, he conveniently forgot that he himself had almost
succeeded in getting sent there
...
The
girl with the sparkling eyes and the wavy black hair was smiling again, pleasantly, welcomingly
...
Dad and Mum would hardly believe it
...
“First years,” she called, “your new
house is your home, but we are all your family
...
And now,” she pushed her spectacles onto her nose and
addressed the crowd over them
...
As always, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to students at
all times
...
First years may ask any older students-except for Mr
...
Noah Metzker, whose counsel you might wish to avoid on the matter-what they can expect if they determine to ignore this rule
...
Zane, at
the Ravenclaw table, had pulled a bowl of nuts in front of him and was determinedly working his way
through it
...
James shrugged and nodded noncommittally
...
“Some of you may have noticed that there is one empty chair amidst your teachers here on
the dais
...
He will be arriving tomorrow afternoon, along with a full
complement of fellow teachers, students, and associates, as part of a year-long international magical summit
between his school and ours
...
”
Sounds of mingled excitement and derision erupted in the hall as the students instantly turned to
discuss this rather remarkable turn of events with their fellows
...
James turned around, looking for Zane
...
Your people are coming here, he mouthed
...

In the midst of the debate, dinner appeared on the long tables, and James, along with the rest of
Hogwarts, dug in with fervor
...

“Password,” she sang out
...
No one had told him any passwords
...
I’m a first year
...


26

“Gryffindor you may be,” said the Fat Lady, looking him up and down with an air of polite patience,
“but no password, no entry
...

The Fat Lady stared at him levelly
...
”
There was a commotion on the moving staircase nearby
...
A group of older students clambered up, laughing and shushing each other
conspicuously
...

“Ted,” James called in relief, “I need the password
...
“Genisolaris,” he said, and then added to one of the
girls in the group, “Hurry it up, Petra, and don’t let Noah’s brother see you
...
James began to follow her in when Ted threw an arm around his shoulder, turning
him around and bringing him back out onto the landing
...
”
“What?” James stammered
...
You know that, do you?”
“Commonly known in the Muggle world as ‘The Witching Hour’,” Ted said instructively
...
We like to call it, simply, ‘Raising the Wocket’
...
“The what?”
James asked, trying to keep up
...
“And his
dad’s the owner of the famous Marauder’s Map
...
James, let me introduce you to the rest of the Gremlins, a group you
may indeed hope to join, depending on how things go tonight, of course
...
“My number one, Noah Metzker, whose
only flaw is his unwitting relationship to his fifth-year prefect brother
...
“Our treasurer,” Ted continued, “if we ever manage to come across any coin, Sabrina Hildegard
...
“Our
scapegoat, should such services ever be required, young Damien Damascus,” Ted gripped the shoulder of a
stout boy with heavy glasses and a pumpkin-like face who grimaced at him and growled
...
Petra Morganstern
...
James noticed that everyone but him had changed out of their robes and into jeans and dark
sweatshirts
...

“Affirmative
...
They all
turned and began to descend the staircase, Ted steering James along with them
...

Ted gave him an appraising look
...
Relax, mate
...
So to speak
...
You don’t want to step on that step, mind
you
...
He landed on the floor of a long, torch lit
corridor and stumbled to keep up
...

“Good evening, fellow Gremlins,” Ted whispered as they all clustered together in the shadow of the
statue
...
” James grinned sheepishly at the
new faces, and then did a double take at the third face in the group
...
” He turned to Gennifer
...

“Zane,” Gennifer said, throwing an arm around the smaller boy, who grinned and let himself be
playfully shaken
...
I’m
thinking there might be some imp in his lineage somewhere
...
“Sounds iffy to me, but if this’ll make us cool, well, I figured we might as well get it out of
the way straight off!” James couldn’t tell if Zane was joking, and then he realized it didn’t really matter
...

James decided it was time to impress himself upon the conversation
...
“This is St
...
We only
learned his story last year and it led us to a rather amazing discovery
...

Petra considered this and nodded
...

“Back in your father’s day,” Noah said as Ted scratched around behind the statue, “there were six
secret passages in and out of Hogwarts
...
After that, a lot of the castle was

28

rebuilt, and all the old secret passages were permanently sealed off
...
It just seems to grow new secret passages
...
St
...
It’s all right there
in his slogan
...

Ted made a grunt of triumph and there was a loud click
...
With a grind of moving stone, the statue of St
...
He disappeared into the door opposite, which James saw
was a boys’ bathroom
...
Lokimagus’ plinth
...
“When you gotta go, you gotta
go
...
The Gremlins pounded noisily up the
steps, and then shushed each other as they reached a doorway
...
A moment later he pushed the door wide and motioned for the rest to follow him outside
...

The tall grandstands rose into the moonlight, looking bleak and imposing in the silence
...
“If you go into it without having come through St
...
Pretty convenient, since it means that
even if we get caught, nobody else can chase us back through the tunnel
...

“No, but this is the first time we’ve tried to use it
...
” She
shrugged as if to say we’ll see how this turns out, won’t we?
Zane’s voice came out of the darkness behind James, conversationally
...
Magic Buns gets
done with the loo before we all come back through his hole?” James shuddered at Zane’s turn of phrase, but
admired his logic
...

“That’s definitely a question for a Ravenclaw,” Noah called back as quietly as he could, but nobody
answered
...
Ted pulled his wand from his back pocket as he approached a patch of rambling bushes

29

and weeds
...
It was ramshackle,
bowed and buried in vines
...
There
was a flash of yellow light
...
The arm ended in a fist with the index finger pointed in the air
...

“Protective charm’s still in place, then,” Ted announced happily
...
James saw it was a rusted skeleton key
...
“Although I had wanted it
to be a different gesture
...

“We figured any magical types that tried to break in here wouldn’t think to try anything as boring as
a key,” Noah explained
...
It’s abandoned
...
The doors of the old barn swung open with
surprising silence
...

James peered inside
...
He could just barely make out the shape of it
...

“Cool!” Zane cried happily, understanding dawning on him
...

There was nothing like this in The Wizard of Oz
...

“It’s a Muggle thing,” James replied
...
”

30

Frank Tottington awoke suddenly, sure he’d heard something out in the garden
...

“Hmwah?” his wife mumbled, raising her head sleepily
...
“Didn’t I tell you they were sneaking in at night, trampling my begonias and stealing my
tomatoes? Kids!” he spat
...
It flapped about his shins as he clumped
down the stairs and grabbed his shotgun off the hook by the back door
...
“All
right, you hooligans! Drop those tomatoes and step out here into the light where I can see you!” He raised
the shotgun in one hand, pointing it warningly at the star-strewn sky
...
Frank froze, his shotgun still held barrel up, pointing up into the beam of light
...
There was something
hovering over him
...
It was simply a round black shape, with dim lights
dotting the edge
...

Frank gasped, stumbled and nearly dropped his gun
...
It lowered slowly, as if cushioned by the beam of light, and
as it came to rest, its hum deepened, throbbing
...
He chewed on his dentures
fretfully
...
It was
outlined in light, and the light brightened as the door unfolded, forming a short ramp
...
Frank gasped and raised his shotgun, socking it to his shoulder
...
He made to pull the trigger, but nothing happened
...
He glanced down at the shotgun, and then
held it out in front of him in shock
...
It was a small, ratty umbrella with a fake
wooden handle
...
Recognizing he was in the presence of something truly
otherworldly, Frank dropped the umbrella and sank to his knees
...
Its skin was a purplish green, its large head was nearly
featureless, with the suggestion of large, almond-shaped eyes barely visible in the glare of light from the open
hatchway
...
It ducked slightly to clear the doorway, then, suddenly the figure tripped on the lip of the hatch
...
He scrambled

31

backwards desperately, terrified
...

In the moment before Frank blacked out, he was distracted only by the rather strange fact that the
figure seemed to be wearing, if nothing else, a fairly ordinary dark green backpack slung over its shoulders
...


James awoke blearily the next morning
...
He was in a four-poster bed in a large, round room with a low ceiling
...
Slowly, like owls coming in to
roost, he remembered the previous night: the Sorting Hat, standing before the portrait of the Fat Lady and
not knowing the Gryffindor password, meeting Ted, and then the rest of the Gremlins
...
He patted his cheeks, his brow, the shape of his eyes,
and then sighed with relief
...
Something flopped onto his bed next
to him, a newspaper James didn’t recognize
...
James glanced up
...

“They misspelled ‘Wocket’ again,” he said
...


Arrival of the Alma Alerons

By the time James had dressed and made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast, it was nearly
ten o’clock
...
At the far corner of the Slytherin table, Zane sat hunched and squinting under a beam
of sunlight
...

As James made his way across the Hall, four or five house-elves, each wearing large linen napkins
with the Hogwarts crest embroidered on them, circled the tables, meandering in what at first appeared to be
random paths
...
As James passed one of
the elves, it straightened, raised its spindly arms, and then brought them swiftly down
...
With a great clattering of dishes and
silverware, the corners of the tablecloth shot upwards and twisted around the pile of breakfast debris, creating
a huge clanking bag floating improbably over the polished wood table
...
It grasped the
twisted top of the bag, using the knot as if it were a set of reins, and turned the bag, driving it bobbingly
toward the gigantic service doors in the side of the Hall
...

“Phew,” Zane muttered as James plopped down next to him and reached for the last piece of toast
...
”

33

“They’re not waiters, they’re house-elves
...
The other half was speared on the end of his fork, which he used like a pointer,
indicating the elves
...
They’re like the elves in that kids’ story
...
”
“The what?” Zane asked over his coffee mug
...
He had all these shoes half finished and just lying around, and he was
about to fall over from all the work
...
He wakes up and bammo, everything’s cool
...
“I never pictured them wearing napkins, though
...

“What passes for it, I suppose,” James replied
...
“It felt weird
...
But it didn’t hurt
...
”
“She must be an artist
...
Webbed feet and all
...
They told
him all about the previous night, about raising the Wocket, and the farmer who’d fainted when James, the
little alien, had stumbled and fallen on top of him
...
Attack of the Martian Klutzes!” He dissolved into laughter and after a
moment, James joined him
...

“It’s just a bunch of chicken wire and papier-mâché,” Zane said, downing the last of his coffee and
clapping the mug onto the table
...
“Sabrina and Horace
made it last year as part of a float for a Christmas parade down in Hogsmeade
...

Now, with the help of some paint and something Gennifer called a ‘Visum-ineptio charm’, it’s the R
...
S
...
”
A very small house-elf approached Zane, frowning
...

“Here you go, buddy,” Zane said, handing the elf the empty coffee mug
...
Keep it up
...
”

34

The elf looked down at the piece of paper Zane had just handed him
...

“Thank you, young master
...
“No, thanks
...
You look tired
...
With a barely perceptible roll
of the eyes, the elf tucked the five dollar bill into his napkin and disappeared under the table
...
“I could get used to this
...

“I don’t see why not,” Zane said airily, stretching
...
He
says it’s part of the local economy
...
”
“And you can’t just tell a house-elf to go get some sleep,” James said, suddenly realizing what had just
happened
...
He was thinking of
the Potter family house-elf, a sad little pug of an elf whose moroseness was only offset by his sheer bloodyminded determination to do exactly what was asked of him
...
It was
just that you had to learn precisely how to ask things of Kreacher
...
It’s just the kind of beings they are
...
” James shook his head, and then realized it struck him funny
...
Zane saw it and pointed at him
...

“I can’t imagine that they have to do everything we ask of them,” Ralph said, his brow furrowed
...
We don’t own the place or anything
...
”
“You remembered the name of the spell Sabrina used to make the Wocket look like a rocket?” James
asked, turning to Zane, impressed
...
“It means something like ‘eye-fooling’
...
Horace says it just helps people see what they think
they are going to see
...
“So when that beam of light came out of the sky onto that farmer, he, sort of,
expected to see an alien spaceship?”

35

“Sure
...
”
“You’re a strange guy, Zane,” Ralph said, not unappreciatively
...
All three of them turned, looking up
...
She
was looking down at him with a pleasant, vaguely indulgent expression
...
Heat rushed to James’ cheeks as he remembered he was sitting at the
Slytherin table
...

“No, no!” the pretty Slytherin girl said, raising her hand toward him, palm out, stopping him in his
tracks almost as if she’d used magic
...
I’m happy to see you feel comfortable enough to sit at the
Slytherin table with us
...
But I assume too much
...
Deedle, would you be so kind as to introduce me to your friend?”
Ralph coughed, clearing his throat in embarrassment
...
And this
is Zane
...
Sorry
...

“Walker
...
It is a distinct and heartfelt pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms…”
The girl’s smile broadened a tiny bit and she tilted her head, still looking at Ralph
...
“Yes
...
She’s a prefect in Slytherin
House, a sixth year, I think
...
And the debate team
...
” Having exhausted himself of everything he could think of to say about her,
Ralph slumped as if exhausted
...
“I’m glad to have officially
made your acquaintances
...
Potter, or may I call you James?” she said, turning to him
...
He realized she’d asked him a question,
shook himself, and answered
...
Sure
...
”
“And I’d be delighted if you’d call me Tabitha,” she said, smiling as if this gesture of familiarity
pleased her immensely
...
” She turned left and right, encompassing the two Slytherins with
her
...
Can we, I hope,
expect to all be friends?”

36

The boy on Tabitha’s right continued to smile down at James
...

“S-sure
...
Of course,” James stammered
...
It swallowed his voice, made it tiny
...
Her green eyes twinkled
...
And
now we will leave you to finish your, er, breakfasts
...

“What did you just agree to?” Ralph asked as they stood and followed the Slytherins at a careful
distance
...
“I can’t say for sure which I am rooting
for
...
Things certainly had changed a lot since Dad’s and Mum’s day
...


The three of them spent the rest of the morning exploring the school grounds
...
Zane’s mouth fell open when he saw a group of older students playing a scratch three-onthree Quidditch match
...

“Brutal!” Zane proclaimed happily as one of the players walloped a Bludger at an opposing player’s
head, knocking him into a barrel roll around his broomstick
...
”
They passed Hagrid’s cottage, which looked empty and dark, with no smoke in the chimney and the
door shut tight
...
A gigantic, ancient-looking willow tree dominated the edge of the clearing
...


37

“Close enough, mate,” he said
...
”
Ted loosened the mouth of a large laundry bag he’d been dragging behind him
...
It was covered in
multicolored scraps of paper whose colors shifted and swam in the light breeze
...
“In the shape of a… a… don’t tell me! A… sphinxoraptor!”
“It’s a hippogriff,” James said, laughing
...

“Me too!” Noah added
...
He lifted the piñata in his other hand, hefted it, and then threw
it as hard as he could into the curtain of branches hanging from the willow
...
Then there was a rustle among the whiplike branches
...
Suddenly, the tree exploded into a violent
flurry of motion
...
The noise it made was like a
very localized windstorm
...
The tree
embraced it in dozens of coiling, angry whips, and then all of the branches pulled at once
...
Shreds of multicolored paper and wizard candy exploded as the
ballistics charm core of the piñata triggered
...
The tree thrashed in apparent annoyance at the sudden colorful mess in its branches, then seemed to
give up
...

Ted and Noah laughed uproariously
...

James had heard about the Whomping Willow, but was still impressed by both its violence and the other
Gryffindors’ casualness about it
...
Without looking, Ralph
plucked an Every Flavor Bean out of his hair and stuck it in his mouth
...
“Tastes like taco! Cool!”
James separated himself from the group a little later and made his way up the stairs to the landing
outside the Gryffindor common room
...

“Genisolaris,” he replied, hoping it hadn’t changed already
...

The common room was empty, the fireplace cold
...
He was already feeling a warm sense of belonging in this room, even in its dozing,
midday emptiness
...
Nobby, James’ huge, brown barn owl, was sleeping in

38

his cage with his head tucked under his wing
...


Dear Mum and Dad,
Arrived last night with no problems
...
Ralph
turned out to be a Slytherin, which I’d have never guessed
...
They’re both Muggle-born, so I’m learning a lot even
though classes haven’t started yet
...
Ted
showed us the Whomping Willow, but we didn’t get too close, Mum
...
Saw Neville yesterday, but didn’t have a chance to give him your greeting
...
Should be interesting
since Zane is from the States himself
...
More later
...
S
...
He’d debated about the best way to
announce his house to Mum and Dad (and everybody else, since they’d all be waiting to hear about it from
his parents), and had decided that just saying it straight up would be best
...

“Hey, Nobby,” James whispered
...

“Got a message for you to deliver
...
James opened Nobby’s cage and attached the letter
...
James, feeling almost absurdly happy, watched until Nobby was a speck between the distant blue
mountain peaks
...

He had lunch at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and then met up afterwards with Zane and
Ralph as the rest of the school began to assemble in the main courtyard
...
The
cacophony as they tuned their instruments was deafening
...
Students milled and
congregated, filling the courtyard
...

James, Zane, and Ralph found themselves near the great front gates, watching for the arrival of the Americans
with growing anticipation
...
He
couldn’t help wondering how the Americans might choose to arrive
...
The student orchestra stood on a small
tiered grandstand, instruments held at the ready, blinking in the hazy afternoon sunlight
...

Finally, someone pointed and voices called out
...
James squinted into the
golden haze over the distant mountain peaks
...
As he
watched, two more became visible, closely following the first
...
James glanced at Zane, who shrugged, obviously mystified
...
The objects must have been moving at a great speed
because they were already swooping down, taking on shape as they approached the courtyard
...
James watched as the objects slowed
appreciably, lowering to meet their shadows on the courtyard lawn
...
“They’re cars!”
James had heard about his grandfather Weasley’s enchanted Ford Anglia, flown once by his dad and
Uncle Ron to Hogwarts, where it took refuge in the Forbidden Forest and was never seen again
...
One difference was that, unlike the photos James had seen of the Anglia, these cars
were shiny and immaculate, with chrome accents throwing darts of sunlight all around the courtyard
...
They were exactly like giant insect wings, thrumming
loudly, catching the sunlight in blurring rainbow-colored fans
...
Its front wheels touched
down first and rolled slightly forward as the rest of the car settled behind them
...
The second, according to Zane, who seemed to be an expert on
the subject, was a Stutz Dragonfly
...
Its wings were also long and tapered, making a deep, beating drone
James could feel in his chest
...
Even he
knew what a Volkswagen Beetle was
...
It settled onto its wheels as if they were landing gear, and the wings stopped
thrumming, folded delicately, and disappeared beneath the hard outer wings, which closed over them
...
Behind James, a girl’s voice scoffed over the noise, “Americans and their machines
...
“That last one’s German
...
” He grinned at
her, then turned away, enjoying the applause
...
Three identically dressed adult wizards appeared first, one from each
car
...
They stood for half a minute, blinking and
frowning about them as if surveying the crowd
...
James could
see a bit into the open door of the nearest car, the Beetle, and wasn’t surprised at the disproportionately large
and sumptuous interior
...

The number of figures that emerged from the cars surprised even James, who’d camped inside wizard
tents on many occasions and knew how flexible wizard spaces could be
...
Young wizards and witches in surprisingly casual robes, some even wearing
jeans and sunglasses, began to fill the center of the courtyard
...
They gravitated, smiling, hands outstretched, toward the portico,
where Headmistress McGonagall and the staff were descending to meet them
...
James guessed these were the teachers of Alma Aleron,
the American wizarding school
...
The one nearest, climbing from the
Beetle, was as stout as a barrel, with long grey hair parted to frame a pleasant, blocky face
...
Something about
him rang a faint bell in James’ memory, but he couldn’t quite place it
...
He was very tall, white-haired, with a long,
grey face, unsmiling and severe
...
A porter appeared next to him and held out a black leather case
...

“I’m making it my New Year’s resolution to avoid any classes with that guy,” Zane said gravely
...

James found the third professor from Alma Aleron just as she was climbing slowly, imperiously out of
the Dodge Hornet
...
James gasped, and without thinking, ducked down behind Ralph’s bulky form as her gaze
moved over the crowd
...

“What’re you doing?” Ralph asked, straining to see James out of the corner of his eye
...
The woman wasn’t looking at him at all
...
“That
tall lady over there
...
I saw her the other night on the lake!”
Zane stood on tiptoe
...
The scarfed lady looked a lot older than he
remembered
...
A porter handed her a large wooden
cane and she accepted it with a nod
...

“Looks to me like she’s blind as the proverbial bat,” Zane said doubtfully
...
It’d be an easy mistake
...
“That’s…! That’s…! He’s the five… no! Wait, the
fifty…!” he babbled
...
“The little dude with the John Lennon glasses and the weird
little ruffled collar?”
“Yes!” Ralph rasped excitedly, beckoning to Zane as if trying to pull the man’s name out of his head
...

Just then, Professor McGonagall touched her wand to her throat and spoke, magnifying her voice so
that it echoed throughout the courtyard
...
”
Another burst of perfunctory applause filled the courtyard
...
Three or four other
musicians joined in, hurriedly trying to catch up, before they were silenced by Professor Flitwick’s frantic
waving
...
We all look greatly forward to a year of mutual learning and cultural exchange
with such long-standing and steadfast allies as our friends from the United States
...
”
James assumed that the tall professor with the steely features would be the leader, but this was not so
...
He
turned and addressed the crowd without using his wand, his clear tenor voice carrying expertly, as if speaking
in public was something he was quite used to
...
We’ve come to
expect no less, though I assure you that we require nothing so grand
...

“We are thrilled to be a part of your schooling this year, and let me assure you that the learning will certainly
go both ways
...
“But, as I can see that my own delegation of students are eager to rid themselves as
quickly as possible of our administration for the afternoon, I can only assume that the same is true of our new
Hogwarts friends
...
”
“I like this guy already,” James heard Ted say from somewhere behind him
...
Theodore Hirshall
Jackson, Professor of Technomancy and Applied Magic
...
”
Professor Jackson’s face was as impassive as granite, as if he had long since grown impervious to his
associate’s joking
...

“Next to him,” the stout professor continued, gesturing expansively with one arm, “Professor of
Divination, Advanced Enchantments, and Remote Parapsychology, Desdemona Delacroix
...
”
The dark woman with the scarf over her hair smiled at the speaker, and the smile transformed her
face from that of a skeletal hag to something resembling a desiccated but pleasantly mischievous grandmother
...
James wondered
how he could have thought that blind, milky gaze had been the same one he’d seen piercing him through the
darkness across the lake the evening before
...
She couldn’t even have
been there the night before
...

Your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, head of the Alma Aleron debate team, and unofficial, but

43

very willing, wizard chess contender, Benjamin Amadeus Franklyn, at your service
...

“That’s who I was trying to think of!” Ralph whispered harshly
...


Minutes later, James, Zane, and Ralph were pounding up the stairs toward the Ravenclaw common
room
...
“That can’t be the original Ben Franklin
...
“Well, I don’t know how old, but he’d be really, really old
...
Older than McGonagall even
...
”
Ralph wheezed, trying to keep up
...
It’s not all that surprising when you think about it
...
I mean, the guy caught
lightning with a key on a kite string
...
“I remember my Aunt Hermione telling me about some old wizard they
learned about in their first year
...
He’d made a sort of stone that made him
live forever, or close to it
...
Still, I think there probably
are lots of ways for witches and wizards to prolong life for a long time, even without Flannel’s stone
...

“I don’t have any hundreds
...
It was all I had
...

“Well? He got the door for us,” Zane said placidly
...
I just hope the service doesn’t suffer
...
The eagle door knocker spoke
in a high, trilling voice
...

“Are you sure it’s all right for us to go in there?” Ralph said, shuffling his feet
...
“I just don’t think people do it much
...
He looked up and down the corridor fretfully
...
“Hat, hat, hat
...

You pull things out of a hat
...
You wear a hat on your head…
your brain’s in your head, under the hat
...
“You can’t pull anything out of a
hat that you haven’t already put in your head?”
“Crude, but close enough,” the door knocker replied
...

“Wow!” James said, following Zane into the common room
...
S
...
about anything I try to sneak past
her, so I assume I am unusually prepared for the magical world,” Zane said in an offhand manner
...
Not an electric light or a Coke machine in sight
...
Saw my dad in it last night
...
”
Zane toured them through the Ravenclaw rooms, apparently making up details whenever he didn’t
know them
...

When they got bored, Ralph took them to the Slytherin common room, leading them through a maze of
dark, torch-lit cellar passages
...
Set in the
middle of the door was a brass sculpture of a coiling snake, its wedge-shaped head protruding menacingly,
open-mouthed
...
He shook back his sleeve, revealing a new ring on his right hand
...
Ralph pressed it carefully into one
of the snake’s eye sockets
...

“Who sssseeks entry?” the snake’s head said in a thin, hissing voice
...
Ralph Deedle
...
”

45

The glowing green eye flicked over James and Zane
...
I, uh, I can vouch for them
...
A series of complicated ratchets, clicks, and clanks came from within the door
...

The Slytherin rooms occupied a large, gothic space carved from beneath the lake
...
Even Ralph seemed jumpy as he
showed them around
...
They followed Zane and James with their eyes, smiling cryptically, but
apparently without malice
...

The Slytherin sleeping quarters felt to James like someplace a very tasteful and wealthy pirate captain
might sleep
...

The large beds were mahogany with great square pillars at each corner
...
The three boys clambered onto Ralph’s immaculately made bed
...
“To tell you the truth, I feel a little out of place here
...
”
“I don’t know,” Zane said, looking around the room admiringly
...
Although it’d be hard to sleep with all those stuffed animal heads on the walls
...
“These guys bring them from their houses
...
”
James frowned
...
”
“Yeah,” Ralph whispered severely
...
Still has the
horn on it, although they said it isn’t the real horn
...
And that thing back behind Tom’s bed is a house-elf head! They put them on the wall
when they knock ‘em off! And I swear it looks at me sometimes!” Ralph shuddered, and then seemed to
decide he’d said too much
...

“Yeah, it is pretty creepy,” James admitted, deciding not to tell Ralph any of the things he’d heard
about how some of the Slytherin families lived
...
”
“What’s that?” Zane said suddenly, pouncing forward on the bed
...
It had a tiny screen set into the front, with a mind-boggling array of buttons beneath it
...
“And don’t let anybody else see
this thing! They flip out about stuff like this
...
“What? Why?”
“How should I know? What’s the deal with wizards and electronic stuff?” Ralph addressed the
question to James, who frowned and shrugged
...
Mostly, we just don’t need it
...
We do what we need to do with magic, I guess
...
“That’s not how these guys act about it
...
Told me if I meant to be a real Slytherin, I needed to abandon
all my false magic and machines
...

“Yeah,” he sighed, “that’s what some wizarding families think of Muggle electronics and machines
...
They think any wizards who use
Muggle machines are traitors to their magical heritage or something
...
“They were, like, passionate about it! I
hid my stuff right away
...
”
Zane made a low whistle
...
You can’t get much more machine-y than a Dodge Hornet
...
“Yeah, they might not like it very much, but there’s a difference between
electronics and clockwork
...
They aren’t so much false
magic as just unnecessarily complicated tools
...
”
“I’ll say,” Ralph breathed, looking down at his GameDeck, and then stuffing it back into his duffle
bag
...
“Let’s get out of here
...
”
“Are you ever full, Ralph?” Zane asked as they jumped off the bed
...
“It’s a glandular
problem
...
”
“Just asking,” Zane said, raising his hands
...
”

47

At dinner, the three of them sat together at the Gryffindor table
...
“Our little Ravenclaw imp
...

After dinner, they discussed the following day’s schedules
...
The boys explored the library, hovering outside the Restricted Section for a while until the librarian
shooed them away with a stern warning
...

“See you tomorrow with Professor Stonewall!” Zane, who had a unique predisposition for
nicknaming teachers, called as he climbed the staircase to the Ravenclaw common room
...
Sabrina and Damien were at a nearby table, arguing quietly over some papers spread on the table
between them
...

“Yeah! I think so
...
“First year is mostly wand-practice and theory
...
”
“At least we get to dilute Trelawney with that new bag of bones from the States,” Petra said
...
“How do you mean?”
Ted answered, “Looks like they’ll be dividing the class
...
So this year, it’s
Trelawney and the voodoo queen, Madame Delacroix
...
“Like peas in a pod
...
”
James blinked, but before he could ask Damien what he meant, Ted shook his head, smiling
wickedly
...
”
A few minutes later, James detached himself from the group and climbed up to the sleeping quarters
...
For a moment, he simply stood in
the moonlit room, soaking up the thrill of being there, being a Gryffindor, and starting his studies
...


48

Noah appeared from the tiny washroom
...

“We all feel that way sometimes,” he said, as if he’d read James’ thoughts
...
A good dose of lectures and homework does it to the best of us
...


49

3
...
The room was silent but for the breathing of his fellow Gryffindors and the
whistling snore of Noah several beds away
...
James tried to go back to sleep, but his mind was too full of all the unknowns that he was
sure to experience in the next twelve hours
...

The halls of Hogwarts, while relatively quiet and empty, seemed busy in a completely different way
this early in the morning
...
As James moved among
the corridors and passed empty classrooms that would later be filled with activity, he caught secondhand clues
of the house-elf activity that thrived in the morning hours: a bucket and mop, still dripping, propped open a
bathroom door; the scent of baking bread and the clatter of pots and pans drifted up a short flight of stairs; a
row of windows stood with tapestries draped carefully out of them for airing
...
James blinked and looked again
...
A grey shape flitted, humming a rather annoying little tune
...
It seemed to be a small, fat man-shape with a gleefully impish
expression of concentration
...
James noticed that the balanced objects were directly above the
House tables, arranged at intervals and balanced so delicately as to fall at the slightest breeze
...
It had seen him
...
“Who spies on the spy when he’s planning his morning
funnies!?” the figure sang, annoyance and glee mingled in its voice
...
“I know you
...
Peeves
...
“Little Potter
boy, James! Oooo! Sneaking about early-early, unlike your daddy! He preferred the night, he did! Seeking a
spot of breakfast, is we? Oh, so sorry, all the little elfy-welfies are still cooking it up in the basements
...
Care for a Peruvian ballistic bean instead?”
Peeves shoved a wispy arm toward James’ face
...

“No! Thanks! I’ll… I’ll be off, then
...

“Suresy, are we? Mmm! Beans, beans, the musical fruit!” Peeves dismissed James and swooped back
up to the rafters again
...

James wandered until he was out of earshot of Peeves’ singing
...
Mist arose from the lake in a great golden cloud,
burning off in the sun
...

Something moved in the stillness
...
It had been at the edge of the forest,
near Hagrid’s cabin
...
James studied the cabin
...
The yard looked untended and overgrown
...
Why wasn’t Hagrid back yet?
He knew that the half-giant had a notorious soft spot for beasts and monsters, and he worried, along with his
parents, that this would eventually be his undoing
...
Perhaps they had attacked Hagrid and Grawp or imprisoned them somehow
...
Just behind the stack of firewood by Hagrid’s cabin, there
was a flicker of color and a flash
...
There it
was again
...
In the distance, James could only see that it was a man about his
dad’s age
...
The
flash came again as the man took a picture of the castle
...
James jumped aside, dropping his books for certain this time
...
It streamed past him and swooped down to the ground
below, aiming for the interloper with the camera
...
The man let out a little shriek of fear, but
didn’t run, despite the fact that at least part of him seemed to want to
...
Finally, just as the form was
about to overtake him, the man spun on his heels and sprinted clumsily into the perimeter of the woods,
disappearing into the darkness within
...
It peered in, then prowled back and forth restlessly
...
As James watched, it began to take on a somewhat more solid shape
...
The ghostly man walked with a
determined, if rather dejected gait, head down
...
There was a
long moment of perfect stillness in which the man stared up at James, his transparent face expressionless
...

James stared at the place where the figure had been
...
Ghosts were as
much a part of Hogwarts as wands and moving paintings
...
He was looking forward to
meeting Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost
...
Of course, his
parents couldn’t have told him about every little detail of life at Hogwarts
...

Still, the figure nagged at him, as did the sight of the man with the camera, sneaking about and taking
pictures
...
James knew
the people who ran that publication, and they wouldn’t be interested in the snoozing morning life of
Hogwarts
...

Heading back toward the common room where he hoped to find Ted or one of the Gremlins before
breakfast, James remembered that he hadn’t yet given his parents’ greetings to Professor Longbottom
...

In the Great Hall, however, Neville was nowhere to be seen
...


52

“So you saw some guy snapping pictures out on the grounds?” Ralph asked around a mouthful of
French toast
...
“I wonder how he was killed
...
“I don’t know
...
For that matter, ask Nick when you see
him next
...

“Yeah
...
”
“Gone,” Sabrina said, shaking her head so that the quill in her hair wobbled
...
Finally made it into the Headless Hunt after all those years
...
He never came back
...
Good
for him, too
...
”
“The Headless…” Ralph queried tentatively, as if he wasn’t sure he wanted clarification
...
“But he was the Gryffindor House ghost! Who’s our ghost
now?”
Sabrina shook her head again
...
Some of us thought it’d be old
Dumbledore, but no luck
...
Every house had a ghost, right? He thought
of the wispy shape that had turned into the silent young man on the front lawn
...
Everyone looked up as owls began to swoop in through the high windows
...
James’ eyes widened as he
recalled Peeves’ strange project from earlier that morning
...
She stood up from a nearby table, her robe spattered with
yellow gobbets
...

More pops erupted throughout the hall as the owls banked among the rafters
...

“Time to go, mates!” James called, trying not to laugh
...
Juice erupted out
of the cup like a tiny volcano
...


53

Technomancy class was held in one of the smaller classrooms in the levels above the main hall
...
He bent over the desk, scratching away with a quill and
parchment as Zane and James arrived
...
Slowly, the room filled, few students daring to speak, so that
no noise could be heard except the busy scritch of the professor’s quill
...

“Welcome, students
...
I will be instructing you
this year in the study of technomancy
...

You will do much of both in my class
...
His iron grey hair was combed with military neatness
...

“It has been said,” Jackson continued, beginning to pace slowly around the room, “that there is no
such thing as a stupid question
...
Questions, it is supposed, are
the sign of an inquisitive mind
...
“On the contrary, questions are
merely the sign of a student who has not been paying attention
...
James glanced at him, then at his parchment
...
James stifled a laugh, as much at Zane’s
audacity as at the drawing
...
“Pay attention in class
...
Read the assigned texts
...
Mind you, I am not forbidding
questions
...
If
it does not, I will commend you
...
”
Jackson had completed his circuit of the room
...

Taking his wand out of a sheath in his sleeve, he flicked it at the board
...

There was a long, uncomfortable pause
...

Jackson gestured at her
...

Gallows, is it?”
“Sir,” the girl said in a small voice, apparently thinking of Franklyn’s advice from the day before
...
She nodded
...
Belief and knowledge
have little, if anything, in common
...
Science
...
If
you want belief, Mistress Delacroix’s class will be convening down the hall in the next hour
...
A few students
dared to smile and laugh quietly
...

“The study of the science of magic, yes
...
Those that believe--and here I use the term ‘believe’ intentionally--those that
believe magic is simply mystical are also prone to believe in such things as destiny, luck, and the American
Quidditch team
...
” More smiles
appeared in the room
...

“Magic,” he continued, as the chalkboard began to scribble his notes, “does not, I repeat, does not
break any of the natural laws of science
...

Mr
...
”
Zane jumped in his seat, looking up from the drawing he’d been working at while the others
scribbled notes
...

“I need a volunteer, Mr
...
Might I borrow your parchment?” It wasn’t a request
...

Jackson caught it deftly with a raised hand
...

The class looked with marked silence at the rather good caricature of Jackson Zane had drawn
...

“Is it simply magic that makes a true wizard’s drawing take on life?” Jackson asked
...
The expression changed from a caricature of steely-eyed sternness to one
of cartoonish anger
...

A tiny cartoon version of Zane cowered at the desk
...
W
...
across the top
...
The cartoon Zane cried, his mouth a giant boomerang of woe, comic tears springing from his
head
...
He smiled a small but genuine smile
...
Walker, your subtracted five
points cancel out Miss Gallows’ awarded five points
...
Such is life
...
“No, magic is not, as it were, simply a magic word
...
Nothing unnatural occurs
...
Magic exploits the natural laws, but it does not break them
...
That is, it is beyond the natural, but not outside
it
...
Mr
...
“Murdock, sir,” the boy said
...
You are of age for Apparition, I am correct?”
“Oh
...

“Describe Apparition for us, will you?”
Murdock looked perplexed
...
Then bang, you’re there
...

Murdock reddened
...
You just zap there
...
”
“So it is instantaneous, you’d say
...
I guess I’d say that
...
“You guess?”
Murdock squirmed, glancing at those seated near him for help
...
No
...
Definitely
...
Like you said
...
Murdock,” Jackson corrected mildly
...
He touched another student on the shoulder as he went
...

“Would you be so kind as to perform a small favor for us, Miss Hildegard? We require the use of
two ten-second timers from Professor Slughorn’s Potions room
...
Thank
you
...
“Mr
...
He shook his head
firmly
...
“Let us examine it this way
...
“Sir
...
”
Jackson nodded
...
But an empty one
...
I’ll save our time by not taxing this class’s ignorance on the
subject any longer
...
”
Around the room, quills were dipped and made ready
...
“Matter, as even
you all know, is made up almost entirely of nothing
...
This candlestick,” Jackson laid his hand on a brass candlestick on his desk, “seems
to us to be a single, very solid item, but is, in fact, trillions of tiny motes hovering with just enough proximity
to one another as to imply shape and weight to our clumsy perspective
...
Are we?”
Jackson’s piercing eyes roamed over the room, leaping from face to face as the students stopped
writing, waiting for him to go on
...
Instead, we have altered the arrangement of the spaces between those atoms,” he said
meaningfully
...
The multiplication of those spaces expands the candlestick to a point of nearly planetary
dimensions
...
In short, the candlestick is still here
...
It is, in effect, everywhere, and nowhere
...
“Ah, thank you, Miss
Hildegard
...
”
Murdock jumped again
...
“Sir?”
“Fear not, my brave friend
...
I’d like you to Disapparate for us
...
“Disapparate? But… but nobody can Disapparate on the school grounds,
sir
...
A quaint and merely symbolic restriction, but a restriction nonetheless
...
Murdock, to Disapparate
from over there,” Jackson paced to the front corner of the room and pointed at the floor, “to here
...
“You want me
to Disapparate from this room… to this room?”
“From over there, where you are, to here
...
I wouldn’t expect it to be much
of a challenge
...
” Jackson picked up one of the small hourglasses
Sabrina had brought
...
Understood?”
Murdock nodded in relief
...
I can do that blindfolded
...
He returned to
the front of the room, picking up the second timer himself
...
Murdock
...
A split second later, Murdock vanished with a
loud crack
...

Jackson held the timer, watching the sand flow silently through the pinched glass
...

He allowed himself to lean slightly on his desk
...

There was a second crack as Murdock Reapparated
...

He stood back, looking severely at both hourglasses
...
Murdock’s hourglass still had nearly all of its sand in the top
...
Murdock,” Jackson said, not taking his eyes off the hourglasses, “that your
hypothesis has proven faulty
...
”
Jackson looked up at the class and gestured at the hourglasses
...
It appears that Apparition is not, in fact, instantaneous
...
What can technomancy tell us about this? That is a
rhetorical question
...
”
Jackson resumed his pacing around the room as words began to scribble onto the chalkboard again
...
“Apparition utilizes exactly the same methodology as
vanished objects
...

Having achieved everywhereness, the Apparator then automatically reduces the distance between his or her
atoms, but with a new center point, determined by their mental landmarking immediately before

58

Disapparition
...
It is essential that the wizard
make that predestination in his mind before Disapparition
...
Then the girl named Gallows raised her hand again
...
“Depending on distances, Apparition takes time,
as we have just seen, and time is not, relatively speaking, flexible
...
The time it takes to Apparate is not instantaneous, but because the wizard’s
mind is effectively frozen during the process, it seems to be instantaneous to him
...
”
Jackson frowned and scanned the class, looking for some sign that they’d grasped the lesson
...
It was Murdock
...
Jackson’s bushy black eyebrows rose slowly
...
Murdock?”
“Question sir
...
Where--” he coughed, cleared his throat, and then licked his lips
...
With too much time to
head directly to their next classes, but not enough time to go to their common rooms, they strolled aimlessly
along the crowded halls near the courtyard, trying to stay out of the way of the older students and discussing
their morning’s classes
...
“I swear, at one point, I saw the clock actually move backwards
...
Professor Flitwick
...

Zane was undeterred
...
Who’d’ve thought a
school of witchcraft would be so sneaky?”
“Professor Flitwick teaches beginning spells and wandwork, doesn’t he?” James asked Ralph
...
It was really excellent
...
He made his chair float, books and all!”
“Books?” Zane interjected
...
He floated the chair right off the floor with them still on it, just using his wand
...
James cringed, thinking of Ralph’s ridiculous wand
...
There was a pause as Zane and James stopped to look at him
...
Not bad,” Ralph repeated
...
Just feathers
...
But still, I did as well as anybody else
...
“Maybe even a little better
...
He said I was a natural
...

Ralph looked annoyed
...
For your information, Flitwick says that the wand is just a tool
...
Maybe I’m just talented
...
Wand-Expert-All-ofa-Sudden?”
“Sheesh, sorry,” Zane mumbled
...
I wanna keep the
same number of arms and legs
...
“Flitwick’s right
...
“All the way to the ceiling
...
”
“Nice,” James nodded appreciatively
...
He bumped into Ralph as well, but Ralph was as tall as the older boy, and rather wider
...

“Sorry,” Ralph muttered as the boy stopped and glared at him
...
“And
maybe you ought to be more careful who you allow yourself to be seen with, Deedle
...

“Now, that’s the Slytherin spirit you told me about on the train,” Zane said
...
’”
“That was Trent,” Ralph said morosely, watching the boy walk away
...
Didn’t take him long to borrow it, though
...
He was distracted by something the boy had been wearing
...
“Tabitha Corsica was handing them out in the
common room this morning
...
” Ralph reached into his robes and produced a similar badge
...
”
James looked at the badge
...
A large red ‘X’ repeatedly slashed itself across the words ‘False History’, and then
faded out
...
“Some of them say ‘Question the
Victors’
...
What’s an Auror?”
Zane piped up
...
He got out of it because he was on a
shoot in New Zealand
...
”
Ralph looked bewildered at Zane
...
“Aurors,” he said slowly and carefully, “are witches
and wizards who find and catch dark witches and wizards
...
My
dad’s an Auror
...
Tabitha Corsica was at
the head of the group, looking back at James as she swept on
...
” The others
in the group looked back at James with unreadable smiles
...

“Yeah,” James said, loudly but rather uncertainly, “he is
...

James grimaced and nodded
...
It read ‘Say No to Auror Fear
Mongering; Say Yes to Freedom of Magical Expression’
...

Zane suddenly turned and nudged Ralph with his elbow
...
”

61

James blinked, finally registering something Ralph had said a minute ago
...
“Well, maybe not him
...
Not that many people knew
about it, though
...
All I know is it went missing from my bag right
after I showed it to you guys
...
”
He sighed
...
It was all wrapped up in the
sugary niceness of some of the Slytherins, and the odd badges
...
Why?
They were passing the Hogwarts trophy case when Zane, who had drifted ahead, called out
...
Let’s do something extracurricular
...

“‘Read the Runes! Predict your Fate and the Fates of your Friends! Learn the Language of the Stars
...
‘Constellations Club
...
’ Sounds to me like an
excuse to be out late
...
” He grabbed the quill which had been affixed to a shelf by a length of string,
dipped it theatrically, and scribbled his name on the sheet
...
Ralph leaned in, reading the sign-up sheets aloud
...
”
“What? Where?” Zane said, still holding the quill as if he meant to stab something with it
...
“I just gotta
get on one of those brooms
...
“Anything’s possible
...
Youngest Seeker in team history
...
Used to be that first years couldn’t be on the team
...
” James signed his name to the bottom of the sheet for the Gryffindor Quidditch team
...

“Ralph, you going to sign up for the Slytherins? Come on! All your friends are doing it!” Zane
leered at the bigger boy
...
”
“You?” Zane cried heartily, throwing an arm rather awkwardly over Ralph’s shoulder
...
”
“Shut up!” Ralph said, twisting away from Zane’s arm, but smiling and turning red
...
Tabitha thinks I’d be good on it
...
“Tabitha Corsica asked you to be on the Slytherin debate team?”
“Actually,” Zane said, peering at the debate sign-up sheets, “debate teams aren’t divided by house
...
Look, people from all different houses are on each team
...
”
“Why don’t you go ahead and sign up, Ralph?” James asked
...

“I don’t know
...
”
“Oh, look, Petra’s on Team A,” Zane said
...

James frowned
...
”
“My dad says girls don’t know whether they like ice cream until they’ve tried every kind,” Zane said
wisely, sticking the quill back into its holder
...
“What’s that mean?”
“It means Zane here thinks he can give Ted a run for his money in the romance department,” James
said
...

“It means,” Zane replied, “that Petra doesn’t know what she wants in a man until she’s had a chance
to get to know as many men as possible
...
”
Ralph studied Zane for a moment
...
His eye had been caught by a picture in the
trophy case
...
The picture was
black and white, moving, as all wizard pictures did
...
He was smiling uncomfortably at the camera, his eyes moving as
if he were avoiding eye contact with somebody or something outside the camera’s view
...

James read the plaque below the trophy
...


There was more, but James didn’t read it
...
Harry Potter’s name had been drawn
as a competitor fraudulently, having been placed into the running by a dark wizard named Crouch
...
No wonder his dad looked so uncomfortable in the photo
...
He’d been in a
room full of people who suspected him of cheating and dark magic, at best
...
His smile looked
genuine and hearty compared to his dad’s
...
He knew the story of Diggory, knew he had died next to his dad in the graveyard they’d
been sent to, killed at the command of Voldemort
...

He sighed, and then ran to catch up with Zane and Ralph
...
James grabbed the rolled
parchment off Nobby’s leg and read it
...
Your
Uncle Ron says congratulations on becoming a Gryffindor, and we all concur
...
Also, I hope you hear about this from us first: your father has been
asked to go to Hogwarts for a meeting with the American wizards about international security and
other matters of ‘mutual interest’
...
Make sure you are eating more than pastries and meat pies and be
sure to get your robes and yourself washed at least once a week
...
Actually, no, it
wasn’t
...
The knowledge that
he’d be seeing his dad next week had left him with mixed feelings
...
Still, he feared that the visit would also make the shadow of his famous
father that much harder to escape
...

As he joined the crowd of students filing into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, James
saw another of the badges on a Slytherin’s robe
...
He felt a sort of aimless, sinking feeling, and then he noticed the newspaper clipping tacked to the wall
near the door
...
Below it, smaller
type read ‘Head Auror to Meet United States Representatives During Hogwarts Ceremony
...
’ Pinned to the newspaper clipping so that it obscured the photo of a smiling adult Harry
Potter was another of the blue badges
...

“Come on,” Ralph urged, joining James
...
”
As they navigated the crowded room and found two seats near the front, Ralph leaned toward James
...
He glanced at Ralph as they sat down
...
Mum
just wrote me about it
...
Big meeting with the Americans, I guess
...

“You already knew about it, didn’t you?” James whispered as the class quieted down
...
My housemates have been talking about some sort
of protest all day, though
...
”
James stared at Ralph, his mouth open slightly
...
The Slytherin tactics had changed, but not their
purpose
...
Professor Jackson was walking next to him, carrying his black leather case and
talking in a low tone
...
“I suspect many of you have already met Professor
Jackson
...
” Jackson eyed the seated students from over his shoulder, his face like
granite
...
Franklyn turned
back to Jackson and spoke in a hushed voice
...
He
set his case down on the floor next to him, freeing his hand to gesture minutely
...
It was only a foot or two from where he sat in the front row
...
James tried not to listen in on the conversation between the two professors, which was

65

obviously meant to be secret
...
He heard the words ‘grotto’
and ‘Merlin’
...

“Professor Jackson,” the voice said, and while it wasn’t a loud voice, it rang with an air of understated
power
...
Madame Delacroix was standing just inside the
doorway to the room, her blind gaze hovering somewhere over everyone’s heads
...
You are always such a…,” she seemed to search the air for the right
word, “stickler for punctuality
...
She smiled vaguely, then turned, her cane clicking the floor, and disappeared down the hall
...
He glanced
pointedly at Franklyn, and then dropped his gaze, reaching for his case
...
The black leather case had apparently come slightly
open when he’d set it down
...
No one else seemed to have noticed except for James
and Professor Jackson
...
James had only a narrow glimpse into the case
...
Jackson straightened, picking the case back up, and as he did so, he glanced at
James, his stony face grim
...
Jackson knew he’d seen, even if he
didn’t know what it was
...

“Thank you for your patience,” Franklyn said to the class, adjusting his glasses
...
By now, most of you know my name, and many of you, I assume, know
something of my history
...
No, I didn’t actually invent electricity for the Muggles, but I did give them a small push in the
right direction
...
At that time, I used two different spellings of my
name, only one of which was known to the Muggle world, which made it easier for me to know which
correspondences to open first
...
No,
contrary to popular myth, I do not carry sheets of uncut hundreds around to snip out and sign for admirers
...
Emphatically no, I am not
immortal
...
Does that cover most of the
obvious questions?” Franklyn finished with a wry smile, surveying the remarkably full classroom
...

“Excellent
...
And please,” Franklyn continued, opening a very large book
on his desk, “let us avoid any ‘it’s all about the Benjamins’ jokes
...
”

66

Crossing the grounds on their way to dinner in the Great Hall, James and Ralph were passing
Hagrid’s cabin when they noticed the ribbon of smoke coming out of the chimney
...

“James!” Hagrid bellowed, opening the door
...
Ralph’s eyes widened and he took a step backwards, looking Hagrid up and down
...
How’s yer mum an’ dad, an’ li’l Albus an’ Lily?”
“Everybody’s fine, Hagrid
...
They followed him as he crossed the grounds
toward the castle
...
Grawp and me, we go every
year, don’t we? Spreadin’ goodwill an’ tryin’ to keep ‘em all honest, for whatever it’s worth
...
Who’s yer mate here, James?”
James, momentarily distracted by the thought of Hagrid’s half-brother, who was a full giant,
performing mating rituals with a mountain giantess, had completely forgotten about Ralph
...
He’s a first year, like me
...
“Aww, it’s sweet to see the li’l fella and his lady friend together
...
Giant courtships are very delicate things, yeh
know
...
“Grawp, your brother, is a
giant?”
“Well, sure,” Hagrid boomed happily
...
Sixteen feet or so
...
She’s from the Crest-Dweller’s tribe, twenty-two feet if she’s an inch
...
Not surprising, really, since the first step in any giant courtship is
smitin’ the mate over the head with a big hunk of tree trunk
...
After that, he’s been as google-eyed as a pup
...
“Did Grawp bring his girlfriend back
home with him?”
Hagrid looked taken aback
...
This is his home, now, isn’t it? He’ll make a good
wife of her, once they’re done a-courtin’
...
Grawp’s there now, helpin’ her settle in, I expect
...
He shook his head, attempting to clear it
...
“Havin’ a meetin’ of the minds with the muckety-mucks from across the pond, eh?”
James puzzled over Hagrid’s terminology
...
”
“Ahh, it’ll be nice to have yer dad over for tea again, just like old times
...
Did I tell yeh about the time yer dad and Ron and Hermione helped my Norbert escape?”
“Only about a hundred times, Hagrid,” James laughed, pulling open the door of the Great Hall
...
”
Later, when dinner was almost over, James approached Hagrid where he thought they could have a
more private conversation
...
I can’t guarantee I’ll know the answer, but I’ll do my best
...
She was talking seriously, her pretty face lit in the candlelight and the deepening light of the dusky
ceiling
...
“Well, I can’t say as I’ve
ever heard of it happ’nin’ before,” he said
...
It might mean they just aren’t happy with who they really are
...
“It’s just a, sort of, you know, general question
...
”
Hagrid smiled crookedly and clapped James on the back, making him stumble half a step
...
Always lookin’ out for other people when yeh ought to be watchin’ your own step
...
The thought seemed to bring Hagrid a great deal of hearty pleasure
...
Everything’ll come out all right
...
”

68

But as James walked back to his table, making eye contact with Ralph for a moment as he passed the
Slytherins, he wondered
...
the Progressive Element
James Potter sat up in his bed, stifling a gasp
...
All around him were the small sounds of sleeping Gryffindors
...
James held his breath
...
It had been like a voice in a dream: distant and whispered, as if blown on smoke
down a long, dark tunnel
...
It seemed to come out of the walls themselves, a faraway
sound, still somehow right next to him, like a chorus of whispers saying his full name
...
The stone floor was cool
under his feet as he stood and listened, tilting his head
...
He hadn’t seen it appear, it was simply there, floating, where a moment before there
had been darkness
...
Then he
recognized the ghostly shape
...
In the

70

darkness of the doorway, the figure seemed much brighter than it had appeared in the morning sunlight
...
It spoke again without moving
...

Then it turned and flitted down the stairs
...

He reached the deserted common room just in time to see the ghostly shape glide through the
portrait hole, passing through the back of the portrait of the Fat Lady
...

James expected the Fat Lady to scold him as he snuck past her, but she was deeply asleep in her frame
as he closed it gently
...

The halls were silent and dark, it being the very pit of night
...
It occurred to James that he should have brought his wand
...
He glanced around the pattern of moonlight and shadows
that was the hall, seeking the ghostly shape
...
He chose a direction at random and
trotted along it
...
He wasn’t even sure he’d know his way back to the
Gryffindor common room
...
Closed doors lined the corridor on both sides, each one
made of thick wood and braced with iron bars
...
The overall effect was rather frightening, but James
couldn’t quite bring himself to turn back just yet
...

“Hello?” he said quietly, his voice hoarse, just above a whisper
...
”
There was no response
...
James stopped, squinting hopelessly into
the shadows, and then turned around
...
The white shape streamed through one of the doors, and James saw that that door wasn’t entirely
closed
...
Trembling, James pushed the door
and it creaked open
...
There
were broken chunks of iron on the floor next to something long and black with a hook on the end
...
James kicked these aside and pushed the door further open, stepping in
...
The ceiling sloped down toward the back wall, where four windows glowed with
moonlight
...
Glass glittered on the floor and one of the swinging

71

panes hung crookedly like a broken bat wing
...
It had resumed its human shape, and James gasped
as he saw the young man’s face
...
The ghostly shape evaporated in
a wisp of silvery smoke, and there was a crash and clatter from the corridor outside
...
He didn’t see anything, but he could still
hear an echoing clatter from the darkness
...
He glanced around the room, but it was
completely dark and empty except for the cobwebby furniture and broken window
...
James took a deep breath, then turned and crept out into the corridor again
...
James could tell by the sound of it that it was further down the
corridor, in the darkness
...
Again, James berated
himself for having forgotten his wand
...
After what felt like an age, there was
another open door
...

James vaguely recognized the Potions storage room
...
He was dressed in black
jeans and a black shirt
...
He stood on a stool, examining the shelves with a small
penlight
...
As James watched,
the man stuck the penlight in his teeth and groped for another jar on the top shelf, keeping a precarious hold
on the opposite shelf with his free hand
...
“What the heck ith thith thtufh?” His voice was a low, awed mutter
...
His eyes made contact with James, and for a long moment, neither moved
...
He was obviously an intruder, and James had seen him
...
He
stood and stared, gripping the stonework of the doorway as if he meant to climb it
...
He turned and ran
...
The curtain at the back of the storage room still swayed
where the man had blown through it
...

The Potions storage room led into the Potions classroom itself
...
James stopped and cocked his head
...
His own feet smacked the stone floor as James dodged around the tables and out
into the corridor, following the man
...
He looked desperately back and
forth, then glanced up and saw James coming
...
He slipped on the stones, his feet seeming to run in three
directions at once, then he mastered them and ran clumsily down the broader corridor
...
The man would come out onto the hall of the moving staircases
...
He grinned as he ran
...
At first, the subtle grinding of the stairs was the only noise, and then he heard the clatter of the man’s
shoes
...
James hesitated for a moment, then did something that he’d always wanted to do but never
quite had the temerity to try: he clambered up on the railing of the nearest staircase, straddled it, and then let
go
...
He shot down the railing, craning his head over his shoulder to see where he was
going
...
When
he neared the bottom, he gripped the railing again with both his arms and his legs, slowing, and then hopping
lightly off the bottom
...

James’ dad had told him about the moving staircases, had explained the secret of navigating them
...
He swung
himself over the railing and let go, streaking down it as if it were greased
...
James gritted his teeth and
craned to look behind him again
...
He stumbled, disoriented,
as he backed off the staircase, and then looked up just as James rocketed into him
...

The man shrieked a third time, this time in frustration and surprise, as the force of the collision knocked him
entirely off his feet
...
James rolled
and covered his face instinctively
...
There
was a very large, roughly man-shaped hole in the stained-glass window at the foot of the landing
...

“What is going on up there?” a raspy voice called, vibrating with rage
...
Gingerly, he edged as close to the hole
as he could and peered down
...
There was no noise from the
night except the hiss of the wind in the treetops
...
Norris the cat streaked up a nearby staircase, her orange eyes baleful as she flicked her gaze over
the window, the broken glass, and then James
...
Filch followed, puffing and cursing as he climbed
...
“It’s the Potter boy
...
Her eyes were incredulous, her face scowling
...

“Don’t answer
...
” She sighed and stood up straight, pushing up
her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose
...
”
Filch stood nearby, the jut of his jaw and the glint of his eye showing his pleasure at catching the
latest Potter troublemaker so quickly
...
Norris purred in his arms like a small, furry engine
...
The room was still dim with very early morning shadows
...
James could just see the
portrait of his brother’s namesake, Albus Dumbledore
...
His lips moved as he snored silently
...
“Mr
...
”
“No,” James said quickly
...
But the ghost--”
McGonagall raised her hand again
...
” Everything except her actual words
expressed doubt about that part of his story
...
Potter, you understand that even if a ghost appears in
a student’s bed chamber, that does not give said student a free pass to break whatever rules he deems
temporarily inconvenient
...
Filch stirred, seeming to decide that now was the time to press the point as he saw it
...
Priceless bit of glasswork
...
” He sneered down at James as he finished
...
Filch,” McGonagall said, not looking at him, “but intruders on school
grounds are quite another
...
The Venus Rose Gardens are immediately below that
window
...
We’ve only
got this boy’s word that there ever was such an intruder, Headmistress
...
“And unfortunately, in this case, that is a word I am inclined to trust
...
Potter himself came in
through it
...

“But he was in the Potions room, ma’am!” James insisted
...
And he broke in through a window not far from there
...
The ghost led me there
...
“Mr
...
You are aware
that Hogwarts is protected by the best security measures and Anti-Magic spells available
...
”
“That’s just it, ma’am,” James said earnestly
...
I think he was a
Muggle!”
He’d expected gasps of surprise from the Headmistress and Filch, but there were none
...
Filch glanced from her to James and back,
then let out his breath in a nasty little laugh
...
They get a little more creative every year
...
You know that, don’t you?”
James sighed and tried not to roll his eyes
...
But that doesn’t change what I saw
...
He used a crowbar
...
Not a wand
...
“Well, Mr
...
You may trust that we will
look into the matter
...
Under the circumstances, I won’t blame you for the latter, but you must still face the
consequences for the former
...
Filch this Saturday night
...

“I’ll take care of the lad, Headmistress,” he growled
...
Is it, young lad?”

75

“Potter,” McGonagall said, apparently having already moved on to other matters, “take Mr
...
Good morning, gentlemen
...

“Come along, my lad
...
The eyes of that
headmaster were black, like the lanky hair that framed the white face
...


Tina Curry, the Muggle Studies Professor, led the class briskly out onto the lawn
...
Gusts of wind sprang up and flapped the edges
of Professor Curry’s sport cloak and the nets Hagrid was trying to hang on the wooden frame he had just
finished assembling
...
“Sturdy as a
barn, I daresay
...
“Thank
yeh, Ms
...
Weren’t what yeh might call a challenge
...
”
Hagrid’s construction was a simple wooden framework, roughly rectangular
...

“Curry’s new this year, if you haven’t guessed,” Ted commented to James as they gathered
...
Makes a fellow wish he hadn’t pushed off taking
this class until his last year
...

Every Thursday, Muggle Studies class was required to dress out in shorts, athletic shoes, and one of two colors
of Hogwarts jerseys
...


76

“You wouldn’t look quite so, er, interesting, Damien, if you had some white socks,” Sabrina said as
diplomatically as she could
...
“Thanks, sweetie
...
He beamed with annoying good cheer, obviously far more
comfortable in the outfit than the rest
...
The breeze will air some of you
vampires out
...
”
Damien hooked a thumb toward Zane
...
“Shake out the old batwings a bit, why don’t you?”
“All right, class,” Curry called, clapping her hands for attention
...
Burgundy over here, gold over there
...
”
As the lines formed, Professor Curry produced a long basket from under her arm
...
“Wands out,” she called
...
James saw
Zane sneak a peek at Ted, then swap his wand from his right hand to his left
...
“In here, then, please
...
There was a mass groan throughout
the gathered students
...
Come, come, if we are to learn
anything about the Muggle world, we must learn how to think non-magically
...
Thank you, Mr
...
Mr
...
Ms
...
And you, Ms
...
Thank you
...

Is that everyone?”
A very unenthusiastic noise of assent came from the students
...

“Are you implying that you are so dependent upon magic that you are unable to play a simple, a very simple
game? Hmm?” She glanced around at the students, her sharp nose pointed slightly upwards
...
But before we begin, let us have a bit of discussion about why it is important for us to study the ways
and means of the Muggle world
...
There was silence but for the
gusting wind in the nearby trees and the flap of the banners over the castle
...
“When we forget our essential similarities, we forget
how to get along, and that cannot but lead to prejudice, discrimination, and eventually, conflict
...
“Besides, the non-magical nature of our

77

Muggle friends has forced them to be inventive in ways that the magical world has never achieved
...
The only things necessary are two nets,” she indicated Hagrid’s new structures with a sweep
of her left arm, then held something else aloft with her right, “and one single ball
...
“I came to a school of
magic to learn to play soccer
...

“Madam Curry,” a pleasant female voice said
...
Tabitha Corsica stood
near the end of the opposite line, all but cringing in her gold jersey
...
A group of other Slytherins stood in line near her, the distaste very clear on their faces
...
Am I correct?”
“Indeed you are, Ms
...
“And have you any idea why that might
be?”
Tabitha raised her eyebrows and smiled politely
...
”
“The answer to your question lies therein, Ms
...

“Anyone else?”
A boy James recognized as a third-year Hufflepuff raised his hand
...
”
Curry motioned for him to elaborate
...
Terrel
...
If witches and wizards
got into a Muggle sport and used any magic, they’d be able to run circles around any Muggle, wouldn’t they?”
“You are speaking of the International Department for the Prevention of Unfair Advantage, Mr
...
” Curry dropped the ball to the ground at her feet and kicked it
lightly
...
“To be honest, it is not accurate to say that witches and
wizards are forbidden from competing in Muggle sports
...
However, they must agree to undergo certain spells that, performed upon
themselves with the help of wizarding officials, temporarily nullify their magical abilities
...

“Velocito Expendum,” she trilled
...
She kicked it in a

78

casual, offhand manner
...
It shot across the grass and hit the netting
of the goal with a sharp smack, belling the netting outward as if the ball had been shot from a cannon
...
“The WizardMuggle Sportsmanship Program is, as you might imagine, distasteful enough that virtually no wizards or
witches have participated in it
...
”
“Madam Curry?” Tabitha said again, raising her hand
...
“Miss Corsica, that is hardly a discussion
for this class
...
“I was just curious
...

Please forgive my interruption and carry on
...
James heard whispers all
around, saw the sideways looks and nods of agreement
...

“Yes,” Curry said curtly
...
Shall we begin?”
For the next forty minutes, she led them through drills and ball-handling techniques
...
Besides disallowing
wands, football apparently demanded that players not even use their hands
...
Few of the students were any good at the sport, which allowed them to approach it
without being afraid of getting it wrong
...
Sure enough, James noticed that Zane didn’t seem to be much better at running down
the field with the ball than anyone else
...
The ball squirted out from under him and Zane simply lay there, staring up at the marching clouds with a
look of thoughtful grimness on his face
...
They made no attempt to practice the drills,
and Curry seemed to have dismissed them, spending her time near the goal, where students were taking place
kicks into the net
...
He dug his heels into the grass, eyed the ball lying twenty
feet ahead of him, and then charged it
...
The thump of it leaving his foot was surprisingly satisfying
...
There was
a thump and swish as the ball struck the net
...
Potter,” Curry called, breathing hard
...
She pushed up her sleeves and bent to retrieve the ball
...
”
James smiled despite himself as he trotted to the back of the line
...

“Nice foot, Potter,” Ted called as the class finally headed back to the castle
...
Sabrina, think of something we can do with that
...
Got it?”
“Aye, aye,” Sabrina called, saluting as she entered the castle gate
...
Nice work
...
As they unpacked their
books and spread them around a corner table, Ralph seemed even more melancholy than usual
...
“Your Slytherin buddies tell you your
underwear aren’t magical enough or something?”
Ralph looked around cautiously
...
”
“Seems to be going around,” James said
...
”
“McGonagall?” Ralph and Zane both exclaimed
...
McGonagall outranks
Slughorn,” Ralph said
...

“That was you?” Ralph asked incredulously
...
Filch was covering it with canvas and muttering away under his breath
...
”
“Who do you think it was?” Zane prodded James
...
All I know is that it was the same guy I saw hiding out by the forest the other
morning
...
”
“So?” Zane said, shrugging
...
Ralph’s a Muggle
...
You’re Muggle-born, but you’re both wizards
...
Although, according to McGonagall, that’s impossible
...
”
“Why not? What happens?” Ralph asked
...
It can’t be mapped
...
And, even if some Muggle did just happen to wander into the grounds, the
Disillusionment Charms would guide them around so they didn’t even know they were passing us
...

Their compasses would go all wacky and they’d end up turning around even without knowing it
...
The whole point of it is to deflect anybody
who isn’t supposed to get in, and make them believe the deflection was their idea
...
“So how do any of us get in, then?”
“Well, we’re all basically Secret-Keepers, aren’t we?” James said, and then had to explain the idea of
being a Secret-Keeper, about how only a Secret-Keeper could find the secret place or lead others there
...
That’s why there are laws against even Muggle parents
of students telling anyone
...
“It said that any ‘privileged Muggles’ like my parents weren’t
allowed to talk to any other Muggles about Hogwarts or the magical community
...

Excellent
...
Her parents
accidentally mentioned Hogwarts at a dinner party and their hosts called the Muggle paramedics because they

81

thought both of them were having some sort of weird seizure at exactly the same time
...
It was a mess, but it was pretty funny
...
“Hey, I should’ve used one of those Disillusionment Charms on
my duffle bag
...
”
Zane turned to him
...

Slughorn was reclined behind it, peering at a gigantic book through a pair of tiny spectacles and drinking
something frothy in a stoneware mug
...
“Slughorn found my GameDeck this
morning
...
He was all diplomatic about it, but he told me I wanted to
be very careful about things like that
...
”
James furrowed his brow
...
“It did! That’s what I mean! I didn’t leave it in the common room! I’m
about to chuck the stupid thing in the toilet! Somebody took it out of my bag and left it out there for
Slughorn to find
...
He glanced around
quickly, as if he expected his housemates to pop out from behind the nearest bookcase
...
“You don’t know who took it?”
“No,” Ralph said sarcastically
...
”
“You have it with you?”
“Yeah,” Ralph said, deflating a bit
...
It
doesn’t work all that well around here anyway
...
” He dug the game
console out of his backpack and handed it under the table to Zane
...
“If anybody sees you
with that thing,” Ralph muttered, “it’s yours
...
”
Zane pressed buttons fluidly, making the screen flash and cycle
...
”
“What’s a profile?” James asked, leaning to look at the screen
...
“Don’t look
...
Ralph, tell Mr
...
”
“It’s just a way to keep track of your game,” Ralph whispered
...
Then anything you do in the game is recorded under
that profile
...
”

82

“You ‘the Ralphinator’?” Zane asked, still working the GameDeck
...

“Here we are then,” Zane said, stubbing a finger at the screen
...
“There’s a profile with that name?”
“Right here
...
No other info and no game progress at all
...
“No game progress?”
“Nope,” Zane said, shutting the device down and passing it back to Ralph under the table
...
Probably couldn’t figure out that D-pad up and the left shoulder button
worked the super attack
...
”
James rolled his eyes
...

“It doesn’t mean anything
...
He
had his head tilted, his brow furrowed, and one corner of his mouth cinched up, dimpling his cheek
...
“I don’t know
...
Seems like somebody just mentioned that name,
but I can’t place it
...
I’m sorry I ever saw it
...
Potter,” a voice suddenly boomed nearby
...
It was Professor
Slughorn
...
“I had hoped to run
into you
...
So good indeed
...
“Thank you, sir
...
Met him when he was a student here and not yet the famous Auror
that he is now, of course
...
“He’s mentioned me, no doubt
...
Of course, I’ve lost track of him in the years since, what with my teaching, pottering about,
turning into an old man, and his getting married, developing his illustrious career, and making fine young
men like yourself
...
“I look forward to catching up with
him a bit during his visit next week
...


83

“Good, good
...
Carry on, er, lads,” Slughorn said,
glancing at Ralph and Zane with no apparent recognition, despite the fact that he and Ralph had spoken that
very morning
...
Uh, Professor Slughorn? Could I ask you a question?” It was Zane
...
“Why, certainly, er, Mr
...
It was your Potions One class, I believe
...
Walker
...
” Slughorn glanced distractedly
toward the front desk
...
Austramaddux was a
historian and Seer from the distant past
...
I believe I was
making a little joke, Mr
...
”
“Oh
...

“Never a problem, my boy,” Slughorn assured him, glancing around the library
...
I’ll not distract you further
...

“Not really,” Zane reasoned
...
I remember now
...
The way we’d refer to a
tabloid or a conspiracy theory or something
...
They’d know it
...
”
“I suppose,” Ralph said doubtfully
...
“Why use a name that means ‘don’t trust me, I’m a loon’?”
“Who knows what dopiness lurks in the hearts of Slytherins?” Zane said dismissively
...
“Slytherins are usually all about image
...
I just don’t get why one of them
would use a name that their own Head of House treats like a joke
...
“I have actual homework to do, so if you two don’t mind…”
They all spent the next half hour working on their homework
...
“Quidditch tryouts tonight, right?”
“Mine, yeah
...
“Looks like we’ll be sharing the field
...
” Zane shook James’ hand
...
“Thanks! You too
...
“I’ll be lucky to stay on top of a
broom
...
“The laws used to be
pretty loose about brooms
...
Then, back around the
time Dad got his honorary diploma from Hogwarts, some teenagers got drunk on Firewhisky and tried to
play Quidditch in Trafalgar Square
...
Now it’s almost like
getting a Muggle driver’s license
...

Some wizarding families will still let their kids go up on a broom in the backyard and stuff, just to practice
...
“Even if you don’t even know which end of a broom is up, you’ll
still be killer on it when you hit the field
...
”
James smiled uncomfortably
...
James couldn’t help feeling nervous
...
The knowledge that he’d be out there in a few hours, getting on one of the team brooms
for the first time and trying to be one of the few first years to make the Gryffindor team left him feeling
vaguely sick
...

Back then, he’d never doubted his future
...
But now that it
was imminent, he was afraid
...
But that had
turned out all right, he reminded himself
...
The
key was to relax
...
He had to just let it happen and not
worry
...
He could barely eat
...
“The less you eat, the less you’ll
have to throw up when you’re in the air
...
You’ve had your first broom lesson with Professor Ridcully, right?”
James drooped and rolled his eyes, “No
...
First class is on Monday
...
“Eh, you’ll do fine
...
Lean
forward to go, pull back to stop
...
Piece of cake
...
“And all the rain and wind out there will only make it easier
...
Easier to trust your guts
...
There
was a chorus of laughter
...


The Quidditch pitch was sodden and muddy
...
Justin Kennely, the Gryffindor
Captain, led his group out onto the field, yelling over the steady roar of the rain
...
“Some of the best Quidditch matches have
taken place in weather like this, and much worse
...
The Seekers both flew over sixty miles chasing the Snitch in
gale-force winds
...
Perfect weather for tryouts
...
There was a large Quidditch trunk at his feet, as well as a line of broomsticks neatly laid out on the wet
grass
...
He was a little relieved
...
At the opposite end of the pitch, James saw the
Ravenclaw team assembling
...

“All right, then,” Kennely called out
...
I’m told that some of you haven’t
yet had your first broom lessons, but thanks to new regulations and the disclaimers you all signed before
school, there’s no reason you can’t climb on up and give it a go
...
No worries about formations or stunts, let’s just see you get in the air and
navigate the field without knocking each other to your dooms
...
He had hoped to spend some time watching the older students
practice
...
The other first years were already moving forward, picking brooms and holding out
their hands to summon them
...


86

He stopped next to a broom and stared down at it
...
Rain dripped from
the sodden bristles
...

“Up!” he said
...
Nothing happened
...
“Up!” he called again
...
He glanced around at the other first years
...
Only one of them had succeeded in raising his broom
...
Noah caught James’ eye and
hoisted his thumb into the air, nodding encouragingly
...
The broom bobbed again and
James caught it before it could drop back
...
He gave a huge sigh, then slung a leg
over the broom
...

Something swooped past him
...
Two more first years kicked off
...
He hung on for a second or two, then his fingers slipped
from the wet broomstick and he tumbled to the ground
...
“At least you
got into the air, Klein!” somebody called
...
Gripping the broomstick so tightly his knuckles turned white, he
kicked off
...
His feet skidded and he wobbled, trying to kick up again
...
He was skidding along the grass again,
sending up rooster tails of muddy water
...
He concentrated
furiously, holding his breath and kicking along as the broom weaved toward the Ravenclaws, who turned to
watch
...
He realized he was pulling on the broomstick, trying to make it rise, but that wasn’t right,
was it? He had to lean forward to go
...
Ravenclaws began to sidle away as he approached, trying to get out of his path
...
None of it made any sense to James
...

The sense of speed was shocking as the broom rocketed forward
...
But he wasn’t going up, he was merely streaking along
the ground
...
They scrambled and
leaped to get out of the way
...
Ahead of him, the ramparts
of the grandstand filled his vision, getting alarmingly close
...
He felt himself
banking, but not enough
...
The broom responded instantly and with sickening

87

force, angling into a steep climb
...
Rows of seats and banners flickered past, and
then gave way to an enormous, grey sky
...
James risked a glance behind
him
...
James gasped, inhaling wind and rain, panic gripping him like giant claws
...

Great grey slabs of cloud barreled past, buffeting him with shocking darkness and cold
...

He felt the broomstick dip sickeningly, almost hurling him off
...
James had lost all sense of direction
...
For the first time, getting on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team seemed much less
important than simply getting both feet back on the ground, wherever it was
...
Wind and mist tore at his face, making his eyes water
...
They swooped around him out of the clouds
...
One of the shapes angled toward him and James was shocked to see Zane on a
broomstick, his face chalk white, his blonde hair whipping wildly around his head
...

“Follow me!” Zane shouted over the wind as he swooped by
...
He saw Ted and Gennifer, the Ravenclaw
...
Ted was calling directions to James, but he couldn’t make them
out
...
The clouds barreled past
again like freight trains, and James lost sight of the other flyers
...
The Quidditch pitch was rising
to meet him, its matted grass looking very hard and unforgiving
...
James pulled back on his own broomstick, trying to
emulate Zane, but the force of the wind roaring past fought him
...
And then his rain-slicked hands slipped, fumbled
and he fell backwards, gripping the broom desperately with only his legs
...
James felt the force of Zane whipping past, Zane’s shouts diminishing behind him with horrible speed
...
James squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to hear the sound of his body
hitting the ground
...
He risked opening his eyes just a tiny bit, and then looked around
with relief and surprise
...
Rain hissed all around him as the Ravenclaws and Gryffindors stared at him
...
Then Ted turned
...


88

Ralph stood on the edge of the field, his robes soaked through and sticking to him, an umbrella lying
abandoned at the edge of the grandstands
...
He was trembling visibly
...

“Do I have to keep this up?” he said through gritted teeth
...
The Book of Austramaddux
“Don’t think of it as looking like a miserable failure on a broomstick,” Zane said afterwards as they
all sat in the Ravenclaw common room
...
He sat slumped at the end of the couch, his head propped miserably on his
hand
...
It was just a matter of not thinking about it, really
...

“Yeah,” another one said from across the room
...

With you, we get the laughs and the skills
...
Zane
beamed, soaking it up
...
”

90

“I dunno, honestly,” Zane said
...
I hardly even knew I was doing it until the very end, when I realized I was nose-diving straight into the
pitch
...

The feel of it all just made sense to me
...
“But enough about me and my broom
...
It was
just as huge and ridiculous as always, still with the tip whittled down and painted lime green, but nobody was
laughing at it anymore
...
It’s like you said, isn’t it? I just didn’t think about it
...
Next thing I know, I’m pointing my wand at him and
yelling--”
Several students, including Zane, ducked and called out as Ralph flicked his wand ahead of him
...
“Get a grip, everybody
...
”
“Ralph, you’re the real deal, mate,” Zane said, recovering
...
”
James stirred
...
”
“Hey, I’ll bet Grawp’s girlfriend has room in her cave,” Ralph said
...

“What?” Ralph said
...
“I couldn’t tell at first
...

“Hey, really,” Zane said awkwardly
...
I didn’t know it was
that important to you
...
”
James stood still for several seconds, staring into the fire
...
His heart ached
...
He blinked and looked away
...
“It was just really, really important
...
His clothes were still damp, and his body ached from the jolt of
Ralph levitating him at the end of his long dive, but he barely noticed those things
...
After the
victory of becoming a Gryffindor, he’d been cautiously confident that Quidditch, too, would work out
...
Far
from the spectacular aerobatic displays his dad had legendarily performed, James had to be rescued from
killing himself
...
He’d never live it down
...

How would he tell his dad? His dad, who would be coming at the beginning of next week to see him
and hear of his exploits
...
He’d tell James Quidditch didn’t matter, that the
important thing was for him to be himself and have fun
...
And still, knowing that
didn’t make James feel any better
...
James felt a stab of bitter jealousy at that
...
Zane was Muggle-born
...
Not the other way around
...
He ducked up the stairs and into the sleeping chamber, which was dark
and quiet
...
Now James was glad that he shared
the room with some of the older years
...
He
needed some of that reassurance now, or at least someone to notice his misery and validate it
...

James washed up in the little bathroom, changed, then sat on his bed, looking out into the night
...
The rain had finally exhausted itself
...
James watched it for a long time, not knowing what he was
waiting for, not even really knowing he was waiting
...
No
one came upstairs
...
It was Friday night
...

He felt utterly lonely and bereft
...

Eventually, he slept
...
He knew that
neither Ralph nor Zane could get into the common room without the password, and he was in no mood to
see them or anyone else
...
He was
particularly annoyed to discover that he couldn’t get his practice feather to do any more than scuttle
pathetically around the table
...
It shot a stream of purple sparks, as if surprised at
James’ outburst
...
James found himself following Filch around the
corridors with a bucket and a giant, stiff-bristled scrubbing brush
...
James would look and there
would be a bit of graffiti or a patch of long trodden-upon gum
...
Filch treated James as if he was personally responsible for each bit of defacing he
scrubbed
...
By the time James was allowed to return to his
rooms, his fingers were cold, red and sore, and smelled of Filch’s ugly brown soap
...

“Now that Trelawney’s sharing Divination class with Madame Delacroix, we have actual homework,”
Ted complained
...
That was kind of fun, actually
...
“Unlike Trelawney, Delacroix seems to have the quaint
notion that astrology is a hard science,” she said, shaking her head in disgust
...
”
Ted told James to stick around and keep them from getting too much done
...
Black and white
drawings of planets, each emblazoned with names and illustrations of mythical creatures, circled and spun
slowly on the pages, their orbits drawn as red ellipses
...

Petra turned a page
...
”
James turned the enormous pages of the constellation book slowly, examining the moving planets
and other-worldly astrological symbols
...
He remembered Damien implying there would be some friction between
them
...
“Trelawney tries to make nice, but she obviously hates the voodoo
queen
...
They’re from two different schools
of thought, in every sense of the word
...

“We all know what you think, dear,” Ted soothed
...
“Petra likes Trelawney
because she knows that, at its heart, divination is really just a set of random variables that you use to order
your own thinking
...
Petra is a facts girl, so she likes that even if Trelawney takes all this stuff seriously,
she doesn’t try to make it, you know, rigid
...
“Divination isn’t science
...
At least
Trelawney gets that in practice, if not in belief
...

“We have a test this week,” Ted said mournfully
...
It’s all about some
crazy astrological event that’s happening later this year
...
”
James looked quizzical, “The linings of the planets?”
“Alignment of the planets,” Petra said patiently
...
It only happens
once every few hundred years
...
Knowing what silly mythical creature each planet represents,
what it was a god of to some bunch of dotty primitives, and what it means to ‘the harmonics of the
astrological precognition matrix’ isn’t
...
“Someday, we’ll get Petra to reveal her true feelings about it
...

Later, at dinner, James saw Zane and Ralph sitting together at the Ravenclaw table
...
He knew it was extremely petty
of him, but he was still sick with jealousy and the shame of his embarrassment
...

The evening was pleasant and cool as the sun dipped behind the mountains
...
He went to
knock on the door to Hagrid’s cabin, but there was a note on the door, written in large, clumsy letters
...
Spending time with Grawp and Grawp’s
lady giant friend, James figured
...
James turned and headed dejectedly back in
the direction of the castle
...
He was curious
about something
...
James walked slowly along, looking in at the team photos of decades-past Quidditch teams, their
uniforms outdated, but their smiles and expressions of hearty invincibility eternally unchanged
...

James stopped near the end and looked in at the Triwizard Tournament display
...
James leaned in and looked at the picture
on the other side of the Triwizard Cup, the one of Cedric Diggory
...
James studied the photo
...

“It was you, wasn’t it,” James whispered to the picture
...

The boy in the picture smiled his smile, nodding slightly, as if in agreement
...
The engraved words sank into the silver plaque, then, after a moment, new
words surfaced
...

James Potter
Harry’s son
A shiver thrilled down James’ back
...
“Yes,” he whispered
...
Several seconds went by, and then more words drifted up
...
He shook his head slightly
...
How long
has it been since what?”
The letters receded and spelled again, slowly, as if they took great effort
...
“I don’t know, exactly
...
”
The letters faded out very slowly
...
Then:

95

Time is so strange here
It feels longer
Shorter
James didn’t know what to say
...

“My--” James’ voice caught
...
“My dad and mum,
Ginny, used to be Weasley… they talk about you
...
They… they remember you
...
”
The letters faded, surfaced
...
The letters faded
slowly
...
He just wanted to say something to lessen the pall of sadness he’d
sensed in Cedric’s presence, but he couldn’t think of anything
...

Are they happy
James read the question, considered it
...
“Yeah, Cedric
...
We are
...
When it was over, James glanced around the corridor
...
When he looked back at the plaque below the Triwizard Cup, it had reverted to its normal state,
covered in elaborate, engraved words
...
The ghost had finally spoken, and it was Cedric Diggory
...
As he climbed the steps to the common room, he realized it was true
...
At this moment, it all seemed unimportant
...
He ran along the hallway to the portrait hole, wanting
nothing more at that moment than to spend the last couple of hours of his first weekend at Hogwarts having
some fun, laughing, forgetting the silliness of the whole Quidditch disaster
...


96

As he entered the common room, he stopped and looked around
...
They all looked up
...
“We’re trying to work your broom-handling skills into
the routine
...
”
Ralph wiggled his wand and smiled sheepishly
...


James awoke late Monday morning
...

“No time, mate,” Ralph said, hooking James’ arm and turning him around
...
McGonagall teaches it and I’ve heard bad, bad things about what she does to tardy students
...
“I hope she doesn’t do
terrible things to students whose stomachs growl during class as well
...
“Check that out when you get a chance
...
” It was a thick,
bedraggled book
...
The pages
were yellowed, threatening to fall out of the binding in chunks
...

“Between Jackson and Flitwick, I’ve got enough reading to last me until next term
...
It’s the Book of Parallel Histories, Volume Seven,” Zane said
...
Just read the section I marked
...

“Do you Slytherins have dragons’ heads on your walls?” Zane shrugged
...
To each his own
...
Several of them wore the blue ‘Question the Victors’ badges
...
Signs on some of the bulletin boards had identified the
badges as the mark of a club called the ‘Progressive Element’
...

“Your dad’s coming today, eh, Potter?” an older boy called out, smiling crookedly
...
“He’s coming today, yeah,” he said, his cheeks going red
...
He hasn’t even met the Americans before
...
”
“Oh, we’ve been reading, believe me,” the boy replied, his smile disappearing
...
Your kind can’t hide the truth forever
...
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Read the badges, Potter
...
“And if you don’t, you’re even stupider than
you look
...

James blinked in anger and amazement
...
“Come on, let’s get a seat
...
”
But they had no time to discuss it before class
...
She explained the basic wand motions and commands, illustrating by transforming a book into a
herring sandwich
...

Afterward, she transformed the sandwich back into the book and showed the class that the book still bore the
bite marks Carson had made
...
Carson looked at the bitten
chunks and pressed his hand to his stomach, a look of thoughtful dismay on his face
...

“Persica Alteramus, emphasis on first syllables only
...
“If you produce even a banana with a hint of peach
fuzz, we will consider that a success for today
...
“Persica Alteramus!” There was no
apparent change
...
“Let’s see you try, James
...
The banana flopped over,
but remained decidedly a banana
...
“Maybe we should peel it and see
if it’s all peachy in there, eh?”
James thought about it, and then shook his head
...
Ralph watched
...
You guys look like you’re directing jetliners
...
“Let’s see you have a go,
Ralphinator
...
He fingered his wand, keeping it under the edge of the desk
...
“You’ve been pretty excellent at wandwork so far
...
“I don’t know
...
He plunked his
wand onto the table and pointed the banana at it
...
He rolled his eyes
...
Make with the
peach
...
What are you waiting for?”
Ralph grimaced, then sighed and raised his gigantic wand
...
There was a flash and a noise like a pine knot
exploding in a fireplace
...
A puff of heavy
smoke lingered on the table in front of Ralph, who had pushed back from it, his eyes wide and troubled
...
Ralph’s banana was still lying there, completely untouched
...
The peel split slowly and began to separate,
opening like a pulpy yellow flower
...
It seemed to sniff the air as it grew, twisting and lengthening like a vine
...
More
tendrils came out of the banana
...
Branches began to separate from the main shoot as it grew,
thickening and turning lighter, until it was a woody, yellowish grey
...
Finally, as the tree
reached a height of about four feet, there came a series of soft pops
...
Each one was fuzzy, plump, and pristine
...
Every eye was on the perfect
little peach tree Ralph had conjured, mouths dropped open, wand hands still frozen in mid-flick
...
Then motion
returned to the room
...

“He’s mine!” Zane called, standing and throwing an arm around Ralph’s shoulders
...
But James remembered
the look on Ralph’s face when the tree was growing
...

Moments later, in the corridor outside, Zane spoke through a mouthful of peach
...

You’re creeping me out a bit, here
...
What’s the deal?”
Ralph smiled his uncertain, worried smile again
...
“What? Tell, Ralph!”
“All right,” he said, stopping and pulling them into a windowed alcove
...

“I’ve been practicing a lot with some of the other Slytherins at night, you know,” Ralph explained
...
They’ve been teaching me a few things
...
”
“What enemies have you got already, Ralph?” Zane asked incredulously, licking peach juice from his
fingers
...
“You know, just average enemies
...
Anyway, they say I’m better than average
...
They think maybe one of my parents is from one of the great
wizarding families and just don’t know it
...
“I mean, you said
your dad made Muggle computer stuff, didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah, him,” Ralph said dismissively, and then dropped his voice
...
“Of course not
...
She died when I
was really little
...
What if she was a witch? I mean, what if she was from one of the
great old pureblood wizarding families and my dad never even knew it? It happens, you know
...
Pureblood types don’t like it, I
guess, but still…” He trailed off and looked back and forth at Zane and James
...
I guess it’s possible
...
”

100

Zane raised his eyebrows, considering
...
Maybe you’re an heir to fabulous riches and power and stuff!”
Ralph grimaced and stepped out of the alcove
...
It’s just a guess, like I
said
...
Neither of the other two had
Herbology class with him, so he told them he’d see them that afternoon and struck off across the grounds
toward the greenhouses
...
James had always liked
Neville, even though he was much quieter and thoughtful than his dad or Uncle Ron
...
In the end, Neville had been the one to cut off the head of the
great snake, Nagini, Voldemort’s last link to immortality
...

“Herbology is--” Neville began, gesturing and knocking over one of the smaller pots
...
He looked up and smiled in a harried sort of
way
...
As you can see
...

James thought Professor Longbottom would probably be quite interested in examining the peach tree
currently growing on the Transfiguration room table
...
Potions,
medicine, wand construction, even many charms, all rely on the essential cultivation and processing of
magical plants
...
”
Out of the corner of James’ eye, he saw something moving
...
The vine
separated from the windowsill, tapped lightly along her back, then curled into her earring
...

“Ow! Ow, ow, ow!” she cried, scrambling sideways off her chair and clapping a hand to her ear
...

“Yes, grab the vine, Miss Patonia! That’s right
...
It twisted slowly as he pried it loose
...
I apologize for not warning you before you sat down
...
Nearly extinct, after having been systematically hunted and burned during the

101

Purges
...
Patonia rubbed her ear and stared at the vine as if she’d like to do
some burning of her own
...
James yawned
...
In an
attempt to stay awake, James reached to get his parchment and quill from his backpack
...
He pulled it out, along with his parchments, and cradled it in his lap
...
His interest was immediately piqued by the heading at the
top of the page: Feodre Austramaddux
...


Proponent of Reverse Precognition, or the art of recording history through
counter-chronological divination, the Seer and historian Austramaddux remains
known to modern wizardry mainly for his fantastic accounts of the last days of
Merlinus Ambrosius, legendary sorcerer and founder of the Order of Merlin
...
Having grown disenchanted with the corruption of the magical world as
it became ‘infected’ by influences from the growing non-magical kingdoms,
Merlinus announced his plan to ‘quit the earthly realm’
...
These predictions have been the source of many
plots and conspiracies in the centuries since, usually led by those of a revolutionary
bent, who believe that the return of Merlinus would facilitate their plans to
overcome and subjugate the non-magical world via politics or outright war
...
His mind was racing as he considered the implications of what he’d just read
...
It had never occurred to James
to doubt that Merlin had been a real person, but it had also never occurred to him to wonder what kind of a
man Merlin might have been
...
According to Austramaddux, Merlin had been a sort of magical advisor to Muggle kings and leaders
...


102

Dark wizards had always sought to rule the Muggle world, and apparently, there was some basis to believe
that Merlin, the greatest and most powerful wizard of all time, would help them bring that about
...
He had first heard the name
Austramaddux via a profile created by a Slytherin
...
What if the enigmatic mention of Austramaddux wasn’t just a
meaningless coincidence? What if it was a sign of a new dark plot? What if the Slytherin who had made that
profile was part of a plot to facilitate the predicted return of Merlinus Ambrosius, who would lead a final war
against the Muggle world?
James closed the book slowly and gritted his teeth
...
That explained why a Slytherin would use a name that even his Head of House
thought was a joke
...

James’ heart pounded as he sat and thought furiously
...
They
might have already thought of it
...
Not yet, at least
...

James didn’t know exactly what he could do to stop such a plot, but he knew what he had to do next
...
He had to find the Slytherin
that used the name Austramaddux
...


As James ran across the grounds, he became aware of the noise of a crowd
...

Shouts and chants mingled with the babble of raucous, excited voices
...
A mob of students roiled around the courtyard, gathering from all
directions even as James watched
...
James saw one of the banners as he approached crowd, and his heart sank
...
Another sign waved and poked at the sky: ‘Tell the TRUTH, Harry Potter!’

103

James circled around the group, trying to stay inconspicuous
...
With growing unease, James recognized her as Rita Skeeter, lead investigative reporter for the
Daily Prophet, and one of his dad’s least favorite people
...
She placed her wand to her throat and
spoke from the top step, her voice echoing all around the courtyard, cutting through the noise of the crowd
...
Her face was deathly pale, with livid red high on her cheeks
...
“Far be it from me to disabuse you of the
right to maintain whatever ill-founded and preposterous notions many of you might have picked up, but let
me assure you, regardless of what you might choose to believe, it is not the policy of this school to allow
students to insult esteemed guests
...
James saw that Rita Skeeter was staring up at the
Headmistress with a look of hungry excitement on her face, her Quick-Quotes Quill scribbling wildly on a
pad of parchment
...
“There are proper avenues for expression
of disagreement, as you all know
...
I expect you all,
therefore, to disperse immediately with the knowledge that you have most certainly…,” she allowed her gaze
to fall upon Rita Skeeter, “made your point
...
There was a pregnant silence as the entire courtyard held its breath
...

McGonagall paused, studying Tabitha meaningfully
...
“And for my own part, I hope that we can all choose to pursue these issues in a more
reasonable and relevant manner, as you suggest
...
”
McGonagall’s jaw was like iron as she stared down at Corsica
...
She glanced around the courtyard, her composure faltering slightly
...
It hovered over the parchment, waiting
...
And now,” she let her gaze
sweep over the courtyard critically, “I consider the matter closed
...
I’d advise you to be off now,
before I send Mr
...
”
The crowd began to break up
...
“Come along,
Potter,” she said, beckoning impatiently
...
McGonagall was muttering angrily, her tartan robes swishing as she stalked into a side corridor
...

“Ridiculous rabble-rousing propagandists,” she fumed, still leading James into what he recognized as
the staff offices
...
But I’m even sorrier that such an ugly bit of
rumor-mongering has found a foothold within these walls
...
James found himself entering a large
room full of couches and chairs, small tables and bookshelves, all arranged haphazardly around an enormous
marble fireplace
...
James grinned and ran
past McGonagall
...
“My
boy
...
How’s school?”
James shrugged, smiling happily but feeling suddenly shy
...

“You all know my boy, James,” Harry said, squeezing James’ shoulder
...
You remember Titus Hardcastle, don’t you?
And this is Mr
...
They both work for the Department of Ambassadorial
Relations
...
He did remember Titus Hardcastle when he looked at him, although
he hadn’t seen him for a long time
...
Mr
...
His handshake was quick and loose, rather like holding a dead starfish
...
She smiled hugely at James and squatted down to his level,
examining him up and down
...
“Such promise and potential
...
”
In answer, James looked up at his dad
...

“We’re having dinner tonight with the Alma Alerons
...
”
“Sure!” James said, smiling
...

“But first,” he said, addressing the rest of the group, “we’ll be joining our friends from Alma Aleron
for a look at some of their proprietary magic
...
Shall we?”
“I’ll not be joining you, I’m afraid,” McGonagall said briskly
...
Potter
...
”
“Understood, Minerva,” Harry said
...
“Do what you have must, but don’t
worry about squashing every little outburst
...
”
“I’m not sure I agree with you about that, Harry, but I expect I’d not be able to maintain perfect
order regardless
...
” With that, the Headmistress turned and left the room
brusquely, still fuming
...
The group began to move toward a door on the opposite
side of the room
...
“I’m glad you’ll be coming
along tonight
...
I’m afraid this whole affair’s gone all political
...
“So how’d you travel?”
“Floo Network,” Harry answered
...

Minerva warned us about the demonstration the P
...
types were planning
...
“She knows
about those guys?” he asked, surprised
...
“Later,” Harry mouthed
...
Recreant opened a large door and stepped out into sunlight, the rest following
...
Neville Longbottom and Professor Slughorn were standing near
the wall, talking
...

“Hi, Harry!” Neville said, grinning and coming forward to meet him
...
I’ve been curious about it ever since the Americans got here
...

“Very good of you indeed to ask us to come
...
”
Harry led the group to a gate in the stone wall
...
“Don’t thank me, either of you
...
”
Slughorn laughed indulgently, but Neville only smiled
...

The group approached a large canvas tent that was pitched on a low rise overlooking the water
...
A
pair of American students stood talking nearby
...
He called toward the tent
...
“Ah!
Greetings, visitors,” he said graciously
...
”
Harry shook Franklyn’s outstretched hand
...
Harry turned and made introductions all around, finishing with James
...
“Young Mr
...
How are
you today, James?”
“Good, sir,” James answered, smiling
...
“And now
that the pleasantries have been seen to, do follow me, my friends
...
“I wasn’t here to see your arrival, of course, but I heard all about your
interesting flying vehicles
...
I have heard quite a lot
of speculation about it, although I admit I understand very little of it
...
Virtually none of us understands very much about it, I am
afraid,” Franklyn said dubiously
...
Speaking of whom, he sends his apologies for not
being able to be here for the tour
...
”
“As I’m sure we will,” Titus Hardcastle said in his low, gravelly voice
...
The tent was quite large, with complicated wooden struts and frameworks supporting it
...
The strangest thing about the tent, however, was that the back was missing
...
Neat, red brick buildings
and huge, horny trees could be seen in the distance beyond the tent’s missing back wall
...
On
the other side of the tent, the scene was lit with a pale pink light, the huge, fluffy clouds in the distance tinged
with gold
...
One of the workmen
nodded at Franklyn, then turned and walked out into the strange scene, brushing his hands on his overalls
...

“Our Garage, which simultaneously stands both here, in temporary residence on the grounds of Hogwarts
castle, and in its permanent location in the east quadrangle of Alma Aleron University, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, United States
...
“I’ve read of such things, but
never thought I’d live to see one
...

“The former,” Franklyn said, stepping between the Dodge Hornet and the Volkswagen Beetle to
make room for the group
...
What that
means, I am told, is that this tent exists within a dimensional bridge, allowing it to span two places
simultaneously
...
And on the other side,” he spread a hand toward the dim landscape seen magically
through the rear of the tent, “the dawn-time quadrangle of Alma Aleron University, the other side of the
bubble
...
Peter Graham, our head mechanic
...
He smiled and waved
...
So to speak
...

“Mr
...
“Seeing
as they are specifically trained to work on our fleet, we find it best to let them handle the care and
maintenance even while we travel
...
” To illustrate,
Franklyn reached toward one of the workmen who was squatted near the Hornet
...
The man seemed not to have noticed
...
Therefore, we cannot touch
them?”
“Precisely,” Franklyn said
...
“Then how is it we can touch the cars and so can your mechanics in the States?”
“Excellent question, my boy,” Slughorn said, patting James on the back
...
“And that is where things get a bit, er, quantum
...
You’ve all heard, I expect, the theory that there are more
dimensions beyond the four we are familiar with, yes?”
There were nods
...

Franklyn went on
...
Effectively, Professor Jackson has created a spell that enables these vehicles to tap into
those dimensions, allowing them to exist simultaneously in two places anytime they are inside the walls of this
Garage
...
”
“Remarkable,” Slughorn said, running his hand along the fender of the Hornet
...
”
“Very true,” agreed Franklyn
...
”
Neville was interested in the cars themselves
...
Walking over
to the other side of the tent, he looked out into the grounds of the American school
...
It was just
after six in the morning there
...
Tentatively, he reached
out his hand, curious to see if he could feel the coolness of the morning air in that other place
...
Sure enough, he couldn’t
pass through or even feel the air of the place
...
James looked up
...
“It’s almost breakfast and today’s mushroom omelet day
...
“Sounds good
...
”

109

“Professor Franklyn,” James heard Mr
...
”
“Ah, too true,” Franklyn agreed, looking steadily at Mr
...
“We have been fortunate enough
not to have experienced any problems so far, thus we have gone more or less unnoticed by the Coalition
...
Even a total failure of Professor Jackson’s
trans-dimensional spellwork would mean, at worst, that we’d have to take a taxi home instead of our beloved
cars
...
“A what?”
“I’m sorry, Miss,” Franklyn said
...
A rented Muggle vehicle
...
”
Sacarhina cinched her smile a notch tighter
...
Yes, of course
...
I cannot imagine how it slipped my notice
...
“Well, I won’t speak for my compatriots, but I admit I do
enjoy tinkering
...
I never get tired of figuring out how things work, and trying to make them work just a little bit better
...

One of the mechanics touched a wire under the hood of the Stutz Dragonfly and there was a spurt of
blue sparks
...
Neville had had to duck backward to avoid being pummeled by them
...
“That was almost a case of ‘fly swats man’
...
Hardcastle cleared his throat
...
”
“Of course,” Harry agreed
...
Franklyn
...
“I insist you call me Ben
...
Will you indulge me?”
Harry grinned
...
I look forward to seeing you at dinner tonight
...
”
“A pleasure,” Franklyn said, beaming proudly
...
I’d even show you the bell I
helped cast back during the birth of our country, but the blasted thing’s broken and they won’t let me fix it
...
“Or he’ll have you believing he
forged the copper for the Statue of Liberty
...

Franklyn grimaced, and then waved Harry and the group on
...
Bring your
appetite
...
I understand that Madame Delacroix is overseeing the
gumbo
...
Harry’s Midnight Meeting
James hurried back to the Gryffindor common room after classes, shrugging out of his school robes as
he ran up the steps
...

Harry was waiting with Neville by the portrait of Sir Cadogan
...
He was talking to Neville, who looked extremely uncomfortable
...
Took place right there
...
Lost, of course, but noble as a thousand kings
...
Gallant man
...
Harry and Sir Cadogan looked
up
...

“Your mum will be glad to know you’re putting that cloak to use
...


112

Harry nodded, “And it’ll go right back into the trunk after tonight, won’t it?”
“Guaranteed
...
James fell into step next to his dad as they headed toward a
staircase
...
“Have I ever
told you about the Battle of the Red Mages? Bloodiest massacre these walls have ever seen! Happened just at
the foot of those stairs! Next time, then
...

“You’ll get to know him,” Neville said
...
”
As they walked, James listened as his dad told Neville about the current happenings at the Ministry
...
More trolls were
being seen in the foothills, and the Ministry was stepping up patrols to keep the troublesome idiots from
venturing into Muggle territories
...

“In other words,” Harry said, sighing, “things are more or less the way they always are
...
Politics and paperwork
...
”
Harry grinned
...
I should be thankful my job isn’t any more interesting,
shouldn’t I? At least I get to spend most nights at home with Ginny, Lil, and Albus
...
“And take on an ambassador’s assignment that just happens to afford me the chance to see my boy
during his first week at Hogwarts
...

“Oh?” Harry said, still eyeing James
...

“I, er, broke a window
...
“I look forward to the story of how that happened,”
he said thoughtfully
...

They reached a double doorway with both doors thrown wide open
...


113

“Here we are,” Neville said, standing aside to allow Harry and James to enter first
...
We’ve given them most of the southwest turret
...
”
“Sounds nice,” Harry said, examining the space
...
The Americans had, however, been very busy
...
A
three-story bookcase was crammed with gigantic volumes, most accessible only via a very rickety-looking
wheeled ladder
...
James stared up into it, delighted and amazed
...

“You’ve discovered my Daylight Savings Device, my boy,” Ben Franklyn said, coming from a large
arched doorway beneath the spiral staircase
...
”
“It’s wonderful,” Neville said, also staring up into the slowly ratcheting network of mirrors and
wheels
...
“It works best in full daylight, of course, but even the
stars and moon of a bright night can provide adequate light
...
Let me see…”
He moved to a battered high-backed leather chair, settled himself into it carefully, and then consulted
a chart on the wall
...
Moon is in the fourth house, it is, let me see… approximately
a quarter past seven
...
Gears
began to spin as parts of the Device whirred to life
...
Mirrors began to slide, positioning behind cycling groups of lenses, which magnified them
...
The entire device seemed to dance slowly within itself as Franklyn directed it
with his wand, apparently making calculations in his head as he went
...
Ghostly beams of rose-colored light began to appear between the mirrors, pencil thin, turning
motes of dust into tiny specks of fire
...
And then, in the center of the tracery, shapes shimmered
into place
...

They spun and orbited, tracing faint arcs behind them
...
The sun was a ball of rose light, its corona spreading several
feet around it
...
The entire constellation weaved and turned majestically, dramatically lighting
the brass Device and spilling delightful patterns of light over the entire room
...
“Captured here, through the windows, and
then condensed within a carefully calibrated network of mirrors and lenses, as you can see
...
The final result is, well, what you see here
...
”
“This is the secret to your longevity?” Harry asked, rather breathlessly
...
“Mostly, I just prefer it to read
by at night
...
” He caught James eye and winked
...
James saw him glance from Franklyn to the light display
overhead, a look of tired disdain on his face
...
Shall we adjourn to the dining
room or shall I have it brought in here?”
Along with Harry, James, Neville, and the representatives from the Ministry, most of the Hogwarts
teaching staff was present, including Professor Curry
...

Contrary to his dad’s suspicion, the meal was remarkably diverse and enjoyable
...
She carried it to the table herself, somehow not spilling a drop despite her
blindness
...
The gumbo was indeed spicy, thick with chunks of shrimp and sausage, but James liked it
...
James tasted it carefully on a hunk of bread, and then spread a gigantic dollop on the
remainder of his roll
...
James didn’t consider this typical American food,
and commented as much
...
“Our cuisine, like our people, is
simply the sum total of the various world cultures we come from
...
“I am pretty sure we can lay undisputed claim to the
spicy buffalo wing
...

“My apologies,” Franklyn said
...
”

115

“Is that so?” Neville inquired, helping himself to more mint jelly
...

“De old man, he don’t know what he speaks of
...
”
Franklyn’s smile, for the first time, seemed icy
...
She is, you
may already know, one of our country’s foremost experts on Remote Physio-Apparition
...
Franklyn was watching him earnestly, expecting a response
...
Before Franklyn could explain, however, Harry spoke up
...
”
“‘Different means’ is one way to put it,” Franklyn chuckled
...

There was something nasty in it
...
“Think about it, James
...
Can you factor it out? It means that poor old
blind Madame Delacroix can project herself, send a version of herself out into the wide world, collect things,
and even bring them back
...
Isn’t that right, Madame?”
Delacroix stared blindly at a spot just over Franklyn’s shoulder, her face a grim mask of anger
...
“Oh,
deah Professah Franklyn, you do tell such tales,” she said, and her strange bayou accent seemed even thicker
than usual
...
If I could project such a sight, I hardly think I’d ever let anyone see me as I really am
...
Franklyn smiled a bit tightly, but let the
moment pass
...
It lit the room with a silvery glow that James thought he could very nearly feel on his skin
...
Neville barely touched his
...
Recreant sampled tiny sips and gave forced, rather strained smiles
...
He squinted and shook his head, then
looked inquiringly at Jackson, unable to speak
...

Finally, Harry thanked the Americans and bid them goodnight
...

“Want to stay with me in the guest quarters, James?” he asked
...
I’ll be busy all day tomorrow, meeting with the Americans, keeping our friends
from the Department of Ambassadorial Relations from making ‘an international incident’ of themselves, then
I’m off home again
...
“Where are your quarters?”
Harry smiled
...
He turned around
and paced idly, looking thoughtfully up at the dim ceiling
...
”
James stared at his dad quizzically
...
He seemed to be waiting for something
...
A low grind and rumble came from the wall behind him
...
Harry glanced down at his son, smiled knowingly, then reached and opened the door
...

James stood inside the door, opening and closing his mouth, speechless
...
“I can’t
believe I never told you about it
...

“I need to go out for a little while,” he told James
...
He wanted some time to discuss a few things outside of tomorrow’s official
meetings
...
“I shouldn’t be too long, and I’ll be just down the hall, in the
Americans’ quarters
...
He still hadn’t brought himself to tell his dad about his abysmal failure on
the Quidditch pitch, and he was happy to put it off as long as possible
...
He
remembered the sudden nastiness of Franklyn, which had surprised him
...
Thinking of
Madame Delacroix reminded James of the way she’d spooned the gumbo, unseeingly, operating the ladle with
her creepy black wand, never spilling a drop
...
He slid off the top bunk and prowled the room
restlessly
...
James looked into it idly, then stopped
and looked closer
...
What use would he have for it here? James considered it
...

How many times had the young Harry Potter explored the grounds of Hogwarts safely hidden away
under this cloak? James had heard enough tales, from both his dad, Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, to know
that this was an opportunity not to be missed
...
He slipped the cloak over
his head, just the way he used to on the rare occasions when Harry would let him play with it
...
A moment later, the door of the Room of Requirement seemed to open all by itself, rocking slowly
on its huge hinges
...

Tiptoeing, James headed for the quarters of the representatives of Alma Aleron
...
Mrs
...
James stopped,
his breath caught in his chest
...
Then, worse, Filch’s voice came echoing down the passage
...
“Don’t let the little buggers escape
...
” Filch’s shadow leaked across the floor of the
intersection, weaving as he approached
...

He sidled into a narrow space between a doorway and a suit of armor, trying to keep his breathing shallow
and silent
...

Filch stepped into the intersection, his gait rather unsteady
...
Norris
...
He took a swig, wiped

118

his mouth with his sleeve, and then spun the cap back on
...

Come, come
...
Mrs
...
Mrs
...
To James’ great chagrin, the mice scampered behind the suit of
armor and wriggled under the edge of the Invisibility Cloak
...
James tried to push them
out from under the cloak with his toes, but they refused to go
...
Norris padded down the corridor intently, her whiskers twitching
...
She looked around, her eyes flashing, sensing the mice were nearby, but not
seeing them
...

James watched Mrs
...
She had encountered the Invisibility Cloak before, years earlier
...
Maybe she remembered
the smell of it
...
She raised
her eyes, narrowing them, as if she knew he was there and was trying very hard to see him
...
Norris,” Filch said, coming closer still
...
“If they got away, they’ll just tell their
rodent friends about you
...
”
Mrs
...
The mice between James’ feet were getting nervous
...
Mrs
...
To James’ horror, she
brushed the edge of the Invisibility Cloak with it
...

The mice, hearing the hiss, panicked
...
Norris’ feet
...
Filch laughed raspily
...
There they go! After them, now!”
But Mrs
...
She raised her paw again
...
Norris, go!” Filch said, his mood swinging to annoyance
...

Filch’s foot caught the edge of the cloak, pulling it away from James’ feet
...


119

Mrs
...
Filch, however, was too sodden to take
heed
...
I’d have never guessed a pair of dumb animals would get
the jump on you
...
There’re always more near the kitchens
...
Norris followed, throwing occasional rankled glances back
towards James
...

When he reached the door to the Americans’ quarters it was closed and bolted
...
He was
about to give up and head downstairs, thinking he might perhaps find Cedric’s ghost again, or even the
Muggle intruder, when the voices inside the door grew louder
...
He pressed himself against the
wall on the opposite side of the corridor just as the door creaked open
...
Harry followed, closing the door with the practiced stealth of any good Auror
...
”
“I find it’s safer to move around during a private conversation,” Franklyn was saying
...
At least this way no,
unwanted ears can hear the entirety of our dialogue
...
“I spent so much time sneaking around these halls and corridors when I
was a student that even as an adult, it’s difficult to avoid the instinct to skulk and sneak, for fear that I might
get caught and be given detention
...
James
followed at a safe distance, taking care not to breathe too heavily or stumble against any of the statues or suits
of armor that lined the walls
...
“Now, however,
we have worse things than detention to worry about
...
“I had some pretty
horrible detentions
...
“The history of both our schools has involved some
unsavory characters and unnecessary ugliness
...
Your
Voldemort, our… well, honestly, we have no one in our history that compares to him
...
Our duty is to ensure that such things don’t happen again
...


120

Franklyn sighed
...
Potter
...
I am just
an old teacher
...
Old teachers see
quite a lot
...
For most of the students and even the staff, the facts of
Voldemort and his Death Eaters are up for conjecture
...
”
“The Progressive Element here knows they need to be very careful,” Harry said in a low voice
...
Enough people
still remember lost family and friends, killed at the hand of his Death Eaters
...
It’s natural, but typically short-lived
...
”
“History is bunk,” Franklyn said disgustedly
...
I lived during quite a bit of it, and I
can indeed tell you that sometimes, there is, in fact, a wide gulf between what gets reported and what actually
happened
...

Franklyn sighed as they turned a corner
...
The fact is, though, that the exceptions give
rabble-rousers like the Progressive Element all the ammunition they need to challenge any historical record
they wish
...
Thus,
they carefully attack it, sowing the seeds of doubt among minds shallow enough to believe the distortions
...
”
“Of course I do, and so do you, Mr
...
The agenda hasn’t changed for a thousand years, has it?”
“No, it hasn’t
...
” Franklyn stopped in the darkness of the corridor, looking at Harry’s face
...
They prefer to believe that Voldemort was a revolutionary
hero, a fresh thinker, whose beliefs were simply too much for the traditional ruling class to tolerate
...
”
James, standing several feet away, hidden under the cloak, could see his dad’s jaw clenching as
Franklyn spoke
...


121

“You know that these are lies and distortions, I assume
...
“But the point is that
they are attractive lies to a certain type of person
...
They believe the truth is a wire to bend to their will
...
”
Harry remained stoic and unmoving
...
“Not to hear them tell it
...
They claim to be for the exact opposite
...
Full disclosure, the abolition of all laws of secrecy and non-competition
...
”
Harry nodded grimly
...
Of course, it is a two-edged sword
...
”
“Certainly,” Franklyn agreed, resuming his walk along the corridor
...
”
“A throwback to the old Salem witch trials?” Harry asked
...
“Hardly
...

Sure, witches were put on trial, and loads of them were burned, but as you know, any witch worth her wand
wouldn’t be hurt by a Muggle bonfire
...
That was the origin of the Floo
Network, of course
...
That doesn’t matter to the faithful, though
...
Full disclosure, they claim, will bring peace and freedom
...
”
Harry stopped by a window
...

Harry’s face was thoughtful in the moonlight
...
The dark wizards would make sure of it
...
Laws would be passed, enforcing equal treatment, but those laws
would become the basis for new contentions
...
Once there, they’d push for greater control, more power
...
Eventually, order would break down
...
” Harry’s
voice had gone soft, considering
...
“And that’s what they want, isn’t it? War with the Muggle world
...
“The struggle never stops
...
”
“Who’s involved?” Harry asked simply
...
“It’s not so simple
...
There are some individuals it would be instructive to watch closely,
though
...
”
Franklyn glanced up, studying Harry’s face
...
“And Professor Jackson
...
His dad and Professor Franklyn stood very
still
...
Then Harry spoke again
...
“Of course
...
It’s like an infestation of cockroaches in the walls
...
Take your pick
...
His heart was pounding so heavily he had been sure that his dad or
Professor Franklyn would hear it
...
Merlin had said that he would return when the balance
between Muggles and wizards was ‘ripe for his ministrations’
...
But Professor Jackson? James had come
to quite like the professor, despite his crusty exterior
...
Franklyn had to be wrong about him
...
With a sudden stab of fear, he remembered that the doorway had vanished when he’d come
out
...
How was he supposed to get back in? He had to be inside the room,
apparently asleep, by the time his dad came back
...
He glanced around hopelessly, unable to keep himself from looking for
some subtle clue or hint of where the doorway was hidden
...
He pulled it out and shook his hand out from
under the cloak, revealing it
...
“Room of Requirement…
open?”
Nothing happened, of course
...
His senses had grown almost painfully
sharp as his body shot full of adrenaline
...
Voices
...
They must have begun their return journey at almost exactly the same time as James,
but a little slower
...
His dad would be returning in mere moments
...
What had his dad done to open the room? He had just stood there, hadn’t
he, waiting, and then bang, there was the door? No, James recalled, he had spoken first
...

James replayed the evening in his memory, trying to remember what his dad had said, but he was too
flustered
...
Footsteps approached
...
His dad was approaching, wand lit but held low, his head down
...
He yanked it in as quickly and silently as he could,
arranging the cloak to cover him completely
...
His dad would enter the room and see that
James wasn’t there
...
Besides, he’d have the cloak with him
...

Harry Potter stopped in the corridor
...
“I need to get
into the room my son is sleeping in,” he said conversationally
...
Harry didn’t seem
surprised
...
“I wonder why the door won’t open
...
Right, James?”
James let out his breath and yanked the Invisibility Cloak off
...
I didn’t know for sure until the trick with the door
...
” Harry Potter chuckled tiredly
...


124

When they were both in their beds, James in the top bunk, staring up at the dark ceiling, Harry
spoke
...
I hope you know that
...
He listened and waited
...
“There’s one
part of what he said that I want you to remember
...
The
battle is always the same, just with different chapters
...
Even if you do,
it’ll just go and get itself into danger again, and again, and again
...
”
Harry paused and James heard him laugh quietly
...
I remember the great weight
of responsibility and the heady thrill of believing I was the only one to stop the evil, to win the war, to battle
for the ultimate good
...
It was everyone’s fight
...
And there were those whose sacrifice was far greater than my own
...
And it certainly isn’t the duty of one boy who can’t even figure out how to open the Room of
Requirement yet
...
His dad stood, his head rising to look at James in the
top bunk
...
His dad was
smiling his crooked, knowing smile
...
His dad was Harry Potter
...
He wanted to tell his dad about everything he’d seen and heard
...
But in the end,
he decided not to
...

“I know, Dad
...
If I decide to save the world single-handedly, I’ll send you
and Mum a note first
...
He climbed back into the bottom bunk
...
“Hey, Dad, any chance you might let me keep the
Invisibility Cloak with me for the school year?”
“None at all, my boy
...
James heard him roll over
...


125

When James and Harry Potter entered the Great Hall the next morning, James sensed the mood of
the room change
...
Rather than turning to look at them, James sensed people looking
pointedly in the other direction
...
There was the strange sensation of people glancing
at them sideways or turning to watch once James and Harry had passed them
...

Who were these people? Most of them were good witches and wizards, from hardworking parents who had
always been supportive of Harry Potter, first as the Boy Who Lived, then as the young man who helped bring
about the downfall of Voldemort, and finally as the man who was Head Auror
...

Even as James thought that, however, he saw that he was wrong
...
Ted saw Harry, whooped, and ran down the length of
table, giving Harry a complicated handshake that involved a lot of banging fists, hand grips and finally, an
embrace that was one part hug and one part body slam
...
“Ted, you’re going to knock yourself clean out one of
these times
...
“Have you met
Noah yet, Harry? He’s a Gremlin, like me and Petra
...
“I think we met last year at the Quidditch championship, yes?”
“Sure,” Noah said
...

How could I forget?”
“Technically, it was an assist,” Ted said primly
...
I was aiming for the press box
...

“Have at it,” Ted replied magnanimously
...
It’s Quidditch tonight, and we hold grudges
...


126

“I’d tell him not to sweat it, but that’d be taking away his fun, wouldn’t it?” Harry said, watching
Ted depart
...
They both began to fill their plates from the steaming platters along the table
...
He waved them over enthusiastically
...
“Zane’s the blond one, Ralph’s the brick house
...
“James tells me good things about both of you
...
“Did you really do all that stuff?”
Harry laughed
...
“The major points,
yes, those are probably true
...
Mostly, me and my friends were just trying to keep ourselves from getting blasted, eaten, or cursed
...
“Hey, what’s the deal?” James said, nudging him
...
”
Zane grimaced, and then pulled a copy of the Daily Prophet from his backpack
...
”
James leaned over and glanced at it
...
Below it, in smaller type: ‘Potter Visit Sets Off School-wide
Protest as Magical Community Re-evaluates Auror Policies’
...

Before he could respond, however, his dad placed a hand on his shoulder
...
“That’s got Rita Skeeter’s name all over it
...
“You can tell who wrote it just by the
headline?”
“No,” Harry laughed, dismissing the newspaper and digging into a slice of French toast
...
Still, yeah, that is pretty much her typical brand of tripe
...
The world
will forget it by this time next week
...
“She says that most of the school
was there, protesting and shouting
...
“It’s just a story, James
...
”
“But how can you let them say things like this? It’s dangerous! Professor Franklyn--”

127

The look Harry gave him stopped him from going any further
...
“I know what you are worried about, James, and I don’t blame you
...
”
“You sound like McGonagall,” James said, dropping his eyes and jabbing at a chunk of sausage
...
“She taught me
...
”
James poked at his plate sullenly for a moment
...

“First Quidditch of the season tonight, then, right?” Harry asked, waving his fork at the three boys in
general
...
“My first game! I can hardly wait
...
“You made the Ravenclaw team, then! That’s
very cool
...
I look forward to seeing you fly
...

“He’s pretty good, Mr
...
“I saw him fly his first time
...
”
“That takes some serious control,” Harry acknowledged, studying Zane
...
“That’s the amazing bit, isn’t
it?”
James looked at Ralph, his face grim, trying to catch his eye and warn him off the topic, but it was
already too late
...
” Ralph squirmed on the bench, mimicking
James’ inaugural broom flight
...

Harry glanced around the table, chewing a chunk of toast, a quizzical look on his face
...

Of course,” he admitted, still looking from boy to boy
...
I understand completely,” Zane said quickly, waggling his eyebrows at Ralph
who was sitting there looking nonplussed
...
Whoo
...

Come on, Ralphinator
...
”
“I have a free period first,” Ralph protested
...
”
“Let’s go, ya lunkhead!” Zane insisted, coming around the table and hooking Ralph’s elbow
...

“What?” Ralph said loudly, frowning at the meaningful look Zane was giving him
...
His eyebrows shot up and he turned back to James, looking
mortified
...
Ah,” he said as Zane pulled him toward the door
...
“So yeah, I stink at Quidditch
...
”
Harry studied his son
...
“I know,” he said
...
It’s just Quidditch
...
I
don’t have to do it just because you did it
...
You don’t have to say it
...
Finally he sat back
and picked up his pumpkin juice
...
Sounds like you’ve done my job
for me
...
Harry looked back at him as he took a very long, slow drink from his
glass
...
James tried not to laugh
...
This isn’t funny
...
On that thought, his composure cracked slightly
...

Harry lowered his glass and grinned, shaking his head slowly
...
He swallowed
...
Of course I have
...

It’s your sport, and Granddad’s, too
...
I’m supposed to be excellent on a broom
...
”
Harry leaned forward, putting his glass down and looking James in the eye
...
Merlin’s beard, son, it’s your first week and you’ve not even had your first broom
lesson, have you? Back when I started here, we wouldn’t have even been allowed to get on a practice broom
without lessons, much less try out for the House teams
...
”

129

“That’s not the point son
...
You’re defeating yourself before you even start
...
Even I wish I was half the wizard the stories make
me out to be
...
You have to stop thinking of yourself
as the son of Harry Potter…” Harry paused, seeing that James had really heard him, perhaps for the first
time
...
“And give me the chance to think of myself simply as James Potter’s dad
instead
...
Got it?”
James smiled again, crookedly
...
“All right, Dad
...
But it’s hard
...
After a moment, he said, “Am I always that
predictable?”
James broke into a knowing grin
...
You and Mum both
...
James went on
...


130

131

7
...
The teacher was a giant slab of a man named Cabriel
Ridcully
...

“Good morning, first years!” he boomed, and James guessed that Cabe Ridcully was one of the
world’s great morning people
...
Most of you know me already, having seen me at
the Quidditch matches and tournaments and whatnot
...
I believe in a very hands-on approach, so we’ll all be jumping right into essential
broom-handling and control
...
”
James had been dreading getting back onto a broom again, but as the class progressed, he found that,
with proper guidance, he was able to manage getting his broom to levitate and support him, and even control
its altitude and speed in very small formations
...
If the broom was merely hovering, leaning forward on the
broomstick pressed it forwards, while pulling up drove it backwards
...
The faster the broom was moving, the more James’ posture
controlled altitude instead of speed
...
James sensed that the slightest panic
would cause him to lose even the tiny degree of control he had already learned, and he began to understand
why he’d been so dreadful during the Quidditch tryouts
...

“Let’s avoid showboating, Mr
...
“Save it for the match tonight, why don’t you?”
Ralph’s entire body was tensed as he struggled to stay atop his broom
...
“How do I get it to swoop like that?” he asked,
watching Zane
...
“I’d just worry about staying right-side up if I was you, Ralph
...

At lunch, James explained to Ralph and Zane the happenings of the night before
...
Finally, he explained the conversation he had heard between his dad and Professor Franklyn, and
how it fit in with the Austramaddux story about Merlin’s predicted return
...
”
James moaned, exasperated
...
I mean, forget x-ray specs
...
Is it steam-resistant, do you think?”
James rolled his eyes
...
”
“But you don’t know that, do you?” Zane said, undeterred
...
“So Franklyn told your dad that there were wizards in the States
who were pushing for the same thing as the Progressive Element? Muggle and wizard equality and all that?”
James nodded
...
They think Muggles are an inferior
species, not equals
...
“Well, maybe
...
Most of the people out in the courtyard
the other day weren’t even Slytherins, though
...
“Doesn’t really matter
...
You said so yourself, Ralph
...
She’s behind the whole thing
...
She just thinks we should be fair to everybody, Muggle and wizard
alike
...
I mean, really, it doesn’t seem fair that we shouldn’t
be able to work in the Muggle world, does it? Or compete in Muggle games and sports? Just because we have
magic on our side, doesn’t make us outcasts
...

“Well?” Ralph said suddenly, his face going red
...
And I
don’t appreciate the way you’re talking about my house
...
If you’re so worried about truth and history, you should be all for debate on the subject
...
”
James sat back, his mouth dropping open
...
“She wants me to be in the first school debate with Team A
...
They’re calling it ‘Re-evaluating the Assumptions of the Past: Truth or Conspiracy’?”
“And you’re going to be on the team, then? You’re going to argue that my dad and his chums made
the whole Voldemort story up just to scare people into keeping the wizarding world a secret?”
Ralph looked miserable
...

“Well!” James cried, throwing up his hands
...
“Has that ever occurred to
you? I mean, sure, people got killed
...
But why is it that when your side killed people, it was a
triumph of good, but when their side killed, it was an evil atrocity? The victors write the history books, you
know
...
How would you know? You weren’t even born
yet
...
“I know my dad!” he shouted
...
James knew, in some small, distant part of his mind, that he
was overreacting
...
Besides, Ralph was being fed all this by his housemates, who he was desperate to
get along with
...


134

James broke eye contact first
...

“Well,” Zane said tentatively, “I was going to see if you two wanted to meet after the match tonight
for Butterbeers with the Gremlins, but maybe I’ll just take a rain check, eh?”
Neither Ralph nor James spoke
...

“You were pretty horrible to him, you know,” Zane said evenly
...

“Before you defend yourself,” Zane said, raising a hand in a conciliatory gesture, “just let me say,
you’re right
...
But it’s Ralph
...
You know?”
“No,” James said flatly, “not when ‘getting along’ means talking up a bunch of lies about my dad
...
“He’s just a guy hearing all this for the first
time
...
Too bad for him they’re all a bunch
of wacked-out, power-crazed lunatics
...
He knew Zane was right, but he still couldn’t quite regret his outburst
against Ralph
...
Why aren’t you running off
to join the Progressive Element and chant slogans?”
“Because lucky for you,” Zane said, throwing an arm around James’ neck, “I got sorted into
Ravenclaw, and they all hated Old Voldy just as much as you Gryffindors
...
”
James elbowed Zane away from him, groaning
...
Knossus Shert, the Ancient Runes professor, was
monitoring the period, his thick glasses and long, skinny limbs in green robes making him look rather like a
praying mantis seated behind the library head desk
...
James, not wanting to
disturb him, but equally disinterested in embarking on his own homework, pulled the morning’s copy of the
Daily Prophet out of his backpack, where he’d stuffed it at breakfast
...
Near the bottom of the front page, James was annoyed to see a picture of
Tabitha Corsica
...
‘Hogwarts Prefect
Discusses Progressives Movement on Campus’, the headline next to her picture read
...


135

“Of course, my house doesn’t believe in disturbing the harmony
of the school for these discussions, but we respect the members of other
houses as they voice their concerns,” Miss Corsica explained, her eyes
full of regret for the disruptions of the day, but obviously recognizing the
validity of her fellow students’ motivations
...
”
Miss Corsica, a fifth-year Slytherin, is also captain of her
Quidditch team
...
“They had no idea of the magical properties of the
wood, and of course, I had it registered by the school as a Muggle
artifact
...
It also happens to be one of the fastest
brooms on the pitch,” she adds, biting her lip modestly, “but I credit that
to the hands that made it, as much as to the spells that infuse the wood
...

He stared unseeingly at the back of the paper
...
When James had seen her in the courtyard, Tabitha had been giving her interview with Rita Skeeter
...

Stupid, gullible woman, James thought
...

James had been told about his dad’s first encounters with Skeeter, back during the Triwizard Tournament
...
Eventually, Hermione had captured Skeeter in her beetle form, preventing her, for a
time, from continuing her assault on the truth via her articles in the Daily Prophet
...

Frankly, James preferred Aunt Hermione’s methods to those his dad claimed to espouse these days
...
Suddenly, however, one headline caught his attention
...


Ministry Break-in Remains a Mystery
LONDON: Last week’s burglary of the Ministry of Magic Headquarters
leaves Aurors and officials alike baffled, as questions still surface about

136

the burglars’ motives and the possibility of inside accomplices
...
The three alleged burglars, two humans and a
goblin, were found during a search of the surrounding area hours after
the break-in was discovered
...
Mungo’s Hospital for Magical
Maladies and Injuries
...
The criminal charges
were subsequently reduced to destruction of property and trespassing,
and the story, while curious, was dismissed until late last week, when it
became known that no amount of counter-curses or jinxes were having
any effect on the Langlocked accused
...
Horatio Flack,
head of the counter-jinx facility at St
...
“If we are unable to
release the curse on these men by this weekend, I am afraid the spells
may become permanent
...
Fikklis Bistle of Sussex, did begin to respond to the
counter-jinxes over the course of the weekend
...
Shortly after dawn this
morning, however, Mr
...
This has sparked a wide range of
speculation, resulting in a renewed investigation into the break-in
...

These are small-time crooks, none having ever attempted something of
this magnitude in the past
...
The death of Mr
...
We can only be thankful,”
Ms
...
”

137

“Come on,” Zane whispered, startling James out of his reading
...
Want to come along? I could use a Potter for good luck
...
He even thought he
might spend a little practice time on a broom himself
...

“Think you can show me how to do that hard stop and spin I saw you pulling in Basic Broom class
today?” James asked Zane as they pounded up the stairs to change out of their robes
...
“Just don’t show it to Ralph until he can keep his broom
under him while he’s floating still
...
Minutes later,
changed into jeans and tee shirts, the two of them ran exuberantly out into the sunlight of the afternoon,
heading toward the Quidditch pitch
...
When Zane joined his team to
grab some quick dinner and get into their gear, James accompanied Ted and the Gryffindors back to the
common room as they changed and headed down to dinner themselves
...
The Great Hall was raucous with good-natured
teasing, shouts and impromptu outbursts of House anthems
...
In unison, they stomped their feet on the stone floor,
garnering the room’s attention, then launched into a roughly choreographed but enthusiastic Irish jig, singing
a tune Damien had written for them earlier that day:

Ohhh, we Gryffindors like to make jokes and have fun,
But the Quidditch pitch with us will be overrun,

138

And we hope that the Ravenclaws know that they’re done,
When the lion team drops down on them like a ton
...
The Gremlins bowed deeply, grinning, obviously pleased with themselves,
and then joined their teammates as they ran out to the Quidditch pitch for final preparations
...
At
the end of the year, during final tournaments, everyone knew that, whichever teams were playing, they’d be
exciting matches
...
Most matches saw the grandstands filled with students and teachers, decked out in their team colors
and waving flags and banners
...
Students milled and shouted to each other as they filed into their seats
...
As James climbed the stairs into the Gryffindor section, he saw
his dad seated near the press box, flanked by the Ministry officials on his right and the Alma Aleron
delegation on his left
...
As James reached him, Harry
orchestrated a complicated rearrangement of the seating that, while only freeing a single seat for James,
required nearly everyone in the group to move
...
Sacarhina’s face, masked thinly by her omnipresent plastic smile
...
Our World Cup team shows some promise this
year, though, or so I am told
...
”
James glanced around at the Americans, curious to see who was in attendance and what they seemed
to think of the match so far
...
Professor
Jackson glanced at James and nodded in greeting
...
Professor Franklyn was dressed in what passed
for his dress robes, with a high white collar and a frilly ascot at his throat, and his square spectacles which
caught the light cheerfully as he looked around the grandstands
...
“I thought I’d see him with you tonight
...

“Ah! Here we are,” Franklyn announced, sitting up and craning to watch
...

“The Gryffindor squadron, led by Captain Justin Kennely, is first to take the pitch,” Damien
Damascus’ voice rang out stoutly from the press box
...

Then the shape dissolved as the players broke formation, dodging around one another in a dizzying bout of
aerial acrobatics, and reformed into the letter ‘P’
...
The Gryffindor grandstand applauded wildly, deafeningly, and
James saw dozens of smiling and shouting faces turning to view Harry’s reaction
...

“You’d think the Queen was in attendance,” James heard Harry mutter as he sat back down
...
“Headed
by Captain Gennifer Tellus, fresh from last year’s tournament victory
...
After several seconds of spiraling wildly and apparently randomly around the
grandstands, the Ravenclaws streaked simultaneously into the center of the pitch, pulled to a sudden stop,
then spun on their broomsticks to face the crowd in all directions
...
There was wild cheering from the Ravenclaw
grandstand, and cheers of appreciation and respect from the rest
...
Beneath them, standing in the center-mark of the pitch in his
official’s tunic, Cabriel Ridcully held the Quaffle under his arm, his foot resting on the Quidditch trunk
...
“Captains, ready? Players in formation?
Annnnd…” He hefted the Quaffle in his massive palm, arm outstretched
...

The trunk sprang open, releasing the two Bludgers and the Snitch
...
The grandstands erupted into cheers and wild shouting
...
His blond hair wasn’t hard to find
against the royal blue of his cloak
...
The Bludger missed
its target, but only because Noah ducked and rolled aside at just the right moment
...

The heat of the summer evening was unusually fierce
...
On the ground, both teams had marked out team cool down areas, one at each end of the
pitch
...
Occasionally, a flyer would perform a wand
signal, alerting the team’s cool down crew
...
Then, just
as the flyer swooped into position, another crew member would point his wand at the levitating ball of water,
exploding it into a cloud of droplets just as the player flew through it
...

Gryffindor took the lead early on, but Ravenclaw began a steady comeback that stretched into the
evening
...
James watched the Seekers, trying to get a glimpse
of the elusive Snitch, but he couldn’t see any sign of the tiny golden ball
...
James squinted, and there it was,
flitting in and out of the banner poles
...
James shouted to
Noah, the Gryffindor Seeker, jumping to his feet and pointing
...
He saw the Snitch just as it angled down, directly into the melee of circling flyers and careening
Bludgers
...
He almost fell off his broom, turned
the fall into a diving loop, and doubled back toward the match
...

Noah was approaching from the other side of the field, ducking and banking wildly through the other flyers
...
As one, the spectators leaped to their feet, shouting
and cheering
...

The Muggle intruder was down on the field, standing just to the side of the Ravenclaw cool down
area
...

He was holding something to his eye, and James recognized vaguely that it was some sort of handheld Muggle
camera
...
James yanked Harry’s robes and yelled
up at him
...

Harry looked at James, still smiling, trying to hear
...

“Down there!” James shouted, still pointing
...
The smile snapped shut
...
James glanced back down as well, searching for the Muggle intruder
...
He had lowered his camera, James saw
...
James looked closer and saw
that the man had bandages on his upper arm, and smaller bandages taped to two places on his face
...

Harry was pushing past the American delegation, excusing himself politely but firmly, heading
toward the stairs
...
Together, they traversed the stairs two by two,
heading down to field level
...
There was no sense of panic or worry or anger, just businesslike purpose and
unstoppability
...
There was a
thunderous ovation and suddenly people were running onto the field
...
The teams began to come in for landings, dropping to the pitch like dandelion
seeds
...
Undeterred,
Harry walked purposefully toward the end of the field where he and James had seen the strange man, but now
that they were on the pitch, they couldn’t see him anymore
...
James knew that there were a hundred ways the man could already have slunk
away, disappearing into the spreading shadows of the hills and woods beyond the pitch
...
He turned
slowly, taking in the sights from what would have been the man’s perspective
...
James looked and saw that his dad was pointing at the base of one of the
grandstands, at the doorway leading into the Ravenclaws’ holding pen
...
Or there,” Harry said,
talking partly to James and partly to himself, indicating first the path that ran between the Hufflepuff and
Slytherin grandstands and then pointing at the equipment shed
...
At best, it’s a hiding place, and he’d be looking to get away, not
hide
...
No, he’d choose the path, then
...
James?”
James looked up at his dad, eyes wide
...
Don’t run
...
Just
walk fast and tell them what I said
...
As he climbed the steps, pressing through the departing crowd, not even knowing yet who’d won
the match, he realized how utterly gratified he was that his dad had believed him
...
But James
had counted on the hope that his dad knew him better than that, that his dad would trust him
...
Of
course, that was how Aurors worked
...
Still, James was
extremely glad that his dad had trusted him enough to go after the man based solely on James’ word
...
Somehow, he knew that Harry and Titus would not find any sign of the man or any
clue of where he’d gone
...

Thinking that, he finally caught up to Titus Hardcastle and the rest of the group
...
McGonagall and the Ministry officials listened to James’ explanation
of the man he and Harry had seen on the field, the Headmistress with a look of stern attentiveness, Ms
...
Recreant with looks of mild puzzlement
...

“Yeah, I’ve seen them before
...
He was filming the match
...
He wasn’t
surprised, and he didn’t really care
...
He was about to
tell her the man was the same man that he’d accidently kicked through the window, but something about the
expression on Sacarhina’s face made him decide to wait until they were in private
...
It turned out that Ravenclaw had won the game
...


143

When they reached the path leading back to the castle, Headmistress McGonagall sidestepped out of
the line
...
I prefer to attend to this
situation in person,” she said briskly and turned to cross the field
...
When he
caught up with her, she glanced down at him
...
“The Auror in charge
being your father, he’d probably ask for you to be there, no less
...
”
It took James a moment to realize ‘Miss Granger’ was Aunt Hermione, whose last name was now
Weasley
...

By the time they reached the head of the path that cut between the Slytherin and Hufflepuff
grandstands, Harry and Titus Hardcastle were coming back from their cursory examination of the area
...
“Too dry for footprints and too dark to pick up his trail
without a team or a dog
...
”
“You believe that this individual is a threat?” the Headmistress asked Harry before answering
...
“There’s no way of knowing without more information
...

He was wearing a cloak from one of the ground crew as an attempt at disguise, so he was certainly hiding
from someone, if not everyone
...
”
Everyone looked at James
...
“I’m sure of it
...
I think he got
hurt when I knocked him through the window
...


144

“But certainly, Mr
...
Hardcastle,” McGonagall said, looking at the adults, “you realize
there is no conceivable way that anyone could overcome the protective perimeter of the school
...
“But the individual I saw didn’t act as if he believed he was
permitted to be here
...
”
McGonagall met Harry’s eyes, nodded reluctantly, then more certainly
...
Who do you
require?”
“I’d like Hagrid, for starters
...

We’d like to split into three teams: Hagrid with Trife, myself leading a team into the Forbidden Forest, and
Titus heading the other team around the perimeter of the lake
...
Too bad Neville is away tonight
...

Harry shook his head
...
We’re looking for a single individual, possibly
a Muggle
...
How about Teddy Lupin
and you, James?”
James tried not to look too pleased, but a thrill of pride went through him
...

“Does the school keep any hippogriffs at the moment, Madam?” Titus rumbled
...
If the man’s been on the grounds before, he must be camped out nearby
...
Hardcastle
...
”
Harry shook his head
...
Thestrals can only carry one person, and none as heavy as Titus
or myself
...
”
James was thinking hard
...
“Higher than man-height’s really all that matters
...
You’ve an idea? Spill
it, son
...
He was worried it was a stupid idea
...
“There’s Grawp,
who’s tall as some trees, and his new lady friend
...
”

145

Hardcastle glanced at Harry, his expression unreadable
...
“How fast do
you think Hagrid can get them here?” he asked, addressing the question to the Headmistress
...
I’ll go and request their services from Hagrid personally
...
“Go and fetch Mr
...
Both of you meet your father at
Hagrid’s cottage with cloak and wand within fifteen minutes
...
”
“And James,” Harry said, smiling that crooked smile, “now, you can run
...
He found Ted still in his
Quidditch jersey, moping with several other players in a corner alcove
...
“We don’t have much time
...

“One might get the rather inescapable impression that you were up to something
...
We are,” James said, leaning forward, his hands on his knees
...

Not allowed to
...
But they want you, Ted
...
Wand and cloak
...
“Well, we all knew this day would come
...
We’ll regale you with the story of our adventure, assuming we live to tell the tale
...
”
Ted stuffed his wand into his pocket and slung his cloak over his shoulder
...
”
On the way around the balcony, James was dismayed to see Zane wave at him from across the
stairwell
...


146

“Hey, Ted, great game!”
Ted growled, annoyed to be reminded of it
...

“Adventure and mortal peril, I’m thinking,” Ted replied
...
“Sorry
...
My dad said--”
Zane’s eyebrows shot up
...
“All right! You can follow us out, but if Dad says you
have to come back in and be quiet about it, you have to
...
“Come on, you
guys
...

“Thanks for coming, Ted,” Harry said, his face stoic
...
”
“I asked him to come, Harry,” Ted said, effecting a grave expression
...
I
thought he might be of service, depending on what you’re planning
...
Zane
wiped the grin off his face and attempted to look serious, without much success
...

“Mainly, we just need eyes
...

Let’s just hope Minerva doesn’t find out I took another first year into the forest or she’ll bloody well figure out
a way to give us all detention
...
“Nary a word
...
”
Harry slid an eye toward James
...
”
“I didn’t!” James protested, shooting a look at Ted
...
” But Harry didn’t seem angry
...
“No matter, though
...
Right, Ted?”

147

“They’re probably tucked into their beds even as we speak, Godfather,” Ted said primly
...

James became aware of a dull rumbling underfoot
...
Everyone present
turned toward the woods as the rumbling underfoot became a rhythmic pounding
...
Trife
bounded in and out of the giants’ legs, apparently unfazed by the fact that he’d be squashed to putty if one of
them accidentally stepped on him
...
Hagrid followed, occasionally calling at Trife to quiet down, but with no real
conviction
...
“He always wants to
help
...
Gettin’ better and better with his words, too
...
“She’s not quite so used to being around folks as
Grawp is
...
Barely understands a word we say, but it seems
best just to keep on talkin’ to her as if she does
...
”
James reminded himself that this was the same Hagrid who had raised Blast-Ended Skrewts for fun,
and persisted in thinking that the primary characteristic of dragons was their cuteness
...
Everyone turned to greet the
giants as they emerged from the trees
...
He waved a
piano-sized hand at Harry
...
James had the impression that making words
wasn’t quite what it had been designed for
...
“Hermione is fine, Grawp
...
”
This seemed to be more than Grawp could quite wrap his mind around
...
James craned his neck, feeling an involuntary thrill of fear course down his spine
...
The wand-light only reached her chest, which was roughly about the same
height as Grawp’s head
...
She moved slower than Grawp, ponderously, her great feet coming down to the ground like
falling millstones, shaking leaves from the nearby trees with each step
...


148

“Harry, Titus, James, Zane, and Ted,” Hagrid called out very slowly, “meet Prechka
...
”
Prechka bent down slightly so that her head hovered over Grawp’s shoulder
...
Harry raised his lit
wand over his head and smiled
...
We won’t
keep you long, I hope
...
“Harry look for sneaking man
...
”
“Excellent,” Harry said, turning to address the group
...
See if he can pick up anything leading off the trail into the forest or around the lake
...
Ted, you’ll be with me and Prechka in the forest
...
We’re searching for a back trail as much as we’re
looking for the intruder himself, so watch for broken branches, disturbed undergrowth and ground leaves,
and anything human-related, such as bits of cloth, trash, papers, or anything of that nature
...

Harry was already approaching Prechka slowly
...
the Grotto Keep
Zane, James, and Hardcastle climbed onto Grawp’s back as the giant squatted down
...
Hardcastle, apparently
oblivious to how ridiculous it might look, straddled the back of Grawp’s neck like a kid being carried by his
dad
...
As they left, Harry and Ted were still working out the best method to get
onto Prechka’s shoulders
...

“Get her to bend all the way over, with her hands on the ground,” Harry called, waving up to the
she-giant, who had kneeled, but become distracted by Hagrid’s garden
...


150

“That’s right, that’s right,” Hagrid called soothingly
...
There we go
...

Hagrid patted the gigantic elbow, shaking his head
...
Just
use the wall there as a step
...
”
Prechka was being coaxed upright again, Harry and Ted perched on her shoulders, when Grawp
entered the woods lining the west side of the lake and all view of the Hogwarts grounds vanished behind
dense, stunted trees
...
James could feel the weight of Grawp’s footsteps pressing into the ground far below, but
experienced none of the shudder and thump he had expected to feel riding on a giant’s back
...
He led them in an orderly zigzag,
approaching the lake, and then turning back into the thick of the wood again, slowly advancing around the
perimeter
...

He shook himself awake, studying the ground below for any of the signs his dad had described
...
He told them about the camera, and described the other two times he’d seen the man on
the grounds
...

“Yeah,” James nodded
...
“No
...
”
They were silent again for a while
...
He saw glimpses of the castle looming over the lake whenever they neared its edge
...
Crickets buzzed and creaked, filling the night air with
their strange chorus
...
There was no sign that anyone had ever been through this wood, much less anyone recently
...
Grawp stopped obediently and stood still
...
James peered around Grawp’s enormous, dirty ear,
trying to see what Hardcastle was looking at or listening for
...
James knew not to
speak
...
Something scrambled, unseen, through
the fallen leaves and stopped again
...
James’ heart was
suddenly pounding
...
James saw Hardcastle turn his head slightly,
trying to pinpoint the direction of the sound
...
It was ahead of them, behind a low rise on the
woods side of their path
...
It was, somehow, too busy
...

Hardcastle tapped the back of Grawp’s head lightly and pointed toward the ground, reaching so
Grawp could see his hand
...
The leaves underfoot crackled only slightly as Grawp put his hands on the ground
...
His eyes were locked on the low rise ahead
...
It was much closer this time, and now
James saw the motion of it
...
It darted in and out of the trunks of the trees, crashing through bushes
...
It flickered
wildly as the thing moved
...
He flicked his
wand with the practiced economy of a trained Auror, sending red Stunning Spells into the thrashing brush
and leaves
...
The flickering blue glow
marked its progress as it skittered over dead logs, retreating deeper into the wood
...
“Grawp, if
anything other than me comes back, crush it
...
Within fifteen
seconds, neither he nor the retreating creature could be seen or heard
...

“What was that?” Zane asked breathlessly
...
“I’m not even sure I want to know
...
”
“I’m glad of that,” Zane said with conviction
...
The incessant chorus of
crickets and the flashing of the fireflies filled the woods again, seeming to deny that anything unusual was
happening
...

“How far will he chase that thing?” Zane finally asked
...
“Until he catches it, I guess
...
“You know, I felt a lot better about this when we were
up on the big guy’s shoulders
...
“Hey, Grawp, how about--”

152

He stopped
...
Zane and James glanced around for several seconds, both too stunned
and spooked to say anything
...

James looked
...

“Come on! Don’t let him get out of sight!”
Both boys scampered after the giant, crawling over huge fallen trees and slipping on leaf-covered
rocks
...
Grawp was even further away,
ducking under a leaning, dead tree
...

“Grawp!” James called, hesitant to yell too loudly for fear of attracting any more of the horrible,
scuttling creatures
...
Heavy, marching clouds obscured the moon, reducing the
woods to a muddle of grey shadows
...
Finally, they caught up to him near the edge of the lake,
where a group of small, wooded islands obscured the view across the water
...
Grawp stood under a gnarled tree, methodically plucking walnuts off the
branches and popping them into his mouth, shell and all
...

“Grawp!” Zane cried, struggling to catch his breath
...
“Grawp hungry,” he
answered
...
Grawp eat and wait
...
”
“Grawp, we’re lost now! Titus won’t even know where we are!” James said, trying to control his
anger
...

“Never mind,” Zane said
...
” He plopped onto a nearby rock and examined the scrapes and bruises he’d gotten during the
chase
...
He knew there was no point in arguing with the giant
...
“Grawp, just carry us back when you’re done
...

James wandered disconsolately toward the water’s edge, pushing reeds and bushes aside
...
The island was wild, covered with densely packed bushes and trees
...
Twenty feet away, a group of trees had fallen away from the

153

island
...
The scene was
remarkably ugly and foreboding in the shadowy night
...
As the silvery light spread across the woods, James stopped, a slow, gravid chill shaking him
from head to toe
...
James felt rooted to the spot,
frozen except for his eyes, which roamed the surrounding woods
...
The perpetual, myriad flashes of the fireflies had also ceased
...

“James?” Zane’s voice came, tentative in the sudden, oppressive silence
...
“And what’s the deal with that place?”
James glanced at Zane
...

The island that lay just off the shore had changed
...
It was just that, what had appeared as totally random trees and bushes a minute before,
now, in the silvery moonlight, looked much more like a hidden, ancient structure
...

“I do not like the look of that joint,” Zane said emphatically, his voice low
...
The group of trees that had fallen across the water, connecting the island to
the shore, had changed as well
...
Two of them had fallen
together so that they formed what was obviously a bridge
...
A brown rock jutting from the upturned roots served as the eye
...

James walked carefully toward the bridge
...
“That doesn’t look so healthy to me
...
“You said you wanted adventure and really wild stuff
...
I had enough with that crazy
monster we saw already, if you don’t mind
...
Closer to, it was even more perfect
...


154

“Fine, stay here,” James said, not really blaming Zane for his reluctance
...
He stepped onto the bridge
...

On the island side of the bridge, a complicated growth of vines and small trees had formed into a set
of tall, ornate gates
...
As James crept closer, he could see that the
vines formed a recognizable pattern across the gates
...
“Look
...
”
As soon as he was able to make out the first word, the rest sprang into view, as if he’d just had to train
his eye to see it
...

Upon return the fretted dawn
With not a relic lossing;
Bygone a life, a new eon,
The Hall of Elders’ Crossing
...

“What’s it mean?” Zane asked when he’d read it over twice
...
“Sulva is an old word for ‘moon’
...
I think the first part just means you
can only find this place when the moon shines on it
...
So this must be the Grotto Keep, whatever that is
...
“What about this part? ‘Upon return the fretted dawn’
...
”

155

Ignoring Zane, James wrapped his hands around the gates and gave them a hard yank
...
The action seemed to trigger a response from the island
...
James glanced down, and then jumped backwards as tendrils of
thorny vines grew up from underneath the bridge
...
The thorns were an ugly purple color, as if they might contain some sort of
venom
...
After a minute, the gates were completely entwined with them,
obscuring the words of the poem
...

“Well, that settles that, then,” Zane said in a strangely high voice
...
“I think this place wants to be left alone, don’t you?”
“I want to try one more thing,” James said, pulling his wand out from beneath his cloak
...
“Alohomora
...
The gates
repelled the spell, obliterating it in a burst of sparks, and the entire island seemed to shiver, to tense
menacingly
...

“Get… Thee… Hence!”
James stumbled backwards at the vehemence of the response, tumbling into Zane and knocking
them both to the floor of the bridge
...
The trees overhead, the ones that were fashioned to appear as the upper jaw
of the dragon’s head bridge, were creaking down, looming, their broken branches looking more and more like
teeth
...
The voice sounded like it was comprised of millions of
tiny voices, whispering and raspy, speaking in unison
...
The upper jaws crackled and began to
collapse, ready to devour the two boys
...
The gigantic jaws snapped and gnashed ferociously
...

The ground rumbled under them
...

James felt the shore disintegrate beneath him
...
He struggled for purchase on the
collapsing shore, but it sank beneath him, dragging him back toward the water’s edge
...
The boys’ feet splashed into the muck, and it sucked at them,
pulling them in
...
James groped for

156

purchase, but nothing seemed solid
...

Then, suddenly, there was Grawp
...
He plucked the boy from the murk and
plopped him onto his shoulder
...
A horrible, hairy root snaked across the
water and curled around James’ ankle, yanking him back
...
The root slipped on his
pant leg and yanked his shoe off
...

Grawp tried to stand, but roots were ripping up from the ground all around him
...
Green vines grew with lightning speed up the thicker tentacles, sewing
themselves into the fabric of his pants with tiny, threadlike roots
...
They pulled
him back to a kneeling position, and then lunged up, circling his waist, climbing his back and shoulders
...
Grawp roared again as one of the green
vines twisted around his neck, forcing him lower, pulling him down into the sinkhole
...
It was a vibrant golden green, and it was accompanied by a low
humming sound
...
They loosened, repulsed by it, but were
dreadfully reluctant to abandon their prey
...

Grawp, James, and Zane half fell, half crawled up the bank until they found firm ground
...

When James rolled over and pulled himself to a kneeling position, there was a figure standing nearby,
glowing faintly with the same golden green light that had repulsed the vines
...
The figure looked like a woman, very tall and very thin, in a dark green gown that fell
straight from her hips and, apparently, right through the ground
...
She was beautiful, but her face was grave
...
You must leave this
wood
...
”
James struggled to his feet
...
I have managed to silence the Voice of the Island, but I won’t be
able to hold it back for long
...
”

157

“A spirit of the wood?” Zane asked as Grawp helped him rather roughly to his feet
...
All the trees in the wood have spirits, but they
have been asleep for ages and ages, seeped down into the earth, almost diminished
...
The naiads
and dryads have been awakened, though we know not why
...
Our time is past
...
”
“Who summoned you?” James asked
...
There is disharmony among us
...
They are old and angry, wishing only to do
harm to the world of men
...
You have experienced their wrath, though not as they
would have it
...
“Is it that place? The island? The… the Hall of Elder’s Crossing?”
“Man’s time is short on the earth, but we trees watch the years march past like days
...
“Since our awakening, the dance of the stars has become dire, showing a thousand dark
destinies for the world of men, all swinging on the balance of the coming days
...
The rest are heavy with bloodshed and loss
...
Dark times, full of war and greed,
powerful tyrants, famines of terror
...
We tree folk
can only watch, for now, but those of us who remain faithful to the memory of harmony between our world
and the world of men, when the time comes, we will help as we can
...
“But you said there is one chance we can avoid this war
...
Her large, liquid eyes smiled sadly
...
It could be that you are already doing that which will bring about peace
...
You must do what you know to
do, but only with an unclouded mind
...
“Helpful stuff, there, Sensei
...
“The enemy of your father, and of all who
know love, is dead
...
The blood of your greatest enemy lives still
...
He wobbled, and then threw his hand out, pressing it against a
nearby tree for support
...


158

The dryad nodded, apparently unwilling to say the name
...
But he was infinitely crafty
...
A successor, a bloodline
...
”
James’ lips were trembling
...
“Who is it?”
But the dryad was already shaking her head sadly
...
Not from
without, but from within
...
We can only know of that heartbeat, that it is there, but no more
...

Your father’s battle is over
...
”
The dryad was fading
...

There was a creaking groan, then a splash from the island
...
His
face was like a thunderstorm, but all he said was, “Is everyone safe?”
“Safe enough,” Zane called down from Grawp’s shoulders
...
”
Grawp bent down to allow Hardcastle to climb onto his back
...

Zane held a hand out, intending to help Hardcastle climb up and almost getting yanked from his seat
instead
...

“Spider
...
They’ve grown dumb in the last decade or two, but
that one had gone and found himself a toy
...
“It was still working
when I caught up to the brute, the little screen all lit up
...
At
least it’d had a good last meal
...
“You really
think it… ate the guy?”
Hardcastle set his jaw
...
Strictly speaking, though, spiders don’t eat people
...
Ugly way to go, but at least he’s not a problem anymore
...


159

Wednesday morning, James felt sluggish and prickly as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast
...
Ralph and Zane were seated at the Slytherin table, Zane blowing on his traditional
morning coffee and Ralph attacking an orange with a butter knife, sawing through it, peel and all
...
Zane wasn’t typically a morning person, and he had been out just as late as
James had been
...
He was still angry and disgusted
with Ralph
...
He tried not to feel
resentment toward Zane for sitting with Ralph, but he was too tired to make much of an effort, and the
mood of the morning wasn’t helping
...
Neither his dad nor
Titus Hardcastle were anywhere to be seen
...
The
thought that his dad’s and Titus’ day was already well underway, probably full of exciting meetings and secret
intrigues, while he was just now having breakfast on his way to a day of gloomy classes and homework, filled
him with melancholy
...

The night before, James had been up with Titus Hardcastle, his dad, and Headmistress McGonagall
for almost two hours after their return from the perimeter of the lake
...

When they’d all assembled again by Hagrid’s cottage, the Headmistress dismissed Grawp and Prechka,
thanking them both formally, and offering them a barrel of Butterbeer for their efforts
...

Hardcastle had spoken first
...
Harry had shifted in his seat, but
refrained from comment
...
The Headmistress had pointed a rather long and

160

penetrating glare at Harry when she’d seen Zane enter the cottage
...

Hardcastle’s beady eyes glinted a little as he said, “Best way to kill a spider that won’t fit under your
boot is to get its legs off
...
After that, it gets easier and easier
...
“Poor ol’ Aragog
...
Poor fellow was just doing what spiders do
...
”
“The spider had the intruder’s camera,” Harry said, glancing down at the broken object on the table
...
“So we know the man escaped via the
lake woods
...

Harry’s expression didn’t change
...
”
“Seems unlikely the thing asked to borrow his camera so it could make home movies of its kids,
doesn’t it?” Hardcastle rumbled, “Spiders aren’t the polite type
...
”
Harry nodded thoughtfully
...
Still, there’s always the chance the
intruder dropped the camera and the spider simply found it
...
We don’t yet know how this person got in or who he was
...
”
“I’m particularly interested in knowing how this camera managed to operate within the grounds,” the
Headmistress sniffed, staring hard at the device on the table
...
”
“That is indeed well-known, Madam Headmistress,” Hardcastle rumbled, “but very little understood
...
What once was true may not be so anymore
...
”
James thought of Ralph’s GameDeck, but decided not to mention it
...

Finally, attention turned to James and Zane
...
Zane
chimed in then, describing the mysterious island and the bridge
...
It had seemed foolish the very moment
he’d done it, and he regretted it
...
They took turns telling of the
enchanted dragon’s head bridge that attempted to eat them, then the attacking vines that had almost pulled
them all into the sinkhole
...


161

“Naiads and dryads?” Hagrid exclaimed incredulously
...

Hagrid went on, “Well, they’re not for real, are they? They’re just stories and myth
...

“The lake woods are just an extension of the Forbidden Forest,” Harry said
...
Still, if it’s true, they haven’t been seen for hundreds
of years
...
”
“What do you mean, ‘if it’s true’?” James asked, a little louder than he’d intended to
...

She spoke to us
...
“All possibilities must be
considered
...
It isn’t that we don’t believe you
...
”
“Seems like the most likely explanation to me is that she was what she said she was,” James muttered
under his breath
...
Part of his reluctance was in his
remembrance of his dad’s stories of how the wizarding world had treated him, Harry Potter, when he’d
returned from the Triwizard Tournament maze with the tale of Voldemort’s return, how he had been
doubted and discredited
...
If he doubted that, how could he accept that the dryad had predicted a new kind of Voldemort’s
return, through an heir, a bloodline? But the thing that had finally determined James not to tell was his
memory of the very last words the dryad had spoken: Your father’s battle is over
...

The conversation had droned on long after all the details had been described and discussed, long after
James had grown bored with it
...
He wanted to work out what the island was for, what the poem
on the gate meant
...

He was sure, somehow, that it all fit in with the story of Austramaddux and the secret plot of the Slytherins to
bring back Merlin and start a final war with the Muggle world
...
It had to be true, and it was up to him to prevent it
...
They had determined that the mysterious island, while obviously
dangerous, was just one of the many mysterious and inexplicable dangers that made the Forbidden Forest
forbidden
...
With that resolution, the meeting broke up
...


162

“Especially you, Mr
...
“The last thing we need is you and your band of
hooligans running off into the woods in the middle of the night attempting to duplicate Mr
...

Walker’s experiences
...
He merely nodded
and said, “Yes, ma’am
...
Neville had returned to Hogwarts that
afternoon, and he chaperoned James to the Headmistress’ office to say goodbye to Harry and the rest
...
If it struck Neville odd that the office now belonged
to his former teacher, who he’d known as Professor McGonagall, instead of to Albus Dumbledore, he didn’t
let on
...

“Off again, is he?” he asked Harry
...
Dumbledore’s got portraits all over the place,” Harry sighed
...
He still shows up in them sometimes just for fun
...
” He pulled his wallet out and slipped a dog-eared card out of it
...
Harry grinned at Neville as he put it back
...
Harry squatted down next to James
...
”
James hid the look of pride that surfaced on his face
...
”
“I don’t just mean coming along with us and helping us find out what happened,” Harry said,
putting a hand on James’ shoulder
...

And for being alert enough to see him the other times
...
I
shouldn’t be surprised, and I’m not
...
“Thanks, Dad
...
Remember?”
James remembered
...
” I’ll have at least Zane’s help, he
thought, but didn’t say, and maybe Ted’s, too, now that Ralph’s abandoned me
...
They grinned at each other, Harry with his
hands on James’ shoulders, and then he stood, leading James over to the fireplace
...

“And are you?” Harry asked, raising one eyebrow
...

“Make it true and I’ll tell her,” Harry said, removing his glasses and tucking them into his robe
...

“Professor Longbottom,” the Headmistress said, “I suspect it’d be best for me to inform you of all
that has happened these past twenty hours
...

The Headmistress looked markedly taken aback
...
Perhaps I might simply be repeating myself,
then
...
”
“Merely that, Madam
...
The common theory is that he was a representative of the gambling community
either reporting on or influencing the match
...
”
“Mr
...
“Although, since I
will be requiring your services in increasing the security of the grounds, I should explain to you precisely what
did occur
...
” Without waiting for a reply, she turned back to Neville,
launching into a detailed account of the previous night
...
It was uncomfortable and vaguely annoying
...

It was just like adults to deny something a kid said, then, when it proved true, to completely take over and
dismiss the kid
...
He felt even stronger now about keeping that his secret, at
least until he could prove something substantial
...

“What are you up to, Potter?” a low voice drawled behind James, making him jump
...
The voice cut him off before he could respond
...
You know exactly who I am
...
”
It was, of course, the portrait of Severus Snape
...

“I’m…,” James began, and then stopped, feeling very strongly that if he lied, the portrait would
know
...
”
“A more honest answer than any ever provided by your father, at least,” Snape drawled, keeping his
voice low enough not to attract the attention of McGonagall or Neville
...
”
“Well,” James whispered, feeling a little braver now that shock had worn off, “I guess it’s a good
thing you aren’t headmaster anymore, then
...
James’ dad had a load of respect for Severus Snape
...

“Don’t try the smart tactic with me, Potter,” the portrait said, but more tiredly than angrily
...
Your father believed it was up to him to win battles entirely on his own
...
Don’t think I didn’t see that very same look in your eye not five minutes ago
...
He just met the portrait’s dark gaze and frowned stubbornly
...
“Have it your way, then
...
Never learning the lessons
of the past
...
If your unnamed suspicions are,
against all probability, accurate, be assured that I will be working toward the same end as you
...
Try not to leave others to pay the consequences for your
arrogance
...
He assumed Snape would leave his portrait frame after a salvo like
that, confident of having had the last word, but he didn’t
...
Still, there wasn’t anything specifically malicious in that gaze, despite the pointed
words
...
“Well, I’ll keep that in mind
...
He was only eleven, after all
...
James turned and looked up at the professor
...
I’m curious about the vines that attacked you
...
When he turned back toward the door, following Neville
out, the portrait of Snape was still occupied
...


166

9
...
Zane continued to excel at Quidditch, and James continued to feel an uncomfortable mix of
emotions about Zane’s success
...
Also, James was growing increasingly confident of his own
broom skills
...
Zane, for his part, was always enthusiastic and supportive, telling James that he’d definitely make
the Gryffindor team next year
...
“It’d be like consorting with the enemy
...

James enjoyed becoming more confident on the broom, but he was surprised to discover that he
loved football
...
Many students had grasped the essential concepts of the game and being
competitive at heart, had worked to make the class-time matches interesting
...
Once, a Hufflepuff girl had simply grabbed the ball in both
hands, forgetting the basic rules of the game, and charged down the field as if she were playing rugby
...
He was
a natural
...

His ball-handling was regarded as among the best of any of the new players, and his scoring rate was second
only to fifth-year Sabrina Hildegard, who, like Zane, was Muggle-born and unlike Zane, had played on
Muggle leagues when she was younger
...
James’ initial anger and resentment had simmered down to
a stubborn aloofness
...
He knew that if he’d kept his cool, Ralph probably would have seen
the error of siding with his Slytherin housemates
...
If it wasn’t for the fact that even Ralph’s
enthusiastic support was rather weak-willed and doleful, James would have found it easier to stay angry at
him
...
If any of the Slytherins actually
spoke to him, he’d jerk upright and respond with manic eagerness, then deflate as soon as they turned their
attention elsewhere
...

In his room at night or in a corner of the library, James would study the poem he and Zane had seen
on the gate to the Grotto Keep
...
Still, he couldn’t seem to make much of it
...
The rest was a puzzle
...
But
Merlin wasn’t asleep, was he?
“Makes it sound like he’s Rip Van Winkle,” Zane whispered one day in the library
...
” Zane had had to explain the fairy tale of Rip Van Winkle,
and James considered it
...
Stories of wizarding lore
made their way into Muggle fairy tales, became stylized or altered, and grew into legends and myth
...
Still, it didn’t get James or Zane any closer to figuring out how Merlin could possibly return
after so many centuries, nor did it offer any clues as to who might be involved in such a conspiracy
...
Snape had said he’d be watching James, but James
couldn’t imagine how that could be
...
How could Snape possibly be watching James? Snape
had been a powerful wizard, and a potions genius according to Dad and Mum, but how would either of those

168

things allow his portrait to see around the castle? Still, James didn’t doubt Snape
...
It was only after two weeks of
mulling over the conversation he’d had with Snape that James realized what struck him most about it
...
“Like Potter, like son,” he’d said, sneering
...

As the leaves in the Forbidden Forest began to settle into the browns and yellows of autumn, the blue
Progressive Element buttons were augmented by the posters and banners for the first All-School Debate
...
As if
the words themselves weren’t enough, the right side of each banner and poster bore a drawing of a lightning
bolt that was enchanted to shift into the shape of a question mark every few seconds
...
Tabitha Corsica was not on the debate committee, but her crony,
Philia Goyle, was the committee chair
...
” He shrugged wearily
...
Seeing Ralph on a ladder finishing hanging one of the banners just outside the door to
Technomancy class was more than he could take
...
”
Zane, who’d been walking next to James, sighed and ducked into the classroom
...
He glanced down, his expression surprised and wounded
...

“It means, I’d think by now, you’d have gotten sick of being her little first-year puppet
...
The guileless misery on Ralph’s face shamed him
...
“Your people are the puppetmasters, preying on the fears
of the weak-minded to maintain the demagoguery of prejudice and unfairness,” he said, but without much
conviction
...

Professor Jackson was absent from his usual spot behind the teacher’s desk
...
As he sat down, he made a point of joking and laughing with a few other Gryffindors nearby,
knowing Ralph was watching through the doorway
...


169

Finally, the room hushed
...
The object was large, flat, and wrapped in cloth
...
“Your last week’s essays are graded and
on my desk
...
Murdock, would you mind distributing them, please? On the whole, I am not terribly
disappointed, although I think most of you can be relieved that Hogwarts does not generally grade on the
curve
...
As he unfolded the cloth from around it, James could see
that it was a stack of three rather small paintings
...

“Today is a day for taking notes, I can assure you,” Jackson said ominously
...
The first painting was of a thin man with owlish glasses
and an almost perfectly bald head
...
The next painting was empty but
for a rather bland wooded background
...
The clown leered inanely at the class and shook a little cane with a
ball on the end
...

Murdock finished handing back everyone’s papers and slid back into his own seat
...
On the front, in Jackson’s perfect, left-slanting cursive, were the words, Tepid, but
borderline cogent
...

“As always, questions about your grades may be submitted to me in writing
...
And now,
onward and upward
...
“As many
of you will recall, in our first class, we had a short discussion, spearheaded by Mr
...
I explained that the artist’s
intentions are imbued on the canvas via a magical, psycho-kinetic process, which allows the art to take on a
semblance of motion and attitude
...
Today, we will examine a different kind of art, one that represents life in a wholly different way
...
As usual,
Jackson paced as he spoke
...
The first one is just a more lavish version of what I
illustrated in class, which is the creation of purely fanciful imagery based on the imagination of the artist
...
Our friend, Mr
...
” Jackson gestured at the painting of the clown
...
Biggles, thankfully, never existed outside the
imagination of the artist who painted him
...
The tiny clown’s head on
the end of the cane ran its tongue out and crossed its eyes
...

“The second type of magical painting is much more precise
...
The technomancic name for this type of
painting is imago aetaspeculum, which means… can anyone tell me?”
Petra raised her hand and Jackson nodded at her
...
“Half credit, Miss Morganstern
...

The most accurate definition of the term is ‘a magical painting that captures a living imprint of the individual
it represents, but confined within the aetas, or timeframe, of the subject’s own lifetime’
...
Thus, the portrait does not learn and evolve beyond the subject’s death, but
retains exactly that subject’s personality as strictly defined by his or her lifetime
...
Cornelius
Yarrow here as an example
...
Yarrow flinched slightly at
Jackson’s gesture
...
Biggles capered frantically in his frame, jealous for attention
...
Yarrow, when did you die?” Jackson asked, passing the portrait on his way around the room
again
...
“September twentieth,
nineteen forty-nine
...
”
“And what--as if I needed to ask--was your occupation?”
“I was Hogwarts school bursar for thirty-two years,” the portrait answered with a sniff
...
“And what do you do now?”
The portrait blinked nervously
...
It’s been a long time since nineteen fortynine
...
Yarrow? Have you developed any hobbies?”
Yarrow seemed to chew his lips, obviously mystified and worried by the question
...
I… I always just liked numbers
...
That’s what I always did
when I wasn’t figuring the books
...
”

171

Jackson maintained eye contact with the painting
...
He seemed to feel he was being trapped somehow
...
Yes
...
It’s just what I do, you understand
...
I see no reason to stop
...
Well, was, of course
...
”
“Thank you very much, Mr
...
You’ve illustrated my point precisely,” said Jackson, resuming
his circuit of the room
...

Jackson addressed the class again
...
Yarrow’s portrait, as some of you probably know, normally
hangs in the corridor just outside the Headmistress’ office, along with many other former school staff
members and faculty
...
Yarrow, one that
normally hangs in his family’s home
...
Mr
...

Yarrow raised his eyebrows
...
Yes, of course
...
For a few
seconds, both portraits stood empty, then Yarrow appeared in the center portrait
...

“Thank you again, Mr
...

“Although there are exceptions, typically, a portrait only becomes active upon the death of the subject
...
In other words, one Mr
...
” There was a murmur of suppressed laughter
...

“Another factor that comes into play once the subject is deceased is the interactivity between portraits
...

The result is one mutual portrait that can maneuver at will between its frames
...
Yarrow can
visit us at Hogwarts, and then return to his home portrait as he wishes
...
He was distracted from the task, however, by
thoughts of the portrait of Severus Snape
...

Jackson spied him and his eyebrows rose slightly
...
Potter?”
“Yes, sir
...
“Excellent question, Mr
...
Let
us find out, shall we? Mr
...
His eyes slid to the side, looking out at Jackson
...
How else may I help?”
“Are you aware of the painting of the rather odious Mr
...
Biggles responded to the mention of his name by feigning great shock and shyness
...
The tiny clown’s head on the end of the cane goggled and blew
raspberries
...
“I am aware of that painting, yes
...
“Even if that were
possible, I don’t believe I could bring myself to join his company
...
”
Jackson nodded, closing his eyes respectfully
...
Yarrow
...
It would be, in a sense, like
trying to force yourself through a drawing of a door
...
Biggles?” The clown jumped
up ecstatically at the mention of its name again, then looked at Jackson with a caricature of intense attention
...
“Please join Mr
...
Mr
...
Yarrow
spluttered as Biggles leered forward, his head over Yarrow’s left shoulder, the miniature clown’s head cane
over his right, blowing raspberries into the man’s ear
...
“I insist you remove this… this fevered imagining from my portrait at once!”
The class erupted into gales of laughter as the clown leaped over Yarrow’s shoulder and landed on his
lap, throwing both arms around the man’s skinny neck
...
“Mr
...
Please return to your own painting
...
He threw himself off Yarrow’s lap and hid elaborately behind
the man’s chair
...

Yarrow turned and swatted at the clown prissily, as if it were a spider he was loath to touch but anxious to
kill
...
“Shall I alter your environment while you are away, Mr
...
Would you prefer to find it stocked with a few more Japanese Thorn Thickets?”
The clown frowned petulantly under its make-up and stood
...


173

“A simple rule of thumb,” Jackson said, watching the clown give him a very enthusiastic nasty look
...
Portraits are confined to their own frames, while imaginary subjects can move freely into
and through any other painting in their general vicinity
...
Potter?”
“Yes, sir,” James answered, then rushed on
...
Can a portrait ever appear in
more than one of its frames at once?”
Jackson smiled at James while simultaneously furrowing his brow
...
Potter
...

For great wizards, whose portraits have been duplicated many times, there has been known to be some
division of the personality, allowing the subject to appear in multiple frames at once
...
This phenomenon is very difficult to measure and, of course,
depends entirely on the skill of the witch or wizard whose likeness appears in the portrait
...

Potter?”
“Professor Jackson, sir?” a different voice asked
...

“Yes, Miss Goyle,” Jackson said, sighing
...
The painting reflects the personality, knowledge, and
experiences of the subject
...
”
“Does a portrait, then, make its subject immortal?” Philia asked
...

“I am afraid you are confusing what appears to be with what is, Miss Goyle,” Jackson said, eyeing
Philia closely, “and that is a dreadful mistake for a witch to make
...
The ability to separate illusion from reality is one
of the fundamental basics of technomancy
...
It can in no way be thought to
prolong the life of the deceased subject
...
”
As Jackson finished speaking, he turned toward the painting of Mr
...
With one swift
movement, he pointed his wand at the painting, not even quite looking at it
...
Instantly, it dissolved the paint
...
Biggles
stopped moving as his image blurred, then ran freely down the canvas
...
The class was deadly quiet
...
“I fancied myself a bit of an artist when I was
younger,” he said, studying the end of his wand as he turned
...
Biggles, horrid as he was, was one of my
better works
...
I thought Mr
...
I thought,” he said, glancing over at the streaky mess that ran out of
the frame and dripped to the floor, “that this would be a fitting end for him
...
“And now,
class, what technomancic truth can we derive from what I’ve just illustrated?”
No one moved
...

Jackson inclined his head
...
Murdock?”
Murdock cleared his throat
...
Murdock, but that is inarguably true as well
...
No one or nothing else
...
It will continue to represent its subject, no matter what happens to it, even in a
hundred pieces
...
”
As the class was dismissed, James couldn’t help slowing as he passed the destroyed painting of Mr
...
The clown’s face was nothing more than a muddy grey blur in the center of the canvas
...
James shuddered, and then walked on
...
As he made his way to his next class, he passed a
painting of several wizards gathered around a gigantic globe
...
James stopped and leaned
in
...

“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” James said quietly
...
Art is
Zane’s department
...
He made a
harrumphing noise and pointed in the direction James had been walking, as if to say move along, nothing to see
here
...
He’d looked
familiar, but James couldn’t quite place him
...


The day of the much ballyhooed first school debate came and James was surprised at how many
people were planning to attend
...
By lunch that
Friday, though, the debate had generated the sort of boisterous tension that accompanied certain Quidditch
matches
...

Thanks to the carefully worded banners and signs advertising the debate, the student population had been
rather evenly divided between two worldviews that, it seemed, were not compatible on any level
...

James had not been seriously considering attending the debate
...
For that reason, he felt an obligation to go,
as well as a growing curiosity
...

After dinner, James joined Ted and the rest of the Gremlins as they made their way to the event,
along with much of the rest of the student populace
...
James had never been in the Amphitheater before
...
As James made his way
through the crowded arch that opened onto the top tier of seating, he saw that the stage below was nearly
empty
...
Professor Flitwick was on stage, guiding a
phosphorous globe into the air with his wand, placing it among several others that lit the stage at strategic
locations
...
Zane had explained that the judges would sit there
...
Ted, Sabrina, and Damien led the way into a row halfway up the middle section, joining a
group of other Gryffindors
...
He waved at James as they found their seats
...

Ted nodded, responding with only the Gremlin-ear gesture, which was apparently the countersign
...
“We ran a small test this afternoon under controlled circumstances
...
And,” he added, grinning, “they provided their services free of charge
...
”
Ted smiled rather humorlessly
...
”
James nudged Ted
...
“No
...
It was invented by the Americans
...
”
James shrugged, figuring he was sitting close enough to the action to know, probably before anyone
else, what the Gremlins were up to
...
The tiny voice on the speaker burbled away, forming part of the background noise, until James
heard the phrase ‘crowded Amphitheater’
...
A tall man wearing a purple bowler hat was speaking into the tip of his
wand
...
On a small table near the man was a machine that looked
somewhat like an old-fashioned record player with a huge funnel
...
James had never seen a magical broadcast in action
...

“The curious and the contentious alike seem to have gathered in droves for tonight’s contest,” the
announcer said, “illustrating the ongoing debate all around the wizarding world these days, as doubts about
Ministry policy and Auror practices meet questions regarding recent magical history
...
I’m your host, Myron Madrigal, speaking on behalf of tonight’s sponsor,

177

Wymnot’s Wand Polish and Enchant-Enhancer: better spells come from a Wymnot wand
...
”
The announcer twirled a finger at an assistance, who plugged the funnel with a large plunger, then
spindled a record into the device
...
James had been concerned about the debate being broadcast to the wizarding world at large, but
then decided it was better than having it parsed and reported in bits by someone like Rita Skeeter
...
He could only hope that Zane, Petra, and their
team would argue well against Tabitha Corsica and her carefully woven agenda of doubts and half-truths
...
On the wireless, the announcer’s voice spoke in a hushed tone, “In a daring turn of events,
the chancellor of the American wizarding school, Alma Aleron, Benjamin Amadeus Franklyn has been asked
to officiate tonight’s debate
...
”
“Good evening, friends, students, guests,” Franklyn said, forgoing his wand and raising his clear,
tenor voice
...
My name is Benjamin Franklyn, and
I am honored to have been chosen to introduce tonight’s teams
...
The group split, half ascending the stage on the
right side and half on the left
...

Team A consisted of Zane, Petra, Gennifer Tellus, a Hufflepuff named Andrew Haubert, and an Alma Aleron
student named Gerald Jones
...

The fifth person at the table, and the only one younger than fifteen, was Ralph
...

“Tonight’s debate,” Franklyn continued, adjusting his square spectacles, “as can be assumed by the
turnout and the press coverage, deals with subjects both weighty and far-reaching
...
These are the axioms that define us, and tonight, we will see them in
action
...
No matter the
outcome,” Franklyn turned at this point, acknowledging the two debate teams seated on either side, “let us
leave here as we entered: friends, classmates, and fellow witches and wizards
...
Franklyn produced a paper from his robes and examined it
...
Miss Tabitha Corsica, I believe, will represent
...
”

178

Franklyn backed away from the podium, taking a seat in the high-backed chair at the rear center of
the stage
...
She smiled her wonderful smile at the
crowd, seeming to take every person in one by one
...
Tabitha took the
moment to turn and smile at Benjamin Franklyn
...
” Franklyn seemed
entirely unperturbed
...
Do tell, the gesture seemed to say
...
“In that respect, we couldn’t agree more with the professor
...
He encourages us, most of all, to remember that we are all, in
the end, fellow witches and wizards
...
For are we not, beneath the wands and the spells,
more human than witch or wizard? To allow ourselves to be primarily defined by our magic is to deny the
humanity we share in common with the non-magical world
...
Now, I do not ascribe these prejudices to
Professor Franklyn in particular
...
It is not the innate belief of the magical world that
Muggle humanity is inferior to our own, but it is the unfortunate and inevitable result of current Ministry
policies
...

Those assumptions are threefold
...
While possibly necessary in a past age, we
maintain that the Law of Secrecy is now obsolete, resulting only in a segregated society that unfairly denies
both the wizarding and the Muggle worlds the benefits of each other
...
We will argue that this claim has been vastly orchestrated out of a series of isolated and unconnected
historical incidents that, on their own, were unfortunate, but relatively unimportant
...
Both of these threats, we assert, have been
cultivated by the magical ruling class to maintain a culture of fear, thus cementing their own agenda of power
and control
...
We will
argue that ‘dark’ magic is simply a form of complex, if occasionally dangerous, magic, only considered evil
because it was mostly used by those who at one time opposed the current magical ruling class
...


179

“We assert that these three assumptions form the basis of the policies of prejudice against the Muggle
world
...
After all, before we are witch
or wizard, Muggle or magical, we are first and foremost… human
...
There was a moment of
rather awed silence, then, to James dismay, the crowd erupted in applause
...
Not
everyone was applauding, but those that were, roughly half, did so with a grim vigor
...
Miss Petra Morganstern,
captain of Team A, now approaches the lectern…”
Petra arranged a small stack of note cards on the podium as the cheers died away
...

“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow classmates, greetings,” she said, her voice crisp and ringing
...
Team A
will argue that there is, in actuality, only one ‘assumption’ that is valid for debate tonight, their other two
arguments being completely dependent upon it
...
Team B must convince us that history, rather than being trustworthy, is a complete
fabrication, woven by the whims and deliberate manipulations of a small group of incredibly powerful ruling
witches and wizards
...
Our parents and
grandparents, our teachers, and yes, our leaders
...
Using the logic of Team B, the Battle of Hogwarts
either never occurred or occurred so differently as to be completely meaningless
...
If, however, the historical record of the rise of the
Dark Lord and his bloody quest for power and dominion over the Muggle world can be shown to be accurate,
the rest of Team B’s claims fall as well
...
”
There was another moment of charged silence, precipitated by the mention of the Dark Lord, then
another burst of applause, equal in volume to the previous, but scattered with exuberant whoops and whistles
...
James saw
the man in the purple bowler and read his words as they flowed from his wand to the broadcasting funnel
...
This promises to be a direct
and spirited dialogue, ladies and gentlemen
...
The audience had been instructed to refrain
from applause, but this had proven impossible to prevent
...
Night descended on the Amphitheater, ominously dark, with only a thin sickle moon low on the
horizon
...
The
stage glowed in the center, lit like noonday in the glow of Professor Flitwick’s gently floating phosphorous
globes
...

“I’m from the United States, you know,” Zane said, addressing Heather Flack across the stage
...
If the victors fabricate our histories, how is it that I know that even Thomas Jefferson once owned
slaves?”
Benjamin Franklyn winced at that, then nodded slowly, approvingly
...

Finally, with no clear outcome, the captains of both teams approached the podiums for final
arguments
...

“I appreciate,” she began, glancing at Petra, “that my opponent in this debate has made it a point to
restrict discussion to this one central tenet: that the recent history of the wizarding world has been enhanced
and stylized to instill terror of some fabled, monstrous enemy
...
If Miss Morganstern wishes to evade the other valid
facets of tonight’s discussion, I will concur
...
Let us discuss the treatment of Lord Tom Riddle
...

Even for Tabitha Corsica, James thought, bringing up Tom Riddle seemed like a terrible risk, even if he was,
in fact, the heart of the issue
...

“‘The Dark Lord’, as the Auror Department likes to call Tom Riddle,” Tabitha said into the hushed
darkness, “was indeed a powerful wizard, and perhaps even a misguided one
...

But what, really, do we know for sure about his plans and his methods? Miss Morganstern will simply tell
you he was evil
...
But really, do such
people even exist? In comic books, perhaps
...
But is anyone, in
reality, utterly and irredeemably evil? No, I suggest that perhaps Tom Riddle was a misguided but wellmeaning wizard whose desire for Muggle-wizard equality was simply too radical a notion for the magical
ruling class to allow
...
Despite this, Riddle’s reformers were eventually able to win enough confidence to
assume control of the Ministry of Magic for a short time
...
”
As Tabitha spoke, a grumbling spread around the assembled crowd
...
He glanced around
...
Several had climbed onto their seats, stomping or shaking fists
...

At the height of the disturbance, James had a vague sense of Ted Lupin and Noah Metzker huddling
around something
...
The light shot upwards, filling the Amphitheater with its glow
...
The crowd hushed, bewildered, every eye tilted up
...
There was a collective gasp as the lights formed the huge shape of the
legendary Dark Mark: a skull with a snake squirming out of the mouth
...
The lightning bolt seemed to strike the skull, which bit
the snake in half
...
The lightning bolt vanished as a sign popped up out of the broken skull:
You’ll laugh your skull off
at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes!
Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade Locations!
Custom Orders our Specialty!
There was a long, silent moment of complete bewilderment as everyone stared up at the glittering
letters
...
There was a titter of
laughter somewhere
...
” There was some scattered, embarrassed laughter
...
James turned toward Ted and Noah, who were squinting and looking
dazed, blinded by the Weasley Brothers’ special-order fireworks
...

Noah shrugged
...
”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Franklyn continued, “this is indeed a subject of much passion for many of
us, but we must not allow ourselves to become carried away
...
However, this is a debate, and where I come from, we do not,” he said
with great emphasis, “squash debate simply because an argument makes us uncomfortable
...
Miss Morganstern, I believe you had the floor
...
Petra stood
behind her podium for several seconds, eyes down
...

“I admit I don’t know quite where to begin in responding to Miss Corsica’s frankly incredible
hypothesis
...

He used unspeakable methods to gain and maintain power
...
Lord Voldemort was no more interested in
Muggle equality than… than…” She stopped, fumbling
...
He felt
for her
...
Any that slipped past would be touted as truths she was reluctant
to admit
...
“Only the totality of recorded history, and
the living memories of those who experienced it firsthand,” she spat
...
”
“Since you mention that,” Tabitha said smoothly, “I believe that there are individuals here this
evening who were firsthand witnesses to the Battle of Hogwarts
...
This is not a courtroom, though, so I will merely ask the following:
Can anyone in attendance, anyone who was there at the Battle, deny that Lord Tom Riddle himself stated for
all to hear that he deplored the loss of any blood in battle? Can anyone deny that he pleaded with his enemies
to meet with their leader personally, so that violence could be avoided?”
Tabitha peered out over the audience
...

“No, none deny it because it is the truth,” she said, almost kindly
...
But it is a
matter of fact that many more died than Lord Tom Riddle desired
...
”
Petra had regained her composure
...
“And is it the act of a
peace-loving reformer to seek out and personally murder the family of an infant, then attempt to murder the
infant as well?”
“You speak of Harry Potter, then?” Tabitha said, not missing a beat
...
I simply question and challenge
...
I submit that allegations of cold-blooded murder and attacks on
children, all of which are rather conveniently unprovable, factor very well into the doctrine of fear that has
ruled us these past twenty years
...
He was
standing, pointing at Tabitha Corsica, trembling with rage
...

“I’m sorry,” Tabitha said, and her face was, indeed, a portrait of compassion
...
”
Professor Franklyn had stood and was moving forward, but James shouted again before Franklyn
could speak
...
“That monster tried
to kill my dad twice, the second time because my dad gave himself to him
...
If it wasn’t for the fact that he’d been surrounded by greater wizards than himself at every
turn, we wouldn’t even know his name today
...
There
was a clatter onstage
...
Tabitha turned and looked at him, and he met her eyes for a second
...
Ralph returned her glare, then turned resolutely and left the stage
...

There was no point in continuing the debate any further
...
With
no preamble, the Headmistress instructed all the students to return immediately to their common rooms
...
As the crowd muttered and grumbled, funneling through the arched
entryway back into the castle proper, James saw Ralph working toward him through the crowd
...

“I can’t do it anymore,” Ralph said to James, his voice low and his eyes downcast
...
You can keep hating me if you want, but I just can’t keep up with all this
Progressive Element rubbish
...
”
James couldn’t help grinning
...
I don’t hate you
...
”

184

“Well, let’s apologize later, OK?” Ralph said, working his way toward the archway with James
following in his wake
...
Tabitha Corsica has been staring holes into
me ever since I left the stage
...

He wants to gloat over having won over a member of Team B
...

“Nah,” Ralph replied, shrugging, “it’s worth it
...
”

185

10
...

“Come in, come in,” she called to the three boys without looking up
...
How may I help you?”
“Madam Headmistress,” James began tentatively, “we want to talk to you about the debate
...
“Why, I
cannot begin to imagine
...
”
The boys scrambled to follow the Headmistress as she strode toward the door
...
“It was all anybody talked about the whole weekend
...
There was almost a fight out in the courtyard yesterday, when Mustrum
Jewel heard Reavis McMillan call Tabitha Corsica a lying twit
...
”

186

“This is a school, Mr
...

Young people are occasionally prone to have spats
...

Filch
...
“They were
really mad
...
People are coming unglued about this whole business
...
Potter says, it is fortunate Professor Longbottom was nearby
...
”
Zane trotted to keep up with the Headmistress’ stride
...
You know
what this Voldemort guy was like
...
”
McGonagall stopped suddenly, leaving the boys to scramble to a halt near her
...
“The truth
about the Dark Lord and his followers has been common knowledge for thirty years, ever since he murdered
your grandparents, Mr
...
Do you suppose that my repeating it one more time will dispel all the
revisionist rabble-rousing that has been going on, not only at this school, but throughout the wizarding
world? Hmm?” Her eyes were like diamond chips as she glared at them
...
“And suppose I summon Miss Corsica to my
office and forbid her from disseminating these lies and distortions
...
He had assumed that the Headmistress was indulging Tabitha Corsica for some
reason, allowing, for a time, her charade to continue
...

“So what do we do, ma’am?” James asked
...
“My dear James, I admit that you amaze and impress
me
...
” She saw the annoyed grimace on his face, and then she showed him one of her
rare smiles
...
“The revived memory of
the Dark Lord is not an overlarge concern to those of us who once faced the living thing
...
In the meantime, what you three can do
is attend your classes, do your homework, and continue to be the sharp-witted and strong-hearted boys you
obviously are
...
” She eyed

187

the three boys seriously, one by one
...

Understood?”
Zane and Ralph grinned at each other
...
McGonagall nodded curtly, straightened
herself, and continued briskly on her way
...

“Oh, and boys?”
“Yes, ma’am?” Zane said
...
Emphasis on the first and third syllables
...

The school year descended through autumn, approaching the winter holidays
...
The unofficial football tournament ended with James’ team winning
...
His team collected
around him, jumping and hollering as if they’d just won the House Cup
...
The team
circled James, heaving him onto their shoulders and carrying him into the courtyard as if he had just returned
from slaying a dragon
...

The routine of classes and homework, which had been daunting during the first weeks, became dull
and predictable
...
Zane told James and Ralph amusing tales of confrontations between Professor
Trelawney and Madame Delacroix during his Tuesday night Constellations Club, which, like Divination
class, both professors managed to share
...
He began to imagine how rich it might be to show up at tryouts next
spring and wildly surpass everyone’s memories of his first year attempts
...
Calling on his rather unique Muggle background, he invented a move he
called ‘buzzing the tower’, in which he’d hit a Bludger around the press box, letting it gather speed as it
circled back, then meet it on the other side, striking it again to add even more speed and a bit of direction
...

Life for Ralph in the Slytherin house had been rough for a while
...
James
and Zane figured she’d ceased having any use for him when he’d returned to being James’ friend
...
Then, surprisingly, Ralph began to befriend some other first- and second-year Slytherins
...
To be sure, there was a sort of shifty guile to even the first-year Slytherins, but a couple of them
seemed to genuinely like Ralph, and even James had to admit they were funny, in a double-edged sort of way
...
Professor Franklyn
taught a very practical class, with many exciting stories and real-life examples from his own long and wildly
various adventures
...
He admitted, with a sheepish grin,
that he’d been taught quite a lot of defensive technique by his dad
...
Ralph’s wand skills seemed remarkably haphazard when it came to
defensive spell-casting
...
He struck out with his wand, a bit wildly, and a bolt of blue lightning had erupted from the end,
singeing Victoire’s hair so that a ragged bald stripe ran straight across the top of her head
...
She screamed in rage and had to be restrained
by three other students from tackling Ralph, who was three times her size
...

Only once, during an evening in the Ravenclaw common room, did anyone have the temerity to
mention anything to James, Zane, and Ralph about the debate
...

“Hey, you were both in that debate, weren’t you?” he said, pointing back and forth between Zane
and Ralph
...

“You were the one at the table with Corsica, right?” Gregory said, turning to Ralph
...
Yeah,” Ralph said, “but…”
“You tell her from me she’s right on the mark, eh? I been reading a book that tells all about the
whole thing
...
Did you know they made up the whole story about Riddle and the
Horcruxes on the night the old man died? Some even say it was Harry Potter himself killed him, once they’d
worked it all out
...
He looked levelly at Gregory
...
“Hey,” he asked with forced casualness,
surreptitiously pulling out his wand, “what’s that you’re drinking?”
Ninety seconds later, James, Zane, and Ralph scrambled as Gregory spat nurgle water all over the
common room table
...
“I swear! I was supposed to
practice that transfiguration! Your drink just got in the way! Ask McGonagall!”
The three boys successfully ducked from the room, laughing uproariously at the ensuing chaos
...
After lunch on his last day of class, James went
up to the Gryffindor sleeping chamber to pack his things
...

“Hey, James,” Ralph’s voice called up the stairs, “you up there?”
“Yeah
...
”
“Thanks,” Ralph panted, climbing the steps
...
She said you’d be
here packing
...
”
“Yeah! We’re having everyone over to the old headquarters for the holidays this year
...
She’s the weirdest grownup I’ve ever met, but in a good way
...

Grandmum and Granddad won’t be there, though
...
Still, I think even Neville will be there
...
”
Ralph nodded glumly, staring into James’ trunk
...
Yeah, well, I hope you have a happy
Christmas and all that, then
...

“Oh, yeah
...
“Oh
...
Looks like I’ll just be hanging around here for the
holidays
...

After that… well, I’ll figure out something to do with myself
...

“Ralph,” James said, tossing a pair of mismatched socks into his trunk, “do you want to come and
have Christmas with my family and me?”
Ralph tried to look surprised
...
No…”
James frowned
...
How about that, then?”

190

“Well, you don’t have to get pushy about it!” Ralph exclaimed, then his face broke into a grin
...
To tell you the truth, with all the people that’ll be in and out of the place, I’m not sure they’ll
even notice
...
“I meant about me being on the… you know, the wrong side of the debate
and everything
...
”
“I know!”
“And you never said a word
...
He thought for a moment
...
“I see your point
...
She’s part Veela you know
...
”
“I just wanted to try to make it up to her somehow
...
A
...
A
...
“Ralph, mate, the less you say about that, the better
...
A heavy frost had fallen in the
early hours, etching silver fern shapes in the corners of the windows and giving the view beyond a hoary
ghostliness
...

“You’re a lucky stiff, Ralph,” Zane said grumpily, huddling around his coffee cup
...
”
“To tell you the truth,” James said, pouring himself a pumpkin juice, “I doubt it’d live up to your
imagination
...
Even at the best of times, I gotta admit, it feels a little like Halloween around
here
...
Zane looked sour and rolled his eyes
...
Not
...
“You’ll have a great Christmas with your family
...
”
“Yeah, sure
...
She’ll be disappointed that, so far, the only way I can affect things
with my wand is to hit them with it
...

Zane ignored him
...
You
have no idea what kind of craziness that always is
...
“How do you mean?”
“Imagine the traditional all-American Norman Rockwell Christmas scene, right?” Zane said, holding
up his hands as if framing a picture
...

Got it?” Ralph and James nodded, trying not to smile at Zane’s grave expression
...
“Now imagine hinkypunks instead of people
...
”
James burst out laughing
...

“That’s fantastic!” James hooted
...
“Yeah, well, it is pretty funny, I guess
...
”
“What’s a hinkypunk?” Ralph asked, trying to keep up
...
“It’ll all make sense
...
Ted and Victoire were already there, sitting on their trunks on the top step, framed against the
strangely silent, frost-laden grounds
...
As a
result, Victoire had taken to wearing a rather amazing variety of hats
...
Today, she had donned a small ermine
pillbox cap, cocked rakishly over her left eyebrow
...
A few minutes later, Hagrid drove up at the head of a carriage
...

“You lot aren’t s’posed to see these until next year, mind,” Hagrid said to James and Ralph
...

“So be sure to act surprised when yeh sees ‘em next spring, right?”
“Oh, Hagrid,” Victoire said haughtily, “if zese awful things are as ugly as mummy tells me, I’m glad I
can’t see zem, anyway
...

There were a few other students crammed into the carriage, all similarly late departures for the
holidays
...
The
train was far emptier than it had been on their arriving journey
...

“So Hogsmeade is a wizard village?” Ralph asked Ted
...
Home to The Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes Sweetshop
...
Lots of other shops, too
...
”
Ralph looked thoughtful, which meant his brow pinched down while his lower lip pooched up,
squeezing his entire face toward his nose
...

Victoire wrinkled her nose
...
Lupin
...

“I’m in old Stonewall’s Applied Advanced Technomancy class this semester, and all I can tell you is that
places like Hogsmeade aren’t just hidden because Muggles can’t find a road in
...
If Petra was
here, she could explain it better
...
“What’s ‘quantum’ mean?”
Ted shrugged
...
A
...
When in doubt, just say ‘quantum’
...
“All right, imagine that there are places on the earth that are like a hole in space
patched with rubber, see? You can’t tell anything’s different from the top, but it’s maybe a little bouncy or
something
...
He says, ‘Gor, here’s a place
where we can put up a smashing wizard village
...
OK
...
”
“Wait,” Ralph said, frowning in concentration
...
“Doesn’t matter
...
Nobody gets it
except for crusty old parchment-heads like Professor Jackson
...
Muggles, see, can only operate on the surface of reality
...
To them, it just isn’t even there
...
So we build places like Hogsmeade there
...

“No,” Ted said, sitting up again
...
The landscape looks just the
same, but dimensionally, it goes out through the other side of space-time, where Muggles can’t go
...
We breed magical creatures in quantum preserves
...
That’s pretty much how
unplottability works
...
”
“Simple as what?” Ralph said, frustrated
...
“Look, mate, it’s like the Cockroach Clusters in Honeydukes
...
You just need to eat ‘em
...
“I’m not sure I can do either
...

“So if Muggles can’t get in,” James replied, “how’d that Muggle get onto the school grounds?”
“Oh yeah,” Ted said, leaning back again
...
Is that what people
are saying now? That he was a Muggle?”
James had forgotten that not everything he knew about the intruder was common knowledge
...
“Yeah,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant, “I heard he may have been a Muggle
...
”
“Actually,” Ted said, squinting out the window at the brightening day, “I guess even a Muggle could
get in if they were accompanied by a wizard or led in somehow
...
It’s
just that, as far as their senses are concerned, the spaces don’t even exist
...

But who’d be stupid enough to do such a thing?”

194

James shrugged, and looked at Ralph
...

Stupid or not, somebody had indeed led a Muggle onto the Hogwarts grounds
...

The four of them lunched on sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, taken from the Hogwarts kitchens
that morning, then settled into companionable silence
...
The frost had burned away, leaving the ground
raw and grey
...
Ralph read and
napped
...
Ted taught James to play a game called ‘Winkles and Augers’, which
involved using wands to levitate a piece of parchment folded into the shape of a fat triangle
...
James had gotten marginally better at levitation, but he was no
match for Ted, who knew just how to undercut James’ wandwork, bobbing the auger out of range and
swooping it onto his goal with a resounding smack
...
“I’ve been playing this since my first year
...
I’m personally responsible for the fact that his left ear’s been glued back on
...
”
By the time the train pulled into Platform Nine and Three Quarters, dusk had begun to turn the sky
a dreamy lilac color
...

The porter took their tickets, then produced their trunks with an Accio spell, sucking each trunk
rather roughly out of the baggage compartment and plunking it at its owner’s feet
...

“I’m to escort you all to the old headquarters,” Ted said importantly, drawing himself to his full
height
...
”
They filed through the hidden portal that separated Platform Nine and Three Quarters from the
Muggle platforms of King’s Cross station
...
“And you’ll hardly fit the four of us on your
broom
...
Muggle travelers moved around them, hurrying here and there, most bundled into heavy coats and

195

hats
...

“Looks like we’re stuck,” Ted said mildly
...

There was a loud crack that echoed all around the concourse, apparently unheard by the milling
Muggles
...
It was, of course, the Knight Bus
...
The enormous triple-decker bus dodged and squeezed through
the oblivious crowd, never losing speed until it squeaked violently to a halt directly in front of Ted
...

“Welcome to the Knight Bus,” the man said, a bit huffily
...
You know this is the middle of effing King’s Cross station, don’t you? Seems like you
could’ve at least made it to the front step
...
“It’s this bad leg of
mine again
...
Acts up at the worst of times
...
“You try pulling that gaf one more time and I’m going to charge you a Galleon just
for being a nuisance
...
“You say it’s close? This headquarters place? Maybe we
could, you know, walk?”
“In this cold?” Ted replied heartily
...

Ralph climbed on and had no sooner crossed the threshold when the doors slammed shut
...
Chad’s, Ernie,” Ted called, grabbing a nearby brass handle
...
Ralph, despite James’ advice, had forgotten to grab onto something
...

“Hmmph?” the sleeping wizard that Ralph had landed on muttered, raising his head from the pillow
...
The glassed arch loomed over them, and James was certain the Knight Bus couldn’t
possibly fit through the open doorways, large as they were
...
He braced himself
...

“I hear we’re having goose for dinner tonight!” Ted called to James as the bus careened through a
busy intersection
...
“Kreacher insisted on a full course meal our first night back!”
“Gotta love that ugly little brute!” Ted yelled appreciatively
...
Ralph was still sprawled on the bed with the sleeping wizard
...
“I threw up in the souvenir sleeping cap they gave me
...
Chad’s Street met Argyle Square, then
jammed to a halt
...
The gigantic
purple bus sat quietly and primly, puttering a dainty cloud of exhaust
...
Frank, despite the rankled look he
shot Ted, stacked their trunks carefully on the sidewalk and bid them a happy Christmas
...
Three seconds later, it was gone
...

“What number is it?” Ralph said, puffing and dragging his huge trunk
...
Right here,” James replied
...
Ralph stopped at the base of the steps, his brow furrowed
and frowning
...
“OK, Ralph
...

Number twelve Grimmauld Place, right here between eleven and thirteen
...
It was the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, back in
the day when they were fighting Voldemort
...
It was the best kept secret place of the
Order, until right at the end, when a Death Eater followed my aunt here using Side-Along Apparition
...
Kreacher keeps it up when
we’re not here
...
How do we
get in?”
James reached down for Ralph’s hand
...
Ralph stumbled, regained his footing and looked up
...
James had no memory of his first visit to the old
headquarters, but he knew from other people’s descriptions how the doorway revealed itself the first time you
arrived, how number twelve simply pushed numbers eleven and thirteen aside like a man shouldering his way
through a crowd
...

“I love being a wizard,” Ralph said meaningfully
...
“James!” she cried, gathering him into her arms and nearly yanking him off his feet
...
“Come on, you’re gonna melt the Chocolate Frog in
my shirt pocket already
...

“You know how it is,” Ted exclaimed mournfully
...
Where does the
time go?”
James’ mum grinned, turning to Ted and embracing him as well
...
Or shut
up
...
And you too, Victoire
...
” Ralph groaned, but James’ mum went on
before Victoire could offer any pointed explanation
...
Harry mentioned you,
and of course, James has told me loads about you in his letters
...
I hear you are quite the
wand master
...

“He picked up Andromeda after work today
...
Everyone else will
be here tomorrow
...
“Ted!
Victoire!” Lily and Albus shoved past their mum
...

“Direct from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” James said grandly, “I bring you both…
hugs!” He grabbed Albus in a bear hug
...

“No! I wanted some Drooble's Best Blowing Gum from the cart lady! I told you!”

198

Ted squatted down and squeezed Lily
...
”
“What is it?” she asked, suddenly shy
...
“Don’t get her hopes up, you rogue
...

Kreacher’s been in the basement all afternoon preparing what he calls ‘a fitting and proper tea service’
...
”
Harry and Ted’s grandmum, Andromeda Tonks, arrived half an hour later, and the rest of the
evening was a whirlwind of food, happy laughter, and catching up
...
Andromeda Tonks had, though, and
was full of endless vitriol for Tabitha Corsica and her team
...

“Don’t worry,” Ted murmured to Ralph over dessert, “if anybody says anything, I’ll tell her you were
a spy operating undercover
...
”
Kreacher hadn’t changed a single iota
...
“Master James, come back from his first year of schooling, he has,” he warbled in his bullfrog
voice
...
Would Master and his friend care
for a watercress sandwich?”
Kreacher had, as usual, kept the house in exceptional order, and had even gone to the trouble to
decorate for the holidays
...
The severed heads of the previous house-elves, which still hung in the
hallway as a testament to the original pureblood owners of the estate, had been dressed with fake, white beards
and conical, green caps with jingle bells on the tips
...
“But the missus decided that that was perhaps a bit too… festive
...
” He seemed to be angling to be allowed to reinstate the caroling heads
...
He was, in fact,
morbidly curious to see and hear the heads in action
...

“Come on, James!” Albus demanded
...
“Levitate Albus! Fly him out the window!”

199

“You both know I can’t do magic once I’m off the train and officially out of Hogwarts,” James said
wearily
...
”
“Dad’s Head Auror, you git
...
”
“It’s irresponsible,” James said seriously
...
”
“You can’t do it, can you?” Albus taunted
...
First
Squib in the Potter family
...
”
“You’re the same Albus-blabbus you ever were, you little skrewt
...
“You know Albus-blabbus is your real name, don’t
you? It’s on your birth certificate
...
”
“Albus-blabbus!” Lily sang, dancing around her older brother
...

Later, as James and Ralph headed to James’ bedroom for the night, they passed a curtain that seemed
to be drawn over a section of wall
...

“Old Mrs
...
“Crazy old nutter
...
Dad and Neville have done everything they could think
of to get the old bat off the wall, but she’s stuck there right good
...
Cutting her out would probably bring the next floor right
down on top of us
...
So I suppose she’s part of the family forever
...
He furrowed his brow
...
“We discovered that a few years back
...
She saw a telly through the window across the street and shut right up for the first
time in weeks
...
Crazy old bat loves
the chat shows
...
”
Ralph slowly let the curtain drape back over the portrait
...
Drakemont?”
Kreacher had arranged a cot for Ralph in James’ room
...

“This used to be my dad’s godfather’s room,” James said sleepily, once they had settled down
...
“Good guy, was he? Or was he a nutter, like the old witch in the portrait?”
“One of the best guys ever, according to Dad
...
He was
wanted for murder for over a decade
...
“You wizards can be
pretty bloody confusing, you know that?”
James grinned
...


201

11
...
James introduced Ralph to everyone, and Ralph very shortly became simply one more of the
throng of friends and family that crammed the house
...
They were followed shortly thereafter by
Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur, Victoire’s parents
...

“It’s a good thing Mum and Dad are off with Charlie this year,” Ron commented, lugging his and
Hermione’s luggage up the steps to their third-floor bedroom
...
”
“It’s just you who’s bigger, Ron,” Hermione chided, elbowing him affectionately in the stomach
...
”
“I’m not complaining
...
If Percy was here, he’d have to bunk in with
Kreacher
...
Fleur and Bill enlisted James and Ralph’s help in picking out and

202

transporting a Christmas tree, which had looked merely charmingly plump outside, but had taken up twothirds of the main hall when they’d brought it in
...
“Reducio!”
The tree shrunk by a third, but managed to maintain its density, so that it ended up looking rather
more like a Christmas bush than a tree
...
That night, Hermione
gathered the entire household with the intention of bundling everyone up and going Christmas caroling
...

“Give us a break, Hermione,” Harry said, dropping into an easy chair by the fire
...
”
“Yeah,” Ron chimed in, bolstered a bit, “it’s just the start of the holiday
...
“We only get the whole family together once a year anymore, if we’re lucky, and I’m not
going to let you sit on your bum all night just as if you were at home
...
”
“That was before I knew you were serious,” Ron muttered, climbing to his feet and shrugging on his
coat
...
“You can lounge
around all Christmas day if you wish
...
”
Harry groaned, but allowed Ginny to work his coat onto him
...
To Ron’s and Harry’s apparent annoyance, Bill was raring to go,
performing scales in the hallway, his hand on his chest
...
As they headed out the door, James heard Uncle Ron mutter to his dad, “I swear he
acts like that as much to spite us as to impress her
...
Fat, silent snowflakes had begun to fall, muffling the
distant city sounds and blanketing the grimy walls and sidewalks with sparkling white
...
“If Mum weren’t still around,” Ron said to Harry in a low voice, “I’d swear Hermione was
channeling her
...
Finally satisfied, she led the troupe
through the streets surrounding Grimmauld Place, ringing doorbells and directing the choruses
...


203

Once, an old man with a large hearing aid yelled at them that he didn’t support any charities except the
Hortense Home for Feral Felines, and then slammed his door
...

James waved a hand at Ralph before he could ask
...
I’ll explain later
...
Ralph and James met Albus and Rose on their way down the steps to breakfast
...
“Mum swears she’ll Crucio anyone who tries to open a present
before breakfast
...
“Aunt Hermione said that?”
“Well,” answered Albus, “not in so many words
...
She just about turned
Dementor on him
...

“Excellent!”
“Yeah, but he brought Katie Bell with him,” Albus said, pronouncing the name with his most
ingratiatingly snarky voice
...

As James and Ralph turned the corner into the old kitchen, they heard George’s voice saying, “That’s
the sort of publicity that has allowed triple W to grow to two locations and become the wizarding world’s
leading joke shop, you know
...

It’s all about the spectacle
...
“You should’ve heard the way
Myron Madrigal described it on the wireless,” she said, stifling a smile
...
“What’d he say?”
“He called it ‘a puerile display of monumental poor taste’,” George said proudly, raising his juice
glass in a toast
...

“James, good to see you!” George said, clapping his juice onto the table and patting the seat next to
him
...
”
“Great,” James said, sitting down and grabbing a piece of toast
...
”

204

“Oh, we know all about you, don’t we?” George said, leaning toward Ralph and tapping the side of
his nose
...
Spying
and sabotaging left and right, no doubt
...

“I didn’t say anything,” Ted said primly
...
He figured out the rest on his own when he found out
you were here
...
“Well, that’s not really true, you know
...
”
“Never underestimate what a kid can do, Ralphie,” George said seriously
...
“George and his brother, Fred, caused the best class disruption in
Hogwarts history in the middle of the reign of Umbridge the Terrible
...

“With a little revenge thrown in,” Katie said, smiling
...

James, Ralph, Ted, and George were the last at the breakfast table
...

“Didn’t you do like I told you?” George said, laughing as Albus pulled him into the parlor
...
“I nicked James’ wand and practiced on a box of biscuits
...
Mum just about thrashed me
...
“I’ll thrash you myself! Give it back!”
Hooting, Albus darted away with James in pursuit
...
When the younger Weasleys and Potters had all opened their presents and
scampered off to enjoy them, the rest of the gifts were opened with a bit more reserve
...


205

“It’s a Conjure-Pot,” he explained, a little defensively
...
It doesn’t matter what
...
We all
come home at night and voila, mystery meal
...
”
“At least that’s what the sign on the display at Tristan’s and Tupperworth’s said,” Ron remarked,
grinning
...

Fleur sniffed
...
”
“That’s because where you come from, my dear,” Bill said gently, “the men do most of the cooking
...

Ginny’s next present turned out to be a pair of mer-pearl earrings, which went over much better
...

“Harry! How did you pay for these? Mer-pearl! I never expected…!” Her eyes glittered as she
blinked back tears
...
“If it makes you feel any better, they’re fake
...

They came as a bonus gift with the Conjure-Pot
...

Ron had gotten Hermione a small but apparently expensive bottle of perfume called Whimsies’
Enchantment, which Hermione was very pleased with
...

“We knew you’d both been wanting to go for the past several years,” Hermione explained as Harry
and Ron congratulated each other
...
We’ve got eight total
tickets, so you can take the kids, if you wish
...
And your wives, of course, if you wished
...
”
But Harry and Ron had fallen into a debate about what teams would be in the Cup and barely heard
the last
...

“Wow,” he breathed
...
I thought you might like to practice on
your own broom
...
Slow, unwieldy, and the handling’s gone all mushy
...
”

206

“Course, if you don’t want it,” George offered, “you could always trade with Ted
...
”
Ted hurled a ball of wrapping paper at George, hitting him square in the face
...
Ralph shrugged it off, saying his dad had probably sent his Christmas gift to the
school
...

“It’s not much,” Ginny smiled, “but we thought you might enjoy it
...
It was a very dog-eared and dilapidated book, the
words on the cover almost illegible with age
...

“That belonged to a great Slytherin, like you’ll be, no doubt,” Harry said somberly
...
I didn’t know what to do with it until you came for the
holiday
...
Don’t let Professor Slughorn see it, though
...
”
Ralph flipped carefully through the old book
...
“Who wrote all this stuff inside?”
“Doesn’t really matter,” Harry said cryptically
...
Just take care of it, and be
careful how you use some of the stuff in there
...
Still, it just seems right
that it should be in the hands of a good Slytherin man
...
”
Ralph thanked Harry and Ginny, a bit puzzled at the serious looks both he and the book were
getting
...
He wrapped it
in a piece of cloth Ginny gave him and placed it in the bottom of his trunk
...
The two had been
seeing each other for the past few months, but James had heard his mum tell Andromeda Tonks that it wasn’t
going anywhere
...
For James’ part, Neville and Luna seemed just a bit too brotherly and sisterly to be a couple
...

“We’re having a perfectly delightful time here with Charlie,” she said from the grate
...
I think you boys need to have a talk with your father, though
...
He’s become so
unpredictable now that he’s retired from the Ministry
...
How am I supposed to keep track of my grandbabies?”

207

“How are Charlie and Claire and the kids, then, Molly?” Hermione asked, gently steering the topic
to pleasanter subjects
...

How these poor children can endure the sight of such creatures and not have constant nightmares is simply
beyond me
...

Late that evening, as most of the household was beginning to drift to bed, James and Ralph found
themselves seated near the fire with Luna Lovegood, who was telling them about her latest expedition into the
Highland Mountains in search of the Umgubular Slashkilter
...
Their diet seems to consist almost entirely of blusterwermps and figgles, so it’s pretty easy to identify
their dung by smell alone
...
Not at all unpleasant
...

“Close enough,” Luna said kindly
...
I took a mold of one of their tracks and a stool sample from one of their leavings
...
”
“I specialize in things nobody else knows about,” Luna said mildly
...
”
“Oh,” Luna said, her face placid
...

Luna, he recalled, occasionally had a rather unique approach to conversation
...

“This isn’t about Slashkilters or Wrackspurts or anything
...
What can you tell us about… about
Austramaddux and Merlinus Ambrosius?”
Luna was the only completely unshockable person James knew
...
A lifelong hobby of my father’s, though
...
The subject of much
speculation and intrigue for centuries, you know
...
We read about him and the prediction of his return
...
“It’s a pity my father isn’t here
...

He did once, in fact, at a gathering of alternative magical publishers and broadcasters in Belfast
...
It
went on for three and half days, until he fell asleep at the podium
...
He was a notorious sleep-talker
...
Most people thought it was eccentricity, but I think he was just multi-tasking
...

James knew he wouldn’t have much time before someone else, George, or worse, his dad or mum,
would come back into the room
...
Had a hundred theories about it
...
Wrote a whole series of articles for The Quibbler explaining the three relics and offering a
hundred Galleon reward for anyone with valid clues to their whereabouts
...
“What are the three relics?”
“Oh,” Luna said, looking at him
...
“We did, but it didn’t say anything about any relics
...
”
“Ah, well, that’s the key, then, isn’t it?” Luna said placidly
...
Merlin’s three required magical elements, his throne, his robe and his staff
...
According to the prediction, once the three relics are brought together again in a place
called the ‘Hall of Elders’ Crossing’, Merlinus will reappear to claim them
...
The Hall of Elder’s Crossing, he thought, remembering the legend inscribed on the gate
of the secret island
...
He struggled to
sound merely curious
...
According to legend, Merlin’s ceremonial black robe was made of incorruptible fabric, allowing it to
survive eternally
...
Alas, no one knows the location of Kreagle’s tomb, its
Secret-Keepers having been inhumed within it to secure its secrecy forever
...
“Merlin’s throne as advisor to the kingdoms of the Muggles was passed from regime to regime, always
kept ready for the wizard’s return, until it was eventually lost in the mists of time
...
Finally,” Luna said, narrowing her eyes as she
searched her memory, “the greatest of Merlin’s relics, his staff
...
Long sticks, often as tall as the wizard himself
...
It is said that he could still make his staff speak with the voice of the dryad
that had given it
...
He hid it, and the secret of its location is said to have died with him
...

“But still,” James said, “say someone could get all the relics back together again
...
“Austramaddux speaks of it as if he expects his readers to
know of it, as if it were a well-known place
...
”
“But your father believed it would be possible to bring Merlinus back? He thought it could happen?”
James prodded
...
She looked at James
...
He did believe in the return
of Merlinus
...
In other
words, just because my father believed it, that hardly makes it true
...

Luna went on
...
Many have cheated it for a while, using arts
ranging from the creative to the questionable to the outright evil
...
It is the law of mortality
...
”
James nodded, but he was barely listening anymore
...
Finally, Ginny peeked in
and sent both boys off to bed
...
Black and
climbed the stairs
...
“Definitely
...
Remember?”
“Yeah, sure
...
It came open a little and it was only a few feet away from me
...
Jackson saw me looking and gave me a look that’d melt lead!”
James opened the door to his room and Ralph threw himself onto his cot
...
”

210

“Remember what I told you about the night I hid under the Invisibility Cloak and followed Dad and
Professor Franklyn around? Franklyn told Dad that he should keep an eye on Professor Jackson
...
Don’t you see?”
Ralph frowned again, thinking hard
...
I can’t believe Professor Jackson would be part
of a plot to start a war against the Muggles
...
”
“That’s what I thought, too, but Ralph, you know what I think that thing in his case was? I think it
was one of the relics! I think it was Merlin’s robe! He’s keeping it safe until he can get the rest of the relics
together
...
“No!” he said in a low whisper
...
“Take a look at this
...
“It’s been in the bottom of my bag this whole time
...
” James tapped the article about the break-in at the Ministry of Magic
and the strangely cursed thieves who had apparently not gotten around to stealing anything
...

“It says one of the places they broke into was the Department of Mysteries,” he said
...
“But I don’t think so
...
It says none of them had much of a prior record, right? They couldn’t have broken into the
Ministry on their own
...
”
“But it says here nothing was stolen,” Ralph said, glancing back at the article
...
“I
mean, that’d be a pretty scary bit of dark magic to admit had gone missing, what with all the stories of evil
wizards trying to use the relics to bring back Merlin all these centuries past
...
How would they know if one item had gone
missing from the place? Luna called them the ‘endless vaults’, didn’t she?”
“So,” Ralph said, still scanning the news article, “somebody hires these three goons to break in and
make a mess of things, while the real thieves make off with the throne of Merlin
...
Right? Pretty sneaky
...
More than just any old
witch or wizard could whip up
...
His mouth hung open and his eyes grew wider and wider
...
James glanced at him, and then grabbed the newspaper from him
...

“That’s it!” he said in a breathless whisper
...
The next day, when the Americans arrived,
you saw old Madame Delacroix and thought it’d been her
...
”
James ignored him and went on, “I decided it couldn’t have been her, because the woman I’d seen on
the lake had been a lot younger
...
You know where I saw that
boat, though? It was over by where Zane and I found the island! The Grotto Keep! I think that was
Madame Delacroix, after all!”
“How?” Ralph asked simply
...
”
James explained to Ralph what Professor Franklyn had revealed about Madame Delacroix at the
dinner in the Alma Aleron’s quarters
...
“She projected herself to the lake,
to that place on the island, using the ability Franklyn told us about
...
“But why? What’d she want to be doing floating around in a boat on the
lake?”
“Don’t you see?” James exclaimed, trying to keep his voice low
...
What better place to
hide it than right on the grounds of Hogwarts? Why create an ultra-powerful hiding place when one already
exists and you’re going to be there anyway? Madame Delacroix sent her wraith to the island that night to
deliver the stolen throne
...
The Forbidden
Forest is already so full of magic that the throne is probably just lost in the background noise to the wizards at
the school
...
Finally he said, “Wow, that’s so creepy it makes
sense
...


212

“That stinks,” Ralph said flatly
...
But still, what’s the
big deal, really? I mean, Luna said that it’s impossible to bring Merlin back
...
Once dead, always dead
...
He shook his head
...
He teaches Technomancy, doesn’t he? He wouldn’t fall for some crackpot scheme if he
didn’t think it’d work
...
But Austramaddux
doesn’t say he died, does he? He just left the world of men
...
“Whatever
...
” He flopped backwards onto the cot
...
“They’re trying to bring Merlin
back so they can start a war with the Muggles! It’s up to us to stop it!”
Ralph rolled onto his side and furrowed his brow at James
...
If you’re really worried about it, tell him about it
...
“We can try to stop them! Nobody will believe us if we tell them now
...
If we do that, then we’ll at least have proof!”
Ralph continued to stare at James
...
“Don’t you think you might be making
a bit much of this? I mean, I understand wanting to follow in your dad’s footsteps and all, trying to save the
world and be the hero…”
“Shut up, Ralph,” James said, suddenly angry
...
”
Ralph rolled onto his back
...
Sorry
...

“All right,” James admitted, “I know why you’re saying that
...
I’m really not just
trying to be like Dad, all right? Maybe there isn’t any way to bring back Merlin
...
If we can prove that they’re trying to start a war, we can at least shut them
down, can’t we? If we can do that, I think we should
...
“Of course
...
“Shut up and go to sleep, Ralphinator
...
He thought and thought about everything he’d
learned that night, the connections he and Ralph had made
...
It had to be true
...
He’d been the greatest wizard ever, hadn’t he? He was sure to have been capable of things
that even the most powerful wizards since would find impossible
...
Still, part of him had been pricked by Ralph’s suggestion that James was simply looking for a way to be a
hero, like his dad
...
Finally, several
hours after the house had fallen silent, feeling confused and exhausted, James drifted to sleep
...
The last of the guests had left the previous day, and Ralph had gone with Ted and
Victoire to see Harry’s offices at the Ministry
...
After half an hour of lying on his bed and
scribbling meaningless notes and drawings on sheets of parchment, he’d given up and climbed the stairs to the
fourth floor
...
All the beds were made, the trunks mostly packed
...
Even
Kreacher had been induced to accompany the family back to the main house in Marble Arch for a couple of
months
...
James felt like a ghost
...
He took a step backwards and
peered in
...
James glanced toward the hall stairs to be sure no one was
coming, and then tiptoed into the room
...
It didn’t even have a lock
...
There, in the same place it was last time, was his dad’s Invisibility
Cloak
...
James glanced again at
the doorway, already feeling guilty
...
Absolutely not
...
But then again, maybe his dad wouldn’t notice
...
James couldn’t remember the last time his dad had
actually used it
...

James reached in and touched it, then, without allowing himself to think about it, he pulled the cloak out
...

He caught his breath as he looked, barely allowing himself to believe what he was seeing
...
Few people would even recognize

214

what it was
...
Like a map
...
What finally decided him was the thought of what Ted Lupin might say if he knew that James
had turned down such a golden opportunity
...
He ran down the steps and back into his bedroom
...

There was sure to be a row when he was found out, and there was no question that he would be found out
...
He was counting on that to temper things when the time came
...
He didn’t know exactly how, yet, but there was no question that, with the Invisibility
Cloak and the Marauder’s Map in his possession, he felt much better equipped to tackle whatever adventures
were sure to come
...
Back at
Hogwarts the next week, James and Ralph relayed to Zane everything Luna had told them and the
connections they had subsequently made
...

“Maybe Madame Delacroix’s put the Imperius Curse on Jackson?” he asked in a low tone as the three
boys huddled around a table in the corner of the library
...
“That’d make sense
...
”
James shook his head
...
The whole school year is a long time
...
Jackson’s too sharp to be an easy target for
something like that
...
“Either
way, I still think the whole thing’s a wash
...

Professor Franklyn said in D
...
D
...
that the best records show that Merlin ended up getting involved with

215

something called ‘the Lady of the Lake’ who took his powers and imprisoned him
...
”
Zane, who was always prone to the morbid imagination, widened his eyes
...
“Inferi are just animated corpses
...
It’d be the same thing as just grabbing
Merlin’s skull and working it like a puppet
...
I’m Merlin
...
“All right, so seriously, maybe the whole Merlin’s return thing is just some
crazy legend
...
Even if the plan to bring back Merlin doesn’t work, they’ll just
figure something else out
...
“Right? Discredit them with the wizarding
world?”
“Yeah
...
”
Zane laced his fingers behind his head and leaned back
...
The throne is too protected for us to get to, if it’s on that island
...
That leaves the robe
...
”
Ralph looked grim
...
”
“We need to be able to get it without Jackson knowing it’s gone
...
“I just wish we knew when they were planning
on bringing all the relics together
...
”
“And where’s this Hall of Elder’s Crossing?” Ralph added
...

It was Zane’s turn to shake his head
...
Can’t be
...
At the bottom, it said something about the Hall of Elder’s Crossing, as if it was someplace
else
...
He spread it between them
...
They read it, along with their scribbled notes, once again
...
-- Merlinus; sleeping? Rip Van Winkle
Upon return the fretted dawn -- happens at nighttime?
With not a relic lossing; -- the three relics! Brought back together
Bygone a life, a new eon, -- a life from the past in a new time; the legend’s origin?
The Hall of Elder’s Crossing
...
“It makes it sound like the Hall of Elder’s Crossing is a different
place entirely
...
”
“Doesn’t make any difference, really,” Ralph said after a minute’s thought
...

Part of the legend
...
“Whether the legend’s true or not, that thing’s got to have some serious
magic in it
...
”
“Either way,” Ralph insisted, “we need to get the robe from Jackson’s briefcase
...
Finally, James said, “I’ll work on a plan
...
”
“It was just a hunk of black fabric, you say?” Ralph said
...
My dad got
me the entire wizard wardrobe when we were in Diagon Alley before school started, and unless I have to go to
somebody’s wedding or funeral, I can’t imagine I’ll need that thing
...
”

217

James considered it
...
Although,” he added, looking
seriously at Ralph, “if they trace it back to you…”
Ralph was silent for a moment, and then shrugged
...
I’ve got no shortage of enemies
already
...
”
Considering the caliber of enemy Ralph might make with such a plot, James thought it might hurt
indeed, but he decided not to say so
...
James hoped he was worthy of it
...
As if he knew what they were up to, Professor Jackson had piled on more homework than usual,
assigning nearly five chapters and a five hundred-word essay on Hechtor’s Law of Displaced Inertia
...
Ralph was forced to practice on a
fencing dummy
...
Fortunately, Franklyn himself deigned to act as Ralph’s dueling partner
during the practical
...
To no one’s greater surprise than his
own, his Expelliarmus spell actually succeeded in blasting Franklyn’s wand from his hand
...

“Well done, Mr
...
“Mr
...
That’s a lad
...
For the past week, he had begun noticing similar looks from paintings throughout the halls
...
The fat wizard in the corner of the table
at the painting of the poisoning of Peracles had seemed to listen intently as he, Ralph, and Zane had discussed
Jackson’s briefcase in the library
...
Perhaps
strangest of all, a portrait of a portrait in the painting of the crowning of King Cyciphus had studied James
unabashedly from the wall of the Great Hall as he and Zane were eating breakfast
...
The wizard with the dark mustache and spectacles peered at him with a hard, unreadable
expression
...
“Do I have mustard on my tie or something?”
The painted wizard’s expression didn’t change, and once again, James found that there was
something teasingly familiar about him
...
“Who are you?”
“You’re talking to a painting,” Ralph pointed out
...

“Yeah,” Ralph nodded
...
”
“Where do I know you from?” James asked the painting, annoyed
...
Respect and deference, if you please
...
”
James ignored him, still studying the wizard with the mustache and spectacles, who merely stared
back at him silently
...
But that was obviously ridiculous, wasn’t it? There
was the fat man with the bald head, and the thin wizard in the portrait of the portrait who’d had a great
bushy blonde beard
...
A few had even
been rather ugly women
...
James shook his
head
...

“Come on,” Ralph finally said, grabbing James’ arm
...
It’s steak and
kidney night
...
It was indeed
an entirely different experience than riding any of the house brooms
...
James would merely think that perhaps he’d like to dip or turn, and suddenly, he’d find that it
was happening
...

“Basically,” he said in an awed voice, “the broom can read its owner’s mind, just enough that it only
needs the slightest touch to go where you want it to go
...
”
James offered to let Ted ride the broom, but Ted shook his head sadly
...

You’re the owner
...
It’s a drawback of the E
...
E
...
Or
a plus, if you’re worried about people trying to steal it
...
“How much are they?”
“How much do you have?” Ted asked
...
“Since I gave my last five to the house-elf doorman, er, nothing
...

On the way back to the castle, Zane told James that he’d had an idea about how to swap the relic
robe with Ralph’s dress cloak
...
“Tell Ralph to come, too, when you
see him
...
”
That night, the Ravenclaw common room was unusually empty
...
“Horace Birch is playing Professor Franklyn for the title
of grand wizard chess champion of the universe or something
...
Anyway, everybody’s
down there cheering him on
...

“I do, but it’s pretty iffy
...
”
James shook his head
...
He never lets that
briefcase out of his sight
...
”
Ralph and James sat on the sofa
...
He even takes it to Quidditch matches
...
He’s got it with him constantly
...
”
“What?” James exclaimed
...
“Think about it
...
“He paces
...
“He puts his case on the floor by his desk, careful as always,
but then he paces
...
I’ve been watching
...
”
“Wait,” Ralph interjected
...
“Like I said, it isn’t a great idea
...
We can’t have them all in on it
...
She’s tight with Tabitha Corsica, and it’s possible,
even likely, that they’re in on the Merlin plot
...
Nobody else can
know what we’re up to
...

Ralph frowned
...
“Maybe we don’t need to get into the briefcase
...
”
Ralph was still doubtful
...
He carries that thing with him everywhere
...
”
“Actually,” Zane said thoughtfully, “it’s a pretty standard-looking leather briefcase
...
If we could find something close enough…” Zane suddenly sat
up and snapped his fingers
...
“Horace Birch? The Gremlin wizard chess player? What’s he got to do
with anything?”
Zane shook his head excitedly
...
It’s a Fool-the-Eye charm! He said it just makes people see what they expect
to see
...
Right?”
Ralph thought about it and seemed to brighten
...
”
“Yeah,” James added, “but still, how do we swap the cases during class without anyone else noticing?”
“We’d need a diversion,” Zane said firmly
...
“You’ve watched too much telly
...
“You know,” he said, “I think I have an idea
...

“You liberated them from your dad’s trunk!” Zane grinned delightedly
...
”

221

“He doesn’t know, and I want to keep it that way, for now, at least,” James said sternly
...
It’ll require
all of us, though
...

James nodded
...
What class do you have that period? First slot, Wednesday?”
Ralph thought
...
Arithmancy
...
”
“Can you miss one?”
“I guess
...
Zane began to grin, but Ralph looked uncomfortable
...

They’ll catch on straight off,” he moaned
...
”
James shook his head
...
It’d be no good
...
“The trick is to look ‘em straight in the eye and never
blink
...
We’ll make a liar out of you yet
...
Now that he’d allowed
himself to consider the impossibility of Merlin’s literal return, he felt rather silly for having been so certain of
it
...
Still, it was evident that
Jackson and Delacroix, at least, believed in it enough to try it
...

They’d find the Merlin throne and the conspiracy would be revealed
...
With that vision in his head, James
felt a stab of determination to do everything he could to capture the relic robe
...
It was certainly a rather convoluted scheme,
with loads of variables
...
One minute, James was certain it
would work flawlessly, the next, he was sure it would be a ridiculous failure and he, Ralph, and Zane would
be caught
...
Would that be enough
to stop the plot? James was, after all, the son of the Head Auror
...
If James and his friends
were caught trying to steal the relic, Jackson would know they hadn’t yet told Harry Potter anything
...
No
matter what, James was sure, probably more than either Zane or Ralph, that the three of them might be in
great danger if their scheme failed
...
He could send Nobby with a letter,
explaining everything they’d worked out so far
...
If they failed and were caught, at least someone else
would know about the Merlin plot
...
Thinking that, he fell asleep
...
In the light of a new
day and a new week, he felt perfectly confident that their plan would work
...
He
was in such high spirits about it that he barely noticed the pale wizard in the painting of the Assumption of
Saint Mungo watching him intently, frowning and stone-faced
...
Visum-Ineptio
The first hurdle James, Ralph, and Zane faced in capturing Jackson’s briefcase was simply finding a
case similar enough to make the switch
...
They studied it carefully at dinner Monday evening, as it sat
between the professor’s black boots beneath the faculty table
...
They were dismayed to discover that it had a
small, tarnished brass plate riveted to one side with ‘T
...
Jackson’ engraved on it
...
Plenty of students and faculty had leather cases and portfolios, but they
were all either too narrow, or the wrong color, or of a rather different size or shape
...
Ralph suggested that they might have to wait
until the next week to perform the switch, but James was insistent that they keep trying
...
“If we wait too
long, they’ll try it and then we won’t have access to any of the relics at all
...
”

224

Ralph and Zane agreed, although it didn’t get them any closer to finding an appropriate case to use
for the switch
...
He plopped down across from Zane and James and stared at them
...

“I think I’ve found a case we can use
...

“What? Where?” James asked in a harsh whisper
...
Now adrenaline shot through him
...

“You know my friend, Rufus Burton?”
James nodded
...
Greasy-haired kid, right?”
“Yeah
...
Calls himself a ‘rock-hound’
...
I
listened to him talking about it last night for almost an hour
...
He’s got a little hammer that’s a pick on one side, and a bunch of little
scrapers and brushes and loads of these little cloths and polishing solutions
...
“We get the picture
...
I’m spellbound
...
He had it out on
his bed last night…”
“And it’s the right size and shape?” James prompted
...
“It’s almost perfect
...
The color’s
different, and the handles are ivory, but other than that…”
“So how do we get it?” James asked breathlessly
...
“I told him I wanted a bag
to carry my books and parchments in
...
He said
he knew just what I meant
...

That’s why he had it out: he was taking everything out of the old one to put into his new case, which is bigger
and has a hard dragonskin cover
...
” Ralph was beginning to ramble
...


225

“Yeah! I’ve got to tell you, it wigged me out a bit
...

James grew thoughtfully determined
...
“I brought it down with me, but I hid it in one of the cubbyholes
under the stairs
...
Just in case
...
Come on,” James said, getting up
...
“I mean, we were going to
wait until next week anyway…”
“That was only because we didn’t have a choice
...
I mean, we don’t have to do it this way, do we?
Couldn’t one of us just hide under the Invisibility Cloak and make the switch when Jackson’s not looking?”
Zane shook his head
...
There’s too little room in there
...
If we’re going to do it, this is the only way
...
“If there is such a thing as destiny, then that’s what put that case in your hands last night,
Ralph
...
It’d be like… like spitting in destiny’s face
...
Zane scowled thoughtfully
...
”
“You two still with me?” James asked
...

The case was still in the cubbyhole beneath the main staircase, and it was as similar to Jackson’s as
Ralph had described
...

Ralph had already stuffed his dress cloak into it, and when James opened it to check, it looked almost exactly
the way the cloth inside Jackson’s case had looked when it had come open that day in Franklyn’s classroom
...
“It’s just down the hall from Technomancy
...
Horace Birch had been more than happy to explain
the Visum-ineptio charm to Zane, but there’d been no opportunity for him to practice
...
The result was that
neither James, Ralph, nor Zane would know if the charm was working
...
Only then, one way
or another, would the effectiveness of the charm be shown
...
Zane dug in his backpack for
his wand and the bit of parchment he’d scribbled the Visum-ineptio incantation on
...

“Hold it up so I can see it,” he instructed nervously
...
After a moment, he dropped his arm again
...
Ralph’s the wand master
...
“It’s too late to show Ralph the wand motions
...
”
“Yeah,” Zane protested, “but what if I can’t get it to work? If Ralph gets it right, you know it’d be
good enough to fool anybody
...
”
“I’m standing right here, remember?” Ralph said
...
“You have to, Zane
...
Just give it a go
...
He looked at the
parchment as Ralph held it up
...

“Light immortal speeds the eye, for understanding’s vanity
...
”
Zane flicked his wand in three small circles, and then tapped the top of the case with it
...
The ring grew,
slipping down over the case
...
Zane let out his breath
...

“It must have,” James said
...
”
“I hope so,” Zane said
...
”
They ran through the corridor, Zane and James watching for Professor Jackson and Ralph carrying
the fake case with his winter coat draped over it
...
“I look about as casual as Grawp in a tutu
...
“It doesn’t matter, we’re almost there
...
Zane peered in, then turned back to
James and Ralph
...
“There’s somebody in there
...
Can’t remember his
name
...
It was a boy he vaguely recognized from Muggle Studies
class
...

“Hey, Terrence,” James called, grinning
...
Behind him, he heard Ralph
and Zane whispering
...
“So how was your holiday? Travel much?”
“I guess,” Terrence mumbled
...
“So where did you go? I took the train to
London
...
Had loads of fun
...
“Went down to Cork with my mum
...
Saw a
flute concert
...
Fortunately, Terrence was seated halfway from the front, turned
around toward James
...
Terrence started to turn back toward the front of the room
...
“Cool!”
Terrence turned back
...
”
Zane stood up, giving James the all-clear signal
...
“Oh
...
“Anyway
...
”
Zane and James took their planned seats in the front row
...
James scanned the front of the room, pleased to see that nothing seemed
disturbed
...

“Where is it?”
“It’s in that little corner by the chalkboard
...
I just hope old Stonewall doesn’t trip over it when he goes behind his desk
...
It was just a shallow alcove formed where the
closet next door butted into the room
...

“Sometimes, he doesn’t even go behind his desk all class,” James whispered
...


228

A few minutes later, Professor Jackson strode into the room, carrying his ever-present leather bag
...

“Greetings, class,” Jackson said briskly
...
One can only
hope you haven’t forgotten everything we worked so hard to instill in your heads prior to the break
...
Please hand your essays to the left and then to the front
...
Walker, I will collect them from
you once you have them all
...
Both James and Zane had their wands slipped up their sleeves
...
Thankfully, Jackson seemed a
bit preoccupied
...
Until then, let us take a sneak peek, as it were, into
your cumulative understanding of the subject
...
Hollis, please favor us with a short definition of Hechtor’s
Law of Displaced Inertia, if you please
...

James barely heard him
...
James
thought he could probably kick it if he wished to
...
It had been ridiculously foolhardy to think they could pull
such a caper under the prow-nose of Professor Jackson
...
He felt vaguely sick
with anxiety
...

“Unnecessarily verbose, Mr
...
Miss Morganstern, can you elaborate a
bit regarding the transference of inertia between objects of different densities?”
“Well, different densities respond to inertia differently, based on the proximity of their atoms,” Petra
answered
...
A ball of, say, marshmallow will merely
explode
...
“Is there a technomancic workaround for this? Anyone? Miss Goyle?”
Philia Goyle lowered her hand
...
This has the added benefit that low-density projectiles will travel
much farther and faster on a given factor of inertia than a higher-density projectile, such as Miss
Morganstern’s lead ball
...
“A feather shot out
of a cannon still won’t hurt
...
Jackson was just beginning his second circuit of the room
...


229

“Excuse be,” he said in a strangely gurgly voice
...
“I’b sorry
...
” Ralph’s nose was, indeed, bubbling blood at an alarming
rate
...
There was a chorus of oohs and
ahhs from the class, some amused and some disgusted
...
As soon as he heard Ralph and saw that Jackson was turned away, heading up
the right side of the classroom, he whipped his wand from his sleeve
...
The Invisibility Cloak
became visible the moment it whipped up, floating off the fake briefcase in the corner
...
Behind them, they heard Jackson speaking to Ralph
...
”
“I’b sorry,” Ralph stammered
...
I have to get to the hodpital wing, I thingk
...
The case was
much heavier than anything James had levitated before, and he wasn’t very good at it under the best of
circumstances
...
He moved it as close to the real case as
possible, knocking the real case aside and partially under the desk
...

Behind him, the students were laughing and making disgusted noises
...
“Just stand still
and move your finger
...
“I thingk I’b a hemophebian!” he yelled
...

“You’re not a hemophiliac,” Jackson growled
...
It was imperative that he
move it into the corner and hide it under the Invisibility Cloak Zane was still levitating
...
James concentrated mightily
...
James grimaced, lowering his wand, and both the
case and the desk clunked to the floor
...
Zane was looking at James, wild-eyed
...
Desperately, Zane made to lower the Invisibility Cloak onto the real
case where it was, wedged under the desk
...
Nothing was going as planned
...
James couldn’t resist glancing around
...
Jackson was half squatted in front of him, one hand on Ralph’s arm, trying to pull Ralph’s
finger away from his nose, the other holding the hickory wand at the ready
...


230

“Drat it, boy, you’re making a mess
...

James tried to free the real briefcase by working it back and forth with his wand
...
The case finally came free just as James heard Jackson say “Artemisae
...
“There, yes, that’s much better
...
The scene was over
...
The Invisibility Cloak
popped loose from the coat-hook and dropped to the floor in a heap, which promptly vanished
...
He sensed the class turning back toward the front of the room
...
“You’re an awful sight
...
” Under his breath, he added, “Nosebleed Nougat…”
Desperately, James stashed his wand back up his sleeve
...
He grasped the real briefcase between his ankles,
then yanked it back beneath his own desk
...
Jackson stopped next to Zane and the room became very quiet
...
He had the strongest sensation that the professor was looking down at
him
...
Jackson was indeed looking down the length of his nose, his gaze
moving thoughtfully between Zane and James
...
Finally, after what felt like an
eternity, Jackson continued to the front of the room
...
It
astounds someone even as cynical as myself
...
James refused to meet Jackson’s eyes
...
There was no way to collect either the real briefcase or the Invisibility Cloak
while Jackson was still there
...
Everything rested, of course, on the effectiveness of Zane’s Visum-ineptio charm
...
To his eye, it
looked completely fake, its leather a different color and its brass plate reading ‘HIRAM & BLATTWOTT’S
LEATHERS, DIAGON ALLEY, LONDON’, instead of ‘T
...
Jackson’
...
But if the charm worked, there was still the slightest chance they could pull it off
...
James jumped up, herding Zane ahead of him
...
The class pressed toward the door, and James and Zane, having been seated in the front row,
were stuck at the rear of the small throng
...
Finally, the wall of shoulders and
backpacks broke apart and James and Zane tumbled into the hallway
...

“We’ll come back later,” James said, struggling to keep his voice low and calm
...
He was packing up the essays when we left
...
Potter?” a voice said imperiously from behind them
...
Walker?”
The two boys stopped in their tracks
...
Professor Jackson was leaning out of
the door of the Technomancy classroom
...

Would you care to come collect it?”
Neither answered
...
Jackson disappeared into the
classroom again and was waiting behind the front desk when they got there
...
“Just right here, in front of the desk, if you
please
...
When James and Zane
got to the front of the desk, Jackson spoke again, this time in a low, cold voice
...
” James
raised his eyebrows in surprise and Jackson nodded at him
...
Stories of horrible dormant beasts, or doomsday weapons, or keys to alternate
dimensions, each more terrible and mind-boggling than the last
...
He lowered his voice further and spoke very clearly, “That which I keep hidden in my attaché is
far, far worse than even your fevered imaginings can contrive
...
I am not making idle
threats
...
Am I making
myself perfectly clear?”
James and Zane nodded, speechless
...
“Fifty points from Gryffindor and fifty points from Ravenclaw
...

Therefore, let me finish by saying, my young friends, that even if you do not so much as look at my attaché
ever again, I can still choose to make your lives extremely… interesting
...
Now,”
he stood back, lowering his eyes, “take this pathetic little ruse and be gone
...
The fake bag
remained sitting in front of him
...
The brass plate that read ‘HIRAM & BLATTWOTT’S LEATHERS, DIAGON ALLEY,
LONDON’ glinted dully as Jackson moved around the desk
...


232

“Well?” Jackson demanded, raising his voice
...
He and James
turned and fled
...
They stood in the middle of an empty hall and looked
at the bag Jackson had insisted they take
...
It was the professor’s own black
leather briefcase
...
H
...
James began to grasp that somehow,
amazingly, they had succeeded
...

“It was the Visum-ineptio charm,” Zane breathed, glancing up at James
...
Jackson knew
we were up to something, but he didn’t expect that!”
James was completely bewildered
...
Jackson assumed we were trying to swap the cases, but that we hadn’t
gotten around to it yet
...
The Visumineptio charm on the fake briefcase worked on both briefcases, letting him see what he expected to see
...
“The Fool-the-Eye Charm extended to the real briefcase, making
it look like the fake one, since that’s what Jackson expected! That’s brilliant!” James clapped Zane on the
shoulder
...
He grinned
...
You really think he needed to eat two of those Nosebleed Nougats?”
“You’re the one that said we needed a diversion
...

Five minutes later, the three boys clambered up to the Gryffindor common room, rushing to hide
Jackson’s briefcase before their next class
...

“Just learned this new spell from Gennifer,” he explained
...
”
“Wait,” James stopped Zane before he could cast the spell
...
Well, I don’t know, to tell you the truth
...
I wouldn’t think
it’d work against the owner of the trunk, though
...
Spells are smart that way, aren’t they?”

233

“Here,” Ralph said, crossing the room
...
“Try it
on the window latch
...
It’s dead cold out there
...
“Colloportus
...

“Well, it works, all right,” Ralph observed
...
”
Zane, wand still raised, said, “Alohomora
...
Zane
pocketed his wand
...
It’s your window, isn’t it?”
James used the same spell on the window lock
...

“See?” Zane grinned
...
I bet old Stonewall could tell us how that works, but I’m not
going to be asking him any more questions, I’ll tell you that
...

On the way back down to their classrooms, Ralph asked, “Won’t somebody else notice that Jackson’s
carrying a different briefcase? What if one of the other teachers asks him about it?”
“Not going to happen, Ralphinator,” Zane said confidently
...
As long as they expect to see his case in his hand, the Visumineptio charm will make sure that is what they see
...
”
Ralph still seemed worried
...
“We just have to hope it lasts long enough,” James
said
...
Revelation of the Robe
That evening after dinner, the three boys ran up to the Gryffindor sleeping quarters again, pausing
only when James noticed the staring woman in the background of a painting of some maidens milking a pair
of ridiculously plump cows
...
After half a minute, Zane and Ralph got impatient and each grabbed one of
James’ elbows, dragging him away
...
He set it on the edge of his bed and the three of them stared at it
...

James nodded
...

What if I was wrong and the thing in there is just some of Jackson’s laundry? I can’t help thinking that he’s
the sort that’d carry around a totally meaningless briefcase just to get people talking about it
...
He was right mad
...
“What if we can’t even open it?”
“Can’t be that much of a lock if it popped open that day in D
...
D
...

Ralph stood back, giving James room
...
Try and open it
...
He’d expected it not to work and was prepared to try
the assortment of Opening and Unlocking Spells the three had collected
...
So easily, in fact, that James was momentarily sure it had clicked open a split
second before he’d actually touched it
...

“Well?” Ralph whispered
...
The mouth of it had come open slightly
...
“It’s too dark
...
It’s yours
more than either of ours
...
He could see the folds of
black cloth
...
James thought it smelled like the inside of a
jack-o’-lantern a week after Halloween
...

Zane’s voice was low and slightly hoarse
...
”
“Don’t,” Ralph warned, but James had already reached into the case
...
The
cloth unfolded smoothly, spotlessly black and clean
...
Ralph backed further
away as James let the robe pool on the floor at his feet
...
It was a large hood, with golden braids at the throat
...
“That’s it, no doubt
...
“Stick it back in the case, James
...
You can
feel the magic of it, can’t you? I bet Jackson put some kind of Shield Charm or something on the case to
contain it
...
Go on, put it away
...
”
“Hold on,” James said vaguely
...
It was powerful, but curious
...
What had at first smelled faintly rotten now smelled merely earthy, like fallen leaves and wet moss, wild,
even exciting
...
It was as if he could
feel, in the deepest pit of his being, the very air in the room, filling the space like water, streaming through
cracks in the frame of the window, cold, like ice-blue vapor
...
It was alive, swirling over the conical roof,
channeling into missing shingles and exposed rafters
...
James knew he was
tapping into that power somehow, as if it was embedded in the very fabric of the relic robe
...
Now James felt the creatures of the deepening evening: the pattering heartbeats of mice in
the attics, the blood-purple world of the bats in the forest, the dreaming haze of a hibernating bear, even the
dormant life of the trees and grass, their roots like hands clutched in the earth, clinging to life in the dead of
winter
...
He raised the hood,
turning himself into it
...
They were fading, as if down a long,
sleepy tunnel
...

He was walking
...

He breathed in, filling his lungs, and his chest expanded like a barrel
...
Tall, with muscled arms
that felt like coiled pythons and legs as thick and sturdy as tree trunks
...
He felt it through the soles of his feet when he walked
...
But there was less of it than there should be
...
It was being tamed, losing its feral wildness and strength
...
He was still unmatched, but there were blind spots in his communion with the earth, and those blind
spots were growing, shutting him off bit by bit, reducing him
...
It
angered him
...
His magical brothers and sisters were no help
...
That which made him so powerful, his connection to the earth, was also becoming his
only weakness
...
As he passed, the trees spoke to him, but even the woodsy voices of
the naiads and the dryads was dimming
...

Ahead of him, revealed only in the moonlight, a clearing opened, surrounding a stony depression in
the earth
...
The glittering night sky poured
into the bowl-shaped clearing, painting everything bone white
...
There was no place for him in this world anymore
...
But he
would return when things were different, when circumstances had changed, when the world was again ripe for
his power
...
Then would be a time of reckoning
...
It might even be
eternity
...
He could stay in this time no longer
...
Someone else was there, in the clearing with
him: someone he hated, but whom he needed
...

“Instruct those that follow
...
I will await
...
I
have chosen you to safeguard this mission, Austramaddux, for as my last apprentice, your soul is in my hand
...
Vow to me your oath
...
“It is my will and my honor, Master
...
He was gone
...
His staff balanced for a
moment, then fell forward and was caught in an eerily white hand, the hand of Austramaddux, before it could

237

hit the rocky ground
...
The darkness compressed to a dwindling point
...

James forced his eyes open and gasped
...
Hands grasped him, yanking the hood back and pulling the robe off his shoulders
...
Zane and Ralph caught him awkwardly and heaved him
onto his bed
...

“You tell us!” Ralph said, his voice high and frightened
...
“You put this crazy thing on and then
pop! Off you went
...
”
“I blacked out?” James asked, recovering enough to get his elbows beneath him
...
You up and disappeared
...
”
“It’s true,” Zane nodded, seeing James stunned expression
...
Then he showed up,” Zane indicated the corner behind James’ bed with a worried nod
...
The ghost looked down at him, then
smiled and shrugged
...

Zane went on, “He just appeared through the wall, as if he had come looking for you
...
”
Ralph spoke up
...

Next thing we know, you’re back, just where’d you been, looking white as a statue
...
“What did you do?”
Cedric opened his mouth to speak, tentatively and carefully
...
James couldn’t tell if he was hearing it with his ears or his mind
...
I was sent
...

“What was it?” James asked
...

A Threshold Marker
...
It opens a dimensional gateway, designed to communicate
a message or a secret over great time or distance
...
It almost swallowed you up
...
He had felt it
...

He swallowed past a hard lump in his throat and asked, “How did I get back?”

238

I found you, Cedric said simply
...

You were there, but you were far-off
...
I chased you and returned with you
...
“Thanks for bringing me back
...
I owed your father that
...

“Hey,” James said suddenly, brightening
...
I feel… different
...
More… here, somehow
...
“This is the ghost you told us about, isn’t it? The one that
chased the intruder off the grounds a few months ago?”
“Oh, yeah,” James said
...
Cedric, these are my friends
...
For what seemed like a long time, I felt like I was in a sort of dream
...
I never got hungry, or thirsty, or cold, or needed to rest
...
Everything was dark and silent, and there didn’t seem to be any days or seasons
...
Then things began to happen
...
James, who was closest, could
feel a distinct chill emanating from Cedric’s form
...

For periods of time, I started to feel more aware
...
I couldn’t hear them
...
Each night, I’d feel myself awaken
...
I searched out a clock, the one just outside the Great Hall,
and watched the time go by
...

Then, one morning, just as I was thinning, losing touch, I saw him
...
“The intruder?”
Cedric nodded
...
I scared him away
...

“But he came back,” James said
...


239

He came back, yes
...
I started to watch for him in the mornings
...
I was stronger then, but I decided someone else needed to
know he was inside the castle
...
You had seen me, and I knew who you were
...

“That was the night you broke the stained-glass window,” Zane said, smiling
...
Nice
...
He didn’t know
...
“How are you making us see you? Isn’t this
your weakest time?”
Cedric seemed to think about it
...
I’m still just a ghost, but I seem to be becoming,
sort of, more of a ghost
...
And there is less and less of that strange nothing time
...

“But why?” James couldn’t help asking
...
He shook his head slightly
...
I had so much to live for
...
I just… wasn’t done
...
“So where did you go
when you popped off, James?” he said, heaving himself onto the end of the bed
...
He described the initial
feeling of holding the cloak, how it seemed to allow him to sense the air and the wind, then even the animals
and the trees
...
He shuddered, remembering the anger and bitterness, and the voice of the servant, Austramaddux,
who vowed his oath to serve until the time of reckoning was come
...

Zane listened with intense interest
...

“What?” James asked
...
Don’t you see? Professor Jackson himself talked about it on our first
day of class!” He was getting excited
...

Ralph shook his head
...
I don’t have Technomancy this year
...
“He Disapparated!”
James was puzzled
...
Any wizard can Apparate
...
If a
wizard Disapparates without determining his new center-point, he never Reapparates at all, right? He just
stays stuck in nothingness forever!”
“Well, sure,” James agreed, remembering the lecture, but failing to see the point
...
“Merlin didn’t Disapparate to a place,” he said
meaningfully
...
Zane went on
...
Then when the
time came, the relics were supposed to be gathered again at the Hall of Elder’s Crossing
...
What you described at the very end, James, was
Merlin Disapparating into oblivion,” Zane paused, thinking hard
...
To him,
no time has passed at all!”
Ralph looked at the trunk at the end of James’ bed
...
“They could
actually do it
...
”
“Not anymore,” James said, smiling mirthlessly
...
Without all the relics, the
circumstances won’t be right
...
”
As soon as James had heard Zane explain it, it made perfect sense, especially in the context of the
Threshold Marker vision
...

From the briefcase Ralph had discovered in just the nick of time to Zane’s remarkably effective Visum-ineptio
charm, James had the strongest sense that he, Zane, and Ralph were being guided in their goal of thwarting
the Merlin plot
...
“You said you were sent to help me
...
He smiled at James and said, Someone I’m not
supposed to mention, although I think you can probably guess
...

Snape, thought James
...
But how had he known? James thought about that for a long time after Zane

241

and Ralph had headed back to their own rooms, long after the rest of the Gryffindors had climbed the stairs
and plopped into their beds
...


For the next several days, the three boys went about their normal school activities in a sort of
triumphant fog
...
Considering the effectiveness of the Visum-ineptio charm on the fake case, they had no
serious concerns that anyone would even be looking for the real briefcase
...
Further, no one else spared it a second glance, even though
Jackson had been seen carrying the black case with his name plate on the side for months
...

“There’re really only two questions, now,” Zane said, leaning over the table upon which they were
ostensibly doing their homework
...
“I’ve been thinking about that last one
...
The robe was under the guard of Professor Jackson
...
My guess is it’s somebody else here on the grounds, an inside person
...
”
“But who?” Ralph asked
...
It was just gone
...
How do you hide a six-foot magical lightning rod like that?”
James shook his head
...
Still, it’s up to you to keep a look out, Ralph
...
”
Ralph slumped
...
“So what about question one?” he said
without looking up
...
James said, “No clue, again
...
”
“As if the first two weren’t tricky enough,” Ralph muttered
...
“What’s the third
question?”
“Why haven’t they done it yet?” James whispered
...
Zane flipped his
doodle over, revealing a drabble of scribbled notes and diagrams from Arithmancy class
...
”
Ralph dropped his quill on the table and leaned back, stretching
...
What’s she like?”
“Like a gypsy mummy with a pulse,” Zane replied
...
Works a lot better, since they sort of cancel each other out, anyway
...
” James, who knew Sybil Trelawney as a distant family friend, grinned at Zane’s
affectionate impression of her
...
”
“Oh, yeah,” James remembered
...
Petra and Ted told me about that
...
Seems like the voodoo queen’s really into that kind of stuff
...
With her, it’s all math and calculations
...
Pure busywork if
you ask me
...
”
“She’s kooky in general, if you ask me,” Ralph stated
...
“I’ve seen her looking at me
sometimes
...
“She’s blind, if you remember
...
”

243

“I know,” James said, undeterred
...
I think she has ways of
seeing that don’t have anything to do with her eyes
...
“This is freaky enough already
...
If she did, she’d act on it, right? So forget about her
...
Hagrid was rebuilding the wagon Prechka had accidentally destroyed and was glad of the break
...

“Oh, it’s all ups and downs for them,” Hagrid said, as if the tumults of giant courtship were a quaint
mystery
...
Lovers’ spat over an elk carcass
...
”
Ralph took a break from blowing steam off his tea
...
“It’s a tricky concept
...
Comes to the same thing when yeh’re twenty feet tall, I s’pose
...
”
James asked, “Is she still living up in the foothills, Hagrid?”
“Sure she is,” Hagrid said, a little reproachfully
...
And Grawp,
why, he bides his time in his hovel most days
...
These
things take time
...
”
Ralph coughed a little on his tea
...
“You’ve been around Hogwarts for a long time
...
“Well, sure
...
Except
maybe Argus Filch
...
”
James knew he had to be very careful
...
Tell me, Hagrid, if somebody
had something really magical they wanted to hide in the castle somewhere…”
Hagrid stopped petting Trife
...
“And what
would a first-year pup like yerself be needin’ to hide, might I ask?”
“Oh, not me, Hagrid,” James said quickly
...
I’m just curious
...
“I see
...
James looked out the window, avoiding Hagrid’s
suddenly penetrating gaze
...
I was just wondering…”
“Ah,” Hagrid said, smiling slightly and nodding
...
Hagrid used to let slip some details that
maybe he was supposed to keep secret
...
I can be a bit thick sometimes, forgettin’ what I should
and shouldn’t be saying
...
“James, m’boy, I’m a good
bit older than I was then
...
Besides, yer dad clued
me in that you might be getting up to dickens and asked me to keep an eye out for yeh
...
”
“What?” James blurted, turning so quickly he almost knocked over his tea
...
“Oh
...
I don’t s’pose I was meant to tell you
that
...
“Ah, well, he didn’t actually tell me not to
mention it
...
Talked
to him about it last week right in me own fire, here
...
He forgot to test it when he was here
...
Sulkily, he told Hagrid that he hadn’t tried it yet
...
“Just ‘cause yer dad knows yeh nicked it, doesn’t
mean he’s happy about it
...
If
yeh’re lucky, she won’t, neither, although I can’t imagine yer dad keepin’ that kind of secret from her fer long
...
Trust me,
James
...
”
On the way back to the castle, bundled against the windy cold, Ralph asked James, “What’s he mean
about getting the map to work? What’s it do?”
James explained the Marauder’s Map to Ralph, feeling vaguely worried and annoyed that his dad
already knew about his taking it and the Invisibility Cloak
...

Ralph was interested in the map
...
Dad told me a long time ago, but I can’t remember it off the top
of my head
...
Right now, I don’t want to think about it
...
They entered the castle through the main portico and parted
at the stairs leading to the cellars and the Slytherin quarters
...
The wintry night was cloudy and
starless
...
James shivered, partly at
the cold and partly at a sense of icy dread that seemed to be seeping into the corridor, filling it like a heavy fog
from the floor up
...
It
wasn’t particularly late, and yet the air had a sense of chilly stillness that felt like the dead of morning or the
air of a sealed crypt
...

Surely he should have come to the intersection with the statue of the one-eyed witch by now, where he’d turn
left into the reception hall, leading to the staircases
...

The hall looked the same, and yet wrong somehow
...
The shadows of it seemed to be in
the wrong places, teasing his eye somehow
...
The
light hung empty, ghostly, bleeding its color from flickering yellow to shimmery silver, fading even as he
watched
...
He spun back to the front, meaning to run,
but his feet failed him when he saw what was ahead
...
The ribs of the vaulted ceilings had turned to limbs and vines, with nothing beyond but
the vast face of the night sky
...
And then, even as James watched, the illusion of the school corridor evaporated completely, leaving
only forest
...
James recognized where he was, even though the last time he’d been here, the leaves had
still been on the trees and the crickets had been singing their chorus
...
The trees groaned, rubbing their bare branches together in the wind, and
the sound was like low voices moaning in sleep, wrapped in fever dreams
...
A
great, dark mass rose beyond, blotting out the view
...
The island of the Grotto Keep revealed itself
in the moonglow, and James’ breath caught in his chest
...
The impression of a secret
fortress was stronger than ever
...
The dragon’s maw of the bridge lay before him,
and James forced himself to stop there, without setting a foot onto it
...
In the silvery moonlight, the gates at the other end of the
bridge were quite visible, as well as the words of the poem
...
The gates suddenly shuddered and flung open, revealing blackness like a throat
...


246

“Keeper of the relic,” said the voice
...
”
As James stood and watched, looking across the bridge into the darkness of the open doorway, a light
formed there
...
It was, James recognized, the gently glowing
shape of a dryad, a woman of the wood, a tree sprite
...

That one had glowed with a green light
...
She pulsed slightly
...
A quiet, almost loving smile was on her lips and her huge, liquid
eyes twinkled gently
...
“You need not guard the relic
...
Bring it to us
...
Ours is the task, granted from the beginning
...
Bring us the
relic
...
The
dragon’s maw hadn’t closed on him
...
The junction of the fallen trees which formed the jaw creaked slightly
...
Her arms were unnaturally long, almost as if they stretched out to him over
the bridge
...
They were long and surprisingly ragged
...
The dryad’s eyes changed
...

“Bring us the relic,” she said once more, and her voice changed as well
...
“It isn’t yours
...
Bring it to us before it unmakes you
...
Bring it to us before it decides to
use someone else
...
”
Her long arms reached across the bridge and James felt sure he could touch them if he reached out
...
He turned, pinwheeling his arms for a
handhold, and fell against something broad and hard
...
It was the stone of a wall
...
James glanced
around
...
Perhaps he
never had
...
There was the intersection with the statue of the one-eyed witch
...
He could still feel the chill of the night wind in the folds of his cloak
...
He shivered, then gathered himself and ran the
rest of the way to the stairs, where he took two at a time climbing to the common room
...
He
just wasn’t sure it was the right something
...
After his experience with touching the robe, James had no plans to take the robe out of the
trunk again until he handed it over to his dad and the Auror Department when the time was right
...
Soon
...
Confident of this, James reached the Gryffindor common room and prepared for
bed
...


The following Friday, in Herbology class, James was amused to see that Neville Longbottom had
moved Ralph’s transfigured peach tree out of the Transfiguration classroom, where it had become rather
cumbersome, and into one of the greenhouses
...
” Neville confirmed to James after class
...
I bet Ralph was more surprised than anybody
...
Some of the other Slytherins think he’s got some powerful old magical family in his
bloodline
...
”
“That’s the sort of thing they’d think,” Neville said with unusual candor
...
Some prejudices never change, though
...
He knew Neville was right, but he
couldn’t help thinking about the look on Ralph’s face the day he’d transfigured the banana
...

The next day, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was slated in a match against the Slytherins
...
Ralph, for purposes of maintaining his few
Slytherin friends, sat in the green-decked grandstand across the pitch
...
Ralph waved back, but carefully, being sure not to be seen by his older housemates
...
James
watched Justin Kennely shake Tabitha Corsica’s hand perfunctorily
...
Then both
turned and walked in opposite directions back to their holding pens beneath the stands, leaving Ridcully
alone with the Quidditch trunk
...
“This should be an excellent match,” he observed, taking in the highspirited crowd
...
“Back in my mum’s day, everybody hated Slytherin because they were dirty players
...
”
“A what?” Zane interjected
...
Basically turns the whole broom
into a magic wand
...
Really crooked old bugger, he was
...
Damien, seated in the broadcast booth with his wand to his throat, announced the team, his
voice echoing in the crisp January air
...
”
Sure enough, there was scattered applause throughout the rest of the grandstands
...
James shrugged
...
But
they still field unusually strong teams
...
”
“I’ll say,” Zane agreed
...
Ridcully barely called a single foul on ‘em
...
They’re either the luckiest bunch of skunks ever to mount brooms or they’ve made a deal with
the devil himself
...

Across the pitch, Horace Slughorn, red-cheeked and bundled in a fur-collared coat and matching hat,
waved a small Slytherin flag on a stick and yelled encouragements to his House team
...
James knew that Ralph wasn’t much of a Quidditch fan, despite the almost
studious attention he paid to the matches, and James guessed that it was because Ralph couldn’t really choose
a team to be loyal to
...


249

The Gryffindor team took to the pitch next, streaming from the holding pen beneath their
grandstand, and the spectators around James erupted, leaping to their feet as one
...
He stomped his feet and
yelled himself hoarse as the team circled the pitch, waving and grinning
...
After instructing the teams to play a clean match and assuring
everyone was in position, Ridcully released the Bludgers and Snitch and tossed the Quaffle into the air
...
Noah and Tom
Squallus, the two Seekers, streaked off after the Snitch, which darted around the Ravenclaw banners and
vanished
...
Gryffindor fought a
textbook match, based entirely on carefully practiced drills
...
The Slytherins, on the other hand, seemed to
have a graceful, almost eerie playing style that moved them over the pitch like a school of fish
...
Once, while in possession, Tabitha ducked under a Bludger and simultaneously tossed the Quaffle
over her shoulder
...
The teammate underhanded the Quaffle through the center
goal before the Gryffindor Keeper even realized Tabitha didn’t have it anymore
...
Justin Kennely looked as if he wanted to jump up and down on his broom in
frustration
...

“It’s all about the Seekers in a match like this,” Sabrina yelled exuberantly, not taking her eyes from
the players
...
Noah should be able to
nail him to the wall with his own broom
...
Across the pitch, Tom Squallus was bent over his broom, baring his teeth into the cold wind and
rushing to cut Noah off
...
Despite his speed, James was confident there was no way Squallus would beat Noah to the prize
...
Those in the front rows ducked, then leapt to their feet cheering as Noah banked hard, barely missing
the grandstand and lunging forward on his broom, arm outstretched
...
Then, in a flurry of cloaks and brooms, something changed
...
A cloud of Slytherins, led by
Tabitha Corsica, had swept in front of him from all directions, stitching a virtual wall in midair
...
He tumbled sideways, grabbing on with
one hand and swinging beneath it
...


250

Tabitha Corsica shot through the wall of Slytherins, which opened for her like an iris
...
It
dipped upwards and Tabitha followed almost instantaneously, bent low over her broom
...
He saw her, banked hard, and
swooped past her
...
The Slytherin grandstands cheered uproariously
...

Noah swung himself from beneath his broom, hooking one foot over it
...
James understood the nature of what
they were saying even if he couldn’t hear the words through the cheers and boos
...
On the grass of the pitch, Petra
Morganstern, who played Chaser, had cornered Cabe Ridcully and was animatedly pointing at Tabitha
Corsica, who was still on her broom, being congratulated by her teammates alongside Tom Squallus
...
There didn’t seem to be any
recourse for the Gryffindors, since they couldn’t prove that anything illegal had actually occurred
...

Sabrina shook her head
...
Did you see what I saw? Corsica blocked the
Snitch! She never touched it, but she flew right next to it, marking it until Squallus could get his broom in
gear
...

“No point making rules against things that are impossible,” Damien said crossly
...
She wasn’t even watching the Snitch
...
”
Ralph was trotting across the pitch when James and Zane tromped down the last few steps
...

“Did you see that?” Ralph asked, struggling to catch his breath
...

“We saw something,” James said, “although I’m not sure I believe my eyes
...
“The Gryffindors think your buddies cheated somehow
...
Now it looks like Ravenclaw will be playing Slytherin for the tournament
...
”
“Will you two forget about the bloody Quidditch tournament for a minute?” Ralph said, turning to
face the two of them at the base of the grandstands
...
”
“All right, then spill it, Ralph,” James said, trying not to be annoyed
...
“You told me I was your man on the inside, didn’t you? So I’ve been
watching closely, looking for hints and clues about who might be involved with the whole Merlin plot, right?”
“And you think now is the time to discuss this?” Zane asked, raising his eyebrows
...
“What’d you see, Ralph? Something going on back at
Slytherin Central?”
“No!” Ralph said impatiently
...
Right here, just a few
minutes ago! Remember what we’re supposed to be looking for?”
“Yeah,” Zane said, becoming interested, “the Merlin staff
...
There was a cheer nearby
...
Tabitha walked at the head of the group, her
broom held triumphantly over her shoulder
...
“Origins unknown
...
“Tabitha said her broom was a
custom design, crafted by some Muggle artist or something! She registered it as a Muggle artifact, since it
wasn’t a standard model!”
“And there’s no question that there’s something pretty unusually magical about it,” Ralph added
...

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Zane asked incredulously
...
“Makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s the perfect hiding place! That’s why I
came running over here right after the match
...
”
Zane whistled in awe
...
The wintry
sunlight glinted off the bristly tail of the broom
...
And now they knew for sure who was the third co-conspirator in the Merlin plot, the
Slytherin who went by the profile name of Austramaddux
...

“So,” he said as the three of them began to follow the Slytherins at a careful distance, wending their
way back to the castle, “how are we going to get the Merlin staff away from Tabitha Corsica?”

252

14
...
He leaned over the table, reaching for a plate of sausages
...
Boys aren’t even allowed in the girls’ dorms
...
They can’t do anything without all the relics
...
“Even on its own, it’s got to be
one of the most powerful magical objects in the world
...
And it wasn’t just her shadowing the Snitch without even looking
...
They knew just where to be at all the right moments
...
So far, she’s only using the staff to win Quidditch matches, but do you
really want something like that in the hands of someone like her and the Progressive Element?”

253

Ralph looked dour
...
“I don’t know…,” he
said
...

Zane glanced up
...
I mean, first there was Ralph’s buddy’s rockhound bag that showed up at just the right time
...
Even before that, look at all the coincidences that led to you discovering the
hiding place of the Merlin throne, from catching a glimpse of the voodoo queen on the lake that night to
finding that Daily Prophet article about the break-in at the Ministry
...
I hate to say it, but it can’t be much of a dark conspiracy if a trio of
first-year shlubs like us have worked it all out
...
“All right, yeah, so we’ve gotten lucky here and there
...
And besides, it all fits, doesn’t it? Just because the people behind the Merlin plot
have been too arrogant to think anybody could catch them, doesn’t mean the plot isn’t for real
...
His eyes were wild for a second, and then
he calmed himself
...
He described the way the
halls of Hogwarts had transformed into forest around him, his strange journey to the island of the Grotto
Keep, and the mysterious ghostly figure that had instructed him to bring her the relic robe
...

When James finished, Zane asked, “You think it really was a dryad?”
James shrugged
...
It sure looked a lot like the one we saw in the forest, but different,
too
...
I could feel it in my head
...
“It sure sounds like one
...
I was in the corridor heading to the common room
...
”
“I’m just saying,” Zane said blandly, lowering his eyes
...
“You think that whole Merlin thing was a dream, too? When I
disappeared from the room right in front of the both of you, and Cedric Diggory’s ghost had to bring me
back?”
“Of course not
...
Were you in the forest or were you in the
corridor? Which one was real? Were either of them real? I mean, you’ve been thinking about all of this an
awful lot
...
He spoke without raising his head
...
”
James and Zane both looked at Ralph
...

Ralph sighed
...
”
James’ eyes widened and his mouth dropped open
...
“I wasn’t with you two when you went out
in the forest and saw the island and met the dryad, remember? So last week, I was on my way through the
cellars to the Slytherin rooms and all of a sudden, the cellars just faded out and turned into a forest, same as
you described, James
...
I thought she was
a ghost or something
...
I’m not used to having weird,
magical, out-of-body experiences or anything
...
I was worried about my sanity, to tell the
truth
...
Frankly, I’m a little relieved that the
same thing happened to you, too
...

“But why you?” James asked
...
I do
...
“Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that Ralph’s a
Slytherin
...
Maybe whatever it was thinks Ralph is the
weakest link
...

Not that you would, Ralph,” Zane added, looking at Ralph
...
I’m never touching that thing,” Ralph concurred
...
“So why not you, then, Zane?”
Zane adopted a beatific expression, eyes raised to the ceiling, “Because I’m as pure as the wind-driven
snow
...
Too freaky for me by far
...
“Not with Zane’s
Locking Spell on it
...
”
“You could just drag the whole trunk out there, I suppose,” James replied
...
”
“Fortunately, there’s no will,” Ralph said gravely
...
“The dryad, or whatever it was, wouldn’t necessarily know
about the extra Locking Spell on the trunk, anyway
...
If it isn’t Jackson or any of his crew, then who?”
James said, “Remember what the green dryad told us? She said that the trees were waking, but that
many of them had… how did she put it?”
Zane nodded, remembering
...
Some of the trees are bad, in other words
...
You think yours
and Ralph’s blue dryad was one of the bad ones trying to sound nice?”
“Makes sense,” Ralph said
...
That’s what scared
me
...
” He shuddered
...
“The tree spirits
are involved
...
For all we know, everything in the magical world might be
taking a side
...
In the wrong
hands, who knows what kind of damage they could do? That’s why we have to get the staff away from
Tabitha
...
“It’s his job to deal
with this kind of stuff, isn’t it?”
“Because they have rules they have to follow,” James replied wearily
...
They wouldn’t just go nick Tabitha’s broom because we said it was the
Merlin staff, even if we did turn over the robe
...
It could go on for days
...
Jackson and Delacroix might sniff trouble and escape, too
...
It wouldn’t
work without the robe, of course, but then the throne and the staff would be lost, hidden and in the control
of dark wizards
...
“All right, all right
...
So we’ll try to capture the Merlin staff from
Corsica
...
They clean up the mess
and we can be the heroes
...
OK?”
Zane nodded
...
Get the broom and we’re done
...
“So we need a plan
...
“If we got lucky with Jackson’s briefcase, then we’ll need an act
of God to pull this one off
...
They’re the most suspicious lot I’ve ever met
...
“But there’s one thing we’re forgetting,
and it may even be more important than capturing the Merlin staff
...

“Keeping the relic we’ve got,” Zane answered simply, meeting James’ eyes
...
I don’t know what kind of magic that
was, but you both seem pretty convinced that it transported you to the island straight out of Hogwarts halls,
right?”
James and Ralph exchanged looks and then nodded at Zane
...
That’s some powerful mojo
...
“I hadn’t even thought of that
...

“You two better hope so,” Zane said, looking back and forth between them
...
The next time, it won’t be so polite
...

“What?” Ralph asked, seeing James’ face change
...
“That’s what Professor Franklyn called
Delacroix’s power to project a wraith of herself
...
I looked it up
...

Somehow she used it to bring the Merlin throne here and hide it on the island without being detected
...
“OK
...
What if that’s what it really was? Maybe we were forced to have a Remote PhysioApparition! Only a wraith of ourselves went out to the grotto, but our bodies stayed in the corridors, just sort
of… frozen
...
Zane looked thoughtful
...
Both of you
said it happened when you were alone in the corridors
...
”
“But that’s Delacroix’s specialty,” Ralph said, shuddering
...
She’s slippery as an eel
...
Maybe she wants all the glory for herself
...
“We can’t let you two be alone
...
That’s why they waited until you two
were alone for a few minutes
...
”
Ralph was as white as a statue
...
”
“Well, yeah,” Zane agreed
...
But we can’t do anything in that case, so
let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that
...

“Come on,” James said, getting up from the breakfast table
...
It’s time we got out of here before somebody notices we’re planning something
...

The next week was frustratingly busy
...
This led to James spending an inordinate amount of time in the library,
researching the endless uses of spynuswort, an endeavor that was further complicated by the fact that every
part of the spynuswort plant, from the leaves to the stem to the root and even its seeds, was used in any
number of applications, from healing skin diseases to waxing broomsticks
...
Morgan, a first-year Hufflepuff, was also in Herbology and working on her spynuswort essay
...
“You know that, don’t
you?”
“Five?” James said weakly
...
“Professor Longbottom only assigned us to
write about spynuswort because it’s one of the three most useful plants in the magical world
...
”

258

James’ face heated
...
“I just forgot
...
James packed up a few
minutes later and moved to the Gryffindor common room, annoyed but simultaneously relieved
...
In fact, since he’d already written about twenty-three spynuswort uses, he probably stood
to get loads of extra credit
...

Twice, James saw Professor Delacroix in the corridors and had the haunting sensation that she was
watching him
...

James remembered the way Delacroix had maneuvered the tureen of gumbo with her ugly graperoot wand at
the Alma Aleron dinner, never spilling a drop
...
In fact, that could explain how she might have noticed that Jackson’s
briefcase was different
...
James decided
that he was simply being paranoid
...
Either way, they had to be on guard never to be alone, and in the end, the source of the
threat didn’t really matter anyway
...
He would’ve thought, in a school
the size of Hogwarts, it would’ve been quite rare, anyway
...
Arranging to never be alone even in these circumstances was an annoying chore, but Zane, to
James’ surprise, was consistently adamant about it
...
“It’s the Merlin conspirators’ carelessness that’s been working for us
...
”
One day, James introduced Ralph and Zane to the Protean Charm as a means of communicating if
ever an emergency chaperone was needed
...

“The Protean Charm means that if I squeeze my duck, both of yours will sound as well,” James
explained, giving his duck a tweak
...


259

“Excellent,” Zane said, giving his own duck a firm squeeze, resulting in a chorus of happy insults
...
“I hate this
...
”
“Hey, if you want to go getting zapped off to meet with some unhappy tree spirit again…,” Zane
said, shrugging
...
“I just hate it, is all
...
“So how will I know which one of you quacked for me?”
James produced a black marker and drew a small J on the bottom of his duck
...
Anything we do to a single duck will show up on all of them
...
”
“Very tight,” Zane said approvingly
...

“Eat doxie poo!” the ducks quacked gaily
...
“This’ll only work if we only use them
in an emergency
...

“Ask a Weasley,” James answered dismissively
...
Zane would sit on a chair in the
corner of the bathroom while James bathed, quizzing him on defensive spell pronunciations or
Transfiguration terminology and restrictions
...
Knowing this, James was able to hurry from
his Transfiguration class to the Charms classroom and then accompany Patonia and her friends to the
greenhouses, thus avoiding the solitary trek across the grounds
...
In this fashion, the weeks melted past
...
Still, neither James, Ralph, nor Zane had
come up with a plan to get Tabitha Corsica’s broomstick
...

“I’m not liking this,” Ralph said as he led the other two to the door of the Slytherin common room
...
”

260

“Don’t worry about it, Ralph,” Zane said, but his voice was less confident than usual
...
We can check it again, but according to it, most of your buddies are out watching
the Slytherins practice for the tournament
...
He studied it as he walked
...
”
“Are you sure you’re reading that thing right?” Ralph asked, plugging his ring into the eye socket of
the snake sculpture on the gigantic wooden door
...
”
“Well, it’s working, isn’t it?” James replied testily
...
He had remembered the phrase to get the map to open and display the grounds, but as his dad had
feared, the castle had changed rather a lot since the map had been created by Moony, Prongs, Padfoot, and
Wormtail
...
Prongs and Padfoot for assistance
...
The tiny
names that marked the locations of everyone on campus could still be seen moving here and there, but as they
entered one of the blank areas, their marker and name would flicker out
...
James could see the entire warren of Slytherin
rooms and halls on the Marauder’s Map
...
Ralph announced himself and explained who James and
Zane were, and that they were friends
...

The three boys couldn’t help skulking as they moved through the apparently deserted Slytherin
common room
...
The fire was a dull red glow in the gigantic fireplace, which was sculpted in
marble to resemble an open snake’s mouth
...

“So where do they keep their broomsticks, Ralph?”
Ralph shook his head
...
I just know there isn’t a common locker or
anything, like the Gryffindors or Ravenclaws
...

Everybody has a private closet with a special magical key
...
”

261

“We aren’t here to grab it now,” Zane answered, peering around the common room
...
”
Even in the middle of a spring day, the Slytherin rooms were a pall of shifting green dimness
...
“This hall goes back to the boys’ quarters,
right Ralph?”
“Yeah
...
”
Zane threaded through the furniture of the common room, aiming for the stairs
...
I’m on it
...
“It’ll be charmed, you know
...
You go up there, it’ll be sure to set off some sort of alarm
...
“Drat
...
”
“You say ‘potato’, I say ‘patata’…,” Zane muttered
...
“We’re supposed to
be looking for ways to get to Tabitha’s broom
...
”
“Believe it or not,” Zane said primly, “that’s what I was thinking of
...
Even if she doesn’t, you can bet she keeps it near enough to guard
...
“Not possible
...
He could’ve sent her up to check things out
...
”
As James finished speaking, a noise came from the stairway
...
There was a shuffling of small feet, and then a tiny house-elf came down balancing a basket
of rumpled clothing on its head
...

“Many pardons, masters,” the elf said, and James could tell by the timbre of its voice that it was a
female
...
” Her bulbous eyes flicked between the three of them
...
James realized she was probably used to being
completely ignored, if she was seen at all
...


262

The elf didn’t move
...
“Excuse
me, master?”
“Your name, Miss?” Zane replied
...
Er
...
I apologize, master
...
” The elf seemed to be nearly vibrating with nervousness
...
“You see, I’m a member of an organization
you may have heard of
...
James
remembered telling Zane and Ralph about Aunt Hermione’s equal rights for elves organization
...
Yeah, S
...
E
...
The Society for the Promotion of, uh, Elfish Welfare?”
“Yes, what he said,” Zane said, spinning back to Figgle, who flinched
...
P
...
W
...
We help those who elf themselves
...
Not a bit
...
”
“That’s exactly the point, my dear Figgle
...
P
...
W
...
In fact, as
an act of good faith, I’d like to help you now
...
“Oh, no, master
...

House-elves, especially those who worked amongst the Slytherins, were often mistreated and tricked by their
masters
...

Zane knelt down, bringing himself eye-level to the trembling house-elf on the second step of the
stairs
...
I promise
...
I’m a
Ravenclaw
...
Figgle collects the Ravenclaws’ wash on Tuesdays and Fridays
...
” The elf was babbling, but she seemed a bit calmer
...
Surely there is more to carry
...
Her tennis ball-sized eyes studied Zane, then, finally, she
nodded once, quickly
...
You’re a good elf,” Zane said soothingly
...
I’ll gather the rest for you
...


263

“Oh, no, master! Wait!” Figgle said, raising her hand
...
“Master will break the boundary
...
”
Figgle jumped lightly down the last two steps and turned toward the stairs
...
Something changed about the doorway
...
“Now master can go up
...
“Please, master mustn’t
touch anything but the basket
...
Please?” She seemed to
be pleading to get this over with and be gone as soon as possible
...
With only the slightest pause, he put his foot on the first step
...
“I’ll be right back, guys,” Zane said over his shoulder, then trotted up the steps
...
Figgle watched Zane tramp up the
stairs, then glanced worriedly back at James and Ralph
...
It was, James
thought, a rather ghastly smile
...
She weaved through the furniture, balancing
the huge basket easily, and then tipped it onto a large pile near the door
...
”
James nodded and opened the Marauder’s Map again
...
Dozens of names were
crammed together there, most in and around the grandstands, but a few swooped around the pitch
...
They were probably gathered on the ground nearby, talking strategy or something
...
There was Squallus, Norbert, Beetlebrick, and
a few others James didn’t know
...
The pile of laundry clumped into a large ball and a bed sheet cocooned around it,
the four corners tying at the top
...
The ball of laundry vanished, presumably to reappear in the basements
...

“Well?” Ralph asked James in a tight, worried voice
...
“Or Philia Goyle
...
”
“What? Well, where are they?”
“I don’t know
...
”
Figgle was looking at them, her eyes wide and alert
...
James studied the Marauder’s Map keenly, watching the huge blank

264

spots to see if Goyle and Corsica would appear out of them
...

“Oh, no,” he said, his eyes widening
...
“Come on! Zane!” he called up the
steps
...

Figgle’s expression had gone from alarm to raw panic
...
There
was that sudden sensation of change, as if an invisible light had popped back on, and James knew that the
Boundary Charm over the stairs was in place again
...
James balled the Marauder’s Map roughly
and jammed it into his open backpack
...
The door swung open just as James re-shouldered his backpack and turned
...
Their eyes fell on James and both of
them went silent
...

Her hair was in a neat ponytail, and even though she had, only minutes before, been swooping over the
Quidditch pitch on her unusually magical broom, she appeared as cool and fresh as a tulip
...

“James Potter,” she said mildly, having almost instantly recovered from her surprise at seeing him
...
”
“What are you doing here?” Philia demanded, scowling
...
“Mr
...
If we don’t have goodwill during
these difficult times, what have we got? Good afternoon, Mr
...
”
Ralph croaked something from the couch, looking remarkably awkward and uncomfortable
...

“It’s a shame about the Gryffindor Quidditch team,” Tabitha called from a corner of the room as she
hung up her cloak
...
Please give them
our sympathies
...
Interesting that
your friend, Zane, wasn’t among them
...

James shook his head, not daring to speak
...
“Curious, that
...
Come, Philia
...
He thought furiously,
trying to invent a quick diversion, but nothing came
...

Both Tabitha and Philia stopped in their tracks
...

Tabitha, ahead of her, turned much more slowly, a look of polite wonderment on her face
...

James coughed
...
Sorry
...
”
Tabitha watched him for a long moment, then tilted her head slightly and narrowed her eyes at
Ralph
...
After a few moments, their footsteps could be heard from above
...

“Grotty blighter!” quacked the muffled voices again
...
“What’s he doing?”
“Come on!” James said, lunging toward the door
...
”
They both ran out into the hallway and threaded their way around several random corridors before
finally stopping
...
Two words were scrawled on the bottom of the ducks in black ink:
Laundry room!
“That crazy loon!” Ralph said again, but he was almost laughing with relief
...
”
James grinned
...
He probably
deserves it, but first, I want to know what he might have found out
...
James stopped only once to ask directions
from an annoyingly observant servant in a painting of a gaggle of dining knights
...
“She threw a handful of pink dust at me, and
then pow! I’m down here
...
Elves bustled around them, ignoring the three boys completely as they moved through the hive of
their basement work space
...
White flakes filled the air and stuck like snow in the boys’ hair
...
“Especially
when the Lollipop Guild here won’t let you leave
...

“Figgle brings a human down to the washrooms, we keeps him until someone explains why,” the
oldest and grumpiest elf said in a gravelly voice
...
Humans interfering with elf work is against
Hogwarts Code of Conduct and Practices, section thirty, paragraph six
...
Ralph said, “We’re his… well, we’re his friends, aren’t we?
We came to bring him back upstairs
...
“Figgle tells a story about this human trying to
do her work, she does
...
She was fair upset
...
We gots a coalition agreement with the school
...
“He meant well, but he’s a bit dim about such things, isn’t
he? I’m sorry
...
Won’t happen again
...
The head elf scowled thoughtfully at James
...
Here, in their working realm, the rules
appeared to be quite different
...
It
almost sounded like they’d unionized, and that an essential rule of the elf union was that only elves did elf
work
...
James wasn’t sure if Aunt Hermione would view this as an
improvement or a setback
...
The three of
yous are on probation
...

We gots a coalition agreement, you know
...

“But you don’t even know our names,” Ralph pointed out
...


267

The head elf grinned at his fellows, who smiled back a bit disconcertingly
...
“Now off with yous, and let’s hope we don’t see you again
...

“I don’t know whether to congratulate you or kick you,” Ralph said to Zane
...
”
“But I did get into the Slytherin girls’ sleeping quarters,” Zane pointed out with a grin
...

“Be nice or I won’t tell you what I found
...

“It’s not,” Zane sighed
...
Only
one of them was open, but I got a peek inside
...
”
They reached a larger door at the end of a flight of miniscule stairs
...
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they’re magical wardrobes, of course, although they don’t lead to any fairy wonderlands
...
Seemed like a boutique had exploded
in there, to tell you the truth
...
There
was a bottle of vanishing cream on the vanity, and from the looks of it, I don’t think the vanishing part was a
metaphor
...

“Sure looked like it
...
“Our chances of getting into the Slytherin girls’ quarters again are pretty much zero
...

“Smelled like my grandma’s dresser in there, too,” Zane said
...
“This is serious
...
For
all we know, it could be tonight
...
“Like you said, they can’t do anything without all the relics
...
“Yeah, but if they try it and nothing works, then they’ll hide the rest of
the relics and we’ll never get to them
...
“Well? There’s got to be another way, then
...
What if we nick it somehow during
a Quidditch match or something?”
Zane grinned
...
Especially if we can do it when she’s a hundred feet or so in the air
...
“Ever since my dad’s day, there’ve been protective
spells all around the pitch to keep people from interfering with matches
...
Once, a bunch of Dementors
swarmed right onto the pitch
...
No spells can
get in or out
...

“You don’t want to know, Ralph
...
”
“Well, then, looks like we’re back to square one,” Zane said dourly
...
”
Ralph stopped suddenly in the middle of the corridor
...
He was staring hard at one of the paintings lining the corridor
...
The very
observant servant in the rear corner of the painting had caught James’ attention on the way down, but only as
someone they could get directions from
...
The servant stared sullenly out at Ralph as the knights in the painting
hoisted their tankards and turkey drumsticks, slapping each other happily on their partially armored backs
...
“Look what you’ve done,
James
...
And not even the good ones, if you ask me
...
”
James took a step closer to the painting as well, studying the servant standing in the shadowy
background with a large cloth over his shoulder
...
“What, Ralph?” he asked
...

“Well, we just stopped at this painting not ten minutes ago, didn’t we?”
“Yeah
...
He’s standing different now…”

269

Ralph suddenly dropped to one knee, flinging his backpack onto the floor in front of him
...
He finally produced a book, gripped it triumphantly, and stood up
again, riffling toward the back
...
James recognized the book
...
As Ralph flipped through the pages, James could see the notes and formulae that crowded the
margins, crammed alongside doodled drawings and diagrams
...
He held
the book open with both hands and slowly raised it so that it was level to the observant servant in the
background of the painting
...

“It’s the same dude!” Zane said, pointing
...
It was unmistakably the same figure, right down to the hook nose and
the sullen, stooped pose
...
It stopped behind one of the pillars lining the opposite side of
the painted hall
...
James, watching intently, narrowed his eyes
...
“He was in a different position when we first
came across him, so I didn’t place it straight off
...
Now, that is weird
...
Ralph shrugged and handed the book to James
...
The margins in the first hundred pages were filled mostly with notes
and spells, many with sections scribbled out and rewritten in a different color, as if the writer of the notes was
refining his work
...
They were sketchy, but quite good
...
Here was a rough sketch of the
woman in the background of the painting of the king’s court
...
Again and
again, he recognized the sketches as the characters in the paintings all over Hogwarts, the secondary figures
who’d been watching James and his friends with avid, unconcealed interest
...
“All these drawings are from paintings all over the
school, you see?”
Ralph squinted at the drawings in the book, then back at the painting again
...
“It’s
weird, but not all that amazing, is it? I mean, the guy who owned this book was probably also a student here,
right? Sounds like he was a Slytherin, like me
...
So whoever he was,
he liked art
...
Big deal
...
“No, these aren’t just
sketches,” he said, shaking his head slowly
...
Don’t ask me how I know
...
Whoever sketched these drawings was either a master
forger… or he was the actual artist
...
“That doesn’t even begin to make
sense
...
No way one bloke was responsible for all of
them
...
Way older than this book
...

“Whoever painted these didn’t paint the whole paintings
...
Every one of them is a drawing of some totally
unimportant background character
...
”
Zane cinched up the corner of his mouth and furrowed his brow
...
What’s the fun in that?”
James was also thinking hard
...
“I think I have an idea,” he said, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully
...

Tonight
...
“Quit tugging! You’re yanking it up
...
“I know you said your dad and
his mates used to do this all the time, but one of them was a girl, remember?”
“Yeah, and she didn’t eat seven meals a day, either,” Zane said
...

They’d met at the base of the staircases, and apart from one tense moment when Steven Metzker, the
Gryffindor prefect and brother of Noah, had passed them in the hall singing slightly off key, they had
encountered no one
...
The three of them maneuvered clumsily into a corner and James opened the
Marauder’s Map
...
“I trust you two
...
”
“You seemed plenty excited about it when we planned this, Ralphinator,” Zane whispered
...
”
“It was daytime then
...
”
“Shh,” James hissed
...
“Is anyone coming?”
James shook his head
...
Filch is in his office downstairs
...
”
Ralph straightened up, pulling the Invisibility Cloak a foot off the floor
...

“Besides,” Zane added, “what good’s having an Invisibility Cloak if we don’t use it to float around
the halls unseen every now and then?”
“There’s nobody to see us, anyway,” Ralph pointed out
...
Soon enough,
they came to the gargoyle guarding the stairway to the Headmistress’ office
...
James hoped that the password hadn’t
changed since he’d accompanied Neville to the Headmistress’ office a few months earlier
...
“Is that the one with the
forest green field and the sky blue and red patterns?” it asked in a carefully measured voice
...
”
James conferred in harsh whispers with Ralph and Zane
...

“It didn’t ask him any questions!”
“It’s a tartan pattern, I think,” Ralph rasped
...
Just say yes
...
Say no, then! How should I know?”
James turned back to the gargoyle, which seemed to be staring fixedly at James’ shoes
...
”
The gargoyle rolled its eyes
...
” It straightened and stood aside, revealing the entry to
the spiral staircase
...
As soon as all three
were on it, the staircase began to rise slowly, carrying them up with it
...

“That’s it,” Ralph said in an annoyed voice
...
James and Zane pulled the cloak off their heads and glanced around
nervously, looking for whatever had startled Ralph
...

“You’ve really got to stop doing that,” Ralph said breathlessly
...
I was asked to be here
...
The hair on the
back of his neck was still prickling
...
It
was shut tight
...
“I forgot about that,” he admitted
...
Don’t worry about it
...
The ghost turned and walked
effortlessly through the door
...

The door swung open silently and Cedric grinned, welcoming them in
...
The room was
extremely dim but for the reddish light of the banked fireplace
...

“Get that thing out of my face, Potter,” a voice drawled quietly
...
”
James lowered his wand again and glanced around at the rest of the portraits
...
“Yeah, you’re right,” James agreed
...
”
“So you deduced a version of the truth, I see,” the portrait of Severus Snape said, his black eyes
locked on James
...
”

273

“It wasn’t much of a deduction, really,” James admitted, glancing at Ralph
...
He’s
got the book
...
“That dratted book has been more trouble than it was ever worth
...
Do continue
...
“Well, I knew something was going on when I noticed all those characters
in the paintings watching us
...
I don’t think I’d have made the connection if Ralph hadn’t shown me the drawings in the potions
book, though
...
You painted all those characters into the paintings all over the school, and
every one of them is a portrait of you, but in disguise
...
You spread
yourself out through all those paintings
...
It was your way of assuring you could always keep an eye on things, even after death
...
Finally he nodded slightly
...
Few knew it,
but I had some natural inclination toward the task
...
It did take me quite some time to hone my rendering skills enough to modify the
paintings, but as with any other art, painting was mainly a matter of practice and study
...
I may have been a genius, but pride has been the downfall of greater geniuses than
myself
...
I have been able to observe you and the
rest of this school’s operations rather freely
...
He didn’t want to say what he’d come to say
...
“We came… we came to ask for your help
...
He regarded James seriously for a long moment
...
James nodded
...
“James Potter, I’d never have suspected it, but you have finally impressed me
...
He always
required their help in the end, but usually to their great, and sometimes final, detriment
...
If you had come to this realization a few weeks ago, we might
not have had to rely on pure fortune and good timing to save you from a fate worse than death
...
“Yeah, thanks for that
...
”
“Foolhardy and ignorant, Potter
...
The robe is exceedingly dangerous and you are stupendously negligent to keep it here
...
”

274

“What do you know about the Merlin conspiracy, then?” James asked excitedly, ignoring the rebuke
...
A study I can assure you would’ve proven far more helpful to you than your current ridiculous
fantasies of capturing the Merlin staff
...

“Ah, the jester speaks,” Snape sneered in a low voice
...
Walker, I believe
...
“The staff is probably even more dangerous than
the robe
...
”
“And who might these people be, then, Potter?” Snape asked silkily
...
”
Snape regarded James with open contempt
...
”
“Prejudice!” James exclaimed
...
“You believe you
speak of what you know, but let me save you from your ignorance by reminding you that what you know is as
limited as it is one-sided
...
I’d hoped that you would surpass that as well, based on your own choice of
companions
...

“Well, Ralph’s different, isn’t he?” James said weakly
...
“Is he? Different from what, Mr
...
Deedle’s house? Or, dare I ask, Mr
...

“I know that there is a bloodline of Voldemort alive in these halls even now
...
The heir of Voldemort is alive and he walks among us
...
He realized that the dryad had never
actually said either of those things
...
”

275

Snape nodded, the sneer creeping back into his face
...
” Snape sighed, and he seemed genuinely disappointed
...
”
James felt small in front of the portrait of the former headmaster
...
This was his battle more than it was theirs
...

He raised his eyes to Snape’s black gaze
...
I need to stop them there, before they can hide the staff and the throne forever
...
He turned back to them
...
I have to try to stop them
...
“Potter, you really are just as foolish and preposterously self-absorbed as your
father
...
Give it to your father or the Headmistress
...
I will
advise them
...
You’ve impressed me once
...
”
“No,” James said with conviction
...
You know it just like I do
...
”
“Without all three together, the power of the relics is broken
...
“They are still powerful on their own
...
We can’t risk them falling into the hands of
Voldemort’s heir
...
“If such a person exists
...
“Where is the Hall of Elder’s Crossing?”
“You do not know what you’re asking, Potter,” Snape said dismissively
...
“We don’t need this old pile of
paint to tell us
...
We’ll figure this out, too
...

“Do not forget your place, boy
...
James and Zane turned to look at him, surprised to hear him speak
...
I don’t really know who you are, Mr
...
We need to try to
stop them and get the rest of the relics
...
Well, one of the things they say about Slytherins is that we always just look out
for ourselves
...
I’m with James and Zane, even if we fail
...
”
Snape had listened to this sudden speech from Ralph with a steely eye and a tight frown
...
“You’re all
completely daft,” he said flatly
...
”
“Where’s the Hall of Elder’s Crossing?” James asked again
...
“As I said, Potter, you do not know what you’re
asking
...
“Why not?”
“Because the Hall of Elders’ Crossing is not a place, Mr
...
You, of all people, should have
recognized that
...
The Hall of Elders’ Crossing is an event
...
Walker
...
”
Zane blinked
...
“Wait a minute
...
The planets
...
”
“So the Hall of Elder’s Crossing…” James concentrated, and then widened his eyes in revelation
...
When they… make a hall!”
“The alignment of the planets,” Ralph agreed in an awed voice
...
”
Snape stared hard at all three boys
...
“It’s the moment the planets
align, and it’s the place that all three of the relics of Merlinus Ambrosius are brought together
...
That is his requirement
...
”
Zane snapped his fingers
...
”
“The Grotto Keep,” James whispered
...
The throne is already there
...
James felt flushed with fear and excitement
...

“Thanks
...
Take my advice
...
No one will
...
”
James backed away, extinguishing his wand and pocketing it
...
Let’s get back
...
It wasn’t Snape’s first encounter with the
map
...
Having assured themselves that Filch was
still in his office, the three crowded back under the Invisibility Cloak and shuffled back through the door of
the Headmistress’ office and into the hall
...
One of Snape’s self portraits resided in a hunting
painting in Filch’s office, and Snape could easily use that painting to alert Filch to the three boys’ sneaking
...
Like it or not, such petty tricks gave him little pleasure anymore
...

“Thank you, Mr
...
“Feel free to
accompany them back to their dormitories
...
I don’t much care
...
Snape knew the ghost didn’t like to talk to him
...
Nothing technically human on either end, Snape figured
...

One of the paintings near Snape stopped snoring
...

Snape settled back into his portrait
...
He’s a Potter
...

“It’s not an easy judgment
...
He’s as arrogant and foolish as the others that bore his
last name
...
”
“I see that he came to ask for your help
...
“One can only hope that that instinct has a chance to mature
...
And he didn’t, you’ll notice, actually take any of my advice
...
“Perhaps not
...
I will
watch
...
A minute later, the older voice spoke again
...
He
doesn’t know it
...
“I assumed there was no point in telling him
...
You have an instinct for such things
...
”
“Indeed you did, Severus
...
”

279

15
...
Prescott was a Reporter
...
For
Martin, being a Reporter was more than a job
...
He wasn’t just another face reading from a
teleprompter or another name next to a dateline
...
He accented the news
...
He colored it
...
He simply added that subtle dash of flair that made news into News, in
other words, something people might want to watch or read
...
Prescott had the look
...
If he wore a
tie, it was invariably of an impeccable style, but loosened just a tad: enough to say yes, I’ve been working
extremely hard, but I respect my viewers enough to maintain a degree of professionalism
...

But, as Martin was proud of saying to the attendees at the occasional Press Club breakfast, his appearance
wasn’t what made him a Reporter
...
He knew how to plug the one
into the other in a way that produced the biggest emotional jolt
...
Prescott a Reporter was that he loved the story
...
The truth of it was that Martin
enjoyed the reporting, but what he absolutely loved was the chase
...
Martin liked to stalk his prey
himself
...
Martin did it all
himself, often alone, often filming himself in the act, providing his viewers breathless moments of high
tension and confrontation
...

Martin had, as they say of the very best Reporters, a nose for news
...
Even now, crouched among the brush and weeds, dirty and salty with
two days’ worth of sweat, his fabulous hair matted and soiled with twigs and leaves, even after all the setbacks
and failures, he still felt this was the story that would cement his career
...
Even after the ghost
...
Even after his harrowing brush with the gigantic spider
...
The harder it was, the more it was worth pursuing
...
This was the
kind of story that could only be told by him
...

No more field reports
...
If this panned out, Martin J
...
But why stop there? With this under his
belt, he could anchor anywhere in the world, couldn’t he?
But no, he told himself
...
He had a job to do
...

After months of plotting and arranging, planning and observing, the time had finally come for the big payoff,
for all the bets to be called in
...
He’d been unable to get any usable, convincing footage on his own, except for the
handheld camera video of that incredible flying contest a few months back
...
It didn’t do to dwell on failures, though
...
It would go exactly as planned
...
He was Martin J
...

Still crouched at the perimeter of the forest, Martin checked the connections of his cell phone
...
His Palmtop barely
worked at all, and when it did, it exhibited some very strange behavior
...
Fortunately, his camera and cell phone had worked
relatively well until the incident with the spider
...
Satisfied, Martin spoke
...
Up until now, I have simply watched, careful not to
disturb what might only be a simple country school or a boarding facility, despite the reports of my sources
...
If my sources are wrong, I will merely
be met with puzzlement and that rare brand of careful good humor that is the purview of the Scottish
countryside
...
I am now standing
...
I am leaving the safety of my hiding place
...
”
Martin crept carefully around the edge of the ramshackle cabin near the forest
...
Martin straightened,
determining to be bold about his initial approach
...
In truth, he did not believe he was in grave peril
...
He had indeed camped on the fringes
of that forest, far on the side opposite the castle, where the trees seemed rather more normal and there were
fewer unsettling noises in the night
...
Apart from the spider, which he had only escaped by sheer good luck, he
hadn’t actually seen anything
...
A known
monstrosity, like the spider, is far easier to deal with than the unknown phantoms conjured by Martin’s
imagination in response to the strange noises he’d heard on those long woodland walks
...
Large things, heavy things, had followed him, always off to the left or right, hidden just
behind the density of the trees
...
They might have been hostile, but they were certainly curious
...
Finally, remembering the spider, he’d decided
that, after all, maybe an unseen monster that is merely curious is better than a seen monster that feels
provoked
...
The microphone was connected to the phone on his belt
...
The windows, apart from the one I was forced through those months ago, are
beautifully sturdy and colorful
...
“It is a beautiful spring day, fortunately
...
I am not
hiding myself at all as I cross to the enormous gates, which are open
...
I… I can’t quite tell, but it looks as if they are playing football
...
They don’t seem to be paying me any attention
...
”
As Martin entered the gates, he finally began to be noticed
...
His goal was simply to get as far into the castle as possible
...
Cameras, in nearly every circumstance, incite resistance
...
Someone simply walking into a place, walking confidently and purposely, may be met with
curiosity, but they are not usually stopped
...
The courtyard was dotted with
young people moving here and there in knots
...
Many
carried backpacks or books
...

“There are… there are what appear for all the world to be… school pupils,” Martin said quietly into
his microphone, sidling past students as he worked across the courtyard
...
They seem surprised at my presence, but not hostile
...
Excuse me
...
All three of them stopped talking instantly as the strange man in the white shirt and
loosened tie slipped between them
...

“Who’s he talking to?” Ted said
...
The trio turned in the open doorway, watching the
man work his way carefully into the entry hall
...
Still, no one seemed particularly alarmed
...

Martin went on speaking into his microphone
...
There are dozens of them around me at the moment
...

There are… chandeliers, great doorways
...
Paintings
...
He forgot the students gathering around
him, watching him, as he took two steps toward one of the larger paintings lining the entry hall
...
One of the wizards noticed the staring man in the white shirt and tie
...
“You’re out of uniform, young man,” the wizard exclaimed sternly
...
I daresay
you have a leaf in your hair
...
He
coughed and gathered himself
...
They are… for lack of a better term, like painted
movies, but alive
...
”
“I address equals, young man,” the wizard said
...
Begone, ruffian
...
Nobody was ever amazed at the moving paintings
...
A Muggle could not get into Hogwarts
...

“The students have hemmed me in,” Martin said, turning around, his eyes rather wild
...
I must move further in
...
There was a
murmuring now
...

“I’m entering a large chamber
...
I’ve been here before, but late at night, in the dark
...
Very treacherous
...
”
“What’s he saying about machinery?” someone in the crowding students called
...

Martin pushed on, turning past the staircases, almost shouting now
...
I may be stopped at any moment
...
”
Martin turned a corner and found himself in the midst of a group of students playing Winkles and
Augers in a bright alcove
...

“Oi, what’re you thinking just walking right into the middle of the sodding match, you?” one of the
players called, yanking his wand up and retrieving the Quaffle
...
You need to watch
yourself
...
“I…
wands
...
“Who is this? What’s he going
on about?”
Someone else yelled, “Who let him in? He’s a Muggle! Got to be!”
“It’s the man from the Quidditch pitch! The intruder!”
The crowd began to yell and jostle
...
“I’m pressing in further still
...
Here is… er, as far as I
can tell, it is a hall of classrooms
...
The
room was long and recessed
...

“Relatively normal, it seems, on the surface, at least,” Martin yelled over the growing din, scanning
the room
...
His eyes boggled and he ran out
of breath
...
At the front of the class, the ghostly
Professor Binns, whose grasp on the temporal realm was tentative at best, had not yet noticed the

284

interruption
...
The professor finally noticed
the gasping form of Martin J
...
“Who is this individual, might I ask?” Binns
said, peering over his ghostly spectacles
...
“A ghooooossst!” he declared tremulously, pointing at
Binns
...
Just as the students near the doorway were shoved roughly aside by the advancing
figures of Professor Longbottom and Headmistress McGonagall, flanked by Ted and Sabrina, Martin fell over
in a dead faint
...
The students occupying the desks
threw their hands up, lunging to get out of the way
...

Headmistress McGonagall approached the man swiftly and stopped a few feet away
...
He looked at the man collapsed across the
desks
...
”

Fifteen minutes later, James, McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, and Benjamin Franklyn bustled into
the Headmistress’ office, with Martin Prescott stumbling between them
...
Neville, in turn, had been so startled by Martin’s shriek that he’d nearly dropped
him, but had recovered in time to lower the man fairly gently to the floor
...
Once the door to her office had closed behind them, McGonagall spoke up
...
“Once we have resolved that,
you will be removed forthwith, and with nary a glimmer of any memory of what you have seen, I can promise
you that
...
”
Martin swallowed and glanced around at the assembly
...
He took a deep breath
...


285

Prescott
...
And second of all,” he said, returning his gaze to the
Headmistress, “I have been injured upon these grounds
...
And somehow, I
don’t get the impression that this domicile is insured, exactly
...
“You
break into this castle, trespass where you have neither the right nor the understanding to carry yourself…”
She shook her head, and then went on in a lower voice
...
You are obviously of
Muggle origin, so I will practice a modicum of patience with you
...
”
“Ah,” Martin said, trying to sound confident despite the fact that he was trembling visibly
...
” He reached into his shirt pocket and produced a small vial
...
“Yes
...
Took me a time to figure it out
...
I put two drops into a coworker’s tea and I couldn’t get him to shut up for an hour
...
”
“You tested an unknown potion on an unsuspecting person?” Franklyn interrupted
...
” He shrugged
and lifted the bottle again, looking at the light through it
...
If it was dangerous, you’d hardly
have kept it right there on the shelf where just anyone could get to it
...
“In these halls, we rely on discipline and respect rather than
cages and keys
...
”
“Don’t try to intimidate me,” Martin said, obviously quite intimidated in spite of himself
...
I’ve been watching and studying you for quite some time
...
I’ll answer
your questions, but only because I expect you to answer some of mine, as well
...
“And why, pray tell, do you believe we won’t just bring in an Obliviator,
have your mind wiped of all memory of this place, and drop you off at the nearest turnpike?”
Martin tapped the tiny microphone clipped to his lapel
...
My voice, and everything all
of you are saying, is being sent through my phone to a computer at my office
...

In a small town not three kilometers from here is a film crew and a group of experts in a variety of fields
whom I have asked to assist me in my investigation--”
“Investigation!” the Headmistress repeated incredulously
...
“One of those individuals is an agent of the British special police
...
He knew
from conversations he’d heard between his dad and other Ministry officials that it was one thing to Obliviate
a single person or even a contained group, but things could get extremely complicated if any official Muggle
investigative bureaus became involved
...
“It took quite a lot to get a ranking agent
out here, but I am confident that this is the sort of story one calls in large favors for
...
Merely curiosity, since there is no record of any establishment of this size in the area
...
It may
seem preposterous to most people, I grant
...
But your secret will be out, nevertheless
...
There will be investigations
...
One way or another
...
She merely stared at the
skinny man in the white shirt
...

“My good sir, you cannot comprehend what you are asking
...
“Your plan would undeniably result in the closing down of this school and possibly many
others like it
...
More
importantly, what you are insisting upon is the re-introduction of the entire magical world into the world of
Muggles, whether either is prepared for that or not
...
No, I suspect that your aspirations are far more… myopic
...

There are forces at work here that you do not comprehend, although you may well be acting on behalf of
some of them
...
Think, my friend,
before you make a choice that will condemn you in the eyes of generations
...
Then, as if snapping out
of a daze, he said, “You’re Benjamin Franklin, aren’t you?” He grinned and waggled a finger at Franklyn
...
Look, I know you’re not in a position to discuss this right now,
but I have two words for you: exclusive… interview
...
Prescott,” the Headmistress said, her voice stony
...
We simply must discuss this
...
“Even if we do agree to your conditions, you must conduct yourself upon
our terms
...
But regardless, we must have some time
...
Well, ninety-four minutes, actually
...
Prescott,” Franklyn said, sighing
...
”
Martin sighed lightly
...
”
Neville pointedly produced his wand
...
The chair shot forward, nearly scooping Martin
off his feet
...

“Do continue,” Neville said, half sitting on a corner of the Headmistress’ desk
...
Franklyn and James continued to stand
...
“The View offers a hundred thousandpound reward for proof of paranormal activity, and the gentleman that wrote the letter seemed to think that
this Hogwarts place would offer such proof in spades
...
They include everything from blurry pictures of tossed pie plates to
actual slices of toast with the faces of saints burned onto them
...
They like a nice dash of the inexplicable in the news from time to time, but when it
comes to belief, most of them are the most cynical bunch of hardheads imaginable
...
It wasn’t the tone of the letter that
got my attention, though
...
A little box
containing something called a ‘Chocolate Frog’
...
Sure enough, there was a perfect little chocolate frog
inside
...
I just
about dropped the box
...
It was a
hot day, and the thing had just come in with the post
...
Left little chocolaty frog footprints all over that night’s copy
...
I was afraid to touch it, but five minutes later, it still hadn’t moved
...
Some joke
...
So I went ahead and scooped it back up and sure enough, the
thing was just chocolate
...

“I still might’ve forgotten all about it, to tell you the truth
...
If it weren’t for those little chocolaty frog footprints on my papers, I might never have
mustered the resolve to be here
...
I couldn’t get it out of my mind
...
Nice trick, I told him
...
Sure enough, the day after that, there’s another package from him
...
Contained
everything I needed to lock onto the signal here
...
Fortunately, I had some vacation time coming, so I decided to give it a go on my own
...
So I packed my own cameras and caught a train
...
I spent the first night on the other side
of the forest, knowing by the signal that I was within a few kilometers of the source
...
I followed the direction I knew I was supposed to go, but sure enough, every time, I’d find myself
heading right back out the way I’d come
...
It was as if I had succeeded in getting to the opposite side of the forest, but somehow the planet had
turned around right underneath me
...

“This went on for three solid days
...
But I was also getting
determined, because I knew something was trying to keep me out
...
So the next day,
I got out my little package and located the coordinates
...
Soon enough, the ground seemed to force me away
...
I’d angle away only to run into a deadfall of trees or a low cliff
...
I pushed on, though
...
I
pushed through thorns and the thickest undergrowth I’ve ever seen
...
I kept feeling as if the earth was tilting up beneath me, trying to throw me backwards off it
...
I became nauseous and
unaccountably dizzy
...

“And then, suddenly, the sensations were gone
...
I had made it through
...
I was stunned, needless to say
...

“There, not twenty feet before me, was the largest man I had ever seen
...
But then, standing next to him…” For the first time in his
story, Martin paused
...
“There was something so
monstrously huge that I at first thought it must be a kind of dinosaur
...
I raised my eyes and saw that it was, in fact, two creatures standing near each other, and they were
both human-shaped
...
I couldn’t even see its face
...
The smallest one, the one that
looked like a walking bear, talked to the other two, and they answered, sort of
...
Then, to my horror, they turned and headed towards me, into the forest
...
Then
they were gone
...
“And that was when I knew I
had found it
...
Possibly the greatest story of this century
...

“There is one small detail you have failed to explain to my satisfaction,” Headmistress McGonagall
said coldly
...
It was somehow able to point you to this school
...
”
Martin raised his eyebrows, and then chuckled and sat up
...
That
...
A simple GPS device
...

You are probably unfamiliar with the term
...
It allows me to locate any
point on earth within a meter or so
...
”
James spoke for the first time since entering the room
...
Not on any map
...
Finally, seeing that everyone else in the room expected him to respond, Martin stood up
...
They were provided by someone on the inside
...
”
Martin reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled something out
...
He had known it somehow even before he’d asked the question
...

Martin flourished a Gamedeck
...

He plunked it unceremoniously onto the Headmistress’ desk
...
Pretty standard stuff
...
“This is unlawful imprisonment! It’s an
outrage!”
“Think of it as field research,” Neville instructed politely
...
Take a load off, friend
...
Martin saw him,
scowled angrily, and made to shove past Neville
...
“I said,” Neville repeated with low emphasis, not quite pointing his wand at Martin, “take a
load off
...
”
James’ smile faltered
...
Of course, James knew the
stories of how Neville had cut off the head of Voldemort’s snake, Nagini, but that was before James had been
born
...
Now
Neville’s wand hand was so immobile and purposeful that it might have been carved out of marble
...
The back of his knees struck the cot and he sat down hard
...
Martin, seeing the wand put
away, immediately jumped up and started to yell again, but his voice was cut off as the door slammed shut
...

Seeing the door closed, Headmistress McGonagall turned on her heel and walked briskly down the
corridor as the others followed
...
We only need to hold him until we receive word from the
Ministry of Magic about whatever recourse we may or may not have against the dilemma Mr
...
In the meantime, Mr
...
He opened his mouth to answer,
but nothing came
...
“We all saw your face turn as pale as the
moon when Prescott produced the GameDeck device
...
Is there
something you know that might help us, James?”
James decided there was no point in trying to protect Ralph
...
“My friend
has one
...
He didn’t know it might be dangerous to have here
...
I was surprised it even worked here
...


291

“No! As far as I know, he never used it at all! As soon as he got here, his housemates saw it and gave
him a load of trouble about it
...
”
The Headmistress turned a corner, heading back toward her office
...
Deedle? Yes
...
Does it perhaps broadcast some sort of signal?”
James shrugged
...
He
seems to know a lot about how these things work
...

Ralph says somebody else took his GameDeck and used it
...
Zane was able to
tell that somebody had spent some time on it, and that they’d used the name Austramaddux
...
They must have just been using it to send information
...
”
“You’re quite sure about this, are you, James?” Neville said, following the Headmistress back into her
office
...
Deedle might have used this device on school grounds and unwittingly
shared information that he shouldn’t have? It is possible that this tale of the stolen GameDeck is a ruse
...
“No way
...
It never even occurred to him, or any of us, that
the thing might be used to lead people here
...
”
“We’re all forgetting one important thing,” McGonagall said, lowering herself tiredly into her chair
...
Deedle or this unknown borrower of the device did attempt to share information about this
school with a Muggle, the Vow of Secrecy would prevent them
...
“How does this
vow work, precisely, Madam Headmistress?”
“It’s quite straightforward, Professor
...
If
they do, the magical properties of the vow will engage, preventing any such communication
...
In
this case, we might assume that the user of the device might experience a fusing of the fingers or paralysis of
the hand, anything that would prevent them from entering any dangerous information into this device
...
“We use a similar means at Alma Aleron
...
No loopholes
...
My guess is that each of these gaming
devices is equipped with a tracker that corresponds to the global positioning mechanism Mr
...
Whoever used Mr
...
Mr
...
Despite Mr
...
He can, if he so wishes, share the secret of this school’s location with anyone else he wishes
...
Not everyone
is quite as persistent as he is
...
”
“We cannot allow such a thing to happen, of course,” Neville said, looking to the Headmistress
...
“Our Mr
...
He knows enough already to do us great harm
...
Prescott has seen so far
...
I see no recourse but to allow him to go on
with this investigation of his and hope to talk him out of broadcasting it
...
“I have more confidence that we could talk the merpeople out of living in
the lake than that we could convince this sodding twit not to broadcast his prize story
...
“Of course, there are more, er, wholesale
methods of dealing with this kind of thing, Madam Headmistress
...
Prescott
...
Once that was accomplished, we could feel free to
Obliviate Mr
...
”
McGonagall sighed
...
The Ministry of Magic has been notified of the situation and I am assured they will
instruct us on the proper course within the hour
...
Potter, and
at any moment
...
“Greetings and salutations
...
Can we be assured that this is a secure assembly?”
McGonagall stood and moved around her desk to face the fireplace
...
These with me are the
only persons on the grounds at present fully aware of what is happening, although by this point, the whole of
the school must know that we have a Muggle individual among us
...
”
The face in the banked coals of the Headmistress’ fireplace looked around at Neville, James, and
Professor Franklyn
...
Please stand by to be connected
...

James saw McGonagall’s face tighten just the tiniest bit when the undersecretary mentioned Miss
Sacarhina
...
“Madam
McGonagall, Professors Franklyn and Longbottom, greetings
...
Potter, of course
...
The smile disappeared almost as

293

suddenly as it had appeared, as if it was something she could turn on and off like a light
...
As you may guess, we have
prepared contingencies for just such an occurrence
...
Prescott that he may contact his associates
...

Prescott is to be allowed onto Hogwarts grounds until a delegation from the Ministry arrives to oversee them
...

Prescott and his crew
...
You may rest assured that we are prepared to deal with this situation, regardless of the method we
choose
...
”
The Headmistress’ face became rather pink
...
”
Sacarhina laughed lightly
...
As I mentioned, we have contingencies for such events
...
”
“Forgive me, Miss Sacarhina,” Franklyn interjected, taking half a step forward, “but you’d have us
believe that the Ministry of Magic has prepared contingencies for a Muggle investigative reporter penetrating
the school of Hogwarts on foot with a camera crew at the ready and intentions to broadcast the secrets of the
magical world to Muggles worldwide?”
Sacarhina’s indulgent smile tightened
...
Franklyn, that the Ministry has
prepared emergency response techniques for dealing with a wide variety of confrontations
...
”
“I beg to disagree, Miss
...
This school can no longer be considered secure until this
breach has been addressed
...
We appreciate your concern, but I assure you that we are fully
equipped to deal with the matter in its entirety
...
This would cause us great disappointment and
be quite a disruption to the school…”
“My concern, Miss Sacarhina,” Franklyn said coolly, removing his glasses, “is for the security of
everyone within these walls, and for the security of the magical and Muggle worlds in general
...
“Please, all of you, put your minds at ease
...
Recreant, will arrive tomorrow evening
...
Prescott and I am quite
confident--positive, even--that we will reach a mutually amicable arrangement
...
”
“What about my dad?” James asked
...
“Your father, James? Whatever do you mean?”
“Well, don’t you think he ought to be here along with you and Mr
...
“Why, your father is Head of the Auror Department,
James
...

There’d be no reason to bother him with it
...
“He and James witnessed him on the Quidditch
pitch last year and led the search to try to capture him
...
“That was his duty at the time
...
Harry Potter’s skills may be varied, but
ambassadorship is not one of them
...
Potter is currently on assignment and not to be interrupted
...
Along with myself and Mr
...
He is an expert in Muggle-magical relations
...
Prescott and his crew, and we have full confidence that he will serve all
parties quite well
...
“What shall we do with Mr
...
Allow him to make his telephone call
...
”
“Surely you do not mean for us to allow him free access to the school,” the Headmistress said, as if it
were a statement rather than a question
...
“Whatever harm he might be able to do by observing is
surely less than the harm he could do if he brought Muggle legal charges against us
...
Besides, it sounds as if he’s seen quite a lot already
...
“Very well, then
...
We will look
forward to your arrival tomorrow evening
...
“Indeed
...
”

295

The face vanished from the fire
...
She replaced the poker,
turned her back to the fire, and said, “Insufferable bureaucratic poppycock
...
Prescott in the Alma Aleron quarters,” Franklyn said, putting his glasses
back on
...
I suspect we can keep him busy enough to prevent
him causing any more trouble
...
“Harry should be here
...

Somebody led him here, and that person somehow circumvented the Vow of Secrecy
...
”
The Headmistress opened her door
...
Professor Franklyn, your
idea is as good as any
...
Prescott to the Alma Aleron quarters
...
Prescott to be quite busy for the next twenty-four
hours
...
Mr
...
Walker and Mr
...
Especially Ted Lupin or Noah Metzker
...
“Going to
be quite a busy day tomorrow, Potter
...
“I guess
so
...
”
Snape’s black eyes bored into him
...
We’re going to get it from her, too,
one way or another
...
“Don’t be a fool, Potter
...
Give it to the
Headmistress
...
”
James blinked
...
“You don’t see it, then,” he sighed
...
There are members
of the Progressive Element even within the Ministry, although they do not call themselves by that name
...
Recreant may be as well, although he is not really in charge
...
”

296

“What? What’s her plan?” James asked, lowering his voice and stepping closer to the portrait
...
All that matters is that unless you secure the Merlin robe by tomorrow
night, all will very likely be lost
...
“We captured it already
...
We have to get the
Merlin staff now
...
“You are allowing yourself to be manipulated! If I had even
the slightest hope that you’d be any better at it than your father was, I’d have taught you Occlumency by
now
...
The enemy has the other two relics
...
You
will not be able to prevent that, Potter
...
“My father was never the arrogant fool you think he was, and I’m not either
...
Besides, tomorrow isn’t the alignment of the planets
...
Zane told me
himself
...
“So trusting are you both
...
Walker get his
information?”
“He’s in Constellations Club,” James replied angrily
...
”
“And did it never occur to you that she might have deliberately altered the information just enough
to mislead those too ignorant to notice? She has known the day of the alignment for the past year
...
Even you have realized that she is involved in the Merlin plot
...
Of course she wouldn’t
...
He opened his mouth to
speak, but could think of nothing to say
...
“She has misled all of you by exactly one day
...
Tomorrow, Potter
...
There is no time for any more delusions of grandeur
...
If you do not, you will fail and our enemies will succeed in their plan
...
He poked his head into the Headmistress’ doorway
...
Did you forget something?”
James mind was running at full speed
...
“Er, no
...
”
Neville glanced at the portrait of Snape
...
“Go on, Longbottom,
and take the boy with you
...
”

297

Neville nodded
...
You still have time to make your afternoon classes if you
hurry
...
”
James followed Neville out of the room, thinking only of what Snape had told him
...
One day before the Hall of Elders’ Crossing, and it
just happened to be the very same day that Sacarhina was coming to deal with Prescott
...


298

16
...

“Are you sure about this?” Ralph asked as they crossed the Hall
...
”
James pressed his lips together, but didn’t answer
...

“Ah, the very man,” Ted announced as James squeezed between him and Sabrina
...
Noah thinks you want to officially join the
ranks of the Gremlins, in which case we’ve prepared a series of grueling challenges for you to complete
...
There’s plenty more, although Damien’s challenges tend to involve too many slugs
and mustard for my taste
...
“To tell you the truth, the reason I asked to talk to all of you is that Ralph, Zane,
and I have something we need to ask of you
...
They
simply leaned in a little as they continued to eat
...
He had awoken
that morning with the simple realization that, on their own, he, Ralph, and Zane would not succeed in
capturing the Merlin staff in one day
...
The portrait of Snape had been some help, but
Snape didn’t even believe that Tabitha Corsica had the staff
...
He could ask the one group of people in all the school who were experts in the subtle arts of
chaos and tomfoolery
...
James sighed hugely and stared at
his glass of pumpkin juice
...
”
“Borrow something?” Noah repeated, his mouth full of toast
...
”
“Quiet, Metzker,” Ted said mildly
...
“Tabitha Corsica’s broom
...
All the other Gremlins glanced at James with widened eyes
...
“Whatever for?” Sabrina asked in a low voice
...
Is that it? Are you trying to ruin Slytherin’s chances? I admit that there’s
something highly suspect about that broom of hers, but cheating doesn’t exactly seem like your style, James
...
“It’s a lot to
explain
...
McGonagall asked me not to
...

“All right
...
Fill in any bits I miss
...
” Between the three of them, they explained the entire story of the Merlin conspiracy, from the first
glimpse of the shade of Madame Delacroix on the lake to the adventure at the Grotto Keep to Ralph and
James’ mysterious confrontation with the creepy dryad demanding the Merlin robe
...
James was worried that the
story had become so fragmented that the Gremlins wouldn’t be able to follow it
...
The rest of the Gremlins asked clarifying
questions and responded with a mixture of skepticism, awe and excitement
...

“Like I said, McGonagall warned us not to tell anybody about the Grotto Keep,” James said
sincerely
...
We had a hard time
believing a lot of it ourselves
...
So what do you think?”

300

“I’m confused,” Sabrina said, frowning
...
It’s one
thing to shoot off Weasley fireworks during the debate, but it’s something else entirely to go and steal the
broom of one of the most prominent, and frankly, scary witches in the school
...
”
“It’s only thievery if what we’re saying isn’t true,” Zane reasoned
...
I don’t know whose it is, but no matter what, she had to have stolen it
somehow herself
...
“Even if she did, we’d be the only ones who knew that
...
”
“Well, why wouldn’t it?” Ralph interjected
...
”
“And that came from the mouth of a Slytherin,” Noah said, grinning crookedly
...

James shook his head
...
He’s ragging you
...
I won’t tell you we might not get in trouble over this
...
I can’t ask
any of you to get involved if you don’t want to
...
We could all get in loads of trouble
...
”
“Now wait a minute,” Noah said, “this is the Gremlins you’re talking about
...
“The thing is, if James, Zane, and Ralph are
wrong, we’ll know by tomorrow
...
Probably
anonymously
...
Everybody will just think it was a Quidditch prank, right? But if this
story is true, and the broom really is the Merlin staff, then nobody will be dragging anybody to the
Headmistress’ office
...

“Because Tabitha will have bigger fish to fry,” Noah answered thoughtfully
...
People like that don’t tend to be very forgiving, you know
...
”
“One can only hope,” Petra muttered
...
“Look here, all of you
...
Can we trust James? I don’t know Zane and Ralph here all that well, but I grew up
with James
...
And
besides, he’s the son of my godfather
...
Not just because he’s family, but because he’s a Potter
...
”
“Well said, mate,” Noah said gravely, slapping Ted on the back
...
”
“And perhaps balancing out tonight’s Quidditch match,” Sabrina admitted
...

“That’s what I said!” Zane exclaimed
...
“You’re as bad as she is
...
“We just want to see her drop a few
hundred feet in terror
...
Honestly, you must think we’re monsters
...
Everyone nodded and murmured assent
...
Slowly,
he smiled
...
After lunch, Sabrina and Noah headed
off to the basements to talk to the house-elves
...


302

“This is Petra’s thing, really,” Ted lamented
...
”
James looked over their notes
...
A minute later, he looked up at James
...
“A little, yeah
...
I wasn’t sure any of you would believe it
...
“Is that all?” he prodded
...
He fiddled with his quill
...
It just seemed
like… like something I was supposed to do on my own
...
They
were along with the whole thing from the start
...
I kind of figured that, between the three of us, we’d
be able to manage
...
It felt a little like…” He stopped, realizing what he was about to say,
surprised by it
...

James sighed
...
Like if the three of us couldn’t do it on our own, we’d failed,
somehow
...
Like your dad and Ron and Hermione, you mean
...
“What? No… no,” he said, but suddenly he wasn’t sure
...
“It makes sense
...
He was a big one for
taking on all the responsibilities of the world and not sharing the load with anyone else
...
There were always loads of people around who were ready and willing to help, and sometimes,
they did, but not until they’d pretty much forced themselves into the action
...

“You sound like Snape,” James said, keeping his voice level
...

“Well, maybe Snape’s right, sometimes,” Ted said mildly, “even if he was an oily old humbug most
of the time
...
He blinked them away
...
Can’t really blame my dad for not trusting him, can you? So I
don’t trust him either
...
That was
all he needed, wasn’t it? They won
...
Well, I found

303

them, too
...
So maybe I thought I could be as good as Dad
...
I
needed some help
...

Ted looked at James for a long, thoughtful moment, and then leaned forward, resting his elbows on
the table
...
James didn’t reply
...
“I never knew my dad
...
He and Mum both
...
You’d think that it would be hard to feel resentful of people
you never knew, but you can
...
Sometimes, I resent them for being here at all
...

You call that responsible? I sure don’t
...

Then he sighed
...
Somebody once said, if you don’t
have something worth dying for, you aren’t really living
...
I lost them, but I got a legacy out of it
...
James nodded, unsure what to say
...

“The reason I bring it up, though, is my dad, he left me something else
...
Finally, he spoke
again
...
I guess it’s as simple as that
...
He knew there had been
something secret about Remus Lupin, something that had never been explained to him or even mentioned
outright
...
James knew that Lupin had
come to teach at Hogwarts when his dad was in school, and that Lupin had taught his dad how to summon
his Patronus
...
He had thought perhaps Ted’s father had been in Azkaban for a while or that he had
once flirted with the Dark Arts when he was young
...

Despite James’ attempt to mask his shock, Ted saw it on his face and nodded
...
Your dad told me the whole story himself a few years back, when I was old enough to understand it
...
I think she’s afraid
...
”
James was a little afraid to ask
...
“You know how it is with werewolves
...
You
can get bitten by one or you can be born of one
...
Your dad said that my dad was pretty upset when he found out Mum
was going to have a baby
...
He thought he never should’ve even married my mum, because she wanted babies, but he
was afraid to pass on the curse to them
...
I was normal
...
They tell me I was always changing my
hair color as a baby
...
I can still do it today, and a few
other things, too
...
Once you get known for stuff like that, it’s hard to be known for
much else, if you know what I mean
...
He
died knowing I was normal, more or less
...
” Ted was staring out the window again
...
“Harry told me how your Grandfather James, Sirius Black,
and Pettigrew used to run with my dad when he changed, how they’d change into animal forms and
accompany him around the countryside under the full moon, protecting him from the world and the world
from him
...
I started
almost wishing I had got the werewolf thing after all
...
He lowered his voice and went on
...
But then, last year… last year, I started
having insomnia
...
I couldn’t sleep, but not
because I wasn’t tired, exactly
...

“Hey,” James said, feeling nervous and embarrassed, although he didn’t quite know why, “you don’t
have to tell me
...
No problem
...
As much for me as for you
...
I think if I don’t tell somebody, I’ll go nutters
...
I was starved! I lay there in bed the first time it happened,
telling myself that this was just crazy
...
But no
matter what I told myself, my stomach just kept telling me it wanted food
...
It wanted
meat
...
Fresh-off-the-bone meat
...
“It was…,” he began, and then had to clear his throat
...
“Eventually, I got to sleep
...
By the end
of last school year, I finally started sneaking down to the kitchens below the Great Hall, where all the elves
work
...
I started to… well, you know
...
It tends to be a bit of a
mess
...
“Anyway, the point is, obviously I didn’t completely
skip the whole werewolf thing
...
For all I know, this is the worst it’ll ever get
...
Helps me bulk up for Quidditch
season, at least
...
I don’t know how to manage it yet
...
People…” Ted swallowed and looked hard at James
...
”
James didn’t know whether to agree with that or not
...
“My dad could help you, I bet,” James said
...
I’m not afraid of you, Ted, even if you are a werewolf
...
Maybe we could,

305

you know, work it out like your dad and his mates did
...
”
Ted smiled, and it was a huge, genuine smile
...
I’d hate to have to eat you
...
But I almost forgot why I brought this up at all
...
“You have the shadow of your dad to grow up in, just like me
...
You can
...
Your dad’s a great man
...
The other parts, well, that’s your
choice, isn’t it? Take it or leave it
...
Your dad
didn’t much ask for help, did he? But that’s not because he didn’t need it
...
It tells me you learned something he never learned
...
I think that’s pretty cool, if you ask me
...
”
James was speechless
...
He knew only that it surprised him and humbled him, in a good way, to hear Ted say
what he had
...

“Come on,” he said, standing and gathering the books together
...
She’s going to have to help me get this right or we’re
doomed for sure
...
”

The afternoon of the last Quidditch match of the season was cool and misty, covered with a veil of
restless, grey clouds
...
Lokimagus the Perpetually Productive
...
By now, Ridcully had probably already retrieved the Quidditch
trunk from the shed, but it didn’t hurt to be careful
...


306

“It’s all clear
...
He’s the only one that
uses the shed
...
James remembered that Ralph hadn’t been
along the night he and the Gremlins had used this secret tunnel to go raise the Wocket
...

It only works one way,” he whispered to Ralph
...
”
“Cool,” Ralph breathed meaningfully
...
”
James, Ralph, and Sabrina pressed against the rear of the shed to peer through the single, grimy
window
...

The Ravenclaw and Slytherin teams were gathering along opposite sides of the pitch to observe their captains
shaking hands and listen to Ridcully’s traditional recital of the basic rules of play
...
“The whole handshaking thing
...
”
James nodded
...
It was a genius idea, because it was the only time when the teams’ brooms were
separated from their owners, left behind in the holding pens until the teams collected them for their big flying
introductions
...
“There’s Corsica already
...
His heart was already pounding
...

As they neared the door of the shed, Petra whispered harshly, “I can see your feet
...
” Ralph hunkered and James saw the edge of the cloak meet the ground around his feet
...
He turned and peered between the planks of the door
...
The door faced away from the pitch, visible only to the Slytherin grandstands right next to it
...
“Let’s just hope
everybody’s looking at the pitch and not this shed
...

James and Ralph shuffled through and James heard the door clunk shut behind them
...
It barreled across the pitch and swatted restlessly at the
Invisibility Cloak, flapping it about the boys’ legs
...


307

“We’re almost there already,” James said under the noise of the crowd
...
”
Through the transparent fabric of the Invisibility Cloak, James could see the dark mouth of the
doorway into the Slytherin holding pen
...
The Slytherin players were lined up along the pitch on the
other side of the doorway, close enough that a careless word or a flicker of their shoes might be noticed
...
Slowly, the two boys sidled past the nearest Slytherin
player, Tom Squallus, and slipped into the shadow of the doorway
...
James let his breath out in a careful hiss
...
“We don’t have much time
...
Zane,
who was watching along with his teammates on the Ravenclaw side of the pitch, told him all about it later
...
All day, the sky had been low and sluggish, packed
with grey clouds, but now, as the spectators and players glanced up, the clouds had begun to circle
ponderously
...
The general noise of the assembly quieted, and the sound of the clouds in that silence
was a deep, vibrating groan, long and menacing
...
He could just see the shapes of Ted and Petra, ducked low in the corners
of the tiny window, their wands raised, teasing the cloud shapes
...
Gennifer glanced at Zane for a
moment, then looked back up at the funnel lowering over her
...
Neither Ridcully nor Tabitha Corsica seemed
prepared to move
...
Ridcully’s expression seemed to be one of grim determination
...
Please
stay in your seats
...
Those on the field, please remain where you are
...
”
In the crowd, someone shouted out, “That’s dinosaurs, you crazy fruitbat!”
“Same concept,” Damien answered in his amplified voice
...
They
scurried toward the tiny concessions area built into the base of the Hufflepuff grandstand
...
Noah
and Sabrina headed along the side of the grandstand and stopped at an open doorway
...
“Weather’s getting pretty foul, isn’t it?”
A grumpy looking elf in the back of the kitchen lowered his pipe
...
“Says elves are responsible for securing the grounds
during inclement weather
...
Maybe you’d like Sabrina and me to
go shut and lock the holding pen doors for you until this blows over? Come on, Sabrina
...
“Never you mind
that, now!” He turned and called into the depths of the kitchen
...
Let’s get a move on
...
The grumpy elf called back over his shoulder as they
went, “Much obliged, master and mistress
...
”
As the elves scurried through the wind toward the holding pen doors, the cyclone finally touched the
pitch
...
Many people commented later that, impressive as it was, it was certainly the smallest
cyclone they had ever seen
...

Gennifer Tellus turned and ran to the sidelines to join her team
...
Still
standing in the center of the pitch next to him, Tabitha Corsica fingered her wand and glanced around, now
ignoring the writhing cyclone
...

In the holding pen deep beneath the Slytherin grandstands, James and Ralph heard the noise of the
cyclone and the creaking of the grandstand as the wind pressed against it
...
“There’re so many of them!”
James pointed past the row of broomsticks leaning against the lockers
...

“That’s got to be it,” he said, darting toward it
...
Close up, the
broom seemed to be vibrating or humming very slightly
...
“Grab it, then, James
...
”

309

James reached out and grabbed the broomstick, but the broom didn’t budge
...
The broom was as immobile as if it had been buried in stone
...
“If we’re still in here when
they come back…”
“We have the Invisibility Cloak, Ralph
...

The holding pen was small and there were no obvious places to get out of the way, even if they couldn’t be
seen
...
I can’t move it
...
Maybe you’re supposed to ride it
...
“I can’t ride this thing, even if I could get it to move
...
We
want to capture this thing, not pulverize it into a wall with me on it
...
“Even before you got your Thunderstreak,
you were getting loads better
...
Go on! I’ll… I’ll hop on the back and throw the
cloak over both of us!”
James dropped his hands and rolled his eyes
...
”
Suddenly, a resounding boom echoed down the corridor leading to the pitch
...
Ralph and James both startled
...
“What was
that?”
“I don’t know,” James replied quickly, “but I think we just ran all out of options
...
”
James swung his leg over the floating, gently humming broomstick and gripped the handle tightly
with both hands
...


A minute earlier, outside, Tabitha Corsica had spied something
...
Somehow, she’d known the cyclone was suspicious and had identified the one place
someone might hide and cast spells into the magical boundaries of the Quidditch pitch
...
He was already concocting a haphazard
plan to pretend to drag her to safety
...
Zane saw her take one step in
that direction, and then glance aside at the elves closing and barring the doorways into the team holding pens
...


310

Even if Zane ran full out, he’d barely beat her there
...

Noah and Sabrina had followed the elves to the Slytherin holding pen doors, watching from a
distance as they swung them shut and threw the locking beam into place
...

“Open those doors,” Tabitha yelled, her voice firm but calm
...

“Very sorry, Miss,” the grumpy elf answered, bowing slightly
...
These doors
must remain secure until such time as they can be opened without fear of danger or damage
...
She was only thirty feet away from the doorway
now, and Sabrina saw the look of murder on Tabitha’s face
...
Obviously, Tabitha had
guessed what was happening and knew that her broom was in jeopardy
...
“You summon this cyclone because you were too proud to forfeit to the Ravenclaws?”
Tabitha’s eyes darted toward Sabrina, but her pace didn’t change
...
Noah jumped forward to pull Sabrina back, but he was too
late
...
It
struck Sabrina square in the face, throwing her backwards into Noah
...

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Damien’s voice echoed over the noise, “please let’s give a big cheer for Mr
...
” Sure enough, Ridcully seemed to be dancing around the
tornado as it curled over the pitch, throwing up a thick cloud of grit and dust
...
The crowd did indeed begin to cheer him, so that very few people noticed what
was happening at the base of the Slytherin grandstands
...
They both glanced at Sabrina, who
was still collapsed atop Noah, her hands covering her face
...
Both elves were thrown aside as the great wooden beam that barred the door
exploded with a deafening boom and a shower of splinters
...
She aimed her wand once more, ready to cast the spell that would throw the doors wide open
...
She cocked her head, as if listening
...
Beneath the sound of the cyclone and the roaring grandstands, there was a
sound like a single person yelling, and it was growing louder very quickly
...
Noah had the briefest glimpse of somebody bent low over a broom
hurtling past Tabitha Corsica so fast that she was thrown off her feet
...
The voice of the screaming rider thinned into distance as the broomstick streaked over the pitch,
through the cyclone, and out the other side
...
He’d left Ralph behind, having launched
into an instant wild acceleration the moment he’d settled onto the broom
...
The Quidditch pitch wheeled sickeningly beneath him as the broom
responded, fighting him, but unable to resist the force of his lean
...
He roared over the crowd, which ducked in his wake, hats and banners flying
up behind him
...
He risked a glance behind him, fearing he might have hurt someone
...
When he turned forward, he was heading directly toward the
Slytherin grandstands again, back the way he’d come
...
The Slytherin grandstands spun away
...
He looked ahead to see
where his turn was taking him and gasped
...

The broom seemed to move as if it had a mind of its own
...
When it reached the opening
behind the pedestal of St
...

The sense of speed was staggering as the broomstick careened through the halls
...
The broomstick banked and dipped into the chasm of the stairwells
...
Peeves was near the bottom of the staircases, apparently drawing
mustaches on some of the statuary
...

“Naughty trickery this is, Potter boy!” Peeves shouted gleefully as the broom shot into a narrow hall
of classrooms
...
James tried to steer, but it was no use
...
It banked and dove down a flight of stone stairs into the elf kitchens
...
The broom
darted between gigantic pots, forcing the elves to scramble like tenpins
...
The washrooms were next, stifling hot
and noisy
...
James was horrified to see that the broom,
apparently having reached a dead end, was barreling straight toward the stone wall at the end of the room
...
There was a door set into the well, and James
recognized that it was a laundry chute
...
The broom
shot into the chute, angling upwards so hard that James could barely keep his legs tucked in, and then there
was only rushing darkness and pressure
...
He struggled to shake the clothes free, but couldn’t risk letting go of the broomstick
...
All he could see through the mass of cloth was a faint pattern of flickering light
as the broomstick banked and dove
...
He flailed at the clothing
wrapped around him, finally grabbing a handful and yanking it as hard as he could
...
He had time only to recognize that somehow,
incredibly, the broom was taking him back to the Quidditch pitch
...

At the base of the nearest one was a throng of people, many turning toward him, pointing and yelling
...
James shot off the end of the broom, and for
what seemed like far too long a time, he simply hurtled through the air unsupported
...
Something in James’ left arm popped unpleasantly and when he
finally came to a stop, he found himself staring up into a dozen random faces
...

“More than he deserves,” another person said angrily, frowning down at him
...
I never would have thought it
...
James moaned and pushed himself up
on his left elbow
...
Tabitha Corsica stood twenty feet away, surrounded
by a crowd of awed spectators
...
She
had one hand on it, gripping it easily
...
Really, James
...
” She smiled at him, showing him all her teeth
...
The crowd began to break
apart as Ridcully appeared, pushing his way through
...
James heard Tabitha Corsica talking loudly to her teammates as she headed back

313

toward the pitch
...
But the
magic of this is stronger than anything you’d find in a standard Thunderstreak, even one with the ExtraGestural Enhancement option
...
All I had to do was summon it
...

Potter could hardly have known that, though
...
He was just doing what he knew
to do
...
“Really, Potter
...
”
“Broken ulna, Madam,” Franklyn said, peering at James’ arm through a strange device comprised of
different sized lenses and brass rings
...
“I’d
suggest the hospital wing for now and questions later
...
”
“Quite right,” the Headmistress agreed, not taking her gaze from James
...
Recreant will be here within the next few hours
...
To attempt something so puerile at such a time
...

“Very well, then
...
Jackson, would you escort Mr
...
Potter is to be kept there overnight,” she fixed James with a
steely stare as Jackson pulled him to his feet, “I want to know exactly where to find him when I wish to
question him
...
”
“Rest assured, Madam Headmistress,” Jackson answered, leading James back toward the castle
...
”
The pain in James’ arm had receded to a dull throb, though it was still rather distracting
...
“You obviously
know far more than a boy your age should, and somehow, I don’t think that is merely because you are the son
of the Ministry’s Head Auror
...
And despite what everyone else might think, Potter,” he
glanced aside at James as they entered the main hall, his dark brows lowering, “I know that you did not steal
it in order to give the Ravenclaws a better chance in the tournament
...
“I don’t know what you’re talking about
...
“It doesn’t matter, Potter
...
”
James’ heart skipped a beat, and then began to pound hard in his chest
...
“What’s tonight?”

314

Jackson ignored him
...
The room was long and high, lined with crisply made beds
...

“Madam Curio, you probably know Mr
...
“He
has somehow managed to break his arm at the Quidditch match despite the fact that he himself is not actually
on either of the teams
...
“Hooligans
...
What do we have here,
then?” She lifted James’ arm gingerly, feeling for the break
...

She clucked her tongue
...
Could have been worse, though, I’m sure
...
”
“Also,” Jackson said, “I’ve been instructed by the Headmistress to ask you to keep Mr
...
”
Curio didn’t look up from her inspection of James’ arm
...
Still, this is minor enough
...
”
“The Headmistress wishes to question Mr
...
She desires that he be kept under
supervision until then
...
Potter is suspected to be involved in a very serious plot
that could put this school at risk
...
Potter in, at least until tomorrow morning, I wouldn’t think that was overdoing it
...
In
fact, the louder he protested, the worse it would probably look
...
“Does this have anything to do with the intrusion of that horrible
man on the premises yesterday? I’ve heard that he’s some sort of Muggle newsperson, and that he’s still here!
It does, doesn’t it?” She covered her mouth with her hand and looked from Jackson to James
...
“Besides, Mr
...
We shall see in time
...
” Jackson looked down at James and there was
the faintest suggestion of a smile on one corner of his lips
...
”
He turned and stalked out of the room, closing the door carefully behind him
...
Night of the Returning
To her credit, Madam Curio didn’t let Professor Jackson’s accusations influence her treatment of
James
...

She fell into a harsh but pedantic diatribe about the woes of Quidditch injuries, but it sounded to James like
something she’d said a hundred times before
...
The invasion of Martin Prescott into the school had caused a wave of speculation and
anxiety
...
There was a cloud of unease over the entire school, not alleviated by the
Headmistress’ announcement that Ministry officials were arriving to deal with Mr
...
As Madam
Curio measured the Skele-Gro dosage, James caught her glancing at him suspiciously, looking him up and
down
...
Why not this first-year son of the Head Auror?
James knew that some people--those who believed the lies of the Progressive Element--would expect him to
pull just such a stunt
...
So what do they do? They allow this guy to sneak in and scare us all into thinking Muggles

316

are hiding out in the forest, behind every bush with a torch and a pyre, ready to burn us all at the stake
...
I say let him do his story
...
”
“There,” Madam Curio said, straightening
...
You’ll feel some tingling and itching
overnight as the bone knits
...
Don’t fiddle with the splint
...
The only fix for that would be for me to re-break the bone and start all
over, and we certainly wouldn’t want that
...
I’ll see that breakfast is brought to you here in the morning
...
”
James slung his backpack onto one of the bedside tables and climbed up onto the unusually high bed
...
The charms, however, had no effect on James’ thoughts, which were dark
with frustration and anxiety
...

It wasn’t simply speculation anymore
...
Alone
for the first time since the attempted broomstick caper, James felt the full impact of what had happened out
on the Quidditch pitch
...
It was as if an invisible brick wall had suddenly blocked them, halting their progress at the last,
ultimate moment
...
Even now,
Corsica, Jackson, and Delacroix were probably preparing to bring the relics together, unaware that they were
missing the robe, but with the two most important relics in their possession
...
Now he sat up, his heart beating hard in his chest
...
He’d recognize it, and remember that day in
Technomancy class, when James, Ralph, and Zane had used the fake case to trick him
...
He would surely realize then
that they hadn’t failed
...
He’d know which of the boys had the real robe
...
The boy he hadn’t ‘pegged’ yet
...
He’d go straight to James’ trunk in the
Gryffindor boys’ quarters
...
Jackson would surely get James’ trunk open, and then he’d
retrieve the robe
...
It
would indeed be over, and there was nothing James could do about it
...
Madam Curio, seated at her desk in the
corner, gasped and put a hand over her chest
...
James pretended
not to see her
...
Resolutely, he
grabbed it and opened it
...
He knew that, under normal
conditions, Madam Curio would never allow a patient to have an open ink bottle on her clean white sheets,
but as far as she was concerned, she was harboring a potentially dangerous individual
...
James bent over the parchment and wrote quickly, awkwardly, with his splinted arm, not even noticing
the way his hand smeared the inky wet letters
...
Map and the I
...
I know I shouldn’t
have, but I needed them, and I thought it was what you would have done, so I
hope you aren’t too mad
...
Some of the American teachers are in
on it, though not Franklyn
...
Also, the P
...
here is in on it
...
Can you be here tomorrow? Miss Sacarhina
says you are on an important job and not to be interrupted, so maybe you can’t,
but try, OK? It’s really important and I need your help
...
He didn’t know how he’d send it, but he
felt better just having written it
...
He’d thought, at
the time, that his reasons for not telling his dad were good ones, but now, trapped in the hospital wing on the
ultimate night of the Merlin plot, and knowing that, despite everything, Jackson might very possibly capture
the relic robe back from him, it seemed foolish and arrogant that he hadn’t written his dad about it earlier
...
A moment later, he held his Weasley brand
rubber duck in his hands
...

When he was finished, he gave the duck a sharp squeeze
...

In the corner, Madam Curio once again startled and looked accusingly at James
...


318

“Sorry, Madam,” James said, holding up the rubber duck
...
It was my duck
...
“Perhaps now would be a good time for me to retire for
the evening
...
“No, Madam
...
My arm feels loads better, anyway
...
” She stood and hurried past
James toward the leaded-glass doors
...

Madam Curio unlocked the doors and went out, offering her good-evenings to the sentries
...
He sighed in frustration, and then jumped as his
rubber duck quacked a loud insult next to him
...
Below his
handwriting was a new line of black letters: open the window: ten minutes
...
He hadn’t been sure that either Ralph or Zane would be in any position to
hear or respond to their ducks
...
He felt cautiously confident that none had been caught, although Ralph’s predicament, left in
the middle of the Slytherin holding pens, was probably worse than anyone else’s
...
Once everyone had seen James explode out of the holding pen riding
Tabitha’s broom, attention had probably focused on his wild ride, and then Tabitha’s summoning of her
broomstick, bringing both it and James back to the pitch
...

James watched the clock over Madam Curio’s desk as the minutes ticked away
...
If Madam Curio came back and
saw him standing by an open window, she’d suspect treachery even though the window was at least thirty feet
above the ground
...
He grabbed the letter from the bedside table and ran lightly toward the far right window
...
The sky had finally cleared, revealing a
dusting of silvery stars, but there was no sign of Nobby
...
It fell over him
heavily, surrounded him, and yanked him bodily out the window before he had time to shout for help
...
Far below, a voice called in a
loud stage whisper, “Not so hard! You’ll grind his bones, already!” James was amazed to recognize Zane’s
voice
...

“Nicely done, Prechka!” Zane called, patting the giant on her shin
...

“I thought you were just bringing Nobby!” James gasped, clambering up
...
“He knew you’d
want to get out and see to this whole Merlin affair, especially now
...
Grawp found Prechka, who’s tall enough to reach the hospital wing, and we
were just trying to figure out how to get you to the window when you ducked at us
...
”
“I’ll say,” James said, rubbing his ribs with the heel of his left palm
...
She’s got a grip! So where is Ted, anyway?”
“House arrest, along with the rest of the Gremlins,” Zane said, shrugging
...
She probably would have let it
slide--she has bigger frogs to dissect with Recreant and Sacarhina here--but Jackson’s idea was to have all the
Gremlins out of the way until tomorrow, when the whole thing with this Prescott dude was taken care of
...

Everybody’s there except Sabrina, who took a pretty ugly Gigantism Curse from Corsica
...
Nothing for it but to sleep it off, apparently
...
So here we are
...
“Same as before
...
We still need to
capture the Merlin staff, if we can, and most importantly, we need to escape so we can testify about whoever
is involved
...

“But first,” James said, holding up the letter he’d written to his dad, “I need to send this
...
Ted was right
...
If we hadn’t asked the Gremlins
to help us, I’d still be stuck up there in the hospital wing
...

“Zane,” James said, turning toward him and stuffing the letter into his pocket, “what time is the
alignment supposed to happen?”
“Nine fifty-five,” Zane answered
...
”
James nodded
...
Bring Prechka if
she’ll come
...
“I don’t think we could get rid of her if we wanted to
...
”

320

“Excellent
...
The lime-green painted tip glowed
eerily in the darkness
...

“All right, keep it handy
...
Try to remember everything we learned in
D
...
D
...
and be ready to put it to use
...
Let’s go
...
He arrived at the portrait hole just as Steven Metzker was coming out
...
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be…”
He stopped, and then glanced around the darkened corridors
...
”
“Thanks, Steven,” James said, ducking into the portrait hole
...
“And I really mean that
...
Don’t make me regret this
...
”
Steven stepped into the hall as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung shut on James
...
Noah
saw James and sat up
...
” The others turned and grinned wickedly
...
“Ralph and Zane just left to get you
...
You should be heading out to the island
...
I just came to mail this
...
Ted nodded in
approval, sensing who it was for
...
”
“I want to come,” Noah said, standing up
...
I want to return the favor on
her behalf
...
“You three have a different job tonight, and it may well involve a curse or two
...
You
three need to guard it
...
I hate to ask
you to do that, but… will you?”
Petra nodded and looked at Noah and Ted
...
But as much as we’d all like a chance
to plug one of those guys, do try not to fail, won’t you?”

321

James nodded, and then turned and ran up the stairs to the boys’ sleeping quarters
...
Nobby, who hadn’t gotten the
principle of the Owlery and continued to show up at James’ window, was sleeping in his cage
...
I know it’s late, but
it’s really important
...

James opened the cage door, letting Nobby hop out onto the ledge of the table
...

“And this time, when you come back, go to the Owlery
...
All right?”
The owl peered at James with his enormous, inscrutable eyes, then hopped onto the window ledge
...

James was about to plunge back down the stairs again when his eye was caught by the dark bulk of
his trunk
...
Maybe Jackson had already
been for the robe
...
Surely the Gremlins below would have seen Jackson coming and going, but then
again, maybe not
...
Maybe he’d disguised himself or maybe
he’d asked Madame Delacroix to use her Remote Physio-Apparition skills to simply appear in the boys’
sleeping quarters to collect the robe directly
...
James had to know
...
The case unlocked at his command, and he riffled through the contents until
he found the case buried at the bottom
...
James gasped in fear, then
felt inside
...
He could even smell that haunting smell of leaves
and earth and living, breathing winds
...

With the trunk open, James wondered if there was anything he might need for his adventure at the
island
...
After a moment’s
consideration, he grabbed the Marauder’s Map and the Invisibility Cloak
...
He turned and
clumped down the stairs quickly, stopping only to remind Noah, Petra, and Ted about Delacroix’s powers
...
“We’ll take turns keeping an eye
on your trunk
...
Satisfied, James ducked through the portrait hole to go meet Ralph and Zane
...
He felt his way down the slope
toward the lake until he heard Zane whistling, apparently trying to sound like a bird
...
Zane and Ralph were huddled nearby
...
“I saw that in a James Bond movie
...
”
“Nice,” James nodded
...
This was it
...
Even now, his absence from the hospital wing
was probably being discovered
...
James glanced up at Prechka
...
”
Prechka heard him
...
“Prechka help,” she said, trying to keep the boom out of her voice
...
” She
grinned at James and her head, now at his level, was nearly as tall as he was
...
James needed Ralph and Zane to
help him up, as his splinted right arm was almost no use to him
...
Without a word, she began to lumber into the forest
...

“How does she know where she’s going?” James asked in a hushed voice
...
“Grawp told her
...
They just
remember where they’ve been and how to get there again
...
I didn’t understand the language at all, but she seems pretty sure of herself
...
Where the he-giant had
been careful and delicate, the giantess swayed and thumped, her footsteps shuddering up her body and
shaking the boys
...
The forest swam
past, eerie from this strange, high perspective, as if it were clawing at the sky
...
“Stop here, Prechka
...
”
Prechka put out a hand, halting herself against a huge, gnarled oak tree
...

“Wait here, Prechka,” James said into the giantess’ enormous, lumpy face
...
He could only hope that her understanding of their wishes was better than
Grawp’s, who had wandered off in search of food after only a few minutes when he’d brought them out here
last year
...
James could see the glitter of moonlight on water through the trees
...
Within a few minutes, they

323

emerged at the perimeter of the lake
...
It loomed monstrously, grown to gothic, cathedral proportions for its ultimate night
...
James
heard Ralph gulp
...

As they reached the opening onto the bridge, the moon slipped from behind a raft of wispy clouds
...
There was virtually no hint of the wild,
wooded nature of the island now
...
At its throat, the vine encrusted gate was as solid-looking and ornate as wrought iron
...

“It’s closed,” Zane whispered, rather hopefully
...
“I don’t know
...
”
Single file, the three boys tiptoed across the bridge
...
It didn’t creak this time
...
The gates, however, remained firmly closed
...
He’d forgotten about the splint on his fractured right arm
...
“My wand
hand’s no use
...
”
“Wh-what am I supposed to do?” Ralph stammered, pulling out his wand
...
”
“Whoa, wait!” Zane said, throwing up a hand
...
“The island wasn’t ready
...
It’ll let us in this time
...
If anybody can do it, he can
...
He took a step backwards, giving Ralph room
...
He cleared his throat
...
“Emphasis on the second and fourth syllables
...
Don’t worry
...
He took a deep breath and, in a tremulous
voice, spoke the command
...
The letters of the poem dissolved into curls
and tendrils, contracting from the wooden shapes of the doors
...

Ralph glanced back at James and Zane, his eyes wide and worried
...
”
“I’d say so, Ralph,” Zane said, moving forward
...

The inside of the Grotto Keep was circular and mostly empty, surrounded by trees that had grown
into the shapes of pillars, supporting a thick, domed ceiling of branches and spring leaves
...
There, in the very center, a
round bowl of earth was lit in a beam of bright moonlight that pierced a hole in the center of the domed
canopy
...

James felt weak with fear
...
He stumbled a little, and then
dropped down behind the bulk of the tree, next to Ralph and Zane
...

Delacroix hadn’t moved
...
The Merlin throne was tall, straight-backed and narrow
...
The mass of it was formed of carvings of vines and leaves,
curling and tangled
...
The throne looked as
if it had been grown rather than carved, much like the Grotto Keep itself
...

Apparently, Delacroix had arrived early
...
James held his breath, and sensed Ralph and Zane hunkering down as low as they
could next to him, hiding among the low underbrush lining the Keep
...
It sounded
both beautiful and frightening
...
Professor Jackson moved into view, walking
resolutely down into the center of the Grotto Keep behind Madame Delacroix
...
” She still hadn’t turned around
...
You are early
...
It’s been a long time coming
...
I am not, of course
...
I have done what I
was meant to do
...
”
“Do you really believe so, Madame?” Jackson asked, stopping several feet behind Delacroix
...
“I wonder
...
I am a believer in choices
...
”
“I have the robe,” Jackson said flatly, abandoning the pretense of polite conversation
...
You will not get it from me
...
I am here to stop you, Madame, despite your
best efforts to keep me away
...
He covered his mouth with his hand, stifling it
...
Next to him, Ralph whispered almost silently, “Did he
say…”
“Shh!” Zane hissed urgently
...
Her shoulders shook slightly with it, and James
realized she was laughing
...
Why, if I had
not allowed a token resistance to your presence on dis trip, you’d have never chosen to come at all
...
And I needed you, Professor
...
”
Jackson stiffened
...
No, the robe is safe
...
I know that, for they were created by me
...
”
But Delacroix was laughing harder
...
The beam of light illuminating
the chair seemed to be growing brighter, and James realized it was the accumulated light of the planets
...
The time of the Hall of Elders’ Crossing was nearly upon them
...
With enemies such as yourself, my success is all the more
delicious
...
”
James had a horrible thought
...
Madame Delacroix had
come to the door to tell Jackson his class was waiting
...
Was it possible that Madame Delacroix had caused that to happen, just so that

326

James would see inside? Had she tried to use him somehow? He remembered Zane and Ralph saying that
the capture of the robe had been easy
...
He shuddered
...
“I’m not crazy!”
Zane leaned in to keep his voice as quiet as possible
...
“The Marauder’s Map and the Invisibility Cloak!”
Ralph reached up and clutched James’ shoulder, turning him so that they were face to face
...
“James, you don’t have the Invisibility Cloak!” he rasped, his voice cracking
...
Below them, in the center of the Grotto Keep, Madame
Delacroix continued to cackle
...
James Potter,” she called through her laughter, “please feel free to join us
...
”
James felt rooted to the spot
...
He would run
...
Now was the moment to flee
...
Ralph pushed him,
urging him to go, but Zane, on James’ other side, slowly stood up and pulled out his wand
...
“You’re as ugly as you are evil
...
The curse struck Madame Delacroix
directly in the back and James watched for her to collapse unconscious
...
It struck the ground near the
throne and vanished harmlessly
...

“Ugly, am I?” Her laughter dried up as her gaze met Zane’s
...
It was,
in fact, her wraith, the projected version of herself
...
” The wraith of
Madame Delacroix raised a hand and Zane was lifted from his feet roughly
...
He seemed to be stuck there, as
if on a hook
...
“Mr
...
You are,
after all, almost my apprentice in dis endeavor
...
Deedle with you
...
Now he looked on as James and Ralph stood jerkily, as if against their will,
and began to march down the steps toward the center of the grotto
...
“Stop, Potter,” he said quietly, raising his wand halfway, pointing it at the floor in
front of James and Ralph
...

“Oh, Theodore, must you prolong dis?” Delacroix sighed
...
Jackson’s wand flicked out of his hand as if on a string
...
Delacroix made another gesture with her hand, and the wand
snapped in midair, as if broken over a knee
...
Then he turned back to Delacroix, his face white with
fury, and began to pace toward her
...

“Dis may only be a representation of de real thing,” she said playfully, “conjured from the dirt of dis
place, just like dis version of myself, but I assure you, Theodore, it is exactly as powerful as I think it is
...
”
Jackson stopped in his tracks, but his face didn’t change
...
You know that
...
She pointed the wand at Jackson and flicked it
...
He landed hard on the
upper stone steps, grunting in pain
...
“Heroes,” she said
disdainfully, and flicked her wand again
...
He hung there, apparently knocked unconscious
...
”
The two boys were lifted from the ground and transported down the rest of the steps
...
Her eyes were emerald green and piercing
...
And please, don’t make me harm
either of you
...
”
The book bag slipped off James’ shoulder and struck the ground at his feet
...
“Please,” Delacroix said, and flicked her wand
...
His hand plunged into the bag, clutched
the robe, and pulled it out
...
“Don’t, James!”
“I’m not,” he said hopelessly
...
She reached out a hand and delicately took the robe from James
...

“You won’t win,” James said angrily
...
”
Delacroix looked up from the robe, meeting James’ eyes with an expression of polite surprise
...
Potter?”
“No!” James said, gritting his teeth
...
Tabitha still has it
...
” He hoped he was
right as he said it
...

Delacroix laughed lightly, as if James had just made a very witty remark at a party
...
Potter? And Miss Corsica is such the perfect individual to harbor it for
me
...

Interesting as it may be, Miss Corsica’s broomstick is nothing more than a convenient ruse
...
It has been cared for
very well, in fact
...
“Your
wand, please, Mr
...
”
“N-no,” Ralph protested, his voice almost a moan
...

“Don’t make me insist, please, Ralph,” Delacroix said, raising her own wand toward him
...
Trembling, he produced his ridiculously huge
wand
...
It wasn’t just unusually thick, whittled to a point at
one end
...
Delacroix reached out and, almost daintily,
plucked the Merlin staff from Ralph’s hand
...

Surely someone would have detected it, had it been in my possession
...
Deedle
...
I do
hope you enjoyed the use of the staff
...

Deedle
...
Please, forgive me
...


329

She turned then, and very carefully began to arrange the relics on the throne
...

Madame Delacroix stepped back from the throne, breathing in a great, long breath of anticipation
...
“Dere we go
...
I do hate to say it, but everything has worked out exactly as I had planned
...
I cannot guarantee dat Merlinus will not destroy you with his arrival, but surely you do not
think dat too high a price to pay to observe such a thing
...

“Such venom,” Delacroix replied, smiling
...
”
The robe of Merlin had been draped across the back of the throne, as if Merlin would simply shrug
into it when he appeared
...
The beam of
combined moon and starlight had become very bright, drawing a dim line through the darkness from the hole
in the domed ceiling to the center of the grassy area below
...
The time of the Hall of Elders’ Crossing had come
...
He knew Madame Delacroix and Ralph had heard it, too
...
It was low and whispering, coming from all directions at
once
...
Madame Delacroix glanced about, her face a mask of glee, and yet James was sure that, wraith or not,
there was a hint of fear on her face as well
...

“Look!” she breathed
...

James glanced around
...
They
were as insubstantial as smoke, but moved intelligently, with growing speed
...
As the tendrils combined, they writhed and collapsed, forming only hazy
shapes at first, and then hardening, coming into focus
...
With an involuntary shudder, James saw that they were the ribs of a skeleton
...
This,
James realized, was an Apparition happening in extreme slow motion
...
The sound that accompanied the Apparition was
growing both in volume and pitch, rising through the octaves and becoming almost human
...
“Dodge this
...
Instantly, the Body-Bind Curse on both James and Ralph fell away
...

From the shoulders up, Delacroix seemed to be made entirely of broken dirt, writhing roots and worms
...

“She forgot about me when Merlin started forming!” Zane shouted, yanking the log free and hoisting
it back over his shoulder
...
Get the
robe and the staff!” Zane swung the log like a baseball bat, taking off one of Delacroix’s arms at the shoulder
...

James jumped forward and snatched a handful of Merlin’s robe, reaching his left hand through the
forming shape of the wizard
...

Digging his heels into the soft earth, James yanked as hard as he could
...
The shape gripped the arms of the throne and seemed
to scream, bringing the pitch of the haunting drone up another octave
...
He jumped back with it,
holding it high over his head
...
It waved its remaining arm wildly at Ralph, then clawed at the robe in
James’ hands
...
James glanced toward the Merlin throne and saw that the
figure there, which had formed to a full skeleton with ghostly musculature clinging to it like moss, was
writhing horribly, beginning to melt again into mist
...

And then, as if out of nowhere, another figure was among them
...
It was the dryad with the horribly long, blue
fingernails, but only just barely
...
A new voice joined the keening wail of the half formed Merlin
...
It became simply two
enormous, black talons
...
The talons spun, placing the relics back into
their positions, and then retracted, falling into dust, as if exhausted
...
The bones grew muscles, layer upon layer
...
The body filled the robe, and the robe
took shape over it
...
The fingers clutched the staff, which had grown to a length of six feet, tapered gently at the
bottom and with a heavy, knobbed end
...


331

The noise of Merlin’s return resolved into a long scream, and the wizard finally ran out of breath, his head
thrown back, the chords of his neck drawn taut as wire
...

Master! a ghostly voice cried out
...
It was a small man, almost invisible
...
You have returned! My work is complete! I am released!
“I have returned,” the voice of Merlin agreed
...

“But what time is this you have returned me to, Austramaddux?”
Th-the world is made ready for you, Master! the ghost stammered, its voice high and frightened
...

Please, Master! Austramaddux screamed, falling to his ghostly knees
...
I only helped a little! I found a woman,
Master! Her heart was open to me! She shared our goals, so I… I encouraged her! I helped, but only a little! A
little!”
Merlin’s gaze moved from Austramaddux to the wraith of Madame Delacroix, which had mostly
reconstituted itself
...
“I am your servant, Merlinus
...
We are prepared for you
...
”
“This puppet of filth is to be my muse?” Merlin said, his voice low but nearly thundering with
intensity
...
”
Delacroix straightened herself and began to speak, but nothing came out
...
The wraith’s
hands floated upwards, rising to clutch at the neck, then to scrabble at it, digging in with long fingernails so
that strips of muddy flesh began to peel away
...
Merlin’s eyes blazed at the wraith and his staff
glowed softly, the runes rippling with their inner light
...
Something ripped forth from the yawning, horrible
mouth
...
The wraith’s body shrunk as the mess poured from its
mouth
...
It was Madame Delacroix as she really
was, somehow transported from her remote place of safety and vomited from her puppet form
...


332

“Austramaddux, you have brought me to a dead time,” Merlin said, his low voice filling the grotto
like the roar of a thousand deeps
...
“The trees have awakened for me, but their voice is nearly mute
...
You have returned me to suit yourself and yourself alone
...

I discharge you from my service
...
”
Merlin raised his free hand and held it, palm out, toward the ghost of Austramaddux
...
No! No, I was faithful! Please!
Do not discharge me! I fulfilled my duty! I was faithful! Nooo!
The last word elongated and rose in pitch, climbing the scale as the ghost seemed to shrink
...
It dwindled, and James saw that it contracted in the same proportion as Merlin’s closing hand, as if
the wizard were squeezing Austramaddux in his outstretched fist
...
Merlin squeezed his
fist, and then opened his hand with a roll of the fingers
...

Finally, as if noticing them for the first time, Merlin turned his attention to James, Ralph, and Zane
...
Merlin
raised his hand again, this time towards James
...
He
fought it, tried to shout out against the descending oblivion, but it was no use
...
The world streamed away, funneling down to a point, and at the
center of the point was the upraised hand of Merlin, pulling him in
...
The eye closed, and Merlin’s voice said one word, a word that seemed to fill the blackness
where the world had once been, and that word was ‘sleep’
...
the Tower Assembly
Dawn was a faint pink line on the rim of the horizon when James opened his eyes
...
Moaning, he
rolled to a sitting position and took stock of his surroundings
...
There wasn’t as much as a depression in the grass where it had stood
...
In the absence of the Merlin throne, the island was quickly returning to its wild, random nature
...
Birds sang in the thatch of tree branches overhead
...
“Where am I? Somehow, I have the terrible feeling that a cup of
coffee and a fireplace is not about to appear before my eyes
...
“Are you all right? Where’s Ralph?”

334

“I’m here,” Ralph muttered
...

So far, nothing alarming, except that I need a bathroom even more than St
...
”
James climbed the steps into the gloom of the upper terraces of the grotto
...
Zane and Ralph were climbing
unsteadily to their feet
...
“And I don’t see Jackson or Delacroix, either
...

“Guess we were wrong about him, weren’t we?” Ralph said
...

Zane rubbed his lower back and groaned
...
We
almost stopped Merlin’s return, thanks to a handy length of log and my catlike reflexes
...
The three boys found the opening that led out to the
dragon’s head bridge, hacked through some weeds that had grown up to choke the space, and stumbled out
into the dawn
...
The bank bordering the forest was muddy and wet, covered in morning dew
...
There were tracks in the fresh, slippery mud
...
Away from the school,” Zane said, bending over to study the
sloppy markings
...
“No
...
That looks like Delacroix and Jackson to
me
...
Besides, something about Merlin
tells me he doesn’t leave tracks unless he makes a point of it
...

“I hope she doesn’t break him,” Ralph replied morosely
...
”
“Don’t remind me,” James muttered
...
” He began to walk forward,
heading generally into the woods where they’d left Prechka, but with no real destination in mind
...
Twice, Delacroix
had called him her apprentice
...
He had played right
into her plan, bringing the robe to her
...
She hadn’t had to lift so much as a finger
...
A lone, rogue
Merlin might be even more dangerous than a Merlin in league with people like the Progressive Element
...
Merlin was from a different time, a more direct and
deadly time
...
Zane and Ralph followed quietly
...
James wasn’t surprised, really
...
Without a word, the boys followed them, shivering and wet with dew
...
As they walked, the mist grew
bright, absorbing the sun, and finally began to burn away
...
And then, surprisingly, there were distant voices, calling for
them
...
“That’s Ted!”
“And Sabrina!” Ralph added
...
A
gigantic shape loomed out of the mist, moving almost delicately through the trees
...

“Boy, you three look like Inferi leftovers,” Ted called down from Grawp’s shoulders
...
“Short version: Merlin’s back, the voodoo queen’s on the
run, and Jackson was a good guy after all
...
”
“Is there room up there for three more, Grawp?” Ralph said, shivering
...
”
Grawp knelt and the three boys clambered onto his back, crowding in with Sabrina and Ted
...
There was no pain, and the bones of his
arm seemed sturdy and straight
...

“How’d you two get out?” James asked Ted when he was crammed in next to him, holding handfuls
of Grawp’s straw-like hair for support
...
”
“That was last night,” Ted said simply
...

Merlin showed up in the middle of the night, and let me tell you, that bloke knows how to make an
entrance
...

“He obviously speaks Giant, and he had her really wild
...
She’s
still there, snoring next to the main entrance like the world’s largest pile of laundry
...
“After that,
it was pandemonium
...
People were already pretty uptight, what with that Prescott guy still on the grounds and nobody
knowing what he’s up to
...
Then
he sees Peeves and the weirdest thing happens!”
“What?” Zane asked hopefully
...
Merlin
stopped when he saw Peeves, and then he spoke to him
...
It was in
some really weird, flowery language
...
It’s the kind
of grin you see on a house-elf when the master is just as prone to wallop the elf with a frying pan as look at it
...
They
talk for few seconds in low voices, and then Peeves moves off, slow enough for Merlin to follow
...
”
“Peeves?” Ralph said incredulously
...
“It isn’t natural
...
Most of us Gremlins had already guessed he was Merlin, but that proved it
...

“Sylvven Tower,” Sabrina answered
...
Nobody uses it for
much anymore
...
”
“I don’t like the sound of that one bit,” Zane said
...
“Apparently, he thinks that this ‘Pendragon’ is the king or leader
...
Anyway, McGonagall gathered the faculty to go and deal
with him, and that’s when she realized that both Professor Jackson and Delacroix were gone
...
Next thing we know, McGonagall is sending
us off to find the three of you
...
She seems to suspect you three might know something about this ‘infernal mess’, as she put it
...
The castle shone
in the brilliant morning sunlight, its windows sparkling gaily, despite the turmoil within
...
James remembered the time difference between
the Hogwarts and the Philadelphia side of the Garage, and knew that those on that side would still be fast
asleep
...

“Great job, Grawp!” Sabrina said warmly, patting the giant on his enormous shoulder
...
The massive wooden doors were hanging from one
hinge each, smashed inward and gaping
...
As they entered,
Ralph gasped and grabbed James’ arm, pointing
...
Recreant and Ms
...
Both had their eyes open and were grinning unnaturally at the ceiling
...

“Are they… d-dead?” Ralph stammered
...
“Not likely
...
Just really,
really slowly
...
Looks like they tried to greet
him and he just zapped them, somehow
...
Anyway, we pulled them out of the way so people wouldn’t trip over them
...

“Where’s Sylvven Tower?” James asked as they hurried through the corridors
...
Narrowest, too,” Ted answered, his voice
uncharacteristically somber
...
It’s too tall and
treacherous to climb
...
Every castle
had one, and it was considered neutral ground, sort of like a universal embassy or something
...
Four advisors were allowed to accompany them, but the rest had to wait below
...
”
James felt his heart sink even lower
...
“Dunno
...
I assume she meant to meet him herself
...
”
The five students walked through a wide, low arch, entering the oldest and least used section of the
castle
...
Students were gathered in the
corridors, lining the walls and talking in hushed voices
...
The floor was
crowded with students, muttering in nervous anticipation
...
After a cursory glance upwards, Ted began to climb the stairs
...

“McGonagall’s up there with… him?” Ralph asked
...
“She’s good
...


338

They climbed the rest of the way in silence
...
Ralph was wheezing behind him, pulling himself
up with both hands on the thick banister
...
It was low, thick with heavy rafters and dust and centuries of owl and pigeon guano
...
There were several
people present, although none of them appeared to be the Headmistress or Merlin
...
”
“He was summoned, Professor Slughorn,” Sabrina said, following the others into the room
...
They are to go up right away
...
“There’s more? This isn’t the top?”
“Ah, Mr
...
“Yes, I am afraid there is, but only a bit more
...
Are you quite sure about this, Miss Hildegard? This is hardly the place for children
...

“You were in the room when the Headmistress sent us to find them, Professor,” Ted said, allowing a
hint of sternness to creep into his voice
...

“Let them proceed, Horace,” Professor Flitwick said from a bench near the window
...
They are hardly any safer with us here if that savage prevails
...
He
turned to Ralph and clapped him stiffly on the shoulder
...
Deedle
...
James, Ralph, and Zane approached and climbed the worn steps slowly
...
James pushed it open and sunlight poured in, blinding him momentarily as he
climbed onto the surface above
...
Marble pillars surrounded the space,
but there was no roof
...
Merlin sat only a few feet away, facing the three boys as they emerged into the soft wind and
warm sunlight
...

“Mr
...
Walker, and Mr
...
Thank
you for joining us
...
We will come to your tale shortly
...
McGonagall was seated behind them, across from
Merlin
...
It made her look both younger and dreadful, like a sort of tyrant queen
...
On McGonagall’s left, arranged along the rim of the highest terrace, were four
more carven seats, although they were much less ornate
...

“Dad!” James breathed, a smile of relief and joy surfacing on his face
...

“James,” Harry said quietly, his face grim, “I was told you had gone missing
...
I would have gone after the three of you myself, except that we received word you’d been found
only moments after I arrived
...

Harry allowed a crooked smile and held up a Weasley rubber duck
...
Very handy
...
“I know I shouldn’t have
...
Merlin’s back and it’s all my fault
...
“Don’t be too hard on
yourself, my boy
...
For now, I think we have other matters to
attend to
...
He’d nearly forgotten about them in the
excitement and relief of seeing his dad
...
Sorry
...
James noticed for the first time that the opposite side of the
terrace was occupied by a surprising number of birds and creatures, all of which were staring hard at Merlin
...
Sitting incongruously among them, also staring at
the bearded man, were a variety of creatures James recognized as house animals
...
Even Zane’s cat, Thumbs, was there, sitting near the front, his black and white nose
twitching slightly
...

Neville stirred and stood
...
Between that and your,
I must admit, surprising attire… well, surely you must know how this looks to us
...
Longbottom, and the rest of you,” McGonagall said, finally looking away from
Merlin and meeting the eyes of those gathered to her left
...
This gentleman comes
from a time of formality and ritual
...
I am afraid that when he first found us, he assumed that all of us, including myself and the faculty,
were peasants who had somehow managed to overrun the castle
...
As for the language…”
“I can speak in the language of your servants, if you wish it, Madam Pendragon,” Merlin interrupted
in his low, carrying voice
...
”
McGonagall sighed and closed her eyes
...
“These are my associates, not my underlings, sir
...
I am not the Pendragon of a kingdom
...
But yes, please do speak so that all of us may
understand
...
“I assume your council is fully present, then?”
“It is
...
“This man claims to be Merlinus Ambrosius, returned to the world of men from an age of nothingness,
by the combined arrangement of his ghostly apprentice and five other individuals
...
He was careful to proclaim, to his own shame, how Professor
Jackson had meant to protect the robe and keep it from the grotto, foiling Madame Delacroix’s plan, but that
James had inadvertently ruined his intentions
...
“Ralph and Zane only helped because I talked them into
it
...
But I ruined everything
...
”
McGonagall’s face was calm but unreadable as James finished
...
He sighed
...

“Austramaddux’s plan abused the intentions of many, I see, some good and some bad
...
Allow me to repeat, then: I have been, it
seems, the subject of a very dire campaign of lies and slander
...

This is no truer than the litany of virtues embroidered into the history of this Voldemort villain you have
described to me
...
I killed only when there was no hope of repentance
or slavery
...
I am no horror to be sought after by the pathetic creatures whom you gratuitously
call ‘evil’, whose own wickedness is hardly a candle to the torches of iniquity I have observed in my own
time
...
Many lived in fear of you
...
“And even in
their case, I would more likely have approached them with the rod instead of the sword
...
You exposed yourself to currents of magic that separated you
from the rest of humanity, currents that were, in fact, more than most human beings could touch and remain
sane
...
Perhaps even warped by it
...
The ambiguous morality of Merlinus Ambrosius was well-known, as was his cavalier
attitude towards the lives of the non-magicked
...
I cannot speak for your own time, but in
ours, those who wish war upon the Muggle world are our sworn enemies
...
”
“You dare to challenge the nobility of such as me?” Merlin asked, his voice smooth and calm
...
“You were of questionable motive
in your own time, as even the best historians agree
...
And in regard to your
powers, they may be formidable, but even in your time, the current from which you drew your power was
waning as the earth was tamed
...

You hoped to return to an age when the current of the earth was restored, when your power would once again
be uninterrupted and complete
...
The current is more parsed than ever
...

Choose carefully with whom you ally in this age, Merlinus
...
“I have truly returned
to a time of darkness if the Pendragon believes that a mere threat of doom might sway the convictions of an
honorable wizard
...
I have never
foresworn allegiance to any whose hearts were turned hard against the non-magicked
...
I serviced all, but always with that goal in my heart
...
”
“You speak well, Merlinus,” the Headmistress said, “but you have not stated your purpose plainly
...
He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together
...
Occasionally, the scent of it, wild and
spicy, wafted in the breeze of the tower’s top
...
” He opened his eyes again, and looked around at the assembly
...

You meet me with no recognition of my status and no blessing upon my head, wearing the clothes of jesters
and field boys, and yet you are surrounded by tables of plenty, on plates as round and smooth as the planets
...

And then, above all, my honor and allegiance is challenged, when I myself only refrain from demanding
tribute out of respect for a foreign age
...
There is no age ripe for me
...
It was thought that you would lead the
rebellion against the Muggle world, but if your claims are true, then you may have been brought here by an
even greater providence so that you might aid us in preventing just such a tragedy
...
This very day, a man resides among us, a Muggle
man
...
He has access to an engine called ‘the press’ by which he can make known the
secrets of the magical world to the rest of humanity
...
If this man and his secret plotters succeed, they will abuse
the recombination of the magical and Muggle world
...
You, more than anyone, know what the result of such a scheme would be
...
Those who plot chaos are expecting you
...
Aid us
...
The animals fidgeted
slightly, noses twitching and feathers ruffling
...
He moved with slow, massive grace until he was fully erect, his staff held upright next to
him, his piercing blue eyes settling on the Headmistress
...
“It was my selfish aim to leave
my own age only to find a time when my power would be restored in fullness
...
I have returned now only to find my power cut to pieces, far more than it was in my own
time
...
This is no longer my world
...
Perhaps not
...
Whether it shines down on war or peace, truth
or lies, I know not, but I do know this: it will shine upon a world that knows me not, nor I it
...
I bid all of you: fare thee well
...
As one, the birds on the railings and benches launched
from their perches
...
When the mass of birds
broke apart, streaming from the top of the tower in all directions, there was no sign of Merlin
...
It was over
...
Harry turned James around and folded him into his arms
...
James
didn’t believe anything was all right, but he was glad for the words anyway
...


“I wonder if he’s really gone for good,” Neville mused out loud
...
“But the fact of the matter is that he has nowhere to go
...
I fear we must assume that Merlinus is with us,
for better or worse
...
Potter, can he be tracked?”
Harry thought for a moment
...
He will probably retreat to the
protection of the woodlands, where his power is strongest
...
I believe we can locate
him, given a team of Aurors and enough time
...
“Merlinus is a creature of mystery and confusion
...
Things were much clearer in his time
...
He doesn’t know who to trust, whose aims most reflect his own
...
He retreats now in order
to examine his own heart as much as to study the factions of this age
...

Franklyn had produced the same brass device he’d used to examine James’ broken arm on the
Quidditch pitch
...
He nodded slowly
...
Merlin admitted to us that pride is his greatest weakness
...
But there is no doubt of it
...
”
“That doubt won’t last forever, though,” Neville said, stepping down the terraces toward the wooden
floor
...
His power may be diminished,
but I’d wager he is still unmatched by any single wizard alive today
...
”
Harry was shaking his head
...

Or at least, not willfully evil
...
“He’s been sought after by the most evil wizards for the past
thousand years or so, hasn’t he?”
“Not the most evil wizards,” McGonagall said pointedly
...
“Only those who were confused or warped enough to believe their aims
were good, somehow
...
At least, as far as we know
...
“Our day has barely begun and we
already have far more to manage than we rightly know how
...
”
Franklyn heaved the trapdoor open and the group began to file down the steps
...

Slughorn and the rest of the professors gathered below greeted them with worried faces and a flurry of
questions
...

“How’d you get here so fast, Dad?” he asked
...

How’d McGonagall get hold of you so quickly?”
“It wasn’t the Headmistress that brought me here, James,” Harry replied, glancing over his shoulder
at his son
...
Nobby delivered it this morning, and I came as soon as I read it
...
”
“But Sacarhina said you were off on some special assignment and weren’t to be bothered!”

345

Harry laughed humorlessly
...
I’m doing nothing but desk work this week
...
”
“Yeah,” James nodded
...

They’re in on all this Progressive Element stuff
...
“Be careful who you mention
that to,” he said, lowering his voice
...
Hermione does what she
can to fight the propaganda and weed out the instigators, but it’s complicated
...
I think she’s the mastermind behind the return of Merlin, in fact
...
“That can’t be
...
”
“Yeah, Sacarhina didn’t even arrive until yesterday evening,” Zane added
...
“Sacarhina isn’t the kind of person to get her hands dirty with any of
the actual work
...
Recreant and Sacarhina are only here now
because they claim to be escorting an ‘expert in Muggle-magical relations’ to deal with this Prescott person
...
They were expecting to produce Merlin himself, and pass him off as that expert
...
“Sacarhina and Merlin were supposed to work together to make sure Prescott got
his story out, weren’t they?”
Harry nodded
...
This is all no coincidence
...
The recombination of the Muggle and magical world is
essential to their final plan for all-out war
...
“Does that ruin
their plan?”
“I don’t know,” Harry sighed
...

Sacarhina may no longer need Merlin for this part of the plan
...
”
“But she’s evil!” James exclaimed
...
“But we
have to be very careful
...
I can’t just defy her
...
She wants the Auror Department shut down
entirely
...
Even more so than protecting the secrecy of
the magical world
...

“In the short run, perhaps
...
Neville, the Headmistress, and I have a
few tricks up our sleeves
...
The only question
now is who led him here in the first place?”
“Well, it would’ve been Sacarhina, wouldn’t it?” Zane suggested
...
“She’s signed the Vow of Secrecy, just like every other witch and
wizard
...
Besides, she wouldn’t know anything about how a GameDeck worked or how it could be used to
lead somebody to Hogwarts
...
The Headmistress and the
professors were descending behind them
...

“That’s the only part of this that really baffles me,” Harry said as he tromped down the stairs
...
Any Muggle parent of a student is bound by their own
contract of non-disclosure
...
And yet someone obviously did
...
”
By the time they neared the last curve of the staircase, the Headmistress, Neville, and the rest of the
professors had caught up to them
...

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we are all returning to you whole and well
...
“In order to dispel rumors and quell any fears, I intend to be quite
forthright about what has been, and still is, occurring here today
...
The first is still here
...
His intentions are quite questionable, but I can assure you that we, your faculty,
are prepared to--”
“Thank you, Minerva,” a high, ringing voice interrupted
...
I appreciate your thoroughness, however
...
Sacarhina’s smile was
large and glinting in the dusty light of the tower floor
...
“In that case, I expect you all have classes to attend to
...
Let us make what we can with the rest of the day, shall
we?”
“Do you really believe it is necessary for classes to go forward today, Minerva?” Sacarhina said when
the Headmistress and the rest of the troupe reached the bottom of the steps
...
”
“Unusual days are the best days for classes, Miss Sacarhina,” McGonagall replied, stepping past the
woman
...
If you’ll excuse me
...
Recreant said, smiling a bit too enthusiastically
...
Family occasion, is it?” He turned his grin on James, and then flashed it over
Ralph and Zane as well
...
“I’m equally surprised to see the two of you here
...
And I’ve been doing an awful lot of paperwork, as you
know
...
“Very unexpected, this is,” she said in a confidential tone of voice
...
Surely
Minerva told you about it? Martin Prescott, a Muggle reporter, right here on the grounds
...
”
“Does it?” Harry said, stopping near the door and facing Sacarhina
...
“We
hadn’t chosen to bother him with the particulars, per se
...

“Harry,” Sacarhina said silkily, “the fact is that this sort of scenario is exactly the purview of the
Department of Ambassadorial Relations
...
Nor do we require his approval when dealing with the
execution of our daily duties
...
“I am curious to see what the Department of
Ambassadorial Relations does to execute its daily duties in such a situation
...
Potter,” Sacarhina said, her smile snapping shut like a jewelry box
...
Prescott’s crew will arrive and they will get their tour
...
Prescott’s very ingenious fail-safes
...
It would not go well for you
...
She stopped, and then very slowly turned back toward Zane
...
Harry was looking at Zane with a mixture of
curiosity and amusement
...
Come on, now, that’s gotta hurt
...
Her eyes moved back to Harry
...
Potter, but it really doesn’t do for Ministry officials to tell
such stories
...
” She shook her head vaguely, then turned and walked through the
archway with Mr
...

“You sure have a way with people, Zane,” Harry said, grinning and ruffling the boy’s hair
...
“My mom says it’s a curse
...

“Could be,” Harry replied
...

She may have no recollection of his coming last night
...
Although it won’t trip her up for long when he doesn’t show
...
”
James stopped in the middle of the corridor
...
James’ face was wide-eyed and thoughtful
...

“I need to go to the Forbidden Forest,” he said
...
Dad, will you come with me?
Zane, Ralph, you too?”
Harry didn’t ask his son any questions
...
“What do you two think? You up for playing a little hooky?”

349

James walked purposefully into the forest, followed at a short distance by Harry, Zane, and Ralph
...
For several
minutes, the foursome walked in silence, and then, finally, James stopped
...
There were no other sounds
...
James closed his eyes for a moment, thinking, and then opened
them again and spoke
...
But the ones who are will hear me, and I hope
you’ll help
...
He may be far, far away by now, but even so, I think you know
where he is
...
I know tree sprites can talk, because
we’ve already met one of you
...
”
James stopped and took another deep breath, not entirely sure what he meant to say
...
He had been used by Delacroix to help bring Merlin into the world,
despite the best efforts of those who’d wished to prevent it
...
All this time, he’d believed he was doing good, saving the world from evil,
walking in the steps of his hero father
...
He’d tried to do it alone, like his dad had done, but he’d failed
...
And now evil expected him to give up
...
Maybe now he could
try to help in a different way
...

Maybe this was his way, after all
...
You said he was selfish, that he just wanted to get out of the duty he swore to you
...
She thinks that this is the very time you were meant to
return to, because this world needs your help to stop a war that might destroy us all
...
”
James glanced back at his dad
...

“I listened to everything you said, and what everybody said after you left, and I think you were
brought to this time because you need something
...
You don’t know if you controlled your powers or if they controlled you
...
This is your chance--maybe your last chance--to
prove that you are a good wizard after all
...
I don’t say this because I
understand it myself yet, but at least I’m trying to learn it
...

Whoever brought you here means for you to rescue the world, but… I think you’re also here to be rescued
from yourself
...
He looked up, craning his neck and squinting, searching the trees for
some sign that his message had been heard, and that it might be delivered
...
The branches creaked quietly to themselves
...

Zane clapped James on the shoulder as they turned to leave
...
“But I think you meant it
...
”
“Did you come up with that all by yourself?” Ralph asked
...

Harry didn’t say anything as they walked, but he put his arm around James’ shoulder and kept it
there the whole way back
...
And then James realized, with some contentment, that his dad approved because it wasn’t
the way he’d have done it
...
Maybe learning this
truth--the sort of truth that one has to learn on his own, despite all the people who’d tried to teach it with
mere words--was worth everything that had happened so far
...


351

19
...
James noticed that the house-elf operating the enormous stove bellows was the grumpy house-elf
who’d told the three boys they were on probation
...
They crowded at a tiny table beneath an even tinier window and ate plates of kippers and toast and
drank pumpkin juice and black tea
...

They were still dressed in the clothes they had worn during the failed broomstick caper of the day before, and
they were all decidedly grubby from their night in the forest
...

On the way to the common room, James decided to take a detour to the hospital wing to collect his
backpack
...
He glanced up, closing the magazine
...
“Heard yeh was
back safe and sound
...
“What
are you doing here, Hagrid?”

352

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? I’m keepin’ watch, I am
...
Needs his rest and ‘cuperation, after all he’s been through
...
He peered more closely into the crack between the doors
...

“Why, Professor Jackson, a’course!” Hagrid said, standing and joining James by the doors
...
“Haven’t you heard? Showed up in the courtyard ‘alf an
hour ago, looking quite a fright,” he whispered
...
We brought ‘im in here straight away and I was given the post of keepin’ an eye on the
doors while Madam Curio ‘tended to ‘im
...
“He’s injured?”
“That’s what we thought at first,” Hagrid said, stepping back
...
He’s been in a duel, she’s says, and a long one, at that
...
That’s all we could get out of ‘im before he conked out
...
“But Delacroix broke his wand!”
“Did she?” Hagrid said, impressed
...
“He and she… look, I’ll
explain later
...
I saw the bits
...
”
“Weerrrll…,” Hagrid said, resuming his seat and producing a long, pained groan from the bench
...
They like to carry more‘n one wand around
...
They sticks ‘em in their boots and up their sleeves and hide ‘em in their canes and such
...
“Sorry, Professor,” he said quietly
...
”
“What’s that, James?” Hagrid said, glancing up
...
“I left it in there last night
...
“Only
I’ve got my orders, here
...
The Headmistress thinks that whoever attacked Jackson might
come looking for him
...
”
“It was Delacroix, Hagrid
...
I can come back later
...
”

353

Hagrid nodded, and then flopped his magazine open onto his lap again
...

The Gryffindor common room was empty
...
In fact, as James headed up the stairs
to the sleeping quarters, he felt a gust of cool, fresh air push past him
...
He was just wondering if he should shut it or not when he topped the landing and saw Merlin
reclined comfortably on his bed
...

James glanced at the open window next to his bed, then back to Merlin
...
“Did you…” He pointed uncertainly at the window
...
“Lofted upon the
wings of my skyborne brethren? What do you think, James Potter?”
James closed his mouth, realizing that this was a kind of test
...

“No,” he answered
...
”
“I like the scents of the air, especially this time of year,” the great wizard replied, looking toward the
open window
...
Even the nonmagicked feel it
...
It’s close enough to the truth not to matter,
but it isn’t love of a man and a woman
...
”
“But you wanted me to believe that you came in through the window, didn’t you?” James said,
feeling carefully emboldened
...
“Nine-tenths of magic happens in the mind, James Potter
...
”
James approached another bed and sat on it
...
“I have moved in
and out, to and fro
...
I have met very strange things in the forest, articles of this age, and learned much of the
way the world is in this time
...
”

354

James smiled slowly, realizing something
...
“But I will admit that I did hear everything your Professors Franklyn and
Longbottom, and the Pendragon, and yes, your father, said about me
...
And yet I am no slave to arrogance
...

I left then, and I visited my old lands
...
I studied my own deep soul as Franklyn
supposed I should
...
A shadow…”
Merlin paused for a long moment
...
His face remained utterly immobile, but his eyes were distant
...

“But a shadow was not enough to bring me back to the mire of double-speak and confused loyalties
that pass for battle-lines in this benighted age
...
Your message, James Potter
...
He looked at
James nakedly, his eyes suddenly wet
...
He even felt
a little guilty for his own words, words that had apparently, shockingly, pierced this enormous man’s hidden
heart
...
It was not a
matter of masking the emotion, James realized
...

“Thus, James Potter,” the wizard said, standing slowly, so that he seemed to fill the room
...

I am at your service
...
I have learned much of this world during my travels
this day, and I love little of it, but there is a present evil, even though it is masked with duplicity and
etiquette
...
”
James grinned and jumped up as well, not sure whether to shake Merlin’s hand, hug him, or bow
...
Er, Merlinus
...
Ambrosius?”
The wizard simply smiled, his ice-blue eyes twinkling
...
I guess I have to explain all that to you
...
”

355

“I am Merlin, James Potter,” the wizard said, sighing
...
You’d be quite surprised, methinks, to learn how much the trees
know of your culture
...
Prescott is not your problem
...
”
“All right,” James said, plopping back onto the bed
...
“We require heroes of wit and cleverness, unafraid to foil convention in
order to defend a higher allegiance
...
What we need at this moment, James Potter, are
scoundrels with honor
...
“I know just the group
...
Got it
...
“Lead on
...
Potter,” Merlin said breezily, stepping out onto the landing and placing his fists on his hips,
“you won the moment I decided to join you
...

“Like I said,” Merlin replied, turning to follow James with his long, slow stride, “nine-tenths of magic
happens in the mind
...
Potter, is pure and unadulterated bluster
...
”

After the bright, misty morning, the day progressed into a hazy stillness of unseasonable warmth
...
Prescott and
his entourage, but in spite of her order, dozens of students had gathered in the courtyard to witness the arrival
of the Muggle reporter’s crew
...
Only a few
feet away, Tabitha Corsica and her Slytherin compatriots were looking decidedly bright-eyed and eager
...
Recreant
...


356

“Are you sure they can get their vehicles in through the way you described, Miss Sacarhina?” he said,
glancing up to where she stood, squinting in the sunlight
...
You know
...
There aren’t any magical mud bogs or bridges with trolls living under them or
anything, are there?”
Sacarhina was about to answer when the sound of automobile engines became audible in the near
distance
...
James, standing near
the front of the crowd of students with his dad, thought Headmistress McGonagall was handling herself
pretty well, considering everything
...
There were two of them, and James recognized them as the sort of enormous off-road
trucks Zane called ‘Landrovers’
...
All four doors
popped open and men began to emerge, blinking in the hazy sunlight and carrying large leather bags covered
in thick pockets
...

“I want lights and reflectors on the left side of the steps, angled toward the doors
...
Eddie, you have the chairs? No? All right, that’s fine, we’ll
stand
...
We want to keep the feeling of exposé alive the
whole time
...

Double film the whole shoot with it, got it? We’ll edit the footage in here and there for that hidden camera
feel
...
Where’s Greta with the makeup?”
The crew completely ignored the assembly of students and the Headmistress and Ministry officials on
the steps
...
James noticed a few individuals moving among the
group that didn’t seem preoccupied with the technical preparations
...
One of them, an old, balding, friendly-looking man in a
light grey suit, ambled up the stairs toward the Headmistress
...
He bowed slightly toward
the Headmistress
...
Not quite retired, but close enough
not to matter
...
Prescott may have mentioned me? He made rather a big deal of my being here, it seems
...
So
this is some sort of… school, I understand?”
“Indeed it is, Mr
...
“My name is Brenda Sacarhina,
head of the Department of Ambassadorial Relations for the Ministry of Magic
...
”
“Ministry of Magic
...

His gaze hadn’t strayed from the Headmistress
...

“Minerva McGonagall, Mr
...
Pleased to meet you
...
”
“Charmed, charmed!” Finney said, taking McGonagall’s hand reverently and bowing again
...
”
“Please, do call me Minerva,” McGonagall said, and James saw just the slightest pained look pass over
her face
...
And call me Randolph, I insist
...
He turned on the spot, taking in the castle and grounds
...
Especially one as magnificent as this
...
What do you call it?”
Sacarhina began to answer, but nothing came out
...

“Hogwarts, Randolph,” McGonagall answered, smiling carefully
...
”
“You don’t say?” Finney replied, glancing at her
...
”
“We like to think so
...
“I see you’ve already met the Headmistress
...
Recreant are here to conduct the tour, of course
...
”
“And she performs her role quite well, doesn’t she?” Finney said, turning back to McGonagall with a
grin
...

“You have met Miss Sacarhina and Mr
...
“Miss Sacarhina, perhaps you will tell Detective Finney a bit of what it is you do here?”
Sacarhina smiled charmingly and stepped forward, threading her arm through Finney’s in an attempt
to lead him away from Headmistress McGonagall
...
She paused, then closed her mouth and tried to look down at it, which
produced a rather odd expression
...

“Are you quite all right, Miss?”

358

“Miss Sacarhina is feeling just a tad under the weather, Detective Finney,” Recreant said, adopting an
ingratiating grin that was no match for Sacarhina’s practiced smile
...
This is a school of magic,
as the Headmistress has already mentioned
...
We--” Recreant’s
next word seemed to catch in his throat
...
After a long, awkward moment, he closed his mouth
...

Finney’s brow was still furrowed
...
“Yes? Spit it out, then, why don’t you? Are you both ill?”
Prescott was very nearly hopping from foot to foot
...
We can begin as soon as… as soon as…”
He realized he still had tissues jammed into the collar of his shirt
...
“Miss Sacarhina, you had mentioned that there would be someone else? An expert in
explaining things to the uninitiated? Perhaps now would be a good time to introduce this person?”
Sacarhina craned her head forward, her eyes bulging very slightly and her mouth open
...

“Here he is now, I suspect
...
Hubert tends to be rather late sometimes
...
Still, he is a genius in his own way, isn’t he, Brenda?”
Her mouth still open, Sacarhina turned to follow McGonagall’s pointing hand
...
It was ancient, its engine choppy and puttering a pall of blue
smoke
...
Sacarhina and Recreant stared at
the vehicle with twin expressions of pure bewilderment and disgust
...
The engine
coughed, sputtered, and then died, slowly
...
“I haven’t seen one of those in decades! I’m amazed it
still runs
...
Hubert is very good with engines, Randolph,” McGonagall said crisply
...
”
The driver’s door squeaked open and a figure clambered up out of it
...
The man squinted at the stairs, smiling a little vacantly
...
The man’s hair was pulled back in a natty, almost prim ponytail
...
Terrence Hubert,” McGonagall said, introducing the man
...
Welcome, sir
...
”
Mr
...


359

“I hope you don’t mind, everybody,” Mr
...
“I’ve brought my wife
along with me
...
”
James gasped as Madame Delacroix climbed awkwardly out of the car
...
“Hello,” she said in a strangely monotone voice
...
“She’s a dearie, isn’t she? Well, shall we begin, then?”
Sacarhina coughed, her eyes widening rather alarmingly as she watched Delacroix join Mr
...
She nudged Recreant with her elbow, but he was as mute as she was
...
“There’s no
chancellor! Since when is there a chancellor?”
“I do apologize, sir,” Hubert said, climbing the steps with Delacroix by his side
...
“I’ve been away for the past week
...
Wonderful little
distribution warehouse there
...
I
inspect all our materials by hand before ordering anything
...

Heh, heh!” Hubert tapped the side of his nose with an index finger, grinning conspiratorially at Prescott
...
He stared at Hubert, then at Madame Delacroix
...
“All right, who cares? Mr
...
” He threw a glance over his shoulder at the camera crew, gesturing wildly with his eyebrows, and then
followed Hubert into the gigantic open doors
...
“We teach
magic! We are, in fact, Europe’s premiere school of the magical arts
...
He grinned a little nervously into it
...
To acquire, to
absorb, to, er, steep, as it were, in the secret arts of divination, illumination, prestidigitation, and, er, etcetera,
etcetera
...
“I see
...
Why ever would I deny it?”
“Then you do not deny,” Prescott said in a pouncing sort of voice, “that these paintings, which line
this very room, are magical, moving paintings?” He gestured grandly toward the walls
...
The boom
microphone operator lowered his apparatus, so as to be sure to capture Hubert’s response
...
“Oh
...
Well, I suspect they
could be said to move
...
” Hubert raised his hands mysteriously, warming to the subject
...
Prescott’s face
darkened
...
Make them move! You know they can! You!” He spun on his heels
and pointed at McGonagall
...
“I can’t imagine what you mean,
sir,” the Headmistress replied
...
“Just you conduct your almighty
investigation, Prescott, and let’s get this over with
...
“Ooookay
...
Silly me
...
“I presume class is currently in session, Mr
...
“In session? Well, I… I guess so
...
“Well, we would
...
”
“Viewers?” Hubert repeated, glancing back to the camera
...
“No, Mr
...
It isn’t
...
Miss Sacarhina, you understood all of this,
am I correct?” He glanced aside at Sacarhina, who smiled and spread her arms
...
Recreant cinched his grin a notch higher
...
“Great,” Prescott muttered
...
Marvelous
...
” He straightened and glared at
Hubert again
...
Chancellor
...
”
Hubert turned to Delacroix
...
Honey,” Delacroix said, forming the words rather awkwardly
...

“My wife is foreign, as you can see,” Hubert said apologetically
...
”
“The classrooms, please, Mr
...
“You can’t keep the press out, sir
...
We appreciate the publicity, in fact,” Hubert said, turning to lead the crew
down a hall
...
Magic is a, er,
specialized study, to say the least
...
Ah,
here we are then
...
”
Prescott walked briskly into the open doorway of the classroom, followed by his camera crew and
boom microphone operator, scrambling to keep up with him
...
Harry and James, at the head of the crowd of
curious students, leaned in through the door to watch
...
A dozen
students were scattered around the room, staring grimly down at the objects on the desks in front of them
...

“Seek, students!” she cried in her mistiest voice
...
“My own mam used to read fortunes in tea leaves for the tourists!
Got us through some hard times, back in the day
...
”
“‘Traditions’, pah!” Trelawney said, arising from her seat and swirling her gauzy robes dramatically
...
Past, present, future, all bound together for
those who bear the eyes to see!”
“That’s just what my mam used to say, too!” chuckled Finney
...

“This is ridiculous
...
Prescott,” Hubert said
...
Second semester
...

“Covers the crystal balls,” Hubert said behind his raised hand
...
We have
them special made in China
...
Of course, the students get to take them home at
the end of the school year
...
”
“I believe you mentioned levitation!” Prescott said, marching out of the room
...

“Certainly, yes
...
“We combine that class with Basic Prestidigitation
...
”

362

Zane stood in the center of the classroom with a wand in his hand
...
There was a gasp and sigh of amazement from
Prescott’s crew
...

“Aha!” Prescott said excitedly
...
“Mr
...
Mr
...

“Excellent form, my boy,” Hubert replied
...
Then, suddenly, it
dropped, falling onto a mattress which had been placed in the center of the floor
...
Walker
...

“It wasn’t my fault!” Zane yelled
...
He held a handful of
wires in his hand, all of which snaked up to a series of pulleys attached to the ceiling of the closet
...

He was slow with the cross pulley
...
I’ve had it with this ‘assistant’ role
...

“Well, somebody needs to wear the hat!” Noah cried, his face appearing around the doorway of the
closet
...
“We only have one hat per classroom, and Miss
Morganstern is using it to practice the rabbit trick
...
Prescott, Mr
...

“No!” Prescott yelled
...
Her face was
red with anger
...
Prescott,” she began, “you--”

363

Hubert turned slowly to face Tabitha
...
”
“I’m not here to get his autograph, Chancellor…,” Tabitha spat, raising her arm to point at Hubert
...
She stopped in mid-sentence, staring at the two
items
...

“There will be plenty of time later for such things, Miss Corsica
...
Prescott is
flattered by your, er, interest
...
“I think something might be wrong with Mr
...
Do rabbits usually lie on
their backs like that?”
“Not now, Miss Morganstern,” Hubert said, flapping his hand dismissively
...
Prescott, I believe
you wanted to see our sawing-in-half room?”
But Prescott was gone, stalking past the suddenly silent Tabitha Corsica and heading down the
corridor behind her
...
At the end of
the hall, he gave a muffled shout of triumph and waved for his crew to join him in the furthest classroom
...
The crowd poured into the room,
followed by the watching students, who were beginning to grin
...
Vince moved in close, focusing carefully with one hand
...
Professor Binns,” Hubert said happily
...
”
Professor Binns blinked owlishly and passed his gaze over the crowd
...

“It’s just a projection on smoke,” Vince, the cameraman, announced
...
The
students are usually well back from him
...
”
Ralph was among the students seated in the classroom
...
“You’re ruining the effect, you know
...
”
“Greetings,” Binns said again, passing his gaze over the crowd
...
“It’s a ghost! I know it
is!”

364

“It’s a projection, Martin,” Vince said, lowering the camera
...
It’s not even a
very good one
...
It’s right there, under the desk
...
Makes the smoke
...
“This is getting rather embarrassing, Mr
...
”
“Greetings,” said Professor Binns
...
He was obviously coming rather unraveled
...
“This is all a
setup! It’s his fault! He’s trying to trick all of you!” He pointed at Hubert
...
“We’re in the business of tricks
...
”
“It’s maaaaa-gic,” Delacroix suddenly said, a bit inanely
...

“I see what you’re all trying to do here,” Prescott said, still pointing at Hubert, and then McGonagall
and even Sacarhina and Recreant, who shook their heads vigorously
...
You can’t hide everything!
What about the moving staircases? Or the giants? Hmm? Or…” Prescott stopped, his finger still in midpoint
...
“I know just the thing
...
Vince, Eddie, the rest of you, come with me
...
“Where are you
going, Mr
...
I’ll show you whatever you wish
...
The curious students had parted for him and his
crew, so that Prescott glared back between them, glancing from side to side
...
He blinked, and then looked aside at Professor McGonagall
...
Something was wrong
...

Prescott’s grin grew predatory
...
Peeked here and there and got quite an
eyeful! There is a garage,” he said, turning to face the camera, “that penetrates the very fabric of space and
time, creating a magical portal between this place and another place thousands of kilometers away! America,
if I may be so bold as to guess! I have seen it myself
...
I have seen the sunrise of that land, while the sun here was high above the horizon
...
These people would have us believe that they are mere tricksters, while I maintain, as I
have witnessed with my own eyes, that they are dabblers in a form of magic that is purely and simply
supernatural
...
Harry fell in line next to Hubert, but couldn’t get his attention
...
Prescott!” Hubert yelled over the sound of the now agitated crowd
...
Prescott! This is highly irregular!”
Prescott led his crew out of the main entrance and across the courtyard
...
Everyone had seen the exterior of
the Alma Aleron’s Garage, but very few had been inside or seen what it housed
...

“This could be bad, James,” Harry said, keeping his voice below the noise of the crowd
...
He turned, framing himself before its canvas walls
...
Prescott turned slightly, showing his best side to the camera as
Vince squatted slowly, focusing
...

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Prescott began, raising his natural orator’s voice, “my crew and I, and all of
you, have been the victims of an elaborate hoax
...

No, I have witnessed within these walls true magic of the most astounding and blood-chilling variety
...
I have observed doors appearing magically in otherwise solid stone
walls
...
Today, we have been played for fools, deceived by
a pack of wizards and witches--yes, actual magical people--who believe they can fool us with parlor tricks
...
Behind this canvas is a form of uncanny magic that will shock and
astound you
...
Rudolph Finney, detective for the British Special Police, will
be inclined to launch a full-scale, official investigation into this establishment, with the help of police agencies
from all across Europe
...
After today,
we will be living in a world where we know, without a doubt, that witches and wizards are real, and that they
walk among us
...
Then he turned toward the area
where McGonagall, Hubert, Sacarhina, and Recreant were gathered
...
“Mr
...
”
Hubert’s expression was grave
...
“I have to advise you against this
course of action, Mr
...
”
“You open it or I will
...
Next to him, Delacroix was grinning even more manically
...
Hubert
...
”
Hubert seemed frozen in place
...
And then he moved forward,
lowering his head
...
Prescott stepped aside, glancing
triumphantly at the camera as he did so
...
He sighed
deeply, and then reached up, grasping the knotted strips of canvas that held the tent’s wide flaps closed
...
After a terrible pause, he pulled
...
The crowd
gasped, and then there was a long, puzzled silence
...
He couldn’t immediately make out what it was
...
Most of the tent’s interior was obscured by a large,
oblong shape
...

“Well, you’ve done it,” Hubert said, still staring at Prescott
...
And this was
meant to be our big finish
...
” Hubert finally stepped back, getting out
of the way of the tent so that the camera crew could see directly inside
...
Black letters were painted on the side, clearly visible
in the flashing lights
...
Lupin,” Hubert said, turning to Ted, “but you misspelled ‘rocket’
...
”

367

20
...
“Giants! One of them was as tall as the trees! They made footprints the size of…
the size of…!” He gestured with his arms desperately
...

“You’ve made quite a fiasco for yourself, Mr
...
“Don’t make it any worse
...
“You’ve got to investigate this establishment,
Detective! It’s not right! They’ve tricked you all!”
“If I spearhead any investigations, Mr
...
Did you have permission to trespass on these grounds in the first place?”
“What, are you mad?” Prescott sputtered
...
“Of course
...
Someone on the inside led me here
...
I didn’t really…”

368

“Excuse me
...

“I… er, well
...
Er, no! Not tricks! Real magic! With monsters and giants and… and… vanishing doorways
and flying cars!”
“And the chocolate frog confirmed this, did he?”
Prescott opened his mouth to answer, and then stopped
...
“You’re making fun of me
...
Would you be willing to let me speak to this source of yours?”
Prescott brightened
...

He’s right over…” He glanced around, his brow furrowing
...
Much of the school faculty, as well as a number of students, were watching with benign interest as the
crew industriously packed their gear
...
Recreant was in sight
...
“Where is he?”
“He came with the crew?” Finney asked, glancing around
...
”
“He was there
...
Had a twitch in his right eyebrow
...
“I thought he was a little odd
...
”
“So would I,” Prescott agreed darkly
...
Hubert turned toward Headmistress McGonagall, Neville, and Harry
Potter
...
Madam Headmistress, I
believe we have a few loose ends to attend to?”
McGonagall nodded, then turned and led the group inside
...
“Come
along, James
...
”
“Are you sure?” Ralph asked, glancing up at the Headmistress as she strode into the hall
...
Hubert’ specifically asked for you three to accompany us,” Harry replied
...

“Well,” the Headmistress said as they entered the empty silence of the Great Hall, “that went as well
as could be expected, even if Mr
...
Mr
...
”
“An offer I believe you should take him up on, Madam,” Merlin replied, taking off the gigantic hornrimmed glasses and shaking his hair out of the ‘Mr
...
“I enchanted him with the slightest
possible charm
...
“I believe you are grinning, sir
...
“But how’d you know about the Garage, Merlin? I thought for sure we were sunk!”
Merlin glanced back over his shoulder
...
It was
beyond the knowledge of the trees, unlike the Anglia vehicle and Madame Delacroix
...
”
“But how’d you get the Wocket in there?” Ralph asked
...
“It was simply a matter of
encouraging an exchange of environments
...
“So the Alma Aleron’s cars are out in that old barn in the field?”
“It’ll do them some good, I expect,” Merlin nodded
...

McGonagall opened a door in the rear wall and led the others through, into a large antechamber with a stone
floor and a dark fireplace
...

“This is an outrage, Headmistress,” Recreant said, leaping to his feet
...
Recreant blinked, wounded, but clamped
his mouth shut
...

“Wise advice, if ever I heard it,” Harry agreed, stepping forward
...
”
“We’ve done nothing wrong, Mr
...
“Mr
...
All is well
...
“I am glad you feel that way, Brenda, although I find it interesting that you already
seem to know ‘Mr
...
No doubt there will be no link proven to connect him, you, and the
unfortunate Madame Delacroix
...
He was small,
pudgy, with thinning black hair and a twitch in his right eyebrow
...

Ralph, who’d been the last to enter, pushed his way between Merlin and Professor Longbottom, his
brow furrowed in bewilderment
...
“What are you doing here?”
The man grimaced miserably and covered his face with his hands
...
He placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder
...
I was afraid you’d recognize him
...

“I think his role in this debacle is fairly evident,” the Headmistress replied, sighing
...
Prescott into our midst
...
“Why would you say that? That’s terrible!”
“He came with Mr
...
“He was trying to remain unobtrusive
...
Later, when it was all over, it wouldn’t have
mattered, of course
...
”
“This is ridiculous,” Ralph insisted
...
He patted him slowly
...
Deedle
...
He looked
around the rest of the room, from face to face, ending with his father
...
Dad, why are you
here?”
Dennis Deedle still had his hands on his face
...
Finally, he took a
huge breath and sat back, dropping his hands
...

“All right
...
I sent him the Chocolate Frog
and the GameDeck
...
Once I’d done that, I knew that Prescott could locate the school with his GPS
...
“But why, Dad? Why would you do such a
thing?”
“Oh, Ralph
...
I know this looks bad to you,” Dennis said
...
Prescott’s show, Inside View, they offer money for proof of the supernatural
...
I’ve been looking for work ever since I got laid off, but it’s been hard
...
I thought the Chocolate Frog would be enough
...

I knew I’d have to show him something really amazing, so…” He faltered, glancing nervously around the
room again
...
“And that wasn’t the real
point, was it?”
Dennis’ eyebrows worked furiously as he gazed up at Merlin, apparently struggling with what to say
...
Dennis glanced at her, taking his eyes from Merlin
...
He promised
...

“You thought it’d be worth selling out the whole magical world just to help us get by for awhile,
Dad?” Ralph said, his voice not accusing, but truly questioning
...

“No, son!” Dennis answered, but then looked away
...
I mean, it’s just a stupid television show
...

“Besides what?” Merlin asked calmly
...
“Besides, what did the
magical world ever do for me?” he spat, then covered his face with his hands again
...
“Left me all alone, that’s what
...
They said I’d be adopted into the
Muggle world, where I belonged
...
Well, I guess I showed them, didn’t I?
They didn’t want me to ruin their reputation in the magical world
...
“What are you talking about, Dad? You’re not a
wizard
...
You were as surprised as me when we got the letter
from Hogwarts
...
“I’d almost forgotten about my own past, Ralph
...
I’m a Squib, son
...
They raised me for as long as they could, but they hated my
nature
...
They hid me from the rest of the magical world
...
But they couldn’t hide
me forever
...
I went to a Muggle orphanage, under the
pretense that my parents had died in an accident
...
My mother was… she was sad
...
But my father was
hard
...
He hired a Muggle driver to take us to the orphanage
...
She tried to embrace me, to say goodbye, but Father wouldn’t let her
...
He performed memory modifications on the workers at the
orphanage
...
I was
given a bed and a set of clothes, and then my father left
...
”
Dennis Deedle’s eyes didn’t leave his son’s face when Merlin spoke
...
Deedle
...
My father invented that name for me,” Dennis said blandly
...
”
“What is your given name, sir?”
“Dolohov,” Ralph’s father answered, his voice growing distant, almost dead
...
Son of Maximillion and Whilhelmina Dolohov
...
”
There was a moment of very cold silence, and then McGonagall spoke
...
Dolohov, do you
realize that what you’ve done could send you to Azkaban?”
Dennis blinked, as if coming out of a trance
...
I was promised that
nothing I did was against the law
...
“Perhaps, Mr
...
”
“Why?” Dennis said, glancing at her in alarm
...

“You said I was doing the world a favor!” Dennis exclaimed, getting to his feet
...

“She promised me that I’d be taken care of even if Prescott and his people didn’t come through with the
money! She said this was more important than money, anyway! When I came to them--”
“Sit down, Mr
...

“Don’t call me that! I hate that name!” Dennis backed away from her, glancing back at Harry
...
I knew I had to
check with the Ministry
...
And I

373

left the wizarding world before I was old enough to sign the Wizarding Vow of Secrecy, too, so I wasn’t
breaking any laws
...
“He is clearly deranged
...
”
“Mr
...
“Do you concur with Miss Sacarhina’s
assessment?”
Recreant’s eyes moved like flies, flicking back and forth between Sacarhina and Harry
...
“I’d like the chance to discuss this outside of Miss
Sacarhina’s hearing
...
Recreant, as your superior, I forbid--”
“You’ll forbid nothing, Madam,” Neville said sternly, slipping his own wand from his robes
...

“In the name of the Ministry of Magic and the Auror Department,” he said, “I place you, Miss
Brenda Sacarhina, under arrest for attempted violation of section two of the International Code of Wizarding
Secrecy and for the theft of Ministry of Magic property
...
“You can’t prove anything, Mr
...

This is a foolish and dangerous game you are playing
...
”
“You should think twice before conspiring with people who despise you, Miss Sacarhina,” Merlin
said, smiling ruefully
...
She has much to say about you, I’m afraid, and very little of it is what I’d be
prepared to call flattering
...
Recreant out of the room, with the Headmistress following
...
“Come, Miss Sacarhina
...
”
Sacarhina’s face went blank as she realized she had no choice but to follow along
...
People like her
always had lots of ways to cover their tracks
...
As the door

374

leading to the Great Hall swung open, James saw Titus Hardcastle grinning mirthlessly, his wand pointing
carefully at the floor
...
“I’m sorry, Ralph
...
I
was… confused
...

Dennis nodded
...
“Am I going to go to wizarding
prison?” he asked, trying to firm his voice
...
”
“Somehow, I suspect not, Mr
...

He opened the door leading to the Great Hall
...
It
appears that this school’s security, strong as it may once have been, is not quite prepared to meet the
challenges of modern Muggle technology
...
“What are you suggesting? You want my help?”
Merlin shrugged
...
You are in need of
employment and we are in need of a revised security programme
...
”
Dennis grinned in relief
...
”
“I am in no position to make any offers on behalf of this school, of course,” Merlin said, crossing the
Great Hall with his long, commanding stride
...
I’ll see what I can do
...
Not that it matters,
really, but it does sort of explain why you were made a Slytherin
...
“This is all too much for me to take in one day
...
It was the staff
...
He gazed at Ralph speculatively
...
“I kept it from killing anyone, I guess
...
”
“Don’t listen to him,” Zane said
...
Saved James’ life once with it
...
A
...
A
...
”

375

Merlin approached Ralph
...
The runes
along its length were dark, but James remembered how they’d pulsed with green light the night before
...
Deedle--or shall I call you Mr
...

“I’m kind of attached to the Deedle,” Ralph answered, glancing up at his father
...
Sorry, Dad
...

“Mr
...
“Not just any wizard could have born the responsibility of the staff
...
Madame Delacroix believed you
were merely a vessel to bring the staff to her, but she was mistaken
...
A lesser wizard
would have been unable even to hold the staff, much less use it
...
You had no idea of the strength of it, and yet you managed it
...
Part of this staff now belongs to you, Mr
...
I have felt it
...
Now
I know
...
He closed his eyes and felt along the length of
the staff, his hand barely touching the wood
...
Merlin
wrapped his hand around the lower, tapered end of his staff, then, with barely a twist, broke off the last foot
of its length
...

“You are, I believe, in need of a wand, Mr
...
”
Ralph took the length of wood from Merlin
...
Ralph grinned, turning it over in his hands
...
The staff was noticeably shorter now
...
”
“Thanks,” Ralph said seriously
...
“It’s yours, Mr
...
You made it so
...
“When does James here get
some brains?”
Merlin cinched his eyebrow a bit higher, looking from Zane to James
...
“It’s a
Muggle thing
...
”

376

“Come on!” Ralph called, running up the steps
...
”
The three boys scrambled up the moving staircases, followed more sedately by Merlin and the newly
reborn Dennis Dolohov
...

Merlin merely smiled and clacked his staff on the steps as he climbed
...


21
...
To no one’s great
surprise, Hufflepuff was awarded the House Cup, being the only house to avoid major point deductions for
involvement in the various Merlin conspiracy skullduggeries
...

On the morning of the last day of school, James was stuffing his books and extra school robes into his
trunk when Noah pounded up the stairs calling for him
...
He wants to talk to you
...
“Excellent! Tell him I’ll be right there!”
“James, look at you!” Uncle Ron cried when James tromped down the stairs a minute later, still tying
his tie
...
Have a good year, did you?”
James nodded
...
Looks like I’ll pass, after all
...
A
...
A
...
”
“I wasn’t exactly talking about your schoolwork, you dunce,” said the face in the embers, grinning
crookedly
...
That’s brilliant stuff, and no
mistake
...
Five
weeks of schoolwork and suddenly all of that seems like it happened to someone else
...
“The dull parts of life spread out in your memory and crowd out
the exciting parts until they just seem like little flashes
...

Speaking of which, how’s Professor Jackson doing?”
James rolled his eyes
...
He wasn’t really injured in
his duel with Delacroix, even though his backup wand wasn’t as powerful as the one she broke
...
He says he’d have gotten
her, except that she cheated, calling on the enemy naiads and dryads to fight with her
...
That’s how he got the big bruise on his forehead
...
”
Ron raised an eyebrow
...
”
“We gave him back his briefcase and apologized and everything
...
Merlin turned out to be all right
...
Everything worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“All I can say is if I was him, I’d wish you spiders in your drawers for the rest of your life,” Ron
mused
...
My mind tends to go that way
...
I want to make it right
...
”
“At the risk of sounding like a responsible adult, James, actions have consequences
...
You not only ruined Jackson’s plans, you took a stab at his pride
...
In his mind, you made a fool out of him
...
Frankly, you can’t blame him, can you?”
“I guess not,” James agreed sulkily
...
It was a close thing,
though
...
Still, don’t get too wrapped up in classwork, you
...
”
“Or down to,” Noah’s voice quipped from nearby
...
“It’s a proud Potter tradition, squeaking by in school
...
Besides, you’re one to talk, Mr
...
”
“Got high marks this year, all across the board,” Noah said primly
...
“Thanks to your friend Petra, no doubt
...
Hold on
...
”
The face in the coals sank out of sight
...
“James, you look very handsome,” she said proudly
...
He
studied plenty and was just as worried about marks as anyone
...
Hermione grimaced
...
“Anyway, your mum and dad will be very proud of you, and
so are your uncle and me
...
It seems like only yesterday that we
were all still there,” she sighed, looking around the common room
...
We’ll
have to make a point of visiting next year
...
” Even in the embers, Aunt
Hermione’s eyes glistened a little
...
“Anyway, James
...
I thought it’d be
best if someone besides either of them brought it up, though, because, frankly, they’re both so silly about it
that they’d influence your response
...

“Don’t kneel,” Hermione chided automatically
...
It’s about the
Headmistress
...
”
James didn’t know
...
“Minerva McGonagall
has quite a life outside the walls of Hogwarts, James, as difficult as that may be for you believe
...
Finney up on his offer of dinner in London
...

“She did?” Noah chimed almost simultaneously from the couch, looking up from a book
...
“It was a purely professional meeting, I can assure you both
...
Finney, not really causing him to forget his visit
here, but altering it
...
Dolohov’s programme to ‘clean’--as he calls it--the school’s security
record
...
Finney
...
After all…”
“Hermione!” Ron’s voice barked from the depths of the fireplace again
...
“Yes, the Headmistress does plan to retire, possibly
as soon as this summer, assuming a suitable replacement could be found
...
Some had suggested Neville
Longbottom, but the Ministry feels he might be a bit young for the post, which is just silly, but politics being
what they are…”
“Merlin!” James exclaimed
...
Hermione scowled
...
This is all your father’s and uncle’s idea
...
”
“But how can he be the headmaster?” Noah asked, jumping off the couch and crouching in front of
the fireplace
...
“Couldn’t help overhearing and all that
...
“Here, I had assumed you were suitably entrenched in that
Arithmancy textbook
...
Please do keep it a secret, though, the both of you
...
” She sighed and blew her bangs out of her face in a gesture
James remembered from his earliest memories of Aunt Hermione
...
“James, have a
good trip
...
Rose and Hugo say hello and to buy them some Cauldron Cakes on the
train
...
”
She disappeared from the embers and Uncle Ron’s face appeared again
...

“But how?” Noah asked again
...
He had obviously thought a lot about it
...
They’ll watch him and help out, sort of like a board of directors
...
She’s afraid she’ll still basically
be doing all the work, but with Merlin getting the credit
...
Merlin seems the sort of guy born to lead, you know?”
“Yeah,” James agreed
...
I can’t imagine that the Ministry will agree to put him in charge of
Hogwarts
...
“He’s already been all over the
Ministry, meeting people and having big, long discussions about the way things work in this day and age
...
“I mean, most famous wizard
in the world and all
...
”
Ron grinned a bit maliciously
...
Basically, no department wants him
...
And it’s hard to imagine that any department head who hired
him would stay the department head for very long afterwards
...

“Take over, at the very least
...
Sure, he’s probably the most powerful
single wizard alive today, but with a thousand-year gap in his work experience
...
Your dad can hardly stand it, James
...
The fact of the matter is that the Ministry is looking for an out-of-the-way place to stick the old man
...
Or maybe even not metaphorically speaking
...
”
“And Hogwarts just happens to be in need of a new headmaster,” Noah said, grinning
...
“It does seem a little too perfect, doesn’t it?”
“Even if the Ministry does agree to it, you think he’ll do it?” James asked
...
“Who can tell? Nobody has asked him yet
...
” Ron grew serious and studied James
...
You were there when he came
out of the past
...
What do you think? Do you think he’d be a good headmaster? Do you think we should ask him?”
Noah leaned back against the base of the couch, looking at James, waiting for his response
...
Merlin was a complicated man, and he
wasn’t exactly what anyone could call ‘good’, not in the sense that Albus Dumbledore or even Minerva

381

McGonagall were good
...
It was hard to tell if
it was better to have a headmaster who was good by nature or one that was good because he had to try to be
so every day, but James was old enough to know that it was a risk worth taking
...

“Ask him,” James said, nodding once, emphatically
...
And I
hope he accepts
...

“Keep it to yourselves, for now,” Ron said sternly
...
Got it?”
Noah nodded
...

“Your dad took back the cloak and the map, did he?” Ron asked James, changing the subject
...
And I’m apparently going to be grounded when I get back
...
”
Ron clucked his tongue
...
Ah well
...
Take it from
me
...

“Not that I’d try it again, mind you,” Ron said, his grin vanishing
...
If you pull
something like that again, Ginny will probably decide to home school you in the basement
...
”

Later that afternoon, James met Zane and Ralph outside as the Alma Alerons gathered to disembark
...


382

“There’s something deep and mystical about that, but I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Zane said
thoughtfully
...
The way Professor Franklyn seems to get more and more popular with the girls the closer it
gets to his departure
...
Franklyn was quite popular with the ladies, from the oldest staff matron
to the first-year girls, who giggled when he passed them, touching each lightly on the head
...
Ted had explained that one of the benefits of being old was being free to flirt with any girl you
wanted, because none of them took you serious enough to get offended
...

“When I get old, I’m going to flirt like that,” he said wistfully
...
“He’s just smiling at them and acting all
self-effacing, like he always does
...
”
Ralph rolled his eyes
...
”
“He should offer a class,” Zane said seriously, watching Franklyn bow and kiss Petra Morganstern’s
hand goodbye
...
When Franklyn straightened,
she leaned in and gave him a chaste little peck on the cheek
...
It has been, as I knew it would be, a remarkably instructive year for us
...
” He scanned the crowd, beaming, and then
took off his glasses and sighed
...
The winds of
change are blowing
...
But we have made friends, you and us, and united we will stand, regardless of what may come
...
The challenge of good men is not to thwart change, but to mold it as it comes, so that it may
benefit rather than destroy
...
”
There was a round of applause, although it felt to James a little perfunctory
...
Still, it had been a good speech, and James was
glad Franklyn had made it
...
He waved once from the open door
...
He turned, and then had to look up
...
Tall and dressed in black, Jackson looked more imposing than ever
...

“I thought you might wish to have this,” Jackson said
...
Jackson looked at it in his hands, and then handed it to James
...
I believe it belongs to you more than it does to anyone
...
”
James held the box, which was surprisingly light
...
It reminded him of the vines on the door of the Grotto Keep
...
He stopped when he reached the vehicle, and then turned, raising one hand to the assembly, his
face as stony as his nickname
...
Surprisingly, Jackson had become a favorite at Hogwarts, not so much in spite of his
curmudgeon-like demeanor as because of it
...
The greycloaked delegates from the American Department of Magical Administration had arrived from London the
day before to join their fellows for the trip back to the States
...
Last were the porters, who packed the enormous pile of luggage into the apparently
bottomless trunks of the vehicles, and then climbed into the front seats to drive
...
The Dodge
Hornet took off first
...
The
Stutz Dragonfly and the Volkswagen Beetle followed, the low drone of their wings beating the air and
rippling the grass of the courtyard
...
In less than a minute, the noise of their departure was lost in the late spring wind
that blew over the hills
...

“So what’s in the box Jackson gave you?” Ralph asked, peering curiously at it
...
“Remember what he said about making our
lives ‘interesting’? He’s the kind of guy to wait right until the moment he leaves to get his revenge on you
...
” He tapped the side of his head wisely
...
He looked at the box on his lap
...
Without a word, he flipped the catch and raised the lid
...
The inside of the box was lined with purple velvet
...

“I don’t get it,” Ralph said, sitting back again
...
”

384

James removed it and held it up
...

Zane peered at it, his face serious
...
”
Sure enough, the figure did bear a striking resemblance
...
Even the shape of the head, the line of the stitched mouth, and the
placement of the button eyes made an eerie portrait
...
“It’s a voodoo doll,” he said
...
All three
boys leaned in to read it as he unfolded it
...
Potter,
You will surely recognize what this object is
...
This was found inside Madame Delacroix’s quarters
...
The elegance of her manipulation was quite impressive, really
...
On the other side of
that was a candle
...
The result,
of course, Mr
...

There is always a grain of truth in the manipulations of the voodoo art
...
The lesson you must learn from this, Mr
...
Know yourself
...
And they can, as you have seen, be used against you
...
Master them or they will master you
...
“We didn’t call her ‘the voodoo queen’ for nothing!”
Zane asked, “What are you going to do with it, James? I mean, if you destroy it, will you be
destroyed, somehow?”

385

James stared at the small, unattractive caricature of himself
...
“I don’t think Jackson would’ve given it to me in that case
...
And to try to make sure it never happens again
...
“What are you going to do with it?”
James stood, stuffing the doll into the pocket of his jeans
...
I think I’ll keep it
...
”
With that, the three boys meandered into the school, intent on doing as little as possible with their
last day of the school year
...
He crept down the stairs into the common room, hoping someone else might still be up for a game of
wizard chess or even Winkles and Augers
...

As he was turning away, something caught James’ eye and he looked again
...
His silvery form was still transparent, but was noticeably more solid than the last time James
had seen him
...

“You’ve got a name already, haven’t you?” James answered
...
Not like ‘Nearly Headless Nick’ or ‘the Bloody Baron’
...
”
James considered it
...
”
“Well, can you do any better?”
“I was thinking--you’d better not laugh,” the ghost said, giving James a stern look
...
”
“Hmm,” James replied carefully
...
In fact, you sound a lot better now
...
”
“Yeah,” Cedric agreed, “I’ve become quite a bit more… here, sort of
...
I was silent for a long time, though, wasn’t I?”
“I guess so
...
”

386

“Maybe I could be all broody and quiet a lot of the time,” Cedric mused
...
And then, when I pass by, people would whisper to each other,
‘Hey, there he goes! The Specter of Silence!’”
James shrugged
...
I guess you have the summer to practice the whole brooding
silence bit
...
”
James suddenly sat up
...
“I mean,
with Nearly Headless Nick gone on to wherever ghosts go, we don’t have a House ghost anymore
...
“I don’t think so, really
...
I was a Hufflepuff, remember?”
James slumped back
...
I forgot
...
“That was a pretty great thing you did, going
out and calling Merlin back to help us out when it seemed like he’d left for good
...
He frowned a little
...
It was all my fault Merlin was brought to this time at all
...
Turns out she was using me all
along and Jackson was actually a good guy
...
“You learned something, then, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know,” James said automatically
...
”
“There is one way that you and your dad are one and the same, James,” Cedric said
...
“I can’t see what it is
...
If I try to do it his way, I screw everything up
...
Dad’s way was the way of the hero
...
My
best talent is asking for help
...
You think that’s no big deal? The world needs people like you, because
most of the people out there don’t have the courage or the passion or the direction to be heroes
...
You have that gift, James
...
He had a destiny
...
There was Harry and there was Voldemort
...
You, though… you are a hero because you choose to be one, every day
...
”

387

James stared into the banked coals of the fire
...
”
Cedric smiled and sat back again
...
Trust
me on this one, James
...
Loads of heroes die in the effort
...
No, a hero is just somebody who does the right thing when it would be far, far
easier to do nothing
...
“Maybe we should call you ‘the Specter of
Cheesiness
...

James stood up again
...
That… helps
...
James headed back for the stairs, but stopped with his foot on the bottom step
...
Maybe you know something about it, being a ghost and all
...
Ask me
...
She said that this person was alive
and nearby, right here on the school grounds
...
“I was there when you told Snape about it
...
If that hadn’t happened, none of this would’ve come about
...
”
Cedric looked away, out a nearby window
...
“I thought it might be her after I talked to Snape and I still
think it could be her
...
There’s still something scary about it
...
”
Cedric stood and walked through the chair, apparently without noticing he was doing so
...
I’ll admit that to you
...
It
lingers within the halls
...
Maybe I
am more sensitive to it than the other ghosts
...
”
“Yeah,” James said quietly
...
”
“But James, things are rarely as obvious as we’d like to think they are
...
It’s confusing
...
Sometimes,
even good people can look bad
...
”

388

“So did I,” James admitted
...
”
Cedric nodded
...
What do you
think the real story is with her and her broom?”
Cedric looked at James for a long moment, studying him
...
“A ‘Muggle artifact’? That’s just a ruse she came up with, isn’t it?”
Cedric shrugged, but it looked more like the shrug of someone who knows more than he intends to
tell
...
Sometimes, the
scariest person is the one who mistakes their own lies for the truth
...
“You mean… Tabitha Corsica believes all that stuff she said in the debate? About
Voldemort actually being a good guy? That he was squashed by the Ministry and the magical ruling class
because they couldn’t have him changing the status quo? She can’t really believe that, can she?”
Cedric looked back at James, and then sighed
...
But I do know that lots of
people do believe it
...
That broom of hers may have some scary mojo
built into it, but it’s nothing compared to the dark magic someone might conjure if their heart is crooked
enough to twist a lie into something they believe is truth
...
He had never even considered that
Tabitha Corsica might believe the things she said
...
For a moment, he
felt vaguely sorry for her
...
It was almost unthinkable, but not
entirely
...
James fell asleep with its beams on his face, pale and cool,
his brow still slightly furrowed
...
Zane’s parents were there, along with his younger sister, Greer, who watched the gigantic crimson
engine with naked awe
...
He grinned and waved
...
Now he was home
again
...
Next year, he’d
be accompanying Albus on the train, taking him to his first year
...
It was going to be his summer’s project, in fact
...
Even
if Albus wasn’t a Gryffindor, he’d be okay
...
But only just a little
...
Ted, James noticed, was holding
Victoire’s hand
...

“It’s a tough job, being this controversial,” Ted said humbly, “but we all have our burdens to bear
...
“Ted Lupin, don’t you ruin
everything
...
You will keep your mouth shut, too, James
...

James grinned
...

James stopped inside the open door of the train, looking about the platform
...
His sister was sucked into the embrace, as if against her
will, happy to see her brother again but still enthralled by the crimson train
...
Ralph glanced back up at James and
waved
...

And then, as he climbed down, James saw his own family watching for him
...
This was indeed home
...
It
probably wouldn’t mean anything, but there was no harm in it
...

“James!” Albus cried, seeing him first
...

“You promised! You promised us Licorice Wands from the cart lady!”
“And Cauldron Cakes for Rose and Hugo,” Harry added, grinning
...
All right, all right, I’ve got stuff for everybody!” James admitted
...
He pulled the voodoo doll out last and
looked at it a bit uncertainly
...
“It looks like… well, you!”

390

James’ face broke into a grin
...
I thought you’d like to keep it when I went off to
school next year
...
”
Ginny looked at it quizzically, and then glanced up at Harry
...
“Well, it’s a
bit odd, but all right,” she said, taking the doll from him
...

“I don’t know
...
It’s… you know, worth a try, I suppose
...
She gave it a try
...

Flyover Country is available from www
...
com in hardcover or as a PDF download
...
Norman Lippert 2008
...


393

One

Clete was out in east field when the idea first came to him
...
A restless breeze shushed in the birches and
oaks along the edge of the field
...
Now she was a
hot diamond directly over his head, her jaunty rays warming his back and careening off the narrow
hood of his old Farm-all tractor
...

The idea just came to him, fresh and plain, straight out of the clear blue sky
...
Perhaps it was just the
monotony of the plowing
...
Perhaps it had been merely a remnant
of some forgotten night's dreaming
...
When the idea struck him, it seemed simply plausible
and reasonable, perfectly worthy of a quick test
...

He braked the Farm-all, joggled the gear-shift into neutral, and lowered

394

himself to the ground
...
Clete moved a few paces away from the tractor so to escape the chug of diesel
fumes, and took a deep pull of the spring air
...
His stomach
growled congenially, reminding him of the lunch Rachel was probably cooking right now: pork
chops and sweet potatoes and canned beets
...
He was half a mile
from the house now, in the middle of the east field
...


395

Clete spread out his arms on either side of him, palms flat to the earth, testing the air as if it
were a solid thing, and began to pump them slowly up and down
...
The worn flannel of his shirt pulled out of the sides of his overalls, billowing slightly
under his arms as they rose and fell, rose and fell
...
He tested the resistance, shifting the distance between each finger
until the breeze seemed to press through them like fluid
...
Behind him, the dull red of the Farm-all soaked up the sun,
chugging obliviously
...
And slowly, deliberately, Clete began to rise
from the ground
...
It
streamed through his fingers first like running water, then like heavy cream, and finally like syrup
...
He
balanced easily on the steel toes of his worn leather boots
...

That observer, had there been one, might have laughed out loud at the sight, since Clete, in his
overalls and work shirt, with his old man's face and wire rimmed glasses under the curved brim of
his mesh cap, was about as close to a ballerina as Jupiter is to a Junior Mint
...

A scatter of dead leaves swirled beneath him, retreating along the length of a deep furrow
...
In his carefully ordered old farmer's mind a mild voice commented that
it was working
...
The voice commented on it the way one
would comment about a light unpredicted rain or an unseasonably hot day in May
...
Clete thought it was
the voice of his long-departed mother
...
Clete's arms flailed instead of flapped
...
That strange, fibrous quality of the breeze
vanished, and in an instant the plowed field leapt up to reclaim him
...


396

He straightened slowly and stared at the distant, heat shimmery horizon
...
He had been flying
...

"Who'd a thought it?" he remarked to himself
...

Twenty minutes later he headed back to the house for lunch
...
In fact, by that
evening, the thought of attempting to explain the event to her had hardly so much as crossed his
mind
...
It wasn't even because he thought she
wouldn't believe him
...
Clete was a simple
man
...
Perhaps if she had been his wife,
he’d have mentioned it
...

If Anne had still been alive, he would have told her
...
She'd have had enough on her mind then, what with
watching little Dennis and handling the laundry and thinking about dinner and all
...
And most assuredly, he'd have told her before he made any
attempt to try it again, as he was now
...
It’d just be
common courtesy
...
Not different-bad, of course
...
Any
man who has ever had a sister would know
...

He stood on the porch and looked contemplatively out over the fields and the scrubby trees
beyond his barn
...
It stood fifty-six feet
tall from its cobblestone foundation to the beak of the wrought iron weather-cock, and it was just as
straight and red as the day it had been built, back before Clete himself had even been born
...
A few years back, the barn had even been featured in a magazine called Country
Living
...
He'd been a wiry young man with glasses, and his camera had been nearly as big as him
...
Clete offered to take the man up the winding stairway to the vent house, but the man

397

had declined somewhat hastily
...

From the rear of the barn, he could hear the pigs in their pen, snorting and complaining
over their dinner
...

He had finished plowing the east field that day, and had gotten a good head start on the
big loop that doglegged into Strecker woods as well
...
The swine had been fed, as had been the
horses and Clete's lone milk cow, Bethel
...
Clete was satisfied that the time was right
...

The south porch was really just a patio, added by Clete’s and Rachel's father some sixty
years ago as a place to barbecue hogs for their occasional family reunions and Sunday School picnics
...

He had purchased a small redwood chair for the patio, and kept his pipe and tobacco in a small teak
box beneath
...
At the apex of the house's face, just
under the old gingerbread, was a lit circular window
...

He turned back to the yard and dropped his gaze to the corner of the smoothed flagstone
floor of the patio
...
Up and down, up and down, first slowly and then with an
increasing rhythm
...
It made perfect sense
...
One wasn't surprised, when he worked the pump lever, to
see water stream out, was he? Or to find that the earth moves under him when he moves his feet in a
walking motion? Of course not
...
As he tested the air, feeling it like ephemeral harp
strings under the musician's practiced hand, he could sense part of himself opening
...
He felt strange activity in his brain, as if he was using
mental muscles that he had never before known how to flex
...
He felt it billow and fold
under his cupped palms
...
Air swirled in the bald vines of Rachel's hyacinth
...

He could grope around the edges of it
...

And static charges
...

One he could create
...
Or not by thinking, exactly, but
by exercising that odd, slippery, mental muscle in his brain
...

Clete's feet scraped slightly on the sandy-smooth surface of the flagstones as he rose from
the patio
...
His shadow separated from him and spread away into the yard, cast by
the small yellow porch light
...
He had nearly sprained both knees
earlier that day, falling only a distance of two feet
...
The threat of this struck
him only vaguely, however
...
And strangely enough, as he arose past the glow of the
porch light, he found it was becoming easier
...

The lights were off inside, but he could see just over the sill of Rachel's sewing room window
...

The wooden screen door below opened with a startled squawk
...
Clete glanced down sharply
...
He could see yellow seeds swimming in the green soup of
the pickle jar
...
His feet hung
solidly in the air at about her eye-level, but off to the side
...
She saw his feet, clad in his evening shoes,
standing firmly on nothing
...

"DearLordGodInHeaven!" she spat sharply, as if the phrase were all one syllable
...
She
disappeared through the door and it slapped dumbly shut behind her
...

She didn’t come back out, so Clete decided to continue with his experiment
...

Slowly, he turned in the air, allowing himself to enjoy the sensation of weightlessness
...
He could see over the point of
the stable, into the back corner of the pig pen now
...
He
knew they were all still busy at the trough, fighting over Rachel's potato skins and coffee grounds
...
Normally, he could only see this far from the attic window
...

Something hard and pointed bumped his back and he startled, almost losing the rhythm of
his arms
...
The apex of green shingles
stretched away from him in the dim light, ending at the base of the brick chimney
...
Between his feet, the patio looked like something painted on paper, distant and
insignificant
...

He realized he wasn't flapping quite so hard anymore, nor were his arms weary
...
Slowly, he
lowered himself, watching the roof reassert itself over his head, until he hovered directly in front of
the round, cross-paned window of the attic
...
Clete squinted through his glasses at the tiny columns of type,
flapping his arms cautiously so as to keep a steady altitude
...
He had positioned it there ten minutes earlier, opened at random, directly beneath the attic
light
...

He read to himself, picking a verse from the right page
...

He said the words of the verse to himself several times, swishing the air lazily
...
After a few moment’s contemplation, he decided to attempt a small, experimental swoosh
...
The evening air billowed beneath him,
supporting him as he swept along a mild current
...
The barn loomed before him, swaying
ponderously
...
Bars of air beat at his shirtsleeves and batted his pant legs
...
He decided to try it
...
With a round of gentle arm waves, he settled smoothly onto the edge of the loft
...

Clete looked around as if realizing for the first time where he was
...
He could smell the familiar barny smell of
wood dust, loose straw, and- faintly- animal dung
...
He was in the hay loft
...
He hadn't passed the familiar old water pump with its rusty bucket or climbed
the old plank ladder
...

He had flown into the loft
...
In its place erected a
careful, almost childlike smile
...
She carefully
dabbed at the corner of her mouth with a cloth napkin and reached for her water glass
...

Clete considered the question as he chewed methodically
...

"Ayuh, I guess I have
...
He needed to turn off
the light
...
It
had been first Corinthians
...

Clete wasn’t a man given to very much imagining
...
He had been getting up at five-thirty for
most of forty years and he did so without the aid of an alarm clock or the customary rooster
...
He dipped his comb into the water basin on his dresser and raked the stiff
bristles of his gray crew-cut until it was as flat as the face of a new stump
...

He flew over to the barn to slop the pigs and feed the horses
...
When he was done milking
Bethel, he made a spontaneous attempt to fly back to the house with the milk pail in his hand
...
The air sang between his sieved fingers, thickening as it had before, but he was
hardly able to get one boot off the ground while holding the bucket
...
What good was flying going to be if he couldn't carry
anything?
A fuzzy thought appeared in his mind, offering a solution
...
The picture in
his mind limped with the effort
...
He saw
himself flying gamely over the barn, trying to keep steady while a bucket of milk slopped from his
belt
...
Too messy
...
Why go to the effort to fly the milk
over to the back veranda with a hook, spilling most along the way, when he could just as quickly
walk it?
No, he concluded, flying wasn't going to be the sort of thing that would revolutionize his
farm life
...
He'd tell Rachel he was just going to step out for a little fly
...
Otherwise
...
Being able to fly didn't get the
fields plowed and seeded
...
He was still Cletus Arvil
Starcher, flying-man or not, and he still had farming to do
...

Later that day, while plowing the rest of the Strecker loop, he decided to fly home for
lunch
...

He had used a portion of the evening to fly out to the southeast corner of Bethel's and the
horses' pasture
...
Clete discovered that he could carry small objects
easily enough while flying, simply by utilizing the multiple pockets of his overalls
...
In the
past, it would have taken him at least ten minutes to walk to that corner of the pasture, not counting
time avoiding the mud bogs and puddles that were so prevalent this time of year
...

Later, while leaning against the pig fence watching the sows wrestle for space at the trough,
the second idea came to him
...
Not entirely
...
It was a refinement of
the belt-hook idea for carrying things while flying, but it was much clearer, and it would work much
better
...
That initial child's crayondrawing of himself flying with the milk pail spilling and jostling from his belt was gone
...
It could carry
things of all different sizes and shapes, and it had a counterbalancing mechanism, so that it would
stay level no matter what position he flew in
...
And some, detached part of him just sat and watched,
amazed that he was actually having such inventive, imaginative thoughts
...
They lolled over each
other with their sausage-like, coarse-haired bodies, grunting and squealing indignantly at the trough
...

Clete stepped toward the barn to retrieve a bag of sow-feed and then stopped, his face a
mask of mild surprise
...
He'd need to walk over to the feed shed with the wheelbarrow and bring back

403

another load
...
This one was exactly like the idea he'd had while riding the Farm-all in
the east field
...
It was like a post-hypnotic suggestion, or like meeting
somebody you had only ever dreamed about
...

Why am I walking all the way over to the feed shed to carry back sow feed?
Because the sows are hungry, he thought dimly
...
An
unhappy sow isn't a very tasty sow
...
He knew that,
because he'd asked it of himself
...
And it would probably be faster, too
...

The idea nagged at Clete
...
No harm in trying, he thought for the second time in three days
...
It stared back at
him blindly, full of dumb curiosity
...
It was
the voice of the hired hand his parents had had when he was a small boy
...
His name had been Chesapeake Chester, or at least that was what everyone called him
...
'Less you know some other way t’do it
...
It was stuffy and full of the rich smells of
animal feed and fertilizer
...
To the left was a rack of twoby-four shelves, three high and three long
...
He could see the big, fifty pound burlap sacks with the picture of the
smiling pig on the front
...

Clete stared at the double doors of the feed shed and frowned that thoughtful, old man's
frown under his glasses
...

The doors opened
...
No explosive motion or puff of magician's smoke
...
Clete wasn't surprised
...
It wasn't even as hard as flying
...
They marched across the yard to the
barn, each bag bouncing slightly as it moved, as if being hefted along a chain of invisible hired
hands
...

She had groused enough about his flying
...

He walked to the corner of the barn, where the feed bags rounded the entrance and floated
inside
...
The dry burlap rasped under his palm and
swept on
...
When the
last one turned the corner into the barn Clete followed it
...
It was just the way he stacked them when he did it by hand
...
Now here was a skill
he could put to work
...
He plopped it down onto the pig-fence and pulled the string seal with a practiced
hand
...

Clete glanced over at the feed shed thirty yards away and deftly closed the doors
...
This has been a teaser excerpt of “Flyover Country”, which is
available in hardcover and PDF download from www
...
com
...
It’s short and
sweet, but I think it’s fun and (dare I admit) a little endearing
...

Thank you for checking out the story, and happy reading
...
Norman Lippert

405



---