James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

2. THE BORLEY

"Y ou'll be fine, James," Ginny said as she backed the car carefully into a slot next to the footpath. "It doesn't hurt, you know. Your dad's been wearing them since he was six. You're lucky you

went this long without needing them."

James fumed in the front seat. Behind him, Lily whined for the tenth time, "I want to wear glasses too!"

Ginny blew the hair out of her face and jammed the shifter into 'Park'. "Lily, if you're fortunate, you'll never have to wear anything other than sunglasses, but those you can wear all you want, love."

"I don't want to wear sunglasses," Lily pouted. "I want real glasses, like James. Why does he get real glasses?"

"My eyes aren't that bad," James insisted, not moving to get out of the car. "I can read my school books just fine. I don't see why—"

"They aren't that bad yet," Ginny said firmly. "These are corrective lenses. Hopefully, they'll keep your eyesight from getting any worse. Why are you being so difficult about this?"

James scowled. "I just don't want to wear them. I'll look like a sodding idiot."

"Don't say that word," Ginny said automatically. "Besides, they don't make your father look like an idiot. Now come on. Lily, you stay here with Kreacher and have a little snack, OK? I'll be able to see you from the window and I'll be back out in just a minute. You'll keep an eye out, won't you, Kreacher?"

In the backseat, Kreacher squirmed in his bright blue child seat. "It'd be an easier task if Kreacher wasn't imprisoned in this Muggle torture device, Mistress, but as you wish."

"We've been through this, Kreacher. Regardless of what Muggles think they see when they look at you, children are required to ride in a safety seat. It's bad enough that you insist on wearing nothing but a tea towel. People aren't accustomed to seeing a five-year-old in a nappy."

"It's the best disguise poor Kreacher can manage, Mistress," he croaked morosely. "Kreacher has never been accustomed to the society of Muggles, but Kreacher does his best with what small magic he has at his disposal."

Ginny rolled her eyes as she climbed out of the car. "Just tap the horn if you need anything, all right? Your 'small magic' can manage that, I'm fairly certain."

Ginny led James toward the office.

"Why do we have to go to a Muggle eye doctor anyway?" James complained quietly. "Aren't there magical eye doctors with, like, invisible glasses? Or spells that magically fix your eyes?"

Ginny smiled. "Not everything has a magical solution, James. A Muggle eye doctor is as good as a magical one, and this one's more convenient than Diagon Alley. You've already been here for your exam. I don't see what you're so afraid of."

"I'm not afraid," James said disgustedly as they entered the lobby of the office. He looked around at the tiny waiting area. It was exactly the same as the last time he'd been there, right down to the number of fish in the grimy aquarium and the magazines on the end table.

"James Potter," Ginny told the fat woman behind the glass partition. "We have a two o'clock appointment with Doctor Prendergast."

James plopped into the same chair he'd sat in the last time he'd been there. He kicked his heel on the thin carpet, grumbling to himself.

A few minutes later, Dr. Prendergast emerged, smiling, skinny, and red-cheeked. He tucked his own glasses into a pocket of his white coat.

"Do come back, James," he said jovially. "Your mother can come too if she likes."

Ginny glanced at James. "Do you want me to? I can go get Lily and bring her back with us."

He sighed and stood up. "No. Go ahead and check on her. Kreacher's probably trying to feed her caviare for a snack again."

Ginny grinned at Dr. Prendergast and then threw a quick warning look at James. "The glasses are already paid for, James. Just come out to the car once you're done with the doctor, all right?"

"Is Kreacher some sort of family pet?" Dr. Prendergast asked James as he led him into the examination room.

"He's my half-brother," James replied. "He lives in the basement. We feed him a bucket of fish heads twice a week."

Dr. Prendergast blinked at James, his smile growing somewhat brittle. "That's very, ahem, amusing, James. What an interesting imagination."

James sat on the edge of the examination chair as the doctor put on his own glasses and rummaged in a cabinet. He produced a box and opened it on the table.

"Here we are," he said happily, extracting a pair of black eyeglasses. To James, they looked three times wider than his head. He slumped.

"Let me just help you get them on and we'll test the prescription. Won't take a minute."

He held them out to James, and then slipped them onto his head. James closed his eyes as the glasses settled onto his ears. When he opened them again, the world looked very slightly smaller and warped a bit around the edges. He glanced around, trying to get used to the feeling.

"There!" the doctor said brightly. "And how does that feel?"

James sighed again. "All right, I guess. It's a little weird."

"That's perfectly natural. You'll get used to them in no time at all."

James had already determined that he would not let that happen. He intended to wear the dreaded glasses for his mum to see for the next two days, and then to stick them in his trunk the moment he got on the Hogwarts Express. He didn't really need them anyway. He was sure of it.

Dr. Prendergast sat James on a stool in the corner of the examination room and turned him toward the eye chart on the opposite wall. James covered one eye at a time and read down the chart in a dejected monotone. The doctor nodded happily, removed his own glasses again and opened the blinds of the small room, letting in the afternoon sunlight.

"That's very good, James," he said, opening the examination room door. "We're mostly done. Just let me schedule your follow-up appointment and you can be off."

When James was alone in the room, he stood up and approached the mirror next to the window. The glasses weren't really that bad, he thought, but they were bad enough. They felt heavy and clunky on his face. He scowled and took them off.

In the mirror, something moved behind his reflection. James glanced up, and then turned around. The sunlight poured into the room, brightening it considerably. James saw his own shadow on the wall, projected onto a large poster showing a diagram of an eyeball. Another shadow scampered past his. James recognized it immediately as the same shape he'd seen a few nights earlier in the hallway at the Burrow. Without thinking, he reached for his wand in his back pocket, but of course it wasn't there. He wasn't yet allowed to do any magic out of school, and his mum forbade him from carrying it when they were out in the Muggle world.

The shadowy shape shimmied up the wall and leapt. James widened his eyes, surprised and bewildered, as the shadow seemed to come off the wall, leaping out of the beam of sunlight. It made a slightly darker shape in the room, almost invisible. The shadow wasn't being cast by the creature; somehow, the creature was its shadow. It landed on the small table next to the examination chair. To James' shock, it began to pick up some of Doctor Prendergast's tools and fling them around the room. They clattered and bounced off the walls. James jammed his glasses into the pocket of his jeans and jumped to catch some of the flying tools.

"Stop!" he whispered harshly at the tiny shadow imp. "What are you doing? You're going to get me into trouble!"

James ducked beneath the examination chair, scooping up the scattered tools. Meanwhile, having cleared off the table, the shadow imp jumped to the stool and scampered up the wall. It reached the cabinet and darted behind a row of thick books. One by one, the books began to pop off the shelf. James dumped the tools onto the table with one hand and lunged to catch the first few books with the other. Unable to catch them all, James bent to scoop them off the floor. A particularly large volume struck him in the back of the head, making him drop the books he'd already collected. Angrily, he spun on his heels, looking for the creature, meaning to grab it if he could. It jumped from the bookshelf to the wall, snagging a corner of the poster. The poster popped free and fell like a sail, covering James' head. He struggled out from under it and lunged at the creature. It leapt to the ceiling fan and sat perched on one of the slowly revolving blades. It seemed to be taunting James.

"This is a Muggle place!" James hissed at the creature. "But I'm a wizard! You can thank your lucky stars I don't have my wand with me!"

The creature recoiled at that, as if it had understood. It spun and jumped toward the window. James, still partly caught under the fallen poster, threw himself over the examination chair, reaching for the creature. He landed hard on the chair, which moved. It rolled on its casters, scooting across the floor and striking the wall below the window just as the door opened.

James looked up into the face of Dr. Prendergast, whose eyes widened.

"Look," James said quickly, clambering off the examination chair, "I don't know what it was, but it wasn't me! I didn't do any magic, I didn't knock all your books down, or tear your poster off the wall, or make any of this mess. All of this was done by some weird little shadow monster. You probably don't believe in shadow monsters, and that's fine, because I myself didn't even know they existed until now, so that's all right, but we'll probably all end up Obliviated anyway, so who really cares, right?"

Dr. Prendergast's gaze remained locked on James. His eyes looked rather magnified behind his glasses. James took a moment to glance around at the mess that had been made of the examination room. To his great surprise, there wasn't any mess. The books sat neatly on their shelves. The poster hung on the wall, perfectly intact. The eye examination tools lay neatly on a cloth on the table in the corner.

"Ah, ah hah, hah!" Dr. Prendergast laughed, smiling a little nervously. "This is like the story about your brother eating fish heads out of a bucket, I see. Like I said before, Mr. Potter, what a very, er, interesting imagination. Here is your reminder for your next appointment. I believe your mother is, ahem, waiting for you outside."

On the morning of the first of September, James was feeling unusually surly. The weather seemed to match his mood, having turned cool and foggy, covering the city like a wet blanket. James stared through his reflection in the car window as the family wove through the city toward King's Cross station. He'd made an attempt to tell his mum about the weird shadow creature he'd seen twice now, but she had been irritable and harried and had told him to save the inexplicable imaginary creatures for Luna Lovegood, who rather specialized in them. James had determined to ask Luna about it the next time he saw her, but for now, preparing for his return to Hogwarts and managing his strangely churlish brother, Albus, were enough to keep him busy. Soon enough, he'd put the shadow imp out of his mind.

Things had begun badly that morning. James, excited about going back to school, had his trunk packed and ready, waiting beside the front door of the Potter family home. When he tromped back upstairs to collect his owl, Nobby, Albus was still sitting on the bed in his room, tying his shoes. His trunk sat open next to the desk, half-packed.

"Come on, Al," James said, setting Nobby's cage on the desk. "Dad's already pulling the car around front. If we don't get packed and on the road we'll be late."

Albus made no effort to hurry. He slumped off his bed and stalked out of the room. James watched him go, rolled his eyes, and began piling Albus' school books into the trunk. Albus' new snowy owl, who was as yet unnamed, sat in her cage next to Nobby's, clicking her beak nervously.

"At least you don't have anything to pack," he griped to the owls. "Or a troublesome little brother."

"Albus," Ginny's voice called from downstairs, "James, it's time to go."

James grabbed Albus' new robes and a handful of clothes from the closet, stuffed them into the trunk, and slammed the lid. If Albus got to Hogwarts without a clean pair of underpants, it was his own fault. James grabbed the handle and lugged the trunk toward the door, meeting Albus as he came back.

"Is that my trunk?" Albus demanded.

James pulled the trunk past him, into the hallway. "Just get the owls, will you? We're going to be late."

"I wasn't done packing!"

"Well, I guess you're done now, aren't you?" James said, feeling suddenly angry. "Dad and Mum are waiting. What, did you decide you don't want to go to school after all?"

Without answering, Albus collected the owls' cages rather noisily and followed James down to the car.

As the family arrived at King's Cross station, James tried to lighten the mood.

"Just think, Al, by tonight, you'll be all settled in, sitting in front of the giant snake's head fireplace and drinking a flagon of Butterbeer with your new snakey mates."

Albus scowled and opened the car door, stepping out into the fog of the parking structure. James followed.

"Can I push a trolley at least?" Lily asked, displaying her best pout.

"I'm sorry, Lily," Harry said, piling the trunks and owl cages onto two trolleys. "They're rather heavy, and we're in a hurry. You'll be seeing Hugo in a few minutes, though. If all goes well, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron will be joining us for lunch as soon as the train leaves. Won't that be nice?"

"I don't want lunch," Lily said petulantly.

The family entered the large doors of the station and threaded through the commuters, attracting some curious stares as the owls hooted and fluttered their wings. Lily followed her parents, whining idly about her desire to go to Hogwarts with her brothers this year instead of two years from now.

"I've been in the Slytherin common room," James said to Albus as they approached the platform. "Ralph showed me. Zane's even been in the girls' sleeping quarters. It's kind of like a five star hotel in Middle Ages Transylvania, if you know what I mean. You'll love it."

Albus turned to look at James. "I won't! I won't be in Slytherin!"

"Give it a rest, James," Ginny admonished.

"I only said he might be," James said defensively, grinning at Albus. "There's nothing wrong with that. He might be in Slyth—"

He saw his mum's warning expression and fell silent. Feeling a little peeved, he took the trolley from her, glanced over his shoulder at Albus, and then pushed forward, running toward the partition. Just as it had last year, the partition seemed to dissolve. He flashed through it and pulled the trolley to a stop on platform nine and three-quarters. It was as crowded as it had been the last time he'd been there, although the mingled fog and steam made it hard to see everyone. Out of the dense mist, James could hear the chug and hiss of the Hogwarts Express, and for the first time all morning, he felt a bit better. Without waiting for the rest of the family, he pushed his trolley through the crowd toward the sound of the train.

"James!" a voice called out. James glanced around and saw his Cousin Lucy standing next to Uncle Percy, who was apparently lost in animated conversation with a man in a pinstriped cloak. Percy's wife, Audrey, stood nearby, holding Lucy's sister's hand and looking over a schedule of departures.

"Hi, Lucy," James said, pushing the trolley over to her. "I didn't expect to see you here. What's going on?"

"We're on our way back already," she shrugged. "Daddy got a call. There was some sort of magical disturbance in Wandsworth and the Ministry needs him back. At least we get to go home for awhile. Where's Albus?"

James gestured back the way he'd come. "Albus is still in a snit. He's been grumpy ever since the Burrow."

Lucy nodded understandingly but said nothing.

"Well, I better get my trunk on board," James said. "We're already late. See you, Lucy."

"Bye, James," Lucy replied, then added. "Keep an eye on Albus, all right?"

James felt a tiny twinge of guilt at that. He nodded. "Sure, Lucy. I'm his big brother."

Lucy smiled and waved. James turned and ran toward the train, pushing his trolley. As he met the porter, he saw Teddy Lupin moving through the fog with Victoire at his side, lost in hushed conversation. Satisfied that his things would be loaded safely onto the train, James trotted to catch up to them.

"Hey, Ted, Victoire," he called.

They stopped near the station, but Victoire continued talking, her head close to Ted's.

"It's time," she said, her face serious. "I do not wish to spend the year away at school with this secret between us."

"It isn't between us, Vic," Ted said reasonably. "You know your parents aren't ready to know about us. Your mum already thinks I'm a bum waiting to happen. Give me some time to arrange things in Hogsmeade. Once I've proven I'm serious…"

"To whom do you need to prove yourself?" Victoire asked, stepping back and placing her fists on her hips. "My parents, or yourself?"

Ted rolled his eyes. He glanced at James. "This is what it's like dating a girl whose family I've known all my life," he said. "They know me too well for my charms to work on them."

"Your charms work just fine," Victoire sniffed. "In fact, if it wasn't for your charms, you wouldn't even have this problem."

"Sorry to interrupt," James said, raising his hands, palms out. "I just wanted to say hello. I'll just fade away into the mist again."

"Wait a minute," Ted said, his face growing thoughtful. "I've got an idea."

Suddenly, he grabbed Victoire and hugged her to him. She resisted for a moment, but then he kissed her, and she relaxed. Slowly, she dropped the handbag she was carrying and wrapped her arms around Ted's neck. James took a step backwards and looked around nervously.

"Er, like I said—" he began but stopped as Ted held up a finger, still kissing Victoire. Finally, he broke away and looked aside at James, smiling crookedly.

"You saw that, right?" he asked.

"I don't think I saw anything but that," James replied uncomfortably.

"Good. Now do me a favor."

Victoire looked at Ted, her arms still around his neck. "Teddy, no…"

Ted's smile didn't waver. "Go tell everybody what you saw."

"What?" James blinked.

"Just tell them. Say I came to see Victoire off, and you saw us snogging right here on the platform. Say you interrupted us and I told you to shove off. It's the juiciest bit of gossip on the platform this morning, and you get to be the one to share it. It'll get the word out about us and we won't even have to say a thing," he turned back to Victoire. "Happy?"

She tilted her head haughtily at him but smiled. "You're a rogue," she replied.

Ted shrugged. "I'm simply good at coming up with reasons to kiss you. So what do you think, James? Are you up to the task?"

James grinned. "I learned how to lie from Zane. I'll make it as juicy as possible."

"Excellent," Ted replied. "And just to make it as realistic as possible," he made his face stern and looked at James, "shove off, will you? I'm busy."

With that, he kissed Victoire again. She grinned and giggled, pushing away from him playfully. James turned on his heels and trotted back into the crowd. After a moment, he saw his family gathered with Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione near the train. They were all looking back toward the station. James followed the direction of their gaze and saw Draco Malfoy standing with his wife and son near the partition. Draco nodded curtly in their direction, and then turned to his son. The son had the same sharp features and white-blonde hair. He glanced toward James, seeming to recognize him. After a moment, the boy looked away again, as if bored.

James remembered the news he was supposed to share. He ran toward his family, dodging and weaving through the crowd. As he approached, he heard Uncle Ron say to Rose in a pointed voice, "Don't get too friendly with him though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood." James was glad to interrupt the uncomfortable pause that followed.

"Hey!" he yelled as he approached. Rose saw him first and smiled. The rest of the family turned curiously. "Teddy's back there. Just seen him. And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!"

The adults looked down at James rather blankly. James raised his eyebrows, exasperated at their lack of response. "Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked him what he was doing— "

"You interrupted them?" Ginny said incredulously. "You are so like Ron…"

James plowed on, committed to telling it like Ted asked. "—and he said he'd come to see her off! And then he told me to go away! He's snogging her!"

Lily spoke up, "Oh, it would be lovely if they got married."

James rolled his eyes, ignoring the rest of the conversation. Well, at least he'd succeeded in getting the word out. Ted would be satisfied. After a moment, James heard his dad saying, "Why don't we just invite him to come live with us and have done with it?"

"Yeah!" James agreed instantly. "I don't mind sharing with Al. Teddy could have my room!"

"No," Harry interjected. "You and Al will share a room only when I want the house demolished." He checked his watch, and smiled. "It's nearly eleven. You'd better get on board."

James hugged his mum and dad and a minute later climbed aboard the train, leaving the noise and steam behind him. He clumped into the nearest compartment with Rose right behind him. She pushed the window open and leaned out to wave. James joined her and glanced out. Albus was still on the platform with their dad squatted next to him. James remembered Harry doing the same thing with him last year, and didn't doubt that Albus and he were having a very similar conversation. Ginny saw James and waved at him. Lily skulked nearby, loosely holding her mum's free hand.

Albus disengaged from his dad, hugged his mum, and then clambered onto the train. A moment later, he entered the compartment with James and Rose. There was a commotion behind them as several other students crowded into the compartment, leaning toward the open window, chattering excitedly.

"Why are they all staring?" Albus asked as he and Rose turned.

On the platform, Ron shrugged and called up, "Don't let it worry you. It's me. I'm extremely famous."

Albus smiled, and then laughed a little. Rose chuckled at her father. With a loud rattle and a jerk, the train began to move. James couldn't help noticing that his brother seemed to feel a little bit better. Albus smiled, allowing some excitement to show on his face as he waved. Alongside the train, their father walked, one hand raised and a wistful smile on his face. The train slowly gathered speed and James watched his parents get smaller and smaller on the platform. Rose leaned out the window and waved heartily at Ron and Hermione, then pulled herself in with a sigh, drawing the window shut.

"Well," she said, plopping onto the seat across from James, "we're off!"

James nodded. Albus watched out the window until the platform was out of sight, and then joined Rose on the seat. He leaned back and watched the window as London began to stream past.

"So what do you think, Al?" James asked, remembering Lucy's admonition on the platform. "Looking forward to your first year?"

Albus looked at James for a long moment, and then sighed hugely. "I'd be looking forward to it a lot more if I knew you'd packed me some socks."

James blinked, smiling a little, and kicked his brother's foot. "You never change them anyway. I didn't think you'd need any more than what's on your feet already."

"That's disgusting," Rose announced.

There was a loud knock on the compartment door and the three looked up.

Ralph leaned in, his face flushed and smiling. "Hi, everybody. Room for one more?"

"So Zane is going to Alma Aleron this year?" Rose asked, feigning disinterest.

"You knew he was ever since he visited with his parents last July," Albus said.

"Well, he wasn't completely sure then, was he? He said there was a chance his father might get his contract extended."

"No," Albus insisted. "He said even if that happened, he'd probably end up going back to the States with his sister and mum. You're just sweet on him and can't help thinking that one bat of your eyes should have been enough to get him to climb mountains and forge mighty rivers to be at Hogwarts with you this year."

Rose rolled her eyes theatrically. "That's patently ridiculous. I barely know him, and what I do know of him, I find completely insufferable."

"Insufferable enough to try to make the Draught of Enamor?" Albus grinned.

Rose whipped her head around and gaped at Albus. "I never…!"

Albus shrugged, still grinning. "You need to learn to lock your diary with more than the silly little Forget-me-knot Charm that came with it. You of all people should know how easy those are to jinx open."

"Why, you rat!" Rose cried, her voice rising so that it was nearly inaudible. "If I knew how to perform any curses, I'd turn your head into a marshmallow!"

"Is this what things are always like in your family?" Ralph asked James, munching a licorice wand.

"Pretty much," James nodded. "It's a good thing Louis hasn't found us yet. He really brings out the worst in Rose."

"This isn't her worst?"

James dug in his bag and produced his wand. Finally, now that he was on the train, he was allowed to use it again. He was tempted to strike up a game of Winkles and Augers with Ralph, but he knew that Ralph would defeat him easily with his unorthodox green-tipped wand. James would've liked to believe that Ralph's skills were only due to the fact that his wand had once been a part of Merlin's magical staff, but he knew better. Ralph was talented, and he probably didn't even know the limit of his own talents. Being beat by Ralph at Winkles and Augers was particularly galling because Ralph tended to apologize for it.

"It is a shame that Zane couldn't come back with us this year," James said. "It's going to be a bit weird without him."

"Well, it was always a bit weird with him too," Ralph said. "So maybe it'll all even out. Besides, we'll still get to see him. He says that the Alma Alerons have some experimental new communication methods. He's going to be on the testing team for them."

James nodded. "Sounds like old Chancellor Franklyn has been hard at work since he left."

"I'll say," Ralph agreed. "Dad visited them over the summer and they took him on a tour of the school and grounds. The whole campus is packed into a single yard surrounded by a stone wall in some old neighborhood of Philadelphia. You'd never even notice it if you walked past it. Talk about unplotted space! They even have a Timelock!"

James furrowed his brow. "What's a Timelock?"

"Oh, it's totally cool," Ralph enthused. "It's the only way into the school. It's kind of like an airlock. You know how when rockets connect to a space station, they have this locked off chamber between them?"

James raised his eyebrows sardonically.

"Oh yeah," Ralph said, "I keep forgetting you were raised by wizards. All right, an airlock is kind of a closed chamber between two places with really different atmospheres. It has doors on both sides. When you go into the airlock on your side, you bring your atmosphere in with you. Then the doors lock and your atmosphere is swapped out for a new one. That's the only way a spacewalker can get inside the breathable environment of a space station."

James' expression didn't change.

"All right," Ralph said defensively, "so I grew up watching science-fiction films. Not all of us were born with a silver wand in our mouths, you know."

James laughed. "Go on, Ralphinator. So what's a Timelock?"

"Well, that's just it! It's an airlock for time! Not only is the Alma Aleron campus hidden inside some magical stone wall that makes it seem loads smaller than it is, it's hidden in time, too! You have to go in through the Timelock to exchange your time for whatever time the campus is occupying on any given day."

"That's impossible," Rose chimed in, lowering the book she'd been reading. "Time travel is not only highly unstable, but extremely risky. The Ministry has even outlawed Time-Turners because too many people were fiddling around in the temporal fluxstream, making history all wonky."

"The 'temporal fluxstream'?" Ralph repeated, blinking.

"'Wonky'?" Albus grinned.

"Rose takes a little bit of getting used to," James said. "But she's the person to go to if you need a cure for poison ivy."

"Or the occasional love potion," Albus added.

"It would've worked if I'd succeeded in getting him to drink it," Rose pointed out primly. "And I was only testing it on him. I just find him slightly less obnoxious than any of you."

"What kind of wand did you get, Rosie?" James asked, changing the subject.

"Only my dad's allowed to call me that, Jameson," Rose replied, reaching for her bag.

James smiled. "'Jameson' isn't even my real name."

"It's willow," Rose said, flourishing her wand daintily and holding it up. "Eight inches, with a Pegasus feather core."

"What about yours, Albus?" Ralph asked, popping the last bit of licorice wand into his mouth.

Albus' face changed a little and he shrugged. "It's a wand. Eight and a half inches. It's made out of yew."

Ralph nodded. "So what's the core made of?"

Albus glanced aside, out the window, his face darkening. "What's your wand core made of, Ralph?" he asked pointedly.

Ralph blinked. He reached into his bag and produced his wand. James looked at it, remembering it well. It was at least a foot long, and thick as a broomstick. The end was whittled to a dull point and painted lime green. It looked as silly as always, and yet James knew, perhaps more than anyone, what that wand was capable of in Ralph's hand. It had saved James' life at least once.

"Well," Ralph admitted, "I used to think it had a yeti whisker core—"

"A yeti whisker?" Albus said, leaning forward and grinning.

"We've been through this," Rose sighed. "Nobody knows what's inside Ralph's wand except maybe Merlin. And I'm sure not going to ask him. He creeps me out."

James looked at Rose. "He does? Why?"

Rose gave James an expression of exasperated disdain. "He's only the most famously self-serving wizard in the history of the magical world, you know."

"Yeah, I suppose, but he's not evil."

"Hasn't it occurred to you that a wizard as powerful as Merlin could be all the scarier because he's not evil but just selfish?"

James frowned incredulously. "Where in the world did you get that? Your own parents were part of the committee that succeeded in getting him appointed Headmaster."

Rose put her wand back into her bag and shoved it under her seat. "Let's just say even his strongest supporters think there's a lot we don't know about him."

"Like what?" James demanded.

"Like things we don't know," Rose repeated pedantically. "That's pretty much the point: we don't know them."

James scoffed and turned away, fingering his wand.

The sky outside the train window was still grey as slate, promising rain. Fields marched past monotonously. James decided to go see if he could find any of his other friends. He stood and shoved the door open.

"Hey," Ralph said, not looking up from the tabloid he'd flipped open, "if you see the cart lady, send her back down this way, would you? I'm starved."

James nodded and stepped out. He was about to close the door again when Albus squeezed through, joining James in the corridor.

"Why didn't you tell Ralph what your wand core was?" James asked as they walked.

"What business is it of his?" Albus replied, as if daring James to respond.

James shrugged. After a moment, Albus sighed.

"Look, it's bad enough everyone makes those jokes about my name. Asp, a kind of snake, ha ha. If word gets out that my wand core is a dragon heartstring…"

"I think it's kind of cool," James said. "Nobody messes with a dragon."

"Except for Uncle Charlie and Harold and Jules," Albus said, allowing a small grin.

"Yeah, but they're totally dotty. They're almost as bad as Hagrid when it comes to dragons." James stopped in the corridor and looked at Albus. "It really isn't a big deal, you know. I tease you about it, but really, it's only because when I was being sorted, I actually considered—"

Something flickered past them in the corridor. James saw it and whipped around, gasping.

"What?" Albus asked, glancing around.

James shook his head, still studying the shadows of the corridor. "I don't know. Something. I think I've seen it before, but I don't know what it is yet."

"I see your first year of school has you just brimming with knowledge," Albus said.

James held up his hand toward Albus, silencing him. The light in the corridor was watery and indirect, full of flitting shadows as the train passed through a stand of woods, but James was certain he recognized the shape and movement of the tiny shadow imp. He was intent on finding it.

There was a sudden noise and burst of air, making James jump. He glanced up as a large man with very short dark hair stepped into the corridor from the adjoining car. He slid the connecting door shut easily, slamming it into place.

"Bitter day out there, boys," he boomed, stalking toward them down the aisle. "You'd best be getting to your compartments. It's not wise to be gallivanting about a moving train."

"We're just, er, looking for our friends," James replied.

"Same as me, then," the man grinned, sidling past. "Better luck finding them than I've had, eh?"

The large man moved to the end of the corridor and yanked the door open, letting in another burst of air and noise from the connecting breezeway between the cars. A moment later, he slammed the door.

"Was he a teacher?" Albus asked, looking after the man.

"I've never seen him before," James answered, distracted. He noticed that the door through which the man had come was not entirely closed. It had slid slightly back open when he'd slammed it. A whistle of cool air pushed through it.

The shadow imp suddenly landed in front of the door, examining the small opening. James saw it and his eyes widened. The creature seemed to turn back to him, as if daring him to follow. The crack was far too narrow even for the tiny shadow shape, but then it turned and squeezed through, pouring through the space like smoke.

James bolted toward it.

"What is it?" Albus said, following.

"Did you see it?" James asked, trying to keep his footing on the swaying floor.

"Yeah! Looked like a shadow, but standing all by itself!"

James reached the door and yanked it open. Misty air and the deafening clack of the train's wheels poured in. The tiny connecting breezeway rocked disconcertingly, but the creature was there, capering in the alcove of the doorway leading into the next car. James reached for it, but it slipped beneath the door, making itself so flat as to virtually disappear.

"Come on!" James said, yanking the next door open. "I want to see what this thing is! I owe it a thrashing!"

The next car of the train was exactly like the previous. Compartments all along the right side were full of Hogwarts students, chattering and laughing. James ignored them as he chased the creature down the corridor. It scampered in and out of the shifting light, capering up the walls and leaping over the floor. James realized he still had his wand in his hand. Quickly, he tried to remember all the spells Professor Franklyn had taught him last year in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"There it goes!" Albus stopped, pointing. "It's heading for the engine! We can't go in there, can we?"

James was determined to follow the shadow creature. He ran forward as it shimmied into the sliver of light between the door and the wall. James could see through the tiny window of the door. The next car wasn't a passenger car, but the coal car that fuelled the engine. The noise of the crimson locomotive was noticeably louder here. He reached for the door handle and pulled, but it was locked.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Albus said as James pointed his wand at the door.

"Alohomora!" James said loudly. There was a yellow flash and the door slid partway open. James grabbed the handle and yanked the door aside.

Cool, misty air and bits of soot blew into the compartment. The coal car was a black iron wall on the other side of a connecting knuckle. Beneath the giant knuckle, the ties of the train tracks flickered past. The shadow imp danced on the knuckle, maintaining a dizzying balance in the barreling wind and noise.

James pointed his wand. "What are you?" he called down to it. "What are you doing here?"

The creature suddenly bent down. It wrapped its many-jointed arms around the pin that secured the knuckle together. It began to pull fiercely, trying to force the pin out and disconnect the train.

"Stop it!" James commanded, trying to keep his wand steady in the push of wind and mist. "Stop it or I'll Stun you! I know how to do it!"

The creature increased its ferocity, yanking on the pin wildly. James drew his breath.

"Stupefy!" he yelled at the exact moment that a large hand grabbed his wrist, pulling it up. The spell rebounded off the iron wall of the coal car and vanished into the blowing mist outside. James spun as far as he could, his arm still held upright in a vice-like grip.

"That would not be a wise idea," Merlin said in his calm, rumbling voice. He was standing directly behind James, resplendent in his dress robes and oiled beard, his eyes locked on the shadow creature. He released James' hand but did not step back.

James shifted aside as the wizard moved forward. Albus was standing nearby, his eyes wide.

Merlin spoke to the creature. James couldn't understand the words but recognized the language Merlin had used when speaking to Headmistress McGonagall on the Sylvven Tower, the night after his arrival. It was a very dense language, full of corners and tongue-twisting piles of consonants.

The imp stopped pulling the pin of the knuckle and slowly stood up, as if transfixed. It stepped into the compartment, almost between Merlin's feet, and stopped, swaying slightly as the train rocked. Merlin slid the door shut, closing off the wind and the clack of the wheels. He stepped back, still keeping his eyes on the shadowy shape.

"Mr. Potter," he said calmly, "would you be so kind as to stand guard for a moment? I need to retrieve something from my compartment. I'm afraid I was rather unprepared when I saw you running past in pursuit of the Borley."

"The Borley?" James said, looking down at the slowly swaying creature. "Er, yeah, sure. What do I need to do to guard it?"

"Absolutely nothing," Merlin said. "I've entranced it, but the words won't last long. Just watch it in case it awakens again."

"What should we do if it does?" Albus interjected, pushing between Merlin and James.

Merlin looked down at him. "Tell me which way it goes," he rumbled. He turned to stalk heavily down the corridor. "Oh, and boys?" he said, looking back at them over his shoulder. "Whatever you do, use no magic in the Borley's presence."

A moment later, the connecting door opened and slammed as Merlin passed through.

"What in the world is a Borley?" Albus asked, staring down at the entranced shadow shape.

"I've no idea."

"So that was Merlin, eh?"

James nodded. "He's pretty hard to miss."

Halfway down the corridor, a compartment door slid open. Both Potters looked up as a boy stepped out into the corridor. The boy glanced back in the direction Merlin had gone, and then turned to James and Albus. His face was cold, disinterested, and very pale. James recognized the son of Draco Malfoy.

"Mischief already?" the boy commented. "And already in trouble with the new Headmaster to boot."

"Well, it's no business of yours either way," James said, trying to stand in front of the tiny shadow creature.

"I know you," the boy said, smiling and narrowing his eyes. "The two Potters. I can't remember your first names. What's the point, really?"

"What do you want?" James asked, trying to put some authority into his voice. He was a secondyear, after all. It wasn't much, but it was something.

"At first, I wanted to see if you were as thick as I'd heard. The story among the Slytherins is that the older of you has delusions of being a great hero, just like your father supposedly was. But now that I see that you're both only a pair of frightened kids, I just want to see what you have cornered there," the boy said, gesturing toward the floor at James' feet.

Albus stepped forward. "Like he said, it's none of your business. Why don't you shove off, Scorpius?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't plan to," the pale boy said, still smiling indulgently. "I'm the curious type, I am. Let's have a look, why don't we?"

"I saw your dad last week," James said. He realized he still had his wand in his hand.

"Yes," Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. "At the old man's funeral. He thought it was the noble thing to do, I suppose. Mother didn't agree, but she goes along with Father's ideas like a good wife should. Personally, I didn't see the point. It's hard to feel bad about one dead Weasley when there are so many more to take his place."

James felt something rush past him and glanced down, certain that the shadow creature had reawakened. He was only aware of what was happening when he heard the thump that followed. Albus had rushed Scorpius, throwing him against the wall of the compartment hard enough to make the boy stagger. They collapsed to the floor in an untidy jumble.

"How dare you? Get your hands off me!" Scorpius cried, struggling as Albus wrestled to keep him down.

"Take that back!" Albus yelled furiously. "Take it back right now!"

More doors opened along the corridor. Curious students gathered, some grinning and pointing.

"James," Sabrina Hildegard, a fellow Gryffindor, said as she stepped into the corridor. "What's going on? First, the connecting door is left open, and then—"

There was a sudden crack and a flash of red. Scorpius clambered to his feet, his face livid. He pointed his wand wildly, but Albus lunged at him.

"No!" James shouted. "Albus, stop!"

There was a furor of voices and clamoring figures as Scorpius stumbled backwards, trying to evade Albus' reaching arms. Another spell ricocheted off the ceiling of the compartment. Suddenly, James remembered the Borley. He spun around, looking for it, but the creature was gone. Desperately, he scanned the corridor.

"No spells!" he shouted, holding up his hands, but no one noticed him. James was jostled as more students pressed into the narrow space, crowding to see the fight. He spun around, looking for the creature, and suddenly saw it. The Borley leapt within the shadows of the milling students. It was much larger than it had been at first, and seemed rather more solid. It jumped to the floor and James heard a thump as it landed. Unthinkingly, he pointed his wand at it. The Borley saw him and lunged as if to attack. James pulled his wand up and ducked. The creature went over his head and disappeared into the throng that filled the corridor.

"BE STILL!" a very large voice boomed, and James didn't have to guess who it belonged to. He grimaced and slumped against the wall.

The crowd of onlookers silenced immediately. A moment later, the corridor had emptied again as the milling students slipped sheepishly back into their compartments, leaving James, Albus, and Scorpius. Albus had a handful of Scorpius' robes. Scorpius still had his wand in his hand. He tried to slip it surreptitiously into his robes.

Merlin rolled his eyes slowly. "So," he said in his low, rumbling voice, "can any of you tell me in which direction it went?"