"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.
"Wha
t 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.
James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper Page 7