G. Lippert - JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

Despite James' distractions, he felt confident that he was doing fairly well with his end-ofterm exams. Through the Shard, Rose had offered, albeit tiredly, to help him, Ralph, and Zane to study since the Hogwarts school term lasted a bit longer than Alma Aleron's.

"I would ask you to return the favor in the next few weeks," she'd said, rolling her eyes. "But I expect that'd be a bit like asking for blood from a rock."

"Is that likely to be on the exam?" Ralph had asked suddenly, looking up from his bed, where he'd been poring over his Advanced Elemental Transmutation textbook. "We did butterflies from stones already. I don't remember blood from a rock." He flipped some pages while Rose sighed helplessly.

After studying late Thursday afternoon, James explained everything to Rose. Scorpius was not present, thankfully, otherwise he might not have.

"So what are you going to do?" Rose asked seriously, now standing next to the mantel in the Gryffindor common room so they could all keep their voices low. "I mean, if she's guilty, she's guilty. You can't stand in the way of justice."

James sighed deeply. He asked his cousin, "Do you really believe she's guilty?"

Rose shrugged, as if the question was too big to answer. "I don't know," she replied somberly. "Scorpius thinks she did it. So do Damien and Sabrina. I mean, we all like Petra and all, but it doesn't look very good, does it? That Arbiter bloke spoke to them, you know, and Ted too. Via Floo. He found out that they were all there when everything, er, came down at Petra's grandparents' farm. They told him to go hex himself, in so many words, but he already seemed to know everything. I hid behind the couch during the interview. He was one smug beast, I'll tell you."

"You got that one right," Zane commented from James' bed, where he lounged amidst a pile of books and notes. "Nobody should enjoy 'justice' as much as he does. He's just a bully with a badge if you ask me."

"So what do they plan to do with Petra?" Rose asked in a hushed voice.

Zane shrugged briskly. "She's still in the Medical College detention wing, only a few doors down from old Madame Delacroix, I hear. Lucy volunteers there sometimes, so she's been keeping us in the loop. Hardly anybody is allowed within fifty feet of Petra's door. They have guards posted all over the place, even though Petra's been unconscious the whole time. They gave her the poison apple treatment."

"Poison apple?" Rose blinked, frowning. "Is that a joke?"

"Nope," Zane said seriously. "Mother Newt makes 'em. One bite and you're out for good, or at least until someone says the magic word to wake you up. They had to give it to Petra by hand since she was already out cold when they brought her in. Until they know how to move her and lock her up, that's where she'll stay, sleeping under its spell. She may be powerful, but nobody wakes up from the poison apple on their own."

"What about Izzy?" Rose pressed. "Can't Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny just adopt her? Why's the court say she has to be Obliviated?"

"It's the law," James said darkly. "Izzy's a Muggle, remember? As long as she had a free and living magical relative, she'd have been allowed to live in the wizarding world. But now Petra's been convicted of a crime, so Izzy is on her own. If she was of age it would be a different story, but since she's not, the law says that she has to be sent back to the Muggle world."

"That's horrible," Rose said, hugging herself. Then, in a different voice, she asked, "Do you still plan to go through with your plans regarding the World Between the Worlds?"

James nodded. "Yes," he said stubbornly. " If we can win the tournament next Monday. And if we really can open the Nexus Curtain, once Apollo Mansion moves to Victory Hill and the cornerstones come together."

Rose shook her head slowly, watching her cousin's face through the glass of the Shard. "Are you really sure that's such a good idea? What if you do find your way into this place—this World Between the Worlds—only to find out that Petra really did do it?"

James' face hardened slightly. "If it really was Petra, then she was being tricked or used somehow. We'll prove it."

Rose was persistent. "But how can you know that?" she asked earnestly, almost whispering.

"Because of the silver thread," he answered, meeting her eyes. After a moment, he glanced around at Zane and Ralph. "You remember what I told you lot about that? From when Petra went over the back of the Gwyndemere and nearly fell into the ocean?"

Ralph nodded, remembering. "Yeah, you said that this magical silver thread appeared and connected the two of you. It's what saved her."

"Yeah," James concurred gravely. "Well, my dad talked to me about it afterwards. I don't remember everything he said, but I do remember this: he said that what happened between me and Petra was sort of like what happened between him and his mum, when she was willing to die for him. It created some really deep kind of magic, protecting him, but also connecting him to Voldemort. When Petra fell off the ship…" He paused, searching for the words. After a moment, he drew a deep breath. "I was… willing to do whatever I had to do to save her. I was even willing to go over in her place although I was barely thinking about it at the time. It all happened too fast to think. Dad says that because I was willing to trade fates with Petra, it made that deep magic happen, just like it did between his mum and him. Only… different."

"Because you didn't die," Rose said, nodding slightly. "And yet, you saved her anyway. Somehow."

"That changes the deal, though, doesn't it?" Ralph suggested. "I mean, it's a little like cheating, er, isn't it?"

James looked at his friend. "Maybe it is. I don't know. The magic was so strong, so… unreal. But the thing is, where the deep magic connected my dad to Voldemort, back when he was a baby and his mum died for him, for me and Petra, it happened differently. It connected us, somehow. That silver thread, the one that appeared and saved her, connecting us so that I could pull her up… it's still there. When I'm close to her… and sometimes even when I'm not… I can sense her on the other end of it. I can, sort of, feel echoes of her thoughts and dreams. It isn't like I can read her mind or anything. But I can feel the shape of her thoughts. And probably vice versa too. One thing I know for sure is that regardless of what Keynes and the rest all say, Petra believes she is innocent. She is really and truly convinced that she didn't break into the Hall of Archives or curse Mr. Henredon. In her mind, she's totally innocent." He paused, and frowned thoughtfully. "At least, she believes she's innocent of that."

Rose looked very serious on the other side of the Shard. Her brow was low, knitted on her forehead. "James," she said softly. "I'm afraid to say this, but… that's a little crazy."

James blinked at her. "Well," he countered defensively, "maybe. But it's true!"

"Silver thread or not," Zane announced, climbing to his feet. "I just want to see how this whole dealio works out. We've put too much into this to stop now."

"That's hardly a good reason," Rose said, but Zane approached the Shard and patted it, as if he meant to pat her on the head.

"Rose, love, you're a girl. You wouldn't understand. There's a sort of inertia to these things. We got the magic horseshoe. We figured out the riddle of where the Nexus Curtain is. There's no way we can stop now. The weight of our own curiosity would crush us. Is that what you want? For us to be crushed by our own curiosity?"

"This is dangerous, " Rose insisted, her eyes hardening. "At least tell your father, James."