G. Lippert - James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

"What service?" James demanded, getting to his feet and producing his own wand. "What's she talking about, Scorpius?"

"James, get down!" Ted exclaimed, not taking his eyes off Tabitha. "All of you, get back while you can!"

"James," Rose murmured, trying to twist away from Tabitha's wand, "just go!"

"Tell them, Scorpius!" Tabitha commanded, renewing her grip on Rose's neck. "Tell them just how much of a 'trustworthy friend' you are! Tell them how you've played them all for fools!"

Scorpius' wand trembled in his hand as he pointed it at her. He glanced aside at James, his eyes bright and scared.

Tabitha laughed again. "You might do yourself a favor, James Potter, by wondering how I knew so many of you were coming, and exactly when. Ask yourself how I came to be so well-prepared for your arrival. Can you guess? I think even you can!"

It was Albus who answered, calling over James' shoulder. "You have the Marauder's Map!" he said, both shocked and disappointed. "But Tabitha, why?"

"Oh, my dear Albus, the important question is not 'why', it is 'how'," Tabitha replied. "You see, Lucius Malfoy has a rather good thief in his service. Doesn't he, Scorpius?"

Scorpius shook his head angrily, interrupting her. "All right! Just shut up, Corsica! If you insist, I will tell them. It was I who took the map and the Cloak! Are you happy?" He lowered his wand and turned to James, his face tortured. "Look, I lied. It was me. I rode along with my parents the day they went to your grandfather's funeral. I told them I'd wait in the car, but… that's not exactly what I did. While they were gone, I sneaked out of the car and crept into the house. I found your parents' room and searched it as quickly as I could. I stole the Marauder's Map and the Invisibility Cloak, all under my grandfather's orders. You have to understand, James, I was confused! I wanted to impress my grandfather, and prove myself as a Malfoy and a Slytherin! I wanted to show him I was better than my own turncoat father. But I didn't expect it would lead to this! I swear it!"

James was completely stunned. Breathlessly, he asked, "And the doll?"

Scorpius couldn't meet James' gaze any longer. He dropped his eyes and nodded. "That hadn't even been part of the plan. Grandfather hadn't known of it. I saw it on the bedside table and thought it might be helpful. I thought it'd impress my grandfather. And it did, oh yes. He had grand plans for that doll, although they didn't work out quite like he'd wanted."

"I knew you were a rat!" Albus cried, pushing forward. "I smelled you a mile away!"

James held his brother back, and amazingly, Albus relented. "But why did you tell us about Tabitha?" James asked. "Why did you show us the memories in the Pensieve?"

"Don't answer that, Scorpius!" Tabitha said. "Enough talk. It's time for the real work of this night to begin. All of you, away! Or Weasley dies. If you think I'm bluffing, you'll know better when she lies dead on the floor and I've descended to the Chamber. Now go!"

"Tabitha, you're as deluded as my grandfather!" Scorpius cried angrily. "Let her go! What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm doing the work I was created for!" Tabitha shrieked, jabbing her wand into Rose's temple . "One thousand years' planning has come to this! I am the edge of the blade of revenge! I am the hand of balance! I am the Bloodline of Lord Voldemort!"

"You?" Scorpius scoffed, stepping forward boldly, not even raising his wand. "If you believe that, then you're as deceived as I've been! We both should have known my grandfather wouldn't tell anyone the whole of his plan. Put down your wand and let her go!"

"Nooo!" Tabitha wailed, and she seemed to crumple. Her eyes were wild, darting. "I am the Bloodline! It is my duty to descend to the Chamber of my forefather! I am the host of the Gatekeeper!"

"You aren't," Scorpius declared firmly. "If you were, you would've been able to open the Chamber on your own. But you couldn't, could you? No matter how hard you tried. Because you aren't a Parselmouth! You're nothing more than a convenient distraction! That was why my grandfather wanted me to show them the memories and make them believe the Bloodline was you: to distract them from the real Bloodline!"

"NOOO!" Tabitha shrieke d again, closing her eyes and crumpling. Her wand wavered and her grip loosened on Rose. Suddenly, impulsively, she pointed her wand at Scorpius.

" Avada Kedavra !" she screamed, her face twisting in rage. Green light erupted from her wand.

Scorpius lunged, instinctively turning sideways, just as they'd practiced in Defence Club. The jet of green light missed him by inches, striking the wall behind him and exploding in a burst of sparks. Scorpius' maneuver knocked him off balance, however, and he struck his head hard on the edge of the sink as he fell. At that moment, James saw Rose's mouth tighten and she kicked backwards, connecting with Tabitha's shin. The taller girl's wail of anger turned into a cry of pain and she stumbled. Rose ducked from beneath Tabitha's arm and Ted leapt forward. He captured Tabitha as she collapsed, but the fight had completely gone from her. Tabitha dropped her wand and sank to the floor, slipping through Ted's arms.

"Is he all right?" Rose called, jumping to Scorpius' side.

"If he isn't dead," Albus announced, striding into the room and pointing his wand, "I'll kill him."

James gently steered his brother away from the bleeding boy on the floor. "Back off, Al. You can deal with him later. I think he'll be all right."

There was a groan as Ralph sat up, rubbing his head. "What happened?" he moaned. "Am I dead?"

"Tabitha Stunned you," Zane answered, helping Ralph to his feet. "Be glad that's all it was. She stopped at crazy a few blocks back."

"I am the Bloodline," Tabitha sobbed. "I've felt the guiding hand of the Dark Lord! I was promised! My parents would be avenged! No one else meets the requirements! I am the only orphan left within these walls! It must be me!"

Ted glanced sharply down at Tabitha. "What did you say?"

"I am the only orphan left, Ted Lupin!" she cried, raising her eyes angrily to him. "Now that you've gone from these halls, it had to be me! The prophecies say that a child of tragedy would be the host of the Gatekeeper. My parents are gone, dead these many years! And Lucius Malfoy has confirmed it! He told me how the Ministry killed my father, and how my mother died when I was born!"

Ted was shaking his head slowly. "That's not true," he said. He glanced back at James, his face grave. "Then none of you know, do you? I assumed she'd told you, just like she told me."

James shook his head. "Who? Told us what?"

"That day at Hogsmeade," Ted answered. "She needed to talk to me because she'd just found out about her parents. She wanted to talk to someone who'd gone through the same kind of loss. She never knew until the package came. It was too much for her to bear… to find out so much, so fast…"

"Petra?" James said, stepping forward. "You mean the package from her father?"

Ted frowned and shook his head. "James, it wasn't from her father. The Ministry sent it. It was all of her father's belongings. He'd willed them to her when he died in Azkaban years ago. When she turned seventeen, the Ministry released them to her. She never even knew he'd been incarcerated. Amongst the old shirts and shoes, there was a note. It was addressed to the baby daughter he'd never met. He told her he believed that the guards would soon kill him, but that he couldn't do anything to stop it. They thought he was protecting his former Death Eater employers, but he really wasn't. He didn't know anything about them; they'd never told him their names or even showed him their faces. He wanted Petra to know that he would have turned his bosses in if he could've, and that… well, that he loved her, and that he was sorry he'd never be there for her."