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

"I wanted to thank you three for your assistance this afternoon," Merlin said, and he sounded almost hearty now that they had returned. "Thus, I thought you might like to see my cache opened."

Rose widened her eyes with interest. "You're going to show us what's in it?"

"Not precisely, Miss Weasley, although you will certainly see its contents in time. No, I mean that perhaps you might like to see it opened. It is, if I do say so myself, rather a good bit."

James smiled quizzically. "Well, sure. If you say so. Let's have a look."

Merlin seemed pleased. He carefully bent and set the small wooden box on the floor. There was a clasp on the front, holding the lid shut. Merlin lifted the latch and stood back.

Slowly, the lid began to rise. It seemed to lift like a drawer out of the box, sliding upwards much further than the depth of the box should have allowed. There was another drawer embedded in the front of the first drawer. James moved around the box and saw that there were, in fact, drawers on all four sides of the main drawer. The vertical drawer reached man's height and stopped with a shudder. With a soft click, the drawers on all four sides began to roll out. The sides of each new drawer bore yet more drawers. Slowly, they unrolled, each surface revealing more and more compartments. It was beautiful to watch, and yet it boggled the mind. James' eyes seemed to resist what they were seeing. They watered a bit as the box expanded, filling the center of the room. Finally, after about a minute, the drawers stopped. James, Rose, and Ralph walked around the mass of drawers, doors, and complicated locks and hinges.

"That was definitely a good bit," James said, awed.

"Much better than a pile of trunks," Rose agreed.

"Wonderful," Ralph sighed. "Mysteries and enigmas galore." He looked pleadingly at James. "Can we go eat now?"

James grinned. The three students headed toward the door leading out of the Headmaster's office. James was the last to go through, but just as he was leaving, Merlin called his name. James stopped and turned as Ralph and Rose started down the spiral staircase.

"I have returned your subtracted ten points, Mr. Potter, and added ten as well," Merlin said. "You did very well in the cavern. You will remember, of course, that secrecy is essential."

"Sure," James replied. "Not a word to anyone."

Merlin nodded, meeting James at the door. "Of course," he said, lowering his voice, "I do not know precisely what Lord Farrigan said to you while I retrieved the box, but I expect his words would also not bear repeating to anyone within these halls. That includes Mr. Deedle and Miss Weasley. As you know, the dead can be very… persuasive. I'd hate to see any conspiracies take root."

James looked up at the Headmaster. The big man was like a giant next to him. James nodded slowly. Merlin seemed satisfied.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter," he said. "Do enjoy your dinner. You've earned it."

A moment later, James found himself standing next to the closed door of the Headmaster's office. He looked at it thoughtfully, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Come on, James!" Rose called up. "The gargoyle says it's cherry posset for dessert tonight! I never get sweets like that at home!"

James shook his head slightly. If Merlin didn't want James to tell Rose and Ralph what the skeleton had said, then there was surely a good reason. But Merlin had only said he shouldn't tell anyone within the halls of Hogwarts. If it came to it, there was technically no reason James couldn't tell his parents, and they could tell whomever they wished, couldn't they? Satisfied with that, James turned and climbed down the spiral staircase to join his friends.

5. A LBUS AND THE B ROOM

James met Ralph at the base of the steps on Monday morning. The halls were already filled with the clamor and bustle of the start of school, and even though James knew he'd probably be missing the freedoms of summer by the end of his first week, for the moment he was still looking forward to classes.

"Got my schedule all set," Ralph proclaimed happily as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast. "Got Defence Against the Dark Arts with that Debellows bloke first thing this morning."

"Check that," James said. "I'm there too. Strange that he didn't require a book. He must just be so smart about the whole thing that he doesn't need one. This should be excellent."

"Debellows rules," Graham said as James and Ralph plunked down at the table. "You know he once took on two vampires at once with only a Beater bat and a Muggle pencil."

"A pencil?" Ralph furrowed his brow.

"To stab them with, of course. It was the closest thing he had to a wooden stake."

Ralph screwed up his face, thinking. "That must have been one bloody sharp pencil."

Rose had already finished her breakfast, having arrived earlier. "I hear that this is going to be a very practical Defence Against the Dark Arts class, even for first-years. Apparently, Debellows prefers a hands-on approach."

"Well, just look at the fellow," Noah said, turning to gaze at the man still finishing his breakfast at the teachers' table. "He looks like he's ready to pounce even when he's sitting still."

Sabrina leaned over the table and said in a stage-whisper, "I think Noah has a bit of a man-crush on him."

"Oh shut up," Noah replied. "You didn't grow up collecting Debellows Harrier action cards. I just can't believe he's going to teach us how to battle the Dark Arts. I hope he shows us how to do the Perseuspinch maneuver."

"I had an action figure that did that," Graham nodded. "I tried to use it on my mum, once. Got me in no end of Barney."

"I have to wait until Wednesday for my first class with him," Rose complained. "Tell me how it goes tonight, won't you?"

James nodded, his mouth full of toast. Across the room, James could see Albus sitting in the middle of the Slytherin table, smiling and laughing with his new friends. Strangely enough, most of those around him were older students. Tabitha Corsica and Philia Goyle smiled and nodded as Albus spoke.

"Come on," Ralph said, pulling James' collar. "Let's get to class a little early. I want to see what this Debellows is all about."

"Hang on," James said, collecting his bag. He climbed off his bench and skirted the edge of the hall, heading around toward the Slytherin table.

"Hey, Al," he called.

Albus looked up, following the sound of James' voice. "Hi, James! Didn't see you all weekend. What's up?"

"Can you spare a minute to walk with your brother to first class? I want to hear about your adventures in your new house."

"That's sweet," Tabitha said warmly. "Go ahead, Albus. We'll chat again at lunch and make arrangements for Wednesday."

"Excellent!" Albus nodded happily. "All right, come on, big brother. I've got Herbology with Neville first thing."

As they broke away from the Slytherin table, Albus was positively bursting with excitement. "I got my ring key already, see? Spent the whole weekend getting the grand tour with the Fang and Talons. Did you know the Slytherin rooms have their own casting range? We can practice almost any spells and curses we want on these enchanted dummies. If you get a curse right, the dummy drops on the floor and does this hilarious imitation of the effect. Not that I'm any good at the wandwork yet, but Tabby says I shouldn't rush it."

James nearly choked. "'Tabby'?"

"Yeah," Albus nodded. "Tabitha Corsica. She's the unofficial head of Fang and Talons. I mean, nobody is really an official anything in the club. It's really just a joke with the Slytherins."