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

"He is not in sight. To the inner chamber."

James followed the witches as they moved across the room. He was amazed at their movement. It was graceful and flitting, remarkably quick but utterly controlled. Their wand hands preceded them, steady as stone. James' heart slammed in his chest, making his own wand shake in his hand. He glanced aside as he passed the double doors of the laboratory. They were still slightly open, but the space beyond was dark.

"Sweep the room," Ravenclaw said as she moved into Slytherin's inner sanctum. "Ravaelio!"

A beam of soft lavender light spread from the tip of Ravenclaw's wand, lighting the wall. Slowly, she moved it all around the room, letting the light touch every surface. Finally, she lowered her wand, extinguishing the lavender light.

"He is not hidden here," she said, obviously disappointed. "He has fled once again, methinks."

James finally took a moment to look around. This was obviously Slytherin's sleeping quarters. It was surprisingly small and cluttered, with gothic pillars and buttresses all round it. A single window was securely closed and locked.

"Let us take advantage of the moment, then," Hufflepuff said, turning to James. "What is it that you believe Salazar might have in his possession? What tool might prove helpful to you?"

James tried to explain the age he'd come from, and how he'd arrived in this century by accidentally wishing himself through the Magic Mirror in the Headmaster's office. He described appearing through the smaller silver-framed mirror hung behind the rotunda statue and its subsequent destruction by Slytherin.

"I assumed that that had been a Magic Mirror as well," James said. "But now I don't think so. Slytherin loves things like that; he'd never destroy something really magical just to keep me here. I think the Amsera Certh Mirror can see through any mirror, maybe even anything that reflects! So the mirror behind the statue was just a normal mirror after all."

"That mirror was a remnant from Hadyn's occupation," Ravenclaw nodded. "There'd be nothing magical about it."

"But Slytherin knew all about travelling through Mirrors," James went on. "He said that he thought he was only one of two men on earth who knew about that. And then, just now, when we were up on the Sylvven Tower, I remembered the Headmaster saying something like that. He said that his Magic Mirror was one of only two ever made, and that the other one had belonged to somebody he knew. But now I know who that person must have been! Slytherin has the other Magic Mirror! The twin of the one that brought me here!"

Ravenclaw's eyes had grown very sharp and wary. She glanced meaningfully aside at Hufflepuff.

"Let us search," Hufflepuff said quietly. "Then we shall know for sure."

Ravenclaw raised her wand and said the same incantation as before. The lavender light appeared at the end of her wand again. She turned slowly.

"In my last pass," she muttered, "I was merely searching for sign of Salazar, either as man or bat. Now…"

Hufflepuff paced around the room, watching the lavender light play on the walls.

"There," she announced, pointing.

Ravenclaw paused, resting the beam on a very large painting. It was a full-length portrait of a narrow-faced wizard in burgundy robes, and it was very nearly life-sized. The portrait slit its eyes at them and scowled. James saw that as the beam passed over the portrait, it illuminated the faint outline of a hidden doorway.

Ravenclaw pocketed her wand and stalked across the floor. She grasped the frame of the painting and pulled, but it was stuck tight to the wall. Hufflepuff joined her, but they could not move the painting even with all three of them pulling it.

"No more kid gloves," Ravenclaw said angrily. She stood back, motioning the others away. She pointed her wand at the portrait.

"Rowena Ravenclaw," the portrait sneered, "you know not what you are doing—"

"Convulsus!" Rowena cried, interrupting the portrait. There was a blinding burst of white light and the portrait seemed to vaporize. A moment later, once James' eyes had readjusted to the relative dimness of the room, he saw that the portrait had not, in fact, been completely obliterated. The frame had been destroyed, and the painting had been slashed straight down the middle leaving a gaping hole. The wooden back of the painting had been entirely blasted away, lost in the dark space beyond.

James, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw approached the slashed portrait carefully. James, between the two women, could see a sliver of light winking back at him from the depths beyond the torn canvas. In the dimness of the hidden chamber, James' own face looked back at him.

"It's there," James breathed, both elated and frightened. "I can see my reflection. It's the Magic Mirror!"

Hufflepuff illuminated her wand and held it out. Very carefully, she crept through the shredded painting into the dimness of the chamber behind it. Her wand lit the space and shone on the mirror's frame. As James entered the chamber and peered around Hufflepuff, he could see that this mirror was nearly identical to the one in Merlin's office, except that it stood upright rather than on its side. Also, there were words engraved on the golden frame of Slytherin's mirror. The inscription didn't make any sense to James, but the first word, carved in beautiful, flowing script, was 'Erised'.

"The Mirror," Hufflepuff said simply, her voice awed. "It wasn't destroyed after all. He had it this whole time."

Ravenclaw's face was flushed with anger. "We should have known. But what of its Focusing Book? Without it, the Mirror's power is uncontrollable and capricious, reduced only to its most basic and illusory functions. We must search for the book."

"Indeed, and search for it we shall, once we have told Godric of this discovery," Hufflepuff said. "For now, other matters demand our attention. James has done us a second great service. I suspect he'd prefer to take his leave if he can."

"I would, if you don't mind," James agreed. "It's been really cool to meet all of you. Well, most of you. But I'm really anxious to see if I can get back."

"James Potter," Hufflepuff said, smiling. "We'd have a myriad of questions for you, not the least of which would be what becomes of us, and what is this school like in your time. But I strongly suspect that the less we know of such things, the better."

"There is one question we should ask though, Helga," Ravenclaw said. She turned to James, her face grim and thoughtful. "If this tale you have told us is true, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, then the Headmaster of this college, some thousand years hence, has had collusion in this time with Salazar Slytherin. James, answer me this one question as truly as you can. Do you know the real name of this Headmaster of yours?"

"Sure," James said, frowning quizzically. "I thought I'd mentioned him already. It's Merlin. You'd probably know him as Merlinus Ambrosius. He came to our time last year, on the night of the alignment of the planets. I guess you'd call it the Hall of Elders' Crossing. I saw him just this evening. Well, heard him, actually, when I was trapped in the laboratory. He was right out there, in Slytherin's office."

Ravenclaw's face had gone very pale. She studied James, and then turned to look at Hufflepuff.

"He was here this very night," she said quietly. "It is all true. We scarce believed it."

"And this boy is proof that he succeeded. It is far worse than we expected. The legend—"

"Hush, Helga," Rowena said gravely. "James needn't hear of the details of that."

The two women looked at James. In the wandlight, their faces were very pale and deadly serious.

"Hear me now, James Potter: beware Merlinus," Ravenclaw said, speaking with great emphasis. "The sorcerer has a glamour that bewitches those who wish to trust him. If he has achieved the position of Headmaster, then he has already fooled many. It may even now be too late for your world. But you may have been sent here this night for a great purpose. Perhaps you go back to serve as a warning. That which Merlinus bodes upon your world is an evil like nothing the earth has ever known. The Gatekeeper of the Void may even now be unleashed, and Merlinus is its Ambassador. There is no battling the Gatekeeper, but if you can find a way to destroy the Ambassador, James Potter, you must take it. Do not let him put his glamour upon you. If the moment comes, it will not be the time for discourse or hesitation. It will be the time for action. Do you understand?"