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

As the three crossed the library, Ralph angled into a narrow aisle, turning to face James and Rose. "So if Merlin has the stone, does that mean we're all done for?"

"Not exactly," Rose said. "Remember, there were two rings, each with half of the Beacon Stone. Whoever has the other ring also has some influence over the Gatekeeper. As long as Merlin doesn't have both halves, he can't fully control it."

"So our only hope is that the other half of the stone is in the right hands," James replied. "As long as one keeper of the stone is trying to hold the Gatekeeper back, its power will be limited."

Rose looked worried. "For a while, yes. I hadn't had a chance to tell you what I've learned since we last talked about it. According to all the legends, once the Gatekeeper finds a human host—a host who has willingly killed to prove their worthiness—the stones won't influence it at all anymore. The Beacon Stone is the Gatekeeper's foothold in this world, but only until it becomes one with its human host. When that happens, it won't need the stones. Nothing will be able to send it back to the Void."

"When did you read this?" Ralph asked, his face going pale.

"Last night. I've been studying everything I can find about the Curse of the Gatekeeper. I compared notes with Cousin Lucy by owl, and she's right. A lot of it is pretty horrible and fantastic, but all the writings agree on the main details: The Beacon Stone summons the Gatekeeper when the bearer suspends in the Void for a long enough time; the Gatekeeper follows the bearer of the stone into our world, and the bearer becomes its Ambassador; the Ambassador can use the Beacon Stone to send the Gatekeeper back to the Void, but only as long as the Gatekeeper hasn't entered its human host. Once that happens, the Beacon Stone is useless and the Curse of the Gatekeeper is unleashed on the earth. When that happens, nothing can stop it."

James frowned, trying to examine the legend from every angle. "So since the stone's been split in two, neither of the bearers can send it back even if they wanted to."

"But what does the Gatekeeper want?" Ralph asked Rose. "Why does it want to destroy everything?"

Rose's face had also gone pale. "It's really very simple. It hates us because we aren't it. It has always believed it was the only living thing. Now that it has discovered the world of humans, it refuses to share existence with us. Also, even more awful, it feeds on despair and agony like the world's hungriest and most powerful Dementor. But where Dementors only call up your own memories of the worst things that have ever happened to you, the Gatekeeper creates all new feelings. It can manipulate a person's mind at the most basic level, creating raw, sourceless panic and terror. That's what we read about in the tabloid article Lucy sent us. It was trying to figure those humans out, trying to work out the best way to produce what it hungers for. For now, it can only affect a few humans at once. But once it connects with its human host and becomes a part of the community of mankind, it'll be able to affect thousands and millions at once. It'll just suck the terror out of everyone until there's nothing left of them, then leave them like husks and move on. It'll move over the earth doing that until there's no one left at all."

"No one but the host," Ralph squeaked.

"Not even the host," Rose whispered. "In the end, it'll turn on them too. It wishes to be entirely alone. In the end, it'll break its own tool. The scariest thing is that the host may even know it. The host may be so full of pain and sadness and hate that they won't care. They may even wish for it."

Something had pricked James' memory. Rose saw it on his face. "What, James? You look like you just swallowed a hippogriff egg."

"My dream," James replied, touching his forehead. "What you're saying sounds a lot like the words of the voice in my dream. There's this black robed figure standing in the corner, talking all the time, telling the person in my dream that justice will be served, and the day of balance is coming, and it always says that the person in my dream is to be the hand that brings it about if they are willing, if they are up to the task that will prove their worth. And the person in my dream does seem to be willing. They seem to be very sad and very angry, all at the same time. It's as if they've felt a loss so great that it makes the whole world meaningless. Worse, that the whole world shouldn't even exist anymore, because it's the world their tragedy happened in. It's a very vengeful, hateful, hopeless feeling, but mostly, it's just sad, so sad that it's like a black wall that goes on forever with no gate or corners or top to climb over."

"Maybe the person in your dream is meant to be the host of the Gatekeeper," Ralph said, his eyes wide. "It almost sounds like Merlin, doesn't it? I mean, he ended up killing the woman he loved most in all the world. You said he left his own time because he couldn't bear to live in it anymore, knowing what he'd done, right? Maybe coming to this time isn't any better for him! Maybe he'd be happy to let the Gatekeeper destroy everything and everyone, even himself!"

Rose nodded slowly. "It does certainly sound like what he might be feeling. The Gatekeeper's host doesn't have to be its Ambassador, but there's nothing that says it couldn't."

James was thinking hard, trying to remember his dreams. He shook his head. "It's not Merlin, though, in my dream. I've never seen the person's face, but I'm sure it isn't him. It just feels all wrong. It's someone younger. And different. Definitely not Merlin."

Rose gasped and covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes going wide. Ralph jumped at her sudden movement. "What?" he exclaimed.

"The Bloodline!" Rose said in a very high voice. "They even mentioned it in that scene in the Mirror, at Tom Riddle's grave, don't you remember? The Gatekeeper went looking for the best host it could find, and sensed Voldemort's body. It knows almost nothing about humans, so it didn't realize Voldemort was dead until it got there. Then it made the statue talk, somehow tapping into the ghost of Voldemort. The statue told the Gatekeeper that there was another host for it, one with Voldemort's blood in its veins. Remember? It's obvious! The Gatekeeper's host is to be the Bloodline of Voldemort!"

"But who is it?" Ralph asked. "We don't know that, so we're right back where we started."

"We don't know it yet," Rose said, smiling a little nervously. "But we have a way of finding out." She looked at James.

James pressed his lips together and sighed. "My phantom scar. But we don't even know where it's coming from or if we can trust it."

Rose shrugged. "It's all we have. All we can do is hope it's not a trick of some kind. Pay attention to your dreams, James. They're probably our only clue. Maybe you'll finally get a good look at whoever it is and we'll learn who the Bloodline is."

"And who the mysterious speaking voice is too," Ralph added meaningfully.

"Yes, that too," Rose agreed. "Good point, Ralph. Maybe it's Merlin himself, don't you think?"

Ralph heaved a great sigh. "I don't know. I hope not. But the alternative could be worse, couldn't it? I mean, a known enemy is better than an unknown one, right?"

After lunch, James hurried across the castle to the amphitheater where Muggle Studies would be meeting for the rest of the term. When he got to the archway leading outside to the terraced seating, he was quite surprised to feel warm air despite the snowflakes which fell like a curtain over the distant hills.

Damien Damascus met James near the base of the stage. "Fortunately," he said, smiling, "Curry isn't such a slave to doing things like the Muggles that she isn't willing to magic a little atmosphere for us to work in. Nice, eh? Now I just have to get the hang of this thing." He held up a hammer and studied it at arm's length. "It's a bit brutish, don't you think?"