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

Ralph shook his head. "I can't do stuff like that, James. Look at me. Zane was right. I'm a brick wall."

"You're no bigger than Debellows, and you saw what he did, dodging all those spells, moving like he knew exactly where every bolt was going to be. He made it look really easy!"

"Yeah, I know about things that look really easy. Turns out they aren't. He said Artis Decerto was a lifetime study."

"So what else you got planned for the rest of your life?" James asked, grinning. "You want to be great at something or what?"

Ralph smiled crookedly. "You think Scorpius can even teach us that stuff?"

"Only one way to find out," James replied, arching an eyebrow.

But neither Ralph nor James saw Scorpius for the rest of the day. As they walked to the gym for the Defence Club meeting, Rose was rather enthusiastic about using the club to practice Artis Decerto techniques.

"You know he's hardly even teaching it to the girls," she fumed. "Debellows is a first-class cretin when it comes to women in combat roles. Some of the best fighters in history have been witches! Hasn't he ever heard of Chloris the Clobberer? Or Ghia von Guggenheim? Or for that matter, Bellatrix Lestrange and the woman who defeated her, Grandma Weasley?"

"He may not have heard of Grandma Weasley," Ralph answered thoughtfully. "But you have a point."

"A woman is arguably more inclined to being good at Artis Decerto," Rose went on. "We're more graceful by nature. And more intuitive."

"Maybe you should teach it, then," James said with a straight face.

"Maybe I should," Rose replied, glaring at him.

The three turned into the gymnasium and stopped. Most of the club members were cheering and shouting, gathered in a raucous throng near the line of clockwork dummies. Green flashes lit the group, but James couldn't see where they were coming from.

James and Rose ran forward, pushing into the throng. James, being taller than Rose, saw what was happening first. The assembled students had formed a semicircle around Tabitha Corsica, Philia Goyle, and Albus. The three Slytherins were smiling happily as they fired green bolts at one of the mechanical target dummies. The dummy thrashed and writhed, spitting tiny cogs and springs, wracking loose of its frame.

"Stop it!" Rose yelled, her cheeks bright red. "What do you think you're doing? Stop it this instant!"

Tabitha whispered an incantation, shooting one more spell at the dummy, and then raised her wand easily. She turned to peer back over her shoulder at the newcomers. "Good evening, Rose, James," she said. "Is there a sign-up parchment we should attend to? We'd hate to bypass any of the necessary formalities."

"What kind of spells were those?" Rose demanded, planting her fists on her hips.

"Calm down, Rosie," Albus said, pocketing his wand. "We were just having a little fun. It's just a dummy, you know."

"You were using Killing Curses," Rose said, wheeling on Albus. "How dare you? You can't just come into this club and start using Unforgivable Curses, especially that one! You'll get us all expelled!"

"The law is rather vague when it comes to practicing Unforgivable Curses on inanimate objects, Rose," Tabitha said, smiling indulgently. "Besides, what's the point of a Defence Club if you aren't going to practice useful defensive techniques?"

"Killing someone is your idea of a defensive technique?" James spat.

Tabitha blinked at him, adopting a puzzled look. "Can you think of a more effective one?" she asked.

"She's right," Nolan Beetlebrick, one of Tabitha's fellow Slytherins, called from the crowd of students. "Debellows is a numpty. He's not teaching us anything useful. I want to learn how to fight for real."

There was a chorus of agreement.

"We hardly wish to usurp control of your club," Tabitha said, pocketing her wand. "We are here to learn, as are the rest of you."

"But if someone doesn't teach the lot of you how to do a basic Cruciatus Curse," Philia interjected, "how do you expect to deal with those who won't give a second thought to using a Killing Curse on you?"

The crowd of students babbled excitedly. "That's right," someone said. "You have to be ready to fight fire with fire!"

"Are all of you Slytherins completely daft?" a voice declared. James looked and saw Joseph Torrance push to the front of the group. "That's the way your kind have always been, isn't it? Go straight for the dark magic. You lot are just a bunch of one-trick ponies."

There was another babbled response from the crowd. A few people moved away from Joseph, as if they believed Tabitha might curse him where he stood.

"If the one trick is powerful enough," Tabitha said, smiling her most charming smile, "it might just be all a pony needs."

"That's enough of this," James called as the crowd began to get agitated. He raised his hands, turning toward the assembled club members. "We started this club, Ralph and Rose and me, and it's supposed to just be for first- through fourth-years," he said, glaring back at Tabitha and Philia. "Debellows is teaching magical defence to the older years, like those two. This club was meant to be a place where we could practice the basics of defensive magic. It was never the plan to learn any Unforgivable Curses."

"Why not?" Beetlebrick interrupted, his face stony. "Why is everyone trying to make sure we don't know how to defend ourselves?"

A chorus of agreements and arguments erupted from the crowd. James called for order, but the noise of the babble was too loud. The group seemed about to dissolve into complete chaos.

A loud crack echoed through the room, surprising everyone present. James looked up, trying to see where the crack had come from. A dissolving trail of smoke led down toward the main door where Scorpius stood, his eyes narrowed and a small smile curling his lip.

"You want to practice Unforgivable Curses, do you?" he drawled. "In case you've forgotten, I am the teacher for this club. You Slytherins are new, so I'll let it slide, but you surely wouldn't want anyone to get the impression that you were trying to take over."

Tabitha's charming smile turned decidedly sharklike as she looked at Scorpius. "So it's true, first-year Scorpius Malfoy is going to teach us everything he knows. Does that include how to be a traitor to one's family values and traditions?"

Scorpius sighed and walked into the room. "Not until next term," he answered breezily. "Although when it comes to underhanded tricks and backstabbing, I'd hate to repeat anything you lot already know. Maybe you can test out of that section."

Scorpius threaded to the center of the group, moving between Tabitha and Albus, who stared at the pale boy with unmasked disdain.

"Excuse me," Scorpius said, bumping Albus with his shoulder. He turned to face the group, pulling his wand from his cloak with a flourish. "You wish to learn the most powerful curses, do you? You wish to know how to defend yourselves, and even more, to take the fight to the enemy, is that it? Well, contrary to what you may believe, I won't stop you. We will learn such things. And I will be the one to teach them to you." Scorpius narrowed his eyes again, staring hard at James, as if daring him to argue. "I may only be a first-year, but my family tradition, as 'Tabby' has already mentioned, is rich in the deadly arts. I'll teach you just as I was taught by my father and grandfather."

"You little prat," Philia hissed. "We've been practicing defensive magic for years! What can a greasy turncoat Gryffindor like you teach us?"

"The first thing I can teach you is to shut up when the teacher is speaking," Scorpius said, turning to Philia, his face unflinching. "Outside this room, you may be a fifth-year and I may be a 'greasy turncoat Gryffindor', but in this room, you are the student and I am your instructor. Or perhaps you're having second thoughts about joining this club?"