The Curse of the GateKeeper (James Potter #2) (58 page)

"Oh," Cameron said sheepishly. "Yeah. Er, sorry."

Slowly, the four made their way upstairs, stepping carefully through a strew of broken furniture and collapsed ceilings and walls. The deterioration of the Shrieking Shack was severe enough that James worried the place might simply collapse on top of them. Wind whistled and moaned through cracks in the walls, making the entire house creak. As they reached the main floor, broken windows let in enough daylight that Rose could finally extinguish her wand.

"There's the door," Cameron said, pointing. Remarkably, the old door was still intact and fit snugly enough in its warped frame that the four of them had to pull the handle simultaneously to budge it open.

"I sure am glad to be out of there," Ralph said, jumping off the sagging porch. "I think the only thing holding that place up is force of habit."

James glanced back at the Shack. "Let's just hope it holds up for at least a few more hours."

"It occurs to me," Ralph said, looking at James and Rose, "that this is an awful lot to go through just to get some Drooble's Best Blowing gum and say hi to Ted."

Rose shook her head and trotted along the path leading toward the village. "Oh, come on, Ralph. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"I think I used it all up last year."

James smiled. "The worst part's behind us, Ralphinator. Come on, it'll be fun!"

"Hurry up, you guys," Cameron called, halfway between Rose and the two boys. "I have to use the toilet!"

Ralph rolled his eyes, and then grinned at James. "Come on, I'll race you!"

James, Ralph, Rose, and Cameron found their way to the High Street and wandered along it, happily enamoured by the various shops and bustling crowds. James and Ralph were debating whether to visit Honeydukes or Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes first when Rose exclaimed in delight, pointing.

"Scrivenshaft's?" James said as Rose hurried forward. "You want to go to the quill shop first?"

"I know I won't be able to afford much of anything," Rose replied, pushing through the door and jingling the bell, "but I can't wait to see what the new Heddelbum self-inking dodo tips are like. Oh, look! They have an actual working Recalls-It-All pen! It remembers everything you write and can duplicate it perfectly!"

"Now that would be handy," James said, his eyes widening. "A pen that can take your tests for you. How much?"

Rose glanced at James disdainfully. "It's really amazing how hard you'll work to avoid the simplest schoolwork, James."

"Yeah," James answered, "Uncle Ron would be proud."

The four of them worked their way along the street, stopping in at most of the shops along the way. Cameron bought a new wand holder at Hiram and Blattwott's Leathers and immediately sheathed his wand in it. He showed it to James and Ralph.

"Protects the finish while simultaneously enhancing magical properties!" Cameron proclaimed proudly, reading directly from the tag. "The inside is lined with suede and enriched with Wymnot's Wand Polish and Enchant-Enhancer. It cleans and empowers my wand every time I put it away!"

"That's great, Cam," Ralph nodded. "Er, looks really dashing too."

"Thanks!" Cameron grinned. "Hey, can we stop at the newsstand? I want to see if the new issue of
Stupendous Stories
is available."

The newsstand stood on the corner of the High Street and Guddymutter Avenue, and it was the only two-story newsstand James had ever seen. A spiral staircase on the side led to a narrow wrought-iron walkway that encircled the second level. The walkway was packed with wizards and witches browsing every type of newspaper and magazine imaginable. The very peak of the newsstand was a noisy miniature Owlery, twittering with birds of all sizes. They seemed to be coming and going at every moment, each owl attended to by a small man installed at a round desk in the center. As each owl arrived, the little man spun on his chair to retrieve its parcel. Most of these seemed to be small strips of parchment rolled like scrolls and inserted into brass tubes on the owls' legs. As the man removed the message, he'd turn to a speaking tube and read its contents. The speaking tube carried the man's voice through a complicated curlicue of expanding pipes and bellows, eventually broadcasting his every word out over the High Street.

"Breaking news from Turkey," the man read in a surprisingly deep, baritone voice, "the Grand Vizier of the Wizarding Caliphate, Rajah Hassajah, has died unexpectedly, to be replaced in interim by his assistant, Ahmed al-Mustaphus. International wizarding bank authority to freeze all transactions with the Caliphate until said crisis is satisfactorily managed. Updates as events warrant."

"Oh, look who's on the cover of this month's Quibbler," Rose cried delightedly, pulling a copy off a shelf on the lower level. James leaned over Rose's shoulder, studying the tabloid in her hands. '
Daughter of Quibbler Founder to Wed
', read the cover headline alongside a photo of Luna Lovegood happily accepting a ring from her new beau, Rolf Scamander. The picture was obviously staged, but Luna's smile was genuine enough, and the look of happy affection on Rolf's rather bug-like face was unmistakable. In the photo, Luna took the ring, and then held it out to the camera. It seemed to be made of amber with an insect embedded in it.

"That's been done," Ralph sniffed.

"Well, I'm happy for her," Rose said, replacing the tabloid on the rack. "Luna's hoped to get married for a long time. She wants a family."

"How do you know that?" James asked, furrowing his brow. "I've known Luna all my life and she's never said anything about that."

Rose looked aloof. "That's because you haven't been listening in on the right conversations."

Overhead, the Owlery announcer spoke through his amplifying apparatus, "In an update to previous reports, the mysterious sightings of swarms of Dementors throughout Central London have only increased, although no amount of investigation has been able to pinpoint the hive's origin or predict the locations of any future oppressions. Further, the range of the infestation appears to be increasing daily, reaching into neighboring vicinities at an alarming rate. Muggle reportage of the incidents is gaining precedent, although attributions of the effects are extremely varied. In a breaking development, the Ministry of Magic has announced the creation of an Auror sub-department to locate and subdue the hive. Meanwhile, many concerned citizens of the magical world are departing the Central London area until the unexplained oppressions are brought under control. Continuing updates as events warrant."

Ralph's face had gone pale. "I heard something about those Dementor swarms when I first went home for the holiday, but I didn't think anything of it. It seems to have gotten a lot worse now. Do you think this is connected to the descent of the Gatekeeper?"

"It must be," James said, remembering his earlier conversation with the Headmaster. "Merlin told me that the Borleys were basically baby Dementors. Maybe the Gatekeeper is something like the
ultimate
Dementor. Maybe the Gatekeeper has assembled all the uncaptured Dementors and is using them to begin its work on the earth!"

Rose shuddered. "That's an awful thought! If it's true, James, then our parents might be in danger, since they work at the Ministry. Especially your dad. If he's in charge of that Auror sub-department, he'll be chasing the Gatekeeper and he won't even know it! We have to warn them!"

James knew Rose was right. He nodded. "I'll send Dad an owl as soon as we get back tonight. I'll tell him everything we know so far."

"But why would the Gatekeeper be using Dementors?" Ralph asked. "I thought it could affect humans directly?"

Rose answered, "It can, but only a few at a time, for now. It feeds on fear and terror, so it's using the Dementors to get what it needs. But this proves that it hasn't found its human host yet. Once it possesses the host, it won't need the Dementors anymore. It'll become directly connected to the community of mankind. It'll be able to affect loads of people all at once, and nothing will be able to stop it."

"We need to get both halves of the Beacon Stone before that happens," James said fervently. "Whoever has the whole stone can still send the Gatekeeper back into the Void, right?"

"We don't even know where Slytherin's half of the stone is," Ralph lamented. "And the half that we do know about is on the finger of the most powerful wizard in the world. This makes stealing Jackson's briefcase last year look like a walk in the park."

James was unperturbed. "At least we know where Merlin's Beacon ring is. We just need to find out who might have inherited Slytherin's Beacon ring."

"Well, no problem there," Ralph said sarcastically. "We just need to trace some mystical black ring through three dozen generations of dark wizards. That should be a breeze!"

"What mystical black ring?" Cameron asked, returning with a newsstand sack.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Nothing, Cameron. We're just trying to save the world here. We do this every day, you know."

"Oh," Cameron said, frowning a little. "I just thought maybe you were talking about the Gaunt family ring Headmaster Dumbledore gave your dad."

As one, James, Ralph, and Rose looked at Cameron. He blinked at them a little nervously.

"What ring, Cameron?" Ralph asked.

Cameron smiled crookedly, as if he was being teased. "You know. The ring with the Resurrection Stone in it. It was one of the Deathly Hallows in the last book. Headmaster Dumbledore captured it and gave it to Harry Potter inside the Golden Snitch. You remember that, er… don't you?"

Rose, Ralph, and James exchanged looks. Rose said, "Could it really be that simple?"

James' eyes widened thoughtfully. "Cameron, you know those books pretty much frontwards and backwards, right? Tell us everything you remember about that ring."

Cameron looked at James, a little puzzled, and then shrugged. "Well, according to legend, the ring once belonged to Death, so it allowed the holder to see and speak to dead people. It was passed on through generations of Salazar Slytherin's relatives until it came to the Gaunt family. Voldemort took the ring and used it as a, er, Horcrux," Cameron whispered the last word as if it was a sort of swear word. He went on in his normal voice. "Later, Dumbledore captured the ring and cracked the stone with Gryffindor's sword, making it useless to Voldemort. After Dumbledore died, he willed the stone to Harry Potter, hiding it inside his Snitch. In the book, Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to speak to his dead parents when he's going to confront Voldemort in the Forest. After that, no one knows what became of the stone. Anyway, when you said something about a mysterious black ring, I just thought that might be what you were talking about. My mistake."

"Cameron," Rose said seriously, "I could kiss you, you silly geek. That's brilliant!"

Cameron blushed fiercely and hugged his newsstand sack, grinning.

Ralph asked, "Do you really think the Resurrection Stone and the Beacon Stone are the same thing?"

"It sure seems to fit," James replied. "It was black and set into a ring and it was passed on by Salazar Slytherin through loads of generations."

Rose added, "And it allowed the bearer to see and communicate with dead people because it came from the Void that all departed souls pass through."

Ralph shuddered. "So whatever became of it? What happened to it after that night in the Forest?"

"It's just like Cameron said," Rose sighed, "no one knows. If I remember right, it was purposely left out of the books so that nobody would be tempted to search for the stone again. It was presumed lost forever. Nobody knows where it is, or even if it still exists."

James narrowed his eyes, thinking. He decided not to say anything, but he knew of at least one person who did know what had become of the Resurrection Stone. And James was one of the only people on earth who could ask that person and possibly get an answer.

Eventually, the foursome made their way to the Three Broomsticks, affectionately known among some of the older students as the 'Triple Sticks'. They ordered Butterbeers and had a light dinner. Hogwarts students packed the tables, talking boisterously and calling to each other. Sabrina, Damien, and Gennifer Tellus jostled through the door just as James was finishing his sausage. Damien grinned as they pushed their way through the throng.

"Made it through the tunnel, I see," Damien called. "I'm a little jealous, you know. We discovered that passageway first. I was hoping to be the first to see the inside of the Shrieking Shack. How was it?"

"Barely standing," James answered. "You'll be lucky if it's still upright when you go through yourself."

"Where's Noah and Petra?" Rose asked.

Gennifer rolled her eyes. "Oh, they're having a lover's spat over at Madam Puddifoot's. I told them it'd be nothing but trouble if they started dating."

"They aren't really dating," Sabrina said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "They're just snogging. It isn't exactly the same thing."

James glanced up sharply, surprised that he had somehow missed this development. "How long have they been, er, snogging?"

"It started about a week before Christmas," Sabrina replied. "It's probably all that rehearsing as lovers for the play that did it. You can only pretend to fancy one another for so long before it leaks over into real life."