The Curse of the GateKeeper (James Potter #2) (74 page)

James shrugged. "It didn't get Petra as its host. She wouldn't kill for it, not in the end. It doesn't have a foothold here anymore. It's finished."

Zane nodded, frowning a little. "If you say so, mate. Let's get out of here. This place creeps me out big time."

"Yeah. There's a reason they call it the Chamber of Secrets," Albus agreed.

James nodded, glancing back. Fervently, he said, "Let's just hope that was the last of its secrets."

"And that's the story as well as I can tell it," James said, sitting back in the single chair across from the Headmaster. It was the next day, and the bright sunlight and birdsong of late morning wafted in through the open window. "We came up through the girls' second-floor bathroom and Ted led Tabitha straight here to your office. The rest of us took Lily to the Great Hall to meet up with Mum. She called Aunt Hermione, Uncle George and Uncle Ron back from the search and everybody decided to go ahead with the wrap party after all, although it was more a celebration of Lily's return by that point."

Merlin nodded slowly, his fingers steepled. He shared a look with Harry Potter, who stood nearby, arms folded and staring at the floor.

"And Miss Morganstern attended the party?" Merlin asked.

James shook his head. "No, I think she thought it'd be best for her not to be there. I mean, considering everything."

Harry spoke without raising his head. "It wasn't her fault. She was being deceived."

"It was not entirely her fault," Merlin corrected grimly. "She was being deceived, yes, but she was allowing the deception to occur. She has admitted so herself. The fact that she was able to throw off the deception in the end is proof that she could have done so all along, had she so chose."

"She is cursed with the last ghost of the soul of Voldemort in her very blood," Harry said, finally raising his eyes. "He was a wily liar and a master manipulator. Far greater witches and wizards than Petra Morganstern succumbed to his deceptions."

Merlin nodded. "And they were also responsible for the choices they made as a result."

James sat forward in his seat. "What are you saying? You think Petra is evil just because she was unlucky enough to get chosen for that stupid Horcrux dagger?"

"No, James," Merlin said gently. "For that, she is truly unfortunate. To the extent that Petra allows herself to be influenced by that accursed soul, however, she may still choose to do that which would make her evil indeed. She has admitted that
she
was the one that cursed Josephina Bartlett with the Vertigo Hex, knowing everyone would blame Miss Corsica, all just to prove to herself that she could do it. She came very close to making the ultimate evil choice last night, and nearly doomed all of mankind in the bargain. Had you not been there at exactly the right moment, revealing the mysterious portrait, all might well have been lost."

"You don't know that," James said, but uncertainly.

"Oh, but I do, James," Merlin said, looking James in the eye. "And for that, I owe you an apology."

"An apology? Why?"

Merlin sighed deeply. "I was very wrong about you, James Potter." The big man paused, as if unwilling to elaborate. He was gazing straight ahead, and James realized that he was looking past him, at something on the rear wall. James turned and looked over his shoulder. The portrait of Albus Dumbledore was meeting Merlin's gaze. He smiled slightly and nodded. Then, barely noticeable, Dumbledore winked at James. James frowned and turned back to Merlin.

"I've been
advised,"
Merlin said sardonically, "to avoid the temptation to keep secrets or tell halftruths. Your Albus Dumbledore and I have discussed the topic at great length, and I admit that, until recently, I did not much agree with him. Regardless, recent events have shown the validity of his argument. James Potter, in the presence of your father, I will tell you the whole of the truth." Merlin sighed again, and then stood. He moved from behind his desk, passing in front of Harry.

"It is true," he explained. "I was well aware of the possibility that the entity called the Gatekeeper might follow me back from my long journey outside of time. Salazar Slytherin made it very clear to me. He hoped and planned for it, and my heart was in such a state that I did not much care. 'Damn the world,' I thought. 'If the Doombringer is to come, then fate will save mankind or it will not.' I washed my hands of it. Last year, when I returned to the world of men, I despised this age. I determined that if the Gatekeeper had indeed followed me, I would not even use the small power at my disposal to keep it at bay." Merlin held up a hand, displaying the glinting black ring. "And then I discovered the presence of the Borleys. Nuisances, really, the magical equivalent of cockroaches, and yet it proved to me that things had indeed followed me from the Void. If the Borleys were here, then surely the Gatekeeper was as well. I determined to capture the Borleys using the best tool for such a task: the Darkbag, which, as you know, contains the last earthly shred of pure darkness from the Void. I imprisoned the Borleys inside it, dozens of them, although at the time I could not say why I chose to do so; it seemed merely right and responsible. The truth is that I was coming to know this age, and while there was—and still is—much of it that I find wretched, I discovered I did not hate it as much as I'd thought. More important, I had come to care for some of the people in this age. Chiefly, you, Mr. Potter, and your rambunctious, irreverent friends.

"As I realized this, I knew I had but one choice: I must do what I could to rid the world of the Gatekeeper, whose very presence in this sphere was my responsibility. Having decided that, I came to know that there were those in this world who knew of the Gatekeeper, and wished to
use
it. These were the disciples of Slytherin, who, like him, had fooled themselves into believing the Gatekeeper could be controlled and used as a hand of vengeance. I knew of the other half of the Beacon Stone, and sensed that it was in the possession of these bent individuals. I followed their progress as they sought the Gatekeeper. I watched and waited, using this very Mirror." He indicated the Amsera Certh, which stood hooded nearby. "My devices could sense events of dark magical power, pinpointing their location. When that happened, I watched in the Mirror. Eventually, I became involved, travelling to the place where the agents of Slytherin met the Gatekeeper. I suspect that you witnessed this, Mr. Potter, along with Miss Weasley and Mr. Deedle. I found them in an unplotted forest, at the tomb of Tom Riddle. There, the Gatekeeper had revived the memory of Voldemort, forcing it to speak through the grave statue. The Gatekeeper demanded to be led to the human who would best serve as its host. The statue told of the boy who had defeated Voldemort, and the Gatekeeper assumed that this boy, Harry Potter, would be the logical choice for its host. I sensed it turning toward you, Harry, homing in on you…" Merlin looked up at James' father. "It located you without even leaving the grave. It sensed you in the web of humanity, and determined that it could not have you. I felt it turning you over in what passes for its mind, felt it dismiss you, not as unworthy, but as unconquerable. It knew it could never bend you to its purposes."

Harry visibly shivered. "I remember that," he said in a low, wondering voice. "I was in the Auror offices at the Ministry, talking to Kirkham Wood. All of a sudden, it was like I was outside myself, looking down on my body as if I'd been shoved aside while something else shuffled through the contents of my brain. It only lasted a few seconds, and then suddenly, it was over. Kirkham hadn't noticed a thing. I decided I'd imagined it, or that I was just a bit overstressed. But it must have been that… thing… examining me."

Merlin nodded. "It would take a powerful wizard to sense it. The Gatekeeper numbs its prey so that few ever remember its passing. Surely, that fact alone was part of why it knew it could never claim you, Harry. So it moved on. Even as that demented Lucius Malfoy spoke to it, beckoning for it to join them, telling it that they had prepared a Bloodline to be its host, I sensed it moving on, past you, Harry, looking further… looking for you, James."

"Me?" James exclaimed, shocked. "Why?"

"It makes perfect sense if you think about it from the Gatekeeper's view. The prophecies all claim that the host of the Gatekeeper would be a child of great loss, or an orphan. It sought out Voldemort, the orphan who most represented the Gatekeeper's aims, and found him a corpse. Thus, it logically sought out the one powerful enough to have bested Voldemort, and found yet another orphan: Harry Potter. He, however, was too strong, and therefore of no more use to the Gatekeeper than the dead Voldemort. So it looked just a bit further, to the first-born son of Harry Potter. And it found, interestingly, that that very boy had recently experienced his own tragedy, the sudden loss of your grandfather. Further, it sensed that you were in attendance on the very night that the Gatekeeper had arrived in the earth, and that you, James Potter, had even helped facilitate its descent."

"But I didn't mean to!" James blurted. "I was trying to stop it!"

Merlin held up a hand. "It matters not to the Gatekeeper. I sensed it homing in on you, learning of you, all in that moment in the graveyard, even as Lucius Malfoy was speaking to it. I sensed you in its thoughts, James, and that is when I stepped out into the open, to distract it. I called to the Gatekeeper, identifying myself as the bearer of the Beacon Stone. It remembered me from my time in the Void. The first thing it did was ask for you, James. I told it as sternly as I could that you knew nothing of it, that you would never consent to be its host. But it laughed. It told me that you had already sought it out, and that you were watching at that very moment. Lucius Malfoy looked and saw you, reflected in the window of an abandoned shack nearby. He pointed at you, and the Gatekeeper smiled. It had known you'd been watching from the moment it turned its attention to finding you, James. I turned and saw your reflection for myself. I knew I had to get back, to warn you, but you closed the Focusing Book, shutting me out. It took me much of a day to get back to the castle by other methods, and by then, I had determined a rather different opinion of you, I am afraid."

"You'd decided I was on the Gatekeeper's side?" James asked, perplexed.

"Not consciously," Merlin answered. "No more than Petra Morganstern was on the Gatekeeper's side. I decided you were being manipulated by it, and by your own desires. I regret to admit this, James, but I feared that your desire to be like your father was being exploited, used by the Gatekeeper and the forces of chaos. When your mother's Howler went off, telling us all that she believed you'd stolen the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map, it further convinced me that you were, in fact, working toward the Gatekeeper's ends. I decided to watch and to wait, hoping that I was wrong about you. And then, when your own sister went missing on the night of the play, I knew that it was the moment of truth. I could scarcely believe you'd harm her, but those in the thrall of deception have done even worse things than murder their sisters. I planned to take you away from the school, removing you from whatever plan the Gatekeeper had for you. You foiled me, of course, by the simple expedient of being young and quick. Even then, I could have taken you had I truly wished to. In my deepest heart, however, I had decided to trust you—and fate. It was my own trial of the cord, much like your test, James, in the cave of my cache. You chose to hold onto the golden cord even though letting go would have been far easier. Thus, I chose to hold onto the one thin cord of trust in you as well. If I did so foolishly, then the world would not last long enough to blame me. As it turns out, however, that moment of trust was indeed wise. In fact, I believe it saved us all."

James blew out a sigh. "Wow. So that was why you were so secretive and scary that day in your office."

"The portrait told me it was a mistake," Merlin admitted, glancing aside. "Dumbledore did not approve of my attitude toward you, and told me so upon your departure."

From the wall behind James, Dumbledore's voice spoke. "I was nothing if not respectful, Merlinus. But yes, I did warn you that you doubted the boy at your own peril."

Merlin nodded. "Yes, you made your point quite clear, as I recall."

"I am cursed with the burden of helping those who've succeeded me to not make the same mistakes I did," Dumbledore said, looking at Merlin, then Harry. "I myself only learned these lessons mere days before my death. Too late to make much of a difference, although I did what little I could."

Harry nodded, unsmiling. "So what is to be done with Petra Morganstern, then?"

Merlin shrugged, returning to his desk. "She is guilty of possession of stolen property in the form of the Invisibility Cloak and kidnapping Lily Potter. As Head Auror, the owner of the Cloak,
and
the girl's father, Harry Potter, I might ask you the same thing."

Harry thought seriously for a long moment. Finally, he looked at James. "I won't be pressing any charges," he said. "James, do you agree?"

James nodded. "She didn't know what she was doing, Dad. And when I showed her how she was being deceived, she turned things around really quickly. She doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"Be very aware of what you are doing, my friends," Merlin said quietly. "Miss Morganstern is a very complicated young woman."

"But she isn't evil," James said emphatically.

"No more than you are, James, or your father, or I myself. And yet I, at least, have wrought great evil, all in the name of love. We are all capable of evil, depending on the choices we make and the philosophies we embrace. The greater the potential for good in any of us, the greater the opposite potential for wickedness. Miss Morganstern has, to say the very least, great, great potential. The only question is how she will choose to invest it."

"But she did the right thing," Harry said. "In my experience, those who choose to do right usually get addicted to it. The soul of Voldemort has a toe-hold in her, yes; she can't help that. But she has proven that it isn't enough to rule her."