James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

        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.'

        'It is enough to divide her,' Merlin answered. 'And she will never conquer that one small part of her that belongs to him. It will always be there, wheedling, poisoning, tempting, lying. Further, his power is her power. She has shown that she uses that power—granted, for good, so far, such as in healing Albus' leg—but how long will she be able to control it? Even now, she leaves these walls to return to a loveless and bitter life. She has denied herself the return of her own parents so that Lily and you, James, might live. Meanwhile, she watches you go home to loving parents and a life she can only dream of. Don't think that, despite her actions, she will not lie awake on cold, lonely nights, pining hopelessly for her dead parents, and wondering, wondering, if on that fateful night in the Chamber of Secrets she made the wrong choice.'

        James shook his head, not wanting to believe it. 'She'd never think that. Petra is good.'

        'She wants to be good,' Merlin agreed. 'I will grant you that, James. Let us hope that that is enough.'

        Harry approached James and put his hand on his son's shoulder. 'Scorpius has agreed to help us locate his Grandfather Lucius. He's actually a little more enthusiastic about it than I'm comfortable with, to tell you the truth, but his grandfather's lies and manipulations have turned the boy into quite a valuable ally for us. Still,' he said, turning his attention to Merlin, 'what of Tabitha Corsica? She's returned the map. Apart from Stunning Ralph, she hasn't technically done anything wrong whatsoever, despite her best efforts. I have no jurisdiction over her at all.'

        'Leave her to me,' Merlin replied, sitting down at his desk again. 'She is not so far gone that she cannot be helped. I have known someone like her.'

        'You're kidding!' James said, getting to his feet as his father prepared to leave. 'You think Petra's going to go all Dark Lord on us, but you think there's hope for Corsica just because you've 'known someone like her'?'

        Merlin looked up at James, his brow lowered. 'Perhaps I misspoke,' he said, his voice rumbling. 'What I meant to say was I have been someone like her.'

        James stared at the Headmaster, frowning in consternation, but Harry steered him away with his hand. 'Come on, son,' he said, smiling a little. 'The Headmaster has a lot to do. I saw your performance on the Omnioculars, by the way. You're quite the little actor. Makes me wonder about the time you told me you had nothing to do with that broken clock in the parlor, eh?'

        James changed the subject as quickly as he could. 'So are you heading home right away?'

        'No, actually,' Harry answered, closing Merlin's door. 'I'm going to check in on Albus down in the Slytherin quarters. And then I, er, owe someone a visit, apparently.'

        James began to tromp down the spiral staircase. 'Who's that?'

        'Moaning Myrtle,' his dad sighed, smiling. 'Rose insisted. She said she promised. Just come and get me if I'm in there for more than an hour, all right?'

20. THE LONG RIDE HOME

         The last week of school went by as if blown by a hard wind. Zane stayed over, spending a night both with James and Ralph in their dormitories, sleeping on cots provided by the house-elves, and staying the rest of the time in his old house dormitory. The Ravenclaws were happy to see him, and Horace Birch proudly proclaimed him a lifelong Ravenclaw 'despite the fact you're a ruddy Yank and a coffee drinker, even though everybody knows all true Ravenclaws live on tea and Butterbeer.'

        To James' delight, a review of The Triumvirate appeared in the Daily Prophet, carefully glossing over the kidnapping of Lily as 'an unfortunate scare involving a temporarily lost child' since she had turned up later that evening apparently unhurt and perfectly cheerful. The review had called the play a 'surprisingly inventive and entertaining bit of academic theatre' despite the somewhat controversial Muggle production techniques implemented by the director, Muggle Studies professor Tina Grenadine Curry. This was blithely forgiven when the reporter had discovered that the Muggle generators, which were purportedly operating the stage lights, were running rather mysteriously without a drop of petrol in them, therefore rendering the nonmagical claims of the production completely moot.

        'Here we go,' Rose said, pointing at the newspaper at breakfast on the last day of school. ''James Sirius Potter, portraying the part of the beloved Treus, proved that neither youth nor inexperience can prevent a delightful performance in someone so well-trained and obviously inspired. Young Mr. Potter's surprising Thespian talent leads this reporter to muse that, in his case, the apple certainly did not fall far from the tree, even if it did perhaps fall in an entirely different vocational orchard.''

        'That's the fifth time you've read that,' James said, grinning and red-faced.

        'Not that you mind,' Zane said, nudging his friend.

        Ralph asked, 'What's it mean about James falling down in a different orchard?'

        'It means James is as talented as his father,' Rose proclaimed, folding the paper, 'Just in some quite different ways. No one could ever imagine Harry Potter performing in a play, could they?'

        'I suppose not,' James agreed, still grinning sheepishly. 'But I think that's about enough acting for me.'

        Zane shook his head. 'You say that now, but you just wait. Pretty soon, you'll start missing the spotlight. You know, my dad works in the Muggle film industry. He could probably hook you up with a part in a movie. There's even talk of remaking the movies based on that magical book series. You'd be perfect for it!'

        'Not a chance,' James insisted, but he was drowned out by the chorus of enthusiastic agreement. He decided not to fight it, and in the end, everyone agreed that, in fact, Albus would probably better fit the part, despite the fact that he couldn't act as well as James.

        'I'd do it though,' Albus said seriously. 'I could even do my own spells! Would they allow that, you think?'

        Zane shook his head as everyone laughed.

        That night, James enlisted Zane's help in removing the lightning bolt scar from his voodoo doll. Carefully, Zane used his wand to magically scrub the marking from the tiny burlap forehead. Strangely, James could feel the progress of it. It tingled, and the tingle diminished as the scar vanished. Finally, Zane handed James the doll,