James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

        Ralph nodded. 'So what's the core made of?'

        Albus glanced aside, out the window, his face darkening. 'What's your wand core made of, Ralph?' he asked pointedly.

        Ralph blinked. He reached into his bag and produced his wand. James looked at it, remembering it well. It was at least a foot long, and thick as a broomstick. The end was whittled to a dull point and painted lime green. It looked as silly as always, and yet James knew, perhaps more than anyone, what that wand was capable of in Ralph's hand. It had saved James' life at least once.

        'Well,' Ralph admitted, 'I used to think it had a yeti whisker core—'

        'A yeti whisker?' Albus said, leaning forward and grinning.

        'We've been through this,' Rose sighed. 'Nobody knows what's inside Ralph's wand except maybe Merlin. And I'm sure not going to ask him. He creeps me out.'

        James looked at Rose. 'He does? Why?'

        Rose gave James an expression of exasperated disdain. 'He's only the most famously self-serving wizard in the history of the magical world, you know.'

        'Yeah, I suppose, but he's not evil.'

        'Hasn't it occurred to you that a wizard as powerful as Merlin could be all the scarier because he's not evil but just selfish?'

        James frowned incredulously. 'Where in the world did you get that? Your own parents were part of the committee that succeeded in getting him appointed Headmaster.'

        Rose put her wand back into her bag and shoved it under her seat. 'Let's just say even his strongest supporters think there's a lot we don't know about him.'

        'Like what?' James demanded.

        'Like things we don't know,' Rose repeated pedantically. 'That's pretty much the point: we don't know them.'

        James scoffed and turned away, fingering his wand.

        The sky outside the train window was still grey as slate, promising rain. Fields marched past monotonously. James decided to go see if he could find any of his other friends. He stood and shoved the door open.

        'Hey,' Ralph said, not looking up from the tabloid he'd flipped open, 'if you see the cart lady, send her back down this way, would you? I'm starved.'

        James nodded and stepped out. He was about to close the door again when Albus squeezed through, joining James in the corridor.

        'Why didn't you tell Ralph what your wand core was?' James asked as they walked.

        'What business is it of his?' Albus replied, as if daring James to respond.

        James shrugged. After a moment, Albus sighed.

        'Look, it's bad enough everyone makes those jokes about my name. Asp, a kind of snake, ha ha. If word gets out that my wand core is a dragon heartstring…'

        'I think it's kind of cool,' James said. 'Nobody messes with a dragon.'

        'Except for Uncle Charlie and Harold and Jules,' Albus said, allowing a small grin.

        'Yeah, but they're totally dotty. They're almost as bad as Hagrid when it comes to dragons.' James stopped in the corridor and looked at Albus. 'It really isn't a big deal, you know. I tease you about it, but really, it's only because when I was being sorted, I actually considered—'

        Something flickered past them in the corridor. James saw it and whipped around, gasping.

        'What?' Albus asked, glancing around.

        James shook his head, still studying the shadows of the corridor. 'I don't know. Something. I think I've seen it before, but I don't know what it is yet.'

        'I see your first year of school has you just brimming with knowledge,' Albus said.

        James held up his hand toward Albus, silencing him. The light in the corridor was watery and indirect, full of flitting shadows as the train passed through a stand of woods, but James was certain he recognized the shape and movement of the tiny shadow imp. He was intent on finding it.

        There was a sudden noise and burst of air, making James jump. He glanced up as a large man with very short dark hair stepped into the corridor from the adjoining car. He slid the connecting door shut easily, slamming it into place.

        'Bitter day out there, boys,' he boomed, stalking toward them down the aisle. 'You'd best be getting to your compartments. It's not wise to be gallivanting about a moving train.'

        'We're just, er, looking for our friends,' James replied.

        'Same as me, then,' the man grinned, sidling past. 'Better luck finding them than I've had, eh?'

        The large man moved to the end of the corridor and yanked the door open, letting in another burst of air and noise from the connecting breezeway between the cars. A moment later, he slammed the door.

        'Was he a teacher?' Albus asked, looking after the man.

        'I've never seen him before,' James answered, distracted. He noticed that the door through which the man had come was not entirely closed. It had slid slightly back open when he'd slammed it. A whistle of cool air pushed through it.

        The shadow imp suddenly landed in front of the door, examining the small opening. James saw it and his eyes widened. The creature seemed to turn back to him, as if daring him to follow. The crack was far too narrow even for the tiny shadow shape, but then it turned and squeezed through, pouring through the space like smoke.

        James bolted toward it.

        'What is it?' Albus said, following.

        'Did you see it?' James asked, trying to keep his footing on the swaying floor.

'Yeah! Looked like a shadow, but standing all by itself!'

        James reached the door and yanked it open. Misty air and the deafening clack of the train's wheels poured in. The tiny connecting breezeway rocked disconcertingly, but the creature was there, capering in the alcove of the doorway leading into the next car. James reached for it, but it slipped beneath the door, making itself so flat as to virtually disappear.

        'Come on!' James said, yanking the next door open. 'I want to see what this thing is! I owe it a thrashing!'

        The next car of the train was exactly like the previous. Compartments all along the right side were full of Hogwarts students, chattering and laughing. James ignored them as he chased the creature down the corridor. It scampered in and out of the shifting light, capering up the walls and leaping over the floor. James realized he still had his wand in his hand. Quickly, he tried to remember all the spells Professor Franklyn had taught him last year in Defence Against the Dark Arts.

        'There it goes!' Albus stopped, pointing. 'It's heading for the engine! We can't go in there, can we?'

        James was determined to follow the shadow creature. He ran forward as it shimmied into the sliver of light between the door and the wall. James could see through the tiny window of the door. The next car wasn't a passenger car, but the coal car that fuelled the engine. The noise of the crimson locomotive was noticeably louder here. He reached for the door handle and pulled, but it was locked.

        'Are you sure that's a good idea?' Albus said as James pointed his wand at the door.

        'Alohomora!' James said loudly. There was a yellow flash and the door slid partway open. James grabbed the handle and yanked the door aside.

        Cool, misty air and bits of soot blew into the compartment. The coal car was a black iron wall on the other side of a connecting knuckle. Beneath the giant knuckle, the ties of the train tracks flickered past. The shadow imp danced on the knuckle, maintaining a dizzying balance in the barreling wind and noise.