James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

        'He and Albus are down with the Slytherins,' James replied. 'Zane, what is this?'

        Zane's shimmering face grimaced as if to say it's a long story. 'You ever hear the bit about the Chaos Butterfly? The one that flaps its wings in Paris and causes a hurricane in Los Angeles? Well, this is that butterfly. It's a moth, really, but the point is it doesn't cause the hurricanes, it just knows when they're going to happen. Franklyn says it has some sort of psychic connection to the cosmos. Anyway, it can tune into stuff thousands of miles away. The trick was just to get it to tune into the right thing. At the moment, it's tuned in to my face over here at Alma Aleron. So how do I look?'

        James leaned in, studying the strange, glowing phenomenon. 'Like a seasick ghost.'

        'That's as good as it gets, for now,' Zane nodded. 'Still, it's a big leap for the Department of Experimental Magical Communications. Raphael says we'll probably get a grant for this. Anyway, I've only got a minute before the dust settles. How are you all doing?'

        'Fine,' James replied. 'Tell Cameron here that there aren't going to be any more exciting adventures this year.'

        'There better not be,' Zane agreed. 'James swore them off last year, Cam. That's the only reason I let my parents drag me back to America. Anyway, I'm fading out, I can tell. I'll be in touch, you guys. We have a few other techniques to test out. Should be fun!'

        'All right, Zane,' James called as the glowing face began to disintegrate. 'See you later!'

        'Wait!' Zane's voice cried, growing faint. 'Did I hear you say your brother was with the Slyth…' His voice vanished as the glowing moth dust faded out of the air. On the table in front of James, the moth flexed its wings. It took off again and flitted silently through the open window. James clasped it shut.

        'That was dead brilliant!' Cameron suddenly exclaimed. James smiled, shook his head, and shooed the smaller boy away. The rest of the Gryffindors in the common room went back to their business.

        'That's complete nonsense,' Rose said, settling back into her seat. 'There's no such thing as the Chaos Butterfly. It's just a metaphor.'

        James grinned smugly at Rose. 'You do fancy him!'

        Rose scowled at him. 'Now why in the world would you say that?'

        'Because,' James said simply, 'you waited until he was gone to say that.'

        Rose blushed and looked away, fuming.

        'See?' James said, nudging her. 'I'm not a dolt about everything, am I?'

        Rose harrumphed and gathered her bag. 'Enjoy your Transfiguration homework,' she said, standing. 'And by the way, I saw your History of Magic homework answers. You got three of them wrong, and I'm not going to tell you which ones.' She batted her eyes and smiled sweetly. 'Goodnight, then!'

        James slumped in his chair, watching her stalk up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. Across the room, Cameron grinned at him.

        No more adventures this year, James thought. That was a good thing, wasn't it? Of course it was. Besides, the trio was broken. Zane was gone, back across the ocean and in a completely different time zone. That had never happened to Harry Potter. It had always been Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the magic trio, inseparable even to this day. Not so for James, and that, he told himself, was just fine. Let Albus have an adventure if there was one to be had. After all, he was the one everyone said looked just like Dad when he'd been younger.

        James' forehead itched. Without thinking about it, he scratched it, pushing his unruly hair up. Just like he'd told Cameron, there was no lightning bolt scar there. James wasn't his father.

        When James lowered his hand, he saw Scorpius Malfoy staring at him from across the room. His face was inscrutable. After a moment, Scorpius looked away, as if bored. If there was any proof that the era of Harry Potter style adventures was over, it was sitting right over there: Scorpius Malfoy with a Gryffindor crest embroidered on his robes.

        James sighed, opened his Transfiguration textbook, and began his homework.

        The first days of school passed in a blur. James attended his classes and made a concerted effort to take notes and tackle his homework. His diligence sprang partly from his own resolve not to get behind early in the year, but was also partly due to the presence of Rose in many of his classes. She served as a constant, disgruntled source of competition since James was determined not to allow his first-year cousin to outperform him despite her natural braininess.

        One class Rose didn't share with James was Care of Magical Creatures, which was still taught by Hagrid. Hagrid embarrassed James by greeting him with a gigantic, bone-cracking bear hug at the beginning of class.

        'I didn't have th' chance to say so at th' service, James,' Hagrid said in what he thought was a confidential voice, 'but I'm so sorry about your Granddad. Arthur was a great man, 'e was.'

        James nodded, a little annoyed at having been reminded of his granddad's death. It had been a few days since he'd thought about it. Hagrid invited the class to sit on the multitude of pumpkins maturing in his garden. He spent the period explaining what the class was about and describing the animals he'd introduce the students to over the course of the year. James didn't listen particularly closely, gazing instead out over the lake, his thoughts far away and melancholy.

        During his Wednesday free period, James sat with Ralph and Rose at a table in the library. He took the opportunity to write a short letter to his parents. When he was finished, it occurred to him to write a note to his Cousin Lucy as well, as he'd promised. He dipped his quill and jotted the first things that came to his mind.

Dear Lucy,

Hi! I hope Uncle P. and Aunt A. aren't dragging you all over the place too much, but if

they are, I hope you are having some fun and seeing some cool stuff. The school year is starting all

right. The new Defence teacher is Kendrick Debellows, the famous Harrier. Ask your dad if you

don't know who he is. He's pretty hardcore, and he doesn't have much good to say about Aurors,

so that class looks to be a bust. Al would say hi if he knew I was writing you. He ended up in

Slyth after all! I promised I would let him tell Mum and Dad, but he didn't say I couldn't tell

you. Rose is sitting right here and she says hi and get a picture of anything cool you see if you are

anyplace interesting, even if you're sick of seeing it all. Tell Mol we all said hello. Send a letter

and any pics back with Nobby, all right?

Sincerely,

James

        James let Rose sign the letter to Lucy as well.