James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper

a cyclone. The barn heated appreciably and the center of the iron door began to glow a dull red.

        'My apologies, Mr. Bloch,' Hagrid said. 'Ol' Norberta doesn't get many Tripthroats these days, but she can smell when they're nearby. I should've warned yeh.'

        'So that's how he keeps the barn heated,' Ralph said nervously, his eyes wide. 'He keeps a dragon! A real, live dragon!'

        'That's not just any dragon,' James said, grinning, 'that's like an old family friend. Uncle Charlie's been keeping tabs on her for years. She wounded a wing a few years back and now she can't fly. Not being able to fly is a death sentence in the dragon world. They eat their own, you know.'

        'She's really just a great softie,' Hagrid said affectionately. 'I've known 'er since she was a hatchling. Still, it doesn't do to stand too near her doors when she's in a flaming mood. We'll take her out this winter, give her a little exercise. She likes a good romp in the snow, does the old dear.'

        'Excellent!' Ashley Doone said from behind James. 'Maybe Trenton will volunteer to feed her as well! Slytherins and dragons are supposed to have quite the rapport.'

        'No chance,' Trenton said as he rejoined the students, his face flushed and angry. 'I wonder if my parents know that this great oaf is keeping a dragon on school grounds. He's been a maniac for years, but this is completely daft.'

        'Shut up, Trenton,' James said amiably. 'Norberta's safe. Safer than you with a Tripthroat at least.'

        'We'll see about that,' Trenton muttered darkly.

        James spent most of Muggle Studies in the rather uncomfortable process of being measured for his Treus costume. Gennifer Tellus, in charge of the costume shop, performed the duties herself, a quill behind her ear and a couple of pins clenched between her lips.

        'Stand still,' she said around the pins. 'You're not letting me get a good inseam measurement. You want your pantaloons to be saggy?'

        'It tickles!' James replied, and then asked suspiciously, 'What are pantaloons?'

        'Don't ask me to explain them. It's best if you don't think about it. Just know that you're getting off easy compared to what Petra has to wear.'

        James wanted to ask but decided not to. He hadn't spoken to Petra since Josephina's peppermint incident. He was a little giddy and excited about the idea of playing Treus to Petra's Astra, but he was trying very hard not to let on.

        Gennifer pulled her measuring tape around James' waist. 'Have you read the whole script yet?' she asked.

        'No,' James admitted. 'I know the story a little though. Boy falls for girl. Older bloke falls for the same girl. Older bloke sends boy off on a suicide mission to get rid of him. Boy comes back and they duel. Everybody lives happily ever after. The end.'

        Gennifer glanced at James sardonically. 'I think you'd better read the script,' she said around her pins.

        'I will,' James said, annoyed. 'I have to know my lines, don't I?'

        'Yes, but you should also know that they don't 'live happily ever after'. The Triumvirate is a tragedy, you dolt.'

        James looked at himself in the nearby mirror. 'So what's that mean?'

        'Well,' Gennifer mumbled, 'generally, it means everybody ends up dead.'

        As James left Muggle Studies, Rose caught up to him.

        'Did Ralph tell you what I found out last night?' she asked in a low voice.

        'He said you found out why some people thought Merlin would hate Muggles,' James replied, 'but he didn't give me any details.'

        'You'll be interested in this,' Rose said earnestly. 'Did you ever hear of the Lady of the Lake?'

        James thought for a moment. It sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it. He shrugged and shook his head.

        'Well, according to all the legends, she was supposed to have been Merlin's downfall. Most of the stories portray her as a nymph or a dryad or a sprite, but they're mostly really fanciful and probably just exaggerations of the truth. Professor Revalvier talked about it last Wizlit, remember? She said that if the legends had been true, Merlin obviously wouldn't be here as Headmaster.'

        'Yeah,' James said, recalling the class. 'She said that the stories make the Lady of the Lake out to be a sort of magical creature pretending to be all innocent and stuff. She gets Merlin to fall for her, and then, when he teaches her everything he knows, she traps him with his own magic. Obviously, it's just stories. Probably, it was all just a way to explain Merlin's disappearance. We know the truth though, like Revalvier said.'

        'We know a bit more of the truth now,' Rose said enigmatically. 'The Lady of the Lake wasn't made-up, but she wasn't what the legends make her out to be. She was a Muggle, and she was almost Merlin's wife.'

        'What?' James said, stopping in the hall. 'Where'd you get that?'

        'The Book of Austramaddux's Histories,' Rose said, raising her eyebrows. 'Same book where Zane found the account of Merlin's Disapparition last year. Morgan Patonia let me borrow it from the Ravenclaw library. Austramaddux knew Merlin better than almost anyone, although it seems to me that Merlin didn't like him very much.'

        'Merlin sure didn't waste any time on him when he Reapparated,' James said, nodding. 'It was Austramaddux's ghost who was supposed to watch for the time to be right for Merlin's return. He was bound to the job forever. I got the impression that Merlin thought Austramaddux had hurried his return just to finish his duties. It didn't go very well for him after that.'

        'What'd Merlin do?' Rose asked eagerly. 'How do you punish a ghost?'

        James shook his head. 'Beats me, but Austramaddux was terrified of whatever it was. He screamed like a banshee, but Merlin just sort of… popped him.'

        'Very creepy,' Rose said, thinking.

        'Yeah, whatever. It's old news now. What's the story with the Lady of the Lake?'

        'Well, according to Austramaddux, she was a Muggle peasant named Judith. She lived on a tiny farm with a little spring lake on it. That's where her name came from. The farm had been managed by Judith and her mother until her mother died. The lord of the fiefdom was a guy named Hadyn. He planned to banish Judith from the farm because she couldn't manage it on her own, but Merlin protected her. He sent away the brutes who'd come to throw her out. Apparently, he gave them donkey ears and told them if they came back he'd finish the job.'

        'See?' James said. 'That doesn't sound like the actions of a wizard who hates Muggles. He was helping her, wasn't he?'

        'Yes, but only because he loved her. The book says that Judith was really beautiful, and Merlin was completely smitten by her. Austramaddux actually said that Merlin was 'under her spell'. Pretty strong words for a wizard to use when describing a Muggle woman.'

        'So what happened?' James asked. 'We know they didn't end up together for some reason. Maybe she double-crossed him. That could be where the legends get the story about her trapping him somehow.'

        Rose shook her head, her eyes sparkling. 'No! Austramaddux thinks she loved him too! It was enough to get Merlin to cease his dealings with the Muggle kingdoms. He stopped hiring himself out as a magical mercenary and abandoned his throne as the Mediator between the Muggle and magical realms. Loads of people were mad about it, and lots of others were eager to step into Merlin's place. Meanwhile, Merlin safeguarded the farm that Judith lived on. He made really thick briars and thorns grow up all around the perimeter, keeping out Hadyn's brutes. Merlin even paid for the property, ten times what the farm was worth. And then, just to be safe, he started teaching Judith some magic.'

        'You can't just teach a Muggle magic, Rose,' James interrupted. 'You're either born with it or