JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

to.'

       James glanced around the room to make sure no one was watching and then leaned close to the shorter girl. 'I wasn't trying to trick you when I asked you to go to the Halloween Dance with me, Lu,' he said earnestly. 'I asked you because I knew I'd have fun with you, and I did. You had fun too, right? I didn't mean for it to be… er… confusing.'

       Lucy shook her head and dropped her eyes. 'Don't say any more, James. I'm already mortified. Just let me sneak off to the girls' bathroom and see if I can soak this stupid heart off of me.'

       James smiled sheepishly. 'I was going to do the same thing,' he admitted. 'I mean, not in the girls' bathroom, though, of course. I was going to… um…' He paused, looking down at her as a completely unexpected idea occurred to him. It was probably stupid, but suddenly that didn't seem to matter very much.

       'Er,' he began, and she glanced up at him. Her eyes were huge and very dark, cautiously inquisitive. 'Er,' he said again, and swallowed. 'I mean, I know we're cousins and all, but we're not really blood or anything, like. We could maybe just…'

       But suddenly Lucy was pulled away, caught up in a mass of students who pushed past, screaming and laughing.

       'You lost your chance with this little Vampire, Potter,' Gobbins grinned, taking Lucy by the shoulder. 'You snooze, you lose!'

       With a quick messy smack, he kissed Lucy on the corner of her mouth. Immediately, the paper heart flitted up from her shoulder and darted out over the cafeteria. Lucy touched the corner of her mouth, simultaneously peeved and amused.

       'Happy Valentine's Day, Lucy!' Gobbins called with a grin as he backed away. Lucy blushed and smiled, a little flustered.

James sighed deeply, his face heating. 'Yeah,' he agreed somberly. 'Happy Valentine's Day.'

       Before Lucy could reply, he ducked into the boys' bathroom, tugging at the cupid that still clung to his neck.

        'I told you you couldn't just rip it off,' Zane whispered some hours later as the three boys stole through the darkness toward the Warping Willow.

       'Don't remind me!' James rasped. 'Let's just forget the whole thing ever happened, all right?'

       'It's a good thing for you that Mother Newt saw you in the hall and knew how to summon a paper heart for herself,' Zane said, shaking his head. 'Otherwise, you'd probably be spear bald by now. So, was she a good kisser, then?'

      James fumed silently.

      'I hear she was quite a looker back in the day,' Ralph mused.

      Zane considered this. 'Waaay back in the day, maybe.'

       'Would you both shut up about it?' James exclaimed in a loud hiss. 'We're nearly there. You got the note?'

       'Right here,' Zane acknowledged, producing a folded scrap of parchment from his pocket. 'Here's hoping it works.'

       Silently, the boys crept underneath the low-hanging limbs of the Warping Willow. All around, the campus was dark and quiet, overhung by a huge moon and a sprinkle of glittering stars.

       'I think you're supposed to read it first,' Ralph said, nudging Zane. 'And then you drop it in the knothole in the trunk.'

      'I know, I know,' Zane mumbled. 'All right, here goes.'

       The blonde boy unfolded the note and peered at it by the dim light of the moon. He took a deep breath and read aloud: 'Warping Willow, take we three… to a date that's nifty-fine… in the nineteenth century… eighth October, fifty-nine.'

      Rolling his eyes, Zane crumpled the note and dropped it into the hole in the Willow's trunk.

      ''Nifty-fine?'' Ralph repeated quizzically.

       'Hey, you try to find a rhyme for fifty-nine,' Zane replied tersely. 'See what you come up with.'

      'Do you think it'll work?' James asked, looking around.

       As if in answer, the Tree's limbs began to sway and whisper all around. Very slowly, the stars beyond the Tree's canopy began to move like painted dots on a monstrous black dome.

       'We're going somewhere, at least,' Zane said. 'Let's hope we got everything right and don't end up in the Stone Age or something.'

      'You're joking, right?' Ralph asked nervously. Neither Zane nor James replied.

       Accompanied by the shushing movement of the Willow's limbs, time began to unravel all around. Night crept backwards into day only to be followed swiftly by night once again. The sun and moon chased each other faster and faster through the sky, becoming streaks as the days grew into a flickering blur. Winter came and went again and then the leaves sprang up onto the trees all around, changing from autumn orange to vibrant summer green. Seasons melted together as years sped into decades, spiraling steadily backwards. Finally, the whip-like branches of the Warping Willow began to relax. The whicker of the leaves settled to a whisper as the sun resolved into an individual orb again, dropping past the horizon, descending into a single chilly night. The moon crept up into the sky, a thin sickle shape now, and stopped.

      'Well,' Zane said, his voice unconsciously hushed, 'we're here. I hope.'

      'How do we know what year it is?' James asked as they skulked out from beneath the Tree into the weedy walled yard that formed the entrance to Muggle Philadelphia. 'Do we just wait and hope for the best?'

       Ralph nodded. 'I don't think we have much of a choice. Are you sure about the incantation that takes us back to the school?'

       'That one's easy,' Zane whispered. 'I've heard it about a thousand times and it never really changes, so long as you know the timeframe that the Aleron is occupying on any given day. Warrington worked it out with me, so that's no problem.'

       'Shh!' James rasped suddenly, pushing Ralph and Zane backwards behind him. He nodded toward the gate and whispered, 'Look!'

       Both boys looked and saw the hunkered shape of Flintlock. He was in his resting form, looking like nothing more than a pile of great mossy boulders near the closed gate. As they watched, a clatter of hooves on cobbles could be heard beyond the gate. A shadow passed by on the street outside followed by a rattle of wheels.

      'Well,' Ralph whispered, 'horses and carriages. That's a good sign, I guess.'

       James nodded. Together, the three boys hunkered down into the weeds near the yard's furthest corner.

       As they waited, the sounds of the Muggle city filled the small yard, echoing off the stone walls. James heard indistinct voices and laughter as well as the more distant bellows of working men, probably down by the river. Clangs and whistles marked the passage of ships on the dark waterway. The crisp breeze carried the scent of smoke, horse manure, and rotting fish. After a few minutes, a bell began to toll the hour, ringing clearly in the darkness. Eight chimes pealed out, diminishing slowly into the silence.

      'Any moment now,' Zane whispered, watching the Warping Willow carefully.

      'I hope he comes quick-like,' Ralph replied quietly. 'My bum's going to sleep.'

       Several more minutes crept by, each one seeming as long as an hour. James began to worry that they had missed their target date somehow. He opened his mouth to say so when the Tree began to rustle faintly in front of them.

      'This is it,' Zane rasped, his eyes bulging with anticipation. 'Keep low so he doesn't see us!'