JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

       Despite his fear and frustration, Albus rolled his eyes. 'Great,' he said wearily. 'Just what you've always wanted.'

       'Gobbins!' James shouted hoarsely. 'Overhead! Brick wall! Now!'

       Gobbins acted immediately, stopping his skrim in midair as if he had struck a solid wall and dropping flat onto its surface with the Clutch held beneath him, protected. The Werewolf Bullies swooped over him, barely missing his head as he hunkered down. Instantly, Gobbins sprang up again, rocketing forward, now following the Bullies, drafting behind them. They boggled back at him and then jerked upwards out of the course under the influence of Wentworth's gravity well.

       There was no time to celebrate even as Gobbins swept on toward the goal. The other two Clutches were in the Werewolves' possession. James leaned over his skrim, driving it forward so quickly that the rings flashed past like fence posts. He caught up to one of the Werewolf Clippers, Olivia Jones, and fired a Zombie hex at her. Somehow, uncannily, Jones jigged to the left at just the right moment, causing the spell to deflect from the center ring as she passed through it. James cursed loudly to himself and ducked through the melee of the center ring, still chasing Jones.

       They were only five minutes into the second half when James swooped past Clayton Altaire, who let out a guttural bark of triumph.

       'Number four!' he shouted, apparently to one of his teammates. 'Phase two! Now!'

       James didn't know what the call meant. A few seconds later, however, a piercing howl rang out over the course. James was so surprised that he nearly fell off his skrim. He swooped out of the course and spun around in a tight corkscrew. There was only one person in the rings who could make a sound like that. Sure enough, Mukthatch had fallen onto his skrim, holding his right knee in pain. His Keeper's Cudgel was spinning lazily as it fell toward the field far below.

       'On no!' Jazmine cried helplessly, dismay and rage evident in her voice. 'Not Muk! What'd they do!'

       'They buzzed him,' Troy Covington called from the opposite end of the course. 'On purpose!'

       James flew over to the platform and jumped off his skrim, landing next to Professor Wood, whose face was set in a hard frown.

       'They shot Muk!' James declared angrily, pointing. 'And that was no accident! What spell was it?'

       'Inertia Charm,' Wood answered tersely. 'Great for thrown Clutches, terrible for human bones. Or Sasquatch bones for that matter.'

       Professor Sanuye was towing Mukthatch toward the platform using a Lanyard Charm. His whistle poked from between his teeth. On his skrim, Mukthatch groaned, still clutching his right knee.

       'Medical College, immediately,' Sanuye announced as Wood helped Mukthatch off his skrim.

       'They did that deliberately,' Wood said to the match official. 'You know that, right?'

       'Miss Brazil says it was an accident,' Sanuye replied evenly.

       'Linton Brazil is a cheat and a liar!' James exclaimed, but Wood raised a hand, silencing him.

       'Your word against hers,' Sanuye said, shaking his head slowly. 'Either way, you're down by two players, Professor. You don't intend to finish the match, do you?'

       'Absolutely!' Gobbins cried, landing on the other side of the platform. Jazmine and the rest of the diminished team were close behind. As they landed, two medical students in green tunics appeared on the platform to examine Mukthatch's knee. They shook their heads gravely and began to splint the knee in preparation for the trip back to the Medical College.

       'I'd strongly advise you to forfeit,' Sanuye said, still speaking to Wood. 'You may choose to contest the results at a later time. Frankly, I'd testify to the board that you deserve a tie. Team Werewolf would still receive a technical victory, but you'd save your team the embarrassment of losing rather miserably. A squad two players short is a lost cause, I'm afraid.'

       Wood considered this stoically. He looked out over the remainder of the team.

       'No way,' James declared, shaking his head. 'We can't give up! They're trying to force us out, one by one, because they know they can't beat us in a clean match!'

       'Right you may be, James,' Wood nodded, 'but Professor Sanuye is right. We're two players down. I don't see that we have much of a choice.'

       'But we can't give up!' James insisted, looking around at the team. 'That's what they want us to do!'

       'Maybe we should, though,' Jazmine suggested sadly. 'I mean, if we can at least get a technical tie game like Professor Sanuye says…'

       Troy Covington nodded. 'It's better than getting completely destroyed in the rings at least. I sure don't want to risk any more 'accidents' at the hands of those maniacs.' He shot a dark look at the platform across the way.

       'Face it,' Wentworth added, stripping off his gauntlets and throwing them down onto the platform floor. 'Playing a clean game is just no match for 'all's fair in love and war'.'

       The rest of the team muttered agreement.

       'Shall we take a vote?' Wood asked, raising his voice.

       'What's the point?' Gobbins declared angrily, glancing around at his teammates. 'Let's just get out of here.'

       He made his way toward the stairs that descended through the center of the platform and the rest of the team followed, discouraged into silence.

       Gobbins stopped on the second step, however, as the sound of clumping footsteps rang up from below. James watched as Gobbins backed up off the stairs again, making way for the newcomer. A head with very short dark hair appeared from below followed by a stocky body with arms like tree trunks. The figure was carrying Mukthatch's skrim and wearing an ill-fitting Bigfoot jersey.

       'You need a reserve player?' the figure asked seriously, glancing around at the wide-eyed members of Team Bigfoot.

       'You're Viktor Krum!' Wentworth exclaimed suddenly, pointing a finger at the big man. 'I've got your Chocolate Frog card back in my room!'

       Krum smiled gravely.

       'Viktor,' Wood said, stepping forward and shaking the man's hand. 'Good to see you. Especially under these circumstances.'

       'Is it legal?' James asked impatiently, glancing around at Professor Sanuye. 'Can he actually play for us?'

       Sanuye nodded consideringly. 'Every house has their own rules for who can play on their team,' he said. 'The official Alma Aleron rulebook only states that a simple majority of any team must be students from that team's house of origin. Mr. Krum may indeed play if he wishes and if you'll have him.'

       'But can he play?' Covington asked. 'I mean, no offense, Mr. Krum, but do you even know how to fly a skrim?'

       'Are you skrewt poop?' Wentworth exclaimed, nearly beside himself. 'He's Viktor zarking Krum! He can do anything!'

       Without a word, Viktor tossed Mukthatch's skrim into the air. As it came down next to him, the big man hopped easily onto it. It bobbed with him on it and he directed it in a quick corkscrew swoop, ending in a ready crouch, his hands held out flat on either side.

       'I once played for Bulgarian Clutchcudgel Minor League,' he admitted with a grin. 'It's not Quidditch, but sport is sport, yes?'