JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

       'Sport is definitely sport,' Wood agreed, matching the big man's grin. 'Professor Sanuye? It would appear that the Bigfoots are not quite prepared to give up just yet.' All around him, Team Bigfoot cheered fervently.

       Sanuye nodded. A moment later, he turned his broom away from the platform and swept out over the center ring. He blew his whistle and the babbling crowd fell quiet.

       'Penalty, Team Werewolf. Careless use of magic. Five minutes in the dock.'

       The crowd roared approval as the members of Team Werewolf cried out angrily, denouncing the call. James grinned as he jumped back onto his skrim. Careless use of magic carried a much harsher penalty than mere accidental buzzing, which enforced only two minutes in the dock. Linton Brazil would be out of the match for the rest of the third quarter, making the teams even once again, at least for the moment.

       'And in a shocking turn of events,' Cheshire Chatterly called from the announcer's booth, 'Team Bigfoot gains a surprise reserve player in the form of Mr. Viktor Krum, world-renowned Harrier, athlete and participant in the famed Triwizard Tournament! Team Werewolf faces a stiff but fair penalty at the hands of match official Sanuye, and the match resumes with the Wolves leading by a score of seventy-six to sixty- five!'

       James heard the whistle as the match plowed once again into motion. He watched as Viktor Krum immediately snagged one of the loose Clutches and tucked it under his huge arm.

       This match isn't over yet, he thought, and plunged eagerly into the fracas.

       Lucy and Izzy clambered down into the dark stairwell. Voices rang out behind them, but they echoed so that Lucy couldn't tell how close their pursuers were.

       'We can't just keep running, Iz!' Lucy panted, but Izzy paid no attention. The two girls darted around a corner and pushed through a heavy door. There were no windows here and a sign overhead was lit with red light: 'Experimental Medicine and Elixirs—No Admittance!'

       Izzy ran on, her blonde curls flying. Lucy followed, glancing back the way they had come.

       'Petra,' Izzy moaned again, looking around wildly. 'She's here! I feel her. She's dreaming!'

       'Izzy, Petra's in an enchanted sleep!' Lucy insisted. 'They gave her the poison apple! Nothing will wake her up until they want her to wake!'

       Izzy didn't seem to hear Lucy. She turned and pushed through a set of swinging double doors.

       'There!' a voice echoed behind Lucy. She glanced back and saw two of the court agents bursting through the stairwell doors. Their faces glowed crimson in the light of the overhead sign. One of the men pointed his wand and shouted. A Stunning Spell burst against the pale green brick wall next to Lucy, showering her with red sparks.

       'Lubricus!' Lucy cried, flinging her own wand out.

       Both men suddenly flailed wildly, as if the marble floor beneath them was coated with ice. They slid into the walls, one on each side, overcorrected, and then bounced off of each other, collapsing messily to the corridor floor.

       Lucy spun and ran again, following Izzy through the swinging double doors.

       The walls here were black tile, shiny in the overhead lights. The room itself was low and wide, packed with aisles of shelves. Lucy had been to the Ministry of Magic many times and was reminded of the Department of Mysteries. Here, however, the shelves were crammed with stoppered jars of coloured liquid, each labeled in glowing green ink. Izzy was looking around at the shelves, helplessly.

       'She's nearby,' she moaned. She looked up at Lucy, her eyes pleading. 'I can feel her. She's close. She's dreaming. She's dreaming of us!'

       'Stop, Izzy, please,' Lucy plead. 'It's useless. You can't wake her even if you do find her. Do you understand? Maybe we can talk to the people, try once more to convince them not to take away your memory. My father can hel—'

       A burst of red shattered one of the vials on a nearby shelf, startling both girls. They ducked and clambered away as more spells lit the air. Izzy spun at the end of one of the aisles and grabbed a large jar. Her face was etched with fear and rage as she flung it. The jar arced over Lucy's head and shattered loudly on the marble floor, directly in front of the approaching court agents. Fire leapt up from the jar's liquid contents and engulfed the men. They shrieked in unison as they scrambled forward, beating at their clothes to extinguish the red flames. Lucy had only a moment to realize that the flames weren't fire, however; they were leaves. Red vines and bright red flowers grew with lightning speed from the released liquid, entwining the men's arms and legs, attaching to their grey tunics.

       'Stop!' one of the men shouted, tugging at the vines. 'Stop in the name of the wizarding law of the United States!'

       'Sod off!' Lucy shouted back. A moment later, she and Izzy doubled back to the main doors, banging through them even as the court agents fired Repelling Spells at the red vines, releasing themselves.

       'If you see her,' Lucy asked as they ran on, 'if you see Petra, Iz, will you stop running?'

       'Yes!' Izzy cried out eagerly.

       Lucy nodded. 'I know where she is,' she said. 'Follow me.'

       Izzy had been right, after all. Petra had been very close. She had been exactly one floor below them, in the lowest basement of the Medical College.

       Glancing back only once, the two girls found the rear stairwell and began to clamber down into the darkness below.

'What were you planning to do?' Dayton Englewood demanded, pushing his face so close to Albus' that he completely blocked the view of the tiny Ares Mansion dungeon.

       'I told you,' Albus replied in irritation, 'I was giving old Wolfy a little haircut. That's all. Shaggy fur is so last year.'

       'Laugh all you want, Cornelius,' Englewood growled, narrowing his eyes. 'You won't be laughing when Professor Jackson gets here. He'll nail you to the wall. I've seen it happen, you know. He doesn't take kindly to saboteurs.'

       'I'm sure he doesn't,' Albus agreed. 'What'd you do with my wand?'

       Englewood smiled thinly. 'I confiscated it. You'll probably never see it again. They don't allow wands where you're going.'

       'Really?' Albus said, shifting on the hard bench in the corner of the dungeon. 'So you Americans are in the habit of sending blokes to Fort Bedlam just for pointing wands at statues? Sounds pretty touchy if you ask me. Maybe you should consider growing a bit thicker hide.'

       'Shut up, Cornelius,' Englewood suggested, lowering his own wand a little, but not completely. 'It's just a good thing I was coming back late from my last exam. Who knows what you might have done?'

       'That's pretty late for an exam, isn't it?' Albus replied, unable to stop himself. 'The pointy end of the quill goes down, you know. The fluffy end points up. Tough one to remember, that.'

       'Shut up, I said!' Englewood commanded, raising his wand again. 'You think I want to be here guarding your sorry English butt? I'm missing the tournament match!'

       Albus rolled his eyes and slumped on the wooden bench. 'Ah, you're not missing anything,' he muttered. 'Same old song and dance.'