JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

lake.'

       James felt a small pang at that, remembering once again that they had all left Hogwarts behind them for the year, but he pushed the feeling away. The experience of the bubble ship was too cool to ruin with depressing thoughts about what he might be missing back home. Besides, he reminded himself, Rose, Louis, Hugo, and all the rest were probably just now settling into one of Professor Binns' long incomprehensible lectures or a dull study period in the library, under the strict supervision of Professor Knossus Shert. If they knew what James and his fellow travelers had just experienced, they would likely be sick with envy—even Scorpius, although he would probably hide it well. This made James grin.

       He looked up as the bubble ship rose into daylight. The surface rippled overhead like a living mosaic, its facets casting the sunlight into wild, golden prisms. Finally, the ship heaved onto the waves, where it splashed down gently and bobbed, still glimmering in its long mysterious bubble. The Gwyndemere stood some distance away, rocking on the waves, sunlight sparkling from its brass fixtures.

       'Hup, hup, everyone,' Percy called, collecting his overnight bag and standing up. 'Let us be off.' With his bag dangling from his hand, he extended one arm to Molly and the other to Lucy. She sidled out of her seat and approached her father, threading her arm into the crook of his elbow.

       'See you on board,' she called back. A moment later, there was a loud, flat crack in the enclosed air of the bubble, and the three had disappeared.

       Ralph looked confused. 'Why couldn't we just Disapparate from the city, if that's how we're getting on board the boat?'

'Apparating through water is extremely tricky business, Mr. Deedle,' Merlin answered, beckoning him over. 'Especially onto a moving ship. Besides, we would have missed that wonderful tube ride, wouldn't we have?'

       'Come on!' James grinned, unbuckling his safety belt and scrambling up off the bench. 'Last one on the Gwyndemere is a hinkypunk's uncle!'

       'It isn't a race,' Ginny chided, standing and extending a hand to Lily.

       'Speak for yourself,' Harry replied, stepping forward to meet his sons. 'I'm not going to spend this voyage as a hinkypunk's uncle.'

       Both Albus and James grabbed one of their dad's hands. A moment later, the bubble ship vanished around them and was replaced by the deck of the Gwyndemere, which glowed in the morning sunlight. Cool wind coursed over the ship, singing in James' ears, and he immediately broke away from his father, laughing and running toward the bow.

       'My feet were first to touch the deck,' Albus called from behind. 'I jumped right before we Disapparated so I'd land here first. You lose!'

       James ignored his brother as he neared the pointed prow of the ship, slowing to a stop, his eyes widening.

       'Mum just got here with Lil,' Albus announced, catching up. 'She says we're supposed to take our bags down to the cabins and what in Merlin's magic mousehole is that?'

       'Haven't the faintest,' James replied, approaching the strange shape. 'It wasn't here before, was it?'

       Ralph, Izzy, and Lucy joined the boys as they moved around the object. It had apparently been installed on the deck since last night's arrival and it was, essentially, a very ornate brass chair, elevated atop a series of five wrought iron steps. The chair was fitted onto a swiveling base and had a complicated brass armature attached to its front. James studied it but couldn't begin to imagine what the armature was for.

       'You're the smart one, Lucy,' he said, scratching his head. 'What do you think this thing is for?'

       'Rose is the smart one,' Lucy admonished, mildly annoyed. 'I just read a lot.'

       Ralph frowned crookedly. 'What's the difference, exactly?

       Izzy widened her eyes solemnly. 'Petra says smart is in the brain of the perceiver.'

       'Whatever that means,' Ralph muttered.

       'Yeah,' Albus insisted, reaching to touch the ornately crafted stairs, 'but you're good at seeing how stuff fits together, Lu. It's a knack.'

       'Looks to me,' Lucy sighed, walking around to the front of the strange fixture, 'like something is missing. See that brass flange there on the end of the pivoting arm thing? Something is meant to fit into it.'

'See?' Albus crowed, running around to the front to join Lucy. 'That's exactly what I'm talking about!'

       James heard the low voices of adults nearby. He turned and saw Merlin, Denniston Dolohov, and the Gwyndemere's captain, Ash Farragut, approaching slowly.

       'We haven't any time to spare, unfortunately, captain,' Merlin was saying. 'I am quite happy to leave matters in the hands of your very capable crew.'

       Farragut nodded cynically. 'All too capable, if you take my meaning.'

       'Piracy isn't what it used to be,' Merlin said, smiling. 'In my day, one couldn't ply the waves without expecting to be boarded by any number of competing piratical hoards. They were like swarms of bees on the high seas. Considering the preventative measures enacted by the Magical Maritime Regulatory Commission, I suspect we will manage just fine, whatever befalls us.'

       'Their ships have been spotted on the horizon this very morning,' Farragut clarified, tilting his head in the sunlight.

       'Then they will expect us to remain at port,' Harry Potter nodded, approaching with a grim smile on his face. 'Surprise is almost always an advantage. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Dolohov?'

       'Oh, I happily submit to your expertise in such matters,' Denniston replied dismissively. 'But I agree that we do indeed have a schedule to keep. Let us be off.'

       Farragut nodded approvingly. 'Then let it be so. Gentlemen.' He strode away, angling toward the deckhouse.

       James drifted toward Petra and Audrey, who stood near the mid-ship stairs. The pair seemed to be studying a small knot of people who had suddenly appeared on the ship. 'Who are they?' James asked, nodding toward a group.

       'Fellow sojourners,' Audrey replied, keeping her voice even. 'Americans, I should think.'

       James peered at the newcomers. There was a group of them moving up the stairs, pushing past the others, meandering toward the bow and chattering like a flock of birds. Most of them were dressed in black, only slightly older than James, but the central figure seemed to be a woman with jet hair, a pale, angular face, and an expression of indulgent boredom. She wore a long black dress with a tightly laced bodice, a lot of silver jewelry, and heavy purple eye make-up, so that she looked, to James, rather like she had recently escaped from her own funeral.

       'Pardon yourselves, students,' she sang morosely to her entourage as they streamed past James, Petra, and Audrey. 'We are representing another culture. We do not wish to appear rude.'

       The students babbled on, not sparing the others a glance, and James had the distinct impression that the woman had spoken more for his, Petra, and Audrey's benefits than that of her own charges.

Audrey spoke up, easily raising her voice over the chattering teenagers. 'I take it by your accent and words that you are from the States, Miss?' she said, smiling pleasantly. 'We are on our way there ourselves for a rather lengthy stay. Don't raise our expectations overmuch, lest we be disappointed that the rest of the country is not as pleasant as you and your delightful associates.'