JAMES POTTER AND THE VAULT OF DESTINIES

discovered, Professor. Wherever our Loom is, it may still be operating, still recording everything we do, just as always.'

       In a low voice, Wood asked, 'And what of the realm from which this Loom has come?'

       Newt clucked her tongue. 'Perhaps they are not so lucky. Or perhaps their Loom was already stopped. Perhaps it comes from a realm not as fortunate as ours, and their destiny has already met its doom. There is no way for us to know, but fortunately, it is not our concern.'

       'Mother Newt is quite right,' Franklyn agreed, settling his empty Dragonmeade glass onto the table. A dragon's talon clinked in the bottom of the glass, black and hooked. 'We have only one concern, and we must treat it with the utmost care and secrecy.'

       James looked up at his father as he nodded somberly, his glasses flashing in the dim light of the Kite and Key's hanging lanterns. 'We must find the missing red thread,' he agreed. 'Once it is returned to the Loom, it may set everything to rights once again. If it were possible to know who that particular thread represents, our task might be substantially easier.'

       'You may be certain that we will spend all of our considerable arts on that particular question,' Franklyn said. 'Professor Jackson is the foremost expert on the Loom. If anyone can discover its secrets, it is him.'

       Jackson sighed and shook his head. 'Alas, it may be impossible. But we shall see what can be done.'

       'In the meantime,' Harry added briskly, 'I will do my part. Now that the witnesses have been interviewed properly in the Chancellor's office.' He turned to James, Ralph, and Zane and eyed them seriously. 'Thanks to them, we have our first lead. Two women, one grown, the other in her late teens, were seen leaving the scene of the attack mere moments after it occurred.' Here, he winked at James, unsmiling. James understood the wink. Merlin had purposely arranged for Petra's name to be left out of the official account, but Harry Potter was privy to the secret. James nodded at his father, frowning slightly.

       'There is another lead,' Mother Newt commented, looking up seriously. 'The stolen thread itself will leave its own trail.'

       Franklyn nodded. 'Quite so. It is well-known that the Loom is intensely magical. This is why we store it buried deep in the earth, where its radiant enchantment cannot interfere with the day-to-day magic of the school. A stolen thread from the Loom, especially that taken from a Loom from some foreign dimension, will leave a magical imprint as powerful as any single object in the wizarding world. As we speak, I have alerted the local authorities to fan out across the city in search of any unusual sources of power. I suspect we will discover the trail of the thread almost immediately. Let us hope, if and when we do, that it will not already be too late.'

       Feeling somewhat mollified by Franklyn's assurance, James stopped listening. Some time later, he, Ralph, and Zane finished their Butterbeers and excused themselves from the gathering. Only Harry and Oliver Wood noticed, waving goodbye to the boys as they made their way to the tavern's tiny doorway.

       Outside, the moon had risen high into the sky, shining brightly now that the clouds had blown away. Moonlight lit the campus eerily, making the glow of the scattered lampposts seem rather unnecessary. The boys spoke in low voices as they made their way across the campus, stopping at the entry to the common dorm to retrieve James' and Ralph's trunks and bags. In the near distance, the Administration Hall's clock tower rang out, announcing nine o'clock.

       As the boys returned to Apollo Mansion, lugging and levitating their various trunks, they discovered a group of witches sitting on the low portico, speaking in hushed voices. Lucy was among them, as was Aunt Audrey and James' mum. Ginny stood as the boys approached, her eyes bright in the moonlight.

       'Is everybody all right?' Lucy asked. James saw that she was still wearing her Vampire House tie and blazer, buttoned against the slight chill of the evening.

       'Everybody's fine,' Zane sighed. 'It's the world that's in sorry shape. According to everybody who knows anything about anything, it's high time we packed up and started looking for a new dimension.'

       Ginny shook her head dismissively. 'I'm sure it isn't as bad as that,' she said. 'It rarely ever is.'

       'I'm going to walk Lucy back to her dormitory,' Aunt Audrey sighed, getting to her feet from the front steps. 'I'll meet you back at the guest house in a little while, Ginevra, to see Neville and the Headmaster off. That's assuming that they still plan to leave tonight.'

       'I suspect so,' Ginny agreed. 'Goodnight Lucy. Lily says congratulations on getting into Vampire House. She's started reading those books by your new Head of House, and she's totally jealous of you.'

       James rolled his eyes as he pulled his trunk up onto the portico. 'Where is Lil anyway?'

       'She's back at our new flat with your Uncle Percy and Molly. Percy will probably blow a cauldron when he hears what happened here tonight, and him not here to get all worked up about it.' She sighed and settled to a seat on James' trunk. 'Wait with me, won't you, son? Your father promised he'd be back before nine thirty. Keep your mum company until then.' She patted the trunk next to her, where there was just enough room for James to sit as well. He did and she put her arm around him. Ralph and Zane plopped onto another trunk at the base of the steps, resting their chins on their hands, as if too tired to go on. The moon shone on them all with its bony glow and James couldn't help worrying. It had been a strange, foreboding evening, and the worst of it still seemed to be happening, what with the stopped Loom and the missing thread and the twin mysteries of Petra's involvement and the enigmatic woman that had been with her. He sighed deeply, feeling greatly unsettled.

       'I almost forgot,' Ginny said, sitting up suddenly. 'You left this in the galley of the Gwyndemere. Captain Farragut gave it to me before we disembarked.' She retrieved her shoulder bag and rummaged in it. A moment later, she produced a thick grey sweater from the depths of the small bag. 'Your grandmother made this for you,' she said reproachfully, handing the sweater to her son. 'If she learned you'd lost it during the voyage…'

       'She'd probably make me a new one out of Devil's Snare,' James sighed. He knew the mantra of their family quite well.

       'That's right,' Ginny smiled. 'Now put it on before you catch cold out here. You two should bundle up as well. It's getting chilly and late.'

       'Yes ma'am,' Zane said hollowly, not making any effort to get up.

       Ginny looked from face to face, her brow lowered slightly. Finally she took James' chin in her hand and turned his face to hers. 'Cut it out!' she said sternly, surprising him.

       'What?' he exclaimed, pulling away. 'I'm not doing anything!'

       'Yes you are,' she insisted seriously. 'All three of you are. I recognize it as plain as day. You're getting all wrapped up in what happened tonight. Pretty soon you'll start feeling like you all need to go out and do something huge and daring to set it to rights. I see it on your faces as plain as day. So cut it out!'

       'We're not, Mum!' James protested, his face reddening. 'We're just sitting here, for Merlin's sake!'

       Ginny softened very slightly. 'I know the look,' she said, shaking her head. 'You can't grow up around the likes of your father, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione and not recognize when the wheels of some half-brained adventure start turning.'

       'Well,' Ralph said, sitting up on his trunk, 'we were there when the Archive was attacked, after all. We saw what happened. And we know even more about it than Chancellor Franklyn does, thanks to Merlin. We have something to do with it already, don't we? It's not our fault fate keeps doing stuff like this to us.'

       'That's what I'm talking about,' Ginny said firmly. 'Look, you won't hear me say this very often, so pay attention. Fate is a nasty, sneaky prankster. You don't have to do what she tells you, no matter what the storybooks say. You do have to do what I tell you. Zane Walker, I've met your mother and if she was here, she'd tell you the same thing I am. And Ralph, I'm the closest thing you've got to a mum, so you heed me as well. You three already have a job to do, but it isn't saving the world. It's learning Arithmancy, and playing Quidditch and whatever that strange