The group tramped along the corridor, now running full out. As they filed up the stairs, James heard Ted behind him, speaking in short bursts.
“I’m sorry, Ralph… about the whole trying-to-rip-your-arm-off thing…”
“S’okay,” Ralph panted. “Don’t mention it…”
“I was angry…” Ted went on, “Petra and me… when we talked that day… it just brought everything back… since she was going through so much of the same… kind of thing…”
James interrupted. “What do you mean, Ted? I thought you two were talking about why you broke up with her?”
They reached the top of the stairs and Rose turned a corner, leading them toward the bathroom.
“Me?” Ted said. “Who told you that? She broke it off with me months ago. I thought everybody knew that.”
“No,” James said, “we all thought she’d gone into Hogsmeade that day to try to get back together with you!”
“You think that’s what we were talking about?” Ted chuckled drily. “Hardly. We were talking about her parents. I thought you lot knew all about it. You saw the package she got from the Ministry, didn’t you?”
James was about to answer when Rose turned, pushing open the heavy door to the second-floor girls’ bathroom. She barreled in, followed by Ralph and Scorpius. A red flash suddenly glared through the doorway and there was a scream. James yanked Zane down as he ducked. Another flash jetted through the air overhead. Ted lunged through the doorway, rolled, and landed on one knee, his wand out and pointing.
“Stop!” he shouted.
James was still crouched in the open bathroom doorway. He raised his head and saw Ralph splayed unconscious on the tile floor. Tabitha Corsica was standing over him in the middle of the room, grinning humorlessly. Her hair was askew and her eyes were wild. She had one arm crooked around Rose’s neck, yanking the smaller girl nearly off the floor. With her other hand, she poked her wand at Rose’s temple.
“Well!” Tabitha exclaimed glassily. “Isn’t this quite the party? I hadn’t expected so many of you, nor quite this soon, but it wasn’t as if I wasn’t prepared, was it?”
“Tabitha!” Scorpius said, stepping forward, his own wand out. “What are you doing?”
“As if you didn’t know, Scorpius Malfoy,” she cried, giggling a little. “I might ask you the same thing! When I saw that you were accompanying this little entourage, I admit I wondered at your own intent.”
“This isn’t the way it’s supposed to happen,” Scorpius said, taking another step forward. “I never agreed to a kidnapping.”
“Your grandfather knew you wouldn’t have the stomach for what this night truly required, Scorpius!” Tabitha declared triumphantly. “But you were never really necessary anyway! Ever since the little service you performed last summer, you’ve been merely a pawn. Your grandfather told me so himself!”
“What service?” James demanded, getting to his feet and producing his own wand. “What’s she talking about, Scorpius?”
“James, get down!” Ted exclaimed, not taking his eyes off Tabitha. “All of you, get back while you can!”
“James,” Rose murmured, trying to twist away from Tabitha’s wand, “just go!”
“Tell them, Scorpius!” Tabitha commanded, renewing her grip on Rose’s neck. “Tell them just how much of a ‘trustworthy friend’ you are! Tell them how you’ve played them all for fools!”
Scorpius’ wand trembled in his hand as he pointed it at her. He glanced aside at James, his eyes bright and scared.
Tabitha laughed again. “You might do yourself a favor, James Potter, by wondering how I knew so many of you were coming, and exactly when. Ask yourself how I came to be so well-prepared for your arrival. Can you guess? I think even you can!”
It was Albus who answered, calling over James’ shoulder. “You have the Marauder’s Map!” he said, both shocked and disappointed. “But Tabitha, why?”
“Oh, my dear Albus, the important question is not ‘why’, it is ‘how’,” Tabitha replied. “You see, Lucius Malfoy has a rather good thief in his service. Doesn’t he, Scorpius?”
Scorpius shook his head angrily, interrupting her. “All right! Just shut up, Corsica! If you insist, I will tell them. It was I who took the map and the Cloak! Are you happy?” He lowered his wand and turned to James, his face tortured. “Look, I lied. It was me. I rode along with my parents the day they went to your grandfather’s funeral. I told them I’d wait in the car, but… that’s not exactly what I did. While they were gone, I sneaked out of the car and crept into the house. I found your parents’ room and searched it as quickly as I could. I stole the Marauder’s Map and the Invisibility Cloak, all under my grandfather’s orders. You have to understand, James, I was confused! I wanted to impress my grandfather, and prove myself as a Malfoy and a Slytherin! I wanted to show him I was better than my own turncoat father. But I didn’t expect it would lead to this! I swear it!”
James was completely stunned. Breathlessly, he asked, “And the doll?”
Scorpius couldn’t meet James’ gaze any longer. He dropped his eyes and nodded. “That hadn’t even been part of the plan. Grandfather hadn’t known of it. I saw it on the bedside table and thought it might be helpful. I thought it’d impress my grandfather. And it did, oh yes. He had grand plans for that doll, although they didn’t work out quite like he’d wanted.”
“I knew you were a rat!” Albus cried, pushing forward. “I smelled you a mile away!”
James held his brother back, and amazingly, Albus relented. “But why did you tell us about Tabitha?” James asked. “Why did you show us the memories in the Pensieve?”
“Don’t answer that, Scorpius!” Tabitha said. “Enough talk. It’s time for the real work of this night to begin. All of you, away! Or Weasley dies. If you think I’m bluffing, you’ll know better when she lies dead on the floor and I’ve descended to the Chamber. Now go!”
“Tabitha, you’re as deluded as my grandfather!” Scorpius cried angrily. “Let her go! What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m doing the work I was created for!” Tabitha shrieked, jabbing her wand into Rose’s temple. “One thousand years’ planning has come to this! I am the edge of the blade of revenge! I am the hand of balance! I am the Bloodline of Lord Voldemort!”
“You?” Scorpius scoffed, stepping forward boldly, not even raising his wand. “If you believe that, then you’re as deceived as I’ve been! We both should have known my grandfather wouldn’t tell anyone the whole of his plan. Put down your wand and let her go!”
“Nooo!” Tabitha wailed, and she seemed to crumple. Her eyes were wild, darting. “I am the Bloodline! It is my duty to descend to the Chamber of my forefather! I am the host of the Gatekeeper!”
“You aren’t,” Scorpius declared firmly. “If you were, you would’ve been able to open the Chamber on your own. But you couldn’t, could you? No matter how hard you tried. Because you aren’t a Parselmouth! You’re nothing more than a convenient distraction! That was why my grandfather wanted me to show them the memories and make them believe the Bloodline was you: to distract them from the real Bloodline!”
“NOOO!” Tabitha shrieked again, closing her eyes and crumpling. Her wand wavered and her grip loosened on Rose. Suddenly, impulsively, she pointed her wand at Scorpius.
“Avada Kedavra!” she screamed, her face twisting in rage. Green light erupted from her wand.
Scorpius lunged, instinctively turning sideways, just as they’d practiced in Defence Club. The jet of green light missed him by inches, striking the wall behind him and exploding in a burst of sparks. Scorpius’ maneuver knocked him off balance, however, and he struck his head hard on the edge of the sink as he fell. At that moment, James saw Rose’s mouth tighten and she kicked backwards, connecting with Tabitha’s shin. The taller girl’s wail of anger turned into a cry of pain and she stumbled. Rose ducked from beneath Tabitha’s arm and Ted leapt forward. He captured Tabitha as she collapsed, bu
t the fight had completely gone from her. Tabitha dropped her wand and sank to the floor, slipping through Ted’s arms.
“Is he all right?” Rose called, jumping to Scorpius’ side.
“If he isn’t dead,” Albus announced, striding into the room and pointing his wand, “I’ll kill him.”
James gently steered his brother away from the bleeding boy on the floor. “Back off, Al. You can deal with him later. I think he’ll be all right.”
There was a groan as Ralph sat up, rubbing his head. “What happened?” he moaned. “Am I dead?”
“Tabitha Stunned you,” Zane answered, helping Ralph to his feet. “Be glad that’s all it was. She stopped at crazy a few blocks back.”
“I am the Bloodline,” Tabitha sobbed. “I’ve felt the guiding hand of the Dark Lord! I was promised! My parents would be avenged! No one else meets the requirements! I am the only orphan left within these walls! It must be me!”
Ted glanced sharply down at Tabitha. “What did you say?”
“I am the only orphan left, Ted Lupin!” she cried, raising her eyes angrily to him. “Now that you’ve gone from these halls, it had to be me! The prophecies say that a child of tragedy would be the host of the Gatekeeper. My parents are gone, dead these many years! And Lucius Malfoy has confirmed it! He told me how the Ministry killed my father, and how my mother died when I was born!”
Ted was shaking his head slowly. “That’s not true,” he said. He glanced back at James, his face grave. “Then none of you know, do you? I assumed she’d told you, just like she told me.”
James shook his head. “Who? Told us what?”
“That day at Hogsmeade,” Ted answered. “She needed to talk to me because she’d just found out about her parents. She wanted to talk to someone who’d gone through the same kind of loss. She never knew until the package came. It was too much for her to bear… to find out so much, so fast…”
“Petra?” James said, stepping forward. “You mean the package from her father?”
Ted frowned and shook his head. “James, it wasn’t from her father. The Ministry sent it. It was all of her father’s belongings. He’d willed them to her when he died in Azkaban years ago. When she turned seventeen, the Ministry released them to her. She never even knew he’d been incarcerated. Amongst the old shirts and shoes, there was a note. It was addressed to the baby daughter he’d never met. He told her he believed that the guards would soon kill him, but that he couldn’t do anything to stop it. They thought he was protecting his former Death Eater employers, but he really wasn’t. He didn’t know anything about them; they’d never told him their names or even showed him their faces. He wanted Petra to know that he would have turned his bosses in if he could’ve, and that… well, that he loved her, and that he was sorry he’d never be there for her.”
“It was Petra?” James whispered, barely allowing himself to consider it. “That can’t be!”
Ted nodded seriously. “She doubted it herself. She went to Merlin about it, and showed him the letter. He offered to show her the truth in that Magic Mirror of his, but he warned her that she might not truly wish to know. She looked anyway, and she saw it all, exactly as it’d happened. They threw her father into the Dementor pit. It was… it was awful. She was completely devastated.”
Rose glanced from James to Ted, her eyes wide. “But she never told anyone she was an orphan, did she? We all assumed she had a mum and dad like the rest of us!”
“Petra was raised by her grandparents, but she never told us that,” Ted replied. “The Gremlins and I, whenever we saw them at the station, we just assumed they were her parents and that they’d had her late in life. She never talked about them, and we always sort of guessed that she didn’t have a very happy home life. They’d only ever told her that her mother had died in childbirth. They never spoke of her father at all, and Petra learned not even to ask.”
“I should’ve known,” James said, touching his forehead. “I saw her in my dreams over and over. I believed it was Tabitha because I couldn’t see her face, but it all fits now. The dark shape in the corner… it talked about restoring the people she’d lost. It told her she would be allowed to avenge them, and even get them back. I even saw them… her parents, reflecting in a sort of glowing green pool! Petra believes the Ministry killed her father, and her mother died as a result, and now she’s going to do what she thinks she has to do to get them back! The dark shape in my dreams, it said there was only one way to do it—blood for blood!”
“Lily!” Rose gasped, covering her mouth.
“She wouldn’t!” Albus said, shaking his head. “Petra would never hurt Lily. Would she?”
“Morganstern!?” Tabitha half sobbed. “Impossible!”
“Not really,” a different voice answered mournfully. “If you think about it, I mean.”
Everyone turned to a ghostly figure seated on the windowsill in the corner.
“Myrtle!” Rose cried. “How long have you been there?”
“That’s Moaning Myrtle?” Zane asked, arching an eyebrow. “I expected something a little more… er…”
“It’s rude to speak of people as if they aren’t there,” Myrtle chided sadly. “Even if, technically speaking… they aren’t. But don’t worry, I’m… used to it.” She sighed hugely.
James spoke up. “Sorry, Myrtle, but this is really important. What do you know about this?”
“Oh, now everyone runs to Myrtle, don’t they? ‘What have you seen, Myrtle?’ ‘Tell us everything you know, Myrtle.’ But I know how it goes: the moment I tell you, you’ll forget about poor, pathetic Moaning Myrtle. It was the same with your father, James Potter. Your brother looks a lot more like him, even though he’s not got that silly fake scar on his forehead.”
“What’s she talking about, James?” Albus asked out of the corner of his mouth.
James shook his head. “I’m sorry, Myrtle, but this is really serious. Our sister is in trouble. You have to help us!”
“I know,” Myrtle cooed. “Poor little Lily. Perhaps she’ll keep me company here in the toilet.”
“Myrtle!” James cried, exasperated, but Rose placed a hand on his chest, stopping him. She turned to the ghostly figure, a thoughtful look on her face.
“You know, Myrtle, if you help us, I bet Lily’s father would be really grateful. I bet he’d even come to visit you, to tell you how much he appreciates all your help.”
Myrtle looked petulantly at Rose. “Harry? He wouldn’t. Would he? He probably doesn’t even remember me.”
“I’m certain that he does,” Rose said confidently. “I’ve heard him speak of you. He’d probably be very pleased to, er… catch up with you.”
Myrtle seemed to brighten a bit. “Do you really think so? Oh, it’s been so long, but I knew he’d come back someday. I’ve always had a special place for him.”
“Yes,” Rose nodded. “But first, do tell us. What have you seen? What do you know about Petra?”
“Oh yes,” Myrtle replied morosely. “Poor thing. She never once spoke to me, you know, all the times she was here. She probably believed I couldn’t see her under that Invisibility Cloak, but those only work on the living.”
Zane stepped forward. “Petra has the Cloak! When was she here, Myrtle? What did she do?”
Myrtle flitted down next to Zane and placed a ghostly arm around his shoulders. “Oh, often. She spent the most time down there over the holidays, when few other people were in the school. But she’s been down there at least once a week lately. I don’t know what she does down there, of course. I, er… don’t follow her. But then, not twenty minutes ago, she came through with little Lily. Just before Tabitha came back again with that silly map.”
“Where did Petra take Lily, Myrtle?” Ted asked impatiently. “Did they go into the Chamber of Secrets?”
“Well, of course, you silly boy,” Myrtle said, tilting her head coquettishly. “Where else?”
Albus shook his
head, exasperated. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
Myrtle peered at him mistily. “Because no one ever asked,” she answered simply.
James turned, stalking back into the center of the room. “How do we get down there?” he demanded. “Where’s the door?”
“Hah!” Tabitha exclaimed, still crumpled on the floor under the watchful eye of Ted Lupin. “You’ll never get through! If I couldn’t open it, no one can! Only the true Bloodline can speak the incantation to open the Chamber of Secrets!”
“Is that true, Myrtle?” Rose asked, turning back to the ghost.
“Oh no,” Myrtle replied, shaking her head slowly. “No, no, no. Loads of people have opened the Chamber. That horrible Ron Weasley opened it years ago, just by imitating the sounds Harry Potter had made. If he could do it, anyone could.”
“You worthless little—” Tabitha cried, straightening. “All that time you watched me trying… You let me make a fool of myself!”
“You didn’t need my help,” Myrtle sniffed.
“Myrtle,” James said seriously, stepping carefully toward the ghost. “We don’t have much time. Can you tell us the incantation?”
“Don’t you dare!” Tabitha exclaimed, her voice splintering.
“That’s enough out of you, Corsica,” Ted warned, raising his wand. “Shut up or I’ll Stun you. It’s the least you deserve.”
“It’s an awful sound,” Myrtle said, ignoring Tabitha. “It gives me shivers to hear it, and I’m dead. I always jumped down into my U-bend before Petra said the incantation.”
“Please, Myrtle,” Rose begged. “How does it go? We have to get down there.”
Myrtle looked sideways at Rose, raising one eyebrow. “You really think Harry will come and see me? You promise?”
“I promise,” Rose nodded. “Please tell us.”
Myrtle sighed and flitted slowly to the center of the room. Carefully, she opened her mouth and produced a horrible, hissing noise. It was guttural, almost gurgling. It made James’ hair stand up.
When she was finished, Zane looked around and asked, “So who’s going to do it? I know I can’t make a sound like that.”
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