Hogwarts Journeys Plot Outline, subject to change Options

[evlpez]

plot outline for
Hogwarts Journeys, Year One: My Name is James
some chapter titles, some missing
everything still subject to change

A MS Word version is here.

I. An Unexpected Relative

James meets Philip, introduces Philip and us to Serena, Freddy, and Lily. Dialogue should show James’ reluctance about his family’s fame. Duke is being bullied on the train. Philip and James try to help, but Duke runs away from them. Some professors are discussed, including Neville (Herbology) and McGonagall (Headmistress)

II. Surrounded by Cousins

Fiona and Finley, Gryffindor prefects, are introduced, but only in passing. Sorting begins. Duke sorted in to Slytherin; Philip, James, and Serena into Gryffindor. James will struggle with the hat a bit, thinking perhaps he belongs in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. McGonagall makes closing remarks, introduces new teachers: Jacobson, Wiles, Lockhart. In the dorm, James and Philip meet Carson, Sean, and Allan.

III. An Inauspicious Beginning

Herbology with the Slytherins. After Duke disrupts the lesson, we again see Duke being bullied. James, Philip, and Serena run into him after class, but he again yells at them to leave him alone. His Slytherin classmates goad him into fighting with James. Professor Longbottom breaks up the fight and warns the boys about their behavior.

IV. Memories and Rivalries

Charms with Lockhart. Lockhart is better than when we last saw him on the closed ward, but still a little befuddled. Before class starts, McGonagall stops by to ask Lockhart how he’s doing. and hands him a puffskein. (“I found him in the hall, Gilderoy. I know you don’t want to lose him!”) Philip begins to discover that charms come easily to him.

After lunch, Potions with Krum and the Ravenclaws. Krum is shown to be tough and very knowledgeable, but without Snape’s vendetta. In fact, Krum is kind in his way. James finds potions very intriguing. Krum offers 50 points to the house of a student who can tell him how they could have avoided the Stupor Draught he used on them at the beginning of class. That afternoon in the common room, James and Philip discuss Krum’s challenge. The mysterious and taciturn Charlie Weasley answers the question, and they set off to the dungeons to find Krum.

[Every now and then, they should run into Lockhart in a hall or see him at meals petting a puffskein. Occasionally, someone should be giving him one, and sometimes he should be (kindly and in a befuddled manner) reluctant to take one. (“Oh, I’ve left mine in the office. I really can’t take care of two, you know.”)


V. A Voice Unknown...

They get lost on the way and end up in the Transfiguration corridor, where they overhear Jacobson and Wiles worrying about Lockhart and the upcoming Magic Council meeting. (Of course, they don’t know where they are or whom they are overhearing. Although they don’t understand, it seems to them that the teachers are plotting something. Krum finds them in the corridor and they give him the answer.

As they leave Krum, they run into a group of Slytherins. Duke, who is trailing behind them, is pushed to the front and urged to fight his famous cousin. The confrontation is broken off when a loud bang goes off in the corridor. Freddy turns out to be responsible for whatever it was.

After dinner that night, James writes to his parents to tell them about his first day of school and finally names his owl.

VI. ...But Not For Long

The next morning begins with DADA . Luna introduces the class to puffskeins, which have a calming effect on their holders. It will turn out later that puffskeins are part of Jacobson’s “cure” of Lockhart – otherwise, we should either change what happens in that class or eliminate this scene all together. At the end of class, Serena meets Penelope for the first time.

After history of magic (still Binns, of course) they have Transfiguration and meet Jacobson for the first time. He seems strict and uses very traditional teaching methods. Jacobson tells them that he spent the last few years working in the research at the Ministry and is very please to be here along with his wife, Alison Wiles, who they will meet in Astronomy. James returns to class to get his bag and witnesses a meeting between Wiles and Jacobson. James recognizes the voice from last night as his.

That day James and the rest of the cousins receive books from Hermione on the History of the Councils of Magic. In the letter accompanying his book, Harry tells James about the upcoming Magic Council. He and Hermione will both be sitting on the panel, and Ron will be there as part of the security team (Ron’s an auror). He also invites James and his dorm-mates to a Quidditch World Cup qualifying match that will be held on the first weekend of the Christmas holidays.

VII. Cheaters

In the first week of October, Freddy gets a detention from Jacobson when Freddy’s transfigured pincushion runs up Jacobson’s leg. Freddy returns from detention very smelly, as he’d had to shovel out the owlery. Freddy is livid.

Freddy’s story about the owlery reminds James that he needs to send Prometheus to his dad telling him whom he’s invited to the quidditch match. The five dorm-mates go to the owlery to send notes home (Philip’s first time to use an owl). On the way back to Gryffindor tower, they pass Jacobson’s classroom. Glancing inside, the see Jacobson disappear into a wardrobe. (This wardrobe hides all of Jacobson’s research, some of which is or may soon be illegal.)

The first-years first major exam of the year is in Herbology. Duke and several other Slytherins are caught cheating and are all placed on probation.

The night after the exam, James and Philip tell Lily and Freddy what they saw. Freddy convinces everyone to try to sneak into the transfiguration classroom the following night and see what’s in that wardrobe. (James and Philip are too tired to go tonight, having gotten very little sleep before the exam.)

VIII. Dudley to the Rescue

When Dudley Dursley hears about Duke’s probation, he storms up to school. He arrives on the same night that James, Philip, Lily, and Freddy are sneaking into the transfiguration classroom. They use the extendable ears to listen in as McGonagall, the heads of house, and any teacher of Dudley’s McGonagall could find awake (not Lockhart, of course), talk to Dudley about the probation. Jacobson pushes for the expulsion of Duke and the other Slytherins, but Krum, as head of house, puts a stop to that. Krum promises to find someone to tutor Duke.

The four decide that they’re too many teachers about to go to the transfiguration classroom and return to the Gryffindor tower. Dudley sleeps in the Hogwarts guest quarters. At breakfast the next morning, Tuesday, McGonagall asks to speak to Lily privately. (She asks him to tutor Duke, but we don’t know that until later.)

IX. Mundungus’ Magic Carpet Ride

James receives an owl from Hagrid inviting him to tea that afternoon (“and bring along a friend if yeh want ter”). Mundungus Fletcher is there too, and he tells the hilarious story of meeting Dudley yesterday at the Leaky Cauldron and taking him on a wild ride on an illegally imported magic carpet before bringing him finally to Hogwarts.

When they return to the common room that evening, Lily is lamenting her new tutoring assignment. She has her first meeting with Duke that night in the library and is dreading it. When ask why she ever agreed to such a thing, she mutters about it being a punishment for something. (In reality, McGonagall is one of her favorite people and Lily doesn’t want to disappoint her.)


X. The Bulgarian Seeker

[Monday, Oct. 28]
In Potions, James receives the highest marks in his class for his essay on the uses of aconite in potion making. He is also first one to be finish his forgetfulness potion. Since he is done early, Krum asks him if he will help him prepare a potion he’s working on himself. It’s the Draught of Peace, which Mms. Pomfrey (or whoever is the nurse now) wants to stock up on before the spring arrives, bringing OWLs and NEWTs with it. Although it’s a very advanced potion, Krum is impressed with James’ understanding of its workings.

As class ends, Krum overhears James and his dorm-mates trying to explain (again!) about Quidditch to Philip, as the first match is coming up at the end of the week. He offers to take the boys to the pitch on Tuesday after classes (Krum and boys are free from 1600-1800) and show Philip a little about the game so he can be a proper fan.

After Krum shows everyone a few tricks and plays a bit with the boys (except Philip, who doesn’t want to play because he had a bad experience in flying classes) and Serena (who tagged along), they chat for a while. They try to feel him out about Lockhart, but Krum keeps avoiding the topic. Krum is excited about the upcoming ICoM meeting because he hasn’t seen Harry or Hermione in quite a while. He also asks James about his cousin, Duke, because he’s trying to find some ways to help him. This is the first time Krum hears about the Potters’ history with the Durselys. Krum assures James that Duke's actually on OK fellow if James will just give him a chance. Thursday night that week ends with an uneventful Halloween feast. James does notice that Duke leaves early. (“If I’m lucky,” says Lily, “he’s going to write his essay for Prof. Lovegood.”)

XI. England vs. Italy

As the Christmas holidays approach, everyone is busy studying, writing, and reading. James is seeing Krum once a week on Tuesday nights to do extra potions work, and Lily continues to tutor Duke three nights a week. Oddly enough, she tells them over breakfast one morning, Duke’s Charms grades have improved so much that she doesn’t even bother working with him on that anymore. Philip continues to excel in charms, and he fervently wishes that there were a competent teacher to show him some advanced stuff. He asks both Lily and Freddy to show him some advanced stuff, but they both are too busy.

Everyone takes the Hogwarts Express back to London. Harry is there to pick up the boys and take them to the Cup Qualifier Match (they have to catch a portkey from an abandoned London warehouse) and Ginny and Hermione pick up the rest of the cousins to take them back to the Potter’s house, where the whole family will be spending Christmas together.

At the match that evening, Harry and the boys are seated in a box reserved for the governing board of the Interational Quidditch Federation. Another board member is [a name], who works in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the ministry. Harry introduces the boys and [guy] asks how their school year is going at Hogwarts. In the course of the conversation [guy] asks after his former co-worker, Will Jacobson. He also mentions that WJ left the ministry to work at St. Mungo’s after Jacobson had a disagreement with the Minister of Magic. [Guy] doesn’t know what the disagreement was, but thinks that Jacobson was arguing for lowering the penalties for certain types of illegal magic. I imagine this conversation intertwined with a description of the game, which means we’ll need rosters for both teams. England wins.

XII. Christmas at the Potters

The game lasts a little more than twelve hours, so the boys and Harry camp out the night after the game before heading to London, giving Philip and James some time to bat around theories about Jacobson. The wonder about his wife, whom both of them think is a good teacher and a generally nice woman. After catching the Portkey back to London. The boys meet their parents at the abandoned warehouse (Philip’s parents are obviously a bit nervous) to go home for the break.

With the whole family at the house for Christmas, James can find any time alone, which makes him grumpy. Hermione can talk of nothing but the upcoming ICoM meeting, and Harry regales everyone with descriptions of the match. Ginny is a consummate hostess, and frequently chides James for being moody. On Christmas night, when Ginny snipes at James again, he stomps off to his room. Harry comes up and has a talk with him, reminding him that it’s OK to be who he is. (Harry and Krum are the two adults that James thinks at least occasionally understand him.)

XIII.

When they return to school, they find much of the faculty in a bad mood. Lockhart seems more flustered than usual, and the kids notice that Luna’s puffskein tank has been moved to the back of the Charms room. On Monday, Krum tells James he must cancel their regular Tuesday meeting, because [some ingredient] that they need for [whatever potion] is completely missing from his private store. He noticed its absence on the previous Saturday when he did an inventory. On Wednesday, at the first Astronomy lesson of the new term, Prof. Wiles dissolves into tears in the middle of a lecture about the Crab Nebula and dismisses class halfway through as she runs into her office.

Philip and James wonder what Prof. Wiles is so upset about, and they discuss again the possibility of finding out what Jacobson is hiding in the wardrobe. They also decide it would be better to go just the two of them.

On the way to breakfast Thursday morning, they notice a group of Slytherins talking in the corner of the entrance hall. When they see James and Philip, the push Duke out. “Tell ‘em what you told us, Duke.” Duke’s resolve to hate the Potters and Weasleys has been reinforced over the holidays. Duke tells James about some embarrassing childhood incident Dudley had told about Harry. [It’ll have to be something pretty embarrassing.] The Slytherins all laugh. James goes for his wand, but Philip (on muggle instinct) takes a swing at Duke. Philip and Duke wrestle each other to the ground just as McGonagall comes down the stair. She disperses the crowd and gives both Philip and Duke detention for that night. (“You can serve detention in my office. Mr. McKenzie, perhaps you can help Mr. Dursley with his charms homework.” Duke mutters, “I don’t need any help with charms.”)

XIV. The Wardrobe

The next morning at breakfast, Philip tells the table about his detention. He reports that McGonagall is in a right state about the ICoM meeting – she spent the whole time writing letters, double checking figures, rechecking the planned security spells. “And I don’t know how Duke’s passing charms. I saw him practicing making his pencil do draw loops on a paper, and it was drawing triangles.”

Indeed, as February wears on, McGonagall become increasingly more tense. She even begins to give one fifth year detention for tracking mud into the entrance hall before Neville asks her if she might want to reconsider. (“Oh, dear, I do apologize. But with every important wizard and witch in the world coming to the school... Everything must be perfect.” Neville gives her a knowing look. “Well, of course it won’t be perfect; but we should put our best foot forward, at least.”)

Since Philip’s detention prevented them from sneaking out on Thursday, the boys resolve to try again tonight. Although they hear many strange noises and are frightened once or twice by a shadow, they make it to Jacobson’s classroom. Amazingly enough, the wardrobe is unlocked. But when they open it, the find that it only contains Jacobson’s work robes. They tap around for secret doors and such, but find nothing.

XV.

When Freddy and Lily hear what the boys got up to last night, they are furious that they weren’t invited. (“Well, of course you didn’t find anything. You think that whatever spell Jacbson’s put on that thing could be broken by two first-years?”)

March blows in quickly. On Sunday, March 15, the members of the ICoM begin to arrive. [A fun chance to describe some interesting people.] Hermione, Ron, and Harry arrive together. Hermione wants to go to the school library before the opening banquet (“I need to check something in [some book], and I haven’t been able to find a copy anywhere.”) but Ron and Harry take a walk around the grounds with James and Lily, Freddy, Serena, and Philip. They stop by to see Hagrid, who regales them with tales about all of the things McGonagall has made him do in preparation for the visit. “And of course, all the security stuff – but yeh know all about them, don’ cha, Ron?”

When the leave to go to the Quidditch pitch were Charlie and the Gryffindor side are practicing. On the way, James asks Ron about the security stuff. Ron reels off a list of enchantments designed to protect the council from outsiders. “But what about if something happens is someone in the meeting tries something?” “Well, that’s why we Aurors are here, isn’t it?” James thinks about saying something to Ron about Jacobson, but – having no proof – decides he’d better not.

That night is the welcoming banquet. Krum sits with Hermione, Ron, and Harry and everyone seems to be having a great time. (Except maybe Ron, who still has some latent jealousy where Krum is concerned.) After a great meal and a welcoming speech by McGonagall, the students depart for their dorms. As the students leave, Harry grabs James and takes him for a walk around the lake. “I know it’s going to be tough having all of us around this week, James. We’ll be real busy, so you won’t be seeing much of us until Friday. But on Saturday, your Mum and the rest of the family are coming for the closing ball. Please try to include her in your life while she’s here.” James promises he will.

XVI.

As the head back to the castle, Harry realizes how late it is. James only has five minutes to be back in Gryffindor tower. He describes to James a shortcut he can take to get back quickly. As he runs along an empty corridor, he hears voices in the distance. He slows down and press himself against the wall as he approaches the usually unused classroom where the voices are coming from. Jacobson and Wiles are having a serious fight, and James picks up that they’re talking about the ICoM meeting and how to best present their case. (“And what if they don’t approve it? We’ll be ruined.” “Well, we just have to make sure they do, if you know what I mean.”)

James goes back the other way, and he runs into Lockhart, who seems truly out of it. He’s talking some nonsense to the puffskein he’s petting, muttering something about his “special charm” – James thinks that must be his name for the puffskein. When he arrives in the common room, he tells Philip, Serena, Lily, and Freddy what he heard. They decide that someone has to tell Ron, and James says he’ll do it first think in the morning.

XVII.

James is unable to track Ron down the next morning. Most of the adults he runs into at breakfast (none of his family is there; at Harry’s request, they’ve taken breakfast in the guest quarters) are very busy. The ones who do have time to speak to James don’t know where Ron might be. James is forced to go off to class without finding Ron. He worries all day about what Jacobson might do.

He does finally find Ron just before dinner. He tries to explain about Jacobson, but Ron cuts him off. He had been in the room where Jacobson and Wiles had made a presentation that day, and was very impressed by them. He thought it was likely that their proposal would be approved. James tries to find out what the proposal was, but Ron says that the proceedings of the council are top secret.

XVIII.

The rest of the week passes uneventfully, except for running into Aurors all over the school and the occasional cancellation of a class here or there when a professor needed to attend some meeting of the ICoM. The only class everyone can count on meeting every day is Charms, since Lockhart hasn’t been invited to any Council meetings. On Tuesday, James catches up with his dad and tries to tell him about Jacobson, but Harry is of the same mind as Ron. (“He’s not the nicest man, I know, James. But he’s a fine wizard. If he were really up to something illegal, he wouldn’t be presenting it to the Council.”)

Lily is really looking forward to her mother’s arrival, and is annoyed that James doesn’t match her enthusiasm. Freddy, on the other hand, is more inclined to James’ point of view. Although Hermione has more meetings than any other single person on the Council, she still has found time to scribble notes to Freddy feeding him tidbits she’s sure he’ll want to include in the History of Magic essay he’s working on. (“If I write about all she’s this, I’ll have three rolls of parchment. It’s only a 14-inch essay!”)

Friday’s Transfiguration class is cancelled because Jacobson has a meeting. James is elated because that means the whole afternoon is free, until he realizes that his mum is arriving at lunchtime. Worse yet, Lily can’t spend the whole afternoon with them because she has potions at 2 pm. In order to avoid solo time with her, James makes sure that all of his dorm mates are with him and lunch and plan to stay with him all afternoon. Ginny loves meeting all the boys, and they do the usual tour: the grounds, a brief chat with Hagrid, the lake, the pitch, the Gryffindor common room. As Ginny leaves to go meet Lily as her classes end and the to get ready for the ball that night (the students aren’t invited to this, but all the faculty is) she gives James a big hug and tells him how much she’s enjoyed the afternoon with him and his friends and how proud of him she is.

XIX. Locked Doors

When she leaves, the boys comment on how nice James’ mum seemed. James starts to feel really guilty about how he’s been feeling about her visit and how he’s portrayed her to his friends. Dinner is served to the students in their common rooms, since the ball is going on in the Great Hall, and they all go to bed.

When James and Philip and the rest of his dorm saunter down to the Great Hall for breakfast, the find the Entrance Hall filled with students. No one can get into the Great Hall. The Head Girl shows up and she and some of the other seventh-years try everything they can to get the doors open, magical and muggle, but to no avail. A student who had sent to find a professor arrives and reports that he can’t find a single adult anywhere. They must all be trapped inside. The Head Boy and Girl tell everyone to go back to their common rooms.

In Gryffindor tower, James is telling everyone how he’s sure Jacobson is behind this. Freddy suggests that they should have another look at the wardrobe – who could stop them now? They head down to the Transfiguration room. As they enter the room, the wardrobe is already open. The move closer to look inside and they see rows and rows of filing drawers. One of them is open, and a short blonde boy is rifling through it: Duke.

XX. Duke’s Secret

After some initial defiance, Duke finally tells the group what he’s been up to: that he’s been helping Lockhart steal files from Jacobson’s wardrobe (Lockhart told him how to open it right) and helping Lockhart brew some potions (“just chopping and slicing stuff, mostly”), and that Lockhart had him steal some ingredients from Krum’s private store, too – all in exchange for a passing mark in Charms.

Some of the group think that maybe Lockhart was on to Jacobson; some think that maybe Lockhart himself is up to something dark, especially considering what items were missing from Krum’s private stores. They all agree that they have to get a message to their parents and tell them what they know – but how?

Suddenly Freddy has an idea. The tables in the kitchens, where the house elves magically transport food up to the Great Hall, might be able to send up more than food. (Freddy, like his namesake, visits the kitchens frequently.) Taking Duke with them (almost against his will, but then he does want to see the kitchens), they head down to the kitchens, sneaking past the seventh-years who are still having no luck in opening the door. The house-elves, of course are delighted to help. [Debatable point: Is Dobby still here? I’m thinking not. If he’s alive, maybe he works for Harry?] However, they are certain that only food can be transported up through this particular magic. They’ll have to hide a message inside something.

While Duke rummages through the pantry, the others debate about what to send up that one of their parents would recognize as a clue and open. In the end, they ask the house elves make a large candy golden egg that looks a lot like the old Tri-Wizard clues. Surely Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Krum will recognize it.

They write out the message, explaining what they know, and send the egg up. And then they wait.

XXI.

It seems like an eternity, but it’s actually an hour before the egg reappears in the kitchen. It contains a letter from Hermione explaining nothing, but asking for a copy of a spell from a particular library book and either James’ or Lily’s wand. Also in the egg is the Marauder’s Map (Ron had been using it for security) with the shortest route from the kitchens to the library marked for them. Lily runs off to the library. Serena goes back to the common room to get a Quick-Copy Quill (a book won’t fit in the egg), and the boys stay in the kitchens in case another message appears from above.

They are back quickly with the book. The quill copies the pages needed, and they roll the parchment around both wands and put it inside the egg. But when they set it on the table, nothing happens. They ask the house-elves why it won’t go up, but the elves are mystified. (“Must be some dark magic about, sirs and madams. Dark magic, indeed.”)

Maybe there’s another way into the Great Hall? They examine the Marauder’s Map, looking for possibilities. Eventually they notice a passage that connects the Great Hall to Lockhart’s office. They race up to the Charms corridor, dragging Duke with them. The Charms classroom is open, but the office door is locked. Freddy’s “alohamora” has no effect. Another dead end.

“Oh, yeah,” says Duke. “Lockhart gave me this key.”

XXII. The Charmed Corridor

Lockhart’s office is a mess of parchment, potions, and several dead puffskeins. As they rifle through the paper, Philip sees one that’s particularly long. It appears to be a huge memory charm, powerful enough to modify a whole roomful of people’s memories. It’s very tricky, involving lots of preplanning with potions and pre-charms; if anything were to go wrong... well, he isn’t sure but it looks bad. The last part of the charm require the wand to be dipped in a potion – the assume it’s the one in the bottle next to the parchment. They notice another door leading out of the office. This must be the passage to the Great Hall.

Serena suggests that should pour half of the potion out and fill it with water, but James remembers that this potion probably contains the stolen [whatever] and might explode if it comes in contact with water. Pouring the potion out might be equally dangerous, so they leave it alone.

They open the door – but this isn’t a normal corridor. It glows with a soft white light and seems to go right down through three levels of the castle. Philip pockets the copy of the memory charm as the cautiously enter the corridor. Before long, they can hear a voice. They recognize it as Lockhart’s, but it is much more forceful and clear than they have ever heard it before. He’s saying that the last potion he needs for his memory charm is almost ready – all he has to do is go back to his office and get it. He apologizes for the delay, but it took longer than he thought.

The kids reach the end of the corridor, crawling the last few feet on the ground. They emerge behind the front table, which has been covered in tablecloth. All they can see is Lockhart’s legs as he paces behind the table. As he rambles on about his plan to emerge from the Council meeting as the famous inventor of [insert the name of Jacobson’s cure here], the kids sneak under the table cloth of the head table one by one.

Finally, Lockhart finishes his posturing and takes his leave. They wait for a few minutes and then emerge from the front of the table.

XXIII.

All of the adults have been bound to their chairs by some kind of incantation – they can move their arms and heads, but are unable to leave their chairs. Their wands are in a pile on the head table. The kids hurry to redistribute all the wands, but Ron tells them there’s not enough time. They need to find Hermione’s wand first and give her the spell. Freddy takes the spell and to his mum so she can began reading over it while the kids search for Hermione’s wand. Lily finds it and is running toward Hermione when a voice calls out from benhind them: “Expelliarmus!” The wand goes flying and they all turn to see Guilderoy Lockhart, potion in hand.

Lockhart then asks which of the children has the instructions for the charm, as it was missing from his desk. No one says anything, so Lockhart simply says, “Accio parchment” and it comes flying out of Philip’s robe pocket. Lockhart asks Philip if he understands what this charm does, and confirms what Philip thought. The last step, then is to dip his wand in this potion and perform the incantation.

Then he sees Duke who, along with James, is standing at the front table, and thanks him for all his help. “Obviously, you didn’t know what you were doing, did you? No, you’re far too stupid to understand, aren’t you?” “I’m not stupid!” yells Duke, on the verge of tears. James inches his hand toward one of several pitchers of water on the table and desperately tries to catch Dude’s eye to signal him to do the same. Lockhart continues to belittle Duke and even says he’s not going to pass him in charms, when Duke finally catches on to what James is doing.

Having finished his speech, Lockhart makes a big show of dipping his wand in the potion. As he raises it in the air, James shouts, “Now!” and he and Duke throw the water at him. Lockhart is surprised, but he tries to start the incantation. Before he gets halfway through the long incantation, his wand begins to spark and throw great balls of flame in all directions.

Freddy grabs his mother’s wand and give it to her. First she performs the rather simple spell that frees them all from their chairs (“accio wand,” everyone yells simultaneously) and then begins the more complicated spell to open the doors. Led by Ron and the Aurors, the wizards and witches put such a furor of hexes and curses on Lockhart that he is virtually unrecognizable as he lays stunned on the floor. Ginny, on the other hand, runs straight for James and holds him in a tight hug.

XXIV. Wiles and Jacobson

As the noise dies down, Alison Wiles is heard sobbing in the back of the hall. Slowly, she stands up and (despite her husbands protestations) she tells the whole story: How she and her husband worked used the cure they had been outlining at the Council meetings on Lockhart, how they had taken jobs at Hogwarts to watch after him, and how he had obviously fooled them by making himself look not as recovered as he obviously was. As Wiles had feared, it looked like the cure not only restored Lockhart but intensified some of his baser instincts.

XXV.

The rest of the term passes relatively quietly. McGonagall finishes Lockhart’s charms classes for him, since he’s been taken to Azkaban. The kids do well on their exams, and even Duke manages to pass everything, thanks to the rigorous tutoring of Lily. The Slytherins who were bullying Duke have eased up, too, as they were very impressed that he (along with the others) received a Award for Special Services from the International Confederation of Wizards which was prominently displayed in the Slytherin common room. Duke doesn’t hang out with James and his crowd, but he’s friendly when they see each other. Griffindor wins the Quidditch Cup under Charlie’s leadership, but it’s Ravenclaw who wins the house cup.

James gets two copies of picture of him, the cousins, and Philip receiving the Special Services Award from the Daily Prophet’s photographer and has them both framed. One he puts on his bedside table. The other he sends to his mum and dad after having inscribed the frame with the following words his father often quoted:

To have been loved so deeply will give us some protection forever. It is in our very skin.
-A.P.W.B.D

This post has been edited by StarWalker: Mar 11 2005, 09:04 AM