I own it not.

James led the way up to the tomb, picking a carefull way through the overgrown woods. He didn't miss Molly's shudder, or the fact that her hand seemed to mysteriously find Charlie's. Even Sirius seemed uneasy in the dark woods. There were a lot of weird things happening in this forest. It had expanded, taken over the outskirts of their small town, circling around an old, abandoned, un-named shack. Most of the older villagers refused to go into the forest, even when wood was scarce.

James understood why. The forest gave the impression that it was older than anyone remembered, that it hid more secrets than anything else, and that it knew more than it let on. From far away a wolf howled dully. Leaves crunched as a herd of...something...ran by, just out of sight.

Everyone let out an audible sigh of relief when the trees finally died away. All of them lingered on the edge of the forest, possible remembering, as James was, the tales that went with the ruins and the grounds that surrounded it. Snatches of ghosts and worse that flitted in and out of stories.

James led the way, Charlie on his right side, looking suddenly serious. Sirius was on his left, staying a little way away from the rest of the group but looking just as determined and curious. "Where did you see these things? Not near the lake, I hope?"

The vast black lake didn't need old wives tales to protect the secrets of its depths. Light only penetrated a few feet into the water, enough to see the steep drop off into nothingness. People swore they'd seen tentacles of a great monster writhing on the surface and people, slimy, greenish, half-people.

James shook his head. "No, it was the tomb. I tripped and fell on top of it."

Charlie looked at him strangely, "James, there isn't any tomb around here."

Molly, however, gasped at James' words. He looked at her, knowing that she was remembering something she'd read. "Yeah, there's a tomb. Just past here."

"There are records." Molly broke in, unable to contain herself any longer. "Of a burial here. And of a white tomb. Those are some of the very last things in the books of magic in the library."

Charlie looked at her scathingly, "Those are fairy tales, Molly, you shouldn't believe them."

"Why not?"

Sirius spoke for the first time, making all three of the others stop. "I mean," He said, noticing the silence, "If James really saw all this, something must have been controlling it. Is it really so hard to believe that magic once existed? Especially in a place like this." He gestured to the forest, whose branches were moving without wind, to the lake, which seemed like black glass, and to the ruins of the school, if Molly was right, standing on a steep hill overlooking it all.

There was a pause after Sirius spoke in which James said quickly. "We're here."

He recognized the bush, and brushed it away, revealing the glistening white tomb, miraculously clean after a thousand years of time and weather should have beaten it away. He could still see the words there, ALBUS DUMBLEDORE.

"I came back, Professor."

James didn't know why he was addressing the stone this way, why he was addressing stone at all. It didn't feel like he had spoken at all, more like his mouth had opened of its own accord, drawing the unfamiliar words through it. "I came back, Professor Dumbledore. I brought Ron and Hermione with me. Sirius wanted to visit too."

Now James was sure that he hadn't been speaking. He didn't need Charlie's anxious look or Molly's squeak to remind him that he had no idea who Ron or Hermione were or why this Professor Dumbledore had wanted to see them.

James opened his mouth again, ready for more words to come out if there were any. There were, just one more sentence. "It's me, sir. Harry. Harry Potter."

The name felt so right and rang clearly throughout the grounds. Dirt and plants fell off the tomb, leaving it glistening. The four gaped at it, then at each other.

"Who's Harry Potter?" Charlie asked quietly. "What does it mean?"

All three boys stared at Molly, whose mouth was open in a small O of recognition. "Harry Potter defeated the Dark Lord." She said simply.

"Which Dark Lord? What was his name? Who are Ron and Hermione? Who's Albus Dumbledore?" Sirius fired the questions at Molly without taking a breath. At the same time he was looking closer at the tomb and pointed out a line of writing etched so perfectly into the stone.

"Look here. How strange! It says, I think, 'Nitwit, Blubber, Oddment, Tweak'." He raised a dark eyebrow, frowning slightly. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Charlie rushed forward to examine the writing. "Maybe it's code." He guessed.

James appeared next to his friend. He traced his finger through the words. "Or a spell." He added, remembering that this was supposed to be a place of magic.

"And what's this?" Charlie gestured to the line of writing just beneath the name Dumbledore. "Headmaster of Hogwarts." He stuck out his tongue in a gesture of dislike. "What kind of name's Hogwarts?" Sirius and Molly laughed.

James, however, didn't think it was funny at all. He wrenched his gaze away from the beautiful stone and looked up at the ruins. "It was the name of the school."

He said it with so much confidence that he was sure that he was right. Once again the words had come by himself, as if he were just a puppet and someone else was saying the words for him.

James turned to his friends, suddenly not so sure he should have brought them along. "Listen, maybe you guys should go back. I think this is going to be dangerous."

"No way." Charlie said, looking both bewildered and firm. "If it's dangerous, two is better than one. Besides, I want a look at that school."

"It'll be fascinating." Molly said, still gazing at the same DUMBLEDORE.

Sirius merely met James' eyes, but he sensed that his longing to explore the ruins was as great as James' own.

He had known they'd insist on going with him. It was almost as if he'd done this before. "Fine. Let's start up. It's a long climb."

He let the others get a little ahead of him before James turned to the stone. "I'll be back Dumbledore. You were right, you were always right."

As the strange words left his mouth, he felt a feeling wash through him, one of confidence, patience, and (was this right?) a little amusement. The tomb was egging him on.

And James turned around and raced to catch up with his friends. He was going to find out the mystery surrounding the tomb, the school, and boy with the lightning-shaped scar.

I'm sorry that this is so off with the seventh book, but bear with me here, I'm on to something.

And review. Please.